Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 16:28, 30 (Some Tips on Promoting Strife) (Part 72)

Your Bibles to the Book of Proverbs, chapter 16, where our old Testament reading will be a series of selections from Proverbs having to do with the promotion of strife. We begin at Proverbs, the 16th chapter reading. Verses 28 and 30. Hear this, as it is the very word of God to you. A perverse man scattereth abroad strife, and a whisperer separateth chief friends. He that shuts his eyes, it is to devise perverse things. He that compresses his lips brings evil to pass. Chapter 17, verse 19. He loves transgression, that loves strife. He that raiseth high his gate seeketh destruction. Chapter 18, verse 1. He that separateth himself seeketh pretext. He rages against all sound wisdom. Verses 6 to 8. A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for stripes. A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts. Verses 18 and 19. The lot causes contentions to cease, and parts between the mighty. A brother injured is harder to be won than a strong city, and such contentions are like the bars of a Castle. Chapter 20, verse 3. It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will go about quarreling. Chapter 22, verse 10. Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out. Yes, strife and ignominy will cease. Chapter 24, verse 28. Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause, and deceive not with thy lips. Chapter 26, verses 20 to 22. For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention ceases. As coals are to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to inflame strife. The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts. Yes, that's a word for word repetition of what you heard before. Chapter 28, verse 25. He that is of a greedy spirit stirs up strife, but he that puts his trust in Jehovah shall be made fat. And then. Chapter 30, verses 32 and 30. 33. If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. For the pressing of milk brings forth butter, and the pressing of the nose brings forth blood, so the pressing of wrath brings forth strife. And now for our New Testament reading, turn to James, the third chapter, and where I'll begin the reading at the fifth verse, James 3, 5. So the tongue also is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold how much wood is kindled by how small a fire. And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue which defiles the whole body and and sets on fire the wheel of nature. And is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and birds and creeping things and things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind. But the tongue can no man tame. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing, my brethren. These things ought not so to be. Does the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter? Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither can salt water yield sweet. Who is wise and understanding among you, let him show by his good life his good works in meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom is not a wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion in every vile deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. For them that make Peace, then chapter 4, verses 11 and 12. Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law. But if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. One only is the lawgiver, and judge even he who is able to save and to destroy. But who art thou that judgest thy neighbor thus far? The reading of God's word this morning I'd like to share with you a few tips on promoting strife. It may well be that you have lost contact with how efficient we can be as human beings and creating trouble for others and for ourselves. And the book of Proverbs coupled with the book of James, as we've read this morning, would show us that there is a way in which we can be very efficient at being troublemakers, at causing strife. That is true. Jesus, our Lord, said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. You remember those well known Words from the Beatitudes. Matthew, the fifth chapter. Blessed are are the peacemakers. But you see, there are some people in this world who are real strangers to that blessing. They don't know what it is to be a peacemaker because they aren't characterized by making peace. They are characterized by something else, but it's not peace. They're characterized by a negative, critical, carping, troublesome spirit, one that doesn't get along well with other people, one that must always be complaining about something. They are not people prone to reconciliation and positive, constructive work in the kingdom of God. They are rather prone toward tearing down, being judgmental, and creating really a lack of happiness for everyone around them. Blessed are the peacemakers. How blessed it would be if we could learn to make peace. But since we don't learn to make peace, since we are often entertained by strife, entertained by negative judgments, by criticism, by gossip, and by contention, I thought it might be helpful this morning to give you some tips on how you can further that particular characteristic of yours or mine, whoever we happen to be thinking of. Of course, it'd be good if we all thought about ourselves today, wouldn't it? It'd be good if we held up the mirror of God's word and looked at ourselves. But of course, that's a very painful thing, and the Bible tells us we have a tendency to walk away and not do anything about it anyway. So maybe what we can do is look at others and become very critical of them as I'm preaching. So I would suggest that you can learn to be a real troublemaker this morning by applying the words of the sermon to someone else. That's the first tip I have on causing strife. Make sure that as you reflect on what I'm going to tell you this morning, that you have somebody else in mind. Don't at all think about yourself, because then, of course, that would be difficult and you might become a peacemaker. You might know the blessing of being a peacemaker. There are people who have an effect in this world that's anything but peace and reconciliation. You know, you see that in their home lives. They just don't seem to be able to get along and have a happy, peaceful family. You see that in their marriages. They don't seem to know what it is to communicate in a way that brings peace and harmony and happiness to the couple. You see it at work, always having run ins with people at work. You see it at church, of course, that's the saddest place of all. Here's the kingdom of God in the Midst of a sinful world that's to be characterized by the rule of the Prince of Peace. And yet the church often is one of the best places in the world to look to find disharmony and faction and discontent and a negative spirit. We see this lack of peace. We see this striving spirit, this contentious spirit in any number of ways. And when we do see that in our lives or the lives of others about whom we're thinking today, we have to ask whether we are really sons of God or not. If maybe we aren't of our Father the devil. Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be sons of God. You see, there is a characteristic in a spirit, a mentality that arises from below that is earthly, James tells us, that is sensual, that is devilish. And then there is a peace and a wisdom that descends from above. And we need to ask ourselves in all honesty this morning which characterizes us. Are we born from above or are we characterized by the characteristics of the below of our Father the devil? The book of Proverbs tells us of people that are characterized by promoting strife. I see four particular ways in which they are mentioned in the book of Proverbs. And if you look at chapter 16, verse 28, we read, a perverse man scatters abroad strife and a whisperer separates chief friends. The first thing we see about those who are not characterized as peacemakers is that they spread strife. Where they go, trouble follows. They are the sort of people who love to inflame. They love to put in the slight innuendo, if not the outright criticism that will cause others to think poorly of someone else. They're troublemakers. And it's hard for us to believe that would ever be true of us. I know very few troublemakers who come around and say, you know what my intention is in this world? To cause trouble. Now troublemakers tend to be self deceived people too deceived with respect to their own motivation. You know why they criticize others and carry it to everyone else in the church or in the family or at work. Because they're really concerned. Ha. Concerned for what? To bring a person who is in a very bad position into an even worse position by defaming them, by letting others know, you know, this person really needs prayer. This person. I'm concerned for this person. And that's why I'm telling you all this dirt on this individual. No, it is a perverse man. And you know why it's perverse? Because there's an inner twisted crookedness in us that leads us to do that sort of thing. A perverse crooked man spreads strife abroad. Wherever he goes, he's putting in the seeds for others. Did you know this about that person? Why do you think they did that? Can you believe she said this? That kind of talk, you see, is calculated not to heal, not to build up and be constructive. That kind of talk is calculated to categorize people in. Into some other category other than our own and to make it a very negative evaluation at that. In chapter 17, verse 19, the troublemaker is characterized as arrogant. He loves transgression, that loves strife. He that raiseth high his gate seeketh destruction. That's a really wonderful verse. Love strife, love sin. Very simple. Those who really are entertained by or find some kind of enjoyment in negative talk and difficulty or arguments and so forth are people who love sin. Their hearts are bent. They have their desire set on the wrong things. Unearthly, sensual and devilish things. In the second part of this verse says, he who raises high his gates, he seeks destruction. Actually, the Hebrew says, he who raises high his door. And it can be taken in two ways. The interesting thing is that in both cases, it comes down to the same bottom line. The person who is a bragger. It could mean literally the person who raises his door in his house. You know, a person who builds a larger house has a very ostentatious entryway into his home. The man who is a braggart in that sense, he wants to demonstrate what he has. He wants to be pushy and forward about his own accomplishments. However, it's more likely, I think, that this is a metaphor, as it often is in the Bible. For the mouth one who raises high his door is one who always has his mouth open. He's always bragging. Love sin, love strife. They go together. Chapter 20, verse 3. Pardon me. Chapter 20, verse 3, tells us that the kind of individual we're studying this morning loves to quarrel. It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife. But every fool will go about quarreling. You see, it takes some self control, it takes some dignity, some sanctification to stand back from strife and not inflame it. But the fool runs in. The fool loves to promote that kind of thing. So the fool is always quarreling. Fool's hard to get along with. A fool will not be placated. Fool wants to be negative, wants to find something wrong. And then chapter 26, verses 20 to 22, characterize this person as being contentious as well. Chapter 26, at the 20th verse, for lack of wood, the Fire goes out. And where there is no whisperer, contention ceases. As coals are to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to inflame strife. Notice the characterization. Here is someone who is called a contentious man could be a woman as well, a contentious person, inflamed strife. Now, all I want you to catch from these four passages is that there is a way of characterizing people. It says they spread strife, they are arrogant, they quarrel, and they are contentious. You know anybody like that? Well, maybe you'd like to become like them. The Book of Proverbs has some tips on learning to be a contentious troublemaker. And so if you find that, you know, your ability to create that kind of havoc and negative feeling in your social environment, in your family, or in your church, has been lacking, the Book of Proverbs says, here's some things that you might do to promote strife. Learn first of all, the very subtle use of body language. Chapter 16:30, chapter 16, the 30th verse. He that shuts his eyes, it is to devise perverse things. He that compresses his lips brings evil to pass. I've had occasion in the Proverbs series to refer to this kind of language before. It's very. When you read that, you say in terms of our modern idiom, what's this all about? I mean, shuts his eyes and compresses his lips. But it refers to using your body to communicate something, what we today call body language, right? And I'll bet that you know someone who's very good at rolling their eyes at just the right time in a conversation, because what that suggests is what has just been said is worthless, or, oh, there you go again, something like that. You probably know somebody that. See, in our society, it isn't so much winking or compressing the lips, although maybe it is. But we have other ways in which, without saying a word, we let it be known that we really despise the person who's talking, or we really think poorly of what's being spoken of. And so if you want to be a troublemaker, learn some body language that will communicate negativity and adversity and disdain. You know, perhaps just the way you wrinkle your forehead or twitch your nose or the way you just shake your head will be enough to let people know that you really think poorly of someone. That is very effective. You know why? Because then when somebody comes back and wants to talk to you about your negative attitude, you can say, I didn't say anything like that at all such a tremendous defense. I didn't say a word like that. Where did you get that idea? And then it comes down to this real tricky thing of interpreting body language. And yet the body language is there. It's been laid in very subtly. It's subtextual, it's between the lines, but it is deadly. Book of Proverbs has your number. That's a real good way to promote strife. In fact, it may do even more damage emotionally to the individual who is hurt by your body language, because the individual doesn't have any way to get back to deal with the issue. It's not like you said, now, I think you are wrong for the following reasons. And then you can deal with the reasons. You see, there's no language at all. There's just this inner personal wall that's been erected. Well, maybe body language isn't your way of promoting strife. If not, then of course the Book of Proverbs says contentious language will do it very well too. Chapter 18, verse 6. A fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth calls for stripes. Perhaps the way you speak to people and about people could be used to promote some more strife. That is, you could be a person who enters into contention with your lips, always looking for something that will create animosity. Saying something that will be provocative, that will have a barb in. Doesn't take a whole lot in terms of our sinful human nature to develop that tendency in the lips. A fool's lips call for stripes. I'm not exactly sure whether the Hebrew there means the fool's mouth needs a spanking or whether because of his mouth, he needs a spanking. But one way or another, it's a very strong idiom. The fool is the person who will enter into contention quickly. I want to suggest to you that it's a lot easier to enter into contention than to hold back from entering into it. That when Satan opens up that opportunity to fall into a contentious spirit, it's always a greased downward slide. Very easy. Just go ahead and say what's on our minds. Very difficult to walk uphill and backwards away from the problem. Our sinful tendency is to use our mouths and to utter what's on our hearts. Learn the gift. If you don't want to be a troublemaker, learn the gift of restraining what you're thinking. Not everything that goes through your mind needs to be said. You realize that not everything that enters into our thinking process needs to come out through our verbal process. Not everything in the head has to come out the Mouth. Learn to back off from that. But then again, if you want a tip on how to promote strife, say everything that you think. Be like a fool. Run right into contention every time you can. Third way in which you can do this. Gossip. This is the best one of all. Chapter 18, verse 8. The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts. Have you ever gone to a party where hors d' oeuvres are being served? If you've gone to a number of parties, you know there's only so many different kinds of hors d'. Oeuvres. My guess is you like particular kind of hors d'. Oeuvre. Maybe you're one of the people that likes one of the meaty hors d'. Oeuvres. Or maybe you like sweet hors d' oeuvres or olives or something like that. But whatever it is, the Book of Proverbs says gossip is like those little hors d', oeuvres, little dainty morsels that go right down into the innermost stomach. Boy, you. I mean, there's hardly even any digestion called for, any chewing or anything. You just take it right down into you. That's what gossip is. Gossip is dainty morsels that we just consume readily. Just swallow it down. Great way to promote strife. Be a person who has the little delicacies of gossip to spread about people. Or be a person who loves to eat up the gossip, just like those hors d'. Oeuvres. If using your adverse body language, and if having a contentious tongue and a gossiping spirit isn't enough to promote the negativity that you're looking for, Another tip the Book of Proverbs would give you is learn to use groundless accusations against people. That always promotes hard feelings among people. Chapter 24, 28, chapter 24, and the 28th verse where we read, be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause and deceive not with thy lips. Those two go together. Because when you witness against your neighbor, when you have something to say about your neighbor, that is ground, you are a deceiver. I want to suggest to you that you're a deceiver, even if you accidentally happen to be right in what you say about your neighbor. Because what's being condemned here is saying that without cause. So if you want to cause trouble, be the sort of person who makes a generalization about another person's character but can't give any evidence of it and say, well, you know, this is what I Think of that person, this is what I think is going on, but not have any ground for doing that, any specific thing. So if that person were to come to you and say, now why did you say that I was. Whatever it is. And you say, well, I mean, it just seems to me that's what you're like. But that is tremendous. Because you see, then there is no possible route to reconciliation because you have your opinion, but your opinion is not based on anything concrete. And, and since the person can't come and deal with the concrete reasons, then you're at an impasse, just a matter of whether you'll be sovereign in terms of your attitudes and change your spirit or not. Because it doesn't have anything to do with evidence or reasoning at all. And so here you have the person who brings witness against his neighbor without cause, the groundless accusation. Then chapter 2825 says another way in which you can promote strife is be a greedy person. He that is of a greedy spirit stirs up strife. He that puts his trust in Jehovah shall be made fat. The greedy spirit, of course, doesn't necessarily mean someone who wants a lot of money, although it rarely is the case that you have a greedy person that isn't always, that isn't as well, materialistic. But the greedy spirit is the grasping spirit, the spirit that is self oriented, self centered. Be a person who in every conversation brings the conversation back to yourself. But I did this, but my family did it that way. Be a person who can't carry on a conversation without referring to your own children, to your own experience, to your own background. Be a person who, when there is some kind of tension that needs to be resolved, make sure that your interest and your priorities, that your agenda is taken care of. Or be a person who's looking to get a lot of money in this world, person who's trying to amass a lot of wealth in one way or another. Be someone who is oriented on yourself. The Bible says you'll be a good strife maker. You'll be the sort of person who creates trouble everywhere you go. There's just something about that self orientation that we call greed that enables you to make everyone unhappy around you and leads to a lack of peace in the social environment in which you find yourself. And then chapter 30, verse 33. One more tip on promoting strife. The book of Proverbs has this. It's really wonderful in Hebrew. I wish it were in your translations. It had the same kind of lilt that it does in Hebrew. For the pressing of milk Brings forth butter and the pressing of the nose brings forth blood. So the pressing of wrath brings forth strife. You know what the pressing of milk is? You know, the churning of milk brings forth butter. Okay? And then the pressing of the nose, of course, is the sock somebody in the nose that brings forth blood. Now if you want to bring forth strife, push an argument. Be someone who likes to take a disagreement and press against it and press it and press it. Please turn knowing anyone like that who just won't give up, who's like a bulldog, it just takes a bite, you know, and just holds on and holds on and holds on. The Bible says just keep pressing the disagreement, keep pressing the wrath. And what's it going to bring forth? Strife. Don't be a person who can back off. Don't be a person who can say this is enough. Be the sort of person who never gives up. Be a person of principle. Be a person of perseverance. Be a person who is going to with all these pious excuses. Do nothing but run over people with your argumentation and you'll be real good at bringing forth strife. And so do we have a pretty good idea from the book of Proverbs what we can do if we would like to promote strife? Use your body language subtly to put people down. Enter into contentious language as often as you can. Slip right into it. Satan will love you for that. And gossip. Make sure the dainty morsels are being fed to people, you know, like on a nice serving tree. Bring the gossip to people day by day. They'll love you for that too. Groundless accusations, evaluations without substance or evidence. That's something that tends to break social environments apart. Be greedy and self centered. Think of yourself in your own agenda. And whenever there's a disagreement, don't ever give up press and press and press against it. Now you read the book of Proverbs and you say the people who wrote these things were not ivory tower academicians. People who wrote these proverbs knew what it was in the give and take of life. They were down to earth. Because my guess is when you read that, you say, boy, I identify with that. Hopefully you identify for yourself. But I certainly see it all about me too, that these are the sorts of things that just will not let a situation be healed, will not let a social environment become peaceful. Whether again it's in your family or church or at work, wherever it may be. What consequences can you expect if you are a promoter of strife? If you've learned these lessons well, the Bible would tell us. It seems to me at least three things from the Book of Proverbs you can expect. You're going to alienate your best friends. Chapter 16, verse 28. A perverse man scatters abroad strife, and a whisperer separates chief friends. Better translated, best friends. A whisperer separates chief friends. The whisperer, of course, isn't necessarily the person who goes. The whisperer is the one who's the gossip, who would whisper so that others are not aware that he or she is spreading this dirt about someone. The Bible says that if you are a gossip, you're going to tend to alienate even your best friend. I'll bet some of you have lost best friends in this world. You know how it hurts to do just that. I wonder how often our alienation of our friends has to do with our bad mouths, our inability to be peacemakers. Again, you may know someone who has a hard time keeping best friends. Just goes through friend after friend after friend, and there's these discards along the way throughout his or her life. You should begin to look at that person's mouth. Is this person a gossip? Is this person someone who says things that are unkind, that are negative, that are groundless? Because, you see, you can't even hold on to a best friend when you're that kind of a person. Of course, the best way to lose your best friend is to gossip about him or her too. And then when that comes around that you said something negative about your best friend, you can be very sure they're going to lose that intimacy and closeness and confidence and trust that characterize the relationship. Chapter 18, verse 19, tells us that the estrangement that comes from a friend is very hard to overcome. A brother injured is harder to be won than a strong city. And such contentions are like the bars of a castle. You need to realize what's at stake when you become a troublemaker. When you pick up on these tips that I've given you from the Book of Proverbs for creating difficulty in your life and the lives of others. The Bible says you lose a best friend, a brother that's been offended is going to be very hard to win back, easily lost, terribly difficult to win back, harder than a strong city like the bars of a castle to break through once you've erected that barrier because of your bad mouth. Moreover, Proverbs tells us that if you are one of these people characterized by contention and strife and criticism and gossip, that you'll be someone who tends to separate yourself from others. Chapter 18 1. He that separates himself from seeks Pretext and rages against all sound wisdom. There are people who just cannot stay in a church. They must move from one place to another, cannot stay in one social gathering or one set of friends or at one job. And it goes on and on because they're always separating themselves. They're people who tend to not only alienate others, but they alienate themselves from the group, you see. And when they are negative and nasty and people finally say, you know, I don't like that bitter spirit and I don't want to be around that person, then they say, oh, well, I want to go elsewhere in the Bible. I'll tell you, this is right on the mark. Psychologically, the Bible is right. What happens with the person who tends to alienate himself or herself is that they will seek a pretext for doing it. These are, remember, these are not people who care much about the evidence and about sound reasoning that leads to a proper conclusion. These are people who spread false accusations anyway. And so that person with that characteristic who wants to alienate himself or herself from the group will find a reason to do it, but it will be a pretext for their action. I'm going to give you a real down to earth illustration of it, although it is not simply in the life of the church that you see it. But here's a good illustration. You have someone who might come say to the session and say, we know we've got some grievances we'd like to deal with. Then you deal with the grievances and lo and behold, there wasn't a whole lot of substance to them and things could be worked out and peace could be achieved. Praise God, right? And then you have the same individuals who within a week tell you, we'd like to leave the church for another reason. Now that gives you the impression without having to be negative, without having to look for trouble, that gives you the impression these people want out no matter what. In the eight years that I've been in this church, I've seen this happen probably almost a dozen times, where what happens is the session wants to go out and make peace with people and say, what's the problem? If there is a difficulty, let's change whatever is wrong with the church. If there isn't a difficulty, let's change what's in you. But one way or another, let's get this reconciled. We had an elder once who was very adept at asking a question that I thought really put the finger on that kind of thing. Elder used to say, what is it that we can change in our church that would convince you to stay. Because often people would say nothing. If you did everything I wanted you to, I still wouldn't stay. And my friends, this is not meant to be a brief in favor of your session or, you know, the elders or your pastors. We certainly do make our mistakes. That's why we ask people what's wrong, what can be changed, what needs to be changed. But when you see that kind of thing, it fits into what Proverbs says. Here's someone seeking a pretext for leaving the church. Or it may be for not going to family gatherings or for quitting another job or changing schools. You know, it's found everywhere. The person who is put offing off putting. Here's the person who is looking for a reason, doesn't have one, but just wants to be put off. The pretext will be found to do what you want. So the consequences of being a troublemaker, you're going to alienate your best friends. There's going to be estrangement in your life that's very hard to overcome, like the bars of a castle. And you'll find yourself separating from others and finding pretext to do it. In James, the fourth chapter, verses 11 and 12, James tells us of those who speak against each other and is very condemnatory of them because he says, speak not one against another brethren. He that speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. Now why is that? I'll tell you why. Because the law tells you not to do that. God's law says, don't be a person that carps, who is critical all the time, who's contentious in his spirit or a gossip. Don't be that kind of person. So don't speak against your brother. But if you speak against your brother, you've not only judged your brother, you've said the law of God's wrong about that. You've judged the law. And of course, if you become a judge of the law, you can't be a doer of the law because you're standing above the law. At that point, there's only one lawgiver and judge who's able to save and destroy. Who are you then to judge your neighbor? Well, James is pretty pointed here. Where do you get off being so critical? Why are you such a troublemaker? Why are you so contentious? Why are you quarreling all the time? Why are you finding negative things to say about people? Have you become a judge of the law? Do you know better than God? God tells you, put your hand over Your mouth. Remember Proverbs, the 30th chapter. If you've thought evil of someone, don't say it, keep it to yourself, because the pressing of wrath will bring forth strife. Cover your mouth. James says, the law of God tells you, pipe up, not pipe down. Do something that's going to stop that bad tendency to speak against people. And if you won't, then you become a judge of God as well as a judge of your neighbor. Well, here are some remedies for those of you who have promoted strife. All of us undoubtedly are going to see in ourselves that tendency to not be a peacemaker. Some remedies, chapter 18, verse 18. In Proverbs, the lot causes contentions to cease and parts between the mighty we endorsing the use of lots. What are lots? Like casting dice, or, you know, choosing straws, if you will, who gets the short straw, and so forth. Well, there's two ways in which you can understand the use of lots here if you want to be someone who takes away strife rather than is always promoting and seeding strife in your relationships. In the first place, lots during the days of special revelation were a way in which God revealed himself to people. The Urim and Thummim were probably lots, something used in that way. And so the proverb here could be saying, rely upon divine revelation and strife will go away. That is, do what God has told you. In our day and age, that divine revelation is not found through the use of lots or casting dice or drawing straws. It's found rather through going to the Scriptures, which are the completed revelation of God. But where you find someone who's trying to stick close to what God has to say, you'll find someone who's a peacemaker. The other understanding is, you know, sometimes you get in a situation where no one's right, no one's wrong, but everyone's offended. And maybe you do want to draw straws. Why do we draw straws? Have you ever thought about what lies behind the theory of drawing straws? It's what we would call impartiality. If you draw straws, then you know that the judge in this particular case has no personal agenda that's being followed, no preconceived ideas. And so there are two ways in which we can apply this verse. Learn to be a person who is impartial in the way you approach problems. Don't be so ego involved in everything, and rely on the revelation of God, and you'll be a person who is diminishing strife rather than promoting it. Secondly, chapter 20, verse 3 says, Be someone who honorably keeps far from strife. Learn to back off. It's an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife. Every fool goes about quarreling. Learn to be the person who says, I don't want to be part of this conversation. You know, if I'm not part of the problem or not part of the resolution, I don't need be part of the conversation. Want to hear that rule again? If I'm not part of the problem, if I'm not part of the resolution, then I don't want to be part of the conversation. Learn to keep aloof from strife. When you see criticism, negativity, back off from it. Be a person who keeps that at a distance. Don't go sniffing around looking for problems that you can talk about and get involved in. Thirdly, don't hang around with scoffers. Don't hang around with those fools who love to quarrel and be negative and criticize. Chapter 22 10. Cast out the Scoffer and contention will go out. Yes, strife and ignominy will cease all the disgrace and the striving and the contention will go away when you get the scoffer out of the way. Now, the church, of course, sometimes needs to cast out scoffers. The church hasn't done a good job. I mean, in our day and age, if we started excommunicating gossips, boy, it's bad enough that we excommunicate those who cheat in their marriages and won't repent. People think we're real harsh because we excommunicate adulterers and things like that. But you know, if we got around to excommunicating scoffers, who wouldn't repent? Wow, what a reputation we'd have. And not a real favorable one. But the Bible says that's what you should do, cast out the scoffer. You know what happens if you get the scoffer out of the midst of your social circle? Let's say it's the church here, then peace can be restored. If you have any doubt about that. Chapter 26, verses 20 to 22 is real direct for lack of wood. The fire goes out where there's no gossiper, contentions cease. You show me a family, you show me a church, you show me a work station where there's a lot of strife, and my guess is you're going to be able to find a gossiper or two or more. Get rid of the gossiper, get rid of the critical minded person, the contentious person, and you'll be surprised how things restore. You know, blue skies again, all the dark clouds roll back and the sun shining. Everyone can be happy and get along as long as you're not somebody. They're needling, needling, needling and pushing some criticism. As coals are to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to inflame strife. It is your duty to avoid people that are troublemakers. Not only must the church cast them out and deal with them in a way that will hopefully bring about their repentance and a changed attitude, but you need to make sure that you don't hang around with such people. It has been my experience as a pastor that there are some individuals and some families who just apparently tend to gravitate toward troublemakers, and yet they will not themselves want to be troublemakers. But you see this pattern that you find really bad attitudes in a particular family. And here's this other family that's friends with them, and then that problem's taken care of. And then there's another troublemaking family. And lo and behold, the second family is friends with them too. And it just becomes a pattern. Now, I know sometimes that happens incidentally and what we might call accidentally, but sometimes you need to stop and ask, why is it I'm ending up teamed up with people that are always having trouble with others? Maybe I have trouble in my own heart. Maybe I enjoy listening to that kind of stuff. Maybe I'm not doing what the Bible says about turning away gossip with a look that says, this is inappropriate. Maybe I'm not doing what I need to do to stay far from strife. So forth. So the remedies for promoting strife, impartiality and sticking close to God's revelation, keeping far from a difficulty. Don't look to enter into arguments and being critical, especially avoiding and casting out scoffers in your life. Here we read that for lack of wood, the fire goes out, and so is a contentious man. To inflame strife as wood is to fire should remind us of James, the third chapter, where James likens the tongue to fire. He says the tongue also is a little member and boasts great things. Behold how much wood is kindled by how small a fire. And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members, and it's set on fire by hell. There's some real interesting playing on words here. You need to understand, first of all that we speak of tongues of fire, right? We think of tongues and fire, however, usually in connection with the day of Pentecost, as tongues of fire, representing the Holy Spirit rested upon people. But now James talks about our own tongues being tongues of fire, not set on fire from above the Holy Spirit, but set on fire from below, from hell. If you have any doubt that that's what he really means, look down further when he says that the wisdom that is from above is peaceable and gentle and so forth. But the wisdom in verse 15 that he describes, that is jealous and bitter and factious and so forth, is not from above, he says, but is earthly, sensual and devilish. The tongue can be like a fire, and wisdom is shown in avoiding devilish factions, that attitude and spirit that creates disharmony and contention and strife in people. Then verses 17 and 18. But the wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceable, gentle. Last week we talked about using our words as gentle, gracious words. The wisdom that's above is gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits. If you would not want to be a contentious individual, learn to be a merciful individual. Learn that when you do see people that have problems, that they can be forgiven, that they can be helped, that you should be constructive in that situation. Learn to be a person who is easy to be and treated yourself. Often we find people, again speaking of the session or in pastoral counseling situations, who have become so hardened and bitter and negative that. That they can't be entreated. You can't easily appeal to them. They've just got their minds made up. Psalm 133 tells us of the way in which God loves unity among the brothers. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. It's like the precious oil upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard. They came down upon the collar of his garments, like the dew of Hermon that comes down upon the mountains of Zion. For their Jehovah commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. A very short psalm, but very beautiful. The imagery has to do with the day of anointing of Aaron as high priest. We read about this in Exodus 29 and how the oil was poured upon his head. Now this is oil. You mustn't think of it as just like Wesson oil. You know, something that would be kind of a really unpleasant image. But this is perfumed oil. It's something that would make Aaron smell really wonderful. And it was such a generous supply that it came down upon his beard, into his collar. Some of you will have translations that say skirts, but I think that's a mistranslation. That would be a deluge rather than an anointing. Aaron was anointed with oil. And what did the oil represent? Many of you have been taught this before. If you haven't heard this, you should know that the anointing with oil was symbolic of the giving of the Holy Spirit. And that Holy Spirit brings harmony and peace and fragrance so that we can be priests in God's service. It's very interesting to me that in verse two we have this language of running down or coming down. The precious oil runs down the beard and comes down upon the collar. And then in verse three, the dew of Hermon comes down upon the mountains of Zion. This is something that comes down. James says, the wisdom that is from above comes down. It comes down upon us because it's the Holy Spirit that gives us that sense of unity and peace. James says something in verse three that I want to conclude with. Excuse me. In chapter three of this epistle, he says, the tongue can no man tame. If you've been listening to this sermon today and you've been saying to yourself, you know, I really need to morally renovate my life. I need to really make some change and reform the way I speak. I need to be the sort of person who doesn't speak critically of others and is contentious and so forth, well, there's one piece of bad news I need to share, and that's that you're not able to control it because your tongue is set on fire from below. It's hell that inflames you, and you can do your best to douse that, to control it, but you don't have the ability. James says the tongue can no man tame. Your only hope is to be set on fire from above. Your only hope is that the Holy Spirit will take hold of your life. And if the Holy Spirit takes hold of your life, he shall also control your tongue. And when that happens, then you'll become an agent of peace in this world. Then you'll become a son of God born from above. Then you'll become a peacemaker. But that only happens when you first are at peace with God. Let's pray. Lord, forgive us of our contentious spirits. We confess to you that all of us, not just the people we've been thinking about that all of us, all of us are troublemakers. We have bad tongues. We tend to be critical and to judge our neighbors. Often we judge without cause. Often we do it to spread gossip. Often we do it not to please you and to promote peace. But to be fools who quarrel are contentious cause trouble. And, Father, we can't control this tendency in us. We confess that as hard as we try in our own strength, it's beyond us. Sin does take control of us, and we are slaves to it. We are inflamed by hell itself. And so we cast ourselves on your mercy. And plead, first of all that you would be at peace with us. That you would forgive us for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and that his peace would be upon us. That he might grant that to us, and that his spirit might control our lives. That we might have a wisdom that is from above, that is pure and peaceable and gentle and easy to be entreated. We appeal to you to become people like that. Made in the image of our Savior, Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray. Amen.