The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the treacherous will be caught by their own greed. Proverbs 11:6There are reasons to be righteous and godly that are expalined by the path itself. Such is the case with today's proverb. It is one that is kind of self-explanatory. Let's take a look.
The righteousness of the upright will deliver them. This simply means that the fact that we live a life that is right in the eyes of the Lord will be a source of deliverance itself. Let me give an example. I knew a brother who was wrongfully accused and stood before a federal court in what could only be described as a no-win situation. His lawyer counselled him to 'bend' and 'twist' the truth a little during his testimony so that he would be seen by the jury and the judge in a better light. He struggled with this advice because he knew the Lord wanted him to simply speak the truth. The morning of his testimony God confirmed this to him and he purposed in his heart to speak the truth - even if it made him look bad in court. As he testified he spoke only the truth. Several times this should have made him look bad - but he spoke it any way. When he came off the stand - his lawyer looked at him amazed. He said to him, "Your testimony just won this case." Sure enough that is exactly what happened. The righteousness of this brother's testimony was what delivered him. When they saw his honesty and his godly behavior on the stand - the jury and the judge knew that this man was not guilty of the charges that had been leveled at him.
The treacherous don't come out as well in the end though. We are told that their own greed with cause them to be caught. To be treacherous simply means that someone is untrustworthy. They cannot be trusted. In the end, it will be their own greed that will be their downfall. They will want a little too much - and will reach beyond where they should - and that will ruin them.
What a great picture for us. Doing what is right delivers us - it delivers us from so much just for doing the right thing. First and foremost it means we are NOT doing the wrong thing. We are not doing something illegal or ungodly. The very good choices of the righteous means that they are not making bad choices. This protects them greatly from serious error and serious problems. But the ungodly - they are just weaving a net for their own feet with their lying ways. The web of lies and deceit they weave - meant for someone else - meant for some poor sap to step into - winds up being the very trap they themselves will fall into to their demise.
A trustworthy witness will not lie, But a false witness utters lies. Proverbs 14:5 The trustworthy man is the witness who does not lie or bend the truth. He is dependable and reliable. What he says he will do. There is also the reliability of what he says - when he says it - it is the truth. In Jesus' day some religious hypocrites would say that it was fine to bend or misrepresent the truth - unless you were swearing to tell the truth - or basing your statement on some oath you made to speak the truth. To Jesus this was totally unacceptable. He said, "Let your yes be yes and your no, no." Your word is your bond. This is the attitude of the trusthworthy witness. Jesus said that anything beyond your word being your bond is of the evil one. This may sound a little harsh - but to couch anything in lies - and to make your word something other than the truth is satanic. The trusthworthy man WILL NOT LIE! It seems simple - but the false witness utters lies. We are not used to such blunt talk in our day of bending and stretching the truth. We are used to things like spin and qualified statements. Such is the world we live in where truth lies fallen in the streets - especially in the streets of Washington D. C. There is much that the Bible says about a culture that has tossed truth to the side. It will be a difficult world to live in - one fraught with troubles. That is why speaking the truth is important. That is why God put this one in the 10 Commandments - "Thou shall not bear false witness." This becomes even more important when sharing the way of salvation. When we become witnesses to the gospel - we need to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Too often in our day we have genius' who have decided that we can package the gospel in a way that is less offensive and that will garner greater receptivity. There is a word for those who practice this kind of foolishness - false witnesses. We need to share the gospel just as it is - as good news! But we cannot hide the sinfulness of man - or the work of the law in condemning sinners before a holy God and still be a truthful witness. We cannot take the Lordship of Jesus Christ and repentance and lay them aside because they lower our success rates - and still call ourselves God's witnesses. These things are nothing more than lies. One thing we should remember when sharing the gospel - and honestly - when sharing anything. Truth may hurt - it may offend - but it is the only thing that will set men free. To share anything else is simply putting ourselves in the camp of those who are false witnesses. Some may say that if we do this - we won't see as many people saved. My answer to them is that it is the ONLY way to see people saved. Salvation is God's work - not ours. If we do not speak His truth - and trust Him to open a man's heart, granting repentance and faith in Jesus Christ - no one will be saved. Be a truthful witness. Refuse to lie - no matter the issue. In time men will come to know you as one who speaks the truth . . . and they will trust you. The other option here is out of the question.
Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the first of all your produce; So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10Giving . . . here is an area where I struggle with presenting the truth. Just a personal testimony for a moment is in order. When I became a pastor - I did not preach on giving for the first six or seven years I was at Calvary Chapel. This was not because we did not give according to Scripture - we did. It was because of a reaction I had to all the abuse of this area by the televangelists and others in the church. I grieve over how the Lord Himself is dragged through the greed and abuse that happens in this area. But it should not have surprised me - that kind of abuse has been in the church for centuries. But, I realized through the correction of a godly elder that by not teaching on the biblical basis of giving - I was in effect robbing the saints of the true blessing God brings in this area. That was a good word for me to hear - and since then I've tried to deal with this area from time to time with the saints. I love the way Solomon speaks of giving here. He does not even use that term. "Honor the LORD from your wealth . . ." What a great way to speak of giving. It is not like we're able to give God anything anyway. The Word teaches us that God owns the cattle on a thousand hillsides. He owns everything. Solomon himself said that all that he had given God had come from God's own hand anyway. So giving is not a matter of our generosity. The fact that we have anything to give is a matter of God's generosity to us. What we are doing is honoring Him from the wealth He has given us. Why do we need to honor God from the FIRST of all our produce? It is because when we do this - our honoring God will not be affected by covetousness or greed. Too often we make the Lord the last thing we do with what He's given to us. Honoring Him first means we trust Him enough to know that He will provide for us. It is a matter of faith and trust that makes us act in this way. We don't check our budget first - or check if we could use that money for something different - maybe something we really want. We choose to say, "God, I love You and want to honor You for all Your generosity to me!" We make it clear through our actions - that He is first in our lives.There is something about telling the greed that lies within the fallen human breast that God will be first that deals it a death blow. That greed and selfishness rises up so easily. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to put it in its place - and to declare with boldness and confident faith, "God will be honored FIRST here - honored FIRST with my wealth - honored FIRST before self even enters the scene." That kind of faith statement prepares us for great blessing.What kind of blessing comes when we honor God with our wealth and the first of all our produce? That is the subject of verse 10 of this chapter of Proverbs. In dealing with it we need to see what is says - but just as importantly - what it does NOT say.First, what it says . . . when we honor God from our wealth and the first of all that we have, God promises that our barns will be filled and our vats will overflow with new wine. God promises abundance to those who honor Him. There is a blessing for those who put selfishness and covetousness in its place. There is promised abundance for us. There is no other way to look at this from the full teaching of Scripture. But there is wisdom to grasp here - for often these texts are used as a pretext for our greed. What does this verse NOT say? It does not say that it is God's will for us to be rich - to have health, wealth, and prosperity at all times and in all situations. First of all there is the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. If health, wealth, and prosperity IS God's will for everyone - why didn't Jesus embrace it? He said that He did not have a place to lay His head. Scripture teaches us that He became poor for our sakes. That poverty included physical wealth. Jesus did not go out and give Himself to make tremendous amounts of money. In His death He had no great physical inheritance to offer. Not only Jesus lived this way - but John the Baptist did as well. He chose poverty in serving the Lord. Paul spoke in Philippians of knowing how to live with much as well as with little or nothing. The famous passage, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," refers to financial contentment - as well as contentment in all circumstances. Job's setbacks and temporary financial ruin was allowed by God for a season. He lost everything - his wealth, health, and prosperity. Today's false prophets of health, wealth, and prosperity would have eagerly joined Job's three friends in condeming him for his circumstances - saying that if he had enough faith - everything would be restored instantly.Then we have the Thessalonian believers - who were heavily persecuted for their faith - as well as all those in our day who are their heirs in the persecuted church of the 20th and 21st century. Hebrews speaks of those who willingly allowed their property to be taken from them. Others have lost jobs and some lost everything including their lives to hold fast to Christ - and to honor God. The poor widow who gave everything she had - which amounted to about 2 cents - was not castigated for her poverty. She was praised for the extreme honor she gave to the Lord - trusting Him with everything she had. Oh, how it grieves me - and I believe it grieves Almighty God - when we make wealth and riches our pursuit - rather than honoring God. The twisting of Scripture that goes on when a religious huckster says that if you give God 100 dollars - He will return 1000 into your lap - is nothing more than the words of a greedy liar who would take from you the blessing of honoring God. Instead he would have you think that God is a spiritual slot machine. Insert a certain amount of giving - pull the lever - and you've hit the jackpot! God did not mean for our giving to be some religious casino experience. The Word is clear here - this is to be an experience in honoring God - not seeking honor for self in what we'll get back. That is why I love this passage in Proverbs. The whole purpose of this practice is to "honor the LORD." That is what should be driving our giving to Him. A desire to honor Him and worship Him through the experience. This mindset will guard us from the deceivers who would take giving and make something about us. Instead giving it put in the right context - the context of honoring God!
The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death. Proverbs 21:6 Being a wealthy man is not sin - there are many wealthy men who honor God with their lives and their testimony. The problem often is not wealth itself, but how we deal with wealth - and here - how we get it. We are told by Paul in his letters to Timothy that is it the "love of money" that is the root of evil. How do you go about gaining your treasures? Here the foolish man goes about gaining his by a lying tongue. He uses deceit to gain his wealth. He lies about his abilities - or about his product in some way - or he uses deceit to lure others into a financial trap whereby he profits from their misfortune. But the Lord instructs us in Proverbs that this way of gaining a fotrune is a "double-loser" in the end. Let's see why. First, we read that such a plan is a "fleeting vapor." What a descriptive phrase this is. First we have the idea of something fleeting. This refers to something blown or driving away. Psalm 1:4 tells us that the wicked will be blown away like the chaff of the grain. Again in Job 32:13 God uses this word to speak of how He will rout the evil man - blowing Him away like wind blows the dust of the earth effortlessly. The second word is vapor. This word refers to just what it says - a small whisp of water vapor that would vanish almost as soon as it appears. What is speaks of is more interesting. It speaks of vanity, emptiness, and meaninglessness. It is the favorite word of the book of Ecclesiastes - where it is used thirty-five different times to speak of how life is like a breath. Put together, these two words intensify one another. Thus we see that gaining treasure by lying is like pursuing the most momentary of vapors - one that is even more vain and empty than any you've ever seen. Thus, the first loss is that of a meaningful life here on earth. To chase after wealth by lying and deceit is to make your life worthless. It will have all the value of a breif water blowing away in the wind. Not exactly what most people are searching for in life - is it? The second loss you experience is much scarier than the first. God tells us that living this way is the pursuit of death. Now there is a phrase you don't hear very often. "Hey, Bob, let's go out later today and pursue some death!" The phrase itself simply means that someone is chasing after or hunting something - here - death. So we learn that we are not only hurting ourselves here and now with a meaningless life, but that we are also harming ourselves for the life to come. That person is hunting after their own death. They're pursing dying. What is sad is that all of those who live this way describe their pursuit and use of money as, "really living." The fact though is that their pursuit of false riches - results in a very real death. Reading this encourages us to see the pursuit of the wrong kind of treasure as a dangerous thing. It is something deadly - killing those who engage in it. It also helps us, as Proverbs often does, with a picture of what we're doing. While the world sees such activity as harmless and even adventageous because of the things you can buy and do with it, the Word of God paints a much different picture. Living this way is pictured as chasing our own death and destruction. It is pictured as the most foolish and meaningless of lifestyles. And hopefully, such a picture will turn us from pursuing things that actually make us poor rather than rich.
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