War Of The World Series

War of the World

Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

Read Ecc. 9:13-18

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

What does it mean to have wisdom?

How does wisdom differ from knowledge?

The fear of the Lord is the first step towards wisdom

Let’s quickly look at how wisdom is mentioned throughout the Bible

With humility comes wisdom

Wisdom is found in those who takes advice

We should seek after wisdom

Proverbs 23:23 says Buy (purchase) the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding

Once you receive the truth, don’t get rid of it-hold on to it

This verse implies that wisdom, discipline and understanding are all tied together

A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father

The rod of correction imparts wisdom

So remember kids, when mom or dad is disciplining you with the “rod of correction”

Also known as the belt or maybe the fly swatter

If mom had come after me with a fly swatter I probably would have laughed

She preferred a wooden spoon, which she broke on me once

Anyway, that whopping, according to the Bible, imparts wisdom

They are just making you wiser, not a wise guy, but wiser

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously

Godly wisdom comes only from God

Earthly wisdom can never measure up to godly wisdom

In earthly wisdom how can you tell the difference between wisdom and knowledge?

A wise man once told me “knowledge is knowing how to pick your nose, wisdom is knowing when”

Our society today honors wealth, attractiveness and success above wisdom

Just look at how we put people like Donald Trump, very wealthy

And Miley Cyrus and Justin Timberlake, very successful and attractive people up on a pedestal

While the truly wise are not ever mentioned our honored

We see this in our election cycle right now

The more attractive, young, hip rock star type candidate for president is being praised much more than

The one that seems more qualified, more experienced and in fact more wise candidate

Yet wisdom is a greater asset than strength

Although it is often unrecognized by the masses

Even though it is more effective, wisdom is not always heard

And wise people often go unheeded

From this parable we can learn to be receptive to wisdom

No matter who it comes from

In our story we see many elements of a War of the Worlds

We see a city, an enemy king and a wise strategist

Each character plays a very important role

First we see

I. A City

“there was a little city, and few men within it”

In Biblical times your larger cities such as Jerusalem, Jericho, Damascus, we know these were surrounded by large protective walls

These wall’s primary function was to protect the city from invasion

For the enemy would have to penetrate or scale over these walls just to enter the city

But a small city usually didn’t have the luxury of a wall

So it was much easier to attack

This city was not only small

Not protected very well

It also had just a few men within it

Sorry ladies, but they only counted the men

Censuses only tallied the men

And there wasn’t many

I believe we can view this city as the world, Planet Earth

We often say, it’s a small world isn’t it?

I learned this past week that at the very first church I ever attended, First Baptist Church of Blackwood NJ (BMA)

That Brother Elton preached there one time

Small world

But we do indeed live in a small world

The Psalmist recognized the insignificance and smallness of this earth and her inhabitants in

Psalms 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; [4] What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

We are nothing compared to God and His expansive universe

It should humble us to remember that “God so love the world”

That He offered His Son for us

We are living in that little city

And just like that city we are without a wall of protection

When the enemy attacks, if we do not have the protection of the Lord’s hand

We are extremely vulnerable to his attacks

This world is the enemies playground

He is according to Ephesians 2:2 “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”

This is Satan himself which leads us to our second character in our story

II. The Enemy King

“And there came a great king against it (the city) and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it”