The Quest for Wisdom

Amen. Wonderful, wonderful job. Let's thank the music team again. Benjie, everyone, thank y'all so much. I'm always thankful for the body of Christ here, but I'm particularly thankful for you brothers and sisters this morning for the opportunity to do life with you, to walk in relationship with you, to seek to follow the Lord together. It is the joy of Crystal and I's life, and we're so thankful for this church family and everyone that's involved.

Well, this morning, we're gonna continue our series, "Wisdom For the Road," that we are seeking from the book of Proverbs. And this morning we're gonna be in Proverbs 3:13-15.

Well, once upon a time there was hobbit. Now, I've either lost some of you or gained many of you. There was a hobbit. His name was Bilbo. And he lived in a cozy little hobbit hole, minding his own business, content with his very simple life, content with his simple food, all the comforts of his life that were surrounding him. And one day a knock came to the door interrupting his peace and quiet. And 12 rambunctious dwarfs and a wise wizard named Gandalf bombarded him in his cozy little cottage and they rolled out their treasure map across his table. And they pointed to this mountain called the "Lonely Mountain." And they said that mountain right there is full of our gold, the gold we lost. And day and night it's being guarded by a ferocious dragon. And they needed Bilbo to help them on their quest to go get this gold back.

And as they began to lay out their plans for Bilbo, something stirred in him, maybe that he didn't know was there, something awakened inside of Bilbo: this sense of a venture, a suspicion that what awaited him at the end of the quest would be worth setting out on the journey, the quest to find hidden treasure.

We love stories and movies that have that: the quest to find hidden treasure. And as we've been walking through Proverbs, we've seen this father, he's been pleading with his son that wisdom is like that hidden treasure that needs to be sought out. It's like what Jesus says when he tells his disciples that it's like a treasure hidden in a field in which a man realizes the value of it, and so he goes and sells everything else that he has so that he has the money to buy that field, because he understands its worth! Wisdom is to be precious to us. It is to be valuable to us, so much so that we're willing to leave behind many of the comforts of this life, the ease of our current life, to pursue it, to search for it, to mine for it, to travel great distances for it.

Do you want wisdom? Do you want it? How badly do you want it? How badly do you want this wisdom that we've been talking about? In light of everything that we've heard so far in Proverbs, Pastor Eric has been doing a marvelous job walking us through this as we've been walking through this book, my question is, what about you? Have you begun your quest for wisdom yet? Have you begun? I don't mean have you enjoyed these messages. I don't mean have you enjoyed the book of Proverbs. I mean, have you personally set out on your own quest for wisdom?

Students, are you making this personal yet, that this is something that I can take hold of? I want to pursue wisdom. I want nothing more in my life than this! Young adults, you're beginning your life, the decisions that you're making now are going to alter the next few decades of your life. Are you serious yet about getting on the road to wisdom, because you've been convinced like we've been singing, "God, your ways are better than my ways. And I want to get on the path." Have you made that decision yet? If you're an older adult, have you? Have you realized the value of wisdom? Maybe for the first time? Maybe you've known it, but maybe you've wandered off the path. Do you still crave it? Do you still know how important wisdom is for your life?

And I think that's what we see happening in this text this morning. So let me ask you this: What is your heart set on above all else? What do you want more than anything in your life? What do you want? You begin to identify that in your heart. We're going to be talking a lot about that this morning. What do you want more than anything? Is it the wisdom of God? That's what our text is about. Proverbs 3:13-15. The father is urging his son get up, and get going. That's what God's urging us to do, to get up and get going on our quest. You have to set out, church. You have to leave home like Bilbo Baggins. And you have to set out on your quest.

Well, let's stand to our feet. We're gonna read from Proverbs 3 and hear from this wise father, what he has for us in God's word. Proverbs 3, beginning in v13, it says this:

The father of Proverbs is imploring his son, God's word is imploring us this morning to set out on the quest for wisdom. So why set out on this quest? If you begin today on your personal quest to seek out the wisdom of God, will it really be worth it? Will it be worth it in the end? And the father I think holds out this beautiful picture of the life of wisdom, what awaits you if you find wisdom so that it becomes more precious to the son, so that it becomes more precious to us. And the first thing that he says that will happen in verses 13-18 is you will find:

That first word of verse 13, it says "blessed is the one who finds wisdom." A really good translation of that word, "blessed," is simply "happy." If you're reading from the CSB, it says "happy is the one who gets wisdom." So let me ask you this question this morning: Do you want to be happy? Do you truly want to be happy? I'm not talking about that surface level way that we use the word happy. This is true happiness. We all would admit that we want to be happy, right? We are all on a quest for happiness. You're on a quest for happiness. I'm on a quest for happiness. Now, it looks different for all of us. Things that make you happy, don't make me happy. I can assure you, things that make me happy do not make you happy. But we are all looking for happiness. We're all on our own personal quest for that. The question is, where is your happiness located? Where are we looking for happiness?

And in verses 14-15, this father compares wisdom with something that we all believe happiness will come from. Verses 14 -15. What does it say? He's talking here about silver, gold jewels. We could boil all that down to what wealth, riches, money. We all believe that money is going to make us happy. We're on a quest for that. And the father says, "look, wisdom is actually better than wealth. Wisdom will make you happier than wealth.

Many people in the history of civilization have lived and died with one singular purpose, their whole life. It's really sad. Their singular purpose in life has been to acquire as much wealth as possible. They've lived, they've died, and that's been their great quest. God's calling us to a better quest.

Man's Quest for Riches: Job 28
I want to read this passage to you. I fear to do this. I know this is a lot of scripture. I read it a few months ago. The book of Job is kind of mysterious. And Job 28 is this chapter that captivated my heart. And when I began to study this text, I knew I had to read this to y'all. So I hope it's exciting to you. If it's not, just keep reading it with me, ok? This is a picture of what mankind has done throughout civilization. The lengths that mankind has gone to to find gold, silver, jewels. Let's check out these verses:

1 "Surely there is a mine for silver; and a place for gold that they refine. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. 3 Man puts an end to darkness. (He'll go to great lengths.) He searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness. 4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro." 9 "Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. 10 He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. 11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light."

Ok. We're gonna come back around to that. But in Job 28 we see it's almost like those dwarves mining in the mountains. Mankind has gone to great lengths to search out riches where no one else lives, going under mountains, etc. We've got to find things that are precious to us.

X Marks the Spot
This is the same mindset that drove early American pioneers across the frontier during the gold rush. They were willing to risk it all to go find that gold. It's like when you watch The Pirates of the Caribbean and pirates are infatuated with the desire of finding hidden treasure. X marks the spot, right? X marks the spot. So what I'm arguing this morning is that you are a treasure hunter and I am a treasure hunter. Now, you may have never mined in mountains, and you may not have a map spread out across your kitchen table this morning. If you do, that's pretty cool. Let me know. But you probably don't have a map spread out across your table. And you're probably not infatuated with finding gold. You probably don't live your life like Nicholas Cage from National Treasure, and all you're thinking about is how to find this hidden treasure.

But you are a treasure hunter. You need to understand that. And so am I. All of us in our hearts have a map with an X marks the spot, the X in which if we find that one thing, we believe it will finally truly make us happy. So where's the X for you? Where's your treasure? Jesus asked us that question. Where's your treasure? There your heart will be also. And I think the father is trying to explain this.

Just a Little Bit More
Now, why is wealth ultimately not the best place to find happiness? Gold, silver, jewels? Because what? Because it's never really quite enough. It's this temptation of a little bit more. So I get a little bit more this week, maybe a little bit wealthier. And then at the end of that week, what do I want? A little bit more. And then what do I want? Well, a little bit more. And then I want a little bit more.

Now, wealth is not bad, but we understand that wealth is relative, and it does not satisfy. We understand that compared to Jeff Bezos this morning, we're all destitute, but compared to villagers in the mountains of Guatemala that I've seen with my own eyes, we are all insanely wealthy. Crystal, we're rich. We're rich in comparison. So here's the deal. We have experienced enough wealth in our life that we know that it ultimately does not bring about happiness.

Your Primary Pursuit
So if your life right now is all about a quest to make as much money as possible, you're gonna get what you want, but in the end, or you may not, but if you do get it, in the end, you're not ultimately going to be happy. So I want you to think this morning about the primary pursuit of your life. Is it to acquire more wealth or is it to acquire more wisdom?

I think the father of Proverbs is pleading with his son: pursue wisdom more than you pursue riches. It would be better for you to inherit suddenly the wisdom of God than to win the lottery tomorrow. Do you believe it? If you won the lottery tomorrow, you would freak out. I know you would. But if God just poured his wisdom in your life tomorrow, it would be better. Do you believe that? Do I believe that? It would be better if God filled your heart and mind with his wisdom than if your bank account was stuffed full tomorrow with any number that you could possibly conceive of? So do you want to be happy? Do you wanna be happy? Then relocate the X from wealth to wisdom. I'm preaching that to myself. I'm preaching that to all of us.

He goes on, v15, not only is it better than silver, and more precious than gold, and more valuable and profitable than jewels, at the end of v15, he says, in fact, there is nothing you can desire that would compare with her, nothing you desire. If we're honest, money is not the only thing that we desire. We desire a lot of things. If we were to just list out all of our desires right now, it would be extraordinary.

The Compass of Your Heart
And our hearts can be hard to understand. What do I really desire? What am I after in my life? It's kind of this tangled up mess. It's like Captain Jack, sorry, lots of pirate references this morning, it's like Jack Sparrow's compass that instead of pointing due north, it points where? His compass points to whatever he wants most at any given moment. Where is your compass pointing? What do you want most right now? What is your treasure? What do you desire? And we could list off many, many things. Some good things, some maybe not so good things. Maybe you want to have a wonderful family. That's great. We could easily idolize that and try to put on this front of having a perfect family. Clearly, I do not. You could want to have a perfect home. You might wanna be the most beautiful. You might wanna be the most popular. You wanna be the most well liked. You wanna be the biggest influencer in our community down here. You want to be the highest achieving at work. Again, some of those things are good things. But what is your desire?

Because the father of Proverbs is saying, "even if you get that thing that you want so bad, it would be better to get wisdom. Nothing you desire, not money, not anything, you fill in the blank for yourself, it wouldn't be better than if you got God's wisdom. He's urging his son, get on the road to wisdom, get on the path. Want this more than you want anything else.

Now, you may be listening to all this and the son might be listening to this. And he might say, "Dad, are you sure about that? Because if I had all the money in the world, and I had all the desires of my heart. I think I might be pretty happy." And the father is saying, "listen, true happiness is located in somewhere else.

Back to Eden?
And I think there's this amazing reference in v18. If you look at it, it says that she's a "tree of life" to those who lay hold of her. And as we read that "tree of life" language, that makes us think about a place, right? I think it makes us think of the Garden of Eden. That's where the tree of life was. And what Solomon's saying here is that if you could go back and live in the Garden of Eden, you'd be pretty happy. Because that's a place free of sin and death and brokenness.

Now, can any of us go back to the Garden of Eden, actually? Because I'm pretty sure Adam and Eve sinned and God kicked them out of Eden, and until Christ returns, we still live in a fallen, broken world. So is it possible to get back into Eden? And we understand that it's not. But the father of Proverbs here is saying that if you will live your life according to the wisdom of God, it will be as if you are returning to Eden. It will be as if the gates of Eden are opened up to you, and you are holding fast and eating from the tree of life. You will be blessed. Because why? Because verses 19-20 say that you are living according to the same wisdom that God founded the earth, the very wisdom that God used to found the earth and establish the heavens, the same wisdom that God used to create the water cycle so that there's dew on the grass in the morning. (I know this is a sore subject right now because it hasn't rained very much, but it did rain Friday!) God is over all that stuff. That wisdom that God uses to build the universe and be the architect of the universe, when we live according to his wisdom, it is as if we are eating from the tree of life again. We are because we are living life according to the way God intended it. We are living life according to God's design. And in so doing, it's like we're returning to eat from the tree of life. That is the place of happiness.

Long Life
Look at verse 17, "her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace." Do you want a life of pleasantness and peace that comes from walking with God? Verse 16, "in her right hand, she holds out long life." Do you want to live a long life? Now is long life a promise to us? No, I'm not guaranteed that I'm gonna live out all my days and neither are you. But it is a proverb. It's not a promise, but it is a proverb that if we live according to God's design with the grain of creation, we will very likely avoid the things that would be destructive and rebellious and things that would end our life prematurely. So a long life is held out to us.

Riches
Also verse 16, In her left hand are what? riches and honor. So you actually will have riches. So riches are not all bad. Money is not all bad. That's not the point of this message. But it's kind of like when God came to Solomon with a blank check and said, "you can have anything you want Solomon to rule this kingdom." And what did Solomon ask for? He asked for God's wisdom. If God came to you with a blank check and said, "you can have anything you want, what would you want?" Solomon asked for God's wisdom and then guess what happened? Quickly on the heels of God filling his life with wisdom came riches. Solomon was incredibly wealthy. And so very likely if you live a life of wisdom, and you work hard, and you do the things that God's called you to do, you very well might increase in wealth. And that's not all bad, but it comes on the heels of first getting the wisdom of God in your life. So wisdom has to be the primary pursuit.

Verse 18, "those who hold her fast are called blessed." They're called happy. If you want to be happy, son or daughter, if you want to be happy, Christian, then get what? Get wisdom. Search for wisdom more than you search for wealth, more than you search for those desires in your heart. Seek first the kingdom of God, everything else will be added to you. Seek wisdom.

He holds out not only happiness, but he also communicates that there's gonna be a hedge, a hedge of protection. Now, maybe you've heard someone pray that before, "God give them a hedge of protection." And maybe you thought that's been a little bit mysterious. I actually think we have some biblical precedent for that. In the book of Job, early in the book of Job, when Satan approaches the Lord and says, "look, the only reason Job blesses you is because you have put this hedge of protection around his life. You won't allow me to mess with him. You bless everything that he does. You put this hedge of protection around him. And that's the reason that he blesses you." And so of course, the Lord allows that hedge to be removed. So Satan can do what he does. Job is blameless. But the point is, God seems to be able to put this hedge of protection around his children.

And when you live according to God's wisdom, you are inviting that. When you are walking with God, you are inviting this supernatural hedge of protection around your life. We often pray, "God keep us safe." But then we go do something crazy that is opposed to the wisdom of God. There is a connection between the wisdom of God and the protection of God and the Lord wants us to choose him.

Keep Your Eye on Wisdom
The father wants this for his son. Verse 21, he pleads with his son, "Son, do not lose sight of wisdom and discretion." Do not lose sight of it! I was thinking about how many of us at the ball fields have shouted, "Son, keep your eye on the ball! Keep your eye on the ball If you want to hit it!" This father is saying, "Son, keep your eye on wisdom and insight and discretion. Verse 22, it will be life for your soul. Your soul will be revived and it will be healthy It will be also, verse 22, like adornment around your neck. It will be like jewelry that makes you more attractive to the world than you actually are. It's a good thing.

Safety & Security
Verse 23, you will dwell securely, it will keep you safe. So right now this morning, there is a security team that is out there. I believe I see them. They're out there keeping us safe. You're not having to worry about your safety right now. Someone else is taking care of that for you. There's a security team keeping us safe. And the Lord is saying, "you don't have to worry about your safety and security." Obviously, we take measures and all that stuff, but the Lord is saying, "I'm going to keep you safe."

Stumbling on the Path
Also in verse 23, your foot will not stumble. So, on the path of this life, it is easy to stumble. I was jogging in my neighborhood. I think it was last week. And a precious older lady came out. I did not know this neighbor and she had a dog. And I do like dogs, but I don't like dogs when I jog. And so I'm developing this attitude toward dogs. But anyways, this dog runs at me and approaches me quite ferociously. And I had been running for a while now and had apparently lost the ability to cut and go a different direction quickly. And sometimes I'll do this thing if they seem really aggressive, well, I'll turn really quickly to kind of tell them, "I mean, business and you better go back home." And when I went to make that turn the other day, do you know what happened? I stumbled very badly. And I realized that I'm not quite nearly as agile as I thought I was. And it was embarrassing and it was painful. I got up and just waved at the sweet elderly lady. I got a Facebook message about it later neighborhood watch style. It's fine.

But anyways, it's a picture. I stumbled on the path. God wants to keep us from stumbling on the path of our life. He wants to keep us from those embarrassing, painful moments. Because if you live according to your own wisdom, you're gonna put your foot in it. You are going to stumble, you're going to experience pain, you're going to experience embarrassment just like I did. And it's gonna be a whole lot more serious than just a scrape on the elbow. You know what I'm saying? And God wants to keep us from that. He wants to keep our path secure. And when you live according to God's wisdom, it will be like this hedge of protection is around your life, protecting you so that you do not stumble and so that you're safe.

Sweet Sleep
Verse 24 is my favorite verse maybe in the Bible right now. "If you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet." Oh man, I don't know about y'all, but I want some sleep that is sweet! Can I get an amen? Any young parents out there? Here's the deal. It's more than just that. We are weary people. We toss and we turn. We are anxious. We're all worked up because we're anxious about tomorrow. We're anxious about this week. We're anxious about things that we can't control. We're anxious because we're trying to be the God of our own lives. And so we lay awake at night anxious. And we lay awake at night nervous. Maybe that we're gonna be found out, like if we're living in sin or unconfessed sin. We said something that we shouldn't have said and we're worried that it's gonna get back to that person. We're all worked up that we're gonna get found out. And so we lay awake at night and we toss, we turn, we turn, and we toss, and the father of Proverbs is saying that's not how it's supposed to be.

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet, because you're resting in the Lord. We can have a whole sermon here: "God's Good Night of Sleep." And it would be immensely profitable. We spend a quarter to a third of our lives on the bed trying to sleep. God gives to his beloved sleep. It's a biblical principle and the reason is because when I lay down at night, I am utterly defenseless. Unless you have a pet or something like that, you are defenseless. But I trust that God is going to take care of me. It is this child-like faith that I don't have to protect myself. The Lord is looking out for me. It's the simple prayer: Now I lay me down to sleep / I pray the Lord my soul to keep / And if I should die before I wake / I pray the Lord my soul to take. I can just rest in him.

Proverbs vs Promises
This doesn't mean everything is gonna be perfect. I don't want to paint this picture that you're gonna escape brokenness, that you're gonna escape a night where you wake up in chaos or that you're never gonna stumble, or that your path is always gonna be perfect. But Proverbs are different than promises. And Proverbs are important. They're generally true in this life that God has created. When you live according to God's creation, according to the proverbs and the wisdom of God, this will be true of your life.

Sudden Terror
Verse 25, when sudden terror comes. So when I read that, I think of when doomsday finally comes, when the stock market crashes, or spectrum goes out for more than just a few hours like it did this week. And I'm talking days. No wi-fi, no internet. When everyone else is losing their mind afraid of what's happening, you can rest easy. You can rest easy in times of crisis and chaos. Because why? Verse 26, "the Lord is your confidence." The Lord is your confidence. I don't have to fear. He will be here when crisis comes so I can take it easy. The Lord is surrounding you! That God who made the heavens, he is looking over you!

Psalm 63. I was reading it this week. 5 "My soul will be satisfied... 6 When I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings, I will sing for joy." You are dwelling in the shadow of his wings when you are living under his wisdom, this hedge of protection that God offers you.

And this father, he wants his son to be happy, and he wants him to have this hedge of protection. And so he's imploring him, get on the path to wisdom! I'm telling you it's better than anything else that you could have.

Finally, verses 27 to 35. This section is a little different, but I think we could boil it all down to this: if you want honor, pursue wisdom. So we've had happiness, this hedge protection, and now honor. If you want honor in your life, then you need the wisdom of God. Now, you may say I don't really care about honor. I think this is closely related to the idea of reputation. How do other people regard you? Much more importantly than that, how does God regard you? What is your reputation?

Now, I don't mean this idea of I'm worried about what everybody else thinks in some kind of people-pleasing way. That's not what I mean here. But we should be worried about our reputation in the sense that what's at sake as representatives of the gospel. So when people look at my life and they look at your life, they know that you're a person who's pursuing the Lord. Your reputation really does matter. Your reputation in our community, it matters. You understand that. We all have a reputation. When your name comes into someone's mind, what do they think? Again, I'm not here to please everyone else and to make everyone else think that I'm awesome, but it does matter. So, what is our reputation? What do other people think when they think about us?

Proverbs 22:1, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches. Favor is better than silver or gold." How we treat other people matters. And wisdom gives us a certain prescription for how we are to relate to our neighbor. You start seeing this language of "neighbor" a lot in this section. And so this is how you relate to other people in your life.

And the first thing that we see in this wise neighbor who receives honor is this:

#1 A Neighbor Who Can Be Bothered (vv 27-28)
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, (I love this), "'Uh just go and come again tomorrow and I'll give it to you,' when you have it with you!" Right? Don't put them off, ok?

Plumbing Problems
I've got a prop right now. I'm gonna step down here. So this right here looks like a weapon. You might know what this is. This is a water pressure regulator. And I've gotten very familiar with this, this week. About two weeks ago, Crystal turned on the water hose out front to water the plants in this drought, and we heard under the house kind of this thumping noise. And, you know, I knew that was kind of an issue but life's busy. There wasn't any crazy leaking or anything like that going on. So we just kind of put it off. Well, finally Monday, I was like, all right, today's the day. I got the elbow pads and crawled under the house. Sure enough, I found where the main water line was coming in under the house and it was just jerking around all crazy when the water was turned on. And I'm no plumber, but that didn't seem good. And so, I began to try to deal with this.

And luckily I mentioned him last sermon, but he just always helps me. My friend Stan just happened to come to the church that day. I swear I wasn't going to call you! But he happened to come to my office and so I said, "hey man, since you're here and all, let's talk about this." And he was able to walk me through this and say "No, it's not anything under your house. It's out by the road by the water meter. You have this water pressure regulator, which I have seen before. This thing right here. The city from the water comes in. We don't need to digress here too much. The city water comes in and this downgrades the pressure a little bit so that it's safe to come into your home. And this thing right here was not working anymore. So I had to go out to the road and begin digging this large hole and had to find this right here and found the leak.

And so I've been helped by one neighbor who's done me good, who did not have to do that. He gave me his tools, he gave me his know-how. Well as I'm digging and doing that, you know, Miss Connie across the street, she looks out her window like she does often. I'm not calling you nosy, I swear! That's not what I meant. I mean it for good, a good neighborhood watch. She looks out and she says, you know, "Jim, you'd better go help that boy." And here comes Mr Jim, "Neighbor!" You know, "what do you need?" And I say, "Look, M.r Jim, you don't want any of this. This is nasty. It's messy. You don't want any of this smoke, ok? Just go back home. Just don't do this." And of course, he's not listening to that. Before I know it, he is on his hands and knees with a cup. We're pouring out water and mud and we're trying to get to the bottom of this situation. He's helping me. He had this PVC primer that I didn't have. I had the glue but not the primer.

Anyways, we got it all patched up, because the hours were waning. We've had skunks. We were worried they were coming out. There's a lot going on here, ok? But we got in that night, the water was working because of my two wonderful neighbors. And I told him he was going to get call outs in the sermon on back to back weeks. And I'm sorry, but I'm just preaching on neighbors this week.

And so this water regulator is not in there anymore. And I have water in my house again. And the point being is that those neighbors right there, I think they lived out these verses, what they're talking about right here. They are men like of honor. If you wanna be a person of honor who has a reputation, you don't just avoid evil. You also look for situations where you can actively do good. How can I be a blessing to other people? How can I be the kind of neighbor that I want someone to be to me? And that's just a really powerful picture of what that looks like. So you're a neighbor who can be bothered, who is not self-centered but cares about the concerns of other people.

#2 A Neighbor Who Can Be Trusted (vv 29-30). 
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." This is like the fabric of society, that I can live in a house next to a neighbor, and I can trust that he's not gonna come steal from me and I'm not gonna steal from him. And we're not going to just like sit in our house and plan harm against one another. Now, if you have a really hostile neighborhood or something, I don't know what to tell you, but we're not gonna plan hostility against each other. We're not gonna cause strife and stir up division among one another because you are a man of peace!

Romans 12:18, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, (if it's at all possible), live peaceably with all. Pursue it. Be a peacemaker. Pursue peace in your life. If you want honor, be someone who can be trusted. When your name comes across someone else's mind, they think "Man, that person would never do me any harm intentionally. That person has my absolute best interest in mind. That person I would trust to feed my pets, water my lawn, mow my grass, bring in the mail. I would trust them with my own children. In fact, I would trust them to be over my whole life instead of me. I trust this person completely." If you want to be a person of honor, then get that kind of reputation, a person who can be trusted, a neighbor who can be trusted.

#3 A Neighbor Who Can Be Patient (vv 31-32). 
31 "Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is," what? "an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence." A lot of people try to get ahead in this world through devious behavior. That could manifest itself in a lot of different ways. Maybe at school that means gaining popularity by bullying somebody or putting someone else down so that you look good. Maybe that means cheating so that you can get a grade that you don't really deserve. You see all these other people around you getting ahead in these ways that seem unpleasing to Lord and it's hard to be patient in those moments. That person seems like they're getting ahead and they're doing things the wrong way. You might be asking, "what's going on here, God?" Maybe there's a person who has a shortcut to get rich or malpractice in their business or does other things, but by their devious behavior, they get ahead. But you are a person who is patient. You look at all that stuff and you say, "I'm not gonna be persuaded by any of that. I'm gonna entrust myself to the Lord because that stuff is an abomination to him. And he will deal with it in the end.

So look, you don't need to get ahead with petty foolishness because you have the maker of heaven and earth on your side and he's gonna take care of you, ok? That's a picture of who this neighbor is, the kind of neighbor who receives honor from fellow men, but also honor from God. Verses 33-35, 33 "The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he," does what? "blesses the dwelling of the righteous. 34 Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. 35 The wise will," what? "inherit honor, but fools get disgrace."

So you invite the Lord's blessing, his favor, and his honor. The father is pleading with the son, "I want you to be happy. And I want you to have this hedge of protection around your life. And I want you to have honor. I want you to have a good reputation with man, more importantly with God. And if you want all those things, and you really do, you really do. I do. We all should. If we want those things then God says, get wisdom, get wisdom!

So maybe you're saying, "ok, I have been listening today, and I have been listening to what Pastor Eric says, I want it. ok? I believe it. I want Godly wisdom. I want to move my X from whatever it's on this moment to wisdom. So will you just kind of roll out the map for me and show me how to get there? How do I get to wisdom? How do I get what you're talking about?"

But it turns out wisdom is actually pretty hard to find. It's actually harder than those treasures buried in the mountains. It's harder than any treasure hunt you could ever imagine. Wisdom is pretty elusive to mankind. Job 28, we're gonna return to this real quick. Let me read this to you, (Lee joked with me that he might be asleep at this moment, if he is Brad, wake him up!) Job 28. After explaining how mankind has been able to find riches in the furthest depths of the earth and the great lengths with which mankind has gone to find treasure, he asks then where can wisdom be found? Let's read this together:

12 "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 13 Man does not know it's worth, (amen?) and it is not found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says, 'it's not in me,' and the sea says, 'it's not with me.' 15 It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. (You can't buy it.) 16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. 17 Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. 18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal, (Don't even bring those up) the price of wisdom is above pearls. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. 20 From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. (I love this) 22 Abaddon and Death say, 'we've heard a rumor of it with our ears.'"

23 "God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. 24 For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. 25 When he gave to the wind its weight, and apportioned the waters by measure, 26 when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, 27 then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding."

I love that so much. The fear of the Lord. That's where we started if you remember in week one. It's one of my favorite verses. I remember memorizing it when I was first trying to get serious about the Lord. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

So maybe you're saying, "Ok, I wanna start my quest. I'm willing to leave home. And I wanna pursue it with all my might." The first thing that has to happen in your life is you have to fear God. You have to actually turn away from evil. Are you at that place in your life yet where you are ready to fear God and turn away from evil, and turn away from your ways, and receive the ways of God that are so much better. Do you want that? Are you ready to do that, young adult? Are you ready to pursue wisdom as your primary goal this week? That's the question for us.

So as we finish here, let's ask the Lord to do some searching work in our hearts and say, "God, would you reveal to me what my primary pursuit is? What the X of my life is? Whether you are just starting out or whether you're a very mature believer, it can be easy to get off the path on the road to wisdom. "Lord, would you reveal that to me? And would you make yourself the treasure of my life so that I want you more than I want anything else? I want you. And I want your wisdom more than I want anything else. And I'm gonna make it my aim this week. I'm gonna fear you. And I'm going to walk humbly before you, and I'm going to acknowledge you in all my ways."

Are you ready to do that church? Have you made it personal yet? This quest for wisdom? Are you ready to set out? Let's take it to the Lord and pray.

Sermon by Jeremy Isbell
Associate Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church