Chasing Wisdom

Well, brethren, the television set was invented in 1927. It's all been downhill from there. No, not really. But it was invented by a young inventor by the name of Philo Farnsworth. I'm glad they didn't call it the Philo Farnsworth or something along those lines. But he came up with the idea while he was still in high school. He was interested to see if he could take moving images and transfer them over radio waves and make those radio waves turn into moving pictures that could then be beamed onto a screen. Well, ultimately, he was successful, and the television came into being. Now, while it was functional at the time, I mean, he was able to actually get the picture to come up, sort of. It would require a whole lot of work to get it to the point functioning to where we would recognize it as a television today, even as a primitive TV. RCA dumped millions into research to be able to perfect the design, and milestone after milestone were hit throughout the 1930s with full-scale commercial broadcasting taking place beginning in the United States in 1947.

Number of television sets in the United States in 1946 numbered 6,000. So in 1946, there were 6,000 television sets in the United States. By 1951, 12 million devices were in use. It's incredible the amount of growth that took place between 1946 and 1951 in the set of televisions. Now, today, you're about hard-pressed to find too many homes without one.

Some houses have one in every single room. You know, they're everywhere. I've seen places that they end up—and this is not meant to be a dig if you have one. Please don't take this wrong, but I've seen them in the kitchens. I've seen them in a variety of locations where you can have television sets available to you as you're doing a number of things, because today they play a very important role. They play an important role in entertainment, in information, and in babysitting.

They do definitely play a role in babysitting in that sense. Most of us today, we look at it, there are thousands of channels, and we still complain there's absolutely nothing on.

That's pretty regular at this point. But as one of the biggest songs in the 1990s stated, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

So what ended as the television came in? You know, I was born in 1980.

I personally cannot remember a world without television. For me, it has always been in the background of life, of culture, of society. Television has always been there. Now, young people, this is going to blow your mind, but I can remember a world without personal computers and the internet.

Like, I remember a world where when I had to look something up, I had to find a book to go and look something up yet.

The reality is, there are some of you in this room that can remember a world before television.

And remember the way that things were before this thing suddenly became the big thing in our home.

Perhaps you remember that world being a little less frenetic?

Maybe simpler? In that sense?

You may know this about me, you may not know this. I grew up on a steady diet of John Denver. My mom is a huge John Denver fan. And I grew up on a very steady diet of John Denver. She had the greatest hits on LP, the old record. I think we wore one of them out and we had to get a new one.

So we listened to that quite a bit. And one of the songs that he sings brings to mind visions of a time before television. A time when familial connection was stronger, a time in which stories were shared. It's the song, Grandma's Featherbed. Some of you are familiar with the song, Grandma's Featherbed. In the song is the following lyric. It says, After supper we'd sit around a fire, the old folks spit and chew.

Pa would talk about the farm and the war, and Granny'd sing a ballad or two. And I'd sit and I'd listen and I'd watch the fire until the cobwebs filled my head. And the next thing I'd know, I'd wake up in the morning in the middle of the old featherbed.

Now you think about the picture that paints.

Of, again, this time before TV. This time before some of these things.

And, you know, maybe it was right around the time in which that was shifting. But it's a fun song. It paints a time that was maybe simpler. A time in which families were more connected generationally. In the United States, societally, we don't do this much anymore. We really don't do this much anymore. Sitting around the fire, talking, telling stories, learning from one another, especially cross-generationally. Like, we might do this with our peers. We might go camping with people that are the same age as us and sit around the campfire and talk about life.

But that cross-generational communication isn't always there. In some ways, we've almost advocated that role a little bit. To television networks, sitcoms, reality shows.

And as a result, storytelling is becoming a dying art.

Storytelling has been around for millennia. For thousands of years, storytelling has been the primary means of passing on information and knowledge. In fact, sometimes we colloquially call this tribal knowledge.

The type of knowledge that gets passed on from one generation to the next to the next through storytelling, through people understanding what came before. We see in Scripture that Jesus Christ taught the masses through parable. Analogy today is a very effective means of teaching. Children always love a good story. It's hard—you're hard pressed to find a kid that is not going to sit down and listen to a story that's being told. Good storytellers can teach. They can inspire. They can motivate. They can entertain.

They can provide people with an emotional connection to a hero. They can teach history of culture. They can inspire people to become more than they are.

Storytellers provide cautionary warnings.

They were used frequently to impart morals and principles to youth. And these stories were—and are—still used to pass on wisdom from one generation to another.

Looking around today—kind of just societally, even—even just in the news headlines in the past couple of weeks—wisdom is something that seems to be in short supply today, as you look around.

Knowledge? Knowledge is everywhere. Knowledge is everywhere. In fact, hello?

I mean, if you have an internet connection, you literally have a contact to every conceivable bit of knowledge that the human race has ever produced. Literally. Right here in your pocket. I mean, that's incredible to consider.

But based on that increase of knowledge—or despite, I should say, that increase of knowledge—we don't necessarily see a corresponding increase in wisdom.

In fact, one could argue that wisdom is becoming increasingly harder to find.

And I think that one of the reasons for that is, partially, in part, this dying art of storytelling.

This dying art of passing on information from one generation to the next, as each generation becomes more compartmentalized, more labeled—we have all these things about how Gen X is this, and Millennials are this, and Gen Z is this, and while some of that may be true, it compartmentalizes generations.

Puts them in their own little bubbles, so to speak. I'd like to share a brief article here with you that discusses this concept just a little bit, and kind of talks some about the importance of this storytelling as far as passing on wisdom goes. It's written by Maria Popova, and the article is entitled, Wisdom in the Age of Information and the Importance of Storytelling in Making Sense of the World. She writes, We live in a world awash with information, but we seem to face a growing scarcity of wisdom. What's worse, we confuse the two. We believe that having access to more information produces more knowledge, which results in more wisdom, but if anything, the opposite is true. More and more information, without the proper context and interpretation, only muddles our understanding of the world rather than enriches it. The barrage of readily available information has also created an environment where one of the worst social sins is to appear uninformed. Ours is a culture where it is enormously embarrassing not to have an opinion on something. And in order to seem informed, we form our so-called opinions hastily, based on bits of fragmented information and superficial impressions rather than true understanding. Knowledge, Emerson wrote, is the knowing that we cannot know. To grasp the importance of this, we first need to define these concepts as a ladder of understanding. She writes, at its base, is a piece of information, which simply tells us some basic fact about the world. Above that is knowledge, the understanding of how different bits of these information fit together to reveal some truth about the world. Knowledge hinges on an act of correlation and interpretation.

Says at the top of the ladder is wisdom, which has a moral component. It's the application of information worth remembering and knowledge that matters to understanding not only how the world works, but also how it should work. Notice what she says. She says, and that requires a moral framework of what should and shouldn't matter, as well as an ideal of the world at its highest potentiality. This is why storytellers are all the more urgently valuable today. A great storyteller, whether a journalist or an editor, a filmmaker or a curator, helps people figure out not only what matters in the world, but also why it matters. A great storyteller dances up the ladder of understanding from information to knowledge to wisdom. Using symbol, metaphor and association, the storyteller helps us interpret information, integrate it with our existing knowledge, and transmute that into wisdom. A great story, then, is not about providing information, though it can certainly inform. A great story invites an expansion of understanding.

More than that, it plants the seed for it and makes it impossible to do anything but grow a new understanding of the world, of our place in it, of ourselves, of some subtle or monumental aspect of existence. At a time when information is increasingly cheap and wisdom increasingly expensive, this gap is where the modern storyteller's value lives. I think of it this way, and I love this analogy. I wanted to share this with you today. Information is having a library of books on shipbuilding. A whole library of books on how to build a ship. Knowledge applies to the building of that ship. You have access to the information, to the books. That's a prerequisite for the knowledge, but it's not a guarantee of it.

Once you've built your ship, wisdom is what allows you to sail it without sinking. To protect it from the storm that creeps up from the horizon in the dead of night. To point it just so that the wind breathes life into its sails. Moral wisdom helps you tell the difference between the right direction and the wrong direction in steering the ship. I love this analogy. I love this analogy and this idea of wisdom being that thing that is necessary for us to be able to sail it without putting that boat on the rocks, so to speak. You know, I could read all the books in the world on how to build a ship. Captaining it? That's another story. That is a whole other story. Wisdom and knowledge are two very vastly different things, despite the fact that they're closely related. True wisdom requires us to ask ourselves a couple of questions. It requires us to ask ourselves what is true, what is right, what is lasting, and what is applicable. What is true, what is right, what is lasting, and what is applicable. As an example, knowledge, we might say, is knowing that the trail you're going to hike through in the desert is 12 miles long. That's a knowledge component. Wisdom is being smart enough to pack a canteen because you know you're going to need it.

I know we've used this quote before. It's one of my favorites for the difference between these two. Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing it doesn't go in fruit salad. You know, there's these two different things. They are different things. Now, wisdom often comes by experience, yet interestingly it's not solely possessed by the aged. I've met a number of men who've gained incredible wisdom over their years on this earth. I've met others who have very little wisdom to show for the amount of time that they've spent. I've met a number of young men who are incredibly wise beyond their years. So, wisdom is not solely possessed by the aged. It does often come through experience. Sometimes even those individuals that are in positions of leadership, people who are considered to be experts in their field, don't always show a great deal of wisdom when it comes to their respective field of expertise. I came across a collection of quotes recently I'd like to share with you. These are all quotes by people who have been elected to our public offices. These should concern us deeply. Dan Quayle I knew as soon as I said that. Oh, okay, here we go. I don't want to pick too hard on Dan Quayle. He has a lot of them, actually. I think he just doesn't always think before he says things. He says, I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.

President Herbert Hoover once said, Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt. Marian Berry, the former mayor of Washington, D.C., said, Outside of all the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

U.S. Representative Hank Johnson once said, My fear, speaking about overpopulation of Guam, He said, My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.

Islands don't do that. It turns out they don't capsize. He said later he was trying to make a joke. But he didn't seem that way at the time. Last one we'll say, future President Martin Van Buren, who said, As you well know, Mr. President, this was before he was president, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed, speaking of our rail systems in the United States. I imagine some of these folks were kicking themselves for their short-sightedness later, but it shows wisdom is not always a function of age, position, or expertise, though it does proportionately favor those who are elder rather than younger. So what is wisdom? How do we obtain it? How do we chase after it? And once we've found it, what do we do with it? What does it we do with it?

Message title today is Chasing Wisdom. And in the time we have today, I'd like to explore these questions and go through this process. I do want to focus this for our young people here today, because I want to encourage our young people to do something that I think will help them in the process of obtaining this wisdom. First off, let's talk about what it is. What is wisdom? Realistically, you want to dig into the concept of wisdom and how you apply it in your life. You go to the writings of Solomon. You go to the writings of Solomon. You go to the book of Proverbs in many ways. Solomon, while not perfect in his application through his entire life, the Bible does state that he was the wisest man who lived or man who lived and that none would be like him. He got it. He understood at that time, based on what God provided him, what wisdom was and how it worked, that did not necessarily mean that in every circumstance he yielded himself to it. I want to make that distinction. It doesn't mean that he always yielded himself to it. Let's go over to 2 Chronicles 1. We'll explore the moment where Solomon first asks for this. And again, young people, this is mostly for you today. It doesn't mean the old people can check out. Our older members, please don't check out because I've got something for you too. We want to make sure you're all here today. 2 Chronicles 1, we'll go ahead and begin there as we go. We'll look at the moment in which Solomon first asks for the wisdom that he asked God for. 2 Chronicles 1, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 7. 2 Chronicles 1, in verse 7, it says, On that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask, what shall I give you? He said, Ask, what shall I give you? So this was the evening after Solomon offered up a thousand burnt offerings at Gibeon. God appeared to him for the first time, asked Solomon, What do you request of me? What shall I provide you? What shall I give you? Young people, imagine for a moment you find yourself in Solomon's place. Imagine for a moment you find yourself in Solomon's place. He's a young man, creator of the universe, just asked him what he should give him. The wide world is open.

The wide world is open. Just like the genie in Aladdin, you could have ultimate power. You could have ultimate amount of money. You could have an unbeatable army.

All of these things are things that Solomon could have asked for.

Verse 8, verse 8, what we see instead, Solomon said to God, You've shown great mercy, shown great mercy to David, my father. You've made me king in his place. It says, Now, O Lord God, let your promise to David, my father be established, for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. David says, You were with my father. He said, Ultimately, you've chosen me to be king over Israel, a people that are like the dust of the earth in multitude. There are so many of them. Such a huge nation at this time. He says, Father, please honor the promise that you made to my father, David. See that Davidic covenant that God promised that an heir of David would never cease to be on the throne until Messiah's return. Verse 10, He says, Now, give me wisdom and knowledge. Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can judge this great people of yours?

So we see Solomon, instead of power, instead of riches, instead of an incredibly powerful army, Solomon asked of God wisdom and knowledge. And why? Why did he ask for wisdom and knowledge? It was so that he might serve God's people more effectively. It wasn't about what Solomon could get from God. It was about what Solomon could provide God's people. He desired to make righteous judgments, discern difficult situations, make the right decisions for God's people, not for himself. The parallel passage to this scripture, which is 2 Kings 3 and verse 7, Solomon goes as far as saying, I'm like a child that doesn't know my way around. He's like, I am in over my head.

It's like I'm in over my head. He recognized and he understood that when it came to governing the nation, he was humble and he asked for God's guidance and God's wisdom. And what we see is God's response in verse 11, 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 11. Then God said to Solomon, because this was in your heart and because you have not asked for riches or wealth or honor or for the life of your enemies, nor have you asked for long life, but you've asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may judge my people over whom I've made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will give you riches in wealth and honor such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any hapter you have the like. Solomon could have had it all. And we see later in his life, he tried to have it all. He tried to have it all later in life.

He could have asked for anything at this moment in time, but he asked for godly wisdom itself. He asked for discernment. He asked for the wisdom and knowledge that God would provide him, and God honored that request. God blessed him exceedingly after this request, giving him riches and power and honor, as well as great wisdom. And what we see is that Solomon uses the words here for wisdom and knowledge pretty much interchangeably. He's asking for wisdom to be able to govern the people in 2 Chronicles, and then he asks in 2 Kings 3 for an understanding heart. So he kind of uses these two words more or less interchangeably. But what we see is that that was granted, and that ultimately we see that there were none like him before, and there were none after him with the wisdom that Solomon was provided by God. The Queen of Sheba praised Solomon's wisdom in 1 Chronicles 9 and verse 5. She praised his wisdom. She praised the benefits to a people when they are ruled by wise leadership. She said to the king, it was a true report in 2 Chronicles 9 and verse 5. I'll get over there real quick. I'm in the wrong spot.

Nope, I sent you to the wrong spot. 2 Chronicles 9 and verse 5. My bad.

There we go. Then she said to the king, it was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However, I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes, and indeed the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. She said you exceed the fame which I have heard.

She was pleased to see that the reports were true. She was pleased to see that he had even exceeded that which she was recorded. Verse 7 goes on, talks about the effect that comes when wisdom is exercised. It says, Blessed are the servants, blessed are your men, who are happy to have the opportunity to glean that wisdom as they are around Solomon, to learn, says those men are blessed and that they are happy.

In the book of Proverbs, Solomon records in Proverbs 29 and verse 2, we won't turn there, Proverbs 29 and verse 2, that when the righteous are in authority, we might by extension say then the wise, those who are yielding themselves to God, because that is wise, that causes righteousness is the yielding to God. Those who are righteous in authority, the people rejoice. So the people rejoice. But when the wicked rule, it says the people mourn, the people mourn. If you look around the world today, we are a world in mourning. We are a world in mourning when we have leadership that is looking out more for their own interests and not for the interests of their people, as we look around the globe at a variety of places. We don't see godly wisdom being exercised.

The happiness and the blessings of a nation depend upon the wisdom of their rulers.

We might personalize this. I don't run a country. I don't know about you. I don't. But we might personalize this in our own lives. We might think about how the blessings and the happiness of a family depend upon the wisdom of those making decisions in that family.

If there are unwise decisions being made, the family will mourn, just like a people, just like a nation. Sadly, godly wisdom is something that's in short supply as people continue to reject God and continue to put Him further and further from their lives. Turn with me please to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians. We'll turn over to the New Testament now. And we'll pick up the words of the Apostle Paul as he kind of differentiates between godly wisdom and the wisdom of the world. Godly wisdom and the wisdom of the world.

1 Corinthians. We'll pick it up in 1 Corinthians 2 and we'll grab it in verse 6. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 6. We'll read 6 and 7. It says, However we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

It says, But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. So he's speaking contextually about the time frame in which he is living. We can extrapolate that out pretty easily to our own time frame as well, as we look and we infer these things. But there is, Paul talks about, a wisdom of the world. James discusses this wisdom of the world in James 2. But there is a wisdom of the world and there is a wisdom of God. What Paul is telling the people in Corinth is that those who are mature, those who are full grown, so to speak, he speaks wisdom, not a worldly wisdom, not a philosophy, so to speak, or based on some other discipline, but upon the wisdom of God, the words of Paul are being shared.

The rulers of this world, their wisdom, he says, is coming to nothing and they'll soon be forgotten. He goes on in verse 9, it says, But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him, even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

For us to be able to fully understand the things of God, it requires the Holy Spirit in our lives.

It requires God's Spirit working with us. It requires God's Spirit dwelling in us. It requires that gift that was poured out on the day of Pentecost so many years ago, and not just the receipt of that gift, not just receiving it, but using it, allowing it to lead us, yielding ourselves to that Spirit to be able to discern what God's will is in various situations. He goes on in verse 12, the Apostle Paul goes on in verse 12. He says, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. He says, These things we also speak in verse 13, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. That he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one, for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him. But he says, We have the mind of Christ, with the very mind of God dwelling in us through the Spirit of God, the understanding, the discernment that God provides. That wisdom that we've been provided is eternal, it is timeless, and it is priceless. Wisdom of God is not antiquated, it's not outdated, it's not old and stuffy and tired. It's none of those things. It's not something that's superseded by new thoughts or new philosophies of today or in the recent years. The wisdom of God is as relevant and as timely today as it was 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 years ago. That wisdom that God provides through his Spirit helps us to be able to understand the mysteries of God.

In Scripture, the wisdom of God is referred to as a treasure. It is described as being more precious than rubies, more precious than the wealth of this earth. And yet, frequently, what is it that we chase? We chase wealth, we chase status, we chase fame, we chase celebrity, we chase views on TikTok.

What does God want us to chase? He wants us to chase his wisdom. He wants us to chase the understanding that is to be chosen rather than getting silver. How do we obtain this? How do we nurture this particular treasure? Let's go over to Proverbs. Proverbs 1 and verse 1. Proverbs 1 and verse 1, we talk about how to obtain this requires some work. It requires some work.

It's not like knowledge where you can just kind of download it.

Turns out wisdom requires a little bit of effort put into things as we build wisdom. Proverbs 1, and we'll go ahead and we'll pick it up in verse 1. In fact, the early part of Solomon's writings, by and large, provide the entire purpose for the book. Proverbs 1.1, we'll work our way forward here as we look at kind of how to establish the obtaining of wisdom, where it comes from, and how we receive it. Proverbs 1 and verse 1 says, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. Verse 2, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, to give prudence to the simple. To the young man, knowledge and discretion, says a wise man. Verse 5, we'll hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. We see the entire purpose of this book. The entire purpose of the book of Proverbs establishes, this early part, establishes the whole reason for its existence. It is to establish a series of instructions to provide wisdom and discernment, to teach individuals how to deal wisely, righteously, and equitably. It says to make the simple wise.

Make the simple wise. Then he goes on in verse 7 to talk about where the process all begins. It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It says, fools despise wisdom and instruction. The parallel passage to this particular scripture states it a little bit differently. Proverbs 9 and verse 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who follow his precepts have good understanding. The fear of the Lord, this concept of what the fear of the Lord is, is the Hebrew word yare. It's a healthy respect for God. It's a very healthy respect for God, an awe of God, which is really our only real reasonable response when we are confronted with the absolute majesty of our Creator. I mentioned in my pastor's corner this past week the whole massive astronomical clock, so to speak, that God has in place. This idea that we have seasons and we have harvest times and we have day and night cycles and we have hot and cold cycles and we have all these little bodies that God has put out in the solar system and out in the universe and put them in motion and maintains that motion. One of the things that's really challenging when you start to look at that and you start to study astronomy is the sheer scale of it all. I blame the poster companies because when the poster companies put up the solar system in classrooms, all the planets fit on this little itty bitty poster about this big and it's so close you look like you just jump from one to another. Just all you got to do is running start. All you got to do is you go from Mercury to Venus. No problem at all. But when we think about the heavens and when we think about the distances and when we think about the size and the scope of all that God has done, an awe and a majesty is really the only true response. I want you to think about this for a minute. We are standing on a rock that is rotating on its axis at a rate of 460 meters per second, roughly a thousand miles per hour, as it rotates on its axis. We are orbiting the sun at a speed of 30 kilometers per second. The earth is going around the sun at around 67,000 miles per hour.

Our sun is rotating around the Milky Way galaxy at speeds that just boggle the mind. 220 kilometers per second, approximately 490,000 miles per hour. As we sit in this room, that is happening as we sit here.

Take the next planet out, Mars, the one we could just jump to if we ran and jumped. 33 million miles away. 33 million miles. That is a distance it would take a photon of light three full minutes to travel, traveling at 186,000 miles per second. It's incredible.

Next closest star in our galaxy away from our sun is Proxima Centauri. It's 24,943,8,171,517 miles from our sun.

How fast do you run a mile lasts you ran a mile. It's a long ways when you're running a mile.

It would take 4.243 years for light to travel from our sun to Proxima Centauri.

That's just the closest, and that's one of billions of stars in the galaxy around us.

Next nearest galaxy to us, Andromeda, is 2.5 million light years away.

The sheer scope of this earth and a solar system and the universe in which we are in, when you are faced with that kind of scope and the thought of our little lowly human selves standing on that rock in the midst of all of that, the only legitimate response can be true fear, awe, and respect for the God that made all of that happen. And now wrapped in that healthy respect and wrapped in that healthy awe should be a fear as well and a need for obedience and a need for listening to Him and doing what He has asked us to do. Obtaining wisdom is a process. It has a beginning, it has a middle and an end. The beginning is the same for us as it is with Solomon. It begins with the only source of truth and wisdom in that vast universe, which is God Almighty. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom, and quite frankly, we can't expect to receive wisdom if we don't start there. We don't start there.

That's why the Bible makes statements such as, a fool says there is no God.

Right? A fool says there is no God. By definition, they are fools. They are. By definition, they can't obtain true godly wisdom, discernment of the Word of God, just equitable judgment, because they outright reject the giver of the gift. And so, of course, they are fools.

They can't become wise, because in their mind, God doesn't exist.

That doesn't work. Those two things are incompatible. Let's go to Proverbs 2, verse 1. We'll see this process continues from a beginning now into a development process. Proverbs 2 and verse 1. So we've begun with God being the beginning of that wisdom. Proverbs 2, verse 1 says, My son, if you receive My words and treasure My commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding.

So the very most important part of the process is listed first. It's important to recognize the implied action that's there. We have to receive the Word. We have to lay up His commandments in us. Notice that special reverence that's given to His Word. It's not enough for us to receive it and to hear it.

We have to actually respond to it. That's where the work comes in. We also have to lay up His commandments like treasure and treat that Word with reverence and with respect. Verse 3, He says, Yes, if you cry out for discernment and you lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, speaking here personified as wisdom, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, do we seek wisdom like we would seek gold and silver in a known area of claim?

Like if we knew, if you knew that there was a spot that you could go outside, you put your shovel in and up comes a gigantic gold nugget. You put the shovel back in, another gold nugget. Put the shovel back in? Diamonds, ruby, emeralds. How soon would you run out to that spot and dig and dig and dig and dig until you could dig no more? Do we do the same thing to the ground that is right in front of us? Do we dig in the same way, knowing that this ground is full of treasure, too?

Or do we not? It's a process. We have to value godly instruction more than we value worldly treasures, more than we might seek riches in fame. And then, then, we see verse five. Verse five says, then you will understand the fear of the Lord. Find the knowledge of God, for the Lord gives wisdom.

From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He's a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice, preserves the ways of the saints. Verse nine, then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path. If after all of those things, if after we receive the word, if we lay up those commandments, listen to wise instruction and apply it in our hearts to understand it, we've sought it and we've searched for it as one hunts for treasure.

Then and only then will we find it. It's not a passive activity. I love that you're here. I love that you're in the seats. I love that you're listening. I love that we're coming together on the Sabbath. But listening to a sermon is a download. It's not active in that sense. I mean, you're actively listening, I hope, but it's not active in the sense of putting in that effort necessarily. It's listening to sermons or kind of downloading, so to speak.

A search for wisdom is active. It's a pursuit. It's a chasing down of this thing that God has provided. And it happens in our day-to-day lives as we go about living our faith and living the Word of God. As we learn from various experiences, as we discern and we apply the knowledge that we have, we grow in wisdom. It's the growth process that comes from this. But as such, well, it can't be shortcut. It can't be shortcut. Let's go ahead and turn over to Genesis 3, because we see within the account of Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve, one of the motivations of their sin in the garden.

One of the motivations of their sin in the garden, we find in Genesis 3 and verse 6. Genesis 3 and verse 6. Speaking here of the the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, verse 6 it says, so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and then notice what it says, and a tree desirable to make one wise.

She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and they made themselves coverings. Now, obviously, Satan's influence played into this temptation, but the fruit of the tree looked edible. It was physically appealing, and it was desired to make one wise.

The New Living Translation puts that same phrase, she desired the wisdom that it would give her. It was a shortcut. It was a way to obtain wisdom without going through the work to receive it.

In that sense, a way to become wise without the effort and the lessons that come with it.

When it comes to wisdom, there is no get-rich-quick scheme. Solomon is about the closest we see, praying to God to provide it. That's not a get-rich-quick scheme, either. God provides it, and we learn, and we grow, and we continue to work in that way. But it's a process that takes significant effort, and occasionally, as any of you that have been around the block a few times can attest to something we don't always do perfectly. Sometimes the wisdom that we gain comes from the mistakes that we make, and the things that we do have to come back and say, that wasn't the right way. There are times where those lessons are the lessons that we learn. Turn with me real quick to Proverbs 9, because it speaks a little bit to the methodology by which we see wisdom operate. Proverbs 9 is going to contrast two ways of life. It's going to look at two ways of life here. It's going to talk about the way of wisdom, and it's going to talk about the way of folly or foolishness. The way of wisdom and the way of foolishness. Proverbs 9, we're going to pick it up. There are some similarities here between the two, yet some big differences. It's almost like if you were to take wisdom and folly and put them in a Venn diagram, this is kind of what you're going to see. There's going to be characteristics provided for wisdom, characteristics provided for folly. Proverbs 9, and we'll pick it up in verse 1. Proverbs 9 in verse 1 says, wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also furnished her table. She has sent out her maidens. She cries out from the highest places of the city.

What does she say? Verse 4, whoever is simple, let him turn in here. As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live. Go in the way of understanding. He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer lest he hate you rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. We'll see the lesson in what has been reviewed. Give instruction to a wise man. He will still be wiser. Teach a just man. He will increase in learning. This is where we read from earlier, Proverbs 9-10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me, God says, your days will be multiplied. Years of life will be added to you. If you're wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, it says you will bear it alone. So what we see is this personification of wisdom. Wisdom is crying out. It's calling out. Wisdom says, I've prepared the house. The meal is prepared. The table is furnished, and it's calling out to all of us. Come eat of the bread. Drink of the wine.

So she sent forth her maidens calling from the highest places of the city as we navigate our life. We're going along, walking down those streets, and we hear this, come, come, eat, eat of the bread, eat of the wine, as we're walking down life. But here's the problem.

There's another voice calling out as well. Verse 13 says, a foolish woman is clamorous.

Another word for that is boisterous. You think about like energetic and enthusiastic, loud. Think like maybe wisdom is kind of maybe a little more, I don't know, yeah, like a little bit more reserved in that sense, whereas this one's just shouting, come on, come over here, come over here. Says, a foolish woman is clamorous. It says she is simple and knows nothing. For she sits at the door of her house on a seat by the highest places of the city to call to those who pass by who go straight on their way. She says the same thing. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him stolen water is sweet and bread eaten and secret is pleasant. So there's a little more there too. But he does not know that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell. So she calls out to she calls out boisterously, clamorously, calls out with energy and enthusiasm. It says in this case, she's simple, she's devoid of understanding. She calls to them that pass by beckoning them to come in and to dine with her.

But the person going in doesn't know that this way leads to the way of death. And so it's a choice. It's a choice as we navigate this life between wisdom on one hand and folly, foolishness on the other. And that's really the essence of the book of Proverbs. You go through and you read the book of Proverbs. It's setting up this is wisdom, this is foolishness. And it's putting it out there as a dichotomy for us to be able to look at it. And then God is asking each and every one of us as we read this. And as we navigate life, what's it going to be? What's it going to be? Is it going to be wisdom?

Or is it going to be folly? Is it going to be wisdom or folly? God admonishes us through the book of Proverbs to seek wisdom. Ultimately, we obtain it through our experiences, we obtain it through our mistakes, we obtain it through our joys and our successes. And each and every day, we're renewed and have the opportunity to gain it yet again through our experiences, through the forks in the road, so to speak, where on one hand we have wisdom and on one hand we have folly. And the question that God asks each and every one of us each and every day is, what's it going to be? What's it going to be? And we know sometimes, even in one day, we might make the right decision in one thing and the wrong decision in another. Right? It's part of the human experience. But in that process comes a very important lesson of how we grow in godly wisdom and importantly, how we pass it on. How we pass it on. Because again, it is something that tends to favor the aged, tends to favor those who have been around the block, who have lived their lives, who have gone through, sometimes made the mistakes, sometimes been down the road that they know you don't want to be down, or sometimes have gone through difficult times and come through them just fine. What do we do with that wisdom that we've obtained? What do we do with it? It's been seven years since I've been pastoring here locally. It's hard to believe it has been that long. It's been seven years in November of this year. Seven years. Unfortunately, in that time, I've had the opportunity to attend a lot of memorial services. A lot. A lot. It's always interesting how much you learn about people at their memorial service. Sometimes things that never came up in normal conversations, never came up in times. You had hundreds of conversations with an individual, and it never came up. But with a number of these individuals, they've lived lives in the faith, they've lived, had a number of experiences as they've walked this way, and as they've gone through upheavals of the faith and personal challenges, they are a wealth of experience.

And then they're gone. And then they're gone. And you can't access that well anymore. You can't. As we go through our lives in this way, as we go through our lives and we walk this way of life, we gain worldly wisdom at times from the basic life experiences. But with God's Spirit, we learn spiritual aspects and spiritual dimensions to many of these lessons as well. Brethren, I would pause it to you, those of you that are older in this group of individuals, we, and I'm going to include myself in this now, are not getting any younger.

We're not getting any younger. I look around this room, quite honestly, I look around this room, and I marvel at the collective number of years of wisdom and experience that is contained in this room. Of living this way of life. Of going through some of the very things, probably slightly different, but some of the very things that our youth are going through and experiencing as they go through school, as they try to understand how they stand up for their faith in a world that is pushing back against it. The amount of wisdom in this room that is represented is incredible.

And many of the young adults, because we've had conversations about this, many of the young adults, and I'll throw myself in that pile now too, because I'm just going to ride the line, I guess, between that young adult and an adult. Many of those young adults, myself included, have often wondered, how do we bottle this wisdom up? How do we bottle this wisdom up? How do we find a way to ensure that this wisdom gets transferred? Because as many of you may realize, as we look at just even the Home Office weekly update today, with four or five transfers coming in to begin covering retirements that are coming into play and to begin covering various things, we face a critical time in our church today because of this significant age gap that exists. My generation got absolutely wrecked during the split in 95. We're kind of that lost generation, so to speak. And so you have these barbells in congregations. You have a lot of older members and a lot of younger members. How do we bridge that gap? How do we appropriately bridge that gap? We're blessed, incredibly blessed, locally. This is not the makeup of most of the congregations in the country. It's just not. We are so blessed locally with the number of youth that we have.

You know, it's an incredible blessing. But again, that question of how do we impart this tribal knowledge to this next generation remains. And sadly, with every long time member of the faith that we lose, we lose a little part of that God-given wisdom along with them.

How do we ensure that we provide it to the next generation? I want to approach it from the other side of that question. I want to approach it from the other side of that question, because Proverbs says that we need to seek wisdom. We need to pursue and we need to chase wisdom. So, young people, please listen up for a moment. The onus on this is largely on us.

We need to pursue these things. We need to reach out. We need to bring the older generation, these questions, connect, build these relationships. It can be difficult, can be sometimes tough to do because of the gap, but it's absolutely critical. When the older generation looks for the opportunities, find the opportunities. One of the most important things that we can do as we focus on younger people is provide these intergenerational fellowship opportunities. Walking up and asking them how they're doing, walking up and asking how they're weak, walking up and finding out what are the things you've been working on, what's how school going. Just questions like that can begin to build those relationships more fully to where we're able to now have some of those conversations. We can't do it well enough if we don't have the relationships built intergenerationally or for young people if we don't seek them out. We started this message with this idea of this dying art of storytelling, and there's a reason why we started there. Because every person in this room is a fountain of wisdom. You're a fountain of knowledge. Every last one of you has a life story that can be told. Younger people in the church can learn from that life story. You might not think it's important. You might not see the value in your own story. You might not. But we need to be able to create opportunities where those stories can be told, where those life experiences can be shared, whether it's here at services, whether it's outside of church, at service projects, whether it's focused in purposeful activities that combine intergenerationally, whatever that might be. Your story and your life experience is important because it is that well from which we can draw some of this wisdom and some of these lessons that you have learned in such a way. And it's not a coincidence. It's not a coincidence that the Bible is outlined in a story format. It's not. David and Goliath, Samuel, Ruth, kings of Israel and Judah, minor prophets, the gospel. It's a series of stories.

Bible is a book of stories from which we learn. I've heard people make the mention that there could well be a second book of Acts and that all of our lives are perhaps part of that second book of Acts someday as we go down that road and lives are recorded and the stories are told as things go.

It's very possible. It's very possible. Christ taught in parables for a reason. If you want to turn over to Matthew 13 real quick as we start to close here. Matthew 13. We see that there was a reason why Christ spoke in parables. Why he taught in stories.

Matthew 13 and verse 11. It says, He answered and said to them, Because it's been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

Therefore, verse 13, I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. Those with God's Spirit, those whom God's Spirit is working with, often were provided wisdom to be able to understand these things that God provided.

We have similar opportunities. A simple story of life. Your time growing up during the Depression.

Things that you experienced as you grew up and tried to avoid the pulls of the world around you.

All of those lessons, when combined with the Spirit of God in us, can help us to learn critical lessons.

Hold it, members. You are a wealth of information. You are a wealth of information. And, young people, please seek it out. Please recognize if or what it is. Seek it out as you would seek treasure, as you would dig for gold and silver and rubies and diamonds. Seek it out.

And then, older members engage them, engage them, and connect with them. You know when it comes to obtaining wisdom, sometimes you just have to do it. Sometimes you just have to do it. Not keep thinking about it, not keep devising plans on how to obtain it. Sometimes when it comes to mining gold or silver, you just kind of have to start digging. You just have to put that shovel in the ground. Because, in this case, when it comes to gaining wisdom, when it comes to working with God's Spirit that we've been provided, there is no substitute for putting in the work. There's no substitute for putting in the work. The wisdom of God is something we all need to seek out. It's something we all need to pursue. It's something we all need to chase down. And God admonishes each of us to obtain it. So, brethren, let us seek His wisdom. Let us chase after it. Let us obtain it. Let us share the lessons that we've learned over a lifetime of faith. Let's help this next generation walk in the way and continue to share this faith until the return of Jesus Christ.