“To
Seek Wisdom Is To Seek Christ”
LAGRANGE BAPTIST CHURCH
April 22, 2007
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We ask that the
Holy Spirit would speak to our lives this morning as we get into the
Word of God together.
If you’ve got your Bibles, flip open to 1 Kings Chapter 3.
If you do not have your Bible, it’s okay, you can grab a blue
one right in front of you and turn to page 282.
1 Kings Chapter 3:
If you just kind
of work with me here a little bit, I don’t want to sound too
childish with this question because sometimes as we get older we
lose our imaginations and sometimes we even lose dreams, dreaming,
not really dreams but dreaming and thinking outside the box and that
kind of stuff, and so I’d just like for you to just kind of, I don’t
know if you want to call it “humoring me” or whatever, but I don’t
want you to answer this out loud.
I would like for you to just kind of write this down and then
maybe toward the end of the sermon or during the sermon you can kind
of evaluate your answer to this question. If this really
could happen, once again, we are thinking and talking hypothetically
and imaging with me, but if this really could happen and an
individual had the resources to give you this, and they asked you,
“What is it that you would want, what is the one thing that you
would ask for? “ If this person had the capability and the resources
to give you whatever you would desire, what is the one thing that
you would want? And, if
you want to, you can jot that down on a piece of paper, jot that
down on your bulletin, if you don’t, that’s fine…..just kind of have
that thought in your mind as we go through this message together.
I asked this question to our students a couple of weeks ago,
and actually I was kind of surprised at some of their answers, and,
I don’t mean that in a bad way at all, but I was just kind of a
little bit surprised with them because I just feel like they
actually kind of thought it through.
Sometimes when I go through these little exercises with our
students, I just kind of feel like they go blah…blah…blah….let’s
move onto the next point, Lisle, I’m done with that.
But they actually gave some thought and some of their answers
were quite intriguing.
One of them basically asked that an individual in their family would
be healed, and I just found that very interesting because the
request wasn’t really about them, it was about someone in their
family. Another one,
their first response was, and obviously you understand this when you
are 16, 17, 18 years old, you pretty much have one objective in your
life and that is to get a car, and that is the kind of a goal,
because whatever car you have from your family it’s usually a van or
a wagon or something with holes in it, so you want another car
someday. You know,
you’re thankful that it does move and does go to school and back,
but you would like to have something that looks a little bit
“better” so you can kind of feel good about yourself. But the process
of thinking for this individual was that he wanted a car is because
he felt like the car would make him happy and so he changed his
request to saying, “You know what….I just want to be happy.”
That’s it. I asked my two
boys this question last night before they went to bed, and our
oldest, Michael Brian, is getting ready to have a birthday this
coming Saturday and so it’s kind of interesting how he is, he’s kind
of figuring me out and he’s going “Okay, I can play along with this
game, Dad, I know you’re trying to find out what exactly do I
want for my birthday.”
And so, I just asked him, you know, what is one thing…if God came to
you in a dream, Michael Brian, what is one thing that you would ask
for, and he said, “A dog.
I would want a dog.”
And I tried to pry a little bit more and I’m going, come on,
Michael Brian, this is GOD you’re talking about and that’s when he
kind of clued in and he said, “No dad, I WANT A DOG.”
Alright? I
WANT A DOG, HERE.” I asked Joseph,
our middle one, he’s 5 years old, and without even blinking an eye
he goes “X-Box 360, Daddy!”
[Laughter] I
said, well, if you got that and you had a second one, what would be
that? And he goes, “A
game to play on the X-Box 360.”
[Laughter] And so
I did #3, and said, “Okay, what if you had a 3rd one,
what would you ask for?” and he said, “A Nintendo OUI.”
[Laughter] We’ve
got to work on that one! Amen! [laughter] The question I
want us to ask and answer, Lord willing, this morning is this, “Does
the Bible give us the answer to that question?”
Are there passages in scripture, does the Bible give us an
answer to what it is that we should want? If that was real, if that
could really happen to us, does the Bible address that?
Does the Bible tell us what we should ask for, and if it
does, which I will argue that it does tell us what we should
ask for, then the question I want to answer today and hopefully give
you some application toward the end, is “Why?”
Why should we ask for that?
If the Bible addresses what it is that we should want and
what we should ask for, which I would argue that it does, then the
question I want to answer is this, “Then why is that, why should it
be something that every single one of us asks for in this room, no
matter what your age it?” So, let’s take a
look at 1 Kings, Chapter 3 and as we look at this story, hopefully
we will find the answer to what we’re talking about.
1 Kings Chapter
3, Verse 3: “Solomon loved
the Lord and walking in the statutes of David, his father, only he
sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.
And the king went to give Just so I’m not
making any assumptions of everybody knowing who Solomon is, I would
give us just a very brief biographical sketch just to make sure
everybody’s on the same page so that we know who this man is.
Solomon is the third King of Israel.
We have Saul, then we have David and then we have Solomon.
So, therefore, Solomon is the son of David and Bathsheba, as
most of you probably know that.
The first 11
chapters of 1 Kings cover the reign of Solomon and talk about his
life and what he did.
Solomon was the individual who built the "At First things
first, here. This is not
a pretend story. This is
not 13 Going On 30, this is not Aladdin, this is not
Bruce Almighty, and I know sometimes these kind of stories
can cause in us to really doubt whether this truly is the Word of
God, here, but I believe with all of my heart that this is the Word
of God and this really happened in the life of Solomon.
This is not some kind of make believe fairy tale. God came to
Solomon in a dream and asked him, "What do you want?" Now we know from
Old Testament passages, as well as we see in Hebrews that God would,
on a consistent basis, come to people in dreams and speak to them
and reveal Himself in dreams.
And, so this is a real situation.
This is not a fairy tale, this is not a made up story, this
actually happened. So,
God comes to Solomon and says, "What do you want?"
And Solomon, which I think, in direct relation to his
relationship with God and direct relation to what we see in verses 3
and 4, I think the reason why Solomon asked what he asked for and
did not ask for things that just benefitted him only, and I will
argue in a few minutes that I think this did benefit him, but it did
not benefit him only. It
also benefitted the others that he was leading and overseeing and
directing, and the nation that he had the responsibility to be king
over. But I think the
reason why he asked for what he asked for is because of his
relationship with God.
Because he was exposed to truth that God exposed him to, he was able
to see himself in an objective point of view, not a subjective
sense, but more of an objective sense and he realized his incapacity
to lead this people. So we see Solomon asking for what he asked for,
for basically two reasons.
Look at Verse 7, he says this: "And now, O LORD
my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father,
although I am but a little child." Now granted,
guys, he is not saying that he is 8 years old here.
Most likely Solomon is about 20 years old in this situation,
so he is not saying that he is a little child in the sense that
actually literally he is a little child, but I think what we see
here is that he is helping us understand that there is a lack of
experience that he has in this role as a king, and he's kind of
overwhelmed and feels his inability to do this job, and he says,
"I'm just a little child."
But read on here in Verse 7,
"I do not know how to go out or come in." So one of the reasons that we see in Verse 7, the reason why he asked for what he asked for is because of his lack of experience. He realizes the enormous responsibility that he has on his shoulders to be the King of Israel, to lead this people and he just feels the incapacity or the lack of experience to do this job. So, also we see in Verse 8, there is another reason he asks for what he asks for. Look at Verse 8: "And your
servant is in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a
great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude." Most likely
there is approximately 4,000,000 people in the nation of Let's read on
here and see what God does here in Verses 10-14: "It pleased the
LORD that Solomon had asked this.
And God said to him, "Because you have asked this and have
not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your
enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what
is right, behold, I now do according to your word.
Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind so that none
like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after
you. I give you also
what you have not asked, "both riches and honor, so that no other
king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in
my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father
David walked, then I will lengthen your days." And Solomon
awoke and behold it was a dream.
Then he came to We don't have
time to go into this just because of the nature of what we're
discussing and dealing with in his chapter, but, man we do learn a
lot about who God is and the character of God in just these verses
here, as God responds to Solomon's request.
Not only does he grant him his request, but he also grants
what he doesn’t ask for, and we learn here, just as a side note, God
is not a God who is so stingy that we have to beg and plead that God
would give us things. We
understand that God loves to bless his children with things that
bring about the advancement of his kingdom, according to
his will, his plan and his desire. Our God is a
very gracious and giving God, so not only does he give what Solomon
asked for, but he also gives what he does not ask for. So here's the
question that I ask and it is this, "Why?"
I think we can understand why Solomon asked for wisdom, but I
would argue why should we ask for wisdom?
Why should this be the one thing that we
want, that we desire, that
we should ask for if this situation happened to us. There are
a few passages of scripture I see in Proverbs, because this is where
I kind of get the argument that I believe that this is what we
should want, that we should desire, and I've them on the screen so
that you can kind of see and read along with me as I read them.
Listen to what
it says in Proverbs 3:13-15: "Blessed is the
one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding.
For the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her
profit is better than gold. She is more precious than jewels and
nothing (listen nothing) nothing you desire can compare
with her." Look at Proverbs
8:10-11: (On the screen there) "Take my
instruction instead of silver (and this is talking about wisdom
here) and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better
than jewels and all that you may desire cannot compare with her." Look at Proverbs
16:16 "How much better
to get wisdom than gold! To get
understanding is to be chosen rather than silver." Why?
Why should that be what we desire and what we should want?
I think the next few verses give us an explanation of that.
Now, granted, we are not going to find ourselves in this kind
of situation and what we see in these next few verses, we see also
the wisdom of God demonstrated.
So God grants Solomon's want and gives him wisdom, and in the
next few verses we see this wisdom demonstrated, which I think also
can give us the answer to why it is this should be something that
we want, we desire, why it should be as we see in
Proverbs 3, Proverbs 8 and Proverbs 26, what it is that we should
want. So look at Verse
16 there: "The two
prostitutes came to the King, and stood before him. The one woman
said, "Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I
gave birth to a child while she was in the house.
Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also
gave birth. And we were
alone. And there was no
one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house.
And this woman's son died in the night because she lay on
him. And she arose at
midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept,
and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.
When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was
dead. But when I looked
at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I
had borne. But the other
woman said, "No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is
yours." The first said,
"No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine." Thus
they spoke before the king." So we see here
that Solomon has a situation to where his wisdom is going to be
demonstrated, as well as I believe it gives us the reason why we
should want it, why we should desire wisdom above all things.
We see in this situation, it's kind of an interesting,
intriguing situation we have here.
We have two prostitutes who give birth to boys, in the same
house. And so one boy
dies in the middle of the night because the mom rolls on the boy and
suffocates the boy. And
so, she takes the dead boy, switches it out with the living boy, and
so the mom gets up to nurse the baby and realizes, "Hey, this is not
my baby." And so they go
before Solomon to determine which mother is telling the truth.
Whose child is this?
This is a difficult situation we have before us.
This is not like a clear-cut right or wrong thing to do here.
Solomon does not have a little instruction manual that is in
his back pocket that he can pull out and look under "B" and find out
"Baby Problems" and see this situation here and say, okay… Step 1,
this is what you're supposed to do.
Step 2, this is what you're supposed to do, and the problem
is solved. This is a
difficult situation that Solomon faced, and the reason why it is
difficult is obviously there are absolutely no witnesses here, other
than the two moms. So
what is Solomon to do?
What is Solomon…how is he to respond in a given situation?
What is the best course of action that Solomon is to do given
this response or this situation that he has before us? And that's
the reason why Solomon asks for wisdom.
Because he knew the decisions and the choices that he would
have to make, that he would be faced with as a king, that there
would be sometimes not a clear right or wrong thing to do here. It
would not be so simple and so laid out like a little process.
There was no instruction manual for Solomon in these
situations and that's why he needed wisdom.
He's been given a situation and he needed to decide what is
the best course of action. And that's why
we needed it also, isn't it?
I mean, think about it with me.
How many times are we faced with decisions and choices daily
and weekly to where there is not a clear right or wrong thing to do
in this situation? How many decisions and choices are we faced with
that there is not a direct command from the Lord as to what you are
supposed to do in this situation?
I mean, how many times throughout a day are we making
decisions and choices where there is not like a little instruction
manual that we can pull out and say, Okay, what do I do in this
situation? What's Step
1, what's Step 2, what's Step 3 here?
I mean, we know there are clear commands of God in
certain areas. We don't
need to ask God for wisdom on whether or not I should cheat on my
taxes or not, as much as we might desire to do that.
Alright, we don't need to pray and say, "God, please should I
cheat on my taxes?" We
don't need to ask God for wisdom on whether I should have sex
outside of marriage, or whether I should gossip, or whether I should
cheat on a test or whether I should lie to my parents.
I mean, those are clear, direct commands from God and we know
exactly what to do. We
don't need an instruction manual.
All we need is the Bible because the Bible addresses those
issues. But, there are
many situations, and many decisions that each of us make to where
there is not a direct command from the Lord.
There is not a clear right or wrong thing to do in
this situation. Just
think about it with me, just think about the different examples.
Some of you are faced with possibly going into business
partnership with someone, we can draw principles from the Word of
God and how we can make a wise decision in those situations, but
there is not a direct command from God as to what you should do in a
business partnership relationship situation.
How about those who get new jobs? You get offered a
promotion, or you get offered another job in another city, another
place. Sometimes the way
we make decision in those is, "Hey, it's more money. It's a better
place. It's a better
place to live." I mean
is that the only way we should choose and make decisions.
Think about it from the perspective, some of you are moms
here, some of you are getting ready to be a mom.
You've got a child that's coming and you as a family are
trying to determine whether you should work or should not work.
There are clear direct commands from God in what you should
do in those situations.
Some of you guys are single in here, and someday the Lord will bless
you with a spouse, with a husband or a wife.
I think the only clear command that we get from scripture in
those situations is that you should not be unequally yoked.
You should not be emotionally involved with an unbeliever.
That's pretty clear. You
don't have to ask God whether you should date an unbeliever or not,
but, just because someone says they are a follower of Jesus Christ,
does that mean you should pursue this relationship? How about
parenting? O my
goodness! Amen!
Goodness, gracious, this apart from praying for my boy's
salvation, this is the second most frequent prayer that I pray for
myself is wisdom. I
mean, what do you do when you go upstairs and your boys are rolling
around in the floor, for crying out loud.
And one gets up and has scratches all over his face and
redness all over his face, I mean, what do you do in those
situations? Step 1: Yell at 'em, Get up Boys! I think that's
sometimes our response to situations like that.
I'm not sure that's the wisest thing to do. I mean, goodness,
gracious, some of you probably just a month ago were trying to
determine whether your child should go on Spring Break with his
family. There is no
direct command from God in his Word in those situations.
What do you ask for?
You ask for wisdom.
You ask that you would be wise and how you would determine
what you would do in this situation.
Should they go and hang out with this individual? Should they
go and spend the night at this person's house?
What should I do in this situation in discipline and in those
kinds of things? There
are not specific direct commands from the Word of God in these
situations and that's why I, and you, have prayed and asked for
wisdom. I think the
problem that we sometimes face is this.
We have a tendency to sometimes kind of fall into two kinds
of responses to this, when we are faced with choices and decisions
that there is not something directly spoken of from the Word of God,
I think we have a tendency to do two things here.
One of them is this, I think we have a tendency to say then
it doesn’t really matter.
If the Bible does not directly deal with this situation, then
obviously it does not matter
what I do and I would argue that that is wrong, that is wrong
thinking and the reason why I'd argue that is because of three
things: 1.
Do we take seriously the command in 1 Corinthians 10:31 where
it says that we are to do
everything, whether we eat or drink, to the glory of God.
So that tells me this, that even in decisions and choices
that even
seem very menial or somewhat like trivial, I think even in
those situations, we need to think, "What is the best course of
action to take in this situation so that I can bring glory to Jesus
Christ?" 2.
Another reason why I think they really do matter
is because in Titus it tells us to "adorn the gospel."
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, we have the Biblical
mandate to adorn the gospel, and I think as you read through
the Book of Proverbs, the practical nature of the Book of Proverbs
is a means by which we can adorn the gospel, help the gospel
be attractive to unbelievers.
Read the Book of Proverbs.
Look at how he talks about how you use your tongue, how
you're supposed to respond in certain situations, how you're
supposed to respond when someone rebukes you or reproves you, there
are so many practical elements in the Book of Proverbs that help us
adorn the gospel as it says in Titus. 3.
Another reason why I think it's a big deal and that decisions
and choices do matter, even those that are not directly addressed in
scripture is because choices and decisions have consequences.
They have results.
And usually the results and consequences are unintended.
How many times have we sat back after we have made a decision
and we're in the midst of a consequence of that decision or we're in
the midst of results of
that decision, how many times have we said to ourselves,
"Wow, I really did not intend that to happen, I really did not plan
for that to happen." I think our
decisions really do matter because we are here to glorify Christ, we
are here to adorn the gospel as well as the decisions that we make
have consequences and they can be hurtful and damaging. Another thing
that I think we do sometimes when we come to situations that are not
directly addressed in scripture, not only do we say it just really
doesn’t matter , I think sometimes we ask the wrong question and
here's the wrong question, I think, we consistently ask: "What is
wrong with it?" We think
that if there is nothing wrong with it, if the Bible does not say I
cannot do this, if I've never heard Tony preach against it, then
obviously it must be okay to do that, and I think, I think a lot of
us in here would probably argue by experience, just by experience
that that's not true.
How many of us have made decisions and choices and we look back on
that choice and that decision and there wasn't anything inherently
wrong with that decision or that choice, it wasn't a moral issue at
all, but looking back on it, as you've seen the consequences and the
results of it, you would say this, "That probably was not a wise
thing for me to do." And so maybe a better question to ask instead
of asking what's wrong with it, maybe a better question would be to
ask is, "Is this the wisest thing for me to do?" You see, I would
argue this, I would argue as followers of Jesus Christ, that the way
we process how we make decisions and choices should be drastically
different than an unbeliever….drastically different than an
unbeliever. Let me give you
an example here. I'm giving you this example because I'm doing just
a little bit of study on the church, and trying to do a series on
that with our students in May, and I just feel like that our
students don't have a…. and this is not like a slam on them at
all…it's just for students cultural cross-wide, I don't think they
have a really good understanding of what the church is about, I
don't really think that they understand what is this.
What's this really about?
Not the building, but the people of God?
What's the church all about? Why is God using it so much or
why is it God's means to bring about the fulfillment of the Great
Commission and so we have a lot of students who are making college
decisions, and I know that
in essence I am kind of segregating a group of people to make
an example here, but the reality is this, is that many of you guys
are grandparents and you probably might have a grandson or a
granddaughter who is making a decision on where to go to college.
Many of you guys are obviously moms and dads who have sons
and daughters that are making decisions, you might be an aunt, uncle
or a cousin, so there's this across-the-board application, I
believe, in this situation.
I think sometimes when it comes to college decisions,
alright, I mean, please hear me, here, Okay? I think sometimes when
it comes to college decisions, it usually comes down to money.
If it's affordable, we will go to this school, and I
understand that, alright, I've got three children of my own, I'm not
taking any to college yet, but I understand the cost issue.
However, I would argue that maybe there needs to be another
element thrown in there as we decide what college we should go to.
And let me explain to you, and this is kind of like an example for
us to understand who we should be processing, as a follower of
Christ, our decision-making here. What is the
ultimate goal of God in your life?
Not only in your life but in a student's life?
What is God's primary goal in your life?
I would argue, based on Romans 8:29, that God's primary goal
in your life, as a follower of Jesus Christ, is to conform you to
the image of his son.
That's it! God wants you
to be like Jesus, and so there are means that God provides for us.
This doesn't happen osmosis, this doesn’t happen like Zap!
You're like Jesus. There
is a process, it's called sanctification and there are means
that God gives us to get us in this process of sanctification and
we're familiar with those.
We understand prayer.
That's a means God uses to conform us to the image of his
son. We understand Bible
reading and Bible study and Bible intake; that's a means that God
uses to form us to the image of his son.
I mean, there are many spiritual disciplines that we can lay
out here. However, I
would argue also, that the church is one of God's primary
means for us to be conformed in the image of his son.
And, so with that in mind, as a student who is making a
decision on what college he should choose, because the Bible doesn’t
address this, it's so funny how we're so mystical sometimes in this
process, right? You guys
remember the Bible Code, you remember this big book that came out a
few years ago where if you put the letters in certain spots there is
a secret message from God.
You remember that? Am I just stupid, or are you guys with me
on that one? Okay, just shake your head if you know what I'm talking
about, for crying out loud! Okay, hopefully, some of you are there.
But, sometimes, listen, and I find myself doing this, we read
through the Bible and all of a sudden we see "U" and "L" together
and we say, "Oh, God wants me to go to Campus Crusade,
the BSM, Young Life, Navigators, they can help, but they are not one
of the primary means that God uses to conform us to the image of his
son. The church is!
And it should be in our decision making.
There's no writing…God's not going to come down from the sky
and say, "EKU, that's it!
You know, that's where you're supposed to go."
That's not going to happen.
But I think the Bible gives us ways that we can process
information so that we make wise decisions that are in our best
interest and in the best interest of others, and ultimately
glorifies Jesus Christ. So, let's read
on here and see what happens. Verse 23: "Then the king
said, "The one says, 'This is my son that is alive, and your son is
dead'; and the other says, 'No, but your son is dead and my son is
the living one.' And the king said, "Bring me a sword." [I mean if you
were there when this really did happen, you would probably be going,
"Wow, this guy's pretty wise….bring in a sword!"
Okay…a little sick is what he is, alright?] "So a sword was
brought before the king and the king said, "Divide the living child
in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." [WOO! A lot
of wisdom there!] Verse 26: "Then
the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart
yearned for her son, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child and by
no means put him to death." But the other said, "He shall be neither
mine nor yours; divide him."
Then the king answered and said, [and here we see the wisdom
of God being demonstrated] "Give the living child to the first woman
and by no means put him to death; she is his mother."
And look at
Verse 28, and this is why I think it's important for us to seek the
wise thing to do because I think it does three things for us there,
it's for our best interest, read the Book of Proverbs, there is
great fruit in wisdom, it's for our good, but not only is it for our
good because we're so self-centered and so self-interested in our
Western culture, but not only is it for our good, but it's also for
the good of others, and then, most importantly, listen, most
importantly, it brings glory to Jesus Christ, it adorns the
gospel….look what happens: Verse 28: "And
all But, look what
else it says, "Because they perceived that the wisdom was from God
was in him to do justice."
So, not only was it in his best interest, but it also was in
the best interest of these two mothers, the one mom did have this
child cut in half, so it benefitted them, but ultimately, you see,
the people realized this wisdom was not something from Solomon, it
is from God, and He gets the glory. I know most of
us will not be faced with a situation like this, but I think all of
us can admit that we are faced with decisions and choices on a
daily, maybe even weekly basis, where there is not a clear right or
wrong thing to do, there's not an instruction manual that tells me
Step 1, Step 2. And, I
think if we're honest, we understand that this is huge!
It does matter! I
hate the little commercial, I tell this to students all the time, I
hate the commercial that they try to get you to go to Vegas, and if
you know the tag line there to get you to go to Vegas, you guys know
what the tag line is there? "What done in Vegas stays in Vegas!"
What a lie! What a lie!
And I honestly believe that our culture is teaching our teenagers
and our students that during the adolescent years from about 12 to
probably mid 20s, that's kind of stretching it unfortunately, that's
another talk in and of itself, but I think they sometimes get this
mentality that it's done in a bubble and so whatever you do from
about 12 to 25, it doesn't matter!
Live it up!
Because what's done in the adolescent years, stays in the adolescent
years, that's a lie!
Because you leave Vegas and what you do in Vegas stays with
you. I'm sure we can
see testimony upon testimony of adults in this room who could go
back to when they were 15, 16, 17, 18 years old and they made a
decision, a choice, it might have not been that big of a deal as far
as right or wrong, or it could have been huge, but you're suffering
the consequences right now, that if you could go back, you would
change it. Because what
you do when you're 15, 16, 17, 18 does impact and make a difference
in your life 10 years from now, it's huge! I heard a pastor
say it like this, "We're always once choice away from helping or
hurting our life and those around us." So, let me give
you some application and then we're done.
Just a couple of things here real quickly, two things and
they just start with an "S." The first is: SUBMIT Sometimes when
we're confronted with truth in scripture we need to ask that our
hearts be submitted to its reality and I think the first thing that
we need to ask is that our hearts would be submitted to the truth of
what the Bible says about wisdom, that it is something that
we should want, [there are those verses again] it is what we
should desire more than silver.
There is nothing that can compare with her; it is more
precious than jewelry, to be desired more than anything else,
so it's something that we must submit our hearts to, our hearts must
submit to the reality of what the word teaches us about wisdom. So
whatever want and whatever desire that we put on our piece of paper,
or whatever came to our minds, we need ask the Holy Spirit, you know
what, Holy Spirit, show me the truth of this and help my heart to
submit to it's reality, because all of us need wisdom. The second one
is this and obviously it is in conjunction with the first, that we
are to submit our hearts to it, and then we need to: SEEK We need to
seek wisdom. So that you don't think that I'm trying to teach
you guys to seek after some kind of mystical idea or some kind of
thought of, or grasp like a knowledge element, or I'm trying to
teach you to value
something more than you value
Jesus Christ, when you seek wisdom, you seek Jesus.
That's the point! Wisdom
is not about seeking something, it's about seeking someone
and that someone is Jesus Christ.
And if you try to seek anything apart from Jesus, you are
seeking foolishness.
That's why we need the gospel.
For some of us in this room, that's your first step, if you
desire to make wise decisions that are in your best interest and for
the interest of other people and brings glory to Jesus Christ, then
the first thing you need to do is bow your knee to Jesus, repent of
your sins, and embrace him as your king!
That is the first step for you.
And if you've done that, if you've responded in repentance
and faith and you're a follower of Jesus Christ, then you're seeking
of Jesus is not, guys, please, it's not some kind of abstract idea
here, it's in the Word.
That's just what it means to seek Christ, because these are Christ's
words. And so, if we
what real Godly, Biblical wisdom, we seek it here, we get into the
Word and I think the reason why a lot of us make unwise decisions
and foolish choices and we suffer the consequences of those is
because this truth has not invaded our minds to where it comes out
in our living. And we
come to decisions and choices and we default to our culture idea of
how to make a choice and decision because we don't have this in us. So, seeking
wisdom is not like signing up for a class, you know? I'm not sending
out a brochure as we leave here, "Wisdom 101."
I'm in for that one!
It's not about having a stack of books and you read a bunch
of books and you get wise, it's not about getting old, it's about
seeking Jesus. I love how
Charles Spurgeon addressed this and I just want to read this to you
guys in closing here: "Wisdom is not
knowledge and we must not confound the two. Wisdom is the right use
of knowledge and Christ's gospel helps us by teaching us the right
use of knowledge. It
directs us. Young Christian has lost his way in dark wood, but God's
word is a compass to him and a lantern too.
He finds his way by Christ.
He comes to a turn in the road. [Here's what we're talking
about, decisions and choices that are not clear as far as the right
thing to do] Which is right and which is wrong, he cannot tell.
Christ is the great signpost telling him which way to go.
He sees every day new straights at ten, he knows not which
way to steer. Christ is the great pilot who puts his hand on the
tiller and makes him wise to steer through the shoals of temptation
and the wrecks of sin.
Get the gospel and you are a wise man." Get the gospel
and you are a wise man!
I close with this verse, Proverbs 8:34-36: "Blessed is the one who listens to me, Watching daily
at my gates, waiting beside
my doors. For whoever
finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, But he who fails
to find me, Injures himself. All who hate me
love death." May our hearts
submit to the truth of what the Bible teaches us about wisdom and
may we seek after it by seeking it in his son, Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
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