Untitled Sermon (9)

Proverbs 31: 21a, 25b

intro: Don’t worry about a thing ( bob marley , “ three little birds”

Sing: Don’t worry about a thing

Cause every little thing gonna be all right

singin dont worry about a thing,

cause every little thing gonna be alright.

(If they want more)

Rise up this morning

smile with the rising sun

three little birds

pitched by my doorstep

singing sweet songs

of melodies pure and true

saying this is my message to you u uuuu

Well this famous chorus was apart of the popular song “ three lititle birds” written by reggae artist Bob Marley in 1977. The inspiration behind this song it is said that Marley would observe three little yellow canaries that would come by his windowsill on hope rd. So as I was preparing the lesson this week those lyrics popped in my head. And i thought I think that’s exactly what of lesson is teaching us to do. So let’s look at our passage and hopefully you all can see why we shouldn’t worry about a thing.

So Rich has been walking us through many passages in the book of proverbs, we’ve been in chapter 31 as of late. And we are now in the section of verses 10-31 looking at the virtuous wife. This chapter is said to have been written by King Lemuel, who name means “belonging to God”. But this is the only place he is mentioned, so we have no other information about this king. Many believe he was actual person others believe King Solomon, some say King Hezekiah, but its just hard to say for sure. Well King lemuel says in this chapter is writing about things that his mother taught him. the first 9 verses we see warnings she gave him concerning women and wine and what to stay away from then she tells him to use his mouth to judge righteously. He then talks about what she tells him to look for in a wife in verses 10-31.

This section is actually a poem which has a chiastic structure as Rich has been showing us. And that is a structure that cycles through repeated thoughts in a particular order. And you can see on the back of our sheets. This poem speaks of the value of a excellent wife. And this woman is quite remarkable. She has accomplished many things. Most of our bibles use present tense verbs, but some old testament scholars argue that the verbs should be understood in the past tense. and some bible translations like the NET reads in the past. And I agree, I think important because its very helpful for us to see that all of the things this woman has done, was not done all at the same time or on a daily basis but rather was done over her life time. I think it’s also helpful for us to see this is not a list of to dos for women, meaning that in order to be a virtous wife you must do every single one of these things to the tee, No what this is showing us that wives can learn from the character that was behind the things she did. So she telling her son look for a woman who has this kind of character. As rich said last week, i dont think any of you have a distaff or a spindle nor do most own vineyard. And this passage isn’t telling you that you have to either but again it shows us what kind of character wives should strive to have. And we see her character right, This passage tells us how this wife had the heart of her husband, she was trustworthy, how she was a hard worker and she was not idle, her generosity to those in need, her provision for her children and care of her family ,how she spoke wisely, she taught with kindness. and what we’ll discuss today how she viewed the future. and so many of these things are repeated throughout this passage. But the most important thing about this women is found in verse 30 where it says

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised”

This is the foundation of her character.. This is the motivation behind why she did the things she did. She feared the Lord.

The character behind all of the things she did, started with the fear of the Lord. This knowledge/wisdom she had came from God!!

And this is nothing new, we have been looking at this same formula all throughout this book. Proverbs has been arguing this the whole book

proverbs 1:7a

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

proverbs 2:6

For the LORD gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding

So we see this knowledge she had only came from God, now to our verses. Our fist verse says

Verse 21a-

She is not afraid of snow for her household,

for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

so our first verse tells us that she is not afraid of snow. Now snow wasn’t uncommon for this ancient area, it is said to that they experienced snow every couple years. Not a huge amount normall, sometimes more than others. But whether they got a ton of snow during any particular winter, it definitely got cold. but why would one be afraid of snow anyway? Well not being prepared for the winter could cause one to fear. Frigrid temps would make life uncomfortable. This cold weather probably stopped all crops from growing, so limited food supply, cold weather no doubt made it harder to travel Especially if one didn’t have the proper clothing. Well as you can see this time of snow/ winter could be very hard for families, having warm shelter and warm clothing would be essential for them or it can get pretty bad. Especially for the children.

And even though we’re focusing on the this part of the verse the next part of the verse shows us one of the reasons why she isn’t afraid. it says for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

she was prepared! She provided for her family warm clothes. She thought ahead and had clothes for family for this hard time. This is scarlet was a very quality material and not only that it was doubled layered. It was perfect for keeping one warm. This woman was wise in fact that she took the time to think about the coming winter time, the coming snow and say let me make sure my family has these warm clothes. So she was prepared, she was a good planner who thought ahead. Well that is something wives can strive to be, women who plan, who think about needs for the family ahead of time. That’s wisdom. That’s a wise thing to do. To be one who prepares for challenging times. No doubt being prepared would help us with fearing or worrying about the winter, knowing we have the things we need to endure it. But is that all of what went into this woman’s mind concerning the winter. What else is it about this wife’s thinking that should strike us? I believe the repeated thought in our chiastic poem helps us to see something deeper about this wife’s thinking.

In the second half of verse 25 we read

Verse 25b-

Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come

So does she think the future is funny? No

The second part of that verse says she laughs at the time to come. Now laugh is this verse literally means to smile. This woman when she thought of the future it made her smile. She had no fear of it even though she didn’t know what it would. She had a trust in God that made her be able to have this worry free view of the future. If I’m understanding this passage correctly then if all these things we’re done over the course of her life then she would definitely remember God’s faithfulness in supplying her needs over and over, and I’m sure that would have caused her to smile when she thought about how much God has been gracious to her. But I believe also because of her fear of the Lord, she received wisdom from God which gave her confidence that she would be in good hands even though the future is uncertain. She knew ultimately that God was in control. I mean the day to come could possibly mean sickness or even death. And you can’t plan for that, right inthe sense of doing something ahead of time to stop it from happening. Theres nothing we can do about that. Only trusting in God, the one does have control over those things can give us hope for the future. She had no worry about any of those circumstances ,she still smiled and laugh at future even though she couldn’t control its outcome why?Because she trusted in God and he gave a hope that could not be shaken. Only those who have a trust in God can have this kind of hope.

And proverbs has told us this before, in chapter 23:17, 18 we read

“ Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.

Surely there is a future. And your hope will not be cut off.

It was her fear of the Lord, her faith in God is what produced this kind of trust. As good as a planner she was it was not her good planning skills that gave her this hope it was her fear of the Lord that produced this deeper trust in God. She had God first above her abilities. That was her foundation. Only seeking him first and his wisdom was she able to have this trust.

New Testament Connection/ Christ:

Well this kind of trust is taught I believe is taught in the New Testament as well. Jesus taught his followers to have this kind of trust in God. In Matt 6:25-34 we read about this mindset Jesus is teaching us to have, this outlook on future circumstances, this outlook on tmmrw, on the time to come. Now we won’t enough time to talk about everything these verses, there is much we could talk about, we won’t have enough time to discuss every thought. But what I would like us to see is this trust in God for everything he teaching them to have.

Now this text is apart of Jesus’s sermon on the mount which started in chapter 5, but in this part of the sermon in chapter 6 we read this.

Read 25-34

English Standard Version

25Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jesus immediatly says in the first verse dont be anxious about your life! Thats our biggest concern about what tmmrw may bring Isn’t it? What about our life? But Jesus says dont be anxious about that. he teaches them dont be anxious about your body, thats probably next most concerning thing, our bodies (sickness, disease) he says dont worry about that either. how about food for tmmrw? dont be anxious, how about clothing?oh the winter is coming, how will we stay warm, he says dont be anxious again.

he calls there attention to look at other things in creation that he takes care of , he says look at the birds dont you see how i feed them. he says arent you worth more than them, your more valuable to him then they

he says can any add years on his life by worrying? absoultey not, worrying cant do that.We have no control over how long we live. But Who is in control of life? God

eph 1;11 Tells us God works all things according to his will, life and death are apart of all things

1 tim 6:13 tells it is God who gives life to all things

james 4 : these verse show us awe ultimately dont determine what we’ll do tmmrw, we have no control over that, we don’t control tmmrw, he says we ought say if the Lord wills we will live and do this or that.

back to Matt 6

he says why are you worried about clothing? he says look at the lillies of the field and the grass and how God clothes them. They dont even have to work for there clothing, they neither toil or spin.

you see God takes care of all these things. And at the top of his list of things he takes care of is You! He tells don’t even worry about tmmrw. Only one who is in control of our tmmrw can tell us that He provides the grace we need everyday. .Man should that bring us comfort. Our lives our totally in his hands. Well instead of worrying he tells us to trust in him, to have faith in him concerning our needs, and our tmmrws.

he says instead of worrying about these things he tells to do this he tells us to seek his kingdom and his righteouness first vs 33. and all your needs God will supply.

what does it mean to seek his kingdom,

Well in its most. simplest sense to seek his kingdom is to seek Jesus’s sovereign control over this life and the life to come. To seek his rule and reign over all things! Lord let your will be done. Are you seeking that? Are you seeking Jesus to reign even over your life, are you seeking his reign of your all your need, are you seeking his reign over your tmmrw?

Are we putting Jesus first? Or are we trusting in our planning or preparation? Because there is danger of looking at the proverbs 31 passage and only seeing how she had warm clothes for her family and how she planned for other things and then concluding well that’s all I need to do, this passage is only teaching me to become a good planner. No that’s incomplete. That limted understanding won’t cause you to smile at the future like she did. Only those who have complete trust in God over everything can smile at the future. Only those who put God first even over there planning can smile at the future. Jesus says seek me first and all these things will be added to you.

Well why should we seek him first? Well for starters he put us first.

we love him because he loved us first.

1john

he put first when he died for us

rom

“ while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”

did he not?

God showed his immense love for us by sending his Son to die for our sins

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This is ultimatly be our motivation for seeking him first, look at all he has done for us. He even has promised us eternal life.

This is the kind of hope we need to have to be able to smile at tmmrw, we serve a God who not only supplies our earthly needs but a God who has supplied our greatest need = salvation and has given us the promise of eternal to those who have trusted in him.

if you have not trusted in Jesus , there is no hope for your future You can’t have this kind of peace that surpasses our understanding. This hope that even though we dont know what tmmrw brings, God will take care us. Without trusting in Jesus and receiveing the forgiveness of your sins through him, you can have this hope for tmmrw. In fact your tmmrw could bring death and you stand before the judgement of God yet in your sins where you will receive eternal condemnation. I don’t want that for you, trust in Christ Jesus for salvation and receive his forgivenes and you will have eternal life with him to look forward to. He will grant you this hope that were talking about today. You will be able to smile at the future like this woman in proverbs 31 and every other believer who have received salvation.

As we close we have learned that preparing and planning is wise. The scriptures support this. But don’t let the foundation of your planning be because of worry. Put God first over your plans

Remember James 4, Dont put your trust in planning don’t trust in your retirement accounts, or money we saved, your job, Don’t trust in your healthy eating and workout regimens, all those things are good but don’t trust in them, those things can be here,today and gone tmmrw. The only person that can give us this type of hope for the future is the Lord Jesus Christ.

before you plan and while your plan seek the Lord in prayer and his word. Ask that his will be done In your life.

Trust in him.