Proverbs 25:21-22 Motivation matters!

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,

    and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,  
for you will heap burning coals on his head,

    and the Lord will reward you. (Proverbs 25:21-22)

I must have learned this verse years ago, because I have referred to it so many times! Paul picks it up in Romans 12 when writing about how Christians ought to live:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.  Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:14-21)

The clear theme of these verses is to do the supernatural thing when you have been hurt by an enemy. The natural thing would be to lash out, defend yourself, and even cut down your enemy, all the while justifying your anger. The supernatural thing is to agree with Jesus: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” When we overcome evil with good we glorify God. And at the same time, we leave our enemy confused and feeling like garbage! :) The Message paraphrases Proverbs 22 this way:

Your generosity will surprise him with goodness,

    and God will look after you.

The Living Bible puts it this way:

This will make him feel ashamed of himself, and God will reward you.

I will confess that I have viewed this idea of heaping coals on someones head with a little bit of glee! But Paul makes it clear that my heart attitude stinks! He tells me to “give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all,” which tells me to check my heart and motives. God’s desire is always to lead men to repentance, because He wants all of them to come to Him. So my motivation in being kind to my enemies must be their redemption, not merely to see them ashamed!

Oh, LORD, I fall so short! Thank you that you are not finished with me yet! Help me to remember that you are also not finished with my enemies yet!  

Bring on the bling!

If you are old enough, you may remember the Marilyn Monroe - Jane Russell movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which Marilyn sings “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” There is just something about bling and sparkle that we gals love. In reality, I came to enjoy this only later in my life.

For most of my marriage I discouraged Don from purchasing any jewelry for me. I had my simple wedding ring set and wore pearl studs and a watch, and occasionally a small cross around my neck - and that was it for me. Then Emmy became a Premier Designs sales consultant, and my world changed! I like to tell people that “when God told me to exercise, I thought He said, ‘Accessorize!’ ” All of a sudden I needed all kinds of jewelry pieces to complete my ensembles! The end result of this change is that I now have a giant drawer FILLED with jewelry! I could start my own business. I used to order pieces, and Emmy would tell me, “Mom, you already HAVE that one!” Seriously!

Well, our Proverbs verses for today tell us that the words we speak and hear are even more essential to our appearance!

A word fitly spoken

    is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. 
Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold

    is a wise reprover to a listening ear. (Proverbs 25:11-12 ESV)

Another version says,

The right word at the right time

    is like a custom-made piece of jewelry,

And a wise friend’s timely reprimand

    is like a gold ring slipped on your finger. (The Message)

It is amazing to me how the right words, spoken at just the perfect time, have brightened my day. In fact, some remain with me to this day. I will never forget when I was a new teacher, very discouraged by my lack of ability on a particularly trying day with first graders, when a sweet Christian coworker took my hands to pray with me as she said, “Sally, you just need to pray that you will LOOK competent while you are BECOMING competent!” I so needed to hear that! It transformed my view of myself, as I gave myself permission to be a learner, even as a teacher.

I have long believed that one of the most important spiritual gifts we have as believers is the gift of encouragement. When we can help buttress up another believer who is struggling by giving the exact word of encouragement she needs, we are throwing her a lifeline! And the more we use this gift, looking for daily opportunities to practice it, the more it becomes second nature to us. I learned from my mother that I should never let an opportunity to pay a compliment pass, because you may never get the chance to say it again. The world tears us all down daily! How refreshing to hear a positive word! So I look for chances to give out verbal blessings.

Besides dishing out blessings, sometimes we need be ready to lovingly give the necessary reprimand or word of correction when we are prompted by God to do so. I have received words of correction throughout my life that have profoundly impacted my behavior and attitudes. So, there have been many times when I have also needed to give out the truth to someone when some correction was essential. That’s not as easy, and not fun in any way. But Proverbs assures us that the fit word of reproof at the right time is just as powerful and precious as gold to the person willing to hear it.

A good word of reproof is not condemning. It is not designed to kill and destroy but to build up and strengthen. Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to “encourage the fainthearted.” (I Thes 5:14)  When someone is in a weakened state, we have the power to lift them up with our words. Let’s choose to do that rather than delivering the fatal blow!

I certainly don’t need any of the jewelry I have in that drawer. Although, I have to admit that, since I rarely open it, it’s always like finding a Christmas present when I dig in and see something “new!” And it’s not even real gold (I already sold all of that at a gold party years ago)! But the kind words, the encouraging, affirming words from others I never outgrow! Those I need and cherish! And the worth of the words of reproof and correction I have received over my lifetime will only be totally known in eternity! But I treasure those as well. Let’s keep our eyes open for chances to bless, and keep our ears open to admonishment when needed. They are the “bling” that lasts!  

What's wrong with the church? Me!

The problem is not evil people acting like evil people; the problem is righteous people not acting like righteous people. - Tony Evans, Pastor, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas, TX

Our pastor, J.P. Jones, quoted Tony Evans this morning as he was sharing in his series on how to work out what God has worked in (Phil 2:13). J.P. is leading us in a study of how to live out our faith in a real, authentic way as disciples of Christ, so that we might glorify God. And this quote, along with the worship song that lead into the service, “Jesus, Friend of Sinners,” really struck me in view of what I’ve been struggling with the past few days.

A few days ago I learned that a Christian sister had spread some “news” about another Christian friend that was devastating. It was the truth - but not the truth told in love. It wasn’t even disguised as a prayer request, but as “righteous” outrage. I was so upset that I could not sleep that night, because I was so busy judging the one who judged the other!! Do you see a problem here? Ye gads! The Church is just a place filled with sinners saved by grace, and made righteous by Christ. Yet, we are so busy judging everyone else, that we cannot be a light to the rest of the world!

So, when we sang the song by Casting Crowns, “Jesus, Friend of Sinners,” at the opening of the service, the LORD perfectly prepared my heart to hear the message and repent. Here are the lyrics: 

Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away 

We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing 

Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see 

The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me

 Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded 

A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided 

 Oh Jesus, friend of sinners 

Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers 

Let our hearts be led by mercy 

Help us reach with open hearts and open doors 

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours 

 Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who's writing in the sand 

Made the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands 

Help us to remember we are all the least of these 

Let the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their knees 

Nobody knows what we're for, only what we're against when we judge the wounded 

What if we put down our signs, crossed over the lines and loved like You did 

 You love every lost cause; you reach for the outcast 

For the leper and the lame; they're the reason that You came 

Lord I was that lost cause and I was the outcast 

But you died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet 

 'Cause You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever... 

That song just broke my heart over my own sin. But along with Tony Evans’ quote, it speaks of the biggest problem in the church. People are dying to get to the Savior, but they are tripping over us! May we see with the eyes of Jesus when we find a brother or sister caught in sin, because we are all plank-eyed sinners! I was the lost cause He died for. So how can I not be broken-hearted when I see another “lost cause.” Shouldn’t our response be love - and truth spoken in love? If we know we need to correct another, let’s do it directly and prayerfully, with restoration, not destruction, in mind. 

Paul said it well: 

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2 ESV) 

I needed to hear this message today, so I’m passing it on to you, in case you also needed to hear it. If you want to repent in tears, click here to hear the YouTube version of Casting Crowns singing this amazing song!  

Proverbs 25:6-7 I'll take the seat in the back of the room, please!

The next few chapters of Proverbs were sayings that King Hezekiah compiled from writings of Solomon, 250 years after Solomon wrote. Jon Courson writes that it was as if Hezekiah or his men ran across these writings in some old files. His take away from that is that we never know what influence we may have, even after we are dead! Someone may read a journal entry or a note in the margin of your Bible and be impacted by your words. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

There are lots of gems here, but the one that struck me as I read this morning was similar to something Jesus said:

Don’t work yourself into the spotlight;

    don’t push your way into the place of prominence.

It’s better to be promoted to a place of honor

    than face humiliation by being demoted. (Proverbs 25:6-7 The Message)

Self-promotion can end in humiliation. Jesus warned of this, too, while eating at the home of a ruler of the Pharisees:

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,  “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him,  and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:7-11 ESV)

One of the upside-down principles of the Bible is that when you humble yourself, the LORD will lift you up. However, if you lift yourself up, you can be guaranteed of a fall. The world encourages people who aggressively promote themselves. It’s at the heart of social media. But as Christians, our example is Jesus:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)

We are not here to be served, but to serve. So, pushing our way to the front of the line, or seeking the best seat in the house, or manipulating a situation so that we get the largest portion possible is absolutely inconsistent with the behavior of a Christ-follower. Instead of desiring to see our name in lights, we should be lifting up the name of the Light of the world!

LORD, help us to be alert to any tendencies we may have to seek glory for ourselves. May we keep before us your example of humility as you took on the form of a weak baby in order to save us! Transform us into your image more and more; refine us so that others may see your reflection in our faces!  

Just a sad note...

This morning news has come that Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel has died at the age of 86, after a long battle with lung cancer. My heart is so sad, because he was my first pastor. I committed my life to Christ in 1976, when I was in my mid-twenties, and immediately began attending Calvary Chapel, even though is was a long commute from San Juan Capistrano. I received my grounding in God’s Word and my passion for it by listening to tapes of Chuck’s sermons through their tape-by-mail ministry. I went from Genesis through Romans listening to Chuck just read God’s Word and expound on it’s relevance to our lives. And he dedicated both of our girls to the LORD.

There was nothing magical about Chuck. He looked like an ordinary preacher and his services were fairly traditional, with singing from the hymnals every Sunday. But, during the week, the rock-style musicians would play praise music, and Chuck would sit on a stool in front of the congregation and just work his way through the Bible from beginning to end. Then he would start over again in Genesis and keep moving until he made his way through Revelation. And yet, he drew enormous crowds. People were hungry to hear God’s Word - all of it. Thousands came to the LORD through his simple ministry, which was known for its outreach to the Hippie generation!

There are now hundreds of Calvary Chapel affiliated churches throughout the country. He mentored some of the best pastors of our generation, including Greg Laurie and Mike MacIntosh. He will be missed, but I know that he is rejoicing in heaven with his Savior! He surely heard these words this morning as he entered the LORD’s presence: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!” Praying for his family...  

Proverbs 24:30-34 Don't let weeds grow under your feet!

One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones,

    and then passed the vineyard of a lout;

They were overgrown with weeds,

    thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.

I took a long look and pondered what I saw;

    the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:

“A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,

    sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?

Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,

    with poverty as your permanent houseguest!” (Proverbs 24:30-34 The Message)

Our final passage in this chapter of Proverbs ends with an observation from which Solomon drew a lesson. He was out walking, when he passed by the rundown field of a man whom the English Standard Version calls a “sluggard.” His property was a wreck - overgrown with thorns and weeds, fences laying over in disrepair, and, had it been in modern times, there probably would have been a rusted old truck with the hood up next to a ramshackle barn.

Later he walked past a vineyard that was equally overgrown. He tells us he took “a long look and pondered” what he saw. It was as if he was being preached to by these images. He saw that the decrepit conditions of the men and their properties had to do with a laziness that permeated their lives. He could hear these men saying to themselves, “Before I get to the harvesting, I’m just going to take a quick nap.” Or “I’ll just rest here in the shade for a minute while I think about how to tackle that broken-down tractor.” And the result of such a lackadaisical attitude: nothing gets done, and the men end up in poverty as their “permanent houseguest!”

One of the great challenges of a teacher is to find the key to motivating an indifferent student - the “sluggard” who consistently turns in poor quality work (if he turns it in at all) just to get it over with, or the whiner who complains, “I’m bored,” when the teacher has failed to entertain sufficiently! Invariably these are the ones who go home and passively watch TV or play video games for hours after school, and somehow the homework never gets completed. They have no curiosity or vision of the world outside themselves. All their “wants” are met by Mom and Dad, and they have never had to do a single chore at home. They expect a reward for every little thing they do, because they are so used to “winning” a trophy for just showing up.

Thankfully, this kind of student is a minority in the classroom, or we would have teachers trampling over each other to get out of the profession! But, when you have one in your classroom (or a few), you want to shake the parents!  Teach your children the value of hard work!  Get rid of the video games!

Solomon makes a direct correlation here to slothfulness and poverty. He is NOT saying that all poor people are lazy. Frequently the poor among us are working several jobs just to keep food on their table! Many show an industriousness that is amazing! However, I think Solomon’s conclusion would be that LAZY people DO end up in poverty. If your bottom needs to be surgically removed from the couch - or your favorite subject in school is recess - we may have a problem, Houston!

Paul reminds us that the Christian life is a race with a glorious prize waiting for us at the finish line. It’s a race that requires effort and endurance and a vision of the goal:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (I Corinthians 9:24-25 ESV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

Let’s keep focused on the prize so that we won’t grow weary - and let's teach and model that lesson for our kids!  

Proverbs 24:17-18 It’s not the time to celebrate!

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,

    and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
lest the Lord see it and be displeased,

    and turn away his anger from him. (Proverbs 24:17-18)

Everyone loves a good story ending when the villain gets his due. We have cheered from childhood when the wicked witch melts before our eyes in The Wizard of Oz, or when the archenemy of Superman, Lex Luthor gets defeated at the end of a comic book. We hate the wicked and love to see good triumph!

However, Jesus told us that, in real life, our attitude toward our enemies should be to pray for them. What??? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turned our common hatred of our enemies upside down:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

Jesus is telling us that if all we do is love those who love us, we are no better than the pagans around us. ANYONE can love someone who loves them back. But love someone who has HURT us? Someone who has set out to harm us in the eyes of our coworkers or neighbors? How on earth can we love that person?? We can’t! At least, not in our own strength. We can’t muster up warm, fuzzy feelings toward someone who has abused us. That is impossible! But with God ALL things are possible. He would not have given us this command, if He could not also give us supernatural strength to carry it out.

First, let’s remember that biblical love, agape love, is NOT about warm, fuzzy feelings. It has nothing to do with our emotions. It’s about our actions. It’s about demonstrating love by acting it out. We are to bless those who persecute us; give them our cloak when they sue us; turn the other cheek when they malign us. This is exactly what Jesus did from the cross! And it all begins with prayer. It is impossible to remain angry with someone if you are praying for him.

So if your enemy falls, don’t join the cheering section! Don’t do a happy dance around the room and high five your friends! Don’t throw a party. Thank the LORD for justice, but pray for the redemption of your enemy. Do you have a neighbor or coworker who has been your nemesis for years? Instead off expressing glee when he stumbles, pray for him, then offer a hand to help him up. The world is waiting to see Jesus in us. That’s how we do it!