Proverbs 22:1-2, Proverbs 22:6, Proverbs 22:8-9
September 10, 2000
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
Proverbs are short, one-sentence wisdom from everyday experiences.
“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray” (22:6).
“The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit” (22:14).
And today, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold” (22:1).
We have all grown up hearing these one-sentence sayings. My Mom used to say when we were walking off the sidewalk, “When there is a sidewalk, you walk where dogs do their business.” “Clean your plate clean and you will marry a woman with nice complexion.” Or, “Pick up your socks.” “If you are nice to people, they’ll be nice to you.
The Book of Proverbs is something like being on a long road trip with your mother in the back seat.
Today we recognized and promoted children from one grade to another. It’s a great time to dispense these one-sentence sayings of wisdom. “Read your Bible everyday because it is the Word of life.” “Sit in the front row in class, your teachers will like you and you will get a better grade.”
Raising a family gives you plenty of opportunities to come up with your own proverbs to say to your kids. Some of mine are: “When you are out in the world, your behavior reflects on Mom and Dad.” “Spend only what you have.” And when our kids kissed us to go to bed, I always said, “Be good!” And they always had a puzzled look on their faces that said, “Dad, we’re only going to bed.”
Old people like me like to dispense out proverbial wisdom. It makes us feel needed. It gives the impression that the accumulation of years actually taught us something! And most young people are probably saying to themselves, “So this is how you got to where you are today!”
Lately, proverbial wisdom has been enjoying phenomenal growth. Look at the bestseller section of your local bookstore and you’ll see Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Book of Virtues, Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. You can say that these are proverbs for modern people who don’t have much time for anything in depth.
Why Proverbs?
Historically, proverbs begin to sprout during those times when culture is in chaos, when things come unglued, the old truths are questioned, when people begin to wander and
don’t know which way to turn. The Book of Proverbs was written during such a time in Israel. In Israel, it was a time of social and moral decline where corruption of values and morals prevailed.
But the purpose of proverbs does not grow out of judgment or condemnation of sins and wrongdoing, but rather out of love. Proverbs are the product of a society that loves its young enough to show them the way, to point out the path, to tell the next generation what we have learned.
Proverbs are affirmation that life has some answers, that the younger generation won’t have to reinvent the wheel. The proverbs that we might share point the way for the new generation’s future. It’s like telling the children to “Read their Bibles everyday.” It’s making a pledge as new parents that we will raise our children to be God’s kids.
Gaining Wisdom
Some of you are probably saying to yourself, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned at Kindergarten.” “I have been around the block I few times in my life.” “I have seen the way the world really works.” Here goes the preacher again, “He’s going to say how the world ought to work and the way it shouldn’t work.”
Well, don’t leave, sit down, listen to me, and I’ll tell you what works in life.
A Good Name
Today’s proverb is “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold” (v.1).
Today’s proverb contrasts between one way of life and another. A good reputation, good favor, is better than wealth. Would you agree with this? Would you choose a good name rather than a good bank account? Is it better to have a good reputation than to have riches? Is that the wisdom of this world?
If we were to form two groups and I ask you to choose one of these groups’ paths into the future, one group leads to riches, the other to a good name, which group would be larger? My guess is that the group that would lead to riches and more power would be larger.
We may be idealistic and talk about teaching in an inner-city school. But then after a couple of years, you lose your idealism, some naivete, and you apply for law school. We face the facts and step in with how the world works. And the way the world works is, “Choose power, riches, things, and if there is any free time left over when you get home, work on your reputation.”
This summer there was a new biography of Donald Trump. Trump has not chosen the path toward a good name and he’s famous. A few weeks ago, Newsweek devoted an entire issue to America’s new rich, the new billionaires among us. I don’t recollect a
really good name among them. There were mostly people known, not for a good name, but rather for helping themselves to the goodies.
So when we hear today’s proverb is “Choose a good name rather than riches,” this is an assault on the wisdom of the world. We are saying that contrary to all that we learned about what success is, what fame is, what power is, having a good name is better than having all the riches in the world.
There are proverbs that just restate what everyone already believes or would like to believe. It’s conventional wisdom, “A woman’s place is in the home.” But then there are proverbs that subvert, deconstruct, and assault what everyone already believes and a new understanding is made possible like, “A woman’s place is in the house, and the senate.”
This biblical wisdom of “A good name is a better choice than great riches” challenges all the conventional and societal wisdom that we know. Competing with this biblical wisdom is “The one who has the most toys when he dies wins.”
Did not Jesus tell us the proverb that it is possible for someone to gain the whole world and still loses his soul?
Proverbs frames for us this choice. You need to make the choice. Not all paths taken in life are equal or wise. Some are just foolish. The choice for you is “A good name is better than riches, power, and all that the world has to offer.”
A Good Character
When I think about what a “good name” is, I think about character. The word, “character” comes from the Greek meaning “engraving tool.” When you have a “good name” a good character, you have engraved in your personality, good traits that distinguish you from another.
If we play our stock options or venture capital right, you are I can probably accumulate a mountain of wealth. People like Donald Trump has done this. If you have all the wealth in the world, you can’t buy a good name.
The truth of this proverb cannot be identified with people like Trump. We see it in people whom we can say, “She can be counted on, through thick and thin.” or “He is a kind and generous person.” or “She manages to do much good for others without telling anyone about it.” or “He always thinks about the needs of others first before his own.” These are the everyday affirmations of character of a good name.
The truth of this proverb can be found here at FCBC.
When we take the time from our busy schedules and agendas to teach Sunday school or advise our youth groups, you are making a good name for yourself.
When you give of yourself like so many did at last weekend’s Family Camp so that young parents can attend the program, to hold the babies, to run around with the toddlers in the play ground, to dispense wisdom to the youth about relationships, you are making for yourself a good name.
When you sit down one to one with these children who graduated from the third grade to the fourth grade and help them read their new Bibles, you are making for yourself a good name.
Julie and Shack, when you raise Phoenix and Sierra in the right way so that they will not stray from God’s plan for their lives, you will not only make a good name for yourself, but you will be nurturing and making good and faithful names for your children.
Choose Wisdom
The Book of Proverbs offers two ways to life: the way of life and the way of death. Two groups of people travel these two ways: the wise and the foolish. The wise people use these proverbs as ethical resources to steer their paths toward a good name. The foolish, those who see themselves wise in their own eyes, reject teachings from others and relying only on their own ingenuity become hopelessly lost among life’s winding paths.
Jesus shared proverbial wisdom with his disciples.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up the cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?” (Luke 9:23-25).
May you choose the wisdom of a “good name” rather than great riches of silver and gold. May you choose Jesus Christ by taking up your cross daily and follow Christ. Here is where you will find life everlasting and a good name.
Let us pray.
Lord, sometimes we would like you to choose for us but we know that the decision is up to us. Help us to choose honesty, integrity, generously, love, and faithfulness; all the things that would build up our characters for a good name. Lead us to follow Christ’s path to life so that we may have everlasting life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.