this study of Proverbs, I can say that for the fourth time, get through this, we are going to be talking about, really, it is sometimes an uncomfortable subject. I don't want to be, but we're looking at a subject of Proverbs and wealth. Proverbs and wealth. And this is not going to be, beat you over the head, you should be tied to the Lord. That's not what it's going to be. And really, as I've there and end up trying to cover this in one night. Because if you've read the Proverbs, you know probably half of it is referencing wealth in some form or fashion. Almost every proverb has something to do with blessing or even the wealth that God gives us. And if you think about it, we're talking about the goal of wisdom literature, whether it be Proverbs or Job, the goal of wisdom literature is for readers to enjoy a successful, happy life. God wants his readers of the wisdom literature to enjoy a successful, happy life, a blessed life. And in Proverbs, especially, this is described in the language of wealth. It's often talked about material wealth as well, but even in other forms of wealth as well. The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the folly of fools brings folly. So wealth is sort of the blessing that comes along from a wise life. But second, and we'll see this throughout, that also the Proverbs, while the Proverbs talk about wealth, the Proverbs also describe wisdom itself as a type of wealth. You know what I have to give you is better than silver, better than gold, better than message of, hey, the wisdom we pursue in Christ is the greatest wealth that we can have. Not trying to Jesus Q there, but it's just the truth. Now, underlying everything that I say tonight, right? Underlying the entire approach to wealth that the Bible gives us is that wealth is, first and foremost, a gift of God. And surprisingly, the Proverbs don't say that. explicit thing where it says, the blessing of the Lord to the wise is wealth. And that's about as clear as it gets. But it is the underlying assumption, right, that everything, every material form of wealth that we have, or even spiritual form of wealth, is given by God. And especially, right, thinking of Proverbs 16 and all the different passages of God's sovereignty, it's a distribution of God as he sees fit. he gives medium wealth to others, and then in his province, he decides to not give some wealth to others as wealth, right? And that's always what needs to be the first thing that informs how we approach the topic of wealth. So what I want to do tonight, none of us at hand, what the Proverbs seem to teach about wealth. What does it show us about what we do with our own wealth? How we view wealth? And then, ultimately, what is the purpose of wealth? So as we get started, first and foremost, let me read Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 through 11, and then I'll pray, and then Go to the Anto slugger and consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief officer or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O slugger? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and once like an armed man. Let's pray. Holy Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you for this beautiful day that you have given us. Father, I thank you for these dear saints here tonight. I thank you, just right now as we begin this topic of love, how much you have blessed each and every one of us tremendously. Lord, whether we are whatever demographic we are in, Lord, we can see all the ways you have given us and have never let us lack one good thing. And Lord, even as we expand out further, of any of us have when compared to the majority of the world. And what a kindness you have shown us. Lord, that we do not have children going hungry. Lord, that we have luxuries like clothes, clean clothes, and dishwashers, and the like. And we thank you for your blessings, too. And we pray for tonight that you would allow our hearts and our minds to be slowly conformed more and more, and to see how your word speaks to all facets of our life, even as we view our bank account, and our wallet, and the way we work OK, so first, when you think about Proverbs and wealth, the number one thing it says over and over and over again about wisdom and wealth is that wisdom means that you recognize that diligence is the key to wealth. Let me say it this way. Diligence and the blessing of the Lord in wealth go hand in hand. I just did everything I did for the Lord. I just sit back and relax. And also, I go and work what I'm called to, day by day. And that really gets at the tension of every part of our Christian life, which is the tension of our responsibility and God's prophets. There's this tension that you have You saw it in the opening passage that is written, right? How long will you lie there and slumber? A little sleep, a little rest, and poverty will come upon you like an armed man. But over and over again, in many different ways, I'm just going to show you a few. hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent, he who gathers in summer is a prudent son, he who sleeps and harvests is a son who brings shame. We could look, I mean, there's numerous, I'll just read a single chapter probably, you're probably going to run across three or four right there. But at the very baseline, wisdom demands us to see that, hey, we are called to labor as God has called us to labor. That the call of our lives, yes, God gives us all good things, but that does not suddenly remove the requirement of our responsibility to labor in front of us. I don't think any of us here are, you know, so disillusioned to that fact. I don't see anyone who is necessarily raised with a silver spoon in their mouth. No one's called me looking for money, and they say, hey, I just don't feel like working. It is a thing that we constantly have to remind ourselves of, our duty for diligence in all walks of life. In all walks of life, diligence is required from the people of God. And we see how this is contrasted with what the Proverbs call a wealth gained in haste. Proverbs 13, 11. Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. So again, the true increase of wealth comes by diligence, little bit by little bit, over time. And how many of you guys know the statistics? Lottery winners end up declaring bankruptcy in five years or something like that, which is bananas to me when I see those numbers posted up by the highway. How do you lose that much money? Even if the government takes that, how do you lose that much money in five years? But you think about how many athletes go into the league, make it big, make more money than I've ever made in my entire life in five years. And three years out of the league, they're bankrupt. This influx of wealth is really not a good thing. It does not behoove anyone to just suddenly be handed a blank check for whatever they want. And I think even going on from a material side to a moral or a spiritual side, one thing I've often thought about, I've been around very godly, wealthy people, and I've also been around very ungodly people. you know, to serve my heart right now, to prove my heart, I really wonder, man, what kind of person would I be if someone just handed me 15 million dollars? With no, you know, patience or waiting, but just something like, yeah, do whatever you want with it. And man, there's a whole lot of sin that would just come bursting forth, right, that's just because I lack the the experience of age and wisdom, that all these sins that have been kept at bay, that you didn't have to budge for it, would just come rushing out. I think we all, maybe I'm not alone, hopefully I'm not alone. I'm only for you. Rob would be a good friend to hold my money bag, so thanks, Rob. But just like wealth came in haste and why there is diligence required in retaining wealth, Well, let me say it this way, too. With this warning of wealth gain and pace, when proverbs talk about wealth and diligence, they're not thinking about having $80 million in your bank account. Wealth to that is not just earned dollar bills because it makes you happy kind of way. But it's wealth that allows you to be secure for your future But it also warns, or just as diligence is part of the path to wealth, it also warns about working just for wealth. And that's just another game, trying to get wealthy too quick. But then also, the only reason you get up in the morning and punch in, cock in, whatever it is, is because one day you want to be wealthy. Right? Proverbs 23.4. that do not toil to acquire wealth. Be discerning enough to insist. And notice that little warning there at the end, right? Be wise enough to know that A, you're never going to have enough. But B, pursuing of that wealth is actually going to destroy your life. And that's your attitude to things, right? I had a friend. Unfortunately, he passed away a few years ago. But he was sort of a mental head when we were both young men. And his dream in life, the reason he was getting up in the morning was so he could buy a Ferrari one day. That was the reason he was working so hard, busting his tail, was so that he could finally afford I mean, we all know people who, man, they talk about how much they hate their job, and the only reason they do it is because they're working to the next promotion, making funds, whatever, right? And, you know, there are times when we're not going to love what you do, right? But simply going in because you've got this vision of what your wealth should be is ultimately going to destroy you. And as we finish this first point about the wisdom is recognized in diligence, goes hand in hand with blessing in the Lord, this is not just something that we find in Proverbs. In fact, wisdom and work go hand in hand. And in fact, you might just say, simplistically, Christianity and work go hand in hand. Christianity, coming to faith in Christ, and then putting forth I'm not going to read the whole thing, but Paul has this astonishing line. If a man will not work, he will not eat. This sort of baseline principle of, hey, we are called to care for people. We are called to care for the poor. But at a certain point, you have to say, hey, if you're not going to work for this, then we actually can't give you any more. It's actually unwise to treat someone when they ten bucks if you like mow this entire, you know, stretch grass, you know, not that kind of thing, but just a repeated pattern of unwillingness to work. But secondly, while wisdom means diligence and labor for wealth, wisdom also means that even as you labor for it, that wealth isn't really yours. Wisdom means even as you, and I'm going to 3, 9 through 10, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce. Then your barn will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. So the first thing is recognizing this wealth, it all belongs to God. The Psalm, something about the cattle on 1,000 hills belongs to the Lord. Well, this is 1,001 hills. This is the furthest. So the cattle can get this hill. No, he owns everything. And really, you know, honor the Lord with your wealth, this is one of the verses we talk about, we usually, we talk about tithing. I said tithing, God, Grace Presbyterian does not need your money. I do not get a bigger paycheck if you give your money. God doesn't need your money. But it's a calling that God gives to us, too, as a Christian. That wealth, and again, Andy, don't hear me preaching marks here. But second, that wealth, if it belongs to God, the wealth that we possess, that God gives us, is really for a communal purpose. It's for the communal care. So, Proverbs 11, 24-26, one gives freely Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and the one who waters will himself be watered. The people curse him who holds back rain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. So notice that even, there's currency, there's exchanging of goods and services going on here. But the wealth that we possess is not for us to hoard, right? You know, just think, oh man, look at how many dollars, look at how many commas I've got in my bank account. Like I said before, I was a Dave Ramsey baby. I remember when Dave Ramsey first started coming on. My mom listened to him religiously. And I had my issues with Dave Ramsey. He had some kind of a bulldog in person. But one thing that he always said that stuck with me is, you save like crazy so you can do like crazy. You don't save for this ethereal thing that makes you think, I'm safe now. But you save so that you can give to that person who's late on rent and is going to be convicted if they don't get their $1,200 in by next week. You save so that you can buy a meal for somebody. So that you can. And really, when we think about wealth, that's the, I mean, what greater wealth than you have than knowing that, hey, I am totally cared for, here's what I need. And if I needed to, I could pay someone's mortgage for the next six months. If someone needed, I could do this kind of thing. But then lastly, if it's the wealth belongs to the Lord for a communal purpose, it also, right, wealth is always future-oriented. It's always future-oriented. And here's Proverbs 13.22. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children and children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. And so even as we labor and save Now, not everyone can do that, and that's just the stark reality of life. It's a blessing for the Lord to be able to do it, but as we think about it, if all you're thinking about with your wealth is, or your children's children, then you need to wonder, who do you think this all belongs to? And when God is giving you this to provide for your children. I mean, my granddad never met any doubt. Well, I guess I didn't. He technically died when I was five months old. But he worked in the Korean War, got a job, and had four glass plants. in Tennessee, 1961. Worked there for 30 years when he retired and died for the next year. But slowly, he never had two pennies to his name growing up. But slowly, over time, he acquired property by property. And when he died in 1993, when he died, he had a real estate portfolio that had about, in 1993 money, about a $13 million portfolio. the guy I never had the pleasure to meet and yet he he worked for me he works for them I mean you know we don't hear that but right I mean but it's a wonderful model for me to think about what am I doing for my grandkids? Will they see anything? How can I raise my children All of these, right, whether it's the thing about how to look at our wealth, the communal provision for wealth, and our future-oriented vision of wealth, all of these point to the reality that God gives wealth to people in different forms, different numbers, right? But he gives people so that they, in turn, might be able to provide for us. That's, I mean, again, the principle to the wealth that God gives us, that we are here to serve, not to be served by the things that God gives us. And how easy it is, right? I mean, I do it all the time when my bank suddenly charges me $80 for no reason, right? But how easy is it for us to fall into the habit of saying things like, it's my money, right? Or I can do what I want. Again, being careful to really pause and think, what is it I want? I love the, when I was in high school, you know, we'd sit in a place, which was pretty stupid, and all the TV shows we'd watch, and there was always that one commercial, some people might remember it, the J.G. Wentworth commercial, you guys remember it? Your money, use it when you need it. I still remember the song, I'll sing it for you after. But it's, again, what problem is trying Proverbs 19.17, and I love this verse. Again, if you think about generosity and trusting the Lord, Proverbs 19.17, whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he were a pagan for his deeds. And it changes the way we think about giving. And you are, in a way, And do you not trust that the Lord is going to pay back in debt? And you have given a loan to the Lord when you're generous to the poor. And when we don't give, that's actually a small sign that, hey, you may not trust that God's going to give this back to you. That when you do this, it'd be better just to throw it in the trash. And thirdly, think about the diligence that wisdom gives to wealth, the recognition that wealth is not really ours. But thirdly, wisdom allows us to see that all wealth, all material wealth, has a limit. than a rich man who's crooked in his ways. So you know something that's way better than being rich? Being a person of intention. Being a person who's yes is yes and no is no. That's way better. That's something wealth cannot do to you. Wealth cannot make you a person of intention. In fact, far too often, it actually turns us against intention, right? Because now we have money to pay people to make sure they doesn't get out how bad we actually are. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. So on a grand scheme, the very limit of wealth is, it doesn't matter how many columns you've got. I was looking at the Forbes billionaire list or whatever a few weeks ago, and Elon Musk has $390 billion, which is just $2 million sounds like more money, because that is like a number that I can imagine. But Elon Musk will write a check for $390 billion at the end of the day. And guess what? He won't escape an inch of wrath today. There is no amount of wealth that will save you from wrath. But righteousness delivers from death. You know, there's a great Virginia Perry quote. But he's got this great quote where he says, I wish everyone could get rich and famous and have everything they want so that they'll know it's not the answer. And we hear that, we laugh, we chuckle. And I think all of us see it like, yeah, but it might work on me. I might be the one who busts that curve. But we are constantly being fed the lie that if you just had a little bit more, you'd be safer. Just a little bit more, just a little bit more, just a little bit more. of wealth. But lastly, as we reproject, it shows very clearly that wisdom without wealth is a wonderful thing. Wisdom without wealth is a wonderful thing. Wealth without wisdom, on the other hand, is folly and destruction. Wealth without wisdom, folly and destruction, wisdom without wealth, is a wonderful thing. And we can go back and look at what we looked at just a moment ago, but here's why, ultimately. And this is some of the negative aspects of wealth, material wealth. First off, wealth is deceptive. Wealth is deceptive. It fools us into thinking we're safe. So Proverbs 11.28, whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. I know I'm not alone. So when I was in grad school, grad school was not the time for health, wealth, and prosperity. But I remember thinking in grad school and even when I was in college, man, you know what, Lord? If I just had $10,000 in my bank account, I'd feel secure. How quickly that changes when you've got a family and a mortgage and all that. And now I find myself thinking, there's no amount of money I could have that I wouldn't feel secure with, right? Because then you're mind racing, right? You think, you know, I think in my house, I think, what if my dishwasher, my fridge, my hot water heater, and a giant tree fall through my house at the same time? How am I going to pay the six-figure medical bills? I've got to make sure I pack this. And having that will fool us into thinking, everything's OK. You have nothing to worry about. Wealth can be deceptive. Wealth can be deceptive. But secondly, Proverbs 7 when the father is talking to his son about Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly. But notice what she actually describes her home, right? It's verse 16. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloe, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight ourselves with love, for my husband is not at home. He has gone on a long journey. He took a bag of money with him. At full moon, he will come home. And obviously, there's the allure, the seduction, a sexual sin there, but there's also that she's trying to display. Don't you see my fancy purple, you know, 4,000 count Egyptian linen sheets I've got here? Aloe and myrrh, these were expensive items. And even, right, this sort of kind of, you know, yeah my husband's a dummy, but he's super loaded, because guess what, he took a bag of money and he got all this other money here at the house We all know it, right? We see people wealthy and we're just like, oh man, that's incredible. I wish I could be like that. Wealth has this slippery way of trying to seduce you. Wouldn't it be great if you could take a trip to the Poconos every other weekend? that drives me insane about social media is how a, I don't know, how many billion dollars, it's gotta be a lot of zeros in that, of marketing this perfect lifestyle that doesn't exist. And teenagers, particularly, you know, ages 13 to 28, are meant to have this perfect life, where they can eat at three Michelin star restaurants, and go on vacation every other week, and life would just be perfect. And guess what, it's a lie. What does it profit the man to gain the whole world but lose his soul? Third on this point, wealth without wisdom is folly because wealth can be all-consuming. Wealth can be all-consuming. It is the master. If you serve wealth, if you serve man, he is the master that never says enough. Man will never say, hey, you've done a great job. Take it easy. You can always re-sand, do a little bit harder, do a little bit more. You really messed it up this time, but don't worry, I've got 40 more opportunities for you to take a sand coat. So look at Proverbs 23.4. Proverbs 23.4, that's the same one. You're not told to acquire wealth if you're discerning enough to assist. And then I love this one. This is Proverbs 13, 18. The ransom of a man's life is his wealth, but a poor man fears no threats. The ransom of a man's life is his wealth. So it's talking about, you know, sort of a kidnapping thing. I could say a kidnapper is used in ancient biblical times to find a guy who's got a lot of money, and take you, and demand all that money. But it's also, right, very simply trying to get at, hey, when you're wealthy, all you're concerned about is what's going to happen to your wealth. we all know those people who have boo-hoo bucks in the stock market. And you go, what does it always seem like they're doing? Checking their phone. Got to check their stocks, right? Got to see how they're doing. They can be all consuming. And guess what? At the very least, what the Proverbs are showing is that, hey, if you're poor, you don't have to worry about that, because you have nobody to lose. That's a wonderfully freeing thing to know, that you are not burdened with We're all done here. And it's very easy to confuse obsession with diligence. So Proverbs commands diligence, but it doesn't command obsession. And we so often fall into obsession thinking we're just being diligent. Falling into obsession by the diligence. Wealth is deceptive. Wealth is seductive. Wealth can be all-consuming. And lastly, wealth can very quickly replace God. All those things just kind of add up to wealth equals your God. This is Proverbs 18, 10 through 11. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it. high wall in his imagination. Now, it's doing two things, right? This is where you sort of see the brilliance of the author of Proverbs here. He's doing two things. He is saying, hey, it's good to have wealth. It gives you a fortification and defense against things. That's an important, it can be an important part of life. But what is he preparing me to do? Verse 10 says, the Lord is a strong power, a righteous man, The one man is giving a very good principle. Well, as a butcher, it's also giving this slight replacement. How quickly it becomes the strong power that you run to. Well, it very quickly becomes the God that you serve, rather than the God that you confess to serve. And all of these, again, point to why, without wisdom, we're going to fall prey to all of this. You're going to fall prey to the deception of will. You're going to fall victim to its seductions. You're going to be consumed in your quest for wealth. And ultimately, you're going to end up bowing down and kissing One of the most honest, great prayers in the Bible, from this guy named Augur, says, two things I ask of you, speaking to God, deny them not to me before I die. Remove far from me falsehood and lying. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, Don't let me be rich lest I forget you, but don't let me be poor and fall into sin. And really, you know, if you boil down to the message of proverbs and wealth, it really comes, it's echoed in that clause in the Lord's Prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. And we trust that what all that God gives us is going to be in good hand. He dishes out wealth as He sees fit, but it's the God of wealth that we serve, it's not wealth itself. And no amount of money can keep you safe. No amount of money is going to finally make you rest secure in who you are. And in fact, seeing Franklin do this, seeing myself do this, whenever I've had the chance of having these conversations,