31 status

Stumbled on this doing some prep for eXcel (we are in Proverbs this term). 

31 status. 

Interesting. 

Jubilee Joy

At the 1 minute mark in the Telegraph video BELOW the Queen meets a row of ladies in aprons. 

And a knitted 4 ft high grenadier guard! 

The Queen stops to admire it, have a joke and say how good it is.

That is the handy work of my Mum! 

Well done Mum!   [Proverbs 22:29]

like breaching a dam

Last Week's memory verse in the Ambrose household ... 
Proverbs 17:14 ...

Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. 

Free Sex - Who Pays?

Some cuddly thoughts for Valentine's Day here! A report by the Jubilee Centre (you can find it direct here) about the financial fallout of sexual sin would not be news to the writer of Proverbs: 

20 My son, keep your father’s command
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 

21 Bind them always on your heart; 

fasten them around your neck.

22 When you walk, they will guide you; 

when you sleep, they will watch over you; 

when you awake, they will speak to you. 

23 For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, 

and correction and instruction are the way to life, 

24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, 

from the smooth talk of a wayward woman. 

25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty 

or let her captivate you with her eyes.

26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, 

but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? 

29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; 

no one who touches her will go unpunished. 

30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. 

31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, 

though it costs him all the wealth of his house. 

32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; 

whoever does so destroys himself. 

33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,

and his shame will never be wiped away. 

34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, 

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. 

35 He will not accept any compensation; 

he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

Sluggard Repellent

Today's Harvest Parade Service Visual!

When I am afraid

Passive Aggressive Sins

“So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.” Elizabeth Franklin

with feeling!

We say the first bit quietly or normally AND THEN WE GO LOUD FOR THE 'DO NOT GIVE INTO THEM'!
All with lots of giggles. But deadly serious intent.

Proverbs was written for Boys

So says Doug Wilson in Appendix B of Future Men. 

'the book of Proverbs provides us with an example of what sort of instruction is necessary. The book as a whole is applicable to the writer's son, and many passages apply the teaching specifically to him. What does God say a son should be told?' 

A boy must learn to be teachable: 
Proverbs 1:7-8 
Proverbs 2:1
Proverbs 3:1-2 
Proverbs 3:21 
Proverbs 4:1-3 
Proverbs 4:10 
Proverbs 4:20 
Proverbs 5:1
Proverbs 6:20-21
Proverbs 7:1-3
Proverbs 13:1 
Proverbs 19:27 

If the book of Proverbs teaches anything to sons, it teaches them to listen. Sons are told to: 

• hear instruction 
• receive sayings 
• incline ears
• hide commandments 
• forget not parental law
• keep wisdom & understanding in view
• bow the ears to understanding 
• keep a father's commands
• forsake not a mother's law
• bind wise words to the heart
• wear them as a necktie
• guard them as the apple of the eye
• wear them as rings on the fingers 

'generally, taking one thing with another, to shut up, sit down and listen.' 

'(the regular repetition) should be an encouragement to parents who feel they have to repeat themselves too much. They might assume that the need for repetition means that they have failed. It does not necessarily mean anything of the kind. What it means is that boys are tough ground that need a lot of ploughing.' 

'The first subject on the curriculum is to be teaching a son to hear'

 'In order to get a son's attention it is necessary to discipline him. Boys are not born teachable, and godly discipline is resisted by them.' They have to be taught this too: 
Proverbs 3:11-12

'..discipline is not intended as a behaviourist exercise ... The correction is to enable a boy to receive instruction.'

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.
My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad;
my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
Proverbs 23:12-16

Proverbs 13:24 
Proverbs 19:13, 18
Proverbs 29:17 

Once they are listening, a son needs to learn about women. At least Proverbs has a lot to say on that subject. 

Proverbs 5:1-23 
Proverbs 6:23-35
Proverbs 7:1-27
Proverbs 23:26-28
Proverbs 31:3 

They need to learn about money: 
Proverbs 6:1-3

And laziness / greed: 
Proverbs 23:19-26
Proverbs 6:6-11
Proverbs 28:7
Proverbs 31:1-5
Proverbs 1:10-15 

And political activism: 
Proverbs 24:21-22

In short wisdom in sons is a true glory: Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 24:13-14

Sons do a lot of good, or they do a lot of damage. 
They bring great grief or great gladness.
Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 17:25

p185 Future Men

We want to eat but we don't want to work

'...he tempts God who snores and does not want to work, taking for granted that he must be sustained by God without work, although God has promised to provide for him through his work, as Proverbs 10:4 says: ' The hands of the busy prepare wealth, but the slack will hunger.' (Luther on Deuteronomy)

Priceless

What is more important than wealth?

1. Salvation
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,

but righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 11:4

2. Righteousness
Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse.

Proverbs 28:6

3. A great wife
Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,

but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

Proverbs 19:14

4. A good reputation
A good name is more desirable than great riches;

to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22;1

5. Low blood pressure

Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

have the wisdom to show restraint.

Proverbs 23:4

(Future Men, Ch 8)

God bless you Son

When we obey God, as a general rule, we may expect His blessings, financial blessings included.

I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.
Proverbs 8:20-21

With me are riches and honour,
enduring wealth and prosperity.
Proverbs 8:18

The blessing of the LORD brings wealth,
and he adds no trouble to it.
Proverbs 10:22

So we must seek wealth God’s way and teach our sons the same. What has he said about it?

1. Fear God
Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honour and life.
Proverbs 22:4

2. Be Generous
A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Proverbs 11:25
(cf 22:9; 28:27; 11;24)

3. Work Hard
All hard work brings a profit,
but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Proverbs 14:23

4. Save
A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children,
but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.
Proverbs 13:22

5. Be wary of borrowing
The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Proverbs 22:7

6. Care for the poor
He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will reward him for what he has done.
Proverbs 19:17

(Future Men, Ch 8)

Laziness ... too much like hard work

Laziness: identifying characteristic #6

Strange to say, laziness is tough.

The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,
but the path of the upright is a highway
(Proverbs 15:19)

Diligent hands will rule,
but laziness ends in slave labour
(Proverbs 12:24)

Proverbs teaches us that laziness is counterproductive; it does not accomplish its desired end.

(Future Men, Ch 7)

Laziness: identifying characteristic #5

Compounding (becomes worse and worse, more and more complicated and tangled)

Laziness brings on deep sleep,
and the shiftless man goes hungry.
Proverbs 19:15

The sluggard craves and gets nothing,
but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Proverbs 13:4

(Future Men, Ch 7)

Laziness: identifying characteristic #4

Irritating to others

As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
so is the sluggard to those who send him.
Proverbs 10:26

(Future Men, Ch 7)

Laziness: indentifying characteristic #3

Foolishness

All hard work brings a profit,
but mere talk leads only to poverty.
The wealth of the wise is their crown,
but the folly of fools yields folly.
Proverbs 14:23-24

(Future Men, Ch 7)

The sun was in my eyes

Laziness: identifying characteristic #2

Making excuses (that may well appear very 'rational' to him at the time!) to put off doing what needs doing now, or to justify work not done:

The sluggard says, ‘ There is a lion outside!’
or, ‘I will be murdered in the streets!’
Proverbs 22:13

but at the end of the day....

A sluggard does not plough in season;
so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
Proverbs 20:4

(Future Men, Ch 7)

Did you hear about ....?

He who winks maliciously causes grief
and a chattering fool comes to ruin.
Proverbs 10v10

A poor example?

(continued notes of things that grabbed me from Doug Wilson's excellent little book, 'Future Men')

A boy who learns to settle into his laziness is being prepared by his parents for a life of frustration.

The sluggard craves and gets nothing,
but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied
Proverbs 13:4

God does not just promise poverty to this young man; He promises that it will come upon him like a thug with a gun. In the good providence of God, the lazy man is not going to be treated with tenderness. Parents who allow this pattern to develop while their son is under their oversight are asking the providential hand of God to work him over with a baseball bat.

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest
-- and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-11

As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him. Proverbs 10:26

Parents who rob their sons of a work ethic also have taken from him one of this life’s most precious gifts – sabbath rest.

I went past the field of the sluggard,
past the vineyard of the
man who lacks judgment;
thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.
I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw:
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest--
and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 24:30-34

The results of laziness are obvious for all to see and they should be pointed out.

Diligent parents use lazy boys in the community as a negative object lesson, and they labor to keep their own sons from being used by other parents the same way.

So much of this runs contrary to the way the carnal mind thinks we might come to believe it is impossible. And it is impossible, apart from the gospel of Christ. This is why the discipline of work should be imparted to a boy along with careful teaching on the meaning of the cross of Jesus Christ. This is because the foundation of a biblical work ethic is a biblical grace ethic.

Disgraceful

Taking one thing with another, boys tend to be lazy.
This means that one of the central duties parents have with regard to their boys is the duty of teaching and instilling what used to be called a 'work ethic'.

He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son,
but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
Proverbs 10:5

Disgraceful to who?
Here is the hit! To the parents whose responsibility it is to teach the lessons of work.

(Future Men, Ch 7)