Biblical Wisdom Unit 4
(24:23-34)
"More Sayings of the Wise"
(22:17-24:22)
"Sayings of the Wise"
(25:1-29:27)
More Proverbs of Solomon"
the purpose of Proverbs (1:1-7)
Prologue:
(10:1-31:9)
Collections of Proverbs:
(31:10-31)
Epilogue: "The Wife of Noble Character"
the Bible.
One place to learn about the gang mentality is _______ ____________ the first chapter of the Bible book of Proverbs.
(10:1-22:16)
The Proverbs of Solomon"
(30:1-23)
The Sayings of Agur"
(31:1-9)
The Sayings of King Lemuel"
fools
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; ___________ despise wisdom and instruction.
for a verb.
The word "proverb" is from a Latin term which means what? In other words, these are "words" which take the place of "more words," or concise distillations of wisdom compacted into a few phrases.
For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young— let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.
What is the purpose of the Proverbs of Solomon?
(1:8-9:18)
Lectures on Wisdom & Folly
right gang
A gang is deadly for you—if it's the wrong kind of gang. But a gang is a great idea if it's the _____________ ___________—the gang of those who are following Jesus and encouraging each other, the gang of God's people, the church of Jesus Christ.
power, money, and friendship. Power
Here the Bible shows what three things a gang offers?
Key Metaphor: BOY MEETS GIRL! In fact, we might say: BOY MEETS TWO GIRLS!
How do we enter Proverbs?
We need to think in terms of the process of developing a moral lifestyle: education.
How do we enter Proverbs?
spiritual blessing,
However, if you put your faith in God and trust Jesus as your Savior, you enter the blessing zone. The Bible says, "God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). Physical, financial, and relational blessings often come as well, but the most basic blessing is _________ _____________ a relationship with the Lord and the presence of his Spirit in your heart and life. When you're forgiven and adopted into God's family as his daughter, you become a princess, a daughter of the king. You begin to act like royalty and won't stoop to rotten behavior that's beneath you. As a king's daughter, you don't settle for just any man who comes along. You require a worthy husband. You save yourself for a prince, someone who is also royalty and will treat you like royalty. If you have children, you treat them as princes and princesses—not that you spoil them, but you teach them to see themselves as members of Jesus' royal family and to behave in a way that brings credit to God's family name. The Vision Zone The blessing zone involves faith and forgiveness; it also involves a vision of what is best. What moral choices are best? What are your possibilities for enjoying God's best? Blessings come to those who have a God-given vision of right and wrong, and a vision of what their life can become. Blessings come to those with high expectations. The Bible says, "Where there no vision, the people perish: but blessed is he that keeps the law" (Proverbs 29:18 KJV). The blessing zone is the vision zone. Vision is revelation that leads to expectation. God reveals his standard and purpose for you, and you set your expectations according to that revelation. Vision includes God's revelation of right and wrong. Things fall apart without moral vision, but blessings abound when we obey God's law. The Bible says, "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD" (Psalm 119:1). Moses said, "I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you" (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). This applies in many areas of life, including family life. The Bible teaches that sex is for marriage and that marriage is for life. The Bible teaches the wisdom of working hard, of not lying or stealing, of being honest and generous, of planning ahead and saving wisely. Ignoring such wisdom and laws brings trouble and ruin. Obeying God's guidance makes for stable families and builds prosperity instead of poverty. In North America, avoiding poverty is not terribly complicated. If you have the foresight to finish school before getting married and the moral restraint not to have babies before you get married, you have very little chance of being poor for long. One of three unmarried households lives in poverty, while less than one in fifty married couples with one person holding a job for a year is below the poverty line. Another example of biblical behavior that brings blessing is family worship. In families that read the Bible and pray together daily, there is hardly any divorce, and children are less likely to have serious problems. Is that too much to expect: ten minutes a day reading the Bible and praying together? Stick with that pattern, and good things happen. Don't expect blessing if you choose a lifestyle that God curses. Blessing isn't just a blank check. Jesus teaches us God's will for life and says, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" (John 13:17). He doesn't say, "You will be blessed no matter what." He says, "You will be blessed if you do them." To enjoy Jesus' blessings, live by his vision of godly behavior. We need a vision of what is right, and we need a vision of true success and happiness under God's blessing. We need a sense of purpose, and we to know that this purpose is possible. You will never reach your potential if you don't think it's possible. If you see yourself as a victim who can't possibly be more than what you are, you will stay stuck in the misery zone. In the misery zone—the victim zone—you don't take responsibility. There's always someone to blame or someone to sue. If only you had better parents and a better upbringing, if only you had less poverty or better education, if only you lived in a better neighborhood, your life might have turned out well. But everything is against you, so what else could you expect? You're a victim of social forces beyond your control. You can't be expected to limit sex to marriage. You can't be expected to get a job instead of stealing from others or ripping off the welfare system. These are the expectations of the victim zone. The vision zone is very different from the victim zone. In the vision zone, you have high expectations, because you know the Bible. You take responsibility to honor God and to obey his laws for family life, for helping instead of harming, for working instead of stealing, for striving to succeed rather than just coveting the success of others. When you fail, you don't make excuses or lower your expectations. You pray for God's forgiveness and for his help to keep aiming higher. Vision raises your moral expectations, and vision raises your expectations for purpose and achievement. You want your life to count for something, and you believe God will make it happen. The biblical prayer of Jabez is an example of this. Jabez was given a name of low expectations. The name Jabez means "he causes pain." His mother named him this because his birth hurt her so much. Some mothers might tell a child, "You're a real pain," but Jabez's mother went even further and actually named her son Pain. Many people of that time believed that a bad name was an omen of a bad life. If your name was Pain, you'd be a pain to others and have plenty of pain yourself. You'd be stuck in the misery zone. But Jabez lived by vision, not victimhood. He took responsibility for his own conduct and character. Though he had been named Pain, he didn't turn out to be a pain but a pillar of society. Jabez turned out to be "more honorable" than those around him. He lived by a moral vision, and he had a vision of what he could achieve with God's help. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request" (1 Chronicles 4:9-10). Jabez prayed with a vision for his future, and God made that vision a reality. Despite disadvantages, the man named Pain turned out to be honorable and successful. You are not a victim. If you suffer for doing wrong, you are not a victim. Your misery is your own fault, and you need to get out of the victim zone and into the vision zone. Even if you didn't bring trouble on yourself and you suffer for doing right, you're still not a victim. Most of the time, you won't get hurt for doing the right thing, says the Bible. "But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed" (1 Peter 3:14). So get rid of the "poor me" mentality. Get out of the victim zone. If you've truly been wronged through no fault of your own, look to God for strength and help. The Bible says that no matter what happens to those who belong to Jesus, "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Nothing "can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39). Our ultimate vision is to reign with Jesus Christ and to enjoy his happiness forever. This is the life-changing message of the gospel. This is what transforms despair into delight. Faith, forgiveness, and vision—these are the keys to life in the blessing zone. "Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).
400
If you want a life of blessing, the Bible shows the way. The Bible is so saturated with blessing that it uses the word bless and related words more than ___________times. We can't explore all 400, so let's focus on three main things in the blessing zone: faith, forgiveness, and vision.
Knowledge
Just before Proverbs 1 starts talking about gangs, it says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of _______________" (v. 7). When you fear the Lord, you take God more seriously than anything else. Then the gang isn't so appealing. You find God is meeting your needs, including your needs for significance, success, and acceptance.
feminine nouns
Lectures on Wisdom & Folly 1:8-9:18 Both "Wisdom" & "Folly" are __________ _________in the Hebrew language.
nothing to us.
While much of the book of Proverbs exists as very brief (usually two-line antithetic parallelism) nuggets about living wisely, these only make sense after reading and understanding the "Lectures on Wisdom and Folly" (chapters 1-9) as a single unit. If, at the end of these lectures, we choose Folly as our life-companion, the rest of the book means what? If, however, at the end of these lectures, we choose Wisdom as our life-companion, the rest of the book is essentially the atmosphere in and furnishings of the house of Wisdom. In other words, the Proverbs themselves are the lifestyle of those who have committed to a life-time relationship with God, as manifested in the personification of Wisdom.
quick experiences and tragic ends.
Wisdom brings stability and well-being; Folly offers what? The "lectures" are carefully planned & written:
