“A man’s riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat.”

Proverbs 13:8, NIV.

              Of all of the books of the Bible, Proverbs is perhaps the most practical.  Billy Graham makes a habit of reading a chapter from Proverbs every day.

              A proverb is a short saying that gives a general truth.  What I mean is that a proverb will usually be true, but one will be able to find exceptions to the proverb.  For example, we say, “First come, first served.”  This is usually true, but if someone called in a reservation, they might jump ahead of you, even if you had been there two hours before hand.  But this is usually true.

              This proverb is instructive.  “A man’s riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat.”

              This proverb puzzled me when I first saw it.  “A man’s riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat.”

              But as I studied it more, some interesting applications sprang out.  What I want to do this morning is take you through the process I took as I studied this passage.

              The first part of this is clear.  If you are taken captive, as was a normal occurrence in the Old Testament, you would be able to pay for your release.  We find this happening a lot in Iraq.  I even read that some Iraqis would pose as ambulance crews and take the bodies of those killed in car bombs and then call their families and demand ransom for their return. Prominent people are kidnapped and held for ransom.  Some believe these payments are funding further violence and bloodshed by these same militias.

              But what about the second,  “…but a poor man hears no threats.”

              This seems to be saying that no one will even put you in peril, because you have nothing to give them. Gill- “but the poor heareth not rebuke; no charge and accusation is brought against him; no rebuke or reproof is given him; no notice is taken of him, because nothing is to be got from him; he may sleep with his door unlocked, thieves will give him no disturbance; he may travel upon the road without being bid to stand”.

              The rich are open to threats and the poor are not threatened.

The key word in this passage is ‘threats’.  The more you have, the more open you are to threats.  In other words, if you have nothing, you have nothing to lose!

The rich man in this Proverb has two treasures, the poor man only one.

What are the two treasures this rich man has?  He has his wealth and his life.  He treasures his life and he treasures his wealth.  Life is precious and so isn’t his wealth.  We don’t know if it was inherited wealth or if it was hard earned wealth, but wealth is wealth and the rich man had it.

Because he had two treasures, he was open for exploitation.  Someone could threaten to kidnap him or actually kidnap him and find him faced with a choice.  Jack Benny said in a skit when confronted by a robber who demanded, “Your money or your life.”  He replied, “Give me a minute to think about this.”  I have also heard the answer, “Take my life, I need my money to live on.”

Therefore we say,

The more treasures you have, the more potential you will have for conflict.

              Jesus said, “To whom much is given, much is required.”  With our treasures, we have greater responsibility.

              So what are some treasures we have?  God is a treasure.  Our family is a treasure.  Our country, our freedom is a treasure.  Our friends are a treasure.  Our comfort, our food, our vehicles; all are treasurers.

              So what happens when two of our treasures collide?  What happens to the soldier whose love of family and love of country come in conflict?  What happens when our love for God and our love for our friends head us in opposite directions?  What happens when a neighbor needs help that disrupts our comfort?

              The conflict produces stress.

The stress this brings into the life of a person who does not have firm priorities is tremendous.  Some of us are juggling so many priorities, that we do none of them well.  We are trying to please God, our parents, our spouses, our children, our bosses, our friends and ourselves.  We don’t want anyone to be offended, but somehow we are good enough to offend everyone.  For a person who really struggles with this, the stress is overwhelming.  In reality, this person is so rich, they are threatened in so many ways.

              The more treasures we have, the more potential we have for conflict.

The potential for conflict become the buttons Satan pushes to tempt us.  Is there anything we treasure more than our love for God?

              A rich man can be threatened.  This is the source of much of our difficulty as people.  We are too rich.  When two treasures collide, which one wins?  The one we love the most.

              The rich man in this parable had two treasures:  his life and his money.  Which was more important to him?  It’s obvious:  His life!  He was willing to give up one treasure to keep the other.

              Satan knows the heart of the Christian.  It is the desire of the Christian to love God.  But Satan doesn’t want us to love God, to follow Him, to surrender to his will.  So where does he attack us?

              He threatens to take one of our treasurers so we will pay him with our allegiance to God.

James says, “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

“Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.” 1 Kings 18:21, NIV.

 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;” Matthew 10:37, NIV.

 “42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” John 12:42, 43, NIV.

The antidote to resisting temptation is to get rid of all our treasure and keep only one: seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…

              If, as a general rule, the rich are open to threats because of their wealth and the poor are protected because of their poverty, then we ask the question, why is that? 

              The answer is that the poor have nothing to barter.  All they have is their life.

              If we simplify our thinking, if we simplify our lives, we can stand up to spiritual attacks by giving up all we have to God.

              Someone made the comment on Wednesday night that everything we have belongs to God.  If you truly believe that, then you own nothing.  If something is lost or stolen, someone stole it from God, not you.  You have a responsibility to be a good steward, but if it belongs to God, that is one thing that cannot be used as a bargaining chip for your commitment to Christ.

              Some parents have dedicated their children to the Lord.  If you truly have given your children to the Lord, then you need to raise those children under the leadership of the Lord.  If Satan says, “Give them what they want, it won’t hurt them.  Let them be disrespectful, rebellious, or irresponsible.  A lot of children are like that.  Don’t hurt their feelings…”  You can answer by saying, “These are God’s children.  I cannot let them do what they want, I need to have them do what God wants…” and you resist the devil because seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness is the only real treasure you have.

              That is why Jim Elliot was able to go into the jungle in the 50’s and give his life as a missionary, because his life did not belong to him, it belonged to God.

              I think the greatest example of this principle was Jesus Christ. 

“1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3, NIV.

How did he make it?  He had only one treasure.  If you look in this passage, you can see several potential treasures.  But Jesus didn’t embrace them.  For example, we see the suffering of the cross.  In this I see the treasure of life.  If someone pointed a gun at your head and said, “Renounce Christ or you die…” what would you do?  It would depend on what you treasured most, your life or your identity with Christ.

A second treasure was his pride.  Notice, the cross had shame.  Pride or the will of God, which would Jesus do?  He chose the will of God. 

A third potential treasure was the approval of others.  He faced opposition.  When we face opposition do we stand for Christ or seek the praise of men?  Jesus did not think the praise of men as more important than the cross.

So what was Jesus’ treasure?  The verse tells us that it was joy.  Jesus treasured joy:  the joy of his father’s approval, the joy of seeing you and I in heaven with him. 

This joy, this treasure, made him immune to sin.

Think about some of the temptations you face.  These temptations cannot be helped, but they can be resisted.  They are resisted when you let go of all your treasures and keep just one:  Seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

You are in an argument with your spouse. 

When we seek first the kingdom of God, we make a commitment to use words that are edifying and will build up, to love the person, to be respectful towards them, 

to listen well before responding, to avoid manipulation or hitting or throwing things.

When our treasure is to please God, it helps us be a better person in our home.

I hope that we will walk out of here with an understanding of this parable in our minds.  I hope that we will see the conflict, recognize the temptations, and discard all of our riches except seeking first the kingdom of God. 

And out of that, it is my prayer that your life will be simpler, happier and more productive in glorifying God.

“7 Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.” Proverbs 30:7-9, NIV.

Here the writer of Proverbs is explaining the conflict.  He wants God to be his only treasure.