Sermons

FILTER BY:

← back to list

Aug 26, 2018

Wisdom’s end lives in a tree

Wisdom’s end lives in a tree

Passage: Proverbs 3:13-26

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Proverbs, Searching for Wisdom

Wisdom takes a lifetime to find. We’ve spent twenty weeks in search of it. What closing thought can we bring to a lifelong pursuit? The value of wisdom comes down to not just its insight into reality, and how that helps you both find and navigate life; the fullness of its glory comes down to the very nature of wisdom.

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: Isaiah 55:1-3a; 6-7
Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:5-9
New Testament Reading: Revelation 22:1-5
Sermon Title: Wisdom’s end lives in a tree
Central Text: Proverbs 3:13-26
Benediction: Hebrews 10:19-25

08.26.2018 Sermon Slides

Illustration

Readings & Scripture

Call To Worship: Isaiah 55:1-3a; 6-7
LEADER: 1 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live

ALL: 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:5-9
When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

New Testament Reading: Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 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. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Central Text: Proverbs 3:13-26

Prov. 3:13 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.

Prov. 3:19 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.

Prov. 3:21 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.

Benediction: Hebrews 10:19-25
LEADER: 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

ALL: 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Related Scripture

Psalm 121
1 Peter 3:13-17
Hebrews 10:19-25

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. After months of seeking wisdom from the Proverbs, what would you say wisdom is? What’s wisdom worth?
  2. How has our study of what the Proverbs have to say about wisdom pointed you to deeper wisdom? What was new, or a good reminder of?
  3. Why is wisdom as valuable as this passage proclaims?
  4. How does it change your view of what wisdom is to know that Jesus is “our wisdom” with which God created all things? In other words that wisdom isn’t merely a set of guidelines or ethics, but a Person who is God?
  5. In that same vein, how does it affect your view of seeking wisdom when you know that He who is our wisdom was willing to die both at the hands of and for the sake of fools?

Quotes:

  • Fear is not a Christian habit of mind. Marilynne Robinson
  • Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. Frederick Buechner
  • It means that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards. Aslan in Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
  • I’m writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you’ve done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God’s grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle. You may not remember me very well at all, and it may seem to you to be no great thing to have been the good child of an old man in a shabby little town you will no doubt leave behind. If only I had the words to tell you. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Sermons/resources:

Related Media:

InView Media Album 8.26.18