PROVERBS #4: THE SON THE PERFECT LISTENER

Imagine being a school teacher and you have a student that learns everything you teach the first time around, scores 100% on every test, and perfectly applies all what he has learned. His mind is so sharp that whatever is taught is forever retained and applied. Transfer this into the familial realm. Dream, you fathers, of having a son that soaks in everything you tell him, listens every instruction with rapt attention, and obeys you in every area of life. Of course all fathers are shaking their heads right now. Such a son does not exist. Parents spend half their lives it seems repeating the same directives over and over again. The contrast is stark. In the Book of Proverbs we have a Son who listens to his father perfectly and obeys his Father without fault.

Recently on a bike ride, I came upon a father holding hands with his 5 or 6 year old son. As I passed I noticed the father pointing to something in the brush. He was giving his son instruction. I mused to myself how normal such a thing should happen, how beautiful. Seeing a father teach his son was as natural as the trees, the birds, the clouds and the darting chipmunks. Witnessing this interaction was as life-giving as a beautiful morning sunrise. And then I thought, the father/son dynamic is the bedrock upon which the human species survives. Sad it is that so many children have no father. The father/son relationship lies at the very heart of the Book of Proverbs. Not surprisingly the official start of what we know as Solomon’s Proverbs in chapter ten begins this way…..

‘the proverbs of Solomon: a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.’

The wise and obedient son is everything a father could hope for. But where do we find such a son? Across the globe we search in vain for one who perfectly obeys his father. Then we realize, there is no such son. Only One was the perfect Son. Only One retained everything His Father taught Him. Only One glorified His Father by honoring His father’s instruction. Jesus once said,

‍ ‍’He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him’ (John 8:29).

No son before or since could ever say those words. But Jesus, the son of God did exactly that. This reminds us that hearing the words of the Father is the essence of the Christian faith. ‘Faith comes by hearing’, says the apostle. The ear is the organ of learning. The other senses, sight, smell, touch and taste, are organs of feeling. The ear gate is what enables us learn. Endless sensory experiences provoke our emotions but hearing provokes our thinking. We watch things and we feel joy or sorrow. We eat foods that please us. We touch those we love. But when we listen the mind is wonderfully focused not on feeling but on understanding. This is why throughout Proverbs the perfect son listens intently to the words of his father. Many verses describe the listening of the Son.

’He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, But he who refuses correction goes astray’ (Pr 10:17)

‘Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid’ (Pr 12:1)

‘The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise’ (Pr 12:15)

‘A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke’ (Pr 13:1)

‘A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother’ (Pr 15:20).

‘The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility’ (Pr 15:31-33).

Jesus is the perfect son, because His ears are ever open to the Father’s counsel. The bible goes out of the way to make this point about the Messiah,

‘The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away’ (Is 50:5).

‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart”’ (Ps 40:6-8).

This helps us understand the repeated statements by Jesus about His relationship to HIs Father’s teaching while walking upon the earth. A section in John chapter seven warrants further study. Jesus has covertly gone up to Jerusalem during the feast because He is a wanted man. In the middle of the feast Jesus stands up and begins to teach. This both angers and stuns the religious leaders who are jealous of His teaching. The people are amazed that He knows so much. After all he is not a man of ‘letters’. He is not a seminary graduate. He has never been gone to one of rabbinic schools such as Hillel or Shammai. He has no formal training. How could he know so much?

Jesus’ response says everything. Let us read the text;

‘Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."‘

Jesus says in essence. ‘I haven’t learned from any earthly school. My teaching came directly from My Father’s heavenly classroom. If you religious leaders had truly known my Father, you would have known that my teaching was from God and you would have instantly received it.’ The reason Jesus taught with such authority (Mt 7:29) was because He learned directly from His Father. Earlier in John He says the same thing.

‘I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me’ (John 5:30).

Now comes the real shocker. We who are in Christ, by faith, have also been taught by the Father. It is said of New Covenant believers that ‘no more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “know the Lord” for they shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest.’ By faith all believers have the fullness of God’s truth in them. This means that the occupation of the believer in his Christian life is to unleash that knowledge by listening carefully to our Father’s teaching. It means that hearing our Father speak is the main occupation of the Christian life. And this is not to be a part time occupation but an all-consuming passion. Can we as saints know as much as the Son knew? The answer is yes. We can listen to our Father in the same way that Jesus did, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And how do we know whether or not we have really listened to the Father? Jesus Himself answers this in John 6:45-46. He says,

‘It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.’

The evidence that one has listened to the heavenly Father is that he has come to Jesus. This is the first and greatest commandment given to humanity. Let us consider this again: the great proof that we have listened to God is when we have trusted Jesus to assuage our guilt and forgive our sins. When you come to Jesus, you have begun the long trek of hearing the Father. That is Jesus’ final answer. Knowing God therefore is not primarily wrapped up on one’s commitment, one’s intentionality, one’s works, or one’s good feelings. To hear the Father is to listen to His Son. To honor the Father is to honor the Son. Believing the gospel is to hear the voice of God. Period.

Proverbs not only points us to the true Son, but instructs us in how to be like Him in our pursuit of wisdom. We are to listen, listen again, and listen some more all our life long. We are to obey the injunction of Isaiah 55:3, ‘incline your ear and come to Me. Hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you — the sure mercies of David.’ Good sons listen to their fathers. Have you?