Lead Pastor
How God’s Wisdom Liberates Us unto Life
Folly and wisdom produce starkly different realities when it comes to the stewardship of our resources. Folly lures us into unimaginable loss and unbearable load, while wisdom liberates us unto secure and satisfying life. How does biblical wisdom liberate us unto life?
First, biblical wisdom frees us to anchor our security.
God’s wisdom is revealed in Proverbs 18:10-12: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall. Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.”
Do you see the contrast? As mentioned in the lure of folly, the wicked are deceived into imagining their wealth as their security. But the righteous have security in the one who is invisible and yet immovable. The picture of the tower is one of security and safety from threat or war, showing that the righteous are secure in who they are in the Lord, not in what they possess in themselves.
In 1 Timothy 6:17, Paul writes, “Command those who are rich in this present world … to put their hope in God.” Notice that the Bible is not against the rich. But wisdom calls the rich to righteousness, to place their hope and security in God, not wealth. You have likely heard the phrase, “those who are loved best, love best.” Concerning stewardship, wisdom proclaims: “those who are most secure, share most freely.” True security frees us to live and give.
Second, biblical wisdom frees us to avoid pleasure in pleasure.
Proverbs 21:17 states, “He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.”
This is a play on words in the text, as it really says, “he who takes pleasure in pleasure will become poor.” If you take pleasure in pleasure, you will always be poor, because you will never have enough and you will spend everything you have to get more. Because of the knowledge of where true pleasure is, wisdom frees us to finally enjoy the Giver in the gifts rather than to be enslaved to the gifts.
Thus, Paul can say in 1 Timothy 6:17 that the rich should “put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” The Christian, rooted in wisdom and secured by the wealth of Jesus, no longer needs to stuff self with pleasure, but is able to steward stuff with joy. God frees us from finding pleasure in pleasure so that we can enjoy what we have because we don’t have to have it. The glory of the Gospel is that we are now empowered to enjoy and enrich God’s creation rather than be enslaved by created things.
To fight enslavement to wealth, consider what C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity:
“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”
Because wisdom frees us from pleasure for pleasure’s sake, we can embody generosity rather than greed. Frederick Buechner wrote, “Greed is based on the mathematical truism that the more you get, the more you have.” Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Gospel sets us free to live completely counter to greed with a life based on this truth: the more you have, the more you give.
Finally, biblical wisdom frees us to crave help and hope in God alone.
Proverbs 11:23 states, “The desire of the righteous ends only in good, but the hope of the wicked only in wrath.”
The word desire here means the ambition, hunger, and craving of the righteous for good, that which God wants. The only prayer in Proverbs yearns for constant dependence on the Lord to provide:
“Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”
Wealth is so intoxicating because it offers independence and self-sufficiency. And yet the one hungry prayer of wisdom is for dependence on God for his provision. With wisdom, wealth is no longer sought to provide independence, but is stewarded as Kingdom capital to enrich, enjoy, and extend.
Consider the ones closest to you. What would they say is the appetite and hunger of your life? Would it be an appetite of dependence or the craving of independence? The wisdom of God liberates us from the lure of folly by providing us with a new appetite for dependence, an ability to avoid pleasure in pleasure, and an anchor for our life’s security.
Upcoming
Part Three: Wisdom and Wealth: What God’s wisdom makes us