Category: Proverbs

Outline

1. The Certainty of Evil’s End and the Certainty of the Vindication of the Righteous (20-21 & 23)
2. Physical Beauty Without Character is Contradictory (22)
3. The Richness and Abundance of Giving (24-25)

People of God, there is coherence and harmony in Proverbs. They are not randomly written down. Solomon is giving instruction to his son on how to become a King. He is covering various angles, various possible temptations that may befall a king-to-be. And since repetition is the best teacher, Solomon is our great teacher . Solomon is, of course, reflecting the greater Solomon, Jesus Christ, who lived a life of wisdom in the presence of men. Ultimately, Proverbs is preparing us to be more like our Lord.

Part of maturing and becoming like our Lord demands understanding this fundamental principle made abundantly clear in Proverbs: You reap what you sow. The Apostle Paul captures this in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

We continue where we left off last week, and we are going to see this principle again in our passage. Let me read a few verses that set forth this principle of sowing and reaping beginning in verse 20:

Those of crooked heart are an abomination to Yahweh,

but those of blameless ways are his delight.

Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,

but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

And verse 23:

The desire of the righteous ends only in good;

the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

We see here the Certainty of Evil’s End and the Certainty of the Vindication of the Righteous.  In verse one, Yahweh said that a false balance was an abomination to him and in verse 20 he says a “perverse heart” is an abomination to Yahweh. It is something that provokes his disgust.[1] If you want to know what God hates, Solomon tells us. If you want to know what makes God smile, Solomon tells us: blameless ways. This is how God refers to His people. He is not saying that He will only delight in you if you perform perfectly without flaw. If that were the case God would never delight in us, rather He delights in us when we walk faithfully. When our lives are in conformity with His desires and commands. But when does that happen? It happens each day you repent, each day you confess your faults before a Holy God, each day you treat your brothers and sisters with respect, each day you work hard, each day you speak words of encouragement, and each Lord’s Day you gather with His people.. The object of God’s love is the Christian who perseveres in grace through repentance. On the other hand, the object of God’s hatred is hypocrisy.

“Be assured,” “be certain” “be sure of this,” verse 21 says. The Hebrew root here is very interesting. “As hand joins hand to clap in affirming something,”[2] so too will an evil person be punished. “If you think you can live life as you please without acknowledging God, you are profoundly mistaken.” Evil deeds will not go unpunished. There is an ultimate justice of God that will be felt by everyone who denies His name. Why? Because it is God’s nature to not overlook sin. It is God’s nature to not allow evil to succeed. And- by His grace—it is God’s nature to deliver us from our own sins and vindicate, justify, and affirm us at the end of history.[3]

We see this in verse 23: “The desire of the righteous ends only in good;

the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

Here it is stated again emphasizing the human desire. What are your expectations? Do they reflect the character of God? What are your desires? Do they reflect the good, true, and beautiful? When you consider your neighbor, do you wish that he would get what he deserves? If you think that way you are thinking as a covenant-breaker. The desire of the righteous is transparently good. He knows the principle that you reap what you sow. You sow justice, you receive justice. If you express mercy you will receive mercy from God and your fellow man.[4] On the other hand, Matthew Henry uses the analogy of wicked men fishing in troubled waters. They may catch a lot of fish, but when they eat what they have caught they will discover it to be putrid and poisonous. They will be caught and trapped by their own expectations. Evil’s end is certain and the vindication, justification of the righteous is also certain. This is not karma, this is God’s perfect justice.

But secondly, “physical beauty without character is contradictory.”  Look at verse 22:

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout

is a beautiful woman without discretion.

You may ask yourself “what is this verse doing here in this passage? How does this fit into this context?” The point of this verse is to say that there is a contradiction in these descriptions. It doesn’t make sense. What doesn’t make sense? A beautiful ornament like a gold ring placed in a pig where it will be covered with mud.[5] The wicked desires gold no matter how it is gotten. Solomon here is applying this to relationships. “Desiring gold without wisdom is like marrying a beautiful woman without discretion?” Proverbs 31:30: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears Yahweh is to be praised.” Solomon is training his son. He is saying “Stay away from these women!” Their beauty hides their lack of discretion; their lack of judgment. Yes, Eve was a beautiful woman, but she accepted the serpent’s lies. You can marry a beautiful woman, but if she is like a ring on the pig’s nose always rubbing itself on the mud, then that is your destiny also. She will bring you down.[6] She will bring your business down. She will bring your name and reputation down. Men, be discerning! You are called to marry for life! Be wise! By all means marry a woman to whom you are attracted, but don’t let that attraction substitute or replace her ability to discern and judge correctly, rather may she fear Yahweh and may her fear be the basis of her beauty.

Finally, Solomon says true wealth and abundance comes through giving. Listen to verses 24-25:
One[7] gives freely, yet grows all the richer;

another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,

and one who waters will himself be watered.

If you want true wealth, then give. These are very paradoxical statements. These are very Solomonic observations. The rich man who gives gets even richer. The man who withholds ends up lacking.  The generous man is a man of blessing. The one who nurtures others will himself be nurtured.

The idea of giving implies someone who gives freely and liberally. Solomon does not offer a definition here of what that giving entails, but applications abound. There are societal, Church, charity, marital implications. Any of these applications are appropriate in this passage.

On the matter of charity, there is no doubt that the best use of charity is done locally. Who betters knows our neighbors than ourselves? Who better knows the needs of each other in the congregation than the individual in that congregation? Who better is aware of those needs than the ones called to serve others in the Church?. One way we use the tithes of the people of God is by directing it to benevolence. Individual, Church, Communal giving is much more effective than our monies being distributed from some unknown, unwise hand at the top.

But not only is this giving monetary, it is also selfless. How much should we give of ourselves? As much as we possibly can. We are not to allow people to take advantage of our giving to our own detriment, but we are called to give ourselves again and again. It is remarkable what happens when a conversation goes beyond the typical greetings. We are actually able to delve into people’s lives; to know their needs and pain. How can we comfort if we do not know people need comfort?

Will you bring blessing? Will you embody blessing? If you do so, you will grow all the richer.

How Now Shall We Then Live?

We see in verse 25 that there is a principle of reaping what you sow. If you water, that is, if you nurture others, you will be nurtured and watered yourself. By giving we are reaping joy. By selfless service we are reaping wealth. The principle of faith is that when we invest in others we are actually investing in ourselves. We are made to participate in the nurture of others. We are created to bring the taste of heaven to the lives of those whose heaven seems so far off.

And what more can we say, except that our Lord Jesus himself is the fulfillment of these verses, and in fact of all of Proverbs. He became the vindication of the righteous by becoming the spotless lamb sacrificed for our sakes. He is the beautiful Savior whose character is blameless. There is no contradiction in Him. And finally, Jesus is the paradigm of selflessness. He was exalted because He gave and gave and gave until the point of death.

Jesus Christ is the eternal giver, the wealth of the nations, the selfless King, the beautiful Savior, the blameless Man of God, the water given to nurture His people, and the embodiment of blessing. May His Name be blessed forever and forever, Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Consistent in Proverbs is this continuous theme of the vindication of the righteous in God’s eschatological promise. Proverbs 11:23 says that the “desire of the righteous ends only in good.” Our desires need to comport with God’s desires. His hesed needs to be reflected in our actions toward others. In this sense our desires are shaped by God himself and its ultimate triumph is its vindication. Creation repeats itself. Our vindication is in God calling our desires good at the end of history.

People of God,  we are going to continue our look through Proverbs. I hope this study has been refreshing and challenging to you as it has been to me in my preparation.

We are going to look through verses 5-11 this morning. We can summarize these verses with the following statement: “A community is blessed through righteousness.”

Once again Solomon emphasizes the great distinction between those who exercise a life of faithfulness–which in context implies humility—and the treacherous—the prideful. Remember that the treacherous is the one who takes advantage of the innocent. He abuses others with his specialized knowledge. He deceives them. But their end is catastrophic.

Solomon says in verses 5 & 6:

The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,

but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.

The righteousness of the upright delivers them,

but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.

These are parallel verses stressing the same basic idea that the righteous will find a safe shelter and the wicked will be temporarily covered until they are overcome with the flood of God’s wrath. The very thing used to shelter will collapse under the weight of sin. On the other hand, when someone asks you “Who are you are? You are to be identified as a Christian, and a Christian is a person of integrity, according to King Solomon. Kingly wisdom means integrity in a community. Again, the theme of this section is: “A community is blessed through righteousness.”

The lust and the greed to possess certain things will eventually swallow up the wicked. But the righteous sacrifices for others. He does this by living ethically and by giving of himself and his possessions for the sake of another. The atheist philosopher Ayn Rand once wrote: “I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”[1] This attitude is precisely the one Solomon is condemning.

What is it worth the possession of the world and the loss of your own soul?

Verse seven says: “When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.”

We are called to not place our hope in wealth. Hope in wealth perishes. When death comes all the escape money provided will no longer suffice. Matthew Henry writes:

Even wicked men, while they live, may keep up a confident expectation of a happiness when they die, or at least a happiness in this world. The hypocrite has his hope, in which he wraps himself as the spider in her web.[2]

The wicked appears to have the upper-hand. He persuades himself that his deceit will never be found out, but as verse eight says: “He walks into trouble.” By taking a shortcut here and there, by refusing to obey the standard that God has placed, he ends up at the place of ruin.

This is why Solomon calls Christians to be knowledgeable of God’s standard. The king is saying that the first part of training to be kings is a good dose of common sense. Invest wisely. Do not spend what you do not have. Give to others out of your abundance. Do not allow greed to characterize you in the Church. Those who lack charity lack wisdom.

This is what Solomon says in verse nine: “With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.” This passage has a couple of different implications:

First, the word “neighbor” in the Hebrew can refer to a friend, a companion, or a fellow-citizen.[3] So, the words of a godless man, a manipulative businessman, an unethical seller can destroy people of all sorts. The “godless” here also translated “hypocrite, profane, or irreligious” really is not looking out for your best interest. He is not seeking to esteem others better than themselves, he is seeking his own good to the detriment of his neighbor.

Second, this verse teaches that knowledge keeps us out of trouble. This also applies to our topic of friendship we covered some weeks ago. Knowledge is not just facts, it is the ability to not fall for dirty tricks. It is the ability to use common sense to stay away from those people who are not so interested in right living or walking the straight paths. Knowledge is selective. Knowledge delivers you from deceivers.

A community is blessed through righteousness, and righteousness is appropriated by living faithfully, wisely, and alert to your surroundings. The Christian faith is a faith for the wise and those who are pursuing wisdom. In some ways, the Christian faith is the journey from infancy to maturity. It is learning to take those first steps on your own, and then going from maturity to maturity. It is like looking both ways before crossing the street. We teach this to our children, and kingly wisdom means learning it ourselves. This is why there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.

But this wisdom affects our communities, and it has the effect of also changing our city. We see this in verses 10-11:

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices,

and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.

By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,

but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.

The series of contrasts between righteous and wicked come to a culmination here in these two verses. “The life of the city is affected for better or worse by the character of its citizens.”[4] The city is blessed by the righteousness of the people; the city is cursed by the unrighteousness of the people. “The destructive talk of the wicked does widespread damage.”[5] Now this is not the typical Sunday School lesson you heard growing up. I doubt your Sunday School teacher was encouraging you to memorize Proverbs 11: 10: “When the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.” This is where our evangelical sensitivities are really challenged. We want good and bad to work side by side. We are content to see a little evil here and there. But God is not, and He says neither should we. Practically, this means we need to pray that God would convert sinners, turn their greed into charity, their deceit into honesty, their wickedness into deeds of kindness, but when they perish Solomon says: “There is less darkness around.” The city, our city, needs to succeed not through the deeds of wicked men with their vile policies and unethical behavior, the city needs to thrive with the work of the righteous. Even when we are surrounded by a culture that despises our God, we are still called—in the words of Jeremiah 29—to bring the shalom of God to the city. Listen to the words of N.T. Wright:

God is going to put the whole world to rights… But the advance plan for that is to put human beings to rights in advance. The gospel isn’t just Phew! I’m okay now so I’m going to heaven! It’s I’m actually being put right, in order that I can be a part of that ongoing purpose…”[6]

This is a battle of ideas, of causes, of visions, of education, of words, of symbols and rites, of marriage, of sexuality, of world-views, and more. Whose ideas will the city imbibe? Will the city be overwhelmed by a fountain of blessing or curse? If blessing, will we as a Church be at the forefront of that? Will we be righteous in our dealings? Will we bless the city with our lives? Will we bring peace to the city? This idea of peace-to underlie the quote from N.T. Wright-is not solitude and passivity. It is actually volunteering to be at the forefront of what God has called the Church to do. Peace is not the absence of war, it is the consequence of a war well-fought.

Here we are being called to make war with those who want to overthrow the city. The city is ours! The world belongs to Jesus, and Pensacola belongs to Jesus. And at the front of this city is the people whom God has chosen. We need to seek the salvation and the renewal of this city. We may be a small part of that transformation, but our vision needs to be a magnificent vision. So, the question is, “Will our city rejoice because of our actions?”

How Now Shall We Then Live?

Here we are at the end of our fiscal year. We have been very blessed as a Church. We have obviously grown. We are going to see new members added to our numbers soon, but what do we do then? How do we bless the city as we have been blessed? One clear way of doing that is by bringing the city into the Church. We rejoice because we have been transformed by the God of all joy. Worship summons the assembly to enact itself publicly for the sake of the world.[7] Let them get a taste of joy before they can bring joy to the city. No city will be transformed without joyful worship. If the city sees a somber Church, she will have no desire or enthusiasm to celebrate the God of the city.

I also want to emphasize the importance of localizing our concerns. Sometimes we are so prepared to offer a national solution to our problem that we overlook where our basic problem lies: locally. Our vision to change the world needs to begin in our Jerusalem. This is where life affects us the most. The local policies, the local abortion industry, the local corrupt leaders, and the poverty that afflicts our communities. What can we do that is lasting and transformative? It is encouraging to see groups like Micah 6:8 offering a robust Christian faith to this community. The labors of Trinitas offering a profound commitment to Biblical truth in the realm of education, some of you using your work to do Bible studies during lunch time with other co-workers, the labors of Waterfront Rescue Mission, the home-schooling efforts, Christians offering a distinctly Christian ethic in business and where else they may be. This is fundamental to the changing of this community. We must offer an alternative society to this decaying society; an alternative polis/city to this city.

I offered recently a few suggestions for being a better localist. Here are a few:

A) Pray for your city. Pray for the peace of your city. For justice to be known among her people. Pray for her shalom and its well-being as you drive through it daily.

B) Give to the city by being a part of its affairs. Participate in local activities when possible.

C) Read about the city. Instead of turning to CNN, turn to your local news or newspaper. Be informed about the matters of your city, for the sake of better praying for her.

D) Biblicize your city. Start Bible studies. Equip others to love the city by discipling her. After all, this is the call of the Great Commission.

E) Vote and Elect godly leaders of the city. Before considering national politics, do not forsake your responsibility before your fellow city-dwellers. Seek to be informed about local politics. Comment on local on-line news about those decisions made by politicians that are blatantly against biblical principles and priorities, and always offer alternatives. We need practical solutions, not more theorizing.

F) Unite with other churches. Despise the divisive sentiment that is so prevalent. Know the local pastor’s names and meet with them. Pray for them when possible. Build relationships with others from other traditions who also seek the good of the city.

G) Imprecate against those who do not seek the well-being of the city. The psalms provide a perfect platform for such prayers. There is no neutrality. You either seek the good of the city through the blessings of the Trinitarian God, or you despise it.

H) Minister to the City through giving. Contribute to local charities either through the Church tithe or through personal gifts.

I) Teach others about your city. When I visited the Pacific Northwest once I was surprised how little and misinformed people were about Florida, and in particular the Panhandle. Inform people about the good, the bad, and the ugly while emphasizing the good a lot more.

I) Love the city by loving the Church. Congregate. Worship. Adore the Only-True God by worshipping the One who is King of the City, Jesus Christ.

We cannot bless the city by sitting idle. Our goal is nothing more and nothing less than seeing the imprint of King Jesus in every square inch of this town, and may we be loyal to this vision.

 

In The Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

 

People of God,  we are plunging into the wisdom of Proverbs in this Pentecost Season. One reason we are delving into such a practical book is because Pentecost is all about the Church showing the world what being a Christian is like. Pentecost is the Church consuming the world through wisdom; living wisdom, loving wisdom, sharing wisdom, eating and drinking in wisdom, cultivating wisdom, and exhorting a foolish culture to embrace wisdom. Continue reading “Sermon: Kingly Wisdom, Part VII, The Greatness of Humility, Proverbs 11:1-4”

There is a great fondness for geometric straightness in Solomon’s words in Proverbs. This fondness is also expressed in John the Baptist’s declaration as the one who would present Messiah to the world: “…make straight his paths.” In Proverbs, the king uses this to contrast the ways of the wicked who delight in twisting and perverting, and deviating from those paths. Instead of straight ways, they prefer a self-made path. Their blindness leads them directly into a pit. The righteous, however, delight and walk in these paths (Prov. 3:5-6). As Bruce Waltke observes:

The lifestyle of complete loyalty to Yahweh and others is the inalienable possession of those who by definition do not stray from the divinely revealed straight path.

People of God,  we are seeking to build a community where Jesus is supreme over our lives, our thoughts, and actions. Submitting to Jesus in this wholistic manner is no easy task. If you grew up in an environment where basic commitment to Jesus was not stressed, or if it was simply left as an option, it is difficult to imagine being confronted by a message that says “friendship is a necessity, not an option,” and a message that says that “hospitality is not an option, but a holy obligation.”[1] We considered biblical friendship last Lord’s Day, but the other side of the coin is the obligation of Christian hospitality.

This is a skill and a gift that need to be cultivated in our congregation. I am going to say right from the beginning that this is going to be a challenging message to those who rarely are hospitable, and a challenging message to those who are hospitable, but do it out of necessity and not out of holy delight.

Proverbs is teaching us to be Kings and Queens in the world that God has given us, and that means that we are called to share our abundance with the world out of the abundance of gifts God has given us. If we are to be imitators of God, then we are called to be like him in the way He distributes His gifts. What we see in the Bible is this three-fold pattern: The fruits of our labors are to be used to provide for our families and all that entails, the tithe (the gifts to sustain the Bride of Christ), and then to others. I want to focus on the latter in this sermon.

Let me begin with a general principle: Continue reading “Proverbs Series: Kingly Wisdom, Part VI, On Biblical Hospitality”

People of God, we continue our study in Proverbs. These next two Sundays we are going to concentrate on two big themes that we see in the Wisdom of King Solomon: the themes of friendship and hospitality. As we continue to grow as a Church, it is important to consider once again those basics of life in the Christian community. We delved into these two topics some years ago, and they were crucial in establishing the culture we have now, and they will be crucial in establishing the culture we will have in the future.

Today we are going to look at selected passages from Proverbs, and consider the topic of biblical friendship with some practical observations. Continue reading “Proverbs Series: Kingly Wisdom, Part V, On Biblical Friendship”

People of God, we are going to look this morning into the final four sins that God despises. As we said last week, God is a God who views sins, and in particular, certain sins, as abominable. They are contrary to His nature and the nature of a redeemed people. Beyond that, Solomon speaks the words of the Spirit, and describes these sins in a unique way. He writes them to reflect the downward trend of sinful behavior. He is describing the anatomy of sin, and he describes sin beginning at the top with the eyes all the way down to the feet.

Arrogance, which is the sin of the haughty eyes is the top candidate for God’s hatred. Augustine defined pride as the creature’s refusal to submit to God. He also said that the first sin that overcame man will be the last sin he will overcome.[1] Next, he speaks of the lying tongue. One writer said that this refers to an “aggressive deceit intended to harm the other.”[2] This is the attempt to destroy someone’s reputation for the sake of feeling good about your own sins, or simply as a way of bringing down someone you despise.

Thirdly, Solomon says that God hates hands that shed innocent blood. There is a downward progression from the eyes to the hands. We can see that Solomon has creation and the fall of man in mind. The sin of the eyes and the sin of the tongue were sins that reflected the fall of man in the Garden. Adam and Eve did not submit to the authority of God, and their words proved their disloyalty to God. As a consequence, Cain kills Abel, which is the hands that shed innocent blood.[3] The first Adamic family established the model of unrighteousness. The final Adamic family, the family united to Jesus Christ, the Church, establishes the model of righteousness. This list does not represent us because we are not in Adam’s family, we are united to Jesus Christ, the final Adam. Continue reading “Sermon: Kingly Wisdom, Part IV, Proverbs 6:17-19”