Title: The life of the wise
[Min Byeong-seok's Proverbs Exposition] 65
life of the wise
Text: (Proverbs 29:17-27)
The life of the wise is adorned with God's blessings. But in the life of a fool, his foolishness becomes a trap in his life, and he plunges his life into trouble. Tonight, we are going to listen to the wise man's words about how to live the life of the wise and use it as a guide for our lives.
1. Raise your children in the Lord
The first thing to teach us in this text is the counsel about children. The biblical view is that children are a gift of blessing from God. However, the truth is that many parents are troubled by their children to the extent that children can never be considered a gift of God's blessing. As there is a saying that a child is a child in his arms, when a child grows old and his head grows, it is an old custom to know his parents funny and obey his parents.
Even if something goes wrong, this can't be wrong for a long time. Then where is the error based? In verse 18, it says, “Where there is no revelation, the people are permissive, but blessed are those who keep the law.” Today, when we raise our children, we must see it as the result of not raising our children according to God's revelation, that is, God's word. According to today's message, you can find a way to raise your children so that they can put their parents at ease and bring joy to their hearts. Please see verse 17. He says, “Discipline your child, and he will give you peace and give you joy in your heart.” What did you tell your children to do? (Punishment). And what did he tell his parents what he would do when the child grew up? (I will give you peace and I will give you joy in your heart).
Discipline for children appears frequently in the New Testament and Old Testament. Therefore, we need to think deeply about God's will about the fact that we must follow the biblical teachings on how to raise children. Please find the words of Proverbs 13:24. It is said, “He who does not reach the end of the world hates his child, but he who loves his child is diligent in chasing him.” The word "can't help it" expresses the feelings of parents who can't touch their children because they feel sorry for them in the first place. However, if the child goes the wrong way, disobeys the parent, commits a crime, and leaves it unattended or unnoticed, he said that as a result, it is not loving the child, but hating the child. To hate means to make the child's life unhappy because of it.
If you look at the delinquent youths who are now serving miserable sentences in prisons, you can see that there are many children who did not receive proper education from their parents. Let's look at Proverbs 19:18. It says, “If there is hope in your son, discipline him.” Verse 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.” These words are not saying to raise children with rods. When you lift a whip and beat it, you beat it, but the whip must come from the loving hand of the child. It is necessary to take the rod of love as a way to make them repent of their mistakes and to give them proper education on what is right.
And proper discipline for children should always focus on nurturing them with the word of God and nurture them diligently. That way, when the child grows up and becomes an adult, he or she will be able to give peace to his parents and instill joy in their hearts.
2. Don't be impatient with the language
Then the wise one is heeded to the words of his mouth. Please see verse 20. He said, “Do you see a man who is impatient with his language? There is more hope in a fool than in him.” These words are the truth that all of us can make as our motto in life. The word impatient with language refers to a person who speaks rudely what comes out of his mouth without taking responsibility for his or her words.
It is usually these kinds of people who make rash vows to God and then soon forget their vows or betray them because they cannot afford them. I often see people who make easy promises to other people, and these are people who can easily break their promises.
A pitfall always follows when a person is impatient with what he says or says, and hastily without deep thought. In particular, making a promise to the servant of the Lord who is in charge and in charge of the church of God is no different from making a promise to God. It has been 17 years since the church was built. A certain butler promised a huge amount of construction donations. However, he moved to another church without paying the building donation. After that, the news subsided. But one day, we met on the street, and we promised to do it soon, but after that, the news was cut off again. Then, yesterday, we met again on the road, and we promised again that we would see each other soon. However, even though the period of one day may have passed, there is still no phone call, let alone a visit.
A person who pours out the words that come out of his mouth that cannot be kept will surely follow in his life. That is, discipline will follow from God and corruption of trust will follow from man. The trust and credibility of a person shows the person's conscience and is directly related to the person's character. Therefore, once a word comes out of your mouth, you must be able to take responsibility for it so that you can be treated as a human being.
A promise made once by a person must be kept even if the work is disadvantageous to him or her, or if there is a disadvantage in his/her property. Moreover, it goes without saying when it comes to promises with God.
Only when we can control our hasty lips and carefully speak only the words we can take responsibility for can we live in peace without being plagued by disasters.
(1) To do this, we must first set up a watchman in our mouth. David prayed in Psalm 141, “Set a watch before my mouth, O LORD, and keep the door of my lips.” This kind of prayer is a prayer that we must also have. Because our lips are unbearable and unpretentious, God has to set up a watchman to protect them so that we can become whole.
(2) Where did evil words, lies, deceitful words, and slanderous words come from our tongues? James 3:6 says about the tongue, “The tongue is a fire and a world of unrighteousness.” The tongue is the smallest of the members we live in, but it is the tongue that defiles our whole body. And where did the evil words coming from this tongue come from? He said that it comes from “hell fire.” When we know this, should we really ask God to put a watchman in our mouth, or should we not?
(3) The next thing we need to do is to gag our tongue so that we don't make mistakes in what we say. James 3:2 tells us that a person is “a perfect man if there is no error in his words.” You have to gag your mouth to make sure you don't make a mistake. James 1:26 says, “If anyone considers himself religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is in vain.” He told us to bridle our tongues. What this means is that we must not open our mouths in vain.
3. Don't be angry
Next, it is said that the wise do not get angry. Does anger benefit us or harm us?” Let us find the answer to this in verse 22. “An angry person stirs up strife, and a wrathful person commits many crimes.” What do angry people cause? (conflict)
Where do all the quarrels come from? It starts with human anger. To be angry means to be angry. If you get angry at what the other person is saying, the conversation starts with a fight and ends with a fight. If you want to fight someone, get angry with that person. There will be a fight going on right now. Embracing anger leads to the point of sin where he will end if he is not released.
Such was the case with Cain. When the two brothers made an offering to God, they accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's. At this time, Cain said that he was very angry. When Cain was angry and his complexion changed, God said to Cain, “What is it that you are angry about?” Cain's wrath eventually reached the point where he stoned his brother Abel to death.
However, it is impossible for a person to live without anger. Therefore, be angry, but do not have him in your heart all day. To refrain from anger means not to hold him in your heart for long. And with temperance and love, we are not to be angry, but to be patient.
4. Don't be arrogant, don't be afraid of people
Then the wise man is not proud. Verse 23 speaks of pride. It is said, “If a man is proud he will be humbled, but if he is humble in heart, he will be honored.” It was said that what happens when a person is proud (lowered). What do you gain from being humble (honour)?
God hates and hates the proud. That is why the Bible clearly reveals the arrogant person so that it can be a witness to all. First, He said that the proud are humbled. Look at people who are proud of having some money. What happens when God humbles them? Without hesitation, he enters the garage with the garage. What happens when you have authority and become proud? What happened to Jeong-Hye Park, Doo-Hwan Chun, and Tae-Woo Roh? Kim Young-sam also sat down in a very miserable position compared to the authority he had enjoyed.
It is said that God opposes the proud. What will happen to him if God becomes his adversary? God will continue to discipline that person until he casts away pride and humbles himself.
Next, the wise person is not afraid of people. Look at verse 25. What did you say 'if you are afraid of people'? (snares). If Christians are afraid of people, they cannot serve God.
Conclusion: Ladies and gentlemen, God is with you in all things. God bless you in all things. The reason is that the wise person lives in this world with a life that pleases God as the primary priority. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will live such a wise life and that God will be with you and that you will become saints receiving God's blessings in all things.