Proverbs 1:1-7
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,[a]
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.[b]
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools[c] despise wisdom and instruction.
Listening guide
Discussion questions
Sermon
What is your favorite piece of wisdom or insight that you would want to give someone else?
I’ve gotten some pretty good ones over the years.
· Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting ____________________________.
· Imitation is the highest form of ______.
· A bird in the hand ______________________
· Men are from mars, ______________________
· Men are from earth, women are from earth. Get over it.
· Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day and drink beer.
The Bible includes much of this kind of wisdom. You can find it in the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and a little bit in the others.
“Pointed precepts for practical prudence”. “Counsels from above for conduct below.” Wisdom is not only knowledge, but action.
Simple example of wisdom. My 1 year old keeps trying to get at the oven when we bake things. He’s curious. I don’t blame him. If he touched the hot oven, I don’t call him a fool and think he needs wisdom.
Why not? He is out of touch with the realities of life. He doesn’t know about heat. But he is 1. He shouldn’t know. He doesn’t need to know.
But the other day, [Sharon Tyler – shows up early, takes step to help out her family]
Wisdom = competence with regard to the realities of life. Competence with regard to how life really works.
I don’t think we think much of biblical wisdom.
Some of them are questionable
· “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.” (Proverbs 23:31) How many of you have a glass of wine? Unless you’re drinking a really powerful merlot does it bite you like a snake?
· “What you have seen with your eyes, do not bring hastily to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbors puts you to shame?”
o Kids in school – speak up
o Airports – speak up
o Neighbors – speak up
· “Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.” (Proverbs 28:6)
· “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)
Ultimately, it’s because people don’t come to me and say, pastor, I have this decision to make in my life. I’m trying to decide if I should date this girl. I’m trying to decide if I should take this job. I’m trying to decide if we should move. I’m trying to decide what I should say to someone.
People don’t come to me and say, well, what kind of wisdom does the Bible have for me pastor?
That may have almost everything to do with me. Maybe people don’t trust me. Maybe they don’t think I’ll keep my mouth shut.
I should tell you, almost all the personal stories I tell I ask before I tell. Even if it is the very general stuff, this other day I was having this conversation with this person and he said. If that was you, I probably asked you if I can tell others. And more likely than not, you forgot anyway 😊 No, I’m just kidding. If I told something you told me privately, I’m sorry. I apologize. I hope you’ll come tell me so I can apologize personally. There are too many reasons already to distrust pastors.
The other thing, is maybe people don’t think I have anything wise to add. It’s the kind of situation where we say, look I’ve got life figured out enough. I got plenty of people telling me what to do. I’ve never got enough from pastor or a church that adds enough and makes me want more.
Is it one of those things? Look, this is not about me. I’m just as bad at this as any of the rest of us is.
This week I finally called another pastor and asked for some advice about some questions. I have another question I’ve been wanting to talk through with someone for a long time. Have I? Nope.
See this is the thing. Does God care about what we know and believe? Does God care about what we do? You tell me. This is the introduction to Proverbs.
“Proverbs … for gaining wisdom and instruction...for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair;” (Proverbs 1:2-3)
Does God care about what we know and believe? Yes
Does God care about what we do? Yes
Adventure
So here is the promise today: If you will take some advice, you’ll get a little closer to the good life.
Proverbs makes this bold claim about “The Good Life.”
Wisdom has its foundation in 1 word. Get ready to be uncomfortable.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Fear. Just saying that makes me feel uncomfortable.
If there’s a God who made the universe and you disobey him, to disobey the God who made the universe is not just wrong; it’s stupid. If there’s a God and he made the universe and you disobey him, it’s not just wrong; it’s dumb. It’s not going to work.
Wisdom assumes you’re good, assumes you’re following the moral rules, but it is quite possible to be very moral and still be stupid.
Wisdom is not less than being good; it’s more. Wisdom is knowing what the right thing is to do in the 80 percent of life situations to which the moral rules don’t directly apply.
Can I make a confession? I think the thing that drives me crazy more than anything about being a pastor is that most of the time I don’t know what to do. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not dumb. You haven’t hired a worthless pastor.
I have these things I have to do. Stay married to my wife. Raise my kids. Preach the Word. Teach the Word.
But what does that mean? On Monday morning should I study the sermon text? Write a devotion? Invite some people to church? Read a book? So many choices! None wrong!
The apostle Paul says, “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” Jesus said, “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”
I think I have pretty good reasons to be afraid.
That’s not all bad. There is negative fear and positive fear.
Adrian addressing Hailee’s confirmation
Confession of faith to our seminary president.
Here is the point. When you find yourself in the presence of somebody you so revere, you are in such awe of, has that ever happened to you? You just sort of tremble. It’s a positive fear. It’s not a negative fear. The negative fear is you’re afraid somebody is going to hurt you. A positive fear is you’re afraid you’re going to disappoint them, you’re going to dishonor them, you’re going to grieve them or something because you love them so much, because you appreciate them so much.
The negative fear is actually selfish. “I’m afraid I’m going to get hit.” The positive fear is actually all about the person. “I don’t want in any way to dishonor this person or bore this person or offend this person or certainly grieve this person.” That is the fear of the Lord. That is a fear that is a joyful fear. It’s a positive fear. It’s awe and wonder before him.
It is taking justice and righteousness seriously and it is
I’ve told you before that I’ve been afraid of God. I’ve admitted it
And that wasn’t the best.
But you know what I did do then? I didn’t fear anyone else.
· Not afraid at the annual review
· Tough meetings with my boss
· I wasn’t afraid of critical people
“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” Oswald Chambers
Wisdom is a “who” more than a “what”. It has so much to do with who we think about, what we care about.
God tells us there is a person whose
1 Corinthians 1:30-31
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
God has given you wisdom in the person of Jesus.
He has displayed righteousness and holiness in every step of his life. That has redeemed us from sin death and the devil.
God would see Jesus at work through you. He prepared the great works of Jesus to be worked out in our life.
Can you say this with me?
Jesus is
· (my name here) righteousness
· (my name here) holiness
· (my name here) redemption
Jesus is my wisdom.
Action
Two cards
· One, write down today’s proverb in your own words as best as you can. Take it home and put it on
· Two, I hope that at least some of you will write a proverb or a piece of wisdom down. Then stick it up on the wall.
Maybe we can get a little bit better at knowing this wisdom that comes from God.
You’re going to be amazed that God will reveal to you about Jesus. And you’re going to be amazed to see God reveal Jesus through you.