Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] So in 1993, outside of Nelson Mandela's home, General Constand was approaching his front door.
[00:00:18] Now, Mandela had just recently figured out that the general was rallying his troops and was about to take military action to stop the movement towards democratic elections that Mandela was a champion of. And so Mandela had invited him over to his house for a secret meeting.
[00:00:36] And the intensity of this situation, the pressure of it can't be overstated. It was literally life and death. The future of South Africa was in the balance.
[00:00:47] And in this culture, it was common for, especially at the higher levels of society, for the servant of the house to greet the guest at the door, to welcome them and bring them into the formal meeting place in the house, and to be the one that makes the tea and does all the hospitality stuff on behalf of the host.
[00:01:11] And so General Constan was shocked when Mandela himself opened the door with a warm smile and greeted him and guided him from that place not to the formal meeting area, but to his personal study where he would serve him by making him tea.
[00:01:28] And Mandela, in his actions, was decreasing the temperature. He was breaking down barriers.
[00:01:34] And so as they sat next to one another and talked on the couch sipping their tea, Mandela turned and looked the general in the eyes and said, general, if we go to war, there can be no winners, Nothing earth shattering, right? But in that moment, the genuineness, the gentleness that was flowing from Mandela's heart, that came out in his words, softened the general's heart, changed his mind, and he would go on to not take military action. He would actually go on to support democratic elections that took place in 1994. And the rest is history.
[00:02:15] See, Mandela didn't just know the truths that we see here today. He in Proverbs 15:1 4, he applied it to his heart.
[00:02:25] He let the truths of it change his heart. And the words that flowed from his mouth were gentle words that had the ability to turn away wrath and to dramatically change things in South Africa. Now, none of us will likely be in such a situation like that, of such intensity.
[00:02:43] But what I want us to see today, that we would earnestly realize the life giving or death dealing power that is in our words in all of life, the life giving and death dealing power that is present in our words in all of life.
[00:03:03] And so, before we jump into our text specifically today, I just want to do a quick flyover of Proverbs to help ground us in the purpose of what's happening in the book of Proverbs. So in the first seven verses in the book of Proverbs we see that the author is showing us the purpose of the Proverbs. And in summary, it's to know wisdom that leads to a life marked by choosing and acting on the good.
[00:03:32] The disposition of the one who reads the heart or reads the Proverbs is one of a humble heart.
[00:03:39] It's one who realizes they've never quite arrived, but. But continuously is seeking after wisdom.
[00:03:48] And then later on, in chapter nine of Proverbs, at the end of this long opening section, where we have these longer discourses about wisdom, we see the author give us two paths that are personified in Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly.
[00:04:04] And what he's doing is he's saying that you can choose the path of Lady Wisdom. That's the personification of wisdom. That's the path of the one true and living God that will lead to life, where you can choose the path of Lady Folly, the gods and idols of this world that will lead to death.
[00:04:26] And so that's the path that's set before us. And as we read the rest of Proverbs, that's the thing that should be in the back of our minds. What are we going to choose? Life or death? Wisdom or folly. So the stakes couldn't be higher.
[00:04:41] And so let us jump into our text. If you want to open your Bibles, if you have them, let's get Into Proverbs, chapter 15.
[00:04:49] Starting in verse one, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
[00:05:03] Right here we see that the power of words, there's nothing quite, quite like it.
[00:05:08] We all have experienced those moments where a close relative or a spouse or a friend or a coworker has. Has come at us in a moment of. Of heat and frustration.
[00:05:19] And how easily what flows from our heart is harsh words and defensiveness. And we can see how that stirs the waters of anger.
[00:05:30] And at the same time, we've. We've experienced, by God's grace, those moments where we've experienced experience that same situation. But by God's grace, we've responded with a gentle word, with a desire to understand what's happening. And we've seen how that can still the waters. Our words matter.
[00:05:50] Our words matter. And the Proverbs teach us that how we answer or respond, particularly in these difficult situations, it's a matter of wisdom.
[00:06:04] We can tend to think of wisdom or connect wisdom maybe to the wrong things, or at least emphasize the wrong things.
[00:06:11] Right. We might think of somebody who seems to make all the right decisions at work, or maybe seems to make all the Right. Investment decisions.
[00:06:19] Or maybe the one that's just the most intellectually gifted, that's the wise person in reality, there's some truth to that, right? But if that same person, private life, in their more intimate relationships, has a pattern of responding to conflict with words that are harsh and defensive, the Proverbs would say, this person is a fool. They are following lady folly.
[00:06:48] And so the wise are marked by gentleness in the midst of conflict.
[00:06:56] And as we see in verse 2, the wise also make knowledge look good.
[00:07:03] So let's look at verse two. Let's read this together.
[00:07:06] The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools pours out folly.
[00:07:16] So the Hebrew word for knowledge here, it's used more than twice as much in the Proverbs as anywhere else in the entire Old Testament. So this is an important word for us to look at.
[00:07:29] When we think of knowledge, what does our culture tend to think of? Usually, it's a purely intellectual knowledge. Like we have the knowledge of photosynthesis, or we might right now have the knowledge of the current state of the world cup.
[00:07:44] And in Proverbs, knowledge is not less than intellectual, but it's more than that. At its heart, it's a moral knowledge.
[00:07:55] It's a knowledge of righteousness and wickedness, a knowledge of what's good and what's evil.
[00:08:01] It's a knowledge that leads to action.
[00:08:04] As we see In Proverbs, chapter 1, verse 29, the author connects this knowledge with the fear of the Lord.
[00:08:12] If you love knowledge, you will fear the Lord.
[00:08:17] If you hate knowledge, you will not fear the Lord.
[00:08:22] Therefore, wisdom is not merely knowing the right thing, but it's delighting in the right thing in your heart that flows out into a life of action, into a life of words that bring life.
[00:08:37] This is wisdom.
[00:08:39] This is what the Scriptures say the fear of the Lord produces.
[00:08:46] And so in verse two, what does it mean to commend knowledge? Or more literally, it could be translated, what does it mean to make knowledge look good with our words?
[00:08:59] What does it look like to make knowledge look good with our words? It doesn't just mean that we say the correct things or we give lip service to certain Christian truths or to a general Christian morality.
[00:09:12] But then in our private lives and those where we're more intimate, we have a tendency of harshness.
[00:09:20] We engage in the vulgarity of the culture around us in our words.
[00:09:24] We're prone to gossiping and speaking evil of one another.
[00:09:29] No, the wisdom of Proverbs, the way that we make knowledge look good is that we adorn this knowledge with our words.
[00:09:41] We adorn this knowledge with our words in all aspects of life.
[00:09:47] The wisdom of Mandela on that night was not one of just merely speaking the right thing. We saw it wasn't that impressive, what he said, but it was the genuineness and the gentleness that was flowing from his heart that had been cultivated over time in this Christian man, that came together in the words that he spoke, that made the knowledge of what he was saying, the goodness of what he was saying, so appealing to the general that it changed his heart, it softened his mind.
[00:10:15] This is what wisdom does.
[00:10:19] It's the power of words channeled through the right disposition of heart. This is true wisdom.
[00:10:26] And so the contrast we see here, if you look at this verse, what does it mean to commend knowledge but not have words of folly pour from your mouth a little bit more clearly? Why don't we think of it this way?
[00:10:40] The picture here is as if you had a crown in front of you, and the words of wisdom that you were speaking out added jewels and precious stones to the truth and goodness that this crown is, it made it look all the more beautiful.
[00:10:57] Whereas the words of the fool that pour out folly, that. That could literally be translated, that folly gushes out from the mouth, it doesn't just overshadow the knowledge, it pours out of the mouth and totally washes away the crown.
[00:11:14] This is the stark contrast of the wise speech that comes from a wise and humble heart and the speech of the fool.
[00:11:24] It's a stark contrast indeed.
[00:11:26] And so Solomon, he continues to make the path clear for us as we see the choice in front of us of choosing wisdom and choosing folly. But he takes a moment in verse three to encourage weary travelers along the way, those who are his children. He encourages us with the truth of his perfect knowledge.
[00:11:51] And so let's look at verse three.
[00:11:56] Verse three says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
[00:12:07] And so, just in case you're wondering, of course God does not have eyes.
[00:12:11] This is a common literary device to make a point about God. The point, the author is saying, is that God knows everything.
[00:12:18] And again, the highlight here, the focus is the moral knowledge of God. He knows every good thing. He knows all wickedness.
[00:12:29] And you might be thinking, okay, well, how is that an encouragement?
[00:12:34] We all know the. The. The. The good things that are in us by God's grace, but we also know the. The wickedness that still dwells in us, even the Christians in this room. So how is this.
[00:12:46] How is this encouraging for us?
[00:12:50] And I think one thing I just want to highlight to help us see how this truth of God's perfect knowledge of everything is an encouragement. And it's grounded in the faithfulness of God in His covenant relationship with his people.
[00:13:06] It's grounded in God's faithfulness. So first, God had promised to make Israel a people for himself and to be their God.
[00:13:16] And he was faithful. As he brought them out of slavery, from Egypt, through the waters of the Red Sea, into the Promised Land. He proved Himself to be faithful again and again.
[00:13:26] And at the same time, there was always this thread throughout the Old Testament, this promise that God was going to make a people for Himself, not just from Israel, but for people from all nations who would be grafted into his family.
[00:13:41] And God, as we see, is faithful all throughout His Word. Even today, he's bringing more and more people into his kingdom through the finished work of His Son, Jesus. God's faithfulness, all of his promises find their yes and amen in the person of Jesus.
[00:13:58] He promised in Psalm 103 that he was going to take away the sins of his people as far as the east is from the West.
[00:14:07] The Old Testament sacrifices could not do that.
[00:14:10] But in the perfect time, that according to God's plan, He sent His Son into the world that he might live, die, and raise on our behalf. This is the faithfulness of God. God's promise to his people is that he will be their God and they will be his people.
[00:14:28] So in that grounding, in that reality, that if you are a Christian in this room, you are a son or daughter of God.
[00:14:35] He will not change his promises. He is faithful.
[00:14:40] And so God's knowledge of even the wickedness that still dwells in us should not lead to dread.
[00:14:49] Because we know that the blood of Jesus has the final word.
[00:14:53] We know that the blood of Jesus is a better word.
[00:14:59] And yet the encouragement for us in this text is that God is cares.
[00:15:06] God cares. He is knowledgeable of all things. He's not just after your lip service of what you say in public or when other people can see. He wants all of it. He is after your heart. He sees everything.
[00:15:19] He wants your entire life to be conformed into the image of His Son.
[00:15:25] So let us not settle for lip service or being liked or looked a certain way in front of people. And then in our own thoughts and in our intimate relationships, we allow our guard to come down and the folly to pour forth. No. Let us seek wisdom in every aspect of life and let Us have God's perfect knowledge and his care about everything, stir us on to love and good works, as the Scriptures say.
[00:15:55] And part of that, as we see in verse four, is that our words might become a tree of life.
[00:16:04] Our words might become a tree of life. Look at verse four with me.
[00:16:08] A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
[00:16:16] This first part of the verse could be translated. A healing tongue is a tree of life.
[00:16:23] And it's fascinating. The only other place that we see a tree of life in the Scriptures is, is in Genesis at the beginning of God's revelation and in Revelation at the end of God's revelation at the end of the Bible. And so in Genesis before the fall, we see the tree of life as giving life and vitality to Adam and Eve and then all the way at the end of Scriptures In Revelation chapter 22, in the New heavens and the new earth, the leaves of the tree of life are shown as bringing healing and to the nations.
[00:16:58] And so Solomon is telling us that the tongue of the wise, the words of the wise, bring life and vitality and healing into all aspects of life.
[00:17:12] And the contrast here is perverseness that breaks the spirit. The perverseness of the fool is speaking those things which are opposite of the good. It's making the wicked seemingly look good that brings a broken spirit. But the wise tongue brings life and vitality and healing.
[00:17:38] And so in our text this morning, we've heard the call of Lady Wisdom. We've heard the call of Lady Folly. Solomon has illuminated the path for us in our speech. What does it look like to follow path of Lady Wisdom?
[00:17:56] But if we're honest, for the Christians in the room, as much as we seek to follow this path of wisdom, we often find ourselves stumbling along the way and somehow taking a wrong turn and find ourselves on the path of Lady Folly.
[00:18:13] And if you're not a Christian in the room, deep down in your heart, you know that you are sold out for the path of Lady Folly.
[00:18:21] Any seeming willingness to move towards the path of wisdom is out of a desire not to fear the Lord, but out of a desire of self righteousness.
[00:18:32] The answer for both the non Christian and the Christian in the room is the same.
[00:18:37] It's to behold and gaze upon the perfect and true and ultimate wisdom of God.
[00:18:47] We see in the 10th century BC King Solomon.
[00:18:51] He's hailed as the wisest person that's ever lived.
[00:18:55] So much so that the Queen of Sheba travels many miles from Africa just to hear his words.
[00:19:02] And the Scriptures say that she was in awe of how he executed. Justice and righteousness, again highlighting the moral realities of wisdom.
[00:19:15] But we see that Solomon was not the perfect one with wisdom.
[00:19:21] Tragically, in 1 Kings, chapter 11, we see that he turned from the Lord. He went full force into the path of folly.
[00:19:32] But praise God, that was not the end.
[00:19:35] A thousand years later, we see in Matthew, the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 12, verse 42, that after the religious leaders had asked Jesus for another sign to prove who he was, just give us one more sign and we'll believe.
[00:19:53] He answers in part by telling them that you will receive a sign, and that sign will be the Queen of Sheba herself rising up in judgment against you. Because whereas she, this Gentile queen, traveled many miles just to hear a word from Solomon, Jesus looks at them and says, someone greater than Solomon is here.
[00:20:20] He's right in front of you. The perfect wisdom that I'm speaking to you is here, and yet you reject it. And so the Queen of Sheba will rise up in judgment.
[00:20:34] And we see in Jesus, he's not the personification of wisdom like we see in Proverbs, the lady of Wisdom, she's a personification of God's wisdom.
[00:20:44] Jesus is the perfect embodiment. He is the very wisdom of God.
[00:20:50] And this is proved over and over again as you look at these historical records of the Gospel account.
[00:20:58] He is perfect in speech. He's perfectly gentle.
[00:21:06] His words perfectly commend knowledge. His words are the very essence of the tree of life.
[00:21:15] This is the Lord Jesus, the wisdom of God.
[00:21:20] But it's not his speech that demonstrates the wisdom of God most perfectly.
[00:21:28] It's not his speech in Jesus day. In the Hellenistic culture specifically, wisdom was often equated with those who had the most clever speech, they had the most flowery of words.
[00:21:40] And in our day, I think wisdom is often connected with the person who's got the most. Who's the most gifted intellectually.
[00:21:49] But the wisdom of God is demonstrated in the ultimate act of self sacrifice.
[00:21:57] The wisdom of God is the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, taking on a human body, a human nature, that he might come and live the life that we could never live. The perfect wisdom of God, the perfect obedience to the law.
[00:22:15] But not only that. The essence of God's wisdom is found in the crucifixion, the horrible death of Jesus on the cross.
[00:22:26] That was not by accident. It is the demonstration of the perfect wisdom of God. Paul says in First Corinthians, chapter 1, that the crucified Messiah. This Messiah who shed his blood for the sins of his people is the very power of God and the wisdom of God.
[00:22:47] It's the wisdom of God because this is the only way that you can be reconciled to God is through the bloody cross.
[00:22:55] If you seek wisdom, the only way that you can even begin the path of wisdom is to follow the crucified man Messiah, to come to him empty handed, to cling to the cross of Christ. This is the very wisdom of God.
[00:23:15] This is the only true path to wisdom.
[00:23:19] And so if you're not a Christian in this room and you want to seek wisdom, let go of any desire of self righteousness in yourself. Come empty handed to the Lord Jesus. He is faithful to save and for the Christians in the room, as you stumble along the path of wisdom, desiring to follow Jesus as you stumble, let that lead you to the crucified Messiah again and again.
[00:23:48] That's where our hope is. If you focus on that, you will remain on the path of wisdom.
[00:23:57] Okay, so with the heartbeat of wisdom being centered on the person of Jesus Christ, specifically on his humiliation in the crucified Lord Jesus on the cross, as that as our central focus, let us look at some applications from our text today.
[00:24:18] So 1.
[00:24:20] First, we must learn to embrace the reality, the truth that words matter.
[00:24:30] We must embrace wholeheartedly that words matter. Finish this retort for me. Sticks and stones may break the bones, but wow, that was, that was really weak. But you got it right.
[00:24:46] So you can appreciate that sentiment, right?
[00:24:48] The reality in this fallen world is that every single one of us has to learn how to deal with harsh words that are spoken against us. But I think the wisdom of Proverbs would say something different. It would say something more like, sticks and stones may break the bones, but words can crush the spirit.
[00:25:07] Words matter. They have power.
[00:25:10] They have impact.
[00:25:13] And so if you desire to grow in wisdom, you will continuously seek to develop a tongue that is full of wisdom. To have your words shaped by the very words of God, to look at Jesus Christ and the Gospels and see perfect wisdom in action.
[00:25:33] You will seek day to day to have your words shaped by the truth of scripture.
[00:25:41] And so this week, as you go about your day, I want you to consider in every aspect of life, are my words words of gentleness?
[00:25:50] Are my words words of life and vitality and healing?
[00:25:56] Do they make the knowledge, the beauty, the truth and the goodness of who God is and his Son Jesus Christ? Does it make that look good?
[00:26:06] Or are your words harsh and full of folly? Consider this walk in repentance. None of us do this perfectly. We must consider and think deeply about these things. So words matter. Second, in doing this, we must learn to live coram Deo.
[00:26:27] We must learn to live coram Deo. I use this Latin phrase because I think it's helpful as a motto. For us, this means to live. Coram Deo means to live in the presence of God.
[00:26:39] Or in other words, to live as if God is always with you, because he is.
[00:26:46] God is always with us. It's very easy. In our culture, we see this more and more. It's so easy to separate things into a sacred and secular divide.
[00:26:58] How easy it is for us to speak wisely. And then in other situations where we think of it as less sacred, we let our guard down and the foolishness in our heart comes out.
[00:27:10] And we speak unkind words. We respond defensively.
[00:27:14] Let the reality of coram Deo, of living coram Deo, destroy this false dichotomy.
[00:27:22] God's not just after your lip service. He doesn't just want you to say the right thing. He's after your heart.
[00:27:30] Be encouraged in that. Be reminded that God is always with you. He's faithful, and he desires in every aspect of your speech, even in your thoughts, for your words to bring glory to his name, to honor him, to make the truth of who he is look good.
[00:27:53] And I'm hoping what you're seeing here is that you need the power of God to do this. This is not something you can just go out and muster up. You must focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is the power of God in the wisdom of God.
[00:28:12] And so lastly, and most importantly, let us remember that words flow from the heart.
[00:28:24] So we don't focus as much on the words themselves, but on the posture and disposition of our heart.
[00:28:31] This is what matters most. We see this in Luke, chapter 6, verse 45. Jesus says, the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure of his heart produces evil.
[00:28:49] For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, the mouth speaks.
[00:28:57] And some of you in this room would be all about, let's get after it. Let's figure out how to speak wisely. You might even be thinking in the back of your mind, just tell me what to say in certain situations that I might speak wisely. Let's just figure this thing out. Let's get after it.
[00:29:14] And certainly there's some truth to that.
[00:29:18] But again, what if God is not after primarily the words you Speak, but your heart, he wants your heart, which will then flow with words of life and vitality and healing. We see this with our story with Mandela. It wasn't the words that he said, but the way in which he spoke them and the heart that they flowed from.
[00:29:40] And this is what Jesus is saying. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. You don't get streams of fresh water if the source of that stream is salt water.
[00:29:53] Similarly, you don't get words of wisdom coming from your mouth if your heart is full of folly.
[00:30:00] We must do the work on our heart. We must allow the spirit to conform us more and more into the image of Jesus. That words of wisdom may flow from our mouth in all of life.
[00:30:15] It's right there in the text today. Actually, if you look at it, there's no such thing as a gentle or healing word in and of itself.
[00:30:24] There's no word you're going to say that just brings the effect you want.
[00:30:29] It's the words that flow from your heart, that flow from a place of love, from a place of goodness, from a place of desiring to honor and glorify God.
[00:30:39] That is when the life and vitality and healing words can flow.
[00:30:45] And so friends don't settle for external conformity.
[00:30:51] It's a sad.
[00:30:53] It's a sad way to pursue wisdom.
[00:30:57] General Constand would later reflect on his relationship with Mandela and he would say, he would comment that Mandela won over all who met him.
[00:31:13] He didn't do this with clever speech or inability to manipulate people. He did this with a genuine heart, with a heart that was full of the truth of the Gospel. With a warmed heart that overflowed in his words, that then had the power to bring life and vitality and healing into situations.
[00:31:37] The church leave here today earnestly considering the life giving and death dealing power of your words in all of life.
[00:31:51] Humble yourself before the Lord Jesus. Plead with him to root out the darkness that still exists in your heart until you find yourself again and again at the foot of the cross and humbling yourself, asking the Lord Jesus to give you the wisdom that you cannot produce yourself. It's in that place only in the humility of the cross of Christ and the crucified Messiah that our hearts can be warmed and words of life and vitality and healing can be forged.
[00:32:27] Let us pray.
[00:32:31] Father God, we thank you so much for your word.
[00:32:34] We confess that we have no ability to produce wisdom in and of ourselves.
[00:32:41] Please help us to humble ourselves before you to be reminded of the only true power and wisdom that you have for us is in the crucified Lord Jesus himself.
[00:32:53] Help us to run to him again and again.
[00:32:57] And may that lead to streams of living water that flow from our mouths. Would we be humbled into repentance again and again.
[00:33:08] And for those who don't know you, Lord, please move. Please move to show them your goodness and your love in Christ Jesus.
[00:33:16] We love you, we thank you and we pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.
