September 18, 2016
Scripture:
Scripture:
Hymn 323 - There’s a Friend for little children
Prayer
We’re on to Proverbs 9 today; the last of the wisdom chapters in Proverbs. Chapter 8 showed us Jesus, pictured as wisdom, with His Father creating the world. We know, though, that later He came down to earth.
Today, we’re going to talk about instruction. Instruction is rules or advice that other people give us; similar to the instructions we would get with a game. The question is, are we willing to receive instruction? Receiving instruction is how we get wisdom, and Proverbs has shown us how important wisdom is.
Proverbs 9:1-10
Here, Wisdom has set a table; it’s like a buffet, with lots of food available. God wants us to get wisdom, and He’s set it out for us throughout His word like a buffet. Wisdom invites people to this buffet; and any one who wants to, may come. God wants us all to take instruction from His word. The opposite of this is to be foolish; to refuse God’s salvation and instruction on how to live. That’s foolish.
Wise people want instruction; however, sometimes, we can be too proud to accept it. I once worked with a man who never wanted help, but didn’t seem to know how to do things properly. Just the other day I started to put something together without looking at the instructions, until I ran into some pieces that I didn’t know what to do with. Then I pulled them out. We should welcome instruction!
The fear of the Lord is the start of wisdom. He created everything in the world, and it’s amazing; even down to small things like eggs. This same God has given us His word; His instructions. We should listen to it.
In the Gospels, Jesus gave a sermon known as the Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the sermon, He told a story to illustrate something important. You see, it’s good to pay attention if someone’s giving you instruction, but you must then do what they say if it’s going to do you any good. In Matthew 7:24, that was the key. The Lord said the people who heard and did what He said were like a wise man that built His house upon a rock. Verse 26 shows us a foolish man: like people who heard what Jesus said, but didn’t act on it. This man built his house on the sand. The rain, wind, and floods came to the wise man’s house, but it stood strong, and didn’t move. The same things happened to the foolish man, and his house fell flat!
Are we ready to receive instruction? The wise man accepts instruction, and gets wiser. Are we wise? You children get instruction through your parents and teachers right now, and you need to listen to them. The rock the wise man built on is like the Lord. When troubles and decisions come in life, we can stand on Him. May we be like the wise man; may we listen to instruction, apply it, and get the blessing from it.
Colossians 1:25- 2:7
Paul tells the Colossians that he was in great combat thinking about the assemblies of Colosse and Laodicea. He was concerned about how they would receive some of the things he was going to tell them.
We have a series of verses on the mystery. This mystery is so important to Paul that he is in agony as he thinks of this entering their hearts. Now, this isn’t a mystery we can’t understand, but it is being made known to us here. The mystery is “Christ in you the hope of glory.” In Ephesians, we see ourselves in Christ in heaven, but here it is Christ in us on earth. God has made known things to us that we never would know unless He told us.
Does God have a scale for His mysteries and miracles? The cross of Christ has to be the major one on it. The Son of God dying for wretched sinners is immense. Creation is a big one as well though definitely not as important. God only took one chapter to tell us about creation, but four gospels to tell of the cross, redemption, and grace. This mystery is also amazing so it must be pretty high up on the scale.
So, when did it happen? When we took the Lord as our Saviour. We were brought into an amazing blessing that is certainly not small. But are we impressed enough? It seems as though some things in our Bible should be written in flashing letters. When Ezekiel was looking up at the wheels, in a vision, seeing all their paths, behind them he saw a Man in the heavens. The Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary, then He rose and returned to heaven. Jesus is honored at the right hand of God, and He is still there. Several days later after His return to heaven He sent the Holy Spirit, and 120 people were filled with it. God came down and dwelt in man.
In some verses you read, it sounds as if this vast universe is just a prop that will be folded up and put away, just a support in God’s drama of redemption.
There are things in Scripture that give the sense that the item described holds value. In Solomon’s temple most things were covered in gold. These things were of great value to the Children of Israel, but when the king of Babylon came he just took all of them away, and put them in his own palace. The glory of the riches of Christ have a value that goes beyond what we can count. Do we value it? Some times we value the wrong things. We need to ask ourselves the question-what do we live for? What is our purpose? I’m not saying drop out of school or college, but when you get older it’s all water under the bridge. We have something that exceeds the value of anything here on earth.
So, Paul’s in prison telling the Colossians he is in combat because everything that was hindering them from entering into this was everything he was against. He wanted their hearts to be closely knit together in love. With the riches in Christ in the equation we have more than the richest person in the world. And they are riches you can take with you, and riches you can enter into the enjoyment of. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge are of great value to God. They are His gold standard. There’s no temple of gold for us. The answers are in Jesus Christ. We are brought into the anti-type.
We have to realize this is all important in God’s sight. Paul wasn’t writing on creation. In verse two and three, we have the phrases all riches, and all treasures. All the value is right here.
Hymn - The wise man built his house upon the rock
Prayer