Charles Stanley - Living Wisely or Foolishly
Why would a city known for its great economy over all these years go bankrupt? Why would they go bankrupt? Unwise decisions that probably started years before. Why would a family choose to buy a home, 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 a person drink alcoholic beverage in front of their children early in life, leaving them an image of their dad sometimes being drunk? Thinking nothing of the consequence, very unwise decision. When you think about the kind of your life that you're living, would you say that the decisions that you're making are wise or unwise? I think about people who never consider the will of God for their life. They make decisions based on what they want, how they feel, what makes them feel good or what other people think and never asking, "What's the will of the Father"? Unwise, unwise decision.
And we could go through life thinking about all the decisions that people make. For example, they stack up credit on their credit cards to the point that they know they can't make the payments. Why do they do that? Unwise decisions. People make unwise decisions because they leave out the most important thing in their life, and that is the wisdom of Almighty God. And so, they just operate on the basis of how they feel, what comes natural, what do other people think? What do I want? What do I desire? And so, if you make decisions based on those things, you'll make unwise decisions. And what we forget is this. Every unwise decision, whether it's major or maybe not so major, it has consequences.
And we live in a time when people do not want to think about consequences. They just want to think about the here and now, what I want, what makes me feel good and so forth. What about the consequences? Consequences are there, and God tells us all through the Scripture. He shows us in the lives of people. He gives us the principle: there're consequences to unwise decisions in our life. He started off showing us that in the Garden of Eden, we're still all suffering from those decisions in the Garden.
Let me ask you this: have you made a decision recently that you have already seen that it was unwise because the consequences have come so quickly into your life? Or are you thinking about decisions that you've made are rather major decisions and you're thinking, "Well, I'm not sure about the consequences". You want to be sure about the consequences? What place does God have in your decision-making process? Are you going to live it on your own or are you going to be wise enough to seek the wisdom of God before you make any decision? So, let me put it this way right up front. Before you make any decision, you should always ask this question: is this the wisest thing to do? There is always an answer. Is this the wisest thing to do? Whether it's marriage or whether it's something financial, or health, or whatever it might be. Is this the wisest thing to do? That's always the right question, whether it's major or minor: is this the wisest thing to do?
Somebody says, "Well, I don't know what wisdom is". We're coming to that. But living wisely is the best life. Wisdom is a gift from God. Living unwisely is a very expensive lifestyle to every aspect of our life. So, I want you to turn, if you will, to First Corinthians chapter three and I want us to look at the nineteenth 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 that are before you today. That when you get home today or maybe tomorrow or this week or the coming weeks, 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 nineteen, 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". He says it's empty, they make unwise decisions, "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 or 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, "Well, 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. And 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 viewing 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 that in the Word of God. And so, a person who says, "I don't have time for that Bible stuff," what you are saying is, "I choose to live a very foolish life, I will make foolish decisions in life, I will suffer consequence 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 or any other way 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. 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, and only a fool who hears the Word of God turns away, shuts their mind out, 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, and 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".
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 oftentimes is beyond my comprehension. But that's knowledge. 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 are eternally secure in Him, and who have Him as our guide 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. And I say this not to be smart-aleck about it, not to be critical, but to tell the truth. That's the only thing I'm up here for, to tell the truth. That 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. 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 do Christian's do? Are we supposed to be worried and frustrated and anxious and fearful and going to bed wondering 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, that is 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 are, listen, 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 and 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'd 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 knows 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 for, "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. But then there's the other life. There's the people who live foolishly.
So, I want you to turn, if you will to, let's turn to James, over to James, and I want you to look at this passage. In this third chapter and verse thirteen, he asks this question. And it's similar to what Paul asked, "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic".
Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. There are two different kinds of wisdom. There's the wisdom of God and there's the wisdom that comes through man's thinking. And I want you to notice how he describes this. He says, "This wisdom is described in the following fashion. It is earthy, natural, and demonic. Now, what does he mean by that? Here means by earthy, that it's limited to what man can do. It's limited to man's reasoning and his thinking and his attempts and his accomplishments in life. That's how limited that is. Well, how, listen, how smart is man today? We might be able to invent things and go to the moon and this, that, and the other, but can't get along with each other.
And so, we can think about all the things that man's wisdom and his knowledge and understanding without God can create. Can't do anything without God. It's earthy. So that's one part of wisdom. And then secondly, he says, it is natural. That is, we all have a naturalness in us, and that is that part of us that part of us that does not want to obey God, that part of us that is subject to temptation. That part of us that desires our will and our way. You may not yield to it, but all of us have that naturalness in us. Some people call it a sin nature. Call it what you want to, but all of us have it. And so, he says those who are walking unwisely, their wisdom is earthy, doesn't get anywhere.
And secondly, it's natural, it's sensual. It relates to the fallen nature, and if you'll recall in First Corinthians chapter two, verse fourteen, he says, "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised". So, you get into a discussion with somebody who doesn't believe what you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ or God or holy things. And you know what, we say, "Well, why can't you believe that"? And you know why they can't? Because God said they couldn't. Apart from the Spirit of God, they will not be able to understand the things of God. Man's knowledge, it's earthy, it's very limited. Secondly, it's natural, and that is it's corrupt. But then he says, for example, listen to this: it's demonic. Its root is found in Satan himself.
So, go back to Genesis chapter three. Everything was absolutely perfect, and Satan convinced Eve. She believed a lie, and look at the consequences. There are many people today, and you may be one of them, you've listened to the devil's lie. You've listened to Him say to you, "You don't need God. Those church people are weak. You can handle it. You're smart enough to handle it. You've got position, you've got money, you've got intellect, you got talent. You don't need that religious stuff at all". Mark it down. That is the voice of the devil. The Word of God says it is demonic. It deals with your naturalness and that earthiness a part of you.
And if you listen to Satan's lies, He's always going to tell you, "Well, this is the easy way". The issue is this: what is the wisest thing to do? When your children come to you and they ask you, "Well, what should I do about this, that, and the other"? What do you say to them? "Well, let me think about it". Or do you say to them, "No". Well, why not? "Because I said so". Well, why don't you say to them, "I've been thinking about that, and my conclusion is it's not the wisest thing to do". One thing we need to instruct our children to do is to ask that question: what is the wise thing to do? Not what is everybody else doing? What's the wisest thing to do? What, in other words, what does God see? On the basis of His omniscience of knowing everything, omnipotence, having all power, omnipresence being he's in the middle of everything you're dealing with.
The question is: what is the wisest thing to do? And all of us have come to a very difficult decisions in life that, I don't know what you ask, but that's the right question. What is the wisest thing to do? Listen, sometimes the wisest thing for you to do, nobody will agree with it. But you know what? Remember all their knowledge together can't equal the wisdom of God. You, listen, you can't ever go wrong. You cannot ever go wrong obeying God, never! Never! So just because you don't understand it doesn't mean that it's not right. The wisdom of God who has all wisdom, knows all things about all people. And I could just spend the rest of the afternoon telling you, giving you examples that flip to my mind about times that I've obeyed God and times I haven't. And it all goes back to what is the wisest thing to do? Now, can you tell me a better question than that? Not really, because therein is Almighty God.
And so, what he does, he shows us here in this passage of Scripture, in James, here's the difference. Look at this in this third chapter, he says in verse thirteen, "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in his gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy, selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and lie against the truth". Look at this, this is a group of people who think they're wise, "This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic".
And you and I live around people, and work around them, that's true of them. They think they have the right answer. They leave God out of it, and in their arrogance, they try to prove to you why they're right. Now, they may have position and talent and skill, intellect and finances. They may have all of that. Does that make them wiser than you? No. They may be smart in many areas, but when you leave God out of your life, you're not smart at all. That's just demonic, and that falls in the category of living your life earthy, natural, and demonic.
Look at that: jealousy, self-ambition. And if you'll notice here on down a little bit further, he says, "But the wisdom that's from above is first," listen to this, "pure". Look at that. God's wisdom is pure. That means it is absolutely perfect. Did you get that? It is absolutely perfect wisdom. It's, "Pure, and peaceable," his wisdom will bring you peace, "gentle," there's nothing harsh about it, "reasonable," listen, from God's viewpoint, "full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy". That's the wisdom of God.
Listen, would you not agree that it's foolish to choose something else? Look at that passage, "The wisdom from above," that's God's wisdom, "pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy". That's the kind of life I want to live. Amen? Now, what did he say up here, "Jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder, and every evil thing". Only two choices in life, you can choose to live wisely or you can choose to live unwisely. And may I say this? You've already made that choice. Wherever you are, you're walking in the pathway of the wise or you're walking in the pathway of the unwise. Change paths if you're walking unwisely.
Listen, you're not smart enough. You may think you are, but you're not. You're not smart enough to outsmart God. You're not intellectual enough to know more than God. You don't know your future. God does. You don't know the future of those that you influence, but God does. Apart from Almighty God through the saving person of Jesus Christ, who forgives us of our sin, cleanses of our sin, writes their name in the Lamb's Book of Life, has a will for us and lives presently within us through His Holy Spirit. He will give us wisdom in every single decision we make in life. There is no other way to live. You can trust Him. He's not going to change on you about anything.
You have two choices to live out your life: wisely, living obediently before Him, living in wisdom. Or you can live foolishly, convince a lot of people, do a lot of things, go a lot of places, have a lot of stuff. Then you're going to die. And my friend, when the last seconds of your life come, I have a strong feeling you're going to wish you had listened. The most tragic thing you can do is die without Christ. You know why? Because the consequences are eternal. May not live the best life in the world as a Christian. May not have a lot of stuff. May not have any degrees behind your name. May not have any notoriety. Most people never know you, name's not in the newspaper, TV, and all that stuff, but you live for God. You've walked obediently before Him. You see, God's values are not the same as man's. What He thinks is absolutely awesome is not what the world thinks. So, you make up your mind. You going to live wisely? Or you're going to live foolishly? You'll play the fool if you live foolishly. You'll be wise if you choose Christ and His way of life. And that's my prayer for you.
Father, how grateful we are that You've made it simple. And knowing that You loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us and pay our sin debt in full. You must have an awesome love for us. And so, we want to be obedient to You because we're the ones who end up profiting from that in so many ways. And I pray that every person who listens to this message will think, think honestly and realize that they've only heard the truth. "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment". But all sin can be forgiven by asking and believing and trusting. We love you, dear Father. We thank You for the awesome gift of Your grace toward all of us, in Jesus's name, amen.