Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness

Class Time

Before reading our selected passage today, we need just a little bit of classroom time.

- The Proverbs of Solomon

Today’s passage from opens a new section known as the Proverbs of Solomon. Extending into , there are 375 of them. If we turn to - whether a literal number or symbolic of Solomon’s wisdom - Solomon spoke 3,000 Proverbs… Doing some quick math - represents just a tiny portion - 12.5% of Solomon’s wisdom given him by God.

Fun Fact - if you take the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order and assign numbers for the letters in Solomon’s name- you get 375. If 3,000 is the number, there were still 2625 to go. While the lack of organization makes all these Proverbs appear random -- It gives us real pause that the proverbs we do have were intentionally selected from a much larger lost collection.

Who are “the righteous”?

As we plunge into this new section, we meet a group of people- “The Righteous”. They are cited 78 times in Proverbs and 15 times alone in chapter. Understanding who they are is critical.

The Bible’s original languages Hebrew and Greek are almost always precise. For instance, in the Greek there are multiple words for the English word “love” to distinguish what kind. But that’s not true of the word “righteous” This word takes on added meaning after Christ’s ascension.

After the Gospels, righteousness is linked to believers in Jesus Christ. All three persons of The Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the sole actors. The result is a redemptive righteousness - a righteousness where the perfect obedience of Christ, his death and resurrection are applied to God’s elect. Without this redemptive righteousness, we would stand condemned in God’s eyes. Instead we are already whiter than snow as anticipated by and . The Book of Romans - especially chapter 3 is a great go to learn more about God’s redemptive righteousness.

Yet in the Beatitudes - Jesus speaks, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

But prior to the redemptive righteousness in Christ alone, is ethical or normative righteousness. Throughout the Old Testament, this righteousness is related to one’s own actions or heart. It’s not the redemptive righteousness in Christ alone. It’s a righteousness motivated by love for God and others. It’s acting wisely, ethically and with integrity. These are The Righteous spoken of in Proverbs. This is the pursuit and hunger for righteousness in Jesus beatitudes and the Sermon on the mount.

To give you a better sense of the righteousness and how they fit with wisdom, we’ll read the whole Chapter-

In a single chapter, it’s all there overturning the wisdom of this world. They are items often ignored or minimized by you and me and other believers. Our lost sense of direction is an indicator of our buy-in. But it’s not too late. Following Christ who is wisdom incarnate, God’s Spirit will open our eyes again to some basic truths vital to day to day living.

Scriptural Reminder #1: The choices you and I make affect others.

The simplest and most basic of overlooked truths - and one that if remembered would prevent a heap of trouble is found in verse 1: “A wise son brings joy to this father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.” — In other words the choices we make affect others. We are encouraged more than ever today to live for ourselves and make our own happiness a reality without regard for others. When we focus only on ourselves, the collateral damage follows in our wake. Call it self determination, individualism, hedonism, or whatever else - marketing, advertising, education, economics, my happiness becomes the goal to live for.

From the crimes and preventable traffic accidents on the news, to the brokenness within families to the dirty dishes left by a family member on an end table for someone else to clean up — we have a wholehearted forgetfulness that our actions affect others. If the other 374 Proverbs were stricken from Scripture and only this one remained - Beginning with our families, how different would life be? Might families be brought to wholeness again and our communities restored? Would crime rates be lower? Would we be more likely to take care of God’s world and recycle or reuse?

By his life, Jesus taught us what it meant to live for others before self. He did so living out the first and second greatest commandments perfectly- you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbors as yourselves. It cost Jesus everything - humiliation, pain and suffering, sacrifice to save you and me. We see the church at its best in when all the believers were of one heart and mind. The critics are wrong to spotlight this as socialism or communism -it was an unselfish welfare for the sake of other. Too often, that’s lost on us.

The righteous do so and are aware of this. Listen to how their actions come to be a blessing while those who don’t harms others:

V 11 - The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life to others - but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.

V17 - He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astry.

V 21 - The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment.

But it’s never too late to take off the blinders with the Spirit’s help - slow down our pace to eliminate the tunnel vision. Then we’ll start to realize how even the most basic of choices affect others.

Scriptural Reminder #2: God is in control via his Providence

Chalk it up to good luck or bad luck, good karma or bad karma, or even chance.... you and I have said it - Good Luck - I hope (fill in the blank) goes well for you. And we are demonstrating care for the other person. We sincerely hope that their surgery, speech, game whatever goes well for them. Then there is karma - Or what goes around comes around. It even became the plot of a popular tv show for awhile - Everybody Loves Earl. Earl the main character reaped what he though to be bad karma from hurts he inflicted on others over his life. The turning point for him was losing a multi million dollar lottery ticket. To turn his life around and get good karma - he decides he must undo all the mistakes and hurts of his past.

But just a single chapter of Solomon’s Proverbs reminds us - God is control via his Providence. God is in control of the big and the little.

Contrary to the idea that after creation God stood afar after setting the world spinning, God continues to be actively involved in creation. Chapter 10 reveals this to be the truth. Remember - that Proverbs are not promises but in general we can expect them to be true.

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Sometimes God is directly involved - verse 3: The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry but he thwarts the cravings of the wicked. verse 22 - The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

Though not absolutely true 100% of the time — the other 30 — each take on not just how things came to be by chance or luck - but on display in these other proverbs is God’s ongoing created order. Why can we still expect in general that these proverbs are reliable? It’s because God maintains a foothold even in a world so impacted by sin. Putting all 375 Proverbs together — choose wisely and you and others around you will find blessing - don’t and you’ll find the oppositte. Tt’s not chance. It’s not karma. It’s not luck. It’s not as fate would have it. It is understanding that by God’s created order, there is a design with effective causes and effects. Regardless of those who doubt God’s existence or even that it is time to outgrow God - God is in control.

Last week we spoke with concern for those who hold Christ up as some great wisdom teacher and role model while denying that Christ is Lord and Savior. They don’t even realize that what they are doing is acknowledging that there is something very attractive about the wisdom of God and modeling one’s life after Christ. This may make one righteous in the eyes of others - They make great neighbors and friends - we may even think them to be people of faith. Thinking they have no further need of Christ we focus our outreach efforts elsewhere - when actually they are prime candidates. If we reset contented, this too falls short of true redemptive wisdom.

Forgotten Truth #3: True Redemptive Righteousness is only found in Jesus Christ.

I don’t think it’s intentional on our part - but we somehow get misdirected. It’s wonderful in our day and age to see evidence of others following the second greatest commandment to love our neighbors. But if our lives or the lives of others does not also demonstrate loving the Lord - the greatest commandment - Or is we think that adhering to the ethical righteousness found in Proverbs is sufficient - we’re on the wrong track. We’re on the wrong track if we think we earn or merit a portion of the ticket fare to heaven through our works.

Ethical Righteousness is no substitute for the redemptive righteousness found in Christ alone. We find the fix if we turn back one more time to invite to dine with wisdom — why do so? For attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight, for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair for the sake of community building and so forth — Earning our way into redemption is not on the list.

Writing to a church that was getting misdirected by false teachers - John reminded them in - The only way to become righteous was through Jesus Christ - THE Righteous One. On our own,— the great redemptive righeousness chapter reveals there is no one righteous, not even one. as Bill Capp reminded me when talking in advance about this message - When we try to display our righteous deeds- next to God they are nothing but filthy rags. But Christ came for us - and the saving work of Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Christ came for us and redeemed us.

As a result - we desire to follow after him in hope - imitating his wisdom that he fulfilled in these proverbs for the benefit of others and building community - following after Christ in the way of righteousness and living for the love of God and neighbor. Then we realize all the more the Proverbs in 28-30 -

:

The way of the Lord is a refuge for the righteous.

For the prospect of the righteous is joy

The way of the Lord is a stronghold

The way of the Lord is a refuge for the righteous.

The righteous will never be uprooted.

For the prospect of the righteous is joy

We’ll pick it up again in two weeks.