How to Live the Good Life

Grab your message notes that look like this as we begin a brand new series this morning. And I want to start off with the eternal question. Why do people do dumb stuff? You ever wonder that? I mean, we humans are just amazing. I have a book, "The 176 Stupidest Things Ever Done." And there's some pretty hilarious things in there ripped out of the news headlines. But here's just some examples.

R.V. Dartnell of De Ritter, Louisiana was foiled in his robbery attempt because he forgot to cut holes in the black plastic garbage bag he was using as a disguise. That's pretty stupid. Another thief, Bob Coleman, had a slightly different problem. He could see through his plastic garbage bag disguise. But so could everyone else because he was wearing a transparent plastic bag over his head. And finally, just one more example. A man in Portland, Maine was arrested for driving a classic Thunderbird car with a TV set welded to the hood. He was watching sports on TV while driving. Apparently couldn't afford an iPhone like the rest of us. But we all do dumb stuff.

In fact, just again, an audience poll. Raise your hand if you've ever done something dumb. Just raise it high. Yes. So we all need this. I'm dying for this. We call this "The Art of Living Well." This is our new series, "Wisdom" from the Book of Proverbs. The whole Book of Proverbs is basically about how not to make a fool out of yourself. But it's about so much more. It's about the art of wisdom.

What do I mean by that? Well, as Tim Keller, a pastor in New York, points out, we live in a pluralistic society. And in a pluralistic society, people are always fighting about morality, the different senses that we have about what is right and what is wrong. And we live in a scientific society. And so everybody's always fighting over what is true. We tend to value research and knowledge over above almost anything else. So in our society, we tend to fight about what is right and what is true. And we tend to think that those two things, moral principles on the one hand, and scientific knowledge on the other hand, are basically the answer to any dilemma, the answer to all life's questions.

And that probably obscures for us what ancient societies had a better grasp of. I think they saw something that we don't see. And it's this, moral standards, as crucial as they are, actually don't address many of the situations that you face in life. Whatever you think the rules are, the vast majority of the situations you face in life actually aren't covered by those rules. And a lot of life's key decisions, more and more knowledge, is not going to help you very much either.

If you're going to not make a mess of your life, you need something that is hardly ever talked about these days. It's not identical to morality, and it's not identical to knowledge, although it sort of overlaps them both. And it's this, wisdom. Wisdom. If you're going to make a kind of a life for yourself that isn't constantly making messes of everything, you need to find and grow in wisdom.

For example, it is good and it is moral to help poor people, right? You can do it completely ethically, and you can still ruin their lives because you're not doing it wisely. And you can give lectures filled with knowledge about poverty and still leave the poor unhelped because you're not acting wisely. You can be a person of both high IQ and high moral standards, totally righteous, totally knowledgeable, and still totally screw up your life and other people's lives. And alienate people all around you because you are not wise.

I mean, think of the major decisions that you face in life. All throughout your life. Should I date that person? Should I marry that person? Should I confront that person? Should I hold back? Should I take this risk? And you realize a wrong decision in any of those areas could be a disaster. How do you decide?

Well, we live in an era in America where scientists are kind of the priests of the day, and they seem to think that knowledge is the answer to all of life's problems. And of course, knowledge is important, but more knowledge is not going to answer you definitively in any of those decisions I just mentioned. And in churches, we tend to have a lot of people who think morality is the answer to everything. And of course, morality is crucially important, but it is not enough in those areas I just mentioned.

You could be completely convinced that you are right morally, and you are right theologically, and still mess up a whole situation because you're not being wise. And in fact, I want to suggest that a lot of you this morning, the reason you have that kind of sick feeling about your life is that you're in a situation that you don't have the wisdom to address. That's the problem. And you feel like you're spinning your wheels because you keep analyzing your situation, and analyzing your situation, and desperately trying to get more knowledge, and desperately trying to see if this is right or wrong. Right or wrong, morally.

You're piling up data on either side of this graph, but the problem is not knowledge or morality. The problem is that you don't know how to get the wisdom that you need to deal with your situation. I have to tell you one of the reasons that I wanted to do this series is because I see Christians young, old, and in between making what the Bible calls "foolish" choices. And usually it's phrased something like this. I have heard this 100 times as a pastor. "Hey, I'm saved by grace!" Right? So consequently, I can smoke pot in my basement all day long. And it's cool because I'm forgiven. I'm covered by grace.

"Hey, I'm saved by grace." So consequently, I choose to not pay my taxes. "I'm saved by grace." Well, God is forgiving. We are saved by grace. That is for sure. But you could still ruin your life down here with foolish choices. I could get 100 examples. I hear Christians confront people in very harsh ways and excuse it by saying, "Hey, I'm just saying, I'm just truth-telling here. I'm just trying not to be a conflict divider." Well, you could tell the total truth and do it morally, but still not be wise in how you do it.

Deciding what to do in your life is not just about what's right or wrong. It's about what's wise or unwise. And I feel like we are... We're perishing for lack of wisdom. We're starving for lack of wisdom. Because when you're wise, your relationships will run more smoothly. When you're wise, your experience at work will be so much better. When you're wise, you'll tend to have a bigger sense of security. You'll even tend to have more money and more happiness when you don't have money. Wisdom is really the key to the good life. It's how to get the good life.

And so this morning, what I want to do is kind of an introduction to this series, is to stay mostly in the chapter that is in our reading this morning, Proverbs 8, and look at the importance of wisdom, the definition of wisdom, the problem of wisdom, and a clue to the solution of the problem. And I want to say I'm hugely indebted to insights from the two best sermon series I have ever heard on Proverbs. One is by Timothy Keller and one is by Rick Warren. But they're both good. They both come from totally different directions, and it's fun to kind of triangulate by hearing two completely different people and figure out what the Bible is talking about in the book of Proverbs.

So let's go through this. Look at your notes first. The importance of wisdom. In Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a beautiful woman saying, "Choose my instruction instead of silver. Knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her." Look at the progression there in Proverbs 8:10–11. More important than silver, than gold, than jewels, than anything you could possibly imagine. Wisdom is infinitely more important than all of the power, all the fame, all the talent of the world. Because there's lots of people who have all that. They have money, they have talent, they have skill, and they've gone nowhere. And there's others who have very little of those things who've done very well. Why? Wisdom.

Earlier in Proverbs 3, this exact phrase is repeated. She's better than silver, better than gold, better than jewels, better than anything. And then it goes on to list some benefits in verses 17 and 18 of Proverbs 3. Long life is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She's a tree of life to those who take hold of her. Those who hold her fast will be blessed.

I want you to circle a few words here because all this stuff, this is what we spend our lives trying to get. And I want you to jot down some of these benefits of wisdom that you'll get from studying the book of Proverbs. First, long life. Because if you're wise, you're going to have healthier habits. You know, I read this week that according to insurance actuaries, people who join a church and attend weekly live on average 6.7 years longer than the rest of the population. Can you believe that? So you are extending your lifespan just by being here. Don't you feel healthier?

Now, why is that true? It's not something about the air in this building. It's because when you learn to be wise, you're learning principles that are going to extend your longevity. Next, this first talks about riches. I hesitate to even mention this because it sounds like some kind of prosperity sermon, but God said it, not me. Now, this doesn't mean we'll all win the lottery. This means all things being equal, a wise person is going to have more. Why? Because he doesn't squander it.

He mentions honor. How does wisdom bring honor? Simple. You don't put your foot in your mouth as often. You embarrass yourself less. And that alone is a benefit that to me makes it worthwhile to study wisdom. It'll make your life pleasant. Circle that word. Why would life be more pleasant? Well, because again, a lot of the pain that you have in your life, you bring on yourself. When you're wise, you do less of that. This verse also says, all our paths are peace. That means peace of mind, security, sleeping well. Why? Because you're living proactively, anticipating situations, not like a fool, trapezing from one emergency to the next with no sense of direction. And you will be blessed. God will bless you.

So do you see the importance of wisdom? It is absolutely huge. Now next, what is the definition of wisdom? As we keep working our way through chapter eight, look at verses 12 and 14. She says, I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence. I possess knowledge and discretion. Counsel and sound judgment are mine. I have insight. I have power. Some great clues about wisdom here. The word insight there is from a Hebrew word meaning knowing how things really work. Knowing how things really happen, right? And then the word prudence in Hebrew means to notice little distinctions, knowing how things really are.

For example, let's say Sherlock Holmes and I walk into a room. I love all these new Sherlock Holmes remakes that are coming out, the movies, the TV shows, because they show somebody who has this kind of knowledge of how things really are. We walk into a room, it's a complete mess. I just see a blur of stuff. And Sherlock Holmes sees little distinctions, and suddenly he knows what really happened. That's the idea here. And then verse 15, by me, by wisdom, kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just. Wisdom is associated with rule, with just action. It involves not only knowing how things really work and how things really are, but also knowing what to do about it.

Wisdom is knowing how things work, knowing how things are, and knowing what to do about it. That's wisdom. It's basically knowing life for what it really is. There's a German Lutheran pastor named Gerhard von Raad. Isn't that a great name? Gerhard von Raad. And he says, "Wisdom is becoming competent with regard to the realities of life." You know, when I was a young pastor, all I thought about was whether or not something was right. And that's all I wanted to be was right. And if somebody was wrong, I would set them right. Well, I still want to be right. But wisdom is knowing how to be right in the right manner and the right timing.

So we've looked at the definition of wisdom, how important it is. And you might be thinking to yourself, "Wow, this is really something I'm kind of glad." Maybe not really glad, but kind of glad that you drew my attention to this morning because I've been focusing in my Christian walk on morality or on theological knowledge. And now I see that there's more to the Christian life than morality or theology. There's wisdom. That's exactly right. But there's a big problem with wisdom, and it's this. Wisdom is really hard to find.

Remember, Proverbs is Hebrew poetry. And in the first several chapters of the poem, wisdom is personified as a beautiful woman. And we'll get back to that in a minute. But she says this, this is a very vivid, very famous passage. In verse 23 of Proverbs 8, she says, "I was formed long ages ago at the very beginning when the world came to be. When he, God, marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in humankind."

In other words, wisdom is saying, "I was there when God made everything, including human beings, and I saw that it was good." You know what's interesting? This creation account, which of course kind of parallels and magnifies Genesis, this is unique in all the ancient creation accounts in all the world's religions. In the Eastern religions, generally speaking, the creation of the world, the world, is seen as an illusion. It's not really reality. Reality is something else. The material world is an illusion.

Now, Western creation stories in Western ancient religions tend to see creation as a power struggle. And this is true no matter what mythology you look at. You look at Greek, Roman, Babylonian, Norse, German mythologies, and they talk about the world coming about because of a power struggle between the gods. The gods get into a fight and somehow accidentally, the world kind of is born. It's an accidental result of a big cataclysm, a big catastrophe. Only here in the Bible do we have an ancient creation account of the world not being either an illusion or not being an accidental result of a power struggle but based on wisdom, on order, and being good in itself.

All of creation was made on purpose and it's intertwined with wisdom and with delight and with joy. Now, the reason this is so important is because if it's not an illusion and if it's not random or the accidental result of a cataclysm, then this means that there's a pattern. There's a wisdom. There's an order entrenched in creation that we can discover. Wisdom is part of the pattern of creation. And this was the birth of modern science in the Western world. The very first scientists were motivated because they saw these creation accounts and thought, well, if there's order in creation, well, then let's discover the order.

And they discovered things like physics. For example, in physics, you have aerodynamics. There are principles, a pattern. If you design an airplane according to the pattern of creation, the order that's in creation, then it will fly. If you go against the pattern that we've discovered, then that plane will crash. Well, the ancient sages saw that many of these patterns existed in the physical world and said, then there must also be other patterns, like relational patterns. And if you operate according to the flow of those patterns, which are in creation, then you'll soar. And if you don't, then you'll crash. And wisdom is etched into the creation, part of the pattern of the creation.

However, Proverbs makes this clear, that pattern can be hard to discern. Even the whole outline of Proverbs makes this clear. Chapters 1 through 9 are the introduction. And they talk about, what is wisdom anyway? And why is it important? All the stuff that we're talking about here today. And then chapters 10 through 15 are the basic principles of wisdom. Things like, you reap what you sow. You know, if you invest, you can get dividends. And if you don't invest, you can't get dividends. Very basic principles.

But then you get to chapters 16 through 31, and suddenly you begin to see exceptions to those principles. Chapters 10 through 15 say things like, if you work hard, you'll prosper. If you're lazy, you'll be poor. If you're good, it's good. And if you're wicked, you'll be worse off. Train up your child and they'll be fine. Let them run wild, and they're going to be fools. You know? Bet on the Niners to beat the spread and the Super Bowl, and you're a fool. No, just kidding. That's a personal thing that's not in the Bible.

But what happens is a lot of religious people and conservative people read those in 10 through 15 and go, that's right, preach it. You got to live your life according to those principles. But then you get to chapter 16, and you start to see exceptions to those principles. Like, some people who live according to God's morals and absolutes end up having a lousy life. And some people work hard but stay poor because of oppressive rulers. And some people raise their kids just right and they're godly parents, but when they're old, the kids go off the rails and bring their parents' grief.

Now, if you tend to be, maybe see yourself as more intellectual or more liberal, you say to yourself, yeah, that's the reality right there. Life's messy. You can't just design it according to principles. So what's the point of all this? Why are there proverbs that seem to contradict each other? Well, because this whole big picture is part of what it means to be wise. Because this big picture is the truth about life. If you think that the world does not work according to patterns put there by God, then you're a fool. But if you think that all of life happens according to principles like some machine, then you're a fool too. It's sort of like you can be a fundamentalist fool or a progressive fool. And every one of us by temperament and ideology tends toward one or the other.

Now, please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that there are exceptions to the moral absolutes. For example, adultery is always wrong. I'm not saying that there are ever exceptions to the rules. I'm saying there are exceptions to the results. Sometimes. In a nutshell, if you're the kind of person who says, if I live my life according to God's principles, my life will always be great. You're a moralistic fool, a fundamentalist fool. But if you're the kind of person who says, I can decide my own reality. I'm saved by grace so that there are no absolutes. I have no strings on me. Then you're a relativistic kind of progressive fool. You can be a moralistic fool or relativistic fool. And we all tend to be one or the other. I've been both in my life several times.

But the reason you say, why do you bring this even up, René? The reason I bring this up is, listen, we live in a society where we are split on this. And our society is pushing us into the foolish extremes. We are pushing each other to the foolish extremes to be either moralistic or relativistic. And to make matters worse, you have all kinds of voices in society competing for your attention claiming to be the last word in wisdom. I went on Amazon this week and just typed in wisdom and found there are 327,546 books on wisdom on Amazon.com. Can you believe this? Among them, The Wisdom of Jerry Garcia. How to tie dye shirts. The Wisdom of Michael Jordan. Ben and Jerry's Guide to Life. Phineas and Ferb's Guide to Life. These are cartoon characters, folks. Please, Life by Keith Richards. Great moral role model there. Striking Thoughts. Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living. But why stay on Earth? This is an actual book. All I really need to know I learned from watching Star Trek. And this guy's totally serious. But why stay within our own species? Try The Wisdom of Cats. I have a feeling naps would be a big part of this book. And then very similar to a cat, The Wisdom of Clint Eastwood. This is a problem, folks.

So what is the solution? How do you find wisdom? Well, I think that there is a clue to the solution in the book of Proverbs. Remember, Proverbs is poetry. Wisdom, poetry. And so you have to read it like a poem. And there's two metaphors that are used most often for wisdom in this poem. First, a path. Wisdom is constantly compared to a path. Not a road. They had roads in those days. Roads for carts and horses. But it's not compared to a road. It's compared to a footpath. What's the author saying? Well, what's a path like? A path is something that you walk on one step at a time. On a path, steady, slow, consistent, incremental progress eventually gets you somewhere that you've never been before. And wisdom's like that.

As you steep yourself in wisdom, slowly, step by step, you get somewhere. You know, Billy Graham reads a chapter of Proverbs every day, every day of his life, and he's done it for decades. And that slow, steady progress has made him into a wise person. How do you do this? Well, in this series, the daily meditations that I put with the message notes each week, they will take you slowly through the whole book of Proverbs about a chapter a day. I challenge you. Do those daily meditations and you will get through the whole book at least once by the end of the series, and I hope you'll develop a habit.

But what is going to motivate you in your busy life to spend time with wisdom like that? Slowly, incrementally, letting it soak in daily. Well, here's another clue. It's the other metaphor that's used in this poem a lot for wisdom, a beautiful woman. Wisdom is personified as a beautiful, appealing woman. And other cultures saw wisdom this way too. Here's a Greek statue of Sophia that simply means wisdom in Greek. This is not a goddess. This is not an idol. This is a statue outside the library at Ephesus. Wisdom is personified here as a woman. And they may have actually gotten this idea from the poem we're looking at this morning, written hundreds of years before the statue was made.

It's a woman all throughout the book of Proverbs. For example, the very next chapter, Proverbs 9:1, it says, "Wisdom has built her house. She has sent out her servants. She calls. Let all who are simple come to my house. Let those who have no sense come eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed." Does that surprise you just a little bit? Come and drink my wine. You know, Proverbs also says that foolishness is like a seductive woman. But here it says, "Think of wisdom as a woman too." I love this because usually when we think of wisdom, we think of stern Puritans and drill sergeants and a list of dos and don'ts. Not here.

Why does it portray wisdom as a woman? Well, Proverbs is probably a manual that was used in Hebrew schools for young men. And so wisdom is portrayed as a woman who offers you great food and wine. That is so brilliant. You know, the choice is not between the seductive woman and the drill sergeant. The choice is between two appealing women. One will lead you to death and one will bring you life. And with that target demographic of young men, you can see what a brilliant idea it was to portray it with this way. The idea is spend time with her, be charmed by her, make friends with her, love her. The idea is that finding wisdom is not just memory work. It's a love relationship. And this is really the only way that you're going to pursue wisdom that will not exhaust you.

Now you might be saying, "Well, that's great poetry, right?" But think of this. What if it's not just poetry? What if the wisdom of God really was a person? And then if you got into a relationship with this person, it made you wise. And then this person would be the ultimate guide, the ultimate counselor, or the wonderful counselor. Well, I think there's a person just like that. Check this out. The Gospel of John chapter 1 is like a mirror of the creation story in Proverbs 8, even though it was written about a thousand years later. And it says, "In the beginning was the word," and the Greek word, therefore, word, as you may know, is logos in Greek literature. Logos had wisdom connotations.

"In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." In other words, Jesus was wisdom in the flesh. As Martin Luther said, "Jesus is the wisdom of God to you. He brings wisdom to you from heaven. He teaches it to you perfectly. And Jesus is also the wisdom of God for you. He not only teaches it, He models it. Jesus shows you perfectly how to live out the life that Proverbs talked about.

Anybody can tell you how to live, but Jesus is the only one who can show you, anybody can tell you how to live, but Jesus is the only one who shows you how to live and does it with perfection. Again, I love what Tim Keller says on this. He says, "Jesus is the ultimate argument for the existence of God." He says, "You know, people tell me all the time, 'Pastor, I just want an airtight argument for the existence of God.' But what if God didn't send an airtight argument? What if He sent an airtight person, a person who perfectly shows a wise and loving life?"

You know, if you hear today and you are seeking God, I encourage you, I challenge you, read through the life of Jesus Christ. Pick up a Bible. We have some for free at the info desk if you don't have one. Read the Gospels. Look at His words. Look at His deeds. You will be shocked constantly, but part of it will be the shock of meeting for the first time somebody who is perfect. And you'll say, "Nobody could have made this guy up because he lived the life that we should have lived, and then he died the death that we should have died because we couldn't live the life that we should have lived." He is the wisdom of God for us, the wisdom of God to us. And Jesus is the wisdom of God with you.

Jesus rose again after He died on the cross, and He's alive today, and He walks with you to lead you and to guide you. I'm telling you, as we go into this study of Proverbs, this is an unbeatable combination. When you study this book and you have Jesus, the wisdom of God, with you, you are going to grow more and more, not just in morality or knowledge, but in wisdom because you're growing more and more in likeness of Jesus Christ. And let's pray that God blesses our study for the next several weeks toward that end. Would you bow your heads with me?

Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you sent your son Jesus Christ to be wisdom to us, wisdom for us, wisdom with us and in us. And God, as we study the book of Proverbs, keep us from looking at it just as a book of knowledge or as a book of moral principles. Help us to see it for what it really is, something more like the art of living well. It's wisdom. It's the missing ingredient to so many of the decisions that perplex us in life. And God, the advantage that we have as believers is to look at this book, not just as a poem, but to look at this book as a living document because Jesus is with us, the wisdom of God. What a powerful combination.

God, I pray that our spiritual lives would be deepened beyond what they've ever been before as we study this as a church together. Help us to grow in wisdom and love together over these few weeks. And Lord, my prayer is that if there is anybody here who maybe wouldn't count themselves a Christian, that they'd say, "Well, Jesus, I'm willing to do this. I'm willing to come back and study what the Bible says about how to live wisely. And I want to ask you, if you're real, would you please be with me as I study this? I want to get to know you better. I want to walk with you spiritually. I want to begin to have a relationship with you." Said, "I'll be able to come to the point of receiving you into my life." And Lord, maybe there are those here who are already ready. They came to church today wanting to become a believer in Jesus, to cross that line, to settle the issue before you. And they may want to pray, "Lord, I've been considering Jesus from a distance, but today, today's the day that I want to say come into my life and save me, change me as my Lord and Savior."

God, thank you for your wisdom. Help us to live wisely and not as fools, not as moral fools, not as knowledgeable fools, not as ignorant fools. We don't want to be fools. We want to be loving and wise people and help us to live that way. In Jesus' name, amen.