Ephesians 4:7-16; The gift of wisdom.

Class Outline:

Tuesday July 13, 2021

 

We cannot serve God and people without wisdom - the ability to use the knowledge of good and evil properly.

 

Fallen man cannot discern good and evil, and so we all stumble badly. God has given us the gift to discern good and evil as shown in His word. By grace He has made us the new humanity and has given us His Spirit within, so that we may know the deep things of God (1CO 2:10).

 

JOH 18:37-38

Pilate therefore said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"

 

One of the many gifts that Christ has given us is the truth. We hear it straight from the source, straight from Him since He is the word. The born-again believer is of the truth since he is of Christ. The believer in the church is designed for the truth.

 

Pilate’s response is that of the skeptic (Ecclesiastes). Through his years and experience, Pilate has likely come to the conclusion that absolute, transcending truth cannot be known. He was wrong, and the truth stood in front of him.

 

Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge of good and evil, as defined by God, properly. We really can’t do hardly anything without wisdom.

 

But with wisdom, we are limited only by God’s plan for us.

 

PRO 24:14

Know that wisdom is thus for your soul;

If you find it, then there will be a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

 

PRO 3:16-18

Long life is in her [Wisdom] right hand;

In her left hand are riches and honor.

17 Her ways are pleasant ways,

And all her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,

And happy are all who hold her fast.

 

The Book of Proverbs is the first of the three wisdom books in the Bible, the other two being Ecclesiastes and Job.

 

Wisdom books: Pro, Ecc, Job.

 

The wisdom of God shows us what it looks like to live well in this world.

 

In Proverbs wisdom is personified as a female teacher who has incredible insight into every aspect of life: work, relationships, sex, integrity, spirituality, and money.

 

Wisdom has her handprint on the world. She is the standard by which men either stand or fall.

 

In Proverbs, wisdom is an attribute of God that He used to create the world. It shows us that wisdom has its handprint on the way of the world. It is woven into reality. And so, due to that truth, there is a law of responsibility that every person must obey. It is the laws of what we ought to do and ought not to do, from which no one is exempted.

 

PRO 8:27-31

When He established the heavens, I was there,

When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

28 When He made firm the skies above,

When the springs of the deep became fixed,

29 When He set for the sea its boundary,

So that the water should not transgress His command,

When He marked out the foundations of the earth;

30 Then I [Wisdom] was beside Him, as a master workman;

And I was daily His delight,

Rejoicing always before Him,

31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth,

And having my delight in the sons of men.

 

Wisdom calls out to the entire earth, to all men and has for all time.

 

She reveals that any person can accept her instruction and benefit by it in the beautiful life that exists under God’s moral law. Wisdom is portrayed as more than academic knowledge, but as a skill applied to everyday life.

 

PRO 8:1-4

Does not wisdom call,

And understanding lift up her voice?

2 On top of the heights beside the way,

Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;

3 Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,

At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:

4 To you, O men, I call,

And my voice is to the sons of men.