Proverbs 1:20-33
Mark 8:27-38
James 3:1-18
Godly living produces wisdom, because true wisdom comes from living in
the heavenly will of God, where there is no place for pain, suffering, or
death.
And this heavenly wisdom leads us to freeing the whole of God’s creation
from the corruption it has been subjected to, for the benefit of all human
being, and animals, and the environment in which we all live.
Thus, when this wisdom becomes part of our nature, we no longer can take
part in any human-caused pain, violence, or bloodshed, which hopefully will
prevent millions of human beings and billions of other animals from
suffering and dying every year.
Let’s now take a look at Proverbs 1:20-33, where Wisdom speaks to us.
20. Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;
This is telling us that Wisdom which is spoken through the Holy Spirit is all around us, if we care to listen.
21. At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city, she utters her sayings:
22. "How long, O naive ones, will you love simplicity?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing,
And fools hate knowledge?
This is exactly what the world seems to be doing, even though people deny it, and many say that they are doing what God wants them to do, but if they are eating animal flesh and their bodily secretions, we know that they are of this corrupt world and not of God.
23. "Turn to my reproof,
Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
We have heard many people claim that this is what they want, but when we observe them, we can easily see that they are still living in the ways of the world, and God is not happy.
24. "Because I called, and you refused;
I stretched out my hand, and no one paid attention;
25. And you neglected all my counsel,
And did not want my reproof;
26. I will even laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your dread comes,
We don’t understand why so many people refuse to do what God wants us to do,
and we have tried to figure out why we didn’t listen many years ago, but
once we came to our senses over 30 years ago, we changed and became peace
making children of God.
For those who don’t listen, God seems to allow them to suffer in the evil
and corrupt world of their own making.
27. When your dread comes like a storm,
And your calamity comes on like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come on you.
28. "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me,
29. Because they hated knowledge,
And did not choose the fear of the LORD.
Or, more accurately, we should think of this as the reverence of the Lord.
If we fail to reverence God and who He really is, and the way He wants us to
live here on earth, then we are really following the ways of the devil with
all his violence, pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death.
30. "They would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.
31. "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way,
And be satiated with their own devices.
32. "For the waywardness of the naive shall kill them,
And the complacency of fools shall destroy them.
This is why we are constantly pleading with everyone we can to return to the Lord our God with every part of their being, and become His peacemaking children who live in His heavenly will here on earth as it is in heaven.
33. "But he who listens to me shall live securely,
And shall be at ease from the dread of evil."
NASB
It’s really up to us, because God gave us a free will, and we have to choose
the way we live, for Godly living produces wisdom.
In Mark 8:27-38, we hear about who the Lord really is, so that all doubt is
removed so that we can be among those in whom Godly living produces wisdom.
27. And Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of
Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to
them, "Who do people say that I am?"
28. And they told Him, saying, "John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but
others, one of the prophets."
Why do so many people look to other answers than the truth that came from
God directly?
We believe that they do this because they have relatively little faith of
their own.
29. And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "Thou art the Christ."
And each and every one of us is to be like Peter, and let everyone know the truth.
30. And He warned them to tell no one about Him.
Jesus only said this because of the times and situations of that day, but today we are to tell everyone we can, and particularly about His heavenly love, compassion and empathy.
31. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be
killed, and after three days rise again.
32. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and
began to rebuke Him.
Even believers don’t always want to believe the truth, even when it is right
before their eyes, whether it was about Jesus in those days or about the
animals today.
They don’t want to face the fact that it’s ungodly to treat animals the way
we do, and exploit them, and cause them to suffer and die.
We need to feel the pain and suffering of Jesus in those days, and the
indifference, corruption, and violence that causes millions of human beings
and billions of other animals to suffer and die every year.
And we need to feel the suffering of the environment we all live in, and
realize that this is counter to the way that God created everything to be.
And we need to realize that only Godly living produces wisdom, the wisdom
that we need to be the peacemaking children of God that we’re called to be.
33. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
Jesus recognized that what Peter said was from Satan and not from God, which is still true today; we need to seriously analyze our speech and motives and make sure that they are in accordance with God’s heavenly will.
34. And He summoned the multitude with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
In other words, we cannot come to God for or with any selfish motives, and we also must have a truly repentant nature, for that is what the Lord requires of us.
35. "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses
his life for My sake and the gospel's shall save it.
36. "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his
soul?
Most people don’t seem to want to listen to this, or even believe it, for they continue to follow the corrupt and evil ways of the devil in this world instead of the heavenly will of God.
37. "For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
The simple answer is that there is nothing we can give after our death; the only way to maintain our souls is to live in God’s heavenly will.
38. "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the
glory of His Father with the holy angels."
NASB
When people turn away from God and choose to follow the corrupt and evil
ways of this earth, it really says that such people are ashamed of God and
His heavenly will.
In James 3:1-18, he explains why it is so important for each and every one
of us to have the wisdom that comes through Godly living.
1. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.
Because they teach others, they are responsible for their souls and spirits,
if they knowingly teach them something ungodly that affects their lives and
leads them astray.
We also consider any parents to be the primary teacher of their children;
thus, we consider what James is saying to be especially important for them.
2. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.
Unfortunately, there are very few if any like this, but we come a lot closer if we strive to live in the heavenly will of God here on earth as it is in heaven, because Godly living produces wisdom helps bring us even closer to being the perfect person that James is referring to.
3. Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well.
And hopefully as peacemaking children of God we will never need to do this, but James isn’t really referring to horses; he is referring to controlling our human worldly ways.
4. Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong
winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination
of the pilot desires.
5. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of
great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!
We need God’s heavenly wisdom to help us understand the effects of what we say and do so that we can control them before we do or say anything that could cause harm to any part of God’s creation.
6. And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
And today this also applies to Twitter and other social media messages we send out; every one of these things shows whether we are one of God’s children or a child of the devil.
7. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race.
Unfortunately, this is all too true and explains why humans are responsible for causing billions upon billions of animals to suffer and die every year, and we need to stop it, NOW!
8. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.
We’re not sure that this statement is one hundred percent accurate, for if it is said that no one can tame the tongue completely that might be more accurate, for we believe that a truly Godly person can tame their own tongue almost always.
9. With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have
been made in the likeness of God;
10. from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not to be this way.
We agree, but from my own experience, I don’t remember ever cursing any other person since I became a born again Christian, but we have sure heard a lot of other people do it.
11. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter
water?
12. Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?
Neither can salt water produce fresh.
We believe that James is talking about people of the world, and not the peacemaking children of God, for they usually produce things that are in the heavenly will of God.
13. Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
In other words, Godly living produces wisdom.
14. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
We find that this is hard to convince people of, because their worldly jealousy and selfish ambitions are so dominate in their lives they seem to be able to focus on nothing else.
15. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly,
natural, demonic.
16. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and
every evil thing.
This is the problem with most of the people around us.
17. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
These traits show that the person is living in the heavenly will of God here on earth as it is in heaven.
18. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who
make peace.
NASB
We need to be the peacemaking children of God, for their Godly living
produces wisdom.
Amen.
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