How many sent children off to school this week? How many for the first time? Here’s a question: Why? [Other than because it’s the law, or to get them out of your hair] What is it you’re hoping they’ll learn there? Math, reading, science, history . . . but is that all? No, of course not. You hope that they’ll learn social skills. You hope they’ll learn how to relate to people, how to get along with others. You hope they’ll learn the value of working toward a goal, succeeding at something. If they’re in sports, you hope they’ll learn teamwork, how to deal with winning and losing. You want your children to learn good life lessons.
Of course, we don’t entrust this entirely to the schools, nor should we. Mothers and fathers, families have a lot to do with this kind of learning. As parents, we do everything we can to instill the right kind of values in our kids, to teach them right from wrong. We don’t just want them to learn facts. We don’t want educated fools. We want them to develop good judgment. We want them to gain wisdom. Why? Because there’s more to life than just having the skills to do a job. There’s a spiritual dimension to life that doesn’t come out of textbooks.
And we not only want it for our children; we want it for ourselves. Don’t you? Wouldn’t you rather be wise than foolish? After all, you can’t pass on to your children something you don’t have yourself. But where does it come from? I think a lot of people these days are searching for wisdom, in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of places. For example, a search of Amazon.com brings up 4392 books with "wisdom" in the title. Examples:
· Jewish wisdom, Quaker wisdom, Celtic wisdom, wisdom of the Zen masters, wisdom of the native Americans, Amish wisdom, wisdom from ancient Egypt, Irish wisdom, Chinese wisdom, folk wisdom, african-american wisdom
· Wisdom from the Dalai Lama, wisdom from the ’Nanny’ (Fran Drescher), wisdom from Abraham Lincoln, King Solomon, Ben Franklin, Billy Graham, Mahatma Ghandi, Tom Landry, Winston Churchill, Confucius,
· Wisdom from taxi drivers, cowboys, football players, bumper stickers, from dogs and cats (!), wisdom from greeting cards, and wisdom from country music songs (must be a short book)
People are seeking wisdom from every possible source [even bumper stickers and country music songs]. Why? Because they sense something missing. A wisdom deficit. Our society is better educated than ever before, we have more information than any other generation (so much that we suffer from information overload), we’re unlocking the secrets of the human genome; millions of books and magazines and technical journals and newspapers are published every year just chock-full of new information, new scientific discoveries, new revelations. But where’s the wisdom?
A century and a half ago it took news three weeks to travel across the Atlantic from England to America, now we can watch CNN and see news happening in real time literally anywhere of the world - from North Dakota to Outer Mongolia. The internet is opening up vast information resources to anyone with a PC and a modem. I read somewhere that there is more information in one Sunday edition of the New York Times than a person in the Middle Ages was exposed to their entire lifetime.
Yet there’s a sense in people’s minds that all of our technological and scientific knowledge, all of our almost limitless access to information, hasn’t made us any wiser. If anything, the pace of change in modern life seems to be eroding our foundation of shared beliefs, so that we’re not sure what wisdom even is any more. So people are searching. They’re examining the world’s religious traditions. And making up new religions. They’re reading books written by all kinds of wisdom ’gurus’, like Deepak Chopra and Thomas Merton. They’re searching through ancient and modern cultures. They’re attending seminars. Miracle of miracles, they’re even listening to their elders [books, "Tuesdays with Morrie". "The Greatest Generation speaks."]. They’ve found that accumulating data and information and knowledge does not confer wisdom, and they’ve gone looking for something that will. It’s almost as if they’re yelling at the top of their lungs, "Will someone please explain to me what’s going on!"
This morning, we’re going to look at where this wisdom, that we all seek and desire, for ourselves and our children, can be found.
God’s knowledge and wisdom are unlimited
First, the ultimate source of wisdom is God the Creator. Not man, not nature, not reason, not mystical experiences, but God. The Scriptures, the ancient writings of the Hebrew prophets and poets, tell us that God’s knowledge and understanding are infinite, unlimited.
"The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." - Isaiah 40:28 (NIV)
"Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit."
- Psalm 147:5 (NIV)
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." - Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)
"The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good."
- Proverbs 15:3 (NIV)
What this tells us is that there is absolutely nothing that God does not know. From the spinning of galaxies hundreds of light-years in diameter down to the vibrations of subatomic particles, everything in creation is known and understood by God. (It only makes sense that he would understand it, since He both created it in the first place and now keeps it all going by His power).
Every word spoken by every person who ever lived, every thought in every mind, every movement by any of the billions of insects, and birds, and fish, and mammals anywhere in the world; every chemical reaction going on inside every flower and tree and plant on every continent - all of these are fully comprehended by God, all of them are known and understood by God simultaneously, all the time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. [And I have trouble remembering my anniversary]. [God even understands how Richard Hatch managed to win ’Survivor’]
God’s wisdom is higher than ours
Now, God’s wisdom doesn’t always seem like wisdom to us. Sometimes His ways seem anything but wise to us. We look at the world around us and see sin and evil and suffering and wrongdoing of every kind. And we think, "this is the kind of world that a supremely wise God created?"
Well, no. God didn’t create the world this way. He created it perfect; it was ruined by sin, introduced into the world by mankind. The good news is that one day God will restore His creation to its original state of perfection. But in the meantime, we still have this issue. How can an all-wise God tolerate a world that’s so messed up? Why doesn’t He do something? One answer is that He’s being patient and waiting for people to repent. He’s giving them time to come to their senses and turn to Christ for forgiveness.
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." - 2 Peter 3:9-10 (NIV)
God hates all of the evil and injustice in the world as much as we do; even more than we do, because He’s perfectly holy and sin is even more offensive to Him than to us. Someday He will return and wipe out everyone and everything that doesn’t measure up to His standard.
But why does God even permit sin and evil in the first place? Why did He create a world in which those kinds of things can even exist? This is a difficult question.
· You could resolve it by saying that God just doesn’t care about us. Or you could say that God cares but is unable to do anything about it. But neither of those is very comforting - a God who is indifferent to human suffering, or a God who is incapable of stopping it.
· A better response is to believe what the Bible says - that God does care about our suffering, that He is all powerful and able to bring about any result He pleases, but that for His own reasons, reasons that we don’t fully understand, He has chosen to allow sin and evil and suffering in the world, for the time being. With this answer, we admit that God’s knowledge and wisdom are greater than ours. We accept that we cannot fully comprehend the mind of God, that some things remain a mystery. All we can do is fall back in awe and worship.
You may not find this satisfying; personally, I’d rather have a good, loving, wise, powerful God that I don’t fully understand; than an indifferent, or hostile, or powerless God that I do understand.
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ’Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’" - Romans 11:33-34 (NIV)
"Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens. . . They are deeper than the depths of the grave. . . Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea." - Job 11:7-9 (NIV)
And it shouldn’t surprise us that God’s wisdom is greater than ours, since we are surrounded every day by ample evidence of man’s fallibility [examples from book "The Experts Speak"]
God’s wisdom gives us comfort and hope
What difference does God’s wisdom make to us? First His wisdom can be a source of great hope and comfort. Only a God with perfect wisdom and understanding is truly worthy of our faith. After all, when you place your trust in someone, you want to be sure that they know what they’re doing.
· For instance, if you’re going rafting on the Colorado river and need a guide, you’re not going to hire your neighbor Bob who’s "always wanted to do this." You don’t want a guide who’s fumbling with the map while you’re going over the rapids. You want an experienced rafter who’s been down the river before - preferably several times. And here’s the key: you don’t need to know every twist and turn and rock in the river, as long as you’re confident that your guide does.
· Likewise, if you’re placing your trust in God, you don’t have to understand all the reasons for why the world is the way it is. You don’t have to understand why bad things happen to good people, or why good things happen to bad people. You don’t have to understand the specific purpose for everything and everyone that God allows into your life. You just have to know that He understands, that His wisdom is perfect. That’s enough. And that confidence brings hope, and joy, and peace, even in the midst of difficulty and trial.
God’s wisdom gives us wisdom
Another way God’s wisdom affects us is that we can share in it. It’s communicable (that sounds like a disease, doesn’t it?). We can grow in our understanding; we can become wise .[Now, some of you are already wise guys, but I’m talking about something different].
"He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." - Daniel 2:21 (NIV)
"Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts."
- Psalm 119:98-100 (NIV)
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." - James 1:5 (NIV)
"For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." - Proverbs 2:6 (NIV)
Do you want to be wise? Do you want understanding and insight? Do you want to be able to teach your children, so that that they can develop wisdom and discernment? You don’t have to read all of those 4,329 books on "wisdom". Just obey God. Read His word. Pray and ask Him for wisdom. Do what he commands. And most of all, follow Jesus Christ and trust in Him as your Savior, because He is the ultimate revelation of God’s wisdom.
"But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 (NIV)
Conclusion
Whose wisdom are you trusting in this morning? Your own? Some self-help ’guru’s? Another man or woman’s, whose knowledge is limited and whose judgments are fallible? Are you trusting in the wisdom of some seminar speaker or popular writer? Or are you trusting in God and in His perfect wisdom? Are you trusting in Jesus Christ?
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
