Proverbs 13 (July 28, 2024)

Wisdom, Wealth, and the Fear of the Lord

We can turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs chapter 13. Today is going to be our last day in Proverbs for this summer. Next year we'll pick back up in Proverbs 14 next June. But for the month of August, as we kind of lead into the fall, I want to preach a sermon series about local church ministry and mission, specifically to give a little bit of an explainer for some of what we do.

Cast a vision of some of what we may do. And so that'll start next week and we'll do that throughout the month of August and pick back up in Proverbs next summer. But this week we are in Proverbs 13. Now much of this chapter restates a lot of what we've already seen several times this summer.

Things like the need to be teachable and to love instruction. Things like the need to tame the tongue and speak wise words. Things like working diligently and forsaking laziness. Telling the truth and eschewing lies.

Being humble instead of prideful. How righteousness leads to blessing and wickedness leads to one's downfall. We've seen these themes over and over and over again throughout these chapters of Proverbs this summer.

So rather than repeating those Proverbs yet again, what I want to do is I want to pick out seven Proverbs from chapter 13 that cover a little bit of new ground and take those and explain what the Lord is teaching to us in these seven Proverbs.

In these Proverbs we find practical instruction and principles by which we can live a life of wisdom. And if you remember what we've said all along as we've gone through Proverbs this summer and last, that the book of Proverbs is about cultivating wisdom.

Wisdom is the skill of godly living. Living well in God's world according to God's word, in accordance with God's created order. This is wisdom and these seven Proverbs give us some practical instruction in that.

The Meaning of Proverbs 13:7

So let's begin by reading in verse 7. Verse 7 is the first of these Proverbs I want to highlight. It says, there is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing. And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.

Now there's two different ways you can interpret this verse. The first way, it's the most popular way, is to read this as pretending. And so there's one who pretends to be rich, yet he has nothing. And there's one who pretends to be poor, yet he has great riches.

So this is how the ESV or the New American Standard would translate this verse. And in this reading, the proverb is about pretenses and about appearances. And so one has nothing, yet he puts on a show like he has a lot.

Or another has riches, yet he puts on a show as if he has nothing. And both of these, in dealing with pretensions, have the danger of dishonoring God. And so the one who pretends to be rich dishonors God by his discontent.

And he will likely harm his family by perhaps going into debt to keep up appearances. And then you have one who pretends to be poor, and he dishonors God by spurning the blessings of God with ingratitude.

And he may likely harm his family by not providing what they need that he can afford. The wise man realizes, however, that money is not necessarily good or bad in and of itself, but its value is determined by its use, by its wise use.

And so the important question is this, how do you use what God has given you? How do you use what God has given you? Do you fulfill your duties to those that you have responsibility for? Do you bless others around you as you have opportunity and ability?

Or is your money strictly self-serving? Especially in the context of this verse as it relates to appearances. So at this point, we return to a foundational point of proverbs, which is that fearing the Lord is greater than the fear of man.

Fear of man leads to keeping up appearances in one way or another. But the fear of the Lord leads to wisdom. Fear of the Lord, in fact, Proverbs says, is the beginning of wisdom. So that's one way to read the verse.

A second way to interpret the verse is like this. There's one who makes himself rich, that is, he actually has made himself rich. He has money, he has riches. But he doesn't have things that are of lasting value.

That is, he's given himself to making money, but he's traded his soul for it. He's gone about it by means of dishonest gain. He's forsaken the Lord and the Lord's commandments and the Lord's ways. He's done it at the expense of raising a family, or at least a family that he has a good relationship with, where he has cultivated godliness and loyalty in his children.

So his bank account may be full, but he will die a lonely man and will not inherit eternal life with God upon death. He's traded his soul for it. And then there's one who's poor, yet he has great riches.

He has true faith in Jesus. He has a family that loves him, a family he's cultivated godliness and loyalty in his children. His children will care for him in old age. He has true friends. In this way, though his bank account may be small, he is much wealthier than the rich man.

He has that which has lasting value. So there's a couple of ways to read this. Maybe that the meaning in Solomon's proverb is multi-layered, and upon reflection, we can see the different applications of his words here.

But what we do know is that while building wealth, done honestly is good, we've seen that in past weeks, there are more important things than riches in this world and the next. Verse 8. Verse 8 says, The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor does not hear rebuke.

The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor does not hear rebuke. Here's the thing, wealthy man has a lot to lose. If you threaten his wealth, he will at the very least be tempted to go along with you.

In fearing great loss, you may very well secure his compliance. In other words, you can ransom him to control him. But a poor man hears no threat, and what are you going to do, take away the money that he doesn't have?

We saw a few weeks ago that a man's wealth is his strong tower, a fortress of protection in hard times. But here we see that it means poverty is his security, because he can move about unbothered with no threat of being robbed, no threat of being ransomed.

And so the answer isn't for everyone to take avowal of poverty so that he can be safe from ransom, but rather it is to not be so attached to one's earthly riches that the prospect of their loss has the ability to move you towards ungodliness or compromise with God's word.

In other words, you having a hold on money is good. Money having a hold on you is not. Money having a hold on you is crippling. My grandmother, Grandma Park, she's a long-time member here. She used to say when it came to a loss of money, maybe there's an unexpected really expensive repair or something else.

She would just say, you know what, it's just money. She wasn't rich. It wasn't like she just had money to waste. But she owned what she had. What she had didn't own her, and it wouldn't move her. And so if you're not owned by what you have, it being threatened will be no threat to you.

You'll live a righteous life before God. You'll live a contented life before God with open hands. We talked about this, I believe, last week. Whatever God puts into those hands you're thankful for, whatever God takes away and takes out of those hands, you'll be thankful for, but you won't be steered by threats.

A poor man hears no threat. Another way to apply this verse is not about money at all, but about reputation. And so someone who cares very, very deeply about the opinions of other people, they can be emotionally manipulated by that.

Their, the riches of their reputation is their ransom. But a poor man, one who has surrendered his reputation to Christ, he cares not about the opinions of men, and therefore he cannot be manipulated.

He hears no threat. He hears no rebuke. Now this isn't to say that we don't think of reputation at all. For example, one of the qualifications in 1 Timothy for a pastor is that he is well thought of by outsiders.

But rather the point is that we're not slaves to our reputations, especially to the point where we compromise God's Word to salvage a respectable, in the eyes of the world, a respectable name among the ungodly.

There was an evangelist out a few years ago, his name was Jim Wilson. I've heard, you know, where he would say often, when asked how his reputation was, he would reply, better than it ought to be. Better than it ought to be.

Meaning, he felt he should have been more outspoken about God's Word, and not let the fear of man keep him silent because he wanted to appear respectable, appear well in the eyes of the ungodly. See, a man who cares not for the approval of man, but rather for the approval of God, hears no threat.

He is reputation poor, having already surrendered his name to God. Moving on, let's move down to verse 12, the third of our Proverbs for today. Verse 12 says, Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when a desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. This proverb touches on a common aspect of life in a fallen world, and that is frustrated plans and unfulfilled desire.

Frustrated plans and unfulfilled desire. When the things that we really, really want, the things we strongly desire do not materialize, it makes our hearts sick. It makes our hearts heavy. We are burdened down with heavy hearted sadness.

Maybe you've experienced this. And often there's not really a whole lot we can do about it. We want things to be different. We're working for things to be different, but they haven't materialized. I think of those who long to be married, but it's just never worked out for them.

I think of those who marry couples who desperately want children, but they've been unable to conceive, or those who need a new job because things are hard where they are, but nothing's opened up, and they keep interviewing, they keep applying, but nothing's offered.

Those who want more than anything in the world to reconcile a close relationship, but the other person just won't do it. There's frustrated plans and unfulfilled desires. I think of a friend of mine just priced out of the housing market where he lives, and just when it seemed like something was going to work out for him, it all fell through at the last moment.

Those things are frustrating and disappointing, and they make the heart sick. Maybe you've had things like that in your life. It's heavy. But when desire comes, it's a tree of life. Desire fulfilled is invigorating.

I think we can make two applications here. One is that we can see the importance of striving for desirable, attainable goals in life. Those things that when we meet them and we're able to meet them, it'll encourage us and spur us on to keep meeting the next one, set us on a path towards attaining even more.

That's one application. Another is that we see the joy of when God fulfills our desires, and that leads us to gratitude. But what do we do when those good desires that we have, when some of them are still unfulfilled?

I believe that heavy heartedness, that heart sickness, it should direct us Godward. It should direct us to God and remind us of our limitations, that we are created, we're not the creator. It should drive us to prayer to the God who provides all things.

It should drive us to remember and trust in the providence of God, even the hard providences of God. Remembering that God works all things for good, for those who love Him are called according to His purpose.

And that sometimes we have to trust more than what our eyes can see, and sometimes we have to trust more than what our heart can feel. And it reminds us to find our ultimate satisfaction in God alone.

That He is the one who satisfies our souls, and He knows our every need, and He meets our every need, and He is the one who sustains us. Now it's not to say that the desire is wrong, or we should abandon the desire.

I don't mean that at all. But rather that we channel the strong desires that we have, that remain unfulfilled, and we channel them in such a way that our trust in the Lord grows stronger and deeper through that trial.

We don't pretend that it's not a trial, but we go Godward in our trials. And then that desire, if ever realized, it will be pure joy, a tree of life, and the weight will make it all the sweeter. Think of Hannah longing for a son, and then the birth of Samuel.

Think of Simeon longing to see the Messiah, and then Mary walks in with baby Jesus in her arms into the temple. And He can die a happy man. Of course, in this fallen world, even good desires are sometimes never realized or fulfilled.

If that's the case for you, let me encourage you to lean deeply into God. Lean deeply into the hope of the resurrection, to the hope of heaven, a place where there will be no more tears, and no more heartache, where all of your desires will be satisfied.

And think of Romans 8, where Paul says on the topic of human suffering, he says this, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans, labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. May I encourage you to patiently hope in God and wait for it with perseverance and wait for it with hope and trust.

J .R .R. Tolkien, most famously author of The Lord of the Rings, he also wrote a short story called Leaf by Niggle. And in that story, Niggle was the name of a painter. He was a perfectionist painter, paid very, very, very close attention to every single detail of that which he painted.

And he knew that he had this long journey to make. And in the Anglo-Saxon tradition that Tolkien wrote, that long journey referred to death. But he had an image in his mind of a leaf. And he wanted to paint this leaf, and not only the leaf, but the tree and the town behind it and all the life that goes with it.

But because he was such a perfectionist painter, he never got the painting done. Because he was spending so much time on every little detail, he would spend hours and hours on small details and very little ever got onto the canvas.

That was one reason it never finished. Second reason is that he was a very kind man. And he was constantly interrupted by others who were needing something. And because he was a kind man, he was constantly interrupting his painting to go help them.

And so one night Parrish, his neighbor, asked Niggle to fetch a doctor for his sick wife. And on that cold night, he caught a cold. And that cold would send him on his long journey, the long journey of death.

And so he left behind his painting. And on that canvas was a solitary leaf. The new residents of the house eventually found it. And for a while, they ended up putting it and it hung in the town museum.

But eventually, he would be forgotten in his home country. But Niggle made his journey to the heavenly country. And on a train toward the mountains of the heavenly afterlife, he hears two voices. One is severe.

It was justice, stating that he had wasted much time and accomplished little. And the other was gentle, the voice of mercy, countering that he had chosen to sacrifice for others. And as he's arriving about the outskirts of town, as a reward, he spots a tree, his tree, the tree that he had imagined when he was beginning this painting.

And there he sees his leaf, the one he had spent hours and hours and hours meticulously painting. And there's the whole tree and the whole town. His desire fulfilled, not just on a canvas, but in the reality to be seen and touched and enjoyed forever.

I don't know what unfulfilled desires you have today. I don't know what plans that you have that are just frustrated for you. But I want you to know there really is a tree. And that what God has in store for you in heaven will far surpass any earthly desire that you may have.

And the joy will only be more pronounced for the waiting. And so hoping God during this season of hard providence, trusting God and hoping Him, there really is a tree. Let's move on to verse 15. Verse 15 says, Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard.

Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. Or as the King James has it, the way of the transgressor is hard. I simply want to point out that that unfaithful living makes life more difficult.

Sometimes people joke about having dark cloud that follows them around. Bad stuff just seems to happen to them more than it does to others. Now it's not always the case, but often this is because the way of the unfaithful is hard.

And if you're living in an unfaithfulness, you're living a life of transgression, it is. It's hard. Things go bad. God's made the world in such a way that blessing is on the head of the righteous and the way of the transgressor is hard.

Of course, sometimes the righteous suffer. We see that in the book of Job. We see that in Ecclesiastes and other places. They suffer. Sometimes the wicked prosper for a time. But generally speaking, good understanding gains favor, verse 15 says, and difficulty awaits the unfaithful.

And so when people come with problems in life, a good place to start is leading them to repent of any known sin. It's not always the cause of everything that's going on in their life, but it's a good place to start.

Any known sin, repent of that, because the way of the unfaithful, the way of the transgressor is hard. Often people want to double down on their sin. They're surprised or angry that life is hard, but when confessed and repented of, many of their problems, maybe not all, but many are cleared up because the way of the transgressor is hard, but good understanding is on the head of the faithful.

And so the encouragement to you today would be to confess your sins and walk in the ways of the Lord. It's not a guarantee you won't have any hard things in your life or any problems far from it, but you will be able to eliminate many problems and you will have favor to meet those remaining trials.

By favor, we mean the grace of God that strengthens you. Verse 20. Verse 20, He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

The basic teaching here is that we become like the company we keep. We become like the company we keep. You can think of 2 Chronicles chapter 24, King Joash. He became king at age seven. And in the company of his faithful guardian, Jehoiada, the priest, Joash was wise and faithful.

But upon Jehoiada's death, Joash took in the company of foolish men. And then we see in 2 Chronicles 24, he apostatized and was destroyed. We become like the company we keep. This is the teaching of Paul in Ephesians 5 .11, where he says,.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. Don't join up with the forces of darkness, the works of darkness, but expose them. Don't keep friends with darkness, because we become like the company we keep.

And so choose your friends wisely. Choose whose counsel you listen to, whose advice you seek wisely. Moving on, verse 22. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. This proverb should spur us to think not only of ourselves and our own lifetimes, but generationally.

To think of those who will come after us, and who will come after them. Thinking about your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, and your great-great-grandchildren, your family line, thinking in terms of descendants.

What can you do now to bless them then? And so a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Again, this tells us that it's good to build wealth and to pass it down through generations.

This is how families, this is how households get stronger over time. Now there's a popular attitude among some where they think that their children and grandchildren all need to start in the exact same place that they did and do what they did.

I would say this is foolhardy. One, because economic conditions change. It's not always possible to do that. Especially think about the post-World War II era in America. It's a unique time in history, an outlier economically, a time of unprecedented wealth that's not likely to occur anytime again soon.

But it's also foolhardy because it requires each successive generation to reinvent the wheel. I would say it's better to train children in godliness and industriousness, leaving them an inheritance of whatever's possible there so they can carry on the work and good name of the family.

This, of course, forces us to think generationally in terms of households and not just in terms of individuals. But the Bible calls this time, getting this kind of thinking good. And not only financial inheritance, but what kind of spiritual inheritance are you leaving for your children's children?

Are you praying for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren? You say, I don't have any grandchildren yet. I'm only 40, 50 years old. I don't have any great-grandchildren yet.

You have a line and you will, Lord willing. Pray for them. Train your children and your grandchildren in godliness, leaving them an inheritance of faith. The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

When you see the wicked prosper, take heart. Their wealth is being stored up for the godly. So you can think of Laban in the Bible. His wealth was stored up for Jacob. You can think of Egypt whom Israel plundered.

You can think of the land of Canaan. Their cities and their fields, they were all given to Israel. They lived in cities they did not build and they worked fields that they did not plant. Think of the wealth of Haman stored up for Esther and Mordecai.

And then you remember the words of Jesus, the meek shall inherit the earth. The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. And then lastly, we see verse 24. He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

Another proverb over in chapter 22 says that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. This is because we were all born sinners. We're all corrupted by the sin of Adam born in Adam. This means no one has to teach your child to sin.

Parents of young children know this. Nobody has to teach them to be selfish. Nobody has to teach them to cop an attitude or talk back or to try to manipulate you with their tears or to lie to cover up something that they did or to hit their sister or to annoy their brother.

Nobody has to teach them. It's like the old Buck Owen song. To do these things, all they got to do is act naturally. It comes natural, not just to kids, but to all of us. But righteousness, right living, right behavior, these are things that must be trained.

A child must be disciplined in order to know how to do what is right. That's not going to come naturally. Now, the rod can be taken as representative of all sorts of methods of discipline. And a wise parent knows how to use different methods of discipline, knowing their child, knowing what they respond to, knowing the situation, what it calls for.

That said, the word used is rod. And so corporeal punishment then should not be neglected by Christian parents, should not be excluded. It is the wisdom of God to inflict limited, restrained, yet acute pain in the form of spanking in order to train the hearts of children.

God has made it in such a way that that act trains their hearts because the lesson is the way of the transgressor is hard. That foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child and it must be corrected because the rod of correction will drive it from him.

The lesson is your sin hurts you and you need to turn from it. And I can tell you where to turn to. Turn to Christ. He forgives it. And in Christ, there's new life. And in Christ, there is new habits and new behaviors that are trained righteousness.

The rod of correction drives this foolishness that's bound up in the heart of children. It drives it far from them. Some parents believe that spanking, that not spanking is compassionate. But I would discourage you from trying to be more compassionate than God.

That's a losing enterprise. Some parents want to be so gentle, they never discipline their kids in any way. Or they do it very inconsistently such that it loses its effect or worse, it becomes capricious and it confuses the child, makes the child insecure because they don't know, you know, when do I get disciplined and when do I not?

And the wise parent, the wise parent knows that disciplining a child is a form of love. The same form of love that God the Father treats all of us with. Hebrews 12, 5 and 6, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. The Lord disciplines the one he loves. And the parent disciplines the child he or she loves. And the Bible says that a failure to discipline a child is not love but hate.

The one who loves him disciplines him promptly. But he who spares his rod hates his son. He disciplines him promptly, not later when he feels like it, but in the moment when it's teachable for the child.

So I'd ask you, do you love your child? And demonstrate that love by giving him or her the security and the formation of sound discipline. Teach them to live rightly in God's world. And teach them that the way of the transgressor is hard.

But the righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul. Verse 25, the righteous shall be satisfied. These seven verses, they speak about various different topics. Not really a good way to kind of try to weave them all together into a single thread.

They speak of various different situations in life, but they do encourage us to live a life with godly wisdom in this world, looking to God for our ultimate satisfaction. Now there's a way that one could take these instructions and they could try to implement them in his life apart from Christ.

And some of it would bear a little bit of fruit just because it accords with how God made the world. Cuts with the grain of reality. So to speak. But ultimately there is no lasting fruit that is born apart from Jesus Christ.

And so one must abide in Christ by faith. Meeting the hard providences of life by looking to the author and perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12. So I encourage in all of these various different situations and topics and occasions to exercise wisdom in your life. Do so abiding in Christ by faith. Trusting in the Lord. Abiding in Christ through his word.

Abiding in Christ by his spirit. Abiding in Christ through prayer. And abiding in Christ. Be wise. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we love your word and we thank you for it. We thank you for the practical instruction that we have received from you through your word throughout this summer going through the book of Proverbs.

Lord, we ask that you would help us, give us the strength and the wisdom and the grace to apply this in our lives. Lord, I pray that we will be obedient. Lord, I pray that we will love our children and give them discipline.

That we will love our children and our children's children and our children's children's children. Storing up for them what we can, whether materially but also spiritually. Lord, I pray that we would think generationally.

Lord, I pray that we would give ourselves to living righteously. Lord, when we come to the heartaches and the frustrated plans and the unfulfilled desires of life, Lord, I pray that you would help us to hope in Christ.

He would help us to trust you even through those trials. And when in your kindness, you give us the desires of our heart, Lord, I pray that we will meet those and greet those with gratitude and praise.

Lord, in all things, I pray that we would walk with wisdom, fearing the Lord and keeping your commandments. We ask all of this in the name of Christ. Amen.