Peace Hill Podcasts
Proverbs 19:15-22, Receiving Instruction
Be Willing to Listen to Advice and Receive Instruction.
15 Laziness brings on deep sleep
and the shiftless man goes hungry
16 He who obeys instructions guards his life
but he who is contemptuous of his ways will die
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| 17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord
| and he will reward him for what he has done
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| | 18 Discipline your son, for in that there is hope
| | Do not be a willing party to his death
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| 19 A Hot tempered man must pay the penalty
| if you rescue him you will have to do it again.
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20 Listen to advice and accept instruction
and in the end you will be wise.
These verses contrast the commands to “Listen to advice” and to “Accept instruction” (vs.20) - with the description of the one, “... who is contemptuous of his ways...”.
In other words, not to be open to advice - to be unwilling to accept instruction from others - particularly those who are older and wiser than we are - is to show contempt for our ways.
“Contempt” means, “a lack of respect”, or “an attitude regarding another as inferior or worthless”. Most of us would not characterize our unwillingness to listen to the advice of another as contempt. We think of ourselves as adequate to decide and to make our choices without the help or direction of anyone - we see this as our freedom and our right.
But the proverbs speak again and again of our need for instruction - for wisdom - for advice. The truth is that, although we would rather be left alone to make our own decisions without input from others - we need the input of others who are wiser than we are.
The passage presses this point home with vs.16 and 20. The promise for those who listen to advice and accept instruction is that they will become wise and they will be wise. Vs.16 states that listening to and obeying instruction guards a person’s life. The refusal to listen to instruction - on the other hand - shows a contempt for our ways - a contempt for doing what is right - and leads to death.
Don’t Be Insensitive Like the Lazy Man: The Lazy and Shiftless man is a metaphor for those who are unwilling to accept instruction. He is a picture of contempt for instruction - he is contemptuous of his very life. He squanders his life through inactivity. Notice the result of his laziness is deep sleep - which is a picture of his deep insensitivity to God and to wisdom.
When we refuse to hear wisdom from others, we are like the lazy man - deeply asleep to what we ought to be hearing - insensitive to God’s voice in our lives.
Don’t Be Defensive Like the Hot-tempered Man: The hot-tempered man is also a metaphor for those who will not receive instruction. He is driven by his passions and his contempt for others. Consequently, he is unwilling - unable to receive instruction. He must pay the penalty. There is no point in trying to rescue him from the situations he finds himself in because in his foolishness he generates more and more.
Be Willing to Accept Instruction That Has No Obvious Reward, Like the Man who is Kind to the Poor: This, again is a metaphor - this time positive - for the man who receives instruction. He listens and does what is right - even though there is no obvious benefit for him in it. He is a picture of the man who listens to advice and instruction - the call to be wise - for the sake of pleasing God. And although outwardly there is no obvious reward for his obedience - “[God] will reward him for what he has done”.
Something important here is being said about the willingness to receive instruction. Godly advice cannot always be weighed by obvious cause and effect. Sometimes instruction appears to be costly and have no evident reward (e.g. Love your enemy, or Don’t resist an evil man) - and we must listen and accept it believing that God will reward us.
Train Your Own Children to Accept Instruction: At the center of the structure is this call to discipline one’s own children - which highlights the willingness to accept instruction as the foundation of wisdom. Without discipline - (which must mean, here, more than punishment - certainly including, correction, teaching, training, encouragement in what is good, rebuking where necessary) - a parent becomes “a willing party to [the child’s] death”. A child without discipline is not prepared for the world or for life. This is obvious.
And, of course, as God’s children, we also - obviously need discipline and instruction. To think that we are adequate in our own wisdom without receiving advice or instruction from others - is being compared to being like a son who does not think he needs instruction because he is wise enough on his own.
Accept Instruction Because You Need the Wisdom of Others.
To Receive Instruction is to Allow God to Reveal His Purpose: ”Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”. The point here is not that God is at cross purposes with whatever man wants to do - but rather that God has a purpose for our lives. We have many interests and plans, but we do not have the wisdom, within the context of the things we are doing, to know the purposes of God on our own. God has a purpose - something that he desires to do in and through our lives within the context of our plans and interests. To receive instruction is to allow God to reveal and work out that purpose in our lives. To be arrogant and unwilling to receive instruction is to push away and ignore what God desires to do through our lives.
Trust God’s Unfailing Love.
We Need Unfailing Love: The difficulty with a sermon like this - a teaching like this - is that we all have examples from our lives and times in our lives where we have not received instruction. We have gone our own way and refused to listen to the wisdom of others. The writer, I think, realizes this - God knows this of us. The question that comes to mind is this - have we thwarted the good purposes of God in our lives - have we turned away from what is good?
“What a man desires is unfailing love...” What we need is what God offers - unfailing love. There is no question that we have all, at times pushed away the purposes of God and ignored advice, turning away from what God wanted to do in our lives - His good purposes. But God’s love towards his children - those who are in Jesus Christ - is unfailing. We need unfailing love because we are people who have failed.
Confess your Own Poverty and Inability to See: “...better to be poor than a liar”
It is better to confess our poverty - our inability to be wise on our own - our hard heartedness towards instruction - than it is to pretend that we are wise enough on our own - that we have been wise enough on our own. We need to admit our poverty - the poverty of continuing sin and blindness in our lives - our contempt for instruction - to God. We need to confess the poverty of the consequences of our sin - not lie about them - not hide from them and try to ignore them.
Only as we confess our poverty and blindness, do we receive grace. God’s love is unfailing towards his children. Become open to receive the instruction and advice of others who are wise - confess the poverty of your own way - and be open to the purposes of God in your life.
Sunday June 17, 2007
Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.
Proverbs 19:20
