Instead of Many Words - Group Discussion Proverbs 10-14

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Pastor announced a board meeting after church. When they grouped up the pastor noticed that there was a first time visitor in the meeting. When he asked why he was there the visitor said, “I figured I was just a bored as these guys!”
We are going to continue in our look at the book of Proverbs. Last time we discussed chapters 6-9, here’s a recap:
Chapter 6 tells us about the 7 things that God hates. Hate is an attribute of God that we don’t like to talk about. We like to think about the love that God has for the world.
Well, those things God hates proves His love for the world because if we continue in the sins He hates it will drive us to destruction. God wants no person to perish, but to have eternal life. Jesus even wants us to find an abundant life in Him. It’s difficult to find abundant life if we are squandering our life in pride, deception, taking advantage of the innocent, taking part in wicked things, or by causing conflict.
Wisdom teaches that we should turn from the things God hates.
Chapter 7 provides wisdom about sexuality and how God is concerned about our purity. We are reminded that our relationship with Him is an intimate relationship and should be kept holy and pure.
Chapter 8 is a testimony to the greatness of Christ. He is relevant to all life on earth. Wisdom reminds us that Christ is the head of all creation and nothing happens that He doesn’t allow. We are reminded that if we seek to Christ we will find Christ.
Chapter 9 we are confronted with a choice. The chapter portrays two houses. One on either side of the road. We can choice wisdom or foolishness. We know we should choose the right house, but in all we do we are tempted to make the wrong choices. The chapter is a clear reminder that our eternal destiny will rest on the choice we make to follow or reject Christ.

What stood out to you this week as you read through Chapter 10-14?

Chapter 10 begins a long series of individual statements, each of these is a "proverb" in and of itself. As you read through the coming chapters you find each and every verse has a nugget of wisdom.
I want to give you a quick overview of each chapter then I want to ask a question that I hope we can answer together.
The proverbs of chapter 10 are mostly aimed at comparing the consequences one can expect from leading a righteous life as opposed to leading a wicked life. The comparison term "but" is repeated in almost every verse.

7 The memory of the righteous is blessed,

But the name of the wicked will rot.

14 Wise people store up knowledge,

But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

The overall theme to me is that those who participate in godly wisdom have a better likelihood of success. They are less likely to invite revenge, punishment, or judgment because of their actions. It’s not a promise of guarantee, but generally it’s true for those who seek wisdom.
The proverbs in chapter 11 are contrasting the conduct and character of the upright and the wicked.

3 The integrity of the upright will guide them,

But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

18 The wicked man does deceptive work,

But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.

Chapter 12 Solomon continues to offer individual statements of common sense and godly wisdom. He contrasts the lifestyles of God-fearing people to the lives of those who choose foolishness and sin.
Chapter 13 Solomon explains proper attitudes towards honesty and godliness, especially as those connect with worldly success.

4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;

But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.

11 Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished,

But he who gathers by labor will increase.

There’s a real famous verse here in chapter 13:

24 He who spares his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

Discipline, both from God, and towards one's own children, is a good thing when done properly.
Chapter 14 we see more proverbs dealing with consequences of wisdom, in contrast to the consequences of foolishness.

14 The wise woman builds her house,

But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

9 Fools mock at sin,

But among the upright there is favor.

When I read through these chapters and I read each individual proverb, it can be a little overwhelming. There’s a lot of wisdom that can be applied to our lives. I can make you ask yourself a question. How can apply all this wisdom?
Should I print out all these proverbs and start checking them off one by one?

How do you apply these proverbs to your daily living?

I am reminded that Paul compares the Christian experience to a race. It’s a journey that has different obstacles, hills, valleys, and many experiences that we didn’t expect.
To me, proverbs gives us lots of wisdom to help us run the race. You might not be able to implement each and every bit of truth right now this very second, but as you run your race, there are things that you’ll need as you go.
As Paul came to the end of his journey on earth, he said”
2 Timothy 4:7 CEV
7 I have fought well. I have finished the race, and I have been faithful.
Every morning when you get up you have several choices concerning your race.
First of all, you can choose not to run. But if you don't run you can't win.
Secondly, you can choose to run, but not run your best. If you don't run your best you're sure to lose.
Thirdly, many people are running and they're running hard, but they're on the wrong track.
But finally, you can choose to run and run your best.
Proverbs has a way of keeping us running well. As you read these verses in the morning, the wisdom is like fuel to keep you going.
There was once a football player who intercepted a pass on his own ten yard line, and with clear sailing set sail for the other team's end zone.
He got to the goal line, threw the ball down on the ground, did a victory dance, cartwheeled in the end zone, only to realize that he had thrown the ball down at the one yard line, and the other team recovered.
He didn’t finish the right way. He missed the mark. So close, yet so far away.
Proverbs helps us finish well. Keeps us on the right track. They are reminders to live in wisdom and finish our race well.
With the backdrop of understanding that the proverbs of Solomon help us to run our race strong I want to read a proverb from the New Testament.
Galatians 6:7–10 CEV
7 You cannot fool God, so don’t make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. 8 If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. 9 Don’t get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don’t give up. 10 We should help people whenever we can, especially if they are followers of the Lord.
When I read these words of wisdom I find some applicable truth:

We need to stop giving in to our Sinful Desires

Why do people sin?
I think many times it’s because they think they can get away with it! Speeding in your car is what comes to my mind first. If you know there’s a cop do you speed up or slow down?
Now Satan is a liar and the father of all lies, and the biggest lie that Satan will ever tell you is this one: "You can sin and get away with it."
The verse says that you cannot fool God.
We are living in a generation today that has fooled itself into thinking that you can sin and get away with it; that no one will ever know if you do wrong.
You think about it. If a person really believed that they COULDN’T get away with their sin, they would do their best not to sin.

16 A wise man fears and departs from evil,

But a fool rages and is self-confident.

A fool says God can’t see.
Psalm 10:11 CEV
11 They say, “God can’t see! He’s got on a blindfold.”
This generation is full of people who deep down are convinced "nobody will ever know."
So many people are like the little boy who was asked by his Sunday School teacher a question about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. He said, "Who would you rather be, the rich man or Lazarus?" The little boy said, "Well, I'd rather be the rich man while I'm alive, and Lazarus after I'm dead."
A lot of people on earth think just like that. They are convinced that they can live anyway they want to on planet earth and then get away with it after they die.
But we are told plainly "God is not mocked."
That word mock comes from a word whose root meaning is "pig snout."
Literally translated it says, "You can't thumb your nose at God." You cannot fool God.
It is an insult to the character and the knowledge of God to think that you can sin and get away with it.
You can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool God any of the time.
Galatians 6:7 NKJV
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Why can’t a person get away with sin?
This is the law of the harvest. It is the principle of sowing and reaping.
Now the text is very plain. It says, "Whatever a man sows that he will also reap."
You see the harvest is always a product of the seed. A man always reaps exactly what he sows.
If you sow corn you don't reap strawberries; if you sow beans you don't reap corn.
Job 4:8 CEV
8 In my experience, only those who plant seeds of evil harvest trouble,
We have an opportunity to sow and reap during our lifetime.
Proverbs 10:5 CEV
5 At harvest season it’s smart to work hard, but stupid to sleep.
We must not waste our live.
Galatians 6:8 CEV
8 If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life.
You can sow in the field of the flesh, or you can sow in the field of the Spirit. But keep in mind that you will reap what you sow.
If you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption. The word corruption refers to decaying food; to something that degenerates and rots. Sin gives your salvation a bad odor. That is, it robs you of the joy of salvation.
A backslider is someone who has sown the wrong seed in the wrong field, and done the wrong thing and now is reaping the wrong fruit. That is what sin does, it sours our salvation, it robs us of joy.
It doesn't matter whether you're saved or not, if you are bound to sin you're bound to suffer.
If you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption.
If you are a Christian, but one night decide to go out and get drunk, and on the way home wrap your car around a tree and lose your right arm, God will forgive you, but you will still be a one-arm Christian.
Why? Because whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap.
There is something else to remember when you go out everyday to run your race and sow your seeds, and that is you not only reap what you sow, you reap MORE than you sow.
If a farmer sows a kernel of corn he doesn't reap another kernel of corn, he reaps a stalk of corn, full of ears of corn.
Listen to the words of our Savior:
Luke 6:38 CEV
38 If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.
In other words, Jesus said the more you give you'll find that the more you get - it’s the principle of sowing and reaping.
A farmer has a jar of wheat. Now he can take that jar of wheat and with it make a wonderful loaf of bread. But if he takes that same jar of wheat, and rather than making one loaf of bread, goes out to the field and sows it, he will have enough wheat to make a grocery store full of bread.
Proverbs 11:24 NKJV
24 There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.
What is this proverb teaching? It’s saying that you can find more blessing in your life by being generous and sowing into the lives of others. How do we do this in a practical way?
If you need more friends, be a friend to more people.
If you want more understanding from others, be more under-standing to others.
You reap what you sow and you reap more than you sow.
But there is another principle to remember and that is you always reap later than you sow.
A farmer does not sow on Monday and reap on Tuesday. There is the process of cultivation, irrigation, incubation, and then comes the harvest.
This is true when it comes to righteousness and wickedness.
That is a principle that many people forget when it comes to the law of the harvest. Some people think that if the harvest does not come immediately, that God has forgotten about them
They think the blessing will never come. Or on the other side, they think somehow they've gotten away with the evil they've sown.
God will not be mocked. We need to deal with our sin. Repent.
What else does the Paul teach us in Galatians 6?
We need to stop sinning - God is not mocked
2....

We need to keep serving

Galatians 6:9 CEV
9 Don’t get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don’t give up.
Now the law of the harvest is not given to discourage us, but rather to encourage us.
You see, working for God is a joy, but I’ll be honest with you, it also can bring discouragement and disappointment. Because you can FEEL like you're spinning your wheels when you don't see any real fruit from your labor.
Paul specifically says that we are not to "grow weary" nor "to lose heart."
Both of those terms literally mean to become so tired from working you just give up.
One of my favorite thing in the world is working in my yard. I’d put yard work at the top of my list of fun things.
I remember one hot humid Oklahoma day it was well over 100 degrees and I decided it was a good time to add a whole new flowerbed beside that house that was in full sun.
The problem was that we had bermuda grass. That type of grass hard to dig up and kill. I was out there for hours trying to dig this flowerbed. My intentions were so good. I wanted to beautify the house. But I’ll tell you what happened.
A cold shower and a nap, that’s what happened. The flower bed didn’t get done that day!
I go to tired of trying to accomplish something good. It was just so hard.
This is what happens to Christians. We have such good intentions but when we get to doing the work we realize that it’s hard work!
We get tired and sometimes that leads to laziness.
Let’s see what Wise King Solomon is teaching:
Ecclesiastes 10:18 CEV
18 Some people are too lazy to fix a leaky roof— then the house falls in.
God's army is no place for weak-hearted soldiers who would rather be back in an air-conditioned barrack than on the front lines of the battlefield.
I want to tell you up front Christianity is not for the faint of heart; it's not for the lazy and it's not for the weak.
If you get tired real fast and like to give up on things then you're not going to like God's work. Because even though serving God is wonderful work, it is hard work.
Paul tells us that we must not lose heart. He says don’t quit! Don’t give up.
You know what I think? We will be amazed when we get to Heaven to see how many Christians were just one more minute from victory, but they quit.
I read a very interesting story about the Chinese bamboo tree. The Chinese plant the seed for the bamboo tree, water it and fertilize it, and for the first year nothing happens. The second year they water it and fertilize but nothing happens. The third year same thing but nothing happens. The fourth year is the same thing but nothing happens.
But then during the fifth year, in six weeks that seed grows into a 90 ft. bamboo tree. If during any of those years they had not watered and fertilized that seed every day, there would have been no bamboo tree.
The work of God is just like that.
The Lord of the harvest has promised if you will continue to sow, not grow weary, not lose heart, not quit, you will reap a harvest.
1 Corinthians 15:58 CEV
58 My dear friends, stand firm and don’t be shaken. Always keep busy working for the Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile.
If we are going to make it we need to deal with our sins, serve the Lord, and...

Find opportunities to do Good!

Back to Galatians 6:
Galatians 6:10 CEV
10 We should help people whenever we can, especially if they are followers of the Lord.
We ought to do good to everyone that we possibly can.
It's easy to return good for good; it's human to return evil for evil, but it's divine to return good for evil.
John Wesley had a simple rule he followed for all of his life.
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
In all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Doing good is like eating until we are full.
Proverbs 13:25 CEV
25 If you live right, you will have plenty to eat; if you don’t live right, you will go away empty.
I read a story one time about a man named Henry C. Morrison. Henry Morrison was a great missionary who, along with his wife, served on the mission field in Africa for over forty years. They served in the days when they had to raise their own financial support. They served in the days when you didn't have fax machines and cell phones and computers. When you went to Africa to serve the Lord back then, you went to Africa to serve the Lord, and they stayed there 40 years.
At the end of his stay it finally came time for them to go back to the United States. He and his wife were on this ship coming back to America and they began to discuss among themselves, "Will anyone remember us? Will anyone even recall who we are? Will anyone even meet us at the boat?" Remember all this time they had totally supported themselves.
Well, unknown to Henry Morrison and his wife, Teddy Roosevelt, the President of the United States, was also on board this ship. He had gone to Africa for a big game hunting safari and he was returning to the United States.
As the ship pulled into New York harbor, Henry Morrison went to the edge of the ship to see whether anyone had come to welcome him home from serving the Lord for forty years in Africa. As he looked at that harbor he was astounded at what he saw; thousands of people had turned out; bands were playing; people were cheering. There were signs, banners, and billboards everywhere. Henry Morrison looked at his wife and said, "Honey, this is unbelievable. I can't believe they remembered us!"
As the ship pulled into the harbor, Henry Morrison prepared to de-board and he looked back and there came this royal entourage escorting Theodore Roosevelt off the ship. Only then did he realize that all of this hoopla was for the President of the United States.
As Roosevelt got off that ship a ticker tape parade followed. Henry and his wife were left standing on the ramp in the confetti and the ticker tape that was really meant for somebody else. His heart was as low as it could get. They went to their hotel room and he sat on the edge of his bed and he said, "Honey, it just doesn't seem right. We served the Lord faithfully for forty years.
We have been committed to the Lord. We've worked hard. We suffered great hardship. Then Theodore Roosevelt goes to Africa for two weeks and shoots some elephants and the whole world turns out to applaud him. It just doesn't seem right that we would come home and not even get any applause from even one person."
Henry's wife put her hand on his shoulder and looked at him and said, "Henry, you have forgotten something. You're not home—yet. But when you get to your final home you won't believe the reception you're going to get there.
As I read through proverb after proverb in chapters 10-14 I am overwhelmed. It reminds me that we are all on a journey and need help in overcoming our sinful nature.
Galatians 6 reminds us how we are supposed to live if we are going to make it through this thing called life and reap a spiritual harvest that will last for eternity.
Let me read it once more before we leave here tonight:
Galatians 6:7–10 CEV
7 You cannot fool God, so don’t make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. 8 If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. 9 Don’t get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don’t give up. 10 We should help people whenever we can, especially if they are followers of the Lord.
We need to be transparent with God, deal with our sin, serve Him by serving others, and look for ways to do what’s right.
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