"SAWDUST OR REAL STUFF?"

PROVERBS 11:1-7

The story is told of an old farmer who had a mule. The farmer was a frugal old fellow; well, let's face it. He was tight, miserly and just plain stingy. He concluded, after much calculation, that the oats he was feeding his mule cost him too much money. He needed the mule, so he couldn't just sell him. Instead, he concocted a plan. He'd just mix in a little sawdust with the oats, hoping the mule wouldn't know the difference. There is a lesson for us in there. We sometimes do to our souls, to our spiritual lives, to our relationship with Jesus Christ, what that foolish farmer did to his mule. Consider some parallels to life in this story.

• SOME THINK A LITTLE OF THE WORLD'S SAWDUST WON'T DO ANY DAMAGE:
• There are several things in the Proverb which might seem to be harmless enough, but which according to Wisdom are damaging and deadly.
• A little dishonesty. V1 "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight." A false balance used to misrepresent the amount of wheat weighed in the scales. The purchaser was deprived of a whole measure while paying full price. In every area of life dishonesty is an abomination to the Lord. This is not good business, it is theft.
• A little pride. V2 "When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom." This pride is arrogance, haughtiness, a presumption of personal superiority, a demeaning attitude toward others.
• A little treachery. V3 "The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the falseness of the treacherous will destroy them." The word for "falseness" means "perverse, or distortion." The word for "treacherous" means "covert, clandestine or surreptitious." It suggests furtive, secretive, illicit, sneaky goings-on. A clandestine meeting with someone not your spouse, for instance, or working behind someone's back to gain an unfair advantage.
• A little trust in riches and love of money. V4 "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death." While possession of earth's material goods is not evil, being possessed by them is. Poor people can be as evil as rich people.
• "A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished." Proverbs 26:24.
• "A man with an evil eye hastens after wealth, And does not know that want will come upon him." Proverbs 28:22.
• "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24.
• "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang." 1 Timothy 6:10.
• A little wickedness. V5 "The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness." The word here means "morally wrong."
• It might mean just a little flirtation with a non-spouse.
• It might mean just a little indulgence in pornographic materials.
• It might mean just a little smut or unwholesomeness in our speech.
• A little lust, greed and evil desire. V6 "The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the treacherous will be caught by their own greed."
• Wanting what is forbidden to us.
• Wanting what is harmful to us.
• Wanting what belongs, rightfully, to someone else and what we cannot legitimately have.
• Things don't always have to be big things to do great harm.
• In Joshua 7 we see that Achan hid only a little of Jericho's spoils in his tent and the whole nation suffered defeat at Ai.
• Solomon warns against a little indolence, "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest" -- And your poverty will come in like a vagabond, And your need like an armed man. Proverbs 6:10-11. This is not healthy relaxation, this is unholy laziness.
• Solomon points out the danger of a little imprudence and foolishness, "Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor." Ecclesiastes 10:1.
• Even little foxes ruin a good vineyard, says Solomon. "Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom." Song Of Solomon 2:15. Matthew Henry points out that in the Christian life "little foxes" can be sinful appetites, opinions and practices that pervert Godly judgment, debauch conscience, and disincline us to virtue, and "little foxes" can be false doctrines.
• Speaking of allowing even a little immorality to exist in a congregation, Paul wrote, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough." Galatians 5:9.
• John cautions us: "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17. Don't allow even a little of these lusts to corrupt you.
• It's sort of like being on a diet and thinking that "one candy bar won't hurt." Or "I can sneak these cookies just this once and it won't make any difference." However, one error compounds itself, one infringement leads to another, one indulgence opens the door to others. Lust is never satisfied. We may start with a little dab, but soon we wolf down the whole enchilada.

The farmer started with just a small portion of sawdust in the oats and we may start with just a little of the world's fare. When the farmer saw that the mule ate it okay, he began adding a little more sawdust. Not only did he add more sawdust, but he removed a little of the oats. The feed then became more sawdust, less oats every day until ultimately it was all sawdust. That's always the tendency when one turns more to the world. It means less of the things of God.

• SOME BELIEVE THAT A LITTLE LESS OF GOD'S FOOD WON'T HARM THEM:
• The foolish man pursues the things that God detests and counts as nothing the things God values: honesty, humility, integrity, and righteousness.
• These healthy things, to the wicked and godless, are like broccoli on the plate of a 6 year old. They are to the unholy as clams and oysters are to me -- loathsome, disgusting, unappetizing and just plain gross, and those are their good points! Those who sup on the world may reject God's portion because
• It challenges their fleshly lifestyle and corrupt, materialistic value system.
• It rebukes their self-centeredness.
• It censures their libertine ways.
• It contradicts their deeply held opinions.
• It judges their cherished sins.
• We may even find ourselves adding more and more of the world and leaving out more and more of God's things. We can do so by
• Neglecting our devotional life. The Bible is a closed book, and our prayer closet gathers cobwebs.
• Omitting regular gathering at the Lord's Table and counting our appointment with Him as something to keep or forsake as convenience dictates.
• Deserting fellowship with other Christians and instead finding our companionship in the world. Not that we ought to shun non-Christians; how, then, could we win them? I am talking about sharing of life, values, and people from whom we draw our strength and to whom we are accountable. Make those people Christian brothers and sisters.
• But Christianity is not like a cafeteria: "No, thank you. I don't want any of that holiness stuff. And I think I'll take a pass on self-control, too! And, oh, commitment? No way! Eeesh!" Pass up the Lima Beans if you choose (and more power to you if you do!) But never leave out any of God's provender.

Well, the farmer thought adding sawdust and subtracting oats was pretty clever. But though the mule ate what the farmer fed him, and it didn't appear that he noticed the substitution of the sawdust for the oats, one day after he'd eaten only sawdust for a few days, the old mule just toppled over, dead. Physical bodies cannot subsist on sawdust, unless you are a termite, and the soul cannot survive on the world. Yet, many gobble up the world's sawdust like it was their last meal.

• BUT IF WE FOLLOW THAT MENU WE WILL STARVE TO DEATH SPIRITUALLY:
• Following the course of the godless leads to sure spiritual death. "When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes; all he expected from his power comes to nothing."
• Consider this:
• Concerning idolatrous Israel, God said, "They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able to save them in the day of the Lord's wrath. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it, for it has made them stumble into sin." Ezekiel 7:19.
• Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6. The converse of that is equally true: "Wretched are those who are filled for they will go hungry."
• Two factors apply here:
• Regular meals are essential: An irregularly attending family once said to Bob Laver, a former Associate Minister here, "We are just not being fed." Bob said, "Well, it would help if you came to the table more frequently!"
• Eating the right stuff is essential, too: Native to Central America is a plant called nardoo. Although it satisfies the hunger of the one who eats it, it contains very little nutritional value. Many, thinking nardoo was good food and unaware of its deceptive character, have died of starvation while using it as their source of nourishment. Likewise, spiritual malnutrition results when Christians begin to feast on the tantalizing but worthless things the world offers.
• Often, like the woman at the well in John 4, we are seeking for things that do not satisfy. We seek to quench our cravings on things that only leave us empty and famished. But there is good news. We are invited to a banquet.

There is no need to starve. God offers us meat that satisfies and that lasts for eternity. And He offers it freely and without limit. Tricia Rhodes wrote, "Daily He spreads before us the cup of His kindness, the grapes of His goodness, the bread of His justice, or the meat of his mercy, bidding us come and dine. He promises we'll never hunger or thirst again." Don't ever be satisfied with the common junk the world passes off as edible. It's just giving you disguised left-over left-overs. Jesus offers you an invitation to a banquet. God would not have us starve. He would not have us empty spiritually. He has set the table. Come to it. Hear His gracious invitation: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David." Isaiah 55:1-3. So which will it be? Sawdust or real stuff? You have the option to decide. You can fill your own plate. This is the moment to choose.

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