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Walk Your Talk: Wisdom Works
November 12, 2023 · 50 min
Pastor Jeff emphasized that even as Christians, individuals are often still searching for answers in life. He pointed out that Jesus embodies wisdom and emphasizes the importance of seeking His guidance for all aspects of life, rather than relying on worldly solutions or 'gurus.' The message from James chapter three highlighted that true wisdom is demonstrated through our behaviors and attitudes and that it comes from focusing on God's word rather than worldly practices. Ultimately, living in alignment with God's wisdom leads to peace, righteousness, and a fulfilling life that honors Him. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church November 12, 2023 · 50 min · BRAVE Church
Pastor Jeff emphasized that even as Christians, individuals are often still searching for answers in life. He pointed out that Jesus embodies wisdom and emphasizes the importance of seeking His guidance for all aspects of life, rather than relying on worldly solutions or 'gurus.' The message from James chapter three highlighted that true wisdom is demonstrated through our behaviors and attitudes and that it comes from focusing on God's word rather than worldly practices. Ultimately, living in alignment with God's wisdom leads to peace, righteousness, and a fulfilling life that honors Him. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor Jeff emphasized that even as Christians, individuals are often still searching for answers in life. He pointed out that Jesus embodies wisdom and emphasizes the importance of seeking His guidance for all aspects of life, rather than relying on worldly solutions or 'gurus.' The message from James chapter three highlighted that true wisdom is demonstrated through our behaviors and attitudes and that it comes from focusing on God's word rather than worldly practices. Ultimately, living in alignment with God's wisdom leads to peace, righteousness, and a fulfilling life that honors Him. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor,0:02 and praise for who you are. And, Lord, we are so excited because we believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that, Lord, you speak, and we wanna hear you today. That's part of the reason0:12 that we gathered and bringing you worship is to hear directly from you so that you could instruct us and guide us and admonish us, challenge us, love us, show us how we can be more conformed to the image of0:24 Christ. And so now for all those who have gathered, who desire to hear the Lord speak directly to you, who will believe what the Lord says and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me0:34 very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. People are looking for answers. You're looking for answers. It's interesting that even after we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ that we're still looking for0:46 answers. I mean, we spend our lives trying to figure out who God is. Is God real? Is he true? And we learn through the church, the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that0:57 he was buried, that he rose, that he is the incarnate Christ. He is God in flesh. He laid down his life on a cross. He rose from the dead. If you're willing to turn from your sin and trust Jesus, greatest news on the1:08 planet, you can have life and have life in his name forever and ever. Amen. The challenge is many people in the church think that that's the only purpose of the church. That's the only purpose. That's the only reason we1:19 exist. Just tell people the gospel and then go on your way. And so there's a lot of people that have truly trusted Christ, but then they're looking for answers outside of Christ. They're looking for gurus in their life,
1:29 spiritual gurus that know more about that than what Jesus does or marriage gurus or financial gurus, relationship gurus. Any kind of guru you can find because the church is only, they say,
1:41 for the gospel of Jesus Christ and getting you to heaven. But once you're born again, then you need to find people that are really smart and really wise to help you with life's big challenges. I'm here to tell you that's
1:53 wrong. I'm here to tell you that Jesus Christ embodies wisdom and will wisdom is skillful living put on display. And he wants you to know that if you've come to him as your personal Lord and savior, that he has answers
2:05 for all things. He has ways he can instruct you no matter what you're going through. And if you have questions, Jesus has answers. And it's important that we understand this because as we've been going through the book
2:16 of James talking about how it is that we walk our talk when we go through trials and temptations and how we receive the word of the Lord and how we have, faith and works and how those combine together and
2:28 how we control our tongue. If we're really gonna be the people that God wants us to be, men, women, boys, and girls, we better know how to go to Jesus to get the answers that we need for all the aspects in our life. We
2:38 better know that Jesus is willing to direct us if we have genuine questions about what we need to do. And so if you're looking for answers today, I got a word for you. I believe the Lord has a way for
2:50 you to get the answer. And to do that, we're gonna be in James chapter 3 today. James chapter 3 starting in verse 13. I'd like to read through these 6 verses, and then let's unpack them together because I wanna tell you
3:02 something this morning. Wisdom works. Wisdom works. The full embodiment of Jesus Christ wisdom being put on display in your life works. Wisdom works. Listen to the text.
3:13 He says, who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show it by his good behavior and deeds and the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so
3:25 lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above but as earthly natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder
3:37 and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without
3:48 hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. And here in this text, Jesus is telling us that
4:00 wisdom works. The Lord is showing you that wisdom works, and I'm gonna show 3 ways that wisdom works. If you're looking for answers in your life, and all of us are in different seasons of our life and it did for
4:11 different reasons in our life, and we're trying to figure out how do I make it through this life and what do I need to do now? I find myself in a new circumstances and new relationships and new things that are going on.
4:22 How do I make the decisions that God wants me to make? We're gonna talk about 3 ways that wisdom will work. And the first is this, wisdom works when demonstrated by our behaviors and attitudes.
4:35 Wisdom works and I would tell you this, it only works when demonstrated by our behaviors and attitude. Notice what he says, who among you is wise and understanding? He's asking the question, who among you is
4:47 demonstrating skilled living? Who is it that you know that you're watching put into practice the very things of God? Who is it that's understanding? Who has the acumen? Who has the understanding? Who has the teaching to
4:58 know all things? He's gonna answer it for us. Here's how you know who it is. Let him show, that means to demonstrate it by his good behavior, his deeds in the
5:10 gentleness of wisdom. People that have wisdom live wisely. That's what the text is saying. People that are wise are practitioners. They're not
5:22 just scholars. Sometimes we have this idea that wisdom is like Yoda. Like, there's this being out there that just has all the answers that if we can just get to that being,
5:33 it'll tell us exactly what to do. Or mister Miyagi, if we can just get to mister Miyagi, then he'll show us how to wax on, wax off. Don't you love all these eighties references today? Listen. Wisdom
5:45 is in the person of Jesus, and you can experience wisdom when you put into practice what the Lord is showing you to do. That's how you become wise. It's not just knowing what
5:57 to do, it's doing it. Who is wise and understanding? Here's who is. The ones who are doing the very things God tells them to do, not just the ones who are talking about it,
6:09 not just the ones who are saying, here's what you should do. These are the people that are actually experiencing it because this is what they actually do. Do you see that? And he says, these deeds are done in
6:21 such a way, he says in verse 13, in the gentleness of wisdom. This word gentleness means the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one's own self importance.
6:33 You can't live out God's design for you if you think you're more important than God. You can't live out God's design for you if you think you're more important than the other people in your life. You you can't do it.
6:45 Wisdom is put on display when we have honor for God, and we love the Lord of God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we love our neighbor as ourself. And then we hear God and we know how it is we can honor
6:55 him and how we can love others. That's how wisdom is put on display. That's how it looks like. And it's manifested in our good behavior and deeds. Wisdom is active. It's not passive. It shows
7:07 up in how you live, in your behaviors, in your actions, in your attitudes. It's more than knowledge. It's more than understanding. It's skillful living that's demonstrated.
7:20 And there's a difference between knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Knowledge is the facts. Knowledge is the truth. Just give me the facts. If I if I know what you're saying, then
7:32 I know the truth. I I can see all of it. I I know it. That's knowledge. Understanding is how do you take that truth and piece it all together? How do you put it all together? How does all of
7:44 that work? And then wisdom is when you know the truth and you know how it works that you step into it and you start acting accordingly. And that's the difference.
7:56 Many people abort the process because they refuse to actually do the very thing God wants them to do. That's why I pray at the beginning of every sermon. This is what I'm praying for, that you would hear the Lord. What's
8:05 that? That's knowledge. That you would believe what he says. That's that's faith. That's understanding. Oh, I see how that works. And then you do what? You would put into practice what he shows you. That's wisdom. That's
8:16 skillful living. That means every time that you study the word, hear the word, hear the word proclaimed, you should be asking the question, what is God as a result of what I'm hearing today asking me to do, asking me
8:28 to start doing or is he asking me to stop doing something or is he asking me to start doing something in a different way than what I was doing it before I heard this? Why? Because God is constantly trying to conform you
8:38 to the image of Christ. So there's always going to be something in his living and active word as you hear him where you're gonna have insight, and you're gonna see knowledge like, I didn't know that. Or there's gonna be
8:50 understanding. I finally see how this works. And then wisdom is now that I see how it works, I'm stepping into that because I'm gonna actually put into practice what the Lord showed me. And here's what God cares about.
9:02 Wisdom, skillfully living out God's requirements. That's what he wants from you. And for many of us, we think wisdom comes from outside the church. So everything's good with Jesus until we have a problem in
9:14 our marriage, and we go see a marriage counselor. And everything's good with Jesus till we have a kid with a problem with our child, then we gotta go see a kid's counselor. And everything's good until we have financial
9:21 problem, then we gotta go see a financial counselor. And let me tell you this, I'm not against counseling outside the church. I'm just not. Provided that the center of that, first and foremost, is what Jesus Christ is
9:32 saying and that you're not forsaking what Jesus is saying. That's what he wants us to do. You may just think about this. I mean, think about how knowledge, understanding and wisdom works. Let me just give you an example.
9:43 Let's say somebody says, can't pay my bills. I just don't have it. And so we sit down and we get knowledge And they say, we make 5000 dollars a month and here's what comes in. Let me show you where it all comes
9:55 in. And we spend 7000 dollars a month. Here's where it all goes out. We can't pay our bills. We're 2000 dollars shy or multiply by 10. You make 50000 dollars a month, but you have 70000 dollars a bill or multiply by 100,
10:07 you make a half 1000000 dollars a year and you spend a month and you spend 700000 a month. There's a problem. That's just knowledge. We have a problem. Now most people stop at knowledge and here's what they would say. We
10:17 make 5000. We spend 7000. Here's the problem. We see it's a problem. We agree it's a problem. Right? And then what do most people say? I just need more money. I need more money. If I made 10000 dollars then I'd have a
10:29 surplus of 3000. Just give me more money. That's all I need. And then we have prayer covers. Pray that God gives me more provision. But we don't wanna stop at knowledge. We wanna continue and go to understanding.
10:41 Why is this happening? And so we take a look at, well, what are you spending on? Well, you know, last month I spent 5000 dollars on extra furniture I didn't need and I bought this picture and I didn't need that and I
10:52 went to the broncos game and I couldn't afford that and I I did this and this and this. Well, here's an idea. Maybe you don't spend what you don't have. Because if we just give you more money
11:03 and you have a problem that's spiritual, you're still gonna have the problem even if you have more money because if you have 10000 dollars, you're gonna spend 13. Do you see the problem? So wisdom then would dictate,
11:15 I'm gonna spend less. I'm gonna spend less than what I make. So maybe it's not that I need more money, but I need to be faithful with what God shows me. And then as I look
11:27 at money, I see God's principles for money. I begin to realize that there's 2 words that God says for people who are broke that they're probably not doing. Number 1 is this, generosity. Are you generous with the things
11:39 God gives you back to him? Many people that are broke aren't. It's 1 of the reasons that they're broke is that they'll never have enough because they don't realize their source is God, and they need to give to God first.
11:50 So they're not generous. And number 2 is this, contentment. It's a bad word in North America. Contentment means I'm content with everything I have. I'm gonna use everything I have for the glory of God. If this is what I
12:02 have, I'm gonna steward that well. And I'm gonna trust in anything else I need is the Lord's. Like, that's wisdom. And if you don't have much, you can still have wisdom. You can still use what God wants you
12:14 to do. Years ago, 30 years ago, when I started out ministry, I didn't make much money. I made 1000 dollars a month. That's what I was given. I was given a parsonage that was about a tenth the size of this stage and I had
12:25 a car that was paid for. And I said, okay, Lord, I'm learning what to do. So I put 2000 dollars aside for taxes. I gave 100 dollars to the church. I lived off 700 dollars a month and I ended up saving half of it. So by
12:37 the time I went to my first year of seminary, I paid for the whole thing myself. And I learned those principles. I'd have friends call me, lived in Chicago. Hey, you wanna come up and visit me? I'm like, I cannot afford
12:47 35 dollars to park for the night. No, I'm not coming. Couldn't do it. Not in that season. Now am I trying to tell you that you're spiritual if you can live off 1000 dollars a month? I don't know that I could do that
12:57 anymore, honestly, with a family of 5. That's not the point. The point is how are you generous with what you have? How are you grateful with what you have? How are you content with what you're having? How do you steward
13:07 what you have for others? How can you thank God for what you have? That's what wisdom looks like. And it can be in any aspect of your life. Right? What about marriage? You say, my marriage
13:19 stinks. We could sit down, Kim and I could sit down with you and listen to you and say, you are correct. Alright. And the husband could give his case and be like, he's right. And the wife could give her case and be like,
13:30 you're right. And what happens is is when you start having feelings about how bad things are, then you start to make poor decisions. We don't love each other anymore. We're done. Well, let's understand how we
13:42 got here. Right? Let's let's take a look at God's word. Why is that? Well, she this and he that, no, no, time out. Let's take a look at you first and then we'll take a look at you next. I mean, to give you an example
13:53 from my own life, when Kim and I got married and we went through premarital counseling, which I highly recommend, we aced it. Premarital counseling was easy because when they kept telling us about the things that we were
14:03 gonna experience in marriage, both of our attitudes were like, yeah, I'm sure some people do, but not us. We're in love. You don't understand. She's a believer. I'm a believer. She shares the same values. I share
14:15 the same values. She's from a good family. I'm from a good family. We don't have y'all's baggage. Premarital, a breeze. Postmarital was a little harder because we would be in there. And I remember
14:27 the counselor would open his bible up and he would be reading to us. And I remember sometimes like, you don't understand. Let me explain to you more about her. And she would say, you don't understand. Let me explain to
14:36 you a little more about him. And I remember 2 specific incidents. Kim won't remember them correctly. When we left counseling, there was she will, won't you? Ask her. There was 1 night we left counseling, and I was so
14:48 frustrated because I felt like I got picked on the whole night. And we got in the car to drive away, and I was like, that was the worst way we've ever spent time ever. She's like, that was the best counseling session
14:56 we've ever had. He totally gets you. And the very next week, went, and I went reluctantly, and we got in the car, and it was awesome. I'm like, now, baby, that was incredible. She's like, I'm never going
15:08 again. Why? Because God's wisdom has a way of coming into your life and laying across you and saying, you know what? You need to change. And yeah, this has been hard and this has been
15:19 difficult, but it's not just, hey, hit the easy button or get a divorce or break up or do this or do that or whatever. It's here's what God says and here's who you need to be and wrestle with this and struggle with
15:31 this. I heard a story this week and some of you be familiar with this about a little boy that was watching a butterfly come out of a cocoon and he was having a hard time because as he watching the butterfly come out of
15:40 this little hole and really work on his wings, he felt bad for the butterfly. And so he went and got some cuticle scissors and cut through the cocoon to make a bigger opening for the butterfly thinking he was helping
15:51 only to find out when the butterfly got out, it didn't have strong enough wings to fly or do anything. And then he learned that it was through the process of the butterfly getting through that little hole that made its
16:02 wings strong enough so that it would be able to fly. Translation, sometimes when you're going through what you're going through, God is not looking for the easy button to get you out. God gave you a narrow way
16:14 so that you have to struggle and wrestle with him so that you grow in wisdom, knowledge, and stature, and you can grow in wisdom and skilled living over time. Like, that's what he's talking about.
16:26 And wisdom only works when it's demonstrated. Like, it's it's the idea you gotta practice what you preach. I mean, you hear me on Sundays and if you come up to me and tell me, hey, that was a great message, really love
16:37 that. I promise you that during the week, I was being challenged. There's never been a week where I've read the word and I've been like, I can't wait to preach this 1. Those guys really need to hear this. I read it
16:49 and I'm challenged. I read it and God reads me, And I've got a change and I'm in the process of being transformed in the same way that you are. And we've got to trust his process and what he
17:01 wants for us. And the same would be true. I know we talked about married people, but singles, the same is true for you. How come I'm not married? How come I can't meet the right 1? This stinks. I hate being single. I get
17:11 it. So here's what I'm gonna do. As a result, I'm just gonna go try to find somebody. Nah. I probably wouldn't try to do that. Why are you single? What's going on? Is there something God's trying to build during this
17:20 season? I remember asking God for a long time, why am I still single? Why am I still single? Why? I didn't get married till I was 34. I thought I would have been married a decade earlier. But after being married and
17:28 looking back, there's no way I would have finished seminary. There's no way I would have prepared myself for ministry. There's no way I would have met my wife. I mean, all these things. But I, on my time frame, had it
17:36 figured out differently than God had it figured out. But why? What what's the wisdom God has? What's he trying to show you about you in this season so that you can live skillfully in the way God wants you to so that you
17:48 can be the most impactful in honoring him and in serving others? That's wisdom. Wisdom is not about your comfort. It's about his glory. Amen? And it's demonstrated by our behaviors and attitudes. You wanna
18:00 find somebody that has wisdom? Find people that are doing it the right way or growing in it the right way. Don't just find somebody can talk about it. Anybody can talk about it. Anybody can talk about evangelism. Anybody
18:12 talk about marriage. Anybody talk about finances. Anybody can talk about the word. Find somebody who's living it and ask them, how do you live this? Wisdom works when demonstrated by our behaviors and attitudes. And, by
18:23 the way, your faith and obedience to living it first is what gives you the wisdom to understand how it works. Let me say it again. If you wanna know that tithing work, I can teach on tithing. I can tell you that
18:35 it works. I can tell you that God will supply all of your needs according to his glorious riches when you put him first and you seek first kingdom of God and his righteousness. I know that, but you know how I know that?
18:42 Because I tried it. I didn't just say, well, that's what the bible says and I I had to step into it and start doing it and over time, I saw how God blessed that. Right? It's
18:54 1 thing to know, hey, husbands love your wife as Christ love the church. I knew that before I got married. I knew that after I got married. And guess what? I'm still learning how to do it better. I still haven't arrived.
19:04 Close, but I haven't arrived. Right? That's what we're doing. We're we're still growing in this. We're demonstrating it by our behaviors and our attitudes. Number 2 is wisdom works when
19:16 focused on God's word instead of on the world's pragmatism. Wisdom works when focused on God's word instead of the world's pragmatism. Now, these 3 verses here are super powerful. Listen. He says,
19:28 but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. Now, here's what he means by that. He's like, wisdom works, but if you have what? Bitter jealousy
19:40 and selfish ambition. Bitter jealousy is this. It's when you ask the question, why do they have that and I don't. If that's in your heart, you're jealous. You have a bitter jealousy. You have a point of come
19:52 they are married like that and happy? How come they have that house? How come they have that job? How come they have those relationships? How come they have that influence? How come they have that church? How come they
20:00 get to do that? How come they have those clothes? How come and I don't. That's bitter jealousy. Bitter jealousy comes from comparison and believing that you need to have what everybody else has. It's a lack of
20:11 contentment. And then there's the idea of selfish ambition. Godly ambition is good, but here's what selfish ambition asks. What do I need to do to accomplish all my desires? What do I need to do so that I can
20:23 accomplish all my desires? Just so you know, that's a question most Americans ask. It's not a good question. How do I live the American dream? How do I get everything I want? How do I get it when I want it? What do I
20:32 need to do to get there? And by the way, bookstores are filled with self help books like this question being answered. If you don't go to bookstores, to Amazon. They're all over the place. They're gonna teach you how you
20:43 can accomplish all your dreams on this side of heaven. But he says this, now notice, if that's how you live with bitter jealousy asking why do they have it and I don't or selfish ambition, what do I need to do
20:55 to accomplish my desires? Here's what he says. If you have that in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. He says this, if you ask if you're constantly asking those 2 questions, you're a prideful
21:05 person and you're denying the truth of God. It means you are only living for this world. If those are the 2 questions you're asking, I mean, if those are your 2 primary questions you're asking is how come they
21:17 have it and I don't? I'm comparing myself to you in this world. Or how do I get everything I want out of this world? Who is the focus of that question? Me. And if you're living for you, you are
21:29 not living for Christ. You can't serve 2 masters. Right? That's what he's talking about. He says, so when it comes the way that wisdom works, it only works when it's focused on God's word instead of the world's
21:41 pragmatism and what's easy and and how it works. Notice verse 15. This wisdom, the wisdom I'm talking about is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural,
21:53 demonic. He's like wisdom that comes from this world, wisdom that tells you how you can succeed in this world, wisdom that comes from how you can be the best version of you in this world,
22:05 wisdom that comes from how come they have it and you don't, wisdom that comes from how can I help you be the best version of you on this side of heaven? That wisdom is earthly, meaning it doesn't come from
22:16 a source above yourself. It's only about this world. It's natural, which means it's all about yourself. And what else is it? Did you read that word? Demonic.
22:28 Satanic. It's of the devil. Why? Because the devil is the prince of the power of the air. What does the devil care about? That you would focus on this world rather than the 1 to come. Do you hear what I'm saying
22:40 here? You read a self help book, you might have people that reference God because it's a good thing to do. People like it when you do that. I I just wanna thank God. Okay. Who's your God?
22:52 The 1 that made me super successful. Really? Tell me about him. Is it Jesus who died on the cross in Jerusalem? Is it the 1 who's the God man who was buried? Is it the 1 who rose? Is it the 1 you submitted your life to?
23:03 It's the 1 who has authority? No. Not that God. I'm just talking about God in general. I just wanna thank God. Right? I mean, think about the books you read and the things you have and ask yourself what's who's the
23:13 source of this? Is the source about you being successful? Is the source about you not comparing, or is the source about the glorification of Jesus Christ? That's all I'm asking. Because if it's not about glorifying Jesus
23:24 and serving others, here's what you can know about that. It's earthly. It's of this world. It's natural. It's about yourself, and it's this. It's demonic. According to the word of God. Now
23:36 that would offend many people, but it wouldn't be the first time we've offended people in this pulpit. Now listen to this, for where there is jealousy and selfish ambition,
23:48 asking why do they have it and I don't, where there are people asking how do I best fulfill all my desires, where that is going on, where that exists, there is disorder and every evil thing. Disorder is the idea of being
23:59 unstable. It's a disturbance, it's unruliness, it's instability, It's anarchy. There's every kind of evil thing when you live in a culture where people are asking, why do they have it and I don't? How do I get what they
24:11 have? Have ever seen a culture like that? I mean, I you ever seen anybody in the world ask questions like, how come they have it and I don't? You ever seen anybody asking, how do I get where I need to go and not care
24:23 about other people? Because when you have a world like that, you have massive chaos everywhere. And in case you haven't opened your eyes, we live in that world right now. That's the world we live in because people aren't
24:34 living by wisdom. They're not living by God's word. They're not living by his standards. They're living by pragmatism. What's easy? What works? What what seems to make sense to get through this life?
24:46 Me give you some examples. Let me give you some examples. I really felt when I was studying this that the Lord kinda put this out to me in 3 different groups of people. And the first 2 I see being earthly, natural and
24:56 demonic. The first is this, people that have a poverty mentality. People that have a poverty mentality, they think there's only a limited amount of positions, a limited amount of resources. There's there's only so much
25:07 they can do. And so if somebody else has a happy marriage, they're taken away from some of the happy marriage you could have. Somebody else has a lot of money, they're taken away from some of the money you could have. If
25:15 somebody else is getting kudos about how well they're doing in the job, they're taking away from the kudos you could be getting. I mean, there's only so much to go around and it's a poverty mentality because some people
25:25 might get it and if they're getting it, that means you're not gonna get it. And so people like that start asking this question, how do I become the best? How do I become the best? Because if I'm the best, then
25:36 people will recognize me. If I'm the best at my job, then people will recognize me. If I'm the best in my family, then people will recognize me. If I'm the best in my neighborhood, people will recognize me. If I'm the
25:47 best in my bank account, then people will have to give me so I'm gonna focus my life on being the best. If I'm the best in school, people will tell me I'm really smart. If I'm the best on my sports team, people tell me
25:58 I'm really good. I gotta be the best because there's only so much good to go around. So I'm gonna exhaust myself and spend my time to be the best. You know what the problem with that is? There's always somebody better.
26:11 There's always somebody with more. I mean, you can't ever get to the pinnacle. And it's a poverty mentality that says there's only so much to go around. There's only so much good to be had. You're not getting as
26:23 much as you could. How come they get it and you don't? And then how do you organize your life so you can go get more of it? And here's what I would ask you. What does it profit a man or a woman to gain the entire world
26:32 and forfeit your soul? It's not about being the best. So what happens in this world where you get other earthly natural demonic wisdom is this. There's a group of people that will tell you in every self help book, no.
26:43 No. No. No.
26:44 It's not about that. You're you got you're off a little bit. You're off a couple degrees. It's not about you being the best. It's about you being your best. You should be asking the question, how can I be my best? Like,
26:54 you can't have the best marriage, and you can't have the best bank account. You can't have the best pedigree, but you can be your best. You know, you can have your best marriage. You can have your best
27:06 bank account. You can have your best job. And, you know, we hear that and, like, that makes a lot of sense. Because now I'm not focused on comparison. Now I can focus solely on me.
27:19 Now my life can all be about me because I don't even have to think about anybody else. I love this. And it gets pitched as some spiritual truth. I just wanna thank God. He's made me so successful. I just wanna thank
27:31 God. He's given me all I just wanna thank God. Really, what I'm saying is I thank God that I get to do whatever I want as long as I have everything I have. I love God, which is really no God at all. I call this the
27:42 profitability mentality. There's unlimited resources for me and how I can live if I just go after them. I can be whatever I want. I can do whatever I want. I can go after whatever I want. It's really not about me
27:52 comparing myself to anybody else. I'm totally freed up from that. You can have all the success you want and so can I because I'm not competing against you? I'm just being my best self and I'm gonna live profitably. You
28:03 live in poverty. And almost every single self help speaker book I've ever read goes here. And most human beings read that like, that is genius.
28:15 And God would say, no. It's earthly, natural, and demonic because even if you have the best version of yourself and you deem yourself to have your best marriage and your best life and your best
28:27 bank account and your best this and you're not living for Christ, it's worthless. So he gives us another understanding of what we should do. And it's not a poverty mentality. It's not a
28:38 profitability mentality. I'm not asking how I can become my best self or become the best. I'm living in with an abundance mentality. And the abundance mentality is this, how do I become God's best?
28:51 If he's the 1 who created me and he's the 1 who saved me and he's the 1 who designed every good work I would ever do, then how do I live my life in every situation so that he gets the most glory and other people get
29:02 served? And when he gets the most glory and other people get served, I get the greatest joy. Like, how do I live that way? So when it comes to my marriage, I'm not asking how come how come she's this and how come
29:14 he's that? How can they treat me better? I'm not asking how can we live our best marriage now? I'm not asking that. God, how can I be as a man, the best husband I can ever be to my wife for your glory and
29:25 to serve her? As a wife, how can I be the best wife I can to honor you and to serve him? How can we as a couple be the best for you to serve our family? How can we as a family be our best for
29:37 you to serve the world? How can we as a group of people use our finances to honor you and serve others? How do we use all the gifts you've given to us to serve you and honor other people? What what does that look
29:49 like? Because I'll tell you what, worldly wisdom makes a lot of sense until you unpack it. You ever heard this statement? Choose a job you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life. You know who said
30:01 that? Apparently Confucius. He never told me. I just read it. But it was that mean. It means if you choose what's in alignment with how you're gifted and what you do, work won't feel like work anymore. You'll actually
30:12 enjoy what you do. And we hear that like, oh my goodness, profitability. That would be great. I would love to wake up and enjoy what I do all the time. But that's a very different question than, God, you've given me
30:24 every single gift and every single weakness. How do I best steward everything I have for your glory and to serve other people? Because I know 1 day I'm gonna stand before you, and I wanna know that when I meet you face
30:33 to face, I can look you in the eye and say, to the best of my ability, I did everything you gave me for you and to serve others. See, that's a different question. Because if my goal is only to be fulfilled, if my
30:45 goal is only to use my gifts for me, I might come up with a different answer than if my only goal is to honor God and to serve other people. I was asking all the right questions, I thought. In college, I was asking
30:57 all the right, you know, worldly questions. I was asking all the profitability questions. How do I best use my gifts? How do I best develop my life? How do I best figure out what I wanna do? And then it began to shift.
31:09 And when I began to ask God the question, okay, Lord, how do you want me to serve? You put me in this world, and you put me in this time, and you put me in this season, and you gave me these gifts, and you gave me these
31:18 weaknesses. How could I best serve you? And what will it look like when I meet you on judgment day to know that you're proud of me and I hear well done good and faithful servant? That shifted the course from here to go
31:28 into full time vocational ministry. I'm doing what I'm doing because of wisdom, not because it's what I would choose to do on a, you know, jobs survey, which by the way, everyone I took didn't have pastor.
31:41 Do you see what saying? And what I'm not saying is if you serve the Lord, you're called into full time ministry. That's not what I'm saying at all. A matter of fact, I was always scared to ask that question as many of
31:49 you know because when I grew up and went to a Lutheran grade school, they would have missionaries come in from New Guinea every year. And I would be 5 years old sitting there in the front row with all the kindergartners,
31:57 and they have what was called an overhead projector, which most of you don't even know what it is. And they would show like slides up on the wall of people sitting around a campfire eating iguana and talking about
32:06 headhunters they were sharing the gospel with. And I didn't know a lot as a 5 year old, but I knew this as a 5 year old. Don't go all in with Jesus or you're gonna be in New Guinea eating iguana with headhunters. Right?
32:17 And so for a long time, I didn't wanna ask that question. But here's what I know about the missionaries who have been in New Guinea. They love it because that's what they were created to do. Here's what I know about me.
32:27 I love doing this because this is what I was created to do. Here's what I know about you. If you go all in with Jesus, you will love doing what God called and created you to do. There's there's a higher calling that's a
32:38 heavenly calling, that's a divine calling that has all wisdom behind it that looks different than the world standard, which is just be your best. And, unfortunately, even in a lot of the pulpits in America today, it's
32:49 that demonic, earthly, natural wisdom of how it is you can be your best. And people gobble it up by the millions saying, oh, so good. That's so wisdom. It's so wise. Maybe, but maybe
33:00 not. Does it really honor the Lord? Does it deal with our sin condition? Does it tell Jesus Christ that he's Lord? Does it get me living differently? Does it cause me to wanna change who I am? Or does it just make me
33:10 feel good that I'm seemingly making a difference in the world? That's what he's talking about here. He says don't deny the truth. Don't deny the truth. Don't lie against the truth. Don't be arrogant. Don't be about this
33:21 world and how successful you are. Be about the Lord Jesus Christ and his wisdom. Do it God's way. Here's why. Because 1 day, you're gonna stand in front of that God. Now I wanna be clear on something.
33:33 If you've trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, if you believe that Jesus Christ is the God man who laid down his life on the cross for all your sins and died, and you've repented of your sins and you've come
33:43 into relationship with Christ, I want you to know all the judgment for your sin was taken care of at the cross. You do not need to look forward to, how's he gonna judge me something? He's not. He's not judging your sin.
33:54 But here's what is gonna happen for you that are Christians. You will still stand before him to give an account for your life. And here's what he's gonna ask you. I know you trusted me. Welcome home. I love you. What did
34:03 you do with everything I gave you for my glory? How did you advance the kingdom? How did you share the gospel? How did you live out my faith through you? How did you do that? Because there's rewards for that. And so
34:15 Christian, listen to me. It's not just about being born again so you can go to heaven. That's called new birth. That's day 1. That's the beginning. Then there's a whole life of how do I live skillfully for God so that
34:27 I'm living on mission for him so that when I see him, here's what I'm gonna hear. Well done, good and faithful servant. You stewarded what I gave you for my glory. You stewarded what I gave you to serve others.
34:39 I used your life for good. Well done. Enter my rest. That's the question we should be asking. Christian, you don't need to fear. You don't need to fear judgment at the judgment seat of Christ. Judgment
34:51 took place on the cross for those of you who believe. But as a Christian, if that's what took place, then God's holding you to a standard of how to live wisdom out in your life in a world that is dying to see people walk
35:02 their talk with Jesus. Amen? So wisdom works. Wisdom works. We can give God praise for wisdom. Amen?
35:10 Wisdom works when demonstrated by our behaviors and attitudes. Wisdom works when focused on God's word instead of pragmatism. Pragmatism is
35:21 this feels right. It feels easy. Sometimes God's word does not feel good. Sometimes God's word feels very discomforting. Sometimes God's word when you go God's way doesn't feel right. But
35:33 if you take God's word at face value and believe it changes things. Otherwise, you've always gotta figure out how to retrofit God's word into this world and it'll never work. God's truth is
35:45 truth. That's why wisdom works. Number 3, when embraced with peace and righteousness. Wisdom works when embraced with peace and righteousness. Notice the wisdom that comes from above verse 17, is
35:57 first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. See, wisdom is the
36:09 foundation for all righteous living. Notice what he says. Wisdom, first of all, is pure. That means it's unsullied. It's undefiled. It's clean in thought and word and deed. It's truth. And if it's
36:20 truth, it's always been truth, and it will always be truth. God's wisdom is truth. It just is. I mean, just think about if the world just accepted let's just take 1 example this morning. If the world
36:32 just accepted God's truth that he created 2 genders, male and female, that's it. There are no others. There's no debate about it. Everybody in our culture believed them. What if people believe that? Would it
36:44 change our culture? Yeah. Because that's called wisdom because it's true. And if you don't have wisdom and you don't believe God's word, then pragmatism comes in, and thenShow more
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