Proverbs 1:20-33 – Wise Up

Our reading today is from Proverbs chapter one, verses twenty to thirty-three.

And the question for today is what will happen to those who listen to wisdom?

Wisdom cries aloud in the street.

In the markets, she raises her voice.

At the head of the noisy streets, she cries out.

At the entrance of the city gates, she speaks.

How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?

How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you.

I will make my words known to you, because I have called you, and you refuse to listen.

Have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel, and would have none of my reproof.

I also will laugh at your calamity.

I will mock when terror strikes you.

When terror strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind.

When distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call upon me, but I will not answer.

They will seek me diligently, but will not find me.

Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel, and despise all my reproof.

Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them.

But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster.

And so reads God's word.

Uh and the lead pastor and one of the elders here at City.

And uh I'd invite you to turn up that passage that Lisa read for us.

It's Proverbs chapter 1.

Proverbs 1 · chapter mention

Uh, if you don't have a Bible, you can just Google search it.

Uh Proverbs 1, uh verses 20 to uh to 33, uh so through to the end of the chapter, and uh we are uh going to spend our time there over these next uh few minutes.

I want to begin though by uh by telling you um what uh a teacher said of me when I was in primary school, um, because uh it's something that I'm still working through with my therapist.

Uh and it is a uh something that my family have enjoyed uh lording over me ever since it was it was said.

I think I was about uh seven or eight years old.

And uh the teacher looked at my mom at this parent teachers meeting and said, He's a lovely boy, but his head's in the clouds.

He's a lovely boy, but his head's in the clouds.

My aunt used to, I was so forgetful.

Uh, I don't know if that comes as a shock or a surprise uh to anyone, but I was so surprised so forgetful as a uh as a young boy.

I would all constantly leave things behind.

I even left a whole suitcase uh uh uh behind me when I was on a school trip.

Uh, we'd gone from uh from Northern Ireland to York in the north of England, and I came home entirely without my suitcase.

And I got off the bus, and Mum said, Where's your stuff?

And I went, uh it was still outside my room uh in York.

Uh he's a lovely boy, but his head's in the clouds.

And maybe you'll leave here this morning thinking, that pastor up there, he's a lovely man, but his head's in the clouds.

Uh we all know that person, don't we?

That the it's not that they're it's not that they're unintelligent.

Uh sometimes they can be have great knowledge and be very intelligent, but actually they're quite uh paralyzed uh when it comes to knowing quite how to operate in the real world.

Uh when it comes to to did who snickered at me?

Uh uh when it comes to just knowing how to action certain things, they can think great theoretical thoughts, but if you ever say, well, actually, could you go and open up a bank account?

It would just be it would look like a deer in a headline.

Or they uh they could tell you all about their PhD thesis.

But it's like, could you could you cook dinner tonight?

Ugh, you know, the real world things don't quite translate.

Uh, we have some academics down in the front row who are who are feeling the conviction of the spirit already.

Uh, because it's one thing to to know a bunch of stuff, but it's quite another to kind of know how to move forward in the real world.

And that's actually what what wisdom is.

It's the difference between knowledge and and wisdom.

Wisdom in the Bible is is a kind of competence uh to know how the world actually works.

And at the the start of Proverbs chapter one, one of the things that we we didn't quite look at when we were introducing the book that I want to bring through into this morning's time is that Solomon, the king of Israel, uh, who asked God for wisdom, describes wisdom in three different ways.

And it's worth just having those ways in mind as we consider uh wisdom's call.

Because what are we being invited into?

So, three ways that wisdom is described at the start of this chapter.

Let me bring my first one is insight.

So Proverbs uh chapter one, verse two, to know uh wisdom and instruction to understand words of insight.

Now, what's what's insight?

Insight is the ability to discern small distinctions that make a big difference.

So let me illustrate like this.

Uh I don't know if you ever watch or like to read uh murder mystery novels.

Maybe you've kind of stuck on uh Death on the Nile or Murder on the Orient Express or something like that, or picked up an Agatha Christie novel novel, or maybe kind of the Glass Onion series as well, if you've watched those.

But maybe you're the kind of person who can watch the first 20 minutes, uh, maybe less, of a murder mystery, or read the first couple of chapters of a murder mystery novel, and you know pretty much exactly how it's going to play out.

My stepdad's a bit like that.

Uh, he'll know from watching a TV drama, really from the opening couple of scenes, uh, that who they who the killer was.

Or maybe you're uh maybe you've done an escape room.

You did an escape room with a with a group of people, and you know there's there's people who approach it differently.

There's some people who go into an escape room and they see maybe, maybe a clue, maybe two clues, and then there's the person who sees 12 clues almost instantly, right?

That person has insight.

They're able to discern those small little things that, oh, that's unusual.

That's a difference, that's something that needs to be picked up on, and that helps them to make the decision of how to move forward.

That's what wisdom is.

Wisdom, first of all, is insight.

Seeing those small little details in a situation, in a relationship, in a conversation with someone, think, oh, hold on, that needs to be picked up on.

That's insight.

Wisdom, secondly, is uh verse four to give prudence uh to the simple.

Now, prudence uh isn't really a word uh that we use uh uh or or a name that we call uh young girls anymore.

Uh the best way to think about prudence is if uh if if uh if wisdom is insight, or uh then it's also foresight.

Prudence goes hand in hand with insight.

It's not just noticing those small distinctions, those small little differences, but it's knowing then how to act upon them.

Again, you kind of know the person who uh perhaps has uh has 50 ideas before breakfast, but who struggles to implement any of them.

So very it can be very idealistic, often very highly moral, but struggles to actually say, Well, I've got to implement it.

Prudence would be the aspect of wisdom that helps us to think, well, here's the next step in terms of grinding this thing that I have noticed, or this vision that I have, this goal that I'm seeking to achieve.

Here's the next step that I would take in order to do it.

That's what what prudence is, the ability to make a plan and to birth an idea into reality.

You have insight is able, is the ability to diagnose a problem.

Then prudence is knowing how to go about treating it.

And then thirdly, uh Proverbs talks about wisdom in terms of instruction.

Instruction is a strange way to translate the word that is actually uh in Hebrew uh here because it doesn't mean instruction.

Uh it is essentially a word that that means a uh a depth of character.

Like the person who the person who has had little formal education, but who has lived a life that makes them someone that others go to for advice.

Okay, you might know that person in your family or in your friendship circle that that actually they don't have all of the degrees.

Uh they they never really uh learned in that sort of way.

But if you've got a problem, they're the person that you're gonna send a text to, they're the person you're gonna call, they're the person that you're going to talk to because they have a kind of a character of wisdom that has come from their lived experience.

Those are the three things that uh that wisdom is inviting us towards insight, that ability to discern those small distinctions that make a difference, prudence, the ability to think, well, how do I then make a plan and depth of character, instruction?

How do I grow as somebody who others want to come to for wisdom and advice?

I say this all this morning because in our passage, wisdom is calling to us.

She's inviting us to come and learn from her.

And I wanted to begin by sketching out, well, what actually are you being invited towards?

Maybe you're something you think, well, yeah, I would, I would actually, I feel like I'm a person who needs more insight.

I struggle to see those little distinctions and differences.

And so I make wrong decisions.

Or actually I'm somebody who struggles to implement, to actually make a plan that I can carry out.

Or I feel like I'm somebody who whose character does need work so that I can be that person who others look to for wisdom.

In our passage, wisdom is calling and inviting uh us all, but he uh she, sorry, she describes us uh in a uh in a in a couple of different ways.

And so if you're taking notes, me, our first question is well, who who needs wisdom?

Who's being invited uh towards wisdom?

In one sense, we all do.

Um, but she, as she calls, calls to certain type of people.

Again, we've got three here that she's calling to.

She calls to the to the simple, to the scoffer or mocker, and she calls to the fool.

So there's the simple, the scoffer, and the fool.

She's saying to those to those categories of people, and here's a hint that encompasses all of us, to come and to learn from us.

Now, let's think about those.

Those aren't particularly flattering words to kind of think, oh, I'm gonna take that to myself.

But let's just think a little bit uh about each of those three characters.

Who are who are first of all the uh the simple?

You see, how long, oh simple ones, will you love being simple?

Again, being simple uh is uh in the book of Proverbs, it's not about um being unable to think or being uneducated or anything like that.

No, the simple in the book of Proverbs, do you know what they are?

Here's what they are: people who are easily led.

They're people who are easily led.

You might say that they're a little bit gullible.

They're easily taken in by something.

And it's not until they get down the down the track that they think, oh that's that was I should not have listened to that person.

I should have not have gone that way.

I should have not have been so quick to trust that person.

There are ways in my life that I think I can be, I can be simple, I can be taken in.

I'm actually quite ready to trust.

I'm not a uh I'm not a natural cynic, despite what you may think of me.

Um, I uh I struggle not to be swayed uh by uh by others.

And so there's an aspect of simplicity in my life.

Maybe you too, maybe you think, oh, I feel like there have been times as I look back that I've been a little bit easily led there.

Wisdom's inviting the simple to come and learn from her.

Uh secondly, is the the scoffer, the mocker.

Those are, again, people who scoffers and mockers are actually usually quite intelligent.

Uh they're usually quite well educated.

And what that what that breeds is a kind of unhealthy cynicism, uh where things are looked at with everything is looked at with a very skeptical eye.

That can lead uh the mocker, the scoffer, uh to a kind of to a kind of pride and unwillingness uh to learn or uh be taught.

It can make them obstinate.

It's a it's an over-cynical disposition uh that looks down upon others that can be sneering towards religion, um uh and that can carry themselves with an air of superiority.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are certainly plenty of religious people who can conduct themselves with an air of superiority and uh and sneering cynicism uh towards others, but that's that's who the mocker is.

And maybe maybe you wouldn't immediately character yourself characterize yourself as a mocker, but maybe you do approach things uh uh quite cynically.

There's a good guard in this, it means that you're not the you're not you're not simple like me, you're not so easily taken in, but maybe that is stopping you from heeding the good advice of others.

Your cynicism is actually uh shutting down your ability to learn from others.

And wisdom is inviting those who are dispositionally inclined towards mockery to come and learn.

And then thirdly, and and this this category is a category that's just huge in the book of Proverbs, and it's the fool.

So the simple, the mocker, and the fool.

It's the largest and most uh important category.

And again, don't think of the proverbial fool in terms of intelligence, per se.

To be a fool, and this is important, to be a fool in the book of Proverbs is to be out of touch with how reality is.

It is to be out of touch with how the world actually works.

One of the things that we had said uh two weeks ago when we were introducing the book of Proverbs is that uh because there's a God, what that means is that there is an objective uh moral shape to reality.

That the world is set up in a certain way, and our lives work best when we cut along the grain of that way that God has ordered his world.

That wisdom is not just something that we make up ourselves, but something that we discover the objective shape and nature of.

And so to be a fool is to be someone who ignores those objective realities and thinks that their life will go fine living against the grain, living rejecting those objective realities.

And this I would have I would hope actually makes sense because if there is a God, and there is, it's not just morally wrong to disobey him, it's stupid, right?

You think follow the logic of that?

If there is a God who made the world and you and has ordered the world in a certain way, it's not just morally wrong to reject him and live a different way, it's foolishness, you see?

And that's what Proverbs is bringing out.

That actually to live in a way that rejects the objective shape of the universe, the moral wise shape, is foolish.

Let me illustrate that in a couple of different ways.

I think of how people uh view and use their bodies, their physicality.

Many people foolishly think that their body is their own to do with as they please, and they think that they can use their body without consequences.

But sooner or later the reality comes to bite them that they can't, and it does so either physically or psychologically, emotionally, spiritually.

The people realize actually, just doing what I want with my body doesn't make me happier, it makes me feel more ashamed and estranged and uh uh and not operating the way I ought in the world.

Another way that uh that this foolishness manifests itself is the fact that you know we're made by God for uh for community.

It's one of the things that's uh that's built in, woven into the fabric of our world, is that we as his image bearers are made for relationship with one another, right?

For social cohesion.

But so much in our world now actually encourages the opposite.

It encourages us to pursue our own selfish desires.

It prioritizes self-love over the love of others.

It encourages us to uh to realize our own expressive individualism.

And then we wonder why we're fracturing apart as a society.

We wonder why we become more tribal and why it seems to be that uh that groups seem to war against other groups.

Again, it's because we're cutting against and not with the grain of the universe that God has made.

We're saying, well, I actually I'm gonna I'm gonna be selfish and you're gonna be selfish.

I wonder why there isn't more social fabric.

I wonder why there isn't more social cohesion.

We're operating in that sense as proverbial fools.

We are cutting against and not with the the wisdom grain that God has uh set in place in his world.

So simple, scoffing, foolish.

We all have an unwillingness to to learn or be taught.

We all we all well, we all have been one.

Uh we've all been a toddler, or we know a toddler, who gets to that point.

This is why we call it the terrible twos or a three nature, right?

Who just refuses any help.

I do it, right?

They they will not learn.

And you guys say, well, that's a stage, and they'll get they'll get through it and we correct them, and we're patient as far as you know our sleeplessness allows.

Um, you know, in theory.

Um and and they and they grow up, we socialize them.

But then every now and again you meet an adult who's a bit like that.

And they're less cute.

That's kind of how we are.

We all need wisdom.

But where can we find her?

Where is she?

Well, she's calling to us from the streets.

That's our I don't know, what second point?

Wisdom calls to us from the streets.

Verse one.

Oh, sorry, not verse one, verse 20.

Uh, first verse of our reading.

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets, she raises her voice.

At the head of a noisy street, she cries out.

At the entrance of the city gates, she speaks.

Where's wisdom in the passage?

She's in public.

This is worth reflecting on because what that means is that, yeah, Christianity.

Maybe you're here and this is your first time really in a church, and you're just kind of thinking, what is this all about?

Well, let me tell you one of the things that uh the Christianity isn't.

Christianity is not some mystery cult, right?

Christianity is not like the Freemasons or uh or something where you Need to go through kind of initiation rites before you're told little secrets about what we actually believe, and you get inducted into the Illuminati.

Christianity is a uh it's a public religion, it's an open thing.

The mysteries and secrets of Christianity are open for all to learn if you will come.

Wisdom doesn't hide herself away and force you to crawl over uh certain uh certain barriers or initiation ceremonies in order to access her.

Her secrets, her teaching are open to everyone.

What's more, this idea of her being in the street, well, she's she's there in the clamor and noise of normal life.

You just think of uh this thing that you carry in your your pocket or uh or the the number of people that you communicate with in any given week.

There are so many voices and messages that we imbibe, and what God is saying here is that amidst all of that clamor, there is another voice, and she is there, and she's raising her voice aloud.

If you would only tune in and you would listen to her.

That in the midst of all of the other communication, in the midst of all of the other worldviews, in the midst of all of the other circumstances that you find yourself in, there is the ability to hear the voice of wisdom.

Her voice is there also.

And she is calling.

She is calling to the simple, to the mocker, to the fool, that is, all of us.

It's a universal call.

And she doesn't, yes, it's a universal call, and she's kind of diagnosing part of our issue, but she doesn't begin by telling us what an idiot we are.

She shows us grace and invites idiots like me in verse 22.

How long, oh simple ones, will you love being simple?

How long, oh scoffers, will you delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

If you turn on my reproof, behold, I will pour my spirit to you.

It's a gracious invitation.

It's like stop being so simple.

Stop being so easily led, taken in so easily, come and learn from me, and things will get better for you.

She's in the streets and she's at the city gates.

Wisdom wisdom is found.

This is what in the streets and city gates mean.

City gates is a place of uh it was a place of uh of commerce and of rule, uh, where decisions were made, uh, where where cases were decided upon in the ancient world.

And and what I what I take that to mean is that wisdom is found in the experiences of real life.

Wisdom is found out there when we step out of those places that we find most safe when we step out into the city streets, when we engage in the actual experiences of the city gates, of uh adulting, that's where wisdom is.

Wisdom is found when we make a decision and then feedback on ourselves.

Was that a wise one?

You cannot find wisdom.

Here's what I mean.

You can't find wisdom in theory, right?

So one of the things that uh that happens every now and again in a church that's young like ours is that uh people will get engaged, right?

So lots of people have gotten engaged at City Church and they come to Philippa and I for uh for marriage prep.

And we do marriage prep, and if you've been through it, you're probably still uh you know processing the trauma of that experience.

Uh but uh I hope not.

Um but one of the things that we talk about in marriage prep is that you the you can kind of theorize out a bunch of stuff about marriage, and you can kind of anticipate some of the challenges that you might have to uh address and overcome.

But one of the things about uh marriage is that there's a whole bunch of issues and things that can't be worked out until you're in situ.

And gaining wisdom is a bit like that.

You can't sit in your classroom or at home or at your desk at work and theorize out how to get more wisdom.

You've actually got to make a decision, even if it fails, even if it goes wrong.

You try it, it falls flat on its backside, you learn from it.

You take a risk.

You risk getting your heart broken, you risk a change of career, and you think, well, that actually worked out really well.

And here's some of the things that I can learn from that.

She's out there.

Wisdom is not found in the places that you find safest.

Your wisdom isn't in your house, place of great comfort and security.

Wisdom's outside.

She's in the street.

You need to open the door and go and find her.

You see this in Jesus' ministry and teaching.

You he calls the disciples to leave behind the things that they knew in order to grow with him.

He taught about real life experiences of working, managing money, taking risks, uh, taking risks in construction and in business, in people management, family tension, the things of real life.

And if you shy away from all of those things, you constantly think, I can't, I can't take a risk, or I cannot risk this family tension, I can't step into this conflict, then it's gonna be hard for wisdom to visit you because she's out there.

You run from those things, and wisdom's voice will become fainter.

And of course, the the biggest risk that uh that uh any of us might take is admitting that we are simple in some ways, that we're cynical, that we're foolish in ways, admitting that we have not lived under God's rule, that we've been cutting against the grain of the universe.

Wisdom's call in that sense is ultimately God's call.

And she says later on in the passage uh that it begins with the fear of the Lord, that is acknowledging him and entering into a faith-based relationship with him.

So the call of wisdom is the call of God to step out of what you think you know about the world and what you think is safest and trust in another in order that you might learn, in order that you might grow, in order that you might flourish as a human being.

So wisdom is wisdom's easy to find in one sense.

She's out there, but she's hard to get.

Wisdom's easy to find, but she's hard to get.

I know it sounds super exciting.

Um that's where that's where we Bible geeks get together, um, down in at the Amber Springs Hotel in Gory, uh, County Wexford.

It's a grandiole place, actually.

And uh this year, uh this year was the largest year.

There's about 140 um pastors and preachers uh there.

Uh your dad was there, Lisa.

We had a we had a nice old chat.

And uh one of the things that was really encouraging about this year is that there was lots of young guys, uh guys in their kind of uh mid-ish twenties, kind of starting out in ministry, learning to kind of cut their teeth, teaching the Bible.

And uh one of the things that happens at the conference is there's main sessions like this where we're all together uh and we're listening to somebody teach the Bible from the front.

But then uh at three times for two hours over the conference each time, uh we break off into groups.

And in those groups, uh you have pre-prepared a seven-minute talk.

Uh, and there's about nine of us in the group, and you give your little seven-minute sermonette, and you have a group leader critique it.

So everybody goes around and we say the things that was good about it, and we say the things that were not so good about it.

Uh, and we kind of we pull it apart a little bit in order to better learn how to kind of hone our skills as Bible handlers.

And I was leading the uh uh the book, uh, I was leading the Romans group this year, and we had uh eight other guys, again, mostly young.

And one of the things that was um that was striking is that uh when we're kind of introducing one another and kind of why we're here, all of these young guys kept on saying things like make sure you make sure you tell me uh what I did wrong, make sure you tell me uh where I can improve.

Because there's a there's a there's a sense in which in those kind of feedback, maybe you've done these things in work as well, you kind of do uh kind of peer group feedback.

Um, and because everybody wants me to go, well, it was just really lovely.

And I just think that you're just really great person.

And that's nice for the ego um as far as it goes, but it doesn't actually help you grow or learn.

And so it's striking actually to hear these young guys saying, I want you to tell me where I can get better.

Don't just, you know, massage my ego because it's fine.

Um, tell me where there are uh the ways in which I can grow and learn.

And that is kind of what wisdom offers.

She calls out to the people and says, Well, simple ones, how long will you love being simple?

Scoffers delight in your scoffing and fools hidden knowledge.

Verse 23, if you turn at my reproof, she's offering you critique.

If you turn at my correction, at my assessment of your life, and I'm not just gonna blow smoke and tell you that you're great.

I'm gonna say, actually, there's a bunch of areas here that you could do with growing in.

Wisdom comes along and says, would you like me to have that conversation with you?

And if you persistently and consistently go, oh no, just the ego massage thanks.

No critique means no growth.

Have you noticed that?

No critique means no growth.

Wisdom is offering you a critique, a critique that, I mean, one of the things that the Bible is, is it's a bit of a mirror.

It shows you yourself.

And you know, if you stand there and you study yourself in the mirror any length of time, you think, oh, you know, that's uh that's not great.

Uh there are things to change there.

The Bible is a bit of a mirror that shows us the ways in which we need to grow.

But unlike a mirror, a mirror, a mirror just kind of looks at you mockingly and went, oh, well, love handles there.

Uh you know, the myrrh that I look into cannot help me shave off the love handles, right?

Uh but the Bible isn't just a mirrors, it actually empowers the change.

And and wisdom is saying, look, I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna correct you, I'm gonna give you some critique.

And then I'm gonna help you, I'm gonna give you my spirit in order that you might actually grow and learn.

Uh, she says, uh, oh, simple ones, how long will you be simple?

And she doesn't flatter you, and she calls a spade a spade.

She offers reproof and correction, she points out our foolish behavior, and she encourages us to turn from it.

You may it's an awful thing, of course, uh to be torn down by somebody who dislikes you.

It's an awful thing to be to have your character assassinated by somebody who wants ill from you.

But it's a wonderful thing.

It's a blessing to have somebody who loves you, who wants good for you, and wants to see you flourish, come alongside and say, I have noticed this.

And I wonder if this is what is causing some of the stress here.

Or I wonder if this might be an area to grow in.

It's one of the things that Proverbs says later on in the book.

It says the wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy.

Somebody who wants ill from you behind your back just comes and strokes your ego and kisses you and tells you how great you are, but then goes and knifes you in the back with other people.

Would you rather have that?

Or would you have the friend that loves you and says, hey, I'm for you, but I've noticed this.

You gotta pick.

Which one would you rather have?

We would rather have the wounds of a friend.

That's not to say that they don't come with pain.

We all, what do we do?

Well, let me tell you what I do.

Uh, I have a I have a great um uh I have a great uh defense attorney that lives in my head, uh, a defense lawyer, uh, who who immediately wants to tell them 50 reasons why they're wrong.

Uh but actually, if you can sack him and receive some of that coaching, some of that counsel, you can find that you grow.

To ignore wisdom's call, even though it entails a little bit of heart surgery, is a dangerous thing.

You we saw in shocking verses kind of later on where it talks about how actually she turns around and she laughs.

She laughs at the calamity of others.

Verse 26.

I'll mock you when terror strikes.

Gosh, I've just noticed the time.

Let's keep going.

Uh, is this helpful though?

I know we need to be done, but yeah, okay.

Uh let me pick up the pace.

She laughs, not because she's unkind, but because actually uh continuing to live as a fool is absurd.

And that's what she's putting.

It's that it's that arresting laughter.

You go, why are you laughing at me?

Well, actually, because you have continued to be a fool.

Similarly, it's a serious error to turn from wisdom.

It's a serious error to turn away, as she says, verse 29, because they hated knowledge and did not choose what?

The fear of the Lord.

It is a serious error to know that there is a God and to know that he has offered to establish a relationship with you by forgiving your sin and inviting you into his family where you grow in wisdom, to lavish his grace upon you, to take away your shame, and then to go, no thanks.

I don't want that.

I'd rather cut against the grain of reality.

And so it's worth heeding wisdom's warning.

And this is uh where we begin to draw to a close.

Wisdom offers great blessings to have the spirit of wisdom indwelling us, to grow from our simplicity, to cultivate depth of character and insight.

But she encourages us not to be complacent.

She stands on the street now, but by the end of the passage, what she's saying is, I'm there calling at the start, but there comes a point when actually you'll look for me and I'll not be found by you.

That you'll get so far down the path of folly that you'll be get so hardened or think, I'm so deep into it now that it's too embarrassing, it's too shameful to admit that I was wrong and to turn and to come back.

And you just think, well, I'll just keep on going down.

And it feels at that point that wisdom has removed herself from your view.

She warns us, don't do that.

Verse 32, for the simple are killed in their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them.

But whoever listens to me will what?

Will dwell secure.

He will be at ease without dread of disaster.

In that sense, wisdom is saying, guys, choose your pain.

Do you want the pain of me lovingly critiquing your life now, looking in the mirror and going, yeah, there's stuff that needs to be changed there about my character and things that I can grow in?

Or do you want the pain of calamity and disaster?

Maybe not what you expected to hear on a Sunday morning.

First time here, you're welcome, right?

It's pick your poison.

The ultimate result is that whoever listens to wisdom will dwell secure, will be at ease without dread of disaster.

The wisdom that is offered to us today does not begin with more knowledge.

It begins with relationship.

It begins with the fear of the Lord.

It begins with a relationship with Jesus, the embodiment of wisdom.

You know, you think about his life, you think about well, did Jesus have insight?

Did he have the ability to discern what others could not see?

Yes.

Prudence.

Did he know how to act to make things better?

That was ultimately demonstrated for us in the cross, isn't it?

That actually he saw your need, he saw your folly before you ever did.

And he's acted to make it better, to forgive you your sin, to remove your shame, to set you on a path of wisdom and of instruction.

That that depth of character that he exemplifies can be yours by his grace.

He told a story about two men who built their house.

The foolish builder built his house on sand.

He did not build with wisdom.

He did not build in view of reality, right?

There's an objective reality to the to the structural integrity of sand, right?

So when the storm came, a calamity struck.

But then there was the wise builder, and the wise builder did what?

He built his house on the rock.

The firm foundation.

He built in accord with reality.

The structural integrity of rocks.

Wisdom offers us the opportunity to build our house on God, our rock, and our redeemer, and to dwell secure, not from every storm, but through every storm.

So wisdom's calling.

She's in the streets saying, Come and learn from me.

Acknowledge your need of me.

Wisdom's calling.

What's your answer?

Thank you for listening to this week's sermon.

If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, visit our website found in the links below.