A Proverbs 31 Church

Well, brethren, there is a scripture within the Old Testament that strikes fear into the heart of women everywhere. And perhaps fear in its typical context isn't the proper use of the word. Perhaps it's more of a use of the word fear in awe and in respect. But regardless, this fear can oftentimes be accompanied by feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

It's a scripture which women strive to become while at the same time recognizing the almost impossible standard within. And it's also a scripture that sometimes their husbands, and I've been guilty of this as well, as they hear messages or they read themselves, lean over and over their wives and say something ineffective.

Hey, did you hear that? That one right there. Did you hear that part? Despite that impossible standard, many women who are newly married look to this scripture to help to shape them into the wife that they wish to become. I think I've probably given enough of it away to know where we're going.

But if you turn over there with me, please, we'll head over to Proverbs 31. And we'll take a look at the account that is labeled within the Bible as the account of the virtuous wife. So let's turn over to Proverbs 31, verse 10, and we'll begin over there today as we examine this passage that seems to be at first glance near impossible. Proverbs 31, starting in verse 10, says, She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her households are She makes tapestry for herself.

Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits amongst the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies sashes for the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household.

She does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, when he praises her, many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. When we look at this laundry list of things, like that laundry list, like what I did there, it is really an incredible passage.

Go ahead, if you have a bookmark in your Bible, go ahead and put your bookmark in there. We are going to come back here periodically today. That way you're not having to flip back through this. But what we're seeing in this passage is we are seeing a woman who is so rare that her worth to her husband is worth far more than precious stones. A woman whose husband trusts her implicitly and his trust is rewarded by incredible gains through his wife. She does him only good. She buys, she sells, she trades. She's up before the dawn getting the household ready to go.

Assigning the servants their portions. She's out buying real estate, planting vineyards, keeping herself physically fit and financially secure. She's prepared for the worst, cheerful and glad, takes care of those that are less fortunate, as well as her household. She's poised, well spoken, has a good work ethic, is praised in her household in the gates, and lastly, and of course, most importantly, she fears God. Every man out there looks for a woman like this in a wife.

A woman who's beautiful, self-assured, economical, excellent cook, caretaker, in my case, someone who likes to fish. But the problem is, the law only allows one wife. I'm kidding, of course. But let's be honest on this. When we take a look at this list of characteristics, this is quite the list of traits for one single person to me. It is a nearly impossible standard as a whole, but I think we also recognize when we examine this passage, this isn't a checklist.

You know, you don't wake up every day with a blank series of boxes on a list and check them off as you go and go, okay, got it before the dawn, check, gave to the homeless, check, dressed the kids in scarlet, check. And then when you get to the end of the day, you realize, oh, I forgot to tend the vineyard. That's not what this particular scripture is getting at.

This particular scripture gives us an insight into the overall character of a woman at that time frame and today that was considered to be virtuous. In other words, the overall character of a woman considered worthy for marriage. Virtuous in this context is the Hebrew word chayil, which is actually translated to force, power, or might. And a perhaps more accurate translation than virtuous, I mean, to our kind of our vernacular today, would be a woman of valor. A woman of valor. A mighty woman. Someone with reputation, renowned. Someone who's known in the marketplace.

Known to those at the gates. Her husband is well known and she is known to be connected to her husband.

They are respected in the city and in the town in which they live.

If we look at the first part of Proverbs 31, we get a little bit of background on this particular chapter. We can go up to verse 1 and see, in fact, the whole title of this entire section of chapter 31 is the words of King Lemuel's mother.

Most commentaries agree that Lemuel is referring to Solomon. That Solomon is, in fact, Lemuel. And Lemuel in Hebrew just means devoted to God. Now, if that's the case, and this is, in fact, Solomon, then these were passed down to him by his mother, Bathsheba. And then Solomon recorded it in Proverbs for his own son and ultimately for all of us throughout the ages that have had the opportunity to read his writings.

What's fascinating about this passage, if you've not torn into this in study, what is absolutely fascinating about this passage is it's a Jewish acrostic poem. It's an acrostic poem. In the original Hebrew, each line of this poem from verse 10 through verse 31 starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Much like Psalm 119 has sections, aleph, bet, down the line it goes. In the original Hebrew, each of these lines in this passage start with the Hebrew alphabet. It goes from aleph to bet to gimel, all the way down to tov.

Using the meanings that have been attributed to these letters brings out a whole new depth in this passage. Now, we won't go in that direction today. We're not going to dig into that, but I would highly suggest if you get a chance this week or in the next couple weeks during your own personal study, dig into what those Hebrew letters mean and compare to what's going on in these verses.

It's really, really incredible. It's really neat. So I would suggest if you can, and you have an opportunity this week, dig into that and see. Because this passage is describing the quote-unquote ideal wife. Not necessarily reality, and I'm not saying that in the wrong way. That's not what I'm... Don't take that the wrong way. But what is to be striven for in a wife? In fact, there's some commentaries that actually say that this poem was written in an acrostic.

So that it would be easily remembered, so that it could be passed from generation to generation. And it may not just be words of Bathsheba herself, but there could have been generations upon generations that have passed this down through history. But we're looking at, essentially, what makes an ideal wife? The future bride to be. Let's turn over to Revelation 19, verse 6. And we'll see a vision recorded by John of a time to come. Revelation 19, verse 6. We're going to make a connection with this chapter that may or may not have been made before.

Revelation 19, verse 6. And we'll read through verse 8. Revelation 19, verse 6 says, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and at the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Verse 7, let us be glad and rejoice, and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.

Verse 8, and to her it was granted to be arrayed in the fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Now, I emphasized one particular line in this section, and I'd like to emphasize it again. The marriage of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready. Here we see the prophesied rule of Christ. First resurrection's passed. We see at this point the bride is ready. She's undertaken her preparations, hath clothed herself in righteous actions, and has done what was required of her, and the marriage has come. So who is this bride? Who is this bride? Let's flip over to Ephesians 5. Go back just a little bit towards the front of the book.

Ephesians 5 gives us another piece of the puzzle. Helps us to develop this analogy just a little bit further. Ephesians 5 will start in verse 22. Very, very well-known scripture here. In fact, if you've ever attended a wedding that has been performed within United, this scripture has been read. It's just one of those scriptures that we utilize quite a bit. Ephesians 5 verse 22. Pardon me. It says, This is one of those scriptures oftentimes that gives people in the world some difficulty because they view submission in a very different way than what we understand submission to mean.

For as the husband is head of the wife, also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. That he might present her to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

But that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. Verse 30, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

And then verse 31, we see a section that was recorded back in Genesis. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. We can see here, as we take a look at this scripture, that we see multiple analogies being made between the people of God, Christ, and that marriage relationship between those two.

The bride here that's described is the church. That Greek word is ecclesia, and that is those whom God has called. This passage goes on to then inform us that those who are called are subject to Christ, that he is the head over them, and that that's the whole submission piece, that we yield our will to Christ and do what he instructs us to do, that he loved us so much that he died for us, and in addition, he wishes to present that church, those that he's called holy and without blemish, no spots or wrinkles.

These are those that Christ has made his through his sacrifice, without blemish, clothed in righteousness. Now, we also know that while many in this life are called, few of them are chosen. Verse 31 goes on to tell us there are certain lessons that can be learned through marriage that are very difficult to learn otherwise. In fact, it says specifically the mystery of a man leaving his father and mother and becoming one flesh with his wife is in regards to Christ and the church.

So there are specific lessons that can be learned within a marriage relationship that are very difficult to learn in another setting. We as the ecclesia, those that God has called, those that have accepted and responded to that calling, are the bride of Christ. So then, if we are the bride of Christ with a marriage to the Lamb yet to come, doesn't it behoove us to ensure that we're becoming the kind of bride that Christ is looking for?

Wouldn't it then also make sense for us to look into the past, look to the scriptures in Proverbs 31, in order to draw lessons from this passage with context to us in the church, the types of things that we as Christians, individual Christians, should be doing that make up the body of this ecclesia, to show the same fear as a church and as individuals within that church that young ladies and newly married women show, given the example provided in this passage.

For those of you that are fans of titles, title of today's message is Proverbs 31 Church. Proverbs 31 Church.

And I feel that all too often, men, myself included, I'll admit to this, blow right through the last part of Proverbs 31. And I've done this before. I've looked at it and I kind of thought to myself, man, it doesn't really apply to me. I'm not a woman. I've already made my choice. You know, it really doesn't so much apply to me. Other than choosing the right mate, I don't personally need to focus on the attributes of the virtuous wife. I'm a man. There's other things that I should be focused on. While I think sometimes, on the other hand, women can get very carried away and put too much focus into Proverbs 31 and think they have to be some kind of superwoman.

As we said earlier, this is not a checklist of tasks one must do. This serves to illustrate the character of the woman in this passage. If we take the opportunity to boil down that character, to boil down that character into three primary characteristics, I'd like to take the rest of the time we have today looking at those three characteristics and the implications that that has for us as individuals within that ecclesia. The first characteristic we'll examine today is that the Proverbs 31 wife in this passage of Proverbs 31 is faithful and trustworthy.

A Proverbs 31 wife is faithful and trustworthy. Secondly, a Proverbs 31 wife is a good steward or stewardess, I guess in this case, but a good steward. And then lastly, a Proverbs 31 wife embodies the fruits of the spirit, embodies and personifies the fruits of the spirit. So I'd like to take the rest of our time that we have today to examine this, and we'll start with a Proverbs 31 wife, or in this case, a Proverbs 31 church, is faithful and trustworthy. The entirety of the Old Testament is a story of a faithful and true God and his desire for a faithful and true people. Yet we can see on numerous occasions that despite there being individuals who were very faithful, at times many individuals who were very faithful, as a whole, Israel was flawed. As a whole, Israel, in the history that is recorded within the Old Testament, proved themselves to be untrustworthy and unfaithful as people.

Starting with their national captivity in Egypt and their subsequent release through Moses, God wrought numerous miracles in the plague. He challenged and he conquered nearly every God the Egyptians worshipped. One after another, the gods of Israel fell before the Almighty God.

We know this story and for sake of time, we won't go through all of the specifics leading up to this, but we know God worked ten plagues. Each of those plagues a little worse than the last.

Each one of them a direct attack on the gods of Egypt. The final plague, the death of the firstborn, was one of enough severity and personally touching to Pharaoh that he finally let the Israelites leave. To a certain extent, his people demanded it. After 430 years of captivity, the host of Israel were free, the chosen people of God setting out to find their place in the world.

Seven days later, however, they found themselves in a very well-known and well-documented predicament. Let's turn over to Exodus 14. Exodus 14 shows us this well-known and well-documented predicament.

We saw Charlton Heston once as Moses in this experience, but it is definitely one of those chapters that is very well-documented. We know the story and how that story develops. Let's take a look at Exodus 14 to find the predicament that they found themselves in. We'll start in verse 2.

What we see here in verse 2 is we see the Israelites find themselves between a rock and a hard place, or in this case, a big bronze idol and about several hundred thousand angry Egyptians.

Exodus 14, verse 2, we see, speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp before Pahiv-Rath between Migdul and the sea, opposite Beelzaphon, you shall camp before it by the sea.

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are bewildered by the land, the wilderness has closed the men. God put the host of Israel in this very specific place for a reason. There was one more God that stood in the way of getting Israel out of Egypt, one who had previously been untouched by the other plagues, and the Israelites were camped right in front of his idol. Beelzaphon was a Canaanite god. He's the lord of the north. His principal residence was north on Mount Zaphon, what is in present-day Syria. Syria has been in the news a little bit recently, but Mount Zaphon is essentially a Syrian version of Mount Olympus, and Beelzaphon is the chief god of that particular pantheon. Sometimes also known as the bale of Syria, he was the god of sea and storms, and in art was represented as a bronze idol standing on top of a large bronze pyramidal base with his right hand raised up into the air. Rather foreboding figure. The Egyptians had a different name for this god. They called him Set. So Set was the equivalent of the Egyptian god of storms and of the sea, and it was common practice in those days to place shrines and idols along trade routes, because if the weather got nasty, you could pull over, make an offering, and hopefully appease whichever god happened to be in control of that sea and go on about your journey. Often the one idol that was in these areas represented two or three different versions of that god from different countries, and this was the case with Beelzaphon. This particular idol was miles from home. Miles from home. Miles away from his range of power to a certain extent, but many believe there was actually a shrine set up there at the edge of the sea for ships to stop and offer sacrifices for safe voyage. Even though it was a foreign idol, it wouldn't have been foreign to the Israelites. You have to think about this. They were clued into the workings of Egypt. They had lived there for 430 years as slaves, but for 430 years, they were practically Egyptian. I mean, from a standpoint of their own national identity, they were practically Egyptian. They would have known the inner workings of Egyptian idolatry, and we know that to be the case. They took it with them.

In most cases, they drug it along with them. But camped at the feet of this bronze idol with their backs to what he controlled, with Pharaoh's armies breathing down their neck in the front.

It would have been a particularly unnerving situation. Particularly as Pharaoh and his chariots decided to pursue, and all of a sudden they start seeing these chariots rolling in and pinning them between the sea and between that army, they would have been very afraid.

For the host of Israel camping in the shadow of this idol, this represented a test.

This represented a test. The question that God was asking them is, will you be faithful?

Will you be trustworthy? Will you exhibit to me trust and faith that I can take you out of this seemingly unwinnable position? I have put you here on purpose. You cannot get out on your own volition.

Will you simply accept that and ask me for help?

You saw what I did to all of the other gods in Egypt. I've destroyed every one of them. Here's one more worthless God. Will you trust me? Well, what happens? Let's go down to verse 11.

14 verse 11 specifically says, then they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt so with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, leave us alone, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than we should die in the wilderness. Verse 13, and God sighed audibly. No, it doesn't say that, but God would have had to have known at this point that it was going to be a very, very long, long 40 years in the wilderness. He had beaten every one of the major gods in Egypt by the plagues, delivered them from Pharaoh's hands, proved that he could be trusted, puts them into this stressed situation, and they failed the test. They failed the test. God, however, unlike his people, is always faithful to his promises. Regardless of their failure, he parts the Red Sea, the Israelites cross, Pharaoh and his chariots are destroyed, and in doing this, God conquered. The idol Zafon once again showed his power over the very sea that he was supposed to have control over, led his people to safety in a new land. He effectively crushed the last god standing in the way of the Israelites leaving Egypt. In a very interesting dichotomy in conquering the last god leaving Egypt, he also conquered the first god as they entered Canaan. The parting of the Red Sea and the conquering of Beel Zafon should have been a demonstration not easily lost on the Israelites. It should have been inspiring. It should have been enough for them to turn away from the sins of Egypt and to obey God. But we know that wasn't the case. The Israelites as a people are spiritually broken. They're spiritually flawed, unable to follow God's laws despite all of the amazing miracles he had performed in due in part to their time in Egypt, the amount of time they spent in Egypt generation after generation after generation. In fact, if we fast forward to when the law was codified, the very first idol created, the golden calf, was a representation of the bull god Apis.

It was a representation of Egypt's bull god Apis, the king of the Egyptian gods, that God himself proved to be completely impotent when he killed every good cattle in Egypt.

Same exact god that he proved impotent, they start making a giant golden calf out of when the law was codified. They didn't learn a thing. They didn't learn a thing. After all the incredible miracles that they had wrought in Egypt, after delivering them with his own hand, they hadn't learned a thing. You know, the rest of the Old Testament, and to a certain extent the New Testament reads much like this account. God desiring for faithfulness and trust from his people, yet instead of turning to God in their time of need, they continually turn to another god or goddess. Gideon's time they worshipped Asherah. During the time of King Ahaz, they sacrificed their own children to Molech. I mean, this is a theme that comes up again and again and again and again and again. In fact, we get to the New Testament, 1 John 5, 21. John admonishes God's people to refrain from idolatry. New Testament again, this is endemic to the people of Israel. And before we kid ourselves, it's alive and well today. We know an idol is anything that we put in front of God. Just because it's not a little stone carving that we're worshipping or, you know, hoping for some sort of a result from this doesn't mean that we're not putting other things in front of God. Where are our priorities? Where are our priorities? Let's take a look back at Proverbs 31.

Go back to Proverbs 31, verse 11.

Proverbs 31, verse 11 says, The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

With the spring holy days rapidly approaching. In fact, I think it was a full moon the other night, actually. We're about a month away, okay? We're examining our lives and we're striving to see ourselves as God sees us. Can we honestly say at this point in our lives that God implicitly trusts us to do the right thing? Do we do him good and not evil all the days of our lives?

Do our daily actions cause our husband gain? Proverbs 31, church, are wise stewards.

Proverbs 31, church, are wise stewards. You know, the virtuous wife found in this passage is an economic force to be reckoned with. She's like a tornado of buying, selling, and trading. I mean, I can just vision this woman going through, you know, her cape swirling behind her as she goes from one to the next to the next. I'll take one of these and I'll take one of those and she's just buying, selling, and trading, making profit and doing all of this. She's working with the merchants. She's supplying them with sashes. It's interesting to me. She's taking care of their clothing needs as well. Well known and of good reputation, people want to do business with her. In short, she's a wise steward of the resources that are given to her by her husband, or that in some cases we can see from this she makes from her own wares. She takes care of what she's been given. She's careful and invests what she has in order to make it grow and prosper. And we saw from our first example, her husband trusts her implicitly. You can see this by the account. You don't see anywhere in here that he's following her from a distance, watching what she's purchasing. Okay? He trusts her. He's given her free reign in the marketplace. Go do what must be done. Shannon and I have been going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University for the past few weeks, and it's a concept that keeps coming up within this class. Being a wise steward to what's been given to us by God, recognizing that the money that we make is not ours. It's graciously on loan from God.

We give Him what's His. He gives us back. He gives us the rest. But from a money standpoint, taking care of our obligations, not allowing ourselves to become slave to debtors, and much of the lessons that comes out of this Dave Ramsey class come right out of Proverbs.

Some, even from the passage that we're exploring today at Proverbs 31. Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians 1.

We'll turn over there. You know, Dave Ramsey is a class that deals specifically with money, but we have been given something from God that is far more valuable than money. Something far more valuable than money. 2 Corinthians 1.

And we'll see that we actually have received a very important down payment.

2 Corinthians 1. We'll start in verse 21, and we'll read through verse 22.

1 Corinthians 1 verse 21 says, Some translations actually refer to that guarantee as specifically an earnest payment.

God's Holy Spirit has been given to us as an earnest payment, just like when you purchased a house. You go in, you tell that person, I'd like to purchase your house, and they go, yeah, put your money where your mouth is. So you make an earnest payment. You pay them a certain deposit on the house that shows that you intend to purchase that property or that house in full. The earnest payment is a small down payment that ensures that. God has made that earnest payment on us, showing that with the deposit of the Holy Spirit He's giving us, He intends to purchase us in full. That's the deposit that's been put into our hearts. But we're expected to do something with what we've been given. We're expected to be wise. We're expected to be profitable with God's earnest money. Let's take a look at Matthew 25. Turn over to Matthew 25. Very well-known scripture.

Matthew 25.

But we want to establish what is it that God requires of us? What is it that He requires of us with regards to the things that we have been given? Matthew 25. We'll see the lessons that we can gain from the parable of the talents here. Actually, yes, I'm sorry. Parable of the talents. So, verse 14. Matthew 25, verse 14. It says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. Now, one thing to note before we get too much further. Note that each one started with different amounts here. One got five, one got two, one got one. Each of them started with different amounts. Some of them have greater expectations placed upon them as a result. We'll see that when we visit Luke 12. We'll be going there here in just a little bit. Verse 16 goes on to say, Then he would receive the five talents, went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. We see here the first two servants didn't wait. In fact, in the ASV translation, it specifically says straight away he went. As soon as that money hit his palm, off he went. He went off and he was traded and he was investing. Both of the first servants were about their master's business. Straight away. Straight away. Money was handed over. These two guys were off trading, investing, and making money for their master.

In the analogy of the Holy Spirit, these two servants are fervent. These two servants are zealous. They're taking what they've been given and they're making it perform. It was seen in verse 18, we have the opposite side of that coin. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. We do see that one of the servants in this example, one who was given very little, just one talent, hid what he had and did absolutely nothing with it. Let's go on to verse 19. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. We notice it's a long time before this has happened. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you've delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Verse 22, he also who had received two talents, okay, so far we're seeing the example of the two individuals that went out and did what they were supposed to do, came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I've gained two more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, same thing he said to the first guy, Well done, good and faithful servants, you've been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Come into the joy and enter into the joy of your Lord.

Now again, we see what happens to the servant who didn't do what he was supposed to do. Verse 24, then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you've not scattered seed. And I was afraid.

And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, here's what you have back. What is yours?

But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed. You should have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own interest. We see the master return, however delayed his return was, but he did come back and he finds the first two servants, those who went straight away and did what they were supposed to do, doubled their returns. Notice the one had five, the one had two, they doubled their returns, and both of them heard the same exact message from the master involved. Didn't matter that one had more to begin with. Didn't matter.

Based on what they were given, they grew their investments. Whereas the third servant again hid his talent under a rock, and I love the comment that the master makes here, the least you could have done was put it in the bank. You could have at least gotten me some interest on it. The least you could have done was put it in the bank. Instead, you just dug a hole. But let's see what happens to the third servant. We see what happens ultimately to the situation. It says, therefore take the talent from him, verse 28, and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away, and cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We see the punishment for the third servant. His talent was removed, given to the servant who obtained the most. And in verse 30, we see the servant cast into outer darkness. It's quite the punishment for a small investing mistake. But again, this parable is not about money. This parable is about what we do with what we're given, our actions. What do we do with what we're given? And we're given a lot of things from God. We're given time. What do we do with our time? We're given the Holy Spirit. Are we stoking that fire? Are we doubling what we've been given? Are we growing it? Or are we squandering it, digging a hole and putting it in the ground and slapping it at anybody that gets too close? What are we doing with what we've been given? Let's turn over to Luke 12. See kind of a... it's a little bit of a different account, but kind of along the same lines. Luke 12 verse 42. We'll start there. And in my Bible, it's actually labeled the parable of the wise steward. Luke 12 starting in verse 42. It says, And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his master will make ruler over his household to give him or to give them rather their portion of food into season? Verse 43. Blessed is that servant whom the master will find so doing when he comes. There is action implied in these words. The faithful steward, the one that is wise, the one is the one that is doing what his master expects him to do when he returns. So doing, so doing, not so done. It's present tense. It's not past tense. In other words, is this steward still doing what he's supposed to be doing when the master comes? You know, we recognize God's way of life doesn't have an end, so to speak. We don't ever reach a point where we've learned everything and our obligation is complete. We don't ever close the book and go, well, I got it all figured out.

You know, we never get to that point. The only point that we get to where it stops is death.

Death is the end. We can't grow any further past that point. But it is God's expectation that while we still draw breath, we're investing what we've been given. We're growing what we've been given. We're taking care of the interests of the master's household while he is away. And for us, we use the analogy of the Holy Spirit. We're stoking that fire into an all-consuming bonfire. We're not letting it go out. We're feeding it. We're giving it kindling. We're giving it big logs. And we're really building that fire. We're not letting it go out. We go on in verse 44. It says, Truly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking and an hour when he is not aware. We full well know that it's going to come like a thief in the night. We don't know when it's going to happen. I saw a news article this morning. The guy who was making the claims of the May 21st, he says, no more predictions. No more predictions. He finally learned his lesson, but we know it's going to be a time we're not expecting it. And it says right here, he will cut him in two and appoint him as portion with the unbelievers. So again, we see that opposite side of the coin. Here's a servant who knew the Lord was delayed, lost the urgency, lost the vigilance, stopped growing. And in this case, we see that that servant began taking up dangerous habits.

We see the result in this case, and it's not a good result. We see that the master will cut him asunder and appoint his portion with those that were not faithful. Verse 47 goes on, and that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required, and to whom much has been committed of them will they ask the more. Verse 48 actually tells us that servants who knew what was expected of them and didn't do it will receive a greater punishment than those that didn't do what God wanted but were unaware of his expectations.

To him who is given much of him much shall be required, and to whom they commit much of him will they ask the more. That scripture should give those of us called to this life serious pause.

We have been given much. We really have. We have been given so much. We have the knowledge of the mysteries of God. We've been given the understanding of the scriptures, God's holy days, his plan, a down payment of his own spirit. The truth of it is the world around us is messed up. We recognize that. We look at the news. It's awful. And what's sobering is recognizing that even though it's getting worse by the day, some of them have no idea what they're doing is wrong. Some of them are so depraved they simply don't get it. They will be punished less than those of us who are depraved and know what we're supposed to be doing. To him who is given much of him much shall be required, and to whom they commit much of him will they ask the more. Are we a wise steward? Are we growing God's investments? Are we nurturing it, nourishing it, actively doubling that down payment? Go back to Proverbs 31. We'll look at verse 16. We see that the virtuous wife in verse 16, she considers a field and buys it. And then from her profits, she plants a vineyard. From her profits, she made a great business decision here, a great investment. There was something left at the end to do something with that bare land. The virtuous wife in Proverbs 31 makes numerous smart business decisions. She really is an economic force. She really is. It's an incredible account, buying and selling and trading and allowing her husband to receive no end of gain. The husband knows what his wife is doing and allows her again to make these decisions because, as we saw in point number one, he trusts her implicitly. God knows what his servants are doing. Are we doing what we're expected to do? Are we growing in the Holy Spirit? Have we put a basket over our lampstand?

Are we sitting on the talent that we've hidden? Proverbs 31, 27. She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Are our hands busy working the investment of our Lord? Or are they idle? There's a lot of ways to have idle hands nowadays. Technology is one of those ways. You can spend a lot of time on the old Facebook. And there's a lot of ways that you can have idle hands nowadays.

Where are we working the investments of our Lord? Are our hands idle? There's a balance. We obviously recognize that. There's a balance. But at the same time, we do need to make sure that those hands are busy. Lastly, a Proverbs 31 church embodies the fruits of the Spirit. The entire passage found in Proverbs 31, if you go from Proverbs 31, 10, all the way through 31, shows an abundance of the fruits of the Spirit. The woman that is described here personifies these fruits. She gives us an idea of what living the fruits of the Spirit looks like. It's not just head knowledge. This woman has put the fruits of the Spirit to work in her own life. They are visible attributes of God's Spirit. Let's look at Galatians 5 quickly. Go over to Galatians 5, and we'll read Galatians 5, verse 22, where we can find the fruits of the Spirit. Just a quick refresher. Galatians 5, 22. And we'll take a look at the fruits of the Spirit that are recorded there as soon as I find Galatians, who apparently is hiding from me currently. It's one of them little chapters in between all their mother little chapters. There we go. Galatians 5, verse 22, says, "...but the fruit of the Spirit..." Coming into this scripture, we see before that the less of the flesh, the counters to the fruits of the Spirit. But here in verse 22, we see the fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.

We can see in this case, this is an incredible statement, absolutely incredible statement, that individuals who exhibit these traits, against them, there is no judgment of the law. Now, make sure that I want to make sure you understand what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that we're not under the law. Sometimes that is what's given in this particular scripture. Well, all you have to do is ease things. You know, law doesn't apply. What we've got going on here is we've got a situation where those that are keeping the fruits of the Spirit with regards to God and with regards to their fellow man, against them, no accusation of violation of law can be made. In that, the fruits of the Spirit, when applied correctly and consistently, satisfy the entirety of the law. For example, we can't show our love to God unless we obey His laws. That's part and parcel of loving God is keeping His commandments. Likewise, if we don't have patience, it's really easy to strike out at our fellow man or to say something that we really wish we didn't say. I know this because I'm a very impatient person. I've repented of many of those, except for the ones in the drive over this morning, which I'll take care of this evening. But it's easy to strike out or say something that's going to put us in violation. You know, it's a total package. Galatians 5, 22, and 23 is a total package. When it's applied correctly and when it's applied consistently, the fruits of the Spirit allow one to satisfy the requirements of the law because they're living the law. They're living the law. Verse 25, we go on a little further past 22 and 23, we go to 25, we actually see the application.

It says, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. That whole concept of once again putting your money where your mouth is, it's not enough to believe these things. Not to think that they're all those are good ideas in theory and it works great on paper. It's also not enough for us to do them 99% of the time because that 1% of the time is going to put you in violation.

If it's not done in all situations in both the physical and the spiritual letter of the law, that final statement of Galatians 5, 23 cannot apply. These are visible attributes of a life lived properly. The fruits of the Spirit personified and we see them in the account of the virtuous wife. In fact, we're going to examine them here in a second. How does the virtuous wife show the fruits of the Spirit in her life in the account recorded in Proverbs 31? Let's go ahead and go back to Proverbs 31. We'll finish there today. Proverbs 31, and we'll start with the very first of the fruits of the Spirit, love. And I think we can probably all agree that when you look at this entire passage, the virtuous wife shows a clear love for her husband in all of the work that she is willing to take on in that household. I mean, she is up before the dawn. She's appointing her portion to the maid servants and the children, and she's out. Next thing I got to do is get out and buy and sell. That's love being done to another person in this case. So what we have is a definite clear love for her husband in the work that she's willing to do and everything else that goes on. In addition, the passage clearly states in verse 30 that she fears God. And people who fear God keep His commandments. And so we can conclude that she does, in fact, also love God. Joy. Galatians 5 talks about being joyful. Verse 25 of Proverbs 31 tells us that she laughs at times to come. She laughs at times to come. My mind says, rejoices in times to come. A couple of translations say, laugh. In her, there's no worry because of course she fears God. But within that lack of worry is a cheerfulness that allows her to laugh at whatever comes. If you can put your hands entirely in God, or if you can put your life rather entirely in God's hands, you don't have to worry. You can see something coming off in the distance that looks like a stressor and go, you know, there's a poster out there that says, yeah, well, my God's bigger than your problem. And there's a certain bit of joy that can come from that, and some rejoicing that can come from that. In fact, the commentary, Barnes' commentary says that she faces the future with confident gladness. Confident gladness. She knows God will take care of her and her family, and so she faces the future with certainty. And no worry for the future. Laughs at the times to come. Peace. The word used for peace here actually has a second definition of prosperity. And even today, we kind of refer to those two things as the same thing. Peace and prosperity. To an extent, the two go hand in hand. But here's a woman who's confident in the security of her house, because again, she's worked hard, she's prepared, she trusts her husband, and she trusts God implicitly. She knows that she'll be taken care of, and with that joy that was in the last chat or last point also comes a measure of peace. Also comes a measure of peace. We can see that in her actions, she's not just worried about taking care of herself, she's taking care of the needy. She's speaking with the law of kindness. She's not worried about the future. She is at peace, and in addition to being at peace, she is prosperous. Patience.

Now, while we don't specifically see her in this passage dealing with anyone who is necessarily difficult, we don't see an example of her dealing with difficulty, I would submit to you that we can actually concur that she is patient, and here's why. She is dealing in the confines of the merchant system of the Middle East, and as you well know, the merchant system of the Middle East is a haggle-based merchant system, and people who have come from America to go over to those areas find themselves frustrated sometimes, saying, look, just give me the price you want me to pay. Why do I have to sit here and go back and forth with you? Just, I'll give you the money. Um, no, it's twice what you want to pay.

Working within the confines of that system, and we see from this example she's good at it.

She's not going to be able to let her blood or blood pressure get up on this. She works within the confines of the system, exhibits patience. In order to be successful in that system, I would assume you would have to have just the patience of Job. Kindness, in verse 26, this is one of those things that's interesting. Verse 26 in the original Hebrew, that line starts with the Hebrew letter Pei. Starts with the Hebrew letter Pei, which actually means, and it has a signification of mouth.

The Hebrew, the Hebrew letter Pei means mouth, and everything in verse 26 talks about what she says. That's where that acrostic comes in. Says she opens her mouth with wisdom. She says wise things. She thinks before she speaks, which is not always what I do. The law of kindness is on her lips.

You know, here's a woman who doesn't have a bad thing to say about anyone. A woman you wouldn't see engaging in gossip, and in whom a discouraging word would not be found. Goodness. The word here used for goodness is actually translated virtue. And I think we can pretty much conclude that the entire section shows us that the goodness that she does. But verse 12 specifically tells us that she does her husband good all the days of her life. I think we can apply, or if we can look at that, we can apply that she does good to others also, given the amount of respect that she's given, not just by her family, but by the people within the gates. Faithfulness. Verse 30, we do see specifically stated that she is a woman who fears God, and a woman who loves her husband. She is faithful to them both, much like our, unlike our example of the Israelite people over the years. She is certainly faithful to both her husband, as well as her Lord and Master.

Gentleness. The word gentleness here is translated humility. Gentleness is humility in this section. And while we don't see specific actions of humility, you can get with, you can get a feeling within the passage that she's a humble person. She doesn't toot her own horn in the process of all of these incredible things. You don't see her standing in the street screaming, look at what incredible deal I got! It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. In this case, the Hebrew letter that goes with this actually is the is the letter tov, which means sign or signal.

And so the indication here is that her works are a sign or a signal of her goodness and of her humility. She's not speaking in the gates of her dealings. Her work speaks for itself. Her family praises her for the work she does. She doesn't praise herself. She fears God. She serves her husband. She's humble and she's gentle. Self-control, she's not impulsive. And we can actually see that within this scripture. Verse 16 tells us that she considers the field before she purchases it.

She didn't just walk up and go, oh, it's got such a beautiful view of the Red Sea. I just have to have it. You know, how often do husbands trust their wives implicitly if they come home with frivolous, impulsive purchases every time they leave the house? You know, if Shannon ran out and bought, you know, a brand new pair of shoes every time she left the house, a credit card would get taken away. I couldn't implicitly trust her to go and purchasing. It's actually a really funny commercial.

Sorry, small aside. Very funny commercial that I saw that aired in Britain along this line. And it's a gentleman who's getting ready in front of this mirror and he's straightening his tines. He's at this country club, really fancy, fancy country club. And he's getting changed and getting ready. And the guys in the background are all getting ready as well. And his phone rings. And he answers and he says, oh, and the woman on the end of the phone says, honey, you know, says, I found this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful bomber jacket. I just, I have to have it. He says, well, how much is it? You know, he's still getting ready. And he's kind of straightening his hair. Oh, it's, it's, it's $1,300. He says, well, do you really like it? Yeah, get it. If it makes you happy, just get it.

Oh, thank you so much. And, oh, and the Lexus that we were looking at last week, it's, it's, it's finally down where we want it. It's only $75,000. And he says, I, I did like that car.

Go ahead and pick it up. Go ahead and pick it up. Looking forward to driving it. She says, oh, and then one last thing, that property we were looking at, the one for 1.5 million, it's back on the market. He says, offer them 1.3. Oh, honey, I love you so much. Thank you. Oh, okay. Bye-bye, dear. See you. Have a good day. Gets finished up and he hits the button and he turns around and he says, anybody know whose phone this is? There's somebody with an impulsive attitude. I just got to have it. I can see it. It's mine. I must have it. But this woman in this example does not show that. She's trusted implicitly by her husband. Trusted implicitly.

You know, the church as a whole is a collection of the character traits of its individuals.

So individually, by putting on these characteristics of the fruits of the spirit in our lives, we can influence the whole. Individually, are our words tempered with kindness? Or do we say things we regret? Do we exhibit self-control? Or once again, do we spend time putting our foot in our mouth? Are we faithful? Are we patient? Are we full of joy? You know, by all of us becoming, individually, Proverbs 31 wives, quote-unquote, we can as a whole become a Proverbs 31 church.

Think about it. How much more could a church's light shine if the members of that church were all exhibiting the fruits of the spirit at all times? If they were consistently walking the walk? How much more would the world notice? You know, all the reasons that people give to not go to church. I feel judged when I walk in the door. It's just everybody's a hypocrite. You know, they tell me to do this and then they're not doing it. They always gossip all the times.

You know, all of the things that people would list as reasons to not go to church and to not be a part would be gone. If the church could follow, if all churches could follow, fruits of the spirit all at once, all of it would be gone. A Proverbs 31 church is something to notice.

It stands out because it is rarer than precious stones. You know, the woman described in Proverbs 31 may seem like an impossible standard to live up to, but her example shows a character that is unparalleled. A character that is sought after, the kind of woman any man would be blessed to have in ancient Israel and for that matter, blessed to have today. Her character is truly the character of an ideal bride to be. The called out people of God are the bride of Christ, and our character must be that of virtue and of valor. We must view the passage in Proverbs 31 and see ourselves and our church, not just pass it by because we think it doesn't apply, because it does. We need to see our successes, we need to see our shortcomings, and as the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread rapidly approach, we really desperately need to be examining ourselves to see whether our future husband, God himself, Jesus Christ, can trust us. Whether we're faithful to Him, whether we do good to Him all the days of our lives, whether we're good stewards of what we've been given, whether we're actively doing what we're expected to do, and lastly, whether we're living the attributes of the Spirit that we've been given. The marriage of the Lamb will come. Will the bride be ready?