February 3, 2025 • 43 mins
Senior Pastor Damein Schitter begins a new mini-series, Winter Wisdom, preaching from Proverbs 3:5-8. He explores what it means to be truly wise, emphasizing that wisdom is not just about intelligence or self-sufficiency but about trusting in the Lord wholeheartedly. Pastor Damein argues that in a world obsessed with knowledge for self-reliance, biblical wisdom calls for deep dependence on God. He contrasts wisdom with folly, illustrating how self-sufficiency, as exemplified in biblical figures like Jacob, leads to struggles, while true wisdom involves trusting God with all aspects of life.
Pastor Damein also emphasizes that wisdom is both a journey and a skill developed over time, much like becoming proficient in chess or cooking. It involves not just knowing the right things but living in relationship with God and aligning one's life with His guidance. The ultimate wise one, Jesus Christ, embodies wisdom, and trusting in Him leads to true flourishing. He closes with a call for believers to wholeheartedly trust in God's wisdom rather than leaning on their own understanding, urging mature Christians to be pacesetters in demonstrating God's faithfulness.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damien.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, please pray with me.
Good morning, please pray withme.
Give us understanding that wemay keep your law and observe it
with our whole hearts.
Lead us in the path of yourcommandments, for we delight in
it.
Turn our eyes from looking atworthless things and give us
life in your ways, through JesusChrist, our Lord, amen.
(00:45):
Our scripture reading comesfrom Proverbs, chapter 3, 5
through 8.
Trust in the Lord with all yourheart and do not lean on your
own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledgehim and he will make straight
your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes.
Fear the Lord and turn awayfrom evil.
(01:08):
It will be healing to yourflesh and refreshment to your
bones.
This is God's word.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Well, good morning, it's good to be with you all.
My name is Damien and I get tostart something new today.
If you're with us in thesummertime, or if you ever have
been, we every summer preach asermon series called Summer in
the Psalms, and it changes intheme, but it's always from the
Psalms.
And we've been thinking for afew years of doing winter wisdom
(01:40):
, and this year we're kicking itoff.
So from now on you know I'mmaking a promise that I won't be
able to keep because I won't behere in this role but from now
on, in January or February wewill have winter wisdom, and so
this year we're just warming up.
We're just doing two weeks.
I'm kicking us off.
Kenny will preach next week andthen we'll jump into our sermon
(02:01):
series for the spring, which isa New Testament book, and I
won't tell you what it is.
I'll let Ben tell you what itis.
I don't want to be the spoiler,but today we're going to reflect
on Proverbs 3, 5 through 8, awell-known passage.
It may even be on yourrefrigerator or a bumper sticker
.
It could be somebody's lifeverse, and it's always both
(02:21):
dangerous and exciting to choosea refrigerator verse to preach
on.
It's dangerous because I mightnot say something that has been,
it's true, to the passage, butit's so core to who you are and
you think he didn't do itjustice, sorry.
And then for some of you, I mayblow it up and tell you the way
that you thought that itapplied to you was wrong.
(02:41):
And so, either way, I'mtreading into that territory.
But I want to ask a questionthat there's no way I can
comprehensively answer today,but we can, I think,
sufficiently answer in the timewe have, which is what is wisdom
?
What is wisdom?
And the thing about wisdom isthat everyone's looking for it.
That doesn't mean thateveryone's wise.
(03:04):
It doesn't mean that everyonesays they are looking for wisdom
, but they are.
They may name it differentthings, but how do we know that
they are searching for it?
Well, we know they aresearching for it because of the
types of questions that we allask, questions like what is the
way?
Everyone's looking for a way.
(03:24):
Have you noticed that?
That's why there's so manyguides available to you, because
everyone wants to know what isthe way.
Another question people ask ishow should I live?
Another one would be whatshould I do?
And of course, a big one willbe.
How will I know?
Now, when I was writing thissermon, right when I got to, how
(03:48):
will I know I could tell I wascatechized, and I was
particularly catechized with asong and a voice of a generation
, one of the best femalevocalists in history.
Anybody know?
Whitney Houston?
Whitney Houston, how will Iknow?
(04:10):
If he really loves me?
How will I know?
Now, here's the thing.
Is you think that that's theonly place this stops?
You think that that's a randompreacher connection?
But I'm going to prove to youthat Whitney had it right.
Okay, so if you don't rememberthe song, you know there was a
(04:32):
boy that she knew and he was theone that she dreamed of.
He looked into her eyes and hetook her to the clouds above.
Now, when this happened, shesaid I lose control, I can't
seem to get enough.
When I wake from dreaming, tellme, is it really love, right?
(04:54):
How will I know?
Well, there's a pre-chorusafter that, before the famous
chorus, and that is how will Iknow?
She says it four times.
How will I know?
But then there's something thatI bet you might have missed,
and now you'll never not hear it.
The second how will I know?
Has a callback.
It's sort of receded to thedistance, but you can hear it
when you listen.
So she says how will I know?
(05:14):
And the callback says anyoneknow Love can be deceiving.
The next question how will Iknow?
There's silence, but then sheasks it the fourth time how will
I know?
And there's another callback,and this time it is don't trust
your feelings.
So then it's the chorus and youknow it.
How will I know if he reallyloves me?
(05:36):
And here's another part thatyou probably never gave enough
thought to.
What does she say next?
I say a prayer with everyheartbeat.
I fall in love whenever we meet.
But then she says I'm askingyou because you know about these
things, who's you?
Well, all I'm saying is thatshe said a prayer with every
heartbeat, and so she's askingsomeone and she's praying.
(06:00):
And now, just so you know, thefirst, she was raised.
I don't know Whitney Houston.
I didn't know her, but she wasraised by a family where her
mother, known as Sissy Houston,was a very well-known gospel
singer in her day and age, andWhitney grew up singing in the
church and the first solo shehad was at the age of 12, part
(06:22):
of a hymn all about the Lordleading us in our paths.
So I just find it interesting.
There also was a whole albumcalled the Preacher's Daughter.
But what is she doing here?
Well, I don't know ultimately,but it's the power of song and
it's the power of questions.
How will I know?
And she talks about this prayer.
Well, if Whitney was singingthe way that I'm saying she was,
(06:46):
then maybe she learned it.
Or whoever wrote the songlearned it from Proverbs 3, 5
through 8.
That is to say, true wisdom isfound in the true wise one, and
the only way we can discoverwhat is wise, how we know, is to
ask the one who knows.
It's to ask the one who isultimately wise.
(07:07):
And that's really hard to do.
It always has been, but it'sespecially hard to do in a world
obsessed with knowledge for thesake of self-reliance.
You know that right.
I mean, the reason that you getknowledge, if not sanctified,
is self-reliance.
It could be about anything.
But why do you go to school?
To school?
Well, many of us go to schoolto get passports, to privilege
called graduation certificates.
(07:28):
And what does that lead us to?
It leads us to a form ofself-sufficiency.
It doesn't have to, but itoften does, and so in a world
obsessed with knowledge thatleads to self-reliance.
What does it actually mean to bewise in proverbs?
Is that proverbs goal, or thewisdom literature in general, is
to teach you the rightinformation, the right
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principles so that you can beself-sufficient.
So that you now have memorizedthe playbook, and as long as you
know which proverb to say atthe right time or which wisdom
verse to quote at the right time, that all of a sudden you're
wise.
Well, that's actually theopposite of what the wisdom
literature is trying to do, notonly for us, but to us.
(08:10):
And so what is wisdom accordingto the Bible, and that's a
little too broad for us today.
What is wisdom according tothese verses in Proverbs,
chapter 3?
Well, first, clearly in verse 5,my first point, wisdom is
trusting the Lord, not yourself.
That's the first definition, orpart of the definition, of
wisdom.
(08:30):
Trust in the Lord with all yourheart and do not lean on your
own understanding.
So you see, wisdom is more thanintelligence.
It's actually trusting theright source.
Trust in the Lord and we'lltalk about this in a moment but
not just with your mind, butwith your heart, which is core
to who you are.
Those aren't different, but oneis more comprehensive, and I'd
(08:54):
argue that trusting in the Lordwith all of your heart is
trusting in the Lord with all ofwho you are.
Ji Packer along this idea,trying to teach us that it's not
only trusting the right source,that all of our knowledge and
intelligence rests on thissource.
It also turns us into a certaintype of person, and this is a
quote from him.
He says wisdom is the power tosee and the inclination to
(09:20):
choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means
of attaining it.
Translation wise people arepeople who are able to see what
is good, they are inclined tochoose what is good and they can
chart a course through thenoise moving toward what is good
.
That is a wise person.
A wise person sees what is good, is inclined to choose what is
(09:40):
good, and then is able to charta path through the noise to
execute on what is good.
This is a wise person, and sowhat we see here is wisdom
begins with trust in the Lord.
But if that's a wise person,then you know that wisdom is a
journey.
Wisdom is a developmentalreality.
You don't just become wise inone instant.
(10:01):
You actually grow to be wise,because there's also a beginning
to wisdom in the Proverbs, andthat is fearing the Lord.
So wisdom begins with trust inthe Lord, not just knowing about
Him, but depending on Him fully.
We see this pattern of trustand wisdom, or distrust and
(10:23):
folly, all throughout thescriptures.
If you're with us in our Biblereading plan this year with the
McShane reading plan, we justrecently read of Jacob, for
example, and before that Abraham.
But I won't do both, I'll justdo Jacob, and I'll do it briefly
.
Jacob is a man who isself-sufficient.
Commentators will point outthat he was probably jacked too,
(10:45):
so he had brains and brawn.
And how do we know that?
Well, he goes to the well ashe's running from his brother
who wants to kill him becausehe's just stole his blessing
which was very cunning, by theway and he's waiting and there
are people coming and there's awell and apparently people are
waiting until all of theshepherds come.
Why Is it?
Because that's what you do.
(11:06):
Well, it's because you neededall the shepherds to lift this
rock off of the well so theycould drink, and then you needed
all of them to put it back on.
So things didn't get in thewell and Jacob's just like okay,
I got it, he just lifts it up,puts it down, so he's probably
jacked.
But when you trace his life,what you see is that he's a
(11:26):
great example among many in thescriptures of a person who took
his intellect and his ability tonavigate the world and he
thought the goal wasself-sufficiency.
He thought the goal was that hecould figure it out, that he
could get the blessing thatwasn't his, that he could find
the wife, that he could make theriches.
And what you see is that God isinvolved in his life.
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He's there, he believes in God,but his functional definition
of wisdom and maturity isself-sufficiency.
And you know that's us so much.
Isn't it Like God's going togive us just enough so that we
can live life on our own?
That somehow that's wise, butthe reality is is that all of us
will come to a place and manyof us places where we will
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realize the folly ofself-sufficiency as the goal.
And that's exactly what happenedin Jacob's life.
You think it's going to happenwith Laban.
Laban almost bests him, butthen he gets away and he ends up
besting Laban.
But then you think it's gonnacatch up to him again because of
course his brother, he findsout, is now heading his way.
(12:34):
You know the one that he ranaway from, if you remember the
story.
And so what happens?
What ends up happening?
Well, he wrestles with God.
And what does God make him gethim, rather, to say, when he's
wrestling, he won't let God go?
He says I won't let you gountil you bless me.
They wrestle all night.
And what is the simple questionthat ends it what is your name?
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And Jacob says Jacob, which weknow in the footnotes.
That means deceiver.
I'm a deceiver.
I'm the one who lives life inmy own strength.
I'm the one who, with mycunning and all the intellect
and ability you've given me,have set and charted a course to
where my end is.
(13:18):
Yes, you're with me-ish, butI'm self-sufficient.
Everything in my life is beingbuilt toward that.
And finally, he admitted thatwas folly is being built toward
that.
And finally, he admitted thatwas folly.
And God says no, you're not adeceiver.
And he gives him a new name.
So you see, when you and I cometo trust in the Lord with all
of our heart, we begin to seewisdom.
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John Calvin said seeking wisdomapart from Christ is this is a
quote utter insanity.
And so, if it's true that thewise one begins our journey with
wisdom and trusting in the Lord.
Well then, of course, it's thefool who trusts his own
understanding.
That's what we see in our verse.
Do not lean on your ownunderstanding is the word, but
(14:01):
this word lean means to supportoneself like a crutch, like
you're actually leaning on acrutch.
This is what it means to leanon your own understanding, and
that's what a fool does.
You see, a fool substitutes thesource that is strong, that can
hold our weight, that can holdthe weight of our life, that can
hold the weight of our desires,that can hold the weight of our
questions.
We have to trust the propersource, the proper structure,
(14:25):
but the wrong structure is onethat we build, whether it's our
ideas or our own false worshipor anything besides the Lord.
You see, why do we do this?
Well, we do it because it givesus a sense of control.
We do it because it gives us asense of security.
The Bible has a word for this,and it's called idolatry, and so
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the invitation, though, here,is to learn wisdom from the
source.
You don't have to go figure itout on your own and then pass a
test.
No, you just go straight to theanswer book, you go straight to
the source and then you beginto become wise.
You see, really, what thisteaches us is that we are
constantly growing in wisdom orwaywardness, one or the other.
(15:10):
As you navigate life day by day, decision by decision, question
by question, you're eithergrowing in wisdom or you're
growing in waywardness.
That is to say, it's alldepending on who you trust and
who you're trusting.
Are you trusting yourself?
That's waywardness.
Are you trusting the Lord andwhat he's revealed to you?
(15:30):
That's his wisdom.
I thought about it like this mykids this is a true story, I'm
not no hyperbole.
My kids are learning how toplay chess, including my
four-year-old, and I don't knowhow to play chess that well, I
was never taught, and so I hadmy 11-year-old teach me, and
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then my four-year-old almostbeat me.
This is true because they playchess all the time.
And so I was thinking aboutthat and I thought about I
thought I should be the chessgrandmaster in this family, but
I'm not, and that got methinking about chess
grandmasters and casual players.
But a chess grandmaster, I mean,it's amazing.
They give their life to therules of the game, but it's not
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just that.
They're working on the samerules that the casual player is
working on.
But what has happened?
Well, they've played it so much, they had so much practice,
they've grown in skill that now,when they see this board, they
can see four or more moves aheadand they know the goal and they
know the rules.
But the way that they maneuver,if you're a player who even has
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the list of rules in front ofyou, it's hard to keep up.
You don't even know whatthey're doing.
Why?
Well, because the casual playerreacts impulsively right,
making short-sighted moves, evenif they had the rules memorized
.
But the grandmaster seesmultiple moves ahead, follows a
strategic plan, has lived in theworld of chess.
Chess.
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That's so funny, you guys.
I said chess because that's whatJames, my four-year-old, calls
it.
He says, dad, will you play mein chess and we'll correct him
all the time.
It's chess, he.
He says, dad, will you play mein chess and we'll correct him
all the time.
It's chess.
He cares nothing about whatit's really called To him, it's
chess.
I can't wait to tell him.
He's like buddy, maybe it ischess.
I said that.
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And so wisdom is seeing thebigger picture, trusting the
right source.
It's living in something.
It's not simply knowing therules.
It's not simply knowing theprinciples, it's living in
something.
It's not simply knowing therules, it's not simply knowing
the principles, it's becomingskillful, it's actually playing
the game so much that you arefluent in it.
True wisdom is knowing, ofcourse, how to hold multiple
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perspectives together.
You can take the whole wisdomliterature and you don't have to
treat the Proverbs just asrules and principles.
But you've read Ecclesiastes,you've read Job and you've grown
in the skill and art of godlyliving.
This takes time.
This takes time, and so thequestion, of course, would be
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what do you do when your wisdomdoesn't line up with what God's
wisdom has revealed in Scripture?
Right, sometimes, sometimes, wemerely agree with the Bible,
and when that's true, ourresponse is not truly obedience.
It's just coincidence, right?
It's just that the prejudicemaybe you have soaked up from
your culture or your familyhappened to line up with the
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Bible.
At that point, the real questionof the wise person is what do
you do when the Biblecontradicts what you want to be
true?
Right, if you're looking in theBible.
At that point, the realquestion of the wise person is
what do you do when the Biblecontradicts what you want to be
true?
Right, if you're looking in theBible for excuses to do what
you want anyway, you've alreadygone wayward.
But if you trust the Lord, youwill let the Bible challenge
your most cherished thoughts andfeelings.
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And the wonderful thing is, theLord cares about your questions
, he cares about your problems.
He wants to speak into yourlife in ways that will truly
help you.
But in order to truly hear, youfirst have to trust, and you
can't trust half-heartedly.
The call to wisdom is to trustHim wholeheartedly.
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Why?
So that he can teach you wholly, so that he can teach you to
trust him.
And so, if wisdom is trustingthe Lord and not ourselves, what
does that actually look like inday-to-day life?
Well, that's verse 6.
And my second point, which iswisdom is walking in God's ways.
Right?
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He says in all your ways,acknowledge him.
That's the Lord, and he willmake straight your paths.
Now, this word for acknowledge,we can see it.
I don't have to say the Hebrewthis, that all you have to do is
read English, just carefully.
This word acknowledge, right?
What's the word that you knowand see Knowledge, right?
So to acknowledge the Lord, toacknowledge him in your ways, is
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to know him.
So if I were to say to know him.
It might hopefully make youthink.
Relationship because that isexactly what the author is
meaning is that to acknowledgehim in all your ways is to be in
relationship to him in all ofyour ways, to know him
intimately.
And so you know this word knowin the Bible implies very deep
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relationship.
It's used of husbands and wives.
To know one another is todeeply be in relationship and we
know that when we live in deeprelationship with a person, over
time it shapes your life, itshapes your whole way of life.
When you live in deeprelationship with a person, it's
not simply knowing facts aboutthat person that changes you,
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but it's living with them thatchanges you if you're in a true
relationship.
Old Testament scholar on thisproverb in the Proverbs in
general, bruce Waltke, says thatthis way, wisdom is a way of
life, not just clear thinking,and I think sometimes we treat
the wisdom literature as thoughI need to get the right way to
think and then that will make mewise.
Well, it's necessary, but it'snot sufficient to make you wise.
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To know the right thing isnecessary to be a wise person,
but it's not sufficient to makeyou wise.
Because you could, but it's notsufficient to make you wise,
because you could know it andnot do it.
You could know it and not wantit, you could know it and not
love it.
And if you don't want it, ifyou don't do it, if you don't
love it, you are not wise andyou are not on the path to
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becoming wise.
You see, we can sometimes treatProverbs as merely principles
for living, truths that give usclear thinking, and that's true.
But it's not like a recipe book.
It's not like you follow theserecipes, these instructions, and
you will automatically get thebeautiful photo that's right
here.
Right, there's a whole cornerof the internet that shows what
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it was supposed to look like andwhat it ended up looking like
when you did it.
So you know you followed thesame instructions, but it didn't
turn out the same.
You see, that's how wisdom isyou can know all the right
answers and be a fool.
In our house, our kids areresponsible for things way
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earlier than I was growing up,and I give Leah all the credit
and I get all the benefit fromher work.
There are many examples, butone example would be I didn't
really cook until I was way latein high school, and it was
because I was hungry and itincluded mostly microwaves.
But my kids Leah has them inthe kitchen before.
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They're double digits makingmeaningful contributions.
It's just part of the way thatshe disciples our kids.
But of course, you know and Iknow, the kitchen can be a
dangerous place yes, much likethe world, I guess, can be a
dangerous place.
Yes, much like the world, Iguess.
So of course, when she broughtthem into the kitchen, it
started with very clearinstructions Don't do that, do
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this, not that, don't cut towardyourself, cut away from
yourself, and so on.
But over time, as the kids havebeen in the kitchen with Leah, I
see they're becoming wise inthe kitchen.
They don't just know the rules,they're actually improvising.
They're becoming wise.
They're living along the grainof the kitchen and things in the
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kitchen.
They're accounting for multipletrue things at once.
They're reading recipes butthen they're looking at our
ingredients and taking inpreferences and looking at time
and saying I have to cut this,this and this.
I need to do this because thisis the time we have to eat.
By then I see my eight-year-oldmaking these decisions and I
think that's more than knowledge, that's wisdom.
Now, of course, I'm still inthe kitchen with them, or Leah's
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still in the kitchen with them,or Leah's still in the kitchen
with them.
And we're there to help, toanswer questions, to give
suggestions, to intervene, ofcourse, but they're learning a
way of wisdom.
They're more skillful.
And that brings me to the pointthat wisdom is a skill.
You grow in it and the way yougrow in it is not merely by
knowing the right things, butit's by following the right
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people.
It's by it being modeled.
You know wisdom when you see it.
You know a wise person when youexperience it.
You don't just read a list ofingredients.
You watch a master chef.
That's how you become a chef.
And you don't just read theProverbs or wisdom literature
and become wise, or wisdomliterature and become wise.
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You do, but you also follow awise person.
She can teach you how to bewise.
He can teach you how to be wise.
You apprentice yourself towisdom in order to become wisdom
, and we'll say more on that ina moment.
But you know, all of our livesare this way.
When we live life with God, webegin to become like him.
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Right, we know what he mightsay or do if he were us and he's
always with us.
Right For clarification, fordiscipline, for intervening, but
the wise person never assumesthey are wise on their own.
They never assume they arebeyond the source of wisdom.
They are wise on their own.
They never assume they arebeyond the source of wisdom.
They're always going back tothe source of wisdom and, in
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this interesting thing, it makesthem more wise.
The wise person doesn't try tobecome wise on their own.
The wise person apprentices thewise one and it makes them more
wise.
This is the way it works.
The wise person is not aimingat self-reliance, but rather
knowing the one who is all wiseand drawing wisdom and life from
them.
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It's the fool who tries tonavigate life without God, even
functionally.
Think about this.
I thought about Mount Everest.
You know the real heroes,people.
It's not that I'm not impressedwith you.
If you've climbed Mount Everest.
I truly am.
I'll never do it.
I have minimal desire to do itand I certainly don't have the
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resources to pay to do it.
But the person that I, thepeople that I'm most impressed
by, of course, are the Sherpas.
Now, the Sherpa, that's a peoplegroup, but there's a group of
them, of the Sherpa people group, that are Sherpas as we think
of them and know them, which isthey carry all the things.
They're the expert guides onthese Mount Everest climbs.
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These climbs, they leadclimbers to the summit by
setting up camps, fixing ropes,carrying heavy supplies like
oxygen tanks, things like that.
What are they doing?
They're ensuring the safety ofthe climbers throughout the
entire ascent, leveraging theirdeep knowledge of the terrain
and their insane high-altitudeabilities.
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Okay, now you pay a lot ofmoney to hire a Sherpa because
you don't want to die.
All right, you're alreadybasically dying and you just
want to get down as soon as youcan until you fully die.
All right, you're alreadybasically dying and you just
want to get down as soon as youcan until you fully die.
So the Sherpa is there to guideyou.
Let me ask you this If you'reall going along this path and
you have the Sherpa who'sguiding you and you have one man
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, one woman, who decides youknow what this way looks better
and just starts walking awayfrom the group, everyone would
be like you're gonna die, comeback.
This is why we have the Sherpa.
But what if the person justsays no, I think this is a
shortcut, I think this will bebetter.
What would you call that person, man, that person, that person
(27:18):
lives their own life.
That person you do you, I mean,go for it, like if, deep down
in your heart, you think thatthat way is a faster way and
safer.
Like you are really brave, youare really courageous.
No, you say you're a fool.
That's what you say.
(27:39):
You're a fool, I'm not gonnafollow you, you're gonna walk
yourself to the edge of a cliff.
Well, when we think about itthis way, wisdom is not just
knowing the right path, it'schoosing to walk in it.
The wise person doesn't justacknowledge the right path.
The wise person becomes thetype of person who wants to walk
(28:00):
in it.
And when they stray, they knowthe path of wisdom and they
repent and they come back to thepath of wisdom.
The wise person makes mistakes.
The wise person is not perfect.
There's one perfect person, andthis person is wisdom, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he is the one who isteaching us how to be wise.
(28:21):
He is the one who is modelingwisdom for us.
He is the one that took ourfolly so that he could give us
his wisdom and righteousness.
You see, the life ofdiscipleship, from this
perspective, is a life of wisdom.
It's a life of following Jesus.
It's a life of staying oncourse.
Paul says it this way keep instep with the Spirit.
(28:42):
You follow the Lord.
He will guide you, and one ofthe things that we know about
our heart and what we depend onis that our heart can be viewed
this way.
It's like a security system.
It's sort of the heart of themainframe.
If it's infiltrated, bad thingscan happen.
Of the mainframe.
(29:04):
If it's infiltrated, bad thingscan happen.
So think about it this way.
Think about your heart as asecurity system.
When it's not properly online oraligned, thieves are constantly
trying to break in and rob youof something.
They're trying to rob you oflength of days.
They're trying to rob you oflife and peace.
(29:24):
They're trying to steal andkill and destroy.
The Bible calls these idols,the Bible calls these
temptations, the Bible callsthese flaming arrows.
But ultimately, it is the voiceof the fool, the accuser, who's
trying to woo you away fromwisdom.
He's trying to woo you awayfrom wisdom.
He's trying to woo me away fromwisdom by telling us if you
(29:48):
were really wise, you wouldfollow me.
If you were really wise, you'dbe cynical like me.
If you were really wise, youwould see that the true aim of
life is to be independent, it'sto be self-sufficient, and we
all have these voices.
We all have them.
And so what's a litmus test?
Well, for example, ask yourselfthis what life scenario will
(30:14):
make me say, oh, I finallyarrived.
Just think about that.
What life scenario right nowwould make you say I finally
arrived?
And what does arrival even looklike to you?
But whatever my scenario is inreally prayerfully, reflectively
, answering that question, whencan I say I finally arrived?
(30:34):
Whatever my answer is, if JesusChrist is not the life-giving
center of that answer, your andmy heart has already been
penetrated by life-robbing idols.
Your security system failed,it's been breached and the thing
is is it's like cyber warfare,which I know nothing about, but
I'm about to pretend for thenext 10, 15 seconds that I know
(30:55):
a lot about it.
Constant bombardment Defenseshave to be up, always new tricks
to try to get past defenses, toget into your heart, to take
control.
This is the Christian life.
We're either trusting in thewise one, in his righteousness,
(31:16):
in his life, in his guidance andbecoming more wise yes, through
sin and repentance.
It's a long journey.
Becoming more wise, yes,through sin and repentance.
It's a long journey, or we'retrusting in ourselves and even
the idols that our own heartsproduce and becoming more of a
fool.
Now listen, I just want tospeak to you.
Some of you are discouraged thismorning and you're thinking
this whole season of life.
(31:36):
I feel like I've beeninfiltrated and I'm just
realizing I'm angry because I'vebeen following the path of the
fool.
I'm angry because I've beenfollowing the path of the fool.
I'm greedy because I've beenfollowing the path of the fool.
I'm anxious because I've beenfollowing the path of the fool,
trying to gain control, and Iwant to tell you that God, the
one who is all wise, is also sokind.
(31:58):
He's so kind and he's patient,and right now he's inviting you
back to him to trust in him andhis wisdom.
It makes me think of ourone-year-old.
He's going to start trying towalk soon, and you know how that
(32:19):
goes.
They're really bad at it.
They're really bad at it, andso what I like to do is, when
they fall, I like to stand overthem like this and taunt them.
What is wrong with you?
Of course I don't do that.
Of course I don't do that, butsome of us think that's what
God's doing to us, that, aswe're growing on this journey of
(32:40):
righteousness and wisdom, thathe's angry at you and that he
thinks that you're taking toolong and that he's taunting you
and he's second guessing if heshould have even adopted you
into his family and he'sthinking about taking good
things away from you and he'sthinking about withholding good
things from you just to teachyou a lesson.
And that's the vision, the viewof God, the Father, that fills
(33:03):
our minds.
But that's not true.
That's not true.
God, the Father, gave us hisone and only son to be wisdom
and righteousness for us, totake our folly, to take our
greed and all of our sin andunrighteousness.
(33:25):
But why did he do that?
Yes, to make us righteous, butto make us wise, to make us wise
in knowing him.
So how do we think about this?
Are we acknowledging God in ourdaily decisions or just when
things get tough?
Do we pray with every heartbeat, as Whitney Houston said, with
(33:48):
every email, with every workdecision, with every word?
Why am I saying that?
Is that for me or is that forthem?
Who is this for right now?
Why am I saying this?
Lord, help me.
It's not just the big things.
If you want to become wise,it's moment by moment, every
heartbeat, every decision, everycomment, every question.
(34:09):
And listen, that's not a burden, it's life-giving.
Can you imagine having to dolife on your own?
You know how exhausting that is.
But how do we do it?
Moment by moment, with the Lord.
So if wisdom means trusting God, it means walking in his ways,
moment by moment.
Let's close with this.
What does it lead to?
Well, it leads to life.
Verse 7 and 8, be not wise inyour own eyes.
(34:33):
Fear the Lord and turn awayfrom evil.
It will be healing to yourflesh and refreshment to your
bones.
Listen, there's a real cost ofrejecting wisdom here.
That's not the verse, but youjust flip it.
There's a real cost torejecting it.
Proverbs 26, 12, later on, saysit this way Do you see a man who
is wise in his own eyes?
That's what the author says.
(34:55):
This is what he says about thatman.
There is more hope for a foolthan for him.
In other words, the one who iswise in their own eyes is in
greater danger than a fool.
Why?
Well, because wisdom is aboutfitting oneself into the grain
of reality, and the fool livesin a false reality.
(35:17):
Right To be wise is actually amoral command in scripture.
It's not simply a good idea,it's a call to all of God's
people.
So to reject wisdom is toreject life, because the aim of
wisdom, the wise person, is life.
And so what's the reward ofwisdom?
Well, it's flourishing, it'sshalom, it's eternal life.
(35:37):
Biblical wisdom brings shalom,not just avoidance of pain, but
the presence of flourishing.
It brings healing and it bringsrefreshment.
True wisdom restores.
It's like cool water to a wearytraveler, and we all are
travelers and we all are weary.
If someone makes you perceivethat they're not weary in some
(36:01):
way, just know that they are.
They are.
They may not feel it in thatmoment, but we are all weary
travelers and we need cool,refreshing water.
And this is the picture of theone who is getting wisdom.
They are getting refreshment,they are getting healing, they
are getting life.
You see, a wise person knowswhen to act, they know when to
(36:24):
wait, they know what to do, theyknow when to do it, because
wisdom is not just about havingknowledge, it's about right
timing and application.
And we know that you can saythe right thing to someone and
be foolish in saying it becauseyou didn't say it in the right
time or in the right way.
(36:44):
If I keep pressing on thispoint, you could think maybe I
don't know anybody who's wise,maybe I can't be wise.
I thought I was wise, maybe I'mnot.
Well, even in Proverbs it getsto that point.
After 29 chapters of Proverbs,in chapter 30, one through four,
(37:09):
you get to the words of Agur,and this is what he says.
The man declares I am weary, oGod.
I am weary, o God, and worn out.
This is ESV, by the way, whohas gathered the wind in his
fists, who has wrapped up thewaters in a garment, who has
(37:44):
established all the ends of theearth, what his his name and
what is his son's name?
Surely you know?
Huh, this is amazing.
All the proverbs are true, andyet it gets us to this point of
oh, you thought you could becomeself-sufficient.
Oh you, you thought you couldjust do these.
(38:06):
You thought you could put thesein AI and just, it would just
tell you what to do.
No, no, you see, if wisdomleads to life, where do we
ultimately find wisdom?
The answer is not in masteringprinciples.
It's in relationship to aperson.
Jesus Christ, the one who iswise and who is wise on your
(38:28):
behalf, the one who suffered anddied was buried and raised in
three days.
That's what happens.
I don't know what that littlechild just said, but amen, amen,
out of the mouth of babes.
That's where true wisdom comes.
You see, jesus is the embodimentof Proverbs 3, 5 through 8.
(38:50):
He is the ultimate wise one.
He is the one who truly obeyed.
He trusted himself fully to theFather and at the cross he bore
the consequence of ourself-reliance so that we might
take on his righteousness andwisdom.
Do we trust him fully?
No, of course not.
(39:12):
But any moment that you and I,day by day, find a place in our
heart where we're not trustinghim, it's an opportunity to turn
to him.
It's an opportunity, lord, takethis place in my heart too.
Take this place in my mind too.
Take this place in my mind too.
Take this place in my life too.
I want to be wise.
Why?
It's not just a principle ingeneral, wise people.
(39:33):
No, it's because the wiseperson is in relationship with
the wise one.
That's what the Proverbs said.
In all your ways, know him,know him.
And so I'll end with thisillustration.
I read it a while ago in acommentary by Ray Orlin Jr on
the Proverbs, and I was remindedof it this week.
He tells the story one of hisseminary professors told him
(39:55):
about his father crossing thisriver in the Northeast.
So it's a large river in theNortheast.
I can't I don't know how topronounce it, so I'm not going
to say it.
And one winter's day thisseminary professor's father was
trying to get some grain orsomething across the river well,
on the other side of the riverbut the shortest path was to go
across the river and it was icy.
(40:16):
But he didn't know, can Iactually go across this?
And so he started crawlingalong on all fours like gingerly
feeling his way.
And as he gets close to themiddle he starts hearing this
loud sound, this loud racket,and of course at first he's
probably like, ah, the ice isfalling.
But then he notices coming frombehind him and he turns and
(40:38):
there is a man on a wagon withfour horses just whipping these
horses and just flies across theice to the other side.
And here he is just feeling hisway on his hands and knees
right.
He realized this guy was alocal.
He knew how thick the ice was.
(41:00):
And what Ray Ortlund says is toomany Christians, too many of us
, are like the man on all fourscreeping along way too cautious.
Their trust in the Lord ishalf-hearted.
Then along comes a wholeheartedChristian and he changes the
tone for everyone around him.
Some of you sages in this roomyou look around and you just
(41:24):
think what can I offer?
Some of you sages in this roomyou look around and you just
think what can I offer All thesebeautiful young families and of
course, not all of you sagesare actually sages.
Not all old people are wise,but I think the percentages are
higher for you than they are forus.
(41:44):
You can be a p setter in thiscongregation.
You can be like the Christian,wholeheartedly saying you know,
let's go, come on.
You can trust the Lord.
Let me tell you all the wayshe's provided for me.
Let me tell you all the waysthat he is sufficient for you.
Let me tell you all the waysthat if you could see things
even from my perspective, youwould get up and run.
(42:05):
You wouldn't be timid, youwould trust, you would risk, you
would go back to the source,you wouldn't try to become
self-sufficient.
You would learn that maturityis becoming deeper and deeper
dependent on the Lord Jesus, thewise one.
So where are the pacesetters?
(42:26):
The pacesetters are the oneswho show us the faithfulness of
the Lord.
We need you.
Let's pray, father.
We're grateful for yourgoodness and we're grateful for
your patience.
We're grateful that you are notimpatient with us, but we're
(42:47):
your children and just like me,with Sammy, so proud of him
learning how to walk.
You're always there to teach ushow to be wise in every aspect
of our life.
Teach us, lord.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen, amen, buddy.
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damien.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, please pray with me.
Good morning, please pray withme.
Give us understanding that wemay keep your law and observe it
with our whole hearts.
Lead us in the path of yourcommandments, for we delight in
it.
Turn our eyes from looking atworthless things and give us
life in your ways, through JesusChrist, our Lord, amen.
(00:45):
Our scripture reading comesfrom Proverbs, chapter 3, 5
through 8.
Trust in the Lord with all yourheart and do not lean on your
own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledgehim and he will make straight
your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes.
Fear the Lord and turn awayfrom evil.
(01:08):
It will be healing to yourflesh and refreshment to your
bones.
This is God's word.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Well, good morning, it's good to be with you all.
My name is Damien and I get tostart something new today.
If you're with us in thesummertime, or if you ever have
been, we every summer preach asermon series called Summer in
the Psalms, and it changes intheme, but it's always from the
Psalms.
And we've been thinking for afew years of doing winter wisdom
(01:40):
, and this year we're kicking itoff.
So from now on you know I'mmaking a promise that I won't be
able to keep because I won't behere in this role but from now
on, in January or February wewill have winter wisdom, and so
this year we're just warming up.
We're just doing two weeks.
I'm kicking us off.
Kenny will preach next week andthen we'll jump into our sermon
(02:01):
series for the spring, which isa New Testament book, and I
won't tell you what it is.
I'll let Ben tell you what itis.
I don't want to be the spoiler,but today we're going to reflect
on Proverbs 3, 5 through 8, awell-known passage.
It may even be on yourrefrigerator or a bumper sticker
.
It could be somebody's lifeverse, and it's always both
(02:21):
dangerous and exciting to choosea refrigerator verse to preach
on.
It's dangerous because I mightnot say something that has been,
it's true, to the passage, butit's so core to who you are and
you think he didn't do itjustice, sorry.
And then for some of you, I mayblow it up and tell you the way
that you thought that itapplied to you was wrong.
(02:41):
And so, either way, I'mtreading into that territory.
But I want to ask a questionthat there's no way I can
comprehensively answer today,but we can, I think,
sufficiently answer in the timewe have, which is what is wisdom
?
What is wisdom?
And the thing about wisdom isthat everyone's looking for it.
That doesn't mean thateveryone's wise.
(03:04):
It doesn't mean that everyonesays they are looking for wisdom
, but they are.
They may name it differentthings, but how do we know that
they are searching for it?
Well, we know they aresearching for it because of the
types of questions that we allask, questions like what is the
way?
Everyone's looking for a way.
(03:24):
Have you noticed that?
That's why there's so manyguides available to you, because
everyone wants to know what isthe way.
Another question people ask ishow should I live?
Another one would be whatshould I do?
And of course, a big one willbe.
How will I know?
Now, when I was writing thissermon, right when I got to, how
(03:48):
will I know I could tell I wascatechized, and I was
particularly catechized with asong and a voice of a generation
, one of the best femalevocalists in history.
Anybody know?
Whitney Houston?
Whitney Houston, how will Iknow?
(04:10):
If he really loves me?
How will I know?
Now, here's the thing.
Is you think that that's theonly place this stops?
You think that that's a randompreacher connection?
But I'm going to prove to youthat Whitney had it right.
Okay, so if you don't rememberthe song, you know there was a
(04:32):
boy that she knew and he was theone that she dreamed of.
He looked into her eyes and hetook her to the clouds above.
Now, when this happened, shesaid I lose control, I can't
seem to get enough.
When I wake from dreaming, tellme, is it really love, right?
(04:54):
How will I know?
Well, there's a pre-chorusafter that, before the famous
chorus, and that is how will Iknow?
She says it four times.
How will I know?
But then there's something thatI bet you might have missed,
and now you'll never not hear it.
The second how will I know?
Has a callback.
It's sort of receded to thedistance, but you can hear it
when you listen.
So she says how will I know?
(05:14):
And the callback says anyoneknow Love can be deceiving.
The next question how will Iknow?
There's silence, but then sheasks it the fourth time how will
I know?
And there's another callback,and this time it is don't trust
your feelings.
So then it's the chorus and youknow it.
How will I know if he reallyloves me?
(05:36):
And here's another part thatyou probably never gave enough
thought to.
What does she say next?
I say a prayer with everyheartbeat.
I fall in love whenever we meet.
But then she says I'm askingyou because you know about these
things, who's you?
Well, all I'm saying is thatshe said a prayer with every
heartbeat, and so she's askingsomeone and she's praying.
(06:00):
And now, just so you know, thefirst, she was raised.
I don't know Whitney Houston.
I didn't know her, but she wasraised by a family where her
mother, known as Sissy Houston,was a very well-known gospel
singer in her day and age, andWhitney grew up singing in the
church and the first solo shehad was at the age of 12, part
(06:22):
of a hymn all about the Lordleading us in our paths.
So I just find it interesting.
There also was a whole albumcalled the Preacher's Daughter.
But what is she doing here?
Well, I don't know ultimately,but it's the power of song and
it's the power of questions.
How will I know?
And she talks about this prayer.
Well, if Whitney was singingthe way that I'm saying she was,
(06:46):
then maybe she learned it.
Or whoever wrote the songlearned it from Proverbs 3, 5
through 8.
That is to say, true wisdom isfound in the true wise one, and
the only way we can discoverwhat is wise, how we know, is to
ask the one who knows.
It's to ask the one who isultimately wise.
(07:07):
And that's really hard to do.
It always has been, but it'sespecially hard to do in a world
obsessed with knowledge for thesake of self-reliance.
You know that right.
I mean, the reason that you getknowledge, if not sanctified,
is self-reliance.
It could be about anything.
But why do you go to school?
To school?
Well, many of us go to schoolto get passports, to privilege
called graduation certificates.
(07:28):
And what does that lead us to?
It leads us to a form ofself-sufficiency.
It doesn't have to, but itoften does, and so in a world
obsessed with knowledge thatleads to self-reliance.
What does it actually mean to bewise in proverbs?
Is that proverbs goal, or thewisdom literature in general, is
to teach you the rightinformation, the right
(07:48):
principles so that you can beself-sufficient.
So that you now have memorizedthe playbook, and as long as you
know which proverb to say atthe right time or which wisdom
verse to quote at the right time, that all of a sudden you're
wise.
Well, that's actually theopposite of what the wisdom
literature is trying to do, notonly for us, but to us.
(08:10):
And so what is wisdom accordingto the Bible, and that's a
little too broad for us today.
What is wisdom according tothese verses in Proverbs,
chapter 3?
Well, first, clearly in verse 5,my first point, wisdom is
trusting the Lord, not yourself.
That's the first definition, orpart of the definition, of
wisdom.
(08:30):
Trust in the Lord with all yourheart and do not lean on your
own understanding.
So you see, wisdom is more thanintelligence.
It's actually trusting theright source.
Trust in the Lord and we'lltalk about this in a moment but
not just with your mind, butwith your heart, which is core
to who you are.
Those aren't different, but oneis more comprehensive, and I'd
(08:54):
argue that trusting in the Lordwith all of your heart is
trusting in the Lord with all ofwho you are.
Ji Packer along this idea,trying to teach us that it's not
only trusting the right source,that all of our knowledge and
intelligence rests on thissource.
It also turns us into a certaintype of person, and this is a
quote from him.
He says wisdom is the power tosee and the inclination to
(09:20):
choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means
of attaining it.
Translation wise people arepeople who are able to see what
is good, they are inclined tochoose what is good and they can
chart a course through thenoise moving toward what is good
.
That is a wise person.
A wise person sees what is good, is inclined to choose what is
(09:40):
good, and then is able to charta path through the noise to
execute on what is good.
This is a wise person, and sowhat we see here is wisdom
begins with trust in the Lord.
But if that's a wise person,then you know that wisdom is a
journey.
Wisdom is a developmentalreality.
You don't just become wise inone instant.
(10:01):
You actually grow to be wise,because there's also a beginning
to wisdom in the Proverbs, andthat is fearing the Lord.
So wisdom begins with trust inthe Lord, not just knowing about
Him, but depending on Him fully.
We see this pattern of trustand wisdom, or distrust and
(10:23):
folly, all throughout thescriptures.
If you're with us in our Biblereading plan this year with the
McShane reading plan, we justrecently read of Jacob, for
example, and before that Abraham.
But I won't do both, I'll justdo Jacob, and I'll do it briefly
.
Jacob is a man who isself-sufficient.
Commentators will point outthat he was probably jacked too,
(10:45):
so he had brains and brawn.
And how do we know that?
Well, he goes to the well ashe's running from his brother
who wants to kill him becausehe's just stole his blessing
which was very cunning, by theway and he's waiting and there
are people coming and there's awell and apparently people are
waiting until all of theshepherds come.
Why Is it?
Because that's what you do.
(11:06):
Well, it's because you neededall the shepherds to lift this
rock off of the well so theycould drink, and then you needed
all of them to put it back on.
So things didn't get in thewell and Jacob's just like okay,
I got it, he just lifts it up,puts it down, so he's probably
jacked.
But when you trace his life,what you see is that he's a
(11:26):
great example among many in thescriptures of a person who took
his intellect and his ability tonavigate the world and he
thought the goal wasself-sufficiency.
He thought the goal was that hecould figure it out, that he
could get the blessing thatwasn't his, that he could find
the wife, that he could make theriches.
And what you see is that God isinvolved in his life.
(11:48):
He's there, he believes in God,but his functional definition
of wisdom and maturity isself-sufficiency.
And you know that's us so much.
Isn't it Like God's going togive us just enough so that we
can live life on our own?
That somehow that's wise, butthe reality is is that all of us
will come to a place and manyof us places where we will
(12:13):
realize the folly ofself-sufficiency as the goal.
And that's exactly what happenedin Jacob's life.
You think it's going to happenwith Laban.
Laban almost bests him, butthen he gets away and he ends up
besting Laban.
But then you think it's gonnacatch up to him again because of
course his brother, he findsout, is now heading his way.
(12:34):
You know the one that he ranaway from, if you remember the
story.
And so what happens?
What ends up happening?
Well, he wrestles with God.
And what does God make him gethim, rather, to say, when he's
wrestling, he won't let God go?
He says I won't let you gountil you bless me.
They wrestle all night.
And what is the simple questionthat ends it what is your name?
(12:58):
And Jacob says Jacob, which weknow in the footnotes.
That means deceiver.
I'm a deceiver.
I'm the one who lives life inmy own strength.
I'm the one who, with mycunning and all the intellect
and ability you've given me,have set and charted a course to
where my end is.
(13:18):
Yes, you're with me-ish, butI'm self-sufficient.
Everything in my life is beingbuilt toward that.
And finally, he admitted thatwas folly is being built toward
that.
And finally, he admitted thatwas folly.
And God says no, you're not adeceiver.
And he gives him a new name.
So you see, when you and I cometo trust in the Lord with all
of our heart, we begin to seewisdom.
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John Calvin said seeking wisdomapart from Christ is this is a
quote utter insanity.
And so, if it's true that thewise one begins our journey with
wisdom and trusting in the Lord.
Well then, of course, it's thefool who trusts his own
understanding.
That's what we see in our verse.
Do not lean on your ownunderstanding is the word, but
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this word lean means to supportoneself like a crutch, like
you're actually leaning on acrutch.
This is what it means to leanon your own understanding, and
that's what a fool does.
You see, a fool substitutes thesource that is strong, that can
hold our weight, that can holdthe weight of our life, that can
hold the weight of our desires,that can hold the weight of our
questions.
We have to trust the propersource, the proper structure,
(14:25):
but the wrong structure is onethat we build, whether it's our
ideas or our own false worshipor anything besides the Lord.
You see, why do we do this?
Well, we do it because it givesus a sense of control.
We do it because it gives us asense of security.
The Bible has a word for this,and it's called idolatry, and so
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the invitation, though, here,is to learn wisdom from the
source.
You don't have to go figure itout on your own and then pass a
test.
No, you just go straight to theanswer book, you go straight to
the source and then you beginto become wise.
You see, really, what thisteaches us is that we are
constantly growing in wisdom orwaywardness, one or the other.
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As you navigate life day by day, decision by decision, question
by question, you're eithergrowing in wisdom or you're
growing in waywardness.
That is to say, it's alldepending on who you trust and
who you're trusting.
Are you trusting yourself?
That's waywardness.
Are you trusting the Lord andwhat he's revealed to you?
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That's his wisdom.
I thought about it like this mykids this is a true story, I'm
not no hyperbole.
My kids are learning how toplay chess, including my
four-year-old, and I don't knowhow to play chess that well, I
was never taught, and so I hadmy 11-year-old teach me, and
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then my four-year-old almostbeat me.
This is true because they playchess all the time.
And so I was thinking aboutthat and I thought about I
thought I should be the chessgrandmaster in this family, but
I'm not, and that got methinking about chess
grandmasters and casual players.
But a chess grandmaster, I mean,it's amazing.
They give their life to therules of the game, but it's not
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just that.
They're working on the samerules that the casual player is
working on.
But what has happened?
Well, they've played it so much, they had so much practice,
they've grown in skill that now,when they see this board, they
can see four or more moves aheadand they know the goal and they
know the rules.
But the way that they maneuver,if you're a player who even has
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the list of rules in front ofyou, it's hard to keep up.
You don't even know whatthey're doing.
Why?
Well, because the casual playerreacts impulsively right,
making short-sighted moves, evenif they had the rules memorized
.
But the grandmaster seesmultiple moves ahead, follows a
strategic plan, has lived in theworld of chess.
Chess.
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That's so funny, you guys.
I said chess because that's whatJames, my four-year-old, calls
it.
He says, dad, will you play mein chess and we'll correct him
all the time.
It's chess, he.
He says, dad, will you play mein chess and we'll correct him
all the time.
It's chess.
He cares nothing about whatit's really called To him, it's
chess.
I can't wait to tell him.
He's like buddy, maybe it ischess.
I said that.
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And so wisdom is seeing thebigger picture, trusting the
right source.
It's living in something.
It's not simply knowing therules.
It's not simply knowing theprinciples, it's living in
something.
It's not simply knowing therules, it's not simply knowing
the principles, it's becomingskillful, it's actually playing
the game so much that you arefluent in it.
True wisdom is knowing, ofcourse, how to hold multiple
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perspectives together.
You can take the whole wisdomliterature and you don't have to
treat the Proverbs just asrules and principles.
But you've read Ecclesiastes,you've read Job and you've grown
in the skill and art of godlyliving.
This takes time.
This takes time, and so thequestion, of course, would be
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what do you do when your wisdomdoesn't line up with what God's
wisdom has revealed in Scripture?
Right, sometimes, sometimes, wemerely agree with the Bible,
and when that's true, ourresponse is not truly obedience.
It's just coincidence, right?
It's just that the prejudicemaybe you have soaked up from
your culture or your familyhappened to line up with the
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Bible.
At that point, the real questionof the wise person is what do
you do when the Biblecontradicts what you want to be
true?
Right, if you're looking in theBible.
At that point, the realquestion of the wise person is
what do you do when the Biblecontradicts what you want to be
true?
Right, if you're looking in theBible for excuses to do what
you want anyway, you've alreadygone wayward.
But if you trust the Lord, youwill let the Bible challenge
your most cherished thoughts andfeelings.
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And the wonderful thing is, theLord cares about your questions
, he cares about your problems.
He wants to speak into yourlife in ways that will truly
help you.
But in order to truly hear, youfirst have to trust, and you
can't trust half-heartedly.
The call to wisdom is to trustHim wholeheartedly.
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Why?
So that he can teach you wholly, so that he can teach you to
trust him.
And so, if wisdom is trustingthe Lord and not ourselves, what
does that actually look like inday-to-day life?
Well, that's verse 6.
And my second point, which iswisdom is walking in God's ways.
Right?
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He says in all your ways,acknowledge him.
That's the Lord, and he willmake straight your paths.
Now, this word for acknowledge,we can see it.
I don't have to say the Hebrewthis, that all you have to do is
read English, just carefully.
This word acknowledge, right?
What's the word that you knowand see Knowledge, right?
So to acknowledge the Lord, toacknowledge him in your ways, is
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to know him.
So if I were to say to know him.
It might hopefully make youthink.
Relationship because that isexactly what the author is
meaning is that to acknowledgehim in all your ways is to be in
relationship to him in all ofyour ways, to know him
intimately.
And so you know this word knowin the Bible implies very deep
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relationship.
It's used of husbands and wives.
To know one another is todeeply be in relationship and we
know that when we live in deeprelationship with a person, over
time it shapes your life, itshapes your whole way of life.
When you live in deeprelationship with a person, it's
not simply knowing facts aboutthat person that changes you,
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but it's living with them thatchanges you if you're in a true
relationship.
Old Testament scholar on thisproverb in the Proverbs in
general, bruce Waltke, says thatthis way, wisdom is a way of
life, not just clear thinking,and I think sometimes we treat
the wisdom literature as thoughI need to get the right way to
think and then that will make mewise.
Well, it's necessary, but it'snot sufficient to make you wise.
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To know the right thing isnecessary to be a wise person,
but it's not sufficient to makeyou wise.
Because you could, but it's notsufficient to make you wise,
because you could know it andnot do it.
You could know it and not wantit, you could know it and not
love it.
And if you don't want it, ifyou don't do it, if you don't
love it, you are not wise andyou are not on the path to
(21:24):
becoming wise.
You see, we can sometimes treatProverbs as merely principles
for living, truths that give usclear thinking, and that's true.
But it's not like a recipe book.
It's not like you follow theserecipes, these instructions, and
you will automatically get thebeautiful photo that's right
here.
Right, there's a whole cornerof the internet that shows what
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it was supposed to look like andwhat it ended up looking like
when you did it.
So you know you followed thesame instructions, but it didn't
turn out the same.
You see, that's how wisdom isyou can know all the right
answers and be a fool.
In our house, our kids areresponsible for things way
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earlier than I was growing up,and I give Leah all the credit
and I get all the benefit fromher work.
There are many examples, butone example would be I didn't
really cook until I was way latein high school, and it was
because I was hungry and itincluded mostly microwaves.
But my kids Leah has them inthe kitchen before.
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They're double digits makingmeaningful contributions.
It's just part of the way thatshe disciples our kids.
But of course, you know and Iknow, the kitchen can be a
dangerous place yes, much likethe world, I guess, can be a
dangerous place.
Yes, much like the world, Iguess.
So of course, when she broughtthem into the kitchen, it
started with very clearinstructions Don't do that, do
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this, not that, don't cut towardyourself, cut away from
yourself, and so on.
But over time, as the kids havebeen in the kitchen with Leah, I
see they're becoming wise inthe kitchen.
They don't just know the rules,they're actually improvising.
They're becoming wise.
They're living along the grainof the kitchen and things in the
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kitchen.
They're accounting for multipletrue things at once.
They're reading recipes butthen they're looking at our
ingredients and taking inpreferences and looking at time
and saying I have to cut this,this and this.
I need to do this because thisis the time we have to eat.
By then I see my eight-year-oldmaking these decisions and I
think that's more than knowledge, that's wisdom.
Now, of course, I'm still inthe kitchen with them, or Leah's
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still in the kitchen with them,or Leah's still in the kitchen
with them.
And we're there to help, toanswer questions, to give
suggestions, to intervene, ofcourse, but they're learning a
way of wisdom.
They're more skillful.
And that brings me to the pointthat wisdom is a skill.
You grow in it and the way yougrow in it is not merely by
knowing the right things, butit's by following the right
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people.
It's by it being modeled.
You know wisdom when you see it.
You know a wise person when youexperience it.
You don't just read a list ofingredients.
You watch a master chef.
That's how you become a chef.
And you don't just read theProverbs or wisdom literature
and become wise, or wisdomliterature and become wise.
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You do, but you also follow awise person.
She can teach you how to bewise.
He can teach you how to be wise.
You apprentice yourself towisdom in order to become wisdom
, and we'll say more on that ina moment.
But you know, all of our livesare this way.
When we live life with God, webegin to become like him.
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Right, we know what he mightsay or do if he were us and he's
always with us.
Right For clarification, fordiscipline, for intervening, but
the wise person never assumesthey are wise on their own.
They never assume they arebeyond the source of wisdom.
They are wise on their own.
They never assume they arebeyond the source of wisdom.
They're always going back tothe source of wisdom and, in
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this interesting thing, it makesthem more wise.
The wise person doesn't try tobecome wise on their own.
The wise person apprentices thewise one and it makes them more
wise.
This is the way it works.
The wise person is not aimingat self-reliance, but rather
knowing the one who is all wiseand drawing wisdom and life from
them.
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It's the fool who tries tonavigate life without God, even
functionally.
Think about this.
I thought about Mount Everest.
You know the real heroes,people.
It's not that I'm not impressedwith you.
If you've climbed Mount Everest.
I truly am.
I'll never do it.
I have minimal desire to do itand I certainly don't have the
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resources to pay to do it.
But the person that I, thepeople that I'm most impressed
by, of course, are the Sherpas.
Now, the Sherpa, that's a peoplegroup, but there's a group of
them, of the Sherpa people group, that are Sherpas as we think
of them and know them, which isthey carry all the things.
They're the expert guides onthese Mount Everest climbs.
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These climbs, they leadclimbers to the summit by
setting up camps, fixing ropes,carrying heavy supplies like
oxygen tanks, things like that.
What are they doing?
They're ensuring the safety ofthe climbers throughout the
entire ascent, leveraging theirdeep knowledge of the terrain
and their insane high-altitudeabilities.
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Okay, now you pay a lot ofmoney to hire a Sherpa because
you don't want to die.
All right, you're alreadybasically dying and you just
want to get down as soon as youcan until you fully die.
All right, you're alreadybasically dying and you just
want to get down as soon as youcan until you fully die.
So the Sherpa is there to guideyou.
Let me ask you this If you'reall going along this path and
you have the Sherpa who'sguiding you and you have one man
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, one woman, who decides youknow what this way looks better
and just starts walking awayfrom the group, everyone would
be like you're gonna die, comeback.
This is why we have the Sherpa.
But what if the person justsays no, I think this is a
shortcut, I think this will bebetter.
What would you call that person, man, that person, that person
(27:18):
lives their own life.
That person you do you, I mean,go for it, like if, deep down
in your heart, you think thatthat way is a faster way and
safer.
Like you are really brave, youare really courageous.
No, you say you're a fool.
That's what you say.
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You're a fool, I'm not gonnafollow you, you're gonna walk
yourself to the edge of a cliff.
Well, when we think about itthis way, wisdom is not just
knowing the right path, it'schoosing to walk in it.
The wise person doesn't justacknowledge the right path.
The wise person becomes thetype of person who wants to walk
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in it.
And when they stray, they knowthe path of wisdom and they
repent and they come back to thepath of wisdom.
The wise person makes mistakes.
The wise person is not perfect.
There's one perfect person, andthis person is wisdom, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he is the one who isteaching us how to be wise.
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He is the one who is modelingwisdom for us.
He is the one that took ourfolly so that he could give us
his wisdom and righteousness.
You see, the life ofdiscipleship, from this
perspective, is a life of wisdom.
It's a life of following Jesus.
It's a life of staying oncourse.
Paul says it this way keep instep with the Spirit.
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You follow the Lord.
He will guide you, and one ofthe things that we know about
our heart and what we depend onis that our heart can be viewed
this way.
It's like a security system.
It's sort of the heart of themainframe.
If it's infiltrated, bad thingscan happen.
Of the mainframe.
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If it's infiltrated, bad thingscan happen.
So think about it this way.
Think about your heart as asecurity system.
When it's not properly online oraligned, thieves are constantly
trying to break in and rob youof something.
They're trying to rob you oflength of days.
They're trying to rob you oflife and peace.
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They're trying to steal andkill and destroy.
The Bible calls these idols,the Bible calls these
temptations, the Bible callsthese flaming arrows.
But ultimately, it is the voiceof the fool, the accuser, who's
trying to woo you away fromwisdom.
He's trying to woo you awayfrom wisdom.
He's trying to woo me away fromwisdom by telling us if you
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were really wise, you wouldfollow me.
If you were really wise, you'dbe cynical like me.
If you were really wise, youwould see that the true aim of
life is to be independent, it'sto be self-sufficient, and we
all have these voices.
We all have them.
And so what's a litmus test?
Well, for example, ask yourselfthis what life scenario will
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make me say, oh, I finallyarrived.
Just think about that.
What life scenario right nowwould make you say I finally
arrived?
And what does arrival even looklike to you?
But whatever my scenario is inreally prayerfully, reflectively
, answering that question, whencan I say I finally arrived?
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Whatever my answer is, if JesusChrist is not the life-giving
center of that answer, your andmy heart has already been
penetrated by life-robbing idols.
Your security system failed,it's been breached and the thing
is is it's like cyber warfare,which I know nothing about, but
I'm about to pretend for thenext 10, 15 seconds that I know
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a lot about it.
Constant bombardment Defenseshave to be up, always new tricks
to try to get past defenses, toget into your heart, to take
control.
This is the Christian life.
We're either trusting in thewise one, in his righteousness,
(31:16):
in his life, in his guidance andbecoming more wise yes, through
sin and repentance.
It's a long journey.
Becoming more wise, yes,through sin and repentance.
It's a long journey, or we'retrusting in ourselves and even
the idols that our own heartsproduce and becoming more of a
fool.
Now listen, I just want tospeak to you.
Some of you are discouraged thismorning and you're thinking
this whole season of life.
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I feel like I've beeninfiltrated and I'm just
realizing I'm angry because I'vebeen following the path of the
fool.
I'm angry because I've beenfollowing the path of the fool.
I'm greedy because I've beenfollowing the path of the fool.
I'm anxious because I've beenfollowing the path of the fool,
trying to gain control, and Iwant to tell you that God, the
one who is all wise, is also sokind.
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He's so kind and he's patient,and right now he's inviting you
back to him to trust in him andhis wisdom.
It makes me think of ourone-year-old.
He's going to start trying towalk soon, and you know how that
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goes.
They're really bad at it.
They're really bad at it, andso what I like to do is, when
they fall, I like to stand overthem like this and taunt them.
What is wrong with you?
Of course I don't do that.
Of course I don't do that, butsome of us think that's what
God's doing to us, that, aswe're growing on this journey of
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righteousness and wisdom, thathe's angry at you and that he
thinks that you're taking toolong and that he's taunting you
and he's second guessing if heshould have even adopted you
into his family and he'sthinking about taking good
things away from you and he'sthinking about withholding good
things from you just to teachyou a lesson.
And that's the vision, the viewof God, the Father, that fills
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our minds.
But that's not true.
That's not true.
God, the Father, gave us hisone and only son to be wisdom
and righteousness for us, totake our folly, to take our
greed and all of our sin andunrighteousness.
(33:25):
But why did he do that?
Yes, to make us righteous, butto make us wise, to make us wise
in knowing him.
So how do we think about this?
Are we acknowledging God in ourdaily decisions or just when
things get tough?
Do we pray with every heartbeat, as Whitney Houston said, with
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every email, with every workdecision, with every word?
Why am I saying that?
Is that for me or is that forthem?
Who is this for right now?
Why am I saying this?
Lord, help me.
It's not just the big things.
If you want to become wise,it's moment by moment, every
heartbeat, every decision, everycomment, every question.
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And listen, that's not a burden, it's life-giving.
Can you imagine having to dolife on your own?
You know how exhausting that is.
But how do we do it?
Moment by moment, with the Lord.
So if wisdom means trusting God, it means walking in his ways,
moment by moment.
Let's close with this.
What does it lead to?
Well, it leads to life.
Verse 7 and 8, be not wise inyour own eyes.
(34:33):
Fear the Lord and turn awayfrom evil.
It will be healing to yourflesh and refreshment to your
bones.
Listen, there's a real cost ofrejecting wisdom here.
That's not the verse, but youjust flip it.
There's a real cost torejecting it.
Proverbs 26, 12, later on, saysit this way Do you see a man who
is wise in his own eyes?
That's what the author says.
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This is what he says about thatman.
There is more hope for a foolthan for him.
In other words, the one who iswise in their own eyes is in
greater danger than a fool.
Why?
Well, because wisdom is aboutfitting oneself into the grain
of reality, and the fool livesin a false reality.
(35:17):
Right To be wise is actually amoral command in scripture.
It's not simply a good idea,it's a call to all of God's
people.
So to reject wisdom is toreject life, because the aim of
wisdom, the wise person, is life.
And so what's the reward ofwisdom?
Well, it's flourishing, it'sshalom, it's eternal life.
(35:37):
Biblical wisdom brings shalom,not just avoidance of pain, but
the presence of flourishing.
It brings healing and it bringsrefreshment.
True wisdom restores.
It's like cool water to a wearytraveler, and we all are
travelers and we all are weary.
If someone makes you perceivethat they're not weary in some
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way, just know that they are.
They are.
They may not feel it in thatmoment, but we are all weary
travelers and we need cool,refreshing water.
And this is the picture of theone who is getting wisdom.
They are getting refreshment,they are getting healing, they
are getting life.
You see, a wise person knowswhen to act, they know when to
(36:24):
wait, they know what to do, theyknow when to do it, because
wisdom is not just about havingknowledge, it's about right
timing and application.
And we know that you can saythe right thing to someone and
be foolish in saying it becauseyou didn't say it in the right
time or in the right way.
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If I keep pressing on thispoint, you could think maybe I
don't know anybody who's wise,maybe I can't be wise.
I thought I was wise, maybe I'mnot.
Well, even in Proverbs it getsto that point.
After 29 chapters of Proverbs,in chapter 30, one through four,
(37:09):
you get to the words of Agur,and this is what he says.
The man declares I am weary, oGod.
I am weary, o God, and worn out.
This is ESV, by the way, whohas gathered the wind in his
fists, who has wrapped up thewaters in a garment, who has
(37:44):
established all the ends of theearth, what his his name and
what is his son's name?
Surely you know?
Huh, this is amazing.
All the proverbs are true, andyet it gets us to this point of
oh, you thought you could becomeself-sufficient.
Oh you, you thought you couldjust do these.
(38:06):
You thought you could put thesein AI and just, it would just
tell you what to do.
No, no, you see, if wisdomleads to life, where do we
ultimately find wisdom?
The answer is not in masteringprinciples.
It's in relationship to aperson.
Jesus Christ, the one who iswise and who is wise on your
(38:28):
behalf, the one who suffered anddied was buried and raised in
three days.
That's what happens.
I don't know what that littlechild just said, but amen, amen,
out of the mouth of babes.
That's where true wisdom comes.
You see, jesus is the embodimentof Proverbs 3, 5 through 8.
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He is the ultimate wise one.
He is the one who truly obeyed.
He trusted himself fully to theFather and at the cross he bore
the consequence of ourself-reliance so that we might
take on his righteousness andwisdom.
Do we trust him fully?
No, of course not.
(39:12):
But any moment that you and I,day by day, find a place in our
heart where we're not trustinghim, it's an opportunity to turn
to him.
It's an opportunity, lord, takethis place in my heart too.
Take this place in my mind too.
Take this place in my mind too.
Take this place in my life too.
I want to be wise.
Why?
It's not just a principle ingeneral, wise people.
(39:33):
No, it's because the wiseperson is in relationship with
the wise one.
That's what the Proverbs said.
In all your ways, know him,know him.
And so I'll end with thisillustration.
I read it a while ago in acommentary by Ray Orlin Jr on
the Proverbs, and I was remindedof it this week.
He tells the story one of hisseminary professors told him
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about his father crossing thisriver in the Northeast.
So it's a large river in theNortheast.
I can't I don't know how topronounce it, so I'm not going
to say it.
And one winter's day thisseminary professor's father was
trying to get some grain orsomething across the river well,
on the other side of the riverbut the shortest path was to go
across the river and it was icy.
(40:16):
But he didn't know, can Iactually go across this?
And so he started crawlingalong on all fours like gingerly
feeling his way.
And as he gets close to themiddle he starts hearing this
loud sound, this loud racket,and of course at first he's
probably like, ah, the ice isfalling.
But then he notices coming frombehind him and he turns and
(40:38):
there is a man on a wagon withfour horses just whipping these
horses and just flies across theice to the other side.
And here he is just feeling hisway on his hands and knees
right.
He realized this guy was alocal.
He knew how thick the ice was.
(41:00):
And what Ray Ortlund says is toomany Christians, too many of us
, are like the man on all fourscreeping along way too cautious.
Their trust in the Lord ishalf-hearted.
Then along comes a wholeheartedChristian and he changes the
tone for everyone around him.
Some of you sages in this roomyou look around and you just
(41:24):
think what can I offer?
Some of you sages in this roomyou look around and you just
think what can I offer All thesebeautiful young families and of
course, not all of you sagesare actually sages.
Not all old people are wise,but I think the percentages are
higher for you than they are forus.
(41:44):
You can be a p setter in thiscongregation.
You can be like the Christian,wholeheartedly saying you know,
let's go, come on.
You can trust the Lord.
Let me tell you all the wayshe's provided for me.
Let me tell you all the waysthat he is sufficient for you.
Let me tell you all the waysthat if you could see things
even from my perspective, youwould get up and run.
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You wouldn't be timid, youwould trust, you would risk, you
would go back to the source,you wouldn't try to become
self-sufficient.
You would learn that maturityis becoming deeper and deeper
dependent on the Lord Jesus, thewise one.
So where are the pacesetters?
(42:26):
The pacesetters are the oneswho show us the faithfulness of
the Lord.
We need you.
Let's pray, father.
We're grateful for yourgoodness and we're grateful for
your patience.
We're grateful that you are notimpatient with us, but we're
(42:47):
your children and just like me,with Sammy, so proud of him
learning how to walk.
You're always there to teach ushow to be wise in every aspect
of our life.
Teach us, lord.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen, amen, buddy.
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