Series Introduction
Economists have called the past few months the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.[1] Many of us have lost jobs, income, or retirement and know others who also have. The President and the Congress have labored to stimulate the economy, to provide some kind of economic recovery. And while there are signs of improvement, many of us and those we know are still struggling. This morning we begin a three-week series from Proverbs called Real Economic Recovery. We want to explore what it means to experience real recovery during tough economic times. In this series we’ll look at three simple ways we can survive and thrive during financial stress. Let’s pray…
Pompeii was an ancient city near Naples, Italy that was destroyed and buried by a volcano in A.D. 79. Clovis Chappell writes of the excavation of Pompeii.[2] A body was found which had been preserved by the volcanic ash. The body was that of a woman. Her feet were turned forward toward the city gate as if she had been running toward the gate. But her face was turned backward. Her eyes gazed on something behind just beyond her outstretched hands. What was it? It was a bag of pearls. Her hands were reaching back for the pearls. She may have dropped them as she was fleeing. Volcanic death was raining down around her and her only hope was to escape through the city gates. But she stopped to pick up the pearls. And in stopping, she died. What killed her was not simply Mount Vesuvius. What killed her was her belief that she just had to have that possession.
There are people today in whom the spirit of that woman lives. There are times when we act as if we just must have some possession; as if life is hardly worth living without some material gain. I’ll put it this way: We tend to believe or behave as if it is better to have a lot of money than it is to have a little money. For some reason that woman believed or at least behaved as if it was better to have the pearls and risk death than to have no pearls and avoid death. And her attitude is little different from ours. We tend to believe or at least behave as if life is better when we have a lot of money than when we have a little money.
It’s a belief found even among the wealthiest. Gary Thomas writes about NBA star Scottie Pippen.[3] Pippen was born into a small house and lived in a poor family. But from 1999 through 2002, Pippen’s NBA contract gave him $14.7 million a year. He went from near poverty to $14.7 million/year. Yet Pippen still believed his life would better if he was making even more money. Gary Thomas describes how, before every game in Portland’s Rose Garden, Pippen would gaze at the courtside seat occupied by Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft and owner of the Trail Blazers. Paul Allen was worth $40 billion. And Pippen would ask: “’What does he have? Forty billion? How can I make just one billion? I just want one of them!'” The millionaire Pippen believed life would be better if he just became a billionaire.
Few of us are millionaires. But as Americans, we are among the wealthiest on the globe. Rob Bell is the author of Jesus Wants to Save Christians. Listen to these statistics from Bell’s book:[4]
- America controls nearly 20 percent of the world’s wealth. We are 5 percent of the world’s population but we control 20 percent of the world’s wealth.
- One billion people in the world do not have access to clean water, while the average American uses 400 to 600 liters of water a day.
- Every 7 seconds, somewhere in the world a child under 5 dies of hunger, while Americans throw away 14 percent of the food we purchase.
- More than half of the world lives on less than 2 dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.
- By far, most of the people in the world do not own a car. One third of American families own three cars.
Even in difficult economic times, we Americans are still among the wealthiest on this planet. We’re the ones who have a lot of money. And those around the world who have little money tend to believe that life would be better if they could have a lot of money like we Americans do. But more to the point, I think that some of the stress and anxiety we Americans feel in these tough financial times stems from the fact that we share that basic belief. The economy is putting our wealth in jeopardy. Some are having to sell second cars or condos. Some are having to downsize homes and schools. And it makes us nervous, it stresses us out, because we tend to believe or at least behave as if life is getting worse because of our financial loss. Life was better when we had that second car, that condo, that bigger home, that better school. Life was better when the income was higher and the retirement was more secure. We think nostalgically of the better financial times a few years ago and we wish for those times. Why? Because we tend to believe or at least behave as if it is better to have a lot of money—at least the money we used to have, than it is to have a little money.
The book of Proverbs, however, views things very differently. This morning we begin a series based in the book of Proverbs. We learn something of the origin of Proverbs in 1 Kg. 4:29-32: 29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt… 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. (1 Kings 4:29-32 TNVI). God granted Solomon, David’s son, great wisdom. This wisdom was then expressed by Solomon in thousands of proverbs. The book of Proverbs supplies us with some of these.
Proverbs is actually a collection of seven collections.[5] These include proverbs authored by Solomon as well as those authored by a man named Agur and a king named Lemuel. The proverbs take up many themes about everyday life. One scholar suggests there are three major themes in Proverbs: 1) the power and practice of speaking wise words versus speaking foolish words, 2) wisdom about loving the right woman, and 3) wisdom about money.[6] That is Proverbs really focuses on just three major issues: how to speak right, how to love right, and how to have the right perspective on money. It’s that third theme which will guide us in this series.
One of the things Proverbs teaches about money is this: it is better to have a little money than it is to have a lot of money. The authors, having watched enough people, having reflected enough on life, and having received wisdom from above, have come to this conclusion: it’s better to have a little money than it is to have a lot of money. Their conclusion is just the opposite of how we tend to live. We tend to live as if it is better to have a lot of money than it is to have a little money. But Proverbs teaches it is better to have a little money than it is to have a lot of money. Proverbs suggests that our lives may, in fact, be better during a great recession than at other times.
We see this in some of the “better…than” proverbs. There are 19 proverbs which take the form “X is better than Y.” 12 of these have to do with money:
- Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. (Proverbs 15:16 TNIV)
- Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred. (Proverbs 15:17 TNIV)
- Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. (Proverbs 16:8 TNIV)
- How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! (Proverbs 16:16 TNIV)
- Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19 TNIV)
- Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. (Proverbs 17:1 TNIV)
- Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse. (Proverbs 19:1 TNIV)
- What a person desires is unfailing love ; better to be poor than a liar. (Proverbs 19:22 TNIV)
- Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. (Proverbs 21:9 TNIV)
- A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. (Proverbs 22:1 TNIV)
- Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. (Proverbs 25:24 TNIV)
- Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse. (Proverbs 28:6 TNIV)
Do you hear the pattern? Twelve times we hear that one thing is better than another thing. Here, the one thing that’s better is called “a little,” “a small serving,” “lowly,” “a dry crust,” being “poor,” and being able to afford only “a corner of the roof” to live on. And what those things are better than is this: “great wealth,” “fattened calf,” “much gain,” “gold” and “silver,” one who “shares plunder,” affording a “house full of feasting,” earning enough to have an entire “house,” and “riches.” In other words, these proverbs teach that it is better to have a little money than it is to have a lot of money. If things are tight for you financially right now and they weren’t tight a year ago, Proverbs is saying you may actually be better off now. How could that be?
One of the reasons is this: when you have a lot of money you may then possess some very bad things. Listen again to the bad things that may accompany a large income: “turmoil,” “hatred,” “injustice,” “pride,” “strife,” becoming “perverse,” become a “liar,” and having family conflict—“a quarrelsome wife.” In these proverbs, those are things that may accompany wealth. It is summarized well in Prov. 15:16-17: Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred. (Proverbs 15:16-17 TNIV) The “turmoil” may be the care and labor and anxiety which accompanies wealth. [7] It may refer to the frantic running that comes when you become obsessed with wealth.[8] And when the author mentions “hatred” tied to a fattened calf he may be envisioning a house of great wealth where people cannot get along with each other.[9] It is a house where people eat the finest of foods but loath each other.[10] The wealth has brought with it only a disparaging attitude toward others.
Prov. 16:8 is similar: Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. (Proverbs 16:8 TNIV). The implication is that “much gain” or wealth is often accompanied by injustice or dishonesty.[11] It is difficult to have a lot of money and not also have at least a little selfishness, or neglecting the needs of others. Wealth often leads us to become at least a little dishonest and more likely to perpetrate injustice.
Prov. 17:1 imagines something similar: Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. (Proverbs 17:1 TNIV) The text is a reference to an affluent family versus a family who only has dry bread to eat.[12] Yet with affluence has come strife. There are family arguments and family unhappiness rooted in the family’s affluence.
Does a lot of money always lead to these things? No. But the authors of these proverbs have seen it lead to these things enough to state this kind of truism: when you possess a lot of money you may then possess some very bad things. It’s for this reason, then, that they say it’s better to have a little money than a lot. We shouldn’t necessarily wish for those better economic times. We shouldn’t necessarily think our lives are worse off because we are financially worse off.
But the proverbs not only suggest that with a lot of money may come bad things. They also suggest this: when you have a little money you may still possess some very good things. Listen again to some of the priceless things possessed by those who have little:
- Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. (Proverbs 15:16 TNIV)
- Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred. (Proverbs 15:17 TNIV)
- Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. (Proverbs 16:8 TNIV)
- How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! (Proverbs 16:16 TNIV)
- Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. (Proverbs 17:1 TNIV)
- Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse. (Proverbs 19:1 TNIV)
- A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. (Proverbs 22:1 TNIV)
Proverbs is saying that even when times are tough, even when stock market tanks, even when income is unstable, there are many good things you still possess. And the key to real economic recovery is to focus on those things: focus on the treasures money cannot buy; focus on what you do have in spite of what you don’t have.
Prov. 15:16 says that even when you have “a little” you still have “fear of the LORD”—a genuine relationship with the one who created you. You cannot put a price on that. You don’t need a checking account to have fellowship with the Father. Prov. 15:17 says that even when all you have to eat is “a small serving of vegetables” you still have love. You can still be surrounded by people who love you and whom you love. There are lonely wealthy people who would give up all their riches for just one person who loved them. That’s one of those treasures you can still treasure even without a credit card. Even if you have “a little” Prov. 16:8 says, you can still have “righteousness.” Contrasted as it is with “injustice” “righteousness” probably refers to compassion and mercy and a giving spirit. Even when you don’t have very much, you still have the ability to treat others well, to help others, to serve others. That in and of itself can be greatly satisfying. Prov. 17:1 says that even if all you have is “dry crust” to eat, you can still experience “peace and quiet.” That priceless experience stands in stark contrast to the wealthy who experience strife, conflict, turmoil, stress, and anxiety. Even living in a smaller home or having no job, you can still walk out to a park and experience peace and quiet and tranquility. Finally, Prov. 22:1 promises that even without “great riches” or “silver or gold,” you may possess a “good name” and be “esteemed.” There is nothing more joyful than to have a good reputation in your community, to be esteemed for all the right reasons, to be a person of character and integrity. Those are some of the things you can have with even the smallest of income. When you have a little money you may still possess some very good things. And the key to real economic recovery is to focus on those things.
[1] http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/25/news/economy/depression_comparisons/index.htm
[2] N. Bruce Creswell, Jr. Leadership (10:4).
[3] Adapted from Gary Thomas in Authentic Faith (Zondervan, 2002).
[4] Rob Bell, Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Zondervan, 2008), 122-123.
[5] Bruce K. Waltke The Book of Proverbs Chapters 1-15 The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2004), 9ff.
[6] Tremper Longman III, How to Read Proverbs (IVP Academic, 2002).
[7]James E. Smith, The Wisdom Literature and Psalms (Joplin, Mo.: College Press Pub. Co., 1996), Pr 15:12-17.
[8] Waltke, 626-627.
[9]John F. Walvoord et al., The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 1:938.
[10] Waltke, 628.
[11]John F. Walvoord et al., The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 1:940.
[12]James E. Smith, The Wisdom Literature and Psalms (Joplin, Mo.: College Press Pub. Co., 1996), Pr 17:1-9.
