A Proverbs 31 Church

Well, brethren, there's a scripture in the Old Testament that strikes fear into the heart of women everywhere. And maybe fear in its typical context is not the proper use of the word. Maybe it's more of a fear of awe and respect. But regardless, this particular fear and this scripture can often 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 that is described within. And it's also a scripture at times where their husbands have maybe read or listened to messages on and lean over and elbow their wives and say something to the effect of, hey, you hear that? You know, despite the impossible standard, many women that are newly married do look to this scripture to help shape them into the spouse that they wish to become. What am I talking about? Of course, Proverbs 31. Let's go ahead and turn over there today. Proverbs 31. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 10. Proverbs 31 and verse 10. And we'll read it through verse 31, which is the extent of it.

Proverbs 31, sorry, beginning in chapter 10. Verse 10? That sounds right. You know where it's at.

I'm still looking for it. Proverbs 31 and verse 10 reads as follows, and we'll read the whole thing, and then you can keep a bookmark in there. We're going to be back in and out of here a little bit today. It says, who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, willingly works with her hands. She's like the merchant ships. She brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household, a portion for her maidservants. She considers a field and she buys it. From her profit, she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good. Her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff. Her hand holds a spindle. She extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She's not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, 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, does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. And then 30 and 31 kind of conclude, charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. Now, it really is an incredible passage. When you take a look at it and you really dig into it, it's incredible. And well, again, we'll put a bookmark in here. We'll be coming back here periodically today. What we see in this passage is at least what the scripture describes as a woman that is so rare that her worth to her husband is far more than precious stones. We see a woman who husband trusts her implicitly. The trust that her husband has in her is rewarded by incredible gains through his wife. Says she does him only good. She buys, she sells, she trades, she's up before dawn getting the household ready to go, assigning the servants their portions. She's out buying real estate! She's buying fields, she's trading, she's planting vineyards. It says she keeps herself physically fit and financially secure. She's prepared for the worst. On top of all of it, she's cheerful and she's glad.

She takes care of those that are less fortunate. She's poised, she's well-spoken, she has a good work ethic. She's praised in her household within the city gates. And lastly, of course, and most importantly, she fears God. Now, every man out there looks for a woman like this and a wife.

A woman who's beautiful and self-assured and economical, excellent cook, a caretaker, someone who likes to fish. But the problem is the law only allows one wife. Right? And joking.

Joking, I'm kidding. Kidding. But let's be honest, though. Let's be, I mean, very real here. When you take a look at this passage, this is quite the list of traits for any one person to meet. I mean, it really is. And therein lies the inadequacy that sometimes comes when a person looks at this scripture, because it really is kind of an impossible standard to be able to go through and check every single one of these things off of the list of boxes, so to speak, each day isn't realistic. The day doesn't start with a series of boxes, and you check them all off as you go. You know, I got it before the dawn. Check. Gave to the homeless. Check. Dress the kids in scarlet. Check.

You know, and then you get to the end of the day and you realize, oh, I forgot to plant the vineyard. You know, that's not really what we're talking about here, and it's not really what this scripture is getting at. What this scripture is getting at is it's giving us an insight into the overall character of a woman who is considered to be virtuous, the overall character of a woman that is to be considered worthy for marriage. And obviously, this is being provided from King Lemuel to his, or from his mother to King Lemuel. And virtuous in this context, when we talk about virtuous, it's the Hebrew word kael, which is translated to force or powerful or might.

You might say a more accurate translation of this would be a woman of valor, a woman with reputation, with renown, someone who's known in the marketplace, who's known in the gates, her husband is well known, she is known to be connected to her husband. The both of them are greatly respected, greatly respected. And again, this is coming from King Lemuel's mother to King Lemuel because she's instructing her son on the character of a woman to look for in a wife. But you know, for those of us down through the ages had a chance to kind of look at this collection of wisdom contained in Proverbs, and in particular, this proverb, it really helps us to be able to look at the kind of character that not only, you know, a spouse is to be considered, but each and every one of us as well to be a spouse to someone else. If you've never taken a chance to really dig through this passage in study, it's an interesting study, and I would encourage you to do that if you haven't. It's a Jewish acrostic poem, so the words themselves, they begin with the first letter of the Jewish alphabet, each stanza, so it starts with aleph and then beit and then gimel, and then on and on it goes all the way down to tav. And you can go into some of the meanings of those letters, and it actually has some additional context and, you know, importance there. We're not going to get into that today, but I would encourage you to do so. But what this passage does is it describes the characteristics of a future bride to be. The characteristics of a future bride to be. Let's go over to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, once again, keep a bookmark in here. We're going to come back to it, but Revelation 19, and we'll pick it up in verse 6 of Revelation 19, as we consider the character of a bride to be. Revelation 19, verse 6, we'll see here in Revelation a vision that was recorded by the Apostle John, provided to him by Jesus Christ, and then he recorded it, sent it around. We had it for, you know, our own use here now.

Revelation 19, verse 6, says, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns, 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.

And to her it was granted to be a raid in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And of course, we see him say, You don't do that. I'm your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the testimony of Jesus as the spirit of prophecy. I want us to focus on one particular line in this section, and that is the marriage of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready. You know, in this passage, we see the prophesied rule of Jesus Christ. We see at this point, the first resurrection is passed, the bride is ready, she's undertaken the preparations, she's clothed herself in righteous acts, has done what's required of her, and now the marriage has come. Well, who is this bride? Who is this bride? Ephesians 5, if you want to jump over there real quick, gives us another little piece of the puzzle. Ephesians 5 kind of helps to make the picture a little more full. Ephesians 5, we'll pick it up in verse 22.

Ephesians 5 verse 22 says, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.

For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, it says, so let the wives be to their husbands in everything. Verse 25, 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. Notice verse 27, 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 ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason, going back and quoting Genesis, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Now, so he goes back and he makes this reference. He goes back and he draws their attention to the purpose of creation, the purpose of marriage. And then in verse 32 he explains it. He says, this is a great mystery, but he says, I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. So the bride that we see described here in this section in Ephesians 5 as well as in Revelation 19 is described as the church. It's described as the ecclesia of God, those who have been called out, the called out assembly of people whom God has called to him. And the passage goes on to inform us that those that are subject to Christ, those that are called, I should say, are subject to Christ, that he has head over them, that he loved them so much that he died for them, he gave his life for them, and in addition to that, he wishes to present them wholly and without blemish, no spots, no wrinkles, the ones that Christ brought through his sacrifice without blemish that have been clothed in righteousness. You know, verse 31 goes on to talk about the lessons that can be learned through marriage that are very difficult to learn otherwise. You know, it's not impossible, but it's difficult. It's certainly more difficult. The mystery of a man leaving his father and his mother and becoming one flesh with his wife is in fact in regards to Christ and to the church.

And so with that in mind, we can conclude that we as the ecclesia, those whom God has called, who have accepted and responded to that calling, are in preparation and are the bride of Christ.

We are those whom God has brought to his Son. And so then, if we are the bride of Christ and if there is a marriage yet to come, wouldn't it be important for us to ensure that we're the kind of bride that is prepared for our husband? And what that should look like for each and every one of us as we consider the passages that are here in Proverbs 31, as we consider the lessons that we can draw out of Proverbs 31 for us as the church, as individuals, so to speak, within this collective calling that make up the body of the ecclesia, and to be able to show the same fear as a church and as individuals within the church that young ladies and newly married women show, given the example, again, provided in this passage. So the title of the message today is a Proverbs 31 church, Proverbs 31 church. And the reason I would like to bring this up today is because as we kind of come into the spring Holy Day season, I think it's a really good reminder for all of us, you know, as men oftentimes we blow right through Proverbs 31. We shouldn't, but we do because we go, you know what? I'm not a wife. This does not apply to me. And we blow right through it. But the reality is each and every one of us are being called to be a part of the bride of Christ. Each and every one of us are being called to the characteristics that are provided in this chapter. It's not just the women. It's us two. It's the men as well being asked to become just like this. And I think sometimes there's been too much focus put on this to try to create women into superwomen, you know. The reality is a woman who fears the Lord and does her best to keep his will absolutely fits Proverbs 31, you know. That is the beauty of that passage.

So I have to take the opportunity to boil down the character a little bit with the message today.

We've got three primary characteristics I'd like to take a look at. The first of those characteristics is that a Proverbs 31 church is faithful and trustworthy. Proverbs 31 church is faithful and trustworthy. Proverbs 31 church is also good stewards. They are good stewards of what God has provided them. And also a Proverbs 31 church embodies the fruits of God's Spirit. A Proverbs 31 church embodies the fruits of God's Spirit. So let's start with the concept of faithful and trustworthy. Let's go ahead and dig into that. If you want to go ahead and start turning back into the Old Testament, we're going to be going to Exodus 14. You want to begin turning over there.

The entirety of the story of the Old Testament, when you really boil it down, is the story of a faithful and true God in a desire for a faithful and true people. Yet we see on a number of occasions, we see times in which Israel struggled, we see times in which individuals struggled where they might be faithful and then they have issues. As a whole, we see the congregation of Israel struggle with these same things. And ultimately, we see an example, unfortunately, throughout the Old Testament, of a people that largely proved themselves to be unworthy or I'm sorry, not unworthy, untrustworthy and unfaithful. When you start at their national captivity in Egypt, when you see the subsequent release, what God did through Moses, you know, God wrought multiple, numerous miracles within the plague. You know, he had gone through and done some incredible things, challenged and managed to conquer each and every one of the gods that Egypt worshiped. And one after another, these gods fell before the Almighty God. We know the story for sake of time, we won't go through all the specifics, but God worked 10 of those plagues, each one a little bit worse than the last. You know, each one kind of got progressively more urgent, we might say, or progressive, maybe insistent is the right word. They became progressively more insistent that God's people be let go. Ultimately, each of those were a direct attack on the gods of Egypt. The final plague, the death of the firstborn, was enough severity and personally touching to Pharaoh that he finally let Israel leave. In fact, you go back and look at it, the people practically demanded it. The people of Egypt practically demanded it. So after all those years of captivity, Israel was free and the chosen people of God set out to find their place in the world. Well, seven days later, they found themselves in a very well-known and well-documented predicament, and that's in Exodus 14. Exodus 14, we'll take a look here at where they found themselves between a rock and a hard place, so to speak, or in this case between an idol and several hundred thousand angry Egyptians.

Exodus 14, we'll pick it up in verse 2. Exodus 14 in verse 2, says, Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and they camp before Pah-Hehiroth, between Migdul and the sea, opposite Beyel Zafon. 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 them in. So God put the entire host of Israel in a very specific location to camp for a reason. You'll notice Beyel Zafon here is not referencing a place, it's referencing an it. It says, Place them before it, Beyel Zafon. We've talked a little bit about this before, just by way of reminder. Beyel Zafon was a Canaanite god. So Beyel Zafon was a large, they believe it was a large idol on one side of the Red Sea, on a like a pyramidal type base that could be seen from the shore. It was a representation of Beyel of Syria, the god of the sea and storms, and it was a large bronze idol on this pyramid base with its right hand raised in the air. Now, if any of you've been to the Statue of Liberty before, honestly it looked a lot like the Statue of Liberty, to be quite honest. Pyramid base, right hand in the air, whole thing out in the ocean, etc. So just something interesting that there's nothing new under the sun, so to speak. But it was very commonplace in these times to place idols on routes of passage, especially for sailors, because sailors are notoriously superstitious lot. You know, it's all about appeasing the god of the sea so you can have a safe journey, etc. And in this case, oftentimes because you had sailors traveling from different locations in different countries, often one idol would fit two to three different gods from different nations. And so in this case, Egypt had a version of Beyel Zafon that was their own god. Syria had their own version. Phoenicia had their own version. And ultimately, you know, it would be known to the individuals at that time. But because it was at this crossroad of where trades and voyages and things took place, this particular idol was worshipped by both Egyptians and Canaanites, and anybody passing by really for a safe journey. Keep in mind, Israel had been living in Egypt for a very long time. This would not have been a foreign god to them. This would not have been something they didn't understand what it was. They didn't know what it was. And it's not coincidence that God put them right in front of it with an ocean at their back and an angry army at their front. Because what God is about to do here is to send them a message that all of us, I think, can appreciate. Verses 9 and 10... go back in here. Verses 9 and 10, we'll just skim through here and see, you know, Pharaoh felt like he had him trapped. Okay, Pharaoh felt like he had him trapped between his armies, you know, and the last god to kind of stand in the way. Maybe he felt that Beyel Zafon would go ahead and deliver the host of Israel into his hands. When you start digging into this particular idol in the rabbinical writings, they talk about how Pharaoh offered sacrifices, offered burnt incense and other things to this particular idol to deliver Israel.

Obviously, we have to be careful when you go into rabbinical sources and the writings that are contained in the Midrash and things like that, but there does seem to be some, at least, evidence that Pharaoh did believe that this last god in their path would deliver them. But for the host of Israel camping in the shadow of this idol, it represented a test. And that test is, would you be faithful? Will you trust me? It says, I've got this idol at your backs. I've got Pharaoh breathing down your neck. You've seen what I've done to every other god in this process. I've defeated them all.

And here's the last one in your path for Egypt, and the first one in your path as you cross into Canaan.

Do you trust me or not? So what happens? Exodus 14 verse 11. Exodus 14 verse 11, they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?

Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness? Verse 13, we might add in, and God sighed audibly. No, that's not what it says. But you can imagine, you know, here he's, after all the things that he's done, after all of the incredible miracles that he's wrought, one last one. But they struggled. They really struggled. Kind of wonder sometimes if God knew at this point how long the next 40 years were going to be. You know, whether he had some inkling of how things were going to go as they went forward from that point. But they seemed to really struggle at this point. Thankfully, God, unlike his people, are always faithful to his promises. He parts the Red Sea, the Israelites cross, Pharaoh, the chariots are destroyed. Again, God conquers the last God standing in their way, and the first God, as they leave Egypt coming into the land that he was bringing them into, which is a big message too. Because in those days, it was believed that the gods only had reign over the nation in which they were worshipped.

God's just shown that he is not a god that only works in Egypt. He's a god that works in Canaan too, because he just defeated Beelzaphon of Canaan. And so there's got to be some extra pep in your step, so to speak, as you're crossing that Red Sea simply because of that fact. But if we fast forward just a little bit, so we fast forward through Israel as a story, we see that the idol that was created, the golden calf here, was made after the bull god Apis of Egypt. We see Israel really struggled to learn the lesson. And the rest of the Old Testament, the rest of, in fact, you know, a certain extent the New Testament, reads a lot like this account. God desires for faithfulness in his people. God desires to see if they'll turn to him and if they'll, you know, reach out to him in their time of need, and instead they continually turn to something else. Whatever that something else may be. Whether it was another god in the Old Testament, whether it was something else, whether it is today, other things that we put before God. They would reach for something else.

This is endemic to the people of Israel. This issue is endemic to the people of Israel, and if, you know, as long as we don't kid ourselves, we struggle with these same things. We struggle with putting other things before God. Getting ourselves into struggles and issues and challenges and reaching out to other things instead of God. And it begs the question, what are our priorities?

What are our priorities? Let's turn back to Proverbs 31, verse 11, talking about faithfulness and trustworthiness. Proverbs 31, and we'll pick it up in verse 11. What does Proverbs 31 say about faithfulness and trust? 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. You know, as we have the spring holy days rapidly approaching, they're coming up very, very quickly. We examine our lives. We strive to see the locations in our lives, try to see ourselves as God sees us. We try to see ourselves in the context, so to speak, of God's eyes.

Can we say that God implicitly trusts us to do the right thing? Can we say that God implicitly trusts us to do the right thing, to do him good and not evil all the days of our lives? Do our daily actions cause our husband gain?

Questions to ask as we examine ourselves, questions to consider as we think about the characteristics of a virtuous wife, in this case, a virtuous church, the bride of Christ, as we take a look at these things. Secondly, a Proverbs 31 church, they're wise stewards.

They're wise stewards of what they've been provided. You know, the virtuous wife that we see in this passage is an economic powerhouse. She's a force to be reckoned with, you know, really truly a force to be reckoned with in this passage. We see, she buys, she sells, she trades, and if you have ever bought, sold, or trade, or traded, I should say, in a culture that is not American, it is a very different experience. Those of you that have been to the Middle East, those of you that have been to other places, you know that there is no such thing as walking in and going, I'll take that. Because there's going to be a conversation that comes afterwards, where you have to try to talk him out of his livelihood to get it at an actual normal price. And that's just the way that that society operates. And it was no different at this point in time. But she buys, she plants, she has property, she makes, she sells her own things, she works with the merchants, she supplies them with sashes. Sashes are important. She's well known, she's of good reputation. People want to do business with her. They want to do business with her. She's a wise steward of the resources that have been provided her by her husband. She takes care of what she's been given. She takes care, she invests, she grows it, she prospers it, her husband trusts her.

And you can see by the account, he's not micromanaging her in it. He's not sitting there looking over her shoulder like, did you sell it for the price we talked about selling it for?

He trusts her! He says, do what you got to do! I trust you. You know, you're getting it taken care of. That's perfect. You know, it's, Shannon and I, we've mentioned this before, we've done the Dave Ramsey program before, and he talks a lot about the importance of being a wise steward when it comes to finances. And in that, he encompasses a lot of things. It's not just making sure that you're careful with your money, etc. It's all about making sure that you follow up and, and are, you know, you take care of your obligations. If you signed on that dotted line, you take care of it. You make sure because you put your name to it. You said this is what you would do, you do it. And so as part of being a wise steward, he talks about making sure that our obligations are taken care of. Not allowing ourselves to become slaves to debtors, not, you know, letting some of the, some of the issues of this life kind of creep in.

But while those lessons may deal specifically with money, have we been given something more valuable than that? Have we been provided something more valuable than that that we're being asked to be wise stewards of? Let's go to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians, we'll pick it up in chapter 1.

2 Corinthians chapter 1, and we'll go ahead and begin in verse 21.

2 Corinthians 1 verse 21, we'll see that we've been provided a very important down payment.

2 Corinthians 1 and verse 21 says, Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God.

Verse 22, who has also sealed us and who has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

And that word there is equivalent to the concept of an earnest payment today. In other words, it is a deposit which has been made with guarantee or with intent, we might say, to purchase. 3 Corinthians 1 and 2, those of you that have bought a house recently, unfortunately those earnest payments are probably more substantial than they were a few years ago, but those of you that have bought a house recently and have put down earnest money, that means you're serious.

That means you're not just going to flake on the person. You're serious. And provided it meets the conditions, you're buying it. Right? That's along the lines of what we're talking about when we talk about this, that that deposit of God's Holy Spirit in our lives tells us that He intends to purchase us in full. But we're expected to do something with what we've been given. We're expected to be wise and profitable with that earnest money that we've been provided. Matthew 25 talks about this. Matthew 25. I'm going to go ahead and turn over there.

Matthew 25. Again, well-known scripture here. Matthew 25, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in 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. So we'll note, you know, individuals here started with different amounts.

They started with different, you know, totals. They were about their master's business straight away. Money was handed over. These guys were off doing what they did, taking care of business for their master. You know, maybe, I don't know the story as to why some got more, you know, it doesn't explicitly state it necessarily. Maybe some of those servants were more trusted. Maybe they're not.

I don't know. But, you know, there's a couple places in scripture that seem to insinuate that's why greater expectations were placed upon some rather than others. But verse 16, we see they go about and they immediately begin doing what he asked him to do. Then he who would receive the five talents went and traded with them and made another five. Likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. So they take off. The two guys there, they take off. They go do their thing. They're fervent. They're zealous. They're out doing the job.

They're out getting to taking care of. They're making that money perform for their master. Verse 18 says, but he would receive one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. So rather than go and do business, rather than go and trade and interact and do the things that needed to be done, this particular one just dug a hole, stuck it in the hole, covered it up with dirt, knowing that when his master came back, he could dig that hole up, give his master back the exact amount of money that he gave him when he left, and say, look, I didn't lose you any money.

Essentially, I think it seems like was the theory. But we notice that that's not quite what the master wanted. In fact, at verse 19, now after a long time, the Lord of these servants came and settled accounts with them. So he would receive five talents, came and bought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five. Look, I've 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'll make you ruler over many things. He says, enter into the joy of your Lord. He also would receive two talents, came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents.

Look, I've gained two more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you've been faithful over a few things. I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Verse 24, we see the individual with the single talent. Then he would receive the one talent, came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you've not sown and gathering where you've not scattered seed. He says, I was afraid and I went and I hid your talent in the ground.

Look, there you have what is yours. There you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and he 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. He says, so you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So the master returns, you know, however delayed his return was. We don't really know how long.

But he found the first two servants, those that went straight away and invested what their master had given them had both doubled their returns. And it didn't matter. Notice, I think this is important, it didn't matter that the one got five and the other had two. Both had the same response. It is absolutely what you do with what you've been given. It is not a race to who can get five or who can get ten.

It's what have you done with what you've been provided. But the third servant we see hit his talent under a rock.

Very could have at least put it in the bank and got an interest. All point zero zero one of it these days. Not even close to keeping up with inflation, but okay. Verse 28. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given. He will have abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And he casts the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So we see the punishment that's given here to the third servant. His talent was removed, given to the servant that have obtained the most, and he would be cast into outer darkness. Seems like quite a bit of punishment for a small investing mistake. Broker beware.

But this parable is not about money. It's not about money. On the surface, yes, it seems like it's about money. But it's not about money. It's about what we do with what we've been given.

Do we take what we've been given and stick it in the ground and put a rock over it?

Or do we go out and do we grow it? Do we go out and we trade? We invest? We spread it?

Or do we bury it under a rock, only to give it back at the end and say, see, I didn't lose it? God's expectation for us is that we'll do something with what we've been given. Ideally, that we'll double it, we'll grow it, we'll produce something, not squander it and ultimately forget about it. A few chapters over here, or a few books over here in Luke 12. Let's go ahead and turn over there real quick. Luke 12 verse 42. We'll see the actions and the characteristics of a wise steward. Luke 12 verse 42, and we'll go ahead and read through verse 48.

Luke 12 verse 42 says, The Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food and dew season?

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing, note those words, so doing, when he comes. You know, there's action that's implied in these words. There's action.

The faithful steward, the one that's wise, the one that when the master returns will find him so doing, not so done. It's not past tense. It's not so done. It's present tense.

Brethren, we should never reach a point where we think we've learned it all.

We should never reach a point where we think that our obligation is complete, that all the boxes have been checked, so to speak, and we're good. We should never reach that point.

We need to be ensuring that while we still draw breath, we are growing what we have been given.

We are continuing to take care of the interests of the household, so to speak, while our master is away, because at this time he is away in that sense.

But that means we have work to do. That means we have things to do. You know, making sure that we're stoking that fire of God's Spirit in our lives, not letting it go out, that it can be shared with others. It goes on in verse 44, Luke 12, 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 the female servants to eat, to drink, and to become drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him into and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

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 him will they ask the more." And we see the opposite side of the coin here. We see the servant who knew that the Lord was delayed, servant that lost the vigilance, lost the urgency, stopped growing, took up maybe dangerous habits, and we see the result. We see the master cut him asunder and appointed his portion with those that were not faithful. Verse 48 takes it one step further. It says, the servant who knew what was expected of them and did not do it will receive a greater punishment than those who didn't do what God wanted but were unaware of the expectations, aka the world around us. Who do not know, in some cases, what God wants will be judged with a lesser judgment than those who knew and did not. To whom much is given, much shall be required. To whom he commits much of that person will he ask them more. Now, that scripture should give pause to those of us who have been called to live this way of life. We have been given much. We really have. We've been provided so much. We've been given the knowledge of the mysteries of God. We've been given the understanding of the scriptures. We've been given an understanding of God's holy days and his plan for man. You know, we've been given a down payment of God's own spirit as an earnest money for purchase. You know, the truth is, and we talked about this in the last message I gave here, the world around us is messed up. It is messed up. It is topsy-turvy. It does not know what God requires of them. It does not fully understand these things because they're blinded. But Luke 1248 tells us that those of us that are aware and are not doing will be punished greater than those who are unaware, because we know better. We know better. So the question is, are we a wise steward?

Are we growing that investment? Are we nurturing it? Are we nourishing it? Are we actively doubling the down payment that has been provided to us? Turn back to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31, once again, as we consider characteristics of the bride of Christ, characteristics of the virtuous wife, so to speak. Proverbs 31 and verse 16 says she considers a field and she buys it. And from those prophets it says she plants a vineyard. What do you suppose she does with the prophets from that harvest? Buys another field, plants another vineyard. You know, it's not like she's just sitting there not doing anything with it, or it's just building up. She's using these things. She's growing these things. She's building these things. Are our hands busy working the investments of our Lord? Or are they idle? Proverbs 31 verse 27, she watches over the ways of her household, does not eat the bread of idleness, does not eat the bread of idleness. You know, the virtuous wife in Proverbs 31 makes so many smart business decisions. You know, it's so interesting to look through here and see all the different things that she does. Again, she's an economic force to be reckoned with. She's buying, she's selling, she's trading. And in that process, her husband receives no end of gain. You know, in that process, her husband receives no end of gain. He knows what she's doing. He's letting her make those decisions because, as we saw in point number one, he trusts her implicitly. He knows that she is doing him good, not evil. So as we examine ourselves, as we come into again this spring holy day season, as we begin that process, can God trust us in the same way? Can he trust us in the same way to ensure that we are growing his spirit? Not only growing that, that we are trading, that we are, you know, buying and selling, so to speak, with that in the background. Or have we done what the one servant has done and put a blanket or a basket, rather, over that lampstand? Put it in the dirt and covered it with a rock so that we make sure we can give it back. Are we sitting on the talent that we've hidden? Last point here today is that the Proverbs 31 church embodies the fruits of the Spirit. It embodies the fruits of the Spirit. The passage that we see here in Proverbs 31 shows an abundance of the fruits of the Spirit. The woman that's described here truly personifies these things. You know, she gives us an idea, I think, when you read that passage in Proverbs 31 of what living these fruits looks like. What living these fruits looks like. They're kind of the visible attributes, so to speak, of God's Spirit. So let's go to Galatians 5. We'll take just a quick, brief look here through Galatians 5, taking a look at the fruits of God's Spirit and kind of how this pertains to this concept. Galatians 5, and we'll pick it up in verse 22. Galatians 5 verse 22. All of our little kiddos could sing this in their sleep, thanks to our camp program, our pre-teen camp program. Songs are so catchy, they get stuck in your head. Galatians 5 verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of that down payment which has been placed within each and every one of us, or is working with each and every one of us, as we're being called, is love, it is joy, it is peace, it is long suffering, its kindness, its goodness, its faithfulness, its gentleness, self-control, and it says, against such there is no law. Against such there is no law. And so you know the individuals that exhibit these trades, against them there is no judgment of the law is what it's saying, which is an incredible statement.

Because what that means is that those who keep the fruits of the Spirit with regards to God and with regards to their fellow man, against that person could no accusation of violation of the law of God be made. Because they are doing the things that they need to be doing. They are keeping God's law both in the letter and in the Spirit by doing the things that are outlined in that section.

The fruits of the Spirit, when applied correctly, satisfy the law.

For example, we can't show our love to God unless we obey His laws. Period. That's what Scripture says. Likewise, let's say we don't have patience or long suffering. It's really easy to strike out. It's really easy to say something that puts us in violation of God's law.

It's a total package. It's a total package. When applied correctly, the fruits of the Spirit allow one to satisfy the requirement of the law because they are living the law. They are living the law in that way. Verse 25 is the application. It says it right here, Galatians 5, 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Meaning that our actions and our deeds and our words rather follow. That they follow. It's not enough to believe that these things are a good idea.

It's not enough to look at the passage and say, yeah, that's a really good idea in theory, but man, have they met Fred? You know, it's not enough to be able to do those things. If it's not done consistently, if it's not done in all situations, both physically and spiritually, the final statement of Galatians 5 cannot apply. It can't apply. The fruits of the Spirit are visible attributes of a life lived properly. They are visible fruits personified, so to speak. I don't know how many of you, growing up in Spokane, we had a lot of apple orchards everywhere in and around Spokane. Washington, of course, is fairly famous for its apples. And, you know, Spokane area had quite a few orchards. And as you drive by the orchard, you could tell which orchards were doing really well and which ones were struggling by the fruit that was on the trees. You drove by and the fruit was just laden on those things. You thought, you know what? That one's doing something right. Whoever that apple farmer is, man, he's got that figured out. But then you'd come across orchards sometimes that were really not doing so well, that were really struggling. The fruits of God's Spirit are visible attributes of a life that is living God's way. So how does the virtuous wife here in Proverbs 31, how does she apply these things? Let's take a look at them. How does she apply them? Let's go back to Proverbs 31 here real quick. So love. How does she apply love? Can we agree that she applies love as you look through this particular section? Proverbs 31, hopefully you kept a bookmark there. Proverbs 31, I think you take a look at this entirety of this passage and the virtuous wife here shows a very clear love for her husband. She shows a very clear love for her household. She shows a very clear love for the work that she does, the people that she interacts with.

In addition, passage clearly states in verse 30, charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised. There is love in the fear of God. There is a recognition of God and His power in the fear of God. And she illustrates that by keeping God's commandments, by keeping God's law. You know, and as you read through this section, I think that's pretty clear. I think that's pretty clear as you go through there. What about joy? Does she exhibit joy? Look at verse 25.

Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in time to come. In fact, sometimes you look at that translation, it's laughs at time to come. In other words, looking into the future and she laughs at what is coming. She knows she's prepared. She's not worried about it. She's prepared. She's laughing at it as it comes. I don't know about you guys. Sometimes I do that. If I get scared, I start laughing. It's kind of a defense mechanism, I guess, in that sense. But in her, there's no worry. There's no issues there because she fears God. She trusts God.

There's a cheerfulness that comes which allows her to laugh in the face of that is to come. Barnes' commentary says she does these things with confident gladness. She knows God will take care of her and her family, so she faces the future with certainty. As we think about ourselves as the bride of Christ and the hope that we have and the certainty that we have in God's promises, do we laugh at what is to come? Or do we let it get in our head? Do we let it worry us?

Do we let it live? Do we give it let it live as they say today, rent free, in our head? Or do we laugh at what's to come? Do we have that confident gladness? What about peace? What about peace? The word that's used for peace in Galatians has a second definition of prosperity because the two go hand in hand. This is a woman who is confident in the security of her house. She's worked hard. She's prepared. She trusts her husband. She trusts her God. She knows that it will be taken care of. And all of that, all of those things, brings her a measure of peace.

Brings her a measure of peace. You know, we can see it in her actions. She's taking care of the needy.

She speaks with the law of kindness. You know, she goes through and she's not worried about the future. She's at peace. And in addition to that, she's prosperous. She's prosperous.

Patience. What about patience? What about long suffering? Again, we don't see necessarily anything in here that explicitly shows her dealing with anyone difficult. But once again, if you've ever bartered in the Middle Eastern bartering system, it is a stressful, not so fun experience. Actually, some people really like it. I don't care for it. I'm one of those that wants to go and just pay whatever they say. And I get ready to do that. And Dari slaps my hand and goes, don't you dare pay that much for that! He comes back with like a quarter of the price. And the guy will come back and go, you've insulted my mother! Dari's like, I'm sure your mother's wonderful. But we're not paying that much! It's like, I'm just gonna give you money and take it!

I don't want to do this! I don't want to do this! But you can imagine working in that system, bartering in that kind of a system, long term. It's stressful. Obviously, for us, we weren't born and bred in that system. So it'd probably be a little bit different if we were. But the reality is, you know, she goes back and forth and haggles the prices and does all those things. It's clear that she is a patient woman. You know, that she is able to go through and make those things take place.

Kindness. Verse 26 says, she opens her mouth with wisdom. She does not just open it and say the first thing on her brain. She opens it with wisdom, with discernment.

And on her lips or on her tongue is the law of kindness. This is a person, the Hebrew letter Pei here, that is used in this particular one. One of the reasons I told you it's really cool to go back and look at the acrostic is that the Hebrew letter Pei means mouth. So this whole passage is the letter Pei, which means mouth, and then it's all about what you say and what you speak. And a lot of them are like that as you go through the acrostic. But she opens her mouth with wisdom. The law of kindness is on her lips. This is a woman that doesn't have a bad thing to say about anybody. She doesn't have a bad thing to say about anybody. This is a woman you would not see engaging in gossip, and in which a discouraging word would not be found. Brethren, are we that bride? Are we that bride? As we consider us and the characteristics that God is calling us to on our husband. Goodness. What about goodness? The word here that's used for goodness in Galatians is translated virtue. Again, the whole section here is talking about a virtuous wife, and it's full of good things that she does. Verse 12 specifically tells us, 31 verse 12, she does him good and not evil, speaking of her husband, all the days of her life. I think we can imply that she does good to others as well, based on the respect that she shows her husband, based on the respect that she has shown in the gates, the respect that her husband has shown in the gates. The two of them are highly respected. They are highly respected. And her actions have a direct impact on him, and vice versa. Right? What about faithfulness? Verse 30, once again, charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. A woman loves her husband. She's faithful to them both, both her husband and to her God. She works hard, and she's a faithful servant of her Lord and her Master. Gentleness. Gentleness. How does she exhibit the trait of gentleness? The word gentleness here is also translated humility. Again, we don't necessarily see a specific mention of her acting humbly, but it can be implied, I think, when you look at the other characteristics of the passage. She's not running around acting like she's better than.

You know, she's not running around and, you know, we don't see her specifically acting in certain ways. What we see is that her works speak for her in the gates. That her works speak for her in the gates. The Hebrew letter for this passage is tov, and it's a sign or a signal. You know, she's not speaking in the gates of of her dealings. She's not down there shouting how well she did on this or that. She's not shouting it from the rooftops. Her works speak for themselves. Works speak for themselves. Her family praises her for the works that she's done. She's not praising herself.

Her family is. She fears God. She serves her husband. She's humble. She's gentle. What about self-control?

What about self-control? Do you think the Proverbs 31 wife here is impulsive? Does she seem impulsive?

I don't think so. I don't think so. You take a look at it. It says, verse 16, she considers a field and she buys it. And then from her prophet, she plants a vineyard. It's not like she just saw the field and said, I have to have it. She didn't do that. We've seen examples in scripture of that where a person sees the field and goes, I have to have that. And then ultimately works their way into getting that field and it ends up in disastrous results. But she's wise. She's discerning. She didn't just go out and buy it because she felt like she had to have it. She planned it out. She purchased it. It was a good decision. Now how often do husbands trust their wives if, you know, the, I will use the modern thing of the day, you come home to 25 Amazon packages on your front porch every day for a week. It's like, wait a minute. That was actually a really funny commercial that I saw recently that was talking about this. And the deal was the wife was tricking her husband. She was taking all the boxes and emptying them and then stacking them up outside. So one day he comes home and it's just this giant pile of boxes. That would not necessarily inspire confidence. It would not necessarily inspire confidence in the self-control of our spouse. This wife in Proverbs 31, once again, this church that we're talking about here today, it's trusted by her husband. It's trusted by her husband. In this case, we see again that her husband trusts her implicitly. So this church as a whole is a collection of the character traits of its individuals. Individually, brethren, are we putting on the characteristics of the fruits of spirit in our life? By doing that, we can influence the whole. Are our words tempered with kindness?

Do we exhibit self-control? Are we faithful? Are we patient? Are we full of joy?

Brethren, by all of us individually becoming Proverbs 31 wives, so to speak, on the whole, we can become Proverbs 31 church. How much more could our light shine if, as a whole, we exhibit these things all the time? Think about how much more our light could shine overall. How much more would the world notice it and see it? You know, I remember Caleb gave a message a number of years ago asking about, you know, if the church disappeared, would anyone miss it?

Are we even known? I've told people before where we go, and they're like, what? Where's that? Tells me we're not interfaced into the community enough, is what that tells me. How much more would the world notice if these things were done and they were done regularly? A Proverbs 31 church is something to notice, brethren, because it stands out because it's rarer than precious stones. You know, this woman, this described here in Proverbs 31, may seem like an impossible standard to live up to, but her example shows a character, ultimately, that is unparalleled. It's a character that should be sought after, the kind of woman that any man would be blessed to have in ancient Israel, or even today, for that matter, but her character is truly the character of the ideal bride to be. And the called out people of God, the Ekklesia, are the bride of Christ, and our character must be that of also virtue and valor. We must view the passages here in Proverbs 31 and see ourselves and also see our church, to see both our successes as well as our shortcomings. Again, as the Passover of the Days of Unleavened Bread rapidly approach, to be able to examine ourselves to consider whether our future husband can trust us, whether we're faithful to him, whether we do him good all the days of our life, whether we're good stewards of what we've been given, whether we're actively doing what we are expected to do, and lastly, whether we're living the attributes of the spirit that we've been given. Brethren, we know from Scripture, we know from the book of Revelation, we saw it earlier today, the marriage of the Lamb will come. And the question is, will the bride have made herself ready?