(This sermon is a first-person sermon that I preached for Christmas. A first-person sermon is a sermon in which the preacher speaks from the viewpoint of one of the characters in the story. In this sermon, I was speaking as one of the shepherds in Luke 2:1-20).
Good morning to all of you! I’m so excited to be here with you at Christmastime to have the opportunity to tell you about what I experienced back on that first Christmas day. I know that many of you have probably heard about my story before from reading it in the Bible, but hopefully I can help you understand what took place just a little better.
I always enjoy every opportunity that I get to think back on the events of that day. The whole story is so extraordinary, I’m not sure I would have believed it if I hadn’t been part of it. God sure works in funny ways sometimes!
Let me get right down to the events of that Christmas night. My relatives and I were pasturing our flocks out in the fields surrounding Bethlehem. I did a little research on your area before I came today and I discovered that Bethlehem at that time was about the size of a town east of here called Pratt. Its claim to fame was that it was the hometown of King David, and that connection certainly played into the events of that first Christmas.
The whole area was chaotic on that day because of all the people who had travelled to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census. Most of my people resented Rome and its census, and especially the taxes that went along with all of it. We had a rather uneasy peace with Rome at that time. They had controlled our land for several decades, but they did keep things peaceful in our area, and they let us practice our own religion. Their puppet-king, Herod, even made some beautiful renovations to our Temple in Jerusalem. That was all better treatment than my people had received under the Greeks, but we still longed for our freedom.
Anyway, on that first Christmas there were probably three times as many people as normal in Bethlehem, and we had heard from some travelers that all of the inns in town were full. People were getting shelter anywhere they could find it. It was quite a scene, but for us shepherds, it was a fairly ordinary day. We were settling down for the night, and we certainly didn’t expect any excitement. Shepherding was usually a fairly boring job. Just imagine if you never built fences for your cattle, and instead you had to sit in the field all day and make sure none of them wandered off! The hours passed by pretty slowly at times, so many of us played music to pass the time. Many of us had a flute, or even a lyre, which was a small, stringed instrument. I like to think that I could have played the flute for any king west of the Euphrates—not that a shepherd like me would ever get to meet a king!
That night we were taking turns on watch through the night hours, and during my watch, there was a moment all of a sudden where I was surrounded by a brilliant light. It was like the sun had risen in the middle of the night, and in the same instant I saw a being in front of me. I had never seen an angel before, but I had heard the descriptions of them from the holy men in the Scriptures, so I knew this had to be one of the Lord’s messengers. My relatives had woken up from the light, and we were all terrified! What did this angel want with us?
But quickly after he appeared, the angel spoke to us and said, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.” He had come in peace, and he had come to speak to us with a message of great joy for our people! But why hadn’t God sent him to the Pharisees or the Sanhedrin? Why was this angel here to talk to a bunch of shepherds?
You see, people didn’t have a very high opinion of us at that time. We took great pride in our work, but honestly it didn’t take extraordinary skill. You didn’t need much education or training to be a shepherd, so people weren’t exactly impressed with us. Oftentimes, people would give their children the job of watching the sheep. You might remember that King David was the youngest of all his brothers, and what job did they tell him to do? Watch the sheep! It was a job given to those who weren’t thought to be capable of much else.
Not only that, but the religious leaders like the Pharisees really didn’t think much of us because we couldn’t follow all of the traditions that they said were necessary for obeying the Law of Moses. How could we carefully wash our hands before eating while we were out in the field? How could we avoid diseased things when we had to care for our sick animals? We couldn’t follow their traditions, so they declared us “unclean” and wouldn’t let us participate in worship at the Temple.
I guess they had forgotten that some of the greatest heroes of our nation were shepherds! I already mentioned King David, and there was Moses, too! He was a shepherd when God called him to return to Egypt. The prophet Amos was a shepherd, too. Not only that, but the Lord in the Scriptures called Himself a shepherd for His people!
But none of that mattered—people still didn’t think very highly of us, but that was okay. Still though, I can’t figure out why God would send His angel to announce this news to us! We were pretty insignificant in society. God sure works in funny ways sometimes! I guess it all reminds me of what our brother Paul wrote in his letter to our brothers and sisters in Corinth: “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV).”
The fact that the angel came to talk to us was pretty amazing, but what he said next was even more incredible! After he greeted us, he said, “today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord.” The Messiah had been born! God had promised for so long to send Him to us, and now He was here! God had spoken of Him so many times through the holy men of old. Many years before, our father Jacob had said to his son Judah, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him (Genesis 49:10 NET).” And then God spoke to King David through the prophet Nathan and said, “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12–13 NASB).” And then Isaiah the prophet said, “a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this (Isaiah 9:6-7 NASB).” And then the prophet Zechariah spoke of a time of trouble for Jerusalem, but he said “In that day [the Lord’s] feet will stand on the Mount of Olives…and the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him…and the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day that Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one (Zechariah 14:4a, 5b, 9 NASB).”
We had been waiting so long for God’s chosen One, the Messiah, to come, and now, the angel said, he had been born! And then the angel said, “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough.” Yes, yes, okay—so first we find this baby in a feeding trough, and then where do we find the Messiah? But then it dawned on me—the baby in the feeding trough IS the Messiah!!! Wow! God sure works in funny ways sometimes!
What is the Messiah doing lying in a feeding trough? He is to be the king over all nations, and is this how He is born into the world? I’ll bet King Herod was wrapped in Egyptian cotton when he was born, but a manger, for the MESSIAH!? And what kind of family was he born into? They didn’t even have enough money to pay someone to open their home to a pregnant woman!? I know there were a lot of travelers in town, but a little bit of money will open some space pretty quickly! I guess what our brother Paul wrote to the Corinthians really was true: “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, that though he was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9 NASB).”
And how is it that we should see the Messiah as a little baby? We knew from the Scriptures that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), but none of us expected to see Him as a little baby! Our rabbis told us that no one would know who He was until He burst onto the scene as a victorious conqueror. We were told that He would live in hiding until He was ready to reveal Himself, and then on one glorious day, He would reveal Himself with miracles and defeat all of our enemies with one fell swoop, and then set up His kingdom. How was it, then, that we could see Him as a little baby and meet His family? This really confused some of my people later on, after Jesus began to preach. They said of Him, “we know where this man is from; but whenever the Messiah may come, no one knows where He is from (John 7:27 NASB).” At least, that’s the way that people expected it to happen.
Well, it didn’t take us long to decide to go and see this Child. We made our way quickly to Bethlehem and checked the stables until we found this young couple with their baby swaddled and lying in a feeding trough. What a surprise that was! There was certainly nothing royal about this family, nothing stately or majestic. They were just a travel-weary young couple trying to make do with a new baby in a barn! God sure works in funny ways sometimes!
And the Child! There was nothing different about Him. I don’t know what I expected, but I guess I just thought He might be different somehow. But we knew all that the angel had told us, and we believed it. There was a small crowd that had gathered there, and we told them everything that the angels had told us. They were all very excited, but the boy’s mother just remained kind of quiet. She seemed to be glad that we had come, but you could tell she was just thinking about all of this. What a thing to wrap your mind around—that your child was the Messiah!
We stayed as long as we could, but we did have to get back to our sheep, so after a little while we went back to the field, but as you can imagine we didn’t get much sleep that night. We kept talking about all of these things and praising God for everything that He had allowed us to see and hear. I think the feelings of everyone involved with that first Christmas were summed up well by the Child’s relative, Zacharias, when he said through the Holy Spirit: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant--As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old--Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US; To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. [He will] give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:68-79 NASB).”
Every time I think about that first Christmas, the thought that comes to my mind is this—God kept His promise! He sure worked in some funny ways, but He did what He said He would do. That’s the lesson that I will always take away from Christmas.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
No Man is An Island--Proverbs series
There is an old saying which states, “No man is an island.” This statement reminds us that we do not live in isolation—we were not created to do so, nor can we ever really disconnect from other people. Our lives are much more like the ocean that surrounds an island. Underneath the waves and the surf of the ocean is a world that humans are just beginning to understand. Numerous plant and animal species live together in a shared habitat that unites them all, and through a complex web of relationships they are interdependent on each other.
Ocean life is a much more accurate picture of our existence than an island. We are all connected to other people through a vast number of relationships. But unlike ocean life, we are not just connected to others through biological bonds; our relationships are also characterized by moral bonds. The moral choices that we make have a ripple effect into the lives of people around us.
One of the biggest lies floating around our culture right now is that individuals somehow have a “private” life that is disconnected from that person’s “public” life. The idea is that the moral choices I make in my “private” life only affect me and maybe my immediate family, but somehow those choices do not have an impact beyond that.
But the reality is that our moral choices affect a far greater number of people than we will probably ever realize. This reality means that our moral choices are extremely important—not only for us, but for others as well. Last Sunday, we started to take a look at what the book of Proverbs had to say about the upright person. Today we’re going to look at the upright person again, but we’re going to focus specifically upon how an upright person’s behavior affects other people. So the question we’re going to deal with is this:
What characterizes the upright person’s relationships with other people?
I. He will see others rejoice in his well-being
Let’s read Prov. 11:10 [READ 11:10]. Notice that the same reaction is mentioned here in both circumstances, but for very different reasons. When I read the last half of this verse, it makes me think of the scene from the musical “Scrooge” when Ebenezer sees the day of his own death and the whole city turns out to celebrate, and Tom Jenkins starts to dance on his casket while he’s singing that song: “Thank you very much, thank you very much, that’s the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for me!”
Now what goes unsaid in this verse is that both the righteous person and the wicked person have an effect on the people around them—one positive and one negative. People are relieved when the negative effect of the wicked person is gone, and likewise they rejoice when things go well for the righteous person because the thought is that the righteous person will then continue to have a positive effect on others.
It is certainly true that jealousy and envy can creep in, but by and large people are glad when things go well for good people. So what kind of response do you want people to have toward you? Do you want them to celebrate your good fortune, or to celebrate your death? Then take your pick between righteousness and wickedness!
II. His children do not have to suffer negative consequences because of his actions
Look with me at Prov. 11:21 [READ 11:21]. There’s an interesting contrast here because in the first part of the verse, the evil man face the consequences of his own actions, but in the second part of the verse, it is the children of the righteous who receive benefits from their parents’ actions.
I think the thought behind this verse is based on verses like Exodus 34:6–7—why don’t you turn there with me? These verses come from the passage where Moses has asked to see God’s glory and God has allowed Moses to see a vision of Him. Let’s read these verses [READ Ex. 34:6–7]. Now that last statement doesn’t mean that God considers children to be guilty of their parents’ sins; it means that God may enact consequences that will effect several generations of a family.
For example, this principle is unfortunately very easy to see in the families of people who are in prison. When people make choices that land them in prison, their children often pay a terrible price. They lose the day-to-day influence of one of their parents, the family loses the income of one parent, and there is often a lot of shame and embarrassment for the children. That’s hard enough on the children, and unfortunately a number of these kids also choose a destructive way of life, which can be a detriment to their children, and before you know it you’ve got several generations who have been hurt by the consequences of one person’s actions.
It is so important for us to realize that our children are almost always affected by our choices. So if we choose an upright way of life, we can avoid bringing consequences into our own lives that will hurt our children as well.
III. He enjoys peace with those around him
Let’s take a look at Prov. 16:7 [READ 16:7]. There is a saying that states that when there is tension in a relationship, all it takes to relieve the tension is for one person to stop pulling. I think that’s very similar to the basic idea we have here. If a person’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, then that person won’t be engaging in behaviors like revenge, gossip, and slander. In other words, he won’t be retaliating against any enemies that he might have.
When you make that choice, your enemies will usually cease their hostilities against you. It is unusual for a person to keep harassing you when you don’t respond by taking revenge against them. Normally anyone who is hostile toward you will knock it off, and you can live in peace with them, even if they never exactly become your best friend.
It is said that Abraham Lincoln sought to get rid of his enemies by making them his friends. That is no doubt a good summary of the Christian approach toward personal relationships. When we choose ways of living that are pleasing to God, even those who might strongly disagree with us will be inclined to live peacefully with us.
IV. He has nothing to fear when justice is carried out
Let’s read Prov. 21:15 [READ 21:15]. The first part of this verse might refer to the righteous person acting in a just way or to the righteous person observing others carrying out justice. Either way, the righteous person delights in justice—he seeks to act in a way that is just and fair, and consequently he has nothing to fear when others are carrying out justice.
Justice is truly at the very heart of God’s character. In Genesis 18:25, Abraham asked this rhetorical question: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” The answer of course is yes, He will because that is part of God’s nature—to deal with others in a way that is fair. This is one of the main things that He wants from us as well. Turn with me to Micah 6:6–8 [READ Micah 6:6–8].
As we saw last week, the upright person understands that God wants a proper heart attitude from us. The upright person seeks to live in a manner that is just and fair, and thus he has nothing to fear from those who are entrusted with carrying out justice. But for the wicked on the other hand, they have every reason to fear when justice is carried out because they deserve punishment for their actions.
So if you want to live without fear of the authorities, then do what is just and right. If you want to avoid a knot in your stomach when you hear about the IRS conducting audits, then do your taxes honestly. If you want your paranoia to decrease while you’re driving, then obey the speed limit. If you want to avoid sweaty palms when you hand in your expense log at work, then don’t run up false charges on it. We can face justice confidently when we live in a way that is just.
V. He escapes harm because the evil person is taken in his place
Turn with me to Prov. 11:8 [READ 11:8]. When Solomon wrote this proverb, he may have been thinking particularly of situations where the wicked plan to do evil against the righteous. In such cases, the wicked often fall prey to their own schemes, and they end up falling into the trouble that they intended for the righteous person.
There is a great example of this in Scripture with the story of Haman and Mordecai from the book of Esther. Haman was a government official for the king of Persia, and he was enraged at Mordecai the Jew because Mordecai would not bow down before him or pay him homage. Haman became so mad that he decided that he wanted to kill not just Mordecai, but all of the Jews, and he hatched a plot to do just that. He then built a gallows at his home where he could personally hang Mordecai. But after Queen Esther revealed to the king the danger that she was in from this plot, the king ordered that Haman be hung on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. So in the end, he became the victim of his own evil plot.
We also see examples of this in our own day and age. Sometimes people who file frivolous lawsuits against others watch their plot backfire on them. The judge may dismiss the lawsuit and order that the person who filed the suit pay for the court costs of the defendant.
The old saying says, “What goes around, comes around.” The upright person has a defender in the Lord who just might turn the wicked person’s intentions back on his own head.
VI. He will be well-liked by those in authority over him
Turn with me to Prov. 22:11 [READ 22:11]. What a person to have as a friend! And of course, King Solomon would know what kind of a person the king approves of! A person who was pure in heart with gracious speech is the kind of person that a king would want around. The king always had to be careful about what kind of people made it into his inner circle because any one of them might be trying to take his throne.
But the king knew he could trust someone who was pure in heart, so he would approve of that person. It’s the same with the people in authority over you today. They like people they can trust, people who aren’t going to cause problems for them, and so they will approve of you if you display that kind of behavior. And let’s be honest—sometimes it is good to have friends in high places!
Now its no mistake that a pure heart is tied together here with gracious speech. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34 that the mouth simply proclaims whatever is in your heart. Your mouth is a lot like our projector that we have here. This projector doesn’t make up its own information to display on the screen—it simply displays whatever the computer tells it to display. Your mouth is the same way—your tongue and your teeth don’t get together and decide what you’re going to say! Your words come from within, from the heart, so your words are a window into your heart. Gracious speech reveals a pure heart, so those two ideas are very deliberately tied together in this verse.
So the upright person is well-liked by those in authority over him, and that’s a good benefit to have in those relationships because the people in authority over you make decisions that affect you. If they are inclined to think well of you, then their decisions will most likely reflect that as well.
Let’s never forget that the choices we make affect other people as well. I don’t care how private a moral decision might feel—it will either directly or indirectly have a significant impact on others. So we can show true love and concern for other people by pursuing the upright lifestyle that comes on the way of wisdom. It would be very thoughtless and careless of us to reject a lifestyle that lines up with God’s standards because we would be unwittingly dragging other people into our own mess. But the upright person can be a blessing to others and consequently will be blessed by others for living in accordance with God’s commands.
Ocean life is a much more accurate picture of our existence than an island. We are all connected to other people through a vast number of relationships. But unlike ocean life, we are not just connected to others through biological bonds; our relationships are also characterized by moral bonds. The moral choices that we make have a ripple effect into the lives of people around us.
One of the biggest lies floating around our culture right now is that individuals somehow have a “private” life that is disconnected from that person’s “public” life. The idea is that the moral choices I make in my “private” life only affect me and maybe my immediate family, but somehow those choices do not have an impact beyond that.
But the reality is that our moral choices affect a far greater number of people than we will probably ever realize. This reality means that our moral choices are extremely important—not only for us, but for others as well. Last Sunday, we started to take a look at what the book of Proverbs had to say about the upright person. Today we’re going to look at the upright person again, but we’re going to focus specifically upon how an upright person’s behavior affects other people. So the question we’re going to deal with is this:
What characterizes the upright person’s relationships with other people?
I. He will see others rejoice in his well-being
Let’s read Prov. 11:10 [READ 11:10]. Notice that the same reaction is mentioned here in both circumstances, but for very different reasons. When I read the last half of this verse, it makes me think of the scene from the musical “Scrooge” when Ebenezer sees the day of his own death and the whole city turns out to celebrate, and Tom Jenkins starts to dance on his casket while he’s singing that song: “Thank you very much, thank you very much, that’s the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for me!”
Now what goes unsaid in this verse is that both the righteous person and the wicked person have an effect on the people around them—one positive and one negative. People are relieved when the negative effect of the wicked person is gone, and likewise they rejoice when things go well for the righteous person because the thought is that the righteous person will then continue to have a positive effect on others.
It is certainly true that jealousy and envy can creep in, but by and large people are glad when things go well for good people. So what kind of response do you want people to have toward you? Do you want them to celebrate your good fortune, or to celebrate your death? Then take your pick between righteousness and wickedness!
II. His children do not have to suffer negative consequences because of his actions
Look with me at Prov. 11:21 [READ 11:21]. There’s an interesting contrast here because in the first part of the verse, the evil man face the consequences of his own actions, but in the second part of the verse, it is the children of the righteous who receive benefits from their parents’ actions.
I think the thought behind this verse is based on verses like Exodus 34:6–7—why don’t you turn there with me? These verses come from the passage where Moses has asked to see God’s glory and God has allowed Moses to see a vision of Him. Let’s read these verses [READ Ex. 34:6–7]. Now that last statement doesn’t mean that God considers children to be guilty of their parents’ sins; it means that God may enact consequences that will effect several generations of a family.
For example, this principle is unfortunately very easy to see in the families of people who are in prison. When people make choices that land them in prison, their children often pay a terrible price. They lose the day-to-day influence of one of their parents, the family loses the income of one parent, and there is often a lot of shame and embarrassment for the children. That’s hard enough on the children, and unfortunately a number of these kids also choose a destructive way of life, which can be a detriment to their children, and before you know it you’ve got several generations who have been hurt by the consequences of one person’s actions.
It is so important for us to realize that our children are almost always affected by our choices. So if we choose an upright way of life, we can avoid bringing consequences into our own lives that will hurt our children as well.
III. He enjoys peace with those around him
Let’s take a look at Prov. 16:7 [READ 16:7]. There is a saying that states that when there is tension in a relationship, all it takes to relieve the tension is for one person to stop pulling. I think that’s very similar to the basic idea we have here. If a person’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, then that person won’t be engaging in behaviors like revenge, gossip, and slander. In other words, he won’t be retaliating against any enemies that he might have.
When you make that choice, your enemies will usually cease their hostilities against you. It is unusual for a person to keep harassing you when you don’t respond by taking revenge against them. Normally anyone who is hostile toward you will knock it off, and you can live in peace with them, even if they never exactly become your best friend.
It is said that Abraham Lincoln sought to get rid of his enemies by making them his friends. That is no doubt a good summary of the Christian approach toward personal relationships. When we choose ways of living that are pleasing to God, even those who might strongly disagree with us will be inclined to live peacefully with us.
IV. He has nothing to fear when justice is carried out
Let’s read Prov. 21:15 [READ 21:15]. The first part of this verse might refer to the righteous person acting in a just way or to the righteous person observing others carrying out justice. Either way, the righteous person delights in justice—he seeks to act in a way that is just and fair, and consequently he has nothing to fear when others are carrying out justice.
Justice is truly at the very heart of God’s character. In Genesis 18:25, Abraham asked this rhetorical question: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” The answer of course is yes, He will because that is part of God’s nature—to deal with others in a way that is fair. This is one of the main things that He wants from us as well. Turn with me to Micah 6:6–8 [READ Micah 6:6–8].
As we saw last week, the upright person understands that God wants a proper heart attitude from us. The upright person seeks to live in a manner that is just and fair, and thus he has nothing to fear from those who are entrusted with carrying out justice. But for the wicked on the other hand, they have every reason to fear when justice is carried out because they deserve punishment for their actions.
So if you want to live without fear of the authorities, then do what is just and right. If you want to avoid a knot in your stomach when you hear about the IRS conducting audits, then do your taxes honestly. If you want your paranoia to decrease while you’re driving, then obey the speed limit. If you want to avoid sweaty palms when you hand in your expense log at work, then don’t run up false charges on it. We can face justice confidently when we live in a way that is just.
V. He escapes harm because the evil person is taken in his place
Turn with me to Prov. 11:8 [READ 11:8]. When Solomon wrote this proverb, he may have been thinking particularly of situations where the wicked plan to do evil against the righteous. In such cases, the wicked often fall prey to their own schemes, and they end up falling into the trouble that they intended for the righteous person.
There is a great example of this in Scripture with the story of Haman and Mordecai from the book of Esther. Haman was a government official for the king of Persia, and he was enraged at Mordecai the Jew because Mordecai would not bow down before him or pay him homage. Haman became so mad that he decided that he wanted to kill not just Mordecai, but all of the Jews, and he hatched a plot to do just that. He then built a gallows at his home where he could personally hang Mordecai. But after Queen Esther revealed to the king the danger that she was in from this plot, the king ordered that Haman be hung on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. So in the end, he became the victim of his own evil plot.
We also see examples of this in our own day and age. Sometimes people who file frivolous lawsuits against others watch their plot backfire on them. The judge may dismiss the lawsuit and order that the person who filed the suit pay for the court costs of the defendant.
The old saying says, “What goes around, comes around.” The upright person has a defender in the Lord who just might turn the wicked person’s intentions back on his own head.
VI. He will be well-liked by those in authority over him
Turn with me to Prov. 22:11 [READ 22:11]. What a person to have as a friend! And of course, King Solomon would know what kind of a person the king approves of! A person who was pure in heart with gracious speech is the kind of person that a king would want around. The king always had to be careful about what kind of people made it into his inner circle because any one of them might be trying to take his throne.
But the king knew he could trust someone who was pure in heart, so he would approve of that person. It’s the same with the people in authority over you today. They like people they can trust, people who aren’t going to cause problems for them, and so they will approve of you if you display that kind of behavior. And let’s be honest—sometimes it is good to have friends in high places!
Now its no mistake that a pure heart is tied together here with gracious speech. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34 that the mouth simply proclaims whatever is in your heart. Your mouth is a lot like our projector that we have here. This projector doesn’t make up its own information to display on the screen—it simply displays whatever the computer tells it to display. Your mouth is the same way—your tongue and your teeth don’t get together and decide what you’re going to say! Your words come from within, from the heart, so your words are a window into your heart. Gracious speech reveals a pure heart, so those two ideas are very deliberately tied together in this verse.
So the upright person is well-liked by those in authority over him, and that’s a good benefit to have in those relationships because the people in authority over you make decisions that affect you. If they are inclined to think well of you, then their decisions will most likely reflect that as well.
Let’s never forget that the choices we make affect other people as well. I don’t care how private a moral decision might feel—it will either directly or indirectly have a significant impact on others. So we can show true love and concern for other people by pursuing the upright lifestyle that comes on the way of wisdom. It would be very thoughtless and careless of us to reject a lifestyle that lines up with God’s standards because we would be unwittingly dragging other people into our own mess. But the upright person can be a blessing to others and consequently will be blessed by others for living in accordance with God’s commands.
Monday, December 6, 2010
A Life that Stands Tall--Proverbs series
I’m sure you’ve all noticed the Christmas decorations that we have around here this morning. I really appreciate the work of the people who were involved in putting up these decorations; they really add a nice touch to our Christmas celebrations this month.
I know that as these decorations were going up this last week, we had a little trouble getting one of our Christmas trees to stand upright. It’s kind of funny how that happens with stuff—you put something away in storage in perfectly good condition, and somehow when you pull it back out again, something doesn’t work right. You haven’t even touched it in the meantime, but somehow something got out of whack—a piece is bent or missing; something that used to light up doesn’t light up anymore; something that used to move is now locked in place; something that’s supposed to be upright isn’t upright anymore.
In some ways, we are a lot like our stuff—we have a hard time staying upright, too, and I’m not talking about getting a hunchback as you grow older! We have a hard time behaving in a way that is upright. Upright behavior is a word picture that the Bible uses to describe actions that are correct in God’s sight, actions that meet His standards. Think about the contrast between a board that is straight and upright versus one that is warped and crooked. That’s the picture that the Bible paints when it talks about upright behavior versus behavior that is wicked or crooked.
Proverbs says a lot about the person who is upright, so this morning we’re going to take a look at what it says. Some of the points we’ll look at are benefits that the upright person enjoys, and some of them are behaviors that the upright person embraces. We’re also going to look at verses that talk about the “righteous” person or the “blameless” person, because those are very similar ideas. So let’s answer this question together:
What characterizes the upright person?
I. He has a close relationship with the Lord
Let’s see what Prov. 3:32 has to say [READ 3:32]. The idea in this verse is that God accepts the upright person into His inner circle. We all have several different categories of friends in our lives. Many people today have their Facebook friends online. This group might include your playground buddy from Kindergarten that you haven’t spoken to in 30 years! Then you have your social friends—these are the people that you socialize with. You generally share a common interest with these people, and when you get together to share a few laughs and just have a good time. Then you have your close friends, the people who know everything about you. These are the friends that you seek advice from and share your secrets with.
Well the picture in this verse is that God brings the upright person into the kind of relationship that is enjoyed by close friends. He allows the upright to get to know Him and helps them understand the way that He looks at the world. This reminds me of what Jesus said to His disciple shortly before He died. In John 15:15 He said, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
So the upright person enjoys an intimate relationship with God. Prov. 11:20 says, “The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but the blameless in their walk are His delight.” The Lord is also inclined to respond to the prayers of the upright person. Prov. 15:29 says, “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” This isn’t hard to understand, because friends are always inclined to help each other. This is an awesome benefit of living an upright life!
II. He pleases the Lord by worshipping with the right attitude
Let’s read Prov. 15:8 [READ 15:8]. Let’s not miss the real difference here. Both men in this verse are performing religious acts—the wicked man is offering a sacrifice, and the upright man is offering a prayer. The difference is in their heart attitude—the wicked man has not been concerned about obeying God, whereas the upright man has.
The upright person knows that God values obedience rather than empty religious acts. Prov. 21:3 says, “To do righteousness and justice is desired by the LORD more than sacrifice.” How foolish we are to think that we can somehow pull the wool over God’s eyes with religious acts that aren’t performed from the heart! God is not impressed with our perfect church attendance if we live like the devil the rest of the week.
We don’t even think the people around us are pleased when we just go through the motions, so why would we think that God is pleased? Do you think your coach is truly happy if you just show up to practice and walk through the drills? Do you think your spouse is truly pleased if you just go through the motions of a relationship? “Okay—relationship checklist. Buy a present on his or her birthday; check! Don’t say what you really think of his or her parents; check…”
The upright person pleases the Lord because he doesn’t allow this kind of divorce between his attitude and his actions. He worships the Lord from the heart, and thus offers worship that truly pleases God.
III. He is protected from an untimely death
I’m not going to spend much time on this point because we’ve already seen this in our discussions of wisdom and the fear of the Lord. I just feel compelled to mention it again because Proverbs mentions it so often. Almost every time you turn the page you find this lesson coming up again. Let’s read a few verses [READ 10:2, 10:16, 11:19, 12:28, 19:16]
Perhaps one reason that Proverbs mentions this point so often is that in that time, the death penalty was assigned to many more criminal activities than it is today—even to actions like cursing your parents or working on the Sabbath day, which was supposed to be a day of rest. In that setting you can see how one foolish choice really could leave you facing death. But upright behavior protects a person from an untimely death, and that is no less true for us today, even though we live in a different setting.
IV. He has a firm foundation for life, even through difficult times
Turn with me to Prov. 10:25, and let’s read this verse [READ 10:25]. I wonder if Jesus was thinking of verses like this when he told his parable contrasting the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand. The foolish man’s house was destroyed after the storms came, but the wise man’s house remained. When the foolish or the wicked person faces adversity, he has nothing on which to stand, no anchor to keep him mentally, emotionally, or spiritually stable.
Let’s look at a few more verses. Turn to Prov. 12:3 [READ 12:3]. I’m sure we’ve all seen old, established trees with a deep root system. Trees like that can withstand some fierce storms because of the stability that their roots provide. They may lose some branches, but the tree will almost always stand strong. Likewise, the righteous person will face periods of loss in life, but with roots that are sunk deep into the soil of the Savior, he can still stay on his feet.
These verses have not specifically stated the source of strength for the upright person, but Prov. 18:10 does [READ 18:10]. The “name” of the Lord in this verse represents His character—all that He is and all that He is capable of. So it is the Lord to whom the righteous man looks for emotional, spiritual, and when need be even physical strength.
Now none of this is meant to say that the upright person will somehow go through life unmoved and unshaken by times of hurt and pain. The upright man is not the person who never sheds a tear, but the person who remembers that he cries on the Lord’s shoulder, and once the tears are past he will see the smile of the Savior and know that there is still reason to live.
V. He receives rewards from his behavior that will last
Let’s read Prov. 11:18 [READ 11:18]. Whatever the wicked may gain from an evil lifestyle, his gains are deceptive because they don’t provide a lasting foundation on which to build a life. The rug could be pulled out from under him at any moment. Prov. 28:18 says, “He who walks blamelessly will be delivered, but he who is crooked will fall all at once.” Someone might suddenly take revenge against him, or the authorities might catch up with him if he has broken the law.
But the upright person receives rewards that will last. Prov. 11:18 uses the picture of planting and harvesting. The person who “sows” or plants righteousness will yield a harvest that he really can build his life upon. His blessings have been obtained in the right way, and so he has every reason to be confident as he moves forward in life.
We should be very careful to learn this lesson, and if we won’t take the Bible’s word for it, we should at least gain wisdom from the downfall of people like Bernie Madoff. He was living the good life for awhile as he was falsifying investments, but his whole life suddenly came crashing in on him after his crimes were discovered.
It simply isn’t worth it to try and get ahead in life through sinful choices. Whatever we might gain will never be stable, and it will never give the true satisfaction that comes from gaining blessings through a godly way of life.
VI. He receives blessings rather than trouble from his conduct
Look with me at Prov. 13:21 [READ 13:21] This is quite the word picture here. Adversity is described as “pursuing” sinners. The idea is that sinners don’t just experience hardship—hardship actually seeks them out! They might not be looking for adversity, but adversity is looking for them!
The righteous on the other hand receive not hardship, but prosperity as a reward. Commentator Tremper Longman had a good observation on this. He wrote, “Evil pursues sinners. On the other hand, the righteous…do not have to pursue a good reward; it comes naturally to them as a result of their righteousness.”*
Now the Hebrew word that is translated “prosperity” in this verse is not necessarily focused on money. It can include money, but it’s a more general term for blessings or pleasant things. We seem to be culturally conditioned to think about money whenever we hear the word prosperity, and that would have been on the Hebrew speaker’s mind as well, but the Jews would have thought of a prosperous life more in terms of the Old Testament concept of shalom, which refers to a wholeness in life that leads to peace and satisfaction.
And of course, the idea of a reward assumes that there is a rewarder; there is someone who grants the reward, and in this verse that of course would be the Lord. So God looks to give good things to the righteous, and adversity looks to give trouble to sinners.
VII. His character makes life easier for himself
Let’s read Prov. 15:19 [READ 15:19]. Have you ever encountered a patch of thorns while you were out on a hike? If you have to walk through something like that, that’s some tough stuff to go through. You have to move carefully, and there’s almost no way to escape without getting pricked.
Well I’m sure we’ve all been in situations where we’ve given in to laziness, and we’ve put something off until we absolutely had to do it. But then when you start, you encounter all kinds of problems, and the problems are much worse because you didn’t give yourself enough time to deal with them.
That’s the point that’s being made about laziness here—it puts you on a path that is beset with trouble. But the upright person is on the highway of life. He has open road ahead of him, and its smooth sailing because He has followed God’s way of doing things. The upright person has chosen a way that has been cleared of obstacles, and thus he has made life easier for himself.
These are just a few of the traits that characterize an upright person, but I think we can already see how desirable it is to live an upright life. The upright person makes choices that line up with God’s standards, so that must be our focus. We must know His standards for living and believe that they truly are the best, and then we must make our choices accordingly. As we have seen, some wonderful blessings and desirable traits await us if we will make that choice, so let’s do so today!
*Tremper Longman, Proverbs (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 290.
I know that as these decorations were going up this last week, we had a little trouble getting one of our Christmas trees to stand upright. It’s kind of funny how that happens with stuff—you put something away in storage in perfectly good condition, and somehow when you pull it back out again, something doesn’t work right. You haven’t even touched it in the meantime, but somehow something got out of whack—a piece is bent or missing; something that used to light up doesn’t light up anymore; something that used to move is now locked in place; something that’s supposed to be upright isn’t upright anymore.
In some ways, we are a lot like our stuff—we have a hard time staying upright, too, and I’m not talking about getting a hunchback as you grow older! We have a hard time behaving in a way that is upright. Upright behavior is a word picture that the Bible uses to describe actions that are correct in God’s sight, actions that meet His standards. Think about the contrast between a board that is straight and upright versus one that is warped and crooked. That’s the picture that the Bible paints when it talks about upright behavior versus behavior that is wicked or crooked.
Proverbs says a lot about the person who is upright, so this morning we’re going to take a look at what it says. Some of the points we’ll look at are benefits that the upright person enjoys, and some of them are behaviors that the upright person embraces. We’re also going to look at verses that talk about the “righteous” person or the “blameless” person, because those are very similar ideas. So let’s answer this question together:
What characterizes the upright person?
I. He has a close relationship with the Lord
Let’s see what Prov. 3:32 has to say [READ 3:32]. The idea in this verse is that God accepts the upright person into His inner circle. We all have several different categories of friends in our lives. Many people today have their Facebook friends online. This group might include your playground buddy from Kindergarten that you haven’t spoken to in 30 years! Then you have your social friends—these are the people that you socialize with. You generally share a common interest with these people, and when you get together to share a few laughs and just have a good time. Then you have your close friends, the people who know everything about you. These are the friends that you seek advice from and share your secrets with.
Well the picture in this verse is that God brings the upright person into the kind of relationship that is enjoyed by close friends. He allows the upright to get to know Him and helps them understand the way that He looks at the world. This reminds me of what Jesus said to His disciple shortly before He died. In John 15:15 He said, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
So the upright person enjoys an intimate relationship with God. Prov. 11:20 says, “The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but the blameless in their walk are His delight.” The Lord is also inclined to respond to the prayers of the upright person. Prov. 15:29 says, “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” This isn’t hard to understand, because friends are always inclined to help each other. This is an awesome benefit of living an upright life!
II. He pleases the Lord by worshipping with the right attitude
Let’s read Prov. 15:8 [READ 15:8]. Let’s not miss the real difference here. Both men in this verse are performing religious acts—the wicked man is offering a sacrifice, and the upright man is offering a prayer. The difference is in their heart attitude—the wicked man has not been concerned about obeying God, whereas the upright man has.
The upright person knows that God values obedience rather than empty religious acts. Prov. 21:3 says, “To do righteousness and justice is desired by the LORD more than sacrifice.” How foolish we are to think that we can somehow pull the wool over God’s eyes with religious acts that aren’t performed from the heart! God is not impressed with our perfect church attendance if we live like the devil the rest of the week.
We don’t even think the people around us are pleased when we just go through the motions, so why would we think that God is pleased? Do you think your coach is truly happy if you just show up to practice and walk through the drills? Do you think your spouse is truly pleased if you just go through the motions of a relationship? “Okay—relationship checklist. Buy a present on his or her birthday; check! Don’t say what you really think of his or her parents; check…”
The upright person pleases the Lord because he doesn’t allow this kind of divorce between his attitude and his actions. He worships the Lord from the heart, and thus offers worship that truly pleases God.
III. He is protected from an untimely death
I’m not going to spend much time on this point because we’ve already seen this in our discussions of wisdom and the fear of the Lord. I just feel compelled to mention it again because Proverbs mentions it so often. Almost every time you turn the page you find this lesson coming up again. Let’s read a few verses [READ 10:2, 10:16, 11:19, 12:28, 19:16]
Perhaps one reason that Proverbs mentions this point so often is that in that time, the death penalty was assigned to many more criminal activities than it is today—even to actions like cursing your parents or working on the Sabbath day, which was supposed to be a day of rest. In that setting you can see how one foolish choice really could leave you facing death. But upright behavior protects a person from an untimely death, and that is no less true for us today, even though we live in a different setting.
IV. He has a firm foundation for life, even through difficult times
Turn with me to Prov. 10:25, and let’s read this verse [READ 10:25]. I wonder if Jesus was thinking of verses like this when he told his parable contrasting the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand. The foolish man’s house was destroyed after the storms came, but the wise man’s house remained. When the foolish or the wicked person faces adversity, he has nothing on which to stand, no anchor to keep him mentally, emotionally, or spiritually stable.
Let’s look at a few more verses. Turn to Prov. 12:3 [READ 12:3]. I’m sure we’ve all seen old, established trees with a deep root system. Trees like that can withstand some fierce storms because of the stability that their roots provide. They may lose some branches, but the tree will almost always stand strong. Likewise, the righteous person will face periods of loss in life, but with roots that are sunk deep into the soil of the Savior, he can still stay on his feet.
These verses have not specifically stated the source of strength for the upright person, but Prov. 18:10 does [READ 18:10]. The “name” of the Lord in this verse represents His character—all that He is and all that He is capable of. So it is the Lord to whom the righteous man looks for emotional, spiritual, and when need be even physical strength.
Now none of this is meant to say that the upright person will somehow go through life unmoved and unshaken by times of hurt and pain. The upright man is not the person who never sheds a tear, but the person who remembers that he cries on the Lord’s shoulder, and once the tears are past he will see the smile of the Savior and know that there is still reason to live.
V. He receives rewards from his behavior that will last
Let’s read Prov. 11:18 [READ 11:18]. Whatever the wicked may gain from an evil lifestyle, his gains are deceptive because they don’t provide a lasting foundation on which to build a life. The rug could be pulled out from under him at any moment. Prov. 28:18 says, “He who walks blamelessly will be delivered, but he who is crooked will fall all at once.” Someone might suddenly take revenge against him, or the authorities might catch up with him if he has broken the law.
But the upright person receives rewards that will last. Prov. 11:18 uses the picture of planting and harvesting. The person who “sows” or plants righteousness will yield a harvest that he really can build his life upon. His blessings have been obtained in the right way, and so he has every reason to be confident as he moves forward in life.
We should be very careful to learn this lesson, and if we won’t take the Bible’s word for it, we should at least gain wisdom from the downfall of people like Bernie Madoff. He was living the good life for awhile as he was falsifying investments, but his whole life suddenly came crashing in on him after his crimes were discovered.
It simply isn’t worth it to try and get ahead in life through sinful choices. Whatever we might gain will never be stable, and it will never give the true satisfaction that comes from gaining blessings through a godly way of life.
VI. He receives blessings rather than trouble from his conduct
Look with me at Prov. 13:21 [READ 13:21] This is quite the word picture here. Adversity is described as “pursuing” sinners. The idea is that sinners don’t just experience hardship—hardship actually seeks them out! They might not be looking for adversity, but adversity is looking for them!
The righteous on the other hand receive not hardship, but prosperity as a reward. Commentator Tremper Longman had a good observation on this. He wrote, “Evil pursues sinners. On the other hand, the righteous…do not have to pursue a good reward; it comes naturally to them as a result of their righteousness.”*
Now the Hebrew word that is translated “prosperity” in this verse is not necessarily focused on money. It can include money, but it’s a more general term for blessings or pleasant things. We seem to be culturally conditioned to think about money whenever we hear the word prosperity, and that would have been on the Hebrew speaker’s mind as well, but the Jews would have thought of a prosperous life more in terms of the Old Testament concept of shalom, which refers to a wholeness in life that leads to peace and satisfaction.
And of course, the idea of a reward assumes that there is a rewarder; there is someone who grants the reward, and in this verse that of course would be the Lord. So God looks to give good things to the righteous, and adversity looks to give trouble to sinners.
VII. His character makes life easier for himself
Let’s read Prov. 15:19 [READ 15:19]. Have you ever encountered a patch of thorns while you were out on a hike? If you have to walk through something like that, that’s some tough stuff to go through. You have to move carefully, and there’s almost no way to escape without getting pricked.
Well I’m sure we’ve all been in situations where we’ve given in to laziness, and we’ve put something off until we absolutely had to do it. But then when you start, you encounter all kinds of problems, and the problems are much worse because you didn’t give yourself enough time to deal with them.
That’s the point that’s being made about laziness here—it puts you on a path that is beset with trouble. But the upright person is on the highway of life. He has open road ahead of him, and its smooth sailing because He has followed God’s way of doing things. The upright person has chosen a way that has been cleared of obstacles, and thus he has made life easier for himself.
These are just a few of the traits that characterize an upright person, but I think we can already see how desirable it is to live an upright life. The upright person makes choices that line up with God’s standards, so that must be our focus. We must know His standards for living and believe that they truly are the best, and then we must make our choices accordingly. As we have seen, some wonderful blessings and desirable traits await us if we will make that choice, so let’s do so today!
*Tremper Longman, Proverbs (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 290.
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