Wisdom in the Desert (Week 5): The "Foolishness" of Wisdom

Who is wise in understanding among you?

There was this moment that took place right in the middle of the

Cold War, so the tensions between the United States and

the Soviets were at an all time high.

It took place on September 26th, 1983, just after midnight, in a

Soviet early warning command center outside of Moscow.

A Lieutenant Colonel named Stanislav Petrov.

He was on duty, and his job was pretty simple, but it was

terrifying. His job was to monitor a

satellite system designed to detect whether the United States

had launched nuclear missiles. Imagine having that job for just

a second. That would not be fun.

He right after midnight, all of a sudden the alarms start

screaming. The computer system reported

that an American intercontinental ballistic

missile had been launched towards the Soviet Union.

Imagine that moment. Moments later, the screen show

another missile, then another, and then another, until the

system is reporting 5 nuclear missiles inbound for their

location. Petrov now has only minutes to

act. In this moment, according to a

Soviet protocol, he's supposed to immediately report the attack

to the chain of command. If those missiles are real,

Soviet leadership would likely launch a massive nuclear

retaliation before the American missiles could hit.

In other words, in that moment, the fate of the entire world is

sitting on the desk of one man. Ever known pressure in your life

like that? The computers insist the attack

is real. The alarms are blaring, the

clock is ticking. But something just isn't quite

sitting right with Petrov. He figures if the United States

were starting a nuclear war, why only send five?

He reasons. And they probably wouldn't just

launch so few they'd go all out. And the system hadn't It was

new. It never been tested in a real

world crisis yet. And so Petrov faces a choice.

He can either follow protocol with what he's supposed to do

with an incoming attack, or he can report it as a false

warning. He chooses to trust his wisdom.

He pauses, he thinks, and reports it as being a false

alarm. For several agonizing minutes,

he waits to see if the missiles appear on the ground radar.

And of course, none eventually do and it becomes clear the

system's malfunctioned and what happened was the satellites

actually detected like sunlight beaming off high altitude clouds

above North Dakota confused it with like missile vapor or

something like that. And it was a false alarm.

If this had taken place though, imagine if he had said we're

under attack and he'd thrown it up the chain of command like he

was supposed to. Imagine all out nuclear warfare

taking place. This is one of the most tense

moments in history, and many of us have never even heard about

it. Petrov later became known as the

man who saved the world. Isn't that interesting?

What we see with this story is a powerful reminder that sometimes

the difference between catastrophe and life isn't about

information or alarms or better systems.

Sometimes the difference between life or death is just good old

fashioned wisdom, you know, judgement calls, discernment,

wisdom, taking in the information.

And Petrov, he, he credits his decision making not to his

military training, but to his civilian training, right.

Because military guys, you know, they have no choice.

They just they just kind of follow protocol.

But he instead chose wisdom question today, what is it that

enables us to know the right decision in difficult times?

How can we know what to do when the going gets tough And more

than just a decision making, like how can we really know the

right way to live? Social media promises a good

life for every one of us. It seems like everyone has an

opinion on, you know, the perfect way to diet and the

perfect way to live, the perfect way to handle your money.

Influencers kind of present this like overly curated, overly

edited picture of the perfect life.

It's all edited and polished. Everyone's trying to get our

attention, everyone's trying to show us quote how to live.

But Proverbs 14 reminds us there is a way that appears to be

right, but in the end it leads to death.

In other words, there there is a there's a way we can in which we

can live with that appears to have life, but in the end, it

leads to destructions. How many of us, how many of us

in the room by a show of hands would agree we live in confusing

times out there? Yes, OK, hands down.

Everyone, let the record show everyone in the room pretty much

raised their hand, right? I mean, take the last two weeks

for example, man, you know, are we at war?

Are we not? Was it our fault with the

destruction? Is it not like, and man, can we

even trust the information that's being presented to us?

Is this the right decision? Like there's so many voices out

there. These are truly confusing times,

and what we need is a trustworthy guide for how we can

live and how we can discern in the midst of confusion and

chaos. Today we're continuing our

sermon series called Wisdom in the Desert.

And the topic today, the title of the sermon is The Foolishness

of Wisdom. During the season of Lent, we're

we're choosing to kind of escape from the culture a little bit

intentional prayer and intentional fasting, choosing to

go off into the wilderness with Jesus to hear from God, to allow

him to test us and reveal what's really inside.

And today we're going to be talking about the idea of

wisdom. And James says it this way in

chapter 3. If you want to turn there in

your Bibles, James is a short book towards the very end of

your Bible and he says these words about the idea of wisdom.

We always encourage you to bring your physical Bibles if you have

them. Otherwise they'll be on the

screens as well. The Scriptures.

And he says this beginning in verse 13.

James writes, who is wise and understanding among you?

Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility

that comes from wisdom. So he asked the question he

poses it, who is wise and understanding among you, Those

who are living a good life, he answers.

So the ones who are living a good life, the ones who are wise

among you aren't the ones who have the most Instagram

followers or or the most rockin bod or the most life hacks, but

rather the ones who are proving they have wisdom through their

good deeds and through their life.

So James goes on to contrast two different types of wisdom here.

He he contrasts an earthly type of wisdom and a heavenly type of

wisdom. This is what it says in verse

14. But if you harbor bitter envy

and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or

deny the truth. Such quotation marks wisdom does

not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual and

demonic. For where you have envy and

selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every kind of evil

practice. So again, James starts off by

talking about this sort of quote, earthly wisdom, wisdom

that sort of seems right to man but isn't actually of God.

Let me let me ask you this way. Have you ever heard a piece of

advice that seems like it's good advice logically, but it sort of

lacks a sort of substance? It lacks a sort of goodness to

it. Like maybe this advice would

actually get you what you're actually wanting and what you're

chasing. But there's there's something

not quite right about it. It maybe is inherently selfish.

Maybe it's when people try to be helpful and they say things like

it doesn't matter what people think about you.

Is that true? Maybe kind of right.

I mean, I found in my experience, people's perception

of you actually does kind of matter if you want to have

influence with them over their life.

But yet there's times where you have to think less about what

other people are thinking, especially if you deal with

people pleasing. The point is, sometimes advice

requires something deeper to understand if it's actually good

and it's actually wise. It requires A substance and it

requires goodness to it. If you ever received the piece

of advice, put yourself first. I've heard that.

Got to put yourself first. Well, that may get you what you

want in the short term, but will it actually benefit you in the

long term? Is it actually moral and good

and true? And so James talks about this

kind of wisdom. It seems right.

It sounds right at first. It may even be functionally

functional in order to get you what you want.

But it lacks something. What he says here.

I have this list. He says that earthly wisdom is

characterized by bitter envy. This next slide here, it's

characterized by disorder, evil practices and selfish ambition.

Our world is full of these things.

Our culture thrives off them. What we see is that earthly

wisdom, it starts from a place of envy.

It starts from looking at your neighbors and saying, how are

they living? Oh, I want that thing.

Oh, they seem to have it figured out.

But it leads to disorder and evil practices.

Let's talk about disorder for just a moment.

We we know that disorder comes from the chaos of sin and death

and evil in the world. In the very beginning we see

that God hovered over the waters, which are typically this

idea of like chaos and and death.

And God brought order and he brought life from non order from

death. In Proverbs 822 we see the

personification of wisdom. This is sort of wisdom speaking

to us. Wisdom says the Lord brought me

forth as the first of his works before his deeds of old.

I was formed long, long ages ago, at the very beginning when

the world came to be. What we see in the very

beginning that God used wisdom and the logic as sort of the

tool He used in creation. So wisdom is sort of the

paintbrush that he used in order to create everything around us.

And we still see its strokes seen today.

And so to live with wisdom then is to is to sort of go along

with the grain of the universe as God intended it, instead of

going against the grain. And that's why we see that

earthly wisdom involves disorders because God has

created mankind to bring order and beauty into a chaotic world.

What we see with this sort of earthly wisdom is that the focus

isn't on others, but the focus instead is on self and chaos.

Next slide here. We also see that earthly wisdom

often times aims to get ahead. That's why James says it's all

about selfish ambition. How can I advance myself above

others? Earthly wisdom aims to get

ahead, but then he contrasts that with a different type of

wisdom, what he calls heavenly wisdom verse 17 if you turn

there. But the wisdom that comes from

heaven is first of all, pure, then peace, loving, considerate,

submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and

sincere peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of

righteousness. It's very different from the

type of earthly wisdom we just discussed.

So next slide, let's take a look at these two and contrast them a

little bit. OK, so we see that where earthly

wisdom is focused on envy, what everyone else has, how everyone

else is doing compared to me, heavenly wisdom is first and

foremost pure. It's focused on having a pure

heart before God. Earthly wisdom often times lead

to death and disorder and destruction, whereas heavenly

wisdom it leads leads to peacemaking.

This is a peace loving spirit of wisdom.

Earthly wisdom often the result is evil practices, but with

heavenly wisdom it's good fruit. Earthly wisdom is full of

selfish ambition, but contrast that to heavenly.

It's considerate, it's submissive, and it's loving.

So James presents these two options for us.

Both present as wisdom, but only one is from God.

So what we see then next slide is that heavenly wisdom is

focused on others. It's focused on order.

Whereas earthly wisdom aims to get ahead, heavenly wisdom aims

to get holy. See the difference?

So many people are just trying to get ahead in this world.

How do I just inch myself above my Co workers?

How do I get noticed in the market, whatever it may be?

And that's not inherently bad sometimes, but the goals are

different. Heavenly wisdom aims first and

foremost to be pure and holy before God.

This is the focus of James. I love this definition by

Michael J Wilkins. This is so rich.

Wisdom is the application of knowledge to life in such a way

that a person's activities are a concrete example of a life well

lived in God's presence. Let me break that down for a

second. So he says first and foremost

that wisdom is the application of knowledge.

Knowledge is like the information.

OK, I I saw this quote, I wasn't going to share it because it's

so cheesy, but it said knowledge is found on Google online, but

wisdom is found in the Bible on high.

And I thought, wow, that is so cheesy and corny.

I shouldn't share that. But then I just did so there.

You're welcome. But there's a difference between

knowledge and wisdom. It's the application of

knowledge to life in such a way that the way that a person is

actually living, it's a concrete example that they're living a

good life in God's presence. So it's taking the information

and applying it. It's lived out another

definition. I love this and it's simplicity.

They said that wisdom is moral skill.

I love that 2 words, moral skill.

So there's inherent goodness within wisdom.

It's knowing how to skillfully use knowledge and apply it in a

way that's good and fruitful for others.

But here's the thing, in a world like ours that's fallen and it's

chaotic and there's disorder and there's warfare, true wisdom

often has the appearance of foolishness.

Would you agree? True wisdom often seems counter

intuitive. I mean, just take a look for a

moment at the example found from Jesus.

OK, Jesus, when he came to earth, he didn't come by like

opening up the heavens and descending on high with like

lightning and Thunder, right, Did he?

How did he come to earth? Anyone know kids?

He came as a baby. He came as a baby in a Manger in

an animal's feeding through counterintuitive when Jesus was

picking his disciples, he chose ordinary fishermen, not well

off, well off people who had a bunch of influence.

He chose a tax collector who was seemed seemed to be as a traitor

to his own people. When Jesus was offered power in

the kingdoms of the world by saying he rejected it, Jesus

didn't use force in order to bring about his movement.

And finally, in the most counterintuitive move we've seen

in history, Jesus decided to willingly lay down his life and

die for us. He chose to allow people

intentionally to crucify him on a cross so that you and I could

put our faith in that work so that it could take the sins that

we have all done and put it upon himself so that we might live.

The punishment that we deserve was was placed on him on the

cross so that anyone who puts their faith in that might live.

But I got to say that's pretty counterintuitive if you're

trying to start a movement. Would you agree?

The way of wisdom is often quote foolish to the world even now.

Why doesn't God just like again, open up the clouds and make

himself known? Why doesn't he just appear and

get on CNN or Fox News or whatever and just say, hey, here

I am, follow me. It seems counterintuitive and

yet God knows exactly what he's doing.

Jesus said wisdom is proved right by her deeds.

Another translation says Wisdom is proved right by her children.

You may not see it quite at first, but the result in the

fruit that comes from wisdom will prove itself to be true.

Let me put it this way. Wisdom proves itself to be true

by the good fruit it produces. In time, it proves itself to be

true, but it often times takes time.

There's this moment in American history.

It's towards the end of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln is

president, and he's giving his second inaugural address, which,

by the way, is the third shortest inaugural address ever

given in history by a present. I thought that was kind of

interesting. And many of many of the people

surrounding Abraham Lincoln, you know, as the war was coming to

an end, they said that Abe should should punish the South

and punish the Confederates for their actions.

They were encouraging Abraham Lincoln to be to be almost

vengeful and strict, to come down with a heavy force to make

sure that the South was squashed.

But Abraham Lincoln took a different approach.

We have a slide next here. He took a very different

approach and instead he said this famous line.

He said with malice toward none and with charity for all rather

than vengeance, rather than malice, Abraham Lincoln chose

mercy. He chose a different route.

And what he knew, he knew that if they came down with a heavy,

heavy fist on on the South that more and more rebellions would

rise up. Likely guerrilla warfare would

start happening. Instead, he gave them a chance

to repent and come into the fold to be part of the nation once

again. By the way, side note, this was

crazy as I was reading this inaugural dress.

I encourage all of you to do it. But he says this line about the

Civil War. He says fondly do we hope

fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may be may

speedily pass away. Abraham Lincoln had a deep faith

in God and I believe that's where his wisdom came from.

And there's even this moment where where Abraham Lincoln

saying, you know, we pray for a swift end to this war.

But if it's God's will that this war should continue as judgement

against our own sins of slavery, so be it.

What there's this line where he's saying like, if it's God's

will that that that every dollar that was that was earned by by

slavery is spent for this war. If every drop of blood that was

earned on the lash of a slave gets paid back through the

sword, then so be it. Then God's has the right to

judge us. Can you imagine a leader saying

something like that today about our their own country, right?

Can you imagine a leader saying, you know, we have sinned, we

have done something wrong, and if God wants to pay us back, so

be it. That would be radical today.

And yet what we see here is we see a man who fears God first

above all things, and the wisdom to have mercy and compassion on

his enemies shines through here. And his wisdom was proved right

over time. So for us here today, how can we

gain this type of wisdom when the advice of our culture is

just to look after yourself? The advice of our culture is

just to protect your own peace, to do what you got to do.

How can we live a life of goodness and wisdom?

I want to give you really three really quick things.

First and foremost is this wisdom begins with fearing God.

Wisdom begins with fearing God. Next slide here, Proverbs 910

puts it this way. The fear of the Lord is the

beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is

understanding. If you want to be wise, start

with fearing God. This is a reverence to God.

It's a God centered life. Fearing God means that we have

an A Kingdom perspective that God is at work around us and we

live beyond just our circumstances.

I was hanging out with my discipleship band, which are

environments that are groups of two to four people that meet

weekly. And I was in my band this week

and we were just talking about where ambition comes from and

the, and the will to like work harder and the will to, to

succeed in we kind of like came to a consensus that every man

and woman, but we're men. So we said every man needs a

vision that's bigger than himself in their life.

If a man really wants to succeed in life, he needs a vision that

goes beyond just himself. So often we turn inward instead

of going outward. And so every man and woman, we

need a God centered life. We need Kingdom perspective.

And that starts with the fear of the Lord.

We need the wisdom to look beyond just ourself and our

circumstances in our life. We were created to bring order

in partnership with God to this world.

Another reason that we need to start with the fear of the Lord

is that God is a relational God, and wisdom is always

personified. It's lived out.

Scripture in Proverbs 8 personifies wisdom.

She says to you, oh people, I call out.

I raise my voice to all mankind. This is the idea that wisdom is

crying out to each and every one of us, and that we can choose to

listen to her call. In other words, wisdom is

personified. We don't gain wisdom just from

the Internet. We gain wisdom from wise

teachers, wise mentors, and wise leaders.

It's from people because wisdom is lived out.

It's not just advice of what could work.

It's it's proof of a life well lived in God's presence.

So that's number one is fear. God #2 if you want to have

wisdom in your life #2 we have to ask for it.

We have to ask for it. James 15 says if any of you

lacks wisdom, you should what? Ask God?

Everyone say ask God and when you should ask God, God gives

generously to all without finding fault and it will be

given to you. I've heard it say said elsewhere

that asking is the rule of the Kingdom, It's the rule of

prayer. All of us should ask.

And the the other reason I think asking is so important is

because asking humbles us. Asking humbles us.

Have you ever been stuck in a pickle and you really needed

help, but if you're honest, you didn't really want to ask for

help? Men in the room are like nodding

their heads, right? I had a moment like that with my

car this last week. I was like, oh, I'm stuck in a

pickle. I don't want to knock on my

neighbour's door, but I really need some help right now, OK?

And I had to. I did.

I went and asked for help and it was humbling.

I like to present like I have it all together.

I like to pretend like I can handle my things on my own

right. When we ask God, it's a, it's a,

it's a posture of humility that says, God, I cannot do it on my

own. I need your help.

And in doing so, that's a relational moment where God is

glad to come to our aid and give us a rescue.

Asking is simply saying, God, you're wise and I'm not.

You have all the answers and I don't.

You know the best way to live. And so I'm glad to come

underneath your two lids, your mentorship, your wisdom, and

your parenting #3 if you want to live a wise life, you have to

build your life on Jesus. Somebody say Amen, Amen.

You got to build your life on Jesus.

Matthew Chapter 7. Jesus concludes the Sermon on

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

the Mount by giving some of the most important words, I believe,

that have ever been spoken and ever been written.

Matthew 7, verse 24. Jesus says, Therefore everyone

Matthew 7:24

who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice,

that's the key part, puts them into practice is like a wise man

who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams

rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it

did not fall because it had its foundation on the what rock?

26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put

them into practice is like a foolish man who builds his house

on sand. The rain came down, the streams

rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it

fell with a great crash. This is a stark warning given by

Jesus at the end of the sermon. He's saying, Wisdom is building

your life on me. The illustration is

self-explanatory, but the people listening to it in the 1st

century would have understood what it meant immediately.

You see, in the Sea of Galilee archaeologists in the late 20th

century, they found that there were structures that had been

built and dug down into the deep hard basalt.

And in other words, they dug sometimes 10 feet down in order

to reach bedrock, to build their structures.

And part of the reason for this is because what would happen

around that is the alluvial sands.

They would harden under the summer sun.

And so they would pretend as if they were a firm foundation.

It almost be like concrete, the sand.

But what happened in the winter is that the Jordan River would

swell, the water would come, and underneath this hard surface,

the the sand underneath would begin to be chiseled away, swept

away through the undercurrents. And So what would happen is the

wise and foolish person who built their house on what

appeared to be safe, that person's house would come

crashing down. What Jesus is saying here, what

Jesus is saying here, he's saying my way, my commands.

They're universal. They're for all people, for all

times. Jesus is saying my way, the way

I'm living, the my commandments will stand the test of time, my

way. If you put them into practice,

they're trustworthy. You can build your life and

it'll be a life that is well lived. 1st 1st Corinthians 130

Paul says that Jesus has become for us wisdom from God.

In other words, Jesus himself is the personification of all

wisdom. Jesus is wisdom himself.

So if you want to be wise, first and foremost look to Jesus and

then build your life on him. Put into practice everything

that he has said, everything that he has said.

Why? It's because everything that

Jesus has ever taught has held up for the last 2000 years.

His words have outlasted every Kingdom.

His commands have triumphed every philosophy.

His way has transformed billions and billions of people, and his

teachings supersede any political party or policy or

whatever it may be. Jesus's commands his way are

trustworthy, and they're right. You can build your life upon

them, and you will live a life that is beautiful and is wise.

Jesus says everyone who doesn't do this, this is.

These are harsh words. Everyone who fails to build

their lives on me is foolish. Their house will be swept away.

Everyone, he says. What kind of man comes to earth

and says things like everyone who doesn't build their life on

what I've taught is foolish. He's either out of his mind as

some sort of a lunatic, some sort of narcissistic psycho,

sociopath, whatever, or he is the son of God and he is the

author of all life. But you can't have both ways.

What Jesus is saying here are it's just too radical.

In other words, we don't get to just pick and choose an A la

carte. What we take from Jesus and what

we leave behind, He's all or nothing.

Does that make sense? We can't mix the foundation with

some sand and some concrete and some stone.

No, no, no, it's all or nothing. Jesus is saying these teachings

are designed as a warning for us to choose not the foolish way of

building our life on Sam, but to choose the wise way of Jesus.

So many people in this life are trying to build a life on their

own passions and their own focus.

Look, I did the same thing. I was so close when I was

deciding what to do with my life.

I was going after what I like to do.

I was going after what I thought I would enjoy.

I was going after my own passions, my own pursuits, and

whatever. And I'm so glad that God

interrupted that process, picked me up and set me on a different

trajectory, a life built on Him. And I've never looked back.

And please hear me, I'm still trying to figure out how to do

that. Still trying to figure out how

to build my life on Jesus. But I assure you that His way is

better. His commands are trustworthy.

Build your life on Him. I see two different errors in

our culture today #1 is that people are trying to build with

no real foundation in their life.

People are trying to build a life on secularism or on

humanism. They're trying to build their

life on moral relativity. They're looking around and

they're just saying, I'm just going to kind of pick and

choose. And it's becoming more and more

clear. I think that man is the problem

to the issues that we face, but we can never be the solution on

our own. So many people are just

searching out there. They're looking for, for answers

all over. We, we recently went out to

California on Oceanside and we were just shocked by how many

different, like palm readers there were these shops that were

just dedicated to, to spirituality and being able to

know your own future and, and decide your own fate.

And I was like, how are people paying rent out here in this

real estate, right with palm reading?

Like how is that lucrative enough?

But I think it's because people are searching for answers.

They're searching for a foundation, They're searching

for what's real error #1 is that I think people are building

their life without any real foundation.

But #2 I think the other errors that people are building their

life on any foundation, what they're doing is they're

building this sort of sort of sand castle of a life, right?

The a sand castle that looks really impressive on the

outside. It may even win some Guinness

Book of World Records, right? But in a few moments, in a few

years, it'll come crashing down. So many of us are like looking

around and influencers and social media, trying to lifehack

our way into the good life, trying to pick and choose from

the different philosophies and the different religions and the

different mindsets out there. And it's an exhausting way to

live. Meanwhile, Jesus looks at us and

he says there is a better way. There is a way that leads to

life. Isaiah 30 says whether you turn

to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind

you saying this is the way, walk in it.

Jesus is speaking to every single one of us saying there is

a better way. Walk in it.

It's the way of love. It's the way of life.

It's the way of self sacrifice for the sake of your others.

It's a way of having a Kingdom minded perspective that goes so

far beyond your own life. Your life can matter for

eternity. There is a way.

Walk in it. So if I had to summarize

everything I'm saying here today, it's this.

The way of Jesus is the foolish way of wisdom.

The way of Jesus is the quote UN quote foolish way of wisdom.

It may seem counterintuitive. It may not make sense at first.

Sacrificing normally doesn't always make sense at first.

But the payoff is a life well lived.

So the next time you're in your workplace and you hear someone

say you have to advocate for yourself, look after #1 get

noticed by your boss. Pause for a second and ask

yourself, is this earthly wisdom or is this heavenly wisdom?

Am I called to just promote myself or am I called to lift

others up? As you're parenting and raising

kids and you kind of hear the advice floating around, you

don't want your kid falling behind.

You got to give them every opportunity.

Ask yourself, is this leading towards peace or is it leading

to a chaotic schedule and overhurriedness and exhaustion?

When that friend group or that person at school ask you to

share the gossip or spill the tea or whatever, right?

Ask yourself, is this wise? Is this the loving, considerate

way of Jesus and the wisdom that he offers?

All of us can live into the way of Jesus.

And so maybe for for some, practically speaking, some

practices you can put in place this week.

Maybe you want to choose to just kind of put stricter limit on

your screen time this week, maybe to reduce the echo chamber

and the amount of noise and the amount of voices speaking into

your life. And I get it when, when there's

things going on politically and globally, we want to be glued to

our phone. But maybe you just take a break

for a moment to hear the voice of God.

Maybe you choose instead to listen to a Christian audio book

or a podcast or even the Bible on your commute instead, filling

your mind with wise words, the way of Jesus instead of anything

else. Another option is to maybe

choose to do some scripture memorization.

This is a tried and true practice, basically hiding God's

word in your heart to be able to use it whenever you need.

Whatever you choose to do, choose the way of wisdom.

And if you're here today and you're like, I don't know that

I'm all that wise. I don't know that I'm the

brightest crayon in the box or the sharpest tool in the shed,

right? I don't have strong opinions on

geopolitical warfare and I don't concern myself with things that

are above my pay grade. And to you, I just want to

encourage you wherever you're at.

Proverbs 8 says you who are simple gain prudence.

You who are foolish set your hearts on wisdom.

So even if you're here today and your mind isn't all that

impressive and you don't consider yourself to be all that

wise, the invitation for you is just to to set your heart on

wisdom, to gain wisdom. Because even those who are the

simplest among us can still live a life in God's presence that is

wise and beautiful, James says. Who is wise and understanding

among you? It's the person who proves it by

their good deeds. By choosing heavenly wisdom, may

we not build our house as sand castles that look impressive

from the outside, but may we instead choose to build our

house on the firm rock and foundation of Jesus.