Wisdom | Proverbs 3:1-12
Verses 1-4
“My son, do not forget my law…”
- Solomon’s advice to his son is to remember God’s law
- Remembering God’s law is more than a mental exercise but is also connected to living in obedience…
- The heart means that we live for God from the inside out and we are not seeking outward conformity.
“Let not mercy and truth forsake you…”
- Solomon moves towards the personal responsibility we have to actively live out God’s truth and mercy.
- The mercy and truth we have been given should be extended to others.
- Finding Favor is found is living out the truth and mercy of God (The NT church saw this daily).
Verses 5-8
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.”
Q: Where have you seen your understanding triumph over God’s word?
- Interpretation of Scripture.
- The Bible clearly says…
- God will direct our paths to the measure in which we trust and walk in his path(s).
- 60% of active professing Christians have claimed to not believe the Bible.
- Trust God with everything!
o With all your heart…
? Complete trust is essential.
? Continually surrender your will to his.
o Lean not on your own understanding…
? Don’t think that you have anything figured out.
? Put away your understanding and choose to trust God’s way of doing things as revealed in his word.
o In all your ways acknowledge him…
? This is the choice to invite God into our everyday lives and conduct.
? Stop putting Jesus first and make him central!
? Let God’s Spirit interpret Scripture.
- The term, trust, means to ‘lie down helpless, facedown’ and the picture is a servant waiting for a master’s command or a defeated soldier yielding himself to the conquering general.
- Clark: “The grand sin of the human race is their continual endeavor to live independently of God.”
Verses 9-10
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”
Q: Why is it hard to give God money / possessions?
- Honoring God with our wealth / possessions is a practical way for us to trust him.
- First Fruits: This is our 1st and our absolute best.
- When we give our 1st it is trusting God and anticipating that he will provide (more).
- In OT Times, the best was set apart for sacrifice.
- The principle involved: When we surrender our 1st and our best, God is generous towards us.
Verses 11-12
“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”
Q: How does God discipline us?
- Discipline (Discipleship) This signifies correction, discipline and instruction.
- Teaching shows us where to go; discipline makes that teaching effective; correction brings us into submission.
- The point of discipline is to prevent specific actions / behaviors from becoming habitual.
- The term, despise, means to consider unless, unnecessary or troublesome.
- Discipline / Correction often comes with discomfort / affliction to expose a sin / evil that was not previously seen, showing the nature of the problem and how to address it, guidance towards rejecting the sin and embracing God’s best.
- Conviction x Condemnation: This is not who you are x Shame for wrong – doing.
- Spare not the rod (Proverbs 13:24) = The Rod was used for guidance and is a symbol of authority.
- Discipline x Kindness = it is the kindness of God that is designed to lead us to repentance. Thus, discipline must be viewed as a kindness to move us from a lifestyle or a choice / behavior that is not aligned with what will give us the best possible life.
Punishment x Discipline
- Do I need to obey God’s law…what about all the NT commandments?
- Paul recognized that there may be those among the Christians in Galatia who had been overtaken in a trespass. Paul didn’t seem to exclude the overtaken one from the brethren, yet they should never stay in the place of being overtaken.
- Overtaken “Contains the idea of falling. It is not the deliberate, the planned, aspect of sin that is stressed here, but rather the unwitting element. Mistake rather than misdeed…
- Restore: The person should be restored, not excused, not destroyed, not ignored. The goal is always, restoration.
- Restore: (Kataritzo) which means to “Put in order” “Restore to its former condition” This was a medical term for setting a fractured or dislocated bone.
- The issues we can have is:
o Ignoring the sin (as if it never happened).
o Acting too harshly towards the one who did sin (and often in doing so, push them away).
o Where is the balance? -> Grace
o What is the difference between punishment and discipline?
o There is discipline and we are called to judge and discipline in the context of the church. Gentleness has to be in mind as well – this means whenever we are in the process of restoring others, we need to keep in mind our own weakness and corruption.
o Whenever discipline is being administered, if the end goal isn’t restoration then it’s not discipline, it’s punishment.
o It takes me a while (hours / days) before I should respond to an incident because it takes me that long to consider what I would have done in the scenario and what are the circumstances surrounding the situation and why the person did what the did.
Gal: 6:2
- Every person has hurts, habits and hang-ups to deal with.
- In the Christian faith, we are called to be family and by mere definition, others-focused / others- oriented.
- How do we carry each other’s burdens (practically speaking)?
