Teague Bible Church

 

James 1: 5-8               Pray for Wisdom            11/3/13

 

Question: Your 6 -year -old son has climbed to the top of a 120’ tree. The wind blows hard, and he yells for help; very afraid. A truly dangerous situation.  What would you do?

 

 

My son actually did this in the NW where trees are very tall!

 

1. I prayed for wisdom;

2. God calmed my voice

3. Diversion and confidence:

“I am so proud of you! You have to be brave and strong to climb that tree!

We have to get a picture of this to show everybody!

4. I ask, “can I try it?”

5. I climbed up, and we admired the view.

6. I finally said, “I am hungry; want to go to McDonalds?”

7. He said, “Will you carry me down?”

(That could not be done, even if I wanted to)

I said, “ Nope, you don’t need any help; you already did the hard part;

going down is easy!”

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It is not enough to have knowledge; you must have wisdom to make good decisions. And the deepest wisdom is godly wisdom.

 

Let’s look at an example of God showing his wisdom. *********

 

I Kings 18: Victory over the prophets of Baal

 

I Kings 19: Afraid for his life because Jezebel swore to kill him. He is physically exhausted from running away; He ask God to take his life, so he will not have to face what is coming. He lay down and fell asleep; he awoke and an angel feed him. Had to encourage him to eat. He traveled to Mt. Horeb. He settles in a cave.

 

 

God has all knowledge, but wisdom in communicating it made the difference.

 

QUESTION: How would you restore your messenger in this situation?

 

Read I Kings 19:9-14   Do you think the tone of voice changed between the first time the question is asked and the second time the question is asked? YES!

 

Wisdom?  Elijah knows now he will live and have a useful, fulfilling life.

 

 But how?   New assignment!  I Kings 19: 15-16  READ

 

 

 

Knowledge alone cannot give you a quality Christian life.

 For that you need Godly wisdom!

 

READ TEXT: James 1:5-8

 

Greek ( gin-os-ko )    “To know, to understand”  

 

Greek ( sophia )  Wisdom; not just WHAT the facts are, but the WHY behind the facts.

 

* Most Christians know what they believe, but are clueless to know why it is true.

 

* Wisdom is to live out the truth of the Word of God, and be able to converse about it

in a flowing symmetry, in your own unique way.

 

* Wisdom is knowledge- facts, working together to bring about a good, and godly result.

 

* Godly wisdom satisfies all aspects of the human condition.

Spiritual; emotional; physical; mental

 

* Wisdom is able to navigate, subtly, through areas that are not always black or white

 

* God can give you the sudden wisdom by asking in an emergency;

but usually it is an ongoing process of learning the Word of God to get the WHAT and WHY and then, through experience, having a peaceful flow of fruitfulness for yourself and those around you by applying wisdom..

 

Psalms 19:7b   “,,, The Word of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple”

 

 

Remember we are talking about godly wisdom; not self-seeking human wisdom

 

I COR. 2:1-16  READ

 

 

TEXT    James 1:5-8   *******************************************

 

v.5   “generously and   without reproach” ( i.e. no scolding the recipient!)

 

Calvin: “God gives generously and without any selfish motive to undeserving people, lest anyone should fear to come too often to be helped. Even among the most giving of men, when anyone ask too often for help, will mention their former acts of kindness, and then excuse themselves for the future; there is nothing like this in God; He is ready to add new blessing to former ones without any end or limitation.

 

If  He, “causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good; and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous,”  how happy He must be to give us wisdom!

 

v. 6   Like all kinds of prayer; we must ask in faith; which means leaning on God.

It means turning your whole mind toward God!

 

You cannot face two directions at once!

 

 

EXAMPLE: Asking God to give you wisdom because you plan to go back to school.

 

Question: How do I know I am not doubting?

 

Answer: The day you are sitting in your first class!

 

 

Source of doubting?    Not really believing God is good

 

*  Do you think God has your best interest at heart and is concerned about you at a

deep and  personal level?

 

*  Do you think of him as a managing director or a loving father?

 

*  Do you trust that He has a better plan for your life than you do?

 

 

v.6-8  “double-minded”

 

All the time a man is asking; he should be trusting!

 

DOUBTING –  A plan of running to the worldly things, and worldly approval,

even knowing it will disappoint; then after the thrill of the world is gone

again, you then go back to God when things fall apart.  MISERY!

 

(We know the struggle of living the new life in Christ and continually rejecting the life of the flesh; but this double-minded attitude is different! You deliberately plan to rise and fall, because you cannot single-mindedly chose who you will love; God or the world.)

 

DOUBTING is affirming the truth, then denying the truth by taking no action.

 

“surf of the sea” Very good picture of the spiritual nausea of a divided mind!

 

Poem-  “ He went up to heaven to receive the promised wisdom;

                   he went down to the depths sure it would never happen.”

 

 

 Isaiah 57:20-21 “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and

                                   its waters toss up refuse and mud. “There is no peace” says my

                                       God, “for the wicked.”

 

We want to grow wiser individually, but the deep wisdom of God is not gained as a private affair; it is not some selfish personal journey.

A wise person always looks for the good of the entire body of Christ through his wisdom to benefit the church; and particularly the good of the church they are in!

 

 

Ephesians 4: 11-15   READ

 

 

* It takes humility to admit that you need others in your church to fulfill your

journey of gaining godly wisdom.

 

* It takes a deeper fellowship than you think you want.

 

* It takes cooperative prayer and a certain vulnerability to each other,

that at  present you do not see the need of.

 

*  To have this wisdom and the peace of mind it brings, you have to

constantly absorb the Word of God and be done with a mere

sprinkling of it your life.

 

Proverbs 13:12  “He who walks with  wise men will be wise.”

 

 

 

Share time and prayer    “Ask for wisdom for yourself, and for the church”