Proverbs 4 | A Path Well Worn

Sunday Morning | April 6, 2025 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In his sermon on Proverbs 4, Pastor John highlights the call to walk the path of wisdom—a journey shaped by tradition, intentional choice, and perseverance. He begins by emphasizing the value of a "path well worn," where the wisdom of those who have gone before us, as G.K. Chesterton notes, should guide our steps in a world often dominated by the fleeting voices of the present. Pastor John then points us to the need for a "path well chosen," reminding us through B. Waltke's insight that wisdom is not a one-time decision but a lifelong pursuit marked by discipline, study, and self-control. Finally, he encourages us to remain on the "path of perseverance," pressing on with endurance, knowing that the pursuit of wisdom is a daily, steadfast walk that leads to life.

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Transcript

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You know, ending the time of worship with that, that little refrain just... it made me think about how rarely I really pause and consider how much God really loves me. And I don't mean that in a self-centered way, but I think too often we get caught up in how much is wrong in this world, is wrong in our lives. We, we get beat down with self-incrimination. But to take time to just ponder how much he really, deeply loves you. Amen. How often do you do that during the week? It's not where my mind goes first. Thank you, Isaac, for leading us in that. That is a rich way to start our time together. Because what we're all seeking, and it's the reason why we're going through the book of Proverbs, is wisdom. Wisdom for life. This world is full of ideas, many of them empty. Where do we find true wisdom? The path to wisdom. I remember back in my young college days seeking wisdom on the college campus, which may not be the best place to find it, but when you're walking across campus, there are paths that are already paved for you to follow to get to class. But occasionally you come across an intersection where there's this other path. There's this path through the grass that has been well-worn. And you always know when you come to that spot, that's the path you want to take. That's the one that's going to be the shortest. Because the guys who laid down the pavement, they didn't know exactly where everyone would walk. They were taking their best guess. But when you see that well-worn, well trodden, man-made, path created, over step, over step, over step, over time-- you know that's going to be the shortest route. That's going to be the truest route. How do we find those true paths? How do we find those paths of wisdom? That's what we're looking at in the book of Proverbs. We've been going through a series on the Book of Proverbs, and today we're going to be in chapter four. And what we're going to see here is three ways to find this path of wisdom. We're going to see a path well worn. You want to look for a path well worn. You want to find a path well chosen and then a path well endured. We're going to see those three ways to find a path of wisdom, which is the big message of the whole book of Proverbs. We're going to see that in particular in Proverbs chapter four today. So if you have a Bible, turn to Proverbs chapter four. If you have a church Bible that will be on page 496, the page number should be on the screen. And if you don't have a Bible, we have copies of the Bible in the lobby. Slip out any time, grab a copy. That's for you to keep. We want you to have a copy of God's Word and to be in God's Word. We're going to start by reading just the first four verses of chapter four. As we begin to unpack the path of wisdom. Proverbs four verse one. Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts. Do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast my words. Keep my commandments, and live. What we see in these first nine chapters of the Book of Proverbs, and we've pointed this out a few times, but we're going to keep pointing it out over and over again is a series of instructions from a father to a son. You see this phrase my son or O sons, over and over again. It's somewhere around the range of 15 different times from chapter one through chapter nine. My son, my son, my son, a father pleading with his son, giving him instruction. In fact, a couple of weeks ago when I taught chapter two, that was the theme of chapter two, the father pleading, you got to get wisdom. Whatever you do, find wisdom. Make it your highest priority. Last week we saw more as Colby walked us through chapter three, we saw more warnings what to avoid, what to watch out for. This week we're going to see three instructions as this is why I have three main points in this passage. You see, my son three times. Verse one, verse ten, verse 20. He gives three different mini messages to his son about how to find a path of wisdom. But notice how he starts. He doesn't start with his own wisdom. What he appeals to first is tradition. He says in verse three, when I was a son with my father, verse four, he taught me. So the father starts by saying, I'm going to pass on wisdom to you that was given to me. As I was studying for this, I ran across a section in the ESV Study Bible, which is a great tool if you don't have a copy of that is a really helpful Bible that has lots of helpful study notes, and whoever wrote that section of study moats, ...study notes... moats might be appropriate. In fact, maybe we should have paused and studied Noah's Ark today given everything else that's going on. Get some pointers to how to survive. But study notes in the ESV Study Bible, he said there's three ways that this was wise for the father to appeal to his father when teaching his son. One reason is that this gives him a moment to identify with his son. It's just a small way to say I actually was young once too, which whoever actually thinks their parents were ever young once? That is so hard to comprehend. You can't imagine that. I remember my dad sharing with me once. Probably I was after college and he shared about how when he felt God's call in his life to become an attorney, I think he was in the 12-, 14- year old range-- very young. And I thought, wait a second, you were that young? Oh, hold on, what? How was that? And you also wrestled with this decision of what am I going to do with my life? And you were appealing to God, like, you did all that too? How is that possible? We were just in Phoenix this last week, visiting our oldest son, who's about to graduate college, and he's in that stage too, what am I going to do with my life? This decision is looming. It feels like if I don't make it right, the whole world is going to fall apart. Everything else in life is determined by this moment. We've, you've been there. You know what that feels like if you have gone through that stage. And so we're able to say, hey, we've been there too. Here's the decisions I faced at the end of college. Here's some of what I was trying to decide. Here's how I was praying. Here's what I heard from God. Here's some of how he directed me. I've been there. It's hard to believe. I've been your age once. I've wrestled with it. And by the way, my dad did too. And he passed on wisdom to me. He shows humility in this. He's appealing to the reality that I've been there too. So he identifies with him. The second thing he does, though, he is he implies that I'm not just giving to you my own wisdom. This didn't start with me, which shows humility on the father's part. It also shows wisdom because a lot of times, second hand wisdom is a lot easier to receive than first hand wisdom. It's not as offensive. I don't feel like my dad's preaching at me. He's sharing with me something that someone else shared with him. If I disagree, I'm not attacking him. We're talking about someone else. But it also shows that the father is teachable. I had to seek instruction. This was given to me. Now I'm going to pass it on to you. The third thing that the writer of the ESV Study Bible said that happens here is he's also giving the son the picture of a godly legacy. So when he is saying to his son, my father passed this to me, I'm passing it on to you. He's also saying, this is something that you can be a part of. This is something that is a heritage that you can hand on as well. This is something that you get to be a part of that's bigger than you. You get to hand this on to the next generation, which is if we're gathering wisdom, that's what we want to do. We're not just soaking it up for ourselves. I want to pass it on to the next generation. I want to continue that legacy of wisdom for generation after generation, because so many have been handed the opposite, so many have seen others go before them and not practice wisdom. We want to do the opposite. We want to hand it off. And so the father, by appealing to his father and to his son’s grandfather, shows much wisdom. What he's going to show him here is a path well-worn. This is that first path of wisdom. How do we find the path of wisdom? Look for a path well-worn. In fact, what he appeals to here is tradition, which you can get hung up in tradition. You can...tradition can hold you back. But also we want to make sure we're leaning on the wisdom of others who have gone before us. If you've read much C.S. Lewis, you've heard him use this phrase or read him use this phrase chronological snobbery, which is a mouthful. But what it means is we tend to think because we're newest, because we're alive, we're the best. We've thought of it all. We're here. We're new, old people, dead and gone, have nothing to offer us. They're in the past. They're useless. Chronological snobbery is newer is always better. But there's great wisdom in looking at tradition. I love this quote we're going to put on the screen by Chesterton. He was a writer in the 1800s or so, British writer, and he had this to say about tradition, how tradition pulls in to help with the past. Go ahead and put that on the screen. Tradition means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy or ruling class of those who merely happen to be walking about. By appealing to the past, by appealing to the wisdom of those who have gone before us, we're saying we're not only going to just lean on who happens to be here today. We're going to listen to those who have gone before us. We're going to seek wisdom that is beyond just this momentary slice of time. And so the father is saying, look for the well-worn paths. Look for those who have gone before you. And, by the way, do it with a sense of urgency. Do it with a hunger for wisdom. This next few verses point this out. Look at verse five. Get wisdom, get insight. Do not forget. Do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her. The word the using the pronoun her refers to lady Wisdom, which we saw in chapter one. We'll see you again in chapters eight. Do not forsake her. She will keep you. Love her. She will guard you.

The beginning of wisdom is this: 12:20

get wisdom. And whatever you do, whatever you get, get insight. Notice the beginning of verse five starts with get wisdom, get insight. The end of verse seven ends with get wisdom, get insight. That word get is often used and translated as the word buy, purchase, invest. You know, verse seven sometimes can be rather confusing. The beginning of wisdom is get wisdom. Seems kind of redundant, seems kind of obvious. But you know how this works. True wisdom takes time to marinate and make sense. And at the beginning, when you first hear something, a lot of times it doesn't make sense. You've just got to kind of take it by faith. You've got to absorb it and try to understand it. But over time, it becomes wisdom. Your eyes open up to what that insight meant, but the starting point is first, to seek it, to hunger for it, to want it. In fact, this phrase in verse seven where it says whatever you get, some have translated that some other way to look at that is above all else, at all cost, is another way to say that whatever it takes, get wisdom. When I read that, I was reminded of the pearl of great price or the treasure in the field. The pictures of the Kingdom in Matthew 13, you remember there's this moment where a guy finds a treasure that had been hidden in a field, been buried in a field. He finds it. What does he do? He covers it up and he goes and sells everything he has-- and it adds this phrase in--out of joy. He sells everything he has out of joy, so that he might buy that field and have that treasure. Do we have that kind of hunger for wisdom, that kind of deep sense of urgency at all costs? Above all else, I got to have wisdom. That's what this is talking about. And, you know, I got to confess there are seasons where I don't have that kind of hunger for wisdom. But there's other seasons. Where I'm desperate. God, would you speak? Would you direct? As I mentioned, we were in Phoenix this last week visiting our oldest son, who's in college there at Grand Canyon University. And he was in class one day. So the family, the rest of the family, we went out on a hike. There's this place near the zoo there called a hole in the rock. And you take this short trail up to a hole in a rock to see it, climb around it. And there's there's the well-worn path, which they have many signs encouraging you to stay on those well-worn paths and inevitably, that doesn't always happen. Sometimes we stray from that to climb around the rocks, and we're going on this one section and it starts to get a little steeper and a little less surefooted than I thought it would be as we progress. And I'm standing there kind of trying to decide, do I go forward or backward at this point? I'm not sure if I can go forward. I'm not sure if I can go backward without sliding all the way down to the bottom of the hole in the rock. So standing there trying to debate what to do, and then all of a sudden I hear a voice, a guy says, hey, are you a pastor? And I thought, what am I doing that makes it look like I'm a pastor right now? Is the fact do I look nervous? Do I look scared, do I look unsure? Maybe I look confident. Maybe I look very confident. Well, I just had a shirt on that said worship on it, so I had the word worship on it. Seems like I see your shirt. Are you a pastor? Yep, yes I am. Can you give me a hand, by the way? Here, help me up. And I said, why do you ask? He said, well, I'm a youth pastor. I work down the road. I'm a young guy in ministry. And I'm just wondering, since you obviously are a few years ahead of me-- What do you mean by that? I don't understand -- do you have any wisdom for me? Is there anything you can share with me to help me make sure I'm going the right direction in ministry, to make sure that I'm doing what God would have to make the most of my time in ministry. And I said, how long do you have? My family's waiting. He was fortunate. I said, a couple of quick things about focusing on theology in the languages if you're doing study. But then I said, look, but here's what's going to matter. Get around people that you want to be like, who are pursuing wisdom, who are godly, who are pursuing Christ, do whatever it takes to get around them, and they're going to shape you and influence in you in so many ways. Get around them, pursue them, get wisdom. That's the picture here. Do whatever it takes to get wisdom, to get around others. When you see someone else who's wise, do what it takes to get around them. They are going to shape you and influence you, and they're going to show you a path well worn. Now, what happens when you do that is there are rewards that come from that. And I love that the father focuses on that in this message is not just, hey, take my advice so I will feel good about myself. No, no, no, he is saying to his son, this will benefit you. Here's the reward to you for following a path of wisdom. Look at verse eight and nine. If you get wisdom, if you follow it, here's what will happen. Prize her highly and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her, she will place on your head a graceful garland. She will bestow on you a beautiful crown. Look back at verse six. There's more instruction there. Do not forsake her. She will keep you. Love her. She will guard you. If you want a life that is as full as it can possibly be. Here's what you do, son. You pursue wisdom. When you do that, she will guard you, protect you, give you a graceful garland, bestow on you a beautiful crown. That's where you will experience life to its fullest. You know he does something wise here in verse six. Because there's something that happens in relationships where this is true as well. Sometimes we can feel like, look, I've, I've acquired wisdom and I'm not doing anything wrong. So why isn't God giving me all of this that you have listed here? Well, verse six says this. He helps us see this. Do not forsake her and she will keep you. Yes, there's a reality of where we should not forsake wisdom. And in relationships you need to make sure not to do the wrong things. One way you might say this look, hey, I've never cheated on you. If you're in a romantic relationship, aren't we good? I've never cheated on you. Well, that's great. That's a good starting place. But also, don't just not do the wrong things. Love her and she will guard you. Don't just avoid the wrong things. Also pursue love. And when you love someone. And part of the reason we went to Phoenix was to meet my son and his girlfriend, who we had not met. And when there is a new love, there's an excitement, there's an urgency, there's a closeness. That's not just, hey, I'm going to avoid doing the wrong things. I'm going to go out of my way to make sure you're first in everything. This is the kind of approach we have to wisdom. Do not forsake her, love her, go after her and she will ... man, she will bring reward to your life. So the first approach to finding wisdom find a path well worn. Seek out those who have gone before you. Learn from them. Don't try to figure it all out on yourself. Find a path well-worn. Now, the second encouragement he gives to finding a path of wisdom to his son here is in this next group of verses, look at verse ten. Hear, my son, accept my words. The years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom. I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered. If you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction. Do not let go. Guard her. She is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked. Here in verses ten through 14 you see... And the second way to pursue wisdom is to make sure you are choosing a path of wisdom. Because there is always there are always two paths to pursue and you want here. In fact, this is our second point in the message a path well chosen. You constantly have a choice before you about which path you're going to go down, always before you. This is the theme of the whole book of Proverbs. There's two paths you can choose, which is it going to be? We need a path well chosen, which is a moment by moment, day by day activity. Look at verse 13. Keep hold of instruction. Do not let go. Guard her. She is your life. These verbs here are very active. Keep it. That's day by day. That's hour by hour. Sometimes minute by minute. That I've got to keep pursuing wisdom. Grasp on to her. Not let go. Very active. This isn't just a one time decision. It’s a day by day by day [decision]. Going on the theme of romantic love again, your marriage isn't just a wedding day. It's not just a one time decision. That's the easiest day of your married life. That's when you look the best. When all your friends are there clapping. That is the beginning of a day by day, moment by moment, hour by hour decision to love. Continue to love one another well and with wisdom. You got to keep choosing that path over and over and over again. Because the reality is there's two paths before us. And so he warns his son of the path of the evil way. Look at verse 14. Do not enter the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it. Do not go into it. Turn away from it. Pass on. For they-- meaning the evil persons-- they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong. They are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. Here's the picture of the evil person here. Their favorite meal is to do evil. They relish it like a fine wine and a luxurious dinner. They lay awake at night. This is the picture here. They're restless. They can't sleep because what they're doing is they're plotting evil. They can't wait to get up and to do something evil. I heard a story from a guy, Tom Skinner, and he was an evangelist, 6o’s and 70’s in particular. But before he was an evangelist, he was a gang leader in Harlem in New York City. And he recounts in the story of his conversion, he recounts when he was plotting this huge, huge gang war. It was going to involve the five main gangs in that area. Here he was. This wasn't just, hey, if we have to defend our territory, we will. No, no, no, I am actively plotting what I know will be destruction, death, harm. And it will involve as many people as possible. And I'm up late at night and I'm relishing in the planning of it day after day after day. And he loved it. And God spoke to him, changed his direction in that moment. But before that, loved it. Don't go down that path. Avoid that path. Look at the contrast. Don't choose that path. Verse 18 is the path you want to choose, but the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They don't know over what they stumble. They're blind to the very things in front of them that will injure them. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter till full day. Here's what that means. The early morning light starts with just a glimmer, and wisdom is that way. Starts with just a glimmer. I'm not sure what this means, but I know that this guy that I admire believes this and follows this. There's wisdom there. I don't get it yet. There's a glimmer, but over time it grows and it grows brighter, and it grows brighter until it's at its fullest at the middle of the day. The light of wisdom is like that. If it continues to shed more light on the subject, whereas the evil person wants to confuse, misdirect, make it hard to understand, cause confusion, difficulty, stumbling. I don't know about you, but I want to be the person who is the one passing on the increasing light to others. I mean, you've spent time around the people who are the takers, who are the ones that want darkness. Let's be the people who are the givers shining light into people's lives. Which do you want to be? I want to be the life giver. That's what I want to be known as. Someone who's giving life to others, not taking. That's a moment by moment, day by day decision. And of course, in any given day, we'll take some life, whether we mean to or not. I'm selfish. I make poor choices. But I hope over time, as we pursue wisdom, that this church is known as a life giving church. That's my prayer. And I think it is in a lot of ways. We're not perfect, but I hope we're spreading light all throughout this area, through our neighbors, through our family, through our loved ones, even through our enemies. They see something is different about them. So we want a path well worn. if you want to know wisdom, follow a path well-worn. Also choose wisely. You got a daily choice. What path are you going to follow? And now lastly, we're going to see and hear a final instruction to his sons, a path well endured. You want to know wisdom? Stay on the path. It's a path well endured, a path well persevered. And we're going to see in verses 20 through 27 how he emphasizes this. In fact, as I read through this, what I want you to take note of is all the different parts of the body that are mentioned. This is just a a full inventory of the body, and it's involvement in following the path. Just note each of these as I read verse 20-- my son, be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape your sight. Keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward. Let your gaze-- the literal wording there is your eyelids, implying a squinting of focus-- let your gaze be straight before you ponder the path of your feet. Then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot away from evil. All the parts of the body being mentioned. The picture here is the emphasis is to endure well toward wisdom is a whole body effort. This takes complete commitment. It's not just a side item you pursue here and there. It takes your entire person. And some see in this a division between the interior life and the exterior life. If you look at verse 23, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life-- that would be the center of the will, the center of the emotions, the center of your decision making. Be mindful of what shapes your heart. Be mindful of what influences it. The internal will drive the external, but also the external drives the internal. That's why he mentions the other parts of the body the external elements, the eyes, the speech, the feet. What you look at, in fact, the gateway to the heart are the eyes and the ears. What you look at feeds your heart. What you listen to feeds your heart. I like to, for exercise, I like to mountain bike. And one of the things you learn early on in mountain biking is don't look at the place you don't want to go, because your bike will follow your eyes. So if you're going down a trail and you see a gigantic rock or root, don't stare at it. Stare at the smooth path. Otherwise you're hitting that rock. You're hitting that root. You're looking at it because you don't want to hit it, but you need to look away. You need to look at the place you want to go because your bike will follow. In fact, your feet will follow your eyes. And by the way, it works both ways. Your eyes will follow your feet where your feet are pointed. Make sure you're not swerving to the right or to the left. You're following the path of wisdom, which requires endurance, which requires effort. It requires a care for and a love for the heart that ultimately only comes through dependance on Christ. It only comes through him changing your heart. The home we stayed in while we were in Phoenix was of a guy who's a business owner there, very influential in his church, the church we attended when we lived there, 20 years ago now. We moved there to attend seminary. But recently he had what most would consider a very difficult medical event. They were ten hours from home. They had driven up to Utah to vacation with some family, and he had been feeling pains in his chest for weeks, ignoring it like manly men do. Right? I'm kidding. Right? No, listen to that. I'll be okay. It's no big deal. I can't breathe, really. But it's okay. And he's there. And his stepson is a surgeon. He's an orthopedic surgeon. And he goes, this is not okay. You need to go to the hospital. I'm planning on it when I get back home. You need to go now. Now! Don't wait. Go now. And so they go to the hospital. He's in Salt Lake City, ten hours from home, and they say, oh, if you want to make it, we're operating today. Full blockage everywhere. I don't remember all the statistics, but it wasn't good. Not how he expected to spend his vacation. Away from family, ten hours from home. He has to convalesce there for many weeks. But he said, John here was my comfort through all that time. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life was one of many scriptures that came to mind when I was down. God brought scripture after scripture, after scripture to mind. And he said, do you want to know why those verses came to mind? It's because I had hidden them in my heart years ago. And here was his plea, and I was like, I'm all... I wasn't in the room, I'm hearing this second hand from Julie, we're all ears. You tell us, because you are a man of immense wisdom. You tell us what was the key. If you wait until tragedy to start memorizing scripture, it's too late. Hide God's Word in your heart when times are good so that he'll bring them to mind when times are hard and that will be your comfort. Keep your heart with all vigilance. Keep your heart. I don't know what you have ahead of you this week, but inevitably all of us have something that wants to steal our heart. All of us have something that wants to fill our heart up with the wrong things. How are you going to keep your heart this week? Well, let me just beg you this week to find a way to fight for your heart, to fight for what you look at, to be things that fill up the heart for what you listen to that would draw you closer to Christ. In fact, I'm going to close in prayer. And as I pray, I just want you to pray and ask God if there is anything ahead of me this week that will stain my heart and draw me away from you. God, would you just reveal that to each of us now? Would you expose that? Maybe it's something we've been planning for and plotting and desiring and it's actually quite evil. Or maybe it's something we thought was good. But has become an idol in our lives, and it's pulling us away from you. Would you expose that right now? My prayer is this week for each of us we would meditate on

Proverbs 4: 35:09

23. Keep your heart with all vigilance. Pursue wisdom. Seek after wisdom. Hunger for wisdom like a treasure hidden in a field. Jesus, we love you. Would you give us the strength this week to fight for our hearts? Would your Holy Spirit speak to us, convict us of sin, expose sin in our lives? But in the midst of the conviction, give us the strength to turn to you in grace. Turn to your love and depend on you. Thank you, Jesus, for how you've worked in our lives. We love you. Amen.