Blessed is the One who Listens

Good morning, welcome to NHCC, please open your Bibles to Proverbs 8.

Baptisms next week- Evan Garrett and Azariah Stone.

Read Proverbs 8:32–36- “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Pray.

Proverbs 8- A chapter that deals entirely with the value and pursuit of wisdom.

Begins in v. 1-11 with the call of wisdom.

Wisdom is illustrated as a person calling out to any and all who will listen, asking for acceptance.

Proverbs 8:6–7- “Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right, for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.”

V. 12-21- Wisdom reveals her glory and value.

Gives the reason that she ought to be pursued- Wisdom is greater than any earthly possession.

Proverbs 8:19- “My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.”

V. 22-31- Wisdom makes the astounding claim that she has been around since before the creation of the cosmos.

How can it be said that wisdom is better than anything in creation? Because wisdom has been around longer.

And wisdom is the reason for which creation began in the first place.

Proverbs 8:29–30- “when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,”

Notice what is begin communicated and imagine it, if you will.

Prior to creation, wisdom existed with the godhead. Could say the same of love. Or perfection. Or holiness. The attribute of godly wisdom existed among the Father, Son and Spirit.

God created the world according to such wisdom- remember, wisdom simply means skill at what one does. God creates in wise perfection.

At the fall, there was a new sort of wisdom which arose and became trusted even over God’s own wisdom.

Earthly wisdom, our own created skill at doing what we think best, doing what we believe will be best for us- Adam and Eve ignore the wisdom of God and eat the fruit.

Ever since, man has done the same. Lived according to worldly, or earthly wisdom and skill instead of godly wisdom.

James 3:15–17- “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”

Here is where we find ourselves. For those in Christ, navigating between the two kinds of wisdom.

If without Christ, pursuing wholeheartedly the wisdom of this world, because anything else seems foolish.

1 Corinthians 3:18–20- “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

Our task this morning, be reminded of the beauty of God’s wisdom and and the value of pursuing such wisdom at the expense of our own worldly wisdom.

1. Wisdom is worth pursuing.

Listen to me.

sama- Listen, hear, obey.

What is interesting here is the notion of listening or hearing.

How many times have we seen this in parenting, in fellow employees, in any sort of relationship?

Are you listening to me? How do I know unless you do what is asked of you?

Keep my ways.

samar- to keep, to preserve, to guard.

Same word that is used in the garden of Eden- instruction to man- work the garden and guard and keep it.

We know the consequence of Adam’s unwillingness to guard and keep the garden.

Preserve- this is a longterm game here. Guarding and preserving, even keeping something assume the passage of time. They are not quick words.

Hold on to it for the long haul- continue to grow in wisdom.

Hear instruction and be wise.

musar- instruction, correction, discipline

Open yourself up to challenge.

Sadducees- put Lazarus to death.

Do not neglect it.

para- to neglect, let go, let loose of something.

Azariah on the monkey bars.

Why the look? He knows of the pain that is beneath him.

On some level, might this be how we are to grasp onto the wisdom of God?

Watching daily at my gates.

saqad- to watch, to be awake, to be alert.

This is the opposite of falling asleep, dozing off.

For many, we neglect to watch because we are so distracted by everything else that causes us to fall asleep.

Pleading with the kids to stay awake.

Finds me.

masa- to find, to detect, to acquire.

Not simply to find, but to possess.

All of these verbs that challenge the looking, the pursuit, here we find the result- acquiring wisdom.

2. To ignore wisdom is to pursue death.

He who fails to find me.

hata- To sin, to miss the way.

He who sins against me injures himself.

We might describe this the way that Paul did in Ephesians 2- Following the course of this world- we all lived in the passions of our flesh- carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.

It’s like you are in a cross country race and you run off the course.

This is what wisdom is describing- You’ve missed me, you’ve ignored me, and it will be to your own detriment.

We may take a shortcut in the race of life, but ultimately, we face disqualification.

Do we really injure ourselves?

Joseph Parker in 1885- “There is a plant, and I say to the sun, “I am not any longer going to be under obligation to you; I am going to keep this plant in the cellar,” and I take down the plant that ought to be in the very middle of the garden, miles away from any shadow, and say to the sun, “I am going to do without you.” Do I injure the sun? Not at all. What do I injure? The plant. The sun says, “I want to shine upon that plant, and to bring out of its juices all the beauty that is hidden there, and I would do so if you would allow me: whoso, plant of any kind, sins against me, or is made to sin against me, wrongs itself; does not wrong me, does not impair my shining. My light shall be as pure and lavish as ever, but the plant that is withdrawn from my shining shall die.” And the sun blazes on, performing his circuit and accomplishing his appointed work.”

We think ourselves intelligent and powerful, yet the plant will absolutely die. We think ourselves in some way being above any need for the sun, yet the plant will die.

In the same way, we bring about self-injury when we tell God we want to do life on our own.

Do we really love death?

Well, we live pursuing everything but that which gives life.

Rich young ruler- What did he choose? Certainly not life.

To run in the opposite direction of the way of true life is to love and pursue and run headlong into death.

3. The highest pursuit of wisdom is the pursuit of Jesus.

Hear and listen.

Matthew 17:5- “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’”

Obey.

John 14:21- “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Do not ignore.

John 6:66–69- “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’”

Wait and watch.

Matthew 24:42- “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

Matthew 24:44- “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Find me.

Mark 10:46–48- “And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

Reminded that to live life as it is meant to be lived is to not only pursue godly wisdom, but to pursue it in the person of Jesus.

4. How does one pursue Jesus?

Hearing words like seek and watch cause us to believe Jesus to somehow by mysteriously hidden.

Hebrews 12:1–2- “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

How do we do this? It is not rocket science.

Open your eyes.

Seek Him in His Word, In His people.

Learn about Him, grow in your love and affection for Him, worship Him.