You Are So Wise

Download Audio

A sermon by Adam Barcott

January 05, 2020

God, thanks so much for meeting with us. Thank you for hearing our prayers, not just our requests, but you hear our hearts. You know what we need before we even do and we’re thankful to you for that. We pray you bless this time that we’ve set apart to worship you. We ask that you would be blessed and pleased by it and you would give us your peace and your grace in Jesus’ name. Amen.

You may be seated and as we take a moment to anchor ourselves in the forgiveness and love of God. I’ll give us a second. I like that for 2020. I like taking a second to deal with all the anxiety with all the fear, with all the places you’ve let yourself down or you’ve let God down, ask for forgiveness. And then we’ll confess together and receive that forgiveness and then move forward into gathering around his word. So let me take a moment. Lord, would you calm our hearts? We ask, Holy spirit would cut from us with the sword of the spirit. All accusations that we might carry against ourself that rightly are carried by others against us or that you carry against us and calm our minds and whatever those are, Lord, we want to take a second to just name them and not pretend like they’re not there and give them to you.

Lord, we give you these things and we trust that you replace our fear with faith unto life. And so, this enables us to read together the prayer of corporate confession, we’ll do it as a group on page D saying.

“most merciful God, we confess that we are nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you and thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole hearts. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment for the sake of your son Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your Holy name. Amen. And then almighty God in his mercy has given his son to die for you and for his sake, forgives all your sins. And as a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit. Lord bless us now as we read your word, guide us by your Holy spirit as you’re forgiven and loved children. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

So our first passage will be in 1 Kings 3:4-15. It’s found on page 161. Giving everybody a chance to find it.

I want to begin the year by doing a little bit of old Testament readings to familiarize ourselves with the story of our God and our people. Or course we will weave it into the new Testament too. It’s pretty exciting, I think. So chapter three, verse four, the reading of God’s word.

1 Kings 3:4-154 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” 6 And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. 7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” 10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. 13 I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. 14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 15 And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Thanks be to God for his word.

Now for our New Testament reading found in Luke 2:40-52. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. The Boy Jesus in the Temple 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents[a] saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[b] 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature[c] and in favor with God and man.

Did you catch how these two are similar? If you’ve found a word that was similar, raise your hand and then let me ask you for the answer.

[inaudible]

yeah, I do like you better than everyone else here. That’s a fact. Wisdom? I know It’s hard the first time you hear Bible stories, you know, you, you start strong and then it kinda, it’s hard to focus. So that’s just our human weakness. That’s why I’m here. Wisdom. So we had the story of Solomon asking for wisdom and then you have the story of Jesus. It’s, purposely here, at this time of the year, because we just had Christmas, baby Jesus. And then we’re going to start with the 30 year old savior Jesus. And there’s one story of boy Jesus, and this is the story where they go to the Passover, his parents and all the family leave, but Jesus is still sitting in the temple and they are three days out. They’re like, where’s Jesus? They go back and they yell at Jesus, what are you doing? Why would you do this? And Jesus says, didn’t you know, I’d be in my father’s house. And he grew in wisdom and stature and he had all this wisdom to the rabbis and they were asking him questions. So we’re talking about wisdom and here’s the idea for today. How many of you feel really wise? Anybody feel wise?

Shoot, I was hoping someone would say yes and I’m like, you fool. So you were wise to not answer you’re wise to lie. So what makes you wise? That’s the idea. First of all, let’s just define wisdom. It’s helpful because in our culture and a lot of cultures we have this weird idea that, if there’s a problem, all we need to do is apply knowledge to it. We need education. Education solves the problems, yet we’re very educated. We have phones with all the information in the world, in our pockets. Yet it seems like there’s just as many if not more problems than ever. So apparently education isn’t always the answer. But Adam… Education is important. Of course it’s important, but education is knowledge. It gives you knowledge, but it’s what you do with that knowledge that becomes wisdom. So wisdom is the application of knowledge.

So you feel wise when you get some knowledge and then you use it and you’re like, Oh that’s good! So for instance, I rode the motorcycle over to my inlaws several months ago and you have to show an ID to get into their, compound… The gated community. And when you’re on a motorcycle you have to stop the motorcycle and get out your wallet and have gloves on and all these things. So I took that knowledge the next time and I had my license already in a pocket. So when I rolled up I was just able to go like this and I felt so proud of myself as I cruise through the gates. That my friends is wisdom. So if it was your first time with me on the back, you’re like wow, how did you know to do that? You’re so wise. And I’m like, I know cause I applied knowledge. And so that is wisdom. Wisdom is when someone has experienced something, they know what’s going to happen and then they do it, so wise. So now knowing that, how many of you feel wise? I know, isn’t it interesting because we have a hard time as humans applying, we have a hard time doing what we know. That’s part of the brokenness of our hearts as we know what’s right and we have a hard time doing it. And so we struggle with wisdom. But today I want to tell you, you’re actually very wise.

That’s the good news. You are wise in Christ.

But now I have to spend the rest of the time proving that to you to help you understand that you actually are wise and showing us walking through how we can move forward in wisdom.

So how many of you have new year’s resolutions? This is a good place to practice wisdom. I used to be against resolutions like, Oh, they always make you feel bad. But now I’m thinking, no, they’re good. It’s a chance to move forward into something. So you’re going to resolve. And what does a new year’s resolution need?

It needs wisdom, right? [inaudible]

Because you’re trying to apply, I want to lose weight. So what does that mean? I have to apply. We have all the knowledge, I can type in how to lose weight and there’s all sorts of plans, but I have to apply one of those plans and that’s where the wisdom would come through. And that requires patience and hope and discipline and daily doing little things. And so I want to restore your hope to do some of these things today, because wisdom is a gift from God. And wisdom is all the things of God. He’s given you Christ so that you can move into anything.

But how do we do that? And that’s where we look at Solomon. Solomon is very awesome because Solomon asks for it. God says, what do you want for the sake of your dad, David, I am asking you, Solomon, what do you want? Which reminds me of the new year. What do you want? What do you want this year? And Solomon gives the wisest answer, which is, I need wisdom. Why do you need wisdom? Because I don’t know how to handle all the good things you’ve already given to me. And God is pleased with that. So it begins. Wisdom begins. There’s a great Psalm. Does anyone remember the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So when you are moving into someting, Lord, I need wisdom. I need wisdom for every little thing in my life. The first place you began is the fear of the Lord and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

We’ve tried to work through that like, well, we don’t want to be scared of God. And what does fear mean? And fear just means respect. But let me break it to you. Fears is, yeah, there’s a healthy amount of fear. That’s the beginning of wisdom. So if you have a healthy fear of speaking in public, that’s healthy. You don’t want to just stand up and speak in public. You’re scared of that because you know you will be judged. Right? That’s fear. Is that good or bad? Just is. You’re scared of what people think. You’re scared about your job, you’re scared about the ramifications of what you say, there’s fear. And what does that fear produce? What does a fear usually produce?

Yes.

Wisdom? Because you’re taking some knowledge. I don’t want to lose my job and now I have wisdom, so I’m going to put on whatever suit they tell me to. That’s wise. If you want to keep the job right, if you want to keep the job, you applied the knowledge. If I don’t get there at seven I get there at seven 30 I lose the job. So you get there at seven because you’re scared. That’s good. That’s wise. If you want to keep the job and when you’re approaching God, the place to begin is God you have everything. There’s humility and recognizing I’m kind of scared… I’m a little bit scared of you, but I’m scared of the future. I’m scared of things I can’t control. And so Solomon says, you’ve given me every good thing and so I’m just asking for you to help me with all this.

And what you find out is, if you ask for riches and give me wealth, God says, well, I don’t know if you’ll know how to handle it. Like I’m not giving you all these things cause I don’t know if you can handle it. I don’t want to give you too much. And so Solomon asks, well, give me wisdom to handle what you have given me. So it begins with humility. I can’t even handle the good things you’ve given me, Lord. And then in our passage in Kings, it says, God was pleased with that answer. He’s like, I like that you want wisdom. And God says, I’m pleased with that. And then what happens? I’ll give you everything. I’ll give it all to you, Solomon. You get all the wisdom, people from all over the world will marvel. No one will be wiser than you.

You’ll be rich, you’ll live long, you’ll defeat your enemies. And in fact, Israel was the predominant world power during the reign of Solomon. So as a kid hearing this story, I’m like, Oh, ask for wisdom and I can get rich kind of worked. I’m joking. I don’t know. I just remember as a kid thinking, okay, it’s a game, but it’s actually a good place to start. Even if you’re trying to play a game, say, Lord, give me wisdom to handle what little bit I have. And he says, I will. But if you follow the Solomon’s life, what do you realize? The wisest man on earth, what’s the one thing he couldn’t figure out?

Women, Solomon, the wisest man on the earth couldn’t figure out women could he? In fact, he had a wife for every day of the year for about three years, and all those wives led him into doing the thing, breaking the one thing in wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord. And he starts worshiping all their gods. He loses his humility and says, Oh, I’m starting to look to other things. That’s the problem with the women from the other religions, and he ends up kind of a tragic figure in the end, there’s a lot of tragedy for Solomon at the end. So a guy who had wisdom was gifted by God. He loses it. So now how do we feel about how are you going to do with the wisdom God gives you? Do you think you’re going to be better than Solomon? It’s scary. You’re like, yeah, if Solomon couldn’t do it, how am I going to do it? And this is where the good news is. You have boy Jesus who comes through.

You don’t call him boy Jesus. It’s only once a, once a year you get to call him boy Jesus. It’s when you’re doing Luke chapter two, but you have Solomon, the wisest guy ever to walk. Can’t keep it up. So when you’re looking for wisdom, you search, you look to God, you humble yourself, you find him there where he’s going to be. You’re so excited and you get some wisdom. But then the next thing that happens is, what if I lose it? What if I was wise on how we did this one decision with our kids or in my relationship or at my job, but now I have to be wise every day? What if I lose it? Solomon lost it, and that’s where Jesus comes along, the wisdom of God. Jesus is the wisdom of God made flesh, and so even as a child, 12 years old, he knows where you get wisdom.

He’s like, I’m going to be found in my father’s house. We find wisdom at the place where God says he’s going to be in his word, his sacrament, his son, Jesus Christ is our wisdom. Then you see Jesus all the way fearing God, loving God, trusting God. Even when his parents are like, you’re a bad boy. Jesus, you’re bad. You left us. And he says, well, you knew I’d be in my father’s house and in the father’s house. He’s answering with wisdom and asking questions to these rabbis. This is where he knows God is and he’s better than Solomon because as life gets harder and harder for Jesus and he’s eventually betrayed by his friends and put on a cross, he doesn’t bail on the idea. He fears God. He loves God. He trusts God all the way to the end. It’s like, Oh, thank God he’s better than Solomon.

This is who Jesus is, the wisdom and the wisdom is the plan putting into action the knowledge, and so Jesus is the plan. He’s the knowledge. He’s the doing of the plan of God to save us. He is the wisdom of God and then a Ephesians. This is the passage I wanted to read in Ephesians chapter one it’s talking about the Holy spirit has now been gifted to us. The Holy spirit. We are sealed with this wisdom. This wisdom of God is guaranteed us. It’s our guaranteed inheritance. So this is why I can say if you’re trusting in Christ today, you are wise. You may not feel wise. A lot feels out of control. You don’t know the future. You don’t know. You’re not doing everything right. But the Holy spirit is applying the wisdom of God Christ to you so that your wisdom is Christ.

And in that, in Christ you repent and you say, Lord, I, I fear you. I need your help. I’m trusting in my own trust. I’m trusting in all these things to do, right? And to try to manipulate and get it right, but I just, I’m scared. Help me. That’s the repentance. But then your heart gets really worried. What am I doing? How am I planning out my life? I’ve gotta be wise. The gospel comes to you and says, Hey, give me your heart. Let me calm you down. Christ is your wisdom. He never ends. He never stops being wise. And he’s for you and you are in him. So in Ephesians, just look for this phrase in him as I read this, Ephesians chapter one, we’ll go verse three through 14 see how how many times I say in him. Okay.

[inaudible]

Ephesians 1:3-143 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

How many times did you hear in him? Six. Seven and there’s probably more cause it’s in Christ in him.

10 okay, good job. Yes.

that passage. Isn’t it interesting when you read it through that it’s in him, in him. He is your wisdom. Our wisdom comes in Christ. He is the one who was known from the foundation of the world and we are in him. He is the one who secured everything from the beginning of time. Now he is the one who has the plan. He is the one who is the plan. He is wisdom that will never end and you are found in him,

so it’s faith in Christ. Now you’ve walked into being this plan that’s been set forever and ever. We read these passages and try to figure out predestination and free will…did God choose us, did God know me before the foundation of world did he say, is he not saving others…. Wrong! It’s all about in him. From the foundation of the world. God knew my son will save the world. All who believe in him. Will then inherent his position as the one who’s been known from the beginning and who will endure to the end. You can get that in him. It’s sealed and guaranteed on you by the Holy spirit. The Holy spirit is the breath, the wisdom of God who’s working out his plan and patience and hope and discipline. His new millennial resolution is for you to be in him and how does he do it? Well, one way we know is at baptism. He seals you. He says, I will seal you and Mark you. You will receive my Holy spirit.

Ah, it takes a lot of pressure off [inaudible]

so you’re wise because you’re in Christ. So the wisest thing can do today and for the new year is repent, repent and believe. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, do not succumb to the temptation to then go, how do I dig myself out of this hole? What do I need to do? Lord, what do I need to do instead? Just go, Lord, I’m powerless. He’s pleased with that. And you can do it. Then receive his wisdom, which is, I know you’re weak. I know there’s things that are out of your control and I’m paying for it. I’m taking care of you. I will carry you through to the end.

Rest in that and then do the things that are in front of you. See, this allows us to go to work, doing your best to figure out all the puzzles. Try your best to love all 900 wives or whatever it is. That’s the reference to first Kings to Solomon. But you do your best to love the Lord because you have his wisdom because Christ is with you. Christ is in you and you access it through repentance and trusting him. And so we trust in the seal that’s been put on us. We trust in the guarantee that it’s all gonna work out. And every time you’re able to go, Lord, forgive me, help me, you’re wise, you are as wise as you can be. Do you believe it?

Good.

Dear heavenly father, I pray that you would restore our hope for whatever we’re scared to go into this year. Or we’re doubting we can accomplish. We ask for your wisdom and your patience and your love in your son Jesus Christ. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. So let’s stand and say the Apostle’s creed together, where we confess what it is We believe. It’s the wisest thing you can do right now.

So Christian, what is it you believe? I believe in God, the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day, he Rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and it sits at the right hand of God, the father almighty. From there, he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. You be seated.

Then we have a time to say thanks for all that God has given to us as we pass around the offering plates. A chance for you just to say thanks, Lord, for everything you’ve given us. And, uh, as it’s going around, I want to pray and thank, I want to thank God for a couple of things also, um, during the Lord’s supper or this time, put up prayer requests. We continue to, to pray for those. And I just need to thank God for another week of thanking God for Matt and Christina’s pregnancy and continue to pray for health. And then I got to thank God for the weather this last week, half the people are out camping and that was a miracle that it didn’t rain around us at all, like silly. So I got, I’m obligated to say thank you to God in the house and the Lord.

Let’s pray. God, thank you for every good and perfect gift you’ve given us. We humble ourselves and recognize everything we have is a gift from the God who created us and loves us even in our sin even before we’ve done anything good. You say you are my child with whom I’m well pleased. Thank you. And we give you praise for Matt and Christina’s prayer being answered and all of our prayers being answered and we pray together. We thank you and we pray for continued health and development, safety for Christina and the baby. And then Lord, I thank you for moving the rain and hearing our prayer the last two days and allowing us to have a wonderful time out there camping. And I pray that you’d bless the worship service that’s going on out there right now, uh, through Matt. But we give you thanks for everything we have and we ask for more. Continue to bless us and lead us and make your presence known among us as we offer ourselves to you and trust in your son Jesus Christ. Amen. And then, um, as we prepare for the Lord’s supper, we remember that Jesus, he says, I want you to remember what’s going on every week as often as you get together as often as you can. I want you to know the reality of Christianity is physical and spiritual.

It’s a faith and it’s redeeming our humanity. It’s not separate. It’s not all spirit. It’s, it’s Jesus Christ who is all God and all man. And I want you to remember that you are forgiven and I want you to touch something and taste something. And and so he set up this meal and he says, the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread of the Passover and says, I’m going to die for you. The wisdom of God says a man human will die for human, for all humanity. And so he broke the bread. He says, this is my body given for you. Take and eat of it. And in the same way he takes the cup and he says, this is my blood. I’m restoring your DNA. I’m restoring even your ability in your blood, your genes to love God and love each other. I’m going to restore it at every level.

And so taking eat of this and allow it to become part of you through your mouth and your body, but also by faith we discern, this is just wine on the outside grape juice in the middle, and bread. But by God’s word it becomes something else. And by God’s word you have become something else. You have become the wisdom of God in faith, by faith in submission to his son, Jesus Christ. So let me pray and then we’ll pray the Lord’s prayer together and come forward to partake of it. Father, we thank you for this meal. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ who died and Rose again and has saved us so that I can say you are forgiven and I can hear you say to me, Adam, you are forgiven. Oh, thank you Lord. We can’t hear it enough. We ask that your Holy spirit would minister to us and bless us as we partake in and confess that we are part of your body now and, and connected to one another and part of the body of Christ and loving you and loving and serving our brothers and sisters.

So bless us now and nourish our bodies as you, uh, assure us of the comfort we have in Christ. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. So before we eat, let’s pray the Lord’s prayer saying our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God, thanks so much for this first Sunday in the new year. So much hope. Protect it and anchor us in Jesus Christ, the hope of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen. All right. You may be seated. And, uh, so we’re praying for the people out camping today that they had enough firewood.

We used a lot last night and, uh, anyway, I just forgot how fun it is. We need to find a, uh, a pit. I have a fire pit. We just come over. It’s fun sitting around a fire at night, you know, so we should do that more often. We don’t have to go camping. We should just gather around fire. It’s pretty fun. But, um, that was a great, it’s been a great time and I’m glad we were able to do it. So I receive God’s blessing. He doesn’t demand perfection. Have you received his blessing cause he’s given you his perfect son? May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord look upon you with mercy and grace. May his face be upon you with favor and give you peace now and forever. Amen.