Proverbs 3:13-35 – Wise Up

This is Proverbs three, verses thirteen through thirty-five.

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver, and her profit better than gold.

She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.

Those who hold her fast are called blessed.

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he established the heavens.

By his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds dropped down the dew.

My son, do not lose sight of these.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble.

If you lie down, you will not be afraid.

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it when it is in your power to do it.

Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come again, tomorrow I will give it, when you have it with you.

Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you.

Do not contend with a man for no reason when he has done you no harm.

Do not envy a man of violence, and do not choose any of his ways.

For the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.

The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.

This is the word of the Lord.

There's a uh there's a story about uh Arthur Conan Doyle, the uh the writer of Sherlock Holmes, uh, that says that uh he sent letters uh to the twelve most prominent and influential businessmen in London anonymously.

And the letters simply read, flee, all is revealed.

And uh a week later he discovered that eight of the people had fled time.

Uh so guilty consciences prevailed on the answer.

Uh that's got nothing to do with Proverbs chapter three.

It was just a story that tickled me uh in light of what Ben did during his announcements.

Uh please have uh Proverbs chapter three open in front of you.

Sorry if I'm sounding a little bit uh at low level, or like I'm a late-night radio DJ.

That's the uh the cold that's going on at the moment.

I'm on the uh on the upswing, but still uh feeling a little bit strained in the voice, so hopefully you can uh put up with me for the next little next little while.

Uh every parent um knows that there's a a time uh in their child's life where other things will look more uh inviting, enticing, more vital, more life-giving, more meaningful uh than following Jesus.

Uh that uh you might say to your child, but Jesus approves of you.

You don't need anybody else's approval.

That Jesus loves you.

And they probably a teenager will turn and say, Yeah, but these people think that I'm a weirdo for following Jesus.

And I need them to like me.

And there will be things that look more real than the promises of faith, things that feel more real than the promises of faith.

And why do we know that there will come a point when other things will seem more meaningful, more real, more life-giving than Jesus?

Well, because it's happened to every one of us.

It's happened to you, and it's happened to me.

In our Christian life, we have faced certain choices, certain temptations, and they've seemed way more meaningful, way more significant, way more life-giving than following Jesus.

The Father in Proverbs 3 knows that there will come a time when other things will look more inviting in the way of wisdom.

Who needs wisdom when you can make money, especially making quick money, easy money?

He needs wisdom.

Actually, when it's much more interesting and much more life-giving to decide for myself who I am and how I want the world to work and what's meaningful for me.

Who needs wisdom?

What you need is power.

I can control people, I can actually manipulate them.

Soft manipulation a lot of the time.

But who needs wisdom when you can do that?

When you can convince people to act the way that you want, but I need wisdom.

Wisdom seems hard to get.

These things are quick, they're easy, they're more immediate, they're more real, they seem more satisfying.

And the father, in in this speech, in 13 to 35 of chapter 3, is looking at his child and saying, You're gonna think that.

There's gonna come a point in your life where you're gonna think that taking this shortcut, that living in this sort of way, is gonna make your life easier, it's gonna be better for you.

When that temptation comes, I want you to remember the conversation that I'm having with you now.

We do this, don't we?

We have preparing conversations with people that we love.

There will come a point when you'll face this.

When you face it, here's the thing to remember.

That's what the Father's Day.

There's gonna be times where you're tempted to pursue other things.

Let me tell you how you should respond in a way that's gonna maximize your flourishing.

It's not about the father coming along and saying, actually, you're gonna be faced with the choice of fun, and I want to tell you uh to to pick misery and uh to never choose any fun.

He's saying no.

Let me show you why making the wise choice is the good choice.

So the first thing that he encourages his child is he says, Oh, let wisdom enrich your life.

Let wisdom enrich your life.

Pick it up with me in verse 13.

Blessed, happy, is the one who finds wisdom, the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than the gain from silver, and her profit better than gold.

She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are the ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.

Those who hold her fast are called blessed.

See that little repeat at the start at the end that word blessed.

Happy are.

You're going to think that the pursuing wealth is going to make you happy.

Particularly pursuing quick wealth is going to make you happy.

But he brackets this, which is you know, blessed is letting wisdom enrich your life.

Then who can who can access that?

Who can have their life uh enriched by wisdom?

Well, it's blessed is the one.

It literally is blessed is the human.

Who can be blessed?

Enriched by wisdom?

Anyone.

Again, the the offer of wisdom is not some finding some secret ritual or some Masonic society.

It's an open invitation to anyone who will come.

You can have this.

You can have a life that is enriched, blessed by wisdom.

The person who finds this wisdom is called blessed, happy, satisfied.

The language comes up in a couple of places that you may or may not remember.

Uh, the very first Psalm, blessed is the man, happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, or stands in the way of mockers, or sits in the seat of scoffers.

But he's like a tree, planted by streams of water, meditating on the law of the Lord.

Or perhaps more famously, in Jesus' own words, in the Beatitudes.

Beatitudes is the happy life that Jesus describes, the life of the of the kingdom that he's bringing in.

Say, well, happy are the peacemakers.

Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Happy are those who enrich their lives with wisdom.

How does that work?

How does wisdom enrich our life in a way that wealth can't?

Well, money gives us means, but wisdom gives us meaning, and we know this instinctively.

Think about it.

Money can buy you a home.

Sorry.

So yeah.

Money can buy you a house, but wisdom makes it a home.

Right?

Money can buy a ring, but it's wisdom that builds a marriage.

Fifteen years today, right?

You gotta remember that.

So I gotta remember, remember 15 years.

It takes a bit of wisdom to build a 15-year-old marriage, right?

It's easy to buy the ring.

Money gets the ring.

Money buys the house, but wisdom makes a home.

And we understand that there is a there's an instinctive value difference there.

Something that money and wealth on its own cannot achieve.

Or think of it this way, you know, would you would you rather, let's say, let's play a game of would you rather?

Would you rather work a job that you hate for loads of money or a job that you love for less money?

Me personally, I'd rather work a job that I love for less money.

I'm on the lookout.

You're awake.

Good, good.

That's what I'm that's what I'm doing now.

Why do we think that?

Why do we think that there's value in loving the job that outstrips pure material benefit?

There's a kind of meaning satisfaction component to it, isn't there?

Yes.

That's wisdom.

You pursue that.

There's more than just the material.

The father says that if you value wisdom, that if you let wisdom enrich your life, then it will lead you to things like long life, honor, peace.

You'll be called blessed.

How can this be?

Is this a promise?

If you if you lay hold of wisdom, if you let wisdom and rich your enrich your life, then you'll have long life.

You'll have honor and peace.

Is that a promise?

It can be.

I've been saying these last couple of weeks, you know, you know, proverbs, they're they're principles, not promises.

This week I want to kind of temper that slightly.

I think this can be a promise, you know.

Sure, of course, if you take foolish risks and pursue violence and are corrupt, and well, you'll probably not live as long as a consequence.

But can we take this as a promise?

Long life, honor, peace.

You see, the way that we lay hold of wisdom is by laying hold of Jesus.

He's the one who completely upends and reshapes what we value, how we ought to value.

He tells stories like the treasure uh buried in a field with a pearl of great prices.

The king of God's like that.

The kingdom of God's like the guy who finds treasure buried in a field and he sells everything that he has.

Why does he sell everything he has?

So that he can buy the field that has the treasure in it.

Or it's like a merchant who goes searching for different jewels and he finds this one pearl that is so precious that it needs him to sell everything else.

The world looks at us and it's financial insanity.

But the merchant goes, no.

Not when he realized the value of this.

And Jesus says, That's the kingdom of God.

It completely upends our value system.

That if that if we're having our life enriched by that, if he is enriching our life, then life and honor and peace are a promise for us.

Sure, we will have trials.

Sure, people have killed the bodies of Christians long before their time, but this is a promise.

God does not make his promise.

Every one of them will have life and peace forever because of him.

Is the promise of wisdom enriching your life.

True, sure it is.

God will keep it, maybe not in his life, but he will keep it in his time and in his way.

So the Father encourages us.

Let wisdom enrich your life.

Let Jesus enrich your life.

Second.

Let wisdom teach you how the world works.

Verses 19 to 26, pick it up with me.

The Lord by wisdom finded the earth.

By understanding he established the heavens.

By his knowledge the deeps broke open, the clouds dropped down in the dew.

My son do not lose sight of these, keep wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

Then you will walk in your way securely, your foot will not stumble.

If you lie down, you will not be afraid, and when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Do not be afraid of sudden terror or the ruin of the wicked when it comes.

For the Lord will be your confidence, and he will keep your foot from being caught.

He begins by saying that God made the world with wisdom.

That is, that there's an objective order imbued into the structure of how the world works.

That there is a moral, spiritual, wise order to the framework of creation that we need to discover and live into, and that it would be foolish to ignore.

I remember uh ignoring this once.

Uh I was I was quite young, and uh I was wanting to heat some food, uh probably some soup or some stew or something like that that my mama made the night before and put in the fridge, and so I lifted it out of the tub, put it in a bowl, give it a stir, and put everything into the microwave.

Everything, including the spoon that I'd used to stir the ball.

What happened?

Well, I created a fireworks display in my kitchen, uh, followed by a loud bang and lots of smoke, and then an angry Irish mummy.

Why?

Well, because I had not lived in line with how the world works.

Metal and microwaves don't like one another.

Why?

Because there is an objective reality to microwaves.

It would be silly for me to say, well, Mr.

Microwave, you must accept my gift of a spoon.

How dare you respond in this way?

No, microwaves don't like spoons.

They don't like metal at all.

There's an objective reality to how they work.

And God has made the world in a similar sort of way.

He's made the world with wisdom.

If you want to flourish in the world, you'll live in light of that.

If you want to flounder in the world, you'll ignore it.

And to live in light of that, then we must ask certain questions of ourselves.

We must ask them, okay, well, what does that look like?

What does that mean?

What does that mean for me?

What does that mean that I am?

Who am I?

Where have I come from?

Where am I where am I going?

If there is this kind of this grain to the universe, this objective reality out there that I am to discover and live in light of rather than going internally thinking, well, I can create my own and then project it for everybody to accept and celebrate.

Well, how do I discover that?

And live in light of it.

The best way to live in the world is by loving yourself.

That's the moral and spiritual and emotional equivalent of putting a spoon in the microwave.

However, living wisdom's way leads us, as he goes on to say in verses 21 to 26, leads us to a place of security, a place that drives away fear.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how this might work in reality.

So I think that one of the kind of objective ways that the world works, part of this kind of moral grain of the universe that Proverbs speaks about, is that how we speak to people, how we interact with people, will affect their response to you.

Have you noticed that?

Right?

Maybe you've noticed it by putting the relational spoon in the microwave and turning it on the full whack and realize that it causes fireworks.

You can ignore it and think, well, I'm just gonna speak the way I want to speak.

I'm gonna send the text that I want to text.

So I'm gonna send the first draft rather than the fourth draft.

And I'm just gonna feel the backlash.

I'm gonna put this in the microwave and deal with the smoke later.

Or you can learn wisdom's lesson, that a gentle word turns away wrath.

And find that you live in more peace with others.

Find that you dwell more securely.

Or objective reality example number two, have you noticed that the people around you, the friends that you choose, the relationships that you find yourself in, can either what would you say?

They can either double your happiness or have it.

Have you ever noticed that?

We notice that as teenagers, don't we?

Other people see it before we do.

Oh, hold on.

You think of those toxic friends that your parents warned you about.

Or that have you ever been in a relationship that when it ended, everyone around you was totally relieved?

Like, oh, I'm really glad that you saw the light finally and broke up with that person.

It was in here, no.

So wisdom.

You can continue to pursue those friendships.

Continue to stick the spoon in the microwave and let the sparks fly.

Wisdom helps us to discern the the character of people.

It helps you to ask the question well, am I throwing my lot in with people who are selfish, self-absorpted, mean spirited?

Actually, do you ever you ever find I can think back to some friendships where I come away from them thinking, I don't like the person that I am when I'm with them.

That's wisdom saying, hold on, there's something not quite right there.

You notice that?

Maybe ask me, I'm throwing my lot in with people that I shouldn't be.

And you get dragged into that mean spirit of grumbling, discontent, and griping.

Happens in work cultures all the time.

Or these friendships that are going to help me to flourish as a person spiritually.

There are objective realities to how the world works that we do well to discover and then live in light of.

Jesus' parables are full of wisdom rooted in the reality of the world.

Think of the wise and foolish builders, guy who builds his house on the sand.

Objective reality, bad idea, right?

As opposed to the wise builder who builds his house on a rock.

Rocks are rockier than sand.

And they tend to have more structural integrity.

Good thing to build your house on a rock.

Or he talks about the rich fool who keeps on building bigger and bigger barns to store all of his stuff in.

Because all of his stuff is where his security lies.

God comes down one night and says, You fool, tonight your soul is demanded of you.

There's an objective reality to the world.

Jesus said, You gotta live in light of that.

Stop putting a moral and spiritual and emotional spoon in the microwave.

The world was made to live in harmony with God.

You were made to live in harmony with your God.

Wisdom is seeking that harmony with God through Jesus.

Jesus having forgiven our sin brings peace.

Then we can then we will then fear no terror.

Because we dwell securely in the house of the Lord forever.

So folks, that wisdom.

Teach you how the world works.

Or put it another way, let Jesus teach you how the world works.

Thirdly, finally, let wisdom shape your relationships.

Verses twenty-seven to thirty-five.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it.

Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come again tomorrow I'll give it, when you have it with you.

Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you.

Do not contend with a man for no reason, and he has done you no harm.

Don't envy a man of violence.

Do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord.

The upright are in his confidence.

Pause there.

The upright.

People who are pursuing wisdom know something of the inner mind of the Lord.

That's quite amazing.

Read on.

The Lord's curses on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

Towards the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.

Ray Wortland, who's a pastor writer, I read a book on Proverbs that I was reading this week.

And one of the things that he talks about in this section is how wisdom helps us to create what he calls a culture of life in our relationships, in the relationships of the people around us, in a world that so often creates a culture of death.

When we feel the need to control others, perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of pride, when we know that we can manipulate others.

This is a culture of death.

But when wisdom shapes our relationships with things like kindness, giving honor, pursuing justice.

That's the thing.

When somebody deserves vindication, goodness, blessing, it is unjust not to give it.

Wisdom encourages us to pursue the good of others, particularly those for whom it is due.

This is a culture of life that leads to our own flourishing and the flourishing of those around us.

And again, we know instinctively.

Some of you here, I've got a couple of people in my mind who are not there, but I'm sure there's others as well, will see them and expose them at the weekend away.

Love board games.

Love board games.

So the uh you know tack and cat goat cheese pizza uh on the go of the weekend away and Dominion and Catan and everything else.

No.

If you persistently in every game that you ever played cheated, you always cheated.

Would there come a point where people would not want to play with you anymore?

Of course.

You would begin to do damage to the people around you.

And that would actually stifle your own flourishing.

Life would become less fun.

Yes, you might win through your corrupt means, but you would do damage elsewhere.

You might win, but it wouldn't be wise, do you see?

Do not say to your neighbor, uh, oh sorry, do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you.

There's a uh there's a crass phrase that I'm not going to repeat here that especially Americans use, uh, which is essentially um, don't poop when you eat.

That's what this problem means.

Don't plot trouble against your neighbor because you need to live with your neighbor.

And it's unwise to create trouble in the places where you need to exist.

You stir around trouble and work, it's actually going to feed back to you in a way that's not particularly healthy.

It's not going to create a nice culture in your workplace.

You do that at home, it's even worse.

You know, these are the people that I've got to get along with.

Don't plot trouble against your neighbor.

Or as other translations might say, don't put what you eat.

Ultimately, envy and divisiveness and underhanded plotting and manipulation, they all go against the grain of the world that God has made.

God's world flourishes.

We flourish.

Under the reign of justice, kindness, mercy, and grace shown to one another.

This is part of the moral shape of the world.

So as a result, God stands opposed to all those who would use power to manipulate and control, who delight in injustice and plot violence.

He calls them an abomination.

But he also blesses the home of the righteous.

Those who pursue and turn aside from control and deceit and pursue wisdom in the world.

Jesus again speaks to this directly in his life and his ministry.

Remember the scene in Mark's gospel, James and John want to kind of get cuts to the front of the line in terms of who the best disciples are.

And so they go to Jesus before everybody else and they say, Hey, when when you're like the king, could could we be kind of Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary?

Could we sit in your right hand and your left?

So we really like those positions of power with you.

What does Jesus say to Jesus?

You don't know what you're asking.

And he goes on to say that my kingdom's not like that.

My kingdom's not about lording it over others.

It's not about an exercise of power in that sort of way.

He goes on to say that if you want to be great in the kingdom of God, then you must become a servant of law.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

His kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world.

For people mording over one of them, or over one another.

His kingdom is a kingdom marked by service.

Enabled ultimately by the Spirit of the Servant King, who gave his life as a ransom.

We all sit here.

Let me confess a sin free.

We've used people rather than loving them.

How do I know?

Because I've used people rather than loving them.

We've cheated before, we've manipulated.

We've noted overtly, maybe it's been solved.

We've done it, we're not proud of it.

We need the forgiveness that Jesus gives in order to create a culture of life amongst us.

We need the forgiveness that Jesus gives in order to create a culture of life in us.

And then to empower us to create a culture of life around us.

And things like wealth, things like deciding for ourselves, things like power.

Seems more inviting, more enticing, more meaningful, more valuable.

And following the way of wisdom.

Remember my words.

Let wisdom enrich your life.

Let Jesus enrich your life.

Let wisdom teach you how the world works.

Let Jesus teach you how the world works.

Let wisdom shape your relationships.

Let Jesus shape your relationships.

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