True Wisdom

Reading today is from Proverbs 8. Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads, she takes her stand. Beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals, she cries aloud.

To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of men. O simple ones, learn prudence. O fools, learn sense. Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right. For my mouth will utter truth.

Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge. Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech, I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight.

I have strength. By me, kings reign and rulers decree what is just. By me, princes rule and nobles, all who govern justly. I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honour are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness and the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me and filling their treasuries. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of old. Ages ago, I was set up, at the first before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth. Before He had made the earth with its fields or the first of the dust of the world. When He established the heavens, I was there. When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He made firm the skies above, when He established the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limits so that the waters might not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was beside Him like a master workman, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and delighting in the children of man.

And now, O sons, listen to me. Blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favour from the Lord. But he who fails to find me injures himself.

All who hate me love death. I think you'll agree that Australian society as a whole has become way more diverse, way more multicultural. In fact, analysing our culture is a very complex thing. There was a time, let's say, after the war, World War Two, the fifties, maybe even the sixties, when there was only one dominant culture in Australia. But today, truly, we are living in a multicultural society.

In some sense, that puts us behind many other societies and cultures in the world today. Even ancient societies had more of a consensus going between them about what values to have, about what morals to have. And people were on the same page, so to speak, even in Australia. Everyone was reading from the same hymn book, so to speak. When it came to morals and standards, there were designs and appropriate ways to conduct yourself in public with good behaviour.

Because of that, societies saw moral standards as absolutely important and crucial. And so when it came to making a decision that was, let's say, complicated or a decision that you needed to make that was a little bit involved, it became so much easier because, well, you were aware of what the popular culture was. You knew how to make a decision that could be supported by others in the society that you were living. Basically, everyone had the same outcomes in mind. But I'll put it to you this morning that that's not the case today.

Not for us modern people living in the twenty-first century. We who live in a diverse multicultural world. As far as our society goes, let's face it, we're fairly light on when it comes to rules or expectations from others. These days, pretty much anything goes. We actually don't have a lot of rules in society that address most of the realities that we face in life.

So whatever you think these rules are, no matter what you think they are, you still will have the freedom to do your own thing. And isn't that most important? If anything unites us as a society, it's simply this, that we live in a rich diversity, but it's the rights of the individual, the rights to your own expression of freedom. They're the things that are to be honoured. They're the things that are to be dignified among us.

We see that played out on Facebook or social media. It happens all of the time. It's one of the reasons that our politicians will go on making new laws to accommodate new popular ways of living about gender being fluid, about how people choose to identify, about freedom of speech, and anti-discrimination. Rules that many of us grew up with just don't apply. Maybe I'm showing my age this morning, but there was a time when society was more cohesive, more consolidated around central truths and around ways of living.

So how do Christians respond? How do we engage in the world that we are living in? What do we say? How do we respond? Well, when it comes to the definition of marriage, we say, we've nailed it.

The Bible's got it right, and it couldn't be any clearer. But that's just the point. As far as society is concerned, they're saying that's your view, that's an individual's view. It's not necessarily our view or the majority view in the world in which we're living. A community like our own church community will be quick to talk about God's commands, God's laws.

And because of them, we're able to have moral behaviour and ethics to handle the complex circumstances of life. But what we really need to get things in their proper perspective is something that's hardly ever talked about today at all. It's not to be identified with moral goodness or just keeping the rules. It's this: wisdom. How we need wisdom.

Christians to rise up in wisdom to address the issues that we're facing in our society. You and I are going to absolutely ruin our lives if we don't find wisdom, if we don't grow in wisdom. And there's no better place to go than all of the scriptures than the book of Proverbs to talk about wisdom. Hopefully, we'll be able to go here and there this morning and in another two weeks, another sermon on the subject of wisdom. In chapter 8, the reading that Phil read to us this morning, we've been introduced to a character.

I'm going to identify her as Lady Wisdom. It's the personification of wisdom, the one who can teach us so much. Personification is not an alien concept to us. I've heard people talk about their car in the car park in terms of a woman or a wife or she. You might refer to inanimate objects by giving them a gender, either male or female.

That's what we mean by personification. It's a literary device, a poetical term, no less. We've been introduced to Lady Wisdom this morning, and as we'll see, she's going to show us the importance of wisdom, the problem of wisdom, and the clue to finding wisdom. First up, the importance of wisdom. We'll start at the top of the chapter.

The first four verses tell us about the importance of wisdom. There's a kind of a progression there. Lady Wisdom is speaking, and she says, to you, O men, I call out, I raise my voice to all mankind. I'm more important than silver, than gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you can desire compares with her. More important than anything you may desire is this thing called wisdom.

It's more important than wealth and fame and power and authority. It's far more important than the greatest of circumstances. It's the ability to grow and flourish in all of life's circumstances, and then to deal with whatever life throws up at you. Wisdom. Wisdom is so important.

Why is this important? Seems to me there's only a tiny minority who get their life circumstances where they actually want them to be. We say they have a beautiful life or a charmed life. We might even be envious of these kinds of people. The Webster's dictionary defines a charmed life this way: a life that is protected by magic charms, usually unaffected by danger or difficulties.

Let's just say it's a life that you can have without any dramas. But to be honest, I don't know any one of us or any person who's ever had a life quite like that. The complex realities of our daily lives means that life never guarantees a straight ball. There's always some spin, some twist to what's going on. And look out for the day when someone throws you a curved ball.

And this makes wisdom infinitely more important than charm or beauty, more important than fame and fortune, more important than all the money and all the treasures in the world. Since wisdom is so important, we have to set our mind to it. And I want to suggest that we don't do that so well these days. For example, even in our own church community, there's a call to reach out and help the poor, help them out of poverty. Good.

That's noble of you. That is right. You can do that completely ethically and morally, but you can still ruin their lives. Because we're not totally familiar with all the complexities of what it means to live in poverty, and we may well end up doing them more harm than good. Because in many cultures, we don't know how poverty actually works.

On a personal level, there are going to be decisions that we make without any rules. In fact, some of the biggest decisions that I've had to make were not helped by following the rules at all. Not the rules of my society, not the rules even of my own family, what I would call life questions. Questions like, well, who do I marry? Do I get married?

Who should I date? Should we break up? Should we stay together? What career should I go into? What uni or trade should I get into?

Should I live here or there? Should I confront the person, or should I hold back? Should I take a risk, or should I play it safe? The wrong decision in any of those things can be an absolute disaster, and there are no rules designed to cover every situation. Knowledge can help.

Good morals can help, but it's never enough. The reason we can have a sick or sinking feeling about our lives is because we know we're in a situation that we just don't know how to address. We can get depressed even because we lack wisdom. We lack understanding and insight. So you see the importance, the relevance of wisdom today.

Nothing you desire is more important. Let's move on. There's a problem with wisdom, and we've already hinted at it in verses 12 to 16. You'll see lots of synonyms there for the word wisdom. A synonym is a word that helps explain or interpret another word.

So words in italic on the screen this morning will identify synonyms for wisdom. I, wisdom. I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence, and I possess knowledge and discretion. Three synonyms in that first verse. Prudence, knowledge, and discretion.

There are antonyms, the opposite of wisdom. Verse 13. The next verse. To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, evil behaviour, and perverse speech.

And then more synonyms in verse 14. Counsel and sound judgment are mine. I have understanding and power. By me, kings reign and rulers make laws that are just. By me, princes govern and all nobles who rule on earth.

If you read the whole book of Proverbs, you'll find that these synonyms keep coming up again and again. Many of these words are synonyms that give us perspective on wisdom. We'll just deal with three this morning. First of all, notice in verse 12, I, wisdom, dwell with prudence. And here is a word that means to notice little distinctions, nuances in life.

Careful, good judgment that allows someone to avoid danger or risk. It means we're aware of possible hazards, prudence. It means that we really know what things are like. Second, wisdom is understanding, and understanding here is linked to power. I have understanding and power, says verse 14.

Understanding is from a Hebrew word that means knowing how things really work, knowing how things actually happen, and that can lead to power and authority. As a result, kings reign and rulers make laws that are just. Wisdom is knowing how to deal with the complex realities of life. Wisdom gives power. It's how kings and rulers make laws that are just and right over us.

Famous German scholar, Gerhard von Rad, wrote a book called Wisdom in Israel. And in that book, he gives a simple and succinct definition for the Hebrew term wisdom. He says, wisdom is becoming competent with regard to the realities of life. Wisdom is becoming competent with regard to the realities of life. Knowing how things happen, how things really are, and then what to do about it.

Now I can hear many of you thinking, hey, preacher, I've been working very hard at being a moral person, at keeping the rules, and that's been hard enough. And you're telling me now I have to be wise too? And yes, we do. Proverbs continually talks about this and illustrates the importance of getting wisdom. This is actually worse for us than you think.

There's a huge problem. There's a huge problem we all have when it comes to getting wisdom. It's one of the reasons we don't have it like we should. What's the problem? Well, let's keep looking at the passage, verse 22 and following.

There are some amazing claims there about wisdom. Don't forget wisdom is being personified in this chapter. Lady Wisdom is speaking. And then all of a sudden, she says, I was with the Lord when the Lord made absolutely everything that was made. And in verse 25, before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth.

Before He made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world, I was there when He set the heavens in place, when He marked out the horizon on the face of the deep. And clearly, there's more to Lady Wisdom than meets the eye. She's an interesting character. Why this reference to creation? Well, what this is saying is actually that God made everything with wisdom.

Wisdom was there from the beginning. Now it's popular today to embrace theories on the origin of the universe. The big bang, the cosmic accident, which, so the theory goes, gave life to the original life form from which we all evolved. But here we have an account of creation that is no random accident, a creation that has no evolutionary theory, one that is based on wisdom, a well thought out plan from the master craftsman Himself. Here you have God creating the world, speaking a word, and doing it through wisdom.

Like an artist painting brushstrokes on a canvas, God is speaking, creating the universe. And wisdom says, I was the craftsman at His side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His presence, rejoicing in His whole world, and delighting in mankind. Out of overwhelming joy, God designed the world to be a place of beauty, of order, of joy, and of peace. It's the reason why Proverbs says wisdom works.

Because wisdom was there at the beginning. And if God created the world according to wisdom, then there's a framework, there's a design, there's a pattern, there's a certain order to all of reality. It's not random. It's not haphazard. If wisdom made the world, then wisdom allows us to see the pattern, to know the framework, to enable us to live wisely.

Prudence and understanding and justice, the synonyms of wisdom, are all about reality, about what is real today. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand this reality or a framework to physical reality. So for example, there is the law of aerodynamics. And an object that obeys the laws of aerodynamics will actually fly, defy gravity. But if it defies the laws of aerodynamics, that is a physical reality.

It will crash. It won't fly. The wise know that in terms of relational reality, there's a framework, there's a pattern. And if you don't have a relationship that's in accordance with wisdom, your relationships are going to crash all around you. We can go further and say there's a framework to spiritual reality as well.

And if we operate our heart and conscience in a way that is not in accordance with the framework, spiritually speaking, your spiritual life will crash. There'll be nothing there. So throughout the book of Proverbs, we're reminded that the fool is always going against the grain, against the framework, against the pattern that God has established in all of creation, which was made with wisdom. Fools, says Proverbs, are always going to crash. Fools despise wisdom and discipline, says Proverbs.

Now there are two things we all need to know in order to be wise about this framework of wisdom that comes to us with all of creation. The first thing you have to do is to admit that it's there, that God actually made the world, and therefore, there is a pattern, a design, and a framework. And they're the principles on which life ordinarily works. But the other thing we have to know is this, simply that we cannot know it all, that largely it's hidden from us. What's so significant about that?

Well, it's when we read through the book of Proverbs, we get to these chapters, the introduction, and then chapters 10 and following. It's when you get the proverbs proper. Those tiny pithy sayings, one in every verse. Stuff that we might like to write up in birthday cards or greeting cards. Hundreds and hundreds of them for all sorts of different occasions.

And what's interesting is in chapters 10 to 15 you see the principles by which life ordinarily works. Arguably, they're embedded in creation. They're how science works, how relationships work, and they were designed to teach us spiritually how things work as well. They're all laid out there. Here is what they say.

Things like, well, if you work hard, you will prosper. But if you're lazy, you're poor. If you live according to moral absolutes, your life will go well. But if you live a wicked life, your life will not go well. And we say, yeah.

Got it. I understand that much. But, and I never saw this before. For me, it was a real eye opener. If you were to read the book in sequence as it has been compiled, suddenly you get to chapter 16, and those principles on how life ordinarily works are changed.

So for example, it says, some people who live according to God's moral laws have an absolutely lousy life, have a terrible life. They don't prosper. Proverbs 16, there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death. But then it says that some people, though they work hard, they stay poor because they're oppressed, they're persecuted. And it says things like, some people who try so hard to raise their child just right, but when he grows old, he goes off the rails.

He no longer walks with the Lord, with the family, and life becomes messy. Bad things, it says, happen to good people. You can't always be guaranteed a good life. It doesn't always work this way. But get this.

Get wisdom. And now the kicker this morning, be warned. You won't get wisdom if you and I make up all the rules. If you and I want to determine what's right and wrong for yourself, then you will be a fool. But if you see the pattern, if you know the framework, if you know what holds all of creation together in the physical realm, in the relational realm, socially, economically, spiritually, and in every other way, then you will have wisdom.

Wise people, you see, tend to do life better. Things usually do work out for them. That's the promise of the book of Proverbs. But think of other instances of wisdom literature throughout the scriptures. I think of the cynic, the sarcasm even of the teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Think of the patience of Job in adversity. Both of them wrestle with realities that morals and keeping rules don't necessarily guarantee a good life. Remember Job's friends. Job's suffering. Everything's gone wrong for him.

His life has fallen apart. His children have died. He's lost all his money. And Job's friends come trooping in. Being who they are, they know the first part.

They know the chapters 10 through to 15 in the book of Proverbs. And they've read all those things, and they say, if you live your life morally, uprightly, your life will go well. But they look at Job, and they say, Job, your life's not going so well. You must be sinning, Job. You must be doing something wrong.

They're harsh. They're miserable comforters. They're rigid. They're moralistic. They only understand one aspect of wisdom here.

They know there's a pattern, but they think that they can see it all, that they have wisdom, that they have understanding. As if, according to them, there are no exceptions. In a nutshell, if we choose to say, I live uprightly because I live according to moral absolutes, and therefore, my life must go well, then you are a fool. On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who says, I decide my own reality. I can decide what's right or wrong, like, I have the big picture, then I am the fool.

We're all fools somewhere because we live in a society and a culture where we are split on this, where we talk of wisdom outside of us as part of created reality, and such talk is madness. No one believer knows all about the universe. So by nature, we're inclined to treat wisdom with contempt, even despise it. We're actually guilty of pushing each other more and more into foolishness. What's the solution?

What's the clue to finding wisdom? Most of us dip into the book of Proverbs the same way we use a cracker in a dip of chives and onions. We take out of it what we like, just a bite full. We almost never read the book of Proverbs the way it was meant to be read. The book was meant to be read as a manual.

As such, it was supposed to be gone through in a community, a community of wise parents for their sons and daughters, and then later on for young people and their mentors. I realise that nobody does that today, at least nobody I know. Instead, we're inclined to go to specialists who have knowledge, and especially because of the scientific data or the research or now even AI, artificial intelligence. And it's popular for young parents these days to be training their children to be moral, to behave because, well, because there are consequences. As if consequences will determine good morals or good behaviour.

But nobody is reading the manual on wisdom in Proverbs. We're in trouble, especially because a lot of us who have or had parents who never trained us. In this respect, arguably, they were fools themselves. A lot of us have never had a mentor at all. No one to hold us accountable.

No one to help us see God's wisdom applied in its complex, tricky situations. It's the reason a lot of people are stuck and remain in a terrible position today. But maybe there's a solution. A solution. What do you think is the most basic point about finding wisdom?

What is the clue here? Well, wisdom is personified. Wisdom is I, me, and my. An abstract quality is turned into a person. We've been calling her Lady Wisdom.

And you say, oh, that's just a wonderful teaching device, a clever technique. And especially when you consider that the book of Proverbs was written as a manual used in schools for young men. It's the reason why you hear the speaker referring to his audience as my son. Also the reason why over and over again, wisdom is depicted as a lady, a lady who calls out. And here's the point.

Wisdom is not so much the ability to understand the framework or to acquire knowledge or to master a set of rules. It is this, and hear this clearly this morning. Wisdom is a love affair. A love affair. That's what we need.

You and I need to long for wisdom, to desire her more than silver or gold or precious jewels. This clever literary device called personification is by design so that the readers would fall in love with her, have a relationship with her. Think about that for a moment. How would you do that? Well, what if this is not just personification or mere poetry?

What if the wisdom of God really was a person who you could know and love. That if you got into a relationship with this person, He made you wise. Then those of us who never had parents, had mentors, never had guides, never had the counsellors that we should have had, then wisdom would become our ultimate guide, our ultimate mentor, our ultimate counsellor, the wonderful counsellor. What if wisdom really were a person? Can you imagine what the wise and learned scribes and Pharisees and the teachers of the law in Israel were thinking when they heard Jesus say, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.

I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Our society says, forget the yoke, which is the training. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you.

Learn from me. Put your head in the yoke of training. Get discipline. Get training. Then you get the rest.

Jesus says, come to me. You know what Jesus is saying here, don't you? He's actually saying, I am wisdom. I am the wisdom of God. I am wisdom personified.

And I was the craftsman who was there when God created the world. I understand the framework, the world in which you are called to live, the world which is broken by sin. You see, ultimately, wisdom is not a body of knowledge, nor is it a set of rules, nor is it having high morals. Wisdom is knowing Jesus, living for Jesus, learning from Jesus. Wisdom is the only thing you can live for and learn that won't exhaust you.

It's the only kind of wisdom that gives you rest. Consider what Jesus offers in Matthew there. Matthew 11. Jesus says, I'm the only one to give you this because I've lived the perfect life of wisdom for you. I died in wisdom to die the death that you should have died.

Jesus, you see, is the wisdom of God. He came to be wisdom for you and for me. And His yoke is the only one that is easy. His yoke is the only one that is light because it's for us. It fits.

It's consistent with the framework by which God designed us and called us into being. It's a part of created reality even in this broken world. And now Jesus invites you and me. Do you want this rest? Do you want this peace?

The cross, the gospel, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life eternal is what affords us rest. Jesus Christ is the only wisdom that will give you rest. Go to Jesus. Go to Jesus alone and find true wisdom. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for making us wise to where wisdom really does come from. Now make us wise in knowing Your Son, our Saviour, more and more, we pray. Show us as a community how to embrace Him more and more, how to see Him, how to love Him so as to make us wise. Lord, we'll admit freely this morning that we face many complex realities in our lives.

We appeal to Your word, to Your ways of living for us. We confess, Lord, that we don't always have the wisdom to know how to apply those rules, how to live in the rest that You afford us. So we pray, Lord, that in every season of life, You will enable us, each one, to grow more and more into wisdom, into the likeness of Your Son, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus. We especially pray for those among us who are parents, who have the charge to look after those who are most vulnerable in our society and in our world today. We pray for wisdom, Lord.

We pray for understanding. Grant them guidance and strength to lead their children well, we pray. These things we ask in Your most holy name when we confess You to being our wisdom, our hope, and our mainstay always. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.