August 18, 2024
Pastor John Hering
Proverbs 9:1-6
Proverbs 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has already set her table.
3 She has sent out her servant girls. She calls from the highest point in the city,
4 “Whoever is naïve, let him turn in here.” To someone who lacks sense she says, 5 “Come, eat my food, and drink the wine that I have mixed. 6 Abandon your naïve ways and live. Travel the road to understanding.”
We all have our ideas of attending an elegant dinner party. Kids want to go to Chucky Cheese. Adults… I can picture the dark wood paneling of the dining room in the three-story, twenty-seven room mansion that has a fireplace glowing in the corner. I can see the hostess wearing an expensive gown as she greets her guests and shows them to the room to be seated. The chandelier sparkles like waterlilies under a full moon. The chairs have straight, hand-carved backs and delicately upholstered cushions. The silverware is really silver and sparkles from the candles flickering around the dining room.
These ideas may have passed through your minds as I read the passages from Proverbs 9. King Solomon introduces us to an elegant lady of nobility called “Wisdom.” Did you catch the hint that Lady Wisdom is not Solomon’s picture for braininess or intelligence but rather a picture of spiritual wisdom? “Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars.” When the number seven is used in the Bible, it often serves as a little tip-off that spiritual matters are being discussed such as completion during creation, or God’s Word when the 7 trumpets in revelation are being sounded. The number seven was God’s special number for his desire to connect with people. So, right about now you are probably at the edge of your seat wondering just exactly what spiritual wisdom is. Spiritual wisdom is the result of God’s desire to connect with people. It involves trust in the true knowledge of what God has done for us and the commitment to live like it. Wouldn’t you like to get more of that and get better at that? Wouldn’t you like to have a wise faith to honor God and serve others? Then watch and listen as you
Enjoy Lady Wisdom’s Feast!
The invitation is yours
If you lived in a city two hundred years ago with shiny black carriages carrying gowned and tuxedoed guests along a tree-lined lane, up a curving green-hedged driveway, all the way to the magnificent colonnaded entrance of a mansion to enjoy a superb dinner party, wouldn’t you be thinking to yourself, “I wish I could be invited.” Listen to your invitation!
‘”3 She has sent out her servant girls. She calls from the highest point in the city, 4 “Whoever is naïve, let him turn in here.” To someone who lacks sense she says, 5 “Come, eat my food, and drink the wine that I have mixed.”
Notice that the invitation goes out from the highest point of the city. All are within earshot. Lady Wisdom’s invitation goes out to anyone and everyone. Jesus said that same thing, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” (Matthew 11:28). The invitation is for all.
When you heard this invitation, did you look at yourself and naively wonder, “How can I attend?” Just look at what covers us, the dirty rags of sin, and we look at how we’ve been living our lives, and we realize that we don’t deserve the invitation. We’re more like naughty teens who had snuck around the night before throwing stones through the mansion’s windows and toilet-papering the trees outside. That’s what our sins do to God. There’s no way we have a right to sit at Lady Wisdom’s banquet table unless our naïve naughtiness is covered by rightness and our naughty deeds are paid for.
Yet, Lady Wisdom graciously invites us. She calls out, “Whoever is naïve, let him turn in here.” That word “naïve” usually refers to a person who has an open mind in a negative sense, one who is easily deceived. “That’s not me,” I’m thinking, “Can’t fool me with false doctrine.” But just when we think we’re strong in one area, the devil blindsides us by pressing his thumb on one of our weak spots.
- Is it a dirty thought?
- Is it firing words we throw out that stings someone’s heart?
- Is it a “My opinions are always right” attitude that cuts off open dialogue?
- Is it a self-centered “Woe is me” attitude as a backdoor way for getting attention?
- Is it uncontrolled worry, as if God doesn’t know or care about us?
That’s exactly who Lady Wisdom invites. People just like you and me. She calls out someone who lacks sense, to those who are worn out and feel like their motor is spurting out of gas, tired of the daily grind, dragging so low that they’ll pop any pill or buy any ticket that they think will be a quick fix. Lady Wisdom invites us anyway. Whether your stomach is full or empty, whether you have a lot of money or a little, whether you are outgoing or introverted, the more you learn about your need for spiritual wisdom, the more you will appreciate Lady Wisdom’s invitation to her dinner party. Jesus put it this way, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). If you ever feel unworthy to eat at Lady Wisdom’s banquet, good! This dinner party is especially for you. The invitation is yours to enjoy and
The menu is divine
Since you received an invitation to an elegant dinner party, wouldn’t you be wondering long before you arrived and surely as you drove up the driveway, “What’s on the menu?” Just listen!
“2 She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine.”
The Lord Jesus himself gave us the key to discover what’s on this menu. One day on a country hillside, he had miraculously fed a crowd of five thousand men plus women and children. The next day the crowd pursued him in search of free filet-of-fish sandwiches. Our Lord used the opportunity to redirect their thinking.
“Do not strive for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you … I am the bread of life”
John 6:27,35
Jesus’ words were clear, “Pursue food for your souls,” and he listed himself as the main menu item. How this fits into Lady Wisdom’s dinner party becomes clear from Paul’s words,
“Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption”
1 Corinthians 1:30
Lady Wisdom’s banquet features a menu that is simply divine. Jesus is on the menu, giving us his righteousness, his holiness, and redeeming payment. We need our dirty sin-stained robes to be covered by the proper dinner party attire. That’s what Jesus gives when he gives us himself, when he gives us his righteousness and holiness. We owed an eternal debt for the evil we kept hidden in the depths of our heart. We deserved God’s wrath for the lies told, the reputations we hurt, the souls we damaged. Imagine the debt naughty children owed to Lady Wisdom for the damage we did to the windows of the mansion. That’s what Jesus gives us when he gives us himself, when he gives us redemption, the payment for all our sins.
Before you go to a nice restaurant nowadays, you can often check the menu online so you know what to expect. We can actually find out more and more about the main menu item of Lady Wisdom’s dinner party by checking our Bibles. Jesus Christ is the focal point of all Scripture. The Old Testament books looked ahead to a Savior who would come, and the New Testament books look back on the Savior who has come. That’s why God gave us his Word. It is his message about Jesus’ rightness-giving and redemption-paying. The menu at Lady Wisdom’s dinner party is divine. From top to bottom it offers God’s Word which reveal his love for us in Christ Jesus. Take a bite. You’ll love it!
When we are enjoying delicious menu items we like to know what good it will do. Lady Wisdom calls out,
“5 “Come, eat my food, and drink the wine that I have mixed. 6 Abandon your naïve ways and live. Travel the road to understanding.”
The word “understanding” refers to the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Quit eating the devil’s Big Macs all day and eat the spiritually healthy food of God. Eat at Lady Wisdom’s banquet, believe God’s Word, and you’ll enjoy the added benefits learning God’s will and living the way God wants so you are blessed. How thankful we are to be so blessed. Eat at Lady Wisdom’s dinner party, and enjoy the divine menu as you realize
The benefits are eternal
Lady Wisdom says, “Abandon your naïve ways and live.” The menu consists of Jesus food that gives spiritual strength to make it just another day. It nourishes us so we make it forever. Lady Wisdom’s dinner party offers eternal nutrition. The apostle Paul told us, “The Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”(2 Timothy 3:15). Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”(John 6:51). Eating at Lady Wisdom’s banquet means believing in Jesus’ gift of forgiveness now and one day joining all believers in Christ where we will eat of eternal food and drink of the river of God’s pleasure forevermore.
We might be tempted to think that we need more benefits for our life right now. There is nothing wrong with having a nice house, clothes, and nutritious food. King Solomon thought that as well. One day Solomon walked along the upper terrace of his palace, surveyed his kingdom as far as his eye could see, began pondering on all his earthly blessings and here’s what he wrote:
“4 I undertook great projects. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted every kind of fruit tree in them. 6 I made reservoirs of water for myself to irrigate a forest of sprouting trees. 7 I acquired male and female servants. I also had slaves that were born in my own house. Livestock too! I had more herds and flocks than anyone before me in Jerusalem. 8 I piled up silver and gold for myself, as well as treasures from kings and provinces. …. I did not hold my heart back from any pleasure. My heart even took pleasure in all my hard work. This was what I got from all my hard work. 11 But when I turned my attention to everything that my hands had done and to how hard I had worked for it—note this—it was all vapor, all chasing the wind. There was no benefit under the sun….13 I saw wisdom is better than stupidity, as light is better than darkness”
Ecclesiastes 2:1-13
Attending an elegant dinner party would be enjoyable for so many. But, to know the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To know the Lord is to be in his Word. Everything else, even attending elegant party is worth 0 compared to knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior! You have all been invited. The menu is divine. The benefits are eternal. Go ahead, Enjoy Lady Wisdom’s Feast! Amen!
