The Well-Ordered Life. Series

The Well-Ordered Life

Jeffery Anselmi / General

The Book of Proverbs- The Ways of The Wise / Discipline; New Perspective / Proverbs 3:1–2; Proverbs 30:7–9

INTRODUCTION

• At times, life can be complicated and confusing.

• There are so many choices in life, and to make things more complicated, not everything in life is black and white; there can be a lot of gray when it comes time to make various choices.

• How would you like to start 2022 right?

• Today we start a new year off with a new series!

• My prayer is this new series will help you have the tools to get the new year off to a good start!

• The new series is based on some of the passages from the book of Proverbs.

• The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings from (primarily) King Solomon.

• This seven-week series will look at the multiple gems of wisdom and themes found in the book and consider practical areas of our life where God's wisdom can shape and change how we live.

• Today, we will begin our journey on the subject of having a well-ordered life.

• One of the significant stressors of life is living a life with no anchor and no purpose.

• When we lack these things, life can become a chaotic mess.

• Today in our opening message of this seven-part series, we will look at how we can live a well-ordered life.

• We will not be dealing with the issue of the person who has a messy room and is never on time for anything, but rather, we will dig a little deeper to see how we can live life with the correct priorities.

• When you live a well-ordered life, many of what we would call the gray areas of life all suddenly show themselves in vivid colors, making what used to be complicated and confusing choices much easier to make.

• Is life one of constant stress, or do peace and contentment mark your life?

• If your life is utter chaos and loaded with stress, possessing a well-ordered life will bring inner peace and contentment.

• Let's start our journey into the book of Proverbs by looking at three characteristics of a well-ordered life.

Proverbs 3:1–2 (CSB)

1 My son, don't forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands; 2 for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being.

SERMON

I. A well-ordered life is anchored to God's Word.

• This passage is the third of ten instruction poems in Proverbs 1–9.

• True to form, the poem begins with the cut-and-dried admonition, "My son, do not forget my teaching."

• What follows are exhortations designed to encourage the learner to grow in "trust in the Lord" (v. 5) and establish a good reputation "in the sight of God and man" (v. 4).

• The context of this passage is one of a father passing out wisdom to his son.

• The father tells the son not to forget what the father taught him.

• Before we dig any deeper, this is a reminder to parents of their job.

• Parents are not called to be their child's" buddy, but rather, their job is to teach them how to live.

• A parent's child's" call is to give their child something to anchor to in life, and that anchor is God's Word.

• When you examine this passage in its context, the teaching the father is imparting to his son, that he reminds his son to never forget, is teaching about God.

• A parent's job is to give (and to show) their child a biblical foundation upon which they can build their life.

• Imparting instruction is to be done in such a way that the child will keep the commands of God taught in their heart!

• For my child to keep the instructions in their heart, they need to see me live out the instructions.

• Do you want to confuse a child or an adult you are seeking to lead and teach?

• The easy way to do that is to not only live out your faith but only proclaim it.

• That will confuse people, and it will cause not only your children to not take you seriously, but those around you also will not take you seriously either.

• Proverbs 3 reminds us of the importance of remembering and keeping.

• We remember God's commandments, and then we act on that remembrance.

• Keeping God's commandments is a matter of life and death.

• We might say, "It's too hard!" or "I'm too busy to follow God," but doing so would be like a lifeguard who remembers all the techniques to save someone from drowning but doesn't act on that knowledge when the opportunity presents itself.