Wise People Seek Wisdom, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. That's what he asked for. What he asked for is wisdom. He said, God, just make me wise enough. Wow.

Think of all the things. Notice the next line. It says, it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon asked for this thing. It's my contention, by the way, that God would always be delighted in you when you ask God for wisdom. Always. Now, be honest with yourself. In all the things you've ever faced in your life, how many times have you asked for wisdom versus how many times you asked for the circumstances that change. Because that's usually what we pray about.

Please, Lord, change my circumstances. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's word meets our world. I think that we all have one thing in common for sure, and that is I believe that all of us have been a place in our lives where we ask ourselves exactly the same question. What should I do now that I don't know what to do? You see, what should I do when I don't know the wise thing to do? You see, eventually we all back up against our limitations, all of us, and wisdom is not readily apparent to us. And often, by the way, even when we get to those kinds of choices, there are other factors which make wisdom very difficult for us to find. There is the emotional fog of the moment, emotionally charged events.

You hear people blurt out things like, but I love him. No money down anywhere but here. We make decisions like that all the time. Sometimes, by the way, it's not our emotions, it's simply that we're ignorant, that we have almost no experience. Many years ago, there was a well-meaning man in our church and he wanted to help my wife and I make wise investments. And so we met with him and he started talking to us and it's a fog to me, but he was talking about short-term, long-term, rollover, counterintuitive, European stocks. And to me, I was sitting there nodding my head and I was thinking it was like a Charlie Brown cartoon. I wasn't understanding anything that he said. It wasn't his fault. I was in no position. I simply didn't know enough. I was too inexperienced. Fortunately, as the years gone by, if he talked to me now, I might know a little bit more.

I'm not so sure how much, but some. You see, sooner or later, we all face our limitations. You know that. You've done it. How about the first night when you brought the first baby home from the hospital? Isn't that something? Like, now what? How about this one? The first time you went to an enclosed on a house.

The first time. There's like 200 stacks of papers. You have no idea. People sitting around a room and they keep handing you stack after stack.

You're trying to read it as fast as you can, but no one wants you to read it apparently. And then they have all these tags sign, sign, sign, sign. We've all been there. You're not sure at all what to do in those circumstances at all. Whenever you face really difficult circumstances and you're not sure to do at all, you're left with the question, what do the wise do? What is somebody who actually has wisdom? What do they do?

Well, normally I can say this. I can tell you what their first step is. They do nothing. Wise people don't make emotional choices. Wise people don't make choices out of ignorance. Wise people do nothing and then they do something else.

They move ahead, but only after they have taken the time to gain wisdom. You see, there's something special about being wise. Wise people know when they don't know. Wise people know what they don't know. And wise people are very comfortable seeking wisdom before they make a decision.

You know, it's kind of paradoxical when you think about it. You mean to tell me that wise people seek wisdom? Yes, that's what I'm telling you. But don't take my word for it. Let's take the wisest man who ever lived word for it. Let's take Solomon's. Go with me to 1 Kings Chapter 3.

1 Kings Chapter 3. We're in a series on wisdom, how to live a foolproof life. In the very first week I said that the most important question that you can ask, no matter what choice or decision you're making, is this one. What is the wise thing to do?

You have to ask yourself that question. What is the wise thing to do? First of all, in light of my past experience, not anybody's but mine, in light of my past experience, what's the wise thing to do? In light of my present circumstances, what's the wise thing to do?

In light of my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do? If you would just apply that to your life, you'd be amazed how much infinitely better your life would be. In the second week, we dealt with this whole idea of the unwise. The Bible calls them and puts them into three groups. The naive, who have no wisdom because they have no experience. The fool, who doesn't even mind being wrong, he's just going to plow ahead anyway. And then the scoffer, who as I said at that time is a fool in steroids. The scoffer will do what the fool will do and then he will be belligerent and defend his position. And last time we dealt with what is the wise way to handle your time.

How do we redeem our time? Today we're seeing something else that we need to understand. You will never be as wise as you're capable of being unless you tap into the wisdom of God and others in your life. Verse 5 of 1 Kings 3.

Let me give you one context you need. Solomon is now king and he's likely to be about 20 years old. You need to understand he's 20.

He's not 60. It says in Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. And God said to him, ask what you wish me to give you.

I don't know about you, we've all liked movies about genies and stuff like that. But just think of it, this is God. You're 20.

When you were 20, or if you are 20, this is God. What do you want? Anything you want, I'll give you. You can just see the Rolodex going on in your head, can't you?

Man, I've got some ideas here. You see, my premise is this. Solomon was already extremely wise. He was already wise when he was only 20 years of age. And he was wise because he was raised by a very wise father named David.

Notice what Solomon said. You have shown great loving kindness to your servant David, my father. He said accordingly, he said as he walked before you in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward you. And you have reserved him for this great loving kindness that you have given him a son to sit on the throne as it is this day. The first thing he says to God is I know why I'm here because of how much you love my father. My father is David, a man after God's own heart. He's wise. Now watch. Now, oh Lord, my God, he said you have made your servant king in a place of my father David and yet I am but a little child. I do not know how to go in and go out and come in.

Lord, I have no idea. You ever been in a position like that? You have a position and you say I really have no idea what to do in this. He then says this. He says your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, he said, who are too many to be numbered or counted.

So you give, he says, your servant an understanding heart please to judge your people, to discern between good and evil for who is able to judge this great people of yours? That's what he asked for. What he asked for is wisdom. He said God, just make me wise enough. Wow.

Think of all the things. Notice the next line. It says it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon asked for this thing. It's my contention by the way that God would always be delighted in you when you ask God for wisdom. Always. Now be honest with yourself. In all the things you've ever faced in your life, how many times have you asked for wisdom versus how many times you asked for the circumstances that change? Because that's usually what we pray about.

Please Lord, change my circumstances. He says that the Lord is really pleased with all of this. And God said to him because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself a long life nor have you asked for riches for yourself. Nor have you asked for the life of your enemies. But you have asked for discernment to understand justice. Behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart so that there has been no one like you before you nor, he said, shall one like you arise after you. And by the way, oh by the way, verse 13, I have also given you what you have not asked, riches and honor. And he said in verse 14, if you walk in my ways, I'll give you a long life too.

So he got a lot of other stuff. But all he wanted was wisdom, which tells you that he was wise right in the beginning. Wise people know what they don't know. They know when they don't know it.

And they have no trouble going to God and others for wisdom. Now, what's astounding to me about a 20-year-old king that asked this, you know, you wake up in the morning and you're thinking, wow, that was a dream. I wonder if it took, I wonder if I'm wise. Well, if you notice the first word in verse 16 is the word then.

So apparently, almost immediately, he gets a chance to see if he's wise. Now remember, you're 20. It says, then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. The one woman said, oh my Lord, this woman and I live in the same house. And I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.

And it happened on the third day after I gave birth that this woman also gave birth to a child and we were together. And he says, there was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. So it's a 20-year-old king, two harlots. They both just had babies. Then this woman's son died in the night because she lay on it. He says, so she arose in the middle of the night to nurse my son from beside me while your maidservant slept and laid him on her bosom and laid her dead son on my bosom. And when I arose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead.

But when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son whom I had born. And then the other woman said, no, for the living one is my son and the dead one is your son. And then the first woman said, no, the dead one is your son and the living one is my son.

Now you're a 20-year-old king and you're just sitting here listening to this. The king said, OK, let me see if I understand the problem. The king said, the one says, this is my son who is living and your son is the dead one. And the other says, no, for your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.

Do I have the problem figured out? Yes. Then the king said, get me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And he said, divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other. Wow, he's famous for this.

See, I don't think what people think about it. He's 20. You see, this is a young man. He said, you get the sword. And then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son. And she said, oh my Lord, give her the living child and by no means kill him. But the other one said, he shall be neither mine nor yours. Go ahead and divide him. Then the king said, give the first woman the living child and by no means kill him.

She is the mother. And it says, when all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered done, they feared the king. That means respected, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice. Wow, what a first test.

Life and death. Became famous, by the way. One of the great acts of wisdom all through history. But Solomon, there's something about Solomon that amazes me. He's the wisest man who ever lived by God's decree. And yet Solomon says over and over again, if you're wise, you'll know what you don't know.

You'll know when you don't know it, and you'll seek counsel or wisdom. Let's go to Proverbs. I just want to survey a few verses. Look at Proverbs chapter 1 with me. Proverbs chapter 1, verse 5.

Solomon writes this. He said, a wise man will hear and increase in learning. And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel. You see, what we want to say is when you don't have any wisdom at all, that's when you need to find it. Solomon says, no, it's exactly the opposite of what's true. When you don't have any wisdom at all, you're very likely to be a fool in your life. If you are a fool, there's something that fools all have in common.

Self-sufficiency. I can do this. I know what to do. I can handle it. I've got control of this situation.

Don't worry. I can make these decisions. Solomon was wise. He goes, be very careful thinking that way. Look at chapter 12 of Proverbs, verse 15.

Here he contrasts the two. The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel. You see, now, don't forget who's writing this. By God's estimate, the wisest man who ever lived. So if anybody could say, hey, look, I really don't need a lot of counsel by anybody. I know kind of what I'm doing.

It'd be Solomon. He says, just the opposite. He said, no, it's the fool that does that. You see, it's the fool that says, I've got this handled.

I can handle this. He says, no, you can't. He says, the wise man listens to counsel. Look at chapter 15 and verse 22. He says in verse 22, he says, without consultation, plans are frustrated. He said, but with many counselors, they succeed.

Again, this whole idea of seeking counsel. And one last one I want to look at is chapter 19 of Proverbs and verse 20. Chapter 19 and verse 20, he writes this, listen to counsel and accept discipline that you may be wise, he says, the rest of your days.

You know what that tells me? Solomon not only listened to counsel when he was 20, but he did it when he was 30 and 40 and 50 and 60. He sought counsel.

Now, that almost seems strange. Why would the wisest man in the whole world put such a premium on asking the advice of others? Here's the answer. Because he was the wisest man in the whole world. You see, that's why he did it. You see, what is it that stops us from doing this? It's all foolhardiness, this sense of self-sufficiency. He says, don't do that.

Don't do that. Biblical wisdom is not intellectual. Biblical wisdom is the skill to cope with life the way it is. That's what biblical wisdom is. It's the skill to be able to cope with life the way it is. We're fallen people living in a cursed world. This requires an awful lot of insight in order to make your way.

So, wise people know what they don't know, they know when they don't know, and they have no problem at all gaining wisdom from others. But there's another time in your life when you have to make a specific kind of decision concerning wisdom. What do you do when your life goes bad? What do you do when it's one of the worst days of your life? What do you do when you're in a lot of pain and a lot of suffering? What do you do then?

How does it work then? You see, that requires a certain amount of experience and wisdom. Many years ago, we had a pilot in the church. He was a commercial pilot, and I was involved in the discipleship ministry with him. Originally, he was a fighter pilot, then he flew in the airlines. And I always have all these questions for those kind of guys, and I want to know how you fly a big airliner. One time he said to me, he said, you know, in two weeks, I could teach you how to fly a commercial airliner to take off in New Orleans and land in another city.

Two weeks. So I, sort of the wise guy that I am, I said, well, why do they need you then? You know, and he said, because things go bad.

And when it goes bad and you're in the cockpit, everybody dies. You see, that's why I'm here. Oh, yeah, it's all automate, but that's why I'm here. In other words, there is a certain amount of wisdom and experience you need when things go bad. And that's what we need in our life.

We need wisdom. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.