TEXT: Proverbs 8:33
SUBJECT: LEARNING
(Graduation 1999)
Toward the end of Camelot, a depressed King Arthur asks the sage Merlin what to do for sadness. To which Merlin enthusiastically replies. “Learn something new, my boy, learn something new!”
You may not know this, but school was never meant to teach you everything you need to know. It merely equips you. An education is meant to give you all the mental tools you need to dig out the deep treasures of life. Still, you must do the digging.
That’s why they call graduation “commencement.” Commence means begin. The only thing you finished getting were the basic tools. In fact, many of you will do some specialized “tool shopping” in college. Even then, the richness of life itself can only be found by those who put the tools to work.
There are no less than 30 references to “hearing” or “learning” in the Book of Proverbs. Why such a big deal about listening? Because for some reason, unknown to mankind, young adults go through a period of time when they think they know it all. Even some older adults think this. Whoa! Just a minute. Don’t start flying through your defenses. It wasn’t that long ago I was there myself. The good news is that the duration is usually short-lived.
Mark Twain is often quoted for his "insight" on teenagers. The Mississippi folk hero said, "When I was a boy of 14 I thought my father was the most ignorant man in the world, but when I was 24 I was amazed how much the old man had learned in ten years." If you have a teenager...hang in there. If you are a teenager...hang in there. (Today In The World, May 1991, p. 35) IOWJUL91
Once you grow up a bit more, and get a strong dose of being on your own, you might be more eager to listen. The day may actually come when you will want to hear from somebody who has been there before.
Doug Larson said, “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk.”
There’s more to learning than lectures, though. In the highways and byways of everyday, there are new experiences, people, places, ideas, and hardships to teach you the invaluable lessons. These become the key that unlocks the storehouse of wisdom. And what do you see when you look it? What life is all about.
Let me ask you a question. Why is a fool a fool? Because he rejects knowledge. He simply won’t learn. Not because he can’t, but because he isn’t interested. All of life is one big recess to him. He doesn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. He only wants to play. So he becomes a great pretender. Pretending well, he is still just a fool.
Now, a fool may have much education, but he is foolish to have stopped learning. The “smart fool” is a fool, because he doesn’t consider anyone intelligent enough to teach him anymore. So there are two kinds of fools:
1. Those who haven’t learned and won’t.
2. Those who started to learn and stopped.
As you trod the broader roads of learning I hope you will keep a few things in mind:
LEARN SOMETHING FROM EVERYONE.
Someone once said, “Every man is my superior, in that I may learn from him.” You may learn the right way, or a better way. You may learn how not to, or what happens if you do. Some will give you tips, others pointers, others chunks. However, you can learn something from everyone you meet. How to act, or not to act. What to say, or not to say. Some you will want to emulate. Of others you will want to be the opposite.
That reminds me of a story I read: Two men were riding a bicycle built for two and they came to a big steep hill. It took a great deal of struggle for the men to complete what proved to be a very stiff climb. When they got to the top the man in front turned to the other and said, “Boy, that sure was a hard climb.” The fellow in back replied, “Yes, and if I hadn’t kept the brakes on all the way we would certainly have rolled down backwards.” Do you think there is something you could have learned if you were the person in the front?
The things that make great men great aren’t really secrets. They are qualities open to the public, if the public is interested to learn. Neither are the things that failures practice hidden. Learn from them both.
LEARN TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING.
Automaker Henry Ford asked electrical genius Charlie Steinmetz to build the generators for his factory. One day the generators ground to a halt, and the repairmen couldn’t find the problem. So Ford called Steinmetz, who tinkered with the machines for a few hours and then threw the switch. The generators whirred to life—but Ford got a bill for $10,000 from Steinmetz. Flabbergasted, the rather tightfisted car maker inquired why the bill was so high. Steinmetz’s reply: For tinkering with the generators, $10. For knowing where to tinker, $9,990. Ford paid the bill. Being good at something is important. Knowing where to tinker is important.
Once a fellow didn’t know what to be, so he worked on a theological degree. After three years of that he tried medicine. After two years of that he tried law. He thought to be a teacher, but that bored him, so he tried dentistry. He didn’t like looking in people’s mouths too much, so he worked at drafting. Being so tedious, gave him headaches, so he decided to sell cars. He wasn’t very good at that, so…well you’ve got the idea.
Be sure the area you enter is where God wants you. Then get there, and stay there. Get good at it. If you’re an emcee for a three-ring circus, then learn as much about that circus as you can. The world will always be in need of people who know their stuff, who can pass it on.
LEARN TO SEE THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF LIFE.
One who learns all about the world in which he lives but little about the Lord who made that world will have missed the golden gems of life. What makes a rose so beautiful? Its color? Or its shape? Or its fragrance? Or is it God who beautified the rose when he called his son the Rose of Sharon? All about us life’s “little things” point skyward, where Jesus whispers, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). You need to stop and smell the roses. They give you an education that lasts forever.
Study God’s Word to know what His will for you life is. Don’t just know some facts about the Bible get to know the author so you can understand it. There is a story about a teenage boy who was deeply interested in scientific subjects, especially astronomy. So his father bought him a very expensive telescope. Since the young fellow had studied the principles of optics, he found the instrument to be most intriguing. He took it apart, examined the lenses, and made detailed calculations on the distance of its point of focus. The youth became so absorbed in gaining a technical knowledge of the telescope itself that he never got around to looking at the stars. He knew a lot about that fine instrument, but he missed seeing the wonders of the heavens. As Christians, to know all the facts and figures contained in the Bible is not the end for which God has given us this Book. The purpose is that we might see God and know him.
LEARN THAT KNOWLEDGE IN NOT A THRONE.
Paul wrote some blunt words, “Knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). It can cause us to smirk down at those who have less knowledge that we do. That’s why it has been said, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Don’t flaunt. Be kind and gentle, willing to teach with a large measure of humility.
Finally, never think yourself so learned as not to need God’s assistance. He has a way with the wind. Funny thing about it. He can blow you right off that throne. With only a puff.
In the book of 1 Chronicles chapter 16, we find the story of King Asa who was the king of Judah. “Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone form leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah” (1 Chronicles 16:1, NIV). Instead of relying on the Lord, Asa sent gold and silver to BenHadad king of Aram to make a treaty with him to get him to help fight against Baasha. By thinking he didn’t need to rely on the Lord but on his own wisdom it got him in trouble.
Listen to verses 7-9 – “(7) At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa King of Judah and said to him: ‘Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. (8) Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. (9) For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war” (NIV).
Being puffed up and thinking you know everything and don’t need the Lord can get you into trouble.
Asa never did recover from this experience. It made him mad at God and he was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Verse 12b says, “Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.” Knowing and learning is good but don’t ever think you know so much that you don’t need the Lord.
In the distant yore of Camelot, the fabled Merlin was not so wrong. “Learn something new, my boy, learn something new!”
