I want to go on record saying that scientists give very boring names to stars and planets. The other day we were working through the breakfast routine when Evan said he was reading in his schoolwork that there was a planet made almost entirely of diamonds and that it’s worth $27 nonillion. I’d never even heard of nonillion. I said they must be making up words nowadays. 27 nonillion is the number 27 with 30 zeroes behind it. That is far more than the total wealth on planet earth. The total GDP of the earth is $106 trillion dollars. This diamond planet is worth 380 quadrillion times more than the GDP of our entire earth. Now I know why Elon Musk is so bent on space travel!
I think Trump needs to build a resort there. I’m sure he would give it a better name than the scientists. It’s name is “55 Cancri e” That’s what they named a planet made of diamonds? It makes you wonder how scientists name their kids. “Hey, KZ-796-lowercase ‘i’” eat your broccoli.” I thought the Smiths could do better. So I asked all the kids what they would name a planet that was made entirely of diamonds. Names started rolling in: “Diamond-Topia,” “Lady glitter sparkle,” “Diamond Planet,” and then someone offered “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Planet,” (shout out to Pink Floyd), and more.
If you could have all $27 nonillion dollars from “Lady Glitter Sparkle Planet,” or you could have all the wisdom God gives you in Proverbs, which would you choose? I know what some of you are thinking, “That’s a lot of shekels.” Others of you are thinking, “When Solomon said, wisdom is more valuable than earth’s riches, would he have said that if he knew about 27 nonillion shekels worth of diamonds?”
Absolutely. We have in Proverbs a treasure even more valuable than $27 nonillion dollars. Because $27 nonillion dollars can’t buy you what Proverbs gives you.
While our sermon focus moves on from Proverbs after today, I hope none of us moves on from Proverbs. I hope we leave Proverbs WITH Proverbs! I hope this sermon series sparks a deeper love and appreciation for this amazing book in a way that makes you want to form a plan to read it regularly – if you haven’t done so already. I hope each of us “stays” with the wisdom we’re taking from Proverbs. My highest goal with this series was that now, on the back end, having spent 5 months and 16 sermons on it, that each of us are actually wiser for it. I hope that when it comes to Humility, Integrity, Friends, Speech, Work, Anger, Parenting, Marriage, Money and Alcohol, that we all have been made better by Proverbs and its wisdom.
PURPOSE OF PROVERBS
When we started with the first sermon, called “Hello Proverbs,” we defined what wisdom was. Wisdom is “skills in righteousness. Wisdom is the ability to act with moral excellence. It is knowing how to live to please God in our situations.
Wisdom is NOT head knowledge. Instead its “moral know-how.” Its when we know how to live morally in God’s eyes.
You can see how wisdom then is not preprogrammed in us, but we must be trained in it. Training requires commitment, sacrifice, intentionality. A wise Christian life is the result of consistently over time denying my fleshly desires to live by God’s commands and as i am obedient to God’s word I learn from that experience of obedience and I have increasing insight into the mind of God and how God would be pleased in circumstances.
So the purpose of Proverbs is to make us wise like that. Of course, we did lay out 4 purposes in our first sermon back then:
First, to give you knowledge of what is wise. So we’re not ignorant. Notice 1:1-7
Second, Proverbs strengthens your trust in the LORD. Turn to 22:17-19 with me…
Third, Proverbs makes you better at obedience to God. Notice 1:3-5. Wisdom and obedience improve each other. Wisdom leads to obedience and obedience leads to wisdom. Psalm 119:97-104. Notice how obedience to what he knows gives him greater wisdom.
Fourth, Proverbs conditions your mind by wisdom so that you make better decisions in situations where its not clear what to do. In other words, if the Scriptures don’t necessarily say anything directly to something your facing, and you are earnestly trying to please God, then if your mind has been saturated by wisdom such as Proverbs, and your mind has been conditioned by wisdom, then your heart and mind are in a better place to discern what is best, what is good, what is right, even if there is not a proverb or verse to guide you.
REVIEW TOPICS STUDIED
We’ve covered 11 topics and I hope all of them spoke to you. But what one spoke the most to you? God’s Sovereignty, Humility, Integrity, Friends, Speech, Work, Anger, Parenting, Marriage, Money, or Alcohol?
- I hope we take to heart Proverbs 19:21, which says, Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. – 19:2. I pray we wisely learn to live in submission to and with confidence in God’s sovereignty
- I hope that we take Proverbs 11:2 to heart, which says, “When pride comes then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” I hope we all wisely kill our pride. I hope we are wise to live humbly before God and man
- I hope we take Proverbs 10:9 to heart when it says, Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. I pray each of us makes integrity a top priority
- I hope we take Proverbs 12:26 to heart when it says, “The righteous choose their friends carefully.” Let us be wise when it comes to friendships. Let us pick friends wisely, and let us be a wise choice for others
- I hope we take Proverbs 20:15 to heart when it says, “Gold there is plenty, and rubies are in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.” Will we devote our mouths to wisdom and let our words be rich with the wisdom of God
- I hope we take Proverbs 10:5 to heart when it says, “He who gathers crops in the summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during the harvest is a disgraceful son.” We are wise when we do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. Let us each be wise in our work ethic.
- I hope we take to heart Proverbs 14:29, “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.” Let us be wise in how to handle our anger, being patient rather than quick tempered.
- I hope we take to heart Proverbs 1:8, “Listen my son to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” The parents in Proverbs are wise, and are focused on growing wise children. Let us be wise in our parenting.
- I hope we take to heart and are wise in our marriages. There are so many verses and we spent 2 sermons going over everything. But take 18:22 as one good verse, “He who finds a wife finds what is good and received favor from the LORD.” Let us be wise and see each other as God’s good to us, and therefore be committed to being good to each other.
- I hope we take to heart all the wisdom Proverbs gives us regarding money. We are told to manage our money wisely, not to trust in riches, and not to not make the pursuit of riches our highest ambition, and don’t make riches what you base your status on.
- I hope we take to heart what it says about alcohol in Proverbs 23:20, “Do not join with those who drink too much wine…” I pray we all are wise when it comes to alcohol.
These are 11 topics covered in Proverbs. What did you learn from each one? Which one really spoke the most to you where you’re at?
LEAVE PROVERBS WITH PROVERBS!
I hope you’re not done with Proverbs! Rather, I hope you are inspired to keep digging around in it. Let me suggest two things related to going further with your study of Proverbs.
First, you could make reading Proverbs every day a habit. Make it part of your daily reading. The best way to do that is one chapter per day. Since there are 31 chapters it makes for a great monthly devotional. This is why it is said, “A chapter a day keeps foolishness away!”
Second, you could study Proverbs further by studying it topically. We covered 11 topics. You could go back and review those more carefully. You could read or listen to the sermons on each of those topics.
Or, you could pick from any of the other several dozen topics found in Proverbs. For instance, you could have great studies on civil obedience, civil leadership, honoring your parents, grandparenting, the value of your reputation, courage, giving and receiving advice or rebukes, trusting God’s provision, neighborliness, making decisions, perseverance, the certainty of God’s judgment of the wicked, the scheming of evil people, mockery and respect, and so much more. There are multiple verses on each of these topics.
But you know what else is really interesting? The one-off proverbs. You’ll come across a proverb and find that it is the only proverb that speaks to that issue. So meditating on that one verse and its meaning is fascinating. For instance,
- Proverbs 11:22 says, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.”
- Or Proverbs 14:4 which says, “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.”
- Or Proverbs 15:11 which says, “Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD – how much more do human hearts?”
So leave Proverbs WITH Proverbs – and adopt one of these two plans. And don’t rush through them, but allow yourself to spend 3 ½ minutes just meditating on the meaning of the Proverb and how you can live it out.
CONCLUSION
Our bank accounts will never see $27 nonillion dollars in them. But our hearts can have something far more valuable: wisdom. “Get wisdom,” Proverbs 4:7 says, “Though it costs all you have, get understanding.” We may be disappointed that we can’t get to “Lady Glitter Sparkle Planet” because it’s 40 million light years away. But a priceless treasure is lying open on our laps right now. Wisdom is stored within its pages. Let us be wise and not leave it there – but store it in our hearts. Then we can say, “Thank you, Proverbs.”