Keys To Wisdom, Part 2 Series

Title: Keys to Wisdom, Part 2

Theme: Grasping the Wisdom of God

“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.” (Proverbs 4:7-8) “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22)

If Christians would but just take heed to the Biblical principles in seeking God’s perfect will for them and grasp the truths found in today’s message. The church would be seen as a people of God who knows, understands and walks in the wisdom of God.

We serve a God who has resources that never run out. One of those resources that are available to all Christians is wisdom. James wrote, “If any of you should lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5) The child of God needs only to ask and then live according to the written Word of God and he can enjoy the benefits of “Walking in the Wisdom of God.”

Proverbs 4:7-8 says, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.” James the half brother of Jesus gives us some practical advice and we read it in James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

I would propose to you that if Christians would but just take heed to the Biblical principles in seeking God’s perfect will for them and grasp the truths found in today’s message. The church would be seen as a people of God who knows, understands and walks in the wisdom of God.

Just what is in the heart of those who enjoy the benefits of Godly wisdom?

Over the last few weeks we have been discussing the practical ways of seeking and applying the wisdom of God. The Christian who takes Jesus seriously has studied and he has discovered that there are four basic disciplines to making the two master disciplines of hearing and doing a practical part of his Christian walk. They are 1.) Attention. 2.) Meditation. 3.) Obedience and 4.) Endurance. We have already looked at “Attention and Meditation,” today we will come to understand “Obedience and Endurance.” The basic disciplines of “Attention and Meditation” are needed before we can lay down a foundation for wisdom. The basic disciplines of “Obedience and Endurance” are needed so we can express a life of walking in the counsel and wisdom of God.

Every Christian needs the “Basic Discipline of Obedience.”

Every Christian needs the “Basic Discipline of Obedience.” In order to enjoy that abundant life promised in Christ we need not only to seek the wisdom of God, but also have the right heart attitude in obedience to the written word of God.

For example: Suppose there is a Christian who has the character that we can label as “Wild Mind Billy.” He has been convicted of the sin of exaggeration. Billy doesn’t lie about important things like, did he get to work on time or in honesty in financial areas of his life, but he has a way of embellishing the story. Things like if he saw ten turkeys cross the road, by the time he told the story it was a hundred turkeys.

His embellishing has often gotten him into very embarrassing situations and has even hurt the name of Christ and the Holy Spirit has convicted him about this every time he does it. So Billy says to himself, “I must stop this bad habit of embellishing. It always gets me into more trouble than it’s worth. This stretching the truth just ends up making me look like an idiot.”

Let us look at the heart of what Billy is actually saying. His reason for wanting to stop embellishing is so that he will not be embarrassed and look like an idiot. His motives for embellishing were self-centered and his reason for wanting to stop is still self-centeredness. His primary concern is still self-image and he will not be successful very long at stopping his story telling.

The reason he will fail is because he will not have the power of the Holy Ghost to help him overcome as long as he is concerned about his self-image and has no concern about how Jesus feels and about being changed into the image of Christ.

If the child of God is going to enjoy and know the power of God to enable him to obey, he must want to obey because it first, pleases the Lord and second it will show God’s grace upon his life. There must be a personal submission to God, Christ and a longing to have fellowship in the Holy Spirit before any child of God will be able to beat any sin that causes him to miss out of walking in the wisdom of God.