Living Wisely or Foolishly - Part 1

Dr. Charles Stanley: When we're living wisely, we're going to be able to walk through the deepest, darkest valleys of life. We're going to walk through paths that we think there'll be no way to walk. We're going to be able to walk through situations and circumstances and heartaches that we would never think we could ever endure. But when you're walking wisely, here's what happens. God says, "This is the next step." Step by step. And so we ask him, "Lord, what shall I do in this decision?"
Guest (Male): Psalm 111 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." And today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we begin a series of messages reminding us of the vital connection between knowing God and being wise. Stay with us to learn how to evaluate your decisions to assess whether you're living wisely or foolishly. Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.
Dr. Charles Stanley: Why would a family choose to buy a home, a house, that they know that they cannot afford, but they're going to buy it anyway? Unwise decision. Why would a person marry just for sexual fulfillment, not thinking about other things? Unwise decision. Why would people put in their mouth something that ultimately ends up in their lungs, knowing that it's possible to have lung cancer and die a terrible kind of death? Unwise decision. If you open the jail doors of prisons all over this country and could interview the people who are therein, most of them would say as they look back, "Unwise decisions." When you think about the kind of life that you're living, would you say that the decisions that you're making are wise or unwise? Wisdom is a gift from God. Living unwisely is a very expensive lifestyle to every aspect of our life. So when we turn to this passage of scripture in a few moments, what we really see Paul doing is speaking to the people of his day and those Corinthians, Greeks, they thought they were the smartest folks in the world, and probably were in many ways very wise, humanly speaking. But there's a difference between human wisdom and godly wisdom. So I want you to turn, if you will, to First Corinthians chapter three, and I want us to look at the 19th verse, beginning with that. And there are a number of verses I want us to consider here, but I want you to keep asking in your thinking, "Decisions you have to make, are they going to be wise decisions or unwise?" So listen to what he says in this third chapter, beginning in verse 19. And notice what he says, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God." Look at that. The wisdom of the world is foolishness before God, the way the world thinks apart from God. "For it is written, he is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness." You don't get away with it, there are consequences. "And again, the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they're useless. So then let no one boast in men, for all things belong to you." And so he's comparing Paul and Apollos. And so he says, "Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world, or life or death, or things present, things to come, all things belong to you." They were trying to compare the preachers and so forth. Then he says, and look at this next verse, "And you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God." When I think about single verses in the scripture and how powerful they are and how full of meaning they are, this rises to the top. Listen to this. "And you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God." Therefore, if we belong to Christ, we belong to God. And I would ask you, "Who do you belong to?" You either belong to God through Christ, or you belong to the devil, one of the two. Some people say, "I don't believe in the devil." Unwise belief. So, with that in mind, I want us to look at this whole issue of wise and unwise lifestyle and how people are living it. And the scripture distinguishes it between here. So, let's look at wise living for a moment. The first thing we want to do is define what do we mean by true, genuine wisdom? Godly wisdom, that's real wisdom. Godly wisdom is doing things from God's viewpoint. How does he see them? And then responding to those things on the basis of what the Word of God teaches. So if I look at things from God's viewpoint, where am I going to find that? I'm going to find it in the Word of God. And so a person who says, "I don't have time for that Bible stuff," what you're saying is, "I choose to live a very foolish life. I will make foolish decisions in life. I will suffer consequences I would never have dreamed of." If you're so smart that you think you can live your life and live it happily or peacefully or successfully apart from the teachings of the Word of God, you are playing the fool. It is foolish. You cannot. And the Bible teaches it all the way through scripture by illustration where we can never forget it. So think about that. It's the capacity to view things from God's viewpoint. And then on the basis of that, respond to them accordingly. So you're facing a decision. What's the question? The question is this, "What is the wise thing to do?" If I'm going to find that out, I need to turn to the source of all wisdom, and that's Almighty God. To leave God out of your life is foolish, devastating. Only a fool who hears the Word of God turns away, says, "I don't want any of that," because you're not thinking wisely, you're thinking foolishly. So when we look at this passage of scripture, and with that in mind, think about this. God is omniscient. He knows everything. He knows about yesterday, he knows about today, he knows about tomorrow. He knows what happened yesterday perfectly. You and I don't. We only know what humans can know. God has absolute, total, complete, infinite knowledge about every single thing. He's never behind because he knows the past, present, future. Nothing ever startles him or surprises him. He knows perfectly before, during, and afterwards. So it is only wise to consult one who knows everything and who has never said, "Oh, I forgot." "Oh, I never thought about that." God doesn't have to resort to a computer to find out what's happening. He doesn't have to take a photograph so he won't forget it. He has infinite knowledge, everything that could possibly be known about you before, during, and after. He knows you perfectly. Therefore, he knows every single need that you have. He knows it before you know it. Twenty years from now, God knows where you're going to be with him or still living. He knows all about the economy. He knows all about the things that could possibly happen. So the question is this, are you living on the basis of what you see, what you feel, what you hear, the so-called wisdom of man, which the Bible says is foolishness because it's so limited, we'll see in a moment? The finest and the most brilliant of men are limited in their knowledge. And often times their brilliance is the very barrier between them and wisdom. Knowledge doesn't make a person necessarily wise. It gives them access to many, many things, but there's a difference. And when I think about it, knowledge has to do more with the mind. But when I think about wisdom, it has more to do with the heart, with the spirit of a person. You can be very smart about a lot of things, but very unwise about others. And when we are unwise, what we're doing is we're saying, "I think I can handle it without God." I'm going to make this decision based on what I like, what I want, what other people expect, and what I believe will make me secure in life. I think about people who think their security is in finances. Listen, that is a foolish thought because it changes every day and often times many times a day. Where is your security? Is it in your relationship to Jesus Christ? That is where all true, genuine security is to be found. And if you have chosen to live your life apart from God, here's what you've done. You have separated yourself from eternal security. If you live it without God, you have separated yourself from any kind of true, genuine, lasting security. God is Almighty, he knows all things about every single solitary thing. And so that being true, naturally he's the one I should be going to. So, tomorrow morning you wake up, you have a decision to make. What do you do? You call your friends and ask them what they think? I can tell you what they think. You want to know ahead of time? They think that whatever makes you happy is what they think. And often times that's what they will do. They won't even be honest about it. The one person you and I can go to about every single solitary decision, no matter what it is, is Almighty God. Now watch this. He loves you enough to have sent his son Jesus into the world to die for all of us. We are all sinners. He saw beforehand every sin you'd ever commit for all generations. And he sent his son Jesus to die for us. That tells me he loves me beyond my comprehension. He loves us, listen, knowing all of our failures, knowing all of our sins, knowing all of our mistakes and all of the things that go on in our life that are not right. Beforehand, he saw that and he sent Jesus anyway. So this much I know. This God whose son died for my sins and who knows every single thing, does no research for anything, that above all he loves me and he loves you no matter what. That love will never change. And when I think about these verses, I want to come back to this verse again in the 23rd verse of the third chapter of First Corinthians. Listen to this verse a minute. This verse just grabbed me. In fact, when I was studying this week and I came to this verse that I have read multitudes of times, naturally. I'll tell you what happened to me. I had to get on my knees. And ask God to help me understand what he means when he said, "You belong to Christ. Christ belongs to God. Therefore, you belong to God." You say, "Well, that's simple." It may be simple, but I want you to think about it. You belong. That means he has stamped you with his awesome stamp of eternal security that you are a child of God. And nobody can get to you because you're in Jesus and Jesus is in God. And before anybody can get to you, they've got to bypass him. They can't bypass him. Somehow when I read that verse of scripture, you belong. Listen. Not that you just know about Jesus. Look at this. You belong to him. Is your son or your daughter, your husband or your wife with you this morning? If he or she is with you, look at them. Come on. You belong to him. You belong to her. That makes it's one thing to know somebody, it's something else to belong to them. And if I want to belong to somebody, I want to belong to Almighty God. You say, "Well, what did that get you so fired up?" I'll tell you why. Because it must have been something God wanted to say to me. "You belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God." The only people about whom that can be true is people who have trusted Jesus Christ as their savior, who are, listen, wise enough to acknowledge their sinfulness, wise enough to believe the testimony of scripture about his death, that he justified us, declared us righteous, reconciled us, saved us eternally, sanctified us, all the wonderful things the Bible says about us. Listen, we have eternal security. You know what eternal is? Endless. We have endless security in our relationship to him. And so the one who has made us have eternal security is the all-knowing, Almighty God who sent his son and about whom he said, "You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God." I don't know about you, but that makes me feel very, very safe. You belong to Almighty God. Which means this. Watch this. Nothing and no one can touch you apart from the knowledge, the wisdom, and the will of God. Nothing. So, if you happen to be one of those persons and you're fearful of something, what's your relationship to God? Because he's the only one who can surround you perfectly and protect you in any and every given situation. Only that which God allows can happen to one of his children. You say, "Well, what about so and so, they went through this problem, this heartache, this burden, this tragedy?" Not without God knowing it. Not without God's plan. And what he allows often times is beyond my comprehension. It's not beyond the wisdom and the knowledge and the awesome plan of God. The world's foolishness is just that, it's foolish. They think they know when only God knows. That's why believers are set apart. We are a part of the body of Christ. We're set apart by God through his son Jesus Christ to do what? To allow him to live his life in and through us. We are, listen, we are the walking children of the Living God, whose names are in the Lamb's Book of Life, who eternally secure in him, and who have him as our God for every single day. We can come to him and ask him about any decision that needs to be made and he is willing to give us direction. But if you don't know him, if you think, you see, watch this. If you live in disobedience to God, what you're saying is, "I don't need omniscience. I don't need omnipotence. I don't need omnipresence. I can handle it." In this mixed-up, crazy, sinful, wicked, vile world, that is a foolish conclusion. A foolish conclusion. We all need Almighty God. All of us need him every day. And so, when I look at these passages and see what Paul said in this particular passage, he says, "The wisdom of the world is foolishness in the eyes of God." Because you see, if you took a grain of sand and put it over here, and all the beaches of the world, that little grain of sand, and all the beaches of the world, may be equal to our knowledge and understanding and wisdom. Apart from God, we don't have it. We don't have it. If you don't believe, look at the society in which we live. Well, look at what's happening to us every single day. You wake up one morning and you hear this. Wake up the next morning, you hear that. Let me ask you something. When's the last time you looked at the television or read the newspaper or heard anything about what's going on, you said, "Finally, a great day has arrived?" No. It's not true. So what are Christians do? Are we supposed to be worried and frustrated and anxious and fearful and going to bed and what's going to happen? No, we know what's going to happen. Listen, we're sleeping in the presence of Almighty God who never sleeps, who has all power, all knowledge of every single thing. Listen, we are his children. How foolish to live apart from holy God who has made it possible to have everything we need in Christ Jesus. That's wise for us to have. So, human reason is deficient. It takes godly wisdom to live the kind of life that I know every single person really wants deep down inside. And when we're living wisely, we're going to seek his guidance about all these things. And if you'll think about this. A person who is spiritually wise, they're going to be able to see things with their eyes others do not see. They're going to be able to hear things with their ears others don't hear. This is why somebody can say something to you very persuasively or very arrogantly. And you're a child of God, walking in his spirit, and you know what they say? They send two messages. Here's what you heard them say, here's what they said. And there's a lot of difference. Children of God who are walking wisely, we have the wisdom of God because that's his desire and will for our lives. And the problem is if we ignore that, then we get in trouble. We think, "Oh God, where were you?" And God is saying, "I've been here all along. You weren't listening. You listened to other people. You decided what you wanted, not what I wanted, because I know what's best for you." So, when we're living wisely, we will live a certain way. And what is it, in essence, to make it simple? When we're living wisely, we're going to be able to walk through the deepest, darkest valleys of life. We're going to walk through paths that we think there'll be no way to walk. We're going to be able to walk through situations and circumstances and heartaches that we would never think we could ever endure. But when you're walking wisely, here's what happens. God says, "This is the next step. And this is the next step, and this is the next step, and this is the next step." You know why he doesn't tell us the whole story? He says, "We can't, you can't even fathom it sometimes. You couldn't stand to know where God may lead you." So what does he do? Step by step. And so we ask him, "Lord, what shall I do in this decision?" This is the step. "What shall I do in this?" And you see, if we just decided we're going to do it ourselves, we just go plowing through the difficulty and the hardship and the pain. We find ourselves making mistakes. God, remember, he loves us enough to keep us on the path. He loves us enough to keep our eyes on things that are real and true and genuine.
Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. The teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Do you trust God enough to believe that he'll show you what to do next? If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit is your companion and will lead you as you ask and wait for his guidance. Maybe you're wondering how to remain faithful in a world so full of compromise and evil. You'll find insightful and encouraging resources at intouch.org. You can also review what you just heard by clicking on the link to today on radio. And if you'd like to have a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, you can order at the online store. The title is "Living Wisely or Foolishly." Or order his Wisdom from Above teaching set. Our web address again is intouch.org. Call or text to 1-800-IN-TOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357.
Guest (Male): When we pray, it can be hard to patiently wait for God's answer. Insight is just ahead in today's Moment with Charles Stanley.
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Guest (Female): Tired of faith feeling like a performance? Worn down by constant striving? Jesus never meant it to feel that way. His call was always to something more, to a life that's generous, vibrant, joyful, and sustainable. A real life with him. That's the heart of "Follow Me," our new book created to help you answer that call. Get your copy at intouch.org/followme.
Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. It's always wise to wait on God. With a reminder for believers, here's a Moment with Charles Stanley.
Dr. Charles Stanley: How many times have you and I started praying vigorously about somebody, about some situation? I mean, we were just calling out to God and crying out to God. And two weeks later, if somebody mentioned to us, we'd say, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." What happens is because he doesn't answer our prayer quickly, we're prone to give up. But patience says, "Listen, if God burdened your heart with something, or he burdened your heart to pray for somebody, just because you don't see change in them right now, doesn't mean that God isn't answering your prayer." Because remember, God doesn't begin his change on the outside. He begins his change deep inside of a person's heart. And so as you and I begin to pray for God to bring them under conviction, for God to work in their life, and for God to change their attitude. What's happening? We're talking about what's happening in their mind, what's happening in their heart, what's happening in their emotions. Before we ever see anything, God will have worked over and over and over again. And so, when you're praying for God to provide something in your life, just because he doesn't provide it today doesn't mean he's not working on circumstances. Because you think about often times, you and I will make some request of God, and if we stop and think, "Who else is involved that he has to work on? What does he have to provide over here? What does he have to change over here?" And often times, we don't know all the things, the intricate things involved in answering our prayer. And God isn't just going to knock some people out of the way and shove these over here and push this, slam this in order to get our answer to us on our time schedule. He works patiently, lovingly. He gets it done. He faithfully answers our prayer. But we have to remember to be patient and to wait and watch him work.
Guest (Male): Learn more about the ways God works in a believer's life at intouch.org. Upcoming on In Touch, the New Testament book of James has a lot to say about godly wisdom. Be back to examine the truth about the flawed nature of human wisdom. I hope you'll join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.