Archive for October 2007
The Dangers of Heartless Religion
In my sermon this past weekend, I spoke about "The Dangers of Heartless Religion" from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. You can listen to an MP3 of the message here.
A Visit with Dr. Wisdom (Proverbs 4:20-27)
When I visit my doctor, he runs through a well-rehearsed routine. First, he examines my eyes, ears, and throat. Then he listens to my heart and lungs and palpates my internal organs. Finally, he manually examines my hands, feet, and joints. After he’s finished his routine, he tells me how I’m doing.
Proverbs 4:20-27 is a visit with Dr. Wisdom. He looks us over from head to toe, starting with the ears and eyes.
Pay attention to what I say;
listen closely to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
for they are life to those who find them
and health to a man’s whole body.
If you want to live long and well, you must listen carefully and watch closely. But not to just anyone! Rather, you need to pay attention to God and the godly. Receiving their counsel and following their example lead to the good life, both now and eternally.
Dr. Wisdom moves on to the heart.
Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.
As the heart goes, so goes the body. The heart pumps blood to our limbs and organs. If there are toxins in our blood, they get spread to the rest of our body. If the heart doesn’t pump at all, our body dies. The same is true in our spiritual life. If we fill ourselves with the toxins of sin and foolishness, they degrade our quality of life. If we don’t develop a heart of love for God and our neighbors, we die spiritually. Heart health is of the utmost importance.
Now Dr. Wisdom pulls out a stethoscope and asks us to open our mouth.
Put away perversity from your mouth;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Do we speak with integrity, or do we lie? Do we edify others with our speech, or do we demean them? Dr. Wisdom is look for canker sores and sore throats in our pattern of speech. What does he see in your mouth?
Concerned about something, Dr. Wisdom returns to our eyes.
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze directly before you.
One of the basic problems in the spiritual life is “wandering eyes.” Men’s eyes wander from their own wives to the beautiful woman walking by. Women’s eyes wander from what they’ve got to what they’re neighbors have. Healthy eyes keep the right things in focus. They don’t let themselves be tempted out of envy for what others have.
Finally, Dr. Wisdom takes a look at our feet.
Make level paths for your feet
and take only ways that are firm.
Do not swerve to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.
The good life is a journey from now to eternity. We need healthy feet to get us from here to there, feet that don’t stray down false spiritual trails or wander into ethical dead ends. When we leave Dr. Wisdom’s office, we’re path-ready.
The Path of the Righteous. (Proverbs 4:10-19)
It has been said that life is a journey, not a destination. Personally, I think that’s rubbish. Only homeless people are on a journey without a destination. The rest of us want to go somewhere by means of the most scenic route. Life is a journey, in other words, precisely because it has a destination. The important question is how we get there.
Proverbs 4:10-19 outlines “the path of the righteous,” that is, the only route to the desired destination. It has four characteristics. First, it is the path of tradition.
Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
I guide you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
Biblical faith is tried and true; if it was good enough to save your father, it is good enough to save you.
Second, it is the safe path, the path of life.
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.
This proverb does not mean that believers experience no difficulties in life. Rather, it means that no difficulties in life are insurmountable, that none of them can keep you from arriving safely at the destination, which is the good life. In the Old Testament, the good life was often identified with length of years here on earth. In the New Testament, length of years stretches all the way into eternity.
Third, it is the path of deliberate holiness.
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
For they cannot sleep till they do evil;
they are robbed of slumber till they make someone fall.
They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
This path is deliberate because it must be chosen. Notice the words do not and turn. Life presents us with a choice between the path toward God or away from him. It is not a given that we will choose the right path. In response to God’s grace, we must say “No!” to sin. We must repent of it. (In Hebrew, same word is translated as both turn and repent.) A failure to repent of sin leads to an increasing reliance on it as a staple of your life, that is, as your food and drink.
Finally, it is the path of insight.
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
When you live wisely, you understand better how to live well. But when you live foolishly, your life becomes harder and you don’t even understand why. Make sure to live wisely!
Diversity: A Christian Perspective
In various passages, the New Testament clearly speaks of a diversity of spiritual gifts within the body of Christ (e.g., Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11, 27-31; Eph. 4:11-13; 1 Pet. 4:7-11). Diversity is also a buzzword in contemporary American society. How do the New Testament and contemporary American concepts of diversity compare and contrast?
First, it should be noted that the two concepts are talking about two different things. To oversimplify things, the New Testament concept deals with what people do, while the contemporary American concept deals with who people are. In the New Testament, spiritual gifts are divine abilities to accomplish a given task for the common good, such as preaching, teaching, administration, and generosity. In contemporary America, by contrast, diversity usually has to do with one’s race, ethnicity, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.
Second, while diversity as such is a qualified good in the New Testament, it is considered an unqualified good in contemporary American society. What do I mean by a qualified good? I mean simply that in the New Testament, diversity is good up to a point.
Diversity of spiritual gifts is good, because each gift contributes in some way toward the body of Christ. In the same way, diversity of race or ethnic backgrounds in the church is good, according to Ephesians 2:11-22, because it demonstrates the power of Jesus Christ to effect peace between different people groups. Diversity of opinion on matters of Christian freedom is good, according to Romans 14:5-8, because Christians can agree to disagree about, for example, what they eat and drink. But it is only a qualified good, because exercising Christian freedom without love causes harm to weaker brothers and sisters. Christian freedom, in other words, is about personal rights qualified by responsibilities to other people.
The contemporary American concept of diversity does not include these qualifications. One has the unqualified right not to be discriminated against because of one’s race, ethnicity, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Now, I think we can all admit that this concept of diversity based on equal rights is a compelling one with numerous benefits. Indeed, to a certain extent, it is the fulfillment of the Golden Rule. If we do not want to be discriminated against, we should not discriminate against others.
But this leads to my third point, which is the problematic nature of the contemporary American concept of diversity from a Christian point of view. Let me give you an example. Religious organizations—such as churches, faith-based charities, and parachurch ministries—must think and act in ways that are consistent with their creeds. Further, they must hire employees who think and act in ways that are consistent with their creeds. If a church hires a pastor, for example, it should be able to determine whether his beliefs are orthodox and his behavior consistent with biblical teaching. (The same is true of a synagogue hiring a rabbi and a mosque hiring an imam, or an atheist advocacy organization hiring a leader.) The problem is that since the contemporary American concept of diversity is rights-based, there can be a tension between what the church must do and rights based on diversity. For example, if an evangelical church fires a pastor who has come out of the closet, has it violated his rights to be protected from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation? Many lawyers believe so. The First Amendment, which enumerates the right of the free expression of religion, seems to conflict with the rights flowing from diversity.
What this illustrates, it seems to me, is that for the Christian, diversity has its limits. The Bible on numerous occasion calls on believers to strive for unity in doctrine (e.g., Phil. 1:27) and the community (e.g., Phil. 2:1-4). Diversity of opinion on core doctrinal matters is never considered a good; rather, it is considered heresy (e.g., Gal. 1:6-9). Similarly, far from allowing diversity of sexual practice, Paul clearly delineated acceptable and unacceptable sexual practices within the Christian community (e.g., 1 Cor. 5:1-5 and 6:15-20).
For Christians, then, unity and diversity are both good, as long as they are properly understood and practiced. It is not clear to me that these common sense qualifications are also true of the contemporary American concept of diversity.
The Wisdom of Tradition (Proverbs 4:1-9)
Every family has its traditions. My family, for example, opens Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve after reading the nativity story in the Gospel of Luke. My wife’s family opens their gifts on Christmas morning after consuming spicy pork tacos. I like being married because it expands my traditions: both Christmas Eve and Christmas Morn, both spiritual and spicy.
Aside from such family traditions, our culture is not tradition friendly. We constantly look for products that are “new and improved” rather than “tried and true.” We want to be fashionable, trendy, and cutting edge, not unfashionable, behind the times, and dull. In business circles, tradition is openly mocked. Management consultants like to say, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over but expecting different results.”
Now, I’ll grant you that life includes plenty of room for the new and improved. I prefer my Dell laptop to the Brother word processor I used in college, and both are superior to typing a term paper on an IBM Selectric typewriter or writing it out longhand. When it comes to things, new and improved is often better. (Not always, however! Remember “New Coke”?)
But when it comes to life, tried and true has its advantages. We see this on display in Proverbs 4:1-9, in which a father passes on his father’s advice to his own son:
Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
I give you sound learning,
so do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a boy in my father’s house,
still tender, and an only child of my mother,
he taught me and said…
Here, tradition means the passing on of wisdom from one generation to the next, from father to son, from grandfather to grandson. And what does that wisdom consist of? More wisdom!
Lay hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands and you will live.
Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them.
In these verses, wisdom is not a given, it is an acquisition. We cannot assume that are wise right now, or that having acquired wisdom, we will be wise for the rest of our lives. (Remember Solomon!) Rather, we must constantly “lay hold of it” and “get it.” We must neither “forget” it or “swerve” from it.
Wisdom is like your wife. A man expends time, talent, and treasure to woo a woman, but once he’s married her, the flowers, cards, and romance disappear. If you want a wife to love you, keep after her. And keep after wisdom too.
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
Love her, and she will watch over you.
Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Esteem her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
She will set a garland of grace on your head
and present you with a crown of splendor.
Like marriage, the romance of wisdom is pursuit.
Two Ways with God (Proverbs 3:32-35)
According to Proverbs 3:32-35, there are only two ways with God: blessing and judgment.
The Lord detests a perverse man
but takes the upright into his confidence.
The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
He mocks proud mockers
but gives grace to the humble.
The wise inherit honor,
but fools he holds up to shame.
These two ways reflect God’s moral character. He is a black-and-white God, a God of moral absolutes. To him, a person is either perverse or upright, wicked or righteous, arrogant or humble, wise or foolish. We moderns are uncomfortable with such either/or absolutism. Whereas God see things in black and white, we see them in shades of gray. We are uncomfortable with the notion that he detests and mocks sinners, while he blesses and gives grace to saints. We would prefer that he treat all alike.
But would a person be good if he treated the perverse the same as the upright? If a parent punished a good child along with a bad one, or rewarded the bad child along with the good, would we think of that parent as a good parent? If the government jailed tax payers alongside tax avoiders, would we consider that government fair? Of course not! Justice means treating equals equally, and unequals unequally, as the philosopher Aristotle pointed out long ago. How people act should affect how we treat them in response. And this principle of equity should apply to how God treats us. He blesses the upright and judges the wicked. There’s nothing wrong—and everything right—with that. To say that God is a black-and-white God is simply to say that he is just.
And notice that this justice is quite fair. The punishment fits the crime. This is especially clear in the phrase, “He mocks proud mockers.” There is a one-to-one symmetry between sin and judgment. The one who disobeys God’s moral laws receives the exact punishment he or she deserves, no more and no less.
But notice one final thing: Grace is available. If God were just and only just, we all would be in big trouble, for we all have sinned, and sin deserves judgment. But “God gives grace to the humble.” The humble recognize the distance between themselves and God. They confess to how far short of God’s moral standard they have fallen. They are sincerely sorry for their actions. They are willing to beg God for forgiveness.
The humility of confession and repentance is a crucial component of wisdom. It leads to God’s confidence in us, his blessing of our homes, his giving us grace, and his bequeathing us honor. The failure to humbly confess and repent leads to shame.
Faced with such black-and-white outcomes, isn’t the choice before us obvious?
Five Don’ts (Proverbs 3:27-32)
My wife and I are the proud owners of a Yorkshire Terrier named Charlie. We rescued him from a no-kill shelter in May of this year, and he is good dog. But on occasion, he starts to do something only bad dogs do, and we have to tell him no. (Actually, I have to tell him. My wife spoils the little beast.)
No is a very powerful word. So is its cousin don’t. They’re not long words, and they don’t have many syllables, but they pack a considerable punch. Pronounced with sufficient volume and authority of tone, they stop Charlie dead in his tracks and make him think twice before he personally waters the indoor plants.
I wonder if the Bible doesn’t use these terms precisely because of their brevity and force. If your kid’s about to run into the street, you don’t begin a windy lecture on looking both ways. You yell “Stop!” at the top of your lungs. The lecture is for later. Similarly, when God looks at the harm we’re about to do to ourselves through sin, he first yells “Don’t!” and then explains why.
Proverbs 3:27-32 is an example of a loud don’t followed by an explanation. The voice is that of a father giving advice to his son, but behind that voice is the Heavenly Father speaking to his earthly sons and daughters.
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.
Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow" —
when you now have it with you.
Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.
Do not accuse a man for no reason —
when he has done you no harm.
Do not envy a violent man
or choose any of his ways,
These five don’ts govern our relationships with our neighbors. If I had to summarize them, I’d say:
- Don’t be stingy with them!
- Don’t procrastinate to help them!
- Don’t conspire against them!
- Don’t lie about them!
How often are we tempted to violate these don’ts? How often, for example, do we fail to mow the lawn of the little old lady next door? Or refuse to loan a hammer when it’s right there in the toolbox? Or play loud music late at night when they’re trying to sleep? Or gossip with other neighbors about them behind their backs?
The fifth don’t concerns a lust for violence. Few people yearn to go outside and beat a stranger up. But many pay money to be entertained by someone doing that on the movie screen. Or buy their children ultra-violent video games. Should they?
At the end of the don’ts comes an explanation:
the Lord detests a perverse man
but takes the upright into his confidence.
If we do the don’ts, we harm our relationships with our neighbors and with our God. To save us from harm, God yells a loud authoritative “Don’t!” Are we listening?
For a Good Night’s Rest (Proverbs 3:21-26)
I am usually a sound sleeper. But on a very rare occasion, I find myself unable to sleep, no matter what I do or how tired I am. The source of my insomnia is almost always anxiety. The cause of my anxiety is almost always procrastination or financial irresponsibility. (There’s nothing that keeps me awake like a looming deadline or a lack of money in the bank.) And procrastination and financial irresponsibility are almost always a reflection of bad choices.
Proverbs 3:21-26 recognizes the intimate connection between our choices and our physical wellbeing, including—but not limited to—how well we sleep.
Verse 21 begins with a fatherly exhortation to make good choices:
My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment,
do not let them out of your sight;
According to Tremper Longman, sound judgment “may be defined as ‘an inner power that helps one escape a fix.” Discernment means “thinking through the consequences of an action and choosing the most effective way.”[*] Like wisdom, sound judgment and discernment are essential skills for living. They are valuables worth hanging on to; they are mentors worth watching closely.
Verses 22-25 elaborate on the benefits of living with sound judgment and discernment:
they will be life for you,
an ornament to grace your neck.
Then you will go on your way in safety,
and your foot will not stumble;
when you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked…
Notice how very earthy and physical these benefits are. Life here doesn’t mean “eternal life” as much as it means “here-and-now life.” The wise life is the good life.
An “ornament to grace your neck” seems to refer to your reputation. They are something that enhances you in the sight of others. People who live well never lack for admirers.
Sound judgment and discernment keep you from disasters small and large. They keep you from stumbling. If you’re wise, you’ll look for the sudden curbs, the small cracks in the sidewalk, the obtrusive tree branches. The little obstacles to everyday walking don’t trip you up. But neither do the big obstacles: natural disasters and sudden ruin. If you’re wise, you’ll be both observant and prepared.
And then there’s sleep. The father tells his son, “you will not be afraid,” and “your sleep will be sweet.” No insomnia for the wise. They have no worries. They’ve finished the day’s work, and they’ve got money in the bank. They don’t just fall asleep, they sleep well.
Proverbs’ wisdom is often secular in character. It concerns itself with our ordinary, physical lives. But in Proverbs, the spiritual is never out of sight. What guarantees the connection between good choices and good living is not a what but a Who. According to verse 26:
the Lord will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being snared.
For a good night’s rest, see wisdom. But mostly, see the All-Wise One.
[*] Tremper Longman III, Proverbs: Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006), 41.
Wisdom, Understanding, and Skill (Proverbs 3:19-20)
For the past four months, both my church and my neighbor’s house have been under renovation. The scope of work on my church is fairly simple: new parking lots, new landscaping, new carpet, new paint, new fixtures, and some light remodeling. The scope of work on my neighbor’s house is more extensive. He’s demolished everything to the foundation (except one wall) and started over.
Watching these two works in progress, I’ve come to realize that I don’t know how to do a lot of stuff. Oh sure, I can read a book or deliver a speech with the best of them. But I have no idea how to rewire an entire building, frame and install doors, float concrete, and texture walls. And that’s the short list derived from the work on my church. If you include the work on my neighbor’s house, the list of my ignorance becomes very, very long.
Proverbs 24:3-4 speaks of the skills necessary to build a house:
By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled
with rare and beautiful treasures.
Notice three important words in these verses: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. These words primarily describe practical knowledge, not theoretical knowledge—how to, not what or why. Interestingly, Proverbs 3:19-20 use these same three words to describe God’s skill in creating the universe.
By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;
by his knowledge the deeps were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.
If you think it takes skill to rewire a building, try wiring an electron! If you think framing a house is hard, trying framing a mountain! Floating concrete is child’s play compared to floating a galaxy in the vast expanse of empty space. And texturing a wall is nothing like texturing the rings of Saturn.
Construction workers have skills that I might learn, but God’s tradecraft is proprietary. He alone possesses the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to build the heavens and the earth. He alone knows how to create.
But since we are created in God’s image, we have a measure of his wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. In Exodus 31:1-3, God says of a man named Bezalel: “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.” (In Hebrew, these are the same three words as wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.) Bezalel constructed the tabernacle at which Israel worshiped in its sojourn through the wilderness. (He also establishes the point that construction work can be a spiritual gift, not just a form of employment.) According to 1 Kings 7:14 (ESV), Huram of Tyre was “full of wisdom, understanding, and skill”—again, the same three Hebrew words—and he used that skill to construct the temple in Jerusalem.
Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge: The skills God employed for creation are the skills we must employ for living. Only fools try to build a house any other way.
Nothing Can Compare with Her (Proverbs 3:13-18)
Three years ago today, I proposed to Tiffany, my wife. When she said yes, I gave her a diamond ring as a symbol of our engagement. I had spent quite a bit of time to find that ring and then quite a bit of money to buy it. But how much I spent didn’t matter to me, for she was worth incomparably more than the ring.
In Proverbs 3:13-18, a father tells his son about a woman who is incomparably more valuable than silver, gold, and rubies. That woman is Wisdom personified. Finding her is a source of great happiness (just as marrying Tiffany has been a source of great happiness to me).
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gains understanding…
Finding and gaining are active verbs. They signify that a person must pursue wisdom, just as I pursued Tiffany during our courtship. You cannot marry Wisdom if you never ask her out for a date!
Dates are expensive. Fresh cut flowers, a romantic dinner, and tickets to the theater are not cheap. But what is money when you’re in love? And what is wealth when compared to wisdom?
…she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
That last phrase is important, so read it aloud: Nothing you desire can compare with wisdom. Not fortune, family, and fame. Not power, position, and privilege. Many activities can be measured on the scale of economics, where you hope that the benefits always outweigh the costs. But no scale is big enough to measure the benefits of wisdom.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
those who lay hold of her will be blessed.
Life, riches, honor, pleasure, and peace come from embracing and laying hold of wisdom.
All too often, we impose an either/or framework on biblical teaching. We read it to say that one must choose either wisdom or wellbeing. But Proverbs is a both/and document. Wisdom is always more important than wellbeing, so it should be pursued. But the reward for pursuing wisdom is always wellbeing.
In the biblical narrative, the ultimate form of wellbeing is access to the Tree of Life. This tree sat at the center of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9), and will sit in the center of the Heavenly City (Rev. 22:2). We were expelled from the one, are invited to the other, and the only gate is wisdom, of which “fear of the Lord” is the beginning (Prov. 1:7).
Find and gain wisdom, and you find and gain God, with whom nothing you desire can be compared.
