Wisdom From the Word
Sermon Notes
Introduction
The choice of July 4th as our Independence Day is an interesting one if you think about it. This isn’t the date of the British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown or the end of the Revolutionary War. No, July 4th, 1776, was the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Continental Congress wrote and signed a document to declare independence a little over a year into a war that would last 7 more bloody years. So, as a country we don’t celebrate our birth as a nation from when we won our independence, but when we wrote about it. And our country is defined even more by another document, the US Constitution. We still, mostly, operate the government of our country based on that document. And despite that fact that the rights and intentions of both of these documents were not initially extended to all people in our country, it was these documents that were then later used to extend those freedoms. We didn’t have to do away with those documents to give more people freedom, we just had to finally apply them rightly and fully.
So, it’s interesting that we celebrate a document-based country today, as we in the church are called to be a document-based people. Our founding document obviously being the Bible. We’ve been walking through Proverbs this summer examining what God teaches us about how to live wisely. So I figured it would be the perfect day to look about what Proverbs says about the Wisdom to be found in all of God’s Word, the church’s founding document.
Here’s the Big Idea for today: Not all wisdom is created equal; true wisdom comes from God’s Word.
Most of the Proverbs that we have studied so far in this series are attributed to Solomon, but not every verse in Proverbs was written by Solomon himself. Some verses were collected by Solomon and other scholars to be included along with Solomon’s own writings. Today, we’re going to let a few of these sources affirm each other. We’re going to start with a proverb of Solomon in chapter 29 about God’s Word, then we will expand on that verse by looking at some proverbs in chapter 30 written by a man named Agur son of Jakeh. This will give us a great picture of the continuity of Scripture across different human authors.
Let’s go to Proverbs 29:18 to get our Big Idea verse and jumping off point from Solomon.
Proverbs 29:18 18 Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.
There’s a couple ways that we know that Solomon is speaking specifically about Scripture as the Word of God here as opposed to other possible sources of wisdom. The word revelation, or prophetic vision in some of your translations, is a direct reference to truth that comes to people from God himself. It is God’s revealed truth to his people. During the writing of the Bible, God would reveal truth to the prophets, and they would proclaim it to the people and write it down to preserve it. So, this isn’t about generic wisdom, good advice, or some kind of amorphous spiritual insight. Solomon is saying that what people need is direct revelation from God himself. He also mentions divine instruction or the law in this verse. So not only do we benefit from God revealing truths about himself, we also are blessed by his giving of the law and instruction on how we should live our lives. We’re going to see Agur expand on this idea in the next chapter of Proverbs.
Another thing we need to note is what happens when we don’t have or listen to God’s divine revelation. Solomon tells us that the result is that people run wild. We preach from the Christian Standard Bible or CSB here, if you have an ESV or NIV, your translation says that the people cast off restraint. I like how the CSB puts it, because it better displays the tone that Solomon wrote this proverb with. He views living without revelation as a negative thing. The people run wild, they follow just their own appetites and desires and lead to destruction and decadence. This is a good tip for studying the Bible that all of us can benefit. You need to read carefully in order to understand the context and mood of the original author of what you’re reading. Because if we’re not careful, our 21st century American brains will read something like “cast off restraint” and think that that is a great result. We all want to cast off restraint and live lives as free as possible. But Solomon is telling us that the restraint that is being cast off is a good restraint to us, in the same way that good laws from governments are meant to keep their country from devolving into chaos, God’s revelation and laws are meant to protect us and actually lead us to happiness and blessing. That’s a bold claim from Solomon, and one that many of push back against at times. Because if we’re being honest, there are things that the Bible speaks against that many of us enjoy doing.
So how does being restrained or civilized by God’s revelation bring us true happiness? We’re going to look at 3 ways that the Wisdom from God’s Word brings us that happiness.
1) Identity: Proverbs 30:2-4, 11-12
The first area of life where the Word of God brings us happiness and stability is Identity. We are an Identity starved and obsessed culture. People grasp at every part of their life looking for something that can define them and tell them who they are and fill the void or lack that they feel. But we all too often find that identity not based on who God is and who we are in relation to Him falls short of satisfying us. Let’s look at how this plays out in Proverbs 30.
2 I am more stupid than any other person, and I lack a human’s ability to understand. 3 I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. 4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son—if you know?
Listen to the desperation in these verses. I lack understanding, I have no knowledge, where do I come from, who is in control, is there something or someone beyond me as a human? These are key identity questions that all people wrestle with and try to answer in their own way. The beauty of God’s Word is that it answers these questions. The Bible teaches us who God is and who we are in both comparison and contrast. It tells us that we are here because He is the Creator and sustainer of all things (Genesis 1-2 and Colossians 1). It tells us that God is Holy, All-powerful, Righteous, Just, and Sovereign. It tells us that even though He is so powerful and mighty and transcendent, he cares and is involved in every aspect of our lives (Psalm 139). A personal identity that is not informed by God’s wisdom about God’s own identity is unanchored from the answer to these key questions that every person asks about himself and his world. I’ve heard is said, “When you don’t know the I AM, you’re left asking “Who am I?”
Author Jen Wilkin expands on this…
“We ask [the Bible] to tell us about ourselves, and all the while it is telling us about “I AM.” We think that if it would just tell us who we are and what we should do, then our insecurities, fears, and doubts would vanish. But [these things] can never be banished by the knowledge of who we are. They can only be banished by the knowledge of “I AM.”’
You and I are created and contingent beings, without understanding who created us and who we depend on, we can’t truly understand ourselves. No matter how much you try to make sex or gender or achievement or money or country the core of your identity as our world does, you will not truly find the answer to the key identity questions in your life.
Vs. 11-12 tells us the key area of identity that we must understand from God’s Word.
11 There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother. 12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filth.
The key identity that we have to understand from Scripture is our identity as sinners against God in need of forgiveness. Without the Wisdom of God’s Word, we can convince ourselves that, while we aren’t perfect, we are essentially good and deserving of acceptance from God or the universe. We can be pure in our own eyes but unaware of our own filth and sin. This is why the Gospel is such good news. While it does affirm that we are sinful and both unable and usually unwilling to purify ourselves of sin, it also affirms that God has done everything necessary to forgive and cleanse us if only we accept that.
For a refreshing contrast to the harried identity questions we see here in Proverbs 30, we can look at Ephesians 3:14-18 to see what it looks like we properly understand our identity from God’s Word.
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
What a blessing to understand our identity under God to know where every family comes from and to be rooted and firmly established instead of constantly searching for answers. The Wisdom from God’s Word establishes our Identity.
2) Helpful Boundaries: Proverbs 30:5-6, contrast 30:13
The second way that Wisdom from God’s Word leads to our ultimate happiness is in setting Helpful Boundaries. We already saw from Solomon in chapter 29 that we are likely to run wild without God’s revelation. Let’s take a look at how Agur describes this in chapter 30:5-6.
5 Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
First of all, this verse affirms the reliability and infallibility of God’s Word. The Hebrew word for “pure” or “proves true” in other translations is a term used in the refining of precious metals. When refining metals, you heat the metal in a way that separates impurities so that they can be removed. What’s left over is pure gold or silver. God’s Word proves itself as pure and without impurity. Now take a look at the helpful boundaries language. God’s Word is a shield and a refuge to those that use it. It protects us from error and the effects of sin in our lives. God’s Word gives us the truth about sin and protects us from what we would often choose to follow to our own detriment.
In our pride and foolishness we’re tempted to view the boundaries set by Scripture as prison walls that keep us from happiness and joy instead of castle walls that protect our happiness and joy. We think living out our sinful desires will give us freedom, but it truly leads to our own enslavement. Let me give you a couple examples. Many would say that someone who uses drugs or becomes an alcoholic or tries to satisfy every sexual desire is exercising his freedom. He’s doing what he wants and feels some kind of satisfaction in it. But is he actually free? If he becomes addicted and needs more or harder stuff constantly to get the same result, is he growing in freedom or being enslaved? He’s enslaved, it felt like freedom initially but revealed itself as the prison that it is. The same is true for any other sin that we follow. It feels nice and we get a rush as we make our own boundaries and rules, but soon come to realize that we aren’t actually fulfilled or satisfied. 30:13 gives us a good picture of this.
13 There is a generation—how haughty its eyes and pretentious its looks.
The ESV translates this verse as “how lofty and high their eyes lift.” This haughtiness and constant looking up speaks to us not understanding our own healthy boundaries. We’re always looking for the next thing, the next step, the next level that will finally satisfy us fully. This is the sin that Satan fell for himself and convinced Adam and Eve to fall for, that we can ascend to be like and equal with God. The results of this were utterly destructive then and they still are now. The boundaries set by Scripture lead to our true happiness, because that is how God designed them. He created us and knows us. We will find more and more joy as we listen and submit to the wisdom of His Word.
There’s another helpful boundary that Scripture sets for us as well (Prov. 30:6).
6 Don’t add to his words, or he will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar.
So, this is written as a warning against adding or taking away from God’s Word. But it also provides us a helpful boundary when it comes to how we deal with truth. What this verse and others like it claim about the Bible is that it is the standard for ultimate truth. It doesn’t contain every possible fact or truth about the world, but it does set the standard that all truth can be judged by or filtered through. That’s why nothing needs to be added to it. It sufficiently lays out what is true about God, His Creation, and us as His people. What this does for our joy and happiness is that it gives us clear guidelines for truth and wisdom. It narrows down all the options. We can know what aligns with that truth and what does not. We don’t have to be confused or fooled by lies. When we hear something that purports to be truth but runs counter to or rejects an established truth of God’s Word, we can disregard it and not fall into confusion or crisis.
So much of our modernist or post-modernist culture is built on the lie that there is no objective or universal truth, that each person can determine and live out “their truth.” But how do we then decide between your truth and my truth if they come to be at odds with each other? With no standard or helpful boundary for truth we are left with a confusion and listlessness that makes us feel unmoored instead of joyful. Again, we can look to something Paul wrote in Ephesians to show us the result of this helpful boundary. It’s in Ephesians 4:13-15
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.
There you see the happiness and stability that comes from understanding not only our identity in Christ but also the helpful boundary set by the Word of God. We don’t have to be tossed back and forth by every teaching or truth that we hear, because many of them don’t align with the truth of Scripture. That boundary gives us the freedom to live joyful and stable lives as we grow closer to Christ.
Action Step: There’s a clear action step or point of application here. We have to know and study what Scripture actually teaches. We have to be in the Word both in the community of the church and on our own. If not, we are liable to misunderstand or change God’s helpful boundaries into unhelpful or painful boundaries. Studying Scripture isn’t just a good habit for a Christian but a vital one.
It’s so vital because like we said in our Big Idea: “Not all wisdom is created equal; true wisdom comes from God’s Word.”
These verses we looked at today are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Bible’s affirmation of itself as the source of God’s wisdom for man. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and every single verse is about the power, beauty, and benefit of God’s Word for us. 2 Timothy 3:10-17 tells us that not only is Scripture breathed out by God but that it is useful for things like correction, growth, rebuke, wisdom for salvation, and leading us to be complete followers of Jesus. Hebrews 4:12 compares it to a two-edged sword that penetrates through all of our pretense to the true thoughts and intentions of our heart. We live in a world that is desperately trying to define its own identity and set its own boundaries if not remove boundaries all together. But we have ready access to God’s time tested and proven wisdom that teaches us about those things. And the result of learning from God is an understand of who God is, who we are, and how we are called to live in order to bring about God’s will and our ultimate joy and happiness.