This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, July 25, 2021. The Bible verses used are Proverbs 22:2-9.
I very rarely preach on the Book of Proverbs. It’s not because I don’t like it--Proverbs is a great book. It’s what’s referred to as one of the “wisdom” books, and there certainly is a lot of wisdom in it. It was written around seven hundred B. C., and yet it still has a lot of good, practical advice for living today.
The reason I rarely preach on it is that, when you read it, it seems hard to find a section of the book of Proverbs that really hands together with a central theme. You may have noticed that in our reading for today. Each one of the verses has a good thought, but they don’t really seem to add up to anything. They look like just sort of random thoughts--good thoughts, but random, going here and there and not really focusing on anything.
At least, that’s what I’d always thought. But as I was looking at the book of Proverbs recently, I realized that there are central themes that you can find. It’s just that you have to read it a little differently. Proverbs does not read like modern writing, where you have paragraphs that start with a topic sentence and then the sentences that follow develop that topic. Proverbs uses a different style of writing--not better or worse, just different. And you have to think about it to realize where the topic sentence actually is.
The section we read today contains the familiar verse, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Most of us have probably heard that one. But what exactly is that way? What are the concrete things that children need to know to get started off in the right direction? The rest of our passage, both before and after that verse, tells us some of those things. And what it comes down to, basically, is not listening to what the world says is important, and instead following God.
It starts out with, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” When we’re young, we have a hard time believing that. We see people shading the truth or even outright lying to get ahead. We see people taking advantage of others or outright cheating others to get ahead. And in many cases, we see society approving of it. Cheating and lying are considered clever, the way smart people advance themselves today. And it’s very tempting, especially when we’re young to believe that. The idea that doing things like that can hurt your reputation--well, that can be a hard sell sometimes. A lot of times, young people either don’t believe that or don’t care.
And so it’s not enough to tell young people they need to preserve their good name. We need to show them. Young people need adults in their lives--parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, family friends--whose lives show that they believe a good name is more desirable than money. They need to see adults who are honest in their dealings with people, even if it costs them money. They need to see adults who will stand up for what they believe in, even if it makes them unpopular. They need to see adults who will do the right thing--not because they think they’ll get something out of it, not because there’s some gain to them in doing it--but simply because it is the right thing.
And that’s where you and I come into it. Each of can be that adult for a young person. Each of us needs to be that adult for a young person. The example you and I set can be a huge influence in a young person’s life. And we don’t even have to be that close to young people. I can think of adults when I was growing up who had an influence in my life and probably never even knew it. They were people of integrity, people who could be counted on to do the right thing, who would do whatever needed to be done. They had no plan of doing it to influence me. They were just living their lives the way they thought a person should live them. But I and others saw them, and were influenced by them. There are young people looking at you and me in that same way. If we live our lives with integrity, they will see that. And we will help those children live to be raised up in the way they should go.
“Rich and poor have this in common; the Lord is the maker of them all.” That’s important for young people to know, too. Human society thinks wealth and fame and celebrity are everything. But that’s not how God looks at it. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg are no more important than you or I are to God, and they are not loved any more than you or I are by God. Every person that ever existed is equal to every other person in the eyes of God. Money may gain us power and influence on earth, but it has exactly zero power and influence over God. The only things God cares about are our faith, our trust, and our love. There is no greater example of equality than the way God treats human beings.
“The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the slave to the lender.” When we’re young--and when we’re older, too, but especially when we’re young--debt can be incredibly attractive. Not because we want to owe a bunch of money, but because we see so many things we could get with that money. And we see so many other people who have those things. If they can have them, why can’t we? Besides, society makes it sound so simple. We can even get cash back on our credit card purchases. See, we’re actually making money by going into debt!
But then, we start struggling. Reality hits. The burden of that debt starts crushing us. There are all kinds of things we cannot do, and all kinds of things we cannot have, because we have to pay that money back. Just the interest on it can crush us. And it starts to hurt our relationships. Survey after survey has shown that the biggest thing that causes problems in marriages, or even in non-married committed relationships, is money.
One of the rules of life is that the person who pays the money gets to call the shots. When we owe someone money, we have to do whatever they want us to do. Including, sometimes, things we don’t want to do, things we know we should not do. The borrower truly is slave to the lender. Society never mentions that part of it. One of the best things we can do for a young person, something that will help them not just in their financial life but in their spiritual life, is to teach them how to handle money and avoid debt.
All these things that society, that the world, tells us to do, will lead to nothing but trouble. What’s the solution? “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.”
Now, when we talk about “fear of the Lord”, we’re not talking about getting scared of God. We’re not talking about thinking, “If I don’t do what God says God’s going to strike me down.” What we’re talking about, really, is respect for the Lord. We’re talking about recognizing the awesomeness of who God is--the righteous, holy, all-powerful, almighty, perfect God. The God who created everything, including us. The God who is worthy of our respect, our worship, our praise, everything. The God whom we should want to serve and honor and glorify, not because we’re afraid of God, but because God deserves that. God deserves everything we can ever give Him and more.
When we think of who God is, we should be humble. And so, to raise up a child in the way they should go, we need to make sure they know who God is. They need to know how great and good and perfect God is, and how small and weak and imperfect we all are in comparison to God. They need to know that all of us are totally insignificant compared to God. And then they need to know that, as tiny and puny as we are compared to God, God cares about us. And more than that, God loves us. They need to know what an incredible, amazing, astounding thing it is that God loves us. None of us can do thing number one for God, and yet God does everything for us. God loves us so much that he sent the divine Son, Jesus Christ, to earth specifically to die, to take the punishment God would have every right to give us for our sins. Young people need to know the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us. Knowing that should make all of us, young people and older people, incredibly humble.
But, the reward is incredible. The wages of humility and fear of the Lord are “riches and honor and life.” Not necessarily monetary riches, but a rich and satisfying life. A life of inner peace. And not just life on earth, but eternal life. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the key to salvation and everlasting life with the Lord in heaven. That’s the greatest reward there could ever be!
How do we start children off in the way they should go? By teaching them to ignore the temptations of the world and to put their faith in Jesus Christ. Children will never learn anything more important than that.
All of us have a responsibility to teach them. Parents, of course, have the primary responsibility, but all of us have children in our lives in some way. May we all do whatever we can to raise them up in the way they should go. It’s the most important thing we can ever do for a child.
No comments:
Post a Comment