Proverbs 2:1-22 September 19, 2021

Introduction

The California gold rush of 1848 was one of the most profound moments that transformed American history. When gold was discovered it accelerated the acceptance of California as a state and more than 300,000 men and women and children traveled to California to participate in this rush. Men in particular risk life and limb either traveling for weeks across the United states. Or they traveled for just as long around South America to get to California to get to the gold. This extraordinary gold rush shows us the extent to which men and women are willing to sacrifice and work to find treasure.

The reality is when we have enough clarity on what we could achieve if we pursue something, we are willing to move heaven and earth to get our treasure.

This chapter is going to tell us first of all how to pursue wisdom and then it will show us more of the benefits of wisdom. I hope by the time we are finished here today you and I find ourselves convinced of the treasure we have in the wisdom of God's word.

The Pursuit of Wisdom

Proverbs 2:1–2 ESV

1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

First of all this “son” is told to receive. He's told to have a receptive spirit for what is going to be said.

Are you receptive to God’s Word?

How often do you and I struggle to have a spirit of receptiveness when it comes to God's word? Are we willing and able to receive what God wants to say to us or are we preoccupied by the problems of our day? Are we worried that God is going to tell us to move to Africa?

Remember how Jesus described different people who received God's word as different soils? Some people will hear the words of wisdom or rather the words of God and those words will just bounce off of them.

Luke 8:15 ESV

15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

And yet some people will hear and take God's word to heart. Which will you be?

Secondly, we are told to treasure the commands of wisdom inside of us.

Do you treasure God’s Word inside of you?

Do you memorize God's word?

Are you intentional in making sure you are reminded of his truth? Remember when Jesus was tempted in the desert? When Satan came to tempt Jesus, Jesus responded with memorized scripture. It doesn't matter how accessible our phones are, there will always be a need for you and I to hide God's word in our hearts. We will always have moments when we need to remember his promises and his truth.

Listen well.

Do you show up in church distracted or tired?

Do you show up in church distracted or tired? Sometimes that's obviously unavoidable because of life circumstances. But other times there are quite a few things we can do too clear our mind and hearts to make sure we get a good night's sleep to take time to review what's going to be taught so that we are ready to hear God's word.

We need to be men and women who are willing to humbly receive the word of God.

James 1:21 ESV

21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Searching for treasure

In the TV show American Ninja Warrior men and women compete for the chance to win $1,000,000. This show currently in its 13th season attracts hundreds of people who try out for the chance to compete. It has inspired thousands of men and women around the world to train for the chance to do something great on American Ninja Warrior.

They are passionate about pursuing something they believe in.

When I see these men and women swinging from ropes and scaling walls I know that I won't be able to do that without serious amounts of work and training.

God calls us to have this same drive and pursuit to find the wisdom he holds out.

Proverbs 2:1–2 ESV

1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

He says call out for insight raise your voice for understanding.

Have you cried out to God asking him for wisdom? Have you cried out to God asking to know God? Take time to pursue the wisdom he holds out.

1 Peter 2:2 ESV

2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

Search for wisdom like a treasured possession.

God calls us a search for wisdom as if we're searching for a treasured possession we've lost. Years ago when I worked for McDonald's the battery died in one of my hearing aids. So I wrapped it in a napkin to protect it and put the napkin in my pocket. I came home hours later to find I had an empty pocket. The dread realization settled in and I spent the next several hours digging through trash at McDonald's unsuccessfully looking for my last $2000 hearing aid. I was motivated I was distraught I worked extraordinarily hard to find that hearing aid. God calls us to the same level of pursuit of wisdom.

But we need to not just pursue with zone for the sake of getting smart or wealthy. We need to seek wisdom in Jesus. We need to make sure that our pursuit of wisdom is not just a selfish pursuit of more. But we need to make sure that it is seeking someone greater than Solomon.

Luke 11:31 ESV

31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

Because in Jesus we find true success and fullness.

Colossians 3:1 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

OK now what are some of the many ways that wisdom will bless us?

The blessings of Wisdom 5-22

We will know God on a personal level.

Proverbs 2:5–8 ESV

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.

When we get closer to God and we know him we will receive knowledge and understanding victory and protection. God will guide and guard our lives. Pursuing wisdom leads to a relationship with the most powerful being in the universe.

Wisdom will transform us personally

Proverbs 2:9–11 ESV

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you,

I remember the last time I was sick to my stomach on our Everglades vacation. I spent the night in the National Park restroom in the middle of the Everglades swearing I would never eat meat again and always eat healthy. I had a personal transformation for that night. A resolution that I would eat healthier in the future. Have you ever had that when you've had stomach issues. You find a temporary transformation where you innately want to eat healthier. Sometimes as we become an altar we have changes in our taste where we discover that we actually like some of the healthy things our parents tried to force on us when we were kids :)

Wisdom offers us the opportunity for us to innately become different. To be able to understand without having to add a million rules to our lives.

This kind of internal difference exactly what our children need. But they don't just need Bible stories. We need to train our children in discernment. They don't just need a list of rules, they need understanding and wisdom. The final verse of this passage:

discretion will watch over you and understanding will guard you. If we can pass wisdom onto our children. If we can teach them to pursue wisdom …. to pursue a relationship with God. … they will find discretion and understanding guarding them.

Wisdom protects us from evil people.

one of the most important lessons we need to pass on to our children and to remember ourselves is that the world has dangerous men and women in it. Wisdom delivers us and protects us and our children from dangerous men and women. And this is significant because the scariest thing about dangerous people as we don't always know who they are and when we will be affected by them.

Proverbs 2:12–15 ESV

12 delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, 13 who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, 14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, 15 men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

Have you ever heard someone defend their child saying after their child has done something wrong... They say my child is a good kid... He just hung out with a bad crowd.

These verses describe the bad crowd, the bad Facebook pages, it's a bad friends that we need to avoid and our children need to avoid. It's very hard to spend a lot of time with friends who delight in evil and sin and not allow that to rub off on us.

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Wisdom delivers us from dangerous women (and men)

The reality is that sexual sin is a massive problem among Christians and the world at large. Whether it's struggling with lust, pornography, and even adultery. Many Christians ask themselves the question why can't I beat this battle? Why can't I win this war? Part of the answer is found in seeing temptation as God sees it.

Proverbs 2:16–19 ESV

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, 17 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; 18 for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; 19 none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.

We need to know how sin tempts us.

First of all this passage points out to us how the immoral woman as this passage portrays temptation... how this woman tempts us. It describes her as someone with smooth words who has forgotten the covenant of God and her husband. Temptation knows Josh how to stroke our ego. It knows how to make us feel good and compliment us. And knows how to push all the right buttons so we find the satisfaction the meaning the purpose we are looking for.

And yet the whole way through temptation, the adulterous woman or man. Is intentionally or not laying a net for the feet of the person being tempted.

Proverbs 29:5 ESV

5 A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

We need to see sinful people as they really are.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could wear a pair of glasses that allows us to see a woman who is trying to tempt us as hideously ugly. To see magazine covers or images online as old which is. Proverbs equips us to see temptation in its true form. it equips us to see the ugly result of sin.

A woman who leaves her spouse won't be faithful to someone else.

A woman who forgets her relationship with God for the sake of momentary pleasure is not someone with whom you can build a life.

Because the end result of sin is death.

Social media normalizes sinful behaviors

The danger of Tik-Tok challenges.

The normalizing of abnormal/sinful behaviors.

We need to guard how much time we spend online and especially how much time our children spend online. Because one of the devastating consequences of excessive social media use is that it normalizes sinful behavior. And we have a pandemic of young men and women seen people living simple lifestyles apart from God. And when they look on social media and see the others celebrating sin they only see a small momentary part of that lifestyle. And they miss the deathly consequences of that sin.

We need to guard ourselves. The secret to living a healthy and whole Christian life is not some trick we learned online. The secret is found in the dusty old pages of your Bible.

We need to remember the ugly consequences of sin.

Remember the sirens of Greek mythology? These mythological creatures were beautiful women who had sing songs crying out to sailors. And when the sailor steered to where the beautiful women sang their ships crashed on hidden reefs and the sirens would eat them.

Many unwitting men and women have found their lives and families destroyed and consumed by a relationship with an adulterous man or woman.

When we see in remember an adulteress man or woman as they really are then they ceased to be a temptation to us.

Wisdom keeps us safe.

Proverbs 2:20–21 ESV

20 So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it,

But if we pursue wisdom. We will find hope and life.

You know in Greek mythology there were a few people who got past the island of the sirens. Odysseus Made his way past the island by forcing his sailors to put beeswax plugging up their ears and tying himself to the mast of the boat so that he wouldn't force them to turn aside. And they were able to get past the sirens because they didn't hear the music of the sirens.

Some people try to resist temptation by not seeing it.

And that is part of a great strategy.

But there's another Greek myth of how another ship got past the island of the sirens. Orpheus On his ship play music that was more beautiful than the sirens. He played it loud. And it drowned out the call of the sirens and that ship got past as well.

The book of proverbs not only gives a negative approach to temptation. That negative approach is to avoid it like the plague. Run away from sin. But it also shows us that avoiding temptation also involves having them more beautiful song to listen to. And in the end lady wisdom holds out more beauty then the folly of sin.

The best approach to temptation is both avoiding it and focusing on something more beautiful.

God calls us to pursue him pursue the goodness of a life spent following him.

Proverbs 2:20 ESV

20 So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Conclusion

Seek wisdom like treasure.

Memorize and meditate on God’s Word.

Prepare yourself on Sundays to hear from God’s Word.

Wisdom will allow you to know God.

Wisdom will transform you.

Wisdom will protect you from evil people.

Wisdom will keep us safe.