“The Choice And The Challenge”
(Proverbs 3:13-18)
I. Introduction.
A. (Illust.) During a break in the school Christmas program
rehearsal, a boy came running up to the principal and
announced, “I’m a wise man!” “You are?” said the
principal. “You seem pretty excited about it.”
The boy beamed. “I am!”
What’s so great about being a wise man?” the principal
asked. The boy quickly replied, “I get to carry the gold,
and I don’t have to hang around any smelly sheep.”
B. The world’s view of wisdom really mirrors that of the boy.
Wisdom is what allows us to “carry the gold” – to make a
good living, to live a comfortable life, and to avoid
association with anything unpleasant. But, is that God’s
definition of wisdom?
C. In life, there are really only two ways to walk, wisely or
foolishly. There are only two choices we have, to walk
wisely or unwisely. Wisely or foolishly. And throughout
the scriptures people are challenged, and counseled, to walk
wisely, as in Proverbs 3.
1. Nothing anyone can acquire or achieve in the world
is as valuable as true, Godly wisdom.
2. And, one of the reasons God places such a great
value on such true wisdom is because the choice of
it brings us a higher, better, fuller quality of life,
and assures us a future with Him.
D. If we choose to walk wisely, here’s what we can expect:
1. Contentment – beyond happiness, into the realm of
real joy, based upon a knowledge that our life has a
purpose.
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2. Courage – from having faith that God is with us at
all times, in all situations and that His power will
defeat the enemy of the soul and bring eternal life.
3. Confidence – from knowing that God loves us
unconditionally, and always.
4. Peace – rooted in knowing that God is in control
and works all things for our eternal benefit.
5. Progress – based upon our belief that forgiveness,
renewal, and growth are God’s gifts, and desires,
for all who believe in, and obey, Him.
6. Prosperity – as God gives us spiritual and material
blessings in life.
E. To choose Godly wisdom over worldly wisdom is to
experience the presence, power, and approval of God. On
the other hand, to choose to walk unwisely, to accept the
way of the world, produces a different set of outcomes in
life.
1. Conflict – not only with other people, but in our
own mind and soul.
2. Consternation – anxiety and fear, in the present and
of the future, especially concerning death and its
aftermath.
3. Disappointment – the “unsettled” feeling that there
must be more to life than what we are now
experiencing.
4. Disillusionment – a persistent bitterness and
resentment that life hasn’t turned out the way we
hoped and expected it would.
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5. Discontentment – that destroys the soul and
prompts us to seek satisfaction in the physical
rather than the spiritual.
F. If a person chooses to walk apart from Godly wisdom, he
or she can expect God’s disapproval. If a person chooses to
walk apart from Godly wisdom for a lifetime, he or she will
die outside of Christ and enter eternity separated from God.
The truth of God’s word makes it very clear: you never
lose if you choose to life wisely, according to God’s
precepts, and you always lose if you choose to live
foolishly, ignoring God’s guidance and commands.
G. If the consequences of our choice are so clear-cut, then why
is it that so many people choose not to pursue Godly
wisdom?
1. Walking wisely is difficult. It is not an easy path,
without obstacles. To walk wisely, day after day, is
one of the most challenging things anyone can face.
Jesus put it this way: Matthew 7:13-14 (READ).
a. It’s difficult not to let fear lead us to falter in
our faith.
b. It’s difficult not to yield to temptation when
the pressures to do so are great.
c. It’s difficult to forgive someone who has
caused us emotional, or physical, pain.
d. The wise choice is often not the easy choice.
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2. How can we walk wisely when there are so many
voices clamoring for us to ignore God’s wisdom
and pursue our own desires? God’s word has the
answer to this and other questions. The Bible is our
comprehensive manual on how to walk in wisdom.
Let’s listen to it.
II. The Challenge Of God’s Word.
A. Real wisdom is the capacity to see things from God’s
perspective and to respond to them according to scriptural
principles. There are five main reasons God desires for us
to walk in wisdom.
1. God desires for us to become all that He created us
to be. He expects us to develop and to use, all the
talents and gifts He’s placed within us. His desire is
that we maximize our potential, as a human being
and as one of His children.
2. God desires for us to accomplish all the work that
He gives us to do. We’re not called to unfinished
tasks, or half-hearted ventures. God puts
challenges, opportunities, and goals before us, and
expects us to pursue these so as to meet the
challenge, grasp the opportunity, and accomplish
the goal.
3. Third, God desires for us to receive, experience, and
enjoy all the blessings He gives to us. Walking
wisely means experiencing the fullness of His
provision, promised in His word. He wants us to
have the fruit that comes from wise choices, for
both our spiritual and physical well-being
(III John: 2: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper
in all things and be in health, just as your soul
prospers.”
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4. God desires for our lives to glorify Him. He wants
us to live in a way that causes others to want Christ
in their lives.
5. And, fifth, God desires that we avoid the pitfalls
that come with foolish living.
B. We may not be able to readily answer the question, “How
do we walk wisely?” but we can relate to why people
choose, and act, foolishly.
1. Some such choices are made in ignorance. We act
when we don’t know and don’t first find out what
we should know before embarking on a course of
action. Sometimes such ignorance comes from
bad counsel, asking the wrong people for advice or
guidance. Sometimes our desires are such that we
don’t even think to ask the question: “Am I being
wise?”
2. Second, foolish choices are rooted in self-
gratification. We want what we want, when we
want it, how we want it, and as often as we want it.
3. A third cause of foolish choices is our response to
peer or societal pressures. In a world that doesn’t
value Godly wisdom, people choose to go with
what “everybody’s doing,” and justify their
behavior on this basis. It’s not a question of
something being wise or foolish, it’s what others are
doing, so I must do it to “fit in.”
C. It’s the foolish person who believes, “I can live my life my
way, and be successful.” God will not bless, or reward,
such a life.
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D. It’s the foolish person who avoids, delays, or ignores
decisions that, inevitably, must be made. For example, the
reality of death and judgment. (Hebrews 9:27: “. . . it is
appointed for man to die once, but after this the
judgment.”)
1. We may discount, or refuse to believe, in judgment,
but we cannot deny the reality of death. Death is
not just an appointment, it’s an appointment that
cannot be escaped. Even if we life to experience
Christ’s second coming, Paul says, “. . . We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. . .”,
(I Corinthians 15:51).
2. The wise person faces the inevitabilities of both life
and death.
3. When you consider all of God’s creation, has
anything been done with a plan and purpose? If
God made everything in the universe and
established all the natural laws that govern it, isn’t
it reasonable to conclude that He has a purpose for
our lives? Who we become in this life, what we do
in this life, are subject to divine evaluation, based
upon God’s plans and purposes. Only a foolish
person would ignore that fact, or fail to prepare for
that divine evaluation.
E. It’s the foolish person who rejects God, by scorning His
offer of salvation, and eternal life through Christ, by
ignoring His commandments, by not recognizing the moral
boundaries He established. We find all of these outlined in
God’s word.
1. The fool is intent on living life according to his/her
own strength and ability, relying on their own
resources and intellect (worldly wisdom) to get
them through life.
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2. Any time a person limits God’s part in their life,
they reject Him.
3. And, when the consequences of foolishness and
foolish choices come upon us, we ask: “What
happened? What did I do to deserve this?” We
rejected God and His way – but, that is our choice.
III. Conclusion.
A. To New Testament Christians, Paul issued this challenge:
(Ephesians 5:15-17; READ). In these three verses, the
apostle makes these things very clear.
1. We must choose to pursue wisdom. It’s up to each
of us to determine how we “walk” through life.
Wisdom is not something a person stumbles into, or
automatically acquires. It must be sought and
pursued.
2. We must seek God’s plan. We must seek to know
God’s plan and purpose, not only for our own life,
but for situations involving other people around us.
God has promised that those who love and search
for wisdom will find it (Proverbs 8:17: [“Wisdom”
speaks, v.1] “I love those who love me and those
who seek me diligently will find me.”). Jesus puts
it this way: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek,
and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to
you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone
who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be
opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).
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3. We must take responsibility for applying wisdom to
our lives, for our actions and the use of our time.
We’ve been given a limited quantity of minutes,
hours, days, months, and years. That time should
be used in a way to produce the most good. That
time should be used to advance God’s purposes on
earth.
B. We are called to be wise, in every decision of our lives.
Our choice and our challenge is to know, and apply, the
wisdom that is Godly.
C. Wisdom, Godly wisdom, also makes us aware of the enemy
who seeks to enslave us, the tempter who seeks to ensnare
us, and the wisdom of the world that seeks to entrap us.
The right choice, the wise choice, is to say “no” to anything
that undermines our potential for receiving God’s greatest
blessings, and “yes” to those blessings and obedience to
God.