Proverbs 11:30 “Remember Who You Are”

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If you would please turn with me to one verse.

Proverbs chapter 1130.

It's also before you there.

And the page number.

Before I read, I'd like to pray.

For it is more of a privilege to have God's Word than any of us fully grasp.

So let's pray that Spirit of God might heighten our sensibility.

Let's pray.

Lord, I remember my first conversation with my now bride.

God, she spoke to me.

The first phone call when she said my name.

Each of us can remember the moments when it felt so privileged that someone would know us and speak to us.

Our children, our parents, our siblings.

Picking up someone at the airport who's so famous and they say,

Are you Joe?

And I couldn't believe my name was on their lips.

And our hearts are in your hands and you are speaking to us by your Word.

So thank you.

Before we read, we ask now for each one of ourselves.

What we need.

So we tell you in quiet.

And with expectancy.

We look forward to see how you'll answer these prayers.

In the matchless name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

One verse.

Brief.

But ever so glorious.

Proverbs 11.30.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.

And whoever captures souls is wise.

As I'm about to open this,

I want you to know that this is a passage that's addressed to followers of the living God already.

And if that's not you,

I hope you'll begin to understand who he wants us to be to you.

This may make far more clear how far we've got to improve in following him to serve you correctly.

And if you're going to be to you.

And if you're going to be to you.

And if you're going to be to you.

And if you are his,

I hope you'll begin to remember who you really are.

One of the greatest privileges of my entire ministry,

maybe my life,

I'd say my life,

it is,

was to be the pastor of a man named Albert McMenkin.

We had a class in the church where I was serving,

where new attendees who were interested in the church would come.

And I would always ask them to introduce themselves briefly by something unique about themselves,

whether it was their favorite football team or pizza topping or anything they chose.

And I came to this older gentleman.

It was Albert.

And he said,

I'm the man who took Billy Graham to the Mordecai Ham Crusade where he became a Christian.

And I have to confess,

when he said that inside myself,

I was thinking,

no, you're not.

So when the class was over,

I made a beeline for his daughter and granddaughter

and said,

is your father and grandfather

the fuller brush salesman

that I've read about in church history all these years

with Billy Graham?

He's the guy.

I had the privilege

of spending time with a man

who mentored and discipled the man

who has arguably spoken to more human beings about Jesus

than anyone in history.

The things I saw in him and learned from him

were absolutely priceless.

And then there came a day

when he got dementia.

And if any of you are facing this right now,

I just do not want in any way to appear to be minimizing.

But it was so difficult

when he forgot who I was

when I would visit him.

It was even harder

when he didn't know who his own family was.

It just broke my heart.

But in all honesty,

my heart was most broken

when he forgot who he was.

Because now he was in the room,

but he was gone.

Arguably one of the most influential men

in the history of our planet

was gone.

But he was right there.

I begin with that Christian

follower of the Most High God

because that could be you.

I'm going to argue it's likely it's you

when you see the content of this text.

I fear we've forgotten who we are,

who we're supposed to be

to one another

and to those who just

aren't sure God's there.

That's what this passage talks about.

I want you to see your stunning identity.

I want you to see

what causes that identity

and I want you to see

the kind of behavior

that should emanate from us.

So,

let's dig in.

The fruit

of the righteous

is a tree of life.

There's the identity.

Tree of life.

Solomon,

the author of the majority,

not all,

the Proverbs,

is apparently playing with words.

The fruit

is the tree.

He wants you to see something

when he goes even further

and says,

the tree

of life.

Okay,

now he's not just playing with words.

He's blowing them up.

Because this is the tree

to end all trees.

This is the ultimate tree.

This is the tree

in downtown Eden.

This is the tree

that arguably,

though no one had,

if eaten,

you would eternally

have been

who we would have been

before sin

ever hit.

Always alive.

No more death.

Perfectly loving.

Well, what's that like?

Absolutely noble.

Full of service.

Joy

that was not

assailable.

it would always

be present.

A desire

for the good

of everyone

and everything

that was around you.

The tree

of life.

And we say,

well, you know,

we know what this means,

Joe,

we think.

And I gotta just say,

we don't.

Because you can only

know something

to which you can

compare it

that you already know.

It's called

analogic thinking

and it's a big idea

in epistemology

and I'm not gonna

try and unpack it.

But you don't know

anything that's

perfectly good.

We would have been

what God called

good.

Not relatively good,

better than you.

Good.

Through and through.

When the Bible

tries to get us

to understand this

and I say try

because the authors

who write about

this goodness

when it's brought back

because it's coming back.

God's going to make

a new heaven

and a new earth.

It's coming

for all who trust him.

When it comes,

they break into poetry

because

to what do we compare it?

So they say things

like in Isaiah,

the trees

will clap

and the mountains

will sing.

Isaiah 55, 12.

Now look,

I don't know

what that exactly means

but it at least

means this.

Outside of these windows,

what you see

is nothing compared

to what's going

to be here.

It will reanimate

in ways

that if you were

to take the most

beautiful sunrise,

improve it by glory,

stretch it out

over eternity,

you're starting

to get in the ballpark.

That's the kind

of good

that was there.

The most beautiful

Appalachian spring,

the most vital life,

the most robust joy,

the most melt-in-the-mouth

goodness,

refreshing,

renewing reality

would have been there.

Full stop.

God is saying

through Solomon

to meet a true follower

of the living God.

One drawn by Jesus

is to step back

into Eden.

Just let it settle.

I mean,

that's just stunning.

But it gets

even more stunning.

Do you remember

what happened

after sin hit

with the tree?

Listen to this.

Genesis 3,

23 to 24.

The Lord God

banished him,

that's Adam,

from the Garden of Eden.

Verse 24.

He drove him out,

the man and the woman,

to the east

of the Garden of Eden.

And he placed,

listen,

the cherubim

and a flaming sword

that turned

every way

to guard the way

to the tree of life.

Now,

some scholars think

there was one sword

and it took

multiple angels

because cherubim

is plural

for angels.

It doesn't mean

little flying babies.

Others think

every one of them

had a flaming sword.

In either case,

what is happening here

is God is preventing

access now

because of sin

to this tree

by virtue of

angel war.

You don't want to fight

with an angel.

So,

is Solomon saying

that if someone

can get near

to a real follower

of God,

one of these

righteous ones,

listen to me,

they reach

the otherwise

unreachable.

They find

the otherwise

unfindable.

unobtainable.

They can obtain

the otherwise

unobtainable.

If they sit

at your table,

if they shoot

around a golf

with you,

if they play

pickleball

with you,

this is,

this is stunning.

They can find

what they could find

nowhere else

because God

forbids

that it be found

anywhere else.

It reminds me

of the line

in the

Peter Jackson

take

on the Lord

of the Rings

when Gandalf

says

of the hobbits,

all our hopes

now lie

with two

little hobbits

somewhere

in the wilderness.

God

has rested

that hope

in measure

would be

with us.

I doubt

very much

you think

like this

about you.

I don't.

But it is

what he's saying.

But it gets

even more

stunning.

if you go

to the end

of the Bible

and look

at the tree

of life

and I grant

you Solomon

wouldn't have

known about

the end

of the Bible

but the God

who inspired

Solomon to

write this

verse knew

about the

end of the

Bible.

And this

is what the

end of the

Bible says.

Revelation

Revelation 22:2–3

22 verses

2 to 3.

on each

side of the

river

of life

stood the

tree

of life

bearing

twelve

crops

of fruit

yielding

its fruit

every month

and the

leaves

of the

tree

are for

the healing

of the

nations.

No longer

will there

be any

curse.

is God

saying

that if

people can

get near

us

the curse

will begin

to reverse.

If they

can get

near us

just the

leaves of

our lives

a simple

conversation

a passing

they will

bump into

life.

I think

that's what

he's saying.

They will

meet a

fall

pusher

backer.

A person

who will

prop

themselves

up

against

the ruin

of the

fallen

world

and the

people we

meet

and say

in our

souls

we're not

going to

let you

go down

not on

my watch.

is that

what he's

saying?

Is that

who we

remember

that we

are?

You are

God's

life

bringers.

You don't

relate to

people as

either a

vehicle or

an obstacle

to your

agenda as

Paul Tripp

says.

They're not

vehicles or

obstacles to

you.

They're

miracles

of his

creation

in his

image

whether

they know

him

or not.

And

beyond this

what you

bring is

life in

every

direction.

The book

of Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8

at verse

20 and

21 and

22

describes

what happened

when the

fall hit

because of

the curse

it says

the created

order was

subjected to

futility.

the creation

waits to be

set free

from the

bondage to

decay.

The whole

creation is

groaning.

What that

means is

when sin

hit the

world it

didn't just

mean that we

were going

to die

physically.

We died

familially,

relationally,

ecologically,

community-wise.

Death went in

every direction.

You can feel

it.

Life feels

like two

steps forward,

three steps

back,

everywhere.

But finally

there's supposed

to be someone

who says

okay,

four steps

forward

and three

back.

Take my

arm.

We're going

to push

back on

what's wrong

in this

business,

on what's

wrong in

our neighborhood.

We're going

to run to

the holes in

the heart

of our

community

and fill

them with

good.

Can I give

you an

example?

Because it

doesn't matter

your age.

There was

a dear

lady that

I deeply

respected who

was in a

nursing facility.

She had a

disease called

polymyositis.

If any of you

had it,

my profoundest

sympathy.

All the

collagen and

flexibility in

her body was

breaking down

and rigidifying.

A young man

had come to

the office to

see me as a

pastor and he

was suicidal

because he

had just

had the

woman he

loved and

hoped to

marry, leave

him and

say, I'm

not going to

marry you.

He wanted to

hurt himself.

I was not

any help to

him and when

we bowed our

heads to pray,

I'm just saying,

Jesus, please

help him.

And the thought

came to my

mind, the

greatest praying

Christian I know

is this dear

woman in the

nursing home

with polymyositis,

Marion.

So when we

said amen, I

looked up at

him and said,

you know what,

I want to

introduce you to

a woman.

He went, I

don't need

another woman.

And I said,

you need this

woman.

And I put

him in the

car and we

drove to the

nursing facility

and walked in

and I said to

him, now listen,

this is my

friend Marion.

She likes

cheeseburgers from

Armando's.

So every Friday

and night I want

you to bring

them because I

now know your

Friday and Saturday

nights are free.

And listen,

Marion, you

know Jesus

better than

anybody I

know.

Teach him

everything you

know.

Okay?

I came back a

month, and this

is not preacher

hyperbole, later.

Coming down the

hall, I could see

nurses standing

outside the room

looking in.

When I got to

the room, the

room was filled

with 80 and 90

year olds in

wheelchairs and

walkers and

20 and 18 and

19 year olds all

with their

Bibles open.

You know what I

saw in that

room?

Life.

They were all

vitally alive

before the word

of God.

And that dear

boy asked

Marion when he

met another

girl, would you

please be in the

wedding party in

your wheelchair?

And she

couldn't do it,

couldn't even

manage the

wheelchair by that

time.

I'm wanting you

to see what it

means in pushing

back against

every mark of

the fall.

So, let's go

to the next

point.

What's the

cause of this

identity?

the fruit of

the righteous,

well there it

is, is a tree

of life.

This thing

righteous is what

makes a human a

tree of life.

What is

righteousness?

Well, it's

important that we

ask that question,

what would Solomon

have known

righteousness to

be?

It's very

important we

don't take the

whole New

Testament here and

dump it in because

Solomon would not

have known of it.

we know

explicitly what

he would have

thought righteousness

was because as a

king in Israel,

Deuteronomy 17,

18 says that

every king had

to write a copy

of the first five

books of the

Bible by hand

and then read

it every day.

That's Deuteronomy

17, 18.

You can look at it

later.

So, he would have

written these words

in Deuteronomy 6.

The Lord commanded

us to obey all

these decrees so

that we might

always be kept

alive as is the

case today.

And if we are

careful to obey

all the law before

the Lord our God

that he has

commanded us,

that will be

our righteousness.

So, there it

is.

Okay, let's break

it down.

If we are careful,

the scripture says.

In other words,

nobody does this

by mistake.

You don't wake

up one morning

and go,

look at that,

I'm righteous.

to obey,

not talk about,

not speak sermons

about,

not discuss,

not admire,

obey.

All the law.

Let me just tell you,

listen carefully.

Inside of this book,

there is social law,

military law,

sexual law,

economic law,

medical law,

familial,

ecological law,

penal law,

parental law,

architectural law,

horticultural law,

agricultural law,

hygienic law,

city planning law,

spiritual law,

educational law,

geriatric law.

I am just warming up.

Are you kidding?

Before the Lord our God,

it says.

In other words,

not in front of each other

and at least I'm doing

better than you are.

No.

It's before him.

As the Lord commanded.

So in other words,

it's not a box check.

You keep it all the way

down to your heart.

Now,

if you're listening carefully,

who can do that?

In fact,

Solomon would even write

in Ecclesiastes,

assuming he's its author,

at verse 20

of chapter 1,

3,

forgive me,

there is no one righteous.

No one who does only good

in all the earth.

And then his daddy,

David,

wrote in Psalm 14,

Psalm 53,

God looks down from heaven

on the sons of men

to see if there's anyone

who understands,

anyone who seeks God.

Everyone's turned aside.

They together

have begun corrupt.

So what is this,

hyperbole?

I mean,

where is it possible

to be righteous

if this is true?

And in fact,

Isaiah 64,

6 says that

our most righteous deeds,

our most righteous deeds

are a toilet rag.

How's that for graphic?

I think they're starting

to have trouble financially,

but do you remember

Kirkland gift shops

in the malls?

Remember you walk in there

and you get a headache

in two seconds

from the potpourri

in the air?

I promise you,

this actually happened.

I went into a Kirkland's

and was just looking around

and on the wall

there was a shelf

filled with what were

called poopettes.

I went,

no.

And I picked them up

and they were little turtles

and little rabbits.

And I looked at the list

of what was in them.

Manure,

cow manure,

$3.29.

I pictured some guys

in Iowa going,

hey Mort,

I got an idea.

I'll bet you

if we mold this stuff,

send it back to the east,

those folks will buy it.

You'd put them

in your garden,

the rain would fall,

you know,

and they'd dissipate

and fertilize.

What Isaiah says

is the best sermon

I've ever preached

is a pupette.

So how can you be righteous?

Because Solomon

would have also

written this verse,

Genesis 15.6.

Abram believed God

and it was credited

to him

as righteousness.

Listen,

not cash.

He wasn't

humanly speaking

fully righteous,

but

when Abram

trusted God,

believed,

relied on him,

God gave him

credit

of righteousness.

This is what it means

in 2 Corinthians 5.21

when it says

God made him,

that's Jesus,

who knew no sin

to be sin

for us

that we might become

the righteousness

of Adam.

No.

The righteousness

of God.

No illustration

is adequate for that.

It's not actually me,

but it's credited to me.

I can only get

in the suburbs of it,

but when I was much younger,

I played football

in school.

And when I was

in middle school,

I was not very good,

but we had this guy

on our team

named John Thomas.

Now remember,

I'm in middle school.

John Thomas was 6'3

and weighed 230 pounds

in middle school.

You know,

we should have just said,

give the ball to John.

And little kids

would be going

all over the place.

But in the 35 blast,

which was my play

where they'd give me

the ball,

John Thomas would go

through the hole

before me.

And I promise,

if I just held

the back of his pants

and he fell forward,

I got almost

three,

four,

five yards.

My stats were incredible.

It had nothing

to do with me.

It was John.

I was in John.

I was behind John.

You're in Jesus

and you're behind Jesus.

That's what he's saying.

When one human

gets this gift

of being accepted

as if they'd never sinned,

by God,

they start to become

this bringer of life

that they've received

to the other people

around them.

Okay,

we got to close.

So let's look at the behavior

that it produces.

This identity

produces

and motivates,

jumpstarts,

propels

stunning behavior.

The fruit of the righteous

is a tree of life

and he who captures

souls

is wise.

Some of you,

if you have a different

translation,

the King James,

I think the old NIV

says,

wins souls.

Some translations

say get.

What does it mean?

Well,

the word

technically

is a word

that is learned

or defined

more by its context.

Literally,

the word means

to take

intentionally

to oneself.

to take

deliberately,

to get

by effort.

When it's used

in marriage,

the same Hebrew word

is used

to take a mate

intentionally,

deliberately.

But,

when it's used

in a negative context

like a battle

or conflict

or difficulty

or opposition,

it's used

for rescue,

deliver,

like a Navy SEAL.

or special forces.

And if you look

at the context

of 11, 30,

29, and 31,

it's difficulty.

It's not a positive one.

So,

what it's saying here

is that this person

who is righteous

and now is a tree of life,

finally,

will be willing

to fight

for the well-being

of what's deeper

than people's DNA,

their souls.

Someone who would care

enough about you

for the things

that they can't even perceive

matter to them.

and they'd be willing

to take enemy fire.

They'd be willing

to take friendly fire.

They'd be willing

to lose.

In my neighborhood

where I'm living now,

this man has become famous

because he lived near us,

wasn't born there,

but his name

was Desmond Doss

and he became famous

in the movie

Hacksaw Ridge.

Everybody mocked Desmond

during his time of service,

getting ready

for going to battle

in World War II

because he was

a conscientious objector

to holding a gun

or killing

because he felt

that was right

as a follower of Jesus.

And they mocked him.

The movie shows

some of what he went through,

but his own testimony was

the movie wasn't even

in the ballpark

for how badly

he was beaten

and treated

until.

May 6, 1945,

the United States Army

on Iwo Jima

went after

what was called

the Medea Escarpment

or Hacksaw Ridge.

The Americans called it

a 400-foot-high cliff.

They had to scale

by hanging cargo ropes

on the side of it.

And when they got

to the top,

the network of caves

which hid the enemy

were unknown to them

and they were assailed

in huge numbers.

And a man without a gun

named Desmond Doss

ran right into enemy fire

grabbing soldier

after soldier.

And before that first battle

was done,

he single-handedly

dragged, carried,

tied on ropes

and lowered

400 feet

75 men.

they didn't beat him

up anymore

because they finally

met somebody

who said,

I'm willing to lose

for you

what we studied

as officers.

I'm willing to be

disadvantaged

for your advantage.

That's what it produces.

If you're not

a follower of Jesus,

do you see how far

we gotta go

to be a help

to you?

And if you are,

you see who you should be.

I close.

One of my favorite books

ever read

is a little book

called Small Miracles

that eventually

became a series.

Small Miracles 1,

2,

3,

4,

they were started

in 1997.

These are books

written by the

children of

Holocaust victims

and survivors

from World War II.

And they're little stories.

They're one or two pages long.

And in them

are really celebrations

of what they often

call coincidences.

But they're not

coincidences.

Someone has said

a coincidence

is a miracle of God

about which he chooses

to remain anonymous.

Since God's

over everything,

what they're writing about

is called providence

when God works

through everyday life.

Here's my favorite story

and I close with this.

A man is in his 50s.

He's coming home

from working

as he did for years

in a factory

carrying a lunch pail.

Remember those?

It's at night.

It's in the winter.

He's walking

through the park

that he would cut through

for shortcuts

in the winter

in order to get home.

more quickly.

It's pitch black.

He's making his way

through the park

and the bushes

on either side of him

all of a sudden

catches attention

when he hears

the sound of a woman

being accosted.

He can just hear

and he stops

and this all happened

in seconds.

But the story

he writes

says,

I thought,

okay,

I got to help her.

I'm out of shape.

I could get killed.

I can call the cops.

I can get a cop.

By the time I do,

she could be dead.

I got to help.

He parts the bushes

in the dark

and jumps on the back

of a man

who's obviously

accosting a woman.

To the woman

in the dark,

all she knows

is that there are now

two attackers.

And the man

who is doing

the attacking

is so terrified

he throws

this factory worker

off his back,

runs away,

and the woman

backs against the tree

screaming,

get away from me!

Get away from me!

And he says,

lady, lady, lady!

It's all right.

You're okay.

I'm here to help.

And then he hears this.

Daddy?

Is that you?

He rescued his daughter.

Here's why I tell you that.

What will it take

to get you,

follower of Jesus,

to jump in the bush?

You're here to be

the tree of life

for everything

outside this building,

the people sitting

next to you.

Remember who you are.

Remember who made you this

and what he was willing

to lose

to make you like this.

And let's pray

for the grace

to jump in the bush.

Let's pray.

Now, Holy Spirit,

give us the grace

to jump

and run toward

the hole in the heart

of our community,

our neighborhood,

our friend,

our brother,

our sister,

our member of this church.

We can't do this

unless you

who lost so much

to give us so much.

Help us by your grace

to remember

who we are,

whose we are.

Thank you, Holy Spirit,

for your word

and for the way you talk.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

For more information,

visit us online

at southwood.org.

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