Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

There was once a mom that passed on the following wisdom to her children with life lessons:

To my kids who have left home and are on their own, I pass on a list of life lessons:

1. Don’t sweat your every mistake or faux pas.

They make up for the things you got away with that nobody knows about.

2. Avoid marrying anyone who deliberately flushes the toilet when you’re taking a shower.

3. When someone tells you that what he’s about to say is “for your own good,” expect the worst.

4. The value of a dog is its constant reminder of how much fun it is to be idiotic.

5.

If you are lavishly praised, enjoy the taste but don’t swallow it whole.

6.

When a politician says, “Let me make something perfectly clear,” remember that he usually won’t.

7.

Your children may leave home, but their stuff will be in your attic and basement forever.

8.

If someone says, “I know what I mean, but I just can’t put it into words,” he doesn’t know what he means.

9. Two people cannot operate a TV remote control in the same room at the same time.

10.

Don’t waste time trying to be your own best friend.

You can’t pat yourself on the back, and it’s unsatisfying to cry on your own shoulder.

Find a real friend instead

Wisdom is something that is crucial to have if we will live the lives that God has intended for us to live.

In these verses Solomon once again is emphasizing the importance of wisdom in the lives of his children.

So tonight we are going to see Five Items that wisdom entails and how we can grow in wisdom in our own individuals lives.

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The Value of Wisdom (v.

16)

In , there is a very similar statement given:

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You could give a man all the money in the world, but if he has no wisdom, what does he really have?

If he doesn’t know how to live, money is pointless.

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Some may look at that and say, “Well, I’d figure life out pretty quick if I had to if I had all that money and no wisdom.”

Yeah, but you’d probably be pretty miserable in the process.

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Remember, wisdom is skill for living.

Gold and silver won’t teach you how to make decisions.

Rubies aren’t going to tell you how you should live your life.

If you had to choose between money or wisdom, which one would you choose?

The spiritual me would choose wisdom.

But the carnal me would say I want gold and silver.

But wisdom is truly greater than gold.

Wisdom can teach you how to spend the gold.

While gold cannot tell you how to be wise.

Wisdom has so much more to offer than anything that has a price in this world.

The value of wisdom.

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The Road of Wisdom (v.

17)

The highway was a road well-traveled and well-maintained back in Bible days.

You can imagine that most roads back in these days were probably not the greatest to travel on.

Bumpy, overgrown with shrubs and trees, dangerous, windy.

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The wise road to take would be the highway.

You would get where you’re going quicker, and you wouldn’t run into as much danger.

According to verse 17, the way you stay on the highway is to steer clear of evil.

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Really, this is a simple principle.

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To stay on wisdom’s path one must stay away from sin.

But how many of you would agree that this is easier said than done?

Sin is kind of like the deer in Kansas.

They try to come up and smack you out of nowhere.

Take you off the path.

We need to be vigilant about the luring of sin.

We need to take heed to ourselves.

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II Peter 5:8

We need to fix our eyes on Christ and not look away.

Along the path, many things will try to detour us from doing just that, but we must determine to do right and depart from evil.

And the last part of verse 17 states: He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.

This path is preserving to those who follow it and commit to it.

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The Enemy of Wisdom (v.

18-19)

Pride is opposed to God and His Word.

Pride says, “I know better because I am better.”

As we said at the beginning of the text, pride is a false assessment of self.

You will find that those who have fallen into destruction have gotten to that point because of pride.

Pride comes before destruction.

Since pride is so easy to fall into, verse 19 tells us a better alternative:

Do you realize your associations can cause you to either remain in humility or to grow in your pride?

It is better to make your acquaintances with those who are lowly, or literally poor, than to association yourself with rich people who may make you look good in front of others, but causes you to ooze with pride and be repudiating in the sight of God.

H.A. Ironside said,

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“[Pride] is the sure precursor of a fall, for the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity cannot permit self-exaltation, on the part of a creature, to go unchecked.

Far better is it to be little in one’s own eyes, and to find happy fellowship with the lowly, than to share the pursuits and treasures of the proud in spirit.”

-H.A. Ironside

Pride in our life will cause us to detour from the highway of wisdom that God wants us on.

So in our lives we need to display humility.

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The Outcome of Wisdom (v.

20)

When we handle something correctly, it produces good.

When we trust in God, it brings happiness or blessing to us.

When we display wisdom in the practicality of life, it’s outcome brings good results.

This reminds us of how important it is to seek God for wisdom in the daily decisions that need to be made.

We never know what things might come up in the day, and it is crucial that we have the mind of God on those matters.

Also, we find an importance of trust.

Happiness is the byproduct of faith.

When we place our confidence in God it helps us to be reassured of the fact that God is in control and that He will work things together for His good and glory.

The wise man will consistently display trust in the Lord.

Goodness and happiness are the outcomes of wisdom displayed.

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The Language of Wisdom (v.