Proverbs 3:1-6 - Peace and prosperity

Godly wisdom brings peace and prosperity. Now while there is much about the "prosperity gospel" that needs to be treated with at least caution, and some with outright rejection, we do need to ensure that we do listen to what Scripture actually says, and it is clear that part of the teaching of the Bible is that a godly life will bring peace and prosperity. This works in both very practical ways and in direct-intervention-by-God ways. This nation would be economically better off if it followed a more godly path, that is a simple fact. If we had not had the greed, foolishness and pride of the financial industry we would not have had the financial crash. If we had better moral standards, with Christian commitment to marriage, with people taking responsibility for their lives and actions, we would be far better off in all sorts of ways. And these things apply to individuals as well. Moreover, God acts directly as well, and we can only be heading for a fall if we continue along our current path.

Love and faithfulness are the essential elements. Contrast this with what the world tells us we need in order to succeed. But even though the world's ways are so much at odds with God's ways, it still recognises true virtue when it sees it.

We are to trust in the Lord with all our heart, not depending on our own understanding. We are to submit our ways to Him, then He will direct us. Now this does not mean we do not use our own understanding, but we use it recognising that:

1. We do not and cannot know everything.
2. We submit everything to God.

When we do this our own understanding will become truly valuable instead of a snare.

Proverbs 2 - Seek Wisdom

Wisdom involves listening, but it is more than that. It also involves applying our hearts to understanding. Wisdom does just not change our actions, but our attitudes and minds as well.

These things do not come automatically, we need to actively seek them. Just as we are to thirst for God we are to thirst for wisdom. This wisdom includes understanding the fear of the Lord. So there is a virtuous circle. The fear of the Lord brings wisdom, and wisdom brings understanding of the fear of the Lord.

Knowledge and understanding come from the mouth of the Lord. This means that we should listen to and read the word of God. It makes sense to seek the wisdom of God, for He holds success in store for us, and guards our lives. There is protection in the wisdom of God.

The wisdom of God is not an ephemeral thing, it enables us to judge what is right and just and fair, ie to apply it to life. It changes our hearts, ie the soul of our being.

Wisdom saves us from the ways of the wicked. Wickedness is deceptive and will seek to entice us down wrong paths, wisdom is the antidote to this.

It will also save us from the adulterous woman. Sexual temptation is very dangerous and can lead to all sorts of trouble.

In the end it is the wise who will inherit the earth, not the foolish.

Proverbs 1:8-33 - Heed Wisdom

People should listen to their fathers and mothers. Conversely, a sign of the disobedience at the end of the age is a rebelliousness against parents. Now in reading Proverbs we should remember that these are proverbs, they are not laws. This means that Proverbs is not saying that we should do or follow absolutely everything that our parents say, for they do sometimes say wrong things. Rather it is an attitude of mind, a willingness to learn from them, for while somethings they say will be wrong, there is much we can learn.

Conversely, there will be people who seek to entice us to sin. The example given here is of killing and robbing someone to get their goods. There are communities where this takes place in a very literal sense with muggings etc. It also happens on a more "sophisticated" level with fraud. In the end such people lay only a trap for themselves. Evil leads to foolishness.

Wisdom is personified in Proverbs. It is also notable that it is a female personhood that she is given, rather countering the supposed misogyny of the Bible. Wisdom calls out. People cannot say that they have never been called to be wise. Yet people continue in foolish ways. 

Verse 23 gives a call for repentance, then we can learn. The call to repentance in the gospel works in the same way. Christ calls us to repent so that He can pour His life into ours.

A refusal to repent means that only judgement can come. These closing verses of the first chapter describe how the judgement will work. People have had plenty chance to put things right, to admit their guilt and to repent, but they refused to do so.

Those who listen to wisdom will live in safety.

Proverbs 1:1-7 - Wisdom

Proverbs is an amazing book. Its self confessed purpose is to make wise the simple, and to make the already wise even wiser. The book is largely a result of the work of Solomon. One thing that puzzles me is how this man could produce such timeless wisdom then made such a pig's ear of his own life. One seriously has to question the "wisdom" of any man who takes 700 wives and 300 concubines (and helpful comments on this would be greatly appreciated).

The early part deals with two prime temptations: (i) to make money by exploiting others rather than by honest hard work; and (ii) the dangers of sex outside marriage. Our own society would do well to pay heed to these instructions. The whole of the West is still suffering from the banking crisis, partly as a result of pursuing the false god of money; and the results of sexual sin and all the suffering it causes all too evident.

There are two keys to gaining wisdom given in the first 7 verses. The first is to listen. We need to listen to God, and we need to listen to others. The other is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When we put God first instead of our own cleverness we are making a good start. When we become proud we are on the road to foolishness.

Luke 6:43-49 - True faith

What our lives produce is a result of what is in our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to guard our hearts, for everything else flows from it. This is essentially what Jesus is saying here, and is another illustration that Jesus was effectively just teaching what the Old Testament had already said. Our tendency is to focus on the outside, on the results. We do this religiously when we focus on outward form, as the Pharisees did. We see it in society. Whenever there is a major failing, scandal or disaster there are always new rules and regulations put in place to "solve" the problem. What happens? A few months or a year or two later another scandal occurs. Why? Because the root of the problem lies in the human heart, and rules do nothing to change that. Jesus came to change the heart of man. And what is in our hearts comes out in what we say as well.

Next we come to the famous parable of the wise and foolish builders. Why do we focus on the outside? Because we can see it, we can see that "something has been done" (even if nothing has really changed). Anyone can say there heart has changed. However, it is the heart that needs to change, but this parable makes it absolutely clear that a true change in heart will result in action. It is no use calling Jesus "Lord, Lord" if it results in no change in our lives. The change of heart that we need is a heart that is committed to doing God's will, to obeying God. By the way, heart here does not just mean emotions, it includes our mind and our will as well.

Obedience to God is the best foundation for life, indeed the only foundation. If our "religion" is outward only then when trouble comes we will not be able to stand. But if we do live a life of obedience we will be able to withstand any storms that come. Hearing Jesus' words is not enough, we need to do them.

I am going to do Luke in sections, so we will now take a break from Luke for a couple of weeks or so and do some Old Testament stuff.

Luke 6:37-42 - Do not judge others

There is clear teaching here on not judging others, yet this teaching is one the most misapplied in Christianity. It is used as a pretext for not saying that anything anyone does is wrong. It is used as an excuse for saying it is OK to have sex before marriage, that homosexuality is OK etc. This is not what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying is that we should not judge someone else to be a worse person than ourselves.

Let's take an example. In the early 1990's some of the Serbs in Bosnia committed terrible atrocities against Muslims. Now we are absolutely right to say that there actions were wrong, indeed it would be morally reprehensible not to do so. What we cannot do is say that we are better people than they were. If I had been brought up a Serbian in their environment how would I have acted? In their situation would I have committed the same atrocities? I sincerely hope not, but I cannot say for sure, only God knows. 

You see, we use other people's wrong doing as a reason to do them down, and to "prove" that we are better than they are. This is what Jesus is teaching against. If we have a judgemental attitude, then we ourselves will be judged and will certainly be found wanting. The kingdom is a kingdom of forgiveness and we must have an attitude of forgiveness. Now forgiveness does not mean ignoring wrongs or pretending that they did not happen. On the cross Jesus did not pretend that our sin does not matter, but died for the very reason that our sin most certainly does matter.

So instead of looking for faults in other people, we should focus on sorting out our own lives first. Then we will be in a far better position to truly help others.

Luke 6:27-36 - Loving your enemies

The people were familiar with the concept of loving your neighbour, Jesus now tells them that this includes loving your enemy. We are to do good to them, bless them, and pray for them. This is the exact opposite of our natural inclinations. Jesus then tells us to turn the other cheek, and to give to whoever asks. Then closes this section with "do to others as you would have them do to you". Now it is important that we do not treat these as laws, but as principles, and Jesus is probably using some hyperbole to get the point across. At the same time, it would be equally wrong to effectively neutralise the meaning of these verses. We must remember that Jesus went to the cross, and did indeed turn the other cheek. There will be times when following these principles go against all our human nature, but even so we must do it.

Jesus then explains what He means. It is straight forward common sense to love those who love us. Everyone does that. There is nothing wrong with this, indeed it makes the world work, but there is nothing particularly virtuous about it, just common sense. Jesus calls us to love those who will not love back, to give to those who will not give back. 

Why are we to do this? Because it is the nature of the Father. He loves and is merciful to all, and most do not react with gratitude. It is part of living as children of God. Note also that Jesus says "your reward will be great". We will be truly rich if we do this.