Proverbs - Wisdom For Troubled Times

Phil is gonna be coming to do the second sermon in in these little series on Proverbs. Well, actually, it's the it's the final proverb series. It's final proverb sermon today in our series. It's gonna be finishing it off.

Proverbs 31, that definitely deserves a round of applause, mate. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah. So so, yeah, so gonna be coming to preach that in a minute, and so Colin and Sally, you know, this is this is obviously what you've found, brother, isn't it? You know? So if you've got a Bible, please do take it and turn to Proverbs, chapter 31. And if you haven't got a Bible, the the passage will come up on the screen as well.

Lord, please open our eyes now to your word, amen. The sayings of King Lemuel, and inspired utterance, his mother taught him. Listen my son. Listen son of my womb. Listen my son, the answer to my prayers.

Do not spend your strength on women. You're vigor on those who ruin kings. It is not for kings, let me well. It is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed. And deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

Let beer be for those who are perishing. Wine for those who are in anguish. Let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. For the rights of all those who are a destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly. Defend the rights of the poor and needy. A wife of noble character who can find. She is worth far more than Ruby. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

He he brings him she brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects woolen flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night. She provides food for her family, and portions for her female servants.

She considers a field and buys it. Out of her earnings, she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously. Her arms are strong for that, her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

In her hand, she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household. For all of them are clothed in Scarlet. She makes coverings for her bed.

She has clothed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land, She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many women do noble things, but you surpassed them all. Cham is deceptive.

And beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done. And let her works bring her praise at the City gate. Good morning. Lovely to see you, particularly warm welcome you're new here or visiting us.

Welcome also to those of you who are joining us online. It's lovely to have everyone here. My name's Philip Coupon, 1 of the 1 of the elders of the church. And as Dean rightly said in a very big introduction This is the last in the whole series of proverbs that's been going on for for quite a long time. And we'll it's the second week we're looking at proverbs 31.

Let's pray and then we'll get going. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this whole these months we spent in proverbs and the wisdom that you show us through your word. For our lives. Lord, we pray this morning as we look again at this Proverbs 31 chapter and we focus particularly on the the wife of Noble character help us to learn from you, to hear from you, to be open to what you have to say to us.

And, Lord, help us to apply it that we might leave here wanting to be more like Jesus. In Jesus' name, Ahmed. Amen. Now I had a great idea for this morning. You see, I thought when you look at all these characteristics of the wife of noble character, I thought what we could do is get them all up on the screen, you know, the key points and then I could pick on a couple of the elders' wives, and we'd just go through and see how they were doing.

But I mentioned it to Pete and Tom who vetoed it, they're the pastors in case you don't know that. So we're not gonna do that and you know, the days of when we were a cutting church have clearly gone. And we're just gonna go through the verses as they are and see what we can get out of it. The big question we've really got to decide straight off this morning is whether these verses really are a portrait of the ideal woman or in fact, that it's not about women at all, that it's about wisdom and the personification of wisdom as a female here is if you like more of a literary device. Now instinctively, My problem with that view, that it's more of a sort of literary device and it's not about women, is whether, frankly, that's just more convenient for me.

It's more woke, it's a more comfortable cultural idea to make it gender neutral. And so we avoid controversy. It feels like a classic downplaying of the role of women and a bit of a cop out, frankly, and much easier for the role of the male preacher. So now I've sort of got that off my chest. We've got to answer the question, nevertheless, is it about women at all?

Because when you see, when you take it within the context of proverbs and we looked at this a bit last week, when you look at the personification of wisdom as a woman, for example in chapter 8. Again, we touched on this last week, then this passage can't really just be talking about the characteristics that you look for in a wife. Surely, the characteristics on display here are things you look for in yourself, if you're someone who wants to be like Jesus, whichever gender you are. But we also need to be aware when we think about these verses that it's definitely not some sort of checklist either for women or for all of us. And the reason we know that it isn't a checklist is because in the original language, The passage is what's known as an acrostic.

It's poetry. So from verses 10 to 31, What we actually have is 22 stanzas, if you like, 22 verses each beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and there are 22 verses. So it's clearly a literary device. It can't therefore be, can it?

A straightforward description of every complete characteristic a godly woman needs to display. Think about Colin and Sally. We've talked about them already, 51 years. That's fantastic. 51 years of marriage.

But I bet Collins got more than 22 things that he required Sally to do, than you. It can't be a complete list. Proverbs 31 interestingly is regarded historically by Jews as a song by which men praise women. And that is the right approach. It must never be a list of tasks through which women earn praise.

It must never be that. Think how that would affect our thinking theologically if that was true. Because you see this chapter although it's talking about a lot about the wife. And her attitude to her husband. This this chapter is in many ways a picture of a marriage, and marriage is a picture of the church as the bride of Christ and Jesus.

So in effect, if we took it as a checklist, we'd be saying that the church, us, we must now earn or justify Christ's love. And that's a shocker. There are 22 elements here of what it looks like to be wise. And as we said last week, these verses are actually all about character. When you get underneath, it's all about character.

And what the writer is doing is showing us different aspects of what it looks like to fear the lord in your life. Because the key verse of chapter 31 is verse 30. Cham is deceptive and beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the lord is to be praised. Fearing the lord is the basis of everything we're going to look at this morning.

So where does that leave us as we look at these verses? Well, I think like a lot of proverbs, the thing to remember is that ultimately the personification of wisdom is Jesus Christ. And so to be more Christlike involves us listening and applying this wisdom to our lives, whoever we are, including, but not exclusively, wives and women. So as we look at this and it will sound, I'm gonna tell you now because of the way it's written, it will sound like I'm talking to wives But we have to understand that the passage is not saying, just to wives, just to women do this, do that. We have to apply it to ourselves.

It's also not saying just so you know, try harder in 22 areas of your life. And if you don't match up, you're in some way deficient. It is more about identifying these traits as the ones that we should value. It's interesting, isn't it? These are the things we should value.

Not what the world says is wisdom, but what God says is wisdom. So growing in godliness and love for Jesus does mean growing in these aspects of your life. Now I know a lot of you were away as we said at the camps, but if you were there last Sunday evening, we had a guest speaker at the evening service, but and he was saying this. He said, look, people say to him, Jesus accepts you as you are. And he's saying that's only a partial truth, actually.

Because, yes, of course he accepts you as you are. But he doesn't want you to stay as you are is what he was pointing out. And the 22 elements listed here should help us think about how we're to become more like Jesus. How we're to not stay as we are. So let's just focus on these verses in a bit more detail this morning on the basis that, yes, girls it's for you, wives take notes, But actually it's for anyone who wants to be wise and understand what God values.

And I hope that's all of us. So the overriding point that I want us to take note of firstly is the 1 we've mentioned already. Verse 30, charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the lord is to be praised. So that verse is telling us straight away, isn't it?

That externals are not as important as internals. So don't fall for the externals. I was I think I was at Nando's. I can't really remember. Anyway, I was with my son who's 23, I think.

And we were chatting and he was rambling on about these 2 girls. And I couldn't really see where we were going with this conversation. So I thought I'll just speed it along a bit. And I said I said, okay, mate. Have you got photos of them on your phone?

And he said, yes. And I said, well, just show them show them to me and I'll tell you which 1 to ask how. And he said, dad. He said, I wasn't looking for advice like that. But if I was, I hope you'd have something better to say.

Which is absolutely right, isn't it? He's right. I mean, I was winding him up but, you know, but that's what this verse is saying. Charm and beauty might be attractive on the outside, but inside, the person can house a heart or a bitter heart which is difficult to live with. And this verse reminds us we mustn't get caught up in the details and miss the wood for the trees.

Look, Proverbs 31, the woman that with is pictured here has a heart for honoring the lord with her life. That's the point. And she lives with true wisdom that god wants all of us not just women to imitate. So let's just think about it for a moment. Do you?

Do you honor the lord with your life? As we sit here, would you say yeah to that? Are you attracted Do you want to spend time with others who honor the lord with their lives? What do you really just do down a Sunday? And then the rest of the week, you've got better mates.

See underneath all the detail in this chapter, what we see is a need to fear the lord. Now when we've got the bat baseline in our heads, then we can move on to look at all these 22 aspects. But it all comes out of fearing the lord. And the first 1 I want us to look at is to be trustworthy. The Proverbs 31 woman is trustworthy, verse 11.

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm all the days of her life. See, the husband here has absolute confidence in her integrity. And her discretion and her care for all of the family's interests. He has no anxiety at all over how she'll run things if, for example, he's away.

As we'll see in a minute, she manages the assets She coordinates the activities. She's careful and wise and completely trustworthy. And as verse 12 says, She brings him good, not harm all the days of her life. So she sees it as her role to do good to this man, which means she won't abuse her power when she's not around. When he's not around.

You know, she isn't, I guess, the sort of person who is out of control with the credit card as soon as he's, you know, can't see what's going on. She's not ordering stuff off Amazon all the time knowing that he's at work and doesn't see them arrive. I was talking to Brenda before the service started. And Brenda was telling me she's very excited you've got a new washing machine. But she said that's her first new washing machine for 40 years.

Now that is a Proverbs 31 woman. Although it may actually be to do with the make of the machine. But you get the point. She's just worthy. She's also trustworthy not just with things but with his reputation.

She doesn't speak badly of him when he's not there to her friends for example. And the phrase when it says that she won't do him harm all the days of her life shows that her love for him is based on such a godliness and fear of the law that as they go through life together, whatever the circumstances she doesn't resort to speaking ill of him. Because all the days of her life is more than it just sounds. It's not just about longevity, It's actually also about circumstances. So even when things are going badly, he's her man.

Now again, let's apply that to all of us. We need to ask ourselves when things are going badly for us, not just personally, but perhaps as a church. Is Jesus still our man? Trust in Christ is a key thing for us. And if you throw it back to the Old Testament, the narrative more than something like Proverbs, What was God constantly saying to a rebellious Israel?

All the time. Trust me. Trust me. Well, the result of her trustworthiness is verse 23. Her husband is respected at the city gate where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

He's risen, if you like, to the top in the community because of his wife, not in spite of her. She creates an environment for him in which he is free, to be everything that God would want him to be. She prays for him, and she creates for him a refuge from a world that tells him he's not gonna enough, he's not strong enough, he's not quick enough, whatever. You know girls be aware of that. However, you are married here.

However, together, your husband seems to be, the world is trying to emasculate him. In this situation, he is respected at the gates and is a well known man. He is esteemed and honored and respected because she is trustworthy. Let's just stop for a moment and think about what that means as a husband. You see, because as a husband, there's a responsibility that if your wife is creating this environment for you, the environment where you're to be, everything that God wants you to be, then you need to step up and be it.

There's no room for laziness. And of course, because we're saying these verses reflect godly wisdom and character and apply to all of us whatever gender we are. You need to think about that. As a husband, are you creating the environment in which your wife can be all she is meant to be? In God's eyes.

See, look at verse 11 again. It doesn't say, does it? The man trusts the woman because her track record warrants it. No hint of that at all that she's earned his trust. It says her husband has full confidence in her, even perhaps before she's proved herself, and it's that confidence that helps her grow.

And for all of us whether We're married or not. Doesn't trustworthy mean, we should selflessly seek to help others be what God wants them to be. Isn't that our job as a church family? Isn't it that we too should be seeking the best for those around us? Here at Cornerstone.

And in the same way that I've said she wasn't out with the credit cards, doesn't being trustworthy mean that we should be good stewards with whatever we've been given to manage, just like the woman here? Now look, I know when whenever we use the word good stewards, everybody thinks money. And debt and overspending. But this is far more reaching than that. Being trustworthy is far more reaching than that, Let's say this morning you want to move house or thinking about moving house into a bigger place.

Where you can have a family, or perhaps another child, or perhaps you're just a bloke buying flat for you for the first time. For whatever reason you're thinking about moving. What if God is saying to you this morning, that's fine. But before I give you that, how about you keep where you live now, clean and tidy? How about you look after it?

Or do you think it's actually okay to lose your deposit at the end of the rental or not get the best price when you sell because of the state it's in? Is that what the Proverbs 31 woman would be doing? So she's trustworthy. She's trustworthy with what they have. The second thing we see, the second trait that makes her a wife of noble character is that she's a homemaker.

Now this is a very weird phrase in that sense. I couldn't think of anything else because it covers a load of verses. So I'm gonna have to go through very quickly. There's loads of aspects of this, which I've just bundled under the word homemaker. Verse 13, she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

Verse 14, She's like the merchant ships bringing her food from afar. Verse 15, she gets up while it's still night. She provides food for her family and portions for her female evidence. See, the idea here is that she's in charge at home, and that that there is even a role or a skill about being in charge at home particularly if you connect that with being a woman or a wife is viewed with complete scorn in today's world. The whole idea is viewed as illegitimate and oppressive and putting women down.

When you look at the wife of noble character, what you see is someone who prioritizes her family, her husband, her house, And I guess that's enough on its own to send many people into fits of anger. But you see the truth is that in God's economy, being a homemaker is an exalted role. It is beautiful. It is crucial. And as we'll see here as well, it requires huge energy.

Because what we see is that there's no place in this woman's life for self indulgence, no place for inactivity. She's absolutely full of energy. Verse 13, It's saying that she seeks out raw materials so that she could work with her hands, and it says it's a delight for her. That means it's, you know, she's keen, she's eager, she's excited to do it. And that is the key for us.

Again, keep looking at the principles, not the detail. This woman loves her family. She loves her husband, and that puts an eagerness into her work. Contrast that with what all of us are told on me by society at the moment The reason you live is to fulfill yourself. That's what society says.

You're here to fulfill yourself. To spend time in what you want to do, it is all about carving out me time. Now if this woman believed that, then everything she does here, all the stuff she's doing for somebody else she would resent. She'd hate it all. And if if we sit here this morning, and we're feeling that resentment, then we're falling into society's trap.

It's all about you. Verse 14 is a great example of this combination of love and energy. You see, it's saying more than she just feeds the household. It's saying she's going to go great distances to get the best food at the best price in order to introduce variety into the family's diet. She's buying something in those days beyond the local produce.

So she's engaged in good planning and good management. 1 commentator said this. She wasn't just slapping whatever she had down on the table, throwing it in front of them. She was involved in the process as going as far as she had to go to get what she thought they would enjoy. Verse 15.

Very similar. She rises before dawn. The house is quiet, perhaps it's cooler, but it's a sacrifice. But she's more concerned with the blessing and the joy of the people she loves than with herself. And do you notice it does say that when she gets up, she's banging the doors as she goes around the house to make sure everyone knows she's up.

By the way, when it talks about very interesting this, I found it interesting. When it talks about the portions for the female servants, it's not necessarily referring to portions of food. It might be. There's a sort of translation issue here. But it could easily be referring to portions meaning tasks.

So what it's saying is that when she gets up before dawn to start work, she hands out. She she portions the tasks out. For her servants to get on with, who've got up with her. So it's a management role. In fact, the breadth of her job is phenomenal, if you read these verses.

And to devalue, therefore, the role of homemaker is just in God's eyes, nuts. Let's very briefly take a few more aspects of this role, we'll go through quite quickly. Just to show you how varied and complex it is, verse 16, she considers a field and buys it out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. Verse 17, she sets about her work vigorously. Her arms are strong for her asks.

Verse 18, she sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not go out at night. Verse 19 in hand, she holds the distaff and glass the spindle with her fingers. Verse 21, when it snows, she has no fear for her household for all of them are clothed in Scarlet. Verse 22, she makes coverings for her bed. She's clothed in fine linen and purple.

It's amazing, isn't it? She's an investor suddenly in 16 buying land, and interesting not just with the husband's money. You know, like it's a sort of hobby to keep her quiet. I've I've actually got a client. And he's quite a wealthy guy.

He owns 5 houses, I think, around the world. And his wife just rotates around the houses, decorating them. And he complains about the money, but I think he secretly just keeps her quiet. He's quite happy. That is not the situation here.

Verse 24 says, she makes linen garments and sells them and supplies the merchants with sassage, sashes See, she's making her own money. And interestingly, not doing so to treat herself. You know, the modern idea of that's my money in a marriage doesn't cross her mind. She's not even doing it to enhance their joint living standards. She's making money and saving it until she can buy an asset for the family I e, the field.

And then making the vineyard. Verse 17 reflects her strength because of the work she does all day and not because she has a personal trainer. Verse 18, she's seeing that her efforts are good for the family, and that motivates her even further, because there's no glory seeking. There's no adulation needed. There's no it's just, you know, there's no self esteem issues here.

She's so fulfilled in the benefit that's coming to the home that she's spurred on to work even harder at night now, hence the phrase the lamp does not go out at night. Now look, I've been trying to get this across. Don't get too bogged down in the detail. That's a good example of the lamp not going out tonight. It doesn't mean we all have stay up working late at night.

We can't do that because we can't afford the power. But in in those days, fine. That's what she that's what she did. Don't get too precise. Otherwise, we will end up wearing red because she'd made scarlet clothes.

Why give us the the reference, by the way, to making everything Scarlet? Well, I think it shows us that this woman has a touch of style. That it's not just about practicalities. Scarlet was that was the color of elegance because it was beautiful, but it was also dark. And dark clothes keep the heat in, and that's what it's talking about.

But the point is the clothes weren't just functional. They were beautiful too. Look at verse 22. She makes bedding. She adorns all of their beds with comfort and beauty.

And again, behind the scenes, this is just a love and devotion for the family. But also it says she's clothed in fine linen and purple. Now look, we said earlier, internals are more important than externals. It doesn't mean you ignore externals completely. 1 commentator says she has some style because she's a reflection of God.

So that made me think actually. Because I've always thought, you know, God was probably sitting around in tracky bottoms and a string vest. But that would imply, you know, perhaps he isn't. She looks lovely, but note it doesn't say anything about gold. Or silk.

There's no suggestion of it being particularly expensive or ornate, but it's the best she could do and purple was not only a sought after color, but a color that enhanced her beauty. She does it to look good for her husband. Before this is oh, no. I'll tell it. Before we had kids, allegedly, I came home after a church service and said to Catherine that I'd been talking to this lady in church and she had what looked like a streak of dried baby vomit down a jumper.

And apparently, and I'm sure I did it very gently. I I said to Kathleen, look, if and when we ever have children, I don't want to see you looking like that. Now, to be fair, my Proverbs 31 woman has not looked like that. So I'm very happy, but it I was reminded of it because and I don't quite know why this happened. A couple of weeks ago in an evening service, it was very hot.

And I was sitting talking to Laura Sweetman, who had a black top on and was clearly overheating. And she suddenly announced that she changed I have done the other asked. Anyway, she said, I changed from the morning because I had a child all down my jumper. And that made me think of that story. So well done, Laura.

Because the proverbs 31 woman would have changed too. You see, look, it's worth us remembering if at this point you're bristling a bit particularly if you've got babies. You know, and you're thinking this is all about the little woman cooking and cleaning at home. These are just examples of fear in the lord. These are examples of wisdom in action.

The point is for all of us to appreciate here, not just the women, that there are principles that Proverbs 31 woman is calling us to, reflecting God's image. Being willing to work hard at what God calls us to do. Caring for those around us. And all of these things that we're being called to that you need to think about the principles, not the detail are everyday things. Have you noticed there's an absence of the talk of ministry of spirituality?

It's important that because in our circles, we can overemphasize word ministry, you know, as if it's the only work worth doing. She's not hiding a laziness at home in a cloak spirituality, this woman. You see much of the purpose of this list is god drawing attention to the often overlooked glory of everyday life. Let me just say that again. Much of the purpose of this list is god drawing attention to the often overlooked glory of everyday life.

Firstly, she's trustworthy. Secondly, she's a homemaker and thirdly and more briefly, third and fourth points are much briefer. She's generous in compassion at verse 20. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. You see, as devoted and loving as she is towards her family.

She's also loving to those outside. Particularly, those who don't have the privilege of being in similar circumstances, because you may have thought this already and you're right. This is a family with some resources. That's why Purple's involved in Scarlet and making bedding and that sort of thing. When it says, you see she extends her hands to the It means she's reaching out to people, not just waiting for somebody to appear in front of her.

She's not just giving to charity, there's a personal involvement. In Acts chapter 9, we read the story of Tabitha. It says her Greek name was Dorcus. And in 9 verse 36, it says she was always doing good and helping the poor. So she's a proverbs 31 woman.

But in the story, she becomes sick and she dies. And some friends when they hear that the apostle Peter was nearby rushed to him because they want him to come to her. I assume bring her back to life is what they wanted. Now listen to verse 39 of Acts chapter 9. Peter went with them.

And when he arrived, he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. See Dorkus or Tabitha was the sort of woman, the proverbs 31 is talking about. She's full on with her family, but it's not the only thing she sees in the world. Her family isn't an idol.

She's not an isolationist. She cares for other people too. She's kind and generous and considerate. Fourthly, we see that she has strength of character versus 25 and 26. She's clothed with strength and dignity.

She can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue. See, she has a confidence about her and a faith. Which means when it says she smiles at the future, she has no fear. She knows in whom she trusts.

She's not full of anxieties partly because you get the impression from these verses. This doesn't really care what other people think. But mainly because she knows everything's in God's hands. Yes. She's busy.

Yes. She's prepared as much as she can for all eventualities, but in the end she trusts in the sovereignty of God. And out of this strength of character and out of this faith, verse 26, she can speak with wisdom. And faithful instruction is on her tongue. So she guides her family daily.

And I guess in this modern world, we all know this, don't we? That whilst we say the husband is to be the head of the household in years, the sort of job some of you have, you're not there for the kids that much. We know often that the mothers end up doing a lot of the teaching of the children. By the way, that's why it says in Malachi, If you read Malachi and it's talking to Israel, and it's saying don't marry daughters of a foreign god, meaning people with other faiths. Because it knows because the prophet, because God knows this, that it's the mothers who do a lot of the teaching.

Even if we wouldn't even if we'd prefer that not to be the case. And so if you marry a wife who is not a Christian, The influence on the kids is not gonna be Christian. The household listens here because The wife of noble character is so effective verse 27 really sums her up. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. So this is a woman who does so much.

She gets real satisfaction from real effort. She looks at her household. She seems as much as she can to have it under control. And her children and her husband hold her in high esteem. Now look, as I said at the beginning, I don't think anybody is able to do all of these things all at once.

Except for Jesus Christ. These are traits, which we should all seek in our lives, as they would make us more like Jesus. Trustworthiness, homemaking, generosity, compassion, character, ability to teach faithfully. Is there anything on that list that you would say, no, I don't need that, I want that. But God has designed our life in passages of time.

And I think there will be times when we tend to display 1 or 2 of these traits more than the others. The reality is if you've got a young baby, you can't be buying fields because it's not supposed to be at the same time. These are things that we should value. This woman of character can only be made by God. Only God can produce her.

That's why it says in verse 30, that the key is to find a woman who fears the lord. We have to interpret the detail of what we've looked at this morning through the lens of fearing the law. That's the key. And it may be even after I've said many times, I think, look at the principles, not the detail, that some of you are sitting there saying, okay, but none of this applies to me. You know, I don't have a husband or wife.

Or kids, or even a home. Okay. But you're focusing on the detail again. You can still be trustworthy. Can't you?

You can still be kind and generous. You can still work hard you can still look out for others. We can all be a wife of noble character, whatever that looks like for us. Now I guess when we hear this sort of stuff and we look at a passage like this, we should all be thinking automatically of Jesus. This is Jesus.

He displays all these things. He's trustworthy. He's kind and compassionate and so on. But there's 1 other person in the Bible. Who was called the same thing as the woman in Proverbs 31.

I a person of noble character. And it's a great example of why we mustn't get bogged down in the detail of this passage. Because circumstantially, this woman's life looked very different from the life here. She wasn't married. She had no husband to do good for.

She was in fact widowed. She didn't spend any time making clothes as far as we're aware. She had no children to rise and call her blessed. She didn't spend time trading fine linen with merchants and saving up the profits to buy land. In fact, she spent all day working in the sun, gleaming leftovers from other people's fields, which was a provision for the poorest in society.

And if you haven't guessed it already, we're talking about Ruth, the moabite. Ruth who is in the genealogy of Jesus. See, what does Boaz say to Ruth before they marry? It's very important. Because when they married, eventually, she does have her husband she is quite well off and she does have a child.

But he says this before they're married, chapter 3 of Ruth verse 11, And now my daughter, don't be afraid, I will do for you all you ask, all the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. Isn't that fantastic? Here is someone with almost no opportunity to display the skills set out in Proverbs 31. But was she trustworthy? Yes.

Was she generous and compassionate? Well, ask her mother-in-law, Naomi. But it was yes. Did she have strengths of character? Yes.

Most importantly, did she fear the lord? Yes, she did. So whatever our circumstances, whatever our situation is, whatever our gender is, we should pray that we too will be of noble character, not perfect, not going through all this like a checklist. But in some small way, in our ordinary lives, in our ordinary lives, reflecting Jesus Christ to a lost world. Let's pray.

Fatherly, thank you for this passage. We thank you for how it speaks to us about fearing the lord and all the things that spring from that. We thank you that it is in praise of women. Yet speaks to all of us, whatever gender. Because it's all about being a people that seek to be more like Jesus.

Lord, as we look at your son as we see him and dying on a cross and what he did for us and we see the way he lived, help us to want to be more Jesus. That we won't be resenting or hating because we've bought into society's message about it all being about, you know, ourselves. Instead, we'll be looking at our church family at each other at Jesus and wanting to be more like him. Help us we pray to be wives of noble character, whatever that looks like for us. Jesus name, amen, amen,