Wisdom Begins with Reverence: Receiving God's Word

And so wisdom begins with reverence. Reverence is awakened by grace, and grace is revealed in Christ. I hope you leave here today wanting this. If you do, go home and get on your knees and ask for deeper communion with Jesus because the more that you know Jesus, the more that we are going to grow in this kind of wisdom that is being described today. And that protects us from turning this month of reading Proverbs and using this book that I've got here. It it it changes that from some self improvement exercise. We're not trying to become wise by effort alone. Wisdom is a person. We wanna be conformed to Christ. [01:11:57] (63 seconds)  #WisdomStartsWithReverence

Apart from the grace of God, we are fools, morally corrupt, rejecting God, rejecting his word, hating his commandments. But here comes Jesus Christ. Here comes Jesus Christ made into the wisdom of God, doing what Proverbs demands and doing what we fail to do. Jesus Christ perfectly feared the Lord. Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed his father. Jesus Christ perfectly received and embodied divine wisdom. And then, Jesus Christ went to the cross for those who did not do those things. [01:09:14] (55 seconds)  #ChristIsWisdom

But somehow the message in that theme song is a little different from what scripture is saying. It doesn't you know, knowledge does not begin with looking inside of ourselves. Proverbs says that the the knowledge of God begins with, hey, behold your God. The world says trust yourself. And that is the that is the key to wise living. And that's the key to the path of blessing that the world offers. Just trust yourself. Go go with your gut. Trust your heart. But Proverbs says, fear the lord. That's the beginning. That's the foundation. So we got one path that's leading towards illusion, and we've got another path that's leading towards life. [01:01:41] (50 seconds)  #TrustGodNotSelf

The goal is not simply to finish chapters as we embark on a bible reading plan together. The goal is that the scripture helps us to be formed by the god who is speaking through the scriptures. And so here we begin Proverbs. It's a book that that begins by telling us something essential. And that is become before wisdom becomes something that we practice, it becomes it is something that we receive. Before wisdom is something that we practice, it is something that works within us. [00:40:11] (42 seconds)  #WisdomIsReceived

Look at the verbs in those opening verses. They they are significant also. To know, to understand, to receive. You'll notice something about those verbs, and that's that none of them describe a process of self creation. All of the verbs to know, to understand, and to receive, they they describe a dependent situation between us and God. The whole book assumes that wisdom, again, is not native to us. And so we must be instructed, we must be corrected, and we must be shaped by the words and thoughts of God. [00:43:55] (47 seconds)  #DependentOnGod

God doesn't wanna just download something into you. He wants to form you through the words of scripture. He trains us as we give him attention and meditate and we meditate on the word of God. And we he trains us through correction. He trains us through practice. I think this calls us to a certain posture as believers with this question. Are you still are you still listening? Are you still teachable? Are you still learnable? Are we still correctable? The wise are not those who have finished growing. The wise are those who have not and will not stop growing. [00:54:42] (58 seconds)  #StayTeachable

Wisdom is not the reward for the most self confident person in the room. Wisdom is the gift of God that is given to those who are willing to be trained by God. It's a gift of God given to those who are willing to be trained by God. And here's an important question just as we begin. Top of the book. Do you actually want wisdom? Or do we really just want affirmation about how good we are in and of ourselves? Do we really want truth? Or do we really just want a little reinforcement of what we already think? [00:44:42] (60 seconds)  #WisdomOverAffirmation

You know, one of the most dangerous and and dangerous spiritual conditions of a Christian or someone who says there's a Christian is not not that they are openly defiant, but that they are quietly unteachable. I don't wanna hear that. And when a person no longer receives wise counsel, they no longer think they can grow anymore, they no longer invite any correction into their life, that's not maturity. When we reach that place, we are drifting. But notice how active wisdom is described. The discerning person acquires guidance. [00:52:36] (48 seconds)  #DiscernAndReceive

And so wisdom begins with reverence. Reverence is awakened by grace, and grace is revealed in Christ. I hope you leave here today wanting this. If you do, go home and get on your knees and ask for deeper communion with Jesus because the more that you know Jesus, the more that we are going to grow in this kind of wisdom that is being described today. [01:11:57] (37 seconds)

knowledge does not begin with looking inside of ourselves. Proverbs says that the the knowledge of God begins with, hey, behold your God. The world says trust yourself. And that is the that is the key to wise living. And that's the key to the path of blessing that the world offers. Just trust yourself. Go go with your gut. Trust your heart. But Proverbs says, fear the lord. That's the beginning. That's the foundation. So we got one path that's leading towards illusion, and we've got another path that's leading towards life. [01:01:49] (41 seconds)

he trains us through correction. He trains us through practice. I think this calls us to a certain posture as believers with this question. Are you still are you still listening? Are you still teachable? Are you still learnable? Are we still correctable? The wise are not those who have finished growing. The wise are those who have not and will not stop growing. This matters so much to us as as a church. And I say this to to Bel one and I say it to the larger body of Christ also. Because a listening congregation becomes a growing congregation. A listening elder becomes a trustworthy shepherd. A listening disciple becomes a stable Christian. And the wisdom of God grows wherever there are ears that stay open before God. [00:54:58] (84 seconds)

And so wisdom begins with reverence. Reverence is awakened by grace, and grace is revealed in Christ. I hope you leave here today wanting this. If you do, go home and get on your knees and ask for deeper communion with Jesus because the more that you know Jesus, the more that we are going to grow in this kind of wisdom that is being described today. [01:11:57] (37 seconds)