Financial Wisdom (Proverbs Sermon 8)

This sermon covers wisdom and wealth, greed, false security in money, the false life focus of money, false pretenses about money, growing wealth, and wealth is God's grace.

- SERMON TRANSCRIPT -

I. Introduction

We continue in our study in Proverbs tonight by looking at what the Book of Proverbs has to say about money. Now, before we get into the Old Testament wisdom on money, I think it would be best for us to take a look at what Jesus has to say about that topic. It's an important topic. This has nothing to do whatsoever with you need to increase your ties or offerings or any of that kind of thing. This is not one of these strong-arm type things. It's just that money is a big topic in the scriptures, and it's a big topic in the book of Proverbs as well. But I wanna begin at Luke 16.

In Luke 16 verses 1 through 13, Jesus tells a parable there of an unrighteous steward. Now, a steward with somebody. What's a steward? What does that mean, that term steward? What does a steward do? Somebody who's in charge of what?(reply from audience) Say again. (another reply) Keeper. Okay. What's the issue of stewardship? There's a bunch of stuff that's being watched over and what's the key principle with the stewardship? Yeah, you don't own it. It doesn't belong to you. Say again. Yeah, to manage it. You're supposed to multiply it, use it well, use it wisely. And one of the key issues of stewardship is at some point you're going to give an account to the master for how it's going, right? Well, in this parable, we're not gonna go through it carefully 'cause we're not focused on it tonight, but this man was wasting his master's possessions. I don't know if he was spending it lavishly or if he was just doing a bad job as a steward. And so basically the guy calls him in and says you're fired, you're doing a terrible job and put all the books in order and then you're gone. So in the interim time between when he's told he's going to be fired and when his final day is, he calls in all the people who owe his master money and he cuts it in half or takes off 20%.

And he makes a lot of friends during that time. You remember that? Somebody owes him a thousand measures of wheat, he says, Make it 800. Somebody owes him 800 of this, make it 400. What is he doing by doing that? What's going on there? (someone replies) Yeah, they feel a sense of obligation. And so when he's out on the street, he might have a place to have a meal. You see, that's the bottom line. Now, this is a very strange parable, isn't it? It's very odd. Now, we're not gonna take time with it, but in effect, the principle is the same. We have this stuff and this position for a very short time, and we're supposed to use it, Jesus says, to make friends for the Kingdom of God. The point is to use our money to multiply the Kingdom and for no other purpose. That's why it's given.

But then he says some interesting things about money toward the end. In Verse 10, Luke 16:10, it says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much." Okay, in Jesus' way of thinking, what's very little? Money, money itself is a very little thing to him. In context, that's what it is. It's not very little money, you'll get more money, that's not the issue, money itself is a very little thing to Jesus.

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? Wow, that's an interesting verse, isn't it? Worldly wealth versus true riches. What do you think that might be to Jesus? Worldly wealth versus true riches. Kingdom riches. What's truly valuable to God? Eternal souls. People, people are valuable. Word of God is valuable. The Son of God is of ultimate value, we find our salvation in that value, don't we? The value of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's eternally valuable. We think of money and wealth and all that is incredibly valuable.  God thinks of it as a small thing. And he says, If you're not faithful in a small thing, who's gonna give you true riches? And then he goes on, he says, And in verse 12, if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? Wow, another bombshell. We know that all of our money and possessions belong to God, don't they?

But what does it mean that at some point we'll have wealth of our own? I don't know, maybe that's a new heaven and new Earth reality, just speculate on that, but the point is, the perspective Jesus gives us. Money is to be used for the Kingdom of God, and it's not truly ultimately valuable. And then he says, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Well, that's Jesus teaching on money. We're gonna be looking tonight at the Book of Proverbs, and the interesting thing about the Book of Proverbs is that there are some tremendous principles in there for making money. As a matter of fact, if you follow the wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, you'll amass quite an amount. The question is, will you do it for the right purpose? And that's why I wanted to start with Jesus' view on money.

I'm not saying that the book of Proverbs has a different or a lower or contradictory view, but there are some practical hints in here in how you can amass a small fortune, maybe even a large fortune. And I'm actually gonna be teaching on those verses tonight. Now, you know I don't really have any interest in making all of you wealthy, except that you might use that wealth for the kingdom of heaven.

What I've done is I've gone through the book of Proverbs and I've looked at various Proverbs on the issue of money, wealth, income, inheritance, etcetera. And I've begun to organize the Proverbs into various categories. The first proverb category that I'd like to look at is the issue of the comparison between wisdom and wealth. Between wisdom and wealth. So start at chapter 3, verses 13 through 17. 

And there it says, "Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold, she is more precious than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand and in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace."

 So there, it's clearly teaching that wisdom, wisdom of God, is better than any material possession. Better than rubies, better than diamonds, better than gold or silver, it yields better return. It gives you a long life, it gives you fruitfulness and blessings, and nothing compares with it. Now, in chapter 8, verse 1 through 4 and 10 through 11, 17 through 20, "Does not wisdom call out, does not understanding raise her voice on the heights along the way where the paths meet, she takes her stand, and beside the gates leading into the city at the entrances, she cries aloud, 'To you, oh man, I call out, I raise my voice to all mankind,'" skip down to verse 10, "Choose my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold."

Verse 11, "For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her." And then down to verse 17 and following, this is again, wisdom speaking, "I love those who love me, and those who seek me, find me. With me are riches and honor enduring wealth and prosperity, my fruit is better than fine gold. What I yield, surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness. Along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full."

 Now, I think it's easy to understand why Solomon, who was the richest person in all the earth would say this, you remember the story of Solomon, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and asked him what he would like, what he could give him. And Solomon, in a moment of humility said, "You've set me over this people and I don't have the wisdom necessary to do the job. And so Lord, who can be a king over this people of yours?" A great question, if you know Israel's history, who can be a king over the people of Israel? "I need wisdom, God give me wisdom."

And God was pleased with his request and granted it, and then lavished on and beyond, and so it got to the point where silver and gold were as common as stones in Jerusalem. And so I guess in a very crass materialistic sense, wisdom was the portal through which his entire wealth came, and so he can say this in a very materialistic way, through wisdom, I got lots and lots of loot. But I think there's a deeper spiritual essence here isn't there?

 The true riches that we talked about in Luke 16, the ultimate wealth is God Himself. Isn't that the case? Remember in Genesis 15, where God spoke to Abraham and said, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your very great reward. I am your reward. I am your reward, I'm what you get." And so I would say to you, Christian, don't focus on the streets of gold, who cares as long as God is there. And the gold is just there to reflect His glory. The issue is not that in heaven, you'll have all kinds of gold and silver and a mansion, and all that. None of that matters. What matters is that you'll have God Himself, this is the true wealth. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Is it not? It is a spiritual relationship through which all this wealth comes. Now, why is wealth not important? Ultimately, look at 11:4 Proverbs 11:4.

At some time, we're gonna be going through the book of Proverbs and looking at the gospel according to the book of Proverbs. But this is a great verse, isn't it? 11:4, "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." Is that not a great verse? "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." Now, we know from the book of Romans what righteousness this is. This is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. That righteousness alone will deliver us on the day of wrath. Only Jesus' blood can protect us from the wrath of God. Only Jesus' blood atones for his righteous judgment against sin. And in that day, what will our wealth mean? It will mean nothing. What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul. Or what would a man give in exchange for his soul?

What would you trade for your soul? What would you hold back? Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Well, that's the basic essence of the message on wisdom and wealth. Namely, that righteousness is the ultimate thing, and righteousness comes through the wisdom that God alone gives. But then there's other things that Proverb says, and we'll start with what I would say the dark side of wealth and then we'll talk about how wealth comes and grows as they get another opportunity, I'm gonna talk about how wealth goes.

II. The Dark Side of Wealth

Okay, but let's talk about how wealth comes and grows, but first the dark side of wealth. And what do I mean by that? Well, Proverbs gives a number of warnings about wealth, doesn't it? A number of warnings about riches and material possessions, the first is the issue of a false God, and that's the issue of greed. Look at 28:25. 28:25 says, "A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper." So here, greed is contrasted with trusting in the Lord, is it not? There's a contrast between greed and trusting in the Lord. Now, how is that? Well, in the New Testament, in the book of Colossians and also Ephesians, it calls greed idolatry. Isn’t that interesting? Greed is idolatry, and Jesus said in Luke 16, you've got to choose between God and mammon or material position. You have to make a choice, one or the other will be your God,.

And so the initial dark side of material wealth and possession is that it can become your God. It becomes an idol, it becomes the thing you worship, the thing you live for, the thing you're passionate over. A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper. Also in 15:27, it says, a greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live. So if you have this idolatrous, this materialistic way of looking at the world, you will bring trouble to your family.

Well, there's a lot of ways that that comes, you could become a workaholic, for example. You could be living constantly for material possession, you're never around to see your kids grow up, let's say if you've got children that are growing in your home.  That's one way you could bring trouble to your family. You could compromise your principles, and thereby you lose your ability to teach your children morally right and wrong. And all of this because mammon or material possessions, that's your god. So a false god is the first issue of the dark side of wealth.

The second is the false refuge. Look at 10:15. It says there, "The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor." And then one Chapter over 11:28, it says the same thing. 11:28 says, "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf." And then finally,  18:11 says, "The wealth of the rich is their fortified city. They imagine it an unscalable wall." Very interesting. They imagine their wealth an un-scalable wall, it's their protection against the rainy day. But if you go back one verse, 18:10, it says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe." Do you see the contrast there? If you look at Verse 10 and Verse 11, now, usually you don't need to do context with proverbs. Verse 8 of whatever chapter, does not necessarily relate to verse 9. So you can really pick and choose and draw together scriptures in this way, but sometimes verses come close together and they run three or four in a row on a certain theme, and I think that it's interesting that 18:10 and 18:11 are side by side, 18:10 says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, they imagine it an unscalable wall.

What is the contrast? What's being compared here? Say again? (reply from audience) Yeah, God and money. In what sense? God as what? Protector, a refuge. When you think of danger, does your mind go to God or does it go to your bank account? When you think of trouble that might come to you, do you go to God and to His name and to His provision and his promises, or do you go to the things that you've stored up by the strength of your own hand and your skill? And so a dark side of material benefit is that it can become a false refuge.

Third, a false life focus. Look at 23:4 and 5. It says there, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich, have the wisdom to show restraint, cast but a glance at riches and they are gone. For they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle." Some of you know what that's talking about, especially around April, tax time, they just go. How can it be? They just disappear. But Verse 4 is fascinating, "Don't wear yourself out to get rich." What is that talking about? It's talking about the expenditure of your life strength. What are you doing with your time, what are you doing with your energy, with your physical ability, the years that you have to walk around and do things? What are they being poured into? Don't wear yourself out to get rich. Jesus said, seek first, what? The kingdom of God and His righteousness. That's what you should be seeking, wear yourself out for that, wear yourself out for the kingdom, but don't wear yourself out to get rich, a false life focus. Also false friends. Look at 14:20. It says in 14:20, "The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends." How is that?

And if perchance, the rich person should become a poor person, what will happen to his friends? Well, the verse covers that. He's shunned. He's not popular anymore. Just like the prodigal son, when all his money was gone, what happened to his friends? They were nowhere to be found. So are they genuine friends? That proverb talks about a friend that sticks closer than a brother, that's Jesus Christ. But these are false friends, aren't they? They're there because you've got a lavish table, a beautiful home, you throw great parties, or you can give them some kind of benefit, but as soon as that wealth is gone, they are too. False friends.

And then false pretenses, 13:7. It says in 13:7, "One man pretends to be rich yet has nothing, another pretends to be poor yet has great wealth." Money does strange things to people, doesn't it? When you get into the topic of money, people start behaving oddly. Pastor gets up and says, "I'm gonna talk about money tonight." What's going on there? You have a relationship with somebody, but if you're going on a mission trip and you put the pinch on them for financial support, it gets a little awkward or a little odd. Why is that? Because we're funny about money. And so false pretenses come up, and the wealthy persons pretending to have nothing and the poor person pretending that he's wealthy, because money does odd things to people.

Another one I like is 20:14. You don't have to turn there, I'll just read it. It says, "'It's no good, it's no good!' Says the buyer, then he goes off and boasts about his purchase." Money and material possessions do odd things to you. And you're putting on a false pretense saying, "Oh, it's a piece of trash," and then you go and say, "Look at what I bought." Why it's all part of the financial game, it's part of the thing you do in the area of materials. And then finally 13:8, since we're already there. Additional threats. I read this proverb and I didn't understand it at first, and then I think it hit me what it means. "A man's riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat." Now, what is the context for a ransom? When do you need a ransom? When you're kidnapped, so you're in trouble, right? Well, your money may get you out of trouble, but it seems according to the verse, it's the money that got you into the trouble to begin with. Because the poor man doesn't have a threat. Nobody cares.

It reminds me of when I had a $500 car with a bunch of dings on it and all that, I never locked the thing. Nobody would want it. And nobody ever did. I took anything valuable out of the car, okay, that's true. But I mean, people walked right by and people gave me wide berth on the road, I noticed that as I'm driving, they were just, "He's got to be uninsured, we've gotta stay away from him."

[laughter]

But your wealth can actually get you into trouble that if you didn't have it, you wouldn't have to be worried about it, like watching the stock market, some people don't ever need to worry about what's going up or down. Who cares? They don't have any money in it. So, there are just things that wealth gets you in difficulties. That's the dark side of wealth. Now, let's talk about how wealth comes and grows. I didn't say comes and goes, we'll talk about that another time. But how does wealth come to begin with? Where does it come from? Well, the first principle in the book of Proverbs is that you must put God first. Look at chapter 3, verse 9 and 10. And there it says, "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine."

Now, these kind of concepts are the seed bed for the so-called health and wealth gospel. In other words, if you give X amount, you'll receive back tenfold. Have you ever heard these TV preachers that talk like that? But yet there is something in the book of Proverbs and it's a regular theme. That if you honor God first, he'll take care of you, he'll even take care of you in a lavish way. Now, not everybody's gonna be wealthy, that's true. God causes some people to be wealthier than others, and I think we're all gonna be held accountable, no question about it. For the things that He's given us. But yet there's a principle, "Put God first with your wealth."

Then 15:16, these are all perspective verses. Having the proper perspective on the issue of wealth. 15:16 says, "Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil." Do you think that there's a great deal of turmoil in the lifestyles of the rich and famous? Have you ever noticed that? Those that are in the upper, you're always hearing about the difficulties that they go through. And the strife and the conflict and the trouble.

You'll hear stories about people that win the lottery, and then they said, "Before that happened, my life was peaceful. But after that, all kinds of terrible things happened to me. People I'd never heard of wanted money, relatives came out of the woodwork. I had second and third cousins, I didn't even know I had. I would rather have had the simple peaceful life I had before." Wealth brings with it some distress. But the issue here is not that, the issue is putting God first. Read it again, "Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil." It is possible to depart from the fear of the Lord to grab for wealth. And when you've done that, you've also included turmoil, difficulty, strife, conflict, conviction from the Holy Spirit, all kinds of trouble. Better a little with the fear of the Lord.

Then 16:8 says similar thing. "Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice." And then 22:4, "Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life." Now, that is true. I think though, I would ask you to think first and foremost, spiritually. We are going to be given true riches, we're going to be given the earth; The meek will inherit the earth. We're gonna be given all things. Paul says to the Corinthians, "All things are yours already." Already, they're yours. Now, you don't enjoy them now in the way you will in the new heaven and the new earth. But they're all yours. But I think it's also true in this world, humility and the fear of the Lord, God honors it with wealth and honor and life, and then expects you to use it for his kingdom. 

So the first and foremost principle is putting God first. Secondly, wealth comes by the blessing of God, by grace. Look at 10:22, it says there, "The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it." There is a wealth that comes with trouble and turmoil, we just discussed that. You departed the fear of the Lord and grabbed for the wealth. But there is a wealth that he can give you, and he adds no trouble to it. He holds you accountable for it, but he adds no trouble to it.

Thirdly, live a righteous life. Look at 13:21. "Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous." Now again, as I read these verses, you get uncomfortable. This is health and wealth. No. But there are principles here. If you live your life in a righteous sort of way, it's going to arrange your life in such a way that you can receive blessings and benefits from God.

I see each one of us as basically open pipes and conduits of blessings from God to others. If there's a blockage, there's a problem, isn't there? You're accumulating for yourself. God has no interest in that. But if you are a righteous person and you are given the gift, let's say. Let's say you have a spiritual gift of giving, you're going to see money flowing through your house and through you being channeled to others, and that's exactly the way it should be. That's what money is for.

It's funny, until you go overseas, you just don't realize how wealthy Americans are. You just don't realize how much we have, because we always tend to compare ourselves to somebody maybe a little higher on the economic scale, you ought to go overseas, isn't that right, Bob? Go to Haiti and spend some time worshipping with the brothers and sisters there. And you'll see some things. We are wealthy, and I'm not saying that that I would boast from, I'm just saying we are wealthy and we are accountable for it already, it's already happened, and we need to answer to God for it. He's going to call us to account for what we've done.

15:6, it says, "The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings some trouble." 21:21, "He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." So as you pursue righteousness and pursue the love of God, I think you're going to find other things as well. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things get added to you. And in some cases, superabundant material possessions get added, but not that you keep them for yourself. Like the Apostle Paul said, we will be content with basic necessities in order that we may serve the kingdom of God. But some of you are blessed lavishly, use it for missions. Use it for missions.

I often think, if you have this money here now you can send it on ahead and you'll see it again at judgment day if you use it for missions, you use it by faith. You can transform it. This currency, the green stuff with the American presidents, it's not accepted in heaven. It's like a travel... They don't recognize it. You've got to convert it into a different form of currency. Deeds done in righteousness by faith, that's accepted on judgment day. You can convert your money, so convert it by giving it away for the purposes of God.

Fourth principle is work diligently and skillfully. You could say that's a no-brainer. Well, look at 10:4. 10:4 says, "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth." Be a hard-worker. Don't be lazy. I'm speaking to children now, at this young age, you can get habits of either diligence or laziness. Work diligently. Be a hard worker.. Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. 12:11 says, "He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment." That's a great verse.

I'm not saying that this verse should be used to close off the entrepreneurial spirit, but if you have a good job, think twice before leaving it, I guess would be one of the things. It could be that God's leading you to start out on your own and start a new business, that's great. But basically, God gives you a feel to work, work it faithfully. Work it faithfully.

12:14, just a few verses later, it says, "From the fruit of his lips, a man is filled with good things, as surely as the work of his hands rewards him." 14:23 says, "All hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."

I remember when I was overseas in Kenya, I was building a water tower out of concrete, and I was pushing a wheelbarrow full of concrete up a hill, and these girls, it was a girl school, were lining the road and laughing at us as we push these wheelbarrows. And I've been reading Proverbs this morning, and that proverb popped in my mind, "All hard work leads to profit, but mere talk to poverty." We're working hard here, and at the end, guess what you'll have? You'll have a water tower. So that when the rains come, you'll have something to drink, but there's an abiding principle there, isn't there? Diligence and hard work leads to profit.

The fifth principle is, be generous. Be generous. Look at 22:9, "A generous man will himself be blessed for he shares his food with the poor." Now we're gonna, I think, God willing, spend an entire time on each issues of the rich and the poor, that's a big theme, the issue of justice in the book of Proverbs. But also 11:24-26. "One man gives freely yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty." Verse 25, "A generous man will prosper, he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." Verse 26, "People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessings crown him who is willing to sell." Those three verses taken together are my philosophy on the way we should be with our finances. If we're open, if we're a clear pipe and water is flowing through us, blessing those that God leads us to bless, he'll give us more and it'll keep running and running. And you can store up treasure in heaven. You'll be giving the money away, but converting it into heavenly currency, and you'll see it again on judgment day. Be generous and give.

Now, we've only gotten through a certain number of those principles, we'll get to some more, God willing, next time. They have wealthy parents. I'm not joking, it's in here. If you have wealthy parents, it's a leg up. Store up wealth little by little, have good friends, a good field, good equipment, and be a good steward of them. Those things lead to material benefits as well. God willing, we'll talk about this next time. Why don't we close in prayer?

Father, we thank you for the wisdom of this book, and we praise you for it, and we thank you for the attitude about money that you've given us here. Father, we desire to use the wealth you've given us to build the kingdom of heaven. Father, I pray that we would be generous, that we would be lavish, that we would give in faith. Father, that we'd give for missions for the reaching out of the gospel. Father, I pray that we give to the needy. I pray that we'd be generous with our money. Father, we thank you that you've given it to us, we know that we're accountable for it. We pray that you would give us also a spirit, the Holy Spirit, that we might use it in the way you have in mind. And now Father, as we close our day of worship in this house, we thank you for the music that we've experienced, we thank you for the handbells for each person and all the hours of labor that they put in, Father, and then desired to share it with us tonight. We thank you for them. We pray that you'd bless each one of them for that. And now as we go into our work week and into our time, Lord, away from the house of God, be with us, Lord. Help us to walk in the power of your Spirit. We thank you for all these blessings given to us in Jesus' name, and it's in HIS name, we pray. Amen. Goodnight.