August 31st – Proverbs 31: Speak Up!

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." – Proverbs 31:8,9

My default is set to ALWAYS stand with and defend the poor, destitute and needy. I believe that it is the nature of God to always look to the needs of the weakest FIRST. If a couple comes to me with a marriage problem, I start with the assumption that the problem is the husbands fault or responsibility. Why? Because the bible tells us that the woman is the weaker partner!

“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” I Peter 3:7

This doesn’t mean that it’s always the husbands fault (although it’s hovering near 95% for me), but it does mean the lion’s share of responsibility in the marriage falls on the man:

“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.” – Ephesians 5:23

Men LOVE being in charge. They LOVE the authority that God grants them, sometimes reminding their wives to “submit” to them like the Bible tells them! But what they often fail to remember is that authority comes with a great price: responsibility. For example, we all know that the name of Jesus carries ULTIMATE power and ULTIMATE authority. The Bible tells us:

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 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 2:9-11

But like I love to tell people, whenever you see a “therefore”, go back and see what it’s there for! This passage begins with a “therefore” and we would be well served to see the genesis of Jesus’ power and authority. Many people like to believe that Jesus was granted His great power and authority from birth, but that’s not true! Jesus’ power and authority were not granted to Him upon birth, but upon His obedience!

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” – Philippians 2:5-9

Jesus humbled Himself to the will of God and became obedient to death, even death on a cross! THIS is the basis of His power and authority! Jesus took the responsibility for the redemption upon man upon Himself, qualifying Him to receive the power and authority over all creation!

LIFE LESSON:

We must use our power and authority granted by God not to serve ourselves, but to defend the poor, the needy and the destitute.

August 30th – Proverbs 30: Exalt Not Thyself!

"If you have played the fool and exalted yourself, or if you have planned evil, clap your hand over your mouth!” – Proverbs 30:32

This Proverb tells us that it is foolish to exalt ourselves. The word for exalt means to: lift, to hold up. So if we find ourselves lifting and holding up our lives, exalting ourselves we are to quickly put a hand over our mouth and STOP! In an increasingly self-centered and self-aware society, self-exaltation is becoming the norm. Our insatiable need for affirmation has given us license to praise ourselves! Our culture has decided that this is an acceptable practice, but the Bible tells us a different story:

“Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.” – Proverbs 27:2

It’s simply not prudent and not humble to exalt or praise yourself, even if you are amazing! It’s the price of greatness. You can be great; you just have to let other people recognize this. We’re all happy that you did a good job at whatever it is you do, you don’t have to tell us how awesome you are. I’ve known people like this and you probably do to; they are a legend in their own mind! Few things are as off-putting as someone who is enamored with themselves.

But there is another very real consequence to exalting yourself:

“Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among great men; it is better for him to say to you, "Come up here," than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman.” – Proverbs 25:6,7

It’s just the nature of things, when you exalt yourself; the only direction left to go is down. Likewise, when you humble yourself, the only direction you can go is up!  We’re promised in the Word of God that if we humble ourselves we WILL be exalted, but if we exalt ourselves we WILL be humbled!

“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:12

I love that the Bible tells us the antidote when we find ourselves praising ourselves. “Clap your hand over your mouth!” When our tongue rages out of control we should take matters into our own hands and SHUT IT UP! This is because the tongue is a CRAZY thing and we need Divine help to keep it under control:

“All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” – James 3:7,8

LIFE LESSON:

If you REALLY are awesome, others will recognize it; you don’t have to advertise yourself.

August 29th – Proverbs 29: A Mutual Agreement

“The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.” – Proverbs 29:27

Let’s be honest. We are to love ALL God’s children, good and bad. Why? Because Jesus loves them, that’s why! We can’t hate anyone! To hate your brother PROVES that you aren’t walking in the light (I John 2:9). Jesus loved us and died for us while we were still sinners and we must do the same:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

But yet, there is this little gem in the book of Proverbs that tells us a secret; the righteous detest the wicked and the wicked detest the righteous. It’s an agreement of sorts. We who live righteously can’t stand the lack of basic decency and morality the wicked display as a lifestyle and the wicked can’t stand the display of decency and morality that the righteous display.  We don’t need to fool ourselves. If we are truly righteous we have NOTHING in common with the wicked.

Several years ago I went out preaching in a tough neighborhood with a newcomer to our church. This guy was LILY WHITE. I’m talking pressed khakis, a tucked in IZOD shirt with a shiny leather belt topped off with perfectly white Adidas and KNEE HIGH tube socks! Wow! He looked white, spoke white and talked white perfectly enunciating every syllable. Now, I have nothing wrong with that, this is who this guy was. But when we got into the neighborhood, we encountered a couple of really rough guys. It turns out that they were drugs dealers and one of the dudes made no attempt to hide a very obvious bulge of a gun in his waistline.

So my VERY white "friend" walks up to these guys starts throwing some slang, “Hey man, how’s it hanging, BRO?” I looked at him in total horror. We were going to get stabbed, I just knew it. He went on, “So yeah man, we’re just hanging here in Da Hood and we wanted to shout at ya, WORD!” The guys recoiled with a look of disgust; they were getting angry. I elbowed my idiot friend to shut up and began talking to them, LIKE A NORMAL PERSON. I didn’t try to relate to them in the natural, what do I have in common with a thug from the hood? So I began to appeal to them on the only common ground we do have; we have ALL been sinners and fallen short of the glory of God at one time.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23

They heard me out because I was talking to them honestly from the heart. But real life, they DETEST the fact that I live right and probably see me as a goody two shoes. I in turn LOATHE their mistreatment of women, lack of responsibility to their kids and the immoral way they earn a buck. But I made a mark that day. Perhaps one day they can come into the light and we can have some real fellowship, but if not, we’ll just continue our little dance of detesting one another’s lifestyle. At least the battle lines in my life are drawn clear, there is NO GRAY AREA.

LIFE LESSON:

Stop trying to be relevant to the devil; just stay relevant to the Gospel.

August 26th – Proverbs 26: Fighting Fuel!

“Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.” – Proverbs 26:20

All fires require fuel to burn. When you want a fire to burn hot and tall you must add wood. If you want a fire to go out, all that you have to do is stop providing fuel and in a little while, it will go out. In the same way, every quarrel, every argument requires fuel to keep going. When a quarrel is REALLY blazing, when two sides violently oppose each other, there is a BUNCH of gossip going on. He said/She said from questionable sources is how arguments and fights persist. If you want to end the fight, normally all you have to do is STOP the chatter from others and sit down, face to face and work it out man to man. Rarely ever will you find a quarrel that can’t be settled like this.

So why don’t we resolve more conflict?

Well, the sad fact is that most people are chickens. It’s just easier to believe the lies and rumors and get mad than it is to go directly to the source of the rumors and resolve the conflict. That takes something that is all too rare these days, especially in the church, COURAGE. So many conflicts could be almost instantaneously resolved if we would just GO to the person that we have been offended by and actually DO what the Bible says:

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” – Matthew 18:15

We mask our rebellion to the commands of Jesus with this veneer of “maturity”. We’ll say stuff like “I’m not offended, BUT…” What you forget is ANYTIME a “but” comes out; you can throw away whatever is said directly before that. If you came to me for a loan, let’s say you needed $20. If I said to you, “I can give you $20, BUT…” When you hear that “but” you KNOW you aren’t getting any money! In the same way, whenever someone says, “I’m not offended, BUT…” you KNOW they are offended. We need to stop playing games and start being real. You’re not so mature that you can’t be offended, sorry. When we are hurt and offended, instead of telling all your friends, dropping names and sowing your bitterness and anger wherever you go, you need to MAN UP and go directly to that person ALONE. Deal with the offense and it will likely go away, keep feeding it and it may consume YOU.

A word about gossips: the word here for “gossip” is; talebearer, whisperer. Isn’t it funny that gossip is ALWAYS told in secret, whispered from one party to another? Yet we cloak our “concerns” for the other party in this weird self-righteous attitude, like it’s our secret mission from Jesus to expose our buddy that hurt our wee little feelings under the veil of “concern” or better yet “prayer”. Talebearers or gossips always try to appear above the fray, but in reality they are the SOURCE of all conflict. If you can get them to SHUT UP, that fight will be resolved ASAP. 

So how do you spot a talebearer? Their mouth will be moving.

“A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.” – Proverbs 20:19

LIFE LESSON:

Man up, resolve your conflict like Jesus told you to.

August 25th – Proverbs 25: Peace > Pride

“Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.” – Proverbs 25:24

Coming from a man with all the wealth in the world, massive palaces that spanned acres and who also had 700 wives and 300 concubines, I think we can take this wisdom to the bank. Solomon KNEW what he was talking about! He says it would be better to camp out on the corner of a roof than to share a palatial estate with a contentious or brawling woman. I have seen grown men reduced to tears because they don’t know how to lead their wives. These are good guys, strong physically, strong in business and respected in the community that crumble when their spouse starts fussing.

Marriage can be tough, but it doesn’t have to be like this. Part of the reason it can be so tough is because some people like winning arguments more than they like peace. Those are the kind of people that are always fighting. They don’t like to fight, but they don’t like to humble themselves either. As men, we have GOT to learn how to lead our way through conflict. Early in my marriage I realized this. If I were to “win” every argument and “assert my dominance” we would fight all of the time! We started our marriage with a commitment to DO this verse:

“Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the Devil.”- Ephesians 4:26,27

What that meant was that if we were having an argument or fight, we wouldn’t go to bed until that argument was resolved. Sometimes that meant LATE nights and early mornings. Many times in the first couple years of our marriage we would be up until 2 and 3am, having to get up around 6am the next morning. It made for a HORRIBLE day after, but at least we weren’t fighting!

One of these times we had STARTED an argument around midnight and I had the feeling this would be an all-nighter. I had a legitimate beef, but it was covered up in my bad behavior. She would NEVER hear what SHE was doing wrong while I kept being a jerk about it. While she was fussing at me I thought to myself: “Wow, here we go again. Man I SO don’t want to be up all night again… but I can’t let her win!” Then the Holy Spirit interrupted my thought process and said, “What’s more valuable to you? Being right? Or having peace in your home?” 

I knew right then and there that having a home with peace and joy and without contention was WAY more important than me being “right”. I wasn’t prepared to capitulate and compromise, telling her she was right for what I knew she was wrong in, but what I could do was take responsibility for MY bad behavior. So I interrupted her fussing with, “I’m sorry, you’re right, I was being a jerk. Please forgive me.” Her mouth fell open and she stopped talking. She was totally shocked. She kept at it for another minute or two, just to make sure I was “really” sorry and I ate humble pie, not telling her she was right, but owning MY failure. 

The fight was over in less than 5 minutes and a few minutes later we drifted off into a peaceful sleep, well rested for the day to come. 

LIFE LESSON:

That day, I learned that my PEACE was more valuable than my PRIDE.

August 24th – Proverbs 24: Don’t Mess with the Righteous!

“Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against a righteous man's house, do not raid his dwelling place;” – Proverbs 24:15

I am a righteous man. Not because I’m a good boy and sin less than the average guy (although I do), but because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross. His work transformed me and He has enabled me by His grace to walk free from sin, sickness and disease. I AM RIGHTEOUS! Saying that, one of the dumbest things you could do is like this Proverb says, “lie in wait like an outlaw against a righteous man’s house”. The word for “lie in wait” is; to lurk, to lie in ambush. It means to be in a state of watching and waiting for the home and household of the righteous to fall. Now who would do this?

I’ve actually had a couple people very close to me do this very thing. One of them, when I confronted him about being involved in an extramarital affair, began to tell me through a snarl how he wished that I would fall into adultery and have an affair, ruining my marriage, wrecking my family and destroying my ministry! I couldn’t believe the evil I was witnessing from this guy, a professing Christian, breathing out demonically inspired curses upon me and my household. I told him, “I have done NOTHING to deserve these curses you are spewing at me. These curses you are speaking won’t land on me, but they WILL come back and visit you! I would SHUT UP if I was you.”

“Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.” – Proverbs 26:2

He’s already ruined two marriages and last I heard not doing very well.

As a Pastor, I get to come in contact with a lot of people. Some love what we do at our church, others hate it. Either way, I’m ok; life in Christ is not a popularity contest to me. The way I see it, you just do what God has called you to do and those that are called to be a part will come along, the others will fall away. Occasionally people get REALLY upset because you don’t do things their way and make it the ambition of their life to “lie in wait like an outlaw” or even “raid his dwelling place”. They think they are God’s anointed to slander you to everyone they come in contact with. They prophesy people out of the church and pray that you close down! Hmmm, sounds a bit like the devil to me!

What they should watch out for is part two of this scripture:

“for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.” – Proverbs 24:16

Yeah, we might go through difficulty, in fact we might go through a LOT of difficulty (seven times), but we’ll get back up. You and your devil proclamations though? Calamity is gonna wipe you out. BOOM!

LIFE LESSON:

Many who cannot live righteously slander and curse those who can. “Those who cannot DO, curse those who do!”

August 23rd – Proverbs 23: Show Some Restraint!

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” – Proverbs 23:4

This Proverb could really save people months and years of their lives, marriages, families and relationships. How many folks have YOU known that have “risked it all” trying to make a bunch of money? I’ve known a BUNCH. I don’t know what it is about the promise of wealth, but it makes people do CRAZY things! I’ve known people in the pursuit of great wealth lose their marriage, mortgage houses, and cash in retirement accounts, completely ruining themselves financially. I’ve known some folks so desperate to climb the corporate ladder that 100+ hour weeks seem reasonable to them. It doesn’t seem to matter that their health, marriage and personal lives go in the gutter in their pursuit of wealth.

The word for labor here means: to faint, be exhausted, to toil, to tire. We should never willingly wear ourselves out to get rich. Ruining our physical bodies to make a buck is just stupid. So you get your millions, but then you die of a heart attack! The Bible tells us to NOT go about the pursuit of wealth this way, encouraging us to have wisdom that shows restraint. In our day and age if someone tries to demonstrate wisdom and show restraint they are castigated for “having no faith” or “playing it safe”. Well, say what you want, but I’ll just sit here in my nice, comfy trailer in Acworth in perfect peace, easily paying my bills and living well below my means.

But another translation of this verse reveals more:

“Do not labor to be rich; cease from your own understanding. – Proverbs 23:4

Having the “wisdom to show restraint” is translated “cease from your own understanding”. Here again we are told to forsake worldly, carnal wisdom and embrace the wisdom of God! Many times, OUR wisdom tells us to make more we must work more; as if somehow our production is directly tied to our toil. Yet God’s wisdom often tells us to work smarter, not harder. Studies have proven that laborers production falls sharply after about 50 hours of work a week. So grinding away hour after hour, week after week may NOT produce the great gains you are working for after all. 

But God has wisdom; He has a way to bless us that has nothing to do with tiredness, toil or PAIN.

“The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” – Proverbs 10:22

Could it be that the secret to wealth is the blessing of the Lord? Why toil and struggle when you can simply receive a blessing from God?

LIFE LESSON:

I’ve done toil, it’s exhausting. I’m doing blessing now, it’s invigorating.