WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 So we have a new series that we start tonight on the book of Proverbs and we are going through it 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.000 topically because that's really the only way you can go through the book of Proverbs. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:18.000 The first section of Proverbs chapter 1-9 is attributed to Solomon. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:23.000 And the very first command in the book of Proverbs is, 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:30.000 listen my son to your father and mother's instruction. And because of that, 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:39.000 most Old Testament scholars think that the book of Proverbs was written originally as basically a textbook for boys. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:50.000 Proverbs was probably a book for boys and particularly royal boys in the courtroom that were being prepared to rule in Israel. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:57.000 So that's why if you read through the book of Proverbs during this series you'll see that almost every address is to a son. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:03.000 Here, oh son, listen my son, it's a book for boys that are growing up. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:11.000 And it participates in a wider genre in the ancient Near East which is the time of the Old Testament called wisdom, 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:17.000 the genre of wisdom. Every single culture had wisdom and has produced wisdom literature. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:24.000 And that's because when you sent your kids to school in the ancient Near East, 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:32.000 it wasn't so much a focus of learning the facts, of studying natural science and learning about gravity 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:37.000 or memorizing like the US presidents or something. Not that you would probably do that here, 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:45.000 but it was more about formation, about being shaped to become someone, a type of person. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:50.000 And so this book was adopted into the Old Testament canon and it's for everybody, 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:59.000 but it was originally written for the formation of young boys to become wise and just men that were especially going to be leaders. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:04.000 And just to give you a layout of kind of the other parts of the wisdom literature in the Old Testament, 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 they also think a lot of times that the Song of Songs was written more towards girls. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:15.000 It's a book that's addressed to young girls. And then you have illustrations in wisdom literature 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.000 of what it looks like to be a wise man or a wise woman. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:26.000 So the book of Daniel, the book of Job, what it looks like to be a wise man in the midst of suffering, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.000 the book of Esther and Ruth, these are illustrations of what it looks like to be a wise woman. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.000 So you can see kind of the layout of the whole of wisdom literature. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.000 But at the center of all the wisdom literature is this question. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:45.000 What does it mean to do life well across all circumstances? 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 What does it mean to live life well across all circumstances? 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:55.000 And the answer in the book of Proverbs is to live life well in any circumstance is called wisdom. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.000 Wisdom is central to the book of Proverbs. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.000 And so the question is, what's wisdom? 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:05.000 That's the question we have to answer. And so tonight's introductory for the whole series, 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:11.000 we're trying to basically define wisdom so we can have a good fundamental definition 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:14.000 that we can work with through our whole series in the book of Proverbs. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.000 So we're going to look at three things tonight. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.000 First, the weightiness of wisdom, and then we'll look at the definition of wisdom, 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:25.000 and then the first and last wisdom. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:31.000 Okay, so first, the weightiness of wisdom will be very brief in the first point. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:39.000 Chapter 8 is the climax of the part of the book that's attributed to Solomon, chapters 1-9. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:44.000 And the basic idea in chapter 8 is very simple. Get wisdom. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.000 You see it from the very outset of the passage, you need wisdom. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.000 That's basically what the passage is saying. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:53.000 If you look at the very beginning, does not wisdom call out to you? 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000 Does not wisdom beckon you? 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:00.000 And then there's a number of metaphors that the author uses here to show you how much, 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.000 how important wisdom is, how much you need wisdom. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:08.000 Verse 2, on the heights beside the way at the crossroads, 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:11.000 and then verse 3, besides the gate in front of the town, 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:15.000 and at the entrance of the portal or city, she cries aloud. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.000 Now these metaphors are progressive, and they're a picture of life. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:24.000 And it says that it starts at the high places, which is basically just a mountain top. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:28.000 So it's saying, first you're standing on the mountain top, 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.000 and then you're going down and you're approaching crossroads, 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.000 and making decisions about which way to go, 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 and then you're coming to the front of a city, and then you're entering through its portal. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.000 So you see the picture that's being presented in poetry here. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:47.000 It's of a journey from a mountain top through a valley down into a city, right? 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:53.000 And at every point along the way, the picture is that you're supposed to see how much you need wisdom. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000 When you're standing on the mountain top, you look out at the whole of your journey, 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.000 the whole of your life, and you see that the only way you're going to get to the city 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:03.000 is if you can map out the navigational route to get there. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.000 When you come to the crossroads, the point is that it's saying, 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.000 you've got to make a decision, which way are you going to go? 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:12.000 And then when you come to the gate, or the portal of a city, 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:19.000 the portal, the gate, the entrance of a city in the ancient Near East is not like entering into a city today 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:22.000 where you just drive in from the main highway or whatever. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:23.000 That's not at all. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:28.000 The gate of the city was the courtroom in the ancient Near East. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.000 There are guards there. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.000 There are judges that stand there every day. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:39.000 And it's by your words and by your actions that you're determined whether or not you're able to enter the city, 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:41.000 or whether you're excluded. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:46.000 At every point in life, in other words, whether you're on top of the mountain at the crossroads 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.000 or entering the gates, you need wisdom. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.000 Wisdom calls out to you. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.000 Wisdom beckons you. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 It's so important. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.000 And the rest of the chapter ups the ante on that. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 If you look down at verse 10, 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.000 take my instruction, take the instruction of wisdom, 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:05.000 instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold, 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.000 for wisdom is better than jewels. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.000 That word is more precisely rubies. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:14.000 And all that you may desire cannot compare with her. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.000 This is another progression, a metaphorical progression. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:18.000 Silver. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.000 Silver is really valuable. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.000 But choice gold, gold that's been purified, right? 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:25.000 It's more valuable. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.000 It's still today worth much more than silver. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.000 And even more than choice gold, the literal word there is rubies. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.000 And I think rubies are still worth more than gold today. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.000 But somebody might correct me on that afterwards. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 I'm not sure, but I think so. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.000 In other words, the point is that it's progressive. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:43.000 It's not just silver. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:45.000 It's not just silver that wisdom is better than it. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:46.000 It's not just gold. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.000 It's rubies. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:48.000 No, it's more than rubies. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.000 It's anything you desire. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.000 Wisdom is better than that. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.000 Why? 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:55.000 Because the picture that we're being given is this. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.000 The silver, the gold, the rubies, 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.000 it simply is a metaphor for any of the good circumstances 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:02.000 you have in life. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:07.000 Wealth, beauty, cultural pedigree, all of these types of things. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.000 And the reason wisdom is so much better than those things 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.000 is because they come and go. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:15.000 They are merely circumstantial. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:20.000 Wisdom is something that remains no matter what the circumstance is. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:23.000 In other words, what he's saying to us is that wisdom 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:27.000 is the ability to flourish in all circumstances, 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.000 no matter how bad they get. 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:31.000 Wisdom is better than gold. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:32.000 It's better than wealth. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:33.000 It's better than beauty. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.000 It's better than intelligence. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.000 It's better than cultural pedigree, 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.000 because it doesn't leave you, in other words. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Wisdom remains. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.000 Wisdom is there no matter where you are in life. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:44.000 So that's the first thing. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.000 The importance or the weightiness of wisdom. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:48.000 You need it. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.000 It's more important than anything else in life. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.000 That's what he's saying. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.000 Secondly, then, what is it? 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.000 The definition of wisdom. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:03.000 So if you take a broad survey of the book of Proverbs, 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.000 there are a couple things you can figure out, 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.000 because a lot of the words to describe wisdom 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.000 are completely based in synonyms. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.000 Words like wisdom is compared to instruction, 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:16.000 knowledge, understanding, things like that. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.000 These are all synonyms for the word wisdom. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.000 So you have to do a little hunting 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.000 to figure out exactly what the synonyms are trying to tell you 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.000 what wisdom means. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:29.000 But a couple of the things that are definitive 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.000 across the book of Proverbs. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:34.000 First, wisdom is not knowledge 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.000 in the sense of knowing facts. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.000 So wisdom is not about knowing information. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.000 And what that means also is that wisdom 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:46.000 is not about intelligence. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:51.000 Wisdom has nothing to do with your IQ, 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:54.000 or how much you know about a particular subject. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.000 For instance, in Proverbs 30, 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.000 Proverbs 30 attributes wisdom to four animals. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.000 This is what it says. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.000 There are four things on the earth that are small, 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.000 but unusually wise. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:09.000 Ants. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.000 They aren't strong, but they store up food all summer long. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.000 Rock badgers. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:16.000 Rock badgers. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.000 Whatever those are. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 They aren't powerful, but they make their homes 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:23.000 among the rocks. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:25.000 They have no king... 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.000 sorry, locusts. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:29.000 They have no king, but they march in formation. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:31.000 Lizards. They're easy to catch, 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:34.000 but you can find them on all of the king's palaces. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.000 Okay? 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 Now, we're not going to break each of those down 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.000 and figure out what they're trying to say about each one, 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.000 but the point is that animals are not intelligent. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.000 Right? 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:48.000 Animals are much less intelligent than human beings are. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.000 Ants are not particularly intelligent creatures. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.000 In other words, if you give an ant an IQ test, 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.000 it will not score well. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:58.000 The point is that wisdom is not about intelligence. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.000 These animals aren't intelligent, 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.000 but they're wise. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.000 They're wise. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 You know this because, look, everybody knows people 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.000 that are remarkably intelligent 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.000 or have immense beauty, 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:17.000 the ultimate cultural pedigree from the right families, 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:20.000 all the attributes that you could possibly want in life, 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.000 all the circumstances that you could possibly want, 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.000 and their lives are crumbling before them. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.000 And we all know people on the reciprocal side 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:33.000 that aren't particularly smart people. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:35.000 They don't have cultural pedigree. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.000 They aren't the most beautiful in the world, 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.000 and they're flourishing, 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:41.000 and they have peace, 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.000 and they're joyful, they're happy, 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.000 and they're doing well in life. Right? 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:47.000 Wisdom. What's the difference? 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.000 The difference is wisdom. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:53.000 Wisdom is directly attributed in the Book of Proverbs 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.000 to what it means to flourish, 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000 and it's not about intelligence. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.000 The second thing that wisdom is not about, 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:03.000 you can kind of see across the whole scope of the Book of Proverbs, 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:08.000 is wisdom is not about merely obeying moral commands. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.000 Wisdom isn't merely, in other words, 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:13.000 wisdom isn't merely about rule following. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:18.000 It's, in other words, wise people, of course, 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.000 obey the moral law. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.000 That's very clear throughout the Book of Proverbs. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:24.000 Wise people are committed to the moral law, 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.000 to the Ten Commandments, 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.000 to the law that God gave Israel in the Old Testament, 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.000 to doing what is righteous and what is good. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.000 That's fundamental to what it means to be wise, 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.000 but wisdom is not merely about obeying the rules, 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:38.000 about following the moral commands, 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.000 like the Ten Commandments. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.000 That in itself is not wisdom. Why not? 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.000 Because, and here's the definition, 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:49.000 wisdom is the ability to do what is good and right 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.000 when there aren't rules to tell you what to do. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:57.000 You see, wisdom is the ability to do what is good and what is right 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.000 when there are no rules telling you what to do, 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.000 which is almost always in your life. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.000 For instance, if you find yourself asking, 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:10.000 should I murder this guy? 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:13.000 Well, there's a simple way to answer that question. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.000 You take the moral law, the Ten Commandments, 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.000 you find out which command says, 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.000 thou shall not murder, 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.000 and then you apply it to your situation, 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.000 and the answer comes out, no. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.000 You shouldn't murder, right? 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.000 Because you have a clear law that tells you not to. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:32.000 It's very obvious, right, when it comes to something like that. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.000 But, ah, wait a minute. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.000 Should you marry this guy? 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:39.000 Should you marry this gal? 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.000 Should you ask this guy out? 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.000 Should you ask this girl out? 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.000 Should you buy X or Y mortgage? 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:51.000 Should you buy a car or continue to just walk across the city? 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:54.000 Should you join this church or that church? 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:56.000 Should you change careers? 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:57.000 What is your calling? 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.000 What's your vocation? 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.000 What time should you go to bed at night? 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:04.000 What time should you get up in the morning? 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.000 What kind of education should your kids have? 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:09.000 What school should they go to? 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:12.000 Should you move your family closer to your relatives? 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.000 Or should you stay farther away from your relatives? 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.000 Should you buy this dress? 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.000 Should you buy that shirt? 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.000 Or not? 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:26.000 Should I tell my spouse what my best friend told me 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:30.000 to keep an utmost secret and not tell anyone? 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.000 Should I visit this person in the hospital? 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.000 Should I wait? 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.000 Right, you see? 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.000 There are rules for this stuff. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:41.000 That's not how ethics works. 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.000 That's not how Christian living or living any life works. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:47.000 There aren't moral prescriptions to give you an answer 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.000 to which mortgage you should choose. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000 There aren't ethical guidelines for that 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.000 that tell you exactly what to do in every situation. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:01.000 That's why one of the best books on Proverbs 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.000 is by a guy named Trimper Longman. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.000 And the way he defines wisdom is this. 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:10.000 Wisdom is the skill of living life well. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.000 In other words, he says, 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:18.000 it's the skill of knowing how and knowing how to do it when. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.000 The way I would define it is like this. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.000 Wisdom is the skill of doing life well 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.000 without having rules for every situation. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:28.000 You see? 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.000 One of the examples of this recently, 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.000 four or five years ago, a book came out. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.000 Some of you might have seen it when Helping Hurts. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.000 This book had mixed reviews. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.000 I'm not advocating for its message. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:42.000 But the point of the book was basically 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.000 just a very logical deduction, right? 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.000 Should Christians help people who are impoverished, 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:53.000 who are suffering in bad situations of poverty? 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:56.000 Answer? Yes, right? 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.000 We have a rule for that. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.000 God has told us to do that, right? 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000 Now, their point is, ah, but, wait a minute. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:08.000 And they recount numerous examples in the modern world 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:11.000 of how Christians have tried to help poor people, 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.000 but made the situation worse. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.000 Why? Because they didn't know how to help them. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.000 You see? They knew for sure I should help them. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.000 That's what's righteous. That's what's good. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.000 That's the moral law. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:25.000 But they didn't know exactly how to do it. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:27.000 And so they weren't aware of the policies 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000 in their current government. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.000 They didn't know how the person had become poor. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.000 They didn't know the background of what makes people poor. 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:36.000 So they weren't able to pull them out of a situation permanently. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.000 And it ended up putting them into worse-off shape, right? 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:41.000 What's the difference? 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:44.000 One, the first person knows the moral law. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.000 I should help the person who's poor. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.000 The second person not only says, 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.000 yes, I will obey the moral law. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:55.000 The second person thinks carefully about how, you see? 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.000 Because there aren't rules for that. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.000 The second person thinks wisely. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.000 You see the difference. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:04.000 And so Old Testament scholars, 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.000 they talk about how the idea of wisdom, 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.000 which is the little Hebrew word, hokema, 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.000 is all over the Old Testament. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:14.000 And it applies to all sorts of things, 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.000 basically just having the meaning of skill. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:20.000 So in the Old Testament, you can find hokema, 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.000 wise blacksmiths, okay? 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.000 You can find wise hunters, 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.000 wise warriors, wise kings, wise parents, 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.000 wise moms, wise dads, wise lawyers, wise prophets. 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:35.000 Wisdom can be the skill, 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.000 is the skill of doing anything in life. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.000 Any profession, any activity, any choice, 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:45.000 a conversation, everything can be done wisely or foolishly. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:47.000 You see? 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.000 Wisdom, in other words, is more than rule following. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.000 And you guys have seen this, you know, 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:00.000 when we just simply try to follow the rules 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.000 or obey the commands without wisdom, 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:06.000 that's a person that is very principled, right? 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:10.000 But lacks a particular type of skill or particular wisdom. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.000 We think of them as sticklers for morality 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.000 without actually knowing how to apply the moral order, 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.000 how to obey. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.000 One of the great illustrations of this in modern literature. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:25.000 And if you haven't read these books or seen these movies, 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.000 you'll get what I'm saying, regardless, 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:32.000 is the most villainous, wicked character of Harry Potter. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.000 It's been three months since I used the Harry Potter illustration, 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:37.000 so my time has come again. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:40.000 The most villainous and wicked character in Harry Potter, 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.000 if you know those stories, is not Voldemort. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.000 He's much more interesting than this. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:48.000 The most wicked character is Dolores Umbridge, 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.000 if you've seen the book, or read the books or seen the movies. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.000 Dolores Umbridge is a lady that wears all pink, 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:58.000 and she has lots of cats, not that those are the bad things about her. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:00.000 That's totally acceptable. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.000 That's not what's bad about her. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.000 What's bad about her is that she becomes the headmistress 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.000 of the school that all the children go to, 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.000 and she is an absolute stickler for the rules. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:15.000 She knows the rulebook of the Ministry of Magic inside and out, 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:17.000 like no other person ever born, 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:21.000 and she applies those rules to the nth degree, 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.000 seeking the utmost penalty for every single person 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.000 that falls under her territory. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.000 Any rule you break, she seeks you out, she hunts you down, 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.000 and she crushes you, because that's justice, right? 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:36.000 Well, in the books, Rowling is painting a picture, 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.000 a difference between her and between Albus Dumbledore, 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:41.000 the former headmaster. 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:44.000 Albus, he loves the rules too. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.000 He loves righteousness. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.000 He loves the moral order. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.000 He loves the law. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.000 He seeks to obey it. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.000 He wants his kids to obey it at the school, 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.000 but what he does when people violate it is he knows 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:01.000 that sometimes the best answer is to show mercy, 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:07.000 is to enact the rulebook by showing kindness to the perpetrator, 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:11.000 because only then could they be restored, you see? 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:13.000 There's a difference. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:18.000 Following the rules and knowing how to apply them, 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.000 knowing when to apply them, 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.000 was skill in order to love the person that you're working with best. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:27.000 And sometimes that means simply showing mercy, 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.000 like Jesus Christ did. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:34.000 Okay, so we have summary definitions of this idea of wisdom 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:37.000 in this passage in verses 12 to 14. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:41.000 So let's just look at those very briefly, verses 12 to 14. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:44.000 It says, I wisdom dwell with prudence. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.000 I find knowledge and discretion. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.000 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:50.000 pride and arrogance in the way of evil, 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.000 and perverted speech I hate. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:54.000 I have counsel and sound wisdom. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.000 I have insight. I have strength. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.000 By me, kings reign. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.000 So there are all sorts of synonyms in the Book of Proverbs 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.000 and three especially important ones in that little section 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:06.000 that basically flesh out what we've been saying 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.000 about the definition of wisdom. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000 And let me just give you three of them very briefly. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.000 The first is in verse 14, and it's the word insight. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:16.000 That wisdom has insight. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.000 And the sense of this word insight, 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:23.000 the original word that's behind this English word insight, 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:25.000 is that a person with insight or wisdom 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.000 can see the truth beyond the appearances. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:32.000 So in other words, a person with insight 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:37.000 can enter any situation and uncover what's underneath it, the truth. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:40.000 They can see what's right, what's wrong. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.000 They can think carefully about every situation 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.000 and discern exactly where their pitfalls 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.000 or what the good path might be. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.000 In other words, it's a person that has particular insight 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.000 in walking through this world and discerning 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:56.000 that every decision they make is a moral decision. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.000 That we live in a moral order, a moral world, 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:02.000 and that we have to make moral decisions every day. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:03.000 So that's insight. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:06.000 And then that follows on to the second word, prudence. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.000 It's in verse 12, prudence. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:12.000 And the kind of idea behind the word prudence here 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.000 is that not only can the wise person 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.000 see the moral order out in front of them, 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:21.000 in every situation, they can then carefully weigh 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:23.000 all the potential options. 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.000 In other words, a prudent person treats their decisions 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:30.000 with a very severe weightiness. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.000 That's the idea behind this word prudence. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:36.000 And then the third word is discretion. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.000 Discretion, which is also in verse 12 and 13. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:44.000 That simply means the strict application of decision-making. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.000 That they discern the moral, they think about what's best, 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.000 they weigh up the decisions, and then they act discreetly, 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.000 or they break it down into parts and make the best decision. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:55.000 They execute. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.000 So that's the basic idea of wisdom. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:01.000 It's applying that decision-making process to all of life 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:04.000 when there are no rules telling you exactly how to live. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:05.000 Okay? 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:07.000 Now, let me just... 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:10.000 I had three examples, but we don't have time for all three. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:13.000 So I'm just going to give one example from the Bible, 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:17.000 an instance where you can see this in action. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:18.000 Maybe two. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.000 The first one is Gamiliel. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:23.000 You remember Gamiliel from Acts chapter 5. 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:26.000 We talked about him on Sunday morning, not too long ago. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.000 In Acts chapter 5, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:32.000 is meeting together, and they're all basically saying, 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.000 we've got to kill these Christians. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.000 We're going to destroy them. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:40.000 And Gamiliel said the one wise Pharisee, 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.000 and he stands up in their midst, and he says, 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:46.000 this is not the right decision. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.000 And they ask him to explain, and he says, 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.000 look, if this movement, this Christian movement, 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.000 as it's called, that follows Jesus, is really from God, 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.000 then it will flourish no matter what you do. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.000 And if you start to persecute it, 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.000 then what you will find at the end of the day 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:06.000 is that you have set yourself against God, 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.000 if it's for real. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:11.000 On the flip side, he says, if it's not of God, 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.000 then it will just fade away in time, 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.000 just like all the other religious movements 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:17.000 of the first century did. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:19.000 So you can see what Gamiliel did there. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.000 He weighed the decisions, and he acted wisely. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:23.000 He applied prudence. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.000 He applied skill to the situation. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:28.000 And what we find out that we learned this morning from Derek 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:31.000 is that by the time Acts chapter 6 rolls around, 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:33.000 Gamiliel was exactly right. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:35.000 The Pharisees determined to persecute, 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:38.000 and the persecution spreads the church. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.000 It does the absolute opposite of what they wanted to do. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:45.000 You see, this is wisdom being applied by Gamiliel. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.000 One of the other great instances, of course, is Solomon. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.000 Solomon in the Old Testament, 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:56.000 in 1 Kings, he has this moment where he's playing the judge, 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.000 and these two women come to him, 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.000 and they both have a claim on a baby, you remember. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.000 And they're both saying, I'm the mother of this baby. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:14.000 And Solomon says, okay, well, cut it in half. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.000 Cut the baby in half. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:17.000 And what happens? 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:20.000 Immediately, the mother says, no, no, no, don't do it. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.000 And Solomon by that knows exactly who the mother is, right? 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:25.000 Now, you see what's happening there. 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:28.000 When two women come to you and say, this is my baby, 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.000 claiming the same baby, what do you do? 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:33.000 There aren't rules for that, right? 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:35.000 Have you ever been in that situation? 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:37.000 There aren't rules when two women come to you and say, 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:39.000 this is my baby, no, this is my baby. 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:40.000 There's no rule. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:42.000 There's no place for that in Leviticus 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.000 that tells you exactly what to do, right? 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.000 What's happening there is Solomon is saying, 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:50.000 what is the best way for me to out the truth, 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:51.000 to find out the truth? 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:54.000 And he's applying skill in that situation. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.000 Cut the baby in half. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.000 That was his wisdom, right? 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:58.000 Because he knew what it would do. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.000 He knew it would uncover the truth. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:06.000 Okay, so wisdom is the application of, 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.000 sorry, wisdom is decision-making, 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.000 skillful decision-making, 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:13.000 when there aren't any rules to know what to do, 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:16.000 which is pretty much the decision-making 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:20.000 that you encounter in every aspect of your entire life, 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.000 almost every aspect, okay? 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:27.000 Now, thirdly and finally, how do we get it? 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:32.000 How do we get this skill, this wisdom? 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.000 All of us here tonight are at various stages of wisdom. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:38.000 Some people are more wise 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.000 and some people are less wise 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.000 in tending toward the opposite spectrum of foolishness, right? 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:48.000 But all of us, every single one of us, 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.000 find ourselves in some situations in life 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.000 where we don't know what the obvious choice is, 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:58.000 what the wise application of some decision might be. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.000 We all find ourselves in these moments. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.000 So what do we do? 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:04.000 How do we get it? 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:06.000 How do we become more wise? 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:07.000 How do we get wisdom? 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:11.000 And the answer is the first and the last wisdom. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:12.000 The first and the last wisdom. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:14.000 And it's found right here in the middle of the passage. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.000 If you look down at verse 22, 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.000 wisdom, this is metaphorical, by the way, 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:22.000 but wisdom becomes personified. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:24.000 It takes on human characteristics. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:25.000 And it says, 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.000 the Lord possessed me at the beginning of His work. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:29.000 The first of His acts of old. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.000 Ages ago, I was set up at the first 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:34.000 before the beginning of the earth. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:38.000 Now, this, in other words, wisdom, lady wisdom here, 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:41.000 is taking us back to Genesis 1. 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:43.000 And she's taking us back to the very beginning 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:44.000 when God created the earth. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:47.000 And even taking us back to the very, very beginning 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:50.000 in Genesis 1, verse 1 to 2. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:53.000 Because if you see in verse 25, 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:55.000 before the mountains had been shaped, 00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:57.000 before the hills, I was brought forth, 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:59.000 before He had made the earth with its fields. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:01.000 In other words, before God had made anything, 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.000 there was lady wisdom with God. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:07.000 And it goes on to say that lady wisdom in verse 30 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:09.000 was like a master workman. 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:11.000 The literal word there is architect. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:13.000 That by wisdom, in other words, 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:16.000 God made the world like a workman. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:18.000 It was wisdom was his attribute that he used. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.000 In other words, what it's saying is this. 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:26.000 Wisdom was the mediator of creation. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.000 Wisdom is the agent. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:32.000 Wisdom personified is the agent or the mediator. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.000 It's the thing through which God created the world 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:39.000 with skill, like an artist. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:42.000 Like a brilliant artist fashioning a painting. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:46.000 That's the way God's creation is being described. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.000 And what that means is that God made the world 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:53.000 with a particular fabric, a particular pattern. 00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:56.000 Reality has a pattern or a fabric. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:00.000 It's wise, which means that at fundamental level, 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:05.000 God made this world good with a good order. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:08.000 You guys know natural laws, right? 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.000 The laws of gravity, aerodynamics, anything like that. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.000 Things that make planes come off the ground. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:16.000 Things that pull you back down to the ground. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.000 What happens if you disrespect the natural laws? 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.000 The laws of gravity. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.000 If you disrespect the law of gravity, it will destroy you. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:27.000 It will crush you. 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:29.000 You will fall and it will break you, right? 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:32.000 And in the same way that God made the world with natural laws, 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.000 he made the world with relational laws, the moral order. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:40.000 And he said in Genesis chapter one that this world is good. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:41.000 That's the fabric. 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:44.000 That's the wisdom by which he created the world. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.000 And when we disrespect that moral order, it crushes us. 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:49.000 It breaks down relationships. 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.000 That's exactly what happened in the Garden of Eden. 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:54.000 And the entire history of humanity is the story 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:58.000 of humanity disrespecting the wise moral order of God. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.000 The fabric, the pattern of creation, 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:03.000 the relationship between human and God, human and human, 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:05.000 and human and nature. 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:08.000 That's the story. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:12.000 The wisdom literature, proverbs, 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:15.000 all the wisdom literature of the ancient Near East, 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:18.000 the wisdom literature that you can find amongst the Greeks 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.000 and the Romans just after the Old Testament. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:24.000 Every single ancient culture had wisdom literature. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.000 They're all asking the same question. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:27.000 This world is broken. 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:29.000 How do we get wisdom? 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:34.000 And Proverbs chapter eight gives you the slightest hint 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.000 about exactly the answer to that. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:39.000 Because what it does is it personifies wisdom. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:41.000 It personifies wisdom. 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:46.000 It says wisdom was there in the beginning like a person. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:52.000 In John chapter one, the New Testament gives us the answer. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.000 How do you get wisdom? 00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:57.000 What's the foundation of wisdom? 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:01.000 In the beginning, John writes, was the word. 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:05.000 And the word for word there is the word, lagois in Greek. 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:08.000 By the time that the New Testament was written, 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:12.000 the word lagois had become the word for wisdom. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:17.000 You see, Greek philosophy had taken the word lagois and said, 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:18.000 this means wisdom. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:20.000 And everybody was in search for the lagois, 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:23.000 in search for wisdom, all the different philosophers, 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.000 all the people, where can we find lagois? 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:26.000 Where can we find wisdom? 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:28.000 And John opens his gospel and says, 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:31.000 in the beginning was the word, the lagois, 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.000 and the word was with God and was God, 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:37.000 and he became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:40.000 In other words, wisdom, getting wisdom, 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.000 is not just about mastering rules. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:45.000 It's not about memorizing proverbs. 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:47.000 But more than anything else, 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:51.000 it's about falling in love with a person. 00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:52.000 With a person. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.000 And coming under the school of that person. 00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:59.000 You see, that's what John is saying. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.000 Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:05.000 That's John's point. 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.000 Jesus came to a world that he created wise, 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:13.000 but that had become foolish in its rejection of God. 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:17.000 And Jesus Christ went to the most foolish thing in all the world, 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:19.000 the cursed tree, 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:22.000 in order to give us an ability to become wise again. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:25.000 You see, that's the gospel. 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:28.000 And in Matthew chapter 11, 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.000 and we'll close with this, 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:33.000 Jesus was speaking to his disciples as the ultimate sage, 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:35.000 the ultimate wise man, 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:36.000 the ultimate master, 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:38.000 and this is what he said to them, 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:41.000 Come unto me all you who labor and are weary laid, 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:43.000 and I will give you rest. 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:45.000 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:48.000 for my burden is easy and my yoke is light. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:50.000 In other words, what he said was this, 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:51.000 if you want wisdom, 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:53.000 you first have to come to me 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.000 in a way that I've become your rescuer, 00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:58.000 because you've become foolish. 00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:00.000 Sin is foolishness. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:02.000 Foolishness is sin. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:03.000 So the first thing he says, 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:04.000 if you want wisdom, 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.000 you have to come unto me, 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.000 all of you who are desperately searching for wisdom, 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:11.000 for the good, for hope, for mercy, for peace, 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:13.000 and I will give you rest. 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:15.000 That's the gospel. 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:16.000 That's the gospel. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:17.000 And then he says, 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:19.000 Take my yoke upon you. 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:21.000 That's the school of Christ. 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:24.000 You see, the school of wisdom. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:26.000 To go back to Proverbs 1, 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:29.000 Proverbs was a book of instruction 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:31.000 for young people trying to learn 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:34.000 what it means to live life well. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:36.000 And in Matthew chapter 11, 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:38.000 Jesus is fulfilling the Proverbs. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:39.000 He's saying, 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:41.000 Come to me in the gospel. 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:42.000 Christ died for me, 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.000 and I will give you rest. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:48.000 And then you can take my yoke upon you 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:49.000 and learn from me, 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:51.000 the school of wisdom, 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:53.000 the school of Proverbs. 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:55.000 We're going to be going through, 00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:56.000 this is the last thing, 00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:58.000 we're going to be going through 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:02.000 all sorts of categories of life in this series, 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:05.000 of how to apply wisdom to all aspects of life. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.000 We're going to be talking about 00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:09.000 sexuality, words, 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:11.000 maleness, femaleness, beauty, 00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:13.000 what it means to be a sloth, 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:14.000 what it means to be bored, 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:16.000 knowledge, wealth, poverty, justice, 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:18.000 mercy, anger, kindness, and more. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:20.000 These are the categories 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:22.000 we're going to be looking at in this series, 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:23.000 and applying wisdom, 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:25.000 Proverbs to them. 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:27.000 The introduction is this. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:31.000 Jesus Christ is the ground of all wisdom. 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:35.000 He is the revelation of wisdom to us. 00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.000 He is for us the rescuer of the foolish 00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:41.000 that want to be wise. 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:44.000 And he is the ground, 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.000 the road, the path that we have to walk on 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:48.000 for anyone who wants to enter 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:50.000 into the school of wisdom. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.000 It's to enter into the school of Christ. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.000 He is our savior first, 00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:58.000 and he must become our example 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:00.000 if we want to learn to be wise. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.000 So what we're asking then for the rest of the series is, 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:05.000 how then should we live? 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:07.000 We'll pick up next week. 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:08.000 Let's pray. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.000 Father, give us the wisdom we ask 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:12.000 that we don't have. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:14.000 James tells us to ask for it. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.000 And the first place we need to go 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:19.000 is to see Jesus Christ for us. 00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:21.000 So we ask that this gospel ground 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:23.000 would be the road we walk on 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:25.000 in this summer series, 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:27.000 and that we would become wise 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:28.000 because of it. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.000 And we ask this in Jesus' name. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:47.000 Amen.