Build Your Life: Faith, Love, Humility
Speaker: Pastor Reuben Seevaratnam
Date: April 6, 2025
Please Note: This sermon transcript was generated automatically and may contain occasional errors or odd phrasing due to the transcription process.
Introduction: Building Blocks of God’s House
As we started to share on December, building blocks, foundational stones of the house that God is building, beginning with faith, working through love, Galatians 5-6. So faith and love are very foundational. And now we are into by humility and the fear of the Lord, our richest honor and long life. You know, it’s interesting why the power of humility, humility, the importance. I’m going to try and sum up the key of each word, the key of each block without going too long into it.
I. Foundational Blocks Revisited: Faith and Love
A. Faith: The Means of Salvation and Receiving
Faith is how we are saved. Galatians 5-6 says the only thing that matters that counts is faith, working through love, because by grace we are saved through faith. So through faith we receive everything that God has for us. Not because He’s of His love alone, not because our needs are great, but because we believe. No matter what rotus we may be, if we believe, we will receive. And the heart of God is that because when we receive, it will cause us to draw closer to Him. So change happens not to receive, but because we have received. It meant His kindness must lead us to repentance. So by faith we receive.
B. Love: The Mark of Discipleship
And by love we are known that we are His. We shall know, by this the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. And love is not just an emotion, it’s painful to the flesh really. Love is patient, love is kind, love is seen relationally. Love is not just seen in our good works. Because if we do a lot of good works, but we don’t love one another, we profit nothing. Right? So faith working through love. So love is, there are lots of, I think in January, February, we spoke on these two key words.
And so this morning I want to begin opening up on the fear of the Lord. Not so much the fear of the Lord, but the effects of the fear of the Lord, which is wisdom. So the focus is mourning us on wisdom.
II. Humility: The Key to God’s Favor
Proverbs 24, verse 3 says, “Through wisdom a house is built.” Now what’s wisdom got to do with the fear of the Lord? I think all of you know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Right? So the next two building blocks after faith and love, this humility and the fear of the Lord. And why humility? Because that is how we walk in God’s favor. He gives grace to the humble. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He doesn’t give grace because we just work so hard, because we pray all day or because we fast all day or do good works. Are we walking in humility? Right?
A. Defining Humility
So humility is very important. And humility basically is how we think, how we see God, how we see ourselves and how we see one another. That we don’t think of ourselves more than we are. We don’t think of ourselves less than we are. In fact, humility is not thinking less of yourself and thinking of yourself less and more of God and others. Right? So that’s what humility is.
B. The Marks of Humility
Humility really is marked by obedience. James 5, 6 and 1 Peter 5, 5 says, “Those who are humble will are submitted to God, are submitted to His Word to the elders and to one another.” So it’s not just a controlling submission. It’s not your control in a sense, but you submit one to another, just like in a family. Many times even the parents may take the advice of the kids, the wife and husband submit to each other. But so humility is walking in mutual submission, but it is recognizing authority of God’s Word, recognizing that we have to walk in submission to Him. And so what marks Jesus’ life is that He humbled Himself to the point of obedience to dying on the cross. That’s how great His humility was. And that’s why He was exalted with the name above every other name. Right?
So humility is how we think about ourselves, how we think about God, how we think about others, and is walking in obedience. And when we do that, when we have the right mentality, we don’t have an inflated image of ourselves. And how we think about ourselves has to do with our identity. Right? Our value does not come from externals. Our value does not come from wealth, education, our context, our social, whatever. It comes from being beloved sons and daughters. So in Christ, we’re all equally valuable. Because when you stand before God, that’s all you have. You can say, “God, can you see all my degrees, all my bank balance? Can you see all my… I know this celebrity, I know that politician.” No. We stand naked before Him as His children. Right? So thinking of ourselves as God sees us is so important, and walking in obedience. And that’s the key to walking in favor. God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud. Right?
C. The Blessings of Humility
Then it says, “By humility and the fear of God, our riches, honor and long life.” You know, and just both by themselves carry a lot of blessing. You know, in Psalm 37, it gives us, and I read this last week, the blessing of humility, how we prosper through grace. It says, “The humble shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace or prosperity.” Right?
So we’re going to come into the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and now we shall open and pray. Father, we just thank You for this time together. We thank You, Lord, for Your Word that we have, not just in the pages of a book, but that You’re putting in our hearts that will change the way we think, Lord. We pray, Lord, that the spirit and life of Your Word renew Your minds with the mind of Christ. Lord, transform our hearts, Lord. And we thank You, Father, for releasing faith that we would hear and mix Your Word with faith that pleases You, that we’ll walk in obedience and walk in Your grace and favor. And we thank You, Lord, for speaking through me, enabling me and anointing me to communicate Your Word, Lord, for transformation, to become more like You and do all that Your call is to do in Jesus’ name. Amen.
III. The Fear of the Lord: The Beginning of Wisdom
Through wisdom, a house is built. Proverbs 24.3.
IV. Wisdom: Building, Protecting, and Defining God’s House
“Why is the house built through wisdom?” Who’s the house? It’s not just a building. It’s the people that are connected generationally. What makes a house? Why is heaven called a house? Because it is the father’s house. It’s led by a father. And that’s the concept, that’s the emphasis. You know, many times people think just a gathering of people. No, that’s a bunch of friends. But a house belongs to the spiritual head of the house. And so God starts with Abraham as a spiritual head. The father of faith. Right? And all the tribes were made up of the father’s houses. So through wisdom, a house is built.
A. What is Wisdom?
Now, Proverbs chapter 4, I think verse 7 says, “Wisdom is the principal thing.” Many focus a lot on love, which is important. Love is the greatest. But what’s the difference between wisdom and love? And this is so important because even as we start sharing our wisdom, we have to realize that wisdom is basically the mind of Christ. It’s basically knowing what Jesus would do if He was in your shoes. Doing the best thing possible is like, you have a situation, you have something going on and you know, okay, I need to do this. Because the Holy Spirit is influencing your mind. You have a problem, what do I do? Wisdom solutions. You need a wisdom solution. Okay, this is the situation. This is the problem. This problem needs this. What do I have in my toolbox? Okay, I need that for this or I need to contact so and so. You just know what to do in any situation because you’re led by the mind of Christ. All right.
So why is wisdom so important? Because without wisdom, the enemy will rob you by love without wisdom. That’s why wisdom is the foundation of love because without wisdom, a lot of people have made costly choices thinking they’re walking in love. And many times without wisdom, you will be deceived by conmen in the name of love. You’ll hear a big sob story, feel very sorry, give everything away to your loss and find out he’s a cheat. Why? Because your heart was so moved with love but you didn’t have no wisdom. And so wisdom will protect, not only is it how the house built by wisdom, but it protects us from making foolish decisions, costly choices. In fact, a lot of people have suffered greatly in life because they’ve lacked wisdom in their decisions and their choices. They operated by good ideas that weren’t God ideas. So you need the mind of Christ. In fact, it’s also a gift called the word of wisdom or word of knowledge. But you’re going to talk about wisdom for life.
Where wisdom, the house is built, Proverbs 24.3. And it’s amazing, you know, if Jesus himself, guess what? He had to grow in wisdom. It says in Luke chapter 2, Jesus as a young boy, when he was lost, remember he went missing and then he was found, they found him in the temple. And it says, and he followed back his parents’ mother and was subjected to them. And he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. So the young boy Jesus had to grow in wisdom, he had to grow in favor. Where? In a house. Right.
B. The House Built by Wisdom
So what, why, what’s the, what’s the, what’s the importance of being built by wisdom? You and I are a house or more likely we are, we are living stones in the, in the house that God has given us. If you’re married or you have a child, each one is a, your family is a house. As members together, this church is a house. So it’s basically being connected in authority and under authority. That’s what makes a house. Right. A fatherless house is called an orphanage. There’s no parents, right. And though not everybody has parents, we can all have spiritual fathers and mothers. That’s what God wants each one of us to be, is we learn how to be sons and daughters in Christ. So that you are like a father to those who are young, your son to those who are older, to your elders. So it’s not a, it’s not a physical relationship with the spiritual connection. Just as the father and son are not connected by DNA, a biology, it’s a relationship. Paul and Timothy, it was a father son in this, by faith, not a, not a literal physical relationship. Now, if you are related, that’s a bonus. But God wants to build you and I through wisdom.
C. Two Kinds of Wisdom (James 3)
Why that’s so important? Because when Jesus, you know, many don’t realize there are two kinds of wisdom. James C. talks about the wisdom from heaven, by which we’re built, and the wisdom from hell. Now, why it’s so important to be built by wisdom? Because wisdom, a counterfeit false wisdom is used by the enemy to attack the house that God is building. I’m going to explain why. You remember the first thing Jesus said in Matthew 16, talking about building his house, he says, “I will build my house or my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” What are the gates of hell that are coming against his house? Demonic wisdom.
When you look at chapter, tell me, James chapter 3. James chapter 3, verse, towards the end of the chapter. Verse 14, James 3, 14 says, “If you have bitter envy and self-seeking or selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truths. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual and demonic.” Wow. So what is demonic wisdom? It is the characteristics, it is the spirit of bitterness, envy, selfish ambition. That is described as wisdom from hell. Why, verse 16 says, “Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion in every evil thing will be there.” Isn’t that interesting? The characteristics of the flesh is demonically inspired from hell. And that’s why you see many times Jesus was attacked by the religious leaders because of envy and jealousy. And he said that over and over. Why the religious leaders were jealous of the multitudes that followed him and not them. This is King Saul, was jealous of David that people started to sing. Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his ten thousands. And Saul started to persecute David. So you see how envy and jealousy makes one an enemy. Right? You hate, it’s the spirit of hatred. And it’s rooted in hell, demonic wisdom.
Verse 17, “But wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and hypocrisy and without hypocrisy, without being partial and without being fake.” Right? So we have two kinds of wisdom. So God wants us to grow in wisdom from above, which is basically his character, being meek, pure, peaceable, gentle, etc. So that when the enemy tries to attack us with his wisdom, they’re trying to oppose you, persecute you, lie about you, assassinate your character. Guess what? The gates of hell should not prevail against the wisdom from above. So the root of warfare really is a conflict between wisdom from above and wisdom from beneath. So God wants us to be built by wisdom from above so that we can withstand the enemy’s weapons. They will try to rob your peace by gossip, by slander, by envy and jealousy, people who are jealous of what you have. Now, if you lose your peace, you’re being taken over. So you need to be built by wisdom from above so that nothing can shake you. So that your identity comes from God’s opinion and not man’s opinion. When you know you’re walking right. Okay,
D. The Purpose of God’s House: A Place of Presence and Rest
So the reason why God needs us to be built by wisdom is because of the purpose of his house. What does God want us? You know, the design of a house is based on his purpose. A lot of people want the house to be very bright, so lots of glass. They want the house to be very cool, so they build it to keep out the heat, to make it cool. So according to the purpose, it’s the design. So, you know, the Father God has a design for you and me. We are his house. What does he want us to be? He wants to build this so that we can fulfill our purpose, the purpose of being his house. What’s the purpose for us?
Turn to Genesis 28. We’re going to have a first mention of the house of God and how it’s described. What God wants for you and me as members of this household is what he wants for us. So this is like the first mention is a prophetic picture of the purpose of God’s house. Genesis 28. And it has to do with the time where Jacob was on the run from his brother and it was night and he found the stone and he slept at night and he saw, had a vision of the open heaven and the ladder. Let’s just read from Genesis 28 verse 10. Genesis 8 verse 10 says, “Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set and he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head. And he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed and behold this verse 12, “A ladder was set up on the earth and it stopped reached to heaven and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.” See, house of God, generational. God did not say, “I am your God Jacob.” No, no, I’m the God of your father, not just you. Because the inheritance of Jacob came down to man and not just God. That’s why Jesus is called the son of Abraham and the son of David because the son of Abraham, he’s the father of his house that is building. As the son of David, he’s the king of his kingdom. So he catches, okay. So the Lord spoke, “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. The land on which you lie I will give.” In other words, you don’t have to fight for it Jacob. You need to rest to receive your inheritance. You need something as an inheritance, you don’t have to fight for it. You have to know how to abide in his rest. And you see what has come down the generations, the blessing. Right? So there is restoration in rest. “The land in which you lie I will give to you and your descendants and also,” verse 14, “also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south and in you and your seed. All the families of the earth shall be blessed.” What does the word family mean? Father’s house, very simply. Even Jesus said, you know, “I’m going to prepare a place in my father’s house.”
Let’s go down to, okay, verse 16. “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.” What does that mean the Lord is in this place? His presence was there. Okay? The Lord’s presence was here and he wasn’t aware of verse 17 and he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.” So this is the first time you see the phrase, “House of God.” Okay? And we are called to be his house now with the Holy Spirit in us. Okay? Then Jacob arose early in the morning, took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. So he anointed his pillow and he called the name of the place, “Bezel.” Okay? But the name of the city had been “Luz,” L-U-Z, previously. Then Jacob made a vow saying, “If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I’m going and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I will come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone, which I have set as a pillar, shall be God’s house.” So the first time we see God’s house is, “Surely the Lord is in this place, his presence.” Second time, verse 22, “And this stone, which I set as a pillar, shall be God’s house.” What’s the pillar? Rest. So first was presence and then rest. “And of all that you give me, I will give a tent to you.”
Now keep that in mind, presence and rest. Let’s turn to the next book, Exodus, chapter 33. Exodus, chapter 33, verse 13, I think. Okay, Exodus 33, 13, Moses is talking to God and he says, “Now therefore I pray, if I have found favor in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you and I may find grace in your sight.” And consider that this nation is your people. Now look at the response of God. And he said, “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” The two key words, the mark, the house that God is building, is a house of his presence and a house of rest. All right, that was Exodus 33, 14, that corresponds to Genesis 28, the house of God.
You see, if you don’t have wisdom from above, you’ll be a house of stress. You will lose your peace. Rest comes from his presence. And the key to his presence is your focus on the goodness of God, because he inhabits the praises of his people. And you praise God not because everything is going well, because you don’t have problems, you praise God because of who he is and what he’s done and what he said he will do. So we need to guard. So what else? So why is God called us to be a house of his presence? You know, the arc of Noah’s name means rest. And Jesus said, “The days Jesus will return will be like the days it was during the days of Noah and Lot.” Okay, so God wants to build you and me by wisdom, through wisdom a house is built to host his presence and to walk in his rest. Regardless of what you’re going through in life, regardless of the shakings, our peace and the presence of God upon our lives is not meant to be enslaved or tied to the circumstances of life. That’s why even in the storm, Jesus was at rest. He was asleep. Even when Joshua was fighting the Amalekites in the valley of Rephidim, and Rephidim means rest, what was Moses doing? Sitting down and praying on the position of being at rest. He was sitting down, Aaron and Ho holding his hands up and praying. So by wisdom, the house is built.
E. How to Grow in Wisdom
Now how do we grow in wisdom? James 1 says, turn again to James chapter 1. It tells, it’s very interesting when wisdom comes up. Now what is wisdom again? Pure, it is make pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to heal full of merciful fruits. Wisdom is basically the mind of Christ. When you look at James chapter 1, in verse 2, “My brethren, my brothers counted all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces patience, let patience have its perfect word that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Verse 5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all generously without reproach, and it will be given to him.” We all lack wisdom. If we are wise, we can be more wise. It’s something we need to grow in every day. So this should be our daily prayer, God I need wisdom. But it’s very interesting when it’s first mentioned here, talking about trials, right? Counted all joy when you fall into trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, let patience have its perfect word, and then suddenly, if any of you lack wisdom, because if you don’t have wisdom from above, the trials are going to get you. You’re going to collapse. And that’s why many Christians have backslid. So the context of wisdom here is how we face tests and trials. So through wisdom from above, patience will have its perfect word so that we may be perfected, which means mature, complete, lacking nothing, because we are being built by wisdom.
See, God uses challenges to grow us, to build us. In the natural, you can’t be promoted without a test, right? You go from one level to the next, you’ve got to pass the test. Same thing spiritually. So sometimes we think, “Oh God, why is not life, why are all these challenges? There are opportunities for you to grow.” See, Goliath wasn’t a problem from the devil in one way he was, but he was David Steppingstone of the palace. How do we see? The Ten Spies saw all the giants in the promised land are so big. But many times what the enemy means are evil. God wants to use for good to promote you. But God wants us to be built by wisdom from above. Why? No matter what happens, we need to be that house of His presence, a house of rest.
And you look at Ephesians 3, I’ll just read it, Ephesians 3.10. It says, “To the purpose that now the manifold many aspects of wisdom of God might be made known by the church to principalities and powers.” See, God wants His wisdom to be revealed by the church. In other words, by those connected with one another under authority. In Jesus though, He was the Son of God, so that He became the Son of Man. You couldn’t say, “Father God, you’re sending me to earth? Can I not come as a baby? I want to come like the first Adam. Just send me to earth, a fully-growth adult in some nice garden.” No, He had to come as a vulnerable baby under imperfect leadership. And so you see the tribes of Israel, the children of Israel, was foreshadowing of the church that Lord is building. Jesus is not only building His house on earth, but He’s preparing a place for us in His Father’s house in heaven. So, it is through this relationship, horizontal and vertical, character wisdom is developed, wisdom from above.
F. Sourcing and Understanding Wisdom
Now, where do we get wisdom? We pray for it. James says, “Let Him ask every day.” We need to say, “God, give me Your wisdom.” For today, we need wisdom daily. Today’s choices, today’s decisions, what we choose to do, how we react, how we respond, how we respond to what people say and do around this. We need wisdom so that we don’t pay the price for our foolishness and then blame the devil. Most of the stress in life is not the devil’s soul. It’s our flesh, it’s our foolishness. We need to walk in wisdom every day and make that our prayer. But the key here is, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of God.
So, there are two aspects of wisdom, and I talked about two aspects of humility. The two aspects of humility is how we think of ourselves, God and others. The two aspects of wisdom is the mind of wisdom. In other words, you know, you just know what to do. But the character behind the mind, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield full of mercy and good fruits. Now, how is the mind connected with that character? Romans 12 too says, “May we be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” So, our character is changed as our mind is renewed. Not informed, but renewed. The way we think changes. Right? So, there’s a link between our thinking and our character. So, when we pray every day and say, “God, I need the fear of God to walk in wisdom,” what’s happening? You can remember what is wisdom. The works of wisdom are done in meekness. It’s pure, it’s peaceable. So, when you’re tempted to act differently, when you meditate on these descriptions of wisdom, guess what’s happening? Your mind is being renewed. The Holy Spirit will give you the mind behind the change in your heart. The more your heart walks in the fruits of wisdom, your mind grows in. And that’s why Daniel 2 says, “He gives wisdom to the wise.” And you think to yourself, “Why does God need to give wisdom to somebody who’s already wise?” No. He gives you the mind of wisdom to those who walk in the fruit of wisdom in the fear of God. Can you see there’s a mind of wisdom in the fruits of wisdom, and they are linked. So, this is how God builds this. Because the enemy will try his best to come against you with demonic wisdom. And you know demonic wisdom, through his vessels, it sounds very logical. Right? Their arguments are fantastic. They make very good lawyers. They know how to win every argument and debate. But it’s rooted in hell. And you’ve got to guard your peace. The wisdom from above is peaceable. Peaceable. And it’s so important because, and pure, okay, it’s just studying on that.
In fact, wisdom is described as having seven pillars. Wisdom has built a house out of seven pillars. And if you count those descriptions in James 3, here’s seven. Let him show by the meekness of his works that wisdom meekness. Meekness is not weakness. It is strength under control. It’s like a horse that’s broken in. It’s much stronger than the rider, but it’s submitted to the rider one little piece in his mouth. It’s full submission to the person in his back. So meekness is strength under control. It’s like you don’t stand on your right. They’re fully submitted to God. So what are the seven pillars of wisdom? Meekness, the fruits of wisdom are pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield full of mercy, good fruits. Here’s seven. Characteristics of wisdom. The pillars of the house, the God of the building, you and me.
G. The House Built for Spiritual Warfare
So when we grow in these pillars, in these strengths, we increase in hosting his presence. We increase in his strength because now the enemy loses his authority to rob your peace and joy through circumstances. And so when you’re walking in peace, now you have the authority to confront and pull down the strongholds. The enemy is running, so are you. I will build my house, God says. What house? The house that is built by wisdom. And the gates of hell shall not prevail. Again, the house he’s building, which is displaying the manifold wisdom to principalities and powers. So how the God of the building is really built for war. That’s why I call soldiers, right? Fight the good fight. If you’re not experiencing any challenges in life, you wonder who’s building the house. Psalm 127, one says, “Unless the Lord build the house, we labor in vain who build it.” So the house that God is building is not free from problems, but it walks in overcoming faith. You see, walking with God doesn’t guarantee you don’t have issues, but it guarantees who will bring you through. Just as the valley of the shadow, though you walk through the valley, he is with you. He’ll never forsake you. He’ll bring you to the other side. There are the enemies around. He’s got a table for you. Why? So that through his wisdom, you’re not distracted by the presence of your problems. You can have peace and focus on him. Right?
H. Purity of Heart and Seeing God
So by humility and the fear of God is which is on in long life. Why? Because when you walk in the fear of God, guess what? You remember the importance of walking in the seven pillars of wisdom. So when you’re tested and tempted to lose your peace, remind yourself, the wisdom from a birth is pure, is peaceful. I just want to talk about the word purity. It’s one of the beatitudes, “The pure in heart shall see God.” What does this mean? Again, this is what I just sensed. I haven’t read it anywhere. It does not mean that if you have a pure heart, suddenly the Lord will appear in front of you. No, he’s not talking that literally. But I believe this is what it means. This is when you, those who are pure in heart will see the word in every situation. Because God is in his word at one. So the pure in heart shall see life, shall see one another, shall see their circumstances through the filter of the truth. So when you see the word as a filter of everything in life, your heart is being transformed to grow in wisdom. Put on your filter because there’s a story, right? We always say, the color of life is the color of your lens. You wear pink glasses, everything in the world is pink. You wear green glasses, everything in the world is green. So what lens are we looking through? Are we looking at life through the lens of his word, of his truth? So see God in every situation. Say, “Holy Spirit, what do I need to do? Show me how to respond. Protect me from losing my cool. Protect me from reacting in the flesh. My wisdom, the house is built.”
I. Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge (Proverbs 24:3-4)
And so when we let the Holy Spirit build us, guess what? We will begin to host his presence. And this is God’s heart for you. Why is this his recipe for the house he’s building? Because his design for you and me is to host his presence, is to walk and rest, so that our houses can be filled with his glory. In fact, that’s what we’re saying this morning. His rest, his presence, his glory, she kind of glory. So Marcus was led by the Lord to pick songs that fit the house. You and I are called to host his presence and his rest, so host his glory. That’s what it means to be the light of the world. So how is God going to pour out his Spirit upon our flesh by filling his house with his glory? How is the house going to be filled with glory by pouring his Spirit upon you and me? Joel 2, which Peter said happened in the upper room, he says, “In the last days I will pour my Spirit out upon your sons and daughters.” Basically the next generation. Why? Because he wants to turn the hearts of each generation to each other. The hearts of the fathers, the children, the children, the father, it is not talking about physical relationship, it’s talking about the generations in Christ, like the Pauls and Timothys. Now we are also related to wonderful death and bonus. But the point is, in the church, we’re all a family of families. Though we are not related by blood, but the blood of Jesus. Amen. Because you can see throughout life, there are many non-blood families who are closer than blood families through Christ. That’s the true family.
V. Practical Application: Wisdom in Daily Life
A. Wisdom in Family Relationships (Jesus’ Example)
In fact, Jesus was questioned this. Remember when he was speaking to the multitudes and his family came to interrupt him and tell him to stop preaching and come home because they thought he lost his mind. So that’s why he ignored them. Because they were influenced by the religious leaders that he is operating by the demons, he is casting out demons. So their minds were not renewed yet at that point. So he was preaching and they tried to disrupt him to say, “Hey, come home and recover. Come back to the way you were for 30 years. What happened to you?” So he totally ignored them. And when his disciples said, “Hey, your mother and brothers are here, how did you respond? Who is my mother and my brothers?” He redefined family as whoever does the will of my father. Because family is mutually submitted to God the Father. You see, if he honored those who dishonored his father, he is dishonoring his father. See, many times we think, “Oh, honor your father, honor your father.” Conditional honor, are they honoring God? Or his obedience to them making you dishonor the father. So how do you honor them? Well, you say, “Oh, pastor, does that mean that if they are not following God, we…?” No, no, you know how you honor? How did Jesus honor his mother? He provided for her. That’s the limit of… That’s the baseline. Any other greater form of honor depends on their obedience to the father. But we know that Jesus provided for her because on the cross, he handed over responsibility or provision to John. That John, this is your mother, we owe your son. It’s like now you take over. So though he provided for her practically, he did not give her any more authority in his life until the latest stages of his ministry. Because it took them, his mother and brothers, a while to see him as the son of God and not just our little baby boy Jesus helping in the carpenter’s shop. Can you imagine? Don’t forget, 30 years he was just like any other person living a very ordinary life. So it’s not easy for the shift in his own mother. “Hey, 30 years, what happened to you all of a sudden? Have you gone crazy? Yeah, maybe you’re taken over by demons.” This person who seen him grow in her house for 30 years to suddenly realize that a shift had happened and so the enemy was trying to use it. And so he was tested. In fact, another time while he was preaching, someone said, “Oh blessed, interrupted him again.” He said, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breast that never seen you.” You know what Jesus replied? “On the contrary, blessed are those who do my father’s will.” Wow. In our mind, everything, “Wow, so dishonoring her.” No. Because if he honored the disobedient, he’d be dishonoring his father. So his honor to his mother was practical provision. And you want to do anything more? Make sure that honoring them in any other way does not make you dishonor the father. But you have to make sure that your family are provided for. Because those who don’t take care of their family are worse than an infidel. That’s what the word of God says. Right? But many times you take honor to the extent where now the devil is controlling you because you think you’re obeying God by honoring those who are dishonoring the father. So this is so important. That’s why you need wisdom. You see, even if you don’t have wisdom, you’ll be deceived to love without wisdom. You’ll be deceived to compassion without wisdom. Because another word for wisdom is to discern, discernment, to distinguish between two. Not everything that sounds right or logical is righteous. Not every good idea is a God idea.
B. The Daily Need for Wisdom
And so that’s why every day you have to make this your prayer. “God, give me wisdom.” And it comes from the fear of the Lord. And one of the fruits of the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. The fear of God is to hate evil. Is to hate what God hates and to love what he loves. It’s pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to heal, full of mercy and good food. We’ll open them up later on, but I just wanted to just mention the one word. The pure in heart shall see God. In other words, you shall see His word in every situation. Don’t live as if you have no… as if Christ is not with you. Amen? So James 3, 13 says, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” Daniel 2, 21 says, “He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”
Here, we’re going to close with this verse. Proverbs 22. Verse… I think it’s 20. It says, “By wisdom the house is built, by understanding it is established, by knowledge it is filled.” Yes, 24 verse 3. Proverbs 24.3 says, “Through wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is established, that by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” So wisdom is both the mind of Christ but is the character of Christ and they’re linked through the fear of God. And so the more we walk in the mind of Christ through wisdom and knowledge, recognizing what God is doing, you know, it’s amazing how when you see God in everything, you see tests and trials with a new perspective. You know, problems… you can face problems because of your own foolishness, because of your own disobedience, or you can face problems because you’re in the perfect will of God. And you have to examine your heart. Remember Jonah faced a storm because he’s running away from God. But Jesus, with the disciple, faced a storm because you’re in the perfect will of God. So whichever way you’re going to face opposition, make sure you’re built on wisdom from above, so that the gates of hell should not prevail against you. So that when the demons see you, the church that God is building, you’ll see the manifold wisdom of God displayed to principalities and powers. You’ll see a church that’s being prepared to host His presence, to host His glory, to walk in the inheritance.
So what’s this angel’s ascending? I always used to think, “God, they should be descending first and then going up.” “Why are they going up and then coming down?” And I think I read this somewhere. It says, “Perhaps they’re taking up all your prayers, all the things that God has for you, the requests, the promises made over your life, and coming down with the answers, the glory of the promises, the glory of those prayers.” So that’s the ministry of angels. God has angels, they call His ministers, flames of fire, even as they turned up in the upper room. The angels. Okay, that’s the house. A house that God is building is marked with angelic activity. It’s marked by His presence, by His rest, by His glory, His Shekinah glory. So whatever you do, wherever you go throughout each day, remember who you are in Christ. Remember, you’re a house that He is building.
C. Guarding Against Temptation and Offense
So whatever the enemy tries to throw at you, guard your peace. When you’re tempted, there’s two ways the devil will come against you, temptation and offense. Temptation to sin, whether it’s for the men, sometimes it’s in the area of morality, or other areas, habits, try to take over. It could be temptation to get offended, to become bitter and unforgiving. Those are the two common areas of offense, where when you’re built by wisdom, you guard against these areas because of the fear of the Lord. You know, someone who fell, a very famous person who fell and was in prison, he was very famous. Everybody, at least in one nation, knew about him. And he was asked, “How could you do what you did? When did you stop loving God?” And he replied, “No, I never stopped loving God, I just didn’t have the fear of God.” And when you don’t have the fear of God, you can lie to yourself, “God will forgive everything. God forgives, but you still suffer the consequences.” And one of the consequences is the guilt and the shame. And when you at least want to, the enemy will remind you what you did or said. So walk in the fear of God. Don’t give the bullets to the enemy to fire back at you at the worst time. We need to have the fear of God. Because without the fear of God, grace becomes a license to sin. And that’s the deception where many, well, I wouldn’t say many, but one denomination in particular has this doctrine where it’s okay to sin because just go confess to the priest. Now you can sin again. God does not want us to have a clean slate to sin again. He wants to forgive us so that we don’t want to sin. So that we lose the desire to sin, because we want to walk in righteousness. Right? So the purpose of forgiveness is not to empower you to sin, but to change your heart and your way of thinking. All right?
VI. Conclusion: The House Built by God’s Wisdom
So God wants to make you and me, He wants to build us by wisdom to understand His ways, to grow in His knowledge so that we can fulfill His purpose as a house. So that your house, your marriage, your family will be filled with His presence. So that when your flesh is provoked, remember the seven pillars of wisdom from the fear of God. Amen? Let’s stand together. Thank you, Jesus.
So we have faith working through love. We have humility and the fear of God that leads to wisdom and knowledge. So when you have humility, you have grace, you walk in the fear of God, your wisdom and knowledge, you’re definitely blessed. But humility and the fear of God are riches, honor and long life. Why? Because riches and honor and long life will come to those who are humble and to those who walk in wisdom in the fear of God. Because you make choices that will prosper you. You make right choices, wise choices and you become back by His presence.
Father, we just thank You for Your Word. We thank You, Lord, for building us individually even as we are in the natural, in the season of building. And we thank You, Lord, even as Jeremiah says, Lord, before we can build on the palm, we’ve got to pull down, we’ve got to tear down, we’ve got to remove the things that are in the way so that we can build what is healthy. We can rebuild on a strong foundation, Lord. So we thank You, Jesus, for grace to come to You for life, the righteousness of faith, the walk in peace, the walk in Your joy, Lord. We thank You, Father, for earning us the grace to be filled with the spirit of power, love in the sun line, love that casted all fear, love that is patient and kind and our provoke, Lord. We thank You, Lord, for granting us the grace to walk in humility and to walk in the fear of You, God, that the wisdom that we walk in, that we are marked by the way our works are done and the meagness of wisdom, You give us clean hands and a pure heart, Lord, that we’ll be a peaceable people. We’ll pursue peace, not peacekeepers, but peacemakers, Lord, based on Your truth. And we thank You, Jesus, for building us, establishing each one of us, Lord, as a house built by wisdom that, like Jacob, experience will be a house of Your presence, a house of rest, a house under open heaven. We thank You, Lord, for walking our inheritance, our heritage, our legacy, Lord. And we thank You, Jesus, that You who began a good work are faithful to complete it. We thank You, we praise You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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