Introduction

Today is our final day of Summer School!  That’s right, for many of our kids, the school year starts back up this week and we can finally put some routine into our schedules.  And it also means today’s message wraps up all that we have taught you over eight weeks of Summer School.

To recap, we began by saying Proverbs isn’t a how-to book, it’s a how to BE book.  Its not just a book of pithy, fortune cookie sayings, but teaching about the character we should put on.

1. Wisdom — Wisdom isn’t about knowing the right facts and figures, but about knowing and experiencing God.
2. Pride — Pride is a secret yet deadly sin which is only defeated by intentional surrender to humility.
3. Laziness — Don’t be a Spiritual Sloth. Just like we work hard to build the physical life we want, we need to work hard to build our spiritual life.
4. Gossip — Words should be used to build up, not tear down.
5. Greed — What’s in your wallet isn’t as important as what are you doing with what’s in your wallet.
6. Honesty — We must be people of truth because we serve a God of truth.
7. Anger — Explosive anger is destructive. But being slow to anger shows we love.
8. Self-Control — Self-control isn’t “just say no” but replacing an unhealthy desire with a passion for God.

So, if you missed any class this summer, now you know what you missed. And looking at that list, it’s easy to see areas where you probably struggle.  As Brent and I taught these messages, we joked about how preparing to teach on these subjects exposed us even more to our own sin and struggles.

And when we see how much we have to work on, it’s easy to sometimes feel like giving up.  If you’ve ever been failing a class, I’m sure you felt tempted to just throw in the towel rather than push through and pass the class.  In the same way, regardless of where we are on this journey of becoming the men and women God created us to be, we need to keep responding to the teaching and correction in this book of Proverbs.

A Survey of Proverbs Teaching on Discipline

The authors of Proverbs knew that was a very real problem — the temptation to give up and ignore the teaching.  We all know it SEEMS easier to do things our own way rather than the right way.  And that’s why Proverbs includes so many verses about actually putting into practice the discipline and correction found in the book.

Let’s take a brief survey of some of the verses in Proverbs and what they tell us about people who listen to the advice or ignore it:

Prudent / Foolish

A fool spurns a parent’s discipline,
but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
—Proverbs 15:5

First, we see how to categorize people who listen compared to people who ignore discipline and correction.  Those who spurn discipline are foolish and those who heed correction are prudent.  You can think you’re the smartest person in the world, but if you aren’t willing to listen to the wisdom and correction of another who is older and wiser (I’m talking to you, teenagers,) you are but a fool.

Shows Life / Leads Astray

Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life,
but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.
—Proverbs 10:17

Here we see how our response to discipline and correction affects others as well.  When we live as a fool and ignore God’s teaching, we not only go astray ourselves, but we lead others away from God as well.  We influence our friends and we raise our kids to be foolish just like us.  On the other hand, when we live a life of listening and responding to correction, we show the way to eternal life to all who are watching us.  We are teaching our kids how to live as God designed us and lead them on the path to Jesus.

Honor / Shame

Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame,
but whoever heeds correction is honored.
—Proverbs 13:18

Here we see how our response also affects other people’s perceptions of us.  If we disregard the discipline, others will view us with shame whereas those who heed correction will be viewed with honor.  The irony here, is that typically, those who are too prideful to listen to discipline are seeking honor and glory for themselves, but by failing to correct their errors, they actually will live with shame because of their character flaws.

Life / Death

Now our final point comes from two verses.

For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
are the way to life
—Proverbs 6:23

Stern discipline awaits anyone who leaves the path;
the one who hates correction will die.
—Proverbs 15:10

Quite simply put, those who listen to correction will live while those who hate it and ignore it will die.  Yes, I know life isn’t that clean cut, but on the whole, people who live according to the wisdom of God will experience fuller lives and greater joys than those who keep creating messes for themselves through their pride, greed, anger, or their lack of self-control.

Now that’s a very brief survey of what Proverbs teaches about those who listen or ignore correction and discipline in their lives.

Understanding the Lord’s Discipline

For the remainder of today’s message, I want to focus on one particular passage about the Lord’s Discipline.

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke.  —Proverbs 3:11

I think this verse creates a lot of tension for many of us as we try to understand what the Lord’s discipline is in our lives.  As we already read many verses about correction and discipline, perhaps you noticed none of them actually defined what that discipline might be.

And as a result, many people have different definitions for what the Lord’s discipline is.

We might look at this verse and see the first line and the second line as being parallel to each other so the discipline is similar to a rebuke.  And so we think of the Lord’s discipline as punishment for doing something wrong.

This is a really common understanding of the Lord’s discipline.  Some of you, when you have become ill or had a terrible struggle pop up in your life have perhaps wondered, “God, what did I do to deserve this?  Why are you punishing me?”  And you see difficulty in your life as potentially discipline from God for your sin.

Others take this understanding of God’s discipline to a macro, national level.  Many preachers in recent years have assigned natural disasters to God’s wrath on those cities.  Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast was caused because of the Supreme Court decision to strike down the legitimacy of state’s bans on Same Sex marriages.  Or Hurricane Katrina was punishment for the sinfulness of the entire city of New Orleans.

To be fair, in the Old Testament, we do see God punish entire nations for their sinfulness.  The problem is that we never see God operate that way against a nation after Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  And in only one case do we see God supernaturally discipline a person for their sin — in the book of Acts when Ananias and Sopphira lie to Peter to make themselves look exceptionally holy.

In trying to understand the Lord’s discipline, I think it’s best if we look to the words of Jesus when his disciples were discussing with him some tragic recent events:

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. —Luke 13:4-5

You see, Jesus didn’t tie the suffering to God’s judgment or discipline because that’s not how God’s discipline works.  In fact, if we think our suffering is punishment for our sin, then we are completely misunderstanding the death of Jesus on the cross for us.  It was HIS suffering on the cross that paid the punishment for our sin IN FULL.  He was already punished.  God paid the price for us.  He took the penalty.  So why would he punish us again for something that was already paid for through the blood of his own son?

When we think of the Lord’s discipline, we need a much fuller and more complete view of what discipline means.  Spoiler Alert: It does NOT mean God is sitting up in the clouds waiting to zap us for our mistakes.

Two Sides of Discipline

There are actually two sides to discipline:

1. The first side is this idea of punishment we have already discussed.  It’s the paddle your mother chased you around the house with.  Your family’s “No No Stick.”  It’s correction when you’ve made a mistake.
2. The second side of discipline is the positive side.  It’s training and teaching.  Like an Olympic athlete, it’s putting in the effort and growing in the self-control to become the person you want to become.

And the truth is, we need to be disciplined from both sides.  We need correction when we make mistakes and sin against God, and we also need instruction in how to live righteous lives that honor God.  And while neither the correction nor the instruction are fun or easy, they are necessary and so we cannot despise it or reject it.

Now here’s the big idea from today’s message — this is what we all need to understand: God disciplines us through WORDS of instruction and correction far more than through suffering.

When Proverbs 3:11 tells us not to despise the Lord’s discipline or resent his rebuke, it is referring to the very words in Proverbs that are written for our benefit.  That word “discipline,” in the Hebrew is pronounced Musar, and it is used much more often to speak of instruction, correction, warning, or rebuke — discipline through words than actual punishment.

So when we think of the instruction and correction God uses to discipline us, we are really talking about things like this sermon series, our Bible reading, and our time spent with other believers.  Those are the words the Holy Spirit uses to correct and convict us of our sin, the words that teach us the character we are to have.  Those words are the Lord’s Discipline in our life.

The problem is that often we miss the instruction or correction right in front of our noses.

• I’m sure some of you have sat through a message or two this summer and thought the entire message was PERFECT for somebody else when it really should have applied to you.  If you don’t believe me, ask your spouse.

• Or perhaps you spend time reading the Bible, only to walk away wondering how any of it applies to you.  You see the stories, but you miss the correlation and correction for your own life.

• And often, we have people in our lives who try to help us see when our lives are going the wrong way, but our pride keeps us from listening

• Lastly, sometimes we hear a message or read a scripture and we feel like maybe it does apply to us.  But we don’t like what it asks of us.  It’s hard to swallow that God would make our lives so difficult, or so limited, so we search for some more Bible verses and we ask some people who don’t follow the teaching we are asking about and find a work-around, some justification for why God’s correction isn’t actually for US, but for somebody else — somebody worse.

And in all these cases we reject the instruction and correction God offers us and end up with a mess.  And if you don’t learn anything from this message today, you’ll think that the mess you find yourself in is God’s active hand of punishment against you for some sin you still don’t recognize.  It’s Not.  It’s the natural consequence, the discipline, to help you turn from your sin and repent and start heeding God’s words of correction all around you.

Why God Disciplines

Moving on, Proverbs 3:11 isn’t a stand alone verse.  It’s paired with another verse that completes our instruction about God’s discipline:

. . . because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in. —Proverbs 3:12

The motivation behind God’s discipline for us, behind all these words of instruction and correction, behind his use of people to speak the hard truth to us, is his incredible love for us.

I know that when we are in the midst of being corrected or called out for our sin, when we are facing the natural consequences for our poor choices, or when our family is a disaster because of our years of not following God’s plan in our home, it’s hard to imagine God loves us.

In fact, I think it’s hard to fully understand how these difficult circumstances could ever be allowed or even put into our lives by somebody who loves us until we are a parent ourselves.  This verse is the only verse in Proverbs where God is described as a father, but the analogy is critical for understanding discipline.  This entire message makes more sense to me now that I’m a parent than it ever could have before I had kids.

As a parent, I have tried to teach and instruct, even when they didn’t want to hear from me. I had to correct when my kids screwed up.  Often I let the natural consequences of their poor choices cause them pain so they would learn.  Sometimes I purposely caused pain to get their attention (But to be fair, I warned him I would drive over his bike the next time he laid it down in the middle of the garage floor!)

But I have done everything I have done because I LOVE my kids.  If I didn’t care about them, I wouldn’t bother with the difficult conversations, I wouldn’t give them consequences that caused me more work, and I certainly wouldn’t keep putting myself in conflict with them.  It would be so much easier to ignore them and let them live how they want to live.  But that’s not parenting.  That’s not discipline, and that’s not Love.

God’s Parental love for us means that he cannot write us off.  He delights in us too much. He is too concerned with our character.  He cares too much about who we are becoming and so he speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, through the Bible, through other people, and he uses those words to instruct and correct us — to discipline us.  So we become the men and women he designed us to become.

Conclusion

The question now before each one of us is: Will we listen?  Will we heed the correction before us? Will we think back on the lessons we have learned in summer school and identify areas we really need to work on?  Or will we think it was a good message, but fail to put any of it into practice? That’s the difference between a fool and the wise.  That’s the difference between honor and shame.  That’s the difference between life and death.

The Lord’s discipline is all the words that help you become the man or woman God created you to become.  He has given it to you because he loves you too much to let you stay the way you are.  He wants more for you.  He wants you to become like Jesus, his Son.

This summer we have been taking a look at what many would think is the fortune cookie of the Bible. The book that doles out nice tidbits of helpful advice on how to live.

But as we have looked at the book of Proverbs, I hope that most of us have seen that even though on the surface it appears that the statements help us know how to live, more importantly, they are concerned about who we are as a person and not just our behavior. It is not a “how to” book, but a “how to be” book.

We can do all the behavior modification in the world, but unless we get to the heart of the issue, unless we discover who we really are and what is driving us to be the way we are, we will find ourselves in a never-ending exercise of futility. We need to allow Jesus and his life-transforming message to work in our lives and begin to shape and mold us to look more like him.

Through this series, we’ve hit some topics that have made us a little uncomfortable at times, like when we talked about how our words are either tearing others down or building them up, and how we need to be people of honesty and integrity, not allowing our desires to make us greedy, and ultimately learning not just facts and figures, rules and regulations, but how to be wise.

Today we come to a topic that I am sure none of you struggle with.  It is one that as I get older and I mellow out a tiny bit, it doesn’t affect me like it did when I was younger. However, it is still a part of me and raises its ugly head more than I would like to admit. I often kid and tell you that it is my one go-to emotion. Today we are going to talk about the emotion of anger.

Proverbs talks about our emotions as a whole. It addresses fear and boldness, happiness and cheerfulness, jealousy, and we find several verses throughout the book on anger.

Most of us know right away if this message is going to hit close to home. As soon as I even say the word, a memory comes flooding to your mind: the last time you exploded on your spouse or kids, the time you shot off the email in outrage only to wish you hadn’t done it as soon as you hit the send button, or the hand gesture to the person in the car next to you who just got in your way.

I think many of us can relate to these moments. And if you can, then you can also relate to the regret, the shame of having to apologize yet again or ask forgiveness one more time from someone because your anger got the best of you. No one wants to be on the receiving end of anger, but amazingly it can often rear its ugly little head in our lives. Let’s dive in to see what Proverbs has to say about anger.

Danger of Anger

Let’s start with a few of the verses.

A quick-tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.  —Proverbs 14:17

An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins. —Proverbs 29:22

Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?  —Proverbs 27:4

For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife. —Proverbs 30:33

Right away we see that anger is not talked about in a positive light.  In fact, it highlights for us several dangers we need to be aware of. First is this: anger is destructive. And it is destructive in several ways…beginning with you and your body. Just do a google search of the effects of anger on the body and millions of websites will point out that uncontrolled anger will reek havoc on your body physically.

An Australian government website called Better Health Channel says, “The constant flood of stress chemicals and associated metabolic changes that go with recurrent unmanaged anger can eventually cause harm to many different systems of the body. Some of the short and long-term health problems that have been linked to unmanaged anger include: headache, digestion problems, such as abdominal pain, insomnia, increased anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, skin problems, such as eczema, heart attack, and stroke.”

And if that wasn’t bad enough, it doesn’t just destroy your body, it also destroys your mind, how you think. The Proverb said, “A quick-tempered person does foolish things.” Can I get an amen? As I said earlier, I think this is where as I have gotten older I have begun to see improvements in my life. If twenty-nine year old Brent got an email from someone that he didn’t like, he would immediate fire back a strongly worded, angry, and foolish retort.

Now if I get something that makes my blood boil, I usually write three or four emails, with no email address in the “to” line, and then delete them after about an hour. We lose our minds when we have uncontrolled anger. We become fools. We cannot make good choices or decisions when anger controls us.

Anger also destroys our relationships. It produces conflict, controversy, dissension, disunity. Everyone that is married or ever has been married can give a big amen on this one too. Who hasn’t felt the strain and the isolated feeling after a fight between you and someone you care about, where anger took over, things were said that you normally wouldn’t say and you probably didn’t even mean?

Proverbs even cautions us about having relationships with angry people.  It says we shouldn’t make friends with a man who is easily angered and that it is better to be alone in the wilderness than with an angry woman. Anger will rip a family apart and leave bitterness and pain in its wake.

Anger is destructive. But anger also has some other hidden dangers, like anger reveals pride. We’ve already talked about pride in this series, so I won’t rehash the problems with pride, but think about why you get angry. Most often it is because of control.  Things feel out of your control so you explode to show your dissatisfaction with it, and you explode to try to manipulate and get things done. Anger makes us think we are strong and in control.  And at the root of these desires is pride.

And ultimately, anger shows a lack of trust in God and a lack of love for others. If we have to be in control, then we are taking the place of God in our lives. And anger never usually cares who it steps on. We must acknowledge that there is a real and present danger with our anger.

Roots of Anger

What we need to do is to try to understand why we respond with uncontrolled or explosive anger at times. What lives at the root of this dangerous emotion? I think there are several possibilities that we can identify as potential roots of our anger.

The first is fear. When we experience fear, we respond in anger. Fear of what though? There is the fear of things not going like you had planned or hoped. I can relate to this one, even in the simple things. We get in the car and Kerri is driving. If we are running late and she takes a turn that I wouldn’t have, I say “Where are you going?”  Most likely not spoken in my most pleasant, loving, understanding voice.

There is the fear of messing up. You make a mistake and you lose it because you have to redo it or start over. Or even worse, someone else messes up and makes you look bad. We let them know just how displeased we are with their imperfection.

Beyond fear, we might also see anger when we have unmet expectation. You get home from work and you thought dinner would be ready but its not. Or you thought your kids would have their homework done or rooms cleaned. I realize by using these examples I am giving way more insight into me and the Clark house than I should! I am letting you peer behind the curtain, so to speak.

And finally we might see our anger in response to our own insecurity and pain. Someone hurt us, and we want to hurt them back. So we do. We feel inadequate, so we respond with anger to bring them down to where we feel.

Responding to Our Own Anger

It’s easy when looking at a topic like this to walk away and assume that the answer to our anger is to never be angry ever again.  We make the leap that emotions are bad and therefore the ultimate objective in dealing with emotions is to not have any. The Stoics built an entire philosophy around this idea that emotions were a problem, believing that emotions led to poor judgment and the best life was achieved without them. Let’s not make that leap.

In the midst of the rage, we must be willing to hit the pause button and ask ourselves, “What is driving this right now? Why am I feeling this way?” And then we can begin to deconstruct the lie that is producing such a strong emotional response.  “What am I afraid of?” “Why do I have to be in control?” “What am I insecure about? God’s love? His acceptance?”

We must learn that when we feel out of control and start to get upset, that it is okay, because God is in control. When we or others screw up, it is okay. Mistakes are going to happen. People are going to let you down at times. They may get snippy with you. The failures of others are not an excuse for your fury. And we must remember that we need to extend the same grace and mercy we hope is extended to us when we let them down.

And we need to move to the place where the Spirit of God is what controls us, not our emotions. Those who claim to follow Jesus, to be his disciples, are called to be filled with the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit. And when we do we look more and more like Christ every day.

In Paul’s letter to the Galatian church, he writes,

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh…The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. —Galatians 5:16, 19-21, 22–23

We must get to the heart and allow the truth of God’s word, his love and grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit to begin the healing process, so that we see these moments of wrath become fewer and fewer.

This is responding to our own anger, but equally important is how we respond when others are angry toward us. Usually our initial reaction can be defined by either fight or flight. We dig our heals in and raise our voices, or we hate conflict and when anyone expresses anger toward us we leave, and remove ourselves from the situation. And most often we find no resolution in either of these responses.

Proverbs speaks to these very situations.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  —Proverbs 15:1

Mockers stir up a city, but the wise turn away anger. —Proverbs 29:8

When confronted with hot situations, wisdom says, “keep your cool, respond with a soft answer” That is the best way to defuse the situation.

As I read that last verse I can’t help but think about the current political climate in our country and how much anger is playing a role this year. And before either side starts pointing fingers, don’t.  This applies all around. Mockers are stirring up a country. Where are the wise ones that are turning away, not inciting the anger? Maybe that is what the church is supposed to be doing. Because diffusing anger, bringing peace to hostile situations isn’t a democrat thing or a republican thing  It is a gospel thing.

Righteous Anger

We must remember that we are created in the image of God.  God created us with emotions to be expressed: to love, to feel joy and excitement, and yes, even to experience anger. But like with most sin, when it is out of control, it becomes a problem.

Would it surprise you to know that the Bible says some positive things about anger? Yes, uncontrolled, explosive, hot-tempered anger is bad. But there is an anger that is good. In fact, anger is necessary. There should be times we are angry.

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. —Proverbs 14:29

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. —Proverbs 16:32

Slow to anger is wise. Slow to anger is how we should be. Why?  Because if we never experience anger, it means we don’t care, that we are apathetic. The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. And when we love and care, and the things we love and care about are threatened, we get angry. Again, not the explosive uncontrolled type, but slow and responsive.

Third century theologian Lactantius, who was an advisor to Constantine, is quoted as saying, “He who does not get angry does not care.” (Snodgrass, NIVAC)

And we see this healthy anger shown in God himself. God is an emotional God. Jesus was an emotional Savior. He got angry. Jesus was angry at the Pharisees cheating people and their hard hearts. (Mark 3:5)  God gets angry at the sin and injustice in the world.

This idea is not popular because many want to only say that God is love, that he would never get angry. But as one writer put it this week, “If you have a God who never gets angry, you can’t have a God of love. Because if you never, ever get angry about anything, you don’t love anything.” It is God’s wrath that shows that he cares.

And when we become more like Christ, the more righteously angry we will get toward real evil.

Conclusion

So, we need to transform our anger. From the explosive uncontrolled problem we feel guilt and shame for to the slow righteous anger of God that stands up against evil and speaks up for injustice.

What Proverbs shows us is that anger does not depend on the subject but on the person. Anger is an issue of the heart. An angry person will find a reason, even a bad one to blow up, and this emotion can show up in many different ways: in how we speak, in our actions, in hastily sent text messages or emails, or in passive-aggressive behavior.

But we are called not to engage like everyone else does in their rage.  We are called to display the character of Christ. Do you see anger in your life? What is at the root? Will you allow God to redeem and restore that in you? Will you allow the Spirit of God to transform your unrighteous anger, to remove your fear or offense so that you are no longer a peace-taker but instead become a peacemaker?

We are in the middle of a series of
messages we are doing over the summer called “Summer School: Life Lessons from
Proverbs.”

Proverbs is this very interesting book in the Old
Testament that many people treat like a fortune cookie. When we want advice we crack
it open and read one of the “fortunes” to tell us what we should do.

The problem is that this isn’t how Proverbs
are meant to be read. They aren’t concerned as much about what you do as they
are about who you are. As one commentary put it, “Proverbs isn’t a ‘how to’ book
but a ‘how to be’ book.

And we have to remember as we approach the Proverbs
that these aren’t promises or guarantees, but general principles of life. The
tell us the way life ordinarily works but not necessarily how it always works. They are
observations not absolutes. They can be very simplistic and don’t always take
into account the uncertainties of life. We must always remember that we live in a
broken world. We were reminded of this once again this week in France when
a man in a truck drove through a crowd, killing over 80 people.

The world is broken and made up of broken people and
Proverbs gives us guidance on the kind of people we should be in this world, giving general insight into how life should work if we live with wisdom and
righteousness.

The interesting thing about Proverbs is that many of
the topics it covers, we don’t really have a problem with. In fact, we like them
and use them when needed. Like Proverbs 13:24, “Whoever spares
the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful
to discipline them.” Let me tell you, my parents LOVED me! Or Proverbs
31:6, “Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who
are in anguish!” Some of you are a little too liberal with the definition
of perishing!

But sometimes we come across themes in the book that
we would prefer not to talk about. It begins to hit a little too close to home.
And it begins as we say in the south, “It begins
meddlin’.” Unfortunately today we have to do a little meddlin’ as we look at
what Proverbs says about money.

Now before you tune me out and say, “Here we go, that
preacher asking for money.” No. Not today. Because as I said earlier, Proverbs
is less about what you do and more about who you are. And your attitude about
money tells more about the kind person you are than you may want to admit.

If you watch television, you’ve probably heard the
commercial promoting a credit card and it ends with a very clever and memorable
tag line, “What’s in your wallet?” And that is really the question we need to
consider today. Not because I care what credit cards you have. But because what’s
in your wallet, your attitude toward money, greed, and generosity, reveals
what’s your heart.

So what does Proverbs say about all this?

Money Isn’t A Bad Thing

First we need to understand that money and
wealth are not bad things. In fact, the attitude about money in
Proverbs is overwhelmingly positive. Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the
Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” or in
10:15, “The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is
the ruin of the poor.”  Often we
find wealth or riches as the reward for hard work, diligence and discipline.

This seems to run against the popular thought in our society today that money is the
problem and the romanticized idea that poverty is to be exalted. Rest assured
there can be great problems with money and wealth and we will get to those in a
moment, but the false dichotomy that to have money is bad and to be without is
good just isn’t true.

It’s not our desire to live on nothing or make nothing
that makes us wise or righteous, but the desire to use what we have, not just
for ourselves but for the betterment of those around us. As one pastor I read
this week said, “The more money you make, the more of the world is yours to
take care of, to take responsibility for.”

When we are blessed with resources, we have a
responsibility to do something with them. Jesus told us,

From everyone who
has been given much, much will be demanded —Luke 12:48

Who can
deny the amazing things that can be done when someone that has been blessed
with resources, turns around and uses those resources to find solutions to
eradicate poverty, fund clean drinking water initiatives in remote parts of the
world, or fund research to find cures for diseases still killing millions
around the world, or send the life giving message of Jesus in our community
and around the world.

Before you begin thinking, “he’s only talking to the rich folks, those
with millions in the bank,” not so fast. Sometimes we forget just how blessed we
are in the US compared to the rest of the world. And just because we may choose
to live pay check to pay check with no margin doesn’t mean we aren’t still
accountable for what we are doing with what God has given us.

We can’t view money in and of itself as bad or evil.
We can do a lot of good with it when we have it. And Proverbs attests to
this…But we also can’t ignore the other half of the Proverbs that remind us of
the spiritual danger attached to money.

Greed is Consuming and Insatiable

If money isn’t the problem, then what is? Where does
the danger lie that we should be aware of? Simply put, it is greed. Greed is
the underlying attitude that affects how generous we are or how selfish we are.  It affects our motivation and our contentment. It affects how we respond when
we see someone on the street and whether we say, “How can I help?” or “I
wonder what they did to deserve this.”

Greed can be defined as a desire that knows no bounds, desire that is so strong that is doesn’t care about what is done to satisfy it or the
harm it does to others. Greed is a trap. We can think we are okay and not
affected by it, but it can sneak up on us and crowd out the more important
things in our life.

Greed has some dangers I want you to be aware of today. And the first is
this: Greed is consuming. It is insatiable. I love that word.
Insatiable. Impossible to satisfy. It answers the question “How much is enough?”
with the response, “Just a little bit more.” In fact, that is what
multi-billionaire John D Rockefeller said when asked that very question.

I’ve
seen this in my own life. I’ve shared before how when I was younger, I went to
work at a bank making a whopping $7.75 an hour. Yes, I was married. Yes, we had
Hannah and Kerri was seven months pregnant with Luke. I cannot be accused of
making the best financial decisions throughout my life!

As
I made my $16,120, I thought, “Oh, if I could only make $20,000, then life
would be easier and we would be good.” And you know what happened. I got raises
and made $20,000. And you know what we did?  We started living off every dime of
that, primarily because we had to, but almost immediately I began to think, “Oh, if I only made $30,000, then we would have enough.” And guess what happened? I
got raises and started making $30,000. And then I was satisfied.

NOT!
Every time I got a raise, the number I thought would satisfy me continued to
increase. I made more and I wanted more and we spent more.  We didn’t think we
were greedy, but there was greed there. And this desire for more began to
consume me. Work harder. Prove myself to the boss more. Work longer hours.
Sacrifice the family or whatever to get it.

The writer of Proverbs tells us this as well. Proverbs
1:19 says, “Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it
takes away the life of its possessors.” Greed, this desire
for more, begins to eat away at your life and consume you. It consumes your time.
It consumes your family. It consumes your health.

Greed always tells us we don’t have enough. It says, “I need all this stuff and more. So go and get it.”

Greed Is Corrupting

It would be bad enough if greed just consumed your
time and attention, but it also consumes your integrity. Greed is
corrupting.

The more it grows the more we find ourselves put in a
position of asking ourselves what are we willing to do to get more. Greed will
test our character by what we are willing to do to get more.

In Proverbs 20:23 we see, “The Lord detests differing
weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.” In Ancient times, dealers
would sometimes keep two sets of weighing stones, one for buying and one for
selling, so that they could cheat people and make more money.

Where it says that the scales do not please God
would better be translated as “they are an abomination to the Lord.” That is very
strong language. Usually we bring out that word when we start talking about
sexual sin. It is used several times in Leviticus. And we need to make sure we
grasp what is being said here about the consuming nature of greed.

God deals with our greed very seriously. He doesn’t just shrug it off. He puts our greed in the
same category as sins that he absolutely hates, sins that are grossly offensive
to him. In his eyes, we can be good and moral people, we can live sexually pure
lives, but if we have greed in our hearts, God equates that to someone who
cheats on his or her spouse.

When this unsatisfiable desire takes over, we find
ourselves cutting corners to get more. We find that we are willing to step on
others to get more. We find that we are willing to be dishonest if it means
that we come out ahead. Greed is an all out assault on our character and will
reveal the deepest recesses of our hearts. And what it reveals might shock us
and should probably concern us.

We need to see and understand the seriousness of this.
It’s not just a small problem. It is a consuming problem and a corrupting
problem. But the danger doesn’t end there.

Greed is Idolatry

Greed causes us to reorient our lives around the wrong
things. We become distracted by
the unimportant. Greed is ultimately idolatry. What is idolatry? It is craving,
wanting, or trusting in anything more than God. It is making our desires as the
motivator of our lives.

We’ve already talked about how it creates this drive
and desire in us for more money or more stuff, but with idolatry, we find that
we begin to trust in our wealth or money more than we trust in God. It is a
vicious cycle. We work hard and therefore we are rewarded in our jobs. We like
the reward so we work harder. We see more reward. And very soon, instead of
seeing God as our provision, we find our provision in ourselves.

And then our significance becomes wrapped up in how
much we make, or our net worth. And we trust more in our assets than we do God.
Then our value isn’t in being a child of God redeemed by Jesus Christ through
his death on the cross. It is in the car we drive, the clothes we wear, the
vacations we take.  We become our own
sufficiency and our own significance.

Proverbs 11:28 reminds us though that, “Those
who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green
leaf.”  While life is good, we may think there is nothing wrong
with this philosophy of finding security in our bank balance. But when we trust
in our riches, we will quickly learn how little they can really do for us when we
need it.

Wealth will give us a false sense of security. But what happens when a recession comes? Or your
company downsizes? Our the mortgage company forecloses? Greed tells us to trust
in ourselves and our money and pulls us from the proper place where our focus
should be…on God.

Greed Comes in Many Forms

I’ve been speaking primarily about greed as it relates to money, but I think it is important to realize that greed can come
in other forms. You can be greedy and have no money. Our
society makes this very easy. After all, we see the ads on TV. We are tempted
with the new, shiny object that everyone is getting and we just have to have, but there is a big problem. . . we don’t have the money to
pay for it. But, according to our culture, why should that keep us from what we
desire? So in our greed, we go out and we charge it. And we accumulate more and
more stuff, all the while amassing more and more debt.

When I was a consumer loan officer, one of the main loans I made were debt
consolidation loans. People would come in with $10, $20 and even $60,000 worth
of credit card debt. And we would try to help. We would talk to them about not
getting in this position again. We would cut up credit cards, and call the
companies to have the accounts closed, but unfortunately, when the root issue
of greed went unnoticed, they would end up back in my office a few years later
with another huge, crushing debt, all because they were greedy for stuff.

Proverbs warns us about the danger of over-extending
ourselves financially and letting our desire for stuff run wild. Proverbs
22:26-27 says, “Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security
for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from
under you.”  In Proverbs 22:7, we read, “The rich rule over the
poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”

Greed can affect you if you have a lot or a little. It can show itself in your money or possessions or
with your time and service or even in the debt you have amassed. It can come in
many forms.

Conclusion – Living Generously

What we have to be willing to address is the root
cause. We need to begin to see that greed shows a lack of trust in God. And it
isn’t he who dies with the most toys that wins. We need to redefine what
it means to be prosperous.

In Proverbs 11:24-25, we read, “One person gives
freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A
generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
We think the way to prosperity is amassing great amounts for ourselves when really
the way to true prosperity is through generosity, using what you’ve
been given for the benefit of God’s kingdom and the benefit of others.

Probably the most dangerous thing about greed is
that it is a trap, a snare. And we will walk right into it if we aren’t looking
for it. Jesus said in Luke 12:15 that we are to, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of
greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Jesus spoke more about money than he did just about
anything else. Why?

Because the allure of money is great. And greed is a difficult trap to escape
from. But we can avoid it all together if we are aware and know what we are
looking for. That is what Proverbs is trying to do.  It seeks to make us alert to the
danger of greed. And we need to choice a different path. How do we do that?

We look to one who modeled incredible, sacrificial
generosity for us. We look to Jesus. “For you know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so
that you through his poverty might become rich.” —2 Corinthians 8:9

How do we overcome greed and become more generous? Not through emotional
appeals and Sarah McLaughin singing sad songs about abused animals. We only
need to see Jesus. The cross shows us sacrificial giving. Think about the
affect that gift had on the world. It changed the world forever.

What do you think can happen when we are no longer consumed by greed, but begin to live generously instead? I’ll
tell you. We can change the world.

For some, I can hear the push-back already. “We can’t.
We don’t have.” But can I tell you, everyone has to start somewhere. Pray and
ask God how you can be more generous. Start with something and see what God
can do through individuals who resist greed and live generously.

I close with the question,  “What’s in your wallet” and what does
that say about your faith?

Days off are great.  In fact, wouldn’t it be nice if every day was a day off?  That’s what retirement is like, right?  I kid — I hear from most our retired folks that life after work seems busier than when they had 40 hour a week jobs!  

But back to lazy days off — as good as it sounds to some of us to have nothing to do and nothing to work on day after day, we need to understand that we were actually made by God to work.  That’s why even in retirement, if you have nothing to do, nothing planned, you find yourself going a little nuts.  God gave us minds that need a challenge and bodies that thrive when they are active.  He literally built us to work and not to spend all our time in bed or in front of a TV, or frivolously wasting our time on meaningless and mindless activities.  

In fact, if that’s how we spent all our time, others would call us LAZY.  And that’s our topic today as we continue Summer School —our series of lessons from the Proverbs.

In preparing for this message, I was actually amazed at how many verses Proverbs devotes to instructing people on NOT being lazy and on working hard.  And the reason for my surprise was because I don’t think I’ve ever heard a message on laziness before.  So, I thought perhaps the verses would be limited and sparse — but that’s NOT the case.  I think the reason I’ve never heard a sermon on laziness has more to do with the fact that Americans tend to be workaholics rather than lazybones — so the more common message in America is to tell you all to REST and to SABBATH.  

But not me.  I’m going to share with you why it’s important to work! 

The best starting point to see the wisdom provided in Proverbs about laziness is in Proverbs 24:30-34:30 

I went past the field of a sluggard,

past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

thorns had come up everywhere,

the ground was covered with weeds,

and the stone wall was in ruins.

I applied my heart to what I observed

and learned a lesson from what I saw:

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest—

and poverty will come on you like a thief

and scarcity like an armed man.  

Isn’t that the truth?  Nobody sets out in life to try and make their lives a mess.  Nobody says, I’m going to be lazy.  Yet, for some, laziness slowly takes root in their lives, it slows down their activities, it steals their motivation, and like a thief they never saw coming, years pass and the garden of their life is full of thorns and weeds.   

And it’s for this reason, I believe, that Proverbs speaks so much about the problem of laziness — because it can ruin your life without you even realizing it. 

Signs of Laziness

So today, I want to share with you some of the signs that laziness is taking root in your life, maybe even in unseen ways. 

1) Excessive Rest

As we already saw in Proverbs 24:33, our desire for rest can become a serious problem

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest—

and poverty will come on you like a thief

and scarcity like an armed man.  

I know — it’s ironic that I’m the one preaching this since a few months ago, while talking about how we are to take care of our bodies, I told you that sleep is important – to which I received many loud “Amens!”  And I stand by my statement that sleep is important.  But for the sluggard, sleep and rest become KING.   

And maybe it’s not sleep, maybe it’s hours in front of the TV or the computer.  But it’s excessive amounts of rest compared to work produced.  

2) Missed Opportunities

There are two verses I want to share with you that paint a clear picture of the second sign of laziness:

Proverbs 10:55 

He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son,

but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.  

Proverbs 26:15

A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.  

From these verses we see that a sluggard, the author’s preferred term for a person who is chronically lazy, has opportunities, just like the rest of us.  He just fails to take advantage of those opportunities.  The harvest season comes for all, but the sluggard misses the opportunity by sleeping through it.  More humorously, Proverbs 26:15 describes a sluggard who has food in front of him, but even misses the opportunity to eat because of his laziness keeping him from lifting his food to his mouth. 

3) Excuses for Avoiding Work

For our next sign of laziness, let’s read Proverbs 22:13:13

 The sluggard says, “There’s a lion outside!

I’ll be killed in the public square!”  

You see, oftentimes, lazy people attempt to disguise their laziness by making excuses for why they can’t work.  It’s not that they don’t WANT to work, it’s that for THIS reason or THAT reason, they just can’t. You know I’m talking about you with this point if right now you are arguing with me in your head about your valid reasons for not working. 

4) Talk without Action

And our final sign of laziness is described in Proverbs 28:19 :

Those who work their land will have abundant food,

but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty. 

I love that image of “those who chase fantasies” being compared to “those who work their land.”  In life, there are Doers and there are Talkers.  And while dreaming about the future is an important part of becoming who you want to become — some people never move out of the dreaming stage to the achieving stage.  Dreams don’t become a reality without putting a ton of hard work into your plans.   

Lots of kids want to be Olympians when they grow up, but only those who commit hours of work to that dream ever get the opportunity.  In the same way, if you find yourself always dreaming about the future, but never taking action, you may be allowing laziness to hold you back. 

Laziness Brings Poverty

Now what the verse from Proverbs 24, and our own life experience shows us is that those who are lazy — those who exhibit these four traits — are much more likely to be poor and hungry.  This happens to people NOT because God is punishing them for sin, but because POVERTY IS THE NATURAL CONSEQUENCE FOR LAZINESS. 

Conversely, Proverbs has many verses, which point to the fact that if you do work you will have what you need to live and support your family. 

For instance, Proverbs 10:4 says:

Lazy hands make for poverty,

but diligent hands bring wealth.

Now, like all the wisdom in Proverbs, this isn’t a promise — some people who work may face major financial struggles, but it lays out a general principle which should encourage everybody to be hard workers.  

Spiritual Sloth

As we think about these verses on laziness, I’m sure many of you have somebody in mind who exhibits these symptoms of laziness.  But what if, instead of pointing out laziness we see in others — laziness in strictly a worldly sense of work and life on earth, what if we looked for these signs of laziness in our spiritual lives and our work for the Kingdom of God. 

1) Excessive Rest — How many of you have planned to get up early to do devotions before, but regularly found the bed to be too warm and comfy to get out and actually spend time with Jesus?  Or perhaps you planned to read your Bible at night but then frittered away your time reading the news or Facebook instead?   

2) Missed Opportunities — Given that almost every one of us has access to a Bible in our pocket at any given moment via a cell phone — it’s amazing how few of us read the Bible regularly.  We are just like the sluggard, too lazy to lift the food from the bowl to our mouths — and like the sluggard, we miss the opportunity to meet with God, and to hear him speak to us through His word. 

3) Excuses for Avoiding Work — The #1 reason most people give for not spending time with God on a regular basis and for not helping with important church ministries is, “I’m too busy!”  That’s right, we use our LACK OF LAZINESS with our work and our worldly priorities to be our excuse for our SPIRITUAL LAZINESS.  We need to stop making excuses and instead start readjusting our priorities. 

4) Talk without Action – I know none of us WANT to be spiritually lazy.  In fact, most of us have at some point or another made a pledge to have more self-discipline, to commit to a small group, or serving in a ministry, or reading the Bible regularly.  We have made plans to read the Bible to our kids every night or pray about a friend’s prayer request daily.  But so often our plans are just plans and never take shape.  And just like the endless dreamers of our world – we are all talk with no action. 

Ultimate Result is Spiritual Poverty — And just like a life of laziness leads to poverty in the worldly sense, laziness in our spiritual lives leads us to poverty in the spiritual sense.  We fail to thrive and experience the abundance that Jesus promised us.  Our relationship with our Heavenly father is stunted.  Our spiritual lives are full of weeds and thistles like sin and weakness.  And while we wanted so much more for our faith and relationship with God, years have been stolen because of our spiritual sloth. 

Now sloth is another word for lazy, but I love it because a part of its definition is “a failure to utilize one’s talents.”  So, being spiritually slothful means to fail to use the gifts God has given you to build up your faith and the church.  

Just like I began by saying that God built us to work, he also gave us each talents and gifts specifically for the purpose of building up the church and others around us.  The question is, are you using those talents for the purpose God gave them to you, or are you being spiritually slothful and failing to use those talents for God’s Kingdom? 

Jesus actually tells a parable in Matthew 25 about a wealthy man who entrusts sums of money called talents to three servants.  Two of the servants invest what the master gave them and yield a return on the money, but one of them buries the money, so when the master returns, the servant gives the master back the exact same amount which was given to the servant.  And you know what the master thinks of that last servant?  He calls him a “wicked and lazy servant.”  He was lazy because he was given a gift by the manager and was expected to use it to build the master’s wealth, but the opportunity was squandered and excuses were made for why he didn’t take any action. 

I don’t want any of us to ever experience that conversation with Jesus, our master who has given us countless blessings for the purpose of drawing closer to God in relationship and investing in His Kingdom.  While we as Americans may be incredible workers who are focused on accomplishment and achievement, many of us are terribly lazy when it comes to spiritual activity and achievement. 

We need to take our attitude of work into our spiritual lives. We need to stop sleeping in and skipping our time of Bible reading and dialogue with Jesus.  We need to stop missing the opportunities to grow in our faith because we are too lazy to make the effort to do the things we KNOW will help us grow in our faith.  We need to stop making excuses of how we are too busy to help with that ministry that God has put on your heart.  We need to stop talking about how next week or next month or next year we are going to start going to church more, reading the Bible more, or giving more for the Kingdom.    

All of that is a sign of spiritual sloth and we need to recognize it for what it is and put and end to it.  Just like many of you would never want to be seen by others as lazy in life, don’t settle for laziness in your spiritual lives.  Don’t allow your spiritual life to fall into a place of poverty where thistles and weeds overgrow every space in your heart. 

Conclusion

Wow – isn’t that a “feel good” message?  I know, it’s uncomfortable to think about where we are falling short, but it’s good for us to hold up a mirror and see the signs of our laziness before it overtakes and wastes years of our lives.   

And the best part of this all is that we are not alone to fix this.  Jesus isn’t waiting for us to muster enough self-control to just stop being lazy.  Actually, he helps us, if we ask him. 

Personally, I was self-diagnosed with Spiritual Sloth years ago, and have been battling with it ever since.  I sleep in when I don’t need to, I waste time reading the news during time I set aside to read the Bible, I make excuses about being too busy, and I often make plans to turn it around without ever taking the steps to change anything.  I’m just like you.   

But what I learned is my most effective tool to change is prayer.  When I realize I’m being lazy, I ask God to put in me a desire to spend time with him, a desire to get more involved, a desire to give more of myself and stop wasting my time.  And he always answers my prayer.   

He knows our flesh is weak and we will never be perfect, and that is why HE gives us the strength we need to fight our spiritual sloth and grow closer to him. 

That’s our Life Lesson from the Proverbs.  If you want a thriving spiritual life and want to be part of what God is doing on this earth — you are going to have to work at it just like you work to achieve in this world.  But the rewards are so much bigger than worldly wealth — they are salvation for you and those around.  Don’t take your eyes off the prize of Jesus Christ.

Today we are going to talk about pride — something for which I am the most qualified to speak about.  I’ve been an expert on pride for most of my life.  I can remember my dad talking to me about my constant bragging at a very young age.  Fortunately, because I’m amazing at everything I do, over the years I have been able to uproot the pride from my life and am now one of the humblest people I’ve ever met.

Well, that was until I began preparing for this message.  As I started looking at all the proverbs about pride and started thinking about ways pride rears it’s ugly head in our lives, I realized I’m actually still way more arrogant than I had thought.  But perhaps some of you already knew that.

Honestly, as I prepared this lesson, I wasn’t sure what new things I could say about pride.  I know I could tell you all sorts of verses about how pride is bad, but I think almost all of you know that.  Nobody want’s to be known as arrogant or a bragger.

We all know THAT person who always talks about themself and tells us about how successful they are at work, how nice their house is, and how great their family is.  And most of us find that person a bit irritating and recognize that isn’t a great trait to have.

But because of people like that, we tend to label that person as proud and then not worry about pride in our own lives — after all, we aren’t as bad as him.  We might think of ourselves as just self-confident, self-reliant, or having healthy self-esteem.  And maybe that’s true, but perhaps pride is a bigger problem in your life than you realize, and you don’t even know it.

To know if pride is a problem in your life, we have to first define what it means to be a proud person.  If you are proud, it means you have an excessively high opinion of yourself and your importance.  It means you exalt yourself, you focus on yourself, and you concern yourself with how others perceive you.

What Do the Proverbs Say

And with that definition in mind, it’s easy to believe that the Bible always lists pride as a vice – a sin to be avoided.  The clearest text on the subject is Proverbs 8:13 which says:

To fear the Lord is to hate evil;

I hate pride and arrogance,

evil behavior and perverse speech.

Now if you go back a verse you will see this section is being spoken by “Wisdom,” but if we’re all in summer school to gain wisdom, then I think we should follow the advice of Wisdom who hates pride and arrogance.

But if that’s not clear enough, we can look at Proverbs 16:5:

The Lord detests all the proud of heart.

Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

God detests the proud.  This is a major statement.  Being a bit proud isn’t just a bit of a sin.  Being a proud person will actually wreak havoc in our lives both now and eternally if we don’t seek to eliminate it.  Proverbs gives 4 consequences for the sin of pride.

Consequences of Pride

1. God’s Punishment

We actually already saw the first consequence in that last verse — Proverbs 16:5:

The Lord detests all the proud of heart.

Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to receive God’s punishment.  In fact, we don’t often speak here at Ashworth Road of God as a God who punishes — we talk about his love and his grace — but we can’t forget that like a parent he punishes people in order to teach them to live differently — without the pride and the arrogance that is bound to destroy their lives.

2. Destruction of Life

And this leads to the next consequence of pride, one of the most famous Proverbs —Proverbs 16:18:

Pride goes before destruction,

a haughty spirit before a fall.

First I have to say — this verse sounds wrong to you doesn’t it.  We are so used to the phrase “pride comes before the fall” but this verse is actually the source of that popular cliché.  And I understand why — “A haughty spirit comes before a fall” just doesn’t sound the same.

I think this consequence seems almost too big for the simple sin of pride, but it’s also one we have all see before.

• Lance Armstrong — he wanted to win so badly, he cheated to get the accolades he so badly wanted.  But ultimately, once he was found out, he was ruined, stripped of his awards, and even the Livestrong Foundation he created to raise money for cancer research took a major black eye and lost significant revenue.
• Countless famous musicians and actors have experience a similar story to Lance where their pride and arrogance led to the end of their careers and their fame.
• But it’s not just famous people who face destruction for their pride.  You and me – when we are too arrogant to be willing to take advice or counsel from a friend, can make terrible decisions we pay for for years.

3. Disgrace

Speaking of Lance Armstrong, he’s a prime example of the next consequence of pride seen in Proverbs 11:2:

When pride comes, then comes disgrace,

but with humility comes wisdom.

Not only does pride ruin a person, but it brings disgrace to them as the lives they have elevated come crumbling down.  And ironically, the person who cared so much about what other people thought of them and wanted to be liked, loved, and admired, isnow scorned and disgraced by those very same people.

4. Relational Strife

And Proverbs 13:10 gives us our final consequence of pride:

Pride only breeds quarrels,

but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

As we focus on ourselves and try to elevate ourselves above those around us, it actually creates strife in those relationships.  I know this first-hand as I lost my best friend in high school over a fight about my success in track compared to his.  Like I said, I’m THE MOST qualified to speak about pride.

Now as we look at this list, I want you to really begin to grasp the significant danger of allowing pride of any kind to fester in your life.  Pride is an incredibly dangerous and sneaky sin that can ruin your life more quickly than you could ever imagine.  This week I came across a quote by the famous Puritan preacher Jonathon Edwards who says it better than I ever could:

“Pride is the worst viper that is in the heart; it is the first sin that ever entered into the universe, and it lies lowest of all in the foundation of the whole building of sin, and is the most secret, deceitful and unsearchable in its ways of working, of any lusts whatsoever; it is ready to mix with everything; and nothing is so hateful to God, and contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, or of so dangerous consequence; and there is no one sin that does so much let in the Devil into the hearts of the saints, and exposes them to his delusions” (Jonathan Edwards, Distinguishing Marks, Yale 4:277-78).

Identifying Pride in Our Own Lives

Now we come to the most important part of my message today.  Before I began, many of you already knew that being proud was a sin and was bad.  And like me, you have probably tried to avoid being a proud person.  Perhaps you make sure to not brag about your successes and you try not to think too much about yourself.  That has been my plan of attack for the past few years, but as I prepared this message, Brent and I brainstormed ways that pride still sneaks into our lives without us ever noticing.  And by the time we completed our list, I realized I still had a long way to go in uprooting pride from my life.  Let’s take a look:

1.     Unwillingness to ask for help — Self-reliance is a strongly American character trait, but taken to an extreme, it completely goes against God’s design in our lives to live in community with others who care and support one another.  This is our pride saying “I don’t want anybody to see me as weak.  I will do this on my own.”  And sadly, it actually separates us from the community God wants us to be a part of.

2.     Refusal to listen to advice — A proud person doesn’t see the need for a second opinion or constructive criticism.  They are already right, and nobody can tell them otherwise.  One of the verses we already looked at today (Proverbs 13:10) ended with “ wisdom is found in those who take advice.”  But the proud are not wise, and cannot receive counsel.  Think for a moment – what is your first reaction when somebody gives you advise or a person you trust tries to give you constructive criticism?  I know I immediately get defensive and assume the other person is wrong – because I still struggle with pride.

3.     Excessive competitiveness — This one speaks for itself  and is fairly convicting for me and Brent – but if you really struggle with losing, you need to ask yourself why?  What makes you so upset to not be the winner of every game and competition?  The answer is likely pride.  You don’t want to see somebody else succeed and be exalted above you – you want to be the one exalted above everyone else.

4.     Materialistic for sake of status — Some of you really enjoy having a nice house, a nice car, nice clothes.  You like everything to always look right, especially when you are going out or company is coming over.  For some of you, the root to all your concern about things looking right is pride.  You want others to think highly of you, to respect you, and to think you have it all together.  And so you keep buying new things…  If this is you, I leave you with a verse from 1 John 2:16-17:

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

5.     Sarcastic mockery of others (Prov 3:34)— This is an obvious symptom of pride in your life.  If you have elevated yourself above others, then it’s easy to mock those who don’t have it as together as you, who aren’t as successful, who don’t do things the way you would do them.  Ask yourself, when people let you down, do you show them grace and patience, or do you judge them and make a sarcastic comment to let them know you’re not happy?

6.     False Humility — My list concludes with my favorite – when a person tries to speak down about themselves so others will try to lift them up and say the words the truly proud person wants so desperately to hear.  This is manipulation, and it’s pride.

Humility is the Antidote

So there you have it – a list of all the terrible consequences of pride and then another list of several ways you probably still have pride alive and active in your life.  And while I would like to give you the advice “STOP IT.”  “STOP BEING PROUD.”  We know that doesn’t work.  We can’t just uproot the pride in our life or something will return in it’s place.  No, we have to replace the pride in our lives with it’s antidote – HUMILITY.

Humility is a focus on others, it is a dependence on God rather than yourself, it is showing compassion and mercy to those who let us down.  Humility does not mean thinking that you are scum and terrible, but it does mean that you stop thinking you are the center of everything, that you are better than others, and that you are more important.

An example of a humble spirit would be watching somebody cut in line ahead of you at the store or in traffic and NOT GOING BALLISTIC about “who does that person think they are?” Or does that only happen in my head?  Humility would accept it, show grace, and understand that losing a couple seconds of time isn’t a big deal because YOU aren’t that big of a deal.

I understand humility is a very UN-AMERICAN trait.  Our culture values and elevates people with self-confidence to the point of pride and even narcissism.  But we don’t follow the script of our culture; we follow the script of our Savior.

The apostle Paul speaks to pride and humility best in Philippians 2:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

If there was ever a man who could have demanded respect from others, who could have elevated himself as being better and more important than others, it is Jesus Christ.  Yet we watch Jesus pause and spend time with lowly people who interrupt his important teachings.  We watch him wash his disciples feet, serving those who should have been serving him.

In the same way, we need to pursue humility, just like Jesus.

But what we sometimes forget when we feel like it’s hard to take the road of humility is that it’s actually a blessing in so many ways.  Being humble removes so much of the stress to stay on top.  It gives us more joy in serving others.  And in eternity it will be rewarded when the great reversal takes place and:

“all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. —Luke 14:11

The way of humility is the way of the wise.  It’s easier, it’s more fulfilling, and it follows the way Jesus already blazed before us.

Conclusion

Imagine how your life might be different if you completely replaced the pride in your life with humility.  Imagine the stress you put on yourself falling away.  Imagine the strife you cause in your relationships being healed.  Imagine the legacy you would leave for your kids and grandkids as they see you transform into the most compassionate, kind, humble person they know – a person unlike anybody in today’s culture.

What I want you to remember is: pride is a secret, yet deadly sin.  Even when you think you’ve killed it, it keeps coming back.  This is why we can’t just avoid pride — we have to intentionally surrender ourselves to humility.  We have to turn our eyes off of ourselves and onto Jesus who is our perfect model of what humility looks like.

Introduction

Do you like Chinese food? I didn’t grow up eating Chinese food, but quickly found a passion for it in college. Jade China, right down the road from the college served these massive portions for about $3.50. . .a college student’s dream. What I quickly learned in college is that the food in the container was the tasty stuff, but it was the fortune cookie where the real fun was to be had.

We rarely ate Chinese alone and when we’d get done, we would all pull out our fortune cookies to see what sage advice for our lives awaited us. Of course, being college students, we didn’t just open them and read them. We would crack the cookie in half, shove one half in each side of our mouths and then read the fortune. We would also add some words to the end of the fortune, which I won’t share with you because it may or may not have been entirely appropriate and it certainly isn’t appropriate for a pastor to mention in a sermon.

We would read the fortune, mouth stuffed with cookie and all, and we would just laugh and laugh.  How many of you still enjoy opening that fortune cookie just to see what it is going to tell you.

I doubt most of us look to the fortune cookie with much seriousness, but the fortune cookie points out something about us: we love mottos, slogans, and pithy sayings. And we look for those that we can live by, those that encourage us when we are struggling or disappointed, or are dealing with difficulty.

In those difficult moments, we pull out sayings like:

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” —Albert Einstein

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” —Henry Ford

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” —Yogi Berra

We are all looking for answers. And we’d prefer them in 120 characters or less. We want words to live by.  We want sayings to motivate us, to encourage us, and to help us find success in life.

Today we are kicking off a new series of messages where each week, we will look at the book of the Bible many people treat like a fortune cookie or a place to go when they just want a little advice. So, Summer School is officially in session! Each week we will be looking to find lessons in life from the book of Proverbs.

Background on Proverbs

Before we jump into today’s lesson, let’s set the stage a little bit with the background of the book we will be looking at over the next several weeks. Proverbs is a book in the Old Testament. It is classified as “wisdom literature” because in it we find instructions for successful living, or the as one commentary put it, “the perplexities of human existence are contemplated.”

There are only three books in the Old Testament that fit this classification: Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs. Believe it or not, Proverbs isn’t the only book written like this in this time. In fact, there had been collections of wise sayings around for about a thousand years before Proverbs. It was common then, just as it is today, to want to prepare young people for life and this is one way they would do it.

Proverbs is divided into two major sections. The first section that includes chapters one through nine is lectures from a dad to his son. The rest of the book are what we are most familiar with, the wise sayings in one or two sentences.

Often we think of the author of Proverbs as Solomon. Part of Proverbs is attributed to him, but throughout the book we find writings of Solomon, those identified as “the Wise,” advisers to King Hezekiah, a guy named Agur, and a king named Lemuel.

This collection of wise sayings was put together not just for the son mentioned in the early chapters. It has a much broader audience. It is for everyone. It is very practical. And to truly understand the purpose of the book, we get to todays lesson: Wisdom.

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for attaining wisdom and discipline;

for understanding words of insight;

for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the young–

let the wise listen and add to their learning,

and let the discerning get guidance;

for understanding proverbs and parables,

the saying and riddles of the wise.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of

knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom and discipline. —Proverbs 1: 1-7

These first seven verses lay out for us the theme of the entire book…wisdom. In fact, this one word is used over and over in the proverbs. This is the foundation for everything else that we are going to be speaking about in the coming weeks. If we miss wisdom, we miss everything else.

So, what is wisdom? It is common to think that wisdom is the same as knowledge. And while there may be some overlap, wisdom goes deeper than just knowing things or about things. In fact, you can have knowledge without wisdom, but you cannot have wisdom without knowledge.

You can be incredibly book smart, be the greatest champion that Jeopardy has ever seen, but still be a fool. Have you ever known that person? They ace every test, know every thing about everything, but have absolutely no clue about how the world works?

So, wisdom is more than knowledge. As you explore the deeper meaning behind the words the writer of Proverbs used here, you find it is used to describe a skillful worker, someone with technical skills, someone who knows how to put into practice what they know. Wisdom is the right application of knowledge. It is not just knowing, but acting. And there is more to it. . .

Wisdom is insight

Verse 2 mentions understanding “words of insight.”  What is insight? It is the ability to see things that others may not.

When I was going up, I loved to read Encyclopedia Brown detective books. Encyclopedia Brown was a boy detective and the books consisted of short stories about cases he would take on to solve. Each story included  clues about the case and the goal as a reader was to try to solve the case before the end of the story.

Unfortunately for me, I was a little ADD; I liked to speed-read, and in doing so, I would miss the little details that would be necessary to solve the crime. I lacked insight. Insight is the detective who walks into a room and notices 20 things when everyone else just notices two or three. Wisdom involves insight, to see things beyond what they seem to be, to understand the big picture.

Wisdom is prudence

Verse 4 states, “Giving prudence to those who are simple.” Prudence is not a word we use every day. It is simply knowing how to get things done. It is the ability to be strategic, and turn dreams into reality. Prudence is moving beyond talking about things to actually doing something.  Prudence can be either positive or negative. It includes the  idea of shrewdness. You can plot someone’s demise or you can have discretion and resourcefulness.

Wisdom is relationship

This is probably one that creates some tension with what most people think about wisdom, but we need to pay attention to verse 7. This one verse sums up the rest of the entire book. “The fear of the Lord is beginning of knowledge.”

Here, knowledge is a synonym for wisdom. We see this repeated in Job,

Where does wisdom come from. . .  God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells…—Job 28:20 and 23

The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding. —Job 28:28

It is also repeated in the Psalms

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. —Psalm 111:10

Too often we misunderstand what this means because of the word “fear.” We think it means we should cower or hide, but what the writer here has in mind with the word fear is simply a recognition that the universe has a ruler and we revere and respect Him enough to have an appropriate response.

We remember that because there is one who is the ruler of the universe, we are not the one in control. To fear the Lord means to remove ourselves as the center and authority of our self-made world. It simply means knowing what and who to respect and that we should position ourselves as learners.

Of course, there is the negative fear that runs and hides and assumes that we must obey God because he will hit us if we don’t, but the fear of the Lord is a positive fear, a fear that says, “I don’t want to disappoint God, I don’t want my life to dishonor him.” It is a fear that means, “I want to please him because I love and adore him so completely.” That is the beginning of wisdom.

So, wisdom can be broken down to these two things:

• Wisdom isn’t about what you do.  It is about who you are.
• Wisdom isn’t about what you know.  It is about who you know.

The Problem With Wisdom

Wisdom can be a tough concept for us though. There is a problem we have with it. We think we’ve got it when we don’t. We assume the position of king or queen of everything and make the proclamation, “if I say it, it is so.” But Proverbs 14:12 speaks to this very situation:

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. —Proverbs 14:12

The first chapter of proverbs addresses these types of people. We see them presented as “simple” or “fools.” When talking about the simple, Proverbs is talking about the young ones, those who are naive about life and how the world works, the uninformed and gullible. The good news about the simple is that they can be taught.

But then we move to the fool. There’s a huge problem here, because a fool is a person who is wise in their own eyes. They think they need no instruction. They are self-righteous and stubborn. Fools are self-absorbed and cannot see the big picture.

A fool says, “Don’t tell me what to do. I am my own boss.” We joke around about being a fool, but in Proverbs we see this is a serious accusation and not something to be taken lightly.  In fact, in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve took of the fruit in the Garden and ate and willfully disobeyed God, that entire episode was about two people who thought they knew best. They were fools.

The second problem with wisdom is false humility: we think we don’t have wisdom when we do. This prevents us from passing it on. 

One of the greatest distinctives and best assets we have is that we are a multigenerational church. Not only young people attend here. Not only older people attend here either. We have people from birth through age 91. Some of you have wisdom that the younger generation desperately needs. And can I let you in on a little secret? They want it. They want to hear what you’ve learned. They need to hear the stories: about your life, the mistakes you’ve made, the life-changing decisions you’ve made, and how your faith has sustained you and even been strengthened through it all.  Are we availing ourselves of one of the greatest blessings we have as a church? Or are we allowing our pride or our feelings of insufficiency to prevent us from passing on the wisdom as the writers of Proverbs have done for us?

So, what can we do to make sure we aren’t fools and we get wisdom?

How to Get It

First, we must understand that wisdom is not something we are born with. No one comes out wise. In fact, foolishness is what is natural for us. Wisdom is acquired. A word of caution here: often we think we need to “experience life” in order to find wisdom. We think, “let me make my own mistakes. If I just live it up, I will become wise.” Unfortunately, we don’t find wisdom in sin.

We must return to the starting point, to a right relationship with God.  Wisdom doesn’t come naturally or happen by default. We must pursue it and the pursuit begins with Jesus.

Confounding Wisdom

In the New Testament, we are told where wisdom can be found. Paul writes,

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but 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.  —1 Corinthians 1:22-25

As NT Wright wrote, “All the lines of wisdom from the rich treasure-house of the Old Testament come forward and meet in the One of whom all Scripture speaks.” And who is Wright referring to? Where does all wisdom come together? …in Jesus Christ.

The world often tries to inform us about what real wisdom is and where we should look for it. But God has revealed where true wisdom can be found…only in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Wisdom is something that many in or culture scoff at. We brag about our foolishness as if it is a badge of honor. We think ignorance is to be celebrated.

Proverbs tell us differently.

Are you pursuing wisdom? Are you searching for it? Have you begun at the right spot with the fear of God in order to develop it?

Proverbs is not just a book of fortunes or rules or manners. It is a guide to wisdom. It is a guide to know how life really works.

As you think about your life, do you see areas of foolishness? It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing proposition. You aren’t a total fool or totally wise. We can be blind to areas in our lives where we are still controlling and making decisions about what is best. We can be wise in some areas and fools in others.

Is there an area in your life where you need some Godly wisdom? This book and our study of it isn’t to make you a more moral person, but it is about helping you develop the character to help you become a person who fears the Lord and lives wisely. Studying Proverbs reminds you that wisdom isn’t about what you do, but about who you are.

And second, wisdom isn’t about what you know but about who you know.To be wise isn’t to have someone telling you exactly every step you are to take and the right thing to do in every situation.  Instead, it builds within you the character and relationship with God needed to guide you in the decisions you will face in life.

So, as we go through the next several weeks, it may get a little personal. Some proverbs feel a little like unsolicited advice.  It sounds like the person in your life that starts most sentences, “If I were you, I would…”

There will be weeks it feels like we are meddling in your life a bit. That’s okay. Just remember that we aren’t studying this book as a self-help manual. It is to help us be wise individuals, with insight and prudence, living in ways that exalt Jesus Christ and help others find the wisdom they desperately need in their lives as well.