This afternoon, we continue our study of wisdom as we take the book of Proverbs and consider the instruction given to us for wisdom from Solomon. And I ask you to turn with me to chapter one of the book of Proverbs. And if you'll stand with me, I'll read in your hearing verses eight and nine of chapter one of the book of Proverbs. This is God's holy word. Let us hear and heed chapter one of Proverbs, beginning at verse eight. My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother. for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. Thus says the reading of God's holy word, let us beseech his mercy in the preaching of it. Great God and merciful Father, we ask that this your word should be planted firmly in our heart that we may understand it and bear the spirit so ministering to us may cause it to spring up and bear fruit to the glory of our Savior. We ask these things in his holy name, amen. As we consider what is set before us here in verses eight and nine, I'd like to make my way through verse nine as well, but we'll probably only make it through verse eight this afternoon. remember what we have gained already. We have an introduction by Solomon to his work of introducing the study of wisdom. He gives that introduction, the first seven verses, and then proceeds through the first nine chapters to build for us the mind and the approach that allows the acquisition of wisdom. And As we considered that last week, we looked at, especially verse 7, and we considered what Solomon taught us about building wisdom. There is a scaffolding involved and a foundation. And we considered that scaffolding that Solomon describes in the earlier verses when he describes the way wisdom is presented. It's presented, as we discussed, in the form of Hebrew poetry. Now, some may suggest this seems an unlikely vehicle for giving wisdom. But that misses what is going on in the use of Hebrew poetry. provides for extended metaphors, all sorts of structures in that scaffolding that do a unique work. Poetry is unique as a form of language that powerfully stretches the imagination in ways that God intends in the subtlety of acquiring wisdom. God was not constrained by some necessity to use poetry because he couldn't do it with some better means. No, no, he who designed language, he who is known by bringing all things into existence by his word, he who describes the incarnate son of God as the word is, of course, a master. of communication and language, and that master chose Hebrew poetry as the ideal vehicle, the best means of communicating wisdom to us in the book of Proverbs. And it's because poetry is marvelously unique in its use of language. It stretches our thinking in ways that capture the attention, invite meditation, causes us as it were, to be startled by a way of saying something we had not considered, and so helps us grasp new insight, it elevates the imagination with beauty. It can condense complex ideas into short, powerful, and arresting statements, but it can just as easily unpack simple ideas into memorable ways that we would never have thought otherwise. All of this is especially well-suited for the pursuit of wisdom, that art of living in a manner well-pleasing to the Lord for His glory with skill and maturity in His created order. So along with that scaffolding, the structures used to communicate wisdom, we also considered what Solomon says about the foundation necessary for building wisdom. We saw that the fear of the Lord is the first principle from which our pursuit of wisdom must come, not simply as a starting place from which we move on, no, but rather as a platform upon which wisdom is built. Further, we asked, what is that fear of the Lord and why? Is that the first principle? Why is it the foundation necessary if we are to grow in wisdom? If that is to be a fruitful building, why must the fear of the Lord be its foundation? We saw that the fear of the Lord is a grateful reverence, a loving respect, a reverent awe for who God is such that we dread the thought of offending Him, and we long to honor Him. Thus, those who fear the Lord must know who God is, as he has revealed himself in his word, and not as they would have him to be in their own imaginations. The fear of the Lord entertains only the highest thoughts of God, as required of us in the third commandment. And so studying and meditating upon God's attributes, his word, his works, will move the redeemed to an ever-increasing fear of the Lord. We considered what I thought to be an excellent definition of that fear of the Lord. from Dr. Richard Belcher, and he puts it this way. The fear of the Lord refers primarily to a subjective response of humility, love, and trust in God. Humility, love, and trust in God. So that a person is willing to submit his or her life to the ways of God. It is a God-centered view of life that includes a reverence for God. As the beginning of knowledge, the fear of the Lord is the first and controlling principle of a person's life. Without it, wisdom as defined by God is not attainable. And as he highlights there, it's that response in the believer of humility, love, and trust that's exactly what's needed to frame the soul in a way necessary if we are to be learners in God's school of wisdom. The fool is the exact opposite of all those things. He lacks humility, love, and devotion to God, wholehearted, full trust in God. And so he can't build, he has no foundation, but those who fear the Lord and are growing in that reverent humility, love, and trust. They have a sure foundation for the building of wisdom. Now, as we take up verse eight, we have set before us another critical aspect in how we will grow in wisdom, and it's in the language Solomon uses as he begins this next section. He begins with familial language, the language of family. He says, my son, hear the instruction of your father. He speaks with a loving longing that is known in family relations. This was not an afterthought, as you can well imagine. The whole introduction. Solomon is using that familial language. It's critical that we be framed in that kind of disposition, and much is packed into Solomon's use of that familial language. Notice that he does this throughout these opening chapters. Chapter two begins with, my son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you, he goes on to instruct. Chapter three begins, my son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. Chapter four begins, hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to no understanding. Chapter five begins. My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to my understanding. Chapter six continues. My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands and pledged for a stranger, and then he gives instruction to a son as a father. Chapter seven. My son, keep my words. treasure my commands within you. And that whole framework of speaking as a father to a son is packed with meaning for us. We see here, first of all, the natural context for the cultivation of wisdom in family relationships. Is this not because the family is designed by God as the natural place of learning? Deuteronomy mentions this in chapter six in those familiar first nine verses. Now, this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you. and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words, which I command you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. This context for the revelation of God is pressed upon family duties. This should be obvious to us. This, the family, is the place where the child grows into all of life, learning to walk, to talk, to work, to serve, to love. All of this learning should have in view glorious aims of the one who formed the family for these purposes. The family was made by God, and he had a glorious purpose in the design of the family. Many purposes, not the least of which he highlights here, and so it's no surprise that Solomon takes up that language as the language for teaching and learning wisdom. There are, for us here, considering this purpose for the natural family, implications for why our denomination especially encourages homeschooling. It's not exclusive. We don't bind the conscience, but we recognize, given this, there's a treasure that God has for multiple generations. that is most beautifully cultivated when training is maximized in the household. Each of the family relations, then, is implicated in the pursuit of wisdom. When Sullivan takes up that language, he wants us to understand that all the relationships involved in that language have something to do with the pursuit of wisdom. He speaks of the father and mother instructing and teaching. My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother. The law here is the broad term for authoritative teaching. And remember that corrected and chastening that's implied in instruction. as it's used here. It has that idea of a discipline, of a chastening and correction and instruction. We see in this language the parents working together in the pursuit and passing on of wisdom. Both have a charge and duty here, the father and the mother. Charles Bridges and Matthew Henry both remark on the uniqueness of this divine institution of the natural family and the instruction that is included for both father and mother. Father and mother must be in harmony on the wisdom that is being pursued. They must make common cause in lovingly bringing their children to wisdom. They must both be in possession of some measure of that wisdom if they are to pass it on. And so, as parents, how ought we then to live? Does that imply about how we live in relationship as a family, we who are parents? Consider how parents ought to be pursuing wisdom themselves. This needs to be an apprenticeship they have already taken up and have achieved some level of mastery so that they may train those in their charge. In this, they also prepare by their pursuit to pass on wisdom through discipline and teaching. Note that parents must look for and cultivate a right and loving respect, reverence, in their children that will provide a foundation for teaching in the home and sows the seeds of understanding what the fear of the Lord is. How does a child learn? What it means to have a loving reverence for God that the scriptures describe as a fear of the Lord. The seeds are sown for that in the loving relationship that calls for reverence, respect, and love in the parent and child relationship. God, in his beautiful design, has a multi-generational view for the family, a project, pursuit in the cause of acquired wisdom. The child is also called upon. As Henry says, this obligation that is implied for the father and mother implies an obligation on the child as well, to receive and to retain, to hear and to hold what is given by the parents. This is God's design for children. But consider, children are almost universally indisposed to this naturally. Remember what we're told later in Proverbs, in chapter 22, verse 15, foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. The rod of correction will drive it far from you. Now, consider God's design here for the family. If you do any research, in the design and project of public schooling as it was formed in the early 1900s. It goes farther back than that, but someone like Dewey, for example, if you look it up, they have a vision for public schooling that they believed held for an advance of humanity into the future by getting the children away from the parents and mixing them together in their own age group where the next stage of humanity could come to its fullness. These are men drunk on their own madness. What do we actually know is true? That the child, as he comes naturally into the world, has something bound up in his heart that will come out. It's called foolishness. He's naturally indisposed to the heart of wisdom. But God has a solution. It's in the home, it's in the family where loving devotion will correct with the rod, with the discipline of parenting to drive away the foolishness and replace it with God's wisdom. And just as the duties of parents call for loving diligence and direction on their part, so these duties of children call for the same on their part. And so, Children, you're never too young for the pursuit of wisdom. Do you love the Lord Christ? Do you love Jesus? Then show your love for him by growing in wisdom through the help of your parents. Love them, respect them, heed them, obey them. It's God's design. If you love him and you want more of his, Manifest work in your life. He has a path for growing in wisdom, divine wisdom. It involves your parents in a loving, respectful, obedient relationship. Cultivate that in your life. And just as none are too young that we may hope for their pursuit of wisdom, none are too old to be heeding and holding, receiving and retaining the wisdom of God from parents. The way we receive it will change with our station in life. But we've all been children. We've all had parents. We may continue to draw out wisdom from our parents as we meditate on their instruction long after they're no longer able to give us that instruction. And the reverence we must show in this does not expire Respect for our parents may take a different form as our station in life changes, but we do not outgrow the fifth commandment to honor our father and mother in this very thing. And note the implication that this is to be multi-generational. We easily fall into a way of thinking that's isolated to the here and now, and only the people we know. It's an unbiblical way of thinking. And, unsurprisingly, we see a correction of that way of thinking in what's implied in the familial relations in the pursuit of wisdom. Now, that's actually made explicit. That multi-generational way of thinking is made explicit by Solomon as he is preparing us for a mind that will pursue wisdom in chapter four, the first five verses. Now, listen and acquire this multi-generational perspective for the family in the pursuit of wisdom. the instruction of a father, and give attention to no understanding, for I give you good doctrine. Do not forsake my law. When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, let your heart retain my words. Keep my commands and live. Get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do you hear what Solomon's saying? I'm about a work here, son. I want you to have wisdom. And I'm passing on to you something that's been built in my life because my father passed it on to me. We desperately need that vision. We tend to be, in American evangelicalism, in the thrall of a rather truncated view, one which I will make bold to say is in some measure due to a Baptistic way of thinking, in very isolated ways of individuals who are converted and have an individual duty in pursuing the working out of their salvation, until they go to heaven. And indeed, as you start to investigate the mindset about churches, most churches think in those terms of very truncated views. They consider their church as having a place right now, and that's it. There's no other thought than, what is our place right now? The pursuit of wisdom teaches us to think differently than that in the family, and there are implications as well, not only for the natural family, but also for the spiritual family. We are to be multigenerational and intentionally multigenerational in our pursuit of wisdom. This should extend our vision. We're not only pursuing wisdom for our own sake or dispensing with a duty to instruct just our children. We are looking to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before and extend with reverence that reach of wisdom to the generations that are yet to come. That is how we should treasure this calling and treat it with that level of importance. What I'm doing is honoring the one who gave me wisdom as he had it by God's grace and mercy. And I am seeking to pass that on, not just for your benefit, my son, but for those who will come many generations after you Hear my word, treasure it, hold on to it, pass it on. These family relations and duties from the holy metaphor of instruction and wisdom in the book of Proverbs applies not only to the natural family, also to the spiritual family. We're to think multi-generationally. Our Heavenly Father has extended this holy metaphor into our relationships in the family of God. Does not Christ instruct us weekly in His wisdom, by His messenger, ministering to us His word? Paul speaks in these terms with loving words in his description of his ministry to the Corinthians. It's more than simple instruction. He says that he's exercising fatherly care in a spiritual way. He speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 14. Hear what he says. He says to the Corinthians, I do not write these things to shame you. He's offering them correction. But as my beloved children, I warn you, For though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you, imitate me. Stand on my shoulders, he's saying. For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord. who will remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills, and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod or in love and a spirit? of gentleness. You hear the familial language that he's using in the context of the church. He's taking up the truths of the natural family and applying them to the spiritual family in our duty to hear and heed the instruction of Christ from the minister of Christ. And so this should shape our vision into a multi-generational vision in the natural family and in the spiritual family. How do we apply this then in our lives? We've already touched on some of those things. No matter, we might say, how our natural family relations may have been frail, broken, limited, either by failings on parents or failings on the part of children in rebellion, there is still something for us here, by way of reverence and learning, that we should seek and pursue for the increase of wisdom. We may come from broken homes or a history of our own rebellion where none of the dynamics were right and according to God's design. If so, then we have a duty, even to learn from those failings, to see the contrast in what I experienced, what I did, with what God intends. Are we cultivating our own life and the lives of those for whom we are responsible, so that wisdom is more accessible. Everything in our world today is aligned against this. We must be vigilant and attentive to pursue this. Now we have not only our natural family, but that extended spiritual family in the church, and here we must make a diligent use of every avenue by which Christ will form the wisdom of his word in us. Here in his church, in his worship, we read the word, we pray according to the word, we sing the word, we preach the word. Let us feast on the word for the transforming of our minds and the equipping of our character for wisdom. Here we have spiritual siblings, brothers and sisters, and we are to be building one another up, exhorting one another, as it says in Hebrews 3, verse 13. Surely this includes exhorting and building up in the pursuit of wisdom as well. And as we must think multi-generationally about many generations to come, if God blesses in the natural family, so too in the spiritual family. We need to catch that vision for the church, for Brainerd Hills Presbyterian Church. We want to labor here and now in our devotion so that God will bless not only our labors here and now, But for hundreds of years to come, if Christ will be so merciful. That's how seriously we should cultivate the families gathered, the brothers and sisters. We should love one another in such a way that it naturally leads to the propagation of the wisdom of Christ. for generations and generations to come in his spiritual family, just as in his design for the natural family. And so it's a mighty, broad, and magnificent charge, and one that is very difficult to get our heads wrapped around. As we mentioned, everything in our world today tends in the opposite direction. We are designed by the world's methods to think of the here and now. And that spreads into how we view our place in Christ's calling for the natural family as well as the spiritual family. We must work against that intentionally. We must broaden our vision to that multi-generational call. God granting, next week, we'll look at the rewards. Here, we looked at the relationships of wisdom Next week, the rewards of that wisdom in those relationships. Let's beseech God's mercy in the word we received this afternoon. Let's pray. Holy Father, we confess that we are indisposed, disinclined to this way of thinking. And yet how desperately we recognize we need it. Your design is a beautiful design. We wish to see the kingdom of Christ prosper. We wish to see it magnified, multi-generationally. In the natural family, as those natural families are the building blocks you've used to construct the spiritual family and the visible church. There you convert our souls and you do an inward work that pours out into those natural and spiritual callings. Make them, we pray, in our vision, multi-generational. Cause us to pursue that reverent, diligent humility that is the seedbed of that fear of the Lord, that is the foundation. And from that foundation, build us in wisdom that we may instruct others in that wisdom. Oh, Father, bless in a multigenerational way for your glory and the beauty of your design. We pray it in Christ's holy name. Amen.