A Lord to Honour

Passage

Proverbs 1:1–7 “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Introduction

Good morning church,

New Series - booklet

Used these booklets before, found they’re good

Your Frontline

Your frontline is an everyday place where you live, work, study or play and where you’re likely to connect with people who aren’t Christians.

Where is your frontline?

What’s going on there? Who’s with you there?

What are you excited about or struggling with?

What opportunities or challenges are you facing?

Looking at the topic of wisdom

Proverbs 3:13–15 “Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.”

James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Self-help - often books or blogs or posts about ‘finding yourself’

Social media - influencers

Online / newspapers etc … no lack of places to find “wisdom”

Lack of community - you don’t have those people

Lack of trust - you don’t have people to turn to

Post-truth - just because something is written / picture created somewhere doesn’t mean it’s true

What is Wisdom?

Overlapping words … wisdom, instruction, understanding, insight, knowledge

Proverbs 1:2 “for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight;”

But if we look at verse 3, Wisdom is not just head knowledge … but it’s about understanding connected to behaviour which results in right living

Proverbs 1:3 “for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair;”

The purpose of wisdom is about good, sensible behaviour … which is about doing what is right and just and fair

A lot of the world around us doesn’t necessarily do this

We see people protesting in many different ways because goverments or powers act in a way that is not right, just and fair … and after a while enough people get upset with what is happening and they protest because they want to see change

I wonder if there would be less protests if from the start leaders were focussed on doing what is right and just and fair

So, wisdom is about wise living … it’s about wise behaviour … which is about how you live with and interact with and behave towards those around you

Then there’s a part of wisdom that is about teaching those who are younger or less mature

Proverbs 1:4 “for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—”

‘Simple’ is probably not the best word to use here … I don’t think anyone likes to be called simple

But I think it’s getting at helping those who are younger and less wise

Now, of course wisdom is not necessarily related to age

We often use the phrase ‘wise beyond your years’

In London, huge mix of cultures, and someone from an African background talked about a boy who was a deep thinker and she said ‘he has an old mind’

There is a sense that we should grow in wisdom as we get older … as we encounter different situations and challenges … as we navigate them we learn, hopefully we make some good choices, we’ll also make some mistakes, but in the process we learn

And if we are wise … we will try not to make the same mistakes twice … we will learn from our past experiences … and they shape how we behave in the future

So, the expectation is that we grow in wisdom as we get older … but we acknowledge that sometimes people have wisdom beyond their years

As we get older, we can pass on what we have learnt to those who are younger

Proverbs 1:5 “let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—”

Proverbs 1:6 “for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.”

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Application

Conclusion