Apply Wisdom to Your Life and Your Life Will Be Full of Blessing

Sermon Transcript

Wise parents incentivize their children. Did any of you have parents who incentivized you to do housework, yard work, or other chores when you were kids? Why did they do that? Probably because if you learn from a young age to take care of your home, to clean up after yourself, and complete tasks, your life is going to go better and your spouse is going to be happier. Wise parents incentivize their children. In Proverbs 3, God, through the voice of a father mentoring his son, incentivizes all of us to apply wisdom to all of life. In Proverbs 2, the father told his son to seek wisdom like treasure because wisdom will protect you. In Proverbs 3, the father tells his son to apply wisdom because it will bless you. Proverbs 2 was defense, but Proverbs 3 is offense. That brings us to the big idea of our passage this morning: Apply wisdom to your life and your life will be full of blessing. Apply wisdom to your life and your life will be full of blessing. This raises two key questions: How do we apply wisdom to our lives? What blessings does wisdom bring? To answer those two questions, we’re going to take our passage in four parts. Apply wisdom to your life and your life will be full of blessing. How? 1. Imitate Jesus (vv. 1-4) 2. Trust Jesus (vv. 5-8) 3. Honor Jesus (vv. 9-10) 4. Submit to Jesus (vv. 11-12).

IMITATE JESUS (vv. 1-4)

The first way to apply wisdom to your life is to imitate Jesus. Now, where am I getting “imitate” and where am I getting Jesus? Let’s see if we can work our way there. Proverbs 3:1 – My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. What specific commandments does the father emphasize that he wants his son to guard and keep in his heart? Proverbs 3:3 answers the question: Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Where are we getting “imitate Jesus” from that? If you’ve read the Bible a bit, you’ve heard that phrase “steadfast love and faithfulness” before because it is the phrase that the Lord uses all throughout the Old Testament to describe himself. In the Old Testament, just before the Lord gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, the Bible says that the Lord descended in a cloud on Mt. Sinai and proclaimed his name to Moses. Listen to what the Lord called himself. Exodus 34:6 – The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness… Steadfast love and faithfulness is who the Lord is. Therefore, in Proverbs 2 when the father says to his son, “writes steadfast love and faithfulness on your heart,” he’s saying, “imitate the Lord who is steadfast love and faithfulness.” That’s where we get “imitate,” but where do we get “Jesus”? In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus, referring to himself, said in John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” The Lord Jesus Christ is steadfast love and faithfulness come to save us from our sins. Steadfast love and faithfulness took on flesh, was tempted in every way we are yet without sin, and put our interests above his own to the point of dying in our place for our sins, and His name is Jesus. When Proverbs says to write steadfast love and faithfulness on your heart, it’s saying to take Jesus and his love into your heart and, by his grace, imitate Jesus Him by putting the interests of others above your own, just like He did for you. Imitate Jesus by putting the interests of your spouse over your own, putting the interests of your children ahead of your own, your co-workers, your boss, your direct reports, your patients, your clients, your fellow-church members, and so forth. Apply wisdom to your life by imitating Jesus; steadfast love and faithfulness.

Why should we imitate Jesus by faithfully putting the interests of others above our own? Our lives will be full of blessing. The first blessing is peace Proverbs 3:2 – For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Imitate Jesus by putting the interests of others above your own and your life will be full of the kind of peace that characterized Jesus’ life. The second blessing is you’ll have a great reputation. Proverbs 3:4 – So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Success could be translated “repute.” Everyone wants to be well thought of and have a great reputation. Even more, every genuine Christian wants to live in a way that pleases God. If you imitate Jesus, generally you’ll have a great reputation for putting the interests of others above your own. Of course, that’s a principle, not a promise. Sometimes you’ll imitate Jesus, put the interests of others ahead of your own by speaking the truth and warning someone that Jesus is their only hope to be rescued from God’s wrath, and they’ll persecute you. They’ll hate you, tease you, exclude you, and even threaten your safety. But even when imitating Jesus costs you your reputation with people, you’ll have a great reputation with God. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:10 – “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Apply wisdom to your life – imitate Jesus – and your life will be full of blessing; peace and a good reputation with God and people. The first way is to imitate Jesus. The second is…

TRUST JESUS (vv. 5-8)

Apply wisdom to your life by trusting Jesus in all areas of life and your life will be full of blessing Proverbs 3:5a – Trust in the Lord with all your heart. To trust in something is to put your weight on it and depend on it to come through for you, like you’re trusting in the chair you’re sitting on. To trust in Jesus is to push all your chips over to his square, go all in, and put the full weight of your life on Him. But we can be more specific than that. We receive an even more specific picture of what it means to trust Jesus from its opposite. Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In every circumstance of life, there are only two options: lean on what you understand to be the right course of action or trust in what Jesus says is right. Trusting Jesus means trusting that He knows best, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

What does trusting, leaning on Jesus look like in action? Proverbs 3:6a – In all your ways acknowledge him… Trusting Jesus means in all your ways acknowledge him; in all your ways apply his word and pray for his wisdom. Trusting Jesus in all your ways in real life looks like: applying his word and praying for his wisdom in all circumstances. I saw a beautiful picture of this in the life of some Citylight members recently. They were faced with a significant decision; should they move out of state for a great job opportunity; they applied his word and prayed for his wisdom. They applied his word. The Bible, Jesus’ word, says that the local church is our family, our body in Christ. So, before they made a decision about staying or moving they not only researched churches in the area they were considering moving to, they had a meeting with the pastor of a potential church to ensure it was healthy. They applied Jesus’ word. Jesus’ word also says that there is wisdom in an abundance of counselors. So, they made appointments with me and Pastor Paul to get our advice. And they prayed. All throughout they prayed and prayed for God’s wisdom. That’s acknowledging Jesus in all your ways, that trusting Jesus; applying his word and praying for his wisdom rather than plowing ahead because of course you move for a great job opportunity. Now, sometimes trusting Jesus and acknowledging Jesus reveals that what you’re doing is wrong. Proverbs 3:7 – Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. I’ve seen this before. Countless couples have come to Citylight Church living together or sleeping together or both. Their understanding said that was fine and that not living together would be way too disruptive to life. But then, by God’s grace, they acknowledged the Lord, they applied his word and prayed for his wisdom, and in doing so realized that what they were doing was evil in the sight of the Lord, they turned away from it, and Jesus gave them the wisdom to know how to make it work. Trusting Jesus means operating under the assumption that he knows best. I see this in my own life. I am quarrelsome. God’s word says an elder must not be. I’ll tell you…being quarrelsome can get results. I like results. But Jesus says that a pastor must not be quarrelsome. My understanding says, “get results.” Jesus says, “that’s evil.” For me, trusting Jesus means leaning on his understanding…so I’m seeking to turn away from the evil of quarreling. That’s hard for me. Why should I do it? Why should you?

Our lives will be full of blessing. In Proverbs 3:6b it says that if you trust Jesus, “he will make straight your paths.” If you trust Jesus in all your ways, your way will go in the right direction. Now, that doesn’t mean your way won’t involve pain. Often turning from evil is costly and painful, at first. However, it’s always refreshing to trust Jesus and turn from evil. Proverbs 3:8 says that if we trust Jesus and turn from evil, “It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” It’s so refreshing to not have a guilty conscience. It’s so refreshing to lean all your weight on what Jesus says is best and not try to go your way. Whatever trusting Jesus may lead you to do or turn from, it will be so refreshing because you’ll be walking with Him and he’s refreshing. Apply wisdom to your life and your life will be full of blessing, first by imitating Jesus, second by trusting Jesus, and third…

HONOR JESUS (vv. 9-10)

To apply wisdom to your life so that your life will be full of blessing, honor the Lord with your wealth. Proverbs 3:9a – Honor the LORD with your wealth…The Hebrew word translated “honor” means “weighty.” To apply wisdom to your life, treat Jesus as weighty with our wealth. Honest question: As Jesus looks at how you allocate your money, should he feel weighty and significant or light and inconsequential? To apply wisdom to your life so that your life is full of blessing, treat Jesus as weighty, honor Jesus with your wealth.

How do you honor Jesus with your wealth? The answer is in the second half of Proverbs 3:9 – Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce. You honor Jesus with your wealth by giving the firstfruits of all your income back to Jesus. We honor Jesus with our wealth by giving him the first place in the budget, even ahead of our taxes, our mortgage, and our kids Christian school tuition. But how much of the firstfruits of our income do we need to give to Jesus to be honoring Jesus with our wealth? Under the Old Covenant, to honor the Lord from your wealth meant giving 10% of your firstfruits income to the work of the temple. To fail to give 10% was considered robbing from God. Malachi 3:8 – Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. We are no longer under the old covenant, we are under a new and better covenant. We are no longer under a law to give 10% of our pre-tax income to Jesus, rather we honor Jesus with our wealth by giving a bountiful % of our pre-tax income to Jesus. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 – The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. [7] Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. We honor Jesus with our wealth by giving a bountiful, sacrificial, life-style altering percent of our pre-tax income to Jesus. 10% is no longer a law, but it is a great place to start if you’re not currently honoring the Lord with your wealth. Where should you honor Jesus with your wealth? In the Old Testament, God’s people would bring the first fruits of all their income to the temple, where God dwelt with his people, in order to support temple work and temple workers, the Levites. Of course, now that Christ has come, the temple has been replaced by the local church, which is God’s dwelling place by his Spirit. Therefore, we honor Jesus with our wealth by giving a bountiful % of our pre-tax income to our local church to support church work and church workers. That’s how and where to honor Jesus with our wealth.

Honest question: are you honoring Jesus with your wealth? Is he the weightiest line-item? No? That’s normal. The great Protestant reformer Martin Luther once wrote, “There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, the mind, and the purse.” Honoring the Lord from your wealth may feel like getting converted to Christ all over again. To honor Jesus with your wealth may mean some big changes for some of you, starting today. Why do it? Because if you do, it will fill your life with blessing. Proverbs 3:10 – …then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. If you honor the Lord with your wealth, he will blow you away with his generosity. You can’t out give God. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the reverse is also true. There can be many explanations for your finances and business not going well, but one that you may not have considered is that Jesus is withholding blessing because you’re not honoring him with your wealth. Honor him and watch him blow you away with His generosity. This is not the prosperity gospel, which I hate and God hates. God is not saying, “give and I’ll make you rich for your own sake.” Instead of honoring God from our wealth, that would be using God and serving money. What God says is, “Honor me from your wealth and I’ll ensure that you have more than enough to keep doing the good work of honoring me from your wealth.” As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 – Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. [8] And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Honor Jesus with your wealth and your finances will be full of blessing. And the wonderful thing about this blessing is that it continues forever with rewards in heaven. Matthew 6:19-21 – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, [20] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Apply wisdom to your life by honoring Jesus with your wealth and your life will be full of blessing forever.

SUBMIT TO JESUS

The final way to apply wisdom to your life so that it will be full of blessing is: submit to Jesus. Proverbs 3:11 – My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof. The Lord disciplines his children in two broad ways. There is the discipline of correction, the discipline of construction, and both are meant to draw us near Jesus and make us like Jesus. The discipline of construction is suffering in your life that isn’t obviously tied to a sin. Your child gets sick. That’s a terrible form of suffering. It’s not the direct result of a sin. It’s God’s severe mercy, his discipline to draw you and your child closer. That’s the discipline of construction. The discipline of correction is suffering that comes into your life as a result of a particular sin. You’re harsh toward your wife, she’s distant, and the home is icy. It feels terrible. It’s the Lord’s corrective discipline. Both are for our good to draw us nearer to Jesus and make us more like Jesus.

Whether you’re in a season of corrective or constructive discipline, you’ll face one of two temptations that are both mentioned in Proverbs 3:11. The first temptation is to despise the Lord’s discipline; to become bitter and keep your distance from Jesus. The second temptation is to become weary with the Lord’s discipline; to despair and give way to sinking discouragement and depression. The alternative to despising Jesus or growing weary is to submit to Jesus when he disciplines you. Quietly get under it instead of murmuring or raging against it. Learn everything you can from it. Ask Jesus to give you a peaceful heart attitude that learns from and delights in his Fatherly wisdom in all circumstances.

Now, why would you do that? Because the One who fills your life with blessing and disciplines you is the same God who delights in you. Proverbs 3:12 – for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. I love the word delight. I delight in my kids. I don’t like shuffling them off to babysitters and summer camps. They’re my delight and I like having them around. I love them and I like them. And since I delight in them, I discipline them because I want them to have a great life. If I delight in my kids, how much more does Jesus who died for you delight in you?! Jesus loves you so much that he laid down his life for you. Of course you can submit to his discipline without weariness or despising him. His discipline flows from his delight. He delights in you. Apply his wisdom to all of life and He will fill your life with his blessing now, and surely forever.