Navigating the Human Seas
(Proverbs 29:8-11)
1. You can’t always trust your GPS.
Three young women escaped the sinking Mercedes-Benz SUV after the vehicle's GPS directed them down a boat launch and into the Mercer Slough in Bellevue, Washington.
The driver thought she was on a road while following her GPS unit just after midnight, but she was actually heading down the boat launch. The road was dark and the driver crashed the SUV into the water in Mercer Slough Nature Park. One of the women immediately jumped to safety.
The other two women tried to stay with the SUV as long as they could by standing on the side door frames, but they finally had to wade to safety when the vehicle kept drifting out farther into the slough.
All three women made it out safely, but the SUV was completely under water. They were in town for a conference and were trying to get to a hotel in Bellevue. oddee.com
2. When it comes to dealing with people, a GPS system won’t help you. In a way, life is like sailing on an old ship through varying waters and dangers. Wisdom helps us navigate.
Main Idea: Just as there are storms, shoals, and sea creatures that trouble sailors asea, so others trouble us or our community upon the sea of life.
I. Inciters DESTROY, Peace Makers PROTECT(8).
A. The first illustration: scoffers set a city AFLAME.
1. Scoffers or scorners are related to the Hebrew word for satire and mocking. Some versions translate as cynics; I think of instigators, whether intentional or not.
2. People who create drama are like this in a limited way; they incite problems.
3. Troublemakers in churches, families, clubs, and businesses are medium.
4. Some people are so focused they do not care about consequences (zealots).
5. One kid can ruin a youth group; one person can destroy a church; a critical word can destroy friendships. Someone who doesn’t know when to drop the subject can do all sorts of damage (important to stifle curiosity).
B. The second illustration: wisdom helps EVADE wrath.
James 3:17-18, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
1. People who are tactful/sensitive to the feelings of others are like this in a small way.
2. Jesus said, “Blesses are the peacemakers.” They exist, and we need them!
C. It is easier to destroy than to BUILD.
1. Hard to make peace after the city is on fire.
2. A building built over months or years can be destroy in a day by fire.
II. If You Argue with a Fool, He Will Attack You with Rage or MOCKERY (9).
If you think about it, many who reject God either become angry at the idea of God to whom they must give account, or they make fun of Him and those who follow Him.
A. Mockery is a TECHNIQUE fools effectively use to manipulate the undiscerning.
1. The fool will laugh off legitimate arguments by mocking people.
2. Mockery includes using logical fallacies:
• Straw Man Fallacy
• Ad Hominem Fallacy
• Perfectionist Fallacy
• Anecdotal Fallacy
B. Raging frequently shows itself in TIRADES or other fits of anger.
1. I have heard preaching that, to me, is a tirade (not rage). Many people love it.
2. If you the truth, folks, you should be able to persuade people with reason.
C. What the fool will not do is discuss matters CALMLY and REASONABLY.
1. Because you act cooly/reasonable doesn’t mean you’re right; because you argue emotionally/unreasonably doesn’t mean you’re wrong. If you are argue reasonably, you are perspective is more likely to be considered by reasonable people.
2. What is true is true. If you defend the truth poorly, that doesn’t make it untrue.
3. What is false is false. If you present a logical, well-reasoned argument for what is false, it is still false.
4. One interesting fallacy is the “fallacy fallacy.” “It is entirely possible to make a claim that is false yet argue with logical coherency for that claim, just as it is possible to make a claim that is true and justify it with various fallacies and poor arguments.”pesec.no/24-most-common-logical-fallacies
III. Violent Wrongdoers DESPISE the Righteous (10).
A. Bloodthirsty refers to one who is EAGER to shed blood or act violently.
B. Such individuals have a special hatred for the RIGHTEOUS.
1. Jezebel tried to kill all of the Lord’s prophets.
2. Cain and Abel; I John 3:12, “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.”
3. Because we as Christians stand for only two genders and marriage between a man and a woman, we are hated; we cannot stop people from ungodly practices, but just knowing what we believe makes others furious sometimes.
4. Mark 15:14: And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”
5. Muslim extremists, communist oppressors...persecutions; mob violence
IV. A Wise Man Can MANAGE His Mouth, A Fool Cannot (11).
A. How we handle anger and IMPULSE says something about us.
1. Do we try to suppress it or overcome it?
2. Do we know how to delay, but calmly address that which makes us angry?
3. Being angry is part of being human, and even God gets angry.
4. Being angry is not a sin, but how we handle anger can be sinful or righteous.
Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,..”
James 1:20, “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God…”
• How do we transform the anger of man into a godly anger? Filtered by Scripture, direct calmly toward the problem, not the person; we address, do not stuff.
B. It may refer to people who just BLURT out what they are thinking.
As I have gotten older, I have sometimes learned to better filter what I say. Yet, at other times, age has made me more relaxed and tempts me to bypass that filter. It is a battle.
C. There are many things in life to think, but not SAY.
