Proverbs chapter 3, my son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart so that you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Fear the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce, then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father of the Son in whom he delights. The word of the Lord, you may be seated. It is the happy assignment of the assistant pastors to preach from the book of Proverbs on these Sundays that Mark is on his summer break. And it's been a joy we've heard the pastors preaching from the book of Proverbs. And the book of Proverbs are extremely practical and almost anyone in the room upon a reading of a fairly good English text in the ESV is an excellent one. We'll get a lot of benefit from reading the Proverbs. In fact, some people have taken the 31 chapters of Proverbs and made it their devotional reading for a month. If you had done that this past month, you'd have had 31 days to read the 31 Proverbs and you'd be done. But you didn't do that, did you? Today's the first of the month. So by September the first, before Labor Day, you will be able to have finished reading the Proverbs for your own benefit. And it is excellent wisdom. There are things in there. There are warnings. There are things in there talking about life and about labor and work and prosperity. You see, wisdom in the ancient world was not just what you might know by way of knowledge. There's a difference between knowledge understanding and wisdom. Knowledge is the accumulation of information. We have that in spades and tons in our society today, Wikipedia and whatever else you want to say. There's knowledge everywhere, but understanding is a little different. Understanding is that capacity to take that knowledge and to make some sense of it, to be able to make it practical, to be able to use it, to be able to discern between things that different. But wisdom is even greater still. For wisdom is the ability to take that knowledge to unwrap that understanding, but to put it to practical and prosperous use. You see, the Proverbs talk about wisdom. They're talking about the ancient understanding of skill, prosperity, being able to do something well, being able to do something practical. Prudence is an important part, not making the mistake, not going down the wrong path. The book of Proverbs tells us about two paths, the path of life and righteousness and the path of wickedness. One path leads to life, the other leads to death. There are extremely important benefits in studying the book of Proverbs for its wisdom, the little couplets, the little parallelisms there, the similitudes that are given are extremely easy to grasp and to understand. And all the ancient world, the ancient Babylonians, the ancient Egyptians, they all had their books of wisdom. And just reading some of those statements for themselves, even though there's an organization to the book, each statement can be taken out of context and followed and great benefit will come to your soul and to your life. One particular Proverb that's meant a lot to me, the last few weeks has been a Proverb that says, a brother is born for a time of adversity, but there's more to the Proverbs than just that. The Proverbs are not just wisdom, not just poor Richards Almanac, not just folks saying, not just things that have come down through the years that grandmother and grandfather would have told you. No, the book of Proverbs as we have it in our Hebrew scriptures translated into our English is Royal Wisdom. Solomon is the principal author of the book of Proverbs. King Solomon was David's son, he prayed for wisdom, and God gave him wisdom. And one of the other books he wrote, which is next in the canon of Scripture, is the book of Ecclesiastes. Sometimes we say it's the preacher, but actually that word co-aleth in the Hebrew, it means the convener of an assembly. I don't know how often he did it, but I suppose from time to time, King Solomon would convene a great convocation, a great assembly, and he would bring to that assembly the wise men, not just of Israel, but the wise men of the earth. For you see, in his day, King Solomon was the king that ruled over all the known world at that time, and he would bring together in a great convocation and a great assembly the wisdom. But it wasn't just for the purpose of collecting wise sayings, it was for the purpose of training the sons of the king in skill and wisdom that they would need to rule wisely and to rule righteously and to bring justice and equity and prosperity to the entire land. And such things as righteousness, exalts, and nation, but sin as a reproach to any people would be important to them. They would need to understand the nations that forget God are cast into hell, and countless other proverbs that are there. It was royal wisdom. It was in order that the king might train his son the prince in how to be a wise intelligent, a victorious and a prosperous and a godly king. So much so that if you go through the book of Proverbs, you'll see in there it says the Proverbs which the men of Hezekiah copied out. Well, Hezekiah was one of the subsequent kings that followed Solomon in the Davidic dynasty, and Hezekiah's men would copy and keep and preserve this royal wisdom. So that's what we have in the book of Proverbs. It's more than just things for personal living for individuals, but it's royal wisdom. When we come to the book of Proverbs, we're kind of getting a peak over into the courts of the king to know that which is noble, that which is good, that which is trustworthy, that which is dependable, that can build a godly society and a godly family and a godly business and godly relationships, but really there's more to the Proverbs than that. It's more than just practical wisdom for the individual. It's more than just royal wisdom. The Proverbs, and especially this one in front of us this morning, talk to us of Jesus Christ. Luke, the gospel writer, gives us wonderful stories about the life of Christ, some of which are not recorded in the other gospels. One of the stories he tells us is how when Jesus was 12 years old, he went with his parents down to Jerusalem, and there they celebrated the feast and they were in the temple, and they left with the pilgrim throng and headed back to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed back in the temple, in the courts, listening and talking to the doctors of the law, the authorities, the wise men, the scribes, and those who understood the law of the Lord. And when his parents missed him, they came back to find him there and they lost two days' journey because they had to double back and find him, and when they found him, they found him there in the temple. And notice what Jesus said, don't you know that I must be about my father's business. Jesus had an earthly father, Joseph, and he had a business. It was a carpenter shot back in Nazareth, but Jesus already at age 12 already had a profound awareness that his heavenly father was the one that was instructing him. And so when Jesus heard these words in the temple, my son do not forget my teaching, he heard the voice of his heavenly father. Jesus was 12 years old when that took place. We don't hear another word about the life of Christ until he's about age 30, at age 30 he goes to John the Baptist who was a priest, and John the Baptist was performing Levitical rituals at the River Jordan, and one of the Levitical rituals was to cleanse a man for the priesthood, and Christ was baptized as a cleansing, a symbolic cleansing for the ministry that he was to enter into, that ministry being a prophet, a priest, and a king. And as he came to be anointed, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and you heard the father's voice say, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. What was pleasing to the Father? I'll tell you what was pleasing to the Father? It was those years from age 12 when he declared that he was about his Father's business all the way up to age 30 when he began his public ministry, a gap of 18 years, what was going on during those 18 years? What was happening in the life of Christ? What was happening to the young man, the teenager, the young adult during those years of growth and development? During those 18 years, what was taking place in the character and the life of Jesus Christ? That he would hear his father, his heavenly father say, this is my son in whom I am well pleased.
What was going on, Luke tells us in one verse, Luke 2.52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. 18 years, one verse, I'd cover it. Jesus increased in wisdom
and it says in stature and by the way that particular word can be translated and you'll see it in your ESV notes can be translated years. Jesus increased in years and that goes along better with the text that we see here in the book of Proverbs. Besides, I don't think it makes any difference where Jesus was 5'6 or 6'2. All these other pastors around here are 6'1, 2 and 3 and him 5'6 so I don't think it makes that much difference about Jesus increasing in stature but 18 years of his life recovered. Where did Luke get that summary statement for Jesus' life? Right out of the passage we just read, verse 4. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Jesus was a Proverbs man.
He lived his life, he structured his activity, he engaged in his lifestyle along the lines of the Proverbs, the wisdom, the ancient wisdom and it made sense did it because he after all is a descendant of King David. He is one of these king's sons that is to receive this wisdom from the Father. In fact, Jesus would come in his earthly ministry to say to the multitudes, be hold a greater than Solomon is here speaking of himself. Jesus was the Proverbs man. He lived his life according to the teachings of the royal wisdom, the wisdom that had been revealed of God so much so in fact that he came to personify that very life. Now in our text today I'm just going to briefly go through it because of time but I want us to see some of the things that might apply to Christ in these few verses. The first third of the book of Proverbs are instructions to the Son and then there are other things that are delineated in the balance of the book. I believe when Jesus read these words and studied them as a child and as a young man he was hearing the voice of his father not just his earthly father but his heavenly father. Jesus would come to say at the very end of his ministry not long before he was crucified when he was confronted by the authorities in the temple he would say my father works and I work. I do the works of my father that's the language of apprenticeship that's the language of a son who is coming under the tutelage and the supervision and the chasing and the guidance of his father. That's what Jesus did for those twelve and then those eighteen years as he was tutored in the house of his father through the Holy Scriptures in general and the book of Proverbs in particular. Listen to just a few of the things. When we think of Christ we look beyond the material blessings. Each one of these little Proverbs gives an injunction and then it talks about some kind of reward. It says, son do not forget my teaching. Let your heart keep my commandments. I can't pass that up. The arc of the covenant in the Old Testament was the place where they put the tablets, the ten commandments. The law of God was put in the arc of the covenant. Jesus represents the arc represents Christ and so the law is put where in his heart and that's where the law of God is to be placed in all the King's sons is in their heart. Listen to this like which let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you in reading of the Bible anywhere you read where it says that years are added to your life. It's talking about eternal life. Obey my commandments Moses said speaking to the people of the Lord's commandments. If you obey my commandments you will live in the land forever. Eternal life is what's spoken of here. Not just the years of the life we have here, but eternal life is what is spoken of. Peace they will add to you, the shalom of God, the prosperity, the reward, the ultimate peace, the ultimate attainment comes from the King's son, the prince of peace. For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Doesn't that sound like Deuteronomy 6, Joshua 1, the injunction to take the commandments of the Lord, the instruction of the Lord, the things of the Lord and internalize them, memorize them, make them part of the warp and woof of your very soul. Make them the part of you such that when you live your life you can't help but live out the commandments of the Lord. When you're in a situation you remember a soft answer, turn it the way wrath and so right in the heat of the argument you speak softly, you smile, you're gentle, and you avoid the contention of the conflict in the interpersonal relationship and countless other proverbs can be taken to your heart and soul. Look at this, some people have taken this as their life verse, verse 5, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. When Jesus came to preach in his ministry he talked about a straight path with a narrow constricted gate and he said that path leads to everlasting life. It's the path of righteousness that David wrote about in Psalm 23. It's the path of life that Solomon writes about in the proverbs. That is the path to follow. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. All I could hear Jesus as he's out there in the desert 40 days and 40 nights as he becomes in the wilderness. The new Israel and he's in that circumstance and Satan in all of his insidious wiles and fiery darts come to Jesus to tempt him and to and to to ship wreck his ministry. Jesus had just been baptized. He had just entered upon his ministry. He's been driven by the spirit into the wilderness and now Satan's there and he's tempting him of all of these temptations. But Jesus hears the voice of his father turn away from evil and it moves him to say get they behind me, Satan. Hold the next verse. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Do you hear the word of the Lord here? This is not talking about just physical healing in this life. It's wonderful as that is. This is talking about that eternal life. This is talking about that new body, that resurrected body that we shall receive. It's talking about the healing and the refreshment that comes not just for a few years of time but for all eternity. Verse nine, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits. I'm not going to preach on that one. That's a tithing sermon. Verse 10,
oh you ought to read the Bible about first fruits. First fruit is an incredible doctrine of scripture. Jesus is the first fruits ultimately but in the ancient world the first fruit was that which came from the crops. So they're very first of the harvest and it was a guarantee not only that the crop had made and that there was prosperity coming but that you could judge the size of the crop by the first fruits. Sometimes the Lord blesses us in our life by the size of the first fruit. I'm not going to preach on that. Then your barns will be filled with plenty. Actually in the Hebrew it's the word grain. Your barns will be filled with grain and your vats bursting with wine. Of course we see that as prosperity, the grain of the wine but the grain, the bread, and the wine. This is communion with God. This is the holy Eucharist. This is the Thanksgiving service. This is what we do here when we come in the presence of the Lord. Ultimately the banquet that spread before us, the grain and the wine of the vats are not just our prosperity here, not just our barns here but it is that abundance and that a blessing that flows to the Christian through this life, through death into the eternal life.
Well I'm out of time but I'm not out of sermon. This is really what I wanted my sermon to be about versus 11 and 12. This is about relationship. This is about relationship. Listen to the tenderness of these words. My son. Now ladies don't you know when the Bible talks about a son it's talking about all the children. We don't have to gender norm our text to know that when the Bible talks about the sons of God he's talking about the children of God. My child my son do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof for the Lord reproves him whom he loves. That's the conveyance of the love of the Father to the Son. The Lord reproves him whom he loves. Have you ever felt the chastening, the reproving guiding hand of an infinitely loving Father upon your life, upon your shoulder as you move through life? Have you ever seen some of the bitter tears, the tears of cleansing tears that turned from sorrow to joy because you knew the Lord was moving you, growing you, changing you, toughening you, tindering you, making you what you need to be by his loving discipline. Jesus Christ experienced this in the garden. Jesus in his humanity had a will like we all do, but he was there to do the Father's will and let me tell you what it takes to do the Father's will sometime. Tears and sometimes great drops of doing the Father's will is not always easy but it's always best. The Lord reproves him whom he loves as a Father the Son in whom he delights.
God has a Son in whom he delights. It's Jesus Christ, the Proverbs man, the King's Son, the Prince of Peace. He lived the perfectly obedient life, but let me tell you what else he did. He died the death on behalf of and in the place of disobedient, displeasing, distasteful, disrespectful sons. And that's me and that's you. Christ, the obedient, pleasing, perfect son laid down his life so that he could give you his life. And God made a great transaction that is this, that he takes that righteousness which Christ lived by being the Proverbs man, that eternal life which he earned by his obedient living and he places it upon you and upon me and reckons us to be children of years.