Ortlund Proverbs

Wisdom That Works
1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4335-3106-4
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 224 Seiten

Reihe: Preaching the Word

How exactly does one become wise? Pastor and teacher Ray Ortlund points out that the wisdom of God does not stand aloof, as if it were unattainable. Instead, he shows that wisdom graciously moves toward us, into our real world where we live and struggle day by day. Wisdom offers us her very best, if only we will listen. After all, 'Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice,' and, if wisdom troubles herself to yell, there must be a reason to listen and a means to hear. Ortlund unpacks the book of Proverbs in twenty-one straightforward sermons, providing a biblical worldview that opens up the higher meaning of money, sex, and power, as well as that of the daily routines of an average life. Drawing relevant parallels from ancient culture to present day, he helps the reader understand how the book of Proverbs is practical help for normal people going through everyday life. Most importantly, Ortlund shows how the Proverbs point to Jesus and his counsel for the perplexed, his strength for the defeated, his warning to the proud, his mercy for the broken. With careful treatment of the Scriptures and uncomplicated language, Proverbs: Wisdom that Works fills the vacuum between the layman's experience and the exegetical depth of many commentaries. Part of the Preaching the Word series.

Ray Ortlund is the president of Renewal Ministries, the pastor to pastors at Immanuel Church in Nashville, and a canon theologian with the Anglican Church in North America. He is the author of several books, including Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel; The Death of Porn; and the Preaching the Word commentaries on Isaiah and Proverbs. He is also a contributor to the ESV Study Bible. Ray and his wife, Jani, have been married for fifty years.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ortlund, Ray

Leseproben

1

Why the Book of Proverbs Matters

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

PROVERBS 9:4, 16

Everyone is on a path. Everyone is going somewhere. When we feel stuck, even when we feel trapped, the truth is, we are still in motion. Life is a journey, and the end of it all is not just a place but also a condition. We are becoming the end of our journey, wise or foolish, and every moment takes us closer there.

God cares about that. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Bible is the voice of God inviting us into his eternal life. During the Old Testament era God standardized his speaking to us in three ways. The priests taught his law, the prophets declared his word, and the sages or wise men gave his counsel (Jeremiah 18:18). Both the commands of the Law and the thunderings of the prophets spread out before us the gigantic truths of God, the metanarrative that makes sense of everything. But we need more. We live day by day in a world where “there are details of character small enough to escape the mesh of the law and the broadsides of the prophets, and yet decisive in personal dealings.”1 So God gave us more than the Law and the prophets. He also gave us wise counsel.

For example, Proverbs 27:14 in the NLT says, “A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse!” We don’t find that in the Ten Commandments or in Isaiah or Jeremiah. But a well-intentioned but ill-timed greeting can backfire, and that’s worth knowing! God thinks so. He cares about our understanding of the massive truths of our existence. But he also cares about the nuances that make a difference in our relationships and experiences every day. Even if we do seek the holiness of the Law, and we do, even if we are inspired by the visions of the prophets, and we are, we can still make a mess of our lives, our families, our churches, our workplaces, our communities if we are unwise. We need God’s help moment by moment, down at the level where there are no hard and fast rules to go by. What kind of woman or man should I marry? Which career path should I take? How can I endure this suffering I can’t escape? How should I spend my money? Through the book of Proverbs, God coaches us in the wisdom we need throughout the long and complicated path of our everyday lives.

It’s the practicality of the book of Proverbs that some people underestimate. This book is indeed practical, but it is not simplistic or moralistic. What God is going after through this book is change deep inside our hearts. His wisdom sinks in as we mull over these Biblical proverbs slowly and thoughtfully. We need multiple exposures over time. This book is not a quick fix. It is ancient wisdom from long human experience endorsed by God himself. If we’ll pay close attention, God will graciously make us into profound people.

The book of Proverbs is a gospel book, because it is part of the Bible. That means the book of Proverbs is good news for bad people. It is about grace for sinners. It is about hope for failures. It is about wisdom for idiots. This book is Jesus himself coming to us as our counselor, as our sage, as our life coach. The Lord Jesus Christ is a competent thinker for all times and all cultures. He is a genius. And he freely offers us, even us, his unique wisdom. Do you remember how he concluded his Sermon on the Mount? He defined the gospel as a call to wisdom: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. . . . And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” (Matthew 7:24, 26). Jesus is our priest and our prophet, but in the book of Proverbs we encounter Jesus as our mentor. Do you see him that way? You can have him that way—the universe’s greatest expert on you. He alone is qualified to have that kind of say in your life.

Let’s not patronize Jesus Christ as a nice man who gives us warm religious fuzzies while we turn to the “experts” (whoever they are), the seriously qualified people, for the challenges of real life. Jesus Christ is the shrewdest man who ever lived. No one ever outthought him. No one ever surprised him or cornered him in debate. He was always out ahead of everyone, both his friends and his enemies. Jesus Christ is the best counselor for all people in all seasons of life. The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would be anointed with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, so that he would not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear (Isaiah 11:2, 3). In other words, our Messiah is not fooled by appearances or swayed by hearsay, like other leaders, even brilliant leaders. No one will ever pull the wool over his eyes. The Bible says that Jesus has eyes like a flame of fire, seeing through everything (Revelation 1:14). And God has given this super-smart expert to us as his best gift of amazing grace. The gospel says that Jesus is wisdom from God (1 Corinthians 1:30). It’s why he surprises us. When he taught in his hometown synagogue, his neighbors were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom?” (Matthew 13:54). Solomon had been the wisest man in history. But when the Pharisees tested Jesus and he reminded them that the Queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, she was so eager to learn, Jesus said to them, “Behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42). They didn’t have to travel any distance. Wisdom incarnate was standing right there. But they were too sure of themselves to listen.

Let’s not underrate what we have here in the book of Proverbs. Biblical wisdom is more than what we find in a fortune cookie. It is more than an optional add-on for people who want to upgrade their lives from, say, 4 to 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. This wisdom from Christ is a matter of life and death: “The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death” (Proverbs 13:14). What if we have many advantages in our lives but not wisdom? If we have love but not wisdom, we will harm people with the best of intentions. If we have courage but not wisdom, we will blunder boldly. If we have truth but not wisdom, we will make the gospel ugly to other people. If we have technology but not wisdom, we will use the best communications ever invented to broadcast stupidity. If we have revival but not wisdom, we’ll use the power of God to throw the church into reverse gear. Jonathan Edwards wrote during the First Great Awakening, “When the devil finds he can keep men quiet and [complacent] no longer, then he drives them to excesses and extravagances. He holds them back as long as he can; but when he can do it no longer, then he will push them on and, if possible, run them upon their heads.”2 But wisdom knows how to spread the gospel with no embarrassing regrets.

Wisdom is the grace of Christ beautifying our daily lives. Paul said that God has “lavished” his grace upon us “in all wisdom and insight” (Ephesians 1:7, 8). God’s grace is smart grace. The Bible says that in Christ are hidden “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). The wise way to live is not always obvious or intuitive or popular. It is hidden. Here’s where it is hidden: “We preach Christ crucified . . . the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23, 24).

We must understand that there are two kinds of wisdom, and they are competing for our trust. The Bible calls them “the wisdom from above” and “the wisdom that . . . is earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (James 3:15, 17). Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter when Peter urged him not to go to the cross? Peter was saying, “Look, boss, there’s another way to go about this. Crosses are not a smart formula for success.” But Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! . . . For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:21–23). How did Peter earn that stunning rebuke? Not by setting his mind on the things of Satan but just on the things of man—natural, understandable things, like survival. Peter was being wise with the wisdom that is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. Our natural wisdom panders to our pride and makes losing unthinkable. But J. R. R. Tolkien’s Ring Trilogy reminds us that our golden rings of power only make us weird, like Gollum. The key to life is not getting more of these golden rings but throwing them decisively away into the fires of Mount Doom. That humility is “the wisdom from above.”

Ah! God is other than we think, his ways are far above,

Far beyond reason’s height and reached only by childlike love.

Then learn to scorn the praise of men, and learn to lose with God,

For Jesus won the world through shame and beckons thee his road.3

That is the wisdom of the cross. That wisdom frees us from the distortions of our pride and opens the way to resurrection and new life. In The Pilgrim’s Regress, C. S. Lewis says the path of wisdom leads through a valley: “‘And what is this valley called?’ ‘We call it now simply Wisdom’s Valley; but the oldest maps mark it as the Valley of Humiliation.’”4

There is irony here. The wisdom of Proverbs started out historically for the training of leaders in ancient Israel.5 It was written by kings and others in the royal court for young men in their teens...