Wise Words in Proverbs

Introduction

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Proverbs 10:9-12

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

Recap

Illustrartion: I think I have said this before My grandma used to say it to my dad and then my dad would say it to me and I will probably say it to Silas one day but it says, “Show me who your friends are and I will show you who you are”.

And what that means is when you are around good people you generally be good things or if you are around bad influences then generally your going to get into trouble

We are in an election year

It will be here before we know it

And we have known that we are a divided country

There really has been no common ground

And both sides say the right things to try to project that they are extending an olive branch

But in reality - the rhetoric coming from both sides is ridiculous

If you think that your party is squeaky clean I’m going to ask you to wake up

The polarizing differences aren’t something we should just be good with

Becuase I think in reality, when we truly talk things out, use common sense, and use God’s word we are not as far apart as we think

What we find in Proverbs and in the Bible as a whole is not written for just Kings and Presidents and rulers

But the Bible is given to the church!

That God’s people may live holy and blameless lives before the Lord

And we know, that outside of the church, the world is living by its own set of rules and standards and morals

That the world is following leaders who live by their own rules, standards, and morals

And we as the church, we can go wrong in a couple of ways

1. We can follow the world

2. We can be silent and just isolate, and not even talk about it amongst ourselves and just go along with everything

3. We can create our own party and divert a lot of attention to politics

I believe that all three of those are bad options and is not what we find in scripture

But what we do find, all throughout scripture, is for the church to influence others

Not to take over, but to influence

Why? Because if we truly believe in God’s Word, if we truly believe that it is truth, and if we truly believe that it is how we should live, then we should be shouting from the rooftops and discussing it amongst each other!

Why? Because our hope is not in a President, our hope is not in a political party, our hope is not in America, our hope is in Christ!

We influence with our lives and with our wisdom

And we are to share our lives and our wisdom with others

And we must recognize and do this in all humility

Remember:

BIblically - To have wisdom you must know God and to know God you must believe and have faith in Jesus

Biblical wisdom - to have faith in Jesus, to know understand how he wants us to live, and then to be obedient

As the church we are to move and

And then to speak it to the world

Background

As we read just a few verses from Chapter 10

Its important to note that in this chapter as a whole

What we find is a collection of single sentence Proverbs - single sentence wise sayings

But in these single sentence proverbs, we find great application

And this application comes by way of contrasting

We find contrasts between wisdom and folly

We will find this contrast of rightoeusness and wickedness

We will find the contrast of love and hate

And what we will find is that the church is called to be wise, to display righteousness, and to love

And this will distinguish the church from the world

At this time, If you are able to stand I ask that you do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it out loud and if you will please follow along - Proverbs 10:6-14.

9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. 10 Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, and a babbling fool will come to ruin. 11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Pr 10:6–14.

This is the word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Exposition

9 Righteous walks in truth

Righteous-

integrity - honest, strong moral principles, moral uprightness (whole and undivided)

Secure - grounded and unmovable

Wicked -

Crooked - twists truth, inconsistent, actively working to suppress/dismantle truth

Found Out - their folly will become evident befor man and their folly is known to God

10 Wicked has alterior motives

Wicked

winks eye - alterior motives, two faced (slanders), want to cause distrust and dissention

Babbling - those who do not know how to be quiet, makes no sense, undisciplined

ruin - (We saw this word in our last week as well) destruction, dismantle, left picking up the pieces

11 Righteous speak wise words (life) - speak and share truth

righteous

mouth is fountain of life - The wise speaks truth and righteousness on how to live (Christ)

Illustration: You kind of want to record every moment with them

wicked

conceals violence -

12 Wicked rejects good order (division, individuality) - order is and brings love - love covers friction

Hatred -

doesn’t like order

division

isolation

Love -

brings order

brings unity

brings community

Application

Separation of Church and State

The church and the world - separated but together

And we have responsibilities as the church

And we have responsibilities to the word

Know the truth who is Jesus Christ

Church - Know and preach Christ

1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Not because we are better than anyone else

Not because we are smarter than anyone else

Not because we are more affluent than anyone else

Not because we are more deserving that anyone else

Keep growing, digging deeper, praying harder, singing louder

Worship together in spirit and in truth

World - Know and preach Christ

The world does not know the truth

We are to share the truth

If all you do is talk politics with your unbelieving firend or co-worker or whoever it is

And you never bring up Jesus, you never share your faith, they dont know that your faith is what drives your politics

Then you are suppressing the truth and beauty of Christ

“Well I’m just creating repore” Once I get to know them and they know me then they will be more open to hear

Stop It

Either we believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and they desperately need HIm or we dont

Because from what I read and what I see just in our text today

Is that they are living in folly

They are going the way of the wicked and they desperately need Jesus

They must know who my heavenly Father is

They must know who my Savior is

They should know your Savior is before who your political candidate is

Be Peace Makers in all areas of life - This is wise and contrary to winking

Matthew 5:8-9.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Jesus came to bring us peace - to reconcile us to God

We to are to be reconciled with others, even our enemies

no alterior motives

genuine unity

genuine community

disciplined (slow to speak, know limits, )

Church - Act as a family and resolve conflicts

It is wasy nowadays to just get mad at someone and rather than working it out

You get passive aggressive

You ghost them

You leave the church

unresolved conflict in your life never leads to peace

We are the family of God and as long as we are rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ we should not be hating one another - this extends into politics

We should be able to sit down, open up God’s word, have passsionate discussions about policies and candidates, and to be able to do so in a way that when the conversation is left

There is still love and grace extended between each other

Don’t just “never talk about it”

Don’t just “talk about it without scripture opened up”

When feelings are hurt - state your hurt and receive forgiveness - hear the hurt and extend forgiveness

Don’t supress it

When someone hurts you or does something that makes you feel some type of way

There can be a tendency to think well I am just going to rise above

But because you dont bring it up it can fester, you dont forget it, And when you see that person and you remeber the unresolved hurt then it hinders the relationship

And you are not allowing your brother or sister the opportunity to express their grief and extended forgiveness

Go the extra mile and work extra hard to be at peace!

World - Because of your faith, because of the truth you believe in - the world will always be in opposition of you

Not because they do not like you, but because they do not like the message of Jesus

And it is not their call to live at peace with you but it is your call to be at peace with them

Speak Wise Words (Christ) -

Illustration: fuzzy little tennis ball

Church - Make Disciples and be an example

Share what you are learning in Christ

Ask questions about scripture in Christ

Find someone to disciple

Learn from someone who speaks wise words

World

The world needs your Godly thoughts

The world needs your Godly input

The world needs your Godly morals

The world needs your Godly policies

AND if the world rejects them all, it should not affect how you live

Love - Love God - Love everyone

1 Co 13:1–3.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Verse 13: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”