Proverbs on Wealth 
Part 2: Losing It 

Baxter T. Exum (#1742)
Four Lakes Church of Christ
Madison, Wisconsin
June 23, 2024

It is an awesome blessing to be together with God’s people this morning! If you are visiting this morning or joining us online or on the phone, welcome! We are especially glad to have you with us, and we’d like to ask that you fill out a visitor card – online if you can, or if you are here in person, you can use one of the cards from the pew in front of you and give that to me on your way out this morning. We would love to hear from you, and we invite you to pass along any questions or prayer concerns.

Thank you so much for remembering us at Beaver Creek Bible Camp up near Eau Claire this past week. We had a very good summer session, the second one for the Spencer congregation to be responsible for, and they did a great job (once again). I started a grand total of 11 campfires, I believe, I took the kids on hikes several times throughout the week, and I scoped out every trail before taking kids along with me, so I hiked roughly 15 miles early in the week, and then I also had a chance to supervise throwing hatchets and tomahawks and knives, and nobody got hurt! And then we had the “How to Start a Fire” class on Thursday afternoon. It was probably good that we had a lot of rain last week. We failed to burn the place down, but it was a great week overall. One young man obeyed the gospel. I personally witnessed Brendan having a great time up there, so we are very thankful that you remembered us in your prayers this week.

We are here this morning to worship and to thank God for saving us. He sent his Son as a sacrifice. He died, he was buried, but he was raised up on the first day of the week. This is the good news, and we obey this good news through faith, repentance, and baptism (an immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins). And this morning we are sharing some good news from the Granbury Street congregation down in Cleburne, Texas. They posted a few days ago, and they say that, “Nolan and Megan were baptized Saturday night for the remission of their sins and to be added by the Lord to His church. We are so thankful for our new additions into the church family.” We are thankful here in Madison as well, and we share this example as part of our invitation to you: If you would like to do what these two have done, or if you would like to learn more, let us know. We invite you to get in touch using the contact information on the wall up here, or if you are joining us on the phone, you can send a text or give me a call at 608-224-0274.

This morning, we are headed back to the book of Proverbs! In this series within a series, we are now looking at everything King Solomon says about WEALTH. So, I have scoured the book for any references to wealth or money or riches or treasure, and there have been so many that I’ve been arranging these by sub-topic. Last week, we started with Solomon’s advice on GETTING wealth. This week we are taking a look at how to LOSE your wealth (and some of the pitfalls of being wealthy). Then we have a song service (on the fifth Sunday). We come back in July to study the idea of CONTENTMENT (or enjoying our wealth). Then we look at the value of GIVING our wealth to others. I’ll need to take a time out to head to Hawaii for my mother-in-law’s memorial service. And if the Lord wills, we’ll close this series with some bonus verses on LAZINESS on the first Sunday in August. So, this is where we are heading, and we may make some adjustments along the way, but this is the big picture. Today, though, we come to the Proverbs that outline some of the downfalls of money, and some of the ways we may LOSE our money.

And I hope we appreciate what the Bible says on all of this, because this affects us all week. This is how we live what we believe, because money is all around us. We spend a good part of our lives each week earning it (and we talked about this last week). We work 40, 50, 60 hours a week or more. And the rest of the week it seems like we are SPENDING IT (we are buying our groceries and then eating those groceries). We earn and we spend, we earn and we spend, we earn and we spend, and so a good part of normal everyday life involves money. And money, in fact, has a way of disappearing. In fact, a good summary of this comes to us in Proverbs 23:4-5, where King Solomon warns his sons and says, “Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.” What he’s saying here is that money isn’t everything. So, don’t make money the focus of your life, because money has a way of sprouting wings and flying off into the heavens! Now, if a poor man had given this warning, we might think, “Well, sure! Of course a poor guy would say something like this! What would a poor man know about riches?” However, this warning comes not from a poor man, but from one of the wealthiest and most powerful men to ever live! And this guy is telling us that money has a way of flying away.

Today, then, we continue with some of the pitfalls of wealth, focusing in on some terrible ways of LOSING IT. And as we did last week, I’d like to have us start with some PRELIMINARY WARNINGS. Since money does have a way of flying away, what do we need to keep in mind as we move toward studying some stupid ways of losing it.

Well, first of all, we find in Proverbs 11:4 that, “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” It’s tempting, though, to think that riches might save us. Maybe you’ve heard of people talk about “financial security.” When we have money, we feel secure. When we have money, we think we can handle whatever comes our way. If the car breaks down, I can fix it. If my furnace goes out, I can have it replaced. If I get sick, I can afford to go to the doctor. If I lose my job, I can still afford to live for a few months. And yes, there are certainly some benefits to having wealth, but Solomon is warning his sons here that money is really only good right up until the “day of wrath.” But when that day comes, only “righteousness delivers from death.” And the reason is, if you make God mad, there’s no buying your way out of that. Here in this life, wealth may have a way of buying your way out of things. If you get a speeding ticket and you are wealthy, you may be able to hire a lawyer who can get that dismissed. But if you’re poor, not so much. Here in this life, money can tip the scales of justice. This last supreme court race here in Wisconsin, for example, was the most expensive supreme court race in US history, with campaign donations over $51 million, proving (yet again) that money has a way of purchasing influence. On the “day of wrath,” however, only “righteousness delivers from death.” Riches and wealth will in no way sway the judge of all the earth. Ask Nebuchadnezzar. Ask Belshazzar. Ask the Rich Man who ignored poor Lazarus begging at his gate. Ask Ananias and Sapphira who faced God’s wrath for lying to the Holy Spirit. Only “righteousness delivers from death.” So, knowing that money has a way of flying away, remember that righteousness is our only security in the long run.

A second preliminary warning comes in Proverbs 11:28, where King Solomon says that, “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.” So again, because money has a way of flying away, Solomon is telling his sons: Do not trust in it, because if you trust in riches you will “fall,” you will fall down flat on your face (which seems to be the meaning of the word – you will go from standing up to lying down). And this is coming from a man with experience. Solomon is not poor, but rich, and in his wealth Solomon still knows not to trust in his riches. For long-term security, though, choose righteousness, and you will “flourish like the green leaf.” Satan wants us to trust in riches, but King Solomon knows better.

And tied to this, I believe, we come to another warning or reminder in Proverbs 16:16, where King Solomon says, “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.” Again, since money has a way of flying away, wisdom is better than gold and understanding is so much more valuable than silver. Choose wisdom! And remember: This is coming from a man with virtually unlimited silver and gold. Solomon had both gold and wisdom, so this is not a case of “sour grapes.” Choose wisdom! Besides, if you have wisdom, there’s a pretty good chance that you could use that wisdom to get gold. But that doesn’t always go the other way, does it? So, choose wisdom. And this warning is practical. How much time do we spend pursuing wealth as opposed to pursuing wisdom? We may work 40, 50, 60 hours a week, but what kind of time do we spend pursuing wisdom and understanding (which is so much more important)? We have 1,440 minutes in every day. If we spend 1% of that time pursing wisdom, that would come out to about 15 minutes a day. If we spent 10% of our time pursing wisdom, that comes out to about 2-½ hours. Not a bad goal (15 minutes at the least and then working up from there – taking some time to pray and to read a chapter or a book from the word of God). But because wealth has a way of flying away, King Solomon is warning us to pursue wisdom!

The next preliminary warning comes to us in Proverbs 18:10-11, where King Solomon reminds us that, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own imagination.” Verse 10 is the positive side of this: God’s name is, in fact, a “strong tower,” a place we can go for safety. On the other hand, though, the wealthy often trust in their riches, but the safety of wealth is only in their imagination. I like how The Message puts this (not a translation, but a paraphrase), “The rich think their wealth protects them; they imagine themselves safe behind it.” But, wealth as a stronghold is nothing but an illusion. Like Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The illusion of safety in riches is a lesson the Rich Fool learned the hard way. In that parable of Jesus in Luke 12, the rich fool had a bumper crop and made all these plans without including God in those plans, and he died that night. His illusion of security lasted for less than an hour, and his wealth did nothing for him. His wealth didn’t fly away, but he is the one who flew away, leaving his wealth behind. He should have stored his wealth in a place where moth and rust do not destroy.

The last of these preliminary warnings comes to us in Proverbs 22:1, where King Solomon says that, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold.” And we could have covered this proverb elsewhere, but I’ve put it here, because it is especially true since wealth has a way of “flying away.” A “good name,” though, can last a lifetime, regardless of wealth. In fact, a good name is to be “more desired than great wealth,” for this reason. If you must choose between the two, choose a good name, choose a good reputation. A good name is built over time – by working hard, paying our bills on time, keeping our word, and so on.

This now brings us to an overview of just a few ways we may LOSE our wealth or some very stupid financial moves we may make, and I’m dividing these into three categories.

    I. We’ll start with the first category, where King Solomon describes the financial danger of WASTEFUL SPENDING, and most of this comes through what we might describe as PROLIFIGATE LIVING.

“Prolifigate” is the word I first had in mind on this one. The spell-check on my computer says there is no such word, and I wasn’t 100% sure of the meaning, so I looked it up, and the dictionary defines “prolifigate” as “recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.” And that is definitely what I had in mind here. And we have three Proverbs in this category…

    A. ...starting with King Solomon’s reminder in Proverbs 21:17 that, “He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not become rich.”

I know we talk quite a bit about inflation these days. It’s up close to 20% over the past several years, and it’s devastating; absolutely devastating. Someone has said, though, that “it’s not [just] the high cost of living that hurts people, but it’s the cost of high living.” And I think Solomon would agree with that. He warns about loving “pleasure,” and he specifically mentions “he who loves wine and oil.” Let’s just clarify here at the beginning that God is not opposed to pleasure. In fact, wine and oil are both mentioned quite positively in scripture. In 1 Timothy 6:17, for example, Paul says that God “...richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” That’s awesome! God wants us to enjoy what he has given to us. In Ecclesiastes 5:17-18, even King Solomon says that it is “good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.” In Psalm 104:15, the Bible says that God has given us “...wine which makes man’s heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man’s heart.” Food and wine: Gifts from the Lord for us to enjoy.

The problem here is “loving” these things, dedicating ourselves to chasing these things. We might think of the Prodigal Son, who wasted his part of his father’s estate on “loose living” (in Luke 15:13). Like so many things in life, the love for pleasure, and food, and wine can be taken to an extreme. You know, the average American (like the Prodigal Son) is also addicted to an extravagant lifestyle. One author has suggested that the wine and oil of Solomon’s time are the entertainment, toys, and eating out of today. Several years ago, I mentioned that eating out is when we demand to be treated like kings. This morning, for example, I didn’t feed the chickens and shovel chicken droppings out of a barnyard somewhere; I didn’t go find my eggs in the hen house. I didn’t chase down a pig and slaughter it and butcher me some bacon and cook it over a fire. I didn’t harvest coffee beans and roast those beans and haul the water out of a well. No, I had my people do all of that for me. I walked in to a comfortable room, and a “server” brought those things right to my table, all at the exact same moment. We even call these people our “servants,” don’t we? My server served me this morning. I was treated like a literal king just a few hours ago, “Fetch me my eggs! Fry the bacon! Roast the beans! Summon the bread!” and so on. And my people served me. Do we think of it like that? Not usually. But isn’t that what’s happening? And it cost me. My breakfast was $8.63 plus a $5 tip for a total of $13.63. That’s luxury right there! But there’s a cost to it. That adds up over time. And if we love being treated like kings, if we do that for every meal, it has a way of leading to poverty, Solomon says.

And today, I think most of us know people in literal poverty, in over their heads financially, who have spent themselves into that situation. They have an income, but they want what they want, they fill themselves with oil and wine, and they have become poor, just as Solomon predicts in this passage, “I’ve had a hard day, so I deserve to be treated like a king today, so I will command that my servants go fetch me the #1 as I drive through the restaurant in my chariot.” And I will spend myself right into poverty. You know, in most cases, our grandparents would only eat out on very rare and special occasions. But now, as a society, we eat out all the time – sometimes daily, sometimes more than once a day. As someone has summarized what King Solomon says here, “Love pleasure, lose your treasure.”

    B. Well, the second warning in this category comes to us in Proverbs 23:20-21, where King Solomon warns his sons by saying, “Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, or with gluttonous eaters of meat; for the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe one with rags.”

Again, we have a warning about wine and meat – heavy drinking and gluttony – food and wine seem to go together in this regard. Wine is to drunkenness as food is to gluttony. Solomon is not condemning eating and drinking here; no, he is warning his sons about the consequences of abusing two very broad categories of blessings that God has provided. Both can be abused. Some preachers, however, somehow seem to be more focused on condemning the drinking than they are on condemning the gluttony. As one author has pointed out, we may have a 300-pound pastor railing long and hard against wine, as he sits there eating a cherry pie topped with cream and wash it down with a quart of sugared soda. Not good! And yet I don’t want to focus on the weight part of this, because you can have a perfectly normal BMI while obsessing over food. Like some of you, I’m in a Madison Foodie group on Facebook, and there are some people out there who are definitely obsessed with food. And I have loved the group. Great suggestions for new and interesting places to eat. But we can take a love for food to an extreme. Both issues in these two verses are caused by a problem in the heart. A sinful heart leads us to drink to the point of drunkenness and to eat to the point of gluttony, and either one can get completely out of control, to the point where our hearts and minds are enslaved either to wine or to food. And I’m tempted to say that wine is worse, because it’s addicting, but have you ever tried to stop eating all forms of sugar? If so, then you may know by experience that sugar can also be addicting.

As we know, food and wine can be a problem. We live in a time when we can get a fresh hamburger and fries delivered to our doorstep in 30 minutes or less. We don’t even need to get out of the recliner. We get points for every meal we consume. We have grocery stores where we have massive collections of some of the finest food the world has ever seen. We have stuff that King Solomon could hardly imagine. And it’s all available to us in abundance. Not only that, but we have TV shows where we can watch other people gorge themselves with food. As one preacher put it, “You can now even binge watch other people’s gluttony voyeuristically on YouTube as professional gluttons host their own channels stuffing themselves with edible pleasures so you do not have to suffer the consequences of bulimic bliss.” Well said. On the wine side of this, we are surrounded by bars, and liquor stores, and even liquor departments that are larger than many of the entire grocery stores we grew up with. And this at a time when (statistically) some of us in this room are probably just barely hanging onto sobriety. We have pub crawls, and drinking games, and that’s just here in Madison. It’s a problem, Solomon could see it coming, and God’s people are to have nothing to do with it.

The truth is: Food is not for gorging, and wine is not for chugging, and Solomon warns against not only doing these things, but he also warns (in verse 20) about being with people who behave like this, “Do not be with” people who do these things. And this certainly fits in with Peter’s warning (in 1 Peter 4:3) against participating in “drinking parties” – it’s not just the drinking itself, but it’s being in a place where that is the main purpose for being there. If you’re wise, you won’t be putting yourself in those situations. But the point for our study today is that over eating and over drinking will lead to poverty. Isn’t that the point he’s making. We will study wine in great detail as we work our way through Proverbs, but the issue here is that it has a way of leading to poverty. And haven’t we seen this? We know this! The research tells us that a vast majority of homelessness is caused by various addictions, with alcohol being near the top of that list. Likewise, ravenous eating has a way of robbing us of our futures; it may rob us of the ability to play with our grandchildren; the health effects may cause us to lose a job or even our health. It leads to poverty and rags. King Solomon was right!

    C. The other part of this undisciplined living comes in Proverbs 29:3, where Solomon warns his sons that, “A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but he who keeps company with harlots wastes his wealth.” 

On one hand, wise children make their parents happy, but on the other hand, those who hang out with prostitutes waste their wealth. Imagine raising a fool who blows the family wealth on prostitutes. What a waste. This is yet another way of losing wealth. Don’t go there, Solomon says. So, these are some ways of losing our wealth through prolifigate living – by loving pleasure, and wine, and food, and prostitutes.

    II. The second major way of losing money is what I would describe as CO-SIGNING ON A LOAN.

And to me, it’s interesting that we have five verses on this (with one of these being a repeat). It’s a rather obscure warning for most of us, so the repetition causes me to think that Solomon was perhaps burned at some point in his life. As I’ve told you before, I remember my grandfather teaching me that “the fastest way to lose a friend is to loan him money.” And he told of a time when he was in the Navy and loaned a guy something like $2. It wasn’t huge, but back in the early 1940’s it was something, and the guy never paid him back. My grandfather said that he gave up on ever getting it back, but the strange thing was that every time he thought about that guy from that point forward, he always thought about that $2. He was burned, and he never forgot it. Perhaps as the king’s son himself, Solomon had been asked to co-sign on something and got burned. But for whatever reason, we have several references here…

    A. ...starting with Proverbs 11:15, where he says, “He who is guarantor for a stranger will surely suffer for it, but he who hates being a guarantor is secure.”

Being a “guarantor” for a stranger is basically promising to pay back something if the stranger either can’t or won’t. And King Solomon is telling his sons: Don’t be stupid! Or, as we would say today: Do not co-sign on a loan! I think this would be the most modern equivalent. If you have no job and terrible credit and go in to the bank to ask for a loan, they will almost certainly turn you down unless you have someone to co-sign on that loan. A co-signer is guaranteeing that one way or another the bank will get their money back. So if I co-sign, I am promising to pay if you do not. At that point, I’m on the hook for it, and in some cases they may be able to come after my assets (my accounts and maybe even my house). Don’t do it, Solomon says! You will surely suffer for it, he says. Here’s something that those without experience may not understand: If a bank refuses to loan money to somebody without a co-signer, there’s probably a good reason for that! The bank has people who do nothing but research. They know stuff, and they probably have a good reason for not approving the loan. They’ve already run the numbers, and they know the risk is too great. Pay attention! God tells us to “hate” being a guarantor. This is for our own good.

But, this is a proverb, a general truth, not an iron-clad rule. Maybe you’re dealing with your own child (not a stranger). That’s up to you, but be careful, because…

    B. ...in this next one (in Proverbs 17:18) Solomon continues by applying the same advice to a neighbor when he says that, “A man lacking in sense pledges and becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.”

Some translations refer to “striking hands,” and that is more literal, but the NASB goes ahead and translates the thought behind it by referring to someone who “pledges.” To strike hands was to pledge. Today, we refer to shaking hands. But the warning here is clear: Becoming a “guarantor” is a clear sign that someone is “lacking in sense.”

So, what do we do when someone comes to us asking us to co-sign? First of all, consider explaining that I just don’t co-sign. It’s nothing personal, but Solomon told me not to, so I don’t. Instead of being mad at you, let them be mad at Solomon. Solomon can take it. Plus, if it’s for a friend, explain that you plan on being their friend longer than the terms of the loan, and loaning money to a friend has a way of changing the relationship. Secondly, consider helping by finding another way. Instead of a new car, help them find something cheaper, and so on. Explain that making such a large purchase (if it requires a co-signer) may not be wise. Don’t enslave yourself like that (we’ll get back to that in just a moment). Or finally, consider an outright gift, “I can’t co-sign, but I can help by giving you this.”

As a church, people will sometimes come to us asking for a loan, and our policy has been: We don’t make loans. If it’s appropriate, we might be able to help in some way, but if we do, it’s a gift, and if you choose to pay it back at some point, that’s on you. We might consider doing something similar in our personal lives.

    C. We have another related warning in Proverbs 20:16, where King Solomon says,“Take his garment when he becomes surety for a stranger; and for foreigners, hold him in pledge.” And we have an identical statement in Proverbs 27:13, where Solomon says, “Take his garment when he becomes surety for a stranger; and for an adulterous woman hold him in pledge.”

So, this is on the GIVING end of making a loan. If you are foolish enough to make a loan to a stranger, you should at least take the man’s garment as a guarantee. Under the Law of Moses (in Exodus 22:26-27), God’s people were allowed to loan money to their own people, but they could only take a poor man’s cloak during the day – they had to return it at night so the man could sleep in it (it was all he had). However, with strangers, take the cloak as a guarantee. Taking the garment was a guarantee that he would repay what was owed. There’s some discussion on the translation at the end of the verse, but we’re talking about someone who’s not in the family or not in a right relationship with God, someone who is off limits. This person is a higher risk and needs to be treated as such. And the word for “foreigners” (in 20:16) is the exact same word translated as “adulterous woman” (in 27:13).

    D. The last one in this category comes to us in Proverbs 22:26-27, where King Solomon says, “Do not be among those who give pledges, among those who become guarantors for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take your bed from under you?”

So, once again, we have a warning about giving a pledge to guarantee a debt. It’s especially stupid to do this if you have nothing with which to pay if you get called upon to pay the debt. When someone says, “It’s no big deal, just sign here!” No, it is a big deal. You can lose your bed over this. Resist the emotional blackmail, because you can truly lose everything over this, and then you have two families in financial crisis instead of just one. And so, there is great danger in co-signing on a loan.

    III. This brings us to the last category, and we only have one verse here, where King Solomon warns about the danger of DEBT itself.

In Proverbs 22:7, Solomon speaks to his sons and says that, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” Personally, I’m surprised there’s more about co-signing than debt, but here it is, a simple statement of fact. First of all, Solomon tells the truth, “The rich rules over the poor.” Generally speaking, yes; that’s just the way it is. He’s not saying that this is how it SHOULD be, but this is how it is. It’s not necessarily right, or moral, or fair; it’s certainly not the way God always intends it to be, but this is pretty much how it’s always been. Rich nations rule over poor nations. Rich people rule over poor people. We will deal with HOW the rich are to treat the poor coming up soon in this series, but for now, the rich do, in fact, rule over the poor. Money is power. Money buys influence and gets bills signed into laws. You can’t be a poor person and get elected president these days. Money gets things done. Money buys your version of justice. The rich truly rule over the poor.

But the emphasis here and the warning in this context is that the “borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” Think about this: The rich usually don’t loan money to the poor unless it is to their advantage. The rich get something out of that arrangement, and the rich can often be cruel.

Over in 1 Kings 4:1-2, the prophet Elisha runs into a poor widow who is absolutely desperate. She cries out to Elisha for help and explains that her husband is dead and the creditor has come to take her two children to be his slaves. We don’t know the story, but she (or her dead husband) had apparently borrowed money, and now the children are facing literal slavery over this. She has nothing left except for one jar of oil. Well, Elisha goes on to fix the problem by having her collect containers from everybody she knows, and he miraculously fills all of those containers with oil, allowing her to pay off the debt. But the point is: Debt can lead to slavery. Debt is slavery.

However, let’s also realize that not all borrowing and lending is sin. According to Deuteronomy 28:12, one of the blessings of obedience was that God’s people would have abundant crops and that they would “lend to many nations.” We borrow books from the library; we may borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor. In 2 Kings 6:5, a prophet borrowed an axe from his neighbor. In Exodus, borrowing and lending was regulated, but not forbidden. In Matthew 5:42, Jesus told his followers not to turn away from someone who wants to borrow from them. Borrowing is allowed, but Solomon wants his sons to be extremely careful. Can we really afford this? Do we really need to afford this? What are the dangers of taking out this loan? How might I be enslaved as a result of borrowing? And can I wait to pay cash for this thing I’m thinking about purchasing.

Conclusion:

So, these are some of the ways we may lose money. We have wasteful or prolifigate living, we have co-signing on a loan, and we have debt. These are some of the downfalls of wealth that Solomon thought to discuss with his children. As we close, I would just briefly mention (as we are about to sing) that Jesus paid off our debt of sin, didn’t he? He left the riches of heaven to come to this earth to be born into absolute poverty. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross in our place, satisfying the terms of our debt of sin against God. There’s been quite a bit about “loan forgiveness” in the news these days. We accept God’s offer of forgiveness by turning to him in faith, and by being buried with his Son in baptism. If we can help, let us know.

As we close our study this morning, let’s go to God in prayer:

Our Father in Heaven,

You are the God of all riches and wealth, and we praise you this morning for what you have done for us. We are thankful that you have given us everything we have, and we pray for wisdom as we manage these resources, that we would pay attention to your advice given through King Solomon, that we would not lose what you have given to us – either through sinful living or through foolishness. We are thankful, Father, that your Son has paid off our debt of sin, that we are free from that burden of slavery.

We come to you this morning in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

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