Sermons 2025

Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31ESV

Outline:
1.    Man’s wisdom
2.    God’s Wisdom
3.    Living in Wisdom

Sermon:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation is the Old Testament lesson of Proverbs chapter eight verses one through four and twenty-two through thirty-one.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today.

Do you have a lot of brain power? Some of us have a lot of brain power. Some people can remember a lot of information. Some people are good with names, facts and numbers, or information about people. Some people struggle a lot with dates or numbers. They seem to not have a lot of brain power for that. Whether we have a lot of brain power or a little, we need God’s wisdom. We need His brain power. God gives us true wisdom. Seeing things rightly, using God’s wisdom, we recognize that all we have comes from the Lord. We see and confess who God is, and what He has done for us in Christ. We are wise because Jesus lives in us. How does God give us His wisdom and help us in our daily lives? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
    
1.    Man’s wisdom

Today is a day when we are confronted with a great mystery and celebration of the Trinity. Rather than focusing on trying to describe the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, this great mystery that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Our text describes God according to one of His attributes and the works therein. Our text says that wisdom calls. She goes to the heights and the byways, calling and calling, for others to listen to her. What is wisdom? The dictionary defines wisdom as: ability to discern inner qualities and relationships, good sense, a generally accepted belief, accumulated philosophical or scientific learning, a wise attitude, belief, or course of action, or the teachings of the ancient wise men. There are values and virtues humans ought to pursue and the vices that should be rejected.

By these definitions, we think that we are pretty wise. We have wisdom. But are you listening to the right wisdom? We can tell if someone has a good quality or a good character. We are usually good at figure out what the right course of action should be. Should I spend my money for food or on a new car? Usually food wins out because we enjoy living. We are constantly learning new things, making new inventions, digesting new books, and much more.  We follow the teachings of old while keeping up with scientific learning. Mixing old wives tales, “Feed a fever, starve a cold.” If that does not work, then go to the urgent care and see what the doctor says.

We are truly wise indeed! Yet, it is a wisdom that is only wise in the ways of the world. The world’s wisdom depends upon you and what you think, your own wisdom. The wisdom of the world is self-centered. We scoff in wisdom and ask, “What’s in it for me?” “If I get nothing out of it, why should I do it?” We never concerns ourselves with “How can I help?”  A scoffer is an island unto himself.  Foolishly, the scoffer lives a self-righteous life that alienates and marginalizes any dependence on others.  The scoffer’s circle of friends is very small.  The scoffer’s world is egocentric, and paranoia of others threatening its legitimacy constitutes reality. Scoffers depend entirely on their own, and upon the world’s wisdom.  If our wisdom does not work, maybe someone else’s wisdom will be better. We need to find the smartest and wisest people, then we will be better and good.

Sadly, this thinking can even affect the church. We think that we are wise if faith is only a knowledge in the head to come up when we need it, rather than a wisdom from the heart. We know a lot about God’s word. We know the Bible stories. We know who Abraham, Issac, and Jacob are. We know the prophets. We know the Bible Stories. We often become puffed up with our own knowledge and how much we know. False wisdom, the world’s wisdom, cannot save or help us. We need true wisdom. We need to be listening to God’s wisdom.

2.    God’s Wisdom

What is God’s Wisdom? How can we listen to true wisdom? God’s wisdom has been with Him from the beginning. “I was setup as the first before the heaven’s and earth was made.” God’s wisdom is an attribute, a character of God. Proverbs 8 is famous because it lay at the heart of the controversy over the deity of Christ that culminated in the Nicene Creed. Nearly everyone in the early church understood this passage to be about Christ. In love, all of God’s attributes, including His wisdom, are made flesh for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Wisdom—gushing forth forgiveness and new life in the font of Baptism.  Today Jesus is our Wisdom—bringing us His very body and very blood in bread and wine for life everlasting.  Today Jesus is our Wisdom—speaking to us still through His living Word in preaching and absolution.  That your days might be multiplied and years added to your life, this Wisdom from on high deigns to dwell among you, His 21st century people of God, in Word and in Sacraments. That we have God’s wisdom in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and His work. We listen to his wisdom every time we gather and hear the Words of Holy Scripture.

3.    Walking in Wisdom

As Christians we walk and live in Godly wisdom in our daily lives. Listening to God’s wisdom in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God lives in us! Thie wisdom of God shows itself in our thoughts, words, and actions. It enables and strengthens us to put worldly ways behind us, things like sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness. Rather than following the wisdom of the world into darkness and death, we follow the ways of God unto life everlasting.

God, in His wisdom and love, has called us out of the darkness of the wisdom of the world, into his marvelous light and wisdom in Christ. We live in the light of Christ, who is the light of the world. Christ, who gives life and light to our soul and to our senses. Now in Christ, we have been given His wisdom. We know God for who he truly is, as our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We know him as the God of mercy, who forgives our sins freely for Christ’s sake by His death and resurrection.

The wisdom of Christ takes specific shape in the things we put behind us and avoid, and in the things we say and do and think now, as the new people we are in Christ. As Saint Paul gets at “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

The Lord continue to bless us with wisdom all of our days until that day when we are with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever and ever.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.