p>Romans 11:33 – Oh, the depth of the riches of the WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!
In July of 1997, the Vancouver Sun published some very humorous excerpts of actual trials – “bloopers” taken from real-life courtroom cross-examinations. But, before I share some of them, I want you to know that none of the attorneys or the federal judge who attends our church were involved in any of these legal mis-speaks! So don’t think of Bob, C. C., Roberta, LaVanna, or Holly, as you listen? Here goes:
While cross-examining a physician, one lawyer seriously asked, “Now, doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?” Another attorney asked a witness, “The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how OLD is he?”
As he pointed to a picture being used in evidence another lawyer asked the person on the stand, “Were you present when this picture of you picture was taken?”
And just to be fair and balanced, here are some actual RESPONSES that people like you and me gave to lawyers’ questions:
One attorney asked a witness: “Is your APPEARANCE here this morning because of a notice which I sent to your attorney?”
The witness replied: “No, this is how I always dress when I go to work.”
Another attorney carefully instructed a witness before questioning him by saying: “Understand, sir, all your responses must be oral, okay? The witness nodded and the attorney continued,
“Now…what school did you go to?” The witness replied: “Oral.”
And I really enjoyed this one. An attorney is cross-examining a doctor and he says: “Doctor before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?”
The doctor said, “No.” The attorney continued, “Did you check for blood pressure?” And again the doc said, “No.”
The attorney took a step closer to the witness stand and said, “Did you check for breathing?”
The doctor said, “No.”
Then the attorney seemed to get to his point by asking, “So then, is it possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?” And the doctor said, “No.”
Then the attorney said, “How can you be so sure, doctor?” And the doctor said, “Because his brain was in a jar sitting on my desk.”
At this point the attorney pursued this line of questioning a little too far by asking: “But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?”
And the doctor wisely responded, “I suppose it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing LAW somewhere.”
We all laugh, but if the truth were to be told, no matter what our line of work, all of us have done and said foolish things. I for one have a very painful memory of one of the FIRST sermons I ever preached decades ago in my college church. In that message I said loudly and with great conviction that Paul’s JAILER, who you should remember became a Christian after the earthquake along with his entire house hold. I said this jailer was a good husband, wife, and father. In fact, I said it three times for effect increasing the volume each time. I didn’t know why the people laughed at that point of my sermon until someone played the tape for me later. When I heard it I felt so foolish that it almost became my LAST sermon.
But all of us have done something like this-and not only with our WORDS. Our ACTIONS have also shown that no matter how educated we are, we are still lacking in wisdom and prone to folly.
This brings us to the next attribute of God that I want us to study as part of advent this year-namely our Heavenly Father’s WISDOM. And let’s BEGIN by making sure we have an accurate understanding of this Godly adjective because the very mention of the word, “wisdom” brings to mind several inaccurate stereotypes. For example we usually limit the use of this word to describing OLD people-people experienced in life-but the fact is you can be well-along in years and still be a very foolish person. I mean, WISDOM does not necessarily come with age. In fact, even CHILDREN can often say things that show a great deal of wisdom and insight. For example, listen to these responses given by a group of children who were asked: “What do you think wisdom is?”
Rocky, age 9, said, “Wisdom is…wearing a hat when feeding seagulls.”
Nine-year-old Carol said, “Wisdom is…never asking for anything that costs more than $5 when your parents are doing taxes.”
Nicholas, age 11, apparently spoke from experience and said: “Wisdom is…never bugging a pregnant mom.”
And, Heather, a seasoned teenager said, “Wisdom is…knowing NOT TO ANSWER when your dad is mad and asks, ‘Do I look stupid?'” These children had some pretty wise insights, wouldn’t you agree? So wisdom is not related to AGE.
Another thing we need to understand is that wisdom is much more than accumulated KNOWLEDGE. I mean you can be very educated and still be a very foolish person. Journalist and historian, Paul Johnson documented this in his book, Intellectuals, which is a collection of mini-biographies of the leading thinkers of the last 200 years, people like Rousseau, Karl Marx, Bertrand Russell, and others-men and women whose ideas shaped whole cultures, began revolutions, and toppled civilizations. In his book Johnson shows that in every instance these men and women possessed massive intellects but puny souls. And he records the fact that history shows these intellectual “giants” to have been very lacking when it came to wisdom. He writes, “They were cruel, shallow, heartless, and selfish. They loved humanity but hated people.” His record of their lives remind me of Paul’s words in Romans 1 where he writes,
“…their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be WISE, they became FOOLS.” (Romans 1:21b-22)
So, wisdom doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with age OR knowledge. No-genuine wisdom is the way someone USES knowledge and/or experience. It’s the ability to judge rightly and follow the soundest course of action. And the Bible tells us over and over again that God embodies this attribute. This is the fact that Paul was underscoring when he CONCLUDED his letter to the Romans with the following benediction, “To the ONLY WISE God, be glory forever through Jesus Christ.” (Romans 16:27) And, please note. Paul is not just telling us that God is wise. He’s also saying that God is ONLY WISE. He’s saying that there is not even a shade of folly in our Heavenly Father. Wisdom saturates everything He is and everything He does.
To help us understand this particular Godly attribute I want us to take a moment or two to examine three Greek words for wisdom that are used in the Bible. The first is SOPHIA-it’s the word from which we get our word “philoSOPHY” SOPHIA literally means, “insight into the nature of things, an ability to see through, to comprehend truly and fully what is going on.” For example it would take “SOPHIA-wisdom” to see that someone’s anger was really woundedness. This brand of wisdom would see this individual’s angry words and actions as a “mask” they wear to cover their pain.
The second Greek word is “PHRONESIS.” Think of “phronesis-wisdom” as the understanding that this kind of insight needs to be APPLIED. I mean, people with this level of wisdom realize they need to do something about the insight that SOPHIA gives. You see, some people who have SOPHIA-wisdom may see that a person is angry because of some inner pain but they don’t act on this insight and instead do or say something foolish. But people with PHRONESIS are “wiser” than that. They know they need to be caring and loving toward this angry person. They know better than to respond in kind to the angry individual’s statements or actions. Well, the fact is these two words need to be “married” to produce complete-GODLY wisdom. And this brings us to the third Greek word, “SUNESIS.” SUNESIS is often translated “understanding” but it basically describes the joining of SOPHIA and PHRONESIS. I mean, sunesis is knowing truth and ACTUALLY acting on it.
Now, God possesses all three of these dimensions of wisdom in completeness and perfection. He is literally ALL-WISE.
But to fully understand the depth of God’s wisdom we need to review another aspect of His character-His omniscience…a long word that means God has COMPLETE knowledge-He knows EVERYTHING. Every word spoken by every person who ever lived, every movement by any of the billions of insects, birds, fish, and mammals anywhere in the world….every chemical reaction going on inside every flower and tree and plant on every continent on every planet-God is fully aware of all of this. He is aware of the actions of every cell in every body of EVERYBODY. He also knows every thought on every mind and the fears and desires that prompted it. And His knowledge is not limited to time. He reads the future just as clearly as He reads the past. Who we will be 50 years from now is no less certain to God than who we were 10 years ago. Try to get your finite minds around this fact. Every possible bit of knowledge in the universe is known and understood by God simultaneously. Bill Hybels writes, “No question can confound Him. No dilemma can confuse Him, No event can surprise Him. He has eternal, intrinsic, comprehensive and absolutely perfect knowledge…There’s not a single motivation, thought, act, or word that has slipped out of your being and escaped the full, undivided attention of God.”
Now, put these two facts together. God has ALL knowledge and He also has “sunesis-wisdom”so He always uses His knowledge to lovingly act for our good. Jerry Bridges puts it this way,”God always knows what is best for us as well as the best way to bring about that result.” Well this attribute of God can make a world of difference in our lives. I mean think about it for a minute. Imagine what a difference it would make in your life, if in the midst of even the most difficult times you could believe that God is truly all-wise-that God knows what He is doing! What difference would it make if you firmly believed that the problem in your life that is most pressing and difficult, the one you don’t understand, the one that causes you the most concern…the one that makes you feel overwhelmed and ready to give up-what if you sincerely believed even this problem was allowed or orchestrated by an all-knowing, all-wise, all-loving Heavenly Father?
When we face illnesses that won’t go away, biopsy reports that scare us, relationships that just don’t seem to go right, well, wouldn’t it be a relief to rest and trust that an all-wise God is sovereignly in control and working for our good 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? Can you imagine what would happen to your anxiety level and your emotions if you had this quality of faith in our God Who is all-wise? I mean think of the difference it would make if you were absolutely convinced that God was producing the best possible results in your life by the best possible means-not his Plan B or C, but the plan A that He designed specifically for you!
Is the idea of having that kind of FAITH appealing? Well if it is then, listen because this morning I want to share with you four things we need to do to develop this caliber of faith.
1. And the first is this: we must embrace a REVERENCE for God.
I mean, we can’t have a faith that is this sure and steadfast without cultivating a proper RESPECT for God-a conviction that, unlike you and me He DOES know it all. Think of it this way-the first step to developing this kind of faith is HUMILITY. We must realize that we are creation and God is our Creator…and that, as such, He knows far more than we could ever know-that at our very best, “His ways ARE above our ways and His thoughts above our thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) This attitude is what Proverbs 15:33 is referring to when it says,”The fear of the Lord-the REVERENCE-of the Lord-teaches a man wisdom-and humility comes before honor.” We must learn to say with the Psalmist,”My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with matters or things too wonderful for me.” (Psalm 131:1)
In his commentary on the book of Job, Don Baker refers to the 16 times that Job asked God WHY he was suffering. Baker writes, “I have long since quit seeking the answer to that question in my own life. God owes me no explanation. He has the right to do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants. WHY? Because He’s God…Job didn’t need to know why these things happened as they did-He just needed to know WHO was responsible and Who was in control. He just needed to know God.”
I would agree-we really don’t NEED to know WHY bad things happen to us. What we really need to know is that our all-wise and all-loving God is in control…and that He will be faithful to His word to, “work in all things for our good.” (Romans 8:28)
Chip Ingram suggests the following illustration to help us see why we need to embrace a REVERENCE for God. Suppose a man has a job as a railroad operator, controlling train traffic by switching tracks. Day after day, he sits in a little booth high above the railway yard, watching carefully as speeding trains rumble through. They depend on him to prevent accidents. One day, the operator’s five-year-old boy comes to visit his father from their nearby home. Seeing dad up in the control booth, he runs shouting and waving across the railroad tracks. Just as his dad notices him, the boy trips and gets his foot caught between a switching track. He’s stuck. He can’t get free. The father leaps to his feet to help the boy but at that moment a piercing whistle gets his attention. He looks and in horror sees a speeding train only a few hundred yards away.
Even if it braked immediately, it couldn’t stop in time to avoid crushing the life from his son. So, the father is forced to make a split-second decision. You see, even though he can’t reach the boy in time but he can shift the tracks. However if he did that then due to it’s speed the train would be derailed, killing many of the people on board. The only other option is to allow the passenger train to continue on in safety-crushing the boy as it flies past.
Okay, let me ask you, What is the WISEST choice in that terrible moment? Not, what’s the BEST choice. What’s the WISEST choice? What would bring the best possible result for the most possible people? Now, most of us would probably say that the hardest but wisest decision would be to let the son be killed and save all the people. After all, it’s better for one to die than for 50 to do so.
And maybe that is the WISEST decision but I would suggest that you and I just don’t know.
I mean, what if the son was the next Billy Graham? What if 50 people died on the train but the boy’s ministry would have helped millions of people to spend eternity in heaven? Or, what if the next great evangelist was on the train? What if the person who would discover the cure for cancer was on the train? What if the boy would grow up to be the man who cured AIDS or solved the problem of world hunger? We could go on and on-the “what-if’s” never end-because we don’t have all the facts which means we don’t the ability to decide wisely.
But you see, GOD DOES have this ability-because He is the only Being Who knows all things about all people and how they will impact each other forever. I mean, containing and using all the knowledge in the universe is like simple math for God! In one instant, He sees all relationships, all impacts, all costs, all implications, and how it all fits into His wise plan to save this fallen world.
So, when horrible things happen to us in life, we need to reverence God….we need to trust that in His wisdom and goodness He is working for our good. Tozer writes, “Wisdom sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no guess or conjecture. Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and thus is able to work toward predestined goals, with flawless precision.”
You know, so many times someone makes some big discovery and when they do humanity gets “the big head.” We act like college sophomores who live up to that designation…in that we behave like wise fools! But this is arrogance! Even our greatest discoveries only scratch the surface of genuine knowledge plus our track record shows that most of the time we use the knowledge we have very foolishly. I mean, when it comes to divine wisdom we haven’t been there and we haven’t done that. So, understand the first step to developing this caliber of faith is to humble ourselves and embrace a REVERENCE for our God, Who alone is truly ALL-wise.
And this leads to a second step…
2. We must commit to LIVE according to His written WORD.
As Packer reminds us,”Wisdom is divinely wrought in those, and only those, who apply themselves to God’s revelation.” Packer is right because the more we study the wisdom of God that is revealed in His written Word-and the more we apply its principles and precepts to our lives-and in so doing find that they work-well, the deeper our trust in our all-wise God grows.
This is the principle of faith development that Paul refers to in Colossians 3:16 when he says that we must, “let the Word of God dwell in us richly…with all wisdom.”
Now, if you were to ask her, Sue would tell you that I tend to be kind of “mechanically challenged.” I’m just not much good when it comes to working with machines and tools. In fact, I have a theory when it comes to cars-I think all car engines are hypochondriacs. If you don’t baby them every time they make a strange noise, they’ll quit whining and get back to work. The problem is, when you ignore a car’s strange noises, they usually don’t go away do they? In fact, if you neglect them long enough, eventually you have a bigger problem to deal with. I remember our seminary car started making some squeaking sounds when we applied the brakes-but I ignored it, thinking it would go away. Well it didn’t. In fact, it got so bad that I was forced to take it to the shop-and when I did I found out I had bad brakes…AND ruined rotors as well-which I believe is the part of the wheel that the brake pads rub up against to get the car to stop. The mechanic told me I could have avoided this expensive a repair if I had only taken the time to consult the owners manual when it came to preventative maintenance. He pointed out that the manual plainly says that brake pads only last so long. In fact it tells you when to bring them in to be checked so as to avoid costly repairs-like new rotors. And I would have known this if I had taken the time to read that little manual that came with my car and care for my car according to its instruction. But I was too foolish to do so.
Well, our ALL-WISE God has given us a manual for life-the Bible-and it’s pages are full of His wisdom-His wise guidance for how to go about this life of ours. This is what the psalmist is talking about when he says,”Oh, How I love Your Law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me WISER than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your statues. I have more understanding than the elders for I obey Your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey Your Word.” (Psalm 119:97-101)
This principle is what Paul was speaking about when he reminded young Timothy, “From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you WISE for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:15-17) Basically the old apostle was saying, “Timothy, if you want the light to be able to follow God in every area of your life, then never forget that God’s Word is the Lamp!”
And then, in our study of His Word we discover a third key to developing this caliber of faith in God…
3. …because the Bible tells us we must learn to ASK God for wisdom when we need it.
For example: Proverbs 3:5-6 says,”Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Isaiah 58:11 says, “The Lord will guide you continually.” Psalms 25:12 says,”Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.”
And then in his little epistle James gets very specific. He says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5-6)
These verses from God’s Word remind us that we develop our faith in God every time we face a crossroads and see it as an opportunity to ASK for His guidance. I mean, mature Christians-wise believers-have learned to depend on God for guidance in every decision of life. They know that as Billy Graham once said, “Knowledge is horizontal. Wisdom is vertical. It comes down from above.” Well, in James and other parts of the Bible, God invites us to ask for His wisdom from above when we need it. He doesn’t mind it at all when we admit, “I don’t know what to do in this marriage; I don’t know how to handle this kid; I don’t know what do to do with our finances; I don’t know whether I ought to move, and I don’t know if I should take this job. I need Your wise guidance, God!”
In times of need like these it IS wise to come boldly to the throne of grace and find help-but please note. James cautions that when we ask for God’s wisdom we must do so with confidence.
In other words, wise living involves a DECISIVE dependence on the Source of wisdom. You see, the word “doubt” in this text from James literally means “Double-minded.” It refers to someone with a divided mind, a soul with split allegiances, a person who wants to rely on God AND on himself or someone else…someone who prays but also checks his horoscope….an individual who SEEKS God’s will but wants to DO His will as well. James is telling us here that it’s foolish to be double-minded like this-to ask God for His wisdom just to evaluate our options and then do whatever we want.
James says that such a person is a double-minded and unstable fool. I get the picture of a man with one foot on a boat that is leaving the dock and the other foot on the dock. A swim is inevitable with this footing…and it’s also inevitable that we will miss the wisdom we need if we don’t put our complete trust in God.
Now, here’s an example of the kind of single-minded request for wisdom that James is describing, “God, I’m asking You to show me and I’m telling you in advance that I will follow Your guidance. I’m signing the bottom of the work order, Lord. You fill in the directions above and I will obey them. Whatever You say, I will do.” In those cases, our Heavenly Father promises, “One hundred percent of the time, I will give you wisdom.” Now-please note. James is not saying here that God will necessarily give us KNOWLEDGE-but rather wisdom and as I said earlier, they are not the same thing. I mean, there will be times when we just don’t KNOW why things happen. And, in these times we must remember that we aren’t really capable of knowing all. Our minds don’t have hard drives big enough!
God WILL guide us-He will give us the wisdom we need to make decisions that are for our good and His glory….but He will not always open the window of knowledge so we can see why things happen. And, wise people know this. They know that there are times when we need to trust God, Who literally knows all. So, to develop a faith deep enough to rest in God’s wisdom no matter what comes we must embrace a reverence for God; we must study and live by His written Word; we must learn to humbly ask God for wisdom when we need it…
4. And then the last thing we must do in order to develop a faith that rests in God’s infinite wisdom is to remember what He did at CHRISTMAS.
As I have said repeatedly for the past few weeks, Christmas itself is an excellent teacher when it comes to understanding God’s attributes. This is especially true about this aspect of His character because the REDEMPTIVE act-the sending of Jesus into the world-is the climactic act of God’s wisdom. The word “redemption” literally means “to buy back.” It refers to the wise process God used to reestablish a relationship with sinners like you and me, who, like foolish sheep, “…have gone astray…each turned to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6)
And, from the very beginning in His wisdom God purposed to redeem us for Himself. Our own rebellious sin had to be judged because He is holy. His love wanted restoration. His justice demanded a settlement. His grace provided the willingness. And God’s wisdom-taking all His other attributes into account-devised the plan. So you see, our redemption begins and ends with God’s wisdom. A perfect Sacrifice was required to pay for our sin and Jesus was born to be that Sacrifice. He was born to die for you and me. As Ephesians 3:10-11 says the plan all along, “…was that…the manifold wisdom of God should be made known…to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jerry Bridges writes, “It is only in Christ and His work that we see God’s justice reconciled with mercy, His law reconciled with grace, …His holiness with His love, and His power with His compassion. And he’s right. As, 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “…Christ Jesus…has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.”
Now-think about this for a moment. What God did at Christmas makes sense. It makes sense that Jesus would be our sacrifice because, as I said, a sacrifice was needed to pay for the sin of mankind. WHAT God did makes sense. It can be taught, charted, and put in books on systematic theology. However WHY God did it is absolutely absurd. As Paul said, “…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” (1 Corinthians 1:18) I mean, when we leave the METHOD and examine the MOTIVE the carefully stacked blocks of logic begin to tumble. You see, that type of love isn’t logical; it can’t be neatly outlined in a sermon or explained in a term paper. I mean, think of it….after thousands of years of rejection by His own people. After the very individuals He chose to teach the world about His great plan foolishly rejected Him, God still sent His Son. Why? Why not just give up and start over? Here’s why-because as Jesus Himself said, “God SO LOVED…” God sent His Son because He loves us! Max Lucado writes, “Even after generations of people had spit in His face, He still loved them. After a nation of chosen ones had stripped Him naked and ripped His incarnated flesh, He still died for them. And even today, after billions have chosen to prostitute themselves before the pimps of power, fame, and wealth, He still waits for them. It is inexplicable. It doesn’t have a drop of logic or a thread or rationality. And yet it is that very irrationality that gives the gospel its greatest defense. For only God could love like that.”
I love Ron Mehl’s story of the Grandfather who walked into the family room and found his little grandson Jeffey standing up in the playpen crying. When the baby saw his grandad he cried, “Out Papa, out!” But just as Grandad started to reach for the child his mother walked in and said, “No dad, he is being punished! Leave him right there.” Well, what was the grandfather to do? He couldn’t ignore his grandchild’s pleas. Nor could he interfere with his daughter’s just discipline. And, he couldn’t leave the room without feeling like a betrayer to his little pal. So what was he to do? Well, since Grandpa couldn’t take Jeffy out of the play pen, he climbed in with him. “If you’re in the playpen, buddy, I’m in the playpen. What’s your sentence? How long are you in for?” And finding his grandfather with him in his little prison cell, the boy stopped crying and found joy even in his captivity.
Well, what this little boy’s grandfather did is a picture of what Jesus did for us at Christmas. You see, as much as God would have liked to pick us up and draw us close, because of His holiness He could not. As Habbakkuk 1:13 says, “His eyes are too pure to look on evil; He cannot tolerate wrong.” And yet God loved us-in fact His love was so great, He sent His Son to “climb into the playpen” with us. This is what John 1:14 means when it says, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” The joy of Christmas is knowing that it was the only way He could bring us home to Himself-the only way was for Him to become a man and then come and save us.
This morning I invite you to respond to God’s all-wise love. Perhaps you are here and are not a Christian-and you realize your need for Jesus. I’d love to tell you how you can experience Him literally WITH YOU…IN your life.. Or.. in His Omni-wisdom, God may be telling you that as a Christian, you need to join this church family and serve Him here. You may just want to come and pray at the altar, repenting of some foolish behavior, asking for His guidance. Won’t you come as God leads?