Thank you, Jess. That was like so fast.
Today is International Women's Day.
I'm going to ask all the men to stand.
Old men, if you can turn around, put let your eyes connect with a
woman and say you are blessed. So there you go.
What are we doing? So guys, you got to do this
again. OK, all the guys sit down.
I'm going to show you how to do this.
You're going to rise up and say you are blessed.
It goes like this. I arise and say you are blessed.
All right, one more time, 123. Oh, my goodness, you guys.
OK, so you were just fulfilling biblical descriptions of honor.
And we sometimes miss this. This is one of those lines in
Proverbs 31. It's a very famous poem about
the valiant woman, the heroic woman, the superwoman.
I want to put it all in context though, so that we see this
passage for what it is, that it's actually a call to actually
live a life of embodied wisdom, and that the whole book of
Proverbs, it's fascinating, the whole book of Proverbs sort of
paints wisdom as something that you must earnestly desire.
And when it gets to the last chapter, it actually moves from
the Proverbs of Solomon, and it moves towards another teacher, a
woman who is teaching King Lemuel's mother.
We're not sure if the famous poem it's hers, but it may well
be. And so let her be your teacher
today from the Word of God about becoming a person who embodies
all of the wisdom of God. This passage that we're going to
read is sometimes heard by the modern ear as a burden.
And so I acknowledge that that some women hear this and go,
they get to the end of it and go, Oh, no, I'm already tired,
what am I going to do? And so if you need to hear this
as just a description of the ideal woman, then let this be
the speech given at her lifetime achievement award ceremony.
This is what's seen over the course of a life.
But for both men and women who read this passage in its
context, you must read it as a call of God, a call of the voice
of wisdom itself, calling out to you to say be a person who
embodies the wisdom of God. Here's some of what it might
look like. Proverbs 31.
If you have a Bible, you can open it there or your Bible app.
The sayings of King Lemuel and inspired utterance his mother
taught him. Listen my son, listen, son of my
womb. Listen, my son, the answer to my
prayers. Do not spend your strength on
women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.
It is not for kings, Manuel. It is not for kings to drink
wine. It's not for rulers to crave
beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and
deprive all of the oppressed of their rights.
Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who
are in anguish. Let them drink and forget their
poverty, and remember their misery no more.
But you. Speak up.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the
rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly.
Defend the rights of the poor and needy.
A wife, a wife of noble character who can find she is
worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence
in her and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still night.
She provides food for her family and portions for her female
servants. She considers a field and buys
it out of her earnings. She plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously.
Her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not
go out at night. In her hand she holds the
distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the
needy when it snows. She has No Fear for her
household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed. She is clothed in fine linen and
purple. Her husband is respected at the
city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the
land. She makes linen garments and
sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity.
She can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her
tongue. She watches over the affairs of
her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed.
You get it, guys. Her husband also, and he praises
her. Many women do noble things, but
you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive and beauty is
fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works
bring her praise at the city gate.
We've been in a series called Financial Peace and Purpose.
Some of you've been astonished at the text we have chosen along
the way, and you might be astonished that this is the one
we're ending with. We started with a text in
Revelation that spoke of Babylon.
Babylon, that city that robbed people of dignity and worth and
ultimately stole the glory of God.
But we know we live in that system, but we also live in the
system of the Kingdom of God as the people of light.
And so some of you have been frustrated along the way, but I
still have to have money. I have to earn it.
I have to spend it. I have to give it.
I probably should save it. I still need money in this
setting. Who could save me from these
kinds of decisions? And ultimately, I hope you've
understood no one can save you from those decisions.
God intends for you to make decisions about money,
especially as you organize your life under Him.
One of the pictures that I like to draw about our life and
relationship with Jesus is in the walk through the gospel.
And in that picture, we put ourself here in the middle, and
we understand that we were made for four relationships, a
relationship with God. That's what we were made for.
This is who we are called to. But we also live in this body
and we have a sense of self. And we were made to have a
relationship with ourselves, to know ourselves, to become a
person. Much of that is done and
understood in relationship to others.
And we were made to have a relationship with other people.
And money belongs into that sense of mammon that we were
made to have a relationship with the stuff of Earth.
You're all here at university studying the stuff of Earth and
what people have done with it and what we could do with it.
And many of you have ambitions about that and dreams about what
to do with that. And some of you have sensed this
is what God has put in my heart and this is what I want to do
and I want to do it well. The call of scripture and the
call of God is to organize our life in relationship to Him.
And we often gather that around the word worship that I am
worshipping God. But how to understand our self
in the world is organized around the word wisdom.
And in the Scripture it says that wisdom begins with the fear
of God and it resets our life so that in relation to people we
know we are called to serve. And it changes our relationship
with the stuff of earth so that now we know we are a steward.
To steward the grace of God in its many forms requires wisdom.
Wisdom will be set in your life according to what you worship
and who you worship. The call of Jesus is for us to
understand all of this through the picture of the cross and the
life of the cross. That may not be readily apparent
in Proverbs 31, but there are some gifts in Proverbs 31 that
will ultimately lead us to the cross.
The 1st is that we have to reconcile that wisdom is
something we actually want. That wisdom blesses abundantly.
Can you move me forward there one back, there we go.
Proverbs 2 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will
be pleasant to your soul. This is when you open your heart
and life to God and you start to ask for wisdom.
It says wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be
pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you and
understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the
ways of wicked men. Wisdom will save you.
And it's repeated several times. Then in chapter 3, it says that
blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain
understanding. She is a tree of life.
Any tree huggers here that you're like, I will go and hug
that tree. And he says wisdom is that kind
of tree. Embrace this tree.
She is a tree of life for those who take hold of her, and those
who hold her fast will be blessed.
If you read Proverbs one through 9, you're going to hear this
depiction and you'll actually hear the voice of Lady Wisdom
calling out. She's contrasted with the foil
of Lady Folly, Wisdom and Folly. They each have their house that
they invite you into. They each promise you life, but
only one delivers. One delivers life, one delivers
death. But wisdom doesn't fully do its
words. If it's just words of wisdom,
they must become embodied into our lives.
They must be reflected on, thought about.
A proverb on the tongue is of little value in the mouth of a
fool because it hasn't done the work yet in the heart.
And so Lady Wisdom calls out in the words of the mother of King
Lemuel, to the king. We've been introduced here to
two kinds of people with power. The king has power.
These are the sayings of King Limwell and inspired utterance
his mother taught him. Listen.
The call to listen is is actually a call to obey, to give
thought to not just the words, but to your life.
And then the poem to this wife is actually a poem to a valiant
woman, a woman of valor. The word valor here is often
used in the Old Testament for men.
The mighty men of David, the mighty woman, the mighty wife,
the valiant woman. Do you know this poem is recited
every week and the home of my friend Rabbi Shalom every night
and every Friday night as the Shabbat meal has been served.
And then there's this moment of recognition in the family and
they've prayed. The man of the house stands up
and recites this poem to his wife every Friday.
What a wise man to rise up and call her blessed.
We have something to learn. Embodied wisdom.
Let's make some observations about it.
Embodied wisdom battles, fights for the flourishing of others.
This is what King Lemuel is trying is to be reminded of by
his mother. Do not spend your strength on
those who ruin kings. It's not for kings to crave
beer, lest they forget what has been decreed and deprive all the
oppressed of their rights. Speak up.
Do you know how easy it is for a
man to just be quiet? It's harder for him to speak up.
Speak up, Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Speak up and defend the rights of the poor and needy.
This is what wisdom is to do. Embodied wisdom battles for the
flourishing of others. It takes hold of the power that
you have and says I will spend it for others.
The temptation always, and especially in our culture today,
is to say that I must use my power to promote myself.
I must use my power to make myself great and mighty.
I must use every position that I can attained for myself so that
I can take all my power out on those who offend me.
And I can remember every grudge and everything they ever did.
And now I will take that power out against my enemies.
This is the picture of power in our day.
It's not new. King Lemuel had to be reminded.
But then the great illustration and picture of wisdom embodied
valor for others is in the valley at woman.
Look at all the things she does. Look at the activity described.
She brings good to her husband. She selects wool and flocks with
eager hands. She's bringing food from afar.
She gets up while it's still night, tired, yet provides food
for her family and portions for her servants.
She considers a field and buys it out of her earnings.
She plants a vineyard. Notice the work and activity of
the wise. For the benefit of others.
Next slide. She's not done yet.
She sets about her work vigorously.
Her arms are strong for her tasks.
Women, do you have strong arms? This is the picture of vigor of
the valiant woman. Her arms.
Notice the descriptions here aren't of beauty in the standard
beauty picture. Notice that these are aptitude.
This is about strength. This is about intellectual
strength and capacity. Notice the descriptions.
She sets about her work vigorously.
Her arms are strong for her task.
She sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not
go out at night. In her hand she holds the
distaff and grasp the spindle with her fingers.
Do you all know what this is? This is how you you spin wool.
It's a staff. It's a dis staff.
And at the top of it is this mess, this mess of wool and
fiber. And she's spinning it out.
She's pulling it out. She's grasping that rod from
here to here and holding it, spinning it.
And down here she has a spindle that's gathering those threads.
This is complicated, but the real picture here is she's
taking the messes of life and doing something good with them.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the
needy. This valiant woman.
Of course it's doing things that take care of herself.
Of course she's doing things that take care of her husband
and her family. But she's also doing things that
extend beyond her family and oikos to make room for others.
She's thinking not only of herself, but also others.
This is what wisdom does. Wisdom battles for the good of
others, but it also anticipates the future, but it doesn't fear
the future. Embodied wisdom anticipates the
future but does not fear the future.
This is not a fraidy cat. This is the person who says
difficult times will come. I was probably borning 1, but I
know who holds the future, and I will also prepare for the
future. This summarizes a good bit of
Jesus's own teaching that we need not fear the future because
we know who holds the future, but we can even do things today
that secure ourselves and others for that future.
It's the consideration of the worst case scenario.
What if it snows here in the Middle East?
What if it snows here in the desert?
Most of the time my family is walking around around in white
clothes. They can.
I get lost on a snowy day in the desert.
We can't see them, but not hers. When it snows, she has No Fear
for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
Ha, she's like, I won't lose you, my child.
In that snow bank. You'll have a red scarf with a
Canadian Maple Leaf and red mittens with a Canadian Maple
Leaf. We're showing our roots, aren't
we? She is clothed with strength and
dignity. She can laugh at the days to
come. She's like, bring it on, it's OK
'cause I know who holds the future and I'm actually
diligently setting myself to prepare.
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat
the bread of idleness. The suggestion being, I'm not
waiting for trouble to come. I'm going after trouble all the
time, just preparing ahead. Embodied wisdom anticipates the
future. It doesn't live with this blank
future of fear. It lives with an animated future
of faith that says great things can come even on a difficult
day. Embodied wisdom does even more.
It actually generates teaching and words worth hearing.
It says of her she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction
is on her tongue. You often hear me quoting Dallas
Willard and Speaking of him, but he says he went through a time
in ministry where he was really worried about Will.
Will there actually be people to hear what I have to say?
And God corrected him. And he says God impressed upon
my heart. Dallas just worry about having
something to say, have something to say, have something worth
saying. And an audience will come.
Sometimes in our lives we feel like I don't really have
anything to say. And I'm like, have you lived a
day yet? If you've lived a day and
thought reflectively about it, you probably have something to
say about your lived experience in that day, if you will reflect
on it with God and His Word. And this is what embodied wisdom
does. It generates teaching and words.
And This is why I appreciate our International Women's Day that
IO is organizing because she's saying I want to have an
intergenerational conversation where hopefully there have some,
there have been a few women who have lived a few days and they
have something to say and we have something to say to each
other. It's not about young or old.
I actually find I can meet older folks who lived in the House of
Folly and I don't want to spend a lot of time listening to what
they say. What a day we live in where
every day our leaders say things were like, you let that be born
in your heart in the House of Folly every day.
It's shocking what our leaders across North America stand up
and say, and we should be shocked because they come from
the death pit of folly. You must have discerning ears.
You must have discerning minds. Embodied wisdom also generates
honor. It generates honor that
reciprocates, that goes back and forth.
The husband rises up and calls her blessed.
The children rise up and call her blessed.
And when they show up at the city gate, the elders there rise
up and say, Blessed are you. There's an honor that
reciprocates back and forth. And her life here, the life of a
wise person, is generating A reciprocal honor with the people
they meet. Instead of using the words of
their mouth to tear down people, they use the words of their
mouth to build up people, to honor people to always look for
the dignity and worth of others, no matter their wealth, their
education, their status or situation in life.
I hope that everyone of you will be the kind of people who embody
this wisdom. That you will embody this wisdom
such that your relationships are honorable even when you don't
experience honor. You're unoffendable.
That you're the kind of people who embody the wisdom so that
the words of your mouth are actually worth hearing.
That you will become the kind of people who take the power that
you're given and even when it seems like you have nothing, you
will recognize the agency that God has given to you and you
will become a Co creator with him to bring good to others.
That you'll be like Dorcas and Junius, Priscilla, Eudia and
Sintechi. That you'll be like Stevens
daughters. That you'll be like Susanna
Wesley and Catherine Booth. Do you not know the women of the
Scripture and the women of our generations?
Their voices have been silenced. It's time for us to honor them.
You see, the strange thing about this valuable, valiant life
gifting wisdom is that it actually has its source in God.
Charm is deceptive, beauty is fleeting.
But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
As we get to the end of the poem, we're called back to the
true source of the beauty and praiseworthiness of her life.
And it's that she knows God. She fears God, she has a deep
respect and abiding love for God, that everywhere she goes
she thinks about God where she goes.
This is the very picture of God himself.
Jesus is the wisdom of God available to everyone who will
respond to his call. He is the voice of wisdom.
He is Lady Wisdom calling out listen to me, listen to me.
Paul said this. Of him we preach Christ
crucified. Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. Brothers and sisters, think of
what you were when you were called.
God chose the foolish things. God chose the weak things.
God chose the lowly things. It is because of him that you
are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God.
That is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
What is wisdom? It is embodied wisdom.
It is powerful power used, exercised for the benefit of
others. Isn't that who Jesus is?
Isn't this what Jesus does? Jesus took all of the power of
God and let it be wrapped up in flesh in the womb of a woman,
and then burst out in the flesh of manchild.
And he gave himself for us who were powerless, who were needy,
who were unable to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
He gave himself, poured out his life for the forgiveness of sin,
and now he calls out to us through the Spirit.
Come to me, let me enter your life.
Open your heart to me. Let me transform your life so
that you will also embody the very wisdom of God with your
life. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, as we come to your table, we are reminded of
the embodied wisdom of Jesus, of God in his flesh and in his
life. We thank you for this bread that
reminds us that his body was broken.
We thank You for this cup that reminds us that his life was
poured out as a covenant and promise of your faithful love
and loyalty towards us and all who receive you for the
forgiveness of sin. And Lord, we admit that we are
not always so wise. We admit that we use our power
selfishly, that we're drawn to comforts.
We admit that we are short sighted and we pray that you
would forgive us and reset our lives.
Give us a vision of life and your church as the kind of
church and people who embody wisdom.
Lord, may this ideal not set us back, but instead may it
illuminate our path as a way forward to see all the goodness
and power and miracles of God in our lives every day.
Come, Lord Jesus, and shape your people to be a wise people.
Stand with me as you're able, and we'll share the Lord's
Supper together.