Scripture Introduction
Some pastors call Proverbs, “The Young People’s Book.” Solomon himself notes in the preface that he writes to give “knowledge and discretion to the youth.” Matthew Henry picks up that idea as he pleads with young folk to pay special attention: “Youth is the learning age, catches at instructions, receives impressions, and retains what is then received; it is therefore of great consequence that the mind be then seasoned well, nor can it receive a better tincture than from Solomon’s Proverbs. Youth is also rash, and heady, and inconsiderate; and therefore needs to be broken by the restraints and managed by the rules we find here. And, if young people will but take heed to their ways according to Solomon’s proverbs, they will soon gain the knowledge and discretion of the ancients.”
But this is also for all who need teaching, the “simple” he calls us, whether we are old or young. Matthew Henry: “He that has been sinfully foolish, when he begins to govern himself by the word of God, becomes graciously wise.”
So this is for our youth; and for everyone desperate for wisdom. But lest any imagine they have matured beyond Proverbs, remember that the truly wise recognize they have much to learn. Matthew Henry: “A wise man is sensible of his own defects and still presses forward, that he may increase in learning, may know more and know it better, more clearly and distinctly, and may know better how to use it” (in loc.).
The Greek philosopher, Zeno, lived 300 years before Jesus, but archeologists have found some of his writings. One of his most famous saying is: “The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.” That is good advice; let us listen all the more as we expect God’s wisdom to guide us in the new year.
[Read Proverbs 1.1-7. Pray.]
Introduction
The young boy said, “Daddy, if three frogs are sitting on a limb hanging over a pool, and one frog decides to jump, how many frogs are left on the limb?”
His dad replied, “Two.”
“No,” the son said. “Listen carefully, daddy. There are three frogs and one decides to jump. How many are left?”
Dad says, “Oh, I get it, if one decides to jump, the others would too. So there are none left.”
“No daddy—there are three left on the limb. The first frog only DECIDED to jump.”
Kids jokes are great, aren’t they? I wonder, though. Are some of us still sitting on the limb? Maybe you decided last year to jump in deep with God, but are now surprised that twelve months have passed with less progress than you hoped for. We may need reminding that it does not do any good to “sit-up-and-take-notice,” if we just keep sitting.
But maybe others are liable to leap without looking. We need to listen, to think before we act, to train our minds as well as move our feet. Solomon preaches both.
This is not a dry, doctrinal dissertation, an inspired cure for insomnia. Proverbs preaches the practice of the faith—how to walk on the road, how to bargain at the market, how to live well in a wicked world. But it is not simply a “how to manual.” Proverbs preaches the faith which is to be practiced—and faith requires some scratching of the head and scrutiny of the heart. Both are here—the practice of the faith and the faith which must be practiced.
I find that the end of the year conveniently causes me to examine where I have been and where I am going. Maybe you, like me, feel heavy your failures. Dare we hope that this year could be different? Is there a chance? Is it worth trying? God says, “Yes.” God loves his people, and he wants us to live well, even in this wicked world.
What if we have lost our way? The other day I drove to a part of Cincinnati I had never been to before. My directions said, “Turn left here, go 0.4 miles, turn right, stand up, sit down, spin around, cry for help.” Pretty soon I was in a place where the directions refused to help.
But it was not time to panic. I pulled off the road near an intersection where I could see street signs. I got out a map of Cincinnati, and from the cross-streets, found my location. Then, I searched for Selby Court, and figured out how to get there. I had to do some backtracking, but once I found where I was and where I was going, I could get there.
If we have veered from the path, God asks us to stop, reassess, and begin again on a course to walk happy and holy all the way home. To do so, first note:
1. To Live Well in a Wicked World, We Must Be Changed By Grace (Proverbs 1.7)
Jesus calls it being “born again”; Paul in Ephesians calls it “saved by grace”; Solomon here tells us it is fearing God. Whichever you prefer the point is identical—God must do a supernatural work in our souls before we can hear and live Proverbs.
Even a cursory reading of this book reveals that practical advice pours out. If we were building a house, this book would provide framing instructions. We would turn here for details about roofing and weather-stripping and carpeting and water and sewer pipes.
But regardless of how well our house is assembled, there is no stability without a solid foundation: “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” No one profits from the practical advice in Proverbs unless and until they possess the right attitude toward God.
Jesus used this same analogy when he was here. The wise and the foolish, he noted, may build identical houses; but while the wise pay careful attention to the foundation, the foolish think only of outward appearances. So when the storms come (and they surely will) the house of the foolish man, which was built on sand, crumbles and collapses. Digging down to lay a foundation on solid rock is much harder; but the house will weather every storm.
Now the foundation for living well in a wicked world is to “fear God.” That does not mean to quake in our boots and run from him as we would a Tyrannosaurus Rex. When the Bible uses the phrase, “the fear of the Lord,” it refers to a holy reverence, a desire to please him, and a willingness to ask what God thinks before we do what we want. That requires grace.
Proverbs 10.1 provides an example. It says: “A wise son makes a glad father.” We may think: “No trembling before God is necessary to grasp that. Dads like it when their children are wise.” True enough, but for a child to want to please his father rather than his own flesh—now that requires a work of spiritual transformation.
None of us was born willing to sacrifice self-pleasure to please our father—either the Father in heaven or the one given us on earth. To the natural person, Proverbs 10.1 is foolish: “Yes, it may make my father glad for me to obey him, but that does not make me wise nor does it make me happy.” That is precisely what Paul observes in 1Corinthians 2.14: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
It is the same with the fear of the Lord. Even non-Christians have a concept of fearing God—they see him as a wrathful deity who must be obeyed lest we be cursed. There is, of course, a sliver of truth there. But that incomplete answer does not draw us to God; wrath along only drives us away when we fail.
But note well, the Bible preaches that with God “there is forgiveness, that you may be feared” (Psalm 130.4). And Paul adds in Romans 2.4, that it is God’s kindness which leads us to repentance. In summary, we must believe differently in order to fear God biblically. Here are three other reasons why hearing and living Proverbs requires a work of God’s grace.
First, the wisdom here assumes that another knows best what will make you happy. Few people like to be told what to do. But we like even less being told that we do not know what makes us happy. Yet God claims precisely that: “I tell you what you would want to be and do if sin had not made you a fool.”
A three year old boy was playing outside when he found a snake. His mother screamed: “Drop it and run.” But the boy did not, for he “knew” he had a fun toy. It wasn’t a toy; it was a snake. But refusing to believe his mother knew best, he held tight. Only by new birth convinces us that sin is a deadly snake.
A second reason that hearing and living Proverbs requires God’s grace is because this wisdom assumes we need teaching. The caricature of a male who is lost and refuses to ask directions is well known; but none of us likes admitting that we are simple. Unless the Spirit gives humility, we blame others for our problems, we defend our failures, see magnify other’s flaws, and we despise instruction.
The third reason we must have a work of God’s grace to appreciate Proverbs is that this book places ultimate happiness in the hereafter rather than the here and now. God does want us to live well in a wicked world, but that is not the same as health, wealth, and success.
For example, “a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight” (Proverbs 11.1). So God’s people live well when they are scrupulously honest in business and life; but that will not make us rich. Cheating pays, but some would rather please God than line their pockets.
In 1972, Rick Nelson sang: “But it’s all right now, I learned my lesson well. You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself.” Nelson was correct; you cannot please everyone; but he was wrong too—you do not have to please yourself. Whom will we fear? Whom will we live to please? Unless you are born again, you cannot truthfully and sincerely make it your aim to please God, and you cannot live well in this fallen world.
2. To Live Well in a Wicked World, We Must Be Students of Scripture (Proverbs 1.1-6)
Harry Ironside (well-known pastor in the early 1900s at the Moody Church of Chicago): “It is only the self-confident blusterer who considers himself superior to instruction. Readiness to learn is ever characteristic of the truly wise.”
Someone reminded me that a leader in the church has to be FAT. I liked that! But F. A. T. stands for Faithful, Available and Teachable. Teachable—no one lives well unless they live as students. And the Bible is the perfect teacher.
God’s word teaches us to speak well, to handle business, to act wisely and to give instruction to others. It counsels us so that we can distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil. The Bible protects us from error and guards against sin; it enables you to approve what is excellent and profitable to life and soul. Truth, justice, equity—these insights guide us through difficult paths. Here is the lamp for your feet. Will you take it up and turn it on?
The elders and I are encouraging you to read through the Bible this year. There is no magic to be found in reading the whole Bible in one year as opposed to 6 months or three years. In fact, if the whole is too much for you, then I have a reading guide that will take you through the New Testament, Psalm and Proverbs in 200 days. The particular plan is not as critical as the discipline of committing to being a student of Scripture.
If I offer free iPods, most young folk will clamor for one. Yet few read the Bible every day, marking it for correction and discipline, memorizing it for training in righteousness. Even though the promise of God is that this is better than silver and gold. But we do not believe. We know the right answers; do we practice what we profess?
3. To Live Well in a Wicked World, We Must Practice What We Know (Proverbs 1.5)
The September 30, 2007, London Times told of Indian entrepreneur, Bahadur Chand Gupta, selling tickets on a “flight to nowhere.” He bought a wrecked airplane and books “virtual flights” for those who are too poor to ever purchase a ticked on a real flight. “Captain” Gupta sits at the controls and makes regular announcements as if they were flying: “We will soon be passing through a zone of turbulence”; “We are about to begin our descent into Delhi.” The plane has no lighting and the lavatories are out of order. The air-conditioning is powered by a generator. There is no tail and only one wing. But “passengers” are looked after by a crew of six, including Gupta’s wife, who goes up and down the aisle with her drinks trolley, serving meals in airline trays. Of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to see inside of an airplane. But it is also a parable.
Could we sometimes confuse owning a Bible, listening to sermons, being served communion, and attending church with advancing the kingdom? Surely each is important, even necessary to growth in knowledge. But when our knowledge is not put into practice, we sit on the tarmac.
William Carey made shoes. But while doing so, he also looked at the globe on his desk and prayed for the world’s lost people. Eventually he decided he was called to be a missionary, but when he suggested this at a meeting of ministers, a Dr. Ryland said, “Young man, sit down: when God pleases to covert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine.”
Carey is remembered, among other things for a sermon he preached entitled, “Expect Great Things from God — Attempt Great Things for God.” It was his conviction that God equipped his people to advance his kingdom and complete the great commission. So he went to India to attempt great things.
When he died in 1834, at the age of 73, he had overseen the Scriptures translated and printed into forty languages, he had been a college professor, and founded a college at Serampore. He opened India to missionaries, and pushed through the banning of sati (burning widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands), and he been instrumental in the conversions of many to Christ. We are not Carey; but are we attempting anything great for the kingdom? Or are we sitting on the tarmac?
4. Conclusion
The beginning of a new year prompts people to make resolutions, many of which will involve the pursuit of personal happiness. Unfortunately, what many want cannot be obtained. The self-esteem movement may promise that everyone can reach their dreams, but we cannot.
Steve Salerno, in his book, SHAM: How the Self-help Movement Made America Helpless, writes that he was 13 when he asked: “Dad, are you happy?” To which his dad answered, “Son, a man doesn’t have time to think about that. A man just does what needs doing.”
Mr. Salerno was not quite correct. He was close, though. The more we chase personal pleasure, the more discontent and dissatisfied we will be. True happiness is found in self-forgetfulness, in delight in God, in fearing the Lord. Jesus did that. He laid aside all that was his to take the cross that was rightfully ours. He chose to suffer for the joy set before him. The joy of living out God’s will in a wicked world. Let us believe, and follow him.
