Mind Your Own Business

God, it's so easy

to get lost in the delusions of our own grandeur.

To think that we must be involved in everything.

We must have an opinion about everything.

That we must control everything.

But Lord, you alone are sovereign.

You alone are king.

And you have assigned to us

our particular set of responsibilities,

roles, relationships

to be faithful in.

And you call us to childlike faith

to entrust the rest to you.

Teach us that humility.

Give us that faith this morning

as we hear from you

and from your word in Proverbs 6,

Proverbs 6:1–19

verses 1 to 19.

In Jesus' holy name we pray.

Amen.

We're in Proverbs 6,

Proverbs 6:1–19

verses 1 to 19.

I will read it out loud for us.

My son,

if you have put up security for your neighbor,

have given your pledge for a stranger,

if you are snared in the words of your mouth,

caught in the words of your mouth,

then do this, my son,

and save yourself,

for you have come into the hand of your neighbor.

Go hasten and plead urgently with your neighbor.

Give your eyes no sleep

and your eyelids no slumber.

Save yourself like a gazelle

from the hand of the hunter,

like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, O sluggard.

Consider her ways and be wise.

Without having any chief officer or ruler,

she prepares her bread in summer

and gathers her food in harvest.

How long will you lie there, O sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

A little sleep,

a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

and poverty will come upon you like a robber

and want like an armed man.

A worthless person,

a wicked man,

goes about with crooked speech,

winks with his eyes,

signals with his feet,

points with his finger,

with perverted heart,

devises evil,

continually sowing discord.

Therefore calamity will come upon him

suddenly.

In a moment,

he will be broken beyond healing.

There are six things that the Lord hates.

Seven that are an abomination to him.

Haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood.

A heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that makes haste to run to evil.

A false witness who breathes out lies

and one who sows discord among brothers.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

This is an unusual passage

because it's sandwiched between two long sections

that are both warnings against adultery.

So Proverbs 5,

that Ray preached on last week,

and Proverbs 6, 20 to 7, 27.

And you wonder what it's doing here

between these two passages.

But there is a thematic connection.

Proverbs 5 warned in verse 3 and verse 20

of a forbidden woman,

which means literally a strange woman,

as Ray pointed out last week.

A woman that is strange

rather than known or familiar to you

because she is another man's wife.

And to bolster this argument,

Proverbs 5, verse 10,

Proverbs 5:10

once again used the word stranger

and said this to paraphrase,

you wouldn't labor long and hard

only to see all the fruit and income

of your labor go to the strangers,

would you?

And Proverbs 5, 17 added,

should your springs be scattered abroad,

streams of water in the streets?

Let them be for yourself alone

and not for strangers with you.

So it's a recurring theme,

a running theme that unites these passages,

the thing of the identity of a stranger.

That's in fact the main argument of chapter 5,

that to commit adultery

is to transgress your own boundary,

that to move beyond what is rightfully yours,

to infringe upon what is rightfully another's.

Because as 1 Corinthians 7, verse 4 teaches us,

1 Corinthians 7:4

when you get married,

the husband's body does not belong to him anymore,

it belongs to his wife.

And the wife's body does not belong to her anyway,

it belongs to her husband.

And so when you get married,

you belong to one another

and there's this mutuality and interdependence.

And when you tamper with another man's wife

or another woman's husband,

you violate that sacred mutuality and interdependence.

And so I don't know if you've ever gotten into a wrong car in the parking lot

because it looked exactly like yours or tried to get in.

I mean, one time a car with the exact same make and model and color as mine

was for some reason parked right next to mine at Market Basket.

And as I came out of Market Basket,

this was at the time my key fob battery was dead.

So I was using a manual key to open it.

And here I might try to open this car and it wouldn't turn,

the key wouldn't turn.

And so I looked more closely at the car

and recognized a scratch I'd never seen before.

And now I'm getting frustrated.

Did someone just scratch my car and leave?

And then, of course, to my relief,

I realized it's actually not my car at all.

And my car was right next to it.

And, of course, as soon as I realized that I was kind of looking around

because I'm a little embarrassed, you know,

you don't want to be seen trying to get into someone else's car.

And the reason for that is because you have no business

trying to get into someone else's car.

It's not your car, right?

And that's, but that's exactly what we do when we commit adultery.

You have no business being in that relationship.

It's not, that is not the relationship that God has put you in.

You are transgressing the boundaries God's given you.

We wouldn't ever think after a long day of work

to go home to someone else's house to sleep.

Not only would they call the police for intruding,

but it's just not our place.

It's not homey.

We wouldn't rest it.

We wouldn't think of it.

But yet we often, in other areas of our life,

think about things that way.

We transgress the boundaries that God has given us.

And so that was the main argument with chapter 5.

Really, the main argument against adultery in Proverbs chapter 5

Proverbs 5 · chapter mention

was mind your own business.

Spouses have a mutual obligation to one another,

and whether you have consent or not

with a married woman or married man does not justify it

because there's a sanctity of marriage that has been established.

You have no business meddling in that relationship.

And chapter 6 is actually continuing that same theme.

So in verses 1 to 5, it tells us to mind our own business,

to not become a surety to a stranger's debt.

Don't co-sign a stranger's loan.

Verses 6 to 11 tell us to mind our own business,

to put our heads down and go to work,

to make provisions for our own life instead of being a slugger

that does not work unless someone forces him to.

Verses 12 to 19 tell us also to mind our own business,

to not be an instigator that sows discord among brothers.

So to summarize, the main point of this passage is

mind your own business and attend to the responsibilities

and relations God has given to you specifically.

Now please don't misunderstand me.

Sometimes we use that phrase, you know,

mind your own business,

to rebuff people who do rightfully have an interest in our lives.

Like our own parents,

our own spouses,

our own bosses,

our own brothers and sisters in Christ.

If we tell these people to mind their own business,

that's just selfish irresponsibility and rebellion.

To mind our own business in a biblical sense

is the opposite of selfish irresponsibility.

It means to be responsible citizens.

It means to fulfill our own obligations.

It's what 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 9 to 12 talk about.

1 Thessalonians 4:9–12

It says,

Now concerning brotherly love,

you have no need for anyone to write to you.

For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

For that indeed is what you are doing

to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

But we urge you brothers to do this more and more

and to aspire to live quietly

and to mind your own affairs

and to work with your hands

as we instructed you

so that you may walk properly before outsiders

and be dependent on no one.

Notice that in that passage,

this 1 Thessalonians chapter 4,

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

that living quietly,

minding our own affairs,

working with our hands

so that we may walk properly before outsiders

and be dependent on no one,

that these things are not a sign of selfishness

but rather an expression of brotherly love.

That's how that passage began.

One of the important ways we love one another

within the family of God

is by faithfully fulfilling

the responsibilities and roles

God has given us particularly.

And that faithfulness

is born of faith in God's sovereignty

that He is the one that's ultimately in charge

and oversees all that we do not have our business in.

And when we faithfully do that,

this passage teaches us

that in verses 1 to 5,

that we will not be a surety.

Verses 6 to 11,

that we will not be a sluggard.

And verses 12 to 19,

that we will not be a sower of discord.

So that's the way my outline

as we go through this passage.

So first,

minding our own business

and attending to the responsibilities

and relations God has given us

entails not becoming a surety.

A surety is a person

who makes him or herself

a guarantor of another person's debt.

A cosigner of a loan.

It says in verses 1 to 3 of our passage,

My son,

if you have put up security for your neighbor,

have given your pledge for a stranger,

if you are snared in the words of your mouth,

caught in the words of your mouth,

then do this, my son,

and save yourself,

for you have come into the hand of your neighbor.

Go,

hasten and plead urgently with your neighbor.

Now this is not,

I want to add this important qualification,

this is not a prohibition

of helping and being generous to our neighbors.

For example,

Deuteronomy chapter 15,

Deuteronomy 15:7–11

verses 7 to 11,

it specifically commands

that if among you,

one of your brothers should become poor

in any of your towns within your land

that the Lord your God is giving you,

you shall not harden your heart

or shut your hand against your poor brother,

but you shall open your hand to him

and lend him sufficient for his need,

whatever it may be.

Take care,

lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart

and say,

the seventh ear,

the ear of release is near,

and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother

and you give him nothing.

And he cry to the Lord against you

and you be guilty of sin.

You shall give to him freely

and your heart shall not be grudging

when you give to him

because for this,

the Lord your God will bless you

in all your work

and all that you undertake.

For there will never cease to be poor in the land.

Therefore,

I command you,

you shall open wide your hand to your brother,

to the needy and to the poor in your land.

So on the sabbatical year,

to give you some Old Testament background,

the seventh year,

God's people were commanded

to cancel the debt

of all of their fellow Israelites.

And God is saying in this passage

that even when the sabbatical year

is just around the corner,

that his people should lend generously,

knowing full well

that they may never get the money back

because of the sabbatical year.

God always explicitly prohibited his people,

on top of that,

from charging interest on loans.

Exodus 22, 25 says,

if you lend money to any of my people with you

who is poor,

you shall not be like a money lender to him

and you shall not exact interest from him.

And of course,

the goal of that command

is to prohibit exploitation

since those who seek to borrow money

are usually the neediest people.

That's why they're coming to you,

to borrow money.

And so it usually was considered unjust.

It's an injustice,

an exploitation of someone

in their time of greatest need

and that it actually worsened

their financial condition

instead of improving it.

So that was the logic behind that.

In certain cases,

Israelites were allowed

to demand securities for a loan.

The security was usually a garment

which represented the borrower himself,

meaning that should the borrower

fail to repay his debt,

he would be pressed into servitude

in order to render a service

equal to the amount of the debt he owed.

But even that practice

was prohibited in scripture

for certain more vulnerable populations.

For example,

Deuteronomy 24, verse 17 says,

Deuteronomy 24:17

you shall not pervert the justice

due to the sojourner,

a foreigner that doesn't have

legal rights within the country,

or to the fatherless,

or take a widow's garment in pledge.

The sojourners who lacked legal protection,

orphans who lacked fatherly protection,

widows who lacked their husband's provision

and protection,

were never in any circumstance

to be taken advantage of.

You are not allowed

to take a security from them.

And so,

the Bible encourages

love for neighbor

and generosity toward the poor,

and Proverbs chapter 6,

Proverbs 6:1

verse 1,

does not contradict that.

What's in view here

is something different.

It is warning against

putting up security

for your neighbor,

on behalf of your neighbor.

You're not lending here

to a needy neighbor.

You're not giving

to a poor neighbor.

You're, in essence,

assuming their debt

and taking full responsibility

for their financial situation.

And biblical wisdom literature

consistently warns

against that practice.

And note the word

at the end of verse 1

that's parallel

to the word neighbor.

My son,

if you have put up security

for your neighbor,

have given your pledge

for a stranger.

That should ring a bell

because of all the connection

to the theme of stranger

we've seen in chapter 5.

Stranger,

that's the keyword

that explains

what he means

by the word neighbor here

because the word neighbor

in Hebrew

has a very wide

semantic range.

It can mean

a lot of different things

depending on its context.

Similar to the English word friend,

right?

When you say

a friend,

you could mean

an acquaintance,

a Facebook friend

that you have never seen before.

Or you could mean

a friend,

meaning your best friend

that you grew up with

and is,

is,

has been,

was in your wedding

or is going to be

in your wedding,

right?

So friend can mean

a number of different things.

Same thing with the word neighbor

in scripture.

And so the word neighbor here

is given context

by the word stranger.

So this stranger

is not someone

that is familiar to you.

This is not a brother

that you are responsible for.

This is someone

that is not within

your circle of relationships

and responsibilities.

Remember that

in chapter five,

the adulterous woman,

another man's wife,

was described

as a strange woman.

And Proverbs chapter 27,

Proverbs 27:13

verse 13

makes a very interesting

suggestive connection.

It says,

take a man's garment

when he has put up security

for a stranger

and hold it in pledge

when he puts up security

for an adulteress.

So what might,

what might be in view here

is that a seductive adulteress

can lure a foolish man

into putting up security

for her debt.

So if you're putting up security

for your wife or sister,

that's one thing.

But for a stranger,

for an adulteress,

don't ever do that.

That's what the problem,

what this problem is saying.

Let me ask you,

have you ever rashly

taken responsibility

for something

that is not

your responsibility?

Have you ever tried

to play the hero

in something

that really

is none of your business?

Have you

been out of your depths

because you have been

meddling in

trying to control

things that are

outside of your control?

The exhortation

in this proverb

is mind your own business

and attend

to the responsibilities

and relations

God has given you.

And putting up security

for a stranger

is not one

of those responsibilities.

But if you've already

done that,

there's advice

for you here too.

If you have already

done that,

as verse 2 says,

you've given your pledge

for a stranger.

If you are snared

in the words of your mouth,

caught in the words

of your mouth,

verse 3 says,

then do this,

my son,

and save yourself.

For you have come

into the hand

of your neighbor.

Go hasten

and plead urgently

with your neighbor.

The phrase,

give your pledge,

in verse 2,

is literally,

you know,

clap your hand,

you know,

clap your hand

in Hebrew.

It's a gesture

that people back then

used to seal

an agreement,

much like nowadays

we shake hands,

right?

And so,

there's a word play

then in verse 3,

you have come

into the hand

of your neighbor.

In other words,

if you clap your hand

to make yourself

a surety for a stranger,

you come into the hand

under the power

of that stranger.

You have been snared

or caught

in the words

of your mouth

by what you said

with your very own mouth.

You have entrapped yourself.

This is self-inflicted

predicament.

In order to save yourself

from this

unfortunate situation,

you should go

hasten

and plead urgently

with your neighbor.

Now,

you may have

a footnote

in your Bible

next to the word

hasten.

The English

standard version

that I'm using

as a footnote

there,

that the word

can also be translated

humble yourself.

I think that's

a better translation.

The word that is

translated as

plead urgently

and literally means

to bother.

So,

if you take those things,

the New American Standard

Bible translates

the end of verse 3

this way,

I think is very

helpful,

accurate.

It says,

Go,

humble yourself

and importune

your brother.

Importune your brother.

It means to humble yourself

and plead urgently

and persistently

even to the point

of embarrassment.

Like the importunate widow

in Luke 18

Luke 18:1–8

verses 1-8

who persistently

pleads for justice

to a wicked judge

so that the judge,

even though he has

no regard for God

or humanity,

he says,

because this widow

keeps bothering me,

I will give her justice

so that she will not

beat me down

by her continual coming.

So,

that's what Proverbs

Proverbs 6:3

chapter 6 verse 3

is telling us to do.

The stranger

that you put up security

for is obviously

not going to be eager

to release you

so plead urgently

and persistently

and shamelessly

so that he or she

might release you

from the legal obligation

before the payment

is due.

Now,

the father continues

his admonition

in verses 4-5.

Give your eyes

no slumber,

no sleep,

and your eyelids

no slumber.

Save yourself

like a gazelle

from the hand

of the hunter,

like a bird

from the hand

of the fowler.

Once again,

the word hand

is repeated.

You see it four times

in these first five verses.

At first,

the son foolishly

clapped his hand

in pledge

so that he came

into the hand

of his neighbor.

Now,

he must free himself

from this trap

like a gazelle

from the hand

of the hunter,

like a bird

from the hand

of the fowler.

It's the stranger's hand

that's in view here

that he must escape

like a gazelle

or the bird from.

And this extended metaphor

of hunting

and being hunted

and caught

and ensnared

is really helpful

because it inverts

the assumed

power dynamic.

Right?

When you put up

security for a stranger,

when you co-sign a loan,

it makes you feel like

you are in charge.

Right?

It makes you feel like

you are the benefactor

and that this debtor

is subject

to your goodwill.

But in reality,

what this passage

is teaching us

is when you put up

security for a stranger,

you become the subject

to his goodwill.

You are now

his beneficiary.

He has successfully

ensnared you

and you will be impoverished

if he refuses

to repay his own debt.

So moments ago,

he was begging you

to put up security

for him,

but now you must

beg him

to release you.

That's the folly

of becoming a surety.

Instead,

it says,

we should mind

our own business

and attend

to the responsibilities

and relations

God has given to us.

Right?

I mean,

think about how urgent

this is.

A bird caught

by the fowler

is not going to say,

well,

let me take a nap first

and finish eating this food

and then try to flee.

Right?

I mean,

that's not how you think

when you're trapped.

Similarly,

you should think about it

that way.

If you have come under,

pledge,

if you become a surety,

give your eyes no sleep,

your eyes no slumber,

you have been trapped.

Extricate yourself

as soon as you possibly can.

It's the first order

of business.

And he says,

untimely sleep

and dilly-dallying

and procrastination

and laziness

can ruin you.

And that thought

of untimely sleep

and laziness

and procrastination,

it prompts the father

to warn the son

against being a sluggard

in verses 6 to 11.

That's my second point.

He says in verses 6 to 8,

Go to the aunt,

O sluggard,

consider her ways

and be wise.

Without having any chief officer

or ruler,

she prepares her bread

in summer

and gathers her food

in harvest.

Now,

he uses

a form of direct address.

He says,

O sluggard,

in order to dramatize

and emphasize this warning.

But the implied audience

is still the son.

He doesn't want the son

to become like the sluggard.

So he says,

Go to the aunt,

you know,

waking him up

from his slumber.

Go.

Consider her ways

and be wise.

The father points out

that an aunt

gathers and stores grain

during the summer

so that he can survive

the winter

when there is little

food to gather.

Not only is this

relatively insignificant creature

more forward-thinking

and industrious

than the sluggard,

it's also more

responsible

and self-starting.

Right?

Look at it again.

It says,

Without having any chief

officer

or ruler,

she prepares her bread

in summer

and gathers her food

in harvest.

Nobody orders the aunt

to do that.

Go grab the breadcrumb

at this time

from this place

and bring it

and store it here.

Nobody decides

her duties for her

but the aunt

does it anyway.

She knows from her

God-given insect instinct

what her responsibilities

and relations are

and she fulfills them

admirably.

The aunt knows

to mind her own business

and attend to her

God-given responsibilities

and relations.

The sluggard,

on the other hand,

does not.

So the aunt's

industry

and independence

put the sluggard

to shame.

Verses 9-11

describe the sluggard

this way,

How long will you

lie there,

O sluggard?

When will you

arise from your sleep?

A little sleep,

a little slumber,

a little folding

of the hands

to rest

and poverty

will come upon you

like a robber

and want

like an armed man.

The interrogative words

emphasize time,

right?

How long

will you

lie there?

When will you

arise from your sleep?

So there's an implied

rebuke in those words.

The sluggard has already

been lying there

and sleeping for far

too long.

From the perspective

of the father,

the sluggard's slumber

is endless.

When?

How long?

It seems endless.

But from the perspective

of the sluggard,

note the contrast

that the father

gives voice to

in verse 10,

it's just

a little sleep,

a little slumber,

a little folding

of the hands

to rest.

Notice how vague

and incremental

that is, right?

I mean,

it seems harmless.

Oh, a little sleep.

Oh, I'll just snooze

just for a little while.

Oh, I'll get that done

just a little later.

Right?

Bible scholar

Derek Kittner

puts it insightfully.

He says,

he does not,

the sluggard,

he does not

commit himself

to a refusal

but deceives himself

by the smallness

of his surrenders.

So by inches

and minutes,

his opportunity

slips away.

The sluggard

is reluctant

to make a firm

time commitment.

So he delays

incrementally

and indefinitely.

He hates deadlines.

He shirks

responsibilities.

He flees

pressure.

Sleep is like

a drug

for the sluggard.

It's the means

by which he escapes

the painful realities

of life,

the difficulties

of life.

And we can be tempted

to think in the same way,

can't we?

What are some urgent

and important things

in your life

that you keep pushing back

little by little?

Perhaps it requires

discipline.

Perhaps it's unpleasant.

Perhaps it's

seeking reconciliation

with the Christian

brother or sister

that you have

sinned against.

perhaps it's

calling your parents.

Perhaps it's

getting a laborious

work project done.

Perhaps it's

applying for jobs.

Perhaps it's

studying for exams.

Perhaps it's

getting up early

in the morning

to read your Bible

and pray.

Maybe it's exercising.

Maybe it's finding

and committing

to a local church.

What have you

been delaying

unnecessarily

to your own peril?

You might think

it's just a little

folding of the hands

to rest,

but the Father warns,

and poverty

will come upon you

like a robber

and want

like an armed man.

The Father warns

of poverty

and want.

He doesn't merely

say that you won't

be rich.

He doesn't merely

say that you will

be middle class.

No, he says

that you will

be impoverished

and lack

the basic

necessities of life.

The Hebrew word

that is translated

poverty here

in verse 11

only occurs

in the book

of Proverbs.

It always

has a negative

connotation.

It doesn't refer

to just not

having enough

disposable income

and living from

paycheck to paycheck.

No, it refers

to destitution,

not having

enough food

to eat.

And it's not

a coincidence

that the Bible

never uses

the adjective

poor

to describe

the condition

of a sluggard

that becomes

destitute.

The word

poor

in contrast

to the word

poverty

is used

in the Bible

primarily

to refer

to those

who are poor

because of

circumstances

that are

outside of

their control.

And almost

uniformly

they are

the object

of God's

special compassion

and care

in Scripture.

So Proverbs

19.17

says,

whoever is

generous

to the

poor

lends

to the

Lord

and he

meaning

God

will repay

him

for his

deed.

God cares

for the

poor

but the

impoverished

sluggard

is another

story

altogether.

This is

not the

case

for charity.

Poverty

and want

in wisdom

literature

are result

of divine

judgment

for sins

such as

slothfulness,

stinginess,

love of luxury,

carelessness,

and idle talk

which we'll all

see throughout

the book of

Proverbs

as we go

through.

And poverty

is not

deferential

toward its

victims.

Verse 11

says that it

comes like a

robber which

conveys the

sudden,

stealthy way

in which

poverty comes

and like

an armed

man which

conveys the

violent,

forcible way

in which

poverty comes.

So you

can't always

indulge in a

little more

sleep and

expect to

arouse

yourself for

work just

in time to

avoid poverty.

It doesn't

work like that.

Poverty comes

unannounced,

unexpectedly,

unavoidably.

It's similar

to why so

many drivers

I think fall

asleep on

the road.

They think

that they

could arouse

themselves when

they start to

feel themselves

falling asleep.

They don't

realize that

even though

that pre-sleep

stages are

gradual,

when they

actually fall

asleep,

it's almost

instantaneous.

There's no

way to pull

yourself out

of that once

it's too

late.

And so

they don't

pull over

at the

first indication

that they

are sleepy

or falling

asleep.

Instead,

they say

a little

longer,

a few

more

miles,

and then

bam,

car wreck.

Poverty is

similar.

It will come

upon you

like a

robber,

like an

armed man.

You thought

you were

getting away

with the

little shortcuts

here and

there,

a few

wasted hours

here and

there,

and then

bam,

you lose

your job.

You thought

you could

skim the

books and

pull an

all-nighter

the day

before your

exam,

relying on

your own

intelligence

to bail

you out

as it

has done

before.

A little

more video

games,

a few

more episodes,

and then

bam,

you fail

the exam.

You thought

you could

miss church

just a few

times,

well,

that wasn't

so bad,

and then

a few

more times,

a little

more spiritual

neglect,

and then

bam,

unbelief

and spiritual

hardness

have sunk

into your

heart.

By the

time you

realize that

you're in

trouble,

it's already

too late.

So the

passage exhorts

us,

mind your

own business

and attend

to the

responsibilities

and relations

God has

given you.

The third

category of

person that

the father

warns the

son against

becoming is

a worthless

person,

or more

literally,

a man of

worthlessness.

He is twice

described in

verses 14 and

19 as a

sower of

discord.

This is an

agitator,

a rabble

rouser,

a troublemaker,

a person who

incites discord

and disunity

against God

and against

humanity.

The term

worthlessness is

almost a

catch-all term

for all kinds

of rebellious

wickedness,

so much so

that the

Hebrew word

behind that,

belial,

is used as

a name for

the devil in

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 6:15

chapter 6,

verse 15.

And the

kind of

things that

he does,

this worthless

man does,

is described

colorfully in

verses 12 to

14.

He goes out

with crooked

speech,

winks with

his eyes,

signals with

his feet,

points with

his finger,

with perverted

heart,

devises evil,

continually

sowing discord.

Many body

parts are used

to describe this

worthless man's

behavior.

He is

described as

having a

crooked speech.

It's literally

crooked mouth,

which refers to

his slanderous

and false

speech.

His winking

eyes betray

deception.

I think people

in various

cultures still

do that.

It's like,

you say one

thing, but

when you're

meaning another

thing, you

wink, right?

You're deceiving

people.

He signals

his feet,

or more

literally,

he shuffles

with his feet.

The parallel

in verse 18

describes feet

that make haste

to run to

evil.

So the

shuffling feet

is likely

a reference

to a busy

body just

restlessly

nosing about

plotting evil

and stirring

up the pot

and meddling

in other

people's

business.

Shuffling

feet.

He points

with his

finger,

right?

Mocking,

ridiculing,

caricaturing,

and accusing,

blaming all

of the stems

ultimately from

the perverted

heart,

which devises

evil,

continually

sowing discord.

And all of

these body

parts are used

to show

that this

sower of

discord

instigates

conflict and

agitates

crowd with

his whole

self.

He leverages

everything he

has to do

this.

He is a

deceptive and

destructive force

in society,

sowing

misunderstanding,

suspicion,

hatred,

and violence.

He is the

polar opposite

of the wise

man who

minds his

own business

and attends

to his

God-given

responsibilities

and relations.

The worthless

man minds

others'

business,

meddles in

their affairs,

their responsibilities,

their relations,

and the

prevalence of

such worthless

men explain

why our

society is so

fractured.

And we have

to be careful

not to follow

in the path

of the

sower of

discord,

right?

It's so easy

nowadays when

everything from

law to

even health

seems partisan

and politicized.

It's so easy

to represent

unfairly and

uncharitably

those whom

we disagree

with.

It's so easy

to wink

with our eyes

at our

followers or

friends,

to point

with our

fingers,

to pass

blame,

mock,

even demonize

the other.

It's so easy

to devise

evil in

our hearts,

seeking the

ill or

downfall of

another person

instead of

seeking their

good and

speaking well

of them.

Have you

made a

caustic or

snarky

comment that

sows discord

rather than

peace?

Have you

shared an

article or

meme that

is misleading

because it

contains only

half the

truth?

We should

always strive

to represent

those who

disagree with

us in

the most

honest and

compelling way

possible.

That's what it

means to

follow Matthew

Matthew 7:12

chapter 7

verse 12.

Whatever you

wish that

others would

do to you,

do also to

them.

I think the

vast influx of

available knowledge

to us through

the internet seems

to have made

many of us,

our knowledge,

a mile wide

but an inch

deep.

We live in

the shallows,

as the

Pulitzer Prize

nominated author

Nicholas Carr

puts it.

we have

much knowledge

but little

wisdom.

And as a

result we have

become slow

to hear and

quick to speak,

quick to anger,

rather than as

James 1.19 says,

quick to hear,

slow to speak,

slow to anger.

If that's the

case, brother and

sister, we are

in danger of

becoming

sowers of

discord, men

and women of

worthlessness.

So let's not

get sucked into

this and

instead heed

the warning of

the father in

verse 15.

Therefore,

calamity will

come upon him

suddenly.

In a moment,

he will be

broken beyond

healing.

The judgment

predicted here is

very similar to

the sudden and

violent poverty

that comes upon

the sluggard in

verse 11.

The sore of

discord too will

be overcome by

calamity suddenly

and he will be

broken beyond

healing.

So causing

trouble spells

trouble for the

troublemaker.

The sore of

discord will

himself be

broken.

And to

reinforce this

teaching, the

father reiterates

the offenses of

the sore of

discord in

verses 16 to

19 using many

parallel body

parts going from

head to toe.

It says,

there are six

things that the

Lord hates,

seven that are

an abomination

to him,

haughty eyes,

a lying tongue

and hands that

shed innocent

blood,

a heart that

devises wicked

plans, feet

that make haste

to run to

evil.

And then he

adds two more,

a false witness

who breathes

out lies and

one who sows

discord among

brothers.

The use of

ascending numbers

going from six

things that the

Lord hates to

seven that are

an abomination

to him is a

poetic device,

it's a rhetorical

device that serves

to escalate and

emphasize what

he's trying to

say, that the

Lord despises

these things.

So they are

an abomination

to him.

And the

haughty eyes,

a lying tongue

and blood

shedding hands,

plotting heart,

evil chasing

feet, a lying

witness and

one who sows

discord among

brothers, they

all have this

in common,

that they are

all disruptive,

that they are

all anti-social

behaviors.

They claw out

the thread of

trust from the

fabric of society

so that it

unravels into

ugly chaos.

they disrupt

and destroy

family relations

that are

precious to

God.

And by

bringing in

the Lord

in verse

16, in

climactic

fashion, the

father gets

to the heart

of the matter

in all of

his advice.

The reason

why he warns

us against

being a surety,

a sluggard,

and a sore

discord is

not merely

because it's

harmful to

ourselves,

but even more

importantly because

these things are

offensive to

God.

they are sins

against God

and the order

he has instituted

in our world

and the roles

that he has

assigned in

particular to

us.

And so he's

telling us that

we are to

mind our own

business and

attempt to

responsibilities and

relations God

has given us.

Unfortunately,

apart from

Christ, we all

have the

perverted hearts

that devise evil

that this passage

speaks of.

Twice in

verse 14 and

verse 18,

this passage

describes the

perverted heart

that is at

the root of

wickedness.

Verse 14 says

that the

worthless man

with perverted

heart devises

evil,

continually

sowing discord.

So people

argue whether

the adverb

continually goes

with sowing

discord or

devising evil,

but if you

follow the

punctuation

that was

provided by

the Jewish

scribes and

scholars in

the 10th

century,

the adverb

actually goes

with devising

evil.

So it's

saying that

our perverted

hearts are

continually

devising evil.

That's what

our perverted

hearts are

doing all

the time.

So it's

actually corroborated

by Genesis

6-5 when it

says,

the Lord

saw that

the wickedness

of man was

great in

the earth

and that

every intention

of the

thoughts of

his heart

was only

evil

continually.

Our

wicked

hearts,

perverted

hearts are

continually

manufacturing

evil.

That's why

the theologian

and reformer

John Calvin

put it this

way,

man's

nature is

a perpetual

factory of

idols.

And what

are we to

do about

this?

I mean,

this passage

emphasizes taking

responsibility for

ourselves,

right?

Verse 3,

verse 5

tells us,

save yourself,

save yourself

from legal

trouble,

save yourself

from economic

ruin,

save yourself,

but there's

one thing

that we

cannot save

ourselves from

and that is

our own

sinful hearts.

For that,

we need a

savior.

Jesus,

whose name

means to

save,

to deliver,

is described

in scripture

as the

savior of

the world,

John 4,

42.

He is the

one who

fulfills the

prophecy of

Ezekiel 36,

Ezekiel 36:25–26

verse 25-26,

when God

promised to

give us new

hearts,

because there's

no hope for

us with the

perverted hearts.

Only way that

we can be

saved,

only way we

can obey

God and

believe in

him and

be faithful

to the