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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity |
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Psalm 48 Proverbs 2:1-17 1 Timothy 3:14-4:16 What Really Matters? What
really matters in life? Those
of us who are of the “boomer” generation are beginning to ask this
question very seriously at this stage of our lives.
Looking ahead, we can see how short life is, and how precious each
minute of it is. Looking
back, we can see how much of it we have wasted in the pursuit of
trivialities and foolishness, and we want to spend the rest of our time
doing what really matters. That is why middle age people often go into the ministry, or
medicine, or become volunteers at the hospital and the church.
It is also why people seem to be better at grand parenting than
they were at parenting. Quite
often young parents are focused on their own needs more than their
children’s, but grand parents see the importance of focusing more on the
children. And, with their
experience in life, and their patience, honed by decades of living, they
are in a better position to guide children than they were when they were
merely parents. Proverbs
was written by a man in middle age, to his son, who was probably in his
middle teen years. It is a
collection of wise sayings presented in a way that is intended to help
shape the values and character of a young man who will soon be facing the
major temptations of life, and will have to make decisions that will
affect his whole life regarding issues like peer pressure, who to choose
as friends, who to choose as girlfriends, what to choose for hobbies and
pleasures and values and morals. As
son of the king, this boy would also become the king one day.
So this book was written to the prince to teach him how to live and
think and act like a prince and a king. Ultimately,
of course, the things that really matter are not dependant upon age, or
gender, or station in life, or the era in which one lives.
Things that really matter always matter. So everything Solomon
wrote to his son applies to all of us equally well, but with, perhaps, a
special application to those in the teen age years of life. So, what really matters? Let Solomon suggest a few things. First, found in verse 5, is to “understand the fear of the Lord, and to find the knowledge of God.” The very first thing every person needs, the most important thing every person needs, is to have a genuine and personal knowledge of God. Solomon is not writing about knowing God as a philosophical proposition, nor does he refer to knowing doctrines about God. He is talking about knowing God as God and as your God, and knowing God relationally and personally. The difference is one of knowing about a person and knowing the person. I know a great deal about Robert L. Dabney. Robert L. Dabney was a Presbyterian minister from just across the James River in Louisa County, Virginia. He was educated at Hampden Sydney and Union Theological Seminary, became pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in Louisa County, chaplain to Stonewall Jackson, and professor of theology in Union Seminary in Richmond. I have read his books. I have preached in his church. I have read an excellent biography about him by T. C. Johnson, which included many of Dabney’s personal letters. But I do not know Robert L. Dabney personally. After all, he lived from 1829-1898, and that was just a little before my time. I
do know my family. We live
together, pray together, eat together, vacation together, worship
together, and work together. And
we talk together. We share
our feelings and desires and goals and hopes and fears.
They know me, and I know them in a personal relationship, and that
is the way Solomon is saying we need to know God.
That is the single most important thing in life.
This really matters. Second,
we need to know right and wrong, and how to tell the difference.
As Solomon says in verse 9, we must understand “righteousness,
and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path”.
We must be able to choose the paths of righteousness, to use good
judgment in our decisions, and to deal fairly with others.
But that is not the entire meaning of verse 9. We also must be equipped to know who is righteous and who is
not among other people. We
must be able to discern who has good judgment, and who does not. We must be able to know when others are dealing fairly with
us, and when they are not. We
must know how to be delivered from the way of the “evil man” (vs. 12).
All of these things are important to people who live in this world,
and this surely is what our Lord meant when He told His disciples to be
wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
We must work to develop these abilities in ourselves, or we open
ourselves to much, unnecessary harm from evil people. Third,
we need to choose good friends. If
you want to know what you will be in five years just look at your friends
today. They are the people
who are influencing you. They
are the people you are patterning your life after.
They are the people you admire, so you can’t help becoming like
them. If they are Godly,
reverent, active in the Church, industrious, frugal, knowledgeable, and
self-disciplined, they will move you in that direction as you associate
with them. If they are
dishonest, religious skeptics, self-centered, or “crooked and froward in
their paths” as Solomon says in verse 15, you will absorb their values
and habits, simply by being with them.
So you must choose your friends and associates wisely. Fourth,
we need to know how to choose suitable associates of the opposite sex. Not all boys make good boyfriends, and not all girls make
good girlfriends. You young
people need to know how to tell the good ones from the bad ones. You need to learn how to distinguish between love and
hormones. Just because that
cute boy/girl who shows an interest in you makes your heart go pitter
patter, doesn’t mean he/she is the kind of person you should marry,
date, or even socialize with. If
he/she is “the strange woman,” that is the bad boy or the bad girl,
“which flattereth with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her
youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God,” stay away, no matter no
pretty or attractive he/she might be. The
ability to know what is really important is what Solomon is writing about,
and it goes by several names in this passage.
In verse 11 he calls it discretion, saying, “Discretion shall
preserve thee.” Understanding is a second name.
“Understanding shall keep thee,” verse 11 tells us.
A third, and the best known name, is wisdom. “Incline thine ear
unto wisdom” says verse 2. These
names refer simply to the skill of knowing what really matters.
And that leads me to ask the question, how does one gain the skill
to know what really matters? Again
let us look at Solomon’s instructions to his son.
Solomon says to develop an attitude of seeking wisdom.
“[I]ncline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to
understanding,” (verse 2). Solomon
is telling us here to seek the ability to know what really matters. Make an effort to cultivate this skill, and make this effort
in youth and all through life. Solomon
also says, cry after knowledge, and lift up thy voice for understanding,
(2:3). Call to it.
As most of you know, my family used to keep cattle.
The cows often spent the day grazing in a field that was quite a
distance from our house. So when I wanted them to come to the barn I had to call them.
They knew my call meant feeding time, and they were ready to come
in, but, of course they wouldn’t come until called, and the call had to
be loud enough to reach them. So
I took a deep breath and yelled, “Come on cows.
Come on. Come on.
Come on,” as loud as I could.
Then I stood out of the way because a stampede was coming my way.
That’s what Solomon means when he says, cry after knowledge, and
lift up thy voice for understanding.
This is, of course, a word picture of seriously seeking wisdom. Then
Solomon tells us, we will find wisdom if we seek for it as silver and
search for it as for hidden treasures (2:4).
We spend a great deal of our time and energy making money don’t
we? We have to.
And that is a good thing, if we do good work at an honest job.
I spoke about that on Labor Day, so I won’t go into it again
except to say honest work is good and it is part of God’s design for the
world. Solomon is not telling
his son to stop working, or to stop trying to earn money, or that money is
evil. He is simply telling
him to pursue wisdom with the same determination and effort he used to
earn money. There
is one more thing we can do to seek wisdom, and this is the most important
thing. It is simply this, pray for it.
In the final analysis, real wisdom is a gift from God, and can only
come from Him. “The Lord
giveth wisdom” says verse 6. “He
layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous.”
He gives wisdom as a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
That’s why James says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God, that giveth to all men liberally,” (Jas. 1:5).
But notice how Solomon points us to that never failing fount of
wisdom, the Word of God. “For
the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and
understanding,” (Proverbs 2:6). God’s
word written is the Bible, the source of all that we need to know
concerning what to believe about God and of our duties toward Him.
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are able to make us
“wise unto salvation,” (2 Tim. 3:15).
So, those who desire wisdom, who seek it from God, and who pursue
it with diligence in their lives, will spend much time in the Bible, where
the wisdom of God is found. So,
how can we know what really matters?
We must make choices based on wisdom.
We must become wise. And
how do we become wise? We
must seek it in life, and pray for it from God, and study the Scriptures
which will school our minds in the wisdom of God.
God grant us wisdom. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.
The Anglican Orthodox Church P.O. Box 128 Statesville, NC 28687 The Most Rev. Jerry Ogles, Bishop Metropolitan The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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