Attributes of God Series: Wisdom of God
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Good morning everyone,
My name is Brian for those of you who don’t know me. I help serve in the Foundry ministry here at Hillside church.
If you are new the this Fellowship group, i especially want to give you a warm welcome!
We have been going through a series on the attributes of God.
Last year, I co-led a small group with my fiance through J.I Packer’s book called Knowing God.
It is 25 chapters long about the attributes of God. I really enjoy discussing the attributes of God because it allows us to specifically
focus on one aspect of God’s character and dive deep into the study of it.
This morning we will be looking at the Wisdom of God. My aim this morning is to help answer the question,
What does it mean for God to be wise?
Before we answer this question, i think it is important to make a clear distinction between knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge is purely information about a certain topic or thing. The Bible makes clear that knowledge alone, really isn’t good by itself.
But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Knowledge just for the sake of Knowledge doesn’t do anything if it is not applied. Scripture even warns us if we have the knowledge of truth which is the knowledge of Christ and do nothing with it, it is a thing to be feared.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
We learned at the beginning of this study of the attributes of God that God is omniscient. That means God knows everything from eternity past to eternity future. God’s omniscience is not the same as God’s wisdom.
So then, if knowledge isn't’ synonomous with wisdom, what is wisdom?
Put simply, wisdom is knowledge that is applied. It is acting based upon your knowledge.
God’s wisdom is the use of his knowledge, in which, he creates, saves, gives, and governs the entire world.
As i was studying, i was trying to come up with a one sentence explanation on how to describe what God’s wisdom is.
This is a broad definition of God’s wisdom and is by no means the only one out there.
Another helpful definition talking about God’s wisdom is from a theologian named Sinclair Ferguson.
He writes “God’s wisdom is like the rainbow, in symmetry, beauty, and variety. He does not paint scenes merely in black and white, but uses a riot of color from the heavenly palette, in order to show the wonder of His wise dealings with his people.”.
This quote is an amazing illustration of the vastness and precision of God’s wisdom.
This morning we will be looking at 4 (come up with word) of God’s wisdom. The four are
A. God’s Wisdom in Creation
B. God’s wisdom in Salvation
C. God’s Generous Wisdom
D. God’s Reserved Wisdom
By looking at these four aspects of God’s Wisdom, i hope we will learn more about the wisdom of our God and leave here worshiping him greater.
A. God’s Wisdom in Creation
There are a lot of verses in the Bible that talk about the wisdom of God. The word appears 213 times in the English Standard Version.
If you have your Bible’s handy, go ahead and turn to Jeremiah 10:12
It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
In this chapter, God is warning the Israelites not to learn from the pagan nations around them and especially is warning them against worshiping the false idols.
In verse 5 he says Jeremiah 10:5
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.”
Look at verse Jeremiah 10:11
Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
God in his wisdom created the world and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens. God’s wisdom in creation versus man’s wisdom in creating idols is as big of a difference in the degree of wisdom that you imagine.
Another helpful verse that describes God’s wisdom in creation is Job 28:20-27
“From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
God understands the way to wisdom because wisdom comes from Him. God is so wise that he gave the wind its exact weight, the waters he gave the exact amount of water that are in them. He made a decree (spoke into existence) and it was so. I love the detail in verses 25 to 27. It just shows how perfect and detail oriented God’s hand is in creating the world.
On the same point of creation but a different creation, look at Psalm 139:13-16
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
When thinking of God’s wisdom in creation, i don’t think we have to look much further than the human body. We looked at his wise hand in creation of the world and at the level of precision and understanding the Lord did that. I would argue that the creation of the human body is the pinnacle of the Lord’s creation and with that, all of the precision and wisdom that went into creating us is beyond our thinking. The way our bodies function down to the cellular level. The way our bodies heal and fight off disease. All that we are as humans came from God’s infinite and beautiful wisdom in creation.
Second we look at God’s wisdom in Salvation
B. God’s Wisdom in Salvation
God not only shows his wisdom in the creation of the world and humans, but also in how he has saved his people.
Turn to Romans 5:6-8
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Then turn to Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
In these verses in two different letters, Paul says something in both of them that hint at God’s specific timing in salvation.
In Romans 5:6. Paul says at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. And in Galatians 4 verse 4, Paul says when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son to redeem those under the law.
God, in his wisdom, ordained for Christ to enter the world, as a baby, born of a virgin, to be tempted in every way possible, yet without any sin, to die at the right time, to reconcile sinners to himself through his death on the cross, for our sins, and to be raised 3 days later, conquering sin and death.
God, the author of our salvation, who predestined us before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1:4-5,
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
in his wisdom, brought his plan of salvation to fruition by Jesus’s work on the cross at the right time Ephesians 1:7-10
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
God’s wisdom in his timing and by the means of our salvation, that is Christ’s death and resurrection, is the foundation of our spiritual life in Christ. Without God’s wisdom in his plan for salvation, none of us here today would be able to call ourselves followers of Christ. Let us always be looking to Christ’s work on the cross as a reminder of the wisdom of our God in his plan for saving us.
C. God’s Generous Wisdom
When i was preparing to teach this lesson, earlier in the week i was working on this and i was focusing the lesson on the kind of wisdom that comes from God, rather than how God is wise. Luckily, i had a good friend point me in right direction after telling him what i had prepared so far. My point for this brief story is that the Bible is full of verses that talk about a wise God who gives his people his wisdom.
Turn your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 1:10-11
Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king,
In this first chapter of 2 Chronicles, the Lord comes to King Solomon in the night and tells King Solomon to ask for one thing and the Lord would give it to him. King Solomon asks for wisdom and this pleases the Lord so he gives Solomon wisdom as well as riches and other things.
Look at the reason in verse 10 why Solomon asked for wisdom above anything else. It was so that he could lead God’s chosen people. Solomon asked for the wisdom that he knew only God could give so to honor the just as his father David did in his life. Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 1:8
And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place.
Solomon’s heart for the wisdom of the Lord was ultimately to use it to give glory to God through guiding his people.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
God in his wisdom, also bestows on his people wisdom, who seek earnestly and honestly for it. There are many proverbs that tell us how to gain wisdom and about the value of wisdom.
Proverbs 3:13 “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,”
My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, there will be a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
God is generous with his wisdom to those who earnestly seek for it. God knows that his children need wisdom and praise the Lord that he gives his wisdom generously.
I find James 1:5 very encouraging in times of trials.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James says that if anyone of us lacks wisdom, we can ask God for wisdom and he will give it to us without reproach. That word reproach speaks to an insult or revilement. God will not give his wisdom to you in a hurtful way, making you feel stupid or ashamed for asking. He does say in verse 6 that we are to ask in faith without doubting, for if we doubt that he will give his wisdom to us if we have asked in faith, we should not expect anything from the Lord as James says in verse 7.
God is a wise God who gives his wisdom to us generously.
D. God’s Unique Wisdom
When we talk about God being wise, it is important that we as fallen humans humble ourselves before him and realize that our sense of wisdom in the world and God’s wisdom are not the same. We cannot and will never ever ever be as wise as God. This may sound obvious to us but i think if we are honest with ourselves, sometimes we act as if we know what is best for us above what God knows what is best for us.
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God’s ways (his wisdom) and thoughts (his knowledge) are in a league of their own. This verse in Isaiah makes it clear that God’s wisdom is far above ours. That being said though, in verse 7, i love that encouragement that Isaiah writes that God will abundantly pardon us when we return to him humbly and say that his ways are higher than our ways.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
This is just another verse that shows the depth of the wisdom of the Lord. Who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counselor? Easy answer, No One. He needs no counselor because he is the Wonderful Counselor who has all of the wisdom in and of himself. His judgements are unsearchable and his ways, no one of us can even begin to scrutinize.
E. Conclusion
God’s wisdom is the use of his knowledge, in which he creates, saves, gives, and governs the entire world.
Let us pray and then we will dive into some discussion questions that will help us apply the truth of God being wise!