We all want wisdom. None of us want to be foolish. And yet wisdom is so often illusive. Often we’re not quite sure what is the best thing to do. We struggle to make decisions and make relationships work. We need wisdom.
Living your best life
On top of that, modern culture is obsessed with ‘living your best life’ – ensuring you make the most of your life and don’t miss the opportunities life affords you. #Yolo (you only live once) and #fomo (fear of missing out) are slogans that are regularly heard.
But life is complex and it’s not always easy to know what ‘the best life’ is; nor how to get it. And if we’re honest, what is described as the ‘the best life’ is not only unattainable but often not desirable. ‘The best life’ as portrayed by our culture is not always the wise life.
Enter the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is all about wisdom – wisdom for life. How to live wisely with the hand you have been dealt. How to live skillfully. Proverbs will both give us a vision of the good life, which God defines as the righteous life; and the path to the good life, which we are told comes through fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:9) and lots of practical wisdom.
What is wisdom?
Wisdom includes knowledge (the facts) and morality (right and wrong) but it is more than those two things. Wisdom makes the right choices even when there are no clear moral laws telling you explicitly what to do and when you have all the knowledge you need.
Tim and Kathy Keller write – “Some decisions require only knowledge (like the proper medicine to take) and some only compliance with the rules (like whether to commit adultery or not). But no bible verse will tell you exactly whom to marry, what job to take, whether to stay or move away. Yet a wrong decision can be disastrous. Additionally there are no explicitly moral laws against character flaws such as abrasiveness, impulsiveness, emotional fragility and disorganisation – yet they can also damage the course of life.*”
Jesus, wisdom from God
In the end, Proverbs tells us that wisdom comes through a relationship – the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10). The more we know, love, obey and resemble Jesus the more we will learn to live wisely. 1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us that “Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God —that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” and Colossians 2:3 tells us that in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” As we study the book of Proverbs we want to get to know Jesus better.
7 week sermon series
We’re going to look at 7 different topics and see what wisdom God has to give us from the book of Proverbs:
- 26th May – The fear of the Lord
- 2nd June – Friendship
- 9th June – Money
- 16th June – Family
- 13rd June – Work
- 30th June – Words
- 14th July – Masculinity & femininity
Unlike most preaching series in CCC we will not be taking one passage for each week, rather we’ll gain the collective and cumulative wisdom of different proverbs on each topic.
Join us:
- 10.30am in Oatlands Primary School, Stillorgan – South congregation
- 4.30pm in Synge Street Secondary School, Portobello – Central congregation
- And for discussion in City Groups throughout the week.
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*From January 2nd entry of their superb year long devotional book – “the way of wisdom”
See also Derek Kidner’s superb little commentary on proverbs and the fantastic bible project video
Looking forward to this!
Thanks for the encouragement.