Last Sunday, when I preached Proverbs 1:1-7, I began by likening 1:1 to a title page which identifies the content and the author of the book. As I unpacked this verse, I had listeners turn to 1 Samuel 24:13 to see David making a godly decision based on a one-line proverb. Then, I asked listeners to turn to 1 Kings 4:29-34 to read Solomon's "resume." I wanted them to understand that wisdom was an international pursuit in the ancient near east, and that Solomon was the "Michael Jordan" or "LeBron James" of the field in his day.

Next, I took listeners through the objectives in verses 2-6, showing how all of them tied into acquiring wisdom. That is the concern of the book. I took a couple minutes to define "wisdom," pointing out that it's simply the Hebrew term for "skill." Then, I quickly referenced several passages in the O.T. to show the range of the term. It refers to the skill of garment makers (Ex. 28:3), craftsman (Ex 31:3-6), mourners (Jer. 9:17), goldsmiths (Jer. 10:9), and sailors (Psalm 107:27). I didn't turn to any of these passages. But I gave references for listeners who wanted to search the Scriptures to see if what I said was true. By the way, I then defined wisdom In Proverbs as the skill of living in God's created world ? adjusting to the economic, social, sexual, and emotional patterns that God has built into life.

Throughout this middle section of the sermon, there were many terms to define: discipline, understanding, prudence, simple, discretion, etc. While I could have turned to other passages to help listeners understand these terms, I decided not to do so out of concern that my listeners would lose the sense of progression in Proverbs 1:2-6. The one exception was a brief reference to Genesis 3:1. Without taking the time to turn back to that text, I mentioned that the term "prudence" in Proverbs 1:4 was related to "crafty" in Genesis 3:1. I wanted to make the point that acquiring wisdom requires savvy or ?street sense.'

The final section of the sermon developed the idea from Proverbs 1:7 that the foundation for acquiring wisdom is a deep reverence for God. Explaining the "fear of the LORD" concept necessitated looking at some other texts. At this point in the sermon, I felt time constraints. So I ended up summarizing the various passages to which I referred rather than turning to them. I began by pointing out that the "fear of the LORD" is a key concept in Proverbs, appearing at the end of the first main section (9:10) and then at the end of the book (31:30). Also, I argued that the idea of "fear of God" in both O.T. and N.T. ranges between terror and reverence (and that the latter sense is the aim of Proverbs). While 1 John 4:18 says that ?perfect love casts out fear', 1 Peter 1:17 tells believers who ?call on a Father who judges' to live in fear. Likewise, Paul views ?fear' as an appropriate response in Philippians 2:12. Finally, I talked about how our pursuit of wisdom ultimately leads us to Jesus, the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).

There you have it! That's simply one example of how you can ?stay put in a text' and yet connect with other Scriptures which clarify or fulfill the text you've chosen to preach.