Worry To Wise - Truth

As we begin this new year I want to do so by beginning a new sermon series that I think is going to be a little bit different than anything I’ve ever tried before

I have mentioned to you before

Not necessarily in style or presentation but rather in content

I’ve mentioned to you before the verse that God laid on my heart when I was only 13 years old, a verse that was instrumental in my call into pulpit ministry

That verse is

1 Corinthians 9:16 NIV

For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

In our almost 9 years here many of you have told me that you appreciate my preaching and while some people may have just been trying to be nice, I’ll take you at your word but turn any credit back to God because He is the one who gave me the passion to preach

There’s a lot about being a Pastor that I do not excel at and I will be the first one to admit it, but I will do those things and try to improve upon them if only so I can have the privilege of preaching

But there’s a truth about preaching that I learned some time ago that is probably even more true today than it was way back when I learned it

That truth is the message is far more important than the delivery

For a sermon to have ANY value it has to bring the life changing message of the gospel into a person’s life or it is nothing more than a really good speech

I say that this is more important than ever because as a preacher I have fewer opportunities than ever before to speak into people’s lives

According to Canadian research firm PewForum, in 1986 43% of Canadians 15 years of age and over attended church once a month or more, whereas by 2010 that number had dropped to only 27%

And during that same time period, according to stats Canada, those who WERE attending church began doing it with less frequency

Whereas it used to be the norm for people to attend religious education services, i.e. Sunday School, Church, Bible study etc. multiple times a week

The census now shows that the person who considers themselves to be a regular attender now only attends once a month

The Apostle Paul warned Timothy,

2 Timothy 4:3–4 NIV

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

And so I say all of that to say that I place a very heavy emphasis on the time I get behind the pulpit and don’t take lightly my responsibility to present you with life impacting truth in the limited time that I have

Because while I love to hear you tell me after service how much you enjoyed my preaching, I enjoy even more getting those Monday morning emails telling me how you were up all night wrestling with the Word as the Holy Spirit was working it through in your life

So to that end the series I want to undertake is a series I am calling From Worry To Wise and is based on the book of Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is filled with the wisdom from God, through Solomon, given to us in written form for the purpose of training us in how to direct and live our lives in a Godly way

Proverbs 1:1–6 NIV

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

Life is filled with worry, anxiety, pressure , stress and so much more but God has given us a book filled with His wisdom to show us how to, not only make it through this life, but make it through successfully, to win at life and so this series is going to take us through some of those principles

It may take us a few weeks or a few months, I’m not really sure but I hope and pray that each week you are challenged to move from where you are in life to where God wants you to be

Whether that be the from all the way over there to all the way over there, or if it’s only the very slightest of realignments

We’re going to begin by considering the importance of moving from trusting in our own wisdom and ability to trusting in the truth of how God tells us that we ought to be doing things

We’ve already read Paul’s warning to the younger Timothy about how as time went on people wouldn’t want to hear about how God wants things done but they would rather hear about how brilliant their own plans are and so they would gather people around them to tell them this

But tells us,

Proverbs 3:5 NIV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

If you are going to be successful in navigating and trans-versing the pitfalls and minefields that make up this life, the first thing that you are going to have to do is learn to let go of the way that you believe things ought to be done and learn to trust in the way that God tells you to do them

Now I wish that this were so simple that I could just leave it at that and move on to some other meaningful point or witty story

But I can’t do that because this is so much more difficult to live than it is to say and the reason for that is because,

Isaiah 55:8–9 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s ways of doing things are so different than what would seem like the right way to us and so in order to step out of our own arrogance and believing that we know better we have to go through a process of learning to trust God and His ways

Fortunately Proverbs gives us some steps on how to do this

Proverbs 22:17-21

Proverbs 22:17–21 NIV

Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you. Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth, so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve?

Proverbs 22:17–19 NIV

Proverbs 22

In this passage I see 3 steps laid our for us to be able to move from trusting in our own wisdom to trusting in the wisdom of God

The first of these 3 steps is to “Turn your ear” or if you want a sub-title, “Truth Pondered”

Before you can begin to trust God’s ways, it only stands to reason that you must first learn what those ways are

Do you know what God’s Word says relationships, sex, marriage, money, tithing, forgiveness, dancing, tattoos, the poor, the outcast, healing etc. etc.?

Now let me stop you here for a second and caution you not to think that you know what it says just because you have heard somebody else’s opinion of what the Bible says that you think it’s the truth

If I were to say the name of a certain Black Lab who resides in my home right now something incredible would happen

Although he looks like he is sound asleep under the pew at Liane’s feet, the moment I spoke to him you would see his ears perk up and turn towards me

He might not lift his head or even open his eyes yet but his ears will be turned towards me in order to tune me in, to listen to my voice and my voice alone and determine if I am talking to him

7 times in the first 3 gospels Jesus uses this phrase during His teaching, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Interestingly the phrase also occurs 8 more times in the book of Revelation with 7 of them being spoken by Jesus in chapters 1-3 and then once by John in chapter 13

I think that Jesus makes it abundantly clear that just because we have ears doesn’t mean that we are listening,

We have ears, but we have to turn them towards God’s Word to tune them to the frequency that God is speaking, blocking out the noise of this world so that we can hear Him

There is a short video that went viral in the summer of 2017 which I think makes a sad commentary on our society but that none the less demonstrates well the point I am making here

It is a video of a young boy, I’m guessing kindergarten age, arguing with his mother because he wants a snack but she said “No” because he didn’t do what she asked him to do

The fame of this video has led to a catch phrase across North America as the young boy argues saying over and over, “Listen Linda. Linda…Linda…You’re not not listening Linda.”

I can only imagine the frustration level of the Holy Spirit as He looks at us and says repeatedly, “Listen Dan, Dan…Dan…Dan, Dan you’re not listening just want you to listen Dan.”

Secondly after we have turned our ear to listen and learn God’s truth we "Apply our Heart” or sub title, "Truth Practiced”

A truth learned is a great first step, but a truth practiced, now that is a transformational step

To take what we have learned by His Word and by His Spirit and to try it out for ourselves

I’m not telling you to jump out of the boat or take giant leaps of faith, I’m saying take the truth that you learn and test it out just a little bit

David worded it this way in “Taste and see that the Lord is good”

Just try a bite, a small taste

Some of us are afraid to do that.!

Not because we are afraid that the truth is wrong but because we will find out that it is right and we are afraid of what the implications of that might be on our life

There’s an old story about a young boy who’s Mom is trying to get him to try different foods but she just cannot get him to try onions

Though never having tried one he was adamant about how much he hated them

His Mom persisted, but you’ve never tried onions, just try a little bit and you might find that you actually like them

The boy responded, I don’t want to try them because if I try them I might like them and if I like them I will eat them and I don’t want to eat them because I DON’T LIKE THEM!

I don’t want to tithe because I don’t have enough money to give it away and if tithing really works like the Bible says than I will be trusted with more to give away and I don’t want to do that because I don’t have enough to give away!

Or I don’t want to forgive because if I forgive I will have to love that person and I don’t want to love that person because they have wronged me!

Or insert whatever your excuse is in hear

Let me give you a little Pastoral advice here this morning, “If you have no intention on applying the truth of God’s Word to every aspect of your life, then don’t waste your time learning God’s truth in the first place because it will only convict you in the life you choose to live and that will just be a bummer

If however, you are will to take little steps and try out what you have learned you can be confident of this, that your life will never be the same, God will transform you into the person that you were always meant to be and you will never want to go back to the way you were and so you will want to learn and apply more and more truth

The third step is this, Have them (the truths) ready, or as a sub title “Truth Prepared”

Now in our text it specifically says to have them ready at your lips but I am taking it a little farther than that and saying have them ready in your life

I’ve said this before but it is really important, in the moment of trouble it is too late to go looking for the answer

Why do so many people who seemed to be so excited about God turn away them moment that they are faced with adversity?

Simple because they didn’t have the answer ready on their lips (or in their lives)

They hadn’t gone over it and over it and practiced it until it was second nature

Peter has taken a lot of grief over the centuries for that time that he walked on the water and began to sink in the storm, even Jesus chastises him for his lack of faith but I want to point out something to you

Matthew 14:28–30 NIV

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Ya Peter messed up, he took his eyes off of Jesus and got spooked but what was happening around him and as a result he began to sink but notice that as soon as he began to sink his instinct was to cry out to Jesus

He didn’t try to swim or reach out for the boat either of which would have been the logical choice given human wisdom

But instead at his moment of need God’s wisdom was at his lips and he instinctively knew that his only hope was to turn to Christ and cry for help

Will you be ready in your moment of need? Will God’s Word and God’s wisdom be enough a part of you that you will instinctively know what to do?

There is only one way that we can make that happen which is to turn our backs on the wisdom of man, for as Solomon later points out in

Proverbs 14:2 NIV

Whoever fears the Lord walks uprightly, but those who despise him are devious in their ways.

Proverbs 14:12 NIV

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

And instead turn our ears to God’s Word and God’s Spirit to learn the truth, apply that truth to our hearts, test it out and see if it stands up under scrutiny, truth applied, and finally let it work in us until we are at the place where it is ready in our lives, where we no longer have to think about it but simply live it out