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When we try to live by “Don’t Be Evil,” we find that we end up being evil in the end. There’s a better way.
The following study questions are AI generated and may contain errors.
The pastor uses the 1920s stock market crash as an analogy for hidden spiritual rot. What “rot” might be hidden beneath success in your own life, and how can you identify it before it becomes a crisis?
The sermon warns against envying those who use ungodly methods to achieve success. In what ways does modern culture—social media, workplace dynamics, politics—tempt you to compromise your values for advancement, and how can you resist that temptation?
The pastor contrasts worldly power (represented by British prime ministers) with faithful service in one’s calling (represented by Larry the cat). What is your current calling, and how might viewing it as God-given work rather than a stepping stone to something greater change your approach to it?
Reflecting on the idea that small things have a big impact—both negatively (sin spreading like a contagion) and positively (blessing spreading through relationships)—what is one small compromise you need to address, and one small act of goodness you could intentionally pursue this week?
The sermon emphasizes that God’s blessing comes through relationship with Him rather than worldly acquisition. What would it look like practically for you to shift your focus from “if only I had _” to contentment in your relationship with God and faithful service to those around you?
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
It was a time of boundless optimism. It seemed like nothing could go wrong. The businesses around the country were exploding, new technology, everyone was watching the world change. The stock market itself reflected that with numbers that had never been seen before. In fact, it felt like it could put gold over everything. It was an age of incredible success. I’m talking, of course, about the roaring 1920s, a time after World War I where the United States felt like it really came into its own as a world power. Everything felt like it was going almost unstoppably well.
But in September 1929, investors in that incredible explosive stock market started to look at the fundamentals, the things that were driving the companies. How much were they making? What was their future? Etc. And they started to realize something looked off. And the savviest investors in September 1929, at the peak of that market, at the peak of this decade that was an age of golden success, said we better pull out. And so they started to. Then word started to trickle around that things weren’t as good as it looked. Later on, we’d call the 1920s not the Golden Age, but the Gilded Age, because while we love to put gold on things and talk about how successful it was, in fact, below all that success, there was an awful lot of rot that no one had noticed.
Hi, welcome to Steadfast. I am so glad that you are here tonight as we continue in Proverbs chapter three, looking at the wisdom that God has for us. If you would, because we all need that wisdom, it’s the gold that really is gold that always lasts. Would you hit share right now? Invite someone while we’re live, while you’re on the chat and we’re all together studying to come join us and look through God’s word with us. Because here’s the thing, we all need wisdom that doesn’t deteriorate. We’re all, even our most successful moments, really dealing with an awful lot of rot. And so it was in the 1920s. As we hit 1929, September 1929, it looked unstoppable to most people. October 1929, not so much.
So we hit Black Thursday and then Black Tuesday thereafter, the stock market crashed and everything started to unwind. Banks started to become insolvent. People started losing their life savings. The Great Depression was arriving. And then that rot was confronted. Here’s the thing with rot, whether it’s physical rot, financial rot, spiritual rot, whatever kind of rot, we can ignore it for a while, but we can’t ignore it forever. We can’t ignore the rot in our own lives due to sin. When we look at Proverbs, what we’re being told is refocus. So quit looking at the success that’s gilded and start to look for what’s truly firm and secure.
Because we often see the evil people seeming to succeed today. And we say, well, maybe I should be more like them. Maybe I should act more like them. Maybe I should pick up their ways because they are those who are golden. They have all the gold. They have the success. They have everything, except they don’t. That rot will come up. It will be there. The question is, are we dealing with the rot or not? Because we all have it. Not if you’re really successful, you have rot. And if you’re not successful, you don’t. We all have rot. The success sometimes just covers it up, just like it did in the 1920s.
We’re going to look at verse 31 and following tonight. So if you would, let’s pray and ask that God would help us to see the rot in our own lives and to redirect our orientation. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for this evening. We thank you for your word. Would you please help us to see where it applies to us? Not just others, but to us. Where are we rotten? Where do we need your healing most at this moment? Would you help us to see that? Because Lord, what we need is for you to take that gilded success that we think we have and replace it with genuine, lasting, concrete, meaningful spiritual healing that comes only through Jesus. Pray this in his precious name. Amen.
Let’s go ahead. Verse 31, if you want to look there in your Bible, it says, do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways.
Why do we envy a man of violence? Well, it’s what we’ve been seeing building over the last few weeks. It is because we look at those who do what is evil and it looks like it works. We hear this over and over. I can’t tell you how often, and you probably heard this too, but I certainly do hear people say, well, Christians, they can’t be wimpy, you know, all that stuff about loving our neighbors and forgiving and all that kind of stuff. That’s how you become a doormat. You need to live by the real world.
And in this world where we often value those who can put other people down, who can elevate themselves in the algorithms by attacking people, who can be the talking heads on television, who are the most boisterous, but also often least exemplary of the virtues that God speaks of, we look at them and we say, maybe they’re the ones that actually have it right, because it looks like it’s right. So what do we do? We look at their success and when we envy what happens, when we envy their success, we start to envy their ways. We start to think, well, maybe I should do not just the same kind of goal, aim for the same goal, but maybe I should do the things they do to get there, because that’s how you get there. And if the goal is good, then the ways to get there, well, some of them must be at least okay as well.
So God tells us, don’t envy the evil person. Now you might say, well, it doesn’t say the evil successful person, but the implication here is in whatever we want, it’s something that they have and we don’t, because we don’t envy people for not having what we want. We envy them for having it and we don’t. It looks so good.
What are we told here? It looks good to us, but God despises it. The one who has the ultimate judge, the one who actually knows what is good, the one who made us and intends good for us in the future, that restoration that God promises, he says those things that look good to us are actually bad. That present enjoyment that people can extract out of living by the ways of the world is actually detestable to them. It’s abomination to them. And critically, it’s going to come to an end. It won’t last forever. We think it will. We think we can just run with this, but it won’t happen that way.
Of course, we all know if we ask people to say, to name the most powerful man in the world, we’d say the president of the United States. And that would probably by an earthly standpoint be true. Then we can start listing off other ones and it would be a little ways down, but we’d certainly say that the British prime minister is at least a very powerful person, not maybe the most powerful or second most powerful. That might go to the Chinese premier, however you want to figure it, but top 10, 20 most powerful people. Yeah, probably. United Kingdom isn’t the world power it once was, but it’s still quite powerful. And so ascending to the point of becoming prime minister, you’re one of the most powerful men or women in the world, commanding one of the few nuclear arsenals in the world. You are powerful.
But here’s a little thing that you may not know. Over the time that there have been the last six British prime ministers, there’s one officer in the British administration that has outlasted all of them. And you probably don’t even know his name. They may seem to be the most powerful, but here’s the guy that’s actually most powerful. Take a look. There is Larry, the cat.
Larry, the cat is the chief mouser of the British government in service of his majesty. And Larry, the cat has been serving at the prime minister’s residence since 2010. He’s been on Downing Street, downing the mice since 2010. During that time, he served David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, and Keir Starmer. And presumably, God willing, he’ll serve the next prime minister in a few weeks.
Think about that. Larry, the cat has outlasted all of them. How does that work? How does that work that this cat is more powerful or more lasting, right? Because all those prime ministers, they came to attend Downing Street and then they left. Larry, the cat’s still there. Well, because the things that look like they’re successful don’t always last. We need to see what God says is good. And you know what? As far as I know, Larry, the cat is doing his job. He’s a good chief mouser. It seems like no one has any complaints about him. The prime ministers speak well of him, but listen to the prime ministers speak of each other or others speak of them. They rise up and they come down.
And really, even if we say some of them were better than others, maybe some of them were actually genuinely good, it shows what worldly power does. And so when we put ourselves, we stake our lives on worldly power, on the things that the world says advance, it doesn’t work. Larry, the cat, on the other hand, he’s doing exactly what God made him to do. He is mousing a house, doing a great job of and continuing to serve through two monarchs and six prime ministers.
Isn’t that interesting? And it might seem silly, but you know what? Larry, the cat understands something that we often don’t. What really matters is doing what we were made to do, right? Now, thankfully he hasn’t gotten himself lost like the cat we talked about last night, but he just does his job. He stays put. He can walk outside. He actually can go outside, but I presume there’s security that someone would probably love to abduct Larry, the cat, but there he is. He gets to do his work and he keeps doing it.
And what if we did the same thing? What if we moused as it were, that we did whatever God calls us to do, which includes eradicating sin, right? He’s eradicating mice. We should eradicate sin. What if we did that instead of putting our success in, well, maybe I could ascend to the highest office. Maybe I could have a lot of power. Maybe I could have a lot of money. Maybe I could do all these things. If only I could have that, things would be good. And God says, don’t envy those things because you know what? One, they pass, and two, you’re going to corrupt yourself trying to get them. Don’t do that.
Instead of seeing the good in the evil, we should see the good in God and what he calls good. Take a look at verse 32. For the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are his confidence. The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous. We need to see the good that God wants us to see, to understand what really matters.
Because here’s the thing, the things that we say, wow, wouldn’t it be great if I had this? Just stop for a moment here. I’ll give us all a second. What is it? You’d say, if only, if only I had this, solve this problem, had this thing, had this position, things would be better. Don’t need to post it. You can if you want, but it’s perfectly fine to keep it to yourself. What’s that thing? Think about that.
What does God offer instead? Well, depending on your translation, it might say friendship with him, being his close counsel. What does God say? Okay, you can’t have the things of the world. You aren’t those who should do that. Actually, no one should, but certainly those who name themselves as followers of Jesus. They should not live by the ways of the world. They should not speak like the world. They should not act like the world. The world should see that we’re different and not because we’re more or nothing. They should not live by the ways of the world. They should not live by the ways of the world because we’re more obnoxious, but because we know what God has said and we love him and we love others, even when they think we’re obnoxious.
It’s not a recipe for worldly success. But God says, do that. Be the mousers I’ve made you to be. And you know what? You might not have everything that the world can get through those other means, but you’ll be in relationship with me, something that won’t end, something that won’t rot away, something that isn’t just gilding of gold that is ultimately false, but real.
Because God curses those who reject him, who hate him, but God blesses those who love him. It’s the very promise that we’ve seen over and over and over again in Scripture. A lot of times it feels kind of small in a given moment, but small things have a big impact.
The trouble is we only want to see that when it’s things that we want to get away with, right? If it’s things that we don’t want to get away with, things that we’d rather not do, we say it’s too small, it won’t make an impact. But then we kind of use that same logic and turn it on its head and say, well, but I want to do this little compromise because it’s just a small thing and it won’t really matter. It doesn’t make that big an impact.
But we’ve seen over the last few years, if we ever doubted, we’ve seen over the last few years how small things can have a huge impact. Anyone remember 2020? Now, I realize there are probably differing opinions on how COVID should have been handled, even amongst all of us here tonight. I’m not trying to get us into that, but I think we could all agree COVID turned our world upside down, utterly upside down.
And based on the latest reports and intelligence, it appears that, as some had theorized long ago, and it appears it’s probably likely at this point, that it leaked out of a lab. Maybe not. Maybe it came from a market like they first proposed. Either way, consider this for a second. Out of some market in China or some lab in China, there was this virus that came into existence. One little microscopic thing that you and I can’t see. And it multiplied and it spread and it spread and the world shut down. And the world still is different than it was before that case. One small little thing had a huge negative impact.
A lot of times when we choose to sin, we think our little sin, well, it’s contained in the lab, right? All the containment fields are up. It’s not going to do anything. It leaks out and we think, well, it’s still not going to do anything because it’s just a tiny little thing. And God says, no, sin is the worst contagion ever. Sin will kill more people. Sin is a hundred percent lethal.
And so when we think it’s just a little thing, it’s just this little bitty thing. God says, no, it’s not just this little bitty thing. It’s a huge thing. And it’s going to do even more bad than the worst lab leak, the worst military accident, the worst political scandal, the worst anything big or small that we could ever imagine.
And we understand because we’ve all lived it now, that little things can grow into very big things. Our sin does. Our compromise does. And God says, don’t envy the wicked because I’ll give you something that actually lasts. What they have doesn’t last and only compromises you. It only causes you to do experiments in labs that are dangerous, that might kill people. And scratch the might because it will. It’ll kill us and we’re pulling other people down with it.
Pulling in that negative force of wickedness. Every time we compromise, every time we act like the politicians, like the people at work that cut corners, like the people at the school board meeting that just yell because they just want their way, like the neighbor who doesn’t care about his other neighbors and we think, well, that seems to work for him or for her. Every time we do that, we’re actually contributing to death. It might seem like a little thing.
How about realizing what seems like a little thing that’s actually a gigantic thing that I’m calling you to instead. The very thing that he’s promised to his people all the way back to Abraham, Genesis 12: Now, the Lord said to Abram, go out from your country, your relatives and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. Then I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and I will make your name great so that you will exemplify divine blessing and I will bless those who you bless. But the one who treats you lightly, I must curse and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.
What’s God talking about here? When we look at this passage in Genesis, he’s talking about this line that would lead to the Messiah and then we’d all be adopted into that through God’s people. He blesses the world and most fully, of course, in that line of Abraham through Jesus. But then Jesus sends us out to be his blessing in this world. And it might seem small. It might seem like we can barely do anything, but we’re not trying to change the world totally. God’s the one who’s going to restore the world. We’re trying to be a blessing to the people that God puts us in immediate contact with.
The negative little things, well, I think that’s something like COVID. It didn’t suddenly, immediately snap, you snap your fingers and went all over the world. No, it went from one person to another. We understand that with negative things, right? How much more so with positive things, the most positive things. We might only be able to be God’s hands and feet to one person right now. But you know what? That person might be God’s hands and feet to another several people, and another several people, and another several people. In fact, that’s how the church has worked all through the ages.
And so God says, don’t worry about whether it seems small, whether it seems insufficient. Know that I am with you, that as you look to me and you don’t envy the wicked, but instead you desire the good that I have for you. It might not seem as successful, but it will be. Those investors that looked at how the world was falling apart before everyone knew it was falling apart, pulled out and didn’t hold on to the things that were crumbling. God says, you need to pull your investment in the world.
Now those people didn’t move to remote islands. They just were wiser about what they did. And that’s exactly what we should be, right? We’re still here in the world, but we’re here in the world to help people escape what’s crumbling, rather than acting like somehow we can be the one that outsmarts the crumbling and takes advantage of it. We turn to Jesus.
Here’s the thing. We see this over and over again in the Proverbs, and it’s so entirely true, and yet sometimes we don’t really internalize it. When we focus on evil or we focus on good, it’s going to spread. Either way, they are going to spread. But God gives us the opportunity to actually focus on his good and let that be what spreads.
Let’s pray that that’s what we do today. Would you pray with me, please? Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you for these friends. Would you please help us to be contagious with goodness? Lord, instead of seeing if we can aspire to one of the highest offices in the world, would you help us just to be faithful in the job that you give us, even if it’s being a mouser? Would you just help us to be what you’ve made us to be, to be faithful in it, so that in what we have been blessed to do, Lord, we are a blessing to those around us, that we focus on being what you want us to be. We focus on that blessing of a relationship with you, not what other people have. It’s hard to do, but we pray that you’d help us to be people who rest confidently and contentedly in exactly where you want us. We pray this in Jesus’ precious name.
Well, I hope this has been an encouragement to you today, and if it has, again, please give it a like or a share. One of the simple little, it seems like it doesn’t matter things you can do, is share. We all know that everyone uses social media. Use it for the good of the gospel. We’re coming every week and being reminded that Jesus is here for us. So would you hit the share button? I’d be so grateful if you would.
Also, if you are trying to understand how Jesus is here for you, that blessing I was talking about is here for you. And if you’d like prayer, if you’d like to talk through that, sort of sort out what that means, you can always use our prayer line. It’s 833-356-4032, or the comments below. You can use either. It’d be great to hear from you. It’d be great to encourage you. And it doesn’t have to be just, how can I know Jesus? If you know Jesus, but you just need prayer for something, you’re going through something. Again, you can use that line, 833-356-4032, or the comments below. It’d be great to hear from you.
Hope you have a wonderful and blessed week, and I’ll see you again very soon.
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