WISDOM
I was surprised during this year as I went
thru my sermons u know I keep a file of
all my sermons, so I have a file of all the
messages I preach. I was surprised as I
went thru my sermons that I had not
preached about wisdom I have taught on
several aspects of it but I had not
preached about it
Today I’m starting part one of the
sermon on wisdom
I think you’re going to love this and it’s
going to be good. In this series I will be
making a lot of references on the bible
books of wisdom and the wisdom books
are primarily the book of proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, songs of Solomon and
sometimes people include the book of
psalms depending on how u want to
interpret it and the book of job as well.
These are the wisdom book of the bible
but primarily when we talk of the
wisdom book of the bible, the pivot is the
book of proverbs.
I spent quit most of my time reading the
book of proverbs because I realized that
if I needed to be wise I had to read the
book of wisdom.
So what is exactly a proverb?
It is normally a very short and a
memorable seeing and it has relevance to
different situations.
The book of proverbs in the bible
represents the collective wisdom of the
children of Israel. As Israel grew as a
nation, it begun to put together its
wisdom and when God called Israelites
he gave them laws.
So he gave them laws like u shall not
commit adultery but he did not tell them
what would happen to them if they
committed adultery. He just told them
don’t do it. But, as a nation grew they
begun to observe the effects of adultery
until they realized that if u commit
adultery this and that happens to.
So as they lived the law of God, they saw
the practical way in which the law of the
Lord works and they built their wisdom
along the practical application of the
word of God.
For example if God says u shall not bare
false witness. They realized that false
witness has effects on their society and
that’s how it destroys society and they
gathered them in wisdom and it is
wisdom that God validates. And so u sees
a lot of those things in the book of
proverbs. But the book of proverbs is not
a book law and promises; it’s the book of
wisdom.
And sometimes the wisdom in the book
of proverbs don’t have application in
every circumstance for example if u read
the book of
PROVERBS 26:4-5
“When arguing with a fool don’t answer
their foolish arguments, or you will
become as foolish as they are
When arguing with a fool, be sure to
answer their foolish arguments, or they
will become wise in their foolish
estimations”
So u see that one part of it says that don’t
answer a fool according to his
foolishness and the next verse say
answer a fool according to his
foolishness rest he becomes wise in his
own estimate. So don’t think that the
bible is contradicting its self but
circumstances will always determine
whether to answer him or not.
So the book of proverbs does not have
rigid application but it has different
application depending on the
circumstances and situations in our lives.
So we are going to start our teaching
with three readings from the book of
proverbs and the book psalms. One from
the book of proverbs and the others from
the book of psalms.
PROVERBS 3:19-20
PSALMS 104: 24 and PSALMS 19:1-3
So I am going to put them together
because they are found as foundations of
much of what we are going to talk about.
Proverbs 3:19-20 says
“By wisdom God founded the earth; and
by understanding he established the
heavens. 20 By His knowledge the deep
fountains of the earth burst forth, and
the clouds poured down rain.”
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding He established the
heavens! In this context when the bible
talks about the heavens it’s talking about
the universe.
PSALMS 104:24
“Oh Lord, what a variety of things u
have made! In wisdom u have made them
all, the earth is full of your creatures”
I want u to note: IN WISDOM U HAVE
MADE THEM ALL!
The third reading is in psalms 19:1-3
“The heavens tell of the glory of
God. The skies display his marvelous
craftsmanship. 2 day after day they
continue to speak; night after night they
make Him known.3 they speak without a
sound or word; their voice is silent in the
skies.”
These are very deep and profound verses
in the bible. Very deep and profound
because they touch 0n the core of the
significance of life.
There are two statements that I want to
derive from these verses.
The first one is that wisdom is the
foundational law of God’s universe.
Wisdom is what God used to create the
universe. And wisdom is heaven unto the
universe. So the laws of physics and the
laws of nature are manifestations of the
wisdom of God.
In the universe and the laws that run the
universe, whether laws of gravity, motion
or whatever, they are the manifestation
of the wisdom of God because whatever
God hooves the universe through
wisdom.
Wisdom is the foundational law of God’s
universe. If you’re going to function in
God’s universe then u have to understand
wisdom.
The second statement that I want to
make is that wisdom is the language of
God. It says in psalms 19: 3 that day unto
day utters speech and night unto night
reveals knowledge. In other words when
u observe the creation order from the
earth which we are familiar with, to the
planets around us in our solar system,
beyond our solar system to our galaxy
and beyond our galaxy to other galaxies
in universe, each one of them orderly,
each one of them, they are the language
of God!
It is God speaking and if u sees the way
the universe is structured in a constant
voice it is the wisdom of God to us. The
universe itself is a language of wisdom
Wisdom regulates life in the universe
and it sustains the universe.
Wisdom is the instrument by which God
guides everything.
And I just want to encourage u when u go
home to read proverbs chapter8 the
whole of it. Because proverbs chapter 8
is significant in telling us the diversity
and power and influence of wisdom, it is
a very powerful force.
It’s not just something in your head that
helps you to say that I like this and I hate
this, it is a system and it is a law that
runs the entire universe.
So what should be our attitude towards
wisdom?
Proverbs 4:5-9 tells us how we should
treat wisdom
It says: “Get wisdom, get understanding,
do not forget nor turn away from the
words of my mouth. Do not forsake her
and she will preserve u, love her and she
will keep u, wisdom is the principle
things therefore get wisdom and in all
your getting, get understanding. Exalt
her and she will promote u. she will
bring u honor when u embrace her, she
will place on your head an ornament of
grace and the crown of glory she will
deliver to you.”
Very powerful phrases about wisdom.
When u look at this passage, wisdom is
described with a feminine description.
So wisdom in this passage is presented
as a lady and the reason wisdom is
presented as a woman here is to show
the desirability of wisdom.
And so it is telling us that we should go
for wisdom the way a man goes for a
woman he loves.
It then uses the whole analogy of a man
who loves a woman to show our attitude
towards wisdom. And so there are five
things that we have to do about wisdom:
We must get wisdom.
That phrase means to passionately get it!
Wisdom must not be pursued passively.
The image is of a man who has seen the
lady of her dream and then he goes for
her. Usually in a natural world it is called
“THE CHASE” we say that the man who is
going for a woman is chasing after her.
Not crawling after her.
It means there is a certain agency if u
wants to go a woman and those of u who
are married I am sure u will understand
this wisdom. Go for her, dream about her.
When a man falls in love, some of u will
say; pastor have u fallen in love before?
Well I am married.
U doesn’t just wake up one day and say
well I am going to marry this girl. No it
starts with attraction and before u ever
speaks to the person your hurt begins to
beat and it beats beyond the regular
system of your body healthy.
So your heart is really beating but u have
not yet talked to this girl called Joy and
she doesn’t know the plans u have for
her. She even doesn’t know I am thinking
about her but my heart goes for her and I
am thinking about her all the time.
Now the bible says that is how we should
treat wisdom! When u hear or see
wisdom anywhere your heart should
beat.
You should be passionate about it. U
doesn’t need to see wisdom and be
passive about it; that well I will get it. No!
You have to be passionate about it. That
is the first thing the bible says we should
do about wisdom. And u knows when u
see the lady u really like, u take all the
moves that will eventually win her. You
conveniently position yourself where she
will pass.
The bible says we should do the same to
wisdom. You should conveniently
position yourself where wisdom is
passing.
Love her
Lover her means, care deeply for
wisdom. When u have pursued her and
acquired her, don’t lose interest in her.
Pay attention, take time with wisdom. If
u loves wisdom she will love u back.
Exalt her
This means to give wisdom a high value.
Prioritize wisdom. It must be exalted
above money, material wealth, above
power exalt her!
Don’t forget her.
That means always keep wisdom in your
mind, don’t allow time and age to
diminish your wisdom. One of the most
beautiful sights in our world is a sight of
an old man and old woman who have
been in love probably for about 60years
and they are still in love, especially when
their jokes and everything they do is a
reflection of love.
This is more beautiful than a young man
who is buying flowers. Do young men
buy flowers in Uganda? What do they
buy? Is it chocolates?
Now wisdom must be loved and don’t
ever forget her.
Don’t forsake her
Don’t ever exchange wisdom for
something else. You will be tempted to
exchange wisdom for something else but
don’t fall for it.
I think that was the problem of king
Solomon and we will talk about that later
in the series. King Solomon had wisdom
but he forsook wisdom and begun to
pursue power and fame and women and
he forsook wisdom.
Sometimes we have wisdom but we
forsake wisdom and pursue other things.
Wisdom has a lot of competitors and one
of the great competitors is: Money the
second competitor is power and the third
competitor is fame.
Now money is good in the right context,
power is good and fame is but if u get
them without wisdom u become a
liability and a menace to yourself.
Solomon had wisdom but at the same
time he forgot wisdom and started
pursuing power. All the women Solomon
married, he did not marry them because
he loved them. He married them because
of political expediencies but because he
wanted to make alliances with other
neighbors.
So in order to have peace he married
from that tribe and from that tribe to
that country and so they could not wage
war against him. So he was pursuing
power at the expense of wisdom. The
bible says don’t forget her. Wisdom is the
principle thing; it is the number one
pursuit of your life!!!!
In all your getting, get understanding and
get wisdom. Don’t get money, power
don’t get fame but get wisdom in all
you’re getting!
The number one getting of your life
shouldn’t be greatness, fame, power,
money but it should wisdom. I want to
wise!!!!
That is how the bible wants us to pursue
wisdom.
In the bible, wisdom does not have only
one expression. There are several
Hebrew and Greek expressions about
wisdom. But this is not a Hebrew and
Greek class so my work is to read and
summarize for u those expressions. But
there are several Greek and Hebrew
expressions about wisdom.
Primarily the Greeks and Hebrews had
different approaches to wisdom.
To the Hebrews, wisdom was more
practical and to the Greeks it was more of
an abstract, it had different concepts.
And that is where u get the whole idea of
philosophy because philosophy is all
about the love for wisdom.
The primary word for wisdom is SOPHIA
and PHILOS which is love so to the
Greeks it was all about seating and
talking. U take time just debating about
an idea. It was wisdom but more of an
abstract.
For the Hebrews wisdom was more
practical. So it is difficult to define
wisdom with one word or sentence.
Through the definitions, commentaries I
look through about wisdom, there was
no single phrase that describes wisdom.
So I chose to look at wisdom from five
dimensions and I am going to talk about
those five dimensions.
The spiritual dimension
It is the fear of the Lord. W are all
familiar with psalms 111:10
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom”
The fear of the lord is the doorway to
wisdom not the end. The fear of the Lord
has two aspects and these are:
To turn away from sin and everything
that is wrong.
To have reverence for God
That can be compared to how
electricians fear electricity. They work
with electricity but every electrician
fears electricity. why? Because they know
the awesome power of electricity. So
before they start working upon it they
prepare and cover up themselves
because they know that this thing that
turns on light can turn off light in my life.
So they don’t run away from its power
but they don’t violet its laws and
principles.
So when they are wiring electricity they
follow strict lines of order. They put the
right wires in the right place and right
skate breakers in the right place because
they know that if they don’t do that, the
force which is for good can turn bad and
burn the house and take my life away. It
is respect but not respect that keeps u
away.
So when the bibles talks about the fear of
the Lord being the beginning of wisdom,
it is not the fear that repels u from God
but the fear that makes u recognize the
awesomeness of God, the fear that
enables u to work with him according to
his principles.
The first dimension is the spiritual
dimension and second is;
Mental wisdom
It is deep inside the life and it the
wisdom most of us are familiar with. It is
all about understanding deep how life
works and operates. But biblical wisdom
is not the same as having a high IQ.
It is not the same as having high grades
at school. It is spiritual, moral and real.
Normally the mental aspect of spiritual
wisdom is gained through observation
and appreciation of how things work.
Remember PROVERBS 6:6 where a lazy
man is told to go and observe the ants
and learn. That is mental wisdom.
Through observation u watch things, u
watch people, u watch a man who has
lots of wealth, very rich and everything
goes on well in life, he has three children
and then he picks up a new girl friend
and u watch him, u watch how his life
begins to derail, he pays attention to
himself, makes a lot of risky choices and
then he loses his money, his family, his
business and then in the end the girl
friend he got blows all his money and
when the man is deeply poor she jumps
to another man.
Now after observing that, u also go and
repeat it; then it means that u luck
wisdom, because by observation and
appreciation u learn wisdom. Just like
the lazy man goes to the ant to learn
wisdom.
U don’t have to wait until such things
happen to u, u just have to watch what is
happening to people and learn wisdom.
So wisdom can be mental because for the
Hebrews it was through observing
nature, life and sometimes animals. Look
at the book of proverbs references to
animals why because they learnt wisdom
by observing.
They did not learn wisdom from book
knowledge. Thank God for book
knowledge but it does not give u mental
wisdom.
Moral wisdom
Righteous conduct; it is the ability to tell
between right and wrong. It is a moral
force. So we judge people’s wisdom by
their morality. If they are doing wrong
things, making wrong decisions, wrong
choices we don’t judge them to be right.
But if they are doing the right thing we
judge them to be wise. So wisdom has a
moral dimension too.
Practical wisdom
It is the practical aspect of wisdom.
Creative solutions to problems; it is the
technical aspect of wisdom.
In the Hebrew society that is how most
people viewed wisdom. The first person
to be described in the bible as having
wisdom was a manufacturer. And that
was Bazaar who we shall talk about later.
Wisdom can be personal and wisdom can
be collective. When u go to a person’s
life, u can tell if they have wisdom by the
practical solutions they have to the
problems. U can tell. When I was growing
up I had a friend, he lived in a one room
boy’s quarter but he kept it so neat, he
had his bed made every day.
He also had a cupboard, there was not
much things in the cupboard but
everything there was well arranged
always. He had box corn flex, and tins of
some food stuff and oh may be milk very
well arranged. I later on just realized that
all those tins were empty but every time
I went to his room I was like wow this
man is very prosperous. He has corn flex,
he has milk and all that.
His clothes were always ironed and every
time I went to him I just admired. I
wished to be like him all the time. He did
not have much; he was not rich but by
merely looking at how he organized his
thing, u just looks and knows this is
wisdom.
Now u can enter someone else’s room
and everything is disorganized. The corn
flex box is empty and worse of it all not
well arranged, the empty milk tins are
somewhere on the bed and u just get
discouraged there and then.
Same stuff and room but u look and ask
yourself; what is wrong with this
guy??????
So wisdom can be personal, u observes
and tell that that is wisdom. In same way
there are instances where wisdom can be
collective. U go to a city and the bus
system running and cars park in the right
place, goods are sold by the right
vendors, shops open and things are not
sold on the pavements u appreciate that
indeed that is wisdom.
Then u go to another country where they
also have cars, same streets, they also
have pavements but cars park in the
middle of roads, shops are open but stuff
are sold from outside the shop. Then u
looks at those people and says
collectively their wisdom is there to see.
Wisdom can be individually but at the
same time can be collectively. When u
come to this church u see the collective
wisdom of this church by the way we run
our selves because this is us and it is our
practical solution.
That is how my friend was and there are
other people who have five bedrooms
but they are nowhere via neatness as
compared to my friend who had only one
bedroom.
It is not all about money, not all about
education but, in all your getting, get
wisdom!!!
Wisdom is governmental
That is ruling with fairness and equity. I
know when I see governmental the first
thing u will think about is the
government. But in the Hebrew system
where most of the wisdom originated
from, the first government was the
family.
So when u read the book of proverbs u
will find phrases like my mother, my son,
my father told because it is all about how
to govern your home. U see wisdom in
the way a home is governed.
U can go to home and see the cartens
have all kinds of drawings in them
because they are children, the walls are
dirty and u ask the parents what is
wrong with the walls? They will say u
know we have children.
And then u go to another home which
have similar number of children, same
age group and there is no writing on the
wall. So how come they write on your
walls and they don’t write on another
wall? It is your wisdom.
The governmental systems, it is all about
how the family is organized!
U go to a house and a three year old boy
comes in front of u and humbly says good
morning Mr. Tony, u are welcome to our
house then he goes. Then u go to another
house and a three year comes instead of
welcoming u he just pinches u and he
goes. Wisdom in manifestation.
So to the Hebrews, it was all about how u
govern and the first institution u can
govern is your family. May God forgive
me but I visited a certain family some
time back and the kid just kept on
pinching me, spitting on me, stumping on
my feet and the parents were like oh
please don’t do that as I sat in the chair.
Don’t do that, he is a pastor and u know I
am a pastor I cannot be tough and he
continues to stump on. I just handled it
spiritually but was not good at all.
Eventually the parents left me in the
seating room with this kid he continued
pitching me. May God forgive my sins I
knocked this boys head, I knocked him
seriously.
I am not suggesting that u should do that
to little children, some of them are too
young to handle others are too stubborn
to control. U know what I mean by this.
But don’t just say this is how they are! U
can govern people.
The very Ugandans who urinate on
streets here when they go to London
they don’t urinate on the streets. Why?
Because they are governed! Their desire
is governed. They can hold whatever they
are holding for five hours until they get
the right place to deposit.
How come here they don’t hold the waste
until the right place? It is because the
system of governance of the space we
have here is weak!
Wisdom is the principle thing and for the
Hebrews it was in governance and these
five.
I am going to share four things about
wisdom and then I will close for today.
There is a lot to share about wisdom but
I am just trying to take my time.
WISDOM IS THE MAP THAT MOVES U
FROM WHERE U ARE TO FINAL
DESTINATION
Wisdom is your map. It is your
navigating instrument through the
changing seasons of life. As u move in life
u are going to be guided by the wisdom u
have. If u come across a junction and u
don’t know where to turn, wisdom will
guide u on which direction to turn. It is
your map.
And if u are stuck in life, somewhere u
don’t know which route to take, just
know there is a deficiency in wisdom but
don’t worry later I will teach u how to get
wisdom but today I am just focusing on
its importance.
WISDOM IS THE GAP BETWEEN YOUR
PROBLEMS AND YOUR SOLUTIONS
Every problem in life has a solution and
each one of us stands between our
problems and solutions.
The problems we have may be how to
live a holy life, how to grow spiritually,
how to get along with your spouse, how
to get financial breakthrough in your life,
how to maintain good relationship with
your family. I mean these are all
problems we have. You work and work
but u don’t get promotion, u work but
you’re not financially secure. Your family
is not working the way u want it to, u
children are not doing u want them to. I
mean all these are problems but it is
important for u to know that they have
solutions.
The gap between your problem and your
solution is wisdom.
When I was in school I hated
mathematics, so sorry I hated
mathematics because right now I need it
like never before just like most hate it. It
was because my mind could not handle
multiplying numbers with alphabets.
When it is just numbers, it is and when it
is just alphabets still its fine but u mix
especially this idea of finding x and y. I
don’t understand the entire stuff.
I remember in mathematics where they
first give us the example and then later
they give us the problem in the text book.
I tried about three times and I couldn’t
get the answer so I concluded that the
question was wrong, so I got the text
book and went to the mathematics
teacher to tell him that the question is
wrong.
I told him I have done the way u told us
to do but I am not getting the answer. I
suppose the book made a mistake. So he
called another student in class and told
him show Tony the answer. He gave me
the answer.
In actual sense, the question was not
wrong but my knowledge was
inadequate and that is how some of our
problems in life are. Your problem is not
a problem but your wisdom.
It is not that your wife is too hard, no its
your wisdom. It’s not that money is not
in the treasury but it’s your wisdom.
Once u settle that the gap between your
problem and your solution is wisdom u
don’t blame the problem.
Go get wisdom because in all you’re
getting get wisdom. Every problem u
have has a solution. Wisdom is the tap
thru which your energy from everything
u have every gift every talent is
channeled thru your wisdom tap, what if
you have a large water reserve and
channel it in a damaged pipe what
happens? Do you get clean water? The
answer is no! The water gets blocked
because the tap is damaged.
katugeze kubulatavu pipe nga yatalaga
obuzibu tebuba bwa bwamazi butaba
mayonjo naye pipe mwe gayitta. People
think money is the problem but you can
pour money on top of people and still
they spend it all. What you need is
wisdom! I need my salary to be double
God. Only if u know how to manage it but
if u don’t know how to manage it, all
things will be wasted. This time we need
managers who manage large amount of
money like the pipe manages water
without a single drop. I am talking of big
pipes like this one from Gaba to
Muyenga. Wisdom is the tap to your
performance in life. As your wisdom is so
is your life! Once u cap a bottle nothing
can be added on. It is the upper most
limit u can achieve. Today if u see your
life moving in the direction u don’t want,
u have to check your wisdom. Usually
your life is moving in a three year cycle,
every year u have to renew your life.
If you don’t do that u will get stuck.
Every three years you have to expand
yourself or stretch it. More capacity to
grow well in everything, wisdom is all
that u need. Once u’re caped, nothing can
be added on to you.
There are people who have gone in all
seminars, courses but nothing improved
in their performance. Hello smiling
services!! What they learned was
different what they need is wisdom!
Wisdom is the map. Wisdom is the tap…
wisdom is the cap. In all your getting, get
wisdom. So if I want to go beyond this
the wisdom cap must be removed to the
higher level. God Himself formed the
world in wisdom.