WEBVTT 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:24.559 Today's reading is Proverbs thirty-one, verse ten to thirty one. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:28.399 An excellent wife who can find. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.039 She's far more precious than jewels. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:37.119 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:40.799 She does him good and not harm. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:47.600 All the days of her life she seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:50.799 She's like the ships of the merchant. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:53.280 She brings her food from afar. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:00.960 She rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household, and portions for her maidens. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.920 She considers a field and buys it. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:07.519 With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:13.040 She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.040 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:20.239 Her lamp does not go out at night. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:25.599 She puts her hands to the staff and her hands hold the spindle. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.799 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:34.319 She's not afraid of snow for her household. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:38.640 For all her household are clothed in scarlet. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.680 She makes bed coverings for herself. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.959 Her clothing is fine linen and purple. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:50.239 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:53.439 She makes linen garments and sells them. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.239 She delivers sashes to the merchant. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:02.319 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:08.319 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:14.080 She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:20.800 Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:25.840 Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.000 Charm, it's deceptive, and beauty, it's vain. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.680 But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:40.159 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:42.000 This is the word of God. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:44.400 Welcome to you, if you joined us while we're singing. 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:45.039 My name is Mark. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:47.039 I'm one of the leaders here at City. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:53.439 We're uh concluding our uh sermon series through the book of Proverbs today, uh, with Proverbs 31. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:58.479 Uh for next week and really the rest of the summer, we go into the book of Psalms. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:00.080 So we're staying in the Old Testament. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:06.159 Psalms is something that we've uh done now for the last uh eight years or so. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:12.319 We just picked and started at Psalm 1, and uh we pick up uh next week on Sam looking to bend. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.759 Sam number 83. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:17.280 Yeah, 83. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.039 Okay, so that's how far we've got through. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:20.560 Can you tell that I'm off next week? 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:21.439 Um I don't know. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:22.319 Enjoy. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:23.280 83? 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:23.840 Who knows? 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:25.039 Could be 85. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:36.960 Uh, but we're finishing off uh Proverbs with Proverbs 31, so I invite you to have that uh open in front of you, either if you've got a Bible or you can look it up on your phone so that you can you can follow along. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.719 Uh here's a uh a shocking revelation right at the right at the top. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:42.800 Um I'm not a woman. 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:51.199 Um but even as I read uh Proverbs 31, I kind of felt a little bit overwhelmed. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:58.000 How does uh how does a woman live up to this woman? 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:08.400 This woman who gets up early uh before it's light, whose candle, her lamp doesn't go out, so she's staying up late as well. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:15.520 So she's both a night owl and a lark, and not just some sort of exhausted pigeon in the middle. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.040 Uh so she's up early, she's going to bed late. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:24.800 She has a husband and children to manage, but she's decided that she's going to run a business as well. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.680 In fact, her business has uh different aspects to it. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:35.199 So she's clearly some sort of clothesmaker, but also in real estate, um, uh, because she's bought a field. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:38.399 Uh she spins her own clothes. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.720 She's not just kind of buying it off Timu and then and then selling it on. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:48.000 Uh, she uh raises children and has time to support the poor. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:54.639 She speaks uh with wisdom, uh, which given all of those other things, it's not just shut up. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:55.600 Uh do you know? 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:57.360 It's quite stressful. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:01.360 Uh, she does it all with joy and dignity. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:04.240 This is a lot. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:15.920 Uh, if you are a woman here thinking, I'm just trying to get it get through the day, how do you come to Proverbs 31? 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:21.680 I'm quite glad that there isn't a Proverbs 32 that's the man equivalent. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:36.399 Yeah, he works a 14-hour day, he has an amazing marriage with a beautiful wife who listens to him all the time, always picks up his boxers from the floor, never he never leaves his towel on the bed after it's gotten damp. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.519 Uh, he has an amazing body because even though he works 14 hours a day, he still has time to go and work out really well at the gym every day. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.800 He's the first to buy a pint for his friends. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:49.279 He doesn't take notes. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:56.639 You know, he's he's working, he owns his own business, but he's also got like a crypto side hustle and a podcast. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:05:59.759 He's an amazing father. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:03.040 He never gets grumpy, he speaks with wisdom and love. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:07.519 He takes uh his kids out for little daddy daughter, daddy-son dates. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:12.720 He always gets it right, they always have his time and attention, and he's never irritable. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:15.360 I'm really glad that that's not there. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.519 So, what's Proverbs 31 doing here? 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:40.000 In a book full of kind of principles of wise living and how to kind of flourish in life, why does it end with this perfect vision of this wife that I think is fair to say is not wholly realistic? 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:41.920 Why is it there? 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:48.240 Is it just kind of at the end, you know, we mean journey through the okay, well, I don't want to, you know, pride comes before fall, let's not do that. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:54.240 And you know, I don't want to uh speak too early to uh too loudly to people early in the morning, and then you get to 31. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.600 It's like, let's crush the women under a weight of expectation. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:06:58.240 Why? 00:06:58.480 --> 00:06:59.680 Why is it here? 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.959 Five observations why I think it's here, why I think it's important. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:03.920 You ready? 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:11.920 First, it's designed to inspire us, not just women, all of us. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:16.560 It's designed to inspire us, not intimidate us. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:19.920 It's designed to inspire us, not intimidate us. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:25.759 That's why it has actually really beautiful, evocative language in it. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:30.319 So verse 10, hey buddy, an excellent wife who can find. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.759 She is far more precious than jewels. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:36.160 Or verse 28. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:42.240 Her children rise up and call her blessed. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:44.959 We were training all week for that. 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:47.199 Well done, buddy, right at the right time. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:51.439 Her children rise up and call her blessed. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:54.079 What a beautiful thing to hear. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:08:00.959 If you're a mother, your children rise up and they praise you and not just say, Can I have a snack? 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:06.800 This is not a how-to list for Christian womanhood. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.920 It's a poetic portrait of wisdom in action. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:17.680 Do you remember uh right back at the start of the book of Proverbs, how is wisdom personified? 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:20.480 Well, wisdom is personified as a woman. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:31.680 And so this portrait ends, is the beauty of wisdom spelled out right at the end of the book in the most exquisite detail. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:39.919 It's looking at Lady Wisdom and all of the things that she does and the beauty that she brings into a household. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:48.799 It's not a checklist, but designed to call us out of ourselves, to inspire us to something greater. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:55.679 And so, women, as we begin, I want to encourage you that this is uh not a job description. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.159 It is not a checklist. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:02.879 You're supposed to read these things and think, okay, how does that inspire me? 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:07.279 Where like, you know, she's she's strong, she makes her art, she she has a business. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.080 That's okay. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:12.000 She she causes her household to flourish. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.279 That all of those things are celebrated in the book of Proverbs. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:17.039 Where does that resonate with you? 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.240 Not where does that put more pressure on you? 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:23.279 That's what Proverbs 31 is designed to do. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:30.639 Similarly, for men, this should shape what it is we honor in women. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:36.879 The passage concludes with, Your charm is deceitful, beauty is fleeting. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:43.840 Rather, it praises character, wisdom, godliness. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:48.879 And so it's applying to the women in the sense of how does this inspire us forward? 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:53.120 And then in men, what what should we be esteeming? 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.440 What should we be celebrating? 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:08.000 This portrait is designed to stir our desire for the beautiful life that living with wisdom can bring. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:10.960 You know, it's a bit like 1 Corinthians 13. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:12.080 Thanks for coming and visiting me, buddy. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:13.519 I'm gonna put you back over here. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:17.600 Uh it's a bit like 1 Corinthians 13 or the Sermon on the Mind. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:22.399 So you read 1 Corinthians 13, that's Paul's list of what love is like. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:30.879 You know, love is patient, love is kind, it does not boast, it keeps a record of wrongs, it does not envy, it always hopes, it always holds fast to the truth. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:38.000 And you read those, this perfect description of love and think, well, how on earth am I supposed to fully emulate that? 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:43.279 And we read it at weddings in order to really put pressure on the couple as they as they begin. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:45.120 Because it's an ideal. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:56.240 Or the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus talks about that perfect kingdom life and the perfect holiness, righteousness that we have to have. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:00.639 No anger ever, no lust ever. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:03.759 Gouge out your eye, cut off your hand. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:04.720 Whoa. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.279 It's idealized. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.240 It's a perfect picture. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:19.360 And those two examples, like Proverbs 31, is designed to do two things in our hearts simultaneously. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:37.600 The first is it's supposed to thrill us with the beauty of the thing that's described: love, kingdom life, life with wisdom, and it's to drive us to ask, how is this possible? 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:44.559 How can I have the beautiful life that this passage describes? 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:50.080 How can I embody something of the love that 1 Corinthians talks about? 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:55.600 How can I live that righteous life that Jesus describes? 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:00.480 This passage is designed to inspire, not intimidate. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:02.960 Second observation. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:07.679 Proverbs 31 calls us here to examine our hearts. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:11.679 Or to put it another way, it asks us, what do you fear? 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:19.679 I think that the controlling verse for the whole passage is right down at the very end, it's the conclusion. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:27.360 Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:34.799 How does any woman look at this passage and not feel under the crushed under the weight of it? 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:37.759 Or forget this passage at the moment. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:45.519 I think there's a weight of expectation that is placed particularly upon our sisters by the world. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:56.799 But having to be successful, get a good education, find a spouse, be a godly wife, be a godly mother, do all of those things. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:58.799 And that brings its own weight. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.679 How do you stand up under that weight? 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:03.279 Answer. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:06.399 Well, it depends what you fear. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:24.080 If you fear anything but the Lord, the expectations of this passage and what it places on you, what others place on you, and what you place on yourself are going to exhaust you, overwhelm you, and ultimately crush you. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:34.080 It is only when we fear the Lord that we can be free to see the beauty of what Proverbs 31 describes. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:42.000 To see it as a picture to aspire to, however falteringly, rather than feeling burdened under the weight of it. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.919 Now remember, Proverbs began with this. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:47.919 What is the beginning of wisdom? 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:49.200 Fear of the Lord. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:50.080 All the way through. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.240 It's been talking about the fear of the Lord. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:53.840 And what is the fear of the Lord? 00:13:53.919 --> 00:14:00.240 Well, it's not it's not terror, it's not being scared of Jesus. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:12.639 But it is a right reverence, placing him on the throne of our lives, esteeming him above all else. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:16.000 It's an awe at who he is and what he has done. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.879 It is a commitment to listen to him and to follow him. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:34.240 As we consider whether or not we do this, it exposes the deeper motives of our hearts, doesn't it? 00:14:35.519 --> 00:15:02.879 You know, if we fear other people, their opinion of us, if we fear failure, letting others down, if we fear the future and the possibility of changing circumstances or of losing something or someone, then all of the things that this woman does in Proverbs 31 are going to weigh so heavy. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:05.919 Because we need those. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:08.000 Those things are the things that are controlling us. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:12.480 Those things are the things that we are esteeming, those things are the things that we're in awe of. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:16.720 They validate our identity, they give us a sense of place. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.120 They help us to make sense of who we are. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:21.600 And if we lose them, then we're we're adrift. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:22.639 Where are we? 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:30.960 We need our family life, we need our job, our success, our good deeds, our charitableness. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:41.279 We need to be regarded as being successful or kind or whatever it is, in order to validate our existence, in order to know that we are someone. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:48.639 And if that's the fear at the root of your heart, that beast will never be satisfied. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:52.559 It will always lead you to anxiety of, have I done enough? 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.320 Or what if I lose it? 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:59.360 But the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is freeing. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:03.039 In the fear of the Lord, there is liberation and there is life. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:31.440 If the fear of the Lord is at the root of our motives, that is, if we're living to honor him, please him, follow him, rest in him, secure in who he is and in his love for us and what he has declared us to be, that you women are forgiven, that you are a daughter of the king, adopted forever into his family, never to be sent away, loved holy, eternally, lavishly. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:41.200 If that's at the root of who you are, then you can give yourself to your work, to your family, your successes, or your failures. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:58.720 You can give yourself to compassion and peaceableness, and see them all as a gift, as something that elicits joy, as an act of service. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:06.480 See, this is the rest, this is the security, the freedom that fear of the Lord gives. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:10.960 This is what we ultimately realize in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:31.119 If you don't know what it is to be forgiven by Jesus, to have your sin taken away by him, to be assured of who you are in Him, you haven't understood the gospel. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:33.680 That's what Jesus came to do. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:38.000 He came to give you rest, to set you free. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:44.000 By taking on the burden of your debt, you no longer need to prove who you are. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:54.400 Because the only opinion that will ever matter about your life has already been declared. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:57.279 It's declared at the cross of Calvary. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:04.799 Loved, accepted, forgiven, rejoiced over. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:17.519 Let that be at the root of your heart, and it will free you to love and to serve and to work with joy. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:29.359 So please, do not come away from this passage this morning thinking, well, I clearly need to add more things to my schedule. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:31.440 I gotta go and buy a field. 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:33.599 Where do I even get a field? 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:36.079 Not in Dublin. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.759 Need to add more things, I need to do more. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:40.559 No. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:52.960 You need to make sure, okay, is the root of the controlling fear of my heart the Lord or something else? 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:56.000 Third observation. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:05.599 This passage is here to show us the fruit of what wise living yields. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:07.680 The fruit of wisdom. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:19.039 Again, the book begins with this call to find wisdom through fearing the Lord, and it it builds out all of the different ways that you can pursue wisdom in the different areas of life. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:29.920 You could listen back in Spotify, and you could see the little kind of topical section where we look at wisdom in conflict and words and leadership and pride and all of the other ones that I didn't write down and have forgotten. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:45.440 And now at the end of the book, there is this description, this depiction of the beautiful wise life in the form of this noble woman, this noble wife. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.519 It's supposed to inspire us all, male and female. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.480 So, what does this wise life look like? 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:58.640 But let me pick out just a couple very briefly. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:12.400 Loving. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:18.960 Verse 11 and 12, the heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:23.359 She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:26.640 What does it look like to grow in wisdom? 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:30.880 It looks like to grow in seeking the good of others. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:36.079 And being somebody that others place their trust in, rely upon. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:44.720 The wise life is the life that is diligent and prepared. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:50.720 So verse 13 onwards, she seeks wool and flax, she works with willing hands. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.960 She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings food from afar. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:58.079 And down to verse 21. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.920 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:05.920 She's working hard. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.680 And she's preparing for the future. 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.160 What does the wise life look like? 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:32.640 Wisdom has already been encouraging us to go to the ant, to learn the lessons of the ant, who is working away day and night, something that's celebrated, something that is seen as good, and that delaying of gratification, looking to the future, making sure that things are put aside and prepared. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:37.519 And so the book concludes saying, Yeah, that's a wise person right there. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:41.920 Wisdom makes her strong. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.839 Verse 17, she dresses herself with strength. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:47.680 She makes her arms strong. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:55.039 This idea of dressing herself with strength means that your strength is just kind of covering every part of her. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.240 That she's strong intellectually. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:01.200 She's not easily taken from For a mug. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:05.359 She's strong spiritually. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:19.599 She is resilient and knows who God is and what He has for her, that she has ballast in the boat of her life, that when suffering and trial comes, she doesn't capsize. 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.000 That doesn't mean that she doesn't feel pain. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:25.119 That doesn't mean that she doesn't experience trial. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:31.440 But those trials are met in the context of eternity and who God is. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.880 She's maybe even strong physically. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:38.880 I love this one. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:47.440 Wisdom, the wise life, the wise wife laughs at the days to come. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:49.279 Verse 25. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:54.079 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the days to come. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:55.519 What does that mean? 00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:59.519 Well, it's going back to the fear of the Lord. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:22.880 Because if the fear of the Lord, if your relationship with God is at the root of who you are, then one of the consequences of that is it begins to dispel anxiety about the future because you know that the one who controls the future knows you, sees you, loves you, and has good for you eternally. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:26.960 And so she's able to laugh at the days to come. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:34.400 She understands Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount of you know, tomorrow has troubles of its own. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:39.440 I'll deal with the troubles for today and trust the Lord with the rest. 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:44.880 Does that mean that she never worries? 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:47.759 Perhaps not necessarily. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.559 But again, it's about what is in the core, what's the ballast in the boat. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:24:00.079 It's of a security of who God is, and that he is the God who sees and who loves her. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:05.279 What does the wise wife life, the wise wife, look like? 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:08.880 She is compassionate and seeks the good of others. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:14.799 Verse 20, she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:27.279 If we are to grow as wisdom, as male or female, to look to the needs of others is a key marker for what it means to live wisely in the world. 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:32.079 To live wisely in the world that God has made. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:35.680 And so it's worth reflecting. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:45.279 Not as checklist, not as job description, but as inspiration as we look through, and there are more, but those are the ones that we've just picked out briefly. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:25:01.839 Trustworthiness, love of others, diligence and preparedness, strength, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, being able to laugh at the days to come. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:06.160 Or compassion and good for others. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:08.559 Here's the question. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:12.480 Which one of those inspires you? 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:15.440 Which one of those resonates with you? 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.279 And you think, that's that's something that I'd love to grow in. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:28.799 That's something that I would like over the next year, five years, for God to grow in me. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:30.319 Which one is it? 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.720 Fourth observation. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:45.279 Part of the reason why this passage is here is because when we see a wise life, it is to be praised. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:47.519 Again, verse 30. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:50.000 Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:55.920 But the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:58.240 C.S. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:06.559 Lewis, who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, said that joy wasn't fully realized until it was expressed. 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:10.079 The joy needs to be voiced. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:15.920 It needs to be said out loud in praise of others. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:21.599 And so we're going to do that. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:44.000 Over the last week, I have uh been hounding the husbands of City Church, those husbands who are members, um, and I have asked them to send me anonymously things that they would praise about their wives. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:49.920 Here are some of the responses that I have been sent. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:54.319 And you can try and work out which one's yours if you like. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:07.759 Or you can just pick the one that you like and don't ask, because if you ask this could go really well and really help the rest of your day, gentlemen, or it could go really badly. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:08.960 So we'll see. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:11.359 Here's a bunch. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:13.440 Some of them are quite long, so I edited them down. 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:15.119 You can say, Oh, did you say more than that? 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:16.480 No. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:27.200 I thank God for my wife showing so much kindness, even when she's hurt by my failures. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:51.759 I'm thankful to God and would praise my wife by pointing out her great love to serve and to be part of God's ministry, by making new people in the church feel welcome, by inviting them over, by sharing the gospel with her friends and colleagues, by being there for people in their time of need. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:58.079 I really thank God for her quiet bravery. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:02.160 She left everything that she knew to give us a better future. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:08.079 Living in the new country every day takes faith and she handles it with so much grace. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:12.960 I'm grateful to God for her and for her strength behind the scenes. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:16.480 She probably doesn't even realize how much I admire her. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:27.279 But when I see her raising our kids in a country that is not hers, while keeping our faith strong at home, I know that she's building something that will last forever. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:32.400 I thank God for my wife. 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:41.440 Because she is so compromising and dedicated to God in prayer and to helping people. 00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:47.440 I love my wife, exclamation mark. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:52.319 Her passion for Jesus is contagious. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:59.039 Her heart for myself and for her people is one that is full of care. 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:03.359 She is a daily reminder to me of what grace is. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:11.920 My wife shows me every day what it is to care for others and consider their needs. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:18.240 Because of her example, I've learned to be more sensitive, more compassionate, more thoughtful and aware. 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:24.799 She's helped me to be more intentional in my life and in my walk with the Lord. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.279 She loves me even when I'm unlovable. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:35.200 She has set her steadfast love on me. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:50.640 I'm grateful for my wife, who is a listening ear and who is always patient, ready to make me feel heard even when she's had a long day. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:57.519 She's a friend, a confidant, an assistant therapist, a prayer partner. 00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:02.319 She reminds me every day that she was sent from God. 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:14.319 I praise my wife for loving me unconditionally, helping us to grow together spiritually and in all the areas of our life. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:18.480 She's been sent by God and is the answer to my prayers. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:28.240 My wife is more patient, caring, gracious, and loving than I could ever hope to be. 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:39.599 She's a wonderful mother whose chief desire is that her husband and her children love the Lord and follow him whatever they do. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:52.400 My wife brings the spark of action steady of action into our marriage. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:31:02.960 Not busy for busyness' sake, but always longing for and encouraging us towards a life that is filled with more than just placation and compromises. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:10.880 I'm grateful that God has blessed me with a wife whose core trust in him cannot be shaken. 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:17.839 With a heart that longs to see our family grow into the people God has called us to be. 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:19.519 In praise of the wives of City Church. 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:22.160 Why do we do that? 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:31.359 Well, because it's right to praise wisdom when we see it. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:34.240 It's right to praise godliness. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:35.759 Why? 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:37.839 Here's a couple of reasons. 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:39.680 It gives us joy. 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:41.920 It's a good thing to do. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:49.279 Makes me feel happy to sit there in a Friday afternoon and think, okay, what do I want to praise my wife for? 00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:53.039 And maybe you husbands, maybe you felt that. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:58.079 It was certainly an encouragement and a joy to me to get those messages. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:32:59.839 I think this is wonderful. 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:01.279 So, why do we do it? 00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:02.480 Gives us joy. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:05.440 Second, it's an honor to God. 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:17.359 Because one of the beautiful things about marriage is that you get a front row seat to what the Lord is doing in another human being's life. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:26.960 And every now and again, just every now and again, you see the person that they one day will be. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:35.200 And you think, wow, I'm so blessed that I get to see that up front. 00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:40.640 It also because it strengthens her. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:53.519 It strengthens her to continue in the good and wise life that she has cultivated. 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:58.480 And it inspires us all: male, female, married, single. 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:05.920 I asked the husbands of City Church to praise their wives because this is a passage about a wife. 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:14.000 But what would our church be like if actually we praised the wisdom and godliness that we saw in one another? 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:27.360 As you share a prayer point in community group and you come back three weeks later and you give an update onto how that situation that you've been praying for, that you asked the people to pray for has gone. 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:34.559 And the rest of the group turns around and said, You've dealt with that with so much wisdom. 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:36.800 That must have been so painful. 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:44.400 But do you remember that proverb that talks about how it is it is to your glory to overlook an offense? 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:48.480 That's just come to mind as you were talking about that painful relationship. 00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:54.719 And I know that that was hard for you, but I praise God that actually He's grown you in wisdom through it. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:04.639 I say, you've really stepped up in terms of your diligence, your preparedness. 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:05.679 I see that. 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:09.599 I want to praise you for it, I want to honor God in that. 00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:14.400 Imagine if in our little community groups, not just in our families, not just in our marriages. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:18.159 This isn't just, oh well, only married people can enjoy those benefits. 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:19.679 No, absolutely not. 00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:27.519 What if we had that culture of praising the growth that we perceived in one another? 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:32.639 That would make for quite a joyful community, I would have thought. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:38.639 I mean, the Irish people are going to be impossible because we hate to be complimented and we're just gonna be like, oh no, shut up, you stink. 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:39.360 Uh do you know? 00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:45.119 But if we can get over ourselves, it might be quite a lovely thing. 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:46.159 Don't you think? 00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:51.119 Last observation. 00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:53.519 Why is this passage here? 00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:56.480 It's to inspire us, not to intimidate us. 00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:00.639 It causes us to examine our hearts and what we fear. 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:06.400 It shows us the fruit of wisdom and it calls us to praise that wisdom when we see it in others. 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:08.719 And then finally, why is it here? 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:12.880 Because it points us to Christ, our wisdom. 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:15.199 It points us to Jesus. 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:23.119 Remember, I was talking about 1 Corinthians 13 back when this sermon started about four hours ago. 00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:32.320 We talked about 1 Corinthians 13 or the sermon of the mind, this idealized picture of love, one that inspires us and challenges us. 00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:35.440 Well, who fully embodies it? 00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:37.119 The Lord Jesus. 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:55.360 Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus does not envy, he does not boast, he keeps no record of wrongs, he rejoices in the truth. 00:36:57.039 --> 00:36:57.920 Points to him. 00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:01.840 What about the Sermon on the Mind? 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:13.760 And the impossible task of having our own holiness, our own righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? 00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:20.400 Well, that passage is designed to make us ask: who can possibly fulfill the law of God perfectly? 00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:27.039 Who can live this perfect life the way Christ describes? 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:28.639 The answer? 00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:30.960 He can. 00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:34.960 He did for you. 00:37:36.320 --> 00:37:41.920 His perfect righteousness clothes you, Christian. 00:37:42.400 --> 00:37:43.760 He did it for you. 00:37:45.199 --> 00:37:46.559 And same here. 00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:55.840 As we read this perfect description of wisdom, we see his own silhouette. 00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:17.039 This perfect picture of love, love of others, tireless diligence, compassion, wisdom, trust, worthiness, at all points to him. 00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:24.639 And so, ladies of City Church, do not look at this passage in despair. 00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:27.679 Look at this passage and be inspired. 00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:32.719 But more than that, look at this passage and see him. 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:40.480 The wisdom of God made flesh for you. 00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:44.480 Set your hope on him. 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:54.239 Make him the object of your desires, the object of your affections, the object of your faith and of your trust. 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:58.400 And he will beautify your life. 00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:08.480 So that you are more precious than Ruby's because he is. 00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:26.480