03 Mar 3/5/23 Proverbs 6:16-19 “What God Hates!”
3/5/23 Proverbs 6:16-19 “What God Hates!”
One of my favorite parts of the Sunday service is when we do our God moments. It’s fun for me to see how God is working in your lives. I remember one time when the flood gates just opened and we had several very good God moments but then again, all God moments are good. Sometimes we just don’t notice and other times we just don’t want to share. My God moment for today is from several years ago and I remembered it for today because it ties in with things we have said before. If you remember we have talked about how a little fear is good for us especially when we are talking about the fear of the Lord being the beginning of knowledge. After we got home one Sunday, I was reading one of those books that pastors read and I came across this. Do you know what command is repeated the most in the Bible? You might think that it is ‘love your neighbors’ or ‘love God’ or ‘go make disciples’ but that’s not right. The term ‘fear not’ is the most repeated command in the Bible. According to the author I was reading it’s repeated 365 times in its various forms, enough for every day of the year. I don’t think that this contradicts anything that we have said before in any way, shape or form. It probably strengthens it. Today we are going to look to find some of the things that God hates and how this applies to us. And by the way, when I was in seminary, we were told never to use the term hate in a sermon. I had used it in a sermon at chapel once and was docked a whole letter grade as a result. However, I have counted nearly 40 times that hate is mentioned in the Bible so I think my woke instructor was way off base chastising me for using the term in a sermon.
Today, I would like to begin with a story of President Reagan when he was still governor of California while he was visiting Mexico. He gave a speech and sat down a little bit embarrassed because he received very little applause. The speaker who followed him spoke in Spanish and the governor understood very little of it because he spoke no Spanish. He quickly noticed that this new speaker was getting applause after almost every paragraph. To hide his embarrassment, the governor started clapping before everyone else and longer than everyone until our ambassador leaned over and whispered, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, he’s interpreting your speech.” Don’t you just love it when these big shots are so much like us?
Anyway, this kind of reminds me of someone who is being a bit haughty. There may be some who don’t really know what this term means and that is ok. Being haughty is another term for being proud. I don’t think President Reagan was being proud but he looked like he was proud by the audience. How many people do you know that look like they are proud? I don’t know how many times I have made that mistake. Often times I misread pride when people are very shy or self-conscious or something else. This leads to the question, “Why am I trying to read these people in the 1st place?” That is in the area of judgment and we’re not going there today.
I think that this shows us, as do all the topics today, that this ancient society was so much like ours. It was such a problem that pride and its synonyms are mentioned at least 27 times in the Bible. I would say that in today’s world, pride goes before the fall just about everywhere you look. We really do have a sad society!
The question that should come to mind is “Why does God hate pride?” I’m sure that if pride were a positive trait God would love it. But it’s not. It is a terrible trait. I cannot think of one positive outcome of being proud. I’m not talking about how we almost misuse the term when we say we are proud of our children or proud of our flag. What we mean in these instances is that we are happy for our children or glad to honor our flag. When we start to become proud of anything, then we begin down the road to being obnoxious. We begin to be a boar to anyone who has to be around us. You see, being proud is an inward emotion. The phrases ‘I’m proud’ and ‘we are proud’ are directed inwardly to me. Pride originates inside us for our own self-serving reasons. It’s no wonder God hates pride. He wants us to be directed outwardly. You can’t have pride when you love your neighbor. This puts a whole new spin on Pride Week. So, lose your pride and always look outward.
God also hates a lying tongue. Again, we find liars and cheats in the ancient world. Maybe some of you wonder why I always say we haven’t changed in 3000 years except our toys are bigger. That is because we still have the same traits as the ancients. We find there were some liars in the Bible. Jacob was nothing but a liar and a con artist as he found ways of deceit to get Esau’s birthright and blessing. King David was not only guilty of adultery but also lying and murdering to cover it up. Then we have the money collectors at the Temple who were cheating the people and this was in God’s house, the Temple. The tax collectors like Matthew were all liars and cheats. The list goes on and on.
We seem to think that it is bad in this country. Well, it’s bad all over the world. I’m just going to mention a few here. Look at our politicians. I would say they are all liars, no exception! Plus, they are very proud. And we put these people on pedestals. God hates, hates lying tongues. Our government is so out of control that we can no longer trust anything they say. God hates lying tongues. There is not one business that we can trust because so many have told lies. Some executives who lie end up ruining the whole industry. Even if you shake hands to seal a deal with a neighbor, you cannot trust that it is a deal or a scam. The list goes on and on.
The truth, people, the truth is always the answer. Has anyone here today ever told a lie? That is a rather silly question because we all have at some point. So, for those of you who remember telling a lie, how did you feel after you told it? I have never felt good after telling a lie. We weren’t made to tell lies so we feel bad when we do it. God didn’t make us like that. He made us to tell the truth. I have felt bad for telling the truth but only because the news was bad. And this is a much better feeling than what you get when lying.
The world of the ancients was a violent world for most people. Life spans were really short compared to now. Trials were quick and sentences were carried out now. But this isn’t the type of shedding of innocent blood that God is necessarily referring to here. You shed innocent blood anytime you say something against a neighbor. Anytime you are not treating your neighbor as yourself, you are shedding their blood.
You are told that if you have a grudge when you come to the Communion Table, you are to turn around and settle that disagreement. Even by having a grudge against someone, you are shedding innocent blood. Any time you hurt someone in any way, you are shedding their blood. This is especially true when someone has done you wrong and spilled your blood. You need to forgive that person whether it be in person or in your heart. Otherwise, the situation will continue on in both of you.
I’m going to move a little quicker as I hope that you are picking up the line of thinking here. God hates those who devise wicked schemes. Our pride leads us to think that we invented many things that have been around for centuries. One of these things is wicked schemes. The Ponzi schemes weren’t invented today. The ancient banking system might be a little foreign to us but some of its practices aren’t. Many of the ancient money people were just as dishonest then as many are today.
Think about the wicked scheme that Jacob and his mother planned on Esau. Remember the wicked scheme that the brothers planned and pulled off against Joseph. The list of fallen people goes on in the Old and New Testaments. All we have to do today is open up a newspaper. It is full of people who are scheming for more money. Just a few years ago in our area we had a man scheming to get his grandchildren and he schemed using murder. How disgusting can it get?
Please try to remember that it is not up to us to seek revenge or to avenge a wrong doing. This is the job of God. Did you know that God can do a much better job than you can? Have you ever watched one of the cop shows on TV? The criminals are always seeking revenge and they are hilarious. They take you through all the drama and at the end; the criminal confesses usually something like ‘they made me so mad that I did it.’ The endings of many of these shows are really weak. However, maybe the real reason people do bad things is also very weak. I guess the excuse ‘I needed money for drugs’ is also very weak. Please remember that 98% of the time TV criminals are much, much smarter than in real life. People are always trying to avenge wrongdoing.
God then tells us he hates feet that rush quickly into evil. This one is rather self-explanatory. We talked a little about this several times before also. How quickly do we read something or hear something and we declare it to be the truth without any evidence? I’m talking about gossip and rumors. There are many people who are just terrible about this. They hear something and make up the rest. Social media is very good at this as you really can’t believe much that you see there. Vicious gossip will lead to only bad things and this includes suicide. Don’t be responsible for something like this. Before you rush into a gossip mill, please try to remember the Four Way Test given to us by Rotary International. First, if you are going to say something, is it the truth? Check it out before repeating and remember, as I mentioned, that most things you read on the internet are false, especially if it’s on social media. Second, is it fair to all concerned? Is it right to repeat it? Third, will it promote goodwill or better friendships? Will this be something positive? Fourth, will what you say be beneficial to all concerned? If you answer no to any one of these questions, then don’t repeat it. Don’t rush headlong into the evil entrapments of gossip and rumor.
Then God tells us that He hates a false witness who pours out lies. In other words, God not only doesn’t like a lie, He hates the liar. This is because a liar goes around hurting everyone around them including themselves. I think that lies extend beyond gossip and rumors because lies have no basis in fact. They are just totally wrong. There are far more people out there who fall into this category than we think. This is the first time God tells us that He hates the person. The previous things we have discussed He has just hated the act. Being a liar is much more serious than we would like to think. So, please think it over really good before you tell a lie.
God also hates those people who stir up dissension. Some people will read just families into this as He says brothers. However, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, this would almost seem like He is talking to His church. I have seen this happen in churches. In one instance a woman spread lies and dissension among the congregation about the pastor because she thought that she was the boss of the church and the new pastor just took over duties that would normally be his. He had to leave in 2 years as the situation became unbearable. Once again use the Rotary test of truth, fairness, promote good and is beneficial. I would like to say that churches are very sensitive to the lies of Satan because we are trying to promote good in all we do. Therefore, we should remember to always check with God to see if something is good.
Hopefully you can see what the point of all this is. There are things that are not acceptable to God. God does hate but He hates sin. All these things are sin. Even where He hates the sinner, the sinner can still repent and come to His love. So, the question becomes ‘Why does God hate sin so much?’ God hates sin because it hurts His people and His world. No matter what sin you commit, someone will get hurt. Plus, as we have talked before, sin is very divisive.
Fortunately, we have a God who loves us. Just a quick sidebar, in the newspaper one day a letter to the editor stated that the Jewish God, Christian God and the god of Islam are all the same. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. We have a God of love which is not like the god of Islam. Lies like this, once again, will hurt someone. Anyway, part of His love is in what you aren’t supposed to do like sin. It is for your own good that you don’t sin. God loves you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to this world to live and then die for your sins. He sent Jesus so that you would have a way to get back into the good graces of God. It all begins when you confess, repent and ask Jesus into your hearts. Then it continues as you go into confession before Jesus in a regular manner, whether it be monthly, weekly, daily or hourly. We all need confession so that our sins may be wiped away.
All of this points the way to Jesus coming in the New Testament. We have the luxury in our modern world to see both the Old and New Testaments at the same time. When you can do this, then you will begin to see the depth and complexity of this plan. This is the plan that saves you from an eternity in the wrong place. This is the plan of love that Jesus has for each and every one of you. And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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