Fatherly counsel for godly living - Pt. I
Deer Creek Community Study- Proverbs • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsAim: Part I of good advise for godly living
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Six keys for a good life
Six keys for a good life
Q- What does a key do?
Q- What would you consider a good life?
Q- What do you think godly living means?
I know those are all subjective answers but I will make sense as we go through this week and at least next week if not three weeks. I will be gone on 29th and 2nd of January on vacation. I will be here on the 23rd, then we will resume Jan 12th.
May we remember much of the first 9 chapters of Proverbs is about wisdom. Wisdom given from a father (Solomon) to his son.
We just finished chapter 2 where we saw:
Seek after wisdom (Pro2:1-4)
Appreciate the benefits and diligently continue to seek (Pro2:5-22)
Now as we head into chapter three is comes out in three sections, of which we will cover one day
Six keys for a good life (Pro3:1-12)
Illustrations of value of wisdom (Pro3:13-23)
Six negatives for the wise godly life (Pro3:25-35)
Put yourself in the picture, you are sitting at Solomon’s feet getting this information from him, just as he is giving it to his son. Lean in, give ear to, and hear what he has to say, has to teach, has to impart for application.
So, let’s look together at our passage then we will get into discussing it.
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; 2 For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you.
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
Q- Anything stick out to you in this passage?
Q- What is the main point, theme of this passage?
Q- Is this just instruction, or a call for application too?
Key One - Heed
Key One - Heed
This is a key to a long and peaceful life.
Heed the guidance of parents (Pro3:1-2); this is the same thought given by Paul
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3 so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.
Given heed to godly wisdom, godly guidance than that of the world
Diet, exercise, they are important, but not the same class, weight as godly wisdom
According to scripture this is the first commandment with a promise. (Eph6:2)
So the question is, do we, did we, are we now, after the fact, honoring our parents by giving them careful heed to their godly advise?
Q - What kind of godly advise did your parents give you, or you as parents, grandparents give to help have a long and peaceful life?
Key Two- Popularity
Key Two- Popularity
Key two is the key to popularity
Q - How does the world look at popularity? is it necessarily bad?
Look again at (Pro3:3-4); I am going to read from a different version now and let’s see what we pick up
3 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. 4 Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.
Loyalty, kindness, truth, mercy are key to lasting popularity.
Truth and mercy, loyalty and kindness are more enduring, because they are more endearing.
These traits find favor in the eyes/sight of God
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Even in the eyes of man
No one likes a liar
Mercy, compassion, kindness, forgiveness is admired by many.
Q- How can we develop these qualities, or understand what they qualities are so we can apply them?
Q- Are we developing the qualities of truth and mercy, compassion and kindness in our lives? If not, are we willing to?
Key three - successful ventures
Key three - successful ventures
Key three is the key to successful ventures (vv.5-6)
Have the Lord “direct your paths”
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
In NASB and a few other versions it says “to make smooth or straight.” All have the same meaning..
The Lord can help because of our trust in Him in life to go smoother with His blessings. Does not mean will always be easy, or not without trials, tribulations, but because of your trust in Him with all your heart, you have confidence that He will get you through those tough seasons.
Consider
3 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.
Then when it comes to acknowledge
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
finally when it comes to your own understand, we are not to lean on that. Consider
26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered.
Q- So, the question is, do we invite, seek the Lord in our decision making?
Q- How can we do that, or what are some ways we can do that?
Key Four: Good health
Key Four: Good health
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
Or look at this
7 Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are; simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong. 8 If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains.
Don’t be arrogant, fear the Lord (remember that is the theme of Proverbs) and depart from evil.
Many of the illnesses medical authorities claim is psychosomatic.
Our immune system is weakened by anxiety, stress and over prescription of certain medications or use of them.
According to Ps32:1-4, I will read in a minute, guilt is a major cause of anxiety and can weigh heavily physically and spiritually
1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
Now, think about this, if we truly fear the Lord then
We will depart from evil
6 In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.
By trusting, fearing, leaning on the lord we will will be freed, free from much anxiety, stress and many diseases. And that will be good for our bodies.
27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.
One may say death would be good, as a Christian we should not seek it, but welcome it when it comes for we know where we will be.
Key five: Prosperity
Key five: Prosperity
This is the key of prosperity, not as the world knows it, but as God gives it to us.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Q- How do you think that God can give you prosperity outside of financially?
Now, back to the passage
You want prosperity than give you best to the Lord.
We know that when the Israelites did not, it was not good for them.
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! 10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. 12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.
Today it is not a tithe, but a purposed set aside party that is cheerfully given
6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 9 as it is written, “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.”
Q- Do we put God and His kingdom first? Or is He after family, job, prestige or something else?
31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Q- So the question here is simple, do we give to the Lord the “first fruits” of our time, energy and money?
OK, onto our last one for today, next week we will look at the value.
Key six: Discipline
Key six: Discipline
This is willingly accepting the divine chastening of a loving Father.
11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
God allows even the righteous to suffer at times, you can look at Job, especially (Job1:8-22) on your own.
God may choose to compensate or return in abundance for it in this life like Job (Job42:10-13)
Whatever persecution we may face that God allows, well it is for our good (consider Rom8:28)
We should expect chastening/discipline as His children
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
Look at the results of the discipline
10 A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal, But even the compassion of the wicked is cruel. 11 He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense.
He shows care, regard for others and other things such as an animal and the land.
Q- Do we appreciate the positive role of discipline in our lives?
Q- What kind of godly discipline have you had in your life that helped shape your life today?
And that is where we are going to stop for today, next week we will look at Pro3:13-24. So, if you want to read over it a few times, it will just help you to be well versed and prepared to discuss it.
(Prayer)