This is the Way

Good morning.

My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Shine Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're filling seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good,

they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad they can't have it,

which is why we come back week after week to look at what God has to say to us in his word

because we believe that God has something to say to everyone.

He has something to say to people who've been Christians their entire lives.

He's been something to say to people who've been Christians for a very short amount of time,

and he has something to say, a challenge, to people who are not Christians.

God's word gives us life.

God's word gives us life.

We've been talking about a lot of different concepts about wisdom from chapter one.

At this point, hopefully you're convinced that wisdom is something you want.

Hopefully you're convinced that wisdom is something you need if you're going to walk well in this life.

And so that raises our next question here with chapter two, which is how we continue in wisdom.

One man puts it this way, that chapter two asks the question, how do we grow?

If we know that we need wisdom and now we want wisdom, how is it that we become wise people?

What we saw last week was negative, right?

It was a warning to those who won't listen.

This week in chapter two, it's going to be positive.

It's going to tell us what it actually looks like to be people who become wise.

And so it's with that that we're going to turn to Proverbs chapter two and reading the entire chapter.

I invite you to turn in your worship guide.

It's near the end of there.

You can turn in your Bible or your phone.

No matter where you turn, the importance is that we are here together in this chapter of God's word.

Now, I have not done this in probably a year or so,

but I'm going to ask you this morning to take a look and see if you can spot some words that are repeated frequently in this passage.

It's tempting sometimes when we read God's word to just kind of turn our minds off while we're reading it,

get to the end, and then we wait, you know, until the preacher says the first illustration.

And I get that.

It's a temptation for me as well.

But there's a word here that's going to be repeated six times,

and I'm going to challenge you to see if you can find it.

Also, it's not an article, right?

Don't tell me the word is the or a or an.

With that, we are in Proverbs chapter 2.

Proverbs 2 · chapter mention

This is God's word.

Remember that God tells us in Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5,

Proverbs 30:5

that every word of God proves true.

He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

And so that's why we read now, starting at chapter 2.

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.

Verse 6.

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.

Verse 9.

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.

Verse 16.

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.

Verse 20.

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.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Amen.

Our Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you again

that you have not left us alone as orphans in a merciless universe.

You've not abandoned us to our own devices to figure out how this world works,

but instead you have come and you've given us your word.

You've spoken clearly to us so that we would not be lost or confused,

but we would know the way to walk in this world.

We ask that you would do that now this morning by your spirit,

that you would help us,

that you would speak clearly to us,

and that we would hear and believe and know everything that you've written in your word.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

If you are a Star Wars fan of any sort,

you know that at the end of last year,

The Mandalorian came out,

which tells us the story after episode six.

It's about five years after the return of the Jedi,

so Darth Vader has turned good again.

It tells the story of a man named Din,

and Din's a bounty hunter,

and as a bounty hunter, he belongs to this group called the Mandalorians.

They're a tribe or a clan,

and this tribe or clan is from the planet of Mandalore.

And there's this phrase that they repeat over and over

that characterizes how they work as a tribe or a clan.

You all know what this is?

This is the way.

Yeah, over and over they say,

this is the way,

except it sounds more like this.

This is the way.

And it's something that they repeat to describe

what their pattern of life is,

the way that they live in the world.

And one of the things that's important for them as they live

is that they never take off their helmet

in front of a living human being.

And so they have this code that they live by,

this way that they walk.

They're loyal to it,

and they have allegiance to it.

And it's something that they love,

and this love also brings them great protection.

You know, for example,

that when Din gets into trouble,

he's rescued baby Yoda,

and there are other bounty hunters

that are coming after him.

Who comes to protect him?

Well, it's the other Mandalorians.

Because he loves the way,

the way also protects him.

And that's what we're going to see here

in this chapter about Proverbs.

We're going to see the love for the path

and protection by the path.

I told you to look out for repeated words.

There's actually many repeated words,

so I may have played a little bit of a trick on you.

But the word that appears six times is what?

Ooh, different answers.

Okay, wisdom potentially.

What I was looking for was the path.

The path appears six times.

We see it in verses eight and nine.

It's where it first shows up.

The paths of justice.

Verse nine, every good path.

We have it in verse 13.

So there's a good path and an evil path.

There are those who forsake the paths of uprightness.

The way appears, by the way, too.

So the word way, not six times, but it appears a lot.

The way of evil, verse 12.

We have verse 18.

This forbidden woman,

she has paths that go down to the departed.

Verse 19.

No one who goes down regains the paths of life.

So I've hinted at this theme before in the book of Proverbs,

and it's highlighted even more in this chapter.

There are two paths or two ways.

There's not three,

which is what our world often tells us, right?

There's three ways.

There's really wicked people,

really good people,

and really normal, average people.

Proverbs tells us, actually, there's only two.

There's people who fear the Lord and people who don't.

There is a path that we have to walk on in this life.

And so path and way here show up over and over again.

So there's love for the path that we see in this passage

and also protection by the path.

We see at the very beginning of this chapter,

similar to what I told you last week.

Remember, I gave you the illustration of the river guide

or the hunting guide

that illustrates for us what wisdom looks like.

Wisdom is like a guide offering to show us the way,

and all we have to do is listen and accept.

There's no charge or fee.

Wisdom doesn't charge us money.

We don't have to pay anything for wisdom.

Wisdom also gives us everything we need.

This guide is bringing along all the supplies.

It's like a fly fishing guide

who's gonna bring all the things that you need to fly fish.

It's like a hunting guide

who brings all the guns that you need.

That's what we saw last week.

At the end of chapter one,

we saw in verse 23,

I will pour out my spirit to you.

I will make my words known to you.

Wisdom gives you everything that you need.

That's the same thing we see here in chapter two,

the very beginning.

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments within you,

yes, listen.

If you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

listen, the same thing we saw last week.

Verses six and seven,

the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth

come knowledge and understanding.

God's the one providing the wisdom.

He gives all the supplies.

He gives everything needed.

Verse seven,

he stores up sound wisdom for the upright.

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.

All you have to do is listen.

God provides all the wisdom.

And yet there's something added in this section.

There's a catch.

Verses three and four.

There seems to be something more than just listening.

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 if you're listening carefully,

you might think,

wait,

I thought you told us last week

that all we had to do was listen.

Isn't this adding another obligation?

This sounds difficult and hard.

I thought it wasn't pulling ourselves up

by our bootstraps to get to wisdom.

I thought wisdom was going to give us

everything that we need.

The answer is yes.

And we still have to love it and want it.

Yes.

And we still have to love it and want it.

You can have a river guide

offering to take you fishing for free,

supplying everything that you need.

And if you hate fishing,

it doesn't matter how free it is.

You can have someone who offers to take you hunting,

supplying everything you need,

bringing all the guns and the ammunition,

knowing the best spots.

And if you hate hunting,

it doesn't matter.

Verse three and four,

you have to call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding.

You have to seek for it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures.

In other words,

you have to love wisdom.

It's not enough to just be offered wisdom.

You have to love wisdom.

Wisdom involves our hearts and our love.

That's, of course, the language that's used here.

What is it if it's treasure?

It must be something you really value.

You can't treat wisdom like treasure

unless you believe it is a treasure,

unless you love it.

It's an issue of the heart.

Verse two,

your ear has to be attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding.

Verse 10,

it has to be something that's pleasant to you.

Wisdom will come into your heart

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

You will love wisdom.

Wisdom is something that will taste sweet

and beautiful to you.

It's not just that someone's offering

to take you fishing.

It's that you love fishing.

It's your favorite thing.

It's not just that someone's offering

to take you hunting.

It's that you love hunting.

It's your favorite thing.

It's not just that wisdom is crying out

that we saw at the end of chapter one.

It's not just that it offers these things,

but that you love it.

Your heart wants wisdom.

There's a love for wisdom

that has to be true if we want it.

Remember, by the way,

we've seen this idea of love before in chapter one.

If you have your Bible with you,

chapter one, verse 12,

sorry, 22, chapter one, verse 22,

there's the challenge from last week to the simple.

How long, oh simple ones,

will you love being simple?

Not just a matter of listening.

It's a matter of our loves.

It's a matter of what our hearts want and desire.

And so our application is this.

We have to love wisdom

if we want to get wisdom.

We have to say yes

to the offer of wisdom from chapter one

and say yes enthusiastically.

Chapter two is asking us,

what is our treasure?

What is it that we seek after and want

more than anything else?

A righteous person,

a person who fears the Lord,

longs to know God

and follow after his ways.

Wisdom is a relationship,

not a strategy.

Wisdom is a relationship,

not a strategy.

We talked last week about many things

you can get from wisdom.

You can't be interested in wisdom,

though, just for what you can get.

It can't be a strategy.

It has to be something that you actually love.

Wisdom has to be something that moves your heart.

There are some things,

we know this intuitively,

just in the world,

there are some things that can only be had

if we love and treasure them.

Right?

This is how relationships work.

Think, for example,

if you're a young man

and you're interested in a young woman,

it would not be a good idea

for you to go to her

and say something like this.

You know,

I don't hate the idea

of spending time with you.

I haven't thought about you much recently,

but I lost my job,

so I just had a lot of time to think.

And I don't have a lot of hobbies,

so I just have a lot,

you know,

I have space.

So if you would like to spend time with me,

I'd be open to that.

Is she gonna say yes?

No, it's not a winning strategy.

Things that are relational,

that involve relationships,

can only be acquired through love and affection.

This is true,

not just in romantic situations,

but in our families and our friendships.

Wisdom is the same way.

Wisdom is a relationship,

not a strategy.

It's not a coincidence

that this book,

written to a young man,

presents wisdom as a woman.

She is crying out for relationship.

We have to love wisdom

if we want to get wisdom.

The man approaches the woman, right,

because he's interested.

He thinks it's worth the risk.

He thinks there might be some treasure there.

That's the successful strategy.

That's the same way with wisdom.

In the Mandalorian, by the way,

Din,

he's not just with the Mandalorians

because of what he can get.

Remember,

they rescued him as a child.

There's a relationship there.

There's history there.

There's a reason that he refuses

to take off his helmet.

It's not just a strategy.

It's a relationship.

That's the love for the path.

We also see in chapter 2

the protection of the path.

The path is similar to what we saw last week.

It's put positively here

rather than last week

it was put negatively.

The path offers real and present protection

from danger.

We see that in verses 7 and 8.

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright.

He is a shield

to those who walk in integrity.

What does a shield do?

Protects you.

Verse 8,

guarding the paths of justice

and watching over

the way of his saints.

There's a protection.

God is watching over and guarding.

Wisdom is watching over and guarding

people who love it.

Now this works in several ways.

You can think of a compass, right?

The fear of the Lord

shows us the way to go

when things around us are confusing.

It directs us

no matter what our culture is saying.

So it's a compass protecting us.

We could also think of it as

people in this world

being like kites

being blown around by the breeze, right?

If a kite is not tied to anything

it'll blow wherever the wind goes.

Wisdom protects us

by tying us down.

It creates limits.

It makes sure we can only soar

in certain areas.

And so wisdom's a protection

in those ways

but it's actually more than that.

Verse 10,

we're told that we will love wisdom.

Knowledge will be pleasant to our soul.

And it's this knowledge being pleasant

that serves as the true protection

and gives us two situations

as examples here.

First, this love

is going to deliver us

from evil ways.

That's verses 12 through 15.

This again is similar

to what we saw in chapter 1.

Remember in chapter 1

verses 10 through 19

we saw the temptation to violence.

There are going to be violent men

who come to you

and they're going to offer you things.

There's going to be unjust gain.

There's going to be opportunities

to become rich

at other people's expense.

There's a warning there

in chapter 1.

There's something even more than this.

What's going to protect you

from those offers?

It's going to have to be

your love of wisdom ultimately.

Someone comes offering you

an opportunity

to become rich

at other people's expense.

If your love of money

is greater

than your love of wisdom,

what's going to win?

Ultimately,

your love is going to be

what wins.

Worldview,

which people like to talk about a lot,

is knowing the right thing to do.

Love is actually going to

be doing the right thing.

Worldview,

we know God's commandments.

Love is what has us

actually keep those commandments.

In that moment,

when the temptation comes,

the question really is,

what do you love more?

These violent men,

verses 12 through 15,

are going to offer you many things.

They're going to offer you money.

They might offer you power.

They might offer you fame and wealth.

Those things will be very attractive.

It's your love that will protect you.

It's your love of wisdom

that will keep you safe.

It's your love that will allow you

to say no

even when the offer is tempting.

Same thing

is shown for us

in verses 16 through 19.

It's not just men

who will come

to offer you things.

Women here

will come and offer

this young man things.

There's going to be a woman

who is going to tempt him.

She's going to come,

verse 16,

with smooth words.

She's going to appeal

to his love.

She might flatter him,

tell him things

he's been longing to hear

for a long time,

filling needs

that he didn't know

that he had.

It's going to be his love

that protects him.

Now,

the temptation

to evil speech

is one thing.

The temptation

to sexuality

is even more powerful,

the temptation of sex.

We can have

the right worldview,

but if we're not

motivated by love,

wisdom

can't protect us.

Because,

verse 16,

she's going to offer

these smooth words,

right?

She's going to offer

experiences

and things

that we might long for.

And if we don't love

wisdom,

if we don't love God

and love our neighbor

at best,

we're going to try

to get as close

to the line

as we can

without doing

something wrong.

At worst,

we're going to realize

we love something

more than wisdom.

And wisdom

is simply a nuisance.

And so,

in the moment

of temptation,

wisdom will lose

and the forbidden woman

will win.

And so,

instead,

we have to love God

and love others.

If wisdom

is not a delight

to us,

if it doesn't come

into our heart,

verse 10,

if it's not pleasant

to our soul,

then verse 11,

it's not going

to be possible

for understanding

to guard us.

we have to love

the path

to be protected

by the path.

We have to fight

desire with desire.

By the way,

that's what we're going

to see later on

in chapter 5.

That's one of the solutions

that the author of Proverbs

gives to sexual temptation,

to fight one desire

with an even greater

and better desire.

And that is going

to be protection,

right?

Because the Father here

tells us what happens

if we love

the forbidden woman

more than wisdom.

Verse 18,

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.

Wisdom will protect

you from death.

By the way,

this gives us

an important point here.

As we think about

sin and temptation,

especially as we think

about talking about it

with our children,

children,

this by the way,

remember is a book

to children,

the book of Proverbs

that's written

to a young man,

an adolescent male,

it is good and right

to warn about

the consequences of sin.

The author of Proverbs

does that,

did that last week.

But if all we're concerned

about is the consequences

of sin,

ultimately wisdom

cannot protect us.

We cannot warn

just about the dangers

of disobedience,

but we also have to talk

about the fact

that we must love

the Lord our God

with all our heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength.

Remember,

worldview is knowing

what's right.

It's our love

that causes us

to do what's right.

In Deuteronomy chapter 6,

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

which is the portion

of the Bible

that talks about

training our children up

and raising them

to fear and know the Lord

all the time,

it tells us

in verse 5,

you shall love the Lord

your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your might.

It is love

for God

and his wisdom

that will guard us.

It's a greater affection

that protects us

from lesser affections.

And so we must love wisdom

to be protected by wisdom.

As I've been telling you

now many weeks,

Matthew chapter 12,

Matthew 12:42

verse 42,

tells us that Jesus

is the great teacher

of wisdom.

He is greater

than Solomon.

And so Jesus

tells us some similar things.

He tells us

in John chapter 14,

John 14:15

verse 15,

if you love me,

you will keep

my commandments.

He tells us

in Matthew chapter 22

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

that the law

is summarized

in this way.

Love the Lord

your God

and love your neighbor

as yourself.

That's the heart

of what Jesus teaches.

When Jesus meets

with Nicodemus

in John chapter 3

John 3 · chapter mention

and Nicodemus

wants to know

how can he receive

what it is

that Jesus offers.

He tells Nicodemus

you have to be born again.

And that gets

to one of the answers

that this passage raises

which is this,

if we have to love wisdom

to be protected by wisdom,

how can we love wisdom

more than anything else?

Well as we saw

last week,

Colossians chapter 2,

Colossians 2:3

verse 3,

it's in Jesus

that we see all wisdom.

And so it's in loving Jesus

that we're able

to have new

and changed hearts.

That's what Jesus

is offering Nicodemus

in John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

Unless you're born again,

unless the Holy Spirit

is part of your life,

unless Jesus is coming

and making a new creation

out of you,

you have no expectation

that your heart

will be changed

by love

to do

and know

what is right.

Wisdom

is not a strategy,

it's a relationship,

and it's a relationship

ultimately

with Jesus Christ.

He is the one

who gives us

new hearts,

hearts that love

him and wisdom

more than anything else.

And so Proverbs chapter 2

Proverbs 2 · chapter mention

is not a chance

for us

to try to whip up

some kind of frenzy

where we can be

disciplined enough,

where we can have

a habit tracker

so we can keep track

of our wisdom practices.

But ultimately

it's a passage

telling us

that it's a matter

of the heart

and we as people

of the New Testament

know that it's only

Jesus who can

change our hearts.

And so our first step

is to pray to God

that he would send

his spirit,

that he would soften

our hearts,

and that he would

give us new hearts,

that we are the kind

of people who love

wisdom more

than anything else,

that we would love

the Lord our God

with our heart

and our soul

and all our might.

That's ultimately

what Proverbs chapter 2

Proverbs 2 · chapter mention

points us to.

That is how we grow

in wisdom

and become people

of wisdom.

Of course,

the gospel tells us

that as we pursue wisdom,

it's Jesus who pursued

us first.

Romans chapter 5,

Romans 5:8

verse 8,

tells us,

while we were still

sinners,

Christ died for us.

And so our pursuit

of wisdom

only comes

after Jesus'

pursuit of us.

He is the one

who comes

and changes

hearts of stone

into hearts of flesh.

We come again

then this week

over and over.

The book of Proverbs

is pointing us

to Jesus.

He is the one

who has wisdom

come into our heart

and makes knowledge

pleasant

to our soul.

He is the one,

verse 7,

who's a shield

to those who walk

in integrity.

And he's the one

in verse 8

who watches

over the way

of his saints.

And so he's the one

who gives us

the love of wisdom

and he's the one

who gives us

the protection

of wisdom.

25 years

after the Mandalorian,

of course,

we're told a different

story in episode 7.

The Galactic Empire

has been defeated

and they've been

replaced by the

First Order.

The rebellion

is still working

but Luke Skywalker

has disappeared.

And Leia wants

to find him, right?

And RTD2

and BB8

have a map

to Luke

and so there's

this journey

to go find him

and at the end,

after all this work

to protect the map

and keep the map

out of their love

for Luke

and their love

for the rebellion,

they finally find him

on an isolated island,

right?

All they have

to do

is find Luke.

All they have

to do

is pursue him

because he provides

everything else.

In episodes 8

and 9,

he trains Rey

in the force.

He teaches her

what she needs

to know

so that she can

go and do battle.

He fights Kylo Ren

to buy time

for the resistance.

He lays himself

down so that

they can escape.

Luke,

out of his love,

battles for them,

right?

He protects them

from death.

He allows them

to live.

And then in episode 9,

The Force Awakens,

he gives Rey

Leia's lightsaber

and he gives

Rey his starfighter.

He gives her

everything that she needs

to return

and do battle.

All she had to do

was seek him out

and find him.

Luke gives her

what she needs.

He prepares her

and trains her.

And he also lays himself

down to protect

the rebellion.

Brothers and sisters,

all we have to do

is go after wisdom.

All we have to do

is love the path,

love Jesus Christ,

and we also

will be protected

by the path.

We will be protected

by Jesus Christ.

Please pray with me.

Our Father in Heaven,

we thank you

for your word.

We ask that you

would use it

in a powerful way

to change our hearts,

that we would grow

in our love

for you.

That you would

make wisdom

a treasure to us

in something

that's sweet.

We confess

that we can't do it

on our own

and that we need

your spirit

to do a new work

in our hearts.

And so we ask

that you would

do that now,

that you would

take our hard hearts

and that you would

soften them,

that we would be

eager for your wisdom

and your ways.

We ask these things

not because we have

earned them

or deserve them,

but we ask them

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.