Wisdom Series

INTRODUCTION

- Week 14 of Core 52 begins a new mini-series entitled Hidden Hope.

- The entire Bible is about Jesus.

- Sometimes, He sits on the surface of the page.

- Other times, Jesus hides between the lines.

- This four-week series explores hidden gems that shine brightest when Jesus is brought to light.

- Today, we begin our series in the book of Proverbs.

- Like Psalms, Proverbs is a book of poetry.

- But Psalms was a book of songs, a book of worship.

- Proverbs is a book of wisdom, a collection of wise sayings and truisms applicable to life.

- Proverbs was written by Solomon, the son of David, heir to his throne and the third king of Israel.

- He has the reputation of being the wisest man ever to live, and for good reason.

- God offered Solomon a blank check, "Ask what I shall give you," God asked Solomon in 2 Chronicles 1.

- Solomon could have asked for anything he wanted: wealth, power, fame, anything.

- What Solomon asked for was wisdom.

- In 2 Chronicles 1:10 Solomon says, "Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great."

- 1 Kings 4:29 tells us that "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore."

- The Book of Proverbs comes out of that wealth of wisdom and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

- Proverbs itself is a master class in wisdom. It tells us how the principles of wisdom can lead to success and mastery in all the major arenas of life, such as personal relationships, business, family life, and community life.

- Solomon opens his course on wisdom by telling us what the true source of wisdom is.

- Our core verse today, Proverbs 1:7, serves not just as an introduction to the book of Proverbs but also to all the Bible poetry books.

- The thought in Proverbs 1:7 is repeated two more times in Proverbs, as well as in Psalms and the Book of Job.

- This is why all the books of poetry in the Bible are together, sometimes called "wisdom literature."

- Commentators often refer to verse 7 as the "motto" of the book.

- A motto is a sentence or phrase adopted to represent the character and substance of a book.

- The thought expressed in verse 7 appears also in 9:10 and 15:33. See also Psa 111:10 and Job 28:28.

- Let's see what God has to say to us concerning the subject of wisdom today.

Proverbs 1:7 (NET 2nd ed.)

7 Fearing the LORD is the beginning of discernment, but fools have despised wisdom and moral instruction.

SERMON

I. The fear of the Lord?

- I put a question mark at the end of this point because the thought seems counterintuitive.

- Isn't God a God of love who wants us to feel warm and fuzzy?

- Yes, to the first part of the question, not necessarily to the second part.

- Why does Solomon tell us that wisdom springs from the fear of God?

- We tend to see fear as a bad thing.

- We dismiss fear as a weakness.

- We don't want to be fearful.

- We try and avoid that ever-tightening knot in the pit of our stomach.

- We want to be fearless.

- We are hard-wired for fear.

- God created us with a healthy sense of fear.

- The problem, like everything else, is that sin has twisted this healthy fear into something harmful and destructive.

- Simply put, we too often fear the wrong things.

- Fear is good when we respond with a fight, flight or freeze response to a genuinely life-threatening situation, but what about when we are overcome by fear of something merely unfamiliar or uncomfortable?

- Fight or flight is not a healthy response then, but that is still what we often do.

- So what does Solomon mean when he speaks of fearing the Lord?

- The fear of the Lord is one of the most repeated phrases in Proverbs.

- 1:29;2:5;9:10;10:27;14:26-27;15:16;15:33;16:6;19:23;22:4;23:17.

- There will be a quiz on that!

- When we think of fearing something, we think of terror.

- For example, if a bear comes running at us, our fear is that we will be caught and become a meal for the bear.

- Maybe you were scared of the dark like I was when I was a child.

- Fear of death troubles many folks.

- The word we translate as FEAR can mean that type of fear; however, context gives insight as to what the word means.