Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Honor and Discipline: Proverbs 3:9-12

(Rewritten notes from a messages on Proverbs 3:19-12 shared on July 31, 2011, at Corona International Christian Fellowship.)

Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
Teaching Point No. 1
Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
What does it mean to honor the Lord with Your wealth, with your first fruits?

Let’s start with honor. In one sense, according to Merriam-Webster, out of 10 possible definitions, it means
1 a : good name or public esteem : REPUTATION
b : a showing of usually merited respect : RECOGNITION
In other words, because of the Lord’s good status, and reputation of being supreme and perfect and so far above us, we are to show him the respect He deserves. Another idea: fear the Lord.

We have this awesome fear because of this (and there are other verses in Scripture that point this way):

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
Wealth
What is meant by wealth in the proverb? And firstfruits? If you attend a lot of Bible studies, or are listening to the worship in giving devotionals, you hear “firstfruits” a lot. Does that mean we give to the Lord, say, a couple apples or oranges from the supermarket before we have our own?
Wealth is an abundance, usually of money or material goods, expressed in some understood unit, such as money. It is virtually synonymous with riches, and both may refer to family, friends, or even moral qualities.
Tyndale Bible Dictionary
So wealth is not material only.

Firstfruits

In the Bible, firstfruits is used in this context:
1 first, beginning, best, chief.
1a beginning.
1b first.
1c chief
1d choice part.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Firstborn child or animal or first parts of any crop that, in Hebrew thought, were considered as holy and therefore belonged to the Lord. The firstfruits, as a foretaste of more to come, were offered to God in thanksgiving for his goodness in providing them.
Tyndale Bible Dictionary
Only in the Bible, however, do we gain a true perspective on honor: the giving of honor to God, who worthily merits our devoted obedience. And Proverbs 3:9 presents the law’s requirement that one should honor the Lord with his gifts and with the firstfruits of his entire harvest.

So … putting it all together, it essentially means this:

Application of Teaching Point No. 1:

Honoring God with our wealth and firstfruits, then, 1) a commandment and 2) is expressed in the commitment of both life and possessions to the Lord’s service (Tyndale Bible Dictionary). Or, to put it in far simpler, yet Biblical terms, love God with EVERYTHING that He gives you and EVERYTHING that you are, AND love people, too (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 10:25-37).

Some cross reference verses (and there are more, like the three above) … note that while we honor God, Scripture also makes it clear that when we don’t honor Him, there are consequences.
One man gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
People curse the man who hoards grain,
but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house [the temple] remains a ruin?”
Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.”
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Teaching Point No. 2
My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
Let’s first understand what disciple really is. There are two thoughts that pop into mind.
The first is correction, or punishment. We think of it in negatives terms.

DISCIPLINE
1 discipline, chastening, correction.
1a discipline, correction.
1b chastening.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
“Blessed is the man whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.”

But the larger picture from which the idea of correction/punishment comes is the MOLDING of character that enforces and encourages good behavior (Tyndale Bible Dictionary). In a word, discipline is TRAINING. A bigger picture: It’s LIFELONG instruction. It’s the way of life God desires us to live so that we can be MOLDED in to the character – the image – of Jesus. Sometimes the training does involve correction/punishment when we don’t train, or when we are not practicing discipline.

Psalm 92:12 (NIV and NKJV)
NIV
Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD,
the man you teach from your law …

Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O LORD,
And teach out of Your law …
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training [discipline]. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life …
Here’s why it’s scary to not have the Lord discipline (chasten, punish) you:

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates correction is stupid.
When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Hebrews 12:5-8 , especially verse 8
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Application of Teaching Point No. 2:

Be disciplined about how you live a life that honors God, and be ready to be corrected when you fall away from being trained by Him.

Some ideas on what it looks like:
  • Be disciplined about being in Scripture often.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
  • Be disciplined about prayer, and talk to God constantly.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
(Jesus Himself was disciplined about prayer)
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
  • Be disciplined about attending your Discipleship group/youth-young adult Bible study and Sunday worship. Note: Think on this -- CICF only asks that out of all the hours in a seven-day week that you devote yourself to a Friday or Saturday night D-group Bible study, and a couple hours each Sunday. That's really not a lot that God is asking for.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
  • And finally, be disciplined about taking that God-honoring worship out the church building and into the world wherever you go.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Finally, there is this:

If your spiritual life, or life in general, is stagnant, if you feel like you are stuck in a rut, if you don’t feel like you are being fruitful, maybe you haven’t been honoring God with what He’s given you, whether it’s material or physical or intellectually or spiritually. Maybe you’re out of training, and that stagnation in your life is a form of his chastening, a way of getting your attention for you to get back on the right track.

So be honor God with everything that you are, with everything that you have, and be disciplined about it. That is, do it constantly. It isn't so much that God "says so" but more of the Creator of the universe, the One who existed before time, who invented time, the perfect One, is interested in our worship of Him. And in His perfection, He really does love us enough to want to spend time with us really imperfect people.

And that's more than enough reason to want to honor Him.

Jesus Culture

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