Advice From a King's Mother

[0:00] Well, good morning again, and welcome to Faith. We're so glad that you're here together with us on this Mother's Day. And we're going to hear today from a king's mother. We will be in Proverbs 31.

[0:13] And in this portion of Proverbs 31, it begins with verse 1, but then we will be going from verse 10 through the end of the proverb.

[0:24] We will see a mother expressing her concern for her son's future. She begins in verses 1 through verse 9, talking about what type of woman that he should not give his life over to.

[0:40] And talking about some things that he should be aware of and to be aware of. And in verse 10, he begins talking about what she expects him to find in a wife.

[0:53] So as we go to God's Word this morning, let's begin in Proverbs 31. If you have your Bible, you can be turning there. Proverbs, the 31st Proverbs, beginning in verse number 10.

[1:08] And there we begin reading, Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain.

[1:19] She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flats and willingly works with her hands. She is like a merchant ship.

[1:30] She brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and a portion for her maid servants.

[1:41] She considers a meal and buys it from her profits. She plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms.

[1:52] She perceives that her merchandise is good and her land does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff and her hand pulls the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor.

[2:05] Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all of her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself.

[2:18] Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies sashes for the merchants.

[2:32] Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness.

[2:46] She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessing. Her husband also and he praises her.

[2:59] Many daughters have done well, but you excel in them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

[3:13] Give her of the fruits of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. And as we see these verses here in Proverbs 31, King Lemuel's father is showing him and telling him, and she is showing her concern and advises him about one of life's most important decisions.

[3:37] She is concerned about his choice for a wife. And actually this is the second most important choice in an individual's life. The first choice that is the most important is what are we going to do with Jesus?

[3:51] Will we trust Christ as our Savior? Will we follow Christ? And the second most important choice in our life is our choice of a mate.

[4:01] And what she does here in these verses, and as a matter of fact, Proverbs 31 is an acrostic. And what that means is each of these verses begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[4:15] Beginning with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet all the way through each with a different alphabet. And what she is doing is to write the kind of wife that she wants him to choose.

[4:28] And this mother's advice really is true, and it's priceless as we consider her, especially on this Mother's Day, as we recognize and as we honor our moms here today.

[4:44] What we're going to look at very briefly for these next few minutes is it covers a plan, a price, a person, a job.

[4:56] So as we ask ourselves, what does this advice have to do with you and me? The first thing we see is the plan. And the plan that King Lentz's mother speaks of really is God's plan.

[5:11] She acknowledges God's plan for families. Verse number 10, who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above ruby.

[5:22] She knows it's natural for her son to seek a wife, and this shows her understanding of God's plan in creation. God is the one who instituted marriage.

[5:34] And God is the one who looked at Adam and revealed that his plan involved a healthy meal.

[5:46] The only imperfect thing in God's creation had to be fixed. And so what we see is all creation was pronounced good except for one thing.

[5:58] We look in Genesis chapter 2. The second chapter of the first book of the Bible. In verse number 18, God looked out and saw that everything that he had created was good.

[6:09] And then the Lord said, it is not good that man should be alone. And he did what he would do when they created a paper, column or soup, form, and he was created.

[6:23] I would have had a vision to be white. One of the things that he did not show us. Take a portion of that to create Eve is that she was not taken or not created from his head over him.

[6:35] And she could be from his foot under him. But she created from God to be next to him. And she was not to be like him. So we see that this is part of God's plan.

[6:45] God, too. And he formed a healthy, suitable, comfortable for Adam. And we see that from Adam all the way to today, that is part of God's plan.

[6:59] And building a plan. And building a plan. And building a plan. And building a plan. God's plan. God's plan. He was creating a certain plan. And finding a plan. And having a plan.

[7:10] And we see that Christ is inestimable. Let's see. We can come back to this. There he is. He has kids. He has to do that in verse number 10. We find a virtuous wife.

[7:23] For her worth is far above rubies. This woman is of more value than rubies. A precious commodity.

[7:34] something that was a gem that was not easily found. So her worth is very valuable. The question is asked. Who can value, who can put a value on the worth of a good woman?

[7:51] As we consider her love, as we look through verse 10, through verse 31, consider her faithfulness. We consider her contribution as a home man.

[8:01] Verse 11, 15, the heart of her husband safely trusts her, so she will have a lack of gain. Verse 12, she does him go all the days of her life. She sits flat and glibly works with her hands.

[8:15] She is like a virgin, brings her food from her. She also rises while it is yet night before the sun, even working on getting things ready for a household for her maid, providing food and abortion for her maid servants.

[8:29] We see in verse 27, it's her value as a mother. She's a homemaker, and she cares for her household. She's the bread of idleness.

[8:40] Verse 28 says, her children rise up and hold her blessed. Her husband also can eat, and he raises her. Also, we see in this proverb that she is a home-based business owner.

[8:56] We see that, verse 18, she perceives that her merchandise is good. Her lamp does not go out by night. Verse 19, she stretches out her hands to the distaff.

[9:11] Her hand holds spindle. Verses 24, 25, she takes the lid of garments and sells them. She uses these, and she sells them.

[9:21] She also promotes, and she sells them also. Her merchandise is accepted for the merits. Strength and honor of her clothing.

[9:31] She shall rejoice in time. All of these things she's doing for her family, to make ends meet, to care for her family. She's industrious. She's loving.

[9:41] And it shows here also that she has a good business head on her shoulders. She takes money. She invests it. Bines in millions. She makes profits.

[9:52] And on and on and on and on. All the values. All the great contributions that mother made. Not always necessarily outside the home like this mother has a business.

[10:03] In what she's producing within her children. And what she's doing to lift up the burden of her husband. All those around.

[10:14] D.L. Moody said this about his mom. All that I am, I owe to my mom. Lincoln's mother taught him about honesty.

[10:25] About obedience. This is a quote from John Wesley's mother. She said, give others the sunshine. Give Jesus the rest.

[10:37] So we see that her price, or the price placed upon her is inestimable. You can't put a price on one mom. Then the person is irreplaceable.

[10:53] We see that in verses 11 through 27. The heart of her husband safely trusts her. So he will have no lack of gain. She does him good.

[11:06] And not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax. Willingly works with her hands. We saw those verses. She's like a merchant ship. She breaks afar.

[11:18] She sits while it is at night. Provides food for her household. Before he is served. She considers it for frumpets. She plants a vineyard. Again, to take care of her family.

[11:31] She girds herself with strength. And strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good. And her lamb does not go out by night. She is still working late into the evening.

[11:44] She stretches out her hands to the distaff. And her hand pulls the spindle. She's weaving, probably clothing, and these garments that she sells in the marketplace, the sashes that she makes for the merchants to sell.

[12:00] She extends her hands to the poor. She has compassion upon others. She sees people who don't have, who may not have the same wear of all that her family has.

[12:14] And so she takes extra, and she provides to the poor. She reaches out her hand to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household because she is prepared.

[12:26] For all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself with clothing. It's fine linen and purple. And you may even have moms who have made clothes and can make something beautiful out of nothing.

[12:45] I've even seen some make some pretty nice things out of whole feet sacks. And you make it look pretty nice. Go figure, right?

[12:56] The things a mom can do to have to take virtually nothing and make something out of it. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates.

[13:07] As a matter of fact, the things that she's doing. And she is not tearing him down. She's building him up. As a matter of fact, the things that she does and provides. And probably when she's talking to others about her husband, she's very proud of him.

[13:22] And is extolling his virtues. When he sits among the elders of the land, he is known in the gates. She makes linen garments and sells them, supplies sashes for the merchants.

[13:37] Strength and honor are her clothing. When you think about it, many women look to makeup and look to clothes to make a woman.

[13:49] That's not true. Beauty and honor is from what's inside what God has created, has placed there. And from the time that she spends with him, following the Lord.

[14:03] She shall rejoice in time to come. Verse 26. Think about that. Probably a lot of the wisdom that you have today came from mom.

[14:19] She probably drilled that into you. The time that you could remember. Always have clean underwear. Right? But not only that.

[14:30] Things that she said about others and being caring for others. The deepest wisdom that you get from mom. And on her tongue is the law of kindness.

[14:44] She watches over the ways of her household. And does not eat the bread of the idol. The character and the integrity of this woman are without stain.

[14:56] She's faithful. She is dependable. She is compassionate. And she's loyal. What do you call her? Mom. She keeps her home well.

[15:08] And she keeps building up her husband. This woman cares for her children. And she builds up her husband's reputation. So this plan is God's plan.

[15:24] This person that we see is inestimable. She is irreplaceable. And we see that this woman as well.

[15:38] As we move on. The payoff. Mom. The payoff is eternal. You see that in verse 28.

[15:49] Verse 31. Verse 28. Rejoice. All her blessing. The husband also.

[16:02] And he praises her. When you wonder. If this is going to pay off. You wonder of all this time. And all the. Picking off of the.

[16:13] All the dirty diapers. And the messy diapers. And the going through. And I don't know what we call the floors. And we go through. And we get to the teenagers. And we go to college. And then you got to give them.

[16:26] To someone. Else as you let them fly out of the nest. And you know. They always come home. And. The difference. Is it worth it?

[16:37] Has an eternal payoff. Her children rise up and call her blessing. Her husband also. And he praises her. Many daughters. Have done well.

[16:49] Would you excel them all? Verse 30. Charm is his equal. And I'm sure. And I'm sure. Many children have words.

[17:01] And beauty. Is passing. External beauty. Is passing. But a woman who fears me. Shall be. Raised. Her children rise up. Call her blessing.

[17:12] Customs. Raises her. Verse 31. An angel. Give her hands. And let her home works. Her gates. Eternal.

[17:24] Rewards. And waver. As we. As we. As we. Think about. These words from. King's mother. And as she's talking to her.

[17:37] And say. I want you to have. The best. Here's the kind of woman. That I want you to have. As your bride. As you.

[17:47] So. As we think about this. Ask yourself. The question. How has. Your life. Been affected. By your mother. Second question. Are you.

[17:59] Living proof. Of the power. Of her faith. That's right. Our precious father. Thank you for.

[18:12] Moms that are here. Thank you for our moms. Our mothers today. Thank you for. Who they are. For the special place. That holds our hearts.

[18:23] Pray. Bless. Each one. Thank you for. Peace. Here. Father. May there. Reward.

[18:36] As we. In eternity. Thank you. This morning. We pray. In Jesus name. Amen.