Sayre Woods Bible Church

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)

Proverbs reflects the heart of a parent. A good parent wants the best for their children. They desire them to succeed, to enjoy life, to follow truth, to find the best of friends, to know God. Yet all you can do as a parent is lead them and plead with them. You cannot make them follow this path. It is the great risk of love. You love them and sacrifice for them but you can’t force them to love in return or even to follow your advice.

As you read Proverbs, you see the heart of a father pleading with his son. “Listen to me. Don’t go down this path. It only leads to destruction. Love God. Follow truth. Learn to be humble and teachable. And you will find life and joy.” Unfortunately there are other voices in society calling out to them…”Don’t listen. Do what you want. Take what you want. Be your own king. Who cares what others think? Who cares what God thinks? Happiness is found in getting what you want when you want it…regardless of who it hurts.” That same struggle goes on today. Not much has changed in 3000 years.

Proverbs 3 is probably one of the most beloved chapters in Proverbs. And verses 5-6 are probably the most known verses in the whole book. But this morning my eyes were drawn to verses 3-4.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you (NIV). The New King James says, Let not mercy and truth forsake you. The two Hebrew words are chesed (lovingkindness, mercy) and emet (truth, faithfulness) so both translations are correct. I personally like to mix them. Let love and truth never leave you. Pursue love. Pursue truth. Let both characterize your life.

Bind them around your neck. Make love and truth your necklace. Let it be the adornment of your life. When others see you, let them see a person who loves and cares for others and a person who speaks the truth and lives the truth without compromise. Caring and consistent. The perfect balance of intimacy in relationships and integrity in life.

Write them on the tablet of your heart. To be an outward adornment it has to be an inward reality. Make love and truth your passion, your priority, your pursuit. Love God. Know truth. Love others. Be truthful. Measure your life by how much you are growing in your love for God and others and how much you are living consistent with God’s truth.

Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Others notice a life of love and truth. Even if they hate what you stand for, they come to respect who you are. Even if they resist your love, deep down they desire what you have. I am reminded of Proverbs 16:7, When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him. A life of love and truth speaks volumes. It cannot be ignored. It wins the favor of others. And more importantly, it resides in the favor and grace of God.

Lord, let my life be characterized by Your love and Your truth.

If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:3-5).

It is not enough to think that wisdom is a nice thing to have or something that you wouldn’t mind having in your life. Wisdom must be hungered for, desired, pursued. We are to “search for it as for hidden treasure,” with passion and purpose.

That kind of hunger and desire is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6). Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God (Psalm 42:1).

Unfortunately that desire is not always there. Other things steal my attention and my passion. I snack all day on junk food and then find little hunger for the feast that God has laid out for me.

I remembered something I read in Dr. Paul Brand’s book, The Forever Feast…

“Researchers have conducted bizarre experiments with rats. In these experiments an electrode is implanted directly into the part of the rat’s brain that registers pleasure. If the rat is given the choice of two levers, one that releases food into its dish, and one that switches on direct pleasure without the need to eat, the rat presses the pleasure lever until it dies of starvation. The actual need for food has been separated from the sense of need. The need for food is real, but the sense of pleasure, which is false, results in death.

A similar condition occurs in people with drug addiction. An addict on a succession of “highs” may lose awareness of many of his or her normal body needs. Many lose weight and muscle mass. Consequently, the caricature of the hollow-eyed cadaverous drug addict is sometimes not far from the truth.

What is true of the drug addicted person at a physical level is even more true at the spiritual level of large numbers of the human race. When Jesus said “Happy are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” he was not making a distinction between those who need righteousness as compared to those who don’t need it. We are all in need, but we don’t all know it or feel the need.

Friends and pastors may see that a person is in need of salvation and of the work of the Spirit, but there is little they can do until the person is hungry for God. We have to pray that God will awaken within this person an appetite for what he has to give. Then there is hope!

…We should never assume that the loss of spiritual appetite happens only to other people. There are times when one’s own spiritual life may be at a low ebb and the Bible seems lifeless and dull. This is not a time to stop feeding. Loss of appetite may become progressive, and even terminal, as in kwashiorkor [a disease in the malnourished in which they lose their appetite altogether]. These are times for discipline; for forced feeding. Daily Bible reading and prayer and fellowship in God’s house will tide us through.

One day your appetite will be stimulated. Words will leap out again and taste good. One day the spiritual saliva will flow again as God’s word becomes relevant to your felt need, and you realize you have passed through a transient period of anorexia. The food has become as appetizing as ever.

Some wandered in desert wastelands…. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress…. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds to men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things (Ps 107:4-9).”

Lord, increase my appetite for Your truth, for Your presence, for Your love.

Today we continue our tour through the different literary sections of the Bible. We will spend this week in Proverbs - the wisdom literature. Proverbs is written to teach us the basic principles of life…how should we live in this world. Wisdom is learning to take the knowledge of God and apply it to everyday life.

Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. (Proverbs 1:29-31)

These verses caught my attention this morning. How do we get in trouble in life? 

1. We hate knowledge. Sometimes we simply prefer ignorance. We would rather be entertained than engaged. We would rather not know truth than be forced to confront it and possibly have to change. Sort of like the man who suspects he is sick, but willfully avoids going to the doctor. “Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.” When we refuse to acknowledge the sickness of our own heart and our need for help, our need to change, we choose ignorance. We choose foolishness.

2. We do not choose to fear God. It is always amazing to me that a person who lives at most 100 years, who cannot conquer death, who cannot control nature, who cannot even control his own body, often has the audacity to look the eternal Almighty God in the face and say, “Leave me alone. I don’t need You. And I don’t want You either.” Wow. The foolishness of human pride. We have no fear of God, no respect of His power, no regard for His sovereignty. In our minds, we run the universe and God must answer to us. Sounds like the mind of a spoiled, strong-willed two year old, doesn’t it?

3. We do not accept wisdom’s advice. We do not want to know. We do not want to acknowledge God. And we do not want to listen. To accept advice requires a willingess to admit one’s limitations and admit one’s need for help. We simply do not want to go there. As my three old year often says, “I do it.” Expanded tranlsation…”Leave me alone, dad. I got this one.”

4. We spurn wisdom’s rebuke. Here is where the real rub is. We do not like acknowledging God and hearing His word quite simply because we do not like to be told we are wrong. As someone once said, “We would rather die than repent.” There is a fierce streak of independence running through our veins. It is there when we are born. It is there when we are toddlers and resisting the help of our parents. It is there when we are teenagers and think we have greater wisdom than our parents. It is there when we are young adults and spurn the older generation as naive and old-fashioned. It is there when we are adults and stubbornly refuse to hear the advice of others, especially those younger than us. It is there, deep down, when we hear the conviction of the Holy Spirit and we stiffen up our necks and say, “Get out of here! You do not know what is best for me.”

This is the way of the fool. And the end of this way is getting to “eat the fruit” of your stubbornness. What is that fruit? Distress in one’s soul. Trouble in one’s relationships. Bondage to sin. And ultimately death.

That is why ”wisdom call aloud in the street” and “raises her voice in the public squares” and “cries out at the head of noisy streets.” Because God is eager to rescue us from our own self-destruction. But only the humble, the repentant, and the wise, perk up their ears to listen.

Lord, teach me to be wise! 

 As a follow-up to our parenting seminar on September 13, we are offering two parenting support classes, Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids. Each class includes a video excerpt from Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller and group discussion and encouragement.

You can attend these classes at either of these two times. The material is the same at both times.

Sunday Mornings in the Chapel Room, 11am-12noon, during our Sunday School hour. During this time, kids will have their own Sunday School classes covering the concept of honor and respect in family life.

Thursday Nights in the Chapel Room, 7:00-8:30pm, during Awana. Awana is a children’s program for ages 3 through 6th grade that includes Scripture memory, games and activities, Bible teaching, singing, and awards.

For further information, contact the church office at 732-679-5989.

We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what You did in their days, in days long ago… But now You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go out with our armies. (Psalm 44:1, 9)

I’m always amazed when I think that the Israelites sang psalms like this one in worship. It is so different from the songs we typically sing today. I love the songs we sing today by the way…but there is something unique and honest about singing this psalm…

You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.
You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.
You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.
Alleluia…Alleluia…

Well actually the Alleluia part is not in Psalm 44 but you get the picture. Can you imagine singing this song this Sunday?

Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse Yourself! Do not reject us forever.
Why do You hide Your face and forget our misery and oppression?

Quite a song. It makes me wonder… Are we missing some of the passion…some of the honesty…some of the struggle of faith in our Christian life today? Are we “too positive”?

I think the New Testament does give us a greater sense of hope and certainty than what the Old Testament believer had. The OT believer looked forward to God’s redemption and deliverance. We can look backwards to the cross. The OT believer saw God’s greatest act of love and power in the Exodus. We see it in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus we can echo with the apostle Paul (who quoted Psalm 44:22)…

As it is written, “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:36-39).

So we are in a different position today…a position of grace…with a greater reason to rejoice. But Psalm 44 is still instructive to us. It reminds us that the road of faith is not always easy. That sometimes hearing about God’s great works when you are suffering under the weight of present trials and turmoils is not always comforting. “Where are You now, God? I need Your help now not stories about what You did in the past.” And that God invites us to wrestle with Him, to pour out our hearts to Him, to call out to Him, Rise up and help us, redeem us becaues of Your unfailing love!

It could be that the struggle is part of the growth and that singing about it reminds us that we are all on the same difficult journey together. Only now we know for certain…because of Jesus…that nothing in the journey can separate us from God’s love.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God (Psalm 42:11).

Ever been in a fight with your own emotions? Mentally you know the truth but emotionally you are just not there. Spiritually you know God exists and never forsakes you but emotionally you simply cannot feel His presence and feel abandoned and alone.

I love the Psalms because they remind me that the spiritual life is often an emotional struggle. There is nothing in Scripture that says that once we know God, everything in life becomes easy and troublefree. We like to believe that but nothing in Scripture teaches it. In fact, Paul and Barnabas in their missionary journeys went around “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said” (Acts 14:22). Part of Paul and Barnabas’ ministry was to remind believers of one simple fact, “Life is tough, especially for believers seeking the kingdom of heaven.” This doesn’t sound very encouraging…except when you are struggling with life and with your faith and you suddenly realize that you are “normal.” You are not out of God’s will…in fact, you may be right in the middle of it.

The writer of this psalm is in the same boat. He remembers times of spiritual joy and delight. Times when the presence of God was so close he could touch it. Now is not one of those times. God seems distant, uninvolved, unreal. He pants for God as a deer pants for streams of water. He cries. He struggles with depression. He is mocked by others. He feels overwhelmed and alone. He physically aches.

In the midst of all this, he starts to talk to himself. “Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” In fact, he asks this question to himself three times (42:5, 11, 43:5). Why do I feel this way? What is going on inside of me? Why am I letting my circumstances dictate my emotions? Then he resolves within himself, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” Despite the circumstances, despite the lack of joy, despite the feeling of abandonment, the psalmist resolves to keep his eyes on God and praise Him. He literally praises his way out of the pit. Is that possible? Is that normal?

I think the only way out of an emotional pit is to stop focusing so much on the problems and start focusing on God. It is like Peter walking on the water in the midst of the storm…either he focused on Jesus and rose above the waters or he focused on the storm and sank.

I must choose what I focus upon. Sometimes this is a fight. Our eyes want to divert back to the problems. The psalmist has to repeat the same thing to himself three times (maybe even more) before his soul got in sync. This is not ignoring the problem but refusing to let the problem dictate your life. This is not running from the problem but rather running into the arms of the One who is bigger than anything we may face.

I know I needed to talk to myself this morning and remind myself who God is…maybe you need to too.

5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.  7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.

There is so much to consider in Nehemiah 8. In many ways it teaches us how to worship together corporately…or at least what some of the key elements are of a “worship service.”

Ezra opened the Book. Worship is fed by the Word of God. It is great if you can have a worship service that is energetic, emotionally moving, informative, and creative, but if it is not grounded and tied to God’s truth then it is a waste of time and energy. Jesus emphasized this in John 4 when He said that we must worship God in spirit and truth (4:24). It is truth that sets us free (John 8:32) and sets us apart as God’s people (John 17:17).

Ezra praised the Lord…all the people lifted their hands…bowed down and worshiped the Lord. Ezra did not just speak about God. He knew God. He loved God. And he praised Him. He spoke God’s Word from his heart. The people were also engaged, seeking the Lord through His Word. They responded with both joyful adoration and humble submission. A truly powerful worship service must be led by Spirit-filled people and received by Spirit-filled people.

They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being taught. The goal is to communicate God’s Word effectively and clearly. If people do not understand, then what is the point? We come together to hear God. If the message is unclear, then the response is confused or contrived. As Paul says in 1 Cor. 14:9, “Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will be just speaking into the air.”

Verses 9-10 are also interesting. After the people hear God’s Word, they start weeping. The implication is that they are convicted by the words and realize that they, as a people, have not been obeying it. Then the leaders intervene and say, “Don’t weep. This is a special day. Today let’s celebrate. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength!” Pretty cool. The weeping is good. It lets us know that we are taking God’s Word seriously. But God doesn’t want us to stay here. God wants to turn our sadness into joy. God’s Word breaks us to remake us. His goal is never to crush us with sorrow or guilt. His goal is to get us to confront sin so that we can experience His joy. Sin is what crushes us not God. Satan is the one who accuses us over and over not God. God’s Word is to be like medicine on a wound. It stings for awhile but heals in the end.

But the medicine must be applied to have any effect. That’s why we need a church committed to teaching and communicating God’s Word effectively and creatively. And we need a church committed to receiving and responding to God’s Word humbly and joyfully. Lord, give us both at Sayre Woods!

As Christians, we are to display the qualities of leaders even if God has not called us into a leadership position. In Nehemiah 1-2, we are given a paradigm as to what a godly leader looks like.

1. A godly leader has a concern for the people and purposes of God.

“…Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.” (1:2)

“When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days…” (1:4)

“Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses…” (1:8)

Nehemiah’s did not ask about Jerusalem and the Jews just to make small talk with the visitors from Judah. It is clear that Nehemiah, like Daniel, knew the Scriptures and the prophecies about the Jews’ return to their homeland. His despair at the bad knews came from both a genuine concern for the well-being of his countrymen, and a knowledge that things were seemingly not going according to God’s plan laid out in Scripture. Nehemiah’s rise to action flowed not from a self-seeking, power-hungry spirit, but a spirit that was seeking to obey God and care for his people.

2. A godly leader prays before he acts.

“…and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” (1:4)

Nehemiah did not rush into action upon hearing the bad news about Jerusalem. In fact, about 4 months passed between his hearing of the news in chapter 1 and him approaching the king in chapter 2. These 4 months were not time wasted, but rather time spent in prayer discerning what God would have him do. Martin Luther is credited with saying, “I have so much to do today that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.” It is our nature (especially for men) to try to spring into action and DO something to solve a problem. Often, it is best to pray about a situation before acting on it.

3. A godly leader uses his position in life to his advantage.

“Now I was the cupbearer to the king.” (1:11)

“…wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, ‘Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.’ Then I was very much afraid.” (2:1-2)

As the king’s cupbearer, Nehemiah had unique access to the one person with the authority to move his plan along, and Nehemiah (and God) used that to his advantage. The fact that Nehemiah was afraid of the king’s question means that he probably had not planned to approach the king in this way, but he recognized that God had given him an opportunity, and he seized the moment to exploit his position.

4. A godly leader gives proper respect to those in authority.

“I said to the king, ‘If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you…’” (2:5)

Nehemiah gave honor to the authority God had placed over him even though the king was a Gentile. We are to do the same to the leaders in our government even if we do not share their religious or political beliefs. Nehemiah’s respect for the king may have been a reason why the king looked favorably on his cause.

5. A godly leader has a specific, detailed plan.

“So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. And I said to the king, ‘If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.’” (2:6-8)

When I was growing up, I knew that if I wanted to go out with friends, I would need to tell my dad all of the details: where I was going, who else was going, what adult supervision there would be, what time I would be home, etc. I quickly figured out that I was more likely to receive permission if I had all those details worked out before I went and asked my dad if I could go. Nehemiah does a similar thing here. He had all the details worked out, and gave the king a definitive plan of action. People will put their time, effort, and money behind a plan that is well-thought out and detailed. Yes, God may step in and change our plans, but that does not mean we should never make any.

6. A godly leader is careful with whom he shares information.

“And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.” (2:12)

“The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.” (2:16)

One of the effects of living in a democratic society is that everyone thinks they have the right to know everything. Even in a church (especially in one where the congregation makes decisions), people think they need to know everything the leaders do. Such a situation, however, is not always practical. Leadership at times is privy to information that needs to stays confidential. In Nehemiah’s case, the fact that he was facing opposition made it necessary to be tight-lipped. He may not have known who he could trust to keep his confidence. Such discernment about sharing information is a quality to be aspired to.

7. A godly leader stands firm in the face of fear and opposition.

“So the king said to me, ‘Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.’ Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, ‘Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?’” (2:2-3)

“But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, ‘What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?’ So I answered them and said to them, ‘The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.’” (2:19-20)

Nehemiah had every right to be afraid of the king question his mood. Displaying negative emotions before the king was a capital offense. Yet Nehemiah boldly explained himself to the king and requested his assistance. The opposition he faced as the rebuilding began is reminicent of the opposition faced by Noah when he was building the ark. Nehemiah was seen as conducting a fool’s errand according to human perceptions, but he was confident in the knowledge that he was peforming God’s will. If we are living according to God’s will and God’s word, we will undoubtedly face opposition from the world. It is our response to that opposition that betrays how confident we are in God’s plan and promises. May we stand firm in the knowledge that if God is for us, who is against us? (Romans 8:31)