Live Wisely

Posted: December 31, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Creation, Fear, God, Jesus, Respect, Revere, Sermons, Wisdom | Leave a comment

What is your short God story you want to give praise to God for this year?

Now, that we have heard all of these God stories, let’s take a few minutes to look ahead to 2024 and our theme for the year – Live Wisely! We hold here at Temple the cherished beliefs in tension of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. The God stories today were God’s work and living wisely is our work in cooperation with God. God is always the initiator, which is why we follow Him. I would caution us as we have heard so many great God stories. It is tempting to live on the summit of these God stories. To chase spiritual experiences. Such a pursuit causes us to sense that God is not near when we don’t feel Him or see Him working. We learned over the past few years to have a theology of suffering and know that God is with us in the good and bad times. The non-mountain top experiences are dangerous. Think about climbing Mt. Everest. Do you think the majority of deaths occurs in the ascent or descent? Descent! If the ascent is the God Stories, we need to be vigilant after these mountain top experiences. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Now that does not mean we should revert to New Year’s resolutions to try harder to make life happen for us. Instead, let me read to you some of the recommendations that one pastor Henrich Bullinger gave his son Henry. “Heinrich Bullinger was a good pastor and a better father. He was born in 1504 to a priest who embraced Reformation views. Young Heinrich loved Luther’s writings. Melanchthon’s books, and the study of the Bible. At the age of 27, he took the place of slain Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli who was slaughtered on the battlefield after being found wounded. A prime example of why pastors are not be quarrelsome. Bullinger then became pastor of the Grossmunster Church of Zurich. Bullinger continued Zwingli’s practice of preaching through books of the Bible, verse by verse. His home was open from morning till night, and he freely distributed food, clothing, and money to the needy. His wisdom and influence spread across Europe. No one was more affected than his own son, Henry. When the young man packed his bags and set out for college in Strasburg, Heinrich gave him 10 rules for living:

  1. Fear God at all times and remember that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
  2. Humble yourselves before God, and pray to Him along through Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate.
  3. Believe firmly that God has done for all our salvation through His Son.
  4. Pray above all things for a strong faith active in love.
  5. Pray that God may protect your good name and keep you from sin, sickness and bad company.
  6. Pray for the fatherland (your home country), for your dear parents, for the word of God to spread.
  7. Be reticent, be always more willing to hear than to speak, and do not meddle with things you do not understand.
  8. Study diligently – read daily three chapters of the Bible.
  9. Keep your body clean and unspotted, be neat in your dress, and avoid above all things intemperance in eating and drinking.
  10. Let your conversation be decent, cheerful, moderate.

The advice was taken and Henry Bullinger became, like his father and grandfather, a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ”[1] and it made a huge impact on his life and others.

Notice that these rules for living, long given before Jordan Peterson gave his 12 Rules for living, began with fearing God, which is the beginning of wisdom. Bullinger got this from Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and knowledge.” Kids – small and little – that does not mean you have to be scared of God. Instead, it means to we respect God, we revere God and run to Him for all things. But notice the emphasis on beginning of knowledge in verse 7. As Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner teaches, “‘The beginning’ is the first and controlling principle, rather than a stage which one leaves behind.”[2] In other words, we don’t initially fear God, get some of His wisdom and then abandon Him because we have enough wisdom for the moment. That would actually be foolish – the opposite of wisdom. Wisdom is a daily experience as we continue to fear God. “Fear of the LORD recognizes total dependence on God for everything including knowledge and wisdom … how can we understand life without knowing the most fundamental truth about it.”[3] “This is the core maxim of the book of Proverbs: the quest begins with the fear of the Lord. ‘Knowledge’ tends to focus on correct understanding of the world and oneself as creatures of the magnificent and loving God, while ‘wisdom’ is the acquired skill of applying the knowledge rightly (and timely). The reason that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom is that the moral life begins with reverence and humility before the Maker and Redeemer.”[4] This is why Proverbs 9:10 expands on Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Knowledge of the Holy One – God – is insight. 

Let’s try to answer a few questions to gain insight: A) Why live wisely? Why live wisely? Because living wisely is first and foremost seeking God in all things. God is the source of all wisdom and we recognize this truth. “Wisdom is the personification[5] of the structure, plan and rationality that God built into the world.”[6](8:22-25) Most people give “Mother Nature” credit for this phenomenon when they should be attributing the Heavenly Father as the Creator. Creation not only points to evidence of Intelligent Design[7] but so much more in a powerful and engaged Creator! Consider how Wisdom was needed to lay out the foundations of the earth. (Proverbs 3:19; cf. Psalm 104:24) “Wisdom is both older than the universe and fundamental to it.”[8]Understanding was needed to put every celestial body and everything on earth into its perfect place (Proverbs3:19; 8:24-25, 27-29). Without understanding how and where everything goes in the universe, chaos would occur and the universe would likely cease to exist. Furthermore, even if the universe oscillates, the boundaries of that oscillation are set by God! Not a speck of dust exists without God’s wisdom (Proverbs 8:26). The word “dust” could also be referring to Adam since we human beings are made of dust[9] (Gen. 2:7; 3:9; Ps. 90:3; 1 Cor. 15:47). Therefore, you and I don’t exist without God’s wisdom!

 Maybe it would be helpful to define wisdom. We are defining wisdom not just as earthy wisdom on how to do certain tricky things like putting a stubborn screw in wood by tipping it with Vaseline first or calming a colicky baby. Those are things that don’t necessarily require us to seek God. Now, we use Youtube to find such answers. In previous generations, we used to go to someone older and this helped us form a relationship between the generations. I think we may be doing things faster, but not further when we do not consult the wisdom of the aged. Kids, I hope things will change with you that you will consult your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and those older in the church before Youtube. Youtube puts the emphasis on you and not we! We are talking about wisdom on how to live life that pleases God. To live wisely is to seek God.

This brings me to the second question: B) Why should we live wisely? We could easily just say that living foolishly may be fun for the moment, but it ultimately leads to destruction, but that doesn’t fully answer the question. Fools live for today, the wise live for the future. If living wisely is first and foremost seeking God in all things, then we should live wisely because we will get to know God in profound ways – knowledge of the Holy One as Proverbs 9:10 declares. Maybe an even more concise verse is Proverbs 14:27, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.” In summary, Live wisely by fearing God now so you don’t have to live in fear for all eternity.

The fear of God is a fountain of life for you and me as we see God in all things. The best way I can describe fearing God is reading from Jerry Bridges’ book The Joy of Fearing God. He tells of a soldier’s life and how he grew in fearing his ultimate superior the general.  Read “The Parable of Awe.”[10] Notice the stages of fearing God. Respect led to reverence, which led to a loyal relationship.

This bring me to a third question: C) What is living wisely? Living wisely is taking what you know about from God and applying to each situation of your life. There are three stages in growing in the fear of the Lord as seen in the life of David: 

  1. Stage 1 – We will respect God’s position over us. (1 Samuel 24:6) ® David respected God and the extension of His authority. Hopefully we learn this when we are young to respect and obey God’s rules.
  2. Stage 2 – We will revere God’s greatness of character. (2 Samuel 7:22) ® David admired God and the evidence of His attributes. And hopefully these God stories today led you to admire God more. 
  3. Stage 3 – We will run to God because He loves us. (Psalm 18:1-3) ® David was amazed at God and the effects of His actions towards David.

How do we become wiser? Seek God in all things – in His word and in His world. Respect God! Revere God! Run to God! We can do this by practicing one or more of these this week:

  • MEDITATE… on the Scriptures describing Creation (Genesis 1-2; Psalm 104; Job 36:22-41:34) or other attributes of God. Men, I am inviting you a 3 year program on how to grow to be more like Christ and lead in your home and church. It will be starting January 27 each Saturday from 6-8 am. The requirements are that you have confessed Christ as Saviour and Lord, will read you Bible daily, not to look at porn, and love your family and friends.
  • TAKE A TRIP…to the Creation Museum in Kentucky (www.creationmuseum.org).
  • RESEARCH FURTHER…on the internet at Answers in Genesis (www.answersingenesis.org) or the Institute for Creation Research (www.icr.org ) Be amazed at God’s creation.
  • READ BOOKS…

      ….on Creation. Here are some to choose from (take a picture):

      The Genesis Flood by Henry Morris and John Whitcomb

      In Six Days by John Ashton

      Creation Evangelism for the New Millennium by Ken Hamm 

      …that refute Evolution. Check these out:

      Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe

      Thousands, not Billions by Donald DeYoung

      Darwin on Trial by Philip Johnson 

      Uncommon Descent by William Dembski 

      Evolution: The Lie by Ken Hamm 

      Dismantling the Big Bang by Alex Williams & John Hartnett

      The Biblical Basis for Modern Science by Henry Morris

      Scientific Creationism by Henry Morris

      Refuting Compromise by Jonathan Safarti

  • WATCH…the videos “Unlocking the Mystery of Life”, Disney’s “Earth” or Moody Science Videos
  • Students – START YOUR STUDIES RECOGNIZING GOD AS THE REASON WHY YOU ARE STUDYING!
  • GO FOR A WALK OUTSIDE…reflect on the beauty of God’s design and creation. WARNING: Reflecting on God’s creation and worshipping Him will kill grumpiness and infuse joy in your life!

                                                                                                Which one did you pick?

Live wisely this year by seeking God in all things and you will grow in respect, reverence and your relationship to God. 

FINAL CHALLENGE: Come this Wednesday to Prayer Encounter and we will pray for what is the big thing you are asking for in 2024 as you live wisely by seeking God in all things!

[1] Robert J. Morgan, On this Day (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997), December 23. 

[2] Derek Kidner, Proverbs – An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1964), 59.

[3] Tremper Longman III, The NLT Study Bible (Carol Stream” Tyndale House Publishers, 2017), 1029.

[4] Duane Garrett, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 1135.

[5] There is debate among Biblical scholars as to whether wisdom is personified (an abstract of God’s character) or a hypostasis (an actual heavenly being such as portrayed in William P. Young’s The Shack). I lean more toward wisdom being a personification rather than a hypostasis because Christ is also called the Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24) and another heavenly being cannot take Christ’s rightful place.

[6] Garrett, 109.

[7] I used this term because it has become commonplace. However, Intelligent Design (ID) does not go far enough in ascribing the Designer. Intelligent Design may include aliens, whereas we Christians should emphasize God as the Intelligent Designer and Creator.

[8] Derek Kidner, Proverbs – Tyndale OT Commentaries (Downer’s Grove: IVP, 1964), 78.

[9] Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon – The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 2001), 109.

[10] Jerry Bridges, The Joy of Fearing God (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 1997), 13-16.