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May 06, 2018

Ignore wisdom to your peril

Ignore wisdom to your peril

Passage: Proverbs 1:20-33

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Proverbs, Searching for Wisdom

We often can’t see how critical and consequential a series of choices is. We think any one choice too minor to matter. But over time similar choices in that direction prove disastrous. Along the way we’re confronted with words that might’ve altered our thinking, but for any number of reasons we delay or dismiss considering them. Our passage personifies wisdom as a fierce, pleading, and truth-telling woman, both warning the foolish of where their ways will lead and also offering them abundant insight if only they’ll begin hearing and heeding. What is wisdom like? How does it work? What promises does it make? These are some of the questions we’ll let the passage answer. But most of all, how does the Gospel respond to all the foolish choices from which we cannot rescue ourselves--as well as the folly we might still be liable to succumb to?

Order of Worship

Special Note: We’ll receive new members in worship both services and baptize a child. Welcome to the family of Grace!

Call To Worship: Psalm 66:1-4 (ESV)
Old Testament Reading: Psalm 1:1-3
New Testament Reading: Matthew 7:24-27
Sermon Title: Ignore wisdom to your peril
Central Text: Proverbs 1:20-33
Benediction: Psalm 121: 5-8

05.06.18 Sermon Slides

05.06.18 Lyrics

Illustration

Fences - Right Here

Readings & Scripture

Call To Worship: Psalm 66:1-4 (ESV)
LEADER: 66 Shout for joy to God, all the earth; 2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!
ALL: 3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. 4 All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.”

Old Testament Reading: Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.


New Testament Reading: Matthew 7:24-27
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Central Text: Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
25 because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
27 when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
30 would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Benediction: Psalm 121: 5-8
LEADER: 5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Post-Service Text: Proverbs 1:33
33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Related Scriptures:

  • Jeremiah 6:16-19
  • Ecclesiastes 10:1
  • Luke 23:34
  • John 16:33

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. When have you ever suffered the consequences of refusing to heed wisdom that came to you? What led to your initial (or persistent) refusal to hear and heed it?
  2. How might the personification of wisdom--here as a fierce woman--affect how you think of what wisdom is?
  3. How does the gospel of Jesus mean to respond to all the folly we cannot rescue ourselves from, as well as all the folly we might be prone to succumb to now or in the future?
  4. What’s wisdom whispering, if not shouting, to you right now--insight you might be ignoring?

Quotes

  • Truth has a harsh edge, and Wisdom does not dull it. - Bruce Waltke
  • Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. - Jesus in Luke 23:34
  • We need a few trusted naysayers in our lives, critics who are willing to puncture our protective bubble of self-justifications and yank us back to reality if we veer too far off. This is especially important for people in positions of power. - Carol Tavris, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
  • Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!. . .
    You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
    you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
    you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;
    I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;
    you touched me, and I burned for your peace.
    - Augustine, Confessions

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