Godly Wisdom

Victor Wayne Fordham, Jr.

stand alone • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Numbers 13:16–33

Wisdom

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Notes

Transcript

I. Introduction

a. I want you to take your Bibles and open them, please, to Numbers chapter 13 and look up here. I want to talk to you this morning about wisdom, and I want to give you three ways that you can be a wiser person. Now I think that living life successfully depends on the amount of wisdom that you have and also the quality of your wisdom. So I want to tell you three ways that you can be a wiser person.

Now I want to remind you that wisdom is not necessarily intelligence. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of intelligent people who are not wise. Education has little to do with it....The Bible says great or powerful men are not always wise. You may have a high IQ and not be wise.

And I want to remind you also that wisdom is not common sense. There may be some similarity, but wisdom and common sense—Bible wisdom and common sense—are two separate things. Thank God for common sense, and thank God for intelligence—but they are not wisdom

So what IS wisdom...Wisdom, according to the Bible is this: (now I want you to listen closely)…wisdom is seeing life from God’s point of view. That’s what wisdom is. Wisdom is seeing life from God’s perspective—from God’s point of view. And in order to do this, you have to have the mind of Christ, for the Bible says, “God sees not as man sees.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Man sees one thing and yet God sees another. So, in order to have wisdom, you have to see things from God’s point of view.

a. Scripture: Numbers 13:16-33

And as always, I’m going to ask you to stand with me, if you are able, as we read from God’s Holy, Perfect, Sufficient and inerrant Word.<Pray>Thank you, and you may be seated.

II. Major Points

1. Wisdom Sees Problems from God’s Point of View

2. Wisdom Sees Resources from God’s Point of View

3. Wisdom Sees People from God’s Point of View

III. Point #1: Wisdom Sees Problems from God’s Point of View

Explanation

Now, if you want wisdom, take your problem and then look at your problem through God’s eyes. Look at your problem with God’s perspective.

Now, here was a king-size problem. I mean, God says, “I want you to go into this land and possess it.” And when they went into the land, they saw the enemy. And here’s what they saw about the enemy.

First of all, they saw that they were strong in number. The Bible says in verse 28 they were “very great.” That means, in plain English, there were a lot of them. They were outnumbered; the people of God were outnumbered. Not only were they strong in number; they were strong in size. Verse 28 tells us again they were the sons of Anak. Now, Anak must have been some kind of dude. I mean, he was the original Bigfoot. He had sons who were big. One of these they had already met, the king of Bashan, whose name was Og. He reportedly slept on a bed that was fourteen feet long…now that is a BIG bed....so there were a lot of the enemy out there, and they were big.

And now, not only were they great in number, not only were they great in size, but they were also great in position: they were on the mountaintop with walls around it. When you were a kid, did you ever play king of the mountain? You get somebody up on top of a pile of dirt, and the rest of the kids come and try to drag him off. Well, the guy on top is awfully hard to drag off, because to come at him, you’ve got to come uphill, and he can just keep shoving you down.

To conquer these people seemed like an absolutely IMPOSSIBLE proposition....but yet this is what God expected of them.

They had a BIG, I would say KING-sized problem, wouldn’t you say? The problem wasn’t really the problem....the problem was that they were looking at this obstacle through human eyes rather than God’s.

Illustration

Right now I want you to do something. There’s nobody here who doesn’t have a problem. If you say you don’t have a problem, I’m going to say you don’t have a mind. You’re just not thinking. Everybody here has some problems—not a problem, problems plural. But I want you to just go through the catalog of your problems, and I want you to take the biggest one—I mean the king-size problem that’s in your life, whatever it is. It may be a problem with a loved one. It may be a problem with health It may be a problem with finances. But you just take the big, big, big problem that you’ve got; then I want you to mull on it a little bit, and I want you to think of the very worst things that can happen to you as a result of that problem; or if that problem takes the worst turn it can take, I want you to conceptualize that in your mind. All right, take your problem now and just let it run on out until it gets worse. All right, just dwell on it; just think how bad it can get. All right now, have you got that problem fixed in your mind? All right now, does it seem real big to you? It does? Okay now, I want to ask you a question. Do you think it is big to God? Think about it. Think about it. From God’s point of view, as God looks at that thing that is so big to you, I ask you, is that problem big to God? If it is, I want to tell you, your problem is not that your problem is too big, but your God is too small.

Application

Now I want you to see the difference between these guys we’ve just read about and Caleb. Notice here in chapter 14 and verse 6: “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:”—that is, they are so disgusted with these people they just simply tear their clothing—“and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.” Now, listen closely: “If the LORD delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread …”—they’re bread…they’re food…that is, they are there for the taking and easily devoured by you; in other words: “this is going to be a piece of cake!”: that’s what he is saying—“for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.” (Numbers 14:6–9)

Now, what was the difference between ten men and two men? Ten men that day—ten grasshopper-sizeed spies—saw through human eyes, and two men saw through AGod’s eyes. Ten saw on a human plane; two saw from God’s perspective. Wisdom is seeing life from God’s perspective. Ten looked at those giants and said, “Look how much bigger they are than we are!” Two looked at those giants and said, “Look how much smaller they are than God is!” You see, it’s a matter of perspective.

Friends, if you want to have wisdom, see your big problems through the eyes of a big God....and that is in rememebring this: that no matter how big your problems are, God is BIGGER.

IV. Point #2: Wisdom Sees Resources from God’s Point of View

Explanation

The next thing we need to know is that we need to seek to see our resources from God’s perspective.

Now our resources consist of many things....they could be our money and finances…our talents....but I think probably the most important one is our time, wouldn’t you agree? Time, it is said, is the only thing that you cannot recover at all once it is spent....all of our resources in this life are blessings from God....but I would especially say that time is a very special gift from the Lord.

Illustration

I want you to do another exercise with me this morning. I asked you to think of the biggest problem you could think of, and then I asked you to see if it is big in God’s eyes. Right now, I want you to think for just a moment of the most important thing to you at this moment. What is the most important thing to you at this moment—right now, the number one thing on your agenda, the most important? Okay, have you got it in your mind? All right now, I want to ask you a question. A hundred million years from now, will it be important? One hundred million years from now, that thing that is the most important thing to you, will it be important a hundred million years from now?

Application

Now, you see, wisdom is seeing not what is important now but what is important from God’s perspective. And God deals not in time, but God deals in eternity.

You see God could have decreed ANY time for the Hebrew people to take this land that He had promised them....any time at all…but He decreed THIS time....with THESE circumstances and with His people having THESE resources....and it may have seemed to be a less than opportune moment, but when it comes to God’s Will, whatever time He decrees IS the best moment...

So whatever you are dealing with this morning, remember that, not only is God bigger than your problem, remember that He has equipped you properly to go through whatever you may encounter....

I used to hear this older fellow at my old church say “The Lord won’t give you more than you can handle”....and I just don’t agree with that statement....In my life, I have very often found that I can’t handle the struggles of life....but HE can. I prefer this saying: “If the Lord brings you to it, HE will bring you through it.” Do you see the difference, friends? In one case, it is all about me and my abilities....in the other case, it is all about Him and His....and if we can view these things through God’s perspective we will do several things:

i. We will recognize that our resources are blessings…and therefore be grateful.

ii. We will realize that our resources are meant to be used for His glory....our time is one of special importance....you show me a man’s schedule an I’ll show you his heart....show me a man’s checkbook and Ill show you what he really cares about....

iii. We will serve the Lord with gladness…We are His workers…and if He didn’t intend for his workers to work, He wouldn’t have given them tools, amen? We were meant to serve....

And when you view the world through the eyes of the Lord, you will understand that you are only here for a short time....and you are given resources, not just to live your life....but to serve the Lord during your life. A wise person uses their resources and especially their time to serve the Lord.

V. Point #3: Wisdom Sees People from God’s Point of View

Explanation

People are awfully complicated aren’t they? Some people are perfectly pleasant to be around....some are OK most of the times....some people just don’t jive with our personality and we can’t stand to be aorund them at all…it’s perfectly normal. But no matter how we feel about individual people, a wise man sees people from God’s point of view.

And the fact is, in the story we read this morning, the Jews saw themselves as ill-equipped to do the job at hand…they saw themselves as small, pint-sized, and unworthy and their enemies as greater, bigger, and tougher than them.....

And often, we size each other up in life based solely on what we see in front of our faces....we see ourselves as unable to do what God has called us to....maybe He’s called you to do some kind of ministry…but you don’t think you can handle it....that’s seeing people through man’s eyes...

And often times our lack of faith in God and our inability to see people, even ourselves, from His perspective leads us to be very cynical…it leads us to be overly negative and critical…isn’t that true? Negativity is not only bad policy…it’s detrimental to the health of a church.

Illustration

You know.....we deal with all kinds of people in life don’t we? We will never do what God calls us to do if we have a negative congregation. I heard about a fellow who had a barber who was very, very negative. And he was a Roman Catholic, and he told his barber, “I’m going to Rome.” Barber said, “Don’t go to Rome. That’s a bad city, full of pickpockets this time of the year; it’s just got a bad odor.” The barber said, “How do you intend to fly over there?” He said, “We’re going over on TWA.” He said, “Worst airline in the world. They won’t give you the right food. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get hijacked; and I’ll guarantee you they’ll lose your luggage, and they will be late. They’ll leave late; they’ll get there late.” He said, “What do you want to do?” He said, “Well, I hope to see the pope.” He said, “You’ve got to be kidding! There will be 150,000 people out there. You won’t even be able to tell who he is.” He said, “Well, you know, I’m going anyway.”

So he went and he came back. And the barber the next time said, “Well, how was your trip?” He said, “It was fantastic! Man, we flew on TWA: left on time; the food—filet mignon and lobster-tail. They treated me like I was a king. My luggage was there. It was wonderful.” He said, “We found a beautiful villa to stay in, just paid peanuts for it. It was wonderful. The city was full of flowers, beautiful.” The barber said, “Yeah, but you didn’t get to see the pope.” He said, “Well, let me tell you what happened. I was standing there, and a guy came and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Come with me.’ We went up five floors. I went into an apartment: there was the pope himself! He welcomed me in. He wanted to talk with me. I couldn’t figure it out. I said, ‘Well, out of all those people, how did you pick me out?’ The pope said, ‘I felt sorry for you: that’s the worst-looking haircut I’ve ever seen in my life.’ ”

Application

When we view people, even ourselves, we have to be encouraging and loving. When we are negative, we hurt the health of the church. That’s not how God sees us....He calls us to do good work…and He won’t call us to do anything He isn’t prepared to get us through....

And we need to see others in a loving way too....we need to se ethem how God sees them: sinners, created in the image if God who desperately need His grace and forgiveness, just as we were....

It is wise to see people through the same eyes God does...

We will treat people a lot better that way.

VI. Conclusion

a. Let me ask you this morning, are you living a life of wisdom? Are you viewing your problems, resources, circumstances, and people through God’s eyes?....from His perspective? THAT is the key to wisdom....approach life with wisdom this week....