Proverbs 10 - How To Read Proverbs
Proverbs: Real Wisdom for Real Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 34:14
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· 818 viewsChoosing foolishness over wisdom will destroy your life
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Introduction
This coming April will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission (the flight depicted in the 1995 movie starring Tom Hanks.) 53 hours into the mission one of the oxygen tanks exploded, ripping away a large portion of the flight capsule, and forcing them to scrub the Moon landing. Because of the physics of spaceflight, the three astronauts actually had to fly the damaged craft around the Moon to make their return to Earth possible. But when they swung around from the dark side of the Moon and headed for home, they found themselves traveling at too shallow of an angle to Earth’s surface, which would mean that they would essentially “bounce off” Earth’s atmosphere back into space, where they would be stranded until their life support ran out and they all died.
This problem was complicated by the fact that every last spark of power in the capsule was being used for life support, and if they turned on their navigation computer long enough to do all the necessary calculations it would drain the battery before they reached Earth, freezing and suffocating them. So instead they used dead-reckoning, lining up their navigation crosshairs in the window on the Earth’s terminator (the line between day and night on the Earth’s surface). They had to keep themselves pointed to that exact spot and fire the thrusters—too briefly and they would freeze in the vacuum of space, too long and they would come in too steep, disintegrating in a deadly fireball in Earth’s atmosphere. The maneuver worked; the capsule moved into just the right angle, and the astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific.
God’s Word commands us to be as deliberate and careful about “staying on course” as Jim Lovell and the crew of Apollo 13 were. They risked destruction if they did not keep themselves pointed in the right direction; Solomon’s words in Proverbs warn us in much the same way:
The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.
The message of Proverbs is that
Choosing foolishness over wisdom will destroy your life.
The first nine chapters of Proverbs (that we studied last winter) go to great lengths to show us that there are really only two directions in this world:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Either you are moving towards wisdom—toward the fear of the LORD, toward obedience to Him—and away from foolishness, or you are moving away from wisdom and towards foolishness—towards the false promises of sin and placing other things above God. And as Solomon makes very clear in Proverbs 9, to move away from wisdom is to move towards destruction. The fool follows his foolishness all the way to the grave. He follows his own desires and his own way,
But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
The book of Proverbs is written as a guide for us to evaluate whether we are on the path to wisdom or foolishness, the fear of the LORD or the lusts of the flesh, the path to life or the path of destruction. Like the Apollo 13 crew keeping their navigation reticule focused on the day/night line on the Earth,
When we read Proverbs we can get a sense of which direction our heart is going
—is it moving in the direction of wisdom in the fear of the LORD, or is it drifting into foolishness?
Up through Chapter 9, Solomon has been setting out the case of why wisdom is better than foolishness; why his son should choose the fear of the LORD rather than the deceptive, destructive call of Folly. So those nine chapters all have a pretty structured pattern, a flow of cohesive argumentation through each chapter.
But starting here in Chapter 10 the style changes dramatically—instead of an ordered flow of argumentation you have the opposite: Almost a “stream-of-consciousness” style of short, one- or two-sentence statements about a particular topic. It’s almost as though Solomon is going through the regular events of his day, and whenever he has an opportunity to make an important observation about the nature of wisdom versus foolishness he jots it down. And at the end of the day, you look at his notes and they’re all over the map—talking about wealth and poverty here, talking about laziness versus diligence there, a section on quarrels and arguments followed by a bit about making your parents proud.
So what I want to do this morning is walk through Chapter 10 of Proverbs to show you four major themes that recur throughout the book. Most chapters of Proverbs that you’ll read will be a mix of these four major themes: Wisdom in your work, wisdom in your words, wisdom in your relationships or the rewards of wisdom. And as you come across each of those subjects you can examine your heart and ask: “Am I moving towards wisdom in this area? Or am I drifting off-target? Am I becoming wiser in this area, or is there some idolatry in my heart that I need to address?” And I want to conclude by showing you how you can have confidence that you are always moving towards wisdom in your life.
The first thing that Proverbs teaches us is
I. What wisdom in your Work looks like(10:2-5)
I. What wisdom in your Work looks like(10:2-5)
Look at verses 2-5:
Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. 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. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.
Over and over in Proverbs we are called to measure whether we are growing in wisdom in our work, and in how we handle money. In verse 2, Solomon says that
Wisdom moves towards honesty; folly looks for shortcuts (v. 2)
If you are always looking for the shortcut, the “get rich quick” scheme, if you are fudging your taxes or padding your expense reports or “borrowing” money you are responsible to hand off, you are a fool, and you are moving away from wisdom and towards destruction. Wisdom doesn’t look for the shortcut, wisdom means that you are honest and transparent and accountable with your work and with your money. Because the money you get from your shortcuts won’t profit you anything—only the honesty that comes from the fear of the LORD will deliver you.
In verse 3 Solomon says that
Wisdom trusts God; folly trusts the bank balance (v. 3)
Solomon’s father David says much the same thing in Psalm 37:25
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.
There may be times when the righteous go hungry while the wicked are throwing away extra food—but real wisdom knows that ultimately the one who fears God will always be provided for, and the fool who rejects God will lose everything. Solomon says, “Don’t be a fool—trust God to provide for you, not your bank balance!”
In verses 4-5, Solomon tells us that
Wisdom works hard; folly is lazy (vv. 4-5)
A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.
Now, we need to understand what Solomon means by laziness in Proverbs. We tend to think of a lazy person as someone who lounges around on the couch in sweats all day, eating cheese curls and bingeing “The Office” on Netflix. But Proverbs describes laziness in terms of someone who doesn’t finish what they start—it’s the son who goes out to plant the crops but can’t be bothered to finish the job at the harvest. In Proverbs 26:15, Solomon describes
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
He’s literally too lazy to finish eating—he can’t even get through the whole chore of feeding himself! In our day, the laziness of Proverbs looks like distractions that keep you from staying on task. You can’t finish your assignment because you wind up checking your Instagram feed for fifteen minutes. You come back and work for five minutes and then spend a half an hour watching YouTube videos. You start cleaning out the garage and wind up reading old newspapers for an hour. Proverbs warns us to watch our hearts for signs of the “sluggard”, not finishing what we start—signs that we are being foolish instead of wise.
Proverbs teaches us about what wisdom in our work looks like, and it has a lot to say about
II. What Wisdom in our words looks like (10:8)
II. What Wisdom in our words looks like (10:8)
This is another major theme that recurs over and over again in Proverbs. Look at verse 8 for an example:
The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
How many of you know someone who, when you have a conversation with them you can tell that they’re not listening to a word you say; they’re just waiting for a chance to tell you what they think? Someone who, as the saying goes, “loves the sound of his own voice”? Solomon tells us that
Wisdom wants to listen and learn; folly only wants to speak and be heard
Proverbs 13:3 says:
Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
Are you only interested in making sure people know how much you know? Instead of being “quick to hear and slow to speak”, do you rush to fill in every silence with your own thoughts and opinions? If so, then your heart is moving towards foolishness and away from the fear of the LORD:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs teaches us what wisdom in our work looks like, what wisdom in our words looks like, and it teaches us
III. What wisdom in our relationships looks like (10:1, 12)
III. What wisdom in our relationships looks like (10:1, 12)
Look at verse 1:
The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
Over and over in Proverbs we are called to evaluate whether we are walking in wisdom by looking at how our choices impact those we love. Solomon shows us that
Wisdom brings gladness to our family; folly breaks their hearts
Of course we live in a broken and fallen world, and there are a lot of reasons why our actions may distress or gladden our families. It can (and sometimes does) happen that a son or daughter upsets or saddens their parents by their decision to obey God—a child who leaves their parents’ religion in order to embrace the Gospel, for instance.
But what Solomon has in mind here are the times when a son or daughter’s foolishness has a terrible emotional toll on their family. As we find in Proverbs 13:1
A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
If you rebel against the good and wholesome advice of your parents, if you deliberately choose friends and influences that are harmful for you and do whatever you want in order to get your way no matter how much it hurts the people who love you—Proverbs says you are a fool, and you are not only walking away from wisdom, but you are walking right into the arms of destruction:
The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.
Solomon talks more about relationships in Proverbs 10:12:
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
All through Proverbs we read that
Wisdom responds to conflict with love; folly stirs up hate
Proverbs 15:1 reminds us
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
If you are the kind of person who is always angry, always have a chip on your shoulder and are waiting for someone to cross you so that you can let them have it, if you fly off the handle and shout down anyone who dares disagree with you, if you enjoy baiting people into arguing just so you can have an excuse to fight, then Proverbs says that you are a fool, and you are walking away from wisdom. Where is your heart today?
As you read through Proverbs, you will see what wisdom looks like in your work, in your words, in your relationships. And you will also find over and over Solomon’s descriptions of
IV. What the Rewards of Wisdom look like (10:24-32)
IV. What the Rewards of Wisdom look like (10:24-32)
The book of Proverbs really boils down to our conduct and the consequences that come out of our conduct—if you are wise, here is the good that will result. But if you are foolish in your life, here is the bad and the harm that will come out of it. We see this theme throughout the book, and we see it here in verses 24-32: The consequences of wisdom and foolishness. It is a matter of life and death.
Look at verse 24
What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
What are you afraid of today? What are the nightmares that keep you awake at night? Losing your job? Losing your marriage, losing your kids? Sickness or debilitating injury? Do you fear death and the judgment of Hell? Solomon says that if you are a fool—if you reject the wisdom of the fear of the LORD—then those are the things that you will receive. Those are the things that will happen to you.
But if you walk in wisdom—if you keep the reticule of your navigation window squarely on the commands of God and the fear of the LORD—then you will have what you desire! Whether that desire is eternal life, a strong marriage, a godly family, or whatever else God is drawing your heart towards, those are the things that you will receive. Those rewards may come now in this life, but they will certainly come in the life to come because verse 25 says that the righteous will be established “forever”.
Throughout this chapter and the rest of the book, Solomon presents these consequences as both present and future. Proverbs 12:21 warns
No ill befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.
and Proverbs 12:28 promises
In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.
But as you read through all of these descriptions of wisdom and folly, the fear of the LORD and the rejection of the LORD, life and death—what do you see about your heart? Is your heart open and honest before God and man about the way you handle money? Have you never taken any shortcuts to wealth, have you always been diligent and not lazy, never getting distracted from finishing what you start? is your trust in God alone, even when there’s not enough digits to the left of the decimal point in your bank balance?
Do you have a heart that wants to hear truth, or do you have a heart that only wants to hear itself talk? Do you demonstrate wisdom by listening to wise instruction? Are you ready to turn away wrath with a soft answer, are you always prepared to meet anger with love? Have you never broken the heart of a family member because of your foolish, destructive choices to reject their sound advice?
Beloved, if you have followed down through this passage and found even one instance of your heart leaning towards folly and away from wisdom, then you already have an indication of which direction you are headed. If your life demonstrates folly more than wisdom, the desire for your own appetites more than the fear of the LORD, then you have nothing to look forward to from the hand of God but the nightmare of everything that has ever terrified you descending on you for all eternity in Hell. Because to run to folly is to reject wisdom, and those who reject God’s wisdom are embracing their own damnation.
The only hope you have is not whether you can obey these commands perfectly enough to achieve righteousness and wisdom before almighty God. It’s February—you’ve already broken your New Year’s Resolutions, for crying out loud! No, the only hope you have is that the perfect obedience of someone else be counted to you—in the person and work of Jesus Christ!
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 that
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Did you catch that? Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God! He is the faithful Son who perfectly embodies the righteousness of God, who is the manifestation of the Wisdom of Proverbs in the flesh! You and I have no reason to expect that the promises to the righteous in Proverbs 10 will come to us—but Jesus Christ has earned all of those rewards! And the amazing, shocking, all but unbelievable truth is that when you come to Him by faith for your salvation He makes all of those promises come true for you!
Because Jesus Christ is not just the wisdom of God for you, He is the righteousness of God for you! All of your sin and rebellion and failure—all of the times you broke your loved ones’ hearts by your rebellion, all of the cheating and swindling and short-cuts, all of the striving and hatred and violence, all of the arrogance and bitterness and hurtful words—all of that sin that infinitely offended almighty God and placed you on the path of eternal destruction in Hell—Jesus bore in your place to redeem you from it!
When He died on that Cross, He satisfied God’s wrath against your folly and sin, and He became your righteousness! When you confess your sin before Him and call on Him in faith to save you, He not only saves you from the penalty of your sin, He saves you from the power of it as well!
And that means that the life you live here on earth you live in His strength, in His holiness, so that your life reflects the wisdom of Proverbs more and more each day! Day by day He sanctifies you more and more—makes you more and more holy! And as you live by faith in Him, then everything changes—in your words, in your work, in your wealth, in your relationships your heart moves more and more towards wisdom. And when you read Proverbs you won’t read it as a list of things you have to do and be to be good enough for God to save you—you can read these things as God’s promises of how He will make you more and more like Jesus every day!
If you belong to Jesus Christ this morning, read Proverbs with the gladness and gratitude of knowing that He is working this kind of wisdom into your life every day. And if you are here this morning and you don’t know for sure what it means to be a Christian, if you want to know for sure that you are free from the penalty of your sins and free from the power of sin in your life, come down front after the service and let us talk with you and pray with you and show you from the Scriptures how you can know that you are growing in this wisdom and holiness because this is the day that you have come for salvation to Jesus Christ!
BENEDICTION
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
How does the book of Proverbs reveal to you what direction your heart is headed? In which of these ways (work, words, relationships, rewards) do you see your heart moving towards folly? Towards wisdom?
The world around us will judge how wise we are by outward appearances (how much money we have, how often we win arguments, how successful we are at defeating those who oppose us). What does Proverbs have to say about how true wisdom shows itself in these areas?
For the month of February, read one chapter of Proverbs each day. Keep a journal of the verses each day that address one area (words, work, relationships, rewards) where God is showing you that you need to grow in wisdom. Pray for His power to address those things, and thank Him for His work in you!