Leading with Wisdom | Proverbs 1-2

What does it mean to lead with wisdom in a world overflowing with information? In this opening message from Proverbs, Pastor Chris Teien explores the difference between knowledge and wisdom, the importance of the fear of the Lord, and why true wisdom ultimately finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Whether you are leading a family, a business, a ministry, or simply seeking God's direction for your life, Scripture teaches that wisdom begins with God, grows through obedience, and is fully revealed in Christ. Drawing from the lives of Solomon and David, this message challenges believers to seek God's wisdom, apply His truth, and trust His direction in every area of life. 

Full Transcript & Audio

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/19309020

Sermon Outline

I. Wise Leaders Recognize Their Need for Wisdom

Proverbs 1:1-6; 1 Kings 3:9-12

Solomon understood that leadership required more than ability, experience, or resources. He asked God for wisdom, demonstrating that wise leaders recognize their dependence upon the Lord and seek His guidance before making important decisions. 

II. Wise Leaders Live in the Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10; Psalm 111:10

The fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. It is not terror but a reverent submission to God that results in obedience, humility, and godly decision-making. 

III. Wise Leaders Continually Pursue and Apply God's Wisdom

Proverbs 2:1-6

Wisdom is not acquired accidentally. It must be sought, treasured, and applied. God's people are called to listen, search, ask, and pursue wisdom diligently through His Word. 

IV. Wisdom Finds Its Fulfillment in Christ

1 Corinthians 1:24,30; Colossians 2:1-3

The wisdom described throughout Proverbs ultimately points to Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God and the source of true spiritual understanding. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 

Memorable Quotes

"Knowledge is learning. Wisdom is the God-given ability to rightly apply that knowledge."

"Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom."

"Solomon had wisdom, but he still had to choose whether he would obey it."

"Christ is wisdom personified, wisdom in the flesh."

Reflection Questions

1.  In what area of life do you most need God's wisdom today? 
2.  How does the fear of the Lord influence your decisions and priorities? 
3.  Are you intentionally pursuing wisdom, or relying primarily on your own understanding? 
4.  What is the difference between knowing God's truth and applying God's truth? 
5.  How does understanding Christ as the wisdom of God shape the way you read Proverbs? 

Application

Biblical wisdom is more than knowledge. It is faithfully applying God's truth to everyday life. Consider an area where you need God's direction. Bring it before the Lord in prayer, seek His wisdom through Scripture, and commit yourself to obeying what He reveals.

The fear of the Lord remains the foundation of true wisdom. As believers grow in their knowledge of Christ and submission to His Word, they learn not only what is right but also how to live in a way that honors God and benefits others. 

Scripture References

Proverbs 1:1-7; Proverbs 2:1-6; Proverbs 9:10; Proverbs 14:12; 1 Kings 3:9-12; Psalm 111:10; 2 Samuel 5:19; James 1:5; James 1:22; James 3:13; 1 Corinthians 1:24-31; Colossians 2:1-3.

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Chris Teien, Pastor of Rockwell Church in Virginia, Minnesota, shares biblical preaching and practical encouragement through the WELL Faith Sermon Audio Podcast, along with occasional guest speakers.

New messages are shared every week to encourage you in your faith and help you apply God's Word to your life.

Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church

Transcript

Chris T 0:00

If you look at First Corinthians chapter one, Paul writes, So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. He continues on. Do you see yourself in there at any point? And I think a lot of us come to that same point. And we're like, praise God, Jesus loves us, Jesus reached into our life, Jesus saved us, Jesus is making us sanctified and holy and assuring us heaven as we have this faith, and we celebrate that Jesus died on the cross for our sin, that he rose again, and that he ascended into heaven, and someday he's coming back. Paul continues on then. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and use them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. So we don't boast. We don't think highly more highly of ourselves than we deserve. We come together as the body of Christ. I think it's so wonderful when you have people who are just simple normal people, and you've got the corporate CEOs and developers of industry and I don't know, doctors, lawyers, all these things. They all come together in the church on an equal playing field, that together we serve Christ together. And Paul continues God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit, God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God, he made us pure and holy and freed us from sin. Are we still pursuing him? Are we still on the narrow road? Are we still putting him first in our lives? Or have we gotten distracted? Have we fallen away? Have we wandered off into a different direction? Our message theme for the month is wisdom. And it's interesting that the Bible talks about wisdom in the Old Testament and says that Christ is wisdom in the New Testament. In June, I would like to discuss some topics in Proverbs and how to understand Proverbs and how God uses Proverbs and how that whole thing works, this wisdom literature. But wisdom is important. Wisdom is something that we need to live our lives, and we definitely need to have wisdom when we're leading, but to be leading with wisdom. I seek wisdom because I want what's best for the church and I want what's best for the people around us. I want what's best for our community. I want to be a church where people are excited to come to church to hear a message they can apply to their life and be excited to bring their friends. And I think that we're on that, but we just need to do better, maybe, at inviting people to come. But leading with wisdom. Now, I'm a pastor, so I hope I'm a leader. And maybe you don't feel you're a leader, but as I mentioned in the past, if you are a parent or a grandparent or a manager or a boss or whatever, you're leading somebody. And we all need to be seeking wisdom while we lead. And when we seek that wisdom, we have to come down to not what I have experienced, not just what I know, but because that's just knowledge. So knowledge is learning everything that you can, observing, reading how other people have done it, gaining knowledge. But wisdom from God is the ability to rightly apply that knowledge. So wisdom is where God gives you the ability to rightly apply that knowledge. And live your life in such a way that it makes a difference. Live your life in such a way that you are worth following. Interestingly enough, most of the Proverbs were written by King Solomon, David's son, King of Israel. Proverbs 1, 1 starts out with these are the Proverbs of Solomon, David's son, King of Israel. Now, as you get into Proverbs a little more, you'll find out there's some other authors, and maybe we'll address that in the future. But when it was time for Solomon to become king, he did an unusual thing. He wanted to do what was right in God's eyes. He wanted to be a good king. And I don't have it on the screen, but in 1 Kings chapter 3, verse 9, he asked God, He says, Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern these great people of yours? So this is what Solomon is saying to the Lord. And the Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. So God replied, Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice, and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies, I will give you what you ask for. I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have. So Solomon was blessed with this supernatural gift of wisdom. But if you know the story of Solomon, he gets off to a pretty good start. And then as things continue on, the wealth and the wives get in his way. So he wasn't supposed to keep acquiring wives, but he thought that it might be a good idea to keep peace with his enemies by marrying their daughter. So, you know, he just had all these marriages and all of these wives and concubines, and they eventually, in his old age, led him away from the Lord, and it was a great disappointment. So there were other things kings weren't supposed to do. They weren't supposed to acquire a bunch of stuff. I think Solomon had a bunch of horses and all these things that he acquired, and he taxed the people so much that it was a burden because they just kept taking tax money and taking money from the people and stuff. So we had all of this wisdom, but he still had a choice on if he was going to apply it, if he was going to do it. He knew the from knowledge, he knew the right thing, he knew about the right thing. And with wisdom, he knew how to do the right thing, but it was still his choice on whether or not he was going to do it. So that is true in our lives too. It is true in our lives. Now, I think that most of the Proverbs were proverbs, were written when Solomon was younger. I don't know how much energy it takes to sit there and write, I don't know how many, like 3,000 Proverbs. It's like, all right, he's a king, so he's probably got people around. All right, guys, grab your pens. Let's see what we can come up with today. And I think that God helped him to come up with the Proverbs that we rely on today. And we have to remember that Proverbs is generally the way it works, it's not always a 100% guarantee. Often contrast things, sometimes it's cryptic Hebrew poetry, sometimes it's hard to understand. But again, we have lots of Bible study tools and resources to help us get through. But just as a preview to Proverbs and the time that we have today, know that these Proverbs, most of them came from Solomon. Number one, wise leaders recognize their need for wisdom. Do you recognize your need for wisdom? Have you asked God to give you wisdom? Sometimes we run to God and we say, God, give me this, give me this, I want this. Instead of praying, Lord, I think I would like that. Is that a good idea for my life? Is that a good plan? Give me wisdom. Help me to make the right choices. Help me to do the right thing. And often, when you look back, you see how God helped you to make the right choice in the right way. And that if you had made a different choice, it might have not worked out. I mentioned before that years ago when we moved to Chisholm to work there, that we were looking for a house to live in. And we looked at all these different houses, and one that we really liked sold before we could even get serious about looking at it. And there was this foreclosure down there by the lake there in Chisholm. And so it needed some work. It needed a lot of work, actually. If you walked on the deck, you'd fall through. So it needed a lot of work. But that was what we ended up buying and got it fixed up. And then it was the only house that we looked at that qualified for us to do foster care. And we did foster care and hopefully helped some kids and families in need. And eventually adopted a child through that. That was one of the things we always wanted to do was adopt the child. And I think that God, in his wisdom, directed us to that house, and we wisely chose that house so that God could work out his plan and provide one of the heart desires that we had. And I don't know what your stories are. I hope that you shared them with other people, but it's very encouraging to see how God has answered your desire to know what's right, to know what to choose, to make a wise choice, to be a wise person, to share wise information, to know that you need wisdom, and I need wisdom. And so then Solomon says the reason that he wrote these proverbs, what they're for. So in verse 2, he says, their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline and to help them to understand the insights of the wise. And so there are a lot of wonderful Proverbs that can guide and direct your life. I'm not going to share them today because we get to do this for eight weeks of talking about Proverbs. But the Hebrew idea of wisdom refers to skill in living. It describes the ability to apply God's truth to everyday decisions and circumstances. We have so much information now. We can go on our phones or computers and we can get information about so many things. But we have so much information. The question is, how do we know what to choose? How do we know what God wants us to do? How do we know how to live? What can keep us from making foolish decisions? In James 3, it says, if you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. So wisdom isn't to be accumulated. Wisdom isn't just to know lots of facts and be full of sayings, like you can say Proverbs all the time. But more than that, to put it into action, to humbly put it into action, to do God's will, to put your wisdom into action so it helps in other people's lives. And then Solomon continues on their purpose, these proverbs, their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just and fair. These are the things that we need to learn. We need to know how to have self-control. We need to know how to do the right things in the right way. I like the gotquestions.org website and app and everything. It's got like, I don't know, thousands of questions and answers that Christians ask. And I just thought their response to what is wisdom was interesting. It says, wisdom and knowledge, both recurring themes in the Bible, are related but not synonymous. The dictionary defines wisdom as the ability to discern or judge what is true, right or lasting. Knowledge, on the other hand, is information gained through experience, reasoning, or acquaintance. Knowledge can exist without wisdom, but not the other way around. One can be knowledgeable without being wise. Knowledge is knowing how to use a gun. Wisdom is knowing when to use it and when to keep it holstered. I thought that was interesting. That applies. That's pretty good. But to know the way to live, to be a leader that seeks godly wisdom to do the right things. As a parent making decisions, you need wisdom. As a business leader making decisions and taking actions, you need wisdom. Every decision affects other people. Proverbs 14, 12 says there is a path before each person that seems right, but in the end it leads in death. You do not want to go down that path. You do not want to be separated from God. You do not want to live a life that misses it. What if you had everything you ever wanted and it kept you so comfortable that you never took time to consider Jesus, to reach out to Jesus, to consider the gospel message, to acknowledge that you're a sinner in need of salvation. Death. In the end, it leads to death. That is not what we want. We want life. We want eternal life in Christ. Verse 4. Solomon continues on. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. Okay, so the simple doesn't mean that they're mentally underdeveloped. It just means they haven't had a life of, they haven't had a lot of experience in life. So they haven't had a lot of input in life. Sometimes we learn from mistakes. It's so much better to learn from other people's mistakes. So much better to learn from other people's mistakes than to make your own. But to have knowledge, to have discernment. Young people often face important decisions without having accumulated years of experience. And God's wisdom provides insight and discernment. And actually, the first part of Proverbs, the first section of Proverbs, is pretty much for the young. It's addressed to my son. So Solomon says, My son, my son, my son. Verse 5. Solomon says, Let the wise listen to these Proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance. Okay, so if you're simple, if you're young, if you don't have a lot of experience, if you have a lot of experience and you would consider yourself wise, you can still learn more. Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. That's why some wise people, some people that do really good in leadership, will continue to read the proverb a day. They'll continue to just, in their devotions and everything else, they read other things. But uh Proverb a day repeatedly is just something that they do all the time. Because it is good information, it is wisdom. Those things are good. Proverbs 1 6, he says, by exploring the meaning in these Proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles. So that means it's not always there at face value. Sometimes you have to think about it. Sometimes you have to think about how it applies. And then you try to look into the context of what did it mean in the time that it was written. Is this something for all people of all time, or primarily just for people at that time? Has culture or customs or anything changed where this doesn't work for us today? Or is this something that I should look into, that I should do, to explore, to search, to struggle with, to ponder, to pray through? Proverbs and parables, the words of the wise. 1 Corinthians 6, 8.2. 1 Corinthians 8.2 says, Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. I hear that a lot. The more you learn, the more you realize what you don't know. The more you learn about different things, the more you want to learn about different things. Most industries, most hobbies, most things, there's always more to learn. There's always different areas to grow in, and we need to continue to do that. And even in the 1800s, that was a deal. So J.R. Miller, a Christian pastor and devotional writer, wrote a bunch of devotionals back in the 1800s. Miller noted that some people begin life with great promise, but eventually stop growing. Early success can make a person think he has learned enough. But when learning stops, growth stops. And when growth stops, decline begins. He shared the story of an artist who made it a goal to add at least one line to his work every day. The line itself was not important. It simply represented daily progress and continued growth. So basically, the artist is like, every single day, no matter what I've got going on, I'm going to go over to that Easel, I'm going to do something, I'm going to do a little. Same thing is kind of true in your devotion. Sometimes you're like, oh, I don't have time. And that's why I suggest to some people that just make a seven-minute commitment each day to spend time in God's Word and some time in prayer and put God first. Because sometimes once you get there, once you get in it, once you get the book open, then you spend more time in it. Good thing that we have the book of Proverbs that we can look to help us to grow in our walk with Christ and in our relationships with people and people around us. Number two, wise leaders live in the fear of the Lord. Live in the fear of the Lord. So this isn't the fear that God is going to destroy you. This is the fear that you honor, that you respect, that you care about greatly what God thinks about what you're doing and the way that you do it. Bible talks a lot, actually, about the fear of the Lord, and we might even talk about that in the future, because it re it shows up so many times in Proverbs. But Proverbs 1:7, fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. So it's the foundation, it's the beginning, it's the thing that true knowledge is built on is a respect, a holy respect for God. A holy coming before him and knowing that he sees everything, he knows everything, he still loves us, but you care, you care to please him, and that is a good thing. The fear of the Lord. The Bible talks about the fear of the Lord again in Proverbs 9 10. Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom, knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. And Psalm 111, 10, fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever. So I was inspired by this in the Christian leaders, Christian leadership commentary about the fear of the Lord. It says, this is the focal verse of Proverbs, the foundational truth of all that follows. There is no alternative to the truth of this statement. There is no substitute for what it prescribes. The fear of the Lord, and it alone unlocks the door of wisdom. With this in mind, it is absolutely imperative to fully understand its meaning. First, what is the fear of the Lord? It is recognizing who God is and ascribing to him the respect, reverence, and authority he is due. A person who truly fears the Lord submits to him and obeys him. It is an attitude of submission and obedience to God. Anything less than obedience is not truly and genuinely fear of God. I thought that was pretty encouraging. And I hope you found it that way too. So Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, and it is a very strange book if you go through it, because it repeatedly says, meaningless, meaningless, everything's meaningless. But when you get to the end of the book, you realize that what he's saying is that of all the things you could do, of all the things you could acquire or aspire to do or experience and all of these different things, and he had tried many different things, that the conclusion, when all has been heard, is fear God and keep his commandments, because this applies to everyone. Everything is meaningless without God. Everything matters when you are in God's will, doing God's plan. Alright. So David was good at applying this. King Saul, he would take things into his own hands. He would run out there and do whatever he wanted to and got him into a lot of trouble. So he ran before God. And truly acknowledging God and seeking God's wisdom makes you do things like David did. Now again, David wasn't perfect in all in everything in every way, as we all know. But 2 Samuel 5.19, David asked the Lord, Should I go out to fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me? And the Lord replied to David, Yes, go ahead. I will certainly hand them over to you. It is so good to pray before you make big decisions. Pray before you do those things. It's always a good thing to instead of making the choice or decision to say, you know what? Can we just have a day to pray about it? Save you a lot of pain, a lot of trouble, a lot of difficulty. All right, number three, wise leaders continually pursue and apply God's wisdom. Continually pursue and apply God's wisdom. So Solomon says, My child, listen to what I say and treasure my commands. Turn your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver, seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain the knowledge of God. So do you see the list there? To listen, to treasure, to tune your ears, to concentrate, to cry out, to ask, to search, to seek, to give wisdom your attention. Wisdom requires. Effort and desire. It's easy to drift into foolishness and compromise and spiritual apathy, but wisdom requires that you pursue it. So Solomon builds the intensity. We listen, we treasure, we tune our ears, and then we cry out and ask and we search for wisdom, and that is a good thing. Proverbs 2, 6, for the Lord grants wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. And that's what we want. That's what we need. We need to apply that into our life. Now, I've got a couple minutes left here, but there's another interesting thing when it comes to wisdom in the Bible that I find exciting. And that is first James 1 says, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. So here we have Solomon saying, This is wisdom, you need wisdom. Then you have James saying, if you need wisdom, ask for it. And then in Colossians chapter 2, Paul, just to set it up, he wants everybody to know how much he's agonized for the church at Laodicea, even people he hasn't met. But verse 2, I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ Himself. In him lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So Got Solomon, seek wisdom. James, pray for wisdom. Paul, Jesus Christ is wisdom, personified, wisdom in the flesh. Now, as you read Proverbs, you also find that wisdom is personified as a woman. So that doesn't necessarily mean it's the Holy Spirit, but it does mean that in that genre, as you think about that, it's like someone investing into your life. But with that, James 1.22, and then I'll be done. Don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you're only fooling yourself. Wise leaders fear the Lord. Wise leaders seek wisdom. And I want to challenge you in July. You can start now if you want, but I thought it'd be fun if in July we could all, because there's 31 days in July, and there's 31 chapters in Proverbs. So what if we all read a chapter in Proverbs each day, starting July 1st through July 31st? And that way we'd have read through the whole book of Proverbs. It's not a very long book. It's reasonable that we could do that. And I think that we would all be better for it. Next week we're going to continue this and learn that wise leaders choose wise influences. And I think that will be a great Sunday to come back. But let me just pray. Jesus, I thank you that we can come and hear from your word, Lord. Make us wise people. Make us wise in your eyes, not in our own eyes. Lord, help us to make right godly choices. Help us to make a difference in the world with the time that we have and the resources that we have in the place that we live and the people that we know and can influence. Lord, I pray you'd help us to put this message into practice and that you'd be glorified. We're so thankful in Jesus' name. Amen.