The Tortoise and the Jackpot: Two Ways to Live Text: Proverbs 28:20
Introduction: The Slow Way Up and the Fast Way Down
Our culture is utterly infatuated with the shortcut. We want six-pack abs in ten minutes a day, a thriving marriage with three easy hacks, and a million dollars by next Tuesday. This is the spirit of the age, and it is a spirit of profound folly. It is the spirit of the lottery ticket, the get-rich-quick scheme, and the crypto-currency longshot. It is a spirit that despises the ordinary, scoffs at the mundane, and rolls its eyes at the slow, plodding, day-in-and-day-out faithfulness that God requires and that God blesses. We want the crown without the cross, the harvest without the plowing, and the blessing without the obedience.
The book of Proverbs is a bucket of cold, clear water thrown into the face of this kind of thinking. It is relentlessly realistic. It is the distilled wisdom of God for how the world actually works, not how we wish it would work in our fevered, covetous dreams. And in our text today, Solomon draws a sharp, clean line between two kinds of men, two kinds of ambition, and two ultimate destinies. On the one side, you have the faithful man, the man who builds his life like a stonemason, one rock at a time. On the other, you have the man in a hurry, the man who wants to build a skyscraper with a 3D printer in an afternoon.
This is not simply good financial advice, though it is certainly that. This is a fundamental spiritual diagnostic. The way you approach your work, your money, and your future reveals what you truly believe about God. Do you believe He is a God of covenant, who blesses faithfulness over the long haul? Or do you believe He is a cosmic slot machine that might, if you pull the lever just right, pay out a jackpot? The first man builds a house on the rock. The second builds his house on the sand of a Powerball ticket, and great will be the fall of it.
This proverb sets before us two paths. One is the path of covenantal accumulation, which leads to a life overflowing with blessings. The other is the path of frantic acquisition, which leads to judgment. It is the choice between the steady oak and the flashy mushroom. One is rooted, enduring, and fruitful. The other pops up overnight and is gone by noon. We must choose which one we will be.
The Text
A faithful man will abound with blessings,
But he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished.
(Proverbs 28:20 LSB)
The Compounding Interest of Faithfulness
Let us take the first clause:
"A faithful man will abound with blessings..." (Proverbs 28:20a)
The key word here is "faithful." In the Hebrew, it is the word emunah, from which we get our "Amen." It means trustworthy, reliable, steadfast, and loyal. This is not describing a man who has a moment of spiritual fervor. This is a man whose entire life is characterized by dependable integrity. He is faithful to God, first and foremost. He is faithful to his wife, his children, his employer, his church, and his word. He is the man who shows up on time, does the job he was hired to do without complaining, pays his bills, and keeps his promises. He is, in a word, dependable.
This faithfulness is not flashy. It is the slow, patient work of plowing, sowing, and weeding. It is the daily grind. It is doing the right thing, especially when no one is watching. It is the opposite of the grand, empty gesture. This is the man who, like the wise servant in the parable, is found faithful in the little things (Luke 16:10). He doesn't despise the day of small beginnings. He understands that God's economy is built on the principle of compounding interest, not just financially, but spiritually and relationally.
And what is the result? He will "abound with blessings." This is not a promise of a Learjet and a mansion in Malibu. The prosperity gospel hucksters have taken verses like this and twisted them into a carnal, materialistic guarantee, which is a damnable lie. The blessings here are comprehensive. Yes, they can and often do include material prosperity. God's world is designed to reward diligent, honest labor. But the blessings are far richer than that. They are the blessings of a clear conscience, a stable family, a good name in the community, the trust of his neighbors, and the quiet favor of God upon his house. His life is marked by shalom, by a comprehensive well-being. These blessings accumulate. They build on one another. His faithfulness in his marriage produces loyal children. His faithfulness in his work produces a good reputation. His faithfulness in his finances produces stability. His life becomes a thick, woven tapestry of blessing.
This is the covenantal pattern. God promises to bless obedience, not just in the next life, but in this one. "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy 28:2). The faithful man is the man who lives inside the promises of God, and he finds them to be true.
The Fool's Gold of Haste
Now we turn to the second man, the man in a hurry.
"But he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished." (Proverbs 28:20b)
Notice the contrast. It is not between a faithful man and a wicked man, but between a faithful man and a man who "makes haste to be rich." The desire for wealth itself is not the sin. Abraham was very rich. Job was rich. The sin is in the haste. It is the frantic, grasping, impatient pursuit of riches that puts the finish line ahead of the rules of the race.
The man who makes haste to be rich is the man who cuts corners. He is the man who fudges the numbers on his taxes. He is the man who sells a faulty product with a slick sales pitch. He is the man who is always looking for the angle, the inside track, the scheme that will let him leapfrog over the slow, hard work of others. He is drawn to multi-level marketing scams, speculative bubbles, and gambling. Why? Because all these things promise what God does not: reward without faithfulness. They promise the harvest without the labor.
This haste is a form of idolatry. It reveals a heart that does not trust in God's providence. The man in a hurry believes that his future is entirely up to him, and he must seize it now. He does not have time to wait on the Lord. He cannot afford to be scrupulously honest if it slows him down. His god is Mammon, and Mammon demands speed. This is why Paul warns Timothy that "those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction" (1 Timothy 6:9). The haste is the engine of the temptation.
And the end of this road is not a pot of gold. It is punishment. "He will not go unpunished." The Hebrew is literally "will not be held innocent." This is courtroom language. God, the righteous judge, will not clear him. This punishment can take many forms. Sometimes it is the civil magistrate catching up with him. Sometimes it is the scheme itself collapsing, as all such schemes eventually do, leaving him in poverty (Proverbs 28:22). But even if he succeeds in accumulating his ill-gotten gain, the punishment is baked in. He is punished with a life of anxiety, of looking over his shoulder. He is punished with broken relationships, a seared conscience, and a soul that is shriveled and empty. He may gain the world, but he has sold his soul to do it. And in the end, he will stand before God and give an account for every corner he cut, every person he exploited, and every idol he served in his frantic rush.
Conclusion: The Marathon of Grace
So, we are left with a stark choice. Will we be faithful men or men in a hurry? Will we embrace the slow, steady, fruitful marathon of covenant life, or will we chase the frantic, destructive sprint of worldly greed?
The world tells you that faithfulness is for chumps. It tells you to hustle, to grind, to do whatever it takes to get ahead. But God's word tells us that the way up is the way down. The path to blessing is the path of humble, daily, plodding obedience. It is the path of showing up, doing your duty, and trusting God with the results over the course of a lifetime.
And here is the gospel grace in all of this. We are all, by nature, men in a hurry. We have all cut corners. We have all chased after foolish schemes. We have all worshipped at the altar of Mammon in our hearts. We all stand guilty and deserving of punishment. But God, in His mercy, has sent us the truly Faithful Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was never in a hurry. He did the slow, patient work of obedience His entire life, even unto death on a cross.
And through faith in Him, His perfect faithfulness is counted as ours. We are forgiven for our frantic haste. We are declared innocent. And then, by the power of His Spirit, He begins to transform us. He begins to teach us the quiet rhythm of faithfulness. He teaches us to be content with our daily bread, to do our work as unto Him, and to trust that as we are faithful in the little things, He will abound us with blessings, both now and forevermore. The ultimate blessing is not riches, but the commendation of the Master: "Well done, good and faithful servant." That is the wealth worth having.