Follow Along with the entire Sermon Series: The Way of Wisdom.

Series Introduction

The Jesus Adventure is a pattern for life that is centered on the real presence of God in our world. We are continuously Called → Equipped → Sent → and Restored as followers of Jesus to experience and expand God’s presence through our words, our actions, and our attitudes. We are exploring various disciplines that embed this pattern more and more firmly in every part of our lives. Having explored our discipline of worship, the time we spend together each week, we now turn our attention to the discipline of Wisdom. Chapters 1-9 of Proverbs are an introduction to the subject of Wisdom. The rest of the book, a collection of hundreds of succinct sayings, capture in a nutshell some of the complexities of life. In the weeks ahead we’ll explore what Proverbs says about wisdom, how we attain it, and how we apply it in living the Jesus Adventure.

More Precious than Gold

Sunday, April 28th – Following Jesus is a lifetime adventure. It’s not accomplished by simply accumulating knowledge, nor is it a matter of strictly following a prescribed set of rules. Following Jesus requires something we hardly ever talk about. Following Jesus requires wisdom. One author has defined wisdom as “competency with regard to the complex realities of life.” Wisdom, the writer of Proverbs says, is more precious than wealth, fame, or power. Without wisdom we will make a mess out of our lives.

A Straight Path

Sunday, May 5th – Hundreds of times, the Bible compares life to walking on a path. The church was first known as “The Way” (Acts 9:2). The imagery is powerful. Walking a path is a simple, straight forward, repetitive process of putting one foot in front of the other. Somersaulting down a path, cartwheeling, or leaping won’t get you very far because you can’t keep it up. The way to follow Jesus on His Adventure is through a series of steady repeated activities that shape you slowly into a wise person. Our lesson today reveals those activities.

Be Slow to Anger

Sunday, May 12th – Wisdom is the slow steady lifelong development of competency with regard to the complex realities of life. To live wisely we need to understand and be able to handle anger. Of all the emotions anger has the most potential to bring out the worst in us. At the same time anger is an important and necessary response to evil in this world. Thus St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Be angry and do not sin” (Eph. 4:26).

God is My Strength

Sunday, May 19th – Wisdom is learning competency of the complex realities of life. What does living in a world, where we always seem to be just short of having all that we want, do to us? The Bible calls it envy and it is one of the most insidious, silent, but deadly killers of living wisely. Envy sucks the joy out of life. Envy can make it virtually impossible to see the good things in your life. It drives a wedge of division into our families and our society. Can it be treated? “God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

Cheerful Generosity

Sunday, May 26th – Wisdom is the slow, steady process of becoming competent to the complex realities of life. God has poured out his abundance on us. Life and breath and all that we have is a gift from God. Ironically, the most powerful gifts he gives often prove to be the most dangerous. Among those good gifts, our use of the wealth he entrusts to us has the most potential for good and evil in our lives and the lives of others. Nowhere is wisdom more needed to guide our attitudes and actions than in the management of our money and possessions.

A Friend Loves at All Times

Sunday, June 2nd – The Bible begins with the a clear declaration: “It is not good for a person to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). We are created to live in relationship with God and with others. Our relationships with others come in many forms: spouse, children, co-worker, neighbors. Friendship is the most uniquely powerful among these forms. According to Proverbs those who are wise understand the importance of, and the need to work at developing and maintaining Friendship.

Fruit of Our Lips

Sunday, June 9th – Second only to the sayings about wisdom is the number of sayings about the use of our words! So powerful are words that Proverbs says they can bring life and death. Wisdom is competence of the complex realities of life. Nowhere do we need more competence than in the way we speak. Today the Church observes Pentecost, where God blessed the words of His followers to proclaim the Gospel. At the same time we hear the challenging Word from God about the “fruit of our lips.”

Growing in Wisdom

Sunday, June 16th – The Way of Wisdom is a slow steady growth in competence with regard to the complex realities of life. Step by step we come to know God’s steadfast love, the strengths and weaknesses of our own heart, true friends who can help keep us on the path, God’s incredible plan for this world recorded in the Bible, and how all that is being worked out in the circumstances, both the good and the bad, of our everyday life. Today we conclude our series by learning that God is constantly growing us in wisdom in the circumstances of our lives—the good times and especially, the bad times.

The Way of Service

Follow along as we continue on our Jesus Adventure with The Way of Service.

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