Conviction

Passages

Proverbs 1:7, 16:20, 17:24, 25:2, 21:2, 14:12, 3:27-28, 14:23

Sermon Summary

”The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” begins Proverbs 1:7, setting out the first of three forks: Can you figure out life on your own? A Christian is a person who concludes: No—I need God to reveal his truth to me. Thankfully, God is committed to revealing his truth to us, supremely in the person of Jesus. This decision, however, leads to a second fork: Am I satisfied with what God has already shown me? Proverbs says: Don’t be! Rather, continue to search, expand, and refine your understanding of God’s world. Here, too, God is pleased to teach us through his Holy Spirit, while reminding us of the limits of our knowledge. The final fork is: Will you be content to fill your head with knowledge? Proverbs says: Take what you know and act on it. Christians saved by grace have freedom in Jesus to try and fail and keep trying.

Discussion Questions (choose any—you don't have to answer them all!)

1. What stood out or stuck with you from the sermon?
2. What is something you are more convinced (or less convinced) about today than you were a few years ago?
3. What is so appealing about being a free agent in the marketplace of ideas? What is exhausting about it?
4. How do you understand the “fear of the Lord”? Discuss both terror-fear and reverence-fear.
5. Why is it so important for Christians to search, expand and refine their understanding? What happens when they don’t?
6. How do you know when the answer to a question is among the “secret things” of God or the “things revealed”?
7. Are you more prone to “stalling by studying” or acting impulsively? What truth of the Gospel helps motivate you to wise action?
8. What specific risks-in-faith might you take if you weren’t so afraid of getting it wrong?

Resources Consulted

• Africa Bible Commentary, ed. Tokunboh Adeyemo
• The Message of Proverbs, David Atkinson
• Proverbs for Everyone, John Goldingay
• Tyndale Commentary on Proverbs, Derek Kidner
• The Five Books of Moses, Robert Alter
• Proverbs: A Shorter Commentary, Bruce Waltke
• Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs, Roland Murphy & Elizabeth Huber
• Proverbs for You, Kathleen Nielson
• Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Navigating Life, Timothy & Kathy Keller
• Proverbs: Wisdom That Works, Ray Ortlund
• "Men Without Chests" in The Abolition of Man

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