Let’s turn in our Bibles to the book of Proverbs. And let me start with an obvious observation this morning: Life is complicated. Can we all agree on that? Life is not a paint by numbers kit. And there are a few things that make life especially complicated. Money makes life complicated. Marriage and kids complicate and complexify life. I’m all for marriage and kids, as I’ve tried to show already in this series. But there’s no doubt that starting a family is complicated. And there’s a tendency sometimes to approach the Bible, and especially the book of Proverbs, and say, “Just give me the safe, easy answers to all of life’s problems.”

Now let me be clear, some things are easy. And some things are clearly presented in the Scriptures. Faith in Christ for salvation is not a complicated thing; even a child can do it. “Don’t have sex outside of marriage.” That’s a clear principle in the Bible. It might not be easy, but it’s clear. 

The Bible also says clearly don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t murder, don’t steal, and don’t disrespect your parents! Those are basic OT principles that are affirmed in the book of Proverbs. But there are other things that require a little nuance. There are other things that we need wisdom to think through and apply rightly. 

I think the best example of that in the book of Proverbs is wealth. Is wealth a good thing or a bad thing? Well, that depends. Are you depending on your wealth over and above God? That’s not good. Are you using your wealth to help and bless others? That’s good. And Proverbs 19 is going to get painfully real with us about the blessings and the curses associated with wealth. 

And here’s the main idea that I see presented in the text: “God’s Wisdom gives us the wherewithal to navigate the complications of life.” That’s true of wealth. And that’s true of other complicated matters.

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So let’s talk about wealth first. Go ahead and write this down as #1 in your notes. 

1) Wealth is fraught with blessings and curses (19:1–7) 

And by the way, the absence of wealth is fraught with blessings and curses too. We’ll see that in verses 1–7. In other words, there is an OT precedent to Jesus’s words, “Blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20). 

Look at verse 1 with me.

1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

In Proverbs, there is the 1) the Righteous Rich, 2) the Unrighteous Rich, 3) the Righteous Poor, and 4) the Unrighteous Poor. Here’s an example of the Righteous Poor. The Righteous Poor walk in integrity. They don’t lie and cheat to get ahead. They don’t steal from the rich. They don’t have a Robin Hood complex. 

And Solomon says, “It’s better to be poor than to be crooked in speech and a fool.” You might say, “That’s rich, coming from Solomon… a fabulously rich guy!” Well Solomon probably knew some guys who were rich and foolish. In my experience there is no great correlation between wealth and wisdom. Lots of wealthy people are incredibly foolish. And lots of poor people are remarkably wise. 

Let me say it stronger than that. There are lots of rich people who are fools. They work too hard. They live too fast. They focus too much on money, and not enough on relationships. And they die unmourned, unlamented, and unwept.

But this verse isn’t really about that. This verse is about what’s better. What’s better than being crooked in speech and foolish, rich or poor? It’s better to have integrity. 

Look at verse 2.

2 Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. 

This is the ancient equivalent of “haste makes waste.” This is the ancient equivalent of someone who is “getting nowhere, fast.” This is the ancient equivalent of “work smarter not harder.” This is the ancient equivalent of someone who has “more heat than light.” Those people exhibit zeal without knowledge. 

The word for “desire” here is the Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ (ně·p̄ěš), which is often translated “soul.” But it’s a word that can also indicate “appetite,” “hunger,” or even “passion.” Let me just say, for the record, that I’m all for passion in the Christian life. When I disciple people, I’d much rather tame a wild mustang than beat a dead horse. But here’s my caveat: zeal without knowledge is dangerous.  

Who said this? “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom 10:2). That’s Paul. And he’s talking, as a Jew, about Jews, who reject Christ in favor of their religion. 

Look at verse 3.

3 When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. 

You would think that eventually a person would get tired of their folly and ruin and turn to the Lord. Sometimes that does happen. Maybe that’s happened to some of you in this room? But oftentimes folly and ruin doesn’t lead to repentance, it leads to rage. 

I see that with some of these famous atheists. They just get angrier and angrier as they get older. And it’s almost as if they are angry because God exists and they can’t come to terms with it. 

Look at verse 4. 

4 Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend. 

Now this is a tricky verse. Don’t bite down too hard on this verse. Because you might be tricked into thinking, “Oh, Solomon is saying that being rich is better than being poor.” Not so fast. I’m not so sure that “friends” shouldn’t be in scare quotes here. Are we talking about “friends-friends” or “Facebook friends?” Are we talking about Proverbs 18:24b: “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother?” Or are we talking about Proverbs 18:24a: “a man of many companions may come to ruin?” 

Let me tell you what Solomon is doing here. He’s telling you about the blessings and the curses of wealth in one short, succinct, sarcastic statement. “Wealth brings many new friends.” So the implication of this verse is this. If you have wealth, you better be discerning as to who your friends are. Because wealth brings many imposters. Rich Mullins said it this way in his song, “Elijah.” “There’s people been friendly, but they’d never be your friends.” 

And the opposite is true for the poor man. A poor man is deserted by his friend because there’s no quid pro quo. There’s no beneficiary relationship. And that can be negative. But that can also be positive. If you are a poor person, you have less need to question the sincerity of your friends. If a friend stands by you through thick and thin, you know that there’s no ulterior motive in that. 

By the way, let me just make an obvious Christological connection here. Christ Jesus, as we saw last week, calls us friends (John 15:13–15). And we have nothing to offer him in return for what he did for us. We have less than nothing. Because our friendship with Christ is solely dependent on what he’s done for us. So there’s no ulterior motive with Christ. 

Jesus didn’t offer friendship with you because you’ve got something amazing that he’s just got to get access to. No! You’ve got nothing. And Christ still loves you. And he still died for you. And he still calls you a friend. 

Look at verse 5.

5 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. 

6 Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. 

Again, I think “friend” here should be in scare quotes. Yes, generous people have friends. And yes, there’s incentive here to be a generous person. And yes, ungenerous people have few friends and that’s not good. But there’s a complication in that! If your friends are derived solely from your generosity and your gift-giving, is that a real friendship? Maybe from God to us, that’s true. But that’s rarely true in human-to-human relationships. 

Remember now, Solomon’s a rich man, so he’s got some insight into this. He’s had to be shrewd in discerning his friendships because many are approaching him with sinister and false motives. 

And speaking of shrewdness, look at verse 7.

7 All a poor man’s brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him! 

He pursues them with words, but does not have them.

This is more than just a shrewd statement. This is a sarcastic statement. And Solomon is hyperbolizing. Does every poor man’s brother hate him? No. Does every friend of a poor man abandon him? No. But it happens enough to be an observable pattern in the book of Proverbs. 

And the implication of this passage is two-fold: 1) Be careful of the company you keep. Rich or poor, friendships matter! And you want to choose your friends wisely. 2) Don’t be a shallow, shameless, fair-weather friend. That is obnoxious to Solomon. So much so, that he gets sarcastic here. 

To be honest, this sounds more like the Solomon of Ecclesiastes than the Solomon of Proverbs. And maybe we can see, even as a young man, that Solomon was starting to make those “vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” (Ecc 1:2) observations years before he authored the book of Ecclesiastes.   

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Write this down as #2. What’s the remedy for this complicated world? What do we need to navigate this world of insecure wealth, insincere people, and inauthentic friendships? Well, we need wisdom. And…

2) Wisdom invites us to learn and grow (19:8–23)

Now stay with me here because I’m going to address these verses rapid fire. Many of these verses address topics that we’ve dealt with before. So I’m not going to linger on any one of them too long, except for verse 23. When we get to verse 23, I want us to slow down and have a little picnic with that verse. 

But first, look at verse 8. 

8 Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.

Literally this says, “whoever gets [heart] loves his own soul!” It’s the Hebrew word לֵב (lēḇ). So in Hebrew, whoever gets לֵב, loves his own נֶפֶשׁ. That’s a pretty interesting combination of two metaphysical words in this verse. And I think the ESV gets the sense right. The idea here is that wisdom and learning feed your heart and your soul and your life, not just your brain. If you love yourself, you won’t be content to stay the way that you are. 

Look at verse 9.

 9 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish. 

10 It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes. 

That’s a dicey statement in our modern-day world where we value meritocracy. And it might be offensive to us to see the term “fool” here parallel with the word “slave.” We love rags to riches stories in America.  

But according to Solomon, this kind of “topsy-turvy” world where leaders are serving and servants are leading and fools live in luxury… that’s not good for society. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves” (10:5–7). The implication of that verse is that this is bad for society.

Now before you accuse Solomon of a kind of “class bias,” just do a little research on societies where governments are overthrown and the unwise and underserving take over the government. Those revolutions rarely turn out great. See the Bolshevik Revolution circa 1917 in Russia for an example.  

Look at verse 11.

11 Good sense 

“Good sense” is the Hebrew שֶׂכֶל (śě·ḵěl), which is another word for “wisdom.”

11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, 

Literally, “Good sense [gives you long nostrils.]” And trust me, you want long nostrils. God has long nostrils. He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness (Exod 34:6; Num 14:18; Ps 86:5, 15; 103:8; Joel 2:13; Jon 4:2).

11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. 

Whose glory? Your glory! When you forgive… when you overlook an offense… it is a glorious thing! You know why? Because you are imitating deity. You are shining forth the glory of God’s forgiveness. 

Tell me if you’ve heard this before, Christian. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph 4:32). “That’s the NT, Pastor Tony.” I know, but that was an OT principle too. Case in point, Proverbs 19:11!

11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. 

12 A king’s wrath is like the growling of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass. 

A king in the ancient world could be your greatest advocate or your worst enemy. And a wise man engendered the favor of the king. 

“How does that verse relate to the NT, Pastor Tony?” It actually parallels pretty closely with 1 Timothy 2:1–2. Paul says there, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

“How do these verses relate to us in the twenty-first century, Pastor Tony?” Well, I would say this. There’s a time for civil disobedience. But there are other times when Christians need to put their heads down and work hard and not awaken the sleeping lion. In other words, we need to pick our battles. We want the favor of the government, but not at the expense of the true King of the Universe and his commands of us. 

Look at verse 13.

13 A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

14 House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. 

That sounds like Proverbs 18:20: מָצָ֣א אִ֭שָּׁה מָ֣צָא ט֑וֹב. He finds wife; He finds good. But let’s look at these two verses (13 and 14) juxtaposed to one another. 

In verses 13 and 14, there’s a good wife and a bad wife. And there’s a father who gives good things to his son. And there’s a son who gives bad things to his father. There is domestic tranquility and there is domestic dysfunctionality. 

I talked earlier about the complexity of wealth. There’s also a complexity that comes with family. There is risk indelibly bound up in the gaining and using of wealth. There is also significant risk when it comes to marriage and family. Sometimes kids make you crazy! And sometimes your spouse is more quarrelsome than accommodating. 

Is that a reason for us to not get married and have kids? No. Is that a reason for us to avoid marrying the wrong kinds of people? Yes. Is that an excuse for divorce? No. Is that a reason for us to be the best kinds of parents, kids, husbands, and wives, that we can be? Yes! 

I said last time in Proverbs 18 that I believe that Christians should have the deepest and most meaningful friendships in this world. That might sound hopelessly idealistic to you. 

But let me give you some more idealism. You ready for this? I believe that Christians should have the healthiest and most God-honoring nuclear family relationships in this world. I know that can’t always be the case. But it should be the case enough to garner the attention of the world. I think data would suggest that it actually is the case. But whatever the case, let’s be the best fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and grandparents that we can be! Amen?

Look at verse 15.

15 Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger. 

Here’s some more idealism. I actually believe that Christians should work hard and not be lazy. Paul said, “Work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col 3:23–24). And I actually believe that Paul meant that! Let me say it this way—slothfulness is unchristianly behavior.

Look at verse 16.

16 Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die. 

17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. 

The church father John Chrysostom suggested that it’s better to have the Lord as your debtor than as your judge. I agree with that statement. How many of you believe the Lord knows how to pay us back for our generosity? 

This is a great verse, Proverbs 19:17. I know wisdom is often seen in doing the right thing in your life and making the right choices. Here wisdom is presented in lending to the Lord by being generous to the poor. Let me say it this way—the fear of the Lord leads to lending to the Lord by being generous to the poor. And “[the Lord] will repay [the generous man] for his deed.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt 25:40). 

Look at verse 18.

18 Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death. 

19 A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again. 

I actually think these two verses should be read in conjunction with each other. The first verse tells fathers that it’s never too late to do the right thing with your children. If you failed to do that when they were younger, you can still right that ship. There’s still hope. 

But verse 19 is the point of no return. In other words, if your grown children (notice the word “man” in verse 19) are bent on sin and rebellion, you won’t be able to stop them. And if you try to deliver them from their fate, you will just repeat the process over and over again. 

The word “man” actually isn’t in the Hebrew text. It just says, “great wrath bears a penalty.” There comes a time in a parents life when you have to let your children suffer their own consequences. You can’t rescue them from themselves over and over again. If you do, then you will just perpetuate their dysfunction. It’s like the old adage goes: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. 

Yes, “be teachable.” How many times have we seen that principle emphasized in Proverbs?

21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. 

“Man proposes and God disposes.” That’s not a call to embrace fatalism in verse 21. That’s a tacit acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty in our world. Solomon said already, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (16:3).

Look at verse 22.

22 What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar. 

23 The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm. 

One of the ways to translate verse 23 is as follows. “The fear of the LORD is for life!” In other words, the fear of the Lord is the coal that keeps your “life locomotive” running.  

and whoever has it

That is, whoever has “the lifegiving, life sustaining, fear of the Lord”… whoever has that! … that person…

rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

You might say, “Pastor Tony, fast track this message for me! What’s Solomon saying here? What’s the bottom line of his argument in this passage?” The bottom line is this: Fear God and obey his commandments. That leads to life. That leads to rest. That leads to wisdom. That helps you to navigate the complex and confusing aspects of this world. It simplifies and clarifies all of the confusing elements of life. “The fear of the Lord [is for] life.” 

You might say, “I want rest, Pastor Tony. I want life. I want to ‘not be visited by harm.’ But how’s that going to happen in this world? We’re all going to die. We’re all going to deal with tragedy. There’s no way to safeguard my life in such a way that I won’t experience pain and suffering and death.”

That’s true. You’re right. Life is hard. Life is complex. Life involves suffering. And then you die. But what if I told you that there is eternal life that is free from suffering, free from pain, free from complexity, free from harm? And what if I told you that the fear of the Lord is the key to finding that life?

In the OT world, the fear of the Lord led to saving faith in a future messiah. In our world, the fear of the Lord leads to saving faith in a revealed messiah, who came to earth and died on a cross for your sins. So that you, in a life ever-after, might rest satisfied. 

Jesus said it this way. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28–30).

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Write this down as #3. Let’s finish this up. I wish that Proverbs 19 had finished at verse 23. That would have been a happy way to finish this chapter. But there’s more in this chapter. And it’s not pretty what Solomon describes here. 

And here’s what Solomon describes. He describes a wickedness that reaps what it sows. 

3) Wickedness will reap what it sows (19:24–29)

And let me be more specific. Because Solomon gives three categories of wickedness here. He gives, 

The Sluggard 

The Scoffer

The Sadist

Let’s look at all three. First there’s the sluggard in verse 24.

24 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth. 

Of the three kinds of wickedness described here, the sluggard is the funniest. He’s also the saddest. What makes this so humorous is how exaggerated it is. Surely nobody would be so lazy that he buries his hand in the dish and doesn’t bring it back to his mouth! Solomon is at his sarcastic best when he describes the sluggard!

But this picture is not literal. It’s meant to exaggerate how a lazy person who doesn’t finish what he starts ends up going hungry, when the food is right in front of him. He plants the seed, but he doesn’t harvest. He buys the donkey, but he doesn’t use it. In our day you might say, he gets a job but he can’t keep a job. He starts a project, but he doesn’t finish it. She works hard when people are watching, but she sloughs off afterwards.

So there’s the sluggard. That person is wicked. There’s also the scoffer. And Solomon says, 

25 Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge. 

Also in verse 29 he says, 

29 Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and beating for the backs of fools.

The ESV’s “scoffer” is a translation of the Hebrew לֵץ (lēṣ). And a לֵץ, unlike the simpleton (Hebrew: פֶּתִי [pě·ṯî]), is beyond teachability. He’s a lost cause. But that doesn’t mean you don’t correct him. That doesn’t mean you don’t punish him or condemn him. 

You do those things for the sake of the gullible. You do those things for the sake of the impressionable. You do those things to set an example for the simpletons who are sitting on the fence, and need a little motivation to go the right way and do the right thing. 

Unfortunately, there’s someone even more wicked than a “scoffer” here. Look at verse 26.

26 He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who brings shame and reproach. 

27 Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. 

28 A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity. 

What are we talking about here? This isn’t just a scoffer. This is a sadist. This is someone who gets a twisted satisfaction in seeing good people wronged (including one’s own parents!). And they get a sick satisfaction also in seeing justice compromised. 

“Are there evil people like that in our world, Pastor Tony?” Yes, there are. And if you are going to navigate this world with wisdom and shrewdness, you better recognize that. Let me say it this way, “Don’t be naïve, Christian. This is a broken world full of broken people, and sometimes that brokenness is overtly and unapologetically diabolical!”

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You might say, “That’s depressing, Pastor Tony. Thanks a lot.” Well… you’re welcome. But let me leave you with some hope. Let me direct you once again to Proverbs 19:12.

12 A king’s wrath is like the growling of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

If you are like me that passage, right there, triggers something in your imagination. For me it triggers C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia. Because how is the great King of the Universe portrayed in those books? He’s portrayed as a lion. 

And it says explicitly of Aslan, the Lion, that “He’s not a tame lion.” In fact there’s a humorous moment in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when the children are talking about Aslan. And one of the girls, Lucy, finds out for the first time that Aslan is a lion. And she asks, “Then he isn’t safe?” The answer to that is something like this, “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Yes, maybe the kings of old had a growl like that of a lion. Even Solomon! And maybe their favor was like dew on the grass—good nourishing hydration for the plants. But those kings, all those kings, fall by the wayside in comparison to King Jesus who has perfect wrath and perfect favor. 

And his wrath will execute justice perfectly on the wicked. And his favor will be executed perfectly on those who are allied with him. Those who fear him… those who love him… those who trust him… those who put their faith in him… will experience his favor forever. Put your faith in that King!