Two Invitations—Proverbs 1:8-33
Proverbs is a book for young men. Young man, it says, listen to your mother and your father. That’s good advice, generally. Of course, your mother and father may not be unusually wise people. They may not even fear the Lord, which makes you a sort of spiritual orphan. The good news is that this book is a great handbook for spiritual orphans, because it’s going to tell you the very things your father and mother failed to tell you. It’s going to give you wisdom from your Father in heaven.
And it’s not just for young men. When fathers and mothers listen to the words of Proverbs, they learn how to advise their sons and daughters. And when young women eavesdrop on the advice given to their brothers or their young husbands, they learn something about being wise sisters and daughters and wives. Ultimately, it’s a book for everyone who wants to serve God, because it’s a book that reveals Jesus Christ. When Proverbs tells the young man what he should do, we learn what Jesus did do. And when Lady Wisdom speaks in Proverbs, we hear the words of Jesus -- not because Wisdom is the same as the Son of God in some simplistic sense, but because Wisdom is Christ’s ambassador appealing to young men to choose his ways. And in this passage, wise King Jesus invites everyone, from the simple to the scoffer, to find security in him.
Actually, the passage contains two invitations. The second is from wisdom, but the first is from a gang of criminals.
The first invitation is an invitation to find security in violence, and the Lord warns us against it. The invitation appeals to a man’s desire for power: “Let us ambush the innocent.” It appeals to his desire for wealth: “We shall fill our houses with plunder.” And it appeals to his desire for community: “We will all have one purse.” In short, it says that you can find security and happiness as part of a violent gang.
For many men and boys in poverty, this is a live temptation. But most middle-class Americans grow up with the cost-benefit analysis already settled, that violent crime isn’t worth the risk. It just isn’t on the table for us. But the heart of the invitation is. The invitation is to be one of the people in power, and to take advantage of that power to crush the people who aren’t and take advantage of them. That’s a temptation to kids in school. It’s a temptation to grownups in the workplace. It’s a temptation to kids and grownups on the web. It feels good to demolish the enemy and take what they have. But Proverbs says it isn’t only wrong, it doesn’t even pay. Unjust gain takes away the life of its possessors.
Now Nate, you may say, we know that isn’t always true. Around the world, the violent often get away with it. Even in countries with low crime, corrupt politicians and corrupt businessmen often get away with it, don’t they?
The Lord says they don’t, not really. Often they don’t get away with it even in the near horizon. There are plenty of criminals who have been put to death or spent very long, uncomfortable prison sentences. Often they don’t get away with it in the middle horizon, and they live the high life but they die a bad death. And they never get away with it in the long horizon, because God brings all things to judgment. One of the main points of Proverbs is that you should live like good gets rewarded and evil gets punished, because the result will be that you won’t be put to shame. If you live like good gets rewarded, and you don’t get rewarded in the short term, you won’t have anything to be ashamed of, and you’ll be blessed in the end. But if you live like evil gets rewarded and you don’t get rewarded in the short term, you will be ashamed, and even if you do get rewarded in the short term, you will still face God.
The second invitation in this passage is the invitation to find security in wisdom. Young men will pay attention to other young men, but they will also pay attention to a beautiful woman, and that is how Lady Wisdom will be described in the coming chapters. Wisdom’s invitation is broad: she calls not for the wise but for the simple and even for scoffers and fools. That’s striking, because Proverbs 1:7 told us that fools despise wisdom and instruction. But she calls for them anyway. And if they will listen, she promises to pour out her spirit to them: to convey knowledge through a kind of intimate communion that was ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ after his ascension.
But Wisdom’s call is refused. The invitees “hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD” -- the one thing they really needed. Wisdom’s response to this stupidity is pretty harsh: “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you” -- and so on. Lady Wisdom appears as femme fatale. Why? Well, first, because she loves justice, and the scoffers are going to get what they deserve. The Bible is never ashamed of God’s wrath. But there’s another reason: Wisdom hasn’t given up on the idiots yet. The passage ends with another promise: “But whoever listens to me will dwell secure, without dread of disaster.”
Security, ease, no more fear. That sounds a lot like the invitations Jesus gave. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
How did Jesus bring security and rest to sinners? He did it by taking insecurity and weariness upon himself. That we might have wealth, he had poverty. That we might have safety, he died. That we might have community, he died alone. The Son of God, Wisdom in the flesh, came and died on a cross for fools, so that anyone, from the simple to the scoffers, could find security in Christ and his wisdom.
And now, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. That’s God’s proof that wisdom really does pay off. And Jesus reigns, and he is issuing his invitation. Don’t go with the violent or the other sinners who entice you. Don’t look for security in their power, their wealth, or their friendship. Turn to him, and he will pour out his Spirit to you. Everyone who turns to him finds the security that the world cannot give.
Pastor Nate Jeffries