The Competence that Commands an Audience: Text: Proverbs 22:29
Introduction: The War on Work
We live in an age that is at war with reality, and one of the central fronts in that war is the theater of our daily work. On the one hand, we have a secular materialism that reduces work to a mere animal necessity, a way to get your daily bread and hopefully a few trinkets before you die and rot. It is a meaningless, Sisyphean task. On the other hand, we have a soft, gnostic pietism, even within the church, that treats "real" Christian work as the stuff that happens in the church building on Sunday, while the rest of your week, the forty, fifty, or sixty hours you spend at a keyboard, in a workshop, or on a farm, is somehow less spiritual, a necessary evil. Both of these are lies straight from the pit.
The Bible presents a radically different vision. Work was not a result of the fall. Adam was given a job in the Garden before sin ever fouled the air. He was to work it and keep it, to exercise dominion, to be a sub-creator under God. The fall did not introduce work; it introduced sweat, thorns, and thistles. It made work hard, but it did not make work unholy. To work is to image God the worker, the one who spoke the cosmos into being and declared it good. Therefore, how we work matters. It is not a neutral activity. Your work is either an act of worship or an act of rebellion. It is either building for the Kingdom or rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
This proverb before us today is a sharp, practical, and deeply theological corrective to our modern confusions. It is a piece of heavenly wisdom for earthly vocations. It tells us that competence, skill, and diligence are not secular virtues that a Christian can take or leave. They are basic requirements of our faith. God is not glorified by sloppy, lazy, or mediocre work. He is glorified by excellence. And as this proverb makes plain, the world, whether it knows it or not, is desperate for the kind of excellence that only a Christian worldview can produce and sustain.
The Text
Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before obscure men.
(Proverbs 22:29 LSB)
The Question of Competence (v. 29a)
The proverb opens with a diagnostic question, a call to observe the world as it actually is.
"Do you see a man skilled in his work?" (Proverbs 22:29a)
The first thing to notice is that the question assumes such a man is visible. He is not a mythical creature. He can be seen. The word for "skilled" here is mahir in the Hebrew. It carries the sense of being quick, prompt, ready, and proficient. This is not just about raw talent, but about practiced, honed, and disciplined ability. This is the man who has put in the hours. He has submitted himself to the created order, to the nature of wood, or steel, or code, or words, and he has learned to master it. He has honored God by honoring the way God made the world to work.
This is a direct assault on the romantic notion of the lazy genius or the slacker who just "gets by." Scripture has no room for that. Paul tells us, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Colossians 3:23). Hearty work, by definition, cannot be sloppy work. It is work that engages the mind, the hands, and the will. It is diligent work. The man who is "skilled in his work" is the man who has taken this command to heart. He understands that his work is his primary stage for discipleship. He is not just making a living; he is making a statement about the God he serves.
We must also see that this skill is not restricted to what we might call "high culture" jobs. The principle applies to the plumber as much as to the poet, to the mechanic as much as to the magistrate. Martin Luther rightly said that the milkmaid who does her work to the glory of God is engaged in a task as holy as the preacher in the pulpit. God is the one who wired the world in such a way that pipes need to be fitted, engines need to be repaired, and laws need to be written. To do any of these tasks with skill is to honor the Creator's design. A leaky pipe is not just a practical problem; it is a theological problem. It is a failure to exercise proper dominion over a small corner of God's creation.
The Inevitable Promotion (v. 29b)
The proverb then moves from observation to prediction. There is a natural, God-ordained consequence for this kind of skilled diligence.
"He will stand before kings;" (Proverbs 22:29b LSB)
This is not a promise that every skilled Christian mechanic will get a personal invitation to the White House. The proverb is stating a general principle of how the world, under God's providence, operates. Excellence creates influence. Competence gets noticed. The world is run by people who can get things done, and when a man demonstrates that he can get things done with skill and integrity, doors will open for him that remain shut for others.
Think of Joseph. He was a slave, and then a prisoner. But he was skilled in administration. He was diligent even in the dungeon. And where did he end up? Standing before Pharaoh, the most powerful king on earth at the time. Think of Daniel. He was a captive, an exile. But he had a gift of wisdom and administration, and he applied it with diligence. He stood before Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar, and Darius. Skill, consecrated to God, is a powerful force.
This is a profound encouragement, but it is also a sober warning. The world is hungry for competence. If Christians, who have every reason to be the most diligent and excellent workers, abandon their posts and do shoddy work, then the world will not stop looking for skill. It will simply find it elsewhere. It will find it in pagans who, despite their rebellion against God, still retain a sliver of His image and can reflect His creative nature in their work. When the levers of culture, business, and government are pulled by skilled unbelievers, Christians have no one to blame but themselves for having abdicated their cultural mandate.
The Rejection of Obscurity (v. 29c)
The final clause states the principle in the negative, for the sake of emphasis and clarity.
"He will not stand before obscure men." (Proverbs 22:29c LSB)
The Hebrew word for "obscure" here means darkened, or unknown. The skilled man will not be relegated to the shadows. His work will bring him into the light. This is the opposite of the lazy man, the sluggard, who is the subject of so much scorn in the book of Proverbs. The sluggard's field is overgrown with thorns (Prov. 24:31). He desires, but has nothing (Prov. 13:4). His way is hedged with thorns (Prov. 15:19). He ends in poverty and obscurity.
This is a mercy from God. God has built a cause-and-effect relationship into the fabric of the universe. Diligence and skill lead to honor and influence. Laziness and incompetence lead to poverty and obscurity. This is the law of the harvest. You reap what you sow. If you sow to the flesh, gratifying your desire for ease and sloth, you will reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, working with all your might for the glory of God, you will reap life everlasting, and part of that harvest often begins in this life with the respect of your fellow man.
This does not mean we seek influence for its own sake. The Christian does not pursue excellence in order to stand before kings. He pursues excellence because he stands before the King of Kings every moment of every day. The earthly honor is a byproduct, not the goal. The goal is to hear "Well done, good and faithful servant" from the only one whose opinion ultimately matters. But we should not be surprised when faithfulness in our work results in favor with men. It is the natural grain of the universe God has made.
The Gospel of Work
This proverb finds its ultimate fulfillment and its ultimate power in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the truly "skilled man." He was a carpenter, a craftsman. We can be sure that the tables and yokes He made were not shoddy. They were crafted with the same perfection and integrity with which He crafted the stars.
But His ultimate work was the work of redemption. He was the one who said, "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17). And what was His work? To do the will of Him who sent Him, and to accomplish His work (John 4:34). On the cross, with His final breath, He declared that the work was skillfully, perfectly, and finally completed: "It is finished" (John 19:30).
Because of His skilled work on our behalf, we are set free from the curse that made our work toil and vanity. We are not saved by our good works, but we are saved for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). Our work is now redeemed. It is no longer a cursed striving after the wind. It is an opportunity to participate in the restoration of all things, to bring foretastes of the New Creation into the here and now.
This is why Christians ought to be the best employees, the best entrepreneurs, the best artists, and the best statesmen. We are not working for a paycheck. We are not working for a promotion. We are working for a King. And our King is not an obscure man. He is the one before whom every knee will one day bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord. And when we stand before Him on that day, the quality of our work will be tested by fire. May we, by His grace, be found to be skilled workmen who do not need to be ashamed, having built with gold, silver, and precious stones upon the foundation that is Christ Jesus our Lord.