691. We Need to Love our Neighbor - November 25, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:21] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them.

[00:00:34] In addition, I pray that everyone listening would have favor with both God and man. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:00:44] This is Proverb 25 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:48] These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.

[00:00:55] It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

[00:01:04] As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable.

[00:01:12] Take away the dross from silver and it will go to the silversmith for jewelry.

[00:01:18] Take away the wicked from before the king and his throne will be established in righteousness.

[00:01:26] Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king and do not stand in the place of the great.

[00:01:33] For it is better that he say to you, come up here, then that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince whom your eyes have seen.

[00:01:45] Do not go hastily to court, for what will you do in the end when your neighbor has put you to shame?

[00:01:54] Debate your case with your neighbor and do not disclose the secret to another.

[00:02:01] Lest he who hears it expose your shame and your reputation be ruined.

[00:02:08] A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

[00:02:14] Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.

[00:02:24] Like the cold of snow in time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him,

[00:02:32] for he refreshes the soul of his masters.

[00:02:35] Whoever falsely boasts of giving is like clouds and wind without rain.

[00:02:43] By long forbearance a ruler is persuaded, and a gentle tongue breaks a bone.

[00:02:50] Have you found honey?

[00:02:53] Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit.

[00:02:59] Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house, lest he become weary of you and hate you.

[00:03:06] A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow.

[00:03:16] Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.

[00:03:24] Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, and like vinegar on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

[00:03:36] If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

[00:03:44] For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

[00:03:52] The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue and angry countenance.

[00:03:59] It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

[00:04:07] As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country.

[00:04:14] A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well.

[00:04:23] It is not good to eat much honey, so to seek one's own glory is not glory.

[00:04:30] Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls.

[00:04:39] Friends, today I'm going to do things a little bit differently.

[00:04:43] I'm going to entitle this message, We Need to Love Our Neighbor.

[00:04:50] In Proverb 25, there are three different passages of Scripture that have to deal with our neighbor.

[00:04:58] And King Solomon is making a very clear point here of how important it is that we get along with our neighbor.

[00:05:10] So the first passage I'm going to go over is verses 8 through 10.

[00:05:16] Now, let's begin with verse 8.

[00:05:19] It says,

[00:05:47] It says,

[00:06:20] Now, friends, if you love your neighbor, which the Bible tells us that we're supposed to do,

[00:06:27] then you're going to be friendly towards them.

[00:06:30] And I've often said this, you're going to reap what you sow.

[00:06:35] So if you are friendly and if you are kind to your neighbor, more than likely he's going to be friendly and kind back to you.

[00:06:48] So if we look at our neighbor that way, that they are people that we need to get along with, we need to love these people, it's going to be good.

[00:07:00] Because sometimes we may need their help.

[00:07:03] Sometimes they may need our help.

[00:07:06] So it is very important.

[00:07:09] And in our society today, many people sue people very, very easily.

[00:07:17] It's like, just like that.

[00:07:19] Something happens and they take them to court and they try to sue them.

[00:07:23] And these verses are telling us, don't ever do that.

[00:07:27] Simply don't do it.

[00:07:29] Because he actually may be more in the right than you are.

[00:07:35] And if that case is settled, then your reputation might be ruined if you take that chance.

[00:07:44] And Solomon is telling us, go to your neighbor.

[00:07:48] Don't go to court.

[00:07:50] Go to your neighbor and try to work things out with him first.

[00:07:56] Do all you can before you go to court.

[00:08:01] There's no reason why you should ever have to do that.

[00:08:05] Let's look at the second instance in this verse.

[00:08:10] It says,

[00:08:14] Now, when I read that, I'm thinking to myself,

[00:08:24] I don't know if you have a very good relationship with your neighbor.

[00:08:28] Now, we have a neighbor in our neighborhood.

[00:08:33] And my wife, Judy, has become very, very close with her.

[00:08:37] And they come over and she comes over and Judy goes over there.

[00:08:42] And they're very good friends.

[00:08:44] A matter of fact, she has become part of our biweekly Bible study that we have in our house.

[00:08:51] And I, when I look at this verse, I don't believe that that's the case.

[00:08:57] She, we are always welcome to go to her house.

[00:09:00] She often tells us, hey, if you want to come swimming over, you know, just let me know.

[00:09:04] You can use the pool anytime you want to.

[00:09:06] But this is not implying that.

[00:09:09] This says,

[00:09:13] Now, hate is a mighty strong word.

[00:09:21] It's hard for me to hate things.

[00:09:24] I really don't like using that word.

[00:09:27] I mean, sometimes you might dislike somebody.

[00:09:30] But to hate somebody, and especially your neighbor, that really should never happen.

[00:09:38] So, I'm saying, I think we can avoid this.

[00:09:43] Especially when you do what the Bible tells us is to love your neighbor.

[00:09:49] So, if you treat your neighbor as you would your family, then your guys are going to get along.

[00:09:59] And there's no reason you can't go over them and say, hey, you know, I need a, you know, a cup of milk.

[00:10:05] Could I borrow a cup of milk?

[00:10:07] Or could I use a little bit of sugar?

[00:10:10] And if you're friendly with your neighbor, if you guys get along, they will be happy to help you.

[00:10:17] And if they come over to you, you should be happy to help them as well.

[00:10:22] But Solomon is telling us that if you are going to have a relationship with your neighbor, make it one that these type of things don't happen.

[00:10:37] I don't believe they have to happen.

[00:10:39] Because in my instance, when I look at my wife, Judy, and I see how she gets along with the neighbor across the street, I just see them.

[00:10:51] A matter of fact, a lot of times, they might be on the phone with each other two or three or four times a day.

[00:10:58] And making plans, maybe going for lunch or something like this.

[00:11:03] So I don't think it's necessary that you have to worry about your neighbor taking you to court like it said previously or for your neighbor to hate you.

[00:11:17] And let's close with the third one.

[00:11:20] A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow.

[00:11:30] Now, friends, on Friday's podcast, and if you did not get a chance to listen to it, I went over the ninth commandment.

[00:11:39] And the ninth commandment is, you shall not bear false witness.

[00:11:45] And we shouldn't do that with anyone, especially our neighbor.

[00:11:51] But there's no reason to bear false witness against anyone.

[00:11:57] Because a lot of times, as I mentioned on Friday's podcast, if you bear false witness, it's like you are slandering them.

[00:12:06] And a lot of times the intent is actually sometimes to ruin their reputation.

[00:12:12] And we shouldn't do that with anyone.

[00:12:15] That is not the type of thing that Jesus would ever do when he was on earth.

[00:12:20] And always keep in mind, what would Jesus do?

[00:12:26] Many years ago, there used to be bracelets that people would wear on their wrists.

[00:12:31] And it said WWJD.

[00:12:34] And that stood for, what would Jesus do?

[00:12:38] And it was something that people wore on their wrists to remind them of how friendly and kind and loving Jesus was with almost everyone when he was on earth.

[00:12:52] So friends, there are three things I would like to have you think about when we think about this lesson today.

[00:13:01] Number one, will your neighbor put you to shame?

[00:13:06] Number two, it says,

[00:13:09] Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house.

[00:13:12] And as I mentioned, I don't think this is something that if you have a good relationship with them, that that should be a problem.

[00:13:23] But if you ever sense there is tension between you guys, then I would suggest that you maybe bring that up and ask them and try to clear the air if it seems to be that there may be something going on in your relationship.

[00:13:43] Friends, the bottom line is we need to be honest with people.

[00:13:49] We need to be transparent when we talk with people.

[00:13:55] We need to just openly ask them, hey, how are things going?

[00:14:00] And if you're friendly and honest and sincere, I think we can overcome a lot of the issues that some people have in their relationships because some people hide things from other people.

[00:14:16] Some people wear different hats when they are with one person than when they're with somebody else.

[00:14:23] And a lot of times people don't know what to expect when they're with you.

[00:14:27] And the third one, we must not bear false witness against our neighbor.

[00:14:33] And I would add, we must not bear false witness against anyone.

[00:14:38] I simply don't think it's ever worth doing.

[00:14:43] We should be kind.

[00:14:44] We should be friendly.

[00:14:46] We should be loving with everyone we come in contact with.

[00:14:52] So my point that I would like to ask everyone listening today, my call to action really is, how do you get along with your neighbors?

[00:15:04] And I'm going to even add a little bit further.

[00:15:08] How do you get along with your fellow employees at work?

[00:15:12] How do you get along with your other family members?

[00:15:18] So friends, a lot of times the way people treat us is going to be a reflection of how we treat them.

[00:15:31] So remember, we reap what we sow.

[00:15:36] If we're friendly, if we're kind, if we're loving, then that will come back to us.

[00:15:45] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:15:54] If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step, I invite you to say a simple prayer after me today.

[00:16:02] Father God, thank you for sending your son Jesus to earth.

[00:16:07] Jesus, thank you that you were willing to come to earth and die on a cross for everyone listening to this podcast today.

[00:16:16] Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior.

[00:16:23] I ask that you come into my heart.

[00:16:25] I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward.

[00:16:29] I ask this in Jesus name.

[00:16:32] Amen.

[00:16:34] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:16:38] The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:16:43] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:16:48] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore wisdom today.

[00:16:55] All right.

[00:16:56] I'll see you next time.