The Scandalous Notion of the Fear of the Lord

Father, we confess before you that we like to divide the world up between good people and bad people.

And so we're confused about ourselves and confused about people and confused about your word.

And we confess before you, Father, that some of the things that you want to give us in your word

are things that we have absolutely no interest in.

And so either, Father, we ignore these things or, Father, we just try to make them look like it's things we already want.

Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know how confused we are and still you love us

and still you sent your son Jesus to die upon the cross to redeem us.

We ask, Father, that you would gently but deeply and powerfully pour out your Holy Spirit upon us this morning

as we open your word and think about your word.

We ask, Father, that Jesus would be present amongst us to open our minds to understand the scriptures.

As your Holy Spirit falls upon us, may our hearts burn within us

as your son opens your word to each one of us and to us as a congregation.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your son and our savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Amen.

So I was saying to Daniel before the service that I've had a hard time with this sermon this week.

And part of the reason I've had a hard time with this sermon, apart from the normal reasons I have hard times with sermons,

is that the Bible here, the text that I'm going to preach on today, is something that basically nobody wants.

You know, if you listen to Christian radio, it doesn't matter if you're in Vancouver,

if you're Sirius Radio or different parts of the country, it seems as if the church is addicted to encouragement.

They like to say things in their advertisements of, come to this radio station, it's a family radio station,

it's a place of encouragement, and it's safe.

And you never hear anybody saying, come and listen to this radio station because we're square,

or come listen to this radio station because we'll teach you and help you to fear God.

And in fact, if you just think about it for a second, if we were to advertise with a big sign,

you know, hoping to track people, and the sign said, come to us and we'll help you be square,

that probably wouldn't be, I mean, people might actually come out of curiosity about why you would have such an odd sermon title,

but it's not actually much of a draw today, just as it would not be much of a draw to say,

come here and help to know how to fear the Lord.

And the Bible passage today is going to talk about the virtue of being square.

At the 8 o'clock service this morning, there's just eight of us gathered,

1662 Book of Common Prayer service, quiet, meditative service, I love doing it.

And by coincidence this week, it was a bit of an older crowd.

I think everybody there was older than me.

And I said to them, you folks, some of you folks are old enough to remember when to say something was square was a compliment.

But one of the things I could suggest is that some of you folks who are younger might ask some of us who are a bit older,

older than me, by the way,

were you square when you were young?

Or do you remember when actually to say that something was square was a good thing?

But it's hard to believe now.

Our culture's changed so much that that would hardly ever be a compliment to say that somebody's a real square.

They're a square person.

And that's what the Bible's going to talk about.

It's going to encourage us about being square.

It's going to talk about the fear of the Lord.

And so I've been having a hard time thinking how I could get us to even want to be interested in a text like this.

That's maybe why I prayed so hard that the Father would pour out his Holy Spirit upon us.

But let's look at the Bible and see how it is that it encourages us to be square.

So if you have your Bibles, Proverbs chapter 1, verse 1 to 7.

Proverbs 1:1–7

That's what we're looking at today.

We're beginning a series of sermons that will go through to Labor Day inclusive.

Ancient Book of Proverbs, Ancient Wisdom for a Postmodern World.

And so it's my honor to sort of give you the opening to the book, the gateway to the book, the introduction to the book,

so that when you read it, you won't read it with amnesia and hopefully you have some type of skill

in understanding how to read and understand the book of Proverbs.

So Proverbs chapter 1, verse 1.

Proverbs 1:1

And here's how it goes.

The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.

Now, I'm going to do a really geeky thing here.

Proverbs, you know, it's a bit of a grammar moment.

So I know as soon as I said a grammar moment, I've lost 90% of the crowd and 10% of you,

your ears picked up because you thought, wow, I love grammar moments.

And we all know who's who.

So, but there's a grammar moment here.

And the book of Proverbs begins actually in a really geeky, technical, structured way

that's not as obvious in the English.

That verse 1 is a really, it gives you the, it tells you what type of book you're going to read.

It's going to be a book full of Proverbs.

And it tells you, it actually, in a very sly way in the original language, it makes a bit of a pun

because in Hebrew, Proverbs and Solomon sound very, very similar.

And then it just, to give you a bit of a context, it helps you to say, it says, it's going to be a book of Proverbs.

It's put together by Solomon.

And Solomon is the king of Israel and the son of David.

And for a person reading it, they should be thinking, okay, this is going to be then something that implies the covenant

and something that implies the coming of a Messiah someday.

In other words, it implies that the readers are going to have thought of Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers

and promises made to David that there would be a great David's greater son will someday come to redeem.

And that's all put together just in a tiny number of words.

And then in the very, very next verse, if we were doing it nowadays, if we had a modern editor,

if it was like being done by a newspaper, there'd be a big word in capital with maybe underlined,

the purpose of this book.

And then the first line of verse two would be what's underneath it.

In the original language, that's what the writer has done.

In these two know wisdom and understanding, in those five words,

is the writer gives the purpose of the entire book.

Anything you read later on, if you want to know why he's writing it,

you just go back to verse 2a and it'll tell you why he wrote the book.

Why did he write the book?

To know wisdom and instruction.

In fact, actually, before we go any further, any further in my reading,

Andrew, could you put up the scripture passages?

The first, verse 2a.

One of the things I'm going to do today is,

I really only have a two-point sermon.

I'm going to have like a variety of things that go up on the screen,

but really, I only have a two-point sermon.

And the first point is verse 2a, and the second point,

which I'll explain later on why it's important, is verse 7.

And so I'm going to have you keep reading them points over and over and over.

And by the end of the service, if nothing else,

you'll have partially memorized the purpose of the book

and sort of the main way to wonder how to read the book.

And so could you just read this with me?

To know wisdom and instruction.

I caught you by surprise.

Could you read it with me again?

To know wisdom and instruction.

And Andrew, could you put up verse 7 and read it,

and we'll all read it together?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Andrew, could you put 2a back up again?

Okay.

So here's this odd verse,

to know wisdom and instruction.

And in English, it looks like, well, that's pretty simple.

But the first thing to understand about the word know

is that it doesn't mean something like,

know what LeBron James basketball statistics were this year,

or know how many goals Sidney Crosby scored in his rookie season,

or know the first five people drafted in the NHL draft the other day.

It doesn't mean that type of knowledge.

Although it doesn't deny it,

but it has a far bigger understanding of knowledge.

It's saying, the word to know is to say,

it's talking about experiential knowledge.

And it's talking about relational knowledge.

And it's talking about,

which goes along with experiential and relational,

it's talking about practical knowledge.

So it's not talking about the type of knowledge

that will allow you to win trivial pursuit.

I don't know if people still play that game.

It's not talking about that type of knowledge.

It said, the purpose of the book

is if you read the book of Proverbs,

and you study it and you pray the book,

what I hope you happen,

I've written the entire book,

I've put the whole book together,

with the purpose that you will have

an experiential, relational knowledge

of wisdom and instruction.

That's why I've written the book.

And what does the word wisdom mean?

Well, wisdom translated in English here

is a pretty good word,

and we have a bit of an idea about it.

But it also has some deeper meanings

in what the writer is trying to get at.

It includes skill.

Skill in living a good and moral life

that will end up being fruitful.

That's at the heart of this word wisdom.

So he wants you to know,

have an experiential, relational knowledge,

and he wants you to have,

the author and the editor

and how the book was put together,

he wants you to end up being able,

by reading the Proverbs,

to end up having a life

that's characterized by wisdom,

which is characterized by a skill

in living your life in a good way,

living a good life that's fruitful.

That's what he's trying to get across

with wisdom.

And then the final thing is,

to know wisdom and instruction.

So he's written the book,

so you have an experiential,

relational knowledge

of the skills required

to live a life which is fruitful and good.

And also for this word instruction.

And instruction's a pretty good word.

If you have different translations of the Bible,

it's translated different ways

because it's sort of a very rich word

in the original language.

And sometimes some of your versions

might say discipline.

And that's a little bit about what it is.

What it isn't,

just so you have a relief,

about a year ago,

I think this was the last time

my wife and I bought anything from Ikea.

We were trying to get our house ready

for a sale about a year ago.

And so we tried to buy an Ikea bed,

one of those beds

that have drawers underneath the bed

because we thought it would help

to deal with some organizing issues.

And so we bought this bed from Ikea.

And of course,

Ikea has all these instructions.

And we both labored at this for an hour.

And after an hour,

we completely and utterly gave up.

Either the instructions were wrong

or the pieces were wrong or something,

but it was completely and utterly impossible

to follow the instructions

and put the Ikea bed together.

In fact, we actually weren't able,

we just gave up,

we were going to return it,

but you couldn't even get the stupid pieces

back in the box

the way that it originally come from Ikea.

So it meant that eventually the box

is sort of like this

with lots of tape around it

to try to scrunch everything in

and we returned it to Ikea

and they were very good

and gave us our money back.

But it's not talking about instructions like this.

It's talking about something more.

It's talking about instructions.

It's talking about what we need to know

to have the habits or the discipline

of a skilled and moral life.

And it's also talking about training.

Training.

And let's be honest,

for most of us,

training is what is missing

in the Christian life,

which is one of the reasons

the book of Proverbs is so important.

I'll give you an example

because this is what happens

to us most weeks.

You know, let's say,

we're going to pray more

or something like that

or you're going to love God more.

And I try to do my best

to preach that

and to make it clear

and to exhort you

and try to get you all fired up.

And I'm not very good at it.

One of the wonderful things

about Daniel Gilman

is that he's way better than me

at exhorting people.

Okay, so maybe I would get you all primed

and then Daniel would come up

and he'd top it

and we'd all feel like

we're going to go out there

and love God

and that will maybe,

nothing wrong with Daniel or me,

it would maybe last

half an hour or an hour

and then we're back

to where we were before.

Would be a little bit like

if I said,

we're all going to go out

as soon as the service is over,

we're going to go out,

we're going to run 10 kilometers,

we're all going to do it together,

we're going to do it

in less than 50 minutes.

Are you with me?

Are you with me?

Are you with me?

Because I'm trying to channel

my inner, you know,

exhorter,

my football coach,

soccer coach

and maybe I'm really good at it

and you get all fired up.

Yes, we're going to go out there,

we're going to run 10 kilometers,

we're going to do it

in less than 50 minutes.

And I don't want to insult you

but maybe nobody here

in the room could do it, right?

No matter how much I exhort it.

And in fact,

many of you are so hip,

not square,

that you wouldn't even bother

going out the door

because no amount of exhorting

from the stage

would make you even want to try

to run 10 kilometers today

in under 50 minutes, right?

Just wouldn't happen.

But often with spiritual things,

and this is probably

one of the reasons

why so many people

prefer bars to churches

because they just think,

oh, they're just going to

lay a whole pile of things on me,

I get all fired up,

all excited,

then I go out

and I fall on my face

like this.

But you know,

if I was to say,

you know what,

and maybe my exhorting

would be really good,

I'd say, you know what,

I think it's really possible

that this time next year

on Canada Day,

you know,

I think almost all of us

here in the room

could do 10 kilometers

in 60 minutes.

And we make a commitment

that we're going to

meet together every day,

we're going to,

you know,

and we get the doctor's checkups

and some of us

start walking,

some run,

and we encourage each other

and we train,

we break down

what would be required

so that in a year's time

we could do 10 kilometers

in 60 minutes.

Unless, you know,

it might be very possible

that 95% of the room

could do that.

You see,

the difference is

training.

Training.

And that's,

that's this instruction word here.

That's this instruction word.

That's at the heart of it.

It's connected to it.

You can go on

and read it later on.

There's a wonderful passage

in 1 John chapter 4 verse 10.

1 John 4:10

1 John chapter 4 verse 10.

1 John 4:10

And in it,

John says,

how can you say

that you love God

whom you can't see

but you don't love

your brother or sister

who's beside you

who you can see?

Like,

how is it that you think

you can love,

oh,

I love you God,

I love you God,

I love you God,

and then you go out

the door

and you,

you know,

the person doesn't let you

in in the car

and you yell and swear at them

and then your wife

or your boyfriend

or your best friend

doesn't respect you

and you're filled

with resentment

and here you've gone

from,

oh,

I love you,

I love you,

I love you,

to not,

and that's what 1 John

1 John 4:10

chapter 4 verse 10 says

and it's very true

psychologically,

isn't it?

It's that,

those of us who go to church

should probably meditate

upon that a lot more

and in a sense then

what the book of Proverbs

is saying

is we're going to help you

with your training

and so what we're going to do,

we're going to have Proverbs

about,

okay,

how does a parent

love the little,

how does a parent

love his kid?

How do a husband

and wife talk

to each other?

How do you relate

with your boss?

How do you,

how do you relate

to the government?

How do you,

how do you speak

the truth

to another person?

Like,

let's give you

little examples,

Proverbs

that can be

thought-provoking

because the book

of Proverbs

isn't about laws

and rules,

it's about

insights

that help us

to train

so that we will

have a skilled

way of living life

that's good

and bears fruit

and that's the

purpose of the book.

Want to say it

with me again?

To know

wisdom

and instruction.

I surprised you,

we'll say it again.

To know

wisdom

and instruction.

Verse 7,

the fear

of the Lord

is the beginning

of knowledge.

Fools despise

wisdom

and instruction.

You go back

and so I put

my first point up,

Andrew,

my first point

and we're gonna,

I'm gonna look through,

I'm gonna explain

something else to you

but just to give you

a bit of a sense.

So remember,

if you get,

you know,

these are long points.

Some of you say,

good grief,

George,

these are really,

really long points.

My point is verse 2

and my point,

2a and my point

is verse 7.

You memorize those,

those are the points.

These are just ways

that hopefully,

and if later on

they're on the computer,

you can look them up

on our webpage.

Maybe it'll help you

understand a little bit

about what verse 2a

means and this is a way

to help us understand

what verse 2a means,

to sort of bring it

out a bit.

The Lord wants me

to have an experiential,

relational knowledge

of the training,

skills,

and insight needed

to lead a good

and fruitful life

in the world

that the Lord

has made and sustained.

That's,

that's,

God is showing

the desire of his heart

for you and me

in this book.

That's what verse 2a

is trying to communicate.

The Lord wants me

to have an experiential,

relational knowledge

of the training

and skills

and insight needed

to lead a good

and fruitful life

in the world

that the Lord

has made and sustained.

And so the way

the book is,

remember I said

there's a bit of

a geeky moment?

So that verse 1

is the geeky moment,

the title,

and it gives you

a bit of a clue

about how to understand

that we need to understand

the Messiah

and the covenant

and the law.

And verse 2a

is to know wisdom

and instruction.

That's the main purpose.

And then he teases it out

by giving you

a couple of other

purpose statements

to try to unpack

that a little bit

before we get into the book.

So if you have

your Bible still

and so in verse 2b,

so 2a says

to know wisdom

and instruction

and then it says

to understand words

of insight.

In other words,

what we're going to do

is I'm going to write

put together

these are words

of insight.

They help you

to have a bit

of an insight

about what's going on

with life

and about yourself

and how people are like

and that's what's

going to happen

as I try to help you

to know wisdom

and instruction.

And verse 3,

I want to help you

to receive instruction

in wise dealing

in righteousness,

justice,

and being a square,

which is really

what equity means here.

In other words,

part of the other purpose,

okay,

so what does to know wisdom

and instruction mean?

Well,

it's going to also involve

that I'm going to give you

some instruction,

training,

in how to deal wisely

with people.

And what that will mean

is that as you listen

to these Proverbs,

as the Proverbs

get into your mind

and into your heart

and into your will

and they're before your eyes,

what will happen

is that you're going

to have wise,

a skilled way

of living that's good.

And what that means

is that you're going

to live a good life,

a righteous life.

And the word righteous there,

I mean,

they still have it.

I don't know quite how,

I think the NRC

has something like this,

but there's somewhere

in Canada

that has an official kilo

or whatever.

Back in the old days,

there would have been

maybe the king

had the official weights.

And if you came

to a merchant,

in a sense,

the hope would be

that the merchant's weights

would be the same

as the king's weights.

If you put them

on a scale,

they'd be the same.

They'd be righteous.

It matches

with the official standard.

And here the idea

is that there is

a God who's created

and sustained all things

and that there's a way

of living that matches

the standard,

God.

And just means justice,

that what characterizes

our life is that

we are very fair,

that as you read,

as you come to the end

of the book of Proverbs,

you will not grow

in cynicism

and you will not grow

in despair,

but you will grow

in a sense of how

to treat people justly.

Justice will matter

to you more

by the end of Proverbs

than it will

when you begin the book.

And then there's

this word square.

You know,

it used to be

that you could say,

what I want

are three square meals

a day.

It might be that

after you've gone

to make a deal

with somebody

and you come back

and you talk to your friend,

your dad,

or your mom,

or your wife,

or your husband about it,

you say,

it's a square deal.

You know,

you go and there's somebody

who's going to give you

some help

and there was a time

when you would have said,

it's a square guy.

I'm sure we can count on it.

That when you maybe

went away to travel

and you arrived

where you wanted to travel,

what you wanted to do

is you wanted to be

squared away.

They were all compliments.

They were all compliments.

Now we want to be

hip and cool

and not square.

It's a big cultural shift,

actually,

if you think about it,

to lose that word square.

And what it means

is that it's just,

it's fair,

it's dependable,

it's honest,

it's efficient,

it's filling,

it's what I need,

it's,

that's,

that's what the word equity is.

You read the book of Proverbs,

by the time you're finished,

you will be a square.

That'll sell, right?

I should have a Twitter account.

By the time you finish

reading the book of Proverbs,

you will be a square.

And,

and that's what it's trying

to communicate.

And then in verse four,

this is really important,

to give prudence

to the simple knowledge

of discretion

and knowledge

and discretion

to the youth.

Prudence here,

it's a very,

very good word.

But what it means

is that,

what it means

is that you will be,

you'll be crafty.

You will be,

it's the opposite

of gullible.

It's the opposite

of gullible.

That,

but it's,

in other words,

it means that you will be

shrewd about life.

But you will be shrewd

about life

in a way that isn't cynical.

You will be shrewd

about life

that doesn't feed

your despair.

You will be shrewd

about life

in a way

that does not make you

feel superior

to other people.

But if you read

the book of Proverbs,

by the end,

you will be less gullible

than when you began.

You will have a type

of shrewdness

about life

that,

you know what,

if that salesman says,

oh,

I'm losing my shirt

on this deal,

I'm losing everything

on this deal,

if I tell the manager

about this deal,

she's going to stop

the deal,

he's probably lying.

Like,

I mean,

that's how it is really,

right?

And so the end

of this book,

the book will help us

to be shrewd

about life

without being cynical.

And the simple here

in this particular,

in all the way

through the book

of Proverbs,

the word simple

is never a compliment.

It means naive.

It means gullible.

It means easily led

and easily misled

until you become wise.

Verse 5,

let the wise hear

and increase in learning

and the one who understands

obtain guidance

to understand a proverb

and a saying,

the words of the wise

and their riddles.

So,

put up,

Andrew,

could you put up

verse 2a again?

Want to say it with me,

folks?

What's the book all about?

To know wisdom

and instruction.

And we'll get to this

in a moment.

What's the key

to understanding

every proverb?

Verse 7,

the fear of the Lord

is the beginning

of knowledge.

Fools despise

wisdom

and instruction.

For a variety

of reasons,

I was just able

to watch Interstellar

for the first time

last night

and it's a very,

very good movie.

and it would be

a really interesting movie

to have,

you know,

some discussions

around actually.

But one of the things

which was very,

very interesting

about the book

Interstellar

is it talks a lot

about our fear

of death.

It talks a lot

about our fear

of extinction.

It talks a lot

about the fear

of the planet

just going south

in terms of

ecological disasters

that could lead

to the death

of the human race

and hence

the fears

of extinction.

yet at the same

time,

you know,

our fear

of death

and our fear

of extinction

and what it leads

us to do

but at the same

time,

it encourages

lying

and encourages

murder.

I don't think

I've given

any spoiler alerts

for those of you

who haven't seen

the movie

but it's a very,

very,

you know,

it's a very,

very puzzling thing

sort of maybe

reflected upon

in the movie,

maybe unreflected

upon the movie

that,

you know,

our fear of death

and our fear

of extinction

and what it will

lead us to try

to do

and what it leads

us to try

to accomplish

it,

it seems almost

in the book,

the movie,

sort of the movie

is a bit ambiguous

about it

but it leads

to murder

or attempted murder

and lying

and lying

appearing to be

a wise type

of thing

and it's a

very,

very curious

thing

about how

these very

powerful fears

that human

beings have

and we might

not think

we have a fear

of death

and what we

would do

to stay

alive

but the movie

tries to

communicate

what would

happen to

many of us

if that actually

became not

an abstract

thing but a

real thing

and an imminent

thing

and what we

might try to do

to survive

and

so in light

of that

can you put

up 2A again

Andrew

want to say

that with me

to know wisdom

and instruction

that's the purpose

of the book

and what's going

to be the key

in terms of

understanding the book

let's say it

the fear of the

Lord is the

beginning of

knowledge

fools despise

wisdom

and instruction

and what we

see is that

in our

church culture

we have

a terrible

fear

of talking

about the

fear of the

Lord

it's a

profoundly

unpopular

topic in our

culture

in fact

for many

people

it would be

even to be

brought up

it would be

a sign

of one

of the

things

which is

fundamentally

wrong

about the

Christian

faith

but one

of the

things

is if you

actually

read the

Old Testament

you see

that you

can't read

very far

in the

Old Testament

where the

fear of the

Lord

isn't actually

presented as a

positive thing

that we should

pray for

that we should

desire

and many

Christians

will just

quote 1 John

1 John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

a perfect

love

casts out

fear

and therefore

that Christians

shouldn't be

characterized by

the fear

of the

Lord

but they

should be

characterized

by perfect

love

but apart

from whatever

that verse

means

C.S. Lewis

says all

sorts of

things cast

out the

fear of

the Lord

alcohol

sex

gambling

money

but you

can't read

the New

Testament

do a word

search and

you'll see

that in the

New Testament

as well

the fear

of the

Lord

is considered

a positive

thing

in the

book of

Acts

one of the

things that

characterizes

the growth

of the

church

is at the

same time

as the

church is

growing by

leaps and

bounds

it's also

growing in

the fear

of the

Lord

that the

New Testament

has this

idea here

as a positive

thing

yet as I

said earlier

so called

you know

sorry I

shouldn't have

said that

Christian radio

would never

advertise this

as a selling

point

it would

never

maybe I'm

wrong

maybe there's

some places

in Mississippi

or Arkansas

or something

like that

that advertise

we're not

like those

other Christian

radio stations

come here to

listen to the

fear of the

Lord

maybe that

happens there

I just

haven't been

in Mississippi

or Arkansas

or someplace

like that

or North

Dakota

or something

and maybe

there's some

places on

the prairies

or some

place that

us sophisticated

people in

Ottawa would

think is the

backwoods

fly over

country

but you

know

there's a

real culture

gap

between passages

like this

and the

way the

book of

Proverbs is

structured

is verse

1 gives

you the

title

verse 2

gives you

the purpose

and verse

7 here

is the

key to

understanding

every proverb

that's how

it's set up

at a literary

structure

Andrew could

you put up

my second

point

the second

point is

that the

fear of

the Lord

is the

first steps

the foundation

the north

star or

true north

and the

ever present

factor in

living a good

and fruitful

life in the

world that the

Lord has made

and sustains

that's the

claim of the

book of

Proverbs

that's the

claim of the

book of

Proverbs

that whether

we're going

to be reading

later on

if you're

going to be

reading a

proverb about

you know

husbands and

wives or

but you

know moms

and dads

and their

children or

how to deal

with a

boss or

how to deal

with how

to be a

witness or

how to deal

with messengers

or how to be

prudent or how

to help the

poor or any

of the different

Proverbs at a

literary level

it's assuming

that the fear

of the Lord

is the beginning

of knowledge

fools despise

wisdom and

instruction

that that's to

be that is

if we

understand this

then this is

like the

very first

step of

entering into

an experiential

relational

knowledge that

involves skills

that this is

not only a

first step but

it's the

foundation for

everything else

that we do

it's not only

that but you

know maybe some

of you have

heard that one

of the things

that like having

virtue or values

is it helps you

understand where

true north is

so that you can

navigate the

complexity of life

and the book

of Proverbs is

saying that the

fear of the

Lord is the

beginning of

knowledge fools

despise wisdom

and instruction

that that's that

type of true

north principle

that helps us

to understand how

to read the

different Proverbs

and that as

well as that

that verse 7

is it is a

ever present

factor in every

one of the

Proverbs so

that we can

live a good

and fruitful

life in the

world that the

Lord has

made so

what does it

mean?

Well first of

all some of

your translations

have probably

translated fearing

the Lord but

in the original

language it's two

nouns the fear

of the Lord it's

two nouns put

together in the

verb in the

sentence is that

is is sorry

another grammar

moment but that

the verb is the

is not the

not that it's not

fearing and the

word the fear of

the Lord first of

all the word Lord

is very significant

and you'll notice

in my points that

I put them all in

caps and I did

that in purpose I

know it's shouting

nowadays but it's

it's the in the

original language it's

the great I am it

is from Exodus 3

the God of the

covenant I am that I

am has sent you

perfect being it is

the God of the

covenant it is the

God who desires to

call to himself a

people to be in

relationship with it's

not the other words

for God that the

Old Testament has

English really only

has one word for

God but Hebrew had

several words for

God it's not the

abstract word for

God it's not a

deist word for God

of a God who is

absent and distant

and far off it's

not the word for

God that that

emphasizes just his

power or his

standing in judgment

or sovereign over

us it is the

intimate it's both

an exalted

mysterious description

of God but it's

an intimate the

intimate covenant

name for God in the

Old Testament and

and the word fear

has a range of

meaning and and it

captures a little bit

about what's going

on here in this this

word the fear of the

Lord as a virtue as a

positive thing is

something that people

if they were wise will

want to enter into and

and the range of

meaning is on one hand

it does mean abstract

abject terror that's

one end of the range

of meanings but it it

also means respect and

it means reverence and

it means a willingness

to listen and to

submit and it means

gobsmacked jaw

dropping close intimate

adoration and that

includes that whole range

of meaning the type of

being in the presence of

the good the true and the

beautiful that just

cause your jaw to hit

the ground either your

hands to go to your

side or your hands to

go like this and to be

caught up in complete and

utter loving adoration and

the Hebrew word for fear

captures that whole range

and at the very very heart

of this idea is that at

the heart of the fear of

the Lord is a profound

experiential relational

knowledge of the difference

between you and God

which we're always

confusing like we we

might not think about it

much but we one one hand

we see it all the time we

we see a boss and we're

worried about our boss

because she thinks like

she acts like she's God

right we have a kid in our

family or a husband or a

wife and they act like

they're God we we have it

you know it might be that

there's a you know a a a a

dad who I just finished

reading a John Grisham

novel Grey Mountain and

the the heroine of the

novel one of the things

which she wrestles with

apart from wrestling with

the the drama of the

story is that her dad was

so completely and utterly

consumed with himself and

with his career he was so

consumed with that that it

was as if he ignored his

wife and family his wife and

daughter and that they were

just in a sense sucked up in

his all-consuming concern with

money and his own career in

other words he'd lost a

clear sense of the

distinction between him and

his wife and the

distinction between him and

his daughter and and the

need to to relate to them

not as just some little part

of himself which is all part

of his huge process to

become rich and and to

become powerful but that

there there is a place where

he begins and ends and the

other person is a real

person who has a beginning

and end and real boundaries

and and the daughter has

real boundaries and and and

we know that in families and

in marriages and in schools

and in workplaces and in

governments when you have a

person who starts to treat

other people as if they

almost don't exist they're

just an epiphanomenon just

they're just something that

can get sucked up in their own

project that those are

completely and utterly

destructive and the Bible

says that that's the common

human problem with every

single human being in the

relationship with God that we

are always blurring the

distinctions between

ourselves and God that we

lose sight of where we

begin and end and hence we

don't even really know

ourselves and we lose sight

of where God begins and

ends and we lose sight of

the differences between the

two of the things it's one

of the reasons why one of

the great insights of the

Bible is that the more we

know God the more we know

ourselves because the more

we know how we are different

from God and where we in

fact begin and end and the

fear of the Lord is all about

coming into a relational

experiential novel not

knowledge of the living God

who desires to be in a

covenant relationship with us

to be our sovereign in our

king our great deliverer our

great delight our great

protector and it's called

it's been entering into a

relationship with him where as

we deepen in this relationship

of the fear of the Lord we

will come to an ever greater

knowledge of who we are who I

am and where I begin and end

and where God is and how God

is different and that

difference is good and that

difference sometimes will make

me want to fall on my face in

repentance for the things that

I have done that are wrong and

sometimes I will want to stand

with jaw dropping God's God's

smacked awe and wonder at the

beauty of God that the cry of our

heart that the end of it the cry

of my heart will be that my soul

desire will be to dwell in the

house of the Lord to behold his

beauty

it's all encaptured in this phrase

the fear of the Lord

it's all encaptured in this phrase

the fear of the Lord which is why

to know Jesus doesn't mean that

you stop fearing the Lord

could you put it up to a and to

put up to a gain for me Andrew

remember I just really have two

points let's say this together to

know wisdom and instruction that's

what the book of Proverbs is about

say it with me again to know

wisdom and instruction and what's

going to help us understand every

Proverbs verse 7 the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of knowledge

fools despise wisdom and instruction

now some of you might say okay

George are you saying that only

Christians only Christians are going

to live a good life and are going to

be wise and have a skill of living

oh that's what you're saying you're on

drugs have you seen the lives of lots

of Christians George be honest

aren't there lots of Christians if

you had a choice between having some

of your non-Christian neighbors or a

Christian as your neighbor you'd pick

the non-Christian be honest George are

you saying that this is what the book

of Proverbs says that only Christians

are wise isn't that what sort of this

text is implying that this whole fear

of the Lord thing that you just talked

about and it's connected to wisdom and

instruction and knowledge are you

saying that George well there are many

Christians who talk and act like that

and what happens is we end up having a

religious or spiritual reading of the

text not a reading of the text that God

intends Andrew could you put up my

third point the Bible teaches that every

human being is divided and at war within

themselves you see a religious or a

spiritual person wants to take a text

like this and divide the world and on

one hand there is a division here this is

one of the many many places in the Bible

that says at the end of the end of the

end we either end up in heaven by grace

or we end up in not heaven by our own

deserving and it's one of many many

texts that say at the end of the day

there's only two paths but if we read

this text to think that it divides

congregations that it divides churches

that it divides us from our neighbors then

we are reading it in a in a way that does

not fear the Lord ironically the line

between the fear of the Lord and fools

does not separate people it separates me

and it separates you it goes right down

the center of who you and I are

every human being is at war and divided

amongst themselves this text is for

self-awareness not to divide nations

and congregations and denominations and

political parties and individual

people it describes the division and the

battleground of every human being

say 2a again put up Andrew let's say it

to know wisdom and instruction that's the

purpose of the book and and what's going

to help us understand that verse 7 the

fear of the Lord is the beginning of

knowledge fools despise wisdom and

instruction you see the problem you know

here's the thing the very common belief

in our culture is that what we just need

is that we just need to to know what has

to be done and then things will be fine

but the fact is that works for some of

us sometimes a little bit for but for a

lot of us it just doesn't work you know

maybe it works for us all right with money

but it doesn't work with diet or maybe

it works all right with us for relations

but it doesn't work with us for money or

you know a whole range of things and and

one of the things that happens is that you

know many many people is so we continue

though to be almost addicted to this idea

that all we need is more information and

once we have the information we can do the

things that we're supposed to do yet

empirical observation will tell us that

that never happens and that it rarely

happens that it never happens in any one

person all of the time and and then the

the other thing that we start to do in

our culture is that we start to try to we

you know we we don't want to acknowledge

that there's this great division that

goes right down the center of who we are

so we want to say that we're a good

person that we're really a good person

and when we we want to emphasize that

we're a good person then it's almost as

if some other person does those bad

things it wasn't me I'm a good person I

wasn't the one who swore at that person

called them names and slandered and

gossiped about them I'm a good person

couldn't really have been me and then

one of the things that that happens in

our relationships is we don't really

have we can't really apologize because

how can a good person apologize for what

they really didn't do which was wrong and

there's a way of explaining all the bad

things we do and that's what goes on in

our culture because there's this inability

to accept that verse 7 describes something

that goes right down the center of us this is a

very very long point and I don't expect

you to write you know what and if you

want to write it down you can you can

look at it you can look at it later but

and remember I'm writing this long

talking thing down because I just want

to get the idea out for you but my two

points this morning are 2a in verse 7

and if you go back and you know those

verses all I'm trying to do here with

this verse 7 is try to help you to

understand what verse 7 is saying to

us Andrew if you could put up my

exceptionally long point for because of

the Lord's common grace every human being

has some knowledge of and desire for the

training skills and insight needed to live

a good and fruitful life in the world that

the Lord has made and sustains because of

common grace because we're made in the

image of God and when we fell and rebelled

against God God did not remove his image

from us it got bent but not removed and

that's why people can be wise about

money and some people who are very far

from God can be very wise about

relationships it's why some people who

are very very far from God they can be

absolutely spectacularly good neighbors

because it's not the case that we live

our lives in complete and utter defiance

against these things most people there's

some it's part of common grace that

there's some desire for skills and

wisdom and living well and living justly

and being square however it is also

true that by nature our fallen nature

some part of every human being despises

the training skills and insight needed to

live in good and fruitful life in the

world that the Lord has made and sustains

see the richness of the Christian faith

the richness of this proverb and some of

you might be bothered by this word despises

Andrew could you put up verse 7 again

let's read this together the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of knowledge

fools despise wisdom and instruction

you know I sent my sermon notes to

Bishop Charlie and I said one of the

things is about my two sermon points is

that if people don't like them they can

take it up with God and and I had to put

in my explanation this word despise I don't

want to let us off the hook sounds

extreme doesn't it but here's the thing

imagine that I came home and gave my or my

wife gives me a gift and that'd be more

likely because I'm more forgetful and so

my wife gives me a gift and you know it's

a book book that I want and I said well

thank you for the book and then she you

know she leaves and she's doing other

things and then she comes back and over

the next few days or weeks she sees that

the book is just left on the couch well

might bother her a little bit she knows

I'm forgetful might not bother her very

much but now let's say that unbeknownst to

the press it's kept a secret from the

world but Louise discovers that she

actually is the owner of the Mona Mona

Lisa painting and and she decides to

exercise her right of ownership over the

Mona Lisa painting and she has it taken

out of the museum and one day she says

George I haven't wanted to tell you that

this it hasn't been released in the press

but I this is the Mona Lisa I own it and

I'm giving it to you as a gift and I'd say

wow and I put on the couch three weeks

later it's still on the couch the

grandkids have come to visit every time

the grandkids come to visit you know

they're spilling things and spewing

crackers and all that you know just

little kids right they're not being

mean they're being three-year-olds and

two-year-olds and toddlers and Louise

would say George despises that gift you

see what it is so what if you think

about it for a second if God is actually

if the true and living God is the

creator of all things and sustains all

things if he is actually speaking to us

if he is actually in a sense providing

the power of salvation for all who

believe in the death of his son and we

we just put it on the couch or we turn

our back from it we think that's stupid

or we think that's foolish then we're

despising it it's the context of the

greatness of the gift that reveals

whether we are despising and that's why

this is such a powerful verse to us

so some of you might say okay George

you know you said earlier that left to

your own devices it's very very hard to

follow advice so it's just book of

Proverbs just going to give me a whole

pile of like George is it going to be

like okay George you said that you know

maybe most of us in the congregation if

we waited if we tried really hard for a

whole year at the end of the year we

could do 10k in 60 minutes George there

is no way that I'm ever going to do

10k in 60 minutes maybe when I was 20

years younger 30 years younger maybe if

the television and the couch weren't as

popular in my life or whatever it is

or my health problem or my age or

whatever it is never gonna George I'm

just the Proverbs just going to give me

a whole pile of other things that I can

feel guilty about and that I just can't

do and I just can't accomplish like is

that all the book of Proverbs is going

to be it's just you know it might be

wise and it might it might really be

good and I'm going to really try to

read it and I'm going to really try to

memorize it I'm really going to try to

live it but is it just is it just

advice put up put up verse 2 again

let's say together again to know wisdom

and instruction that's my first point

what the book's all about purpose of

the book second thing let's read it

together the fear of the Lord is the

beginning of knowledge fools despise

wisdom and instruction a couple months

ago in my devotions it was as if God

really had a passage from Isaiah jump

out at me if you want to turn to it

those of you have Bibles if you don't

have Bibles you can listen to me while

I read it it's it's Isaiah chapter 11

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

and in fact actually it's been a part of

my prayer life actually ever since I

sort of stumbled upon it at the beginning

of April and not just stumbled upon it

because I'd read it before but it really

spoke to me in some way and and so it's

part of my every day I actually try to

prayerfully meditate upon part of this

verse because it really struck me and and

it's it's a passage in Isaiah that talks

about the Messiah who's going to come

this is how it goes there shall come

forth verse 1 there shall come forth a

shoot from the stump of Jesse and a

branch from his roots shall bear fruit and

the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon

him the spirit of wisdom and

understanding the spirit of counsel and

might the spirit of knowledge and the

fear of the Lord and his delight shall be

in the fear of the Lord and that just

jumped out me Jesus's delight was in the

fear of the Lord and his delight could be

in the fear of the Lord my delight could be

in the fear of the Lord and so I have been

praying every day Lord take my heart so my

soul desire is to delight in the fear of

the Lord Lord take my heart so my soul desire is

to delight in the fear of the Lord and if you

could put up the fifth point it is because by

nature I cannot fully know the fear of the

Lord that I need a Savior I'm divided I'm at

war within myself I need a Savior I don't

keep instructions very well not well enough it

is because Jesus Christ delighted in the fear

of the Lord that he died for me and by grace he

will walk with me into a skilled trained

insightful fear of the Lord you see it's not

only that Jesus paid the penalty of the fact

that I am divided and that I don't fear the

Lord and that there's many ways that I really

mess up it's it that it's that's important

deeply deeply important that because of that

Jesus dies on the cross to pay for the price of

my sins the price of my incompleteness but I'm

also clothed with his righteousness in a sense

I am clothed with his perfect delighting in the

fear of the Lord I don't have to accomplish this

completely and utterly by myself to measure up

before he will receive me I am clothed in the

Lord's delighting in the fear of the Lord that's

what clothes me when I come on to a to a faith in

Jesus and it means that I can pour out my heart to

Jesus and say Jesus help me to what you delighted in

the fear of the Lord and and you you died for me and

you love me and you care for me so Jesus please walk

with me help me pour out your Holy Spirit upon me help

me to delight in the fear of the Lord just as you have

delighted in the fear of the Lord that's that's the

promise of the scripture it's a promise of the

scripture it's why the book of Proverbs when we read

it we we don't have to just read it thinking that it's

going to be completely and utterly up to us to accomplish

it but as we read this we can say oh Lord that's not the

way I deal with my kids or Lord that's not the way I deal

with my boss or Lord that's not the way I deal with my

employees or Lord that's not the way I deal with my tongue and

and and on one hand because of the fear of the Lord we can our

conscience can be stricken that we need to repent but at the

same time we can thank Jesus that he's paid for the price of

that we can we can thank him that we're clothed with his

delighting in the fear of the Lord and we can pour out our

heart to Jesus that this proverb would become real in us that

it would be part of our training in the fear of the Lord it's

the promise of the gospel it's the promises we read the book

of Proverbs Andrew could let's put up to verse 2 again we'll

say it one more time 2a first point what's the book all

about friends to know wisdom and instruction and what's going to help

us read every proverb all the way through the fear of the Lord is the

beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction just as we're

leaving three things we can pray the first thing is I was really convicted

by this I have to pray Lord help me to know the ways that I am a fool

not be cynical not filled with despair in the comfort of who Jesus is and what

he's done for me I can pray Lord help me to know the ways that I am a fool

and second thing if you could put it up Andrew I can pray this Lord I am divided

and at war within myself please be my Savior and my Lord so that I will be free

and whole in you it's it can be profoundly freeing to not have to put up a front but

we can say to God Lord I am so divided some days I want to be I'm wishing like I'm

imagining that I'm LeBron James and then I'm imagining that I'm like Mother Teresa and

then I'm imagining like I'm Billy Graham and then I'm imagining like I'm John Calvin

and then I'm imagining like Bill Gates and then I'm imagining you know maybe I'm the

only one who goes through completely and utterly unbelievably stupid combinations and

I'm divided within myself and now I've just confessed it before all of you but I suspect

it's a more common more common problem than we all are willing to acknowledge because of

Jesus because of the fear of the Lord because of the book of Proverbs I encourage you to consider