Proverbs | Wisdom Transforms Me (August 27th, 2017) - Mike Armstrong

Proverbs chapter three, uh, get turned there in your Bible.

Now it was at the beginning of the summer when we launched our uh Proverbs series where we introduced the topic of the summer series, right?

And and that, of course, is wisdom.

That's what the Proverbs really kind of aim at, drive at, push at constantly.

It's wisdom and how badly we need it as believers.

Now, we also defined it back in that first message early in July.

Now, I don't know if you remember it or if you jot it down here, uh, jotted it down, but here it is up on the screen.

We define wisdom not merely as as knowledge, right, but rather the the application of knowledge.

It's the application, it's it's knowledge applied.

That's really a good definition of wisdom.

But we live kind of in an age, I think, where uh Christians are often content to think of wisdom rather as a as an accumulation of facts, right?

The you know, uh knowledge of a topic, insight into a subject.

And and Christians can easily kind of fall into the trap that thinking that that that uh that means even spiritual maturity.

And what I mean by that is kind of the the attitude that we have or the thought process that we have is that the more that I know, the more mature that I am.

Okay, but according to the Proverbs, uh wisdom is uh it's so much deeper than that.

Okay, wisdom runs far more deep.

It's it's so much more than just simply you know gaining information about something and head smarts and all of that, right?

Real wisdom runs far deeper than being a Bible know it all or you know earning your Bible college degree or or something like that.

It's it's way more, right?

Wisdom actually transforms you.

Do you realize that?

Wisdom can actually transform you.

It can transform your outlook on life.

It can actually transform, you know, obviously how you make decisions and how you think and respond to various life situations as they come up.

But but here's the thing, it also, wisdom also transforms who you are as a person.

Wisdom can transform your very character.

That is, you know, that is really what the Proverbs get to here, okay?

Being truly wise turns you into a more godly person.

Right?

It turns you into a more godly person, a more, a more peaceful, a more, a more humble, uh, you know, a more secure and confident follower of Jesus Christ.

Now, hopefully, you know, you're hearing that and you're like, yeah, that's that's what I want.

Right?

I want I want more of that in my life.

I want that in my family.

I want our church to be a church that is truly wise and more like Christ and and obeying him more fully and more deeply, and all of that.

And so hopefully you're uh excited as I am about this and diving into this as we kind of conclude our series here uh this morning.

So here we go.

We're gonna read this.

This is Proverbs 3, starting in verse 21, and we're gonna read down to verse 26.

It says, My son, do not lose sight of these.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble.

If you lie down, you will not be afraid.

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Do not be afraid of sudden terror or the ruin of the wicked when it comes.

For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

God, we come before you as your bride.

We come before you as your church here this morning.

And just as we have said and cried out all summer, we need you, Lord.

We need wisdom from you.

And Lord, I hope and I trust that we understand as a church right now that, again, wisdom is so much more than just, you know, having a bunch of facts stuck in our brain.

It actually transforms our hearts.

And so, God, I pray that we would understand the transformative process that happens as we become more wise and as we really come uh become more obedient to you in all things, in all areas of life, Lord, I pray that we would surrender ourselves before you today.

Lord, I pray that we would cry out that there would be a hunger for wisdom, a hunger for Christ's likeness, Lord, a commitment to it, a yearning, a desire to go after these things, Lord.

It's really going after you.

So, God, would you do this in me?

Would you do this in our church?

Lord, we humbly cry out and pray for you to do powerful things through our time together in your word.

Lord, manifest your glory, we pray.

We pray all this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

All right, so you get in the idea here.

I want us to really think about wisdom as we get into this here as far more than, you know, now I know how to, you know, kind of make some decisions in life.

Right?

That's often how we think of it.

That's pretty surfacey.

You know, we need to we need to think about, no, like wisdom transforms me as a person and as an individual, again, down in my heart, the core of who I am.

All right, and so here's the first thing.

We've got notes uh in your bulletins.

If you grabbed one of those on your way in, we're gonna have all this up on the screen.

You can follow along and jot some stuff down.

It says this wisdom transforms me, all right?

From stressed out decision making or stressed out by decision making, okay, to joy under pressure.

To joy under pressure.

Don't you want that kind of transformation in your life?

Okay, take a look at verse 21 now.

Verse 21, as we kind of unpack this and walk through these verses, it says this, my son, do not lose sight of these.

Do not lose sight of these.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

Okay, first of all, what I think we see here, we've got to kind of look carefully at this text, but what we see here is a bit of a warning.

Right?

And this is, of course, Solomon, and he is writing to his son as he does so often through the beginning sections of Proverbs here, and and he's he's really counseling his son.

He's like, don't lose sight of wisdom and discretion.

And discretion kind of being you know, sound judgment.

He's like, he's like, don't lose sight, don't take your eyes off the prize.

Okay, don't don't do it.

Keep them close, he says.

And I think what this really shows us, if we're thinking about this here, is that is that it's really possible for for you and I and anybody to to really obtain wisdom, but then kind of have it, kind of have it slip away because we kind of get lazy and we stop pursuing it, and maybe we've let we've let sin start to creep in and we're not dealing with that properly, and maybe it becomes you know a pursuit of selfishness, and and it's really about you know me and foolishness and all of that.

I mean, if you know the story of Solomon, you know that's absolutely true for him.

Right?

He is at you know the top of the class when it comes to the Wisdom Hall of Fame.

Right?

No one was no one was sharper than this guy, no one had better insight into the Lord than this guy.

God said, You are gonna be the smartest guy ever, before you or after you.

Okay, but did did Solomon did Solomon end well?

No.

Right?

He didn't end well.

Why?

Well, it says that because he married foreign women.

Now, the problem with all of that is the Lord commanded his his people not to do that.

And the reason for that is because foreign women worship pagan gods.

They worship false gods.

And what ended up happening to Solomon is his wives that he had, okay, having multiple wives in and of itself is a problem, but that's for another day, right?

But he had, you know, the wives that he that he uh, of course, had married, he ended up following them into their idol worship and their pagan worship, and it ended up, you know, leading him astray and away uh from the Lord.

Right?

He had wisdom, he had discretion, but he didn't he didn't hang on to them, right?

He's let them slip through his through his fingers, through his grasp.

And I think this is what this is.

It's another, you know, kind of reminder for us, maybe a you know, especially for those of us who have been following the Lord for uh you know a longer period of time, and and maybe you've arrived at some in some ways and some maturity.

But I think that's what happens to some of us.

We get a little bit older and we can kind of fall into the trap of thinking, you know, I'm I'm wise now, I'm wiser than I was, so therefore I've kind of, you know, I've arrived at this place.

We talked about this earlier in the series.

And this shows us that you never you never graduate from from the school of wisdom.

There's always further to go.

I think what this also shows us is that we can also go back in the wrong direction and lose the wisdom that we were living according to uh earlier uh in life.

Okay, does uh uh being wise doesn't mean that you'll never do foolish things ever again.

Okay, wisdom is something that Christians are continually to strive towards.

It's something that Christ's followers are continually to ask the Lord for and humble themselves, you know, and cultivate in their hearts this pursuit of these things.

You know, it's very similar to the idea of of humility or or maturity.

You know, we might know people and we might look out at different people in our church or different men and women of Christ who have so blessed us and they've been, you know, they're kind of veterans of the faith, and we might say, hey, they're they're mature, they are they are humble.

Okay, but we we probably hopefully don't mean that they've they've made it, right?

They've attained it.

And you know, truly humble, mature, wise people kind of understand that.

Right?

That the the godliest people are the ones who understand, like they see their sin so clearly and they recognize, man, I have I have so much, I have so much further to go.

Right?

And and and I wish that I was more uh more humble.

I wish that I was more mature, and I wish that I was a lot wiser than I really was.

Now let's get our eyes back in the text here, look carefully and and kind of notice the transformation that takes place inside the person who hangs on to this wisdom and discretion.

Verse 22, take a look.

It says that they will be life for your soul.

Okay, love that phrase.

You should have that underlined in your Bible for sure.

It says, life for your soul and adornment for your neck, like adornment, picture kind of like you know, a woman wearing a really fancy, you know, amazing, you know, diamond-filled necklace.

It gives you a sense of, you know, a sense of gracefulness and a sense of uh of charm and all of that.

All right, now that life requires copious amounts of wisdom.

I don't think that's any surprise to us.

That's been really what we've been talking about through the entire series.

How badly we need the wisdom from the Lord, how how much we need to understand all of that.

It's been what we've been going through for for two months now.

There are just countless life situations that that you know uh decisions that you and I we need to make on a on a daily, uh weekly basis.

I mean, Ange and I, we're you know, we've had two pretty major decisions placed in front of us, like in the last week alone, just kind of pertaining to our family.

We've had to like really go to the Lord on all of this and say, Lord, we need we need wisdom in this.

And on one hand, you know, the decision seems really obvious, and and on the other hand, there's some kind of some challenges, some complications that we you know we need to consider and and handle carefully.

And and and listen, this is all of our lives, right?

I'm not unique to to any of that.

You guys know exactly what I'm talking about in kind of your own ways, in your own situations.

And here in the text, what it says is that a life marked by this wisdom and this discretion uh breathes life into your soul.

Again, I love that phrase and try to imagine kind of what that means.

Think about what life in your soul means, what it is, and and kind of what it what it experiences, uh, what it what it what it feels like.

I mean, life in your soul, I think it's talking about joy.

Right?

Joy in your soul.

It's talking about about purpose and and and and clarity and a you know, uh, a certain sense of passion and stability inside you, and you're not you're not panicking and and stressed out all of the time and and and and worked out and up and fearful and on all of that.

No, you've got a there's a there's a there's there's certainty in you and and and you trust the Lord, and there's a there's a poise that that you are marked by, and that again you feel kind of deep down in you, in your soul, kind of regardless uh of the various pressures that you may be experiencing uh in your own uh personal life.

Now, again, if we reflect kind of carefully on this verse, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to assume that that not holding on to wisdom and discretion, you know, if we were to to reject it, it leads us to to kind of experiencing the opposite of life in our souls, right?

That probably makes sense.

And so what do you think that feels like?

What's that all about?

Well, that's again, that's stress.

Right?

That's that's a that's a sense of uncertainty.

And I don't I don't know how to move forward here, and I'm not sure what the Lord would have for me, and I I don't really know what he's like, and there's that, again, there's that insecurity and that void of peace that's in you, and it's kind of all you know, kind of boiling under the surface, and and you feel you know, doubt, and you and sometimes you feel helpless or even even panic.

Again, I think a good word to kind of sum all of that up stress.

You kind of have this flow, this this undercurrent that's kind of always flowing in your conscience and in your mind and and in your soul, and you often feel it at night when you go to bed and you shut off the phone and you do all of that and you feel this kind of worked up stressfulness.

Now, again, if that's the kind of thing that's that's kind of churning in your heart, and it's churning in your soul, and that's kind of you know marking your your life these days, it might have something to do with letting wisdom slip away.

Right?

Do you think that that might be a a possibility for you?

It might be.

Maybe you've lost sight of it as as Solomon uh challenges his son not to do.

You know, maybe you've been living really unwisely lately.

Maybe you've been living in in disobedience to the Lord.

You know, maybe you were doing pretty well for for a while, but there's been this slow drift.

And if you're to look back on your life and you know, a couple of months ago, a year ago, a decade ago, you're like, man, I was just so much more, I was so much more passionate back then.

I was so much more on fire, and now you know I don't I don't seem to I don't seem to have that.

I you know, I I haven't made the Lord you know central in my life.

I'm not I'm not pursuing him like I like I should be.

I'm not prioritizing him and I've allowed other things to to come in and crowd out the Lord, and and you can really chalk that up to a lot of you know wisdom and poor choices and all of that.

But listen, when wisdom governs your life, it transforms your inner self from this stressed out, you know, anxious, worried, at times basket case, right, into this person who just feels like rock solid because I'm wise, I'm I'm I'm close to the Lord, I'm I'm I'm following him in obedience and in joy.

And and this is coming from this is coming from the heart.

It's not an external thing, but my heart is a million miles away from it.

I mean, don't you want that?

Don't you want that in your life?

Don't you want that that inner solidity deep down in your soul, that joy down there?

Okay, I really hope you do, because if you think about it, it really it really kind of boils down to this.

We really have kind of two options in front of it, uh in front of all of us.

And if I could boil it down really and make it really simple, listen, uh we can face life, all right, as a as a tightly wound, you know, ball of stress and anxiety.

Okay, that's let's call that option A.

Or, or what?

Or I can face life with joy in my soul.

Uh option B, please, right?

Is that is that hopefully you?

Right?

Is that what you want?

Are you hungry for that?

And of course, as we see in the text here, wisdom is really it's the difference maker.

It's the thing the whole thing thing hinges on, it's the deciding factor here.

So I think a good question for us to ask is okay, that's great.

I see that that's where I should be, but how do I actually get to there?

Right?

How do I get from I'm I'm kind of in option A right now, stressed up, a lot of turmoil in my soul and in my heart, to this place of of boundless joy deep in my soul.

How do I get there?

All right, well, we got a list for you here, and it's gonna be up on the screen, and you can jot these down.

How do I get from stressed out to joy under pressure, whatever that pressure might be?

Well, here's the first one, actually commit to becoming wise.

Now you might be like, well, duh, Pastor.

Like, obviously, you have to do that.

That's what we've been kind of pushing for, again, throughout the summer series here.

Hey, the reason that I say that, that we have to commit to that, is because it's very easy for us to hear sermons like this, and we read the Proverbs and we say, like, yeah, that's something I really want.

I want to be wise, and and yeah, that would be really great, and and and sign me up, and you know, there's all this desire and this good intention and all of that, but hey, listen, there's a big time difference between wanting something and actually going after it.

And so, what the difference is there is is a commitment.

We're like before the Lord, Lord, I'm gonna go after this, I'm gonna follow you, I'm gonna seek to be wise in all areas of my life as I follow you.

I wanna I wanna commit to this.

It's not just an idea that I think would be really neat if that was in my life.

No, this is my pursuit, this is my commitment in Christ by your strength, God, I'm gonna go after this.

And so that's really the challenge to us.

You need to commit to wisdom, not just kind of hope that it happens by osmosis.

You need to go for it.

There's absolutely uh a decision, an action required on your part.

Right?

So we've got to actually commit to becoming wise.

Here's the second one.

We also need to refuse to fall into old habits and to bad habits.

All right, so maybe your your bad habit is just anxiety, right?

And I and I worry a lot.

I worry a lot, and I think about, you know, I have fears.

We're gonna get into more of that here as we get going, but but I'm just this anxious person, and and and and maybe it's got you like very, very stressed, and you see that constantly, and other people see it constantly.

And maybe for you, again, it's more of this kind of subtle thing that kind of runs through your soul constantly in all other areas where on the outside you look okay, but but still you're anxious, and maybe that is your that is your kind of default position.

So, yeah, Lord, I have committed to wisdom, and I'm all I'm all excited about that, but I tend to fall into old habits real easy.

You find this this happens in your life?

It happens in mine as well.

And so there needs to be like a certain sense of like, no, refusal.

Or like, no, I'm I'm not going to be anxious.

You know, I'm gonna remember verses like 1 Peter 7 where it says, cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Just as those happen, you know, you know, hour by hour through a day, maybe even just reminding yourself of that verse.

And Lord, I can would you take these anxieties?

I can't carry them.

You don't want me to carry them, only you are strong enough too, Lord.

I want to be wise about this.

Right?

And so you see how that's a refusal to fall into those old patterns and those habits.

Maybe for you it's uh, you know, an old habit would be, you know, kind of self-assurance, right?

And I can do this apart from Christ, and you know, I know how to, you know, fix situations and do things on my own, and you know, I it's it's a self-focus, I can do this apart from Christ, then you gotta refuse to fall into that trap.

I've listed two.

There's a there's like hundreds more traps that we might fall into.

And so we look at those, we refuse to fall into uh fall back into them, commit again to following the Lord, and and repent when that sin kind of keeps coming up.

Now maybe you've kind of jumped into this one already, but here's the third one.

How do I go from stressed out to joy under pressure?

Repeat step one and two.

That's really it, that recommittal.

Because again, I said it's easy for us to commit to things, and then we leave here and we go home and we forgot all about what we were so psyched about in church just a couple of uh hours earlier.

Or maybe it lasts a few weeks or months or even years, but again, we start to drift a little bit, so you gotta recommit.

And the Christian life is all about recommitments back to the Lord in all of that, right?

We're we're we're too broken and frail, and we have a flesh, and we're we're battling the world's ideas and Satan and all of that and his forces.

You know, we're gonna slip, we're gonna fall.

We just need to understand that.

We need to we need to recommit.

And then again, refuse to fall back into the traps and repent again when you do, all right?

So there's just a couple of ways that you can move from stressed out to joyful under pressure.

All right, here's the second thing.

Okay, wisdom transforms me from fear of potential disaster to an assurance of good days ahead.

Isn't it amazing that wisdom can transform us inwardly like that?

Verse 23, take a peek.

It says this.

It says, then, okay, then after you've held on to wisdom and discretion, look what's gonna happen to you.

You will walk in your way securely.

Isn't that great?

And your foot will not stumble.

If you lie down, you will not be afraid.

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Do not be afraid of sudden terror or the ruin of the wicked when it comes.

Now, fear is uh It's an awful thing to be gripped by.

It's a terrible thing to be gripped by.

And the reality is, though, each one of us here in this room, in some way, is gripped by it.

All of us have fears.

Some of them are major.

Some of them are maybe a little bit more minor, but fear has the kind of has the power to really paralyze us for moving forward and growing and trusting the Lord.

It can cause us to be ruled by what people think about us.

Right?

There's fear involved at that the core of that.

It can cause us to make really foolish, hasty financial decisions.

In a panic at the way the economy is going.

I sell the house too quickly, or I make an investment here or there.

And I didn't really think it through it.

It's because fear is driving me in all of that.

Again, it stops us from trusting the Lord the way that we should.

It can cause our joy in Christ to evaporate to the point where we wonder if we've ever felt that joy and passion in the Lord that others seem to have and experience.

And all of it is because we are so easily dominated by fear.

And fear can rule our hearts.

Now, beyond being fearful of what kind of currently is happening in our lives and the different situations that you're actually experiencing right now, far too many people, far too many questions, uh Christians, waste way too much time, waste too much energy and thought worrying not about the situations that are happening right now, but the situations that might possibly, could, maybe, who knows, could happen in the future.

Right?

And we we we wrestle with the anxiety and the fear of of all of the what ifs.

Right?

But wisdom, listen, wisdom is rooted in a deep trust in the Lord.

Deep trust in the Lord.

We we trust him not only with the the present troubles that we're going through, but also the potential future ones.

Right?

I love how the verse here it says that the wise person is able to, is able to what?

It's able to sleep well at night.

Isn't that amazing?

They're able to sleep well.

It says, when you lie down, you will not be afraid.

When you close your eyes, your sleep will be what?

What does the verse say?

It says, sweet.

Don't you long for that?

I was thinking about that this week as I was going through this, and I was I was amazed.

Well, actually, a better word is appalled.

I was I was appalled at just how many restless nights and sometimes uh sleepless nights that I tend to have.

And and and I mean obviously sometimes that's you know that's physiological and it's because of something you ate or you're you know you're sick or you're not feeling well, but but oftentimes what I notice is because of fear.

And and I'm wrestling with you know, doubt about something that's happening or something that might happen.

I'm wrestling with how do I respond in this situation?

There's some kind of you know fear about the future, and and as I kind of think about that and I, you know, I kind of strip all of that uh away, you know, I kind of realize here that at the end of the day, the reason that I have fear and the reason that I'm not sleeping well at night is because I really, when you strip it all down, I don't trust the Lord enough.

Right?

Sure, I have a I have a head knowledge that the Lord is trustworthy, that He is able to handle my deepest, darkest fears and the stress of my life and the anxiety of all of that, but do you see how functionally I'm not actually doing it?

And there, that's really the difference there.

And that's where you see that wisdom is is rooted in in actual real trust.

I don't need to fear what's happening in my life, I don't need to fear what might happen tomorrow or or next year, because the Lord promises me that he's got it.

Right?

He's got his best plans in store for us, right?

True Christians, right, we we take God at his word.

We we study the scriptures, we sing about it, we we hear sermons, and and and true Christians are just like, you know what, Lord, I trust you, I believe you.

I'm I'm taking you at your at your word.

I believe that you are sovereign.

I I believe that you are in control of absolutely every single element of my life.

I believe that you have your best plans in store for me.

I believe that anything difficult and any kind of problems that happen in my life, I believe that you're in control of it.

And I believe that you want to work it out for good.

None of that difficulty, none of those problems are gonna be outside of his loving plan.

Do you get that?

Do you understand that?

Does your heart cling to that in moments of difficulty and strife?

Right?

Our verse here it says, take a look again.

It says, do not be afraid of sudden terror.

You do not be afraid of sudden terror or the ruin of the wicked when it comes.

Okay, first of all, this ver this verse is showing us that that that sudden terror and that ruin.

That's not even for us.

It's not even for Christians.

That's for the wicked.

That's that's for people who have, you know, who are standing there shaking their fist at God in their pride, refusing to bow their knee, bend their hearts down in submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Okay, it's not even for us.

Now, great challenges are absolutely in store for us as believers.

Okay, we're not denying that.

We're not saying, hey, you come to Jesus and everything's just gonna smooth out and there's not gonna be any problems whatsoever.

Right?

In fact, there are a lot.

And Christians can suffer greatly.

And you know, I've gone through it and and and you've gone through it as well.

In this life, we're gonna face trials.

The Lord promises that.

He doesn't try and hide it, he doesn't pretend that that doesn't happen.

If you hear that trials and difficulties don't come, okay, that's that's false.

Right?

It's false doctrine.

Right?

What it's just saying here is that that God's God's purpose is not our ruin, okay, as believers, it's not, it's not our destruction.

Um, it's actually the opposite.

Okay, meaning that when we go through the grittiest, most difficult, awful situations in life, the Lord's not putting us through all of that to destroy you.

He's not doing that to make you have sudden terror and and completely ruin your life.

He's not doing it, he's actually doing it to accomplish the opposite.

He's doing it to make you way stronger than you've ever been.

He's doing that to draw you into a more intimate relationship with him, where you know him more deeply and you love him more passionately, and you are stronger, more mature, more god, more godly, more wise than ever before.

Challenges are to make you strong, not crush you.

Okay, the the destruction, that's a freaky thing to think about, the ruin.

Okay, God says that's that's for the wicked, that's not that's not for us.

And so, wise Christians, we don't just give again that that mental assent, you know, to the fact that God is trustworthy.

Okay, it's not just like a correct answer that we can write on a test.

It's not again, it's not about being a Bible know it all or you know, or or just head knowledge.

Again, it's a heart thing.

This is absolutely a heart thing.

We functionally, practically, from the heart, lean into his trustworthiness.

We depend on it.

It's a desperation, throwing ourselves at it.

God, I can't move forward without you.

But God, I trust you in how you're working me through whatever this situation is.

Okay, it's that kind of wisdom that leads to this heart transformation, you know, where we used to fear this potential disaster that might come or the potential difficulty, which again, this verse is saying is not even for us as Christ followers.

Instead, to this deep-seated assurance.

This assurance that God is that God is for us, and that as believers, our best days are always ahead.

And so, again, as the church, as as God's bride, as Christ followers, we have to remind ourselves of that continually.

Because when we go through difficulties, what's our go-to position?

Blaming God, you know, assuming that this is gonna end horribly, assuming that life will never be good again, assuming that it's only gonna be pain, assuming that you know, we'll never see the light of day, we'll never crawl out of this pit in this hole that we're in.

I mean, that's that's that's false.

Our best days are always ahead.

Okay, but again, how do we get past our fears?

Kind of in a practical way.

Right?

Because it's easy to be like, well, yeah, I've okay, I've got some fears.

I don't, again, practically give me some give me some steps, Pastor.

Throw me a bone here, help me out.

Right, here's the first one.

You can write it down.

First of all, you need to identify what your fears are.

You need to identify what your fears are.

So many of us have fear brewing under the surface, and we've gone years and years and years with that, and we don't even really know what it is.

We haven't thought about it.

We haven't, we haven't thought down to the root of uh of what it is.

And in a stead, again, it's this churning of stress and anxiety and fear and all of it, but we haven't, we haven't really identified it.

And so you need to really identify, you know, what your fears are.

I remember as a you know, in my early 20s, I was hanging out with some longtime friends from Bible college, and we were kind of hanging out, and we were, I don't know, we got into some conversation where we were being like brutally honest with each other about kind of what we thought of the other person.

It was all in good fun, and it was all actually um very helpful because my buddy, my one friend who I've known since I was just a little wee kid, uh, he said to me, He's like, one of your issues is that you just care way too much about what people think.

And I remember thinking, like, whoa, like, really?

I've never really thought about that before.

But that was actually a turning point in my life.

And I remember sitting in this apartment with a bunch of buddies, and he and he just said that.

It was such insight and such wisdom into my life.

And as I start started to kind of think about that and and and process that, I started to realize, no, he's absolutely correct.

There is big time fear of man that has gripped my heart.

I care far too much about the opinions of others.

I'm a big time people pleaser, and it is destroying me, and it hinders my trust in the Lord.

And as it is profoundly unwise to continue to go in that direction.

And and as I've identified that, I've been able to what?

Start to work through it.

Right?

I've been able to pray and I've been able to bring this to the Lord.

I've been able to read books and kind of study and try to understand how my heart operates and begin to work through.

And it's been so amazing to see the work that the Lord has done in my heart as I grow and as I'm kind of like a recovering people pleaser, if you will, as I continue to go through that and I care much less about what people think and much more about what the Lord thinks.

Right?

But for I had to identify that fear and I didn't see it.

Okay, same thing goes for you.

You can't work through it properly if you don't really know what the core issue is in your heart.

Okay, so work through that.

That's just one example.

Identify what your fears are.

Second one.

You need to preach the gospel to yourself.

This is so key.

You've heard me say this before.

We actually got a series coming up in the fall that's going to be dedicated to this very theme.

And I'm praying that it will be transformational for all of us.

We need to preach the gospel to yourself.

Now, I I know what you're mean, what you're saying, you're thinking like you mean like in a like a symbolic, ethereal kind of way.

No, like literally, literally rehearse the gospel of Jesus Christ to yourself.

I wouldn't say it out loud though, or anything, right?

No, do it.

Like literally remind yourself, but why?

Because the because the gospel reminds you of who you were and who you now are.

Right?

I I was a sinner and that's how that's how God related to me, but through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, he now sees me as redeemed.

I am new, my my sin is not held against me.

It shows me again who I was and who I now am.

It reminds you of your identity.

That brings a certain stability inside your soul, don't you think?

It also reminds you of who your God is.

God isn't this mean, you know, force in the sky somewhere, just putting you through a cheese, the cheese grater of life, making life difficult for you all the time and difficult and hard.

No, he's not just doing that.

He's this God who loves you and cares for you, though you have rebelled, and though even in our, you know, our in our own ways we continue to rebel and have to continue to lay our hearts before the Lord and ask for repentance and all of that.

The gospel teaches you about your God.

It shows you his character, it shows you his love, it shows you his transformational power, it shows you that he is not done with you yet.

Yeah, you may have changed a lot or you may still have a lot of changing to go, but hey, listen, he promises to do it.

And ultimately, he promises to make all things new when he comes and he returns and he brings us to glory.

The gospel and preaching that to ourselves detaches that fear from our soul.

And it starts to give us that joy, and and and the fear loosens its grip on you, and you're not dominated and governed by it anymore.

Okay, so preach the gospel to yourself.

Again, we'll talk a lot about that in the fall.

Here's the third one.

Repeat one and two.

Right?

Sensing a bit of a pattern here.

I know what you're thinking.

You're like, if he has another list, I bet you that's what the third one is.

Right?

But yeah, repeat one and two.

I mean, you gotta continue to identify your fears.

You gotta continue to think through the root of all of that and what is this?

And is this a different, is this a different fear?

Is this something else that I need to kind of be aware of and understand my tendencies and all of that?

And then, of course, you need to continue to medicate, if I can use that word, medicate with the gospel.

Continue to apply that as medicine to your soul that will heal you, that will get you past your your fears and give you assurance of no, my best days are ahead, man.

The Lord is on my side.

All right, last thing.

Last thing.

Wisdom transforms me from foolish into the foolishness of trusting myself to confidence in the Lord.

Okay, this is big.

This is big.

Verse 26.

Okay, it says this for the Lord will be your confidence.

Circle that, underline it, highlight it, draw arrows, draw stars and hearts and doodlies, whatever you do, right?

That is huge.

Okay, that is huge.

For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

Now that word caught is interesting, it's actually referring to like a snare, right?

So you think about walking into a like a tiger trap or something like that.

And it's that that snare, that that trap that you kind of fall uh into there.

Okay, and so the transformation that happens as you become more wise and and and wisdom begins to be what kind of marks your your life and your heart.

What ends up happening is that you stop falling into traps, specifically the trap of trusting yourself.

Okay, do you realize that that's a trap?

Right?

That whole idea of self-confidence?

You won't fall into that trap anymore.

Why?

Because the Lord is now your confidence, He is your confidence.

Listen, again, like I said, you know, just a second ago, this is this is massive.

Because do you realize how backwards the world has this?

Like the the back the the world is is completely running in the opposite direction when it comes to the idea of confidence.

Right?

And there's just so much, there's so much talk out there about things like self-esteem.

Right?

Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-assurance, learning to love yourself more.

Right?

And as the church?

Okay, we need to recognize that for what it is.

Okay, what is that?

It's self-centeredness.

It's pride at the end of the day.

And listen, it leads to the opposite of what it promises to give you.

Right?

It leads to the opposite of all of that.

It leaves you empty, it leaves you feeling hollow, and it leaves you, listen, deeply insecure.

The self-confidence, the self-esteem movement, all of that does not deliver what it promises.

It's empty.

And listen, I I love, seriously, love and respect uh teachers.

And we have we have so many teachers, we have we have a number of teachers and and educators in our church, and I'm so grateful to you and the work that you do, you know, pouring into students and you know, of varying ages, and we've got different you know, educators, different levels and school systems, and kind of all of that in our church.

And you need to know I'm so thankful for you.

And and listen though, you need to you need to hear that I feel for you.

I feel for you in in many ways because it's it's becoming harder and harder, isn't it, to become to be uh to be a Christian teacher.

And you might be like, why?

Well, well, because the the kind of the whole thing is moved towards this self-esteem agenda.

Right?

Have you seen that?

Do you understand that?

Right, to the point, to the point where you can't even really fail students anymore in school.

Right?

You can't fail, you can't fail them.

Why?

Because you might hurt their confidence.

Right?

And so and so that's that's kind of the way it the way that it is.

And so teachers and you know, and educators and instructors and and even parents, what what do we end up doing?

And what are we encouraged to do?

We're encouraged to continually tell our kids and tell children how awesome they are over and over and over again, even if their performance or their behavior doesn't really call for that.

It's participant ribbons, even if you finish dead last.

Right?

It's no, we don't want to keep score in sports because we don't want to hurt your feelings.

Right?

And do you see how this has seeped its way into our culture and and into our psyche and you know all of that?

We don't we don't want anyone to feel bad about themselves, so keep pop, you know, pumping their tires.

You know, this is you're no, you're great.

No, you're gonna get it.

Just kind of keep moving along.

We don't wanna say anything bad, we don't want to give any constructive criticism or any of any of that, because we don't want to bruise the ego.

Do you realize where this is headed?

Can you see the future of where this is going?

What's gonna happen?

Students are gonna go out into the work world and it's gonna be an ugly reality check.

Right?

Because bosses, do they care about your lame feelings?

No, they care about the bottom line.

They care about performance.

They're not gonna give you a little pat on the back.

Get them next time, champ.

No, you're fired.

Right?

You're done.

And it is funny, but it's also incredibly sad.

Right?

And and and so so kids are growing up and and on the con on the surface they appear confident and and even to the point of arrogant, cocky, braggadocious, I'm all that.

I mean, I didn't stay up late enough to watch the the Mayweather McGregor fight.

But man, gag me with how those guys are just like, I'm the best in the world.

Really, how insecure do you have to be to continually talk about that?

Honestly.

How driven by fear of failure do you have to be?

And that's what you are when you are cocky and you seem self-confident on the surface, but under the surface, there's this there's this overwhelming void, and and and there's this presence of such deep insecurity, which what so easily leads to despair.

And and the growing use of uh of drugs and alcoholism among young people and the and the growing numbers of suicide that's happening, and some of us in this church have been marked by that.

I mean, it's proof that this whole self-esteem nonsense isn't working, it's an empty, bottomless pit, and it's garbage, and as Christians, we cannot fall into it.

And I find myself, again, I'll use the word appalled, when I hear Christians talk about, well, my kid just needs to become more selfish, you know, self-assured.

He needs to grow in his self-esteem.

Eh, wrong.

That's not what it is.

And and listen, I'm I'm not just saying this to like from my high horse up on this stage, looking down, slam the world, and we're way better, and all of that.

No, I'm doing this because we have to identify this, we have to see this, we have to understand it in our own lives, okay?

We have to understand it for our kids so we can disciple them well, so they can be ready to head out into a world that's gonna chew them up and spit them out if they don't understand these things properly, and if they don't have their confidence placed in the right place.

We need to teach our kids to think biblically about these things.

And listen, that begins with us.

It begins with us as adults and and parents, and we need to have a biblical worldview.

Listen, the text tells us here that not falling into this trap of self confidence, self esteem, selfishness, all of it happens when who is the is your confidence?

You can answer that.

The Lord.

Right?

The Lord is your confidence.

Right, the entire Bible is filled with verse after verse that's meant to make believers say, wow, Lord is big, he is amazing, he's incredible, I'm gonna follow you, nothing can touch me.

Right?

If the Lord is for me, who can be against me?

Romans 8 31.

That is designed to make your confidence be transferred from yourself to how great God is.

No one can touch me.

Satan himself can't come get me.

He's a dog on a leash, and guess who's holding that leash?

It's the Lord.

Any problems that I have is because you know the Lord allows it to happen for my sanctification and my growth.

I love this verse.

He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.

I shall not be shaken.

That's confidence in the Lord, that's Psalm 62.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord.

Jeremiah 17.

Listen, trusting yourself, it's foolish.

It's foolish.

We make mistakes, we fall short, we sin, we're not perfect, and deep down every single person understands that.

They may be largely blind to it, but deep down we kind of get it and we know it.

But when your confidence is in the Lord, that's when you become more secure inwardly.

That's when you become confident.

That's when you become, you know, at peace.

That's when you become more bold.

I'm not so sheepish and shy and terrified of the world and all the different things that can happen.

Oh, because I trust my Lord, I'm I am confident, but it's not in myself, it's in Him.

Okay, your looks, your job security or performance, your money, your health, all of those things can let you down.

All of those things can be taken away like that.

They are not worth putting your confidence and your esteem in.

It's the worst move ever.

Okay, so learn to transfer your trust from yourself and all those idols to the Lord.

He is worthy of it.

He's the only one who is big enough, great enough to handle all of that.

Self-confidence, like I said, it's a bottomless pit.

Now, again, what's the question?

How?

Right?

How do I do that?

I realize I'm not very confident in the Lord and and and I'm really insecure, and I don't want to go the whole self-esteem route.

I want to I want to have trust in the Lord.

How do I do that, Pastor?

Okay, another couple of ways.

Okay, we got something on the screen here for you.

The first one is you need to know your God.

You need to like know him.

And before I get into what it means to know him as your savior, I mean after that's happened and you've become a Christian, you need to develop that relationship with the Lord where you're growing to know him intimately.

Listen, if I'm not meaning that I'm not saying this to be harsh or anything like that, but if you're not, if you don't have a vibrant Bible intake time where you're reading it, you are studying it, you are meditating on it, you're thinking of it, you're searching it, all of that.

Listen, it means that you're not gonna know the Lord very intimately.

Because as the the more you get into the scriptures, the more that you study that, the more that you come hungry to church to worship, and and and again, it's in small group and the discipleship and all of that, the more that that happens, the more you're gonna know your God, the more you're gonna know how he thinks, the more you're gonna know how he operates, the more you're gonna be able to see when he's working in your life, the more you're not gonna be rattled when difficult things and difficult times come, the more you're gonna love him, your heart is gonna expand in such great love and joy in him.

Because you need to pursue him, you need to know your God, you need to build that relationship with him, just like you would build any kind of human relationship.

You don't just get saved and then kind of leave him on the back burner.

That's not the way it works.

You wanna have God confidence, pursue that relationship, know your God.

Here's the second one.

You gotta know your tendencies as well.

We've kind of touched on this in sort of a different angle.

Okay, but this is kind of like you need to know yourself a little bit, right?

Again, you need to know kind of your bents and your leanings, your propensities, your predispositions.

You know, you need to know the traps that you fall into.

This is really about becoming more self-aware.

I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more self-aware I become.

And I see so much clearly my weaknesses and my shortcomings and all of that.

And the more I'm like, ugh.

Right?

But the younger I was, the more blind I was to all of that.

And I didn't see it.

It's kind of like that people-pleasing story I told you about where my buddy just kind of called me on it.

I had no clue.

But for years and years and years, I was terrified of what people thought about me.

We need to become more self-aware.

Understand how your heart works, the deceitfulness of it, know your tendencies.

Number three, any guesses?

Nope.

Ha, gotcha.

Gotcha.

Just trying to make sure you're still awake here.

Invite the Lord into your mess.

Okay?

Invite the Lord into your mess.

Now, this is that's a phrase you've probably heard me say a couple of times before.

It's one that I've just been, I don't know, I've been thinking about it just a lot lately.

I don't know where I first heard it.

But invite the Lord into your mess.

Listen again, you know, you are, you know, we do have fears, and those fears don't go away overnight.

Just because you rehearse the gospel to yourself once or twice in a morning doesn't mean that you're not gonna have those fears again.

It's a slow, it's a process, right, of being sanctified and uh and all of that.

And so what you're gonna find at different times as you grow, you're gonna find the old man, the old self, rear his ugly head in your life.

And you're gonna see that anger come out.

You're gonna see that lustful heart start to go that way.

You're gonna see that that laziness that you are marked by continue to push you and that drive for just pure entertainment and and relaxation.

That's that's still gonna be there.

And what I would say is this don't despair about all that.

Just invite the Lord into it.

Just like, Lord, I know that I'm broken, I know that I don't have all of this together.

God, would you just meet me where I'm at?

Listen, this is a huge mistake if you think, well, no, I need to kind of I need to kind of fix this on my own, and then when I'm in a better place and I'm feeling better about myself or feeling like more positive, then I'll then I'll kind of pray and bring it to the Lord.

No, bring him to it when you're feeling like garbage.

That's when he begins to work.

He'll meet you in that place.

You need to be honest about that.

Need to invite the Lord into it.

Right?

He wants to heal you.

He wants to, he wants to fix what's broken.

He wants to, he wants to make you new.

He really, actually, truly wants to do that.

And he will do it.

And wisdom is giving way for him to do it.

Wisdom is awesome.

It's this incredible thing because it actually transforms me.

Do you understand that?

Do you see that as we've gone through that this summer?

Get out of your mind the idea that wisdom is simply a bunch of pro tips so that I can figure out where, you know, whether to take this job or take that job.

Right?

Wisdom is way, way more than that wisdom is is what?

Do you remember the definition we talked about at the beginning?

What is it?

Knowledge applied, right?

Applied knowledge, that's right.

And that that that alters your heart.

That alters your your very core, your very soul.

It makes you more godly, it makes you more like Jesus Christ.

Do you hunger for that?

Do you long for that?

Do you want that?

I so do.

I want that in my life so badly.

I feel like I'm more hungry for it now than ever before.

I am so hungry for that for you.

I'm so hungry for that for our church.

I want to see our church be a wise church.

I want to see our church that is a church that is more obedient and giving over, laying down our, you know, our sin and laying our hearts before the Lord.

Again, like I've said before, trusting him.

That's really what that's what wisdom is.