The Wisdom That Fears

In nearly every culture, in nearly every generation, wisdom has been held in high regard. Wisdom has been coveted. Revered. Pursued. Even today, names like Socrates, Confucius, & Gandhi are well-known and still respected today not because they accomplished incredible things, but because they demonstrated deep understanding about life.

The Holy Scriptures, too, agree that wisdom is of great value. Wisdom is to be revered, coveted, and pursued. Of all the books of the Bible, the book of Proverbs drives this home most powerfully. (Pr. 3:13-15) Blessed are those who find wisdom…for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold… Nothing you desire can compare with her.

According to the book of Proverbs, wisdom offers (Pr. 8:18) riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. But wait, there’s more. Wisdom brings (Pr. 2:7) success, (Pr. 1:33) security,(Pr. 19:23) contentment & (Pr. 3:17) pleasant ways of peace. (Pr. 19:23) Wisdom prevents some troubles from visiting your life and (Pr. 14:32) gives you reason to be unafraid of any calamity. (Pr. 10:27-28) Wisdom adds joyful years to your life.

Today, we are shown the first & last step in gaining wisdom is: (Pr. 9:10) the fear of the Lord. That makes gaining wisdom sound more than a little frightening. But fear of the Lord is not like the fear of a monster. It is a healthy respect, a deep awe, an abiding reverence of God’s greatness. The greatness of his kingdom. The greatness of his power. The greatness of his righteousness. And the greatness of his love.

Throughout the book of Proverbs, God makes it clear that he wants us to have this wisdom. In fact, in this very chapter, God gives us an unusual illustration of wisdom and his desire for us to have this precious gift. The Lord depicts wisdom as a woman. She has built her house and prepared a feast. It is marvelous. Delicious meat and fine wine have been set upon her table. She calls out from the highest point in the city to anyone who can hear her: (Pr. 9:5) Come eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. She sends out servants inviting anyone within earshot. She is eager to share her table with total strangers. Even simple fools. Wisdom is generous & gracious.

What’s strange is the lack of response. There is no stampede to her house. We don’t read about a waiting list that is months out like the hottest restaurants. What gives? If wisdom is so desirable, like a delicious meal, why aren’t people pushing and shoving to get a seat? If wisdom is held in such high regard, why aren’t more people taking wisdom up on her offer? The key to unraveling this mystery is found in Proverbs 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.

In this verse there are two kinds of people: mockers and wise people. We might think that mockers and wise people live totally different lives. But what is fascinating here—so wise that it could only come from the Lord himself—is that mockers and wise people need the same thing. They need to be rebuked. Which implies they have both made big mistakes and they are unaware until someone shows them.

Solomon knew this from Israel’s history, from his royal predecessors.

Saul was Israel’s first king. His great foe was the Philistines. Early in his reign, he was preparing to fight the Philistines, as God had commanded him to do. His men were (1 Sm. 13:7) quaking with fear because the Philistines had superior numbers and chariots. Saul was waiting to attack until Samuel, the Lord’s prophet, came and offered a burnt offering. Samuel told Saul to wait seven days, but on the seventh day, Saul became impatient and offered the sacrifices himself. Now to you and me this may not seem like a big deal—but it as a very big deal. When Samuel arrived the first thing he asked was (Sam. 13:12) What have you done, Saul?

Saul explained that his men were scared and that Samuel hadn’t shown up on time—which wasn’t true—and that he was afraid the Philistines would attack first and he didn’t yet have the Lord’s blessing. Samuel didn’t buy it. (1 Sam. 13:13) You have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. When Samuel came to rebuke Saul, Saul offered excuses.

Contrast that with David. David was Israel’s second king and in every way he was superior to Saul. He was a man after the Lord’s own heart. He wrote Psalms and was a courageous warrior. But David was not perfect. One spring night he was overcome with lust for his friend’s wife. He leveraged his power & took her for his very own wife. When he found out that she was pregnant, he did he best to cover his tracks, eventually ordering her husband to be struck down in battle.

Now to you and me, this definitely seems like a big deal. And it was. Such a big deal that God sent his servant, Nathan, to rebuke David. When what David had done was exposed, he confessed his sin without making any excuses. He did not just have a bad night. He was (Ps. 51:5) sinful from birth. He threw himself upon the Lord’s mercy.

Pr. 9:8 Rebuke a mocker and they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. How do you respond to rebuke? When someone points out your sin, do you respond with repentance and gratitude? More often than not we are like mockers. We hate it when people identify our iniquities and hidden sins. When someone points out that we are proud or impatient, a workaholic or lazy, greedy or a malcontent, a worrier or way-too-vain, like Saul, we make excuses. We point fingers. We are under a lot of stress. We had bad parents or examples. Society isn’t supportive of doing things God’s way. I was just having a bad day. We rattle off all the reasons we are not as bad as some others, or better than we used to be, or why what we have done isn’t such a big deal.

Even when we are humbled by a rebuke, we hardly feel love for the one who has rebuked us. Can any of us remember a time we have thanked someone for rebuking us? Even if we have done that, we are not filled with a deep-seated love for our rebuker. We don’t honor & praise them as we would a doctor who saved our life or a fireman who pulled us from a burning building. We do not view them as someone who has (Jude 1:23) snatched our souls from the fires of hell.

The only way that we are ever going to love someone who rebukes us is if we sincerely believe that they are doing so out of love. We must believe that they have come to rebuke us only because they love us.

That’s impossible! our sinful nature snarls. They are only rebuking us to show us up. They are only doing because it makes them look better.

For a moment, I want you to really think about that. Yes, there are some people who get a dopamine-dump in calling out others. But most of us want nothing to do with rebuking someone else. The only reason we would rebuke someone is because we know that their sin is against the Lord. We speak up because we fear the Lord. We know the greatness of his power, his righteousness, his holiness, & his love.

We know God's power, holiness, and love because we know the Holy One. Though he was wise & righteous, without any sin in thought, word, & deed, Jesus added to his learning. He studied the Scriptures. He meditated upon the Word of God and applied them to his life and grew wiser still. He put that wisdom into practice in how he loved his neighbors & enemies.

Jesus lived a life of righteousness and wisdom that we cannot even begin to imagine. What would it even be like to never be wrong—not even once!—throughout your whole life? And then, having always been right, to still never be proud or haughty? What would it be like to know (Jn. 2:25) what was in each person—(Mk. 2:8) to know their secret thoughts and hidden motives—and never use that to embarrass or expose them, never use that as an excuse to dismiss someone as a waste of your time and energy, but only to lovingly rebuke them when they were falling into temptation and sin? Jesus knew how wicked we all are, how selfish and sinful, and yet we never see him driving people away because they were too far gone or too toxic. Our wise & righteous Holy One was always loving. He feared, loved, & trusted in the Lord’s plan of salvation.

And he knew what that meant for him. Though he had always lived wisely, though he had always pursued the paths of righteousness, he would suffer alone. He would be mocked. He would be tormented and tortured and bear the full brunt of the foolishness of this world. Why did he do it? Because our Righteous Rebuker is also our loving Redeemer. The Wise and Holy One had his days cut short, so that we might be rewarded with the eternal joy of heaven. The Lord who loved us enough to die in our place is the same One who loves us enough to also rebukes us whenever we (Pr. 4:14) set a foot on the path of the wicked. He sends people, who have been redeemed by that love, to speak to us on difficult topics and thorny issues of sin that we are not aware of or have become blind to. When we meet that rebuker, may God bless us with the wisdom to love their words of rebuke and love them for doing that difficult work.

More than that, may God equip us for that task of rebuking as well. It is hard to speak up about sin, right? It’s scary. But it is the wise course of action. It demonstrates a deeper fear of the Lord than a fear of mankind. A prime example of this kind of how a deep fear, love, and trust in the Lord can lead you down a scary but wise path, is the Jewish queen Esther. Esther had been selected because of her beauty to replace Queen Vashti, or so it seemed to most people. But shortly after being made Queen of Persia, her people were facing genocide. Her cousin, Mordecai, came to her with a strong exhortation. (Esther 4:14) Speak up now. Let the king know that you are a Jew. Perhaps the Lord has positioned you for this very purpose. It could have cost her her life, but she went. She trusted the Lord to provide deliverance for her and for her people. She feared the Lord more than she feared king Xerxes or losing her own life and Esther found favor from the Lord.

Then what God said was proved to be wise and true. (Pr. 14:32) When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down. Even in death, the righteous seek refuge in God. Even facing death, righteous Queen Esther sought refuge in God. She trusted in God’s kingdom, God’s power, God’s righteousness and God’s love. And she was delivered.

And so are we. We are delivered from sin. We are spared from all kinds of sorrows and troubles. And when calamity comes knocking, we fear, love, and trust in God’s wisdom. We believe (Pr. 24:16) though the righteous fall seven times, they will rise again. We know that, like he did for Esther, God has positioned and equipped each of us for such a time as this. To be a loving, courageous, and wise voice. To be a humble, willing, and joyful servant. To fear, love, and trust the Lord more than anyone, or anything—even our own wisdom and understanding— until we take our last step and our last breath. Then our eyes will be opened and we will know wisdom in full, for we shall meet him face to face. (Pr. 4:7-9) Wisdom is supreme, therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown. Amen.

Related Media

Related Sermons