Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
One step can make a big difference.
One step can be the difference between breaking your ankle and summiting the mountain.
One step can be the difference between falling down the ravine or having the hike of a lifetime.
I remember as a teenager exploring some woods with my cousin.
We were walking through this thick brush, when all of a sudden, I took one step and was buried up to my waste in thick mud.
I couldn’t lift my legs and couldn’t walk.
I had to pull myself out by grabbing hold of a tree, and even then I lost one of my shoes that was sucked down into the depths of Sheol.
It was the difference of one step.
There was one step difference between solid ground and quicksand.
That’s a picture of walking through this world, isn’t it?
This is what scares parents to death for the sake of their kids.
You know that one step can make all of the difference.
One step can inflict a wound so deep, cause a scar so painful at a cost so steep that it will affect them for the rest of their lives.
We live in a treacherous world, don’t we?
We live in a world that makes poison look delicious.
And, the path through this world that leads to life is a narrow one.
This is the point of Proverbs.
Proverbs are for the purpose of allowing us to be surefooted in a treacherous world.
It is given to us so that we might walk carefully and effectively down the narrow path that leads to life, and it’s this very path that the father wants to talk with his son about in .
God’s Word
Read
1) Pay Attention.
v.20 “My son, be attentive to my word” This week, Proverbs has a word that is particularly pressing for our time.
We’re still listening in on a father imparting wisdom to his son, and, now, in chapter 4, he’s calling for him to pay attention to wisdom.
He wants his son to not to just listen for a time, not to just listen casually, not to just remember it generally, but to focus himself upon it.
He wants his son to pay attention to every syllable as though his very life is depending on it.
Shortest Attention Span in History
But, paying attention is easier said than done, isn’t it?
It’s one thing to listen, but it’s quite another to keep on listening.
It’s one thing to sit in a class and robotically write down what the teacher says, and it’s quite another to pay attention.
It’s one thing to have a moment of inspiration and devotion, but then quickly fizzle out, and quite another to listen one day and then continue to be attentive day in and day out.
We live in a time in which our attention spans are the shortest in history.
We have become so gifted at multi-tasking that we feel uncomfortable to be fully engaged in a singular task and even more uncomfortable when all of the noise shuts down simultaneously.
We want to engage in our online friendships in the midst of a lunch with our friends.
We want to check on the news while we are spending time with our wife.
We don’t just go the doctor; we answer email in the waiting room.
We don’t just go to the bathroom; we see what people think of our new pictures while we’re there.
We don’t just wait on the light to turn green; we shop for our kid’s Christmas present while we wait.
According to a recent study performed by Microsoft, the average attention span is down to 8 seconds, that’s 4 seconds less than it was just in 2000, and one second less than a goldfish.
Which means that most of you, didn’t even hear most of what I just said.
Keep Looking at God
v. 20 “incline your ear to my sayings” And yet, that works against wisdom.
A lack of focus is an invitation for foolishness.
That’s what Proverbs is calling us to.
The father says to his son, “incline your ear to my sayings.”
That is, turn your whole body so that your ear is leaned into my voice.
Reorient your life so that you can hear wisdom and understand it.
Proverbs calling us not just to a time of temporary guilt or inspiration in which we say, “I’m gonna wake up earlier and eat healthier and exercise more and be nicer,” only to flame out in 8 seconds.
Wisdom is to look at God and then keep looking at God. It’s to lean into his word day in and day out.
It’s calling you to focus so much on God that the sheer awesomeness of God, the power of God, the wonder of God refocuses you, re-energizes you, re-ignites you day after day.
This is why ‘the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,’ and this is why Solomon says here that we must ‘be attentive to (his) words; and incline (our) ears to (his) sayings.”
Wisdom requires a cycle of focus that begins by focusing on God himself which then spills out into every arena of life.
APPLICATION:
Take Wisdom Captive
v. 21 “Let them (my teachings) not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart” Verse 21 elaborates on what he's saying.
He says that wisdom is like a prisoner that is trying to escape.
And, your job is to build a prison that is so secure, so airtight that it has no chance of breaking out.
This past week, ‘El Chapo’ Guzman was finally convicted as the leading drug lord of the Mexican drug cartel.
Prior to this conviction, El Chapo had escaped twice from maximum security prisons, once through a laundry cart and once through a tunnel.
This is a picture of wisdom for us.
And, all of you that have pursued wisdom know this -- it’s elusive.
It’s slippery.
One moment of complacency, one moment of compromise, one moment of sleepishly going through the motions, and wisdom has escaped and your life is in ruins.
Wisdom must be taken captive, and then Wisdom must be secured.
It must never get out of our sight.
It must be locked down so that we have it when we need it.
APPLICATION: The reason that wisdom must be kept in your sight and within in your heart is that wisdom has to be on time for it to even matter.
Wisdom can’t be late.
When you find yourself at a crossroads or in a crisis, it’s too late to attain wisdom.
When you discover your son’s pornography addiction or your daughter tells you that she’s pregnant, it’s too late for you to attain the wisdom needed.
Your wisdom is late.
When your mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and asks you how God could let this happen, it’s too late to attain wisdom.
You need it right then.
When your children have questions and your co-workers are in crisis or when you’re facing down the barrel of life yourself, you need wisdom to be on time.
And, that means that it must have been stored up over a period of time and kept -- held on to.
We have to take wisdom prisoner so that it will be punctual and portable.
We have to take wisdom prisoner so that it will be available when we need it where we need it.
There are no cheat sheets in life.
This math doesn’t come with a calculator.
You need wisdom that is ready to be put on the spot.
APPLICATION: Pay attention, and then keep on paying attention.
Look at God, and then keep looking at God.
Wisdom Makes Life Better
v. 22 “For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh” Wisdom doesn’t make life easier so much as it makes life better.
Life is still complex.
Life is still filled with ebbs and flows of tears and laughter.
But, although wisdom doesn’t make life easier, it gives you the ability to rightly navigate life’s complexities so that you are strengthened rather than crushed, matured rather than defeated.
This is why he says, “(My words) are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.”
Wisdom keeps life from killing you.
Wisdom replenishes you in a world that depletes you.
It gives you handles on the insurmountable and a grip on the overwhelming.
APPLICATION: Wisdom keeps you full of life.
Wisdom soothes your soul when it ails.
Wisdom calms your mind when it races.
Wisdom defends you from lies.
Wisdom keeps your chin lifted up, your eyes looking forward, and your heart filled with hope.
So, pay attention to wisdom.
Lean in when God’s word is being preached.
Make time for God’s word in your daily life.
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