Treasuring Wisdom
Matters of the Heart: Proverbs 4:20-23 • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
<<PRAY>>
Review: The heart as the “treasure chest”, call to treasure God - His Word & His love
Wisdom begins with fearing the LORD, treasuring & trusting Him. Said last week that wisdom is about trusting God’s truth in God’s world. Maybe even “seeing God’s world the way He does.”
Calvin opens his Institutes: “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”
As we consider matters of the heart, wisdom is important enough that we’ll come back to the topic again in 3 weeks.
<<INSERT ILLUSTRATION>>
Q. What makes wisdom a treasure beyond compare?
I. Wisdom Is a Treasury of Grace (1-9)
I. Wisdom Is a Treasury of Grace (1-9)
Solomon’s intro (1-4)
Similar to 3:1-8, and elsewhere in Prov, a call to listen carefully
An inheritance of wisdom from David (5-9)
Wisdom as a treasured bride - to chase with urgency
Note the connection to the personification of Wisdom as a woman in 1:20-33 and 3:13-20.
ILLUST: Wise women who guarded others: Jael, who rescued Israel from Sisera in Judges 4; Moses’s mother, who guarded Moses in Exodus 2; Jehosheba, the aunt of Joash, who hid him in the Temple as an infant to protect him from Athaliah in 2 Kings 11; a wise woman in 2 Sam 20, who rescued the town of Abel from destruction;
ILLUST: Abigail - 1 Sam 25 => Wise woman, protected husband from David & protected David from shedding his blood; David so blessed by her wisdom that when Abigail’s husband later died, David married her
33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!
A model for Wisdom guarding the one who loves her
Two short, similar calls (5-6, 7-9)
Both start with the call to “Get wisdom,” and “Get insight,” and both portray wisdom as a prized bride to who honors those who love her
v6 - Mutuality - like a marriage covenant
v7 - "Beginning of wisdom” - source, head, starting point.
cf. Prov 9:10 - “Fear of the LORD” - honoring Him as He is
cf. Prov 2:6 - wisdom comes from the LORD - Get wisdom by going to Him - you can’t get wisdom any other way, b/c wisdom is all about “trusting God’s truth in God’s world.”
So, how do you get wisdom? You go to the source. <<per Solomon 1 Kings 3>>
Urgency - Whatever you get - above all else - Wisdom is the great treasure, worth whatever it takes to get.
Wisdom to be prized & loved, embraced (vv6, 8)
David likens the quest for wisdom to the ongoing, lifelong nature of marriage. Love, in verse 6, is not a static, once-for-all kind of thing. It’s enacted by prizing her highly, embracing her.
Get wisdom, and hold her tight. Keep bringing her flowers, keep taking her on dates.
She gives protection and security, according to verse 6.
Verse 8 says that wisdom will exalt and honor you - these are words usually used of lifting up God and giving Him glory.
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
God lifts up the humble, and the humble are the ones who have come to know Him.
Honor and exaltation are pictured in the graceful garland and the beautiful crown of verse 9. Wedding images, like putting rings on one another today.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
APPLY: How to get, hold, love wisdom and what we can expect to get out of it
“Get wisdom” - go to the source
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Prayer - (note ALL OF GRACE - “God gives” - “Wisdom comes from God” - Ps 90:12 - “so teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom”)
"LOVE wisdom” - Love for wisdom is best cultivated by seeing her worth. Wisdom doesn’t just come from God. Note how Solomon talks about wisdom in chapter 2:4-12 <<READ>>
4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. 9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, 12 delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech,
Wisdom is also better than silver or gold.
13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.
Long life and riches and honor are in the hand of Wisdom. They’re hers. Wisdom doesn’t just hold long life and riches and honor in her hands; wisdom makes sense of these things.
Seeing God’s world in God’s way - trusting His truth & fearing Him as LORD - this puts the rest of life in its proper perspective.
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
In both parables, Jesus says, the treasure of the Kingdom, the treasure of knowing the LORD, is worth everything. “Get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight.”
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
We see the ultimate fulfillment of wisdom’s wedding gifts in Eternity - not just long life, but eternal life. Not just exaltation among our peers, but being raised up by God himself in the Resurrection. Not just a beautiful crown, but glorified bodies. These are the riches beyond compare that Jesus promises to give to His Bride, the Church.
But even in the here-and-now, as broken as this world is, it’s still God’s world. Seeing it His way not only gives us an eternal perspective, but also helps us navigate life.
Wisdom gives light to our path. Because wisdom starts with trusting the LORD, it means that when things don’t go according to plan, we don’t have to despair. And when it seems like God’s way will be more difficult or painful, we can trust that it’s worth it to follow Him instead of the world.
See, the false wisdom of the world may lead to short-term gains, but it ends in destruction. True wisdom never loses sight of eternity, because it sees the world the way God does.
David’s quote ends with verse 9, and Solomon takes us in a new direction with verses 10-19 -
II. Wisdom Is a Treasury of Guidance (10-19)
II. Wisdom Is a Treasury of Guidance (10-19)
One of the central lessons of the book of Proverbs is that we all take one of two ways: The Way of Wisdom, or the Other Way. Sometimes, the Other Way is called “folly” or “foolishness.” But it’s also the way of wickedness.
In verses 10-13, Solomon tells his son that wisdom is a sure-footed path. <<READ 10-13>>
Verses 14-17 show the danger of abandoning wisdom.
Urgency like vv5-9, this time in the opposite direction. <<READ 14-15>>
The way of wickedness ends up being a trap - it promises satisfaction, but steals sleep. It seems exciting at first, but pretty soon, you’re lost in the dark <<READ 16-17>>
And verses 18-19 summarize the two ways with the ultimate contrast: <<READ 18-19>>
The way of wickedness turns out to be a way of terrifying ignorance. They set out to cause others to stumble, but they find themselves in “deep darkness,” like Pharaoh in the plague of darkness, and they find out that they’re the ones who stumble.
18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.
This is a moonless, midnight walk through a forest. You set out from your cabin with a hundred bear traps, and you just keep walking and setting up traps. No flashlight, no phone, just you, the darkness, and the bear traps, in the forest. And you think you’ll catch a bunch of bears. And you start off back to your cabin.
But the way of wisdom is the way of security, and life, and light.
It’s like setting off east on the Interstate towards Omaha at 5am in the summer. Every minute, that straight, flat, open road just gets brighter and brighter. Instead of misguided, ridiculous, life-threatening blindness, the way of wisdom goes from sure to surer.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Concluding Application
Concluding Application
Wisdom is secure. Trusting God’s truth in God’s world:
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Wisdom’s gifts are eternal:
Parable of the Sower -
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
The Way of Wisdom is not one that you take by yourself… and neither is the way of wickedness. David taught Solomon the way of wisdom, and Solomon taught his sons.
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
And
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
And
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
ILLUST: A truly wise mother wants what is best for her children, and she knows that the first, most important thing is for them to have eternal life. She sets them up for success. She teaches them to wash behind their ears. She builds them up and encourages them to grow. But wisdom teaches her to prize the fear of the LORD above all for herself, and for her children.
and this is not just the task of parents; it’s the calling of the local church.
20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
ILLUST: Falling in with a “bad crowd.”
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
“How am I supposed to avoid that, esp. when I think about school, work?”
“The Lord has called us to take Jesus to people, and not just the polite ones. What do I do?” After all:
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
But consider how Jesus sent the apostles: by twos. Peter and James and John went together. Paul and Barnabas took John Mark. Paul and Timothy and Luke went together. Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos under their wing.
The wise walk together in mission.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Work and school can be difficult places to walk in the Way of Wisdom. But Jesus has given us to one another, to build each other up, to lift each other up, to help each other see the path of wisdom.
“I love my classmates, so I want to walk through school with prayers and support of my parents, youth group, and the wisest, godliest people I know.”
ILLUST: Mentors / sages, D Groups, Bible Studies, Life Groups
Youth Group // VBS
Do you know someone who shines with Godly wisdom? Ask them to walk with you, to show you how to grow in trusting God’s truth in His world.
The Way of Wisdom is meant to be traveled in a caravan. But even when you feel alone on the path of wisdom, don’t forget that you have a constant companion along the way.
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
And in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says that Christ is the wisdom of God. Jesus says that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life.
To follow Jesus Christ is to walk with the wise.