Acquire Wisdom

Happy Father’s Day to each of you.

We want to thank you all for joining us today, It has been our joy to consider how we might be a blessing to our church family through some of the special days of the year, maybe not from the church calendar, but holidays on our calendars like Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and now Father’s Day.

Dads, I hope you were able to participate in some of the activities like the Father’s Day Workday with the CDC yesterday, or by getting out and doing the geocaching here at the Northend or one of our other campuses. Our goal was to simply provide opportunities for you as a family. But we also wanted to be a blessing to all of our dads…if you did not get a Father’s Day T-shirt earlier this month, please stop back after we are done and we want you to have one of the shifts today…

Let me ask you a question

• What if you could time travel, and go back in time to tell your younger self something important that would help them in the future.

• Many of you might be thinking about Back to the Future where Marty McFly went back in time to save his family...or when Biff went back in time to give his younger self a copy of the sports almanac so his future self can make a lot of money.

• Can you image if you could go back in time and tell your younger self to buy Microsoft, google, apple, amazon stock right when the stock goes public….

• What if you could tell your kids what stocks to buy so they would be setup for life….how much would you tell them to invest…$500, $5,000….all they had….

We may not be able to tell the future, we might not have a time traveling DeLorean….

but we often tell our kids to invest early because of the exponential return on their investment when you invest early and you let it grow over time….

As Fathers we often want our kids to invest their money, their time, their life wisely…so that they get a good return on their investment….

God calls us to invest in something even more valuable, God calls us to invest in wisdom and to invest everything we have in acquiring wisdom because it is worth it…

As we think about our Annual Theme of Building on our Heritage, one of the amazing things is that a commitment to God’s word has been passed down through the generations…and that has led to a great deal of wisdom that has been shared from the older generations to the younger generations through the years.

What is wise today was wise 60 years ago, and will be wise 60 years from now because it is based on the word of God….and so we have the ability to understand wisdom from God’s word that is timeless and then pass it on to the next generation, so that they know how to live in God’s world, and live for what is truly valuable.

Today on Father’s day, we want to focus on how God calls all of us to …

Acquire Wisdom

We want to especially be thankful for fathers who have passed down valuable wisdom generation to generation, and we want to encourage fathers today to receive wisdom and pass it on to the next generation….

We are going to step away from Ephesians today and step into the Book of Proverbs.

When Solomon became king after his father David… to honor God and to walk in the ways of his father, Solomon went up to Gibeon to offer many sacrifices to the Lord, and in a dream, God said to him, “Ask what you wish from me.” As Scripture details, God was pleased because Solomon did not ask for things for himself such as riches, long life, or even the defeat of his enemies, but he asked for the wisdom to judge God’s people, discerning rightly between good and evil.

Thus God granted him wisdom unlike any king before him or any that would come after him. But, Solomon did not see wisdom as something to keep to himself, rather he chose to share his wisdom and specifically, we see in Proverbs, his desire to share wisdom between a father and his sons.

Join me as we open up the Word to find the wisdom that Solomon had acquired from God and that is offered in God’s word that we too might acquire Wisdom

READ Proverbs 4:1–10

With our time this morning, let’s consider

3 Reasons to celebrate the wisdom of a godly father’s instruction

I. His instruction is useful (v.1-2)

It is useful in ….

providing understanding

1. Proverbs 4:1 -¹ Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding,

In the bible knowledge, understanding and wisdom are all closely related…

Knowledge is often described as learning something…gathering information…and then when you understand that information you know how it fits together, how it relates…what is most important…what information rises to the top and how it all works together….

understanding is about discerning what is important…what is most valuable.

Wisdom is about applying that understanding in real life.

Wisdom is not just about skill, but about skillful living…because it produces something valuable and in real life….in Ex 35, when building the tabernacle, God brought the skilled workers to do the job, and it says that He gave them the knowledge and the understanding and the wisdom to be able to complete the work of God’s tabernacle and the results were good and useful in real life….

But wisdom doesn’t just happen to us…we have to give it attention…

Even with how I can now see my own father’s wisdom today, I have to admit that when He said, “Son, listen up, when I was your age…” well that was not my finest hour of listening…my goal was not to give him my attention, because well, it was all different now, how could what my dad had to say really impact me today…I did not want to give attention, I already understood…

But Proverbs has already taught us that lesson too – my understanding is not of any value…

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…

Give attention to God’s wisdom, to gain a new understanding, that is not your own.

A godly father’s instruction is also characterized as…

having great value and is not to be abandoned

1. Proverbs 4:2 -² For I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction.

Solomon goes on here explaining why he wants his sons to give him their attention, because what he is teaching is sound, it is of high value. And Why is the value so high? Because with the knowledge and understanding to use the teaching…it will be useful

1. Sound - טוֹב (ṭôb). adj. good, useful, pleasing, beautiful. Having the qualities that make something useful and desirable.

When you have something useful, you hang on to it…

Dad’s what is a tool you think your kid should have in their tool box…what is a tool that you have found to be extremely useful…

I know exactly what tool it would be that my father would have pointed to…

Without a doubt – it would be the needle nose pliers. There are a lot of reasons that we need pliers on the job, but when the job is more delicate, when we need to get in a tighter space, when we need to make a tighter turn on wiring or other items, a regular pliers just doesn’t get the job cone. I can use needle nose pliers to grip nails or wires where my fingers won’t reach. I can use needle nose pliers to shape and bend copper wiring to make just about anything needed to hold things together. When I learned to work with my father, there was one tool that was never left behind…

Wisdom is like a good set of needle nose pliers…they don’t always look fancy and you don’t initially realize how useful they are…but when they work, it is a thing of beauty….when they are needed, it is because nothing else could fit the job.

My dad would never think to leave a set of pliers lying out on the lawn to get rusted…

When Dad came to my home and saw my garage, my tools, I know he was just shaking his head, because Dad knew the value and he treated his tools the right way…a nice light coat of oil just to keep things from rusting.

In Proverbs, the father is saying what I am teaching you…is useful…don’t discard it, don’t leave it lying around…you are going to need it over and over again in real life….

When a father tells his kids…God is our creator…He made you…You and I are here for His glory…he gave you gifts and abilities…and you are not to try to live your life on your own terms, apart from God…you need Him…you need to think about Him, appreciate creation, and how it and you point back to him…That is incredibly useful….

when you don’t make the team, or someone makes fun of you, when you don’t get the promotion at work or you are having a hard time doing something…

Wisdom says - don’t compare yourself to others…you think about the God who made you and How he made you for His glory.

Don’t leave that out to get rusty…you are going to need to think about your creator all through your life….

one day you can pass this instruction to your kids…as there is…

potential for generational impact

Notice how the text says “Hear O sons…the instruction of a father”…this goes well beyond just one father speaking to his son…in fact we will see that this father is going to talk to his son about what he learned from His dad…

I will tell you that is something that I see as a beautiful reminder here in our church as we are looking at building on our heritage.

It makes me think about the generational impacts from Pastor Goode, through pastor Viars that have impacted me and that I have had the opportunity to pass on to my son.

It makes me think of the generational impacts of Doc Smith and the 4 generations that are a part of our biblical counseling heritage.

Not only is a godly father’s instruction useful…

II. His instruction is in love (v.3-6)

This starts by…

Recognizing the tender and vulnerable nature of children

1. Proverbs 4:3 -³ When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

Solomon is talking about when he was just a young boy, His father David gave him instruction. He was young and when he was the only son of His mother Bathsheba…he was in a vulnerable position by just age, but also vulnerable position as the son of a king with other sons who had their own selfish ambitions towards the throne, regardless of what David had declared…and His father gave Him instruction and did not ignore Him, for he would be the son to build a house for the Lord.

Even if there is discipline, correction…there is to be love…

Where there is care and concern for the vulnerability of a child, it leads you to train them, teach them…because you love them, so you will spend quality meaningful time with them,…that imparts value to your child….

1. Proverbs 3:11–12 -¹¹ My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His reproof, ¹² For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

Discipline can mean training…helping a child gain skill…not in simply throwing a baseball, teaching them to drive, or building a deck…but training in living life well.

Fathers are to be respected, but Fathers are to have a great deal of compassion just as the Lord does…

1. Psalm 103:13 -¹³ Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

Where we are talking about compassion here, it must come with the understanding of the tender and vulnerable nature of a child. When they are small, compassion may come easy as we see the physical vulnerability. But when they grow into their teen years, they may not look as physically vulnerable, but we must have compassion on their hearts as they are still learning about the wisdom of trusting the Lord.

Dad’s sometimes we can stop our kids in their tracks with a look or a firm corrective statement…and that is a critical part of training our kids…but we must consider what do they see next…do they see disappointment from us or a coldness in the correction or do they see correction accompanied by a compassion that points to the Lord.

Within That compassion, we find the father’s….

Desires for one’s children to live and flourish

1. Proverbs 4:4–5 -⁴ Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live; ⁵ Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

It isn’t that a father just wants to be listened to as a show of respect…it is that He wants his kids to listen …so they will live…so things will go well for them…

How many of you have had the joy of teaching one of your children to drive? I am on number 4, and I am proud to say she will take her test soon.

But think about all of the teaching that we try to share in midst of driving lessons. Every intersection has eight conversations about the different ways that things could happen. Even on the same route day after day, the cars around us are different and have to be considered. And ultimately, you just don’t know exactly what the driver in the other car is going to do…

A few weeks ago, Grace was driving to school with Kathy in the passenger seat. They were almost to school and in the turning lane when 2 cars ahead, a car in the turning lane suddenly pulled out to make a U-turn and a car coming on the opposite side had no time to react before the collision. Praise the Lord, with today’s safety features, everyone walked away from the collision,

But once in the school parking lot and later when we were all home, there was the teaching moment…not about the foolishness of the U-turn, but about what happened to the other car…we don’t know everything that happened, but we were able to talk about that even if you are driving properly, you can’t just zone out, shouldn’t look at your phone…you must be constantly on the alert…you may not be able to avoid every accident, but driving defensively is wise and will protect you even if you are not doing anything wrong….but what we wanted Grace to know is that staying safe does not just happen

There is work to be done in learning and growing as a driver…

Notice in the text it says Acquire Wisdom, Acquire Understanding…The word acquire means Get…Buy…invest in….This is the basis for our whole theme for Father’s Day.

Fathers seeing the Value of Wisdom…Fathers Getting wisdom themselves…and seeking to give it to their kids…but you can’t just force wisdom on someone…you can’t lay down a thin layer of wisdom and just have your kids walk through it…they have to want it…it has to have value to them…and there is work to be done.

Later in proverbs it says…

1. Proverbs 23:22–24 -²² Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. ²³ Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding. ²⁴ The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.

Buy truth and do not sell it….Get Wisdom. Wisdom costs something…

…it will cost your time, it will cost you to focus on what the Lord says rather than what the world says, it will cost you not just doing whatever you feel like doing…it will require you to think about things and not just go with the flow…it will cost you your pride as you seek to humbly learn from someone else…

Wisdom comes at a cost…but it will return a much greater value to you…

This is a picture that comes much clearer in the teen years or even young adulthood…

When a child is small, they listen, they give attention, because other so-called sources of wisdom are not yet trying to pull them away. Parents, be cautious here – that age is getting younger…

But for the youth who understands that wisdom comes at a cost…this is the picture of a young man who listens to their mother and father and wants more… he does not just endure, bide their time seeking to get what he wants…rather He seeks to acquire wisdom because he sees the value in learning from someone else and is willing to give his own resources to get more…

If a son works and saves to buy his own car, he will value and care for that car far more than if it cost him nothing

If a student chooses to stay after school to ask their teacher a question, they will value that time far greater than if they are required to stay after just to finish their homework.

If a child gives a parent their time, and their attention, parents we can rejoice as they are far more likely to take your words to heart

Kids, sons and daughters of all ages…The best gift you can give your dad today is your attention to learn what he has to teach you about the Lord Jesus Christ….and maybe a good set of needle nose pliers…

Because I can truly say

1. 3 John 4 -⁴ I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.

There is such joy when a child wants to pursue the things of the Lord…Not being dragged to church, not having to be cornered to have a meaningful conversation…but a Child that wants to willingly walk in the truth.

In God’s economy…things don’t always seem valuable, but sometimes they end up being the most valuable….

It is not always in the big things, but rather the small conversations like telling our kids to work hard when no one is looking, to not grumble but have a good attitude even if it is hard work…or to consider their words about their friends at school

Then you see them serving with joy even when it is tough…seeing them solve problems biblically and not gossip…

as a mom or dad…there is nothing like seeing or hearing about your kids living to please the Lord…

Little ongoing conversation about the Lord don’t often seem to have an impact or be valuable in the moment, but often they are revealed to be priceless….consider what Jesus said to his disciples about not living for themselves…

1. Mark 8:34–36 -³⁴ And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵ “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

Folks if your dad is talking to you about the gospel…really, if anyone is talking to you about the gospel and wanting to share with you the words of eternal life…give them your full attention…they are showing love for you, caring for you and they want things not to just go well for your earthly life…but your eternal life.

Dad’s, the greatest investment advice you can give your kids…is not stock tips…but the value of placing their trust in Jesus Christ….the one who died on the cross for our sin…

And then, equally important for your kids is that they would see you living a life of wisdom, choosing to be pleasing to the Lord so that they would see that you are living what you say…that Jesus is worthy of following…He is worthy of devoting your life to…that is the wisdom that is to be passed down generation to generation…even after we are gone….

The reality is we will not always be there to protect our kids…

love from a father is also characterized by the…

Understanding the need for protection beyond a father’s care

Speaking again of wisdom, the author says…

1. Proverbs 4:6 -⁶ “Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.

When someone has acquired wisdom they understand the principle of the Path…they understand if I take this step in front of me…if I live for myself, if I lie, manipulate, use my body to entice people, if I trust in my own intellect, my own abilities…that road that I am choosing will eventually lead me to a place of being alone, desperate, and in a place where there is destruction of all kinds.

But if I think about how each step I take if it honors the Lord…I will walk down a path marked with security and blessings. I will find that Lady wisdom is guarding me, watching over me…

Fathers we need to help our families have respect for the Lord, to not forsake God’s wisdom…and that will guard them to go down the right path you are not there to hold their hand, when you are not there to say, don’t go that way…don’t do that…

Also in knowing the need for protection outside of a father’s care, we need to constantly be pointing ourselves and our kids back to the only trustworthy source of protection…

1. Proverbs 1:7 -⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

All of this assumes that fathers want to get wisdom themselves….if fathers don’t have a fear of the Lord…we are not going to be able to pass wisdom on to our kids…we can’t give them what we do not have…

If we want kids to buy wisdom…we need to show them that it is valuable in our lives…we need to show them that it is a joy to live for the Lord.

One of the best things a dad can do…is be excited about the lord, see His word as important…have a respect for the Lord that translates to knowing what God says in the bible and talking about Him because He has your respect and He is important to you…Dad’s ask yourself, is that the tone in your house…

1. Proverbs 9:10 -¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs repeats the fear of the Lord over and over to instruct the young to listen to Lady wisdom and to turn away from lady folly….

You see it is not simply about knowing the right way to go…it is about a view of the Lord that compels you to go down the path He instructs.

The pathway our heavenly father instructs us to go down is one of life…

Therefore, a good earthy father points to the heavenly father…and

III. His instruction brings life (v.7-10)

A life that brings appropriate exaltation and honor

1. Proverbs 4:7–8 -⁷ “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding. ⁸ “Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her.

I know, who speaks this way, but remember, we are really talking about Hebrew grammar and sometimes in Hebrew, words are ordered and repeated for specific emphasis…

The beginning of wisdom is, Acquire Wisdom…it is a kind of like saying if you want to get wisdom, then get wisdom.

The point the author is making…is if you want to actually be a wise person, it has to start with you actually wanting to be wise…you can’t say, oh you are giving away a bit of wisdom…I really don’t need any right now, but I will take a bit and store it away for later in case I might need some.

If you are leaning on your own understanding because, you have it all figured out…you are not going to acquire wisdom bc you don’t think you need it….

wise people learn, and understand there is a lot they don’t know.

If you are going to start on a path that is characterized by wisdom, you are going to need a desire for wisdom…

A person who wants to become a good artist, is drawn to art, and they look for opportunities to make art …a person who wants to be journalist, well they have to choose to write and to choose to go where the story is…

If you don’t value wisdom, you will not acquire wisdom and without wisdom, you will not be lifted up….

if you cherish and value wisdom, acquire wisdom and wisdom will exalt you….

Think about a young child who gets pushed off the slide from another kid…and that child comes over to their mom or dad and desires instruction on what to to…they ask what to do… and that mom or dad says lets think about Romans 12 and how God calls us to return good for evil…lets first pray for that other child, and ask God to help you honor the lord….then why don’t you go over to that same child and ask if they want to play with you…and the child does it , they may make a new friend…

think about that advice applied in high school or college and you are kind to people who gossip about you, you return good for evil….what will they see…they may see that you were a good friend who did not gossip, and again you may develop a friend for life…

or what about a co-worker that slanders you, but you focus on the project and letting your work speak for itself…and you get promoted because you are a peacemaker, who does not talk bad about others, works hard and is able to put petty things aside so you can stay focused on the mission…

In God’s time wisdom will exalt you…at the proper time and in the proper way and it is beautiful and attractive to others…

A godly father’s instruction encourages

A life that is beautiful and points to the beauty of the Lord

1. Proverbs 4:9 -⁹ “She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty.”

Wise people treat others better than they deserve…they don’t just make enemies because they get offended…they don’t respond to an offense, they return good for evil….

Then Wisdom will place on your head a garland of grace….It may not be a physical garland, but oters will see it…other people will give you favor as they see the way you navigate life wisely…

this garland of grace also impact others because you treat others with favor and they treat you with favor…

I believe all of this points to our God who is gracious and gives way more than we deserve…

God is generous…with everything…including wisdom…

1. James 1:5 -⁵ But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

You just have to go to the source of wisdom, you just have to ask God for wisdom…you have to recognize He is the Lord…this is His world…and He will give you wisdom to live in His world for His glory.

Then living with this generous gift of wisdom,

One of the amazing blessings of listening to a wise godly father is…

A life that is long and well lived

1. Proverbs 4:10 -¹⁰ Hear, my son, and accept my sayings And the years of your life will be many.

I want my kids to understand that one of the blessing of wisdom is that when you navigate life wisely and don’t make foolish mistakes that can cost you your life…whether it is texting and driving, getting into drugs, talking to strangers on the internet…taking care of your body by eating healthy and exercising…your years will be many

I also want my kids to understand the reality of innocent suffering and that even when they do the right thing the Lord might allow them to suffer for His glory….I want to prepare them to suffer well if life is hard.

I want them to know that even if they obey the Lord, we are still living in a sin-cursed world where there is death and destruction…I just want to teach them they can make choices that don’t lead down those paths because of their foolish choices.

1. Ephesians 6:1–4 –

As we come to a close, I want to point back to the beginning…if we are truly acquiring wisdom, we will find that there is one wise decision that needs to be made before all of the others…

The beginning of wisdom is a fear of the Lord…

The fear of the Lord only truly comes when we fall on our knees in awe and wonder of who God is and what He has done, and we acknowledge that without Him we are fools seeking to trust in our own understanding and walking on a path that leads to destruction.

Dad’s every one of us needs to consider today – Am I wise or am I a fool?

Because of our foolish, sinful hearts, death and condemnation are at the ends of our paths…But when we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, professing Jesus is Lord and believing that only by God’s grace can we be reconciled to our heavenly father through Christ’s blood, through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, only then will we find life, the years of your life will not just be many…He offers eternal life

Now that is Acquiring Wisdom – Dad, are you here today and you cannot say you have acquired wisdom…What better Father’s Day gift could you give to your family and friends today?

Lets pray….

As fathers may our instruction be godly and point our kids to the Lord…

May our instruction be useful and beautiful to the Lord and to others..

May our instruction be done out of love, even if we are disciplining our children and training them to live in a way that honors the Lord.

May our instruction bring life…first and foremost salvation and eternal life…but also a life well lived for the Lord.