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Our Father, we praise you this morning for the beauty of your creation. Just for another day to gather to worship you, to be instructed by your word. Father, I pray that this morning would be a time of just reflecting on the wisdom that you've given us concerning very practical things.
Lord, we thank you for the Mozambique team coming back safely. Thank you for the Abedroths coming back safely. And Father, we just continue to pray for our pastor while he's gone. Lord, would you just bless this time in Christ's name.
Amen. Well, we've kind of been doing a series in the Proverbs, sort of. And I thought we might look at, as you can tell by your quiz title, and unlike many quizzes, you know, sometimes I give quizzes out because I want them to be long and really drawn out so that I don't have to talk for very long.
No. Well, sometimes. But this morning, if you look at your quizzes, I think there are only like two short answer ones. The rest are true or false, so we're really going to go through those. And we'll have an opportunity for plenty of give and take.
And given that these are questions about riches, poverty, and actually work, I excluded that. But I think you'll want to give more than you take this morning. So, number one, we're going to answer these as a group, or you can just circle them as you want there on your page.
Fill them in. Number one, true or false, Solomon, writer of Proverbs, suggests we ought to feed our families, pay our bills, then figure out what we can afford to give to the Lord. Now, why do you suppose I worded it that way?
Because that's what most people do. You know, here's my income. Well, actually, let's scratch that. What do most people do? Nothing. That's exactly right. I mean, and I can remember what this is like.
I think my first job, this wasn't that long ago, I was making about $2 .85 an hour. And I would get my, it wasn't that long ago, was it? A mere 30 years ago, I would get my weekly paycheck. And you know it's a great job when you're getting paid by the week.
And, you know, the total would be $105. Those are the great days. And, you know, did I sit down and budget things? Oh, no. You know, I just spent it, and then next week, repeat. You know, rinse, repeat.
Lather, rinse, repeat. So, if that's not what the Bible says, then what does it say? Let's look at, we're going to be spending some time in the Proverbs, as is fitting for a series in the Proverbs. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 3, verses 9 and 10.
Proverbs chapter 3, verses 9 and 10. And I think there will be a certain progression through the Proverbs. So, if you turn to Proverbs chapter 3, we'll probably be moving forward in the Proverbs more than anything else.
Proverbs chapter 3, verses 9 and 10. Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. So, what are the principles there in Proverbs chapter 3?
To honor God with our wealth. Stephen. Okay, which means, before you do anything else, listen to what the, I have several commentaries here, but this is Walvard and those guys down at Dallas. In Israel, honoring the Lord with the first fruits of all one's crops was a way of expressing gratitude to him for his provisions.
Now, let's think about that. If we say, you know what? Here's what I make. Here's my bills. Here's what I need for food, etc., etc., etc. And Lord, here's what I think after I budget everything else I can afford to give to you.
Is that honoring him? Is that a way of expressing gratitude? Probably not. They say here it was a way of acknowledging God and his help. And in return, God then promised them to give them all these things.
Now, the Hebrew word first fruits is interesting because it means the first of all your produce or the first and the best. The first and the best. Now, obviously, we don't live in an agrarian society, which means we don't grow our own food.
I don't think we have any farmers here, do we? We might have some gardeners. Yes, Guido. Guido's out there tending. In fact, we had some zucchini bread courtesy of Guido last night. Thank you very much.
But typically, that's not how we certainly make our living. And so the idea of our best, again, it denotes purpose that we give first and then we figure out how to make everything else work. We should honor the Lord with our possessions.
That is a biblical view of possessions. How do we do that? We trust the Lord. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. We must honor him not only with our bodies and our spirits, which are his, but with our estates, too, for they also are his.
We and all are. I had to include this because he said it. Opportunities. Who can define that real quickly? Opportunities. It just means stuff, our belongings, everything that we have. Accoutrements. Yes.
Accoutrement must be devoted to his glory. Worldly wealth is but poor substance. Yet, such as it is, we must honor God with it. And then, if ever, it becomes substantial. In other words, what we do with our money, what we do with our substance matters.
These are some basic principles even as we give gospel presentations. What do we say? The earth is the Lord's and all it contains. Where's that found in the scripture? Some people took the class and are very squared away and good to go.
Psalm 24, 1. Yes, the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. The world and those who dwell in it. Everything is God's, and when we give it to him, when we honor him with what we get, we're doing what?
We're just showing that we understand that basic principle, that everything is from him. It's not we ourselves who made it, but he who gave it to us. True or false? Our attitude about money says a lot about our spiritual condition.
True. Now listen to this. This is a verse we've heard many occasions. 2 Corinthians 9 .7. Each one, talking about every believer, must do just as he purposed in his heart. Just as he planned. This is with regard to giving.
Not grudgingly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. Why do we give? Because we're blessed of the Lord. And it's that attitude that we need to have in our giving. That's what he honors.
That's what he wants. Question number two. What does Solomon say is more valuable than riches? What does Solomon say is more valuable than riches? Let's see that hand. A good name. Absolutely. He says that.
And I heard from Daniel, wisdom, which is where I'm going. But a good name is right, too. Let's look at Proverbs 8, verses 10 and 11. I mean, it's interesting these days. You see all these arguments over who's the richest guy running for president or vice president or whatever.
And you stop and you look around and you think all these people are generally a lot more wealthy than we are. Proverbs 8, verses 10 and 11. Solomon writes, take my instruction and not silver. Think about that.
Let's just look at that line for a second. Take my instruction, heed my instruction and not silver. What's he saying? That what he has to say is pretty important. He knows it's from God. He says, and knowledge rather than choicest gold.
Listen, this wisdom is more important. Godly wisdom is more important than any riches you can have here on earth. For wisdom is better than jewels. And all desirable things cannot compare with her, with wisdom.
The idea that wisdom's value exceeds material wealth is expanded in other places in the Proverbs. Wisdom provides what is needed to gain and appreciate wealth, right? I mean, you won't find very many wealthy people unless they inherited it.
Inherited it. You know, who got a lot of money, what, by accident? You know, like the old Son of Flubber movie or Flubber. You know, they find Flubber in their garage and they patent it and make a lot of money.
That doesn't really happen. If you have a lot of wealth, it is usually because you've applied some wisdom or some insight or have worked diligently at something. Wisdom contributes to a person's integrity and peace, something silver, gold, and rubies cannot do.
And in Proverbs, those qualities are of greater value than anything one can buy. MacArthur says this,. The most valuable reality a young person can attain is the insight to order his life by the standard of truth.
I mean, if you could give your son or your daughter millions and millions of dollars and then their life from that point forward was a total wreck, what have you given them? The keys to ruin. Matthew Henry writes, We must prefer religion, of course he's just speaking of holiness, before riches.
And look upon it that if we have the knowledge and fear of God in our hearts, we are really more happy and better provided for in every condition of life than if we had ever so much silver and gold. Wisdom in itself, therefore, must be in our account and it is better than rubies.
It will bring us a better price, be to us a better portion, and it will be a better ornament than jewels and precious stones of the greatest value. I mean, what is better than wisdom? Godly wisdom. Wisdom that comes from above.
The ability to deal with the situations of life according to God's Word. He goes on to say, We must be dead to the wealth of this world. What do you think Henry means when he says, We must be dead to the wealth of this world?
Stephen? To the idols of it. Okay. Louis? Yeah, I think you're both right. I think wealth in and of itself is an alluring thing. I mean, certainly I don't ever think, gee, I wouldn't want, well, I do think that sometimes, but there are times where I do think, yeah, you know, it wouldn't be so bad to have a billion dollars.
The problem is, you know, what do you do once you have it? It can be a trap, definitely. Proverbs 16, 16, he says, How much better it is to get wisdom than gold, and to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.
What's the point? His main point is that, not that money's bad, but that wisdom is far better. Why? Because it applies to all the situations of life, and it is something that goes further, that will lead you to lead a right life.
Number three, true or false? Over and over in Proverbs, Solomon stresses the need of those who have money to take care of those who will not work. False? Well, yeah, it's false. Proverbs 10, Proverbs 10, verses 4 and 5, Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully. Well, what do we know about, if you refuse to work, will you be rich? Probably not. The principle is, if you refuse to work, you'll be poor, and hard work is eventually rewarded.
One example of diligence, and therefore wisdom, is harvesting in the summer when the crops are ripe. Again, the principle of an agrarian society, when do you work? You work when there's work available, and you work diligently.
What does it mean to be a diligent worker? Typically in the Proverbs, what's the picture we often see? One of my favorite words in all the Bible, Pastor Dave. I love the sluggard, the way of the sluggard.
One of the highlights, I think, for me since I've been here was that night where we rolled out the IBS, and I said we had the, I don't know what the verse is now, we had the certificate track, and then the Proverbs 16, 18 track, or whatever it was, and I could see Mike feverishly turning there, and it said the way of the sluggard, you know, and I just, he just started laughing.
Anyway, I digress. Diligence, when the scripture talks about diligence, it's contrasting that with the way of the sluggard. Poverty by itself, is poverty a sin? No. Poverty is not a sin unless it is the product of laziness or sluggardliness.
There, I just, there's a nice word. Those who deal, listen to Matthew Henry again, those who deal with a slack hand, who are careless and remiss in their business, and never mind which end goes foremost, in other words, their priorities are all upside down, nor even set their hands vigorously to their work or stick to it.
Those who deal with a deceitful hand, so it may be read, those who think to enrich themselves by fraud and tricking, will in the end impoverish themselves. Listen, I spent, I think even my first job again, I was working in a warehouse, and we had these huge stacks of boxes, and I was shocked, I was stunned to go back in these boxes, I mean, they were, they got quite warm, sometimes as much as 130, 135 degrees up in the top, if it was the summer, you know, it was Southern California.
But I remember once going back there, and I was looking for something, because we had to climb up on these stacks, and then bring them down and go, you know, send them into shipping or whatever, and I climbed up there once, and here was a guy, he had hollowed out one of these stacks of boxes, and made himself like a cot right there in the middle, and he was just racked out, and I just thought, you know, I mean, hey, I guess he figured at 285 an hour, you know, it was a good way to get a nap.
Yes, yeah? She was just talking about how there was a transcendentalist who tried to create a utopia, and basically what happens, I think in every single utopian model, you know, whether it's from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs, when you take away the incentive of work, what do people do?
They don't work. I mean, if you reward work, you get work. If you punish work, or if you don't reward it, then you get no work. Let's see, summary principle. We are to work in order to provide for ourselves.
What does 2 Thessalonians 3, 10, and 11 say? I'll quote it instead of giving the Charlie Crane translation, but that was close. Even when we are with you, Paul writes, we used to give you this order. If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat either.
For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies, running around, chitting and chatting, and doing no work. Why is work so important?
Let's go to Genesis 3. It was established in Genesis 3, right? That's right. That is excellent. Work is not the curse. Let's go to Genesis 3, and I'm going to read 17 and 19, which is the curse. But what were they told to do even before the fall?
Tend the garden. But the fact of the matter is, they were going to be able to eat because everything was going to grow, as long as they were obedient. Genesis 3, verses 17 and 19. Yeah, for you. So the curse was not work.
The curse was that work was going to be hard. It meant you were going to have to sweat and labor and toil. And that was all to live. Work became hard. Life was hard. I mean, we have it easy now. But if we were to look through history, there were plenty of times where life was about survival, simple survival.
In this country, we are so blessed, I think we don't often consider how blessed we are. Yes. Yeah? Yeah, it does. I mean, how do we reflect the image of God? Well, one of those ways is we work. And how does God work?
Well, God is upholding the entire universe because if he were not, you know, if God took a day off, we wouldn't be here. So, number four, is there a problem with pursuing wealth? Is there a problem with pursuing wealth?
Question number one of question number four. I don't know why I did the two-part question. Is there a problem with pursuing wealth, yes or no? Is there a problem with pursuing wealth, yes or no? No. No.
If so, if yes, well, which would get to the depend part. If there's a problem with pursuing wealth, if we say yes, then what is it according to Solomon? Proverbs 11 verses 4 and 5. Proverbs 11 verses 4 and 5.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. You know, I always like that term, smooth his way, because what is the picture when we, you know, make straight the path or make level the path, smooth the way?
What does that mean? It's to remove every hill, every encumbrance, to make a nice smooth road. And the picture here is smooth the way for what? Eternal life. Listen to this. Again, this is Wolvard. The day of wrath probably refers to death.
I would agree, day of judgment, right? Day of wrath, when wrath is visited upon men. Wealth cannot buy long life. Only righteousness can aid in that. In Proverbs 10, 27, fearing the Lord is said to contribute to longevity.
Well, why would that be a legitimate principle? God numbers our days, right? But why would we be able to say something like, a righteous life adds to our days? Steve? Peace. Unrighteous living definitely takes away.
Anybody else? Charlie? Well, I mean, you raise the classic example, you know, of STDs. You know, they talk about immunizations and all these other things. Well, there is one great immunization. It's called righteous living.
You know, doing what God commands. If you do those things, then you don't take these risks. Charlie? Amen. Well, and because, you know, they eat whatever comes out of the toaster. Andrew, that is absolutely right.
That is absolutely right. I mean, if you live a simple life, a godly life, a life spent with, you know, devoted with your wife, you're going to live longer. That's just a natural consequence of things.
There are consequences for what we do. Let's see. Matthew Henry again. Riches will stand men in no stead on that day of judgment. Think about it. You know, Bill Gates, Sam Walton. I guess he's dead now.
But whoever, whoever the richest man in the world is, if he stands before God and God says, why should I let you into heaven? And he says, well, what's it going to cost me? You don't have any, you don't have, there's no amount of money that could make up for that.
You can't take it with you, first of all. And secondly, even if you could, what does God need of it? It's all his anyway. Summary principle. Live a rightly prioritized life. It's not the pursuit of wealth that's a bad thing.
It's what you do to get there. It's how you think about money. It's what your focus is. What did Jesus say in Matthew 6, verses 19 and 21? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So living rightly.
It's not the pursuit of wealth that's a bad thing. If you get it, fine. But what do you do with it after you get it? And what are your priorities? Are you really concerned about the next life, about serving the Lord, about pleasing him now, or about making the next buck?
Number five. True or false in Proverbs, Solomon did not teach what Jesus did about it being difficult for a rich man to get into heaven. It's kind of a trickily worded question. I reject my seminary prof.
Well, of course Solomon taught the same thing that Jesus did. How do we know that? Because God wrote it, right? The Holy Spirit, right? If a person pursues, which is the Hebrew word sahar, to look eagerly for something, like anticipating the dawn, that kind of thing, good things in and for others, he himself in turn will receive goodwill.
I skipped the verse. I hate when I do that. I was so careful to go over all this. Matthew Henry says,. Our riches will fail us when we are in the greatest need. He that trusts in them as if they would secure him the favor of God and be his protection and portion, shall fall as a man who lays his weight on a broken reed, which will not only disappoint him, but run into his hand and pierce him.
I don't know how I skipped this. But anyway, 1 Timothy 6, verses 17 and 19, says this,. Instruct those who are rich in this present world, not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches.
The uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. When you think about it, what's uncertain about riches? Transitory. I mean, think about it. What if you had invested all your money in dollars five years ago and then moved to Europe?
Your money would be worth a lot less than it is now. You know, what if the government of the United States failed? How much would your dollars be worth? Of course, some would question how much they're worth now.
But that's our righteousness will stand us instead when our riches fail us. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us that allows us to stand before God. And there is nothing inherently worthwhile about the money that we can get in this life.
Riches are a distraction, not an evil, but they tend to make us self-sufficient. What did Jesus say in Luke 18? For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
They who heard it said, then who can be saved? But he said, the things that are impossible with people are possible with God. Did Jesus mean that, you know, if you're rich, therefore you cannot be saved?
No. But the apostles heard it and they thought, well, the Hebrew mindset was riches were a blessing from God. They were an incredible blessing. So if you didn't have them, then you were seen as being cursed.
And therefore they were thinking, well, like, okay, then if rich people can't get to heaven, how can anybody else get to heaven? And Jesus says, that's not the point. You guys are missing the whole point.
It's always the grace of God that gets anyone to heaven, not their standing according to the world. Number six, true or false, gambling is wrong, but getting a lot of money quickly will make life easier.
False. Proverbs 13 .11, wealth obtained by fraud dwindles. But the one who gathers by labor increases it. Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles. I just heard this thing the other day about this couple. They allegedly have won this lottery.
It's a smaller lottery, but they've won it four times. And they claim to have a system and they're going to patent it. It reminds me of somebody I knew who won the California lottery, started tracking all the numbers.
And what are you doing that for? Well, because if there's a pattern, I want to be able to capitalize on it. Kind of misses the point. If it's not random, if there's a way to figure it out, then it's not really a lottery.
But what about that? Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles.
Lewis, why is it only older people think that way?
I mean, I think that way too. You hear that, like your dad will say that, because you didn't work for it, you don't appreciate it. Why do they say that? Because it's true. That's why they figured it out.
You give somebody something and sometimes they really appreciate it, and sometimes they really take care of it, and sometimes they don't. The classic maybe example is you give a teenager a car and what happens?
I have a confession to make. I might have put a few dents in my cars. One while driving backwards on my street and just kind of cruising around. I think I was doing about 25 miles an hour in reverse. Boom!
Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles. Well, any time you're tricking, you know, there are people who are so clever. They figured out how to get money without working for it, and then what happens? They spend it right away.
But the one who gathers by labor increases it. Listen, when you have to work, when you have to sweat, when you have to toil for your money, you appreciate it. When you have to work for anything, you appreciate it, and so what do you do?
You take care of it. You think, you know what, I'm not going to be able to do this for the rest of my life, so maybe I should think about saving, or maybe I should have a plan for my money, or maybe you start trying to figure out how to better care for it than just blowing it all.
Becky. True. True. She says that even when they win, they just turn around and they buy more tickets or whatever, and you go, yeah. And so, I mean, they almost count on that, and I don't want to talk about the lottery incessantly, but, you know, if you think about the lottery or if you know anything about it, you know, the state loves it.
Why? Because it's like a 50 tax, and I'm sorry if anybody plays the lottery here, but I call it a tax on the poor because the overwhelming number of poor play it and the stupid because they don't understand that 50 is outrageous.
You know, 50 of all the money that's put into the lottery they keep, and I'm not advising anybody to go to a casino, but casinos keep less money than the state does. Again, I'm not saying gamble. I think gambling is a horrible thing to do with your money, and it's against the Bible, but the lottery is just the most foolish, idiotic thing going because it is just a complete waste of money, and really it is a tax on poor people, and the overwhelming number of poor people do that, people who can't afford it.
Listen to what Matthew Henry says. That which is got by such employment's devices, trickery, or not working for it, is not only not becoming to Christians, but it feeds pride and luxury. I mean, the point is you get money easily and you blow it easily.
You spend it easily. It's gone. So not a good thing to just come into a lot of money necessarily that way. I mean, you even read about people who get great inheritances, or they have their one big shot at the lottery, and then they're homeless or whatever.
Money does not make you happy. It never did. But this is great advice, right? Do what you love and love what you do. Proverbs 14, verses 23 to 24. In all labor there is profit. Let me read that again.
In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools is foolishness. Bottom line is, hard work pays off, whereas people who merely talk about work become poor.
I mean, you talk about people who always have a scheme for getting rich, always have a plan for starting some get-rich-quick scheme, some other thing, but they never actually do any work. Where do they wind up?
Usually trying to trick other people out of their money. I like this from Matthew Henry. Working without talking will make men rich. If you just work and that's all you do, well, does that necessarily mean you're going to be rich?
No, it means that you will be amply supplied though, right? You will have everything that you need, maybe not everything that you want. But listen to this, talking without working will make you poor. I'm like, yeah, that's right.
If you don't work, you're not going to get anything. Those that love to boast of their business and make a loud noise about it, and that waste their time in talking, in telling and hearing new things like the Athenians, and under the pretense of improving themselves by conversation, neglect the work of their place and day, they waste what they have, and the course they take tends to penalty and will end in it.
I like that. Number eight, true or false? The poor deserve to be scorned. False. Proverbs 17, 5. Proverbs 17, 5. He who mocks the poor taunts his maker. He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.
Two points there. The first one, why is it wrong to mock the poor? After all, they're poor and they deserve it. Why is it wrong to think that way? Because God sent them in life. Excellent point. I like what he said.
There's no such thing as a self-made man and... What's the rest of it? The job wasn't done very well, that's right. The point is, everything comes from God, so we don't have the right to mock them. Anything else?
There but by the grace of God go I? How about this one? The poor are made in God's image. They're image bearers just as we are. And therefore, to mock them is to do what? Mock the maker of them, which was getting to Daniel's other point, that God put them in that place.
The second point there is talking about how we sometimes can rejoice over the misfortunes of those that we don't like. A person who gloats over the misfortunes of others will himself experience misfortune.
He will be punished. Proverbs 24, 17 and 18 says this, Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles, or the Lord will see it and be displeased and turn his anger away from him, the person that is stumbling, the person who is having difficulty falling.
This reminds me of a New Testament verse that I didn't even write down and I was just thinking about it now. What does God say about vengeance? And should we rejoice in vengeance? I don't think so. I think we should pray for the repentance of those who rebel against God and who even give us great difficulty.
Let's move on so we can squeeze in these last few here. Skipping through. Number nine, true or false? The Bible says you should make sure you get plenty of sleep. Well, you know, Arnold says to get big you have to sleep big.
Proverbs 20, verse 13. Do not love sleep. And I put this in for all the teenagers. Do not love sleep or you will become poor. Open your eyes and you will be satisfied with food. Think about Andrew Bowman.
He won't have this problem for him. Laziness, which is spoken here of as excessive sleep, leads to poverty. But diligence or staying awake leads to an abundance of food. Matthew Henry says, those that indulge themselves in their ease may expect to want necessities which should have been gotten by honest labor.
Number 10, true or false? Solomon advises caution with regard to borrowing money. True. Proverbs 22, verse 7. The rich rules over the poor and the borrower becomes the lender's slave. That's some pretty strong language.
Unfortunately, a rich person may lord it over a poor person and the lender is master of a borrower. How so? How is a lender master over the borrower? You're indebted to them, okay? Well, think about this.
If you owe somebody, well, like most of us have, if you own a home, you, generally speaking, have a mortgage. Can you just willy-nilly quit your job and, you know, wait for something else? You can, but they'll take your house.
Why? Because in that one sense, you are a slave to them. You have to keep working because you have to pay your bill. You want to keep that roof over your head? You have to keep going. You have to keep working.
I like what Matthew Henry said here. He said, some sell their liberty to gratify their luxury. And when I was thinking about today's way of thinking, how Americans live, how even credit card companies will now send credit cards to kids in college and, you know, try to get them to max out their credit cards.
Why? Because they know that once you have a certain balance, they will own you in a sense for, you know, most of, if not the rest of your life. But they make it easy. Why? Because they make a lot of money doing that.
Again, some sell their liberty to gratify their luxury. You want to live well now? Well, there's a price to pay down the road. Number 11, you can never work too much. All this talk about work. Work, work, work.
Work is good for you. You need to work. Work a lot. Proverbs 23, verses 4 and 5. Do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
These verses warn against overwork for the sake of gaining riches. I've said this before, but I work with so many guys and I would like, not as maybe as bad as some of the firefighters I've heard about here, but guys would make a lot of money.
In fact, they actually had to impose limits on how much overtime guys could work because they could barely stay awake. I remember one year we had a guy. This was early on in my career. We had a guy who made more money, and you have to understand the gap between a captain and a deputy.
It's three pay levels, and basically a captain makes twice what a deputy does. And so one year we had a deputy who made more than the captain. And so signs were all over the jail that said, elect this guy captain.
He earned it. It was pretty funny. I don't know who put those signs up. But anyway, the point is some guys would say, and you know people like this, they have to have a boat. They have to have an RV. They have to have three or four houses, however many, whatever.
They have to have all this stuff. But nobody, when they die or when they get older and they look back over their life, nobody's going to say, you know what, if only I had a better bass boat. If only I had a faster car.
If only this, if only that. What they're going to say is, if only I spent more time with my kids. If only I spent more time with my wife. If only I'd even known who my grandkids were. That's what people look back on.
Let's go to number 12, Lord willing. Okay, number 12. True or false, everyone loves slackers. I thought slackers was a nickname for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But anyway, Proverbs 10, 26. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy one to those who send him.
You know, as somebody who worked in middle management for a number of years, this is just a picture perfect verse. Because if you have somebody who wants to work, I used to tell guys all the time, I used to say, listen, this is what I want.
I want me to have to come in and say, whoa, slow down, ease up. You're going too hard. You give me too much paperwork, I can't even handle it. Instead of, you know what, guys, I come out of my office and in half an hour, I get more accomplished than you guys will do all shift.
And I had to have the same conversation with different people, but it would be like that. I just go, I don't understand what you guys are doing. Just as vinegar made from wine is sour tasting, what happens when you drink?
Anybody drink vinegar? Is there anyone in here who just, you know, goes home and says, I'm going to have a nice cup of vinegar. Anybody going to do vinegar on ice? I'm going to have you over my house and watch that.
Smoke is irritating to the eyes, I guess, except for those who smoke. But, and I think this is not talking about, you know, any kind of smoke other than the smoke of a fire, a big fire. So is a sluggard.
We come back to the sluggard idea. Those who send him, what does that mean? So is the lazy one to those who send him. What does that mean? To those who employ him, to those who send him on an errand, to those who expect him to work.
Matthew Henry says, those that are of a slothful disposition. Slothful disposition. I like these words. That love their ease. A little rest, a little folding of the hands. And cannot apply their minds to any business.
Are not fit to be employed. Know not so much as to be sent on an errand. For they will neither deliver a message with any care, nor make any haste back. Poor workers are in plentiful supply. It's easy to find them.
You can pay people, you can hire any number of people who will do absolutely nothing. Finding somebody who is a good worker. And as a Christian, my exhortation to you this morning would be whatever you do, whatever level of life that you're on right now, you know, if you're a grocery bagger, which I did for a while, I used to come home and I used to just literally be able to wring the sweat out of my shirts.
That sounds like Pastor Mike. Wring the sweat. I mean, it was sick. I would run and run and run and run. We should be like that in whatever our job is. We should exert ourselves, pour ourselves into it.
Why? Because it's pleasing to the Lord. And, you know, the one thing I can guarantee you is if you will work hard in whatever you do, somebody will always employ you. Someone will be willing to put you to work.
If I was an employer, if somebody came to me and they said, you know what, here are my qualifications, maybe they're not that great, but I'll work really hard. I love that. I love that. Anybody loves that.
If you have ever employed anyone and you hear somebody say, I'm going to work hard, and then you see them and they do work hard, there's nothing more you could ask for. So some principles on money, the lack of money, how we should even treat and think about people who don't have a lot of money.
It is good to give to those who are poor. I think we kind of glossed over that. Why? In fact, was that one of my questions? I don't think so. I did look at that, though. That it's a good thing to give money to the poor because Proverbs say that you're actually lending it to God.
What does that mean? That means that He will repay you. That it is a good thing to work hard, that that's how we're supposed to live, that that's what we ought to be known for. All right, let's close in prayer.
Father, we thank you for the book of Proverbs. Thank you for the wisdom contained therein. And, again, thank you for the unworldly way in which you present the truth, the truths about money, the truths about poverty, the truths about work and about lack of work.
And, Father, I pray that you would just make us good stewards, kind and generous, and, Father, diligent workers in whatever we do. And bless our day in Christ's name. Amen.