Father, we confess before you that we like to divide the world up between good people and bad people.
And so we're confused about ourselves and confused about people and confused about your word.
And we confess before you, Father, that some of the things that you want to give us in your word
are things that we have absolutely no interest in.
And so either, Father, we ignore these things or, Father, we just try to make them look like it's things we already want.
Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know how confused we are and still you love us
and still you sent your son Jesus to die upon the cross to redeem us.
We ask, Father, that you would gently but deeply and powerfully pour out your Holy Spirit upon us this morning
as we open your word and think about your word.
We ask, Father, that Jesus would be present amongst us to open our minds to understand the scriptures.
As your Holy Spirit falls upon us, may our hearts burn within us
as your son opens your word to each one of us and to us as a congregation.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your son and our savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Amen.
So I was saying to Daniel before the service that I've had a hard time with this sermon this week.
And part of the reason I've had a hard time with this sermon, apart from the normal reasons I have hard times with sermons,
is that the Bible here, the text that I'm going to preach on today, is something that basically nobody wants.
You know, if you listen to Christian radio, it doesn't matter if you're in Vancouver,
if you're Sirius Radio or different parts of the country, it seems as if the church is addicted to encouragement.
They like to say things in their advertisements of, come to this radio station, it's a family radio station,
it's a place of encouragement, and it's safe.
And you never hear anybody saying, come and listen to this radio station because we're square,
or come listen to this radio station because we'll teach you and help you to fear God.
And in fact, if you just think about it for a second, if we were to advertise with a big sign,
you know, hoping to track people, and the sign said, come to us and we'll help you be square,
that probably wouldn't be, I mean, people might actually come out of curiosity about why you would have such an odd sermon title,
but it's not actually much of a draw today, just as it would not be much of a draw to say,
come here and help to know how to fear the Lord.
And the Bible passage today is going to talk about the virtue of being square.
At the 8 o'clock service this morning, there's just eight of us gathered,
1662 Book of Common Prayer service, quiet, meditative service, I love doing it.
And by coincidence this week, it was a bit of an older crowd.
I think everybody there was older than me.
And I said to them, you folks, some of you folks are old enough to remember when to say something was square was a compliment.
But one of the things I could suggest is that some of you folks who are younger might ask some of us who are a bit older,
older than me, by the way,
were you square when you were young?
Or do you remember when actually to say that something was square was a good thing?
But it's hard to believe now.
Our culture's changed so much that that would hardly ever be a compliment to say that somebody's a real square.
They're a square person.
And that's what the Bible's going to talk about.
It's going to encourage us about being square.
It's going to talk about the fear of the Lord.
And so I've been having a hard time thinking how I could get us to even want to be interested in a text like this.
That's maybe why I prayed so hard that the Father would pour out his Holy Spirit upon us.
But let's look at the Bible and see how it is that it encourages us to be square.
So if you have your Bibles, Proverbs chapter 1, verse 1 to 7.
That's what we're looking at today.
We're beginning a series of sermons that will go through to Labor Day inclusive.
Ancient Book of Proverbs, Ancient Wisdom for a Postmodern World.
And so it's my honor to sort of give you the opening to the book, the gateway to the book, the introduction to the book,
so that when you read it, you won't read it with amnesia and hopefully you have some type of skill
in understanding how to read and understand the book of Proverbs.
So Proverbs chapter 1, verse 1.
And here's how it goes.
The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.
Now, I'm going to do a really geeky thing here.
Proverbs, you know, it's a bit of a grammar moment.
So I know as soon as I said a grammar moment, I've lost 90% of the crowd and 10% of you,
your ears picked up because you thought, wow, I love grammar moments.
And we all know who's who.
So, but there's a grammar moment here.
And the book of Proverbs begins actually in a really geeky, technical, structured way
that's not as obvious in the English.
That verse 1 is a really, it gives you the, it tells you what type of book you're going to read.
It's going to be a book full of Proverbs.
And it tells you, it actually, in a very sly way in the original language, it makes a bit of a pun
because in Hebrew, Proverbs and Solomon sound very, very similar.
And then it just, to give you a bit of a context, it helps you to say, it says, it's going to be a book of Proverbs.
It's put together by Solomon.
And Solomon is the king of Israel and the son of David.
And for a person reading it, they should be thinking, okay, this is going to be then something that implies the covenant
and something that implies the coming of a Messiah someday.
In other words, it implies that the readers are going to have thought of Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers
and promises made to David that there would be a great David's greater son will someday come to redeem.
And that's all put together just in a tiny number of words.
And then in the very, very next verse, if we were doing it nowadays, if we had a modern editor,
if it was like being done by a newspaper, there'd be a big word in capital with maybe underlined,
the purpose of this book.
And then the first line of verse two would be what's underneath it.
In the original language, that's what the writer has done.
In these two know wisdom and understanding, in those five words,
is the writer gives the purpose of the entire book.
Anything you read later on, if you want to know why he's writing it,
you just go back to verse 2a and it'll tell you why he wrote the book.
Why did he write the book?
To know wisdom and instruction.
In fact, actually, before we go any further, any further in my reading,
Andrew, could you put up the scripture passages?
The first, verse 2a.
One of the things I'm going to do today is,
I really only have a two-point sermon.
I'm going to have like a variety of things that go up on the screen,
but really, I only have a two-point sermon.
And the first point is verse 2a, and the second point,
which I'll explain later on why it's important, is verse 7.
And so I'm going to have you keep reading them points over and over and over.
And by the end of the service, if nothing else,
you'll have partially memorized the purpose of the book
and sort of the main way to wonder how to read the book.
And so could you just read this with me?
To know wisdom and instruction.
I caught you by surprise.
Could you read it with me again?
To know wisdom and instruction.
And Andrew, could you put up verse 7 and read it,
and we'll all read it together?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Andrew, could you put 2a back up again?
Okay.
So here's this odd verse,
to know wisdom and instruction.
And in English, it looks like, well, that's pretty simple.
But the first thing to understand about the word know
is that it doesn't mean something like,
know what LeBron James basketball statistics were this year,
or know how many goals Sidney Crosby scored in his rookie season,
or know the first five people drafted in the NHL draft the other day.
It doesn't mean that type of knowledge.
Although it doesn't deny it,
but it has a far bigger understanding of knowledge.
It's saying, the word to know is to say,
it's talking about experiential knowledge.
And it's talking about relational knowledge.
And it's talking about,
which goes along with experiential and relational,
it's talking about practical knowledge.
So it's not talking about the type of knowledge
that will allow you to win trivial pursuit.
I don't know if people still play that game.
It's not talking about that type of knowledge.
It said, the purpose of the book
is if you read the book of Proverbs,
and you study it and you pray the book,
what I hope you happen,
I've written the entire book,
I've put the whole book together,
with the purpose that you will have
an experiential, relational knowledge
of wisdom and instruction.
That's why I've written the book.
And what does the word wisdom mean?
Well, wisdom translated in English here
is a pretty good word,
and we have a bit of an idea about it.
But it also has some deeper meanings
in what the writer is trying to get at.
It includes skill.
Skill in living a good and moral life
that will end up being fruitful.
That's at the heart of this word wisdom.
So he wants you to know,
have an experiential, relational knowledge,
and he wants you to have,
the author and the editor
and how the book was put together,
he wants you to end up being able,
by reading the Proverbs,
to end up having a life
that's characterized by wisdom,
which is characterized by a skill
in living your life in a good way,
living a good life that's fruitful.
That's what he's trying to get across
with wisdom.
And then the final thing is,
to know wisdom and instruction.
So he's written the book,
so you have an experiential,
relational knowledge
of the skills required
to live a life which is fruitful and good.
And also for this word instruction.
And instruction's a pretty good word.
If you have different translations of the Bible,
it's translated different ways
because it's sort of a very rich word
in the original language.
And sometimes some of your versions
might say discipline.
And that's a little bit about what it is.
What it isn't,
just so you have a relief,
about a year ago,
I think this was the last time
my wife and I bought anything from Ikea.
We were trying to get our house ready
for a sale about a year ago.
And so we tried to buy an Ikea bed,
one of those beds
that have drawers underneath the bed
because we thought it would help
to deal with some organizing issues.
And so we bought this bed from Ikea.
And of course,
Ikea has all these instructions.
And we both labored at this for an hour.
And after an hour,
we completely and utterly gave up.
Either the instructions were wrong
or the pieces were wrong or something,
but it was completely and utterly impossible
to follow the instructions
and put the Ikea bed together.
In fact, we actually weren't able,
we just gave up,
we were going to return it,
but you couldn't even get the stupid pieces
back in the box
the way that it originally come from Ikea.
So it meant that eventually the box
is sort of like this
with lots of tape around it
to try to scrunch everything in
and we returned it to Ikea
and they were very good
and gave us our money back.
But it's not talking about instructions like this.
It's talking about something more.
It's talking about instructions.
It's talking about what we need to know
to have the habits or the discipline
of a skilled and moral life.
And it's also talking about training.
Training.
And let's be honest,
for most of us,
training is what is missing
in the Christian life,
which is one of the reasons
the book of Proverbs is so important.
I'll give you an example
because this is what happens
to us most weeks.
You know, let's say,
we're going to pray more
or something like that
or you're going to love God more.
And I try to do my best
to preach that
and to make it clear
and to exhort you
and try to get you all fired up.
And I'm not very good at it.
One of the wonderful things
about Daniel Gilman
is that he's way better than me
at exhorting people.
Okay, so maybe I would get you all primed
and then Daniel would come up
and he'd top it
and we'd all feel like
we're going to go out there
and love God
and that will maybe,
nothing wrong with Daniel or me,
it would maybe last
half an hour or an hour
and then we're back
to where we were before.
Would be a little bit like
if I said,
we're all going to go out
as soon as the service is over,
we're going to go out,
we're going to run 10 kilometers,
we're all going to do it together,
we're going to do it
in less than 50 minutes.
Are you with me?
Because I'm trying to channel
my inner, you know,
exhorter,
my football coach,
soccer coach
and maybe I'm really good at it
and you get all fired up.
Yes, we're going to go out there,
we're going to run 10 kilometers,
we're going to do it
in less than 50 minutes.
And I don't want to insult you
but maybe nobody here
in the room could do it, right?
No matter how much I exhort it.
And in fact,
many of you are so hip,
not square,
that you wouldn't even bother
going out the door
because no amount of exhorting
from the stage
would make you even want to try
to run 10 kilometers today
in under 50 minutes, right?
Just wouldn't happen.
But often with spiritual things,
and this is probably
one of the reasons
why so many people
prefer bars to churches
because they just think,
oh, they're just going to
lay a whole pile of things on me,
I get all fired up,
all excited,
then I go out
and I fall on my face
like this.
But you know,
if I was to say,
you know what,
and maybe my exhorting
would be really good,
I'd say, you know what,
I think it's really possible
that this time next year
on Canada Day,
you know,
I think almost all of us
here in the room
could do 10 kilometers
in 60 minutes.
And we make a commitment
that we're going to
meet together every day,
we're going to,
you know,
and we get the doctor's checkups
and some of us
start walking,
some run,
and we encourage each other
and we train,
we break down
what would be required
so that in a year's time
we could do 10 kilometers
in 60 minutes.
Unless, you know,
it might be very possible
that 95% of the room
could do that.
You see,
the difference is
training.
Training.
And that's,
that's this instruction word here.
That's this instruction word.
That's at the heart of it.
It's connected to it.
You can go on
and read it later on.
There's a wonderful passage
in 1 John chapter 4 verse 10.
1 John chapter 4 verse 10.
And in it,
John says,
how can you say
that you love God
whom you can't see
but you don't love
your brother or sister
who's beside you
who you can see?
Like,
how is it that you think
you can love,
oh,
I love you God,
and then you go out
the door
and you,
you know,
the person doesn't let you
in in the car
and you yell and swear at them
and then your wife
or your boyfriend
or your best friend
doesn't respect you
and you're filled
with resentment
and here you've gone
from,
oh,
I love you,
to not,
and that's what 1 John
chapter 4 verse 10 says
and it's very true
psychologically,
isn't it?
It's that,
those of us who go to church
should probably meditate
upon that a lot more
and in a sense then
what the book of Proverbs
is saying
is we're going to help you
with your training
and so what we're going to do,
we're going to have Proverbs
about,
okay,
how does a parent
love the little,
how does a parent
love his kid?
How do a husband
and wife talk
to each other?
How do you relate
with your boss?
How do you,
how do you relate
to the government?
How do you,
how do you speak
the truth
to another person?
Like,
let's give you
little examples,
Proverbs
that can be
thought-provoking
because the book
of Proverbs
isn't about laws
and rules,
it's about
insights
that help us
to train
so that we will
have a skilled
way of living life
that's good
and bears fruit
and that's the
purpose of the book.
Want to say it
with me again?
To know
wisdom
and instruction.
I surprised you,
we'll say it again.
To know
wisdom
and instruction.
Verse 7,
the fear
of the Lord
is the beginning
of knowledge.
Fools despise
wisdom
and instruction.
You go back
and so I put
my first point up,
Andrew,
my first point
and we're gonna,
I'm gonna look through,
I'm gonna explain
something else to you
but just to give you
a bit of a sense.
So remember,
if you get,
you know,
these are long points.
Some of you say,
good grief,
George,
these are really,
really long points.
My point is verse 2
and my point,
2a and my point
is verse 7.
You memorize those,
those are the points.
These are just ways
that hopefully,
and if later on
they're on the computer,
you can look them up
on our webpage.
Maybe it'll help you
understand a little bit
about what verse 2a
means and this is a way
to help us understand
what verse 2a means,
to sort of bring it
out a bit.
The Lord wants me
to have an experiential,
relational knowledge
of the training,
skills,
and insight needed
to lead a good
and fruitful life
in the world
that the Lord
has made and sustained.
That's,
that's,
God is showing
the desire of his heart
for you and me
in this book.
That's what verse 2a
is trying to communicate.
The Lord wants me
to have an experiential,
relational knowledge
of the training
and skills
and insight needed
to lead a good
and fruitful life
in the world
that the Lord
has made and sustained.
And so the way
the book is,
remember I said
there's a bit of
a geeky moment?
So that verse 1
is the geeky moment,
the title,
and it gives you
a bit of a clue
about how to understand
that we need to understand
the Messiah
and the covenant
and the law.
And verse 2a
is to know wisdom
and instruction.
That's the main purpose.
And then he teases it out
by giving you
a couple of other
purpose statements
to try to unpack
that a little bit
before we get into the book.
So if you have
your Bible still
and so in verse 2b,
so 2a says
to know wisdom
and instruction
and then it says
to understand words
of insight.
In other words,
what we're going to do
is I'm going to write
put together
these are words
of insight.
They help you
to have a bit
of an insight
about what's going on
with life
and about yourself
and how people are like
and that's what's
going to happen
as I try to help you
to know wisdom
and instruction.
And verse 3,
I want to help you
to receive instruction
in wise dealing
in righteousness,
justice,
and being a square,
which is really
what equity means here.
In other words,
part of the other purpose,
okay,
so what does to know wisdom
and instruction mean?
Well,
it's going to also involve
that I'm going to give you
some instruction,
training,
in how to deal wisely
with people.
And what that will mean
is that as you listen
to these Proverbs,
as the Proverbs
get into your mind
and into your heart
and into your will
and they're before your eyes,
what will happen
is that you're going
to have wise,
a skilled way
of living that's good.
And what that means
is that you're going
to live a good life,
a righteous life.
And the word righteous there,
I mean,
they still have it.
I don't know quite how,
I think the NRC
has something like this,
but there's somewhere
in Canada
that has an official kilo
or whatever.
Back in the old days,
there would have been
maybe the king
had the official weights.
And if you came
to a merchant,
in a sense,
the hope would be
that the merchant's weights
would be the same
as the king's weights.
If you put them
on a scale,
they'd be the same.
They'd be righteous.
It matches
with the official standard.
And here the idea
is that there is
a God who's created
and sustained all things
and that there's a way
of living that matches
the standard,
God.
And just means justice,
that what characterizes
our life is that
we are very fair,
that as you read,
as you come to the end
of the book of Proverbs,
you will not grow
in cynicism
and you will not grow
in despair,
but you will grow
in a sense of how
to treat people justly.
Justice will matter
to you more
by the end of Proverbs
than it will
when you begin the book.
And then there's
this word square.
You know,
it used to be
that you could say,
what I want
are three square meals
a day.
It might be that
after you've gone
to make a deal
with somebody
and you come back
and you talk to your friend,
your dad,
or your mom,
or your wife,
or your husband about it,
you say,
it's a square deal.
You know,
you go and there's somebody
who's going to give you
some help
and there was a time
when you would have said,
it's a square guy.
I'm sure we can count on it.
That when you maybe
went away to travel
and you arrived
where you wanted to travel,
what you wanted to do
is you wanted to be
squared away.
They were all compliments.
Now we want to be
hip and cool
and not square.
It's a big cultural shift,
actually,
if you think about it,
to lose that word square.
And what it means
is that it's just,
it's fair,
it's dependable,
it's honest,
it's efficient,
it's filling,
it's what I need,
it's,
that's,
that's what the word equity is.
You read the book of Proverbs,
by the time you're finished,
you will be a square.
That'll sell, right?
I should have a Twitter account.
By the time you finish
reading the book of Proverbs,
you will be a square.
And,
and that's what it's trying
to communicate.
And then in verse four,
this is really important,
to give prudence
to the simple knowledge
of discretion
and knowledge
and discretion
to the youth.
Prudence here,
it's a very,
very good word.
But what it means
is that,
what it means
is that you will be,
you'll be crafty.
You will be,
it's the opposite
of gullible.
It's the opposite
of gullible.
That,
but it's,
in other words,
it means that you will be
shrewd about life.
But you will be shrewd
about life
in a way that isn't cynical.
You will be shrewd
about life
that doesn't feed
your despair.
You will be shrewd
about life
in a way
that does not make you
feel superior
to other people.
But if you read
the book of Proverbs,
by the end,
you will be less gullible
than when you began.
You will have a type
of shrewdness
about life
that,
you know what,
if that salesman says,
oh,
I'm losing my shirt
on this deal,
I'm losing everything
on this deal,
if I tell the manager
about this deal,
she's going to stop
the deal,
he's probably lying.
Like,
I mean,
that's how it is really,
right?
And so the end
of this book,
the book will help us
to be shrewd
about life
without being cynical.
And the simple here
in this particular,
in all the way
through the book
of Proverbs,
the word simple
is never a compliment.
It means naive.
It means gullible.
It means easily led
and easily misled
until you become wise.
Verse 5,
let the wise hear
and increase in learning
and the one who understands
obtain guidance
to understand a proverb
and a saying,
the words of the wise
and their riddles.
So,
put up,
Andrew,
could you put up
verse 2a again?
Want to say it with me,
folks?
What's the book all about?
To know wisdom
and instruction.
And we'll get to this
in a moment.
What's the key
to understanding
every proverb?
Verse 7,
the fear of the Lord
is the beginning
of knowledge.
Fools despise
wisdom
and instruction.
For a variety
of reasons,
I was just able
to watch Interstellar
for the first time
last night
and it's a very,
very good movie.
and it would be
a really interesting movie
to have,
you know,
some discussions
around actually.
But one of the things
which was very,
very interesting
about the book
Interstellar
is it talks a lot
about our fear
of death.
It talks a lot
about our fear
of extinction.
It talks a lot
about the fear
of the planet
just going south
in terms of
ecological disasters
that could lead
to the death
of the human race
and hence
the fears
of extinction.
yet at the same
time,
you know,
our fear
of death
and our fear
of extinction
and what it leads
us to do
but at the same
time,
it encourages
lying
and encourages
murder.
I don't think
I've given
any spoiler alerts
for those of you
who haven't seen
the movie
but it's a very,
very,
you know,
it's a very,
very puzzling thing
sort of maybe
reflected upon
in the movie,
maybe unreflected
upon the movie
that,
you know,
our fear of death
and our fear
of extinction
and what it will
lead us to try
to do
and what it leads
us to try
to accomplish
it,
it seems almost
in the book,
the movie,
sort of the movie
is a bit ambiguous
about it
but it leads
to murder
or attempted murder
and lying
appearing to be
a wise type
of thing
and it's a
very,
very curious
thing
about how
these very
powerful fears
that human
beings have
and we might
not think
we have a fear
of death
and what we
would do
to stay
alive
but the movie
tries to
communicate
what would
happen to
many of us
if that actually
became not
an abstract
thing but a
real thing
and an imminent
thing
and what we
might try to do
to survive
and
so in light
of that
can you put
up 2A again
Andrew
want to say
that with me
to know wisdom
and instruction
that's the purpose
of the book
and what's going
to be the key
in terms of
understanding the book
let's say it
the fear of the
Lord is the
beginning of
knowledge
fools despise
wisdom
and instruction
and what we
see is that
in our
church culture
we have
a terrible
fear
of talking
about the
fear of the
Lord
it's a
profoundly
unpopular
topic in our
culture
in fact
for many
people
it would be
even to be
brought up
it would be
a sign
of one
of the
things
which is
fundamentally
wrong
about the
Christian
faith
but one
of the
things
is if you
actually
read the
Old Testament
you see
that you
can't read
very far
in the
Old Testament
where the
fear of the
Lord
isn't actually
presented as a
positive thing
that we should
pray for
that we should
desire
and many
Christians
will just
quote 1 John
chapter 4
a perfect
love
casts out
fear
and therefore
that Christians
shouldn't be
characterized by
the fear
of the
Lord
but they
should be
characterized
by perfect
love
but apart
from whatever
that verse
means
C.S. Lewis
says all
sorts of
things cast
out the
fear of
the Lord
alcohol
sex
gambling
money
but you
can't read
the New
Testament
do a word
search and
you'll see
that in the
New Testament
as well
the fear
of the
Lord
is considered
a positive
thing
in the
book of
Acts
one of the
things that
characterizes
the growth
of the
church
is at the
same time
as the
church is
growing by
leaps and
bounds
it's also
growing in
the fear
of the
Lord
that the
New Testament
has this
idea here
as a positive
thing
yet as I
said earlier
so called
you know
sorry I
shouldn't have
said that
Christian radio
would never
advertise this
as a selling
point
it would
never
maybe I'm
wrong
maybe there's
some places
in Mississippi
or Arkansas
or something
like that
that advertise
we're not
like those
other Christian
radio stations
come here to
listen to the
fear of the
Lord
maybe that
happens there
I just
haven't been
in Mississippi
or Arkansas
or someplace
like that
or North
Dakota
or something
and maybe
there's some
places on
the prairies
or some
place that
us sophisticated
people in
Ottawa would
think is the
backwoods
fly over
country
but you
know
there's a
real culture
gap
between passages
like this
and the
way the
book of
Proverbs is
structured
is verse
1 gives
you the
title
verse 2
gives you
the purpose
and verse
7 here
is the
key to
understanding
every proverb
that's how
it's set up
at a literary
structure
Andrew could
you put up
my second
point
the second
point is
that the
fear of
the Lord
is the
first steps
the foundation
the north
star or
true north
and the
ever present
factor in
living a good
and fruitful
life in the
world that the
Lord has made
and sustains
that's the
claim of the
book of
Proverbs
that's the
claim of the
book of
Proverbs
that whether
we're going
to be reading
later on
if you're
going to be
reading a
proverb about
you know
husbands and
wives or
but you
know moms
and dads
and their
children or
how to deal
with a
boss or
how to deal
with how
to be a
witness or
how to deal
with messengers
or how to be
prudent or how
to help the
poor or any
of the different
Proverbs at a
literary level
it's assuming
that the fear
of the Lord
is the beginning
of knowledge
fools despise
wisdom and
instruction
that that's to
be that is
if we
understand this
then this is
like the
very first
step of
entering into
an experiential
relational
knowledge that
involves skills
that this is
not only a
first step but
it's the
foundation for
everything else
that we do
it's not only
that but you
know maybe some
of you have
heard that one
of the things
that like having
virtue or values
is it helps you
understand where
true north is
so that you can
navigate the
complexity of life
and the book
of Proverbs is
saying that the
fear of the
Lord is the
beginning of
knowledge fools
despise wisdom
and instruction
that that's that
type of true
north principle
that helps us
to understand how
to read the
different Proverbs
and that as
well as that
that verse 7
is it is a
ever present
factor in every
one of the
Proverbs so
that we can
live a good
and fruitful
life in the
world that the
Lord has
made so
what does it
mean?
Well first of
all some of
your translations
have probably
translated fearing
the Lord but
in the original
language it's two
nouns the fear
of the Lord it's
two nouns put
together in the
verb in the
sentence is that
is is sorry
another grammar
moment but that
the verb is the
is not the
not that it's not
fearing and the
word the fear of
the Lord first of
all the word Lord
is very significant
and you'll notice
in my points that
I put them all in
caps and I did
that in purpose I
know it's shouting
nowadays but it's
it's the in the
original language it's
the great I am it
is from Exodus 3
the God of the
covenant I am that I
am has sent you
perfect being it is
the God of the
covenant it is the
God who desires to
call to himself a
people to be in
relationship with it's
not the other words
for God that the
Old Testament has
English really only
has one word for
God but Hebrew had
several words for
God it's not the
abstract word for
God it's not a
deist word for God
of a God who is
absent and distant
and far off it's
not the word for
God that that
emphasizes just his
power or his
standing in judgment
or sovereign over
us it is the
intimate it's both
an exalted
mysterious description
of God but it's
an intimate the
intimate covenant
name for God in the
Old Testament and
and the word fear
has a range of
meaning and and it
captures a little bit
about what's going
on here in this this
word the fear of the
Lord as a virtue as a
positive thing is
something that people
if they were wise will
want to enter into and
and the range of
meaning is on one hand
it does mean abstract
abject terror that's
one end of the range
of meanings but it it
also means respect and
it means reverence and
it means a willingness
to listen and to
submit and it means
gobsmacked jaw
dropping close intimate
adoration and that
includes that whole range
of meaning the type of
being in the presence of
the good the true and the
beautiful that just
cause your jaw to hit
the ground either your
hands to go to your
side or your hands to
go like this and to be
caught up in complete and
utter loving adoration and
the Hebrew word for fear
captures that whole range
and at the very very heart
of this idea is that at
the heart of the fear of
the Lord is a profound
experiential relational
knowledge of the difference
between you and God
which we're always
confusing like we we
might not think about it
much but we one one hand
we see it all the time we
we see a boss and we're
worried about our boss
because she thinks like
she acts like she's God
right we have a kid in our
family or a husband or a
wife and they act like
they're God we we have it
you know it might be that
there's a you know a a a a
dad who I just finished
reading a John Grisham
novel Grey Mountain and
the the heroine of the
novel one of the things
which she wrestles with
apart from wrestling with
the the drama of the
story is that her dad was
so completely and utterly
consumed with himself and
with his career he was so
consumed with that that it
was as if he ignored his
wife and family his wife and
daughter and that they were
just in a sense sucked up in
his all-consuming concern with
money and his own career in
other words he'd lost a
clear sense of the
distinction between him and
his wife and the
distinction between him and
his daughter and and the
need to to relate to them
not as just some little part
of himself which is all part
of his huge process to
become rich and and to
become powerful but that
there there is a place where
he begins and ends and the
other person is a real
person who has a beginning
and end and real boundaries
and and the daughter has
real boundaries and and and
we know that in families and
in marriages and in schools
and in workplaces and in
governments when you have a
person who starts to treat
other people as if they
almost don't exist they're
just an epiphanomenon just
they're just something that
can get sucked up in their own
project that those are
completely and utterly
destructive and the Bible
says that that's the common
human problem with every
single human being in the
relationship with God that we
are always blurring the
distinctions between
ourselves and God that we
lose sight of where we
begin and end and hence we
don't even really know
ourselves and we lose sight
of where God begins and
ends and we lose sight of
the differences between the
two of the things it's one
of the reasons why one of
the great insights of the
Bible is that the more we
know God the more we know
ourselves because the more
we know how we are different
from God and where we in
fact begin and end and the
fear of the Lord is all about
coming into a relational
experiential novel not
knowledge of the living God
who desires to be in a
covenant relationship with us
to be our sovereign in our
king our great deliverer our
great delight our great
protector and it's called
it's been entering into a
relationship with him where as
we deepen in this relationship
of the fear of the Lord we
will come to an ever greater
knowledge of who we are who I
am and where I begin and end
and where God is and how God
is different and that
difference is good and that
difference sometimes will make
me want to fall on my face in
repentance for the things that
I have done that are wrong and
sometimes I will want to stand
with jaw dropping God's God's
smacked awe and wonder at the
beauty of God that the cry of our
heart that the end of it the cry
of my heart will be that my soul
desire will be to dwell in the
house of the Lord to behold his
beauty
it's all encaptured in this phrase
the fear of the Lord
it's all encaptured in this phrase
the fear of the Lord which is why
to know Jesus doesn't mean that
you stop fearing the Lord
could you put it up to a and to
put up to a gain for me Andrew
remember I just really have two
points let's say this together to
know wisdom and instruction that's
what the book of Proverbs is about
say it with me again to know
wisdom and instruction and what's
going to help us understand every
Proverbs verse 7 the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge
fools despise wisdom and instruction
now some of you might say okay
George are you saying that only
Christians only Christians are going
to live a good life and are going to
be wise and have a skill of living
oh that's what you're saying you're on
drugs have you seen the lives of lots
of Christians George be honest
aren't there lots of Christians if
you had a choice between having some
of your non-Christian neighbors or a
Christian as your neighbor you'd pick
the non-Christian be honest George are
you saying that this is what the book
of Proverbs says that only Christians
are wise isn't that what sort of this
text is implying that this whole fear
of the Lord thing that you just talked
about and it's connected to wisdom and
instruction and knowledge are you
saying that George well there are many
Christians who talk and act like that
and what happens is we end up having a
religious or spiritual reading of the
text not a reading of the text that God
intends Andrew could you put up my
third point the Bible teaches that every
human being is divided and at war within
themselves you see a religious or a
spiritual person wants to take a text
like this and divide the world and on
one hand there is a division here this is
one of the many many places in the Bible
that says at the end of the end of the
end we either end up in heaven by grace
or we end up in not heaven by our own
deserving and it's one of many many
texts that say at the end of the day
there's only two paths but if we read
this text to think that it divides
congregations that it divides churches
that it divides us from our neighbors then
we are reading it in a in a way that does
not fear the Lord ironically the line
between the fear of the Lord and fools
does not separate people it separates me
and it separates you it goes right down
the center of who you and I are
every human being is at war and divided
amongst themselves this text is for
self-awareness not to divide nations
and congregations and denominations and
political parties and individual
people it describes the division and the
battleground of every human being
say 2a again put up Andrew let's say it
to know wisdom and instruction that's the
purpose of the book and and what's going
to help us understand that verse 7 the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge fools despise wisdom and
instruction you see the problem you know
here's the thing the very common belief
in our culture is that what we just need
is that we just need to to know what has
to be done and then things will be fine
but the fact is that works for some of
us sometimes a little bit for but for a
lot of us it just doesn't work you know
maybe it works for us all right with money
but it doesn't work with diet or maybe
it works all right with us for relations
but it doesn't work with us for money or
you know a whole range of things and and
one of the things that happens is that you
know many many people is so we continue
though to be almost addicted to this idea
that all we need is more information and
once we have the information we can do the
things that we're supposed to do yet
empirical observation will tell us that
that never happens and that it rarely
happens that it never happens in any one
person all of the time and and then the
the other thing that we start to do in
our culture is that we start to try to we
you know we we don't want to acknowledge
that there's this great division that
goes right down the center of who we are
so we want to say that we're a good
person that we're really a good person
and when we we want to emphasize that
we're a good person then it's almost as
if some other person does those bad
things it wasn't me I'm a good person I
wasn't the one who swore at that person
called them names and slandered and
gossiped about them I'm a good person
couldn't really have been me and then
one of the things that that happens in
our relationships is we don't really
have we can't really apologize because
how can a good person apologize for what
they really didn't do which was wrong and
there's a way of explaining all the bad
things we do and that's what goes on in
our culture because there's this inability
to accept that verse 7 describes something
that goes right down the center of us this is a
very very long point and I don't expect
you to write you know what and if you
want to write it down you can you can
look at it you can look at it later but
and remember I'm writing this long
talking thing down because I just want
to get the idea out for you but my two
points this morning are 2a in verse 7
and if you go back and you know those
verses all I'm trying to do here with
this verse 7 is try to help you to
understand what verse 7 is saying to
us Andrew if you could put up my
exceptionally long point for because of
the Lord's common grace every human being
has some knowledge of and desire for the
training skills and insight needed to live
a good and fruitful life in the world that
the Lord has made and sustains because of
common grace because we're made in the
image of God and when we fell and rebelled
against God God did not remove his image
from us it got bent but not removed and
that's why people can be wise about
money and some people who are very far
from God can be very wise about
relationships it's why some people who
are very very far from God they can be
absolutely spectacularly good neighbors
because it's not the case that we live
our lives in complete and utter defiance
against these things most people there's
some it's part of common grace that
there's some desire for skills and
wisdom and living well and living justly
and being square however it is also
true that by nature our fallen nature
some part of every human being despises
the training skills and insight needed to
live in good and fruitful life in the
world that the Lord has made and sustains
see the richness of the Christian faith
the richness of this proverb and some of
you might be bothered by this word despises
Andrew could you put up verse 7 again
let's read this together the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge
fools despise wisdom and instruction
you know I sent my sermon notes to
Bishop Charlie and I said one of the
things is about my two sermon points is
that if people don't like them they can
take it up with God and and I had to put
in my explanation this word despise I don't
want to let us off the hook sounds
extreme doesn't it but here's the thing
imagine that I came home and gave my or my
wife gives me a gift and that'd be more
likely because I'm more forgetful and so
my wife gives me a gift and you know it's
a book book that I want and I said well
thank you for the book and then she you
know she leaves and she's doing other
things and then she comes back and over
the next few days or weeks she sees that
the book is just left on the couch well
might bother her a little bit she knows
I'm forgetful might not bother her very
much but now let's say that unbeknownst to
the press it's kept a secret from the
world but Louise discovers that she
actually is the owner of the Mona Mona
Lisa painting and and she decides to
exercise her right of ownership over the
Mona Lisa painting and she has it taken
out of the museum and one day she says
George I haven't wanted to tell you that
this it hasn't been released in the press
but I this is the Mona Lisa I own it and
I'm giving it to you as a gift and I'd say
wow and I put on the couch three weeks
later it's still on the couch the
grandkids have come to visit every time
the grandkids come to visit you know
they're spilling things and spewing
crackers and all that you know just
little kids right they're not being
mean they're being three-year-olds and
two-year-olds and toddlers and Louise
would say George despises that gift you
see what it is so what if you think
about it for a second if God is actually
if the true and living God is the
creator of all things and sustains all
things if he is actually speaking to us
if he is actually in a sense providing
the power of salvation for all who
believe in the death of his son and we
we just put it on the couch or we turn
our back from it we think that's stupid
or we think that's foolish then we're
despising it it's the context of the
greatness of the gift that reveals
whether we are despising and that's why
this is such a powerful verse to us
so some of you might say okay George
you know you said earlier that left to
your own devices it's very very hard to
follow advice so it's just book of
Proverbs just going to give me a whole
pile of like George is it going to be
like okay George you said that you know
maybe most of us in the congregation if
we waited if we tried really hard for a
whole year at the end of the year we
could do 10k in 60 minutes George there
is no way that I'm ever going to do
10k in 60 minutes maybe when I was 20
years younger 30 years younger maybe if
the television and the couch weren't as
popular in my life or whatever it is
or my health problem or my age or
whatever it is never gonna George I'm
just the Proverbs just going to give me
a whole pile of other things that I can
feel guilty about and that I just can't
do and I just can't accomplish like is
that all the book of Proverbs is going
to be it's just you know it might be
wise and it might it might really be
good and I'm going to really try to
read it and I'm going to really try to
memorize it I'm really going to try to
live it but is it just is it just
advice put up put up verse 2 again
let's say together again to know wisdom
and instruction that's my first point
what the book's all about purpose of
the book second thing let's read it
together the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of knowledge fools despise
wisdom and instruction a couple months
ago in my devotions it was as if God
really had a passage from Isaiah jump
out at me if you want to turn to it
those of you have Bibles if you don't
have Bibles you can listen to me while
I read it it's it's Isaiah chapter 11
and in fact actually it's been a part of
my prayer life actually ever since I
sort of stumbled upon it at the beginning
of April and not just stumbled upon it
because I'd read it before but it really
spoke to me in some way and and so it's
part of my every day I actually try to
prayerfully meditate upon part of this
verse because it really struck me and and
it's it's a passage in Isaiah that talks
about the Messiah who's going to come
this is how it goes there shall come
forth verse 1 there shall come forth a
shoot from the stump of Jesse and a
branch from his roots shall bear fruit and
the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
him the spirit of wisdom and
understanding the spirit of counsel and
might the spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord and his delight shall be
in the fear of the Lord and that just
jumped out me Jesus's delight was in the
fear of the Lord and his delight could be
in the fear of the Lord my delight could be
in the fear of the Lord and so I have been
praying every day Lord take my heart so my
soul desire is to delight in the fear of
the Lord Lord take my heart so my soul desire is
to delight in the fear of the Lord and if you
could put up the fifth point it is because by
nature I cannot fully know the fear of the
Lord that I need a Savior I'm divided I'm at
war within myself I need a Savior I don't
keep instructions very well not well enough it
is because Jesus Christ delighted in the fear
of the Lord that he died for me and by grace he
will walk with me into a skilled trained
insightful fear of the Lord you see it's not
only that Jesus paid the penalty of the fact
that I am divided and that I don't fear the
Lord and that there's many ways that I really
mess up it's it that it's that's important
deeply deeply important that because of that
Jesus dies on the cross to pay for the price of
my sins the price of my incompleteness but I'm
also clothed with his righteousness in a sense
I am clothed with his perfect delighting in the
fear of the Lord I don't have to accomplish this
completely and utterly by myself to measure up
before he will receive me I am clothed in the
Lord's delighting in the fear of the Lord that's
what clothes me when I come on to a to a faith in
Jesus and it means that I can pour out my heart to
Jesus and say Jesus help me to what you delighted in
the fear of the Lord and and you you died for me and
you love me and you care for me so Jesus please walk
with me help me pour out your Holy Spirit upon me help
me to delight in the fear of the Lord just as you have
delighted in the fear of the Lord that's that's the
promise of the scripture it's a promise of the
scripture it's why the book of Proverbs when we read
it we we don't have to just read it thinking that it's
going to be completely and utterly up to us to accomplish
it but as we read this we can say oh Lord that's not the
way I deal with my kids or Lord that's not the way I deal
with my boss or Lord that's not the way I deal with my
employees or Lord that's not the way I deal with my tongue and
and and on one hand because of the fear of the Lord we can our
conscience can be stricken that we need to repent but at the
same time we can thank Jesus that he's paid for the price of
that we can we can thank him that we're clothed with his
delighting in the fear of the Lord and we can pour out our
heart to Jesus that this proverb would become real in us that
it would be part of our training in the fear of the Lord it's
the promise of the gospel it's the promises we read the book
of Proverbs Andrew could let's put up to verse 2 again we'll
say it one more time 2a first point what's the book all
about friends to know wisdom and instruction and what's going to help
us read every proverb all the way through the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction just as we're
leaving three things we can pray the first thing is I was really convicted
by this I have to pray Lord help me to know the ways that I am a fool
not be cynical not filled with despair in the comfort of who Jesus is and what
he's done for me I can pray Lord help me to know the ways that I am a fool
and second thing if you could put it up Andrew I can pray this Lord I am divided
and at war within myself please be my Savior and my Lord so that I will be free
and whole in you it's it can be profoundly freeing to not have to put up a front but
we can say to God Lord I am so divided some days I want to be I'm wishing like I'm
imagining that I'm LeBron James and then I'm imagining that I'm like Mother Teresa and
then I'm imagining like I'm Billy Graham and then I'm imagining like I'm John Calvin
and then I'm imagining like Bill Gates and then I'm imagining you know maybe I'm the
only one who goes through completely and utterly unbelievably stupid combinations and
I'm divided within myself and now I've just confessed it before all of you but I suspect
it's a more common more common problem than we all are willing to acknowledge because of
Jesus because of the fear of the Lord because of the book of Proverbs I encourage you to consider
praying a prayer like that's also the prayer that you pray to enter into the Christian faith
and to walk the Christian faith and finally if you could put up the final one I encourage you
to consider praying a prayer like this Lord please fill me with your Holy Spirit and grant me to walk
with Jesus and grow in the fear of the Lord that I'm going to ask you to stand right now and if the Holy
Spirit has convicted you would you join with me in praying that prayer right now let's pray Lord please
fill me with your Holy Spirit and grant me to walk with Jesus and grow in the fear of the Lord
Father pour out your Holy Spirit upon us pour out your Holy Spirit upon us help us to read the book of
Proverbs help us Father to accept that you desire that we will know wisdom and instruction
Father pour out your Holy Spirit upon us we thank you that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge and we ask that you grant us a deep fear of the Lord and Father you know how much each one of
us are fools and we despise wisdom and instruction we ask Father that you bring that to us make us aware
of the ways that we are fools that I am a fool and Father as you convict me of my foolishness at the
same time turn my eyes to Jesus who died for me who clothes me with his delight in the fear of the Lord
that I might repent to you and love you and adore you and walk with Jesus all this we ask in the name of
Jesus your Son and our Savior amen