Sermon Tone Analysis

Proverbs 25:6-14

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Introduction

The situation in the Arab world has been quite interesting in recent months.

In Libya, Yemen, Egypt and Palestine there have been movements for change.

It has been interesting to watch the strategies used in these movements.

In some cases they have tried to use peaceful protests, which have sometimes been quelled by violence on the part of government forces.

In other cases, like in Libya, they have used armed resistance.

In Palestine after years of oppression by Israel, and responses of bombings and other violence, Mahmoud Abbas is trying a new strategy by asking the world to recognize Palestine as a state.

Which way will win?

Although these events are taking place in the macrocosm of the world, similar concepts also pertain in the microcosm of our relationships with one another.

For example, some people believe that the only way they will accomplish what they want is if they push their way forward.

That seems to make sense, but sometimes the best way is counterintuitive.

Sometimes we know exactly what the best way to handle a relational matter is but we just don’t feel like doing it.

For example, if we have made a commitment to someone, do we keep that commitment even if a better offer comes along?

We know that keeping our commitment is the right thing to do, but it is very tempting to break it if it is to our advantage to do so.

In regards to relationships, what are winning ways?

As followers of Jesus we are called to obey the Word of God, not only because it is right, but also because God’s ways are winning ways.

So when winning ways are counterintuitive or hard to follow, we need to be reminded, as a follower of Christ that it is always wise to follow what God teaches.

This morning, we will look at Proverbs 25:6-14 which examines a number of winning ways that have to do with relationships.

So let us read the text and listen to what God is teaching us in the text.

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I.                   Humble Ways 6, 7

This chapter is described as a collection of proverbs of Solomon which were collected by the men of Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was a king who was faithful to God and ruled a number of years after Solomon.

The first few proverbs have to do with winning ways for a king.

The word “king” appears 4 times in the first 6 verses.

Verse 6 describes winning ways for those who come into the presence of a king but the application makes a lot of sense for us as well.

There are no shortages of talent shows on TV.

We watched America’s Got Talent when it was on during the summer.

Some of the people who came to perform humbly got up on stage and displayed amazing talent.

They won over the judges and the hearts of America by their talent.

There were others who engaged in shameless self promotion and basically communicated that America was lucky they were in the competition.

Often their talent betrayed them and they were quickly voted out.

That is the kind of relational attitude which is described in verses 6 & 7.

It describes the situation in which a person is before a king and pushes himself forward.

Although that is the context, the application is much broader and discourages us from engaging in any kind of self promotion.

I have known people who have wanted positions of leadership, but they didn’t have the abilities.

Sometimes they tried to get into those positions by self promotion.

The result was usually unpleasant.

On the other hand, I have seen people who had great gifts who were naturally called into leadership.

This is one of those situations in which we know the right thing to do, but are sometimes tempted not to do it.

We are afraid that if we don’t promote ourselves, no one else will.

God invites us to a different way of relating.

Earlier in the service we read from Luke 14 where we see that Jesus teaches the same thing.

Ross says, “It is wiser to wait to be promoted than to risk demotion by self-promotion.”

The winning way of humility is promoted in Scripture.

To be humble does not mean that we pretend that we aren’t able to do anything.

Rather, it means that we do what we can do well and faithfully, that we serve willingly and offer what we have to offer gladly.

Rather than seeking to be promoted and honored, we choose a humble servant attitude.

We can do that because we trust God to guide our life and to bring us to the place he wants us.

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II.

Peacemaking Ways 8-10

The next few verses describe winning ways in the context of a conflict.

These verses do not describe a complete strategy for conflict resolution, but a give us a few things that are helpful in those kind of situations.

!! A.                 I Want Justice!

A passion for justice is a frequent plea when a wrong has been done.

We hear it when someone gets a sentence that doesn’t seem to fit the crime.

We hear it from our government when they speak about getting tough on crime.

We hear it from people who have been in an accident and want a fair settlement.

God is a God of justice and one of the things we can be confident about in regards to all wrongs done is that God will pursue what is right and just in every situation.

He is famous for being a just God.

So, the pursuit of justice, the demand for what is fair is a God-like thing to do.

However, Proverbs 25:8 raises a warning about the pursuit of justice.

It warns that we should not bring a matter to court hastily.

In other words, in our pursuit of justice, we need to be careful not to be too quick about raising issues.

A few years ago I made a left turn into the far lane.

It was a double turning lane and there was a car which was also turning left in the other lane.

The other car was a little behind me but speeded up faster and as I was trying to go into the far lane, they were coming up very quickly behind me.

I was upset that they were speeding up to come into the lane I wanted and I wanted them to do what was right.

I felt righteously indignant because of what they were doing.

I made a comment about this and the person who was my passenger pointed out that I was the one who had done wrong, that I should have gone into the near lane first and then signaled to change into the far lane.

That is the problem with demanding justice or taking a matter to court too quickly.

We think that we are in the right, but our perspective may not be accurate and we may in fact be in the wrong.

That is the intended direction of the phrase “if you neighbor puts you to shame.”

If we are hasty to demand justice or if we are hasty to take a matter to someone for arbitration, we may be surprised that in fact we are the ones who are in the wrong.

It happens in sports all the time when people think they are innocent when they receive a penalty.

Often replays show that in fact they were not innocent.

The winning way described here is to have an open attitude about what is right, to recognize that our perspective may not be accurate and that we need to be gracious in approaching other people, making sure we fully understand a situation before we blast away or demand justice.

If we think an injustice has been done, the winning way would be to explore the case with humility.

Don’t be quick to demand justice until it is clear that there has been injustice done.

!! B.                 Speaking Honorably

Verse 9 is also set in a conflict context.

When in a situation of conflict, people do some very strange things.

Usually the goal we have is to defend ourselves and prove that we have done everything right.

Of course as we have these conversations, we gather pieces of information from different people, some of them told to us in confidence.

One of the things that may happen in our drive to defend ourselves is that we will quote some of these conversations and perhaps even quote some of the pieces of information which are told to us in confidence.

It may seem like a winning way to do so.

We may feel that we have strengthened our position and made our point.

The problem is that there may be an unintended side effect and that is what this verse addresses.

The winning way which is described here is that we ought never to betray a confidence.

What happens when we do is that the person whom we are speaking to suddenly realizes that we are not to be trusted and our case may in fact suffer loss.

Whenever someone says to me, “I shouldn’t say this, but…” I cringe.

If you shouldn’t say this, why are you saying it?

The information may be helpful, but an unintended result is that the person demonstrates that they cannot be trusted with a confidence.

Winning ways are ones in which even in the heat of argument, we maintain confidences.

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III.

Winning Words 11, 12

The next section speaks about winning ways with our words.

!! A.                 Speaking Blessing

In verses 11, 12, the writer uses some interesting imagery.

This is good writing because it engages our imagination and allows us to visualize what is being said.