History

Our Beliefs

Church Staff

Leadership

Sermons

Links

“God's Hate List”
Proverbs 6:16-19
IPC, July 19, 2009

If you’ve lived in Georgia for very long, you have heard Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…” stories and jokes.  As we celebrate more and more birthdays, it seems that our emails become loaded with articles that begin, “You know you’re growing older when…”  You young people and twenty and thirty-somethings are out there thinking, “Who’s that?  Ain’t me!”  With so many younger folks here today I won’t bore you with…too many of them, but let me share a few.  

“You know you’re growing older when…”

• You can recite the lyrics to “Stop in the Name of Love” but you can’t remember your new area code.

• You now believe that Elvis died young.

• You hear yourself say, “I used to know that.”

• Your knees buckle, but your belt won’t.

• You remember when the Dead Sea was only sick.

• You burn the midnight oil until 9 p.m.

You heard about the two elderly ladies who were enjoying the sunshine on a park bench in Miami.  They had been meeting there every day for over twelve years, chatting and enjoying each others’ friendship.  One day, the younger of the two ladies, asks, “Please don’t be angry with me, dear, but I am so embarrassed.  After all these years, what is your name? I am trying to remember, but I just can’t.”  The older friend stares at her, looking very distressed, and says nothing for two full minutes, and finally, with tearful eyes asks, “How soon do you have to know?” 

A great help as we get older is to make lists…write things down.  That works well for me…until I forget where I put my list.  Regardless of our age, most of us live our lives with lists.  You may key them in on an electronic device or you simply write them down.  We make grocery lists, “to-do” lists, and have non-written mental lists, like things that irritate us, foods we dislike, people we would like to avoid or lists of bad habits that haunt us.  We also know that in social circles, there are “society lists” which many people try to be part of…the “A List” at parties, etc. 

Well, God has a list too—of things He hates.  At times, we may tend to boil Christianity down to a list of outward “dos and don’ts.”  (I call that the Action Infraction.)  But some of the sins that Scripture lists aren’t visible in “action form.”  And God’s “hate list” is no exception. Not all are the sins here are in action form—some are mental and verbal in nature.  Listen. 

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, & hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, & one who sows discord among brothers.” 

1. Haughty Eyes.

Jesus calls the eye the lamp of the soul and the window to our body.  Luke 11:34 “Your eye is the lamp of your body.  When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.”  Do you have “haughty eyes?”  (I’m not merely talking about the look that your mother could give you that could freeze water from 20 yards away.  Nor am I referring to the “look” that most of us husbands have received from our loving help mates from time to time.)  Try this experiment: Name five people who are better than you are.  Think of five people who are not as good as you are.  Which list can you complete faster?  There is something about our sin nature that gives us an attitude of superiority. 

Prov. 21:4 “Haughty eyes & a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.”  Prov. 30:11-14 “There are those who curse their fathers & do not bless their mothers. There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth. There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift! There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.” 

We have all probably played that game at one time or another.  We should remember Paul’s warning in 2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV) “When they measure themselves by themselves & compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”  We need to be careful about becoming “Christian Cannibals.”  You know, the folks who pick to pieces church policy, the officers, the building, the music and, of course, enjoy a meal of roast preacher at lunch time on Sundays. 

2. Lying Tongue.

An author by the name of Theodore Reinking faced possible execution in 1646 because he offended King Christian IV of Denmark with a book he had written.  Remember the Muslim “hit” that was put on the British author some years back who wrote an expose on Ben Laden?  The king offered him the alternative of “eating his book” instead of execution.  Reinking tore the book into shreds, soaked it in soup and munched away.  We aren’t so fortunate.  Once our words go out, they are part of eternal record.  Prov. 12:22 “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” 

We may not admit that we actually lie, but we could be guilty of “fudging the truth.”  We distort or are hazy about the facts.  Kind of like the proverbial “fish stories” we tell about our fishing, hunting, golfing or vacation experiences.  And we can even begin to believe our own exaggerations.  Abraham Lincoln said, “The man who lies better have a very good memory,” probably so he can remember what lie he told each person.  We have to remember the source of truth: “Thy Word is truth!”  (John 17:17) 

3. Hands That Shed Innocent Blood.

Are there any murderers here?  Probably not.  But we often sit idly by while abortion continues unabated.  What about the “murder in the heart” that Jesus talks about?  (Matt. 5:21-24)  Like the old radio show of years ago asked, “What evil lurks in the hearts of man?  The Shadow knows.”  We can murder someone’s reputation by spreading lies and, in a sense, we’re shedding innocent blood.   

4. Heart That Devises Wicked Schemes.

Jeremiah reminds us that our heart is wicked and deceitful.  (Jer. 17:9)  Our heart can actually play “mind games” with us.  Have you ever tried to wiggle your way out of trouble?  You think quickly on your feet to find an excuse or a cover-up.  We think of men in the Bible who attempted cover-ups:  King David, Achan, and Joseph’s brothers.  

5. Feet Running to Evil.

Runners know that with training and practice comes speed.  The same is true with sin.  We can even become anesthetized to the effects of sin.  Prov. 30:20 “This is the way of an adulteress; she eats & wipes her mouth & says, ‘I have done no wrong.’” 

Folks, evil seems to come more easily accessible nowadays.  It can easily creep through our computers so we don’t even have to put our shoes on to run to it.  James was correct when he talked about the “lure” of sin in chapter 1.  For any of you fishermen out there, you know that each fishing lure has a hook in it.  And sin is just like that.  There is always a “hook” attached.  The sixth sin… 

6. False Witness Pouring Out Lies.

A prominent physician spoke at a large gathering that was covered by members of the press.  He told the reporters that he was making the same speech the following night in a neighboring town, so he asked that they not quote from his speech.  The write up in the morning paper said, “Dr. Smith delivered an excellent lecture—he told some wonderful stories—unfortunately they cannot be published.” 

The Hebrew connotation of a “false witness” is a similar word from which the word “fiction” is derived.  We can be guilty of being fiction writers when we talk about others.  The word “lies” denotes “disfiguring someone” and that is fairly descriptive of the damage that lies about others can produce.  Prov. 12:17  “Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit.” 

We may have heard of the WWII poster that read: “Loose lips sink ships.”  Well, they can also wreck lives.  We can easily make mountains out of molehills—all we need to do is add a little more “dirt” to it.   

I read this: “There are six mischievous “mis-ses” who are responsible for most of our troubles:  Misinformation, Misquotation, misrepresentation, misinterpretation, misconception, and misunderstanding. 

We remember that James tells us that the tongue is to our lives, what a rudder is to a ship or a bit is toward guiding a horse.  You have heard the term “idle rumors.”  I don’t believe that…rumors are never idle…they are always busy.  I’ve found that a good way to deal with gossips is to ask: “May I quote you?” 

7. Strife Spreaders.

Prov. 26:20-21 “For lack of wood the fire goes out, & where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.  As charcoal to hot embers & wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.”  Some people are wonderful “spoons”—they are always trying to stir something up.  They spread discord among folks. 

19^th Century German Bible Commentators, Karl Keil and Franz Delitzsch referred to the final sin as: “The chief of all that God hates is he who takes a fiendish delight in setting at variance men who stand nearly related.”  It also re-emphasizes verse 14: “with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord.” 

A pastor received a call from an irate church member one day. She went into a tirade about another couple at the church.  The pastor laid the phone receiver on his knee, still able to hear the woman’s loud voice, but he was unable to distinguish what she was really saying.  Finally she was silent.  He picked up the receiver and calmly asked, “Is there anything else?”  She said, “Well, I guess not.”  She had cooled off. As he hung up the phone he remarked, “Thank God, I didn’t let my ear be used as a garbage can.”  We should be reminded of James 3:10.  “From the same mouth come blessing & cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” 

As we close, are you guilty of making God’s hate list?  All of us qualify in one way or another.  And you may see yourself in today’s lesson.  We have a tendency to hear God’s Word and agree with it, but we fail to act.  In a sense, we are like the man in the Love Chapter of I Corinthians 13, who sees himself in a mirror but forgets what he looks like as soon as he walks away from it.   

We should commit NOT to make the list.  Can we accomplish that through sincere, sheer determination and a trust in our self-made spirituality?  No way!  It is a daily submitting ourselves to the Lordship of Christ, asking Him to shine a spotlight onto our hearts and minds.  It also involves our keeping in God’s Word and communing with Him through prayer.  Please pray with me. 

Please visit us at our next worship service.

We offer "An Unchanging Word To A Changing World"

In Christ,
Bill Bratley - Pastor