GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT – GIFT OF WISDOM
DR. JIM DIXON
1 KINGS 3:3-14
MARCH 2, 1986
They called her Athena. She was the Goddess of Wisdom. In Greek mythology, it was said that in the beginning, at her inception, she sprang from the forehead of Zeus in a sort of lobotomous birth. Her symbol was the owl. She was said to have wisdom beyond measure and today, if you go to Athens in the country of Greece, is the greater hill of the Acropolis, and on top of the Acropolis is the Parthenon, more than 2,000 years old, a great and magnificent structure dedicated to Athena. In fact, the whole city of Athens itself is named after Athena, because for the Greek philosophers nothing was more beautiful or more important than wisdom. Wisdom was more important than love, more important than courage, more important than power. Nothing was as great or as important as wisdom. And throughout the Greek Empire, most of the cities had temples dedicated to Athena. In the course of the years and the centuries, millions of Greek citizens came and sacrificed the blood of animals upon the altars of her temples, crying out for wisdom, that she might grant them wisdom for situations in life. And in their homes, Greek citizens would fall down and pray to idols and images of Athena, asking for some measure of wisdom. And it was said that on occasion, Athena would, indeed, grant wisdom but only for a short time, only for a season because she guarded her wisdom jealously.
How unlike the one true God who has wisdom beyond all measure and is more than happy to share that wisdom with us, and to some people, to some Christians, God gives a gift called the Gift of Wisdom and it is not simply for a short time, it is not simply for a season, but it is for a lifetime. To understanding this gift this morning, I have two teachings. And the first teaching is this. A person who has the Gift of Wisdom is a decision-maker, a godly decision-maker, able to make choices that reflect the very will of God.
A few weeks ago, I was reading the story of a man named Fred. Fred received an inheritance and according to the will, the will stipulated that he had to receive the inheritance either in Brazil or Chile. Fred chose Brazil and that was too bad because in Chile he would have received this large piece of land upon which gold, uranium and silver had just recently been discovered. But in Brazil he was told that he could receive his inheritance either in the form of nuts or coffee and Fred chose nuts and that was too bad because the bottom fell out of the nut market and coffee rose to $1.80 lb. wholesale. Well, Fred was destitute, and he was bankrupt. He lost everything and he sold his solid gold watch in order to buy a ticket to back to the States. He had enough money to buy a ticket either to New York or to Boston, so Fred chose Boston and that was too bad because when the plane came for the New York people, it was a jumbo 747 with a red carpet and just really happy people going on board, looked like beautiful stewardesses. They said that the food was going to be exceptional. They showed just the movie Fred would have wanted to see, but when the plane came for Boston, it was an old Ford 1928 trimotor and kind of beat up you know, and Fred got on board and the plane was just filled with screaming children. And he found out that there would be no food service on this flight. Well, this old plane barely was able to at off the ground, and it was flying over the Andes and one of the engines fell off. Well, that was as much as Fred could take. He couldn’t take any more and he went up and found the pilot. He said “Listen, I’m just a jinx. I’ve got to get off this plane or the whole plane’s going down.” He said, “Give me a parachute.” The pilot said “Well, all right but we don’t allow anyone to jump from the plane unless they have two parachutes.” Fred said “Alright,” so he took two parachutes, jumped out of the plane and he’s just flying through the air, kind of in a daze, struggling to think which parachute to pull and he decides to pull the one on the left and that was too bad because the cord just came free, and nothing happened. He thought, “Well, I’ve got one other choice, no problem.” So, he pulled the one on the right and that, also was too bad because the chute opened, but the lines just disconnected and Fred was freefalling through the sky, desperate. In desperation, he finally cried out, “St. Francis save me!” A moment later, this giant celestial hand just reached down from heaven and grabbed Fred by the back of the shirt and just held him there. As Fred was just dangling in space, falling no longer, he breathed a deep sigh of relief and wiped his brow and suddenly a voice from above him said, “St. Francis Xavier or St. Francis of Assisi?” Now that’s kind of a dumb story, but I think we would all agree that life is absolutely filled with decisions and choices, and most of the choices that we have to make aren’t particularly difficult.
We can simply take a look at the facts. We can take a look at the data. We can weigh the facts and data and whichever way the scale tips, that’s the way we go. Or we can add up the plusses and the minuses and whichever column is longer, that’s the way we go. But other times, decisions just aren’t so easy. We’re in a fog. We can’t penetrate the mist. We don’t know which way to go, and we desperately need wisdom. It is for this reason that God offers wisdom, and the Bible says, “If anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask God who gives to all men without reproaching, freely, lovingly, and it is for this reason that God gives a gift in the body of Christ called the Gift of Wisdom and that gift is not given simply for the one who possesses it but for the sake of the whole body, that by the Gift of Wisdom, all people might be blessed in counsel for the sake of making godly decisions.
In the Old Testament I think you would agree there’s not a single person who had more wisdom than Solomon. Solomon was the third King of Israel, the last King of the United Kingdom, and he took the throne after the death of his father, David, and Solomon was a young man when he took the throne. And he said in his own mind he was “like a little child and did not know how to go out or to come in.” And he was at Gibeon, and there at Gibeon, the Lord appeared to him in a dream by night. And the Lord asked Solomon pretty much, He just asked him to make a wish. And Solomon could have asked for anything, but Solomon asked for wisdom—the wisdom of an understanding heart, the wisdom to discern good from evil, the wisdom to govern a people chosen by God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God gave Solomon this special gift of wisdom, and Solomon became known throughout the whole civilized world for his knowledge. He was said to be knowledgeable regarding the birds of the air and regarding the fish of the sea and regarding the beasts of the fields. He was said to be knowledgeable regarding Heaven and Earth and people came to him from the surrounding nations. They came to his court, that they might sit at his feet, and they might learn from him. Even the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon, and it was said that she came, not simply for his wealth but for his wisdom. And yet the wisdom of Solomon was not expressed primarily in knowledge, but it was expressed in decision making.
Solomon made choices that reflected the insight of God. He made economic choices, political choices, social choices, diplomatic choices, all of which reflected the wisdom of God, and Israel grew to the very zenith of its power. Solomon built cities in strategic locations, knowing exactly where to build them. He built a vast cavalry; he built a vast fleet of chariots, but he did not need to go to war because he also made shrewd diplomatic choices. He formed alliances with surrounding nations. He entered into a period of international trade and international peace. He beautified the cities and he arbitrated for the people. He made the right choices with respect to the people as they brought their problems to him for judgement. Two women came before him, both claiming to be the mother of the same child and through a brilliant test, Solomon discerned who was the true mother. A godly decision-maker.
Now this gift is not incorruptible. Solomon grew corrupt as the years passed in forming diplomatic alliances, political alliances through transnational marriages in a time of polygamy. Solomon began to tolerate and even to adopt some of the pagan religions of his heathen wives and began to build temples, shrines to pagan gods in Israel and in the Holy City of Jerusalem itself. It was true that Solomon built the great Temple of Solomon, and he built it for the worship of the God of Israel, the one true God Yahweh Elohim and it is true that the Temple of Solomon eclipsed all other structures in beauty and in majesty, but it was also true that Solomon built lesser structures to pagan gods. He compromised his faith and in truth, he began to crave power more than purity. He compromised his faith, he compromised his wisdom and like Satan at the dawn of time, Solomon gave up his wisdom for the sake of his glory. And yet when his wisdom was pure, in the beginning, his choices were God’s choices. His decisions reflected the very thought of God.
A person who has the Gift of Wisdom is more than a decision-maker. In fact, decision-making is not the most important aspect of wisdom and that leads us to our second and final teaching this morning. A person who has the Gift of Wisdom is a philosopher, a godly philosopher, a person who understands the very thought of God, a person who views the meaning of life from God’s perspective, a person who is able to help other people find meaning by conforming their life’s actions to God’s purposes. You see, the Greek word for wisdom is the word Sophos. The word philosophy comes from two Greek words, fellao, meaning to love, and Sophos meaning wisdom. A philosopher is simply a lover of wisdom, and a Christian with the Gift of Wisdom is a lover of God’s wisdom. A Christian with the Gift of Wisdom is a person who loves the very thought of God. A godly philosopher and this is what Solomon was like when his wisdom was pure.
Two and perhaps three books of the Bible or the greater portion of them were written by Solomon. The Proverbs, the Song of Songs, sometimes called the Song of Solomon, sometimes called the Canticals and the Ecclesiastes have all been attributed to Solomon. Three thousand wisdom saying in the Book of Proverbs were written by Solomon, all reflecting the wisdom of God. If David was the father of the Psalter, Solomon was the father of what theologians call the Wisdom Literature in the Bible. He was a philosopher. Throughout history, there have been many so-called philosophers. In China, it is said that the greatest philosopher who ever lived was Confucius. Confucius was born 551 years before Christ. Born in the Shan Tung Province. Originally his name was simply Kung. The name Confucius is the Latinized form of his Chinese title, Kung Fu Zu, which means great master Kung. In the past 2,000 years, no one has influenced Chinese thought more than Confucius. But Confucius did not want to start a religion. He simply wanted to be a philosopher. He did not claim deity. He did not claim supernatural powers and of course he did not rise from the dead to lead a people. Even in modern day Confucianism there is no clergy, there is no worship of God, there is no concept of life after death. Now it is true that many people in the world today have taken some of the teachings of Confucius and made them into a false religious system and it is also true that some people in the world today view Confucius with a kind of reverential awe that borders on deity and worship, but when Confucius died 479 years before Christ at the age of 72, his wish was that he would simply be viewed as a philosopher and some of his followers began to circulate his sayings—wisdom sayings—kind of witty sayings. Confucius says, “He who aimeth at nothing, verily hitteth it every time.” Those are the kinds of sayings attributed to Confucius. Whether he actually said them, no one knows, but this, we do know that the philosophy of Confucius had two cornerstones of thought. One public service. The other, respect for authority. To Confucius, in his philosophy, nothing was more important than public service and respect for authority, particularly parental authority and governmental authority. And as the wisdom of man goes, the philosophy of Confucius was not bad.
But you see, the philosophy of Confucius, the wisdom of Confucius, pales when compared to the wisdom of God because the wisdom of God, the philosophy of God is this . . That above all else, we serve not the man but above all else we serve Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Christ and that we serve man for His sake. The wisdom of God is this: that we render respect for the authority of Christ above all else for He is King of Kings and He is Lord of Lords. The wisdom of God is the gospel and the gospel calls everyone on the face of the earth to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior. If you’re a Christian, the wisdom of God is summed up in this, when Jesus said, “Seek first my Kingdom and my righteous and I will give you everything you need.”
A person who has the Gift of Wisdom is able to help us see whether or not our actions in life, our thoughts, our behavior truly seeks first the Kingdom of Christ and the righteousness of Christ. You know the Bible tell us that the people of this world do not understand the wisdom of God and are not living by the wisdom of God. In fact, the Bible tells us that the people of this world are not even living by the wisdom of men or the higher expressions of human wisdom. The Bible tells us that the people of this world are living by the philosophy of Satan. They are living by the philosophy, by the wisdom of Satan. Satan is the ruler of this world in this age and his philosophy, his wisdom has spread throughout this world, and the Bible tells us that the wisdom of Satan is this—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh is a Greek expression for hedonism, a preoccupation with pleasure. The lust of the eyes is a Greek expression for materialism, a preoccupation with material things. The pride of life is a Greek expression for ascensionism, egoism, a preoccupation with self and with self-ascension. This is the philosophy of Satan, and he has sold this philosophy to the world and the world has bought it but it’s a lie. There is no fulfillment in materialism or hedonism or ascensionism. It is a lie.
Satan hates you! Satan hates us all. He wants us desperately to buy his philosophy of thought, but the Bible says, “We have become futile in our thinking, our senseless minds have been darkened. Claiming to be wise, we have become fools and we have exchanged the glory of the immortal God.” The Bible says, “Do not love the world or the things that are in the world for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world, and the world passes away and the desires of it but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
You know Howard Hughes lived by the wisdom of this world. He had women, he had wealth, he had power, but in the end he had only disillusionment. He found meaninglessness. He was riddled by phobias. He sought to isolate himself. He became a recluse. He locked himself up in a room, urinating in bottles, eating nothing but ice cream, watching the Rock Hudson movie. “Ice Station Zebra” more than 200 times. He had bailed out. He had given up. Life had no meaning.
John Belushi bought the wisdom of this world. Talented, he attained fame and recognition. He had money and with that money he entered into a lifestyle of drugs and promiscuity. He entered into a downward spiral of sex and drugs. A downward spiral of hedonism satiated but never satisfied, and ultimately he gave his life in the pursuit of deeper and deeper pleasure. And Satan loves that. The Bible says, “Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” In the beginning the Bible says, “Satan corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor.” He said in his heart, “I will ascend above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will make myself like the most high God.” And the Bible says, “He was cast down.” And Satan knows that if he can get anybody to seek ascension, they will be cast down. He knows that every Napoleon will ultimately meet his or her Waterloo, if not in this life, then in the life to come. Satan knows that materialism and hedonism are virtually insatiable, and he knows that ascensionism leads to a fall. That is the wisdom of this world. The Bible says, “Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual and devilish.”
But you see, the wisdom of God, the Bible says in James, is pure. It is sensible. It is open to reason. God doesn’t condemn material things. God created the material world and God said, “It is good.” And God wants us as Christians to enjoy material things in the context of His will. God gave us all a capacity for pleasure. God doesn’t hate pleasure. God wants us to enjoy pleasure but in the context of His will. God made us sexual beings. God doesn’t hate sex. God wants us to enjoy sex, within the context of His will, and this is the will of God, that sex is a beautiful gift, meant to be opened only within the context of marriage, because sex is the highest physical expression of unity and it’s meant to be joined with the spiritual and emotional unity that is marriage.
Anytime we use material things outside of God’s will, we sin. Anytime we use pleasure outside of God’s will, we sin. And the truth is that all of us are tempted by the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, because we live in this world. And we are all touched by the wisdom, by the philosophy of this world. But God would remind us that as Christians, we are not of this world. That there is a higher philosophy that we are to seek and the wisdom of this world we are to shun. And the wisdom of God is not expressed in self-ascension, nor is the wisdom of God is expressed in self-denial as in the aestheticism of the Eastern religions. The wisdom of God is expressed in self- relinquishment, that we might submit ourselves to the will of Jesus Christ. The wisdom of God is a heart which loves. Christ, a heart which wants to serve Christ, a heart which wants to obey Christ. The wisdom of God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. The wisdom of God is revealed in the scriptures and the wisdom of God in a special way is given to people who have a gift called the Gift of Wisdom. They are meant to use that gift, not simply for themselves but to help others within the Body of Christ begin to walk more and more in the ways of God. And all of us are meant to seek wisdom—God’s wisdom—God’s philosophy—more and more in our life, through the scriptures, and through prayer, and that is why the Bible says, “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously and without reproaching.” Let us pray.