"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good life his works with humility of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above but is earthly, sensual, demoniacal; for where envying and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace."
Wisdom does not mean knowledge.
- It does not mean information.
- It means the application of knowledge with divine power to the reshaping of life, transforming attitudes, transforming behavior into righteousness.
Wisdom, then, in biblical terms equals lifestyle.
It equals lifestyle, behavior.
True wisdom is knowing God in a life-changing relationship, okay?
True wisdom is the outworking of a life-changing knowledge of God.
Remember that the wisdom of the Old Testament was basically initiated by the fear of the Lord. Do you remember that? The fear of the Lord is the what? Beginning of wisdom. Wisdom begins in fearing the Lord.
To fear the Lord is to have a reverential trust in Him. When the Old Testament says fear God, fear the Lord, it is a call to salvation, it is a call to reverential trust, to commitment, in which a person turns from sin in faith to God and has a hatred of evil and a love of obedience. And we went through all of that in great detail a couple of weeks ago.
So wisdom began at the point when one was ushered into a relationship with God through reverential faith and trust, called in the Old Testament the fear of the Lord.
You remember that Cornelius, because he was a believing gentile, was called a God what?
Fearer, because that was the essence of saving faith. So once a person put their faith in God, then that introduced them into a life of wisdom. The fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord was to turn from iniquity. The fear of the Lord was to hate evil and love righteousness. The fear of the Lord was to do God’s commandments.
And that all is a part of a saving work, so when a person put his faith in God, he was ushered into the sphere of wisdom.
And then became the - really, the student of divine wisdom who lived that wisdom out. True wisdom, we saw, comes from God. It is given to one who comes into relationship with Him. And all of us who know God in a personal, intimate way have received from Him that wisdom. Now let me say that again. All of us who know God through Christ in a personal way have received the wisdom of God. And that wisdom of God is manifest in the life of a true believer. Every true believer will manifest the wisdom of God.
We will manifest the wisdom of God, and we should manifest more of the wisdom of God.
A true Christian will love the Lord Jesus Christ and should more love the Lord Jesus Christ.
A true Christian will serve God and should more and more serve God, right?
A true Christian will obey and should more and more obey
. So when we say that having become believers, we have received the wisdom of God, that does not mean we have received and are applying all the wisdom that it’s possible to have. Okay?
It is truly a mark of a believer to manifest the wisdom of God, but none of us manifest the wisdom of God to the fullest possible capacity. And so when we say this is the mark of a believer, we can also say it is an encouraging and exhorting text to increase our commitment to that wisdom at the same time.
The New Testament also ties wisdom to the act of believing.
Matthew chapter 7:26, which is a very familiar text to anyone who has studied the gospels. You remember there are people who hear the Word of God and that’s all, and then there are people who do the Word of God, and they are the true believers. Not the ones who hear and not the ones that say but the ones that do.
And then He gives an illustration of that in verse 24.
"Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a" - what kind of man? - what kind? - "wise man who built his house upon a rock, the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, beat on the house, fell not. It was founded upon a rock. These sayings of mine are also heard by people who do not do them and they are likened unto" - what kind of a man? - "a foolish man who built his house on the sand, the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, beat on the house, it fell, and great was the fall of it."
Now, here you have the unregenerate man who is very religious. He’s got all the religious superstructure but no foundation, and he is a fool. On the other hand, you have a truly converted man who does the Word of God, and he is a man who is what? Wise. Wisdom, then, in the words of our Lord right here is equated with true salvation. It is equated with saving, working faith.
Matthew 24:42. "Watch, therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord does come, but know this, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would have not allowed his house to be broken into."
Our Lord is speaking. "Therefore, be also ready for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man is coming. Who then is a faithful and" - what? - "wise servant whom his lord has made ruler over his household to give them food in due season?"
