Working With Human Nature
(Proverbs 19:3-4, 6-7)
1. ABC News reported a strange story this week:
Arthur Livingston, of Prosperity, S.C., may feel prosperous and alive, but his credit report says, "File not scored because subject is deceased."
That’s because Livingston’s bank, Bank of America, has been reporting him as deceased to the three major credit agencies since May 2009, he said.
Bank of America has still not resolved the issue, even after media attention, causing headaches for Livingston, 39, and his family in South Carolina.
A regional manager of a chemical company, Livingston, discovered the dilemma when he tried to obtain a loan from a mortgage company in October…Bank of America still does not have a solution, and his mortgage company has not been able to obtain his credit score to give him a loan for his new home, which he said is the "major problem" with being "deceased."
2. Human beings feed information into computer systems. People make mistakes.
3. No matter how sophisticated we become, we have to work with the realities of human nature. When we consider how complex we are, we have a challenge.
Main Idea: God created human beings to be social, reasoning creatures. His Word advises us about how to get along with others, how to relate to others, and how to live wisely and reasonably.
I. Fools Expect God to OVERRIDE Their Idiocy (3)
A. This proverb is about the bad CONSEQUENCES we earned
• Sometimes bad things happen to us even if we have a godly walk
• The Holy Spirit is restraining sin and evil in the world; when something bad happens, we should remember it would be worse with the HS’s restraint
B. Acting like an idiot RUINS things
• Many bad things happen because of poor choices on our part
• God made us so that in order for us to sin in a great way, we have to climb over the wall of our consciences. The wall gets lower every time we climb…
• We sometimes make our beds and must sleep in them
• How often have we wished we could go back in time and stop ourselves?
• Achan wished he could have gone back and not buried some gold in Jericho
C. We should not blame God for our own FOOLISHNESS
Jude 1:15b-16, “and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage…
D. We love the CREDIT but hate the BLAME
E. When we are foolish, we should HUMBLE ourselves
Micah 7:9, “I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.”
I Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”
• Confessing our sins to God
• Contemplating how what we have done has harmed others or ourselves
• Making amends where possible
• Fasting and weeping
• Accepting God’s forgiveness (Christ died for our sins, we do not need to)
God created human beings to be social, reasoning creatures. His Word advises us about how to get along with others, how to relate to others, and how to live wisely and reasonably.
II. Becoming POOR Reveals True Friends (4,7)
A. With God, INTEGRITY is more valuable than riches (1)
B. Yet one who BECOMES poor may be deserted by family and friends
Job experienced this in Job 19:13-14, ““He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me.”
Lev. 25:47 reads “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s clan, then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him…”
C. Lesson: Do not ASSUME others will come to your aid
Joke: “I don’t like my wife’s family. So I borrow from the rich ones and lend to the poor ones and then they never come around.”
If someone in your family wants to borrow money, assume it will not come back
Big difference between absolute poverty, American poverty, and financial equality
God created human beings to be social, reasoning creatures. His Word advises us about how to get along with others, how to relate to others, and how to live wisely and reasonably.
III. GENEROSITY Increases Likeability (6)
A. Small GIFTS can make a big difference
1. Invited for a meal? Offer to bring something/help with dishes
2. Inexpensive little gifts – the thought counts
3. Friends that stay with us – she picks up stuff at garage sales…
4. Pinch dollars, not pennies
5. Sometimes bigger gifts are in place (e.g., weddings)
B. Jesus taught us to be generous as a way to be WINSOME
Luke 16:9 “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings…”
Our material possessions are a stewardship, and part of the equation is connecting us socially and relationally to others…
C. The opposite is true: STINGY people are disliked
Proverbs 23:6 “Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies…”
• Pink and the man who charged a nickel to use his phone…
• Don’t be trite
D. God’s ULIMATE generosity in sending his Son
• God is a God who is lavish with his grace
• James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
• Giving gifts is, in a sense, being like God
God created human beings to be social, reasoning creatures. His Word advises us about how to get along with others, how to relate to others, and how to live wisely and reasonably.
And that life begins with receiving the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23)
