The Wise Man Built His House

The wise man built his house upon the rock The wise man built his house upon the rock The wise man built his house upon the rock And the rain came tumbling down Oh, the rain came down And the floods came up The rain came down And the floods came up The rain came down And the floods came up And the wise man's house stood firm. The foolish man built his house upon the sand The foolish man built his house upon the sand The foolish man built his house upon the sand And the rain came tumbling down Oh, the rain came down And the floods came up The rain came down And the floods came up The rain came down And the floods came up And the foolish man's house went "splat!" [clap hands once] So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ And the blessings will come down Oh, the blessings come down As your prayers go up The blessings come down As your prayers go up The blessings come down As your prayer go up So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wisdom is one of the chief ingredients to be found in the children of God, as the apostle Paul said in Colossians 4:5-6, Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone WHAT IS WISDOM? Wisdom is defined simply as the ability to make right decisions in harmony with right laws, at the right time to produce righteous living. It's a simple definition but it is obviously very difficult to carry it out in certain ways. WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF WISDOM? Job believed that the fear of God is wisdom. And Solomon believed that Only the Lord gives wisdom. Thus we recognize that there is a worldly wisdom that Paul wrote about in I Corinthians 1 and then there is a Godly wisdom that God talks about throughout the entirety of the bible. Wisdom goes hand in hand with sound judgment, which is the ability to judge with righteous judgment, according to Jesus in the book of John. He was telling the Pharisees, because of their blindness to the reality of what they were and in their self-righteousness they could not understand properly what good judgment was and He said simply that you need to learn to judge righteous judgment. With that in mind I'd like to look at some broad principles that can give us a lot of food for thought as we begin to prepare and as we go to the Feast, it's a part of what we would talk about going to the Feast but I think more than that, must be a part of our lives if we're going to shine as the stars in the firmament and if we are going to be able to shine in that brightness as wise individuals. I'd like you to turn with me to the book of Proverbs 9, let's begin there in this sermon. This chapter in the book of Proverbs discusses and contrasts two opposite houses. It says that every one of us has to choose which house we'll live in. It is obvious by the context that each house represents a way of life. One house is the house of wisdom; the other house is the house of foolishness. (A fool is someone who is deficient in judgment, a fool is someone who is deficient in good sense, a fool is someone who is deficient in understanding so here the book of Proverbs is to give us what God intends for us to understand about this particular house.) Let us look at verse 1. Prov. 9:1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. In Verses 1, we see that Wisdom, FIRST, puts her own house in order, building it with seven strong pillars in the bible the number seven is what we use to denote completion. Try to picture a house , where theres one main pillar in the centre at the front and three pillars on each side of the house, on the left side and on the right side. Let us identify the pillars that make up this house: Pillar #1 Its not hard to determine, is it, what is the main pillars of wisdoms house, the one thats at the entrance of the house. Let's go to Proverbs 9:10, let's begin with the

pillar we describe as probably the main pillar of wisdoms house. It says The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. The fear of the Lord...I think we could stop and say that God wants to see in us is an attitude of respect, an attitude of awe, an attitude of admiration and a submission to Him and a love for Him and I think no doubt all of us can grow in that area. It creates a change of attitude, it creates a change of approach that we have, when the fear of the lord begins to come upon you, you begin to realize that you don't trust in yourself, you don't trust in your experience, you don't trust in your vanity. You don't trust in your strength if you're a young man, you don't trust in your age if you're an old man. There are always the vanities of being young or being middle-aged or being old, they're all there and the struggle goes on all of the time. Pillar #2 - Knowledge and understanding. Now you knew I was going to go there, didn't you? But Proverbs 18:15, let's notice it for just a moment. The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out. So the heart of the prudent or the wise individual acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seek knowledge. The Proverbs also tell us, "Happy is the man who finds wisdom and a man who gains understanding." Another Proverb says, "God gives wisdom, from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding." But isn't knowledge and understanding just simply per se, to have knowledge and to have understanding? Or is it knowing how to apply that knowledge, knowing expressly how to handle knowledge in the right way. We could say the second pillar of wisdom is really gaining information and knowing how to use it. It's easier to make foolish decisions if we don't have proper knowledge or understanding and have all the pertinent information. Pillars #3 - Seeking good counsel or advice. Proverbs 11:14 tells us that without guidance a nation falls, but with many advisors they make victory. So point number three is that you simply have to remember that one of the most important things you can do is seek good counsel or advice. It is important to seek advice for the more difficult decisions and judgments. Notice what I just said for the more difficult decisions and judgments that we have to make. One mind has only so much power. Several good minds have more power and are of more value. What's the old expression, "Two heads are better than one?" You begin to find out that when Jesus sent men out, He sent them out how many? Two by two. Seeking advice is not asking or allowing someone else to make your decision, seeking advice and counsel is checking to see if our analysis is correct, checking to see if our plan is sound. Many times counsel gives us a different perspective and more options to consider. If your analysis is good you'll have more confidence after getting counsel. Pillar #4 Foresight. It's the ability to look beyond the immediate situation and to see the end result. A wise person thinks about the effect and the outcome of his actions and he avoids a lot of heartache and he avoids a lot of suffering. I want you to turn with me to Proverbs 27; we see here a very important principle that has to do with foresight. The prudent sees danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Foresight is like having your lights on at night while driving and being able to see far enough ahead that if there is something there, you can bring the car to a stop, its the difference between having your lights on low beam where you really can only drive so far and you really out drive the beams of your light if you're driving at a higher speed, so you

have to slow down, but when you put them on high beams, you can see a whole lot farther. Pillar #5 Accepting correction. Learning to accept and to welcome correction is an important theme of the book of Proverbs and of the entire bible. But it is extremely hard for most of us to do. Proverbs 3:11 says, My son, do not reject the Lords discipline and do not resent His rebuke; because the Lord disciplines those He loves and as a father a son in whom he delights. Correction is neither easy nor pleasant, we need to be willing to admit that we are only human and we make mistakes and we fall short. You can pray, you can study your bible, you can fast but you have to also ask God for correction. Whoever loves instruction, loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. Proverbs12:1. Pillar #6 Self-discipline or self-control. There is a high price that is paid for acquiring wisdom. Prayer, bible study and fasting of course takes a lot of self-discipline doesn't it? Knowing what is right is one thing, doing it is another. Self-discipline is an essential quality of Christians. Things like the moderate use of alcohol, not losing your temper, being able to work with people in such a way where the self-control is a component of wisdom, the challenge that we can understand the principle and carry it out in our lives. Pillar #7 - Developing & maintaining good relationship with people. Good people skills are very necessary in service. In Proverbs 11:30 it says, The fruit of righteousness is the tree of life and he who wins souls is wise. So much of having wisdom involves having good human relationships, valuing other people, learning to apply the laws of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Now that we have looked at the construction of wisdoms house, we turn our attention back to verse 2 of Proverbs 9, where we see that she has prepared meat and wine that she will share. Prov. 9:3 She has set out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. Verse 3 shows her (Wisdom) sending out her maidens (which would be her messengers) to the highest places in the city, which would be another place, like the gates, that people gather to listen, teach and discuss ideas. Prov. 9:4-6 - Let all who are simple come in here! she says those who lack judgment, 5come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. 6Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding. In Verses 4 - 6, her message to the young in these places is, come and search for understanding. She implores the simple ones to eat of my bread. Jesus often refers to himself as the bread of life. John 6:25-59 (NIV) Jesus the Bread of Life 32. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who gives you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33. For the bread of god is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

35. Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. As we see again, Jesus IS part of Wisdoms feast, and, all the way through scripture, the wine represents the Holy Spirit, so Wisdom is calling people to join in a feast that will bring TRUE, everlasting fulfillment and life, and as Verse 6 comments, we must leave our old, foolish ways of thinking from BEFORE turning to God, so that we will eat of this Bread of Life. So will you be the wise man, who built his house on the rock, and dwell in Wisdoms house or will you be like the foolish man and dwell in Follys house?