The Reward of Holding on to Wisdom

In chapter three, verses one through ten.

If you are using a Pew Bible, you'll find that on page five hundred and twenty-eight.

Proverbs three, beginning in verse one.

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments.

For length of days and years of life, and peace they will add to you.

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you.

Bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

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

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.

Be not wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

It will be a healing to your flesh and a refreshment to your bones.

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of your produce.

Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

Here ends the reading of God's Word.

Well, our speaker this morning is well known to us, and it's a pleasure to have our district superintendent from the Northern Plains District of the Free Church here this morning.

Please give a warm welcome to Darrell Thompson.

Thank you, Scott.

It is great to be with you this morning.

It's always a treat for me to return to Grand Forks.

I'm a graduate of the University of North Dakota and fondly remember my days as a student, but also as a young believer in Jesus Christ attending a church that took the Word of God and taught it faithfully for me.

That was Faith Evangelical Free Church and my introduction to this association and family of churches.

You know, even the Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of approximately 1,500 churches, and it is in a significant moment in its life history because it is transitioning from a current president.

We will be anticipating electing a new president at our annual conference in June this year near San Diego.

And just this last week, the candidate for that position was announced.

And some of you people, I'm confident, know him.

Kevin Complin is from Thief River Falls, a graduate of the University of North Dakota, an attendee at Faith Evangelical Free Church while he was a student here.

And he pastored in Winona, Minnesota in San Jose, California, before taking a position as a director in Reach Global for the Ministries of the Evangelical Free Church in Africa.

And Lord willing, God has raised him up for such a time as this, and he will be transitioning into the presidency after being voted on, and we trust that that will be God's confirmation.

At this point, we sense that it is God's leading to raise Kevin up to be in this position.

So is that not exciting?

Um, the journey and the travel that this man has taken that has intersected with many of ours.

That is encouraging and exciting.

We are going to turn our attention to this passage in Proverbs, but uh, would you join me for a moment?

Let's ask God to lead us in our time together.

Father, we are grateful that we have the opportunity to come into your presence and open your word.

And Father, as we read it, we do ask that you'd be the one who speaks to us through it.

Father, may I uh use words that allow you to allow me to be an instrument to convey your message, but may you be the one who speaks to us.

Grant our minds uh uh attentiveness, our hearts responsiveness, so that you can accomplish in our lives, individually and corporately, that which you are seeking to do.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Churches and individuals have defining moments in their lives.

You know what they are.

They are those times and those occasions when the decisions that are made and the actions that are taken affect the long-term future of that individual or that church.

Faith Evangelical Free Church finds itself at one of those defining moments.

You know, we have an adversary that is absolutely ruthless, and he will do whatever he can to keep us from making good decisions together and individually, and actions that will enable God to steer us on a course that will enable God to use us to the greatest extent and the greatest degree in the days to come.

What is needed is far more than good intentions.

What is needed very much is God's wisdom.

And so what we would like to do this morning is to take some time to turn to a passage in God's Word.

To invite God to help us have a sense and gain a sense of His wisdom.

Our passage again is Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

If you've got your Bibles open there, I trust that you'll be able to follow along with me.

The book of Proverbs is a book that is written entirely to help us to gain a sense of God's wisdom.

What we find when we turn to this passage is instructions about how to both gain and hold on to the wisdom of God.

The first four verses we're going to discover are warning us on things we should not do because in doing them we will release or lose the wisdom of God.

The last six verses are speaking to us of things that we should be doing in order to gain and to hold on to that wisdom of God.

So in verses one through four, we're introduced to two things we should not do: forget God's word, and secondly, lose God's balance.

In the last six verses, we're introduced to three things that we should do: to gain and to hold on to God's word, to trust the Lord, to fear the Lord, and to honor the Lord.

So join me as we simply walk through this passage, take note of these things, and gain some sense of what God would want us to do with them so that we can both gain and hold on to his wisdom, so that in this defining moment we can participate in making good decisions and good actions that allow us to be steered on a course that positions God to continue his work in a growing and a greater way in our lives and through our family as a church.

So let's step into verses one and two in Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

What we are told here is that in order to gain and to hold on to God's word, we should not forget the word of God.

God's word.

Starting out verse 1 and 2.

My son, do not forget my teaching.

Notice it's only in verses 1 and 3 that we're told, do not.

In the other verses that follow, we are told to do.

Do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace, they will add to you.

You know, there is a tendency, often unaware, but the tendency is to think that learning God's Word is a task that young people have.

So we engage in a variety of activities that we provide for our children and encourage them to participate in.

Education programs, children's activities, things that are designed to help them memorize and learn the Word of God, introduce to them Bible stories and things like that.

What can go unrecognized is the idea that when we get older, adulthood, whatever age that means for us, we're kind of beyond that stage.

That simply is not the case.

The idea of learning God's word and keeping it in our lives is a task for us throughout our lives and our journey.

Let us not forget God's word.

I don't know about you, but I memorize Bible verses, and you know there's a variety of ways to do this stuff, but I write them on three by five cards and normally carry them around with me.

I find that if I am not working on reviewing those that I've memorized, they get rusty.

And I think about them less.

We're all capable of forgetting God's word.

Oh, it's not that we don't believe it anymore, but we just don't engage in making it a part of our lives like we sensed we should do at a different stage of our life.

So, in order to gain and to hold on to the word of God, let us not forget God's word.

It will guide us and it will steer us in the decisions that there are to be made, in the actions that there are to be taken at this defining moment in our life as a family and a fellowship of God's people.

Secondly, verses three and four do not lose God's balance.

Do you know in God there is a tenderness and a toughness?

And we can lose the balance by focusing on one and kind of unintentionally dismissing the other.

So in verse 3 he says, do not let kindness, my translation says, truth, the idea of these balancing dimensions of God, do not let kindness and truth leave you.

Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.

What we're continually reminded in the book of Proverbs is that wisdom minimizes life's negatives and maximizes life's positives.

Boy, that's a good thing.

And what wisdom does is enhances both the quality and the quantity of our lives so that our lives might honor God and be used to accomplish His purposes through them.

There's a lot of discussion in our world today about quality of life, is there not?

Our communities focus on that because they want to enhance that and provide a place where people have quality of life.

What Proverbs is reminding us is that quality of life is a product of gaining and holding on to God's wisdom.

God has a tenderness and a toughness to him, and we are prone to kind of focus on one and kind of downplay the other.

But Jesus is the example of God's tenderness and God's toughness.

The Gospel of John talks to us about the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

We beheld his glory.

The glory is of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace, God's tenderness, and truth, God's toughness.

So it is important for us not to lose God's balance.

As we are in a defining moment and we must make decisions and take actions, we strive to maintain God's balance, his tenderness, and his toughness.

So in order to gain and to hold on to God's wisdom, we must be careful not to forget God's word and to lose God's balance.

Next, in verses five and six, and seven and eight and nine and ten, we are reminded of things that we must do in order to gain and to hold on to God's wisdom.

In verses five and six, we must trust the Lord.

So it starts out by saying, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

There's a story told of a young boy, probably just kindergarten age.

He was walking down the beach carefully studying the people who were on the beach there, and particularly those that were sitting in beach chairs, and he paused in front of a grandmotherly looking lady sitting under a beach umbrella who was reading.

And he approached her and he said, Are you a Christian?

She smiled and replied, Why, yes, I am.

So he added, Do you read your Bible daily?

She smiled again and said, Yes, I do.

He paused and he added another question, Do you pray?

She said, Well, I do.

So he finally added a final question.

He handed out a dollar bill to her and said, Will you hold my dollar while I play in the water?

He was looking for someone to trust.

And you know, all of us are looking for someone in whom to trust.

And Proverbs is telling us that in order to gain and to hold on to God's wisdom, we need to trust the Lord instead of our own tendencies or even our own instincts.

When God gives us his instructions, and we say, I don't think so.

We say, huh.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not on your own understanding.

God, this I don't understand it all, but I trust you.

You know, one of the great expressions of this is what begins our journey in the family of God, and that is our response to put our trust or our faith in his son, Jesus Christ.

It was Jesus who said, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

That was Jesus who said that.

And our response is to say, that's true.

I don't earn this.

I don't gain it because I'm good.

Because I sacrifice, because I give.

I gain it because I trust.

I believe what God has said.

So, in order to gain and to hold on to God's wisdom, we must trust in the Lord.

And secondly, we must fear the Lord.

Verse 7, do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.

Now, this is one of these statements that we kind of say, um, it means we really need to respect God.

And I would say, yes, it does.

But we we probably are prone to maybe diminish what it is really trying to say.

There is a sense of tentativeness that comes to us when we acknowledge that God is God, and that there is tenderness and toughness in God, not just tenderness alone.

And that there's consequences for dismissing and ignoring what God has to say.

And I don't want to face them.

So fearing God means to respect Him, but it means also to recognize that I anticipate one day to stand before Him.

And I know that will be a serious moment.

The book of Ecclesiastes includes the statement, at the very close of the book, Ecclesiastes is a lot of contemplation and reflection about life.

But the final two verses of the book say this the conclusion, when all has been heard, is fear God and keep his commandments.

Because this applies to every person, because God will bring every act into judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

In order for us to gain and to hold on to God's wisdom, we need to fear God.

Have a great deal of respect for him as a person.

Demonstrate that we realize he is God and that there's tenderness, but there is toughness in God, and that there's consequences.

So trust the Lord.

Fear the Lord.

And lastly, honor the Lord.

Verses 9 and 10.

Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

We honor the Lord by trusting in him and fearing him, and therefore presenting to him the first of that which he brings to us as an expression of our trust and our respect for him.

Honor the Lord from the first of all your produce.

David and Astrid Flag were in a situation where they were living on his income, not unusually large, two young children, and Astrid was home with the kids, being a stay-at-home mom, and it was tough making ends meet.

They knew that they needed to replace the roof on their house.

And they were trying to save money to do that.

But it was becoming increasingly apparent that it did not look like they were going to be able to do that.

So Astrid approached David and said, David, I wonder if we should stop giving to the Lord first that tithe that we've given to him and use that to save.

David said, I just don't think so.

I think we should be committed to following through on what we have decided to do.

And it was only days after they had kind of reaffirmed their commitment to do that that there was a knock on their door.

And Astrid was about ready to leave.

They had one car, and it was her opportunity to go to the grocery store and do some shopping.

So she was about ready to leave, and she went to the door responding to the rap, and opened the door, and here was this kind of formally dressed man with a briefcase in his hand.

And she hurriedly said, You know, I'm on my way shopping, and kind of gave a quick story.

I don't have time to visit.

And the gentleman very calmly and politely said, You know, I think you'll be interested in what I have to say.

I would like to talk to you and to your husband.

And it was something about his calm and kind of respectful demeanor that made her kind of say, okay, invited him in.

They sat down, her husband came out and he said, I have an offer that I would like to make to you that I think you'll be interested in.

We would like to give you a new roof.

She was a little bit floored and expressed that.

She said, You know, I hear all kinds about these home improvement businesses.

And what they try to do to get a gimmick and that sort of thing.

And he says, I think you'll find that I'm prepared to back up my offer.

He opened his briefcase, he took out a legal document, and he said, This is a contract.

There are no strings attached.

You have no financial obligations whatsoever.

I would encourage you to read it and we can talk about it.

The long and the short of the story was that this was a roofing company.

They had developed a new top-of-the-line metal roof that looked like it had wood shakes on it.

They were looking for the appropriate house with the proper outside appeal in the right neighborhood to put a model roof on to market that roof.

Two days later, they had a roofing crew there putting a roof on David and Astrid's house.

So whenever Astrid was asked, how did you get that roof?

She said, God answered our prayers and gave us that roof.

Friends, that's not always the way the story goes.

But it is an example of honoring the Lord and being faithful to Him.

Friends, Faith Evangelical Free Church is in one of those defining moments.

And we desperately need God's wisdom so that the decisions we make and the actions we take as individuals and as a family of believers steers us down that direction of enabling God to continue his work among us and in us in a growing and a greater way.

You will be challenged with good intentions to do things that may not be consistent with God's instructions.

Catch yourself.

Catch yourself.

Listen to God.

Allow Him to lead you and steer you in this very significant, in this important moment, this defining time in this life and this history here at Faith Evangelical Free Church.

God has used this church greatly in the lives of people.

I'm one of those people.

Kevin Coplin is one of those people.

He desires to continue to do that.

There are literally people scattered around our world who have been impacted by this family and fellowship of God's people.

God desires to continue to do that, even in a growing and a greater way.

And he can and he will.

She hung on even when she didn't think she could hang on any more.

And finally, spotlights from a rescue crew found her.

And she was rescued that night.

She hung on and clung on to that tree.

In the same sense that you and I need to hang on to God's wisdom.

There will be opportunities and challenges for us to let go of it.

Let's refuse to do that.

So that we might make those decisions and take those actions, that will honor God, that will love one another, that will display God's wisdom, that will give God the freedom to continue his work among us.

Steer us into the path that God desires so that he can work in a growing and a greater way among us.

Let's pray.

Father, how honoring it is to be your child, and how challenging it is to deal with the disappointments and the difficulties of this life and an adversary who seeks to confuse us and confound us in the midst of them.

Do help us, Father.

Do help us at this defining moment in this family of believers to make decisions together and take actions together and individually that will give you the freedom to work among us in this way, in a growing and a greater way, heading us down that path that gives you both the freedom and the permission and the authorization to continue and to grow and expand your work among us.

For the sake of your purposes and your kingdom, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.