Proverbs 24:3-4 KJV
Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
I plan to take us through this chapter resting the lesson on this one truth:
Through wisdom is an house builded….
It is important, I think, to recall that
A house can have both spiritual and practical applications
· It can refer to the home in which you dwell
· It can also refer to the church house of the living God
As well,
Wisdom can have both a spiritual and practical application
· It can refer to the useful application of knowledge and experience in life’s situations
· It is also used in the Proverbs to refer to Jesus Christ.
I will leave it to you to make whichever applications most benefit your current circumstances. I want to speak to you on “How To Build A House”
*I. BUILD YOUR HOUSE WITH GOOD COUNSEL
Proverbs 24:6 (KJV)
For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.
I see two descriptors about the sort of counsel we ought to seek:
A. That it is wise counsel
The Bible leaves us with more than enough information about what counsel is wise.
Psalms 1:1-6 (KJV)
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Notice both the negative and the positive
· We are not to get our counsel from the ungodly, sinners or scornful
· We are instead to delight in the law of the Lord
The Psalmist reinforces this in
Psalms 119:97-100 (KJV)
O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
Wise counsel comes from the Word of God AND from those who love it and meditate upon it.
This counsel ought also come from
B. A multitude of counselors
I think there are two ways to productively employ a multitude of counselors
Consider what the majority of godly men agree upon
If you have an idea that goes against what the majority of godly believers have thought over the last 2000 years – it’s probably not a good idea.Engage a number of counselors you know to be wise in a specific field.
· I have one person I tend to seek counsel from about pastoring
· I have another I seek counsel from about finances
· I have another I seek counsel from about missions
· I have another I seek counsel from about counselingDon’t go to a number of different counselors until you hear one of them say what you want to hear.
*II. BUILD YOUR HOUSE WITH RIGHTEOUS PERSISTENCE
Proverbs 24:16 (KJV)
For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
History is filled with the stories of men and women who failed hundreds of times before they finally succeeded.
I did not take the time to research and find the exact quote but the story goes something like this:
Thomas Edison failed in maybe 100 attempts to invent the lightbulb. Someone asked him, aren’t you discouraged about so many failures. He replied, “Absolutely not. I now knows 100 things that will not work or the light bulb.”
I know I have told you about Brother Bellinghan, who was in our church in Astoria. Bro Bellingham was a successful and wealthy businessman in town.
But before he became so successful he had gone bankrupt in two businesses.
It matters not in what area of life we mean, we haven’t failed until we quit before we succeed.
On a related but slightly different point notice
Proverbs 24:17-18 (KJV)
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
It serves no good purpose and it will displease the Lord to rejoice when someone else falls.
Most of the time, when a person gossips about another person’s failure, it is an effort to make themselves look better.
It is generally the under-confident that have to put others down. It’s a tool they use to make themselves feel better in their own eyes.
The thing is, it only make them look better in their own eyes. No truly confident person is impressed with a person who speaks poorly of others.
Third
*III. BUILD YOUR HOUSE WITH REASONABLE EDUCATION
Proverbs 24:27 (KJV)
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
We are talking about how to build your house.
Notice this little piece of instruction tells us not to build it before we are ready.
A. We ought to learn a good job before we build our house
Prepare thy work without
I used the word education, but I did not necessarily mean by that College or University.
At one time it was assumed that the way to succeed in the world is with a college degree.
That has been demonstrated time and again to not always be the case.
What is always true is that successful people become “masters” at their work.
That means there will be some:
· Training
· Practice and
· Mentoring
B. We ought to get established in that work before we build our house
And make it fit for thyself in the field
There is almost no such thing as one job you are guaranteed to have until you reach retirement age.
Still, before a person gets too tied down with home obligations, he ought to get well established in that field he plans to work.
C. And then we ought to build our house
Afterwards build thine house
The point of life is not to work.
The point of life is to live.
Don’t get so tied to work that you neglect either your spiritual or familial house.
*IV. BUILD YOUR HOUSE WITH INDUSTRY AND HARD WORK
Proverbs 24:30-34 (KJV)
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.
I read this week the story of Andrew Carnegie.
Carnegie’s father was a clothmaker in Scotland. When machines were invented that could make cloth faster and more cheaply that he could, he moved his family to the United States, hoping to make a fresh start here.
Carnegie’s dad was not successful and died when Andrew was quite young, leaving Andrew responsible for the care of his mother and siblings.
Turned out that Carnegie was:
· Talented
· Hard working and
· Lived at just the right time for his particular skill set
He started out working as a “bobbin boy” in a cloth factory.
He then became a messenger boy, carrying the telegrapher’s messages to those they were for
One day, a telegraph came in when no telegrapher was there and he took the message.
He then became a telegrapher.
At some point he gave his employer a business loan to expand the work. His investment was so successful that he was earning off the investment every month more than his job paid him in a year.
After a time, he invested in another company and then another.
He eventually took every dime he possessed and built a steel refinery and mill in Pennsylvania.
That was so successful he was soon considered the wealthiest man in America.
The interesting thing is, all of this time he was investing money and building his fortune – he kept his lower paying and difficult job.
How to build a house.
I don’t mean necessarily a physical structure.
· I mean the family unit of the house
· I mean the character and strength that holds it together and
· I mean the spiritual house which is our church
· Build that house with good counsel
· Build that house with righteous persistence
· Build that house with education and training and
· Build that house with industry and hard work