Christian Life is a Life of Wisdom

1 Kings 3:5-14; Proverbs 1:1-5; 9:10; Matthew 5:44-45

There is a beautiful story in the Old Testament about young king Solomon, the son of king David whom he named as his successor right before he died. In the very beginning of his reign God asked Solomon: ''If you could have anything in the world, what would you ask me to give you?» (1 Kings 3:5). And Solomon answered: ''give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong” (3:9).

Solomon could have asked for anything but he asked for wisdom.  And God honored his request by also giving to him the things that Solomon didn’t ask for: "I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” (3:12-14).

Unfortunately what Solomon asked for and what he eventually did in his life were worlds apart. Solomon wisely asked for wisdom but over the he foolishly sacrificed his dream cracked and was destroyed by his immoral life. Asking for wisdom is easier than living it. Wisdom is the ability to appropriately apply the knowledge we have and it’s not something that is only for older people. Wisdom is central to the Kingdom life to which we are called to devote our whole life and is meant for all ages for everyday living.

There are too many examples of people around us who, like Solomon, start well and seem to be moving in the right direction but then their moral life crumbles down. If we want our Kingdom dream to stand, to become reality in our lives, if we want to not only start our life with God well but also finish well, we need God’s wisdom.

The book of Proverbs (1:2–5) is written "for gaining wisdom and instruction;  for understanding words of insight; 
for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; 
for giving prudence to those who are simple,  knowledge and discretion to the young— 
let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance”. To "receive” is the word that caught my attention. Russian translation uses the word "assimilate” in a sense of "internalizing” or "making a habit of something new, something that was unfamiliar before”. In other words "making prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair a part of who you are”. James, the brother of Jesus "received” from His Lord and then wrote: "if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt” (James 1:5-6а). James does not only call us to "ask" once (as Solomon did in the beginning) but to continue asking, to continue receiving. The only appropriate attitude of a Christian who wants to live wisely is a humble openness and receptivity toward God's wisdom, which He often gives through the council and instruction of the wise.

Solomon was foolish because he ceased seeking and accepting the wisdom of God. James was wise because he received the wisdom from Jesus, the Wisdom of God. Such is also the posture of a wise Christian, who accepts instruction and begins to think as his/her mentor does. All of us need people in our lives who are wise, loving, just, peacemaking, and we need to spend time with them, to have them in our lives so we can learn from them that life of love, justice, peace and wisdom. But the most difficult thing is not just to find a mentor and listen to him/her but try to do what they advise us to do. A wise person humbly accepts the instruction of the wise, listens and does what the wise advise to do.

At a recent Worship conference I was translating a workshop. Derek, who led this workshop was reminding us that by people’s reaction to the truth, or reproof, or instruction, they can be roughly divided into three groups: the wise, the foolish and the wicked. We’ll talk about the first two. If truth, or instruction is like a bright light that shines into our face – how does a person react? Scripture says, " Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still." (Prov. 9:9). Wise adjust themselves to the light. When the wise are exposed, they are ready to change. Wise are happy to get feedback, they want to hear the truth about themselves so that they can adjust their life, to change, to become better, to walk more firmly on the right path. King David said: "Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head. 
My head will not refuse it" (Psalm 141:5). The wise are grateful for criticism, for reproof, for instruction because all of these can aid in the growth and transformation.

At the same time, the Scripture says, "fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Prov. 1:7b). These "fools” can be very intelligent and educated people. The Scriptures does not speak here about their intellect or intelligence but about their spiritual foolishness. If the wise adjust their life to the light that searches their heart, to foolish try to adjust the light so that they can leave their life and character just the way they are. The foolish always justify themselves, they try to ignore the problems of their character, morality or life in general and say: "Come on, it's not such a big deal". Feedback makes them angry, irritated; they often blame the person who tries to instruct them.

But there is hope for the foolish (and we all have that foolishness in us to a degree, hopefully not to a large degree). Christ died for the foolish, for the stubborn whose pride makes it hard for them to accept the need for change, makes it hard to accept counsel. The foolish often need a very serious motivation to start to change. Proverbs says, "Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD. 
Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes” (Prov. 1:29-31). The foolish do not change when the truth comes to them that they can get rid of. The foolish will only change when truth comes in such a way that they have no choice but change, when the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of changing.  

But the Life of the Kingdom is Wisdom Life. The wise adjust their lives to the light, to the instruction of the Divine Wisdom. In the New Testament, Jesus is presented as the One filled with Divine Wisdom. Luke says when Jesus was a boy He "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Lk. 2:52). Later it says: "and many who heard him were amazed….What’s this wisdom that has been given him?" (Mk. 6:2), "because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law." (Matt. 7:29). Matthew also says that Jesus is "greater than Solomon" (Mt. 12:42).

Paul wrote that Christ "has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." (1 Cor. 1:30). God embodied His wisdom in the King of glory who died on the cross. It was that death on the cross and Resurrection that showed in all its fullness the beauty of the merciful God who loves humans, has mercy on them and transforms them into a new creation.

And if True Wisdom is Christ, then the wise life is a life of seeking Him daily. Jesus grew up with the words of Solomon: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Prov. 9:10). To fear of the Lord does not mean "cringing" or "breaking down" but "reverence." It is this sense of awe you have when you are faced with an amazing view of nature painted by the masterful hand of the Divine Artist, the view that penetrates deep into your soul. To fear God means starting and ending each day, and every moment in between with the knowledge that you live before God. And living before God is living with the knowledge that one day we will all come to give an account to God for how we lived, what we valued, who we were and who we became. It is this fear of God, this reverence for God that transforms ordinary life into a wisdom life of the kingdom.

The Bible also tells us about the "the wisdom of this world" that controls people, who are not willing to open to God and who believe themselves to be creators of their own salvation. For such people cross and love are foolish, outright stupid and weak. The two main problems people living by the wisdom of this world face are ambitions and primal desires. Ambition whispers to us: "Get to what you desire before others get to it”, and our primal desires push us to seek pleasure. However, those who follow Jesus the Lord, can say together with Paul: "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1 Cor. 1:25). The wise stop, think, reflect and search their heart and ask: "is this the wise thing to do?" Is it good, right, just, loving and holy? Do we ask these questions at every opportunity of the day: "what I want to say or choose or do, it is wise? Is it good?"

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Prov. 9:10) To know the Only One. And what is He like?  "The wisdom of this world" considers the cross and the love a weakness but God's wisdom urges: "Love God, love your neighbor, love even your enemy, and he/she will cease to be your enemy." God's wisdom says you can only know yourself truly by loving others. Many of you have heard the Golden Rule: "Treat others the way you want them to treat you." If we lived by this rule, we would see the kingdom of love, justice and peace rise right before our own eyes. Only the wise know that it is in loving our neighbor that we find ourselves, in giving ourselves to others we find the blessedness of life, by serving others, we find out who we really are. The "smart” of this world keep saying "I, me, myself" and they are shrink, their hearts wither and they become lonely while surrounded by millions of people. This is the life, which Solomon lived, and that life is very unsustainable.

And the wisdom of God says: enemies can be loved easier than conquered. We all agree that love is good until we are faced with the need to love someone whom we don’t like. In contrast with the wisdom of this world Jesus showed love even to enemies. His call was given in the midst of this conventional wisdom of the day (and our day): "You shall love your neighbor (a Jew), and hate your enemy (Gentile)." Jesus fired up the dream of a very different world: "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. It is so that you become the sons of your Heavenly Father "(Mt. 5:44-45a). Jesus’ life revealed God's way, God's wisdom, which goes against the conventional wisdom.

One teacher complained about the problems he had with one of his students. His friend said, "what is this student’s name?" "I do not remember" he replied. Then his friend said, "first, find out what is the name of the student and every time he comes to class greet him by name. And at every opportunity ask him about life and what he likes."  The professor took this advice, and after a week there were no more problems with the student and at the end of the semester they became good friends. Only wise understand that to turn an enemy into a friend you should love them and pray for them, and to make them even a bigger enemy – don’t find out their name or forget it and do not learn anything about them. By God's wisdom, prayer for enemies transforms them into friends. The world, believing itself to be clever, does not accept the wisdom of God. What about us?

If the Lord would ask us today: "If you could have anything in the world ... what would you ask for?” what would we ask for? Health? Success? Perfect family? That this annoying neighbor be moved somewhere far away? Or would we ask for wisdom and guidance, and understanding if how to live a righteous, wise, just and honest life? The Kingdom Life is the Wisdom life, not the life of conventional wisdom of this world. But you can only live wisely through daily relationships with the One who is the Divine Wisdom Himself. You can live the Wisdom Life by asking before doing or saying anything, "will it be wise, will it be good?" Wisdom - is being open to God's instruction, also through those brothers and sisters who live a life of love, justice, peace and wisdom, and readiness to do what is loving, just, peaceful and wise while putting one’s ambitions and primitive desires away.

A Christian then, is the one who follows Jesus, dedicating his whole life to the Kingdom Dream of Jesus, to the life of love for God and others, to the society of justice and peace, to the life devoted to acquiring wisdom.