In the sermon 'Blessed People or People with Blessings' by Peter Allison, the importance of peace within the home is emphasized as being more valuable than material wealth or outward religious appearances. Using Proverbs 17:1-6, the speaker contrasts a home filled with strife despite wealth and sacrifices with one that has simple food but is filled with peace. This peace, described as a 'spiritual aroma,' is linked to the character of the Holy Spirit within individuals, which is more important than wealth or family bloodlines. The sermon discusses the roles and responsibilities within family dynamics, particularly focusing on the authority of husbands and the importance of using this authority to nurture and bless rather than for selfish gain. Examples from Scripture, such as the story of Augustine's mother, Monica, are used to illustrate how submission and character can lead to peace and even win over others. Ultimately, the sermon calls for individuals to be 'blessed people' filled with the Holy Spirit, embodying the Beatitudes, and being peacemakers in their homes.

Please turn in your scriptures this morning to Proverbs chapter 17. We will be looking at the first two verses of this chapter this morning, I'd like to read for us the first six verses. Hear God's word. Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife. A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame, and will share an inheritance among the brothers.

The finding pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts. An evildoer gives heed to false lips, and a liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father." Thus far the reading of God's Word this morning.

The grass withers, the flower fades, the spirit of man is but as grass here today and gone tomorrow, but the word of God endures forever. Almighty Heavenly Father, you have preserved your Word to us. Your Word is truth, and in it is the way of life. It is living and active. We ask that your spirit may work through that word, this word, in our hearts this morning.

We ask that you would feed us with the bread of heaven. We ask that you would comfort us with the truth of your Word, that you would stimulate us to love into good deeds by your promises, that you would comfort us and also even rebuke us through your word. Lord, we look to you this morning with great hope and expectation through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen. One of the memories I have from days at sea is coming back into port after having been on a submarine. And on a submarine, you remember, or not, I don't know. It's entirely enclosed. It's entirely enclosed.

It's sealed. It's a sealed steel ball vessel. So there's very little exchange. We have certain ways of exchange, but very limited. There's very limited exchange of any air with the outside.

Even when we do, it's not direct. And we make our own air. We make our own water. Make our own air from the sea, and we make our own water from the sea. And with the nuclear powered reactor, we can travel for months and months without ever coming up for air or water.

But when we would get back to land and crack open the hatch and step out, the first smell that would hit you was the air. It stank. It stank, this fresh air, because we were used to the aroma of the air in the submarine. And it took a few minutes until your nose got recalibrated to the air of the land. And there was a smell, an aroma, that hung on cloth and paper, anything that was permeable, that had been on the submarine for any length of time.

There was an aroma that clung to it. It wasn't a bad aroma, but it was very distinctive. My wife could smell it anywhere. She said my Bible smelled for years afterwards. Maybe it still does.

But our homes are the same way. They have a distinct aroma to them. It might be the aroma of a brand new house. Or it might be the aroma of 50 years of life in that house. An aroma composed of the cumulative sum of all the likes and the dislikes, the gifts, the abilities, the inclinations, and the habits that make each home what it is.

But there is a distinct aroma. Maybe you have similar memories of grandma's house and what it's like. But there's also a spiritual aroma in your home and in my home. And that aroma, that spiritual aroma that characterizes our house is Described by the degree and the quality of peace that permeates all of the relationships of the people that live in that home. And this peace, this aroma, is more important than any other characteristic about your house.

This spiritual aroma. And the text here says, Solomon says that it is better, that character is better than wealth. Character is better than wealth. Better a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife. A house full of, maybe your Bible says, sacrifices.

Sacrifices is what it literally is. Full of sacrifices, but with strife. You see, sacrifices were expensive. A sacrifice might be a bull. It might be a goat.

It might be a sheep. And the wealthy could bring many sacrifices. There are times that the Bible describes some wealthy men as bringing thousands of sacrifices. That's a lot of wealth that is being offered. And you remember that, depending on different sacrifices, there were different Purposes for each one and there were different procedures for each one, but in many of them the priests and the Levites Received a portion of the sacrifice that was there that was their due That was how the Lord provided for them because they didn't have lands and properties they received from the sacrifices And but also the people themselves that were bringing the sacrifice also ate of the sacrifice to eat of the sacrifice signified your participation in That sacrifice that the what was being communicated what was being signified in that sacrifice was true of the one who was eating of the sacrifice.

And so to say that there are many to speak about a house full of sacrifices is to speak about a very wealthy home. A home that can afford elegant and mouthwatering food. A home that has every convenience known to chefs. And the most expensive and the most elaborate and exotic furnishings on a very expansive estate. That's what's being described here.

But it's saying that a home with the most basic and simple food with peace is better than this home of great beauty and great wealth and and great convenience great technology all the latest in gadgets all the latest in in what technology can do to bring convenience and to bring pleasure and to bring comfort. Saying here's a house with great wealth and It's also a home that is outwardly religious. This is a home that's offering sacrifices, many sacrifices in fact. This is a home that cleans up well. It shows well.

But if such a home is characterized by strife, it is better to have a dry morsel and to have peace. This is not saying that wealth brings strife and getting rid of things and eating simply is going to bring peace. It's not saying that at all. Wealth is a great blessing. Many of these things, Proverbs says, are the fruit of diligence.

Being able to work hard, paying attention to one's flocks and herds and paying attention to one's estate. Wealth comes by diligence and hard work. And so it's not at all saying that you need to get rid of your wealth in order to find peace. There are plenty of poor homes that only have a dry morsel that have lots of strife as well. In fact, there are some ways that great poverty has its own stresses that bring strife.

One of the big sources of conflict in many homes is money and arguing over money, especially where money is short, although you can argue about money no matter how much of it you have. And so this is not saying here that to be poor and to have a dry morsel, and by dry morsel it's speaking of simply bread that you don't have anything to dip into. What is it about one of the aspects or characteristics of great cooking? It is the sauces and things that go with the food. It's the sauces that permeate the food that it's cooked in.

That's one aspect of a beautiful meal. And so a dry morsel is not saying, don't think of this dry crust, but it's saying it's the basic, it's the basic food. You have basic food, but you don't have all the gourmet sauces and condiments to go with it, to add that flavor and to make it extraordinary food. I'm sure you all know the privilege of an extraordinary meal. It's a wonderful thing.

And this is, it's not something to be despised at all. In fact it is a blessing to be able to enjoy these things that God has said. God says He's created wine to make us glad, and oil to make our face shine. And He's created all of these wonderful tastes. He's given us the ability to taste this beautiful food.

So it's not saying that these things are bad at all. It's simply saying it's better to have basic food and have peace than to have this great wealth and enjoy all these blessings, but to not have peace among your in your relationships. What is What is strife? Where does it come from? Because there isn't a home here that doesn't have, has not dealt with strife.

Because we are all sinners. Strife comes from I. Comes from putting our own needs and desires and conveniences ahead of others. Strife comes from a contention about what I had, what was maybe even our right to have, and what was being taken from us. What was denied to us.

Peace comes from a willingness to give up, to yield, to surrender our rights when the Lord sees fit to take them from us. So where there is this I in our relationships is putting of ourselves and our rights and our needs and our interests and our desires ahead of what is good and helpful and needed by others. Putting our rights ahead of others' rights, Then life becomes tense. The tone of a dress becomes sharp between people. And so there becomes then strife between husbands and wives, between parents and children, and between children, between siblings.

You see, the husband is the head of the home. Of the home. He has an authority from God and he needs to use that authority to cherish his wife, to nurture her, to bless her, to beautify her Peter talks about washing her with the water of the word That's a beauty washing and With his wife. He used to use that authority to nurture and to admonish his children to fear the Lord. He used to use that authority to guide them in the way that they should go, to protect them from evil, to subdue their rebellious nature and heart, and to bring it into submission to the Word of God.

He's to use that authority for good. But when he instead uses that authority for his own convenience, when he uses it to promote himself and what he wants to do, to acquire the things that he wants to acquire, his own convenience, his own honor. When that authority is used selfishly for I instead of for them, then it provokes our children to wrath and leads often to their rebellion and it produces a very hardened and cynical wife. Well I shouldn't say it that way. It can.

It can. It can actually produce three responses in a wife. When that authority and that headship is used not to enrich and to bless and to beautify and to nurture, There are three responses. One, a wife can simply walk away. Say, I didn't sign up for this.

I'm not somebody's doormat. I'm not here to serve you, you tyrant, You abuser. I'm out of here. And they can walk away. Or they can respond in kind.

Well, he's being selfish. He wants what he wants. And maybe don't think this consciously, but they in effect respond in the same way. Well, I'm going to show him. He's not going to make an example of me.

He's not going to use me like that. I'm not going to be his doormat. I'm going to stand up to him. He doesn't understand what I'm going through. I'm going to make him feel the pain that I feel." That's where the saying came from, and I'm sure you've all heard it, and maybe even used it, when mama ain't happy, no one's happy.

That's where that comes from. If I can't be happy, then he is not going to be happy either. My husband is not going to be happy either. So, this produces a very bitter and hardened and cynical woman. And there is strife.

There is ice. There is tension in the home. And it goes higher and lower and higher and lower and sometimes breaks out into maybe even physical tension. But it's always there. You can always cut it with a knife.

You can sense it when you're in the home. It's there. It's an aroma. There is a third response to abuse of authority. And that is the response of the Spirit.

The response of a woman who is walking in the Spirit, who has been filled with the Spirit. And that's a response that Peter describes in First Peter 3 When he's giving directions to families husbands wives He says to servants He says to servants, instructions to us, to the government, he says, wives, Likewise be submissive to your own husband's that even if some of them do not obey the word these are people who are abusing their authority. They may be won by the conduct of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Maybe you know a woman who has lived with an unbelieving husband, or even just a difficult husband, who has learned to follow the Spirit in that relationship, and learned how to be a peacemaker, and learned through submission to bring peace to that relationship. What do you see?

You see a sanctified woman. You see somebody who is spiritually one of the most beautiful people you will ever see. You will see somebody who is filled with the fruit of the Spirit, who brings love and joy. Because they're counting their trials a joy, not that they don't have them. They've turned their husband over to the Lord.

They've learned to forgive when their rights were trampled. That's a beautiful, beautiful woman. Augustine speaks about his mother in his Confessions book that he wrote. He gives a rather lengthy tribute to his mother Monica. It's a really beautiful thing he wrote about her.

It's quite extended and I meant to bring a paragraph to read to you from that, but I didn't so I will just have to summarize it the best I can from my memory. But in there he speaks about his mother growing up, her being matured in the faith, recounts different things about her upbringing, about her spiritual journey. And he talks about her marriage and how she was given, She was married to a very angry and abusive man. A man that was given to violence. But Augustine says that she learned this principle early on.

She learned how to be a peacemaker. How to do what Peter was saying. And everybody in their village that knew him knew that he was given to violence, that he was an angry man. He was also an unfaithful man, apparently, an unchaste man. It's another thing that she learned to put up with, to deal with.

And Augustine says that The other women in the community would come to her and they would say, how come we never see any sign of strife between you and your husband? They would come with the evidence of having been beaten by their husbands. They would say, well, how come we never hear any, we've never known any strife in your home and we don't see any evidence, you know, any marks on you, on your face. How is that? We know that he is a violent man.

And she would tell them, Augustine said, in a seriously but in a just way, she would tell them how she followed the wisdom of the Word of God to bring peace in her marriage. And Augustine says that some believed her and found that it was true. And they enjoyed the peace in their home from that. And others couldn't believe that that was the case. And they continued, Augustine says, to bear in their bodies the marks of violence.

He also talks about how Monica won her husband to the Lord, just as Peter describes. Character being filled with the Spirit. That's where character comes from. Character is simply having the fruits of the Spirit within us. Being able to forgive as Christ has forgiven us.

Being able to love as Christ has loved us. Having joy even in the trials. Those are all fruits of the Spirit. Those aren't native to us. And that's what we call character.

And that character from the Holy Spirit dwelling in us causing us to put to death to mortify our own pride our own desires our our own convenience our own rights and to give over to the Lord is what brings peace. And that's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's more beautiful than all the beauty of wealth or a wonderful meal or the best furnishings and art that money can buy. The character of the Holy Spirit is beautiful and it's better it is better Character is also better than family bloodlines.

A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame and share an inheritance among the brothers. A wise servant. If you've been with us as we've been going through Proverbs, you know that Proverbs speaks of the wisdom of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has been made to us wisdom. A wise servant is describing somebody who knows this wisdom.

Somebody who knows the Holy Spirit, who knows Jesus Christ, not knows of Him, but knows Him, is walking in fellowship with Him, is filled with the Spirit. This servant will rule over a son who causes shame. The son is the one who has is the blood descendant of the father. He's the heir of all that the father has. He has a special place in the heart of his Father.

A son. Which of us fathers has a son that doesn't have a special place in our heart. That's the way God made us. Children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father. What father doesn't boast of his sons?

And yet, even with that huge head start, even with that big, let's say, natural advantage that a son has, this says that a Wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame. Character is more important than bloodline. A wise servant is someone who knows, as Peter says, how to respect his master. In that exact same passage that we were looking at earlier, says, Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God, one endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

See, that's that a wise servant is someone who is submissive to their master with all fear not just to those who are kind and gentle to them, but also to the ones who are harsh. For this is commendable. This is the wise servant. Anybody can be submissive to a very kind and gentle person, But it takes the work of the Holy Spirit. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit in us to be submissive to a Master who is harsh.

But this is what's commendable. Someone who can endure grief and suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it when you are beaten for your faults and you take it patiently? But if when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, This is commendable before God. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example that we should follow in His footsteps.

Christ suffered unjustly, being falsely accused, convicted by false witnesses, sentenced to death for not only not doing something not worthy of death, but not having done anything wrong. And yet he suffered willingly, leaving for us an example that we should follow in his steps. Who when he was reviled did not revile in return, when he suffered he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Committed himself, He gave it over, he surrendered this grief, this violation of his rights. He surrendered to the Lord who was a righteous judge.

And he left it in the Lord's hands. You see that's what a wise servant does. A wise servant is able to submit to the Master not only the good and the gentle but also the harsh. Is able to forgive when his rights are violated and is able to roll that onto the Lord. To take it off of his back, that burden, that grudge, that negativity Toward this harsh master and and leave it with the Lord God will it's God will deal with it and and we don't have to worry about it We don't have to be consumed about it.

We don't have to spend our time thinking about it or wondering or feeling sorry for ourselves at the trials, the harshness that we are enduring. We can truly give that over to the Lord. And that's what a wise servant does. You see, that wise servant will win the respect of his master exactly the same way a wise wife can win the favor and the respect of her husband because character matters more than wealth and character matters more than bloodline. God uses the weak to confound the strong.

God uses the weak to beat and defeat the mighty. God uses the foolishness of preaching to build His Kingdom. What's the best way to draw a crowd and to bring people in and to win them over to some cause? It is probably not standing up here on a monologue. That would be the last thing anybody says, right?

Don't preach to me. Wine and dine me. Entertain me. But don't preach to me. But God uses the foolishness of preaching to build His kingdom.

Not the preaching of foolishness, but the foolishness of preaching to build His kingdom. God uses the weak things of this world that the glory and the honor might belong to Him, might be given to Him. When Rehoboam, And so God uses servants, God uses servants to demonstrate his wisdom and his power and to accomplish his purposes. He uses us when we are in submission, when we are submitted to His Holy Spirit. When Rehoboam got the kingdom from his father Solomon, he asked his counselor, well the people came to Rehoboam first, and they had a proposition for him.

They said to him, your father Solomon made our yoke heavy, Now therefore lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us and we will serve you." That was their proposition. Lighten the burden that Solomon put on us and we will be your servants. And he asked for some time to think about it. And he asked the counsel of his father's peers, his father's, and they said, yes, you should follow the advice of the people. If you lighten their burden, they will be your servant.

Then he asked his peers the same question. And they gave him very different counsel. They said, you're the king, show them you're the king. Put them under your thumb. Show them who is boss.

Make them fear you. Make them respect you. Flex your muscles in front of them. Demonstrate your power over them. That's the way you serve them.

That's the way you're a king to them. And you know what happened. When he gave them that answer, They said, everyone to your tents Israel, everyone to yourselves, we have no part in you. He that would be the greatest among you, Jesus told his disciples, shall be your servant. But that's not the way you're to be.

He that is the greatest among you, let him be the younger, and he that is chief, let him as one that does serve. And that's why It is better to be a blessed people than to be a people with blessings. A people with blessings, a people who have been given much, who have great wealth, who have a great pedigree, whose family has great inheritance, a great business, a great name in the community. You can drive around our city and see Those families that have great names in the community, the buildings are named for them, the roads are named for them. That's a bloodline.

And there is a blessing in wealth. There is a blessing in these things. But it's better to be a blessed people. It's better to be people who have the Holy Spirit. These are the people that are described in Matthew 5, in what we call The Beatitudes.

These are the people who are blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers. The poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those who mourn are comforted. Those who are meek inherit the earth.

Not the son with the great bloodline, but the wise servant. Those who hunger and thirst are filled. Those who are merciful obtain mercy. Those who are pure in heart see God. And those who are peacemakers are called the children of God.

Brothers and sisters, are you a peacemaker in your home? In those relationships in your home, do you make peace Or strife? Are you a wise servant? May the Lord, Holy Spirit, work in each of us, work in each of us These fruits of love and joy and peace. And may He bring peace to your home.

Let's pray. Let's pray. Almighty Father in heaven, we do Thank you for the truth of your Word. What a healing balm your Word is as it comforts, as it directs us, as it brings hope, as it convicts us where we have gone astray, but calls us back with your forgiveness and with your love. For it is your kindness that leads us to repentance.

So, Father, we ask that our homes might be Spirit-filled homes. We might walk in the Spirit. That we might speak in the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our heart to you. We pray that our prayers and our conversations, our words, might be in your Holy Spirit. That our homes might have an aroma of peace.

And where that has been disrupted, Father, may You send the remedy and restore it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.