Happy Friday. Only one more Friday (after today) before Christmas and I bet there’s lots of Christmas parties taking place tonight. In fact, we’re going to one. The international student group I work with at SMU is being hosted by the faculty coordinator at her home to visit and decorate Christmas cookies before they head back to their homes for the Christmas break. We’ll have students from New Delhi, India and Beijing, China there. What a blessing that even in Texas, God has allowed us access to the people of the world. I treasure the opportunity to share in the lives of students from all over the world.
Of course, this brings into call the dreaded Friday afternoon traffic. I heard somebody say one time that Friday afternoon traffic in Dallas starts on Thursday…so true! Marge has the rare afternoon off so we’re gonna make a half day of it, leave around 2:30 and go hang out at Northpark mall. I think its better to miss traffic and hang out where you’re going than to sit in horrible traffic and be forced into improving your prayer life….ha.
This morning I enjoyed the 2nd chapter of Colossians. Colossians is a short book with only 4 chapters so we’re already half way through. In fact, the rest of the New Testament is comprised of shorter books with the exception of Revelation. The 5MC will be flying through the rest of the N.T., I could see us finishing it by February depending on what we do with Revelation. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you do just a little bit every day.
The verse that jumped out at me this morning was Col 2:3, but for context we’ll look at the verses before it as well.
“I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Col 2:1-3
So here Paul is encouraging the churches at Laodiceea and Colosse to be united in love in order to fully know the mystery of Christ. But verse 3 is where we’ll camp out today:
“in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Col 2:3
So, Paul is saying that within the glory of Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Those two words hold unbelievable power and potential, lets look at them closer.
What do we think of when we think of wisdom and knowledge? When I think of wisdom I think of one being wise. Someone that IS wise. I picture it in my mind. I see a wise man as someone that lives up on a mountain and sits criss-cross applesauce while meditating on the depth and breadth of life 19 hours a day. He wears a robe and has a long white beard. And sandals, gotta have sandals. If you want to see him you have to hike like 1,000 miles across rugged terrain that involves steep cliffs. When you get there to ask him the questions of life he will only answer your questions with more questions. (Darn you TV and movies, you have ruined me!)
When I think of knowledge, I think of someone that possesses great amounts of intellect. I see a professor at an Ivy League school wearing a tweed sport coat with patches on the elbows, smoking a pipe and surrounded by many large books. And he also has a big blackboard that is 2 stories tall and he has one of those ladders that you climb up to write on the very top. On that blackboard he writes all kinds of really long equations. The ones that have numbers, letters and all those other crazy math symbols. And a British accent. Gotta have a British accent. (Once again, thanks TV stereotypes)
These are of course caricatures of people that I believe could hold great amounts of wisdom and knowledge, but what exactly is wisdom and knowledge and how do they differ between our world and God’s world? These two words have always fascinated me. What they really mean versus our perception of them. Get your shovel and let’s go digging to see what God’s Word says about them.
First let’s look at wisdom. The formal definition of wisdom is “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment.” If you possess wisdom, then you must be wise right? But here are a few questions for you.
Where do you get wisdom?
How much wisdom can you get or do you need?
How do you know that ‘your’ wisdom is the right wisdom and others don’t possess the ‘wrong’ wisdom?
Who is the 'wisdom police? Meaning who creates and judges whether wisdom is good?
As we think about true wisdom it should bring up many more questions than it answers. You see it gets philosophical and philosophy is man thinking too much about something that God has already answered. You see, a true philosopher is seeking the after truth, but truth is not found in human wisdom. Wisdom is a gift of God and as I like to say, “we need God to understand God.” So lets look at what God says about wisdom.
Well, to start we needn’t look much farther than our verse this morning. It clearly tells us that all wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the person of Christ. Now God’s Word also tells me that if I have called upon the name of Jesus Christ to save me that I am a child of God and am ‘in’ Christ. So if I am in Crist do I have wisdom? Great question.
As far as defining wisdom in Christ, I have heard several great definitions. “seeing the world and the situations it presents through the eyes of Christ” is one of my favorites. If you can walk this world today and react to the situations it presents through the eyes of Christ, my friends, you will indeed be a powerful light for Christ and wield great levels of wisdom. Another definition is “being allowed insight into the application of the truth of the Word of God.” There’s that word again, truth. If one of the characteristics of Jesus is wisdom and another characteristic of Jesus is truth, then the two must be in correlation. They’re different but the same. You can’t have wisdom without truth.
So, let’s move on to knowledge. I see wisdom as more spiritual and see knowledge as being in possession of some kind of intellect. I see knowledge as tool and wisdom as knowing how to use the tool. You can possess knowledge and not possess wisdom. So, in order to be wise do you have to have knowledge? Great question. It would sure seem so.
Let’s invite wisdom and knowledge to collide in God’s world. If I am desiring to walk in the wisdom of Jesus Christ today wouldn’t I need to possess at least some of the knowledge of Jesus Christ? I think so. I mean how can you use the tool if you don’t have the tool?
Speaking of this, I have started to do some modifications and upgrades on the Miata. For those of you that don’t know I love Mazda Miatas. This is my fourth one. They’re cheap to buy used, cheap to operate, cheap and easy to work on and a real hoot to speed around in. (yes I’m cheap) So I decided to install new spark plugs, plug wires and plug boots this week. I took off the plug wires and was ready to remove the spark plugs but guess what? I didn’t have a spark plug socket. A spark plug is 5/8” so any 5/8” socket should fit it, but a spark plug socket is different. Not only is it very deep so it can fit over the entire plug, but it is magnetized so you can retrieve the plug out of the deep recess of the engine. Huh, no plug socket, I looked at the engine and scratched my head. Stuck. I had no choice but run up to the auto parts store and by one. Without it I could not move forward one inch. Also, funny side story, I quickly grabbed one with a ½” connection and when I got home realized my ratchet was 3/8”. Again, I look at the socket and scratch my head. I’m stuck. I drive back to the store to get the right one. The point? I had the knowledge of how to operate that plug socket & racthet, but I didn’t have the right tool to exercise the knowledge. The same is true with wisdom and knowledge. How can you apply God’s wisdom in your life without God’s knowledge.
So here’s the real kicker. You might say, "well Dan, I want God’s knowledge, where do I get it?" Thank you. Really, thank you for asking that fantastic question. Your timing is perfect. You get to partake of the knowledge of God through His Holy Word. The Bible. His Scriptures. The Words of God will impart you with His knowledge. Check out some of these verses about knowledge and the Word of God:
“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6
“Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands. Psalms 119:66
“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit.” 1 Cor 12:8
“For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.” Ecc. 7:12
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Pro 9:10
“For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you.” Pro 2:10-11
God has a lot to say about knowledge. In fact, it is mentioned 194 times in the King James version. If God mentions it that much, He wants us to stand and take notice. So, knowledge is gained through God’s Word and then execution of knowledge is wisdom. Seems to me like we should get knowledge, huh? Well, the whole reason the 5 Minute Challenge exists is just that. “To encourage all to spend daily time in the Word of God.” The 5MC started as I saw the youth on Maui struggling with life’s challenges. Challenges I knew could be conquered through the knowledge of God’s Word and the wisdom it produced. I just cannot stress it enough, daily time in God’s Word can and will transform the way you walk in this world. It is a promise from God and God’s promises are the strongest bond the world has ever known. As I was in my Bible commentary the other day I came across this ‘tough love’ paragraph on the importance of being immersed in God’s Word. Let me share:
“I think one of the things that will cause believers to be ashamed at the appearing of Christ will be their ignorance of the Scriptures when they stand in His presence. I’m of the opinion He will say to many of us, “I gave you all the information you needed in the Scriptures. You didn’t listen to me; you didn’t hear Me.” We say that one of the problems with our children is that they don’t listen to their parents. The problem with the children of God is that they don’t listen to their Heavenly Father. Many of us need to leave the busyness and dirtiness of this world and go aside with the Word of God where we can contemplate Him, worship Him and praise Him.” Thru the Bible, McGee, Vol IV pg 326
Wow. Tough words, but so true. If you want to claim the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus Christ, it is yours. It’s free, available and more than likely within arm’s reach of you throughout your day today. Reach for God’s Word. Be still, get quiet and meet with Him. In that process you will start one of the single biggest miracles that can take place on this planet today. The living Spirit of God that resides within followers of Christ will interpret and explain the Living Word of God to them. My friends, that is a miracle and all you have to do is claim it.
I pray today that you take at least 5 minutes to grab a quiet place, be still from the busyness that wants to dominate your life, and let the Spirit of God loose in the power of His Word. If you want to be changed, you will.
God is so good to us.
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