Proverbs 11:1–31

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Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the Book of Proverbs. Today’s passage is intense. There are many expectations here for a God-fearer living a God-fearing life. And once again, the focal point is righteousness. That Hebrew word צַדִּיק and its cognates are used no less than 13 times in this chapter. 

I know it’s customary for me to work through a passage and then zoom out and talk gospel implications. But I want to start with gospel implications today, because I can imagine that a little cognitive dissonance occurs for us as NT Christians. Because we know that our righteousness will never measure up. And that’s why we need Christ. 

So as we read and apply Proverbs 11, let me give you three wrong ways to respond to it. And then I’ll give you the right way to respond to it. 

One wrong way to respond is to ignore it altogether as a reader. We’ll call this reader Billy Bad-Boy. Billy Bad-Boy reads Proverbs 11 and says, “I don’t want to be righteous. I don’t care about the Fear of the Lord. I’m going to sin, cheat, steal, and kill until I’m dead.” That’s the kind of person that Solomon is warning his son not to become, and expressly warning his son to stay away from. 

Then there’s another person who reads this passage, and we’ll call this person Sensitive Stuart. Sensitive Stuart reads Proverbs 11 and sinks into despair, because he knows he’ll never measure up. He’s made so many mistakes in his life. He continues to make mistakes. And he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to live a life that pleases the Lord and is truly obedient to Scripture. 

Then there’s a third wrong reading and a third wrong response. We’ll call this reader Antony the Antinomian. Antony is steeped in NT doctrine. And whenever he reads Proverbs or other sections of the OT (if he ever does read it), he immediately dismisses it. He says, “Christ is all the righteousness I need, thank you very much.” And he says to himself, “When my sin increases, grace increases all the more. And I don’t need to take any of this serious anyways because I am in Christ, and as long as that’s the case, I can live any old way I want to, and it doesn’t matter a lick.” 

Let me just say definitively that all those approaches to Proverbs 11 are wrong, wrong, wrong. The right response to Proverbs 11 is the response of someone we’ll call Righteous Richard. Richard knows that he is a sinner saved by grace. Richard has imputed righteousness from Jesus Christ; he is clothed in righteous garments not his own. And so when he reads Proverbs 11, he doesn’t think, “Boy, I really need to obey this to become righteous in God’s sight.” No. He thinks instead, “I am righteous in Christ Jesus, and in light of what Christ has done for me, now I want to live like Jesus. I want to demonstrate empirical righteousness in my life as evidence of the imputed righteousness that I have in Christ.” That’s the way that we should read and apply Proverbs 11. And that’s the way we avoid the mistakes of Billy Bad-Boy, Sensitive Stuart, and Antony the Antinomian. 

And I say this at the out front, assuming that I have before me, a church full of Righteous Richards and Righteous Rachels who have been saved by the blood of Jesus. That’s my assumption anyway. And now you want to grow as a disciple of Christ. Now you want to honor your Savior by optimizing a righteous life. That’s the right approach to Proverbs 11. 

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So with that in mind, here’s your outline for today. Here’s the kind of righteous living that we want to optimize in our lives. First of all, we want to optimize righteousness in our business. 

The People of God are called to demonstrate:

1) Righteousness in our business (11:1–8)

Solomon says in verse 1,

1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. 

Wow! That’s a dynamite way to start a new chapter! The word “abomination” (Hebrew: תּוֹעֵבָה) is used for some really despicable stuff in the OT. To think that a “false balance” is viewed in a similar light should cause all of us to think clearly about proper business practice. 

The word for “weight” here is literally “stone.” It’s the Hebrew אֶבֶן. In the ancient world, you would use a “measuring stone” to determine weights. In fact, in the UK, they still occasionally use the term “stone” as a weight measurement. Supposedly a stone is equivalent to 14 pounds. So according to that, I weigh… let’s just say more than 10 stone.

In the ancient world, the use of stones for weights and measures was incredibly imprecise. You could easily change or alter the use of a stone and make it heavier or lighter than what was used previously. And I’m sure practice like this was widespread. But even if you get away with a little tipping of the scales, God knows your heart. And so Solomon says literally here, “a whole stone” is Yahweh’s delight. God sees your sin. And he delights in your integrity.

So this is negative reinforcement immediately followed by positive reinforcement. So feel the antithetical parallelism. 

1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. 

Ah, isn’t that better? You don’t want to do things that the Lord abominates. You want to delight him. Here comes some more antithetical parallelism. Look at verse 2.

2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

The first part of verse 2 reads like this in Hebrew: 

בָּֽא־זָ֭דוֹן וַיָּבֹ֣א קָל֑וֹן

Perhaps you can hear the rhyming in that statement. It’s actually a form of alliteration called assonance, which means that the vowel-sounds are repeated instead of the consonants. And Solomon uses that alliteration to reinforce something. Pride is bad; humility is good. Not only is it good; it’s wise!

2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom [חָכְמָה]. 

There’s our old friend “wisdom” again. Wisdom is often paired with righteousness. Here it’s paired with another great, ancient virtue—humility. 

One of the threads that runs through Proverbs and in fact throughout the entire Bible is this contrast between pride and humility. So much so that Jesus would say, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5). How does that ring true? Most people who “rule” the earth are prideful, not humble, aren’t they?

Well the meek know their weakness. They know their limitations. They know their need for a Savior, and so they turn to God. And that clarity of the human condition leads to salvation. Solomon says here that it also leads to wisdom. 

Look at verse 3.

3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. 

4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

Remember I said a few weeks ago that wealth and riches are presented both positively and negatively in Proverbs. Here’s an instance in which they are presented negatively. They won’t save you on the day of wrath.

Is this a reference to wrath on this side of eternity or the eternal wrath of God? The answer is yes! This verse has the flavor of eternity in it. The Israelites knew about the coming “Day of the Lord.” They knew about God’s wrath. And they knew that riches don’t assuage God’s wrath. God has the cattle on a thousand hills. He’s not impressed with man’s riches. And it’s not wealth that delivers us from death; it’s righteousness. 

“But Tony, I don’t have enough righteousness in and of myself to assuage God’s wrath and deliver me from death!” Indeed. That’s why Jesus had to die for our sins. Right, Righteous Richard! 

5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness. 

6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust. 

Listen, church, read these verses as Righteous Richard. Don’t be intimidated by them as a Christian saved by sheer grace. Let the grace of God motivate you to pursue a blameless life. Let the grace of God propel you forward towards living an upright life… devoid of wickedness and devoid of treachery. 

One of my favorite books in the last twenty years is a book called, Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told by sociologist Bradley Wright. The title of that book is so good, you don’t even have to read it. The thesis is in the title. And what Wright points out is that there is a misconception about Christians that they are just as wicked, just as sinful, just as wretched as the non-Christians in our world. They have the same divorce rate as everyone else. And they cheat on their taxes just like everyone else. That misconception is patently false. Yeah, maybe before Christ that’s the case. But the reality is that people who actually believe the gospel of Jesus Christ start to behave and act more like Jesus. Isn’t that a shocker?

7 When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too. 

8 The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead. 

Think Haman in the book of Esther who got hanged on his own gallows. Think Daniel’s enemies who got eaten by lions in the book of Daniel after they conspired to get Daniel thrown in there. Verse 8 is essentially saying, “Sometimes people get hanged with their own rope.” It’s what you might call poetic justice! It doesn’t always happen in this world. But when it does, as we’ll see in a second, the people rejoice.

By the way, these verses about deliverance and perishing, have the flavor of eternity on them. Solomon knows that “he who dies with the most toys still dies!” You don’t get to take your moth-eaten and rust-covered toys with you. Job said it best, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return” (Job 1:21). The pauper and the prince both end up six feet under. So you better have something other than worldly wealth to appease the God of the Universe.

“I thought this passage was about business, Pastor Tony.” It is. The people of God are called to demonstrate righteousness in our business. But business and financial interaction are a temporary, momentary phenomenon on this side of eternity. As far as I can tell, there will be no money in the New Jerusalem. There will be no need for currency to exchange goods. Nobody’s going to have to pay for parking on the streets of gold. 

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Write this down as #2. The People of God are called to demonstrate righteousness in our business. We are also called to demonstrate…

2) Righteousness in our communication (11:9–13)

Solomon says in verse 9. 

9 With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered. 

With his mouth, the godless man would throw his neighbor under the bus. The godless man self-protects. A righteous man cares for his neighbor and communicates for the benefit of his community. 

I remember this Ridley Scott movie that came out several years ago called “Matchstick Men.” It’s a movie about conmen. And in the movie, this one conman (Nicolas Cage) trains up a fellow conman. He teaches him his trade. He teaches him all the tricks of a grifter. And then at the end of the movie, he gets conned by the conmen that he trained. I should have seen that plot twist coming a mile away. Wicked people eat their own. And when you get enough wicked people gathered into a society, the social fabric starts to fray. 

Hence, look at verse 10.

10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.

There’s Ebenezer Scrooge at the beginning of the book. And then there’s Ebenezer Scrooge at the end of the book. That’s not just fiction. That’s axiomatic in our world. “Rome rejoiced at the death of Nero, and the public rejoiced in the French Revolution at the death of Robespierre.”

In the OT, there was this wicked queen in Judah named Athaliah who usurped the authority of the Davidic line. She killed all of her offspring, and she ruled in their place. But a righteous woman named Jehosheba secretly hid the future King Joash when he was just a baby (cf. 2 Kgs 11:1-3). And when he emerged from hiding, they put the wicked Athaliah to death. And it says that the people of the land rejoiced when she was put to death (2 Kgs 11:20). 

11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown. 

When wicked people lead cities or states or countries, everybody suffers. When righteous people lead, people rejoice. This section of Proverbs is a little uncomfortable coming from Solomon. When Solomon feared God and followed God, the people rejoiced and prospered. When Solomon abandoned God and chased other gods, the nation declined. And his hard-hearted, heavy-handed son, Rehoboam, made matters worse. 

Listen, one of the best kept secrets, that the media will never tell you, is that Christianity has been really good for the world. Where Christianity and Judeo-Christian ethics have prevailed, civilizations have thrived. For more on that, read Alvin Schmidt’s How Christianity Changed the World. That’s another one of my favorite books in the last twenty years. And the reason that Christianity has been good for the world is that the Bible is serious about things like ethics and integrity and honor and godliness and just weights. And part of that involves speech and communication. 

Look at verse 12. 

12 Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. 

And all the introverts in the room quietly said, “Amen!”

13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered. 

Spurgeon writes, 

“We best shall quiet clamorous throngs

When we ourselves can rule our tongues.”

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Write this down as #3. The People of God are also called to demonstrate… 

3) Righteousness in our community (11:14–23)

We’ve already seen in this chapter a focus on righteousness in the community. Notice the talk about the “neighbor” in verse 9 and verse 12. Solomon has talked about the city in verse 10 and verse 11. Now that talk about community takes center stage. 

And here’s the big idea of this section. Your behavior, your actions, don’t just affect yourself. No man is an island unto himself. Your behavior affects the community. If you are a wicked person… if you are Billy Bad-Boy… you are an ethical drain on society. But if you are a righteous, God-fearing person, then that has a positive effect on those around you. 

Let’s look at this more closely. Look at verse 14.

14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. 

Presidents have their cabinets. Principals have their school boards. Pastors have their fellow elders. When one man or one woman rules without any checks and balances, we call that person a despot. And it results in despotism. 

15 Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure. 

In other words, don’t cosign for another person’s debt. That’s not good for you. That’s not good for the person who can’t take out debt without your help. That’s not good for a society that is determined to buy stuff that it can’t afford. That’s the world we are living in right now in America. We have borrowed excessive amounts of money to buy things we can’t afford, and we are forcibly making our children and grandchildren in the coming generations pay for it. Shame on us for that. 

Look at verse 16.

16 A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.

This is an ironic statement. In other words, a woman should go after honor like a violent man goes after riches. This is not encouraging men to be violent to get riches. We’ve already seen the negative associated with riches unethically obtained. This is saying instead that a woman should seek honor. Not pomp and circumstance. Not beauty and glamour and ostentation! Beauty is arbitrarily defined and divvied out according to God’s purposes. But beauty, physical beauty anyway, is fleeting. 

Tell me if you’ve heard this before, ladies. “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain. but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised” (Prov 31:30). That’s the second to last verse in the book of Proverbs. What a way to close out this book!

“What about men, Pastor Tony?” Look at verse 17.

 17 A man who is kind benefits himself, 

The Hebrew for “kind” here is חֶסֶד. Oftentimes this word is translated “lovingkindness” or “covenantal love.” It’s a word that is often attributed to God. So when men imitate God, in the area of kindness, that’s good. The NT says it this way: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph 5:23).

17 A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself. 

Have you ever seen a man yell at his wife and embarrass her in public? That man is hurting himself. He might win the public argument with his wife by brute force, but that wife will get him “special ops.” Nobody’s a winner in that situation. 

Listen, there is broad application of verse 17. A kind man benefits himself. A kind man benefits his own family. A kind man benefits his own community. And vice versa for a cruel man. But let me just say that there is a specific and targeted application in the area of marriage. Because a wife physically and metaphysically is a man’s own flesh! “Man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24).

Look at verse 18.

18 The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward. 

19 Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die. 

20 Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, 

There’s that word again, “abomination.” That word makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! I don’t want to ever, ever (ever!) do something that would be described as “an abomination to the Lord.” That’s terrifying. 

but those of blameless ways are his delight. 

Abomination or delight? That’s the same contrast in verse 1. Abomination or delight? Which one do you want? 

21 Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered. 

22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion. 

The Hebrew word for discretion here is טַעַם is literally “taste.” It means “discernment” and “good judgment as a facet of wisdom and capacity for understanding.” 

By the way, when you read verse 22, please don’t think of Miss Piggy from the Muppet Movies. And please don’t think of poor little Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web. You might think that verse 22 is an indelicate and offensive statement. It’s actually more indelicate and offensive than you know. 

To the likes of King Solomon and his Jewish subjects, pigs were disgusting, unclean, despicable creatures that only their Gentile enemies, like the Philistines, would breed and eat. And Solomon likens a beautiful woman who doesn’t have good judgment to a pig with a gold ring. A beautiful woman without discretion… a beautiful woman without modesty and decency… is like a hog wearing jewelry. 

How did that verse go again? “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain. but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised” (Prov 31:30).

Look at verse 23.

23 The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath. 

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Write this down as #4. The People of God are called to demonstrate… 

4) Righteousness in our generosity (11:24–28)

Part of the way that we demonstrate righteousness in our community is by demonstrations of generosity. Therefore, Solomon writes in verse 24.

24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

In other words, it’s paradoxical. It doesn’t make sense. This isn’t abracadabra kind of stuff. This is a supernatural reading of God’s providence. How can someone who gives freely grow richer? How can someone who hoards suffer want? Answer—God rewards the generous and punishes the stingy. 

Tell me if you’ve heard this before, church: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6; cf. 1 Cor 9:11; Jas 3:18). That’s the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth. And he wasn’t talking about farming. He was talking about giving generously to the work of the Lord.

Verse 25 is similar.

25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, 

The Hebrew for “enriched” means literally “made fat.” In Hebrew culture a little girth was a sign of wealth, prosperity, blessing, and fertility. Skinny people were poor and underfed. 

and one who waters will himself be watered. 

Do the generous always grow rich? No. Do the stingy always suffer want? No. This is a truism not a promise. But the principle still stands. And besides that, God’s best gifts to us are not financial. God’s best gifts of peace and joy and contentment—you can’t buy those at Amazon.com!

26 The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. 

What’s confusing to me, is why all these young Americans go around praising the merits of Marxism and Socialism. They praise dictators like Castro. They were Che Guevara T-shirts. Yeah, go spends some time in a place like Cuba or Venezuela or Russia. See how that works for you. Those governments are just a cover for people in power to hoard resources and impoverish the people. 

27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it. 

28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. 

There it is again. “Riches” and “wealth” are presented in a negative light. “So, which is it, Solomon? Are riches good or are they evil? Make up your mind already!” 

If you’ve ever read “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, there’s this fascinating character in the books named Tom Bombadil. He’s not in the movies, so you have to read the books to learn about him. And Tom Bombadil is this mysterious, goofy, sing-songy, human-like creature who has extraordinary powers. And after he rescues the Hobbits in the woods, Frodo gives him the great ring that they are trying to destroy. And this ring has amazing power over everyone. It warps their minds and turns everyone, even Gandolf the Wizard, into evil, power-obsessed despots. 

And the only one in the whole story who is unmoved by the power of the ring is this guy, Tom Bombadil. He puts it on. He plays with it. It has no effect on him. It has no power over him.   

When I read that part about Tom Bombadil, you know what I think about? Money! And that’s how I want to be with the wealth and the riches that God entrusts me with. I know money isn’t intrinsically evil. I know we can use it for good. But I also know the power that it has over people. And I know how easily people trust in it. 

But… have I said this before? … He who dies with the most toys dies! He who dies with the most money dies and gets buried in the same cemetery with the guy who didn’t have a dime to his name. 

Church, let me just be pastoral for a moment and exhort all of you. Give generously to others. Give to the church. Give to good organizations. Give to mission trips. Give to missionaries. Give to good parachurch organization that are actually doing good work. Don’t hoard your resources. You can’t take them with you. And don’t give all your money to your children! They don’t need it. Too much money too fast ruins kids; they need to work for themselves.

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Speaking of kids, write this down as #5. The People of God are called to demonstrate…

5) Righteousness in our family (11:29–31)

Righteousness in our business, righteousness in our communication, righteousness in our community, righteousness in our generosity, and righteousness in our family.

Solomon says in verse 29. 

29 Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart. 

That father who exasperates his kids… that mother who dotes incessantly on her children… that husband who yells at his wife… that wife who passive-aggressively assaults her husband… that child who defies and disrespects his parents… that husband who cheats on his wife… that wife that cheats on her husband… 

29 Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind 

If you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. Solomon knew something about that. He had a front row seat to the dysfunction that his father brought upon his house by his bad parenting and unfaithful behavior. 

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise. 

Well, what do you know? The tree of life makes a cameo in the book of Proverbs. Remember that thing from the garden of Eden? God put it away from humans as an act of mercy. Because who wants to live forever in this world wrecked by sin? No thank you. I’ll wait for the New Jerusalem and the New Heaven and the New Earth where we can eat of the tree of life again, thank you very much (Rev 22:1–3). 

But metaphorically, says Solomon, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And whoever “captures” or “captivates” souls is wise. Boy, doesn’t that verse have a hint of eternity in it? We use our righteousness to capture souls. We use our righteousness to model something before the watching world. We use our righteousness to showcase God’s glory and point people to Christ. 

We are, as Paul said it, “ambassadors for Christ.” God is “making his appeal through us.” And therefore, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20).

Because…

31 If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner! 

There is cause and effect in our world. There is reward for the righteous and judgment for the sinner in our world. That’s a fact. We see God’s judgment carried out repeatedly in the OT. And we see God reward the faithful on the earth. 

But all of that, as you well know, is just the beginning. The real judgment doesn’t occur on this side of eternity. And the sinner is only partially punished on this side of eternity. And that’s why we, as ambassadors for Christ, are actively reconciling people to our God. 

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Let me close with this. Let me bring it full circle with all this talk of righteousness. And let me close out this message with that ambassador for Christ language from 2 Corinthians 5. This is one of my favorite passages of the NT.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 

“Pastor Tony, I’ve made so many mistakes. Pastor Tony, I’ve spent the bulk of my life living unrighteously not righteously. I can’t measure up.” No, no, no, no, no. Listen up, Sensitive Stuart. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Quit talking like that. The old has passed away; the new has come!

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18–19). 

Not only are you a new creation; you are a minister of reconciliation. You are a beacon. You are a lighthouse. You are the moon that refracts the light of the sun and recruits others to be fellow moons with you. And you are an ambassador!

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:20 –21).

That’s you, Righteous Richard. That’s you, Righteous Rachel. You have become the righteousness of God. Christ took on your sin, so that you might have his righteousness. And that righteousness, both imputed and empirical, is showcased before the watching world by you, Christ’s ambassadors. 

So I say, without any hesitation at all, optimize your righteous behavior before the world, church. Optimize your righteous behavior and be Christ’s ambassador to this world. 

Taught by Tony Caffey

Senior Pastor of Verse By Verse Fellowship

Proverbs