Financial Peace & Purpose: Proverbs 31, Wisdom for Flourishing - 8 March, 2026

Thank you, Jess. That was like so fast.

Today is International Women's Day.

I'm going to ask all the men to stand.

Old men, if you can turn around, put let your eyes connect with a

woman and say you are blessed. So there you go.

What are we doing? So guys, you got to do this

again. OK, all the guys sit down.

I'm going to show you how to do this.

You're going to rise up and say you are blessed.

It goes like this. I arise and say you are blessed.

All right, one more time, 123. Oh, my goodness, you guys.

OK, so you were just fulfilling biblical descriptions of honor.

And we sometimes miss this. This is one of those lines in

Proverbs 31. It's a very famous poem about

the valiant woman, the heroic woman, the superwoman.

I want to put it all in context though, so that we see this

passage for what it is, that it's actually a call to actually

live a life of embodied wisdom, and that the whole book of

Proverbs, it's fascinating, the whole book of Proverbs sort of

paints wisdom as something that you must earnestly desire.

And when it gets to the last chapter, it actually moves from

the Proverbs of Solomon, and it moves towards another teacher, a

woman who is teaching King Lemuel's mother.

We're not sure if the famous poem it's hers, but it may well

be. And so let her be your teacher

today from the Word of God about becoming a person who embodies

all of the wisdom of God. This passage that we're going to

read is sometimes heard by the modern ear as a burden.

And so I acknowledge that that some women hear this and go,

they get to the end of it and go, Oh, no, I'm already tired,

what am I going to do? And so if you need to hear this

as just a description of the ideal woman, then let this be

the speech given at her lifetime achievement award ceremony.

This is what's seen over the course of a life.

But for both men and women who read this passage in its

context, you must read it as a call of God, a call of the voice

of wisdom itself, calling out to you to say be a person who

embodies the wisdom of God. Here's some of what it might

look like. Proverbs 31.

If you have a Bible, you can open it there or your Bible app.

The sayings of King Lemuel and inspired utterance his mother

taught him. Listen my son, listen, son of my

womb. Listen, my son, the answer to my

prayers. Do not spend your strength on

women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.

It is not for kings, Manuel. It is not for kings to drink

wine. It's not for rulers to crave

beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and

deprive all of the oppressed of their rights.

Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who

are in anguish. Let them drink and forget their

poverty, and remember their misery no more.

But you. Speak up.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the

rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly.

Defend the rights of the poor and needy.

A wife, a wife of noble character who can find she is

worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence

in her and lacks nothing of value.

She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

She is like the merchant ships bringing her food from afar.

She gets up while it is still night.

She provides food for her family and portions for her female

servants. She considers a field and buys

it out of her earnings. She plants a vineyard.

She sets about her work vigorously.

Her arms are strong for her tasks.

She sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not

go out at night. In her hand she holds the

distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the

needy when it snows. She has No Fear for her

household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

She makes coverings for her bed. She is clothed in fine linen and

purple. Her husband is respected at the

city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the

land. She makes linen garments and

sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.

She is clothed with strength and dignity.

She can laugh at the days to come.

She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her

tongue. She watches over the affairs of

her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children arise and call her blessed.

You get it, guys. Her husband also, and he praises

her. Many women do noble things, but

you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive and beauty is

fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works

bring her praise at the city gate.

We've been in a series called Financial Peace and Purpose.

Some of you've been astonished at the text we have chosen along

the way, and you might be astonished that this is the one

we're ending with. We started with a text in

Revelation that spoke of Babylon.

Babylon, that city that robbed people of dignity and worth and

ultimately stole the glory of God.

But we know we live in that system, but we also live in the

system of the Kingdom of God as the people of light.

And so some of you have been frustrated along the way, but I

still have to have money. I have to earn it.

I have to spend it. I have to give it.

I probably should save it. I still need money in this

setting. Who could save me from these

kinds of decisions? And ultimately, I hope you've

understood no one can save you from those decisions.

God intends for you to make decisions about money,

especially as you organize your life under Him.

One of the pictures that I like to draw about our life and

relationship with Jesus is in the walk through the gospel.

And in that picture, we put ourself here in the middle, and

we understand that we were made for four relationships, a

relationship with God. That's what we were made for.

This is who we are called to. But we also live in this body

and we have a sense of self. And we were made to have a

relationship with ourselves, to know ourselves, to become a

person. Much of that is done and

understood in relationship to others.

And we were made to have a relationship with other people.

And money belongs into that sense of mammon that we were

made to have a relationship with the stuff of Earth.

You're all here at university studying the stuff of Earth and

what people have done with it and what we could do with it.

And many of you have ambitions about that and dreams about what

to do with that. And some of you have sensed this

is what God has put in my heart and this is what I want to do

and I want to do it well. The call of scripture and the

call of God is to organize our life in relationship to Him.

And we often gather that around the word worship that I am

worshipping God. But how to understand our self

in the world is organized around the word wisdom.

And in the Scripture it says that wisdom begins with the fear

of God and it resets our life so that in relation to people we

know we are called to serve. And it changes our relationship

with the stuff of earth so that now we know we are a steward.

To steward the grace of God in its many forms requires wisdom.

Wisdom will be set in your life according to what you worship

and who you worship. The call of Jesus is for us to

understand all of this through the picture of the cross and the

life of the cross. That may not be readily apparent

in Proverbs 31, but there are some gifts in Proverbs 31 that

will ultimately lead us to the cross.

The 1st is that we have to reconcile that wisdom is

something we actually want. That wisdom blesses abundantly.

Can you move me forward there one back, there we go.

Proverbs 2 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will

be pleasant to your soul. This is when you open your heart

and life to God and you start to ask for wisdom.

It says wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be

pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you and

understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the

ways of wicked men. Wisdom will save you.

And it's repeated several times. Then in chapter 3, it says that

blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain

understanding. She is a tree of life.

Any tree huggers here that you're like, I will go and hug

that tree. And he says wisdom is that kind

of tree. Embrace this tree.

She is a tree of life for those who take hold of her, and those

who hold her fast will be blessed.

If you read Proverbs one through 9, you're going to hear this

depiction and you'll actually hear the voice of Lady Wisdom

calling out. She's contrasted with the foil

of Lady Folly, Wisdom and Folly. They each have their house that

they invite you into. They each promise you life, but

only one delivers. One delivers life, one delivers

death. But wisdom doesn't fully do its

words. If it's just words of wisdom,

they must become embodied into our lives.

They must be reflected on, thought about.

A proverb on the tongue is of little value in the mouth of a

fool because it hasn't done the work yet in the heart.

And so Lady Wisdom calls out in the words of the mother of King

Lemuel, to the king. We've been introduced here to

two kinds of people with power. The king has power.

These are the sayings of King Limwell and inspired utterance

his mother taught him. Listen.

The call to listen is is actually a call to obey, to give

thought to not just the words, but to your life.

And then the poem to this wife is actually a poem to a valiant

woman, a woman of valor. The word valor here is often

used in the Old Testament for men.

The mighty men of David, the mighty woman, the mighty wife,

the valiant woman. Do you know this poem is recited

every week and the home of my friend Rabbi Shalom every night

and every Friday night as the Shabbat meal has been served.

And then there's this moment of recognition in the family and

they've prayed. The man of the house stands up

and recites this poem to his wife every Friday.

What a wise man to rise up and call her blessed.

We have something to learn. Embodied wisdom.

Let's make some observations about it.

Embodied wisdom battles, fights for the flourishing of others.

This is what King Lemuel is trying is to be reminded of by

his mother. Do not spend your strength on

those who ruin kings. It's not for kings to crave

beer, lest they forget what has been decreed and deprive all the

oppressed of their rights. Speak up.

Speak up. Do you know how easy it is for a

man to just be quiet? It's harder for him to speak up.

Speak up, Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Speak up and defend the rights of the poor and needy.

This is what wisdom is to do. Embodied wisdom battles for the

flourishing of others. It takes hold of the power that

you have and says I will spend it for others.

The temptation always, and especially in our culture today,

is to say that I must use my power to promote myself.

I must use my power to make myself great and mighty.

I must use every position that I can attained for myself so that

I can take all my power out on those who offend me.

And I can remember every grudge and everything they ever did.

And now I will take that power out against my enemies.

This is the picture of power in our day.

It's not new. King Lemuel had to be reminded.

But then the great illustration and picture of wisdom embodied

valor for others is in the valley at woman.

Look at all the things she does. Look at the activity described.

She brings good to her husband. She selects wool and flocks with

eager hands. She's bringing food from afar.

She gets up while it's still night, tired, yet provides food

for her family and portions for her servants.

She considers a field and buys it out of her earnings.

She plants a vineyard. Notice the work and activity of

the wise. For the benefit of others.

Next slide. She's not done yet.

She sets about her work vigorously.

Her arms are strong for her tasks.

Women, do you have strong arms? This is the picture of vigor of

the valiant woman. Her arms.

Notice the descriptions here aren't of beauty in the standard

beauty picture. Notice that these are aptitude.

This is about strength. This is about intellectual

strength and capacity. Notice the descriptions.

She sets about her work vigorously.

Her arms are strong for her task.

She sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not

go out at night. In her hand she holds the

distaff and grasp the spindle with her fingers.

Do you all know what this is? This is how you you spin wool.

It's a staff. It's a dis staff.

And at the top of it is this mess, this mess of wool and

fiber. And she's spinning it out.

She's pulling it out. She's grasping that rod from

here to here and holding it, spinning it.

And down here she has a spindle that's gathering those threads.

This is complicated, but the real picture here is she's

taking the messes of life and doing something good with them.

She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the

needy. This valiant woman.

Of course it's doing things that take care of herself.

Of course she's doing things that take care of her husband

and her family. But she's also doing things that

extend beyond her family and oikos to make room for others.

She's thinking not only of herself, but also others.

This is what wisdom does. Wisdom battles for the good of

others, but it also anticipates the future, but it doesn't fear

the future. Embodied wisdom anticipates the

future but does not fear the future.

This is not a fraidy cat. This is the person who says

difficult times will come. I was probably borning 1, but I

know who holds the future, and I will also prepare for the

future. This summarizes a good bit of

Jesus's own teaching that we need not fear the future because

we know who holds the future, but we can even do things today

that secure ourselves and others for that future.

It's the consideration of the worst case scenario.

What if it snows here in the Middle East?

What if it snows here in the desert?

Most of the time my family is walking around around in white

clothes. They can.

I get lost on a snowy day in the desert.

We can't see them, but not hers. When it snows, she has No Fear

for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

Ha, she's like, I won't lose you, my child.

In that snow bank. You'll have a red scarf with a

Canadian Maple Leaf and red mittens with a Canadian Maple

Leaf. We're showing our roots, aren't

we? She is clothed with strength and

dignity. She can laugh at the days to

come. She's like, bring it on, it's OK

'cause I know who holds the future and I'm actually

diligently setting myself to prepare.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat

the bread of idleness. The suggestion being, I'm not

waiting for trouble to come. I'm going after trouble all the

time, just preparing ahead. Embodied wisdom anticipates the

future. It doesn't live with this blank

future of fear. It lives with an animated future

of faith that says great things can come even on a difficult

day. Embodied wisdom does even more.

It actually generates teaching and words worth hearing.

It says of her she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction

is on her tongue. You often hear me quoting Dallas

Willard and Speaking of him, but he says he went through a time

in ministry where he was really worried about Will.

Will there actually be people to hear what I have to say?

And God corrected him. And he says God impressed upon

my heart. Dallas just worry about having

something to say, have something to say, have something worth

saying. And an audience will come.

Sometimes in our lives we feel like I don't really have

anything to say. And I'm like, have you lived a

day yet? If you've lived a day and

thought reflectively about it, you probably have something to

say about your lived experience in that day, if you will reflect

on it with God and His Word. And this is what embodied wisdom

does. It generates teaching and words.

And This is why I appreciate our International Women's Day that

IO is organizing because she's saying I want to have an

intergenerational conversation where hopefully there have some,

there have been a few women who have lived a few days and they

have something to say and we have something to say to each

other. It's not about young or old.

I actually find I can meet older folks who lived in the House of

Folly and I don't want to spend a lot of time listening to what

they say. What a day we live in where

every day our leaders say things were like, you let that be born

in your heart in the House of Folly every day.

It's shocking what our leaders across North America stand up

and say, and we should be shocked because they come from

the death pit of folly. You must have discerning ears.

You must have discerning minds. Embodied wisdom also generates

honor. It generates honor that

reciprocates, that goes back and forth.

The husband rises up and calls her blessed.

The children rise up and call her blessed.

And when they show up at the city gate, the elders there rise

up and say, Blessed are you. There's an honor that

reciprocates back and forth. And her life here, the life of a

wise person, is generating A reciprocal honor with the people

they meet. Instead of using the words of

their mouth to tear down people, they use the words of their

mouth to build up people, to honor people to always look for

the dignity and worth of others, no matter their wealth, their

education, their status or situation in life.

I hope that everyone of you will be the kind of people who embody

this wisdom. That you will embody this wisdom

such that your relationships are honorable even when you don't

experience honor. You're unoffendable.

That you're the kind of people who embody the wisdom so that

the words of your mouth are actually worth hearing.

That you will become the kind of people who take the power that

you're given and even when it seems like you have nothing, you

will recognize the agency that God has given to you and you

will become a Co creator with him to bring good to others.

That you'll be like Dorcas and Junius, Priscilla, Eudia and

Sintechi. That you'll be like Stevens

daughters. That you'll be like Susanna

Wesley and Catherine Booth. Do you not know the women of the

Scripture and the women of our generations?

Their voices have been silenced. It's time for us to honor them.

You see, the strange thing about this valuable, valiant life

gifting wisdom is that it actually has its source in God.

Charm is deceptive, beauty is fleeting.

But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

As we get to the end of the poem, we're called back to the

true source of the beauty and praiseworthiness of her life.

And it's that she knows God. She fears God, she has a deep

respect and abiding love for God, that everywhere she goes

she thinks about God where she goes.

This is the very picture of God himself.

Jesus is the wisdom of God available to everyone who will

respond to his call. He is the voice of wisdom.

He is Lady Wisdom calling out listen to me, listen to me.

Paul said this. Of him we preach Christ

crucified. Christ is the power of God and

the wisdom of God. Brothers and sisters, think of

what you were when you were called.

God chose the foolish things. God chose the weak things.

God chose the lowly things. It is because of him that you

are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God.

That is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

What is wisdom? It is embodied wisdom.

It is powerful power used, exercised for the benefit of

others. Isn't that who Jesus is?

Isn't this what Jesus does? Jesus took all of the power of

God and let it be wrapped up in flesh in the womb of a woman,

and then burst out in the flesh of manchild.

And he gave himself for us who were powerless, who were needy,

who were unable to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

He gave himself, poured out his life for the forgiveness of sin,

and now he calls out to us through the Spirit.

Come to me, let me enter your life.

Open your heart to me. Let me transform your life so

that you will also embody the very wisdom of God with your

life. Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, as we come to your table, we are reminded of

the embodied wisdom of Jesus, of God in his flesh and in his

life. We thank you for this bread that

reminds us that his body was broken.

We thank You for this cup that reminds us that his life was

poured out as a covenant and promise of your faithful love

and loyalty towards us and all who receive you for the

forgiveness of sin. And Lord, we admit that we are

not always so wise. We admit that we use our power

selfishly, that we're drawn to comforts.

We admit that we are short sighted and we pray that you

would forgive us and reset our lives.

Give us a vision of life and your church as the kind of

church and people who embody wisdom.

Lord, may this ideal not set us back, but instead may it

illuminate our path as a way forward to see all the goodness

and power and miracles of God in our lives every day.

Come, Lord Jesus, and shape your people to be a wise people.

Stand with me as you're able, and we'll share the Lord's

Supper together.