The Beginning of Wisdom

Media, Proverbs: Living Wisdom, Sermons | by Pastor Adam Sinnett

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Audio | Proverbs 1:1-7

Summary

The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It tells us that we are all on a path. We are all on a journey. We are all heading somewhere, becoming something. The truth is that even when we feel stuck, we’re still in motion. So, the question for all of us is, “What path are we on?” Proverbs reveals our chosen path of life, far from being neutral, is a matter of life and death – God wants life for us. This week we open our study in Proverbs.

Introduction

The book of Provers is intensely practical. It tells us that we are all on a path. We are all on a journey. We are all heading somewhere, becoming something. The truth is that even when we feel stuck, we’re still in motion. So, the question for all of us is, “What path are we on?” Proverbs reveals our chosen path of life, far from being neutral, is a matter of life and death – God wants life for us. He is a good God who cares, not only about our future, but about how we live and navigate life today.

We live in a distracted, shallow, hectic world of Twitter, Facebooks, Tumblr, Pinterest, Netflix queues, Fantasy Football, 24hr news networks, Reality TV and the run-of-the-mill daily grind. Trying to piece together a life that is a meaningful, beautiful, worthwhile whole can be difficult. There are many who bring some order to this chaos:

Secularists talk about science, facts and need for more information. If we only get more information, then you’ll be OK.
Pluralists encourage us to live however you want, just don’t hurt anyone, then we’ll be OK. Can’t we all just get along?
Moralists say we need more than information or personal hunches. We must be good, be moral and follow the rules – then you’ll be OK.

The problem is that we can know a lot, live by personal preference, and/or be very moral and still make a mess out of our lives. We need something more than information, personal freedom or rules. Sometimes life is too complex. Many decisions only require right information (e.g. purchasing car, computer, medicine). But, vast majority of cases, the rules and facts won’t help you: Who do you marry? Do you get married? Who should you date? Where should you live? Express emotion? Listen?
Go to school? Do you have kids? Parent your kids? Do you take the risk or play it safe? Handle conflict? Use words?

A wrong decision in any of these area could have serious and wide-ranging negative consequences. It is not that difficult to make a mess of your life, big or small. Information ≠ enough. Morality ≠ enough. Personal hunches ≠ enough. We need something rarely talked about in our culture and even the church, we need living wisdom. That’s what Proverbs is all about.

If we have love but not wisdom, we will harm people with the best of intentions // If we have courage but not wisdom, we will blunder boldly // If we have truth but not wisdom, we will make the gospel ugly to other people // If we have technology but not wisdom, we will use the best communications ever invented to broadcast stupidity. Ray Ortlund

Proverbs is about being human. It is a call to pick up the Bible, go deep, and pursue wisdom. We are beginning that journey today. TODAY: 1:1-7 Intro Proverbs.
(1) What is it?
(2) Why do we have it?
(3) How do we learn from it?

Question #1: What is this book?

What are we dealing with here? There are three things that we learn from the book in verse 1: Form + Author + Audience.

What is the form of the book? We will be dealing with proverbs. Proverbs are a form of wisdom literature, in the line of Job, Ecc, Song of Solomon, certain Psalms. In english a proveb is a short, deep, unforgettable phrase that gives insight about people and life. Interestingly, every culture produces them:

Look before you leap, absence makes heart grow fonder, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, better late than never, better safe than sorry, early bird catches worm, every dog has its day, garbage in/garbage out, out of sight/out of mind

Biblical proverbs are similar, but they offer more than common sense.OT scholar, B. Waltke: “Culture tells us to live and learn, but God in Proverbs tell us to learn and live.” Proverbs tell us what life is really like, so we are prepared to meet it.

Proverbs are NOT ancient fortune cookies, quick fixes, lucky rabbits foot, tips for life improvement. Nor are the meant to be read quickly.

Proverbs are meant to be read slowly, though over and considered. Like hard candy, you have to work at it, let it sink in, requires multiple exposures.

In Proverbs the living God meets us on the street and delivers aid in skill of godly living, particularly in gray areas of life. This shows us that God cares that we not only understand the big truths of our existence, but also about our simple, every day decisions.

Who is the author? King Solomon. 3rd king of Israel. Son of David. Reigned 971-931bc. He is listed as the author/collector of the content of Proverbs. 1Ki 4:29-34:

[Solomon] also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were,1005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts and of birds and of reptiles and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

in other words, Solomon was a renaissance man. This is important to know because it tells us that he did not compartmentalize God. He understood that everything is connected with our Creator. He connected the living God with all of life. One of the places that we see that most clearly is in the book of Proverbs.

How is the book designed? Proverbs is a collection of writings assembled as course of education in life of wisdom.
Solomon is listed as the author because (1) he contributed the most and (2) he’s the famous one. Chapters 1-9 sells us on value of wisdom and sets up book. Then, in chapters 10-31,we have six collections of proverbs.  So, as a church, we’ll be spending some time in chapters 1-9 and then we’ll bring together different proverbs that address wisdom issues in our lives (10-31). Ex. work, laziness, words, planning, justice, friendship, marriage, parenting and more.

Who is the primary audience? “Israel” This is important to note. God is not just talking to anyone. He’s talking to his people here. If we miss that, we’ll think this book is about morality (at best) or how to earn our way to God (at worst). God’s people have always been saved by grace through faith, never by their own record, works, status or cleanliness. Ex. Imputation (gives us a clean record, forgives sin) + impartation (helps us to live a new life)

Question #2 Why do we have Proverbs?

The overarching theme of Proverbs is “wisdom”. We see that from the very beginning where Solomon lists wisdom and describes its many dimensions. Rough speaking, Proverbs 1:2-6 falls under two goals.

• “wisdom and instruction” = deep character
• “understand words of insight” = right thinking

Purpose #1: Deep character
“to know wisdom and instruction”
Wisdom is more than intellect or morality. It is the skill of godly living, particularly in the gray areas of life. Ex. How to act, speak, avoid problems, handle problems, interpret others and respond wisely.

How do we start? vs3 “receive” – or be “readily open to”. The great sin of Proverbs is unteachability.

vs3-4 Many dimensions of wisdom:
#1 Wise-dealing (in righteousness, justice, equity/fair): good sense, street smarts in doing the right thing

#2 Prudence or shrewdness. Keen or sharp in practical matters. Knowing when/how to make decisions.

#3 Knowledge. Know what? Not information, but truth of God

#4 Discretion. Deep character that is not easily fooled. Helps us see through temptations.

Purpose #2: Right thinking
“to understand words of insight”
“Insight” (vs2) = Non-obvious becomes obvious to you.
“words of the wise” (vs6) As we approach Proverbs we’re approaching a group of people who are wicked smart. This isn’t just an old book. In Proverbs we get to squeeze into this circle is wisdom and listen…and as we listen, grow wise.

Characters: Historically Proverbs was used in the training of leaders for royalty and positions of power. From there it began to be used in families and then extended to the entire people of God. We’ve met a few members of the “cast” so far:

WISE: Follow+obey+trust+fear God in every day situations. The wise are also referred to as the righteous, upright, diligent, understanding, prudent.

SIMPLE: naive (NASB), ignorant (JB). The simple are those that are uncommitted, easily misled. The simple keep their options open indefinitely and inevitably drift into temptation. We don’t like to be told that we are simple or ignorant. But, God loves us too much to let us stay there. Love this about the Bible. Says it like it is. Sets bar low for beginners, like us.

Question #3: How do we learn from it?

You could distill the entire book of Proverbs down into 1:7. Whe it says “beginning” is it not saying that the “fear of the Lord” is the mere starting point that you leave behind, but rather the first principle that governs everything else. So, to understand this, we need to ask some questions of the text.

Who is the Lord? OT = Yahweh. NT = Used of Jesus Christ. NT: Jesus is incarnation of God’s wisdom

Col 2:3 In Christ are hidden “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”
1 Cor 1:24 “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”
1 Cor 1:30 “[Jesus] became to us wisdom from God”
Luke 11:31 Jesus speaking of himself “One greater than Solomon is here.”

“Wisdom is the grace of Christ beautifying our daily lives.” – Ray Ortlund

What is fear of the Lord? The fear of the Lord is a relational posture of life and heart before the good, powerful, personal Creator. It is a posture of life and heart that says, “I am not King. You are. I am not God. You are. I am not measure of all things. I am being measured.” Fear is a good word. He is a consuming fire, holy, pure, just, right, all-powerful, all-knowing eternal. At the same time, he is good, gracious, slow to anger, patient, merciful and abounding in steadfast love. So, to fear the Lord is to say, “I trust him. I follow him. I love him. I need him. I am happy in him. I follow him.” Listen to how CS Lewis says it:

“In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, 96

Fear of the Lord motivates us from deep within, not by rules, but by just letting God be God to us. So, what this means is that our true crisis is not informational, but relational – namely our relationship with the living God – that’s where all wisdom begins and flows from. It can be painful to learn the fear of the Lord. It means death to our narcissistic egos. But, that’s the beginning of wisdom. Change happens thru the long deep process of un-selfing ourselves from the throne of our heart. This occurs as we move from fear of others, fear of failure, fear of being found out, fear of death to fear of God.

Have you experienced how freeing it is to humble yourself before the living God like that?

This requires us to get down low before him where we all belong. Far from being degrading, it is profoundly life-giving. 
True knowledge of reality come from submission of your mind and actions to the fear of the Lord.

“Aslan,” said Lucy, “You’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one.” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

As we learn to follow and fear him, we will find him bigger not smaller. It is then that we know we see him rightly.

What does it mean to be a fool? When the Bible talks about fools or foolishness, it has nothing to do with intelligence or giftedness. Not fools of the mind, but fools of the heart.Ps 14:1 – The fool says in his heart there is no God. To “despise” is to be in “contempt”. It is a posture of life and heart that says “I have no need for God or forgiveness. I refuse to follow, be forgiven, submit, obey.” It is birthed out of an arrogance of being above instruction, too smart for it, too good for it, too busy for it. The reality is that we’re all born this way: proud, defensive, negative, suspicious and selfish. To be foolish is to ignore the God-given pattern of reality and seek to live by your own terms.

If we’re going to benefit from this study, we need to begin by looking at the cross. Why? Because it is there that we learn the fear of the Lord. It is there that we see an infinitely wise man hanging there, dying for rebellious fools like you – b/c he loves you. You may despise him. You may think you’re better than him. You may think that you are far wiser. Bu, he still died for you. He died for you amidst your arrogance, your fears, your insecurities, your foolishness and simple-mindedness. Look at him until your pride melts. You will begin to fear the Lord and grow wise.

This makes Proverbs good news to sinners. Grace for simple. Hope for fools. Wisdom for stupid.

Christian, as we begin our study please don’t patronize Jesus by going to him for salvation, but going to “experts” for the real challenges of real life. Jesus is a genius. No one ever out-thought him. No one surprised him. He was always out ahead. He is the best guide for all people in all seasons of life.

Non-Christian, you will never find what you’re most deeply lacking in mere information, personal hunches or morality. You need Jesus. You need Jesus to forgive your sin. You need Jesus to give you a new heart. You need Jesus to reconcile you to the Father. You need Jesus to give you His Spirit. You need Jesus to make you new – every day.

Let’s FOLLOW and FEAR him together. And, by God’s grace, become wise in the process.