Sermon: Biblical Wisdom

Defining a Misunderstood Term
#1707
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 06-May-23; 69 minutes 2023-05-06

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I have a story for you today to open up my sermon. I do this every once in a while, once in a blue moon, but I hope it acts like a kind of parable for you as a way to get into this sermon.

A determined Irish leprechaun hunter, by day a professor of his nation's history, spent years trying to catch the wee elusive creature, but he had experienced no success. Once or twice he had come close, but the leprechaun winked away at the last moment. Each time he tried, each time he thought he had a hand on him. Finally, as he began to lose his youthful vigor and his hair began backing away from his brow, he literally stumbled upon a leprechaun taking a nap in the warm summer sun. He bound him quickly with ropes and stared at the tiny green-jacketed imp, marveling that his quest had finally borne fruit.

Once the reality of his catch began to sink in, he blurted, "To be set free you must give me a pot of gold!" With affronted dignity the leprechaun bristled as well as he could encased in ropes. He said, actually he shouted, "Ye humans, dunderheads all! Check me pockets, if you like. Look in me hat. Where am I to be hiding a pot of gold?" He shook his head, "You ninnies, with your muddled legends and myths. You're all daft." "What do you mean," asked the man perplexed. "Our people have known from days of yore that if you catch a leprechaun, he must give you a pot of gold to buy his freedom." "That's how the story always goes," the leprechaun scoffed. "Madness and lunacy, I say! Leprechauns grant a limited wish."

"But that's not in the tales," the hunter complained. The leprechaun sniffed, lifted his chin, "It matters not. Take it or leave it!" "Okay," the hunter said. "So what does a limited wish mean?" But there was a tone of concern entering his voice. "Oh, don't you be worrying that you'll get the short straw, laddie. I won't ask you to choose between a bucket of dirt and your dad's old used handkerchiefs, now will I? We leprechauns put a high price on liberty, don't you know." After a moment, he continued. "So, your wish. Choose one. One gold coin each day for the rest of your miserable life, your youthful beauty restored, or the sum of all human wisdom."

Without hesitation, considering money and beauty as fleeting things, the Irish historian chose wisdom. Surprised, especially in light of the man's earlier comments, the leprechaun proclaimed, "Done!" and vanished in a puff of green smoke. The man sat there dazed for a long moment, staring at the empty pile of rope. Then he smacked his forehead and shouted in exasperation, "I should have taken the gold!"

Well, that is that.

Is this not how most people assess the value of wisdom? My introduction was just a silly story. Hopefully you were entertained. But it shows how people speak highly of it as an abstract thing. Yet when presented with real wisdom, they disparage it, desiring something more concrete, more useful, like money or beauty. Notice what our own culture emphasizes. It shows off its wealth and its beauty. We see it all the time in media. You see it in the slick magazines, you see that the reporters and those kind of people follow the rich and the famous. Those are the things that we want to see so it shows off its wealth and beauty every chance it gets.

But how often do you hear or see in the media any kind of lauding of its great thinkers, if we have any? Its educators, its clergy, its statesmen? I would say that wisdom is not a growth industry here or anywhere in the Western world because materialism rules the world. We like things, like crows, we like shiny objects. We do not like the more abstract things like wisdom and understanding.

But of course, the Bible has a very different view. I would like us all to turn to Proverbs the fourth chapter and we will read the first nine verses. Just notice the level, here, of importance of wisdom.

Proverbs 4:1-9 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; for I give you good doctrine [good teaching]: Do not forsake my law. When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands and live. Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing [the chief thing]; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you."

So wisdom is paramount. It is a top priority in our lives. It is necessary. It is essential. A whole section of Scripture focuses on wisdom. They are called the Books of Wisdom or the Wisdom Literature of the Bible. It comprises Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. And if I had my druthers, that would also include the Psalms and of course, you cannot leave out the rest of the Bible because all the books of the Bible contain wisdom that every Christian needs to learn and use and to grow in our walk to toward the Kingdom of God.

Obviously today, we are going to consider wisdom. From my perspective it is the most neglected of those big three virtues that we are to seek: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. This neglect of wisdom stems from most of us being unable to define just what wisdom is and especially what wisdom is from God's perspective. My goal today in this sermon is to present this subject in a way that we can pursue wisdom with understanding and zeal just as God wants us to throughout our converted lives.

As a jumping off point, we are going to start with a few definitions. As a matter of fact, we are going to go on these definitions for quite a long time because, as I said in my SPS, these definitions are very important; and to know the difference between how God defines it and how humans define it.

First, the Bible's definition or its lack, at least in that many words. Let us go to Proverbs 1. This is probably the best known section of Scripture on the subject of wisdom. And it being in Proverbs is apropos. But we are going to read the first seven verses of the book.

Proverbs 1:1-7 [notice how Solomon starts this book of wisdom] The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion—a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Like I said, these are very well known scriptures on the subject of wisdom. But you notice as we go through there that there is no definition of what wisdom is. The Bible rarely actually makes it easy for us to see what a word actually means.

First of all, it is in another language (or two other languages or three, if you count Aramaic), and so we are reading it in translation. And He tells us that if we want to know something about a subject in the Bible, it is here a little and there a little. That is what we have to do. We have to hop, skip, and jump all over the Bible to find out just what He means by whatever the subject happens to be.

Verses like Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." There is a nice definition of faith. It just right out there, whoever the author of Hebrew was, he gets my vote for being clear on that. Then you read about it and find out he was saying a whole lot more than just the words that you see on the page. But that is an easy one. (I actually mark those in my Bible with a triangle and a "D" in there and I know that that is a definition scripture. I can always go back and see this is what this particular subject is supposed to mean.)

But we do not get that with wisdom. There is no "wisdom is this," so we have to search around for it. Instead Solomon tells us what wisdom comprises here. So we get such words as knowledge, understanding, instruction, justice, judgment, equity, prudence, and discretion. That is a whole jumble of words. And you know, we could see how they are all interrelated, but it is not a definition that we could carry around with us and, and use.

Let us go to another place. Proverbs 3, starting in verse 14. Here he gives us the value of wisdom. And it is astronomical.

Proverbs 3:14-15 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. [Her here is wisdom personified.] She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.

I mean, a normal human can desire a lot, have pretty high aims here for what we want for ourselves. But we are told here by Solomon that wisdom is far beyond any of those things, far beyond what we could ever desire. That is a pretty high praise for a subject. If you want to, you can jot down chapter 8, verses 10-11 where a similar thing is said. We do not need to go there.

In Proverbs 9, verse 10, we find that Solomon does give us a starting point to our search for wisdom.

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Stick that in your hat. You will see how that that comes in a little bit later.

If we go back to chapter 2, verse 6, we find there, "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." So we have another step in the process.

First, we have the idea of the fear of the Lord and you have got to study a little bit to find out actually what that is. But then after that, you see here that the things that we need to understand wisdom have to come from God. "For the Lord gives [it]; and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." So what we find is that wisdom from the Bible's point of view starts with God, continues with God, and of course, it ends with God. It is all about God. He either gives it or He is helping us along in understanding it and what it should be doing. And then it all ends with us being part of the wisdom of God in the end. Because do not think that once you rise in the first resurrection, your job is over. Then you have got to take the part of God in imparting wisdom for those who come out of the great tribulation.

So we are finding out things about wisdom here, but we still have not come across a definition for it.

Let us go to chapter 3. We should be here or just should be right across the page. We find that he tells us, Well, all the good things that come from wisdom we could call that the carrot. How he draws us out with the carrot to follow after it. But then we also find that there is a passage on what happens if we do not.

Proverbs 3:11-18 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor to detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son and whom he delights. Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain more than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches in honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.

So there are a lot of good things there that come from following the path of wisdom. What do we have there? Happiness; you want happiness, seek wisdom; you want long life, same thing, seek wisdom; you want prosperity and honor and many other things there, peace. Those are all good things. If we follow the way of wisdom, that is our reward.

But he also shows, Solomon that is, that there is a stick if we fail to follow the way of wisdom. Let us go to chapter 1, verses 25 through 32. I do not recommend this for everyone and you will see why.

Proverbs 1:25-32 Because you disdained all my counsel [Wisdom is speaking here], and would have none of my reproof, I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord [they did not even get started on the right on the right foot with the fear of the Lord], they would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

It is kind of terrifying! If we do not choose the way of wisdom, then our future looks quite bleak. It is a future of destruction and of death, not to mention the calamity and terror that bring on all that destruction and death.

So what we have seen in our little survey here is that we can know a lot about wisdom, but we lack a simple wisdom is X, Y, Z kind of definition from the Bible. Now, we could probably cobble one together from what we have already gone through, but we do not really get a neat, easy to understand phrase.

Now, what about the world's definition of wisdom. That might help give some contrast here. I am going to give you three definitions from the New Oxford American Dictionary, just to give us an idea of how knowledgeable people out there in the world define wisdom.

1. The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise. To give an example, listen to these words of wisdom.

2. The soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. They give an example: Some questioned the wisdom of building the dam so close to the active volcano. Hopefully we would be smart enough to do the same.

3. The body of knowledge and principles that develops within a specified society or period. And their example is the traditional farming wisdom of India.

Those are the three definitions that I got from a major dictionary, New Oxford American Dictionary. Now, none of these definitions is wrong. They are fine definitions of wisdom in their own way. However, they are not precisely what the Bible considers wisdom.

Of these definitions that I have given you, these three, the second I believe strikes closest to the biblical understanding of wisdom. And that is: The soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. That is pretty close. It is not perfect because it leaves out a few important points, a few important pieces of the puzzle, if you will. But that is close: the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.

Now there is an elephant in the room that you probably do not see. I saw it when I started doing the sermon because our understanding of wisdom has an element that is not really there in biblical wisdom. And that is why we have a hard time getting a grasp of what wisdom is from a godly perspective.

Our human conception of wisdom stands alongside our understanding of philosophy. That is the big elephant here. That is, we think wisdom derives from grizzled thinkers, philosophers, mountain top sitters, Ivory Tower residents, leaders of religions, and hermits. These are supposedly wise. We call them "the wise." Now they possess their form of wisdom by virtue of long hours or years of relentless contemplation. You know, the old "contemplating the navel" type of thing, searching for the secrets of living and the universe. And they do all of this, they do all of this contemplation, their own form of meditation or whatever they use, and they go through a process of logic—human logic. Oftentimes it is Greek logic, thought experiments where they pose a problem and then they try to think it through to its conclusion, and/or their own life experience.

Now, after doing this for however many decades, growing their toenails long, not washing their bodies, or whatever (that is this idea of the hermit we have or the monk that stays silent for a long time) while they think. Human beings in this day and age think that they find answers that we ordinary mortals can only desire, because they are so wise. They thought these things through.

In terms of a definition, one of the things I like to do is look at the word itself and do an etymological study. That is not insects, that is word origins. Our English word wisdom is composed of a root—wise; and a suffix—dom. The Anglo Saxon or Old English term wise meant "way" or "manner." And that root, wise, derives from a far older term that means "to know" and the Suffolk "dom" means "the state or condition of." Pretty easy. So the base meaning of wisdom in English coming from its historical roots is the condition of knowing the way, which sounds slightly Mandalorian. "This is the way." (I like that show, by the way.)

Let us think of another word that we fairly commonly use, we obviously know it, and that is the term wizard. Wizard and wisdom are very similar. One is wisdom, the the idea of wisdom, and the other is a person, supposedly, who is wise. That was the the original term before, just wise, the wise. But you know that wizard is a pejorative term. It was a way that you could laugh at somebody who was wise. Wizard actually means one who knew the way or one who knows the way or, this is where the pejorative part comes in, one who claims he knows the way. Or you could say one who purports to be wise and have esoteric knowledge. Now, if you remove the pejorative sense from this, from the word wizard, and you get a wise person, this idea strikes very close to the biblical meaning as "one who knows the way." But there is more to it, of course, because not only do you know the way but you go the way.

Now, the Hebrew word for wisdom is chokmah. Chokmah is Strong's 2451. You can look it up, but you probably do not have to because it is a very simple word, and it means "wisdom." How can the word basically define itself as itself? Oh well. But it means also "skill" "learning." It is most often translated as wisdom or skill or ability, and can have a sense of wit or shrewdness or prudence. So it is a word that we can understand very easily. It just means wisdom or skill, wisdom or ability. And if we understand the idea that it might also describe someone as witty, not in terms of being humorous, but as being wise or shrewd or one who acts with prudence, I think we can have a pretty good sense of that word.

But, and this is where you dig a little bit deeper into the word, kind of like the etymology, the early meaning of chokmah was much more concrete than our more abstract concept of wisdom. Chokmah meant something that you could see, touch, feel, or understand very easily. It did not take a lot of abstract mental thinking to be wise or to understand something as being done in wisdom because—I already gave you the reason for that early on—the most understood meaning of chokmah was skill or ability.

Let us go to Exodus the 28th chapter. We are going to read the first three verses and it is in this context here that chokmah is first used in the Bible. And as many of you know, first mentions are very important in the Bible. They often give you a very good key to how it is supposed to be used in the rest of the Hebrew Bible or if you are in the New Testament in the Greek half. But a first mention here in this particular context is very interesting.

Exodus 28:1-3 "Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron's sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. [Now, verse 3 is where the first mention of chokmah is in the Old Testament.] So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to Me as priest."

Interesting, interesting, interesting first mention. I will not go into all of this because we would be here till five o'clock if I did. But chokmah, in context of the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests to God, being given holy garments and being therefore consecrated or set apart to do a work for God, is very, very interesting. At least it is to me. Just to give you a hint of what I am thinking here, consider that we are kings and priests to our God or will be. And that God is constructing a holy temple to the Lord and that we are putting on white garments. Ok? Enough of that.

Let us go a couple chapters over to chapter 31. We are going to read the first six verses here. Remember there in the first mention, if we just take it in its simplest form, God gave the spirit of wisdom to those who were making the garments. Here it expands out.

Exodus 31:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, see I have called by name El, the son of Uri, the son of her, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom. There is Homa in understanding and knowledge in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels, for setting in carving wood and to work in all manner of workmanship. And I indeed, and I indeed, I have appointed with him a holy a of the son of a, his of the tribe of Dan. And I have put wisdom Homa in the hearts of all who are gifted artisans that they may make all that I have commanded you. Ok. Again, these are the beginnings of this, the instructions of building the Tabernacle in the wilderness. And he first lets everybody know that he had called a certain two men biel and holy to head up this work of designing and manufacturing and erecting a Tabernacle in the wilderness. And he had given them a bunch of people whom he had also given this spirit of wisdom so that they could assist these two men in doing that work for God. But in order to do the work to the level of excellence that God demanded, he gave them a spirit of wisdom. Let's plug in those other words, he gave them a spirit of skill. He gave them a spirit of ability. You see how this turns the idea of wisdom a little bit on its head. At least it skews it for us because we think of wisdom as basically knowing what's good. If I could just put it in a few words, knowing the right thing to do. That's how we consider wisdom in, in just you know, our street level understanding of, of what it is. So the skill here that is given to them, we have to note that it is associated in this case with the spirit of God. And we also have to think about the fact that God chose or elected these particular people to do the work, certainly basal and a holy. He specifically called out of these 22 tribes so that they could do the work. But he also knew and gave gifts to those who are not named, but who still worked on the project. And we can't ever forget that this project was from him. And for him, this was one of his specific works. This was a major, major work in the, in the wilderness to create a place for God in the midst of the camp. OK. So what we've seen here is that the the early uses of Hama has a very strong sense of skill in performing and activity. And this sense carried right into the more abstract sense of the word as it might appear a little bit later. Even though they may have been talking about something more abstract by using the word Hama, there was still this strong sense underlying it, that it was skill in doing something. And in Hebrew, these underlying concepts, skill and ability never dropped out of the word, it's still there. And it was only when the Jews began to be influenced by Greek thought Greek philosophy, did wisdom as a mostly intellectual pursuit appear before that time. It was always someone who did something good and right and chose wisely. Now in the time of David and Solomon Hama still had this strong physical active sense. And thus we get what we do in the Psalms and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and song of songs. This strong sense that wisdom is something you do. So of the big three knowledge, understanding and wisdom, what do we have? The first two that is knowledge and understanding have a mostly mental sense. Although they could be gained that is knowledge and understanding could be gained through active or passive experience. But the third wisdom leans heavily toward choices, actions in deeds. And you can almost say making something, constructing something. And then you start adding in the other ideas, Holy Spirit, doing a work for God putting on righteousness. And you're starting to build this idea about what biblical wisdom is all about. Let me give you an an example. Let's go to Deuteronomy chap 30th chapter. Some of us could probably recite this because it's a memory verse bill on a haven't done that in a while. Deuteronomy 30 verses 15 through 20 at least verse 19 is the memory scripture. But I want you to see how this works in terms of wisdom. Verse 15, Deuteronomy 30. See I have set before you today, life and good, death and evil in that I command you today to love the Lord, your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes and his judgments that you may live and multiply. And the Lord, your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord, your God, that you may obey his voice and that you may cling to Him for He is your life and the length of your days and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give them. Now, I hope you are thinking about what we read earlier in the book of Proverbs about the carrot and the stick because these are parallel in the way that they are set up. God gives here a carrot and stickchoice. No, we need to think about the background here of this paragraph. Recall that this is spoken to the children of Israel at the end of their trek through the wilderness, their poise on the Jordan ready to cross over. They had spent 40 years as a group going through the wilderness and they had accumulated knowledge and experience, particularly experience of God, knowledge of God because they had gone through various circumstances and trials in which God had saved them, or God had cursed them and allowed them to die. And all the old generation by this time was deadBut for Moses and he would die very soon. So they had as a nation, as a large group, they had gone through a process of learning. They had accumulated knowledge and understanding or they should have, they should have understood God and his ways. After 40 years of basically face to face interaction with, with Him, they should have known what he expected them to do. They should have known where he was headed with them and what he was trying to do with them. So he talks to them right before they are crossing the land, crossing the Jordan into the promised land. And he says, ok, you have now knowledge and hopefully you have understanding now is the time to choose and to choose the choice. The decision was going to reveal whether they were wise or foolish. That was the wisdom step. So they would either wisely choose life and blessing or they would. And I, I should mention here just as an aside that that was, that was a mental thing that they had to do. They had to wisely choose that, that good thing, but it would be manifested. Their choice would be manifested and activated if you will, in their conduct, in their behavior, in their deeds. Notice how this is put. Let's go back to verse 19. He says, therefore, that's right at the end of the verse, therefore, choose life. He even tells them what the wise choice is. Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live. You know, that's, that's the the carrot part, the reward they would live. And we have to be thinking that would not just live their physical life, but they would live eternally if you know, once they were converted. But notice that He doesn't stop there, that you may live, that you may love the Lord, your God, that you may obey his voice, that you may cling to Him. So the wisdom and the mental choice of what they would do as I put it, it would be manifested and activated by their subsequent actions, their actions of loving the Lord, their actions of obeying the Lord. And we could go on and say there are actions in serving the Lord and doing his work. Those aren't mental things. They have some thinking that we have to do along with them. But mostly those things are deeds when you obey God. Isn't that love? How do you obey God? Well, you keep the Sabbath, you do not kill your neighbor. You do not steal from him before you kill him. You do not, you know, have adultery with his wife. You do not covet his house or his donkey or whatever. All those are things that one does or refrains oneself from doing. And by the way, I should mention that the opposite of wisdom, foolishness works the same way. You can be foolish in your head, but it's manifested and it's activated when you do foolish stupid things. And everybody then knows that you're a fool. And even in this scripture, even in this passage here, he tells you what the foolish choice leads to. That's in verse 17. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish, you shall not prolong your days in the land which you go, which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. So both sides, wisdom and foolishness turns on a choice, but it's manifested and activated by the actual works, the deeds, the actions, the conduct, the behavior that we do after we make that choice. So wisdom has this two headed. What would you call it way of, of being? It's a choice in its actions and they can't be separated. The choice is always going to be seen in the actions. So we need to adjust our minds to realize that biblical wisdom, especially in the old Testament is making right godly choices and living out those godly choices in our conduct, it's deciding to do the right thing and then doing the right thing. I mean, you can have in your head that you're going to do, you know, something nice to somebody. And if you never do it, then was it wise? I mean, sometimes we miss a chance to do something and you know, that's regrettable. But if it's only mental, if wisdom is only mental, it means nothing because it doesn't bear fruit in action in conduct, in doing a good thing. So we could say that wisdom is not complete until it is fully acted out in our conduct or in the process of living. Yeah, it's very wise to decide to help somebody in need. That's a good thing, very wise. But it's not fully wisdom until we actually help them. As a matter of fact, it's dead. You can have dead wisdom just like you can have dead faith. I'll show you this. Let's go back to James. James two and we will read verses 14 through 17. Now this section is all about faith and works and how they work together. So, you know, the, the the thing here is that faith without works is dead. But you know, this principle applies to almost all godly concepts. Think about that. What is love if it's never acted upon, it doesn't mean anything, the object of one's affection or the object of one's good will or good works or whatever you wanted to do to show your love to that person never happens. If, if, if you do not do something, think about it. Patience. What good is patience as if it's only in your head and you do not actually be patient. That's something you do. Kindness mentioned that one before. You just, just think about how many spiritual qualities are decided upon in the head, but must be shown with some sort of conduct and wisdom is the same way. If you are going to be godly wise, show godly wisdom, it can't be all mental. You can't be the guy up on the mountain top. You can't be the guy in the ivory tower and do nothing and just be all words and blabby that doesn't work. That's not wisdom that may show kind of smarts maybe. But if it doesn't come out in any kind of action, it's worthless. So we have here James 2 14 through 17. What does it profit? My brethren? If someone says he has faith but does not have works. Can faith save him if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food. And one of you says to them depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body. What does it profit? What good is it thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead or we could just add wisdom there. Thus, also faith or a wisdom by itself if it does not have works is dead. Thus, also love by itself. If it does not have works, is dead. Thus, also kindness by itself. If it does not have works, is dead. The religion that Christ brought is not one of pure abstraction, it is not something that exists only in the mind. If that were the case, then it would only be a philosophy or like a lot of the new age people today say I'm spiritual and they do not do anything. The religion of Christ Christianity, if we want to put it that way demands a unity of spirit, mind and body. So that when the spirit prompts the mind chooses and the body performs, it's a chain, it needs to continue all the way out to the doing or otherwise, as James says, it's dead. We do not get the credit for wisdom. If you will. Until the Godly deed is done, then we can be called wise because we've done what the spirit has prompted us to do and we have chosen then to act in wisdom. So then after all this, what is wisdom as many of you know, having heard my dad's sermons on Ecclesiastes and believe it or not. That was 10 years ago, 2013. That when he began that series, he stressed an easy to remember definition of wisdom, three words, skill in living skill in living. Now, we can expand that out a little bit because it does lack a little bit of definition. Sorry, the pun. Um No, I'm not sorry. I like puns. We can expand that out to read that wisdom is the understanding and use of practical skills to live a successful life. Repeat that wisdom is the understanding and use of practical skills to live a successful life. Now, more specific to us as Christians, as the elect of God wisdom is learning from God's revealed instruction, accepting it and putting it into practice with the help of God's spirit, that's more complete. But if you remember skill and living, I hope that it will lead to a fuller understanding of what is packed into that little three word phrase. So learning from God's revealed instruction, accepting it, that's the understanding part and putting it into practice, that's the wisdom part with the help of God's spirit. Now, that definition is a long way from the Greek speculative philosophy that has come to dominate Western thought and Western religion because do not, you know, a lot of the doctrines of nominal Christianity are based on Greek thought, not on Hebrew. Have you noticed how nominal Christians do not do a lot of what God says? That's true. On the other hand, some of us, some of them put us to shame with how much they do. But understand that for true Christians wisdom has to do with taking what we've learned from God and putting it into practice, doing it, showing that love, showing the kindness, showing the patience, showing the forbearance, showing the gentleness, learning, self control and all those other things. That's wisdom. Ok? Let's get to the meat of this. Let's go to first Corinthians one. You'll see what I mean in a minute. First Corinthians one, we are going to read verses 18 through 24. And what I need you to understand as we start here is that the Apostle Paul is playing off the massive chasm between divine wisdom and worldly wisdom. This is a great section. First 18. For the message of the cross, the logos of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved. It is the power of God for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing. The understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the, the disputer or the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world. For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. He's telling us very much what he did back in Romans, one that he left them to their own devices. That was His wisdom. It, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached. That is the gospel to save those who believe for Jews request to sign and Greeks seek, seek after wisdom. That's their, their reasoning and their philosophy, not true wisdom as should be apparent here. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, that's you and me, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Ok. Now we are getting to it because the definition of wisdom in the New Testament is right here, Christ. That's the definition. The wisdom of God is Christ, the wise and the prudent of this age are looking for wisdom in all the wrong places. There is no wisdom in their own minds. They think there is, but there is not, there is very little wisdom, even in their experience, there might be some practical wisdom, but they are not going to find true wisdom in their own mind, which is just regurgitating the knowledge of good and evil. You remember the book of Ecclesiastes? Do you realize what it is? It's Solomon's search for wisdom under the Sun that is he tried to find wisdom in this earth, in this world, in this cosmos under the sun. God is over the sun. A search for wisdom under the sun. What, what was his conclusion? What did he say? What was the search for wisdom? How did it come out? He said to put it in my own terms. The quest for wisdom under the sun is absolutely futile. F U T I L E not F eu D A L futile. He said it's, it's vanity. It's a puff of smoke. It's grasping for the wind. You do not learn anything. It doesn't do any, do you any good. So he ends his 12 chapters with, here is the, the thing guys obey God. Keep his commandments. That is wisdom above the sun. True wisdom as we've seen resides in God. It's his way is true wisdom. His character is true wisdom. His goodness. That is what He does for us is wisdom. All we need to do to find wisdom is study God specifically Christ. So the gospel, that what they, what is it called here, the foolishness of preaching the gospel, the good news of the Kingdom of God and the instruction in the way of the Lord is foolishness to the wise, to all those philosophers and theologians because they are trusting their human reason and even the Jews, he says, dismiss it. They want to be convinced through miracles and signs. What are they doing? They're testing God just like they did back in the wilderness. Can God set a table in the wilderness? Of course, he can, why doubt it? But they wanted to see it. But worse by the time of Jesus, they were testing the very creator God there in human flesh to give them a sign, not just as a sign to say, wow, what a great miracle. They wanted a sign that aligned with their own misguided notions of what the Messiah and his purpose we are going to be, they did not want the truth, they want to be validated by these signs. Yeah, I was right. I picked the right day for the second coming. That's wanting a sign. He said, that's not wisdom, Paul did. They're misguided. And so the Jews seeking a sign, stumbled over the same thing again and again and again, Christ, he was this big stumbling block and as many signs as he gave them healings and exorcisms and resurrections and all these other things that he did among them, doing good from one end of the land to the other, did not do a bit of good for them because it did not align with what they thought he should be doing. But we are not the Jews, we are not the Greeks, we are Christians, we are the elect and this message of foolishness as the world sees it, the Gospel is everything to us. It's the power God's power to bring us first to Christ and then ultimately to the Kingdom of God. Because everything that we need to know in order to make that journey successfully is in the Gospel combined with God's spirit. We have the power to get there. Of course, all of this begins with faith or belief or trust in God and God gives us that too. God gives us the faith to believe and then we turn to him. So no matter what our background, whether Jew or Greek or, or free or slave or man or woman or king or Popper. It doesn't matter once we choose to follow Christ, he our wisdom becomes the center of our world. He, the new man becomes our power and our wisdom and he dwells within us. He gives us both the spiritual strength to press on to the high calling of God. And he gives the knowledge and understanding and example of how to live as God does. That in terms of an example is our wisdom. We can always look to his example to find the right thing to do because he showed us how to live as God lives while still weak and fleshly as a human being. You know, the Protestants got this right. The evangelicals, I think it was back in the nineties when the nineties, when they came up with, with their W W J D question mark slogan that was everywhere on every other bumper here in the South. What would Jesus do that? Asking that question? If you are honest and insightful is the definition of wisdom, it will lead you to wisdom. So if we do what Jesus did and teach us, we will walk in wisdom. We will be wise under the definition of what it says in God's word. All right, we are yes, I'm still here in first Corinthians one. Let's pick this up in verse 26. So it's all turning to you now. Here for you see your calling brethren that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put, to shame the wise, the worldly wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised. God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing, the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence but of Him, you are in Christ, Jesus who became for us, wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That as it is written, He who glories let him glory in. The Lord. God has called us from every stratum of society, every ethnic group, every educational level. He is showing the world that we do not have to be what the world considers as wise or mighty or noble to obtain salvation and glory. You can be ordinary, you can be every day. You can be wholly unimpressive from the world's standpoint and still be a first fruit of the Kingdom of God. And that's because He has called us into oneness with Christ, who then becomes our wisdom. And if we follow him closely, as much as lies within us and as much as we can through His spirit, we will attain the kingdom of God

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