QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“…wisdom is the spring of joy, for the joy breaks out whenever and wherever the Creator’s wisdom is exercised.”

~Derek Kidner (1913-2008), British Old Testament scholar

“You are happy when God blesses you, but not as happy as God is.”

~C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London preacher

“People don’t get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.”

~Jonathan Haidt in The Anxious Generation

“To me there is in happiness an element of self-forgetfulness. You lose yourself in something outside yourself when you are happy; just as when you are desperately miserable you are intensely conscious of yourself, are a solid little lump of ego weighing a ton.”

~Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), English chemist, philosopher, and educator

“There cannot be done so great an injury and displeasure to almighty God our Father, as to tread underfoot Christ, His only-begotten and well-beloved Son. All other sins in the world, gathered together in one, be not so heinous and detestable in the sight of God. And no wonder, for in Christ crucified, God doth show Himself most noble and glorious, even an almighty God, and most loving Father, in His only dear and chosen blessed Son. And therefore I count myself one of the most wicked and miserable sinners, because I have been so much contrary to Christ my Savior….

“But, now, what maketh me so bold and hardy, to presume to come to the Lord with such audacity and boldness, being so great a sinner? Truly, nothing but His own Word: for He saith, ‘Come to me all ye that labor, and are burdened, and I shall refresh you.’ What gentle, merciful, and comfortable words are these, to all sinners! What a most gracious, comfortable, and gentle saying was this, with such pleasant and sweet words to allure His enemies to come unto Him! Is there any worldly prince or magistrate that would show such clemency and mercy to their disobedient and rebellious subjects…? I suppose they would not with such words allure them…. But even as Christ is Prince of Princes and Lord of Lords, so His charity and mercy surmounteth all others.”

~Katharine Parr, the final wife of Henry VIII, in “Lamentations of a Sinner”

“Only the unconditional love of God for sinners will inspire sinners to love God more than their sin.”

~Dr. John Ashley Null, English Reformation scholar

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 8 (ESV)

1 Does not wisdom call?

  Does not understanding raise her voice?

2 On the heights beside the way,

  at the crossroads she takes her stand;

3 beside the gates in front of the town,

  at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:

4  “To you, O men, I call,

  and my cry is to the children of man….

22 “The Lord possessed me

  at the beginning of his work,

  the first of his acts of old.

23 Ages ago I was set up,

  at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,

  when there were no springs abounding with water.

25 Before the mountains had been shaped,

  before the hills, I was brought forth,

26 before he had made the earth with its fields,

  or the first of the dust of the world.

27 When he established the heavens, I was there;

  when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

28 when he made firm the skies above,

  when he established the fountains of the deep,

29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,

  so that the waters might not transgress his command,

  when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,

and I was daily his delight,

  rejoicing before him always,

31 rejoicing in his inhabited world

  and delighting in the children of man.

32  “And now, O sons, listen to me:

   blessed are those who keep my ways.

33 Hear instruction and be wise,

   and do not neglect it.

34 Blessed is the one who listens to me,

   watching daily at my gates,

   waiting beside my doors.

35 For whoever finds me finds life

   and obtains favor from the Lord,

36 but he who fails to find me injures himself;

   all who hate me love death.”

John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.”

~Friedrich Nietzsche

“Words are not in the power of men; men are in the power of words.”

~Hermann Bahr

“I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.”

~John Calvin

“Even though our tongue cannot be tamed by human nature, it can be tamed by the Holy Spirit.”

~Jackie Hill Perry

“A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.”

~Henri Nouwen

“That non-bony, flappable instrument between our bicuspids can be an instrument of tremendous good or cataclysmic destruction. It can be used to build people up in the faith or to destroy their hard-earned reputations. It can help bring about peace among nations or can start a war.”

~Curtis Thomas

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 13:3, 15:1-2, 4, 18:20-21, 21:23-24, James 1:26 (ESV)

Proverbs 13

3 Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;

  he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Proverbs 15

1 A soft answer turns away wrath,

  but a harsh word stirs up anger.

2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,

  but the mouths of fools pour out folly….

4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life,

  but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Proverbs 18

20 From the fruit of a man’s mouth

  his stomach is satisfied;

  he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

   and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Proverbs 21

23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue

   keeps himself out of trouble.

24 “Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man

   who acts with arrogant pride.

James 1

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal—it is a status, an office…. As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of marriage above the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

“God makes your marriage indissoluble. ‘What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder’. God joins you together in marriage; it is His act, not yours.”

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), to his niece on the announcement of her wedding, written while imprisoned for opposition to Adolf Hitler

“Yet man being made last of the creatures, as the best and most excellent of all, Eve’s being made after Adam, and out of him, puts an honor upon that sex, as the glory of the man, 1 Cor. 11:7. If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined….”

“That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

~Matthew Henry (1662-1714) in his commentary on Ephesians 5:21-25

“A good marriage is one where each partner secretly suspects they got the better deal.”

~Unknown

“To keep your marriage brimming with love in the wedding cup, whenever you’re wrong, admit it; whenever you’re right, shut up.”

~Ogden Nash (1902-1971), American poet

“Never laugh at your wife’s choices. You are one of them.”

~Unknown

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages from Proverbs (ESV)

Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you receive my words

  and treasure up my commandments with you…

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord

  and find the knowledge of God….

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,

  from the adulteress with her smooth words,

17 who forsakes the companion of her youth

  and forgets the covenant of her God….

Proverbs 5

15 Drink water from your own cistern,

  flowing water from your own well.

16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,

  streams of water in the streets?

17 Let them be for yourself alone,

  and not for strangers with you.

18 Let your fountain be blessed,

  and rejoice in the wife of your youth….

Proverbs 12

4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,

  but she who brings shame

  is like rottenness in his bones.

Proverbs 17

1 Better is a dry morsel with quiet

  than a house full of feasting with strife.

Proverbs 18

22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing

  and obtains favor from the Lord.

Proverbs 19

14 House and wealth are inherited from fathers,

  but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Proverbs 31

10 An excellent wife who can find?

  She is far more precious than jewels.

11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,

  and he will have no lack of gain.

12 She does him good, and not harm,

  all the days of her life….

27 She looks well to the ways of her household

  and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;

  her husband also, and he praises her:

29 “Many women have done excellently,

  but you surpass them all.”

30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

  but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,

  and let her works praise her in the gates.

Proverbs 24

3 By wisdom a house is built,

  and by understanding it is established;

4 by knowledge the rooms are filled

  with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 14

26 In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence,

  and his children will have a refuge.

27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,

  that one may turn away from the snares of death.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“I wonder if one of the sins we are entertaining beneath all other sins is discontentment, a lack of gratefulness, a lack of thanksgiving. What if when the serpent came, instead of entertaining him, [Eve] thanked God for what He gave her thus far? ‘I’ve got God and I’m thankful! I’ve got all these other trees and I’m thankful!’”

~Jackie Hill Perry, writer, poet, and hip-hop artist

“The thing at bottom is, that men have low thoughts of God, and high thoughts of themselves; and therefore it is that they look upon God as having so little right, and they so much.”

~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) New England minister and theologian

“Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.”

~John Bunyan (1628-1688), writer and preacher

“A madman is not someone who has lost his reason but someone who has lost everything but his reason”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), author and literary critic

“Time and again, studies have shown that performing simple gratitude exercises, like keeping a gratitude diary or writing letters of thanks, can bring a range of benefits.…. [T]he more practice you give your brain at feeling and expressing gratitude, the more it adapts to this mind-set ... a sort of gratitude ‘muscle’ that can be exercised and strengthened.” 

~Dr. Christian Jarrett, British cognitive neuroscientist

“Remember that this God in whose hand are all creatures, is your Father, and is much more tender of you than you are, or can be, of yourself.

“Consider solemnly, that though the things you fear should really happen, yet there is more evil in your own fear than in the things feared…. Fear is both a multiplying and a tormenting passion; it represents troubles as much greater than they are, and so tortures the soul much more than the suffering itself.”

~John Flavel (1627-1691) in Keeping Heart

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages from Proverbs and Romans (ESV)

Proverbs 3

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

 and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

 and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;

 fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

8 It will be healing to your flesh

 and refreshment to your bones.

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth

 and with the firstfruits of all your produce…

Romans 1

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”

~Soren Kierkegaard

“Now this is to be a fool— to act contrary to your own knowledge and better judgment.”

“The moth is foolish that flies into the candle, and, having burnt itself, dashes again into the flame. We count the ox foolish that goes willingly to the shambles; but there are multitudes of men and women who take delight in sin; and, though every cup around them be poisoned, yet they drink at it as though it were nectar… We are great fools when we think that we can find pleasure in sin, or profit in rebellion.”

~Charles Spurgeon

“Only in Jesus can those born into folly, increasingly manifesting foolishness, on a crash course for destruction, be set free to true wisdom and ultimate life.”

~David Mathis

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 1:7; 1:20-33; 12:15; 18:2; 26:11; 28:26 (ESV)

Proverbs 1

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

  fools despise wisdom and instruction...

20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,

   in the markets she raises her voice;

21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;

   at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

22 “How long, O simple ones,

  will you love being simple?

  How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing

   and fools hate knowledge?

23 If you turn at my reproof,

  behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;

   I will make my words known to you.

24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,

   have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,

25 because you have ignored all my counsel

   and would have none of my reproof,

26 I also will laugh at your calamity;

   I will mock when terror strikes you,

27 when terror strikes you like a storm

   and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

   when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;

   they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

29 Because they hated knowledge

   and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

30 would have none of my counsel

   and despised all my reproof,

31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,

   and have their fill of their own devices.

32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,

    and the complacency of fools destroys them;

33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure

    and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Proverbs 12

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

   but a wise man listens to advice.

Proverbs 18

2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,

   but only in expressing his opinion.

Proverbs 26

11 Like a dog that returns to his vomit

   is a fool who repeats his folly.

Proverbs 28

26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,

   but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Imagine a society where no one had to work. Robots and artificial intelligence performed all essential jobs while advanced technologies provided unlimited clean energy, food, and consumer goods. Human beings were free to pursue their passions and spend time with loved ones instead of working. What would life look like in this futuristic work-free world? [...] For the first time in history, our jobs wouldn’t dictate how we spend our days.”

~Roy Lam, Data Scientist and Psychometrician, “What Life Would Look Like if Humans Didn’t Have to Work Anymore”

“The image of God was never meant to yawn through life. Yet those who are paying attention will also see something more in this tragi-comic sloth: themselves. We all have an inner sluggard, counseling us to sleep when we should rise, rest when we should work, eat when we should move.”

~Scott Hubbard, pastor in Minneapolis, “The Sluggard in Me: Four Lies that Lead to Laziness”

“The wise man knows that the sluggard is no freak, but, as often as not, an ordinary man who has made too many excuses, too many refusals, and too many postponements. It has all been as imperceptible, and as pleasant, as falling asleep.”

~Derek Kidner, Bible Commentator and Old Testament Scholar, Proverbs

“In short, work – and lots of it – is an indispensable component in a meaningful human life. It is a supreme gift from God and one of the main things that gives our lives purpose. But it must play its proper role, subservient to God. It must regularly give way not just to work stoppage for bodily repair but also in joyful reception of the world and of ordinary life…. When we think, ‘I hate work!’ we should remember that, despite the fact that work can be a particularly potent reminder (and even amplifier) of the curse of sin on all things, it is not itself a curse. We were built for it and freed by it. But when we feel that our lives are completely absorbed by work, remember that we must honor work’s limits. There is no better starting point for a meaningful work life than a firm grasp of this balanced work and rest theology.”

~Tim Keller (1950-2023), pastor in New York, Every Good Endeavor

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 6:6-11, 12:11, 21:5, 25-26 (ESV)

Proverbs 6

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;

  consider her ways, and be wise.

7 Without having any chief,

  officer, or ruler,

8 she prepares her bread in summer

  and gathers her food in harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?

   When will you arise from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber,

   a little folding of the hands to rest,

11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

   and want like an armed man.

Proverbs 12

11 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,

   but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

Proverbs 21

5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,

  but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty…

25 The desire of the sluggard kills him,

   for his hands refuse to labor.

26 All day long he craves and craves,

   but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

Exodus 20

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Ephesians 2

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

John 5

3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“You create your story in consciousness as you interpret your own behavior, and as you listen to other people’s thoughts about you. The life story is not the work of a historian [...]; it is more like a work of historical fiction that makes plenty of references to real events and connects them by dramatizations and interpretations that might or might not be true to the spirit of what happened.”

“The inner lawyer, the rose-colored mirror, naive realism, and the myth of pure evil—these mechanisms all conspire to weave for us a web of significance upon which angels and demons fight it out. Our ever-judging minds then give us constant flashes of approval and disapproval, along with the certainty that we are on the side of the angels. From this vantage point it all seems so silly, all this moralism, righteousness, and hypocrisy. It’s beyond silly; it is tragic, for it suggests that human beings will never achieve a state of lasting peace and harmony.”

~Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist at NYU, in The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

“People don’t get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.”

“In my 35 years of studying moral psychology, I have come to see this as one of humanity’s greatest problems: we are too quick to anger and too slow to forgive. We are also hypocrites who judge others harshly while automatically justifying our own bad behavior.”

~Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

“The Christian is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God. Only those who understand the true meaning of justification will understand this apparent paradox.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Second Lectures on Galatians

“[Our] faith is not primarily a comfort, but a truth about ourselves.”

~Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), English novelist and playwright

“…what the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.”

~Dr. John Ashley Null on Thomas Cranmer’s (1489-1556) understanding of psychology

SERMON PASSAGE

Selected Passages from Proverbs (ESV)

Proverbs 6

12 A worthless person, a wicked man,

  goes about with crooked speech,

13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,

  points with his finger,

14 with perverted heart devises evil,

  continually sowing discord;

15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

  in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

16 There are six things that the Lord hates,

  seven that are an abomination to him:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

  and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked plans,

  feet that make haste to run to evil,

19 a false witness who breathes out lies,

  and one who sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 10

11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

  but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

Proverbs 12

13 An evil man is ensnared by the transgression

  of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.

14 From the fruit of his mouth a man

  is satisfied with good,

  and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

  but a wise man listens to advice.

16 The vexation of a fool is known at once,

  but the prudent ignores an insult.

17 Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,

  but a false witness utters deceit.

18 There is one whose rash words are like sword   

  thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

19 Truthful lips endure forever,

  but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,

  but those who plan peace have joy.

21 No ill befalls the righteous,

  but the wicked are filled with trouble.

22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,

  but those who act faithfully are his delight.

23 A prudent man conceals knowledge,

  but the heart of fools proclaims folly.

Proverbs 17

9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love,

 but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

Proverbs 19

9 A false witness will not go unpunished,

 and he who breathes out lies will perish.

Matthew 15:18-20

18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Exodus 20:16

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Leviticus 19

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

1 John 4

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“The heart wants what it wants.”

~Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) in a letter written in 1862

“Ask yourself: if there is something you supremely want to do, do you count as self-sacrifice the difficulties encountered or the other possible activities cast aside? You do not. The time when you deliberately say, ‘I must sacrifice this, that, or the other’ is when you do not supremely desire the end in view. At such times you are doing your duty, and that is admirable, but it is not love. But as soon as your duty becomes your love, the self-sacrifice is taken for granted, and, whatever the world calls it, you call it so no longer.”

~Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), novelist and playwright (emphasis added)

“…the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. The mind doesn’t direct the will. The mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself, in turn, is captive to what the heart wants.

“The trouble with human nature is that we are born with a heart that loves ourselves over and above everything else in this world, including God. In short, we are born slaves to the lust for self-gratification, i.e., concupiscence. That’s why, if left to ourselves, we will always love those things that make us feel good about ourselves, even as we depart more and more from God and his ways. Therefore, God must intervene in our lives in order to bring salvation…

“Now, in effect, [God’s work of] justification gives us a heart transplant. For at the same time that we receive the gift of justifying faith by which we are credited with Christ’s extrinsic righteousness, God also sheds abroad in our hearts a new love for him and one another. This new heart love for him, from him, naturally redirects our wills….

“[R]eason is not king in human beings, the heart is. Therefore, to change your actions, you must change your desires. But your desires will change, only if the Holy Spirit who wrote the Bible also writes his laws on your heart.”

~Dr. John Ashley Null, Anglican scholar at the University of Berlin (Humboldt)

“The heart’s desire for an ultimate object may be conquered, but it’s desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one.”

~Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), Scottish minister, professor, and reformer

SERMON PASSAGE

The Heart of Wisdom: The Priority of the Heart

Selected Passages from Proverbs (ESV)

Proverbs 1

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

 fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you receive my words

 and treasure up my commandments with you,

2 making your ear attentive to wisdom

 and inclining your heart to understanding;

3 yes, if you call out for insight

 and raise your voice for understanding,

4 if you seek it like silver

 and search for it as for hidden treasures,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord

 and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 4

5 Get wisdom; get insight;

  do not forget, and do not turn away

  from the words of my mouth.

6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;

  love her, and she will guard you.

7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,

  and whatever you get, get insight.

8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;

  she will honor you if you embrace her…

20 My son, be attentive to my words;

  incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Let them not escape from your sight;

  keep them within your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them,

  and healing to all their flesh.

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,

  for from it flow the springs of life.

24 Put away from you crooked speech,

  and put devious talk far from you.

25 Let your eyes look directly forward,

  and your gaze be straight before you.

26 Ponder the path of your feet;

  then all your ways will be sure.

27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

  turn your foot away from evil.

Proverbs 7

1 My son, keep my words

 and treasure up my commandments with you;

2 keep my commandments and live;

 keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;

3 bind them on your fingers;

 write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

 and call insight your intimate friend

Proverb 13

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

  but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 17

22 A joyful heart is good medicine,

  but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 21

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,

 but the Lord weighs the heart.

Proverbs 27

19 As in water face reflects face,

  so the heart of man reflects the man.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.”

~Gloria Steinem, journalist and activist

“…pride can grow as well upon our virtues as our vices…. For you can have no greater sign of a more confirmed pride than when you think that you are humble enough.”

~William Law (1686-1761), English clergyman in A Serious Call

“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”

~Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), French philosopher

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

~Ben’s advice to his nephew Peter Parker (aka Spiderman)

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases…. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely…. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”

~Lord Acton (1834-1902) in a letter to Bishop Creighton (1843-1901) in 1887

“A canoe does not know who the leader is – when it turns over everyone gets wet.”

~Madagascan proverb

“…Jesus our Savior is described as Jehovah God. He is spoken of as being clothed with irresistible power: ‘See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him;’ but, as if to soften a glory that is far too bright for the weak eyes of the trembling, the prophet introduces the delightful words of the text: ‘He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.’ Here is divinity; not Jehovah the Man of War, but Jehovah the Shepherd of Israel…. It is the sign of a noble character that it can be majestic as a lion in the midst of the encounter, and roar like a young lion on the scene of conflict, and yet it has a dove’s eye and a maiden’s heart. Such is our Lord Jesus Christ; he is the conquering Captain of salvation, but he is meek and lowly of heart.”

~C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) in his sermon “The Tenderness of Jesus”

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 4 (ESV)

Proverbs 4

1 Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,

 and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

2 for I give you good precepts;

 do not forsake my teaching.

3 When I was a son with my father,

 tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

4 he taught me and said to me,

“Let your heart hold fast my words;

 keep my commandments, and live.

5 Get wisdom; get insight;

 do not forget, and do not turn away

 from the words of my mouth.

6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;

 love her, and she will guard you.

7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,

 and whatever you get, get insight.

8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;

 she will honor you if you embrace her.

9 She will place on your head a graceful garland;

  she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

Proverbs 12

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

   but a wise man listens to advice.

Proverbs 15

20 A wise son makes a glad father,

   but a foolish man despises his mother.

Proverbs 19

12 A king’s wrath is like the growling of a lion,

   but his favor is like dew on the grass.

Proverbs 24

21 My son, fear the Lord and the king,

  and do not join with those who do otherwise,

22 for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and

  who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

Proverbs 25

6  Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence

   or stand in the place of the great,

7  for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”

   than to be put lower in the presence of a noble….

15 With patience a ruler may be persuaded,

   and a soft tongue will break a bone.

Proverbs 28

12 When the righteous triumph, there is great glory,

   but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves…

26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,

   but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered….

28 When the wicked rise, people hide themselves,

   but when they perish, the righteous increase.

Proverbs 29

2 When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,

  but when the wicked rule, the people groan….

23 One’s pride will bring him low,

   but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Romans 13

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

1 Peter 3

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“I am not a greedy man. If I was, why would I donate to charity? I care about others as well.”

~John Rockefeller

“I know that a man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they are both looking for alms from me, the rich man for the alms of my envy, the poor man for the alms of my guilt.”

~Ben Hecht, American writer

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

~Jesus (Luke 12:15)

“All treasures will demand that you die for them, but Jesus – the greatest treasure – died for you. He lost everything for you. You are more valuable to Him than the universe — than even His own glory… YOU are His treasure! You are the ultimate treasure of His life.”

~Tim Keller

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

~Jesus (as recounted by the Apostle Paul in Acts 20:35)

“Why do we not observe how the charity of Christians to strangers… has done the most to advance their cause? For it is disgraceful that… the impious Galileans [aka Christians] support our poor in addition to their own, while everyone is able to see that our coreligionists lack aid from us!”

~Roman Emperor Julian, Letter to Arsacius, 360 AD

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.”

~C.S. Lewis

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 11:24-25, 28, Proverbs 3:9-10, Matthew 6:1-4, 21 (ESV)

Proverbs 11

24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;

   another withholds what he should give,

   and only suffers want.

25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,

   and one who waters will himself be watered…

28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,

   but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

Proverbs 3

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth

   and with the firstfruits of all your produce;

10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,

   and your vats will be bursting with wine.

 Matthew 6

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you….

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.