Proverbs 3:1-25

Alexi rejoices, right? They're freed, they're liberated.

Now, you probably didn't realize it, but that scene sums up about 200 plus years

of intellectual and cultural history in the West.

You didn't know that when you were watching Star Wars.

Here's what I mean.

What is the message in that sort of critical moment

when the freedom and the happiness of the universe hang in the balance?

When it's all on the line, what's the decisive thing you have to do

to find and win happiness and real and lasting peace?

Well, here's what you have to do, right?

You have to trust your feelings.

You have to look inside of yourself, and in the right moment,

you just have to do what you feel is right.

Now, here's the thing.

That belief is so woven into the very fabric of our thinking

and our living today that we almost never even notice it.

We take it for granted at such a deep level that we rarely consider

whether or not it might be a belief worth having in the first place.

In fact, we have a hard time thinking of what the alternative might actually be.

We're sort of like fish in the ocean, breathing the water,

not really able to imagine what it might be like to do anything else.

Of course trusting my feelings will lead to my happiness and flourishing.

What else is there?

Of course we breathe the water.

What else is there?

Well, our passage in Proverbs this morning shows us that there is actually a different air to breathe.

And it's an air that leads to a flourishing so comprehensive

that it makes our natural desires seem not too big but too small.

So let's come to Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

And our focus this morning is going to be on verses 1 through 12.

Later in our Proverbs series, we're going to come back to some of the themes

that we find in the second half of chapter 3 in verses 13 and following.

But this morning, we're just going to concentrate on verses 1 through 12.

Let me read this for us.

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments.

For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you.

Bind them around your neck.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.

Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine.

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof.

For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights.

Let's pray together.

Father, we do ask that you would help our hearts now to be receptive and open.

Help them to be soft soil, we pray, to the seed of your word.

And Lord, we ask that by your spirit you would speak powerfully to us as we consider and meditate on this text together.

And Jesus, that you would be seen with the eyes of faith this morning in a fresh and beautiful way.

Capture us and our affections, we pray, Lord Jesus.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

So quite simply, I think, as we look at this passage, it shows us two big things.

First, it shows us a greater flourishing.

And second, it shows us a better trust.

A greater flourishing, a better trust.

Now notice briefly how this passage is put together.

Another, the 12 verses actually form six pairs.

Six pairs of four lines each.

So verses 1 and 2 go together, then verses 3 and 4 go together, and so on.

And you'll notice that in each of these pairs, the odd verse gives an exhortation, an admonition, a bit of fatherly counsel.

And then the even verse, the second verse, gives an incentive, a sort of motivation for taking it.

So look at the structure in verses 1 and 2.

You see it there.

Here's the admonition.

Here's the counsel.

Verse 1.

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments.

Then comes the motivation, the incentive to do that.

For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

So these 12 verses are all working together.

All the counsels, all the incentives to try to lift our heads out of the water.

So that we can catch a breath of a greater flourishing.

The flourishing that only God can give.

And so that we might see that there's a better trust.

A trust aimed not inside ourselves, but outside ourselves.

So let's look at the greater flourishing.

You know, if you run down, if you just sort of read down the passage and just read the even verses,

you sort of catch the sweep of how comprehensive this is.

It's a bit breathtaking, is it not?

First, we see that it's not just personal, but it's also social.

In verse 2, we're told about length of days and peace.

There's a personal element.

But in verse 4, we're told about favor and good success.

And good success there could also mean a good name, a good reputation in the sight of God and man.

So it's personal.

We live a long life.

It's also social.

We enjoy a good name.

Then it goes on.

There's more to it.

In verses 6 and 8, we see that it's not just a flourishing that's ethically sharpening,

but it's also deeply rejuvenating.

He will make straight your paths, we're told in verse 6.

Now, in Hebrew thought, your life was pictured as a walk, as a journey.

Your life was headed somewhere.

And the word straight there means correct or right or even upright.

Not just smooth as in sort of the right way, but actually ethically, the upright, the correct

thing to be doing.

So this is an image of one's life, one's path, one's journey becoming more and more upright.

In other words, that you reach the goal of becoming a person of character, of integrity.

But at the same time, in verse 8, this growth and moral character, this ethical sharpening

is not ultimately something that wears us down or tires us out.

Just the opposite.

It's healing to our flesh.

It's refreshment to our bones.

Imagine that.

Where your character is actually being refined, and yet it's also bringing refreshment to you.

Like a cool drink on a hot summer day.

Except this drink doesn't just cool your tongue, it brings refreshment down into your very bones.

But then we see in verses 10 and 12 that this flourishing is not just material, it's also spiritual.

In verse 10 we're shown barns stacked high and wine vats just bursting at the seams.

An image of prosperity.

But then in verse 12, we're shown the crown of them all.

We're told that here, that God, the Lord, will delight in us the way a father delights in his son.

And of course, that's worth all the barns and all the vats in the world, isn't it?

To know that God delights in you.

That he loves you.

Worldly wealth fades, doesn't it?

But you see, friends, the fatherly love of the eternal God can never grow old.

God's delight in his children, that's the true satisfaction of our souls.

Do you know that this morning?

Have you been chasing barns full of grain?

But it seems empty, no matter how high it gets stacked.

Perhaps you're missing the fact that it's really the love of God that is meant to satisfy you.

Now, maybe as you take stock of these six verses that we sort of quickly have run through here,

these six motivations, these six incentives,

maybe this starts to make you feel a little uncomfortable.

I know it sort of does for me when I first read it.

It sort of sounds a bit like some kind of prosperity gospel, doesn't it?

Is Proverbs telling us that if we just play our cards right spiritually,

or have enough faith, or act in the right ways,

God will make us healthy and rich and comfortable.

Is that what this passage is saying?

Well, in a word, no.

That's not what this passage, or the book of Proverbs as a whole, is saying.

You know, first off, nowhere in the Bible is a believer promised a life free of suffering or trouble, right?

Read the Gospels.

Jesus tells his disciples time and time again

that you're going to experience trouble and conflict in this life.

Look at every single believer in the rest of the New Testament.

And they didn't live a life just merely of health, wealth, and happiness, right?

There was hardship.

There was trial.

There was suffering.

Now, the book of Proverbs does give us a pattern

for how wisdom generally works in the world, right?

That if you're a person of integrity,

your relationships tend to work out better than if you're a person who's deceptive,

on the whole.

But we also have to remember another wisdom book in the Old Testament, don't we?

The book of Job.

And the book of Job is sort of like a helpful counterbalance to the book of Proverbs,

reminding us that sometimes life is more complicated than we understand,

and sometimes unexpected afflictions come our way.

And in fact, Proverbs itself isn't even ignorant of that fact.

Even in our passage here this morning, don't we see that tension?

Look at verses 9 and 10.

Everything's going great there.

Barns are filled.

Vats are bursting.

But then in verses 11 and 12, everything's not so great.

There's discipline.

There's reproof.

There's suffering.

There's affliction.

As if to say, sometimes your days will be cut short,

and sometimes your good name will be trampled on,

and sometimes your paths will seem crooked,

and sometimes your bones will feel worn out,

and sometimes your barns will be empty.

But through it all,

the Lord does not and has not and will not

disown his children.

We're still, as verse 1 and verse 11 say,

kind of bracketing this whole passage,

we are still his sons, his daughters.

And what that means is that even if we don't find

all these patterns working themselves out

in our lives here and now,

we know that the comprehensive flourishing

described here will still one day be ours.

Because you see, it's not just for this life

that we hope.

Our hope and our goal isn't just for 70 or 80 years

of relatively good health,

a full bank account,

and a comfortable lifestyle.

If that's all we're living for,

then are we not most to be pitied?

Now, friends, take a step back

and catch a glimpse once more

as we take it in its entirety

of what's being held out for us here.

Are not all these incentives,

are not all these motivations

pointing us to something even more lasting?

Don't they speak of a peace,

as verse 2 says,

a shalom that can only finally be realized

when God comes and makes all things new?

You see, any favor we experience now

is just a foretaste of the new creation,

of the eternal life

that Christ won for us

in His death and resurrection.

And one day, all who are in Christ

will share in His resurrected life

in the new heavens and the new earth.

And then the motivations of chapter 3

won't just be general patterns anymore,

but they'll be certain realities.

Then God's children will experience peace

and favor and healing without measure.

So do you see how this is a greater flourishing

than we often imagine for ourselves?

C.S. Lewis famously said,

we're busy making mud pies in the puddles

when God is there beckoning us

to come to a holiday at the sea.

But now here's where our passage

becomes very countercultural.

Surely the path to that sort of holistic flourishing,

that kind of happiness,

must be, we think,

through some sort of self-discovery,

through some sort of just self-expression.

Surely it's got to come through

some sort of trust of our feelings

to lead us on the right path.

If we look inside of ourselves,

then we'll get the key, right?

But that's not what the writer of Proverbs says,

not at all.

In order to truly know wisdom,

as Proverbs speaks of,

in order to embark on this life,

we must not,

and we cannot look inside ourselves,

but outside of ourselves.

We need a better trust.

Our trust must not be in our own feelings

or our own desires,

but in the Lord.

Look at verse 5.

Have trust in the Lord with all your heart

and do not lean on your own understanding.

Now notice first that this is an intensely personal trust,

right?

Our trust here isn't in some kind of moral code.

It's not in a set of timeless principles.

It's not in a pervasive energy

or force that flows through the cosmos.

No, our trust is in the Lord.

And when our English Bible spell Lord with all capital letters,

you know what that means, right?

That means it's a translation of the name

that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush.

When God showed himself to be the redeeming God,

when God showed himself to be the God

who takes a people to himself,

an everlasting covenant,

that's what this name Lord speaks of,

signifies.

This is the Lord or Yahweh,

as sometimes we pronounce it.

And it's the same Lord who in the fullness of time

took on flesh and lived among us.

That same Lord who redeemed Israel

out of slavery in Egypt

was the same God who came in flesh

full of grace and truth

in the person of Jesus Christ,

fully God and fully human.

It's the same Lord who came

and lived an utterly sinless life

on behalf of sinful people,

fulfilling the demands of that covenant.

It's the same Lord who on the cross

as our substitute bore all the penalties

that we deserve for breaking God's covenant.

And who three days later

was raised from the dead,

demonstrating that his sacrifice

and his work was complete for us

and that forgiveness and new life

had been won for all who would turn

and trust in him.

This is the Lord we're told to trust in Proverbs,

this personal God

who revealed himself to Israel,

who became fully human

in the person of the Son

and who even now is being poured out

into our hearts

in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Trust in the Lord.

Not in a principle,

not in a cause,

not in a set of rules,

but in this very personal God.

You know, it's very interesting

when Jesus was interacting

with the Pharisees once.

The Pharisees were very good

at knowing their Bibles.

You know, they had it down to a T.

And Jesus says,

you know, you spend all of your time

reading and memorizing

and trying to live what the Torah says.

And yet you've missed the point

because it's about me.

Friends, could it be that even us

who love the Bible,

and rightfully so,

and want to live the Bible rightfully so,

can sometimes miss the point

that it's about engaging

with the very personal God.

And the sort of trust

that this God deserves and demands

is a wholehearted trust.

Trust Him with all your heart.

Put your whole weight into it.

Hold nothing back.

Throw yourself upon it.

And the opposite of that

is to lean on your own understanding,

as verse 5 says.

Now picture a person

with sort of a broken crutch

about to lean their full weight into it.

That's the image here.

And to lean on our own understanding

is to do just that.

To put our weight onto something

that just can't hold.

One commentator wrote,

one is a fool

to rely on his thimble of knowledge

before its vast ocean.

Friends, why is it that we think,

why do we think that trusting in ourselves,

ourselves,

with our ever conflicting desires,

not really knowing what we want

one day to the next,

with our limited perspective,

with our finite amount of knowledge,

why do we think that trusting in ourselves

is a better course of action

than trusting in the eternal,

infinitely wise,

infinitely good God?

Unless you're here

and you never have conflicting desires

and you don't have limited perspective

and you have an infinite amount of knowledge.

If that's you,

then this sermon's not for you.

You can listen to something else.

But if you're with the rest of us

who experience conflicting desires

and know that we're limited,

why do we think that trusting in ourselves

is a better idea

than trusting in the God of the universe?

Verse seven goes a little further.

Be not wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

So you see,

it's not just about refusing

to lean on our own understanding

in light of God's perfect knowledge.

It's also about refusing

to entertain our own pride

and our own self-will

and things that are evil

in light of God's perfect holiness.

So we're to trust in the Lord

with all our heart.

But what does that practically look like

on the ground?

What does this wholehearted trust look like?

Well, I think our passage gives us

three snapshots

of what that looks like.

Here's one thing that that looks like.

First, do you let the teaching

of God's word in Scripture

challenge, change,

and even overrule your thinking?

You know, it's easy to say

that we trust God

when there's no friction

between our thoughts

and what we think of God's thoughts.

But what about when what we want to do

and what God says we ought to do

are at odds.

In verses one and three,

we get a picture of the Father

admonishing his son

not to forget his teaching,

to keep guard

and to keep his commandments.

To not let steadfast love

and faithfulness,

which are the embodiment

of God's teaching and commands

because they're the embodiment

of God's own character.

To not let steadfast love

and faithfulness forsake you.

This admonition to listen

to the word,

to shape your life around the word.

But what happens

when your will

and God's will

are written in Scripture

at odds?

When God commands you

to forgive,

for example.

Or when he commands you

to be generous

to those who have less than you.

Or when he tells you

not to have sex

outside of marriage.

When his word

runs counter to our desires,

what do we do?

Again, this is what it looks like

to trust the Lord

wholeheartedly.

Be not wise

in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord.

Turn away from evil.

And do you see the reward

in verse 8?

Not misery,

but healing.

Not anguish,

but refreshment.

Ray Ortlund,

in his commentary

on Proverbs,

puts it this way.

He says,

you know,

here's the irony.

The more you fear the Lord,

the less you will fear man.

The more you depend

on the Lord,

the more independent

you will be.

The more you resemble Christ,

the more of an individual

you will be.

The more you obey him,

the freer you will be.

Life will work for you

with healing

and refreshment.

So there's one way

wholehearted trust

takes shape practically.

We obey his word

even when it crosses

our desires.

We see another way

in verse 9.

Verse 9 says,

honor the Lord

with your wealth

and with the first fruits

of all your produce.

When times are going well,

when you're in a season

of prosperity,

of plenty,

wholehearted trust

looks like honoring

the Lord with your wealth.

Now you have to see

that some of the most

spiritually challenging times

that we will face

aren't when things

are really difficult.

It's actually when things

are going really well.

It's in those moments

when our less than

wholehearted trust

in the Lord

can sometimes be revealed.

When we don't

honor the Lord

or even think of the Lord.

But how should we

honor the Lord

when things are going well?

When we're in a season

of plenty or prosperity?

The second half of verse 9

tells us,

we honor the Lord with

or literally from

the first fruits

of all our produce,

from our wealth.

Giving the first fruits

in the Old Testament

meant giving to God

literally the first part

of your harvest.

You were growing things,

the first thing that came up,

that's what you gave

to the Lord.

And that act of giving

the very first of your crops,

whatever the initial thing was,

the best of it,

the first of it,

that act of giving

the very first of your crop

was a symbolic way

of saying that ultimately

it all belonged to God.

That it was all His.

And that we are simply stewards

of what He's given us.

So friends,

do you give

of what the Lord

has given you?

Of your money,

of your time,

of your energy?

Proverbs is going to have

a lot more to say

about our money

and we're going to come

back to it.

But are you giving Him

your first fruits?

Notice again

the motivation in verse 10,

barns full of grain,

vats full of wine.

Matthew Henry said this

about that verse.

He said,

God will bless you

with an increase

of that which is for use,

not for show,

for giving away,

not for hoarding.

Those who do good

with what they have

shall have more

to do good with.

To do more good with.

Again, a principle.

Not a hard and fast promise,

but a principle.

It's not about,

verse 10 isn't simply

about giving

so we can get more.

It's about God

giving to the generous

so they can be generous

all the more.

So what does it look like

to trust the Lord

with all of our heart?

First, in verse 7,

we're shown that it's

fearing the Lord

and living in reverence

of Him and His word.

And then next,

in verse 9,

we're shown that it's

honoring the Lord

in times of prosperity

with our wealth.

And then in verse 11,

last, we're shown

that it's not despising

the Lord in times

of affliction and discipline.

That we don't just trust

Him wholeheartedly

in plenty,

but we actually trust

Him wholeheartedly

in pain.

And the deep reality here,

friends,

in verses 11 and 12

is that God

loves us

too much

to let us alone

in our lives.

In all the trouble

and suffering of our life,

God is working out

His loving,

fatherly purposes

for our good.

As verse 12 says,

it's the Father's

delight in us

that leads Him

to discipline us,

to correct us,

to train us.

Again, I think C.S. Lewis

captured this so well.

He gives the illustration

of an artist

and he says,

you know,

an artist might not

take much trouble

over a picture

that he or she

just sort of scribbles down

to amuse a child.

Have you done that?

If you had a little kid

you were watching maybe,

maybe you're babysitting

your, I don't know,

your brother's kids

or something

and you're like,

what do I do with these kids?

They're driving me crazy.

Here, here's a tic-tac-toe board.

Quick, fill it out.

You don't take much time

to scribble down

a drawing

just to amuse a child,

but

an artist

will take

endless effort

over a great work

of art

that he loves.

Now, imagine,

Lewis says,

imagine this artist

has a magnum opus

and this great work of art.

Imagine this great work of art

actually was conscious,

was sentient,

was alive.

And you can imagine

such a piece of art,

he says,

after being rubbed

and scraped

and recommended

for the tenth time

wishing that it were

only a thumbnail sketch

whose making

was over in a minute.

In the same way,

he says,

it's natural for us

to wish

that God

had designed us

for a less glorious

and less arduous destiny,

but then

we are wishing not

for more love

but for less.

Do you see what Lewis is saying?

God has a destiny

for you,

his children,

that is more glorious

than you can imagine,

and he is exercising

all of his fatherly

care and power

and discipline

to bring you there.

Like an artist

painstakingly chipping away

at a beautiful piece of art.

And wholehearted trust

in the Lord's discipline

looks like neither

despising it

nor being weary of it.

You see,

one is an active

response of anger

the other

is a passive

response of despair.

Aren't those both ways

that we can respond

when we're in seasons

of trouble and trial?

Anger

or despondency.

But rather,

wholehearted trust

says

and believes,

no,

the Lord

reproves

those whom

he loves.

And of course,

that may be

the hardest test

of all,

isn't it?

Yes,

when our desires

are crossed

by God's word,

that can be tough.

And yes,

when we're

in a season of,

you know,

things are going well,

it can be hard

to honor the Lord

and bring our hearts

back to him,

but suffering,

trial,

affliction,

that may be

the hardest of all,

isn't it?

But friends,

here's the good news.

if you are in Christ,

then you can look

to one

who knows

exactly what it's like

to be tested

and to suffer.

Look

to Jesus,

the book of Hebrews

says in chapter 12,

the founder

and the perfecter

of our faith,

our trust,

who for the joy

that was set before him

endured the cross,

despising the shame

and is seated

at the right hand

of God.

Consider him

who endured

from sinners

such hostility

against himself

so that you

may not grow weary

or faint-hearted.

And then Hebrews quotes

Proverbs chapter 3,

Proverbs 3:11

verses 11 and 12.

Have you forgotten

the exhortation

that addresses you

as sons?

My son,

do not regard lightly

the discipline

of the Lord,

nor be weary

when reproved by him,

for the Lord disciplines

the one he loves.

Christian,

you have a high priest

in the Lord Jesus

who knows every trial

and every struggle

that you face.

He knows exactly

what it's like

to be perfected

for his task

through suffering.

Just as you

are being perfected

for your task

through suffering.

And he blazed

that trail

before you.

He is the founder

and the perfecter

of your faith.

In fact,

he went to the cross

for you

so that any affliction

that you face

can now only do you good

and never do you harm.

He took the sting

and the poison

out of every bite,

every thorn

that you will face.

And that's what God promises,

your ultimate good,

the joy set before you,

as Hebrews 12 says.

Or as Proverbs 3 says,

the delight

of a father

for his son,

for his daughter,

healing to your flesh,

refreshment to your bones.

Do you long for that

this morning?

life deep down

in your bones

that nothing

in this world

can harm

or take away.

Don't you see

that's the picture

where we end?

Whether things are great

or whether things

are not so great.

You have something.

You have a flourishing

that circumstances

cannot shake.

And if you sense

in your heart

a desire for that,

a longing

for that sort of flourishing,

a greater flourishing

than this world offers,

the flourishing

that only can be found

in Christ,

friends,

if your heart

is longing for that,

then know that God

is calling you,

even now,

to a better trust,

to take your trust

off of yourself,

to stop looking

and trusting

your desires

that you think

will lead you

to happiness

because that hasn't

ever worked,

has it?

and instead

to place your trust

in the risen Lord Jesus,

to go to him

in prayer,

to cast yourself

before him,

to trust in the Lord

with all your heart

and to know

that he will

in no way

cast you out.

Come to me,

Jesus told

the crowds.

You're weary.

You're heavy laden.

Come to me

and I will give you

rest.

I will give you

peace.

I will make sure

that you flourish.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus,

we acknowledge

and we know

that we need

your Holy Spirit

to do what this text

tells us we need to do,

to trust in you

with all our heart.

So, Lord,

help us by your Spirit

to see the fact

that you have died

and risen,

that you,

Lord Jesus,

are an utterly

trustworthy Savior.

and a trustworthy Lord,

that your goodness

and your power

know no limit

and that we can

throw ourselves

wholeheartedly upon you.

Lord,

help us to do that

in the thick

and the thin

and the extremities

of life.

And Lord,

as we experience

that deep joy

and peace

that you bring,

would it roll back,

would it redound forth,

would it ring out

to your glory?

Would our neighbors

and our friends

see in us

a resilience

and a trust

that makes them say,

what a great God

they must serve.

We pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.