Proverbs on Character

As we close our series on Proverbs we are going to look and see what the proverbs have to say about character. According to the dictionary, character is defined as the features and traits that form a person. Character is seen in the core values that define our attitudes, thoughts, words and actions. It’s important for us to remember that God is concerned about our character. Having been created in the image of God, there is a Godly character we are to have and to understand this is we are going to look at a Hebrew word that is found more than 100 times in the book of Proverbs – it is the word tzedakah. This Hebrew word and the Greek form of the word are found 680 times in the Bible which is more than the word love and the word reveals to us the kind of character God wants us to have. The word tzedakah is most often translated as righteous and so righteousness is to be the goal of the Christian life, righteousness is the character of God and so it is the character God wants us to have.
Now living a righteous life does not mean following a specific set of rules – it’s bout living in a right relationship with God and those around us. Tzedakah is a relational term which says that righteousness comes from always do the right thing in relationship with others. Now the other we are talking about can be God, or it can be our family and friends, it can be our neighbor or coworkers or the strangers in our community, it can even be the physical creation around us. As we look at what walking in righteousness is all about, we are going to start by looking at our relationship with God.

Doing the right thing in our relationship with God starts by living in fear of the Lord. We began our study of proverbs looking at Proverbs 1:7 - the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now remember that the kind of fear we are talking about is not being afraid, it we were constantly afraid of God, there would be no relationship, no fear is living in awe of God’s strength and power and glory and having profound reverence for God. Living in righteousness before God means acknowledging that God is God and we are not. Living in righteousness with God means worshipping God with all that we have and all that we are, but this kind of worship doesn’t just take place in one hour on Sunday morning. The kind of worship that comes with a healthy fear of the Lord means living a life where we continually yield our hearts, minds and hands fully to God. John Wesley captured this kind of character and righteousness, in his covenant prayer which says,

I am no longer my own, but thine. God, put me to what thou wilt,
Rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
Let me be exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.

This prayer shows us that the right response toward God is to give Him all that we have and allow God to direct all that we do, all that we think, literally all that we are. When our fear of the Lord moves us to live this way – what we find is strength and power and purpose in life. It is only when we give God all we have and all we are that we actually find life.  Proverbs 14:26 – He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress: or has strong confidence. So living in righteousness, or in a right relationship with God brings us an inner strength, and our right relationship with God brings life. Look at Proverbs 14:27, the fear of the Lord is the fountain of life. All of life springs forth from our walking with God. Jesus said this same thing when he said that whoever loses his life for my sake will find life. Real life is only found when we give ourselves fully to God and giving ourselves to God is a life of righteousness.



So walking in righteousness begins with a right relationship with God, but it then has to move out into all our other relationships because righteousness means doing the right thing in all our relationships. As we have already seen, the wisdom of proverbs has shown us many of the right things we are to do in our relationship with others. We have been called to be faithful to our spouses, wise with our children, kind to our neighbors, generous to those in need, helpful in our words, hopeful in our attitudes, and honest in our dealings with others. Not only are we to do the right thing in the relationships with people we know but we also called to do the right thing for people we may not know and people we may never know. Look at Proverbs 31:8-9. As we have seen throughout the book God calls us to do the right thing in helping those who are in need – and they may be people we will never even meet – but God still expects us to care for them. So our righteousness needs to encompass all people.

Going back to the definition of righteousness, it means always doing the right thing in all of our relationships. So all of our relationships means reaching out to all people, but again, it is always doing the right thing, always, not just in the big things in life, but maybe more importantly in all the little things. One of the things I found most interesting in reading thru the book of proverbs, and maybe you noticed it as well, is how often we are called to use honest weights and measures, look at Proverbs 11:1.

This is just one of many proverbs on using honest weights and measures and in some ways it seems like such a little thing to keep focusing on, but maybe the whole point of focusing on this little things is to remind us that God wants us to focus on and be faithful in the little things because it is all those little things, all those simple decisions that really defines our character. There are some people who define character has as who are we when no one else is looking. So doing the right thing at all times means cleaning up after ourselves even if no one knows we made the mess and even if there is someone else around who is paid to do it. It’s treating those who serve us throughout society with dignity and respect. It’s not wasting the resources of the world when we have the opportunity to conserve. It’s making simple decisions everyday that may not benefit us, but will be a blessing to someone else. It may be a simple thank you to someone at the grocery store, or picking up trash in the park that someone else left behind, or using a few less resources to conserve our natural resources, you see, not only do the Proverbs call us to do the right thing in our relationship with people, but we are also called to do the right thing in our relationship to the creation around us. 

Proverb 12:10 the righteous know the needs of their animals. Now this seems like a small detail maybe, that we are called to care for our pets and livestock, but it is obviously important to God. This week one of the jobs we did on our mission trip was to clean out 3 water troughs for horses, and one for a pen of goats. I have to tell you, this was not a pleasant job. Scrubbing out dirt and algae, and dunking our hands in green and black water to scrub and scrape for a couple hours wasn’t fun, but I have to say it was rewarding to see clean water put into the pen for horses o drink on a hot day. If you go back to the beginning of Genesis we see that one of our first jobs given to us by God was to be stewards of all of creation. Did you know there were provisions written into the law which called people to not plant any crops in their fields every 7th year in order to give the land a chance to rest. God wanted the creation to have a Sabbath rest just as God wants us to have that Sabbath rest. We are the ones called to take care of plants, animals and the world around us. Are we willing to do all the little things we need to do to be good stewards? We are just one part of God’s creation and so righteousness not only means doing the right thing in our relationship with God and with all the people around us, but we are also called to live in a right relationship with the world around us and be good stewards of all God has given us.

While there is a lot of debate these days about what the right things is in the use of our natural resources, let me say that at the very least maybe we can all agree to live by the 3R’s that I learned growing up: reduce – reuse – recycle. Are there better choices we can make in the large and small areas of our life? How many little habits could we change that might help save resources? I am always convicted of this is when I brush my teeth. Growing up, my mom used to be on me all the time to turn the water off when I brush my teeth and I can hear her voice every time I let the water run. It may not seem like a lot, but it is one of those little details that can make a big difference and the choice we make when there is no one else around, reveals our character.

So righteousness means doing the right thing in all or our relationships, our relationship with God, with all the people around us and with the creation in which we live, but there is one more relationship for us to consider and that is with ourselves, but there is also an inner righteousness that we need to consider. You see, character isn’t just revealed in what we do and how we act with others, it is also revealed in our attitude about ourselves and others. Look at Proverbs 6:16-17a

Notice that the first item on the list is haughty eyes and haughty means prideful or arrogant. Are we filled with pride when we look at ourselves? Do we see ourselves as better than others? Do we think more highly of ourselves than we should? God isn’t just concerned with what we do or what we say, he is also considered, maybe more concerned, about what we think and who we are on the inside. To God our attitudes are just as important as our actions. This is the underlying message of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which, like Proverbs, is a call to righteous living. In that sermon Jesus says: Matthew 5:21-22a and Matthew 5:27-28.  Jesus is talking here about an inner righteousness – thinking the right thing and having the right spirit in our selves and he shows us that it is who we are on the inside that ultimately matters.

Now when we stop to evaluate our character – our righteous living – I don’t know about you, but I don’t measure up very well. Even if I could do all the right things, which I can’t, I never seem to be able to think all the right things. In this struggle to have all the right thoughts, feelings and actions, to go alone with all the right actions, how do we grow an improve? How do we develop character and righteousness? The primary way is through prayer. Prayer can change our desires. Over time prayer can change our attitudes which will then lead to right actions. To help us grow in character we not only can we use the covenant prayer of John Wesley, but we can also use the prayer of David found in Psalm 51. (51:10). What David is asking for here righteousness, a right spirit inside of him. David’s problem was that he didn’t always think the right thing and that caused him to not always do the right things. David first lusted after Bathsheba, and then those thoughts led him to committed adultery and that action led him to conspired to murder, and the reason it all happened was because David thought of himself more than others – he had haughty or prideful eyes. In thought, word and deed there were major character flaws in David, so what he asks for is not only forgiveness, but a right spirit – he prays for righteousness and so can we. If we want to grow in righteousness, if we want to develop a godly character - the journey begins with prayer.

We need to ask God for His help, but then we need to do our part. The entire book of proverbs is a series of sayings whose sole purpose is to help us make wise choices and guide us in right living. What we find here e the guiding principles of life that if we follow will cause us to grow in righteousness and character. This book teaches us the right thing to think and do in many situations an in all relationships, so we need to keep our lives centered on this wisdom.

I want us to close our study of Proverbs by looking at 4:20-27.
Did you notice a common theme here? Listen to these 19 words:
Pay attention.   Listen closely.   Keep watch.   Guard your heart
Fix your gaze.  Keep from evil.  Listen well.  Maintain direction.

These words all call us do one thing – persevere. They call us to stay focused on the path of wisdom and righteousness that God has laid in front of us and they call us to keep walking in it. May the wisdom of proverbs guide our hearts and our lives and may it lead us into paths of righteousness so that we might find life.