This afternoon we are continuing our study of the book of Proverbs, and I ask you to turn with me in your scriptures to Proverbs chapter 1. We are examining a part of Solomon's introduction in verses 8 and 9 of chapter 1. If you'll stand together, I'll read in your hearing these verses. and will set our attention particularly upon verse 9 this afternoon. People of God, this is the very Word of Almighty God, holy, infallible, inerrant in all its parts. Let us hear and heed. 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 ends the reading of God's Holy Word. Let us ask His blessing upon it. Most Holy Father, please give us ears to hear and eyes to see. and cause us to heed carefully the word of Christ to us for the transformation of our souls for his glory. We ask it in his name, amen. You may be seated. As we examined particularly verse eight last week, we saw that Solomon taught us in context that we need a foundation for learning wisdom. That foundation in the fear of the Lord, as we saw in verse seven, prepares us to receive the instruction of wisdom because it destroys pride, causes us to hate sin, and humbles us before God. And then Solomon takes up the language of family to begin the next part of his instruction. God has made the family a place of learning and instruction, and it is uniquely suited for training us in wisdom. Solomon's use of family language reminds us and instructs us with regard to the duties of our natural family. All members of the family the natural family, are involved in the pursuit of wisdom. Father and mother must be diligent to cultivate wisdom in their children, and to that end, they must be cultivating wisdom in their own lives. Children must be diligent in receiving and remembering the discipline and instruction of wisdom received from their parents. And as the family is not only in one generation, but it's multi-generational. So our vision for receiving and growing in wisdom ought to be multi-generational. Those who are parents should draw upon the wisdom they received from their own parents, and building upon that, invest in their children a double portion, and look forward to the grandchildren, if God grants it. that they may have an even greater abundance in growing in wisdom. The scriptures expand our understanding of family relations from the natural family into the church family as the place of learning and instruction, growing and gaining in wisdom. And in the church, the household of God, those who are charged to care for God's household lovingly guide and instruct the children of God in the mind of Christ, in the wisdom that comes from above. And in the church, that same multi-generational concern in the pursuit of wisdom expands to the hope of a thousand generations of those who love the Lord and keep his commandments. So Solomon is situating us perfectly for learning wisdom. We're humbled reverent before a holy God in the fear of the Lord, hating sin and loving righteousness. We are loving and respectful as God's children, ready to learn from Him without arguing and without disputing. And so we considered that family context in verse eight. Now, having examined the relations of wisdom, Solomon encourages us with the rewards of wisdom in verse 9. For that instruction and that law will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. Wisdom brings demonstrations of favor and privilege. This is what is meant by the graceful ornament on the head, it's like a crown, and the chain around the neck. Together, these carry that idea of honor and elevated privilege. We have many examples of that, not only in the Proverbs, but elsewhere. In Proverbs 4, verses 8 and 9, speaking of wisdom, we hear these words, exalt her and she will promote you. She will bring you honor when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory she will deliver to you." And so, wisdom, as it is absorbed and lived out, will, in God's good order, bring privilege and honor in the life of those receiving it and living according to it. We have other examples of those who are wise receiving those very things. Joseph is an example in Genesis 41. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot, which he had, and they cried out before him, bow the knee. So he set him over all the land of Egypt. Joseph, living out wisdom, received honor as a result of the wisdom that he had from God and lived out in the service of God before others. Daniel is another example. In Daniel chapter five, verse 29, then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. We see honor and elevation of privilege in these lives. These emblems of esteem and honor are used even in our own day. There are crowns given in pageants to signify an honor, an award. There are medals that are given as rewards of honor hung around the neck. Think of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Olympic medals. Again, we can relate the privilege and honor displayed through symbols that represent that. But let us note that these examples that Proverbs put forward are not first and foremost to be thought of as materialistic promises. Indeed, this is part of what we learn in the life of Job, right? That there's not a one-to-one reward where everything will be abundant to you materially if you live in accord with wisdom. Job was certainly living in obedience, in the fear of the Lord, and was wise. But for a time, God had appointed not elevation, not privilege, but rather lowliness and suffering. see all the hardships as well in the life of Joseph and in the life of Daniel. They grew in the graces that come from wisdom spiritually, even through the hardships they experienced. The reward is first spiritual and has to do with the intimacy of our relationship with God. But in the ordinary providence of God, in his ordinary relations, in his created order, there will be a standing out on the part of those who manifest wisdom. Ordinarily, they will, as the writer of Proverbs says, not be left in obscurity. Wisdom will carry them forward. He says, we have this recorded in Proverbs 22, verse 29, do you see a man who excels in his work? He will, in other words, that he's skillfully mastered that which is at his hand. He will not stand, or he will stand before kings, he will not stand before unknown men. There's a natural progression in elevation that wisdom brings in privilege and in honor. And again, Joseph is an example, but of course in a supernaturally gifted way with wisdom, as well as in the graces that wisdom produces. You remember what he experienced in Potiphar's house. He lived out wisdom and was elevated to a place of prominence because of that wisdom, and He lived consistent with it in righteousness. The same thing happened when he was caused to suffer and was thrown into jail. He again, through the exercise of wisdom, rose to a place of prominence and honor. Finally, in Pharaoh's house, he was given that place of prominence and honor. God may withhold for his holy, wise, and just purposes all those outward manifestations of honor and privilege if, in his providential purposes, he has appointed suffering and loneliness. We still ought to pursue wisdom for its spiritual ends, for that intimacy that it produces, those inward graces in communion with God, that elevation and privilege of walking more in accord with God's appointments in His good order. But as we consider those spiritual graces that accompany wisdom, consider too, in the context of the family relations of verse eight, what is said first in the poetry. Yes, it holds out symbolically elevation and honor, as the graceful ornament on the head, as the chains about the neck would symbolize. But in the immediate context, understand that the instruction of a father, the law of the mother, are in fact the graceful ornament, the honor about the neck. Children, do you consider the instruction of your father your greatest privilege, the law of your mother, your greatest honor, if you lay hold of them, retain them, heed them, hold on to them, they themselves are tokens of honor and privilege that you've had a parent who has invested in you that which is of greatest value, the wisdom of God. Is that how you consider the instruction of your parents? Is that how you consider the guidance of your grandparents, as we think multi-generational? Parents, as we consider how we may honor our children, we may think first of getting them a great college education, leaving an inheritance, getting them established in a business. These are all good things that the writer of Proverbs would indicate, show wisdom on the part of parents. But what's the highest honor you can invest in your children? Is it not the instruction of wisdom? Is it not the practical living out of the law of God in those details of life where they need your guidance? This calls us to have a different perspective than we might naturally in our day. What is of highest value? What is the greatest sign of honor? In the family relations, we're given a way to look at that. And it's different than what the world would think. So let us tune ourselves to the guidance of wisdom for our children. Let us pursue wisdom to pass it on multi-generational. We must also consider how we approach the desire for God's honor and elevation. Do we think, in terms materially, that if God is pleased with me, then he will elevate me in some outward way? He will give me some outward honor? The writer of Proverbs has indicated, and the scriptures reveal, God does that in His ordinary providence quite often. But we should be tuned, as we saw the context of the family, we should be tuned to God's greater honor, that increased intimacy of being honored by God, in understanding His ways, in living according to them, in having greater insight. in how we live in accord with His created order to His glory. And so let us beseech the Lord these mercies that we'll think rightly about the receiving and retaining of wisdom in all our relationships and especially spiritually as we receive and retain that wisdom He ministers to us from His word in the ministry of the word. Let us pray. Most Holy Father, we ask that we would have an eye tuned to what is indeed of greatest value, that which is true honor. We are easily swayed by the world to look for other tokens of honor, riches, esteem in the eyes of men. But these, though you may grant them to the wise, These are not what we should desire most. We should desire the honor of knowing the ways and living in the wisdom of Christ our Savior. Even if we are called to a low place for your purposes, help us to value that which is truly honorable, that which is truly an elevated and esteemed thing. And so we pray that in our natural relations, we may prioritize properly. We as parents, we pray that we may see the great honor that we bestow upon our children by loving and living wisdom and instructing them in it. And may children value the great privilege of hearing and heeding the instruction of a father the law of a mother, being guided in the ways of wisdom. And so, cultivate in us these desires for what is truly honorable, what is a true privilege and esteemed position. Teach us wisdom, we pray. In Christ's name, amen.