If No One Gets Hurt... How Can It Be Wrong?
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Intro - Prayer - Scripture
Pro 3:5-8 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”
The first sermon in our “worldview” chapter was about Truth.
Truth - it’s discoverable and it’s intolerant; it reveals God, sin and sets you free.
The second was about Civility - with truth as our anchor, as our foundation, we are to be firm in our convictions with patience, grace and humbleness - not bitterness, divisiveness or combativeness with others, but, patient, firm conviction - treating others the way you want to be treated.
Today’s sermon takes a look at a prevalent idea in our culture - If no one gets hurt - how can it be wrong? If it feels good, do it. Be your true self. You do what is right for you. At its heart, this sermon is about wisdom - about who or what in our lives informs our decision making, informs our wisdom.
I have struggled for weeks trying to figure out how to preach this message.
It would be easy create a list of “this is right” and “this is wrong” according to the Bible - while a list may sound “biblical” - like I was giving a “biblical” answer to the question, but I’m afraid I would completely miss the issue - this real, dangerous issue that has existed throughout history.
The question isn’t about whether or not someone gets hurt, the question is about who determines what is right or wrong - regardless of what you or I think or feel or what culture tells us.
Let me give you a couple examples of what I’m talking about...
Abortion, Adultery, Lying, Gossip, Being Manipulative, Coveting, Lust, Laziness, Drunkenness, Cruelty
(Not Good Things)
Bear Wrestling, Kissing on Sundays, Kinder Eggs, High Heeled Shoes, Sidewalk Rollerskating, Kangaroo Boxing, Muddy Tires, Donkeys Sleeping In Bathtubs, Recording “Happy Birthday” (Warner Music - until 2015 - copyright), Surfing While Intoxicated
(Not So Bad Things)
Yes, that surfing thing is real: Iowa Code 462A.12(2) A person shall not… manipulate any… surfboard or similar device while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage.
Interesting - The things we all agree are bad - are legal; the not so bad things aren’t. So, it is clear we can’t rely on what is legal and what is illegal in determining what is good and what is bad - what is wise or not.
LIKES
So, if the law isn’t a real help in deciding between good and bad, how about Likes? We live in a world analyzed in terms of clicks, views, followers and likes... this is so ubiquitous in our culture that we rarely stop to think about their purpose - they are a way of self-measurement - a way of placing value on the thing clicked, viewed, followed or liked, placing value on a person, or idea or thing.
Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest
The problem with using the law as a measure of good and bad, right and wrong, is that it oftentimes (not always) but oftentimes does not accord with truth.
When we look at social media, and also to an extent music, we have completely detached from reality, we have completely detached from truth - social media creates value solely through opinion. Just like the law - where just because the law says something is OK doesn’t mean it is good, just because the masses in social media say something is OK doesn’t mean it is good.
(talk about songs)
What you listen to will, inevitably, affect how you view the world. Music is powerful...
There is a direct correlation between social media and depression and suicide. (Discuss slide)
We are the most inter-connected people in history, yet, at the same time, we are the lonliest people in history - the most disconnected from one another - with the highest rates of depression and suicide and other self-harming activities (drug abuse, mass shootings, etc.) Why?
All of this ties back to the question is about who determines what is right or wrong - regardless of what you or I think or feel or what culture tells us. When we allow our values and mores to be determined by law and public opinion (social media), we find ourselves in a very dark, raging sea - and we drown (metaphorically speaking) - in our own, or our culture’s “wisdom.”
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
This is the crux of the issue - and it has always been the case, but the technology we have today exacerbates the problem.
How did we get here? Genesis..
Genesis is such an amazing, incredible...
A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon on pride. If you weren’t here, part of our discussion of pride related back to the Genesis 3 fall and the division it caused - honor turned to shame, innocence turned to guilt, power turned to fear - these major societal divisions that continue today.
We are going to go back to that same story and learn a little bit more about what it has to teach us.
These stories in Genesis are so deep and so amazing - they pack in the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of real estate.
Before we go take a look at Genesis 3, I want us to take a look at a little two-letter word in Hebrew - ra
The main verse for the sermon today is Proverbs 3:7-8
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
The word “evil” in the English language is a loaded term - we can do evil or be evil - we tend to think of it as the worst of the worst - it is often used as a pejorative or derogatory term. The Hebrew word “ra” is much broader - and, honestly, in most situations it would be better understood in terms of the English word “bad.”
Not all bad things are evil - right? Not all harmful things are evil, not all trouble is evil - following?
But— in English, all evil is bad, harmful things are bad, trouble is bad - make sense?
The English word “bad” is the catch-all like the Hebrew word “ra.” (if time - God sending a ra spirit to Saul - God does not have others do evil on his behalf)
(Egyptian god ra)
With that understanding of “ra” lets go to Genesis 3.
…For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. (arum - erom/arom)
Gen 3:5-7
It isn’t that Eve did not have the ability to think prior to the fall. (start with So when… above)
You can be wise in your own eyes. Everyone who can perceive and using their brain can become wise, but the question is how do you become wise - what is your standard for making that determination.
[Discuss Eden and job for rest of earth]
From the story we can infer that God will provide them with the needed wisdom - teaching right discernment - because they are described as “children” in the narrative - not yet knowing good and evil - [Remember Jesus and comment about child and kingdom]
The Tree represents two alternatives - one being self reliance - I can take of the fruit and eat and become wise - the other being reliance on God. Take it for themselves, or receive it as a gift from God.
The tree represents the alternative to relying on God
It is more than knowing good and evil - it is a decision about who you put at the center of your life, who you put on the throne of your life - God (for us as Christians, Jesus) or self.
From that point forward in the text, scripture shows us the folly (and disastrous consequences of) putting self on the throne - having the self be the arbiter of what is wise and what is not.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Open and read. Judges 17:1-6 “There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Levite, concubine, chop up, war, steal women ...
So, in the first example from Judges - did anyone get hurt? No. But was it wrong? Yes. In the second example, a lot of people were hurt - and yes, it was wrong. So, just like with our example of the law, and social media/our Like culture, just because our culture says something is good, or just because no one is hurt, does not mean that something is wise and good. In fact, when we use those things, and things like them, as our standard of wisdom, bad things follow.
Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.
We cannot trust our own feelings, our own intuition, our own ideas, to be a healthy and good source of wisdom. To the extent we allow those things to be informed by the wisdom of the Word of God, yes, they can be good, but to the extent they are informed by the culture we live in, or our emotions, opinions, or feelings separate from the Word of God, not so much - when we do what is right in our own eyes, ra is the result.
Genesis 3:5-7 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”
Yd - “YaDa” - to know, hear of, learn - the idea is to know from Him, hear from Him, learn from Him
Arum, arom
[Video] The Stool
Josh 24:15 - Joshua challenges the people to choose, this day, who they will serve - Yaweh or the gods of their fathers. Whether they will be wise in their own eyes or follow Yaweh - even when it doesn’t seem to make sense to them.
So, who will you choose, who is going to sit on the stool of your life?