Pondering Proverbs - Witness (11)

 

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls.” Proverbs 11:30.

 

He who is wise wins souls, but he who reads the second part of Proverbs 11:30 without reading the first part is not wise; nor is he who reads Proverbs 11:30 without also reading what leads up to it, and what leads up to it is:

 

“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet results only in want. The generous man [lit. soul of blessing] will be prosperous [lit. made fat], and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” Proverbs 11:24 – 26, NASB.

 

Winning souls is inextricably linked to the fruit of the righteous being a tree of life, and this tree of life and its fruit are a Way of Life. Therefore, winning souls is a manifestation of our Way of Life, it flows out of who we are in Jesus Christ and who He is within us…as individuals, as marriages, and as congregations. Yes, winning a soul is an event, but it is more than an event, it is the ongoing Incarnation – it is Christ in us and through us.

 

Parenting has many events within it, but those events exist because we are parents. Some parents, of course, fulfill their calling and some do not – some professing Christians fulfill their calling as witnesses and some do not. We can accept who we are and grow within our identity; or we can reject who we are and find myriad reasons not to parent, not to witness, not to be a good neighbor.

 

To return to Proverbs 11:24 – 26, living as a tree of life in Christ means that we live lives of giving, of scattering, of paying the price to distribute grain to those around us – it means that we are givers and not grabbers – and living with this attitude, this outlook, this nature – means that we cannot but witness, we must witness, we must win souls by our deeds and words, by what we say being coupled with what we do.

 

How tragic were our actions to be godly and our words not endorse and explain our actions, just as it is tragic when our walk does not align with our talk. We simply must not allow ourselves to think that we can have words without deeds, nor deeds without words. Christ has given His words that we might pass them on to others – and the words that He has given us are those of the Father (John 17:6 – 8); having given us His Word, Christ sends us as the Father sent Him (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

O dear friend, wherever you are, you are there as the son or daughter of the Living God, you are there – first and foremost – as the brother or sister of Jesus Christ. Let it not be conceivable that a son or daughter of the Living God not speak of his or her Father, let us not entertain the thought that a sister or brother of Jesus Christ would conceal the life of Christ that lives within her or him.

 

We live in a world of hatred and chaos, of dying and death – and yet those in Christ live in the oasis of Jesus Christ, we abide in the Rock of safety and salvation with a glorious eternal future beckoning us. We have the Water of Life within us, the Peace that exceeds all comprehension – shall we not share what we have with others?

 

Picture a husband or wife who, when he or she leaves the house for work every morning gets in the car, turns on the ignition, opens the glove box, removes his or her wedding ring, puts it in the glove box, closes the glove box, and proceeds to live the day as if not married…only returning the ring to the ring finger upon returning home.

 

Is this not what we do when we live at work, at school, while shopping, while engaged in civic life, without living as holistic witnesses (in word and deed) of Jesus Christ? Are we ashamed of our marriage to Jesus?

 

If we learn to live as blessings to others, we will learn to live as witnesses to Jesus.

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be [or “show yourselves to be”] sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the peoples of the world do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43 – 48).

 

In other words, we are to live as our Father, and we do this in Jesus Christ. As Peter writes (1 Peter 1:14 – 16):

 

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

 

As Paul writes, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:1 – 2).

 

Are we giving ourselves up for others? Are we living as offerings and sacrifices to God as fragrant aromas? Are we living as the Tree of Life, bearing fruit that others may eat it and live?

 

As we continually surrender our wills to Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves serving others and witnessing to them and God will draw others to Himself through us.

 

In a previous reflection I shared about an employee in a jewelry store whose tears led her employer to Jesus Christ. This woman was not embarrassed of Jesus, and better that she be terminated for loving others than to harden her heart and keep quiet.

 

I think of a time when I was working in a gas station at Christmas time. I was young and loved Jesus and I wanted to witness to my coworkers, my boss, and to the owner of the business. At the time there was a vinyl record of a drama about life after death – I don’t recall much about it now, other than it took place on an airplane and it was focused on knowing Jesus Christ. I gave each person one of these recorded albums. Now I don’t recall what their responses were, and I can’t even recall whether I had follow-up conversations after Christmas about the albums – this was a long time ago. But I do know that I did the best I could according to the understanding I had and the desire of my heart for others to know Jesus.

 

I recall another time at a Christmas party many years later. It was at the home of a man of significant wealth, the chairman of the board of the firm I worked for. During the evening I observed one of our frontline managers talking to the chairman about Jesus Christ. I knew this manager well, and I knew the chairman, and they were, in many respects, the farthest apart in temperament and background than any two people were among the group that gathered that night. Yet, there the manager was being faithful to Jesus Christ and to another person who needed to truly know Him – the social and economic and employer – employee chasm between the two men did not deter the manager from sharing Christ with the chairman of the board. I have never forgotten what I saw, and it has been an encouragement to me in my own witnessing.

 

Sometimes the people who are the most unlike us can teach us things we wouldn’t otherwise see, and sometimes the people who are the most receptive to our witness are those who are the most unlike us. Sometimes we want to be all things to all men so that we might win some to Christ (1 Cor. 9:19 – 23), but other times a dynamic of being different comes into play – and our differences become our bridge of communication. I don’t understand this, but I do want to point it out.

 

Dear friends, the Gospel is really foolish (1 Cor. 1:18) to the world, and we are foolish not to understand this…and even more foolish to try to make the Gospel acceptable to the world’s way of thinking – this is not likely to lead to repentance…is it?

 

What is not foolish is loving people. What is not foolish is being sacrificially vulnerable. This is anything but foolish, for this is the Way of Jesus and the Way of Jesus is eternal glory (Romans 8:12 – 39).

 

In Christ, are we the Tree of Life to those around us? Are our congregations the Tree of Life?

 

Are we winning souls by our fruit?

 

If we are, then we are wise. If we are not…then what are we?

Pondering Proverbs – Witness (10)

 

“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet results only in want. The generous man [lit. soul of blessing] will be prosperous [lit. made fat], and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” Proverbs 11:24 – 26, NASB.

 

What might it mean that “blessing will be on the head of him who sells it”? How can we think about the idea of “selling” in a context of “giving” and generosity? How can we sell something, the Gospel, which was given freely to us? Are we not taught, “Freely you received, freely give”? (Matt. 10:8).

 

Let me suggest two ways to think about the idea of selling the grain, the Bread of Life, in this passage which are complementary. The first is offering the Grain to others as opposed to hoarding it – this is the central thought of the verse and the context, and we must allow the central image to control our thinking. There are givers and there are takers, there are hoarders and there are givers. The world lies to us by saying, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” This is stupid.

 

Have you ever been in a situation in which you thought about saying something but didn’t, and later on as you looked back you thought, “O I wish I had said something!”?

 

A few years ago Vickie and I toured an estate and gardens outside of Baltimore, MD. While we enjoyed the extensive gardens with their manicured topiary, taking a guided tour of the house was another matter. The focus of the tour was the wealthy individual who had once owned the estate, the high society people he knew, the possessions he acquired, the interests he pursued. As the tour was concluding I wanted to ask a question, but I didn’t. I wanted to ask, “Did he ever help others? Did he ever invest himself and his resources in helping others in need?”

 

While the tour guide seemed impressed with the former owner’s wealth and connections, and while it appeared that others on the tour were also impressed, Vickie and I were not impressed – it was empty, a void – for if the tour was accurate, if what was presented verbally and pictorially was representative of the individual in question – then we were presented with a life which was self-focused in the extreme…and that, my friends, is nothing to celebrate, that is a tragedy.

 

However, is it not a greater tragedy when those who profess to know Jesus Christ do not share Him with others – for we have the riches of all riches in Him?

 

During a budget meeting with church trustees I once said, “I would not want to appear before the throne of Jesus with this financial statement and this budget, for it is all about us, about our wants and our needs – there is nothing here for those outside our congregation, there is nothing here for reaching others for Jesus Christ.”

 

On the other hand, my missions professor, Christy Wilson, and his wife, were once audited by the I.R.S. because the agency could not believe that anyone could give so much of their income away.

 

The central thought in our passage is that we are called to give and give and give…to live lives of giving Jesus Christ to others, again and again and again. Living Water is to flow through us to others, we are to be distributors of Living Bread.

 

What about the idea of selling?

 

Here I think we see that a price must be paid for what we give away; the question is, “Who is to pay the price?”

 

Jesus paid the price for us, and we are called to pay the price for others. 1 John 3:16 is an echo of John 3:16, the equation is straightforward, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn. 3:16).

 

Paul writes, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake…” (Phil. 1:29). Then we have Peter, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” (1 Pt. 2:21).

 

In Christ, we are not only a nation of priests, we are also sacrificial lambs – just as our High Priest offered Himself (Hebrews chapters 7 – 10), so we offer ourselves.

 

While our witness ought to be with grace and seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:5 – 6), this does not mean that it is without conflict and challenge – our purpose in witnessing is to make Jesus Christ known to others, it is not to avoid rejection and persecution. Do we really think that we can share the Christ of the Cross and not experience the Cross ourselves?

 

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” (See John 15:18 – 16:4).

 

If we truly love Jesus Christ and others then we will have a passion for sharing Him and a willingness to sacrifice ourselves – as individuals, as families, and as congregations. To share Christ is to expose ourselves, can we trust Jesus to be with us as we offer ourselves as living sacrifices? Is Jesus Christ trustworthy?

 

And so, dear friends, we pay the price for what we freely give; it is free to others but it is costly to us…is this not a glorious calling we have in Jesus Christ?

Pondering Proverbs – Witness (9)

 

 

“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet results only in want. The generous man [lit. soul of blessing] will be prosperous [lit. made fat], and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” Proverbs 11:24 – 26, NASB.

 

I would be remiss if I did not ask us to consider, in greater depth, “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.” Christ Jesus is the Generous Man above all generous men, and His prosperity is found in His Resurrection, of which He is the Firstborn from the dead (Rev. 1:5) and first fruits (1 Cor. 15:20, 23). He is the Grain of Wheat falling into the ground and dying, bringing forth much fruit (John 12:23 – 26). We are called to participate in His dying and rising and harvesting, this is the prosperity that we are called to seek.

 

Therefore, we ought not to be so utterly foolish as to be impressed with people or institutions who seek temporal wealth or power, accumulating for themselves that which is corruptible with contemptable teaching and practice – whether or not these are individuals or institutions, whether they are ostentatious or subtle – these practices and teachings do not come from the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

 

There must be a reason(s) that some very well – known and popular ministries do not readily disclose their large cash reserves and investment accounts – while they continue to solicit donations. And then there are those - whether institutions or individuals  -  who flaunt their wealth and manipulate ever more from their followers, dear friends, this is not the Way of Jesus Christ and His Cross.

 

True prosperity is to be found in the heavens; “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19 – 21; see also Colossians 3:1 – 4).

 

Then we have, “…he who waters will himself be watered.”

 

The Way of the Cross is not a popular way, nor is it crowded with pilgrims. Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 6:13 – 14).

 

Consider Paul’s statement to Timothy, “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me…” (2 Tim. 1:15a). There are times on our pilgrimage when we may have much company, and then there are times when we may be lonely. Yet, we have God’s promise that “he who waters will himself be watered.”

 

This watering has many forms; the koinonia of the Trinity, koinonia with brothers and sisters both near and far away, encouragement from the lives and writings of brothers and sisters who lived before us, encouragement from the world – for the people of the world can indeed encourage us - and encouragement from God through His creation.

 

God’s watering of our lives is not always what we expect or desire, that is, its form and frequency is often difficult for us. In 1 Kings 19:1 – 8 Elijah ate a meal that God provided and then he “went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights.” I imagine that most of us would prefer regular and predictable meals, but this may not be what we find in Christ. Yes, He is our Daily Bread on one level, but on another level we may find ourselves on journeys in which we cry out to be watered, we cry out for a depth of fellowship to sustain and encourage us…such is the Way of the Cross, and yet, Jesus is always and ever with us.

 

Now why I am writing this? I am doing so because our American Christianity is not the Way of the Cross but the way of the dollar, the way of success, the way of political power, the way of entertainment, the way of “our best life now.” I am writing this because we must not take the promises of Proverbs 11:24 – 26 and merchandise them, we must not use them as a form of positive thinking, we must not think that we have stumbled upon a new way to manipulate God and others, to pull spiritual and emotional strings.

 

Let’s be clear, following Jesus Christ will cost us our lives on a daily basis (Mark 8:34ff; Luke 9:23). Sharing Jesus Christ with others will cost us our lives as our Way of Life. The narrow Way is not the broad way.

 

The glorious koinonia of the Trinity will overshadow and subsume all of the distress and suffering and difficulties of this life (Romans 8:12 – 25) – and we can be sure that our Father and Lord Jesus will be with us always, forever and always.

 

Who will follow Jesus that others may live in Him?

 

 

Pondering Proverbs – Witness (8)

 

“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet results only in want. The generous man [lit. soul of blessing] will be prosperous [lit. made fat], and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” Proverbs 11:24 – 26, NASB.

 

What is it that “is justly due”? In the context of witnessing, it is sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed. Paul writes, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome” (Rom. 1:14 – 15).

 

When Jesus gave us the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18 – 20), He placed us under obligation to Himself and to mankind; to Himself in terms of obedience and service, to mankind in terms of serving it with the Gospel, and this includes “teaching them to obey all that I commanded you.”  Again, I want to stress that obedience and service are in both word and deed, in deed and word – they cannot be separated, one validates the other, they are two wings of an airplane. An airplane may fly without two functioning engines, but it cannot fly with one of its wings missing.

 

We teach by our words and we teach by our example, we teach by our example and we teach by our words; we see this in the Incarnation – the Word became flesh, and we should see this in Christ’s continuing Incarnation within us, both as individuals and as His People.

 

It is our equitable and just and reasonable obligation to share Jesus Christ with others, it is our calling, it is an element found deep within the core of our identity in the Trinity – which gives and gives and gives. “God so loved the world that He gave…” He gave the world Jesus Christ His Son, and now in Christ He gives the world His sons and daughters, His corporate Son with Christ Jesus the Head.

 

In the Wilderness, people gathered manna for themselves and their families, not for their neighbors. In the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ is our Manna (John 6:51), and we gather Him not only for ourselves, but for others – what we gather in Jesus Christ we give away to others, and in giving Him away we find that He gives us even more of Himself.

 

Congregations that withhold “what is justly due,” that is, congregations that withhold the Gospel in their communities, that are not “going” into all the world – beginning in Jerusalem, beginning where they are – these are congregations “in want.” This “want” may not be apparent and the congregations themselves may have no sense of being in want, in fact the congregations may be growing numerically…or they may be declining in numbers.

 

Consider the church in Laodicea (Rev. 3:14 – 22). This people were saying, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” Yet Jesus says to them, “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Our natural eyes can deceive us, and we are very good at lying to ourselves.

 

When we substitute what we think is success for the Bible, we deceive ourselves. Christ in the Scriptures calls us to worship, to build one another up in Him, and to go and make disciples of all peoples. Christ calls us to be people who scatter Him and His Word as a Way of Life, always giving, always giving, always giving.

 

We are to be generous, to be “souls of blessing,” to those around us, and in doing so we will be prosperous in Jesus Christ, we will grow in Him as individuals, marriages, families, and congregations – our souls will grow, our spirits will soar, our hearts will be rich, and our minds will be renewed and transformed.

 

O dear friends, we will never meet a person for whom Christ did not die and whom God does not love. We will never meet a person who does not need Jesus Christ. The word we speak today is a Word that may fill the sails of a life, helping it to find the Harbor of Jesus Christ. We will never pass a person for whom we cannot pray.

 

Most, if not all, of the great structures the world values are actually mausoleums and dead people live and work in them. The automobiles around us are nothing but hearses carrying us to our graves – we may dress them up, we may equip them with high-tech gadgets, some may pay more for them than others, but they are hearses for they carry dead people.  People vying for power are foolish, in that they are dead people wanting to rule dead people – how absurd.

 

Let us not forget that we were all dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1 – 3) and living (if it can be called such) “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” Shall those of us who have been given life in our Lord Jesus Christ, not by our merit but by His grace (Eph. 2:4 – 10; Titus 3:3 – 7), selfishly live, hoarding, as it were, the love and life and grace of Christ? If we do live like this, we can be sure of two things, eventually people will curse us (Proverbs 11:26), and we will most certainly give an account of our lives to God (2 Cor. 5:9 – 11).

 

As we ponder Proverbs 11:24 – 26, 30, are we among those who scatter or among those who withhold what is justly due? When the angels see us, what do they see?

 

When God sees us, what does He see?

 

Pondering Proverbs – Witness (7)

 

“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet results only in want. The generous man [lit. soul of blessing] will be prosperous [lit. made fat], and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” Proverbs 11:24 – 26, NASB.

 

Do you know people who are constantly giving and yet increasing?

 

There are people who give and give and are content. Then there are those who seldom if ever give, who keep all they have, and are far from content – they chase contentment and satisfaction, and it eludes them. How can this be?

 

Paul writes of his coworkers and himself that they are, “as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:10b). Then, when discussing care and liberality toward others he writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).

 

How did Jesus go from rich to poor?  Is not the answer in Philippians 2:3 – 8?

 

“…regard one another as more important than yourselves…Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

 

Our passage in Proverbs tells us, “There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more…”

 

Can you think of a higher example of scattering than our Lord Jesus Christ in His Incarnation? Was not scattering His Way of Life in the Father? Was Jesus not constantly giving Himself away to the Father and to mankind? Do we not see the ultimate scattering on the Cross?

 

But what about “…and yet increases all the more”?

 

Here we return to Philippians, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name…” (Phil. 2:9). 

In His resurrection and exaltation we are drawn to our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider that during Holy Week, in the shadow of His impending crucifixion, our Lord said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

 

Our Lord Jesus was scattered in the ground in death on Good Friday, on Easter morning He came out of the earth and since then He has been bearing fruit – we are His fruit, a fruit which would not exist had His life not been scattered.

 

Stephen, in turn, scattered his life, and a witness to his death, Saul of Tarsus, received the Holy Seed; Saul in turn, as Paul the Apostle, scattered himself so that others might receive the Holy One, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So then, my friends, what about us? Are we, in our Lord Jesus Christ, living as Stephen, living as Paul – as broken bread and poured out wine for others? Are we scattering…and in our scattering are we increasing in our Lord Jesus Christ?

 

Jesus says to us, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measure to you in return” (Luke 6:38). Is not our Lord Jesus Christ to be our standard of measure?

 

As our passage in Proverbs tells us, “…he who waters will himself be watered.”

 

Paul wrote to Philemon (1:7), “For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”

 

Am I scattering Christ to those around me? Am I refreshing others with Him?

 

Are you?

Pondering Proverbs – Witness (6)

 

“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet results only in want. The generous man [lit. soul of blessing] will be prosperous [lit. made fat], and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” Proverbs 11:24 – 26, NASB.

 

This passage encapsulates the core of the Christian life, in it we see the Incarnation and the Cross and the Resurrection, in it we see our life in Christ, in it we see our fulfillment of the Great Commission, and it in it we see loving our neighbors. Individuals and congregations who are learning to be the incarnation of this passage are being changed from glory to glory into the image of our Lord Jesus (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18).

 

Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls,” is linked to 11:24 – 26 in that the way of life seen in 30a, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,” leads to the winning of souls in 30b, and we see a model of the fruit of the righteous, a model of a tree of life, in 11:24 – 26.

 

Put another way, we cannot have, “He who is wise wins souls,” without first having the first part of the verse, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,” and in 11:24 – 26 we see what that fruit looks like, we see what a tree of life looks like.

 

This takes us back to the idea that witnessing is not so much an action, an event, as a way of life in Christ that manifests itself in events and actions. That is, we are witnesses not because of what we do, but rather because of who we are in Jesus Christ. O dear friends, when we look at witnessing as an isolated event that we must do as a task we are not looking at life holistically in Christ, we are not living in Christ organically; the result is that we, as a people, seldom share Jesus Christ with others – the result is that our congregations rely more on marketing and entertainment to attract and retain people than they do on witnessing and discipleship.

 

When we look at witnessing as a task, we tend to focus on method and technique and worry about such things as “knowing the right answers.” When witnessing flows from who we are in Christ, the ways that we witness in word and deed are endless because the ways we interact with people are endless and filled with possibilities. (I emphasize “in word and deed” because we do not want to fall into the trap of thinking that we need not speak about Christ verbally, people need to hear the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ.) Witnessing that flows from who we are in Christ focuses not on the right answers, but rather on the Person of Jesus Christ – we want to communicate, to share, Jesus Christ as opposed to data and information. We want people to meet Jesus, this is not about winning an argument.

 

While the late Queen Elizabeth II was not perfect, she knew she was Queen and that she was called to serve the Commonwealth as Queen; before she became Queen, she knew that she was called to one day become Queen. Sadly, others in her family have had no sense of royal calling – they have lived without royal deportment at best, and some have shamed the royal family. The duties of Elizabeth II, her actions, flowed from her sense of who she was, a Queen in the service of the people.

 

Are we, the sons and daughters of the Living God, living as His Royal Priesthood (1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:6)? Or are we bringing shame to the Family of God? Living as His sons and daughters means that we are living lives of consistent testimony to Him – in word and deed. It means that what God gives to us, we give to others; it means that as God’s life flows into us that it flows out from us to others. It means that we know that we can do nothing of ourselves, but that as we abide in the Vine and as the Vine lives in us, that we will bear much fruit (John 15:1 – 11).

 

It means that everyday is a day of opportunities to give to others in some fashion as we live in Christ and Christ lives in us.

 

We are going to continue to ponder Proverbs 11:24 – 26 and 11:30 in the following posts.

 

As you meditate on these verses, what do you see? How is the Holy Spirit speaking to you through them?

Pondering Proverbs – Witness (5)

 

 

“With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.” Proverbs 11:9.

 

What does this verse have to do with witnessing? What do we see in this painting?

 

What do you see in the structure of the verse?

 

At the outset, there is much to be gained by seeing this verse in the context of 11:1 – 11, there is a story here, a narrative, and we could write a play based on this passage.  While I am tempted to take a detour and spend some time in exploring 11:1 – 11 as a unit – a very intriguing story – I am going to remain focused on verse 9 in the context of witnessing the Gospel.

 

Regarding structure, in 11:9a we have the godless man and his neighbor, but in 9b rather than having the righteous man and his neighbor, we only have the righteous man. In other words, in 9a we see how the godless man affects his neighbor, so we might expect to see how the righteous man affects his neighbor in 9b, but we don’t.

 

Another apparent disjunction is that in 9a we read about the “mouth” of the godless, while in 9b instead of reading about the “mouth” of the righteous we read about the knowledge of the righteous. Is there nevertheless a relationship between “mouth” and “knowledge” so that we can compare the two?

 

To help us better see what I’m saying it is helpful to read Proverbs 11:1 – 11 aloud a few times to catch the rhythm of the passage and to see that verse 9 is a bit different.

 

Well now, how might the godless man destroy his neighbor with his mouth? What can you think of? Slander and gossip? For sure, we have probably seen this in our lives at school, in community, at work, at (sadly) church. What else can you think of?

 

What about when we speak of a gospel which is not the Gospel? That is, what about when we either propagate teaching that isn’t true but deceptive – thus leading others to spiritual death, or when we acquiesce in conversations that run amiss of the Bible by not speaking up with the truth of God’s Word? How many times do we give tacit approval to what goes on around us by our silence and body language? The silence of our mouths can be as deadly as false words from our mouths.

 

What about when we speak a gospel of politics instead of Christ? What about when our message is one of culture wars and not of Christ?

 

What we say, or do not say, influences our neighbors; we can be instruments of destruction or of salvation – which will it be?

 

In Proverbs 11:4, 6, 8, and 9 we read about the deliverance of the upright (this is part of the narrative of Proverbs 11:1 – 11). God has indeed given us an Ark of deliverance in our Lord Jesus Christ – but what about our neighbors? If the mouth of the godless is destroying those around us, surely we want to be God’s agents of salvation. Let’s consider Paul’s words to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16:

 

“Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”

 

O dear friends, how we live matters to others, whether they know it or not; what we say matters to others, whether they know it or not. We are called to be faithful to Christ in our words and deeds, and this faithfulness is expressed in our relationships and interactions with others – are others seeing the words and actions of Jesus Christ in us? Is the Incarnate Word being expressed in us and through us?

 

I do not pretend to understand the mystery behind 1 Timothy 4:16, but I must not ignore it – my fidelity to Jesus Christ matters to others, your fidelity to Jesus Christ matters to others; they will likely have no idea of this, but we must remember that by faithfulness to Jesus in word and deed we “will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”

 

What is the knowledge that delivers the righteous? Is it not the eternal life that comes with knowing the Father and Son? “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). All wisdom and knowledge that the righteous has flows from the Trinity, and to be sure, it is a knowledge and wisdom that is quite unlike that of the present age (1 Cor. 1:17 – 2:16).

 

Well then, are we agents of destruction to our neighbors, or are our lives – in word and deed (for we must have both!) – offering deliverance and salvation and life, in Jesus Christ, to others?

Pondering Proverbs - Witness

 Pondering Proverbs – Witness (4)

 

“Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy one to those who send him.” Proverbs 10:26.

 

We hit “send” on our email or click on the send icon on our text message, and our message is sent – whether to someone across the street or across the world. We are accustomed to instant communication, and as such people, Proverbs 10:26 may be a verse that we gloss over. After all, when is the last time we sent a message by messenger?

 

Yet, there are still messages better communicated by speech over the telephone or in a video meeting than via email or text; and there are still messages best communicated in person. When God wanted to communicate the depths of His love for us, He sent His Son, and as John wrote, “we’ve heard Him, we’ve seen Him, and we’ve touched Him” (1 John 1:1).

 

Furthermore, even though God has given us the Bible, His Word, this Word is to be communicated in person by speech, as Paul writes, "And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14 – 15). Communicating the Gospel is a marriage of the Word written and the Word spoken – it is the Word incarnated continuing in its Incarnation.

 

And so Jesus commands us to “go” and to “teach,” making disciples among all peoples (Matt. 28:18 – 20). The question then, in light of Proverbs 10:26, is whether we are a “going” people or a lazy people. Is my life one of “going” to others with God’s message, or am I lazy? Are our churches “going” churches? Has your life, dear reader, been one of going for Jesus Christ, taking His message to others wherever you are?

 

Going with the message of God in Christ means going out of myself and extending myself to others. It means opening myself up to others in devotion to Jesus Christ, conveying the words of Jesus, demonstrating the actions of Jesus. In means, to use a current phrase, “Putting myself out there” for others.

 

What is it like to have a mouthful of vinegar? What is it like to have our eyes filled with smoke? This is what it is like when someone sends a message by a lazy messenger – it is irritating, it is an experience we want to end as soon as possible – it is an experience that is bitter and brings tears to our eyes.

 

While this is decidedly anthropomorphic, what kind of messenger am I toward the One who sent me? Am I bringing vinegar and smoke to the Trinity, or am I faithfully – by God’s grace – going out of myself to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to others?

 

Do I have coworkers with whom I have never shared Jesus Christ? How lazy must we be to sit in the same office with others, or work in the same store with others, or labor in the same trade with others – and yet never share the amazing love of God in Christ with them? How lazy must we be to sit in the same classroom, to teach in the same school, to play at the same sport, to live on the same street – and yet never share the message that God in Christ sent us to share with others. What kind of messenger does such a life make us?

 

I know what it is to be a lazy messenger, and I know the sickening realization that I have been one. I also know what it is, by God’s enabling grace, to go out of myself, out of my cocoon of what I think is safety, and share Jesus Christ with my neighbors – at school, at work, in my community.  As we saw in a previous post, Jesus promises us that He will always be with us, even to the end of the age…we can always and forever trust our Lord Jesus to be with us when we go out of ourselves and bring His message to others.

 

And here’s a thing we should remember, we are not messengers on our own authority – we have been sent to others by our Lord Jesus Christ – the One to whom we belong. We go to others not with our own message, but with the message which Christ Jesus has entrusted to us – our call is to be obedient and not lazy; our message is His and not ours. We are called to please God and not humanity, to obey God and not man.

 

Are our lives a sweet aroma to God, or are they irritating smoke?

 

Who will we bring God’s message to today?