Bible Guys Classics: Proverbs 25

Hey, everybody, we're the Bible Guys, and if you're just tuning in recently, just know that we are showing a little bit of reruns for a few months, and then we'll be back, bigger and better than ever on August thirty first, because behind the scenes we're taking a hiatus to do some very important things. Yeah, we're building building out a new studio and we've got some new structure. Super excited about it. So August thirty first, brand new content. But in the meantime, enjoy some of our greatest hits. You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. It's already it's money, yes, and good morning, good morning. Everybody else likes it when you sing it, Chris, Hey, but I just decided to let's get our podcasts shut down. Oh I forgot about that. That's right. There may be musical rights, okay. And by the way, it was not a good idea, apparently because I was. It was ruined by a copes Dingly. But you're an important guy, man. Hey, I decided to let the people know where the good morning song comes from. If they didn't know it comes. Yes, it's a commercial. Commercial commercial. You're promoting the movie. I promote a lot of movies, I know, but this one here, you let them know where it came from in case they didn't know. Yeah, singing in the ring, Yeah yeah, because you know, Lord knows that movie needs more viewers, right, yeah from nineteen what nineteen forty something? So that's funny. So hey, good morning. Good morning, all, good morning. And we are the Bible guys more, and we are jumping into a segment called Who's most Like? This is one of our favorite segments. I like it, Yes, because it's it's it's fun choices. Okay, Chris, Okay, ready you Jeff, Who's most likely to be frightened by a clown? I don't know. Are you scared of clowns? I think I can be. Yeah, i'd say me probably. I think the only clown I've ever been frightened by is Pennywise. Yeah, well, any original? Did you as a kid? I already know the answer to this. Did you watch horror movies? No? Okay, so I did. I saw all of them. I saw all the movies, okay, okay, And why is this peeping when I have it on airplane mode. You have to have do not disturb mode airplane mode, so hip focus. Wait a minute. If you have it on airplane mode, still going, it comes through. No airplane mode means you have no the signal you're not connected to You're on Wi Fi. No, I'm not on Wi Fi. Look, no Wi Fi. I don't know, Chris. It's a enigma. It is. It's magic. So I saw all the movies and in my mind that are pretty gruesome. Okay, well that's not me. That must be you. Okay, okay, see see when there's when you live, right, Chris? Yeah, you sleep well. But yeah, no TV. I didn't didn't go to movies. I had a TV with no rules. Yeah right. Who's most likely to land the role of a comedian in a movie? Oh that's you two? You think so, I think so? Well? Yeah, just to be in a movie is a good thing, yes, right. And then the comedian in a movie, Yeah, I think it'd be good. Yeah, I think I might be able to pull that off. Yeah all right. Number three, who's most likely to miss a flight because they were packing at the last minute? I think I fly more, but I don't pack at the last minute. Yeah, I'm going to say I'm going to say that probably has to be me. Although I will say this, I've never missed a flight because because I did not pack. I've never even come close to that. However, I have woken up on the morning of a flight. In fact, my last flight, I woke up in the morning of that flight and packed in the morning. Oh yeah, I've done that before. Yeah, but I only travel with one carry on bag in a personal bag. Yeah, I haven't packed a bag I had to check in years and years and years, and I'll go for two weeks out of a carry on So yeah, I've got that down to a science. Now. Wow. So I don't check backs. My wife does, and they lose their bags, Like why do you keep how many times do you have to have them lose your bag before you stop checking a bag? Right? Anyways, who's most likely to have the most incredible comebacks? Oh, that'd be you. I think that could like like comebacks like zingers. Yeah, I think so, okay, yeah, that'd be you. And only because I think you already have them. I think you. Have them sort of like already in your brain. You've got like thirty or forty comebacks that you always. Bail to I do, yeah, you know what I mean. And and you'd be like, oh, I can get you some crans if you want them. Yeah, in the lobby. So yeah, that's funny. And then number five, who's most likely to be okay with eating chicken nuggets for the rest of their life? What that's probably gonna be me is that you Yeah I like chicken nuggets. Yeah, I like chicken nuggets too, not as much as my family does, but yeah, i'd have to I'd have to vote you too. So so yeah, so I'm the clue. Yeah, I'm the comedian in the movie. I'm probably the guy for the last You're you're the last two. And the nugget kid. There you go. That's good for me. Yeah, that's good for me. Yeah, that's funny. So hey, I think that the comeback thing is I just have I have like a sassy yeah thing in me. Yeah, just and I'm not most of the time, not even feeling grumpy. I just feel sassy, right right, So it just comes out. Yeah. Well you know what I think. I think, Jeff, the way to have incredible comebacks you have to have a really sharp brain with a lot of wisdom and it sounds and a lot of and a lot of just things ready, you. Know, to give to people. And you know full you know, also had a lot of wisdom, and I had a lot of things, were things ready to give the people. It was the guy who wrote Proverbs. Oh yeah, yeah, it was Solomon Solomon. So so in this way Proverbs, in this small way, you are sort. Of like Solomon, Yes, Solomon and Jeff Solomon of old I wonder if you like chicken nuggets? I bet you he did. Do you think they had chicken nuggets? They had chicken chicken. You make nuggets out of chicken. Yeah, but they. Didn't have to grind up chicken in order to process it and deep fry it. I don't think they deep fried back then, you know. Oh yeah, I think they had full awful back then. Sure. But do you think we just recently Colonel Sanders discovered fried chicken? Well, no, but fried chicken. I know when that was invented. It was during slavery times. Really, yeah, you don't think they were doing it beforehand? Well, I think they brought it with him. I hate to say this, but I do know the origin of this. They were trying to figure out how to bring more calories to a piece of chicken for people working in fields. Right, So they discovered that frygant oil could triple the amount of calories for people so that they. Could work along. Oh wow, right, it's a horrible beginning. It's a horrible. Horrible origin story. But that is where fried chicken came from. Wow. Okay, well, I'm going to trust you on that one. Yeah, terrible. So with Hezekiah, he's been digging through the temple yep, they're cleaning stuff up, yep, and he's deciding to lean into the word. He's going to find out and then you know what he did. But he found several of the proverbs of Solomon that hadn't been published yet in the temple. So it says this in Proverbs chapter twenty five. And we haven't read this one yet, because there are more. These are more proverbs of Solomon collected by the advisors of King Hezekiah of Judah. Oh cool, really, well, I mean our goal is to go in chronological orders, that's right. So it's God's privilege, the Bible says, to conceal things, and the king's privilege to discover them. No one can comprehend the height of heaven, the depth of the earth, or all that goes on in the king's mind. Remove the impurities from silver, and the sterling will be ready for the silversmith. Remove the wicked from the king's court, and his reign will be made secure by justice. Don't demand an audience with the king or push for a place among the great. It's better to wait for an invitation to the head table than to be sent away in public disgrace just because you've seen something. Don't be in a hurry to go to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbor deals you a shameful defeat. When arguing with your neighbor, don't betray another person's secret. Others may accuse you of gossip, and you will never again regain your good reputation. Timely advice is lovely like golden apples in a silver basket to one who listens. Valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry. Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in the summer, and they revive the spirit of their employer. A person who promises a gift but doesn't give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain. Patients can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones. Do you like honey? Don't eat too much or it'll make you sick. Don't visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome. Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an axe, wounding them with the sword, or shooting them with a sharp harrow. Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is life chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot. Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone's coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound. If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they're thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you as surely as the north wind brings rain. So a gossiping tongue causes anger. It's better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife and a lovely home. That's how you know we're still reading Solomon's writings. Dude, he writes this about every fifth chapter, doesn't it. In the Book of Proverbs, good news from far away is like cold water to the thirsty. If the god they give in to the wicked, It's like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring. It's not good to eat too much, honey, And it's not good to seek honors for yourself. A person without self control is like a city with broken down walls. Well there you go. Yeah, So the similes here are these? These are similies, right, because there's the word like sure, the similes here are just unbelievable. Think about all the word pictures that you just covered. Yeah, it says this doing this is like this, and what a great By the way, I love I love those. I love those because he takes a you know, a lot in a lot of cases, a miserable experience, and he says like, hey, did you ever Hey, have you ever trusted somebody who was untrustworthy in a time of trouble? Yeah? Yeah? Did you ever chew on something with a broken tooth? Did you ever walk with a lame foot? You know, the pain of every single step, the pain of every bike? Yeah, yeah, that's what it's like to trust somebody who's untrustworthy in times of trouble telling, Telling lies about each other is as harmful as hitting them with an axe. That's a gruesome metaphor word picture, right, Yeah, and so yeah, it just goes on and on and on. Person who promises a gift but doesn't give it. It's like clouds and win that bring no rain, singing the promise rain with no rain. Right yeah, singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart. Yeah, it's like pouring vinegar and something after you just cut yourself. A person without self control is like a city with broken down walls. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Your self control, how you manage yourself is what protects you from ruining your life. Yeah, that's what he's talking about. So so you almost don't even want You almost want to avoid Solomon's wife comments. Yeah right, It's like it's. Like, who's going to touch that with a ten football? Well, the guy who had a thousand wives? He can. He can touch it with a ten foot poll right, he can touch with a tenant pole. He can touch the ten milimeter pole. He does, he does. All he has to do is just look around. That's all you have to do. Yeah, it's better to live alone in the quarter of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home. That is hilarious. Right, So he's really just saying, it's what. Do you think about it? You should you should explain. It a quarrelsome wife. I'm joking. Oh, I was going to say, what are you talking about? You about to get in trouble? You know Liz is listening, Yeah, of course she is. Hey, we all just went to dinner last night. Yes, and Liz was talking about listening and. Talking back to it. Yeah, yeah, talking back to back to the podcast podcast. Yeah yeah, yeah. Yeah. In fact, so I would say, I would say ninety nine times out of one hundred. Maybe perhaps she listens to the bibble guys getting ready because she works five days a week, right, Monday through Friday, and we have this podcast Fridays a week, Right, so she will get up in the morning, put on our makeup and listen and I could hear it from the master bathroom. Oh and a lot of times, Sugar it up slightly before me, right, so she has to get a little bit earlier for where she works and so by the time she's ready to walk out the door, that's about the time that I crawl out of bed, right, And it works out because she's in the bathroom by herself, right, And so anyway she will instead. Of yelling at me in bed, she'll yell at the phone. Right. But every once in a while she'll like, she'll come in and she'll. Be like, you know, she'll come out of the bathroom, she'll say, what were you thinking or something like that. Well, it's a good it's good news that you have almost no concept of the meaning or the experience of. That, that's correct. It is so foreign to me. I'm like, Solomon, what do you mean, Solomon? I don't understand this piece of wisdom? Right? What does the Galatian say to the pure? All things are pure? That's so funny, so so yeah, but I do think it is funny though. But the other day, didn't I get in trouble? I made like a wife comment or a woman comment from the stage, and there was somebody who wrote in I can't believe Chris said that from the stage. Some kind of sexist statement or something it was, and you were just making I. Was poking fun at Adam and Eve. That's what it was. And I said something like, oh, come on, it was something like it was it was. It was something about. Adam and Eve and how Eve was the one that ate the apple, and and she blamed Adam or something like this. And I just believe this. She blamed the snake, she blamed the snake. And yeah, so anyway, it was something about that, and and somebody wrote in and said, I can't believe that he would say, you know what, I don't want to waste people's time. But it's on the tip of my tongue what I said exactly. The thing about comedy is this, especially when it comes to generalities. Yes, so generalities can be funny, yes, And the reason is all of us kind of understand the generalities, so where you might look at it and go, well, not my wife, but you can look at it and go, his wife and his wife and his wife kind of are that way, right or whatever, or you know, not my opinions, but other people's opinions. They're not my behaviors, but other people's. So it's not that every single person in a group is exactly the same way. Oh, I know. The groups tend to have generalities and then they wind up being funny. And so the idea behind comedy is sometimes the group dynamic is a funny dynastic. I know it was. So when she was quoting back to the serpent in her conversation, she said, God said you must not eat it or even touch it. Yes, you die. And by the way, that's what God did not say. He didn't say that, so I didn't say anything about don't touch it. He said don't eat. It, okay. So I made the joke and I said, well, I said, she's being dramatic because you know she's a woman. Oh yeah. And then and then everybody laughed hard. And then I said immediately, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. And then and then somebody wrote in. So you took a beating for that. Well, so then now you just thought you go online and just tell. You only there's only right, right, There was only like one person that wrote in. I told five thousand people this Sunday, and I had some people, man, so I thought I'd tell ten thousand more today. Right, somebody wrote in, I think it was only one person. We got to talk about that self disciplined thing again. Remember self control. A person without self control is like a city with broken down walls. You have any defenses. I have no defenses. I'm like, I'm like a city. I'm like a city with no walls. Come at me with your. Exactly. They're coming, the angry mobs. Your walls are down, and the angry mobs are coming. This one woman said, women need to get out of that stigma, so don't fuel it by your jokes. That's what she said. Okay, yeah, well it's your jokes are single handedly oppressing. Well, I mean she's not, you know, it's you know, I mean, you know, I don't want to take away her argument. It's not like she's wrong. It's just that, you know, my theory is lighting up a little bit. Yeah, we're just joking, just joking, jo. Comedy is good for the soul. Yes, so there is a thing here. You know. One of the things I love about the Bible is how the Bible gives evidence and weight and confidence for a Christian to say this, the Bible is trustworthy and truth. And in one of these a lot of times, it's when the Bible references itself, because remember the Bible wasn't written all a one time it is written by forty something authors over fifteen hundred year period. That's right. And Jesus quotes this passage. So Jesus quotes verse six and seven. What he does is he adapts them into a parable right. So verse six he said, don't demand an audience with the king or push for a place among the great. It's better to wait for an invitation at the head of the table, to the head of the table, than to be sent away in public disgrace. Remember, he tells the story, and he says, man, when you go to a party, don't go sit up at the front, sit at the end, because it's better to be invited up than it is if an important person comes and they make you move down. And you know, so Jesus believes in the value of Solomon's writings. And you know, Jesus was unbelievably wise even as a young man. He's sitting at the on the steps of the temple teaching at twelve years old, and all these you know, leaders are just amazed at his wisdom. Well, how do you get wisdom? You get wisdom? The Bible says two different ways. In the Book of James, it says, if anybody lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to everybody. So if you need wisdom, keep asking God for wisdom. The other way that you're going to get wisdom, and the way God's going to give you the wisdom is through his words, right, And so spending time in the Word will will increase your wisdom. And so Jesus now uses the writings of Solomon that Haszekiyah digs out of the temple. Yeah, and he uses and he makes this thing. So it validates jesus opinion of the value of the writing of yeah proverbs. So if Jesus thought it was important, then then we should think it's important to know the writings of Solomon. I think that's that's what I'm trying to say. Yeah, yeah, look fourteen, he's where that is. And it's always it's. Always uh seven through eleven. Yeah, it's always incredible when g Jesus refers to the Old Testament or Paul will quote the Old Testament because it is a again, it's you know, Jesus came to give us a new covenant, right, it's a new covenant for salvation. Right. So Jesus says, I didn't come to abolish the law. I came to fulfill the law right, right, and so and so to you know, and and again a lot of the laws given by Moses were very you know, direct for that group of people, for that group of time, right, because you know how we distinguished that. We just talked about this on a stuff the pastor. So there's general commandments from God for all people, and then there are specific uh, you know, assignments or or rule followings or promises, you know, for for just certain groups of people. But for the most part, you know, all scripture is given to point to. Jesus. Didn't somebody say when we were kids who said it? You'll you'll remember who said, you can take any verse of the Old Testament and if you work hard enough, you can connect it to Jesus. Oh yeah, a lot of them you can certainly take. So I've heard pastors say you can take every book of the Bible points to Jesus, right, and then just about every passage points to Jesus. Or you can get to Jesus from every passage. Yeah, yeah, You all you do is work yourself out. You just zoom out a little bit, right, you. Talk about that verse and then you say, the verse is given in this context, and the and the and the passage surrounding it, and it was during this timeframe, and and and then boom, then you're there. Well, it's all about him and how to get to him, right that that that's what it's about. And so that's why John calls Jesus the Word. He's the Word of God. Right, so we we find out about the Word of God from the Word of God. That that's it. So so that that passage that Jesus uses there, it's it's better for an invitation ahead of the table. There's something about that. It's just a little bit of humility, right that. That's what he's talking about, being a humble person. Yeah, there's so many others though, you know, I love the other one. Timely advice is lovely like golden apples in a silver basket. And to one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry. You and I we have several different creative things that we're a part of, and we have a high value on our staff of make it better. But the only way you can make it better is to allow valid criticism. So for you and me, we have to make sure first of all, that the criticism is valid, right, right, and that it's not just an opinion, but it's a valid thing. But if we're humble enough and we can accept timely advice, and if we are able to accept from people that we love and that we trust, we can accept valid criticism, then it's like golden apples and a silver basket. It's like golden ear rings and other gold jewelry. It makes everything better if we can accept the timely advice, and if we can accept valid criticism, it's going to make everything better. You know, let me so we shouldn't be so sensitive, is what I'm saying. I want, I want to take the last minute to give a shout out, a personal shout out to anybody who knows this guy personally, because you know, a lot of our listeners don't know right our friends. Right, So we have a good friend, Dave Wilson that we just hired, and you've probably already noticed this, but I. Want to give him a shout out. Have you noticed recently in meetings he is voiced making sure that pastors don't have egos. Oh, you know, he's referred to that lot. Yeah, talks about it a lot. And I got to tell you for somebody who you know, he's got like he's really connected to a lot of important people, and he's got like a lot of things that could inflate his ego. Right, I'm very talented, highly skilled, yeah, atrageously successful guy in life in every area that he's tried to tackle. Right, yeah. And who has NFL players you know with you know who text back and forth and all these kinds of things, right, yeah, you can you can feel important, right, But he always talks about ego ego checks and how we as pastors shouldn't have egos. And I have to tell you that, because I've been his friend for twenty years, I almost wonder how I would be without him, Like because there I grew up in an environment maybe maybe maybe, but when I grew up in an environment and in a culture where pastors, it seems like, now looking back, that's all they have. Where's egos? Where egos? Right? So many people who were big fishes in small ponds thought they were way bigger than they should, you know. And it's this idea of like. Thinking you're actually important and and uh, but in the great scheme of things, a great reminder is what Jesus quoted in Luke fourteen and what Solomon writes here, right, which is like, hey, let's let's all have the practice of you know, even if we think we're higher than we are, let's sit lower than we are, right, And let's let let's let's the only reason that we should move up in this world is not by ourselves but by others. Yeah, right, let others move us up. Don't don't don't move up yourself. And that's a great practice for all of us. Think about that humility in every single area which one of us have ever been under a leader, Like you know you've worked at a lot of different places as a kid, Right, aren't the best bosses. Those who are humble? Yes, those who. Are servants, those who are not afraid to have conversations and do things that you know everybody else can do. The ones who are self important and self inflated, those are the worst kinds of bosses to work for. And unless they're just joking about it or something like that, right, but if they truly believe that they're that they're important, oh, it's just the worst. Well. I love the fact that you've got a king here who finds some writings from another wise king. And the first writings in his list are all about a king. Yeah, we don't know that Solomon wrote them in this order. I know that haze Kaya put them down in this order. Yeah, right, And so it's very clear that you've got a humble king trying to figure out how to be a better king. That's what all these are. That's great. The first four verses are about the kings, and then he goes on from there and talks about being able to take advice and being humble and all those things. Here's a guy who wants to be a godly man, and he's recognizing, first of all, I need to figure out how to be a wise king and a good godly king. Yeah that's great humility, man. But hey, that is definitely our time. And so what a great chapter. And we will continue on in Proverbs tomorrow on the Bible Gosh