by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Psalm 39<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. It was a rickety wagon that the man was using. He had been moving goods for many years\nand was quite good at it. This family needed to be moved across town, so he piled their\nworldly possessions onto his wagon. The last load made quite a pile, but the wagon\nappeared to be holding up. All that was left was an empty hat box. He casually tossed it on\nthe wagon, pleased that he would not have to make another run tomorrow. As the hat box\nlanded on top of the load, a groan came from the wagon. A loud snap followed and with a\nshutter the wagon collapsed.\n A. It took the man three days to repair the wagon and carry the furniture across in\ntwo sensible size loads. But you know, he left the hat box behind. After all, the hat\nbox broke his wagon.\n B. People have a tendency to focus on the last straw – the final matter that preceded a\nproblem.\n
1. Other factors may have actually had a greater contribution.<\/p>\n 2. In fact, the last straw may have been a very minor incident, but it is the one\nthat gets all the attention.\n
II. A man asked Jesus to make his brother divide the inheritance with him – Luke 12:13-15<\/p>\n A. The problem was that Jesus was not the local judge, whose job was to settle such\ndisputes.\n B. Jesus then pointed out that the problem was not with the brother, but with this\nman’s greed.\n C. His demand for “justice” was hiding a deeper, more fundamental problem. This\nproblem with the inheritance was just the last of a long set of problems between\nthis man and his brother.\n D. We tend to focus on the wrong problems. We see the current problems and neglect\nthe long range goals. – Luke 12:16-21\n 1. Proverbs 24:30-31 – The problem is not the weeds, but the owner’s\nlaziness.\n
2. Ecclesiastes 10:18 – The problem is not the house, but the owner’s neglect.<\/p>\n
III. Earthly, worldly problems often interfere with our seeing spiritual problems<\/p>\n
A. Too often this world’s cares have our immediate focus – Luke 12:22-33<\/p>\n
B. Peter lost his faith when he focused on the wind and the water – Matthew 14:28-33<\/p>\nIV. Our own problems and sins interfere with seeing the true problems of our brethren or even\nourselves.\n
A. Psalm 39<\/p>\n 1. David saw the wicked, but decided to not say anything to avoid sin. –\nPsalm 39:1-2\n
2. Instead of improving things it made it worse. <\/p>\n 3. Life is too short to hide. We spend what little time we have pursuing the\nwrong things – Psalm 39:3-6\n 4. David realized that he was a sinner and that he couldn’t complain about the\nbad done to him as God was disciplining him – Psalm 39:7-10\n
5. God shows us what is unimportant – Psalm 39:11<\/p>\n
6. David learned his lesson – Psalm 39:12-13<\/p>\n
B. Matthew 7:3-4<\/p>\n 1. We want to help our brethren. We point out their sins, but we don’t see\nour own sinfulness. In fact our sins can interfere with clearly seeing the sin\nof others. We will make mistakes in judgment. – Matthew 7:3-4\n C. Job’s friends made that mistake. They saw Job’s misery and wrongly concluded\nthat God was punishing Job for some sin he had done. – Job 4:7-9\n 1. Yet Job erred as well. He thought he was being unjustly punished – Job\n23:1-7\n
2. Elihu, a young man, corrects their mistakes – Job 32:1-5<\/p>\n 3. God continues the charge against Job and his three friends. Job is unable to\nanswer God’s questions – Job 40:1-5\n
4. Job sees that God’s purpose is God’s alone. – Job 42:1-6<\/p>\n 5. The misery of Job was not punishment, but a chance for Job to prove his\nfaith.\n 6. Job focused on the immediate problem and did not see the long range\nbenefit. – Hebrews 12:9-13\nV. While we are to make righteous judgments, Jesus warns that we need to make good\njudgments – Matthew 7:1-2\n
A. I have heard many judgments being passed in the last few weeks. <\/p>\n
1. Few have hit on the actual problems. They have focused on shallow things.<\/p>\n
2. What is worse are the accusations based on incorrect information<\/p>\n
3. Have you talked to the people? Both sides?<\/p>\n 4. Have you looked to see what the actual problem is? Are you certain you\nare not being distracted by your own biases or only seeing “the last straw?”\n
B. The sons of God are supposed to be peacemakers. – Matthew 5:9<\/p>\n 1. Where is the increased peace? How are the problems being solved and not\nstirred up and perpetuated. – James 3:17-18\n 2. I don’t mean ignored. Problems are not solved by ignoring them. As David\npointed out in Psalm 39, leaving a problem unsolved makes the situation\nworse.\n 3. Romans 14:19 – We are to go after the things that make peace and build\neach other up.\n
4. The result of peace is the strengthening of brethren, not tearing them down.<\/p>\n C. Ask yourself if the course you are pursuing is going to make your brother or sister\na better Christian or is it going to cause them to despair?\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 39 I. It was a rickety wagon that the man was using. He had been moving goods for many years and was quite good at it. This family needed to be moved across town, so he piled their worldly possessions onto his wagon. The last load made quite a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[713,1489],"class_list":["post-63518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-judging-others","tag-problems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55793,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-sincerity-all-we-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":63518,"position":0},"title":"Is Sincerity All We Need?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant A common expression I hear from time to time about religion is, \"It doesn't matter what you believe, so long as you are sincere.\" Well, sincerity is not only good, but it is necessary in whatever activity in which we are engaged. This is fundamental in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/suddenly-sour-grapes\/","url_meta":{"origin":63518,"position":1},"title":"Suddenly Sour Grapes","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"By J.S. Smith \"The government said Monday that a few drinks a day may not protect against strokes and heart attacks after all.\" Oops! For years, scientists, doctors, and our government have been recommending that we all hop off the wagon and moderately belly up to the bar to enhance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/augustus-h-f-payne\/","url_meta":{"origin":63518,"position":2},"title":"Augustus H. F. Payne","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Earl Kimbrough via\u00a0Biblical Insights When the dark and angry clouds of war gathered over the nation in 1860, some pacifist gospel preachers in Missouri drew up a document pleading with their brethren to refuse to take up arms in the conflict. Entitled\u00a0Circular from Preachers in Missouri, the paper was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Augustus-H-F-Payne-228x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":60155,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wanting-something-for-nothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":63518,"position":3},"title":"Wanting Something for Nothing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Samuel 24:10-25 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Have you noticed how many people want something, but are unwilling to put sufficient effort into obtaining what they want? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I keep hearing about the latest lotto figures. Hundreds of millions of dollars are available, for the meager cost of a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31129,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-local-church-treasury\/","url_meta":{"origin":63518,"position":4},"title":"The Local Church Treasury","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert F. Turner via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XXX: 15, August 21, 1986, pp. 486, 505 My first experience with one who questioned a \"church treasury\" was in 1943, in Phoenix, Arizona. While taking some exercise, I made a chance acquaintance with an elderly gentleman and we walked along together. When we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62039,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-commitment\/","url_meta":{"origin":63518,"position":5},"title":"A Commitment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Robert Turner told a story about a hen and a pig who became very good friends. One seldom saw them apart. One day as they strolled about the barnyard lot, the hen suggested that since they had never eaten breakfast together, that they do that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}