GOD’S WISDOM FOR YOU
PROVERBS 22:13-16
13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!”
or, “I will be murdered in the streets!”
There’s always an excuse not to do something. Maybe it’s an unpleasant job, or maybe there’s a horserace to watch, or a bottle of wine that just won’t drink itself. The lazy man sees lions in kittens and murderers in every shadow. The faithful servant is just the opposite.
Surely not the opposite, you might think. The servant of God would not embrace his task if there really were lions or murderers. In 107 A.D., a pastor named Ignatius was on his way to being sent to face wild animals (lions or leopards) in the arena in Rome before cheering or jeering crowds. Before he arrived, he wrote to the Christians in Rome to beg them not to interfere:
“I am willingly going to die for God, if you don’t stop me. Please, do not be ‘an unseasonable kindness’ to me. Let me be eaten by wild animals, through whom I can attain to God. I am God’s wheat, ground by the teeth of wild beasts so that I may be found to be the pure bread of Christ. Instead, entice these wild beasts so that they can become my tomb, leaving no trace of my body, so that when I fall asleep I can be no burden to anyone. Then I shall truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world will not see my body at all. Pray to Christ for me, that I can be a sacrifice to God through them.”
(Ignatius to the Romans 4:1-2)
Ignatius was willing to be put to death in whatever horrible manner the devil could concoct in order to be able to confess his faith; to be willing to die so that the world would understand just how seriously he took his belief in Jesus Christ, and to give strength to his congregation should the same thing be required of them.
Jesus set an even better example, beautiful and terrifying as Ignatius’ example might be. Jesus was willing not only to die for his belief (as if we could say that God has faith in God—like Paul, I am speaking like a mad man or a fool, 2 Cor. 11:21), but Jesus was willing to die for every single human being ever born; ever conceived. His blood was shed to cover all of our sins, and so he stepped forward into the torchlight to receive the kiss of the traitor (Luke 22:48). He let them have their hour when darkness reigned (22:53), so that he might reign in indescribable light forever.
This is why we serve him. This is why we run from our excuses, and put our hands to whatever task our Lord has given to us. Large or small, unpleasant or a delight, it’s what we do. And we do it to his glory.
14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit;
he who is under the LORD’s wrath will fall into it.
This Proverb pronounces judgment. For those who reject him, he lets fall into worse and worse temptations. “You, O God, will bring the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days” (Psalm 55:23). David’s “pit of corruption” in the Psalm isn’t just hell, it’s the suffering God will permit even in life. The mouth of the adulteress is whatever entices men to sin. It’s not necessarily adultery or sexual sins, but any sins at all. It was the purse strings that seduced Jesus’ traitor, but they, too, were the mouth of an adulteress.
This is the danger of someone who turns from the gospel, saying “I don’t need Jesus to be my Savior.” The Lord will let them fill up their measure of sin (Matthew 23:32), to their own destruction.
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth
or who gives gifts to the rich—
surely comes to poverty.
These two Proverbs don’t seem connected at first, and wouldn’t be, except for the terrible example of Judas Iscariot and the truth of human experience. Children, including the spiritually childish (those uneducated in the basic truths of Scripture who are left by the absence of parents or the failure of parents to train them up in God’s word) formulate all sorts of bizarre and impossible notions about religion. Disciplined instruction is the only means to clean up this kind of mess. Solomon’s term “the rod of discipline” is the shebet (שֵׁבֶט), an actual rod or stick, sometimes even a scepter (Genesis 49:10). Here it does not need to be a stick, sometimes used to punish, but simply the firmness of instruction; a rigid and thorough course of instruction so that a child or new initiate to Christianity can be taught the foundational teachings. There are the Ten Commandments, the creeds, the Lord’s Prayer, the means of grace including baptism and the Lord’s Supper, questions about God’s nature, the Trinity, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to eternal life and also the basic story of God’s love, from Adam to Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, the life of Jesus, the Acts of the Apostles, and so forth.
When someone has received all of this, he can still fall into folly and sin. This is what happened to Judas, who had learned his Christianity from Christ himself. He was in his fourth year of this college when he was seduced by a quick money-making scheme that dragged him down into old temptations and a trust in Judas rather than in Jesus. Here was a man who betrayed his poor Master to earn money for himself. He had preached Christ to people who were saved because of his preaching. He had performed miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers and casting out demons (Matthew 10:8). His scheme seems to have gone this way: Since Jesus could perform miracles and could even pass through a murderous crowd unharmed (Luke 4:30), then Judas could betray him, collect the fee, watch Jesus avoid those who would arrest him, and then do the whole thing all over again. He may even have told himself (the devil teaches us to be such good liars in the mirror) that he would have been increasing Jesus‘ fame through this new phase of his ministry. To his horror, Jesus accepted his betrayal and allowed his life to end rather than perform a trick to get out of it. This had been his goal all along, but Judas had missed the point of his Master’s ministry.
It wasn’t throwing the money back to the priests that was Judas‘ poverty, but giving up on the possibility of forgiveness. While Peter repented, Judas despaired.
Remember that one of the basic teachings of your very own Christian discipline is the forgiveness offered by Jesus to everyone. Don’t let go of that faith you have in your Savior. It can be dropped, lost, or forgotten. That’s the tragic lesson of Judas. But by the grace of God, it can also be kept, clutched, remembered, and even found once again through the preaching of the word. Treasure your faith and your forgiveness, and praise God for it every day.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota