What the Wise Eat for Dinner, Proverbs 9J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended September 5, 2010
Wisdom has built her house. This is not a pre-fab, zero lot line, suburban home. This is a stately manor, with a large fence and gate to keep out those who don’t belong. Mahogany, granite and marble are used throughout with great attention paid to detail.
This house has seven pillars holding up the porch. This is really more than it needs but it communicates something – stability and protection.
She is getting ready for a dinner party. The crystal, china, and silverware are all laid out and sparkling. Her dinner makes anyone else’s look like a cheap diner. She has meat grown on her farm, vegetables from her garden – even the butter is homemade. Nothing here is out of the box.
She isn’t doing this just because she is a perfectionist. She is expecting someone special. This preparation points more to the person that is coming than her. That person is you. She even comes looking for you. You would think you would invite people that know how to use all the silverware and thus appreciate all her hard work, but she invites those that aren’t like her. She invites the simple and the naïve, those who lack discretion – the fools.
Just because she has prepared it for you doesn’t mean you have no other choices. There is another invitation.
This other invitation looks exactly like wisdom’s invitation. It looks exactly the same but it is counterfeit. The invitation comes from Folly and she really can’t compete with Wisdom.
Folly is boisterous, loud and exciting. She can draw people in. From all outward signs it seems the same as Wisdom’s party but she is stupid. She is even more simpleminded than the simpleminded that she invites.
She makes no effort at all. She doesn’t even offer take-out food to her guests. She serves leftovers from another person’s party taken from the trash. She has done nothing to her house to get it ready for you. She serves on paper plates with used silverware. She doesn’t even care enough to get out of her seat to invite you. She just sees you on the way to Wisdom’s party and stops you.
The really strange thing is that she has bones of dead people in her closet. They died from eating her rotten food. To eat her food is to die. To accept her invitation is to accept death.
Why would anyone eat there? She is very subtle. She is not going to let you know about her preparations. She is very seductive. Admittedly, those who eat there do have a good time. There is fun in carnality – for a season. She is strangely attractive even though death follows. Her greatest secret is that she tells everyone exactly what they want to here. “I would never tell you you’re wrong. You are fine!”, she says. She feeds on people’s pride and ego and most people listen to her. She makes them who have nothing think they have something. She leads many astray by just offering a good time – pleasure.
The choice of where you dine determines your final destination. The invitations are similar but the destinations are not.
To choose wisdom is to choose Christ. To choose folly is to reject Christ.
Sin never tells you you’re wrong. The person who accepts the invitation of folly does not fear God. He hates Christ and loves his sin. Coming to Christ takes humility – if it takes anything.
Wisdom invites us to dine with her in her stately manor, eating her well-prepared meal, drinking from her choice wine, enjoying her company, and she invites us into an intimate relationship with her. This invitation of wisdom is the invitation to choose the way of wisdom and choose the way of life.
Folly invites us to dine with her at her house, eating her food in secret, drinking her stolen water, enjoy her company, and she invites us into an intimate relationship with her. This invitation of folly is the invitation to choose the way of folly and to choose the way of eternal death.
Those who are proud of heart will always choose the way of folly. Their refusal to submit to wisdom’s call and acknowledge their need for wisdom will lead them down the path of destruction. Their desire to hold on to life will ultimately cause them to lose their life. Thus it is with all those who refuse to take instruction.
In all humility, tell the Lord through prayer that you desperately need Him. Acknowledge your own folly, acknowledge your lack of wisdom, acknowledge your need for Him, and embrace the wisdom that comes from God alone.
NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.
Wisdom has built her house. This is not a pre-fab, zero lot line, suburban home. This is a stately manor, with a large fence and gate to keep out those who don’t belong. Mahogany, granite and marble are used throughout with great attention paid to detail.
This house has seven pillars holding up the porch. This is really more than it needs but it communicates something – stability and protection.
She is getting ready for a dinner party. The crystal, china, and silverware are all laid out and sparkling. Her dinner makes anyone else’s look like a cheap diner. She has meat grown on her farm, vegetables from her garden – even the butter is homemade. Nothing here is out of the box.
She isn’t doing this just because she is a perfectionist. She is expecting someone special. This preparation points more to the person that is coming than her. That person is you. She even comes looking for you. You would think you would invite people that know how to use all the silverware and thus appreciate all her hard work, but she invites those that aren’t like her. She invites the simple and the naïve, those who lack discretion – the fools.
Just because she has prepared it for you doesn’t mean you have no other choices. There is another invitation.
This other invitation looks exactly like wisdom’s invitation. It looks exactly the same but it is counterfeit. The invitation comes from Folly and she really can’t compete with Wisdom.
Folly is boisterous, loud and exciting. She can draw people in. From all outward signs it seems the same as Wisdom’s party but she is stupid. She is even more simpleminded than the simpleminded that she invites.
She makes no effort at all. She doesn’t even offer take-out food to her guests. She serves leftovers from another person’s party taken from the trash. She has done nothing to her house to get it ready for you. She serves on paper plates with used silverware. She doesn’t even care enough to get out of her seat to invite you. She just sees you on the way to Wisdom’s party and stops you.
The really strange thing is that she has bones of dead people in her closet. They died from eating her rotten food. To eat her food is to die. To accept her invitation is to accept death.
Why would anyone eat there? She is very subtle. She is not going to let you know about her preparations. She is very seductive. Admittedly, those who eat there do have a good time. There is fun in carnality – for a season. She is strangely attractive even though death follows. Her greatest secret is that she tells everyone exactly what they want to here. “I would never tell you you’re wrong. You are fine!”, she says. She feeds on people’s pride and ego and most people listen to her. She makes them who have nothing think they have something. She leads many astray by just offering a good time – pleasure.
The choice of where you dine determines your final destination. The invitations are similar but the destinations are not.
To choose wisdom is to choose Christ. To choose folly is to reject Christ.
Sin never tells you you’re wrong. The person who accepts the invitation of folly does not fear God. He hates Christ and loves his sin. Coming to Christ takes humility – if it takes anything.
Wisdom invites us to dine with her in her stately manor, eating her well-prepared meal, drinking from her choice wine, enjoying her company, and she invites us into an intimate relationship with her. This invitation of wisdom is the invitation to choose the way of wisdom and choose the way of life.
Folly invites us to dine with her at her house, eating her food in secret, drinking her stolen water, enjoy her company, and she invites us into an intimate relationship with her. This invitation of folly is the invitation to choose the way of folly and to choose the way of eternal death.
Those who are proud of heart will always choose the way of folly. Their refusal to submit to wisdom’s call and acknowledge their need for wisdom will lead them down the path of destruction. Their desire to hold on to life will ultimately cause them to lose their life. Thus it is with all those who refuse to take instruction.
In all humility, tell the Lord through prayer that you desperately need Him. Acknowledge your own folly, acknowledge your lack of wisdom, acknowledge your need for Him, and embrace the wisdom that comes from God alone.
NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.
.jpg)
Posts
