Wise Up - Look to the Star

“Wise up!” If you heard these words, you might consider the source before deciding to do anything. If that source was the inspired word of God preserved for us on the pages of Scripture, I think it would worth your time to take a listen.

Ghermon Titov was a Russian Cosmonaut. In 1961 he became the second person to orbit the earth. When he was circling the globe, he took in the spectacle. This is what he had to say, “Some people say there is a God out there. … but in my travels around the earth all day long, I looked around and didn’t see Him. … I saw no God nor angels. The rocket was made by our own people. I don’t believe in God. I believe in man, his strength, his possibilities, his reason.” He would fit the description of the fool who says in his heart, “There is no God.” You might be tempted to take Gherman to the proverbial wood shed for his spiritual defiance against the Creator of the cosmos. Your witness would not be in vain – God promises to go with is word, but in our text from Proverbs 9 we are reminded that he might not appreciate your words. “Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you.”

Maybe you’re thinking, well, if I can’t rebuke the fool who says in his heart that there is no God, who’s left for my rebuke? This is where a nice long stare down with yourself in the mirror can be a great place to start. I don’t know anyone who enjoys having their faults and weaknesses pointed out even if it is done so in love. It is the wise that God calls us to rebuke. “Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.” Walk through that scenario with me for a moment. You are at a party and there is something hanging off the gap between your two front teeth. For some unknown reason you can’t feel the leftover food, but everyone can see it. One of your good friends comes over and points out the dental faux pa. What is your reaction? In your wisdom, you might thank him. I think all of us have seen the situation end not so well. Some people become offended if their blemished and weaknesses are pointed out. Now on this, the final Sunday in our Series weeks of Warning: Count the Cost, we must consider what the reaction would be if the blemish that we point out wasn’t in their top pallet, but in the top shelf of his or her life? Everyone can see the open sin, everyone except the person caught in the sin. God calls us to reach out in love to the person in the same way we did with the bit of food in the teeth. Only this time we aren’t rescuing the person from a moment of embarrassment, but from a possible eternity lost. Sin separates us from God. How much more should we consider the cost and speak up!

Want to hear more including what it means to be be wise for salvation? Watch this week’s sermon, the final in our series Weeks of Warning, taken from Proverbs 9.