Better late than never…
A watched pot never boils…
You break it, you buy it…
Wake up and smell the coffee…
Get your ducks in a row…
It isn't whether you win or lose that counts, it's how you
play the game…
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen…
There are no small parts, only small actors…
A rising tide lifts all boats…
Then there’s my
favorite. ‘Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up
and erase all doubt.
We are all brought up with proverbs. Maybe your parents used
them, maybe your grandparents … I suspect each of us has SOMEONE who was the
source of our proverbs.
I even ran across a modern proverbist- Randy Hasper regularly prints original
proverbs on his blog called modernproverbs.net.
•
Insecurity laughs in the face of safety.
• A great
skill is borne out of a determined incompetence.
• The
present is the illusion that time is standing still.
• Love is a
risk; hate is a sure thing.
• To eat
tomorrow, throw seed today.
• Life is
risky, death a sure thing.
Most of the proverbs
we learn have a grain of truth in them. They teach us about life and living.
They teach us about relationships and roles. They teach us about priorities and
proper living.
Then there are proverbs that are just plain wrong
• Like In a
marriage “Look out for number one” is a sure recipe for disaster.
• “If it
feels good do it” is a leads to hedonistic anarchy
Today we are going to look at the book of proverbs because
we have been talking about Solomon and Solomon is the primary author of the
book of proverbs, as well as Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.
These three books along with the book of Job, and parts of
the Psalms form what we call The Old Testament Wisdom literature. Wisdom
literature is more about the lesson than the story. In fact, if you read it,
you noticed that there is no story in proverbs. The lesson of wisdom literature
is teaching us a way of life.
Wisdom is defined in the dictionary as “the ability to
discern what is true or right. Therefore, our English word "wisdom"
has both moral implications--discerning what’s right--and intellectual
implications--discerning what’s true.
The Hebrew word for wisdom is a little more interesting. It
is usually associated with a skill or ability. It might be skill in a craft
like woodworking or stone dressing, or it might be skill in leadership or
teaching.
Biblical wisdom, then, is the skill of living. Timothy Peck
says, “It is the art of Living with the grain” of life. Like the grain of wood.
It is much easier to work with the grain than against it. Wisdom is discerning
the “grain” or the direction of life that God has created and, rather than
fighting it and living against the grain, it is living in that direction. It is
understanding that God is the creator of life and discerning the basic building
blocks of that life. Therefore, some of the great themes in Proverbs are
humility, honesty, righteousness, friendship, hard work, and wealth or lack of
wealth. Understanding current of creation and swimming with the current rather
than fighting against it is the essence of the wisdom message.
Now a proverb is a short memorable saying that points out
this grain or current. It teaches about living with God and our neighbor. One
of the most famous modern proverbs is “Life is like a box of
<<__________>>,” Forest Gump. There is also, "sticks and stones<<
____________>> but words <<________________>>. “ See these
proverbs get into our collective consciousness to shape who we are and the way
we live. The goal of the book of proverbs is to get into our consciousness, or
under our skin, or on the tip of our tongue so that we will live, not the
Forest Gump way, or the world’s way, but God’s way.
There is truth in the proverbs. Is every single proverb true
in every single circumstance? NO. I was telling Dian this week that you
shouldn’t dissect the proverbs. You have to let them sit in your consciousness
and let the meaning soak in without dissecting them.
She was complaining about Proverbs 1:17, “How useless it is
to spread a net
while all the
birds are watching!” She was saying birds aren’t that smart enough to understand
what a net is. That is the kind of proverb that you might say is not true, but
isn’t there a grain of truth in it. Perhaps don’t do in full public view the
things that ought to be done in private?
Or someone else was commenting on proverbs 10:27 which
says,” The years of the wicked will be short.” Is that true? Often it is, but
not always for instance, how old is Fidel Castro now?
No, we can’t take the proverbs too literally, but we use
them as sign posts to point us to the truth of how God’s world usually works,
and how we should be living in it.
There are three things I want to point out this morning
about proverbs. You might call them fountains of wisdom.
The first fountain is
what proverbs calls “Fear of the Lord.” Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Now, we hear the word
“fear” and think “afraid.” I don’t usually preach that we should be afraid of
God though, looking at our culture and the news, a little more afraidness might
not hurt us.
In Hebrew the sense
of fear of the Lord, however, is not
being afraid of the Lord, but respecting the Lord, honoring the Lord, showing reverence to the Lord.
It makes me think of CS Lewis the chronicles of Narnia.’
Lucy and Susan are just about to meet Aslon the lion that
represents Christ. When Susan asks if it is safe to meet a lion Mr. Beaver
says, “Who said anything about safe? Of course, he isn't safe. But he's good.
He's the king, I tell you!"
That’s just like living before God. Should we be afraid of
God? Probably! Except, we know that God is good. He is our savior.
It is the same kind of fear I feel every time I stand before
you to preach. Do you scare me? No. Does God scare me? No, but I hold so great
respect the act of preaching that I do it with fear and trembling.
That is the first fountain of wisdom, knowing enough to
stand with respect and fear and trembling when we come before the Lord
The second fountain
is in the proverbs 6 passage I selected. “There are 6 things that the lord
hates, 7 that bring an abomination on him.” First of all the 6 and 7
formulation are poetic instruments. There are 7 things on this list.
• Pride
• Lying
• Murder
• Planning
wickedness
• Eagerly
Doing evil
• False
accusations
• And
breaking up a family.
My point, however, is not the 7 things themselves. The
second fountain is to know that there are things God won’t tolerate. Knowing
that there are clear boundaries in life. There are lines we are not intended to
cross.
• We are
not intended to cross the line between feeling good about ourselves and pride.
• We are
not intended to cross the line between truth and lying.
• We are
not intended to cross the line that leads to murder etc.
• We are
not intended to cross the line of planning of doing evil
• We are
not intended to cross the line of false accusations
• We are
not intended to cross the line of breaking up a family.
You get the idea. The important thing is knowing that what
we do matters. It not only matters to those around us, it matters to God.
We live in a culture where many people consider everything
relative. Something is only wrong for me if it feels wrong to me. The world
tries to convince us that there is no absolute right or absolute wrong. It is
all relative to who perceives it.
That is not God’s perspective though. God’s perspective is
that there is right and wrong. There are things God hates. There is a line that
God draws across which we are not supposed to go.
Wisdom is knowing that there is a right and a wrong, and
always seeking to know the difference.
So the first fountain is fear of the lord. The second is
knowing right from wrong. The third is from the proverbs 13 passage. It ends
with the sentence “Those who despise the word bring destruction on themselves,
but those who respect the commandment will be rewarded.” In other words knowing
right, it is doing it.
It is one thing to
know in theory how to fix my car. However, in reality I can no more fix my car
than my mechanic could write a sermon.
It is one thing to design a building, it is completely
another to build it.
It is one thing to know right from wrong… it is an entirely
different thing to do right and avoid wrong. That is what the proverbs are all
about giving us hundreds of concrete examples of the contrast between right and
wrong.
• Those who
guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to
ruin.
• The
appetite of the lazy craves and gets nothing; while the appetite of the
diligent is richly supplied.
• Wealth
hastily gained will dwindle, but those who gather it little by little will
increase it.
The proverbs give us hundreds of concrete examples of the
contrast between right and wrong.
• Can they
cover every situation we would ever encounter… no
• Can they
be universalized to meet every need we could ever have…no
There is, however, truth- real truth- God given truth in
each one. That truth teaches us to do right, and avoid wrong.
When you picture
success in your life what do you see?
• A big
house several cars, a boat, a dog and 2.5 kids?
• Do you
picture traveling at will?
• Do you
picture early retirement or working as long as you are able?
There’s nothing wrong with any of those pictures of success,
but God has a different picture drawn in the book of proverbs.
• God
pictures people who respect and worship him
• People
who know their right hand from their left, in other words right from wrong.
• And
people who seek with all their hearts to live the way God wants them to live
doing the right thing or the righteous thing
To live wisely we need to redefine success. We need to
abandon the search for meaning within ourselves or within the world. We need to
give up the desire for self-fulfillment. We need to give up the quest to do
things our way. And start seeking the God who deserves our respect and worship.
Start seeking the knowledge of right and wrong, and start choosing right over
wrong, God over bad, God over all else.
AMEN
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