Blessed is the one who finds wisdom

Sermon Transcript

I’ve never run a marathon, but in college while being extremely out of shape I ran a short race and what was special about this race is that about 2 miles in, the course ran right by my house. After running just about as fast as I could for two miles and feeling some rumblings in my stomach, I strongly considered getting off of the path. But I remembered why I was running, waved at the house as I ran by, and finished the race.

The path of wisdom is long. In that way, it’s kind of like that race. It’s easy to start down a particular path, but it’s hard to remain on it, and even harder to finish strong. Along the way, we need reminders and encouragement that yes, we’re on the right path and yes, it’s worth it.

Proverbs 3:13-35 exists to meet us in the midst of our second-guessing to keep us from stumbling on the path of wisdom that we have learned about over the last few weeks. We’re continuing in the incentive mode that began last week: “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding.” (Proverbs 3:13)

Now, what does it mean to be blessed? 3:13 is the first time in the book of Proverbs that this word is used, and it could be briefly described as being “supremely happy.”

The big idea of Proverbs 3:13-35 comes from v.13 and it is this: Blessed is the one who finds wisdom.

Now, why is the person who finds wisdom blessed? This passage gives us three reasons: First, wisdom is better than wealth. Second, wisdom brings safety. Third, wisdom gives healthy relationships. Let’s take them in order, beginning with wisdom is better than wealth.

WISDOM IS BETTER THAN WEALTH
“13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” (Proverbs 3:13-18)

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom because wisdom is better than wealth. Why is that the case? Well, if you have money but you don’t have wisdom, it won’t be long until you have neither money nor wisdom. Even enormous family fortunes can be squandered through just one generation of foolish spending or unwise business practices. It’s almost a cliché that people who end up winning the lottery or coming into a large sum of wealth in another way end up worse off in the long run. Whether you have millions of dollars or just the money in your back pocket, money without wisdom isn’t worth all that much. Of all people, Solomon would know this. While he’s known as the wisest person, at that time he also was in possession of the greatest amount of wealth that the world had ever known. If anyone knew the value of wealth, it was Solomon and he said that wisdom was even greater than silver, gold, and jewels.

That is because if you possess wisdom, even if you don’t have money, you will be able to perceive how the world really works and live in accordance with that reality, making better decisions that generally lead to better outcomes, even a longer life (see v.16). This means that whatever wisdom will cost you, it’s worth the cost. If wisdom is going to cost you an extra 20 minutes of sleep in the morning to seek wisdom in morning devotions, wisdom is better than sleep. If it’s going to cost you your current career path to walk the path of wisdom, then wisdom is better than your career. Even if walking in wisdom is going to require you to step out of your comfort zone and have that hard conversation, wisdom is better than comfort. If we want to remain on the path of wisdom that we’ve started on, we need to be convinced that wisdom is better than every other alternative.

But there’s something in v.18 that clues us into taking a long, even eternal, view of wisdom’s benefits. Wisdom is better than wealth because if you get wisdom, you’ll live forever. Let’s look again closely: 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” Now what would you give in order to eat from the tree of life, preserving your life?

You might remember the tree of life from the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command in the garden, and because of their sin the whole universe was marred. One immediate consequence for Adam and Eve was they were no longer able to eat from the tree of life. And so, eventually they died, just like every human being since. Unless the Lord returns in the next several decades, so will each of us. So we’ve seen that the tree of life shows up at the very beginning of the Bible, but it also appears at the very end of the Bible. Revelation 22:2 describes it this way: “2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” The tree of life bears fruit in every single season, and it is for people of every nation.

But here in Proverbs 3, the sage says that wisdom is so valuable, it’s like being able to eat from the tree of life, preserving your life forever. What would you give in order to eat from the tree of life? Whatever it will cost you to persevere on the path of wisdom today, it’s worth more than anything you will give up.

Finally, wisdom is worth more than riches because wisdom is the Lord Jesus Christ.

19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; 20 by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew. (Proverbs 3:19-20)

The world did not come into existence by pure chance. God created the heavens and the earth by his wisdom. Everything from the complexity of the human eye to the meticulously consistent cycle of day and night all exists because it was created by God by the means of his wisdom. There is wisdom to the way that the world works, even in our fallen condition there are universal principles we can rely on because the God who created the world is not inconsistent or foolish but infinitely wise.

And yet, the Bible gets even more specific about the means by which the world was made. In John 1:1-3, the apostle John says this of Jesus: 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Lord exercised wisdom in the creation of the world and here we see that all things in heaven and on earth were made through Christ. It is not as if the second person of the trinity was created, instead the Son, the one spoken of in Colossians chapter two as the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is instrumental in the creation of everything.

When God, who created the heavens and the earth, speaks to us in the book of Proverbs and the rest of Scripture about the way the world really works and how we ought to live in this world, you can trust him. Look around, God created all of this, he knows how it works. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, because wisdom (Jesus) is worth more than wealth. Now let’s move onto the second part of this passage, wisdom brings safety.

WISDOM BRINGS SAFETY
21 My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion, 22 and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. 23 Then you will walk on your way securely,
and your foot will not stumble. 24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. 25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, 26 for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. (Proverbs 3:21-26)

Explanation
Proverbs 3:13-20 is a hymn of praise to wisdom with a cosmic scope to it. Solomon is talking about things that are big and mighty and awe-inspiring, and then there’s a marked tone shift. He turns from singing the praises of wisdom and says, “My son, do not lose sight of these – keep sound wisdom and discretion.” This is a reminder that Proverbs is a series of instructions from Solomon to his son, and fathers don’t only want their sons to get off to a good start, they want their sons to stay on the right path, the path that leads to life.

The message of this part of the passage is that blessed is the one who finds wisdom, because wisdom brings safety. Living the way that God intended brings security to your path, and protects you from stumbling, both in this life and from an eternal perspective.

Safety in This Life
This point follows from the previous section about God creating the world in wisdom. Since God created the world, his ways are the best ways. Wisdom is about recognizing the way the world works and living in a way that makes sense in light of it.

Proverbs shows us that making the Lord our confidence affects our emotional state as well. One of the many things that Christ our wisdom has purchased for us is the ability to rest well in Him, instead of fearing the ruin of the wicked. Missionary John Paton put it this way after experiencing excruciating loss: “My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; I saw Him watching all the scene. My peace came back to me like a wave from God. I realized that I was immortal till my Master’s work with me was done.”

If you are in Christ, you can experience the sweet sleep described in Proverbs 3 because you too are absolutely immortal until your Master’s work with you is done. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, because wisdom brings safety.

We can sleep soundly because we know that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor anything else in all creation will be able separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You can be supremely happy because you know your life and your death are in the hands of one who loves you in Christ. There is a safety found in Christ that acknowledges, everything that happens to me is an instrument in the Lord’s hands to draw me closer to him.

Now let’s look at the eternal safety that wisdom brings.

Eternal Safety
Every human being has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and so each of us on our own is in danger of receiving the righteous wrath of God, who is completely perfect and utterly holy. But in his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has purchased for us eternal safety,

For the person who is walking in separation from God, judgment lies behind every corner. If you aren’t trusting in Christ and you’re losing sleep thinking about the fact that one day, you’re going to die and you aren’t sure what’s going to happen after that, that’s exactly what this passage is talking about. You don’t have to live in the sudden terror that comes from facing an out-of-control world and the uncertainty of what comes afterward, turn to the Lord and experience the sweet sleep of the one who knows that God holds the whole world (including your life) in His hands. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, because he gets safety both in this life and in the life to come.

WISDOM GIVES HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
The next set of verses give us another shift, from talking about our personal safety to talking about how wisdom blesses us with healthy interpersonal relationships. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, because wisdom gives healthy relationships. Let’s see where Solomon shifts from the “what” of wisdom to the “how” we can live this out. In fact, while there is a lot of this yet to come, this is the one of the first times in Proverbs Solomon gets down to the nitty gritty of the way we act toward one another, so let’s listen carefully to what he has to say to us.

When we walk in line with the way God created the world, not only is our relationship with him strengthened, we also learn the right way to interact with one another in community. In this part of the passage, Solomon gives a rapid fire series of “do-nots” that are illustrations of what a wise community looks like.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. 28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

If you have the ability to do good to someone who deserves it, follow through immediately. For example, if you owe a friend some cash, pay them back right away instead of delaying and harming the relationship (and yes, this applies to your venmo balance, shared utility expenses for roommates, that kind of thing). That’s what it means to act in wisdom from a financial perspective. Even in a broader way, the Proverb is an excellent one to memorize and return to frequently in a number of different situations. If you know that you should send someone a good word of encouragement by text or email, don’t wait to do it, just do good immediately. If you feel a prompt to share the gospel with someone, obey it don’t delay it.

29 Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you.30 Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.

One of the first steps toward loving our neighbors is to not pick fights with them for no reason at all. During his basketball career Michael Jordan famously would look for opportunities to hold grudges against his opponents to help him play harder – as a wise community, let’s not take that approach in the way that we engage with one another. The next “do not” has to do with our disposition toward those who do wrong.

31 Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, 32 for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in his confidence. 33 The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

Sometimes if we’re honest, we look at people who do things the wrong way, especially if they’re achieving material success, and we want to follow them down that path. Listen to Solomon telling us, “My son, don’t go that way. It doesn’t lead to life.” Material possessions gained in violation of God’s law are working against the grain of the universe, and it never tends to work out in the end, especially when we extend the timeline out to eternity. What is done in the dark will be exposed by the light, and that exposure is nothing to be envy of.

As a contrast to the end of the evil man, when we walk in justice in all of these different ways, what’s the result? The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous (v.33). This lines up with what the Psalmist writes at the very end of Psalm 1, “for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalm 1:6) This does not mean that if you do what’s right, no one will ever take advantage of you and things will work out perfectly. But it does mean that, generally speaking, you’re going to have better and healthier relationships if you do what’s right, right away.

Conclusion
Let’s conclude where the passage does: Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. In his epistle, James quotes the Greek translation of this verse when he writes: But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:5)

By nature, we are scorners and fools deserving of nothing but eternal separation from God. But in humility, God has condescended to us.

Here’s what Paul writes in Philippians 2: 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Today if you’re not a follower of Jesus, I plead with you to confess that Christ is Lord. Don’t be too proud to admit that there is a Creator that you owe your allegiance to. The life of wisdom, that humbly sits under the authority of the one who both created and upholds the universe, that life is blessed. The life of pride, making rules for ourselves and living as we please, that life is ultimately cursed both in this life and in the life to come.

As sure as the sun will come up tomorrow, the God who created the heavens and the earth will exercise perfect justice and the only hope for prideful fools like us is that there is one who has taken the punishment that we deserved.

Despite being righteous, Jesus was cursed so that we could be blessed. Despite being humble, he received scorn so that we could receive favor. Jesus was disgraced so that fools could inherit honor. Don’t delay and suffer one more sleepless night, put your faith in Christ today. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, receive that blessing today.