Wisdom VS Folly

The overarching theme in the book of Proverbs is Wisdom; what is it, where does it come form, how do we get it, etc.  I love Proverbs because of its practicality.  I want to do what’s right so just tell me what to do.  I was recently studying Proverbs chapter six to share with my Sunday School class and thought I would put my notes online here so others would have the references.

Resources I used to help prepare for this message:

• Audio Message – “Wisdom” by Mark Driscoll.
• Audio Message – “What Is Adultery?” by Voddie Baucham.
• ESV Online Study Bible
• Blue Letter Bible

What is wisdom?  Dictionary.com defines it as “Knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgement as to action.”  i.e. “Knowing and doing what is right.”  Or even simpler… applied knowledge.

Where does wisdom come from?  True wisdom comes from God.  Prov. 1:7 – “… fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  James 1:5 – “If you lack wisdom ask God for it.”  And Prov. 3:19 – “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth.”

There are a few myths we have when it come to wisdom.

1. Age = Wisdom.  Theoretically this should be true because experience is one way we can learn wisdom.  But of course we know this isn’t always true or else the oldest people we know would always be the wisest people we know and we can feel safe going to them for council.
2. Intellect = Wisdom.  Some think that just because God has gifted someone with the ability to absorb knowledge and be very book smart, that that always translates into wisdom.  We all know people who are smarter than us, but don’t have very much common sense or “street smarts”
3. Education = Wisdom.  Lastly, some think that the more schooling someone has, the wiser they are.  Just because someone has a ton of degrees and knows more about a certain area than you may, doesn’t mean they are wise.  If that were true then people who had degrees that required the most school (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.) would be the wisest people we know.  Not necessarily.

How is wisdom learned?  Through experience, the council of others, and the Bible.  The book of Proverbs teaches wisdom a lot of times by contrasting wisdom with folly.  ‘The wise man does this, but the fool does this’.  Sometimes it’s easy to see what we should do by seeing what is wrong.

What is folly?  Lack of sense, or lack of judgment.  Unwise.  But, folly is not necessarily sin.  There are a lot of choices that we make that wouldn’t qualify as sin… they’re just dumb!  Though folly can and sometimes does lead to sin.  It puts you in situations that are not good, right, or healthy.

Proverbs 6 1-19 gives us a few practical warnings against folly.

Warning against co-signing loans.  6:1-5

Again, it’s not a sin to co-sign a loan with someone, it’s just not smart.  It gives the picture of being caught in a trap. It doesn’t make sense to co-sign. The bank has all the money and based on the person’s history, doesn’t trust them with a loan. You have no money, (or else you would loan or give it to them), thinking you know better than the bank, you put yourself in a tough spot for someone else.

2 Lessons:

1. Don’t co-sign.
2. Don’t put someone else in that position

Warning against laziness. 6:6-11

Laziness isn’t necessarily a sin, it’s just not smart.  Paul says if you don’t work, you don’t eat.  Laziness could lead to sin if you are not providing for your family as you are commanded to do.  Statistically we are getting less and less sleep and yet still complaining about not having enough time in the day.  How is that?  The amount of time in front of the TV and internet is steadily on the rise. Maybe we have too much entertainment.  It’s not a sin to Sabbath.  Sin is neglecting the Sabbath to do the things you needed to do in the week, but were too busy with entertainment.

3 things that help me when I get out of balance:

• Plate – Know what I can and can’t do. Honestly assess how much I can handle. How big is your plate?
• Prioritize – Arrange the most important things on my plate in order of importance.
• Prune – If it doesn’t fit…Kill it.  Heb. 12:1-Throw off sin and everything that hinders… Whether it’s morally sinful or morally neutral, if it hinders your race, throw it off.

Warning against crookedness and discord. 6:12-15

2 Warnings here:

1. Watch out for those who are always looking for a way to twist every situation to their own benefit.
2. Don’t be that person.

What God hates. 6:16-19

Verses 12-15 and 16-19 flow together with the focus of v. 16-19 being on the seventh thing the author mentions. We read the first 6 and agree with all of them, but tend to look over the 7th or think it’s not quite as “bad” as the others. But the Bible says a person who stirs up discord among his brothers is an abomination to God. We in the church, don’t need to stir things up just because something isn’t working out the way we want. AND we don’t need to tolerate others who do so. It’s useless and harmful.

Warning against adultery. 6:20-35

Why does Proverbs mention adultery so much?

1. Because he is trying to reveal to us how our relationship with God is similar to a marriage covenant and when we worship anyone or anything else, it’s like we are committing adultery on God.
2. It’s mentioned so much because God hates it. He hates what it does.

To fully understand this we have to look at the Biblical purposes for marriage.

1. Procreation-Genesis 1. The first commandment God gave was to “be fruitful and multiply.” This is not just having kids, but raising them in the fear and instruction of the Lord that we might take dominion as He commanded. BE FRUITFUL, NOT JUST MULTIPLY! Adultery opens us up to illegitimate children outside of our covenant relationship, thereby denying one set or both sets of children the parenting God requires in order for us to raise them the way He has commanded.
2. Sanctification-1 Cor. 7:1-5. Not the Greek/Roman romantic love America is infatuated with. Our culture just has it wrong! God gave us marriage in order to satisfy those desires that He gave us within a relationship that glorifies Him. Adultery takes those desires and fulfills them in a relationship that is outside of the context and covenant God established. It is, in essence, saying, “God, I know best. I know you set this up to meet my desires, my desires aren’t being met and I’m not satisfied with what you have set up. I’m going to do my own thing because I know best how to meet my needs.” It’s idolatry.
3. Illustration.  Rev. 19:5-8. Illustrates the relationship between Christ and His church. We’re painting a picture of how Christ loves us and cares for us.

Adultery is a perversion of the gospel. This picture of Christ who is forever faithful to His bride, sacrifices adn dies for His bride…Adultery turns that on it’s head. We were never meant to be fully satisfied this side of Heaven. That’s why God hates adultery. That’s why Proverbs mentions it so much. It destroys families, works against sanctification, and perverts the Gospel.

Jesus takes it a step further and lets the people know what God was after when He gave the 7th commandment. They thought it was all about the “act” of adultery. Jesus says “no,” if you lust after another person you have already agreed in your heart to commit adultery, already given yourself to another. You just haven’t had a chance to consummate the relationship yet. The “act” just exposes your heart.