Thank you.
Amen.
Thank you.
that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
What is desired in a man is steadfast love,
and a poor man is better than a liar.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
In this world, depending on where you are,
on the socioeconomic ladder,
which realm you occupy,
you get treated differently.
When you enter a shop,
if you look like a wealthy patron,
you will receive preferential treatment
from sales associates who are called for a purchase.
But if you are perceived to belong
to a lower socioeconomic class,
instead of a glowing welcome,
you might get a cold shoulder,
or worse, suspicious glances,
and perhaps even a security guard that is shadowing you.
Proverbs 18.22-19.22
acknowledges this harsh reality,
but teaches us as God's people instead
that those who desire what is good
should conduct themselves with the fear of the Lord
amidst various socioeconomic realities.
And so first we see how we have to function in light of the economic realities,
verse 22 to chapter 19, verse 7.
And then we have to function in terms of society and its order in chapter 19, verse 82, verse 22.
And fittingly in a passage dealing with social relations,
chapter 18, verse 22 begins with the most intimate of social relations.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
Often literary units in Proverbs begin with an exhortation to listen to or to find wisdom,
to acquire wisdom.
And in this passage, verse 22 functions as that kind of introduction.
Because we've seen throughout the book that Solomon frequently personifies wisdom as a woman.
Lady wisdom.
And so in chapter 8, verse 35,
Lady of Wisdom said something very similar.
She said,
Whoever finds me finds a good thing.
Whoever finds me finds life, rather,
and obtains favor from the Lord.
Very similar to chapter 18, verse 22.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
So here, the God-fearing, prudent wife, the wise wife,
acquiring such a wife is compared to finding God's wisdom.
This is because, as we'll see later in chapter 19, verse 14,
a prudent wife is from the Lord.
Finding a wise wife, a wise spouse,
like finding God's wisdom,
is God's gift.
An expression of God's favor.
And it says,
Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing.
The word good is a key word that recurs throughout this passage.
Chapter 19, verse 1 says,
Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
That's literally,
Good is a poor person
who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked.
So every time you see the word better,
it's the same Hebrew word that's occurring in this passage.
Similarly, 19.22 says,
What is desired in a man is steadfast love,
and a poor man is good compared to a liar.
Better than a liar.
And it's used again in chapter 19, verse 2,
to begin the next subsection.
And so, in other words,
this passage is about finding what is good.
Every day, the world bombards us with messages
of what is good and what is not good.
But as Christians,
we must not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of our mind.
That by testing,
we may discern what is the will of God,
what is good,
and acceptable,
and perfect.
And that's what we're doing this morning,
asking ourselves,
What does God say is good?
How can we conform ourselves to this good
in our dealings with people
in various socioeconomic standing?
And after this introductory verse,
this passage dives right into
human relationships complicated by money.
It says in chapter 18, verse 23,
The poor used in treaties,
but the rich answer roughly.
People who are impoverished cry out for relief,
but the haughty rich answer them roughly.
As I've mentioned in this series before,
the word poverty is used consistently
throughout this book in a negative way.
But the word poor is used consistently
in a positive way.
Poverty in wisdom literature
is a result of divine judgment for sins
such as slothfulness, stinginess,
or love of luxury.
But the poor are so because of circumstances
that are outside of their control,
such as societal injustice,
and because of that,
they receive God's special compassion
throughout the book,
His care.
And so here, what's in view
is the undeservedly poor
crying out for relief,
but the undeservedly rich person
rebuffs Him.
And then it says in chapter 18, verse 24,
A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend
who sticks closer than a brother.
The rich, as it later says in chapter 19, verse 6,
have many friends.
In contrast to the poor person
who is answered in a rough manner.
But this verse warns us,
A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
The implied message is this,
that's the kind of friend
that a poor person needs.
In a world where the rich answer roughly,
the poor person needs a friend
who sticks closer than a brother.
Not a fair-weather friend,
but a friend who is there through the thick and thin.
Being poor is hard,
but nonetheless,
chapter 19, verse 1, insists,
Better is a poor person.
Literally, good is a poor person
who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech
and is a fool.
This is an example of imprecise parallelism,
where a precise antithetical parallel
would have compared or contrasted
a poor person's righteousness
from a rich person's unrighteousness,
but this verse contrasts
a poor person's integrity
from the fool's crooked speech.
And parallels that are intentionally imbalanced like this
invite us to fill out the picture.
So what's in view then is
a poor person is who is wise
and walks in integrity
and speaks forthrightly,
and the fool who is rich
but walks in unrighteousness
and speaks deviously.
And if we were to assess the lives
of these two people,
which of them, would you conclude,
has the good life?
By many people's standards,
it's the rich person
that has the good life.
But God's assessment is different.
He says,
not the haughty rich
who seem to be enjoying
God's material blessings,
but rather the humble poor person
who holds onto his integrity
is better, is good.
That's because the righteous poor
are miserable only for a moment,
but the crooked rich
are miserable forever.
The poor person is the one
who is in the will of God.
And this imagery of walking in integrity
and the word good in verse 1
connects it to verse 2.
Desire without knowledge is not good,
and whoever makes haste with his feet
misses his way.
In the Hebrew,
there's an escalation
from the first to the second clause
in verse 2.
The New International Version,
the translation captures this.
It says,
Desire without knowledge is not good.
How much more
will hasty feet miss the way?
This proverb can simply mean
that if you desire
to get to a destination,
but you don't know how to get there,
just hasting to get there
is going to get you even more lost.
But the immediate surrounding context
suggests that there's a deeper
layer of meaning.
In Proverbs,
the word knowledge
invariably refers to
the knowledge of God.
So Solomon is saying here,
if even desire without knowledge
of God is not good,
how much more will the one
with hasty feet miss his way?
Desiring to be rich
apart from God is not good.
Rather, we saw in verse 1,
good is a poor person
who walks in integrity.
But if even the desire itself
is not good,
how much worse is the fool
who hates to get rich
quickly using devious,
crooked means?
Now this distinction
between desire and action
is helpful
because acting on one's
sinful desires
is worse
than simply having sinful desires.
but having the sinful desires
is nevertheless evil.
It's sinful.
There is a difference
between being tempted
to sin and sinning.
So for example,
in Genesis chapter 39,
when Joseph is tempted
by Potiphar's wife
to,
she tries to seduce him,
he runs away,
he flees.
So he was tempted
but he did not sin.
So because of this distinction
between temptation and sin,
I think sometimes Christians
think that desiring sinful things
is okay
as long as you don't do
something about it.
But that's not true either.
There's a reason why
one of the Ten Commandments
is you shall not covet
your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet
your neighbor's wife
or his male servant
or his female servant
or his ox
or his donkey
or anything that is your neighbor's.
Even desiring for yourself
something that belongs
to another is sinful.
This is why
1 Timothy chapter 6
verses 9 and 10
say this,
But those who desire
to be rich
fall into temptation,
into a snare,
into many senseless
and harmful desires
that plunge people
into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evils.
It is through this craving
that some have wandered away
from the faith
and pierced themselves
with many pains.
Getting rich
as a byproduct
of your industriousness
and faithfulness
to God
is one thing.
But desiring
to be rich,
loving money,
is something
entirely different
and the Bible
calls it sin.
We should nip
such desires
in the bud
long before we act on them.
Desire without knowledge
is not good.
And whoever makes haste
with his feet
misses his way.
Verse 3 continues
this metaphor
of walking in the way.
It says,
When a man's folly
brings his way to ruin,
his heart rages
against the Lord.
Now,
when a foolish person
seeking gain,
quickly,
quick wealth,
through gambling,
pyramid schemes,
smuggling,
dealing,
or stealing,
when he gets busted
by the authorities,
his heart rages
against the Lord.
We've seen this
in our own lives.
People blame God
for what they have
brought upon themselves.
The word rage here
is typically used
exclusively
to refer to
kings and God
who rage.
And so here,
it kind of conveys
the pride
of this fool
who is raging
against the Lord.
He has this sense
of indignation
against God
saying,
Well,
I deserve better.
God isn't alone.
He owes me something.
When in reality,
God owes him nothing
and it's he
who has brought
this upon himself.
We've all done this
in some ways,
haven't we?
Imagine you're having
one of those
very bad days.
Perhaps after
the service this morning,
I guess it's Sunday
so maybe this won't happen,
but you return
to your car.
A car driving by
had locked
off your side mirror
clear off the car.
No notes on it.
And then,
right after you
examine that,
you see that you
also got a ticket
for not feeding
the meter in time.
And then,
you get angry
so you kick the tire
as hard as you can
and you break your toe.
And then,
you raise your fist
at God and say,
God,
why me?
I blame you.
Why have you
brought this about?
Why is my life
so hard?
Why do bad things
happen to me?
If you're harboring anger,
indignation,
or resentment
against God
in your heart,
ask yourself
this question
deep down inside.
Do you blame God
for your past,
for your sin,
for your pain,
for your disappointments,
for your lie in life?
Surely,
there's pain
that others
inflict on us,
but most,
our vocational troubles,
our health troubles.
And often,
the consequences
of our own folly
and the wise person
accepts that responsibility
and seeks
the knowledge of God
and the community of God
to bring correction
and reformation.
Verses 4-7
continue to teach us
what it looks like
to conduct ourselves
with the fear of the Lord
amidst various
socioeconomic realities.
It says,
wealth brings many new friends,
but a poor man
is deserted by his friend.
A false witness
will not go unpunished,
and he who breathed out lies
will not escape.
Many seek the favor
of a generous man,
and everyone is a friend
to a man who gives gifts.
All the poor man's brothers
hate him.
How much more
do his friends
go far from him?
He pursues them
with words,
but does not have them.
The word friend
occurs four times
in these four verses,
and behind this
is a generic Hebrew word
for the word friend,
which usually has a neutral
or a negative meaning.
If you look at
Proverbs 18-24
for a minute,
it's the same word
that was translated there
as companion,
but it's not the same word
as the one translated friend
in chapter 18-24,
the true friend.
A man of many companions
may come to ruin,
but there's a friend
who sticks closer
than a brother.
In other words,
the friends that wealth
brings are not
true friends.
They are fair-weather friends
and gold-dating friends.
Friendship with them
is not relational,
but transactional.
And this is why
a poor man
is deserted
by his friends.
When the man's wealth
is gone,
he has nothing to offer,
but he treats,
words,
to pursue them,
and it's not enough.
They leave.
And this unfortunate reality
has implications
for justice
because a rich man
will have many
pseudo-friends
willing to take
his side in court,
even to the point
of bearing false witness,
thinking that they
will not be caught.
Verse 9 warns,
a false witness
will not go unpunished,
and he who breathes out
lies will not escape.
So he's warning us,
don't be a pseudo-friend
to the rich
and the powerful.
Currying the favor
of such people
betrays our lack
of faith in God
because we're thinking
that the way
to improve our lives
is by curing favor
with the rich,
taking their side
even when they are
in the wrong.
But instead,
we have to seek
the favor of God
by being a faithful
and true witness,
living with integrity,
even if that means
being poor.
Verses 6-7
continue the same thing.
Many seek the favor
of a generous man,
and everyone is a friend
to a man who gives gifts.
All a poor man's
brothers hate him,
how much more
do his friends
go far from him,
pursues them with words,
but does not have them.
It says,
this is a sad reality,
even the poor man's
brothers hate him.
Even his blood-related
siblings despise
and deserve the poor man
when the demands
that he makes on them
become too burdensome.
how much more
than will these
pseudo-friends
deserve him.
And this reality
accentuates the importance
of chapter 18,
verse 24.
Yet again,
for the poor person,
a man of many companions
may come to ruin,
but there's a friend
who sticks closer
than a brother.
Since even the brother
deserves a poor person,
the poor need a friend
who sticks closer
than a brother,
and that's the kind
of friend we are
to aspire to be
to one another
and to those in need.
Those who desire
God's good gifts
should conduct themselves
with the fear
of the Lord
amidst these
socioeconomic realities.
This is the complex
reality created
by money.
And then in chapter 19,
verse 8,
to verse 22,
it instructs us
on how to navigate
the complex realities
in society,
in societal order.
Now just as the
preceding subsection
began with the
exhortation to find
what is good,
the good thing,
chapter 19,
verse 8 begins
with the idea
of finding good.
Whoever gets sense
loves his own soul.
He who keeps
understanding
will discover good.
Whoever acquires sense,
the understanding of God,
the knowledge of God,
his wisdom,
is a person who
loves his own soul
because the knowledge
of God presents
one's soul
unto eternity
and produces
what is truly good.
And then verse 9
repeats verse 5
word for word,
but it means
a slightly different
because it's
a different context.
This is a false witness
will not go unpunished
and he who breathes out
lies will perish.
In the former context,
the proverb warned
against bearing
false witness in court
as a favor to the rich.
But now in this new context,
the emphasis is on
the senselessness
and the incongruity
of a false witness.
If society is to be
rightly ordered,
we must rid it
of false witnesses
who pervert justice.
And God threatens
that he will ultimately
punish those who bear
false witness.
The perjurer
will ultimately perish
and therefore
he who lies in court
lacks sense.
He does not love
his own soul.
He will discover evil
instead of good.
The perjurer
doesn't belong
in the court of justice
any more than
an incompetent slave
belongs in the royal palace.
It says in verse 10,
it is not fitting
for a fool
to live in luxury,
much less for a slave
to rule over princes.
Slavery in Israel
back in those days
was an economic institution
that did not make
distinctions based on
the color of someone's skin.
And neither was it
sourced through kidnapping
nor enforced for life
like transatlantic slavery.
Slavery back then
were indisputable by race
and they made similar wages
as other people.
And they usually
bought their own freedom
when they had accumulated
enough money
to repay their debt.
So in that sense,
ancient Israelite slavery
is more akin to
modern day contractual servitude.
For example,
a cadet that graduates
from the military academy
owes five years of service
to the military
for his free education.
He is essentially
a servant of the state.
And if he does not
discharge his duties,
he has to pay back
all of his tuition
and room and board.
Often,
slaves back then
were highly educated
and educated and competent.
So Proverbs chapter 14,
verse 35
speaks of a servant
who deals wisely
and therefore has
the king's favor.
And in chapter 17,
verse 2,
spoke of a servant
who deals wisely
who will rule over a son
who acts shamefully
and will share the inheritance
as one of the brothers.
So there's clearly
a very accomplished
and competent
and servants
who are well deserving
of acclaim.
But what's in view
in chapter 18,
verse 10
is not that kind
of wise,
loyal,
competent servant.
He is here,
as the parallel indicates,
a foolish slave.
It is not fitting
for a fool
to live in luxury,
much less for a slave
to rule over princes.
It is unsuitable,
incongruous
to have the fool
be sated with luxury
and the slave
rule over the noble prince.
Proverbs chapter 30,
verse 21 and 22
is a close parallel
and it says
that the earth trembles
and cannot bear up
under a slave
when he becomes king.
When a person
who does not have
the character
and the competence
to rule
takes the throne,
he becomes intoxicated
by his newfound
privilege and power
and becomes overbearing.
He abuses his power,
perverts justice,
his rule is erratic,
his temper is uncontrollable.
In contrast,
when the rightful king,
a person of noble character,
reigns,
it looks like
verses 11 and 12.
Good sense
makes one slow to anger
and it is his glory
to overlook an offense.
A king's wrath
is like the growling
of a lion,
but his favor
is like dew
on the grass.
A person with noble character
has good sense,
which makes him
slow to anger,
is a vice.
It's the vice of cowardice
and vice of indifference.
It's not a virtue.
But though he does not
get angry at times,
so he does get angry
at times,
this righteous person,
he is slow to anger.
Anybody can,
you know,
floor the accelerator
and get into a huge wreck.
But it takes
a NASCAR driver
to control the car
at such high speed.
The wise person
controls his anger,
channels his anger,
and he is slow
to get angry.
It is in fact
his glory
to overlook an offense.
A wise person
considers his magnanimity,
his mercy,
his forgiveness
to be a badge of honor.
He relishes
the opportunity
to forgive
and extend mercy
when he has been
offended or hurt.
It brings him glory
because
it shows that
his character
resembles the character
of the glorious God
who revealed himself
this way
in Exodus 34.
The Lord,
a God merciful
and gracious,
slow to anger,
abounding in
steadfast love
and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love
for thousands,
forgiving wickedness,
rebellion,
and sin.
But the passage
continues in Exodus 34.
He who will by no means
clear the guilty.
Growing in godly character
not only involves
patience,
being slow to anger,
and mercy,
but it also involves
justice.
So verse 12 says
a king's wrath
is like the growling
of a lion,
but his favor
is like the dew
on the grass.
The king reserves
his intense wrath
for the wicked
and shows his gentle
life-giving favor.
for the righteous.
This is what
a rightly ordered
society should look like.
And then in verses
13 and 14,
Solomon turns to
what a rightly ordered
family should look like
and should not look like.
He says,
A foolish son
is ruined to his father,
and a wife's quarreling
is a continual
dripping of rain.
House and wealth
are inherited from fathers,
but a prudent wife
is from the Lord.
A son should bring
prosperity and honor
to the father,
but a foolish son,
it says,
is his father's ruin.
A wife should be
the husband's
most trusted confidant
and helper,
but a quarrelsome wife
is her husband's
most tiresome enemy.
In this part
of the ancient world,
roofs were made
of crisscross layers
of wooden boards
and sticks,
and then it was covered
with layers of clay,
water, chalk,
and chaff.
And unfortunately,
like everything else
that human beings make,
such roofs
eventually deteriorate
and they crumble.
And it gives way
to dripping rain.
This is an appropriate image
because a leaky roof
makes the home,
which is supposed to be
a place of rest
and refuge,
a work field
that perhaps even feels
like a battlefield.
A wife's quarreling
is a continual
gripping of rain.
Brothers and sisters,
some of us have
quarrelsome households.
Whether it's with
our housemates
or with other
family members,
but a home is supposed
to be a place
of rest
and refuge.
We call Proverbs
chapter 17,
verse 1,
Better is a dry morsel
with quiet
than a house
full of feasting
with strife.
Maybe your house
is full of strife
because you're trying
so hard
to put together
a feast
that will impress
other people.
A dry morsel
with quiet
is better.
Maybe your house
is full of strife
because you're always
getting into arguments
about your children
and the unrealistically
high expectations
you have for them.
perhaps more basic
expectations
and activities
with quiet
in the home
is better.
Maybe you think
your house
is full of strife
because you don't
have enough feasting.
Your spouse
doesn't earn enough money.
But that's
not true either.
He says there are
houses full of feasting
with strife.
But it's possible
to have peace
in your home
with the meager
portion of dry morsel.
Some of you
have formed
new households
or you have
recently moved
in with your
housemates.
We ought to all
be people
who offer peace
and rest
to those
in our household.
And verse 14
offers the ideal picture.
House and wealth
are inherited
from fathers.
So one obedient son
instead of
ruining his father
honors and
offers him
so he can inherit
house and wealth.
But while we can
inherit material wealth
from earthly fathers,
it says a prudent wife
is from the Lord.
This verse echoes
chapter 18
verse 22.
He who finds a wife
finds a good thing
and obtains favor
from the Lord.
Once again,
like wisdom
which we can only
receive from God,
a wise wife
is a gift
from God.
It's an expression
of his favor.
So I want to
encourage every single
man and woman
in our church.
If you desire
to get married
instead of
serving the Lord
in your singleness
with single-minded
devotion,
pray
and seek
the Lord
like you seek
his wisdom.
Make the pursuit
of the Lord
your first priority
and not the pursuit
of a husband
or a wife.
Because your
fulfillment
in this endeavor
depends not on
how many
available singles
there are
in your pools
of friends,
not on how
attractive
or well-established
you are financially,
not on how
active you are
on the dating apps,
but it depends
on the grace
and favor
of the Lord
if what you
really want
is a prudent,
wise stop.
Verses 15 and 16
then continue
to explain
the difference
between the foolish
son who ruins
his father
and the wise son
who inherits
house-in-law
from his father.
Slothfulness
casts into
a deep sleep
and an idle
person
will suffer
hunger.
Whoever
keeps the
commandment
keeps his
life.
He who
despises
his ways
will die.
Deep sleep
that's speaking
of is similar
to a coma.
It's a picture
of death
and it is
paralleled here
at the end
of verse 16
by he who
despises
God's ways
will die.
Idleness
and slothfulness
lead to hunger
and eventually
to death
and God
commands instead
for us
diligent
and honest
work.
And not only
does a righteous
person provide
for himself
through hard
work,
he also
provides for
others who
are in less
fortunate
situations.
So verses
17 to 22
return to the
teaching about
how we should
treat the
humble poor.
This begins
and ends
with the mention
of the poor
in verse 17
and verse 22.
It says in verse 17,
whoever is generous
to the poor
lends to the
Lord and he
will repay him
for his deed.
In this passage
about the right
ordering of society,
this is a startling
verse because the
poor by any measure
are at the bottom
of the socioeconomic
ladder.
They are often
despised and
deserted as we've
seen throughout
this chapter.
And yet,
this low class
of people
God associates
with himself.
He's associated
with the most
high God.
If you are
generous to the
poor,
it's like you're
lending money
to the Lord.
What an amazing
promise.
There are plenty
of people who
are willing to
lend money to
people with
good credit
with the
expectation that
they will be
repaid in full
with interest.
But fewer
people give
generously to the
poor.
Why?
Because they
know that they
will not be
repaid in any
shape or form.
Precisely because
they are poor.
And yet,
this proverb
subverts that
logic.
When you give
to the poor,
you are lending
to the Lord,
the master of
the universe,
the creator of
the cosmos.
Do you think
he...
Do you know
of poorer
brothers and
sisters in the
church that
would be surprised
with the generous
gifts?
Do you have
a poor
housemate or
a neighbor you
can help
out?
Don't ever
fear that you
will not have
enough for
yourself.
Give generously
because when
you do,
the Lord
himself will
repay you in
this life and
in the next.
And in order
to rear such
self-controlled,
hard-working
children who are
generous to the
poor,
discipline is
necessary.
So verse 18
says,
discipline your
son for
there is
hope.
Do not set
your heart
on putting
him to
death.
People
sometimes think
that by
disciplining
their kids
that they
will shatter
their fragile
psyches and
ruin their
prospects for
the future.
But wisdom
literature from
every major
civilization
throughout
history,
and the
book of
Proverbs,
which is
God's holy
and authoritative
word,
strongly
enjoys
corporal
discipline.
And humanity
has not
crumbled under
this supposedly
bad advice
in the many
millennia of
people doing
it, of
parents doing
it.
And I can
guarantee you
that generations
of children
who are growing
up right now
without such
corporal
discipline are
not going to
create utopia
that eluded
previous generations
just because
they supposedly
received better
parenting.
Later in
chapter
Proverbs 23
verse 13
it says,
do not
withhold
discipline
from a
child.
If you
strike him
with a
rod,
he will
not die.
Contrast
this with
verse 18
of our
chapter which
says that
if you don't
discipline your
children,
you're
extinguishing
all their
hope and
you are in
fact setting
your heart
on putting
them to
death.
It's
counterintuitive
but it's
true.
I will
elaborate on
this further
when we get
to chapter
22 but
for today
it's sufficient
to note that
discipline
is never
to be a
form of
abuse,
verbal or
physical.
Biblical
discipline is
always meted
out in
love,
not in
hatred or
uncontrolled
rage.
Abuse does
ruin children's
lives but
that's a
world apart
from the
biblical
discipline
that is
in view.
If you do
not discipline
your child,
he says,
you will
not learn
good sense
that makes
him slow
to anger,
which verse
11 spoke
of.
And then
Solomon warns
us in
verse 19,
a man of
great wrath
will pay
the penalty
for if you
deliver him
you will
only have
to do it
again.
At some
point the
child will
be beyond
correction
and he
will pay
a costly
price for
his
undisciplined
life.
And he
won't learn
his lesson
but you
will need
to bail
him out
again
and again
and again.
So verses
20 to 22
adjure us.
Listen to
advice and
accept instruction
that you may
gain wisdom
in the future.
Many are
the plans
in the mind
of a man
but it is
the purpose
of the Lord
that will
stand.
What is
desired in
a man
is steadfast
love and
a poor
man is
better than
a liar.
Humanity
has its
own desires
and plans
but ultimately
it is the
purpose of
God that
will stand.
So it's
in our
interest
to align
our purposes
and priorities
with God
rather than
stubbornly
insisting
on our
own way
because God's
will will
prevail.
Because
and though
many people
in our
world
shun
steadfast
love and
faithfulness
in exchange
for wealth
Christians are
to stand
firmly on
the truth
that a
poor man
is better
than a
liar
because
God
takes
interest
in the
plight of
the poor
because God
involves himself
in the
affairs of
the
holy.
Because
as verse
17 says
whoever is
generous to
the poor
lends to
the Lord.
God
delivers the
poor and
this is true
in a material
sense but
especially and
most importantly
in a spiritual
sense.
Luke chapter
16 says
blessed are you
who are poor
for yours is
the kingdom of
God.
Blessed are you
who are hungry
now for you
shall be satisfied.
Blessed are you
who weep now
for you shall
laugh.
Throughout his
gospel Luke
makes a
connection
between material
poverty and
spiritual poverty.
The poor
who will be
blessed by
God are
those who
humble themselves
before God
and acknowledge
their sinfulness,
their neediness,
their spiritual
impoverishment
before God.
Brothers and
sisters,
we are
spiritual
paupers.
There is
quarreling in
our homes.
We have not
been slow to
anger.
We have
lied.
We have
been slothful.
We have
answered the
weak and
the poor
roughly.
We have
been disobedient
children toward
our parents.
We have
raised our
fists at
God and
blamed him
for the
consequences of
our sins.
And in
this dire
spiritual
poverty,
we have
no hope.
There are
no friends
who will
come to
our aid.
But there
was one.
There was
one friend
who stuck
closer than
a brother.
The rich
God of the
universe,
instead of
entering us
roughly,
sent us
his son,
Jesus Christ,
as a
faithful friend
and deliverer.
And Jesus
left behind
his glory
as of the
Son of God
and he
took on
human flesh
so that he
might live
the life
of obedience
that we
failed to
live.
And so
that with
his perfect
life and
righteousness,
he might
die on
the cross
in our
place to
pay our
insurmountable
debt of
sin.
And then
he rose
from the
dead to
give us
eternal life
and to
declare that
his sacrifice,
his payment
for our
debt of
sin on
the cross
has been
accepted by
God,
his Father.
And it's
because Jesus
paid this
ultimate price,
Paul reminds
us in
2 Corinthians
8, 9,
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 by
his poverty
might become
rich.
That's what
Christ has
done for
us.
We had
no hope
of saving
ourselves,
yet Christ
gave himself,
made himself
poor,
that we
might be
rich,
and that's
wonderfully
captured in
this hymn,
entitled,
Thou Who
Was Rich.
Thou Who
Was Rich
Beyond All
Sanger
Didst
Surrender,
Sapphire
Paid
Courts
For
Stable
For
Thou
Who
Was
Rich
Beyond
All
Splendor,
All
For
Love's
Sake
Becomes
Poor.
Thou
Who
Art
God
Beyond
All
Praising,
All
For
Love's
Sake
Becamest
Man,
Stooping
So
Low,
But
Sinners
Raising,
Heaven
Worth
By
Thine
Eternal
Plan,
Thou
Who
Art
God
Beyond
All
Praising,
All
For
Love's
Sake
Becamest
Poor.
Let us
put our
faith in
this Christ,
who became
poor for
our sake.
It's only
by doing
that that we'll
be able to
live more
like him
in this
world
and relate
as he did
toward the
poor in
the power
of the
Holy Spirit.
Let's take a
moment to
reflect on
that and
then we're
going to
respond
hopefully
together by
praying
our
love.
Hey,
after
that
for
talking
to