Social Creatures and A Social God
(Proverbs 21:12-15)
1. We have descriptions for everyone. We are outgoing or introverted, type A or type B, gracious or controlling, wise or foolish, young or old, open minded or closed minded.
2. Did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac? He stayed up all night trying to decide if there was a dog.
3. One generality about people, however, is that we are social beings by nature; some of us, however, do better in social situations than others.
4. God is a social being. The 3 Persons of the Trinity relate to one another. God created man in his image, and interacts socially with us.
5. Because God is social, we cannot be among those who say, “I don’t care what other people think.” We are to put God first and must not compromise, but we need to try to get along with and connect to others as well. Jesus refused to separate the 2 Great Commandments, loving God and others.
6. Some Christians have anti-social baggage they bring into their faith, and it doesn’t work.
Main Idea: Human beings are social beings, as is God; therefore, we must learn both how society works and how we can honor God living among others.
I. The Wicked Will Be RUINED by God (12)
A. God is RIGHTEOUS
1. The righteous MAN?
Some versions have “righteous man.” The terms “man” or “one” are translations of the Hebrew “meshkil,” This is a tough one; it could refer to how righteous people are perplexed at the prosperity of the wicked until they consider their end. This would be the same as what we read in Psalm 73:12-24.
Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, “I will speak thus,”I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
2. I lean toward this being the righteous GOD
B. He SEES all
C. He JUDGES all and ruins the wicked
• All of us are sinners, and all of us will be judged. But those of us in Christ, while we will give an account of all we have done, will be counted legally righteous in Jesus Christ.
D. Usually in this life, but surely at JUDGMENT
1. By the laws of society he has established (generally)
2. By special intervention when he chooses (God is longsuffering)
3. By final judgment
Application: Righteous people are frustrated to see the wicked and evil prosper; it infuriates us when they take advantage of others and seem to get away with it… they don’t. Hard to be patient;
Human beings are social beings, as is God; therefore, we must learn both how society works and how we can honor God living among others.
II. The Poor are PEOPLE Too (13)
A. The poor in our sphere need COMPASSION
1. Article series in BB (Aaron Blumer); difference between true poverty and relative poverty.
2. Some of you have been out of work in recent years or other unforeseen hardship
3. Different from druggies, careless or undisciplined person
4. Poverty can change the equation: divorces fell when the economy tanked in 2008
5. Sometimes poor people are the most generous and willing to share
B. God can turn a DEAF ear to us, too
C. Jesus Christ, the ULTIMATE example
2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Application: One of our great challenge is to see people as people, not functionaries, and to develop social ties with SEVERAL friends and relatives.
Human beings are social beings, as is God; therefore, we must learn both how society works and how we can honor God living among others.
III. Gift Giving Can COOL Tempers (14)
A. Talking about what happens, not what is RIGHT
1. Schmoozing is generally a virtue if it is part of the Golden Rule...
2. When it becomes manipulative and unethical, that's a different story
B. Gift giving can help when one is SOMEWHAT angry (14a)
• When Jacob returned from his 14 year absence from Canaan, he offered Esau a wealth of gifts
• Reason: Gift giving can be a way to show respect
C. But it takes a bribe to avert STRONG wrath (14b)
Exodus 23:8, “You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just…”
Human beings are social beings, as is God; therefore, we must learn both how society works and how we can honor God living among others.
IV. Bringing Wrongdoers to JUSTICE Works Wonders (15)
A. Justice includes LEGAL vengeance
Romans 13:3-4, “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Many Christians do not have a proper theology of justice…
B. It REINFORCES the righteous
C. It helps DETER evildoers
Most criminal is jail say, “I am basically a good person. I was in the wrong place @ wrong time”
“The knife went in….the gun fired….”
D. It VINDICATES God's character
Ezekiel 36:23, “And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”
Human beings are social beings, as is God; therefore, we must learn both how society works and how we can honor God living among others.
