Proverbs 2 - Valuing the Pursuit of Wisdom
Proverbs: Wisdom for Life in God’s World • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:09
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Introduction:
If you have your bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 2. I am going to read the entire chapter as we begin our time together this morning beginning in verse 1
My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.
So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
Lets Pray
Last week, we were introduced to a personification of wisdom.
Wisdom’s voice was portrayed as the voice of a woman crying out in the streets and at the city gates.
Like a prophet in the wilderness, she cried out for anyone and everyone to listen to her words of wisdom.… but despite wisdom’s loud call, we saw that the fool refuses to listen.
The fool is described as hating knowledge, ignoring counsel, and despising reproof.
The author describes the fool as a complacent person.
They are content in their foolishness.
They do not want to grow or change.
They see no reason to.… and so they stay on a path to destruction.
In chapter 2, verse 1, the voice changes again.
We are back sitting with a loving father providing instruction to his son.
Chapter 2 actually takes the form of a poem.
We don’t see it in the English…, but in the Hebrew language… Proverbs chapter 2 is a single Hebrew sentence consisting of 22 verses which match the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
So chapter 2 is meant to function as one unit. As such, we will see some repetition of themes we have already seen and will see more in depth later.
As we progress through the Proverbs there will be several sections and chapters that are repetitive, but they are not completely repetitive.
There are always particular nuances or emphases that build on the overall understanding of what wisdom is and why and how we should pursue it.
This particular poem in chapter 2 leads us through a progression.
Verses 1-5 speak to our pursuit of wisdom
verses 6-11 speak to God’s provision of wisdom
Verses 12-22 speak to the kinds of things that wisdom actually protects us from both in this life and the next.
The first thing I want you to notice about the text is the “if” “then” equation that the Father puts before his son.
If you do this, then this will happen.
So lets start with the “ifs”
My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
In chapter 1:20-33, the emphasis was on listening to wisdom’s voice.…,
But I want you to notice how the Father is not content with his son just listening to wisdom words.
He is not concerned with his son simply hearing and understanding true words.
Rather, he wants his son to:
not only to “receive” his words, but to “treasure” his commandments
not only to “make his ear attentive”, but to “incline his heart” to understanding
The father is not concerned with his son’s intellectual ability to discern objective rights and wrongs.
He wants his son to love what is true.
He does not want his son’s reluctant obedience to certain standards…, he wants his son to treasure his commandments.
He wants his son’s heart.
This is the first truth we can discern from the text this morning.
Truth #1 Wisdom is a Matter of the Heart’s Affections
Truth #1 Wisdom is a Matter of the Heart’s Affections
The Father does not want his son to see his words and his commandments as burdens to bear…, but rather as precious pathways to everlasting joy.
The secret to wisdom is not just knowing what is right…, but it is loving what is right.
Listen to the words of Jonathan Edwards who wrote extensively on this topic.
he writes…,
The nature of human beings is to be inactive unless influenced by some affection: love or hatred, desire, hope, fear, etc. These affections are the “spring of action”, the things that set us moving in our lives, that move us to engage in activities … It is the affection we call covetousness that moves a person to seek worldly profits; it is the affection we call ambition that moves a person to pursue worldly glory; it is the affection we call lust that moves a person to pursue sensual delights. Just as worldly affections are the spring of worldly actions, so the religious affections are the spring of religious actions … No-one is ever changed, either by doctrine, by hearing the Word, or by the preaching or teaching of another, unless the affections are moved by these things.
Jonathan Edwards
Wise people are wise because they have superior affections.
They have a supreme treasure.
And because they have a superior affection…, they seek out what they truly love.
Much like the parable Jesus uses
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Notice that its a treasuring of something that leads the man to sell everything else.
Notice the proactive pursuit of wisdom that the Father advocates for.
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
The Father does not simply instruct his son by telling him what not to do.
No, he rather tells him what to pursue.
He wants him to chase after, to seek, to search for understanding and insight and the wisdom of God.
Truth #2 Wisdom is a Proactive Pursuit
Truth #2 Wisdom is a Proactive Pursuit
The assumption of the Father and of all of proverbs is that wisdom does not come naturally to us.
We do not drift toward wisdom.
We do not accidentally walk according to the way of the wise.
Rather, we have a more natural disposition for foolishness that must be overcome.
We must seek out understanding that is not naturally ours.
That is one of the most problematic differences between the non-Christian worldview in our present culture in and the Christian worldview that the bible teaches.
Your non-Christian friends on facebook understand themselves to be the truest source of wisdom.
They are all trying to be true to their selves and their own desires.
the problem is however, that the Bible says our desires are naturally flawed.
The greatest sin you can commit in our culture, is to tell someone that their perceived feelings or beliefs are actually not objectively true.
The greatest offense in our culture is to tell someone that they don’t get to create their own truth or their own version of wisdom based on how they feel… rather they must look outside of themselves To the true source of truth - namely God himself.
We all must look outside of ourselves for wisdom… we must pursue it, and seek after it, and long for it.
The father is advocating for a way of life that is opposite to the fools complacency.
The fool never recognizes his need for wisdom.
The wise person always recognizes their need for more wisdom,
and thus they seek it like silver and they search for it Like a hidden treasure.
Christian, if you are not pro-actively seeking after wisdom in the word of God that leads to life…, you are automatically absorbing the folly of the world that leads to death.
Wisdom is a pro-active pursuit…
But remember, this is not a pursuit of more facts.
Notice what the father equates wisdom to.
I want you to notice the synonyms here.
We are supposed to be seeking and pursuing wisdom, insight, and understanding according to verses 1-4…
but notice how verse 5 summarizes what it is you actually attain in seeking wisdom.
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
Truth #3 Wisdom is a Matter of Knowing God
Truth #3 Wisdom is a Matter of Knowing God
If you seek true wisdom in the commandments of God…, what you will find is God himself… if you seek truth what you will find is a right fear of the one true God.… a personal and intimate knowledge of your creator and savior.
That is most ultimate.
When we say we want to live a wise life We are saying we want to live in God’s world, God’s way…, but God’s primary desire for us is for us to desire a relationship with him…
a relationship that is marked by love, by worship, and by obedience to him in faith.
To Know God is to have his ear in prayer very regularly.
Moses spoke with God face to face as with a friend.… Prayer is our avenue for that kind of communication.
To Know God is to have his ear in prayer and to cherish his revelation - that is the way he speaks to us.
through the scriptures he has inspired.
Through the spirit-filled people he has surrounded us with.
The Bible demands more from you then cold religious box checking.
The Bible calls you to relationally and personally meet with God through faith and trust in the means he has made available.
Most of us fail to pray because we lack the faith that God is actually a personal God who hears our prayers.
We fail to search the Scriptures for how we should respond to a given situation, because we fail to believe that God has actually spoken in them to increase our wisdom.
If there is one thing I want you to be challenged with this morning… it is the father’s desire for his son primarily to know God and to fear him rightly.
Do you know God relationally this morning?
Do you appreciate the personal nature of our God and the nearness of his presence that we are able to walk with?
Do you want your children to know God?
Do you want your co-workers to know God as you know God?
The proverbs urges you to seek these things like silver to search for it as for hidden treasures.
And then the proverbs gives you a set of promises.… If you seek these things then you will find these things.
Did you seek God last week?
Did your actions and priorities suggest that your affections were for God And his glory shining through your life?
In verses 1-5 the action verbs are ours.
This is our responsibility to receive words, to treasure up commandments, to make our ear attentive, to raise our voice for understanding, to seek it, to search for it….
But now look at what God does For those who seek him…
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
Truth #4 Wisdom is a Miracle of God
Truth #4 Wisdom is a Miracle of God
God gives wisdom.
He pours out knowledge and understanding.
He becomes to us a shield in the battle of ideas.
He guards our paths
He watches over the way of his saints…
He actually transforms us to become the kind of people who understand what true righteousness is.
He transforms us to be the kind of people who seek justice and equity in our relationships with others.
He gives us eyes to see the world as he sees it… to see sin as he sees it… to see the value of people made in the image of God As he sees them.
Wisdom comes into our heart so that it is a part of us and who we are.
Notice the change of the affections in verse 10.
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
What does it look like for God to do a miracle work in a person…
The knowledge of God becomes pleasant to our souls…
We don’t come to church because we are afraid that God will smite us for our non-attendance… we come because it is pleasant to our souls to hear the word, to sing praises, to pray prayers, to lock arms with fellow saints.
This is the kind of miracle work that God does in the heats of those who seek him.
He makes the things of God pleasant to them.
here in the Old Testament God is credited with such work…, but in the New Testament this kind of work is made even more explicit.
Jesus says that you cannot enter the kingdom of God without this kind of miracle work.
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
God must do a miracle work in your soul so transforming, it is like a second birth of a new you has occurred.
Paul says you can’t honestly claim to have received the grace of God unless this kind of heart level change has happened .
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
If there is within you a desire for God.
If his word is pleasant to your soul in any way… I want you to just take a moment right now and thank God for that work In your life.
It is grace to you that God would give you this kind of wisdom and affection at a heart level.
If there is no desire for God in your heart.
If the things of God are not pleasant to your soul in any way.
If the things of God are more to you a burden then a joy.
If obedience feels like shackles rather than freedom…
Take some time right now even as I preach, and call out for God.
If you have never experienced a change in affections, then you have never experienced God.
You do not know him And you are still in your sins unforgiven and unchanged.
Seek God.
Plead with God.
Pray for God to do in you what only he can do.
Pray for a heart change that he alone is capable of performing.
Jesus came and lived the perfectly wise life. He died on the cross in the place of fools like you and me…, but then he promised that he would pour out God’s spirit on everyone who turns to him in faith.
Turn to him in faith and experience this miracle.
Truth #4 Wisdom is a Miracle of God
Truth #4 Wisdom is a Miracle of God
Its a miracle that God works in you not only for your eternal life, but also for your life right now.
There is a sense in which right affections, knowledge of God, and heart level wisdom are tools that God equips you with to protect you and guide you through a very hostile world.
discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
from what?
What do we need guarding against?
Why do we need God to be to us a shield?
Verses 12-15 remind us of one enemy that the Father has already warned his son against - the peer pressure of a sinful world.
God’s wisdom will protect you from the following….
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.
#5 We Seek Wisdom Now to Protect us from Temptations that Come Later
#5 We Seek Wisdom Now to Protect us from Temptations that Come Later
The Father knows that his son will grow up in a world that does not allure him into godliness, but rather will entice him to walk away from God’s way in God’s world.
We are immersed in a world of people whose:
speech is perveted
who forsake or abandon the paths of uprightness
Who walk the way of darkness
Who rejoice in evil
Who delight in perverseness
Whose paths are crooked and devious.
We are immersed in a world of people who are saying that abandoning God’s way is where the true joy is.
We are immersed in a world whispering in our ear constantly that delight is found on the crooked path.
the miracle of God’s wisdom applied to our hearts protects us like a shield from the lies we live in.
God is our shield, he guards us, he watches over our paths in a world that is hostile…
But its not just the loud voices of the crowd enticing us… it is the suttle voice of the temptress.
This poem introduces us to the primary antagonist in the book.
If Lady wisdom is the protagonist introduced in chapter 1 calling all to walk the way of wisdom…
The antagonist is lady folly, the forbidden woman, the adulteress, who calls people to self-indulgence and abandonment of God’s law.
16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
We will revisit this dynamic of the adulteress in detail in chapters 5, 6 and 7 .
But for now, the primary point is that God’s wisdom will protect you from the kind of temptation that speaks to your fleshly desires for immediate satisfaction.
The adulteress in this poem abandons the “companion of her youth” and she “forgets the covenant of her God.”
She leaves her commitment to her husband and to her God and then she entices others to join her in her rebellion.
Sexual sin is never a sin in isolation…
It always drags others into the pit with you.
The adulteress attempts to drag others into the dark place of disobedience with her.
She appeals to the desires of the flesh and she promises delight and pleasure with no consequences…
but she lies.
Her house sinks down to death.
None who go to her come back.
The wisdom of knowing God that we seek daily protects us when the moment of temptation comes.
When the temptress is leading you by the hand down into her house… you lost the battle before it ever got started.
We are protected from that kind of temptation by the wisdom of God we sought and treasured long before we were ever thrust into that situation.
This is why the apostle Paul advocates for the putting on of armor every day.
We don’t put on the armor after the battle starts, after the arrows start soaring through the air. At that point it is too late.
We Seek Wisdom and We Give Wisdom to Our Loved One’s NOW to protect from temptations later.
The Father teaches his son to seek wisdom now, so that the son will keep the path of the righteous later.
Just as in the last father son lecture in chapter 1… this lecture ends with a summary of the two options the son is faced with.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
There is coming a day where the wise will inhabit the promised land of God forever.
There is a coming a day where the wicked will be cut off and rooted out Forever.
The book of Revelation teaches us about that coming day where the world will be made new, and those who chose the path of life will be at home with God forever… and those who chose the path of the wicked will be forever rooted out of God’s world.
The father wants the son to be clear on the eternal consequences of rejecting God’s way and the eternal security and blessing in choosing his path.
That same decision between only two options is before you today and before every individual person in Saint Rose, Louisiana.
There is a path which leads to death paved with independence, self-indulgence, and godlessness.
There is a path which leads to life, a path of which Jesus says he is the only door, the only gate, the only way.
Faith in Jesus and trust in him is the only gateway to the path of wisdom in this life and in the next.
Every individual person must choose a path. Seek God now and find him…, or reject God and one day never be able to find him again.
I want to close this morning with a few suggestions from Proverbs 2.
#1 Seek God Daily
#1 Seek God Daily
Don’t just do spiritual disciplines just to do them.
Don’t just read your Bible to check a box.
Don’t just say your prayers to cover your bases.
Seek God through these means he has made available to you.
Seek God in your daily reading of the Bible.
Seek God in your daily prayers.
Seek God when you gather with the church.
Seek God when you are not sure what to do.
#2 Pray For Deeper Affections
#2 Pray For Deeper Affections
We said earlier that we want to love the right things, not just know the right things.
Pray daily for God to increase your affections for the right things.
#3 Prepare for the trial and the temptation before it comes.
#3 Prepare for the trial and the temptation before it comes.
Don’t let your spiritual life be reactionary.
The father teaches his son about the coming trial and temptation before it actually comes.
Prepare yourself for the day of sorrow.
Prepare yourself for the temptations you know would sway you away from the Lord.
The Christian life is never one that is lived in peace time until Jesus returns.
We are always at war. Our adversary never sleeps. Lets armor up before the battle gets heated.
#4 Wait on the Lord’s Promises
#4 Wait on the Lord’s Promises
Jesus has promised an eternal inheritance to all who believe in him.
One day every step of faithfulness will be worth it.
Every trial and temptation endured will be worth it.
One day Proverbs 2:20-21 will be eternally truth for you who trust in Christ.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
Lets pray.