The GPS leads to Wisdom
Alternative Title: My Son, If you Do... Then....
Text: Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds victory in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
Key Verse 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
Introduction
Give a flavor of Proverbs by reading several verses ( 24:13, 8:34, 15:21, 31:10)
What do you think we need?
A good career? A good wife? A good car? Sure, these things can be very beneficial. But the Bible says that you need wisdom.
What is wisdom?
wisdom is precious. just look at chapter 2. It gives.....
Also, Wisdom keeps you from
Wisdom is the path of righteousness (20), while foolishness is the path of death (18-19). In summary, wisdom gives life. Wisdom is what you need to live a godly life.
My good friend Jerry once told me that he wants to be happy completely. What he needs is wisdom, not a super duper camera.
How do you get Wisdom? Here, I made us a simple acronym to help us remember. You can get wisdom through the God’s word, Prayer and Sought by God and searching God and his hidden treasures. simple huh?
We will look at the GPS today.
1. G (1 -2, 6)-God’s word
God gives us wisdom through his word. We have been studying the church history this summer. The instructor says that the church is like the grass and the flowers.
The grass withers and the flowers fall
but the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:8)
But the church has God’s wisdom, the word of God and the word of God stands forever.
God showed us his wisdom in two ways.
We are deeper roots in Christ. We go for the streams of living water. We go for the word of God. We plant our trees by the streams of the living water. We want to deeply drink the word of God. We are so thirsty and we acknowledge our lack of wisdom so we listen to the word of God and listen to our Father who wants to give us good things.
2. P. (3) -the Prayer
We cry out for understanding. God is far wiser than any of us. How can we understand God and his wisdom?
When I was a baby I wanted to express myself and understand the world around me, so I cried. the main reason babies cry is because we are born to cry out to God for wisdom. and also
After looking at the word of God, we cry out for understanding. We do not cry out just for nothing but we cry out based on the profound word of God. We ask God to reveal his understanding.
In this way, we want to listen to him and understand him and know him.
The best example is our LORD Jesus’ crying out prayer. As you know he came to give his life for us.
Before giving up his life for us, he prayed to God. He cried out to God to understand the deep meaning of his suffering. As a human being, he did not want to suffer so he cried out to God, “Why me? Why must I die this way? Why much so humiliation?”
He cried out for insight and understanding.
Jesus cried out for the people of Jerusalem. “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your chicks under her wings and her chicks under her wings, you you were not willing.(Matt23:37)
Jesus cried out to God, “My Father, it it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will but as you will.” (Matt 26;39, 42)
When Jesus prayed God gave him his wisdom and Jesus understood his Father’s intention of his suffering. When Jesus cried out God gave him wisdom and and he took the cup for us. Our LORD the Wisdom showed us how to get wisdom.
Later when James saw the early Christians suffering just because they were preaching the gospel, he urged them them to ask God for wisdom.
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1:2-5)
We can come to God and ask to give us wisdom and insight how we must suffer for Jesus and for his name’s sake. God gives wisdom when we ask.
3. S ( 4) -Sought by God and searching hidden treasures
Who is wise?
Wise men seeks wisdom as unwise people search for silver or hidden treasure. The wise knows the value of wisdom.
Let me tell you one of the most wise person. His name was Jesus. and in Luke 15, Jesus is portrayed himself as a shepherd who had 100 sheep. One ran off.
This shepherd panicked and searched for the lost sheep. He searched and searched, going up to the mountain and going through the desert and checking every hills and valleys.
He went after the lost sheep until he finds it.
When he found him, he was so happy. He put this dirty and heavy sheep on his shoulder and rejoiced because to him, this dirty, heavy, stupid sheep was like silver and gold to him.
When we read Prov 2:4, we think it is our effort to find God. We like to think ourselves as spiritual seeker, as honest inquirers.
A lot of religions of the world encourages us to seek God. The problem of this approach is that anyone who feels they have searched for and found God will naturally disdain those who seem to be making no effort at all.
They will look at those who could not seek God and say, “come on! stop sinning and try harder!.”
But what does the gospel of Jesus tells you. The shepherd must go out to seek and to save which is lost. (Luke 19:10).
In Luke 15, we are valuable to God like a coin. The coin cannot find the owner, the owner must finds the coin.
Who are we before God? We are like precious lost coins. So Jesus came down and searched for us and found us.
The wisdom calls out to find the hidden treasure that is God’s joy for us when he finds us. When Jesus found us through his cross and resurrection because he knew he was find the hidden treasure. For Jesus knew that he had to die to bring us back to the Father. His God given wisdom was to find “Joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame. (Heb 12:2)
This is God’s wisdom. He sent his son to us while we were helpless and rescued us by his death. He made us alive with his Son’s rising from the dead. So we are not proud. We are only grateful and know God’s grace. We also go after the lost. When we do so we are finding God’s hidden treasurers. So it is not burdensome but joyful. We are treasure hunters guided by the GPS.
Then we know our Father’s heart who sent his Son, we began to have wisdom.
Wisdom gives the fear of the LORD and the knowledge of God
What does wisdom give us? Look at verse 5.
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
ultimately wisdom gives understanding of who God is and the knowledge of God.
We began to fear God. Why we fear God? There are two reasons.
1. We fear God because he has power to put us into hell.
4"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. (Luke 12:4-5)
2. Second we fear God because he did not use his power to condemn us to find us and bring us home.
3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared. (Psalm 130:3-4)
the almighty God who knows everything and knows who we are before him sent his Son to us.
God can send us to hell, but at the same time, Only God can forgive us. God out of his great love for us, saw the buried treasurers through his Son’s death and resurrection.
Wisdom is know this God who is almighty but who sent his only Son to us.
This wisdom is revealed in God’s word and we can know him by coming to him in crying out prayer and experiencing by finding by our God again and again.
Wisdom is our GPS. It leads us to the right path.
Several of us are thinking about the next steps in terms of career or the life after graduation and so forth.So we need the GPS of God which is the wisdom of God e.g. Jesus and his word.
Let’s do GPS this semester and grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men.
We thank God for giving us the understanding and knowledge of God.
Let’s read our key verse 5.
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
Additional Resources
Kevin DeYoung, Just do Something
Tim Keller, Prodigal God
The Church History by CTS. Click here for the link.