January 26, 2025 | The Foundations of Wisdom

The Foundation of Wisdom | Proverbs Part 1

Proverbs 1:1–7

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

To know wisdom and instruction,
    to understand words of insight,
to receive instruction in wise dealing,
    in righteousness, justice, and equity;
to give prudence to the simple,
    knowledge and discretion to the youth—
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.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
    fools despise wisdom and instruction. (ESV)

In his sermon ""The Foundation of Wisdom,"" Jed Gillis explores Proverbs 1:1–7, emphasizing the centrality of wisdom in navigating life’s complexities. He defines wisdom as more than knowledge or moral understanding—it is the ability to make godly decisions in real-time, shaped by a deep relationship with God.

Gillis underscores that true wisdom begins with ""the fear of the Lord,"" a life-rearranging, trembling joy and wonder before a supremely worthy God. This reverence for God frees us from lesser fears and provides the foundation for righteous living. He calls on believers to orient their entire lives around God, challenging them to trust Him unconditionally and pursue wisdom that transforms character and actions. Proverbs encourages the church to seek God’s guidance together, growing in discernment, prudence, and deep faith.

Transcript of The Foundations of Wisdom

It's a joy to look forward to that day when all will bow before Him, to look forward to the day when we'll be able to hear the roar of the angels, praising Jesus. Revelation gives us that picture of a group of angels and people over and over saying, Amen, and worthy is the Lamb, and repeating these truths to one another.

And it's a joy to do it together, singing this morning. As we get ready to look at Proverbs, children, if you're headed out to Children's Church, you're welcome to go out the back door. We're also glad to have you here with us in the service. We're going to be in Proverbs chapter 1 today.

Proverbs chapter 1. Every series, every time we start into a new book here, there's a, it's a bit of a journey. Certainly is for me as I, I work through it. I hope it is for you. I hope it's not just a collection of weekly ideas to think about and then forget. It's a series of God taking us through a book of Scripture that He has inspired from cover to cover.

And sometimes you might think you know what God's going to teach you from a series of teachings on a book. Sometimes you might not. I know sometimes it's that way for me. I think I know where we're going to head at the beginning, and then we end up somewhere different, because God, in His grace, His mercy, by His Spirit, He teaches us, and He leads us, step by step.

How to Get the Most out of the Proverbs Series

So I want to ask you, as we prepare to go into this series, to get the most out of this series, I want to encourage you to do three things. First, pray. Pray for me and others as we speak through these passages. Pray for each other, pray that God will use the truth of His Word in timely ways, and pray for yourself.

Pray that God will use this series of teachings, which will be in and around Missions Conference and some other things. Easter will be in there. As we work through this series, pray that God will use this to help us to know Him and worship Him more through the book of Proverbs. So first, pray.

Second thing, to get the most out of this series of teachings, I would encourage you to read. Read Proverbs. Uh, I, you may have a Bible reading plan, and that's fine. If you don't have a plan, I would encourage you, there's 31 chapters in Proverbs. It's great. You could say, I'm gonna read one a day. One chapter a day. And just become familiar with how the book works, where it goes. All of God's truth needs to do more than just bounce off of us, it needs to soak into us.

And so I would invite you, to get the most out of this series, to read the book of Proverbs. And then the third thing, to ask questions. Some of that could be ask questions, you can ask an elder here, you can ask me. As you read through Proverbs, something says, I don't know what this means. But we will, we'll do like we did with 1 Peter, we'll do a Q& A podcast that we'll put together some of those questions. I'll be glad to answer your question, but if you have the question, somebody else probably does too. So we'll do podcasts like that to be able to work through questions and answers.

Also, talk to each other about Proverbs as you have a chance. Ask each other questions because wisdom, which Proverbs is primarily about wisdom, wisdom is best learned in community with other people.

And so ask questions. Talk to people around you about it. My prayer is that for this stretch, the book of Proverbs will bounce around and reverberate in the life of the body here. And I think God has his purposes for that book, for this stretch of time, for Berean Bible Church.

A Backround on Proverbs

As we dive into the book, I do want to say a quick word of background about Proverbs, because some of you may be very familiar with it, others may not have ever heard of Proverbs.

So, to know what kind of book we're looking at, it was a book that was really compiled from several authors. Notably, King Solomon, known as the wisest man who ever lived. Notably him, but also other leaders. Some of them are named, some of them may not be. But it's a compilation of short sayings, there's an introduction section, and then short sayings, proverbs, that were used most likely to be like a curriculum of character instruction for the princes of Israel.

In other words, if you said, we've got all these guys, and you may know a little about Solomon, you know he had a lot of wives and a lot of kids. So you say, how are we going to train all those kids? They didn't have the public school system. I don't think anybody was homeschooling quite the way we think of it.

So how did it work? Well, they, they would do things like this. And they would have the princes would gather together. And then they would talk about things like this. They would have a mentor or a teacher who would guide them through talking about wisdom. That's the nature of the book we're coming to.

It's intended to be, here's a lot of things you need to think about. That may take a while for you to soak these truths in, to internalize this wisdom, to do it in community with others. Some who have walked a few steps of wisdom before you, some who are right where you are, some who aren't quite there yet. And we learn wisdom by talking about these kinds of truths in community. That's the nature of the book that we're coming to.

And the structure of the book is basically this. Chapters 1 through 9 is a really big introduction. He's going to tell you, here's why you really need to know about wisdom. Here's some dangers. Here's some good things.

Then from chapter 10 through 31, you have the collection of proverbs that have been compiled together. And a lot of short sayings. A few of them fit together. Some of them it's just one verse. And then one verse. Which you can imagine in that context how they would use it then.

They would talk to the princes and say, here's a proverb. We do this now. We say things like, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. That's a modern proverb. Right, and we know technically eating apples will not mean you never go to the doctor. But we know, there's a sense here now, there's truth that's being told, and you might say that to your kids or your grandkids. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. And that opens up a conversation about nutrition and health, actually. That's how they used proverbs then. That's what chapters 10 through 31 really are.

The Introduction to the Introduction of Proverbs

This morning, we're gonna look at the introduction of the To the introduction. Because chapters 1 through 9 are really a big introduction.

But chapter 1 verses 1 through 7 is an introduction to that section. So I'd like to read that section from the beginning of Proverbs.

The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight. To receive instruction and wise dealing in righteousness, justice, and equity. To give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth, 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. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

God, you are our wisdom. We pray that you would shape our hearts. We pray that you would teach our minds. We pray that you would guide our choices today. In Jesus name. Amen.

So this introduction to the introduction really tells you the purpose of the book. You notice he has all of these statements from verse 2 through verse 6.

These, to do this, to do this, to know wisdom, to receive instruction, to give prudence, to understand a proverb.

What is Wisdom?

Briefly, we're going to just talk through each of those phrases. He starts with, to know wisdom and instruction. So, the first question is, what is wisdom? And, and do I need it? I hope we all go, oh yes, I definitely do.

But, but, let's think about, what is it exactly? It's an interesting word, it's not exactly the same as knowledge. Uh, some have cleverly said, knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, which is true scientifically. Wisdom is knowing to not put it in a fruit salad. It's a good way to get at the distinction.

Like, you can know a fact, but the fact that you know this doesn't mean you know what to do with it. There's knowledge, there's wisdom. It's not the same as moral values or goodness. Like, you can know ethics. This is good to do something. For example, if you were to say, I want to help someone who's going through poverty. That's related to addictions. Now you can ethically say, here's the ethics, here's what I should do. But you need a lot more than just those rules. You need wisdom. You need to say, how on earth do I do this in a way that really helps?

Right, we need wisdom. It's more than just what's good and bad. It's, alright, what about the situations where the rules of knowledge don't seem to tell me what to do?

What about the situations where I can go, okay. Thou shalt not lie. I know that one. I'm not going to lie. Thou shalt not steal. Okay, I got, say we could take care of all of those, but there's still so many choices. You say, I feel like I'm kind of off the map here of the rules of right and wrong, of the rules of knowledge and say, how do I actually act?

One example, I enjoy coaching and watching soccer. And when you see a soccer player play, you can have a soccer player who knows how to do all the things in the game. They know how to kick a shot. They know how to pass. They know how to run. They know how to play defense. They know all the skills. They have all the knowledge.

They might even value some of the right things. They say it's important to be a good teammate, to pass the ball, to use space. Like, they can have all of that knowledge and still be a lousy soccer player. Because the question is, when you're out on the field, works for basketball or football or any other sport, when you're out on the field, what do you do when that defender moves somewhere you didn't think they were going to move?

What do you do when you have to react to a teammate going somewhere you didn't expect? What do you do when you play on a different surface and the field's bumpy or the field's turf? What about when it's really hot? What about when it's really cold? What about when the ball's a little flat? To what you really want at that point, you want somebody who has learned to play the game. Someone who has wisdom in playing. Knowing all the facts is good. It's not enough.

Some of you teens in this room either just got a driver's permit or will before too long. That's a scary thought for some of us parents. You go take a test, right? And you check the box. Okay, I know all the right things to say for this test. Good, that's knowledge. You've got some values. Accidents are bad. Okay, I can handle that one. Being safe is good. I can handle that one. But none of us would sit here and say, just because you can pass the test, and just because you know some values, you are a wise and good driver. We don't know that. Because wisdom is something different.

That's what he's talking about here throughout the book. You need wisdom, the ability to make decisions in real time when things are not predictable and changing circumstances to take the knowledge you have and the skill you have and to make good decisions, to chart a good course. It's wisdom. That's what we need.

We need to know what to do when situations change quickly and it feels like we're off the map. And the rules of knowledge and the rules of commandments don't seem to apply enough to give you answers. So we get all these questions like, Where do I go to college? Who do I marry? Where should we live?

Do I buy this car, or that car, or that car, or that car? Do I buy this house, or that house? There's no thou shalt buy this house command in scripture, right? There are principles, sure. But we have all these questions. Do I take this trip? Do we go on this vacation? Do I exercise? How do I exercise? What do I eat? How do I handle this difficult relationship with my friend? How do we handle my parents failing health? What do I do with my life after I retire from work? All these questions. There's, there's no knowledge and no command that gives you a clear answer for every step in those questions. There's not. You need wisdom.

Biblical principles apply to all of those things. But knowledge and values aren't quite enough. And so when he says, these are written to give you so that you would know wisdom, wisdom and instruction. That's one of the purposes of this book, is to give you the wisdom to navigate in changing difficulties.

What is Insight?

The next phrase, to understand words of insight. This is the idea is to, to know how things really work. Insight is like, have you ever been around somebody who sees something and they just know, Oh, that's how you solve it. People who have done construction on houses or remodeling, and they come in and they look at a problem and they go, Oh yeah, you just do this.

They have insight. They know how things work. Some of us in this room would have absolutely no clue. To understand words of insight. In other words, to develop straight thinking. Like, good thinking about the way things really are.

What is  Instruction in Wise Dealing, Righteousness, Justice, and Equity.?

Next one. To receive instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity.

We'll talk more about all those as we go through the book. But here, to be instructed in character. In the ways you should act. Wise actions. Righteousness. A right relationship with God. Justice. Justice is difficult sometimes, isn't it? It's hard to know what to do. If you've ever been a parent, and you had two kids, you've had to deal with justice.

Because they come, and you go, oh wait, which one's right, and is it fair, and is it right, and is it just, and all these questions, and sometimes you go, I don't know! It's hard. This is one of the reasons Proverbs is given, so that we will not only develop good thinking, but develop deep character. Which is also necessary.

What is Prudence to the Simple?

Next phrase, to give prudence to the simple. Again, another week we'll talk what he means by the simple. But let's talk about this word prudence, because it probably gives you the wrong idea. We don't use it that often, and we don't use it this way that often. You could translate it shrewdness, or, or a, it's like a good kind of cunning. So, to know what you should notice, and how you should think about the details.

One example, if you think about a detective TV show. Anyone, doesn't really matter. But if, if Sherlock walks in the room on a TV show, what immediately happens is, the camera zooms in on all the important things, right? And it might highlight this clue and that clue.

I wish that happened in real life, right? If I could walk in and instantly just, all the important stuff pops out, that'd be great. When Sherlock, or whatever detective, comes in the room and he knows what to notice, and knows what's important about it, He has the word behind this word, prudence, shrewdness, a certain amount of just understanding what's important, what's not.

He notices subtle distinctions and knows what conclusions to reach. That's one of the reasons this book is in your Bible, is because God wants to teach you how to notice You say, here's this difficult relationship with a friend, and here's this difficult relationship with a friend. How do I handle them?

One reason Proverbs is there is so that you can notice the subtle distinctions between the two relationships, so that you have wisdom to know how to handle it.

Proverbs is for the Wise to Increase in Learning

So he says, to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth. That's very similar to the first phrase there. Let the wise hear and increase in learning. I love that he puts this here. Proverbs is not here for, for only people who would say, Well, I don't have any wisdom. I'm foolish. So that there could be a category of us who might say, Well, I'm pretty wise.

I think I've got it together. He doesn't let you start there. He says, To the wise, let the wise hear and increase in learning. In other words, he's writing to a community, and we are a community of people. We don't have all of our thinking sorted out perfectly. None of us have all of our hearts and our desires perfected.

None of us have all of our actions figured out so that we always do the perfect thing. No, we're a community of people who are wise in some areas, foolish in some areas, simple at times, naive at times, shrewd and wise at times. And we're a community of people who are supposed to be growing together, always pursuing the next step of wisdom.

From the very beginning, the introduction to the introduction, Proverbs is saying, whoever you are, you need to grow in wisdom. If you're already wise, great. Increase in learning. Keep growing. Keep learning.

So this book really is to teach how things really work. Good thinking. How things really are. We need prudence. We need discretion. Discernment. To know how they really are in each situation. And what you should do about it. Deep character. And wisdom.

That's why Proverbs is here. That's why I said what I said at the beginning. I hope that you will pray and read and ask questions and talk to one another about Proverbs. Because I think we would all say, I want that in my life. I want to know how things work. I want to know how things really are. And I want to know what I should do about it. That's what Proverbs is for. When we use knowledge, discernment, and values to navigate our life, that's wisdom.

The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Knowledge

So then we get to verse 7.

Which is where we'll spend more of our time this morning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. We've got three main ideas about the foundation of wisdom here. First, I want you to notice, we'll come back to the phrase, the fear of the Lord, in just a minute.

But before that, the fear of the Lord is what? It's the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 9, verse 10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Here, he's driving us to something deeper than just that. That's this, all knowledge, every reasoning function that you have, is built on some idea of what is ultimate. Of some idea of, of God. You might not call it God, but it's built on something. Your view of what is ultimate determines what you think and how you think it. I'll give you some examples.

But before that, to say, this is not the way our culture thinks. Our culture thinks Separate your faith, take that over here. Now you've got facts we're going to put over here. We all operate in the public world based on facts, and you can do whatever you want with your faith in your home. That's what we get pushed as Christians. We're told this over and over and over and over. That's not how God says our thinking works.

For example, you could believe that the only thing you can be sure of is so called science. Observable, repeatable science. You could conclude that. The problem is, that's not scientifically proven to say the only thing I can trust is science. How can science show you that's the only thing you can trust? It can't, ultimately. Somewhere underneath that, you have to make an assumption that says there's no God outside of the material world, or He doesn't interfere with it in any way. There's no supernatural influence. You see, your idea about God, which can't be scientifically proven, has to be accepted by faith. affects what you think and how you think it. When he says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, he is saying every piece of knowledge or wisdom you could have is rooted in something.

Another example, you could believe like much of our world does that everybody should be able to decide what's right and wrong for themselves as long as they don't hurt somebody else. Go look online, you will find millions of people saying essentially that. But here's the thing. That view assumes there is no God who will hold you accountable.

Either there is no God at all, or He's not going to hold you accountable ultimately. That's something you can't just prove. You accept it by faith. And that belief of certain view of God leads to a certain way of thinking and reasoning.

This is true for everyone, and that is part of what he points you to in verse 7. He says, your relationship with God is central, is crucial to the way you think. Because, if you want to start on the path to wisdom, the very first step is to get your understanding of God right. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Everybody operates, all of our reasoning is based on some belief about God. Where we come from, why we're here, and what we're going to do about it.

Every piece of knowledge is built on some idea like that. So he starts, again, introduction to the introduction. The first thing he wants to tell people who are trying to seek wisdom, the very first section, he says, Here's why I'm telling you this, and you need to know that underneath whatever reasoning you come up with is your beliefs about God.

That's the beginning of wisdom. Bruce Waltke wrote this, a commentator wrote this quote, he said, What the alphabet is to reading, what notes are to music, and what numbers are to mathematics, the fear of the Lord is to gaining wisdom and knowledge.

Now that you know where he's going, I'll read it one more time. What the alphabet is to reading, what notes are to music, and what numerals are, or numbers are to mathematics, the fear of the Lord is to gaining wisdom and knowledge. That's what he tells you when he says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Which means this, when you, when I go through that list of questions and you say, Yes, I want wisdom. The wisdom we seek is not merely practical. But it is deeply personal and spiritual. It has to start with knowing God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

What is the Fear of the Lord

So it's the beginning, now let's take this phrase, the fear of the Lord. Book after book after book after book has been written on the phrase, the fear of the Lord. And we won't have time to talk about all of those things. But I want to draw your attention to two scripture texts that might challenge your understanding. Because our first thought might be, wait, fear of the Lord, does that mean I'm cowering in a corner because He might hurt me?

Is that what that is? No. Two passages that I think help. Deuteronomy 10, verse 12 says, What does the Lord require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him? In other words, fear and love. aren't different ideas. They're connected. We often think if you're afraid of someone, you don't love them.

But the way the Bible talks about the fear of the Lord puts them where you fear God and you love Him. Alright, so then we go to Psalm 130, verse 4, says this, with God there is forgiveness that he might be feared.

Now, if you have a simplistic view of fear, that's not going to make any sense. You say, he's an overwhelmingly forgiving God, that's why I'm afraid. It doesn't make sense to us. But through these and other passages, what we can see is that fear and love are connected. And scripturally, the more you know his love, the more you can fear the Lord.

So let's describe, what is this fear? I want to phrase it this way and talk about a couple different words here. The fear of the Lord is a life rearranging, trembling joy and wonder before an overwhelmingly worthy God.

The fear of the Lord is a life rearranging, trembling joy and wonder before an overwhelmingly worthy God. Life rearranging in the sense that everything about you, your knowledge, your ethics, your emotions, your mental health, your personality, everything is rearranged by knowing God. It is life rearranging.

It shapes you. It's a life rearranging, trembling joy. I was trying to think of a good illustration for this. You know when you come up to something that you say, This could change my life. Even if you're excited about it, there's this feeling of like, Oh, I thought of the day I got married. I know. I'm excited.

I am thrilled. I am beyond excited to be getting married. But you know, my life is never going to be the same. Ever. And there is an incredible joy. And there's a feeling of trembling. I remember standing at the front of the church, and I saw my wife at the back. And I thought I was going to fall over.

Fear of the Lord is a life rearranging, trembling joy and wonder. It's joy and wonder because it reaches to the very depths of who you are before an overwhelmingly worthy God. If you tame God and make Him something that you can totally understand, you won't feel that. But when he's overwhelmingly worthy, like, God is so much better than I can imagine. He wants to transform my life in so much better ways than I can imagine. And you say, I'm excited, I love it, I rejoice. But I tremble a little. It's the fear of the Lord. It's really true worship.

Why Fear?

That's what it is. So why does he call it fear? Like, great, if that's what it means, sure, but, but why on earth did they call it the fear of the Lord instead of just calling it joy and wonder? I could have understood that so much better.

I think there's two reasons. One, fear is connected with humility. Like, there's a kind of joy that makes me proud. I have all this joy because I'm successful, and I'm better than that person, and I can handle my life. And there's a kind of joy that exalts me, and there's a kind of joy that says, I get to enjoy this wonderful, good stuff, and I don't deserve it. I think when you call it the fear of the Lord, it helps us to get the trembling, it helps us to get the humility.

But there's a second reason I think is bigger. The word fear resonates in our souls.

For years, psychologists tell us things like, if you want to understand who you are, you need to know what your greatest fears are. It's so central to us. If you want to understand, in fact, if you understand your greatest fear, psychologists will tell you, then you understand what your heart is most after. What really drives you.

If you're a people pleaser, and that's what you love is the approval of others, you're gonna find your greatest fear is something like rejection. If you love power, you're gonna find weakness is your greatest fear. See, our fears and our loves are always connected. If your greatest fear is, I might not be safe, in whatever way, And you go, well, what do I really love? My comfort or my safety or something related. When we talk about fear, we can dive into our souls and find all kinds of fears. And every one of them is directly connected with loving something. That's how we work.

Now think about, in your life, might be a little uncomfortable to think about this, was for me, past couple weeks. Think about your fears and how much you get whipped around in life by the things you're afraid of.

Could be like Hebrews says, we were slaves to the fear of death. But it doesn't have to be death, it could be the fear of rejection, it could be the fear of pain, it could be the fear of disrespect from others. We have so many fears that really do enslave us. They bully us day after day.

Have you ever done something and you thought, Man, why on earth did I do that? And if you stopped and thought, you said, Because I was kind of afraid of something. And you think, I didn't want to do that, sort of. But I did it. That's what it's like to be enslaved to fear.

So what is going to free us from those fears? The fear of the Lord. And I think that's why he calls it fear because it takes the place of all those other fears. Your life can be built around a fear of rejection and you can build this whole system of how you get people to like you by doing this and by doing this and by doing this and you can build it all at the core on a fear of rejection.

And one reason he calls it the fear of the Lord is because he's saying there's something far better than a life built on that fear. It's when instead of this, there's a life rearranging, trembling, joy and wonder in who God is. When that bumps all those fears out, there's freedom.

There's the fear of the Lord. You can believe in God in some ways. There are millions of people who believe in God in some ways. You can be inspired by God. You might even obey Him somehow. But here is the thing. God needs to be the one thing at the center, at the foundation of your life, the main passion of your love. The thing you say, you can take the world, but give me Jesus. That's the fear of the Lord. Because now, I don't want to be in discomfort. I don't want to be rejected. I don't want those things. But that's not the fear that controls my life.

God is supposed to be the one thing you can't live without. The only thing that satisfies. And again, since fear and love are connected, your greatest love is the thing you most fear losing. So when you love God above all else, you say, that's the one thing I have to have is Him. That's the fear of the Lord.

We need this reality to rearrange our lives. To rearrange the way we interact with the world around us. By freeing us from all of the fears that press on us. Think about how many bad things happen in your life. Because somebody is driven by fear of, take your pick, but let's just say, rejection, weakness, humiliation.

How many verbal arguments happen? Because somebody's afraid of one of those things.

We're pushed by all of these fears. They press on us, and we need, in order to have wisdom, let me jump back to my sports illustration. If you have a soccer player who knows all the skills, has all the footwork, knows how to shoot, but they're terrified of failing on the soccer field. Or they're terrified of their coach correcting them. They're going to be paralyzed. They're not going to jump and try to actually do anything. They're too busy figuring out, I can't mess up, I can't mess up, I can't mess up. We all live that way, not on a soccer field, often, but we have all of these different fears that press on us, and we can't walk with wisdom because we're paralyzed.

So instead, we need the reality of who God is to reshape our lives so that all of those words that flow from fear of rejection now are changed because they're flowing from, God is the one thing I must have more than anything else. All the things we do to protect ourselves which hurt others around us are reshaped because you say, I don't want pain, I like comfort and safety, but I must have God. That changes my life, that changes my actions.

So to the, the seeker who might be here, the person who says, I don't know what Christianity is about, I'm interested. I don't know if I'm really trusting in what Scripture says. I want to encourage you, consider the beauty of the freedom, if there is something, which I believe Scripture says there is, that can free you from all of those fears.

And if you are a forgiven follower of Jesus, praise Him that He has started this already. He is reshaping you, and you can, you are not bound by, you are not ruled by those fears anymore. And one day, we sang about it a minute ago, there will be a day when every one of those fears will have no hold on you.

This is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 3 says it this way, In all your ways, acknowledge him, is the way it's often translated. We could translate it, in all your ways, know him. Let the reality of who God is shape every little piece of your life. And only with that foundation can you move off the map of, here's the rules, and say, now here's how I walk in wisdom. In all of these questions.

Can I Trust God?

And the last thing we want to talk about this morning. You might look at that, you might say, Okay, sounds good. I don't know if that's going to work or not. I don't know if I can trust God that much. Can I trust God to actually rearrange every piece of who I am? Because that's what we're talking about.

Can I trust Him? And many times I think we claim to, but it's conditional trust. And we'll say things, we don't say it out loud, but we think things like, I'll trust God. If I think my life is going better, I'll try God out. I'll give him a few months. I'll give him a year. I'll give him a decade. I don't really care how long it is. I'll try God out. And if I think my life is going better, then okay, sure.

Or we might say it this way. I'll follow God if

I don't care what you put in that blank. On the other side of the, if that's where you find your real trusts, that's where you find your real fears. I'll follow God if He doesn't ask too much of me. I'll follow God if I feel safe enough to do so. I'll follow God if He gives me some element of physical health. I'll follow God if He provides in these ways.

On the other side of that if, you find your real fears, your ultimate trust, and it's gonna press on you and it's gonna shape who you are. If you're gonna really trust God. The way scripture says, you need to trust God, not just, I'll follow God if He does these things. But I will follow God because He is the ultimate thing that I want more than anything else. He is the thing I love most of all.

God is not a consultant to get you what you want. That's what we often do. I'm afraid of rejection, so I will follow God as long as God doesn't make me be rejected. What I really fear is rejection, and I want God to be my consultant and help me out.

Or, God is not a, He's not a king that just oversees the big picture and lets you do whatever you want in all the details. God is supposed to be the organizing, foundational principle of your entire personality. And if He's not Or that's not what you are pursuing, then you have missed the first step of wisdom.

That's what Proverbs is teaching. God is supposed to be the foundational principle of everything about you. And here's the thing, you might say, Whoa, that's a whole big commitment, unconditional trust. Sure, but here's the thing. You're going to trust something to orient your life. You'll either look at, maybe it's your spouse, if I can marry the right person, or if I married the right person, they'll fix it all.

News flash, they won't. You can get angry and say, well, if my parents had just been different, then that would fix it all. No. Most often we say, I'm going to trust myself. I'll fix it all. I'll orient my life around me. How's that working for you?

You have to trust something. And you can trust God because Jesus came, Jesus who is our wisdom, 1st Corinthians said. He came and he demonstrated this perfectly for us. He came unconditionally trusting the Father's will. And the Father looked at him and said, do my will, trust me, and you will be crushed.

If Jesus trusted the Father with, I'll follow you if He would never have made it to the cross.

But the Son said, not my will but yours be done. And He did that. He was abandoned, tortured, and betrayed. He did that out of love for you. And if He would do that for you, you can trust Him. And you can build your entire life on Him with trust. When we give up our control and our trust in ourselves, and trust in his love, because of what Jesus did, we are not abandoned, we're embraced.

Now, if you 100 percent knew that if you built your life completely, everything about you, on who God is and your relationship to Him, if you really knew that, and knew you would be embraced and loved, it wouldn't seem so scary.

So we look at the cross, and we see God's love demonstrated for us, and we trust.

To those who are here who say, I've been hurt too much to trust. And maybe you say, I've been hurt by some people who claim to be Christians, or by churches. This idea of the fear of the Lord isn't about oppressive rules, punishment, and shame. It's about a relationship of love and trust that has been completely paid for by Jesus. You say, I was wounded. The point of the gospel is He was wounded for you. And by Him, we have peace. So I'd ask you, if you say, I've been wounded badly. I'd ask you, will you trust God to lead you with perfect wisdom.?

If you're here as we continue through Proverbs, will you trust him to walk you with wisdom that would say, I will follow God, period.

Whatever that if is, you take it to God and you say, God, I'm afraid of this. I want to have safety. I want to have approval. I want to have power, and it feels terrifying to let it go. But I want freedom from that fear, so God, I will trust you and I will follow you, period.

To those who are seekers and you want to know what kind of spiritual answers does the Bible have, I'd encourage you, dig into Proverbs, dig in with us. Will you explore the wisdom that God has for you in Christ Jesus?

And to those who are forgiven followers of Jesus, How much of your life is really shaped by who God is? Are you pursuing the first step, the beginning, the ABCs of knowledge and wisdom to say, I want my life to be rearranged around this trembling joy and wonder of an overwhelmingly worthy God? Will you embrace real discipleship like that? And find the freedom that he gives?

He wants you to worship him. He wants all of the other fears that are in your life to be cast out. He wants you to have freedom. He wants to radically change you to be like him. To reshape who you are. To pour out his wisdom on you. And that might feel scary.

But, It's the foundation of wisdom that all of us need. And it's actually freedom from all of our other fears. So as we look to Proverbs, ask God to work that in your life as we go through this book. That's my prayer for me. Ask him to work that in my life as I go through this book. Because I want the freedom that only God can offer. And my prayer is that you do too.

Let's take a moment. Let's bow before God and pray. Respond to the truth that you've heard, whatever that may be. Respond in praise. Respond in questions for God. However it is, the invitation is for you to respond to God's guidance through His Word this morning. Take a moment and do that, and then we'll sing together.

Berean Bible Church is a non-denominational church in East Knoxville, TN. We are grounded in the Word, celebrating the transformative power of the Gospel. Our community thrives on worship and mutual encouragement, fostering deep connections among members. Committed to our mission, we reach out with compassion and hope, reflecting God's glory throughout our city and beyond.