The LORD's Day January 13, 2008

With Humility Comes Wisdom

Proverbs 11.2, Philippians 2.5-11

One of the contrasting ideas that appear over and over again in the Proverbs is pride versus humility. Jesus humbled himself. God exalted Him. Jesus will reign forever and ever. Satan exalted himself and God cast him down. He will be thrown in the lake of fire for eternity.

We are to have the attitude of Christ Jesus
Think this way about yourself- understanding and wisdom are included in this word mind or attitude.

We are to humble ourselves.
This is not normal.
This is not natural.
This is not popular.


1. That Horrible Know It All Attitude Which Is The Epitome of Pride Is Never Right

We have seen it in others.
It is not a pretty sight. Within this prideful attitude of “I know it all” dwells an unteachable spirit. You cannot tell this person anything. They are always “right”. They are never “wrong”.

It makes us uncomfortable.
Our own spirits are cut down by this. We do not dare express our thoughts. It is akin to casting our pearls before swine. At best when necessary we must endure it.

It is precedes a fall.
This person is a candidate to be humiliated. That is a biblical principle: Humble yourself or God will do for you. It is a lot more pleasant for us to do it than to have the LORD do it.

Humbling yourself has great benefits

1- Deuteronomy 8.16 in the end it goes well with us. The manna was to have this effect.
2- II Samuel 22.28 The LORD saves the humble but His eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.
3- II Chronicles 7.14
4- II Chronicles 34.27 The LORD hears us.
5- Psalm 25.9 He guides the humble
6- Psalm 147.6 The LORD sustains the humble
7- Psalm 149.4 The LORD crowns the humble with salvation.
8- Proverbs 3.34 He gives grace to the humble.
9- Luke 14.11 Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. If you humble yourself God will lift you up (James 4.10)

As we said before Jesus is humble in heart (Matthew 11.29)
It is part of His nature. If we are following Him it will become part of ours because He lives in us.



2. You will not be wise unless you are humble.

Humility is necessary to obtain wisdom.
If you read the beginnings of the Book of Proverbs carefully, you’ll see that there must be a humbling on the part of Solomon’s son to receive the wisdom he is speaking to him about. This often runs in opposition from young men struggling with the evil desires of youth.

*There must be a sense of the need of it.
So often young people think they know much more than they do. The lack of experience and lack of maturity is necessary to admit in order to gain wisdom. That is a battle sometimes. We all would like to be smarter than we are. Humility is not caring if people know how little we know

* Then that sense of need must be transmitted into action.
It is so apparent when you read the first part of Proverbs that to obtain wisdom it must be sought after. Solomon went so far as to say, Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Proverbs 4.7
This seeking is to be extreme. It is not a casual thing. It is to be a supreme goal of life.

One way wisdom is obtained is through prayer. James 1.5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.


Again this praying is described as calling out and crying aloud. Proverbs 2.3
There must be a desperation for wisdom. Solomon counsels his son to go after it in that way. We pray silently. We could not pray without ceasing unless we did. This prayer for wisdom is one that is to be verbalized. It is to be aloud. It is to be heard. This is not because LORD needs us to but because we need to. We need to hear ourselves call out. We need to realize how important it is for us to get wisdom.

*Obedience brings wisdom. In fact you cannot have it without obeying. Proverbs 2.1-8
Wisdom is not just some thing you get it is something you practice and live out. It is not learned in a classroom as much as it is uncovered by learning in the midst of life, hence as we talked last week- Proverbs is to a large degree: A father and son talk.

3. The scarcity of wisdom is because of the abundance of pride.

There are not a lot of wise people around. Like wisdom itself you have to pursue and search for a wise person. Both a virtuous woman and a faithful man are not easily found. (Proverbs 20.6, 31.10) Loyalty is something that is under attack today.

There are people who think they are wise and seek to give out “wisdom”. Many people like this have a need to be needed.

We need to know the scripture so we can cut through the worldly wisdom. It is abundant. Pride puffs up a person and once they are puffed up they think they know so much about life. What makes this the worse case scenario is that they begin to tell others how to live. Watch out for wolves in sheep’s clothing. One way to spot a wolf is to look at their lifestyle. Often the love for riches and duplicity go hand in hand. There is something to take note of when so called ministers of the gospel are being investigated by congress for lavish lifestyles. That is unlike the
Master who had to ask for a coin to make a point and had no where to lay His head.

4. God resists the proud but gives grace and wisdom to the humble

Jesus humbled Himself. Those He had the most difficult time with were those who were self righteous.

Those who were filled with their own self importance had met their match with Jesus.

There is an opposition to the proud on God’s part. He who humbled Himself has nothing in common with those who exalt themselves.

But with those who humble themselves there are gifts. He gives, as we have already seen, wisdom to those who sense their need and act upon that need with prayer and seeking wisdom.
The gifts of God include more grace to those who humble themselves. Joy increases, even in the midst of struggle.

Those who received good things from Jesus were those who humbled themselves: the paralytic who was lowered in from the roof, the Canaanite woman who said that even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the table, the woman who touched the hem of his garment. These and others humbled themselves and received good things from the LORD.

5. Humble Yourselves under God’s Almighty Hand.
We bow down to worship, to acknowledge that God is King and LORD and Master.

Our lives should be a bowing in submission to the King. Humbling ourselves is not just an act we occasionally do from time to time but rather a lifestyle of surrender to Him.

Proverbs speaks of this over and over again. With humility comes wisdom. Wisdom enters the heart and mind of those who humble themselves.

The act of bowing is in itself a wise thing to do. It makes sense to surrender to One all powerful and all knowing and Who is everywhere, and add to that the fact He loves me and wants what is best for me Why a person would have to be a fool not bow- which is exactly what Proverbs says he is.

The act of bowing to the all Wise God then brings wisdom from Him to me.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.



Humble yourselves. Think about how mighty and high God is and say along with David, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” Look up at the stars and get this perspective.
Then call out to the LORD for wisdom until the day God calls you home.
*********************
The LORD’s Day
January 13, 2008

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Prayer
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
With Humility Comes Wisdom
Proverbs 11.2
*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for bagels and coffee downstairs if you are visiting today.


This Week
Bible Reading Proverbs 12
Monday Men’s Prayer Meeting 6:30am in the church basement
Wednesday Bible Study 7:30pm at the parsonage 1312 Pine Acres Blvd.
Thursday Bible Study 10:30am at the church
Next Lord’s Day
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children)
Spanish Service- 4pm

In Your Prayers For All of God’s People

Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son finished his third tour of Iraq- His parents thank us for praying for him. Billy Knapp, Jr. in Iraq with the Marines (neighbor of the church and Pastor- Billy’s sister graduated from Good Shepherd). Stateside now being redeployed in April... Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton. Pastor’s nephews’ and niece’s cousin Kim’s husband, Jay, in Iraq. Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan, Ken Brown and Tom Hindelang, Billy Knapp Jr. safe during their times in Iraq. Pray for peace... Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for fibromyalgia. Thank God for answers to prayer for her... Remember Jean Louis on dialysis. Grace Martin, Edie Raevis’ daughter, recovering from surgery on her back and uindergoing Physical Therapy. Edie’s daughter’s mother-in-law, Millie Espisito remains in serious condition. Reginald Mooney, friend of Terri and John Garry, with a tumor in his kidney. Please remember Pastor’s friend Kim Richardson’s daughter, Kelly recovering from a mastectomy. Please remember this whole family in prayer..she has completed chemo therapy for now and is undergoing another round of radiation. .... Pastor’s Dad, Larry Mancini, Sr. due to be released from the hospital tomorrow. He will return to the rehab. There is a blog for him: www.papa2all.blogspot.com . Joey Reda (Charlie and Diane Davison’s Grandson) experiencing some heart arrhythmia. Prudy’s Mom, Rose Ragusa, undergoing treatment- doing well. Jack Simon, a friend of Pastor’s, undergoing treatment for a lung problem.... Leah May facing surgery shortly.... Please pray for healing.. Pastor and Lucy’s Aunt Vivian has been released from the hospital and is home and doing better... Janine Van Cott recovering from back surgery. Tania MacDonald’s Mom, Eloise Naves, went to be with the LORD a few days before Christmas. Please remember her and her family in prayer. Continue to pray for those in our church family who lost loved ones this past year: Rianna, Alice, Anka, Katharina, Eloise’s family, the Muccis... Ilona awaiting results from an MRI that was taken Friday... Tonya and James Wyss in the loss of James’ aunt... She went to be with the LORD this week. The funeral is Tuesday morning... As we face a new year in very uncertain times let’s give thanks that our LORD leads us and is going before us.



Romans 8.31 If God is for us, who can be against us?





Notes on Our Time in God’s Word This Morning...

With Humility Comes Wisdom

Proverbs 11.2

Thank You
Thanks so much for the meaningful card and the generous gift you gave us last Sunday. We know you love us and that is such a wonderful feeling For the past 24 years we have worshiped the LORD at Christmas and looked ahead to the New Year together. It continues to be a blessing and a joy God bless each of you
Love and Prayers,
Pastor and Lucy

Pastor’s messages are now available online:
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
Church Phone: 631-969-1730
1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436