Welcome to the weekly podcast of Wildwood Baptist Church in Ackworth, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. We are so glad that you're joining us today. If you'd like to know more about Wildwood Baptist Church, you can find us on the web at wildwoodbaptist.org, or you can email us at info at wildwoodbaptist.org. Thanks for joining us. Let's open the Word of God together. Today begins the second week in our series on wisdom. And today's title is Why Should We Want Wisdom? And real specifically what we're talking about here is godly wisdom. But underneath that title, Why Should We Want Wisdom? I thought I would start out with just a little bit about me personally. Now when I was growing up in the 1800s, I actually got very good grades in school. When we were, I think, first, second, third grade, we had these grading system with S's and U's, which stood for satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Then in fourth grade, they introduced A's and B's and C's and D's. And it will probably at least surprise, if not shock you, those who know me, but I actually got all A's. I got all A's from fourth grade until I graduated. I never got anything else. That was all I ever got was A's. Some of you are sitting there thinking, what happened? I don't know. But at least at one point in my life, I was smart, apparently. And I was kind of, I mean, I think that was a little bit of how I was known. I was known as a smart kid. I actually graduated in the top five of my class. Again, this would sound like grandstanding except for the fact that some of you know me and you're so shocked by that that I know that I have no reason to be prideful or arrogant about it. But yeah, for whatever reason, that just seemed to be my thing. But as smart as I may have been, I was not necessarily wise. You know, intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing. Now, when I was a teenager, I worked as a house painter, but I also worked some Saturdays at a local hardware store. And I had various things that I did there in the hardware store. So I was a high school student. I remember one particular day when the store manager came in and he asked me, he said, it's time to inventory the nails, and we need an inventory of the nails that we have in this hardware store. Now, if you go to a store now to purchase nails, it's kind of a whole different experience than it was back then, but back then, again in the 1800s. The way that they would store nails in these hardware stores is there would be a giant circular bin with several different rows in the bin and then they sort of curved like this and you would turn the different rows of the bin and in each bin was a different kind of nail and it would be just a whole big bunch of them. So six penny finishing nails, eight penny finishing nails, they would just be separated by what they were in these giant bins. So he told me, I want you to inventory the nails. He gave me some things to do that. He said, here's a clipboard with some paper and gave me a calculator. He gave me a scale about this big and it had a little kind of a bucket on it and said, go back and I want you to inventory the nails. So he comes back a little bit later and he looks at me, I'm sitting on the floor in front of the nail bin. And he said, what are you doing? And I said, I'm inventorying the nails. You see, all around me were little piles of 10 nails each. And I said, I've counted out the eight penny finishing nails into piles of 10 nails each. I've got about 64 piles so far. So, so far we've got 648 penny finishing nails. And he said to me, he said, You're counting every single nail one by one?" And I said, yes, I'm inventorying the nails. He said, what do you think I gave you the scale and the calculator for? I'm going to pause and let some of you catch up. Because I didn't know what he gave it to me for. He said, you're supposed to take like 10 nails and weigh them and then take everything else in that band and put it in and use math to figure out how many nails are there by weight. You will be here till next Thursday if you count all, however many thousands of nails there are one by one, and I'm not paying you to sit on the floor and make piles of nails. I'm paying you to inventory the nail. See, I was smart enough to know what an inventory was. I was smart enough to know that an inventory meant I needed an accurate count of the product, but I wasn't wise enough to know why it was I was given a scale and a bucket and a calculator to do this. In the same hardware store, I would mix paint. I was smart enough to know how to mix different colors into paint to achieve a color that somebody would want, and even to do some color matching. In those days, it's a lot different than now. If you go down to a local store and purchase paint, what you'll do is they'll put colorization into a base paint, and they'll go over to this large bin, and they'll open the lid of it, and they'll put the can in, and it secures it on all sides, and they'll close the bin and set a timer, and inside of that bin, the paint will be shaken. When the timer ends, it stops shaking. You go over and you get the can out. It's all ready. In the 1800s, that's not how we did it. We had a thing that looked like a vice grip, which would be two paddles like this. There was a little bit of a rim on each side of the paddles and you would put the paint can in and you would tighten it and then you would just flip the switch and it would just start shaking the paint can like this. See, I was smart enough to know how to do that. I wasn't wise enough to know that all the little details that my store manager told me about how to do that were extremely important. especially if you're gonna put in a can of paint and walk up to the front of the store and leave it shaking. One of those details had something to do with making sure the lid was really secure or something like that. And I did not pay very close attention to that detail. I'm at the front of the store and I remember, ah, I've got a can of paint shaking in the back. So I go back to the back of the store and the paint shaker is there and it's going. There's no can in it. I looked down and the can was on the floor, no lid. And most of the paint wasn't in the can. That was odd. And I looked at the wall and the ceiling when I found the paint. And so what really happened was the lid wasn't secure. So when I tightened it, it wasn't completely tight. And somehow it worked itself loose. And somewhere in midair, this can shed all of its contents. And my store manager came over, and he had a speech for me, which he gave. He was very eloquent. I spent an afternoon inhaling the fumes of paint remover as I tried to repair the mess that I had made. I was smart enough to know a little bit, but I wasn't wise enough to understand what I was doing. Now I'm not the only person who suffered the cost of intelligence without wisdom. Here's a quote from someone in 1977. So a man named Ken Olson in 1977 said this. He said, there is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. The funny thing about this is that Ken Olson was, at that time, the president of the Digital Equipment Corporation, one of the largest computer companies in America. And Digital Equipment Corporation's decision not to enter the home computer market is what ultimately led to it going defunct in 1998. All of its assets, by the way, were bought by a company called Compaq. which was a company that specialized in home computers. In 1962, there was a recording company called the Decca Recording Company. They had an opportunity to assign some new artists to their label. They passed on it, though, because two reasons. One is we did not like their sound, and we don't believe that guitar music is here to stay. The group they passed on, by the way, was the Beatles. You see, you can be an individual or you can be a group, you can be a corporation or an organization, you can have intelligence, you can even have expertise in some things, but still lack wisdom. And we're all capable of making unwise decisions. You've made them in your life, I've made one, very unwise decisions as well. But one of the great things about Scripture is that the Bible is filled with wisdom. We see it in the form of direct instruction through places like Proverbs. We see it in direct instruction from the letters that Paul writes in the New Testament. We also see it from looking at the biblical characters and the stories of their lives. We can look at what different people in Scripture have done, Old Testament and New Testament. We can see what they've done right. We can also see what the mistakes are that they've made, and we can gain wisdom from that. We can look at the Scripture and see how God has moved and worked, and we can gain wisdom into how God moves and works. What are His ways and His processes? So scripture really is a fantastic resource, and I would say the best resource for wisdom that you'll find anywhere. Proverbs chapter three, and this is our target scripture today, Proverbs chapter three, beginning in verse 13 says this, blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding. For the gain from her, and the her here is wisdom, the gain from her is better than gain from silver, and her profit is better than gold. She's more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Those who hold her fast are called blessed. You see, this really isn't just a passage of Scripture about wisdom, but it's more than that. It's a comforting passage because it speaks to all that we gain when we pursue godly wisdom. Verse 13, it says this, blessed is the one who finds wisdom. Blessed, blessed is the one who finds wisdom. Now, the word in this passage is a Hebrew word. It's a word that we would say is asere, which has its roots in words like guided or moving forward with happiness. It's a plural word as well. So you could really take all that and you could literally speak Proverbs 3.13 in this way. A person who walks in God's wisdom walks forward with happiness. Now, why should we want the wisdom of God in our lives? Well, we want it because walking in God's wisdom is a pathway to providing daily happiness. As we continue on in this passage in verses 14 and 15, it says this, for the gain from her, her being wisdom, is better than gain from silver, and her profit is better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. This passage says that the gain from wisdom is better than the gain from money or riches. Now that word gain here, really it's a Hebrew agricultural word, which really means produce or yield. Why is it important that we know that? Well, it's important because when you and I think of gain or profit, Very often we don't think of it in terms of a block of time. We think of it more instantaneously, like I'm gonna do this thing and then receive a benefit. But what we gain from wisdom, from godly wisdom, is like the yield of planted crops. And it's like that really in two ways. Here's two truths about wisdom. The first truth is this, what we gain from pursuing godly wisdom often comes later than when we first seeded it. What we gain from godly wisdom often comes later than when we first seeded it. I can think of many, many times in my life when a circumstance has arisen and some sort of long since previously memorized scripture will come to the surface of my mind. and it'll give me meaning and understanding in that particular situation. Maybe it's a verse that I memorized decades ago, but it was a seed that was planted by learning that scripture that somehow patiently waited for just the right moment to enter the scene. And I was able to look at the situation and say, wait a minute, I know what this is. There's a scripture verse that I memorized a long time ago that explains this for me. What we gain from wisdom often comes later than when we first seeded it. And the point is this, I think that too often we attach the need for wisdom to a present circumstance rather than a way of life. Let me say that again. Too often we attach the need for wisdom to a present circumstance rather than a way of life. We'll think, you know, I've got this decision to make, so I need to get God's wisdom right now so that I'll make the right choice. Well, that's not necessarily bad, but if walking in God's wisdom is a lifestyle for you, if it's a daily pursuit that's not attached to any of today's crises, but it's really all about knowing God, then you can remove the panic of the crisis of the moment because when the crisis comes, you already have the wisdom that you need. So you don't have to waste time on fear or panic. This could be illustrated this way. You know when the best time is to study what God says about marriage? Before you get married. What about this? The best time to study God's word about parenting is before you have children. The best time to study God's word about finance is before you go out and spend a bunch of money on something. It really comes down to this. When the crisis comes, do you wanna be in a state of readiness or a state of panic? When the crisis comes, do you wanna be in a state of readiness? I've already studied it. I already know what God has said. Or do you wanna be in a state of panic? I suddenly need the wisdom of God right now. So, my encouragement to you is that choosing to be ready means that you are going to daily seek the wisdom of God, even when you do not know yet why you'll need it. Now moving on here, a second way in which wisdom is really like the yield of a planted crop, the second truth about wisdom today is this, number two, what we gain from pursuing godly wisdom is always greater than the seed that we put in it. I can illustrate this in my own life. In 1991, in my home, I did a study with a group of people called Experiencing God. I believe it had just been published at that time. Many of you have done that Bible study. It's been around since then. and a lot of people have gone through it. Just a great study by Henry Blackaby. Well, in 1991, I sat down and did that study, memorized the scriptures that were part of it, memorized the seven realities of experiencing God. If you've ever done the study, you're very familiar with that. Well, it's been 33 years since I've done that. And I think I've officially lost count of the number of times that wisdom that I gained from that study has been used in daily life. Something will happen, something will come up, and immediately I'll think to myself, God is always at work around us, and he invites us to join him in whatever it is that he's already doing. Again, if you've done the study, you know that's one of the major points of the study experiencing God. You know, not always, but often instead of yielding to the temptation to question, why isn't God doing what I had hoped? I'll be reminded that God is always at work and that my heart will go to a place of faith and trust and will say, if God isn't doing what I expected, if he isn't doing what I had hoped, if he isn't doing it the way I wanted him to do it, he must be doing something else because God is always at work. So my prayer will be, God, show me where you were at work, as opposed to where I wanted you to be at work. Show me where you are at work, because I want to join you in what you're doing. So, you know, why does that happen? That happened because 33 years ago, I spent 13 weeks, a very short period of time, doing one Bible study. Just one Bible study over 13 weeks, 33 years later, the yield from that is still happening. The fruit from that is still happening. Why? Because what we gain from pursuing godly wisdom is often much greater than the seed that we put into it. Now, Proverbs 3.16 says this, Long life is in her hand, the her again is wisdom. Long life is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor. The imagery here is that wisdom from God holds long life or length of days in one hand, and then it holds riches and honor in the other hand. So what does this mean? Well, a person who walks daily in godly wisdom is not going to have his or her life cut short by reckless living. In other words, if you are on a daily pursuit of godly wisdom, doing everything that you can do to do everything that God has called you to do His way, then you are far less likely to have your life or your effectiveness cut short because of your bad decisions. Now, on the other side here, it says, and to the left hand, where we find riches and honor, what does that mean? Well, consider all of the advice that Scripture gives regarding finances. Scripture cautions us against burdensome debt. It tells us to be frugal but generous. Godly wisdom in our finances can lead us to greater financial security than frivolous and unwise spending. So as to the fact that in wisdom's hand is held riches, what it really means here is that if you follow God's pattern, it's not necessarily riches in the form of great financial wealth. It could be, but it may not be. But what it means is that God will guide and direct you to live within the budget of the resources that he has given you. And you will never have to have unrest or a lack of peace about where God has you financially. And as to the honor held in the right hand of God's wisdom, walking daily in the wisdom of God secures your integrity to the point that your wise integrity is recognized and even respected by those around you. There's an honor that goes with having godly wisdom. Now that honor is not recognized necessarily by everyone, but it's recognized by those who believe godly wisdom is important. Now verse 17 here, Proverbs 3, 17 says this, Does anybody here feel like at times your life might lack pleasantness or peace? I mean, at least every once in a while. I'm a big proponent of the fact that prayer really is an antidote for worry, which is very, very true. But a lot of times what we worry about is based on a lack of trust in what God is doing. which can really stem from a lack of wisdom in how God works. A pathway to peace in your life might begin with studying the scriptures, to find godly wisdom in what has already been spoken to us, to really trace the ways and the works and the heart of God that's already there in scripture. That's really a pathway of peace in your own life. You have great peace when you have great trust that God is in control. We often will lack peace in our lives because of our own unwise decisions. We'll choose to ignore what's in Scripture. We'll make decisions to do what we want against what we see in Scripture. Then we'll lament that things aren't going our way and that things aren't working out the way that we hoped. In fact, I will say this, there's a lot of fake wisdom kind of out there, and we'll buy into that, and then we'll pay a price for it and kind of wonder why did we get ourselves into this particular circumstance. Well, it's because we went somewhere other than God's word for a source of wisdom. I know that the wisdom of most movies, the wisdom of most popular songs, The wisdom of I think every animated character that's ever been created can be summed up as this, follow your heart. I do realize that that is the message that is being spoken. But Jeremiah 17 nine says this, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it. So my heart is deceitful. My heart is desperately sick. My heart cannot even be understood. I think I'll follow my heart. Well, does that make sense to you? Does follow your heart really make sense to you? Based on what we know about the truth of Scripture here, when we say follow your heart, what we're really saying is follow your emotions in one particular moment in time. Now, we don't frame it that way, because that makes us look bad, but isn't that what following your heart really means? It means do what feels right in the moment. But where's the wisdom in that? You know, before you get married, seek the wisdom of God regarding spending the rest of your life with this particular person. Don't marry someone because you're caught up in the emotion of one moment in time, or even one season in time. Marry someone because you've sought the wisdom of God in this relationship, and God has confirmed that this person is a part of His plan to draw you closer to Him and to encourage you in your walk with the Lord. Before you take the next job, seek the wisdom of God regarding what he has designed you to do. Before you make the next financial decision, seek the wisdom of God with what he has already said about how to handle the resources he's giving you. Many, many, many, many bad decisions were made beginning with the phrase, it just feels right. The book of Judges speaks to this. In chapter 21, the book of Judges gives us the definition of chaos. The definition of chaos is this, everyone doing what's right in their own eyes. That is the absolute definition of complete chaos. Nothing is more chaotic than everyone doing what feels right in the moment. Scripture never ever says that you and I are supposed to follow our hearts. It says we're supposed to follow God's heart. And there is a critical difference between the two. Now Proverbs 3.18 says this, She, being wisdom, is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Those who hold her fast are called blessed. So to the Hebrew who's reading this proverb, the idea that wisdom from God is a tree of life is kind of a specific thing. Because there are a lot of different kinds of trees. There's trees that are good for timber, for building. There's trees that provide shade out of the heat. A tree of life is very specifically a tree of sustenance. In other words, it's a tree that produces fruit. So literally what this passage is saying is this, and this is the fill in the blank for you, walking daily in wisdom from God will produce godly fruit in your life. In fact, you could go on to say this, the more you connect your life to walking in the wisdom of God, the more your life will deliver fruit for the kingdom of God. The more you connect your life to walking in the wisdom of God, the more your life will deliver fruit for the kingdom of God. See, the last part of that verse is so important. It says that those who walk in godly wisdom, those who hold tightly to godly wisdom in their life, they are called blessed. Well, why is that important? Well, the wisdom of God in your heart isn't just for you. It's for you to live by, absolutely. But walking in godly wisdom sets an example for those who are around you. And this world desperately needs examples of godly wisdom from you and from me. I know people who know the information of Scripture, for example, but are not wise in the ways of God. You can be intelligent, you can know information, you can know facts, without being wise. And what this world needs is people who have pursued the wisdom of God in their life and in their understanding and can be a resource, can be advice givers. can be counsel to those who need it. Now, when my wife and I got married, we sought out a couple in our church for premarital counseling. We went to them and we said, we would like you to do our premarital counseling. Now, we didn't know at that time, or I didn't know at that time that in that church, you actually went to only one of the pastors to do that. I didn't know that you could go to other people, that that wasn't a thing. So we kind of did it innocently. And we really only did this for logical reasons. It was a very wise decision, but it was one that we just kind of stumbled into. So we went to this couple and we said, we would love for you to do our premarital counseling. And they were honored. They said, we would be glad to do your premarital counseling. We've never been asked that before. Why us? And we said, because of all the marriages we know, yours is the one we want to have. When we're your age, we want our marriage to be like that. Now, we kind of did that more logically than wisely, but it turned out to be a very wise decision, because what did we do? We kind of searched for who we thought the experts were in godly marriage by example, and that's who we went to for counsel. And by the way, I think they're at 53 years married now, and we're still married too, so it was a win-win. We're all still married, so apparently it was pretty good. Very often when we seek wisdom from others, sometimes we're not really seeking wisdom. Sometimes what we're really seeking is affirmation. And we know that on the basis of who we go to for the wisdom. So sometimes instead of going to someone who has a godly track record of wise decisions in their life, we'll go to someone who will affirm what we already hope is true. In other words, our life may be a mess, and we'll go to someone else whose life is a mess, and that's where we'll go to get our counsel and our advice. I'm not sure that's God's design. You know, if someone says to you, I'm an expert on marriage, I've been married five times, I'm an expert. Are you really an expert on marriage? You're an expert on wedding ceremonies, but are you an expert on marriage? You know, does being married five times make you an expert on marriage? No. You wanna know who the experts on marriage are? Yeah, go find that couple, they just celebrated