Living by Faith; Wisdom

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Living by faith means walking in wisdom. Psalm 37, 30-31 tells us that the righteous speak wisdom and that the law of their God is in their hearts. The truth of His word captivates our hearts, yes, but it doesn't stop there. We speak it. We share it with those around us. See, part of following Jesus is helping others follow Jesus. What a joyous calling we've been given to strengthen and encourage others with the very truth God has used to bolster our own souls.

Let's listen in. Some people say faith is just a leap in the dark. Have you ever done that?

I tried it once, it didn't turn out well. Some bruises and scars to show it. Faith is not just a leap in the dark, though many would doubt that that's what it is. Unfortunately, too many Christians think that's what faith is, that there really is no evidence, that there really is. It's not about reason. It's not about truth or information. It's not about facts.

Definitely not. That's science. Faith is faith. It has nothing to do with facts. Nothing could be farther from the truth. That is a gross mischaracterization of faith. It is a false dichotomy.

There's all kinds of logical fallacies going on there. Proverbs 2 is an excellent, the verses that were just read, it is an excellent call to wisdom. Now we're talking about living by faith. What does it mean to live by faith?

In Psalm 37, as we're going through this Psalm, there are many strokes as it paints this portrait of living by faith, all the different shades and colors and the strokes and shapes of what a life lived by faith looks like. A life lived by faith manifests itself in contentment. It manifests itself in faithfulness.

It is all about trust. It produces quietness in the inner being. It is meekness. You know who you are.

You know your place. But it is also manifested in satisfaction and generosity and goodness. For today's text, Psalm 37 verses 30 and 31, living by faith is wisdom. Living by faith is wisdom.

Look at the text with me. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom and his tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart and his steps do not slip. This verse, verse 30, talks about the righteous as does numerous times in this Psalm. Who are the righteous? The righteous is the one whose life is grounded in God. He is the foundation of your life. If your life is grounded in God, that is as opposed to one who is countering God.

And by the way, you're either one or the other. Either your life is grounded in God or you're countering God. You can counter God in one of two ways. You can counter him actively, which some do today.

Many have done in history where they push back, they fight against God and his people. That's actively countering God. But did you know you can also counter God passively if you just ignore him? If you marginalize God, I don't need God.

I'm okay on my own. That's countering God. You might not think you're countering God, but you are because you think you know better than he does. But the righteous is the one whose life is grounded in God.

Why is that important? It's because he's the designer of life. Look what it says in verse 31. The law of his God is in his heart. The law of his God is in his heart. That law is God's self-disclosure. God has made himself known. He's not just this enigmatic force out there that somehow we have to try to discover whether or not he really exists.

That's nonsense. God has made himself known. He has spoken. What is important about that is the fact that he is the designer of life. And if I'm going to know how to do life, and I need to know what the designer says, I need to know what his intent is.

I need to follow his intent. And if I do, then I will become skilled at life. That's wisdom. The word wisdom is the word that means skill. And to live with wisdom, to live wisely, means that I am skilled at life.

Now here's the problem. In our world today, if we say someone is successful or they do life well, we measure that, generally speaking, in material terms. Now there is a short little parable in scripture that Jesus gave in the Gospel of Luke that tells us very clearly that that is wholly inadequate. It is the parable of the rich fool. He had all he could possibly dream of and more.

He didn't know what to do with it all. And he went to bed that night saying, take your ease. You have done well. You are a successful man. And God said to him, you fool.

Why would he say that? Because the success of life is not measured in material things. It has nothing to do with what you have acquired. And yet that's so much how we measure the success of life today when that's not at all. Jesus said, and so is everyone who is not rich toward God. Remember that phrase, rich toward God. That is the definition of a successful life, to be rich toward God.

How do you do that? Well, you have to know what the intent and the design of the Creator is, what God's intent and design is. He is the designer of life. And so when the psalmist says, the law of his God is in his heart, that inner circle there represents your heart. What is the heart? The heart is the seat of desire.

It is a seat of thought and desire. Wisdom begins as an attitude. What is an attitude? An attitude is nothing more than a habit of thought. It can be a good attitude or it can be a bad attitude. Both of them are habits of thought. And you have the selective power about those attitudes.

But wisdom begins as an attitude referenced in a fixed point. The law of his God is in his heart. You see, the heart is the seat of desire. And the law of God is capable to transform me at the level of desire. Why is that important?

Because let me tell you a truth about you. You pursue what you desire. And many believe that we are at the mercy of our passions and desires.

Not true. Your desires can be informed and transformed by God's self disclosure because it has the power to transform. And you pursue what you desire. So the wise person, what does it say? The law of his God is in his heart. At the very core of your being is the self disclosure of the one who made you. His intent, his purpose, his design. It is God's thoughts.

It is God's truth. It is God's ways informing and transforming you at the level of desire. I love what Proverbs 2 says that Tom read earlier. The Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. That is the source. That is that immovable fixed reference for our attitudes, for our thoughts, for our desires.

And that is what we need to have. This is very telling of how we ought to approach reading the Bible. We know we're supposed to read the Bible.

And I hate using those words, right? You're supposed to read. You're a Christian. You're supposed to read the Bible.

It's delightful, isn't it? Do you realize what the Bible is? It is God's self disclosure.

The infinite sovereign of the universe is making himself known to you so that you can know him. And if we read the Bible simply as if it's a list of things I'm supposed to do and a list of things I'm not supposed to do, then we're really kind of missing it, aren't we? Because I've seen it numerous times and here again just recently, it is possible to have this and have the knowledge of this, but if it's not abiding in my heart, if it is not transforming me at the level of thought and desire, then it is nothing more than just an object of knowledge and that doesn't transform anybody. The law of his God is in his heart at the seat of desire. So when I read the word of God, it's not just a checklist of dos and don'ts, but it is the divine wound of God in my sails moving me through life.

What is filling and informing your mind? Yes, all truth is God's truth, but not all truth is God's word. God's word uniquely has power to transform. And if his law abides in your heart, it will transform you.

God's wind will be in your sails moving you along. The problem with that today is that we have so much that is battling for our minds. There is so much that is battling for our hearts, for our loyalty, for our affections. In The Economist a few years ago, his magazine The Economist, in one of the articles it said one of the most effective ways to tell lies is hiding truth in a glut of information. We've got that going on today, don't we? This is the information age, all this information coming at you. And did you know that there are nations that use this tactic to influence the thinking of their people? You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.