C. S. Lewis began his teaching career at Oxford in the 1920s, but he became well known on both sides of the Atlantic not because of his academic career there but because of his conversion to Christianity from atheism which led him to spend quite a bit of time devoting himself to writing on the Christian faith and apologetics. What might be unknown to some, however, is that Lewis also devoted an extraordinary amount of time corresponding with individuals both in Europe and in the United States by letter. Not only was it a challenging task to respond to so many letters with his busy academic and writing duties, but he also was known to have a rheumatic hand1 that made writing difficult and was unable to use a typewriter. Nor was he writing only a small handful of letters. He told Eric Fenn who worked for BBC that he’d actually written thirty-five letters one day – and that’s just one day!2
So why would you do it? After all, you could just say, “Hey, I’m a busy man with many tasks, and I don’t need to spend my time responding to letters – even letters of children.” But he didn’t. So, again, why? Well, I would imagine the answer is that Lewis understood Philippians 2:1-2, where Paul says, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” That is, Paul wants them to know that if they’ve received encouragement in Christ, then they bear responsibility to encourage others. If they’ve received any comfort in love, then they bear responsibility to comfort others in love. Lewis no doubt realized this, knew he had received much in Christ, and knew he bore the responsibility to pour into others’ lives. He realized, in the words of Jesus, everyone to whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48).
That reality has bearing on us as well, doesn’t it? We’ve been looking at the issue of wisdom thus far in the Proverbs and realizing that God and his Word is the source of wisdom – that fearing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And consider how readily available such wisdom is to us. In my office, I have my books arranged around certain issues, whether the doctrine of God, doctrine of salvation, worldview, theological method, etc. But I have an entire shelf devoted to Bibles. That is, one shelf devoted to the many copies I have of one book. I have it in Greek and Hebrew, in multiple translations, in a volume that compares translations, study Bibles, Bibles broken down into daily readings so that you read through the whole Bible in one year, and on and on. There are entire peoples without the Bible in their languages, and I have one whole shelf devoted to Bibles. And, I would guess that you’re in a similar position. Wisdom is readily at our fingertips.
Not only that, but if you are a member of this church, then you’ve joined yourself to a people who want to help you in learning the Word of God. We have people during the Sunday school hour who are teaching the Bible to us and our children. On Wednesday nights we devote ourselves to studies on what the Bible says and how to live it out in particular situations in life. On Sunday mornings, we devote ourselves to reading, teaching, and preaching the Word of God. Even if you’re not a member of this church, and you just chose to visit with us this morning, there are several other churches in this city you could have visited which would have stood and proclaimed the Word of God to you. Wisdom is readily available to us.Furthermore, we have books available to us in how to apply biblical principles in a multitude of areas and individuals with whom we rub shoulders throughout the week who will encourage, exhort, and rebuke us if necessary. Again, wisdom is readily available to us.
Therefore, if it’s true that much has been given to us in terms of our ability to get wisdom and get insight, what responsibility do we bear with that wisdom? If much is given to us in terms of wisdom, what is required of us to do with that wisdom? I think that’s what Proverbs 4 answers for us as we look at it this morning. It seems that this chapter serves (at least in part) to remind us of our responsibility toward wisdom. So, with that said, let’s note a few things this chapter teaches us in regard to our responsibility in regards to wisdom.
First, the first nine verses remind us that . . .
In some ways, as you start to read chapter 4, you feel like there is nothing unique here. In fact, almost every commentary I read made a note that chapter 4 is repeating a lot of what we’ve already read in chapters 1-2 (esp. 2). And it begins like we’ve grown accustomed to these texts beginning, with the father telling his soon to listen to his wisdom and telling him why. We read that in verses 1-2, as he writes, “Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.”
However, note that this chapter then takes on a uniqueness compared to the previous chapters as the father begins to talk about what his father taught him. We read, “When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, ‘Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.’”
Do you see what’s going on here? The father is teaching his sons what his father taught him when he was a young boy.
Now, we might say, “This is a good idea.” After all, consider the benefits of this. If each generation is faithful to pass on what needs to be known to the next, then it really alleviates the pressure of being creative as a parent. You just get to tell your children what your wise father and mother told you. But there are three things I want to say to that. The first is that that is indeed right; this is a good and helpful and beneficial pattern for gaining wisdom – each generation passes on to the next.
Now, someone might respond to that and say, “That’s not right. You need to let your children decide.” After all, isn’t that ideal, to let them just develop and decide what is best to believe? And perhaps if we think of the Christian faith as something that just makes life better, that’d make sense. After all, at Christmas time if we’re going to get our kids a toy, I don’t tell them which toy they must get; I let them decide. But bowing the knee to Jesus Christ is nothing like that. It’s more parallel to telling your kids to stay away from the street. The reason you don’t let little Johnny wonder around in the street and decide if he thinks its good or bad for himself is because he might be killed trying to figure it out. You command him to stay out of the street.
Now, ratchet that up an infinite number of times, and you will begin to get a picture of how serious a matter it is that kids hear the gospel and are told that they must bow the knee to Jesus Christ in faith. This is not even about life and death but about heaven and hell. The good news of the gospel comes with a command to repent and believe, and if you don’t, you will know God’s wrath together in hell. So, as Christian parents, we don’t only share the gospel with our children, but we tell them they must believe. If you don’t tell them that, you are telling them it is okay to walk down the road of suppressing God’s truth in their unrighteousness on their way to hell.
The third statement I want to make about the reality of teaching wisdom to the next generation is that those who are not parents are not excluded from this expectation and command. Now, certainly the responsibility falls on parents to share wisdom with their children. However, the idea of sonship in the Bible was not first a biological category pertaining to one’s physical offspring. That is, one is a son if he is physically born to you, but one is also a son who is supposed to resemble and represent you in his life. This is why Adam is called God’s Son (Luke 3:38), Israel is called God’s son (Ex. 4:22), and we are called God’s sons (Rom. 8:18-26). As Adam and Israel, we have been made and redeemed by God so that we might resemble, reflect, and represent him in the world. In the same way, then, those with whom we share the gospel and pour wisdom into their lives may rightly be noted as sons to us. This is why it was not out of place for Paul to refer to Timothy as his son. It’s not that Paul was his physical or legal father, but Paul had poured into him in order that he might imitate Paul and Paul imitated Christ. Therefore, the command to pass on wisdom to the next generation is not only a command that falls to parents but to all those who hope to obey the Great Commission. Thus, we’re reminded first in this text that we bear the responsibility of passing on wisdom to the next generation.
Second, we’re reminded that . . .
If you look at the content of what the grandfather told the father and of what the father is now telling his sons, it could be summed up in two words – get wisdom! We hear it repeated in verses 4-7, “Let your heart hold fast my words . . . Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her . . . get wisdom . . . get insight. Prize her highly . . . embrace her.” It’s hard to miss the message, isn’t it? Wisdom is to be diligently pursued and held onto tightly. It is to be prized.
This means that we not only bear responsibility to pass on wisdom but to make sure that we’re continually gaining wisdom ourselves. We cannot be passive and think that wisdom will just come to us. We must be eager to get it. That means that we must seek opportunities to gain wisdom. We must be eager to learn and teachable. We must be eager to learn God’s Word, hear it proclaimed, and live it out.
What this means for those who may be visiting us this morning is that you need to find a church where you can join and commit to growing in wisdom. It means that as you consider what church you should join, you should make your priority the ability to gain wisdom. There are numerous options where the Word is proclaimed from pulpits in Jackson, TN, so there is no excuse. If you find a place and admit that there is little wisdom proclaimed but . . . whatever follows the “but” in that statement is what you’re treasuring above wisdom, and this text seems to leave no room for treasuring anything above wisdom. Wisdom is like a woman that a man pursues, embraces, holds tight to, and won’t let go of.
So, in our setting here in Jackson, TN in the United States of America, we have no excuse but to be a people who pursue wisdom at every turn and are accused of never being satisfied with the wisdom we’ve gained. Be not only one who passes on wisdom but one who is teachable and eager to learn and grow in wisdom.
Third, . . .
In verses 10-19, the image changes a bit from sitting at the father’s feet and learning to walk down a path. These verses picture there being two paths on which to walk in life. The one path is one of wisdom and the other is one of the wicked. Taking the latter first, we see that the path of the wicked is not to be entered (v. 14), it is to be avoided (v. 15), and it is to be shunned, for those on this path are so obsessed with evil and their own destruction that they cannot sleep until they have done evil (v. 16-17). It is described as a path were there is deep darkness and stumbling (v. 19).
The path of the righteous and wisdom, however, is the path that leads to long life (v. 10), is a path of uprightness (v. 11), where you can run and not stumble (v. 12), one where the light just gets brighter and brighter (v. 18).
This image of two paths serves as a metaphor for how we live. This is the father saying telling his son not only to hear and receive wisdom but to walk in it, live it out, and obey it.
That is, just as you must be eager to gain wisdom and instruction and knowledge, so you must be eager to practice it. You should be eager to learn wisdom and consistently walking in and practicing wisdom.
You see, the natural inclination of our fallen hearts is to drift from wise living, so we must actively pursue righteousness. As Paul tells Timothy, we must not simply flee youthful lusts but also pursue righteousness. We should be eager and anxious to find ways to exercise righteous living. This is necessary if wisdom is to be received and benefit you.
Consider the image when one does not get wisdom and walk in it. Listen to Hebrews 5:11-14. There, the author of Hebrews writes, “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
Two things he says to them. They should have gained enough wisdom to be teachers, but instead they became dull of hearing. They weren’t diligent to get wisdom and insight. Second, the mature are those who not only have ears that hear wisdom and can therefore teach it to others but also those who have constantly exercised that wisdom by constant practice. They’ve lived it out so often and so consistently, that they’re training themselves to be able to discern good and evil.
Michael and I watched the movie The Pistol together last year. It is the story of Pete Maravich as a boy, developing his skills as a basketball player that would eventually make him one of the greatest professional basketball players ever to have lived. And what is in the movie and was confirmed by Maravich when he was living was that he constantly practiced basketball drills. In fact, after he became a professional, he ended up putting out tapes of the dribbling, passing, and shooting drills he practiced over and over and over again from his childhood into his adulthood. That’s the kind of dedication he knew it would take to achieve his goals in basketball.
Wisdom, on the other hand is much more valuable than the riches that one can gain in professional basketball. Its riches are eternal life, not million-dollar contracts. And so we must train ourselves through constant practice and application to live out that which we learn from wisdom.