FHCC
20251102 Worship

                • Psalm 67:1ESV

                • Psalm 66:8ESV

                              • Make Room

                                      • Proverbs 8NKJV

                                    • Introduction

                                      The line between “real” and “make believe” is blurry. This very possibly is a discussion some of you had with children or grandkids this week.  I reminded us last week that Satan’s minions are active in tempting us to disobey God and give in to temptation. Likely, costumes, characters & nightmares may have prompted you to tell little ones (or yourself) that “this is just make believe.” While spirits do not look like they are portrayed and dead spirits do not possess earth as zombies, some realities greater than us (wisdom in today’s text) are real, even if unseen. And some realities that oppose us are also real, even if unseen by human eyes.
                                      Today’s text uses a literary device called allegory. Allegory is somewhere between “literal” and fiction-- described in one glossary I have as “A story using symbols and imagery to represent characters and explain events.[i]”
                                      TRANSITION: the first 31 verses tell us why wisdom should be considered real, and the last 5 tell us why it matters.

                                      The Credentials of God’s Wisdom

                                      Wisdom as a Guide (Pr 8:1-5)

                                      When we lived in Oklahoma, which is much flatter than the Flint Hills, on dark nights as we would drive toward home a glow from our small city could be observed from 15-20 miles away.
                                      Here the glow is not quite as vibrant, and the terrain of the hills obscures the horizon, but when our Courthouse is lit for the holidays, the glow can be seen from miles away.
                                      For those who are familiar with our community, the glow is familiar, comforting, and enticing. For those who are visiting the first time, the glow indicates that “something” is ahead.
                                      1. Likewise, in the journey of life that frequents through dark valleys and deserted places, the presence of wisdom is a beacon that something is available. A voice calls but is undiscernible from a distance. When one gets close, he realizes that the fear of the Lord is core to this cry that becomes clear and offers an alternative to the hurt, darkness and wandering of life apart from Christ.
                                      2. Wisdom calls out to wanderers like the beacon of a lighthouse directs sailors toward a safe harbor.
                                      TRANSITION: Pr 8.5 describes this call as the path toward sense. Pr 8.6 characterizes this sense as being nobel.

                                      Wisdom as Morality (Pr 8:6-13)

                                      In the marketplace of ideas, what makes some ideas more attractive than others?
                                      Think of two magnets with opposite polarity vs. unresisted attraction between a magnet and steel. I started this sermon series talking about the safety in the middle of the lane that is bounded by lane markers, rumble strips and guard rails to keep you out of the ditch. If their is only one guardrail that is magnetized, your vehicle has little resistance from being pulled toward danger. But if foolishness is magnetized on one side, and wisdom is magnetized on the other side with opposite polarity, the driver will navigate the tension of a pull toward opposite directions.
                                      Originally there was only a good pull in one direction. Scripture speaks of a revolt in Heaven that created the opposite pull. God created a good earth with a pull only in one direction. The serpent (a common biblical image for Satan) tempted Eve to choose rebellion which introduce the opposing polarity into the human context.
                                      To rightfully interpret these verses, one has to think of the bigger picture of human history. The attraction toward wisdom, may not be the same as the world in which we make choices today. When are these verses written in relationship to Jesus, the Cross and the empty tomb?
                                      Eternity past - only a pull toward righteousness (Pr 8.8)
                                      Prehistoric past - the angelic realm obtained a wicked pull that was strong enough to lead 1/3 of Heaven to succumb.
                                      Creation event - only a pull toward righteousness. Satan tempted with “a knowledge of good AND EVIL” (Gen 3:5)
                                      Fall event - humanity chose to toil with the pull of wickedness (Pr 8.7)
                                      Expulsion (Gen 3:22-24) - all humanity feels the 99% inevitable pull of wickedness, but is aware of the 1% call to wisdom. Pr 8.6-13 is that 1% given a megaphone.
                                      Easter - in the Resurrection Victory, when Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to those in Christ is the pull of righteousness turbo-boosted so that we are empowered to say “no;” and to resist the pull toward evil.
                                      While today we live with Easter reality, when Proverbs was written humanity was still under expulsion, with it’s draw toward death. In describing this cry as nobel, Wisdom is claiming to have an attraction away from other voices.
                                      TRANSITION: Since the pull toward original inherited sin is so strong, in the next 7 verses wisdom trades her megaphone for a microphone and speakers, to try to convince those pulled toward wickedness, to choose the opposition option.

                                      Wisdom’s Reward (Pr 8:14-21)

                                      She now loudly says “I am not only an alternative; I am a preferable alternative, and the key to true “success”. Notice the adjectives in this section of the chapter.
                                      insight, strength, reign, rule, justice, riches, honor, wealth, righteousness, fruit better than gold, better than choice silver, inheritance, and treasuries.
                                      There truly is a blessed (John 10:10) way that leads to life, but Jesus said that only a few choose and find it. Why don’t more choose this path? Why isn’t this the crowded path? Because...
                                      John 3:19–20 ESV:2016
                                      And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
                                      As a matter of fact, the only ones who choose this are the ones the Father draws according to (John 6:44)

                                      Wisdom is Timeless (Pr 8:22-31)

                                      Ever since Pr 8.4, wisdom has been using a first person pronoun which we would understand to be a person describing himself or herself. This leads us to ask if wisdom is a person. Is there a 4th person in the Godhead?
                                      Wisdom personified in literature and wisdom embodied in Christ. Personification is a literary device for us to understand a concept. Embodiment is an existence that can be observed and evaluated. This embodiment is found in the humanity of Christ as the eternal God took on human appearance and presence in a totally unique hypostasis.
                                      While we are now in timeline stage 6 (after Easter), today’s text said that the ability to rightfully apply knowledge was present in stage 1 (Eternity past) and will remain throughout stage 9 (new Creation)
                                      For those who are interested, my understanding of End times says this is what is coming
                                      vii. Great Tribulation - 2 Th 2:1-12 [lawless one is unrestrained & 70th week of Daniel when God’s attention reverts primarily toward those under the Abrahamic covenant]
                                      viii. Second Coming of Christ inaugurates the 1000-year Millennium when Satan is bound (Rev.20)
                                      ix. At the end of this binding, the evil One will be destroyed and we then experience a New Creation (Rev 21)
                                      3. Pr 8.22-23 states that the ability to apply knowledge to a specific circumstance (a definition of wisdom I learned from another teacher) was possessed by God [the personal God who revealed His name to Moses as “I am”] before anything created was spoken into existence. Before there was a human man or woman who had the opportunity to choose wrongly, there existed an ability to apply knowledge rightly.
                                      TRANSITION: Wisdom is a credible option because it guides us to safety, it provides a moral alternative, it brings reward, and predates foolishness. Based upon these qualities, she makes a request of us.

                                      The Calling of God’s Wisdom (Pr 8:32-36)

                                      Wisdom as Relevant

                                      She is not just an option, she is THE option that gives life and bears God’s favor (PR 8.35). Apart from her one has only to expect injury and death (Pr 8.36).
                                      Applying God’s truth to situations rightly is a guarantee that you will never be featured on a YouTube Fail video, or on a program called Ridiculousness or America’s Dumbest...
                                      Fiction Literature exploits the question of choice. Hollywood looks to history and proposes that Indiana had to choose, and to do so wisely. Hollywood also looks to the future and supposes that warriors will be forced to choose sides, and to do so wisely.
                                      But God’s true Word goes outside the boundaries of past or future to reveal that the mind of God is calling you and me to choose wise righteousness.

                                      Light & Lamp Application:

                                      Light for my Path

                                      "Choice" is older than creation; Our best choice always conforms to Christ.

                                      Lamps for my Steps

                                      Head - read God’s Word to know His preferences.
                                      Heart - When pulled in 2 directions, if it’s doubtful it is usually dirty.
                                      Hands - When facing a decision ask “What will this decision look like in a week, a month, or a year?”

                                      Conclusion:

                                      Last week in Proverbs 7 we saw that Solomon had observed naive men making foolish choices. The prophet Isaiah says that we all at one time of another have been like sheep to went astray like those naive men.
                                      These foolish choices have dire consequences! The last verse of today’s chapter describes that consequence as death that every one of us deserves. Yet there is only one remedy for that fully just death.
                                      Isaiah 53:4–5 ESV:2016
                                      Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows...But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
                                      In Christ we gain the forgiveness for past choices, and the power to choose wisdom!
                                      [i] Mangum, Douglas. 2014. The Lexham Glossary of Literary Types. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

                                        • John 3:19–20NKJV

                                        • Isaiah 53:4–5NKJV

                                          • Make Room

                                              • Numbers 6:24–26ESV

                                              FHCC
                                              flinthillschurch@gmail.com
                                              (620)273-6777
                                              http://flinthillschurch.net
                                              11 members • 15 followers