Wisdom in the Age of InformationProverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is true wisdom from above.

We’re going to talk about wisdom in the age of information, based on Proverbs 9:10, from our Old Testament lesson, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

And similar to it, from our introit, Psalm 111:10, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.

We live in what has been called the information age. It’s estimated that up until 1900, the volume of knowledge in the world doubled every 100 years. By 1945 it was doubling every 25 years. Now the volume of knowledge is doubling every year or less. 

Information and knowledge are expanding by leaps and bounds in our digital world. We can go online and find out just about anything. And if it’s online, it must be true, right? Not necessarily.

Even so, now, at your fingertips, is instant information from around the globe; we can read and hear about events on the other side of the world as they happen. And you can carry this information with you, wherever you go with, on your smart phone. 

Not only do we have mountains of online information for us to sort through, we’re also surrounded with news and information and opinions on television, and radio, and newspapers, and magazines, and books, and blogs, and podcasts, and all forms of media. 

This cascading abundance of information has been called the information tsunami. Loads and waves of new knowledge and information, washing over us all the time; it can be information overload, as we’ll talk more about later.

Technology has made more good information readily available to us, but it’s also made us vulnerable to a lot of bad and false information. 

Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia where anyone can contribute to it, has come out recently and said that no one should trust it anymore. It’s become a platform to present opinions or hear say, as facts.

An abundance of information, doesn’t necessarily equal an abundance of truth, or  an abundance of wisdom. It might even be argued that as knowledge is increasing, wisdom is decreasing. 

It takes wisdom to know how to respond to, and what to do with, all this information that we’re bombarded with. Where can we gain such wisdom? 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs 9:10 says, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight, or discernment. 

God gives us the wisdom we need in His Word, so that we can use the gift of knowledge in the right way.

There are two kinds of knowledge, what we might call revealed knowledge and natural knowledge.

Science is an example of natural knowledge; it’s discovered by studying and describing the created world. And since God made the world, natural knowledge ultimately comes from Him. 

God wants us to use natural knowledge for good, and not for harm, neither in body nor in soul; for example, to use medical knowledge, not to terminate life, but to heal and preserve life.

Above and beyond natural knowledge, is revealed knowledge. Revealed knowledge is what can’t be known or figured out by studying the created world; it can only be known in the Gospel. 

This is what Peter is referring to in today’s Gospel, when Jesus asked the disciples if they were going to leave Him, too. Peter exclaimed, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” 

We sometimes use these words for the Alleluia, preceding the Gospel reading.

In Matthew 16, Jesus asked the disciples who they thought he was. Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”  

That’s the revealed knowledge of the Gospel, through which God makes us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, 2 Timothy 3:15 tells us. 

The revealed knowledge of the Gospel in Scripture blesses us with God’s grace and salvation. The revealed knowledge of God’s law in Scripture, clearly shows us our sin and need for a Savior, and how to live a godly life.

Like revealed knowledge, natural knowledge can be a blessing from God, if we use it in the right way. If used in the wrong way, to harm or mislead people, or to defy or contradict God, then it becomes a curse, a plague on the world.

God’s Word makes us wise to be able to discern when knowledge and information are being used rightly or wrongly. 

And the Holy Spirit helps us to use the knowledge we’ve been given, and the information we’ve gathered, for godly purposes.

When we believe God, and learn His Word, that’s when we have the wisdom and discernment we need in this age of excessive information. 

Psalm 111:10, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.

As you read and hear, mountains of information, online or on TV or by word of mouth, or whatever medium of communication, pray for godly wisdom to rightly  discern and understand it, and then compare it Scripture. 

If it contradicts God’s Word, don’t trust it. If doesn’t contradict Scripture, then consider it; see if there’s anything beneficial that you can take from it and use for good and godly purposes.

In this age of extreme amounts information, God, in His Word, gives us the wisdom we need to know how to sort through it; how to approach it, and use it for good.

This tsunami of information in our world can be overwhelming, so we need to be realistic about how much we try to absorb and take in.

It can even get a bit depressing; a person can handle only so much bad news or false information. 

But the thing is, this stuff can get almost addictive, so we need to exercise self-control.

If you feel that this avalanche of information is dragging you down, or isn’t helping you, then just turn off the TV, or change the channel; quit reading the news article, or the blog, or quit surfing the web, or quit listening to the podcast or the radio, or get off from Facebook or Twitter or whatever social media, and do something more positive, something that will put you in a better frame of mind, so that you can better serve and honor God, and better help and be good to others.

Regardless of however much information you decide is healthy for you to take in, the most important thing is to be wise and enlightened through God’s Word, so that you reject what’s false and harmful, and accept, and make good use of, what’s helpful and true.

Follow the advice of our Epistle, 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, (and information, we might add) because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. As we say, His good and gracious will.

There’s a lot that’s not true or trustworthy in our world, but the Word and will of God will never misinform or mislead you.

So, as 2 Peter 3:18 encourages us, Let us grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

May we use all knowledge and information to the glory of God. Then it will be for the good of all. 

And as we do, may His peace, which passes understanding, guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our all-wise and all-knowing, Lord and Savior. Amen.