Sanam Doctrinam

Better is open rebuke
Than love that is concealed.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 27:5-6

The truest friends may be those that cause us the most pain.

That’s a strange statement, isn’t it? When we think of friends, we likely think of those who support us when we need support, who encourage us when we’re disheartened, who show us kindness in hard times. In today’s verse, Solomon describes a friend in dramatically different terms. Rather than a person who is helpful, the person Solomon describes offers rebuke and wounds. What gives?

Our assumptions aren’t fallacious in one regard: Friends are helpers. But sometimes true friends help us in a more helpful way than just through consolation or encouragement. Sometimes the help they bring is painful in the short-term.

Last week, we mentioned briefly that criticism stings. It burns when someone calls for a course correction in our lives. Yet, sometimes, as far as transformation into the image of Christ goes, this sort of hurt is precisely what we need.

I believe Solomon had similar thoughts in mind when he penned the words of today’s two verses. In verse 5, he compares open rebuke with hidden love. The former is preferable to the latter, he tells us. Love that is never expressed is worthless. It’s fine to have fuzzy feelings toward another, but unless those feelings are expressed by being changed into words or translated into action, they are of no use to anyone. Conversely, rebuke that is openly given can be quite profitable. Sure, rebuke is painful to hear, but it does a person good, unlike a timid love that never expresses itself.

In verse 6, Solomon makes a contrast between the virtues of pain caused by a friend and an enemy’s flattering words. The intention makes all the difference. The true friend may offer short-term pain for long-term gain, but the enemy offers short-term gain for long-term pain. Our friend has our ultimate good in mind, but the enemy cares nothing for our ultimate good.

It’s interesting, I think, that our Lord fits perfectly Solomon’s description of the genuine friend. Does our Lord allow sorrow and hardship into our lives? Indeed. In fact, many of us can attest to our bitterness or even anger over the experiences into which our Lord’s loving hand has guided us. Of this we can be sure, however: When our God guides us into difficulty, it’s for higher, better purposes. He is fitting us for service in eternity, shaping our character, and maturing us to the end that we will look like Him.

The next time we are hurt by someone who loves us, perhaps we should not view this as an offense for us to forgive. Instead, it may be that we should view such hurt as an act of kindness to which we may rightly respond with gratitude. Gratitude may not be our initial response, but when we consider the goodness of a person who cares enough for us to warn us from our course, it is the right reaction.

Truer love has seldom been shown us than when a friend doesn’t tell us what we want to hear, but tells us what we need to hear.

Further, today’s verses not only call us to recognize a friend, but also to be a friend. It is easy to tell people what they want to hear. No doctor ever struggled to tell her patient that the tests came back clear. No employer ever was anguished over telling his employee that he was going to get a raise. Such news is easy to bear. What is hard is our telling someone what they don’t want to hear. Yet, doing so is exactly what being a true friend demands. Who in our lives needs to hear difficult information from us? Who in our lives is pursuing a course of self-destruction and needs to be diverted from their course? To play this role is difficult, but vital.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted. Take a minute to give thanks to the Lord for friends who wound us. Better, seek to be such a friend to those around you.

Well, finally getting back to my long awaited follow up to my previous article.

In my previous article we saw how, the church of Rome relies on tradition rather than Scripture Alone to interpret and teach doctrine. The question at hand is, “How has this affected the Gospel?” and “Can the true Gospel be gleaned from Rome’s Doctrine?”

My contention is that if anyone is truly made right with God and is a regular disciple of the Roman Catholic church, they are truly born again, in spite of the doctrines of Rome. In other words the content of the Gospel for those under Rome’s grip, is different than the one found in Scripture.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NASB 95) states, “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

Ephesians 2: 8-9 (NASB 95) states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Rome says in the Council of Trent, Session Six, CANON IX “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.”

Rome also says in the Council of Trent, Session Six, CANON XII “If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.”

Now this may seem simplistic, and I can hear the argument already, “Vatican II trumps Trent!” How does it trump Trent? When does Vatican II ever say, “We were wrong back there.”? But the point is, that Scripture speaks to the issue very plainly and the sad thing is, evangelicals are once again beginning to capitulate on these matters.

Now I know to most, I am just a simpleminded, MBI grad, with dispensational leanings (I can only be pegged this because I see a distinction between Israel and the Church BTW,) and I am one of those Fundamentalists who just can’t seem to be intellectual enough to get this. All I am asserting is that it is not that hard. Can a catholic be a true believer? Yes, but it is in spite of what they have been taught!

So, “How Much is Enough?” The Scriptures plainly teach that we are justified by faith and not by works, and that the faith we must exercise is in regard to our sinfulness (i.e. in recognizing we are sinners in need of a Savior, we repent (turn from that sin), to the Savior, who died, was buried, and rose again for the forgiveness of sins. That’s it.

It is not as some have said us preaching, faith in faith. In fact as most of you know, Paul makes his own anathema statement.

Galatians 1:6-9 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

Again, maybe I’m just being simplistic, but it seems pretty clear to me.

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips.

Proverbs 27:2

How do you like being criticized? We all appreciate it, don’t we? It is wonderful to have some one come to us, confront us, tell us we did something wrong, and then tell us how, from their perspective, we can fix the problem.

Not quite!

Criticism stings. Everyone likes to be told that they are doing everything “just right.” To have another person point their bony finger at our life and declare that there is some aspect of it that is out of order can be deeply upsetting. And, while some criticism is justified and some isn’t, it is difficult to take, either way.

We’re not going to talk about criticism in today’s Monday Musing. We’re going to look at the other side of criticism: praise.

Specifically, I’d like us to consider Solomon’s advice regarding seeking praise, and then think about how we should respond to praise.

I know I’ve been rightly admonished for making unwarranted blanket statements, of using “always” and “everyone” in such a way that hyperbole is the result. Yet I think it would be safe to say that deep down every person on the planet likes to hear a “good job,” “attaboy,” or “way to go” now and then. It’s encouraging and uplifting to know that someone appreciates us.

While it may be true that we all enjoy praise, Solomon tells us that our own praise is not something we should seek. That’s a thorny caution: We can’t seek that which we desire. Why would Solomon lay down such a difficult precept? I think he did because the seeking of praise erodes character. If someone seeks his or her own praise, then it does not take long to become obsessed with its pursuit. And, as this pursuit gains a greater and greater stake in our lives, what is right is replaced by what brings praise. At that point, we have allowed our behavior to be directed by majority opinion. We are driven and obsessed with others’ approval.

Solomon says that if someone wants to praise us, that’s fine, but we shouldn’t go looking for it. Instead, we’re called to do what’s right, whether or not this leads to our commendation before others.

Beyond what this verse tells us, we’re left with the question of how we should respond to praise. Without regard for how inept and prone to failure we are, people will praise us some time or another. When that happens, we have to decide how we’ll respond.

The response we clearly don’t want to have is one of pride. It’s easy to let a positive comment that’s directed at us “go to our head.” We can quickly begin to consider ourselves a cut above the rest of humanity—a little better than the others who surround us. Pride is a dangerous response to praise.

Another undesirable response is one of dismissal. What I mean by dismissal is basically ignoring the praise. If praise is genuine, it is given because someone has identified something that we have done or a character quality we possess that is admirable. We ought to consider this an encouragement in that area, especially if the praise comes from a spiritually mature and discerning individual. There’s no biblical warrant for brushing off praise. Today’s Scripture says, and I believe significantly, “Let another praise you.”

Some years back I read an editorial about our response to praise. The author suggested not saying too much or too little when we are praised; in fact, he suggested we simply respond with, “Thank you.”

That seems to me to be an appropriate response to praise, and, I might add, one that is in accord with Solomon’s words here. Not pride. Not dismissal. A simple thank you. A thank you that is an expression of a heart grateful for God’s work in our lives, from which anything praiseworthy springs.

For lack of wood the fire goes out,
And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.

Proverbs 26:20

Were I a woodcarver, and given access to every church in the world, I think I would be hard-pressed not to carve today’s verse above the door of each one.

The problem of the contention created by whisperers is not exclusive to the church, but it certainly seems more prevalent in it. I have, more than once, been reproved by people of this world who profess no commitment to the teachings of Scripture, yet who understand the importance of firsthand communication. By firsthand communication I mean that they understand the necessity of talking to someone with whom they have a problem before talking to someone else about that problem. In the realm of the workplace, I have sensed that there is great value placed on a worker talking to her coworker about a problem before going to a supervisor. Even in the carnal, valueless, unregenerate, dog-eat-dog work world, there is a disdain for “going over someone’s head” to complain instead of first dealing directly with the individual.

So what’s the problem with the church? Solomon, in today’s proverb, sheds some light on the problem, and in so doing, points toward a solution.

As we consider this proverb, we have to discern what is meant by a whisperer. The best definition I can devise is this: A whisperer is someone to talks to someone about someone else with whom they have a problem. Solomon compares this person to wood. Fire is a wonderful thing when contained and used judiciously, but it has a sole requirement: It must have fuel to burn. No one lights a campfire on bare earth. It can’t happen. Whether it be Sterno, propane, charcoal, or sticks, a fire must have fuel to burn. Even so, Solomon says, this person called “whisperer” is an essential to ignite contention.

Often translated “strife,” the Hebrew word for contention simply refers to conflict. Sometimes, it refers to outright battle between two warriors (2 Samuel 21:20).

Now, let me ask a probing question: How many of our good, theologically conservative, evangelical churches are plagued and encumbered by contention? Perhaps my church experience is atypical, but I would say in my experience, contention is endemic to the church of Jesus Christ. And we have right here, in Proverbs 26:20, what I believe to be the key issue in these matters.

Do I mean to say that we should never talk about negative things pertaining to an acquaintance to another person? Not at all. Sometimes it’s necessary. Most of the time, it’s not. What I’m talking about here, and what I believe Solomon is talking about, are people who garner support for their complaint against someone else, instead of talking to the person with whom they have the problem. Others have no need of hearing the complaint in the first place. If you have a problem with me, it’s me to whom you need to speak. If I have a problem with you, it’s you to whom I need to speak. It really is that simple.

Yet we fail to do this. We misdirect our complaining and grumbling toward the uninvolved and contention is the result. The entire problem could be avoided, were we simply to talk to the person with whom we have a problem instead of talking about them.

The solution to contention sounds so simple. Why don’t we do it?

The answer, in a nutshell, is because it’s hard. It is much easier to talk to someone who we know will be sympathetic to our complaints. There is great comfort in finding another person who, when we grumble to them about another, will say, “You’re exactly right. I’ve noticed the same thing. He really is . . . .”

And, like a fire, contention spreads.

If, as Solomon writes, a whisperer lights fires of contention, many of us should be jailed for burning churches.