Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
First Presbyterian Church of Ocean
City
Sermon –
Proverbs 9 - Miss Wisdom and Miss Folly
August 15, 2015
For
the last few weeks we have been looking at the biblical truth that the food we
eat comes from God. All food is a gift
from our creator. And so we should be
grateful, satisfied, and assured the God provides us food so that we will be
able to accomplish God's plan for our lives.
I
want you to continue today thinking about a basket of summer vegetables. The white corn and blue crabs are in the pot
of boiling water. The red tomatoes have
been sliced. The summer squash is
cooking in butter. Burgers and dogs are
on the grill. Potato salad is in
refrigerator. All the makings of a great
summertime feast are ready. But there is
a problem. We have received two
invitations to two feasts at the same time.
We can't go to both. So we have
to choose one or the other. Do we accept
the invitation we have received from Miss Wisdom or Miss Folly? We will get to this, but first let's pray.
May
the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your
sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
Let's start this morning with a
story about wisdom and foolishness.
Wanda
the Wise and Frederick the Foolish, who were walking through a field.
They were good friends and enjoyed their
strolls together.
On this walk, they came upon two
carrots. One of the carrots had large leaves sprouting out of the top and
the other looked much smaller from the surface.
Frederick was excited and ran up to the
carrot with the larger leaves.
“I’ll have this one,” he proudly exclaimed
and proceeded to extract it from the ground.
Wanda shrugged her shoulders and pulled out
the other carrot, which turned out to be much bigger.
Frederick was surprised and asked how this
could possibly be.
They kept on walking and came across another
pair of carrots, again with differing sized leaves.
This time Frederick allowed his friend the
first pick.
Wanda hopped to each carrot, inspected and
sniffed them carefully and, to Frederick’s surprise, chose the carrot with the
larger leaves.
As they each extracted their carrots from the
ground, Frederick was bemused to see that his carrot was smaller than Wanda’s.
“I thought that you said that small leaves
meant it would be a larger carrot.” He said.
“No,” replied Wanda, “I said don’t judge a
carrot by its leaves. It’s also important to remember to think before you
choose.”
Frederick nodded and they ate their carrots
before continuing their stroll.
For a third time, they found two carrots,
again with different sized leaves.
Frederick looked confused and didn’t know
what to do. Wanda indicated that he could choose which carrot to eat.
The poor foolish rabbit, pretended to inspect
each carrot, but he didn’t really know what to do. He knew that he wasn’t
as smart as his friend and he looked to Wanda with a confused expression on his
face.
Wanda smiled warmly and hopped over to the carrots.
She inspected them and pulled out one of the carrots.
Frederick shrugged his shoulders and went to
the other one before he was interrupted by his wise friend.
“No Frederick, this one’s your carrot,” she
said.
“But you made the choice and I’m sure it’s
the bigger one of the two. I don’t know how you do it, but I guess you’re
just smarter than me.”
“Frederick, there’s no point in having wisdom
if you’re not willing to share the benefits of it with others. You’re my
friend and I want you to have this carrot. A smart rabbit with a full
stomach but no friends isn’t really wise is she?”
“I guess you’re right,” said Frederick with a
full mouth, “As usual.”
http://betterlifecoachingblog.com/2012/01/13/the-two-rabbits-a-story-about-wisdom/
We
have received two invitations to two picnics at the same time. We have to choose one or the other. They have come from Miss Wisdom and Miss
Folly. Let's start by looking at the
invitation we have received from Miss Folly.
Proverbs 9:13-18 13 Folly
is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. 14 She sits at the door of her
house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, 15 calling out to those who pass
by, who go straight on their way, 16 “Let all who are simple come to my
house!” To those who have no
sense she says,
17 “Stolen
water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” 18 But little do they know that the dead
are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.
If
we accept this invitation from Miss Folly we will find her dressed most
seductively at the door of her house.
When she invites us in the door and the window shades will all be closed
so that our actions will be hidden from all who pass by her house. She will lead us to the most reckless and
thoughtless behaviors. She will lead us
away from the knowledge of God and teach us to lead a life of stupidity,
shamefulness, lawlessness and dishonor.
She entices untrained fools into her lair with the promise of a life of
pleasure. But her promises are really a
pack of lies because they lead not to life but to death. Her foolish ways leads us down a path to
destruction. Adultery with Miss Folly is
the just first step down a very slippery slope to your own ruin.
Miss Folly will not be content to lead us only
into sexual sin. She will also lead us
to cheat on God. The God we worship is a
jealous God. And when we worship other
gods: power, money, fame, alcohol,
drugs, sex, gambling, whatever is most important to us, we are violating the
covenant with the one God we are to love with all our hearts, souls and
minds. So be warned that if we dine at
the feast prepared by Miss Folly she will lead us to worship these other
gods. Miss
Folly’s invitation looks attractive. It
says it leads to the good life. But in
reality it leads to pain, hardship and death.
Let's look now at the second invitation to a great feast at the home of
Miss Wisdom.
Proverbs 9:1-6 Wisdom has built her house; she has set
up its seven pillars.
2 She
has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. 3 She
has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the
city, 4 “Let
all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says, 5 “Come, eat
my food and drink the wine I have mixed. 6 Leave your simple ways and you will
live; walk in the way of insight.”
If
we accept the invitation from Miss Wisdom we will dine in a home of seven
pillars representing the seven days it took God to create the world. Wisdom will provide us with the finest meal
of meat, bread and wine. This feast is
open to everyone. Wisdom has gone to the
effort of sending her servants out to gather us up. Everyone is invited to dine at her
table. And everyone who eats at her
table will receive the greatest gift of all the gift of eternal life.
So
which invitation do we accept? Do we go
to Miss Folly's banquet for the dubious promise of pleasure? Or do we go to Miss Wisdom's feast do dine on
the bread of heaven? Since Miss Folly
will lead you to foolishness and death, and since Miss Wisdom will lead you to
Christ and eternal life, I suggest that we do the wise thing and accept Miss
Wisdom's invitation. What do you say?
There
seems to be many of us who desire to go to Miss Wisdom's banquet. How do we get there? Does anyone have the address? Can we use a GPS? Here it is, the address for Miss Wisdom's
house.
Proverbs
9:10 The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
So
the way to get to Miss Wisdom's banquet is to start with an appropriate fear of
God and then add to this knowledge of God.
Follow this route and you will arrive at Miss Wisdom's home just in time
for the great banquet. Fear of the Lord
is developed in worship where we bow down before God confessing our sins. Knowledge of God comes from the reading,
preaching and teaching of the Word of God.
So the way to Miss Wisdom's banquet is to come to worship and Bible
studies as often as you can. Worship
and Bible study will give you the wisdom you need to get to Miss Wisdom's
feast.
And
what will you eat when you get to Miss Wisdom's dining table? Well, you will eat the bread the God gives
you that leads to eternal life. Let's
hear what Jesus had to say about this bread.
John 6:35 35 Then
Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me
will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
This
means that whenever we gather around this table for the Lord's Supper we are
actually dining at Miss Wisdom's house.
Our worship, Bible studies and communion are done for two purposes: to bring the people of God to an appropriate
respect of God and knowledge of God in Jesus Christ. The church therefore must be located in Miss
Wisdom's house. We are already here.
So
you have a choice. You can accept the
invitation from Miss Folly and find yourself following a path of foolishness,
destruction and death. Or you can accept
the invitation of Miss Wisdom, come to church, find God in Jesus Christ, and
receive eternal life. The choice is
yours.
I
almost forgot to remind you that Miss Wisdom sent out her servants to gather
people for the feast. Those servants
would be you, the believers. You are the
ones who are to invite people to Wisdom's feast. Don't abandon people to Miss Folly's
destruction. That would be a most
foolish thing to do. Rather invite
people to Miss Wisdom's feast. Bring
people to church where through worship, and Bible study and communion people
will feed on the bread of eternal life.
That would be a most wise thing to do.
And you want to be wise? Don't
you? Of course we all want to be
wise. We all want to feast at Wisdom’s
table. And so we invite people to
worship and Bibles studies so that we all might all grow in God's wisdom.
Sadly,
this morning most people in Ocean City are visiting Miss Folly. Miss Folly loves drinking and late night
parties. Summertime in Ocean City is one
of her favorite hangouts. But the people
who come here to visit her are doomed to a life of destruction and death. She is not the way to go. So when you get out of here today and visit
the beach, the boardwalk, the shops and the restaurants you will see people who
have been seduced by Miss Folly. Tell
them the good news of Miss Wisdom's great feast. It's easy to find. It right here at church. Tell them the good news of the bread that
leads to eternal live. Bless them with
an alternative to Miss Folly's path of destruction. Tell them about Jesus, church, and Miss
Wisdom's feast.
And
so we all desire to be wise. Wisdom comes
from an appropriate an appropriate reverence of God and knowledge of the God of
the Bible. You find this wisdom in
church though worship and Bible study.
As we gain in wisdom we discover that Jesus Christ is the bread from
heaven. We are reminded of this in our
monthly sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
As we feast of Jesus' teachings we become wise to the fact that we have
already begun our eternal life.
So
rejoice in the good news that we have received an invitation to a great feast
of summer vegetables.from Miss Wisdom.
Let's accept her invitation and invite others to come with us. Let's pray.
Father
in heaven we thank you for the great feast we enjoy. Bless us as we devour your word to gain
wisdom and insights in our world. Bless
us with eternal life as we feast on you word, Jesus our Savior. Amen.
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