New City Churchs Summer 2012 Online Book Club

JI Packers Knowing God ~ Chapter 10: God Wisdom and Ours Before reading: What is the purpose of the Christian to grow in wisdom? How do you know if you are growing wise? What would that look like in the life of a believer?

Purpose: To clarify what wisdom is not, and to understand what it means to walk in wisdom

Outline: I. II. III. IV. V. Wisdom: Gods & Ours What Wisdom Is Not: Deepened Understanding of the Meaning & Purpose of Events Realism Needed: The Book of Ecclesiastes is Given to Turn Us into Realists What Ecclesiastes Teaches Us: See Life as It Is, & Trust God The Fruit of Wisdom: Christlikeness

Key Quotes: Where do we find wisdom? What steps must a man take to lay hld of this gift? There are two prerequisites, according to Scripture. First, one must learn to reverence God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.... Second, one must learn to receive Gods word. Wisdom is divinely wrought in those, and those only, who apply themselves to Gods revelation. The mistake that is commonly made is to supposethat the gift of wisdom consists in deepened insight into the providential meaning and purpose of events going on around us, and ability to see why God has done what He has done in a particular case, and what He is going to do next. People feel that if they were really walking close to God, so that He could impart wisdom to them freely, then they woulddiscern the real purpose of everything that happened to them, and it would be clear to them every moment how God was making all things work together for good. To live wisely, you have to be clear-sighted and realisticruthlessly soin looking at life as it is. Wisdom will not go 2with comforting illusions, false sentiment, or the use of rose-coloured spectacles. Most us live in a dream world, with our heads in the clouds and our feet off the ground; we never see the world, and our lives in it, as they really are. This deep-seated, sin bred unrealism is one reason why there is so little wisdom among us. There is one book in Scripture that is expressly designed to turn us into realists: and that is the book of Ecclesiastes. What is the wisdom that He gives? As we have seen, it is not a sharing in all His knowledge, but a disposition to confess that He is wise, and to cleave to Him and live for Him in light of His word through thick and thin. Thus the effect of His gift of wisdom is to make us more humble, more joyful, more godly, more quick-sighted as to His will, more resolute in the doing of it and less troubled (not less sensitive, but less bewildered) than we were a the dark and painful things which our life in this fall world is full. The New Testament tells us that the fruit of wisdom is Christlikeness.

Reflection Questions:

1. What is the difference between an incommunicable and a communicable attribute? Name some of each.
2. What are the two steps that enable a person to lay hold of the gift of wisdom that God gives? 3. Explain what wisdom does not mean according to this chapter. 4. How would you summarize the purpose of the book of Ecclesiastes? Have you read this book lately? 5. How do you think the message of Ecclesiastes is needed for your life today? How would it be helpful in the lives of contemporary Christians? 6. What is the effect of wisdom? How is its fruit found in a persons life? Can you find traces of it in your life? Review these questions, and let them direct your thoughts, prayer, and praise.