In his sermon 'Wisdom for Business,' Peter Allison explores Proverbs 14, focusing on verses 4, 5, and 6. He highlights the importance of 'the fear of the Lord' as the foundation of wisdom essential for building and maintaining one's house and character. Allison emphasizes the interconnectedness of the proverbs, illustrating how they provide a cohesive understanding of wisdom. He draws parallels between the biblical concept of wisdom and contemporary business practices, stating that economic activities are fundamentally linked to family responsibilities, providing for basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing. The sermon interprets Proverbs 14:4 as an endorsement of economic wisdom, where business growth requires investment and risk, symbolized by the strength of an ox. Allison argues that profit and increase are blessings from God, facilitated by labor and investment. He warns against the dangers of neglecting investment due to fear of failure and critiques modern environmental movements for hindering productive activities. The sermon also touches on the character, contrasting faithful witnesses with false ones, and highlights the challenges scoffers face in acquiring wisdom due to their rigid presuppositions. Allison concludes by encouraging the congregation to embrace their need for spiritual and practical wisdom, urging them to be open to learning and growth.

Our scripture reading for our message this morning is from Proverbs chapter 14. I'd like to read the first 11 verses. They fit together. We'll be looking though primarily at verses 4, 5, and 6. Hear God's word.

The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him. In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will preserve them. Where no oxen are, the trough is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. A faithful witness, Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.

The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, but the folly of fool, but among the upright there is favor. The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share its joy. The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish." Thus far the reading of God's Word. Almighty Father in Heaven, we ask now that You would sanctify these lips, the lips of a sinful clay vessel, that they might proclaim what is true, what is holy, what is beautiful. We pray that You would give understanding to our hearts, that You would remove the scales of our sin and enable us to see and to behold wonderful things out of your law.

Through Christ we ask this miracle. Amen. Last week we looked at, I guess it was two weeks ago, we looked at verse 1. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. In those 11 verses, it comes right back on verse 11 to that opening remark with verse 11, the house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

And so as I've said many times as we've gone through Proverbs, these are not simply pearls that are strung together on a string with no connection to each other other than that they are next to each other but rather there is an amazing structure and cohesion in many of the Proverbs. It takes some work though to dig it out and I'm very appreciative of all the commentators and men who have gone before and have found a lot of these things in the book. So verses 1-11 is a chiasm and I'll probably put it in a bulletin next week, so you can see that. You need to have it in writing to really be able to follow it. But I do point out, verses 1 and 11 there are speaking of the same thing.

Our house. And so we might say that this whole section here is that the fear of the Lord, it could be described as the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom to build and maintain our house. Think of these verses, that's what they're speaking about. This is what opened the section, it's what closes the section. The fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom to build and maintain our house.

Notice The Proverb says the fear of the Lord is the beginning. It's the foundation. It's what you have to start with. If you don't start with it, you'll never get it. If you don't start with the fear of the Lord, you'll never get wisdom.

But that doesn't mean that we can spurn anything, any learning, any understanding that isn't in the pages of Scripture. So Scripture is sufficient for our every need. Scripture is sufficient to make us wise. But what do we learn in the Scriptures? Well, we learn that The scriptures tell us that we need to study the world that God made.

But we need to study it in the light of the Word that He gave. So the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom to build and to maintain our house. What does the Word of God say? Verse 2 speaks about the upright fearing the Lord, but those who are perverse despise the Lord. Those are those who are biting the hand that feeds them.

The Lord is the one who feeds us. The Lord is the one who has given us everything that we have. The perverse despise the very one who feeds them. They despise, if you will, the very one who is holding them. The mouth of the fool is a rod of pride.

The lips of the wise will preserve them. A rod is something that is used to beat. The back of the fool was made for the rod. But this is saying that the mouth of the fool is a rod which beats himself. He is condemned by his own words.

He brings his trouble upon himself by his very words, but the lips of the wise, those who speak what is right, are edifying to themselves and to others. And so we've looked at a lot of these things in much greater depth before today, but they are repeated here as a part of this foundation of wisdom to build and to maintain our home. In verse 4 though, is something we haven't seen before, at least in this so many words. Where no oxen are, the trough is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Now this you might call business wisdom or economic wisdom.

If you look in Noah Webster's definition of economics or economy, you'll see that it refers to the management of one's homes. And if you think about it, you think, well, that's kind of outdated. We don't use the word economy to talk about our home management. Of course, when I was growing up, the girls took courses called home economics. But we don't think of the word that way.

We think of economics or the economy as relating to the Federal Reserve and very high and lofty things about finance and global trade and so on. But really, economy has to do with the home. When you think about all business, all business ultimately relates to provision of food, of clothing, of shelter, and health and well-being for people. That's the purpose of business. Ultimately, why do the oil companies drill oil?

That's one of the biggest businesses in the world today. Well, they do it so we can heat our homes and drive our cars and go to school and and now make clothes out of oil and medicines come from oil. All these things are for ultimately they reduce to food, clothing, shelter, and well-being of people. And so really economics is about our home and the running of our home, ultimately. That's why business belongs to the family.

It doesn't belong to the church, and it doesn't belong to the state. The business, the job of turning a profit, belongs to the family, not the state and not the church. And so the wisdom here in this passage is that where no oxen are, the trough is clean, but by much increase, and that word increase is the word for profit. It's the word for revenue. It's the word for income.

When the Bible teaches us to tithe, we are to give a tithe of our increase, the same word that's used here, that comes by the strength of an ox. This is the Lord's blessing. This is where the Lord is adding to us. So when you tithe, you don't tithe on the assets that you start the year with, You tithe on the increase, the profit, the revenue that's come in over and above all of the losses and expenses that you've incurred. That's the increase.

And that's what you tithe on, and that's what this passage is speaking about here. The profit. If you want to grow, if you want to increase your financial foundation, it's saying that comes by the strength of an ox. Of course, that, if we're supposed to tithe on it, and God wants a tithe of that because it's His, all that He gives us is the Lord's and He asks back a tithe of it. And if it comes by the strength of an ox, if it's something that we're to have, then that means it's good.

It's right to have profits. So this verse presupposes that profits, that increase, that gain, financial gain, gain of the material goods of this world is a good thing. Moses told the Israelites that it's the Lord that gives you power to get wealth. Think about that. We often think of the people that are very wealthy as those who are not Christian, and sometimes I think of them as well.

They cut the corners and they know how to do the shady deals and things. And Satan has given them their wealth. But the Bible says no. The power to get wealth is a gift of God. And the wealth, the increase, the revenue that we get comes from God.

This verse here is going to teach us about how the Lord gives that. The first thing that we see is that God uses means to provide profit. God uses means to provide profit. That might be obvious, but we don't always act like it's so obvious. Increase comes by labor and investment.

You see, where there is no oxen, oxen are Inexpensive investment. They represent a lot of capital. That's why there was a higher restitution for stealing the means of production than there was for stealing other things. Because this represents somebody's capital. This represents their livelihood.

This represents their savings, if you will. And that's still true today. If you lose a cow, that's a big deal. It's a big animal. It costs a lot.

If you're going to have an ox, it requires that you save, that you acquire the capital to be able to buy the ox. Even today, horses, draft horses, oxen are expensive animals. They take saving and planning and forethought to acquire. And so the principle here is that God uses means to provide this increase. Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty or clean, But much increase comes by the strength of an ox.

See scarcity in Amos, famine, God describes as cleanliness of teeth. He said He would send cleanliness of teeth to the Israel lights. You need food to eat, but when you eat that food, your teeth get dirty and they have to be cleaned then. And that takes work, takes some time and effort, takes some care. But you wouldn't say, well, I'm not going to eat, so I don't have to clean my teeth.

We accept the work that's involved in the side effect, if you will, of our eating. And that's what this verse is speaking about. That if we're going to have an increase, if there's going to be production, revenue, profit, something to tithe with, right? If there's no increase, there's no tithe. And God uses the tithes, the increase, to provide for the preaching of the gospel.

He's ordained that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. To live by that. And all the Levitical Levites and the priests were sustained in their work by the tithes of the people. Well, that tithe came from the increase. Without an increase, the priests and the Levites can't do their work.

And they become like the priest that Micah got. Somebody that's just out there working for ten shekels and a shirt. See it's not piety to not plan financially. It's not piety to not save our money and invest it wisely. It's not piety to disdain capital investment and the means of production.

Great increase requires greater investment. It requires getting an ox. It requires putting up with that ox, providing for it. Profitable enterprise requires risk. It requires risk.

Ox can die. They can get sick. You might lose your investment. That's part of the means that God is ordained for giving to us an increase. But it requires risk.

James teaches that we should not presume upon tomorrow. We should not presume upon the success of our labor. James 4 says, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. James says, no, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. For what is your life?

It is a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. For that you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. But now you rejoiced and you're boasting and all such rejoicing is evil. We don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. And so James says it's presumptuous for us to just say cavalierly, well, We're going to go there, spend a year, we're going to buy and sell, we're going to make a profit.

We don't know that. But that risk of failure, the risk of losing your ox, the risk of losing your capital investment, The risk of losing your time and your savings should not cause us to say, well, therefore we're not going to invest. Therefore, we're not going to go to such and such a city, spend a year there and buy and sell. But rather, James says, we ought to recognize the same thing Moses told Israel. It's the Lord that gives us power to get wealth.

And so we have to be those who are willing to risk, who are willing to invest in the tools of production, but at the same time recognize that it's the Lord that provides. It's not our own cunning and ingenuity. It's the Lord that provides for us. But He does it through means. And He does it as we take risks, as we save our capital, as we invest, as we study, as we invest in knowledge and understanding and not foolishly in ignorance.

So it's right to study the means of making money, the means of business, the details of a business so that We have the knowledge and the skill to be able to invest wisely. This is what this passage is speaking about. Profitable enterprise also makes messes. No oxen, you have a clean barn. What happens if you've got an oxen in your barn?

Well, now you've got manure on the floor that has to be cleaned up. You can get flies. They eat. You have to feed them. So you have to have food around.

Food can go bad. They can get sick. Your whole herd can get infected. It's kind of messy. You might have to be up all night taking care of a sick ox so you don't lose your life savings.

Matthew Henry says, The crib indeed is clean from dung, which pleases the neat and nice that cannot endure husbandry because there is so much dirty work in it. And therefore will sell their oxen to keep the crib clean. But then not only the labor but even the dung of the ox is wanted, is lacking. This shows the folly of those who addict themselves to the pleasures of the country but do not mind the business of it, who as we say keep more horses than cows, more dogs than swine. Their families must need suffer by it." End of quote.

You know, The radical environmental movement is exactly what this verse is addressing. They want to ban the burning of coal because it's dirty. It's hard work. Mines are dangerous. People die in them.

They want to ban animals Because they're noisy. People don't like the rooster waking them up at the first dawn, the crack of dawn. Or they don't like cell towers because they're ugly and they don't want them around. Now, good stewardship is biblical too. And we do want to take care of the earth.

And Christians that are paying attention and studying God's Word do take care and do pay attention to the environment so that we don't abuse the gift that God has given to us. And so that's a very important message, and we're just as much at fault as a nation for abusing what God has given and not taking care of it. So we have to have both of these aspects. The biblical message has both of these aspects of caring for the environment, but also that where no oxen are, the barn is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Coal plants, it turns out, are good, are efficient.

They're far more efficient and cost-effective than many of the other so-called green ways of generating electricity. And how do we get there? We got there by the free market. Nuclear power is another thing, a way to produce electricity. And We haven't had any nuclear power plants in this country built in 40 years.

Because people have said, we don't want the mess with it. Never mind the fact that it's a very efficient way of producing electric power. And there are ways to make it safe. The Navy has operated nuclear reactors for 60 years or more in very difficult scenarios, operationally very difficult environment, far more difficult than any land plant would ever see, without any accidents, without any failures that harm people. And nuclear power has actually less radiation than coal-fired plants.

But see, we don't have any today because people are saying, well, we don't like the mess that they bring. Instead of saying, they are very cost effective and they can bring a great increase. Yes they do require care. This is an example of what Proverbs is speaking about. I find it interesting that a number of commentators took this verse and applied it to the preaching of the gospel.

I think they got that idea because Paul does that. He said in Corinthians, you shouldn't muzzle the ox while it's treading out the grain. Meaning you shouldn't be such a miser that the ox who is treading the grain for you, you don't let eat some of the fruit of his labor. Don't muzzle the ox. And Paul took that Old Testament law, which we might say is a ceremonial law, but he applied it to paying of pastors.

He's saying that just like the ox is worthy of his labor, a pastor is worthy of his labor. And so maybe that's where they got this idea for this application. But you can say that where there is no preaching, there is no harvest of souls. Where there is no preaching there is a famine for the Word of God. Because God says that that faith comes by hearing And hearing comes from the Word of God.

And how can people hear on somebody that they haven't heard? And how can they hear unless somebody is preaching to them? And it's not the preacher that's the focus there, it is the preaching. A preacher is just a screwdriver. It's just another tool in God's hand.

But that's the means that God is ordained for the opening up and the explaining and the proclaiming of His Word. But of course, there are certainly lots of problems that come with this, with preachers, with churches. They're messy because there's sinners in them. And so we don't say that, well, because there's a problem in the church or because there's a problem with a preacher that we don't want to have any churches and we don't need any preachers. Because then we would be throwing out the means that God has ordained for the gathering and the harvest of souls and our own sanctification and growth and grace.

And this is true, This principle is true in many other areas. Where there are no cooks, the kitchen is clean. But by a cook, the family is fed. And if we want to have cooks, we have to be willing to train cooks. And that takes time.

And it means messes. Because little children, when they're learning to cook, make a lot of messes. And it's slow. And you can do it faster. But you see, you're making a capital investment that's worth the mess and the extra time of teaching them how to cook and how to be productive.

You're doing more than just teaching them the skill of cooking. You're teaching them how to be productive, how to labor, how to produce something that's useful at the end of the day. We have a lot of bored people in our county today. They're bored, they have nothing to do because they've been deprived of the ability to be productive. Nobody's had time.

Nobody's been willing to put up with the mess of teaching them and letting them learn to be productive. Letting them learn to care for the ox or make things and do things. In fact, we even have laws today, federal laws that prohibit labor by children. I don't know what the ages are, but I think it's pretty restrictive if you start getting below 16 as to how much they can labor. These are terrible laws.

This is why we have bored children that have nothing better to do than drive down the streets and bash in mailboxes and anything else that pops into their head. Because they've been deprived by the laws of our land of the ability to be productive. And there have been too many people that say, we don't want the mess that oxen cause. We want our house to be clean. We want our kitchen to be clean.

We want our workshop to be clean and perfect. And so they have thrown out, they've gotten rid of the means of production. And they've gotten rid of the means by which their children learn to be productive. Where no oxen are, the trough is clean, But much increase comes by the strength of an ox. We are called, in the cultural mandate, we are called to be fruitful.

We're called to produce an increase. And that takes capital investment, takes means of production, takes getting our fingernails dirty. When we're interviewing, I was interviewing a candidate once and somebody asked, this was a number of years ago, somebody asked, can I see your fingernails? They asked it figuratively, but they asked the question. They're saying, I want to know, do you get your fingernails dirty?

Are you the kind of employee that's going to get your fingernails dirty? Or are you just going to sit in an office chair and expect to do everything virtually? See if we're going to be fruitful, we've got to be willing to get our fingernails dirty. We've got to be willing to get our fingernails dirty. We've got to be willing to roll up our sleeves and put up with the messes that come from the means of production, from having oxygen in our barn.

Now I'm going to look briefly at the next two verses just so that we can say that we have talked about them. The next verse deals with character. And it might sound like a topology, a faithful witness doesn't lie and a false witness lies. But I think we understand it as what it's saying is that a faithful character, A man who is of a faithful character doesn't lie. His life and his words aren't lies.

See, a faithful witness is somebody who has a right character, a godly character, and he's moved neither by entreaties nor by bribes, not by promises or by threats, to be able to swear from the truth. And so you can depend upon their testimony. It doesn't mean that we never say something wrong or we never make a mistake or even that we never sin. But it says that the character of a faithful witness is that their life and their words are true. Whereas an unfaithful character lies.

You can't trust what they say. It doesn't mean they lie all the time. It just means you can't trust what they say. That's why the testimony of those who have been convicted of a crime can be impeached in a court of law. Because somebody who's been convicted of a felony, even our civil law recognizes that their character is that of a perverse person.

And so therefore they can't be trusted necessarily in their testimony. And it is allowed in the court to bring this fact up that the particular witness has been guilty of a felony. Because it is important in assessing their testimony. False witnesses, ungodly characters, don't tell the truth. They can't be relied upon to tell the truth because they can be swayed from the truth by any sort of personal gain or benefit, whereas a man of faithful character is not going to be persuaded by threats or promises to speak a lie.

It's what Jesus said in Matthew 7. A good tree brings forth good fruit, and a corrupt tree brings forth corrupt fruit. That's really what this proverb is about. And verse 6 is the central verse, the next verse. A scoffer seeks wisdom and doesn't find it, but knowledge is easy to him who understands.

This is the, if you will, the chiasm brings out one central point. It builds up to one point. It sort of by its structure highlights a point. And this is the point that's being highlighted. A scoffer is somebody who delights in ridiculing and in scorn, in showing extreme contempt.

A scoffer believes he knows the truth. And so they won't listen to rebuke or correction. That's a characteristic of a scoffer. They believe they know the truth. And so they don't want to be corrected.

And if you try to correct them, Proverbs says that they will hate you. And they will become violent if you try to correct a scoffer. So they don't want to be corrected. Proverbs 13.1. They hate those who try and correct them.

They become violent. Proverbs 9.7. Scoffer's proverb says set cities on fire, creating confusion and division. But when they are removed, then peace is restored. Quarrel and strife cease.

So why doesn't a scoffer find wisdom when he seeks for it? Well, a scoffer can't learn because of his presuppositions. That's something we've been hearing a little bit about. Because he's going looking for wisdom all the while presupposing that He knows the answer. Every fact that He encounters is understood in the light of His presuppositions, that he already knows the answer.

So is it any surprise then that he would react violently when someone tries to tell him that something different from what he already knows? Is it any surprise that He would hate you if you tell Him that He's wrong? No, it shouldn't be, because that's His very presupposition that He knows the answer. And He mocks and shows contempt for the truth. On the other hand, knowledge is easy to those who understand.

That means when somebody knows that they don't know, then it's possible for them to learn. When we know that we're missing information, when we know that we're ignorant, then it is possible for us to be taught. Jesus said to the Pharisees, some of the Pharisees, that they didn't need a physician because they thought they were well. Now they weren't, but they thought they were well. And so it was impossible to teach them.

It was impossible to come and be a physician to them. So you can't teach somebody when they don't realize that they need to know. And the Bible says you might as well not even try. You'll just bring a lot of trouble on yourself. And so That's why the scoffer can't find it.

Because he doesn't want it, he's not open to receiving it, and nobody can teach it to him. On the other hand, wisdom is easy for those who know that they are ignorant. That doesn't mean that the study and the acquisition of knowledge doesn't take work. It does. It takes great work.

So don't think that this proverb is saying that, oh, you should never have to work. You should never have to labor by the sweat of your brow to gain wisdom and understanding. That's not what it's saying. It's like Jesus saying, it's hard for a rich person to enter into heaven. It's just like it's hard for a camel to enter the needle gate.

It's impossible. It's impossible. But it is possible for those who know that they need a Savior. For those who know that they need the wisdom of Jesus Christ to get that wisdom. That's what it's saying.

It's not saying that you can do it without any work or labor or sweat. May we be those who know that we have a need of a Savior to teach us, who know that we have a need of a Savior to sanctify us, who know that we have a need of the Holy Spirit to instruct us, to convict us of our sin, and to teach us the way of truth. Let us pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your Word that gets into the nitty gritty aspects of our life. That speaks about the activities that we do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and the rest of the week.

Father, we do desire that we would be faithful and good ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. We desire that we might grow in wisdom and understanding and not be unfruitful or unprofitable servants in your kingdom. And we acknowledge this morning how much we need to learn and how much we need to grow. And we ask that you would teach us that you would prepare our hearts and our minds to be instructed and that you would then send those who will do so. And this labor and this study, we offer it up to you as a living sacrifice.

I pray that you would receive it for Jesus' sake. Amen.