[0:00] As you can see from your sheet of scriptures, I've been thinking about families this week. It was my intention and my plan to preach a series of sermons on families from Proverbs.
[0:15] But the events of this week for me has made it all the more relevant. What you think about families, how you do family during this time.
[0:27] And everyone has a family. Love them or leave them, young or old, we all have a family. And Proverbs has a lot to say about family life and about how to do family life, how to do it beautifully, how to do it to the glory of God.
[0:46] And I am glad that the book of Proverbs says so much about families. We all want our families to flourish. No one ever sets out upon life saying, I want to have a miserable family and a miserable marriage and children that are ruined and sadness and wretchedness all around.
[1:09] We all want to have a flourishing family. Even before we were married, my wife bought me a watch that had Psalm 128 etched on the back of it.
[1:22] Not the whole psalm. But that reference, Psalm 128. And it's a family psalm. And I think you can see some clear connections between the book of Proverbs and Psalm 128.
[1:36] So I wanted you to turn there. Psalm 128. We'll get to these other scriptures in a moment. This describes a flourishing family.
[1:49] It says, Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor. Blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house.
[2:02] Your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion all the days of your life.
[2:14] May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem. And may you live to see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. Now, I know that you want that.
[2:27] And I want that very same thing. And Proverbs is going to tell us how we can enjoy that blessing. You saw how Psalm 128 began.
[2:38] With blessed is the man who fears the Lord. Blessed are all who fear the Lord. That's Proverbs, isn't it? That's the theme. That's the heartbeat.
[2:49] That's where Proverbs begins and ends. That's full of, that's just Proverbs through and through. And so really this Psalm is, we could replace it and just say, Blessed is the man who lives out the book of Proverbs.
[3:02] This is how you're going to be blessed. You'll enjoy your family. You'll enjoy peace and prosperity. That's what this is saying. And so I hope you'll listen.
[3:14] I hope you'll listen because you want this. You want this in your life. My plan is just to talk generally today. And then next time, we're going to get into relationships.
[3:27] What Proverbs says about husbands and wives and parents and children. And then we're going to talk about home economics or finances. So how can your family flourish?
[3:39] And what today is about is general things. And what we want to start with are some foundation points, some basics, some fundamentals.
[3:51] Wise men dig down into the rock. They build their lives upon certain foundation stones. And Proverbs is giving us some of that foundation stone work.
[4:04] So, young people, now is the time to start learning these fundamentals, these foundation stones. You are not going to have the Psalm 128 family and enjoy that blessing without these basic stones in place.
[4:25] And so, young people, I hope you'll listen because this is for you. So, it's best to learn these things early rather than learn them later and live with that regret.
[4:36] So, learn them now. Put them into practice now. See the importance now. And older people, maybe you need to go back to the foundations. Maybe you have built on some crooked concrete.
[4:48] And so, now is a good time to go back to the basics and say, Is this how I'm living? What happens to families with bad foundations? What happens to buildings with bad foundations?
[5:01] What happens to buildings where you consistently ignore the fundamentals of how do you take care of this building? We've had a perfect, even if it is a sad, parable played out in Miami about taking things for granted.
[5:20] Not taking care of things. We don't want our families to be like that condo on the beach in Miami. Anyway, so, what does Proverbs have to say about our families? Let's begin.
[5:32] First, we're going to ask a question of what does the Proverbs assume? What does it take for granted? That it's not going to say out loud. It's not going to make explicit. But we want to see.
[5:43] These things are fundamental. These things are. This is even what the Proverbs assumes and says, You know what? You should know this. You should understand this. And it's so clear. I'm not going to even, you know, seek to prove it to you.
[5:57] Three things that it assumes. It assumes we want flourishing families. That's important. Look, you see on your sheet, 1411. Proverbs 1411. The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
[6:13] That's our word. It will bud. It will sprout. That's what we're talking about. The point of the Proverbs there is to encourage righteousness and to discourage unrighteousness.
[6:26] But it does that by holding out something that we all want. But we want families that flourish. We want budding, blossoming families.
[6:38] When I came home from vacation, the first thing I noticed after being gone for two weeks is our flower beds out front of our house are looking good.
[6:50] There are multiple layers. There are colors that are popping. All the blossoms came out. It's all the rain, all the sunshine. My wife's good care. It's just popping with color.
[7:03] That's the kind of families that we want. Full of life, full of strength, full of beauty. And Proverbs says, that's true.
[7:13] That's what we want. Blaise Pascal, the old French Christian, said, There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing, but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.
[7:30] There's a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person. We were made to have God living in our hearts, sharing fellowship with Him, to know God, to have Him pouring out His love upon us.
[7:43] He is the missing puzzle piece that everybody is really after, and only when He comes into our hearts are we satisfied. But Proverbs assumes we long for something else, too.
[7:56] We were made for something else, too. It was never, ever meant to be just me and God by ourselves. We were made for family, too.
[8:09] And that's a part of the creation. That's a fundamental reality. Remember, the book of Proverbs is based on the idea that God is a creator. He's created a world of order. He's created things a certain way.
[8:21] And when we understand that and live in harmony with it, that's what wisdom is. Well, it wasn't good for man to be alone. And so God made not another man to be a pal, but He made a woman to be a wife, to begin a family.
[8:40] And only when Adam and Eve, as a family, are walking with the Lord in the garden, does God then say, Oh, that is good.
[8:50] That is very good. Remember, it was not good that man should be alone. No, there is a part of us, just the way God has created us, that we were meant to live with other humans in a family.
[9:06] It's very good. There are those lovely verses where it talks about God setting the lonely in families or giving the barren woman to be a mother of children.
[9:20] And when we see that in real life, don't we celebrate that? Don't we say, Hey, God, that is so good what you've done. Why do we, why is that so beautiful to us?
[9:36] Why do we long to see that? It's because that's how we were made. We want these families. We need family. And while Jesus said, I've come to bring a sword, I've come to divide and separate families, he also says, that's not the full extent of the story.
[9:53] That's not everything I have to say. He also says, if you lose a brother or sister, you'll receive a hundred brothers or sisters. And we are members of God's household.
[10:04] We are a part of this big family. And so Jesus is able to say, here are my brothers and sisters. Here is my family, those who do the will of the father.
[10:14] And in heaven, Jesus will come and say, here I am with the children that you have given me. We were meant not to just enjoy salvation all by ourselves or a relationship with God all by ourselves.
[10:30] We were meant to do it in the context of family. There is something in us that not only longs to know and understand God, it is also to live in a family that is beautiful and healthy.
[10:46] And if you haven't, if you don't experience that, you know that it's something you long for. It's something you want. It's something that is good.
[10:58] So that's the first thing. We were made for this. God made us to live in the context of families. And we were meant to live in a flourishing family. It's important to understand that.
[11:11] It's important to realize that that's a part of who I am. That's not a part that needs killed. That's not an idolatrous part of me. Now, maybe every good thing can become an idol, but that is a good part of me.
[11:21] That's how I was made. And Proverbs says, now here is then how you enjoy that family in this world. And ultimately, how do you prepare to enjoy that family forever in heaven?
[11:35] So that's the first thing Proverbs assumes. Proverbs assumes, secondly, that God is active toward families. He is involved with your family. Whatever your family is, whatever your family context is, Proverbs assumes that the Lord observes, sees, judges, ways, is involved, blesses, curses.
[11:58] You have your sheet there. Proverbs 3.33 is the first one. It's in front of you there. The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked. But he blesses. That's active. He blesses.
[12:08] He curses. He blesses the home of the righteous. Proverbs 15.25. The Lord tears down the proud man's house, but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact.
[12:21] So God is involved. He's involved, not just with individuals, but with families. He tears down the proud man's house.
[12:33] God is interested. He observes. He judges. He weighs. He sees. He cares. He cares. That's the main point. He cares about your families.
[12:45] He wants to see righteousness. He wants to see righteousness lived out in your families. He wants to see love lived out in your families.
[12:58] I don't remember who said it, but true religion is home religion. True religion begins at home with those people that you live with every day. That's where he wants to see righteousness.
[13:11] That's where he wants to see humility. That's where he wants to see the fear of the Lord worked out. It's in the living room. It's around the kitchen table, and God is present and seeing what is happening there.
[13:27] How are they talking to each other? How are they listening to each other? How are they treating each other? How is dad doing? How is mom doing? How is husband and wife treating each other? So the question is, do you care?
[13:41] Does your fear of God work itself out in your family life? And I can just see looking here that for most of you, that God does see what you're doing.
[13:55] He sees the seriousness of how you raise your children, the seriousness of how you treat your grandchildren. He observes your family. He cares for what is going on.
[14:05] And so take heart. He notices. And we have those two Proverbs that says he blesses. He blesses the house of the righteous. Third, Proverbs assumes you want a flourishing family.
[14:22] It assumes that God is active towards families. And third, Proverbs assumes that men do bring about their own family situations. Men, women, we create our own family situations.
[14:38] Now, I'm not by that. I don't mean that we decide where we were born to or who our parents are. There's a lot that we don't assume or don't create. But what I am saying is the book of Proverbs assumes that we are responsible for how things are.
[14:58] We are responsible for how we react to the circumstances that God does put us into. So your dad isn't so great. Well, how are you treating your father or your child has these particular problems?
[15:14] How are you reacting to that? You your reactions, your will, your choices, your decisions. That creates the family situation, the family dynamic.
[15:29] I don't have this proverb down, but Proverbs 19, 3. A man's own folly ruins his life, and yet his heart rages against the Lord. A man's folly, he ruins his own life, and then we have the audacity to be angry with God.
[15:47] We do it to ourselves. We bring the roof down upon our own head and then blame God for the fact that I'm getting rained on. We do it. God does not curse men capriciously.
[16:01] Out of nowhere, we do it to ourselves. You see, 14.1. The foolish, the wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands, the foolish one tears hers down.
[16:14] Why don't families flourish? Or why do some families flourish and some don't? Proverbs puts its finger on the people involved, how they are living, their wisdom, their folly, their righteousness, their unrighteousness, their pride.
[16:36] The Proverbs 31 woman is a tree of life to those in her family. She's a fountain of life. And so her husband stands up and her children stand up and they call her blessed.
[16:49] They rejoice and they celebrate her. There's no fear of the future. There's no fear of want. This is a flourishing family. If you read Proverbs 31, this is what the flourishing family looks like.
[17:01] And at the very heart of that family is this woman, this wise woman, and she's building her house. She's building it day by day and choice by choice and step by step.
[17:14] She's doing it. So there's no escaping it. Proverbs does put the emphasis on what we do. On what we do.
[17:27] Now, is that all there is? Is there not children that rebel? Are there not problems that happen? Or no accidents? Or unforeseen job losses? Or all of those things, they do happen.
[17:38] That affect families. That for many, in many ways, we would say that's not a happy situation.
[17:48] That's a hard situation. Now, of course, we're not saying that everything is to be blamed on people. Job's whole family, they all died.
[17:59] He lost everything he had. And Job was a righteous man. There are things that happen. Ecclesiastes says that time and chance happen to all men. We're all under the frustration of living in a fallen world.
[18:13] And so we need to make sure that we temper, we see the book of Proverbs as not being an ideal situation. Or that there's never any troubles that happen.
[18:25] But even in those troubles, we are responsible for how we react to them. Even in those unforeseen job losses.
[18:36] Even in those difficult child-rearing situations. We ourselves are responsible. And how it goes with our family will depend a great deal on how we react to those things.
[18:51] Do we react with wisdom? Do we react with humility? Do we react with righteousness? So this hits us right where we are. It really does.
[19:02] It hits me square in the chest. Am I building up? Or am I tearing down? Are we being fountains that bring flourishing?
[19:15] Or are we really just dark wells of poison? What are we doing to our family? We need to take stock and take account and say, Lord, search me.
[19:27] Search me. Because we all have this tendency to blame outside circumstances. And we don't see that our heart, our will. We're doing something.
[19:38] We're reacting in a certain way. And we need to be careful of how we are acting. And this is not just parents. And this is not just men. This is men, women.
[19:49] This is children. The book of Proverbs says a lot about how children can bring ruin and misery to a family. The very first proverb in the big, long section of Proverbs is Proverbs 10, 1.
[20:04] And it says a foolish son brings grief to his mother. That's just true. Here's a wise father and he has a foolish son and he brings grief to that father.
[20:15] And so children, young people, the book of Proverbs puts at least part of the happiness, the flourishing, the joy of your family on your shoulders and says, now what are you doing?
[20:32] And it's saying react. React with wisdom. React with righteousness, with humility. But parents, grandparents, it's us too. So much of the book of Proverbs finds echoes and riffs, so to speak, in the book of James.
[20:51] And this is, I just thought of the book of James here. And where are we filled with the wisdom that is devilish, that comes from below?
[21:02] James talks about being full of bitter envy and selfish ambition. Now, that works itself out.
[21:14] And I have found this in my own experience. It works itself out when I make my family and my children and my spouse about what I want and my agenda.
[21:28] And so I want to build my kingdom. And to a great degree, my kingdom and God's kingdom can look a lot alike sometimes. The problem is, is when God has something different.
[21:40] And then I start fighting and arguing and complaining because my agenda is not being met. We can do that. We can make our families about serving us, about serving our vision of things, about what should be and what shouldn't be, and not about what God wants.
[21:59] And you can see if you're doing that and how you act when you don't get what you want from your family. When your child doesn't react the way you want that child to react, when they don't get it as soon as you want them to get it.
[22:15] When you don't get what you want, what happens? What gets spewed out? What does the family get to see then? Is it bitterness?
[22:27] Is it selfish ambition where you're really about what you want? Or are we about God's agenda? Where it's not about me.
[22:37] It's not about my glory. It's not about what makes me look good or my plan. But it's his will. You know, we can parent, we can grandparent, we can do holidays and funerals, and we can do get-togethers and weekends and evenings, and it not be about what God wants.
[22:54] It really can be about what I want. And I put my desires for everything on the highest place. And then when people don't live up to it, you know, it's punishment.
[23:11] I'll punish you for what you're doing. Or we can do all of those things, those holidays and funerals and get-togethers and weekends and evenings, and it can be about what God wants.
[23:24] About love. About loving those people. About serving those people. About serving my brother. About serving my sister. So, one way or the other, Proverbs assumes and teaches, you can't escape the responsibility for what will be.
[23:42] You will reap what you sow to some degree. Now, that is not always 100% worked out in this life in ways that we understand, but Proverbs makes it very clear.
[23:54] You are responsible. What happens in your family will have some direct reflection on what you do. Now, we've seen those three assumptions, and I want to look now at three core qualities of flourishing families.
[24:10] This is what every flourishing family has down at the bottom, down where life is lived at the most basic level, where we're talking about motives of the heart and love and desires of the heart.
[24:23] And we want to just look at these three core qualities. And these are things that, if you want a Psalm 128 family, if you want these promises that Proverbs is talking about, if you want to continue to enjoy those, or young people, if these are the kinds of families that you want to build, then you need to pursue these things.
[24:44] These things are not things that will come upon you on accident, but you must pursue them on purpose. You must nail them down. You have to inhabit them.
[24:55] You have to actually live them out. These are the fertile beds of a budding, blossoming family. So three core qualities. And they are everything that we have already spent so much time on in the book of Proverbs.
[25:10] There's nothing new here, but what we are seeing is when you can put your arms all the way around the book of Proverbs, and you're digging into it, and you're living it out, and more and more of it is being incorporated into your life, what will happen is your family will flourish, because this is what the fear of the Lord looks like.
[25:33] But it does boil down to, I think, three basic things. And the first is wisdom. Wisdom. Wisdom. We want flourishing families.
[25:44] How do you get them? 14.1. The wise woman builds her house. The wise woman builds her house.
[25:55] She builds it with wisdom. What she, a wise woman, is someone whose wisdom is filling her up, and it's filling her hands, and it's filling her feet, and it's filling her mouth. And when she talks and when she acts, she does it with wisdom and skill and competence.
[26:10] And because she does it this way, her house is built. So, young men, single men, there's some of you here.
[26:24] Not very many, but there's a few. What do you, what should you be looking for? What do you want in a woman to marry? Well, you want someone, you'd probably instantly say, well, I want her to look good, and that's good.
[26:41] Good looks are good. That's nice. But outward beauty is fleeting. And I can tell you from experience, and any experienced husband here will tell you, what you want is a wise woman.
[26:58] There's hardly a more important decision in your life than the decision of who you're going to live that life with. Who are you going to marry? Who are you going to build with? So, it's as it were, you're going into business with someone, and you're going to build this house together.
[27:17] You're going to build a life together. What kind of person do you want to build a life with? It won't do you much good if she is beautiful and foolish.
[27:30] Proverbs says, that's like a gold ring in a pig's snout. Her beauty is lost. It's marred. It doesn't matter.
[27:42] Wisdom builds a flourishing family. 24-3, By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.
[27:55] Now, that's not just talking about money. You need to be clear about that. Treasures here, filled with rare and beautiful treasures, that's not just talking about money.
[28:06] It's talking about everything that makes life worth living. Life that is enjoyable. Life that works. Everything that brings that old Hebrew word shalom, peace, flourishing, where every man is living under his own fig tree, under his own vine, and under his own fig tree, where there's a sense of rest, and prosperity.
[28:30] That's what this is talking about. Wisdom does that. You want wisdom. You want competence. You want skill.
[28:41] You want understanding. You want discretion. So wisdom like what? Well, I put down 24-27 there. Here is some good home economic wisdom.
[28:55] And this is so essential for families flourishing. It says, finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready. And after that, build your house.
[29:07] Wisdom teaches us there's a right order to do things. There's a right order to do things. Now, everything in this proverb is something that an old Jewish person would want done.
[29:22] They want their outdoor field, their outdoor work done. They want their fields ready. They want a house. It's not that any of those things are bad. It's the order that you do them that makes such a difference.
[29:35] And wisdom teaches you to do things in the right order. The world says just throw it all together and you can figure it out. It'll work. Oh, and maybe I'm being a little sarcastic or satirical, but their 50% divorce rate says they don't know what they're talking about.
[30:00] They don't know what they're talking about. Just because a bunch of donkeys are all braying the same thing doesn't mean the herd knows where to go or what to do.
[30:11] Do things in the right order. That's what this proverb would suggest. So, kind of like on a most basic level, it's saying get some sort of income before you try to make a family for yourself.
[30:28] Get your income ready. And then before you get married and have kids. Now, of course, people can go overboard and they can wait until they're 40 until they're financially millionaires.
[30:39] And then they're saying now we can do it. Well, that's an idolatrous love of money. People can go overboard, but have some income lined up income to live on. And then you get married and then you begin enjoying sexual relations.
[30:52] And then you have children. Even the world is saying. Shacking up or living in sin. They used to say it didn't matter, but now they're all starting to come around to the realization.
[31:04] You know what? This doesn't work. And they're starting to turn against it. But all they're doing is rediscovering what God has been saying all along.
[31:15] Wisdom says there's an order. And if you do something out of order, young people, it doesn't work. It brings ruin. It does you no good to have a house in the middle of a dirt patch with no money.
[31:31] It does you no good to have children with no spouse to take. Help take care and no job. So. Do things in order.
[31:44] That's that's wisdom. That brings flourishing. Anything else will bring guilt. And it will bring poverty. And it will bring regret. And there'll be hardship and hard feelings.
[31:56] And it just doesn't work. Now. The whole book of Proverbs. Is about wisdom. And so. What kind of wisdom do you need? Well you'll find it here.
[32:08] You'll find it in the book of Proverbs. So if you want a flourishing family. You should be digging into the book of Proverbs. And seeing how they apply. And start to apply them. It talks about relationships.
[32:19] And it talks about parenting. And it talks about finances. And it talks about emotions. It talks about private. Righteousness. And public righteousness. It talks about religion. What kind of.
[32:30] What kind of life you should have towards God. It talks about those things. And so there's wisdom. And you pursue it. If you want a flourishing family. Second core quality. And wait.
[32:42] Wait. Before I go on. Let me just say this. Parents. It is our responsibility. As we are going to see. Parents.
[32:52] It is your responsibility. To begin to teach. To teach wisdom. The world isn't going to teach them. It is your job to do it. It is your job to stress these things.
[33:03] It is your job to be explicit. About these things. About teaching your kids. To think in terms of. That is wise. Or that is foolish. Or that is. That is using discretion.
[33:15] That is good. And that was foolish. You want to start. Start teaching. Your kids. Proverbs. In the book of. This book of wisdom. Second core quality.
[33:27] Is humility. Humility. Again. This is so interconnected. This is so foundation. We have already talked about. Humility a lot. In this study on Proverbs. But. The Lord tears down.
[33:37] The proud man's house. God. Is against. And he exercises. His wrath. And judgment. Against a proud man's.
[33:48] Even his family. And again. I am reminded of. James chapter 4. Why are there fights. And quarrels among you. Why. You know. And the Lord. Doesn't have to. Like actively.
[33:59] Send a thunderstorm. Against a family. To wipe them out. You know. All he can do. Is just. Let their festering. Their quarreling. Their arguing. Just to let it brew.
[34:10] And let them have their way. And a family. Will tear themselves apart. So why are there fights. And quarrels among you. You want something.
[34:20] But you don't get it. That's what James is talking about. That's pride. God opposes the proud. But gives grace to the humble. It's bitter envy.
[34:32] It's selfish ambition. It's you at the center. And the you. You. Is too big. Pride breeds quarrels.
[34:45] Pride ruins families. Pride can't say I'm sorry. Family is ruined. Then you just have.
[34:56] Resentment piling up. Pride is. A man is too proud to see. His own sin. So I never have to say sorry. I don't do things wrong. And I'm stepping on people's toes.
[35:08] And I'm hurting them. And I'm sinning against them. And I don't notice any of it. That. Ruins families. Humility says I'm sorry.
[35:20] I was wrong. Not. Sorry. I. If I offended you. Humility goes. The. The. The actual saying. To actually say.
[35:30] What I did was wrong. I'm sorry. Humility will make things right. Humility says I want to learn to do better.
[35:44] I was wrong. But I want to do what is right. Humility opens your hands and your heart to God. When you are in a difficult situation. When the water is boiling.
[35:55] And you don't know what to do. You are either going to turn in. On yourself. Or you are going to turn against your family. But humility will teach you to open your hands.
[36:07] And your heart. Your mouth. To God. And say Lord. Help us. To say honey. We are at loggerheads. This is that. We're in over our heads. We don't know what to do.
[36:17] Let's just pray. Let's pray right now. That takes humility. And the sweet thing is. Is that God gives more grace. In those circumstances.
[36:28] He gives more grace. The proud won't learn. The proud can't learn. And that's. Why the proud can't.
[36:39] Flourish. Because. Think again of my flowers. In front of my house. Flourishing. Budding. Blossoming. You know what has to happen.
[36:50] For that to happen. Those flowers have to be open. And receptive. Their leaves have to be open. To the sunshine. And saying. We need this sunshine.
[37:02] Their roots have to be open. To the. To the water. And say. We need this water. Flourishing. In nature. Flourishing. In.
[37:13] Human relationships. Flourishing. In families. Always. Comes. Flourishing. In the Christian life. Always. Comes. With. A willingness. To receive.
[37:24] With a sense of. I need. And therefore. I ask. And I seek. And I need this. So. If we want to flourish.
[37:36] We have to humble ourselves. And. Let it start with me. I don't wait for them. To humble themselves. I start with me.
[37:48] Where my pride. Has. Been. Too. Too big. My agenda. Has been. Too important. Then. Then. Pray. Jesus. May your spirit.
[37:59] Dwell in me. That. I'll humbly. Serve others. Third. Core. Quality. Third. Core. Quality.
[38:09] And then we're done. Is righteousness. And. What I'm talking about here. Is actual. Lived out. Obedience. Actual. Lived out. Obedience. God has so created the world.
[38:21] That obedience. To his commands. Is connected to flourishing. Every one of God's commands. Actually lived out. Actually. Obeyed.
[38:31] From the heart. Brings God's. Blessing. And that's why God's commands are good. And that's why there's even grace in his commands. Because. He's showing us the way of blessing. And so.
[38:42] I walk in these commands. I walk in your ways. Because there I found freedom. There's. There I found flourishing. And so. That's what the family. Who obeys God.
[38:54] Finds out. Proverbs 15. 6. The house of the righteous. Contains great treasure. Again. That's blessing. That's not just money. It's blessing.
[39:05] For the. But the income of the wicked. Brings them trouble. Now. I want you to notice that. In that proverb. In 15. 6. There. There's either trouble. Or there's treasure. And the difference is not.
[39:16] Whether you have money. Or you don't have money. The difference is the character. It's not the absence. Or the presence of money. That is the key. Both have money. But for the righteous.
[39:27] It brings a treasure. But for the wicked. It brings. Trouble. Again. It's the character. Of the family. It's the character.
[39:38] Of the people. That makes the difference. Righteous people. Have greater joy. With less. Than wicked people. Do with more. A righteous man.
[39:54] This is a wonderful thing. The righteous man. Can get more joy. Out of the simplest things. Than the wicked can. Out of the most elaborate things.
[40:08] The righteous man. Can get more joy. Out of the taste. Of his coffee. In the morning. And the sunshine. On some flowers. Than a wicked man. Can get out of a yacht.
[40:23] Righteousness. Brings. Flourishing. Character. Is essential. And that's why. We need to see. That sin. Is always. Self. Destructive. When sin.
[40:35] Is at work. It destroys. Our ability. To enjoy. God's world. To enjoy. Our families. So. That's why.
[40:47] It's such good news. That Jesus. Came to save us. From our sins. Not just. From the consequences. Of them. But from our sins. Because those sins. Destroy us.
[40:57] Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Wants to save us. So. Righteousness. Brings. Family. Flourishing. 1527. A greedy man. Brings trouble. To his family.
[41:08] But he. Who hates. Bribes. Will live. Again. It's trouble. Or life. The greedy man. Isn't satisfied. He's got a. A first commandment.
[41:19] Problem. You shall have no other gods. Before me. He does have that. He has the God of money. She has the God of money. In God's place. And so.
[41:29] What happens. Is what. You steal. You cheat. You overwork. You don't take rest. No Sabbath. You put your family. On the altar. Of the God of money. And your family's destroyed.
[41:41] And so he brings trouble. On them. Or the woman. Brings trouble. On her family. So she's always. Overworking her husband. Or not taking care. Of the children. As they need.
[41:52] And she wants more. So greed. Is that breaking. Of that first commandment. And it brings trouble. On the family. Now what we could do. Is we could go through. All of those ten commandments. And we could say.
[42:03] Look. This is what happens. It destroys. A family. When you sin. But when you keep. The commands. You bring flourishing. And so again.
[42:13] Parents. We want to teach our kids. Wisdom. We want to. Impress that upon them. But we also want to teach them. Just the simple reality. Of obeying. Teaching. And enforcing.
[42:24] The ten commandments. Is not old fashioned. It's not. This thing. That is harsh. Or has to be legalistic. Or cruel. Or anything like that. It is.
[42:34] In God's economy. The pathway. To a family flourishing. You show me a family. That knows how to. To rest on the Lord's day. A family that knows how to. Love and care.
[42:45] A family that tells the truth. And I'll show you a family. That's flourishing. So. Three core qualities. Is wisdom. Humility. And righteousness. Pursue those things.
[42:57] We're just going to. I'll close with Paul's words. To Timothy. He said flee. The evil desires of youth. There are things to flee. But then there are things to pursue.
[43:08] Righteousness. Faith. Love. And peace. Along with all those. Who call on the. The Lord. Out of a pure heart. So we want to flee. Unrighteousness. We want to flee. Folly. We want to flee. Pride. But we want to pursue.
[43:20] The others. And the more you have. The more flourishing. You'll enjoy. And that's just to say. Truly blessed. Is the man. Who fears the Lord.
[43:31] Truly blessed. Is the man. Who fears the Lord. Who walks. In his ways. You will eat. The fruit of your labor. Blessings. And prosperity. Will be.
[43:43] Yours. So. Let's. Pursue it together. Let's encourage each other. Husbands and wives. Let's encourage each other. Parents. Let's encourage our children. Well may God bless you.
[43:55] And. And bless me. As we learn to walk. In these ways. Let me pray. As we close. Heavenly Father. Thank you for your word. Thank you that it brings clarity.
[44:06] In a murky murky world. In a confused world. Thank you that it. Puts out solid. footstones. For us to walk upon. In just a morass.
[44:17] Of immorality. And folly. And. Confusion. That. These things that. We. Have seen. Again and again. In the book of Proverbs. They turn out to be.
[44:29] For our good. And for our joy. And. We want to trace. Even. That. To your heart. You are good. And you have.
[44:42] Filled the earth. With your love. You filled the earth. With your goodness. And when we live. In line with. Your desires.
[44:54] We find joy. We find peace. And we find stability. And prosperity. And so. Please teach us. To humble ourselves.
[45:06] To buy faith. To trust the Lord Jesus. To pursue these things of. Wisdom and humility. And righteousness.
[45:17] I pray that you would bless the families of our church. And make them to. Grow in godliness. For your glory. I pray. Amen.