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Please turn to Romans 11. We’ll be considering verses 11-24. That is on page 1125.
Last week, we focused on the remnant of Israel, chosen by grace. We learned that even though Israel as a whole, rejected God and his promises, yet God in his mercy has always had a remnant of his people who did and do believe.
This week, the apostle Paul shifts to talk mainly about the Gentiles. He answers the question, why did God ordained that Israel would not believe. Why? So that the Gospel would go to the Gentiles. That is the main focus of our sermon text this morning. And, as we’ll see, it will relate back to Israel.
Reading of Romans 11:11-24
Prayer
In 2008, art professor Sam Van Aken did something very unique. He grafted in 40 different kinds of fruit branches into a single tree. He called it the Tree of 40 Fruit. And it is quite spectacular.
The tree is still alive today, 16 years later. It’s planted on the campus of Syracuse University where Van Aken teaches.
Every spring, buds will blossom into a beautiful array of pastel colors with shades of white and pink and red and purple. It looks fairy-tale-like but it is real.
But what’s more amazing is what happens in the summer. It produces all kinds of fruit including peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries, and almonds. Basically different kinds of stone fruit -different heirloom and native varieties.
Interestingly, Van Aken began producing multiple Trees of 40 Fruits and you can actually buy one. Several museums and universities now have them on display. There are about 20 of these beautiful trees around the country.
It's a picture of what is described in Romans 11:11-24. People from all over the world, being grafted into the tree of faith in Christ. Each with different blossoms and fruit and each displaying the wonder and glory of God in Christ. He is the root and the source of life and the one who sustains and is cultivating this amazing tree.
This idea of grafting is the apostle Paul’s main analogy in these verses. And it’s very helpful. Paul uses it to help answer an important question. His question is right there in verse 11. “Did Israel stumble, in order that they may fall?” In other words, is the reason that Israel stumbled in their faith because God wanted to reject them forever? And his answer is, “By no means.” There it is again.
And actually for the rest of the verses today, he explains his answer, and he uses the grafting illustration to help.
Before we dive into these verses, let me point out there are two main parts to the answer. And what we will see is that Paul actually circles back to those two answers three different times.
The two parts to the answer are right there in verses 11 and 12. So, let me first highlight what he says there, and then we’ll take them one at a time and see them worked out in these verses.
So, why did Israel stumble in unbelief?
1. The first part of the answer is right there after the question. “through their trespass [Israel’s trespass], salvation has come to the Gentiles.” The first reason for Israel’s sin of unbelief is so that the Gospel would go to the Gentiles.
2. And that leads right in to the second part of the answer. It’s the next phrase in verse 11. “So as to make Israel jealous.” And a little bit later Paul adds, and “thus save some of them.” In other words, one reason that salvation has come to the Gentiles is so that Israel will see what God is doing and be jealous – jealous in a good way. They will want to be a part of what God is doing and that will cause some to believe.
So, that is the summary. Part #1 – Israel’s unbelief has resulted in salvation going to the Gentiles. Part #2 – the Gospel going to the Gentiles will make Israel jealous, so that more will come to believe.
And we see those very same two points in verses 13-16 and then again in verses 17 to 24. It’s that last section of verses where apostle Paul talks about branches being cut off and also grafted in.
Main Point #1. Israel’s Unbelief -> Salvation to the Gentiles
So, let’s take those one at a time. Again, point number 1 - Israel’s rejection has resulted in salvation for the Gentiles. And to support his point, in verse 13, Paul highlights his own ministry to the Gentiles.
It’s like he’s saying, “look at what God is doing among the Gentiles, to whom I am called.”
Paul’s own ministry testifies to how the Jews rejected Jesus which caused him to go to the Gentiles. In fact, it’s the pattern in almost every city he went to. The first thing Paul would do is find the Jewish synagogue and speak to them about Jesus. But every time, the Jews, by in large, would reject the Gospel. So, what would he do? Paul would go to the Gentiles. Sometimes he would even be so bold and tell the Jews. If you are not going to believe, then I am going to them. That happened in the city of Antioch. It happened in Corinth. And it happened again in Ephesus. All of those are recorded in the book of Acts. In Corinth Paul said. “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
And, as we considered before, it’s not as though every single Jew rejected Jesus. Some believed. Paul, himself, and others were an example of this. But it was a small number compared to God’s work among the nations. Faith in Christ was exploding among the Romans and the Greeks and those in Asia minor and in North Africa and it was beginning to spread to all non-Jewish people groups, all Gentiles, to the ends of the earth. And as we talked about before, the Gospel is continuing today to expand to all nations, peoples, and languages.
Here is where we get to the grafting metaphor. Verse 17, which is the third time that Paul explains how Israel’s unbelief resulted in the Gentiles’ belief. He writes in 17, “branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in.”
Let’s go back to the Tree of 40 Fruit…. In order to accomplish all the grafting, Professor Van Aken would begin by carefully notching the tree trunk. He would then insert new freshly cut branches from other fruit trees and align the grain so that the sap could flow into the branch. And actually, he couldn’t do it all at once. it took 10 years to graft the 40 different varieties into the tree. But that wasn’t the only thing he had to do. He also pruned off many of the natural branches. The reason is, pruning redirects more nutrients to the grafts. It would also allow for more sunlight and airflow. The end result is that the grafts would take and become part of the tree.
Unbelieving Israel was pruned away, and the believing Gentiles were grafted into the trunk. All the promises of God for Israel of old would become promises for us. All the blessings and benefits of true faith given to them, Israel, would become blessings and benefits for us. Those benefits include communion with God and one another as we are all united to Christ. Through that union, we have been reconciled to God. We have peace with him. We now have the source of nutrients through God’s Word and in his Spirit. All those things and more are now available to the branches that have been grafted into Christ.
So, why did Israel stumble in unbelief? The part 1 answer is so that believing Gentiles would be grafted into the tree of life.
Now, before we move onto the part 2 answer, which is about Israel’s jealousy, I want to take two tangents – two side comments. There are two other important things related to the Gentiles being grafted in.
Tangent #1: Humility
The first tangent is a tangent that the apostle Paul takes. Did you notice that he warns the Gentiles? Right after he says that branches have been cut off so that you can be grafted in, look at what verse 18 says. “Do not be arrogant toward the branches… it is not you who support the root but the root that supports you.” Let me ask, who are the branches that he is referring to? It’s the branches that were cut off. Paul is referring to unbelieving Israel. Do not be arrogant towards them. If you are arrogant, as verse 19 says, you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” The emphasis there is on “I.”
To be sure, that statement is true. Branches were broken off so that you could be grafted in. And the apostle Paul validates that in verse 20. “that is true,” he says. However, he adds, “you should stand fast through faith.” Paul is saying, remember, you are a product of God’s grace which you received through faith. It is not you who grafted yourself in. “Do not become proud,” he says. No, you’ve received God’s kindness and not his severity. Rather than being prideful, we need to understand that we’ve been grafted in by faith according to God’s grace.
We don’t know the reason that Paul includes this. It’s possible the church in Rome was experiencing persecution by unbelieving Jews. It’s possible the church was acting out against the unbelieving Jews. We’re not sure. However, they and we are given a clear directive. We, as branches grafted into the root, are to treat unbelieving Jewish people with respect and love. We should have a desire for them to believe in Christ and be grafted back into the tree of faith.
There is a lot of antisemitism in the world today (racism against the Jews). In fact, since the Holocaust, some have argued that the New Testament is the reason. People have even said that the apostle Paul and Jesus himself are guilty of causing antisemitism. Friends, that belief is a perversion of what the New Testament teaches. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We are called to love our neighbors – that includes any and everyone. And there should be a unique place of respect for our unbelieving Jewish neighbors. We’re called here to be humble and loving toward the branches that have been cut off, because we have been grafted in.
So that is the first tangential comment.
Tangent #2: Who is true Israel?
The second comment also relates to the grafting. It’s an important question. Who are God’s true people? Who is true Israel? I want to answer that by considering all of history.
And let me start with the easy part of the answer. God’s true people include people from all nations who truly believe by faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. In other words, Gentiles who have been grafted in by faith. That is one group that is part of God’s true people.
Another group are Jewish people who believe by faith in Jesus as the Messiah and as their Savior. I’m talking about messianic Jews today and going back to the time of Jesus. They were not grafted in. Rather, they were and are the natural branches that have not been cut off. That is the second group.
There’s also a third group. The third group are the Israelites before Jesus came, who believed in God’s promises by faith. They did not have a clear picture of how salvation would be accomplished, but they looked to God for salvation and hoped in the coming Messiah. These are the remnant of old of which the beginning of Romans 11 speaks. They did not look to the law for their salvation, but neither did they reject God’s law. Rather, they trusted in God’s covenant promises by faith and sought to honor him as a response of faith. Romans chapter 9 also spoke about them. Remember what the apostle Paul said? Not all Israel are Israel. A subset of Israel was true Israel – children of the promise. Those are the remnant in the Old Testament times… and they are part of God’s true people.
And finally, I don’t want to leave out the non-Israelites in the Old Testament who also believed in the God of Israel, like Ruth and Rahab. They are also among God’s elect.
All of those groups are part of God’s true people. We sometimes say spiritual Israel or as I mentioned true Israel. All those groups are branches of the tree, either natural branches that have not been cut off or grafted-in branches. They have all received God’s grace and mercy. Or to use the words here, God’s kindness. And they all have true faith in Christ - either hoping in what God would do to bring salvation, or believing in Jesus and what he has done. And none of those groups are saved by their works. Rather we are all saved by Christ’s work and his righteousness.
In one sense, that’s a summary of these three chapters in Romans.
Ok, I hope those two side comments are helpful. First, the call to humility and love for unbelieving Israel in hope that they may believe. And second, addressing the question, Who are God’s people?
Main Point #2. Salvation of the Gentiles -> Israel’s Belief
Let’s come back now to the main question of these verse. Why did Israel stumble in unbelief? The first part of the answer was so that salvation would come to the Gentiles. It has and continues to today.
That brings us to the second part of the answer. Israel’s stumbling will lead to more Jews coming to faith in Christ. Here’s the logic: Unbelieving Israel will see what God is doing throughout the world. Some will be jealous of it and subsequently come to believe. That word jealous is in verse 11 as we already considered. It is also there in verse 14.
One reason that Paul highlights his ministry to the Gentiles is because he wants his fellow Jews to also believe in Jesus. He says, “I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them.” Do you see that? By the way, this is the third time in these three chapters that the apostle Paul opens his heart. He so desires that the unbelieving Jews would believe.
Why? He answers that with a rhetorical question in verse 15. “…what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” He knows that they are branches cut off without Christ.
But, God can graft them back in. It’s right there in verse 23. “And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in.” He’s talking about unbelieving Israel coming to believe. Do you see that double negative? “If they do not continue in their unbelief.” In other words, if they turn to believe, they will again be grafted in. He’s referring to current generation or future generation unbelieving Jews who come to faith in Jesus. They will be grafted back into the tree.
You know, I was curious which root stock was used in the Tree of 40 Fruit. I was hoping it was an olive tree… but actually, it’s a plum tree – technically a Myrobalan Plum. Maybe some of you know what that is. It has a hearty root system. It’s resistant to many diseases. It can grow in different soil types. This kind of plum tree can also receive grafts from many other kinds of stone fruit trees. For all those reasons, it was used as the main root system and trunk for the Tree of 40 Fruit. But do you know what kind of branch can most easily be grafted into this kind of plum tree? A Myrobalan plum branch. I know that’s probably obvious.
As verse 23 say, “God has the power to graft them in again.” And if God has grafted us in, from a wild olive tree… “how much more,” he says, “will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.”
God chose to reveal himself to Abraham and his descendants, who would become the people of Israel. It was not because of anything they did, but it was because of his purposes. Through them, he revealed himself. He revealed his character. He revealed his promises and law. God revealed the nature of his creation and the call for each of us to know him. He revealed the sinful heart of mankind. He revealed redemption. And it is Israel, physical Israel, through whom God sent his very son. Jesus himself was Jewish. And it is through him, that the world, the Gentiles, would come to know and believe in the God of Israel. He is the one true God of the universe.
And the very clear sense we get from these verses is that God is not done with unbelieving Israel. Back to verse 12, “if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean” From the context of chapters 9-11, I believe Paul is referring to all the remnant of Israel, whom God has ordained to come to know Jesus. How amazingly rich will that be!
Let me note, lots has been written about that one verse, verse 12. Particularly the phrase “their full inclusion.” I do want to spend more time on that phrase. But you’ll have to come back next week. There’s a similar phrase at the end of chapter 11 in verse 26. It says there that “all Israel will be saved.” What does that mean? We’ll work through both of those next week.
The main point of these verses is clear. God has grafted us, the gentiles, into the nourishing olive tree that is true Israel. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are part of God’s people saved by grace through faith. We’ve been united to him, to Christ, by faith. And God will use that amazing grace, which is going forth all throughout the world, to bring about a godly jealousy in unbelieving Israel.
As we come to a close, let’s go back to what it means to be grafted into the root. Remember, Paul was writing to the church in Rome. A majority of the Christians in Rome were Gentiles. They didn’t have the background of the Jewish people. Before coming to Christ, they didn’t know the law of Moses. They didn’t have the Psalms or the Prophets. They never read the historical account of Israel as a nation nor the wisdom literature. Yet, they believed. And when they were grafted into Christ, all of that history became their history. In the book of Romans there are about 60 Old Testament references. In writing to the church in Rome, Paul is drawing them into the full counsel of what God has revealed in his Word.
And it’s not just for the believing Gentiles in Rome. No, this is our history. Abraham is our father by faith. We are not natural descendants, but we are now spiritual descendants by faith. We have been grafted into what God has done in Israel and what he is doing now around the world, as people from every tribe, and tongue and nation who have been grafted into him.
May that give us a passion to see more Gentiles grafted into the tree by faith in Christ. And may God give us a similar passion and humility, desiring to see the natural descendants of Israel come to know Jesus as their Messiah and Savior and be grafted back in.
May it not just be a tree of 40 Fruit, but a tree with branches from the 17,000 people groups in the world including believing Israel in her fulness.
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Please turn to Romans chapter 10. Our sermon text begins in verse 18 and goes to chapter 11 verse 10. You can find that in the pew Bibles on page 1125
Last week we considered two main ideas from the middle of chapter 10.
· First – faith is simple. It is confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in his death and resurrection.
· Second – In order for people to know about saving faith, they need to hear. And in order for people to hear, believers need to be sent to proclaim the good news.
And that brings us to our verses this morning. The question is, what about the people of Israel? Why do most not have this saving faith?
That is the main question to which the apostle Paul now turns.
Reading of Romans 10:18 to 11:10
Prayer
Back when I was in the business consulting world, I worked with lots of people with different beliefs and backgrounds – that include a few Jewish people. With two of them, in particular, I had multiple conversations about God and faith. Both of these guys had a very strong Jewish identity. Both of them would celebrate Jewish holidays. Both of them knew what those celebrations were about. However, neither of them believed in God at all. And that is pretty typical. I suspect some of you have had the same experience.
Albert Einstein, the most famous scientist in US history who was also Jewish, wrote this: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses,” Einstein furthermore said, “the Bible [is] a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends... No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this." That is a hear heart.
Many Jews, today, are very secular like Einstein was. Not only do they reject Jesus, but many reject the existence of God.
To be sure, orthodox and other conservative Jews certainly do believe in God. However, they reject Jesus as the Messiah. One of the most well know Rabbis in history described Jesus as the failed Messiah…. He wrote, “Rather than redeeming Israel Jesus caused Jews to be killed and exiled, changed the Torah and led the world to worship a false God.”
All of that is sad to consider. As the apostle Paul wrote in the beginning of chapter 9, “to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all.”
And we ask, why? Why, Lord, do they not believe? After all, they have the promises and patterns and prophecies of the Messiah. And the New Testament has about 1000 Old Testament quotes and allusions. They reveal how Jesus fulfilled those promises and patterns and prophecies.
Is it because they have not heard? Or is it because they have not understood what they heard? Lord, have you rejected your people?
These are important questions. And those are the three main questions in these verses.
In one sense, the apostle Paul has already answered the question. Do you remember from chapter 9 that God in his sovereignty has mercy on those whom he choses to have mercy and he hardens whom he chooses to harden? That answer is from the divine perspective. It’s from the perspective of God’s purposes, which are for his own glory. Remember, it’s about God’s mercy.
Well, today’s verses answer the question from the human perspective. We learned last week that the means through which people receive the righteousness of God (the means through which people are saved) is through faith in Christ. It’s professing Jesus as Lord. It’s believing him as the promised Messiah. That is how we come to know that God has been merciful to us.
So, from a human perspective, why do more Jewish people not believe by faith in Christ? Did they never hear? Or is it that they do not understand?
Well, those first two questions are answered at the end of chapter 10.
Let’s take those in order. First, did unbelieving Israel never hear? Is it possible the problem is they have not been told?
Well, the apostle gives an answer right there in verse 18. “I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’”
That is a very interesting quote. It’s from Psalm 19. It’s actually one of my favorites. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.” And then the words quoted in Romans 10 “Their voice has gone out to all the earth…”
The reason this reference is interesting or curious is that the beginning of Psalm 19 is speaking abut God’s character and nature revealed in creation. The verse that Paul quotes is not talking about God’s Word and the promise of redemption going forth. But Romans 10 is. It’s about God’s Word (his special revelation) and about salvation in Christ. So, there is a seeming disconnect.
Now, there have been different interpretations as to why Psalm 19 is referenced. Let me give you two possibilities which I think best answer the question.
· First, Psalm 19 actually does talk about God’s special revelation in the second half. The Psalmist writes later in the Psalm, “the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” And it goes on to talk about God’s “testimony” and “precepts” and “commands.” So one possibility is that Paul is alluding to the whole Psalm. He’s saying, yes, Israel has heard. They have the Scriptures, which includes the law. And remember from up in Romans 10:4. Christ is the end of the law – he is its purpose and fulfillment. Bottom line, yes, they have heard. So that’s one strong possibility.
· A second possible reason is this: Since the whole creation testifies to God’s character and everyone in the world has therefore witnessed it, how much more so has Israel heard. Israel has both the witness of God’s general revelation all around them and they have the special revelation of God’s revealed Word. Yes, they have heard.
Whatever the reason for the Psalm 19 reference, the point is clear. As Paul says, “Indeed they have [heard]”
Which brings us to the next question. Ok, well, if they indeed heard, is the reason they did not believe because they did not understand? You see that question right there in verse 19, “Did Israel not understand?”
And Paul answers that with multiple Old Testament references. In fact, in our verses today, there are 7 Old Testament quotes – that’s 7 in just 14 verses. That is a lot. As he has done that throughout these chapters, Paul answers the questions by going back to the Scriptures.
Alright, I want you to look down at our text in Romans 10 and 11, you’ll see some of those quotes. In the English Standard Version, which is what we use for our readings, you’ll see three indented quotes at the end of chapter 10. And if you look over in chapter 11, you’ll see two more indented quotes in verses 8 through 10. We already discussed the first reference - Psalm 19. The other four Old Testament quotes are all related.
They all answer the question, why didn’t Israel believe?
I like the way that one commentator summarized it. He says that these verses reveal “that not ignorance but unwillingness was the cause of Israel’s lack of faith.” (Hendrickson)… not ignorance, but unwillingness. They understood the words, but they ignored or disregarded them.
Sometimes, I’m sitting on the couch or I’m sitting in my recliner, and Amy will ask me a question. Now, I may be present in the room (well, at least my body is), but my brain is somewhere else. I could be thinking about my sermon or thinking about a house project or thinking about something related to church. And I’ll instinctively respond to Amy’s question with “sure” or “that sounds good.” All the while, my mind is not there.
And then every once and a while, she ask, “any thoughts on what I just asked?” My first thought is, “wait, what did she ask me? is this a trap?” No, she’s sincere… and I have to quickly come back to reality and pretend like I was always there. But she knows. Her words came in one ear and went out the other.
Israel heard the words, but they didn’t really hear. They understood but they really weren’t listening. No, their mind was on other things. In fact, their mind was on other gods, not on the one true God.
And that’s the point of the Moses reference in Romans 10 verse 19. It’s a quote from Deuteronomy 32. God was angry because Israel was pursuing false gods. They knew God’s law, that they should have no other gods before him, but they disregarded it.
And so, what did God do? Well, he went to a people who were not his people and he made them his people. That’s the “jealous” reference in verse 19. And actually, verse 20 mentions the same thing. This time it’s a quote from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 65. “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
In other words, since you ignored and rejected my words, I’m going to reveal myself to the Gentiles in order to make you jealous.
By the way, next week we’ll get into the jealous theme a little more because Paul comes back to it in the middle of chapter 11, so stay tuned for that.
The point here is that God clearly revealed himself to them, but they ignored him. The next quote in verse 21 is actually the very next verse in Isaiah 65. “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” God had been gracious to them, but they rejected him. Again, not because of ignorance (not knowing), but because of disregard.
Now, jump over to chapter 11 verse 8. It’s related. It says, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” And that continues to today. God closed the eyes of Israel’s hearts. Chapter 11 verse 10 is similar. “let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”
You see, it’s both their responsibility for not listening and believing…. and it is God who hardens them. That is the tension in these three chapters and really in all of scripture – man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty.
It goes back to something we considered in chapter 9. Every single one of us was dead in our sins and trespasses – our unbelief. Every single human being is responsible for his or her unbelief and sin. It goes all the way back to the tragic results of the fall. But God in his mercy chose some to receive his grace. And that is part of the answer to the question here. And it is an important question.
Did God reject his people, Israel? That’s the question in chapter 11 verse 1. After all, Israel rejected him, so does that mean, given God’s sovereignty, that God rejected them?
What is Paul’s response? Well, it’s one of his many emphatic responses. “By no means!” Absolutely... positively... unequivocally, God did NOT reject his people!
And he gives two examples followed by a reason.
The first example is very very personal. Paul gives the example of himself. He was an Israelite to the core – a Hebrew of Hebrews. He had been a pharisee! In fact, Paul was persecuting and killing Christians before Jesus himself appeared to him. But then he fell on his knees and believed in Jesus as Lord – as the promised Messiah. Do you see how Paul is answering the question? Look at me. I am an example of the fact that God has not rejected his people.
And you know what, Paul is writing to the church in Rome. Several in the church to whom he was writing were also Jewish. Paul mentions the most well-known ones in chapter 16 - Priscilla and Aquilla. They were Jewish, originally from Rome. About 25 years earlier they had to flee Rome because of persecution against the Jews. That’s when they moved to Corinth and met Paul. Somewhere in there they became believers in Jesus. After Corinth, they were sent to Ephesus to help the church there. And now they were back home in Rome.
And besides Priscilla and Aquila, in the book of Acts, we learn about several Jews coming to faith in Christ including a Jewish synagogue leader. Paul’s point is that God had not rejected his people. There were in fact, many Jews, including himself, who believed.
Did you know that today, there are about 350,000 Jews who believe in Jesus. Multiple organizations have done surveys in the last several years including Pew Research. That is 350,000 out of about 15 million Jews in the world. That is a small number, but it is not insignificant. There are Messianic Jewish congregations in Atlanta that believe in Jesus. There are about 300 congregations in the modern nation of Israel who believe in Jesus. You see, the remnant not only existed in Paul’s day, but a remnant of Israel exists today.
Ok, let’s go way back. Paul gives another example. This time he goes back almost 900 years from his day. He reminds his readers of the prophet Elijah. Back in Elijah’s day, many in Israel followed the false god Baal.
Some of you remember what happened. King Ahab called the prophets of Baal and the people of Israel to convene on Mt Carmel – 450 false prophets showed up. Elijah was there by himself as the sole prophet of Yahweh.
And Elijah called on the prophets of Baal to build a structure of wood and a sacrifice on top of it and to call on Baal to bring down fire to consume the sacrifice. So that is what they did. They built it and called on their god. But, of course, nothing happened. So Elijah then mocked them. Where is your god? Perhaps he is busy or perhaps relieving himself in one of the porta-potties… or maybe he’s on vacation, or asleep.
And this went on.
Finally, Elijah had a structure built and a sacrifice prepared – it included 12 stones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. And not only that, he sent for water and had the whole structure doused in water so that the wood was saturated and the trenches around the altar were full. And Elijah prayed. And immediately, fire came down and consumed the sacrifice. It consumed the stones, the wood, the sacrificial bull, and the water in the trench. The people then bowed down and worshiped the Lord God.
But their belief was short lived. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel put immense pressure on the people and again their hearts turned away from God. Earlier in our service, we heard the account in 1 King 19. The king and the queen also threatened to kill Elijah.
And so Elijah goes off into the wilderness. He’s overwhelmed. He feels like a failure. He feels like his ministry is all for nothing. He feels like he’s the only faithful one. And what does he say to the Lord? It’s quoted there in Romans 11 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life!” He actually says that twice back in 1 Kings! That’s how strongly he felt.
But then the Lord God reveals his glory to Elijah and responds.
And God gives Elijah a very surprising answer. It’s not the answer that Elijah was expecting. He thought he was alone in the world. But God said, “I have seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” You are not alone! There are those who heard and who believed!
Let’s go back to Romans. After referencing God’s response to Elijah, Paul writes … “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.”
God had not rejected his people Israel, because he has always had a remnant of his people Israel who are his true people. Earlier in chapter 9, Paul identified them as descendants of the promise. And here Paul writes they are chosen by grace.
Grace, by the way, is the Greek word Xaris. It means an undeserved gift. Grace is not something we can earn by works, rather it is a gift of God.
That is why verse 7 says, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” You see, it cannot be both works and grace that make God’s remnant of Israel be his true people. No, those things don’t go together. The very essence of grace is that it is undeserved – works cannot save you.
Let me ask, was there ever a time when salvation was achieved through our works? The answer may surprise you. Yes, but you have to go all the way back to Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. Since the moment they ate the forbidden fruit… the only work that could achieve salvation is the work of God in Christ for you. That is God’s grace. It is for all who believe by faith. That includes Israel of old who believed by faith in the savior to come… and it includes Jews today who believe by faith in the savior who has come.
It is all a gift of grace.
Now, in verse 7, Paul does say that Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. What he is saying is that Israel, as a whole, the natural descendants, failed to believe. By in large, that’s true. However, as he puts it next, “the elect have obtained it.” Those are the remnant of Israel, which God ordained before the foundation of the world, to believe in him. It is they who are chosen by grace.
Here’s the summary:
Did Israel hear? Yes, they all heard with their ears, but only the remnant heard with their hearts. Did they understand? Yes, they all understood the words, but only the remnant truly listened. The rest were hardened by their own unbelief and hardened by the Lord. But God, in his sovereign grace, ordained some to everlasting life. God has therefore not rejected his people.
I want to end with a brief word of application. Let me first say that this application is not directly present in these verses. However, it is a necessary response. Last week, we talked about proclaiming the good news – blessed are the feet of those who bring the good news. Well, besides that responsibility… there’s only one other thing that we can do… one other thing that can affect change in someone’s heart to hear and believe.
We can pray.
God is the one who opens ears to hear and opens eyes to see. Yes, he uses his people to proclaim but it is his Holy Spirit who changes a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. When we pray, we recognize that. We recognize that it is those chosen by grace who will believe.
And so we boldly pray that God would open the eyes and ears of all to hear his word – just as he did ours. And our prayer should include Jewish unbelievers – the secular ones, the orthodox ones, any and all who reject God and his Son, the Messiah and Savior of the world.
May God remind us of his grace in our lives… And may we pray that he would expand the remnant of Israel, that many more would believe in Jesus.
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Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 10. Our sermon text this morning is verses 5-17. You can find that on page 1124.
As you are turning there, let me note a couple of things.
We are in the middle of our summer study of Romans 9-11. Thank you to Peter Van Wyk for preaching last week from the end of chapter 9 into the beginning of chapter 10. It was excellent. As we get into these verses this morning, I’ll refer back to some of those points.
In these three chapters, the big question is, how should we understand Israel and the Jewish people today? Especially unbelieving Jews? There were many in the apostle Paul’s day and there are many today.
It’s an important question because God revealed himself to the world through Israel. So, Israel, as a people, were central in God’s plan.
One thing that underlies these chapters is having a heart for their salvation. In the beginning of chapter 9, Paul put it in the most passionate of ways. If I could be cut off for their sake that they would believe, I would do it. That is how deeply he desired to see them believe in Christ. In fact, Paul says something similar at the beginning of chapter 10, verse 1 – he writes, “my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”
Our hearts desire should be the same. So that is the underlying sentiment in all three of these chapters.
And what the apostle Paul has been explaining in these chapters is the relationship between unbelieving Israel and believing Israel and believing Gentiles. As I mentioned before, but just to be sure, the Gentiles are all the non-Jewish people.
To explain the relationship between these groups, Paul asks questions and gives answers. That has been his approach all through Romans.
And as he asks and answers questions, he makes the point that his answers are not new. I was thinking about how he’s done that. I think a good phrase that captures it is this, “it has always been that way.” He doesn’t use those words, but that idea is in every answer.
For example:
· Paul asks, since many Israelites do not believe in Christ, have God’s promises failed? Remember that question from three weeks ago? His answer is no. Why? Not all Israel are Israel. A subset of Israel are children of the promise. He points out that it has always been that way.
· Paul next asks, is God unjust when he chooses only some to believe? The answer is no. Rather God in his sovereignty is merciful. He points out again it has always been that way.
· His next question, which was last week, is a really important one. Do the Gentiles (which includes us or most of us) receive a right standing before God by faith, but the Jews are righteous by keeping the law? Paul’s answer again: no! Righteousness is only received by faith. In fact, it has always been that way.
That answer is like the beating drum of these chapters. It has always been that way. That is why there are so many Old Testament quotes. And we’ll continue to see that.
Alright, I know that is a long preamble, but hopefully that helps tie together where we’ve been so far.
In our verses this morning, Paul addresses the next logical question, what is this faith thing? And second, how do people come to know of this faith?
So, let’s turn now to God’s word.
Reading of Romans 10:5-17
Prayer
The word “faith” today is very squishy. I think you know what I mean. Its use is broad. We say we have faith in other people. Or we have faith in our abilities. Or we have faith that something will work out in the end.
Sometimes faith refers to different religions. You’ll hear people ask, “what faith tradition do you come from?” Other times you will hear “he has a deep faith” or “she has a deep faith.” Or maybe you’ll even hear, “I have faith in science or technology to solve such and such a problem.”
You see, in today’s world, faith has a lot of different meanings.
But what is the faith that the apostle Paul is speaking about here? That is a crucial question. He’s told us that righteousness, which is our right standing before God, comes by faith and not works.
He explained that we are righteous before God not because we are good enough. No, rather, it is because of Christ’s righteousness. When we have faith, we are given his righteousness. I like how Peter put it last week: Christ is the law. It’s a great way to think about it. Christ is the beginning of the law. He is its purpose and its fulfillment. He fulfills the law for us. And guess what, it has always been that way.
But the question is, what does it actually mean to have a righteousness by faith and not the law? That is the first question that these verses address.
Look at verse 5. It says, “For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.”
In other words, if you think that you can become righteous by keeping the law, you will live with the consequences of not keeping the law. And you know what? …the consequences are bad. Verse 5 is a reference back to the book of Leviticus. In fact, it’s not the only time the apostle Paul quoted this same verse from Leviticus. In Galatians chapter 3 (which is his letter to the church in Galatia), Paul quotes the same verse. He then says that trying to be righteous through the law is a curse. As he put it there, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” The point is: we cannot keep the law. There is only one who has, and that is Jesus. He is the only righteous one.
And that is why we are called to have faith in him.
Let me take a moment and speak to the children and teenagers here. One thing you learn in life is that your work and efforts contribute to good outcomes or rewards. For example, if you do your homework and study hard, you will likely do well in school. If you practice and train in a sport, you will excel in the competition. If you do your household chores and respect your parents, they will give you more privileges.
You see, we have this idea ingrained in us that to get a reward, we need to put in some sort of effort. And that is true for almost everything in life. Except it is not true for the most important thing in life - faith in Jesus.
Faith is not something you do to get a reward. That is what we learn here. Faith is not work. We don’t have to do anything. We don’t have to look to find faith. This is what verses 6 to 8 teach.
We don’t have to ascend to heaven to find Jesus. We don’t have to search the depths of the earth or cross the sea to find him and know him. Those verses, by the way, quote Deuteronomy 30, which we read earlier in the service.
There are no special hoops to jump through. We don’t need to meditate or do special religious practices to have faith in Jesus.
No, on the contrary, Jesus is near– the word of God is near. That is what it says in verse 8, which again is a quote from Deuteronomy 30. Faith is simple. And, in fact, it has always been that way.
That is why he quotes from Deuteronomy. Faith it is believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. It’s that simple - believing and confessing.
Believing and confessing – those are two words used multiple times in verses 9-13. The word “believe” is used three times. The word “confess” is used twice. But a synonym to confessing, which is the phrase “to call on him” is used twice more. So, faith is simple – it’s believing in and confessing Jesus.
It’s right there in verse 9, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That is a very clear and simple statement of faith.
And to be sure, confessing something is not just saying it. Rather you are declaring that you wholeheartedly embrace what you are saying. And, as it says here, it’s confessing that Jesus is Lord. That word Lord is referring to Jesus divine nature. So, part of it is that you are affirming that Jesus is God. But you are also declaring that Jesus is your Lord. He’s Lord of your life.
I’ve always been intrigued by something the apostle James wrote. In James chapter 2, he talks about true faith. And he writes this: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe [that]—and shudder!” It’s very penetrating. He’s saying that the demons know who Jesus is. In fact, in the Gospel accounts, it’s the demons who first recognize Jesus as the eternal God. But what does that get them? Nothing. Why? Because they cannot confess that Jesus is their Lord. You, see they can recognize who he is as God the Son, but they cannot confess him.
Saving faith is simple – it’s believing in and confessing that Jesus is God and that he is your Lord. And a key part of that is believing in the resurrection. That’s the last half of verse 9. Belief in the resurrection is a key belief for true saving faith. Let me give you three reasons.
· First, when you believe in Jesus’ resurrection, you also believe that he died. Someone can’t be resurrected without first being dead.
· Second, believing in the resurrection, means believing that Jesus conquered death and sin and the devil. Without the resurrection, he would not have been victorious over those enemies of the faith.
· And third, believing in the resurrection, is believing in the hope for heaven. Our future resurrection comes through Jesus’ resurrection.
This is why believing in the resurrection is so important as a key part of having faith.
Alright, let me summarize so far. Faith is simple. It’s confessing Jesus as Lord - your Lord – and believing in what he’s done for you. Saving faith is not a generic faith like how the word “faith” is sometimes used today. Faith is not being generically religious or trusting in whatever. Rather, faith is confessing and believing in Jesus, who is the focus of our faith. So, we acknowledge the truth of who Jesus is and what he has accomplished in his death and resurrection. And we personally trust in its sufficiency to make us righteous in him.
And in verses 11 to 13, Paul goes back to the same point he’s made multiple times now. It’s the same thing for the Jews and Gentiles. It’s the same faith – he makes that really clear in verse 12. “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all.” And you know what? It has always been that way. Those two quotes in verses 11 and 13 are from the prophet Isaiah and Joel. The emphasis is on “everyone.” “Everyone who believes in him…” and “everyone who calls on him… will be saved.” Faith in Christ is offered to all - Jew and Gentile, alike.
Now, Paul has more to say about faith in Christ for both groups of people. Next week, we’ll be talking about the remnant of Israel, “chosen by grace,” as he puts is. And the week after next, we will be talking about how believing Gentiles have been grafted into Christ. So, stay tuned for those.
But before we get there, Paul turns to an important question. If having faith in Christ is the only means through which people receive his righteousness, how do people know about this faith? He’s talking about both unbelieving Jews and unbelieving Gentiles.
And he answers that with a series of questions. Look at the first two questions there in verse 14. “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”
By the way, do you hear the two aspects of saving faith in those? Confessing and believing in Christ. How are they to call ON HIM…? How are they to believe IN HIM…? The rhetorical answer is built into the question.… they need to hear about Jesus.
The next two questions are the next two logical questions. “…how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”
Do you see how Paul asks the four questions in the reverse order to show how it needs to happen? He’s making the logical point.
Faith is confessing and believing in Christ. But in order for them to confess and believe in Christ, they need to hear about him. Well, in order for them to hear about him, someone needs to tell them. And, in order for someone to tell them, people need to be sent.
Being sent leads to proclaiming the Gospel which leads to people hearing, which leads to some believing.
I googled population estimates in the first century. There were a lot of educated guesses. Back in Paul’s day, in the middle of the first century, there were roughly 150-350 million people in the world. I know that is a wide range, but it still gives us an order of magnitude.
At that time, Christianity was growing rapidly, but it was still miniscule compared to the world’s population. It’s very hard to know how many Christians there were back then. But think about this…
· When the Holy Spirit was given after Jesus’ resurrection, 3000 believed. Some were residents near Jerusalem, other dispersed to other regions across the Mediterranean.
· The book of Acts documents the Gospel going to Africa through the Ethiopian Eunuch. Apollos was from Africa and he had heard.
· Peter brought the Gospel to the coastline along the eastern Mediterranean.
· Of course, Paul went to Asia Minor, and Greece.
· We don’t have Scriptural record of the other apostles, but tradition has Thomas going to east Asia; Matthew going to northern Africa and Simon to Persia.
When the book of Romans was written, it had only been about 25 years since Jesus’ death and resurrection. That’s it. But the Gospel had been going forth. Yet even with all those encouraging ways the Word was going out, Christianity was still small. It was growing exponentially percentage wise, but there were still likely only tens of thousands of Christians at the time. Again, that’s small compared to the hundreds of millions in the world.
A vast majority of those hundreds of millions were not Jewish – they were Gentiles. But there were also Jewish people who had been scattered all over going back centuries earlier. When Assyria and Babylon overthrew Israel and Judah, respectively, the Jews were dispersed. Jewish documents and DNA evidence seem to indicate that the exiles travelled deep into Africa and far into east Asia. My point is that many many Jews and Gentiles all over the world needed to hear about faith in Christ.
In verse 15, Paul quotes from Isaiah, chapter 52. “how beautiful are the feet of them who bring the good news!” Isaiah 52 is a great chapter. In it, God foretells that the good news would go forth. In that same chapter, he assures them that “the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” Those who heed the call, would not and will not be alone.
Let’s go back to what was happening in Rome. When the church in Rome received this letter in the middle of the first century, they were just beginning to experience persecution. That persecution would continue for another couple of hundred years…. In fact, between 250 AD and 300 AD, it escalated. Christians were being tortured, persecuted in various ways, and many executed.
But something else happened over that same period. Christianity exploded in growth. Historian Rodney Stark estimates that the number of Christians in the City of Rome went from 78,000 in the year 250 to 298,000 in the year 300. A 350% growth in 50 years. He estimates that 66% of the population of Rome confessed and believed in Christ in the year 300.
The persecution only accelerated the good news going forth. And remember, this letter was written to the church in Rome. Many were heeding the Romans 10 call to be sent. They were preaching the good news, people were hearing, and many believed by faith, confessing Jesus as Lord.
Today, the world’s population is about 8 Billion people. The Joshua Project, which tracks unreached people groups, estimates that out of the 17,300 people groups in the world, 7,280 are unreached. They consider a people groups as unreached if less than 2% of the population are Bible believing Christians. By their estimates, 3.43 Billion people live in unreached people groups.
What I am saying is that the call for the church to be sent very much applies to us today.
To be sure, the call to proclaim the good news of Jesus applies to all of us. There are many in our city who have yet to hear and our responsibility is to bring the good news to them.
But let me point out… the word “sent” in verse 15 comes from the Greek work apostello – which means be sent forth. Apostello is also the same root for the word apostle. The ones sent out. So these verses particularly focus on going forth in the work of Gospel missions. It’s bringing the good news to people and people groups that have never heard – Jews and Gentiles. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.”
As many of you know, I’ll be headed out on a sabbatical in the middle of next month. One thing that Amy and I will be doing is visiting some of the missionaries that we support as a church. We’re excited to see the work to which God has sent each of them. And as you also know, in the next couple of months we’ll be sending out Jonathan and Beka (and Andrew and Josiah) to the Middle East. They are going forth to support the work of bring the good news to a people who desperately needs the hope of Christ.
And why do we do this? Why do we support missionaries and send people out? Well, Paul concludes and really summarizes with these words. “Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” We send and support… so that the word of Christ is preached, so that people can hear the word of Christ, and confess and believe in him by faith.
Let me bring this all together. Righteousness has always come through faith in Christ. For God’s people in the Old Testament, it was faith looking forward to the promised Messiah and the salvation he would bring. For the people in the New Testament and beyond, it’s faith in what Christ has done, bearing our sin on the cross and being raised from grave. All people are called to believe by faith, Jews and Gentiles.
And that message of faith needs to go forth so that people can hear about, believe in, and confess Jesus as Lord.
In closing, let me ask, do you feel the call to be sent? That could mean many things. It could mean dedicating your life to bring the Gospel to the people and people groups here in the Atlanta area who need to hear about faith in Christ. But that could also mean going forth to the ends of the earth to proclaim the good news… or support the work of proclaiming the good news.
If you feel any sense of that, talk to me. Talk to one of our mission team members. We’ll explore together what that sense of call may mean. And one thing that will be for sure – you will have a church family fully supportive of that call to be sent, fully supportive in prayer, fully supportive in partnering in the great call to go. “Blessed are the feet of those who preach the good news.” Amen
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Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 9. We will be focusing on verses 9-23 this morning. You can find that on page 1123.
This summer, we are working through Romans 9-11.
Last week, we started with the opening few verses of chapter 9. In it, the apostle Paul revealed his heart. Every fiber of his being desired to see his fellow Jews who do not be in Christ, come to know Jesus as the Messiah. He was willing to be accursed if God would open their hearts to know the promised Savior. We should have that same heart and desire.
Paul also answered an important question. Since the vast majority of Israelites did not believe in Jesus, does that mean that God’s Word and promises failed? The answer is no. Paul revealed that there has always been a distinction between the natural descendants of Abraham and the descendants of the promise.
God’s Word has therefore not failed.
Ok, that brings us to these verses. He continues the argument and works through some important matters.
For a little context, I’ll start reading from verse 8.
Reading of Romans 9:9-23
Prayer
Is God sovereign or does man have free will? The answer is yes and yes. Sometimes we set those two statements in opposition. But the Scriptures teach both. Is God sovereign? Yes. Can we act according to our will? Yes. God has created us with the ability to think and reason. We are responsible for our actions. God has given all mankind common grace, as we call it, by which people can choose to do honorable and kind and generous things, or not. However, in our fallen state, that is, since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, there is one thing that no one can do.
Noone is able, in his or her own will, to choose God and salvation. No, rather, the Bible is clear that we are dead in our sins. Spiritually dead. Only God can turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Only the Holy Spirit can awakens us. Only he can give us a new heart to see our sin and to grieve it. It is at that point that we are then able to turn to God in Christ and pursue holiness and righteousness in him through his Spirit.
Are you following me on the distinction? So yes, God is Sovereign. Yes, man is responsible. And yes, we have free will. But our free will is limited by our nature. In our fallen nature, we are spiritually dead and cannot pursue God. In our redeemed nature, we are alive in Christ and able to pursue him and the things of God.
I bring that up because in the middle of Romans 9 (these verses), Paul is speaking about salvation. Specifically, he is speaking about election. It’s about those to whom God has determined to give his grace.
In context, the apostle Paul is answering the question, why did God choose to give some Israelites his mercy and believe in Jesus and others he did not? Of course, the question applies to all people. He’ll make that clear in the next section.
And let me say this. This chapter is a beautiful chapter, but it is also a hard chapter.
It’s beautiful because it is about God and his mercy. And it’s hard because it is about God and his mercy – specifically that he chooses who will receive his mercy.
There are two things that I hope and pray that you will leave here with today.
· First, a renewed sense of who God is - an understanding of who God is as your creator.
· Second, I hope and pray that you will see the mercy of God in these verses. Yes, these verses speak of God hardening people’s hearts, but the emphasis is God’s mercy.
With that in mind, let’s begin by considering the historical examples.
Last week, we touched upon Abraham and Sarah. Remember from last week, God declared that his covenant promises would be fulfilled through Isaac’s descendants and not Ishmael’s. Isaac was Abraham and Sarah’s son born to Sarah in her old age. Ishmael was born to Sarah’s servant, Hagar. Remember, Abraham and Sarah didn’t think that Sarah could conceive a child, so they came up with their own plan. But that was not God’s plan.
Paul’s point in bringing up Isaac was to differentiate between the natural descendants and the descendants of the promise. God ordained a subset of Israel, a remnant, to be his true people – spiritual Israel.
Now, someone *could* argue that God did not choose Ishmael because of external reasons – after all, Ishmael’s mother, Hagar, was not Abraham’s wife. In fact, Ishmael was born due to Abraham and Sarah’s lack of faith. So, someone could argue that for those reasons, God instead chose Isaac.
However, that is not what Paul is saying. He wants us to be absolutely sure that we get it – God is the one who chooses. And so, he gives a second example in verses 10 through 13 - Jacob and Esau.
Jacob and Esau are both the sons of Isaac. We are just one generation down from Abraham. Isaac marries Rachel and they have two sons. Not only that, but they are twins. Esau was born first and Jacob second.
Some of you know this, but I have a twin sister. In fact, I was born first. And, of course, I would remind my sister about that. “I’m older than you.” Sometimes she would tell people that she was born first. And you know what… they would believe her and not me! That always bothered me – but I think I’m over it.
Back to Esau and Jacob. Before Rachel’s twins were born, God told her that the younger would serve the older. Before they were born, God determined to choose Jacob.
Paul brings that up because God’s choice of Jacob was not based on anything external. It was not based on anything that Jacob did or did not do. It was not based on anything that his parents did or did not do. It was not based on birth order. That is the point of verse 11. “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’”
That would have been especially surprising in that culture.
God chose Jacob because that is who he chose. Some of you will remember what happened between Jacob and Esau. Esau was born first – he was a great hunter. Isaac, their father, favored Esau over Jacob. Isaac loved the wild game that Esau would hunt and kill. Rachel, on the other hand, favored Jacob.
And one day, Esau came home from hunting, and he was starving! Esau was so hungry that he was desperate. So, Jacob took advantage of that. He offered food to Esau if Esau, in exchange, would give Jacob his rights as firstborn. And Esau did it. He gave away the privileges and inheritance of being the firstborn son. And not only that but when they were older, Jacob tricked his father Isaac into giving him the blessing. He pretended to be Esau. And Isaac, who could hardly see at the time, gave Jacob the family blessing.
That whole account reinforces Paul’s point. God chose Jacob even despite his status as second born and despite his deception.
Which bring us to the difficult and weighty statement in verse 13. “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” It’s a quote from the prophet Malachi who is speaking about God’s love for Jacob and his descendants, and his judgment on Esau and his descendant, the Edomites. “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
It’s hard to hear because it comes across as unjust. Doesn’t it? From our perspective, God arbitrarily chose Jacob and not Esau.
Is that fair? and that is why in verse 14, Paul poses that very question “Is there injustice on God’s part?”
And look at his answer. “By no means!” In the book of Romans, this is the eighth out of ten times that Paul answers his own question with that exact phrase. “By no means!” Emphatically no. God is not unjust to choose some for life and mercy.
And in the rest of our verses today, the apostle gives reasons.
Before we look at them, I want to share some personal things.
I’ve had a few transformational moments in my life. You know, times when God did something in me and either the trajectory of my thinking or my life path changed in some way.
We all have them. For many of you, the biggest transformational moment was when you professed faith in Christ as your Lord and Savior. For me, I grew up in a Christian home and I don’t remember exactly when that happened - which, by the way, is a great testimony to God’s faithfulness.
However, I’ve had other transformational moments. One was in high school when I really owned my faith. Another was during a summer in College - I was hiking the Inca trail in South America and God saved my life – literally. That’s a whole other story.
Another moment happened in my early 20s – I think I was 22. I was reading through the Bible. I had all these questions swirling in my mind about God and about our will as humans... you know, questions about God’s purposes and plans and about predestination… and questions about man’s free will and choice.
One evening, I was reading these very verses in Romans 9, and it all hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember feeling the profound weight of this chapter. It was a very emotional moment. There were two things that were impressed upon my heart and mind. First, God’s sovereignty in salvation. And second, his underserved mercy and grace in my life. It was overwhelming.
Every time I read these words, I go back in my mind to that time in my life. I can’t always recapture the feelings, but I’m reminded of God’s mercy.
God’s mercy is the overwhelming emphasis in verses 15-23. Yes, God’s judgment is present in these verses. We’ll get there in a minute. But first, look with me at how many times God speaks through Paul about his graciousness in these verses.
It’s where he begins in verse 15. God said to Moses “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Mercy, mercy, compassion, compassion. Verse 16 emphasizes God’s mercy, “it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy”
Verse 18, “mercy” is highlighted again, and in verse 23, he speaks of “vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.”
Five times God’s mercy is emphasized, twice more he uses the word compassion.
Something really important to understand is this: We do not begin in some neutral state in relationship to God. No. One of the foundational principals taught in Romans, and the entire Bible, is that we were dead in our sins and trespasses. Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
All were or are spiritually dead, but God in his mercy chose some to know him and to believe. That is why God’s mercy is God’s mercy. He shows compassion and mercy on those whom he brought from death to new life. It’s God’s mercy because there’s nothing that we bring to the table.
That is why God’s sovereign choice is not unjust. The just thing for God to do would be to leave us all in our state of sin and rebellion and his just judgment. No one deserves God’s mercy, but yet he is merciful.
What I am saying is that to understand these verses, requires us first to understand the nature of God’s mercy and compassion. God’s mercy is undeserved. Yet, God has given it to those whom he has chosen.
So, the primary answer to the question of whether God is unjust is no, rather, he is merciful.
Now, there’s more here. These verses also speak about God himself and why some receive mercy and others do not.
Those things are related and the answer centers on God. God is described here as the potter. He is our creator. The creator of all things. He is the only one who deserves glory. He is the only one who deserves his name and might to be proclaimed. Therefore, God will do whatever he wants to do, if it will bring more honor and glory to his name.
In other words, God’s very purpose is that he himself would receive more glory.
That may sounds very self-serving to our ears. And the reason is, it is self-serving. But think about it this way: God is infinite and eternal. He is perfectly and eternally just and holy and powerful. He is the only one worthy of ultimate glory.
In other words, because of his very nature, it is right for God to seek his own glory. And part of seeking his own glory includes choosing who will receive mercy and who he will harden.
Now, that may not make sense, initially, but Paul illustrates it for us. He reminds the church about Pharaoh, the king of Egypt… this goes back in the time of Moses.
I wont go through the whole history, but here’s the short story: Jacob’s 12 sons and their families ended up in Egypt. God used Jacob’s second youngest son, Joseph, to save them from a famine by bringing them to Egypt. Over 400 plus years, the grew great in number. But because of their great number, Pharoah became worried. And so he enslaved the Israelites. He put heavy burdens on them. He appointed unrelenting taskmasters.
That was when God raised up Moses. He was an Israelite, but ironically he was brought up by Pharoah’s daughter in Pharoah’s own palace. And when Moses was older, God called him to confront Pharoah. Moses commanded Pharoah to let God’s people go. But something happened. God hardened Pharoah’s heart. That is what Romans 9 verse 17 is talking about.
And why did God harden Pharoah’s heart? It was so that God could display his glory.
God did just that. He sent ten plagues. He turned the Nile River into blood and sent hail. And then darkness, and locusts, and sores and others things. Plague after plague that displayed God’s power. And after every plague, Moses called on Pharoah to let God’s people go. But every time either Pharoah hardened his own heart or God hardened Pharoah’s heart. Those descriptions went back and forth. It demonstrated that Pharoah was also responsible for rejecting God.
Pharoah continued to refuse to let the Israelites go. That is until the final plague. The Passover. The first born in every Egyptian family died but the Lord passed over the Israelite homes if they put the blood of a lamb over their doorpost.
And so, Pharoah relented and he let Moses and the people go. But again, God hardened Pharoah’s heart. He and the Egyptian army decided to pursued the Israelites. God’s purpose, again, was to display his glory through the pillar of fire and cloud, and the parting of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the Egyptian army.
Through it all, God displayed his power and glory.
Listen again to verse 17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’”
God in his sovereign will and for his purposes hardened Pharoah’s heart, so that his glory would be made known in all the earth. It’s a clear example of how God works out his sovereign purposes in election for his glory. God is the one in control of all things and all things work out for his glory.
Paul closes out his argument in verses 22 and 23 with this question: “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory”
He begins there wth the phrase “what if God” but it’s not really a question. Rather, Paul is saying “have you considered this? …what if God’s purpose in election is not only to display his power, but what if God also desires those who receive mercy to know the amazing riches of his grace through the contrast of his judgment on others?” What if this is so? Well, it is so. It is just a sensitive way of responding to the honest questions in the earlier verses.
He is saying that our understanding of God’s mercy is enriched when we recognize the just wrath that we deserved in contrast to the riches of grace that we receive.
When we recognize the utter depth of his mercy, God is more glorified. He is more glorified in election because, first, his power is displayed… and, second, his mercy is made clearer to those who have received it.
Here’s the summary.
First, God is God. He is the one in whom and for whom all things exist. He is the potter. We are the clay. He is the one whose purposes come to pass. He is the one who turns hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. He is the one who calls us out of darkness. He is sovereign over all things including and especially salvation, and it is all for his glory.
Second, no one deserves God’s mercy. All of us fall short of the glory of God. We are all at fault and all deserve his wrath. But God…. But God in his mercy has ordained some to everlasting life. And in doing so, his mercy and power and glory are displayed. And those who have received his mercy, give him more glory. We recognize that there is nothing in us that saves us. It’s only God’s mercy.
And that mercy comes through Jesus Christ alone. You know, one thing about these verses is how they highlight both the mercy and wrath of God. And, God’s mercy and wrath are fully displayed and achieved in the cross of Christ. The way that God gives his mercy to those whom he has called, is by pouring out his wrath on Jesus instead of them. To use the words of Romans 9, Jesus became the vessel of wrath in your place, so that you may become a vessel of mercy. That is how we receive his undeserved mercy.
And part of that mercy is a future glory with him. Did you notice that at the end of verse 23? It says – “vessels of mercy, which God prepared beforehand for glory.” The mercy of God comes not only through Jesus enduring God’s wrath, but it also comes through his resurrection. The eternal glory that we will share with him forever, was achieved when he rose from the grave. Mercy upon mercy. Compassion upon compassion. It was and is all God’s mercy and grace.
In closing, if you are asking yourself, am I among God’s elect? Am I a vessel of mercy? There’s one simple test. Has God opened your heart to see your sin, to see God’s undeserved grace in Christ, and have you received his mercy in Christ? If your, that is your great assurance.
If you have not seen that yet…. is God working in you now? Are you feeling the weight of your sin and your need for his mercy? If so, there’s one simple step – turn to the one who offers his grace and who will give you God’s mercy. Turn to Jesus. And when you do, you will know that you are his.
May God make known to all of us the riches of his grace, as people who have received his undeserved mercy. Amen
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Some of you will remember… When we launched 4 years ago, we began with a short sermon series on Romans chapter 8. The reason was… we were in the middle of COVID and we needed Romans 8 encouragement. It gave us some foundational perspectives and hope. It gave us great assurance. It speaks of the impact of sin not just on humanity but on creation itself. And it reminds believers in Christ that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
That was four years ago. And in between our regular sermon series, we’ve been going back to different chapters in the book of Romans.
So, for the next 7 weeks, we’ll be working through Romans chapters 9-11.
This morning, our sermon text is Romans 9:1-8 – actually, I’ll read verse 9 as well.
You can find that on page 1123 in the pew Bible.
Reading of Romans 9:1-9
Prayer
Almost every news broadcast today touches upon the war in Israel and Gaza. And it weighs on our hearts. Every day it seems that more people die. Just when it appears there may be some semblance of peace, there’s another setback. Iran sends a barrage of missiles at Israel. Hezbollah attacks towns on Israel’s northern border. An errant bomb kills aid workers in Gaza. Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields.
Until the October 7 invasion of Israel, there had been relative peace going back to the mid-1990s. Occasional skirmishes lasted only a few days. Today, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight
And we are saddened at the loss of life. We grieve the Israelis murdered in their hometowns. We grieve the Palestinians in Gaza caught in the crossfire. And we are angry at the hate filled and bloodthirsty regimes and groups. Thinking back on our Proverbs study, the description of wickedness defines some of them like Hezbollah and Hamas. The Lebanese and Palestinians and Israelis are often their victims. And they have a goal to wipe Israel off the map.
Let me add another layer of complexity. This spring, protests arose on several college campuses across the United States. Many of the protestors were supporting Hamas and were against Israel. It’s been reported that antisemitism has been on the rise in the US. That is deeply concerning. Besides the fact that any and all racism is sin, we’ve seen the tragic effects of antisemitism in the past – persecution and genocide.
With all of that in mind, how are we, as Christians, to respond? And related to that, how should we understand Israel and the Jewish people in relationship to God’s redemptive plan in history?
Let me acknowledge, some of you are really nervous right now. You’re either nervous wondering if I’m wading into politics… or you are nervous about how I will talk about Israel.
Let me slightly relieve some of those concerns.
· First, Romans 9-11 speaks about Israel. In fact, the apostle Paul directs us how to think about Israel and how to understand Israel within God’s plan of redemption. If there is any text in all of the New Testament which helps us with these questions, these three chapters do.
· Second, when we get to chapter 11, some of what Paul writes does have implications for end-times theology. However, these chapters are not about the end times, so we won’t be getting too much into that sticky subject.
· And the last thing to relieve some of your concerns… like any passage in the Bible, we’ll begin with the text and its context and draw conclusions from that perspective. I’ll be very careful not to impose current politics or geopolitical events into the text. Rather, we’ll seek to do the opposite – understand what the Scriptures mean to the original audience, and then second, how they apply today.
In fact, let’s start there. Let me remind you of Paul’s occasion for writing. He wrote this letter to the church in Rome. Unlike the other churches that Paul wrote to, Paul did not plant the church in Rome. He had actually never been to Rome, at least after his conversion. Yet, Paul knew many of the Christians in Rome. In chapter 16, he greets many of them. That list includes Priscilla and Aquilla whom he met in Corinth. It includes other Jews who professed faith in Christ, including some of his relatives. The list includes many Greek and Roman names, some names typically given to nobility. You see, the church in Rome represented a cross-section of the culture – Jews and Greeks and Romans. But they all shared one thing in common – they believed in Jesus as their Savior and as the promised Christ.
And it’s important for me to point out one more thing. The New Testament was not yet available. But they did have a couple of things. They had the Old Testament translated into the common language of the time, Greek. They had people who were discipled by the apostles – Priscilla and Aquilla are examples of that. They likely had others who knew the promises of Christ or, perhaps, who had even met Jesus.
And you ask, what were they being taught? Well, they were being taught about God, his law, and his promises. The church in Rome was learning about Jesus – who he was as God and as the promised Messiah. They were learning how he fulfilled the prophecies, and what Jesus had done to accomplish salvation.
So, even though the majority of the church in Rome were not Jewish, yet they were learning about God’s work in history, through Israel, to bring salvation to the world. That is why the first 8 chapters give a thorough explanation of sin, of God’s law, of Christ’s righteousness, of God’s promise to Abraham, and how all of those things relate to believing Jews and Gentiles. That is a big emphasis in the opening chapters.
Romans 1 verse 16 is a key verse in the whole book. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” In fact, multiple times in the opening chapters he speaks of the Jew and the Gentile or Greek. What he is saying is that salvation is offered to all people - Jews and Gentiles. The word Gentiles is a catch phrase for anyone who was not Jewish. So, Salvation in Christ is offered to all people.
But why is Paul making the point about the Jew and the Gentile? Well, it’s because he wants the church in Rome to be unified in the Gospel. He wants them to understand how the people of Israel relate to this salvation and how the Gentiles relate to salvation. Hint – the same way.
But there are some huge questions to be addressed.
What about the natural descendants of Israel who do not believe? Does that mean God’s promises failed? I mean, God gave all these promises to Israel, but they still did not believe! In fact, an overwhelming majority of Jewish people in Paul’s day did not believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah… AND an overwhelming majority of Jewish people today do not believe in him.
What are we to make of that? And how should we relate to and consider those of Jewish descent?
Well, Romans 9-11 gives us clear answers and directs us how to relate.
And Paul doesn’t waste any time. No, he gets right to the point. He begins by modelling for us, how you and I should relate to Israel.
We’re going to look at these opening verses in two sections. First, verses 1-5 – Having a heart for unbelieving Israel. And second, verses 6-8 – Realizing that true Israel represents children of the promise not the flesh. That’s where we are headed.
A heart for unbelieving Israel
One thing that is important to know, the apostle Paul was Jewish. As he puts it in his letter to the Philippian church, he was “of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee… as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” In other words, if anyone could claim a status as a true Israelite, Paul could. But when he came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, he realized that his Jewish credentials could not save him. They never could. No, rather, he learned that salvation comes through faith in Christ, alone, for both the Jew and the Gentile.
And he desperately wanted his fellow Jews to believe.
We see that in the opening five verses of chapter 9. Paul is pouring out his heart. He yearns for his fellow Israelites, who do not believe. He longs that they come to believe in the promised Savior. And look at the statement he makes in verses 3, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” He was saying that if there was a way to offer his life and be cut off from Christ in exchange for his fellow Jews to believe in Christ, he would do it. He had unceasing anguish for them, it says.
Now, to be sure, Paul knows that he could never actually be cut off. After all, he just said in chapter 8 that nothing shall separate those who are in Christ Jesus, “neither death nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor anything else in all creation shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Again, Paul knows it’s not possible, but yet he wishes that it would be so. That is how passionately he desires Israel to be saved.
As a side note – isn’t this a picture of the Gospel? Paul was willing to give his life in place of his fellow unbelieving Israelites. He was willing to receive the judgment of God so that they would not receive it. Paul could not literally do that, but that is how much he desired they be saved. One commentator said this of Paul’s heart: It’s “a spark from the fire of Christ’s substitutionary love.” Paul was willing to give his life like just like Jesus gave his.
Beloved, we should have the same heart as Paul for our unbelieving Jewish neighbors and friends. To be sure, most of us, maybe all of us, are not Jewish like the apostle Paul. However, that shouldn’t matter. Our hearts should long for unbelieving Jews to be saved… really, our hearts should long for any unbeliever to come to know the grace and mercy of Christ. I don’t want to limit the application here to just Israel.
We should desire any unbelieving people to come to faith. Going back to the Middle East, we should desire that more Palestinians come to faith… that more Syrians and Iranians would come to faith in Christ. And by the way, the church is growing among those people groups in amazing ways. I read an article the other day how the church in Iran is exploding in growth.
And here’s a challenging one – we should desire to see the Gospel penetrate the hearts of Hamas and Hezbollah – especially those involved in the ongoing wickedness and evil.
May the Lord bring peace in the Middle East, not through war, but through Christ. Amen to that?
And of course, there’s another application here: we should have hearts that yearn for our unbelieving family and friends. May the Lord use us to share the love of God in Christ and may the power of the Gospel turn their hearts to him.
Let me ask: Do you struggle to have a heart like Paul? One thing you can do is remind yourself of God’s grace in your life. You know, remind yourself of how he brought you from death and judgment to life and peace... Next week, we’ll be talking through God’s sovereignty in salvation. The middle of Romans 9 gives us hard truths but when we realize God’s undeserved love for us in Christ, there’s nothing else we can do but fall on our knees in worship and share that love with others.
Let’s go back to Israel. Paul is emphasizing Israel in these verses. And look how he puts it in verse 4: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.”
You see, through Abraham and his descendants (in other words, through Israel), God revealed himself. He gave them his Covenant promises. God gave them his law and he gave them worship – which here is referring to the sacrificial system. He revealed himself through the tabernacle and the temple – “his glory,” as verse 4 puts it. Each step of the way, God revealed to them more and more who he is and his promised redemption.
So much of the New Testament refers back to all these things … the law, the covenant promises, the prophecies, the patterns, the sacrifices. I heard a sermon the other day and the pastor said that the New Testament is like a sponge – it has its own structure and substance, but when you squeeze it, the Old Testament comes out.
It’s so true. The New Testament reveals how Christ fulfilled each of these aspects of God’s revelation to Israel. The covenant promises are fulfilled in him. The Exodus and the Passover and the Temple and the sacrifices find their true meaning in Jesus’ death and resurrection. The law itself reveals the need for Christ and his righteousness. The prophets, like Isaiah and Ezekiel, prophesied about the coming Messiah – and the New Testament testifies that those prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus’ nature, his life, his death, and his resurrection. King David and others were shadows of the King to come – the eternal king.
Earlier in the service, Ed read the road to Emmaus account. Wouldn’t it have been amazing to be there… to hear Jesus himself testify to how he fulfilled all these things. Maybe those guys were in Rome? Probably not, but they went somewhere testifying to all this.
And notice what he included in the list in verse 5… that Christ himself, who is God over all, he says, came in the flesh as a Jew. God sent the savior of the word through the people of Israel.
You see, all of it is there for the people of Israel to see and know and believe. Paul longed for his fellow Israelites to believe. It was all before them. They didn’t have to learn about all those things, they already knew them. Rather, they needed to see and believe in Jesus as the one who fulfilled it all.
So, similar to Paul, we need to long that all unbelieving Jewish people would believe. That includes, of course, many who are residents of Israel today – both secular Jews and orthodox Jews. We do that by praying. We do that by making known to our Jewish friends and neighbors and co-workers how all these things that Paul lists out are fulfilled in Christ. Friends, this is the opposite of antisemitism. We are here today as gentile believers (or a majority of us) because of how God revealed himself through Israel to bless the world. May our hearts long, as Paul longed, to see them believe.
2. Realizing that true Israel are children of the promise.
Which brings us to an important question. If most of Israel did not and does not believe, does that mean that God’s promises didn’t come true? Does it mean that God’s Word failed? It’s a very legitimate question. After all, God revealed himself in all those ways, yet, so many did not believe.
And this is where we will turn to verses 6-8. Because Paul gives us an answer. He says, “it is not as though the Word of God has failed.” And then he gives the reason. He says, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.”
Wait, what!? “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel”
If you are into logic or philosophy, that statement will come across as contradictory. You may be thinking, “the law of non-contradiction says that something can not be both true and not true at the same time.” So, we have an apparent contradiction. But let me point out… the law of non-contradiction includes not just at the same time but also in the same sense.
And that is why this is not contradictory. He is referring to Israel in two different senses. #1 physical Israel and #2 spiritual Israel – or Israel according to the promise. In fact, in verses 6, 7, and 8, he describes the distinction in three different ways.
· We already considered verse 6. Not all the physical descendants of Israel are Israel.
· In verse 7, he puts it this way – “not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.” That’s interesting. We’ll come back to the Isaac reference in a minute. Essentially, just because you are Jewish, he’s saying, does not mean that you are part of the promise.
· And in verse 8 he explains, “it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”
Again, what he’s saying is that there are two categories. Physical Israel are the Jewish people physically descended – in other words, they have Jewish DNA. And second, spiritual Israel are the spiritual descendants of Abraham – children of the promise. By the way, what we will learn later in chapter 9 is that the spiritual descendants also include us - gentile believers. In other words, the people of God throughout history include the people in the Old Testament who believed in the promise as well as believers in Christ in the New. Stay tuned in a couple of weeks for that.
But let’s go back to Isaac. The second half of verse 7 quotes from Genesis 21 that Abraham’s son Isaac was his true offspring.
Here’s what happened. Abraham was married to Sarah. God had promised that Abrham’s descendants would be like the sand on the seashore. But there was a problem! Abraham and Sarah they didn’t have any children. So, what did they do? They took matters into their own hands. Abraham had a son with his maidservant, Hagar – that son was Ishmael. Ishmael was definitely a descendant of Abraham, however he was not the promised descendant.
No, God had other plans.
He promised them that Sarah herself would have a child. But here’s the thing. She was 90 years old at the time. That is hard to imagine. She was way passed child-bearing age. Sarah herself laughed when she heard the promise. But God said, “is anything too hard for the Lord?” The answer is…? And he did it. The Lord fulfilled his promise. Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 90 and Abraham was 100. I’m tired just even thinking of that. Sleepless nights, a crying baby, dirty diapers at 90 and 100.
But the Lord did it. God then revealed that his covenant promise would be fulfilled through Isaac, not Ishmael.
Do you see what Paul is saying? The distinction between the natural descendants and the descendants of the promise is not new. The word of God had not failed!
Even despite many natural descendants not believing in Christ, God’s promises were coming true. After all, Paul himself and other Israelites did believe in the promise fulfilled in Jesus. And more would and will come to believe.
Conclusion
Now, there are many more questions to ask and answer. Why did they not believe? How is it that the Gentiles are part of the promise? Is there hope for unbelieving Israel in the future? If so, in what ways? Those are some of the questions that Paul will address.
But he begins where he needed to begin and where we need to begin. A heart for the lost, including and especially the people group through whom God promised and brought salvation. As 2 Corinthians 1 says, “All the promises of God find their yes and Amen in Jesus.”
May the Lord turn more and more physical descendants of Abraham into children of the promise. May they see and believe and know Christ, “who is,” as Romans says, “God over all.”
And may the Lord give us hearts for all people… and eyes to see how all the promises of old are fulfilled in Christ.
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The Heart of the Matter: Fear the Lord
We started our Proverbs study last August. Today we are wrapping it up. I trust and have prayed that the Lord would use this in our lives. And based on conversations with some of you, I believe he has.
Before I read our concluding verses, I want to reminder you of how Proverbs defines wisdom.
Do you remember? Biblical wisdom is (1) seeking to know God and his Word, (2) humbly reflecting God’s goodness and righteousness in everyday life, and (3) striving to discern what is true and right and good, and what is not.
So, 3 things – knowledge, righteousness, and discernment. Not any knowledge, but the knowledge of God and his Word. Not righteousness as we define it, but righteousness as God has revealed. And not a general discernment, but discerning what is true, right, and good on the path of life.
That is wisdom – that is what God revealed to us through Solomon in the very first chapter. And that is what we’ve seen all throughout the book. Knowledge, righteousness, and discernment from God contrasted with the selfish foolishness and wickedness of the world. One path leads to life and peace and the other path to death and condemnation.
Today, we are going to end where we began. We are going to end with the very first step on the path of wisdom.
And that first step is to fear of the Lord. We’ve come across that phrase many times. To be exact, a dozen times so far – so it’s not new. And today, we’ll conclude with a few more references.
So, if you would take your proverbs insert out one last time. On the inside, you’ll note the two groupings of verses.
The first is about the heart and the second is about fearing the Lord.
Reading of selected verse
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Knowing Your Heart and Knowing Him Who Knows Your Heart
14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.
14:13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.
15:11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
15:13 A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.
15:15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
15:30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
and good news refreshes the bones.
17:3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and the LORD tests hearts.
17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
19:3 When a man's folly brings his way to ruin,
his heart rages against the LORD.
20:5 The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.
20:9 Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?
21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the LORD weighs the heart.
27:19 As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.
The Blessings of Fearing the Lord with Your Heart, the Curses of Rejecting Him
14:2 Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD,
but he who is devious in his ways despises him.
14:26 In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence,
and his children will have a refuge.
15:16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD
than great treasure and trouble with it.
15:33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor.
16:6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.
16:20 Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.
27:21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
28:14 Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always,
but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
29:25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.
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Prayer
A couple times in our series, we’ve considered the mighty lion Aslan. He’s the Christ figure in CS. Lewis’s Narnia series. And if you remember from an earlier sermon, he’s described by the Beavers as “not safe…. but good.”
Well, in Lewis’ book, The Silver Chair, he writes about a young girl named Jill who had been transported to Aslan’s Country.
Jill soon found herself lost in the woods. She’s been separated from her friend Eustice. And Jill was extremely thirsty. She was lost and afraid and desperately needed to drink.
As she wandered, Jill came across a bubbling stream of fresh water. But as she approached it, standing in her way was a great lion, and she froze
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“Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.
"I am dying of thirst," said Jill.
"Then drink," said the Lion.
"May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
"Will you promise not to — do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.
"I make no promise," said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
"Do you eat girls?" she said.
"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.
"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.
"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."
"There is no other stream," said the Lion.
It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion – no one who had seen his stern face could do that – and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn’t need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once.
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Jill had stood there trembling… she recognized Aslan’s strength and that her life was in his hands. And then, she submitted to him. In the novel, that was the defining moment for Jill in her journey. And it illustrates fearing the Lord.
You see, fear of the Lord is absolutely where every journey of wisdom needs to begin. And the beautiful thing is that as you grow in your recognition of and trust in the Lord, your godly fear of him will also grow. It will more and more become the source of hope and trust and peace that you can draw upon in all of life.
We’ve come across that phrase “fear of the Lord” many times in the book of Proverbs. One commentator said it’s like the vein of gold that runs throughout the book. It’s used 19 times throughout Proverbs. We find the phrase in chapter 1 verse 7… and it’s in the second to last verse of the whole book.
1. Fearing the Lord
Now, you may be thinking, can you explain more what it means to fear the Lord? Am I supposed to be scared of God? I want to begin by defining fear of the Lord more thoroughy. We’ve considered fearing the Lord in a general sense throughout our Proverbs study. We’ve talked about it as the reverent awe and worship of God. Do you remember that? It’s a good starting definition.
But now that we’ve made it through Proverbs, we’re able to go much deeper. We’ve already seen several things about fearing the Lord.
Let me remind you of them.
· In chapter 1, verse 7 and chapter 9 verse 10, fearing the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom, the beginning of knowing the Holy One – God himself. As you know, that’s been our theme for our Proverbs study – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
· Similarly, in chapter 2, we learned that when you fear the Lord, you will find the knowledge of God. That’s why fearing the Lord is so pivotal in your life.
· In chapter 8, a reverent fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. In other words, fearing the Lord is hating what the Lord hates.
· In chapters 10 and 14, fearing the Lord is a fountain of life for you beyond the snares of death. That is one of the many results of fearing the Lord.
· And similarly, in chapters 19 and 22, we learned that the fear of the Lord is life! When we fear the Lord, we have life in him.
Some of those themes are found in our verses today. Look at the bottom left of your insert. 14:2 - Someone who “walks in uprightness fears the Lord.” That’s what it looks like to fear the Lord – it’s walking in God’s righteousness. And the next verse listed,14:26 - when you fear the Lord, you will have “strong confidence.” In other words, you’ll have assurance in him.
And one more: 15:33 on the right. Fear of the Lord “is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” Similar to other verses, the source to wisdom is fearing the Lord, which necessarily requires humility. Remember that call to humility from chapter 30 – the wisdom of Agur.
Let me say it this way – No one verse in Proverbs gives us a full definition of fearing the Lord. Rather, what Proverbs has done over these 31 chapters, is give us different camera angles of fearing the Lord. It’s revealed various layers like the source of fearing the Lord, the blessings that come from fearing the Lord, and how fearing the Lord recognizes the transcendence of God’s very nature.
In fact, that is where fearing the Lord begins. You need to see the glory and might and majesty of God. That is why the word “fear” is used. We think of that word and terror comes to mind. But when it comes to fearing the Lord, it’s having a humble understanding of the one true God of the heavens and earth who is unsurpassed in his transcendence. Remember our thematic study on the omniscience, the omnipresence, and the omnipotence of God. How he is all-knowing and present every where and all powerful.
Your life and my life are dependent fully on him. He has the power to move mountains and destroy empires. Nothing is hidden from his sight, and nothing is out of his control in the vast universe that he has created.
As Jill gazed on Aslan – she saw for the first time, the majesty of the great lion. And she knew that he had the power to give her life or else, she would die. And what did she do? She trusted him
That is the next step. After recognizing the grandeur of God, fearing the Lord necessarily requires trusting in him and worshiping him. That’s where humility comes into play. To see God in all his wonder and power, our response needs to be one of humble worship… bowing down to the one in whom we have our life and being, bowing down to the one who can give you life… and bowing down because you know he will judge your foolishness and wickedness and you will die if you do not fear him.
And there are amazing blessings when you do. I’ve already highlighted some of them. In fact, that word bless is found a couple of times in these verses. Look on the right. Proverbs 16:20 – the second line. “blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” And just 2 verses below that, 28:14 – “blessed is the one who fears the Lord.” What are those blessings? Well, so many! Besides life, which we already considered, we have peace which comes from fearing the Lord. We’re given wisdom in this life when we fear the Lord. Think back to our definition of wisdom. When we fear the Lord, we’re given knowledge of God and his way. When we fear the Lord, he enables us to pursue his righteousness. And that leads to all the blessings and joy of living out his commands. And we are given discernment as we navigate the complexities of the world – life’s joys and sorrows.
Do you see how Proverbs has not just called us to fear the Lord but has revealed what it means to fear him, how to fear him, and the blessings of fearing the Lord.
Some of you will be familiar with Sinclair Ferguson. He’s a Scottish pastor and scholar. Listen to this summary definition of fearing the Lord. He says that it’s the “indefinable mixture of reverence, fear, pleasure, joy, and awe which fills our hearts when we realize who God is and what he has done for us.” If I could mimic his Scottish accent, I would. That definition pretty much captures it. Again, Ferguson says it’s “That indefinable mixture of reverence, fear, pleasure, joy, and awe which fills our hearts when we realize who God is and what he has done for us.”
That’s a good transition to where we’re heading next. The phrase, “which fills our hearts” and the phrase “what he has done for us.”
So, let’s move on from what fearing the Lord means to now, where that fear needs to live.
Hearts that Fear the Lord
Our reverent fear of the Lord needs to be the center of our hearts. If you look at the first set of verses, you’ll see that word “heart” several times.
I want to remind you that the Hebrew use of that word heart is much more expansive than our use of it today. Pretty much today we equate the word heart with our feelings. But the use back then encompassed the very center of what one cherishes and believes. To be sure, we do have feelings that come from the core of what we hold to be right. But we can also have feelings which contradict our beliefs. What I am saying is that the word heart, as used here, goes much deeper. It is the core of your inner life. It’s what you love most, which motivates and directs you.
Proverbs 14:13 is a good example of that. It’s on the left. “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.” There may be moments when on the outside your are joyful or you laugh – but deep down your heart may ache or grieve. Do you see how the word heart goes deeper?
Other words here confirm this. Bitterness is one of them. Bitterness is like cancer of your soul. It can consume you and cause self-pity that rots your heart. If you know someone driven by bitterness, you’ll know what I mean.
Another one is “a crushed spirit.” A heart so sad with either grief or sorrow that you despair of life.
Friends, this is why the fear of the Lord needs to be at the center of your heart! Because it will help turn your crushed spirit and bitterness to deep joy and peace. I’m not saying that someone with a godly fear of the Lord will never struggle with bitterness or discouragement. No. But over time as that fear of the Lord matures and sinks deep into your heart, the Lord will give you (more and more!) a deep joy. Listen to some of the phrases in these verses – 15:13 - “a glad heart,” 15:15 “a cheerful heart,” 17:22 “a joyful heart.” That comes when your heart fears the Lord.
To put this all together – fearing the Lord is to fear him from the deepest part of your soul – the very center of your being – who you are and what you cherish the most – fearing the living Lord of heaven and earth, who made you, and who calls you to fear him with your heart. And when you fear him, he will be at work turning your bitterness into peace, your sorrow into joy – it will be refreshing to your bones as it says.
Fearing the Lord is to believe in Christ
Ok, there’s one more thing here. And this is the key to it all. Fearing the Lord requires believing by faith in Christ. As Ferguson put it, realizing not just who God is but as he says, “what he has done for us”
Look at Proverbs 16:6. It’s there on the right “By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.”
To atone for something is to make amends after a wrongdoing. Atonement requires a suitable compensation or action to make things right or to restore a relationship. That is atonement.
Think back on all the descriptions of foolishness and wickedness in Proverbs. It’s been a lot! All of it is rebellion against God and his Word and righteousness. The only way that our iniquity against God can be atoned for is by God himself making things right. And that atonement has been accomplished through Jesus Christ, alone. He gave his life as an atonement for our sin, so that we may have new life. That is the “steadfast love and faithfulness” of 16:6.
And he gives us a new heart so that we may fear him. Have you ever thought about that? Because of God’s steadfast love in atoning for our foolish and wicked ways and because he has giving us a new heart, we can now fear the Lord with reverent awe in our hearts.
If the promised Christ had not come, our fear would only be terror. If we knew the utter holiness and power and justice of God but knew not the Gospel, our fear would be dread. But in fact, Christ has come, and through him we can rightly fear the Lord in reverent awe for who he is, and what he has done.
As we read earlier from 1 Corinthians 1, that is why “we preach Christ crucified.” Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God... Who, as it says, “became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” Fearing the Lord is believing in Christ.
One of the most popular books every written, besides the Bible, is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s progress. It was published in 1678. And it remained the second most popular book in the world behind the Bible for 300 years – until about 50 years ago.
And it’s a novel or really an allegory about the journey of faith. The main character is a man named Christian. And he is on the path to the celestial city. And on his journey, he comes across temptations and trials like… meeting Mr. Worldly Wiseman or getting stuck in the Slough of Despond. Really, Christian comes across a lot of the foolishness and temptations we’ve read in Proverbs.
One of his friends is Hopeful. And at one point they both meet Ignorance. Well, ignorance has no ears to hear about faith in Christ alone. And Christian and Hopeful notice that many in the world are just like Ignorance.
Here’s some of their conversation, which, by the way, I’ve revised into modern English.
Christian said this to Hopeful: “[they] do not understand that their feelings of guilt and shame and fear are for their good. They instead desperately seek to suppress them and to stubbornly continue to deceive themselves by following their own desires.”
Hopeful replied. “I do believe, as you say, that fear is for their good, and will put them on the right path at their beginning of their journey.”
“Without a doubt,” Christian responded, “for as the Word of God rightly says, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’”
“How would you describe that right fear?” Hopeful asked.
“True or righteous fear,” Christian said, “can be known by three things:
1. First, its origin, which begins with a conviction of sin that reveals a need for salvation.
2. Second, righteous fear drives the soul to hold fast to Christ for salvation.
3. And third, [a right fear of the Lord] instills and maintains a deep reverence for God, His Word, and His ways, keeping the soul sensitive to him, and fearful of straying from or dishonoring God, or forgetting the peace he gives, or ignoring the conviction of the Spirit, or allowing the enemy to speak his lies.”
“Well said,” hopeful agreed, “You have spoken the truth.”
As we close out this series, there’s one thing that I hope you will remember from our Proverbs study. And that is this: Christ is the key to all of it. You cannot read Proverbs without seeing your need for salvation in him. You cannot understand the fear of the Lord without trusting in Christ and believing by faith in his Gospel. And you cannot pursue the path of wisdom and righteousness without Jesus going before you in his perfect wisdom and righteousness.
King Solomon and his sons looked to the Holy One, the Messiah, who would come to fulfill all of this. We look to him who has come.
Conclusion
In closing, there’s one more thing in these verses. The Lord knows you. He knows your heart.
Proverbs 15:11 “Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD (by the way, that’s talking about the grave and hell); how much more the hearts of the children of man!”
There’s nothing hidden from his sight. He knows your thoughts and your motivations. He knows everything about you. Proverbs 17:3 “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.” And similarly, just a few verses later, “the LORD weighs the heart.”
He knows whether your heart fears him. And he desires you to know and fear him. If you do not know and fear the Lord through Christ, it’s time. In the words of Aslan, “There is no other stream.”
May we all fear the Lord… because, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Amen.
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The Proverbs 1-31 Woman
Our sermon text this morning comes mainly from Proverbs 31. Verses 1-3 and 10-31. You can find that on page 654 in the pew Bible. There are also 3 other verses from earlier in Proverbs. Those are printed on the first page of the hymn insert. We’ll begin with those and then I’ll read from chapter 31.
By the way, Proverbs 31 is the last chapter of Proverbs. But we have 2 more thematic sermons, so we will conclude our series in two weeks… on June 23.
Before I read, let me note that in Proverbs 31, we’re told that these are the words of King Lemuel. They are an oracle taught to him by his mother. Similar to Agur from last week, we don’t know anything about King Lemuel other than his name, nonetheless, this is God’s very Word.
Reading of Proverbs 12:4, 18:22, 19:14, 31:1-3, 10-31.
It was the middle of the night in the spring of 1523 in northern Germany. 9 nuns lay awake. You see, they were waiting to escape the convent.
And then it happened. A horse drawn carriage pulled up to the main gate and was let in. The driver was there, allegedly, to pick up empty fish barrels, from the prior day’s Easter celebration. But he had more important cargo to take away. He cracked his horse whip. That was the signal. The nuns tiptoed quietly from their beds into the hallway, then through the shadows of the night, hid themselves in the cart, some even allegedly hiding in empty barrels.
The nuns gave the all clear signal and were soon free at last.
It was a bumpy ride, but they made it to their destination. Wittenburg, Germany and the home of Martin Luther. You see, Luther had helped orchestrate the convent escape. And within a matter of weeks, Luther had these young former nuns matched with young men in the town.
But there was a problem. One stubborn nun, named Katherine Von Bora, would have none of it. No, she would not be set up with the guy that Luther picked. She had other plans. And she made those plans known. It was Luther himself, she wanted.
Well, they were soon married. Former nun, former monk, and quite the couple.
Luther would write, “God gave me Katy, I would not trade her for Venice and all the kingdoms of France … I love her so dearly.” His nick names for her included “my rib” of course, referring to Eve being created from the rib of Adam. He also called her “doctor” because she cared for him. And also “queen of the pig farm” because she owned and managed a nearby pig farm.
Katy loved the Lord. She managed the house and finances. She brewed beer for Luther and his many guests. She would rise at 4am and work until 9pm overseeing all matters of the household. Luther called Katy, “the morning star of Wittenberg.”
They were very affectionate with one another. She honored and loved him, and he honored and loved her.
Katy embodied the Proverbs 31 description.
Now, if you are a woman and you and are feeling like “I’ll never be a Katy Luther.” Well, I do want take that heavy burden off of you. Because, while the Proverbs 31 woman is indeed a model, there’s so much more here. My goal is that all of us would see her heart and purpose… and all of us, would pursue her ways from a similar heart and purpose.
To get there, we’ll consider three things.
· First, the important question – to whom does this chapter apply?
· Second, we’ll consider the qualities of this virtuous wife.
· And third, we’ll conclude with Christ and the church. That’s the relationship to which this ultimately points.
#1 To whom does this apply?
And again, if you are feeling overly burdened by these verses, I want to try and both relieve that burden but also inspire you. First, notice in verse 10 that the section begins with the question, “an excellent wife, who can find?” It’s a recognition up front that the woman described is a rare jewel. It is not saying that if you don’t measure up, then you’re failing. Rather, it’s a picture of a beautiful, Godly woman. One that you can, yes, seek to emulate – but not in your own strength. No - the most important description is in verse 30. “a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
Everything else comes out of her reverent fear and worship of the Lord God. Her heart, which loves and honors God, is what motivates and enables her in her wisdom and work. So, instead of feeling the moralistic weight of this unattainable standard, recognize that this can never be achieved in your own strength. No, rather, it is the Godly fear of the Lord that enables this.
And another thing, the woman described has many resources to help her - servants, family finances, other things that enable her to produce clothing and plant vineyards. Also, her husband is an elder of the land. He’s esteemed and wise. What I am saying is that her situation is likely very different from your situation.
Furthermore, not every woman is called to be married, nor is every man. The apostle Paul was single and encouraged those who are single. But even if you are not married, you still have a household to manage and steward – and therefore, these pursuits in the Lord are for you as well.
So that is one thing.
But also, this chapter is not just written to women. In fact, it is actually written to young men.
For the younger guys here, I want you to see this. Remember, this is an oracle which King Lemuel received from his mother. Why would his mother pass along this word to Lemuel? Well, because she knows the heart of young men. Ok, there are many of you young men here. Teenage boys and twenty-something single guys. Look with me at verses 2 and 3. “What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.” In other words, do not be seduced by charm and external beauty and therefore blind to true matters of beauty. That’s exactly what verse 30 says. “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain” It’s talking about external beauty. Instead, what is the most important quality in a wife? A reverent fear of the Lord – that’s what it says.
Young men, are you hearing this? Do not let your feelings deceive you. By the way, young women, this is for you, too. Charm and seductive dress and looks will attract the wrong guy. He will not be an elder in the land. To be sure, I am not saying that attraction is not important. But it is secondary to a heart that loves the Lord and pursues him. SO, young men and women, ingrain this in your hearts and minds now, before you “fall in love.”
Ok, there’s one more category of people to whom this chapter is written. And that is, all of us… men, women, and children. I will argue, later, that this chapter is a picture of the relationship that we, as God’s people, have with Christ. The Scriptures are full of the language of God’s people being betrothed to God. In the New Testament, Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. But even in the Old Testament, as we read earlier, God’s people are described as the unfaithful wife, whom the Lord loves and forgives and redeems. What I am saying is that even though the description is of a virtuous wife, this is also a description of us, God’s people. We are to honor the Lord in our calling as the bride of Christ. So, in other words, do not tune this chapter out if you are young or old, or married or single – this is for all of us. We’ll come back to that.
#2 The Virtuous Wife
But before we do, let’s consider this beautiful description
The woman described here is often referred to as The Proverbs 31 Woman - for good reason, of course. But I want to tweak that. Really, the description here is a bride who embodies all of Proverbs. So, I think it is better to call her the Proverbs 1-31 woman.
Think back over these last 9 months. We have seen a contrast, over and over, between the way of wisdom and righteousness versus the way of foolishness and wickedness. And the virtuous wife described here fulfills the categories of wisdom and righteousness. Almost every single positive category in Proverbs is modelled by this women.
Let me list them:
· She is trustworthy – verse 11, her husband trusts in her. She has a heart of integrity and honesty. She is praised at the gates, verse 31.
· Her words are kind, and she teaches kindness (verse 26) because her words bring life and not death – remember those Proverbs verses? She speaks what is true and builds up. Verse 12 – she does not harm her husband. Meaning, she does not speak ill of him behind his back.
· She is also generous to the poor - verse 20. She manages the finances and resources of the family with wisdom. She’s a good steward of all that is entrusted to her.
· Let me pause here and remind you again. This is for all of us. In other words, don’t tune out.
· Discipline and diligence describe her. Verse 17 – she dresses herself with strength. Similarly verse 25, strength and dignity are her clothing. And wow is she disciplined, rising early. Taking care of many things.
· Related to that, she is industrious. That is exemplified, really, all through these verses. Verse 27 – she does not eat the bread of idleness.
· She’s the opposite of self-centeredness and pridefulness – She cares for her household, providing clothing and food. They need not fear cold or hunger.
· And last, wisdom and knowledge describe her! That is explicit right there in verse 26. She’s been given discernment. She considers a field and buys it, verse 16. And verse 18, she perceives the value of her merchandise.
That’s quite the list. And of course, as I already mentioned, underlying all of this is her fear of the Lord. Actually, the fear of the Lord is going to be our concluding sermon in two weeks. It is the theme that has come up over and over and over. It is seeing and knowing the eternal God of the universe – whose judgement is just and whose ways are pure. Underlying this entire description is her reverent worship of the one true God. She considers his nature and truth and righteousness above all others.
What an amazing picture of the Proverbs applied to life. A picture for us to see and seek and emulate, especially in marriage.
In fact, this chapter is meant to be a model. Verses 10-31 are in the form of an acrostic. That means that every verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order. Verse 10 starts with Aleph which is the first letter of the alphabet. And verse 31 starts with the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, Tav. 22 verses and 22 letters. It shows us that this description is a pattern. It’s not just one example of how wisdom can be applied. No, it is the ideal model for marriage.
It models of what God has ordained for marriage on earth.
Eve was created in the garden as a “help-meet” for Adam, as the Hebrew words puts it. Together they complement one another as they seek to fulfill what God has called them to do. That call in Genesis 1:29 is for them to be fruitful and multiple and fill the earth and subdue the earth and have dominion over the earth. Sometimes we call that the cultural mandate. It is for all of us, but part of it is for married couples, who work together but with different roles.
Back in Proverbs 31, notice verse 11 - the husband’s trust in his wife yields him “gain,” it says. Her work is his gain. That indicates the responsibility given to the husband. But what’s very clear is how the wife oversees matters of the household. That word “household” is used several times here. She works to care for those whom the Lord has entrusted to her care – including caring for her husband. It is a very full and rich description of that responsibility worked out. In other words, this chapter beautifully displays the sphere to which Eve is called.
Now, some in the church (a minority) believe that submission means the husband makes all the decisions and the wife should never work outside the home. That is not how Proverbs 31 describes her responsibilities. No, she clearly is making decisions and is applying the wisdom that God has given her in matters within her domain.
· She considers the value of a field and buys it and oversees it.
· She works both in the home and outside the home. She provides for her household… but also verses 18 and 24 – she makes garments and sashes and sells them in the market.
Here is what I am saying: Proverbs 31 a beautiful model of what God has ordered for marriage. Husbands and wives are equal in dignity and status before God. They are both created in his image. But each is given roles and responsibility that support and work together to accomplish God’s mandate… the mandate to fill and subdue the earth. And again, we are talking about the domain of the home and marriage.
Let me put it this way: Proverbs 31 helps us not to fall off the rails on one side or another. It helps a husband see his role not as authoritarian or dictatorial. Rather it demonstrates entrusting his household to his wife’s care, enabling her to fulfill that responsibility with dignity and wisdom. It also reveals that there are unique areas of responsibilities to which a husband and wife are each called.
Now, obviously this is a much larger conversation. There are several New Testament verses that further clarify and direct us. I would be glad to talk more.
#3 Christ and the church
But moving on, I mentioned that this chapter applies to all of us. What I mean is that the model of the excellent wife is a model we are all called to emulate. The reason I can say that is because this chapter also typifies the relationship of Christ to the church. We, the church, are his bride, called to fulfill all these things.
And let me work this out by showing you another structural element. Besides an acrostic, verses 10-31 are in the form of a chiasm. We occasional come across this. As a reminder, a chiasm is a form of parallel which we find both in Hebrew and Greek. The parallel ideas work from the outside into the center.
Here, we see both themes and words that draw us to the center of this text.
To begin, both verses 10 and 29 use the word excellent to describe the wife. That’s the outer parallel. In 11 and 28 - moving one verse in on both sides - Her husband trusts her and praises her. That’s the second level. If you go in one more level – she provides for her household. That is in verses 12-15 and also down in verse 27. Do you see how it’s working it’s way in from both sides? Wisdom is next, and then strength and dignity after that. Let’s move closer to the middle. Look down at verses 22 and 24. In 22, she makes bed coverings, and in verse 24, she makes linen garments. See that parallel? And at the very center is verse 23. By the way, the center reveals the main emphasis in this kind of parallel.
Verse 23 is the center. Let me read it. “Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.”
You see, the respect and honor that her husband receives comes, in part, through his wife. Her virtue in overseeing his household makes him known and brings him greater honor.
Her faithfulness increases his influence in the community. His wisdom is lifted up as she acts in wisdom and righteousness.
Beloved, this is the relationship that we, the church, have with Christ. As we oversee the household of faith with diligence and integrity and care of one another and generosity to the poor and in wisdom and righteousness. When we do all those things, Jesus is exalted.
He is made known and honored at the gates of the city. The world will see him more clearly, when we, his bride, are faithful to the call that he has given us… that is, when we seek to live and acts in all the ways that Proverbs has taught us. We are the Proverbs 1-31 woman - the bride of Christ.
Our strength comes from him. We’re honored because of his honor. And just like the Proverbs 31 husband, Christ, as our redeemer, enables and empowers us to live out that calling to which he has called us.
Do you see the parallels?
Christ is the husband, here, the bridegroom. He has redeemed and forgiven and restored us from our unfaithfulness to be his faithful bride. … more on that when we get to the Lord’s Supper. And to be sure, that does not take away how this applies to husbands and wives. No, these words are for marriages here and now… but the heart of these verses is the union between Christ and his church.
Let me try summarize it this way: When Proverbs 31 is lived out in the relationship between a husband and a wife then (1) the husband is honored and his wisdom known, (2) the wife is built up and praised by him for her faithfulness and work, and (3) their household receives the rich blessing of their marriage.
And similarly, when Proverbs 31 is lived out in the relationship between Christ and the church then (1) Christ is honored and his wisdom known, (2) the church is built up and praised by him for her faithfulness and work, and (3) the household of faith receives the rich blessing of the marriage between Christ and the church.
Proverbs 31 is a beautiful testimony for marriages but especially our spiritual marriage with the Lord.
Conclusion
Going back to the Luthers - Even considering their failures and sins, and let me say, there were many, Martin and Katy’s marriage modeled a Proverbs 31 marriage. Her care over his household was a tremendously rich blessing to thousands of people. Luther was known among the elders of the land, due in no small part to her wisdom, diligence, hospitality, and labors. Some have said that their marriage transformed the institution of marriage. I think its better to say, their marriage restored the institution of marriage to the model found in the Word.
Briefly, in closing, I had always wondered why these verses closed out the book of Proverbs. But now, I think I know why. These verses are for all of us and they direct us to Christ. They bring together all the wisdom of Proverbs.
May we emulate this wife, through our reverent fear of the Lord, because we are the bride of Christ.
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We are winding down our Proverbs study. Today, we do not have a Proverbs insert. That is because we are covering all of chapter 30. Next week, we’ll be in the last half of chapter 31, and we’ll have a couple of concluding sermons.
The author of chapter 30 identifies himself as Agur. We don’t know who he is, but he is a man of great wisdom. He tells us these words are an oracle – they are the wisdom of God for us.
You can find Proverbs 30 on page 653 in the pew Bible.
As you are listening, you will hear a lot of numbers. Over and over he says there are three thing… no there’s four. It’s a way to emphasize a point by escalating the number.
But also, a big theme in these verses is humility. Be listening to how these words call us to humility in different ways.
-Reading of Proverbs 30 and prayer
A few years ago we were on a family trip and came across a hall of mirrors. I don’t know if you’ve been in one, but you walk through different rooms and passageways, and there are mirrors all over the place. Mirrors that are angled... and mirrors that reflect off of other mirrors. At times, you don’t know if the other person you are seeing is reality or a reflection in the mirror. At other times, you are not sure where to go, or you bump into the mirrors. And then there’s the room with the funny warped mirrors. When you look in the mirror, sometimes your body is really big and your head is really small, or your head is big and the rest of you is small. Or your legs are super short and the rest of you looks like a giraffe.
It's kind of fun, but it’s also very disorienting. After a while, your brain is not sure what to make of it all. There’s the reality and then there’s the distortion of reality.
We all live in the same world. But each person has a particular view of the world. What I mean is that we each have understandings of why things happen; what governs order; what should happen; where meaning and life come from, and what is right and wrong.
Some people can tell you what they think in each of those areas, but for others it’s just an underlying assumption they are not even aware of.
The problem happens when someone’s view of meaning or life or morality doesn’t line up with what is real and true. It’s like living in a hall or mirrors. That person’s world is distorted and inconsistent and they can’t find a way out. It can be very disconcerting or depressing. You can lose your way.
What Proverbs 30 does is it gives us wisdom to see the real world clearly. In essence, it takes the roof off of the hall of mirrors so that (1) we can see ourselves and God clearly, (2) so we can see how the world can be distorted, and (3) so we can actually see the amazing world that God has made. And Agur tells us, in order to see and understand anything, we need humility.
So, three things there. Three things that orient us to see clearly. Actually, there are four things! Did you see what I was doing there. There are three things, no there are four!
Three things that give us wisdom. Let me give them to you and then we’ll work through them.
· First, verses 1-9: Humbly know God’s divine order
· Second, verses 10-23: Humbly submit to God’s moral order
· And, third, verses 24-31: Humbly observe God’s creation order
1. Humbly know God’s divine order
That is where we are headed.
Let me ask… What is the first thing we need in order to understand God, ourselves, and the world? We need to humbly know God’s divine order. Again, that is point number 1.
Notice how Agur opens, “I am too stupid… I have not understanding….” That word “stupid” means ignorant or senseless. Now, to our modern ears, that may sound a little disingenuous or even contradictory. “I do not know anything, but let me tell you about wisdom.” That’s how it may come across, but actually there is a profound truth here.
What Agur is saying is that in and of himself, he cannot know or have wisdom. Look at verses 2 and 3. Notice the personal pronoun, “I” over and over. “I have not the understanding” “I have not learned wisdom” “nor have I aknowledge of the Holy One.”
Agur is saying that knowledge does not and cannot be derived from within ourselves. To know requires, at the very start, a humble acknowledgement that we are not the source of knowledge. Man is not the measure of all things.
Instead, Agur redirects our attention away from ourselves and toward God. Look at what he says next in verse 4… After stating his lack of knowledge and wisdom, look where he turns:
“Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name…?”
Isn’t that like the book of Job? “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”
In order to understand anything, you first have to know and understand God and who you are in comparison to him. This is part of what it means to fear the Lord. We’ll be coming back to that again in a couple of weeks.
The more you know God and his creation, the more you realize how much you do not know. And the more you realize how much you do not know, it’s then that you will know more of God and his creation.
The bottom line is that humility is required to know anything. And when you see God for who he is and you see yourself and his world for what it is, then through that humble perspective of divine order, you will be given the eyes of wisdom.
Some of you will know of John Calvin, the 16th century French reformer. As some have said, if Martin Luther was the heart of the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin was the head. The depth of his understanding of God and the Scriptures was and is unparalleled. And Calvin’s seminal work was his Institutes – the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Two very thick volumes – 1200 pages total. In fact, Calvin refined it over his entire life.
Let me read to you the very first words of Calvin’s Institutes. Book 1, chapter 1, paragraph 1 – this is what Calvin writes:
“Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” And he goes on 1 sentence later, “…no man can survey himself without first turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves.” And Calvin goes on to talk about the humility required to know God, which includes knowing the “miserable ruin,” as he puts it, into which Adam plunged the world.
John Calvin is saying what Proverbs 30 is saying. Any and all knowledge must begin with a humble recognition of who we are as creatures… and who God is, as the one who created all things. Even though Calvin did not quote Proverbs 30, he begins his entire treatise with the very same point.
That is what the first 4 verses are saying. It is a profound truth that we have to recognize in order to correctly understand anything.
And then for the next 5 verses, Agur explains and demonstrates the implications of that truth.
Verses 5 and 6 – God is true. His Word, therefore, proves true, as it says. We dare not add to his words, it says. There’s both a promise and a warning. The promise is that “he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” But if you add to his words, he will rebuke you. It’s a scary thing to be in the hands of God.
And underlying all of it… is humility. We humbly see ourselves as weak and finite. We humbly see God as infinite. And we therefore need to humbly recognize his Word and his way.
And in verses 7-9, Agur shows us how to do that!
We humbly come to him in prayer. Verses 7-9 is a prayer. Actually, this whole first section is a prayer. Did you notice that? Agur addresses God in verse 1. He takes an interlude in the middle to talk about God and his word. And then in verse 7, he comes back to his prayer.
He’s demonstrating how to submit ourselves to God. And actually, it is very similar to the Lord’s prayer.
In the Lord’s prayer, we pray, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” Agur prays, “Remove far from me falsehood and lying.”
In the Lord’s prayer, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” And here, “feed me with the food that is needful for me.” Do you see the parallels?
In the Lord’s prayer, “Lead me not into temptation.” Agur similarly prays, “give me neither poverty nor riches… lest I deny you… or lest I be poor and steal”
You see, prayer is a humble recognition of our dependance on God and our need to submit to him. It’s a beautiful way for Agur to not just communicate the transcendence of God compared to the weakness of of man, but how we humbly surrender to him
To summarize point number 1: the very first step to understand the world clearly, is to humbly recognize our vastly limited knowledge compared to God’s eternal wisdom, and to therefore humbly submit to him and his word.
All knowledge and understanding begins there.
Humbly know God’s divine order
2. Humbly submit to God’s moral order.
And next. What is the second thing we need in order to see clearly? We need to humbly submit to God’s moral order.
There’s a big change starting in verse 10. Agur began with himself. He began by looking in and looking up. And you can see that in all the first-person self-references as well as all the references to God. But when we get to verse 10, he looks out. He observes the world.
In verses 10-23, Agur observes those who reject point number 1. They don’t see the transcendent God nor who we are in him. Because of that, they are the opposite of humble. That’s most clearly seen in verses 12 and 13.
“There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth. There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!” They see themselves as the measure of all things. They see their own way as the right way. Instead of the humble disposition that Agur demonstrated in the opening verses, turning to God and his word, they see themselves as pure and right in their own eyes.
And wow, it is quite the contrast. Some have teeth like swords, meaning their words. Others hate and devour the poor. There are those who slander and others curse their mothers and fathers. He describes some as leeches - self-absorbed and never satisfied.
When someone denies God and his word, they will turn his moral order into disorder. When you begin with an exalted view of yourself, not recognizing God and his ways, look at the result. You will deny God and his standard.
The truth is, we do not want to believe there’s a moral standard because we do not want to be accountable to it or accountable to God who defines the standard.
Part of the message here is that you can try to deny the moral order all you want, but in the end it is undeniable.
And if you don’t see that in verses 10-17, Agur makes it clear in verses 18-23.
Look down at verse 20. It says, “This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’” You see, she’s denying that her way goes against God’s way of what is right and wrong.
Her way is contrasted with the way that God made the world. In the previous two verses, Agur highlights the way of the eagle and serpent and ship. And he includes the way of a man with a virgin. That is referring to a newlywed couple in the marriage bed. You see, God made all of creation with order. We’ll see that more in the next point. And part of that creation order is his moral order. When the adulteress breaks that order, she’s distorting what God has established as good and right and true.
It’s a grave thing to go against God and his standard. That’s the graphic warning in 17 – the eye that mocks and scorns will be plucked out by the ravens… and eaten by the vultures
You see, God has revealed a moral order in his book of creation. Even if you do not believe God’s written word, Agur testifies that God’s standard of right and wrong is undeniable.
Ok, to summarize so far. First, to have true wisdom, you need to begin by acknowledging God in all his glory as the eternal creator and your humble estate as a finite and limited creature. That is God’s divine order.
And second, you need to acknowledge that the categories of right and wrong are built into the very fabric of our being. That standard is revealed through both God’s written word as well as in creation itself. That is God’s moral order.
Without these understandings, you will be lost in a hall of mirrors, not knowing what is real nor what is right and wrong nor where to turn… But when you humbly recognize these things, God will give you eyes to see clearly.
3. Humbly observe God’s creation order
That brings us to number 3, which is related. What is the third thing we need to see clearly? We need to humbly observe God’s creation order – the fulness of it. This is also looking out. God’s eternal wisdom is displayed in his creation all around us.
By the way, did anyone stay up and see the Northern lights a couple weeks ago? I missed them but I’ve seen them in the past. It’s amazing how God has formed and fashioned the universe to display his glory. Now, in verses 24-31, Agur is not talking about inanimate objects like stars and electrons that light up the sky and other displays of beauty that we see all around. Rather, he is highlighting the wisdom of God found in the smallest and largest creatures. The industrious wisdom of the ant. The instincts of the rock badger hiding in the cliffs. The formations of locust swarms. Lizards found in the palaces of kings. The mighty lion, the strutting rooster and the he-goat, all given rule over their dominions.
We could add to that. Schools of fish, all turning at the same time. Isn’t that amazing. Humming birds, whose wings flit up to 80 times a second, whose hearts beat up to 10 times a second… and who travel 1-2000 miles during migration. Or consider the 400,000 pound blue whales – the biggest creatures on earth. Their songs can be heard by other whales 1,000 miles away.
Yet some believe there is no God. Instead, they believe that all of reality came about through an evolutionary process. The wisdom that we observe in life is not fashioned and formed by a God of infinite wisdom, they say, but rather, through chance and evolution. And back to point number 2, they say that the morality we observe is not morality at all but merely behavior traits learned through the same evolutionary process.
That thinking is an example of what this entire chapter is addressing. It’s the height of pride and arrogance. It assumes an exhaustive understanding the universe that goes back in time.
In other words, to reject God as he has revealed in his creation order is to put oneself in the place of God. It is the epitome of arrogance. No, God alone has an exhaustive understanding of all things because he is the creator of all things. The order and wisdom of creation all around us testifies to the inexhaustible wisdom and glory of God.
That brings us back to the very beginning of the chapter. Any and all knowledge has to begin with a humble recognition of God and who we are in relationship to him. If we don’t see that divine order, we will not recognize his moral order, nor will we see clearly his amazing creation order.
Let me put it this way - in order to see things clearly, you need to see God clearly, see yourself clearly, see his way clearly, and see his creation clearly. Anything else is merely a hall of mirrors - distorting divinity, morality, and reality.
In fact chapter 30 comes to a close where it began, humility. Verse 32. “If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.” In other words, if your whole life you have followed this foolish self-exalting thinking or evil living, then speak no more. Submit yourself, like Agur, to the one in whom all wisdom and authority and all things find their meaning.
Conclusion
So, three things! Yet even four! Actually, there is a fourth. Maybe I should call this one “Salvation Order?” Divine order, moral order, creation order, and salvation order.
Speaking of 4. Let’s go back up to verse 4. Agur asks the question, “who has ascended to heaven and come back down?” When he asks that, he is saying that the only one who can have knowledge is one who has ascended to heaven and has seen the glory and work of God – and has come back down to reveal it.
Jesus himself quotes that very phrase in John chapter 3. Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus about knowledge. About knowledge of the things of earth and the things of heaven. And Jesus said, “no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of Man.” Jesus was confirming to Nicodemus that he is the one with the full knowledge of God. By the way, that title Son of Man is a reference to his divinity. Jesus’ knowledge comes from his divine nature as God’s Son. That is why the apostle Paul can say in Colossians 2 that in Christ are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
So in Proverbs 30, when Agur asks, “what is his name, and what is his sons name?” He is speaking about the eternal Father and the eternal son of God, who would descend from heaven and whose knowledge and wisdom is ours through him.
In fact, John Calvin, in his Institutes quotes this very verse. Proverbs 30:4. He uses it as one of many verses which speak to the eternal nature of God the Son, before he was incarnate, before he descended to earth and became man. That nature caried over into the person of Jesus – truly God. As Calvin put it in reference to Proverbs 30. “He who was afterwards visibly manifested was the invisible Son of God.”
Our humility and knowledge comes through him, comes through the son, who descended from heaven, who humbled himself that we may humble ourselves. And in that humility, we can know God, his divine order, his moral order, his creation order, and his salvation order. Ultimate humility is submitting your life to him, and when you do, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge will be yours.
In closing, I think I could probably take another 15 minutes and show all the other ways that Christ fulfills this chapter. I won’t do that, instead, let me just highlight them:
· Christ is the Holy One of verse 3 whose holiness reveals what is true and right and good.
· He also fulfills verse 5. He is the word of God and a shield to those who take refuge in him
· In verse 12, we can say we are clean, because we have been washed of our filth through his blood
· And Christ is the agent of creation’s order, through whom God fashioned and formed his amazing world.
May we humble ourselves before him, so that we may see ourselves, God, his ways, and his world clearly.
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Thank you to Tim Townsend for preaching last week… a very clear and convicting exposition on finances and wealth in Proverbs – and very much centered on Christ.
Please take out the Proverbs insert.
Our Proverbs theme today is more broadly related to wisdom. So far, we’ve covered the various contrasts between wisdom and foolishness and between righteousness and wickedness. But there’s a theme that transcends it all. This theme has been scattered throughout the Proverbs…. and it directs our attention to the source of all wisdom – God himself. It answers the questions: Who is the God of wisdom? And how should we submit to him?
Let’s now come to God’s Word.
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God's Sovereignty Over All Things
Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes rich,
and he adds no sorrow with it.
15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.
16:33 The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the LORD.
18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
20:12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
the LORD has made them both.
20:27-28 The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD,
searching all his innermost parts.
Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,
and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.
21:1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD;
he turns it wherever he will.
21:30 No wisdom, no understanding,
no counsel can avail against the LORD.
22:2 The rich and the poor meet together;
the LORD is the Maker of them all.
22:12 The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the traitor.
29:26 Many seek the face of a ruler,
but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice.
Submitting Our Plans to God's Will
Proverbs 16:1-3
1 The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the LORD weighs the spirit.
3 Commit your work to the LORD,
and your plans will be established.
16:9 The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.
19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
20:18 Plans are established by counsel;
by wise guidance wage war.
20:24 A man's steps are from the LORD;
how then can man understand his way?
21:5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,
but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but the victory belongs to the LORD.
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It was not safe to be a Protestant Reformer, to say the least. Many were martyred for their belief in God’s Word and for calling out abuses in the church. One of the Scottish Reformers, George Wishart, even had a bodyguard. This man would stand behind Wishart wielding a rather large two-handed sword. You see, these were men who preached about God’s Sovereignty according to the Scriptures, while at the same time taking practical steps to defend themselves.
However, having a bodyguard was not enough to save Wishart. He was arrested in 1546. In fact, Wishart did not allow his bodyguard to come with him to his trial. He said, “one is sufficient for one sacrifice.” Wishart knew what was coming. He was tried, convicted, and executed – had his bodyguard joined him, they both would likely have been martyred.
Well, after Wishart’s death, this young man, this bodyguard, himself took up the mantle of preaching God’s Word… standing firm on God’s truth and the Gospel. And like the other reformers, he found himself in great peril.
· At one point he was captured by the French navy and forced to row in the galley of their ship while in chains. He endured that for 19 months… and almost died, but God preserved him. That did not deter this former bodyguard.
· When he was released, he resumed preaching and teaching God’s Word and survived multiple attempts on his life.
· At one point he fled to England, where he would end up preaching to and serving under king Edward VI.
· But when bloody Mary became Queen in 1553, he fled again, this time to Geneva – where he studied under John Calvin.
Finally, he was able to return to Scotland in 1559 for good. God protected this man and used him to lead the Scottish reformation. He was none other than John Knox - former bodyguard, former slave. And by the mid-1560s, Scotland had gone through a profound transformation. Much of the country submitted itself to the principals found in God’s Word and not unbiblical human traditions of the church.
In many ways, we are here today… 450 years later… because of how God used Knox. As a Presbyterian church, we trace part of our heritage back to Scotland. They believed, back then, that all aspects of life and all aspects of the church should be submitted to God’s Word. And we believe that today.
I bring this history up for several reasons.
1. First, it demonstrates God’s sovereignty. Some, like Knox, God preserved to be a lasting voice. Others, like Wishart, would die for their beliefs and either the church would scatter and the Gospel would spread or God would embolden his church through their martyrdom to stand for his truth and grace.
2. Second, they faithfully taught about God as sovereign who will accomplish his plan. They whole heartedly believed the Bible teaches God’s providence over all things.
So, they were examples of God’s sovereignty. They taught about God’s sovereignty.
3. And third, even though they believed in God’s sovereignty, it did not deter them from making plans and seeking to be faithful - at times fleeing from danger; at times facing danger and death. They submitted their plans to God’s purposes and will.
In short, this is what these verses teach us. God is sovereign in a whole bunch of different ways – which we’ll see. And we are responsible to submit to his sovereignty while we pursue life and godliness.
Let’s first look at the Proverbs on the left side. They answer the question, how is God sovereign? And then, second, we’ll look at the Proverbs on the right, which answer the question, how should that affect us in our day-to-day lives?
1. God’s Sovereignty Over All Things
I think this goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. How you view God greatly affects how you live life.
· If you have a big view of God as he has revealed himself, you will understand that he knows all and oversees all and he is to be rightly feared. Feared in a Proverbs sort of way – reverent honor and awe in all of life.
· On the other hand, if your view of God is small, meaning he is unable to accomplish what he wishes, then you will live life as if God is inconsequential to what you think and do.
There’s a big difference. And do you see how this is related to wisdom? Having God’s wisdom includes knowing the God of wisdom. When you know how vast God is in his wisdom and power, you will desire to act according to his wisdom.
So, who is this God of wisdom?
Here’s the summary and then we’ll look to some of these specific Proverbs:
God is all powerful, all knowing, and present everywhere at all times. God is the creator. He rules over all things and is the judge of all things.
Let me say that again if you are taking notes. God is all powerful, all knowing, and present everywhere at all times. He is the creator. He rules over all things and is the judge of all things.
All-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, creator, ruler, and judge of all. For the children here, I want to give you some big words to learn. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Those are from the latin. Omni means “all.” God is omnipotent which means he’s all powerful. He’s omniscient meaning all-knowing, and omni-present meaning present everywhere.
Let’s consider some of these.
First, God is omnipotent, all-powerful and related to that, he’s the ruler over all things. Look at Proverbs 21:1 “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” There is no king on earth, or president of any nation, whom the Lord cannot use to accomplish his purposes. And similarly, the very next proverb. 21:30. “No wisdom [meaning no earthly wisdom], no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD.” Nothing can thwart his plan or purposes! In his nature as omnipotent, God actively rules over all! Everything is within his domain of control. And remember, Solomon is the King, the greatest king on earth at the time. He recognizes the Lord’s sovereignty. And Solomon wants his sons, who are in his royal lineage, to know the expanse of God’s power. He is all-powerful and ruler over all.
Second, God is all-knowing, omniscient and related, he’s the judge of all things. He knows everything. He knows the good and bad, the righteous and wicked, the wise and the foolish. And in that knowledge, he will judge all things. Proverbs 22:12 “The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the traitor.” Or, as it says in the next Proverb, “it is from the Lord that man gets justice.” Perfect justice and judgment come from the one who knows all and who is the just judge. A few weeks ago we talked about God’s perfect justice.
Think about a courtroom trial - you a judge and a jury. The lawyers call witnesses to the stand… the whole purpose of a trial is to uncover the truth of what happened so that justice can be achieved. Well, God knows all and sees all. That is why he can judge justly. His knowledge is perfect and it’s comprehensive and his judgment is utterly just.
And God’s knowledge and judgement are not just outward things. No, God knows our thoughts. He judges the heart of man – Look at Proverbs 20:27 “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts.” As we responsively read earlier from Psalm 139 – he knows your thoughts and even before you speak a word, he knows that word. Isn’t that both amazing and frightening to think about. Nothing is hidden from his sight, he is a just judge of everything.
So, (1) all-powerful ruler over all; (2) all knowing judge of all;
And next, he is present everywhere - omnipresent. Proverbs 15:3 – “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” The universe is vast beyond what we can even consider, but God is even greater. He is present everywhere. He doesn’t just know all, he sees all. And one of the reasons is because he is the creator God. Proverbs 20:12 “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them both.” He’s made the rich and the poor as 22:2 says. He’s the creator God.
Let’s go back to John Knox.
When Knox returned to Scotland in 1559, one of the very first things he did was to help write a confession of faith. It was very important to them to articulate and summarize what the Bible taught. That’s because the Roman Catholic church had strayed in so many ways, from the Scriptures.
So Knox and a few others published the Scottish Confession in 1560. Article 1, the very first article, is about God. Let me read parts of it.
“We confess and acknowledge one only God…. Who is eternal, infinite, immeasurable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible… By whom we confess and believe all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be ruled and guided by His inscrutable providence, to such end, as His eternal wisdom, goodness, and justice has appointed them, to the manifestation of His own glory.”
A beautiful summary of God’s sovereignty.
And even though it summarizes God’s nature from the whole of Scripture, it certainly captures what Proverbs teaches. God is ultimately sovereign in his power and knowledge and presence, as creator and ruler and judge of all things.
2. God’s Sovereignty Over All Things
And that brings us to the second question, the second main point. How should God’s sovereignty affect us in our day-to-day living?
Given that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and creator, ruler, and judge, does that mean we live life with a fatalistic or deterministic mindset? In other words, do we do whatever we want because whatever we do, God knows and it is part of his will? Or, do we just not do anything because God is in control.
The answer is neither. God’s sovereignty does not remove our responsibility. God has created us in his image and he’s given us the ability to make choices in life. He desires us to pursue him and honor him. Isn’t that what the book of Proverbs is about? Looking to God and his wisdom, seeking to know what is good and right and true, and avoiding foolishness. It’s been about pursuing righteousness and shunning wickedness. In short, Proverbs as whole answers the question! We are called to know God and to trust him and to pursue what he’s laid out for us in his Word.
And what is very clear in these second set of verses on the right is that we should plan and make choices and pursue things in life.
But in all of it, we are to submit to the Lord and his sovereignty and his wisdom.
In any and all of our decisions and plans, God still oversees and fulfills his purposes. God’s sovereignty should not inhibit you from planning and living. The question is, how do you to do it?
I want to give you three principals that I think best summarize the answer from these Proverbs.
Principal #1 – In your plans, know that the Lord will accomplish his purposes.
That is, in essence what the first set of verses on the left is about. God is sovereign and we need to believe it. Look at the ver last Proverbs on the right. 21:31 “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.” We make our plans, but we give glory to him. He is the one who brings about all things. We look to him and see him in all of his sovereign power and wisdom and understanding.
16:3 is another one. “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” We are to look to the Lord in any and all plans and decisions we make. We’re to trust in him to accomplish his purposes. In everything we do, we’re to commit it to the Lord.
Principal #2 – In your plans, pursue God’s wisdom and righteousness.
This goes back to something we’ve seen over and over in Proverbs. Wisdom and righteousness are not something defined within us. No, God defines wisdom and righteousness because he is the God of all wisdom and righteousness. In everything we plan and do, we need to submit to God’s wisdom.
Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit.”
God knows our thoughts and motivations. We need to be asking, is what I am planning and doing honoring to him? Is it pure in God’s eyes? Think back on all the Proverbs themes we’ve considered, and that can be a framework for decision making. Are you pursuing discipline and integrity in your plans? Are you honoring your parents and seeking true justice? Are you seeking wise counsel? That’s another Proverb here. 20:18 “Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war.”
Seek counsel from Godly advisors who know the Scriptures and have lived life reflecting God and his Word.
One of my favorite books is Kevin DeYong’s book, Just Do Something. It’s about making decisions. Whom should I marry? Where should I live? What job should I pursue? It’s a great book. Throughout the book, DeYoung’s point is that the number one thing is to pursue God and his righteousness. He writes this: “[God] calls us to run hard after Him, His commands, and His glory. The decision to be in God's will is not the choice between Memphis or Fargo or engineering or art; it's the daily decision we face to seek God's kingdom or ours, submit to His lordship or not, live according to His rules or our own.” In summary, DeYoung’s point is that we need to look first to God and the wisdom of his Word. Beyond that, God gives us freedom to make choices, and, as he puts it, just do something. He’s not saying that every decision will be easy, rather he’s encouraging us to pursue God and righteousness in him and wise counsellors… and then to thoughtfully make decisions rather than be idle or overthink them.
Ok, principal number #3 – In your plans, be open to the Lord redirecting you.
Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” We plan and live, but we should do so in prayer, understanding that the Lord is the one who directs our steps. If the Lord closes a door, we need to recognize that he is redirecting us to another door. That can be hard, but it’s also freeing to realize that when the Lord closes a door, he is leading you.
Later next month will be our 4th anniversary as a church. About a third of you were part of our launch team. And if you were, you will remember that we planned to launch on April 5th 2020. Well, 2-3 weeks before our launch, as you know, COVID shut down the world. We all had to learn that the Lord establishes our steps. We learned (I learned) that we need to plan with an open hand, and let the Lord redirect us. “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” And he did in many ways – beyond what we could think of or imagine.
So, again,
· #1 In your plans, know that the Lord will accomplish his purposes. Look to him.
· #2 In your plans, pursue God’s wisdom and righteousness. Look to his Word.
· #3 In your plans, be open to the Lord redirecting you, according to his perfect will.
God is all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere, the creator, ruler and judge of all thing. As you plan and live life, look to him and his Word, but do so trusting in his Providence.
Conclusion
Let me point out one more thing. Look back down at the two columns of verses and just scan them. There’s a word that sticks out. Notice the word LORD is all-caps in every use. Do you see that? 18 times! We’ve come across this before. That is God’s covenant name. Yahweh – the great “I am”.
The description of God’s sovereignty and the call to submit to him is not about some uber powerful deity detached from personality and detached from a relationship with us. No, he is the covenant keeping Lord. In all of his vast power and knowledge, he desires that we know him and he desires to guide us in our plans, according to his way. That is really important to realize. Again, 18 uses of the word LORD here, but that’s 18 out of 88 uses in the book of Proverbs. All of the guidance and warnings in Proverbs come from the covenant Lord and point to his covenant promises.
Solomon’s readers (his sons and the people of Israel) would have intimate knowledge of God’s Covenant promises – His covenant with Noah, and Abraham and Moses, and Solomon’s father, King David. So, as they were reading the name, “Lord” – the name Yahweh, over and over, they would understand that these Proverbs fit within the broader promises of God in the redemption of his people.
To say it in another way related to these verses… any and all of our plans fit within the grander purposes of God in redemption. God in his sovereignty revealed his plan of redemption through the covenant with his people. The Lord has been working all things together for his purposes… to fulfill and bring to completion that plan of redemption.
This is the big narrative that God has been orchestrating, every detail, since before creation.
Now, Solomon and really all of God’s people before Christ, did not know how God would fulfill his promises, but they knew he would. They knew his covenant promises. And they knew that through that redemption, they could know God and submit their plans and lives to him.
For us, we know how God fulfilled his covenant promises – God has fulfilled them in Christ Jesus, and he will bring his plan to full completion when Jesus returns.
To say it in another way: all things have been, are, and will work together for God’s purposes in redemption. And the very center of that plan is the death and resurrection of Jesus. The apostle Peter, in his first sermon after Jesus’ resurrection, testified to God’s sovereignty in it. Listen to what he said (this is in Acts chapter 2): “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God [God is sovereign], you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men [man is responsible]. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”
God orchestrated it all. He sovereignly ordained that Jesus would die, how he would die (through the hands of lawless men), and through his all powerful nature, he raised him from the grave.
And it all occurred for his glory and as Romans says, for the “good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” That in his death, we may be reconciled to him, and in his resurrection, we may have hope of life forever.
Very briefly in closing… God is sovereign. He is the sovereign covenant keeping Lord, who sovereignly fulfilled his perfect plan through Christ. And when we… when you and I know this Lord, then we are his redeemed. In that redemption, may we submit all our plans to him… looking to him, pursuing his wisdom in our life, and trusting in his providence. Amen.
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Before we begin, I wanted to answer a question.
Some of you have asked whether these Proverbs sermons are topical or expository. That’s an excellent question. Typically, a topical sermon uses different passages in the Bible to focus on a particular topic – thus the name. Expository sermons involve preaching through a book of the Bible. The goal is to understand both what the original human author intended and what the Holy Spirit intended as far as how the book fits within the Bible and redemption in Christ. After that, the text can be faithfully applied to us.
When we went through the first 9 chapters of Proverbs, we definitely considered them in a traditional expository way – verse by verse. Starting in chapter 10, we’ve been looking at the themes contained in the rest of the book. I would say, even though we’ve been dealing with topics, our sermons have still been expository. Let me give you four reasons.
1.) We have been staying within the book of Proverbs… and focusing on what King Solomon wrote and compiled for his sons and the people of Israel.
2.) By working through different themes in this second half, we’ve been able to dig deep into the message of the book. Topical sermons often impose meaning into the text, but we’ve been seeking to draw meaning from the text.
3.) Related to that, by the end of our study, we will have read every single verse in the book of Proverbs. That has led to a very thorough understanding of Proverbs, why Solomon wrote it, and how we should understand it today.
4.) And last, we’ve spent a lot of time considering how each passage and theme fits within God’s work of redemption including how they’re fulfilled in Christ.
To be sure, the thematic approach in the last half has been a little unconventional, but I think overall faithful to our expository study. I hope that is helpful
Ok, let’s now consider our verses today.
Please take out the Proverbs insert. Our theme is strife and anger and quarreling versus peace and love.
Reading of selected proverbs:
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Strife: Stirring up or putting out
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
13:10 By insolence comes nothing but strife,
but with those who take advice is wisdom.
15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
15:18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
17:14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water,
so quit before the quarrel breaks out.
17:19 Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
he who makes his door high seeks destruction.
18:6 A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.
18:18 The lot puts an end to quarrels
and decides between powerful contenders.
21:14 A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.
Proverbs 25:21-23
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
22 for you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.
23 The north wind brings forth rain,
and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
26:20 For lack of wood the fire goes out,
and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.
26:21 As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
29:22 A man of wrath stirs up strife,
and one given to anger causes much transgression.
Anger: Slow to or quick to
14:17 A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.
14:29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
16:32 Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
22:24-25 Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
Quarrelling: Living with or driving out
16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
17:1 Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
18:19 A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city,
and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
19:13 A foolish son is ruin to his father,
and a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.
20:3 It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife,
but every fool will be quarreling.
21:9 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
21:19 It is better to live in a desert land
than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.
22:10 Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out,
and quarreling and abuse will cease.
25:24 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
26:17 Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own
is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.
27:15-16 A continual dripping on a rainy day
and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one's right hand.
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Prayer
October 8, 1871. It was a particularly devastating day in American history. Two massive fires killed thousands of people and destroyed lands and buildings and homes.
You may be familiar with the first fire, the Great Chicago Fire. It was started in a barn allegedly by a group of men who where gambling and knocked over a lantern. The fire quickly got out of control. The dry conditions spread the fire and the winds blew toward the heart of Chicago. There was no stopping the blaze. In the end, it destroyed over 17,000 buildings and 300 people died.
Far worse, however, was a second fire that started that same day - October 8, 1871. This one was a forest fire that started in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Railroad workers had started a brush fire to clear land. But given the dry conditions and wind, it turned into an inferno. The fire burned 1.2 million acres and over 1200 people died. It is still the deadliest fire in US history.
Every year, fires destroy lives and livelihoods. The larger a fire, the more difficult it is to contain. In fact, the resources required increase exponentially. In certain conditions, temperatures can reach up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit in an out-of-control fire. That’s only 1/5 the temperature on the sun’s surface. But if a fire is contained early, the resources needed to stop it are greatly reduced.
Isn’t that what happens between people? A little tiff turns into a spat which leads to a dispute and then to a fight. The fire of conflict escalates and escalates, until there’s seemingly no turning back. It becomes all-consuming. Anger and hate may then turn violent. Multiple people and groups may be pulled into the fight, and it can all lead to a devastating forest fire of strife and anger. But if the conflict can be put out early, then peace will win often the day.
Solomon recognizes the propensity of the human heart to fight. He knows that every single person and every single community by nature is prone to anger and hate, which can lead to bitter disputes that destroy relationships and people.
Look down at Proverbs 26:21. It’s on the left hand side. “As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.” Anger is stirred up by a quarrelsome man, which is like kindling to the fire of strife.
Sadly, Solomon experienced some of this. We read earlier how later in his life, several adversaries opposed him. That was a result of Solomon’s own sin. And that conflict continued and escalated even after Solomon’s death. It led to the divided kingdom.
Every people and every generation has or will experiences this. It’s part of our fallen human condition.
Ok, as we look at these proverbs, there are three general categories. Those align with the three groupings of proverbs - strife, anger, and quarreling. And within each, there’s a contrast between escalation and de-escalation. In other words, how our words and actions can either make things worse – escalate. Or how our words and actions can calm things down – deescalate.
Before we consider how we make things worse or calm things down, let me define the three terms that Proverbs uses.
Let’s begin with anger because that’s often where conflict arises. Anger is when you have deep feelings of displeasure. You know that, already, but there’s a funny thing in the Hebrew – the word for anger is the same word for nose. You know, your nose. We think of anger more associated with our ears. My ears are red. I’m angry. Well, the Israelites associated anger with their noses. When your nose was red, you were angry - like a bull in a bull fight. Its nose is steaming because it’s angry. In the Hebrew, if someone has a long nose, they do not get angry easily. The phrase “slow to anger” literally translated means long nose. Do you have a short nose or a long nose? The bottom line is that anger is a strong emotion against something.
And that leads to strife and quarreling. Those two words are used interchangeably. In fact, there are four different underlying words in the Hebrew. The basic meaning is contention or hostility – and its often verbal contention meaning debating and arguing forcefully. It’s when voices are raised with intense disagreement. In Genesis 13, an argument arose between Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen. They were quarreling, it says, because they were trying to share the same land for their livestock, but they couldn’t get along. Tensions were high.
Typically, when one of the underlying words is used as a noun, it is translated strife. When used as an adjective to describe someone, it is translated quarrelsome. Someone is quarrelsome if they are prone to cause strife. And typically, if the underlying word is used as a participle, it is translated quarreling.
Let’s go back now to the main two questions which proverbs asks:
Are you stirring up strife because you are angry or you are quarrelsome? Or are you seeking peace and calming the flames of strife? Are you trying to put the fire out?
1. Stirring up strife
The first question – are you stirring the pot of strife?
There are a lot of patterns and repeated phrases in these proverbs. Rather than give you specific verses, I’ll just highlight the repeated phrases. Now, as you hear these, your temptation may be to think about other people. “Oh, I know someone who has a backbiting tongue.” Instead, try to think about your own heart and words and actions.
As I mentioned, one of the obvious things that stirs up strife is anger. You know, someone with a “hot temper” or “quick tempter” or “hasty temper.” Those phrases are all used here. Another phrase is someone “given to anger.” Sometimes we describe this kind of person as having a short fuse. Like a firecracker when you light the fuse, and it explodes really fast. If you have a short tempter, like that, I suspect you often find yourself in conflict. That’s one way strife is stirred up.
A second way that strife is stirred up is through our careless and insensitive words. There are a few different phrases that capture this. For example, “A fools lips walk into a fight” and “a harsh word stirs up anger.” A “scoffer” is another word used that falls in this category. A scoffer is someone who mocks or makes fun of someone of something. A scoffer will obviously stir up strife. Another word is someone who’s quarrelsome. That’s someone who likes to pick a fight – they may have a backbiting tongue, to use another phrase here… or they are disagreeable or they have to make a negative comment about everything.
It's like a “continual dripping on a rainy day.” By the way, I should comment on the Proverbs about avoiding a quarrelsome wife. Amy said to me, “you know it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday.” I was like, “oops.” Hopefully I am not stirring up strife.
On a serious note, remember, Solomon is writing to his sons – young sons. He wants them to be careful about who they will marry. As beautiful as a woman may be on the outside, if she is quarrelsome, it is better to live on “the corner of a housetop” than with her. Solomon is not targeting women. If he were writing to his daughters, he would have said something similar focused on husbands. Proverbs 17:1 summarizes it well. “Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.” In other words, it’s better to be poor with little food and have peace in your home, than be a Kardashian! – just saying.
So, number 1, a hot temper and anger stirs up strife. And number 2, being careless and insensitive and quarrelsome also stirs up strife.
Kids, have you ever seen the Pixar movie, Inside Out? It’s about a girl named Riley who moved across the country with her family. And that’s a hard thing. Some of you have moved to a new city. Riley has so many emotions that she was dealing with like sadness and fear and anger.
The interesting thing about the movie is we are taken into the headquarters of Riley’s mind. Each emotion is a character in the movie. Joy and Sadness are trying to guide her, but then they both get swept away and lost in another part of Riley’s mind. And guess who is left in her mind’s headquarters? Anger and Disgust and Fear. And that is a bad combination!
Anger’s is, of course, red. And quite often he blows his top. Literally out of the top of his head comes this stream of anger like a steam engine. Disgust is outspoken and negative. She is opinionated and dramatic and she rolls her eyes a lot in disgust. Everything is unacceptable.
Those emotions, Anger and Disgust, are like the first two descriptions here in Proverbs… And they are not helping Riley. They both stir up conflict. The question is, are Joy and Sadness lost forever? I won’t spoil it. You’ll have to watch the movie. It’s a helpful movie, actually, because one of the things we need to learn is how to identify and control our emotions. Stay tuned for more on that.
Ok, there’s a final category here that stirs up strife - hatred and wrath. Yes, those are related to anger, but you can be angry without hating or being wrathful. This category is about intentional evil and wickedness. The phrases captured here are “evil devices” and “a man of wrath” and someone who “loves transgression.” Intentional evil and vitriol and sin will obviously stir up strife.
In summary, are your words and actions causing and escalating strife? …because you are hot-tempered? Or because you are careless and quarrelsome? Or worse, because you are hateful and vengeful? None of it conforms to the pattern of peace that we are called to pursue.
2. Seeking peace by avoiding
And that brings us to the other side. How are we to put out the fire of strife? How do we calm a hot situation down before it explodes into an uncontrollable fire?
Here’s how you do it: when someone’s anger is rising and things start to get out of control, here’s what you say. You should say, “you just need to calm down.” It works every time, doesn’t it? It is especially effective if you raise your voice and squint your eyes and point your finger.
No, of course that doesn't work.
Rather, “a soft answer turns away wrath.” That’s the most well-known Proverb here. 15:1.
Our words are not neutral. You can say things that hurt and make someone angry, or you can say things that sooth and calm. One way hinders and another helps.
Even if you have to convey difficult things, you can do it with care and sensitivity. Instead of saying “you just need to calm down.” How about “I’m sorry for making things difficult, can we talk through this” or “is there something I can do to help.” or “can we come back in a few minutes and work through this.” Every situation is different. It takes wisdom and advice, as Proverbs 13:10 explains.
The main way that these Proverbs exhort us to calm strife is through love and longsuffering. “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” That’s the first Proverb in the list. We’re to “overlook an offense” as another Proverb says.
Another well-known Proverbs is chapter 25 verses 21-22. It’s there on the left. “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.” That is not saying that you should try to “kill him with kindness” so to speak… so that you can get back at him.
No, this is actually to demonstrate love and not hate. That phrase “to heap burning coals” is an idiom which likely means that your enemy becomes repentant. His conscience has softened. Your words and actions have brought peace.
One phrase that is used several times here is “slow to anger.” Again, having a long nose. That means when you are provoked, to not provoke back. Instead of a short fuse, a long fuse. It means to love even when it is difficult. And it means overlooking offenses.
Look at 16:32 “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” “He who rules his spirit.” Or he who controls his emotions. Instead of blowing your top like the anger character in Inside-Out, having a “cool head” as we sometimes say.
There’s a classic book by Ken Sande titled Peacemaker. It’s great and I would recommend it. In it, he outlines the Biblical case for being a peacemaker and what that looks like. He gives three helpful categories: Peace makers, peace breakers and peace fakers.
· A peacemaker is someone seeking peace with others through the ways that Proverbs describe as well as other ways. Or you are helping to mediate peace. In other words, you are helping to bring peace in other situations. Proverbs 18:18 captures that. It says, “The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders.” A lot was a Hebrew way to make a decision. “Casting lots” is like drawing straws today. Both parties agree to abide by where the lot fell. Being a peacemaker may mean you are helping to bring two or more people together and pave a path of peace for them. So, being a peacemaker applies to either your relationships or helping others in theirs.
· On the contrary, a peace breaker is someone whose words and actions escalate or stir up conflict like the various ways we talked about earlier.
· The third category is being a peace faker. Meaning you are pretending to be at peace but you are still holding anger on the inside which may erupt. Or you are putting up walls and just ignoring the conflict. Proverbs 17:19 describes that – the second half. “He who makes his door high seeks destruction.” In other words, you are blocking a path to peace. You are turning your back on someone and stonewalling them. It’s not peace but rather a silent kind of strife.
This is all difficult, isn’t it? Some of you know the pain of conflict all too well.
And theory is much easier than practice. It’s easy to talk about being peaceful but in the moment, it is difficult. When you are personally attacked or when your feelings of anger well up within you, it’s hard to even think straight.
So, the question becomes… how do you break through your own sin to be a peacemaker? How do you break through your anger and quarrelsome nature and hate to instead be soft with your words and slow to anger?
Well, you do that by looking to the one who is slow to anger.
The phrase “slow to anger” used in these Proverbs is directed at us. We’re to have a long nose - to be slow to anger. But every other instance in the Old Testament, the phrase “slow to anger” is ascribed to the Lord. Nine other times. And the phrase that is used in almost all of them is this… the Lord our God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” That’s a description of an ultimate peace maker.
God himself said that to Moses when he gave Moses the 10 commandments. It is what Moses spoke to the people in the wilderness as he called them to repent. Repent because the Lord your God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Ezra includes that very phrase in his prayer as recorded in Nehemiah when the people repented. The prophet Joel called on the people to repent and gave them the same reason… the Lord your God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” And Jonah prayed this in his prayer… it’s why he didn’t want to go to Ninevah… he didn’t like them and didn’t want them to repent… but he knew, as he prayed that the Lord God was “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Our ability to be slow to anger comes through the one who is slow to anger. God in his holy anger against sin is fully justified to punish you for your strife and anger and quarreling. But he is also a God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…” When you come to him seeking his forgiveness.
And in his mercy and steadfast love, God will satisfy the unquenchable fire of his anger against you. He’ll do that through the cross of Christ. Jesus is the only one who can extinguish the unquenchable anger of God against your sin. And when you come to him by faith, tht peace will be yours…
In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul said that Christ has brought us peace… he’s made us both one by breaking down the dividing wall of hostility… reconciling us to God through the cross, thereby killing the hostility, he says.
That is the foundation of peace that we have with each other. When you know Christ, each day you are being conformed more and more to his image. That means you can grow in the fruit of his spirit – peace and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and self-control. You can be a peacemaker because he is your peacemaker.
· Because God is slow to anger, you can be slow to anger.
· Instead of quarreling, you can reconcile with others because he’s reconciled you to him.
· And in him you can give a soft answer and even love your enemies, because you were once his enemy, and he loved you.
The path to peace is the path of Christ.
May we each have a long nose. May we be slow to anger and loving… because our God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
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