Seeking Wisdom

Intro

Today will be the first day of my week of Church Camp, and our theme this year is Solomon’s Safari, and we will be going through the book of proverbs and wisdom stories in the Bible. And as I’ve been working on it, I’ve wondered why parents don’t emphasize Wisdom as much as Intelligence.

Growing up I remember being told how important it was that I go to school so that I could be smart, but rarely did I hear people say you need to go to Church to be wise. Now a lot of people when you talk about Knowledge and Wisdom they don’t really understand the difference between the two.

Does anyone here know anyone who’s really smart but makes horrible decisions? I had friends growing up who were really smart and got good grades and then they started hanging out with the wrong people and making wrong decisions. and so in the end their intelligence didn’t get them anywhere. However, I also had friends in High School who did not get good grades but made the smart decisions and ended up living a very good life. and then of course there were those who were both Wise and Intelligent and then some who weren’t wise or smart.

So what’s the definition of Wisdom? “Biblical wisdom refers to practical skills associated with understanding and living a successful life.” And the definition of knowledge is simply, “to have understanding or familiarity.”

Now most parents unconsciously begin teaching wisdom at a young age, things like don’t touch the stove when it’s Hot. Or don’t play on the road. Now those things certainly are wise, but we fail to teach children and people where wisdom truly comes from and what it really does for you.

So let’s go to Proverbs 2:1-15

Proverbs 2:1–15 ESV

1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. 9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, 12 delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, 13 who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, 14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, 15 men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

I love this passage because it paints such a nice picture of Wisdom, It tells us how to get wisdom, it tells us what wisdom is, it tells us how we benefit from being wise, and it even warns against those who are unwise.

So how do we gain Wisdom? from the Lord, but it’s not a matter of God simply giving it to us is it, it’s a matter of us seeking the Lord and seeking Wisdom. what does Verse 4 tell us?

Proverbs 2:4 (ESV)

… seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures,

If I told you that there was $1,000,000 hidden in your house somewhere, what would you do? you’re not gonna be like oh yeah that’s cool, and then never search for it right. It’s a million dollars. Wisdom should be the same way right, we are told that Wisdom is even greater than money regardless of how much

Let’s look at Proverbs 3:13-18

Proverbs 3:13–18 ESV

13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.

Why don’t we treat wisdom like it’s a tree of life, Let me ask you how much time have you spent in your life working to make money? How much time have you spent seeking wisdom? that is reading God’s word and knowing his ways.

We don’t value wisdom the way we should. We certainly don’t practise wisdom the way we should.

Im preaching about this because I want you to know the joy that comes with Wisdom, and some of you may be very Wise. In fact I know that many of you are very wise. However It’s one thing to be wise and another to allow wisdom to influence your life and actions. For example...

When I was in college, I really got into skateboarding with some of my friends and one thing you should always avoid when skateboarding is doing it in the rain. well I knew this already at the time, but disregarded it because I wanted to skateboard, So I was riding back to my room after class, and as I turned towards my room, my skateboard turned but it didn’t turn it slid out from under me and I crashed, and it hurt. and I knew it was stupid but I disregarded the wisdom that God had given me so that I could follow my own desires.

Now did I directly oppose God by skateboarding in the rain? No, but I did turn away from wisdom and faced the consequence.

And so It’s not enough to know what’s right and wrong, it’s essential to do what is right and avoid what is wrong.

Solomon is a pretty Good example of this as well, Solomon was wise in asking God for Wisdom and God blessed him with much wisdom giving Solomon what he needed to rule like no other king before him. and even though God granted him with all that wisdom he still turned away from God.

Solomon gave into his lust, which we know Solomon was well aware of, because he wrote about falling into lust for women multiple times throughout Proverbs. ‘but he was in love’ in love with the Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women all the women that God commanded he was not to marry.

And so he had 700 wives and 300 concubines and he allowed himself to be influenced by their Gods. and so he did not wholly follow the Lord.

We are Called to be Wise

So those of you who are Wise how often do you disregard your wisdom for your own desires?

So we receive Wisdom by seeking it and asking the Lord for it. and scripture tells us that when we ask for wisdom it will be given to us. But it’s what we do after receiving wisdom that matters.

So I have 5 things that should be influenced by Wisdom; Our Ears, our Heart, our Tongue, our Hands, and our Feet.

The Ears

So to start we must have ears that hear and do God’s word! So this is pretty much what we’ve already been talking about. When we read Proverbs 19:20

Proverbs 19:20 ESV

20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.

Who here tends to be stubborn? Hey good on your for admitting it, if you didn’t raise your hand then you may be too stubborn to admit it. But a lot of time we don’t care what others have to say because we feel that we already have all the answers.

However we have the word of God and it’s full of instruction. in most cases it can tell you what to do. To ignore this, or to disregard this is complete folly. In other words it’s completely idiotic.

So we listen to God’s commands and we accept his instruction, that is the first step to being wise.

The Heart

So next we look at the Heart, how should we allow our heart’s to be influenced by Wisdom? Let’s look back to Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

So a wise man trust in the Lord with his entire heart. That means that we don’t worry about tomorrow, we don’t wonder if we will be fed and taken care of because the lord will provide.

Now it’s one thing to trust in God for the physical matters, but are you willing to put your life and future in the hands of God? Are you willing to deny yourself of your own desires to follow him? are you willing to step out of your comfort zone so that God can use you. we see time and time again throughout scripture where people are called out of their comfort zone to follow God.

Each of the apostles had a life and Jesus told them to leave it behind to follow him and they did. That’s what it means to Trust in the Lord. To say hey I’m willing to give up everything in order to follow you.

When we are baptized we die to our old selves and are born again. and I don’t want to get too far into this because I plan on preaching on this topic completely in a couple of weeks. But when we die to ourselves we have to be willing to let go of everything, to sacrifice everything for the Kingdom of God.

So to have a heart that Trust in the Lord is to have a heart that Says I don’t know where you want me to go Lord but where you lead I will follow.

The Tongue

That being said, let’s move on. We must have a wise tongue. Let’s read Proverbs 18:21

Proverbs 18:21 ESV

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

The Bible talks a lot about the tongue and the influence that it has. The tongue is useful for building up and tearing down. So we need to be careful as to how we use it.

So it’s important that we as Christians use our words to build up, that we allow our words to bring life to those around us rather than death. Do you know the power that your words have on people? using words alone you can put someone in severe depression or pull them out of it.

And in the same way it can bring joy or sorrow. It can encourage those around us and at the same time slander those around us. And this is where wisdom comes in. Have you ever talked about someone and afterwards you thought man I shouldn’t have talked about that person like that or talked to that person like that, and yet when the situation arises again you do the same thing.

You know it’s wrong and you do it anyways. Be wise use your words to encourage and not to destroy. Use your words to instruct and reprove rather than to flatter. You know I much prefer honest feedback on my sermons and on my work over flattery. Nobody can get anywhere with flattery. So speak with Tongues that are wise.

The Hands

So the Hands what does it mean to have Wise hands. Let’s look at Proverbs 16:3

Proverbs 16:3 ESV

3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

All that you do let it be done for the Lord. Something that I’ve seen a lot of churches do, and it bothers me deeply. Is when christians or the church do something sometimes they do it lazily rather than for the Lord. When we do something, we should do it with our all, in order that it may bring honor to God. God is worth our best work. and everything that we do should be for God. Whatever your Job is, whatever your home projects may be, whatever your ministry is. You should do it full hearted for God.

and the other part of this is do the work of god not the work of man. and what I mean by this is don’t let your hands do things that dishonor God. Things that are clearly sinful, things like adultery, things like murder, things like thievery. Don’t have anything to do with that sort of Work.

The Feet

And just like we are to have hands that serve the Lord we are to also have wise feet, feet that walk in the path of righteousness. Let’s read Proverbs 13:20

Proverbs 13:20 ESV

20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

What was the mistake of Solomon? he allowed himself to be surrounded by women who served other Gods, and so he too the wisest man to have ever lived acted as though he was a fool. Don’t underestimate the influence that people have on you. and if you surround yourself with foolish people you too will be foolish.

I told you that I used to skateboard in College, and one day I was out with 2 of my friends David, and Levi. and David told Levi that he should ride his skateboard down this long steep hill, and I looked at Levi and said don’t do that Levi that’s a not a good idea. Who do you think Levi listened to? He looked at me and said “ah it’ll be fine” It wasn’t he started going down that hill, and next thing you know i watched as he lost control of his skateboard and hit the ground hard. I ran down to him and he was bloody all over, the pavement cut through his pants and his shirt, and I helped him back to the room and patched him up. and I looked at him and said, “I told you so”

Sometimes that’s what God says, he says he don’t do that, don’t walk with that person and we do anyways, and when we fall God picks us up and says I told you what would happen why didn’t you listen to me. why did you insist on being around that person, why did you insist on dating that person, why did you try so hard to fix that person.

When we walk with the wise we become wise, but the foolish will lead us down the path of unrighteousness.

Conclusion

I want to see this church be wise. Not only in mind but in action, I want you to seek God and to live out his commands. The Bible is so clear that if we follow it’s commands that God will establish us and we will have no reason to worry, that we will live a long life. Let’s be wise today and turn to the Lord.

Let’s pray.