Biblical Wisdom Intro

We’ve all made really bad decisions and intuitively understand the value of having wisdom.  We want to do well in life.  Here’s our guiding idea for this series on Proverbs…wisdom can be learned.  

That’s why Proverbs exists – to teach us wisdom so that we will live well in the world and honor God all the days that we live.  

This is an introductory post about the general concept of wisdom.

Four Truths about Wisdom

1 – God is the source of wisdom.

The commonly accepted belief about the source of wisdom is that it comes from grey hair.  Right?  But, is old age and grey hair truly the source of wisdom?”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”
  — H. L. Mencken

The experiences of life can bring personal growth and learning if we first have the wisdom and willingness to grow from and learn from what we go through.

The Bible says this: God is the source of wisdom and we should urgently seek wisdom from him.  Let’s look at a few Scriptures.  

The book of Proverbs begins by telling us its purpose…

Proverbs 4:5-7, “Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. 6Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.” 

These verses show us that we can obtain wisdom and grow wiser.  These verses do not imply that we simply get wiser with age.  They specifically tell us that wisdom is something we must put effort into obtaining.  

God is the source…  

Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” 

Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” 

2 – Wisdom Sits above Law

How does wisdom function practically?  It is the difference between internal and external.  Discipline, for example, can be internal or external.  External: parent to child, boss to employee, military to soldier.  Internal: you to yourself.  Wisdom is 100% an internal issue.  You can only gain wisdom for yourself. You can speak words of wisdom into another person’s life, but you can never make another person accept wisdom.  They must make their own internal choice to accept or reject wisdom.

Laws have the ability on the surface level to create a civilized person and even a civilized society.  But this is only surface level. Take away the laws and you see a person’s true humanity come out.  We have seen this in much of the anarchy of recent years in our cities as law enforcement has been removed or minimized.

Wisdom is superior to Law because laws are external and wisdom is internal.

Wisdom can truly change a person.  Laws can never touch the heart.

3 – God’s wisdom is different from worldly wisdom

Worldly wisdom would be the common thinking of the world.

What do you do when someone comes to arrest Jesus?  Draw your sword and cut off ears.  But Jesus rebukes this aggression and heals the man Peter attacked.  Jesus thinks differently.  What do you do when 5000 people must be fed?  Send them away to the town to buy food.  But Jesus rebukes this type of thinking and feeds the multitudes.

1 Corinthians 3:18-19, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” 

Christian life cannot be lived by worldly wisdom.  We need God’s wisdom.

4 – Jesus is the wisdom of God on display

I want to leave us with a concrete example of the wisdom of God.  That is Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:18-24

Jew seek signs = Jesus, power of God

Greeks seek wisdom (worldly logic) = Jesus, wisdom of God

You cannot be wise apart from Christ.  So as we start this journey of learning wisdom from the Lord, the most important question is this, “Have you surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom and power of God.?”

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