Knowing Wisdom from God

 ...so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Ephesians 3:10

I have a LOT of books on my bookshelves. In fact, since I recently moved I discovered that the number of bookshelves in my new office aren't actually enough to hold all the books I have in my possession. Sure, you could say I have too many books, but the thing I have discovered over the years is that there is a lot of godly wisdom out there in the world and, for me at least, books are a great way to find that wisdom and learn it.

Before I dive too deeply into our topic today, I want to make one important distinction, the difference between knowledge and wisdom. My working definition of the two words is that knowledge consists of the facts of what we see and observe. Wisdom is how we apply that knowledge to our life. As a quick example, I know how traffic lights work, with green and red and yellow lights. Wisdom teaches me to plan trips around making right hand turns more often than left.

God created this world according to His wisdom, and He planned it so that His wisdom would be found in the world. There are many matters of this world that fall under God's wisdom, more than we can ever know. And yet, there are also those elements of God's wisdom that either seem hidden, or that run counter to how things seem to work in the world.

Jesus is God's prime example of His wisdom that is hidden and that runs counter to the ways of the world. The fullness of God lives in Jesus, and yet that fullness was so hidden that God's own people handed Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus likewise shows us that God's way of working in this world tends to be the opposite of what might seem best. Those who want to lead best do so by making sure that they are taking really good care of those who work under them. The best way to receive love from another is to set aside your desire to be loved and instead to love that other person and serve them. The best way to be honored is to look to honor others and build them up, rather than trying to do things that simply impress others.

In our verse above, Paul states that God's wisdom is revealed through the church, through God's people in Jesus. It's not going to be obvious to people who do not know God's grace and God's design. That wisdom is also known and shown in a couple of different ways. First, it is known because we realize that wisdom ultimately comes from God and we seek to pattern our lives according to His wisdom. We love others even at the expense of ourselves. We look to do good even when others don't do good to us. We talk of others well even when they speak poorly of us.

God's wisdom is also known and shown because we are a people who find our identity in God's wisdom. God's wisdom was to forgive and renew, and so we know and show God's love because we are a people who acknowledge that we are not perfect. We ask for forgiveness because we are forgiven by God through Jesus. We care for others because God has cared for us in Jesus. We serve others because our God has served us, especially through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. We have a new identity, which was God's wisdom to grant to us, and in our lives, we find our identity in the God who has done this work for us.

God's wisdom shines as His word goes forth through His Church, and as His Church looks to be defined by His wisdom. Our prayer is that others see God's wisdom at work when they see the manner of our lives, and that they are then drawn to that wisdom which defies the way the rest of the world works.