Read Proverbs 24:3–12
Questions from the Scripture text: How is a house built (Proverbs 24:3a)? How is it established (verse 3b)? How are the rooms filled (Proverbs 24:4)? With what? Who is strong (Proverbs 24:5a)? Who increases strength (verse 5b)? How can one wage war (Proverbs 24:6a)? Where is safety (verse 6b)? For whom is wisdom too lofty (Proverbs 24:7a)? What is he unable to do (verse 7b)? What man does Proverbs 24:8 describe? What is he called? What does Proverbs 24:9a call the devising of foolishness? How does the scoffer end up (verse 9b)? What might a man do in the day of adversity (Proverbs 24:10a)? What does this show about him (verse 10b)? What ought one to do with his strength (Proverbs 24:11)? What excuse mustn’t we use for not doing so (Proverbs 24:12a)? Why not—Who knows the truth (verse 12b–c)? What will He do (verse 12d)?
What strength do we need, and why? Proverbs 24:3–12 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these ten verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we need to be strengthened by wisdom for our households, for ourselves, and for the perishing.
#21–25 of the “30 sayings of the wise” (cf. Proverbs 22:20, literally translated) teach that wisdom is the strength necessary to live and fulfill one’s duty before God, in one’s own household, and toward fellow human beings.
It is through wisdom that a house is built (Proverbs 24:3). One of the things we have seen not only throughout the book but even in these thirty sayings thus far is a strong emphasis on the multi-generational purpose of wisdom. The son learns from his father so that, when he comes to him for wisdom, he may install it in his heart, in his ears, and in his core, and direct his entire being by it, so that it overflows from his lips (cf. Proverbs 22:17–18). We have also heard, in these thirty sayings, that the gladness of a father is fully realized, not only when his son has wisdom in his heart and walks in the wise way, but also when his son instructs his own child correctly—now the grandchild; and, when he hears wisdom on his son’s lips, he rejoices (cf. Proverbs 23:12–16).
A household is not merely built through effort, strength, prudence, and ability. It is wisdom that gives all of these things. It is by understanding that wisdom is established, and by knowledge that the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. This describes the physical structure in which the household lives, but applies especially to the generations that actually comprise the household.
A house is not made of rooms and furnishings. We see this clearly in Psalm 127, where it says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (cf. Psalm 127:1). And it is especially the household that the Lord builds. Children are a heritage from the Lord (cf. Psalm 127:3). The treasures of Proverbs 24:4 serve and gladden this household. The family is an institution of God, and its service is such a high priority that being strengthened for the building of the family is one of the first and greatest things by which the Lord commends wisdom to us.
So, the second saying here, #22, immediately tackles this idea of strength. The wise man is strong (Proverbs 24:5a). Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength (verse 5b). How strong? It is wisdom that makes the difference, even in waging war. Whatever it is that you are tackling, whatever battle you are facing, the way you will be victorious in your own war is through wise counsel (Proverbs 24:6).
This is why the Lord has given us not just a father, but also a mother, elders, minister, deacons, and the others who speak the truth in love—every joint in the body supplying something, every member of the body doing its share, and all speaking the truth to one another in love. The Lord has literally designed us to have a multitude of counselors, and this is because it is through this wisdom that we will wage our own war.
The third saying (Proverbs 24:7, #23) reminds us that we need wisdom because we need God Himself to change our nature. We cannot obtain the wisdom of the fear of the Lord, if we continue to be fools who say in our hearts that there is no God. There is no kind of atheistic substitute for wisdom. If you do not have a new nature, if you do not have faith in Christ, if you continue to live as though there is no God, you cannot obtain wisdom by any means—wisdom is beyond the reach of the fool. If you do not have the real thing—through the knowledge of the true God, through real life in you, worked by the Holy Spirit—then you cannot obtain that wisdom, and you cannot speak wisely at the gate. There are fools who attempt to speak at the gate, but a wise society will silence them (verse 7b).
The fool is not only ineffective and dangerous, so that he is not one of the counselors you need (Proverbs 24:7), but in the fourth of these sayings, he himself will ultimately be humiliated (Proverbs 24:8-9, #24). He who plans to do evil will be called a schemer (Proverbs 24:8). He may not be labeled as such at first, and people may follow him at first, but as they are brought low before the Lord, they will realize, that the devising of their foolishness is sin (Proverbs 24:9a). And those men who remain at the end—the upright—these will consider such men an abomination (verse 9b).
Therefore, beware when you are in a group of men who speak in worldly ways, which is false wisdom. Beware of wanting to fit in with them, for they will be destroyed. Folly leads not only to destruction but also to contempt. For at the end, you will be known as a schemer and will be considered an abomination. “Wisdom” that does not proceed from the knowledge of God, in Christ, is folly. It has an appearance of strength, but that appearance is an illusion.
This is important because we are required to have the strength of wisdom, not only for our household (Proverbs 24:3-4), and the conduct of our struggles (Proverbs 24:5-6), as we heard in the first two of these five sayings, but also for the deliverance of others (Proverbs 24:10-12, #25). If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is insufficient (Proverbs 24:10). In other words, “wisdom” that is of human origin, rather than of the knowledge and fear of God, must fail; it is not sufficient for the task. If your strength is not in God, not in Christ, it cannot stand.
Yet, we need that strength in the day of adversity, not only for ourselves, but for the work that God has assigned to us for others. Deliver those who are being led to death (Proverbs 24:11a). Hold back those who are stumbling toward slaughter (verse 11b). These are not optional acts, or works of extra credit. They are duties required by God, as Proverbs 24:12 makes clear. God weighs the heart; He knows whether you care for those who are perishing (verse 12a–c). The implication of the entire passage is that we have a duty not only to be wisdom-strong for ourselves, but in order to minister to others.
God gives us the privilege and the duty of serving one another and ministering to others. This may be in the initial evangelism of someone who is spiritually dead and moving toward eternal death, whom the Lord brings across our path, and we point them to the knowledge of Him. Or it may be recovering a backsliding brother or sister.
It is of the utmost importance that we live in the fear of the Lord and in the knowledge of the Holy One. Throughout the book of Proverbs, and in the whole of Scripture, we have heard the wisdom that we must apply to various situations and circumstances. There are many reasons for this, but one of the greatest is so that we may have strength—strength for the generations that will come from us; strength for facing our own battles; and strength for helping our brother or sister—or a neighbor who needs to become a brother or sister.
How are you growing in knowing and fearing the Lord? What difference is that making in how you serve your household? What battles do you currently face? By the help of what Christ-appointed counselors are you doing so? What perishing people are you helping? How?
Sample prayer: Lord, this is eternal life: that we may know You and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. By the fear of You and the knowledge of You, Jesus completed the work that you gave Him to do, saving all those whom you gave to Him.
So also, Lord, although we do not have His work, You employ us in the work that He has assigned to us. And so we pray that you would give us the help of Your Spirit, that we may live in the knowledge of the Father and of the Son, and complete the work that You give us to do in this world. Grant it, we pray, in the grace of Christ, which we ask in His Name. Amen.
Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH164 “God Himself Is with Us”
No comments:
Post a Comment