On Wealth

Father, we confess before you that money is a very personal issue to us.

We confess before you that we don't like to tell people what we make.

We don't like to tell people what our financial resources are.

We confess before you, Father, that we maybe hide if we're abusing credit cards.

We hide that from people. We don't want people to know.

We confess before you, Father, that many of us here are financially stretched and wish that we had more money.

And we also confess before you, Father, that in our secret hearts, we often don't believe your word.

We don't often, Father, believe that your word is wise in the realm of money.

So, Father, we ask that you help us not to believe lies and not to be confused.

And we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and humble and quieten us so that we can listen to your word.

That your word with grace might come into our lives and bear much fruit to your great glory.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

I'm brief.

So, with my impeccable timing, I'm going to talk, try to open up what the book of Proverbs says about money in a week where,

is it John Oliver or Joe Oliver?

Who is it?

John Oliver?

John Oliver has done a TV personality.

Do I have that right?

John Oliver.

Okay, we're not going to have a debate. Afterwards, we can all have an arm or just Google it later.

Not now, during the sermon, okay? I don't want you all looking at it.

But whether it's John or Joe, Oliver, he's done a video clip which is trending in Facebook,

and he mocks televangelists, especially televangelists as they talk about money.

And the fact of the matter is, as we all know, that Christians make very, very, very, very foolish claims about money and God and the Bible.

And not only do Christians make very foolish claims about it,

for many people who aren't Christians and just sort of look at the whole debacle,

they look at us and they say, you know, it's pretty obvious that the Bible is filled with nonsense,

that it misleads the gullible, that it furthers greed, and there's a lot of hypocrisy.

And so for many people in our culture, the idea that the Bible would have anything wise to say about money,

well, in fact, probably their eyes would go like that, and they'd go like that, and think, oh boy, you know.

In fact, even the idea that maybe you brought a guest here this morning,

maybe, and they're not a follower of Jesus, if you're not a follower of Jesus,

right now you're sort of cringing, thinking, oh, good grief, he's talking about money and wealth.

Why on earth did I invite anybody to church today?

That was a really big mistake.

That's how we often tend to feel.

So actually, this is a really good opportunity for me to give my proviso.

I don't know if Andrew used to have R-rated things that he'd put up when I was going to talk about topics like this.

This is a really good opportunity for me to just say,

is that in a couple of minutes, or more than a couple of minutes,

later on when we have the offering,

I'd just like to make sure that everybody knows,

if you're not a follower of Jesus, we don't want you to put money in the plate.

You're here as our guest.

We're just so glad you're here.

And, you know, that's sort of for people who call this their church home and for followers of Jesus.

And we just want to be a blessing and generous to you.

So after the service, coffee, tea, lots of cookies, like just fill yourself up.

But I'd actually rather that you didn't put money on the plate,

because it's not about money, as you're going to see.

But anyway, so here we are.

We're going to talk about these proverbs about money and stuff like that.

And basically, many people in our culture think that the Bible says nonsense stuff.

And the fact of the matter is, is that when we're honest,

we believe that a lot of things in the Bible don't make any sense and are nonsense.

Ken Hivart, last week when he did the reading, he was a bit funny,

because he sort of did an editorial comment as he read the proverbs.

I don't agree with this.

I don't agree with that.

And the fact of the matter is, he was just giving voice to what goes on in a lot of our heads.

If you don't believe me, Andrew, could you put up the first proverb that we're going to read?

I think it's Proverbs, there we go, 10, 3 to 4.

Could you folks read this proverb with me out loud?

The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

So here's the problem.

We all know that's not true, don't we?

I mean, we all know that's not true.

The fact of the matter is, is that in many places in Africa and India,

there's lots of righteous followers of Jesus,

and they're suffering terrible poverty and famine.

And, you know, one of the things I've noticed about my kids,

when I went through high school and elementary school like 100 million years ago,

before they'd invented group projects.

Believe it or not, there was a time when there weren't group projects at school.

But what I've noticed about group projects is that almost every group project involves one kid or more,

who does no work, no work, and gets the same mark as others.

In fact, it seems as if there's some kids in university who their special talent is to figure out who the smart kids are to get in their group,

so they can get no work and get the mark of the smart kids.

And many of us who've worked in the civil service and other places,

we all know that there's incompetent, lazy people whose expertise is kissing butt and flattering the boss so they get promotions.

Right?

We all know that's true.

So this proverb can't be possibly correct.

Now, let's look at another one that we all know that's not true.

And I'm going to tell you a funny thing about this.

This is a proverb.

I grew up in a Baptist church.

And the Baptist church that I grew up in was a church that believed that you should never drink alcohol.

And it also was a church that practiced tithing.

But they never showed me this proverb that says that if I tithe, God will give me lots of wine.

Like, you know, ever since I noticed it this week, I've been meaning to email it to all my Baptist and Pentecostal friends.

Could you put it up?

It's the next one.

Let's read it with me.

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.

Give us your money.

You'll be rich and have more wine than you can drink.

That would sell on Rideau Street.

Let me tell you.

There would be so many people coming to church to give their tithe.

Let's see, my welfare.

Just never mind.

Anyway.

So here's the thing is, okay.

Now, we, you know, we're all polite Christians.

And we know that we're not supposed to say that these things aren't true.

But one of the reasons that people don't like, one of the many reasons people don't like the book of Proverbs

is it seems to say things that aren't true.

So I'm going to go through these fairly quickly, hopefully.

But I want to just share with you.

And if you don't have time to write them down or you don't want to write them down, that's fine.

It'll all go on the webpage later on.

I want to share with you a couple of things about how to read and understand Proverbs.

Andrew, if you could put the first one up.

Read a proverb as a proverb and not as a law.

Read a proverb as a proverb and not as a law.

Now, lots of Christians violate this all the time.

Without a vision, the people will perish.

If you don't have a good vision for your church or your organization, it's all going to collapse.

That's not what that proverb means.

Good grief.

That's interpreted in a mechanistic way and it's using vision in a way that has nothing to do with it

as a business tool that's been developed over the last 20 years.

And how many health and wealth gospels, maybe some of the different evangelists that John Oliver or Joe Oliver,

whatever his name is, Mr. Oliver, has mocked this week.

How many of them interpret Proverbs 3, 9, and 10 in some type of mechanistic way?

Give your money to God through me and God will make you rich.

I mean, how many people understand that as a mechanistic law?

So here's the thing about this.

All of these, I'm going to give you these little things to how to read Proverbs and it's not special pleading.

It's just actually looking at the literary genre and the place of the book.

Because you know what?

What's the book called?

Proverbs, not laws.

That's what it's called.

So read every proverb as a proverb.

Not as a mechanistic law.

Do this and this will automatically happen.

Second one.

Could you put it up, Andrew?

Do not read one proverb as if it is the only proverb.

So, you know, don't read one proverb as if it's the only proverb.

You have to, I mean, Proverbs is, Proverbs is not designed for the Twitterverse that we live in today.

Where you want one little thing and you want it right now and you want it to be really clear

so you can get happy about it or mad about it or laugh about it or share it.

And you want it, no, Proverbs, I mean, somebody this week was talking to me about how, you know,

they found my sermon last week illogical.

And that was a fair comment because, you see, the book of Proverbs is not logical.

If I was to make Proverbs, I'm losing my mic, if I was to make Proverbs logical, I'd be turning it into something that it isn't.

And the book of Proverbs, as you'll see when I put, you know, out of the many, many Proverbs in the book of Proverbs

about money and wealth and work and poverty and all that stuff, I just, I pick some of them.

I pick the ones that I think are the most representative.

I don't try to dodge hard ones.

And I just put them in the order of this reading here in terms of how they come in the book.

But when I'm going to talk about them, I don't do them in order.

And the fact of the matter is, is that you have to balance these different Proverbs.

As you'll see in a moment when we talk about some Proverbs about wealth and stuff like that,

the book of Proverbs has, the book of Proverbs is very subtle and very wise.

So don't read one proverb as if it's the only proverb.

Search the scriptures.

Search the book of Proverbs and look for other Proverbs.

And then look at how they fit together.

This leads me to the third point.

Read each proverb in light of life now and eternity.

Read each proverb in light of life now and of eternity.

Many of the things in the book of Proverbs, if there is no God,

or if the God is sort of the God of deists,

which is he sort of set everything up, he designed the planet,

and then he's off on an extended holiday and he has nothing to do with the earth.

Or if it's sort of like a more Hindu or Buddhist God,

which is like sort of God is in everything or doesn't have a plan or purpose or design,

then a lot of the Proverbs make absolutely no sense.

A lot of the Proverbs take a long view of things.

I was going to put it in and I ended up not doing it.

You can do it later on.

I looked up like how much money would you have made if you had bought the first Apple shares in 1994.

Every one of us, if we put a couple of thousand bucks, we would be very well off.

Probably every one of us could be mortgage free if we had done that.

And that's only 21 years.

And the fact of the matter is that the Bible is not always talking about things.

It's taking a really long view.

It's taking not only life now but eternity.

It's taking the fact that there is a God that does exist

and that there's going to be a judgment.

And it's taking this long view into it.

And so if you just read the Proverbs as if it's talking about what's going to happen this week,

you're not reading the book of Proverbs as it's designed to be read.

If you could put up the fourth point, a proverb will be fulfilled fully, partly, or spiritually.

We're going to talk about this.

You'll see this more as we go through it.

But, I mean, here's one of the things.

You're going to see that, like, even this thing about the honor of the Lord, Proverbs 3, 9, and 10.

We're going to talk about that a little bit more later on.

I know people who tithe and more.

They give 10% of all their income.

And I think every person I've met who tithes, most of them haven't become rich, by the way,

but every person who tithes will tell you stories of God's remarkable provision.

Everyone.

Everyone will tell you some story where their barn was empty

and they didn't know what was going to happen and God provided.

Everyone.

So sometimes the Proverbs are fulfilled partly.

Sometimes it might be fulfilled quite dramatically in your life.

And all of them will be fulfilled eventually.

And sometimes they're to be understood within the basic hierarchy of how Proverbs understands things.

It'll be understood in terms of other types of riches.

And that's how we have to.

And the final, the fifth thing about how to read the Proverbs

is that Proverbs assumes that you will seek the living God for wisdom

as to which proverb applies in each situation.

Proverbs assumes that you will seek the living God for wisdom

as to which proverb applies in each situation.

See, here's one of the things, is that every culture has Proverbs.

It doesn't matter if it's a Buddhist culture, a Hindu culture, a New Age culture,

an atheist culture, a money-making secular culture, a Christian culture.

Every culture has Proverbs.

And the fact of the matter is that Proverbs always have to have some type of context.

Just take a very, very simple one.

A very, very simple proverb.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Okay?

Two heads are better than one.

One moment.

Those things actually...

So, George, is it all right to ask advice from one person,

but if I ask it from a third or fourth person, it's going to spoil the broth?

No.

I mean, if one of my kids or, you know, a young person came to me

and they're talking to me about a problem,

I might say to them,

you know what the problem is right here?

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

This is a situation where you've got to deal with this all by yourself.

You've just got to deal with it by yourself.

And then maybe they took that in a mechanistic law type of way

and they're always trying to solve everything by themselves

and they run into some type of problem

and they come to me and I said,

you know, your problem is two heads are better than one.

You need to talk and get advice.

They wouldn't say,

one moment, George, you're contradicting.

No.

That's how proverbs work.

In every culture.

And in fact, the book of proverbs is designed to drive you and me to our knees

and say, God, I really need your wisdom as to when this is applying

and when this is applying.

I'm in this situation.

I really need your wisdom.

And so one of the great things about learning the book of proverbs

and memorizing proverbs is that maybe as you pray,

God will make you realize that in this particular context,

this is the proverb that's really going to give you wisdom to move forward.

So, hopefully that's helped a little tiny bit in terms of whether or not, you know,

because it's really easy to make the Bible look ridiculous.

It's the easiest thing in the world to make the Bible look ridiculous.

Anyone with, you know, probably a grade five education, if they wanted to,

could make it look really, really ridiculous.

It doesn't have to be very clever.

But just reading proverbs, just using the normal way to read it,

you realize that these other things, you can see, well, you know,

there are many cases where the righteous, I mean, as you know,

many people will tell you that as they follow Jesus that he's met their needs,

that he's met their deepest needs.

And many people will tell you that, you know, laziness and stuff like that

is going to end up costing you in a whole type of ways.

And, you know, obviously there's some wisdom in this.

And honor the Lord, and that's obviously a good thing,

and we'll talk about it more in a second.

But some of you might say, well, George, okay, okay, George, you say this,

but doesn't the Bible tell everyone to be poor and give their money away?

Like, isn't that sort of what the new Pope seems to be talking about a little bit,

like dissing private enterprise and talking about being poor?

And, George, isn't that like sort of, isn't that like the church did all those years

in the province of Quebec?

And weren't the priests, like, living a pretty comfortable life

and amassing lots of property and telling all those good French Catholics

that they should just be poor and that they should thank God for being poor?

Like, isn't that what the Bible says?

Not at all.

Let's look at Proverbs 10, 15.

Proverbs 10, 15.

You want to read it with me?

A rich man's wealth is his strong city.

The poverty of the poor is their ruin.

We're going to go through these Proverbs a bit quicker now.

You want to, let's say it again because you got out of the rhythm.

A rich man's wealth is his strong city.

The poverty of the poor is their ruin.

Here's the thing about this particular parable,

is that the Bible, the book of Proverbs, does not romanticize the poor.

However, it does not romanticize poverty.

It doesn't.

And, you know, there's lots of things.

Religion often will do it.

Spirituality will do it.

Poets and others will do it.

Editorialists and newspapers can maybe talk

as if there's something very special and noteworthy

and laudable about poverty.

But the book of Proverbs never romanticizes poverty.

Poverty is hard.

It is ruinous.

It is just hard.

I mean, God might call some people to give away all to follow him,

but it, you know, that, and that's a special, unique, intimate type of thing,

you know, but it never romanticizes the problems.

You know, when I was in Africa, I've only been in Africa twice,

and both are very short things,

and gosh, there is unbelievable poverty in a place like that.

And gosh, compared to them, I have this unbelievable luxury

that even if my credit card, even if my plane ticket was stolen,

I have this wonderful thing called a credit card,

and I could have bought a plane ticket,

and I could have been out of there very quick.

And the people who were poor there, they had nowhere to go.

The Bible doesn't romanticize poverty.

Well, then some of you might say,

doesn't religion sometimes make it sound as if poverty is all your own fault?

And doesn't, like, George, like, you know, think of India,

and think of, you know, think of China,

and think of a lot of those, you know, countries, you know,

and it's all karma, and it's like where you are,

you somehow deserve where you are.

And so isn't that just sort of what religion does all the time?

It sort of makes it look like if you're poor, it's always your fault?

And doesn't it sort of dehumanize it?

Because, you know, obviously it's really easy to sort of pour contempt

and not even view people as being fully human

if it's somehow some type of religious principle

that they're poor and you're better off.

Isn't that what religious people talk about?

It might be what lots of religion and spiritualities and ideologies talk about,

but it's not what the book of Proverbs talks about at all.

Far from it.

If you could put up the next proverb, 22.2,

could you read this with me?

The rich and the poor meet together.

The Lord is the maker of them all.

Isn't that amazing?

Full humanity.

Bill Gates is made by God.

The poorest of the poor in the poorest country in the world,

equally made by God.

In fact, Genesis 1 tells us that every human being is made in the image of God.

It's not that rich people are more in the image of God than poor people.

There is only, we might think, a rich person might think that they're a self-made man or woman.

Nobody's a self-made man or woman.

Every human being has a maker.

Every human being has a maker.

The Bible levels it and in a sense humbles the rich

to make them realize that they have a maker

and exalts the poor to full humanity.

They have a maker.

Let's look at another one that talks about the same thing, 29.13.

29.13.

Can you read this with me, please?

The poor man and the oppressor meet together.

The Lord gives light to the eyes of both.

See, once again, it's even really interesting in this particular text.

It talks about the oppressor.

Like, what do oppressors do?

They practice injustice.

They practice evil.

They treat certain types.

You know, in the Russian Revolution,

people who had certain...

And in the Cambodian Revolution,

you know, the people who had property

or the people who were educated,

they're completely and utterly dehumanized.

So you can do whatever you want to them.

You can kill them.

You can throw them in the gulag.

You can just take away their property.

It's very common for oppressors

to dehumanize and delegitimize people

that they are over.

And here the Bible says,

even the oppressors and even the oppressed,

God gives light to their eyes equally.

And it's an analogy.

Light to the eyes is an analogy for life.

God...

There is a radical, radical affirmation

of the humanity of the poor

in the book of Proverbs

without at all romanticizing the poor.

So, well, some of you might say,

okay, George, but...

Okay, but, you know,

okay, George, you know that last...

The new pope and all.

Wouldn't some of his advice

just lead to poverty?

And like, you know,

I'm a little bit confused, actually, George,

because, you know, on one hand,

you seem to have some people

who are religious and Christian

and they use the Bible to make it sound

and they give you advice

that's just going to make you poor.

And yet, you know, George,

there's other people

who seem to use the Bible

to say as if it's going to make you all rich.

And I'm...

You know, what...

What's going on?

Let's look at another proverb.

Proverbs 24, 3 to 4.

Proverbs 24, 3 to 4.

Can you read this one with me, please?

By wisdom, a house is built,

and by understanding, it is established.

By knowledge, the rooms are filled

with all precious and pleasant riches.

Notice that.

See, one of the things

that the book of Proverbs

is very realistic about

is that if you end up listening

to the Proverbs

and putting them into practice,

it's quite possible

you will become better off

than you were before.

Like, it's...

There's many, many Proverbs,

but the Proverbs which call you

to avoid laziness

and to embrace working

in a diligent, thoughtful,

reasoned, wise,

you know, consistent, hard manner,

I mean, generally speaking,

when that happens,

you're far more likely

to end up with more financial resources

if you do those things

than if you're lazy.

The warnings about drunkenness,

once again,

if you're avoiding drunkenness

and all of the tragedies

that come along with drunkenness,

you're far more likely

to be better off

than if you, you know,

ignore these Proverbs.

You know, the Pro...

So the book of Proverbs

is very conscious of the fact

that if you follow it,

one of the consequences

might be that you are better off.

And it doesn't say

that's a bad thing.

It doesn't say good grief.

You know, if you're a young man

or you're a young woman

and you've worked really hard

and you got your degrees

and, you know,

you've gotten a job

in the federal service,

civil service,

or you've gotten a position,

you know,

in some other company

or you've started

your own company

and you work hard

and you make some money

and it's not a world...

The book of Proverbs,

the Bible,

is not world-denying.

It doesn't say,

well, okay,

now you have all this money

but we want you

to really feel miserable

all the time

and never feel happy.

Like, pleasure comes from God.

He created us

to experience pleasure

and to experience joy.

And so the book of Proverbs

is frankly realistic

about the fact

that for some people,

following this

will make you better off.

But at the same time,

it's also realistic

about the nature of wealth.

If you could put up

the next proverb, please.

Proverbs 23, verses 4 and 5.

Proverbs 23:4

And you want to read this

with me as well, please.

Do not toil to acquire wealth.

Be discerning enough to desist.

When your eyes light on it,

it is gone.

For suddenly it sprouts wings,

flying like an eagle toward heaven.

You see, actually,

even that pre...

So you see how I mean

that earlier thing about

don't read one proverb

as if it's the only proverb.

Like, put them together.

Like, the fact of the matter

is that regularly

one of the things

that happens to us

is that even though

maybe we've been

very hardworking

and we've been

very diligent,

some mistake made

by stockbrokers

or a CEO

can do something

and we go down the toilet

with everybody else

and it's not...

It's just...

We go down the toilet

like everybody else.

And the fact of the matter

is that wealth

is very impermanent,

isn't it?

I mean, I was talking

to somebody just the other day

who worked for Nortel

in the glory days.

And I remember,

you know,

in the late 1990s

and people were investing

in Nortel,

investing in high tech.

It would be

a constant conversation.

People would almost

go online every day

to see how much

their stocks were going up

and how richer

they were going.

And I think in 2000,

2001,

the highest share

for Nortel

was $120 a share

and within a very short

time after that

it was down to

it's garbage.

In 2008,

there was a...

I guess we'll call it now

a market readjustment.

And share values

declined 30 to 40%.

If you had

half a million dollars

in there,

that means within

a very, very short

period of time,

you,

by doing nothing,

you lost,

you maybe lost

$200,000.

And there's probably

people here in this room

that can tell you

how much they lost.

Probably wasn't easy

as well.

Riches, in fact,

are impermanent.

They really are.

And so,

you see,

when you put these

different proverbs together,

you also sort of notice

that it's saying here

in this particular proverb,

the problem

is toiling to acquire wealth.

The problem is toiling

to acquire wealth per se.

You see,

it's really trying to say

that, you know,

it's a very, very different thing

if you really want

to master sociology,

you want to master statistics,

or you want to master

playing the viola,

or you want to master

being able to help people

manage money

in a different way,

or you really want

to be able to master

classical literature,

or you really want

to be able to master

writing oil-style country music,

or whatever it is,

and you really work hard

at this,

and at the same time,

you want to provide

for yourself,

and you want to provide

for your loved ones,

and you maybe want to provide

for children and grandchildren,

and you work really hard

at these things,

and sometimes one of the

byproducts that come from that

is that you start

to make lots of money.

But the heart of the work

with your knowledge

and your wisdom

and understanding

isn't just to try to say,

what am I going to do

to make lots and lots

and lots of money?

It doesn't matter what it is.

Should I rob a bank?

Should I start a bank?

Should I work for a bank?

Like, it's trying

to pursue that

as opposed to pursuing

those other types of goods,

and that's part,

that's a big human trap.

And so you see

that the Bible

is very, very frank

and realistic

and very, very wise.

In fact, Andrew,

if you could put up

my first point,

you know, my real point,

so if you remember

the Proverbs,

that's the best thing,

but I want to try

to summarize

some of the teaching

of the book of Proverbs

in this very simple point.

Wealth is a great good,

but a terrible God.

That's tattooable, okay?

You know?

I'm not encouraging tattoos, okay?

But it sure beats

some meaningless

little Chinese thing

that you can't even

remember afterwards,

you know,

what it's supposed to mean,

you know?

Wealth is a great good,

but a terrible God.

If you get your identity

from wealth,

if you serve wealth,

if you hope in wealth,

it's a terrible God.

But gosh,

it's a great good.

It can be a great good.

We're going to talk more

about in a second

about how it can be

a great good.

I mean, you know,

when I was in Nairobi,

I wasn't complaining

about the fact

that I had this magic.

I mean, I've lived

paycheck to paycheck

my whole life.

But, you know,

there's no question

that in a country like Kenya,

I would have been

very wealthy.

But I've always lived

paycheck to paycheck.

Still do.

You know,

someday maybe

that will stop.

I mean,

hopefully eventually

I'll retire,

so I won't be able

to live paycheck to paycheck.

But, you know,

it's a great benefit

that God,

for whatever reason,

I have this credit card

I could have got out of there

at any time

if there's something happening

and as a Canadian,

if there was some other problem,

the government would even

come in and try to help.

It's a good,

it's a good.

And we should be thankful for it.

We should be grateful for it.

We should rejoice in it.

We should enjoy it.

But it's a terrible God.

It's a terrible God.

In fact,

here's another proverb

which really wonderfully expresses it.

If you could put it up,

it's Proverbs 18.11.

Proverbs 18.11.

Say it with me.

A rich man's wealth

is his strong city

and like a high wall

in his imagination.

In his imagination.

It's,

obviously there's benefits

to money

that aren't imaginary,

but when you make it a God,

it's imaginary.

It's imaginary.

There you go.

So some of,

so George,

okay,

some of you are saying,

George,

okay,

this is actually pretty interesting.

So are you telling me

that I should become more religious

or more spiritual

or something like that?

Like,

is that the way to go forward?

If I'm sort of more religious

with my money,

I'll be better off?

Or if I'm more spiritual

with my money,

I'm better off?

In fact,

actually the Bible

never tells you

to become more religious

or spiritual,

at least not in the way

that the world

understands spiritual.

In fact,

out of all of the literature

and all of the ideologies,

there is no book

that critiques religion

more than the Bible.

There's no book

that could critique

spiritual,

not religious

more than the Bible.

Could put up

the next proverb,

Proverbs 17.1.

Proverbs 17.1.

Want to say it with me,

please?

Better is a dry morsel

with quiet

than a house full

of feasting

with strife.

So here's the thing.

It's part of this,

this background knowledge

being able to read

the book of Proverbs.

In the ancient world

and in the world

of the book of Proverbs,

feasting was connected

with,

first you'd have

a sacrifice

and then you'd feast.

And the book of,

so what it's really saying

is,

you know what,

you can be so well off

that you can afford

to go to all these

religious ceremonies

and you can be

sacrificing things

like crazy

and then feasting

like crazy,

but you know,

often it's just,

there's still a lot

of strife.

In fact,

the matter is,

is that rather than

all these religious

ceremonies

that don't necessarily

do anything at all

about strife,

you're probably better off

with just a dry morsel

of bread sitting

by yourself

in the quiet.

Like,

religion doesn't help you.

Spiritual,

not religious,

doesn't help you.

You know,

I've been involved

in that.

You know,

I'm part of the

Anglican Church of Canada

for a long time.

I'm not picking on them,

but I made a comment

about Baptists,

so I have to say

something about Anglicans.

And let me tell you,

you know,

behind sometimes

all of this great,

wonderful ceremony

that Anglicans can do

really,

really well,

and you know,

we all walk down

all in robes,

and all,

you know,

we know the right way

to stand.

But you know what?

In the pews,

people are saying,

look at that,

he's always like this,

it should be like this,

it should be like this.

You know,

he's doing his hands

like this for the celebration,

it should be like this,

it should be like this,

or he's doing this,

or he's doing that,

or it's so finicky,

and all it's doing

is there's just so much

bitching and complaining

and one-upmanship

going on behind the scene

in all of this

fantastic ceremony.

But it used to sometimes

be a huge bother

to sit with the clergy

in one of these ceremonies

because they're all

gossiping and commenting

and talking

while the ceremony's going on.

I hope I didn't

make some of you

lose your,

I'm not saying,

there's nothing bad

with things,

okay?

But what the text

is saying is

religious ceremonies

and sacrifices

isn't going to solve

the problem.

That's what it's saying.

It's not going to solve

the problem.

It's not pointing

to this.

So,

in fact,

actually,

one of the things

that might surprise people

is that the Bible

actually says something

that probably

many people

on the street,

if you're after the service,

go up and just down,

go to the pride

parade later on

and ask people

or go on Rito Street

and ask people

and you ask them,

do you think

that if you have to,

if there is a God

that does exist

and you have to appear

before the judgment throne,

do you think that God

cares about how much

was in your bank

before you died?

And probably everybody

who said,

no,

no God worthy

of being God

is going to care

about what's in the bank

account before you died.

That's in the Bible.

Look at the next proverb,

Proverb 11.4.

Proverbs 11.4.

Say it with me.

Riches do not profit

in the day of wrath,

but righteousness

delivers from death.

You know,

God doesn't say,

okay,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

okay,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

I know you oppressed

your workers

and I know you went bankrupt

in such a way

that you could sort of

screw all of your suppliers

and your employers

and employees

and actually be able

to walk away

with a really tidy amount

of money in your pocket

and,

you know,

wow,

am I ever impressed

by your dollars.

So you're going to have

a good place.

No,

it's not how,

no,

everybody,

it's not only is that

a common view,

actually it's probably

a view that ultimately

comes,

it's an echo of an echo

of an echo

of the Bible

and it's also just

an echo

and a sense of how

if there is a God

who does exist,

how he must be just.

But this particular proverb

has,

there's a riddle

within it.

Riches do not profit

in the day of wrath

but righteousness

delivers from death.

We think we understand it

but it actually,

it poses a question

but who is righteous?

I'm spiritual,

not religious

and I do all these things

but I'm a good person.

I know how to do

these fancy Anglican

or Roman Catholic ceremonies

and I'm a good person.

I give money to the church,

I'm a good person.

When I go through

Loblaws

and I,

they say,

do you want to give

two dollars

on your bill

for cancer or whatever

and you say,

yeah, yeah,

go ahead.

No,

yeah,

why not?

I'm a good person.

You think

the book of Proverbs

was written for us

to think that we were

good persons.

There's a riddle here.

It's one of those things

that we can say,

yes,

God's not going to give

Bill Gates

a better place in heaven

or the Queen of England

just because they're rich.

Yes,

it's not just written

for other people,

this is written for you.

Are you righteous?

Am I righteous?

No,

I'm not.

And there's another bit

of a riddle here

in the text as well

and to understand this

you have to understand

something about

how the overarching

story of the Bible.

So,

I have to look at it

from your point of view.

So,

the overarching story

of the Bible

and we'll imagine

it starts over here

is that God creates

everything.

He is the maker

of all things,

the sustainer

of all things

and he makes

all things good.

That's Genesis chapter 1

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

and 2.

And then in Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

as time moves on

there comes this point

in time

where our spiritual ancestors

Adam and Eve

they choose to reject God

and to be like God

themselves.

And they,

that ends up

in a sense

bending or twisting

human nature.

And it's very,

very interesting.

Genesis 3

isn't finished

before God

not only sees

that this has happened

that human beings

have wrecked themselves

by trying to be like God.

And they can try

to be like God

by being a hero

of drink,

by being a hero

of making money,

by being a military hero,

by being a religious hero,

by being a spiritual hero.

But there's this

fundamental self-centeredness,

this bentness

to human beings

that can bend and twist.

Even goods like wealth

can be bent and twist

and turned into idols

and we can't be

our own gods.

We end up making

other gods of wealth

or power

or prestige

or tribe

or nation

or war

or ideology

or philosophers

or individuals

or a particular person

or a family

and we can all twist them

and turn them into gods

and all in every case

we're still rejecting

the real God

and the ink

is hardly dry

and out of God's perception

and humans' perception

it's hardly dry

in that

that God immediately

starts making promises.

promises.

He immediately

start making promises

because

and not only promises

but promises

and other riddles

for people

to come to the point

where they say

only God can fix this.

Only God can fix this.

And so you have creation,

you have fall,

and then you have

this period of promise

and riddles

and preparation

and all of it

is designed

for us to come to the point

and say

only God.

And then you have

the cross

which is God

keeping his promise.

That God

will do something

that only he can do

to fix

who we are,

begin that process

in terms of being able

to experience it

on this side of the grave

but ultimately

it's all God

and we know that

in its fullness

when Jesus comes

or when we die

and meet him face to face.

And the time period

that we live now

is after the cross

in what's often

I call it

the already not yet

the fruits of the spirit

and the first fruits

of the spirit

but not the fullness

and there's still this time

not the screen

sorry

which is when Jesus comes

and it's on one hand

the end

and the other hand

it's the beginning.

But when we're standing now

on this side of the cross

and when we're reading

the scripture text

we read everything

in the Old Testament

we have to realize

that it's here

on this side

and it's setting riddles

for us

and connected to promises

and it's designed

to have us come to the point

where we say

only God

only God

and God

does

this wonderful thing

and so when we read

this thing again here

riches do not profit

in the day of wrath

that's God's judgment

but righteousness delivers

from death

we have to

everywhere in the Bible

that you see the word

righteousness

you have to understand

that it's more than

just another way

to understand what's good

that it's a relational term

a place term

and I'll give you

an illustration

of what it is

let's say I don't know

who the richest person

is in the congregation

let's just call him Bob

and Bob and Sally

they end up having

this gathering

and they go to a restaurant

and they call together

a lot of people

and you know

they've invited people

their neighbors

and stuff

to this restaurant

and then Sally

whispers to Bob

and says

you know Bob

you know look

who's over there

you know there's

you know Prudence

is over there

and Phil is over there

and you know what

they probably didn't realize

this was going to be

such a steep restaurant

and they're not going to be

they're going to be

looking at that menu

they're just going to have

an appetizer

because they won't be able

to eat here

they can't afford it

they might not even be able

to afford the appetizer

and so Sally says

to her husband Bob

make it right

make it righteous

fix it

and she's hoping then

that Bob would

come up alongside somebody

or maybe come up

beside the waiter

and say

for these people here

the bill doesn't go to them

the bill comes to me

they can't pay

I'm going to pay

I'm going to make it right

I'm going to make it righteous

and maybe he goes up

to some of them

and says

you know I can't tell you who

but it's all being dealt with

and the person

somebody's going to deal with this

and they want you

just to really have a good meal

and it's going to be right

they're going to make it right

it's going to be righteous

and Andrew

could you put up

our second point

and I'm not smart enough

to think of a second point

so I picked a Bible passage

it's a Bible passage

that just about

every Christian

should memorize

for you know

the grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that you

by his poverty

might become rich

it's not a wonderful way

to understand

what Jesus does

for instance on the cross

see on the cross

the father says

to the son

you see George

and you see Don

and you see Joe

and you see Elizabeth

and you see Brian

and you see Andrea

they can't pay for this

make it right

and one way to understand

the mystery of the cross

is the cross

is God

making things

right

through his son

that in the cross

a power of God

for salvation

is revealed

to make us

righteous

and it emerges

out of God's

faithfulness

for human beings

and all he asks

of us

is faith

we can't say

God here's a 50

to help

here's $500

to help

no

and in fact

this wonderful text

this wonderful point

for you know the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that you

through his poverty

might become rich

like

part of the wonder

of the cross

the wonder of salvation

isn't just

that in a sense

you know

using that analogy

that

that Jesus

picks up my bill

but that Jesus

gives his all

out of generosity

to us

and it's as if

it's as if

the rich person

in this congregation

not only do they

pay for the meal

so that the person

can eat

but he also

slips them

his bank card

connected to his

50 million dollar

bank account

and says

this is yours

that's what Jesus

does for us

it's not that he

just pays the price

and then we gotta

earn our own way

from then on in

he pays the price

and gives us

his bank card

and the father

has

unlimited

resources

and that's given

to us

by faith

that's what

Jesus does

for us

on the cross

that is God

hoping that we

read texts

like Proverbs 11

4

and realize

only God

and nobody

imagined

the unbelievable

generosity

of grace

that we can

receive

for what Jesus

did for us

in the cross

so just a couple

of things

to bring this

to a close

let's look at

Proverbs 11

24

can you put

that up

on the screen

Andrew

can you read

this with me

one gives

freely

yet grows

all the richer

another withholds

what he should

give

and only

suffers want

this doesn't

make any sense

in a world

where there is

no God

but it makes

all the sense

in the world

if there is

a world

created by God

sustained by God

a world

where God

is sovereign

where he has

sent his son

as to deliver

us

to be salvation

for us

to pay

and to enrich

us

and will bring

all things

to completion

and as we

are gripped

by what Jesus

does for us

on the cross

the unbelievable

barely believable

hard to grasp

never ending

something that we

can meditate upon

as the mystery

of the cross

grips us

it should lead us

to generosity

it should lead

us to be

generous

it will lead

us to be

generous

as the cross

grips us

just before

I put up

these last

two

could Andrew

could you

put up

my final

point

summarizing

a wide

range

of biblical

teaching

this is how

I put it

the grammar

is not

very good

I apologize

I was doing

it yesterday

late

and you know

maybe some

of you can

send me an email

later as to

how to make

it better

grammar

and I

appreciate it

but here it

is

with gratitude

to the Lord

wealth is a

blessing to be

enjoyed

and is also

to be used

generously to

bring glory

to God

and help

people in need

remember earlier

on I said

wealth is a

great good

but a terrible

God

and the Bible

teaches us

that with

gratitude to

the Lord

for whatever

amount of

wealth you

have

wealth is a

blessing to

be enjoyed

and is also

to be used

generously to

bring glory

to God

and to

help people

in need

that's

tattooable

as well

folks

it's a

long tattoo

but it's

tattooable

with gratitude

you know

and it's as if

this

and here's the

thing

just a couple

of things

to take

this

the biblical

tithe

is a rule

of thumb

to guide

generosity

that's what

the biblical

tithe is

if you go

back and read

the book

of Proverbs

at the beginning

it assumes

that you're

reading the

book of

the Old

Testament

law

and all

the other

things

and you know

if you're

saying well

George

what does

generosity

look like

the bible

consistently

gives you

this figure

start with

10%

10%

try to

work towards

that

and that's

a good

sort of

rule of

thumb

for being

generous

and you know

what

in some ways

in some of

those you

have a few

money

you know

like a very

wise way to

live would be

give 10%

away

you know

give it

give it

to the

church

and other

missionaries

and other

and relief

agencies

to bring glory

to God

and to

help people

in need

and save

some money

and you know

if there's

money left

over

guess what

enjoy it

enjoy it

don't have a

long face

because you

have a

Ford F-150

truck

the bible

doesn't say

feel guilty

all the time

because of your

money

enjoy it

if he's

blessed you

with the

ability to

sing

or with

strength

or with

a great

mind

or ability

to dance

or organize

and give

of your

best

honor the

Lord

with it

you know

give

and honor

the Lord

and enjoy

it

and all

with gratitude

and here's

a second

thing

generosity

can be

practiced

at every

income

level

the first

time I

was

I've only

been in

Africa

twice

the first

time I

was in

Africa

I met

this

Tanzanian

bishop

and we

were out

walking

was in

a rural

area

of Kenya

and he

knows I'm

this shy

terrified

white

guy

and he's

this wonderful

godly little

guy

and we're

for a walk

along this

sort of

country road

and he

sees the

house

and he

says let's

go knock

on the

door of the

house and

visit them

and he

could just

he did it

on purpose

he could just

feel my

anxiety level

going way

up

and he

put his

hand on me

and he

said we're

not in

North America

we are in

Africa

and in

Africa

they practice

hospitality

and generosity

they will

welcome us

and they

did

and they

had very

little money

you know what

generosity

can be for

somebody with

very little

money and

lots of

money and

the big trap

we get into

is we think

that we can

be generous

when we've

achieved

something

but generosity

begins now

here's a

final thing

before we

just have

our two

final proverbs

to wrap

up and

that is

for some

of us

we are

in huge

debt

problems

right now

and we

say gosh

George

this has

been

challenging

but if

you knew

how bad

of debt

that I

was in

right now

here's the

thing

you know

it's a

very different

thing to

take out a

business loan

to build a

business

but many

many people

what we need

to do is

flee debt

flee credit

card debt

flee car debt

we need to

see debt

and imagine

every time we

see an offer

to loan us

money

we should

have a

picture in

our head

of a

gazelle

by a

watering hole

watched by

a hungry

lion

that's

tattooable

as well

this is

going to

be the

tattoo

sermon

you know

before you

buy that

expensive

car

gazelle

hungry

lion

maybe

I'll

buy

fourth hand

and not

go into

debt

and if

you are

right now

really

struggling

with debt

seek help

there's a

man in our

congregation

probably more