Untitled Sermon

Through Wisdom

Proverbs 9:1-18

Intro

Good morning, everyone! Let’s pray. Father, I pray you would speak your Word through me this morning, through your hypocritical servant to your distracted people. May you be glorified in the proclamation of your Word and of the raising up of your Son. Amen.

Quick show of hands, how many of you have ever walked through Times Square in NYC? I would say it is a sight to behold, but it is so much more immersive than just the lights and the people you see. There are the smells, pleasant or otherwise. There’s also the intangible things. There’s an energy in Times Square that can’t be described, but that’s absolutely felt. There are the sounds, the typical city sounds but also an amazing plethora of languages being spoken.

But there are also sounds you can’t hear. And it’s that noise that actually might be the most deafening. There are so many stores, even more advertisements. There’s an ad almost everywhere! An article on LinkedIn suggested that there were about 900 ads. Each one of those has a message they want to give you. Most of them realize that they are not selling you a product, but an idea. Buy our lipstick, it’ll help you stand out! This Jeep will give you freedom! They might sell you a message of acceptance, “hey baldy, give yourself a chance for the ladies to like you and get our magic formula!” There are so many more out there, we couldn’t possibly cover them all. But take that noise I’m describing, and transport yourself then to our passage today in Proverbs 9.

Lady Wisdom (vs.1-12)

Proverbs is a wonderful book, and I know many of you likely enjoy reading it for its simplicity and its relevance to our lives today. It is also a very theological book, albeit subtly so. This passage today is a great example of that. To set the stage, we have two women being portrayed. Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly. The author sets up a comparison, here in chapter 9, but really throughout much of the first 8 chapters as well.

We all know what wisdom is in the world. We know some wise people and we frequently steer people away from unwise things. But in the Bible, there is a very specific definition for wisdom that doesn’t quite square away with our modern definition. Proverbs 1:7 first states it, saying that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and that statement appears again in our passage in vs.10. Now that’s a place to start! I think many people would beg to differ with that. Many would say that God has nothing to do with wisdom. There are plenty of nonbelievers who are great at parenting, great with money, or give great advice on relationships. So what could God possibly have to do with it? Really, what the objectors are appealing to, is something they can only be given by common grace, the concept that God lets the sunshine fall on the good and the wicked alike. That sunshine does still come from God, however.

And there’s that other word though that might trip us up: fear. Why should we fear the Lord? Isn’t He supposed to love us? Well yes He does, but we should also recognize just how infinitely more powerful God is than us. That reality should cause us to feel a certain level of humility. That humility is important in factual knowledge: recognizing that the world was created by God (however He did it) and not just sprung into existence is an important detail in our researching of the world! Everything flows from God. But it is also true in a more experiential sense. As Proverbs 3:5 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And jumping out of order here, we will note vs.7-9 of our passage today:

The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt. Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you. Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

A mocker…this is not someone who was once mocking, but is characterized by it. It’s a pattern, they mock everything. Sounds a lot like myself as a teen, actually. You ever try to get a teen with a bad attitude to participate in something they think is dumb? If so, you realize the more you try to make them do it, the more they dig their heels in. So Scripture is warning us against these people. Not rebellious teens, but those who are so stuck in their ways they will never hear common sense. Stupid is as stupid does. This might be the person who lies on their taxes to get a bigger return and who only sees it as a harmless way to help themselves. Or it might be the one who sabotages every relationship they’ve ever had because they can only see the world from their perspective. These people are not beyond the reach of Christ, but there is a necessary step that needs to happen before change can happen, and that is simply a need to humble themselves and be willing to hear the truth.

We see that we need humility. We don’t know as much as we think! I am a huge baseball fan, specifically a Detroit Tigers fan. Miguel Cabrera just yesterday got his 3,000th career hit, a feat only a few have accomplished over baseball’s long history. So there have been a number of articles written to celebrate his career, and there was one that interviewed former teammates of Cabrera’s. Nick Castellanos of the Phillies reflected on his time with Miguel, and told an embarrassing story. He said when he was a rookie, Cabrera tried teaching him a few things about hitting. And Castellanos said he refused his help, thinking he had nothing to learn from Cabrera. Imagine that! Telling a guy who is one of only 3 players with a .300 career BA, 500 homers, and 3k hits: I got this, thanks.

So, by trusting God, the expert of all things, we are actually humbling ourselves enough to allow God to teach us. The attitude of the wise is one that contains a humble heart and is willing to learn more. “Rebuke the wise and he will love you…yes, thank you for showing me the best way!” The opposite is one that is unwilling to learn. So that’s sort of our basis for entering this passage. We need to humble ourselves to hear what the Lord is saying and receive it as truth! Let’s look then at what Lady Wisdom is like.

Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars. V.1

She has built her house, and she has done so with 7 pillars. Some may be interested in what those 7 pillars are. We don’t really know, although personally I think there’s got to be a connection to Isaiah 11. But the general point is simple enough: a house with 7 pillars is probably pretty sturdy. You can think to the NT parable of the house built on rock rather than sand to help drive this point home. She will not be easily toppled by the storms of life. So we see wisdom is strong, knowing the contours of life and is well-prepared to navigate. We also see in the next part that she is kind:

She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city: “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says, “Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding. v.2-6

What is Lady Wisdom doing here, and why? She’s getting ready for a meal, some sort of banquet. Meat is being offered, and wine. This is a very upscale feast! She sends out invites, but not specific ones. Who does she invite? The inexperienced, the ones who lack sense. Might be a bad way to get people to come to an event of yours, I wouldn’t recommend it. Showing up would be an embarrassing admission, and yet here is the very foundation for receiving wisdom. By humbling yourself, you open yourself up to wisdom. You can fix the problem of you being inexperienced or foolish.

There’s a generosity here as well that cannot be missed. It is my belief that we see this banquet elsewhere in Scripture. Both Matthew and Luke record a parable about a master setting up a banquet for people to attend. One round of guests refuse to come, so then he invites what are essentially poorer people. When they still don’t have enough people, he invites the lowest of people. The point being that God desires for people to feast with Him, the feast being a metaphor for salvation. The invitation is a call to salvation. And here in the Proverbs, they are called to leave behind their foolishness and their lack of sense. They are called not to be wise, but merely to pursue the way of understanding. There’s no expectation that they immediately understand everything. There’s a clear indication of a process here that is important to note for ourselves:

Some people get the sense that God saved them, but from that point on, they better have their act together or else. Upon salvation, the Holy Spirit regenerates the believer and begins making them more like Christ through what we call sanctification. But there is grace even after salvation, especially so even. Christ intercedes on our behalf and his mercy is more than our sins. This actually allows us to freely live for God. We can seek out His will and not fear that somehow what we just did is going to undo the work of Christ on the cross.

Going back to what Lady Wisdom offers, vs. 10-12 tell us.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

It is through Lady Wisdom that we live a full life. It is through our knowledge of God that leads us to a love of God, which in turn leads us to an abundant life from God. And interestingly, the passage says it is for our own benefit. Too many of us think we are sacrificing for God, and that we do it to make Him happy. That is certainly true in some instances, but by and large, this is more of a “hey dummy, this is good for YOU”. If you refuse to lower yourself, then well…that’s on you.

Our generous God calls all sorts of people, people of every tongue, tribe, nation, and of all sorts of personalities and quirks. He calls these people and offers them the fullest life imaginable. They need only be humble enough to hear Him. It matters not how unwise you were, or how muchof a simpleton you were before, you are invited to the feast.

Lady Folly

Now we get to the foil of Lady Wisdom. Meet Lady Folly. Boy she knows her way around a good time! She’s the life of the party. Or maybe I should say she’s actually the death of the party? Proverbs continues,

Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing. She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths: “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!” But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

The author is drawing a close comparison. Lady Folly is a lot of fun indeed, quite lively herself. And, she’s just as welcoming as Lady Wisdom. She too is calling down from the top of the city. Anyone who is willing to listen is invited to her house. She also invites the simple and the one who lacks sense. However, she does not intend to wisen them up, but to butter them up for slaughter.

There are many ways in which she can lure us in, but the reality is she doesn’t need to convince us. Like those ads in Times Square, she already knows what we want. She just provides it. Our desires, when we are fools, lead us away from God, off of the path of life and into the house of death. We don’t know what we actually want, and so we tend to live for the moment or what we want right now. We live like Epicureans, a group of philosopher’s who believed that life is all about pleasure. If it feels good, it must be good. Well the people in this illustration had a great time at Lady Folly’s house. They just never got to leave.

Jesus, Our Lady Wisdom

So note then, that it is a changing of our desires that is needed. It is not merely choosing Lady Wisdom, but to want to choose her. How does that happen? I think the answer is hinted at in this passage.

This is moderately controversial in evangelical circles, but my hope is that the evidence I am about to present to you is so overwhelming that you cannot believe anyone would believe otherwise. Why, to win an argument you didn’t know was going on? No, so that we may see just how great Jesus is. Because you may have noticed a number of similarities here between Lady Wisdom and Jesus. I don’t think that is a mistake, friends. Jesus is wisdom personified. Read Proverbs 8, which is a detailed description of wisdom, and you’ll see it described in all sorts of ways that apply to Jesus. I have already mentioned the parable of the banquet, but that parable was told by who? Jesus. It’s almost as though Jesus wanted his hearers to catch what he was claiming. By then after all, he had already equated himself with God, so how much harder would it be for them to accept him as Wisdom? And think too, for a moment, why Lady Wisdom says to eat her bread and drink her wine to live? Where have we heard that before? Oh right! Jesus, the bread I give you will feed you for eternity. John 6. There’s also the bread and wine from the Last Supper and now as we practice communion. Its’ everywhere, folks. Jesus’ fingerprints are all over this chapter. He provides life and steers us away from death, offering resurrection into eternal life.

Why does this matter though? I’m glad you asked. I’ll tell you.

Jesus can change our desires. There are two paths presented here. One leads to life, one leads to death and destruction. When we go to Folly, we experience death. But when we come to feast, even as dead men, we experience life again, and life fuller than we ever knew before. That experience illuminates the rest of life for us, because now we know. We have tasted and seen Paradise, redemption, love.