The Nobility of the GREATER Path of Wisdom
“GREATER PATHS” Session 6: Explore the Bible Quarterly
Proverbs 8:6-21;9:1-6, 13-18/Eph 1:16-23;3:10-21
Alexander the Great conquered the known Western World and developed our early concepts of Western Civilization and with Aristotle’s help gave us the Koine Greek language that the original New Testament Manuscripts are written in. The story is told that at The Battle of Gaugamela in which Alexander won his greatest victory over Darius III and the Persian Empire that a Greek Sergeant brought a young soldier before the entrance of Alexander’s tent to be judged for cowardice in battle. Alexander asked the young man: “What’s your name son?” “Alexander” he replied. “Say it again son; what’s your name?!!” “Alexander, my liege.” “Then ALEXANDER; change your actions or change your name!!!”
There is nothing more valuable to us as believers’ than the Noble Name of Jesus. The question is how is the nobility of our name under His noted and displayed by our attitudes and actions? Are we displaying the greatness and worth of Jesus’ name? We live in a world in which nobleness as a character trait is in short supply. Our session begins in 8:6 where Solomon says: “Listen, for I speak of noble things, and what my lips say is right.” The “noble things” Solomon is speaking of are the noble ways of God that we as His subjects and followers are to emulate. Nobleness is one of those GREATER PATHS of wisdom we are discussing this quarter… So what exactly does it mean to be “noble”? Merriam Webster defines noble as “possessing outstanding qualities, of high birth or exalted- greater rank, and/or possessing very high, excellent qualities; possessing superiority of mind, character, ideals, and lofty morals.” Our passage shows us today that by living possessing and emulating a biblically “noble” lifestyle we illustrate the value of wisdom, the power of wisdom, and that heavenly Wisdom is only obtainable through faith and trust in God. Let’s look at these three main points briefly: the value of Wisdom, the power of Wisdom, and the attainability of it…
8:6-11 tells us that Wisdom is valuable because it is of “noble birth” it comes from God and displays His righteousness by His WORD rightly applied and lived here on earth. Verse 7 tells us that “Wisdom speaks Truth.” Have you ever thought of that? We as believers know the TRUTH of God’s WORD, we believe that God’s WORD is infallible, but we often have a lot of trouble applying it well and living it out skillfully on the other side of the Bible- in the fallen world in which we live. Our lives, our character, and our actions seem just as impoverished as those who do not know the TRUTH of God’s WORD. Why is that? I think a lot of it comes from our obsessive and selfish understanding of our “freedom” in Christ. We think we have been unshackled to live any way we want, but in actuality Solomon is telling us both the horror and hellishness of what we have been unshackled from and the preciousness of what we have been given: the very righteousness of God that is more “precious than rubies. (See Chapter 9)”
If I gave you a bottle of Tylenol for a horrible headache and the life-threatening extreme difficulty of breathing you were experiencing from COVID-19 you would treat that bottle with disdain, but what if I gave you a syringe filled with a cure and vaccine for COVID-19? How differently would you treat that syringe over how you treated the Tylenol? We treat God’s heavenly Wisdom like Tylenol instead of the life giving vaccine, precious and eternal treasure that it is mainly because we are either ignorant of God’s WORD or we are too afraid to step out in humility, faithful obedience and apply it to our troubled lives. Is our fear justified? No (God is with us). Is the fear real? Yes. Applying Godly Wisdom to our lives takes time- it is costly (God’s free gift of Salvation will purify you of everything you once were to cost you everything you now have to become everything God has in store for you to be! Ask the Disciples turned Apostles) and there is no “quick fix.” We will make mistakes, we will misjudge, we will fail, and we might even suffer, but in the end: the book of James tells us we will reap a harvest of righteousness (James 3:17-18) so don’t give up! Solomon and Paul in Ephesians is telling us that eternally valuable things like the Wisdom of God are costly (it takes effort to seek God- Mt 6:33-7:8), but the end benefit is GREATER and leads us down GREATER PATHS than we could ever possibly imagine!!
Secondly (v.12-16) Wisdom is powerful and can set the course of one’s life towards eternal blessing. How does God’s Wisdom pursued in our lives do this? Solomon tells us that the power of Wisdom works in the transformative power and plan of God for those who love Him and desire His Kingdom and righteousness. Paul backs this up in the New Testament with Romans 8:28 and 12:2. We as believers have been called according to His purpose and God’s purpose for us according to scripture is one of eternal blessing and life with Him- that’s why “all things” work together towards good for us because they are backed not by our own half-baked plans and weak determinations but by the power, providence, and understanding of our loving Almighty God at work in our lives, and His unstoppable plan! Solomon is admonishing his listeners not to “distance” themselves from God’s plan for their life… Their only acceptable response is to “fear God” meaning seek, trust and obey (I think there is a hymn in that somewhere- Trust and Obey).
Finally there is the “attainability” of Wisdom (v.17-21). When I was in College at Baylor a few of my professors the “Grey Beards” spoke about Wisdom like it was some kind of mystic secret experience that was only for the “worthy” and the “Star Chamber” approved! Solomon however, tells us that God doesn’t try to keep His Wisdom a secret or for a select few. His Wisdom and His Kingdom is open to anyone who seeks it. So what are the requirements to obtain God’s Wisdom? We must “fear” God and trust Him and we must realize that we can’t obtain God’s Wisdom just like we can’t obtain salvation through our own efforts… God freely gives us His Wisdom when we ask Him. Yet to grow in Godly Wisdom we must look in the right place, trust in the right things and people, and follow through by acting on what we have learned and heard (see Mt 7). Without God, without desiring what He desires, and without listening to Him we won’t grow in Wisdom. However, if we do trust, listen and obey God fully relying upon Him we will grow in His Wisdom! That is a promise that undergirds the principles of Wisdom’s earthly blessings.
Ryan Leak, in his book Chasing Failure tells the story of his pursuit to “go pro” and become a guard for the Phoenix Suns. Ryan worked very hard, was very talented, and gave full effort but it wasn’t enough! The last test for his tryout was to do as many full court sprints touching each base line as he ran in 5 minutes. A professional guard for an NBA team should be able to do 30 down and back sprints with 60 touches at the baseline in less than 5 minutes. Mr. Leak said: “2 ½ minutes into the test I could no longer feel my legs and at 4 minutes I collapsed! Leak failed spectacularly! Yet the other players gave him a standing ovation as he left the court; why? Because he lived out his dream and was on the court where he thought he would never be! The whole point of Ryan’s book is not that he was working hard to succeed by his own efforts and failing, but that He was actually “chasing failure” in his physical efforts as he spiritually trusted and put his faith in God to end up seeing God’s victory, and God’s work, as Ryan stepped out in faith and allowed God to do a transformative work in his life towards “greater things!” If Ryan could get on the team by his own efforts and talent what need would he have of God? But if in His weakness He trusted God to do a mighty work in spite of risk and failure He would see greater things- God’s vision, God’s plan, God’s desires and God’s eternal work in his life. God’s Wisdom is that way in our lives. People don’t look at us and say: “Look how wise they are!” Instead they say: “Where did THAT come from? How can I have wisdom like that?” And hearts are opened to the Gospel. So how will we respond to Solomon’s admonition’s and Paul’s prayers for us today? Will we seek God and His Kingdom? Will we spiritually comprehend the value, power and attainability of what God has in store for us or will we embrace our own folly through idols and self(ish)-reliance? The choice is ours, may we choose wisely: please God and show His power at work in our lives! Please know I am praying for all of you and pray that we will be together soon. Keep the faith and call me if you want to talk or pray! Matt’s Devotion is listed below for you! Love in Christ, Darrin. dray@wyliebaptist.org.
Isolation to Intimacy Daniel:
Daniel 6 Written by Matthew Waldraff
Similar to the experience of King David, Daniel's life is full of valleys and seasons of isolation. Yet, he is depicted throughout the book of Daniel as someone whose relationship with God formed the foundation for his courage and ability to overcome obstacles. Daniel knew the pain and struggles of isolation as he was exiled to Babylon away from his family and faith community. In the sixth chapter of Daniel we find that a new king, Darius, has taken over the kingdom of Babylon and later institutes a ruling that bans praying to anyone but the king with the penalty of being tossed into the lion's den. At this point in the story we see that Daniel's response to this troublesome law is to continue in obedience to God, praying three times a day and giving thanks before God "as he had done previously" (Daniel 6:10). No amount of isolation or fear could tear Daniel away from communicating with God as he had done throughout his life. Yet, we see that Daniel's difficult situation and feeling of isolation was not immediately taken away. In fact, his situation worsens as he is thrown into the lion's den for violating the king's command. Daniel's close relationship with God that developed through his prayer life serves as his source of trust to endure the true fear and isolation in the lion's den, ultimately seeing him through the situation. Daniel 6 is a reminder that our times of isolation and difficulty pale in comparison to the trust in God that we develop through our daily prayer life. May we daily cry out to God with thanksgiving, echoing the praise of King Darius to the God who "delivers and rescues; He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions" (Daniel 6:27).
Pray for Matt and Amanda as they serve.