Good Life pt. 3a

Intro

Proverbs 1:2–6 LSB

2 To know wisdom and discipline, To understand the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive discipline that leads to insight, Righteousness, justice, and equity, 4 To give prudence to the simple, To the youth knowledge and discretion; 5 Let the wise man hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire guidance, 6 To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.

Remember the famous quotation from Socrates we cited at the start of this series? “The unexamined life is a life not worth living.”

It seems a fair statement that one of the things the Proverbs can help us to do is examine the way we are living our lives.

Am I living wisely?

Am I even looking to gain wisdom in living?

Am I learning to live righteously and with insight?

Am I living in such a way that the Bible would call me a fool?

The Beginning of all Wisdom

Proverbs 1:7 LSB

7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Hebrews 12:7–13 LSB

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our benefit, so that we may share His holiness. 11 And all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, but to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 12 Therefore, Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Where to Find Wisdom?

There have historically been many different schools of thought as to where we as reasoning creatures ascertain ethics and morality.

Aristotle believed that there were virtues which were end-goals which all nature was directing itself toward, and these virtues are what we as humans should pursue. This fathered what is called “Virtue Ethics,” which the Stoics and even many early Christian thinkers also espoused while also assimilating it to the Christian worldview.

Thomas Aquinas, famed theologian and Christian philosopher, somewhat fathered what is called Natural Law ethics. This school believes that there are certain laws which we can ascertain from nature.

Both of these schools, virtue ethics and natural law, have reasonable merit can be born out in Scripture and are not mutually exclusive. However, do they really answer the question about where we find what is ethical? I don’t think so.

As we have already mentioned the Book of Proverbs is a book which was written that the reader may come to understand what it looks like to live a wise and ethical life, and be that kind of man or woman. From the very beginning of the book, Solomon tells us in the first 6 verses what the purpose statement of the book is, and the in verse 7 he gives us the very first proverb — a phrase which has rung true for millennia: If you want to be wise, you must fear the Lord.

Remember how Solomon began his reign as king?

1 Kings 3:6–7 “6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your slave David my father, according to how he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have kept for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 “So now, O Yahweh my God, You have made Your slave king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.”

Though we know that Solomon wasn’t always faithful before the Lord, he absolutely started out that way. His very first request of God was based out of a fear of God, which was the gate through which he walked to find endless wisdom for living. Notice, also, how kings like Ahaz and the kings of the northern kingdom did not have this fear of the Lord in their hearts and led the many astray.

Solomon, in the wisdom of the Lord, tells us repeatedly in the Book of Proverbs, simply beginning in 1:7, that the fear of God is where wisdom and true understanding come from.

Proverbs 9:10 LSB

10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 15:33 LSB

33 The fear of Yahweh is the discipline leading to wisdom, And before glory comes humility.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 LSB

13 The end of the matter, all that has been heard: fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the end of the matter for all mankind.

Understanding What?

We must ask ourselves, “What does the fear of the Lord specifically help us understand?

Obedience

We looked over the last couple weeks how the commands of God are directing us to live up to God’s character. He does not command us to do anything whatsoever is not of Himself. Therefore, if we fear/reverence the Lord rightly, we will obviously obey Him and seek to be like Him.

Leviticus 25:17–18 “17 ‘So you shall not mistreat one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God. 18 ‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to do them, that you may live securely on the land.”

In this context, God is giving direction regarding the Year of Jubilee and specifically how to offer sales of land in that year to one another; God says that the Israelites are to fear/reverence Him properly and thus keep the command to not oppress one another in commerce.

Purity

Exodus 20:18–20 “18 And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and the people perceived it, and they shook and stood at a distance. 19 Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be with you, so that you may not sin.””

God has come down onto the mountain top in the wilderness, and the Israelites are afraid. Moses then comforts them, telling them this should not cause them fright, but that the fear of God should rule in them so that they would not sin. The fear of the Lord, accordingly to keeping the commands, also keeps us from living in sinfulness of the flesh.

Action

Do you remember the WWJD movement? The purpose of asking, “What would Jesus do?” was build a more ethical culture through meditation of the action of Jesus.

In the fear of the Lord, we will be granted to have understanding of who God is and of the world around us — in such understanding,

Proverbs 9:10 “10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Psalm 111:10 “10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom; Good insight belongs to all those who do His commandments; His praise stands forever.”

If we walk in the fear of the Lord, overtime we will be given understanding from God and His Word how we ought to speak, deal commerce, drive, treat workers, love our spouses, lead in the Church, etc. If we walk in the Lord’s way which He Himself has paved for us, we will learn the greatest understanding and wisdom one can have.

Conclusion

Now, this is not to say that the ungodly cannot have any wisdom or understanding at all; they cannot, however, have the understanding which comes from following God. The wisdom from above is a good gift from our gracious Father, according to James.

We who walk in the fear/reverence of God shall know this wisdom. Next week, we will look at some specific ways Proverbs helps us live in the fear of the Lord and in true wisdom.

Until then, let us ask ourselves today:

Do I truly fear the Lord?

Am I walking in His commands, or am I living in comfortable complacency?

Am I learning and trying to improve as I follow God? Am I being pruned to be more like Him?