Move up to Wisdom From Above

Common comments that people make about others include statements like, well, that wasn't very bright, or that was stupid, or that was dumb, or that person's an idiot or a moron. What they're saying is what was done is indicative of a lack of wisdom. Person is not somebody that's very bright or wise. In contrast, wise people, they're associated with being successful in what they do.

They're associated with things working out well that they attempt. These individuals reach their life's goals. They reach their life's dreams. They're the ones who have saved money, invested wisely, married well, etc., etc., etc. So you have a world full of fools and a world full of wise. Now, if we stop and examine some of the wise people down through time that have made wise choices and done well, they would include people like J.P. Morgan, President Clinton, John Wayne, Senator Edwards, Alan Greenspan, President Papandreou, Arthur Andersen, and other notable people who had made wise choices in life. They're all wise to a point. But as humans, we all stumble sooner or later because our wisdom is often focused on our own well-being, our own self-promotion.

It becomes about us. And inevitably, we make a choice for ourselves that is improper for humanity at large. Are you a wise person? Look at your life and ask yourself, am I a wise person? Are you making sound choices, reaping good consequences? I hope so. You may be wise already. But our wiseness may also be equated with spiritual immaturity.

It may be very short-sighted. But we can be all set up for this physical life, but not have been wise in storing up treasure in heaven. Today, ask yourself the question, am I a wise person? Am I a wise person? The title of the sermon today is, Move Up to Wisdom from Above. You may have been a wise person so far.

You may be wise. But you and I both need to move up from wisdom to a different type of wisdom. The Bible calls it, Wisdom from Above. Let's take a look today at this topic of a need for wisdom from above. Let's start in Job 28. Here's an incredible chapter of the Bible that just seems like an inset. It seems to have nothing to do with the chapter before it, the chapter after it, anything to do with the life of Job.

It's just there. It's a gem. Job 28, in verses 1-15, says, Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. You know that there are underground mines, silver mines, gold mines, copper mines. Iron is taken from the earth and copper is smelted from ore. Where do these things come from? You don't just usually walk around on the ground and bend over and pick them up. They're usually associated with the geology that came bubbling up out of the nickel, molten core of the earth and are in the strata that is countless millennia old. So in verse 3, man puts an end to darkness. He creates some kind of a lamp, a torch, some sort of a miner's lamp that he can see in the dark.

And he searches every recess for ore in the darkness and in the shadow of death. See, this ore is so precious he's going to put his life on the line and go where no man has gone before in search of this ore. Verse 4, he breaks open a shaft away from people. My daughter, Rayann, and I this week were up along a river in Alaska and has a good name, Gold Creek.

And along Gold Creek are 240 miles of tunnels through the mountains right beside the creek that people a hundred years ago did this very thing. Developed some kind of light and went digging through that mountain, looking for traces of gold. They hang far away from men. They swing to and fro on ropes, getting these minerals. Verse 5 asks for the earth. From it comes bread at the surface.

You know, you have this topsoil up at the top. There comes the food for us. But underneath it is turned up as by fire. It's molten and erupts through volcanoes and makes all the strata rich with various minerals. Its stones are the source of sapphires and it contains gold dust. Gold dust is tiny. Tiny, tiny. It's my third trip up Gold Creek and the previous two times I've tried to find some gold. This time I went back a little better equipped.

One thing I had was a daughter with me. You can do much better in pairs than you can by yourself. And a gold pan. And a small hand shovel. And this time I'm going to find a better place. And indeed we found some miners down there digging and going with their machines that they had made up.

Hand machines. And we said, should we go dig with them? No, I don't think so. It might run us off. And another one. Should we go dig near them? No, this could be dangerous. It was encouraging because the guy behind us on the trail had a shovel and he didn't stop there. He was a local guy. So we kept going and we finally found a place that we thought would be good. Sure enough, started digging for these little tiny gold dust pieces only to realize, I don't know what gold dust looks like.

I thought it was just going to be like gold. You get down to so small, well, what if it doesn't look like gold? So I had to go. These guys with a shovel to them came up above us and started digging and they had the equipment, you know, they had the shakers and they had this stuff. So I said to Rayann, I says, they won't kill you.

You're nice looking. Go take our pan up there and just say, I don't know what gold looks like.

Sure enough, we didn't have a clue. And the properties and how they pan, they showed it to her and then waved me up and well, here's what you do and here's how you test. And then he showed me the little vial. It was a vial like this. Two days worth of their digging with their equipment.

Two days. There was nothing in the vial except you look really, really hard, a little dust at the bottom. You got to be kidding. Why have we come up here all the time and work like this?

Wow. It's so small. It contains gold dust, but they'll go through that effort. Now they left and let us use a little of their equipment, which they hide in the woods and bury under leaves.

We got to kind of be trusted. And so we got to use some of their equipment. And in four and a half hours, we got twice as much as they had in two days. Gold dust. It was so tiny.

It was so tiny. My daughter held the vial up and she says, well, Dad, what do we do with it now as we're leaving? And I said, well, you had it last. I don't want it. It's so tiny. I'm holding it like this. And my wedding ring is there. I'm looking at this ring and looking at tiny little dust and thinking, it'd take you a lifetime to get that much gold in there doing this. My hand's bleeding and I've been armed down in this water. It's 34 degrees for four hours. We were exhausted, but people will do this. It says, verse seven, that path no bird knows, nor has the falcons I seen it.

You know, we have with us today the former chairman of Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation, a global mining corporation. And this is what the business does. They go where birds haven't seen and they go in the earth and they bring out these things. Verse eight, the proud lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it. He puts his hand on the flint. He overturns the mountains at its root. He cuts out channels in the rocks and his eye sees every precious thing. He damns up the streams from trickling. What is hidden, he brings to light.

People are doing this everywhere to get the treasures of the minerals of the earth.

Verse 12, but where can wisdom be found? Where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, it's not in me. The sea said, it's not with me. Can't be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price. Ask yourself that question again. Am I a wise person? You see, something here is pretty evasive, isn't it? We might think that we found it. Humans think that they found it. And yet, it says right here, where can wisdom be found? Man doesn't even know its value, and it's not found in the land of the living. Hmm, pretty precious stuff.

If you scan your feelings, others' opinions about your life and its choices and consequences, you might come up with, well, I'm pretty wise, or I'm kind of wise, or I'm not so wise.

Well, let's say you come up with, yes, I'm a wise person. Proverbs 26, 12 says, do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

So we begin to learn something about the wisdom that we tend to trust.

And those choices that we tend to make maybe aren't always the best choices after all, even though they may receive accolades or jealousy from others.

Human wisdom, you see, is not about godliness. Human wisdom is about self-preservation.

It's about wise things for me and my family, for my empirical self, for my empire, things that are going to benefit me really well.

It benefits one's life briefly, but at the same time, it typically complicates that life. You know, when a person is selfish and a person builds a big empire and they get really rich, they're doing it at the expense of someone else, aren't they? And the little people always get hurt.

It's one thing for a company to make a lot of money, but when you're doing it by basically using children in kind of slavery conditions, dangerous conditions where they're being hurt and maimed and giving them just enough to either stay alive or stay indebted to you, you're not really benefiting or generating a lot of love, are you? And so those things tend to blow up. Those things tend to come back at you. You know, the pharaoh had it easy, but the slaves that did all the bidding sooner or later revolted. And that's what tends to happen in companies and corporations and families, in countries, countries that take advantage of other countries. Sooner or later, there's a sort of a tit-for-tat, a civil war. Something happens and it comes back.

Human wisdom is complicating. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 20.

We'll just skim here a few verses. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 20. Where is the wise? That's a good question. Where is the wise?

Where is the scribe? Where is the disfeuder of this age?

Has God not made foolish the wisdom of this world?

So you see, that which you and I would ascribe to as wise can be absolutely the opposite.

Verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. Put to shame the wise. There's something about wise in the human context that is shameful, that is foolish. Foolish can mean not only short-sighted in a wrong choice, but it can mean something that is not going to have any benefit whatsoever. None whatsoever.

No benefit in the long run.

Verse 27.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. Now, did you say, well, ago, yes, I am wise? If you did, now we might have an issue here.

We could have an issue here with me and God if I consider myself wise. Verse 30. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. So Jesus Christ actually is the wise one, and our wisdom becomes foolishness, and it's His wisdom that becomes our wisdom. He is our wisdom. For us, He is our wisdom. So God living in you, God dwelling in your Holy Spirit, gives you the opportunity to tap the wisdom of Jesus Christ. He doesn't give you the wisdom of Christ. The fruits of the Holy Spirit aren't necessarily wisdom. If you look at the fruits, you won't see wisdom as one of them.

We're going to find that the Bible says if you lack wisdom, you need to seek it. Proverbs talks about wisdom being better than rubies and pearls, that you should go after it. But we might just say, well, I don't know if I really want wisdom. I'm already wise. We might be short-sighted ourselves, and thus this sermon is entitled, Move Up to Wisdom from Above. There is better wisdom than you and I have, and we can move up to that. Now, you might say, well, being well off is certainly proof that I'm wise, right? At least I'm wiser than the poor. Wouldn't we agree that a person who is well off is wiser than the poor? Wouldn't we all agree that? Probably would. We're human. It says in Proverbs 28 verse 11, the rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the poor who has understanding examines him thoroughly. Uh-oh. Turns out being well off isn't necessarily wiser than being poor if you have understanding. God has called you and me. Did he call the rich of the world? Is that what we read? No. But he called us to have understanding, and do we not then search out or examine thoroughly those who are wise in the world? Aren't we always looking, saying, wow, there's a movie star, there's a rich person, there's a tycoon, there's somebody, but that's not right. There's a world leader, there's somebody promoting himself or herself into fame and power. Wise, wise, wise, but here we are, people who are poor in comparison, and we're examining them thoroughly because we have understanding. Because we have understanding.

Now, what's the difference between wisdom and wisdom from above? Let's go over to James chapter 3. We'll learn from the source about these two types of wisdom. James chapter 3 verse 14.

James 14. If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, oh, wait a minute, what's wrong with that? Bitter envy means my corporation needs to be your corporation, and if your corporation's ahead, then we need to somehow undermine you or jump over you, or as many corporations do, recruit the key people from your corporation and bring them over to my corporation so we can have this competition, this bitter envy, and self-seeking in your hearts. Well, of course it's wise to be self-seeking. How would you get your own island?

How would you own your own huge yacht and super airplane and have all the money to burn and on and on and on? But it says here, if you have those things, verse 15, this wisdom does not descend from above. That was wise. And we all started out there as kids. If I get a bigger pile of toys than you have, I'm wise. It doesn't matter how I do it, I'm wise. As long as it's legal, and if it's not, I'll get to be a congressman and we can change the laws and make it legal. Still end up with toys. But this is wisdom, the Bible says, but it does not descend from above. But it's earthly, sensual, and demonic. The basic principle of wisdom, you see, is not of God. It's of Satan. For where envy and self-seeking exist, then confusion and every evil thing are there. Think about our world. Think about our society for a minute. Isn't it full of wise people and wise leaders and wise companies and wise economists? And where are we right now? Every evil thing and all confusion is broken out on this planet. That's where wisdom takes us.

It ends up in eventually warring and conquering and slaving and colonizing, and then that repeats.

It all breaks apart as we've seen it happen around the world. We've seen it recently in the Arab Spring and things like that. It all breaks apart. Next group rushes in and they start power mongering and enslaving and colonizing and repeat. Now, verse 17, the wisdom that is from above. This is the kind of wisdom we need to step up to, move up to.

This is pure, pure in light of God's Word, and it would be pure to any human on earth.

Nobody would say, oh, that's a bad person who is humble and serving and helpful and loving and kind and supporting. It's pure. Then it's peaceable. Peaceable doesn't just mean getting along with everybody. It means actually joining relationships together.

Imagine a wisdom that brings companies together, countries together, families together, governments together. That's a type of wisdom that's from above. It is gentle. It's willing to yield. It is full of mercy. Somebody makes a mistake. Somebody hurts. Full of mercy. Good fruits.

Without partiality, without hypocrisy. You know, the partiality that goes on in our world, you've got to be in the right club or the right group or the right lineage or the right nation or the right alliance. Then you're in. And the hypocrisy. Oh, yes, we can preach freedom all day long while we promote slavery to sin. It's just that's not part of the wisdom that's from above.

It's good for everyone. Now, you might be thinking, oh, great, another sermon on I'm not good enough. Well, we need to understand that God's wisdom is so much better than just being wise for me.

Why not move up to godly wisdom, which not only stands the test of time and everybody loves, but it'll endure forever. Solomon realized an internal need to graduate from his human wisdom.

Solomon was no dummy. His father was David the king. Solomon wasn't the heir apparent. He wasn't the oldest son next in line. You could say that Solomon did everything just right and it worked out well and he was wise. Let's go to 1 Kings chapter 3 and verses 5 through 12. 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 5. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ask, what shall I give you? And Solomon said, you have shown great mercy to your servant, David my father, because he walked before you in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart with you. You have continued this great kindness for him and you have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is to this day. That's 1 Kings chapter 3. Now we're verse 7.

Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father, David, but I am a little child. In other words, I am humble and I'm realizing that wisdom I have, it's not going to cut it. I do not know how to go out or to come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.

And you've put me ground zero here, dead sinner. Therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. God said, because you have asked this thing and have not asked for long life for yourself, nor riches for yourself, nor the life of your enemies, see that typical human wisdom, it's about me promoting me, wanting power over my enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice. Behold, I have done according to your words, see I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before, nor shall any like you arise after. God is clearly the source of wisdom from above. We see in chapter 4, verses 29 and 30, just a page over, God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. The Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all men.

God is the source of something that you and I just don't have, and we need to come to understand that. How can I get that kind of wisdom? That's the question that we should be pondering. How can I get that kind of wisdom? Well, the answer has two parts. The first is to recognize that it's not in us, and we have to obtain it from the source. So part a is you must obtain wisdom from above from the source. Colossians 2, verse 3, it's talking about the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Those aren't in the ground. They're not deep inside the caverns or the little specks of gold in the river. These are inside God. They are hidden in them. The second part is God's wisdom is obtained by you and me through a process. Through a process. You can't just say, give me wisdom, now I got it. Solomon could, because he was a special case.

It does not appear to this individual that Solomon's life was filled with God's Holy Spirit, but he did receive wisdom. You have God's Holy Spirit. You have God living in you.

There's a process by which you and I can be given the wisdom of God. It's a process. You've got to want to be part of the process. Let's examine that process from Scripture. Remember Job's discourse about wisdom and finding it? Let's go back and tap a little bit more of that in Job 28, verse 20 through 28. Job 28 beginning in verse 20.

From where then does wisdom come? There's the big question.

From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?

Verse 21, Job 28, it is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.

Destruction and death say we've heard a report about this wisdom with our ears.

But verse 23, God understands its way and he knows its place.

Finally, verse 28 now. And to man, God said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. So we are going to grow in wisdom as we learn to fear God and have a deep respect of God and who he is and what he stands for.

And as we depart from evil, as we repent, that's the way that we will begin to grow in wisdom.

In Deuteronomy 4, verses 5 and 6, this process is exemplified by Moses as he explains it to Israel.

Deuteronomy 4, verses 5 and 6.

Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me.

He's teaching these things. Why?

That you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess.

Therefore, be careful to observe them.

You cannot receive this wisdom from God unless you're careful to observe his direction.

For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Now, did Israel become a wise and understanding people? No, they did not, because they did not obey God and follow his commands. They became a ridiculed people who went into slavery and scoffed at. We were warned not to be like them, but that is part of the process. If we go to the New Testament, Colossians chapter 1, verses 9 through 12, we learn that this wisdom and spiritual understanding is actually vital for our salvation.

Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 9, Paul says that we're praying for you.

We're praying for you. We do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. See, it doesn't come at baptism. It just doesn't show up if you ask for it. But we need to be filled, to fill something. You know, it takes a while. We want it now. You ever fill a 60-gallon tank with water from a garden hose? You want to fill it up. It doesn't fill. A garden hose may be on high and really pouring out. And you look. Can you even visibly see the watermark going up?

But we need to be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Verse 10, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. We need wisdom from above and understanding.

It comes from the process of wanting to be like God, of trying to perform his will, know his will, fulfill that will of becoming like he is so that we can fill his will of being children in his family. As we work in that way, we're gradually filled with wisdom and spiritual understanding.

We need to be like Solomon did. He set us a good example in asking for it. Let's go to James 1, verses 5-7.

James 1, beginning in verse 5.

If any of you lacks wisdom, I will tell you right now, I lack that kind of wisdom from above. My tank isn't full. I need more. So if any of you lack wisdom, that's me, perhaps you, what do we do? Let him ask of God from the source who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Now how will it be given? Well, you just say, oh, I prayed for wisdom last night. I guess I got it.

Because it says here, you know, let him ask in faith. If you doubt, you know, blah, blah, blah, you won't get it. Remember, it's a process. Faith without works is dead. It's through the works that God grants us more wisdom. Remember what we've been reading? It is through the fear of the Lord and the keeping of his commandments and carefully observing what God has taught us and coming to know his will and getting more wisdom and understanding. That's how we get filled up.

But as we lack it, we need to ask and we need to then pay attention to each thought, each choice that we're making and say, is this spiritually wise? Is this wisdom on high? Not will this pad my bank account or make me feel better. Is this godly wisdom? And ask God for more with faith.

Of course, we won't be doubting if we really are trying to be like God. We'll be fully committed.

It's not about, well, I'm not wanting to be like God, but I'm asking for wisdom.

Don't think you're going to receive anything.

In verse 6, let him ask in faith. That doesn't just mean believing or believing you're going to get it, but faith with works, faith with obedience, faith trusting God, knowing that God's going to give. But of course he wants you to be wise. He wants you to be perfect like he is in every way.

If we were to ask for wisdom in faith without trying to seek God's righteousness, as it says in verse 7, let not that person suppose they will receive anything from the Lord. That's not in faith. That's outside of faith. It's disbelieving that God's way is the right way.

Now the secret of where this wisdom comes from and how it comes is not under the rocks. You're not going to find it where the eagle's sore or with some magic lantern. In Proverbs chapter 2 verses 6 through 12, it puts this together. Proverbs chapter 2, beginning in verse 6.

Proverbs 2, 6, for the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding, and we can read his words in the Bible.

Verse 7, he stores up sound wisdom for the upright. We have to be upright in order to receive that.

He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity in every good path. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things. That is what this wisdom is about. It's the right choices in every situation to preserve your spiritual integrity, your relationship with God, your future place in the kingdom of God. So the secret is, godly wisdom is reserved for those who are pursuing godly righteousness.

Those who Jesus Christ is working righteousness in them. He becomes our wisdom as we grow up into him.

Okay, so what will godly wisdom do for you? Why do I want this stuff? What are the applications in life of godly wisdom?

Well, John the Baptist gives us a major insight in Luke chapter 1 and verse 17.

I'll give just a few examples that I've been able to find in scripture about what this wisdom will do for us. Luke 1, 17.

Here, John the Baptist would also go before Christ in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That's what it'll do for us.

It will give the disobedient the wisdom of the just through repentance, and will make them a ready people prepared for the Lord, a bride prepared for Christ. That wisdom will take us to the place we need to be when Jesus Christ returns. That is a fantastic reason to seek godly wisdom. There is even more available at various times and various circumstances.

We find in Luke 21 verses 12 through 15, Jesus said that people are going to persecute you, especially towards the time of the end. They're going to lay hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, but it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore, settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer. You're not going to settle your own wisdom here. You're not going to come out with some clever thing to say to a king that's just going to stun them. Rather, in verse 15, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or even resist.

So when we are tapped into the source of wisdom, it can be there at times that are greater than the residual amount we might be given at any given time, so that God can use that as an occasion as He would will.

We saw an example of that in Stephen when he was giving his discourse. It said in Acts 6 in verse 10, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

It's far above what he as an individual could do.

Wisdom also can be given from above to perform God's work. Now, what is the work of God? It's different things at different times. In the Old Testament, we find that the work of God at one point was to prepare a tabernacle, a physical tabernacle. And there were artisans, and you can read in Exodus 31 quite a bit of that chapter, that God gave wisdom to the various artisans.

In 32 it included the women. In chapter 32, verse 25, all the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands. In verse 26, and all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun this yarn for the curtains and the various garments and things that were in the temple. So that's the physical church, a work that was going on there. God gave people physical wisdom to be able to perform. A very difficult challenge in making that. But what about spiritual? We today have a spiritual tabernacle, don't we?

And we have ministers, teachers, that God uses to encourage us to build that tabernacle, that house, that body, edifying of itself and love. It's growing up. And so in Colossians chapter 1, verses 25 to 28, Colossians 1 verse 25, Paul says, I became a minister according to the stewardship of God, which was given to me for you.

And we're not given the office of ministry for ourselves. It shouldn't be anything for us. No badge, nothing that gets us anything. But a minister or a servant, this ministry, has been given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God. Verse 26, verse 26, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generation, but has been revealed to his saints. So this wisdom from above, you see, comes from God through the ministry. Verse 28, in him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom. Where did this wisdom come from? Do you have to have good genealogy to be a minister? No. The wisdom comes from Christ.

And through that, teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in or to Jesus Christ. That's what the goal is here.

Peter said in 2 Peter 3 verse 15, it talks about our beloved brother Paul. According to the wisdom given to him has written to you. So when we look at the Pauline epistles, we're not seeing the wisdom of Paul, we're seeing the wisdom given to him and that he wrote to us. Some things hard to understand, verse 16 of 2 Peter 3. Why is it hard to understand? Because that wisdom comes from God. We don't understand it naturally. Some people, it says, who are untaught, twist that to their own destruction. So we need the ministry. We need God to work through the ministry. I am nothing, but if God will give a minister wisdom, the wisdom from above, then the understanding can be shared. We can be growing. Now, wisdom isn't always just given to others or leaders. God also gives wisdom for your effectiveness in dealing with unconverted people. How do you, as an individual at work, at school, in your neighborhood, when you're shopping, or wherever you are, how do you know what to say? How do you know what to do in order that God can be glorified?

Do you have the smarts? Do I have the smarts? Or do we need wisdom for that?

Let's look at Colossians 4, verses 5 and 6. It turns out that all of us need this wisdom all the time for many different situations. These are just a few. Colossians 4 and verse 5.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside. Just ponder that statement for a minute.

Walk in wisdom towards those who are outside, redeeming or making great use of the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. How are you going to know how to answer them? By having wisdom. That's how we know how to answer them. We have to have God's wisdom. It comes from Him. What about your effectiveness in dealing with fellow members? Those are outsiders. What about people in the church?

We actually need God's wisdom for that as well. The previous chapter, Colossians 3, verse 16.

Colossians 3, verse 16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. He's talking here to the church at Colossae, teaching and admonishing one another. How do you do that? Through the wisdom from above.

Not through human ideas, and my opinion, and your opinion. We're not going to admonish and build up with that, but let the word of Christ dwell in you in all wisdom. Richly, teaching and admonishing one another. In Psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs. Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So this is the smart, as it were, that brings people together, that makes lives enhanced, both now and eternally. It brings everybody along, includes everybody, and gives the principles that are sound. Enrich and embellish lives now and forever. In conclusion, we've seen that the wisdom from above is godly. It's divine. It's not something you and I really can possess. We can use it like God's Spirit. It can flow through us. We can tap it. We need to be linked to that source of wisdom. It's given when one desires to obey God, imitate God, wants to grow and act like God, and do deeds, and think thoughts like God. That's when that wisdom begins to grow.

If you want that, we find in Ephesians 1, verses 17-19, that it's available. Ephesians 1, beginning in verse 17. Paul here is saying in a previous verse, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. This is about God. It comes from God. It's about him developing family who think and act like him. He's happy to share that wisdom, those abilities to make good decisions and include others in those decisions that will take us through eternity with that family. So let's ask the question again.

Am I a wise person? Or could I be wiser? Could I use a little bit more?

Let's conclude with that very question in the Bible. It's found in James chapter 3, and verse 13. James chapter 3, and verse 13.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom, the wisdom from above.