WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.679 Okay, so we're going to return to the theme of Proverbs 20. 00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:08.599 Well, it's not a theme as such. 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:11.200 Well, the theme is wisdom, I guess. 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:14.640 And the first week we looked at, well, what we've been looking at is things to avoid and 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:20.719 things to seek after from this book of Proverbs, from chapter 20. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:25.000 So we had three things we avoided in the first week, and then we had four things that we 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:32.399 were to seek after, and it was in terms of understanding ourselves, understanding others, 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.320 and understanding the world which we live. 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:41.679 And today we're going to look at four areas that we are to avoid again. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:47.280 So we're going folly, wisdom, folly, and next week we'll be wisdom again, and we'll be 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.760 334 and four. 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:53.519 And that will cover most of the chapter, Proverbs, not all of it, but certainly most of it. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:58.880 And can I remind you, if you've been here and if you haven't been here, this is not 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:01.120 moralism that I'm preaching. 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:03.720 I'm not preaching, do this and God will like you. 00:01:03.720 --> 00:01:10.000 It's easy to take the Proverbs in that way, but we must see them in the context of grace, 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:15.719 in the context of being unable to please God in our own selves and our sinful natures. 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:24.480 But by grace, being transformed and being changed and being born again by His Spirit. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:31.120 And so what we find in Proverbs is really the character of God for us, the kind of people 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.239 we should be turning into as Christians. 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:38.280 It's that ongoing journey, isn't it, the kind of people we should be turning into. 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:42.719 It's a transformative passage, really. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:49.079 And if we can say it's like the Holy Spirit soundbites for every day. 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:54.319 It should encourage us in our spiritual disciplines, this is the kind of people we should be becoming 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:57.840 if we are Christians, because God is at work in us. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:02.280 Rather than this is the kind of person I have to become because this is what God wants and 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:04.239 I need to do it in my own strength. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:05.480 It doesn't work like that. 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.919 That's moralism, and it becomes legalism. 00:02:08.919 --> 00:02:13.000 So we think we're better than others because we can tick some of the Proverbs that we've 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:14.000 done. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.479 It's not like that. 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:22.039 The gospel is about our incapacity to do anything right, but our capacity when we come to Christ 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:26.560 and depend on Him and His Holy Spirit. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:30.560 One of the devotions I was reading this week, there's a really good verse from St. Corinthians 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:35.000 10, which says, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:40.360 the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:45.280 That's really what the Proverbs are about, about taking captive every thought and every 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:49.560 direction of our lives, making it captive to Jesus Christ. 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:54.240 It's Proverbs is God's common sense for us as we live our lives. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:58.879 So we look for our conscience every time we come to worship, every time we read Scripture, 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:03.400 every time we're under the word that we want our conscience to be taught and moulded and 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:05.680 changed by the Holy Spirit. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:10.920 And what we're looking for is maybe things that didn't, becoming aware of things that 00:03:10.920 --> 00:03:17.240 maybe didn't used to bother us, but when we find what God wants for us, they do begin 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:24.599 to bother us and challenge us and rustle up at feeling of discontent, pushing us towards 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:28.120 Christ to become more like Him. 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:33.719 Things maybe that are acceptable in the world in which we live and in the context in which 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:35.840 we live, and that's even more challenging, isn't it? 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.879 We know there are certain things that everybody thinks are wrong, but increasingly in the 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:47.319 society in which we live, the standards of a world without absolute truth and without 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:51.400 the truth of God's word as a foundation, we will find ourselves in conflict. 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:55.000 So there's four things very quickly here that we're going to look at, and they're very 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:58.879 simple, remember I said at the beginning, it's the time of year when we need simple, 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:03.240 clear, easy sermons just to take with us as we go on our way. 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:09.000 The first thing that we're to avoid as Christians from a God's book of common sense is dishonesty. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.159 And there's four verses that look at that. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:17.519 Verse 10, unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike and abomination to the Lord. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:23.519 Bad, bad, verse 14 says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:28.000 Verse 17, bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth will be 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.639 full of gravel. 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:34.240 And in verse 23 is repeated, the first verse, unequal weights are an abomination to the 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:37.199 Lord and false scales are not good. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:41.959 So dishonesty is what we are to avoid. 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:46.519 Proverbs at this level was written, or these Proverbs anyway about dishonesty are written 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:52.799 very much in the context of commerce with traders using different weights in a bartering 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:57.639 system, you know, before holes in the wall and cards and all these things. 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:03.439 So they had a bartering system and they had stones that they would use to weigh the goods 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:05.120 that they were buying or selling. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:09.840 And they would use light ones to sell and heavy ones to buy. 00:05:09.840 --> 00:05:12.759 So it was dishonest weights they were using. 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.759 So they would get more if they were buying and they would need to give away less if they 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:17.319 were selling. 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:22.560 And it was deception in order to get a bargain. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:24.480 They were cheating really. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.399 And then there was the bartering where you would say certain things, oh, this is a rubbish 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:30.600 deal, you can't possibly be selling me that. 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:34.240 And they cut down the price way down low and then you go away and say, yeah, look at the 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:35.959 great thing I got, what a bargain. 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:42.600 I cheated that guy out of what was rightfully his by saying false things about it. 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:48.399 Acquiring goods or services by getting one over another person, modern parlance, ripping 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:55.679 someone off, benefiting at their expense, not dealing honestly with them. 00:05:55.679 --> 00:06:02.719 And God is saying God sees, God knows and God's standard for us is honesty as Christians. 00:06:02.719 --> 00:06:07.759 And that is much broader than the kind of buying and selling of goods, isn't it? 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:13.199 But as a general principle in life, honesty should mark our lives as you should be known 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:20.719 and actually be known as honest people as Christians in our day to day affairs of life. 00:06:20.719 --> 00:06:27.599 However dishonesty reveals itself here in the passage, it's in the context of greed, 00:06:27.599 --> 00:06:31.360 benefiting at someone else's expense, trying to be too smart for our own boots and not 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:32.360 getting caught. 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:36.240 But it may be in lots of areas, it might be in taxes, it might be in poor business or 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:42.719 work ethics, it might be complicit as an employee in immoral practices and just saying, well, 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.800 I'm forced to do it, my boss has told me to do it. 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:55.120 It's not a justifiable reason before God, being untrustworthy, not dealing in the truth. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:00.520 Now, there are ethical and difficult issues that you and I will need to deal with that. 00:07:00.520 --> 00:07:04.480 But we need to recognize God's baseline for us is honesty. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:12.640 Because often the sin behind dishonesty is either a desire for popularity, a fear of 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:18.719 what other people might say, might be greed or it might be pride. 00:07:18.719 --> 00:07:23.680 And so when you go from here, and when I go from here and tomorrow we mix with the world 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:29.560 in our everyday, day to day living, it's important that we are people who are honest. 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:36.759 Because it gets to the root of our understanding of God's relationship with us, that God sees 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:43.399 our hearts, God understands exactly what our motives are and requires us to be honest 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:51.639 in confession with Him and know His forgiveness and recognize that God is truth. 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:55.599 And dishonesty, I think one of the things that the proverb speaks about here is reminding 00:07:55.599 --> 00:07:59.439 us that dishonesty will always have consequences. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:04.079 That verse that we read in 17, bread gained by the sweetest sweet to Him, but afterwards 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.719 His mouth will be full of gravel. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:13.040 So if we are dishonest in our Christian lives, however that reveals itself, it sours our Christian 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:14.840 experience. 00:08:14.840 --> 00:08:18.880 It distances us from God who is truth. 00:08:18.880 --> 00:08:22.920 It grieves His Holy Spirit who indwells us. 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:28.320 And it may mean that we will be the recipients of dishonesty from others. 00:08:28.320 --> 00:08:31.720 Because as we treat others, others will treat us. 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:37.759 And that will leave a bitter taste in our experience as we recognize that we are being 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:40.080 treated the way we have treated others. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:45.160 So dishonesty is something that gets to the heart of our understanding of sin. 00:08:45.160 --> 00:08:47.680 It's the ancient lie of sin, isn't it? 00:08:47.680 --> 00:08:49.160 This is sweet. 00:08:49.160 --> 00:08:50.360 This is good. 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:55.320 You don't need to do what God asks you to do as a believer because you're forgiving it. 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:57.000 Just live the way you want. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:04.600 Speak to the taste, but once you suck the sweet and the cover of that sweet, which is 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:10.240 lovely and tasty, there's gravel there and it's destructive and unsuitable. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:14.120 It's a veneer of happiness. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:16.919 We have been made to live His way by grace. 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:18.519 You know, that's what grace is about. 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:22.639 It's recalibrating ourselves to live the way He designed us to live. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:27.319 I read a good illustration about freedom, speaking about freedom and this great quest 00:09:27.319 --> 00:09:29.319 for freedom in the society in which we live. 00:09:29.319 --> 00:09:32.240 And there's no such thing, of course, as absolute freedom. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:38.399 But the author was speaking about genuine freedom as when we lived the way we were intended 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:42.199 to live or anything works the way it was intended to work. 00:09:42.199 --> 00:09:47.919 So you don't put a five-year-old driving a car because the car was not intended to be 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:50.279 driven by a five-year-old. 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:55.679 It intends to be driven by someone who's qualified, who has passed a test and who will drive safely 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:59.480 and is aware, can see over the steering wheel for a start. 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:01.159 And that's important, isn't it? 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:05.480 Sin keeps us from seeing over the steering wheel of life and we just think we can do 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:08.879 what we want as we accelerate away in our own strength. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:11.039 So there are consequences. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:12.039 That's the first thing. 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:17.839 The second one, the second characteristic to avoid is a belter, really. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:21.960 It's gossiping, verse 19. 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:29.840 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:33.800 The same is said in Proverbs 11 and verse 13. 00:10:33.800 --> 00:10:37.800 And in the contemporary English version, which is a kind of stripped-back, simple version 00:10:37.800 --> 00:10:40.480 that we read, it says, stay away from gossips. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:42.879 They tell everything. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:49.720 So it's a great thing to avoid in our lives and to recognize someone who deliberately 00:10:49.720 --> 00:11:00.679 shares what they know not to be true or what is unverified as truth or is true but is unnecessary 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:07.039 to share other than it's really juicy and it's a scandal. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:11.600 And God is saying, and all the songs we were singing today reminds us of the importance 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:15.720 of guarding our speech and our conversation. 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:19.920 It's such a huge area, isn't it, in all our communities. 00:11:19.920 --> 00:11:24.560 If you lived in an island, if you lived in a complete isolate, it wouldn't really matter 00:11:24.560 --> 00:11:26.060 quite so much. 00:11:26.060 --> 00:11:30.800 But because we are drawn and brought into community as believers, and because we live 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:36.279 as believers or not in community, then it's very important to guard how we speak so that 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:42.039 it reflects Christlikeness and our transformation. 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:46.039 It's probably one of the greatest areas of weakness in our lives and especially in the 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:47.519 church. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:55.039 I know personally from my own heart and my own experiences how much we love to share 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:58.919 bad news about people. 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:02.799 How quick we are to share moral failure in others. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:09.879 How quick we are to make judgmental statements about other people's lives and pass on information 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:17.719 that we've heard and we hope might be true but we're not sure, especially negative things 00:12:17.719 --> 00:12:20.000 sometimes. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:25.240 It's because it makes us feel better about ourselves, doesn't it? 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:31.000 It justifies our own failures when we hear and pass on the failures of others. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.279 We're all failures together. 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:35.519 We justify it by saying. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:41.360 Now, we're very polite and we're very cautious and careful about how we speak today. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:46.480 It wasn't always the case, and some of our great godly fathers in the past were not quite 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.679 so careful about condemning these things. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:54.519 And John Calvin, the great John Calvin, is quoted as saying when he, dealing with this 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:59.399 issue of gossip, I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of 00:12:59.399 --> 00:13:03.000 the bowels. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:04.720 Verbal diarrhea. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.799 That's what we're guilty of so much of the time. 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:10.799 Speaking without thinking. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:15.559 Being loose, not recognizing the lordship of Christ over what we speak and when we say 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:17.559 it and how we say it. 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:21.319 It's so important considering what we say to other people. 00:13:21.319 --> 00:13:27.199 Or sorry, yeah, what we say about others to other people. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:32.360 Even if we know it to be true, can we ask the question, is it helpful to pass on? 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:37.000 Is it building up the kingdom or is it building up my reputation? 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:38.759 What about the person being spoken of? 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:41.960 What will they think of what I'm saying? 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:48.000 Does this make me popular or does it make Christ honored? 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:53.240 You have the privilege, and I have the privilege of being the person who stops a gossip conversation 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:54.560 from going any further. 00:13:54.560 --> 00:13:56.280 We can be the plug. 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:58.399 We can be the ones who stop it. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:04.659 We can be the ones who don't say, don't tell anyone this, but I've been told this. 00:14:04.659 --> 00:14:07.759 You can hear it, but don't tell it to anyone else. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:12.319 Rather than saying that, we can be the ones who stop that piece of information by not 00:14:12.319 --> 00:14:14.839 passing it on. 00:14:14.839 --> 00:14:21.319 And if there is something negative we have to say about somebody, can we ask the question, 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:26.440 would we say it to their face as a brother and sister first in order to challenge them 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:36.480 about their behavior, maybe, and make us accountable to one another in love and humility? 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:42.360 I suspect not many of us would say that much to anyone anymore if that were the case, because 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:47.240 we're not necessarily willing to confront these issues face to face, but we are willing 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:50.680 to speak behind each other's backs. 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:57.719 So consider what we say and also consider to whom we listen and who we speak. 00:14:57.719 --> 00:15:00.679 Do you have a go-to gossip? 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:07.599 Do you have somebody who will always keep you informed about things that maybe are dubious 00:15:07.599 --> 00:15:11.319 in their truthfulness? 00:15:11.319 --> 00:15:13.479 Stay away from them. 00:15:13.479 --> 00:15:17.159 Even better challenge them in love about what they're doing, what they're saying. 00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:20.879 But the Bible says, stay away from people like that. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:23.279 That's strong language, isn't it? 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:30.199 We grade sins, particularly in the church, moral lapses, public sins are deemed a scandal, 00:15:30.199 --> 00:15:34.879 and they are to be repented of and they are serious in God's eyes. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:42.120 But I think much more damage on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis is done by gossip, by unbridled 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:49.360 tongues that are untaught and unchanged and not under the Lordship of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.480 And that's a great challenge to us all. 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:55.600 I do love Billy Graham's quote. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:59.919 A real Christian is someone who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:01.960 Do you get that? 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:06.560 That's a really profound statement. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:12.839 He's not afraid of what the repetitive parrot will pass on to the town gossip. 00:16:12.839 --> 00:16:17.039 I wonder if that could be true of us in the privacy of our homes. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:20.759 Third, the third thing, the last year, briefer. 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:25.519 Third thing that this chapter tells us, encourages us to avoid challenges, commands us to avoid, 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.479 is vindictiveness. 00:16:27.479 --> 00:16:35.839 Verse 22, do not say, I will repay evil, wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:41.519 Francis Bacon, speaking on this subject of vindictiveness or revenge, says that he that 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:45.399 studies revenge keeps his wounds open. 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:49.440 It becomes a harbor for bitterness. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.879 And that is absolutely true. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:55.320 God never tells us not to do something just for the sake of it. 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:58.120 It's never just to say, because I said. 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:02.800 There's always a valid reason, and we know that vindictiveness, taking the law into our 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:12.440 own hands, usually builds within us a sense of bitterness and a sense of misunderstanding 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:14.519 of our place in this world. 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:19.079 It's important to recognize how we respond when we will suffer wrong. 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:22.799 Maybe you've come into this new week from a bad week. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:29.759 Maybe you've suffered wrong in your work or in your home or in relationships one way or 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:30.759 another. 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:35.400 And your natural response, our natural response is to thrash out, isn't it? 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:37.799 It's to get even. 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:43.039 It is to get, to pay back what has been done. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:47.960 But it's a misunderstanding of our place in the scheme of justice in this world. 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:54.359 It's not for us to repay evil, and it's not for us to repay evil with evil, particularly. 00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:57.640 Romans 12, 17 to 21. 00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:01.400 They know an evil for evil, but give thought to what you do is honorable and the sight 00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:02.759 of all if possible. 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:05.560 So far as it bends on you, live at peace with everyone. 00:18:05.560 --> 00:18:09.520 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. 00:18:09.520 --> 00:18:12.800 For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. 00:18:12.800 --> 00:18:14.640 That's very clear. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.640 On the contrary, an opposite command is given if your enemy is hungry, feed him. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.560 If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. 00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:23.440 By so doing, you'll heat burning coals in his head. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.520 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:29.879 When you see it like that, that makes absolute sense, doesn't it? 00:18:29.879 --> 00:18:34.759 But we can so quickly and so easily be vindictive. 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.359 The law of Moses forbade it in the Old Testament. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:42.879 Deuteronomy chapter 32, vengeance is mine, quoted in the New Testament. 00:18:42.879 --> 00:18:46.319 And recompense for the time when their foot will slip, for the day of their calamity is 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:49.400 at hand and their doom will come swiftly. 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:51.599 And the law of love reverses it. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:53.480 We read a bit about that. 00:18:53.480 --> 00:19:01.440 But also in Proverbs, it's a quote from Proverbs 25 and verse 21, if your enemy is hungry, 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:04.880 give him bread and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:09.440 So the New Testament takes these two Old Testament Proverbs and applies them to this 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:12.559 area of vindictiveness. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:19.519 The law of love dispenses with the need to be vindictive. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:29.440 The law of love, it rather reverses it because we recognize and see that Christ, we were 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:32.200 God's enemy and He died for us. 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:36.480 Therefore, we are to love our enemies in the way that He loves us. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:41.759 It's all based on grace, on transformation, on understanding the cross of Jesus. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.799 So the law of Moses forbade it. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:46.920 The law of love reverses it. 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:53.640 The law of faith dispenses with it because we see and know that God can actually take 00:19:53.640 --> 00:20:00.360 what is evil and bad and turn it into our good as we learn from it and wait upon the 00:20:00.360 --> 00:20:03.200 Lord and trust Him through it. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:07.480 So we see something completely radical and different. 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.440 I'm going to get my own back. 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:19.759 It is not what we seek to live like as believers because as enemies of God, we have been loved 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:25.880 and forgiven and renewed and given hope in life. 00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:34.600 A well-known phrase, I guess, which is popular, I think, and a lot of popular culture is revenge 00:20:34.600 --> 00:20:38.920 is a dish best served cold. 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:46.800 And it's lauded and appreciated as something cool and well thought through. 00:20:46.800 --> 00:20:53.680 And it sounds cool, maybe, but it speaks of a bitter heart, a calculating and a simmering 00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:00.600 hatred and a willingness to take the place of God in these issues for it is His place. 00:21:00.600 --> 00:21:03.759 He will one day be the judge of everyone. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:09.839 He will bring injustice to the universe, to the world, not just to our own individual 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:15.279 situations, but He will be the judge of all mankind and of all injustice and the only 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:22.039 safe haven for us to be is in Christ, covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:29.519 bore the vindictiveness of humanity against Himself in order to be a redeemer. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:36.639 So it reminds us of where our place is and how we live in the light of Christ's grace 00:21:36.639 --> 00:21:37.839 and goodness. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:45.160 We live loving our enemies rather than treating them like maybe other people expect us to 00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:46.160 treat them. 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:54.440 And the last thing, the fourth thing, briefly, to avoid is rash commitments, verse 25. 00:21:54.440 --> 00:22:00.240 It is a snare to say, rashly, it is holy and to reflect only after making vows. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:05.759 This again is speaking into an Old Testament practice of dedicating something, separating 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:12.519 it out to the Lord and to the Lord, setting apart as holy something to the Lord. 00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:17.320 You could do that either voluntarily or it could be something that was compulsorily done, 00:22:17.320 --> 00:22:20.920 but it was a mark of gratitude and worship. 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:27.560 But what Proverbs is saying is it needs to be done thoughtfully, having counted the cost 00:22:27.560 --> 00:22:32.240 and being able to fulfil the cost of making that vow because once the vow was made in 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.840 the Old Testament, you couldn't break it. 00:22:34.840 --> 00:22:38.800 And so you needed to not do it rashly or quickly or thoughtlessly. 00:22:38.800 --> 00:22:43.759 It needed to be something that you could actually do and work out because you would be held 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:53.240 account for making that vow and the encouragement is not to make a vow rashly or thoughtlessly. 00:22:53.240 --> 00:23:00.119 Now we don't have the same vowing system under the New Covenant, but we recognise that in 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:06.720 the New Testament we are invited to make commitments to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:13.160 We are part of a community where we serve Jesus Christ together and we make commitments 00:23:13.160 --> 00:23:14.600 together. 00:23:14.600 --> 00:23:22.440 And so the principle is that we are to be thoughtful about our commitment to Jesus Christ and what 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:29.880 we promise we will do for Jesus Christ and not do it in a rash or a careless way. 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:34.440 That is not counting the cost or the time or the effort or the responsibility that's 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:36.519 going to be involved. 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:41.880 In other words, it's kind of not good enough saying, yeah, I'll serve in this way, but 00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:44.800 then never really bothering. 00:23:44.800 --> 00:23:49.320 Not thinking what might be involved, not thinking the cost that's required. 00:23:49.320 --> 00:23:51.600 That goes to even making a profession of faith. 00:23:51.600 --> 00:24:00.280 Oh yeah, I believe in Jesus and then going our merry way without realising the cost of 00:24:00.280 --> 00:24:07.440 following Jesus is death to self and is coming under His Lordship. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:14.559 And so there's this huge significant recognition of the cost of following Jesus. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:23.080 Grace and salvation is free, but it's not cheap to use a phrase that I often use here. 00:24:23.080 --> 00:24:27.600 There is a debt we owe to Jesus Christ and there is a cost to commitment. 00:24:27.600 --> 00:24:30.680 Now within the church we need people. 00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:33.080 We need people to be committed. 00:24:33.079 --> 00:24:38.939 We need people not just to be fly by nights, to be drifting in and out of the community. 00:24:38.939 --> 00:24:41.039 We need people under gifts. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:46.919 We need what you have to serve the Lord Jesus Christ as part of this community. 00:24:46.919 --> 00:24:54.559 And it's important that you see that, that you see the commitment of yourself to the 00:24:54.559 --> 00:25:01.199 community of God and to Christ Himself as part of the debt you owe to Jesus Christ. 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:07.799 And then I think part of this is an encouragement therefore to give of your very best in all 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:10.519 that you do for Jesus Christ and your commitment to Him. 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:16.519 Whether it's in a workplace, whether it's in taking on extra duties in the workplace, 00:25:16.519 --> 00:25:21.720 whether it's doing things on a Sunday, all the different acts of service that are involved, 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:26.720 some public, some much more private, much more unseen behind the scenes, that you do 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:29.720 it for Christ's sake. 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:34.799 So when something comes up when we're asking for people to help, then find out about the 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:40.559 task and if you can commit to that task, commit to doing it well for Jesus' sake. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:46.960 Humbly as a debt, not for praise, not to be seen, not to get the plaudits or the position, 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:51.400 but for the sheer joy of serving Jesus Christ. 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:56.319 And it's important within that same context, so when in the church context it's easy to 00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:00.359 come up with lots of great ideas of what to do as a church, I think sometimes. 00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:06.439 It's not so easy to follow them through, to follow through the cost that might be involved, 00:26:06.439 --> 00:26:10.759 the people that would need to be involved, the reason that we're doing it and the commitment 00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:12.919 that will be needed in order to keep it going. 00:26:12.919 --> 00:26:17.759 It's easy to start things and do things for a few weeks in church context and you may 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:22.279 be complained sometimes, well we don't seem to do very much in St. Columba's, well that's 00:26:22.279 --> 00:26:29.799 deliberate, that's deliberate because we're primarily a church that seeks to build relationships 00:26:29.799 --> 00:26:32.559 and serve through relationships, not through programs. 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:38.160 You're busy enough in your lives without adding lots and lots of programs, but there is a certain 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:41.000 amount that we need to do. 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:43.399 Doing it to the Lord, not grudgingly. 00:26:43.399 --> 00:26:49.839 And our great example is the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:56.919 Another quote from that same book that I was reading this week, talking about freedom, 00:26:56.919 --> 00:26:59.799 spoke about the one who gave up his freedom. 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:07.720 What could be less free than God the Son being nailed hands and foot to a tree? 00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:11.119 What could be less free than that? 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:17.720 He couldn't move physically and he did that willingly on our behalf. 00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:21.559 That's a great example of commitment to His people. 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:28.279 And so when we make vows, when we make commitments to serve and to do things in the church or 00:27:28.279 --> 00:27:33.240 to do things in your workplace as a Christian, to do things in the family home, whatever 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:37.519 it might be, remember that you're doing them to Christ. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:44.000 It doesn't need to be just in the church, in any context, and serve Him well. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:50.119 These are really practical insights from God's book of common sense. 00:27:50.119 --> 00:27:58.920 And I do believe, and I need to practice what I preach more, that it would be a real blessing 00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:04.720 for your life if you read every single day a couple of Proverbs. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:09.279 I don't think you would go wrong if, along with your daily devotionals, whatever, if 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:13.839 you're doing the Bible in a year or if you're doing other devotionals, as part of your spiritual 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:20.799 disciplines, that you read maybe two or three Proverbs every single day, because you will 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:26.199 learn and I will learn how the Holy Spirit wants us to be like Jesus. 00:28:26.199 --> 00:28:28.480 It will teach us how to be like Jesus. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:34.439 And that's a great thing, and it will be good for our lives and for our blessing under God. 00:28:34.439 --> 00:28:36.199 Let's pray briefly. 00:28:36.199 --> 00:28:42.240 Father God, we ask that you would teach us that you are a practical God, although you're 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:46.039 God of the universe and that you are transcendent. 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:51.200 You're also hugely practical for our day-to-day living, and your Proverbs reveal how much 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:56.720 you know about humanity and about our weaknesses and our sins, our failings, our destructive 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:01.319 tendencies, but also how we can be transformed by your grace. 00:29:01.319 --> 00:29:05.920 And they do pray particularly for any today who might be in church who are not Christians 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:10.720 and who are wondering what it's all about, or who think this may be just a sermon about 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.680 moral behavior or being good people. 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:21.680 May your grace come through from what we have been saying, and may they see their need of 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:26.120 redemption because they fall so far short, as we know. 00:29:26.120 --> 00:29:34.200 We fall so far short every day and need a Savior who has fully committed in life and 00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:40.480 in death and in resurrection to our rescue, to our salvation, and to eternal life. 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:45.319 So Lord, help us, we pray, bless us and guide us in all that we do. 00:29:45.319 --> 00:30:11.279 For Jesus' sake, amen.