Franklin ben Solomon
Theme
We don’t have forever. God and God’s work must be our top priority.
Prelude
Welcome
Call to Worship
One: Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations
All: You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals,”
One: For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday.
All: So teach us to count our days so that we may gain a wise heart
– Based on Psalm 90
*Hymn of Praise # 483 We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations
*Invocation (the Lord’s Prayer) Eternal and loving God, the light of your love is from everlasting to everlasting. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. What we call the human body was fashioned by you to house our souls only for a season and prepare them for eternity.
Help us to understand this, Lord, and help us to come to the life–changing awareness that this is why your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, told us not to put all our time and energy into preserving and pampering the things of the flesh – but instead, to give priority to our interior being, our soul. So, Lord, please help us in working out our soul’s salvation with fear and trembling. Amen.
*Gloria Patri
Our Offering to God Even our modest gifts may increase the life of the world. Let us bring them in faith.
*Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication Raise up a new kindness in all the earth, O God. Receive what we have given today and add it to all that others bring to you.
Scripture Reading Mark 1:14–20
After John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus traversed the shores of Galilee saying, “The kingdom has come. Time’s up. Stop sinning. Live right.” He singled out Peter and Andrew, James and John, and said, “Follow me,” and immediately they left their fishing nets to begin fishing for other human beings.
*Hymn of Prayer #20 All People that on Earth Do Dwell
Pastoral Prayer We worship a God who is wise and just, and we know that we have fallen short of God’s glory. Yet our wise and just God is also gracious and merciful. God hears our prayers. In humility and trust, let us bring our prayers of confession to God, admitting those ways we have fallen short. /silence/Prayer of Confession/ Wise and gracious God, we admit that we have not lived a life conformed to Christ. You offer us the wisdom of your Word, but we neglect our study of Scripture. You are wise in your care for the world, but we think we know better. You call us to take up the cross and follow, but we want to forge our own paths. You offer your peace that is “not as the world gives,” but we are not content; we want security and guarantees. You give us the gift of your commandments, but we look for the loopholes, and make our own rules. Forgive us, Lord. Call us back to the life that you intend for us. /Assurance of Pardon/ Jesus Christ leads us on the righteous path. In his life, he showed us how to live and relate to one another. In his death, he atoned for our sins, and gave us the assurance of his love for us. In his resurrection, he rose triumphant over the powers of this world that would seek to enslave us. We are set free, and called to live lives of gratitude and joy. Friends, believe the gospel! In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!
*Hymn of Praise # 465 Give of Your Best to the Master
Scripture Reading Proverbs 25: 1, 9 – 28
Proverbs 25
1These are other proverbs of Solomon that the officials of King Hezekiah of Judah copied.
9 Argue your case with your neighbor directly,
and do not disclose another’s secret;
10 or else someone who hears you will bring shame upon you,
and your ill repute will have no end.
11 A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
12 Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold
is a wise rebuke to a listening ear.
13 Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest
are faithful messengers to those who send them;
they refresh the spirit of their masters.
14 Like clouds and wind without rain
is one who boasts of a gift never given.
15 With patience a ruler may be persuaded,
and a soft tongue can break bones.
16 If you have found honey, eat only enough for you,
or else, having too much, you will vomit it.
17 Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,
otherwise the neighbor will become weary of you and hate you.
18 Like a war club, a sword, or a sharp arrow
is one who bears false witness against a neighbor.
19 Like a bad tooth or a lame foot
is trust in a faithless person in time of trouble.
20 Like vinegar on a wound
is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
Like a moth in clothing or a worm in wood,
sorrow gnaws at the human heart.
21 If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat;
and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;
22 for you will heap coals of fire on their heads,
and the LORD will reward you.
23 The north wind produces rain,
and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
24 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a contentious wife.
25 Like cold water to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country.
26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain
are the righteous who give way before the wicked.
27 It is not good to eat much honey,
or to seek honor on top of honor.
28 Like a city breached, without walls,
is one who lacks self-control.
Message Franklin ben Solomon
Franklin and Solomon sound an awful lot alike; but Solomon had a special source for his wisdom.
“God helps those who help themselves.”
According to Barna Research, about 75 percent of 1,002 self-proclaimed Christians surveyed agreed that the Bible teaches this concept. Believe it or not - this is not a quotation from the Bible.
Few recognize that it is actually an old bromide from Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, that he got from a Aesop’s fable.
But how many times have we heard people not only credit this sentiment to the Bible, but think that this point of view is compatible with Scripture, when in fact it is counter-biblical, since it is so antithetical to the central message of the gospel with its radical call to love one’s neighbors.
And there are other Franklin quips that the scripturally less-literate have credited to the Bible. How about, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” It sounds like a proverb from Proverbs, but it’s Franklin ben Solomon, not Solomon.
While not in the Bible, there are still other nuggets of wit from Ben Franklin that we proverbially echo today: “Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.” That sounds vaguely familiar.
How about, “Eat to live and not live to eat”? How many countless fad diets have plundered that from the pages of Poor Richard?
But most of us don’t primarily know Franklin for his Poor Richard witticisms, rather, we honor him for his inventions. When he got tired of taking his reading glasses on and off in order to see farther away, he cut his glasses in half and invented the bifocals.
Although he didn’t invent electricity through his famous flight of the kite and key, he learned enough from the experience to invent the lightning rod as a way to protect ships and buildings from lightning damage. And a little-known fact ... when his older brother John suffered from kidney stones, he invented the urinary catheter. Perhaps Franklin’s most pesky invention for those attempting to sell their high-mileage vehicles: the odometer.
An ingenious inventor and a great statesman, Franklin is honored with his likeness on our hundred-dollar bills. So in memory of his 300th birthday on last Tuesday, January 17, 2006, it is appropriate to pause briefly and appreciate the legacy God gave us through Benjamin Franklin. But beyond his legacy as an inventor and patriot, a sage admirer will value the wisdom and wit of his proverbial sayings.
Between 1733 and 1758, Ben Franklin wrote several versions of his Poor Richard’s Almanack from which the previous excerpts were taken. The almanacks were, in essence, a collection of Franklin’s acquired life-wisdom. They had a pragmatic flare in their agricultural predictions and tables of the moon phases. But they also had a more profound side in their quips of wisdom drawn from observations of human life. Consider these gems worthy of contemplation:
• “The poor have little, beggars none, the rich too much, enough not one.”
• “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterward.”
• “Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.”
These Franklinisms even sound a bit “biblical.” They are worthy of our audience because of the inherent sense of wisdom within them. They ring of common sense and credibility. But, this is more Franklinity than Christianity. As Christians, we appreciate these sensibilities when we hear them because we think we’ve been taught them in the Bible.
There’s a genre of the Scriptures known as Wisdom Literature, and it includes the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job and parts of the Psalms. Wisdom represents short ideas about life founded on long experiences of it. Most biblical wisdom is concerned with right living and the fear of the Lord, urging us to please God by respecting the divine order that he has put into the world.
So when we talk about the wisdom offered by people, we recognize their ability to consciously or unconsciously tap into these rhythms of wisdom that God has imbedded in his creation and his Word. Thus Ben Franklin may have been wise in that he could look at the world around him and glean observations from it that were worthy of considering and even living by.
But biblical wisdom plays a trump card.
We read that Solomon was given wisdom from God himself, and from that wisdom comes a large portion of the book of Proverbs. “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore ... He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five”(1 Kings 4:29, 32, NIV).
So Franklin is in a sense the son of Solomon, Franklin ben Solomon, and the two of them have this in common: They are sage observers of life, and they have tapped into a certain genre: wisdom literature.
There are clear parallels between the maxims of Franklin and the proverbs of Solomon, and even parallels with other writers of “wisdom” like Confucius or Aesop. But unlike the others, Solomon’s wisdom was a gift from God himself, and as protected over the years in the Scriptures, is truly worthy of shaping our lives around.
As Proverbs 25, verse 1 tells us these are more proverbs of Solomon, collected by the advisers of King Hezekiah of Judah.
Hezekiah was one of the few kings of Judah who honored the Lord. By contrast, his father, Ahaz, actually nailed the Temple door shut. Hezekiah restored the Temple, destroyed idol worship centers, and earned the respect of surrounding nations, many of whom brought gifts to God because of him. It is not surprising that Hezekiah had these proverbs copied and read, for “in all that he did in the service of the Temple of God and in his efforts to follow the law and the commands, Hezekiah sought his God as his top priority. As a result, he was very successful” (2 Chronicles 31:21).
We can resonate with the wisdom collected here. Verse 13 It is often difficult to find people you can really trust. A faithful employee (“messenger”) is punctual, responsible, honest, and hardworking. This person is invaluable as he or she helps take some of the pressure off his or her employer. Find out what your employer needs from you to make his or her job easier, and do it.
But what about verse 14 that informs us about giving: Most churches, missions organizations, and Christian groups depend on the gifts of people to keep their ministries going. But many who promise to give fail to follow through. The Bible is very clear about the effect this has on those involved in the ministry. If you make a pledge, keep your promise.
Some of Solomon’s words, like Franklin’s, are entertaining wisdom: “If you find honey, eat just enough — too much of it, and you will vomit” (Proverbs 25:16, NIV). Wise words to encourage our moderation, but delivered through provocative imagery.
Some words are shocking: verse 18 : Lying about someone is vicious. Its effects can be as permanent as those of a wound. The next time you are tempted to pass on a bit of gossip, imagine yourself wounding the victim of your remarks with a sword. This image may shock you into silence.
Some of Solomon’s words echo in the New Testament. After reading how to rightly honor one’s enemies in Proverbs 25:21-22, one can hear these sentiments in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:43-48) and hear them quoted by Paul in Romans 12:20. By returning good for evil, we are acknowledging God as the balancer of all accounts and trusting him to be the judge.
These are profound words to consider in both our personal and geopolitical dealings.
But the main theme of Proverbs 25 is wisdom as it relates to our words.
Have you ever said something stupid, then immediately wished you could grab your words out of the air and cram them back into your mouth? We all have.
And Solomon must have known that experience as well. Because in our text for today, he speaks at length on the wisdom of using speech carefully. As we listen to these wisdom rhythms of God, we can draw some practical applications from them:
Speak honestly and yet honor confidences. If you can’t say something in a person’s presence, why say it in his absence? (25: 9-10).
Wise counsel and words that challenge us are immeasurably valuable. We should listen, consider, and avoid being defensive. Rebuke can bring growth, and growth demonstrates health (25:11-12).
Representing another person’s words and their intent with integrity is refreshingly novel in a society like ours. Be known as a person of your word. Fox News doesn’t, or shouldn’t, have the corner on No Spin Zones. Don’t spin. Don’t embellish. To misrepresent what is true is like drawing a weapon to injure another person (vv. 13, 14, 18).
Consider the metaphor of verse 15. Through patience and gentleness, one of the softest parts of the body, our tongue, can break the hardest part of the body, our bones. Who among us doesn’t wish patience and gentleness to more embody our words?
“Singing light songs to the heavyhearted is like pouring salt in their wounds” (25:20, The Message). We need to learn to be comfortable sharing heavy details of life without feeling the need to lighten the mood with each other. True empathy can sometimes be best displayed merely through our silence and presence with each other.
Poor Richard noted, “Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden but it is forbidden because it’s hurtful. Nor is a Duty beneficial because it is commanded, but it is commanded because it’s beneficial.”
How fitting is this wisdom in light of what Solomon says about our speech. God’s wisdom has our relationships in mind. God forbids us to hurt one another and commands to us benefit one another. Think then of the amazing power of our tongue to do both!
Think of how a rudder controls giant ships amidst storm. Think of how a bit can manipulate the power of a stallion. Think of how innocent sparks can rage fiery damage upon thousands of acres of forest. According to James, these are apt illustrations for how our tongues can affect the whole of our Christian lifestyle!
We all have stories that support both James and Solomon. Just given our own experiences, is it any wonder the Bible talks so much about the dangers of gossip and insult and lying?
Franklin ben Solomon wrote, “He that lives well is learned enough.” Not true. Solomon is encouraging us to learn enough in order to live well, and that means being people of wise words.
Do we not all wish to be people who are trusted at face value? Who benefit and not hurt others? Who can give and receive helpful rebuke and caring empathy?
If so, let’s listen to the words of Proverbs 25.
On his 300th birthday we can celebrate the wisdom of a great American in Ben Franklin. But there is enduring wisdom in the Proverbs that goes beyond agricultural predictions, patterns for the phases of the moon and mere entertaining quips. Let’s make sure to turn our ear and our words — our very lifestyle — to the divinely inspired wisdom of God.
Sources: Barna Reseach on “America’s biblical knowledge.” barna.org. On Franklin’sinventions: http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/inventor/inventor.html.
McKibben, Bill. “The Christian paradox: What it means to be a Christian in America.” Harper’s. September, 2005.
On Poor Richard’s Almanack: sacklunch.net/poorrichard/ and usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/loa/bfcont.htm.
*Hymn of Response # 48 O God, Our Help in Ages Past
*Sending forth May the whole earth be transformed by the faithfulness of God. May the sun never set on the wonder of Christ’s life among us and the Spirit descend like a dove of peace on every place of pain.
*Postlude
Thought for the Day
‘Tis only one life and it will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Proverbs 25: 9-28 The Message
In the heat of an argument,
don’t betray confidences;
Word is sure to get around,
and no one will trust you.
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.
Reliable friends who do what they say
are like cool drinks in sweltering heat—refreshing!
Like billowing clouds that bring no rain
is the person who talks big but never produces.
Patient persistence pierces through indifference;
gentle speech breaks down rigid defenses.
A Person Without Self-Control
When you’re given a box of candy, don’t gulp it all down;
eat too much chocolate and you’ll make yourself sick;
And when you find a friend, don’t outwear your welcome;
show up at all hours and he’ll soon get fed up.
Anyone who tells lies against the neighbors
in court or on the street is a loose cannon.
Trusting a double-crosser when you’re in trouble
is like biting down on an abscessed tooth.
Singing light songs to the heavyhearted
is like pouring salt in their wounds.
If you see your enemy hungry, go buy him lunch;
if he’s thirsty, bring him a drink.
Your generosity will surprise him with goodness,
and God will look after you.
A north wind brings stormy weather,
and a gossipy tongue stormy looks.
Better to live alone in a tumbledown shack
than share a mansion with a nagging spouse.
Like a cool drink of water when you’re worn out and weary
is a letter from a long-lost friend.
A good person who gives in to a bad person
is a muddied spring, a polluted well.
It’s not smart to stuff yourself with sweets,
nor is glory piled on glory good for you.
A person without self-control
is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.