Greetings everyone. Let’s pick the Bible Study up in Proverbs 26:16. Once again, He’s continuing to talk about the sluggard. Do you notice how God inspires certain themes and certain passages of the Bible? And He keeps dwelling on that so that we can get the point. He wants us to get the point about laziness here and about slothfulness and about being a sluggard and a slug.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit—
or in his own eyes
16 —than seven men that can—
answer sensibly, or that can
16 —render a reason.
He just will not listen to reason. He feels like he’s fine. He feels like he’s okay. He feels like he knows it all and there’s no reason for him to change because he’s so stuck on himself. And he could make his case better than seven men who are wise and who are articulate and who can nail the situation accurately.
Because, see, a sluggard is not teachable. A sluggard is not reasonable. A sluggard cannot be entreated. We want to make sure that we are teachable, that we are reasonable, that we can be entreated and therefore then we can see our faults and change them, rather than just going along like a pig-headed, stubborn individual and suffering as a result of it.
17 He that passes by, and meddles with strife belonging not to him, is like one that takes a dog by the ears.
It’s a cruel thing to pick a dog up by his ears. And, you know, a very peaceful, docile dog when he’s picked up by his ears can turn into a ferocious animal that will bite and bite and keep on biting.
Well, that’s what happens when we’re going along through life and we see someone striving with someone else and we get over there and meddle where we don’t belong. We can end up incurring the wrath of the two individuals that were mad at each other.
Obviously, if we can make peace by properly intervening, or if we can help sort out a situation by applying principles from the Bible or putting God in the picture, yes, we should be peacemakers. But when it comes to meddling in other people’s business and when it comes to intervening where there are people who are striving against one another and we have no business knowing about it, but even if we do, we have no business stepping in there—we haven’t been invited in, we’re not welcome there, they want to be left alone and work it out themselves—we can get in as much trouble if we force ourselves into a situation and meddle with the situation where there’s strife going on and we do not belong in there. We’re not wanted in there. It could be two people fighting. Call the police. Don’t step in there and then both of them jump on you and beat the daylights out of you and maybe even knife you.
No, we need to make sure that we don’t mind other people’s business because the result could be like picking up a dog by his ears and getting very severely bitten. It can backfire, and so there’s a time to make peace where you can do some good and you’re invited in and you fit. And there’s a time to pass on by and get help from some other source like the police. Otherwise, if you step in, you could be hurt and even killed, and the result could be as painful, if not more so, than grabbing a dog and picking him up by his ears and suffering the consequences.
18 As a mad man who casts firebrands, arrows, and death,
19 So is the man that deceives his neighbor, and says, Am I not in sport?
You know, somebody who’s out of his mind and he’s just taking implements of war—firebrands, arrows, guns, knives—and just wreaking havoc in every direction, all the while saying don’t take me seriously I’m just kidding as I shoot you, as I beat you, as I harm you, but I’m just joking. That once again is no joke.
And so it’s not any joke either when a man deceives his neighbor, lies to him, misrepresents the facts, causes him harm, causes him to lose money, causes him to be hated by other people, and then when the results and the consequences settle in on his neighbor, he tells him, “Am I not in sport? I’m just kidding.” Somebody hits you over the head with a club and when you recover He tells you, “I was just joking.”
We need to be concerned about other people. We need to have feelings for other people. Sin is not something to joke about. Deception is not something to joke about. Lying and misrepresenting people and situations is not something to kid around about. A good, harmless, clean joke—sure that’s nice. And a good sense of humor at the right time in the right way and used for the right purpose—you bet. That’s just wonderful. That’s one of the joys of life.
But to harm and maim and deceive and lie and hurt other people and then try to gloss it over by saying, “I’m just joking”, doesn’t go over very big, is unacceptable and it’s something that God points out here that we better not do because it’s like a madman wreaking havoc in every direction. That’s the category He puts it in.
20 Where no wood is, there the fire goes out: so where there is no talebearer,—
No gossip, no whisperer of gossip.
20 —the strife ceases.
There’s always a cause for every effect. A fire doesn’t burn by itself. If you have a fireplace, and you start it up, and you put wood in the fireplace, and you start that wood up, and it’s burning and it’s warm and it’s wonderful, and you don’t put anymore wood on, that fire is going to gradually begin to wind down. And finally it’ll stop burning and turn into coals, and finally the coals will die out, and finally there’ll be nothing there but ashes. Why? Because you didn’t put more wood on. In order for it to keep blazing, you’ve got to put more wood on.
Well, the same is true when it comes to strife. There’s a cause for the strife. It doesn’t just happen by itself where people have good attitudes, where people are trying to be Christian, where people are trying to love their neighbor properly. There’s not going to be strife because there’s not going to be gossip, there’s not going to be tale bearing.
Now, I know some people think gossip is not that serious. One person said she loves to gossip. It’s really a lot of fun. Well, no, it’s actually sin and it’s very, very harmful and it’s very, very unchristian. Where there is gossip and where there’s tale bearing and backstabbing, there’s going to be strife. And where there’s strife, there’s going to be suffering and pain.
But the way to stop the strife and stop the pain and suffering is to stop the gossip, and it’ll die, just like a fire will die when no wood is put on it. What a beautiful thing. It’s not a mystery. There’s a cause for every effect.
21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Once again, do you see the verses that are coupled together here to make the point? We’ve read about fools, then we’ve read about slothful people and sluggards, and now we’re reading about people who cause strife. And just like charcoals are to burning coals and wood to a fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
In order to keep the coals burning, you have to put more coals or charcoal on there. And in order to keep the fire burning, you have to put more wood on there. Well, a contentious man will just keep on stirring up the strife, keep on stirring up trouble. He likes it. He likes to see other people squirm and suffer. He likes to see them in pain. It’s just lots of fun. So he’ll lie about this person to the other person, and then lie to that person about the other person. Or a woman will gossip, will lie, will make up stories, will pit people against one another and just keep the trouble going, when in fact most of it is not true, and all of it is harmful. And it’s totally unchristian and it’s not something to joke about and it’s not something to have fun with because it’s not fun and it’s not a joke. It’s sin and God takes it seriously. And the person who does that is going to be punished for it. And the people who are subjected to it are going to suffer from it.
So, the best thing to do is to admit the proclivity for gossiping if you have one, or if you’re friend has that proclivity, and to put a stop to it. Just simply don’t gossip. Just simply don’t stir up strife, and there’ll be peace then. We can decide to do that, and as Christians, we need to decide to do that.
22 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
Now, to some people the words of a talebearer, they’re just like delicacies. “Oh it’s so juicy.” Just think there is a whole industry built around gossip. There’s a whole industry built around publishing tales and incidences and anecdotes and juicy tidbits about this, that, and the other celebrity. It’s on television, it’s on the newsstand. I don’t even know how many magazines are devoted to nothing else except talebearing and gossip and juicy morsels and tidbits.
And people just take the money and buy those magazines almost as fast as they’re put on the newsstands. There are whole television programs devoted to nothing else except gossip and talebearing. There are people who have entire careers doing nothing else with their career except digging up dirt and digging up gossip and digging up real tasty morsels and tidbits about this, that, and the other person who’s married to this person, divorced from that person, committing adultery with that person, got drunk over here, had a run in with the law over there, got caught stealing something, shoplifting and taking drugs. And these people make a career out of wallowing in all of that garbage and reporting it to others.
But you know what? There wouldn’t be careers in that junk, and there wouldn’t be magazines published about that filth, and there wouldn’t be television programs produced on those topics if there were not an audience—if there were not people who couldn’t get enough of it and just buy it and listen to it and read it and eat it up.
So the way for that to stop in your individual family, in your individual life and in the neighborhoods and cities and towns all over the world is to quit putting the wood on the fire, quit putting the charcoal on the coals, and quit feeding it. And then it would stop. But there’s always people there to feed it.
But we individually as Christians can pull out of that and pull away from that and have nothing to do with it because it’s not really juicy, it’s not really tasty, it’s not really nourishing and wholesome and worthwhile. It’s really like being wounded right into the innermost part of our being. And it hurts while the person who’s passing it along maybe having a grand old time in a carnal way. The one who is being gossiped about is being wounded and hurt right down to their innermost being, and that is totally unchristian and it’s something that God hates. And we ought to hate it as well.
23 Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
Lips that are just fervent with wickedness and fervent with hate and fervent with putting down and hurting others, it’s like earthen ware that’s covered with scum. Metal, if it isn’t polished and if it isn’t refined and if it isn’t maintained properly will begin to take on a dross or a covering of scum and of waste and then it’s not really a beautiful piece of metal. Now, it’s got to be polished and that’s got to be gotten off of there.So, that’s what a wicked heart and wicked lips do to an individual. It’s like taking a beautiful piece of earthenware and covering it over with scum, covering it over with garbage and junk and waste. It’s not pretty anymore. It’s ugly, and it’s something that is useless until it’s cleaned up.
24 He that hates dissembleth with his lips, and lays up deceit within him;
There are people who can seem one way and be another. We have to really get to know people in order to be able to plumb the depths of their being. I mean, it takes time to get to know an individual. It takes time to get to where you can trust an individual. Trust requires a history, but it can be destroyed quickly.
So don’t be too quick to judge one way or the other. You can judge a person to be nice and find out he’s not. You can judge a person to be not so nice and find out she is. It just takes time, and by their fruits you shall know them. People can disguise their hatred. They can seem so pleasant and deep down in their heart just be filled with hatred. They can talk a good fight but you don’t really know who they are. They can just be a hypocrite.
We’re innocent until proven guilty. So don’t judge one way or the other. Just take time to let people get to know you and to get to know other people before you begin to reach conclusions. First impressions are not always right. First impressions can be absolutely dead wrong, and we can just simply be judging by appearance, which Jesus Christ inspired several scriptures to warn us against.
We’re not to be judging by appearance. We can judge by appearance and say someone is this way, bad, when they’re the other way, good. Or we can judge by appearance and say, “Oh, they’re just wonderful people”, but we find out no, they aren’t. They might sound like they’re wonderful, but we find out there’s hatred inside. And we find out there’s deceit inside. And they’re doing a number on us, and that’s what the warning is here in verse 24. He that hates disguises it with his lips and lays up deceit within him.
Verse 25, here’s how he does it:
25 When he speaks fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.
When he sounds gracious and sounds harmless, check it out. Prove all things. Don’t be cynical, but there is a place for some healthy skepticism regarding salesmen that are fast-talking con artists. We may not know that, but if we check them out and if we take our time and if we really do take the approach of proving all things, then we can find out that this smooth talking, glib individual is just simply lying. They’re not the way they seem to be. There are seven abominations in their heart. They’re up to no good. They have ulterior motives. There are strings attached. They’re saying one thing and actually meaning another.
Now, there are some people who are very good salesmen who really can explain a product well, and who really do attach a right price to it, and you’ll be happy with the purchase and they’ll be happy with the sale. But there are politicians and there are salesmen and there are ministers and there are everyday people who can sound good and not be good. So therefore we need to make sure that we take our time before we assume they’re good because there could be evil inside. And there are criminals who can seem and sound harmless, but when the chance comes, the criminal heart and the criminal mind will come out and then horrible things happen. You hear about it on the news all the time.
What He’s saying here—God is, inspiring Solomon: “Let’s not be naïve. Let’s not be easily taken in. Let’s not be pushovers.” We don’t need to be cynical, but we do need to use judgment. And we do need to take our time, and we do need to get the facts. And we do need to have proof before we start forming opinions and conclusions about people, places and things, if you will.
Starting in verse 25 again.
25 When he speaks fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.
26 Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.
Maybe not right away, but eventually the truth comes out. Eventually the way this person really is emerges, and then it can be a very ugly thing. But because you didn’t take your time and you didn’t use caution and you didn’t put the trip wire way out and looked for signals good and bad, you can be harmed before the truth comes out about this person. And the ugly side that they were harboring inside all along actually comes out, and then quite often the wickedness is known in front of everybody.
But maybe in your case, it’s too late to keep you from losing money or being harmed or your loved ones being harmed. So be careful, and especially in our society today. Don’t just open the door to anybody, invite them in—you don’t know who you’re inviting into your house—or open the door and let them get in your car and give them a ride—you don’t know who you’re giving a ride to—or taking a ride with just anybody. Be careful about how much you divulge and how much confidentiality you get into with fellow workers and so on.
You don’t need to be paranoid and you don’t need to be so uptight that you just cocoon yourself and have nothing to do with anyone, but just ask God for wisdom. Ask God for guidance and ask God for discernment, and then go through life in situations and in relationships with both eyes wide open. And acknowledge what you see both good and bad, and don’t gloss it over and pretend that what you saw is not what you saw. If it’s bad then take a look at that. And if it’s good, okay, that’s something that you can be happy about.
But don’t be taken in by smooth-talking people. Don’t be taken in by pleasant personalities. Don’t be taken in by supposedly wonderful people when you don’t know anything about them because you could get ambushed and you could get bushwhacked and you could really be surprised that they turned out not to be so wonderful. They had ulterior motives, and they’re going to show themselves to be people who are trying to take advantage of you or even be criminals that will wreak havoc and wickedness. If you’re not careful, you could be subjected to people like that. I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I’m just saying be careful or it could happen. And that’s what these scriptures here are talking about.
27 Whoso digs a pit shall fall therein:—
In other words, if we set a trap for somebody else or we set our mind to get somebody else or we try to finagle or maneuver them into a dire situation, we could be the ones who end up in that dire situation. We could be the ones who are caught in the trap that we set for somebody else. We could be the ones who fall in the pit that we dug for somebody else. That’s not how we should treat other people.
We should not ever set our mind to get somebody else. We need to put that in God’s hands. Go ahead and set the right example. Do the right thing, and let God take care of people like that. And if we have to deal with certain ones or if we have the responsibility of handling certain situations and certain people, that’s fine. But we need to be direct, we need to be upfront. We need to be honest and we need to be Christian about how we go about that. We don’t want to play politics and be devious about it and go behind people’s back and set them up in an underhanded manner so that they end up falling in a pit. We dig that pit and we set that trap for them and then they fall in it. God says, “You do that, and that could backfire on you and you’re the one who falls in the pit.”
That is not Christian behavior. We handle problems differently. We’re upfront, we’re direct and we do this matter of looking into problems and solving them in a direct, loving, kind, firm, straightforward way. Not in a devious, under the table, behind the back, political way of setting traps and digging pits for people because we could end up being caught in our own traps and falling in our own pits. Like for instance the last part of verse 27.
27 —he that rolls a stone, it will—
Roll back on him. It comes back on you. It backfires. Rather than doing that, just be upfront with the individual between you and him, or you and her, and take care of it that way according to God’s word, instead of this underhanded, behind the back, destructive approach.
28 A lying tongue hates those that are afflicted—
or crushed
28 —by it; and a flattering mouth works ruin.
A lying tongue does hate other people because it does hateful things to them and it causes them affliction. No doubt about it. It crushes others. Sooner or later, it will bring about painful things on other people. That’s what a lying tongue will do.
28 —and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Now to give someone a sincere compliment, to give someone deserving praise, that’s encouraging and that’s right, that’s good. But flattery, see, flattery has an ulterior motive to it. Flattery is trying to fool people. It is saying something that you don’t mean. It’s heaping on accolades so that you can get something from the person. It is paying an individual praise and more praise and compliments and more compliments so that you can turn them toward you and then you can get something from them.
Flattery is really a form of lying. We ought to make sure that we don’t want flattering and we don’t like flattering and we see through flattering because you’re just being set up when someone is always just flattering you and flattering you and praising you and complimenting you. You’re just being set up so that they can get something from you.
Legitimate, moderate encouragement and praise, that’s good. But be careful when it’s overdone and turns into flattery. There’s a catch. And we ought to make sure that we don’t get subjected to that and fall for that. But we also ought to make sure that we don’t practice that because that is not proper in God’s eyes.
It’s going to end up hurting those that we are flattering, and it’s also going to hurt us because we’re phony. We’re lying when we do that. Like I say, legitimate compliments, that’s one thing. Flattery, no. That is not something that’s good for anyone—the one who’s doing it and the one who’s receiving it—because it’s not real. It’s just phony and no good will come of it, and it’s not looked upon with favor by Almighty God.
We’ll stop there and pick it up next time in Chapter 27.
This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.