Proverbs 23:1-8

Hey, hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, you and I, we will make it through all the wisdom literature. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee, pray and get into God's word.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to sit at your feet, to think about you, to hear from your word, God, we pray that you would give us wisdom now. Let it go from your lips to our souls. And Father, we pray that we would live our lives in accordance with it. In Jesus's name, amen. All right, here we go. Proverbs. Chapter 23, the first seven verses. I'm gonna pull it up on the screen. I'm not gonna mess this up this time. All right, Proverbs chapter 23.
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies for they are deceptive food. Whoa, what is that bit of wisdom proverb saying? When you go to a ruler's house and they have a big feast, they're doing it for a reason. They want something from you. And so you need to be careful. Don't just be like cookie monster and just, oh, he's so nice. He's so kind. He's just doing all this stuff for me. Hold on. Hold on, son. You're a king. Remember, this is Solomon talking to his son. You're a king. You're a prince.
And so when you go on domestic trips, or sorry, on foreign trips and you talk to dignitaries, you need to be careful. Don't just gobble up everything they give you and gobble up everything that they tell you because what they desire, do not desire to have his, do not desire his delicacies for they are deceptive food. You need to be careful because it could also be poisoned, right? There's a whole bunch of wisdom here for a ruler. It's also important for you in your daily life. This isn't talking about being cynical, but this is talking about being wise. Don't just blindheartedly walk into situations, even when people might be seeming to be nice to you, they might have ulterior motives.
Again, I don't want you to think that this is telling you to be cynical or you don't trust anyone or anything, but you do need to be careful. Verse four and five, sorry. Do not overwork to be rich. Because of your own understanding, cease. Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
If your entire life is set on, I want to get more money and more money and more money, I want to get rich, I want to get these things, you're working for something that's like the fleeting of the wind. I'm always amazed when I talk to people about their budgets, and they'll get it raised, and they'll get it raised, and they'll get it raised, and they'll get it raised, and they just keep working, and working, and working, and working, and working, and without ever having any contentment, what happens is they actually end up being slaves for the pleasure and for the things that they want. Their bills get larger, their standard of living gets higher, and it's like this never-ending beast that they can never tame. Learn to be content. Riches are going to fly away. They're going to go away.
But what will never leave? The word of our God endures forever. Your eternal life is going to be in heaven. And I'm gonna tell you what, you're not gonna be kissing the streets of gold because you love gold, but you are going to walk down the streets of gold and into the throne room of God and stand before the Lamb who was slain, and you're going to join the myriads and myriads of angels, and you're going to bow down before your true love, Jesus Christ. You are going to go and sit at the table for the bridegroom has come. You get to go stand there.
Don't waste your life going and chasing after riches that are running away from you. You'll never find total happiness there. You might find momentary enjoyment, but that's not where true contentment comes from. Be content with Christ. Verses 6 through 8 Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you. The more so you have eaten, you will vomit up. and waste your pleasant words." We need this word, miser, in the New King James.
I think it would be helpful if we kind of look that up, and I show you what that looks like in some other translations. Let's go ahead. By the way, this is a program I use called Logos Bible Software, and so I'm opening up the text comparison. Normally we do the New King James version, and all their copyrights are here. I'm going to just show you a couple other translations here. that you can see. So we are at verse 6. So we are at verse 6. Let me make this larger so you can see it better. Oh, 23 verse 6. We got to go down here. Okay. This is where I really enjoy some of the paraphrases. Again, they're paraphrases. Don't take them for word for word.
But the New Living Translation says, do not eat with people who are stingy. Or the message says, don't accept a meal from a tightwad. In the NIV, do not eat food with a begrudging host. So do not eat bread with a tightwad or a begrudging host or someone, nor desire his delicacies for as he thinks in his heart. So he is eat and drink, he says to us, but the miser, the tightwad, the begrudging host isn't actually there with you.
He's just feeding you because he has to. The more so you have eaten, you will vomit up and waste your pleasant words." If you're going to go to someone and they're pretending to be hospitable, but really in their hearts they're just putting up with you, all the nice words you say as you take every bite go down into your mouth and make them despise you that much more. So, this is a word of wisdom, the king to his son. Be careful when you're invited into those dinners and delicacies, right? If their heart's not with you. better not to eat, just cut to the chase.
Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day and we thank you that you invite us, not begrudgingly, not as a tightwad, but with an open hand to come and sit at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Lord, we pray that we would soak it up. Lord, we long for that day. when we enter into your heavenly tabernacle and get to sit at your table and feast with you. Lord, we thank you for the food that you've given us for our souls today. We pray that it would go deep down into our hearts and that we would walk wisely, always looking to you. In Jesus's name, amen. Well, may God bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. And I'll see you tomorrow, bye.