Proverbs 27 - The Right Friends

First verse of Proverbs 27 says this, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

This is the same kind of thought that we read about in James chapter four, this overarching theme of don't assume that tomorrow is promised to you.

Man, even thinking about Mel's celebration of life tomorrow, I'm glad that Mel didn't put off living his life, didn't put off doing things and just go, I'll do it later. But I'm thankful that he was all in right away.

And man, that needs to be how we live our lives, that we're not waiting for some crazy thing to happen. We're not just waiting on some random set of circumstances. But let's give ourselves entirely to God and realize that tomorrow isn't promised.

So if we're going to live for God, it has to be today. If we're going to witness to those that we love, it's gotta be today.

If we're going to show people the love of Christ, if we're gonna show our family the love of Christ, man, it's got to be today. Don't put it off, but live today to the fullest for the Lord.

Verse number two, let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger, and not thine own lips. Here Solomon talks about the fact that we shouldn't be just boasting of ourselves and of our own gifts and of our own greatness.

He says, don't spend time praising yourself. That's arrogant. That's really obnoxious.

He says, instead, let someone else give you accolades. Let someone else give you praise. You don't have to heap that on to yourself.

Now, what this verse isn't saying is, hey, I want you to go to, I think Carlos is somewhere in the building or outside, but it's not me going to Carlos and going, hey, Carlos, can you give me some compliments? Can you tell me how great I am?

That's not what he's saying. He's not saying, get someone else to praise you for you.

What he's saying here is, hey, let your reputation speak for itself, that you don't have to talk about your own greatness in front of other people, but that other people would go, man, there's something different about this person.

Man, this person's a hard worker. Let it come from the mouths of other people. Let your testimony do the talking.

Verse number three, a stone is heavy and the sand weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. This word wrath here can also mean provocation. It's that poking.

It's this annoyance that, you know, stones are heavy, rocks can be heavy things, and if you get enough sand, sand can really weigh you down.

I think of even sandbags that we use for a lot of things here at the church that, man, it just weighs it down. It's something that brings things and grounds them. But it says a fool's wrath or a fool's provocation is heavier than stone or sand.

That for a foolish person, the words that they say bring other people down and it weighs them down in their life. Let's not be the Christians that would weigh down and would make heavy the lives of other people.

It can be so easy to say an encouraging word that will lift someone up, but by the same token, it can be so easy to say a hard word or a demeaning word that will bring other people down. So have your focus on saying words that will lift others up.

Verse number four, wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? Here he makes the case of wrath and anger.

These are things that really happen when we are, when we feel slighted and wronged, and when it's been phrased, our justice centers know, hey, there's something wrong, something was supposed to happen, there was supposed to be a certain result to

this, and that didn't happen. And when that occurs, then we feel anger of, hey, there's something wrong here. But he says, who is able to stand before envy?

Now, as it's used in the Bible, envy is when we want something that someone else has or possesses, and it's different than jealousy, and that jealousy would be that you want what is yours.

So when the Bible talks about the Lord being a jealous God, he wants the people that are his, that he has purchased. It is his people. But envy is something that really destroys us.

It says here, wrath is cruel, anger is outrageous, but who's able to stand before envy? Man, there are deep consequences that come as a result of anger, and it can be a cruel thing, but even worse than anger is envy.

We should look on our own things and not the things of others, as Paul says in Philippians 2, and we should be grateful for what God has given us and not be envious and always want what everyone else has, not want what everyone on the TV has.

Instead, be content with what God has given us. Verse number five, open rebuke is better than secret love.

Man, if someone loves you, they are going to call you out sometimes when you are doing things that harm yourself, that harm your reputation, that harm your interactions with others, they're going to love you enough to correct you.

And here's what it says, open rebuke is better than secret love.

If someone just loves you, but it doesn't actually manifest in any sort of meaningful friendship, man, that's not a great thing, but even open rebuke, if it's done for love, man, that's a great thing to have. So receive that rebuke.

Don't always assume, if someone says something or corrects you, that they're against you. Instead, accept that. Verse number six.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Just along the same lines as the previous verse, that a friend will sometimes wound you or correct you in order to make you better.

But it says here, the kisses of an enemy are deceitful, that there will be those people that are just trying to get from you.

And so even if they sweet talk, even if they flatter, don't listen to them, listen to the people that love you enough to correct you. Verse number seven, the full soul loatheth an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.

Man, when you are full, even the tastiest thing, you don't want anything to do with it. If you've eaten a full meal and someone brings along a giant cake, but man, you've just eaten a ton of food, you're not going to want to put more in.

Even the delicious things, you're like, oh, I'll save that for later. Says, to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. When you are hungry, even the things that might not be the tastiest, you want them because you are starving.

And man, I think of this verse, even back to the Beatitudes that we went over several months ago, but let's be those that would hunger and thirst after righteousness.

And when we are hungry for righteousness, man, we're going to go after it wholeheartedly. And let's be those that would do that. Verse number eight, as a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.

Man, a nest for a bird is a place of security and safety. It's where family is, it's where the home is made. And we need to not be those that would squander both the things that God has given us and the responsibilities that he's given us.

Let's be those that wouldn't wander from our place, but that we would stay and fulfill our responsibilities and realize the great things that God has given to us.

Verse number nine, ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. I love this verse. It says, just as much as like a good smelling lotion or perfume or cologne, it makes you happy.

It smells good. It's a great thing. When you hear, I love this word, hearty counsel, it's meaty, it's good, it's genuine.

When you hear that good word from your friend, man, that makes you happy. Let's be those that would speak hearty counsel, meaningful counsel. Don't have just all of our friendships be surface level and meaningless.

Let's have real, genuine, meaty, hearty friendships. Verse number 10, Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. Neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity.

For better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. Here he says, hey, sometimes we can put too much of an emphasis on our family to the neglect of those that have been meaningful, legitimate friends in our lives.

These verses can kind of go together, verse nine and 10, of that good friend, that right friend, that's the person that you want to go to in a time of calamity, more so than those that would be far away, but might be family, that I would know, hey,

if I'm in trouble, I don't have to call my brother Sammy, who's in Colorado, or my dad, who is in Colorado. Instead, I can call up my good friends, Carlos and Rob and Pastor Dennis, because better is a friend that is near than a brother that is far

on. Verse number 11, my son be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him that reproacheth me. Here you have the impact that our lives can have on those that follow after us and those that have gone before us.

That the greatest rebuke to a critic of a person is their children saying no, they have walked uprightly. Or a father that would be able to save their children, truthfully, hey, no, I know my son is a good kid.

And even though maybe there might be differences or something that occur, that there would be this certainty of testimony. Have that certainty of testimony with those that have come before you and with those that are coming after you.

Gonna end with these couple of verses here. Actually just this one here, verse 14. He that blesses his friend with a loud voice rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.

Hey, even when you say a good word to someone, you need to say it in the right moment, in the right way. Here you have a person that is blessing his friend. He's saying a good thing to a friend of his.

And I think all of us would agree, we've even talked about him in this chapter. It's a good thing to say encouraging words to people. It's a good thing to bless people.

But here you have two things that he did. It was at the wrong time where it's early in the morning that he's saying, hey, bless you with a loud voice.

And man, sometimes we can say the right thing at the wrong time, or we can say the right thing in the wrong way, and it completely undoes all of the good that we would wish that our words would have.

And man, I think even of our testimony as it relates to witnessing, when we're telling other people about Jesus, saying the right thing is obviously vitally important that we wouldn't be saying anything other than the gospel when we're witnessing,

but we would tell people about Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, about his payment for our sins, all of that, that we would tell them that, tell them the right thing, tell them it at the right time. And man, when it comes to the right time, that

comes down to listening to the Holy Spirit and being sensitive to his leading, that we would know when he is nudging us to, hey, I want you to talk to this person, I want you to talk to this neighbor, I want you to talk to this person at the store, I

want you to talk to this person. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and allow him to guide us, and that will help us know the right time when we're communicating with people. And not only that, but do it in the right way.

I think of even the fruit of the Spirit and how so many of the different specific aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are about our attitude, are about how we conduct ourselves on the inside of love, of joy, peace, of long suffering with people,

gentleness, goodness, faith that we have, meekness and temperance or self-control. Man, in all of these things, there is a right way to do things and there's a wrong way to do things.

When we do things in anger, when we do things in kind of a bitter spirit, man, that's not going to communicate the truth of God in the right way.

When we do things in the spirit, we are going to have that love, and joy, and peace, and the rest of the fruit of the spirit manifested in how we're communicating with people.

If we're always angry and embittered and wanting something, man, that's not a great indication of how our hearts should be. But let's be those as Christians that would say the right thing at the right time in the right way.

And man, what a good thing that is. I think even might have been the last time that I was on here we talked about a word fitly spoken, that it's spoken in the right time, right way, right place, and what good that does for the soul.

Well, look forward to being with you all again soon. And again tomorrow at, I believe, 1030 is Mel Neal's Celebration of Life Service. So be praying for Miss Maxine and for all of those involved.

Thanks for tuning in to Strength of the Day.