The Danger of Rejecting Wisdom
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome everyone!
Communion after the message
Potluck directly after service
OPENING PRAYER
Sermon Introduction
We will begin the third message from the book of Proverbs today: “The Danger of Ignoring God’s Wisdom”. In the second part of chapter 1, Wisdom is introduced as a woman who calls out to the world around her to follow and obey her.
Woman wisdom represents the very wisdom of God. This is not another deity or another human being, but God’s wisdom personified as a woman calling out the son to enter a relationship with her.
The temptation is to think of embracing God’s wisdom as a way to live life a little better than we do right now. If we accept the teachings of this book, then our good life will improve. That is true for the one who already follows wisdom. But Proverbs will teach us today, that to embrace wisdom will actually bring life, and to reject it will bring death.
“For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
The consequences of our choice are serious; and this passage today will express the urgency for us to embrace all the teachings of this book and apply them to our lives because our very lives depend upon it.
1) THE CALL OF WISDOM TO THE WORLD
Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: “How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?
Explanation
I want us to pay attention to what wisdom is doing:
“Shouting in the streets”
“lifts her voice in the square”
“at the head of noisy streets she calls out”
“at the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings”
All of these phrases describe different social aspects of an ancient city
the streets: places outside the houses where the people do their daily travels. People could commonly travel the streets by foot everyday.
the square: this is where commercial trade would take place and public meetings were held.
the head of the noisy streets: lit- “on the highest walls” Israel was surrounded by a high wall to protect it from enemies
The entrance of the gates: this is where the elders would meet to discuss the affairs of the city
What do all these have in common?
These are all places that describe where the people are!
Wisdom is going out into all aspects of life, to all people in all walks of life calling out to them to listen to her and live.
And notice what she is saying:
“How Long?”
How long will they continue to disregard God’s wisdom?
How long will they continue to ignore divine instruction?
How long will the creation ignore the Creator?
How long will they continue to follow their own ideas, their own philosophies, their own ways rather than follow the wisdom of God?
Principle
HERE IS THE POINT:
God’s Wisdom is not withheld from the world, it is ignored by the world
God’s Wisdom is not withheld from the world, it is ignored by the world
Wisdom is presented here as a street preacher or street evangelist shouting, crying out, proclaiming truth to all the world, calling them to embrace her
And sadly most do not
They hear her!
They may even agree with what she says
But they do not heed what she says
And so this is timelessly true for all people
Some may say that God’s teachings sounds good but are not for them
Some reject God’s wisdom because it goes against man’s wisdom
Some scoff at God’s Wisdom says and ridicule it
Others claim God’s Wisdom are old and outdated and man has learned too much to believe there is a God
Application
And the intended response for the reader of this book is to ask ourselves:
Are we listening to the counsel of wisdom?
Are we taking in all of her teaching, all of her instruction, and making all necessary changes in our lives to align with her?
Did we hear the message last week and seriously apply it to our lives? Or did we conclude that does not apply to us?
Do reason within ourselves and sift through God’s wisdom to pick and choose what we like and toss out the rest?
2) THREE CLASSES OF PEOPLE WHO NEED TO EMBRACE WISDOM
“How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?
The simple minded
This is the young, the naive, the immature
It could be because of their youth, or just their level of immaturity
Either way, they have not yet fully embraced the call of wisdom
The scoffer
A Scoffer is someone who makes fun of others or an idea
The scoffer hears advice given to them, then mocks the one who gave it to them as if it were foolishness to them
This is the most hardened kind of fool because they have disgust towards the wisdom of God
The fool
This is the one who has chosen to live the life of folly or foolishness.
This is self-indulging behavior
One who does what they think is best according to the flesh and whatever pleases them
How do they embrace Wisdom?
“Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
“Turn to my reproof”
This is a call to repent and listen
To turn around from the way we have been living and go the other way
Turning does not just happen in one’s life outwardly before it happens in the heart
Change always begins on the inside
And that means our way of thinking must change
We must believe that God’s wisdom is better than our own
And we must choose to no longer live by what we think AND start living by the wisdom of God
What is the promise if those who live foolishly and to repent?
“I pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you”
Now this is not referring to the Holy Spirit as we are so familiar with
It is referring to the essence of wisdom
In other words, the foolish will become wise if they repent
The naive, will no longer be simple-minded if they repent
The scoffer will delight in the teachings of God if they repent
Don’t miss this: “I will make my words known to you”
TRUTH: To know wisdom only comes by revelation of God
Now anyone can read it, and contemplate it, and hear it, but to know it it something deeper
To know it is to embrace it, to love, to have an intimate relationship with it that becomes our guiding light in life
The reason many hear God’s Wisdom and do not follow it is because they do not truly know its greatness and superiority over our wisdom
They hear the call, yet turn it down
But if we repent, make the decision in our hearts to commit our lives to it, God will reveal its true nature to us
And then we will love it
We will rejoice at its words
It will guide us through this life
The consequences of rejecting wisdom
The consequences of rejecting wisdom
“Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.
Explanation
Lets just put together a scenario to help us understand:
Let’s say I am preaching through the entire book of Proverbs. And we are hearing all kinds of things about how to live our lives in God’s Wisdom. And there is much taught in this book that requires us to make changes in our lives.
And there are four kinds of people in here: the wise, the naive, the scoffer, and the fool.
Let’s suppose some hear these teachings, embrace all of them them, and make changes in their lives wherever they were living foolishly
They will receive the promise to understand more and more about wise living.
Wisdom will “pour out her spirit” upon them.
But then there are others who are not willing to “turn” from their foolish ways or some of their foolish ways
They may believe they know better than what is taught
They may reason with themselves that it does not apply to them
For whatever reason they do not listen to her
TO THOSE PEOPLE WISDOM SAYS:
“I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.
In other words, to choose to live foolishly is to accept its negative consequences
What consequences?
Calamity (disaster)
dread (fear)
distress (anxiety)
All of these are referring to an unintended disaster that will inevitably come into the lives of those who reject God’s wisdom.
TRUTH: We are free to choose how we want to live, but we are not free to choose the consequences of our choice
Every choice has consequences
Sometimes the consequences are good. Good things comes from living according to God’s Wisdom
Bad things come when we choose to live according to our own ways
And it does get worse: (v 28)
“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord. “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices.
Explanation
“They will call on me, but I will not answer, they will seek me, but they will not find me”
Now let’s put together another scenario to help us understand
Suppose someone hears the wisdom of God calling and rejects it.
Something bad comes into their life, calamity, destruction and now they are searching for wisdom to bring relief from their foolish choices
They look, search, they call out to God for wisdom, but nothing will come. They are stuck with the consequences of their choice.
Truth 1: Foolish people do not miss out on God’s wisdom because they never want it, they miss out because they want it when it is too late
Sin has a natural course that it takes in life
God has designed the world this way. Sin always bring negative consequences.
But God is so gracious to offer us wisdom to avoid those consequences.
But if we wait until the consequences come, it is too late
We must receive the wisdom of God when it is offered
We must embrace her fully when she calls out to us
We must not neglect her, no matter how well things are going, for to reject her is to certainly welcome calamity
(v 29) “because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord”
Underline that word “choose”
Some people say that people have no choice. We are like robots just destined for whatever God has intended for us
That’s not true.
This verse clearly presents a choice to us to fear God
FEAR OF THE LORD ILLUSTRATION
I want you to think about a police officer
A police officer is someone in authority that we come into contact with nearly everyday
When we drove back home yesterday from Illinois, we must have passed 20 police officers in their car
Every time I saw a police car a bit of fear ran through me: am I speeding, Am I doing everything I am supposed to be doing, Are my kids in their seat belts, etc
But I would stop and talk to a police officer in a heartbeat. I am not afraid of them in that way, but They have a level of authority that I deeply respect, mainly because I do not want to get a ticket
To fear God is along that same line
But we do not just make sure we are doing right when we see Him or hear of Him
A true fear of God knows He is watching every minute of every day
And it’s not a $100 speeding ticket that is at stake, IT IS ETERNITY!
If we do not fear God like that, then wisdom will be impossible for us
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Application
If we do not know where to start in this series of messages, or in your life, start there with fearing God
Live as through God were with you at every moment of everyday.
Do what is right!
Obey Him with your whole heart
Is it really that serious? YES, IT IS A MTTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
“For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
Explanation
“The waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them”
Now we must ask ourselves what kind of death this is speaking of
It is spiritual death Which is what Solomon is talking about here.
The death that will come upon the naive and the fool is an eternal death that is permanent and cannot be reversed.
Why is that?
Because to reject the wisdom of God is to reject God altogether
One cannot receive the lord, without receiving all that the Lord is
IN CONTRAST: “but he who listens to me shall live securely, and be at ease from the dread of evil”
The word listen means to obey
To the one who obeys God, shall live securely and be at ease from dread of evil
This is to live without fear of being destroyed
This is to live a life of peace with God, to NOT fear being judged by God, because we live with a holy fear of Him
What is in mind is once again eternity, security, and in a permanent relationship with God
Conclusion
And this is the choice all of us face and must make.
Wisdom cries out today from the pulpits all across the world.
Not from preachers, but from the Word of God.
All preachers are are messengers of what God has said to the world.
But the choice is ours what we do with it.
Be wise, and put God’s wisdom over your own today and commit your life to live by it in EVERYTHING!
~PRAYER~
COMMUNION
The very source of life comes from God
Jesus said, 1 Corinthians 11:23–24 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.””
I want us to think about Jesus as the source of life. As he broke that bread that night, he wanted them to see that his body which they could not understand at that time was broken for them. For their benefit! To give them life!
Invite those to take a piece of bread
Pray
Eat the bread
1 Corinthians 11:24–25 “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.””
In the same way Jesus gave his body, He shed His blood so that we could have a relationship with God. No one can know God apart from the sacrifice of Jesus. No one can be right with God without the blood of Jesus.
Invite those to come receive a cup
Pray
Drink the cup
CLOSING PRAYER