“Do Not Forsake Your Mother’s Teaching” [Matt's Messages]

“Do Not Forsake Your Mother’s Teaching”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

May 8, 2022 :: Proverbs 1:8-9

The title of this messages comes right out of the last phrase of verse 8 where Solomon says to his royal son, “...do not forsake your mother's teaching.”

That’s the whole message for today. It’s in the Proverbs, so it’s short and sweet and to the point, and it’s meant to be meditated upon, chewed on, mulled over.

“...do not forsake your mother's teaching.”

And there was, all of a sudden, a whole lot of elbows in the ribs and knowing looks passed around this room!

“Are you listening to this? I hope so, son. I sure hope so, daughter.”

Verses 8 and 9 are the opening salvo of the opening appeal in the first major section of the Book of Proverbs. The book began with a short explanation of its purpose. Look at verse 2:

This book is “...for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young–let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance–for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.”

The point of this book of Proverbs to its original readers was to help young people especially (and anybody else who wants to be wise) to gain and grow in true wisdom. 

And after that opening section, there are like 10 different appeals in the next 9 chapters from all of the authors (the main one of whom was King Solomon) for the reader (who is pictured as a royal prince) to choose wisdom over foolishness.

The path of wisdom is the right path, and it is the path of blessing.

And here’s where it all begins. The starting line of that path. Verse 7. 

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

And so in our verse 8, the King appeals to his son to choose that wisdom and to stay with it. And he pictures that wisdom as coming through Dad and Mom.

Yes, Dad is in this passage, too. And he will show up again and again in the Proverbs talking to his son this way. Proverbs was written primarily by men for young men, and then it was given to all of us.

But we are not going to focus this morning on “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction...” [Maybe I’ll preach this same message again in a month on Father’s Day.] No, instead, we going to focus on the parallel idea, “...do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

That is God’s word to all children who want to be wise.

“...do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

And that’s regardless of your age.

If your mother 70 years ago taught you the Lord’s wisdom, this is God’s Word to you today: “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

I have just two points of application for this morning’s message. One from verse 8 and one from verse 9, and they are both very simple. 

#1. WALK IN THE WISDOM OF YOUR MOM.

And don’t stop walking!

“Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

Now, yes, this assumes that your mother taught you or is teaching you wisdom.

So, we could address the Moms today and encourage all of the Moms to be teachers of your children. Teach them the fear of the LORD.

But we just did that in March with the message, “Impress Them On Your Children.” Do you remember that? In Deuteronomy 6? How parents are to be the resident theologians in their homes and pass on the faith to the next generation.

Moms, you might want to go back and review that message if you are looking for some teaching on being a disciple-making Mom this weekend. You can do it! 

But this passage is not addressed to the Moms. This passage is addressed to the kids–especially the sons, though the son stands for all of us who are the children of a wise mom who has taught us the fear of the LORD.

Notice that verse 8 begins with the word, “Listen.” It’s the same word as Deuteronomy 6, “Shema!” “Listen up!” “Hear this, my son!”  He’s flicking the lights on and off. He’s pulled the power cord on the wireless router. I have a friend who when he wants his family’s attention, he turns off the wireless router, and his kids all come of out their rooms. 

Solomon is getting his young son’s attention, and once he does, he is telling him to take to heart his parents’ instruction. Their homeschooling in the fear of the LORD.

And he wants his son to stick with it.

“Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

Don’t just let it go in one ear and out the other.

Don’t just nod your head and then turn away.

Don’t walk away from the wisdom of your Mom. Walk in it. And don’t stop.

Now, some of you do not or did not have a wise mom. It is very possible that a number of you in this room did not have that particular blessing. Perhaps your Mom was not a believer or died when you were young. Or she had some wisdom, but her life was marked more by folly.

Don’t worry; this passage is for you, as well.

Because the wisdom that this Mom is sharing here is in this book. You don’t have to have a Mom to teach it to you, though she should, and it is a blessing if she has.

But it’s not like this teaching can only come through your biological Mom.

If you didn’t have a wise Mom or don’t have a wise Mom, I encourage you to find one and adopt her. This church is full of women who can serve as a spiritual Mom to you. Go after their wisdom. Even if you have one already, it doesn’t hurt to have more. The family of God has plenty of spiritual aunts and grandmas to teach the next generation the fear of the LORD.

The point is to get that wisdom and then to not lose it.

“Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

I don’t think there is a greater heartache for a Christian mother than for her children to walk away from the faith. All of those years of a Christian Mom not just feeding and clothing their kids and nursing them when they’re sick and driving them to all of their things and helping them with their schoolwork and paying their bills and cleaning them and cleaning after and cleaning after them and cleaning after them, not just doing all of that but all of the time those Moms have put into teaching–by both word and example–the Christian faith to their kids.

And then the kids turn their back on it? That is top-level painful for Christians Moms.

But that’s not why Solomon says we ought to stick with it.

This verse does not say, “Please do not disappoint your Mom” even though it would.

This is not about pleasing your Mom, but about what is right and good and (perhaps surprisingly) what is good for you. Look at verse 9.

“They [Mom’s teachings] will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.”

Here’s point two of two:

#2. WEAR THE WISDOM OF YOUR MOM.

Walk in the wisdom of your mom and keep walking in the wisdom of your mom, and you will be wearing the wisdom of your Mom.

Her wisdom will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

Who wouldn’t want that?

Maybe that doesn’t sound so awesome to guys at first. But think about it.

A garland on your head would be like some kind of a wreath or a headdress of honor.

So, guys in our culture may not know what a garland is, but we do like hats.

And we like hats that show that we have status.

Crowns, for example, everybody still likes a crown.

Or the white hardhat that says that you are the boss.

And this chain around your neck? That is a status symbol, too. That is not like a prison chain. Some translations have “pendants,” that sounds too much like Pandora jewelry to me.

It is bling, though. Many guys today wear chains. Think like Mr. T!

Or the jersey of your favorite team. The jersey at the signing ceremony. Showing off what team they have just joined.

The wrestler that puts on that big belt. Holds it above his head.

10 years ago this month, I graduated with my doctorate from Westminster Theological Seminary. When you get one of those, you have to step in front of the faculty and kind of kneel and they put this stole or “hood” over you head ,and then it hangs around your neck, and it says, “Your are Dr. Mitchell now.” It is an honor.

Like the at Olympics when they place that gold medal around their necks. And they take a bite out of it show that it’s real. It’s a real honor.

I think this in verse 9 is an honor. A garland, a chain.

If you walk in the wisdom your Mom is trying to teach you, you will be blessed!

You will be rewarded. You will be recognized as wise. You will experience favor.

Your Mom’s teaching will become swag for you. Doesn’t that sound good?!

Now, why does he have to tell you that? 

It’s because it’s not obvious, right? Is everybody who walks in wisdom honored for walking in wisdom? Not right away.

Look at the Lord Jesus Christ! He was Wisdom itself. Wisdom incarnate, and not only was He not recognized for it, but He was crucified for it. The garland on his head was twisted together with thorns.

So, this blessing is not a prosperity gospel blessing. This honor is not always immediate or obvious. But it is nevertheless quite real.

If you keep walking in the wisdom of your Mom, you will wear the wisdom of your Mom. Her wisdom will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

It will be a prize all by itself. Obvious to all who have eyes to see it and forever.

Jesus is now crowned with many crowns.

Turn with me to chapter 6? Verse 20?

This phrase, “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching” appears a second time there in the book of Proverbs. I want you to look at it and see how it takes this one step further. Look at verse 20.

“My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching [same exact words in Hebrew]. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck.”

See how that’s similar?

But the emphasis here is not the honor of that decorative chain. That’s there, but it’s more than that.

Here it’s keep that teaching close to your heart. Not letting it go.

Like if you have a key that you want to keep safe, you wear it on a chain around your neck inside your shirt.

That word “bind” is the word we saw in Deuteronomy 6 for what the Israelite parents were told to do with God’s Word and their children. “Tie them as symbols on [their] hands and bind them on [their] foreheads.” Don’t let it go!

Why? What will it do? V.22

“When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life...”

Doesn’t that sound good? And doesn’t that sound familiar? It’s like what the parents were taught in Deuteronomy 6. “Impress [God’s words] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

This is saying that if you and I take Mom’s wise teachings to heart, they will guide you through all of life!

Doesn’t that sound good? Why would we walk away from that?

Why would we turn off the lamp, the light, and get off the path to life?

Well, fools do despise wisdom and discipline.

That’s why we need to be reminded, “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

Do not step off the wise path.

So, I want to do something a little different at this point in the message. I’d like your help. I’d like to hear from you.

Would you share with us something that your Christian Mom either taught you about the Lord or is teaching you about the Lord?

We have two microphones. There is one right here and one going around.

Either put up your hand or go to the mic. I’d love it if we heard from 10 or 15 you today.

This is for any disciple here, no matter how old or how young.

Last time, I said that I might put the kids on the spot and ask them what their Mom has been teaching them.

Well, today, we’re all on the spot. Would love to especially hear from some guys. What has your Mom taught you about the Lord?

[HEARING FROM CHURCH FAMILY.]

I could say a lot of things, but the one that came to mind yesterday was how my Mom taught me in many different ways about the value and valor of strong Christian women.

Christianity is not just a masculine thing. It’s not boys’ club. It’s not just about dudes.

One little way she did that was by emphasizing all of the Bible stories about women. Where women are the heroes, the heroines.

Mom was the only female in our family. We had Dad and my brother and me and then Mom. And when we went on long trips in the car, we would fill the time with lots of things, but one of them was a Bible trivia game, where we were supposed to guess what each other was thinking. “I am thinking of a Bible character whose name begins with...” And if it was J it could be Jesus or Joseph or John or whatever.

And Mom was a little predictable. She often started with “D.” I’m thinking of a Bible character whose name began with “D.” And it wasn’t David. It was Deborah or it was Dorcas. And she did R for Ruth and E for Esther and M for Mary. 

And so from a young age, I knew that the Bible was a book for strong females of faith.

And look at this amazing thing in this book that a woman is called to do!

She is called to teach the faith to the next generation!

If she is called “Mom,” she is called to raise up royalty in wisdom!

Think about that. If this is Solomon’s son, that means that he is a prince who may one day be a king whose job it will be to rule with wisdom and justice and faithfulness.

Where will he learn that? At his mother’s knee.

Moms, I can’t help but point it out, you are called to raise up royalty in wisdom, justice, and faithfulness–sons and daughters, not just of Israel’s monarch, but sons and daughters of the Living God!

That’s how important it is for you to teach your children the fear of the LORD.

But again, this passage is not written to Moms. It’s written to us kids.

And it tells us to walk in that wisdom and to not forsake it.

By the way, what is the warning of wisdom that is emphasized in Proverbs 1 and Proverbs 6?

After both of the initial calls to “not forsake your mother’s teaching,” and a description of the beauty and benefits of that teaching, there are two examples of that teaching in action.

In Proverbs 1, the parents warn their son to not take up with a gang. And in Proverbs 6, the parents warn their son to not take up with a loose woman.

One commentator I read this week pointed out that these were common temptations of young men: easy money and easy sex.

Money gained not by hard work and prudence but by violence and theft.

Sex gained not by marriage and faithful commitment, but by stolen pleasure.

The wise mother warns her son against those things and warns about the inevitable consequences of those foolish choices.

This afternoon, read chapter 1 all the way through. And read chapter 6 from verse 20 to verse 35. There is only trouble for those who take those paths. Death is at the end of those paths!

“Fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

Moms, thank you for teaching us the fear of the LORD. Keep it up!

We need it! We are, by nature, foolish, and we need your wisdom to speak into our lives–to show us the way to go and to warn us against the other way.

And all of us, let’s walk in the wisdom of our moms and keep walking in that wisdom. So that we begin to be marked by it. Visibly! People can see it in our lives.

All our Moms are fallen and fallible. None of them are perfect. 

So their teaching will not be perfect either.

Where their teaching was wrong, we need to discard and depart from it.

This is not saying that we need to unthinkingly follow Mom wherever she leads even into error or foolishness. No.

But it saying that God has given us wise Moms for a reason.

They have been given to us to teach us the fear of the LORD.

And to the degree that they do that, we need to hold on for dear life to their instruction.

Because that’s where life is!

“Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck [for safe keeping]. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life..."

Walk in the wisdom of your Mom.

And wear the wisdom of your Mom.

“Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

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[Matt's Messages] "Everywhere"

“Everywhere”
September 30, 2018
Proverbs 15:3

I fully intended to get us back into the Missions Discourse in Matthew chapter 10 this morning, but I did not reckon on being locked out of my office all week due to the mold clean-up!

By the way, I am so thankful to all of you for working together so well last week to get the mold cleaned up. From Cindy discovering it, to Marilynn running the communications, to Bob leading everything, and the Elders and the Facilities Team and the whole congregation being unified. I am so grateful to God for all of you.

I’m sorry I missed the meeting last week. Everybody told me that it was awesome. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

So, if I couldn’t get to my office to study Matthew this week, what should I preach on?

And about Thursday I decided to preach to you the same text that I preached last Sunday to the Hope Evangelical Free Church of Fertile, Minnesota.

By the way, I bring you greetings from that church. They are not a Swedish Evangelical Free Church. They are full of Norwegians! When they found out I came a historic Swedish EV Free church, one of them said, “Oh them?!” We had some fun with that.

Of course, they are pastored by an old seminary buddy of mine who used pastor in our district, Dennis Wadsworth. And Dennis is Italian, not Norwegian!

This Summer the adult class at Family Bible Week studied the Proverbs together. And we looked briefly at this one. Some of you will remember.

And my youth boys’ class knows all about Proverbs, too. And we’re going to get into Proverbs chapter 14, the chapter right before this one this coming Wednesday at 7 at Family Bible Night. So this should whet your appetites for that, guys.

Today’s message is on just one verse, a proverb.

What is a proverb?

A proverb is a special kind of biblical writing. It isn’t like other kinds of writing in the Bible. It’s not like an epistle. It’s not like Law or History or a Psalm or a Gospel.

A proverb is its own thing.

A proverb is a short statement of wisdom.

A proverb is a pithy saying in just a few lines, often just one two-lined sentence, that gives wisdom for living skillfully in God’s world.

A proverb is a short saying that is meant to make a person think about biblical living in the world that God rules.

And here’s a real key to reading and understanding and using the Proverbs:

Treat them like a piece of gum.

[Take out Wrigley’s Doublemint.  Invite everyone to start chewing.]

Some of you will remember when the adult class did this with some Lifesavers.

The way to really understand a Proverb is to chew on it. To meditate on it.

Proverbs 15:3

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

It’s best to memorize a proverb and then to just chew on it all day long.  It actually won’t lose its flavor!

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

King James:

“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”

Let’s chew on this for a while.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

How does that make you feel when you first hear it?

How does that make you feel when you hear it the second time and the third?

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

The first thing I think about are these eyes.

Does God really have eyes?

No, not in the sense that there are these great big heavenly eyeballs with divine retinas and corneas and pupils and optic nerves.

Saying “The eyes of the LORD” is using anthropomorphic language to help us to understand God.

“Anthropomorphic” is just a big word that means to use human (anthropos) traits on our level to explain some facet of God’s traits on His divine level.

And we have to stretch our human categories up to understand His categories.

He sees.
He looks.
He knows.
He has vision.

What we do when we look with our eyes, on our own level, He does when He looks with His “eyes” on His level.

“The eyes of the Lord.”

He is the God Who Sees.

“El Roi” in Hebrew (Genesis 16:13).

The God Who Sees.

Where are these eyes?

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere [or in every place], keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Everywhere.

Let’s chew on that for a little bit.

Everywhere.

Right here in this room.
And outside.
In every room in this building.
In every room in your house.
The living room.
The TV room.
The kitchen.
The den.
The bedroom.
The bathrooms.
In the medicine cabinet.
The closet.
The laundry room.
The porch.
The garage.
The shed.
In the smithy.
The chicken coop. 
The dog house.
Back in the woods.
In your neighbor’s house.
At school.
In the lunchroom.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

At your locker. Students?
In your desk.
In your backback.
On the football field, in the gynasium.

Sometimes we say, “The LORD must have been watching me!”  And He was.

But not just then and not just there.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

On the school bus.
In the backseat.
In the corner.
In the principal’s office.
In the computer lab.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

When I was chewing on this, I had this image come to mind of turning on the computer and seeing these big eyes looking back at me through the screen!

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Everywhere.

At work.
In the boardroom.
At the reception desk.
In the shop.
In the truck.
In your office.
In the hallways.

At the doctor’s office.
At the restaurant.
Out on the open road.

In the halls of power.
In the back rooms where things really get decided.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Have you ever used Google Earth?  Do you know what I’m talking about?

There is this computer program attached to Google that allows you to go just about anywhere on the planet and view composite satellite pictures of just about any spot on God’s green Earth.

Now, it’s not in real-time, so you don’t see people walking around and everything, but it’s pretty amazing how you can zoom in and see millions of places in the world–firsthand! Like something out of science fiction.

But there are places you cannot see.  And rightly so!

But God sees it all.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Does anyone here know where ROBERT WILLIAM FISHER is hiding?

Probably you don’t know who that is.

ROBERT WILLIAM FISHER is the man at the top of the FBI’s ten most wanted list.

(I know this because I looked it up on Google!)

“Robert William Fisher is wanted for allegedly killing his wife and two young children and then blowing up the house in which they all lived in Scottsdale, Arizona in April of 2001. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Robert William Fisher.”

No one knows where he is.

This man has outwitted the FBI since 2001.

No one knows where he is.

But the Lord knows where Mr. Fisher is. God is watching him right now.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Is that mind-blowing?  It should be.

It should lead us to worship God.

The theologian-word for this is omniscience. God is omniscient. He knows everything.  He sees everything.

Nothing is hidden from Him.

Hebrews 4:13 says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

This should cause us to worship. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And it’s the beginning of worship, too.

To realize that God is God-like-that, should direct our hearts to revere Him.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Now, remember, this is a proverb.

It’s not just a statement of fact.  It’s a statement of wisdom.

Now the boys in my class on Wednesday nights know one of my mantras for Proverbs. What is it?

“The Proverbs are not just informational. They are transformational.”

Proverbs 15:3 is not just here to inform us, but to transform us–to make us wise.

It’s not just “Oh that’s interesting. God see everything. How factual!”

No, we are supposed to be changed by reading Proverbs 15:3.

How are we supposed to be changed by Proverbs 15:3?

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Let’s chew on that for a little bit.

Notice that in the B-line, Solomon divides people up into two categories: the wicked and the good.

The ad guys and the good guys.

The black hats and the white hats.

The people who are against God and the people who are God’s people.

There are two paths, two ways to live.

That’s a common theme in the wisdom literature.

Now, we all know that there is a little good in all bad people (we call that common grace), and that there is still a good deal of bad in all of the saved people (we call that indwelling sin).

But there are, ultimately, just two paths, two ways to live, two kinds of people.

And God “keeps watch” on which one?

Both of them.

So, I think that meditating on Proverbs 15:3 will probably create a least 2 different applications, depending on which path you are on, or which path you are acting like you are on.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

How you encounter this verse may say something about your conscience.

For many of you, you had very happy thoughts when you first heard it.

When I first read it, I was made uncomfortable by it.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere...”

Even when I’m 225 miles from home, taking doctoral classes in Philadelphia?

I've told this story before, but it’s a good one.

About ten years ago I was a doctoral student at Westminster Theological Seminary where I did my doctoral project on gossip, and for four weeks over two years I took classes on campus there in Philadelphia.

I drove 225 miles away from home and stayed in a “foreign city.”

Almost nobody there knows me.

I can order 2 suppers at Chik-Fil-A and nobody need to know!

When I came home, Heather went through my receipts for me and put them in order and in our envelope for receipts, and she clucked at my little forays into gluttony.

Two chicken suppers?  Two sandwiches at McDonalds?  A late night snack of a PapaBurger meal at A&W?

I’m glad that she kept me accountable. [She probably needs to do that for last week’s meals, too....]

Because I felt at the time like nobody was watching.

One of my professors told a story in my classes about heading off to an airport in a foreign country and being accosted by the pornography in the bookstore of the airport while he was waiting for his plane to take off.

He said that there are no plastic wrappers, no fences to keep the porn away from people to make it hard to buy.  It’s just right there beckoning you to take it.  And here he was in a foreign country, done with teaching his classes, nothing to do and no one anywhere that knew him to keep him from doing something that he shouldn’t.

My professor reminded himself that God is everywhere. And he walked right on by it and found his seat by a window to wait for his plane.

And then, you know what happened?  The class he had been teaching had decided to all come to the airport to find this professor and see him off.

What a terrible thing it would have been for them to find him leafing through the pornography in the bookstore instead of quietly reading his book at the gate!

But whether or not the class came by, God was there!

And God is the most important person in the universe!

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

This proverb is meant to build some of the fear of the Lord in us.

Especially if we are being wicked.

We like to think that we can hide, that we can “get away” with something.

But the Bible says that we can be sure that our sins will find us out.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Friends, there is no such thing as secret sin.

Perhaps, there is something you have done that nobody but you knows about and you hope it stays that way.

But there is at least One other who knows.  He watches.  He sees.

And there will be accountability.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

The more that I chew on this proverb, though, the more I realize what good news it is!

At first it felt intrusive. That was my sinful first response.

But it’s becoming more and more comforting to me as I respond in faith.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Keeping watch on the righteous.
Keeping watch on God’s chosen.
Keeping watch on God’s children.

These are my heavenly Father’s eyes.

These are the eyes of the LORD.  Capital L-O-R-D.

Whenever you see those capital letters for LORD, what you have untranslated is the covenant name for God–YHWH.

This is God’s special name to declare His covenant faithfulness to His people.

"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

That’s Whose eyes are everywhere!
My heavenly Father’s eyes.

They are caring eyes.
They are loving eyes.
They are concerned eyes.

They are eyes that are fixed on my good!

That changes things doesn’t it?

For His children, He’s watching to help.

Are you afraid right now?

Are you attacked by all kinds of fears?

Worry, anxiety, panic attacks, spousal attacks, attacks at work–fears for yourself, your family, your job, your financial security, your health, your church, your country?

Hear this proverb:

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Maybe you’re under a heavy load right now.  Maybe you’re experiencing some persecution.  Some trouble on the job.  You’re being hurt by someone.

1 Peter 3, quoting Psalm 34 says: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.  For, ‘Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.  He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’”

He sees. And He hears. And He will act.

It might not look like the kind of action that you want or expect, but it will be right on time and best for you and me.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Maybe what you are struggling with seems small.

Maybe it’s a little decision that you need to make and you don’t think it’s worth God’s time to bring it up.  So you’re just going to worry about it instead.

He knows. He sees.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Nothing is too small for Him.  He’s watching things on the microbe level. At the sub-atomic level right now.

“The eyes of the LORD are [at the subatomic level], keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

This last summer my two oldest children got driver’s licenses.

Robin and Andrew are road legal! Stay off of the sidewalks.

And now they can get in a car and drive really far away from me, and I can’t see them.

And that’s not been that easy for dear old Dad!

I want to keep my eye on them.  I want them to back to bicycles where I could yell their names out the front door, and they would come back into view.

But they’re getting old enough that I need to allow them to spread their wings.

And this helps me as I chew on it:

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

I can’t be everywhere.

I can’t keep up with everything.

I can’t see it all and control the information and the context and the setting and the details.

When I found out about the mold last week, I got to worrying. I worried about the mold, about my books, about how the meeting back here would go.

And I had to remind myself of this very verse! Even when I was preaching it to the folks at Fertile!

I can’t see it all and control the information and the context and the setting and the details.

And that’s right. I’m just a man.

But God can. And I can trust Him with them.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Let’s put this into 2 direct points of application this morning.

Two take-homes:

#1.  REPENT.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

So, repent.

If you and I are wicked or are acting like the wicked, we need to be called up short and turn from our wicked ways.

He sees us. And we won’t get away with it.

Sometimes, we like to pretend in our vain imaginations that there are places where God does not show up!

But “The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

If you have been giving in to secret sin, this proverb is a call to repentance.

It is wisdom!

Turn.

And turn to Him.

Don’t just turn away from secret sin.  Turn to the Savior.

Confess your sins to Him.  He knows them already. You’re just going to be agreeing with Him about what they are!

And ask for help.  Ask for grace to cut off your love affair with your secret sin and live righteously!

He’ll give it!  He delights to give it.

This require faith in Jesus.

If you have not yet placed your trust in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord, now is the time to do so.

You see, God’s eyes were on Jesus, too.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

And everything God saw Jesus do was GOOD!

Jesus lived a perfect life before the face of God!

And then, God laid upon Him our sins, our transgressions, our iniquities, our secrets, our wickedness.

And, then He poured out His punishing wrath on His One and Only Son–in our place!

Jesus absorbed the justice that we deserve.

So that everyone who turns from their sins and puts their faith in Jesus are forgiven and made righteous in God’s sight.  They become “the good.”

So that the eyes of the LORD keep fatherly watch over them.  Not storing up wrath for them on the day of judgment.

But, make no mistake, if you do NOT trust Jesus as your Rescuer and King, then that’s exactly what the eyes of the LORD are doing.  They are watching your life and preparing the justice that you deserve.

Repent!

#2: TAKE HEART.

If you belong to Jesus, then Proverbs 15:3 is gospel-goodness for you.  It’s good news.

Your Heavenly Father is watching over you.

You are not an orphan.

You know, sometimes we act as if we’re all alone in the universe.

I felt alone a number of times when I was away in Philadelphia ten years ago and a few times last week in hotel rooms in Minnesota.

I’m used to 5 other inhabitants in my life–my family, especially my wife.

But was I really alone?  Ultimately alone?

No.

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

Take heart, believer!  Your Father is watching.

Chew on that.  Turn it over in your mind, again and again and again.

Let it sink into you.

One my favorite Old Testament verses is 2 Chronicles 16:9 which Marilynn put on the cover of your bulletin. Where God tells King Asa, “The eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

I get this picture of these eyes ranging through the year, searching, looking into every nook and every cranny, every heart.  And then strengthening those whose hearts who are fully committed to Him.

Let that be you and me!

“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

And that’s proverbially good news.

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[Matt's Messages] "Flawless"

“Flawless”
Family Bible Week :: July 22, 2018
Proverbs 30:1-6

We’ve had a fantastic Family Bible Week here at Lanse Free Church.

As your pastor, I’ve got to say that I am so proud of you.

It takes a whole church to put on a terrific week of Bible teaching, worship, fun, fellowship, and evangelism like that each year, and this was a really good one.

Thank you to everyone who served. It takes a big team to get this kind of Game On, and everybody played their part so well!

Next week, I hope to return to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew and maybe even finish studying The Sermon on the Mount together. We started it in February, and we haven’t even looked at it for a whole month! It’s about time we complete that loop.

But because this is Family Bible Week, and because the adult class has been studying the Proverbs all week, I thought it would be best if we were in the Book of Proverbs together today.

And this particular passage, Proverbs chapter 30 verses 1-6, is about WHY we have Family BIBLE Week in the first place.

Why do we have Family Bible Week?

Why is Bible our middle name for these events?

In the Summer, Family Bible Week.

During the school year, Family Bible Night.

And each and every Sunday, our central message come across in the preaching is the B-I-B-L-E.

Now, I’ve been to churches where there is very little preaching from the Bible.

The Bible is on display, but it isn’t central to the life of the church or to the believers in that church.

Several of you told me this week, that you had never heard the stuff we were learning in the Adult Class even though you grew up going to church!

The Bible was not opened. It wasn’t studied. It wasn’t preached. It wasn’t taught.

And you weren’t encouraged to read it for yourself!

Why is the Bible so central to our ministry here?

It’s because the Bible is God’s Word, and it is completely and absolutely trustworthy.

God’s Word can be trusted.

You can you trust your Bible.

You can take what it says to the bank.

And that’s the message of Proverbs 30, especially verses 5 and 6 today.

I want to get us to verses 5 and 6, but to truly understand them we have to get to know the person who wrote them.

His name is Agur. A-G-U-R. He’s the son of Jakeh, and that’s about all we know of him. His name doesn’t appear anywhere else in the whole Bible for us to look him up and find out more about him.

Some people think that Agur was a pseudonym for Solomon, a pen-name, but I don’t see much evidence for that.

I think he was just another person God used to reveal Himself to us, and God’s people recognized that and included his sayings in this chapter of Proverbs for us.

The Bible says that his words here in Proverbs 30 are an “oracle,” or King James, “prophecy” or as the 2011 NIV says, an “inspired utterance.” They came from God.

And verse 1 says that he spoke these words to Ithiel and Ucal whom we also don’t know anything about. Are they Agur’s sons? We don’t know.

I wish Heather and I had named a couple of our sons, Ithiel and Ucal. Wouldn’t that be fun? Which one is Ithiel and which one is Ucal?

It’s also possible by switching in different Hebrews vowels that verse 1 actually says, “This man uttered, “I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and faint.” or “I am weary God, but I can prevail.”

Biblical scholars aren’t 100% certain about which vowels belong where here because the original text didn’t have any vowels; they were just understood or implied!

But we do know one thing. Agur did not have a big head.

Agur was humble, and he did not have an inflated opinion of himself.

Listen again to how he feels about himself. V.2.

This is what he said to Ithiel and Ucal.

“I am the most ignorant of men; I do not have a man’s understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.”

Here is one great big, “Duh” coming from Agur!

That’s how he feels about himself.

Is that who you’d like to have your write your Bible for you?

Obviously, it’s who God wanted to write Proverbs 30 for us.

Actually, this is someone who has realized something profound:

On his own, he is not wise.

Let me say that again.

On his own, he is not wise.

We sang it this morning. W-I-S-D-O-M.

“Left to my own self, I always tend to go astray, but in the Bible you reveal your perfect ways. You teach me to think like you instead of being a fool.”

Agur knows that on his own, he is a fool.

He’s a brute. He’s an ignoramus.

What does Agur have here?  What is another name for this kind of humility before God?

“The fear of the LORD,” right?

That’s the beginning of knowledge. That’s the beginning of wisdom.

Agur is saying, “Don’t listen to me if what I tell you is just what I think.”

Who am I? What do I know? Nothing!

More than that, he says that’s what everyone is like down here.

What does anyone know? Really?

Who truly has wisdom here on earth?  V.4

“Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!”

What does that sound like to you?

What other book of the Bible does that sound like?

It’s also in the wisdom literature.

The Book of Job, right?

What is the answer to all of those rhetorical questions?

“Who has gone up to heaven and come down?”

What man has done that? You done that?

“Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands?”

Anybody here?

“Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak?”

Not me.

“Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!”

Some translations say, “Surely you know!” It’s a challenge.

Come on. Give me a name. Tell me who his son is!

What guy on earth has got the corner on truth and wisdom?

The answer is nobody knows anything trully and fully and comprehensively.

Nobody...but God alone.

So, if we’re going to truly know anything, we have to have a word from God.

And that sets us up to truly hear verses 5 and 6.

“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”

I don’t know diddly-squat, not really, not on my own.

But “every word of God is...flawless.”

That is such good news because we live in a very flawed world.

Have you ever felt like Agur? I sure have.

I do regularly. There is so much I don’t know and so much that I so often get wrong.

And other people fail me, too. I have some heroes, especially some pastors and theologians who are my heroes, but they have feet of clay.

The best of men are men at best, and they all make mistakes.

But “every word of God is flawless.”

That is so good to grab a hold of.

“Every word of God is flawless.”

Let’s think about that together for a few minutes.

Let’s chew on that. Ruminate on it like we’ve learned this week in our class on Proverbs.

This proverbs is a little different than some of the ones we looked at this week, but it’s still a proverb and operates in much the same way.

Let’s think about it together and turn it over in our minds.

First, “every word.”

#1. EVERY WORD!

Not just some of them. God isn’t like your best friend that you can trust most of the time.

God is absolutely trustworthy in everything He says 100% of the time. 24/7/365.25!

Every word.

Not every other word.

Every word is flawless.

Statements like this is where theologians get the phrase “plenary verbal inspiration” of the Bible.

“Plenary” means full. It means “every,” no admixture of falsehood or untrustworthiness.  Flawless through and through.

“Verbal” means words.  The Bible is inspired by God down to the very words of Scripture. Not just the ideas or the concepts but the very words of Scripture are the trustworthy words of God.

And “inspiration” means “breathed out.” From God.

Plenary Verbal Inspiration.

“Every word of God is flawless.”

Wow! That is such good news.

#2. FLAWLESS.

Now think about that for a second.

Flaw-less.

Without flaw. Perfect.

The King James and the new Christian Standard Bible translates that word as “pure.”

The English Standard Version says, “proves true.”

“Every word of God proves true.”

The picture is that of a precious metal like silver or gold that has had its dross removed. It has been heated and cooled and heated and cooled until all of the impurities have been risen to the top and been scraped off.

And what is left is 100% pure.

100% “Flawless.”
100% trustworthy.

You can trust the words of God.

Now, that doesn’t mean that there was a time when God’s word was impure or flaw-full. It didn’t go through a refining process.

Agur is saying that this just the way the Word of God is.

“Every word of God is flawless.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I understand all of the words of God.

I certainly don’t, and I don’t know anyone who does either, though there are people much wiser than I am.

But as I do come to understand God’s words, I know that I can trust them 100%.

Now, every once in a while, there is a question about which words are God’s and which ones aren’t.

We already saw in verse 1 that there are multiple ways of understanding where the vowels go which might give us a little bit of confusion at times.

And there are other places in Scripture where small copying errors have crept in over the centuries, and we have to make a judgement call about which reading is original.

But catch this! There is no major doctrine affected by any of those insignificant textual questions! Not even one. Most of the time, it’s questions like, “how many n’s are there in John’s name? One or two?”

And we have so many thousands of ancient manuscripts at our fingertips that scholars can confidently reconstruct the originals within a percentage point or so of perfect accuracy!

The Lord has so preserved His word that we have today virtually the same thing that was written thousands of years ago.

“Every word of God is flawless.”

Don’t let somebody tell you that the Bible is full of errors.

If they do, ask them which ones and then look them up.

I have done that again and again, and I have found that “Every word of God is flawless.”

Now, I don’t always find the answer the tough questions, and there are tough questions.

But the problem, it seems to me, rests in my understanding of the solutions, not in the words of God.

“Every word of God is flawless.”

Now, let me say a word about translations.

Here’s what the words of Proverbs 30, verse 5 are:

 כָּל־אִמְרַ֣ת אֱל֣וֹהַּ צְרוּפָ֑ה מָגֵ֥ן ה֝֗וּא לַֽחֹסִ֥ים בּֽוֹ׃

The Bible wasn’t written in English.

It was written in Hebrew, a little bit of Aramaic, and in Greek.

Those are the words of God that are flawless.

And the closer an English translation gets to capturing the meaning of those words, the better the translation is.

But because Hebrew and Greek are not the same as English, and because English changes throughout the years, it will take many English translations for us to “get” what is embedded in the flawless words of God of Proverbs 30, verse 5.

What you have in your hands is the Word of God written.

And it is authoritative for life.

Because of the work of faithful translators, we can trust that we are reading the flawless words of God translated into our own heart language.

That’s awesome!

Some translations are better than others.

But most of the major translations are very very good.

Different translators have different translation philosophies. It’s important to understand what the philosophy is of the translation that you are using.

Some are emphasizing, for example, a more wooden literal word for word translation which tends to make it sound like Greek in English. It’s bad English, but it preserves more of the word-for-word literalness.

The NASB is like that. Very good, very wooden.

On the other side are translations that emphasize a more “thought for thought” approach to translation. And they are often called more “dynamic” translations that still believe that the very words of God are flawless, but that it will take different words in English to convey the very words of God from Hebrew in a thought-for-thought manner.

On the far end of that spectrum is the Living Bible which was a paraphrase. Or the New Living Translation. Those are the most dynamic in their approach.

They are very readable. You might lump “The Message” in there, too, but I don’t think that is really a paraphrase even; it’s more like an artistic reinterpretation.

Those are good to read, but I probably wouldn’t use them for studying.

What would I use?

Well the King James Version is always very good.

The King James Version is over 400 years old and going strong! Long Live King James!

And it has proven to be an incredible translation of God’s Word.

I refer to it each week as I study. It has been a true gift to the church.

I think there are places where it can be improved in its textual basis and especially in its modern English.

Sometimes we don’t know what it’s talking about because we don’t speak that English anymore.

But it’s a good translation. As is the New King James which took out some of the thees and thous and other ancient language that we don’t use and neither did the authors of Scripture.

The translation my wife uses is the English Standard Version or ESV.

I’ve been reading that, too, for the last fifteen years. It’s more on the word-for-word side of things, and its translators have tried to keep the feel of the King James while giving the best of up-to-date faithful scholarship to the translation.

It’s the version that we’ve been using in the Gospel Project in Sunday School the last 3 years.

I highly recommend the ESV, and if I were starting my preaching ministry today, I might preach from it each week.

(By the way, it’s free on your phone or device.)

For the last twenty years, I have been preaching from the NIV, the New International Version of the Bible.

For many years it was kind of our central Bible currency here at Lanse Free.  How many are looking at an NIV right now?

I really have felt like it’s been in the dead center on the spectrum between readability and accuracy.

So, that’s why I picked that one. It’s also been very popular.

And I’ve been preaching out of this copy which has the version published in 1984.  It originally came out in 1973 (when I was born), then was updated in 1978, and then found it’s final form in 1984.

And then in 2011, the Committee on Bible Translation published an updated version also called the NIV.

Does anybody know if they have the 2011 NIV? How many know that they have a newer one?

The 2011 NIV has a slightly different translation philosophy than the 1984 version and a number of significant changes to it because the translators believe that English has changed significantly since 1984.

We don’t talk like we did back in 1984. And we don’t understand English like we did back in 1984.

So there is a newer NIV. It’s actually 7 or 8 years old now. It’s a really good translation, and I expect to start preaching some from it over time.

It’s the one that we’ve been giving to the graduates for the last several years.

Another new Bible translation that just came out last year is the Christian Standard Bible or the CSB. It’s also a full scale update of a version called the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

It’s a lot like the NIV to me. Very readable and very accurate.

You know the musician, Michael Card? He wrote “El Shaddai” and that song the choir sang at Easter called “Why?”

He was the word stylist for the whole CSB so that it reads so fluidly.

I’ve been using the CSB Study Bible as I preach through the Gospel of Matthew, and I find it very helpful.

The Catch the Word memory verse we did this week for Family Bible Week was from the CSB, and our new Sunday School materials this Fall will also be using the CSB.
It’s good stuff.

What I want to emphasize is that all of these translations are good and faithful.

The scholars who have done the work of translating God’s Word believe that “every word of God is flawless,” and their work reflects that.

Not that they agree at every point. That would be great, but it’s not happened yet.

But they all agree that “every word of God is flawless,” and that we should not tamper with it.

That’s the point of verse 6:

“Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”

#3. DON’T CHANGE THEM!

Agur says, “You don’t want to go there.”

You don’t know squat.
I don’t know squat.

We should not presume to add to God’s words!

Now, obviously, at this point the Bible wasn’t completed, and Agur was adding to God’s words by speaking these words to Ithiel and Ucal.

But his words here were God’s words, too.

And Agur doesn’t go out on his own spreading his own wisdom, his own truth, his own ideas, his own concepts into the world.

“Do not add to his words, or [God] will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”

That’s serious stuff.

Have the fear of the LORD!

I don’t want to be rebuked by God for adding in my own 2 cents.

How scary is that?

How would you like the Lord to say to you, “You are a liar!”

There will be foolish preachers who will have to hear God say that to them on the day of judgment. “You liars! Why did you speak those words in my name?!”

I would not want to be in their shoes.

Every word of God is flawless.

Don’t mess with it.

Don’t add to it, and other Scriptures says, “Don’t take away from it.”

Don’t change those words.

Don’t confuse His meaning and throw in your own stuff.

Don’t say, “He can’t mean that (for the thing He does mean) and change it to suit your own desires.”

Don’t change those words.

What should we do with it?

Trust it!

#4. TAKE REFUGE IN HIM.

Look at v.5 again.

“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

Agur is quoting and riffing on King David.

The Bible loves to quote the Bible.

It’s from Psalm 18, verse 30.

David sings, “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”

Now, let’s do a Proverbs analysis of verse 5.

Like we did all week in the adult class.

The Hebrews liked to what?

Repeat themselves. Hebrew Parallelism.

Where would you divide this one up? Is there and A line and a B line?

A. Every word of God is flawless.

B. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Is one a wise line and one a foolish line?

What is the relationship between the A line and B line?

They are saying the same thing. A = B.

Or better yet, “A what is more B.”

Do you see that? The second line is saying the same thing as the first line.

They are both wise lines because they are both about God.

I love how the focus shifts from the words of God to the author of those words.

God’s words are trustworthy because God is trustworthy.

In fact, He is a shield.

He is a safe place to hide behind.

What He has said is safe to believe.

Let me say that again.

What God has said is safe to believe.

“He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

Is that just good information?

No.

The proverbs are not just informational they are...transformational.

Agur wants you to take refuge in the LORD.

Because every word of God is flawless.

This is how we say it in our EFCA Statement of Faith. It’s point #2 about the Bible.

“We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.”

Amen?

That’s why we have Family BIBLE Week every year!

That’s why we have an adult class at Family Bible Week.

That’s why I preach from the B-I-B-L-E.

So that we can go get the wisdom that we need for life.

This is a glorious thing to hang onto.

What are you going to do about it?

Read your Bible!

If every word of God is flawless, why wouldn’t we read our Bibles?

I talk to people all of the time who say that they pray, but they don’t read their Bibles.

That’s a one-sided relationship!

Imagine a friendship where only one of you talks and the other person just listens. And never the other way around.

How about I stop listening to you and just talk from now on?

Sure there is a time for talking. God wants us to pray!

But He wants us to listen, too.

It’s a two-way relationship.

Read your Bible.

And believe what it says and do what it says.

Take Refuge in the Author of the Bible.

What is your plan for meeting with God over the pages of Scripture this week?

I’ve tried to show our adult class how they could just take one proverb a day and meet with God over that one proverb and how good that would be for growing in the art of living skillfully.

Of knowing the right thing to do in a given situation.

Of being a wise person.

Take Refuge in the Author of the Bible.

July is birthday month for our family. Heather has a birthday. Robin has a birthday. She just turned 18! Peter has a birthday. He just turned 15 last week. Isaac has a birthday. He just turned 14 and was one of our teachers for Family Bible Week.

I can’t believe how old they are all getting. Drew will be 17 in December.

There was supposed to be another July birthday in our family.

Her name was Charis, and she would have turned 19 this month if we had got to keep her.

Back in 1999, Heather was six months pregnant with a very active little girl.

And the worst thing we could imagine happened. The little girl died in her Mommy’s womb.

We realized that something was wrong and took a painful ride to a hospital to confirm our worst suspicions. I have never cried so hard or so long. I just talked to the teens at Challenge about that terrible day.

We drove back home. Heather was induced, and we held our little one in our arms for the first and the last time.

We named her Charis.

It means grace. Because she was grace to us.

How do I know that?

Because of God’s words.

In that time of terror and sadness and grief, Heather held onto Romans 8:32.

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

That’s God’s word.

And it was our refuge.

If we didn’t know Romans 8:32, then we would have been lost in our grief.

But we knew then and we know now that, “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these he has given us very great and precious promises...” (2 Peter 3:1-2a).

And they will call come true.

“Every word of God is flawless, he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

I am the most ignorant of men; I do not have a man’s understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy One.

I have not gone to heaven and come down.
I have not gathered up the wind in the hollow of my hand.
I have not wrapped up the waters in my coat.
I have not established the ends of the Earth.

I don’t know why my daughter died!

But I know that every word of God is flawless, and I know that he is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.


***

Readers with good memories might recall an earlier version of this sermon, preached in April of 2012.

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Resources for Digging for Wisdom in the Proverbs

Digging for Wisdom is Necessary. Shovels Are Optional.
Miracle Mountain Ranch

My boys and I just got back from Miracle Mountain Ranch's 2018 Father/Son Retreat. We had a great time at "Man Camp" where they shoot stuff, eat stuff, ride horses, and study our Bibles together. The folks at MMR do a wonderful job of putting a classy event each year.

I had the privilege of speaking 3 times on "Digging for Wisdom in the Proverbs," and I showed the guys how I use the Proverbs each week to uncover treasures of wisdom in our Youth Boys' Class at Family Bible Night. I believe that Proverbs are written as they are as a divine gift, especially to fathers, to disciple their sons. I was encouraged to hear from several of the dads that they are going to begin studying Proverbs together with their sons after learning how this weekend.

I promised the guys a list of some of the best resources out there on the Proverbs, so here it is:

1. Pass It On: A Proverbs Journal for the Next Generation. This unique resource was created by my friend Champ Thornton for Dads to dig into the Proverbs themselves and then transfer what they've learned to their children. The introduction itself, "A Bird's-Eye View of the Proverbs" is worth the price of the book--and right now you can get it for free by downloading the samples at Westminster Bookstore!.

2. After Thornton, the next level book I'd recommend is Derek Kidner's commentary on Proverbs. Every time I teach on Proverbs, I consult Kidner's precise, concise, and incisive words.

3. I first learned how the Proverbs worked by taking a class from Ray Ortlund at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In his commentary, Dr. Ortlund gives a master class in both understanding and applying the message of the book.

4. When I was writing Resisting Gossip, my constant companion at my right hand was Bruce Waltke's magisterial two volume commentary on the Proverbs. I probably quoted Dr. Waltke (one of the translators of the original NIV including the Proverbs) more than any other commentator for my doctoral project. As I told the guys this weekend, if your pastor doesn't have it already, then splurge and buy him volume one or volume two ... or both!

5. And if you are an audio learner, Dr. Waltke has recorded a series of lectures available for free at Biblical Training. This is top-shelf stuff.

Ok. No excuses now. The resources are all there. Let's get digging.

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[Matt's Messages] "Co-Workers"

“Co-Workers”
Working for the Lord - Fall 2015
November 29, 2015 :: Philippians 1:1-11

This is our second-to-last sermon in our series called “Working for the Lord,” where we’ve been exploring what the Bible says about what we spend most of our time doing each week.

It’s been so good to hear from so many of you that this series has helped you at your work all Fall. And I hope that it continues to bear fruit.

Even though this series will end next Sunday, Lord-willing, I plan to not continue to bring applications to our work-lives just about every Sunday from now on. I’ve been convicted that there needs to be a closer connection in application between what we  read on Sunday mornings and what we live out Monday through Saturday.

So, listen each week, even after this series is over, for more direct applications of how the truths we discover in our Bibles on Sunday mornings get lived out at work on Monday mornings.

And I was serious when I said last week that I’d like to visit you at your workplace. I’ve come to understand that my job as your pastor is more than just shepherding in homes and hospitals but also in the marketplace.

I’d love to drop by your job and learn more about what you do and also to pray for you there. And to meet your co-workers.

Co-workers are the subject of today’s message. Last week, I said that many of you in the sermon surveys have asked for wisdom on relating to your teammates on the job.

So that’s what today’s message is all about, and we’re going to study the first eleven verses of Philippians chapter 1 to gain some wisdom on that.

But first, there is another group of workers that I’d like to recognize.

Every week in this series, we’ve been asking different kinds of workers to stand and be celebrated for your unique contribution to the common good and for your calling to work for the Lord and not for men.

Last week, we asked everyone who interacts directly with the public to stand.

Today, I want to do the opposite. I want to ask the folks who often work in the back room to stand.

And here I’m thinking of IT professionals. Information technology folks.  Tech folks. Office workers. And management people. Folks that often sit in a back room and have to make out schedules and balance the checkbook and make personnel decisions.  You may not be the face or voice of the company, but if you folks in the back rooms don’t do your job, then nothing works, and no one gets paid. You are often the unseen engine that empowers the company.

Would you back-room-type folks please stand and be recognized?

Thank you!  Thank you for your contribution.

And thank you for serving the Lord in your work. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Whether anybody else notices it or not, thank you for doing your job for Him and for His glory.

And thank you for putting up with your co-workers!

I know that’s not always easy.

Most of us have co-workers.

There are a few people whose work alone, completely alone, but most of us have some kind of a team that we do our work with.

Now, maybe our co-workers do a very different part of the job than we do. Some are front office and some are back office. Some are labor and some are management.

But most of us have other people that we do our work with. We work on some kind of a team.

And when that team is working well together, it can be terrific.

That was the apostle Paul’s experience with his gospel-sharing team, wasn’t it?

Verses 1 through 8 of our text for today reveal how deeply thankful Paul was for the team he was on.

When Paul sat down for Thanksgiving like we all did on Thursday and counted his blessings, his co-laborers in Christ were near the top of his list. V.1 again.

“Paul and Timothy, servants [together] of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons [the leadership there]:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy [why?] because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

I had a missionary friend send me these very verses this week to express his thanksgiving that we are in partnership with him in his gospel work.

Whenever Paul thought about his co-workers at Phillippi, he was thankful.

Whenever Paul thought about his partners in his work, he was filled not just with confidence that God would complete His work in them, but gratitude that they got to work together for the Lord.

Does that describe you and your situation?

Now, Paul was talking specifically about gospel work here. This is the work of the church. This is missions.

But the principle carries over into our vocations, as well, doesn’t it?  Because all of our work is ministry, right? At least it should be, because it is the same Lord Christ we are serving on all of our jobs.

So, it is possible to feel this way about our co-workers today.

And I know that many of you do. I see your posts on social media about how thankful you are to work with so many great people each day.

I see you celebrate the accomplishments of your teams at work, and my heart rejoices with you that you have something good to exult in and teammates to exult with.

Look at see how much Paul felt it. V.7

“It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

That last phrase in the Greek is literally, “with the entrails of Christ Jesus.”

“I love you guys with all of Jesus’ guts!”

And that’s how I feel about you all here. Because we are all co-workers in the gospel just like Paul and the Philippians.

So when that team is working well together, it can be terrific.

But it doesn’t always work that way, does it?

What about the times when it’s difficult to get along with your co-workers?

Last week, I joked that the sixth commandment was about dealing with co-workers, “Thou shall not murder.”

A number of you have asked for help with dealing with difficult co-workers in the survey sheets that we put out.

I got this email the other day, (mostly tongue-in-cheek, I hope), “How do we work for the Lord and maintain our level of compassion and Christianity when all we want to do is strangle our co-workers!? And now, you have a glimpse of my work week, too...”

I assume that many of you can relate to that question.

Sometimes it’s not the work that’s so hard, it’s who we have to work with.

So, what do you with a difficult co-worker?

The answer is, “It depends.”

Right?  I mean what kind of a difficult co-worker do you have?

What is the situation? What is your relationship with that co-worker? How often do they do what they do that is problematic?  Is it just annoying or is it sinful and wrong?

Is it unethical and immoral? Or is it just a way of doing things differently than how you would do it?

Is it how they dress or act? Is it how they act on the job or how they act when they are not on the job, but you have to deal with them there?

What drives their difficult behaviors? What is the root problem?

And what is your responsibility to them? What are you expected to do or not do?

You see how it depends?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to those questions.

I wish I could say, “Here’s how you deal with a difficult co-worker in six easy steps.”

But life is messier than that.

And the Bible’s wisdom is richer than that, as well.

It depends. So what you need is wisdom.

And the Bible says that there are two main ways to get wisdom.

One is to dig for it in God’s Word.
And two is to pray that God would give it to you.

And those are not mutually exclusive.

Dig for wisdom in God’s Word and pray that God would graciously grant it to you.

So, if you’re having trouble on the job with your co-workers, you should be ransacking your Bible for wisdom.

And let me recommend to you especially the book of Proverbs.

The book of Proverbs is chock full of wisdom for relating to difficult co-workers. The Proverbs have a word for folks like that. It calls them “the fool.”

And sometimes we act like the fool, and sometimes interact with others who are being foolish.

I highly recommend that you go through the book of Proverbs and underline every verse that says how to relate to a fool. You will find all kinds of wisdom for on the job. How to answer a fool, how not to answer a fool, how and when to send a fool on an mission or with a message. How to talk to a fool and how not to talk to one. What to share with them and what not to.

And how to not be a fool. Very important that we ourselves not become the difficult co-workers who are so hard to work with! Like the slacker/sluggard, right?

Don’t be that guy.

So, again, if you are struggling to work with a difficult co-worker, then the book of Proverbs is your friend.  “Dig-in, dig-in, dig-in like you’re searching for gold!”

But don’t just read your Bible. Talk with the Author, as well.

The second way the Bible says to get the wisdom we need is to ask God for it.

That’s what James says, right, in his first chapter?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

And that’s also where Paul goes next in verses 9 through 11 of Philippians 1.

Paul explains what he regularly prays for the Philippian church, and somewhat surprisingly, it’s a prayer for wise love. Or what I’ve often called “smart love.”

Because even though Paul was experiencing gratitude and joy for his partnership  in ministry with the Philippians, the Philippians themselves were experiencing some level of conflict within their church.

We talked about this a few weeks ago when we read chapter 2 together and talked about our attitude at work. That we need to develop a servant attitude and not complain and a grumble.

It appears that two key lady leaders at Philippi were in a quarrel with one another. Chapter four gives us their names of Euodia and Syntyche. And there were probably others there who were struggling to get along with each other.

It was one of the reasons why Paul wrote this letter to them, to try to help them to work it out.

The Philippians needed God to give them wisdom for loving each other.

Let’s read verses 9 through 11.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God.”

Point number one of three this morning:

#1. PRAY FOR A GROWING “SMART LOVE.”

In dealing with difficult co-workers, we need to be regularly praying to God that He would grant us a growing and wise kind of love.

You see that in verse 9. Paul says that he prays, “that your love may abound more and more”–so that’s where I get “growing.”

Paul prays that they would not have a small love but a big love and an increasingly larger love.

Do you pray that?

Do you pray that you would love your difficult co-workers?

We should.

Not just the ones that we enjoy. They are easy to love.

And not just the co-workers who are basically okay but annoying.

Our Lord Jesus said that we are to love our enemies.

And that’s not just ISIS.

That’s loving the co-worker who stabs you in the back when you aren’t watching.
That’s loving the co-worker who is vying for your job.
That’s loving the co-worker who took credit for your work.
That’s loving the co-worker who said those nasty things about you last week.

Our Lord Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45a).

And it makes sense that we would pray for ourselves that we our love for them would grow.

One of our prayer requests should be that our love would be larger today than it was last year.

Do you love others on the job more today than you did a year ago?

The word for “abound” here in verse 9 is “periseuo.” That’s the root word that I once demonstrated by over-filling a cup of water up here on the stage.  It means to be full to overflowing.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may [overflow] more and more in knowledge and depth of insight...”

That’s what I call “smart love.”

We don’t tend to put those things together, smart and love, but they absolutely should go together.

The Greek word for love here is “agape,” and that’s the word that the New Testament writers go to the most to describe the kind of sacrificial love that God demonstrated for us in Christ and that we are to grow in for others.

1 Corinthians 13 love.

David Powlison calls it, “contra-conditional love.” Love that goes against all expectations and deserts.  He says that it’s better than un-conditional love! This is a love that shows commitment even though the person being loved not only does nothing to deserve it, the person being loved actually does things to deserve the opposite than love.

This is a love that is committed to what is best for the other person regardless of the personal cost.  Regardless of the sacrifice.

A love that goes beyond feelings (even in spite of feelings) to commitment.

And Paul prays that this growing love would be...smart.

That their love would “abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight...”

A growing, SMART kind of love.

Now, we don’t normally think about love being smart or dumb. We tend to think about it being either hot or cold or somewhere in between.

But Paul prays that the Philippians love would be SMART.  They would love in knowledge.  They would love (King James says,) “in all judgment.” In depth of insight. A SMART kind of love.

What’s that mean?

Well, think for a second about the opposite. Not just a sentimental kind of love, not just a dumb, bland love, not just a mushy love that doesn’t know what it’s trying to accomplish.

This is a love that has its head about it. This is a love that knows what it’s doing. This is a smart love, a wise love, a love that can really achieve its aim.

Do you see why that’s the kind of love that we need on the job?

Love that knows what it’s doing.

Have you ever struggled to know HOW to love someone?

I sure have. Lots of times.

I often say, “I don’t know where to start with so-and-so.”

I know that my job is to love the, but I don’t know how.

I maybe even feel love for them but I don’t know the best way to express it. What would really help them?  What would really hit the spot?

Paul says that we need to be praying for that.

This is a prayer that we would grow in our ability to know how to love intelligently.

To love wisely.  To love in knowledge and depth of insight.

So that (v.10) “you may be able to discern what is best.”

How often do we do that about our work?

How often do we do that about our relationships with our co-workers?

I think that most of the time, we pray that our co-workers would smarten up, but this is a prayer that we would smarten up and be better able to love them well.

Why is this smart-love so important?  Paul gives 2 main reasons, and they are our last two points.

One is super important for us and the other is ultimately important in the universe.

#2. SO THAT WE WOULD GROW IN CHRISTLIKENESS.  V.10

We should pray for a growing-smart love for our co-workers so that WE would grow in Christlikeness. V.10

“[And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,] so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God.”

Notice the “so that” in v.10.  This smart-love makes us able to discern. Or literally to “prove and approve and choose” what is best. Not just what is good, but what is best.

Remember, the “good” is often the enemy of the “best.”

And this is a prayer that we would be able to smart-love in such a way as to recognize the best. What is excellent. What is the most suitable, the most favorable, the most God-pleasing, the wisest, the best thing to chose.

And then, to chose that in such a way that we live (v.10) “pure and blameless until [or  “in view of”] the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.”

This is growing in Christlikeness.

Paul prays that the Philippians would grow in smart love so that they would more and more look like Jesus.

Jesus, more than anyone, has smart-love. He always knew what to say, what to feel, what to do, how to love in knowledge and depth of insight.

Jesus, more than anyone, was pure and blameless.  He was totally holy and perfect in every way.

Jesus, more than anyone, was filled with the fruit of righteousness.  His words, His actions, His choices, His behaviors, His fruit was perfectly characterized by righteousness.

So, this smart-love that we’re supposed to pray for produces Christlikeness.

And we’re supposed to pray that we would grow in that until (towards) the day of Christ. The day when Christ’s glory is fully revealed.

We should pray this way (for a growing smart love) so that we would grow in Christlikeness.

And what would that do on our jobs?

It would point people to Jesus, wouldn’t it?

If you and I, as servants, looked more and more like our Master, our co-workers would be more and more drawn to our Master.

What does He look like?

Well, take the fruit of the Spirit for one.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

That’s what we will look like if we are becoming like Christ. And if we follow the wisdom that God has given for us live out.

Often, the co-workers that have been given to us are for our sanctification.

God has providentially provided these particular co-workers so that we would pray for smart love and grow in that love so that we would become holy in new ways, ways that we weren’t before.

Pure and blameless.

Filled with the fruit of righteousness.

In ways that we never would have been if God hadn’t plunked us down with these particular co-workers.

Does that help at all?

It doesn’t mean that they aren’t difficult. They can be really bad.

But it does mean that God wants to use even them to refine you.

That’s what we ought to pray!

Let give you some good news before we look at point #3.

This work of producing Christlikeness in you is God’s work. And if you belong to God, He’s committed to doing it in you!

I love this little phrase that is easy to miss in v.11.  It’s this one, “filled with the fruit of righteousness THAT COMES THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.”

The Lord is the one that is doing this work!  We are called to pray and to cooperate. But God is doing it.  Remember verse 6.

“...He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Who began the work?  God did.

Who carries it to completion?  God does!

When is the work done? Today?  “Until (or towards) the day of Christ Jesus.”

That’s the same day that our purity and blamelessness is aimed at.

That’s the same Christ who is producing in us the fruit of righteousness. It comes from Him and it is for Him.  And we can rest on Him to produce it in us.

V.11 again.  “...the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.”

And notice how much!  “Filled.”

Normally, we’d say “bearing the fruit of righteousness.”

But Paul doesn’t just see one apple on the fruit tree. Paul sees God producing a bucket-full of fruit from the work of Jesus in our lives! An orchard-full of fruit. “Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.”

You might be discouraged today that you haven’t grown on the job like you think you should. But I want to encourage you, if you belong to Jesus, He is busy completing His good work that He has begun in you.  He wants to fill you with good fruit for His day.

Why?

There is a more ultimate reason that we pray this way than to just grow in Christlikeness and spiritual maturity. It’s God’s glory.  V.11

“[And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ]–TO THE GLORY AND PRAISE OF GOD.”

#3. SO GOD WOULD GET THE GLORY AND PRAISE.

We should pray for this growing smart love for our co-workers in order that when all is said and done God would get the praise and the glory from our life and our work.

This is the ultimate reason for Jesus’ work in our life. And it should be the ultimate motive in our prayers and our growth in Christlikeness and our relationships with oru co-workers and our work.

That God would get the ultimate in praise and glory forever.

Is that why you go to work?

Is that why you relate to your co-workers?

It’s not just to pay the bills.

It’s not just to get things done.

It’s so that God gets the praise and glory that He deserves forever and ever.

That perspective changes everything doesn’t it?

So that difficult co-worker is not just there to give you trouble.

He or she is not even just there so that you could grow in Christlikeness while you relate to them in love.

They are there, ultimately, so that when you respond with smart-love and grow in your ability to discern what is best, and become like Jesus, God gets the glory for it all.

If that’s your every day goal in your working relationships, then you can’t go wrong.

You may not know how to fix things and things may not get better.

But God will get the glory, and that’s what counts the most for all eternity.


***

Messages in this Series

01. Working for the Lord
02. Is Work - Good Or Bad?
03. Why Work?
04. Working at Witnessing
05. Get to Work!
06. Work and Rest
07. Called to Work
08. Prayer at Work
09. Your Attitude at Work
10. Working in the Name of the Lord
11. Love at Work
12. Co-Workers

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