May 2, 2011
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Pursuing Wisdom (Sermon Notes)
I was privileged to be asked to deliver the closing talk–really, the Sunday Sermon–at my church’s annual retreat this year. The whole weekend was on the book of Proverbs, and the theme was “Mining for gold.” Really, my talk had to be one part recap, one part something new, and one part bring-it-all-home. This is what I ended up with, with a little timely help.
Please understand that these are just my notes–there were a lot of little segues and stories inbetween these talking points that I just don’t write down. If something seems a little incoherent, ask and I’ll see if I can explain it.
Brief Recap:
The Choices laid out before us.
The roads diverge, and we must choose which one to take.
So many options
And so many look like the right choice.
Imagine yourself a miner during the Gold Rush era. You’ve sunk your life savings into this venture, and desperately need it to return some profit. But one day, as you dig, you encounter chunks of a yellowish mineral. “Gold, I found gold!,” you shout. Or is it?
[Hold up piece of fool's gold]
Many people were fooled by pyrite. Captain John Smith (of Pocahontas fame) mistakenly sent an entire shipload of pyrite to London in the early 1600s.
Lady Wisdom and Madame Folly, calling out in the streets and markets
like popcorn vendors at a baseball game.
Proverbs 8:1-6
1 Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 At the highest point along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3 beside the gate leading into the city,
at the entrance, she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O people, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
5 You who are simple, gain prudence;
you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.
6 Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say;
I open my lips to speak what is right.Proverbs 9:3-6
3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city,
4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
5 “Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of insight.”Proverbs 9:13-18
13 Folly is an unruly woman;
she is simple and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15 calling out to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way,
16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet;
food eaten in secret is delicious!”
18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.The dueling callers: Lady Wisdom and Madame Folly, vying for the attention of the simple and the senseless.
We encounter so much that looks like wisdom, but turns out to not be at all.
False proverbs: “God helps those…”
“Worldly Wiseman” from Pilgrim’s Progress
Advises Christian to ignore his burden, stay in the City
Proverbs 14:12, 16:25 – A way which seems right to a person, but leads to death.
1 Corinthians 1
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Corinthians 2
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
There is counterfeit wisdom out there, wisdom of this age.
How do you recognize a counterfeit? Through intense familiarity with the real thing.
So let’s get to know Lady Wisdom: who is she?
God as the source of real wisdom (Proverbs 8:22 – The LORD possessed me in the beginning)
Fear of the Lord is the beginning (Tell story: first verse memorized)
Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.
2:6 — For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding.
9:10 — The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy [is] understanding.
15:33 — The fear of the LORD [is] the instruction of wisdom; and before honour [is] humility.
True Wisdom is an integral part of what this world is.
God created the world using wisdom.
Proverbs 3:19 – the LORD by wisdom founded the earth, and by
understanding established the heavens.
Jeremiah 10:12, 51:15 – He made the earth by his power, he established
the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his
understanding/discretion.
Proverbs 8:12-31
Wisdom has been with God since the beginning, putting the world
in place.
22 “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
23 Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
26 before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
God created the “principles by which the world customarily works,” and wisdom
applies those principles to life.
“If God created the world according to wisdom, then there is a fabric, a
pattern, to reality… If wisdom made the world, then wisdom can perceive
to a degree, that pattern, and live in accordance with it, and live therefore
wisely… [Example: aerodynamics] Foolishness is going against the grain, or the weave, or the structure, the pattern that God put into Creation, and it always leads to breakdown.” –Timothy Keller
This is true in all the fields that Wisdom addresses: political, social, economic, philosophical
Proverbs 8:15-16 – “By me kings reign, and princes issue decrees that are just; by me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.”
Why is Wisdom personified as a woman?
Some take this personification very seriously: they believe there actually is a conscious entity, even a goddess, that is God’s wisdom. No only is that shaky theological ground, I think that may be taking a poetic device a little too seriously.
Wordsworth wrote a sonnet that addresses the long-dead John Milton:
“Milton, thou shouldst be living in this hour.” I don’t think this meant
that Wordsworth thought Milton could actually hear him.
Nor did Emily Dickinson think that Death actually had a literal carriage.
Nor did Shakespeare, in his 116th Sonnet, when he wrote “Love’s
not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending
sickle’s compass come,” necessarily think that Time is an actual
person with an actual sickle.
Anyone interested in learning more about poetic devices is welcome to take my ENG 102
class at [college] next Fall.
However, I do believe there is an important symbolic reason why Solomon personifies Wisdom as a woman.
Remember his audience: the book of Proverbs would have been studied by young Jewish boys, under the guidance of a rabbi.
Remember all the paternal appeals: “My son, listen to my instruction…”
Remember all the warnings against the Adulteress, probably the same
character as the personified Folly. (Proverbs 7:6-27, story of those
seduced by the adulteress)
Maybe Wisdom is personified as a woman because she is presented to the original audience—young men–as a lover, the counterpart to the adulterous Folly.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and to insight, “You are my relative.”
5 They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words.The term “sister” is also used throughout Song of Songs as a term of endearment to one’s beloved, lover, fiancee.
Wisdom, as lover, is set up in contrast to Folly, the adulteress. Lady Wisdom is the one you come home to, while Folly is the one you run from.
Twice, in both Proverbs 3:15 and in Proverbs 8:11, we are told that the price of wisdom is “far above rubies.” This is the same description given of the Virtuous Wife.
A blogger that I read, Victoria “TheMarriedFreshman,” put it this way:
“In Proverbs King Solomon tells his son to get wisdom at all costs. He describes Wisdom as a woman calling out to anyone who will listen. He says to go after wisdom, to pursue wisdom. Why is wisdom a woman?
Maybe, just maybe, the pursuit of wisdom is best pictured by a man courting a woman he loves. He will do anything and everything it takes to gain that relationship with her. It doesn’t matter how many hoops he’s got to go through, he will push through any obstacle to get to her. ….It’s a grand pursuit. And I think that is how we are to pursue wisdom. Do whatever it takes, jump through every hoop and over every obstacle, be motivated every day to strive for wisdom.”Learning Wisdom is not just about mastering a set of rules; it’s a love affair.
Could you pick your spouse out of a line-up? I hope so. How about by voice—can you recognize your lover’s voice on the phone? Here’s a weirder one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone said yes: do you know your spouse’s smell?
If we pursue Wisdom as a lover, there is no way we’ll be fooled by the counterfeits, the fool’s gold.
Lady Wisdom and Jesus
One thing that’s interesting to note: Solomon started a whole genre of poetry here.
Just like we have sonnets, sestinas, villanelles, and other kinds of poetry
now, after Solomon’s day, ancient Israel developed “Wisdom poetry.”
Poetry where Lady Wisdom spoke.
One of the more famous works was the Wisdom of Ben Siriach
This book was not considered Scripture by the Jewish people, but it was included in the Septuagint, and is in Catholic editions of the Bible.
Wisdom of ben Siriach, chapter 51
“Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in the house of learning… Put your neck under her yoke, and let your soul receive instruction: she is hard at hand to find. Behold with your eyes, how that I have but little labour, and have gotten unto me much rest.”
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
The Septuagint was the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It would have been
VERY familiar to a first-century Jewish audience, like the audience Jesus had in Matthew 11,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus was giving Lady Wisdom’s popcorn-vendor call.
He’s saying: “Are you looking for wisdom? You’ll find it through me!”
While I do believe that Lady Wisdom is just a poetic personification, Jesus seemed to
deliberately make parallels between himself and Wisdom.
–Both were instrumental in Creation (Compare Proverbs 8 to John 1, Col 1:16)
–Both are preparing a banquet (Compare Proverbs 9 to Matthew 22, end of Revelation)
–Both are hinted at being part of a symbolic marriage (Compare Lady Wisdom and the Wisdom-seeker to Christ and his Bride, Ephesians 5 or Revelation 21)
–Both call to the simple, the weary
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1,
“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””
Jesus modeled the walk of Wisdom for us. Walk in Jesus’ steps and you will find you are walking in the path of Wisdom.
Are you seeking Wisdom? Seek Jesus! Are you following Jesus? Seek wisdom!
I can’t end this better than the way Solomon said it in Proverbs 4:
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will give you a garland to grace your head
and present you with a glorious crown.”
Comments (9)
Mad props for mentioning Sirach. I’m reading that book right now and am just blown away. It’s good, good stuff. I have most of Chapter Four underlined, and the stuff about friendship in Chapter Six is priceless.
Obligatory aside: Sirach is also in the Orthodox Christian Old Testament, not just the Catholic…
I’m curious that you mention “God helps those…” as a ‘false proverb.’
Can you tell me more about that? Do you consider that saying to be
folly rather than wisdom?
Oh, and the sermon looks good too.
@Kurasini - Obligatory aside noted. I thought about mentioning that in-talk, but it occurred to me that my audience was about fifty mostly-Baptists, a good chunk of whom are former Catholics (cultural Catholicism being very widespread in New York), but that I might have had to stop and explain who the Orthodox are if I mentioned them, sadly.
I consider “God helps those who help themselves” to be a false proverb because it mis-states the relationship between us and God.
My wife pointed out that there is some truth to the old Aesop, in that she’s always saying, “It’s easier to steer a moving car than a parked car.” I’m not convinced they have the same meaning, however. In the car proverb, it’s a proverb about guidance. It says nothing about God’s nature, but rather ours–it is easier for us to feel and accept God’s guidance when we are already actively working toward God’s purposes. God can still steer the parked car, however. he is sovereign and can guide in whatever manner he likes. The car proverb makes no claim toward God’s nature.
“God helps those who help themselves,” however, is the moral of Aesop’s fable involving the lazy merchant praying to Hercules for strength to lift his wagon. Its lesson that we should be active is mixed with a message about God’s (or Hercules’s) nature, one that is untrue when applied to the God of Christianity. God does help those who do not, and can not, help themselves. In a sense, all of humanity could not help itself, as ensnared and enslaved by sin and its own fallen nature as it was, and God helped them that could not help themselves. That’s why I feel this particular Aesop to be a false proverb.
wonderful, as always
Kurasini, Chris and I actually discussed the “God helps those who help themselves” saying when he read this to me in planning for the retreat. I was a little confused at first because I didn’t see the saying as totally false…I know we’re not supposed to sit around and wait for God to change us/move in our lives/etc. if we’re not making any attempts to take action and walk in His will. Chris clarified it a bit during the actual sermon, using another saying, “God doesn’t move parked cars,” to contrast the idea of us taking action and moving forward in faith by trusting in God versus the idea that we have to take matters into our own hands and somehow try to earn our salvation or “help” God with his plan (not fully trusting Him to provide).
@OutOfTheAshes - @jessiru - thanks. I’d have to ponder more on this before responding fully. It is common, though, for proverbs to contradict one another without either being false- the wisdom being in discernment.
@OutOfTheAshes - one way to gloss over the fact that there are more pre-Protestant Christians than just Catholics without going into long explanations: instead of “Catholic” you can say “ancient Christian churches,” or “churches of the first millenium,” followed by “including Catholics and others.”
@Kurasini - Oooh, I like saying it as “ancient Christian churches.”
To love wisdom is to be a philosopher, right? Is there no true wisdom away from religious teaching and experience? And what is the validity of studied or received wisdom without experience to back it up?
Awesome!!!!!! I’m so glad you posted this.
I didn’t have time to really ponder the points this morning, but I’ll be thinking on it. 
@Devious_Nate - I would say that wisdom is the application of knowledge, not just philosophizing. Therefore it would be partly defined by experience, although in a forward sense, not a looking-to-your-past sense. Choosing to act upon discerned righteousness (the “right way”) and allow those decisions to mature your character–that is what I consider wisdom.
~V
Thank you. Sincerely – I’m struggling with a lot of things right now and yours was one of the first posts I read this morning… I truly believe God knew I needed to read this and be encouraged. I deeply appreciate you posting this.