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Thank you Ben for reading. And if you’re here through an invitation, whether you’d call yourself a Christian or not, thanks for coming. When I tell people I’m a Christian, they often say, ‘So were your parents Christians?’ And when I say, ‘No’, there are puzzled looks. Because people think that Christianity is somehow passed from parents to children like manners or habits: so that polite parents will produce polite children, tidy parents will produce tidy children (if only!) and Christian parents will produce Christian children. But that’s not true. An atheist Dad like mine ended up with a Christan son. Just like a Christian Dad can end up with an atheist one. Because Christianity isn’t a religion you can be parented into. It’s a relationship with God through Jesus that takes a personal choice to get into. And that’s what the part of the Bible we just read is all about. It’ll be up on the screens as we go. But I always encourage people to open one of the Bibles in the seats, so you can follow it.
And if you’d like to do that, we’re going to start on page 527, and that will get you to Proverbs 1. And before we go further, let me lead us in a prayer:

[Prayer]

So would you look down to Proverbs 1.2: we read Proverbs to know wisdom. Which is Biblespeak for – knowing how to live well in God’s world. And then Proverbs 1.4 tells us the number target audience. It’s to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth. And simple doesn’t mean ‘lacking up top’, ‘a bit thick’ – like the insult it would be today. Back then, it meant ‘inexperienced in life and in danger of being misled.’ And that’s because, as Proverbs 1.4 says, Proverbs is especially for the youth. Of course it’s also for the rest of us – we all need more wisdom in living. But if you read on, you find the number one target audience is: young adults on the threshold of independent life. So teenagers on the way to leaving home, twenty somethings still finding their feet away from home. So, let me give you a taste of that. Look on to Proverbs 1.8:

Hear, my son, your father's instruction,and forsake not your mother's teaching

Now like football, the book of Proverbs is a game of two halves. And you could call the first half = ‘Parents’ pep talks.’ Because it’s a series of pep talks encouraging a young person towards the wisdom of trusting in God. And they’re couched as talks to a son, but obviously equally apply to a daughter. So look at Proverbs 1.8 again. Pep talk 1 begins:

Hear, my son, your father's instruction,and forsake not your mother's teaching

So this son has been brought up by Old Testament parents who believe in the God of the Bible. So the instruction and teaching isn’t just, ‘Don’t pick your nose or shovel your peas.’ They’ve taught him the Bible. In our terms, it’s a Christian home. But this son has left home, or is on the brink of it, or is at least living more independently. So the issue is: what will he do with what he’s heard from and seen in his parents? Follow it, or forsake it? Well there are ten ‘Parents’ pep talks’ encouraging him to follow it. And then the first half of Proverbs ends with Proverbs 9, which we read earlier. And Mum and Dad are nowhere to be seen. The son is now out there on his own, in the big wide world. And he has to choose for himself who he’s going to listen to and trust. And behind all the voices coming at us from family and friends and church and teachers and influencers and celebrities and experts and the media and books and films and TV and all the rest, Proverbs 9 says there are just two voices competing for our attention and trust. And they are: Wisdom and Folly. Where Wisdom says, ‘Trust your life to God.’ And Folly says, ‘Live life how you want.’ So would you turn on to page 533 and Proverbs 9, and the first thing we get here is:

1. The invitation of Wisdom

Look down to Proverbs 9.1-6:

Wisdom has built her house;she has hewn her seven pillars.She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;she has also set her table.She has sent out her young women to callfrom the highest places in the town,“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”To him who lacks sense she says,“Come, eat of my breadand drink of the wine I have mixed.Leave your simple ways, and live,and walk in the way of insight.”

I said earlier that Christianity isn’t a religion you can be parented into. It’s a relationship with God through Jesus that takes a personal choice to get into. And you get an Old Testament hint of that here because God is saying, ‘Don’t think of it as just getting some wise ideas for living. Think of it as getting into a relationship with me, the ultimate source of Wisdom.’ And so Wisdom is pictured as a person – in fact, as a woman. Which doesn’t mean God is female. It’s just that the Hebrew word for wisdom is feminine – like it is in French: la sagesse. So just like a French writer would naturally picture Wisdom as a woman, so did the writer of Proverbs. So Proverbs 9.1-2 again:

Wisdom has built her house;she has hewn her seven pillars.She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;she has also set her table.

So, Wisdom is throwing the best dinner party ever. There’s going to be the barbecue to end all barbecues. Or if you’re vegetarian, halloumi grilled to perfection. And she’s mixed her wine – which doesn’t mean watered it down, but blended it. So she’s got Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot by the bucket. Or sparkling elderflower if you prefer. And that’s the Bible’s picture of a life trusting in God – the best dinner party you’ve ever been to. Something so good and satisfying, you wouldn’t miss it. And when God, in the person of his Son Jesus, was here on earth, that’s how he invited people to himself: He said: coming into relationship with me is like this (Luke 14.16):

…A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.

But that’s not how Christianity is portrayed, is it? It’s portrayed as a joy-killing, freedom-robbing menace. And playing on FOMO, the culture says, ‘Steer clear of it.’ Whereas the Bible says: in this fallen world, your life will be better and more satisfying for trusting in Jesus – though he won’t spare you suffering; and beyond this fallen world, where God’s will is finally fully done, you’ll have the life and relationships you could only dream of here. So, Proverbs 9.4-6, Wisdom says:

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”To him who lacks sense she says,“Come, eat of my breadand drink of the wine I have mixed.Leave your simple ways, and live,and walk in the way of insight.”

And remember Wisdom isn’t calling this young person simple as an insult. She’s saying, ‘I know you may still be uncommitted. I know you’re still processing the things you’ve grown up hearing. And you need time and space to do that. But ultimately, you need to commit: are you going to come to me?’ And that applies to those of us who didn’t grow up with Christianity. We need time and space to find out about Jesus, to open our minds to the possibility that this might all be true. But ultimately, if we think it is, we need to commit. People might say, ‘You shouldn’t commit yourself seriously to anything – always keep an open mind.’ But as G. K.Chesterton once said:

Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

Which brings us to the second thing here, which is:

2. The responsibility of choice

So look on to Proverbs 9.7, where we step out of this picture of Wisdom and Folly competing for our attention and trust, and we’re reminded of our responsibility to choose. So Proverbs 9.7-9:

Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;reprove a wise man, and he will love you.Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

So have a look at this picture. The crown stands for God. And the Bible says there are only two ways to live – with no neutrality, no fence to sit on. One is the top arrow of trusting in God and living his way. And the other is the bottom arrow of dismissing God and living how you want. And Proverbs has a word for the person who’s been on the bottom arrow so long that their mind is really closed, so that if you talk to them about Jesus they’ll just scorn you. It’s the word scoffer. And I guess the so-called ‘new atheists’ Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett would fall into that category. So Dawkins says:

Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.

And Hitchens said:

Jesus is Santa Claus for Adults.

So talk to someone like that about Jesus and you’ll know what Proverbs 9.7 is on about:

Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;[by contrast:]reprove a wise man, and he will love you.Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

So look at that picture again. It’s not only true that we’re all on one of those two arrows. It’s also true that none of us is standing still. We’re either closing our minds more in the scoffer’s direction or we’re opening up our lives more to Jesus in the wise person’s direction. There’s no neutrality, and no standing still. Which is why the choice to trust in Jesus only gets harder the longer we leave it. ‘I’ll think about it later,’ said my brother – twenty years ago. And the ultimate difference between those on the different arrows is their attitude to God. Look at Proverbs 9.10:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

And as we saw last week, the fear of the Lord simply means a deep, trustful respect for the Lord, where we say to him, ‘You’re God and I’m not, You’re the Creator, I’m the creature. You’re the wise King, I’m capable of being a very foolish subject. So please teach me how to live.’ That’s the top arrow attitude. Whereas those on the bottom arrow say, ‘I don’t need God. I’ll live how I want.’ And so look at Proverbs 9.12:

If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

In other words, you have to choose. And you and you alone have to choose for you. No-one else can. And this is the answer to Richard Dawkins’ caricature of Christian parents. So he says:

People who believe in something for which there is not a shred of evidence [there’s the scoffer again]… and, above all, who impose their beliefs on others, make me cross. And they make me especially cross when they impose their beliefs on defenceless children.

But, as someone wisely put it ‘Christian parents who are getting it right don’t impose their beliefs on their children. They propose their beliefs to their children and give them the time and space to grow into them – or walk away from them.’ Because, let me say it again, Christianity is not a religion you can be parented into or educated into or forced into. It’s a relationship with God through Jesus that takes a personal choice to get into. So: The invitation of Wisdom. The responsibility of choice. And lastly:

3. The seduction of Folly

Look on to Proverbs 9.15-17:

The woman Folly is loud;she is seductive and knows nothing.She sits at the door of her house;she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,calling to those who pass by,who are going straight on their way,“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”And to him who lacks sense she says,“Stolen water is sweet,and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

Now you need to know that when Proverbs talks about folly and people being fools, it’s not passing comment on their intelligence and saying they’re thick. It’s saying, ‘You can have a PhD and be professor of astrophysics, but if you live your life on the misjudgement that there’s no God, you’re living in folly.’ And, like Wisdom, Folly is pictured as a person who’s out to get our attention and trust. And Proverbs 9.13: she’s loud. She’s in your face. She’s shouting at you from every direction – through friends and teachers and influencers and celebrities and experts and the media and books and films and TV and all the rest. And in our culture, she almost has the monopoly on the messages, now that the Christian voice has been so successfully marginalised. And Proverbs 9.14:

She sits at the door of her house;she takes a seat on the highest places of the town

And in those days, virtually no-one had seats in their houses. In ours, they’re two a penny from IKEA. But the only people with seats back then were those in authority – like kings and judges. So Folly projects this air of authority – by speaking through experts and academics, and getting on TV and in the press, for example, speaking to us about sexuality and gender identity. But what if the experts and academics and programs and papers are actually speaking for Folly? What if your set texts and your teachers in PHSE are actually speaking for Folly? What if the cultural emperor is actually wearing no clothes? And look what Folly has to offer, Proverbs 9.16-17:

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”And to him who lacks sense she says,“Stolen water is sweet,and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

So Wisdom offers you the steak (or halloumi) of your life, washed down with the best Cab Sav you’ve ever tasted. And what does Folly offer? Bread and water. What you give prisoners in the dungeon, or Cinderella before life comes good. So what’s the attraction? Proverbs 9.17: it is that it’s stolen. Which is a picture of taking God’s gifts from where and how he intended them to be used, to use them how we want. In two of the ‘Parents’ pep talks’, stolen water is a picture of taking sex outside marriage. But it’s a picture of taking any of God’s gifts from where and how he intended them to be used, to use them how I want. So sex for any relationship. My time and money for me only. My “friendship” (in inverted commas) for ulterior motives. My work for finding security in success. And so on. Proverbs 9.16-17 again: Folly cries,

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”And to him who lacks sense she says,“Stolen water is sweet,and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

But does it satisfy? I once interviewed here in church a student called Patrick, or Pat. And he talked about his pre-Chrisaain diet of what he now saw to be only bread and water – the sex, the alcohol, the being out of control. And he said, ‘It was like vegetarian food. You can eat as much of it as you like, and it never fills you up.’ (Pat, as you’ll have guessed, is not a vegetarian). But that’s the picture here, isn’t it? Choosing bread and water over the best dinner party ever. C.S. Lewis put it like this:

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. [The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis].

And the ‘infinite joy’ that Lewis was on about is not just the joy in this life of relationship with God, and living in line with the way he’s made us. It’s the joy of life beyond this life, where God’s will is finally fully done, and we have the lives and relationships we can only dream of here.

to show there’s life beyond this life, then we have to factor into our choice that eternal destiny is at stake. Which is the note this chaper ends on. Folly cries out (Proverbs 9.16-18):

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”And to him who lacks sense she says,“Stolen water is sweet,and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”But he does not know that the dead are there,that her guests are in the depths of Sheol [in other words, the grave and beyond].

So lastly:

4. How does this Old Testament part of the Bible point us forward to Jesus?

Well, here in Proverbs 9, God’s Wisdom is pictured as a person. But in Jesus (God’s Son became man), God’s Wisdom actually came in a person. And he came into a world where, by nature, we all side with Folly, where consciously or subconsciously we’ve all said, ‘I don’t need God. I’ll live how I want. And like Wisdom in Proverbs 9, Jesus came to call us back to side with him and his Father. And like Wisdom in Proverbs 9, Jesus came to pay the price of making that possible. Because, just like Wisdom in Proverbs 9 had to pay the price of that amazing dinner party, so Jesus had to pay the price on the cross of our forgiveness, and of our invitation back into relationship with God in this life, and of our place at the table at his great banquet beyond this life. And having risen from the dead, Jesus now invites us, just like Wisdom in Proverbs 9.5-6:

Come, eat of my breadand drink of the wine I have mixed.[in other words, accept the forgiveness and relationship I’m offering you]Leave your simple ways, and live.

And if you’ve accepted that invitation, just take stock again of what a great place that is to be in. And if you haven’t, and you need more time and space to process it, can I encourage you to keep coming to hear more – especially this time next week, when we have a service especially geared to those who are just looking into all this. Can I encourage you to talk with others about your questions and doubts, And can I encourage you to take away a copy of this booklet Why Jesus? which explains more fully what his invitation is, and how we can know we’ve responded. So let me lead us in a prayer.