Download Pentecost 13**Proverbs 9:1-6**August 29-30, 2009

Pentecost 13**Proverbs 9:1-6**August 29-30, 2009
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his
blood, and had made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve
his God and Father, to him be glory and power for ever and
ever! Amen.
Our sermon text for this 13th Sunday after Pentecost is taken
from the Book of Proverbs, chapter 9:
1Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven
pillars. 2She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she
has also set her table. 3She has sent out her maids, and she
calls from the highest point of the city. 6“Leave your simple
ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”
This is the word of our Lord.
Dear fellow invitees of this most blessed banquet:
So you want a new car or truck? You’ve heard the
advertisements from GM, Ford, Toyota, and others…promising
great deals at bargain prices. They’re even willing to take your
clunker if you can just push it into their lot.
But can you trust them? Will you buy that vehicle from just
anyone or from one whose word is as solid as oak? Will you
buy that new car or truck from the first dealer near your home
or will you search the communities and counties for the dealer
that has the best reputation? Will you sign your life a way to
someone wearing a cowboy hat, an outdated suit, and cologne
that leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth or will you sign with
the person who understands your needs, your financial
situation, and your limits. In other words,
Whose Advertising Will You Listen To?
It all sounds great (vv. 3-5,14-17)
It all sounds great. You have the option of choosing the color
of the car. You can pick the type of stereo or DVD system you
want in the car. You can have tinted windows, a sun-roof,
video-game systems, and the like. Whatever your heart desires
and all of it can be paid for in well packaged deal!
In our lesson from Proverbs, we are faced with two
advertisements, one from wisdom and the other from folly.
Whose advertising are you going to listen to? Both promise
grand things, but only one of those advertisements is worth its
weight in gold.
Here is what wisdom offers: “Let all who are simple come
in here! Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have
mixed.” Now listen to folly’s call: “Let all who are simple
come in here!” Both wisdom and folly invite us to enter into
their halls and feast on what they have to offer. Both promise
food and drink. So now whose advertising will you listen to?
Look at what is behind it (vv. 1-2, 13)
It is best not to accept a dealer’s invitation without first
looking over the contract with a fine tooth comb. It might be
good to call upon a lawyer to decipher the terms on which you
will agree. It might also be good to look under the hood and
check the vehicle before peeling out of the lot. In other words,
look at what is behind the advertisement.
What is behind wisdom’s and folly’s advertisement? Does it
benefit you or them? Will it take care of and secure your needs
or theirs? Can you afford it or not? These questions are once
again answered in the words from our text.
Wisdom supports her advertisement by stating: “Wisdom
has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars.”
She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has
also set her table.” Folly follows with her promise as well:
“The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without
knowledge.” So whose advertising will you listen to?
Wisdom has built her house and not just any house, a house
with seven pillars. It is not a house, but a mansion that will
house all who believe in Jesus as their Savior including you
and me. It is a house that has the finest of meats and wines
which will satisfy the largest of hungers and the deepest of
thirsts.
Folly has no home. She is built on the immorality of the
world and the sinfulness of mankind. She does not offer what
is good for either soul or body. She offers premarital sex,
homosexuality, drugs, abuse of alcohol, and all the greed and
envy you could ever imagine. You can eat and drink with here,
but as the proverb reminds us it will not be from folly’s own
herd nor from her vines, and it will overtime destroy you.
Think about the end result (vv. 6,18)
The choice is clear. Don’t follow your gut instinct…follow
the truth that lies in the paperwork before you. Don’t sign your
name on the dotted line without knowing what you are getting
yourself into…for you will be stuck with it for the rest of your
life. In other words, think about the end result.
If you follow Folly, here is what you can expect: But little
do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in
the depths of the grave.” To follow Folly is to follow the
path to eternal death. To serve your sinful flesh by following
the ways of this world will lead to the weeping and gnashing of
your teeth. To serve your body with premarital sex,
homosexuality, greed, extramarital affairs, drugs, neglect of
our Lord’s Word and Sacrament spells certain doom for all
who listen to Folly’s advertisement. The Lord magnifies the
fine print of Folly’s advertisement in our Gospel lesson for this
morning: “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you”
(John 6:53).
There really is only one advertisement to listen to, isn’t there.
Wisdom provides what we need…spiritual housing, spiritual
food, and spiritual drink. These are essential needs for the
soul. We are fed through the Word and Sacrament of our Lord.
It is through this Means of Grace that we are offered
forgiveness, life, and salvation. Our souls are fed and
quenched with the body and blood of Christ in the meal that
bears his name for all eternity. Our housing is assured to us as
well for later Jesus says in John, chapter 6: I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this
bread, he will live forever. Whoever eats of my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:51, 54).
It is only by the grace of God that we can stop listening to
Folly’s advertisement and follow the Wisdom’s no lemon
promise. Wisdom is nothing more than fearing the Lord. It is
more than knowing right from wrong. It is following the will
of the Lord always. It is more than knowledge. It is believing
in Jesus…believing in his life and death…and the great
exchange that he made for you and me…so that we can feed
and drink his forgiveness and enjoy his house forever!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, whose advertising will you
listen to? Wisdom’s or Folly’s? There is no reason to choose
for you already have that Wisdom in you. That Wisdom is the
fear of the Lord signed, sealed, and delivered to you through
the Word and Sacraments of our Lord. It is not a lemon deal.
It is an eternal one! Amen.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of
one body you were called to peace. Amen.