Given to Learning

 

“Given to Learning” 

Proverb 2:1-22; 4:1-13, 23; Duet. 5:1

SUBJECT: Learning

THEME: each person we meet has the potential to teach us something. To make and maintain budding relationships and to enrich existing ones, choose to be a lifelong learner. Refuse to be a know it all; learn from others and make positive changes.

RELEVANCE: How can we fulfill this desire for relationships? The answer is simple; stop thinking about our self and begin focusing on the people with whom we desire to build a relationship with. It’s when we stop worrying so much about ourselves and start looking at others and what they need or desire that enables us to build a bridge to them. As a result, we become the kind of person others appreciate and want to be around. This is a key to connecting.

INTRODUCTION:

The book of Proverbs also tells us that wisdom is packed full of weighty advantages and benefits.  For instance, it gives life (Prov. 4:4), protection (v. 6), and honor (vv. 8-9) to name a few. We can see that godly wisdom is valid because of its enduring quality, and it is valuable because of the honor and blessings it brings to the diligent seeker (Prov. 4:1-9).

Therefore, wisdom is to be pursued (“get”; Prov. 4:5, 7) and valued (love her; Prov. 4:6; 8:17, 21) because she protects (Prov. 2:7-8, 11; 3:21-23) and guards the welfare of the saint.

As wisdom is valued and loved (Prov. 4:6), she gives honor (3:16), and an attractive life, pictured as a beautiful ornamental wreath of grace (1:9) and a crown of glory (4:8, 9; 16:31). The opposite is also true: a foolish, unwise life is dishonorable, unattractive, and shameful. Solomon experienced both wisdom and folly and therefore he could speak with conviction about both kinds of results.

Lesson:

Why Is Learning Important to Our Relationship with God?

a.    Constant Learning Is One of The Keys to Spiritual Growth. Deut. 5:1

Rabbi Samuel M. Silver taught that “the greatest of all miracles is that we need not be tomorrow what we are today, but we can improve if we make use of the potential implanted in us by God.”

b.    Learning Is Sometimes the Result of Suffering. 

1.    Proverbs 19:25, Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.

2.    There is a great difference between the person who learns from criticism and the person who refuses to accept correction.

a.     How we respond to criticism determines whether we grow in wisdom.

b.    The next time someone criticizes you, listen carefully to all that is said. You might learn something; don’t be resistant to the changes wisdom leads you to make.

3.    Change can be a good thing!

a.     Change is a part of life; each of us changes every day. Often, we don’t mind the changes, but as soon as we are faced with major changes or changes over which we have no control, then we become resentful.

b.    Trusting the Lord Jesus is a major change. He changes our priorities, our thinking, our aspirations, and our understanding of life itself (Matt. 5-7).

                                                                                      i.     Jesus alters us from the inside out by changing our hearts and our attitudes, which in turn changes the way we function in the world.

                                                                                    ii.     At times, some of the changes Jesus brings about in our lives may be disconcerting. But we can be certain of this: He always changes our lives for the better.

4.    Too often we are guilty of charting the wrong course for our lives.

a.     The merchant’s small boat crashed through another massive wave, drenching the man and everything in the tiny vessel. The night was dark and stormy—the kind of night that sailors describe when they are telling their stories, only this was the real thing.

The sea raged against the rugged man’s efforts to keep the boat from capsizing. The rain, wrapped in a cold, whistling wind, pelted his face as he attempted to guide the little vessel up the Canadian North Atlantic coast. The merchant could not see where he was going, so he had no choice but to rely on his compass to guide him.

As the merchant battled through the murky waters, he began to worry that something was seriously wrong. “I should have been there by now,” he said. Suddenly, to his horror and surprise, he realized the answer to his problem. He was not moving north as his compass had indicated; he was headed due east, straight into the open sea! Desperately, he wrestled against the furious wind and waves and was finally able to turn the small craft back to shore.

The next day, the merchant carefully examined his boat for damages and discovered the reason for his compass’s inaccurate readings. He had recently taken the boat in for repairs, part of which required a new compass. Apparently, when the man who was installing the new compass was setting the screws that held it in place, he ran out of pure brass screws. Assuming that a slight compromise would be insignificant, he found a screw made of a ferrous alloy and finished the job with that.

Consequently, the magnetic tip of the compass was attracted to the alloyed metal and would not produce true readings. The merchant discovered—almost tragically too late—that while he thought he had been charting his course by the magnetic North Pole, the craft had actually been charting its own course. It was an accident waiting to happen.

5.    A similar situation exists in our lives before we trust Jesus. Most of us chart our own course, thinking that we are moving in the right direction and not realizing that our “inner compasses” are defective. Unless you have allowed Christ to teach and guide you, your inner compass will continue giving you inaccurate, undependable readings.

One of the first steps you must take to follow Christ is to repent of your sins. You must allow Jesus to change not only your course, but also to change the center of your life.

c.     Learning Requires and Develops Humility and Trust.

1.    Lament. 3:27-29, It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. [28] He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. [29] He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.

2.    “With a prayer to God to remember his bitter plight, yet with lingering depression over his misery (vv. 19, 20), the prophet gets his eyes off himself and onto the Lord. Hope is revived when he remembers that the Lord’s mercies and compassions ... are new every morning, and that His faithfulness is great^{ 2} (vv. 21–24). He cites lessons learned in the school of affliction: it is good to wait quietly for the Lord’s deliverance and to submit to His yoke early in life (vv. 25–27); to accept divine chastening and human blows and insults without talking back (vv. 28–30); God’s rejection is neither final nor causeless; His compassion and mercies will always follow (vv. 31–33); the Lord does not approve of oppression, injustice, or the denial of rights (vv. 34–36); He is sovereign, His Word prevails, all things serve His will; to complain when He punishes sin is senseless (vv. 37–39).” MacDonald, W. Believer's Bible Commentary

3.    To “bear the yoke in his youth” means to willingly and humbly submit to discipline and training.  We are to humbly come before God to learn what he wants to teach us.

a.     This involves several important factors: (1) silent reflection on what God wants, (2) repentant humility, (3) self-control in the face of adversity, and (4) confident patience, depending on the divine Teacher to bring about loving lessons in our life.

b.    God has several long-term and short-term lessons for us right now. Are you doing your homework?

4.    We must trust God enough to change us as He leads us out of our comfort zones and into his growth and learning processes. It takes humility to choose this free of all resentment toward the Lord. But, too often anger, fear, and resentment are our response instead of humility and submission.

a.     Author Gail Sheehy asserted, “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It may mean a giving up of familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, relationships that have lost their meaning. As Dostoevsky put it, “taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” The real fear should be the opposite course”.

b.    Does Change Threaten You?

                                                                                      i.     A stubborn allegiance to old habits and traditions can sometimes seriously hinder maturing faith. Every believer should pay attention to that, because new life in Christ inevitably leads to innovation and timely change. Fear of change is understandable, but too much fear may be a sign of sinful resistance or of clinging to the past only because it feels safe and familiar.

                                                                                    ii.     Jesus understood our human tendency toward predictability and the natural resistance to new things. He also knew that not all changes are good, and He never advocated change for the sake of change.

                                                                                  iii.     But He warned against making tradition, particularly religious tradition, the standard by which all things should be tested (Luke 5:36–39). His parable of the wineskins pleads for at least the openness to considering something new. It affirms timely change in matters of growth and new life.

                                                                                  iv.     Are you resistant to the dynamics of change in your life, work, family, or church? If so, could you be resisting the very work of God or the ongoing dynamic of life itself? Pay attention to Jesus’ image of the wineskins!

5.    Jesus Christ was an innovator and God’s very own ‘Change Agent’ (Luke 5:27-39). Following him demands a willingness to brake with tradition and the old familiar to explore a fresh course plotted by the Spirit of God.

a.    “The tables of Law have been replaced by the tables of the human heart, where God's Spirit is writing the Word and making us like Jesus Christ (2 Cor 3:1-3,18).

Jesus Christ still offer's "all things new" (Rev 21:5). As the Physician, He offers sinners new life and spiritual health. As the Bridegroom He brings new love and joy. He gives us the robe of righteousness and the wine of the Spirit (Eph 5:18; also see Acts 2:13). Life is a feast not a famine or a funeral, and Jesus Christ is the only one who can make that kind of a difference in our lives.” (from The Bible Exposition Commentary)

b.    How do you feel about tradition? Someone has said that the seven last words of a church are: "We've never done it that way before." How do you react to change? Do you welcome it, fear it, embrace it, run away from it? The church is an institution with a tremendous heritage and tradition, much of it going all the way back to Jesus and the apostles, and some of it going back beyond that to the Old Testament forebears. These traditions should be respected but not worshiped. Jesus said as much in Luke 5:36-38, when he said that new wine must be put into new wineskins. Give yourself a quick mental examination: How often do you say things like "That will never work" or "Our last pastor never did it that way"? If those words sound familiar, you may need to ask God to help you stop idolizing tradition and start allowing him to work in your life and the life of your church in new and fresh ways.

c.     Do you retreat to the familiar? Have you ever watched a young child encounter some new aspect of life -- a first-time experience with ocean waves, or nuzzling a puppy, or a new taste sensation like a sour fruit? It can be comical to watch, but for the child, it can also seem overwhelming. Often, he or she will run quickly back to the safety and security of Mommy's or Daddy's arms. There is something in people that is both attracted to, and at the same time afraid of, the new and the novel. Jesus understood that, as evidenced by his words in Luke 5:39. He knew that people tend to gravitate toward the familiar and the comfortable. But those who only allow those kinds of experiences into their world rob themselves of the rich variety of experiences that God intends for them to have. Consider the child who lets fear of the unknown keep him from enjoying the ocean or puppies or sour fruits . . . and then, with God's help, commit to being open to whatever he sends your way, even if it is new, novel, and unknown.

d.      “Legalism is bound to produce pride of heart.” -- Watchman Nee

d.    God's Training Plan Requires Christians To Prepare The Next Generation.

1.    2 Tim. 4:1-2, I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; [2] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

2.    As Paul reached the end of his life, he could look back and know he had been faithful to God’s call. Now it was time to pass the torch to the next generation, to prepare leaders to take his place so that the world would continue to hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

a.     Timothy was Paul’s living legacy, a product of Paul’s faithful teaching, discipleship, and example. Because of Paul's work with many believers, including Timothy, the world is full of believers today who are also carrying on the work.

b.    What legacy will you leave behind? Whom are you training to carry on your work? It is our responsibility to do all we can to keep the gospel message alive for the next generation.