June 8, 2025 • 48 mins
What does it mean to truly possess wisdom in a world that often confuses it with mere knowledge? Through an engaging exploration of three biblical figures—Adam, Solomon, and Jesus—we discover a profound progression in the pursuit of wisdom that transforms not just our thinking, but our very relationships.
Adam stands as a sobering warning. In the perfection of Eden, he had everything yet reached for the one thing God withheld, believing it would make him wise. His story reveals the devastating consequences of seeking wisdom apart from God: broken relationships, fear, and spiritual death. As Thomas aptly puts it, "Adam is a man trying to build a structure with no help, no wisdom, no guidance," and the results were catastrophic.
Solomon offers a refreshing contrast. When given the opportunity to ask for anything, he requested wisdom not for personal gain but to govern God's people well. His prayer for "an understanding mind to discern between good and evil" pleased God so much that he received not just wisdom but riches and honor as well. Solomon's approach demonstrates that wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord—not a cowering terror but a reverent awe that drives us toward obedience rather than away from God's presence.
The culmination comes in Jesus Christ, who doesn't merely seek or teach wisdom but embodies it perfectly. What Adam lost and Solomon sought, Christ restores completely. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus offers us not just knowledge but transformative wisdom that changes us from the inside out.
The practical application comes through a powerful cycle of growth: filling our minds with knowledge, walking accordingly in obedience, bearing fruit that benefits others, which in turn deepens our knowledge of God. This cycle, empowered by prayer and God's grace, gradually transforms our thinking and consequently our relationships.
Whether you're building relationships, making critical decisions, or simply trying to navigate daily challenges, this message offers a compelling vision for how biblical wisdom—rooted in the fear of the Lord and fulfilled in Christ—can transform every aspect of your life. Join us as we discover that right thinking truly does lead to right relationships.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, good morning.
If y'all will join with me inreading from 1 Kings, chapter 3,
verses 5 through 14.
And if you're using the PewBibles, that's going to be page
282.
At Gibeon, the Lord appeared toSolomon in a dream by night.
And God said Ask what I shallgive you.
(00:24):
And Solomon said you have showngreat and steadfast love to your
servant, david my father,because he walked before you in
faithfulness and righteousnessand an uprightness of heart
toward you, and you have keptfor him this great and steadfast
love and have given him a sonto sit on his throne this day
and now, o Lord, my God, youhave made your servant king in
(00:46):
place of David, my father.
Although I am but a littlechild, I do not know how to go
out or come in, and your servantis in the midst of your people,
whom you have chosen a greatpeople, too many to be numbered
or counted for multitude.
Give your servant, therefore,an understanding mind to govern
your people that I may discernbetween good and evil.
(01:07):
For who is able to govern this?
Your great people.
And it pleased the Lord thatSolomon had asked this.
And God said to him becauseyou've asked this and have not
asked for yourself long life orriches or the life of your
enemies, but have asked foryourself understanding to
discern what is right.
Behold, I now do according toyour word.
(01:28):
Behold, I give you a wise anddiscerning mind, so that none
like you has been before you andnone like you shall arise after
you.
I give you also what you havenot asked, both riches and honor
, so that no other king shallcompare with you all your days.
And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my
(01:49):
commandments, as your fatherDavid walked, then I will
lengthen your days.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Amen.
Thank you, lily, for that.
What a good morning it is.
Many of you guys didn't knowthat I was preaching, so, ushers
, close the doors, I'm justkidding.
So my name is Thomas.
(02:23):
If you don't know, I kind of runyouth ministry most of the time
around here and I'm superexcited to be with us.
So if you haven't come toministry or if you haven't, what
we do normally is work throughbooks of the Bible, and so
normally when we get up topreach, usually the next thing
that we preach is just the nextpage or the next chapter, and we
just work through books likethat.
Usually it's the healthiest wayto do things, to exposit God's
(02:45):
word and to kind of give thewhole counsel of God.
That said, we've been in thebook of Song of Solomon and Will
said on week one that he readin a commentary that this was
not for young preachers topreach and that they should stay
away, and so he told me that ifI wanted to preach Song of
Solomon, I could, and I told himI don't want to.
(03:07):
If you look, song of Solomon 7is next, and if at any point you
get bored during this sermon,you can look and you can read
that because I didn't want totouch it.
And so we are talking aboutwisdom this morning.
I figured if I was going topreach kind of a one-off sermon,
what we could do together as acongregation is maybe just take
(03:29):
a step back and zoom out alittle bit, because Solomon
presumably wrote Song of Solomon.
There's a question of if it wasto him or by him.
I'm going to say it was by himbecause he was the wisest man on
earth that we just read that.
God gifted him, god blessed himwith wisdom.
And so I figured, instead ofmaybe going again into this
(03:50):
romantic, almost physicallyintimate type of setting, what
we could do for everyone in theroom young, old, single, married
, everyone is we could zoom outand just look at wisdom as a
topic.
And so what am I saying?
Alright, turn with me to Songof Solomon.
(04:21):
This is what happens when youget Emmett to do your notes for
you.
Sorry, will, we'll get thatfixed, all right, so you guys
can turn in your Bibles toGenesis, chapter 3.
Reading is my strong suit,spelling is not.
And do not ever ask me a mathquestion.
I will look at you blanklyuntil you figure out the answer
(04:42):
to it.
That is my strategy always, andI read too fast for what I
write.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to look at three
different case studies, in kindof the Bible.
So what we're going to do is asystematic theology of wisdom
and we're going to look atreally three different
characters, three differentpeople, three different case
(05:03):
studies about what wisdom lookslike.
We're going to see one warning,one example and one fulfillment
, and so just to kind of tee usup this morning, I love being on
my phone, I love watchingvideos.
My wife has got me kind ofmonitoring my screen time and we
have made kind of a game of whocan do less.
(05:24):
Yesterday I was under an houron my screen time total, which I
thought was great.
It was fantastic, thank you.
I was on my computer all day,but not on my phone whatsoever,
and so normally at night her andI will sit down, and the show
that we've been watching latelyhas been Survivor, and it's a
great show.
(05:44):
It's one of my favorites, butit's one of those shows that you
can scroll while you watch.
You don't really have tonecessarily pay attention to all
of it, and so I will scroll.
I will watch Facebook Reels,because I'm not on TikTok
because I'm not cool and one ofthe things.
There's kind of three maincategories that make up my
Facebook Reels One traffic dashcam recordings.
Facebook Reels One traffic dashcam recordings.
(06:06):
I love, love, love watchingaccidents.
I think it prepares me for whenI get an accident because I've
never been in one.
I love watching road rage.
I love watching just peopleinteract with other people on
the road.
It's so fun and I will do itfor hours.
Second category and I thinkthis one's more fun people
yelling at cops.
I love watching people yell atcops.
(06:26):
I love our law enforcementofficers.
I think they do a great job.
Usually they're in the wrong.
I love to see how it escalatesfrom hey, buddy, you missed the
stop sign to all right, you'regoing to jail Because they will
get so angry and they'll getinto it.
I love watching those.
And the third one and this isthe illustration that we're
going to use is I love watchingconstruction videos.
(06:47):
I'm not a constructor, I don'tbuild things.
I try to sometimes but I lovewatching just the construction
process.
I love watching.
Emily sometimes is like you'vebeen on your phone for a long
time.
What are you watching?
And I'll turn my phone and it'sjust people pouring concrete
and she's like what is wrongwith you?
And I'm like, I'm justfascinated by watching
construction videos.
(07:07):
And three years ago I had onepower tool it was just a little
impact driver, kind of a poorman's drill and it was either
God himself or the devil himselfthat put within me an
unquenchable thirst to build ashed.
I have not built anything in mylife and I started with a shed.
(07:29):
It's still standing.
It's about 12 feet tall.
You can see it over myneighbor's house.
But I started by building thisshed and so I did what anyone
would do.
I cleared out bushes where Iwanted the shed to go.
I bought a bunch of lumber,actually from Wes Stinson.
He was the one that sold me abunch of lumber for cheap and I
got some like-minded friends tocome and help build keyword
(07:51):
like-minded to come and helpbuild.
I did a little bit of YouTubingand my favorite guy is a guy
called Hood Handyman, and thereason I liked him is because he
built a shed by himself in thewoods and I was like I can do
that.
I'm going to follow this guy'sinstruction.
He is going to be my guide.
The Apostle Paul likens thechurch, the body of believers,
(08:14):
to a structure that is beingbuilt piece by piece by
individuals.
It's being built up into, kindof the word he uses is a temple
for the Lord.
He uses the word structure.
And so what I want to do todayis put before us this idea of
wisdom, which does have bearingin each and every one of our
(08:34):
lives, in every single categoryof our lives.
But what I want to do is I wantto look at just the theme of
relationships through kind ofthe magnifying glass of wisdom,
and so I'm going to pray for usthis morning and then we will
look at three different peoplein Scripture and see kind of how
they built the structure thatGod called them to in their
(08:56):
lives.
So if you guys would pray withme, lord, as we examine kind of
the whole Bible today, I praythat you would just give us all
understanding minds.
I pray that you would just, byyour spirit, do what you say you
will do, that your word willnot return to you void, that you
would make people come to life,that you would encourage your
(09:17):
saints, that you would convictyour saints and that people who
don't know you may find truewisdom today.
And so that is my prayer for usthis morning, and it's in
Christ's perfect and holy name,amen.
And so we're looking at threedifferent case studies.
I don't think this iPad'sworking anymore.
I'm trying to hold on.
(09:38):
Crockett, you may have a jobtoday, let's see Unable to
connect.
Yeah, here, crockett, there yougo.
It's been so long since thishas happened.
Good job, you're a lot closernow, all right.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to start with
looking at Adam and seeing howhe kind of built the structure
of his life.
Now, adam is unique because heis kind of birthed in this
(10:03):
garden of perfection.
He's put in this place of bliss.
He doesn't lack anything.
Everything is in harmony,everything is at peace from his
relationship with his wife,which he says is bone of my bone
, flesh of my flesh.
It's hard to get more intimate,more connected, well-rounded
than that.
He has dominion over all of theanimals.
(10:26):
If he told them to stand in aline, they would.
He had to name them all, and soif he got them in a line and
said, you next, you next, younext, they all obeyed.
He had dominion over it all and, best of all, he had perfect
relationship with his God.
There was no secrets, noshortcomings, nothing between
them that would cause kind ofthis distrust.
(10:48):
But it's in this peace andtranquility the serpent points
out one thing that he thinks helacks.
Look with me in Genesis,chapter 3.
Thank you, william.
Genesis, chapter 3, verse 5.
This is the serpent speaking toAdam and Eve.
He says, for God knows thatwhen you eat of it, your eyes
(11:10):
will be opened and you will belike God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that thetree was good for food and it
was a delight to the eyes, andthe tree was desired to make one
wise, she took of its fruit andshe ate.
She also gave some to herhusband, who was with her, and
he ate.
And so in these three casestudies we've got Adam as kind
(11:34):
of the warning.
Adam saw things that he thoughtwould make him wise.
The promise of temptation wasyour eyes will be opened, you
will be like God and you willknow good and evil.
Those are the three things thatSatan, the tempter, holds out
to him and says hey, if youdisobey God, these things are
going to happen to you.
(11:54):
These things, you're going tobe great, you're going to be
well off, you're going to belike God.
He's holding out on you.
He's got secrets from you.
Don't you want to be in theknow?
This is what the serpent holdsout for him.
And Adam and Eve kind of addthese up and what the Bible says
is they equate it with wisdom.
They think by doing this theywill become wise, but they don't
(12:19):
.
All they had known at thispoint was the good, the good of
creation, the good of harmonybetween each other, the good of
walking with God in the cool ofthe day, the good of a hard
day's work without thorns andsweat.
And yet they thought we needmore.
So they took, and in thatmoment when Adam and Eve sink
(12:42):
their teeth into the fruit, adamand Eve have knowledge, but
they don't have wisdom.
They don't have the thing thatthey sought.
They have knowledge now of evil, they know what wrongdoing is,
but they don't have wisdom.
Paul will later say in hisletter to the Romans not
(13:02):
specifically about them, this isabout everyone.
But he says, claiming to bewise, they became fools.
They reached for something thatthey thought would bring this
promise and it came back void,it came back empty.
There's kind of four things thatwe see with Adam, and we'll do
this with all three case studiesand they kind of mirror each
other.
So one we see Adam took what hethought would make him wise.
(13:25):
He reached out his hand.
God said I don't want you tohave this.
It's for your own good thatthis is being kept from you.
I don't want you to do this.
And Adam, you can picture himkind of looking around to see if
God is there, perhaps, and hereaches out and he takes what he
thinks will make him wise.
(13:48):
Two we see Adam wanted wisdomfor his own selfish gain.
He wanted to be like God.
He wasn't thinking about Eve Ifhe was, he would have been
protecting her.
He wasn't thinking about all ofthe ramifications of what might
happen if we disobey God.
All he thought was that fruitactually does look good, it does
look good to eat and God's nothere.
So maybe I can do this and belike God.
(14:10):
He was doing it for his selfishgain.
Three Adam sought wisdom apartfrom God.
He was, I think, in effect gladthat God wasn't there, because
that means the doorway is opento wisdom, the gatekeeper is
gone, so I can go in.
Now I can seek wisdom apartfrom God and kind of one of the
things that I want to tell usthis morning.
(14:31):
Just as a side note, there aremany ideologies today that can
entice you with knowledge thatlure you far from God.
Again, we're making adistinction right now between
knowledge and wisdom, and thereare things that our culture
today will tell you is knowledge.
There's self-help books on theshelves.
(14:51):
There's New Age spirituality,horoscopes, rocks, things like
this.
Modern thought says thatbiblical thinking is outdated.
The culture today will say ifyou want true knowledge, leave
that book behind, leave yourchurch behind, because we have
knowledge.
There's many things in ourculture that will lead us to
being smarter by the culture'sstandard, but lead far from God.
(15:15):
And then point four, and I thinkthis is the saddest of them all
Adam's eyes were opened, and itsays he was afraid of God.
Look with me.
In verse 8 of Genesis, chapter3, still, it says or the Lord
(15:41):
God called to the man and saidto him where are you?
And he said I heard the soundof you in the garden and I was
afraid because I was naked, andso I hid myself.
And so, in this new world,where they have knowledge of
good and evil, they now knowthat there are things that they
should be ashamed about thingsthat they have disobeyed God in,
(16:02):
and they hide themselves.
We can juxtapose this later onwith Song of Solomon, where it
seems like they are completelynaked and completely unashamed
to be with each other.
But now, not only is Adamhiding his physical body from
God, he's also hiding hisphysical body from Eve.
This knowledge is not what theywanted.
It's not what they thought wasgoing to come when they took.
(16:25):
Here's a quote from GrahamGoldsworthy.
He has a book on biblicaltheology which I think is really
helpful, and he says crookedthinking leads to crooked
relationships.
Crooked thinking leads tocrooked relationships.
One of the things that we'regoing to unpack today is that
right thinking about things aregoing to set things in motion
for right living, and so when westart with a skewed vision of
(16:49):
who God is, we start to act witha skewed vision because of who
we are.
They hid themselves from a Godwho came strolling up.
They thought he was angry.
They thought he would have beenangry.
They thought he should havebeen angry.
He doesn't come with thunderand lightning and fire and
brimstone.
He comes walking and they hidethemselves because they start to
(17:10):
have a picture of God that isjust a little off and it causes
them to do things that are alittle off.
And so let us hear the warningfrom Genesis 3.
Seeking anything apart from Godleads to broken relationships,
to fear and to death.
Those are kind of the three bigthings that we see in this
(17:35):
story.
Adam is a warning.
He is a man trying to build astructure, trying to build a
shed, with no help, with nowisdom, no guidance, and he
arrogantly thought I can build ashed with no help, with no
wisdom, no guidance, and hearrogantly thought I can build
this thing by myself.
And what we see is that greatwas the destruction.
Because of it, it was mangled,sure, it stood, but it will not
stand the test of time.
(17:56):
And because of him, and becausewe participate in that sin, the
way we start is crooked.
The way we start is bent awayfrom each other and away from
God.
It's not the way thatstructures should be.
And so that gets us to casestudy number two, solomon, the
(18:16):
example.
Now picture a different scenariothis time.
You want to build a shed andrather than doing it by yourself
, rather than watching HoodHandyman and building fails
which is just another thing thatI watch you start to ask wise
people for pointers.
You start to ask people whohave built things before.
(18:37):
Hey, what would you be onlookout for?
What are some things I shouldavoid?
Foundation should I do?
Concrete, should I put it onbricks and cement?
Things Like what should I do?
You're looking for wisdom.
You might even pay forblueprints to help you build, or
you could ask ChatGPT to comeup with some schematics for you.
(18:58):
I hate paying for things.
We'll see that later.
You start watching this oldhouse videos where he helps
explain in a very professionalway Lois knows what I'm talking
about how to build a structure.
So Solomon comes on the scenehundreds, maybe thousands of
years after Adam, and he comes.
He's the son of David, david,this wise king who had some
(19:20):
shortcomings, who kind of knewGod's heart, knew God's law,
delighted in his law.
Solomon is his son and Daviddies and Solomon says okay, I'm
next.
And he looks out over thepeople and he says how am I
going to do this?
How am I going to govern?
How am I going to lead mypeople, not just on an economic
front, not just on a militaryfront, but on a spiritual front.
(19:43):
The king of Israel was alsosupposed to be their spiritual
leader.
And so God comes to him andsays what is it, solomon, that
you want, lily, read that story.
We'll zoom in on verse 9.
This is Solomon's desire.
This is his ask.
He says give your servant,therefore, an understanding.
Mind this is in 1 Kings togovern your people, that I may
(20:05):
discern between good and evil.
For who is able to govern yourpeople?
Because they are so great,thanks to Adam.
Solomon has a knowledge of goodand evil.
What he doesn't have yet is theability to discern between the
two, because in this world wehave a crafty enemy and we have
(20:26):
sinful flesh, and so sometimesthe lines can be blurred.
Sometimes, even when we aretrying our best, wrong things
can seem good and good thingscan seem suspect.
It's not always super clear ifthis is God's way or a bad way,
or even just a good way.
It's not God's way, how do weknow when to move to Louisville?
(20:48):
How do we know when to go toKenya for a week?
How do we know these things?
We have to be able to discernbetween the two.
What's interesting I think Ihave no application on this
Solomon doesn't ask for wisdom.
The word doesn't come up in hisask.
He says give me a discerningmind so that I can know good
from evil.
And it's the Lord who saysyou've asked for a good thing.
(21:11):
I'm going to give you wisdom.
Solomon asked for a mind thatwould be able to clearly see
God's way versus anything else.
He didn't want just knowledge.
I think he was pretty smartbeforehand, but he wanted
knowledge applied in a way thathe dealt with people.
There can be a danger in havingknowledge without wisdom.
(21:35):
There can be a danger in havingknowledge the ability to do
something without wisdom,knowing the right and proper way
to do it.
While I was thinking about this, I literally was thinking I
would rather give mythree-year-old son a chainsaw
than give Thad Hawk a chainsawin this room.
Why?
Because Thad might be able tostart it up.
(21:58):
He might have the knowledge ofpriming the bulb and pulling the
chain and be able to get itstarted, but I don't think Thad
yet has the wisdom to know whento use it started.
But I don't think Thad yet hasthe wisdom to know when to use
it, how to avoid kickback, howto know what trees to cut down
and which ones just look fun.
There's a difference betweenwisdom and knowledge, and
sometimes knowledge can be moredangerous.
The other story and I'm going totell this I haven't cleared
(22:19):
this with my wife, she's nothere.
I can say it.
I can say whatever I want.
This is a true story and I'mgoing to say it in kind of a
tongue-in-cheek way.
It's going to be funny.
It's all bad on me, but I alsoknow that some people maybe not
in this room, lord, hopefullynot in this room but some people
use what I'm about to tell youas a weapon in a real way, and
(22:42):
so I just know that.
I know that this can be serious.
When we got married we gotmarried in COVID we moved into a
very tiny, small house.
I thought that was her.
It's not Very small house.
She was already living therewhen we got married.
I was able to move every singlething I owned into my two-door
Honda Civic Front seat, backseat, trunk.
(23:03):
Everything I owned mostly itwas books, a little bit of
clothes and that was it.
And so we lived in that littlehouse for about a year.
It was a mother-in-law suitebehind someone's house that we
didn't know, and it got time forus to move into the house that
we're in today.
I think she was pregnant.
But we said we need a biggerhouse and so buy a house.
Trisha Jeans was great, signthe papers.
Great, sign the papers.
And Emily starts packing.
(23:24):
And then I catch her on thecomputer on uhaulcom and this is
going to sound funny.
I'm very frugal.
Some of you guys know that Ifyou have a kid in youth ministry
, you know that I was like whatthe heck are you doing on
uhaulcom?
We don't need a uhaul, we justneed two trips back and forth
and we'll be able to transportall of our stuff from there to
(23:45):
there.
Like we don't need a u-haul, wedon't need to pay money for
that.
And she was like yes, we do.
And I was like no, we don't.
We ended up getting a u-hauland we packed it to the brim.
Like when we got it I was alsostanding back thinking we're not
gonna fill this thing halfway.
We packed it to the brim likewe had guys playing tetris
because they had to.
And during this whole spat thisis basically the only argument
(24:08):
we've ever had, big wise,because of this she said like
what are you thinking about?
Like I was pouting, I was upset, I was not happy, and she said
what are you thinking about?
And I told her what I wasthinking about, because the only
thing that was running throughmy mind was a Bible verse, in
Ephesians, chapter 5, where itsays wives submit to your
(24:33):
husbands.
Again, this is funny, we canlaugh at me, please don't do
this.
And so I told her this is likeno application.
I'm not putting on the pastorhat, I'm just telling you what
I'm thinking.
Wives submit to your husbands.
Do you think you do that?
Well, and the answer was we'llleave that for a different time.
(24:54):
I had knowledge.
I had true, genuine knowledgeof a real Bible verse that is in
the Bible.
You can find that chapter andpage like that is in there.
But I did not have wisdom and Iused that knowledge like a
sword to cut and it damaged ourrelationship.
It really did and it shouldhave.
She was able to reconcile withme.
We've made up since, and thatis a story that we laugh about,
(25:16):
but I'm putting before you theidea that knowledge is dangerous
if not used properly orcorrectly.
Solomon we're going to juxtaposethis with Adam Solomon asked
for what would make him wise,where we see Adam take Solomon
(25:38):
asks Two.
Solomon wanted wisdom for thesake of others.
He wanted to be wise, not justso he could be the wisest guy in
the room, but so that he coulddiscern and he can govern and he
could mend relationships.
Immediately.
After this, he uses it tosettle a dispute between two
wives or two women.
Number three we see thatSolomon went to God as the
(26:01):
source of wisdom and then,fourthly, solomon's eyes were
opened and he feared the Lord.
We'll unpack that in a second,but I just want you to see these
two different paths to puttingin quotes wisdom Adam taking for
selfish gain apart from God,and it leads to fear of God
(26:25):
himself.
He's afraid of God, he hideshimself.
And Solomon on the other sideof the coin.
He asks for the sake of others,he sees God as the source, he
goes to the source and becauseof that he is able to fear the
Lord.
You can put up that Proverbsverse.
This is verse 10.
The fear of the Lord is thebeginning of wisdom, and the
(26:50):
knowledge of the Holy One isinsight.
If you want to be wise, if youwant to be knowledgeable, if you
want to do things the right way, the first kind of foundational
point is the fear of the Lord,and this is different than being
afraid of God.
This isn't a fear that hidesand covers themselves.
(27:12):
This is a fear that reverentlyobeys and stands with him.
If you put up that Deuteronomyverse, this is the one that we
read together.
I don't know, I tried to sneakit in.
We tucked it in Deuteronomy 6,and the Lord commanded us to do
all these statutes to fear theLord, our God.
Did that strike anyone as maybea little weird while we were
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reading it without context,thinking we shouldn't be afraid
of God, we should love God, weshould draw near, like why
should we be afraid?
Because let's see, I've gotthis being afraid of God drives
you away from him, and fearinghim rightly drives you to love
and obey him.
There were hundreds of versesin the Old Testament from a
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whole bunch of different books,so not just cherry picking all
of them positively saying youshould fear the Lord, it's good
for you to fear the Lord.
When you fear the Lord, youobey, you act right, things like
that.
And lest we think this is justan Old Testament idea and that
Jesus comes on the scene and weshouldn't fear God anymore.
He's all love.
I've got kind of these twopassages that I really wanted us
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to see that it is a good thingfor when we fear the Lord.
This is Mark, I think, 5, whenJesus is asleep on the boat,
mark 4, it says he awoke andrebuked the wind.
They're terrified, they'resaying we're going to die.
We're going to die.
He rebuked the wind and said tothe sea Peace, be still.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm and he said to
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his disciples why are you soafraid?
Have you still no faith?
This is a chastisement.
This is kind of a loving shameon you, like you should not be
afraid type thing.
And then verse 41, and thenthey were filled with great fear
and they said to one anotherwho is this that even the wind
and the waves obey him?
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That one is not chastised, theydon't get the proverbial finger
wag.
Jesus, I think I can imagine,goes back to laying on his
cushion, he goes back to sleepand he hears them kind of
mumbling amongst themselves whois this that even the wind and
the waves obey him?
And you can see him just with ahalf grin on his face, like
they're starting to get it.
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They're starting to understandwho I am.
They're starting to see who Iam.
The other one is in Acts,chapter 5.
Ananias and Sapphira.
They lie to the church.
We won't go into all of it.
But they lie.
They say we made this money,here's all of it, but they held
some back.
And this is Acts.
It says you have not lied toman, but to God.
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This is Peter speaking.
And when Ananias heard thesewords he fell down and breathed
his last and great fear cameupon all who heard it.
Now again, I don't think this isa fear that drives people away,
because we have in Acts,chapter 6, where people come
back to church and they comeback to being with God's people
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and they come back to worshipingthe Lord.
Like this isn't a fear thatsays, hey, can we skip church
next week, like I've got somesin in my heart and I really
don't want to be struck dead.
And this is verse 10, samechapter.
When the young men came in theyfound her dead and they carried
her out and they buried herbeside her husband and great
fear came upon the whole churchand upon all who heard these
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things.
It is a good and a right thingwhen we fear the Lord properly.
We see in scripture that a fearof God gives people a
confidence and an obedience.
I think these stories in Actsdrove people to church.
I think they heard about all ofthis commotion and that they're
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worshiping a God that takes sinseriously, a God that protects
his people, that protects hischurch and preserves kind of the
purity of it.
And people weren't driven away.
But they said this God is real,this God is serious.
Like they fell in awe, theyfell in fear of him.
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Just one kind of quick littleside track, wise or foolish.
I had a list of like 10different like Old Testament
stories, old Testament heroes ofthe faith doing kind of these
crazy, amazing things.
I boil it down to this one Ithink it's the best one David
going out to battle against thegiant Goliath.
We have the privilege of beingon this side of the story.
We know how it ends, we knowthat David wins and defeats
Goliath.
But do you think, as 16,17-year-old, scrawny David was
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walking out onto the battlefieldagainst the giant Goliath
probably 10 feet tall, some say,do you think the people in the
camp were saying man, that guy'sso wise, that guy, he knows
what he's doing, he's got notjust knowledge, he's got
knowledge applied, he's doing itright.
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Or do you think the people inthe camp were saying, told the
kid not to go.
A little foolish to me.
I wouldn't have gone.
I haven't gone.
They asked me to go.
I didn't because I'm smart andI didn't want to die.
And so like which do you think?
Was it wise or was it foolishfor David to go out?
We on the other side of thestory know that it was wise, but
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why did he do it?
Because David feared the Lordmore than he was afraid of
Goliath.
David weighed kind of not theconsequences, but he weighed the
outcomes and he said me, notacting in this situation is
going to cause more harm thanwhat I'm actually afraid of out
there being this actual,legitimate giant.
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So, for today's purposes, is itwise or foolish?
And I was thinking through Songof Solomon and some of the
things that we've hit onforgiving people who don't
deserve or ask for forgiveness,us being on the front side of
the equation, seeing David goout.
When we see people in our livesdoing this, forgiving people
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who don't deserve, who don'teven ask for it, do we say I
told her not to?
I just think it's foolish?
Or do you see it maybe possibly, as wisdom Submitting your
schedule, your finances, yourfutures to the Lord, trusting
God in times of suffering.
What I'm trying to put beforeus is the world sees what we do
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every week and they call itfoolishness.
They look at people who havefaith, the world, the culture.
They look at people like us andthey say they're wasting their
time, they're wasting theirmoney, it's all for naught.
They don't know what they'redoing.
We are seeking a fear of theLord that is stronger than our
fear of the world.
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Paul will say in 1 Corinthiansit won't appear behind me that
the wisdom of God is foolishnessto the world.
Do we want a fear of God thatthe culture kind of scratches
its head at?
It says why are they doing that?
How are they able to do that?
That's not really smart.
We're going to look strange ifwe do this correctly.
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And then the third case studythat we've got.
We've got Adam as a warning,we've got Solomon as an example
of a guy going out and lookingfor the right thing.
He's looking for wisdom, he'sseeking it.
But seeking wisdom can onlytake us so far, because what we
need is the fulfillment of ourwisdom.
If you have Bibles, you canturn to Isaiah, chapter 11.
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So the third and finalinstallment of kind of like the
shed type, thinking what if amaster craftsman we'll use that
verse in Proverbs 8, that wisdomwas beside me, like a master
craftsman.
It's like he saw my notes.
What if someone came to yourhouse and they saw all of the
materials, all of the tools, andthey saw that you were about to
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embark on this build and youask him for a few pointers on
what to do?
He could give you some advice.
He could tell you to buy thistool or that.
He could tell you some of themistakes he's seen others make.
He could even give you some ofhis best blueprints that are
pretty simple, that you could do.
Or he could clear his scheduleand he could come and help you.
He could come and he could dothe work with and for you.
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He could teach you how to makeproper cuts, how to swing a
hammer, how to drive in nails,and not in a way that makes you
feel inferior.
I think a lot of times we arescared to ask for help because
it makes us feel inferior.
But the way that this mastercraftsman does is he does it in
a way that empowers you, thatgives you this confidence and
this love that abides.
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He says.
He says there's someone coming.
There's this person coming andthe Spirit of the Lord is going
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to rest upon him, the Spirit ofwisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of wisdom andunderstanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit ofknowledge and the fear of the
Lord, and his delight shall bein the fear of the Lord.
There's coming someone not justto point us to wisdom, but to
be wisdom in flesh, to be wisdomincarnate.
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He's not just pointing, he'spointing to himself.
Isaiah is saying that he'salways going to know the right
thing to do, he's always goingto know the right thing to say,
he's always going to know theright thing to think, and his
biggest delight is the fear ofthe Lord.
This guy is going to be thegreatest king, the greatest
friend and the biggest enemy tothe wicked and unrighteous.
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And the issue for us is that weare the wicked and the
unrighteous, we are the foolish.
When this righteous king comes,he will be rejected because of
his wisdom, he will be scornedbecause of his knowledge.
In Isaiah, chapter 53, gregpreached on this a couple of
months ago.
This is just one verse in 11.
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Out of the anguish of his soul.
So this wise person that'sgoing to come from the line of
David, this wise person.
Out of the anguish of his soul,he shall see and be satisfied,
and by his knowledge shall therighteous one, my servant, make
the many to be accountedrighteous, my servant, make the
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many to be accounted righteous,and he shall bear their
iniquities.
You guys see this, the ultimatewise person is going to come
and he's going to be scorned,and by his wounds we will be
healed.
He's going to cover ourfoolishness, he's going to
cleanse us from our foolishness.
He's going to change us fromthe inside out when we see him
as he most is glorified, hisdeath is going to bring us into
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right relationship with theFather.
Do you know that the gospel Pauloftentimes calls it a mystery
because it's hidden from theknowledgeable and the wise of
this world?
And God gives it.
He gives his wisdom to thesimple.
His death is going to pay forand cover our foolishness once
and for all, and he's going tomake us wise.
Jesus had a fear of the Lord.
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That said something that weshould say nevertheless not my
will but yours be done.
Jesus saw the path of wisdom,of righteousness, the path that
it would take to bring us alongwith Him.
And Jesus said in a moment ofweakness it's not what I want.
But, lord Father, I fear you, Ilove you, I desire to be
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obedient to you and I am goingto do it.
Kind of the last of these listsJesus, adam takes, solomon asks.
Jesus gives himself.
Adam takes, solomon asks, jesusgives himself.
Which makes us wise.
Jesus wanted to give wisdom forthe sake of others and Jesus is
the source of all wisdom.
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I was trying to think throughlike an eyes thing.
We saw Adam's eyes were opened.
He was afraid.
Solomon's eyes were open.
He feared the Lord.
And I was like I got it, timKeller, jesus' eyes.
They closed in death, like theyphysically closed.
Jesus is on the cross as hebreathes his last, hangs his
head and he dies.
His eyes are closed and theyopen again in the resurrection.
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Jesus dies the death that wedeserved, but he rises and he
lives and it's because of thatwe are able to have wisdom.
We can kind of see this in ourrole, kind of categories, and
God's role.
We are called to seek wisdom,we are called to look for it, to
hunt it out, to ask God for it.
We are called to kind of pursueit.
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That's our role as laid out inall of scripture.
Anyone that tells you just wait, god will give it to you, you
don't have to do anything, likeI would say, probably hasn't
read Scripture the way that itis.
But it's also God's role togive it, and the Bible says that
God delights to give wisdom.
He loves to make His childrenwise, he loves to make His
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church wise.
James says if any of you lackswisdom, ask God, who gives
generously, without reproach.
God loves a wise people.
I'm going to close with a very,I think, hopefully
hyper-practical cycle of growth.
If you guys have Bibles, grabthose.
Turn to Colossians, chapter 1.
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It will appear but then it'sgoing to disappear and I want
you guys to see kind of thesesteps.
Turn to Colossians, chapter 1.
This is how we grow in wisdom,how we grow in maturity is kind
of what I would maybe title this.
I'm going to read it.
It's two verses and then I wantus to see kind of these steps
through the verses.
And I want us to see kind ofthese steps through the verses.
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This is Paul writing at thebeginning of one of his letters
and he basically says we heardthat you guys are Christians.
We're celebrating with you guys, we're excited for you.
And he says in verse 9,.
And so, from the day that weheard, we have not ceased to
pray for you, asking that youmay be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all spiritualwisdom and understanding there's
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a kind of key word again so asto walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, fully pleasing to him,bearing fruit in every good
work and increasing in theknowledge of God.
If you guys want a verypractical cycle of growth,
here's kind of three steps.
One, he says I want you to befilled with knowledge, I want
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you to be filled with wisdom,and there's so many different
ways that we can do this.
One, obviously scripture, likeare you in the word?
Are you reading God's word?
Because it's him speaking toyou.
Also, there are great podcasts,great books to help us
understand these things.
What Paul is saying is I wantyour mind filled with the
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knowledge of God, because thatis what leads to wisdom and
that's what leads to the nextthing.
You cannot love something youdo not know.
So he says I want you to befilled with knowledge and wisdom
so that you can walk in amanner worthy of the Lord.
There's three different steps.
I think this may be the hardestone for most of us.
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I think a lot of times we canbe content to fill our minds and
think, oh, I know this aboutGod.
I one.
For most of us, I think a lotof times we can be content to
fill our minds and think, oh, Iknow this about God, I know what
pleases Him, I know whatdispleases Him.
But the next step is, I think,the harder one walking in a
manner taking that knowledge andkind of being able to funnel it
down through the Spirit to yourheart and to your feet, so that
you start to obey, you start todo things in a way that changes
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the way that you did do things.
And the third one notice Ididn't say the last one, the
third one.
He says bearing fruit in everygood work.
When you walk in a mannerworthy of the Lord, you start to
bear fruit.
And what's the purpose of fruit?
It's to share with others.
Like fruit, trees are there sopeople and animals can pluck
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fruit from the leaves and eat.
We bear fruit so that otherpeople can experience those
things.
We talk about the fruit of theSpirit.
Patience you have to have otherpeople to have patience, joy,
love, kindness, it's for thebenefit of other people.
Paul says I want you to bearfruit in every good work.
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And the last kind of iterationof that.
Paul says when you bear fruitin every good work, you will
increase in the knowledge of God.
It goes back up to that top onewhich is going to cause you to
walk more steadfastly, moreaccurately, in a way that is
worthy of the Lord, and you'regoing to bear more fruit.
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And the more fruit you bear,the more knowledge you're going
to have.
It's this big cycle on wisdom.
And he closes that or I'm sorry, he starts that by saying this
is a prayer of mine.
If you're trying to do thiscycle through your own will,
through your own strength, Iwould say pray about it.
It's what Paul does.
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He says it is God who givesthis cycle.
We need to be diligent, but weneed to recognize that he is the
one who gives the growth.
Crooked thinking leads tocrooked relationships.
I'll add a line.
This isn't from Graham, butright thinking leads to crooked
relationships.
I'll add a line.
This isn't from Graham, butright thinking leads to right
relationships.
When we can start to, by God'sgrace and through God's spirit,
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trust one another, bear with oneanother, forgive one another.
It starts to have positivebearing on all of our
relationships, from our spousesto our parents, to our siblings,
to our bosses.
Every relationship is affectedwhen we think correctly about it
.
What Adam lost, what Solomonsought, christ restores for us,
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and we get to participate inthat.
It is for us, but it doesn'tend with us.
It is for others.
And so I've got one last quotefrom CS Lewis, and then I'll
pray and I'll close.
This is, I think, one of hisbest.
He says Imagine yourself as aliving house.
God comes in to rebuild thathouse.
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At first, perhaps you canunderstand what he's doing.
He's getting the drains rightand stopping the leaks in the
roof and so on, and you knowthat those jobs needed doing,
and so you're not surprised.
But presently he startsknocking the house about in a
way that hurts very badly anddoes not seem to make any sense.
What on earth is he up to?
This goes for us as individualsand us as a church.
(45:37):
He says the explanation is thathe is building quite a
different house from the onethat you thought of.
Throwing out a new wing here,putting on an extra floor there,
running up towers, makingcourtyards you thought you were
being made into a decent littlecottage, but he is building a
palace.
He intends to come and live init himself.
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Folks, this is the truth for theChristian that when we have
wisdom, we're able to seecorrectly everything that God is
doing.
I'll close this, I'll pray, andthen the worship team can come
up.
Wisdom, I think defined.
This was from, I think, timKeller, but I'll pray for us.
(46:18):
Lord.
We are a foolish people thatoften think we're wise.
Give us grace to recognize ourshortcomings, to recognize our
foolishness.
And, lord, I pray that we wouldcry out to you that you would
teach our hearts to fear you ina way that draws us close, in a
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way that holds you in highregard, because that is who you
are.
You're a God who loves to savesinners, and so I pray that we
would recognize that, that wewould be able to think rightly
about you, so that we can livecorrectly for you.
So we love you and we praiseyou.
And for anyone in this room whodoesn't know you, I pray that
you would give them thisdiscomfort, you'd give them this
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unease, until they're able tomake right what they have made
wrong through Christ Jesus.
And so we trust you in allthings, and it's in Christ's
perfect and holy name that Ipray.
Amen.
Okay, good morning.
If y'all will join with me inreading from 1 Kings, chapter 3,
verses 5 through 14.
And if you're using the PewBibles, that's going to be page
282.
At Gibeon, the Lord appeared toSolomon in a dream by night.
And God said Ask what I shallgive you.
(00:24):
And Solomon said you have showngreat and steadfast love to your
servant, david my father,because he walked before you in
faithfulness and righteousnessand an uprightness of heart
toward you, and you have keptfor him this great and steadfast
love and have given him a sonto sit on his throne this day
and now, o Lord, my God, youhave made your servant king in
(00:46):
place of David, my father.
Although I am but a littlechild, I do not know how to go
out or come in, and your servantis in the midst of your people,
whom you have chosen a greatpeople, too many to be numbered
or counted for multitude.
Give your servant, therefore,an understanding mind to govern
your people that I may discernbetween good and evil.
(01:07):
For who is able to govern this?
Your great people.
And it pleased the Lord thatSolomon had asked this.
And God said to him becauseyou've asked this and have not
asked for yourself long life orriches or the life of your
enemies, but have asked foryourself understanding to
discern what is right.
Behold, I now do according toyour word.
(01:28):
Behold, I give you a wise anddiscerning mind, so that none
like you has been before you andnone like you shall arise after
you.
I give you also what you havenot asked, both riches and honor
, so that no other king shallcompare with you all your days.
And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my
(01:49):
commandments, as your fatherDavid walked, then I will
lengthen your days.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Amen.
Thank you, lily, for that.
What a good morning it is.
Many of you guys didn't knowthat I was preaching, so, ushers
, close the doors, I'm justkidding.
So my name is Thomas.
(02:23):
If you don't know, I kind of runyouth ministry most of the time
around here and I'm superexcited to be with us.
So if you haven't come toministry or if you haven't, what
we do normally is work throughbooks of the Bible, and so
normally when we get up topreach, usually the next thing
that we preach is just the nextpage or the next chapter, and we
just work through books likethat.
Usually it's the healthiest wayto do things, to exposit God's
(02:45):
word and to kind of give thewhole counsel of God.
That said, we've been in thebook of Song of Solomon and Will
said on week one that he readin a commentary that this was
not for young preachers topreach and that they should stay
away, and so he told me that ifI wanted to preach Song of
Solomon, I could, and I told himI don't want to.
(03:07):
If you look, song of Solomon 7is next, and if at any point you
get bored during this sermon,you can look and you can read
that because I didn't want totouch it.
And so we are talking aboutwisdom this morning.
I figured if I was going topreach kind of a one-off sermon,
what we could do together as acongregation is maybe just take
(03:29):
a step back and zoom out alittle bit, because Solomon
presumably wrote Song of Solomon.
There's a question of if it wasto him or by him.
I'm going to say it was by himbecause he was the wisest man on
earth that we just read that.
God gifted him, god blessed himwith wisdom.
And so I figured, instead ofmaybe going again into this
(03:50):
romantic, almost physicallyintimate type of setting, what
we could do for everyone in theroom young, old, single, married
, everyone is we could zoom outand just look at wisdom as a
topic.
And so what am I saying?
Alright, turn with me to Songof Solomon.
(04:21):
This is what happens when youget Emmett to do your notes for
you.
Sorry, will, we'll get thatfixed, all right, so you guys
can turn in your Bibles toGenesis, chapter 3.
Reading is my strong suit,spelling is not.
And do not ever ask me a mathquestion.
I will look at you blanklyuntil you figure out the answer
(04:42):
to it.
That is my strategy always, andI read too fast for what I
write.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to look at three
different case studies, in kindof the Bible.
So what we're going to do is asystematic theology of wisdom
and we're going to look atreally three different
characters, three differentpeople, three different case
(05:03):
studies about what wisdom lookslike.
We're going to see one warning,one example and one fulfillment
, and so just to kind of tee usup this morning, I love being on
my phone, I love watchingvideos.
My wife has got me kind ofmonitoring my screen time and we
have made kind of a game of whocan do less.
(05:24):
Yesterday I was under an houron my screen time total, which I
thought was great.
It was fantastic, thank you.
I was on my computer all day,but not on my phone whatsoever,
and so normally at night her andI will sit down, and the show
that we've been watching latelyhas been Survivor, and it's a
great show.
(05:44):
It's one of my favorites, butit's one of those shows that you
can scroll while you watch.
You don't really have tonecessarily pay attention to all
of it, and so I will scroll.
I will watch Facebook Reels,because I'm not on TikTok
because I'm not cool and one ofthe things.
There's kind of three maincategories that make up my
Facebook Reels One traffic dashcam recordings.
Facebook Reels One traffic dashcam recordings.
(06:06):
I love, love, love watchingaccidents.
I think it prepares me for whenI get an accident because I've
never been in one.
I love watching road rage.
I love watching just peopleinteract with other people on
the road.
It's so fun and I will do itfor hours.
Second category and I thinkthis one's more fun people
yelling at cops.
I love watching people yell atcops.
(06:26):
I love our law enforcementofficers.
I think they do a great job.
Usually they're in the wrong.
I love to see how it escalatesfrom hey, buddy, you missed the
stop sign to all right, you'regoing to jail Because they will
get so angry and they'll getinto it.
I love watching those.
And the third one and this isthe illustration that we're
going to use is I love watchingconstruction videos.
(06:47):
I'm not a constructor, I don'tbuild things.
I try to sometimes but I lovewatching just the construction
process.
I love watching.
Emily sometimes is like you'vebeen on your phone for a long
time.
What are you watching?
And I'll turn my phone and it'sjust people pouring concrete
and she's like what is wrongwith you?
And I'm like, I'm justfascinated by watching
construction videos.
(07:07):
And three years ago I had onepower tool it was just a little
impact driver, kind of a poorman's drill and it was either
God himself or the devil himselfthat put within me an
unquenchable thirst to build ashed.
I have not built anything in mylife and I started with a shed.
(07:29):
It's still standing.
It's about 12 feet tall.
You can see it over myneighbor's house.
But I started by building thisshed and so I did what anyone
would do.
I cleared out bushes where Iwanted the shed to go.
I bought a bunch of lumber,actually from Wes Stinson.
He was the one that sold me abunch of lumber for cheap and I
got some like-minded friends tocome and help build keyword
(07:51):
like-minded to come and helpbuild.
I did a little bit of YouTubingand my favorite guy is a guy
called Hood Handyman, and thereason I liked him is because he
built a shed by himself in thewoods and I was like I can do
that.
I'm going to follow this guy'sinstruction.
He is going to be my guide.
The Apostle Paul likens thechurch, the body of believers,
(08:14):
to a structure that is beingbuilt piece by piece by
individuals.
It's being built up into, kindof the word he uses is a temple
for the Lord.
He uses the word structure.
And so what I want to do todayis put before us this idea of
wisdom, which does have bearingin each and every one of our
(08:34):
lives, in every single categoryof our lives.
But what I want to do is I wantto look at just the theme of
relationships through kind ofthe magnifying glass of wisdom,
and so I'm going to pray for usthis morning and then we will
look at three different peoplein Scripture and see kind of how
they built the structure thatGod called them to in their
(08:56):
lives.
So if you guys would pray withme, lord, as we examine kind of
the whole Bible today, I praythat you would just give us all
understanding minds.
I pray that you would just, byyour spirit, do what you say you
will do, that your word willnot return to you void, that you
would make people come to life,that you would encourage your
(09:17):
saints, that you would convictyour saints and that people who
don't know you may find truewisdom today.
And so that is my prayer for usthis morning, and it's in
Christ's perfect and holy name,amen.
And so we're looking at threedifferent case studies.
I don't think this iPad'sworking anymore.
I'm trying to hold on.
(09:38):
Crockett, you may have a jobtoday, let's see Unable to
connect.
Yeah, here, crockett, there yougo.
It's been so long since thishas happened.
Good job, you're a lot closernow, all right.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to start with
looking at Adam and seeing howhe kind of built the structure
of his life.
Now, adam is unique because heis kind of birthed in this
(10:03):
garden of perfection.
He's put in this place of bliss.
He doesn't lack anything.
Everything is in harmony,everything is at peace from his
relationship with his wife,which he says is bone of my bone
, flesh of my flesh.
It's hard to get more intimate,more connected, well-rounded
than that.
He has dominion over all of theanimals.
(10:26):
If he told them to stand in aline, they would.
He had to name them all, and soif he got them in a line and
said, you next, you next, younext, they all obeyed.
He had dominion over it all and, best of all, he had perfect
relationship with his God.
There was no secrets, noshortcomings, nothing between
them that would cause kind ofthis distrust.
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But it's in this peace andtranquility the serpent points
out one thing that he thinks helacks.
Look with me in Genesis,chapter 3.
Thank you, william.
Genesis, chapter 3, verse 5.
This is the serpent speaking toAdam and Eve.
He says, for God knows thatwhen you eat of it, your eyes
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will be opened and you will belike God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that thetree was good for food and it
was a delight to the eyes, andthe tree was desired to make one
wise, she took of its fruit andshe ate.
She also gave some to herhusband, who was with her, and
he ate.
And so in these three casestudies we've got Adam as kind
(11:34):
of the warning.
Adam saw things that he thoughtwould make him wise.
The promise of temptation wasyour eyes will be opened, you
will be like God and you willknow good and evil.
Those are the three things thatSatan, the tempter, holds out
to him and says hey, if youdisobey God, these things are
going to happen to you.
(11:54):
These things, you're going tobe great, you're going to be
well off, you're going to belike God.
He's holding out on you.
He's got secrets from you.
Don't you want to be in theknow?
This is what the serpent holdsout for him.
And Adam and Eve kind of addthese up and what the Bible says
is they equate it with wisdom.
They think by doing this theywill become wise, but they don't
(12:19):
.
All they had known at thispoint was the good, the good of
creation, the good of harmonybetween each other, the good of
walking with God in the cool ofthe day, the good of a hard
day's work without thorns andsweat.
And yet they thought we needmore.
So they took, and in thatmoment when Adam and Eve sink
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their teeth into the fruit, adamand Eve have knowledge, but
they don't have wisdom.
They don't have the thing thatthey sought.
They have knowledge now of evil, they know what wrongdoing is,
but they don't have wisdom.
Paul will later say in hisletter to the Romans not
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specifically about them, this isabout everyone.
But he says, claiming to bewise, they became fools.
They reached for something thatthey thought would bring this
promise and it came back void,it came back empty.
There's kind of four things thatwe see with Adam, and we'll do
this with all three case studiesand they kind of mirror each
other.
So one we see Adam took what hethought would make him wise.
(13:25):
He reached out his hand.
God said I don't want you tohave this.
It's for your own good thatthis is being kept from you.
I don't want you to do this.
And Adam, you can picture himkind of looking around to see if
God is there, perhaps, and hereaches out and he takes what he
thinks will make him wise.
(13:48):
Two we see Adam wanted wisdomfor his own selfish gain.
He wanted to be like God.
He wasn't thinking about Eve Ifhe was, he would have been
protecting her.
He wasn't thinking about all ofthe ramifications of what might
happen if we disobey God.
All he thought was that fruitactually does look good, it does
look good to eat and God's nothere.
So maybe I can do this and belike God.
(14:10):
He was doing it for his selfishgain.
Three Adam sought wisdom apartfrom God.
He was, I think, in effect gladthat God wasn't there, because
that means the doorway is opento wisdom, the gatekeeper is
gone, so I can go in.
Now I can seek wisdom apartfrom God and kind of one of the
things that I want to tell usthis morning.
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Just as a side note, there aremany ideologies today that can
entice you with knowledge thatlure you far from God.
Again, we're making adistinction right now between
knowledge and wisdom, and thereare things that our culture
today will tell you is knowledge.
There's self-help books on theshelves.
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There's New Age spirituality,horoscopes, rocks, things like
this.
Modern thought says thatbiblical thinking is outdated.
The culture today will say ifyou want true knowledge, leave
that book behind, leave yourchurch behind, because we have
knowledge.
There's many things in ourculture that will lead us to
being smarter by the culture'sstandard, but lead far from God.
(15:15):
And then point four, and I thinkthis is the saddest of them all
Adam's eyes were opened, and itsays he was afraid of God.
Look with me.
In verse 8 of Genesis, chapter3, still, it says or the Lord
(15:41):
God called to the man and saidto him where are you?
And he said I heard the soundof you in the garden and I was
afraid because I was naked, andso I hid myself.
And so, in this new world,where they have knowledge of
good and evil, they now knowthat there are things that they
should be ashamed about thingsthat they have disobeyed God in,
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and they hide themselves.
We can juxtapose this later onwith Song of Solomon, where it
seems like they are completelynaked and completely unashamed
to be with each other.
But now, not only is Adamhiding his physical body from
God, he's also hiding hisphysical body from Eve.
This knowledge is not what theywanted.
It's not what they thought wasgoing to come when they took.
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Here's a quote from GrahamGoldsworthy.
He has a book on biblicaltheology which I think is really
helpful, and he says crookedthinking leads to crooked
relationships.
Crooked thinking leads tocrooked relationships.
One of the things that we'regoing to unpack today is that
right thinking about things aregoing to set things in motion
for right living, and so when westart with a skewed vision of
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who God is, we start to act witha skewed vision because of who
we are.
They hid themselves from a Godwho came strolling up.
They thought he was angry.
They thought he would have beenangry.
They thought he should havebeen angry.
He doesn't come with thunderand lightning and fire and
brimstone.
He comes walking and they hidethemselves because they start to
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have a picture of God that isjust a little off and it causes
them to do things that are alittle off.
And so let us hear the warningfrom Genesis 3.
Seeking anything apart from Godleads to broken relationships,
to fear and to death.
Those are kind of the three bigthings that we see in this
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story.
Adam is a warning.
He is a man trying to build astructure, trying to build a
shed, with no help, with nowisdom, no guidance, and he
arrogantly thought I can build ashed with no help, with no
wisdom, no guidance, and hearrogantly thought I can build
this thing by myself.
And what we see is that greatwas the destruction.
Because of it, it was mangled,sure, it stood, but it will not
stand the test of time.
(17:56):
And because of him, and becausewe participate in that sin, the
way we start is crooked.
The way we start is bent awayfrom each other and away from
God.
It's not the way thatstructures should be.
And so that gets us to casestudy number two, solomon, the
(18:16):
example.
Now picture a different scenariothis time.
You want to build a shed andrather than doing it by yourself
, rather than watching HoodHandyman and building fails
which is just another thing thatI watch you start to ask wise
people for pointers.
You start to ask people whohave built things before.
(18:37):
Hey, what would you be onlookout for?
What are some things I shouldavoid?
Foundation should I do?
Concrete, should I put it onbricks and cement?
Things Like what should I do?
You're looking for wisdom.
You might even pay forblueprints to help you build, or
you could ask ChatGPT to comeup with some schematics for you.
(18:58):
I hate paying for things.
We'll see that later.
You start watching this oldhouse videos where he helps
explain in a very professionalway Lois knows what I'm talking
about how to build a structure.
So Solomon comes on the scenehundreds, maybe thousands of
years after Adam, and he comes.
He's the son of David, david,this wise king who had some
(19:20):
shortcomings, who kind of knewGod's heart, knew God's law,
delighted in his law.
Solomon is his son and Daviddies and Solomon says okay, I'm
next.
And he looks out over thepeople and he says how am I
going to do this?
How am I going to govern?
How am I going to lead mypeople, not just on an economic
front, not just on a militaryfront, but on a spiritual front.
(19:43):
The king of Israel was alsosupposed to be their spiritual
leader.
And so God comes to him andsays what is it, solomon, that
you want, lily, read that story.
We'll zoom in on verse 9.
This is Solomon's desire.
This is his ask.
He says give your servant,therefore, an understanding.
Mind this is in 1 Kings togovern your people, that I may
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discern between good and evil.
For who is able to govern yourpeople?
Because they are so great,thanks to Adam.
Solomon has a knowledge of goodand evil.
What he doesn't have yet is theability to discern between the
two, because in this world wehave a crafty enemy and we have
(20:26):
sinful flesh, and so sometimesthe lines can be blurred.
Sometimes, even when we aretrying our best, wrong things
can seem good and good thingscan seem suspect.
It's not always super clear ifthis is God's way or a bad way,
or even just a good way.
It's not God's way, how do weknow when to move to Louisville?
(20:48):
How do we know when to go toKenya for a week?
How do we know these things?
We have to be able to discernbetween the two.
What's interesting I think Ihave no application on this
Solomon doesn't ask for wisdom.
The word doesn't come up in hisask.
He says give me a discerningmind so that I can know good
from evil.
And it's the Lord who saysyou've asked for a good thing.
(21:11):
I'm going to give you wisdom.
Solomon asked for a mind thatwould be able to clearly see
God's way versus anything else.
He didn't want just knowledge.
I think he was pretty smartbeforehand, but he wanted
knowledge applied in a way thathe dealt with people.
There can be a danger in havingknowledge without wisdom.
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There can be a danger in havingknowledge the ability to do
something without wisdom,knowing the right and proper way
to do it.
While I was thinking about this, I literally was thinking I
would rather give mythree-year-old son a chainsaw
than give Thad Hawk a chainsawin this room.
Why?
Because Thad might be able tostart it up.
(21:58):
He might have the knowledge ofpriming the bulb and pulling the
chain and be able to get itstarted, but I don't think Thad
yet has the wisdom to know whento use it started.
But I don't think Thad yet hasthe wisdom to know when to use
it, how to avoid kickback, howto know what trees to cut down
and which ones just look fun.
There's a difference betweenwisdom and knowledge, and
sometimes knowledge can be moredangerous.
The other story and I'm going totell this I haven't cleared
(22:19):
this with my wife, she's nothere.
I can say it.
I can say whatever I want.
This is a true story and I'mgoing to say it in kind of a
tongue-in-cheek way.
It's going to be funny.
It's all bad on me, but I alsoknow that some people maybe not
in this room, lord, hopefullynot in this room but some people
use what I'm about to tell youas a weapon in a real way, and
(22:42):
so I just know that.
I know that this can be serious.
When we got married we gotmarried in COVID we moved into a
very tiny, small house.
I thought that was her.
It's not Very small house.
She was already living therewhen we got married.
I was able to move every singlething I owned into my two-door
Honda Civic Front seat, backseat, trunk.
(23:03):
Everything I owned mostly itwas books, a little bit of
clothes and that was it.
And so we lived in that littlehouse for about a year.
It was a mother-in-law suitebehind someone's house that we
didn't know, and it got time forus to move into the house that
we're in today.
I think she was pregnant.
But we said we need a biggerhouse and so buy a house.
Trisha Jeans was great, signthe papers.
Great, sign the papers.
And Emily starts packing.
(23:24):
And then I catch her on thecomputer on uhaulcom and this is
going to sound funny.
I'm very frugal.
Some of you guys know that Ifyou have a kid in youth ministry
, you know that I was like whatthe heck are you doing on
uhaulcom?
We don't need a uhaul, we justneed two trips back and forth
and we'll be able to transportall of our stuff from there to
(23:45):
there.
Like we don't need a u-haul, wedon't need to pay money for
that.
And she was like yes, we do.
And I was like no, we don't.
We ended up getting a u-hauland we packed it to the brim.
Like when we got it I was alsostanding back thinking we're not
gonna fill this thing halfway.
We packed it to the brim likewe had guys playing tetris
because they had to.
And during this whole spat thisis basically the only argument
(24:08):
we've ever had, big wise,because of this she said like
what are you thinking about?
Like I was pouting, I was upset, I was not happy, and she said
what are you thinking about?
And I told her what I wasthinking about, because the only
thing that was running throughmy mind was a Bible verse, in
Ephesians, chapter 5, where itsays wives submit to your
(24:33):
husbands.
Again, this is funny, we canlaugh at me, please don't do
this.
And so I told her this is likeno application.
I'm not putting on the pastorhat, I'm just telling you what
I'm thinking.
Wives submit to your husbands.
Do you think you do that?
Well, and the answer was we'llleave that for a different time.
(24:54):
I had knowledge.
I had true, genuine knowledgeof a real Bible verse that is in
the Bible.
You can find that chapter andpage like that is in there.
But I did not have wisdom and Iused that knowledge like a
sword to cut and it damaged ourrelationship.
It really did and it shouldhave.
She was able to reconcile withme.
We've made up since, and thatis a story that we laugh about,
(25:16):
but I'm putting before you theidea that knowledge is dangerous
if not used properly orcorrectly.
Solomon we're going to juxtaposethis with Adam Solomon asked
for what would make him wise,where we see Adam take Solomon
(25:38):
asks Two.
Solomon wanted wisdom for thesake of others.
He wanted to be wise, not justso he could be the wisest guy in
the room, but so that he coulddiscern and he can govern and he
could mend relationships.
Immediately.
After this, he uses it tosettle a dispute between two
wives or two women.
Number three we see thatSolomon went to God as the
(26:01):
source of wisdom and then,fourthly, solomon's eyes were
opened and he feared the Lord.
We'll unpack that in a second,but I just want you to see these
two different paths to puttingin quotes wisdom Adam taking for
selfish gain apart from God,and it leads to fear of God
(26:25):
himself.
He's afraid of God, he hideshimself.
And Solomon on the other sideof the coin.
He asks for the sake of others,he sees God as the source, he
goes to the source and becauseof that he is able to fear the
Lord.
You can put up that Proverbsverse.
This is verse 10.
The fear of the Lord is thebeginning of wisdom, and the
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knowledge of the Holy One isinsight.
If you want to be wise, if youwant to be knowledgeable, if you
want to do things the right way, the first kind of foundational
point is the fear of the Lord,and this is different than being
afraid of God.
This isn't a fear that hidesand covers themselves.
(27:12):
This is a fear that reverentlyobeys and stands with him.
If you put up that Deuteronomyverse, this is the one that we
read together.
I don't know, I tried to sneakit in.
We tucked it in Deuteronomy 6,and the Lord commanded us to do
all these statutes to fear theLord, our God.
Did that strike anyone as maybea little weird while we were
(27:34):
reading it without context,thinking we shouldn't be afraid
of God, we should love God, weshould draw near, like why
should we be afraid?
Because let's see, I've gotthis being afraid of God drives
you away from him, and fearinghim rightly drives you to love
and obey him.
There were hundreds of versesin the Old Testament from a
(27:57):
whole bunch of different books,so not just cherry picking all
of them positively saying youshould fear the Lord, it's good
for you to fear the Lord.
When you fear the Lord, youobey, you act right, things like
that.
And lest we think this is justan Old Testament idea and that
Jesus comes on the scene and weshouldn't fear God anymore.
He's all love.
I've got kind of these twopassages that I really wanted us
(28:19):
to see that it is a good thingfor when we fear the Lord.
This is Mark, I think, 5, whenJesus is asleep on the boat,
mark 4, it says he awoke andrebuked the wind.
They're terrified, they'resaying we're going to die.
We're going to die.
He rebuked the wind and said tothe sea Peace, be still.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm and he said to
(28:41):
his disciples why are you soafraid?
Have you still no faith?
This is a chastisement.
This is kind of a loving shameon you, like you should not be
afraid type thing.
And then verse 41, and thenthey were filled with great fear
and they said to one anotherwho is this that even the wind
and the waves obey him?
(29:02):
That one is not chastised, theydon't get the proverbial finger
wag.
Jesus, I think I can imagine,goes back to laying on his
cushion, he goes back to sleepand he hears them kind of
mumbling amongst themselves whois this that even the wind and
the waves obey him?
And you can see him just with ahalf grin on his face, like
they're starting to get it.
(29:23):
They're starting to understandwho I am.
They're starting to see who Iam.
The other one is in Acts,chapter 5.
Ananias and Sapphira.
They lie to the church.
We won't go into all of it.
But they lie.
They say we made this money,here's all of it, but they held
some back.
And this is Acts.
It says you have not lied toman, but to God.
(29:44):
This is Peter speaking.
And when Ananias heard thesewords he fell down and breathed
his last and great fear cameupon all who heard it.
Now again, I don't think this isa fear that drives people away,
because we have in Acts,chapter 6, where people come
back to church and they comeback to being with God's people
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and they come back to worshipingthe Lord.
Like this isn't a fear thatsays, hey, can we skip church
next week, like I've got somesin in my heart and I really
don't want to be struck dead.
And this is verse 10, samechapter.
When the young men came in theyfound her dead and they carried
her out and they buried herbeside her husband and great
fear came upon the whole churchand upon all who heard these
(30:27):
things.
It is a good and a right thingwhen we fear the Lord properly.
We see in scripture that a fearof God gives people a
confidence and an obedience.
I think these stories in Actsdrove people to church.
I think they heard about all ofthis commotion and that they're
(30:51):
worshiping a God that takes sinseriously, a God that protects
his people, that protects hischurch and preserves kind of the
purity of it.
And people weren't driven away.
But they said this God is real,this God is serious.
Like they fell in awe, theyfell in fear of him.
(31:19):
Just one kind of quick littleside track, wise or foolish.
I had a list of like 10different like Old Testament
stories, old Testament heroes ofthe faith doing kind of these
crazy, amazing things.
I boil it down to this one Ithink it's the best one David
going out to battle against thegiant Goliath.
We have the privilege of beingon this side of the story.
We know how it ends, we knowthat David wins and defeats
Goliath.
But do you think, as 16,17-year-old, scrawny David was
(31:43):
walking out onto the battlefieldagainst the giant Goliath
probably 10 feet tall, some say,do you think the people in the
camp were saying man, that guy'sso wise, that guy, he knows
what he's doing, he's got notjust knowledge, he's got
knowledge applied, he's doing itright.
(32:03):
Or do you think the people inthe camp were saying, told the
kid not to go.
A little foolish to me.
I wouldn't have gone.
I haven't gone.
They asked me to go.
I didn't because I'm smart andI didn't want to die.
And so like which do you think?
Was it wise or was it foolishfor David to go out?
We on the other side of thestory know that it was wise, but
(32:25):
why did he do it?
Because David feared the Lordmore than he was afraid of
Goliath.
David weighed kind of not theconsequences, but he weighed the
outcomes and he said me, notacting in this situation is
going to cause more harm thanwhat I'm actually afraid of out
there being this actual,legitimate giant.
(32:46):
So, for today's purposes, is itwise or foolish?
And I was thinking through Songof Solomon and some of the
things that we've hit onforgiving people who don't
deserve or ask for forgiveness,us being on the front side of
the equation, seeing David goout.
When we see people in our livesdoing this, forgiving people
(33:08):
who don't deserve, who don'teven ask for it, do we say I
told her not to?
I just think it's foolish?
Or do you see it maybe possibly, as wisdom Submitting your
schedule, your finances, yourfutures to the Lord, trusting
God in times of suffering.
What I'm trying to put beforeus is the world sees what we do
(33:32):
every week and they call itfoolishness.
They look at people who havefaith, the world, the culture.
They look at people like us andthey say they're wasting their
time, they're wasting theirmoney, it's all for naught.
They don't know what they'redoing.
We are seeking a fear of theLord that is stronger than our
fear of the world.
(33:53):
Paul will say in 1 Corinthiansit won't appear behind me that
the wisdom of God is foolishnessto the world.
Do we want a fear of God thatthe culture kind of scratches
its head at?
It says why are they doing that?
How are they able to do that?
That's not really smart.
We're going to look strange ifwe do this correctly.
(34:17):
And then the third case studythat we've got.
We've got Adam as a warning,we've got Solomon as an example
of a guy going out and lookingfor the right thing.
He's looking for wisdom, he'sseeking it.
But seeking wisdom can onlytake us so far, because what we
need is the fulfillment of ourwisdom.
If you have Bibles, you canturn to Isaiah, chapter 11.
(34:42):
So the third and finalinstallment of kind of like the
shed type, thinking what if amaster craftsman we'll use that
verse in Proverbs 8, that wisdomwas beside me, like a master
craftsman.
It's like he saw my notes.
What if someone came to yourhouse and they saw all of the
materials, all of the tools, andthey saw that you were about to
(35:03):
embark on this build and youask him for a few pointers on
what to do?
He could give you some advice.
He could tell you to buy thistool or that.
He could tell you some of themistakes he's seen others make.
He could even give you some ofhis best blueprints that are
pretty simple, that you could do.
Or he could clear his scheduleand he could come and help you.
He could come and he could dothe work with and for you.
(35:27):
He could teach you how to makeproper cuts, how to swing a
hammer, how to drive in nails,and not in a way that makes you
feel inferior.
I think a lot of times we arescared to ask for help because
it makes us feel inferior.
But the way that this mastercraftsman does is he does it in
a way that empowers you, thatgives you this confidence and
this love that abides.
(35:47):
He says.
He says there's someone coming.
There's this person coming andthe Spirit of the Lord is going
(36:09):
to rest upon him, the Spirit ofwisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of wisdom andunderstanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit ofknowledge and the fear of the
Lord, and his delight shall bein the fear of the Lord.
There's coming someone not justto point us to wisdom, but to
be wisdom in flesh, to be wisdomincarnate.
(36:32):
He's not just pointing, he'spointing to himself.
Isaiah is saying that he'salways going to know the right
thing to do, he's always goingto know the right thing to say,
he's always going to know theright thing to think, and his
biggest delight is the fear ofthe Lord.
This guy is going to be thegreatest king, the greatest
friend and the biggest enemy tothe wicked and unrighteous.
(36:54):
And the issue for us is that weare the wicked and the
unrighteous, we are the foolish.
When this righteous king comes,he will be rejected because of
his wisdom, he will be scornedbecause of his knowledge.
In Isaiah, chapter 53, gregpreached on this a couple of
months ago.
This is just one verse in 11.
(37:15):
Out of the anguish of his soul.
So this wise person that'sgoing to come from the line of
David, this wise person.
Out of the anguish of his soul,he shall see and be satisfied,
and by his knowledge shall therighteous one, my servant, make
the many to be accountedrighteous, my servant, make the
(37:35):
many to be accounted righteous,and he shall bear their
iniquities.
You guys see this, the ultimatewise person is going to come
and he's going to be scorned,and by his wounds we will be
healed.
He's going to cover ourfoolishness, he's going to
cleanse us from our foolishness.
He's going to change us fromthe inside out when we see him
as he most is glorified, hisdeath is going to bring us into
(37:59):
right relationship with theFather.
Do you know that the gospel Pauloftentimes calls it a mystery
because it's hidden from theknowledgeable and the wise of
this world?
And God gives it.
He gives his wisdom to thesimple.
His death is going to pay forand cover our foolishness once
and for all, and he's going tomake us wise.
Jesus had a fear of the Lord.
(38:21):
That said something that weshould say nevertheless not my
will but yours be done.
Jesus saw the path of wisdom,of righteousness, the path that
it would take to bring us alongwith Him.
And Jesus said in a moment ofweakness it's not what I want.
But, lord Father, I fear you, Ilove you, I desire to be
(38:42):
obedient to you and I am goingto do it.
Kind of the last of these listsJesus, adam takes, solomon asks.
Jesus gives himself.
Adam takes, solomon asks, jesusgives himself.
Which makes us wise.
Jesus wanted to give wisdom forthe sake of others and Jesus is
the source of all wisdom.
(39:02):
I was trying to think throughlike an eyes thing.
We saw Adam's eyes were opened.
He was afraid.
Solomon's eyes were open.
He feared the Lord.
And I was like I got it, timKeller, jesus' eyes.
They closed in death, like theyphysically closed.
Jesus is on the cross as hebreathes his last, hangs his
head and he dies.
His eyes are closed and theyopen again in the resurrection.
(39:29):
Jesus dies the death that wedeserved, but he rises and he
lives and it's because of thatwe are able to have wisdom.
We can kind of see this in ourrole, kind of categories, and
God's role.
We are called to seek wisdom,we are called to look for it, to
hunt it out, to ask God for it.
We are called to kind of pursueit.
(39:50):
That's our role as laid out inall of scripture.
Anyone that tells you just wait, god will give it to you, you
don't have to do anything, likeI would say, probably hasn't
read Scripture the way that itis.
But it's also God's role togive it, and the Bible says that
God delights to give wisdom.
He loves to make His childrenwise, he loves to make His
(40:12):
church wise.
James says if any of you lackswisdom, ask God, who gives
generously, without reproach.
God loves a wise people.
I'm going to close with a very,I think, hopefully
hyper-practical cycle of growth.
If you guys have Bibles, grabthose.
Turn to Colossians, chapter 1.
(40:33):
It will appear but then it'sgoing to disappear and I want
you guys to see kind of thesesteps.
Turn to Colossians, chapter 1.
This is how we grow in wisdom,how we grow in maturity is kind
of what I would maybe title this.
I'm going to read it.
It's two verses and then I wantus to see kind of these steps
through the verses.
And I want us to see kind ofthese steps through the verses.
(40:56):
This is Paul writing at thebeginning of one of his letters
and he basically says we heardthat you guys are Christians.
We're celebrating with you guys, we're excited for you.
And he says in verse 9,.
And so, from the day that weheard, we have not ceased to
pray for you, asking that youmay be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all spiritualwisdom and understanding there's
(41:18):
a kind of key word again so asto walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, fully pleasing to him,bearing fruit in every good
work and increasing in theknowledge of God.
If you guys want a verypractical cycle of growth,
here's kind of three steps.
One, he says I want you to befilled with knowledge, I want
(41:39):
you to be filled with wisdom,and there's so many different
ways that we can do this.
One, obviously scripture, likeare you in the word?
Are you reading God's word?
Because it's him speaking toyou.
Also, there are great podcasts,great books to help us
understand these things.
What Paul is saying is I wantyour mind filled with the
(42:01):
knowledge of God, because thatis what leads to wisdom and
that's what leads to the nextthing.
You cannot love something youdo not know.
So he says I want you to befilled with knowledge and wisdom
so that you can walk in amanner worthy of the Lord.
There's three different steps.
I think this may be the hardestone for most of us.
(42:22):
I think a lot of times we canbe content to fill our minds and
think, oh, I know this aboutGod.
I one.
For most of us, I think a lotof times we can be content to
fill our minds and think, oh, Iknow this about God, I know what
pleases Him, I know whatdispleases Him.
But the next step is, I think,the harder one walking in a
manner taking that knowledge andkind of being able to funnel it
down through the Spirit to yourheart and to your feet, so that
you start to obey, you start todo things in a way that changes
(42:47):
the way that you did do things.
And the third one notice Ididn't say the last one, the
third one.
He says bearing fruit in everygood work.
When you walk in a mannerworthy of the Lord, you start to
bear fruit.
And what's the purpose of fruit?
It's to share with others.
Like fruit, trees are there sopeople and animals can pluck
(43:07):
fruit from the leaves and eat.
We bear fruit so that otherpeople can experience those
things.
We talk about the fruit of theSpirit.
Patience you have to have otherpeople to have patience, joy,
love, kindness, it's for thebenefit of other people.
Paul says I want you to bearfruit in every good work.
(43:27):
And the last kind of iterationof that.
Paul says when you bear fruitin every good work, you will
increase in the knowledge of God.
It goes back up to that top onewhich is going to cause you to
walk more steadfastly, moreaccurately, in a way that is
worthy of the Lord, and you'regoing to bear more fruit.
(43:48):
And the more fruit you bear,the more knowledge you're going
to have.
It's this big cycle on wisdom.
And he closes that or I'm sorry, he starts that by saying this
is a prayer of mine.
If you're trying to do thiscycle through your own will,
through your own strength, Iwould say pray about it.
It's what Paul does.
(44:08):
He says it is God who givesthis cycle.
We need to be diligent, but weneed to recognize that he is the
one who gives the growth.
Crooked thinking leads tocrooked relationships.
I'll add a line.
This isn't from Graham, butright thinking leads to crooked
relationships.
I'll add a line.
This isn't from Graham, butright thinking leads to right
relationships.
When we can start to, by God'sgrace and through God's spirit,
(44:31):
trust one another, bear with oneanother, forgive one another.
It starts to have positivebearing on all of our
relationships, from our spousesto our parents, to our siblings,
to our bosses.
Every relationship is affectedwhen we think correctly about it
.
What Adam lost, what Solomonsought, christ restores for us,
(44:56):
and we get to participate inthat.
It is for us, but it doesn'tend with us.
It is for others.
And so I've got one last quotefrom CS Lewis, and then I'll
pray and I'll close.
This is, I think, one of hisbest.
He says Imagine yourself as aliving house.
God comes in to rebuild thathouse.
(45:16):
At first, perhaps you canunderstand what he's doing.
He's getting the drains rightand stopping the leaks in the
roof and so on, and you knowthat those jobs needed doing,
and so you're not surprised.
But presently he startsknocking the house about in a
way that hurts very badly anddoes not seem to make any sense.
What on earth is he up to?
This goes for us as individualsand us as a church.
(45:37):
He says the explanation is thathe is building quite a
different house from the onethat you thought of.
Throwing out a new wing here,putting on an extra floor there,
running up towers, makingcourtyards you thought you were
being made into a decent littlecottage, but he is building a
palace.
He intends to come and live init himself.
(45:58):
Folks, this is the truth for theChristian that when we have
wisdom, we're able to seecorrectly everything that God is
doing.
I'll close this, I'll pray, andthen the worship team can come
up.
Wisdom, I think defined.
This was from, I think, timKeller, but I'll pray for us.
(46:18):
Lord.
We are a foolish people thatoften think we're wise.
Give us grace to recognize ourshortcomings, to recognize our
foolishness.
And, lord, I pray that we wouldcry out to you that you would
teach our hearts to fear you ina way that draws us close, in a
(46:38):
way that holds you in highregard, because that is who you
are.
You're a God who loves to savesinners, and so I pray that we
would recognize that, that wewould be able to think rightly
about you, so that we can livecorrectly for you.
So we love you and we praiseyou.
And for anyone in this room whodoesn't know you, I pray that
you would give them thisdiscomfort, you'd give them this
(47:01):
unease, until they're able tomake right what they have made
wrong through Christ Jesus.
And so we trust you in allthings, and it's in Christ's
perfect and holy name that Ipray.
Amen.
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