Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20000723.htm

PROVERBS: ALIGNING TO GOD'S FIXED MORAL ORDER
Part III: Displaying God's Fixed Moral Order
H. Viewing Specific Proverbs Of God's Fixed Moral Order
(Proverbs 17:1-28)
  1. Introduction
    1. After motivating a young man to heed an observed fixed moral order, the literary genre of the Egyptian sboyet that the Book of Proverbs uses works to supply actual proverbs to reveal that order, cf. Bruce Waltke, "The Book of Proverbs and Ancient Wisdom Literature," Bibliotheca Sacra, 136:543, p. 221-238.
    2. Solomon reveals that order to be God's order for his son to heed. We continue our study of that order:
  2. Viewing Specific Proverbs Of God's Fixed Moral Order From Proverbs 17:1-28.
    1. A son must learn that true spiritual fellowship with its relationship peace with God and others in the Lord is worth more than all the program, ritual, service or other external functions one can have! (Prov. 17:1)
    2. A son must learn that the degree of insight he gains by allegiance to God's order will directly affect his gaining respect and reward in life in relationships, Proverbs 17:2.
    3. A son must learn that God wants his life's trials to bring him into closer harmony with His moral order, 3.
    4. A son should accept the fact that heeding God's moral order will make him resist heeding evil people, 4.
    5. A son must see God expects him to respect poor, oppressed people as they are made in God's image, 5.
    6. A son should learn to guard his influence as a young father, for he will impact the extended family's cohesiveness as he is the most closely related to both the older and younger generations of that family, 6.
    7. A son must learn to avoid lying as a ruler, for it is intolerable before both God and man, Proverbs 17:7.
    8. A son does well to treat a gift from another with great care, for the giver thinks it is valuable, Prov. 17:8.
    9. A son must learn that to the degree he hides and does not spread news of negative things about others does he promote love and not broken relationships, Proverbs 17:9.
    10. A son must learn to discern how upright a party is by how well he responds to discipline, Proverbs 17:10.
    11. A son must learn to separate from those who often do not heed discipline as they will be destroyed, 17:11.
    12. A son must learn to separate from those who resist God's ways as they are ruinous even to friends, 17:12.
    13. A son should learn never to punish a party who is innocent or he will suffer perpetual hatred for it, 17:13.
    14. A son should do his best to avoid starting an argument as doing so brings growing relational crises, 17:14.
    15. A son must try to acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty as God holds him accountable for both, 15.
    16. A son should see that wisdom cannot be purchased at any price, for it comes with a right heart attitude, 16
    17. A son must see that adversity works for him to reveal who his true supporters really are, Proverbs 17:17.
    18. A son should learn to take full responsibility for his own financial welfare to avoid unnecessary loss, 18.
    19. A son must learn to avoid taking stands on sensitive issues belligerently to minimize attracting strife, 19.
    20. A son should learn to avoid being twisted in motive and morals as it produces deceit leading to trouble, 20
    21. A son must see heeding God's fixed moral as an adult son will preserve his relations with his parents, 21.
    22. A son must learn to protect his inner man's health as it is the cause of his external physical health, 17:22.
    23. A son should learn to keep his financial operations very transparent as dirty money perverts justice, 17:23.
    24. A son must learn to stay focused on God's ways without the world's many distractions to stay blessed, 24.
    25. A son should learn to keep his rapport good with his parents as a man, he must stay with God's ways, 25.
    26. A son must see that it is unwholesome to leadership for a ruler to step out of subordination to God's ways in punishing innocent men, or to be insubordinate to officials by punishing men too lofty for his reign, 26.
    27. A son must learn that knowledge and understanding make him restrained in action and even-tempered in attitude; thus, if he is unrestrained and unbalanced in attitude, he is likely foolishly blind to something, 27.
    28. A son must learn to use words sparingly if he would be considered wise by others: being gabby, even if what is said is true, is usually unsavory to the hearers, Proverbs 17:28.
Lesson: From these proverbs, we learn that a youth is much better off learning from his parents that heeding God's ways is to his own distinct advantage in the adult world.

Application: (1) We parents must have the courage under God's leading to inform our maturing sons and daughters on the VALUE of heeding God's fixed moral order. (2) As maturing children or as adults ourselves, we can apply these truths to our own lives for eventual blessings.