February 2, 2025 | Wisdom's Call in a Busy World
Wisdom's Call in a Busy World | Proverbs Part 2
Proverbs 1:8–33
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.
My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us ambush the innocent without reason;
like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse”—
my son, do not walk in the way with them;
hold back your foot from their paths,
for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
For in vain is a net spread
in the sight of any bird,
but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.
Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” (ESV)
Jed Gillis’ sermon, Wisdom’s Call in a Busy World, unpacks Proverbs 1:8–33, emphasizing the urgency of pursuing wisdom amid the noise of life. Wisdom isn’t just knowledge—it’s the ability to navigate life’s complexities in a way that honors God. The passage presents a contrast: the wise path, shaped by godly instruction, and the foolish path, luring people into self-destructive greed, violence, and deception. Wisdom calls out in the streets, but many ignore her voice, choosing short-term gain over eternal security. The sermon challenges listeners to examine their own hearts—are they scoffers, fools, or the simple who refuse to commit? Or are they those who hear, turn, and embrace wisdom? True wisdom, Gillis argues, isn’t just a concept; it’s found in the person of Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God. His invitation remains open to all who will turn and follow Him, finding true security and rest.
Transcript of Wisdom's Call in a Busy World | Proverbs Part 2
This morning we're going to continue in the book of Proverbs chapter one. As we do that, children, if you're headed out the back door to Children's Church, you can go ahead and do that at this time. We also love to have you in here with us if you want to stay with us as well. But I think they might be excited about it.
Proverbs chapter one. We started a series in Proverbs last week and as we continue this week, the main thing we want to bring back from last week is just the thought of What is wisdom? Proverbs is a book given to instruct, especially younger, probably princes in Israel, in wisdom. Now, if they needed wisdom and they could learn it from Proverbs, we can learn it from Proverbs.
But that's the main thrust of the book. And if I were to ask you, if you're familiar with the Bible, if I were to ask you before we started this series, what's Proverbs about? Probably wisdom is the word that would have come to your mind. And so we need to make sure we understand what we're actually looking for.
When we say we're looking for wisdom. There are huge sections of our lives that don't seem to follow the rules of knowledge and the rules of what's right and wrong. There are many decisions you make where you say, this could be a good choice, this could be a good choice, this could be a good choice. And I'm not really sure which one.
Well, knowing this is a sinful choice and this is a good choice, that's a matter of knowledge, it's a matter of scripture. Knowing here's three that look like they could all be okay or even could all be good, which one do I take? That's a question of wisdom. And we need to learn to navigate our lives off the map of the rules of right and wrong, off the rules of knowledge and information. And instead, we have a combination of, yes, knowledge and values and skills that we, we combine all of these things and they're rooted in true worship. And that's what wisdom ultimately is.
By the way, the distinction between knowledge and wisdom is certainly not just a biblical distinction. I, I was reading some this past week, saw where a quote from a guy named Adam Grant, it was a longer quote, but paraphrased. He said. Expertise in our world is no longer about how much you know. It's about how well you put that knowledge together in practice. Before the internet, we lacked information, so it was crucial to gain as much knowledge as possible. Now, we have so much information, that it's important to know what are the patterns and how do all these things fit together. Grant said this, It's not enough to collect facts. The future belongs to those who connect the dots.
Now, not in so many words, but he basically said, knowledge isn't enough, you need wisdom. That's exactly what the book of Proverbs is here to teach us. But our world is noisy. Sometimes literally noisy. Sometimes figuratively noisy. There are voices clamoring for our attention all the time.
My wife and I recently took a trip for a couple days up to New York City and you walk down Times Square and it's just loud. There's 45 people trying to sell you bus tickets for something that we don't want to go on. And they want to take pictures with us, and they want all these things. We know where you should go, and you give us a little bit of money, we'll tell you the right place to go. There's all this bustle going on, and then there's bright signs flashing everywhere. There's people just talking as they walk past. There's all this noise. There's reporters filming. I saw that as we walked down Times Square. There's what looked like YouTube content creators or TikTok content creators who were filming some stuff there. All of this stuff is going on. So imagine a scene like that, and in the middle of all of that bustle, there's one voice telling you the way to life and truth and peace.
While all the other voices tell you, here's a shortcut. Here's something, focus your attention on shortcuts and self interest. And while you have voices all around you bombarding you with that in a busy city square, you have one voice calling out saying, this is life and truth and peace.
The Call to Listen
That's the image, as we go into this section of Proverbs. That's the image that this book uses. And so we're going to pick up where we left off last time, starting in verse 8. I'll just read a couple verses for now and, and we'll talk through it as we go through the section. Verse eight says, hear my son, your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.
It starts with a call to listen. That's what this section, it says, listen here. Now a couple things we wanna notice. One, he's not saying that parents are always correct or always godly. That's not part of what he's assuming here. I know some of you may say my father and mother's instruction really wasn't godly at all. He's not saying that just because a parent said it, it has to be godly. But he's talking to people that he knows their situation. He says, your father and mother have been teaching you to walk in the right path.
He's really countering a common human tendency. Sometimes we want to ignore instruction just because I didn't think about it. And we say, this person might be able to teach me, but I didn't come up with that idea myself, so I can't follow that. And he's trying to instill a principle of wisdom right away to say, here, instruction, listen, don't think just because I didn't make this up, I shouldn't pay attention to it.
We can also notice as we go through here that both parents are involved in the instruction. Both parents. He says, father and mother. Of course, not every human situation has both parents involved for whatever reason. He's not saying that can't work, but you do want to notice it's not like dad says, well, mom's going to teach him, I don't have to worry about that. Or mom says, well, dad's going to teach him, I don't have to worry about that. Both parents are involved in instructing their children in wisdom.
And notice, hearing, And continuing are related. Maybe you're familiar with Hebrew poetry and the way it works. That you, you usually have two statements or sometimes more than two statements. And those statements put together tell you something more than either one of them by itself. It's, it's an artistic form of writing. So when he says, Hear your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching. He's telling you that part of hearing the way he's talking about is to continue, to not forsake the teaching. Those two things are related.
We need to be reminded that, of that in our world, because there's a kind of listening that hears and forgets. That hears and then later says, ah, I know better than that. And it's easy for us to come to God's Word in different contexts and for us to hear and then move right past it. Or maybe hear and say, I'm gonna follow that for a while, and then we get five years, ten years, twenty years down the road and say, maybe I know better.
The Attriveness of Wisdom and Foolishness
So he starts off with a call, he says, look here, don't forsake this teaching. And notice his motive, before he even tells him what the teaching is, he gives him the motive. He says, don't forsake this teaching because of verse 9, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.
Don't miss this, he's not saying learn wisdom because it will help you not die in the paths of life. Sometimes he says that. In the book. That's a good motive. That's not the motive here. The motive here is, this wisdom, this teaching is meant to make you attractive and bring honor to you. That's what Garland's and Pendant's did.
He says if you learn this kind of wisdom, not just functional wisdom, but biblical wisdom, it shapes who you are, and as it shapes who you are, that's something that is attractive. That is honorable. Think about it, if you know someone who has biblical wisdom. Just imagine whatever that looks like in your mind.
That person acts with humility, fairness, reasonableness, self control, love, truth. If you imagine that person, you say, is, is that an attractive thing? I think so. Does that bring honor to them? Sure. In God's eyes for sure, and often in our world even, we recognize there's some traits of biblical wisdom that we say that is honorable.
But there's also other voices who teach otherwise, who say foolishness is attractive and that's where this warning comes in. So we get to verse 10. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie and wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without reason. Like Sheol, let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse.
There's this voice, these sinners, he describes them, who entice people to follow. Well, what can we learn about them? First, they're, they're habitual sinners. When he says, if sinners entice you, the word behind that implies a habit, a continued pattern.
These people, this is just what they do. They sin like this. He's not saying here, although he addresses this other places, he's not talking about the fact that everybody you meet sins in some various ways. He's not really talking about that. He's saying these are the kind of people who are habitual, almost professional sinners in these ways.
Well, what else can we learn than sinners in what ways? If we were going to summarize it, we'd say they're violent, they're greedy, and they're backstabbers. If you read through 11 through 14 as we just did, that's, that's their pattern. They say, we're going to lie in wait, we're going to attack someone, and why are we going to do that? Because it's going to be good for me. I'm looking out for myself, and I don't care who I hurt to get there. That's this kind of person.
And if I describe them that way and say don't be enticed by violent, greedy, backstabbing, self centered people, we're all like, why on earth would I be enticed by that? That doesn't sound very good. But notice the strategy. Notice what they do to try and entice. They say things like, verse 14, Throw in your lot among us and we will all have one purse. In other words, come, oppress these people, steal from them, and you'll benefit just like we will. They say, this world is us against them, and if you're on our side, you're one of the winners.
They promise quick belonging to their group. And they promise riches and power. Really, this is such a temptation for us. When you word it this way, and say don't join the people who lie and wait for someone else's blood, we're like, oh no, I shouldn't do that. But we're tempted to say, how can I be in the right inside group that will be good for me, that will give me what I greedily want, and the power that I want, how can I be part of that kind of group?
It's really the same thing as if you were to go to an inner city context. and see a young teenager who's being enticed to come join a gang. It's the same thing. They're saying, you join us, we have power in this territory. If you join us, it's going to be good for you. Yes, we will attack those people, but you'll be part of us. You'll be one of the winners.
And the wisdom here is don't be enticed by that kind of thing. And in fact, if we were going to go further and look at verse 19, it's not just the specific situations. Like lying in wait to attack somebody. He universalizes it. He says in verse 19 such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain.
So what does it look like in our world and we could talk about a lot of things. Here's a couple examples We could go to the schoolyard and talk about the schoolyard bullies. We know that can be a gang of people who say yeah, we're gonna get them We're going to pick on them. We're going to gain popularity, and we're going to gain status, because we'll put them down, and we'll make ourselves look better.
But you can leave the schoolyard, find people, probably often who are older, and find cliques of people who slander everybody else. People who, who need bad things to be true of other people in order to have their own significance. If you have a group of people who say, we're valuable because we're really smart. Well, what they're going to tend to do is talk about how dumb all the other people are. They need that to be true because that's their worth, that's their value. This is the same kind of group. A group of fools, of sinners, who are just looking out for themselves, who will put down others in order to gain what they want.
And this text tells us don't be enticed by that kind of thing. These people are like gossiping, slandering, relational piranhas. We know how piranhas hunt, right? You throw something in the water and they're hungry. The whole pack of them comes. One piranha is not that terrible. You'll probably be okay.
It'll hurt. But you'll be okay. But a pack of piranhas supposedly can devour a cow in some crazy short amount of time. That's what these kind of people are like. And he's saying, look, don't be the kind of person who's enticed to come be part of the pack of piranhas. That could mean, like they, it literally talks about, where you're waiting to kill them.
That could be using your position and power to slander and gossip and attack. We could go throughout history and find example after example, right, of powerful, corrupt, could be businesses, governments, could be any number of things, could be people who are stoking unfair class warfare in unjust ways. All of that.
Here's the group. Here's the powerful group. We're going to harm you so that it's good for us. And the principle of wisdom is, look, when that happens, don't be enticed by those people. Don't join them.
Well, why? Let's continue in verse 15. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives. He says, don't walk in their ways because violent, self promoting greed is self destructive. It's actually very much like piranhas. I was looking up piranhas because of this picture and it's interesting. When they're hungry and they don't have other food, eventually they eat themselves.
And that's exactly what happens. With any violent, self centered group of people, eventually they may attack all these people, it may look like they're powerful, it may look like they're succeeding, but eventually they will devour their own. If you have a group of people who gossip and slander, you know if you're around those people you start wondering, what do they say about me? Will they gossip and slander about me?
So, this teaching of wisdom is, these people seem to offer community. Come be part, come belong. So do street gangs, they seem to offer community. But it's a fake, it's a counterfeit, unstable kind of community. It's not the kind of relationships we really want. It's built on backstabbing and selfishness. How long do you think that lasts?
Countering Abusive Communities with Genuine Communities
And don't think that that kind of false community only happens somewhere else and not in the church. Because many of you have been around church long enough to be heard enough times to know that sometimes that same backstabbing self centeredness Invades a church and you have groups that are divisive and slandering and attacking and all of these things When we see that we need to take heed to this warning of wisdom that says that kind of community Isn't the kind wise people pursue. So how do you avoid it?
Well, he did say don't walk in their ways. Notice he didn't say never see those people. We live in a world of sinful people. Like Paul said, I didn't tell you to come out from the world. You'd have to leave everybody. Be in the world, but not of it. So in this same context, when you talk about a fake community, a violent backstabbing one, it doesn't mean I have nothing to do with those people ever.
He says don't walk in their ways. Don't do what they do. Don't follow them. And I would say this, the, the appeal, the enticement of counterfeit, selfish community is best countered by genuine community.
It's best countered by genuine community if you say, there's weird, there's difficult, false, counterfeit community that exists. How do I avoid it? The best way is by having real community. Because the community that God gives. That God builds through the atonement in Jesus Christ is safe and real because it's not built on selfish violence.
All these other communities are built on, I'll put down anybody I have to to look out for myself. The community God gives is not built on selfish violence that crucifies each other. It's built on the selfless grace that comes from our violently crucified Savior. That foundation changes a community, and if you want to avoid, you want to wisely avoid the false counterfeit community that will tear you apart, then you need a community that's built instead on the Savior. Who was torn apart for you.
Because if a group of people is built on greed and tearing others down, then even a perfect person will be torn apart. We know that. We have the story in scripture. Jesus came in perfection, and they hated him. You ever wonder how could they hate him like that? He was perfect. You read what he said, it was good. He loved.
But their community was built on violence and selfishness and greed. So they tore apart the perfect person. But if your community, if your relationship is built on the highest forgiveness and trust found only in Jesus, then your community has the resources to deal with imperfect people.
So I want to ask you, do you lean into community like that? If you don't lean into real community built on Jesus Christ, then there is a greater danger that you will be enticed and drawn in by violent, treacherous community.
So, are you committed to a community of broken people who love the God who heals? Broken people who forgive because they're forgiven. That's the best protection you can have. And if you're a parent or a grandparent, the best protection your kids and your grandkids can have too, from destructive communities of greedy bullies. And our world's full of them.
Wisdom is Found at the Crossroads
So, that's his warning. Then he personifies wisdom in verse 20. Wisdom cries aloud in the street. In the market, she raises her voice. At the head of the noisy street, she cries out. At the entrance of the city gates, she speaks. Notice where wisdom is. Wisdom is not hiding on a mountain somewhere.
Wisdom is in the streets, in the markets, right in the middle of Times Square. Where you're walking past every day on your life. Often we're told the way to get wisdom is to go find the guru on the mountain and withdraw. Do something really hard, gain your wisdom, then come back. But biblically, most often, wisdom is portrayed as right where you walk, calling out in the streets. Available.
And notice it says not just streets, but in the noisy streets. Verse 21 says, at the head of the noisy streets, all these voices that say, take this shortcut. Come get profit with us, get unjust, gain all these voices. And yet, in the middle of that, right in the middle of the noisy street.
Wisdom is for Fools, Scoffers, and Simple Ones
Wisdom is calling out, and wisdom addresses three groups of people, fools, scoffers, and simple ones.
Before I define those, let me say this, as we go through the book of Proverbs, these are not exclusive categories like, well, I did something foolish, so I must be a fool, so I can't be any of these other things. All of us will find different spots in our lives where we say, there's foolish actions, sometimes we may scoff. Sometimes we're simple ones and sometimes we're wise. So you're not called to say, Oh good, I think I'm wise. I pat myself on the back. I don't have to worry about it. I fit this category. That doesn't work. You're also not called to say, Well, I guess I've been a fool and I have no hope. So shame on me and despair.
The book of Proverbs, when it addresses fools and scoffers and simple ones, is saying, Wherever you find foolishness, turn to wisdom. Wherever you find yourself being simple, we'll talk about what that means in a minute, turn from that. The book isn't meant to say, I'm labeling you a fool, you're no good anymore, let's see about everybody else. It's meant to say, where you find foolishness, turn.
So we have three groups. A fool, scoffer, and a simple one. The word for fools here is a general word that means a thick headed, stubborn person. Just a thick headed, stubborn person who trusts in themselves, and the question wisdom has then is, Fools, how long will you hate knowledge?
A scoffer is like a hardened fool who mocks, who laughs at wisdom. And the question for the scoffer is, how long will you delight in your scoffing? In other words, the picture for both of these is that a fool doesn't love knowledge. They just want to continue their own way. They don't want to be corrected. They want to just keep going. A scoffer doesn't love anything but their own clever mocking.
But there's also the simple people. There's a word for simple. is people who aren't fools, but they aren't wise. It's people who don't feel strongly either way. Maybe I'll take the wise path, maybe I'll take the foolish one. Maybe I'll take the wise path today, but I might try to be foolish tomorrow. They're uncommitted, or under committed, at least. And sometimes, when we're immature, we like to keep our options open. We say, like, I'll get enough of God to get my bases covered. I'll show up at church and I'll do the wise thing for Sunday morning, but God, don't mess with anything else I do. Don't rearrange the rest of my life, God.
I'll give you a little bit, right? That's a simple one. One who says, I'm under committed. I might take the wise path here, I might take the foolish path here. And wisdom's question for the simple one, in verse 22: is how long will you love being simple? How long will you love staying in that uncommitted or under committed position?
So what does wisdom want them to hear? Notice when wisdom talks to the simple ones, wisdom doesn't say, How long will you hate wisdom? Wisdom says, how long will you love being simple?
In other words, It's bad enough to say, I just don't want to be committed to wisdom. You don't have to say, I hate wisdom. You just have to say, I want to keep my options open. And wisdom calls out and says, well, how long are you going to do that? How long are you going to stay there? Wisdom wants them to hear then, continuing in verse 23, on the positive side, if you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you.
I will make my words known to you. Wisdom wants them to hear if you turn. This is the Hebrew word for repentance. Repentance isn't about shame, by the way. Repentance is about course correction. You're going this way, and you turn. That's what repentance is about. And that's what wisdom is calling the fool, the scoffer, the simple to do, saying, here you are, you're going this way, now will you turn?
That's why wisdom, each of the questions, did you notice they all start with how long? How long will you hate knowledge? How long will you delight in your scoffing? How long will you love being simple? How long implies you could turn and stop this?
Wisdom's not saying, you fools, forget you, I'm gonna try somebody else. Wisdom's saying, you're acting like a fool. How long will you keep doing that? Will you turn? Will you just correct your course? That's what wisdom is calling out to these people in this picture. And that's another reason, by the way, wisdom is at the noisy streets, in the crossroads of the city.
Because crossroads are where you turn. Have you ever been driving and in a back road somewhere and you get to a point where you say I missed my turn and it's a windy road and there's traffic and you're like where on earth am I going to turn around? Right, we've been there and sometimes life feels like that.
I made some choices I shouldn't have made. Now how on earth do I get back? This picture in Proverbs is wisdom is standing at the crossroads, at the place where you need wisdom to be crying out saying go this way. This picture. Is that wisdom is crying out there where you can turn. Aren't you glad that God's wisdom isn't hidden for like a few people somewhere?
That God's wisdom is right where you need it when you need to change, when you need to turn. That's where wisdom calls out.
This is the attitude that says, God change anything in my life. Challenge anything in my life. Rearrange my heart, my mind, my goals. I'm willing to turn wherever your wisdom tells me to go. That's what wisdom is calling you to do. If you'll turn. How long will you love being in these paths if you'll just turn to wisdom?
Here is what is promised. Behold, I will pour out my spirit to you. I will make my words known to you.
Just like in the New Testament. God says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives it freely. If you will turn, you can find wisdom.
The Irreversible Consequences of Waiting to Find Wisdom
So positively, wisdom calling out says, how long will you stay in foolish or uncommitted paths? And instead, turn, and if you will turn, you will have the spirit of wisdom poured out on you.
Negatively, wisdom wants you to hear what happens if you don't listen. So we get to verse 24 through 27, which is warnings for really foolish scoffers, stubborn people who won't change and won't turn.
Verse 24, wisdom says, because I have called and you refuse to listen and have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded. Because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you. When terror strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.
That's a hard section. It's a little hard to hear that. Remember, wisdom is calling out, at the crossroads, saying, if you go down this path, the only way to go forward is going to be a U turn, and it's going to be hard to get there. Wisdom saying, if you pursue foolishness and you will not turn, you won't seek wisdom now. There will be consequences that come from that.
And you can't just get down the road and say, well, I made foolish choices for 30 years. Now I'm going to make one wise one and fix it all. Doesn't always work like that.
And it says here, when terror strikes you like a storm, we don't have time to rehash it all from last week, but we talked about the fear of the Lord. And why it's called fear is because all of these other fears that we deal with in our lives need to be replaced with something.
We get whipped around by our fears. We get beaten by our fears. Many times, our fears strike us and it does feel like terror hits us like a storm. Well, the fool has said, I don't want the fear of the Lord. So the only thing left is to be beaten by those fears. And wisdom points to that and says, when terror comes, when those fears comes, because you refused the starting point of wisdom, the fear of the Lord, because you refused that, there's no, there's no place for you to hide when those fears come.
So wisdom calls, how long will you stay? Will you turn towards God's wisdom instead of trusting in yourself?
Then in verse 28, It shifts from a warning to, to an explanation for the simple people who are watching. So 24 through 27 is, here's the fool and the scoffer. Here's what happens when they continue down their path.
Then notice in verse 28 it changes from when terror strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind. To verse 28, then they will call upon me. It changes from you to they. I, I think what he's doing is pointing to, we've got three groups, fools, scoffers, and simple ones. He's saying, fools and scoffers, this is the end of their path if they don't turn.
And then he's pointing to the simple ones, the uncommitted ones who are like, I don't know, maybe wisdom, maybe foolishness, I'll keep my options open. And wisdom says, then they, the fools and scoffers, will call upon me. They'll say, oh, I'd like a wise answer now, now that I've pursued my own foolishness for decades.
I'd like a wise answer now, but wisdom will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but will not find me. Now some of us might pause there like, wait a minute. If they seek God, they won't be able to find him? Like I thought God was gracious and forgiving and what is all this stuff? Now notice, they're seeking wisdom, yes, but Still in verse 29, they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
They're not saying, I want to come make my relationship with God right. They're not choosing the fear of the Lord at this point either. They're saying, my foolish choices have resulted in a lot of bad things. And I don't want the fear of the Lord, but I'd really like some better results in my life.
So wisdom steps out of the direct warning and talks to the simple ones and says, Look at how bad that will end for them. Do you really want to go down that path? Do you really want to even keep your options open for going down that path? Wisdom starts to talk to the simple one and says, This is what happened with them. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their way and have their fill of their own devices. They'll get the consequences that come with their foolishness. And so wisdom calls to the ones learning, but wisdom calls to us.
Are we going to stay simple, under committed, like, Ah, I like wisdom sometimes, but I'd really like to keep these pockets of foolishness in my life. Or are we going to see, that's where that ends, I don't want that road. I don't want those consequences.
Our best learning often comes from mistakes, right? But it's much better to learn from someone else's mistakes than your own. Wisdom is calling to all of us to say, Look at where fools end up. Learn from their mistake. Don't end there.
Will Your Turn Towards Wisdom or Foolishness?
And we get a summary statement in verse 32 and 33. The simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them. But, whoever listens to me, will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster.
You're always turning one way or another. Notice the contrast, the simpler killed by their turning away. But verse 23, if you turn at my reproof, we're always turning one way or the other. Do you turn towards wisdom? Do you turn towards follishness? If you foolishness, if you turn away from wisdom, you find destruction.
If you turn at wisdom's correction, you find verse 33 security. It says the complacency of fools destroy them. I was, I was thinking about that phrase. Complacency is, is like false ease. You really should be doing something, but you're complacent and you say, well, I'm not going to touch it. I'm not going to go near that.
It feels easy. It feels comfortable, but it's false ease. It doesn't really give you what you want. It leads you to destruction. But the contrast is instead of being complacent. Towards wisdom. Having urgency towards wisdom. I must know God's wisdom. I must turn and I must follow. That urgency towards God's wisdom replaces complacency. And that's what really leads us to dwell secure and be at ease without dread of disaster. So I want to ask you, what's your attitude towards wisdom? Towards God's wisdom? Are you complacent? Do you urgently want more of it? Are you committed to it? Like, God, I want your wisdom and wherever you show it to me, I will follow.
I'll turn from anything I have to, or are you sitting and, well, I'll take a look at wisdom and I'll look at this foolish choice and we'll see. If we're not going to be complacent, we need to be committed to turning whenever God corrects us.
And my prayer for myself and for you all is that this week God will prompt us to turn where we need to turn. That he'll give us urgency for his wisdom, not complacency.
The Person of Wisdom
But so far we've thought about wisdom as a personification, like a literary device, right? Imagine wisdom standing somewhere and calling out.
What if wisdom is Not just a literary device. What if it's not just pretending that wisdom is a person? What if wisdom actually isn't a concept, but is a person that you can actually know and love? Maybe you think it would be great to have this kind of wisdom, but I never had the kind of parents or mentors or guides or counselors who could give me this kind of wisdom.
I never had the person who could teach me. But if the wisdom of God really is a person you can know and love, then that person would be your ultimate mentor and counselor and guide. And that's exactly who Jesus is. That's what Paul said, we read it earlier, Jesus who is the wisdom of God. And Jesus, like the personification here, Jesus walked the streets.
Jesus walked alongside other people. And he called out in the noisy public squares and said, Anybody who'll listen, come. Come to me. And find rest. He also told them, You can't be complacent. You can't sit here and say, Sure, I'll follow you after I take care of this business at home. He told them, Seeking him was the most urgent thing they could have.
But that if they sought him urgently, they would find rest. That's exactly what wisdom calls out here. And Jesus didn't stop by calling out on the noisy streets. The ultimate act of wisdom was the cross. See, the rules of, of knowledge, like if we were setting it up, we'd be like, No, you don't go defeat your enemies by dying.
The rules of knowledge didn't really apply. What we think of as right and wrong, Would have said, no, he shouldn't die. He didn't do anything wrong. So off the map of the rules of knowledge and off the map of the rules of right and wrong, we find what Jesus did for us on the cross as the ultimate act of wisdom because he displayed his incredible plan.
Ephesians says, so that through the church, through the community, the real community that Jesus bought, The varied wisdom of God, that's the word it uses in Ephesians 3, the wisdom of God might be displayed on earth and in heaven forever.
The wisest person who ever lived died on the cross for fools so that we could walk in wisdom.
It's not just a literary device. It's used that way in Proverbs, yes.
But there is a person who is wisdom who calls you and says, how long will you love being simple or foolish or scoffing who calls you and says, turn and find rest. Will you trust Jesus to be your mentor, your teacher? Will you be fully committed to turn anywhere he tells you to?
Wisdom calls you in the busy crossroads of your life. And I know all our lives are busy. I know we need wisdom for a million things. And you might feel like, well, if I could find the space to really go have an opportunity to think for long enough, maybe I'll reach this wisdom. And those can be wonderful experiences.
But God and his grace in the busyness calls you in the crossroads and says, will you listen? And Jesus invites you to turn to him because he's the wisdom of God and find life and peace and security. I invite you to close your eyes and just take a moment, respond to God. If God has convicted you of anything, would you turn towards his wisdom?
He calls us to be committed and urgently pursue him and pursue his wisdom. And so I pray that that would be true of us. I invite you just to respond to God for a few minutes and then we will pray together.