Love one another part 3

Putting the verse together

After a sermon and a half we are finally at the point where we can pat ourselves on the back for successfully exegetting the verse. However, it took me that amount of time to do what Solomon did in 1 sentence which is why he’s the smartest man ever and I’m just a regular guy whom God is using this morning for preaching. Nevertheless we are not yet done with the verse. Now it’s time bring each part back together so that we can understand it as a whole so we aren’t lost in the details. Again our proverb this morning reads Prov 17:9

Proverbs 17:9 KJV 1900

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; But he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

But before we go into putting the verse back together It is time once again to play our favorite game show called where have we heard this verse before? With your favorite game show host just like we did last time. Some of you might know on the top of your heads though if you’re like me you’re probable scratching your head again trying to remember where it came from. I’ll give you a hint. It’s in the law. Well the law is pretty lengthy. Ok I’ll be nice and tell you exactly where it came from. It’s Lev 19:16-18

Leviticus 19:16–18 KJV 1900

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.

In all seriousness however it is important to realize that there are no isolated concepts in scripture. All scripture has as its central theme Christ and Him crucified therefore you will have words and ideas repeated. We have a perfect example of this today for Solomon must have had this very law in mind when he wrote proverb 17:9 for everything that is in the proverb is in the law. In the law you have not being a gossip, not hating your brother by repeating old wounds to him but rather seek love with your neighbor.

You may be thinking to yourself. That wasn’t the verse I had in mind. Isn’t it found somewhere in the NT somewhere. Well you would be right. It is found in 3 places in the NT namely the 3 gospels of Matt, Mark and Luke. It is alluded to in John and we may take a closer look at that in a little bit. It is interesting to note that each time it is quoted it has a slightly different perspective each time. In Matt it’s to correct the religious leaders. In Mark we are seeing a man who is knocking on heaven’s door so to speak and in Luke which is the one we will briefly look at today is the one where the famous Good Samaritan parable is mentioned.

Luke differs from the other gospels in that he sights a parable after the law’s citation. The reason why Luke mentions the parable of the good Samaritan is because Luke is showing us who is your neighbor and what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

The interesting thing is is that Solomon in his proverb does the same thing Luke does in that Solomon shows us methods of loving our neighbor as ourselves just without the parable to illustrate it. Jesus would also give us a new commandment which is the same as the old after he gives us an illustration of how it works. In John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 KJV 1900

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

How does Solomon show us methods of loving our neighbor or as Jesus puts it loving one another? He does this by showing us in his proverb the various actions that love does towards other people. Remember from last time? God is love so therefore He shows us how to love by loving us first. Really that is the theme of the entire proverb the phrase seeketh love. So yes God seeks you! All who are saved or who are going to be saved have been sought by the Lord. You’ve heard it said by people that they found God but that is not correct. God was never lost; you were. So then those whom He chose, He loves.

The proverb goes on to tell us how God loves. First and foremost by covering our transgressions; forgiving our sins. Christ by His death and resurrection made it so that justice would be answered and that mercy would be revealed thereby forgiveness takes place. Therefore, since we are the recipients of so great a love we too must forgive each other whenever the need arises. We must be quick with the I forgive you with each other because God has been so quick with the I forgive you for us.

As if that wasn’t enough God says. But wait, There’s more., since the rest of the proverbs deals with the “there’s more”. These are found in each one of those “repeat-a-matters” that we previously discussed. In His love, God does not remind us of our past sins. Consider for a moment if God were to remember your sins. Can you imagine being told by God of that sin you did last Tues or Thurs and it’s repeated over and over again? Aren’t you thankful that He doesn’t do that! For it is written in Ps 103:12

Psalm 103:12 KJV 1900

As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Not only that, it is further written in Isaiah 43:25

Isaiah 43:25 KJV 1900

I, even I, (that is God)am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, And will not remember thy sins.

There you have it folks! God does not recall to His mind your past sins and therefore we who are to be His ambassadors, as a reflection of Him should not recall to remembrance the past sins of others. This is hard to do though. Especially if the sin was against you. It is hard to let it go yet God lets your sin go. So keep that in mind and be grateful that God does remember your sins no more.

Now this doesn’t mean we just throw caution to the wind and just pretend that nothing happened for remember God does not absolve you of the consequences of your sins in this life. The murderer on death row still has to be executed even though he has come to faith and so on and so forth. Rather what it means is how you treat that person who has wronged you and has come for forgiveness. You are to treat them with open arms just as Barnabas did with Paul which Jeremy will look at in the coming weeks. But we also must be prudent as well.

The final repeat-a-matter that shows the love of God in action is in the fact that God doesn’t gossip. Admittedly it is hard to imagine God gossiping but there is a reason for this. Isaiah 40:13

Isaiah 40:13 KJV 1900

Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or being his counseller hath taught him?

In other words there is no one that God goes to for advice, to share His plans with, or to try and make sense out of things for the simple reason because God is God who is omnipotent and omniscient and there is none greater so it is not needful for Him to ask advice etc. Understand that there is nothing wrong with asking for advice, or to share plans or to try and make sense out of things but gossip will often disguise itself in those very things.

Earlier we discussed the fact that gossip is rooted in hate and malice, the result of which lies are often introduced in order for the one being gossiped about to be held in lesser regard. Again we should not gossip because it is often filled with lies. God is truth which we look at another day. Therefore, we also must reflect that truth so then we should speak truth to one another. As Eph 4:25

Ephesians 4:25 KJV 1900

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

But ya know it’s tough! Situations arise that are not ideal and the lines between what is gossip and what isn’t often get blurred. So then the question arises. How do we combat gossip? How do we not participate in gossip? There are a couple of questions that you need to ask yourself which will help combat gossip. First and this isn’t in any particular order. Does what I am hearing tear down the person or does it lift them up? The christian is in the business in edifying one another as God edifies us. The second question is, is what I am hearing true or is it false. This obviously is going to take some leg work and time so as such then don’t be too hasty in accepting the news until it has been verified. Lastly how does what I am hearing follow the guideline that is in our proverb? Does what I am hearing seek love or does it separate? Once again a word of caution here for sometimes it is necessary to separate especially when it comes to false teachers or obstinate people. Those you need to separate from but only when no reconciliation is possible. The goal of the christian is always reconciliation for in reconciliation is where the fruit of love is found.

One more thought before we close and its a thought that we encountered in our previous study. This thought is love covers all sins which is somewhat repeated today in the one who covers transgressions seeks love. Therefore if love covers all sins then love covers all of the sins of the repeat-a-matters. It covers the sins of not letting go of past wrongs or hurts. Seeking to love the one who hurt you, or wronged you will heal the hurts and wrongs that you incurred. This is not easy! It is probably one of the hardest things you will ever have to do and the longer you have had to live with the pain the harder it will be to do it. Notice I said love and not forgive. Yes we need to forgive but that is only part of the story. We must go further and truly love them. We can find so many examples of this, of people loving those who hurt them and it is inspiring to hear them. The case of Rwanda that we mentioned in the intro is a clear case of this and I’m sure you can think of many many others

Another repeat-a-matter sin that love covers is gossip and the best way to stop gossip is to love the one who is gossiping about you. Again this is very counterintuitive for our first reaction is to seek justice and to endeavor to right the wrong that has been done to us. Yet to love such a one is precisely the best method of stopping gossip. Not only for the one who is gossiping against you but also to stop gossip from continuing. Think about it in this manor. If you hear a juicy little word of gossip about someone else show that person love by not only not repeating it but also think about how you would feel if someone did the same to you. Put yourself in their shoes and walk a mile in them. Then perhaps you will understand better. Think then on what Christ has to say in Matt 5:44

Matthew 5:44 KJV 1900

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Think or say things that would uplift the person that is being gossiped about rather than tear them down. Finally forgive, truly forgive that person who gossiped against you. Again a word of caution here. Don’t try this on your own strength for it is impossible to do. It can only be done through Christ so your first and foremost defence against gossip and its effect is by going to God for strength and understanding.

As we close this morning consider what Paul has to say as he echos Solomon’s words for he says love is the more excellent way. Love covers all sins. Love covers the sin of hate and love covers all the sins of the repeat a matters that we all run into.

So why is it that Solomon gives us the order of the proverb? Was it because he just wanted to change up the order so it wouldn’t become boring? Perhaps though there is much more to it then just that. We touched on this last time but didn’t bring it to a full conclusion. As we stated earlier forgiveness is unnatural and repeat a matters completely natural. Why is that? Rom 1 gives us a good glimpse into what the natural man is like starting at verse 28 Rom 1:28-29

Romans 1:28–29 KJV 1900

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

Do you see what is at the tail end of this description? Whisperers. If ever there was an apt description of a gossiper that would be it. Pssst. Did you hear what so and so did? and you can find other sorts of “repeat a matters” in the list as well. These things come natural to us.

Repeat a matters which is what we will be looking at next are the natural things for us to do in contrast to reconciliation they separate everything. They separate you from God, you from family, friends, church and communities.