Proverbs Part 6

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Intro:

We’ve been talking through the wisdom we see in the book of proverbs

Practical wisdom in every day topics

We’ve discussed how to be wise in your relationships

Wise in your work, in your marriage, where wisdom comes from, wise with your words

And today we will wrap up talking about the way of the wise and the way of the fool

What is most important in reaching the goal of being wise

pray

I remember the first time I ever shot a gun

I think it’s a monumental day for any boy but most certainly a boy growing up in the south

We used to have a hunting lease that we would go and camp at several weeks out of the year

And I remember being 6 or 7 maybe and my grandfather grabbing me one day and said “come on boy we are gonna teach you how to shoot.”

So we rode off away from camp and stopped and he pulled out a little .22 and started going over safety and how to operate it

Where the bullets go in at, how to take it off and on safety, how to aim down the sites, how to breathe when you’re about to pull the trigger, all of these things.

He goes and puts a water bottle down on a fence post and tells me to shoot at it

I aim down the sites and take about a minute to pull the trigger

“he says good job and gives me a high five. We do it a couple more times and I’m over the moon excited.”

Next he says, now not everything you shoot is gonna be standing still and not every shot you take will give you a minute to line it up so I want to try something different this time

Next to us was this massive ditch that had flowing water in it.

He walked up the ditch a little ways and said “Im gonna throw this bottle into the ditch and when it gets to a certain point I want you to shoot it.”

So he did and I’m lined up ready to go, a little more nervous this time, I sit and watch it down my sites get closer and closer and I pull the trigger and the bottle doesn't move

He says try again, so the bottle if getting further away from me now so I pull up again and shoot and another miss

My grandfather stops me, goes and grabs the bottle and walks back up stream and throws it in. He walks to where I’m at and says

When you’re shooting at a moving target you have to lead it. If you aim right at the bottle by the time you pull the trigger and then the bullet reaches your target, it will have already moved from your aiming point so watch

The bottle gets out in front of us and he just unloads on this thing putting 7 or 8 bullets in this bottle

And as a boy I remember looking up at him in that moment and thinking that he was the equivalent of a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood and I remember thinking, I want to shoot like him one day

And he would tell me, son I’ve been shooting guns for 60 years, it didn’t happen overnight so just keep practicing

Over the years as I grew older and so did he, I realized that not only did I want to shoot like him because he could shoot a gun with the best of them, which he could,

But I also wanted to be like him not just do what he could do

He was a strong and tough as nails

But he had a way of being very gentle and kind as well

He was quiet most of the time but when he spoke the whole room would stop to listen

He was patient but a go getter

He was a civil engineer so he was brilliant and could build anything

He had mapped out plans for bridges that have been built

He built several houses from the ground up

He built buggies and fixed up cars

In my eyes he could do it all and I wanted to be just like him

My grandfather was one of the wisest men I’ve ever known

What I’ve come to realize is that some of his traits were born into him and it was just who he was

But a lot of things, he worked at really hard to attain

And none of it came overnight

As proverbs speaks to us about the wise and fool

And as it constantly contrasts the two

We must realize that although there are singular things that when broken down make up a wise person

It is not a singular thing that defines them

It’s the sum of many things

And so the good news is, we all have the capability of being the wise

The bad news is, we can’t just change one thing one time to do it

Fools don’t become fools overnight

And the wise don’t become wise overnight

Wisdom is not so much the singular things you do, but more about the character of a person

Proverbs 26:1–12 NIV

1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool. 2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. 3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools! 4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. 6 Sending a message by the hands of a fool is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison. 7 Like the useless legs of one who is lame is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. 8 Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool. 9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. 10 Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by. 11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. 12 Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.

Here is what I believe this proverb to say

Even fools can do a wise thing

Even fools can appreciate wisdom

Even fools can be given wisdom

But a fool is a fool because that’s who they are

And one random occurence doesn’t change that

Like cold in the heat of summer or rain in the dry season

Yea it’s possible but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still summer and it’s still dry

Cooler morning a couple of weeks ago

It just doesn’t fit, it doesn’t go together

But the adverse is also true, wisdom is a person and a path

Wisdom is a choice and it’s a journey

We don’t decide to be wise, make one wise choice and then become wise

Wisdom is choosing it every day

Solomon, when writing to his sons warns of the dangers of choosing foolishness

And the benefits of choosing wisdom

Proverbs 4:20–27 NIV

20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. 24 Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

This is a journey and it takes time.

Notice verse 23 here.

He makes a statement that should jump out to you

He says “above all else.”

So, most importantly

“guard your heart”

“For everything you do, flows from it”

And so maybe, the secret to wisdom isn’t so much in what you do or say but rather more about what you see and hear.

Let me explain

I think so often we equate wisdom to the things we do or don’t do and the things we say or don’t say

But I would argue that those things are just wisdom in action

The question should be, how do we gain the wisdom to know what to do or not to do and what to say and not to say

And I think proverbs and the whole of Scripture would say that what we do and what we say flows from our heart

So how do we guard our hearts? How do we train our hearts in a way that allows us to be wise? And why?

Let’s start with the why and we will end with the how.

Why guard your heart?

So here are 3 truths of your heart

#1 because it’s valuable

Your heart, no matter who you are and what you’ve been through

No matter what anyone has said about you or you think of yourself

No matter how young or how old

You are valuable and your heart is valuable

The other day I was at a friends house and they had taken this mattress out to the end of the road.

It was old and had holes and stains in it, it was trash

While I was there, someone came by and threw it in the back of their truck

Now, anything else in their yard had they tried to take I’m sure the outcome would have been different

But they just sat there and watched these guys drive off with their mattress.

Why? Because it had no value to them

I’m afraid too many of us have undervalued our hearts and have just let people and the enemy drive off with it

So, in order to see the importance of guarding our hearts we must first see the value

And it’s valuable because Christ says it is and because of truth 2

#2 Because it’s vital

Your heart is vital to everything you do

And that’s straight from Scripture

Solomon says “for everything you do flows from it.”

I think we often connect the heart to our feelings

But your heart overflows into your thoughts, and words, and actions

Everything flows from the heart, therefore everything you do comes from the heart

#3 Because it’s vulnerable

The call here is to guard your heart

Not keep an eye on it

Not check in on it every once in a while

It says guard

And the implication is that it will be under attack

And because your heart is valuable and vital to everything you do

Your enemy knows that as well and he will do everything he can to get to your heart because if he gets to your heart then he gets to you

So that is the why, because your heart is valuable, vital, and vulnerable

Now, how?

How do we guard our hearts?

#1 by consuming God’s Word

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The very Word of God teaches, rebukes, corrects and trains so that we may have all that we need, to do all that we must do in Christ.

We guard our hearts by filling it with God’s Word

#2 We also guard our hearts by watching what consumes us

Questions need to be asked like, does anything I view, read, or listen to regularly, tempt me to sin, or cause me to feel in an ungodly way?

Do any of the things I do in my free time tempt me to sin, or cause me to feel an ungodly way?

Do the people I associate with regularly (in person or virtually), tempt me to sin or cause me to feel an ungodly way?

The things we regularly listen to, read, and watch influence us. Whether you like it or not.

The things you do in your free time, influence you

The people you hang out with regularly, influence you

So to guard our hearts we must be careful what we are partaking in

And listen this isn’t a call to stop watching R rated movies

Or stop listening to secular music

it’s not a list of do’s and don’t’s

It’s not a call to detach yourself from the world

But if your heart is truly this important than it is a call to guard it

Be careful what you watch and listen to

Be careful with the kind of friends you hang out with regularly

Are you having an influence on the world around you or are you allowing the world to have an influence on you?

Because the way it happens is through the heart

Our enemy knows it, marketing companies know it, the media knows it and the more we just allow it to consume us the more blind we become

Guard your heart, fill it with God’s Word

surround yourself with people who make you want to be more like Jesus

Listen to some worship music

Whatever you need to do because it’s that important