Sermon Nuggets week of May 4 2009 Eccl 10 part 2
Sermon Nuggets Mon May 4, 2009
Theme Foolish Words
Verses Eccl 10:12-15
12 Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips.
13 At the beginning his words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness--
14 and the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming-- who can tell him what will happen after him?
15 A fool's work wearies him; he does not know the way to town.
Foolish Words
Last week, in part one on Ecclesiastes 10, we looked at Foolish Ways. The choices we make can be wise or foolish when we neglect to make decisions based on the word and wisdom from God. Impulsive actions can result in things we may regret later. Looking for pride, power, or prestige is valued in our world, but foolish when we find them all fleeting and fluff. That s not always the way of the Lord. Carelessness is experienced by all. But Solomon shows how carelessness is foolish when we don’t take regard to what we are doing, or how our actions affect ourselves or others by inattentiveness.
This week we will continue to look at portions of the chapter than deserve special attention. Beware of foolish words. How foolish it is when we have unguarded tongues. How often do we wish we could take back what was said? James tells us that no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. James 3:8-9
Foolish words can be more than what comes through our lips. Increasingly communication is done by email, tweetering, Facebook, MySpace, texting and the such. Many people are devastated by words they read from one another in various forms.
Years ago poet Anna Dryer wrote, "Twas only a word, a careless word, but it smote the heart of one that heard.
Like a fierce relentless blow; the day seemed overcast with gloom.
The sweetest songs seemed out of tune; the fires of hope burned low.
'Twas only a word, a loving word, but a weary, sorrowing heart was stirred.
And life took brighter hue; and faith triumphant, pruned her wing.
Discouraged souls began to sin and the hope revived anew.
Only a word, yet what power it hold to better or to mar the lives of those who hear.
What power for good -for evil too! Oh may our words be good and true and spoken in God's fear."
This week (and more) make it your prayer like King David, “
Ps 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues May 5, 2009
Verses- Eccl 10:12-15
12 Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips.
13 At the beginning his words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness--
Destructive Words
In many ways words expose what is in our hearts. Jealousy, competition, contempt may be what we feel. But our jibs and put downs toward others reveal it is foolish to talk in destructive ways about another. It too often comes back at us.
Gossip is destructive. It is not gracious. In Hebrew poetry and proverbs we see contrasting statements to make a point. The opposite of graciousness would be unkind. Instead of speaking kindly to another it is foolish to speak in unkind ways.
In Colossians we are told to let your speech be seasoned with salt meaning speech can also be attractive and effective and be persuasive for good. It was Abraham Lincoln who said, "It is better to remain silent and let people think you are a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt. "
I was speaking to a pastor recently who was the victim of gossip. Some one in his church did not agree with how he was running a particular program. Instead of speaking to him directly and discussing her concerns in a gracious and kind manner she talked to others and say destructive things about him. Foolishness grew as people passed on this gossip. Now people started to take sides to support the pastor and those who supported this woman who was their friend. It lead to confrontation that could have been avoided. Unfortunately many people were affected by her foolish words.
The words we speak do damage and one of the most destructive ways is to gossip. The apostle Paul was planning to come to Corinth since there were many divisions among the church. He addressed the root of much of the problem when he said, “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.” 2 Cor 12:20 Those are destructive and unkind words. When those words are spoken it grows instead of diminishes. A person may begin with foolishness and it continues to absolute madness.
Lies can be that way. They can begin with just a little white lie and escalate into death and destruction. It can be something so small and grow into something so horrible. Rumors can begin with just a little spicy information and in the tongues of fools devastate people and families. More damage is done by Christians by churches through vicious gossip and muttering tongues than any doctrinal heresy or financial or moral scandals. I have worked with young people that have completely turned away from the church because of the critical words they hear at home, they hear words against the preacher, against the leaders, against he programs against, the Sunday School teachers, against everything, and then parents later wonder why kids don't want to come to church.
Rev. 12:10 says the devil is the accuser of the brethren. We are guilty of doing the devils work by accusing other unjustly.
Watch your words today and see how often you might be tempted to put someone else down by your words. Catch yourself when gossip is spoken and let the Holy Spirit season your talk with that which is gracious and kind.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds May 6
Verses- Ecc.10 14 and the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming-- who can tell him what will happen after him?
15 A fool's work wearies him; he does not know the way to town.
Hot Air
I know it was wrong, but my brother and I would make jokes of an aunt who talked so much and so fast we would watch to see if we see if she took a breath. She'd be talking and we'd be giggling. She never knew what she was saying some of the time when she got going. We called it diarrhea of the mouth.
Sometimes we call someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about “full of hot air”. There isn’t anything to it and it flies away and it gone. One of the foolishness of words is that there are so many of them. Some people are incessant takers. George Elliot said "Blessed is the man who having nothing to say abstains from giving wordy evidences of that fact. Another said, “Don't use a gallon of words to express a spoonful of thought.”
Now I am aware that preachers can be faulted in this area. One lady admired the affection showed between a pastor and his wife. She noticed at the beginning of a sermon she sweetly blew her husband a kiss. Finally she remarked to the pastor and his wife about the thoughtfulness they demonstrated. Then the wife piped up and said, “KISS stands for Keep it Short, Stupid.”
Hot Air can also illustrate ignorance. Now there is nothing wrong with someone who doesn't know something and is able to learn in the process. Likewise it isn’t foolishness to be misinformed and willing to change. But there are people who come out like authorities on just about every subject and display an impressive amount of ignorance. In fact Solomon says teasingly, they probably can't find their own way home back into town. Some of that may be an excuse for laziness which we will address tomorrow, but hot air is talk that is better to be without.
You know people who think they know absolutely everything about everything. (They irritate those of us who really do.) You just give them a subject and they will pontificate. They are more concerned to hear themselves talk. It doesn't make any difference who they are with. They think nobody knows as much as they do about it. An exciting evening for them is when they can monopolize the whole conversation and when it is someone else's turn to talk, they leave, or change the subject, or demonstrate they aren't listening to you. I remember visiting with another pastor. He was talking about some passage from the Bible that supported his position. But I started to bring up an objection based on the context of the passage. He tuned me out entirely and changed the subject. After finding out I worked for nursing homes, he began to explain all that was wrong with nursing homes because he had done chapel services 4 times a year in a nursing home. Even though I wrote a booklet on visiting and volunteering in nursing homes had been a chaplain for 4 years in three different homes, he wanted to tell me how it really is in long term care work and how I should have done my job for the greatest effectiveness. After a while I kept quiet as he went on about politics, about music, about philosophy, about cars, about Baptists, about education, about any topic that came up whether or not he had his facts right. He was a fool.
Unfortunately one of the occupational hazards about being a pastor is that people expect you to know everything about all subjects. The temptation is to believe it for oneself. There is nothing wrong for anyone to say, “I don’t know.” Or “I’ll get back to you on that.” Or after a while people just stop listening. They know better.
When you find people no longer listening to you, take the hint. It may be you have nothing significant or new to say, or you are wasting your time on someone who thinks she/he has all the answers. Either way, there is probably foolishness going on somewhere.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs May 7, 2009
Verses- Eccl 10:18-20
18 If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.
19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.
20 Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.
Excuses
Call it what you will. Rationalizations, excuses, little white lies. All of them are different of course, but words often are used in crafty ways to excuse foolish, sinful, or lazy ways. That is not to say of course there are legitimate excuses as to why or why not we do some things. IF we are sick we excuse ourselves from school or work for good reason. If we are not wanting to go to work or school it can be convenient to come up with reasons that are pretty lame.
Solomon identifies a lazy person who comes up with foolish words to excuse him from work. They convince themselves and others why some projects do not get completed. Their roof can cave in but its because of poor lumber, or too much snow, or shingles are too expensive, or too busy to get at it. And the lazy man never gets around to fixing the leak and things get worse. He'd much rather feast and drink and make merry and talk. And if you get to hear his philosophy in the parties he'll tell you the problem is we need more money- then all the problems if life will be solved. The advice with much talk is less taxes, better pay, more work. Yet talk can become an excuse for not getting things done.
Our words can be light and frivolous to cover up needed confrontation. We can excuse ourselves of habits that need to be faced. I come up with lots of foolish words as to why I cannot lose weight. I love to blame it on my Mother who taught me to clean my plate because there are starving children in China who would be glad to have the food I am wasting. So as a proud members of the clean plate club to do my part for the starving children in China I clean my plate and everyone else’s in the family.
Maybe a good illustration of foolish excuses can be illustrated by this example- Pastor Quits Sports:Ten Reasons Why a Clergyman Stopped Attending Athletic Contests
1. Every time I went, they asked me for money.2. The people with whom I had to sit didn't seem very friendly.3. The seats were too hard and not comfortable.4. The coach never came to call on me.5. The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.6. I was sitting with some hypocrites -- they came only to see what others were wearing.7. Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.8. The band played some numbers that I had never heard before.9. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.10. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches anyhow.On the bottom of the page was this one line postscript: "With apologies to those who use these same excuses for not coming to church."
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri May 8, 2009
Verses- Eccl 10:20 Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.
Secrets
One lady was pumping me about information concerning another person. It was not something I should share. Finally I said, “Can you keep a secret”. “Oh yes”, she said expectantly. I responded, “So can I and this is one of them.”
Foolishly we say things we shouldn’t. It may not be gossip, but it isn’t in the best interests of others to share what should not be shared or repeat what should not be repeated. It is a hard lesson to learn especially when we think others appreciate us more when we tell them secrets.
Our words get repeated. It is interesting that when you say something in the privacy of your own room about someone somehow that story gets out and soon is thrown back into your face.
Beware, the writer says, because a little bird may tell everything that you are saying. Presidents and Kings try as they may, they cannot stop leaks of confidential information and conversations. In Washington it becomes a game as to who can leak information to the press first. In fact sometimes people will purposely whisper things to see what public reaction is before they official adopt the plan.
Walter Trobish in his book entitled, “I married You.” Told of a counseling situation he had on the phone with a lady about her boy friend. She was making derogatory remarks and some of his actions surprised Walter. Trobish made a comment of his own that was unkind about her boyfriend agreeing with her and continued with the session. Moments later he received a phone call from this girl's boyfriend, who was greatly offended over his comment. For he was taping all her phone conversations and everything that was said. He apologized and thought again, every negatives remarks about someone is prayers to the devil.
When it comes to words we wish we never said all of us our guilty. I wish I could take back things I said. I wish I could learn forever the lessons of being quiet instead of speaking up. And then there are times when I know I should have spoken up and remained silent. God has given to us the great experience of communication. Like everything else we can abuse it or use it for God's glory.
People have been hurt when they have overheard unkind remarks. There is folly in words.
One poet said,
“A careless word may kindle strife. A cruel word may wreck a life;
A bitter word may hate instill, A brutal word may smite and kill.
A gracious word may smooth the way; a joyous word may light the day;
A timely word may lessons stress, a loving word may heal and bless.”
When it comes to folly, Solomon cautions us, Christ command us, be careful what you say. You words matter to others and to God.
Pastor Dale
