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Text: Proverbs 8:18-21
Something I’ve learned and something you’ve learned in this life is that the most important things in life are things that money can’t buy.
Wisdom can get things that money can’t
- Durable riches are lasting riches. Durable is something that endures.
- Not like money that is corrupted, or that thieves steal, or the government takes, or that fails when health can’t be bought.
- Wisdom has eternal purchasing power. The market never goes down for wisdom.
- Fruit is better than gold
- Revenue better than silver
- What are the revenues? What are the things that are better than gold? What are the things that wisdom buys that money can’t? What are some of these durable riches that wisdom can obtain?
- Money can buy a house, but not a home.
- Money can buy pills, but it can’t buy peace.
- Money can buy information, but it can’t buy motivation.
Real hope
- This week I read a letter from a man who works in the Texas juvenile system. He talked about a father he was acquainted with who was having trouble with his daughter because of her boyfriend. The boyfriend had encouraged his daughter in drugs which created all kinds of complications in her life and with her family. The father came home after work one day and found his daughter dead in the garage from suicide. She shot herself in the head.
- I read about three other teenage suicides after that. It’s heartbreaking. It gives insight into this life though. These teens had lost all hope. They had no motivation to live. And here’s the takeaway from all this: what they needed is not something money can buy.
- Generally speaking, the suicide rate is at an all-time high and our country spends more money than ever trying to combat it. Here’s another way of looking at it. Do you know where the highest suicide rates are in the world? Generally, the most affluent and wealthy countries have higher suicide rates than poor countries.
- Now, this isn’t about suicide, but these things show you that the most important things in life aren’t bought with money.
- Real hope can’t be bought with money. Wisdom takes hold on the words of God regarding the future and gives you a bright expectation of the future.
- It gives purpose and direction that has value in this life and the life to come.
Real joy
- Joy is that excitement brought about by good expectations. It goes along with hope.
- Wisdom takes hold of the promises of God in Jesus Christ and finds joy in the God of my salvation.
- This joy is durable. It can take the beating the world will give it and sustain itself.
- Jesus Christ, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.
- And when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
- In Acts 16 Paul and Silas are arrested for preaching and at midnight, in jail, they pray and sing songs to the LORD.
Real love
- Love that never grows cold
- The sacrificial love that gives.
Faith that endures opposition
- When your trust in the LORD is battered by the evolutionist, wisdom sees through the lies.
- When your trust in the LORD is battered by the professing Christian, wisdom doesn’t make it the LORD’s fault.
Lasting friendship, like that of Jesus Christ
Satisfying life – never thirst again
The conclusion is that wisdom has purchasing power beyond money. Wisdom can acquire things that money will never be able to obtain. And even more importantly, these intangible, spiritual qualities are more vital to enjoying life and having a future than anything that can be purchased.
