Chapter 16 - Half Way There

 Read Proverbs 16

As you read through this chapter, were you thinking or singing what I was?  I know though you had to be thinking Bon Jovi.  Right?

Whoa, we're half-way there

Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Take my hand, we'll make it. I swear

Whoa, livin' on a prayer

We are halfway there!  Somewhere around verse 16 or 17 in this sixteenth chapter, this song had to come to you.  I know the Sixties and Seventies had the best music, but you can’t discount everything from the Eighties. I know that it hit you when you were reading:

How much better to get wisdom than gold,

    to get insight rather than silver!

The highway of the upright avoids evil;

    those who guard their ways preserve their lives.

What do I have to do, get a karaoke machine?

Whoa, we're half-way there

Whoa, livin' on a prayer                        

Take my hand, we'll make it. I swear

Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Many of you noticed a subtle shift in composition from here is something good and here is the negative contrast, to other parallels, sometimes offering a choice but more often an affirmation.

Let’s do a little verse by verse this morning.  Let’s go old school.

Verse 1.

To humans belong the plans of the heart,

    but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

I have thought this through.  I have done my cost-benefit analysis. It’s a good plan but I am wise to get a sanity check.

From where?

From God’s word.  From his answers to my prayers.  From my Christian brothers and sisters, that’s where. We have been given this wonderful body of Christ that we live within to help us.

God’s Spirit lives within us and we live in the body of Christ.

So, before I commit with my mouth or my signature or by any other means, let me see if the answer that trusting in the Lord brings me to is the same as my own understanding.

If there is dissonance, I am not ready to commit to the plans of my own construction.  It’s back to prayer, study, and consultation with the Spirt that lives within me and my fellow believers in the body of Christ who will speak the truth in a spirit of love to me.

On to verse 2.

All a person’s ways seem pure to them,

    but motives are weighed by the Lord.

We have been here before.  You, of course, remember Proverbs 3:5-6.  Do you remember what I said about our own understanding?

It makes sense to us.  It is our own understanding.  Of course, it makes sense to us.  You might need a couple extra sermons and a team of psychiatrists if your own understanding doesn’t make sense to you.  It is your own.  You came up with it.

The Christian should have dissonance between his or her own understanding and what the Lord has to say if the two are not in one accord. 

Solomon tells us that God looks beyond our logic and rationale and sees our hearts.  God’s word judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Our motives are weighed by the Lord. 

Verse 3.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,

    and he will establish your plans.

Our prayers are mistaken in motive when we ask the Lord to bless our plans when our plans are not in accord with God’s.  We should petition him to bring our plans into accord with his.  Some translations say our thoughts instead of plans.  Thoughts are where our plans begin.

Do you remember taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ Jesus? Do you want your plans to succeed?  Commit them to the Lord.

Don’t argue with the Lord when he makes a few changes to your first, second, or twenty-second draft.

Once his plans and our plans are the same, they are established.  They are confirmed.  They are ready for execution.

When we studied James not too long ago, I gave you a modern paraphrase of what this book full of New Testament wisdom had to say.  We will call it a Spenceaphrase.

Don’t get married to your plan.

Planning is good.  It is mind-developing, but anchoring yourself to your plan gets in the way of getting on board with the best plan—the plan that God desires to establish in your hearts and minds.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,

    and he will establish your plans.

On to verse 4.

The Lord works out everything to its proper end—

    even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Is anyone catching a theme here?  The Lord has it all worked out.  He is saying, “I’ve got this.”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Sound familiar?

God says, I’ve got this!  Even for those who are anchored in the everything else. I’ve got this!   Ok, that’s another Spenceaphrase, but you have grown accustomed to those by now.

So, we trust that God will direct our steps.  Let’s also trust him to take care of those who continue to rebel against him—the wicked.  Sometimes the latter part here is tougher than the former, but what happens to the wicked is not our burden to bear.

Verse 5.

The Lord detests all the proud of heart.

    Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

Here is the follow-up to I’ve got this. The Lord knows our heart and despite directions to the contrary knows that we drift away into wondering if the wicked really get what they deserve.  Our own understanding thinks that our rewards will be lessened if the wicked don’t get condemned in accordance with our plans—with our own understanding.

Solomon tells us not to worry about that part.  Be sure of this.  They will not go unpunished.

Verse 6.

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;

    through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.

Now just hold your holy horses right there!  I thought it was the blood of bulls and goats and sacrifices and that the law required the shedding of blood that atoned for sin back then.

There were required sacrifices.  There was a Day of Atonement.  A lot of blood flowed to atone for sins, but the actual atonement for our sins came in love.  We call him Jesus.  We call him Lord.  John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

God loved us first.  Whether it’s in sacrifice, confession, profession, baptism or other acts, we must realize that these are in response to the great love of God.

We hit the trifecta on this verse.  Love, faith, and fear of the Lord keep us in God’s ways and out of the everything else.

Since we are talking faith and faithfulness, let’s review Hebrews 11:1.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Of course, I can’t pass up the connection to Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

    but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

This verse gave us the fear of the Lord, faith, and reminded us that the forgiveness of sins is rooted in love.

We will wrap up with verse 7.

When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way,

    he causes their enemies to make peace with them.

Sometimes, we can think of God’s way as walking to school—uphill, in the snow, both ways—just like our parents did.  But it’s not always like that.  Sometimes, God removes obstacles from our path.  Sometimes God fights our battles for us and our enemies have no choice but to make peace with us.

Remember that God’s way is for our own good.  Sometimes the Lord lets us grow in our battles.  Sometimes he causes our enemies to make peace with us.  Consider this in the context of for our own good.

How can the Lord take pleasure in our ways?  Our ways have grown to be as his ways.  It’s the whole on earth as it is in heaven concept.  The whole earth isn’t there yet, but we can be.

Our ways can please God because we have taken on his ways.  It just so happens that this is for our own good.

Some of you are thinking that the next couple of verses would enhance the context.  Some are thinking it’s time for lunch.  The next two verses do make for excellent discussion and it is time for lunch.  You are blessed to have a lunchtime topic for conversation.

Better a little with righteousness

    than much gain with injustice.

In their hearts humans plan their course,

    but the Lord establishes their steps.

Don’t let these opportunities for further discussion pass. This model of reading the same chapter every day and having the wisdom of God on our hearts should bring it to the forefront of our conversation.

There is God’s way and it’s for your own good.

There is everything else.  That’s where the mines are.

Today we spent a little more time with Solomon on God’s way and its blessings and getting our thoughts and plans into accord with his.  We spent more time on things that are for our own good.

Amen.

God's Way--It's for our own good

 Read Proverbs 15

Solomon composed quite a collection of quips and comments for this chapter.  We find several on the wise and the foolish, which we discussed in the first service.  We see discernment and correction but we also see many quips about wickedness. We see counsel regarding gentleness and I return once again to there is God’s way and there is everything else.

Consider verse 24 especially in the context of God’s way and everything else.

The path of life leads upward for the prudent

    to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.

I have been preaching God’s way and everything else ever since we began the Proverbs. Is this the first that we have heard of God’s way being better for us?

Of course not.  Consider the words of God delivered to his people through Moses.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

God told his own chosen people who had come out of bondage in Egypt to do things his way and only his way.  Why?  It’s for your own good.

It’s for your own good!  Living God’s way is for your own good.  The everything else is marked by death and destruction.

God’s way is for the wise.  Who are the wise?  Those who accept and receive and follow God’s way. Wow!  That sounds like circular logic, but understand that it’s a good circle.  It’s God’s circle and worth the buy-in.  Be wise.

But this is Old Testament wisdom, right?

Let’s turn to the words of a fisherman you should know well. This will be from Peter’s second letter.

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. (Now there’s a man after my own heart.  He is writing to stimulate good thinking). I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. (Just because we live in this age of grace does not mean we disregard the directions we have received before).

Now back to Peter’s words.  Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

How do you forget creation and the flood? People deliberately forget the mighty acts of God and say where is his coming? How do you omit creation and the flood?  Deliberately.  If these things don’t fit your narrative, you just leave them out.  It’s a deliberate choice and not an oversight. It’s right on target for today.

Consider Solomon’s words in this context.

Mockers resent correction,

    so they avoid the wise.

The mockers, the scoffers, the fools, and those who hate wisdom simply avoid the wise and the facts for they have no sound basis for argument.  We live in this world that both Solomon and Peter describe.

What can we do in the midst of this unrighteous turmoil?

We don’t dive into every argument with a fool.  We are counseled against this.

We live lives that the Lord would find holy, blameless, and spotless.  It’s an impossible task on our own, but with God, we can stay the course.  With God, when we miss the mark, we confess and God is faithful and just to forgive.  He puts us back in our race of faith.

Peter tells us that we have been warned ahead of time what is coming and how much the world will contest the will and righteousness of God.  His counsel is to be on guard so that we won’t be carried away by the spirit of lawlessness that will surround us and we must know how deceptive it will be. 

It will not attack head-on but use subtly to undermine what you know to be truth.

Anchor yourself in the knowledge of Christ Jesus and grow in the grace that he has given to us.

What does all this mean?

There is God’s way and there is everything else.  We may venture into the everything else from time to time, but the grace of God that we know in Christ Jesus invites us to return to God’s ways. Return to God’s way.

In other messages and commentaries, I have compared everything else to a minefield.  I don’t know if you have ever been in a minefield, but if you haven’t don’t put it on your bucket list. In Iraq, you had now you see me, now you don’t minefields.

The wind moved the sand and either hid or uncovered the minefields and the cleared roads that went through them.    That could be interesting.  I served at the end of the first Gulf War and was assigned to the United Nations mission in Iraq and Kuwait. 

One day, I was coming back to my sector having visited a patrol base in the central sector.  I had a captain from Indonesia with me and he wanted to drive.  I let him drive and after a couple dozen kilometers, we hit some sand drifts.  He was doing ok for a while and then got stuck in a big drift.

If you drive enough in the desert, you will probably get stuck at some point.  This young captain popped out of the vehicle grabbed the shovel attached to the back of the Land Cruiser and was about to thrust it into the sand surrounding the front of the vehicle when I grabbed the shaft of the shovel.

The captain gave me a funny look until I showed him the metal objects that looked like olive drab softballs.  They were cluster bombs that did not explode on impact.  They were not duds.  It’s just that the sand cushioned them enough to let them land undetonated. They were designed to explode when they hit a hard surface such as an armored vehicle.

The blade of a shovel also works just as well.

Do you know how long it takes to move about a quarter yard of sand?  About two and a half hours if you are doing it in handful size scoops, some of them with a cluster bomb in them.

It wasn’t a minefield by design, but it met the qualifications and produced the same results.  You wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. You wanted to get back on the safe path. You did this with all deliberate speed.

The path of life leads upward for the prudent

    to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.

There is God’s way.  It may seem like it is uphill most of the time, but it leads to life.  The everything else leads to the realm of the dead.

God has given us direction for our own good.  Sometimes it came as commands and directives.  Sometimes it came as wisdom.  Sometimes it came in the flesh as God with us—the only flesh that has ever fulfilled the law. 

But know that what God has given us in commands, directives, wisdom, and even in his Son has always been for our own good.

Doing things God’s way is for our own good.

When you think of this mantra that I think resonates with most of you by now, think for my own good whenever you think of God’s way.

Think of landmines when you venture into the everything else.

God’s way—for your own good.

Everything else—landmines.

The path of life leads upward for the prudent

    to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.

Amen.

Wise and Foolish X7

 Read Proverbs 15

There are some recurring themes in this chapter.  Wisdom and foolishness give righteousness and wickedness a run for their money.  We will pursue the former and begin with verse 2.

The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge,

    but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.

Remember that the fool has to be right all the time.  He will use never-ending words over logic and reason to make his senseless point.  In other words, the mouth of the fool gushes folly.

The wise can hold their tongue and do unless it contributes to understanding, unless it adorns knowledge—it enhances or makes the nuggets of knowledge more attractive.

Arguing with someone who thinks he or she is always right produces no fruit, but on occasion you will have opportunity for real and enriching conversation and discussion.

The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge.

Now on to verse 7.

The lips of the wise spread knowledge,

    but the hearts of fools are not upright.

Expect profit from listening to a wise person.  Have no such expectations for wasting your time listening to a fool. 

Who is a fool?  The fool declares in his heart there is no God.  The fool must be right all of the time.  The fool gushes garbage and is content with the expenditure of his time in this folly.

Some of these are just too easy. 

Now for verse 12.

Mockers resent correction,

    so they avoid the wise.

The only choice for a mocker, a fool, or a godless person is not to confront the wise.  They have plenty of ammunition but they are all blanks.  It’s easier to avoid the truth than to stand defenseless before it.

They will choose much easier targets than the wise who know to dismiss them outright and without argument.

You don’t have to go far for the next wisdom and foolishness nugget, it’s verse 14.

The discerning heart seeks knowledge,

    but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

Note that Solomon indicates that the heart of the wise—he uses discerning here—is what seeks the Lord. In this example, it seeks knowledge that comes from the Lord.

The fool has no such appetite.  His heart has declared there is no God and thus he can have no true appetite for anything but folly and foolishness.

Let’s go to verse 20.

A wise son brings joy to his father,

    but a foolish man despises his mother.

Composed in opposites, the message is the same.  Children are the joy of their parents, at least those who bring them up in the way they should go.  Nothing can hurt as much as a child who has rejected the Lord and gone down the path of destruction. 

Wisdom says there is God’s way and there is everything else.  Joy comes to parents who see their children walk in God’s way.

The next verse is along the same track but just different enough that it’s not repetitive.

Folly brings joy to one who has no sense,

    but whoever has understanding keeps a straight course.

The one who has understanding stays the course.  The fool enjoys himself even though he is on the course that leads to destruction.

You have heard the metaphor of the two airplane flights before.  On the first flight, the take-off goes well and the landing is perfect but there is a lot of turbulence along the way.

The second flight has a reasonable takeoff and a very smooth flight but a safe landing is doubtful.

The fool says, I’ll take flight number 2.

Go to the last verse in this chapter.

Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord,

    and humility comes before honor.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, wisdom, instruction, and discipline.  Here this is not contrasted to the fool but Solomon notes that humility precedes honor.

What does that mean?  Humility comes before honor.

We are told be known by our love because we follow Jesus.  What if we were also known as believers in the one true God by our humility?

Would it not be a true honor—as opposed to some fabricated award—to be known as God’s humble servant.

The world would say, no way.  Take the accolades of the world that does not know God. 

Honor that is not preceded by humility is likely a fabrication of the world.  Don’t get wrapped up in trophies plated with fool’s gold.

This has been a short trek through the wisdom and foolishness verse of this chapter.  Just remember, there is God’s way—it is the wise way, and there is everything else—it is the way of the foolish.

Amen.

Hard work brings a profit

 

Read Proverbs 14

As we continue to dig into the Proverbs, let us not do it at the expense of loving one another.  We are people of grace.  We desire to be people of wisdom as well, but grace is our bread and butter.

To Proverbs 14.

Solomon gives us more pairings of wisdom:  wise and foolish, rich and poor, man and woman, upright and devious, pride and prudence and some mixing and matching with the personification and the dichotomous qualities. Let’s jump to verse 23.

All hard work brings a profit,

    but mere talk leads only to poverty.

I have or had a cousin who talked big.  He was always going to conquer the world with his next endeavor, if he ever got around to it.

His parents had both died while he was in his late 30’s.  He shacked up with a woman who could support him, at least they could afford some sort of shack. It often had no water or electricity, but they lived indoors. 

The extended family—mostly my aunt—took care of unexpected expenses and offered him work so he could have some money that he could call his own. He wasn’t much interested in labor.

He was going to be a long-haul truck driver.  You need a CDL to do this but he never got around to that part. He could, however, talk your ear off about how he was going to make it big hauling those loads cross country—big loads and big bucks.

We wouldn’t hear from him for a while, then he would call and he was on to something else.  Underwater welding was one that he could talk about for an hour without taking a breath.  He could neither weld nor was he SCUBA qualified, but this was the thing that would give him his big break.

Then he was going to be a pastor, and then something else, and then something else. 

A few years ago, one of the local television stations and the Oklahoman did a short piece on him as a homeless Marine veteran.  He had been a sniper in Desert Storm and done 20 years as a Marine.  He couldn’t tell you what units he was in or how he could be homeless after 20 years of service, but the journalist set up a Go Fund Me account for this homeless vet.

He never spent a single minute in the service of his country.  The closest he ever got to military service was getting a military field jacket from the Salvation Army, but found that he could talk some of the talk.

He could spin that yarn so long as people didn’t check his facts.  He was more than willing to tell whatever tale people wanted to hear.  Facts only got in the way of the story.

I’m not sure if it bothered me more that he was claiming to be a pastor, a combat veteran, or that people believed the latter enough to send a few hundred dollars to help him.

I have no reservations about helping the poor.  I do not like to see people being scammed, especially by someone pretending to be a Marine.

He had received plenty of help from his family over the years, but he had claimed the reward that Solomon promised for mere talk—poverty.

Work brings profit.  Mere talk brings poverty.

I don’t know where he is now if he is still alive.  He could never hold a real job for long.  His talk about becoming an underwater welder or a pastor or driving a big rig didn’t fool anyone other than himself. 

Our extended family has a young gal who works frequently with the OKC homeless alliance.  She keeps her eye out for him, but we have not heard from him in years.

He probably doesn’t want to hear from us.  We always bring up that 4-letter word:  work.

He talked his way into poverty and wouldn’t listen to anyone who would help him step out of it.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin.  Hard work brings profit.  I will read to you a short portion of one of the shortest books ever—A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard.

In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion.  When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba--no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.

What to do!

Some one said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- "Carry a message to Garcia!"

My children have read this book many times.  It will take you about 10 minutes and is a worthwhile investment. 

At one point, all Marines were required to read this book.  I hope they still are.

It talks about the one who just does the thing—whatever it is—with purpose and passion and without looking for the first excuse to wimp out.

There is value in work.  There is profit in work.  Work is good.

To which many of you say, Duh!  That’s obvious.

No, it’s not obvious.  It’s obvious to you because you have realized this paradigm.  You navigate within this framework.  You expect to work in order to make it through this world and provide for your families.

You receive satisfaction in work.

Some have no such expectations. Some expect that they will be cared for and all their needs met.  I am not talking about those who cannot work but those who will not work.

Solomon tells us they are headed for poverty. If all you can do is talk, there are few jobs to be had and the jobs where they pay you to talk usually require some life experience that involved work.

Yes, there are people who get paid to talk—football commentators, talk show hosts, and preachers.  In my defense, preachers also have to know how to listen because people are compelled to tell me which toilets are broken and when we run out of paper towels.

Solomon is talking about idle words.  Words that take you nowhere.  Some words inspire or instruct but those that only consume the time lead to poverty.

Some people are good at talking and can get a job where what they do involves a lot of talking.  Good for them.  They found a livelihood that they enjoy.

I spoke to a young girl in Walmart who was pushing around one of those carts with 10 or 12 bins on it.  This whole pandemic thing has made a real market for letting the store do your shopping and you just pay and pick up.

I said to this young lady, “Did you ever think that you could find a job shopping?”

She said, “No but this is great!”

Sometimes we find just what we want to do and it doesn’t feel like work.  Some find jobs talking too, but Solomon is talking about talk without purpose or production—talk that produces no fruit.

He is talking about words that take you nowhere, well, except down the road to poverty.

Solomon is talking about substituting talk for action. Sometimes talk precedes action, but sometimes people just get addicted to talking and never take action.  They talk instead of work and Solomon says they are headed for poverty.

Much like my cousin who had great aspirations but never took one step forward to achieve them, we have many in this nation who will never get around to it.  We have many who will talk their way into poverty.

For some, talk is action.  There are those gifted in this area. For most, talk is an excuse not to act.  Talk is just another excuse.

Work—especially hard work—brings a profit.  It’s worthwhile, but talk in lieu of work leads to poverty.

Solomon presents the destination of one who says why work when I can make an excuse.

This brings us back to one of my favorite quotes that I have shared recently.

A coach can help you with your mistakes, but nobody can help you with your excuses.

Some say, Work smart not hard.  That’s good.  If you can work smart, then you can work hard at working smart and produce even more than those who just work hard. Whatever you are working at, work hard at it.

Hard work produces good fruit.  Hard work is profitable.  Hard work brings satisfaction. 

Fifty years ago, we would have spent two minutes on this proverb and moved on to the next one. 

That’s a big 10-4 on that one Solomon. We get it.  We need to work.

You betcha. Hard work brings profit.

Hey wise man, you hit the nail on the head, but it’s all too obvious. It’s MOTO—Master of the Obvious.

Today, you see this proverb played out all around you and what once seemed obvious eludes so many in this age. 

We could despair at the current situation or we could see opportunity for the one who will work and work with purpose and passion. This life still offers good things for the one who will work hard at what they do.

When I talk with people who are starting a new job, I tell them to stick it out no matter what for the first six months.  After that, they will be the old timer.  They will be the one with experience that the boss doesn’t want to let go. 

The state of affairs in a world where people prefer talk to work seems bleak until the one willing to work sees the opportunity before him.  He or she have great value in an age of do-nothingness.

Let me wrap up A Message to Garcia.

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the "boss" is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly take the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets "laid off," nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village- in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed, & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia.

Take 10 minutes and read A Message to Garcia.  Stick to your weekly reading of the Proverbs.  Know that work has value.

Amen.

Sin Condemns any People

 

Read Proverbs 14

Let’s examine ourselves as a nation in the context of one of Solomon’s proverbs.

Righteousness exalts a nation,

    but sin condemns any people.

It’s easy to look at somebody else, but sometimes we need to look at ourselves.

Let’s start with money.  I will jump ahead to chapter 22 and note that the borrower is slave to the lender.  If we adhere to this tenant of wisdom, our nation is indebted—enslaved—to those who hold the note.  Some would say this is China and China does hold a lot of our debt, but not as much as advertised.

Still, we are a nation in debt.  We crave things that we can’t afford but pay for them anyway with money we don’t have.  We practice neither prudence nor discipline.

I’m thinking that we get an F- on handling money.  We are slaves to our lenders.

What about our language?  Our culture is full of foul language.  Our literature and entertainment are full of profanity.  We defame the name of God.  I’m going with a D- here.  It could be worse but not by much.

What about valuing life?  We printed tens of millions of tee shirts that said, Black Lives Matter but got upset when someone said All Lives Matter.  We continued to ignore life in the womb proclaiming a woman’s right to kill as more valuable.

We were slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry on this topic and others, but I think we get another F- here.  We don’t value life.

Sure, we see individual examples all the time where one person risks his life to save another, but as a nation we are failing.

I may be—certainly am—preaching to those who do value life, are master over their money, and do not profane the name of God, but our nation stands condemned on these matters.

No number of extra assignments can bring our grade up.  Only wholesale repentance can help.

I like the meme that says I am proud of my country but ashamed of my government.  It has an attraction to it, but it’s no excuse for us.

Consider when God’s people asked for a king. Samuel argued against it but petitioned God nonetheless.  Listen to God’s reply through Samuel.

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.  He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots.  Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.  He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.  He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.  Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use.  He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.  When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The people thought about all that this would cost them and said, “Yeah, ok, we’ll take a king.”

Now consider the atmosphere of 1775.  The colonists in America were tired of the abuses of the King of England and began forming armies, then declaring their independence the next year.

A decade after this war of independence, the people adopted a constitution. It was to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.  It was based in the principle that the power of governments emanated from the people.

It was a noble concept, often called the Grand Experiment.  In the context of this proverb, it tells us that we have no excuse.  Our representatives may be doing terrible things, but we put them there and we are keeping them there.

They are us.  Ouch.  Sin condemns any people. 

Now we are blessed to live in a land where self-determination is woven into the fabric of who we are, but we must acknowledge that we have no excuse as a nation.  We must confess to Holy God that we who are a participating part of this nation have sinned against him.

Are we protected by the blood of Jesus?  Yes. 

Is our nation protected?  Only by its own righteousness and I would say that we are getting a failing grade.  No nation is perfect.  No nation can be completely righteous, but a nation full of believers should be doing a much better job than we are.

The people wanted a king.  God told them the cost.  The people said they wanted one anyway.

Do you know the first time the letters lol were used?  When people wanted to govern themselves as one nation under God. 

We wanted self-government—at least a republic—a representative government. The cost is that we cannot blame the sins of our nation on those who represent us.  They are us.

First-century Christians lived under a godless regime.  The Romans had plenty of gods but profaned the one true god. Christians persevered.

The difference today is that we have claimed the right to govern ourselves.  Perseverance is not enough.  As the governors of this nation, we must also consider the counsel to kings and rulers.

Our charge is to bring this nation back to right standing with God.

I don’t know that we can do this at the ballot box or not.  I don’t know if there will ever be a valid election in this nation again.  I don’t know.

What I do know is that the righteousness of this nation can be won person by person, family by family, community by community that will come to God through Christ Jesus.

I would love to proclaim to the world that we are a godly nation.  I can’t do that today.  I can proclaim that this body seeks God and his kingdom and his righteousness and his wisdom, but we must also seek to bring others to right standing with God through Jesus.

I would love to be able to vote this nation into right-standing with God, but the course most likely to succeed is to pray and evangelize our way to being a godly nation.

Pray and evangelize.

Pray and evangelize.

Pray and evangelize.

Let’s pray and evangelize until we are exalted before God as a righteous nation.                                    Amen.

Sin Condemns Any People

 

Read Proverbs 14

 

Let’s examine ourselves as a nation in the context of one of Solomon’s proverbs.

Righteousness exalts a nation,

    but sin condemns any people.

It’s easy to look at somebody else, but sometimes we need to look at ourselves.

Let’s start with money.  I will jump ahead to chapter 22 and note that the borrower is slave to the lender.  If we adhere to this tenant of wisdom, our nation is indebted—enslaved—to those who hold the note.  Some would say this is China and China does hold a lot of our debt, but not as much as advertised.

Still, we are a nation in debt.  We crave things that we can’t afford but pay for them anyway with money we don’t have.  We practice neither prudence nor discipline.

I’m thinking that we get an F- on handling money.  We are slave to our lenders.

What about our language?  Our culture is full of foul language.  Our literature and entertainment are full of profanity.  We defame the name of God.  I’m going with a D- here.  It could be worse but not by much.

What about valuing life?  We printed tens of millions of tee shirts that said, Black Lives Matter but got upset when someone said All Lives Matter.  We continued to ignore life in the womb proclaiming a woman’s right to kill as more valuable.

We were slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry on this topic and others, but I think we get another F- here.  We don’t value life.

Sure, we see individual examples all the time where one person risks his life to save another, but as a nation we are failing.

I may be—certainly am—preaching to those who do value life, are master over their money, and do not profane the name of God, but our nation stands condemned on these matters.

No number of extra assignments can bring our grade up.  Only wholesale repentance can help.

I like the meme that says I am proud of my country but ashamed of my government.  It has an attraction to it, but it’s no excuse for us.

Consider when God’s people asked for a king. Samuel argued against it but petitioned God nonetheless.  Listen to God’s reply through Samuel.

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.  He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots.  Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.  He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.  He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.  Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use.  He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.  When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The people thought about all that this would cost them and said, “Yeah, ok, we’ll take a king.”

Now consider the atmosphere of 1775.  The colonists in America were tired of the abuses of the King of England and began forming armies, then declaring their independence the next year.

A decade after this war of independence, the people adopted a constitution. It was to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.  It was based in the principle that the power of governments emanated from the people.

It was a noble concept, often called the Grand Experiment.  In the context of this proverb, it tells us that we have no excuse.  Our representatives may be doing terrible things, but we put them there and we are keeping them there.

They are us.  Ouch.  Sin condemns any people. 

Now we are blessed to live in a land where self-determination is woven into the fabric of who we are, but we must acknowledge that we have no excuse as a nation.  We must confess to Holy God that we who are a participating part of this nation have sinned against him.

Are we protected by the blood of Jesus?  Yes. 

Is our nation protected?  Only by its own righteousness and I would say that we are getting a failing grade.  No nation is perfect.  No nation can be completely righteous, but a nation full of believers should be doing a much better job than we are.

The people wanted a king.  God told them the cost.  The people said they wanted one any way.

Do you know the first time the letters lol were used?  When people wanted to govern themselves as one nation under God. 

We wanted self-government—at least a republic—a representative government. The cost is that we cannot blame the sins of our nation on those who represent us.  They are us.

First century Christians lived under a godless regime.  The Romans had plenty of gods but profaned the one true god. Christians persevered.

The difference today is that we have claimed the right to govern ourselves.  Perseverance is not enough.  As the governors of this nation, we must also consider the counsel to kings and rulers.

Our charge is to bring this nation back to right standing with God.

I don’t know that we can do this at the ballot box or not.  I don’t know if there will ever be a valid election in this nation again.  I don’t know.

What I do know is that the righteousness of this nation can be won person by person, family by family, community by community that will come to God through Christ Jesus.

I would love to proclaim to the world that we are a godly nation.  I can’t do that today.  I can proclaim that this body seeks God and his kingdom and his righteousness and his wisdom, but we must also seek to bring others to right standing with God through Jesus.

I would love to being able to vote this nation into right-standing with God, but the course most likely to succeed is to pray and evangelize our way to being a godly nation.

Pray and evangelize.

Pray and evangelize.

Pray and evangelize.

Let’s pray and evangelize until we are exalted before God as a righteousness nation.

Amen.