“A Wise Heart”
Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 part 9
Today our subject is wisdom from the heart and here is a funny story on the subject of wisdom:
Opening – On the lighter side of life:
A story… It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.
Also, being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.
A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"
"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it’s definitely going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.
Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever."
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."
Andrew Chan (from sermoncentral.com)
Opening Illustration: From Blue Fish TV “Almena Brown” In her testimony Almena shares some insights that come from wisdom with us that she has learned through life’s hardships and God’s faithfulness.
Thesis: Solomon continues his explanation of the value of wisdom and he tells us: that a wise heart knows how to submit to authority, it knows that wickedness holds a death grip on people, and it accepts the fact that it does not have all the answers to life only God does.
Scripture Text: Ecc. 8
1 Who is like the wise man?
Who knows the explanation of things?
Wisdom brightens a man’s face
and changes its hard appearance.
2Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
7 Since no man knows the future,
who can tell him what is to come?
8 No man has power over the wind to contain it;
so no one has power over the day of his death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. 10Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labor on earth—his eyes not seeing sleep day or night—17then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
Introduction:
Solomon carries on from chapter 7 into chapter 8 talking about the wisdom. He adds a phrase here in chapter 8 that caught my attention “The wise heart.” He talks to us about the necessity of being wise in our hearts. He then explains to us what this wise heart does and does doesn’t do in their life. He challenges the reader and the listener with wisdom from above again. He is emphasizing the importance of wisdom in life and its eternal value. He exhorts us with the thought that life is filled with choices and if we ever want our life to count for something in eternity then it must be led by a wise heart.
Jerry Falwell who just passed away about 6 months ago said this, “We usually face more than one intersection in our lifetime. Life is a choice, we will always have to make good choices, in the first quarter and in the last quarter.”
Solomon knows the importance of making right choices now in his life since he has been impacted with all of his bad choices. Solomon tells us to enroll in the school of wisdom from above so that we make right choices in life and make our life count for eternity.
James Westervelt made this comment about the importance of attending the right school of life:
"Our world abounds in schools, colleges and universities. Yet not everyone who wants to enter them for study may do so. The potential student may not have the proper educational background, he may not have enough money, or he may not be able to pass the entrance exam or even the physical. But everyone is invited to enroll in the ’School of Solomon.’ These words are written over its doors: ’The young, the simple, the foolish - welcome!’ Here the foolish can become wise, and the evil can become good. The wise and the good can become wiser and better!" (LeRoy Eims, "Wisdom From Above For Living Here Below" ch. 1, pg. 5) - sermoncentral.com
Solomon in this book or journal is inviting us to join him in the school of wisdom because this school will produce a life filled with meaning and fulfillment and it will not be a waste of time like some schooling is today. He is in a sense calling on us to learn from his own mistakes and his own journey of life and he is saying “Don’t wait to learn the importance of living by wisdom from above do it now before it is too late!”
Benjamin Franklin said in line with what Solomon is urging in his book this: “Life’s Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late!”
T.S. - Solomon is shooting at us actions and attitudes of wisdom from above and telling us how these elements from God will brighten our faces and lift our spirits. We need to learn this lesson while we are young and never allow the influence of the world to steal it away. So the first instruction he gives about the actions of one with a wise heart is to learn to submit to authority in life.
I. The wise heart will know the importance of submitting to authority.
a. There is a proper procedure for everything in life including listening to and following the direction of authority in this life.
i. The wise know the importance of submission to proper authority.
1. “Wise submit they don’t rebel.”
a. Rebellion to authority is running wild in our society today and many think that being rebellious is glorious and even a virtue of life.
b. The Bible makes it clear that God views rebellion like he does the sin of witchcraft.
i. See 2 Samuel 15:23
b. Rebellion is being promoted throughout the media today and many think it’s American to rebel because of the how this nation birthed in rebellion against England but the facts have been twisted again. Listen to what Clark says:
i. The Birthing of America by Gray W. Clark: Why is it important to reexamine, in a Christian publication, the founding of America? Because the prevailing view of the birth of America is stilted. This stilted view has led Christians into rebellion. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (11 Samuel 15:23) which is always judged by God. The hoax of the American Revolution is that it was not a series of rebellious acts by the colonists against the Crown of England. Modern textbooks are advancing the hoax with statements such as: "The Declaration was a revolutionary document in the sense that it justified a revolution already begun." This is a quote from a typical college textbook. This period of history is being misconstrued in school textbooks to influence thinking to rebellion and revolution. When the Christian hears "revolution today", he thinks in terms of "Communist Revolution" and equates this with the "American Revolution". False equation. There was no Communist-style revolution to Birth America. Textbooks further teach that our forefathers wanted to break from the cover of the Crown and be separate. They, therefore, revolted to bring forth their desires, a new nation. Such teachings are not the best interpretation of facts. Revolution and rebellion are harmful states of mind. Christians need to learn that America did not want to be independent of England; it was forced upon her. Before 1776, she made numerous Godly appeals to the Crown for reconciliation to her pre-1763 relationship with England, but without success. Actually, England declared war upon America and granted her independence on 22 December 1775. The key period of history is from 1763 to the unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America in Congress, July 4, 1776. These events led to the Birth of America. Significant events occurred beginning with the Sugar Act of 5 April 1764 between Parliament, the King of England, and the Colonial Assemblies and Congress, that need to be better understood… Case in point: Do you know anyone who has committed rebellious acts against civil government using the excuse that "We owe it to our forefathers?" The question is, "What do we owe to our forefathers?" Do Christians owe "rebellion/revolution" or "responsibility/Godly appeals"? Charles M. Andrews knew the value of an accurate view of history when he wrote over 50 years ago in his Colonial Background of the American Revolution: "A nation’s attitude toward its own history is like a window into its soul, and the men and women of such a nation cannot be expected to meet the great obligations of the present if they refuse to exhibit honesty, charity, open-mindedness, and a free and growing intelligence toward the past that has made them what they are?
1. This article addresses two main thoughts: America was born under responsibility and Godly appeals. Governments born in rebellion die – (from http://home.neo.rr.com/moseshand/Studies/rebellion).
a. See Barna’s comments on the recent condition of Christians in America:
i. Being independent and deciding our own right and wrong are becoming more normal in Christianity he noted rather than following the directives laid out in God’s Word.
ii. Rebellion has obviously taken root even in Christians!
c. Our Society has been overrun with acts of rebellion and the media has portrayed these acts if rebellion as good and not evil. They even think that these acts of rebellion should be applauded by the rest of us. Dr Stringer highlights some these rebellious acts in an article he wrote. Listen to his thoughts on the dangerous direction our culture is heading:
i. The following cases of rebellion have been highlighted by the article Characteristics of A Culture in Rebellion Against God by Dr. Phil Stringer (Florida)
1. A case in point on rebellion: Homosexuality is the ultimate form of rebellion against God. It involves not only rebelling against the principles of God but against the very body that God created. Homosexual acts involve using the body in ways for which it was never designed by the Creator God.
a. Romans 1:26-27 says: For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
2. Case in point: Fornication (referring to sexual sins): Such sins are no longer relegated to the red light districts and back alleys of society but have become more and more open, tolerated, and even promoted. Everyone is asked to pay for the consequences of immoral living. In a society where we are told that it is none of our business what our neighbor does, we are told that it is our responsibility to help pay for the consequences.
a. The next time you watch a sitcom on TV or any movie or TV show see how fornication is presented!
i. Is it presented as normal and good for the relationship or bad for the relationship.
ii. Remember its rebellion against the Word of God.
3. Case in point: Inventors of Evil Things (refers to the ability of human nature to create situations that promote and spread evil among people): The pornography industry, the use of popular music to promote Satanism, suicide, moral impurity, and the endless attempt to introduce nudity and pornography into mainstream television illustrates the attention being given to "inventing evil things" in American life.
a. (This also refers to the attack on the Biblical and traditional role of parents in guiding their children): From Hillary Clinton’s famous quotes comparing parental control over children to slavery and concentration camps, to the modern psychological counseling models that reject parental authority, parental authority in America is being challenged. For many parents of teenagers, the biggest challenge they face is trying to deal with their teens. Nevertheless, if God has no authority how can mere parents have any authority? The natural teenage impulse toward rebellion has been magnified by the spirit of the day.
4. Case in point: Malignity (refers to bad character): The state of politicians in America indicates how much the American attitude towards character has changed. Formerly, politicians were expected to be examples of morality and integrity. Now, people who bring up character issues in politics are attacked as being part of the "lunatic fringe."
5. Case in point: Whisperers and Backbiters (both refer to gossips, busy-body people who enjoy saying sensational things about people, even if they are not true): National Enquirer-type tabloids have become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. The spirit of "back-biting" has resulted in many sensational interviews in magazines and on TV and radio. The American public eats it up. "Gossip rags" play a more important role in American life than serious journals.
a. Gossip and slandering of others has become a way of life for many people and even for many so-called Christians.
6. Case in point: Haters of God: Public displays of hatred toward God by homosexual activists and Satanists have never been more prominent in America. Attacks on churches and preachers (the visible representatives of God) have increased at an incredible rate. Blaming the Christian concept of God for all of America’s social ills has never been more fashionable among politicians and the news media than it is now.
a. The new movie The Golden Compass highlights this principle today.
i. It is antichurch and anti-God!
ii. We will talk more about this movie in a moment.
7. Case in point: Proud, Boasters (refer to the attitude of lifting yourself, in your own opinion, above those around you): In politics, sports, and everyday life, humility is an almost unheard-of-trait.
a. Just look at the pro-athletes and their attitudes!
i. The following case in points were taken from: http://www.usiap.org/Viewpoints/Culture/CultureWar/CharOfCultureInRebellion.htm).
ii. The truth is rebellion is being glorified in our society and this is not what a wise heart does in life according to Solomon.
d. The fact is according to the Bible we are to respect and listen to the authorities in life because they are established by God. So what are these authorities we need to listen to and obey if we want wisdom from above and a wise heart?
i. God’s Word is the number 1 authority – This is the ultimate authority to live by and we in America need to come back to submitting to its authority or rebellion will sweep over this nation and it will destroy it.
1. 2 Timothy 3:16: “16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2. Matthew 9:6, 7: 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.…” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
3. Matthew 28:18: 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
ii. Parental authority - children listen to them as they follow the Lord and instruct you with wisdom from above.
1. Ephesians 6:1: 1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—3“that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
2. Colossians 3:20: 20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
iii. Church authority – Listen and support the appointed leadership in the local church by protecting the unity in the Christian community and by not listening to gossip against them.
1. Hebrews 13:17: “17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
iv. Government authority – pay your taxes and do your part to be a model citizen by supporting your government and by praying for those in authority. You must also be involved in your government so that it hears the voice of reason and wisdom.
1. Matthew 22:17-20: “17Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 18But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” 21“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
v. Civil authority – Listen to the judges and the police officers and obey the laws of the land.
1. Romans 13: 5-7: “5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
a. It is the duty of every Christian to obey the laws of the land as long as they do not conflict with the law of God. Romans 13:1-7.
vi. School authority– Listen to your teachers and follow their direction, obey the rules of the school as long as it does not go against God’s authority.
1. Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men!”
vii. Employer’s authority– Follow their rules and do the job they hired you to do and serve them as if you are serving Jesus.
1. Ephesians 6:5-8: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”
e. Remember the word from Romans 13:1, 2 tells us: “1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”
T.S. – A wise heart will submit to authority because they know God is the author of authority and a wise heart will also stay away from wickedness because of its lethal death grip.
II. A wise heart knows that wickedness will not release them from its evil grip so they need God’s intervention.
a. A person with a wise heart knows that wickedness holds onto individuals with a death hold and it will not let go without divine intervention.
i. Wickedness will strangle wisdom and kill it in a person so we must make sure that we do not give it a foothold in our life.
ii. Solomon discovered this in his own life and it cost him dearly.
iii. He is telling us “Don’t make the same mistake I made!”
b. A person who is wise knows that the grip of evil on a person’s life will not let go unless it is ripped off by the power of the Holy Spirit.
i. The wise know “Evil has a death grip and it requires death for it to let go.”
1. Book Title: “Evil’s Death Grip.”
a. I am tossing the idea around on a book title which I sited above. I see so many Christians who have not allowed the Lord to release them from the Death Grip of Evil. Instead they allow the evil to hold on in their lives and they actually tell God to leave it alone because it’s their friend.
b. People are so deceived today when it comes to the danger of evil and wickedness. They want to water down the truth about evil and what it does to human lives.
i. But wickedness kills, steals and destroys!
ii. Solomon could at this point in his life see what wickedness had done to his family, his own life, his nation and he saw what the eternal consequences were going to be in the future for allowing evil to get a grip in his life and the nation’s life.
1. The problem was for Solomon was he was too late in stopping its impact on the nation and his family.
2. Today we are at a crossroads in America and we are either going to cry out to God to release the death grip of evil on this society or the majority will tell God to leave the evil alone because they like it.
3. I believe that the result will be the same result in America as what happened to Israel in I Kings 11-14. Solomon’s nation and kingdom was divided off into separate countries by the hand of God.
a. I see the same happening to America and it will bring to bring her to her knees before God.
iii. The wise heart knows that evil will do everything within its power to drag you down into Hell with it.
1. The old saying applies here, “Misery loves company!”
2. Today I see many people being dragged into Hell because they have allowed the evil of this world to take root in their hearts. This wickedness will cause their eternal death and their eternal judgment.
iv. Wickedness when allowed to hang on will impact not only the one it has its grips on but also others that this person comes in contact with.
1. Just read the newspaper and you will see how the grip of evil in one heart impacts the lives of others in this world.
a. I just recently read in the Pioneer Press on Wednesday about a man in his 40’s out on a bike ride who was mugged by two men in their twenties who attacked him with a baseball bat and killed this man who was a father and loving husband. The men who killed him said they robbed him and he only had $40.00 on him.
2. Wickedness when it is not checked or restrained will infect others and bring them down too.
v. Remember wickedness if it is allowed a foothold in a life will rule over it and destroy it.
vi. Wickedness when allowed to go un-judged will impact the hearts of the unwise and cause them to buy into the wickedness themselves. This deception will then seek to cast more evil schemes into society to destroy it even further.
vii. But wickedness will be judged by God at the end of a life and those who do evil will pay the price with their eternal life.
1. Judgment will come on them and it will be horrible for those who have allowed wickedness to continue the death grip on their life!
a. Just read the book of Revelation!
2. But the God-fearing person will discover that their end will be a blessing and a great entrance into eternal life forever – where there is no more wickedness to bring them down.
T.S. - The wise heart will avoid wickedness and not allow it to take root in their life. The wise heart will also know that it has limitations in life but God does not.
III. The wise heart knows that they do not know all things only God does!
a. A wise heart knows that they are not in control in this world – God is.
i. They understand that, “God Knows Best!”
1. They have a divine understanding from the Holy Spirit that tells them that they will not have all the answers to life’s questions.
a. They know that this life is a faith walk with God which means we trust God even when we do not have all the answers to life’s tragedies and dilemmas.
b. A wise heart has a spirit of humility with God and other s because they understand that they have limitations and life is filled with mysteries and unanswered questions:
i. Swindoll highlights the fact that the world is filled with mysteries beyond our knowledge.
1. And how about the immeasurable spaces above us? Who can unravel the mysterious yet vast movement of the perfectly synchronized planets and stars displaying the most accurate timepiece in existence? Even a hurried look through a telescope makes our mouths drop open. On the other extreme, when is the last time you peered through a microscope? Talk about a riddle wrapped up in mystery! Although invisible to the naked eye, there is a world of unseen action going on around us (and inside us) that boggles the mind. And it’s all so unbelievably small. And while we’re considering the microscopic world, we can’t overlook just how tiny each individual cell really is. Did you realize that if an electron were increased in size until it became as large as an apple and a human being grew larger in the same proportion, that person could hold the entire solar system in the palm of his hand, and would need to use a magnifying glass in order to see it? (Living on the Ragged Edge, page 236)
ii. I myself ponder over the great mystery that occurs in the dryer were socks always seem to disappear!
1. I also have the same problem with gloves I seem to put them in our entry way cabinet and somehow all of my gloves seem to fight it out in there and all my matching gloves are gone. I have several gloves but the matching one is missing in action. Its true one of the pairs is missing in everyone of my sets but with no explanation as to where the other glove has disappeared too.
iii. Mysteries surround us in this world for example I had problems with my left knee killing me with pain so I scheduled a doctor visit and a week before the visit the pain disappeared never to return. I am sure my doctor looked at me and said, “Why are you here?” In his mind of course. I was actually asking myself the same question.
1. Or how about the car that acts up until you take it into the repairman then it runs fine.
iv. Swindoll adds, “There is the Loch Ness monster and the Abominable Snowman and Big Foot and the Bermuda Triangle. And we can’t forget the UFO’s. Ripley’s Believe it or Not will be in business forever. We manage to continue on, though brilliant scientists have been trying to solve and/or explain life’s mysteries for years. And we seem to have little trouble going on through life with dozens of riddles still unanswered, hundreds of mysteries still unsolved” (237).
v. But when God leaves a mystery people begin questioning their faith and whether God is a good God or not. How could He do that, Why would He do it!
1. This is why we need humility in our faith walk:
a. Reference – The Burton’s e-mail: “I find myself hanging my head in humility some days when someone goes on and on thanking me for what we are doing here. Suffice it to we are having a great winter, right smack dab in the center of what God is doing. This churches here in this community have come together in unity since the storm to the extent that I really think they are about to experience a revival like they have never seen before. All the Evangelical churches come together one night a month for a unity service. One can’t sit in one of these services without tears rolling down your checks seeing blacks and whites praising the Lord in unity. The people all say it took the storm to bring this about and they are saying that it was worth losing everything to see unity that will bring revival.”
i. Jim is serving the Lord down in this area hit by the hurricane a couple of years back and I am sure the people could not understand why God allowed this storm to hit them but maybe today many can see what God has done through the storm!
ii. PROUD HUMILITY: Humility is a sign of strength, not of weakness. Humility is above all, and quite simply, truthfulness--self-honesty. It is not the false modesty of one retreating shyly into the limelight.
It isn’t, in other words, the sort of "humility" that was expressed in the introduction written by a French archeologist to a book by one of his colleagues. Praising the book, this scholar wrote, "The author’s distinquished work was done at our direction, and under our constant supervision." SOURCE: J. Donald Walters. The Art of Leadership. New York: MJF Books, 1987. p 63-64 (from SermonCentral).
vi. A wise heart knows better than to try to judge God! The wise heart will follow God and His Word because of the insight of wisdom.
1. A person with a wise heart does not pronounce judgment against God instead they submit to His divine plan and will even when they do not understand.
a. I am now coming back to my previous reference the movie The Golden Compass:
i. Time magazine’s article: In their Dec. 10th edition they reference the movie the The Golden Compass which is written by Philip Pullman a confessing atheist. His movie and books attack the church as the bad guy. In the movie the heroes are fighting the Christian church and they get insight in what to do against the church by daemons. In the movie the church is portrayed as sinister and totalitarian. He says that C.S. Lewis was profoundly Immoral when he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.
ii. E-mail reference: A recent email reminded me what this man said in 2003 “That his books were about killing God.” Which by the way they do at the end of this movie. The movie is anti-Christian and attacks the belief system of the church of Jesus Christ. He also stated in 2001 “He is trying to undermine the basis of the Christian belief.” His goal is to undermine the Christian faith and to sell atheism as an alternative and rightful belief system.
iii. The following quote is from Focus on the Family:
1. QUOTE: "The book depicts the Temptation and Fall not as the source of all woe and misery, as in traditional Christian teaching, but as the beginning of true human freedom, something to be celebrated, not lamented. And the Tempter is not an evil being like Satan, prompted by malice and envy, but a figure who might stand for Wisdom." —The Golden Compass author Philip Pullman, on how he sets up the spiritual underpinnings of his trilogy [randomhouse.com]
iv. The movie portrays Christianity as a very powerful and convincing mistake. In the end of the movie the two child heroes participate in the dissolution of “The Authority” a senile, pretender God who has falsely passed himself off as the Creator of the Universe (From Snopes.com).
vii. A wise heart understands that things happen which we do not have insight about in life but in these times we still have to trust and have faith in God.
1. The wise in heart know we walk by faith and not by sight.
2. A wise heart needs to see things through the eyes of faith and not cynicism.
3. Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day." Robert Warren sermoncentral.com
c. The wise in heart know this about wisdom - “Wisdom is the God-given ability to perceive the true nature of a matter and implement the will of God in that matter” (Larry Lea, Wisdom pg.14) ERIC OLSON sermoncentral.com
i. A wise heart sees injustice but so does God and a wise heart knows that He will judge it one day and every unjust act will be addresses at the end times.
ii. A wise heart knows that he or she cannot comprehend all that happens in life and what God does do and what it seems He doesn’t do.
1. Notice it says “No one knows all things – only God knows all things.”
a. Quote: If you lack knowledge, go to school. If you lack wisdom, get on your knees! Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is the proper use of knowledge.
-- Vance Havner from sermoncentral.com contributor Dru Ashwell
T.S. – The wise in heart knows its limitations and it seeks to follow God even when there are many questions as to the course but wisdom follows faith and in the end it will be rewarded by God who knows all things.
Video Illustration: From Blue Fish TV “Almena Brown- Words” A call to return to God and His ways!
Conclusion:
Wisdom from above brightens a man’s face and takes the harshness of life out of it. When wisdom is in control of a person’s heart and life then they will shine for Jesus in a dark world.
A person with a wise heart will do the following with their time and with their lives:
1. They will submit to authority unless that authority tries to supersede God’s authority.
2. They will not allow evil or wickedness to get a death grip on their heart, if he has they will repent and ask God to remove the evils grip on their life and heart.
3. They will not claim to know more than God or even try to judge God about life’s circumstances instead they will walk by faith for God’s honor.
