Righteous Gain
These words you just heard read are about 3,000 years old. Not sure if you frequently read much material that old. People often criticize the Bible for being old and outdated, and I suppose one might hear these words today about not lying in wait for blood and not ambushing the innocent and think this book just isn't relevant for us today. After all, we are a sophisticated society and a technologically advanced society.
Do you know….
- Each year there are about 20,000 homicides in the US.
- Last year our technological society saw consumers lose 4.6 billion dollars to investment scams.
- The second highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams, with losses of nearly $2.7 billion reported.
- Each year over 1 million people in the US have their identity stolen.
- Recently the government released findings that 390 million people are receiving social security, which is impressive considering there are only 334 million people in the US! And over 14 million of those people in the database were over the age of 110!
- Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the crypto exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2022 for defrauding customers and investors of his now-bankrupt firm. The former billionaire, who emerged as a high profile champion of crypto was found to have stolen $8bn from customers, and used the money to buy property, make political donations and to put toward other investments.
These words might be old, but they are as relevant today as ever. These words are the words of a father, a king, giving advice to his children, and he is advising them on how they are to do their work to the glory of God and the good of others. We need to hear this advice as much today as ever.
If we are going to be obedient to God and be a blessing to others then we must push aside the temptation to profit in ways contrary to God’s commands. It will take trust in God and commitment to his ways. Let’s look at three things about Godly work and profit.
Don’t let sinners entice you
Let me start out saying God created us to work.
Before the fall ever came, God created people to have dominion over all the earth. And people would eat and benefit from their work. After the fall, work becomes harder and more difficult, but it still remains something that we are created to do, and that we are to honor God with. We enjoy it and benefit from it and are to bless others through it.
This passage warns of going about our work in ways contrary to what God calls us to do. This passage deals with that issue.
*We are created to be a blessing, but sometimes people are a blight.*
The Bible clearly tells us to not murder and to not steal, so you may wonder why these verses are here. They certainly reiterate that message. Another question to ask is: What do these verses add to that topic?
A key piece is the temptation of peers. The temptation to relativize. On one hand we hear God’s word, but on the other we begin hearing another narrative. A murmuring of falsehoods and a need to do what should not be done.
Entice. It is to fool someone, to lie and persuade them to do the wrong thing. It is the weakening of conviction that leads to moral collapse. It is to deceive and make them a fool. Don’t get duped!
We hear people say things like:
- Let's have some fun! Let's live it up!
- Sure some people will suffer if we do this, but look at all those who will benefit.
- There will be great gain and no loss.
This is the same temptation Adam and Eve faced in the garden and it is no different today. Surely you won't die!
The clear advice of proverbs is do not consent. Don’t give in to the pressure or the advice. The primary meaning of this root is “the willingness (inclination) to do something under obligation or upon request.” It is not that one finds pleasure in what is being done, or that the thing is fitting or right. It’s consenting because of the pressure.
If you are going to follow the Lord, you are absolutely going to face hard decisions where people are trying to get you to do the wrong thing. You are going to need to stand your ground. You can have all the antibullying programs you want. It is still going to happen. You need to be strong enough to withstand it and rest in God.
You are going to face pressure in different ways. You may not be able to keep it from happening at times. Look at Daniel; people's lives are being threatened if they can’t interpret dreams, people being thrown in lions’ dens. Daniel didn’t compromise, but he also couldn’t stop all the craziness.
*To resist the pull of sinners you need the push of a godward* community. God gives you wisdom and support through other people. They are praying for you. You may not be able to determine things at work, but you can certainly determine your life outside of work and who your friends are.
The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Proverbs 12:26.
Don’t let sinners entice you.
We are all sinners. This does not have in mind the sinful human nature that we all have and we do things that we do not want to do, that we are sad for and regret. This has in mind those who have no concern for honoring God. They are willfully going against him. And their ideas will start to sound good if you are not in a godly Christian community that is speaking the word of God.
*keep your father’s instruction. The key to Solomon’s advice is to fear the Lord. The primary instruction of the kings of Israel was to be the word of God. You need to keep to that path and guard it.
One way people often get enticed and the strength of morals begin to bend is by cutting corners. Making small compromises. When you cut corners things begin to snowball. You do not stay true to what is right and wrong.
A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.
Proverbs 11:1
Let me explain this to you. Back in the day they would use a balance to weigh things, not the electronic kind at the grocery store, but one with arms and pans to hold items and weights. A weight would say 5 lbs and would be placed on one side, and when grain was poured on the other side to balance it out they had five pounds of grain, and they would pay the price. Simple as that. But someone could write five pounds on the five pound weight and make an extra 20%
A friend of mine in Orlando lived on the treasure coast and he would take his metal detector out after storms. One day he came up and said, “Look what I found.” It was a gold coin dated 1600. He said it was pirates’ gold and he would find it occasionally washed up. He said, “Look at the side where they scraped it.” The pirates would scrape the sides of the gold coin. Take a little bit off of each one so it was close to a full ounce but not exactly. Don’t cut corners. You are already lying when you do that.
Maybe similar today where a 1 lb can of coffee actually has only 13 oz or the bag of potato chips is ¾ air. Or perhaps all the additives they put in our food today. Cellulose–sawdust.
Don’t be enticed to do wrong. Don’t be enticed to cut corners.
Let me explain something to you about this proverb. It tells you not to be enticed by the smooth talk of sinners. And then it tells you what they say. No one says this. This is not enticing. I think what you have here is a paraphrased undressing of their words. Let’s lie in wait for their blood, let’s swallow them alive and whole.
You need to be discerning. For what people say.
11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”—
People often say it much more smoothly, but the end result is you are ambushing someone, you are swallowing them alive, you are lying in wait for their blood. You need to see through to what people are actually saying. Lots of words and explanations to justify things are rarely good. I asked if it was right or wrong and you talked for 15 min. Cut to the heart. What are we really doing?
People have a way of dressing things up today, and you need to be aware of that.
CS Lewis said,
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern.” Preface to The Screwtape Letters.
We live in a time when great evils are done in government meetings, board of director meetings, HOA meetings, school boards. This is written to a king. A person in power. A person who gives orders and is distanced from the actual doing of the crime. He is clearly responsible for his actions. But such a person is more susceptible to give into plans and justify doing the wrong thing.
Don’t believe there are no consequences.
These sinners wait to ambush others, but this tells us they actually ambush themselves. But the key to this and other proverbs in this book is that wrongdoers suffer for what they do. Those who go after unjust gain are the ones who suffer.
18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.
This is like another proverb.
Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.
Proverbs 26:28
Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke said, “Proverbs teaches us to stay away from those who seek easy money and easy sex.”
Now you may say to me wait a minute. I know a lot of people who do wrong things and nothing happens. That is true, but in the end no one gets away with evil. Yes, you will see people “get away with things” for a time. But it will always come back on them. Either in this life or the life to come.
Martin Luther King, Jr., as he was fighting for the civil rights of African Americans famously expressed it, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." He was waiting for justice, anticipating its coming, and longing for it.
You don’t know how long it will take, but know the Lord is in control and no one will get away with it. Don’t believe the lies that you can harm others and get away with it.
My grandfather was an FBI agent and worked on some neat cases during his career. One of those cases was the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that occurred on September 15, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. The blast killed 4 young African American girls and injured 22 others. The FBI suspected four particularly radical Ku Klux Klan members. Yet due to reluctant witnesses, a lack of physical evidence, and pervasive racial prejudice the case was closed without any indictments.
Years later, the case was reopened; one of the bombers was convicted in 1977. Another suspect passed away in 1994, and in 2001 US Attorney Doug Jones tried and convicted the final two.
At the trials in 2001-2, my grandfather was summoned to testify. I remember talking to him about it. He simply said, “I put a few nails in their coffins.” My grandfather was mentioned by name in Jones’s book. The men were tried and convicted. The prosecutor for the case wrote a book called Bending Toward Justice. It sadly took 40 years, but their plans fell on them. *The arc of God’s justice is long, but it always stays on course.* It won’t be denied.
When you see someone getting away with evil, just wait a bit. I have seen this over and over. It never happens as quickly as you may want, but those traps fall in on them.
One of the things that was devastating about reading that book, Bending Toward Justice, is that it told you more about the lives of these men who did the bombings. Their lives were ruined by their hard hearts. Their marriages, their children, their acquaintances, they suffered for what they did. They had no peace and no hope.
“Nine times out of ten, the story behind the misbehavior won’t make you angry; it will break your heart.” – Annette Breaux
Ultimately you never get away with sin. Jesus spoke of a judgement that would come for all people, and that is how we truly know we will not get away with it.
Don’t let people entice you that you can make a quick gain and have no consequences. You should do everything that you do knowing that what is done in secret will be brought to light. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart (1 Cor 4:5). God is going to expose it.
We have heard some things not to do. Now let’s talk about what to do. Trust the Lord and make him known. Acknowledge him in all that you do. Make sure he is honored and put first.
Trust the Lord
Trust the Lord and do what is right. Even when others are doing wrong. Let me give a proverb that you should have memorized. This is a proverb that should guide you in all the confusion of life.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5–6)
Trust him for what to do. Trust him for your lot in life. We are not living for the things of the world. We are living for our Lord.
Righteousness is to disadvantage yourself and advantage others. Wickedness is to disadvantage others in order to advantage yourself.
Are you doing what is fair or are you taking advantage of others?
You are going to have to go against sinners. You are going to be called names. You are going to feel isolated and alone. You are going to be at your wits’ end on how you can compete with those who are doing wrong. You may wander if you are going to make it at all. Stand strong. Stand in the Lord.
Be content to honor the Lord. Make a good living but don't be greedy. Greed will destroy you.
Work Hard
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,
but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. Pr 12:11.
Do your work and trust the Lord. He will provide for you. Don’t fall into the temptation to sin. Don’t cut corners. Do things the right way. And don’t succumb to wickedness. Also don't give in to depression and despondency because things are hard or there is uncertainty. You are going to have to live this life by faith. Don’t be anxious, and don’t be anxious because you are anxious. Your faith will be tested. Be faithful to do what God calls you to do.
“Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.”
(Proverbs 12:24)
Be diligent. Working hard entails being diligent. That means to have godly ambition. Don’t sit around doing nothing and wonder why things are going poorly. Work hard. Build that business. Do that spreadsheet. Program that operating system. Build that church or Bible study. Be diligent. Don't be reluctant to do some hard work. Don’t despise working hard.
Kids, guys, your parents,dads, are hard on you because they came to see how difficult it is in the world and they want you to learn it earlier than they did. You will learn it on your own time. Don't despise them for trying to teach that to you. You are going to have to pick a path and go hard after it, because the world is going to try and knock you down.
Build Wisely
Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
(Proverbs 13:11)
Don't despise small increases
Some people will hit the jackpot. And it will go as quickly as it came. As you work God will increase. Mushrooms grow up overnight and are gone as quick as they came. Oaks grow slowly and are strong.
When you gain something quickly, you just don’t appreciate it. Don't take shortcuts to success. Don't think something is wrong when it takes time.
Find joy in the Lord and in what pleases him.
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.
(Proverbs 16:8)
People who take advantage of others are not at peace and they are giving up their peace when they do those things. I was in sales and I missed some deals because I would not take clients to the places they wanted to go. I don’t go to those places. I missed deals because I wouldn't lie to customers. But I also did well because the people I helped appreciated what I did. Whatever I did to win people I was going to have to do to keep them. I was not going to do that.
When others are acting a fool and doing dumb things. Stand your ground. Play the long game. Fools do what is advantageous in the immediate. Wisemen stand their ground and do what is right because it is the right thing to do. I hated missing deals. But it's better to miss a deal and to be able to sleep with peace.
Be honest. Do what is fair. Protect yourself.
Preach God’s Word
He will make your paths straight.
Don't rehearse the world’s lies. Maybe you feel that if you don't do certain things you are going to be behind in life, your career will not make it. Those are lies. Commit your way to the Lord and trust him with what you will be. He will direct and provide for you. And there is more joy in walking with him, having peace of mind that you have done the right thing and there are no traps.
Don’t believe the lies of the world and enticement of sinners. Don't believe you are ruined if you do not conform to the world.
Don't believe that you don't have a good future. Too many people are living in depression because they are not as ____ (goodlooking, smart, wealthy) as _____.
When in doubt rehearse the gospel story to yourself. You know Jesus was a righteous man, a son of Solomon. He took these words to heart and did not give into sinners. The religious leaders envied him, plotted against him, ambushed him and demanded his blood be poured out on the cross. He lost his life. He trusted in God, but he lost his life. But God also made his paths straight. He made a way where there wasn’t a way. Jesus was raised to life everlasting. And now the instruction he gives to us is to believe in him, leave everything we have and follow after him, and he will take care of us. He will lead us where sinners cannot hurt us. Where, there are now more ambushes, where we will dwell securely and peacefully for all eternity.
He died for sinners like me and you. And he now reigns above all thrones and dominions, All powers and positions. And he bids us to come as his children. It's a great promise of hope. It is one that guides us now. It is not without cost. Every day we have to choose him over the world. It is hard. It has a cost.
Discussion Questions
- What ways does temptation come in this passage? How have you experienced that?
- Have you ever had to wait a long time to see God’s justice? What was the wait like?
- What are the right ways that we should work? Which of these do you most need to apply in your life.
