Proverbs 4:20-27 (Whole-Bodied Wisdom)

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon. We pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you. So many recently told me that a lot of my a lot of my analogies and stories come from.

War.

Because I'm maybe I'm a fighter. I don't know. Today is no different. When I joined the United States Army and I went to basic training It was a whole body kind of training that I went through. It wasn't just the arms and the legs and the abs, you know, you as soon as I got there I think we did hundreds and hundreds of push-ups the very first when I first got off the bus our legs were were brought into shape through our Running and ruck marches.

Our abs were brought into shape through a thousand sit-ups. But also our eyes and our minds and our nerves were brought into alignment with the vision of the army. Our eyes were trained at the range.

Our minds were trained with the grenade exercise, which was a Very interesting one. We actually had someone who threw the pen and kept the grenade which Not a great not a great thing to do. But those trainings were there to actually cause our nerves in a safe environment mostly to come under Submission to the vision so that when we're actually in a dangerous environment that we would be able to react and we'd be able to respond appropriately.

Our ears our mouths our noses were also involved. We had to pay attention to the commands that we were given by our officers. We had to use our mouths and and sing cadences while we were running and and be able to always with the obligatory Yes drill sergeant.

I scared you trained our nose, which all of our senses were involved in this and before the military started letting in Trisexual tree fairies we actually cared about the way that. We actually cared about the way that we were prepared for fighting and I hope that it it comes into better days again.

It was a mental physical Emotional kind of strength that they were trying to tease into us so that if we went to war, which we did. I joined right after 9-eleven. I Literally was in the recruiters office a couple days after 9-eleven and four weeks later I was shipped off to basic training.

So I knew what I was getting into we knew what we were getting into which made the training even more vigorous. But they were training us for a battle. They were training us for a war and we had to Every bit of us from the top of our head to our toes.

We had to be ready and we had to be prepared because you don't want just physically strong and mentally weak. You want people who are holistically strong to go into those sorts of environments? And I think that this is a really good metaphor for what discipleship actually is.

Because we're in a war for the world. Christ came and he landed on the beaches of Bethlehem and he began the invasion and for 2 ,000 years the church has been advancing and the point of discipleship and one of the reasons that the church has been in such a Dire straits over the last hundred years as we've forgotten to train the whole man to train the whole woman.

What we've done over the last 50 to 100 years as we've said all we need to do is save them and get them into the kingdom. Because we don't have time because the rapture is getting ready to happen. We don't have time to disciple them and time to pour into them.

And because of that we have had basically a generation of converts who have not been Discipled who have no depth in their faith and because of that Christianity in the West has grown weak. To prepare for what God has given us.

We need a whole life whole body approach. Which is why I'm so thankful that we're in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is not a book that you'll often hear preached in churches. We're actually probably Known for preaching books that won't be preached.

We planted this church and began with Jude. But I'm glad we're in Proverbs because Proverbs if I were to call that anything. It is a manual of how to train up soldiers for Christ in Every aspect of life and how you eat and how you drink and how you think and how you walk and how you talk in all the parts of our life.

That we often don't think about Proverbs thinks about and it gives us a whole body approach to discipleship. I'm thankful for that and I'm thankful that today we're going to look into that and we're going to see what it means to think and to listen and to focus and to speak and to direct our affections in every aspect of our life to Discipleship in our passage, which is Proverbs 4 20 through 27.

So today it's my goal To see what is a whole body approach? To pursuing wisdom and to discipleship. What does it mean that every faculty that is in my being? Is submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and are there parts of me?

It's this question I want us to wrestle with are there parts of me and other parts of you That remain outside of submission. So with that we turn with me to Proverbs 4 Verses 20 through 27 as we consider these things Together and don't be intimidated.

You can screenshot all those verses. There's a lot today Proverbs 4 20 through 27. This is how it begins.

My son.

Give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them in health to all their body.

Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.

Watch the path of your feet.

And.

All your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left. Turn your foot from evil. Let us pray Lord very Rarely, did we see so many? parts of the human body listed in a single passage.

And Yet Lord, it's so very clear why you've done it. Because you want our head our eyes our heart our Fingertips our toes our eyes and our nose all submitted to you. Lord you didn't die on a cross and Drink the dregs of the wrath of God in order to make mere converts.

You didn't die in order to make a band of loyalists and cheerleaders. You died. You traded places with us. So that you would bring all of us under your transformation. So you would bring all of us under submission as New creations that we actually would begin resembling something new.

Lord we pray that today as we consider these things that that Lord that they would not be a list of deficiencies. Because Lord, you know, we all are deficient. But Lord, I do pray that a thread running through this list would be the kindness of Christ and The faithfulness of the Spirit.

And Lord, I pray that more than seeing this as a list that we don't measure up to. That we would simply say Lord give me more Lord some help me submit more Help me surrender more Help me release.

More.

Trust more. Because Lord there's more life that you give as we give up more of ours. It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. I Want to begin the first where the battle begins we're talking about soldiers. We're talking about whole body preparation.

So, where does the battle begin the battle begins in the mind? Verse 20 says my son give attention to my words. You give attentions with your mind because the battle begins there. Every battle begins in the mind before actions are taken before decisions are made.

It happens in the head first. Before a man will walk in wisdom He first thinks and considers what wisdom is and before a man will entertain sin, whatever that sin is He first entertains it in his thoughts.

That's why Solomon begins here that's why he starts with the way that we think and in our mind because everything is downstream of that and. And I would tell you this a mind that is unguarded is an open door for the enemy.

A mind that is unguarded is an open door for the enemy. That's why Solomon says my son give attention to my words. And he uses a Hebrew word there kashav. Which means to grab it. It means to give attention.

It means it's not passive. It's very active. It means to lean in with urgency and to pay attention. It's that moment where somebody tells you something life-changing and you were leaning in with rapt attention.

That's what he says consider the Word of God like that fixate your focus like that. This is not casual listening as you're scrolling on your phone. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yes, dear. Uh-huh. We've all done that but that's not this.

This is a deliberate and disciplined engagement with the Word of God because our survival depends upon it and.

And.

We know from Scripture that this is where the enemy first attack first attacks. Think about the Garden of Eve. He didn't attack her body. He attacked her mind. He said did God really say? The first attack was leveled at the mind and by entertaining the deception the behavior followed suit.

She handed it to her husband her husband partook of it and the fall of the world was downstream of a thought. Is God really good? Did God really say? This is why I say that the mind is the battlefield and this is why I say that an unprepared mind Will lead to an unprepared life.

Paul even warns us. He says do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He's saying be active in your thought life be active in submitting your mind to the Lord because that's where discipleship even begins.

There's two things that we can feed our minds with. We can feed our minds with the secularism and the entertainment Culture and all of the things that the world gives us and it will poison you. Or we can feed our minds with the wisdom that is found in Holy Scripture and it will bring life to you.

One path leads to life one path leads to death. But it begins in the mind. The mind is the headwaters of your life. So the question I would ask you is what are you feeding your mind? What is your mind consuming?

How do you spend your time? Developing your mind. Are you saturating it with God's wisdom or you absorbing the world's ideologies? Are you memorizing scripture? Are you scrolling endlessly through a litany of distractions?

Are you fortifying your thoughts with truth? Are you passively allowing them to be shaped by fear and by lies?

And.

Christ, of course. It's the perfect example of this Christ of course the very wisdom of God when Satan attacked him. What did he do? He didn't entertain the thought he said no it has been written. He combated the attack on the mind with attack with a counter-attack of the word.

When he faced the cross Isaiah 57 says he set his face like a flint. What a masculine glorious thing that is. That our Savior set his face like flint. He determined in his mind to glorify God for the sake of saving us and he set his face Toward the cross and there was nothing that could prove that could get him off course.

As far as what we need to do about these things There's a few things. I would encourage you if you want to cultivate a mind That loves wisdom. The first thing I would say is immerse yourself in Scripture.

How can you know what the word says if you don't read what the word says, right? Psalm 119 11 says I have stored up your word in my heart. Let that be our anthem brothers and sisters. Number two, I would say to cut off worldly influences.

There's so much that is downstream of this that I can't even say if You're not cutting off some of those influences that are leading you into different places leading you into Toxic thought patterns leading you whether it's your music or whether it's your friends or whatever it is.

There is There is so much Influence that others have on us That is not good that leads us into dark places that we don't even realize. First Corinthians 1533 says do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.

Number three memorize scripture. I remember a pastor told me once or I think he said it in a sermon. But it was like he was talking to me. I remember it so vividly he said If things get so bad in this country That the Bible is outlawed.

The Bible they can never ban is the one that you've memorized in your head. I Don't think things are gonna get that bad, but who knows? Human depravity is Pretty depraved. I also remember another pastor saying one time that the Holy Spirit ordinarily doesn't Minister to you with a scripture.

You don't know. Of course, the Lord can can miraculously put a scripture in your mind that you've never read before but usually the way the Lord encourages us and Strengthens us and helps us in the middle of the battle is with scriptures that we do know and With scriptures that we have read and with scriptures that we have memorized.

So do that put the Word of God into your mind and then pray. How often do we pray that the Lord would renew our mind? How often do we actually ask the Lord? To take away our fears to take away our anxieties and to renew our mind.

2nd Timothy 1 7 for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and of sound mind. How often do we pray for these things. Pray for these things. Fix your mind on the things of God and it will fix your future.

A Weak mind leads to a weak life. Give attention to the things of God mentally. Solomon says my son give attention to my words. So we ought to do it that's the first place is in the mind. The second is in the ears.

The battle also happens in the ears. In The very same verse Solomon says incline your ear to my sayings the pathway to the brain. Usually biblically speaking is the quickest through the ears. Hear the words of the Lord believe the words the word through hearing them.

And hearing is more than sound waves. Hearing is is listening and discerning the truth. It is Understanding what God is saying and applying what God is saying. Hearing is not just listening to words come through in audio signals.

It's hearing it believing it trusting it. Again the word here in Hebrew is not taught. It also means to focus intently. It's the image of a sound cutting through the cacophony of life and you paying Direct attention to it and There is a great danger actually.

The reason why the Bible is so Strong on these things is because we live in a world that's filled with many voices that we ought not to be listening to. Not every voice that's screaming at the top of its lungs deserves your attention and You can find those voices on the left and you can find those voices on the right.

Our camp is not immune to falsehood. You remember the first sin that Adam committed is that he listened to his wife and I don't mean that in a you know Negative way. I mean that in that particular moment.

He heard his wife and he did not Stop her. He did not caution her. He did not say no. No the Word of the Lord says this. I'm not gonna he listened to his wife and He along with her fell. Satan's strategy has not changed.

He distorts the truth. He sows doubt. He corrupts our hearts and he whispers lies half-truths in order to get us off course. He did this with Jesus in Matthew 4 6 where he twisted scripture just ever so slightly.

He did this with Judas. Where Judas allowed Satan into his head which led to our Lord's betrayal in Luke 22 3. If your ears are not attuned to the wisdom of God, then they will inevitably be shaped by the world's deception.

It's it's like.

Gravity. If I were to hold something out and let it go it will inevitably fall without intentional effort. You can't hold something up because it will fall to the ground in the same way without intentional discipline.

Without intentional effort. Without intentional Discipleship in your own life to attune your head and attune your ears to the things of God you will inevitably drift. You ever been to the beach as a child and your mother my mom.

One only rule I had which wasn't really great. Like don't go out too deep. Don't almost kill yourself and drowned like I did a couple. I had a couple moments. But the one rule she gave me. Maybe it's because my attention span wasn't big enough to remember two rules.

I don't know.

Was.

When you look up and you see me and your dad sitting on the beach, I want us to be straight in front of you and Inevitably what would happen is as I was playing in the water. That the tide would pull me down The coastline and I would get in trouble if I looked up and she was over there When just a few moments ago, she was right there.

In the same way without you even noticing it if you were not intentionally Directing your mind to the things of God. You will drift and you will drift and you will drift into a place that you do not want to be.

So I would say first and foremost Put the Word of God into your mind. Listen to it with urgency. He who has ears let him hear. Matthew 13 9. Surround yourself number two with wise counsel. Surround yourself with people who can see that you're drifting and then don't be so prideful as to argue with them when they call you.

Out on it. Maybe perhaps maybe they see something you don't see.

Repent and.

Then pray that the Lord would forgive us when we drift and that we would reorient and that we would work. You know, it's always harder. It's always easy to drift down the coastline. It's always harder to come back.

But we must come back we must repent and we have a great example of this in Jesus Christ. It says in John that he didn't even do anything unless he heard it from the father. He was always listening to the will of the Father.

He heard the father's voice and he obeyed John 530. He resisted Satan's deception by listening to Scripture. Matthew 4 4. He taught that his sheep know his voice and follow him. John 10 27. We must imitate Jesus in the way that we listen to his word.

My question I guess would be What voices are shaping you? Is it the voice of Scripture? Is it the voice of wisdom? Or is it something else and if it is something else cut it out sever it with the machete of the word and Submit your life to that.

That's number two number three is your eyes. There's a battle that's going on and we need to focus our head focus our ears. But also we need to focus our eyes verse 21 and verse 25 talk about this verse 21 says do not let them Depart from your sight.

That's the commands of God. Don't let your eyes deviate from the commands of God and also verse 25 Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Proverbs 4 25.

What you look at Will be what you worship. There's a principle there what you stare at will be what you consider sacred. And if you stare at something long enough and hard enough it will become your thing that you worship.

Solomon says do not let your eyes depart from the commands of God. That means that we have to refuse to be distracted. We live in a very distracting world. I I Talked about we just did the law homily envy.

I sometimes envy the simplicity of a hundred years ago. Where they weren't constantly Accosted by every single tweet and message and update and ticker and whatever else. If this behooves us to take this seriously, I don't have anything profound to say about it other than we just have to do it.

I don't have anything that that you're gonna be like, oh, that's incredible insight.

No.

I'm just saying we must actually direct our energy in our effort to being to refusing to be distracted by all of the cacophony of the noise that's happening in the world and to direct our focus to the things of God.

To direct our mind to the things of God. To direct our ears to the things of God and To direct our eyes to the things of God. The Hebrew word here. Yashar just means Undistracted. It's the opposite of my childhood where I was told I was ADHD.

This is the opposite where you are focused laser focused on what God says. Again we see a parallel with the way that Satan temps you remember he first came and challenged Eve with her mind Adam with his ears and Eve saw that the tree was good for food and took it and ate.

Sin is a whole body experience. So therefore we need a whole body solution. David saw a woman bathing and he sent for her David sin with his eyes. Peter saw the wind and he began to sink. Peter sinned with his eyes.

In every case wandering eyes Leads to spiritual disaster and if Satan can capture your eyes he can capture your heart again. Our world Has become absolutely excellent at bombarding us with visual temptations and visual stimulation in every sort whether it be an Instagram post of a living room that looks nicer than yours a Meal that maybe you're not skilled enough to cook.

Or maybe it's some pornographic image. The world is Become excellent at marketing images. Why. Because the eyes are so directly connected to the soul. A Drifting eye will lead to compromise in your faith.

Which means we have to train our eyes to actually focus on the things of God. We have to guard against the lust and covetousness. Job says in third and Job 31 1 I've made a covenant with my eyes that I would not look upon a virgin.

I love that verse so much. Job is saying that my eyes are so untrustworthy that I had to actually enter into a covenant relationship With my eyes and sign the terms so that I could protect myself from these things.

We have to take these things very seriously because our eyes tend to follow The things our flesh gratified or things our flesh loves. Psalm 119 37 turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your ways.

Amen. Pray that prayer for us that the Lord would protect us from looking at those things that are truly worthless and That we would only ever behold and look at the thing that is worth all things which is Christ.

Hebrews 12 2 says that we must fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Remember, this is a whole body discipleship. It requires so much more than our confession. It requires so much more than filling out a card in the back of a seat that says I have decided to follow Jesus.

It requires so much more than going up and getting your baptism bag and everybody Cheering and you get on the video on the big screen and then nobody talks to your follows up with you. What we're talking about is all of life Submitted to the Lordship of Christ.

This is exactly what Jesus did. We have a great example in him. He set his face towards Jerusalem Luke 9 51 for the joy Set before him he endured the cross.

Hebrews 12 2.

Jesus never took his eyes off the Father and by dying and trading places with us He expects for us now in him through the Spirit to never take our eyes off the Father as well. I would ask you are your what are your eyes focused on?

I would ask you. What are your eyes looking at? I would ask you where do your eyes gravitate towards I? Would ask you where do your eyes go when no one else is looking? What do you point them at that will tell you a lot about where you are at?

And if it's not Christ, and if it's not the good things that he's commanded like family. Direct your eyes to your family that blesses the Lord and that's obedient. Direct your eyes to faithfulness. Direct your eyes to Being here and worshiping the Lord.

All those things are good. But if the things you're directing your eyes that are not good repent and repent quickly. Today is the day of the Lord. Turn to him in all your ways. That's number three. Number four is the mouth.

This is one I've had to struggle with over the years. Proverbs says put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Words are powerful. Words are things that can tear down and build up so quickly.

Words are things that which wars have been launched. We live in a world now where angry ex-posts can cause all sorts of mischief. Solomon says put away a deceitful mouth put away devious speech far from you.

We need to be disciplined in our words. We need to be careful in the things that we say. We need to be wise in the things that we say. We need to Be aware that God actually cares about the ways we speak.

For instance James 3 6 as the tongue is a fire a world of unrighteousness. Proverbs 18 21 death and life are in the power of the tongue. Ephesians 4 29, let no unwholesome word or speech proceed from out of your mouth.

The mouth can become ammunition of the fool. A Foolish tongue will spread lies and division and disunity. And God says in Proverbs 6 that he hates it. That it's an abominable thing to him. What comes out of your mouth says much about where you are with the Lord as well.

Jesus made this clear in Matthew 12 34 the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. Say it a different way. What's in the heart comes out of the mouth. The things that we say. Say so much About what we actually believe.

Proverbs 12 22 says do you speak truth or do you twist reality? That's a great question. Ephesians 4 29 do your words build up or do they tear down? James talks about gossip complaining cursing and all of these other sins in James chapter 126.

The question that we need to ask ourself is what do our words say about us? Do we speak truth with our words or do we speak lies? Do we use our words to build up or do we use our words to tear down? Do we use our words to gossip and complain and?

To whine and to moan or do we use our words to say God is good. And God is good all the time. Our words.

Merciful or.

Our words judgmental. Our words gracious or our words hateful our words show whether wisdom dwells inside of our heart. It's true of our brains. It's true of our eyes. It's true of our ears and it's true of our mouth.

These are evidences of whether or not we have grabbed hold of the things of God and. Again, I don't say these things because I want to use them as a measuring stick because as I as I looked at these things and as I was preparing this message, I felt pretty low on the measuring stick and.

You do too.

The question is in our sin, where do we turn? Do you justify yourself in your sin or do you turn to Christ and say I?

Did it again I.

Did it again? I was. The person was cruel or hateful to me and I let him have it. I did it again that person cut me off in traffic and I gave them the most sour Mangled look on my face just to show him how displeased that they were that they had made me.

I did it again. Because maybe you thought it was cool. You said something that was a little edgy that went too far. Did it again. Made fun of someone who Shouldn't have been made fun of. We use our words so frequently to wound.

Instead of to bring the healing that we believe happened in Jesus. We also need to talk about the heart verse 21 and 23. Keep these the commandments in the midst of your heart. That's Proverbs 4 21 and watch over your heart with all diligence for from it We're from it flows springs of life.

The heart is where? The center of our soul exists the heart is the control center of your life. Every decision every word every action flows from either a Decrepit heart or a heart that's been set free by Christ.

Solomon says watch over your heart with diligence. This is the word That would be a soldier with a weapon. Guarding kind of like a prisoner and in a very very very literal sense Solomon is saying grab the m16 and Take your heart captive and guard it because it'll break out on you.

Because it'll deceive you. That's what Jeremiah says that the heart is deceitful Above all things who can even know it if you love wisdom. Then you have to crucify your heart. You have to make your heart you have to beat your heart into submission.

You have to take the weapon of the gospel and beat it and beat it and beat it and beat it in prayer. That's why Paul says in Romans 8 13 If by the Spirit of God you put to death the misdeeds of the flesh which originate out of the heart.

Then you will live brothers and sisters get out the tourniquet of God's Mercy and beat your heart into submission because it is not to be trusted. It is the most untrustworthy part of you. Don't follow your heart what unload what a line.

Follow the things of God and make your heart. Obey, you can do that by filling your heart with Scripture. Your word I've treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. Psalm 119 11. You can do that by examining your heart.

Test yourself to see if you're in the faith examine yourself. 2nd Corinthians 13 5. You can do that by guarding your heart against emotional sabotage. Again, our heart is more deceitful than all things.

You can do that by setting your affections on Christ my son. Give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways. Proverbs 23 26. You can do that by praying to the Lord help my broken heart. Inactivity though, I hope that we're seeing this inactivity is not the option.

We must be active. With our mind with our ears with our eyes with our mouth and with our heart. The next one we need to talk about the feet. Solomon says watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established.

Do not turn to the right nor to the left. Turn your foot from evil. Your feet are downstream of your head your eyes your ears your mouth and your heart. Your feet go where they go and Solomon is telling his son To watch where your feet are going because your feet will determine your not only your direction but your destination.

They're the last line of defense for you. They're probably the first thing you'll notice because the heart is so deceptive and the mind Self-justifies so easily and the eyes love what they love and the ears gratify what they like to gratify.

It's your feet. Actually, that's one of your most helpful friends because you can actually look down and see where you're going and say How did I get here? Watch your feet watch the path of your feet.

Every step you take in this life is leading you somewhere. There's no neutrality in it. No one drifts into holiness and no one accidentally ends up in a place of sin. Scripture contrasts these two different paths.

Proverbs 4 18 through 19 the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn. For the way of the wicked is like darkness. Proverbs 14 12 there is a way in which seems right to man, but it's a way that ends in death.

The path of sin is darkness and death. So Solomon is telling us to actively purposefully intentionally with great energy. Watch over the things of our life our head our eyes our mouth our heart our feet because they lead to death.

Because they lead to darkness because they lead to a lack of life. To be lazy and slothful in watching over these areas of your body is to ensure that you end up in misery and to be active. By the power of Christ alone by the Holy Spirit's power at work in you to be actively working.

To see discipleship and wisdom come into these areas is to ensure life and blessings. These are good things from God. They're hard work. You have to fight against the cancer of Your soul that wants you to go this way and that way left and right.

The question I would ask you is where your feet taking you. Where are your feet taking you. Are they taking you closer to Jesus closer to the things of God closer to biblical obedience? Or are your feet taking you to places that you shouldn't be going and if they are repent of that.

The final thing that Solomon talks about is the body. Now he's summing all of it up for us in verse 22 for they are life. The commands to those who find them and their health to all of their body. Solomon is telling us That obeying the things of God brings you life to every faculty of you.

It doesn't change your situation. Sometimes we go through hard things this church has gone through hard things but to submit and surrender yourself to the things of God brings life. A Kind of life that can never be snatched away from you a kind of life that can never be taken.

Proverbs 14 27 says the fear of the Lord is the fountain of life. Deuteronomy 8 3 man shall not live by bread alone. But on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God because there's a nourishment that's better than bread.

The law of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul. Psalm 19 7. The thing we have to remember is that the world's wisdom leads to brokenness and exhaustion. But God's wisdom renews and strengthens us. Every day his mercies are new every morning brothers and sisters.