How to win at the Game of Life
 Proverbs 1:20-33 (p. 625)

My mom delights to tell cute and embarrassing stories about her children. Usually the story illustrates some deeply embedded character trait that she feels it is essential for my wife or children to understand. As in: Oh, Dan has always been SO stubborn. Did I ever tell you the story about when he slapped Robin Greenslade on the stomach? And of course she had told the story before, but no one seems to tire of hearing it again and being once again amazed at how stubborn Dan has always been.

In one of Mom's stories -- I have no independent memory of this -- I was about four , and I came to the breakfast table having dressed myself. This illustrates my independence, of course. Problem was I had one small detail wrong: I had put my pants on backwards. It was an understandable mistake. These things sometimes happen when you're four. But when my mother pointed it out to me, as any good mother would, I responded with a non-chalant, "Who cares?"

I don't think my mom appreciated the philosophical importance of my response. Who cares, indeed? I think it was perfectly reasonable question. Existential philosophers have been asking that question through much of the twentieth century. Who cares how I live my life? Do the details of our lives really matter? Why should it matter whether I put my pants on backwards or frontwards?

I have since learned to care which way I put my clothes on -- and that is a rather trivial, silly example. But it illustrates a perspective toward life that is quite common. My "who cares" attitude is shared by alot of people. Many people, both inside and outside the church, are not really sure that it matters how they live out the details of their lives. Sure, there may be agreement on the big things: Try not to do anything that will kill or maim someone else. But the small stuff -- what I eat, how I talk, who I sleep with. Does it really matter how I live out these details of my life?

The book of Proverbs answers that question. And the answer it gives is Yes, it does matter, and it matters urgently.

Wisdom in Proverbs is pictured in Proverbs 1:20ff as a woman calling out, crying out to everyone who will listen, warning them of danger. There is an urgency to her appeal. It is as though a great earthquake is coming and she is warning people to get out of the buildings-- to save their lives. Get out before it's too late, she cries.

In this image of the lady Wisdom calling out, crying out, pleading with people to listen we get the primary message of the book of Proverbs. The message of Proverbs is that HOW WE LIVE MATTERS -- and it matters URGENTLY. Not just the big things, like what major I choose in College, and what career I pursue, but the little things -- how I handle my anger, my sleep habits, my eating habits, the words that slip out of my mouth when I let down my guard, how I spend my money, how I talk to my wife and children. How I carry myself in these little things matters. How I live in the little things has consequences.

And the first requirement of wise living is simply to accept that this is true -- believe that how you live your life matters, and live as though EVERYTHING you do matters -- every detail, every minute, every attitude, every word.

1. To live wisely is to live with urgency
To illustrate I have brought with me a board game, the Game of Life. Many of you may have played this game when you were younger. Those of you who are parents my ahve played it quite recently.

Now the Game of Life is quite simple. You start out with a highschool education, a certain amount of money and a car -- presumably through the generosity of your parents. Your first decision is whether to go to college or get on with life. This is not a hard decision. College is remarkably inexpensive in the Game of Life, so everyone can afford it. Besides, you get a higher salary if you go to College, the classes are easy, and it doesn't take very long -- just one turn, then you can get on with Life, so to speak. Everyone goes to College.

Now the interesting thing after deciding whether to go to College is that this is the last significant decision you will ever have to make in Life. After this, you spin the counter, and good things and bad things happen to you, but none of your decisions really matter very much. You get married -- everyone does. You have children. And after a few minor ups and downs in life you finally arrive at your final destination, which is either Millionare Estates or Countryside Acres. Both are very attractive retirement communities -- in fact they share a parking lot. The modern versions of the Game of Life no longer have a poorhouse.

Now my theological reflection on this game has revealed that there are some things missing. Death, for instance. In the Game of Life, no matter what you do, you cannot die. Everyone is immortal. (In this respect the game is true to its name). There are no spaces that say, "Get drunk at College Class Reunion. Head on Collision with a telephone pole. Exit game." There are no spaces that say, "You've become a workaholic. Husband sues for divorce. Give all your money to a lawyer."

You see, it doesn't take much wisdom to play the game of life, because none of the choices really matter. There are no life and death consequences of anything. There are few decisions to begin with and there is no urgency to the decisions you do make.

What would a Proverbs version of the Game of Life look like. Not at all like the Milton Bradley version! Here's how I imagine it: I imagine the Proverbs version would be a huge maze, set on top of a minefield. In a maze you are constantly faced with decisions about which way to turn. And going across a minefield EVERY single step matters. Putting these things together -- the maze and the minefield -- I think you have a pretty good image of what life is like from the perspective of Proverbs. Every minute we face choices that have enormous consequences, and if we go the wrong way we may very well be out of the game sooner than we would like.

Question: Which version is more like real life: A maze on top of a minefield, or the Milton Bradley version of Life where choices don't matter much? It's pretty obvious to the writer of proverbs that we are in the minefield, and that we need to live accordingly. Every step should be an examined step because every step counts.

Proverbs 1:32 says: "The waywardness of the simple will kill them; and the complacency of fools destroys them."

Complacency kills. If you are dancing through life singing, "Don't worry, be happy!" the first message for you from Proverbs is: Watch your step. Every step you take, every word you utter has consequences. Live with urgency because how you live matters.

But urgency is not enough. Many, many people around us live with urgency. Think of all the junior professors in the world who don't yet have tenure. I was once there. Believe me they live with urgency. But urgency for what? Living with urgency is not enough to live wisely:

2. To live wisely we need to know what really matters -- what is worth living for

Wisdom is to KNOW what is important AND to live accordingly. To set priorities. The book of Proverbs offers two basic priorities for anyone who wants to live wisely:

a. The first is your relationship with God. God is the most important being in the universe, and wisdom requires that God must be at the center of my universe. The theme verse of Proverbs is Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom . Think about it: God created the universe, created life, created you. How absurd to think that I could successfully navigate this world without reference to the one who made it!

b. The first priority for those who desire wisdom is God. The second priority is your relationship with other people. How you treat other people -- your faithfulness to those in your care, your compassion for those in need, the way you treat your children, the way you treat strangers, the way you treat enemies -- these things count.

If you are sacrificing your relationship with God or your relationships with other people to other goals, then whatever you may achieve in life, you are a fool. Your diplomas, your degrees, your trophies and term papers, your books, your cars, houses and yachts will burn, rust, crumble and melt. Only God, you and the people around you will remain.

There's another way of looking at it, too. God and other people are your only sources of lasting joy.

To live wisely, live with urgency.
To live wisely, understand what matters.

Finally, something that we all should have learned in preschool:

3. To live wisely, know who to ask for directions -- and ask!
Let me take a poll. How many of you, when you are driving someplace unfamiliar and you are unsure of your way -- how many instinctively make it your first priority to stop and ask for directions? [there tends to be a large gender gap on this]

Good for those of you who do. To the writer of Proverbs, the rest of us are fools. (I know that I'm taking sides in an ongoing marital squabble, but sorry guys, we're wrong). Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we are proud and sure that we can make it on our own. Wise people recognize their weakness and know they cannot make it on their own.

[Over and over again in the book of Proverbs we are told to listen, to heed instruction -- and to seek wisdom.]

1:5 - let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.

The mark of wisdom is not that you know everything -- but that you recognize how much you don't know. Ultimately to live wisely is to recognize that you cannot make it on your own, and to cry out for help.

And that is why, in the end, there is one simple test of wisdom -- and that is how do you respond to Jesus:

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 2:20-25

We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The ultimate expression of wisdom is a man dying on a cross. And the ultimate test of wisdom is how we respond to that Cross and to that man. The message of the cross is that we cannot make it on our own -- we are totally dependent on God's grace. If we think we can find our way on our own, then we will see no need of the cross, and we will stay in the driver's seat. That is true foolishness.

If you want to live wisely, come first to the foot of the cross. It's at the cross that we see our need most clearly, and it is at the cross where we learn to place God at the center of our universe, and it is at the cross that we gain the power to live our lives in dependence on him.

Conclusions/ Applications
Here are three broad guidelines for living wisely:
-- live with urgency, as if walking through a minefield
-- know what's important-- make God the center of your universe
-- ask directions -- recognize your need and come to the foot of the cross.

This is the big picture of the Book of Proverbs. Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at the details:

But the thing that we cannot forget as we seek wisdom in these areas is that the first step to wisdom is to come to the cross and recognize our neediness. To think that we can get a handle on any of these things on our own is just foolishness. We are desperately in need of God's Grace and recognizing our need is the beginning of Wisdom.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:5-6)