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When All Is Said And Done (Proverbs 27:2)
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. Proverbs 27:2 [/perfectpullquote]The book of Proverbs focuses on living with wisdom and it breaks down nicely into three major sections: a prologue (1-9), principles to live by (10:1-31:9), and personification of living with wisdom (31:10-31). In 1 Proverbs 27:2, we see a comment made by Solomon in this very straight forward proverb where he teaches that it is better for someone (even a stranger) to praise you as an individual than to give yourself honor.
This last weekend I spoke about the difference between empty glory and the glory of God. In the first part of Philippians chapter 2, Paul challenges the believers in Philippi to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.” (Philippians 2:3) The word translated conceit in the original language is kenodoxian, which means empty glory. The problem of empty glory is what Solomon is focusing on in Proverbs 27:2. Living a conceited life leads to a life full of emptiness, a lack of humility, and self-centeredness. These three things lead to missing out on how God truly sees you. It leads to a life of constantly building up your own image driven by self, instead of pursuing who God has
called you to be in relationship with Him.
Jesus modeled for us what true humility looks like and the glory it brings to God. John writes in his gospel that, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John1:14) In the center of all the accolades during his words and works in ministry, Jesus continued to move forward in pursuit of the Father’s will, not accepting any praise for himself. People who we would consider strangers paid homage to his focus on transforming people’s lives and preaching that the kingdom was at hand. People wept as he hung on the cross, in those moments a Roman soldier even declared,“Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matt. 27:54) Blind men who had received sight in one of Jesus’ miracles declared him the Son of David, Messiah. (Matt. 20:31) There is never a time in the gospels that Jesus engages in any self-aggrandizing. Why? He had not time for it, the mission was the most important thing and patting himself on the back would have no positive impact.
Proverbs is the mid-life memoir for Solomon. Before he wrote this collection he had already engaged some consequences born of his own personal disobedience and skewed priorities. His deficiencies occurred even though God had given supernatural wisdom. His issues germinated from an inconsistent view of authentic glory. As you read through his life it is very evident that Solomon wrestled with empty glory. His pursuit of success trumped his relationship with God. Sadly, the wisest man who ever lived made some of the worst choices you possibly could make relationally and he reaped the consequences.
The final declarative words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes give us insight into his view of empty glory. After all the extravagance, success, and accolades throughout his life it came down to two sentences for him: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”(Ecclesiastes 12:13) That’s one of the best summations of the purpose of life in all of history. After all has been said and done and you look into life’s rear view mirror how will you answer these three questions:
Did you resist empty glory?
Did you pursue God as a fully devoted follower of Christ?
Did you walk in His holiness and find meaning in your relationship with Him?
– Pastor Chuck Reed
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