Words for Wisdom and Witness

Good morning Ambassadors! I am so excited to see so many of you once again for our outdoor service! Last week was a close call with the threatening weather, but glad to be back this week. I’d like to call your attention to your digital bulletins and your Bibles as we begin this morning. Of course the digital bulletin is the place where you’ll find our text for our music, any announcements, and the content for today’s message. To begin however this morning, we will first read Proverbs 18, as we go through it today, being the 18th day of October.

Proverbs 18 ESV

1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. 2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. 3 When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes disgrace. 4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. 5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice. 6 A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. 7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body. 9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. 10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. 11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination. 12 Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. 13 If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. 14 A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? 15 An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. 16 A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great. 17 The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. 18 The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders. 19 A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle. 20 From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. 22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. 23 The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly. 24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Let those with ears to hear the Word of God, let them hear.

The verse that stands out for me, and I think for most who read through this eighteenth chapter of Proverbs, is the first.

Proverbs 18:1 ESV

1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

In a time of pandemic, where “self-isolation” is often showing care for others, the first verse can be a difficult truth to follow for 2020. Clearly this proverb is not about maintaining a healthy physical distance, but more about what community can do for us towards accountability, holiness, and our sanctification. This won’t be our theme for today, but I find it helpful to mention it as we begin to seek a new normal for biblical community and expressing what it means to be the church in this era.

Our theme today is what we can see is the most frequent theme through this chapter, which is our words/lips/mouth/tongue. Never has what we say become so important. So much of what we say is now recorded through the internet, and the way what we have said is interpreted really is up to the audience. Our words now have the potential to be both harmless and deadly, depending on what we say and who sees/hears it. As a nation, we are currently being pulled in a deadlock between different philosophies on politics, public faith, public health, the role of government, the role of the Church, and many other things. What we need in this time is wisdom. We need to seek the Lord together and ask Him to provide for us the right words to say. But just as we seek wisdom and make preparations for many of the choices we have before us, I would remind all of us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

In our spiritual walk and in our relationship with God, the care that we take to implant God’s Word in us will be an incredible aid in our acting and living wise. Proverbs often contrast the wise with the fool. As we look through a selection of verses today from Proverbs 18, consider with me the implications of the fool’s choices, and contrast them with the results we would see from the wise. Let’s begin in verse 2.

Proverbs 18:2 ESV

2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.

In this verse, we are immediately met with “this is what the fool does.” If we read up on the fool in the rest of the book, and incidentally, all of Scripture, we must realize we do not want to be considered the fool by God. Solomon’s initial take here is to show the attitude of the fool. How often have we “assumed” the position or opinion of others? What does it say about our hearts and where we are with our walk with God? The Lord often speaks to us through others and through His Word in our circumstances - yet, we would be foolish to ignore what is true around us and simply give our input. I’m sure we do that to God more often than we can count. What I want is more important than what He wants. My comfort takes precedence over God growing my character. These are the positions of the fool. May God grant us the grace to avoid this way.

Proverbs 18:13 ESV

13 If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

echoes verse 2.

Proverbs 18:4 ESV

4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

Here in verse 4, we see that we often try to veil what’s in our hearts with our words. We are protecting ourselves, guarding our insecurities, and shielding off community. What doe we know about deep waters? They are hard to get to; they’re hard to map and understand - and they take time to explore. Deep waters confound and frustrate. But the contrast here is to words of wisdom - described as a fountain and bubbling brook. What does a bubbling brook do? It provides life, easy to obtain and always there - just as a fountain gives itself as a constant source of refreshment reliance. So too should our words give life. The grace provided to us in Jesus, through His death and resurrection is a fountain. The life that God gives is an abundant life, continually flowing, just like the babbling brook. Let’s continue in verse 6.

Proverbs 18:6 ESV

6 A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.

I don’t think there is too much left for interpretation here, but let us for a moment apply this to our 21st century context. What is the danger that we have in receiving a beating today? I would argue that the most important is our witness. Who we say that we are as followers of Jesus Christ - as people who confess that we don’t have it all together but that Jesus is Lord - matters so much today. Our words will be twisted and used against us at every turn, because the Devil is as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour as the Apostle Peter wrote. The care we must take for our witness in this is vital. We can walk our way into a confrontational conversation, or we can be prepared to enter a conversation with a listening ear, a prayerful heart, and a confidence that our being right is less important than God being right.

Proverbs 18:7 ESV

7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

This is another verse where we need to take stock . This is something that I need to read and ask myself the question, “Is my mouth helping others or is it getting me into trouble?” Prayer goes a long, long way in rooting this out of our lives. When we find ourselves in prayer more often, we can’t help but be changed in our speech by that interaction. As with many things like taking communion, singing in Church, reading our Bibles, these are means of grace in our lives that point us to Christ and becoming more like him.

Proverbs 18:8 ESV

8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

This verse is an interesting deviation from the previous. What we can take from this can be two-sided: first, are we gossiping, lying, spreading conspiracies, or speaking without regard to impact? How is what we say making an impact in family members, friends, neighbors, church family, co-workers? Secondly, are we gladly or intently listening to gossip, lying, conspiracies, or loose speech without filtering it? How are our hearts (the inner parts of the body) being affected by what we take in? Here we see how our witness and our hearts are severely affected by words.

Proverbs 18:21 ESV

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

The last proverb we will be focusing on this morning, here in verse 21, sums up so much of what we have discovered throughout the wisdom given in this chapter. Something we may miss is that the “tongue” of God has been the source of death and life to everything! In Genesis 1, God spoke everything into existence; He spoke the curse on the serpent in the fall in Genesis 3. He spoke the promise of redemption to life in Genesis 3. He spoke through prophets, kings, and priests in the Old Testament. He spoke through Christ here on earth. He speaks to us today through the teaching and preaching of the Holy Scriptures.

But beyond the power of the words of God, we have been given the free will and opportunity to speak death and life in our own circles. Our influence is immense. I can remember the thousands of times I heard from my parents growing up “I love you.” I can remember the countless times I heard from them, “I’m proud of you” or “I’m disappointed in you.” The words that they spoke to me we immense. The words that they used were a gateway to me seeing and knowing their hearts for me. Their words were the vehicle to the witness of the hope that was in them in Jesus.

So true is it for us that we