Sermon Brief
Date Written: January 16, 2010
Date Preached: January 17, 2010
Where Preached: Oak Park (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Series on Job
Sermon Title: Hard Lessons from Wisdom
Sermon Text: Job 28 [HCSB]
20 Where then does wisdom come from, and where is understanding located?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the sky. 22 Abaddon and Death say, "We have heard news of it with our ears." 23 But God understands the way to wisdom, and He knows its location.
Introduction:
In this sermon, we are going to look at Job 28 to help us to see the biblical truths about wisdom.
Crisis intensifies our need for wisdom.
God is our only source of true wisdom.
Godly wisdom leads directly to godly action.
There’s a difference between intelligence and wisdom, as illustrated by the old story of the favorite course at the University. The favorite course? A survey of the New Testament.
It was a favorite because there was no homework, no reading, and no tests before the final. And on the final, for 25 years, the same professor had always presented the same question: "Describe the Missionary Journeys of Paul."
A young man by the name of "Meathead," a star on the school's football team, took the course. And a tutor helped him prepare, all semester long, for the final exam. When the day of the test came, Meathead was ready.
He knew everything about every journey Paul ever took. He knew about Philippi and Thessalonica, Rome and Tyre. He knew about Timothy and Barnabas and Luke. He was ready.
But when the final exam was passed out, students all over that great auditorium were stunned to see a new question. For the first time in a quarter-century, the professor decided to ask a different question. Instead of a question about Paul's missionary journeys, there was this question: "Critique the Sermon on the Mount that was preached by Jesus."
The shock was felt across the room. And a young man got up, took his blue book - a little book that was designed to hold his essay - and threw it down on the professor's desk. It was empty. He didn't know how to answer the question. And one by one, all of the students left, none of them able to answer the question ... except for Meathead.
Meathead opened his blue book and began to write. He wrote and he wrote and he wrote. The professor's assistant came back an hour later, and Meathead was still writing. Two hours later, and Meathead was going at it. For a full three hours, Meathead filled up his blue book.
That afternoon, the professor had two stacks of blue books. On his right, a tall stack of empty blue books, all with the grade of F. On his left, one, single blue book, with a big, bold A+ right on top. It was Meathead's.
"What in the world did you write about?" Asked a classmate. "Read it," said Meathead. And on the first page was the opening sentence. "Who am I to criticize the Sermon on the Mount? Instead, let me tell you about the missionary journeys of Paul." Meathead … had discovered wisdom.
1. Crisis intensifies our need for wisdom.
We all know the devastation that was brought about with Katrina, and we all know that much of that devastation could have been prevented had the people heeded the warnings and if they would have evacuated the city.
We all know of the nightmare that was the immediate aftermath of Katrina, tens of thousands of people in New Orleans began wondering how they were going to survive because there was no power, no food, no water… no basic law enforcement!
For what seemed like an eternity for some, the conditions deteriorated and the people’s questions became more and more panic stricken! This storm left so many homeless, and they fled to places of refuge in 2 main areas, Superdome and Convention Center.
With NO law enforcement to speak of and under the cover of a black darkness every night, there were countless looters in the streets… they eventually were brazen enough to not care if it was dark or light and would loot at will.
The government agencies, that many of these stranded people had relied upon to help them, was woefully unprepared for the magnitude of this crisis. So with each passing day, the crisis intensified, and the demands for action grew more strident.
Eventually things were done and steps were taken to help these people and alleviate their immediate needs of water, sanitation, protection and food. However it was NOT before hundreds had died and world-wide criticism was leveled at the leaders’ at all governmental levels, Federal, State and local, who hadn’t prepared well enough for the storm.
And THE main reason the storm was so devastating in terms of human costs? It is because a huge percentage of the population had chosen to ignore a mandatory evacuation notice and many did not believe the weather data that showed this storm to be HUGE in strength and size, and showed it coming directly toward the city. Many markers that could have saved lives were overlooked and tragedy was the result…
However, a mere 3 weeks later, when Hurricane Rita roared on shore to the west of New Orleans along the Texas-Louisiana state line, the aftermath of the storm was not nearly as disastrous. The main reason?
It wasn’t because the storm was smaller or less powerful, they were similar in size and power when they hit the coast… the MAIN reason for the difference in outcomes were that MOST of the people in the path of the storm had taken a lesson from Katrina.
For instance, in Galveston, Texas, a coastal city with a population of 58,000, was almost a ghost town a full three days before Rita was scheduled to make landfall because the people heeded the warnings of the weather forecasters and local authorities and evacuated.
Where people would normally wait until 2 days prior… they left early to avoid the storm AND the inevitable traffic problems associated with a mass evacuation. A full four days before Rita was to come ashore gas was starting to dwindle in some areas and stores were jammed with people getting ready.
These residents took this VERY seriously - mainly because of hurricane Katrina. Because of Hurricane Katrina’s terrible tragedies, we found that it intensified hurricane awareness for ALL residents along the Gulf Coast, and most of them acted upon that wisdom.
In crisis our need for wisdom intensifies because our choices and decisions carry with them such great consequences. Do I stay and ride out the storm? Do I heed the mandatory evacuation orders?
Now as we look at the story of Job and what was going on with him it must have seemed that life had sent him a triple dose of hurricanes back to back to back, with no warning at all. First, it was his possessions that were taken! 2nd it was the devastating loss of his children, and 3rd it was not long before even his body was pummeled by disease and sickness.
When we look at Scripture we can see it took him a week to get his voice… or maybe it was a week spent wondering what could be said… the devastation was so massive… the pain was so harsh… he could only sob and cry! Have you ever been to that point in your life when WORDS don’t make sense and the only thing you can do is sob… the only thing you can do is cry?
After a week we find him beginning to attempt to say something, and we find that Job is searching for some answers. His friends begin to look at the ‘why’ question and the debate about ‘why’ this had happened consumed them, but we find in our passage of Scripture this morning that even though Job wanted to answer the ‘why’ question… we can also see that he needed wisdom to understand his suffering more than ever before.
I believe that this crisis deeply intensified Job’s search for wisdom. As his friends dragged the debate over his suffering drug on and on, Job’s frustration flooded his heart, he needed more answers.
We find him asking the question, “Where can wisdom be found?” in Job 28:12 “Where does understanding dwell?” In the poetic words of the book, Job looked throughout the “land of the living,” in the sea, in the market place. “It cannot be bought with the finest gold,” Job said, “nor can its price be weighed with silver.” (28:15)
The intensity of Job’s analysis builds from his first words to his last argument, and will only be matched by the appearance of God in the closing chapters.
For many of us the most heavy thought and decision we may have to make in any one day is “what am I having for lunch? or where are we going for dinner?” For the most part our choices do not carry an intense need for wisdom… but when crisis appears in our lives, our need for wisdom increases… the deeper and harder the crisis the more our need for wise decisions!
For the believer, in our walk with Christ there are going to be times when crisis comes and we will be searching for wisdom, and in that time of crisis we will need wisdom more than ever before… this is because the need for wisdom increases within a crisis… but my 2nd point this morning is FOR THE BELIEVER in the time of crisis…
2. God is our only source of true wisdom.
I believe when we look at this story of Job we can see that Job could NOT find wisdom, it seemed to be hiding from him. Basically, Job was at a loss… he did not know what to say, what to do, who to trust… he was searching for the right thing to do… the right thing to say, but could not find them!
Have you even been to that point in your life where you are at a loss of what to do, what to say, where to go, who to turn to… nothing makes sense and you find yourself searching but NOT finding what you think you need. For many in this world it is a constant search.
We see that Job was there… he was at a loss, but what we come to find out about Job is that he finally DID come to understand a very simple truth for those who believe… That truth is that only God holds true wisdom. Look what Job says in Job 28:23 “He alone knows where it [wisdom] dwells,” I believe Job said this in a bit of anger and frustration.
Of course, saying that God is our only source of wisdom won’t bring Job or his descendants much comfort. And like Job and his wife, when we are at our lowest and when we cannot seem to find the answers we need, our confession that God is the only true wisdom… THAT CONFESSION itself will not bring us that much comfort. The reason is that… God has the answers we need and how do we gain access to such wisdom?
With that in mind, I want us to consider the little boy who came home from his first day of school, dropped his little backpack and quickly settled into his summertime, life-of-ease routine. His mother said, “Do you have any homework for class tomorrow?” He looked at her in disbelief, and said, “You mean I have to go back tomorrow?”
We laugh at the child who can’t understand the years-long nature of the educational process, but somehow think we can check in with God on the day of crisis and come away with a lifetime of understanding.
I believe that Scripture lays wisdom out as something very much like the educational process… it take YEARS to learn what we need to know. When you think about it, WISDOM is the goal of education! It takes years of day-to-day studies, years of reading, learning new skills, and applying those skills in ever-new ways. Wisdom is taking the knowledge we have gain and applies it to our lives and to our situations… wisdom is applied knowledge…
When we posses godly wisdom we are going to have the tools of faith to help us live a pro-active life for God. It enables us to prepare for those days of crisis that come along in our lives… and try to throw us off our walk for God.
As believers, we trust in and believe that the Bible is the spoken and written Word of God. And also as believers we believe that a godly life is the practical application of the ways of God as written in His Word!
This is why, as a pastor, and as a believer, I believe so highly in a personal Bible reading and study program. Any believer who invests in reading the Bible and applying the biblical principles learned to their every-day choices will naturally have much more about the wisdom of God than the believer who does NOT put a high premium on God’s Word.
Do we truly believe this as a church? Does Christianity realize the power that is God’s Word? I recently read a quote from the Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi who spoke out forcefully to Christians. He said, "You Christians have in your keeping a document with enough dynamite in it to blow the whole of civilization to bits; to turn society upside down; to bring peace to this war torn world. But you read it as if it were just good literature, and nothing else."
So do we believe it? Do we TRUST in it? Recent research from the George Barna group tells us that well over half of American adults (60%) never read the Bible in a typical week. Barna also shares that 33% of ALL those who claim to be “born again” Christians simply cannot find the time to read their Bibles.
We laugh at and ridicule those people we see that ignore hurricane warnings and the mandatory evacuations. We chide them for the risk they’re taking by staying in the path of a coming storm.
They say, evacuation is a pain, and its expensive and that the storm won’t be as bad as they say… they don’t want to deal with traffic, they don’t want to deal with boarding up their homes… they don’t want to be away from the comfort of their home… so they ignore the warnings and stay in harm’s way!
Now let’s look at this from a spiritual perspective. What about those Christians who do NOT seek out the wisdom of God in His word? These are those believers who believe that reading the Bible is an inconvenience, it takes up too much of their time, it lays guilt trips on them, and after all life isn’t going to throw anything my way that I can’t handle… they simply choose to ignore the Word of God and place themselves in harm’s way!
It is sad to see those believers out there who assume the storms of life aren’t coming or they won’t be that bad. It is equally as sad to see believers who claim Christ as Savior, choosing to NEVER wrestle with the words of the Bible and gain the wisdom needed for the living of their life.
These people need to understand the choice they’re making! You see, as a believer, you can’t expect to form a deep and abiding relationship with God in the short few hours of a crisis in your life.
We must be about the work of getting to know the God who holds all wisdom – and that can only happen when we resolve in ourselves to a long-term, dedicated study of the Word of God.
When Solomon penned his proverbs, he first tackled the subject of finding wisdom, and he urged his son to search for it the way a miner would search for silver, or the way a man might hunt for hidden treasure.
When we dissect his comments, we find that BOTH tasks are marked by hrs of hard work, sweat, and persistence. Both types of work involve some frightening moments, but if the job is completed, the rewards are worth the work. Search for wisdom like that, Solomon said, and “you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:5)
We have seen how in crisis our NEED for wisdom increases greatly, and as believers we have seen that the only TRUE wisdom we can lean on is Godly wisdom that we can only find in His word… by studying and reading it daily! Finally this morning I want to share that when we do find that Godly wisdom and when we do begin to put that wisdom into practice in our lives… the results are going to be pleasing to us AND to God…
3. Godly wisdom leads directly to godly action.
Job was a smart man, he had accumulated a great deal of wealth and position in the community by being a smart businessman. He had a good head on his shoulders, but even Job knew that sheer knowledge could not save him in this position.
Job even knew that knowledge about God wasn’t enough to answer his questions… to deal with his situation! Job understood that he needed godly wisdom and that real godly wisdom would lead to real godly action in his life!
Look what Job says in v.28, “And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’” [NLT]
When you look at this from a logical perspective, the TEST of wisdom is how it is applied! Job knew that wisdom is only wisdom when it is applied and lived out. In this verse he gives a sample of wisdom and how that wisdom is fleshed out in one’s life. In other words, will your knowledge of God lead to godly actions?
More importantly for believers today is, will all the Bible reading you do actually result in your life being changed? What we may not realize is that when we read God’s word, but do NOT apply it to our lives… it can be dangerous!
On August 3, 1996, Melvin Hitchens, sat on his front porch and read the Bible. After his Bible reading, this 66 year old New Orleans resident went in his house and retrieved a .45 caliber hand gun. He went back outside, and shot his neighbors!
He killed Donna Jett as she swept her sidewalk and injured Darryl Jett while he was mowing. Family members and neighborhood residents testified that Hitchens and the Jett’s had a running feud over the care of their yards and the cleanliness of the gutters.
No one, however, had an explanation how a man could put down his Bible, and commit such a violent act! Positive transformation requires the application of God's Word. Reading God’s word alone does not transform us, but we have to put into action those things we learn FROM God’s word… put them into action in our lives and we will see a changed life!
Now for the believer today, as we live in the wonderful embrace of grace and as we know that the death of Christ on the cross means our sins are forgiven, and our debt is paid... The question that follows salvation for the believer is: Will grace make a difference in the way we live our lives OR are we going to continue to live as we lived before we were saved?
Think about this for just a minute… Getting saved should change our lives radically, we should NEVER think that we can live as we did before Christ! Let me put it to you this way… what about the man who gets married, goes on his honeymoon, and comes back to settle into his newly married life!
On the 1st Friday night back his wife walks into the bedroom and sees her husband getting dressed. She asked him what he’s getting dressed for and he tells her, I have a date tonight… CAN U IMAGINE THE FIREWORKS! And we wonder why God gets so angry when we don’t not change our ways…
When a man gets married, he acts in a different way. He doesn’t date other women after the wedding! I believe that all of us here are smart enough to know that the commitment of marriage demands of us a radically different lifestyle! We cannot continue to live as we are single… that commitment changes our lives!
So with that in mind, wisdom asks us the question, “Do you understand that a commitment to Christ also means you’ll have a different lifestyle?”
We can see all throughout the book of Job… all thru his suffering, and the long debate about that suffering, Job DID not let go of his insistence that he had lived a radically different life… He had lived a godly life and he would continue to do so. In one of his late arguments, Job said:
“3 As long as I live, while I have breath from God, 4 my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies. 5 I will never concede that you are right; I will defend my integrity until I die.” Job 27:3-5 [NLT]
Job understood the need to put Godly wisdom into practice in his life, and that when we did that godly actions would ensue… We need to understand that we can only live godly, when we apply God’s Word to our lives and apply God’s wisdom to our actions.
Conclusion
So many times in life we find ourselves staring crisis face to face and wondering WHAT am I going to do… how did this happen… why did this happen…
We may have it all together now! We may have everything going our way one moment, but the next we are struggling to understand why… That happens to all of us from time to time in our lives. But in crisis, we need to know that wisdom is our best friend and in a time of crisis we need it more and more!
But crisis time is NOT the time to seek after wisdom, but it is the time to call on the wisdom that you have stored up in your life by studying God’s word. But if you have NOT stored up this wisdom, God does not abandon you, but it will be more difficult… but God’s word can bring the wisdom you need into your life!
However what you do with that wisdom is crucial to how you survive when crisis comes your way. Having all the knowledge of Scripture in your head but not applying to your life is like knowing the cure for all the disease in the world but not sharing it with those around you… it is a terrible thing and will put you in a terrible place!
This morning you have heard about the wisdom of God and God’s word. God’s wisdom is our salvation! In His wisdom he knew our plight with sin and sent His Son, Jesus… born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died on the Cross for our sin, and raised on the 3rd day for our eternal life!
God’s wisdom is placed before us in God’s word… Scripture tells us that those who accept Christ as the Son of God, died on the Cross for your sin, raised on the 3rd day… that if you will accept that and confess your sin… YOUR sins will be forgiven and you will receive the salvation that only God can provide…
Today, you may be thinking that you are wise enough to navigate the storms of life, and you may be here thinking that nothing is too hard for you… but there will be a time when ALL will fail and you will be reduced to ashes like Job. When that time comes… I urge you to look to God, seek His face… seek His salvation!
But here’s the Good News for this morning, you don’t have to wait until you have hit rock bottom, you can come to know Him today and have Him begin to fill you with the wisdom you need to live as He has called you to live.
As Bro Steven comes to lead us in our Hymn of Invitation…I want to urge you to come and surrender to Him today… surrender to the wisdom of God… give your life to Him today!
