THE SOURCE OF WISDOM

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Trinity Sunday June 16, 2019

1 Does not wisdom call out?

    Does not understanding raise her voice?

2 At the highest point along the way,

    where the paths meet, she takes her stand;

3 beside the gate leading into the city,

    at the entrance, she cries aloud:

4 “To you, O people, I call out;

    I raise my voice to all mankind.

23 I was formed long ages ago,

    at the very beginning, when the world came to be.

24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,

    when there were no springs overflowing with water;

25 before the mountains were settled in place,

    before the hills, I was given birth,

26 before he made the world or its fields

    or any of the dust of the earth.

27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,

    when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

28 when he established the clouds above

    and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,

29 when he gave the sea its boundary

    so the waters would not overstep his command,

and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

30     Then I was constantly[e] at his side.

I was filled with delight day after day,

    rejoicing always in his presence,

31 rejoicing in his whole world

    and delighting in mankind.

There's a saying, 'He's wise.' Wisdom is not just about being intelligent. The world looks for bright and smart people. They're treated nicely. You can't deny such social status quo. I hope the world will be better off with more smart people. The problem is that a smart person doesn't guarantee a wise life. There's a wise person who doesn't have to be smart on the other. It would be best to be intelligent and wise, but not many. If you have to choose between the two, you become a wise person. In general, a person's personality is intertwined with intelligent life and wise life, that is intelligence and wisdom. Some have a lot of intelligence, some have a lot of wisdom. Do you, and your children, want intelligence to be excellent, or wisdom to be superior to intelligence?

The ancient Jews thought wisdom was the highest level of human life. Because wisdom belongs to the divine dimension.  It  says there was wisdom before creation. Proverbs 8 personified wisdom. Look at Proverbs 8:22-24 in Common English Bible. 

22 The Lord created me at the beginning of his way,

    before his deeds long in the past.

23 I was formed in ancient times,

    at the beginning, before the earth was.

24 When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth,

    when there were no springs flowing with water.

Here I refers to wisdom, not to people. It's wisdom that existed before the land, the sea, and the river. According to Genesis 1, God was the first to make light, and the next to heaven, and Proverbs was that wisdom was made first. If wisdom existed before all things, then wisdom is not a creation. The text describes wisdom as 'formed,' but wisdom is completely different from the creatures of the world. We can confirm it from verse 30. “Then I was constantly[e] at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,….” Wisdom is not just the power to live intellectually or intelligently, it is God's creating power itself. 

The idea that wisdom existed before the world is conceptual and you may think of it as something we cannot understand. In a busy world, it can be said that it is a difficult point of view to accept. That's a misunderstanding. The Bible, such as proverbs, is not just about expression, but actually about concrete life. The man who wrote the proverb saw people struggling in life. Everyone struggles, but not every life is happy. What we live these days is no different. To strive to make a happy family in a narrow area, and to make a good society, a good country, and a world in a wide area. There is a lot of trial and error going on in the struggle The results of all efforts are ruined by trial and error.

There are two reasons. One is the mechanism of life that runs in the world. In this world, if one person is happy, the other person is unhappy. The team that wins the soccer game is happy, but the team that loses is unhappy. The other is that the human soul is not satisfied with what it is given in the world. It is said that our country is now the world's 10th largest economy. A lot of people tried to get there. But now we're not satisfied. The American and Chinese who dominate the world today also are not satisfied. In Go's aphorism there is a saying "I go through ponder and then make a wrong move." Likewise, though either we or the people lived in the time of writing Proverbs strive to live better life, the fact that people's souls are empty does not change . The best thing to do in this life is to live wisely, says Proverbs. Because you know if you're not wise, your life is bound to be damaged more and more. Not only the ancient Jews, but also the people who lived in all the ancient civilizations, and today we know this.

The wise do not conform unconditionally to the needs of the times in order to live according to their wisdom. They know in depth what's important to people and how they're happy to live. One characteristic of wise people is that they avoid competition and fights. People who are not wise enjoy fighting. Its extremes are martial arts. Fighting is a measure of happiness by turning their body into a weapon and completely overwhelming their opponent. Our daily lives often work like this. People live by the ultimate goal of victory. A wise man knows that victory does not guarantee his happiness. If you win a fight, it's just that moment of excitement, and it's not about happiness. There is no one who doesn't know this fact. They know it from experience. But they don't live wisely. They are not happy because they are not wise. What is the reason?

That's because wisdom is the ordinary ability. The Proverbs express it as "I was formed long ages ago,  at the very beginning, when the world came to be." (23) I read the corresponding passage earlier. The following verse says the same thing. Shall we see verses 25-26. 

25 before the mountains were settled in place,

    before the hills, I was given birth,

26 before he made the world or its fields

    or any of the dust of the earth.

According to the passage, wisdom is not so much an intellectual ability as a person to train or develop, but rather an origin ability that existed before the Big Bang. If you're wise, you've got this origin ability.  According to Genesis 1:2, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." According to this word, the wisdom Proverbs say is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, that is the spirit of God people cannot live wisely.  That's why there aren't many wise people. Think about it. How can a man created in the image of God live wisely without knowing the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Life? You can live smart. You can live a good life. You can live a decent and civilized life. But you don't live wisely. There are many people who know the best of a kind, elegant and civilized life. That's what the world will teach you, but the Bible doesn't say that. Because only a wise life leads one to true happiness. I think the teaching of the Bible is right.

The Old Testament says that fear of the Lord is the very foundation of wisdom. Refer to Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10, Job 28:28 and Ecclesiastes 2:26. We can confirm two only. Psalm 111:10a says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”To fear Jehovah means to concentrate on the actions of Jehovah. Today's text also describes what Jehovah did. That's the creator. Look at the heavens and the earth and the seas and all the creatures that live there. Look at the light and the darkness. Feel the gravity. Listen to the sound of the rain. Then you realize that focusing on God's creation events is the foundation of wisdom. This will help you realize what is important in our short life. That's wisdom.

I told you right before that one of the characteristics of a wise man is to avoid a quarrel. That is what happens to those who fear God, who are amazed at his creation. Of course it is. People who feel in the depths of their souls the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all the creatures that live there never think of fighting with anyone else. Because his soul is full of the joys of life. Recall the happiest moments you've had in the past. There must have been a moment when you had a loved one, when you got accepted to school or work, when you read a good book and were moved, you know, different, but that's what I don't argue with anyone at the happiest moment. I don't feel like arguing at all. Arguing with someone is proof that your soul is empty.

Some may ask, "No matter how wise a man may be in fear of God, how can you live without a fight? Have you never fought before?" People often fight. A world without fighting is, of course, not possible in this reality There's a fight between individuals and between countries. The closest couples fight, too. Even couples have different habits, values, and world views, which makes them uncomfortable to be together, and we have to live with the conflicts that arise. I don't think I've fought to beat anyone but 'Fighting(go)' to win a tennis match. I may have fought in real life, but I don't remember. You're going to live like me.

I'm not talking about a small disagreement that can easily be overcome, but a previous fight that only ends when you conquer the other side and win. This world today in the 21st century is characterized by the routinizing of fierce fighting. Many people live angry lives. In the history of the world, we went through revolutions such as the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, etc. We've achieved a lot through a revolution that's sort of a fight, but we haven't been happy. When Karl Marx hears this, he'll accuse me of being impotent and ignorant of the world. What do you think of today's civilization and today's life? Among these civilizations, are you happy now? Don't you think people live happy lives by filling in what they say is a condition of happiness? I'm sure you're not, because you're afraid of Jehovah, and I hope so.

I told you, "The fear of Jehovah means that I am focused on the creation of Jehovah." The key to creation is life. The word "the fear of Jehovah" refers to a life-oriented attitude. So the root of wisdom is to focus on life. Life is a physiological phenomenon that lives by breathing, eating, drinking and excreting. Everyone does their best to enjoy life now. It's a visceral phenomenon that's given to every human being, and it's obvious. The problem is not focusing on that phenomenon, but on who eats better. There is a street cat family that visit my house every morning. They are looking for food all day long. It's the fate of wild animals. For them, only physical life is life. They want to be cute to their owners, but it's not absolute to them. So they don't have art and poetry. People are different. Even if you're hungry, you have to share your love with others. Humans are the only animals that can choose the poor as their spouses. Even though life is tough, the poet writes poetry and the painter paints. For humans, life is different from that of animals.

Jesus' disciples experienced Jesus as life. Peter's confession points out it. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” The author of John's Gospel tells a much more theological story. To the Jewish crowd who were proud that their ancestors had eaten in the desert, Jesus declares that even their ancestors could not escape death. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.(요 6:49). The disciples believed that Jesus and the one with him would be eternal, and that he would come back to life at the end. It means that Jesus is the source of life. His disciples' life experiences led him to recognize Jesus as being directly related to God's creation. 

John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

This passage is similar to the description of wisdom in the Proverbs. Wisdom existed before the creation of the world, and the logos that point to Jesus rise to the creation of the world. In a way, this doesn't make sense. Jesus was active around 30 A.D. How does he become a logos that already existed in the beginning? You don't have to think that's weird. Let's say these two young people fell in love at first sight. They can only find the meaning of existence through the other side. They want to describe their love relationship as something they loved in their past lives, something that they loved in a star and were banished to Earth because of love. What more can Jesus disciples say when lovers experience this absolute life?

The disciples of Jesus experienced life through Jesus that did not need to be supplemented by anything else in the world. Because they had experienced the fullness of life from him, they could proudly say that believing in him will bring eternal life. Is it hard to believe this? Can't you agree? The absolute world is incomprehensible if you don't experience it. Einstein's theory of relativity says that if you can build a spacecraft that moves faster than light, you can travel time to the past or into the future. We don't understand it from our daily experience. We don't understand black holes. It means that the universe and the history of the Earth and humanity we live on are much deeper than our superficial experience. It's a depth that we can't help but say it's too.

Modern people tend not to experience life, that is, in the depth of their soul. Everyone is busy, but there is no joy in the soul, the fullness of life. You don't know how to live a wise life according to the Proverbs' expression. Many people think that the joy of the soul or a wise life does not feed them. I think only the joy of the soul actually gives us food. He who knows the joys of the soul can think that what is given to him is enough, but he who does not have the pleasure of the soul thinks that much is not enough. The reason I always feel inadequate is because I compare it with other people. The fact that Jesus' disciples experienced Jesus as an absolute life means that they don't have to compare their lives to anyone else. I and you have experienced new life through Jesus so that you don't have to compare it to anyone else, so you don't have to be intimidated by any of the conditions, and you don't have to be self-confident at the same time. This attitude of life is the wise life that the Proverbs says.