Proverbs: How to read the Proverbs [Proverbs 10]

Proverbs: How to read the Proverbs []

Stand for the reading of the word of God [; ; ]

starts a new section in Proverbs called the Proverbs proper. It’s what we typically think of when we talk about Proverbs the one or two line sayings of wisdom from chapter’s 10-31. We’ll look at chapter 10 to learn how to read the Proverbs. We cannot cover all of it, so we’ll look at a select few verse we read at the opening, but we do want to be able to answer the question…how do we read the Proverbs properly.

For those of us who are familiar with the Proverbs may think this is a strange thing to talk about…how do I read the Proverbs? We might understand that question when it comes to books like Romans or Isaiah, or Leviticus…but not the Proverbs. The Proverbs are pretty simple and straightforward for the most part. I may not understand about sacrificing a goat and what to do with it’s entrails as in Leviticus…but I understand when the Bible tells me to not be lazy or to discipline my children. Those are easy to comprehend. For the most part the Proverbs are straightforward and easy to grasp…here’s the problem.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to read the Proverbs. The right way leads to joy and life, the wrong way leads to misery and pride. Here’s the difference.

If you read the Proverbs like a Pharisee or a legalistic person you have this mindset…I need to do these things the Proverbs talks about in order for God to love me. I need to obey these practical bits of advice because if I do God will accept me. That’s one way to read the Proverbs…and that’s the wrong way to read it. Instead..

Read the Proverbs like a blood-bought Christian with the mindset of “These things of the Proverbs are not things I do in order to get God to love me, these are things I do because God already loves me. We don’t obey God to become a child of God we obey Him because through faith in Jesus Christ I already am a child of God. And because I am a child of God,, through the precious blood of Jesus, this is how I live my life of faith in the one who saved me.

There’s a huge difference in the way you read the Proverbs. If you read it with a legalistic mind it’ll lead you to misery when you fail or pride when you succeed. But if you read the Proverbs like a Christian, it’ll lead you to become wise and full of joy.

While it’s true most of talk about conduct, these are not things God tells us to do in order to become his child. They are not things God tells us to do to be loved by Him. These behaviors are what the Lord is producing in those who are already His children-those who are already a part of His family. God is slowly, progressively conforming you to the image of Christ; he is making you more like Jesus, who is the wisdom of God. Proverbs is very much a book on sanctification.

My hope is that , and the rest of the Proverbs we look at in this series, will reveal areas of your life where you are acting like a fool and sinful and drive you to Jesus. Then, through faith in Jesus, the wisdom of Proverbs is what God will produce in your life daily.

The gospel is not about making yourself righteous; it is not about doing these things to become righteous. The gospel is about how the righteousness of Jesus has been credited to your account by virtue of your faith in Jesus, how? by His Spirit and by his word…he is molding you and shaping you to become more like Him. It’s a slow process, it’s gradual. Sometimes you take two steps forward and three steps back, but then you go forward again. It’s a process whereby God is molding you and shaping you into the image of His wisdom…into the image of His Son.

The Christian life is lived by faith. You live by faith recognizing your sin and foolishness, and then you daily repent of the areas where you are not believing the gospel or worshiping Jesus rightly. AS you do that, the Lord shapes you into the image of Christ so you can live in wisdom for Him. WE are not save by faith plus works, but we are saved by a faith that does work. Faith will produce obedience and wisdom in your life.

, we looked at last week taught us that. There are two paths that compete for your affection, love, and worship one is the wisdom of God the other is folly represented by idols. What the Proverbs teach us is if you want to be wise you must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is the wisdom of God. Without a personal relationship with Jesus you cannot be wise…no matter how smart you may be, you may be wise in the eyes of the world, but without a relationship with Jesus you will never truly be wise.

What we see in the Proverbs is practical wisdom for everyday life laid out, these reveal a lot about you. reveals our worship life. Worship is not just about singing on Sunday [that is corporate worship and the bible says we should do that] but the bible also says that you should do everything, whether you eat or drink or whatever it is, to the glory of God []. That is what the Proverbs is all about if you want to boil it down-it reveals where your life is idolatrous and where you are not believing the gospel. So at times it’ll be really hard to hear, but know it’s just it’s what we need to hear.

is random and disconnected, but there are major categories that you can look at thematically. Categories like words, work, finances, relationships, etc. Since these things reveal whether you are in a right relationship with the Lord the Proverbs shows there is no secular divide in life…there is no sacred and secular…for the believer all of life is sacred! Proverbs tells us that all areas of our life are spiritual in nature. It doesn’t matter how morally neutral the advice given may seem to be it’s not neutral.

These practical areas of your life, as shown in the proverbs, either show you are moving toward Jesus or you are moving away from Jesus…it’s as simple as that. That’s everything in your life, like whether or not you can clean your room when told to, whether or not you can be in healthy relationship, whether or not you can balance your checkbook.

i.e. Life works best when first you have harmony with God, which leads to harmony with other people and the world around you. God knows how life works best because He made life. God is good all the time, and in His word He shares with us how to best live this life... if we will just look to His word and trust in His goodness. God wants you to know the way life works best otherwise He would not have told us.

Starting in chapter 10 what we notice about the proverbs is how random everything seems to be. The first 9 chapters were on point, from here on out, it’s all over the place. It’s like, let’s talk about being a wise son, then let’s talk about money, then let’s talk about laziness, then let’s talk about the blessing of the Lord, then let’s talk about how to use your mouth, and then let’s talk about how to discipline your children. It’s all over the place. We shouldn’t think this is an accident.

The reason Proverbs is so random is because Solomon is obeying the command to parents in to teach your children the law. God gave a very specific command to parents about how to teach their children. He said you teach them when they wake up, when they sit, when they walk along the road, and when they lie down. How much of your day is spent waking up, sitting, walking around, and lying down? ALL of it! The entire day is spent doing those things, that’s the point. He’s telling parents to teach your children throughout the day.

You don’t sit your children down and say Monday we’ll learn everything you need to know about marriage and dating [I doubt anyone here knows that], Tuesday, I’ll teach you everything you need to know about work, Wednesday, I’ll teach you how to be a good communicator, etc. You don’t sit your kids down and teach them everything you know all in one setting, instead you have a hundred different conversations about a hundred different things as the days go by. We talk to them about mundane details in life like how to throw a baseball, to how to drive a car, how to do a job interview, how to spend your money wisely, about dating, and handling conflict-all kinds of stuff. As we go through our day different things come up and we talk about it…that’s what’s happening the .

Solomon having all kinds of conversations with his son as different topics come up, so it’s not really random at all even though it is. So We’ll use parts of chapter 10 to illustrate this. The rest of our time spent in the Proverbs, as this series continues will be like that, we’ll talk about different things that are important for us to live wisely, with the emphasis that it is Jesus who produces this wisdom in us. First is the area of work and money.

Jesus produces wisdom in the area of your work and money []

Jesus produces wisdom in your life in the way you work and handle money. This is a heavily covered topic in the Proverbs. Solomon writes in verse two [CSV] “Ill gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death.” If you are a greedy person who cheats the government, who takes advantage of your employer, then it will not profit you like you think it will. It shows you’re an idolater. Sometimes idolatry is not worship of bad things, it can be putting good things before God. Money is one of those things that can easily be placed before God.

The Proverbs say much about money, there are many positive things said about money like if you are a wise person you will make more money, generally speaking. But proverbs is not always positive about money. Every time you accumulate money you should not automatically take it as a sign of God’s blessing in your life. Money-if gotten the wrong way can be very destructive. There are many examples of money scams, schemes, and scandal’s, the problem we have with this text is and the question that arises is…is this really true? Does the world really work this way?

We’ve all see people who have cheated the system and gotten away with it. We’ve seen people who have made tons of money and financial security even though they went about it in the wrong way…so is the proverbs true? says the Lord will not let the righteous go hungry....but what about Christians in Sudan who are starving to death? What about Christians in America who lost their jobs and now their families are really struggling to make ends meat? Does that mean they are not God’s children??? Of course not.

the key to understanding the proverbs is that we must view them in light of Christ and eternity. Don’t only view them in terms of immediacy, generally these things are true immediately, but they will always be true ultimately. The wicked may make more money now, the righteous may starve now, but in the end those who are outside of Christ will have trouble and those who are in Christ will be enriched and trouble free for eternity.

The proverbs constantly condemns the get rich quick schemes as disastrous. We can see that unfold in our world, how many stories have you heard of NBA or NFL stars who made millions were bankrupt before the age of 40, they got too rich too quick and didn’t have the wisdom necessary for them to know how to steward that money. The same is true for us, we need to be molded and shaped with the kind of character it takes to handle money rightly. Jesus works in our lives so that when we are faithful with a few things He can then give us more things to be faithful with.

Verses 4-5, is about laziness, the proverbs say much about laziness as well. Here’s the thing about laziness…no one thinks they have a problem with laziness. We typically picture laziness as the couch potato who sits around watching soap opera’s and eating klondike bars are day…but that’s not how the proverbs portray laziness.

Do you have a hard time finishing a task you started without getting distracted? Do you do the bare minimum required of you at work? Do you typically turn in assignments, whether they be for school or work, late? DO you start a job and do it for 5 minutes then spend 30 minutes on Facebook before returning to that job to finish??? IF so you may have a lazy streak in you. Sometimes we need to redefine what we think something is. Is your attitude about service…someone else will take care of it? I know it’s hard to hear sometimes but we all need to hear it.

Jesus produces wisdom in the area of our words and mouth []

I won’t spend to much time on this because we will revisit this topic later in Proverbs, the proverbs have a lot to say about our words and our mouth and we really need to be put in check in this area. Here’s the point of this proverb [8]. If you’re the type of person who loves to hear the sound of your own voice and who speaks more than you listen, then you’re probably a fool.

How many people do you know that during a conversation are just waiting for you to take a breath so they can jump in a tell you their ideas, they don’t want to hear your ideas, only to tell you theirs…maybe you have the tendency to be this way, stop and listen more. Listen and think before you speak…the same goes before you post something on social media, stop and think before you tweet.

Look all of us think we’re right. Obviously I think my views are right on everything, otherwise I’d change my views to different views. If I thought I was wrong on something I wouldn’t just keep holding on to that idea I’d change it. So while I think I’m right on everything, I know in my heart I cannot be right on everything…I just can’t figure out where it is I’m wrong at…I need other input, I need to be willing to listen and not just spew out my thoughts all the time.

You cant’ learn where your views, decisions, and choices are off unless you are willing to listen and receive counsel from another. Wisdom is being able to receive advice humbly and follow it. Jesus perfectly displayed this for us as He perfectly accepted the commands of the Father, and knew when and how to speak.

We must guard our lips, the proverbs say the one who speaks a lot sins a lot. We are sinners, so, the more we talk, sooner or later, something stupid is going to come out…but Jesus will produce in us the ability to guard our mouths.

Jesus produces wisdom in the area of our relationships [;]

Wisdom has to do with all kinds of relationships. Whether or not you are generous to the poor [11:24]; take care of your animals [12:10]; listen to your parents [13:1]; keep good company [13:20]; or date the right person reveals whether or not you are a wise person walking with Jesus. Jesus doesn’t just reconcile us to God, he reconciles us to others as well. [].

Verse 1 points this out with the wise and foolish son… this is a parallel verse, if you are a wise child you make you parents happy and vice versa. The principle is your wisdom or foolishness has emotional consequences for the people around you. Your behavior has consequences and elicits emotional responses from those who love you. Many parents have felt heartache over the decisions their children have made.

This reality has everything to do with our relationship with Jesus. I think we all would have to admit that we have made decisions that have hurt our parents. I definitely am not the exception to that. But the good news of the gospel is that even as convicting as this is the reality points us to Jesus. Jesus is the one who perfectly fulfilled the wisdom of the proverbs and through His perfection…those of us who are in Him…he then makes us the kind of children we ought to be, the kind who brings joy to their parents.

Parental is not the only relationships addressed in the proverbs, verse 12 is a great conflict-resolution technique. It’s very simple but we all need to hear it…what’s the best way to dissolve a conflict is by love. Seeking the best for others, not just seeking the best for yourself. Forgiving others, not just overlooking your own sin, giving others the benefit of the doubt. If you are constantly angry, who loves a good fight, who stirs up strife…you’re a fool! A gentle answer turns away anger [15:1]. you resolve conflicts by loving others and letting go of offenses.

Jesus-by his love on the cross-covers our offenses against God and reconciles us to God. Not only does he resolve the conflict between us and God, but the vertical reconciliation should also lead to horizontal reconciliation where we love and forgive others around us. Being a blood-bought Christian, being a wise Christian means that you see the way God dealt with you and your sin and your offense against Him, and then you deal that way with others who wrong you: you love them, you forgive them.

When I read the proverbs, it can be very discouraging because I take stock of my life and I think how often I’ve messed up. I think about how often I didn’t listen to my parents. I think of how often the decisions I made brought sadness to those who love me. I think of all the hurtful things I said to people, and the times I should have took advice from someone and didn’t. I see times when I didn’t forgive someone and should have…I see how I have messed up repeatedly. But there is a way to read Proverbs rightly that doesn’t bring regret but joy…it’s summed up in the words of Graeme Goldsworthy on the book of proverbs.

“Jesus has fulfilled in our place the perfection God demands. He was the truly wise and fully sanctified human on our behalf. Thus, as we struggle to become wise, we know that our failures do not disqualify us from life because Christ himself is our only qualification. He, when all is said and done, is our wisdom, and to possess Christ is to be accounted wise by the only judge that matters.”

Want to be a wise person? Have you turned to Christ? He’s the only one who can produce wisdom in your life? He will produce in our life wisdom.

Jesus produces wisdom that leads to rewards in our life and the life to come []