NOTHING FOR SOMETHING

Proverbs 13:7

There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

There is a tool of rhetoric called the oxymoron.

It is when two things that seem to be contradictory are used together in a harmonic manner; something like:

·   “Make haste slowly.” (Hurry up and wait)

·   “That’s a fine mess you’ve made.” or

·   “She’s just a poor little rich girl.”

Our passage this morning contains two such oxymorons:

·   The rich with nothing and

·   The poor with riches

One of them is a negative application and one of them is a positive application.

I. A NEGATIVE APPLICATION

Proverbs 13:7

There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing…

There are some who pretend to be rich when they really have nothing. They are fakers, liars. To them everything is show.

A. Their heart may be under deep burden, but they pretend to be light hearted

They pretend to be rich in joy, but they are truly miserable inside.

They act like everything is great in their lives, but in truth they are unhappy with their circumstances.

I have met two different kids of miserable persons:

One is miserable and wants everyone around them to be miserable too.

The other is miserable but he doesn’t want anyone else to know it.

1. It might be because he is proud.

He doesn’t want anyone else to thing they are better then him.

He lives in this illusion that he is the only one suffering and people who don’t feel like he does will think less of him for being miserable.

2. It might be because he is stubborn

I think of the person who is miserable because he refuses to get things right with God.

·   He knows God is

·   He knows he ought to repent and get right with God

·   He knows in his heart that what Christians teach is right

But he chooses to pretend he is all right so he doesn’t have to deal with his sin.

He makes himself out to be happy, when he is really miserable.

*B. They might be mean and hateful toward another, but they pretend to be a great friend

You know the sort of person I refer to here:

This is the guy who treats you well to your face but stabs you in the back.

On the other hand

C. Some pretend to be poor who are in reality very wealthy

Americans probably do this habitually.

We have so much more than the rest of the world but we think we are but poor people.

We compare ourselves with our neighbors and, if we have anything less than they have, we think of ourselves as impoverished.

I understand that, because we live in such an affluent culture, it takes more to get along. But really, I know only a hand full of people whose lives can even remotely compare to the poverty and suffering of some, in other parts of the world.

*II. A POSITIVE APPLICTION

Proverbs 13:7

… there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

A. Many have much of this world's goods but have hearts filled with grief.

Material possessions and financial gain can never give a person the things that truly make one content and happy in life.

They have a lot, comparatively speaking, but they aren’t happy with what they have.

They have never learned to be content.

B. I have also known many who have very little of this world's goods but who are a very content and happy people.

Sometimes our desire for things so blinds us that we cannot see what would bring the greatest wealth:

· Peace,

· Joy and

· Contentment

We cling to and pursue the material worldly wealth to the point of being spiritually and emotionally impoverished.

That brings me to

*III. A SPIRITUAL APPLICATION

Pro 13:10

Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

The well advised man will seek the counsel of others to bring things into a proper perspective so he may see:

A. What things he ought to release for the sake of spiritual wealth

·   There are some emotions we ought to let go of in order to have great wealth (peace)

·   There are some people we ought to let go of in order to have great wealth

·   There are some habits we ought to let go of in order to have great wealth and

·   There are some things we ought to let go of in order to have great wealth

The problem is that we often can’t see that thing we are holding onto so tightly is the very thing that is robbing us of real wealth.

A godly outside observer can more often than not show us what it is that is making us poor.

B. What he ought to keep, guard and hold onto for the sake of what is right.

Sometimes the very thing we think we ought to quit so we can be happy is the very thing we need to hold on to in order to succeed.

Often a person thinks he needs to quit tithing to save money – it won’t work.

They need someone to tell them what they should stop spending money on so they can keep tithing and honoring God.

Sometimes a person thinks they need to quit their job in order to get a better one.

They need someone to help them see whether they really ought to quit that job, or else stick with it and focus on better stewardship.

Conclusion

There are some things that seem like they would make us successful but instead they just make us miserable.

There are other things that seem like they would be a waste of time and money, but they are things God blesses.

A lot of the time we can’t tell which ones are will make us successful and which ones will bring us to poverty.

The answer is to be well advised.

Surround yourself with Godly people who can help you to seek those things that will give make you successful

·   Spiritually

·   Emotionally and maybe even

·   Materially

THE WISDOM OF THE WELL ADVISED

Proverbs 13:10 (KJV)

Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

Advice.

Benjamin Franklin said of it, “Wise men don’t need advise. Fools won’t take it.”

·   All of us need advice

·   Some of us like to give advice and

·   A bunch of us will not receive advice

I found all sorts of quotes for you about giving and receiving advice:

·   Advice is like snow – the softer it falls the longer it dwells upon and the deeper it sinks into the mind.[1]

·   Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.[2]

·   I never take advice from someone more messed up than me.[3]

·   Advice is like cooking, you should try it before you feed it to others.[4]

·   Unsolicited advice is like someone singing out of tune. No one wants to hear it.[5]

Stubborn and proud people seldom like to hear advice and almost always try to give advise.

But the Bible says there is wisdom in being well advised.

I want to address the subject of the wisdom of the well advised by considering first,

I. The Principle of Being Well Advised

For this point I plan to stay in the book of proverbs to give you a bit of what it teaches about receiving advice.

In the,

Multitude of counselors there is safety

Proverbs 11:14 (KJV)

Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Proverbs 15:22 (KJV)

Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

In these two similar verses we have

·   Two consequences of having no counsel and

·   Two benefits of receiving much counsel

A. Without counsel there is disappointment and failure.

It seems to me that would be the order:

·   First disappointment

·   Then failure

No one ever advances in life without being teachable.

·   There are a ton of quotes about unsolicited and unwanted advice,

·   There are plenty of quotes that are intended to give advice

But

·   There are not many quotes on the importance of following advice.

A person who will not receive advise is not teachable and will discover his efforts to improve himself are disappointed.

·   A disappointed person, will often become

·   A discouraged person, which will in turn lead to

·   A devastated person

 Success always comes through instruction – another name for advice.

B. In the multitude of counselors comes establishment and safety

And I think that is the order:

·   First established

·   Then safety

Consider a military position.

The more established it is, the more secure it is.

I listened this week to a podcast on the Battle of Dunkirk.[6]

Both the French and the British were caught off guard in the early days of WWII. Neither country really wanted to be involved yet.

They had a fighting force that was greater than Germany, but they were not as committed to fighting as Germany was.

Because they were not as committed, Germany

·   pounced on them,

·   pinched them in, and effectively

·   beat the both of them

They had no choice but to retreat and evacuate at the beaches of Dunkirk.

And they would not have even been able to do that except, for whatever reason, the Germans halted their offensive just one day.

One day

That was just enough time to

·   Fortify their position,

·   Plan their evacuation

·   Enlist hundreds of volunteer watercraft and

·   Execute their plan

When you can establish a thing:

·   Take counsel,

·   Build a base and

·   Create a plan,

you are able to accomplish anything more safely.

C. What a multitude of counselors is not

It is not asking a lot of people the same question and different times, looking for one piece of advice you like.

Neither is it asking those same people individually looking to see if they have some sort continuity between their counsels.

Whenever someone comes to me for counsel and informs me that they have asked for the counsel of others on the same subject I always feel like I need to know what the other counsel was so that I can add to it rather than contradict it.

That leads me to what I believe

D. A multitude of counselors should be

It should be a “personal board meeting.”

A wise person has a group of people:

·   That they trust and respect

·   That know them well and

·   That are invested in their success

When counsel is needed, the group gets together to give counsel as a whole.

Benjamin Franklin is considered America’s foremost philosopher, scholar and politician.

Franklin was not formally trained but he did want to improve in his station in life.

What he did is create what he called a Junto.

It was a group of never more than twelve persons who all wanted to grow in education and skill.

These twelve met together several times a month to

·   Counsel,

·   Critique and

·   Develop

one another.

·   They listened to each other practice public speaking

·   They read each other’s written papers and

·   They brain stormed ways to become more productive

It was Benjamin Franklin’s Junto that came up with:

·   The public library system and

·   The fire department

Every one of us ought to be a part of a Junto.

Let me move on to

II. Patterns (or examples) of Leaders Who Used counselors

We find several examples of leaders in the Bible who used and misused counselors.

A. Gentile Leaders

Pharaoh

Exodus 7:10-12 (KJV)

And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

Pharaoh was likely the most powerful leader in the world at this time.

But when Moses came to him, challenged him to let Israel go and his rod turned into a serpent,

Pharaoh immediately called for his wise men.

He did not arbitrarily make a decision.

He got counsel – s poor as that counsel was.

Ahasuerus

Esther 1:13-15 (KJV)

Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment:

And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;)

What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?

Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus and Ahasuerus all had and used counselors.

My point at this moment is not to prove whether it was good counsel or bad counsel but just to demonstrate that they did accept counsel.

They were all very powerful men.

Yet every one of them accepted the counsel of a group of advisors.

Among the Jews we have the example of

B. Immature Leaders

Absalom

2 Samuel 15:31 (KJV)

And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

Ahithophel had been one of David’s most trusted counselors. When he defected and took sides with Absalom, he expected Absalom to respect and follow his counsel too.

Ahithophel wisely counseled Absalom to strike David before he had time to fortify himself.

But David had a mole in Absalom’s camp. Hushai was able to convince Absalom not to follow Ahithophel’s advice and the Bible says,

2 Samuel 17:23 (KJV)

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

There are two principles at play here:

First, we shouldn’t ask advise of a multitude of counselors when they are not together.

Let the counselors improve upon one another by hearing each other.

Two when we ask counsel, expect that we will follow the counsel.

If you don’t trust a person enough to follow the advice they give you don’t ask them.

If you ask them and don’t follow the advice, they will not likely give you advice again.

Rehoboam

1 Kings 12:6-8 (KJV)

And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?

And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.

But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:

Rehoboam is another example of asking two counselors and then choosing the counsel he liked the best.

It’s a worthless way to seek counsel. He might as well have just done what he wanted without asking anyone.

C. Godly Leaders

Moses

Exodus 18:14-19 (KJV)

And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?

And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God:

When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.

And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.

Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:

I see all sorts of lessons here.

Moses was the sole leader of the whole people of Israel. They came to him alone for everything.

His father in law offered unsolicited advice and Moses listened and followed it.

·   He was not too proud to accept counsel

·   He was not too stubborn to accept it even though it was not asked for and

·   He took it even though it was from his father in law

King David

2 Samuel 16:23 (KJV)

And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

David had more than one counselor.

And his counselor’s counsel was taken like it was from the mouth of God.

There is wisdom in advice.

But Proverbs 13:10 says that there is wisdom in being well advised.

The difference is in having good or bad counsel and for that I want to take you finally to

III. The Perfect Passage on Wise Counsel

Psalms 1:1-6 (KJV)

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

We are told exactly where not to get counsel and where to get counsel

A. Bad counsel comes from

·   The ungodly

·   The sinners and

·   The scornful

I don’t think I will take the time tonight to expound on what those are.

Frankly, I think any of us who want godly counsel “know” who these guys are.

B. Good counsel comes from the law of the Lord

Not only must we delight in the law of the Lord and meditate in it day and night;

We ought to seek counsel from those we know to do the same.

Conclusion

I want to conclude with one of the quotes I began the message with; Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.[7]

Proverbs 13:10 (KJV)

Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

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[1] Samuel Coleridge

[2] Harper Lee

[3] Tom Hopkins

[4] Pinterest

[5] Hippoquootes.com

[6] Apparently there is a new movie coming out about it. This history podcast played off the movie and gave the historical details preceding and during the battle.

[7] Harper Lee