The Seven Pillars of Wisdom : Walking Out Your Faith

Amen. Welcome back to to the Word of God. We’re going to stand in just a moment with our Bibles and we’re going to honor God’s Word as we wrap up our series on Proverbs. This is our 13th message out of the book of Proverbs. And so we’re looking forward this morning to a message entitled The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. All right. Will you stand with me this morning? And we’re going to read from Proverbs chapter 9 verse 1 through 6. Proverbs chapter 9 verse 1 through 6. Don’t you just enjoy the book of Proverbs? I mean, Proverbs gives us such a window into the kind of life we can live as we walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I’m so thankful for Proverbs. Let’s read Proverbs chapter 9 and I’ll read the first six verses. Wisdom has built her house. She has set up its seven pillars. She’s prepared her meal and mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her servants and she calls from the highest point of the city. Let all who are simple come to my house. To those who have no sense, she says, come eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live. Walk in the way of insight. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we’re so grateful for the insight, the discernment, the wisdom, the understanding that we can gain from your word. Lord, we pray now that we’re saved, now that we’re walking with Jesus, now that we’re free from the old life, Lord, that you would help us to live lives that honor you, to live lives that are built on the foundations of wisdom. Lord, and I pray for each person here this morning that you would begin by your spirit to reveal the truths of Scripture to them. Lord, I pray that you would open up their spiritual eyes, help them to see the truths, the treasures that you have for them in your word, that they could begin to understand and apply your word to their relationships, to their work, to their finances. Lord, to every area of our lives, Lord, we want to see you honored and we want to live in wisdom. We give you all the praise and the glory this morning in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. When we read Proverbs chapter 9, those first six verses, it reminds me of the parable of the great banquet in Luke chapter 14. So I’m going to turn in my Bible and read Luke 14, verse 15 through 24. This was a parable that Jesus gave us. When one of those at the table with him, this is Luke 14, heard this, he said to Jesus, blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. Jesus replied, a certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servants to tell those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, I have just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me. Another said, I’ve just bought five yoke of oxen and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me. Still another said, I just got married, so I can’t come. The servant came back and reported this to the master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Sir, the servant said, what you ordered has been done, but there is still room. Then the master told his servant, go out to the roads and countries and you know, the King James version to the highways and the byways and compel them to come in so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste at my banquet. Wow, what a edgy, I mean, yes, a powerful parable, but what a really edgy parable that Jesus gives us when he reminds us that, you know, many are called, but few are chosen. And we’d have to unpack that in a whole nother sermon. But the point is, not everybody who is invited ends up coming. And oftentimes that’s by our own choice. I’m too busy. I just got married. I’ve got other things to do. I don’t have time to come and pursue God in my life. You see, as we turn our hearts and minds back to Proverbs chapter nine, Proverbs nine compares wisdom, lady wisdom and lady folly. They’re both crying out in the streets. And what we see as we read through all of Proverbs, but especially chapter nine is we, we see that it’s wisdom’s crying out, but, but not everybody comes. It’s only the humble. It’s only the, the simple and the, the word there simple means gullible or naive. It’s only, I like this word coachable. It’s only the person who is coachable who comes. I remember, I can still remember when I was younger. I can. And I remember when I was 18 to 25, you know, I think in those years I wanted to take advice from others, but I didn’t find it nearly as easy. Can you remember those years in your life? If you’re a little bit older, you know, when we’re young, we’re strong, we’re confident, we’re driven, we’re, we’re, we’ve got this idea in our head that, Hey, we know what we’re doing. We got this. And then suddenly you go through life and you kind of hit your first big failure. Something doesn’t work out. Your plan doesn’t succeed. Your, your strategy doesn’t work. And then you realize, Oh, I need some help. I need some advice. I need a different strategy. I need to get somebody who can, who’s been there, who knows how to get where I want to go. And, and it’s in that process, that just the battlefield of life, that if you will allow God, He will help you to become humble. He will help you become teachable. He will help you become coachable. One of my big takeaways is I have read through the book of Proverbs multiple times in my life, but definitely in this series, one of my big takeaways has been, Lord, help me to be coachable. Help me to be correctable. It doesn’t mean we live life with no confidence. It doesn’t mean we live life thinking, well, I don’t know anything and I can’t do anything. That’s not what Proverbs is telling us. But we need to live life with a heart that says, God, I want to hear from you. I want to, I want to get some godly advice, some godly strategy. I don’t want to just keep doing things the way I’ve always done them and expecting different outcomes. Can I say that again? If you’re expecting different outcomes in your finances, in your relationships, in your work life, you’re expecting different outcomes, but nothing’s changing in, in or about you. You’re not, there’s no, you’re going to get the same outcomes. So Lord help us to be coachable. This morning, I want to share with us seven pillars of wisdom. And in some ways, this is kind of a review of everything we’ve been learning in the book of Proverbs. Number one, honor God first. Honor God first. That’s really the first pillar. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs chapter one, verse seven, Proverbs chapter nine, verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge. It is the foundation of your walk with the Lord. Now, to fear the Lord doesn’t mean to walk around being afraid of God, but it does mean having an awe, having a high regard, having a big respect for God in your life so that you want to consider him more than you consider yourself or other people. Right? And what Proverbs teaches us is that when you have the fear of the Lord in your life, it motivates you to serve him. It motivates you to obey him. And I am so glad that what we see in scripture, and I’m going to turn to first John, I believe I have it here. First John chapter four, verse 18, where the Bible tells us that love cast out all fear. And we know that God is love. And so here’s, here’s what we see in scripture is that the beginning or the foundation of a walk with God is to fear the Lord. You see, in the Old Testament, God gave us the law. And the law could not change you, the law could not empower you to do right. It certainly couldn’t change your motivations, but it warned you. Like a parent with a child saying, don’t put your hand in the fire, that’s going to hurt. A parent saying to a child, don’t run out in the street, that’s dangerous. You see, that was the purpose of the mosaic law. That was the purpose of the Old Covenant, to warn us to instill in us the fear of God. Anybody grew up in a home like that you had a dad who was pretty good at instilling the fear of God in you. I grew up I grew up in a home like that. For much and it was good for me. It was good for me much of my life. The most dreaded thing in my life as a youngster and a teenager would would be to disappoint my parents. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents. But you know, that’s when you’re a child. But eventually you grow up and you realize I’m not living this way just because I don’t want to disappoint my parents. I’m living this way because my heart has changed. My desires, my loves have changed. And now I just want to I want to do this because I know it’s the right thing to do. It honors God. It blesses my family. I want to live right because this is what God wants for my life. So as you grow up, something changes. The same is true for your Christian life. When you come to the Lord many times, it’s the foundation of your walk with God is the fear of the Lord. And that’s what Proverbs 1.7 says, right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning. And so we begin our walk with God, because we have gained a new respect for God, we have gained a new regard for God, we realize that God is high and lifted up. He is true. He is the creator. He is our Savior. He is the one who has all things in his hands. And we say, Okay, God, I surrender, I give my life to you. But you know what God begins to do? He doesn’t then just continue to peddle fear in our lives. First John chapter four, verse 18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Here’s what God does because of the grace of God and the love of Jesus in our life. We come to God in the beginning is the fear that warns us from what is fear to fear is a great motivator. And it’s a great survival emotion, right? So fear God gives to us naturally, because it keeps us safe. It keeps us safe. And so the beginning of your relationship with the Lord, and I would even say it’s always there, right? There’s always a healthy measure of the fear of God knowing that, hey, if I don’t continue to walk in Jesus, if I start living out over here in the world, then I’m in danger. I’m in danger. So there’s always a healthy amount of the fear of the Lord in our life. But God doesn’t leave us with fear. He begins to transform our hearts so that we experience the love of God. You know what the love of God does? The love of God changes what you love. Come on church. That’s when you begin. That’s how I know Jesus is alive. That’s how I know the Bible is real. Because I’ve seen over the years and decades of my life, God has transformed in Jesus Christ what I love. And I want to say to every young person, every young adult, every person this morning of every age, if you’re struggling with some heart issues, like envy, like jealousy, like lust, this is a worldly place we’re living in. This is a carnal, carnal, worldly Sodom and Gomorrah that we’re living in, in our high school, at our university, in our colleges. And so if you’re struggling with areas of your inner person in your heart that don’t line up with who God wants you to be, the first thing I want you to do is just take it to God and admit it. Say, Lord, I’m struggling with lust. I’m ashamed of it. I don’t like it. I want to live in Romans 8. I don’t want to live in Romans 7. I want to live in the chapter of Romans where it says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because Jesus has destroyed the law of sin and death. I want to live by the Spirit. Romans 7 is where the believer is still struggling in sin and not growing. But here’s what the grace of God and the love of God will do in your life if you’ll let Him do it. This is real, authentic Christianity. The Word of God and the Spirit of God at work in you, He will begin to change what you love. And so what happens is the first step is I say, Lord, I never thought I’d deal with envy, but I am really struggling with envy this week. You give that to God. You say, Lord, I don’t even know why I’m feeling what I’m feeling, but I know it’s not from you. So it’s either the evil one or it’s my flesh or it’s just the world that’s coming against me. You give it to God. And then you know what you do in prayer? You say, Lord, would you apply your grace, and your love to that area of my life? Because when I’m weak, you’re strong. That’s what Corinthians tells us, when I’m weak, you’re strong. And then in your weakness, you invite the grace of God, you invite the Spirit of the Lord into that area of your life. And one more thing, then you just sit back in the throne of grace, right? You just lay back in the grace of God and say, Okay, God, this is your work. Because I know what I see in me, and I know what you see in me is not yet what you want me to become. But I’m going to admit it, I’m going to acknowledge it in prayer, I’m going to invite your love and your grace to cover over that area of my life. And then I’m just going to rest in the grace of God, while you transform and change my life. Church, that’s what Jesus is up to. When you come to Him and you surrender your life to Him, He is up to changing your loves and your motivations and who you are as a person. And step by step, He’s transforming you from the fear of God to the love of God, so that you become more and more like Jesus. That’s what the Lord is doing. That’s authentic Christianity. But it all begins with honoring God. First, let me ask you the question. Are you honoring God in your marriage? Are you honoring God in your relationships? Yeah, some of you going I’m not married. So yes, for sure. Pastor, I’m single. So I’m honoring you in my marriage. Are you honoring God in your relationships? Are you honoring God in the way you handle your finances? Are you honoring God in your sexuality? Honoring God first, that’s the beginning of a wise walk with God. Secondly, what we’ve seen in the book of Proverbs is that if we want to walk in wisdom, we’ve got to avoid bad companions. We’ve got to surround ourselves with good companions, companions that are also walking with the Lord and want to help us build up our relationship with Jesus. Now, I believe that we should have acquaintances that are worldly. I believe we should have acquaintances that aren’t walking with God. But be very careful, friend. Your inner circle should be filled, young person. Your inner circle, close friend, should be filled with other Christians who have put God in their life first, who have surrendered their life to the Lord and are walking with Jesus. That’s what Proverbs teaches us, because bad company corrupts. Proverbs 1, I’m going to read 8-10, we have verse 10 on the screen. Proverbs 1, verse 8-10, Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. We’re living in a culture through the social media, through television and movies, through everything that’s coming in, through our eyes and our ears and relationships with others. And it is enticing us to move away from God’s truth. To move away from God’s word. To move away from the godly life that God wants us to live. And Proverbs says, don’t give in to that. I’m a big believer in creating boundaries, fences. I’m so thankful for the way the Spirit of God works in my life. And I’m so thankful for the mornings and the afternoons and the evenings and the weeks and the months where I am just on fire for Jesus. And I’m walking in the victory. And there’s no temptation that could come to me that would overcome me because I’m just ready to go. Go for Jesus. But friend, there are moments in your day, there are mornings and afternoons and evenings and weeks or months when you’re going to go through a season where you need a boundary, you need a fence, you need a relationship, you need something that’s going to keep you from doing what you don’t want to do. Come on, church. And that’s true for pastors. That’s true for deacons. That’s true for ministry leaders. That’s true for every Christian. We need boundaries in our lives to help us avoid a worldly culture and to help us stand against temptation in our lives. And so we avoid, and here in Proverbs chapter one, we avoid bad company by listening to parents, by listening to teachers, by listening to authorities in our life. That’s one of the key ways we surround ourselves with good companions is through our parents, our grandparents, our coaches, our teachers. And again, let me just warn us that if you have an ungodly coach, if you have an ungodly teacher, warning, warning, mom and dad, warning, we need to be careful because they can influence our children. They can influence you in the wrong direction. We want to surround ourselves. Proverbs 13, verse 20, we want to surround ourselves with people who are wise and lead us to more wisdom. Proverbs 13, 20, whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companions of fools will suffer harm. Proverbs 14, 7, leave the presence of a foolish man, for there you will not find words of knowledge. And then 1 Corinthians 15, 33, do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good morals. Who are you surrounding yourself with? It’s why it’s so important to have a Bible believing church. It’s why it’s so important to be in a Bible study. It’s why it’s important to be in a prayer group with people who believe in God’s word and are wanting to walk with God because we need relationships. And in a sense, our relationships create a boundary because when we are fulfilled with healthy relationships, we don’t have to run after unhealthy relationships. And so surround yourself with good companions, people who are walking with God and thirsting after knowledge, thirsting after wisdom. May the Lord help us. A third pillar that’s so important if we’re going to live in wisdom is we have to prioritize purpose over pleasure. Purpose over pleasure. I want you to turn in your Bible to Proverbs chapter 5. And by no means am I going to try to teach through this whole chapter. But again, this morning, we’re kind of reviewing a lot of the topics that we’ve touched on throughout this series. Yes, it’s true. God has a purpose or a design for your sexuality, including your sexual identity and your sexual expression. When sex is nothing more than pleasure. Hear me, church. It drifts away from God’s purposes and leaves us empty. And we’re living in a culture today that is trying to convince our young people that sexual expression or even sexual choice, like in your identity, is nothing more than you just trying on a glove and then trying on another glove. And let me see who I am today. And let me let me see what it would be like to have this experience or that experience. And all of that is leaving this generation empty. It’s leaving them hollow. It’s leaving them full of shame and guilt and regret. See, the Bible is clear that when we sin against when we sin sexually, we’re actually sinning against ourselves as well. Why is that? Why would the Bible say that? It’s because your sexuality is a part of your inner person. It’s a part of who you are. And so you can’t just go and express yourself here and express yourself there and expect to still be whole. That’s what Proverbs teaches us, is that your sexual expression and your sexual, yes, your sexual identity is a part of who you are. My heart breaks for young people today who have been led down a path and bought a lie that they can be whoever they want to be or whoever culture says that they should be or whoever they feel like today. Here’s the truth. The truth is, God has a purpose and a design for your sexuality and your sexual identity. He made us according to His design. And when we try to work against that design, we are moving in the path of destruction. And so if God has made you a man, then be a man of God. If God has made you a woman, then be a woman of God. And I realize in our culture today, and again, it breaks my heart, I realize some are struggling with different attractions and different tendencies and all of these things. I understand that, but it doesn’t change the biblical truth that God is a good creator and He’s a God of purpose and He’s a God of design. And what I want to do in my life is figure out, okay, God, what is your design for me as a man of God? Who do you want me to be? How do you want me to express myself? And as I line myself up with God’s purposes and submit pleasure and submit personal choice underneath, okay, God, what’s your design? What’s your purpose? That’s how I walk in wisdom. That’s how I end up experiencing the good things of God in my life. And sadly, if we choose to know, I’m going to go with the culture. I’m just going to do what feels good. I’m just going to see what’s out there. I’m just going to experiment with sexuality or promiscuity. I’m just going to experiment with what my identity might be. Friend, that leads to destruction. That leads to harm and regret and hurt. We need to go with purpose over pleasure. We need to go with God’s design. How has God designed you as a man or a woman of God? Proverbs chapter 5, and I turned to my Bible here, and I’m going to read a few verses. I’m not going to try to… There’s 20 verses in chapter 5, but let’s just look at a few of the verses. Proverbs chapter 5, let me read a few of them at first. And it teaches us a little bit about sexuality, and I think this is important. And if some of you are out there, pastor, would you please stop talking about sex in church? I just want all of us… If there’s anybody here, I get it. You didn’t come to church this morning to talk about sex, but the reality is for our kids and our youth and our college students, everybody else is talking to them about it, and it’s all they’re thinking about, and it’s all over YouTube, and it’s all over social media, and it’s all messed up. So we got to talk about it. We got to talk about it. Proverbs chapter 5, let me just read a few verses. My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion. What’s discretion? Discipline, or kind of being able to be reserved. That you may maintain discretion. I’m going to digress just for a second. It reminded me, do you know the number one… They’ve done studies on this. Do you know the number one determinant of what young person will be successful in life? It’s their ability to delay gratification. And you’ve heard me tell the one study. There’s many studies that have been done, but the one study is where they put like a cupcake in the middle of a room, bring kindergartners through, and then they studied those kids 10 years later to see where they had gone on. And what they discovered was all the kids who when they were told, look, there’s a cupcake, you know, like I’ll give you two later if you don’t eat this one. The ones who are able to delay gratification are the ones who end up doing very well in life. And we can find that truth in scripture. It’s right here in verse 2, that you may maintain discretion. What is discretion? Discretion is being able to hold back and act appropriately so that you can have gratification later, but not now. Verse 3, for the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. But in the end, she is bitter as gull, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, and her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life. Her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. So just in those first six verses, and we can read on and on because the whole chapter deals with sexuality and faithfulness and the dangers of adultery and the dangers of an adulterous person. But just in verse 3 we see, let’s go back to verse 3, let’s be honest, we see that sexual sin is tantalizing. Again, as your pastor, as a man of God, I want to be honest with all of our young people. Sexual sin can really seem interesting. It can really be tantalizing. In fact, verse 3 says, the lips of the adulterous woman drips honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. Well, honey and oil are like physical, attractive things. Like, boy, that would be something else. That would be really interesting. But you’ve got to keep reading. See, honey and oil signify physical delights. The joys anticipated can draw us into sin. So sexual sin, again, let’s be honest, is tempting because it offers temporary physical delights. But what the Bible teaches us is that if we mishandle it, it can destroy us. If we get involved in sexual expression at the wrong time in our life, it can bring regret and guilt and shame and hurt and harm, and it will destroy your inner person. And you might say, well, pastor, can’t God forgive me? Yes, God will forgive us of any sin, any transgression, but why would we heap coals of fire on ourselves? Why would we bring hurt and harm and regret and have to work? Yes, God can forgive you, but why would we bring all that into our life? Wouldn’t we rather walk in wisdom? May the Lord help us. You see, that’s what verse 4-6 is really pointing out there in chapter 5. Sexual sin will destroy you. The truth is, in the end, casual sex is hollow, and it’s heartless, and it leads to personal destruction. And I believe we’re going to see a revival in this generation, and it’s going to be in large part due to this, that there’s a lot of our young high school and college students that have experienced everything they thought could give them pleasure. Everything that they thought could bring them a high, and they realize it’s left them empty, it’s left them hollow, it’s not left them with what they thought they would have. And church is the same with pornography. Pornography will turn you into a rat, and it will leave you unhappy. It won’t make you happy. And reading those romance novels so that you feel like, hey, I’ve got this great romance going with this guy in this book, but I don’t really like even talking to my husband. That’ll leave you miserable too. We have to prioritize God’s purpose over our personal choices or our pleasure if we want to walk in wisdom in the area of sex and sexuality. Proverbs is such a good book for that. Parents, I would encourage you, as your kids are growing up, just sit down at the table when you have dinner and say, we’re going to read a chapter of Proverbs. You’ll have some of the most interesting discussions you can ever imagine. Because Proverbs covers about every topic you can imagine. And so what verse 7 and 8, as you look there in chapter 5, teaches us is that we should seek to avoid sexual sin in our lives. We should set up boundaries against temptation. You know your weaknesses. And so if you have a weakness in a certain area, then you should set up boundaries to avoid those temptations. Now I want to, before I move on, and I know I’m kind of belaboring this pillar, but before I move on, I do want to remind us that God has given us the gift of sexuality in marriage as a beautiful gift. It’s a wonderful gift from God. And I want our young people to hear that as well. It’s a wonderful gift from the Lord. And I’ve used this illustration before. It comes from James Dobson, Focus on the Family. If you can just imagine yourself in someone’s home, in a family room, and there’s a nice fire on a cool day, you know, and the fire’s in the, not the furnace, but the fireplace. Sounds like, help me, I need a word here. So, you know, you see the fireplace over in the corner of the house, and you’re all sitting there, and there’s just something about a warm fire, right? You know, when it’s cold outside, and it just kind of, it just draws everybody, and you sit down, you have nice conversations, and it’s just a wonderful thing. And you’ve heard me share before, when our kids were younger, how when Jenny and I would hug, and we would express affection for each other, and we had a bigger family, five kids, so it wasn’t long before we’d have like five kids hanging on our legs, you know, and hugging us. You know, it’d be like this big group hug. Why? Because there’s something attractive about this incredible gift that God has given of companionship and physical togetherness, and that it all comes together in God’s beautiful plan in marriage. And kids see that, and they love it. But what would happen if you’re sitting in that nice family room, and somebody sticks a shovel into the fire, and grabs some coals, and starts throwing them all over the house? Right. The house would burn down. The house would burn down. What would happen in that wonderful marriage relationship when the truth comes out that, well, no, actually, Dad, he’s a great guy, but he’s spreading himself around all over the community. Right? You see, the Bible’s true. This is real stuff. This is real life. Many a life, many a family has been destroyed simply because a man or a woman had no discretion. Had no discipline. Had no ability to say, sure, I’ve got desires. I understand the pleasures of these things, but I’m going to honor God. I’m going to really love my spouse. I’m going to put my family above myself. You see, these are the things that are either bringing rewards into people’s lives or destroying people’s lives. We have to prioritize purpose over pleasure. Number four. Number four, the fourth pillar, build your house. Look at Proverbs 24, verse 3 through 4. By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. I love this proverb here in verse 3 and 4, because it reminds us of the outcome, the result, when we live a life of wisdom. I’m so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, whereby I’m saved and my sins are forgiven. But I think when I read Proverbs, I ask the question, now what, Lord? You’ve saved me. You’ve freed me up from sin. You’ve freed me from my past, and now I’m free to live for You. What’s that supposed to look like, Lord? And in Proverbs, chapter after chapter, proverb after proverb, begins to tell us this is what it looks like. This is what a life of wisdom looks like. By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. And so here in chapter 24, we’re encouraged to build up our house. Build up our household. Build up your family. Build up your life. Family really is a first-order community, right? I’m so thankful for the church, but before the church comes your family. And all families look different today. I understand that. I get that. And so you may be a family of one living at home. Build up your family. You may be a traditional family. You may be a blended family. You may be what I call a second-chance marriage. Some of the greatest marriages I have ever known are people who went through some tough stuff. Somebody had a divorce, or somebody had a death, and then they got married again, and they had a better marriage than people who have been married 40 years. I’m telling you the truth. And then there’s other people who sometimes are just married forever, and they just can’t get anything figured out. I’m just saying, Lord help them. Lord help them. So we all have a different kind of household, but Proverbs tells us with wisdom we can build up our household. We can build up the people around us. There’s a Proverbs 11.29 that says, And so the question this morning is, are you troubling your house or are you building it up? And I think we really need to be open to pausing and asking that question in our lives. If you’re experiencing difficulty at home, if you’re experiencing difficulty in your relationships, if you’re experiencing difficulties or you’re not satisfied with how your finances are working out, there’s always a tendency to look at other things. And sometimes it is other things, but are you willing to look at yourself? Are you willing to be coachable and teachable in your behaviors, your thinking? Because oftentimes those are the things that need to change. The way you’re thinking and the way you’re behaving. And if you’re willing to allow God to change those things, things can really change in your life. And so we want to build up our house with wisdom. We want to not trouble our house. We want to build up others around us. I love 1 Thessalonians 5.11, Therefore encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing. So as a Christian, that should be one of the highest aims or goals of our life. Lord, this week I’m going to get up and how can I be an encouragement to someone else around me? How can I build them up? How can I use my words to encourage them and build them up? Pillar number five, steward your money to glorify God. You know, the fear of the Lord is mentioned like 300 times in the Bible. Money, way beyond that. I mean, if you’ve ever studied the parables of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus, Jesus talks about money all the time. And I know sometimes in church we can get a little bit like, well, you know, it’s another one of those topics. You know, pastor, don’t talk too much about money, but you know what? The Bible does. The Bible is always talking about what we’re doing with our money. Proverbs 3 verse 9, honor the Lord with your wealth and the first fruits of all your crops. God has given you finance as a resource, as a tool. And we can either be the master of our finances or our finances will master us. And then they rule our lives. And we like go to work just because we’ve got to pay this, we’ve got to pay that, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that. I want to encourage you to steward your money to glorify God. And so how does that look? And I’ve got seven things here and I didn’t put them up on the screen, but seven things. They all come out of Proverbs. I’ve got verses for each one of these things. So I basically went through Proverbs and said, OK, Lord, what are you teaching us about money and finance? Number one, honor God with your wealth. Number two, give freely and generously. Number three, seek righteousness before God rather than riches. That means it’s more important to walk in righteousness with the Lord than to be rich. Come on, church. And we’re living in a very wealthy time of history, general history. I mean, we are so blessed. I know things are hard. I know diesel’s high. I know gas is high. I rode my bike this week just to avoid it one day. I mean, I get it. I’m thinking about getting an electrical bike. Now, not everybody can do that, right? Because if you’re running a business where you need that diesel, you need that gas, things are expensive. I get it. But Proverbs, without a doubt, says you should seek from a heart level to be righteous before God and to live righteously more than having a bunch of money. That’s so important. Fourth, seek wisdom more than silver or gold. Wow. That’s Proverbs 16, 16. Five, help the poor. That’s all over the Bible. That’s all through Proverbs. Help the poor. Look for ways to help those who have needs. Number six, leave an inheritance to your family. I believe the best inheritance you can leave to your family is a spiritual inheritance. That’s the very best inheritance that you can leave. But Proverbs 13, 22 also says that a wise person leaves an inheritance to their family. And then number seven, we should seek to avoid debt in general. If you’re in debt, get out of debt. And I don’t have time to go into all that via Bible study, but I get there’s appreciating assets, there’s depreciating assets. We all understand that. But the Bible is clear in Proverbs 22, verse 7, the rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender. And God is not calling us to be slaves. And so God wants us to get out of debt. God wants us to live free. I don’t know about you, but if you’ve ever had the experience in life where you’ve paid off that car or you’ve paid off that house or you’ve paid something off, woo, it feels good. Oh, it feels good. You know what I’m saying? Have you ever experienced that? I’ve experienced that a few times in life. And I tell you what, the burden just lifts. That monthly payment is gone. And I just feel like going to Dairy Queen or I just, you know, it just feels a little freer. Amen? Jenny frowned at me when I said that. I was just kidding, honey. But there is freedom in following God’s Word. There is freedom in living according to God’s truth. This is real life, friends. And again, I understand that life can be a struggle. I understand that sometimes we have more bills than we have income. And I will pray with you. I will believe with you that God wants to bring change into your life. But He’s not calling you to live in debt forever. He’s not calling you to live. Do you know that one of the leading stressors in marriage is simply financial problems? You don’t even want to have an argument before you know what you’re arguing because you are both just stressed out of where are we going to get the money to do that or to pay for that. God wants to give you wisdom, discernment, understanding, insight so that you can begin to see the goodness of God in this important area of your life, finance, so that you can honor Him. Number six, speak to bless others. We see throughout the book of Proverbs how important our words are. We see that in the Bible at large that God is a God who speaks and things come into existence. Jesus is described as the Word of God, the Logos of God that holds the whole universe together and His wisdom and His logic. We, like Jesus, should use our words to bless others, to build up and to not tear down. 1 Corinthians 10 31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. That includes our speech. Proverbs 18 21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Words are powerful. Can you just say that to yourself? My words are powerful. My words are powerful, so I need to be careful what I’m confessing about what I believe. I need to be careful what I’m saying to my spouse, what I’m saying to my child. Have you ever had that as a spouse? I just need to go a few hours here and not say nothing. I ain’t feeling it right now. But what would wisdom say? There’s actually a proverb that says to him, it would be wisdom to be quiet. And that’s really true. There’s just times in our life where you don’t want to say all that. You don’t want to throw out all those labels and throw out all that criticism. So it might just be wisdom. Just take a few hours a day and just, I got nothing to say right now. I’m praying. I’m asking God to change me. I’m asking God to work on me. And then I’ll have something to say. Proverbs teaches us again and again that words are powerful. The spoken word has the power of life and death. Here’s Ephesians 4 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. You know, when I think about what is the difference between a Christian who’s really walking with the Lord and the world? Well, one, without that love. The world should be able to see the love that we have for the Lord and the love that we have for each other. But you know, right next to that would be the way you speak. Because the world, to use kind of what a mom would say, I think is that the world has a potty mouth. Like the world cannot get past crude things. That’s all they talk about. That’s all they want to say. And that doesn’t come from the Lord. And so the way we talk, the words we use, the things we say to one another, distinguishes you as a believer. It’ll let people know that you’re marching to the beat of a different drummer. Ephesians 4, 29, I just want to read that first part again. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths. May the Lord help us. And then finally, and if the worship team would go ahead and come, and I’ll wrap up with the seventh truth, work towards redemption. Another theme that we see in the book of Proverbs is how important work is. Work is a gift from God. Work has been given to you to use your gifts and your abilities and your passions to serve the Lord. Proverbs 6, chapter 6 through 8, Go to the ant, you sluggard. It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. And so in general, Proverbs promotes the idea that work is good. But I want to take it a step further this morning and remind us that in the Bible we read in Genesis chapter 3 that the curse that came to Adam and Eve because of their disobedience, the curse that Adam was involved in was related to work. Right? So he was now going to go out and work, but he was going to work and he was going to sweat, and he was going to have to work hard, and everything that was easy in gardening was not going to be easy anymore. It was going to, same for the woman, Eve, with childbirth, which was important as a part of her womanhood. And now it wasn’t going to come easy, but it was going to be hard. And here’s what I see about our work, is that it can either bring great disappointment and discouragement in our lives, or we can realize that through our work, we are inviting God into our work to redeem us, to redeem our lives. It’s a part of how God redeems you as you give your work to Him and say, Lord, you’ve given me these gifts, you’ve given me these abilities, you’ve given me this certificate or this talent, and I can go out and I can make a living. I’m getting there. Thanks for being patient. I can go out and make a living with these gifts and talents that you’ve given me, and through that, you can not only bless my family, but you can redeem me. In other words, because if you’ve ever faced a hard day at work, anybody been there, right? You’ve had a day at work where it’s like, Lord, I don’t even know if I belong here. I don’t even know what I’m doing here or why. But in those moments, invite Jesus into that moment, and He can help you experience His redemption in your life, even through the area of work. Wisdom cries out to the humble and the coachable. And as I have worked through this series, I’m more determined than ever to be teachable by the Holy Spirit, by the Word, by others in my life. Lord, help me to be coachable. I hope that’s you. I hope that you haven’t sat through this series and go, Oh, I’m doing pretty good, and I got it all together, and everything will work out in the end. It’ll be okay. I really pray and hope, and I’m believing that as we’ve worked through this series, that you have a new sense of, Lord, help me to be coachable. I want to walk in wisdom. I want to walk in the way you want me to walk, and maybe, just maybe, I’ve got some areas in my life that aren’t lining up with your purpose and your design. I hope that’s your heart. Will you stand with us this morning? I want to lead us in a prayer. I’m so thankful for the book of Proverbs, and I’m so thankful that it’s real life. Proverbs touches on just about everything. It touches on work and money and sexuality and relationships. So I want to encourage you as a family, as an individual, as a young person, read Proverbs. Read Proverbs. It’ll reveal to you the wisdom of God and help you walk with him. Lord Jesus, thank you that you’ve revealed to us in your word the wisdom of Proverbs. And, Lord, we pray today that you’d help us to be coachable, help us to be open to your correction. Let us be teachable and humble, Lord, so that we can make adjustments in the way we’re living and we can see the wisdom of God working its way through our lives to produce the outcomes that you want for our lives. Lord, do that in each person we pray, in Jesus’ name. Thank you, Lord. Amen. Hi, I’m Pastor Tom Ragsdell. I’m Pastor Ellis Benus. And we’re from Columbia First Assembly. We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus. Our vision is simple. We want to make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community. Absolutely. Thank you so much for connecting with us online. We would also love to connect with you in person. We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School. So if you’re in the central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us. If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments. If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know and we would be happy to engage with you in the comments. We believe God’s doing something special at our church and we want you to be a part of it. We’re a multi-generational church. We have people from all different backgrounds. We’re a church of the Word. We’re a church of the Spirit. We believe Jesus can transform your life. That’s why we’re on mission with Him. And we want to help you know God. We want to help you grow in God. And we want to share hope in our community. So connect with us and we want to connect with you. Awesome. Have a wonderful and a blessed day.