Open your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs 31. Lord willing, this is our 100th and final sermon on this book. We'll start Exodus next week in the evening service. Who can find a valiant wife, for her worth is far above rubies? The heart of her husband safely trusts her and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships. 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 maidservants. She considers a field and buys it. From her profits, she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff and her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hand to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. 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. 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. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. The grass withers, the flower fades, the Word of our God stands forever. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught him. Father, we love this picture of the Proverbs 31 woman. And we pray that loving it would teach us to love wisdom, would teach us to look like this picture. Father, help us to be wise in our daily lives. Give us the ability to listen to wisdom now, to incline our hearts to understanding. Help us to hear and gain instruction. Give us that fear of the Lord that leads to riches, honor, and life. Through this sermon, we pray, help me to speak, help us all to hear, we pray in Christ's name, Amen. The Proverbs 31 woman sums up for us the teaching of the last, the previous 30 chapters of the book of Proverbs. She stands here to tell us in a different register what daily life looks like for someone who's been shaped by the teaching of Proverbs. Now, as we know, the book is openly addressed to the son. Most of it has very male-centric orientation. And here at the end is a reminder that that's not to exclude women, that's to include women. And the best way to look at A concrete example of here's someone who lives a daily life shaped by the precepts of wisdom is to look at the Proverbs 31 woman. She shows us what somebody shaped by the teaching of wisdom looks like. It's easy to read something like, treasures of wickedness profit nothing but righteousness delivers from death, or chasing your son while there is hope, don't set your heart on his destruction, but turn that into a schedule for me. Write down what that would look like transformed into a daily routine. Well, that's what Lemuel's mother does in this final, seventh and final section of the Book of Proverbs. where the wise son meets his bride. So the book of Proverbs ends with the virtuous wife, the one that we know our Lord has found for himself and will take to himself at the end. And it would be appropriate to go through and explain this whole passage in terms of the church. We're not going to do that tonight, but it could be done. I'm not sure who's done it. None of the commentators I've read were willing to touch that subject, but it can be done and it should be done. But what we'll focus on is the ordinary human person living a life shaped by the teaching of wisdom. Now, the outline I have tonight is taken from Bruce Waltke's commentary on Proverbs. I thought he did a good job and I could not improve on it. He starts, well, Lemuel's mother starts by explaining the valiant wife's value. And that brings us really, first of all, to her epithet. How should we translate this word that occurs in front of her name? Who can find a virtuous woman, says the new King James. The New American Standard calls her an excellent wife. NIV calls her a wife of noble character. Other versions range from capable, to virtuous, to worthy, and even good. Who can find a good wife? The word is not any of those things. The word is a military word. It's the same word, valor, in the phrase mighty man of valor. This is the woman of valor, or the valiant woman. It's a martial word, a word that relates to military exploits and warfare. And it's not the only martial word in the context. There's a number of them here. There's one, for instance, right in the next verse. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her and he will have no need of spoil. What's spoil? Well, in those days, you didn't fund a war by taxing your own people. Always a politically risky move. Nor did you fund a war by floating debt on the international currency markets. There were no such things in those days. Instead, if you wanted to fight a war, you funded it by making the enemy pay for it. You go, you beat them up, you take their stuff, that pays the cost of the war. I don't have to feed and pay and clothe my soldiers. I send them over there and they take their salary from the enemy. And that word for the stuff that's taken in English, we call that booty or spoil. And that word in Hebrew is right there at the end of verse 11. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he doesn't lack booty taken in war. Why not? Well, because he's got this valiant wife. She is a woman of valor and she provides booty. Other military jargon, a little further on, talks about her tearing meat. Oh yes, I think in verse 15. Most of our translations gloss right over that because it sounds too much like a wild animal ripping open a carcass, and that's exactly what it is. She tears meat for her household in verse 15. So this woman is portrayed in terms of being a tigress, a soldier, somebody who takes booty. Why? Well, I think the chapter is telling us right off the bat that to be a wife takes guts. This is not a calling for wallflowers. If you want to be a wimp, stay single, but the wife needs to be a valiant wife, a wife with some major courage to step out into this undertaking of living with a man and having his children. Who can find such a one? Who can find a wife with that kind of gut? Solomon himself says in the next book, in Ecclesiastes, one man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found. And he tried, he looked pretty hard. He didn't date him, he just married him. And yet a woman like this, he couldn't find. Here she is described, somebody who's first and most prominent character quality is courage. She is a woman of valor. Her worth is far above Ruby's. That's how worthy, that's how much value we should ascribe to her. Forget precious metals, forget precious stones. Just like wisdom itself, whose price is far above rubies. So the wise woman, woman with this heart of a tigress, is worth far more than rubies. And so the heart of her husband trusts her, and he has no need of spoil. He doesn't have to go out and take stuff from the enemy. His wife is a good financial manager. My husband is not always saying, we would have enough if my wife would just not go waste at all. All of you have heard men say that. The Proverbs 31 woman never gets that said about her. She is not downtown shopping. She's not over at the horse palace pulling the arm on the one-armed bandit. No, she provides and takes care of the financial affairs. She does good and not evil all the days of her life. So she's valuable in her own right above Ruby's and she's particularly valuable to her husband. He trusts in her safely. So there's the question for us. Not am I this valuable, but does my spouse trust me this much? Do I do this much good for my spouse? If you don't, then that's a clue that your character has not been shaped by the precepts of wisdom. The God-fearing woman does this much good for her husband and vice versa. The God-fearing man does this much good for his wife. One who doesn't fear God doesn't do good like this. Wisdom's primary teaching that the rest of this focuses on is working hard. Verses 13 through 27, really the core of this, focus on how much work the valiant wife does. The first thing that it zeroes in on is making clothing. She seeks wool and flax. What are those for? They're to make clothes, and over and over it's mentioned how she sews clothing in various places. So verse 19, she stretches out her hands to the distaff, her hand holds the spindle. Well, what's that? Various pieces of spinning equipment that takes raw fiber, whether wool or linen, turns it into yarn, turns it into thread, And then from that, you can make clothing. So verse 22, she makes clothing for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Verse 24, she makes linen garments and sells them. Major emphasis on how the Proverbs 31 woman sews clothing. Now, what are we to make of this? That if you've been formed by wisdom, you'll get a sewing machine and start making clothes? No. The point is instead her hard work. She works her fingers off because in those days clothing was very valuable. We live in the age of the machine when there is so much machine-made clothing that you can outfit yourself for 25 bucks. You could go into the thrift store and buy a box of clothing for a baby for $3 or $4. But in those days, clothing was not sometimes literally a dime a dozen. Rather, clothing was always a skilled product. Each piece individually, handmade, from shearing the animal, harvesting the flax plant, through getting the fibers, getting them cleaned, turning them into yarn, turning them into thread, weaving the threads into cloth, or knitting the fibers into cloth. to cutting out the pattern and then sewing the pieces together. So if you can imagine paying somebody for 40 hours of skilled labor to make one set of clothing, right? What is skilled labor charge these days? You know, 80 to 100 to $150 an hour for 40 hours. That's what this lady does. She has a skill and she uses it. She works hard with that skill. The second thing that is mentioned is food, verse 14. She's like the merchant ships. She brings her food from afar. Now I, of course, and you all too, eat Australian lamb prepared with Chinese ginger and Thai coconut milk on top of Californian rice with Italian soda to drink and Belgian chocolate for dessert. But in those days, it wasn't that way. Locally grown was not a buzzword. Locally grown was all you had. But this lady goes beyond the local confines and brings food from far away. She feeds her family with stuff. Some of it has traveled a good distance to get to the table because that's how you get the really tasty stuff. Especially here in Campbell County, if you only eat what grows in a 40 mile radius, you're going to be living on a lot of wild game and sagebrush. But even there, right in the land of Israel is mostly grows olives, figs, and barley. Not a bad lifestyle, but one that can be made much tastier with a few apples from further north, a few lemons from further south, and so on. She brings her food from afar. So she cares for clothing, she cares for food, and she cares for a domestic staff. She provides a portion for her maidservants. The God-fearing woman, in other words, is a homemaker. It's clearly where her labor is targeted at, the domestic realm. But what she does is far beyond what we might think that term means. She's not merely concerned with making sure the kids have a lunch for school tomorrow. Or that we've got enough clothes in the closet to make it to the other side of winter. Her concern is with the whole household and its long-term prosperity, not just whether her kids and staff have food and clothing today. Wisdom shapes you to work hard with this future-oriented outlook. She considers the field and buys it from her prophets. She plants a vineyard. Now, real estate deals and development, as we know, can make a lot of money. Our president claims that he is very, very rich because of all the real estate development that he's done. And that's what the Proverbs 31 woman does. Field, buys it, grows crops, uses that money in turn to invest in a vineyard. And then vineyards even today can be cash cows. There's a lot of people who like the product that they make. That's what this woman does. She's clothed with strength. Wisdom does not lie in being wimpy. Not only does it talk about her work kind of in the household, but also her work in the community, her social achievements. So verse 19 focuses on her hand at work, mentions the hand twice. She stretches out her hand to the distaff and her hand holds the spindle. And the next verse also mentions the hand twice. She extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. Is there a connection there? Of course there is. She works hard, and as Paul puts it in the New Testament, has something to share with anyone in need. Why does she have something to share? Well, because she has this skill of making clothing, and she works it hard, and quite literally gives her hand, gives a hand to the needy. It doesn't say hand up versus hand out. It just says she gives them a hand. The best way to care for the poor is to work hard and generate wealth. And then to look to the poor and share with them as you have opportunity. Again, the Bible is short on policy prescriptions, but long on policy goals. work so that you have something to give to the poor. And also, her clothes look good. She dresses up. Her household is clothed with scarlet. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Now, what's the significance? Well, scarlet and purple are expensive dyes and were very expensive in those days. Purple, for instance, you had to get a certain sea creature that lived down on the bottom of the sea and then you have to crush it up. and then you have to boil the clothing in that color. Something like that. Purple was very hard to get for that very reason. It's an expensive color. But the Proverbs 31 woman wears it. She dresses at the top end of what's appropriate for her rank and station in life. Not at the bottom end. The Proverbs 31 woman doesn't look like a slob. Somebody who's formed by the teaching of wisdom doesn't look like a slob. They dress at the high end of what's appropriate. We're not talking about wearing a tuxedo every time you go to Walmart. And we understand that if you're a judge, your clothing should be different than if you're a janitor. But you should dress up if you've been formed by the teachings of wisdom. I've had a lot of arguments with people over the years about that. But the Proverbs 31 woman undeniably dresses nicely. And we could say today, similarly, any woman whose clothing is fine linen and purple is going to stand out. Well, that was, of course, true even in that era. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. Ladies, do you comport yourself in the kind of way that will lead to community recognition for your husband? Is that even on your radar screen? If you're shaped by the precepts of wisdom, You're not opposed to ambition. You're not opposed to public service. You're not opposed to honor. Rather, those are things that you see as natural, right, and normal. By the fear of the Lord, a rich is honor and life. And when her husband sits in the gate, that's the equivalent of the courthouse in a contemporary American city, the place where public business is transacted, he's known in there. People nod to him, know his name, understand that he's very influential in the decisions that affect the community. We could say county commissioner, we could say district judge, we could say somebody who's in a position that is well known within that courthouse. We return again to the theme of her work. She makes linen garments and sells them. She supplies sashes for the merchants. Not her staff makes linen garments. She makes them. In the midst of all that she does, she works and produces these things. In verse 27, well, not there yet, her character is so important. Strength and honor, right? She's a valiant woman. She has guts, she has courage, and she laughs at the future. She's not worried about what will happen. Why is that? Well, because of her character. She's strong, she's honorable, and she opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness. Proverbs has talked a lot about how you talk and how that's relevant to what your heart thinks. The Proverbs 31 woman speaks with wisdom and with kindness. And that will be true, that character quality, as opposed to the daily expression of it, will be true of anyone shaped by the precepts of wisdom. If you're shaped by the precepts of wisdom, you don't necessarily make clothes and cook food. But if you're shaped by the precepts of wisdom, you do necessarily work hard according to your place and calling. That may not be to make clothing, or to cook food, or to direct the domestic staff. But your calling is certainly to work hard in the position in which the Lord has put you. Your calling is certainly to have this character of strength and honor and open in your mouth with wisdom. Is your tongue directed by the law of kindness? I can't say that, that's not kind. The law of kindness, this phrase is loaded, these are two key words of the Old Testament, the Torah of Chesed. So you could translate that also as the instruction covenant love, the teaching of mercy, something like that. But her tongue speaks the good news of God's covenant faithfulness to his people. Her tongue is motivated by kindness. Wisdom and kindness live together on her tongue and on Christ's tongue too. I think verse 27 summarizes the passage. If you're looking for one verse that describes the Proverbs 31 woman, it's this. She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. That's the description of a homemaker formed by the precepts of wisdom. Her primary attention, her primary concern is the ways of her household. And she contributes strongly to its economic life. In terms of debates that we might have today about working inside the home or outside the home, I don't think the passage takes a position on that. But it very clearly does take a position in terms of the goal of her labor. She does work for the home. What she does is directed towards the household. That's what she's working for. She looks well to maintaining her own independence. She looks well to keeping her bank account full, regardless of what her husband does with his bank account. No, she looks to the ways of her household and she works very, very hard. Does not eat the bread of idleness. Obviously, pretty much every verse in here talks about some kind of work that she does. And we can say, similarly, that any person, any wise son or daughter, shaped by the teachings of wisdom, won't eat the bread of idleness. Doesn't live life to be retired. Doesn't primarily say, well, I work so that I can be off. Bread of idleness is not her thing. The father has the first word in Proverbs. We've talked about this. His major concern throughout the book is in training the members of the household. Right at the very beginning, 1 verse 8, my son, hear the instruction of your father. Do not forsake the law of your mother. And then the rest of the book is the father's instruction. Except here at the very end, the last chapter, we get the mother's instruction. And the mother's instruction is no doubt sounded in a different key than the father's instruction. And the mother's instruction much more considers a daily routine and the kinds of activities that this woman might engage in. The father's major concern is with training the members of the household in the Book of Proverbs. The mother's major concern, or the wife as she's called here, not the mother, the wife's major concern is with the daily functioning and prosperity of the household. The lesson of caring for your household, in other words, is one of the most important ones in the book. The book starts with fearing God, ends with fearing God in verse 30. but in between says, if you are a God-fearer, you'll watch your household. You instruct your sons, you make sure that your household is economically provided for, and you work hard to make the things that your household needs. When you live in this way, when you live the way the Proverbs teaches, people will recognize it. You will, all other things being equal, get compliments on that. Now, as we've said, as with everything in the book of Proverbs, that's the normal development. That's the natural way of nothing interposes. What will happen if you live in this God-fearing way is that you'll get recognition. And you will get pulled aside and said, wow, your home runs really well. I wish my house looked like your house. Your kids are really well behaved. I wish my kids were disciplined like your kids. That's the normal course of development. It may not happen if something intervenes. Anyway, what kind of praise does she get? Well, first of all, her family. Her children call her blessings. So those under her charge every day, they testify to her. Her husband also, and he praises her. The one who's over her, in the hierarchical order, has just as much good to say about her as the ones under her. Right, and if you really want to know what somebody's like, don't just ask their boss, don't just ask their underlings, but ask both. And if you hear the same thing from both sides, it's a pretty clear indication. Well, her children and her husband say the same thing. And in fact, her husband is quoted, many daughters have done excellently. He describes this woman not as a wife, many wives have done excellently, not many women have done excellently, as some dumb modern translations insert for a reason I don't understand, but many daughters have done excellently. Conceived of in relationship to her father, as a daughter who's been formed by her father's teaching of wisdom, she excels them all. And of course, any of us who have read the book of Proverbs and come to the end and say, wow, this still doesn't sound like me. Male or female who say, well, if this is the daily life of the wise son, the wise daughter, I'm not there. Well, yeah, that's what verse 29 says. She's doing a better job than any of the rest of us. She's further along the track. This is what we're striving for. This excellence in being a daughter shaped by the precepts of wisdom. The reward and fruit of mature wisdom is that those close to you recognize how exceptional you are. We don't have the valiant woman speaking, the valiant wife speaking in this text. The only one who's quoted is her husband and his testimony. She excels them all. But the best reward you can give her is to let her enjoy the fruit of her labors. She's worked hard to build this household that's described. It's not about looks, not about Instagram followers. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. So what's the final note of the book? Not riches, though obviously there's plenty of wealth in this household. Not life, though the book talks over and over about keep my commandments and live. The final note of the book is honor. The woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. And if you want to be recognized, if you want to be affirmed, if you want to be told how well you're doing, fear God. Do you enjoy reaping the fruit of your labors? Fear God. Give her of the fruit of her hands. That's the kindest thing we can do for this woman. Let her enjoy the rewards that she has worked so hard to accumulate. Let her own works praise her in the gates. At the place, the most influential and important place in the city, That's where her work stands out the most. Whether that's talking about her sons that she's raised who bear testimony to their mother, whether that's talking about her clothing that all the dignitaries of her city wear, whether it's talking about the reputation of her household that's known all through the town. Oh, you're from that home? Oh. Her works praise her there in the gates. What she's done is publicly seen and publicly appreciated. So that's the Proverbs 31 woman. Is it you? After a hundred sermons, are you committed to living a lifestyle shaped by the precepts of wisdom? As your pastor, it's my job to prepare you as the bride of Christ to be like this woman. We corporately should resemble this. The church is a militant church, a valiant church, a hard-working church that lays up treasure in heaven for itself. That would be one application of this passage to the church, I think. We need to be doing that. As a husband, it's my job to treat my wife wisely and speak lovingly to her so that she will be like this. And beyond that, this is what Christ was talking about when he promised to build his church. This is one of the templates that the Lord Jesus is using as he leads the church to maturity through the centuries. So do you think a church full of church ladies like this would be mighty in the land? Would it be ready to conquer hell? I think so. Jesus does too. Fear God. Learn the knowledge of the Holy One and you will be an excellent bride, a valiant wife for the Lamb. Let's pray. Father, we don't yet look like this. But your promise is that those who cry out for wisdom, who seek it as hid treasure, who dig and search and look, will find. Lord Jesus, we praise you that you are leading your bride to look like this. And we pray for us as individuals, men and women, that we would live a life, a hardworking life, a household driven life shaped by the teachings of wisdom. We thank you that clothing is much cheaper in our era than it was in the era of King Lemuel and his mother. But Father, we praise you that you still call us to work, that you still give us jobs to do, and that you still promise honor for those who fear you. Lord, don't let us seek physical appearance, whether to have it or to enjoy it. Don't let us seek money for its own sake, honor for its own sake. Help us to seek, to fear you, and to be wise. We pray these things in the name of your wise son. And we ask that he would come quickly for his bride in Jesus name. Amen.