Increasing in Wisdom

Last week I presented Jesus as an example to follow. One of the things that I said was that Jesus was able to respond well to life because He was wise. I told you that as a man, He increased in wisdom. I also told you that since this is part of His being a man, then you also can increase in wisdom and become wise. This week I'm following up on that. I'm going to talk about how to increase in wisdom, how you can grow in your understanding of God, other people and yourself so that you can become like Jesus and live well.

There are several ingredients necessary for you to increase in wisdom. Here's the first that I want to talk about: patience. We have been taught to expect life to move and change quickly. And this affects our understanding of the Gospel. Consider how many Christians understand this promise of God found in James.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Some Christian has an important decision to make. So, thinking of this promise, he prays for wisdom. And his expectation is that, out of the blue, wisdom will pop into his head. This misunderstands wisdom, and it misunderstands James. Wisdom is not the ability to make good decisions. Wisdom is understanding God, other people and yourself, something much greater than good decision-making. And was James suggesting that wisdom would be zapped to a person? No. To be sure, God can grant wisdom - or anything, actually - in a flash. But that is not how He normally does things. Gaining wisdom is something that you need to work at. It is slowly learned. It takes time. And what that means is that you will need patience. And your patience will be tried because at different times you will realize that you don't have the wisdom you would like. It will take a while, but just as Jesus increased in wisdom, so can you. Be patient.

You will need more than patience though. You will also need to get to know the Bible. The Bible is filled with wisdom. It has principles, examples (both good and bad), commands and prohibitions, all of which can lead you to wisdom. Where do you think Jesus got His wisdom from? So, get to know the Bible. And don't limit yourself to the familiar parts. Every once in a while dip into the more obscure places like Ezekiel or Ecclesiastes. That will be challenging, but there is truth there that you need to learn if you would grow in wisdom. Know the Bible.

However, knowing the Bible is not the same as being wise. There are many people, both in and out of the Church, who know lots of Bible but remain fools. If you would be wise, you will need to take what you learn from the Bible and do something with it. This works in two directions. First, you need to take those principles, examples and all the rest and connect them to what is going on around you and within you. You need to move from what you see in the Bible to what you see in life.

But then, you need to work it the other way, too. As life is happening around you and within you, you need to ask yourself something like, 'What does the Bible have to say about this?' You need to consider which principles, examples (both good and bad), commands and prohibitions apply to what you've just seen or heard. So, in the one case you start with the Bible and move into life. In the other, you start with life and move into the Bible. In this way you connect the Bible and life. Each one helps you to see the other more clearly. As you do this you will see things that you haven't seen before. Life will begin to make more sense because you are doing better at understanding God, other people and yourself. The Bible will also make more sense. You are increasing in wisdom.

So, you need to connect the Bible and life. How do you do that? You're going to need to ask some questions either of what you just experienced in life or what you just saw in the Bible. And then, you'll need to work toward some answers. 

There are different ways you can do that. One method that many have used is to sit down and think. Think about the questions and then think about some answers. The church word for this is meditation. It is not as widely practiced as it once was, but it is still quite effective. You can adjust that so that you can do your thinking while driving your car or doing the dishes. The point is to make connections between the Bible and life, and quietly thinking can be a very good way to do that.

Here's another way to work at making these connections. Write in a journal. You can write about some thoughts of the day or you can write about events of the day. As a result of this sermon, I've begun to keep a journal. Each evening I plan to take a few minutes to write about what happened during the day. My goal is quite modest: one brief paragraph each day. I am not expecting any great revelations as I write. I think that, instead, lights will turn on as I see patterns in several journal entries. Maybe that will help me to understand God, others and myself better. It might do that for you, too.

I realize that sitting quietly and thinking, or writing in a journal won't work for everybody. It may be that you would do better working on making those connections if you were with others who are doing the same thing. That's what a Bible study is. Maybe that's where you could invest yourself. Or you could do what a few couples here are doing. They are getting together to read through and discuss John Piper's book about what the Bible has to say about marriage. You could start a group to do something like that.

But here's something you really need to consider if your plan is to pursue making these connections in a group. You'll need to work at it. Come prepared. Read the text ahead of time. Spend a little time identifying the main points. Be ready to ask questions of the group and to offer your own point of view. Invest some time and energy in the process. Meeting as a group will not produce any wisdom if you don't work at it. It's easy to show up, listen to what people have to say, share a thought or two and so learn a few tidbits that you didn't know before. Your knowledge has increased. But that is not the same as your wisdom increasing. This is something that will require time and effort. And that's true whether you work at this with a group or alone. You'll need to work at it.

And that goes a long way to explain why there are so few wise people. As I said earlier, for far too many Christians, gaining wisdom is a matter of saying a quick prayer before some decision. How foolish. Increasing in wisdom is not quick and easy. It will require time and effort. And it will take continuing to invest time and effort over the long haul. That won't be easy. There are so many things clamoring for your attention, each shouting, 'Give me part of yourself. Invest your time and energy in me.' What makes it worse is that many of these things are not at all evil. It's just that by the time a person has run through the list of these good things that have been given first priority there is no more time or energy to work at becoming wise. So, many good things have been accomplished, but wisdom has not increased. And as a result, we don't grow in understanding how life works. We continue to make foolish choices. So we aren't able to live well, not like Jesus did. There needs to be some change, and that will be hard. But this fits with what He told us. Following Him will be hard. You can hear that and respond in some passive way, as I described last week, or you can hear that and, to use the old phrase, gird up your loins ready to work at it.

Here is something that you will need if you are going to work at increasing in wisdom. You will need to believe the Gospel. In particular, you will need to believe the part of the Gospel that says that God's goal is to make you to become like Jesus. Remember how I quoted Paul's description of this part of God's plan?

that you may be conformed to the image of His Son.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that you can become like Jesus? It's as you actually believe this part of the Gospel that you will work at this wisdom thing. It's as you believe this part of the Gospel that you will invest the time and energy required. It's as you believe this part of the Gospel that you will make the hard changes that may well be necessary. Those who believe the Gospel will increase in wisdom. Their faith tells them, ‘This can happen to me. I can become wise. The Gospel says so.’ They will become like Jesus because their faith motivates them to action.

It may be that you are not working at wisdom because you are working at some other aspect of becoming like Jesus. That's where you are investing yourself. That's where the change is happening. Good! But there needs to be something that you are working at. If you are not working at becoming more like Jesus in some way or other, then questions need to be asked. Why aren't you working at this? Where are you investing your time and energy instead? The goal of the Gospel is for you to become like Jesus. Do you believe that? If you do, how does it show?

But it’s important to remember that you're best efforts will not suffice. And that brings back to James.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

If you would be wise, if you would work at increasing in wisdom like Jesus did, then pray. If you would succeed you will need to pray. The reasons are clear. On the one hand, there's your weakness. Your resources are far too meager to make any progress in this on your own. Do you really think you can change yourself? On the other hand, there is the grace of God. Because He is so full of grace your God generously gives wisdom to those who ask. So, pray that you might increase in wisdom - just like Jesus did. Pray that you might work toward this goal, investing the time and energy needed. And then be surprised at how wise you are becoming.