Immanuel Church

Ray Ortlund, Jr.                                                                                                         

Immanuel Church                                                                                                     

Nashville, Tennessee                                                                                                              

25 July 2010

 

            I was daily his delight,

                        rejoicing before him always,

            rejoicing in his inhabited world

                        and delighting in the children of man.  Proverbs 8:30-31

 

In Proverbs chapter 7 God tells us not to commit adultery.  Now in chapter 8 God lifts before us a brightly positive worldview.  So here are these two things side-by-side: sex, worldview.  God is giving us more than coping strategies for moments of temptation.  He is giving us a whole new way of seeing everything.  We naturally think piecemeal.  But the God-centered wholeness of life is wisdom, and it’s joyous.  It’s what Proverbs chapter 8 is about – the grandeur of Christ, relevant to all of life, with higher aims and richer rewards than we would otherwise even contemplate.

 

The sage is teaching us the doctrine of creation.  If we split our thinking between a small area called “religion” over here on Sunday, while the rest of life called “the real me” is over there Monday through Saturday, we diminish Jesus to the level of Jesus Jr.  But all of life comes from the wise and generous hand of our glorious Creator-Savior.

 

The doctrine of creation runs throughout the Bible.  Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Revelation 4:11: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things.”  Living in his universe, we have nothing to fear and everything to enjoy.  God made it all, for us, to the praise of his glory.  So there goes superstition.  There goes asceticism.  There goes stoicism.  There goes religious grumpiness.  The doctrine of creation makes human life sweet and significant.

 

But if the doctrine of creation is true, and it is, then why do we all resonate with T. S. Eliot’s description of modern culture as “shape without form, shade without color, paralyzed force, gesture without motion”?[1]  Why do our own lives spiral down into contradiction, frustration and just plain boredom?  Here’s why.  We take our favorite aspect of the creation, and we make it into an idol.  We pin our hopes on some good thing that lets us down because it’s not an ultimate thing.  We fixate on family or money or success or whatever with an excessive emotional expectation.  Then, when it leaves us empty, we fall into despair.  We can even project our personal despair onto the cosmos philosophically, as if reality itself were mocking our hearts.[2]  So God mercifully steps in with the wise doctrine of creation.  It frees us from our idols.  It exalts Christ.  It makes life livable again.

 

Proverbs 8 is that wisdom.  It divides into four sections.  Wisdom commands us to prize her (verses 1-11).  Why prize wisdom?  Because she is both powerful (verses 12-21) and profound (verses 22-31).  Wisdom is the real power behind the throne, enriching all who love her (verses 12-21).  And wisdom is the secret to the universe, she was here first, rejoicing over God’s creation (verses 22-31).  Finally, wisdom is the one necessity for true life, and we must embrace her (verses 32-26). 

 

Throughout Proverbs 8 the sage is speaking.  But he uses a figure of speech called personification.  He dons the persona of Wisdom as an elegant lady.  I think of her as Galadriel, the elf queen, in the Lord of the Rings movies – lovely, dignified, wise.  She is the opposite of the adulteress in Proverbs chapter 7.  But because this is in the Bible, the ultimate voice we’re hearing here is Christ himself.

 

Wisdom calls and commands

 

Does not wisdom call?

            Does not understanding raise her voice?

On the heights beside the way,

            at the crossroads she takes her stand;

beside the gates in front of the town,

            at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud.  Proverbs 8:1-3

 

Christ doesn’t retreat into a monastery.  He doesn’t wait for us to find him.  He moves toward us, he moves toward the masses, where we live day by day, “at the crossroads,” where the competition for hearts is fiercest.  He rubs shoulders with us.  He feels at home with us.  He speaks into our everyday lives.  But he is not whispering – “softly and tenderly,” as the old hymn puts it.  He is raising his voice, so that we can hear him above all the noise.  There is no question about his relevance to us or his interest in us.  The question is, Are we listening?  Are we turning the noise down so that we can listen?

 

To whom does Christ make his appeal?  Not to scholars, not even to religious people.  His heart is bigger than that:

 

To you, O men, I call,

            and my cry is to the children of man.

O simple ones, learn prudence;

            O fools, learn sense.  Proverbs 8:4-5

 

Jesus Christ wants to engage everyone, including fools who have made so many mistakes.  There is one group he does ignore: the scoffers.  “Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse” (Proverbs 9:7).  Some people just won’t listen.  If you try to help them, they get mean.  But the rest of us – even if we’re fools, Christ is reaching out to us.  All he asks is humble openness.  He provides everything else.  Look what he’s offering us:

 

Hear, for I will speak noble things,

            and from my lips will come what is right,

for my mouth will utter truth;

            wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 

All the words of my mouth are righteous;

there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

They are all straight to him who understands,

and right to those who find knowledge.  Proverbs 8:6-9

 

            Christ gives us two commands in verses 1-11.  The first is in verse 6: “Hear.”  Why should we listen with complete openness?  Because all the words of his mouth are righteous – completely true and morally excellent.  There is nothing hidden or tricky or manipulative in the Bible.  God has never said anything he had to take back.  The problem for us is, he’s willing to tell us hard things.  He doesn’t flatter us.  He can be blunt.  So we have to decide if we’re going to listen enough to change.  But Christ is incapable of giving us less than noble things.  Do you see the word “noble” in verse 6?  There is nothing degrading in the gospel.  His gospel raises our standards and lifts us above the vulgar.  In our sloppy modern culture of self-indulgence, that helps.  So sometimes his words come with a bite, and we have to swallow hard, but there is no bitter aftertaste.

 

Here’s the catch.  Verse 9: “They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.”  That is to say, the Word of God is open to the open person, it’s reasonable to the reasonable person.  You must understand this about yourself.  How you experience the Word of God reveals yourself to you (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).  If your own mentality, your own interior world, is biased in favor of Self, you will feel misunderstood and under-appreciated by the gospel, and you will resent it and you will blame the gospel or at least the preacher of the gospel.  You might even lash back.  This is why every one of us must bring to our every encounter with the gospel a certain pre-condition.  We must come pre-committed humbly to obey whatever Christ says.  The Bible says, “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).  How could it be otherwise?  Christ won’t allow us to treat him as a theory.  But if you’re hungry for him, he’ll give you his best, as you listen.

 

The second of the two commands in verses 1-11 appears now in verse 10:

 

Take my instruction instead of silver,

            and knowledge rather than choice gold,

for wisdom is better than jewels,

            and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.  Proverbs 8:10-11

 

See the word “take”?  We have to choose what we’re going to take and grab hold of and not let go.  We can’t have it all: “Take my instruction instead of silver.”  It’s an either/or choice, because whatever we take takes us.  We will love either wisdom or money.  We will most deeply care about what we are or what we have.  We cannot live for two ultimate goals at once (Matthew 6:24).  Make your money serve Christ, or you will end up serving it without Christ. 

 

Why choose his wisdom rather than money?  Verses 12-31 tell us why.  Verses 12-21 exult in wisdom’s broad relevance to life now, and verses 22-31 exult in wisdom’s deep antiquity before life now.

 

Wisdom rules and enriches

 

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,

            and I find knowledge and discretion.

The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil

            and perverted speech I hate.

I have counsel and sound wisdom;

            I have insight, I have strength.  Proverbs 8:12-14

 

We take whatever we value.  And Christ, speaking as Wisdom, is saying here that the people he blesses join him in fearing the Lord and hating pride and self-importance and sneakiness (verse 13), which are the very sins we gifted people are prone to.  But wisdom has the patent on counsel and resourcefulness and insight and heroic strength (verse 14).  Wisdom gives both strategies that succeed and the strength to carry them out and not quit in the face of hardship and opposition.  Wisdom is practical.  Wisdom works.  Wisdom makes us powerful.  But the wisdom of Christ belongs only to those who humble themselves, because they want to change and grow and make an impact for him.

 

This is not natural wisdom.  This is spiritual wisdom.  There is a difference (James 3:13-18).  For example, the hero of the Babylonian account of the flood is a man named Utnapishtim.[3]  H was even given another name meaning something like “Super-Genius.”  He was brilliant.  The Bible says Noah was righteous and walked with God (Genesis 6:9; 7:1).  But who was really smart?  Mr. Super-Genius, or the believer who walked humbly with God?  Utnapishtim built his boat as a giant cube, 180 feet in length, width and height, with a displacement of over 200,000 tons.  It would have sunk to the bottom like a stone.  Noah built something like a modern battleship, 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, with a displacement of around 43,300 tons – a good plan.[4]  The Bible never says Noah was brilliant.  But he did walk with God.  And guess what?  It worked out for him.  It’ll work out for you too.

 

By me kings reign,

            and rulers decree what is just;

by me princes rule,

            and nobles, all who govern justly.  Proverbs 8:15-16

 

Even in the tough world of leadership, Christ is the secret to success.  He knows his way around hardheaded deals and negotiations.  He knows how to get things done with agility, versatility, keenness, competence.  Oh, how we underrate his abilities and resources when everything is on the line!  And for us as a church, to be successful we don’t need a gazillion rules.  Rules don’t make people thrive.  We do need wise, seasoned, humble, mature, Christlike leaders.  And in Christ, you can become one of them.  He is generous with himself:

 

I love those who love me,

            and those who seek me diligently find me.

Riches and honor are with me,

            enduring wealth and righteousness.

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,

            and my yield than choice silver.

I walk in the way of righteousness,

            in the paths of justice,

granting an inheritance to those who love me,

and filling their treasuries.  Proverbs 8:17-21

 

We’re hearing the language of love.  Christ is promising us his fullness, from his very heart.  We cannot come up empty-handed, if we seek him with a diligent heart.  “Those who seek me diligently find me” in verse 17 – that adverb “diligently” means “with intentionality, by going out of our usual way, breaking with routine.”  God so honors an earnest heart.  He even offers such a seeker “riches and honor” (verse 18).  He does not despise earthly incentives.  To gain a precious treasure, full of meaning and symbolic of his favor, is despised only by cranks and killjoys.  If we love and seek money as our prize, it will ruin us.  The Bible warns us that just desiring money – not necessarily getting it but just desiring it – destroys us (1 Timothy 6:9).  But if we love and seek Christ, he supplies all the money and all the treasure and all the honor we will need to love him and serve him back.[5]  And that kind of privilege can’t ruin us, because it doesn’t own us deep inside.  Jesus does.

 

Maybe you’re thinking, “Nice concept.  But I’m not that spiritual.  I guess I’m excluded.”  Look what Christ says in verse 20: “I walk in the way of righteousness.”  Do you see?  If he walks in the way of righteousness, how can he fail to keep his promises even to fools and beginners who humble themselves before him?  He loves not geniuses and experts but those who love him, just love him enough to seek him.

 

Verses 12-21 give us reasons to hear and take wisdom over everything this fraudulent world offers.  Verses 22-31 go all the way back to the creation with more reasons to hear and take wisdom:

 

Wisdom preceded and celebrated

 

The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,

            the first of his acts of old.

Ages ago I was set up,

            at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

When there were no depths I was brought forth,

            when there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains had been shaped,

            before the hills, I was brought forth,

before he had made the earth with its fields,

            or the first of the dust of the world.

When he established the heavens, I was there;

            when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

when he made firm the skies above,

            when he established the fountains of the deep,

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,

            then I was beside him, like a master workman,[6]

and I was daily filled with delight,[7]

            rejoicing before him always,

rejoicing in his inhabited world

            and delighting in the children of man.  Proverbs 8:22-31

 

Now Proverbs chapter 8 rises to a glorious crescendo over the profound happiness of wisdom.  What is the paragraph saying?  Wisdom was here first.  We weren’t.  Wisdom was God’s first creation.  He wired wisdom into the cosmos as the inner logic of everything.  So wisdom was how everything started and how everything still works.  We’re born into this world long after things were set up so amazingly.  What do we know?  We don’t control our environment; we adjust to it.  So wisdom is more than handy tips.  Wisdom is the secret code to reality.  And in the Bible it’s actually speaking to us, so that it isn’t a secret any more. 

 

What’s the point?  Two things.  One, wisdom is external to us.  The wisdom we need for our lives is not inside us; it’s outside us.  There is a reason why we have ears on the outside of our heads.  We’re not supposed to listen to ourselves.  We have a lot to learn.  God himself did nothing without wisdom.  How can we do anything without it?  And we have a good reason to listen to Christ’s wisdom.  Here’s the reason. 

 

Two, wisdom is joyous over us.  Wisdom is not a nag.  Joy breaks out whenever wisdom is exercised.  Verses 24-26 describe the pre-creation conditions that God shaped into the creation.  Wisdom is saying, “When everything was still a chaotic mess, without form and void, God created me first to fix it.  God considered me indispenable.  So how about your life?  Could I help with your mess?”  And the one offering herself – but really, it’s Christ speaking – the one offering himself is joyous about his creation.  He’s enthusiastic about his creation, he is exuberant, he is wholehearted.  You have every reason to turn your life over to him and say, “Re-create me.”

 

Here is the gospel.  Because of God, everything in the creation is good.  Because of Adam, everything God made is marred and tragic – including our personal responses to everything God made.  Because of Christ, everything God made will be redeemed.  So even now, everything is, in principle, eligible for wise enjoyment, under Christ (1 Timothy 4:1-5).  The NFL is good, fallen and redeemable.  Gardening is good, fallen and redeemable.  Your job is good, fallen and redeemable.  Everything.  The arts.  The military.  Family life.  Everything God created is good, and we should rejoice in God our Creator.  John Calvin was believing the doctrine of creation when he wrote, “There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world, that is not intended to make men rejoice.”[8]  The doctrine of creation puts life and zest back into us:

Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, the celebrated Brooklyn divine, was visiting the famous London preacher, Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon.  After a hard day of work and serious discussion, these two mighty men of God went out into the country together for a holiday.  They roamed the fields in high spirits like boys let loose from school, chatting and laughing and free from care.  Dr. Cuyler had just told a story at which Mr. Spurgeon laughed uproariously.  Then suddenly he turned to Dr. Cuyler and exclaimed, “Theodore, let’s kneel down and thank God for laughter!”  And there, on the green carpet of grass, under the trees, two of the world’s greatest men knelt and thanked the dear Lord for the bright and joyous gift of laughter.[9]

 Only the biblical worldview gushes with enthusiasm over this world we live in and our own humanness.  It frees us to enthuse.  The Bible says, “A joyful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22).  Here’s how we guard it and deepen it, for the glory of God:

Wisdom invites and warns

 

And now, O sons, listen to me:

            blessed are those who keep my ways.

Hear instruction and be wise,

            and do not neglect it.

Blessed is the one who listens to me,

            watching daily at my gates,

            waiting beside my doors.

For whoever finds me finds life

            and obtains favor from the LORD,

but he who fails to find me injures himself;

            all who hate me love death.  Proverbs 8:32-36

 

            The wisdom of Christ is the one and only true necessity in your life.  And you must embrace it wholeheartedly, you must become decisive, definite.  “Wisdom is possible for man by following, by discipleship,”[10] not by holding back in critical detachment with an endless “wait and see” skepticism.  But if you do enter in, Christ is promising you a true life, a life worth living, under the smile of God.  Hold everything else lightly, but grab hold of Jesus Christ and don’t let go.  “Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

 

            The irony is, the more you protect yourself from him, the more you injure yourself.  Verse 36 could be translated, “He who fails to find me does violence to himself.”  Christ loves you more than you love yourself.  And you can have him, not by heroic intellectual pursuit but by humbly admitting the truth – you are a fool who needs a Sage.  But if you are that fool, you are the one he loves.  Will you listen and take him?  He promises you everything you desire in your own deepest intentions.