Latest / HBCWestminster / Proverbs 1:1-7 The Beginning Of Wisdom 6.9.19

Transcript

Proverbs 1:1-7 The Beginning Of Wisdom 6.9.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Have you ever looked at someone's life and said, man, that's a life well lived. They're good at living. They seem to be winning at life. I was inspired to teach the book of Proverbs by my friend whose name is Chuck Kergy. And here is a man who, in my opinion, has lived his life well. Chuck is one of my closest and honestly longest standing friends. He and I have been friends for almost 40 years. I met him when I was just a boy.
• 0:33
  I was seven years old, and he led the first missions trip that I ever went on, a missions trip to Mexico that my dad and I went on to an orphanage there. Chuck was then, when I met him, my age now. Forty years later, he's in his 80s. He is honestly one of the wisest men I have ever met. He sees things that others don't see. He contemplates things that others never have.
• 1:00
  He's extremely intelligent, a brilliant writer, honestly is one of my favorite essay writers, especially. He's one of the few people I've ever known who may have had an original thought. We used to go to breakfast frequently and discuss ideas we've had or books that we've read. There was never judgment, only encouragement and respect. Today, our conversations are relegated to email, which we have frequently and which I often recite to Hallie because of my admiration for this man.
• 1:29
  And when the Lord eventually calls Chuck home, the world, in my opinion, will be lesser for it. Here's some of the things. In the last just few months of emails that he's written me, some of the ways he's either signed off proverbial sayings he may or may not have even realized they were proverbial. But just listen to some of his words. He signed off an email a couple of months ago with this. He said, Danny, love your sons. Hug your wife. Tell your friends that you can't live without them. He said one time, I've determined that there are some things that I will not know before I die.
• 2:00
  And I've decided that that's okay because I honestly struggle enough already seeking to live out what I do know. He said, I would suggest that not everyone is correct in everything. Pretty simple, but very profound. He said, Danny, you may discover that some people don't know things. I loved how general he left that. He didn't say that some people don't know some things or some people don't know everything. He said, some people know nothing. He said one time, Danny, finishing.
• 2:34
  well is not as easy as I thought it would be. He said, be wise and tender. Never flaunt the name of a person to demonstrate how well educated you are or show that you agree with a popular person, but instead seek out the scriptures to reinforce what you think. He said, Danny, you have three strong boys. Teach them to use their hands, their bodies, their minds, and their souls. Teach them that their heavenly father's smile and approval are priceless.
• 3:06
  He said one time this year, Danny, the word pastor is just another way to say, I'm looking for someone to blame and you look convenient. Then the reason for our current series, he said in my teen years and into my twenties, I mastered the art of sarcasm. It took me a number of years to understand that it really only served the purpose of putting a barrier between me and my friends, which I ultimately lost due to its continual use.
• 3:35
  The book of Proverbs is full of irony, but I believe it avoids sarcasm. We used to believe that most people had common sense, but no longer. I encourage you to take your church through a series from the book of Proverbs. Prizes for the children, youth, and adults who memorize its verses. Eternal rewards for those who actually live them out and invite testimonies. And so you'll notice in your bulletin this morning, there was an insert with a gray piece of paper that has Proverbs 1, 1 to 7. The staff.
• 4:04
  is going to memorize these seven verses over the next five weeks. I would encourage you to do the same. Hang them on your fridge. Stick them on your car radio. Put them wherever is going to catch your eye. Laminate it and stick it in your shower if you need to. There's seven minutes that you can redeem. We're going to memorize these verses together as a church in the hopes that the Lord will bless that, water that memory, and begin to grow them in our lives.
• 4:33
  Because the sad reality is that not all people who live are good at it. Not all people who live are winning. Not all those who endure earth's journey come out ahead. There are plenty of people that we look at their lives and say, wow, that's a life well lived. But on the flip side, there are a lot of people too that will look at their lives and say, that's no way to live. I've got three sons.
• 5:00
  When you have your firstborn, when Pearson was firstborn, I had no idea how resilient children actually are. I didn't know how gentle I had to be with them. I didn't realize all that they would just figure out. As you continue to have kids, you find that you have significantly less and less energy for each one. As the years progress.
• 5:25
  You are blessed with additional children. You may find that you are willing to just let things go, that you would have disciplined with the first one. You just try things and experiment with things that you never would have done with your first. You will find that your third is significantly different than your first in the way that they are raised. When Chase was born, he's our third son, and he was still real little in strollers in the mall rolling around.
• 5:58
  I used to see, you know, everybody takes the escalator in the mall. And you don't until you have kids realize that there is actually a sign. There's a sign on every single escalator. You don't see it until you have kids because it's not a sign that's up here in your view. It's a sign that's posted. It's yellow usually. It's about this big, a little tiny plaque. And it's posted down at the bottom of the escalator where your feet go. And the sign says, no strollers. You ever seen the sign?
• 6:27
  You see the sign, no strollers, right? And with our first one, Pearson's in the stroller. I saw the sign like, well, there's some wisdom, right? But then you got to hike to the opposite side of the mall to take the elevator to go downstairs. And when it's your first and you're still in your 20s, you're willing. But by the time you have your third, you're like, you know what? I'm not an idiot. I can keep the stroller afloat down the escalator. I'm not walking all the way to the end of the mall.
• 6:57
  so that I can go downstairs with my kid. And so I began to, on the downhill escalator, just roll the back wheels on. And they know this is exactly what you're going to do, which is why they put the sign right there, right? They roll the back wheels on and just push that thing up, prop the front wheels up, and just cantilever the stroller off the edge so that as you're going down, he stays flat and you just hold him up, right? Hallie was never willing to do it. It always made her really, really nervous.
• 7:25
  Hell, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Until one day with Chase, the inevitable happened where I do my whole thing, you know, and just as I get those back wheels onto that front step and I take my step, we are now fully committed. He's hanging off the front. Just as I push down to get the full weight of the stroller onto that handle, you hear a snap and the handle broke off in my hand. It just snapped.
• 7:53
  You know, so I'm doing this and Hallie's right behind me. Snap like that. And it breaks off. And I reached up and grabbed the canopy part that holds, you know, that kind of blocks him from the sun. I reached up and grabbed the canopy and I'm holding the handle in this hand and I'm holding him in this hand. And the whole time Hallie's behind me smacking me saying, I told you, I told you, I told you, I told you. Like you have got to stop hitting me, right?
• 8:18
  I told you, I knew this was going to happen. I told you we get all the way down to the bottom. I'm now having the rest of the day trying to push this stroller around with the canopy part. You know, I've got the broken handle walking by dad saying, I've been there. You know, those handles aren't as strong as you think. They're not. You've got to take the elevator. Honestly, it seems like there are many, and I hate to use the word many, but I think it's true. There are many.
• 8:47
  Who go their entire lives just barely hanging on. Everything they love in the world hanging in the balance. There are many who live their lives that way. Holding on to this broken handle. They have no clue where to turn for help. No clue who to turn to for help. No clue where to get advice from. Some people's lives are not lived well. They're like the tribe of Ephraim. In Hosea chapter 7 and verse 8.
• 9:21
  When he says Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples. Now catch this vivid illustration. He says Ephraim is a cake not turned. He's a cake. You get this idea of a baker, a bakery, right? He stuck the cake in the oven, but it's not being well tended. It's not taken out when it should be. It's not turned. There's uneven heat. It's just getting black and baked into a hockey puck. And he says that's what Ephraim is like. Jesus himself said in John chapter 10 and verse 10.
• 9:54
  That he came to give life and give it in abundance. Do you remember that? He seems to imply that it's possible to live and yet not live abundantly. You can be alive and yet not have the fullness of life. The Apostle Paul described the human race in Ephesians chapter 2 as the living dead. He said, but you were dead in your transgressions, dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once lived.
• 10:23
  You can be alive and yet, spiritually speaking, dead. The Bible defines the life well-lived as the life of wisdom. Now, we often equate wisdom with intelligence. But wisdom in the Hebrew is literally to have technical skill or aptitude. If you want to know what wisdom is, we often define wisdom as knowledge applied. That's how we often define it. But in Hebrew, it meant to be skilled.
• 10:56
  skilled you're good at something that would mean you're wise now listen to first kings first kings two different translations of the same verse first kings chapter 7 verses 13 to 14 the context is this solomon king solomon is putting the finishing touches on the temple in jerusalem he's just finished building
• 11:16
  this temple and he wants to hire a specially skilled man named Haram who's going to come and build these massive pillars. You guys may recall there were two big pillars inside of the temple, right? They even named them. They held up the roof. One was named Boaz and the other, Jachin. You remember this? These massive pillars. And he wanted to hire this man, Haram, to come in and build them. Now listen to what it says. 1 Kings 7, 13 and 14. In the NIV,
• 11:42
  It says, King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Haram, this guy, who was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. NIV calls it highly skilled and experienced. Now listen to the same verses in ESV. King Solomon sent and brought Haram from Tyre, a worker in bronze. And he was full of wisdom and understanding for making any work in bronze. Wisdom, understanding. It means he actually knows what he's doing.
• 12:12
  He's good at it. He is skilled. He has aptitude. In the Old Testament, wisdom is the opposite of being all thumbs or having two left feet. It's the opposite of standing on the escalator, barely hanging on. It's the opposite of exchanging abundant life for a life of dissipation. Now, Scripture commands us to get wisdom. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 5 says that.
• 12:44
  Wisdom, get insight. Chapter 4, verse 7, get wisdom. Whatever you get, get insight. Whatever you're going to accumulate on this earth, whatever you're going to pile up, Solomon says, make it wisdom. Insight, skillful living. Scripture commands us not only to get wisdom, but also to live wisely. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15, be very careful then how you live, not as unwise.
• 13:15
  but as wise. That was St. Augustine who said, when scripture speaks, God speaks. I've noticed in my own life and in the lives of many more that when I need genuine life advice, I tend to look for the wisdom of man rather than the wisdom of God. When I need help with parenting, or I need to work on my marriage, or my heart for worship is waning.
• 13:41
  Or if I don't understand something even in God's word with Bible interpretation, I tend to ask for man's help rather than going directly to the source. When I'm in a particularly difficult or stressful season in my life, I tend to rely on my own strength rather than the Lord's strength. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want to just live. I want to live really well. If we have to all be alive, we might as well be good at it. I want to live with skill.
• 14:14
  I want to get wisdom at all costs. The beginning of wisdom can be found in the book of Proverbs. You guys have your Bibles open. We're just going to go through this a verse at a time, beginning in verse 1. Notice the book's author. Verse 1 says, The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. The majority of the book, you'll notice not all of the book. Perhaps the most famous chapter in the book, Proverbs 31, was not written by Solomon.
• 14:44
  But a majority of the book was written by Solomon. And this says, son of David, king of Israel. He was the son of the greatest king Israel ever had. He was the richest man in the world. He was the wisest and most powerful man in the world. Solomon, more than any other person who has ever lived, experienced what this world has to offer. Anything the world has, Solomon got.
• 15:13
  In fact, as you ladies begin to study the book of Ecclesiastes starting this Wednesday, you'll recall, you'll see chapter two and verse 10, where Solomon says, nothing my eyes desired that I keep from them. And you imagine the ability to have anything your eyes see, whatever your eyes see and you want, you can have. You imagine the experiences that you would have, the opportunities that you would have. Can you imagine?
• 15:44
  A more poisonous way to live than that is absolutely toxic. In fact, at the end of his life in Ecclesiastes 12, as he's signing off, the last thing he ever wrote, he says, now all has been heard. The conclusion of the matter is this. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. He did everything, everything you can imagine. He did it. And at the end of it, he said.
• 16:14
  I should have just done it the way God told me to do it. Fear God and keep his commandments. That's the whole duty of man. He could speak with authority because what he learned came not from books, but from experience. This man did everything. And at the end of his life, he writes on and on all of these Proverbs and says, man, I tried everything. I went to the end of every road. Do it this way. That's the book's author. Notice the book's breakdown. The Proverbs is written in 31 chapters. It's broken into eight major sections.
• 16:43
  Proverbs 1 to 9, the first third of the book, are the introduction to the book. And like many pastors' sermons, including this pastor, those introductions are sometimes very lengthy. Verses 1 to 7 serve as the book's preamble. It's like the introduction to the book's introduction. The book's topics include things like wisdom, righteousness, life, knowledge, work, success, self-control.
• 17:15
  Friendships, honor, purity, humility, generosity, hope, wealth, pleasure, husbands and wives, on and on and on and on and on. The book's breakdown. Third, perhaps the most important thing we'll say today, the book's tenfold purpose. Verses 2 to 6 talk about the reason that it's written. It talks about it. It gives a promise from Scripture. If you want these things, if you want to live well, apply these words. Now, verses 2 to 4, there are 10 Hebrew words.
• 17:43
  which may appear at first glance in the English as synonyms, but which have very distinct meanings in the original language. Let's go through them quickly. Verse 2, the first three of these words can be found. Notice in verse 2, it says, Wisdom, we've already said, is like skillful living. It's the ability to use knowledge rightly. This one word, wisdom,
• 18:14
  is used 37 times in the book of Proverbs. The wise man or woman not only knows what to do, but actually does it. That's first. Second, instruction. Instruction. Instruction is actually the same Hebrew word for discipline. Isn't that interesting? We think of instruction as teaching, lecturing. That's instruction. But when the Hebrews talked about instruction, it included discipline, chastening.
• 18:44
  If you're doing something wrong, you're not just told that you're doing something wrong. You're actually helped to get back on track, to get back on the rails. Now, scripture says that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves because our heavenly father wants what is best for his kids. I've heard parents say that they refuse to discipline their kids because in the words they use, they don't believe in tough love, in tough love.
• 19:17
  But if that is true, then the Lord is not a loving father. He disciplines us. He chastens us. Not because he doesn't love us, but because he does love us. There are some roads that you as a parent are going to watch your kids walk down and you're going to say, no, no. You cannot eat nothing but ice cream. No, it seems like a good idea at the time. It won't work out in the end. And so you discipline them, right?
• 19:50
  And tell them no. And if they sneak the ice cream, then something more than a no will come. Because you want what is best for them. In the long run, the Lord does the same thing for us. When the Bible says that he instructs us, when he gives us instruction, he is actually willing to love us, even if it means disciplining and chastening us. Third, understanding.
• 20:11
  To understand words of insight, understanding means to have discernment. The discerning person sees what others may not see. They know right from wrong, even in seemingly gray or foggy situations. There seem to be people who just always know what to do. You have those people in your life that you call for advice. Like, I don't know what to do. The Bible doesn't say specifically what I'm supposed to do. I don't know. You call this man or woman because you're like, man, they always know.
• 20:38
  That is the discerning or understanding person. If you apply these words to your life, he says that's the kind of wisdom that you'll have. Even in gray areas, you'll always know what to do. Continue in verse 3. Four more words. Verse 3. To receive instruction in wise dealing. Here's number 4. In righteousness, justice, and equity. Wise dealing means to... This is a weird one.
• 21:07
  It's the same Hebrew word as bereaving, like mourning a loss. It's the same Hebrew word as miscarrying, a miscarriage. That's very seldom used in the Old Testament, but it carries the idea that this person has the ability to learn from another person's loss. The man or woman who deals wisely can see the misgivings and failures of another.
• 21:40
  And they can make changes to his or her own life based on those mistakes. And I cannot imagine a greater life skill. Centuries ago, a man named Edmund Burke said, those who don't know history are what? Doomed to repeat it. And what an advantage for the godly man or woman who is willing to learn from others' mistakes. This is why testimonies are so important. This is why we focus on them and give time to testimonies here at our church.
• 22:15
  Once a month on Sundays, testimony videos. Get to know these people from our church. Learn from them, from their failures and successes. Wednesday nights, every Wednesday night, we start with testimonies. Come and talk to us. Share with us your story. The wise man or woman has the ability to hear that testimony and say, you know what? I'm not going to repeat those same mistakes. He continues, righteousness, verse 3, is simply to behave rightly. Follow the words of God and you will do what is right.
• 22:46
  Justice is the ability to make good decisions. It can also mean that this man or woman has the ability to make decisions at all. There are some people on this earth who cannot make decisions. They are paralyzed because they can never take a step forward. They can't commit. They don't know what to do. And so they do nothing. The wise man or woman has the ability to make not only good decisions, but any decision at all.
• 23:16
  The person who cannot make decisions is like the one tossed to and fro, double-minded, unstable. And just like it is true that you can only steer a moving ship, so also the man or woman who cannot make decisions is dead in the water. And this says the wise man or woman will be able to decide. Continues the word equity. Equity refers to moral integrity. The equitable man or woman is the man or woman of principle.
• 23:47
  A person who does the right thing because it is the right thing. Let's look at verse 4. We'll get the last three. He says, to give prudence, there's eight to the simple. Knowledge, there's nine. And discretion, there's ten to the youth. Prudence is the ability to detect the negative schemes of others. This whole week in VBS, we had Ephesians 6. Verse 10 is our theme verse, right? To put on the full armor of God.
• 24:20
  so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil, the schemes of the devil, repelling his fiery arrows, and so to stand firm. The prudent man or woman is the man or woman who can stand firm, detecting the negative schemes of the enemy. It's sometimes translated, same word translated craftiness. In the New Testament, Jesus described it when he sent out his apostles and said,
• 24:51
  innocent as doves. Do you remember this? Be as innocent as doves, but then how does he follow it? But shrewd as serpents? What a weird thing for Jesus to say. Like the hard sayings of Jesus series is already over, Danny, move on. What a weird thing to say. Be as shrewd as serpents? That's this word, prudence. You can detect the negative schemes of the enemy and you can repel them.
• 25:22
  The prudent man or woman is the one who knows just what to do, is able to stand against the enemy. Ninth, knowledge, verse 4 says. You'll be given knowledge. It's possessing information. But not only possessing information, it leads to sound character. The knowledgeable man or woman has nothing to hide. And then tenth, last, discretion. Discretion can also be translated thoughtfulness, considerate, courteous, compassionate. It's a characteristic which apparently youth are lacking.
• 25:52
  Because he says in verse 4, it gives discretion to the youth. This will probably come as no surprise, but sometimes the immature young man or woman has trouble thinking about anybody but themselves. And I wish that that went away automatically with age. It doesn't always, right? There are some people who, although mature physically, are still immature in discretion.
• 26:23
  discernment, right? And their ability to think of others, to be courteous, considerate. The wiser one becomes, the less self-centered they will become. In other words, you take all of those together. The man or woman of wisdom lives with skill. They are disciplined by the Lord. They learn from the mistakes of others. They make good moral decisions. They always do the right thing. They rarely fall into traps.
• 26:54
  They have nothing to hide. And they think of others before they think of themselves. And that is the promise from those three verses. If we will apply ourselves to getting wisdom. Notice in verses 5 and 6, he just calls us to get that wisdom. Verse 5 says, let the wise hear and increase in learning. The one who understands, obtain guidance to understand a proverb and a saying. The words of the wise and their riddles. That's third, fourth, and last. Notice the book's theme in verse 7.
• 27:24
  Verse seven says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs chapter nine, verse 10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Proverbs 15, verse 33, the fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom. Now you'll notice two things about this.
• 27:48
  theme. First from verse 7, that the fear of the Lord leads to right thinking. That's that same word knowledge. We just talked about it. Possessing information leading to sound character. To have knowledge of God is to have intimate knowledge of him. Not just the knowledge about him, but actually knowing him. And we talked about that last Sunday. That there are many who will say, didn't we know a lot about you? He says, away from me, you evildoers. You never knew me.
• 28:15
  And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of that knowledge. Knowledge not of the world, but rather knowledge of God himself. It's not just knowing how the world works, although it does that too. But you can actually, through wisdom, gain knowledge of the creator himself. It leads to right knowledge, but second, it leads to right action. It says in verse 7, fools despise wisdom and instruction. And perhaps my favorite thing about Proverbs.
• 28:44
  is that it breaks down the divide between the secular and the sacred. Too often, I think, we think of our spiritual lives as the few moments every week where we read our Bibles or pray before dinner or take our families to church. The remainder of our lives, and what really for the most of us constitutes the majority of our lives, is considered then non-religious. Taking the kids to school.
• 29:15
  Buying groceries, running to Costco, going to work, paying our bills, taking the car to the mechanic. These are all considered at best spiritually neutral. But Solomon does not allow for that. Even the everyday decisions we make are to be done in the fear of the Lord. And the everyday decisions we make reveal whether or not we actually do.
• 29:46
  Daniel Aiken described it this way. He said, every nook and cranny of our lives is to be governed by God. The fear of the Lord, he says, is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom. So then what is the fear of the Lord? Now, I've been asked this question, and I have asked this question quite a few times over my Christian life. I've received a variety of different answers. Some, I think, unable to marry this fear with the thought that God is both compassionate and caring, have described...
• 30:18
  the fear of the Lord is a healthy respect. You've no doubt heard that definition. I believe, and I mean this respectfully to whoever would use that definition. I don't mean to castigate them in any way, but I do believe that that definition is dumbing down this phrase. I think if the author had intended this definition, he would have used the words healthy respect.
• 30:44
  He would have said, have a healthy respect for the Lord, but that's not what he says. He says, have a fear of the Lord. Everybody gets out of the way when they see a highway patrolman on the freeway. That's a healthy respect, right? But is that what we're supposed to do with the Lord? Just get out of his way as he passes by? Have a healthy respect for God. That's not it. Others, I think, have defined the fear of the Lord as sheer terror.
• 31:09
  A frightening heavenly figure of terrible power, lacking any compassion. Just stay as far away from him as you can. These people often use fear as an excuse to browbeat and pound their own agendas. I believe both of these definitions miss the mark. And if that's true, then what is true fear of God? And I think the key can be found in Isaiah chapter 6. In Isaiah chapter 6, you'll recall Isaiah.
• 31:40
  sees the Lord high and exalted, right? There is his temple. There is his throne, high and exalted. Jesus sitting up there. He describes the train of his robe filling the temple. He describes lightning and flashes of thunder. He describes a great emerald rainbow around the throne itself. He describes these angels constantly screaming, holy, holy, holy. Remember all of this? And he falls on his face.
• 32:06
  Before the throne of God, because he says, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I come from a people of unclean lips, and I have seen the Lord. And he thinks, surely I am undone. He says, woe to me. I have seen the Lord. I am a dead man. Do you remember what happens? An angel comes, right, and cleanses him. Do you remember Isaiah's response? Was Isaiah in that moment afraid? Are you guys with me? Was he afraid?
• 32:42
  I'm going to go with yes, right? I think he was terrified. He was terrified. But do you remember his response? Did he run away in fear? Or was he not invited closer, right? The Holy Spirit, who will go for us? Who shall we send? And Isaiah says, here am I, send me. He's commissioned by God to go and be an evangelist to his own people.
• 33:10
  Here am I, send me. There is a genuine fear of God that is mixed with an invitation to draw near because of the cleansing blood of Jesus. It's this weird juxtaposition of fear and love. Two sides of the same coin. A fear of God, it's more than just a healthy respect. Listen, if we all saw the Lord right now in his fullness, we would all drop on our faces hoping he didn't kill us. We would be very much afraid. But then invited in?
• 33:43
  Invited in because we're called not only to fear the Lord, but also to love the Lord, where the fear of the Lord is the negative motivation for obedience. The love of the Lord is the positive. God has truly built in consequences for sin that should spur us onto obedience, but he has also built into us a love for him that gives us a childlike desire to please him. Now listen again to verse 7 with that definition, that fear of the Lord. Now what he means is both the negative and positive aspects.
• 34:15
  Terror, yes, but invited to draw near? The fear of the Lord. A nearness to the presence of God is the beginning of wisdom, which is skillful, godly, abundant living. And I feel like sometimes I'm just standing there waiting for the stroller handle to break. Everything I love and care for hanging in the balance. No idea what to do next. No idea who to turn to for help. Enter the book.
• 34:45
  of proverbs you pray with me lord as we begin our study in this book make us a people that live with skill i pray lord that our lives will be marked by wise living obedient because we both fear and love you and it's in jesus name we pray amen amen let's stand and sing we'll be done