Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20000813.htm

PROVERBS: ALIGNING TO GOD'S FIXED MORAL ORDER
Part III: Displaying God's Fixed Moral Order
K. Viewing Specific Proverbs Of God's Fixed Moral Order
(Proverbs 20:1-30)
  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 20:1-30.
    1. A son must learn to avoid substance abuse as it mocks him and makes him unproductively combative, 1.
    2. A son must see it is to his welfare and aligning to God's order to avoid provoking influential people, 20:2.
    3. A son must learn that it is honorable and aligning to God's fixed moral order to avoid strife with others, 3.
    4. A son must see that reaping success in life's ventures involves foresight and labor even in hard times, 4.
    5. A son must learn that aligning to God's fixed moral order will equip him with counseling insight, 20:5.
    6. A son must learn to judge if another has loyal love for him by his actions rather than his claims of it, 6.
    7. A son must learn he can discern how upright one is by how upright are his children, for true uprightness makes one consistently upright so that his children believe his credibility and so mimic his life, 20:7.
    8. A son must see that those in oversight have unique insight into discerning evil by way of their position so that he is always best just going ahead and being upright to gain a ruler's approval, 20:8.
    9. A son must learn to reject all claims of sinlessness by men, for all men have sinned, Pr. 20:9. (Rom. 3:23)
    10. A son must learn that God's fixed moral order requires he align to totally just, fair business dealings, 10.
    11. A son must see he can discern if even a child is aligned to God's fixed moral order by his actions, 20:11.
    12. A son must learn that since God made his eyes and ears, God expects him to adopt as true what he himself senses by these above the views of others that conflict with what his senses reveal, Prov. 20:12.
    13. A son must see he must remain vigilant to identify so as to take advantage of life's opportunities, 20:13.
    14. A son must learn not to believe all he hears in the marketplace as statements there are tainted by greed, 14.
    15. A son must learn to speak with insight as doing so will be more productive than having rare jewels, 15.
    16. A son must learn if he loans money to financially untrustworthy folk, he must secure collateral, 20:16.
    17. A son must learn not to make a living by fraud if he expects to enjoy his income long-term, 20:17!
    18. A son must see that it is to his advantage to get advice in making plans especially if he faces conflict, 18.
    19. A son must learn to keep a lid on his speech to avoid inadvertently betraying confidences as a gossip, 19.
    20. A son must see that cursing his parents will bring on God's greatest punishment: he must honor them, 20.
    21. A son must see it is to his advantage not to depend on gaining an inheritance, but to earn his own way, 21.
    22. A son must avoid even threatening revenge: if he waits for God, He will deliver him from abuses, 22!
    23. A son must see that God takes fairness in business dealings very seriously: he must be honest there, 23.
    24. A son should learn that as God directs even a male head-of-household's (geber) steps, he should not labor to understand his life's direction, for much of his life's steps are thus beyond his insight anyway, 20:24.
    25. A son should see that it is better to think before acting if he would avoid serious trouble in life, 20:25.
    26. A son should learn that to maintain order in leadership, he will need to detect and punish evil people, 26.
    27. A son must see that God similarly maintains order in the world by detecting and punishing sin in them: thus, he had better view himself as accountable to God even as he leads others, Proverbs 20:27.
    28. A son must learn to be loyal and loving to his subjects to builds their trust in him for his reign's good, 28
    29. A son must learn to value the assets or value his culture places on his age in life to his advantage, 20:29.
    30. A son must value punishment not as a destructive entity, but as a teaching tool to alter one's conduct, 30.
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 of 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.