Proverbs 21:6 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Proverbs 21:6

Comments

The picture is of fraud and lies and spin and manipulation, giving rise to something unreal. Here is another big difference between saved and lost – reality or unreality. An illustration of this from many years ago goes back to the days when most homes did not have a washing machine but only a copper and a mangle, and people went to the laundrette where there were splendid washing machines. Then washing machines began to appear and a relatively young business man came by somebody’s design for washing machines which could be mass-produced and cheaply. He managed to acquire a failing factory and began to manufacture washing machine, and it was a fantastic success, producing them at about a quarter of the price of his nearest rival. The investments were pouring in and shares were being issued and he was the success story of the age with this fabulous washing machine. But he was a crook, and as the thousands upon thousands rolled in, because he was under-pricing his machine too much. He was paying the workmen in the factory and paying for the raw materials and keeping everything turning, but at the same time he was also paying for a fabulous lifestyle for himself. He owned race horses, had an island home somewhere in some paradise part of the world, was gambling and spending an inordinate amount of money. The Investments came in and were consumed at once. The company was not worth anything like the amount everybody thought, and finally he declared bankruptcy. He was prosecuted for fraud and a hundred and one other things, and he went to prison. Well of course, just like this proverb, the getting of treasures by a lying tongue and a lot of presentation and spin is a vanity. It was not real.But now look at it spiritually. Here is a man who is working in the city, and he keeps the rules, and he is not going to be prosecuted. He has done very well. He has bought a splendid home. His family are now grown up. He has got lots of money in the bank. Everything is fine and comfortable for him, and his life is very stable. But viewed spiritually, he is actually in exactly the same position as this other man. View spiritually, one day his life is going to be taken, and in an instant he will be in the next world, standing before God in judgement, and he will have nothing. He cannot take his small fortune with him. He has no holiness before God. He has no forgiveness. He has never worshipped him; he has never served him. His whole life is a mirage, as unreal as the washing machine company of this other magnate. And that is the parable if applied spiritually: ‘The getting of treasures by a lying tongue.’ He kept the rules in the city. But he had a lying tongue because he did not believe in God and he explained life by falsehood: ‘There is no God, it is all a sheer accident. There is no judge, there is no maker. I owe no homage, I owe no thanks.’ So it describes every unsaved life in these terms, and by implication, the believer has solid treasures and joy. Conversion brings us to reality: to find the Lord and to find true worth and true riches. Believe in true conversion and labour and pray for these things and for a work of the Spirit.

Application

You could apply it to the church. There have always been people, some of them may have meant well, who thought you could build churches by spin and by emotional preaching, get people to make decisions for Christ, any means you can. What counts is results, what counts is numbers, what counts is bodies in the pews, not repentant hearts, not real seekers, not real conversion and transformation of life. Get them in, anyhow you can. Borrow from the world, play the world’s music, do it the world’s way, turn your preachers into masters of ceremonies and comedians. What you produce is a mega church, where some of the people may be true believers but the vast majority will not be. They have been tricked, baited, brought in, told they can have the world and the Lord at the same time. And ultimately the whole thing is going to collapse. Some of these vast mega churches have already moved from being at least orthodox in their belief to being completely heretical in their belief, and it happened in a matter of a few years because most of the people were never truly converted. So when the doctrines changed they were quite happy.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Proverbs 21:6 Commentary and Bible Study