DUMB AS A ROCK OR SMART AS A BRICK

DUMB AS A ROCK OR SMART AS A BRICK Prov. 8:1-4; 22-31 June 12, 2011 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction You’ve heard the expression dumb as a rock. There are some interesting variations: “his chimney is clogged” – “her sewing machine is out of thread” – “the chesses has slid off her cracker” – “his belt doesn’t go through all the loops: - “her wheel is spinning, but the hamster died” – “his is an intellect rivaled only by a garden tool” – “in the pinball game of life, her flippers are a little farther apart than most.” Sometimes people use the expression dumb as a brick. But some people are working hard to fix the brick. Professor Chang Liu at the U of I is messing around with this 10,000-year old adaptation of mud and water. He and others are filled bricks to be used in buildings with electronic sensors that can monitor the structural health of a building. The idea is to help with routine maintenance and safety during emergencies. With terrorism and bombings, tornadoes and earthquakes, it seems prudent that firefighters might be able to approach a building with the aid of a reading of the structure’s integrity. Smart bricks can be laid into a wall like any other, but this one would contain devices that can track temperature changes and measure vibrations and movement. The data can be sent directly to a computer, and along with read outs from other sections of the unit workers can get a real-time picture of the strength and reliability of the building. This morning with the help of the book of Proverbs, God’s gold mine of wisdom, let’s see if we can lay a few smart bricks in our hearts and minds. Wisdom’s Cry – Proverbs 8:1-7 Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand: beside the gates leading into the city, at the entrances, she cries aloud: To you, O men, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding. Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. Wisdom is given a voice here in verses 4-7. She is personified as a feminine individual—much as we do ships and countries and noble ideals. We often make our grandest ideas person-like in order to make a point more emphatically. For example, “Democracy welcomes debate” or “Freedom demands restraint.” The precise term for it is linguistic hypostasis—when any certain characteristic of God is personified so that it may “speak.” For example, the Spirit of God is “grieved” – the holiness of God is offended – the finger of God heals – His compassion is aroused. In this case, the wisdom of God is crying out to all of mankind, in the general sense (vs. 4), but in a specific sense, to the simple, or the na?e (vs. 5). God’s wisdom is pictured with human-like attributes calling out to men to listen and obey God. In chapter 1 of Proverbs, wisdom is a woman crying in the streets, raising her voice in the public square. She begs for the people to respond to her rebuke, mocking and warning those who reject her that disaster will sweep over them like a whirlwind, and distress and troubles will overwhelm them. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their [own] schemes. Wisdom’s Message – Proverbs 8:22-31 What is wisdom’s message? There are whole lists of things wisdom claims in chapter 8, including that she is the one who leads godly people to hate evil, to be prudent. In the making of laws by kings and governments she is operative. But I would like to focus on just one of the many works of wisdom. We’ll find it in verses 22-31, concerning the creation. First: Listen to me! God sends out His message of wisdom and urges men and women to listen and obey. Secondly, wisdom insists she is old. (When is the last time you heard a female brag about her age?) In fact, wisdom predates the created order we have around us. Verses 22-26 – The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. The third thing that wisdom declares is that she is intrinsically connected with the created order. Wisdom actually lays claim to being the director and arranger, the artist and organizer of creation! Verse 30 – Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. The wisdom of God designed the entire cosmos! This opens a whole arena of wonder and worship for us. In one sense, wisdom personified is laying claim to being the architect of the universe. She even says she took delight every day at what was made. Genesis 1 says that each day, after God had created another dimension of His universe, He stood back and said, “It is good!” Wisdom was right there, alongside God (metaphorically speaking) and dancing with joy at the beauty and wonder and order of creation! Okay, so we know that wisdom is pictured as a woman, we know how old wisdom is; we know wisdom was there in the beginning and was involved in creation; but what IS wisdom? Salesperson : She's a beaut, isn't she? You: Yeah, but how much? Salesperson: And the power of that engine is just awesome! You: Yeah, but how much? Salesperson: And did you notice how roomy it is? You: Yeah, but how much? Salesperson: How about a drive? She handles like a dream. You: That's okay. How much? Salesperson: Well then, I guess you want to know how much it costs.You: Yeah, how much? Salesperson: I don't know. I'll have to ask my manager and he is out for the day. Can you come back tomorrow? ______________ You: What is wisdom? Wisdom: I was created at the beginning of the world. You: That's nice, but what is wisdom? Wisdom: I was here before the waters. You: Okay, but what is wisdom? Wisdom: I was here before the mountains and hills took shape. You: Good for you, but what is wisdom? Wisdom: I was present at the formation of the heavens and at the groundbreaking ceremony of the earth. You: I'm happy for you, but all I really want to know is WHAT IS WISDOM? Wisdom: When you find me you will be very happy. We have to understand that understanding these things about wisdom IS wisdom. It was Wisdom there at the beginning giving shape to all things created—it wasn’t blind chance! It was God’s wisdom making everything that was made—it wasn’t an evolutionary process, from goo to you by way of the zoo! It was the wisdom of God planning, calculating and making all things work together. It most certainly did not just happen! Here is the plan of God when He created the universe with all wisdom—He wanted to show His nature through what He made, so that for all earthly time everyone who lives could look at the created order and thereby come to know about Him. His desire was to glorify Himself, to reveal His nature through what He made, to help us to know Him. He made it for His enjoyment, for our enjoyment, and that we would see Him through it all. Ever since then, every craftsman, musician, writer and artist, every sculptor who ever sculpted and every statesman who’s ever spoken, every painter who’s ever put paint to canvas and every parent who’s ever raised a child, every engineer, every teacher or preacher, every builder and miller, every landscaper and bread maker—they have all come to know something of the glory of God when they stepped back from their work and said, It is good! You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. (Rev. 4:11) Turn in your New Testament to Romans 1. Because mankind refused to accept the wisdom of God revealed in creation, God is doing exactly what was promised by Madame Wisdom in Proverbs 1, He is even now beginning to reveal His wrath and judgment against their folly. He warned us that He would have the last laugh when those who refused to listen to wisdom—He was not shy to call them fools—would come to the end of their folly. Romans 1:18 –The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, [Prov. 1:6 – Listen, I have worthy things to say . . . My mouth speaks what is true for my lips detest wickedness}. since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood by what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for image made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up . . . Here are just two examples I shared in today’s Healthy Thirty devotion on line: Rattlesnakes have a sensor in their cheeks which picks up infrared radiation or heat radiation given off by warm-blooded animals. In darkness, a rattlesnake can see its prey because it can see the heat radiation coming from the animal. The ground squirrel, when confronted by rattlesnakes, moves his tail up and down in a wild erratic motion called flagging. The tail heats up giving off larger and larger amounts of infrared radiation. This flooding of the rattlesnake's infrared sensor is so complete that the snake will usually give up and crawl away. If a gopher snake that does not have the infrared sensing ability approaches the squirrel, the squirrel's tail does not heat up. Only when the squirrel is endangered by snakes with infrared ability does the tail heat up to disrupt the infrared signals. Now you know why there are more ground squirrels than there are fat snakes! Every living cell of the body has one trillion bits of informational data in it. This is comparable to the amount of information in ten thousand encyclopedia books! The body has about three trillion nerve cells that are all integrated by the brain. The brain has thirty billion working components. Every day, the heart beats 100,000 times and pumps 2,000 gallons of life saving blood. The kidneys have 40 miles of tubing which cleans 500 gallons of blood a day. There are approximately 131 million photoreceptors in the eyes enabling us to see. There are about 24,000 hair-like cells in the inner ear that respond to sound and transform the sound into nerve impulses. Our body has 639 muscles that work together. The bone cells of the body are very unique and also amazing. There is no other material on earth (e.g., wood, steel, aluminum) that can do as good a job as our bones do for us. Our bones only account for one fifth of our body weight, yet they support the entire frame of the body. Here’s what the Bible says: if you won’t accept the plain truth about God as Creator by just observing it and using your noodle, then you’re as dumb as a rock. Oh, You may have an engineering degree and know a lot of facts, but if you can’t put them together well enough to understand even a little of the big picture—well, the Bible says you’re a fool. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. . . For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. (1 Cor.1:20-23)     [ Back to Top]