“Silence Is Golden” – FBC Morning Light (5/24/2024)

Well, a good Friday morning to you, again, coming to the end of the week, looking forward to the Lord's Day this coming Sunday, and I trust you are. On this particular Lord's Day, I'm going to be out of town on a little vacation time with family, but one of our men is going to be preaching in the morning service, and it'll be a great blessing.

This man has spoken before, and he is a great encouragement to God's people, and he'll be speaking in the morning service, and one of our other men will be speaking in the evening service this Sunday.

So I hope you'll make your plans to join with us if you're in the area, and enjoy the worship together with God's people. Well, today in our Bible reading, we're in Proverbs chapters 11 to 13, and in our reading we have both a test for some self-evaluation and a warning that we need to pay attention to.

Let's talk about the test for a minute. So in chapter 11, verses 12 and 13, well, let me ask you this. Do you consider yourself to be a person who is an understanding person, a person who has understanding?

You have a pretty good sense about life and living and so forth? Well, we have an answer to that. Well, we have a test, we should say, to give us an answer to that question. Let me ask you this. Do you also consider yourself to be a trustworthy person, people can count on?

Well, again, we have a test that can help us answer both of these questions, and they both have to do with the same thing, and that is how we use our tongue. So in chapter 11, verse 12, it says this, whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.

A man of understanding remains silent. So I ask the question, are you a person who considers herself to be an understanding person? Okay, is that reflected in how you speak related to your neighbor? I'm not talking about the person who lives next door to you, though it may, but the broader sense of the neighbor as in the Lord's parable of the Good Samaritan.

How do you speak of your neighbor? The person who, you know, maybe your personality's great against each other, and you know, you're not bosom buddies, but how do you speak of them? You tear them down?

Do you belittle them? You make them seem inferior to you? Well, if so, then, you know, what's Proverbs say? You're not the person of understanding you may think you are. Or what was the other question?

Are you a trustworthy person? Do you consider yourself to be trustworthy? Well, the next verse gives us a test to be able to answer that question. Verse 13 says, whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

Now there is a challenge, isn't there? Oh, I don't know what it is about our human nature, but we just seem to love gossip. We love to hear these juicy tidbits that are, you know, destroying another person's character, reputation, and there's something perverse in our hearts that wants to pass on such stuff to other people.

Well, when we grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, and God works and builds our character, one of the aspects of that building and working is making us a trustworthy person who keeps our mouths shut in such things.

We don't pass on this slanderous gossip that just tears down other people.

You say, well, but it's true.

What is true? It may be true, but is it necessary? Do I need to say it? See, there's the question. There's the rub. That's where the rubber meets the road to mix all the metaphors. Am I a trustworthy person?

And then I said there's a warning. There's a warning in this passage. Chapter 13, Proverbs 13 and verse 3 says, whoever guards his mouth, preserves his life. He opens wide his lips, comes to ruin. So the warning is that I need to keep a guard over my mouth.

That will preserve my life. If I don't, if I don't watch what I say, if I'm not careful in my words, careful in my speech, careful in my communication with other people, friends, neighbors around me, it can ruin my life.

So take the warning. Let's guard. Let's guard our mouths. Father, help us in this. Help us, I pray, because it's so easy, so easy to have a loose tongue. Oh, may they be tight, we pray. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen.

All right.

Well, again, have a good rest of your Friday. Hope your work weekends well and you enjoy gathering together with God's people and worship on the Lord's Day.

Good day.