Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction & the Big Idea

Slide #1

Happy Mother’s Day!

Today, in light of our mothers, we’re going to take a look at what the Holy Spirit says through the wisdom of Solomon about what it means to be a godly son or daughter.

Here's what we’re going to find – today I'm giving you the big idea of our passage right up front:

Slide #2

The Big Idea: The foundation for wisdom is a reverential fear of God, and ideally, our first teachers of Godly wisdom are both of our parents.

(ESV)

7  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

8  Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,

and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

9  for they are a graceful garland for your head

and pendants for your neck.

Here some things I remember my mom teaching me:

“It takes two to tango.”

She said this to me every morning as I walked out the door to go to school: “Make it a good day.”

She was teaching me that I had a lot more to do with the kind of day I had than anything else.

“Take it one day at a time.”

“Do your best.”

“Make your bed every day.”

“Always go to church and get involved.”

“Work hard and do the right thing.”

“Love God.”

These are just a few of the things that my mom taught me – her lessons go far deeper than these platitudes, of course.

She went home to the Lord just a little over two years ago, but her impact on my life even now is immeasurable.

Many of us have our own list of valuable lessons from our mothers – and some of you children are learning them right now, every day.

And by the way, when I say “mother,” I mean everyone from our biological moms to adoptive mothers and the aunts and grandmothers and even sisters who stepped in to fulfill that role for some of us.

Some of our mothers, like mine, were or are loving, caring and wise, not just in a worldly sense, but they also are wise in a Godly way – by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit their love for us is uncannily always expressed at just the right moment, in just the right way, with a compassion, mercy and even discipline that consistently depicts the character and nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But not all of us have had mothers like that.

Some of our mothers were unable to demonstrate the character and nature of Christ simply because they didn't know him.

Many of us in this room today are still trying to sort out how to be a godly son or daughter in light of who our mothers were or are.

But regardless of who our mothers were or are, what does it mean to be a godly son or daughter?No matter how old or young we are, we all have a mother, so as Christians, this is ought to be a central question for us.

That’s because family is the foundation of our lives.

Family is so important that God defines our relationship with Mom and Dad in the 5th Commandment:

Slide #3

(ESV)

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

But the idea of honoring our parents might be a bitter pill to swallow for some of us.

We live in a fallen world.

The family has been corrupted by sin.

But God wants us to understand that the 5th Commandment is still stands because of his great power and holiness.

God wants you to honor your mother.

That's because your mom holds a place of honor in God’s eyes.

God makes no exceptions based on her behavior or character.

This is a command for sons and daughters, that we would honor God by honoring the structure and the roles that he established for the family.

In other words, our attitude and behavior toward our mothers and fathers should reflect our love for God, whether we’re old or young.

Solomon understood this.

He understood that living according to God’s holiness requires a great deal of wisdom.

So the Holy Spirit compelled him to write Proverbs in order to teach young people about Godly wisdom and how to live accordingly.

In the first six verses of Proverbs, Solomon desire is that we would …

(ESV)

2  To know wisdom and instruction,

to understand words of insight,

Solomon and the other authors of Proverbs aren’t providing these lessons only for young children, either.

Those who are already mature have a lot to learn, too.

(ESV)

5  Let the wise hear and increase in learning,

and the one who understands obtain guidance,

These lessons are for everyone.

Slide #4

Dig In

So as we dig in to verses 7-9, this is what we will see:

1. v. 7 – Foundation of Wisdom: A reverential fear of God

2. v. 8 – Teachers of Wisdom: Ideally, should be our parents

3. v. 9 – Reward of Wisdom: Joy

Slide #5

So let's take a look at verse seven:

(ESV)

7  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Point 1

Here we see our first point:

v. 7 – Foundation of Wisdom: A reverential fear of God

In the first six verses, Solomon told us that he wants us to gain wisdom.

In verse seven – which is the big idea for the whole book of Proverbs – we find out the source of wisdom, which, perhaps surprisingly, is not our life's experiences.

In our culture we think that experience is our source of wisdom.

Leonardo DaVinci said famously that, “Wisdom is the daughter of experience.”

In other words, experience is the father of wisdom.

It’s true that experience does teach us things.

I remember the day our oldest son was born, and I realized how much experience I lacked!

I can look back and see how much becoming a father has taught me.

But let’s think about this – Does true wisdom really come from our experiences?

Solomon couldn’t disagree more!

Certainly we can learn some things from our experiences, but what we learn and what we do with those lessons depends on a wisdom that has existed since before time began, a wisdom that will exist forever – not a wisdom that’s manufactured by our finite experiences and unreliable feelings.

That’s what Solomon is teaching us.

He explains where wisdom really comes from – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge [or wisdom].

To put it another way, our reverential fear of God is the essence of wisdom.

Reverential fear means that we have the most profound respect for God.

We hold him in the highest esteem possible.

And we bow in submission to him because he is the source of all wisdom.

Slide #6

(ESV)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34  “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

And here’s what man’s wisdom is in comparison:

(ESV)

19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.

So what Solomon is teaching us is that real wisdom is impossible without God.