True Wisdom
Proverbs 9:8-12
September 19, 2004
One day a man went to visit his injured friend in the hospital. "What happened to you?" he asked. "Well, I went down to Six Flags over the weekend and decided to take a ride on one of the roller coasters. As we came up to the top of the highest loop, I noticed a little sign by the side of the track. I tried to read it but it was very small and I couldn't make it out. I was so curious that I decided to go round again, but we went by so quickly that I still couldn't see what the sign said. By now, I was determined to read that sign so I went round a third time. As we reached the top, I stood up in the car to get a better view." "And did you manage to see what the sign said this time?" asked the visitor. "Yes. It said, 'Don't stand up in the car!'"
Needless to say, that man wasn't too wise. And unfortunately, his foolishness led to some very disastrous results. In a sense, that's the same lesson we find in our text for today. You see, our text is a portion of King Solomon's proverbs, where he tells us what True Wisdom is. As a matter of fact, our text comes right in the middle between a discourse on wisdom and a discourse on folly. Solomon pictures Wisdom as an honest, God-fearing woman, who has prepared a rich banquet of fine wine and excellent food. She offers this banquet free of charge to nourish the soul with life. Folly, on the other hand, is pictured as a sultry prostitute, sitting on her porch trying to seduce those who pass by. She proclaims that her forbidden fruit is sweeter to the taste than Wisdom's food, but neglects to inform her clientele that it's also poisonous to the soul and leads to the depths of hell. In other words, True Wisdom saves us from death. But Folly leads to disastrous results.
Now, the word 'folly' comes from an Arabic root that means: 'to be fat,' and hence to be sluggish or dull. In Christian terms that means gorging ourselves on the spiritual junk food of this world, so that we have no room left over to feast on the nourishment of God's Word. For instance, spending more time watching TV than studying the Scriptures, spending more time with sports and recreation than Worship and Bible Class, spending more time with work and other activities than with prayer and praise. The end result is that our spiritual lives become fat and sluggish, so that we are dull to God's will for us.
Specifically in our text, Solomon says that when we follow that path we wind up becoming a mocker, who will not accept rebuke or correction. As he says in verse 8: "DO NOT REBUIKE A MOCKER OR HE WILL HATE YOU; REBUKE A WISE MAN AND HE WILL LOVE YOU." Or as someone has put it: "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." In other words, the truly wise person is open to hearing God's Word, so that he can be trained and taught by it. The mocker is not. In fact, the Hebrew verb 'mock' actually means: 'to scorn or make faces at someone.' But when we ignore God's Word or neglect the Means of Grace, the One we're making faces at is God Himself. And such folly has eternally disastrous results.
Back in 1982, the ABC Evening News aired a segment on an unusual work of modern art. The exhibit was a chair with a shotgun attached to it. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an unknown moment within the next 100 years. The amazing thing is that people waited in lines to sit and stare into the shell's path, even though they knew that the gun could go off at point blank ranger during their minute in the chair.
Talk about the height of foolishness. And yet, that's exactly what we do, when we listen to the voice of Lady Folly, the voice of the sinful world around us, and turn a deaf ear to the True Wisdom of God's Word. When we give into the mockery of sin, it's like sitting in that death chair. Indeed, elsewhere in the Book of Proverbs, Solomon tells us that, he who mocks is in reality showing contempt for their Maker, and in the end will not go unpunished, or literally: 'will not be held innocent.'
Dear friends, what a sobering word of Law that is for us. And yet, as sobering as it is, even more comforting than that is the Word of the Gospel; namely, that God has overcome the mockery of our sin, with the blessing of His forgiveness. He has conquered the foolishness of our iniquity with the Wisdom of His grace. That's what St. Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, when he said: "WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED: A STUMBLING BLOCK TO JEWS AND FOOLISNHESS TO GENTILES, BUT TO THOSE WHOM GOD HAS CALLED, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS, CHRIST THE POWER OF GOD AND THE WISDOM OF GOD!"
In other words, True Wisdom is the Good News of the Gospel - that Jesus died on the cross, in order to crucify our sin and shame and put it to rest once and for all. Jesus is the one, who left us off the hook, so that we could go unpunished. By His life, death and resurrection He restored to us the innocence and holiness that Adam and Eve had before they fell into sin. The beauty of it is that the word 'innocent' actually means: 'empty or pure.' And that's what Jesus has done for us by His cleansing blood. He has emptied us of or guilt and shame, so that we are pure and spotless is God's eyes. And when the Holy Spirit brings us to saving faith in Jesus, so that we believe that Gospel truth, that's when True Wisdom begins. Or as Solomon put it in our text: "THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM, AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY ONE IS UNDER-STANDING."
Of course, for us as Christians that is a lifelong process. It's the Spirit's work of Sanctification, as He uses the Word and the Sacraments to make us grow in the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus our Savior. Some people find it puzzling that Solomon describes that as the fear of the Lord. It does not mean that we have to be afraid of God's anger and condemnation, because Jesus conquered that terror of sin by means of His cross. And so, God's perfect love drives out our fear. Rather, it means that we show Him our utmost awe, reverence and respect, because we are so grateful and thankful that He has saved us.
Martin Luther, in his explanation to the First Commandment, put it this way: "We should fear, love and trust in God above all things." Which means that fear or respect for God is always coupled with confident trust in His promises of salvation, which then empowers and impels us to love and serve Him. Or as it says in Psalm 147:11, "THE LORD DELIGHTS IN THOSE WHO FEAR HIM, WHO PUT THEIR HOPE IN HIS UNFAILING LOVE." According to that, proper fear of God always begins with putting our faith in Jesus' unfailing love. That's why it's so important that we daily take time to read and study our Bibles and meditate on God's Word. For as St. Paul told Timothy, it is only the Holy Scriptures that can make us wise unto salvation in Jesus Christ. That's why it's so important that we weekly gather with other Christians for Worship and Bible Class, so that we grow in our understanding of the Holy One. That's why it's so important that we regularly partake of the Lord's Supper for the remission of our sins and the health of our soul. For, in the words of our text, that is True Wisdom.
A couple of years ago, a family went to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. While there, the youngest son spotted one of the dressed-up characters, namely, Snow White. If you've ever been to Disney, you know that children simply mob those characters, for photos and autographs. And that was certainly the case for this beautiful lady. She had a crowd of kids around. But not the little boy. He kept his distance. Oh, he wanted to get close like everybody else, but he was afraid. What is Snow White didn't like him? What if she told him to go away? So he stayed where he was and looked at her longingly. The story could've ended that way, but Snow White saw the little boy and worked her way over to him. Soon she stood by his side, bent down, and gave him the hug he so desperately wanted and needed. After that, the boy knew, indeed everyone knew, that he was worth loving!
My friends, that's what the wisdom of God is like. It's the wisdom of the Gospel, that in His mercy and grace He sent His Son Jesus Christ to get so close to us that He became one of us, so that He could hug us with His forgiveness and love. And He died on the cross for us, so that we could know that we are supremely worth it to Him. We don't have to be afraid of Him. Instead, we can fear and respect Him with love and trust, because He gave His life to save us. We can fear and respect Him by making His Word our top priority - not only reading and studying it for ourselves, but eagerly sharing it with others. We can fear and respect Him, by rejecting the foolishness of the world to follow His True Wisdom. May God grant it to us, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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