A Proverb for Today — Proverbs 14:4

Posted on 14 September, 2011 by Jon Gleason

“Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox” (Proverbs 14:4).

There are a couple of ways you could take the first half of today’s proverb.  Some see it as referring to the crib (the grain storage area) being empty, because you don’t have any harvest and any grain.  This then teaches the importance of oxen.  Others see it as referring to the manger and the place where cattle live and eat being clean, so if you want a clean stall and barn, don’t have oxen — but then you miss out on their value.  This second view seems to fit the evidence better, and I’ll work on that assumption. 

So, today’s proverb is about oxen.  Oxen are messy.  They need a lot of food.  Sometimes you have to go out in bad weather to take care of them.  They really are quite inconvenient in many ways.  On the other hand, in the days before tractors, oxen were used to plough the fields.  You could plant a bigger crop if you have oxen.  You could load the harvest on a wagon or cart, and the oxen would pull it back to the barn, so you can bring in a bigger harvest.  In a time of need, or for a special occasion, you could butcher an ox and have abundant meat.  There is a lot of value in oxen.

A farmer, then, should A) be thankful to God for his messy and inconvenient oxen B) take proper care of them  and C) focus more attention on the “much increase” (probably a reference to abundant harvest) than on the “minor inconveniences” which oxen bring.

Someone once asked if God’s primary concern was for oxen (I Corinthians 9:9-10).  Just as the command in the law to let oxen feed while working had application beyond oxen, I would suggest this proverb is intended to be applied further as well.

I think this proverb is about husbands.  “Oh, yes, I’ve always said my husband is a big, dumb ox.”  No, no, no. 🙂  But in most cases, ladies, your husband is messier than you are.  He is stronger, but he also breaks things.  He’s often not as refined as you are, or as sensitive, or as considerate as he might be.  He’s not necessarily very good at housekeeping, and beyond that, he’s clueless about the way you run things.  He’s probably going to track mud into the house at times that you never would — it’s just the kind of thing men do.  He’ll wash his greasy hands in your kitchen sink, and wipe them on your good towel.  Husbands are just, well, so very MALE, and that’s not always so convenient from a woman’s perspective.  You know the kind of thing I’m talking about better than I do, because I’m one of them.  They really do “mess things up” — but much increase is by the strength of a husband.

God made him to protect you, provide for you, and care for you.  If you have children, God gave a wonderful “increase” to you by his strength.  He is, indeed, male, and with that comes many blessings.  He can help stabilise you when you are emotional, comfort you when you grieve, and go through life with you.  Husbands may be “messy” in a lot of ways, but their strength brings much increase.  Be thankful for the big ox ;), and care for him.

The proverb is about wives, as well.  They can “mess up” your life, too.  Your wife wants to spend time with you just when you have something else you really wanted to do.  She might get emotional at just the wrong times.  She might want to shift furniture around the house for no reason at all when any logical person could see that anyone can always find a place to sit without any trouble at all.  She will want to spend money on silly things you would never ever buy, and she’s likely to start talking to you just when you are about 3/4 asleep (for purposes of this post we’ll ignore the fact that you probably should have listened to her earlier if you wanted to go to sleep early tonight :)).

Yet, God gives much increase through your wife.  Companionship, intimacy, support, encouragement, these are some of the blessings we have in our wives.  You don’t need me to list all the reasons you have to be thankful for her, you already know.  The Scriptures say, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD” (Proverbs 18:22).  Be thankful for her, and care for her.

The proverb is about children, too.  They are expensive little critters, and they mess up the house.  They track in dirt, and yell and bang things, and misbehave, and bleed all over the floor when they get hurt, and complicate holiday plans, and in general those tiny little things re-arrange your neat and orderly life into mess and disorder as much as they can.  In fact, they are worse than oxen, because even if their mess doesn’t (always) smell as bad, most of it is in the house instead of in the stall. 

Try as I might, though, I can’t figure out which of my kids I want to “return to sender”.  They bring joy and love, and as they get older they bring strength and companionship.  My sons are outside right now staking a tree that was damaged by the remains of Hurricane Katia yesterday.  My daughters have prepared dinner untold times when my wife had to help me with something, or was ill.  They all help with housework, and in the ministry.  Some of them even pass on links to my blog!  Sure, they make a mess sometimes, but much increase comes from children.  Care for them, and be thankful for them.

Pastors are a pain, no doubt, but they bring you the Word of God.  Employers can really mess things up for you, but they pay your wage.  Employees do lots of things that make your business run less smoothly — but it wouldn’t run at all without them. 

I always say, on my job, that if we could just get rid of all our clients so we don’t have to help them with their needs, we could have the time to make some really good computer software.  Pastors always say, “Ministry would be easy, if you didn’t have to deal with people.”

Most of the blessings in our lives come with a little bit of a mess.  We can cry, complain, and whinge about the mess.  Alternatively, we can focus on the “much increase” that comes with it, care for that which God has given us, and be thankful.  Most of us are smart enough that if we lived on a farm, we’d take the oxen and deal with the mess.  For some reason, we tend to not be quite so “smart” about being thankful for some of the other “oxen” in our lives. 

Of course, our problem isn’t intelligence, it’s an ungrateful heart, rebellion against God, maligning God by dishonouring His gifts to us, and a lot of other sins as well.  So what will we do?  Give thanks for literal and figurative oxen, or keep on complaining?

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Inscribing the Arches (part three)

Posted on 13 September, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Sunday, continuing in Romans 12, I preached on verses 17-21.

Romans 12 begins with the exhortation to be “living sacrifices” to the Lord (verse 1), and with commands to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (verse 2).  Paul then goes on to elaborate on what it means to be a living sacrifice.

I’ll afflict you with one more picture of the arch in Orange.  Previously we looked at verse nine: “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”  I talked of the three-fold instruction in this verse as three over-arching instructions, out of which flows all that follows.  I summarised that message in three parts, part one (Love Without Dissimulation), part two (Abhor Evil), and part three (Cleave to Good).  I used this arch as an illustration, and compared the remaining teaching in chapter 12, which gives some of the ways we live out those three main principles/instructions, to “inscriptions” on the arch — features that let us get a more complete picture of these three main principles in action. 

This week, I preached on verses 17-21 in Romans 12, which gives one aspect of how we should “abhor evil” and “cleave to good”.  Before getting into the details, I want to give you something I passed out in church.  Romans 12:9-21 is seen by some commentators as a series of somewhat unconnected commands.  Verses 17-21, though, are clearly a connected unit, and verse 21 as it deals with “good” and “evil” seems a direct tie-in to verse 9.  Thus, I have presented these verses as a unit elaborating on verse 9.

CONNECTING UP ROMANS 12:9-21 

          • 9 Let love be without dissimulation.
          • Abhor that which is evil;
          • cleave to that which is good.

 LOVE

10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

ABHOR EVIL, CLEAVE TO GOOD

11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12  Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

LOVE

13  Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14  Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16  Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

ABHOR EVIL, CLEAVE TO GOOD

17  Recompense to no man evil for evil.

Pursuing Peace Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

 When Attempts at Peace Fail 19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

As we come, then, to verses 17-21, we have yet another “inscription”, one more way in which we are to hate evil and hold to good.  

The First Bookend — No Evil Paybacks

This section begins and ends with “marker” statements, bookends which mark out the section with memorable statements.  Both of these statements include the word “evil” twice.  Both are negative prohibitions, telling us not to do something.  Both begin with the Greek word me or a compound of me, which means “not”.  The first “bookend” tells us not to recompense evil for evil. 

“Recompense”.  This word means to pay back, to render what is due.  Right from the beginning, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, starts stripping away our excuses for disobeying.  Invariably, when we “get someone back” for something they’ve done, our excuse is, “He DESERVES it!  He’s got it coming, the bill is coming due, and I’m going to pay him back!”  Paul would say in response, “Of course he does.  So what?”  Of course, our tendency when we are hurt and angry is to pay back MORE than is due, but that isn’t what Paul is talking about.  We aren’t even supposed to pay back WHAT is due.  No excuses.  God knows what that woman did to you, He knows how that man treats you, He knows what all of them said, and He says, “Don’t pay them back.”

“To No Man”.  “Oh, good, she’s a WOMAN, not a MAN!”  That’s cheating, and you know it. 🙂  It is a generic, just like “mankind” — it includes everyone.  Not only is the “he deserves it” excuse ruled out, but so also are any exceptions.  We don’t pay back the evil that people deserve to anyone.  Not even that guy.

“Evil for Evil”.  In verse nine, a strong word for evil (poneros) was used, while here we have the more generic kakos, which is most often translated “evil”, but also “harm” or “bad”.  The translators used “evil”, I suspect in part to emphasise the connection between this verse and verse nine, but Paul’s use of the more generic term again strips away any excuses.  It won’t work to say, “What I did back to him isn’t really THAT bad, not as bad as he deserves,” because Paul used the generic term.  It’s very simple.  You aren’t supposed to do any kind of bad stuff to anyone who does any kind of bad stuff to you.  Full stop.  No excuses, no get-out clauses, nothing.  Don’t do it.  Don’t even think about doing it.

Pursuing Peace With All

Paul continues to “play on words” in this verse.  In the first half of the verse, he talked about not paying back kakos, evil.  In the second half, he refers to kalos, which means good, honest, or honourable.  Don’t do kakos, do kalos.  We need to have a positive response in our interactions with all people.

Plan Ahead for Honourable Appearances.  The word “provide” has the sense of taking thought for and and planning ahead, so that things will be honest, appropriate, or honourable in the sight of all.  This seems obvious in matters of finance — you have more than one person count the collection, for instance, so that no one can make accusations of impropriety.  It isn’t a matter of trust — you may have an individual who is entirely above reproach, but you protect him by establishing policies which make any accusation easily refuted.  Similarly, we should have policies in place in regard to any children’s ministries and counselling.  These are matters for the church, but this instruction goes beyond the church to matters in our personal life.

We should live in a way that everyone knows we are doing that which is honest and honourable.  We should always seek to avoid giving the impression that we are taking advantage of anyone or any situation to the detriment of others.  It is not just that we are to do right, but we are also to give thought to appearances, so that others can see we are doing right.

Although this says “honest in the sight of all men,” that does not mean that we let the views and opinions of others determine what is kalos (good, honourable, honest).  Rather, we do what is kalos in God’s eyes, but we give thought so that others will not think we are doing what is kakos, bad.  A comparable passage is Philippians 4:5:  “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”  We represent the Lord, and we should be mindful of that.  This is not about hypocrisy, pretending to be something we are not.  This is about being honourable, and visibly so.

If Possible, Peaceable.  Both this and the prior instruction finish with a reference to “all men”.  It doesn’t matter who they are or what they’ve done, if possible we should be peaceable.  There is a clear implication here that it isn’t always possible, an implication borne out in the verses that follow.  There are some people who just won’t be peaceable, no matter what you do.  The response to our peacemaking, the outcome, is not in our hands.  But that does not abrogate our responsibility to do all we can to pursue peace with all.

Sometimes, people will read, “As much as lieth in you,” to mean, “As much as you can endure.”  That is not the focus of the statement at all.  We can always endure more than we think we can, anyway, but that is not God’s standard.  He isn’t saying, “Be peaceable as long as you can stand it, and then when you can’t stand it anymore, BAM, let that horrible person have exactly what he deserves!”  Wrong, wrong, wrong. 🙂  “As much as lieth in you” means, “On your part” or “as much as lies with you.”  As much of the matter that you can control should be peaceable.  We can’t make the other person be peaceable, so we can’t always have peace, but we can make sure that our actions are always peaceable.

When our Pursuit of Peace Fails

No matter how faithful we are in pursuing peace, sometimes our efforts fail.  Even in this case, we are to hate evil and cleave to good.

Don’t Self-Avenge.  We aren’t to be those who are taking vengeance for ourselves.  This is clear and direct.  This isn’t talking about when we have a responsibility to protect others (note the next chapter where protective vengeance by government, and implicitly by government officials such as police, is specifically endorsed).  The point is not that vengeance is never appropriate, but rather that we aren’t supposed to be avenging ourselves when others wrong us.  Protect others?  Yes, where appropriate.  Personally avenge ourselves?  Never.

Give Place to Wrath.  At first look, this is surprising.  It means what it says — give wrath its place, or make room for wrath.  Let wrath have room to work.  This is what it doesn’t mean:  “He did that to me, so I’m going to let him feel my wrath!”  That’s what our own selfish pride wants it to mean, but the context makes it clear that this isn’t talking about our wrath — because God is going to avenge.  We need to make room for His wrath, not ours.

Vengeance is the Lord’s, not yours.  Don’t get in God’s way trying to get your own vengeance.  Make way for the wrath of God.  Just for a moment, think about the fact that He really can handle it a lot better than you can.  Whether it is your boss, your neighbour, that guy down the street, that woman who is gossiping about you, whoever it is, if you’ve really been peaceable and they’ve chosen war, they have trouble coming in a major, major way.  If they don’t repent, it’s going to be the wrath of God.  You DON’T want to get caught in that by taking vengeance yourself, and bringing His wrath on you, too.  Make way, give place, to God’s wrath.  You can be very sure, if you get in the way, that isn’t going to protect the other guy from God’s wrath.  It just means you get caught in the storm, too.  Don’t do it.

Not only that, if vengeance is the possession and right of God, then to be taking vengeance for ourselves is to exalt ourselves into the place of God.  It is a form of self-idolatry.  Lucifer said in Isaiah 14, “I will be like the most High.”  When we take self-vengeance, we effectively do the same — “I will be an avenger like the most High.”  God says in Deuteronomy 32:35 that vengeance is His purview, and Paul reiterates that here.  Don’t go there.

“Heap Coals of Fire”.  This verse is a citation of Proverbs 25:21-22:  “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:  For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.”  It is also, with several other verses in this section, reminiscent of The Sermon on the Mount, in this case Matthew 5:44.  We are commanded to do good to our enemies, meeting their needs.  It doesn’t say we are to do whatever our enemies want (often they may want things that are bad for them to have, after all), but it does say if they have needs, we should do good to them.

The exact meaning of the “coals of fire” isn’t clear.  I’ve heard different ideas suggested, from a vindictive “you’ll make them feel miserable, stick it to them” to an Egyptian tradition of carrying a tray of coals on one’s head as a token of repentance.  The best guess (in my opinion) is one which seems to be popular among many commentators, that it means you will be challenging your enemy’s conscience, making him feel guilty if he continues in his poor treatment of you.  It isn’t consistent with the whole tone of the passage to view this as a vindictive attitude.  Rather, it is better to see this as the best way to influence your enemy towards a positive change.  Undoubtedly when Proverbs was written the reference to coals of fire was well understood, and was still understood when Paul wrote Romans.  Our responsibility, in any event, is to do what the first part of the verse says and let God take care of the “coals of fire” side of things.

The Second Bookend — Will You Have Victory?

This section of Scripture, and the chapter, ends with another me (“not”) prohibition, again referring to evil, driving home that this whole discussion is an application of hating evil and cleaving to good.  Who (or what) is going to win?

If You do Evil Back, You’ve Lost to Evil.  Don’t be overcome by evil.  If we do evil to those who do evil to us, we’ve been overcome.  We’ve lost the battle, we’ve joined the losing side, the side that does evil and loses to it.  We’ve been overcome, we’ve let the evil of someone else drag us right down into the muck with them. 

If You Want to Win, DO GOOD.  Cleave to the good, do good, and evil is defeated.  The victory is yours through the power of God as revealed in Christ Jesus.  Sinners did evil in crucifying the Lord Jesus, but the power of good overcame as He paid the price for our sins and won the victory over sin, death, and Satan.  As He won over evil, so also can we.  When we do good, we win. 

It doesn’t hurt to notice that the victory is either ours, or it belongs to evil.  An enemy who has chosen evil and rejected peace never wins.  Never — they’ve already been defeated by evil.  Evil has taken control and is destroying them.  Through repentance and the salvation that is in Christ Jesus they can be rescued, but they are on the losing side, in the grip of sin, and in a desperate condition.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6).  Our human enemy is not really the enemy we must hate and fear — he’s just another loser.  The enemy we must hate and fear is evil itself.  We must either conquer evil by doing good, or we will be conquered by it.  Who (or what?) will win?  It will be a victory for you, or a victory for evil.  There is no middle ground, no drawn match, no peace treaty with evil, no accommodation. 

Conquer or be conquered.  Overcome evil with good, or be overcome by evil.  Will you win or will you lose?

Navigation note:   First in the series:  “Service” in Romans 12:1;  Previous article:  Inscribing the Arches (part two).  Next article:  Still to come.

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Popular Posts

Posted on 12 September, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Just FYI, I’ve just added a new “Popular Posts” page at the top, right where John Knox would have landed if he jumped off his pulpit :).  These may not be all the posts that have had the most hits, but are the ones that I’ve had indications have been particularly helpful to some people.

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Motivated by the Promise of His Coming (part three)

Posted on 12 September, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Series Introduction

Motivated by the Promise of His Coming (part three)

Acts 1:9-11

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Brethren, God the Son, God incarnate in human flesh, Jesus the Christ, our Lord and our Saviour is coming again. All throughout God’s Word, the promise is given, “Our Lord shall come again.” Certainly this is a glorious truth as we are “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13)

Yet the truth of our Lord’s Second Coming is not just a glorious truth. It is also a motivational truth. It is a truth that should motivate us to live aright even now. In fact, this promise of our Lord’s Second Coming is employed as a principle of motivation at least once in every book of the New Testament except Galatians, Philemon, 2 John, and 3 John. Already in the first two parts of the message, we have considered such passages from Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians. Now in this third part of the message, let us consider such passages from Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.

In Ephesians 4:30 God’s Word states:

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

At the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be glorified with our Lord and shall be made like Him, incorruptible in body and undefiled in soul. That is the day of redemption to which we look forward with hope by the promise of the Lord our God. Until that glorious day of redemption at our Lord’s Second Coming, the Lord our God has sealed us with the indwelling Holy Spirit, as “the earnest [down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14) Therefore, the promise of our Lord’s Second Coming and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling as the earnest of that promise should motivate us to avoid anything that might grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

So then, what things might grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit? Certainly any and all sin, whether in attitude, word, or action, would so grieve Him. Even so, some specific sins are spoken against in the surrounding context of Ephesians 4:30.

In verse 25 God’s Word states:

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Again in verses 26-27 God’s Word states:

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil.

Yet again in verse 28 God’s Word states:

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

And yet again in verse 29 God’s Word states:

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Furthermore, in verses 31-32 God’s Word states:

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Finally, in Ephesians 5:1-5 God’s Word states:

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

In Philippians 3:17-21 God’s Word states:

Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

The promise of our Lord’s Second Coming should motivate us to walk after the example of those who live for our Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, it should motivate us to follow the apostle Paul’s example as revealed in verse 8, where he declared:

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

Furthermore, it should motivate us to follow the apostle’s example as revealed in verse 10, where he declared:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

Finally, it should motivate us to follow after the apostle’s example as revealed in verses 13-14, where he declared:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 In addition, the promise of our Lord’s Second Coming should motivate us not to live for the desires of self or to set our mind upon earthly things.

In Colossians 3:1-4 God’s Word states:

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

The promise of our Lord’s Second Coming should motivate us to set the affection of our hearts and the pursuit of our lives upon things above, not upon things on the earth. It should motivate us to live for the Lord and His purpose, not for ourselves and earthly things.

Furthermore, the promise of our Lord’s Second Coming should motivate us to put unto death spiritually the desires of our sinful flesh.  In verses 5-10 God’s Word continues:

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

Finally, the promise of our Lord’s Second Coming should motivate us to put on the righteous characteristics of our Lord. In verses 12-15 God’s Word states:

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

For the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord,
Abiding in Christ, and Christ in us,
Pastor Scott Markle
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A Proverb for Today — Proverbs 10:19

Posted on 10 September, 2011 by Jon Gleason

“In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19).

There is nothing complicated about this proverb.  If you talk a lot, you are going to end up sinning in what you say.  Self-control in speech is a mark of wisdom.

The world’s values are contrary to this teaching, and we see it in many ways as we look around us.

  • The explosion of the Internet, in part, is because everyone has an opinion and wants their opinion to be heard.  Talk is cheap when you do it on the web.  You can start a blog and bash on about anything, usually with little visible consequence — except God sees.  Is our web involvement really honouring to God, or are we drifting into a multitude of words which easily lead to sin?
  • If you are going through a hard time, the world tells you to find someone who will listen.  “I just need support, someone who will listen to me.”  Actually, it’s really, really difficult to find that concept in the Bible anywhere.  Biblical support is to encourage each other to do what is right, to get our eyes off of our problems and ourselves, and look to the Lord.  It is to remind the hurting person that they have a role to play in loving and serving others, and they are hindering the church if they neglect that role.  If instead we spend a lot of time talking about our problems, we tend to rapidly drift into self-focus (pride), complaining (unthankfulness), bitterness at our circumstances, resentment towards those who we blame, etc.
  • The world tells you to let your feelings out, to express them.  This often generates a “multitude of words” which contain much sin.  The Bible tells us to rule our spirit (Proverbs 16:32), to exercise self-control.  Expending many words about feelings almost always simply stirs them up and makes them worse.
  • The world tells you that you have just as much right to be heard as anyone else.  Your opinion counts just as much as the next guy.  Of course, the next guy might be an expert and you might have never studied the topic, but opinions are everything, leading to anarchy and abundant error.  Not everyone’s opinion has equal value, because not everyone’s opinion has been equally informed by fact, and in spiritual matters not everyone’s opinion was formed within the context of walking with God.  But the world tells us to express your opinion, and expect to be heard, leading to a wonderful(?) mix of pride and ignorance, with sin abounding, and conflict multiplying as everyone thinks their opinion should be heard.

If we could stop, listen to a playback of everything we say in context, and analyse it carefully, we’d come to a mortifying conclusion:  far too much of what I say is all about me, trying to get people to look at me, think well of me, honour me, feel sorry for me, appreciate me, blah, blah, blah — yuck!  In a multitude of words, there is invariably a multitude of me. 

Pride isn’t the only sin that comes out when we spew forth a multitude of words, but it’s probably the most common one.  Pride is sin, and wisdom’s enemy.

 

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What About Those Psalm “Titles”?

Posted on 9 September, 2011 by Jon Gleason

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.  (The heading before Psalm 3:1.)

David de Bruyn, a pastor in South Africa, has an interesting article on SharperIron about the headings or titles of the Psalms.  (Disclaimer:  the SI forums are kind of a mess recently with some threads sounding like some people aren’t even clear on what salvation is.  Don’t get lost in the maze if you wander over there.) 

If I were to boil Pastor de Bruyn’s article down to two points, it would be these:

  1. These headings are not just helpful information, but part of the inspired (“God-breathed”) text described in II Timothy 3:16, and are as authoritative as the verses that follow.
  2. Parts of these headings are in the wrong place in our Bible — the musical instructions should not be at the head of the Psalm, but actually belong at the foot of the preceding Psalm, where (he thinks) they were in the ancient Hebrew manuscripts.

I would say he has not proved the first statement, and if the first is true, it makes the second problematic.  Nor do I believe the second argument fits with all the data, but I don’t want to get bogged down in that discussion, which may or may not be profitable.  The first point, however, is much more important, because it deals with the question of the boundaries of inspired Scripture.

Let’s look at his reasons for considering these headings inspired.  I’ll insert numbers in the text to take his arguments one by one:

One sees evidence for this in several ways.  (1) For example, the title of Psalm 18 is found within the text of 2 Samuel 22:1, showing the psalm title’s authenticity. It was not a later rabbinic interpolation. (2) Further, some of the psalm titles (e.g. 46 & 58) were merely transliterated by the translators of the Greek Septuagint (c. 300-250 B.C.). This suggests that their meaning had already been lost by the time of the Septuagint, which in turn suggests great antiquity.  They are much older than a post-exilic rabbinic commentary. (3) Finally, Scriptures like Luke 20:42 quoting Psalm 110) take the title as true, for nowhere else is it stated that David himself wrote the psalm.

(1) This is hardly conclusive.  For all we know, the Psalm title was added later, maybe centuries later, based on the text of II Samuel 22:1.  Even if they were roughly contemporaneous, it proves nothing.  Jude quotes a prophecy by Enoch, a citation which also appears in the spurious “Book of Enoch”.  We do not thus assume that the “Book of Enoch” is inspired and canonical.  II Samuel does not say it is citing Scripture, it just states a fact.  Shared factual information with a canonical source does not prove inspiration.

(2) As a side note, it is very hard to establish exactly when Septuagint translation took place, nor does transliteration prove the meaning was lost, but the point of antiquity is well taken.  The headings are obviously ancient.  Of course, so was the book of Jasher (whatever that book was) mentioned in Joshua 10:13.  There are other ancient books mentioned in Scripture, and the Apocryphal books are ancient.  Antiquity does not prove inspiration.

(3) Yes, we can assert confidently that the title of Psalm 110 gives us accurate information.  Does this prove that God gave this or the other Psalm titles by inspiration?  If we are going to read Christ’s statement of Davidic authorship of Psalm 110 in Luke 20:42 (and Peter’s similar statement in Acts 2:34) as affirming inspiration, what do we do with the apostolic affirmation of Davidic authorship of Psalm 2 in Acts 4:25?  Is that telling us that the title of Psalm 2 attributing that Psalm to David is inspired?  (Psalm 2 has no title. :))  We properly take Acts 4:25 as a statement of fact not verified elsewhere in Scripture.  Why should we view Luke 20:42 and Acts 2:34 any differently?  The Scriptural proof of the accuracy of at least one Psalm title (Psalm 110) does not prove the inspiration of one or all titles.

Are the Psalm titles inspired, “God-breathed”, as Pastor de Bruyn asserts?  None of the evidence he cites is particularly compelling.  There is no direct Scriptural evidence to support his contention.  His evidences are all the types of things we might expect to see if the Psalm titles are indeed inspired Scripture, but none of them are particularly strong evidence, and taken together add up to little more than an indication that the Psalm titles are accurate in at least some cases, and we may presume they are probably accurate in others as well.

Perhaps the best evidence for the inspiration of the Psalm titles is that we still have them.  From all that we can see, the text of the Psalm titles has been preserved down through the centuries.  The Dead Sea Scrolls essentially match the Masoretic Text titles.  The Jews saw fit to include them in their copies of the Scriptures, and since Christ came the church has continued in that vein.  While they have not necessarily always been accepted as inspired, they have been generally accepted as at least true.

This is at least close to what we would expect of Scripture.  We would expect God to preserve His Word, and attest to it by the working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His people, so that they would keep and cherish it.  This is the means by which God has confirmed to us the canon of Scripture, and ultimately this is a question of canonicity — which words are included in the Scripture inspired by God?  Canonicity cannot be determined by rationalistic evidence, but by the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of God’s people through the church.

Spurgeon quotes John Mason Good as mentioning Augustine and Theodoret among those who believed in the inspiration of the Psalm titles.  Good’s introductory statement, however, was, “With regard to the authority of the Titles, it becomes us to speak with diffidence….”

Believers have certainly not been united in considering these titles to be authoritative, inspired Scripture — scholars such as Calvin, H.C. Leupold, Merril Unger, and R.D. Wilson are a few of the many who have not.  The overwhelming majority of believers have seen them as at least fairly reliable and accurate traditions, but there does not appear to have been a consensus, down through the centuries, on the question of inspiration among Bible-believing Christians.

To claim inspiration is to claim canonicity, preservation, inerrancy, and authority.  We see evidence that might be consistent with Biblical preservation, but not that which would be consistent with Biblical canonicity.  Too many Christians have said and continue to say, “It becomes us to speak with diffidence….”  We would have to declare the legal verdict, “Not proven.”  The Scriptures contain no direct attribution of inspiration to the Psalm titles, and the testimony of the Spirit through the church is cautious.

The antiquity of the Psalm titles (they obviously pre-date the Dead Sea Scrolls, and almost certainly go back to before the Exile, very near the time of writing of the Psalms) means that they are likely to be accurate when they cite the authorship of a Psalm.  There is every likelihood that they are true when they give historical context to a Psalm, and every likelihood that this historical context may help us understand the Psalm better.  If they were false, it seems hard to believe that a providentially working God would have allowed them to remain as closely associated with His Word as they have, and we have conclusive evidence (as Pastor de Bruyn has cited) that some of them, at least, are historically accurate.

However, reverence for Scripture, and the fearful responsibility of saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” compels us to great caution in attributing inspiration to these Psalm titles.  In the Old Testament, a false prophet, one who claimed that his words were inspired by God when they weren’t, was to be put to death.  To claim inspiration is a very serious matter.

We live in an age when it is sometimes treated as a light thing to claim prophetic authority.  We would be better to keep our “thus saith the Lord” statements to those which are indisputable, the clear canon of Scripture to which the Holy Spirit has attested down through the centuries.  I appreciate Pastor de Bruyn’s writing and position on many topics, and I commend his desire to accept ALL of Scripture, but the Psalm titles have not had the attestation of the Spirit that we see with the rest of Scripture.  It’s not enough to say, “I think those are Scripture.”  To endorse as Scripture something which the church, historically, has been reticent to accept as inspired is highly doubtful.  The canon of Scripture is not a matter of private interpretation.

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“They’re Just Bad”

Posted on 8 September, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Psalm 53:2-3 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

In December 2001, we moved into our church hall, after a couple of years in rented accommodations.  The building was formerly the Gospel Hall, a meeting place of those known as Christian Brethren.  The grounds had been, for some time, a place where groups of young people hung out, drinking and using drugs, and engaging in other antisocial behaviour.

So began a regular cycle.  On Saturday mornings, after the Friday night “partying” (that’s a misnomer because it never seems to make those who do it happy), we’d go over, paint over any graffiti, clean up the rubbish, sweep up the broken vodka and Buckfast bottles, occasionally pick up syringes, etc, etc.  Then, on Sunday morning, I’d go over early and do it all again as needed, then run back home to get cleaned up and ready for our church meeting.

On Saturdays, some of the younger kids would hang around and talk to us.  One Saturday, one young guy, maybe seven or eight years old, was watching while I was cleaning up all the broken glass.  He said, “It’s the big kids that do it.  They are always here, and they always smash the bottles to make a mess after they drink.  A lot of the time, they shoot the bottles with a BB gun, but either way they always break the bottles.”

We talked for a few minutes about these older kids and all the wrong things they were doing, and then I asked him the question.  “Why?  Do you know why they do it?”  I was hoping that maybe there might be some way to connect with them, to find out if there was some grievance, real or perceived, that was stirring them up.  The Scriptures say, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18), so I figured if there was anything I could do to be more at peace with these troubled youths, I wanted to do it.

This miniature philosopher looked at me, and said something that showed he had more discernment than most politicians, many theologians, lots of police officers, and probably about 99% of all social workers.

“They’re just bad.”

Now, I didn’t ask him to come in and preach on that topic the next day. 🙂  I doubt he really understood that even bad people are made in God’s image, and that His goodness can be seen in even the worst people sometimes.  I doubt he understood that even those who seem outwardly to live moral lives are also guilty sinners before a holy God.  He probably didn’t understand the work of Christ in cleansing and forgiving sinners.

But he got one thing right, and it’s a big thing.  People do bad things because they are bad.  They don’t do bad things because they are poor, or rich, or have been defrauded or abused, or because they are ill, or any of the other excuses people use.  They do bad things because they have rejected God’s authority.  Isaiah wrote, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  People go their own way, rather than God’s way.  That’s why they do bad things.

I said I was going to say something about the riots, and here’s where I start to do so.  About a month ago, Janet Daley wrote something about the looting that got right to the heart of the matter.  I don’t agree with everything she writes, and she is writing political and social commentary rather than presenting Biblical truth.  But she is describing what the Bible says about man’s natural tendency to evil, whether she casts it in those terms or not.  One excerpt:

We have Jean-Jacques Rousseau to thank for the basic principle that men are born good and will only behave badly if they are corrupted by authority and repressive institutions: that we need only liberate them from those false limitations and their natural moral instincts will come to the fore.

So hugely influential was this view in education and social policy that it almost succeeded in extinguishing the truths that arise from experience: people (especially young ones) will behave badly just because they can, because no one is stopping them, or has ever inculcated in them the conscientious discipline that would make them stop themselves.

She is describing a Bible-rejecting philosophy that exalts man as naturally good.  When you believe this, you don’t really need God.  She is correct when she says this view has driven educational and social policy in Western societies.  The riots, and some of the responses to them, are the natural result of this bankrupt philosophy, and the riots also reveal just how badly this way of thinking has failed Britain.  People are sinners, and bad people do bad things.

Daley closes with this:

Somehow, we are going to have to restore trust that the operations of government and the law are not at odds with the moral inclinations of conscientious citizens. Basic to this will be the acceptance that we do not have to explain – to find legitimate reasons for – acts of wickedness: that people can do bad things for no good reason at all, and that destructive and vicious impulses are, sadly, as “natural” as charitable ones. It is futile to go on asking why the riots happened, when the question that was on the minds of most of the rioters was not “Why?” but “Why not?”

We need to get hold of that fact.  “Destructive and vicious impulses are, sadly, as ‘natural’ as charitable ones.”  Quit making excuses for bad behaviour, your own or that of others.  It is the natural outworking of natural tendencies when those tendencies are not restrained by self-discipline or fear of consequences.  If people don’t see any reason not to do evil, they will do it.

I’ll have more to say about her contention that social policy has been driven by a false philosophy, by a rejection of the truth that the human race is sinful, with a natural tendency towards evil.  Until we come to grips with the fact that “they’re just bad”, or better yet, “we’re all bad,” we won’t really understand how sin has taken such a hold in society.

There will always be problems in any society, because every society consists of sinful people, who have a natural tendency to wickedness.  But when a nation denies that such a tendency even exists, then the restraints on evil begin to be stripped away, and excuses for evil take their place.  The result is that evil is not only no longer restrained, but is (in some cases) actively encouraged.  When people publicly state that thieves are looting because of injustice, then they are encouraging others who feel (rightly or wrongly) that they have been unjustly treated to go steal, too.

And so wickedness, encouraged instead of restrained, runs rampant.  So it was a few weeks ago in London and other places around the UK.  Rousseau’s philosophy sounds good, because we want to think there are excuses for when we do wrong.  But as with any philosophy that rejects Biblical truth, it eventually blows up in your face.

Update 15 September 2011:  Further commentary here.

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