God’s church today desperately needs men and women, but did you know there are some people that the church would be better off if they did not have?
WHY WOULD I MAKE SUCH A STATEMENT? Because God can use some men and women to bring many into the house of God. But also Satan can use some to drive twice that many away from the house of God.
For example, in Proverbs 18, we see six different kinds of people that you will find in every church. Five of these six are the kind that hurt the church. Why? Because some people can be more HURTFUL than they are HELPFUL!
Who are these that the church does not need? The church does not need -
I. THE ANTI-SOCIAL MAN
Look at verse 1, we read, “Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.”
WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS THE ANTI-SOCIAL PERSON? He is the kind of a fellow that willfully “separates” himself from others. This man has a problem with people!
• He is the kind of a fellow that will leave a church service telling everyone, “I will never go back to that church again because not one person spoke to me or shook my hand.” This is what he says about the church service.
• What he does not tell everyone is that he willfully separated himself from everyone and he did not speak to or shake hands with anyone!
To hear him talk EVERYONE WAS UNFRIENDLY but he wasn’t.
However, his willful behavior of separating himself from everyone makes him as much to blame for the anti-social behavior in that church as anyone!
People like to play the BLAME GAME!
Illus: Let’s take a few minutes and play the "Blame Game". You know how it is played:
• You are driving 100 mph in a 45 mph zone. You lose control, flip your car on a sharp curve, and critically injure yourself. Who is at fault? No, not you! The Dept. of Transportation is for not making the degree of banking on the curve great enough to keep you on the road at 100 mph.
• You are going 75 mph in a 55 mph, and you are pulled over and given a ticket that gives you enough points to have your license suspended. Who is to blame? No, not you! The officer should have been a little more sympathetic to your situation.
• You are wearing a shirt that needs to be ironed. Instead of taking it off, you try to iron it with it on and guess what? That’s right, you get burned. Shame on you right? No, it is the company who made the iron who deserves blame because they should have warned you that ironing clothes while they are on your body is dangerous.
• You pull through McDonald’s for some hot, yes hot coffee. While trying to drive your car and eat your Egg McMuffin, you spill your hot coffee all over yourself. You moron right? No, it is McDonald’s fault for making that coffee too hot!
• OK, one more. You decide that you need to fix the electrical component in your TV. Without unplugging it, you begin your work. Oh-Oh! You guessed it. You get fried! Dumb you right? No, RCA should have told you that you were at risk for electric shock!
This blame game has become be more popular than football, basketball, soccer and baseball all put together. It seems as if everyone wants to play it.
Our children have learned to play this game.
Illus: One young man was caught with tobacco in his mouth. When he was asked about it, he said it was in his mouth, but it wasn’t his. He was only holding it for a friend. Some friend!
This blame game goes back to Adam and Eve. When God questioned Adam as to why he had sinned, he was quick to say that it was that woman God gave him that caused him to disobey.
• Alcoholics want to blame drinking on a disease.
• Homosexuality is said to have a genetic basis, or to be due to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus.
The blame game has become very popular. In fact, they have discovered that FAT may be due to another genetic sequence, it has nothing to do with eating ice cream.
People make a mess of their life and then they want to blame God for the mess.
People are accountable for their actions.
Illus: A few hundred years ago, bed mattresses in America used to be filled with a stuffing of corn husks. Each year it was the children's job to refill the family's bed mattresses. They had to be very careful to use the right amount of husks for each bed.
If the children were careless or hurried, they might run out of husks before they got their own mattresses stuffed. Then they would have to fill their own mattresses with straw or other inferior materials. This would often leave their mattresses lumpy.
From this practice comes the saying; "You made your bed, so lie in it."
Each one will answer for his or her actions. No genetics force us into a certain behavior.
The anti-social fellow attends church and he willfully separates himself from others and then blames everyone else for being unfriendly.
This type of fellow in a church is trouble. His big problem is that he does not like people.
Illus: There is a T-shirt that some of the young people wear these days that some folks should wear to church. On the front of these T-shirts you will find these words, “I’m not anti-social, I just don’t like people.”
This is one kind of a man or woman you will find in the church that the church does not need. There is another kind Proverbs talks about and that is-
II. THE SELF-CONFIDENT MAN
In Verse 2, we read, “A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.”
This verse is telling us that a SELF-CONFIDENT man has no delight in understanding.
We all have to have SELF-CONFIDENCE in ourselves, but the attitude of this man goes beyond self-confidence.
He is always RIGHT and NO ONE CAN TELL HIM ANYTHING. HE IS FOOLING HIMSELF!
This is why the Word of God says about him, “A fool hath no delight in understanding…”
That is, he will go through life believing everyone else is wrong, but he will never admit that he is wrong!
In this life we must have a proper estimate of ourselves.
In Romans 12:3, Paul says, “Through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think...”
Notice, he is to think highly of himself, but not to think, “…More highly then he ought to think…”
Illus: If some folks could buy themselves for what they are worth and sell themselves for what they think they are worth, they could make a fortune!
They think so highly of themselves, that everyone else is wrong and they are right. They know it all and no one can tell them anything!
Illus: They remind me of the man who was driving down the expressway in rush hour traffic when he received a call from his wife on his cell phone. “Honey, you need to be careful driving home because I just heard on the news that there’s some idiot driving in the wrong direction on the same road you’re on.” To which the husband responded, “It’s not just one; there are hundreds of them!”
Have you ever been around an individual who always thinks they’re right?
Never forget this truth: God uses us simply because He wants to. We’re to avoid thinking too highly of ourselves.
But the over self-confident man is wired wrong.
He does not want anyone to be telling him something; HE ALREADY KNOWS IT ALL!
The church is better off without such a man. We have looked at THE ANTI-SOCIAL MAN and THE SELF-CONFIDENT MAN.
But we need to look also at-
III. THE CONTENTIOUS MAN
Look at verses 6-9, we read, “A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips re the snare of his soul. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.”
The Bible says this man’s mouth is destructive. That is he thinks of his mouth as a weapon and he uses it frequently to shred people to pieces.
He loves to stir up trouble.
• He will travel across town to spread some bad news
• He will get on the telephone and talk for hours spreading bad news
The devil uses this individual to cause division in the house of God.
Listen, God has called every child of God to be a PEACE MAKER, not a TROUBLE MAKER!
Every time we hear something bad about someone, we need to ask ourselves three things.
(1) Is it true? Of course, if it is not true it should be forgotten.
(2) Is it necessary to be said? A lot of things may be true, but it is not necessary to repeat them.
(3) Is it kind? There are some things that are true but it makes us look unkind to repeat them.
The best way to keep the devil from using us to cause contention, is to find something good to say about someone.
There is an old saying our parents used to tell us, “If you can not say something good about someone, then do not say anything!
Illus: Someone said, “If people are always telling you garbage about other people, what do you think that they think about you?
YOU ARE A CONVENIENT GARBAGE DUMP; THAT'S NOT A HIGH COMPLEMENT.
Nobody really enjoys hanging out with a gossip.
Illus: When Rev. Jones saw Sister Anderson entering the front gate, he said to his wife, "Won't YOU go to the door, please, dear? I've had enough of her tireless gossip. I'll go to my study to work on my sermon."
Two hours later, he shouted from his study, "Darling, has that old big mouth gossip left yet?"
Sister Anderson was still there. But the minister's wife smartly met the crisis by responding, "Yes, dear, she left some time ago, but sister ANDERSON is here now!"
But the fact is, the contentious man can cause a lot of problems in the church. THEY CAN GIVE YOU ALL THE DETAILS AND NOT EVEN KNOW THE FACTS!
God’s church does not need the CONTENTIOUS MAN.
Conclusion:
We have looked at three kinds of men that the church does not need.
1 of 2
I. THE ANTI-SOCIAL MAN
II. THE SELF-CONFIDANT MAN
III. THE CONTENTIOUS MAN
2 of 2
IV. THE JUDGMENTAL MAN
V. THE SELFISH MAN
VI. THE FRIENDLY MAN
