Pastor
Steve Geiger Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
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Proverbs 9:1-10
1 Wisdom has built her house;
she has hewn out its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her
wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her maids, and she
calls
from the highest point of the city.
4 “Let all who are simple come in here!”
she says to those who lack judgment.
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 understanding.
7 “Whoever corrects a mocker invites
insult;
whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs
abuse.
8 Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate
you;
rebuke a wise man and he will love you.
9 Instruct a wise man and he will be
wiser still;
teach a righteous man and he will add to
his learning.
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning
of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.
Come
to the Party Proverbs
9:1-10
1.
Hear wisdom’s call for yourself
2.
Share wisdom’s call with others
You
are invited.
Maybe
it’s a birthday. Or at
Christmastime. Or perhaps just a chance
for friends to get together. But you
are invited.
To
a party.
Young
children love parties. Perhaps one of
yours has come home from school, big smile on the face: “Mom, my best friend
invited me to a birthday party!” For
you adults, parties can be great too: friends, food, fun.
Today
we’re going to have a party. A party
with great meat, fine wine, and a brand new house in which to hold it.
God
invites you to a party. God, and
parties? Haven’t quite thought of him
that way before, yet this is exactly the image God uses as he describes his
desire to give you true wisdom. Come to
my party. Fill up on truth.
Learning
about the Lord is like going to a party.
Though
we don’t always feel that way, do we.
Did you wake up this morning all excited and pumped, because you knew
that at 9:00 a.m. the party was starting?
When we sang our first hymn, as you thought about the words, were you
thinking, “This is the greatest.
Singing and hearing wisdom from God.”
When a voice read from Romans, from John, were we on the edges of our
seats, hanging to every bit of information from God, marveling at the sweet
taste of truth?
Or
did you wake up this morning kind of tired, knowing where you were going at
9:00 a.m., but not at all thinking this was going to be a party?
Why
is that? God says that hearing his
truth is a party, but why don’t we always think it is? Instead, almost a necessary evil. All right.
We’re going to go to the party.
Do
we feel that we maybe don’t need the information God wants to share?
Some
teenagers do not like to study. Hard,
hard, hard it can be for parents to convince their fourteen-year-old that it’s
important to do homework, to memorize, to listen, except perhaps with one
subject. When I was the right age, that
subject had a little book. If I studied
it and passed the test, I would be able to do something that I could not have
done before. For many teenagers, this
may seem to be the one thing they are actually excited about studying. Studying the driver’s handbook so that they
can pass the driver’s exam so they can drive.
Perhaps
this is the one subject where parents almost wish their kids wouldn’t
care. But when you know that something
is valuable, you put in the time. It
can almost seem like a party, just to learn, because you know where that
knowledge will take you.
But
when you think you don’t need a certain set of knowledge, when you feel that a
class has no point, it’s much harder to be excited about learning.
To
not be excited about hearing God’s Word.
I think we’d all admit that we struggle with this. This is evidence that our sinful flesh
thinks there’s no point to it. There’s
a part of us that feels we are just fine the way we are. That we will be just as well off if we hear
God’s word rarely or never as we will be if we hear it a lot.
God
calls such people simple. God says that
such people lack judgment. Though they
think they are wise.
The
most foolish person is often one who thinks he is very wise. Who thinks he knows enough of the Bible
right now and can get by for the rest of his life with the knowledge he
has. The one who thinks that his
behavior for the most part is God-pleasing and no rebuke is ever necessary. The one who thinks that he’s headed to
heaven with no danger of getting lost along the way. The one who thinks he has more important things to do than to
come to wisdom’s party. The one who looks more forward to computer games than
he does to memorizing Bible verses. The
one who has time every evening for a favorite television show but takes no time
during his days for a reading of God’s word.
The one who looks forward to golf, soccer or gymnastics, a Blizzard from
Dairy Queen, but groans maybe secretly when it’s time to go to church.
What
do we think? That God couldn’t possibly
have something we need? We know we
probably shouldn’t say that. That we
should feel we need God. But do our
actions show it? Can our words speak a
good game but our thoughts and deeds reveal what is hiding in a part of our
hearts? Wisdom from God? I don’t need that. It’s nice, I suppose, and I’ve got nothing against it, I don’t
think, but need it? I’m doing just fine
the way I am.
God
calls such people fools. A great fool
is one who thinks he needs no more wisdom.
The greatest fool is one who thinks he needs no more wisdom from God.
The
sad thing is, we only hurt ourselves.
The wise, God says, walk straight on a path of understanding. The fools?
They swerve. Our driver’s ed
teenagers no doubt can imagine what will happen if you’re driving your car and
are constantly swerving. Into the light
pole, a curb, the side of a tree trunk.
Your neck, whiplashed. Your paint,
scarred. Your body panels,
smashed.
Does
your life feel that way? Swerving from
one side to the other, hitting this curb, then the next? You hurt inside, your feelings. Filled with fears, but you can’t understand
why. No peace. We hurt ourselves when we do not seek first
God’s wisdom. That is the fool, isn’t
it. Hurting oneself.
And
finally, should Satan continue to persuade us that we can do life just fine by
ourselves, without depending totally and completely on the Lord . . . to be a
fool is to end in death. To see God’s
wisdom party as annoying or unnecessary?
Death, into a lake prepared for the devil and his angels. Fire.
God
doesn’t want you to go there. Did you
notice? Wisdom sent out her maids and
then called from the highest point of the town. That you might hear. God
wants you to hear.
Whom
is wisdom calling? “Let all who are
simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment.
Do
you feel that maybe you’ve acted in ways that have lacked judgment? Feel a little foolish for thinking one
needed not the Lord so much?
The
first part of wisdom is to see that you’ve been a fool, simple. For then you hear your name in wisdom’s
invitation: “Let the simple come to the party.” Us. What mercy.
What
mercy, that God wants all to be saved and to come a knowledge of the
truth. Salvation for the simple? Yes, life, even for me, as foolish things
are confessed, the fear of the Lord becoming my focus.
The
fear of the Lord. Yes, first
afraid. Seeing that love first for
things and last for the Lord leads to death.
But then a different fear. The
psalmist, speaking to the Lord. Psalm
119:38: “Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.” God keeping a promise bring fear. Not terror.
But honor, love, respect.
A
promise. A big promise was kept when
God came to earth to rescue the simple.
First, by being wise where we were foolish. You would think that Jesus, as God, wouldn’t spend so much time
hearing the Word. He was God. Yet as our substitute, he went to the temple
at the age of twelve and attended regularly the synagogue on Saturday. He knew what was wisdom. He craved it as our
substitute, for all the times we have thought it unnecessary. He then offers us his righteousness in
baptism. Here is covering for all your
sins: my perfect party attendance is yours in water and word. Then keeping a promise, bearing our
sin. Receiving the consequence of a
fool, death. Dying your death. In that, winning for you life. Innocent you are. Forgiven, all your sins.
He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.
Who
would have guessed? Love for the Lord,
my Savior, is the beginning of wisdom.
That is a party. Now. Forever.
That’s why wisdom so begs you to come.
At this party God is handing out righteousness. Jesus’ perfection.
True
wisdom. Give me more. I need understanding. But I can’t study the Bible because I don’t
know enough. Do you get it now? That’s exactly why God wants you to study
the Bible. To give you wisdom.
Then you can share wisdom’s call with others too.
Invite others to the party. Though sometimes you’ll try and the mouth of
the one hearing explains that he has all the wisdom he needs. Sometimes you will share wisdom’s call and
be insulted.
Don’t automatically give up. But sometimes you can offer God’s invitation
again and again and again and all you get is abuse. Then you may ask, “Does this person fit the category of “mocker,”
“wicked?” Because there does come a
point when God commands Christians to stop reaching out to a certain
person. “Whoever corrects a mocker
invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you.”
Said in another way, “Do not give dogs what is
sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs” (Matthew 7:6). Sometimes—and we surely assume for as long
as possible that people don’t fit yet this category of “mocker” and “wicked”—but
sometimes the godly option is to go silent.
On the other hand, when you rebuke a wise man, he
will love you. Isn’t that neat! It’s a good thing gently to point out sin to
a Christian, to rebuke. The devil will
tell us, “Oh, you don’t want to rebuke that person, because they’ll get
mad.” Not a wise man. He will thank you. Yes, his sinful flesh may feel mad. But a Christian has a new man that loves the Lord and treasures
your gentle rebuke.
Inviting people to wisdom’s party. Rejoicing in the invitation yourself.
How foolish to see a party as a bother. Hearing God’s wisdom is the best party in
the world.
You
are invited. Come! Amen.