Simon O'Grady - Unlocking the Proverbs - Class 5 - Proverbs of Solomon

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Good morning, brothers and sisters, as we come to this amazing subject of the wise counsel and the correction in the book of Proverbs. So today we're going to start moving from the book of Proverbs in regards to understanding it, to putting it into practice, into the wisdom that is in its pages. Today we're going to be looking at the subject of God's correction and the accessing of wise counsel.

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   Now I'm sure, brothers and sisters, as you all sit there today, that many of us, if not all of us, are carrying many burdens. We've come here as an oasis for the week from all sorts of pressures and stresses and burdens that we are facing and carrying, and we will go home in a few days and we will have to face those and carry those again.

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   And I do know that there's a huge amount of suffering. Now Cindy and I have travelled a lot this year, and everywhere, brethren and sisters, are suffering. For some, it's ecclesial turmoil and tension. For some of us, we are mourning the loss of a loved one. Some of us are experiencing financial pressures.

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   Some grappling with relationships that are broken. Some feeling a deep loss of purpose in life. For some, it's the burdens of old age, where we can't sleep. We get tired. We get pain. Some of our faculties and our capabilities are a shadow of what they once were. Some of us hold deep fears, a deep worry for the suffering of others that we love, but we can't do anything about it but pray and hope.

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   Some feel that they're losing their battle against sin. Some are struggling with trust, a vital, essential foundation to all of our relationships. Hard to build, easy to lose. For some, it's physical health. We're experiencing pain. We're just tired. For some, it's traumas of the past that just return and haunt us. For some, it's mental health, where there are real clinical anxiety and grapples with depression.

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   And in all of them, we ask the question, why? Why me? Why them? Why? Now, we know the answer, don't we? God knows what he's doing. There's a bigger picture. We're all learning. We must trust. But still we ask, why?

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   Now, I can't give you any specific answer to that question this morning, brothers and sisters, except this. It is because our Heavenly Father is chasing us as his children and his son. Not punishing us. Not punishing us. Chastening us. And to unlock the book of Proverbs is to unlock the purpose and the power of the Father's chastening in the life of his children.

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   So this morning, God is going to provide us some level of comfort, some encouragement, some hope, some lifting up of hands that hang down, some strengthening of knees that are feeble. Because he wrote this book, the Father, for his son to explain to him the process of chastening. Now, come with me to Hebrews chapter 12 that we began our studies with, one of our keys, where Hebrews chapter 12 quotes the book of Proverbs and explains to us that it's a book about chastening, the chastening of the son by the father.

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   So let's just remind ourselves of that in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 3, where the writer of Hebrews says, consider him, that is, consider the Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings in his life and on that cross, who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Consider that, lest you be wearied and faint in your own minds.

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    So he's saying to us that one of our keys to not being wearied, to not being faint in our minds as we confront whatever those sufferings are in our life, we consider him. For verse 4, you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against him, as our Lord did. And verse 5, you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to children, my son, and he quotes the book of Proverbs, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

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    For whom the Lord loves, that's his motivation, he chastens and scourgeth every son whom he receives. And if you endure, so chastening will require endurance. It will go on and on and on. If you endure, God is dealing with you as with his son and all of us as children in that son.

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    For what son or child is that he or she whom the father chastens not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers in the family of God, then you are illegitimate. You are not his sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence.

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    Shall we not much rather be in subjection, lest the spirit of the son and acceptance of the chastening of the father of spirits and live? For they, verily, for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But God, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. There's his reason for the chastening for us in our sufferings.

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    Now, no chastening for the present time seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. It means full of sorrow and grief. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby. So that's the goal, that's the end, that's the hope, that's the reason, is it yields something called the peaceable fruit of righteousness by us when we are exercised.

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    So that's a picture taken from the games of the time, that labor and effort and exercise that the athletes put in. We are exercised by the chastening which is grievous so that we might profit in the end with the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Wherefore, because of all of that, the motivation of the father, the reason he does it, the end to the chastening, lift up your hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet.

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    So that's the purpose and the outline of chastening for us in Hebrews. But it directs us to the book of Proverbs. Of all the books of the scripture to say, that's where you'll find the principles of the chastening of the father to the son set out. So what we find then in the book of Proverbs, in our first study, is that our first key is to understand that it's the words of the father to the son.

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    We need to read it like that. We need to understand it like that. We need to see that the father is giving to the son knowledge, understanding, wisdom, to discern between good and evil so that he can participate by the father in a process of correction and chastening. We saw in that relationship it's fundamentally related to the Davidic covenant.

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    I will be his father, he shall be my son, and I will chasten him. And so the book of Proverbs will show us the process of correction. And it all revolves around these two key terms, these two key words there. The term musor, chastening of instruction over 35 times. Tokicha over 26 times, correction and reproof.

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    So it's a book of chastening and correction. So today our focus is going to be on this particular subject, on the correction, on the chastening, on the reproof, on the counsel, on the advice of the father to the son and to us, his children, as it's set out in this book of Proverbs.

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    Now we've been looking at the fact that the concept of comprehension, understanding, is presented in the scripture as taking a complex thing and breaking it into its past, separating it mentally or putting it back together to create comprehension and understanding. So it all begins with the building blocks. And we saw in our study yesterday that from chapter 10, as we've just read through, there are all these little couplets and they're all the components, if you like.

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    The base level, the first step and two ideas are put together to create comprehension and understanding and how they layer on top of each other right the way through the scripture until we create this incredible and glorious apocalypse revealing of Jesus Christ and revelation, where it's a tumble and an avalanche of biblical concepts and principles and ideas.

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    So the book of Proverbs is a training ground. It's teaching us how to understand the father's words, how to engage with him, how to understand good and evil and discern between the two and choose good and reject evil, how to participate with the father in our lives as he corrects us, chastens us, reproves us, gives us counsel and advice.

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    So here are all the key terms, and there's a bunch of them that occur in the book of Proverbs. We're not going to go through them in detail, but here they are. There's the term reproof or correction from tukicha. It's from the root verb to be right as opposed to to be wrong, the wicked.

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    And so chastening, correction, is associated with the idea in God's mind, the father's mind, with his principles of right and therefore righteousness because it's true and it's right. So chastening is about recognizing the right of God. What is true? What is beautiful? What is the good? What is right? We also have this term morsor. It's from a root verb, yasir, which means to chastise.

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    And that is a telling off. It's you're doing wrong there. That is wrong. You need to change. You need to stop it. You need to move to there. The idea of chastening or correction. But we also have this associated idea of counsel that begins to crop up as we go through the book of Proverbs.

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    It's the idea of seeking advice, sending counsel, establishing a plan with the counsel and help of others. There's even the term a steerage that crops up with the idea of a boat. So you can steer by counsel or advice as you listen to others, as you accept the feedback and the input of the Heavenly Father and his chastening and correction process.

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    So there's all the terms in the book of Proverbs. And you'll see it's a theme that runs right through and has nuance and facets to it. But those are the key terms or ideas. So what we're going to do now is we're going to take these passages and we're beginning to do what the book of Proverbs has told us.

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    We're going to start putting the ideas together. So for the next four or five slides, we're just going to take pieces of the Proverbs. We're going to begin to expand our knowledge of chastening and correction and counsel and the concepts and begin to put them together to see emerging out of its passage the process that our Heavenly Father is taking us through.

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    Now the first thing we need to note, and I've got two passages here, they're both from Hebrews. One, that exposition in chapter 12 of the book of Proverbs, another one in chapter 5, which gives us some key insights into the subject of correction. And that is that correction is done through our suffering.

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    Not only our suffering, there are two other ways in which God corrects us, but this one is key. Our suffering is fundamentally about his chastening and his correction. Not punishment, but his chastening and his correction.

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    So in chapter 5, verse 8, we read of Hebrews on the screen there. Now that immediately tells us a couple of things. One, the Lord Jesus Christ went through this process. Of course, he is the Son of the Father. He's the exemplar for us. He's the pattern after which all our suffering and our chastening and our correction is going to be modelled.

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    Second, the Lord Jesus Christ is sinless. So chastening is not punishment. It's a process by which the Father creates in the Son the characteristics of righteousness that he is looking for. So he, in the end, becomes his beloved and begotten Son.

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    So the Lord Jesus Christ learnt obedience by the things he suffered. For us, in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 11, we see that chastening is about suffering. It's grievous, it's sorrowful, it's full of grief. It is not joyous suffering and correction. But it yields afterward something called the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And we'll answer what that is later on in the session.

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    And in understanding why God does this, how he does it, its purpose and its end, and that it's a relationship with him that sits underneath correction, it will enable us to lift up our hands and strengthen our feeble knees. So the correction and chastening of God is done through the vehicle of our suffering, is what we take away from these two passages.

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    Now this idea that correction is not punishment, that is not the idea of the Father, is borne out here again on screen. Now if you can't read that because the font's quite small. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 19 to 24. So let's just read these verses and take away the point that correction is not about punishment in the Father's eyes.

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    It may involve consequence for things that we have done wrong, but it is not about punishment, it's about correction because he wants his children to follow righteousness. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 19 to 24, we find these incredible principles set out. It is thankworthy. Now just note that's the word charis, it's grace.

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    This is grace. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. That term conscious is consciousness. It means full understanding of. You are conscious of God in your suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when you are buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer for it and take it patiently, this is acceptable.

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    Now that's our term charis, grace. This is grace with God. For even hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered for us. So suffering, the correction is not punishment. Leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. And when he was reviled, reviled not again.

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    And when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to the judge who judges righteously. And so on his own self he bare our sins. That is his suffering was related to bearing our sins. Isaiah 53. In his own body on the tree that he being dead to sin should live to right.

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    And by those stripes, the suffering of Christ, we are healed. This is a beautiful illustration here of the principles of the suffering of Christ. And that is in its essence, the suffering of Christ is the suffering of an innocent man. Suffering wrongfully. It means unjustly. And so there's an inherent concept here in the suffering of Christ that it's wrong.

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    It's unjust. And yet it's the process by which the father chastens and corrects his son, by which he learnt obedience. And so the righteousness of God would be displayed in him. And so all that stuff that was done to him by evil men was done wrongfully. There was no fault in Christ that he suffered that.

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    And yet he went through it as the patent and exemplar for us of one who was being chastened by the father. Now for you and I, of course, in our lives, often we do experience consequence of things that we have done wrong. But very often there are brethren and sisters suffering the consequences of other people's doing wrong.

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    And of the general evil of the paradigm of this world that entered the world in Genesis. So correction is not punishment. And while it might be consequence or it may not of ourselves. It is always the consequence of the evil that entered the world in Genesis. And it's the process by which the father corrects and chastens his son.

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    So that afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So suffering is a key way in which the father chastens his children. But correction is also done through the word. Turn with me to 2 Timothy 3, verse 12 to 17. Very well known passage. But as we read this, you'll see that his mind to Timothy is in the book of Proverbs.

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    That's where he's going to as he explains that the word of God itself, all of the scriptures, are a vehicle by which God will correct us and reprove us and instruct us. So let's turn up to 2 Timothy 3, verses 12 to 17. Now the context, of course, is Timothy is that it is written to my beloved son, the son of Timothy, of Paul.

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    So here Timothy is in the position of the son to Paul who is in the position of the father. And this is what he says in verse 12 of 2 Timothy 3. Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers. He puts two archetypes out of the book of Proverbs.

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    The evil man and the strange seducing woman. Those two will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou, my son Timothy, in the things that you've learned. So it's a learning process. And you've been assured of, knowing of whom you've learned them. That from a child, so this is a context of the child, the son, that has known the holy scriptures.

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    And they are able to make you wise. Now that's the question of Proverbs, isn't it? Seeking the wisdom. The wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. And it's in all of the scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, given by the inspiration or breathing of God. And it's profitable. And he uses two groups of terms.

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    For doctrine and instruction. Two teaching concepts. Which are two key ideas in the book of Proverbs. And reproof and correction. Two chastening concepts. That's taken from the book of Proverbs. So that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished for good works. So the word of God is the other key way by which our father corrects and chastens us.

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    The other is through the suffering in our life. Which is conceptually wrapped with the evil that entered the world in Genesis. But there's another route to wise counsel. I'll put these two on the screen. But we have a channel of wise counsel, of correction, in those that are around us. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24.

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    Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works. So there is an access into aspects of the counsel or the correction, the counsel and the chastening. In our ability to provoke and consider one another to love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Because if you do that, you can't access that as the manner of some is.

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    But exhorting one another that you can only do if you connect and you are in relationships with those around you. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Or James 5, 90 to 20. Brethren, if any of you err from the truth and one convert and know that he which converts the sinner from his error shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins.

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    Forgiveness is the drive. Not judgment. Not condemnation. So there is correction available to us in the Father's wisdom through our interactions with each other. So as we go through the book of Proverbs, what you'll see emerging is that one of the key traits of the son, of the wise, is their characteristic of constantly seeking to spiritually improve.

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    They submit to the hand of God's chastening as the son. They will listen and they will take on words of correction and reproof because they want to improve. They are experts and they grow the ability to give wise counsel to others and to receive it from others. The wise seek the knowledge and understanding wisdom of good and evil so they can refuse the evil and choose the good.

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    And they understand that correction and chastening is a fundamental part of that process. As we go through the book of the Proverbs, we will find that the fools won't receive counsel. They hate counsel. They hate correction. On the screen, Proverbs 1, 25. The woman wisdom, as she's crying out to the nation, says, You set at naught all my counsel.

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    You're none of my reproof. Chapter 5, verse 12. At the end of a process, the writer in the book of Proverbs says, I failed to apply the principles. I chose the evil, not the good. And in the end I said, Why have I ended up in this mess? Because I hated instruction. My heart despised reproof.

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    I've not obeyed the voice of my teachers. I didn't incline my ear to the ones who instructed me. So fools don't receive counsel. That's their trait. But the wise will. This is the attitude of the wise to counsel instruction. Proverbs 4, verse 13. Take fast hold of instruction. Don't let her go. Keep her.

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    She's your life. So the holding and the acceptance of instruction, engaging the process of correction and chastening with the Father, is something we should take fast hold of because it's our life. Proverbs 9, verse 9. Give instruction to a wise man and he'll be yet wiser. You see the trait of the wise?

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    You give instruction to a wise person, they take it on board. They become wiser. Teach a just, that's our term, right, righteous, a right man. And he will increase in learning. You see the spirit and the attitude of the wise and of the right? They increase in their learning because they're taking on board the wisdom and the learning and the teaching of others, of the Father, and their engagement in that process.

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    Proverbs 9, verse 20. Hear counsel, receive instruction, that you will be wise in your latter end. So the end result of attaining wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and practice in our lives, the choosing of the good, the rejecting of the evil, is a result of us hearing counsel and receiving instruction.

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    Wise counsel is important in ecclesial life, says Proverbs. Proverbs 5, verse 15, verse 22. Without counsel, purposes are disappointed, but in the multitude of counselors, they are established. So well-run ecclesiastes tap into the principle of seeking the counsel, the correction, the ideas of others, so they can establish through a multitude of counsel.

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    And this is a sub-theme now that starts to come out of the idea of instruction and correction, that the wise provide counsel. They receive counsel. Proverbs 11, verse 14. Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. Or Proverbs 20, verse 18. Plans are established by counsel, and by wise counsel, they wage war.

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    And we all know, don't we, that we're involved in a war. We're fighting collectively and individually against sin. And it says, well, plans against sin are established by wise counsel, and the waging of war in ecclesias, and in lives and in families, is done by wise counsel, says the book of Proverbs. You will find wise counsel at the heart of good friendships, says Proverbs 27, verse 9.

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    Ointment and perfume, rejoice the heart, so does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel, that is, counsel from the heart. So in a good friendship and relationship, counsel is sweetness, says the book of Proverbs. And finally, in Proverbs 20, verse 5, and we're just skimming through a whole lot of these, but hopefully now, we're putting the ideas together and getting a picture of wise counsel as an aspect of the correcting and education and instruction process that God's made available for us.

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    Not only does he instruct us through his word as his primary vehicle, but then through the correcting and suffering process of our lives, and then providing us a group of counselors around us, all of whom have gaining experience and knowledge and understanding wisdom of discernment between good and evil and how to apply it in life that we can tap into and that we can contribute to.

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    Proverbs 20, verse 5. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water. You've got counsel. I've got counsel. It's all related to a life of involvement with the word of God, of our personal sufferings and experience.

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    But it's hidden. It's deep. It needs searching out. And a man of understanding taps into that counsel. So what I'd like to do is pick up that theme and just for 10 or 15 minutes look at the concept of fostering a culture in ourselves, in our families, in our ecclesias of wise counsel.

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    Knowing that Heavenly Father has put us together to provide that as one of the three arms, if you like, of us providing correction, instruction, and counsel, and reproof to his son and to his children. His word, our suffering guided by God, and brethren and sisters around us. So here's all the passages here around the fostering of wise counsel.

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    You can look at all those yourself. But what I'd like to do is just spend a moment where you're going to experience, in just a small way, a process of wise counsel. So one of the themes of the book of Proverbs is it says that God puts us into ecclesias, it puts us into families, he puts us intersecting each other because it gives a vast, deep well of wise counsel that's available.

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    And wise people are able to tap into that and become wiser. Those who are wise are experts at providing that counsel into the well that others might draw upon it. So our question here is about developing a culture of wise counsel and availing ourselves of that arm, if you like, of correction and instruction that the Father has provided.

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    and why wouldn't we want to access that? If you're anything like me, I've made a lot of mistakes in life. I've also made a lot of good decisions in life. I've experienced lots of consequences from both. I'm sure that you've done the same and they will be different. Why wouldn't I want to know your wisdom, your comprehension, your warning about where you made a mistake and I might and I want to avoid that?

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    Why wouldn't I want to tap into that? In fact, if I decided not to, what might I be called? A fool. So it's powerful, brethren and sisters. I don't know how many in here, 150 brethren and sisters. How deep is that well of counsel that's available to us if we can tap into it?

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    How much deeper would it be if we could contribute our own experience in the word of God and personal suffering and chastening under the Father's hand and experience of good and of evil? So it's a very, very powerful thing that's available to us if we develop a culture of wise counsel. So this is what we're going to do.

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    I'll give you about seven minutes. Just form a group of two or three so the person next to you or three people sitting together if there's someone just maybe there on their own, maybe four, I'll allow four but not nine again, whoever had that group of nine. So groups of two or three and the reason for that by the way is that groups of two or three everybody gets to talk.

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    Groups of nine they don't because as soon as you get in a group of nine the dynamics change. So you've probably heard me say this before but it's a really useful way of thinking about it. We think and we contribute differently. In a general sense we can fall into two categories. I call them talker thinkers and thinker talkers.

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    So they're the people who think by talking. That is their mode of thinking. They need to talk to think. Now everybody knows who you are even if you don't yourself. But that's okay. That's your mode of thinking. And you need space for that. And by the way those who do they tend to be very broad.

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    You'll go all over subjects. You'll explore stuff. So talker thinkers aren't necessarily making a point. They're just exploring stuff. That's why they go all over the place and everyone goes what are you saying? Well no I'm just having fun. Go in places exploring things.

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    Whereas the others they don't talk they pause. They reflect. They think. They need to understand things and then they talk at the end. You get depth out of that. Not real deep thinking. And you need both. You need to explore it all and you need depth down the sleeves. The funny stuff is we annoy each other.

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    So those of you like to think go can you just close your mouth and let people think like we've talked a lot. And the others go why won't you talk? You're just sitting there not contributing. So we've got to give each other space. If we have two or three you can get the dynamics working that you can't in a group in nine.

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    So it is important to do that. Just be aware of each other and how we think through information and contribute it. So here's the question. You're the one with knowledge, understanding and wisdom and it's really useful. So we'll assume that it's good, it's biblical and correct and it's really useful to someone else to help them grow spiritually.

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    So here we are. We've got wise counsel and somebody else has a need for it. So in groups of two or three, just discuss these three points. And those who like to talk just go, oh look, I've been talking a long time, maybe I'll be quiet. And those who like to think then go, oh here's my real gem of an idea or a point.

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    So here's the three questions. Should you give them that counsel? Why? What are the three top enablers? They're the things that you need to have to be successful at giving that wise counsel. and what are the top three barriers, the things that stop you being able to do that or be effective? Make sense?

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    And what we're doing is extracting wise counsel. So we're just going to do a small little example of the process of wise counsel. So I'll give you seven minutes. Go.

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    Okay, sorry to interrupt all the conversation. We could probably go on for a little while but just stay in your groups because what we're going to do now is we're just going to flip the perspective. So I'll give you another five to seven minutes but this time it's not us. Somebody else has knowledge and understanding and wisdom that's really useful to me.

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    It's really useful to you to help you grow spiritually. So talk together about what would be the top three enablers, so now you're going to receive it for that being successful, or barriers to you receiving that. And are they the same as the other ones? So I'll give you another five to seven minutes to discuss that.

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    All right, sorry to interrupt everyone. We're going to have to bring that conversation at the end. Feel free to continue it over lunch. It sounds like there's quite a few deep wells of counsel being dipped into and drawing it out by those who understand. So hopefully that's been useful experience just a mini way.

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    That's what wise counsel is about. Others have experiences. They've been working through the scriptures. They've been working in partnership as a son of the father, submitting themselves to correction. They've been enduring suffering. They've been giving and receiving wise counsel. They have deep insights for us to tap into. Now it would be nice now to have a big whiteboard and synthesise all of that wise counsel onto a board and you'll see that some groups were repeating the same themes, others had different and put it all together.

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    We don't have time for that. So what we'll do again is what we did the other day. And we're going to put up the results of that process in other forums and you can have a look and say, oh yeah, we had that one or we had some different ones that were important and if you want to come up and see me.

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    I'd love to have your wise counsel and include it in this presentation if there's another time. So here's some of the wise counsel from other brothers and sisters.

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    Context is key. There has to be a relationship with trust or you can't do it. If you don't trust the person, their counsel is very difficult to receive. If the person doesn't trust you, providing that well counsel is very difficult to give. Trust has to be there at the heart of relationships before you can really give and receive wise counsel.

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    You've got to make sure it actually is wise counsel and not unsolicited opinion. And it's really important to know the difference. All of us have experienced unsolicited opinion and all of us have given unsolicited opinion that's not necessarily actually wise counsel.

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    There needs to be a motivation. We need to know the person giving us that wise counsel genuinely cares about it, loves us, and it's shown and it's known in the way it works. When we give that to others, they need to know that's our motivation. It needs to be known, it needs to be shown.

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    There's a context. Humility is needed by both parties. One to receive it, the other want to make sure they don't have a spirit of superiority in the giving of it. This is a really important one. It needs to be seen as an opportunity to grow and not a judgment. This is really difficult.

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    Now, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but how many, when someone comes up in a particular way with some wise counsel and feedback immediately go, like I do. Because we are viewing it as a judgment about whether a good or bad person, whatever that might mean, functionally or morally.

95. 38:27

    So that's making me a bad person or not successful, and I don't like that. It doesn't fit my self-image, so I reject it, as opposed to seeing it as an opportunity to grow. It's an important spirit of those who give and receive. Here's some more insights of wise counsel from others. If you don't have counsel, don't give it.

96. 38:48

    It's okay to say, I don't know. Don't make something up. You don't have to. You can say, I'd like to help, but I just don't have any wisdom in that area. helping someone think, now my children have taught me this, and my wife, thank you, helping someone think can be as useful as giving a solution.

97. 39:12

    Right? So the wise counsel might actually be in the form of helping the person think through their issue and arriving at solutions or possible solutions and actions, as opposed to, I heard you, this is what you do. Wise counsel might be of that form, and we can see the Lord doing that through the gospel record often.

98. 39:31

    If we're outcome driven, we will know that how we give it is just as important as the content. There's no point having good content of wise counsel and delivering it badly, because you won't get the outcome.

99. 39:48

    Confidentiality. If you don't keep it in confidence, what do you break? Trust. And if you don't have trust, you don't have a relationship in which wise counsel be given and received. How often do we break that one? Someone's come to us for wise counsel, been vulnerable and told us stuff, and we repeat it.

100. 40:10

     Terrible. And just remember, the wise weren't good at it either. They began pretty poorly, but they increase in learning, they increase in their counsel, and they get better at it. So that's some wise counsel from other brothers and sisters. When you are the giver, here's some enablers. You have that relationship of trust.

101. 40:31

     You actually have permission. That doesn't mean to say, do you have permission? Good, here it is. No, do they really mentally, are they switched on and they are open, giving you permission to provide that? Is it all about helping them? I'm the giver. Is it really all about them? Is my counsel true, godly?

102. 40:53

     Is it clear? Is it useful? Those are some of the enablers. If you've got others, love to hear them. Barriers, I'm the giver. I'm coming to you. I have some wise counsel that would be really useful for you spiritually, but is it all about me? I have an agenda here. I'm looking to control you in some way.

103. 41:13

     I'm looking for recognition. I'm a wise counselor and advisor, you see. here's a barrier. I've just got bad style and delivery and I can't trust myself. However, one of us don't provide counsel because we can't trust ourselves to do it properly. So the wise develops the ability to be a good giver. What about a reaction?

104. 41:37

     I tried it once, they reacted badly, they just started crying and that always makes me feel uncomfortable. They're emotional. What do you do about this now? I learned that from my kids as well. Not my wife.

105. 41:49

     My kids, you might not like me if I say something and you perceive as negative you won't like me and we have these barriers of fear, don't we? But stop us doing it. So there's some enablers and barriers if we're the giver. What about if we're the receiver? Here's again some wisdom of counsel from others.

106. 42:10

     An enabler. I trust this person, I know they've got my back, I know they love me, they care about me, so now I'm open to receiving. That counsel's sensible, it's true, it's godly, it's useful.

107. 42:24

     We all need to develop a filter, don't we? Because we're going to receive a lot of counsel, wise counsel, unsolicited opinion in life, and we need a filter. Is it sensible, it's true, it's godly, it's useful. We've got to make sure that it is when we give and receive it. I've got a spirit, I'm seeking counsel because I want to improve and grow.

108. 42:44

     I'm not seeing this as some binary statement about whether I'm a good or bad person, successful or not successful, I actually want to grow and improve. Key enabler is a good listener, you've got to listen to what's being said. Those talker thinkers find that difficult, right? You've got to stop and listen carefully.

109. 43:05

     Or the barriers to being a receiver of wise counsel, it's a criticism, so I'm a good or bad person, that's what it's a statement about, rather than improvement. Or the delivery is poor, the words, tone, body language and content when I'm a receiver, it just doesn't work and it pushes all my wrong buttons.

110. 43:21

     I remember years ago someone who was wise, not in a collegial context, but out in a corporate context, said to me, your best feedback will come from those who don't like you. And what they meant was, they'll be unfiltered, they'll just say it as it is. Because all your friends will couch and hide it and not want to upset you or hurt your feelings.

111. 43:40

     So there's this issue of being able to look past the delivery to understand the content of the feedback. A wise person can do that regardless of who and how it comes from. Or I was hurt before, someone hurt me and so I'm all defensive. So those are the key in neighbours and barriers other brethren and sisters have come up with.

112. 43:59

     You may have some others. So what do we do with this? Well here's a suggestion and this one again is the result of some wise counsel from others. So I'm going to have to note, you'll be very embarrassed on doing this, but brother John Zhang, so he's John and Annie have been to the Bible school in the past, a Chinese brother and sister who live in Sydney now, and he made this point to me and he called it circles of influence which is a really good idea and I'll explain it to you.

113. 44:30

     So here's me in the middle, so it's the first time it's ever allowable to put Yumi in the centre of anything. There it is, me, and these are the people that influence me or that I influence in life, right? So the first circle is the people that I influence a lot in life and those who influence me a lot, then those I influence sometimes or influence me sometimes, and then a little and then there's everybody else.

114. 44:57

     And if you actually put the people that you know in this, you'll find that there's a few that sit in the centre, a few that sit in the centre, and a few that sit around sometimes, and our circle that we influence and influence by is actually quite tight and small. Now the point of that is, well if we want to start on this, we should approach the people who are close to us, people we influence a lot, people who influence us a lot, and maybe say I want to be good at giving wise counsel and receiving it, and enter a partnership with them, say I want to develop this ability, I'm not very good at it, but can you help me here, and maybe we start with giving or receiving, just go and ask for counsel, and we begin like that, rather the next step of giving it, that's a little bit more difficult.

115. 45:45

     So we can put this into practice quite quickly, but we're getting to develop a culture and ability to provide wise counsel and to receive wise counsel in our lives, in our families, in our ecclesias. If you're struggling for a subject that you might want to start with around wise counsel, maybe you start with it, keep it in the book of proverbs, I promise up here so you know I'm an expert and I'm allowed to talk about this.

116. 46:14

     I have a certificate in it. It's a certificate in procrastination. I'm expert. Big procrastination, small ones, just go and have a look at my backyard, there are procrastination projects all over it. things, big deadlines coming along, I've built all sorts of things. I've built a retaining wall, I've built a shed, I've built a cabin, I've built a spa sheller, I've built all sorts of things.

117. 46:45

     They're my procrastination projects, so I'm expert at it. But the book of Proverbs talks about this, talks about slothfulness all over the place. It identifies as a characteristic of the wise that they're not, they're diligent, they get on to things, they do things, but the full, they sleep, they procrastinate, they're lazy. I found this one particularly hard hitting.

118. 47:08

     So, there you go, possibly for the brethren, maybe we could start with this, the subject of slothfulness and procrastination. Alright, but let's think about it this way. Our Heavenly Father is the one who provides us correction, reproof, and counsel. And Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1 to 10, talks about the Lord Jesus Christ and the spirit of God upon and the spirit of knowledge, understanding, wisdom, might, and of counsel.

119. 47:45

     So, in this relationship with our Heavenly Father, as he provides us correction, reproof, and counsel through his word of truth, the scripture from Genesis to Revelation, by the sufferings and trials that we go through in life, by the deep wisdom and counsel from our brethren and sisters around us. In this relationship, God is our giver, and we are the receiver.

120. 48:09

     Let's just think about these for a moment, in our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Is there trust? Do we trust him? He knows what he's doing?

121. 48:21

     Do we listen to him? Biblically seeing things in our life, perceiving it, is listening to him? Do we think about our relationship with the Father as about growth? He's instructing us, correcting us to make us wiser, or do we see it as a judgment about whether we're good or bad?

122. 48:42

     Or are we developing the spirit where we come to the Father and say, see if there's any evil thing within me. Purge it from me. I want the correction, the reproof. I want to be received as a son. can we see the purpose?

123. 48:59

     Can we see he's doing it for our good? Can we see in his correction that there are peaceable fruits of righteousness at the end? Do we really understand that the Father's motivation is a love for his children and for his son? So there's a spirit, isn't there, of the child or the son revealed in the book of Proverbs and their relationship with the father as they accept his correction and reproof.

124. 49:30

     Let's look at two beautiful passages now as we bring these thoughts to a close. The first is in James 3 13-18, so let's turn that up.

125. 49:44

     And as we read through this, you'll see that the passage is all built on the book of Proverbs. It's ideas, it's a passage about wisdom and what wisdom is and isn't and what wisdom is in practice. And in James 3 13-18, his delivery of this exposition of wisdom and practice is done in the context of conflict.

126. 50:08

     So James 13-18, who is a wise man? That's our question from Proverbs, isn't it? who is a wise man endued with knowledge? Oh, that's a Proverbs idea among you. Let him show out of a good way of life his works with meekness of wisdom. Says James, there's a humility involved in being a wise person who outworks their knowledge and comprehension and their behaviours.

127. 50:40

     truth. But, if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, do not lie against the truth. What truth? Well, the truth that a wise man has in their way of life works that show the meekness of wisdom. And if you have bitter envy and strife, you're denying that truth. You're saying it's a lie.

128. 51:05

     That wisdom, verse 15, does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. That's Proverbs. But the wisdom from above, the wisdom of Proverbs, is first pure. That is, is first pure in the giver. We know that because it's referring to verse 13.

129. 51:30

     Show out of a good way of life the works with meekness of wisdom. First you need to be that pure in giving. Then it will manifest as peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Two big themes of the book of Proverbs. So that the fruit of righteousness, the peaceable fruits of righteousness, are the end result of chastening, says Hebrews.

130. 52:02

     The fruit of that righteousness will be sown in peace of those who make peace. So the book of James is telling us that the characteristics of the wise, when you see them manifest, the test for us to know whether we've got it and we know and understand and are putting it into practice, the discernment between good and evil and are choosing the good and rejecting the evil is whether we are peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

131. 52:41

     That's what James is telling us. And if we take it back to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 10 to 13, now we can see why he's picking up this idea of the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It's our actions and behaviours in the end are right, not wrong, they're good, not evil, and there is peace.

132. 53:02

     For they verily for a few days chastened us, says the writer of Hebrews, after their own pleasure, but God, he's chastening us through his word, through our sufferings and sorrows, through the deep counsel and wisdom that's available for those around us, so that we might be partakers of his holiness. That's why he's doing it.

133. 53:26

     Now, none of our chastening, none of our suffering seems to be joyous, but grievous, sorrowful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it.

134. 53:46

     It's exercising us, it's creating us, it's turning us into his children. Wherefore, because we understand the goal and the aim and why God does it and his motivation and that we can trust him, in whatever your sorrow, your trial, your difficulty,

135. 54:08

     your chastening, your correction under the heavenly father's hand, lift up your hands if they hang down, strengthen feeble knees, make straight paths for your feet and for your faith. Let's conclude with these words of the father to the son. Proverbs chapter 3. My son, forget not my law. Let thine heart keep my commandments.

136. 54:34

     For length of days, long life and peace they will add to thee. Trust in Yahweh. Trust with all your heart. Do not lean to your own understanding. You won't be able to figure it out. Trust and in all your ways acknowledge him. Have a mindset, a spirit of mind that in everything you do, you acknowledge God's got it in control and he will direct our paths.

137. 55:07

     We don't have to do it ourselves. In fact, we can't. We need to trust him to direct our paths in life. My son, he says, do not despise the chastening of Yahweh, neither be wary of his correction. For whoever Yahweh loves, he corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights.