Proverbs | The Need for Wisdom (July 2nd, 2017) - Mike Armstrong

Well, if you would uh take your Bibles, your copy of God's Word, and get it open to the book of Proverbs.

We're gonna get it open to the book of uh Proverbs chapter one.

Now, as you're getting turned there, uh there are all kinds of things in this life that we may classify as needs.

Right?

Like I know we get the whole needs versus wants thing a little bit, uh, we kind of muddy those waters a little bit, but there are things that are, you know, uh definitely needs.

You might have said, you know, I need a good night's sleep, right?

You better believe our uh our setup team uh in the morning says that on Saturday evenings.

You know, I get a good I need a good night's sleep, so I'm up here uh early uh in the mornings.

You've probably said before, uh, I need food in my stomach right now, right?

I am hungry, right?

I need I need some food uh in my gut.

I need the I need the right tool for the job.

Right?

Have you ever said that before?

I need the right tool.

You know, I I I need that that person to get back to me about that thing, right?

So that I I kind of know how to you know proceed with all of that.

You know, or how about this?

I just really I really need a hug right now.

Right?

I'm not saying that, you don't need to rush the stage or anything like that.

I I'm good uh at this point, but maybe you've said something uh like that before.

Okay, well, today we are launching our brand new summer series uh in the book of of Proverbs, which is all about what?

Wisdom.

Right?

It's all about wisdom.

Now, have you ever noticed how much you need wisdom?

Right?

You need it.

I don't know about you, but I feel like, I don't know, I feel like 90% of my prayers are just like asking the Lord for wisdom.

Lord, I need, you know, I need some help here.

Like I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing.

I, you know, I need some help in this you know specific you know situation.

Lord, I need you know clarity and discernment.

Lord, I don't have enough understanding.

God, I need you, Lord, I need wisdom.

Right?

I need wisdom.

And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

Right?

Have you ever felt that you know in your own life?

Right?

Life can get complex, it can get complicated in a hurry.

You've probably seen that uh before.

And so um, if any of this kind of strikes a chord with you, Proverbs is your book, right?

Proverbs is the book for you.

All right?

And so we're gonna spend some time here this morning getting this new series kind of kicked off.

We're gonna be spending some time through the summer, through this month, and through August in the book of Proverbs, and really looking at what wisdom is.

And so the first seven verses of Proverbs chapter one really tease it up nicely for us.

And so uh I'm gonna take a look at that now, I'm gonna read that.

I encourage you to follow along with me.

All right, it says this the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth.

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.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Lord, we do come before you uh this morning uh recognizing, I recognize my um overwhelming need for you.

Lord, I don't have anything any week ever to deliver to your people, Lord.

Um, it is you that does it.

And so, Lord, would you speak today through the preaching of your word?

Lord, would you bring conviction where it is necessary?

Lord, would you bring salvation to those who need it?

Lord, would you bring encouragement and new hope and new life?

Would you breathe that into our lives today as we work through these verses?

Lord, we so desperately need wisdom.

There is just so much in life that we don't know how to figure this out.

And so, Lord, we are coming to you today.

Lord, and we are crying out for this.

And so, Lord, would you hear our cries?

We pray all of this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, first of all, question that's probably pretty important to ask.

What's a proverb?

Right?

What is a proverb?

If we're gonna be spending the next, you know, two months in this series, we you know probably need to kind of have that figured out a little bit.

Well, listen, we've got a definition for you on the screen.

It's a pretty, pretty simple one, but I really like it.

It's a short saying that expresses a uh general truth for practical, godly uh living.

Okay, something really important to kind of understand this as we think about the Proverbs and what they are, and you know, what what are the functions of Proverbs and all of that is that you know we gotta be really careful that we we we don't take every single Proverb as 100% literal.

Okay, we can't take it as 100% literal, neither are they promises, strictly speaking.

You're like, well, what's what's that all about?

Well, here's here's an example for you.

For example, in Proverbs chapter 22, verse 6, what does it say?

Proverbs 22:6

It says, train up a child, you've heard this verse before, train up a child in the way that he should go, right?

And when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Right, he will not depart from it.

Okay, does that mean that every single child who has ever grown up in a Christian home ends up following Jesus Christ?

Does it mean that?

No, it does not mean that.

Uh not at all.

You know, some kids are raised by, you know, godly parents who are trying their hardest and doing their best and all of that, and and yet kids still, you know, in their own way, as they grow up, they decide, no, you know what, I'm gonna do my own thing.

And they sort of walk away from it.

And it's obviously a sad and difficult uh situation whenever that happens.

Okay, and so we're supposed to understand a verse like this, uh, not as a hard and fast rule or a you know a promise or anything like that, but but just as it says up on the screen, a general truth.

Right?

It's a it's a general truth.

You know, proverbs are an acknowledgement of common reality.

That's what that's what the proverbs are, meaning that that generally speaking, it's common that if you were to you know raise up a child in a Christian home and you're pointing them to Jesus Christ and you're discipling them and the word of God is central uh in your home, generally speaking, that child will grow up and and not depart from all of that.

Okay, but of course there are exceptions.

Okay, so we have to be careful how far we push the literalness, if you will, of uh of the Proverbs.

Now, we're gonna learn more about this as we go, kind of throughout the summer, but uh for now, if Proverbs is full of you know practical wisdom for godly living, would you say, uh, yeah, I could use some of that, right?

I I need that in my life right now.

I know that uh I feel that, I do.

I need wisdom, right?

I need that.

I need it to help me navigate life's circumstances.

That's really the first thing here uh in your notes as we go through this, right?

So take a look at verse one.

All right, take a look at verse one.

It says this the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.

All right, so I'm just gonna like go way out on a limb here and say that you know Solomon was probably the author of this.

Right?

Is that is that a stretch?

No, I mean it says it, it says it right there.

Now, he wasn't the he wasn't the only author of the Proverbs.

There are a number of other uh individuals and collections and all of that, but the verses that were in uh today and and the majority of the verses that we'll be in this summer were written by uh Solomon.

Now, Solomon, he was the he was the wisest man who ever lived.

He was the wisest man who ever lived.

If you were to you know jot down 1 Kings chapter 3, all right, you can go back through that and you can kind of read the story of how Solomon got his wisdom.

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

He was king of Israel, and he was like, Lord, I need help.

Right?

I need I need help here.

And so the Lord is like, you know, ask me anything, whatever you want, I will grant it to you.

And instead of asking for riches and asking for power, what did he ask for?

He asked for wisdom.

He's like, I need I need discernment here, I need knowledge, I need to know how to, you know, lead and guide and manage these people that you have put under my charge.

And the Lord is just so blessed by that, he's like, I'm gonna make you the wisest man who ever lived or whoever would live.

And so Solomon literally is the guy we need to be reading if we're looking for wisdom, right?

He is the, you know, the only guy, he's the he's the main guy to be speaking about uh the this matter.

All right, and so here's his purpose now for for writing these uh this uh this letter, okay, this book.

Okay, take a look at verse two.

It says this to know wisdom, right?

This is what he wants for you and I, to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to give instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, in justice, in uh in equality.

Okay, equality is really fairness, all right?

To give prudence or caution to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth.

All right, so why does he take the time to like jot all this stuff down?

To help us wise up, right?

That's that's what he's going for.

He realizes that you know he needed it, his people needed it, and uh, and we need it as well.

We need help navigating this crazy life that we all live.

Right?

Do you you you feel that, right?

You sense the kind of the pressure and that, and all the twists and the turns that that come your way as you're you know, all the circumstances that you find yourself in as life kind of goes on.

Right?

I mean, there are just so many, you know, instances that that you and I walk into on a day-to-day basis.

Some of that you may have walked into it even just here this uh this morning already, that require just like really careful thinking.

Right?

Like I gotta spend some time and really consider all of the facts and and and you know and ask for discernment.

There's there are situations that require a very specific and careful response, right, to people.

And I can't just kind of say whatever comes to the top of my head.

I need, I need, again, I need to consider my words heavily.

You know, there are there are there are circumstances and instances that require just acute discernment and and and insight.

Right?

For you, it might be it might be a parenting decision.

Right?

If you're a parent in this room, you have felt lost.

Right?

That's that's just the reality of it.

I mean, Angie and I have had multiple situations kind of throughout this you know school year with our kids where we've been like, well, Lord, what do we do?

Right, like how do we how do we carefully shepherd and guide our children and you know point them towards Christ-like living and at the same time come in and sometimes provide rescue for them and protection and not expect them to be able to do too much and all of that, and our kids are young, and you know that that's how we feel, and we're like constantly like, Lord, what do we do here?

Right?

And the older your kids get, the more you just feel it.

Right?

Your kids are your kids are teenagers, right?

Your kids are young adults, and and the older they get, the more kind of complicated and complex it feels that that parenting kind of becomes.

And you're always a rookie as a parent, aren't you?

You're never like, man, I've figured this out.

Like, bring on six more kids.

I've got, you know, no one's saying that.

Right?

We're all we're all rookies, and and we need wisdom.

How about this one?

You need wisdom when it comes to your career choice and and career decisions that you need to make.

Like, Lord, should I should I stay with this company and kind of slowly make my way up there?

And you know, my you know, my salary will kind of slowly increase, or do I jump into this, you know, this new company and kind of the flashiness of all of that and maybe a bigger salary, but but it's gonna require a move.

And do I uproot my kids?

And you know, is there a church in that town that's gonna proclaim the scriptures?

And you know, how do I figure all of this out?

Right?

We need wisdom for that.

We need wisdom for relationship challenges.

You know, there's all kinds of, you know, how do I say this to that person?

And you know, I need to be truthful, but I need to be gracious, or you know, how do I manage my, you know, this new young family that I've got?

And you know, now I've got in-laws, and my own family's kind of crazy enough, and you know, I I love them, but I just don't want to see them right now.

And you know, you're you're like, how do I, right?

I need wisdom, right?

How do I deal with all of this?

How much is wisdom to live a godly life?

Lord, how do how do I not fall into the same traps?

How do I you know stop the sin cycle, the spin, all of that?

How can I kind of get off that that train and and be wise in my godly living?

Listen, there's not an area of life that doesn't require wisdom.

Right?

There's not.

Every single area requires it, some kind of discernment in some way.

We need it, we need it bad.

Listen, thankfully, thankfully, God gets it.

Right?

He gets it.

He knows this, he realizes that you and I need wisdom in kind of all kinds of life decisions, and and and so he gave Solomon wisdom, right?

And not just for Solomon's sake, not that just so Solomon can sit back on his you know throne and be like, I'm so sharp and you know, I am so wise, and it's not, you know, even just for his people's sake, and it's it's not just so that you know the queen of Sheba could travel all kinds of long distance to be like, Solomon, you're a bright guy, right?

It wasn't just for all of that.

Right?

God had him be wise and he had him jot these things down.

Guess?

Guess for who?

For you and I.

Right?

He wants you to, I mean, just look at some of the words here, right?

In verse 2.

He wants you to know wisdom and instruction.

That word know literally means seek, right?

To ask about.

You need to lean in for this.

You need to come after the Lord for it.

He wants you to, the word there is receive it.

Okay, you need to receive wisdom, not just hear about it.

Like a lot of people love to hear wisdom and read about wisdom, but are they actually receiving it for themselves?

We'll get into that a little bit more.

He doesn't want you to reject it, he wants to give you insight is the word.

He wants you to be wise in your dealings and be righteous and a just person, it says.

He wants you to be fair to people and and cautious and not simple or or naive.

You know, he he wants you to be full of knowledge and and full of discretion and able to make wise decisions in life.

Okay, all of these things, what they what they are is they encompass what wisdom is.

All of them represent a different facet of wisdom.

Okay, we need it and we need it bad.

Listen, as lost as we can sometimes feel in life, you know, in our different circumstances and situations that we find ourselves in, you know, if you're honest here this morning, you're gonna you're gonna admit that that's you.

Right?

My hand is up, I recognize that for myself sometimes.

You know?

As lost as we can feel it, it doesn't it feel amazing to know that God's got our back?

Right?

God, God has you, right?

And He He wants to He wants to help you navigate through this life.

That's what He wants to do.

Okay, but a really good question to ask is a pretty basic one.

It's like, well, how do how do I get this wisdom?

Right?

How do I glean from this wisdom?

How do I, you know, how can I you know leverage the Lord, like in an appropriate sense, not in a manipulative sense, but how do how can I leverage God for this for this wisdom that I so badly need?

How do I get him to rush to my aid in all of this?

Okay, well, the answer is really simple.

You know what it is?

Ask.

It's ask.

Ask him for wisdom.

Does it not remind you of James chapter 1, verse 5?

James 1:5

Okay, you know this.

It says if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask, right?

Let him ask God who gives generously.

I love that word.

He's not stingy with it.

He's not like, no, if you jump through a bunch of hoops and stuff and kind of impress me and you know, just like a dog does tricks for a bone, then maybe I'll give you like a morsel.

No, he's like generously, right?

He's like, just ask me.

I want to give generously to all without approach, it will be given to him.

Awesome, right?

I mean, sometimes we think that the answer is so complicated.

Again, I've got to, you know, I've got to be a Christian for a long time, and you know, I've got to you know read my Bible 12 times a day, and you know, I've got to be serving in a billion different areas, and again, it's gonna take forever, and then again, maybe the Lord will start to you know kind of help me out with this.

No, it's like the simplest thing ever.

Okay, we you you and I, we need to go to our God and ask.

That's what we need to do.

I love, I love that.

You know that that desperate feeling when you so badly need wisdom?

You know that like that like anxious kind of like, like I need it, like I need it, I need it now, I need it, I need it yesterday, not tomorrow.

Like, I need this right now in this moment.

I gotta have wisdom.

You know that feeling, right?

You've experienced that before.

Well, let me tell you this: that's a good thing.

Right?

That is that is a really good thing because God is showing you in that moment how badly you need him.

Right?

It's not just wisdom, but it's him.

Right?

And wisdom comes from him, and so we need to be really careful not to not to detach wisdom from the Lord and say, God, I want you to be over here, and I just want to have those good things from you.

No, that desperation that we feel uh is uh is God giving us a real sense here that you know we need him.

Now, if we didn't sense our need for wisdom and and all of that, okay, God knows that we would just be way too self-sufficient, you know, way too proud and and arrogant and you know, all of all of that to even ask.

Right?

And so he gives us that need to draw us to him.

All right, it keeps us, it keeps us dependent on him.

You know, and I I believe that maybe the the biggest reason, okay, that that we find ourselves in situations where we where we desperately need wisdom and you know we need the help and you know we're we're crying out for the Lord to kind of throw us a bone and you know all of that is because God delights in what?

He delights in showing us our weakness.

Right?

That may not be something that you know we love, you know, maybe not not right off the hop, anyways.

But I think as we grow, we start to realize, no, my weakness is good.

My weakness means that God, God will be strong in me and through me and in my life and in my situation.

The more we realize our weakness, the more we can cry out for wisdom, the more God's gonna give it to us.

Right?

You and I, we need wisdom.

We're not as strong as we think we are.

Life is tough to navigate.

And listen, God's here to help.

God's here to help us.

Okay, so we need to we need to come to Him for it.

And all of this is really kind of building towards the second thing here, right?

I need wisdom, which requires what?

It requires teachability on my part.

Right?

It requires teachability.

Verse five, take a look at that.

This is really important.

It says, 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.

Okay, notice how you never stop learning.

Right?

That's what that verse gets at.

It says to increase in learning, right?

As in keep going with it.

Right?

You keep going.

And it and it also says there, the one who understands, okay, so he's got he's got some understanding at least.

He's figured some things out.

Let him let him obtain guidance, as in obtain even more.

Right?

And I I love that.

And you might be like, well, why is that so important to note?

Well, because sometimes, you know, Christians think that that because they they kind of know some doctrine and they they know some some theology and they've you know got some verses memorized, they think that because of all of that, they've attained wisdom.

Right?

I I I've I I've I've made it, right?

I'm I'm there.

Now, a couple things about that, right?

Just a couple things.

All right, first of all, you need to know this.

You never graduate from the school of wisdom.

You never graduate.

Right?

I know we've got some students in the house here, you know, grade eight, grade 12, and and even college, maybe, or university, and and maybe just in the last week or so, you have walked across the stage and you've got the gown on and you've got the cap, and you know you've turned the tassel over to the other side.

Listen, that is never happening to us when it comes to wisdom.

No one, no one's gonna be like, congratulations, hand your diploma, you've you've arrived, you've figured it all out, nowhere else to go with all of this.

Right?

That's that's never happening.

Right?

And truly wise people understand that.

Right?

They know it, they get it.

All right, here's a second thing.

Kind of touched on it already, but knowing theology and doctrine, it doesn't mean that you're wise.

Right?

You may you may know a lot.

But listen, Bible colleges all over the place are full of you know tons of you know, first-year students who have you know taken an intro to theology course and now think that they've kind of they've got it figured out, right?

And they kind of walk around with the strut, and you know, my theology is, you know, it's on point now, and I might even write my pastor an email, and that's never happened to me, but like I might write my pastor an email and kind of call him.

Have you not considered this facet of theology?

Right?

And so knowledge does not mean wisdom, okay, it doesn't mean maturity and all of that.

Okay, wisdom is much more than knowledge, though knowledge is absolutely a part of it, right?

It's a big part of it.

But wisdom, listen, this is really important.

Though the wisdom is the application of that knowledge.

Okay, wisdom is the application of knowledge.

Okay, you're only wise truly and and biblically when you have learned to take the knowledge that you have been given, the knowledge that you are studying, the knowledge that you hear when you come to church, you know, the knowledge in messages and all of that, and learn to actually make it stick in your heart through the Holy Spirit.

Right?

When you've when you've applied all of that, that's when you become wise.

But listen, reminder, that's a never-ending process.

It's a never-ending process, and it's and it's requiring teachability on your part.

We need to be teachable if we want to grow wise.

And so let me really challenge you on this here this morning.

You know, if you've been a Christian for uh a while, I don't know, I don't know how many years, I'm not gonna put a number on it, but if you've been uh a follower of Jesus Christ for a while, I really I really again encourage you, challenge you to really search you.

Your heart here this morning, right now, in this moment, and ask yourself the question: how teachable am I really?

Right?

How teachable am I?

Because what often happens is again, when a person you know first gets saved, what ends up kind of happening usually?

You kind of have this amazing sort of honeymoon phase, right?

You have this incredible, you know, season of rapid growth, and the Lord is doing so much in you, and he is changing some big areas that were maybe a problem and all of that, and you're starting to learn a little about the Bible, and you start to kind of get a good sense of how to figure that out.

And I've got the you know, an understanding of how the church works now, and I'm a believer, and my how my growth works, and how I fit within the church, within the community that God has put me in.

I've I've kind of I've kind of got that kind of dialed now in terms of my my mind.

Okay, but what can happen kind of as we kind of work our way through all of that that process is we kind of we can settle into this extremely hazardous place in our walk with the Lord, this pride-filled place where we kind of think like, I've got this figured out.

I've learned what the church is.

And we start to see our walk as most of the work has already been completed.

Listen, as instead of, I still have so much to learn, you know, as we go forward here uh in the future.

Right?

And and we can easily, I remember being there, I totally, you know, being there, where I'm like, I think I've I think I've figured a lot of this out, and you know, most of the sin is probably gone in my life, and man, the Lord's done a great work, I'm so thankful for all of that.

And you know, what more could there be?

Right?

I've asked that question before.

Okay, only here's the thing.

We've got all of the outward kind of behavior and all of that, that that whole game kind of down pat.

So we would never like outwardly say, like, I've arrived.

Right?

We wouldn't, we wouldn't say that, not uh probably not.

But we've you know, we we know how to kind of appear humble and appear like we're still learning and and appear like you know, wisdom is still this thing that we're going after, but on the inside, our hearts can be like, you know, kind of ragingly arrogant and and again, pride-filled.

Danger.

Danger.

If that is the spot that you find yourself in today, that is that is a dangerous place.

Listen, people who think that they've arrived, you know, at maturity, at Christ's likeness, at wisdom, listen, always lack teachability.

Right?

You always do.

Right?

And that's that's not great because it becomes a problem.

Right?

You can only maintain the appearance of humility and the appearance of wisdom for so long.

And that's gonna come out.

It's gonna be a problem in the church at some point.

Right?

And maybe it'll come out in like I, you know, I deserve to be a leader.

And I I deserve to be, you know, the person running that small group, or I deserve to be the person, you know, on the stage, or you know, I know a thing or two, and you know, put a Bible in my hands and give me a microphone, and you know, I should be.

Right, that's that's not great.

Maybe maybe that's become you, though.

You're you're jockeying and kind of demanding for positions of leadership.

Maybe you haven't verbally got there yet, but that's stewing and brewing in your heart.

You know, maybe you're the kind of person who's like always you know giving advice, and I love to, you know, I'd love to fix people's problem, and I'd love to give them that verse, and I love doing all of that, but I never want to receive any advice from myself.

Right?

And the advice that I've been given or I'm continually given over and over again, I'm not I'm not applying that myself.

It means you're not you're not wise, right?

And I mean the list goes on with all of that, and it can be a problem in the church, it can be a problem in your marriage.

Right, man, like I wish my I wish my spouse has uh you know has attained wisdom the way I have.

You know, and so we have we have this like condescending tone and this condescending attitude, right, towards our towards our spouse.

There's nothing nothing honoring about that.

Everyone who's married is like smiling right now, right?

You get it.

Parenting, same thing, right?

I'm older, I'm I I I know more, therefore, my my kids, you know, they better get in line, and you know, I wish they would just figure it out.

And so we we're harsh with our words, maybe with our kids.

Instead of understanding, no, they need to be, they need to be brought along.

You haven't you haven't arrived at wisdom yet.

You still are are a broken individual.

I I I hope and I pray that you are you're apologizing to your kids when you blow it.

There's something so powerful about that, and and it's awesome.

Right, listen, actual wisdom understands that as as as far as you've come, and hopefully we've come a long way.

Listen, we've got such a long way to go.

Right?

I believe the you know the more I go in my walk, the more I realize, oh man, I've got a long way to go.

Do you feel like that?

Right?

And you and you you read things, you're like, yeah, I kind of understand how the Bible works, but have I have I applied like any of it?

Right?

You kind of feel like that sometimes a little bit.

And you realize that knowledge isn't enough.

I've actually I've got to change, I've got to be transformed.

And so again, the question is, are you teachable?

Are you teachable?

And you might be like, well, how how can I tell?

How can I tell if I'm teachable?

Well, here's a couple things on the screen for you.

I am teachable when?

Okay, I'm teachable when I respond well to a rebuke.

I respond well to a rebuke.

Is this you?

Or do you tend to get ticked when someone calls you out?

It might be like the smallest thing in the world, but are you like, how dare they treat me like this?

Right?

How dare my spouse speak to me like this?

I look at the end of the day, you probably needed to be called out, bro, right?

You needed it.

Right?

You don't have it figured out, right?

And and how how do you deal with that with that rebuke?

Now listen, we've all got a flesh that we're trying to deal with and you know, kick to the curb, and we want to see the Spirit of God working in us and and all of those things.

So listen, I think the the way that this looks, at teachability means like, yeah, at first you may kind of flare up in your, you know, in your flesh and in your you know, disdain for the rebuke as you're maybe reading scripture or someone has to call you out.

But listen, over time and hopefully quickly, more quickly and more quickly, you'll start to receive that as Lord.

I need to hear that.

Right, Lord, would you forgive me?

Lord, would you would you lead me to be a humble man?

Listen, that's wisdom right there.

Okay, how about this one?

Second one.

I'm teachable when I have a desire to learn.

I have a desire to learn.

We talked about this a little bit.

Yeah, I think we have.

Are you are are you a learner?

Or have you kind of like, nah, I've read my Bible, I've kind of done that, and so I can put that on the shelf, or you know, I like I've got all the topics figured out and I kind of know how to do it.

So there's no reading, there's no, there's no study, there's no, you know, desire to be in a small group and have other people pour into you, or maybe, you know, maybe it's stuff like that.

You know, and you're not, you know, you you're not you're not a le uh uh a learner.

Maybe it's maybe again it's reading, maybe it's like asking questions.

I I don't wanna I don't wanna ask questions, or I don't feel like I need to ask questions.

Okay, well if you are uh if you're a learner, you're teachable.

Hopefully that's pretty obvious.

Here's the third one.

I have a desire to serve.

I have a desire to serve.

What did Christ come to do?

Did he come to like kick open doors and tell people to like get in line and no, he he came primarily to serve, right?

He came to serve.

And so as we grow in, as we grow in wisdom, we should reflect the heart of Christ in us and realize I want to serve people.

It's my joy to do that.

It's my joy to do that in the church, and you know, I want to do my part, but I want to serve my spouse, I want to serve my kids, I want to serve my neighbors and co-workers at work and all that kind of stuff.

Like I wanna I wanna serve.

That's my heart.

That's there's a teachability in that.

It's not the I need to be the leader and everyone needs to be under my foot and under my thumb.

You know, it's not it's not grudgingly either.

Because sometimes we kind of like force our fine, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna serve, but I'm I'm not gonna like it, and I'm gonna I'm gonna grumble and I'm gonna I'm gonna complain.

Look, you're not a servant.

Okay, but if you want to be teachable, it's it's an understanding that we that we serve.

Hopefully you have a desire for that.

Last one here.

I'm teachable when I'm obedient.

I'm obedient to Christ.

I'm obedient to Christ.

You may have a lot of knowledge, you may be that Bible knowledge, Bible answer guy.

Right?

You might you might be that guy, but if you're not obedient to the Lord, it means nothing.

But it means nothing.

You need to you need to submit yourself to Him and you need to be obedient to Him.

All right, to the scriptures and to the Lord.

All right, so important question this morning for us, isn't it?

Am I teachable?

Am I teachable?

You know, if not, Proverbs has a word for you.

Okay, do you know what that is?

It describes you as a fool.

It describes you as a fool.

We're gonna see that word in just a second here, but listen, wisdom requires teachability.

You cannot be wise without it.

Right?

You can't.

Okay, last thing.

I need wisdom.

I need wisdom, right?

And it begins with fearing the Lord.

And it begins with fearing the Lord.

Okay, verse, verse seven.

Okay, take a look at that.

Last verse in our section here, it says this the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

All right, now you might be like, well, what's what's fear of the Lord?

What does that mean?

Now I think there can be some confusion about this in the church.

We're not, you know, what's this all about?

Okay, what does it mean to fear the Lord?

We can throw this up here, and hopefully this will help you if you want to jot this down.

Just a couple of things here.

Okay, first one means that we have awe and wonder.

Awe and wonder.

Are you filled with awe when you when you reflect on the Lord and all of his works?

You know, when you for me, one of the things I'm really excited about, you know, in August is I'm I'm gonna be taking some time to go canoeing uh with my son and some other dads and uh and their boys.

And one of the things I like best about canoe trips and camping and hiking and all that stuff is where are you when you're doing that?

In God's creation, right?

Which is the greatest thing.

And I love how small I feel in that moment is you get an opportunity to reflect on on what the Lord has has made.

And hopefully your your heart and your mind and all of that that so typically races through thinking about all kinds of different things in life, hopefully that gets that gets quieted through all of that.

It's replaced with you know an awe and and wonder.

Right?

There's a reverence there and a piety.

That's what that's what fear means.

That it's it's a respect out of the fact that God is holy and and he is just and and only he is truly righteous.

Right?

Does that just drop you to your knees at times as you as you think about that, as you contemplate that, as you think through that, you know, what the Lord has done in your life and in your family?

How when you think about the gospel and and salvation that is available through Jesus Christ, now you know he chose you in him and he has you know appointed for you salvation and he has completely transformed your life.

I mean, are you not like wow?

Right?

That is amazing.

You know what the law uh Lord has done, right?

That's a that's a big time aspect of what it means to fear the Lord.

Okay, but the second one.

Holy terror.

Holy terror.

Now, now terror, I don't mean this.

I don't mean scared.

Right?

I don't mean that we gotta walk around like feeling like God is gonna smack us, right?

That's that's not it.

I don't mean frightful in that kind of a sense, but but but yes, a fear in the sense that we understand what God is capable of.

Right?

You read enough of the you know the Old Testament and the New Testament to see what God can do.

Right?

We should in in a lot of ways be fearful of his discipline as Christ followers.

Like if I if I continue to disobey the Lord and follow my own way and continue to harden my heart to his leading and my direction, what the Lord can do should terrify me in some ways.

Right?

And hopefully, this might sound like a weird thing to hope for, but hopefully some of you have experienced that.

Right?

You've seen the Lord's discipline in your life, and you realize the Lord could pull this all apart like this.

Right?

That's that's an aspect, that holy kind of terror, realizing how immense, how powerful, how awesome he is, that's a huge component of a fear of the Lord.

Last thing here.

Humility and submission.

Humility, right?

Humility is a massive part of uh of fearing the Lord.

Right?

If if you have not humbled your heart before God the Father, right?

If you are still like, nope, you know, I'm still gonna, no, it's my flesh and and my way and my will, right?

If that's if that's you, okay, you you do not have a healthy fear of the Lord, right?

A fear of the Lord, a person who has has who understands that is someone who has has submitted to him.

Someone who said, Lord, I I don't know what the future holds, but I know you hold it, right?

And I and I know that that you are good, and I know that that I can trust you.

And Lord, that is kind of a freaky thing to put my life in your hands, but but God, I I fear you and I and I trust you, and I want to submit in in all areas of my life, my thinking, my my actions, my plans, all of it.

I want to submit.

I want to submit it to you.

And I love this.

You notice how fear of the Lord is the starting place for wisdom?

Right?

Do you notice that?

The word there is beginning, isn't it?

The fear of the Lord's not the finish line.

Right?

You get to fear of the Lord and then all of a sudden, boom.

Again, I've achieved wisdom.

Listen, if you don't fear the Lord, you haven't even started the race towards wisdom yet.

Right?

You're still like in the dressing room, like working to get on your tiny little running shorts.

Right?

That's kind of it.

Right?

You haven't even started yet.

Right?

The the fear of the Lord is the is the beginning of wisdom.

So listen, church.

Listen, if you've you know gotten away from you know the place where you know where your heart has been shaken by the awesomeness of God, by by genuine fear of the Lord, okay, getting getting back to that place, okay, getting back to that place, okay, will always and only be by way of repentance.

Okay, it's it's it's that's the only path to get there.

Okay, you can't you can't circumnavigate around repentance and and and and somehow arrive at genuine fear of the Lord and and true wisdom.

Right?

Repentance is, you gotta go right through the middle of that.

Right?

That's what it is.

So if if there's pride in you this morning, right?

If there's too much, you know, kind of self-assuredness, and you know, I'm feeling like I got, you know, I kind of know what I'm doing with my life, and you know, I'm, you know, there's too much pride and you know, too much I've arrived syndrome, okay?

Maybe some of that there.

Would you would you lay that down before the Lord?

Would you would you just confess that to him?

Listen, in in heartfelt sorrow.

Right?

Heartfelt, not just I'm gonna say some words, but my heart's not engaged with what I'm actually saying or with what I'm actually praying, but with your heart engaged and understanding that that he is God and you are not, would you, would you confess that to him?

Would you fear the Lord?

Would you would you understand that listen at the end of the day, he could end you if he wanted to?

He really could.

No, he's never he's never gonna do that if you're in Jesus Christ.

Right?

But that's that's a sobering thought.

That's wisdom.

Hey, listen, there are some of us here in this room, I know for sure.

There was somebody there's somebody in this room that you know you want wisdom, right?

And you you need wisdom.

But listen, it it has to start with a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Right?

You need to, you need to know him personally.

Sometimes people want to get things from God, but again, they don't they don't want him.

Well, it starts with with knowing Jesus Christ personally.

I mean, that's that's what you really need.

You you trust Jesus Christ as Savior.

He's gonna start backing up the dump truck and unloading wisdom on you in your life as you ask him for it.

So here's the thing you need to understand.

You need to understand that you've got sin in your life.

Listen, you're no different than anyone in this room or anyone on this planet.

We've all got it.

We've all got sin.

And here's what our sin does: it destroys relationship with God.

Right?

It's this it's this massive wall, it's this massive barrier that we often try and like climb over, and we're like tossing grappling hooks and stuff like that to try and climb over it through moral behavior.

Right?

If I just behave well, if I just act good, if I just do a bunch of good things, maybe at the end of my life, if God exists, you know, he'll just like he'll kind of let me in.

He'll kind of weigh out the good and the bad, and you know, the good outweighs the bad.

At least that's kind of what I'm hoping for.

Listen, the Bible teaches that that is false.

It is false.

You cannot impress God, you cannot earn anything from God.

That should fill you with a sinking, awful feeling in the pit of your stomach.

But I'm not gonna leave you there.

All right, because the good news is that God made a way for you.

God made a way for you to have your sins dealt with, to have your sins forgiven.

And he did it by sending Jesus Christ to the cross.

Right?

And you've you've maybe heard this before.

He went to the cross about 2,000 years ago, and he did that for you.

He did that for me.

He did that so that our that our sins would be forgiven, so that we would recognize that that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Savior, that we would recognize that we've got sin and trust that what Jesus did on the cross was enough to secure salvation for us.

And so listen, I want to I want to push you to do that today.

Would you do that?

Maybe you've heard me say this over and over again.

Maybe you've been coming to our church for a while and it's the same message week in and week out.

We're never gonna apologize for that.

Right?

That's the that's that's the the message that has power.

You know, stop, stop putting up walls, stop putting up your defenses, let that come down.

Receive Jesus as Savior.

Admit your sinfulness, ask him to be Lord of your life.

You do that, you're gonna be in a relationship with him, and it's gonna be awesome, and the Lord is gonna do amazing things in your life, and there's gonna be challenges with challenges with all of that, absolutely, but only then can you be on your path, on your way towards true, godly wisdom.

And so listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna pray for us right now as a church, and I would really again plead with you.

Would you search your heart on this?

Would you you know consider you know where are the areas of pride in my life?

You know, and not just like, hmm, that's interesting, and then walk away and go eat lunch.

That's not that's not applying wisdom.

And so what I would actually do very uh encourage you to do very practically here, is as I'm gonna pray in just a second, I would encourage you to literally get down on your knees, turn around, bow down on your knees, on on the on the ground, on your chair, and just lay these things before the Lord.

I'm not talking symbolically, no, I'm talking physically, literally do it.

Get on your knees and just cry out, Lord, would you would you do this in me?

Lord, I I need wisdom in this situation.

I I need to know how to how to how to figure all of this out.

Lord, I recognize that I don't have it.

Lord, if there is sin, if there is sin in your life, would would you confess that to Lord?

Would you repent of it?

Would you turn from that and turn back to Jesus Christ?

Would you do that today?

No one's no one's looking around, no one's judging.

It doesn't matter what your neighbor's doing, it doesn't matter anything, it just matters you and the Lord.

That's what we're gonna do right now.

Let's pray.