“Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking (odor): so does a little folly that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.”
When I read this verse this morning, my imagination went into high gear. I thought about the yucky factor that the verse describes: dead flies in anything ruins it. So I began to think of some “dead flies” that I have experienced. You can probably identify with some of these “dead flies” that I will write about, either from other people or, if you are honest, from yourself. You might even recognize some of my pet themes in this. Here goes: Words can be “dead flies.” If you want to stink up a relationship just use some harsh and bitter words and you will succeed. Words can do a lot of good and they can do a lot of harm. I can remember some times in my life when words really hurt me. Whoever said the words might not have realized the power of their words on me, but they were powerful nevertheless. Unfortunately, I can also remember times when I have said things to people that served as “dead flies” for them. One valuable lesson I have learned is that if words come into my mind, they do not need to come out of my mouth. We can say things in the heat of the moment that we wish we could take back, but, of course, that is impossible. Be careful about these “dead flies” in your life and in your relationships. Hateful, or spiteful, actions can serve as “dead flies” in our lives. I don’t know if this is worse than unfortunate words, but it is close. One of the worst things that we can think is, “I will get you for that.” The Bible tells us not to try to get back at people for things that they do to us. One verse that comes to mind is Romans 12:19: “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay says the Lord.” Other verses that come to mind are from Proverbs 25:21-22: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink: 22. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.” Paul quoted this verse in Romans 12:20 and added in verse 21, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 5:44: “But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” What the Bible is telling us is that when we want to do something to spite someone, or to get even with then, do something good instead. You might be thinking, “Yeah right!” at this point, but repaying evil with good is a Christian act. Beware of this “dead fly” in your relationships. Sour and hateful attitudes can be “dead flies.” There are some people who are always negative. They never have anything good to say about anything or anybody. They have become so negative that negativity has become part of their personalities. These are the people that we really do not enjoy being around. We might not think that our attitudes make a difference to other people, but we are wrong about that. Even if you do not have a sour attitude all of the time, you need to be careful about it at all times. I know that we can’t be “sunny and happy” all of the time, but we certainly need to try to be. This is true in our homes as well as in all other places. This is probably especially true in the home. It is easier to be hateful and sour at home, because we are more likely to be forgiven there. But we need to be careful about that as well. As Christians, we need to reflect the attitude of Christ in all of our relations. I know that this is not always easy, but we do need to work on it. Don’t you agree? Well, I think that we have dealt with enough “dead flies.” You can probably think of others. The three “dead flies” that I have shared with you should give you enough to work on for a while. I know that I want to work on them in my life, and use the “biblical fly swatter” (I couldn’t help myself.) to rid myself of these “dead flies.” The "swatter" is also available to you! Bro. Joe
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“Who is the (person) who delights in life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good? 13. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. 14. Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.” (CSB)
I think that we would call a person who “delights in life” a happy person. These three verses tell us what can make us happy people. First, if we want to be happy people we should “keep (our) tongues from evil.” This could be a reference to evil in general, such as cursing, but I see it also as an admonition not to speak evil of other people. I have discovered that gossips are not happy people. They are not happy because they observe people only to criticize them or to tear them down. This kind of thinking comes from malice in the heart. Malice is anger that has settled into a person’s mind and heart and seeks to do evil. Those who speak evil of other people are malicious people. I have heard it said that: “small minds discuss people and great minds discuss ideas.” Malicious people are small-minded people. A lot of people have been destroyed by gossip, and a lot of churches have been torn apart by gossip. If you want to be a happy person, do not speak evil of other people. Second, if we want to be happy people, we should “Keep (our) tongues from deceitful speech.” This means that we should be truthful people.There is something intrinsically bred into the human heart that longs for truth. That which is untrue is not real, in fact, it is counterfeit. Just as a counterfeit twenty dollar bill is worthless, a counterfeit tale is worthless. We have probably all known people of whom it could be said that you never know whether they are telling the truth or not. Most of the time this deceitful speech comes in the form of exaggeration. Some people have a tendency to “stretch the truth” when they are talking about themselves. The problem with people who habitually lie, or deceive, is that we cannot trust them. A person who cannot be trusted cannot be a happy person. Third, if we want to be happy people, we should: “turn away from evil and do good.” We are faced with choices everyday as to whether or not we are going to do good or evil. You have seen cartoons where a person will have an angel on one shoulder telling the person to do what is right, and a demon on the other shoulder telling the person to do what is evil. We know that the angels and demons are not literally there, but the cartoon does represent a truth. The devil, whose very purpose is to deceive, continually goads us to do wrong. The Holy Spirit continually urges us to do right. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit and do what is right. This is especially true in our relationships with people. We should seek to always do, or say, what is good for the other person instead of what is evil. We should seek to do, or say, that which will build up another person instead of tear him or her down. Happy people do good instead of evil. Fourth, if we want to be happy people, we should: “seek peace and pursue it.” Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” If you want to be a happy person, seek to bring peace wherever you are instead of discord. You can’t be happy if you sow discord wherever you are. Based on this text, are you a happy person? Bro. Joe "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them."
Paul and Silas had been wrongfully beaten and imprisoned at Philippi because of a misunderstanding about the healing of a demon possessed girl. There are a lot of things that could be written about this incident, but the one that captured my attention this time through Acts was that Paul and Silas, with their feet held fast in the stocks were singing and praying at midnight. Now, if I'm not careful, I can be a complainer, and I imagine that if you are honest with yourself, you would admit the same thing. We hate to be inconvenienced, and if we think we are, we can really complain. Paul and Silas did not complain. They sang and prayed, and the important thing is that the prisoners heard them. What an example!!! People see us lose patience with each other at church, at home, at work, or wherever and they wonder about our faith. Paul and Silas had faith that could take bad treatment and inconvenience and still rejoice in the Lord. We need to ask ourselves when we get in a tight spot and begin to grumble and complain: "Why don't I pray and sing instead of complain?" I know that the earthquake and fear had a lot to do with the jailor's conversion, but I just have to believe that Paul and Silas's singing and praying at midnight had something to do with it. Bro. Joe "“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” KJV
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also on the interests of others.” ESV It is not unusual for us to take our own interests very seriously. After all, a lot of our interests have to do with our families. In fact, the Bible is hard on people who do not look after their own interests. One who does not look out for the interests of his family is called a heretic in the Bible. But we need to remember that we live in the world with other people and they have interests also. The height of immaturity for a Christian is to think only of himself or herself. This is not unusual in a child, but as one grows up, he or she needs to learn that sometimes they have to recognize the other person. This is the advice that Paul is giving to the Philippians, who were having a fellowship problem (see Philippians 4:1-3) in which some were probably tempted to take sides. It is important for our Christian witness that we not be selfish and look out only for our own interests. In the verses following in this chapter Paul used the greatest example of selflessness that mankind has known –Jesus. (Verses 5-11) He was certainly not thinking of himself when he went to the cross. Paul wrote: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” The suggestion here is that in the matter of selfishness, we need to use Jesus as our model. Jesus lived a selfless life, ministering to people on a daily basis. If Jesus had tended to His own interests alone, we would be in great trouble. Jesus knew that He came to earth, not only to live a perfect life, but to die as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. In John 10:17-18, Jesus said: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may have it again. 18. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” You are probably thinking at this point that you are not Jesus. I am certainly not claiming that I live up to the example of Jesus, nor am I suggesting that you have to live up to that perfect example. But it should be our aim to be as much like Christ as possible. If we did that, we would certainly be more aware of the interests of other people. When we are not Christ like in our approach to the interests of others, we show a poor witness to the world. We see this happen in churches when they split because two (or more) sides cannot come to agreement for the sake of their gospel witness to the community. This occurs because people are thinking about their own interests and not the interests of others, and certainly not the interests of Christ. I have said many times in sermons, and have written it many times, that there is nothing wrong with Christians disagreeing, they just need to disagree like Christians and not like politicians. (If you get my drift.) It comes down the matter of whether we are going to live our lives by our own will or by the will of God. It is certainly not God’s will that we live selfish lives. We read a lot about this in the Bible. Take Moses for example: He seemed perfectly happy tending his father-in-law’s sheep in Midian. I get the idea that he was living a comfortable life. Then God came to him in the “burning bush” and his life was changed forever. His life after God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt did not allow him to be selfish. He had to think about what God wanted and what he could to help his people. This is true of a lot of the best people in the Bible. They couldn’t have been the great men and women of God that they became if they thought only of their own interests, nor can we. Ask yourself if you are selfish, or if you are making an attempt to be selfless? None of us will be perfect in this matter, but we should surely try to do better. Bro. Joe “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one was a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, and I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”
Pharisees were the religious elite of that time and publicans, though wealthy, were religious outcasts. Jesus contrasted the prayers of a Pharisee and a publican to show the value to God of humility over self-righteousness. (It is likely that Jesus personally witnessed these two at prayer.) What was wrong with the prayer of the Pharisee? He was selfish. Notice that the Pharisee prayed “thus with himself.” He appeared to be talking to God, but he was only muttering to himself. His religion was based on himself rather than on God. We can call this misplaced faith. Read this carefully: If we are not careful, we can make our religion, our faith, about ourselves and not about Jesus We see this all of the time in churches, because people put their wishes and needs ahead of the will of God, as though it is all about them. Phariseeism did not die out in the first century. It is still among us. He was self-important. The Pharisee was very impressed with himself. Notice that he thanked God that he was not like other men, in fact, he thought that he was better than all other men. He even glanced over to the publican and thanked God that he was not like him. He even boasted to God about his fasting and tithing. The Pharisee was attempting to use his religion to advance his own importance instead of advancing the kingdom of God. Evidently, he did not realize that God knew his heart, and that the outward practice of religion should come from a heart of faith, not as a means of self-aggrandizement. If we are not careful, we will become very impressed with our religious practices and forget about what is in our hearts. We will look down at other people as being less than ourselves because they are not as “religious” as we are. We should not think that we have immunity to this kind of thinking. We also call this “self-righteousness.” He was self-satisfied. In his own mind, the Pharisee had arrived. He was complete as he was. He had no more growing to do. Compare this to Paul’s, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.” We never reach a point in our spiritual growth when we can say, “I can stop now. I have this religion thing all figured out.” That is not humanly possible. There is always something in our lives that needs changing. In contrast, Jesus pointed out that the publican simply prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” God heard this brief and simple prayer and rejected the highly religious prayer of the Pharisee. Jesus gave the bottom line on why one prayer was heard and the other rejected: “For everyone that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” This will be forever true! Bro. Joe “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man (person) that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
We think a lot today about “self-image.” Evidently, they did in Paul’s day too, for he reminded the Roman Christians not to think of themselves more highly than they should. Does he mean that we should hate ourselves? No! Quoting from Leviticus, Jesus told us to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” This presupposes that we will love ourselves. This, however, does not mean to be “in love” with ourselves. In fact, Paul wrote that we should “think soberly” about ourselves. This means that we should look at ourselves honestly, and see the good and bad in us as we do in other people. I will be the first to admit that it is awfully difficult for us to look at ourselves objectively. We like to think that, though we know that we have faults, we don’t have any real bad ones. If we would think soberly about ourselves, we would think realistically about ourselves and make changes where they need to be made. I think that this is what Paul meant by, “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” It takes faith to look at ourselves realistically and change accordingly. We need to stop and think about how often we think about ourselves during the day. It would be a humbling experience, for we think of ourselves quite often. As usual, our example for this is Jesus. He seldom thought of Himself as He reached out to others. People crowded around Jesus, sick and needy, and He tirelessly helped them. He did take some time for Himself, and helped His disciples do the same, but ultimately He was not consumed with Himself. Another biblical example is King Saul, the first king of Israel. He had been chosen as king of Israel because he stood out from the crowd. He did well, and then David came on the scene. David became a hero to the people of Israel. In fact, after victorious battles, women would meet the army and sing:”Saul has slain his thousands and David has slain his ten thousands.” This caused Saul to be jealous and he sought to kill David. Saul’s problem was that he was not thinking of the nation of which he was king. He was not thinking about how important an addition David was to his army. He thought mainly of himself. You can be like Jesus or King Saul: You can think about yourself less or waste your life obsessing about yourself. This is good advice:“Don’t think less of yourself, think about yourself less.” Bro. Joe ‘Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 6. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer every man.”
“And this I pray, that your love may abound, yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.”
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid it in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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