逃离或处理 Escape or Engage

Title: Escape Or Engage
Date: 2 Nov. 2022
Preacher: Rev Enoch Keong

We begin each week’s sermon with a short introductory video of a fawn growing into a deer. The fawn grows and matures because it lives in a peaceful environment with food to eat. The video paints this beautiful picture as a depiction of flourishing life, and it closes with 2 questions. Anyone know what they are?

What is happiness? What is abundance?

If we had taken noticed of the questions before this morning, what are our answers to the questions having sat through the sermons and cell group discussions? We also had QT material on Job to help us reflect on these questions?

If we are noticing the questions for the first time this morning, take 10 seconds right now to come out with some quick answers. We don’t have to shout out the answers. I just need us to answer the questions in our minds.

Ready? Starting the count down. 10….5….time. We already have some answers in our heads?

I like to ask 2 more questions if we won’t mind:

1. Do the following elements appear in our answers?
1)Myself
2)Others
3)The surroundings/environment

2. How do we rank them from the most to the least important?
Again, I won’t ask us to shout out our answers.

Living flourishing lives calls for wisdom, and wisdom is a lot about how we ourselves perceive things, how we carry ourselves, and how we respond to situations. Wisdom asks us to focus on and to shape ourselves (and/or our children) to do the right thing. And that’s what much of the book of Proverbs is about.

But when we come to Proverbs 24, we find 2 sayings that pushes for something rather different, That is, to reckon others to be equally or more important than oneself.

Proverbs 24 contain words of wisdom apart from seeing others to be equally, or if not, more important than oneself. They are teachings that we shouldn’t simply skip over. So, let’s do a quick run through of the chapter before taking a closer look at the 2 sayings.

In verses 3 and 4, the sage helps us see that wisdom is crucial for anyone who wishes to build something that’s solid and lasting. Next, he urges the readers to seek wisdom; because a wise man is powerful; while fools are useless. The sage then compares wisdom to honey, for just as honey nourishes the body, wisdom would build up the person’s character and ability. So, pursue wisdom.

Moving on to the fourth bullet point on the screen. Verses 21 and 22 mark the end of the 30 sayings that Ps Siow Hwee introduced in last Sunday’s sermon. Short commercial break: in case we have missed Ps Siow Hwee’s preaching last week and would want to know what the term 30 sayings refers to, we can easily find the recording using the Jubilee App. End of commercial break. In this final entry of the 30 sayings, the sage admonishes God’s people to fear of the Lord and the king, and not to associate with people that choose to do otherwise. The reason is simple: God and the king have the power to decide one’s well-being and how one’s future will be.

The remining verses in the chapter is a new section that begins with these words, “These also are sayings of the wise” (23a). This section begins with a warning, that perversion of justice will invite curses. What the saying teaches, is to speak honesty at all times. Truth telling is life giving. Verses 27, and 30 to 34 stress on being diligent in one work. Another short commercial break. Ps Hock Seng gave a good sermon 2 weeks back on verses 30-34 about Laziness and Hard Work, we already know where to find the sermon recording right?

If we had been counting as I was running through the list, we would notice that the 6 topics are covered by 19 out of the 34 verses in the chapter.

The remaining 15 verses elaborate on 1 single topic, evil or wickedness. One important aspect in acquiring wisdom, is to learn to choose the correct response when encountering evil. There are only 2 options to choose from, escape or engage, and it’s our task to learn to choose correctly.

Let me share the sage’s recommendations.

When coming in proximity with the wicked ones, he shouts, “run, run away”. First, run away from the successful but wicked people. Getting near them may increase our chance of finding success for ourselves. But they are up to no good often times, and God is not approving of them. So, neither envy nor join them, says the sage.

Second, run away because the wicked are schemers. They will be look upon as an abomination of mankind. We don’t want to share such a label.

Third, run away from the wicked because these people seek to do harm to the righteous. But then, in the long run, they will fall while the righteous shall stand. Their outcome will be bad, we won’t want that for ourselves. So, run away from such people.

Lastly, we are to run away from the wicked because they tell lies and lay false accusations. We mentioned a minute ago that such actions invite curses. That would not be what we are looking for in life, so once again, the sage urges us to apply escape mode when we come into proximity with the wicked people.

Then when are we to apply the engage mode?

We mentioned earlier that there are 2 sayings in Proverbs 24 that advocate this. Here’s the first one,

10If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
11Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?

So when are we to apply the engage mode? When there is unjust suffering.

When there is unjust suffering, the sage urges God’s people to engage evil by opposing it, as in to do something for the ones who are undergoing suffering.

Why? Verse 12 tells us, because the one who keeps watch over our souls literally demands of us to reckon others to be equally, or if not, more important than oneself.

What else is such a demand saying as we learn about wisdom? In a word, moral courage is one aspect, one needed aspect, of wisdom.

What is moral courage? Moral courage should not be confused with recklessness, which is not to care about danger and being ready to risk oneself and others unthinkingly.

Moral courage is the readiness to face danger and take risks when need be, for the sake of God’s truth. And God’s truth in this context refers to him caring for one and all, and that he cares, that we, his representatives on earth, care likewise. To have moral courage is also to be prepared to face the consequences for opposing evil.

I am not sure if this sound too much or just about right for us. Whichever the case, to “Rescue those who are being taken away to death” is an extreme example given by the sage. What this means is that if we are still to oppose evil in so dangerous a situation, then it is our call to stand up against evil in all situations that are less dangerous and less risky.

Are there suffering around us? No, not at all. We will only be able to say this if we are totally oblivious to things.

There’s much suffering going on. Classroom and workplace bullying. Domestic violence. Children becoming orphans. Bad system and unhealthy practices in workplace and in society. Global warming which is putting everyone in danger, with people in the poorest countries suffering the most.

We won’t be able to solve every problem or the problems in its totality, but we are certainly able to render helps to those in need, at least to a certain degree. The question is are we exercising moral courage within our circle of influence?

For this morning, I can only encourage us in 2 aspects. One, let us ask God to give us a bigger heart for others; to reckon others to be equally or more important than oneself. In practical terms, it would mean to sacrifice some of our comfort and preferences and to invest time, energy and money in order to lend a helping hand.

Second, we as users of search engines including google, Netflix and shopping apps. We are constantly bombarded and conditioned by the feeds sent us by the search engines’ algorithms. We need to pause from time to time to ask what are the inputs that fuel our imaginations and color our vision. What I really want to say is this, amidst the taking care of our needs, our family, etc., the need for moral courage nudges us to work on shaping the Christian mind, so that our vision and action might be more aligned with the one that keeps watch over our souls.

The shaping of the Christian mind calls for an ever-fuller grasp of God, Jesus, Salvation, Church, Man and also the things happening in our world. We can do this on our own, but better still if we do this together. This leads me to the next short commercial break. 1926 launched earlier this year the series, “Let’s talk; Social Issues”, led by Joan. Although it’s a series of workshop initiated by 1926, all are welcomed, to join in conversations to help each other shape the Christian mind. We have had discussions on Environmental Issues, and Gender and Body. The next one on Gender and Roles will be 5 Nov. Come, and help each other in the shaping of the Christian mind.

So, the 2 encouragements, open our hearts and shape our minds, and may our effort in these 2 areas help us be more ready to exercise moral courage in times of need.

We said earlier that there are 2 sayings that call us to apply the engage mode. We now move to the second one,

17Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
18lest the Lord see it and be displeased,
and turn away his anger from him.

What are we asked to engage this time? The evil or vengefulness within ourselves.

Let’s be clear, the saying cannot mean that we should not be glad when evil plans fail. We should be glad to see justice and righteousness prevail.

What we are told is not to take matters in our own hand as is described in verse 29 and to gloat over the enemies’ downfall. To do so would be to lose that heart of compassion that God’s people are to have.

But we might have ever wanted to do something like this: to throw a party when we see our enemies defeated, or to vent our anger by declaring victory to their faces, saying, “you die; and you deserve it”.

If we are capable of coming up with such thoughts that is devoid of compassion for the other. Do we know why? You see, on a good day, we might not think that God loves us more than others. We may even think that God loves the others more than us, when we see that they are living better lives in comparison. But when it comes to the enemies, we tend to think in a different manner. In us is this ego. This ego causes us to believe that God loves us more, and that he cares for our enemies as little as we do. Yes? No? This ego in us is the reason why many people are so ready to celebrate their enemies’ downfall.

But that’s not true. What is true, is that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to…the world. And so, in our anger against our enemies, we are to engage that vengeful tendency in us, to subdue it and remind ourselves to reckon others to be equally or more important than oneself.

That’s so hard to do right? I am saying this from experience, pastors at time also wants to see the enemies spanked.

What then would be our way out? The bible says entrust the matter to God like how the psalmist does. A psalmist once said these words to God. Listen carefully, these words are said to God, not to the enemy.

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock! (Ps 137:8-9)

Why pray a prayer that sounds so harsh? Was the psalmist just trying to get something off the chest? The reason is probably this, when we give our anger to God, we switch our focus from our enemy to God. And when we focus on God and his holiness, we wouldn’t dare to gloat. Agree? And when the tendency to gloat has been put aside, we can finally begin to see how God really feels about our enemies. And it is at that point that we might be willing to approach our enemies as a Christian with compassion and not as his, hers or their enemy. The first step to be a Christian before one’s enemy is to overcome the tendency to gloat, the sage is spot on with the saying in verses 17 and 18.

May God grant us the strength and the love to reckon others to be equally or more important than oneself.

华语崇拜视频链接：https://youtu.be/aZMl-zjJ7ko
Bilingual Service Video Link: https://youtu.be/L5Xw-SgH6KQ