- Well, good morning. Good to see all of you up here and our lower area. It's good that you can see me, but I can't see you, or if you're online, but great to greet all of you and what a gorgeous day God has given to us. And it's an opportunity for us to really think about him and who he is and what he's done in our lives. But I have to tell you that Kevin made me really hungry right now with all that talk of prime rib and crab and state fair and all that kind of stuff. But we are going to turn the chapter, the page, I should say, into the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs, this summer Wisdom for Life. We'll start a new series on Acts starting next week. And God's Grand Story of Redemption and what that speaks to us today in our culture. But today, as we turn this page into the last chapter, I want to invite you to take your Bible out, go to your Bible, that's on your phone or your iPad. Grab the one in front of you. Open up your Bible that you brought into this room. I want you to go to Proverbs chapter four. That's where we're going to spend all of our time today, right there in chapter four. As we begin to take a look at really a major important issue as we pull together and wrap up everything that has been spoken to us in the Book of Proverbs. So Proverbs chapter four, locate verse one. Now let me pray for us. Lord, as we open up your word of life today, I pray that you would speak your truth into our lives. That Lord, even though we've reflected on food, may we eat of the bread of life in this moment. May we drink deeply from you? May we find a spiritual meal for our lives that will transform us. As we seek to pursue Jesus together. Lord, may our eyes see your truth, may our hearts be willing to obey by the work of your Holy Spirit who is moving in our midst, even in this room. And it is in the name of Jesus, we pray these things, Amen. You can summarize all 31 chapters in the Book of Proverbs with this image. It's really that simple. There's a right path and a wrong path. You see that underlying every single chapter and verse, as you walk through this book. The right path is a path of abundance and life, God working in and through you. The wrong path is a path of destruction. It's a path of collecting missed opportunities. A path that doesn't lead to the kind of life that Jesus is inviting us into. And so it is so fitting as we go through chapter four today that we look at the only path of life to remind us once again, of where we should be going on a continual and regular basis. How do we get started? And then how do we continue down this road of pursuing this kind of path, a path of life, not just for eternity, but a path today in this world that we find ourselves in. And that's why the author Solomon, at least in this section says starting in verse one of chapter four, "hear oh, sons of Father's instruction, and be attentive that you may gain insight. For I give you good precepts, do not forsake my teaching. 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. Price are 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." How do we get started down this road? Well, he reminds us again in verse one, he says, hear oh sons of Father's instruction. He's inviting us into this relationship. How do you become a son or a daughter to God, the Father? Well, it happens when you commit your life to Christ. This is when you come to that point in your life where you finally come to grips with who you are. God already knows it, but it's when you finally bow your will to understand and accept his perspective on who you are. And we're all sinners. And we're separated from a Holy God. And the way you enter into the life that God is inviting you into, that Solomon is talking about here, the way you enter into that is when you finally come to that point in your life, where you understand the nature of what you've done, you understand sin and what it is and how it separates you from a Holy God. And in that moment, yes, there's a repentance, a turning. Turning from sin, turning from self, from whatever direction you might be going. You may not even be aware you're running from God, but in that moment, and I believe it happens through the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit that changes you and transforms you and begins to convict you and pull you in it's different direction. And when you finally turned to Jesus, believing that he died for your sin and he rose from the grave, you turn and you embrace him as savior. And you trust in his death, on the cross, as payment for your sin. And when you begin to follow that new path, he begins to change you. And that's the life he's inviting you into and then he's passing it on to someone else. And so once you've received this new life, as we walk this road, we must continue to remain teachable in light of everything that he talks about here. And the reason why it's important is if you look at verse two, he says, for I give you good precepts, these are good things. And then notice what he says in the second half. Do not forsake my teaching. In other words, remain teachable based on what I'm telling you. You see, here's the key here. The interesting thing about pliability or remaining teachable is that you have to be willing to pay the price. If you ever thought about that. You can't continue down this path unless you're willing to pay a price 'cause there's always a price that has to be paid. And it's important to understand that even though Jesus transforms your motives and your motivations, and even though you've repented and you're turning to Christ as savior in Lord, and you're seeking to follow him as you begin this journey, there is still this fight inside of you because of flesh that is there and it will scream to pull you in its direction. And that's why teachability is so important because there's a cost that's involved. You're flashed this old life that you were a part of will continue to pull you in the opposite direction. You see God's word reminds us of reality. I want you to think about it this way. I don't like the term that's oftentimes used today that we have to upgrade God's word or make it relevant to our culture today. I do not buy that in a New York Minute. And I'll tell you why. Because God's word is always relevant, because it tells us how life really is. That's the focus. So when Solomon, hear oh really God, opens up the door for us, he helps us understand that God's word reminds us of reality. The way life really is, the way life God wants us to live so that we can start living life with redemptive value. Let me give you a concern today that I have. I think this word tribalism is running our culture and it has found its way into the church. Tribalism is your thoughts versus my thoughts, your ideology versus my ideology. Now I'm going to use a couple of examples that are petty, but you'll begin to understand what I'm talking about. It'll give you a seed to think about during the week. But some of it looks like this. We begin to think through my way versus your way. We begin to think through things like, well, I'm going to argue with you over, vaccines or no vaccines or masks or no masks and all of that kind of stuff. You know what we're doing? We're setting up these tribalisms and we'll come back to this in just a moment. But I want you to understand something here that when God's word reminds us of reality, you know what he's reminding us of, he's reminding us, he's teaching us that unity is not found in those arguments, unity is found in the gospel and the good news of Jesus Christ. See, that's the point here. The point is to go back to Jesus to remain teachable about his view of reality. And it does mean that there's going to be a cost. As a matter of fact, the New International Version, which is just another translation. We have the English Standard Version. It actually carries the idea. Look at verse seven, just for a minute here. He says, the beginning of wisdom is this. Don't you love this? Get wisdom, I love that. Just go get it. Here's the translation in the New International Version. "Though it costs all you have get understanding." Did you catch that? Though it costs all you have. Your ideology, your thoughts, your passion, your desires, everything that's pulling you in this way. You are to lay that aside. You come to the cross and you put Jesus Christ central to everything we do and say, we unite around the centrality, the purpose of who Jesus is. And as we pursue him, we begin to understand the kind of wisdom and life that he is laying out here before us. And we are to be intentional about pursuing this. We are to remain teachable about what is really important here. As followers of Christ, we are to be intentional to pursue this with one another and with each other. And then we are to share this with other people. And as we do, we begin to focus on pursuing God's commands in our life. You want wisdom? He says, go get it, go after it. Look back up at verse four, he says, "he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast to my words." Notice this, keep my commandments and live. You want real life? It's not found in a lot of this other stuff, but it's found in Jesus. That should be central to everything we do. He's inviting you into a relationship to pursue him. Now, it's interesting because as we do, we become the image bearers that God has called us to live in this life with redemptive value. It's interesting how similar that is to the words of Jesus in John 14 and 15. I don't have time to unpack all that today, but I want to drop a seed in your mind so that you will go back today, even in tomorrow. And you'll begin to spend some time in John 14 and 15, and notice the parallel thoughts of what Jesus is saying in light of the new life that Jesus is saying to you and me, inviting us into this relationship in Proverbs chapter four. And quite frankly, in all 31 chapters. Let me just give you a little taste of what he does. "If you love me, you will keep my," what does he say? "Commandments," if you really want to pursue me, he says just as he does here, you will keep my commandments. And then in John 14:21, notice this, "whoever has my commandments, notice this, and keeps them, not just here but here, and keeps them, he it is who loves me. He loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and then notice this, and manifest myself to him." And when was the last time you used that word? I mean, when I'm back in the house with lovely Lynette, I don't walk through the house and say, let's manifest ourselves together. We just don't use that word anymore. Well, what does it mean? The word actually means that, as I follow his commands, as I live in this relationship with him, I begin to understand who he is. I begin to understand a dimension of his love and his character and the depth of who the Lord Jesus is in a way I've never done before, because it is through his word that he begins to reveal himself to me. So that, in John 15, notice this, "if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love." That word abide means remain. And as I walk into his presence, I abide in him. I know more about him. I experience his love and his transformational power in my life. And as I want to know him more and live in him, then he abides in me. And the essence of that means that Jesus begins to invade every part, every corner of my life and begin to sweep it up and to change it and to transform it so that I'm now no longer committed to my stuff, because that's the cost. I lay myself down so that I am more committed to the Lord Jesus. I'm more committed to the gospel. I'm more committed to who he is and how he wants to pour himself out, into every single area of my life. And that's why the song that Pastor Doug brought up is so critical. Because then I begin to understand in his presence, the shadow is gone. Jesus is before me, he's behind me, he's around me. He's encompassing me so that I am forgiven and set free. And then I walk into his presence and it is very love permeates every corner, every aspect of my life, because Jesus Christ is central to everything I'm doing and saying. And the fascinating thing about this is, when I lay aside myself, it's not just me, it's you too. So there's nothing between us, why? Because only the gospel will bring the kind of unity our culture needs today. Not this other stuff. The divisions are laid aside. It is the centrality of Jesus. That's what he's inviting us into. It's the abundant life. And then we begin to remember the rewards of this kind of life. Why should I pay this price? Well, he tells you. You look at what he's unpacking here. Prize are highly, says in verse eight, she will, verse nine, place on your head, a graceful garland. She will bestow on you a beautiful crown. You will be transformed and changed. He will guard you from going down the wrong path so that you can begin to experience the kind of abundant life that he wants to give you, to change you. Now, some have decided to pursue the opposite path and they've added money and wealth and power. This is what's contrasted throughout the Book of Proverbs. When you come to the end of life, the question for someone like that is not, why did you get the money? Did you get the power? Did you get the wealth? They did, I mean, in many cases they did, just be honest. That's not the question. The question is, but what happens in your soul when that stuff is stripped away? That's what I wanna know. I wanna know where you continually going after something you never got. The answer is yes, because they bought a counterfeit that can never satisfy. This is why Paul got to a point in his life when he was sitting in a prison in Philippians. And he said in chapter four, when I had stuff I was content, when I lost stuff I was content. You wanna know why? He did exactly what Proverbs four is telling us. He pursued the abundant life in Jesus so he found satisfaction and contentment, and that was driving everything he did. The other stuff didn't provide it. And at the end, he knew that life was found in pursuing Jesus Christ. When you come to this path in life and we all face it, you have a choice. Have you ever thought about it this way? Either path is gonna cost you. Either path will cost you. You're either going to lose the life that Jesus is inviting you into, and you're going to try and gain all this other stuff, which in the end is not going to satisfy your soul. Or you're going to lose yourself. And all of you are and all of your ideologies, and all of your thoughts and all of that stuff, so that you can find the kind of life, not a perfect life, not a life that's free from suffering and difficulties and pain, but a life where by you find, as Jesus said in John 15:10, real joy, when we abide in Christ. And as we focus and we remember these things, he now turns his attention to continuing down this path. What does this look like? Look at verse 10. He says, hear my son and accept my words that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom. I've led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered. And if you run, you'll not stumble. Keep hold of instruction, do not let go. Guard her for she is your life. Don't forget that. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it, do not go in it, turn away from it and pass on for they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong. They are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. You know why? 'Cause they can't find satisfaction. That's the point, they're going to keep going after it. They're gonna go after all that stuff 'cause they never confined the life. Verse 17, for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence, it's all consuming and it's consuming them. They thought they controlled it, but now it's controlling them. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness. And they do not know over what they stumble, he says. As we continue down this road together, there's a couple of key words here that I think you should see. Verse 13 is really important. Keep hold of this instruction because when you do, there's a connection to life. Do not enter, he says verse 14, 15, avoid it, don't go down that road. And he's really comparing two metaphors. He says in verse 11, there's a way of wisdom, and then that's the way of rights or the path of righteousness, verse 18. But it's contrasted with the way of evil, which he brings up in verse 14. And his point is this, once you started down this road, he wants you to focus on the abundant life now that's offered for every child of God, walk down that road. Don't don't give up on it. Let me try and illustrate it this way. If I were to describe for you the kind of abundant life, it's rich, it's a life where you haven't missed the opportunities that God has given you of purpose and meaning. And it's all that he wants to provide for you as you live in relationship with him. And he is walking with you moment by moment. And then you contrast that with this other life, the life that's the wrong way. Whereby, if I were to lay out descriptively for you, you're going to lose your family. You're gonna lose your life. You're gonna lose your professional world. You're not going to gain what you thought. You're going to continually crave for things that do not satisfy your soul. I think it'd be pretty obvious at that point, which life you should choose, right? You'd be gravitating towards the other life. But the reality is, we often think we can compromise. That's the point. That's why he keeps saying over and over again, the same subject, it's because we're pulled to compromise. Sin is fun enough and enticing to where we rationalize in our minds that we can settle for both paths. We think, well, I'm gonna, I can endure a mosquito bite of sin once in a while, but I can also gain some of the richness of coming to church and be with God's people and reading God's word and let him download some stuff into my life. But you know what you're doing when you compromise. You're settling and you've never found authentic Christianity. You're settling. You've never found the abundant life that he's inviting you into. You're compromising along the way. And you're never really getting to the heart of the abundant life that Jesus promises. When you go shopping for a car, some of you buy new cars, some of you buy used cars. You get a car, a car is car, it takes you from point A to point B, but you begin to evaluate what? All the options, you want to buy a new car, I'm gonna add this in, I'm going to add this in, I'm going to add this in. So I get some comfort on the journey. A used car, you wanna know all the different kinds of options. And now there's so many options I get in some of these cars. I don't know how to drive it anymore. I don't know what it's for, it's just complicated. And it's like, I just want a car. When we think we have life, and life is kind of like that car. And we think that we're moving down this road, but Jesus is optional. Jesus is optional. And we've got the car and we're moving along and it's okay. If I add Jesus into my life, I get power steering. If I add Jesus into my life, I get that tow package. You know, when I get in trouble, he's going to tow me out of it. But in many ways, if you search your heart, for many of us were thinking, yeah, but if he doesn't show up in that moment, I'm probably gonna be okay, 'cause I can do this on my own. And what we have to realize though, if you don't have Jesus, you don't have a car. You've got nothing. Jesus is never optional. Okay, that's not part of the deal where you just kind of add him in as you want, you settle for. That's not Christianity. If you don't know Jesus as Lord and savior, you don't have a car. But when you get the car, you get all the options right away. They're all there. And then we get this book in the glove compartment that begins to tell you how to live it. The book that invites you in and let me know, tell you what you got. 'Cause you don't understand what you got. And now as you spend time into this, it is a dose of reality and brings back to my mind, the centrality of who Jesus is. He needs to be the focus of my life and my emotions. And yes, there's a cost to me, but there is a life that he's inviting me into that is second to none. And this book reminds me that he should be at the focus of my life. And this is extremely important for our culture today that we not forget that Jesus and his truth have to be at the center of everything we do and say. And in the church we go together in unity. Now let me unpack this and play around with it just a little bit. The Public Square today is no longer face-to-face interaction over issues. I mean, that's still part of it, but the Public Square where we have all these debates that we're having is social media. That's where it's at. That's what's happening, okay? People are interacting in so many different ways, in so many different forms on the internet. That's really kind of the place where these conversations happen. And as we begin to look at the truth of God's word and the focus of Jesus Christ, what I see happening in our culture at large, I'll start there, is this idea of tribalism, your way, my way, we argue over it. But unfortunately what I begin to see taking place and just been doing some reading in this area, I'm beginning to see how that concept is infiltrating the church. Where all of a sudden we're getting caught up on the wrong things. Now, it's not wrong to talk about truth. It's not wrong to bring truth into the conversation, but we get so caught up in this idea of this way or that way, vaccines are no vaccines, masks or no masks, or justice, that's another one. Oh my goodness. We could spend so much time going through all the different avenues of these things. We come into the church with all of this stuff. And you know what oftentimes is beginning to take place, we are forgetting that Jesus calls us to unite to something much greater than those things. And as we unite under the gospel and the good news of Jesus Christ, we focus on his abundance. We come together in unity, the way the church is designed to be, then it is by our love for one another, that those who desperately need hope are attracted to a message that is removing the conversation of conflict that is happening outside these walls. Do you understand what I'm saying? And if we're not doing that in the church, my fear is, while you may win the argument of truth, 'cause truth always wins, you lose your hearing to offer the hope of Jesus Christ to someone who's dying and going to hell. We have to hear that message. And if we are not hearing it and understanding it, you're missing the life. We're missing the life together. And people out there are missing eternal life because we refuse to unite around the message of Jesus Christ. That's what he is saying here. You have to grasp that God is not optional. And as we pursue this life of wisdom, it says in verse 13, she's your life. You'll drink abundantly from the Lord, Jesus Christ. And then he begins to change you and transform you. And it gets better and better, which is indicated by verse 18. It gets brighter and brighter. And then as he turns to verse 20, as you're pursuing him, and pursuing him, you'll have the ability to begin to avoid turning off the path and getting lost along the way. 'Cause he says, my son be attentive to my words, incline your ear to my saying, let them not escape from your sight, keep them within your heart for they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance and from it flow the Springs of life, put away from your crooked speech and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure, do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot away from evil. He points here. What he's saying is really focused in verses 21, 22 and 23, that's kind of the central part of what he is saying here. Don't let these things escape, may they be found within your heart and then verse 23, keep your heart with all vigilance. How do you keep your heart with all vigilance? You abide in Jesus. You pursue him because then your soul is satisfied in him. Not in all this other stuff. And again, I'm not saying we don't talk about truth. I'm not saying we don't take stands on issues, but we are oftentimes sacrificing finding abundant life in Jesus as a result of this. And he's saying, no, you keep your heart healthy, and then you drink from the Lord Jesus. And it's interesting because then the change comes from within, Jesus said in John 7 , it's out of the heart, flow rivers of living water. Why is that the case? Because you're abiding in him and his love is abiding in you and there's no more shadow. And then as his love overwhelms me because of who he is, he's beginning to move with his love into every corner of my life, sweeping it up, cleaning it up, so that it is my desire to give my life in an offering of worship to him. Paul says in Romans chapter 12, verse one, "to come before him and to offer my life as a living sacrifice." That's the idea. And when I do, he permeates every part of my life. Notice this in verse 24, it affects my speech. It affects how I talk, it affects my eyes. Every part of me is changed and transformed when I get to know Jesus, when I pursue this kind of life, when I live according to his ways and his commands, and as I do is changing me and he's transforming me because I'm spending time with him through his word. I'm abiding with him. I'm living in his presence and I'm reminding myself of him and not the stuff that is oftentimes pulling me in the wrong direction. You want to find life? It's only found in Jesus. You want to find real hope in life? There's a cost. And that cost is to you. And all that you think are the right path. Know it's found in submission to Jesus Christ as savior and Lord as the only way, the only hope for you and the only hope for me and the only hope for our world. And then as we wrap this up and turn to really what should be central to our lives, he says in verse 26, he says, ponder these things, think about them. So I love the fact that we're ending the Book of Proverbs with Communion. Communion, because we're going back to the essence of where we find life in abundance. We are to ponder the gift of Jesus Christ that changes me from the inside out. We are never to recover from the forgiveness that we have found through Jesus. We are never to recover from the fact that there's no shadow in his presence. He permeates every part of who I am and I want to give my life to him because he's given me his life. And as I ponder his grace, as I ponder his mercy, as I ponder the fact over the next few moments of what the cross really means and the forgiveness that I have been given and the new life that I find in the Lord, Jesus Christ, there is in that moment a time where I'm beginning to come to grips with who I am and who he is, and I'm giving him thanks for all that he has done for me. And so if you've committed your life to Christ, you know him as savior and Lord, I invite you to take Communion with us. And the reason it is for those that have given their life to Jesus is because taking the bread and the cup doesn't save us, but allows us to ponder, to think about what he's already done for us. That we've received. It's a chance to rededicate and say, Jesus, it's about you. It's not about me anymore. When we come to this place, we're going to rededicate our lives to you, living for you in the midst of our culture and finding you, 'cause that's the hope our world needs. If you've never made that choice, you can today, by admitting you're a sinner and turning to Jesus, confess that you believe he died for your sin and rose from the grave and ask him to save you. You can do that right here in this moment, but in the next few moments for those of us that are believers, let's reflect and remember, and I'll be back up and we'll take together. Father, thank you for the glory of your name and the glory of the cross and the glory of the resurrection and the glory of reminding us that it is about you and you alone. It is not about us. And so Father, we ask for your forgiveness, getting caught up in so many other things that yes we know are pulling us from the central focus of our life and that's you and living for you together so that others can find hope in you. 'Cause we don't know when you're coming back, but until you do, we are to remember the abundant life and the hope that is found through the cross. And so in the next few moments, guide our thoughts by your Holy Spirit to push your truth into our hearts and lives as we rededicate ourselves to the focus of our lives. And that's you Jesus. It's in your name we pray, Amen.