Wisdom in Creation

Amen.

Good morning.

Let me make my annual summer announcement.

It's warm today.

It will get warmer before the end of the...

If you need to get up, move to the back, find a fan, get a drink of water to keep you awake

and to allow you to continue to listen, please feel free to do so.

If you are suffering, I know it is cooler downstairs, so if you need to move downstairs, there are

speakers as well down there.

So, this is but a foretaste of our summer, friends, but the Lord is with us.

So, let me pray for us before we look into God's Word this morning.

Please pray with me.

Lord, we come to you this morning and we acknowledge how much we need you.

Lord, even as we have sung of your goodness, sung of the remarkable mercy you have shown

us in Christ, Lord, we are reminded of how often we lose sight of that in our daily lives.

And Lord, as we come to your Word this morning, we pray that by your Word you would remind us

of the kind of God you are, Lord, and that you would help us, Lord, that in our hearts and

in our minds, in our words and in our actions, Lord, that we would respond to all that you

have done.

Lord, with faith.

God, I ask this morning for your help as I speak.

And Lord, I pray that even though it is warm, Lord, you will help us by your Spirit to listen

to your Word.

Lord, to allow your Word to do the work that you want to do in us this morning.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So, I'm not much of a handyman.

I have tools.

I don't always know how to use them well.

But the other week, my son got into his eight-year-old creative mind, a thought that he wanted to

make a spaceship out of wood.

And we have scrap wood in our garage, as maybe some of you do.

And so, we pulled out the scrap wood, and I said, okay, here's what you do.

You design it.

I'll cut it.

You build it.

We have glue.

We have nails.

That's about as far as we go.

But he loves it.

And so, he drew some designs on a couple of pieces of scrap plywood and said, dad, can

you cut this?

And so, I make the first cut, and that was pretty easy.

And then the second one, gosh, I just couldn't get it right.

The blade just kept binding.

And I thought, what is going on here?

And then I looked more carefully, and I realized, well, this plywood has a grain.

And I am cutting against the grain of the plywood, and it makes it a whole lot harder to do what

I want to do.

Friends, as we continue our series in Proverbs this morning, and as we talk about biblical

wisdom, what we're going to look at this morning is a bit of an understanding of how

wisdom could be defined as living according to the grain of God, his character, and how he has

made the world.

We don't always do this very well.

If you stop and think about it, our lives are full of frustrations, difficulties, challenges.

All of this, like my saw trying to cut on the angle against the grain of the wood.

Our lives feel like that sometimes.

C.S. Lewis writes, searchingly, I think, about how we think about this.

He's writing, he uses the word morality, but I think that wisdom could be imported to have

the same meaning in this passage.

I want to read this so that you can think about how you respond to the idea that wisdom

is living according to the grain of how God has made the world.

Lewis writes this, there's a story about a schoolboy who was asked what he thought God

was like.

He replied that as far as he could make out, God was the sort of person who's always snooping

around to see if anyone was enjoying himself and then trying to stop it.

Now, I'm afraid that this sort of idea in the world, I'm afraid that this is the sort

of idea that the world morality raises in a good many people's minds.

Something that interferes, something that stops you from having a good time.

Lewis then says this, in reality, moral rules are directions for running the human machine.

Every moral rule is there to prevent a breakdown or strain or friction in the running of that

machine.

That is why the rules at first seem to be constantly interfering with our natural inclination.

When you are being taught to use any machine, the instructor keeps on saying, no, no, don't

do it like that.

Because, of course, there are all sorts of things that may look right, look all right, and seem

to you the natural way of treating the machine, but do not really work.

And friends, as we come to this question of wisdom and how we relate to it, I think this

is the problem that we have.

And that is that though maybe we would say we want God's wisdom, when push comes to shove,

we think we know better, often, how the machine ought to work.

We often believe that we have an idea of how we ought to live, and we don't understand and

don't respond to God properly in the midst of it.

Think about the storyline of the Bible for a minute.

Is this not the very root of the very beginning of the fall in Genesis 3?

God, having created a great world, gave Adam and Eve instructions, this is how you are to

live, walk in it.

I give you a few instructions on how this world is meant to live for your good.

But when the tempter came, he said, did God really say?

And underneath it, he was saying, is God's rules really good?

Maybe there's another way.

Rather than submitting to God and receiving from him wisdom, maybe you can go out on your

own.

Maybe you can be like God, knowing good and evil on your own, apart from him.

Sometimes our resistance to wisdom is willful.

I don't want to do it that way.

I want to do it my way.

That's what my child thinks when he picks up a knife and says, Daddy, let me cut the vegetables.

No, you don't know how to do it yet.

You will hurt yourself.

No, Daddy, I want to do it my way.

Daddy, can I use the circular saw?

No, you don't know how to use it yet.

Sometimes it's lack of understanding.

We don't know how to live.

Maybe those of you who are parents feel like this.

What does wisdom look like?

Maybe you're in a dating relationship.

What does wisdom look like?

But in the midst of it, it's easy for our hearts to not turn from God, but away to ourselves,

to the world, to many other sources of wisdom.

Our passage this morning, as we continue in Proverbs, we have yet another call, yet another

summons to embrace wisdom to embrace wisdom and to see it as good and right.

But here in this passage, we see a bit more of an explanation as well as to why.

Why is wisdom worth pursuing?

So we're going to look at that this morning.

If you want to turn with me in your pew Bibles to Proverbs chapter 8.

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

It's page 532 in your pew Bibles.

Proverbs chapter 8.

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

Most of this chapter is an apology.

We'll see verse 6 all the way through verse 31 is the reasons why with the beginning and

the end, setting our scene, and then giving a final call to respond.

So that's…

We're going to look at it along this way.

So read with me, if you will, Proverbs chapter 8.

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

We're going to read it in sections and look at them in sections.

So Proverbs chapter 8, verses 1 through 5.

Proverbs 8:1–5

Does not wisdom call?

Does not understanding raise her voice on the heights beside the way?

At the crossroads, she takes her stand.

Beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals, she cries aloud,

To you, O man, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.

O simple ones, learn prudence.

O fools, learn sense.

In the introduction, the writer here sets up wisdom as a personified…

A town crier, if you will.

And one of the things that's striking here is that she is going to particular places

where she is going to be most heard.

She is in the public square where she is going to have the greatest opportunity to interact

with those in the city.

If you see it, look again.

On the heights beside the way, think of a pathway through Israel where she's standing

up on a higher place so that when she speaks, the whole area around will be able to hear

her.

Or she goes to the crossroads where multiple people will meet her along the way.

Or she goes to the gates of the town, which is where, if you know, the elders, the wise

of the town would tend to sit.

And also it would be the funnel whereby everyone coming in and out of the town would have to

walk.

So wisdom is calling out to say, I have a platform in the public square and I'm crying

to you.

My appeal is to all of you.

And the appeal is also, interestingly, aimed at a particular kind of people.

If you look at verses 4 and 5.

First of all, I want to say this is not a gender-specific call.

Wisdom is not for men and not for women in the Bible.

Wisdom is for all people.

The writer here is using gender as a relational literary form to explain this interaction.

But we need to make sure that we don't misunderstand it and think, oh wait, is God saying wisdom

is more for men than wisdom?

No, of course not.

Wisdom is for all of his people.

Secondly, look at verse 5.

He says, I speak particularly to those who are simple and to the fools.

And interestingly, these words don't tend to…

There's a whole range of these kinds of words in Proverbs.

And some of them on one end are those who are heart-resistant to God.

Those tend to be described as the scoffers or the mockers.

And at times, fool is also used in that category.

But here, the connotation, and particularly when you combine it with simple, the simple-minded,

is that it's not those who don't want God's wisdom, but it's those who don't have God's

wisdom but who need it.

So there are people who are inexperienced in life.

Often it's viewed perhaps as a young man, the children.

So those who are inexperienced, those who are naive.

And when we stop and think about it, isn't that actually all of us?

Aren't we all inexperienced in the ways of God?

Aren't we all naive about the riches and the depth of the wisdom of God?

But the call is to those who know that they need it.

The call is to those who are aware of their lack.

And so in humility and weakness, have an opportunity to hear the words of wisdom.

This is the call that wisdom puts out for us.

And it says, embrace it.

Embrace what I have to say to you.

This is the setup then for the main part of the passage where we see two things.

Two things that wisdom gives us that commends wisdom to us.

Why wisdom is good.

First, in verses 6 through 21, we see that wisdom shapes the form of a good life before God.

Let's read this together and think about what it says about that.

Starting in verse 6.

Here, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right.

For my mouth will utter truth.

Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

All the words of my mouth are righteous.

There's nothing twisted or crooked in them.

They're all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.

For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance, and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

I have counsel and sound wisdom.

I have insight.

I have strength.

By me, kings reign and rulers decree what is just.

By me, princes rule and nobles all who govern justly.

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Riches and honor are with me.

Enduring wealth and righteousness.

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

I walk in the way of righteousness and in the path of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me and filling their treasuries.

Wisdom personifies herself here and talks about the goodness of wisdom and how it reflects the character of God.

So, in verses 6 through 9, look with me.

You see that there's a commitment to and a reflection of wisdom being rooted in truth and the truthfulness of God.

Wisdom is straight, not crooked.

It's made up of words that are not perverted or lead to evil, but words that are righteous.

There is a sense in which wisdom follows a plumb line of God's truth.

You know what a plumb line is?

A plumb line is something that builders put up in order to tell what vertical is.

Because gravity is the best definer of what is truly up and down in a place.

And so, I'm sure some of you scientists are like, well, that's not really true.

But bear with me, right?

This is what the biblical idea of what a plumb line is at least, right?

A plumb line gives you a straight and a standard measure.

And what wisdom is saying here is, what I speak to you is according to this plumb line of God's character of truth.

And then it goes on in verses 12 through 14.

I'm going to skip over a couple and I'll bring those back at the end.

Verses 12 through 14.

It's fascinating.

One of the commentators, Tremper Longman, described this section as a bit of a personal introduction.

Wisdom is saying, this is who I am.

And one of the ways you know who someone is is by who they associate with.

So, look with me in verses 12 through 14.

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence.

And I find knowledge and discretion.

The fear of the Lord is a hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance in the way of evil and perverted speech.

I hate.

I have counsel and sound wisdom.

I have insight and I have strength.

And wisdom then is characterized by some of these facets of things that she dwells with.

What wisdom brings is an ability to navigate life.

An ability to be sober-minded.

That's the idea of prudence.

Discretion is to think carefully and to understand the root of the issue

and to be able to respond properly to it.

Counsel and sound wisdom and insight are, again, creating a framework of understanding.

And interestingly, in verse 14, it has strength too.

Wisdom is not simply a nice idea, but there is a robustness to wisdom that gives this framework,

that gives this worldview, that gives this set of principles on how to live,

a strength for your life that is beautiful.

And as we'll see later, it's rooted in something even deeper.

And you see in verse 13, fundamentally, wisdom hates evil.

There is no realpolitik in wisdom.

There is no compromise to the fallenness of the world.

Wisdom navigates a way through and in the fallenness of the world that is right before God.

And it fights in every place against evil, against injustice.

And again, we see in these things the character of God for us.

Then, interestingly, he goes from a personal to, in verses 15 through 17, he says,

and by wisdom, this is actually how society, when society works rightly,

this is how society works.

And so kings are able to rule, princes are able to rule by me,

for me, those who govern justly, and this is the qualifier,

those who govern justly do so because they're walking in the paths of wisdom.

Those who do what is right in leadership,

those who shape our society in ways that are helpful and productive,

are those who walk in the way of wisdom that reflect God's wisdom.

So I think what the psalmist is saying here in verses 15 through 17.

And then what you see in verses 18 through 21,

he picks up a theme that he had actually mentioned earlier in 6 through 9,

that this wisdom is of surpassing value.

Fascinating, verse 11, do you see what it says there?

Wisdom is better than jewels,

and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Here you see the psalmist laying out that challenge that we talked about at the beginning.

You may desire this, but wisdom says this.

Will you value wisdom because it comes from God

greater than your own desires, than your own thoughts,

than your own patterns of understanding?

So what do we do with this passage?

Oh, no, there's one other thing I wanted to say about that that's important.

Look with me at 18 through 21, right?

Riches and honor are with me.

Enduring wealth and righteousness,

my fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,

and my yield than choice silver.

I walk in the ways of righteousness,

in the paths of justice,

granting an inheritance to those who love me,

filling their treasuries.

Now here's the tricky thing about this,

is that it seems like what the proverbial writer here is saying is,

when you walk in wisdom,

you have something that's better than all the riches of the world,

and oh, by the way,

it sounds like your coffers are going to be filled as well.

It sounds like you're going to prosper in the way of wisdom.

And there are some in our world today who would easily take this and say,

so this is a promise for you.

If you walk in wisdom,

if you do these things,

then you will

be successful in your career,

have a peaceful and happy family,

have a lifelong, easy, and joyful marriage,

and have a fat bank account and an easy retirement.

Sounds great, doesn't it?

Gosh, we'd all like that.

But that's not actually what this is saying.

First, and what it's saying is,

that the riches that we gain from wisdom

are greater than the riches and the wealth of this world.

Verse 20 is striking in it.

When we take hold of a life

that is shaped by the righteousness

and the paths of justice before God,

there is a goodness there

where we live in harmony with our Creator

that is better

than the riches of this world.

We have peace with God

because of these things.

And it is a wonderful and a beautiful thing.

But I will also say this.

I don't think the psalmist

denies that

as we walk in the paths of wisdom,

things will work better.

Going back to my circular saw,

if Eli had been able to draw the pictures

along the grain,

if we had talked about that ahead of time,

it would have been easier to cut the wood.

There are times when,

as we walk in wisdom,

it is according to the way

that we were made to work before God.

And we have, in ways, a good life.

It doesn't mean that we are

free from suffering or hardship.

Certainly not from persecution or trial.

Certainly from our own failure

and our own sinfulness.

And even the,

we are not promised to be delivered

from the effects of the sin of others

on our lives.

So none of those things are taken away.

And yet, in the midst of all of those things,

when we walk in wisdom,

there is a goodness to our life

that is not just pie in the sky or future,

but there is a reality now

because it is in harmony

with the character and the nature

of the God who has given us this wisdom.

The God who is the one

who wrote the owner's manual

is the one who made us

in our relationships

in all of these different ways.

And so we need to see that this is true.

We need to see that this is,

that as we walk in these paths,

there is a goodness about life

and to take hold of it

and to not despise it.

So God gives us wisdom.

He doesn't give us a user's manual

that says first do this,

then do this,

then do this,

then do this.

It's not,

what's the right word?

I kept thinking algorithm,

but it's not,

it's not stuff.

It's not like a recipe.

Step by step,

if you follow the recipe,

you get a beautiful cake, right?

God gives us principles

and understanding of him

and of his wisdom.

And as we,

as we ingest that

and as we live in it,

we begin to understand his ways

just a little bit more.

And as we live in them,

then we experience the goodness

of living in harmony

with the way that God has made us

to relate to him

and to relate to the world.

As C.S. Lewis warned us,

we need to recognize

that wisdom

will be counterintuitive at times.

Here's a little example

from my own foolish past.

When I was in college,

I was a young believer.

I was eager.

I was zealous.

I had gotten that God wanted us

to love one another

and to be helpful to one another.

And so I decided

that it was going to be good for me

to encourage a number

of my sisters in Christ

by meeting with them

for coffee or lunch

and listening to them

and speaking good words

of encouragement.

And you may see

where this is going.

I was one of those

really confusing boys

who wasn't very helpful

in the whole picture, right?

Rather than actually being a blessing

to some of these sisters,

I was a confusion to them.

And I thought

I was doing right.

And it wasn't until

I had a friend

sit me down and say,

no, this is not the way to walk.

This is not actually encouraging

to your sisters.

This is not godly care for them.

There's something else in this

that is actually foolish

in the way that you are treating them.

And so I had to,

to examine my heart.

I had to examine my behaviors.

I asked for help

to think through

what were healthy ways

to relate to my sisters

that would be useful

rather than being

that really understanding guy

who in the end

was a little more confusing

than helpful.

And so that's one of those places

where I learned some wisdom.

Hopefully.

Learned some wisdom

that was counterintuitive to me.

I thought I knew how to do this

and I didn't at all.

And we need to recognize

that that's going to be true.

And the challenge for us is

are we willing to doubt ourselves

and to trust God's wisdom

even when it's counterintuitive,

even when it doesn't make sense to us?

Are we willing to walk

in the ways of wisdom?

Now I keep saying that.

I know it's all vague right now.

But remember,

the last two weeks

we got practical.

Greg and Nick

preached on real life issues

and gave lots of great examples

in areas of wealth

and sex

and other things

about how to live practically.

And for those of you

who are dying for that,

hold on.

We got one more week

of the big picture

and then we're going to get into

the nitty gritty

and we're going to talk about

all sorts of details.

But what I want

is for our hearts

to be prepared

to hear those words.

And part of it

is by embracing wisdom

and not trusting ourselves

but being willing to say,

okay God,

teach me.

Teach me your ways of wisdom.

So this first section

exposes some of the ways

that wisdom reflects

the character of God

and the nature of God

that helps us see

how walking in the ways

of wisdom

are a part of a good life

lived before Him.

But then the writer

goes even deeper

to say,

why is this true?

In verses 22 through 31,

the call of wisdom

is worth our attention

because wisdom shapes

the form of a good creation

before God.

Let's look at this

and read this passage together

starting in verse 22.

The Lord possessed me

at the beginning of His work,

the first of His acts of old.

Ages ago I was set up

at the first

before the beginning

of the earth.

When there were no depths,

I was brought forth.

When there were no springs

abounding with water,

before the mountains

had been shaped,

before the hills,

I was brought forth.

Before He had made

the earth with its fields,

or the first of the dust

of the world,

when He established the heavens,

I was there.

When He drew a circle

on the face of the deep,

when He made firm

the skies above,

when He established

the fountains of the deep,

when He assigned

to the sea its limit,

so that the waters

might not transgress

His command,

when He marked out

the foundations

of the earth,

then I was beside Him

like a master workman.

I was daily His delight,

rejoicing before Him always,

rejoicing in His inhabited world,

and delighting

in the children of man.

This is a remarkable turn

in the argument.

He said,

wisdom is good

because it reflects

the character of God.

And then he says,

wisdom is good

because it reflects,

because it is integral

to the very fabric

and fiber

of the creation

that we live in.

He says two things.

He says that wisdom says,

I was there

before creation happened.

And then he says,

I was there

as creation happened.

So in verses 22 through 26,

He's basically saying,

I was there beforehand.

I was there before God

had created order out of chaos.

I was there before

the life-giving water

had sprung up in springs.

I was there before

any of these things

had happened.

Now,

if you will indulge me

for two minutes,

I want to take a bit of,

a quick tour into,

interestingly,

this verse was used

back in the early church

in the controversy

of Arius

and his theology

because the church

has often seen wisdom

and the personification

of wisdom

as pointing to

or embodying

the person of Christ.

Go back with me

to verse,

where are we?

Verse 8,

verse 22.

All right?

Look,

if you have a Bible,

look with me

because this is important.

Verse 22,

the Lord possessed me

at the beginning

of his work.

Now,

do you see the footnote?

In my Bible,

it's a number three.

Look down at the bottom.

Possible reading.

Oh,

here we go.

Number three.

It could mean also fathered.

So,

the Lord fathered me

at the beginning

of his work.

And then it says,

oh,

and in the Septuagint,

which is the Greek translation

of the Hebrew Bible,

the Septuagint

says created.

From the Septuagint then,

as Arius was reading this,

he said,

we'll see.

Wisdom was created

by God

before creation

to then participate

in creation.

This sounds a lot

like the role

that Christ played

in creation

as you see

in John 1

or Hebrews 1

or Colossians 1,

15 through 17.

And so,

therefore,

they drew this

theological line

and said,

clearly,

Christ was a created being.

And this was one

of the fundamental

controversies

of the early church

was,

was Christ truly divine

in this way

and in what way

could he be so?

And this verse

was one of the verses

that they used

to defend

the position

that Christ himself

was created.

created.

So,

we've got

a fairly

significant question

on our hand.

However,

I think

that we can say,

first of all,

based on many,

many other places

in Scripture

in the New Testament

where Christ is

seen to be equated

with God,

where he

claims

God,

Godhood

to himself,

we would say

that there's

a clear witness

in the New Testament

about his divinity.

But secondly,

exegetically,

in this passage,

it's asking

for this verse

to bear way

too much weight

to say that

Christ was created

for multiple reasons.

One is,

the word here

clearly has

a range of meaning.

And its core meaning

is actually

to acquire,

that God

acquired wisdom,

which is a very

odd thing

because in English

when we think

of acquiring

something,

it's something

external and

objectively outside

of us that we

have to take

into ourselves.

But that doesn't

seem to make sense

in this context.

Instead,

some have,

and you see here,

this translation

uses possessed

or one of the other

is to say

he fathered him.

wisdom.

The old-fashioned

word for that

is to beget someone,

which is not to

create out of nothing

but to out of yourself

issue something

that is like you.

And it seems

much easier

to read this passage

as saying

wisdom here

is a personification,

an expression

of a characteristic

of God himself.

Right?

Wisdom is not

external to God.

The wisdom

is God's wisdom.

And here

it has been

personified

in a literary form

so that we can

think through

the value

of God's wisdom

and the role

of God's wisdom.

What are we saying

for all this?

Wisdom

is not Christ.

In Christ

all the riches

of the fullness

of the wisdom

and knowledge

of God

is fulfilled

and expressed.

But wisdom

is not Christ

per se.

Wisdom

is pointing

us to Christ

is how we need

to read this.

And then here

we need to say

that wisdom

is an expression

in a literary form

of God's work

in creation

that when he

created the world

he did it well.

He did it

according to

all of his character.

And as we see here

as we see

then he goes on

to the second section

he not only does that

but his wisdom

as it shapes

the world

right?

The Proverbs here

is reminding us

that what God did

when he created

the world

was to bring order

out of chaos.

Right?

Look with me

at verses

27 through 31.

Right?

He separated out

sky and earth.

He created

he separated out

earth

and water

dry land.

And much of this

is in the context

of an ancient

Near East

understanding

that water

and chaos

were formed

water was a symbol

for chaos

and discord

and evil.

And what God

is doing

is God is saying

no these things

do not rule

my creation

I am going

to impose

my order

on it

in a good way.

And wisdom

is the very fabric

and the very weave

of how I do that.

Wisdom was there

wisdom was there

when he separated

out the heavens

and the earth.

Wisdom was there

when he separated

water

from earth.

Wisdom was there

look at

in verse 30

like a master

workman

or a craftsman.

Wisdom was

the shape

in which God

created a world.

And think back

in Genesis 1

what did God say

about the way

he made creation?

He said it was good

and it was good

and it was good

and it was good

and it was good

and it was good

and it was very

good.

There was nothing

bad

about God's creation

in the beginning.

There was nothing

against the grain

in God's

original creation.

And so

if this is

the very fabric

of the world

that we've been

brought into

the very fabric

of the world

that we've been made

should we not

then value wisdom

to help us

understand

how to live

in it?

This is the question

that wisdom

brings to us.

And then finally

in verses 30

and 31

I want you to see

that wisdom

in creation

was not just

a dutiful job

when it was done

he said

alright

well that's a good job

on to the next.

Verse 30

the second half

I was daily

his delight

that God

delighted in wisdom

in the middle

of creation

and then

the rest of it

rejoicing before him

always

rejoicing in his

inhabited world

and delighting

in the children

of man.

You see

wisdom

was full of joy

about the creation

that God has made.

It's goodness

pulled out

of wisdom

this exaltation

this celebration

of the beauty

of the form

and the weave

and the shape

of what God

had made

and so God

was

so wisdom

was delighting

in God

delighting

in creation

and delighting

in humanity

and saying

this is all

very good.

Wisdom

knows

intimately

how the world

was made.

Wisdom

knows

intimately

how the world

was made

to work

before God.

So what are we

to think of this?

First of all

let's just stop

and celebrate

the beauty

of the form

of creation.

Some of you

who work in labs

for many many hours

every week

know

particular pictures

and particular forms

of what this

looked like

that I can't even

imagine

but you see it

and you know it.

For the rest of us

we just get to walk

down the beach

at Ham and Asset

or climb to the top

of Sleeping Giant

or you know

go to Colorado

and actually see mountains

and

or go to Nepal

and really see mountains.

but when we

but all of us

in our various ways

have an opportunity

to see the beauty

of God's creation

and to rejoice

in it

and to see

how

how the weave

of it

the intricate

design

the

even

the

microscopic

workings

of it

that again

I can't even

begin to fathom

that some of you

know far more

intimately

than I do

that all of this

reflects the form

and the goodness

of God's creation

for us

but secondly

we need to recognize

that this is why

the doctrine of creation

is so important

because if God

had made this world

and God has framed it

and shaped it

with a particular

in a particular way

for good

as a display

of his glory

and for the goodness

of all who live in it

and if wisdom

then is woven

into that fabric

such that

this is the way

creation works

then the call

of wisdom

in scriptures

in Proverbs

is to walk

in accordance

with that

to walk

according to the

along the grain

to know the weave

and to embrace

that weave

and friends

you know

we don't like that

we live in a world

today that loves

self-determination

we want to be able

to choose

our career

we want to be able

to choose

where we live

we want to be able

to choose

what we eat

there are more

deeper things

that our culture

is vying for

do we get to choose

our sexuality

our gender

our race

our family

we love

self-determination

we love

to want to do

it ourselves

but wisdom

says

I was there

in creation

and you are

a part of

this created order

and will you

abandon

your self-creating

project

will you

abandon

your own wisdom

and will you

instead

seek to understand

how I have

been a part

of what God

has done

how wisdom

has shaped

your creation

and your world

and your life

will you

love it

will you

seek it

will you

treasure it

and friends

we know

that this is

all true

partly because

as we've

mentioned earlier

this points us

to a greater

truth

and a greater

wisdom

for if our

life lived

before God

is a good life

our life lived

before God

within this creation

is what we're

longing for

then the way

that we

can best

get to it

is not by

trying to be

the most wise

person in the world

although pursuing

wisdom is great

but it's not about

trying to be

the most wise

person in the world

it is about

finding and knowing

the wisest person

in the world

when Jesus

walked the earth

he said

I am the way

and the truth

and the life

no one comes

to the father

apart from me

he comes to us

and he says

I am the one

who knows

because I was

there with creation

even in creation

even more so

than wisdom

I wasn't just

a personification

I was a member

of the trinity

intimately invested

in how things

were made

I was with God

doing the creating

but not only

did he create

the world

and know all of that

but then he

entered into it

in his incarnation

he came

and showed us

what God

could look like

what it would look like

to walk in the way

of wisdom

in this world

how to live

perfectly

according to the

weave and the grain

of that created order

and so he came

and he lived

a sinless life

but he didn't

just do that

then

in his purpose

plan

having lived

that life

he offers himself

for fools

like us

for those

who don't know

that we don't

live according

to the grain

for those

who have chosen

to go away

and to do

other things

for those of us

who are lost

and don't know

or have refused

God's ways

which is all of us

we've all

gone our own way

Jesus comes

and he offers himself

up

for us

the wisest man

in the world

dying for fools

like us

so that the sin

might be

the penalty of sin

might be removed

from us

but even more

than that

so that by his

resurrection

from the dead

by his rising

to new life

by his beginning

then this work

of recreating

the world

which he starts

in our hearts

by giving us

a new heart

that is now

able to respond

to the call

of wisdom

and to walk

in it

this is what

Christ offers us

do you seek

wisdom

Christ

is the one

who can give it

to you

but maybe

more

more accurately

take hold

of Christ

for he is

your wisdom

he's not just

going to give you

more instructions

from the manual

but you will find

in relationship

with him

the wisdom

that you need

to live life

this is what

we read in

Colossians

in Christ

all the treasures

of wisdom

and knowledge

dwell

but this is

the hope

it's Christ

in you

the hope

of glory

with Christ

in you

you are now

able

for the first

time

to be free

from your

patterns of sin

that reject

God's wisdom

you are free

for the first

time

to actually

embrace life

according to

God's plan

for you

and this is

the call

for us

and this

going back

to Proverbs

is where we

end

verses 32

through 36

and now

sons

listen to me

blessed are

those who

keep my ways

hear instruction

and be wise

and do not

neglect it

blessed is the

one who listens

to me

watching daily

at my gates

waiting beside

my doors

for whoever

finds me

finds life

and obtains

favor for the

Lord

but he who

fails to find

me injures

himself

and all

who hate

me

love death

there are

two ways

to live

to embrace

or to reject

Greg's going

to preach

on this

next week

so I'm not

going to

develop the

theme much

but recognize

that there is

a choice

that Proverbs

is always

putting before

us

will you

today

turn to

God

humble

yourself

know that

you need

his wisdom

and seek

him for

it

or will

you do

it on

your own

will you

trust in

God

to provide

for you

and care

for you

and instruct

you

or will

you

think

that

it

is

up

to

you

but the

invitation

is

if you

follow

God

what you

will

find

there

is

life

and so

we're

going to

explore

what that

life

looks like

as it

relates

to

the

words

we

speak

to

one

another

the

emotions

that we

feel

our

anger

and our

jealousy

and our

pity

what does

life look

like in

our

relationships

with our

families

with our

friends

how do

we deal

with wealth

and power

how do

we deal

with authority

how do

we seek

guidance

and direction

for our

lives

these are

all some

of the

topics

that we're

going to be

exploring

this summer

but its

value will

be as we

embrace the

path of

wisdom

as we

hear this

call and

respond

because wisdom

is woven

in the very

fabric of

creation

and reflects

the very

character

of God

himself

so let

us walk

in it

let's pray

father we

thank you

this morning

for this

word

and lord

we thank

you for

the beauty

of your

creation

and your

world

lord I

ask that

you would

help us

this morning

to humble

our hearts

before you

lord that

we would

know how

great your

wisdom is

that we

would lord

forsake our

own foolish

self-determinism

lord that

we would

recognize that

we were

created and

to work

lord to

live a

life lord

that is to

your glory

to live a

life that

is good

before you

lord we

must seek

you

find in

you lord

the life

that we

that we

long for

and that

you made

us for

thank you

for jesus

who is the

one who

gives us

life out

of death

we pray

these things

in his

name

amen