Wisdom for Everyday Life: Fear of the Lord

And so you don't get wisdom by reading Proverbs. You don't get wisdom by becoming smart. You don't get wisdom by being disciplined or by becoming more religious. You get wisdom the same way that Solomon got it, by humbling yourself before God and asking for it. James one five says this. It says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. That's how wisdom starts. Not with your effort, not with how hard you work, but with the gift of God. The fear of the Lord is the only foundation for wisdom that shapes every area of life, and the Lord has a face. [00:17:38] (50 seconds)  #AskGodForWisdom

No one graduates from the book of Proverbs. The most dangerous person in this room is not the fool who knows he needs help, but it is the experienced person who has decided that they've already arrived. It's the couple who has been married for thirty years and who have stopped working at it. Who have stopped growing. Who have stopped being curious about each other. They are more vulnerable than the newlyweds who are still trying to figure it out. Proverbs three seven puts it this way, be not wise in your own eyes, but fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Because the moment that you become wise in your own eyes, you have stopped fearing the Lord. You have made yourself the standard, and that becomes the beginning of a very bad and destructive road. Because the truly wise person is recognizable by this one thing. A continued posture openness. The truly wise person keeps learning because that's what requires. Humility never retires. [00:28:46] (70 seconds)  #HumilityNeverRetires

Not just wiser, but greater. This is a different category entirely. This is how Paul describes Jesus in the book of first Corinthians. He says, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Colossians two three says this, and whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Every treasury of wisdom that exists is found in Jesus. And this is why why why it matters so much this morning. Because the wisdom that this book offers is not ultimately found in the ancient advice from Solomon who lived three thousand years ago, but it's found in one person. The true source source of all wisdom is the covenant God who's fully revealed in his son Jesus Christ. [00:16:44] (54 seconds)  #JesusIsTrueWisdom

You pray on Sunday, but you panic on Monday. You know what God says about that grudge and you're still holding him. You know what God says about your money but you still spend it like he doesn't exist. And then some of you here today are the fool. Not because you're wicked, but because pride or self sufficiency or the long habit of content has kept you from receiving what God offers. You've heard it all before and you've walked out unchanged. But here's the good news, the cross is still standing. Do not walk out the same way you walked in. But I don't wanna leave you with a feeling. Right? I wanna leave you with something actionable that you can do this week. Before your next big decision, before you make a decision about your money, about your time, about your family, about your work, about your words, stop and ask this one question. What does the Lord require of me here? [00:44:12] (68 seconds)  #AskWhatGodRequires

don't begin with the fear of the Lord by trying harder or cleaning yourself. Clean yourself up. You begin by looking at the cross. You look at the wise man who died in our place because he loved us. You look at what it cost him to give you what you could never give yourself. And you look until the sight of that grace does what grace always does to human pride. It melts it. The fool despises wisdom, but God never despises the heart that finally stops sneering and comes home. Where wisdom comes from, what wisdom does, and where wisdom begins. It's all been pointing us to this. The fear of the Lord is the only foundation for the wisdom that shapes every area of your life. [00:41:42] (69 seconds)  #StartAtTheCross

And so the fear of the Lord is not just an entry level requirement that you complete before you get to the good material. But it's where you start. It's also the most important thing, and it's also the richest part of everything. And you never move beyond it. You just move deeper into it. And here's what makes this word so so remarkable. Right? The word reshi is also shares the same root with the very first word in the bible. In the book of Genesis, how does it start? In the beginning. In the beginning, God created. Creation was what God did. But the beginning of knowledge is also the fear of God. I don't think it's by accident that the holy spirit used two words that share the same root. Because this is his world. And so if you want to understand it, you have to start with the one who made it. [00:33:00] (59 seconds)  #BeginWithGod

So the entire grain of the universe runs with God in his direction, not against him. And so when you're trying to understand your life without God, you're not just missing one piece, you're you're actually working against the grain of the world itself. Our whole culture has been trying to live with humanity at the center, and we've been building life outward. But that's not working. Look around you. Look at the world. Look at the inside of your heart. Paul calls it this in Romans one. He says, claiming to be wise, they became fools. When you suppress the knowledge of God, you don't get smarter, you actually get more foolish. And the fool has a big problem. He despises wisdom and instruction. And some of you know exactly what that looks like. Some of you hear the word of God and you just roll your eyes. Some of you sit through a sermon with arms crossed and your jaw set, not because you're confused, but because you've already decided that it doesn't have anything to do with you and nothing is gonna change. [00:38:23] (80 seconds)  #LiveWithGodsGrain

Think about the farmers here in La Grange. It's not enough for them to have a good seed. A farmer knows that they need good soil. A farmer knows that they have weather patterns they need to follow. A good farmer knows when to plant and when to hold off. Now, he doesn't just know that, but a good farmer has learned that through the years of experience with how to read the land and how to work it rather than against it. And you can't learn that by going to NC State. You can't learn that by getting an Ag degree. You can't learn it from a book. You learn it by paying attention, by making mistakes, by developing the kind of judgement that only comes from a sustained engagement with the real thing. You have to actually do it. You actually have to live it. [00:20:32] (58 seconds)  #LearnByDoing