Owner’s Manual for Living Well

Introduction

That’s truly an extraordinary hymn that we’ve sung. And if that certainly was the sentiment of your heart that you prayed to the throne of God, you can only be benefited by such thoughts. Your heart’s testing. As we were singing that, I thought about this lesson that I was about to preach, and how that thought was certainly applicable. When was the last time you brought, you bought a new product? And it came with instructions that look somewhat like that. And as you get older, it becomes even more complicated. So the print is so small, you have to have cheaters to even be able to read it. And even if you don’t have cheaters, it’s hard to see that. You can like get a magnifying glass. And then who writes this stuff?

You know, it’s a lot of the instructions are not spelled out very clearly. And who’s doing this technical writing? Alyssa, if she were here, could tell us more about that since she used to be in that business of technical writing. I guess you’re only as good as the people you can afford to write it. And so we’ve all struggled with that. And so many things come without manuals at all. Like children. You know, I think we’ve all made that comment before. Here this new little luscious lump is placed in your hands, in your arms, and it’s like, what am I supposed to do with this? How’s the training supposed to happen? What’s a parent supposed to do? Well, that’s not exactly true. Because there is a blueprint, but so often people try to build without the blueprints.

Psalm 127, children are a heritage of the Lord. We talked this morning in our adult auditorium class about the stewardship of our children and families. And you know, if we would simply imply, apply the instruction of Scripture, we would have plenty of counsel and wisdom available as to how to raise these children that God has blessed us with. But are we following the instructions? And one particular thing I like about this graphic is that men are the worst at following instructions. We’re the ones that, ah, this comes with instructions. Forget those. I know what I’m doing. And then the spouse, the wife is standing there saying, Are you sure you don’t want to consult these? As things start to go, Steve acts like that’s never happened.

It’s happened to you, brother. We need to follow the instructions because for men, we struggle with that. We don’t do that so very well. Well, this graphic, interestingly enough, was given in relation to Jeremiah 29, which I said, well, I’ve got to go look at that and find out what that’s about. Couldn’t recall it. And it has to do with the exiles in Babylon. And Jeremiah instructing them that you better live with what your new surroundings because you’re going to be there for a while, build houses and live in them, pray for the welfare of the city where you are, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, or in its welfare, you will have welfare. And so it’s going to be a 70-year captivity, just like God promised.

So you might as well accept it and make the best of it. And I thought that was interesting. Okay, counsel for instructions for how to raise your kids, how to operate in families, how to operate in relationships. Where are we going to go for that? An owner’s manual on living well is provided for us in the Proverbs. Where we have been doing, have we not? Have we not? Our daily Bible reading. The daily Bible reading has been so hard this year.

No. One of the things Mike and I talked about is we’re not giving you tons of material to read. We’re just asking that you read about 10 to 15 verses over and over again and become acquainted with the material. And Mike’s going to tell us tomorrow morning what the next reading is, probably tomorrow morning, in his Monday emails. And hopefully you’ve been reading those. Not only to be reminded of where the reading is, but I love Mike’s recaps of my lessons. Because he doesn’t do it verbatim to what I said. He sort of puts his own twists and turns on what I said. I sort of like it. It’s sort of a different way, a different lens of looking at the material that I present. So I recommend that you get a double shot.

And we like those when we go to Starbucks. So let’s get a spiritual double shot and listen to Mike’s recap. In the Proverbs, this counsel for living, your actions matter, and not just what you do, but why you do it. Your motives and attitudes matter. And another interesting thing about this particular graphic is that it is given to me in relation to Proverbs 20, and that’s the section I wanted to preach on tonight. Your actions matter, not just your actions, but the why. Your attitudes and motives. I want to call attention again to Daniel on this because when he first suggested that I do a segment each week called Wisdom Wednesday, as we were reading through the Proverbs this year, my first reaction was, I don’t need more work to do.

Yes. He’s actually getting praise from the pulpit instead of my usual picking at him. But I’ve enjoyed actually doing Wisdom Wednesday. If you’ve been checking that out on Facebook, I’ve enjoyed the people who have shared the stuff that I’ve done. And my aunt in Indiana is sharing my stuff. And that’s awesome that she’s able to see that from a thousand miles away. And so hopefully you’ll be looking at that, and I’ll be taking a verse the rest of this year that is in our daily Bible reading and making some comments about it. And tonight’s sermon is based on this past week’s wisdom Wednesday. And I want to be looking at the section that we’ve been reading this week in Proverbs 20. And so, this could be really repetitious for you if you’ve been doing the reading every day this week.

1. The Station of Humility

But even if you have, perhaps it’ll shed light on some areas that you’ve read about. Here was Wisdom Wednesday, in case you missed it, I’m sure everybody’s already seen it. I’m sure everybody’s already seen it. Or have you? Who can say, Proverbs 20 and verse 9, I have cleansed my heart. I am pure from my sin. And the reason why I focused on this particular proverb this week is because I think many of us struggle to see ourselves well. We want to put a slant on us that is very positive. And yet there is some negative to our past and maybe our not so recent past. And we cannot claim that we are completely innocent in our lives of wrongdoing. And this is an oft-overlooked key to a saving response to God because we need to realize our brokenness, our absolute brokenness when we come to Him.

We tend to get too carried away with ourselves and regard ourselves too highly and exalt ourselves above others. I could probably just let you sit there and ruminate over that for a little bit, and that would be helpful to you. How do you see yourself in relation to others? Look within carefully. Look up for mercy for the problem that has been caused from your sin. And because you are a sinner, look around at others with compassion for the failures that have gripped them and may grip them still. Look up for mercy. Look around with compassion. Look within carefully. Well, as I was doing this, I thought I wanted to do wisdom Wednesday about several verses that come back to back to back to back to back in Proverbs 20.

And the first is this verse, Proverbs 20 and verse 9, as it really speaks to us overall about the station of humility, the proper attitude toward ourselves. It is a foundation for how we are to deal with others who fail and disappoint. Who can say I’m pure and innocent from wrongdoing? Well, if that’s the case, then we shouldn’t be overly harsh of those who make mistakes, of those who disappoint us or fail us in some way because we’ve been the one perpetrating the same at some point in our lives, and yet we want other people to give us a pass. Look the other way. Or at least when things have been rectified, move on. And sure, things need to be rectified that are wrong, and I’m not certainly not saying they shouldn’t be.

But as we’ve expected others to move on from our mistakes, we should move on from theirs.

So that we’re not sitting on this high and lofty seat because of what we know, because we have embraced truth and look down upon them because they’re now outside of truth by our reckoning. There’s no reason to set ourselves up on a pinnacle.

What was Naaman’s issue? I love in 2 Kings chapter 5 when it says that he comes. I was just thinking about this week, 2 Kings 5 and verse 9. I’m imagining the scene in my mind. So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots. I mean, it’s a huge, massive entourage. Naaman’s a big man. He’s an important man in Syria. And he came with his horses and his chariots, and he stood at the doorway of the house of Elijah. He had some expectations. This prophet in Israel is going to do something about my leprosy. And here I am, all important, coming to this place, not to a king, not to a kingdom, but to a prophet in Israel of all places. So all this pomp and circumstance, he comes, and Elisha doesn’t even come out to him.

He sends his messenger who says, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. Doesn’t even get an audience with the prophet. Now this is an important man. This is a big man. The prophet doesn’t even come out to speak to him personally. But he doesn’t tell him to do something extraordinary. Just go wash in the Jordan seven times. And he was furious. You see, he’s too much focused on himself. Hey, I’ve got some better rivers. Abana and Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, they’re better than these. Muddy Jordan, the muddy Jordan and the rivers here. Could I not wash in them and be cleaned? Well, not without God’s help, you can’t. And God chose this place for you to wash and be cleansed.

And so he’s stumbling over himself. His own desires, his own thoughts. Behold, I thought. He needed to arrive at the station of humility, and his servants were extremely helpful here as they came near and said to him, My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more than when he says to you, wash and be clean? Look, you want to be cleansed from your leprosy? Just think about it for a minute. The instruction is simple. Just go do what he says. And Naaman finally humbles himself. And he dips. And he dips again. Six times. Still a leper. But on the seventh time, he was cleansed. And a changed man, likely for the rest of his life.

2. The Hallmark of Honesty

We need to get out of our own way. It would behoove us all to not get too greatly carried away with ourselves. Who can say I’m innocent? I am pure from my sin. How about the next verse? Look at these verses with me. There’s something interesting in each verse, Proverbs 20 and verse 10. Not only should we assume the station of humility, which is the proper understanding of who we are in relation to God. What does it mean to be humble? To know truly what our estate is in relation to God and in relation to others. But not only should we, your actions matter, occupy the station of humility, but we should be people who are honest at our core. The hallmark of honesty, Proverbs 20 and verse 10, differing weights and differing measures.

Both of them are abominable to the Lord. I don’t know why when I read abominable, I think of the abominable snowman in that Christmas classic. Abominable isn’t good. It’s a severe word. God does not regard this with any pleasure at all. It’s an abomination. Differing weights and measures. What is that about? How much does God really care about this? Go back a few Proverbs to chapter 11. Chapter 11 and verse 1. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. Flip over to chapter 16 and verse 11. Look at how many times this gets mentioned. A just balance and scales belong to the Lord. All the weights of the bag are his concern. Later in Proverbs 20, verse 23, differing weights are an abomination to the Lord.

That’s just a few verses later from the one that we’re looking at. And a false scale is not good. Micah will continue the refrain in Micah 6 and verse 11. Can I justify wicked scales and a bag of deceptive weights? There are five passages in the Old Testament about this matter. So, well, I don’t know what’s talking about. This has to do with trade and commerce. You say something weighs a certain amount, and it’s put in the scale opposite the weight. And so this is how trade was done. But if the weight says a certain measure that it’s really not, you are deceiving the customer. You are taking advantage of the person who is trying to trade and do commerce with you. And so that became a common practice.

How do you pad your pockets? You change the weights in the back. They say one thing, but they’re really something else. And you take advantage of people for your own selfish concerns. We don’t have this system of trading, but we need to be honest with people.

Christians, people who walk by wisdom are people who don’t take advantage of others, who don’t try to snow others, don’t try to get away with something. We have the hallmark of honesty. And that’s probably the point of 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Then there’s a lengthy discussion there about taking a brother to court. And he says, look, you may have an equitable concern here about your brother. There’s some kind of conflict between you and your brother that needs to be resolved. He says, Don’t go and embarrass the Lord’s people. Don’t embarrass the church by taking this to human courts. Christians are going to judge the world. He said, certainly you can find a brother who can help you with this dispute. He said, but before you even go to a human court, it would be better to be defrauded.

It would be better to come out on the losing end of the stick, as we would say, than to demand justice if it means people thinking lowly of the Lord’s people. There are just greater considerations than self. Sometimes you have to turn the other cheek. As Jesus demonstrates in Matthew chapter 5. Sometimes you go the extra mile. But whatever you do, be honest. Honesty at the core. We live in dishonest times. People lie continually.

3. The Building of Integrity

What about when you’re selling a car to someone? Are you up front about problems that car might have? Things that you’re aware of? Or are you just looking to make a buck? This is how we make application of this proverb. The next proverb deals with the building of integrity. Proverbs 20, Proverbs 20 and verse 11. It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself if his conduct is pure and right. How do you see yourself? That’s really where we started with the station of humility. Again, who are you at your core? Is honesty at your core? Are you a person of integrity? And where does that start? Young people, it starts right where you are right now. He speaks to young people. It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself if his conduct is pure and right.

This is an awesome testing ground for who you’re going to be as an adult. Who are you right now? As a young person.

4. The Employment of Ingenuity

I was an influence for good. I demonstrated that by the help and mercy of God that one can pursue and do good and speak good in our lives. Start in your youth. Determined to have as your purpose, I’m going to be a blessing to others. I’m going to shed light for others to follow. Show them that by the help of God you can speak differently, you can act differently, live with purpose. As I read this morning in class, goodness involves a choice. It’s a life willingly and totally live for God, even when the choice is hard and costly. It’s a love from God and for God that carries us through life. Verse 12. The employment of ingenuity should characterize those who walk in wisdom, the hearing ear, and the seeing eye.

The Lord has made both of them. I use this term ingenuity because car makers use it all the time. When you see those car commercials, the new and the latest and greatest cars, especially the sleek and expensive ones, they talk about the ingenuity that has gone into the making of this perfect and awesome automobile. The words ingenuity and innovative is in like half of the car commercials.

I could make for you an argument for the existence of God merely on the basis of the human body and how it operates. The eyes and ears are absolutely extraordinary. When you think of what goes into communication and the ears’ involvement, in being able to understand, to speak in languages to one another, to appreciate beautiful music. We take all that for granted because we’ve been doing it our whole lives. The Lord has made the human body extraordinarily well. Tremendous ingenuity. And we’re being reminded, if you truly want to grasp your purpose for life, understand that these awesome gifts the Lord has given us, our eyes and our ears need to be used to honor our God and kept from evil. Be careful what you listen to, Jesus said.

Going back to Proverbs chapter 4, and we’ll go back to Proverbs 4 at the end of this sermon.

Do not let them depart from your sight. Keep them in the midst of your heart. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. What causes our hearts to be what they are? May I suggest the employment of ears and eyes are an extremely large part of that. The kinds of information that you’re filtering through what you see and through what you hear will determine what’s in here. Those attitudes and motives that lead to actions. That’s what will determine what’s there. Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and devious lips far from you, after all. You want to build integrity, as we saw in verse 11.

Let your gaze be fixed straight ahead of you. Don’t let evil divert you from the pure path that wisdom calls us to. Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left. Turn your foot away from evil. Goodness enlivens and exalts. Evil detracts and destroys.

5. Do Not Love Sleep

Young people, I’m hitting you again with this one. Do not love sleep. Oh, bummer. Do not love sleep, lest you become poor. Open your eyes. In other words, get out of bed. Wake up, open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food. This is another passage that really is talking about the one who’s lazy. The sluggard. The sluggard who’s hinged to his bed, it would say later in the prophets. I love that. He just can’t get out of bed. There’s like a metal hinge that holds him on there. He just can’t get out. Behold, you who love sleep. You know, in those times in that culture, if you didn’t get out and do hard work, you didn’t make a sustenance for living. You just couldn’t provide for yourself.

And it’s not like there was a government program. Hey, it’s welfare for the sleepy. Here you go. Here’s some money that society’s doling out because you’re hinged to your bed. That doesn’t work that way. He’s saying, work hard. Be people of industry and enjoy the rewards of your labor. Labor. Now remember this is a proverb. There’s no guarantees here. There is no warning about oppression. There’s no warning about a thief who would come in and take what is yours. There’s no warning about a lack of opportunity that in some cultures they are expecting they could be very hard workers, want to work hard, and still not be able to barely provide for themselves, and yet we have this promise.

If we would be this kind of people, if we would listen to the owner’s manual for living well.

6. The Lips of Knowledge Are More Precious

What is that passage telling us about living well? There is gold and abundance of jewels. Somehow that’s escaped me. Do you have a bunch of jewels at home? I don’t. He’s saying that stuff is out there, not necessarily that it’s yours. There are so many jewels in our world. Think of all the jewelry that exists. And all the gold that exists, most of it’s in Fort Knox, perhaps, in Kentucky, and not at your house. But there is gold and abundance of jewels, but there is something worth more than all of those precious gems and all of that incredible wealth that’s in the world. He said, the lips of knowledge. Lives that reflect that knowledge that we’re talking about in the Proverbs tonight. The lips of knowledge are a more precious thing.

This says two things. Number one, it says something about the nature of our pursuits, and it says something about what we truly value. Are we pursuing lips and hearts filled with the knowledge of God’s wisdom? Do we value that insight and instruction and living well? Do we value that above the pursuit of gold? Precious jewels.

Conclusion

Earlier in Proverbs chapter 4. Really, the entire section beginning in verse 4 and going through verse 10, but hey, this is the first thing about wisdom. Get it. The first thing about wisdom is that whatever you have to do, you get it. And in all of your acquiring, in all of your amassing of stuff, what’s the next thing on the agenda for you? It’s a new phone, a new car, a place to live? What is it? The one thing you better make sure you have in all of your acquiring, and you will acquire more stuff in all of your acquiring. Get wisdom. It’ll serve you well. The owner’s manual will serve you well. And are you listening to this instruction that gives life? And will you embrace it if you have not done so while there’s time and opportunity?

Let’s stand.