The Path to Wisdom
I once was driving around with my kids, and one of them asked me a great question. They said, “Dad, what is a mature Christian?” In that question, I felt a desire in their heart to be a mature Christian! So, I’m driving my truck and thinking, “That’s a great question.” I responded, “Well, a mature Christian is somebody who understands the gospel and where they stand in Christ. A mature Christian is someone who has read their Bible cover-to-cover. A mature Christian is a man or woman of the Book (the Bible), and they know the God of the Book.” After saying that, I kept thinking. ‘What else should I say?’ I asked myself. Then I said, “Paul addresses believers to use their spiritual gifts in the life of the church, so another mark of a mature Christian is that he or she is a churchman or a churchwoman—that they are members of a church, that they are using their spiritual gifts in the life of the church, that they love the Lord’s people.” After saying that, I kept thinking! I replied, “Even more than trusting the gospel thoroughly, even more than knowing the Bible, even more than serving in a local church, maturity involves knowing how to apply all these things in our daily lives. Jesus did not say, ‘Teach them all I have commanded you,’ but ‘Teach them to obey all that I have commanded you!’” So, I explained to my children this element of practical theology we sometimes call wisdom. Knowing how to live Coram Deo (before the Face of God) in the fear of the Lord. “If you can put all those things together in life application, that’s wisdom, and then you will be a mature Christian,” I told them.
“But what does this wisdom look like exactly?” they asked. My kids are very persistent. “To answer that question,” I said, “we need to go to Proverbs!” Solomon gives us four qualities of wisdom that must be mastered if we are going to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel as mature Christians.
First, we must understand that we must learn wisdom.
Solomon says in Proverbs 22:17, “Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise.” Solomon is saying that wisdom is outside of us, and therefore, we must seek it out.
This was not true of Jesus Christ. Christ is the essence of wisdom, but for us, it is true. Wisdom is NOT intuitive. No one is born a wise person. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Therefore, the first thing to understand about wisdom is that we must seek it outside of ourselves.
How often are we told to ‘Follow your heart,’ or ‘Trust your instincts,’ and ‘Just do what feels right.’? The self-help section of every local bookstore is filled with books telling fools to be more foolish by looking inside themselves for wisdom.
Moreover, those who realize they lack the necessary wisdom often search for wisdom in the wrong places. Job asks in Job 28, “Where can you find wisdom? You go and dig into the depths of the earth, you won’t find wisdom there. You go to the bottom of the sea, you won’t find wisdom there. You go and find all the greatest treasures in the world, you won’t find wisdom there.” He says in Job 28:21, “It [wisdom] is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the earth.” But then he says, “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.”
Wisdom is only to be found in God. Hollywood does not have it. Washington D. C. does not have it. The Ivy League Colleges do not have it. Social media experts don’t have it. Only God possesses wisdom! As a result, if you want wisdom, you must go to God.
The apostle James said this: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). The first step to wisdom is realizing that outside of God’s gift of wisdom, we are all fools. We must find wisdom through God’s divine revelation!
Second, we must understand that wisdom is the applied knowledge of God.
Solomon also says in Proverbs 22:17, “Apply your heart to my knowledge.” Solomon means that wisdom is the applied knowledge of God. You can have knowledge without wisdom. There are a lot of foolish geniuses in the world. They are brilliant intellectually but live very foolishly. You can possess knowledge without wisdom, but you cannot possess wisdom without knowledge.
To have wisdom, you must have a knowledge of three basic things. First, you must have a knowledge of God. You must know that God is sovereign, that God is the Creator, and that God is providentially governing the world. You must know that God is Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who, as our Redeemer, came into this world to save sinners. You must know that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity who comes and dwells within the believer.
Second, you must know yourself. You must know that you are created by God, in God’s image, to honor and glorify God. Yet, because of Adam’s sin, that you are born a sinner (Rom 5:12), that you have personally transgressed God’s law and are in need of a Savior (Rom 3:23). The only way to have our sins forgiven is through the work of Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Faith is required to personally receive Christ’s benefits (Eph 2:8). After trusting Christ in faith, we all begin this journey of sanctification in which we endeavor to live our lives wholly to God, not because we are earning salvation, but because we are so thankful we have received it (Rom 12:1, 2).
Third, you must possess a knowledge of the world. As a child, I sang the hymn, “This is my Father’s World.” We must believe that this world is God’s world. And Christ is reigning over it until He puts all His enemies under His feet (Psalm 110:1, 2). God is sovereign, and His reign is still seen everywhere on the Earth (Eph 1:11). At the end of history, even this Earth will be changed and renewed into a New Heavens and a New Earth (Isaiah 65; Rev 21, 22).
Wisdom is not just knowing these realities but living in light of these realities! We must do everything we can to possess a biblical worldview. Read theologians Herman Bavinck, John Frame, Steve Wellum, Joel Beeke, or John Calvin. Read the great thinkers who possess a robust biblical worldview, for we must possess as much as we can the knowledge of God, ourselves, and the universe He has created as we can!
Third, we must understand that wisdom leads to the blessed life.
Solomon says in Proverbs 22:18, “For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.” Solomon means that wisdom leads to the blessed life. When we gain wisdom, it becomes part of who we are. When it is “on our lips,” that means that we have internalized it. We do not just read it or process it in our minds, we are enabled to tell others about it. Often, the true test of our grasp of a subject is whether we can teach it to others.
When wisdom becomes part of who we are, we experience one of the greatest blessings that man can ever know. We taste the pleasantness of God. We find true joy.
The Hebrew word that is translated as “pleasant” is naim. It was used to describe a sweet song on a harp. You could translate it delight or blessedness. Music has a beautiful way of calming our nerves and refreshing our spirits. Yet, even more than music, wisdom brings true pleasantries to the soul. David said in Psalm 16:11, “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” That’s the Christian life. That’s what wisdom brings. If you have this sweetness of knowing wisdom, you can have this blessing regardless of your circumstances.
Our world says you must have nice things and luxurious pleasures to be happy. The Christian knows that the true pleasantries of the soul are only found in knowing God. That is the apex of human existence. That is the sweetest and most pleasureful life. There is no greater experience than walking in divine wisdom. It saddens me to think about all the pleasures that I have missed because I have put good things in my life ahead of the best thing. There is nothing greater than rejoicing in God and walking in the way of His wisdom. There are no substitutes.
Fourth, we must understand that wisdom is trusting God with all of our hearts.
Solomon says in Proverbs 22:19, “That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you.” Wisdom, in its essence, is trusting and fearing God. The path of wisdom can only begin when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. When you repent of your sins and trust Christ, that is when you embark on the path of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” That’s the beginning and the only beginning.
There is no wisdom outside of Christ. Paul says, “In whom [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).
As a pastor, I speak to people always looking for wisdom to navigate life’s difficulties. Often, the difficulties they face occur because of either their sin or the sins of others. Usually, it’s both. To gain wisdom to face these difficulties, they must be humble enough to go to Christ. Like Joseph before Pharaoh, I do not possess the ‘answers’ myself; instead, they have been given to me by God in His Word. I know where to find them. I also know that the only way to interpret the truth is by possessing the “mind of Christ,” which comes through faith in Christ (1 Cor 2:16). Jesus said that you cannot even “see the kingdom of God” unless you have been born again (John 3:3). So you cannot possess wisdom outside of Christ. Spiritual things are not discerned by unspiritual people (1 Cor 2:14).
Therefore, the most important question anyone can ask in a crisis is, ‘Am I a true Christian?’ If the answer is yes, we can start discussing the wisdom principles that apply to a particular situation.
So, we must begin by fearing the Lord and trusting entirely in Him. That’s the beginning of the Christian life. Proverbs 3:5 and 6 say, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” That is the beginning of the Christian life. Trust is the essence of faith. Trust is a willingness to submit your life to God’s ways. When Solomon says, “In all your ways acknowledge him,” that means that in everything that you do, you surrender yourself to God. You submit to God’s Lordship over your life. God then “directs” you in the path of wisdom. And it is on the path of wisdom that you arrive at being a “mature Christian.”
