What’s In A Name? Proverbs 22:1

Intro: Good morning FE, my name is Josue Aguilar, and I am glad you are here this morning. I hope you have been enjoying our series Walking Wisely, just to recap some of what we learned;

We learned that wisdom is skillful living and the Proverbs teach us how to walk wisely before the Lord

Proverbs teaches us principles to living and they are not necessarily promises with guaranteed outcomes

The beginning of Wisdom is the fear of the Lord

We learned what it means to guard our heart

We learned to walk in integrity, we walk in humility, value righteousness, and bless others.

We learned that a soft answer turns away wrath and how to apply that in different situations, how we must be like Christ who was gentle and lowly.

Last week we learned about the way of the sluggard and the hope we have in Christ.

Today, I want you to think about, what’s in a name?

Benito Juarez

Abraham Lincoln

Adolph Hitler

Stalin

Lionel Missi

Michael Jordan

Martin Luther King Jr

When I mention those names, they all bring something to mind, some good things, some very bad things. Their name reminds us of who these people are and what they have done in life. A name, many times remind us of how a person has influenced society for the good or the bad.

Proverbs 22:1 reminds us of the importance of a good character.

Proverbs 22:1 (ESV)

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

and favor is better than silver or gold.

Más vale el buen nombre que las muchas riquezas, y el favor que la plata y el oro.

Above great riches we are to pursue a good name, notice the bible uses the word chosen, meaning when you are faced with a decision, when the choices in life are coming at you, you are to choose having a good name above anything else. In Proverbs 19:1 we read,

Proverbs 19:1 (ESV)

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity

than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

Mejor es el pobre que anda en su integridad que el de labios perversos y necio.

Proverbs says it is better to be poor and choose integrity, to choose a good name than to be crooked and a fool. In English, our Proverb uses the words “good name” but in Hebrew it reads “a name is to be chosen rather than riches.” In the Ancient Near East, their was no such thing as a good name or a bad name. You either had a name or you were considered nameless. Look at what Job 30:8 says,

Job 30:8 (ESV)

A senseless, a nameless brood,

they have been whipped out of the land.

Necios, sí, hijos sin nombre, echados a latigazos de la tierra.

In Job 30, he is describing the people that are talking bad about him and his situation, in vs 8 he describes them as “a nameless brood”. In Biblical times you either had a name or you were considered nameless. The question we need to ask is what does Proverbs mean when it uses the word “name”

When Proverbs uses the word “name”, it refers to a reputation based on your character.

A good character is to be chosen rather than great riches. In Biblical times a person of good character was considered to have a name, but a person of bad character was described as nameless because they were people who could not be trusted. When we talk about character, we are talking about the whole person because

Character is the values, principles and beliefs that form our habits and actions.

Character involves what goes on internally within our hearts and minds, it involves what we value, the principles which guide our lives, and the beliefs that form us. The internal values, principles, and beliefs form our actions and habits, what we exhibit externally. Our values, principles, beliefs, habits, and actions form our character. We are to pursue people who have good character.

You know what’s interesting, even the secular world values people with a good character:

“Knowledge will give you power, but character respect. — Bruce Lee

“Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling.”— Bill Belichick

“A man’s character is not judged after he celebrates a victory, but by what he does when his back is against the wall.”— John Cena

“Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.”— Thomas Paine

A person with a good character is valuable, I have met people with good character who are not followers of Jesus. Which leads me to talk about the danger for those who are people who are principled, who value goodness, honesty and integrity.

The danger of having a good character, is that it can lead us to think we are good people, who do not need a Savior.

When we compare our goodness to others, we will always find someone worse than us. For someone who deals with anger, he says well at least I do not hate anyone, the one that hates says “at least I hav not killed anyone, the one who kills someone says well at least I am not a mass murder, the mass murder says well at least I am not like Hitler. When we compare ourselves to others we will always find someone worse than us.

In reality, we as people, even people with good character, who do not follow Jesus, need to compare themselves to God. When the person with good character, who doesn’t know Jesus compares himself with God, his goodness is like filthy rags when it is compared to the holiness of God. I have met many people who do not follow Jesus because they are convinced they are ok because they are “good people”, a person with good character.

Let me introduce you to the “good people” of the New Testament. This group of people started off with good intentions, they started thinking we do not want to be like our ancestors, so they decided to try to obey the law of God as well as possible. This group of people started creating more rules around the law of God, they would sit around and the Mosaic law says Keep the Sabbath holy, so how can we keep the Sabbath holy and this group made up 39 other rules on what it meant to keep the sabbath holy. Reaping a harvest on the sabbath was unlawful, pulling a gray hair out was unlawful on the Sabbath. These rules and more were created and was in a book known as the Mishnah, the group I am talking about are known as the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were considered good people with good character, yet Jesus says of them,

Matthew 23:25–28 (ESV)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

25 ¡Ay de vosotros, escribas y fariseos, hipócritas!, porque limpiáis el exterior del vaso y del plato, pero por dentro están llenos de[l] robo y de desenfreno.26 ¡Fariseo ciego! Limpia primero lo de adentro del vaso y del plato, para que lo de afuera también quede limpio.

27 ¡Ay de vosotros, escribas y fariseos, hipócritas!, porque sois semejantes a sepulcros blanqueados, que por fuera lucen hermosos, pero por dentro están llenos de huesos de muertos y de toda inmundicia. 28 Así también vosotros, por fuera parecéis justos a los hombres, pero por dentro estáis llenos de hipocresía y de iniquidad.

Jesus tells the Pharisees, you look like a good person on the outside, but on the inside you are dead. He calls them whitewashed tombstones, because they look good on the outside but on the inside they are full of dead bones. Without Christ, even a person of good character, is still dead. Your motivation for being a person with good character could be because of;

Your heritage - this is the way I was raised by my parents,

Your Benefit - I have learned if I am a person with good character it comes with benefits. benefits at work, in life, at home. Which is what the Proverb says “favor is better than silver and gold”. Usually if you have a good character, favor will follow.

Your glory - maybe you are trying to make a name for yourself, create your own kingdom.

There are many motivations for someone to be a person of good character, but Jesus says without me you are a dead person trying to look good. We are just trying to get to the blessing and favor on our own merits, with our own righteousness, self righteousness. We all need Jesus, for It is Jesus who transforms us, he creates in us a clean heart, a washed conscience, and gives us a new purpose and motivation, not to live for heritage, or benefits, or for my glory, but to live for his Glory.

For a disciple of Christ, character is not just about a good name, but becoming more like Christ.

It is about cherishing and treasuring the name above all names, it is about leaving a legacy that points to Christ.

“Oh let my love with fervor burn, and from the world now let me turn, live for thee, and thee alone, Bringing thee pleasure on thy throne, only one life ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last”

Look at what Peter writes for us in 2 Peter 1:3-11,

2 Peter 1:3–11 (ESV)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

3 Pues su divino poder nos ha concedido todo cuanto concierne a la vida y a la piedad, mediante el verdadero conocimiento de aquel que nos llamó por su gloria y excelencia

The disciple of Jesus has been granted in Christ everything he needs live a life of wisdom and godliness in this life. When Christ does a work in a person he changes him from the inside out through the knowledge of him, the knowledge of Christ. This Bible from Genesis - Revelation has everything we need to live a life of godly character for Christ. God has called us transformed us to glorify his name to declare the excellencies of his name.

by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

4 por medio de las cuales nos ha concedido sus preciosas y maravillosas promesas, a fin de que por ellas lleguéis a ser partícipes de la naturaleza divina, habiendo escapado de la corrupción que hay en el mundo por causa de la concupiscencia.

God has granted us, these great and precious promises to us, so that we may become more like Christ. That is what Peter means when he says we may become partakers of the divine nature. God through the power of the Spirit transforms our hearts by applying the work of Christ in our life and we become a new creation filled with the power of the Spirit to live for Christ, to become like Christ. Through Christ we escape the sin that corrupts us, our sinful desire, it is not removed from us, but we are dead to the power of sin. In other words, because of the work of the Christ, you are now empowered by the Spirit to reject sin and obey Christ, for the glory of God.

Now listen to what Peter says,

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

5 Por esta razón también, obrando con toda diligencia, añadid a vuestra fe, virtud, y a la virtud, conocimiento; 6 al conocimiento, dominio propio, al dominio propio, perseverancia, y a la perseverancia, piedad, 7 a la piedad, fraternidad y a la fraternidad, amor.

The first thing I want you to notice is that Peter says, make every effort. Now that Christ has transformed your heart, and has given you the power over sin and the power to live the new life, Peter says make every effort, to supplement your faith, what faith your faith In Christ, supplement it with

virtue

knowledge

self-control

steadfastness

godliness

brotherly affection

love

If you look up a person of good character, you will find the above qualities mentioned. many times we try to achieve this qualities without Christ, and with the wrong motivation, which will only takes us so far. The goal of Christ is to transform us from the inside out so that we become people of good character, for the glory of God. You will never arrive to the mountain top of perfection in this world, Jesus through the Spirit will be transforming us to become more like Jesus, to amplify the qualities of virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and most of all love until the day we die or Christ comes back, which ever happens first. We will always be a work in progress, there should be a sign above like the street sign above the believers that says “Holy Spirit at Work”

Peter goes on to say,

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

8 Pues estas virtudes, al estar en vosotros y al abundar, no os dejarán ociosos ni estériles en el verdadero conocimiento de nuestro Señor Jesucristo. 9 Porque el que carece de estas virtudes es ciego o corto de vista, habiendo olvidado la purificación de sus pecados pasados.

Are you understanding what Peter is saying, when we respond to the work of the Spirit when it comes to our character, it keeps us from being ineffective and unfruitful. Even when God is working on us, transforming our character, we are to be bearing fruit as we live for him. But the opposite is true, when we are not responding to the work of the Spirit in our lives, we become nearsighted and blind, we can not see where we are going, our vision is blurred, we lose sight of living for the glory of Christ and forget the work he has done in our lives.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

10 Así que, hermanos, sed tanto más diligentes para hacer firme vuestro llamado y elección de parte de Dios; porque mientras hagáis estas cosas nunca tropezaréis; 11 pues de esta manera os será concedida ampliamente la entrada al reino eterno de nuestro Señor y Salvador Jesucristo.

Did you hear that? These are the truths that get me excited, that fire me up. Listen to what Peter is saying…

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

10 Así que, hermanos, sed tanto más diligentes para hacer firme vuestro llamado y elección de parte de Dios; porque mientras hagáis estas cosas nunca tropezaréis;

First, Peter lets us know that even though Christ has completely done the work of grace in our lives to rescue us from sin, cleanse us from sin, empower us to have victory over sin, we must be diligent to confirm that calling and election in our lives. What does Peter mean when he says this? Let me us the words of Jesus to simplify what Peter means, “If you love me, keep my commandments”. We are to work on walking in obedience to Christ, we are to work diligently to make the values of Christ, my values, the principles of Christ my principles, the beliefs of Christ my beliefs, the habits of Christ, my habits, the actions of Christ my actions, so that when people see us, when people see our character and how Jesus has transformed our lives, they glorify God who is in heaven.

Throughout my life in pastoral ministry, people have asked how can I live the Christian life successfully and I bring them to this passage, because in this passage Peter says something that absolutely floored me when I read and understood it, “if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” That’s an amazing word, if we practice and are growing in the qualities of

virtue

knowledge

self-control

steadfastness

godliness

brotherly affection

love

we will never fall. That is an amazing promise! The problem is we get tangled up in sin and become near sighted and blind, so what do we do when that happens? Confess your sins to Jesus, he is faithful and just to forgive and begin working on practicing and responding to the Spirit as he works on your character. Why?

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

pues de esta manera os será concedida ampliamente la entrada al reino eterno de nuestro Señor y Salvador Jesucristo.