Sunday, November 5, 2017

DON’T JUDGE A HOUSE BY THE SACRIFICES


Proverbs 17:1 (KJV)
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

People live differently.
·   Some are content and very happy with only a little
·   Others are aggressive, productive and builders

We ought not judge either home, except for this, let there be no strife.

We have seen a number of passages, and I have done several lessons now on the priorities of stewardship.
·   Wisdom is better than Wealth and Precious stones
·   Righteousness is better than riches
·   The fear of the Lord is better than great treasure
·   Love with little is better than hatred with much
·   Simple contentment is better than greedy gain

The passage this morning teaches us that
·   Quietness with little is better than strife with fullness

I want to address then the home, marriage and family.

·   What you have as a family is much more important than,
·   What you have as a household

I take it that the house full of sacrifices
*I. IS A REFERENCE TO POSSESSIONS
Proverbs 17:1 (KJV)
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

Solomon was a very rich man.
He could offer 1000 sacrifices in one day.

I expect that there were others in Israel who couldn’t offer one quarter of that in their whole lifetime.

God made provisions in some cases that if a family could not afford a lamb, two birds would be sufficient.

People would offer to God
·   Meat
·   Meal
·   Oil
·   Cloth and
·   Precious metals
at various times in their lives.

It is obvious that they could not have all offered the same things or the same amounts of the same things.

A house full of sacrifices simply refers to the things a person may possess in their home.

It leads me to wonder, have you ever inventoried your things and considered that each and every item is a potential sacrifice to God?

We get such attachments to things don’t we?

Some people have little problems writing a check and putting it in the offering plate.

·   It’s impersonal
·   It’s technical
·   It’s almost businesslike

But what about:
·   The wallet
·   The cash we have stashed away in there

The things in our home:
·   The keepsakes and heirlooms
·   The jewelry and artwork
·   The collections and investments
·   The gadgets and conveniences

Every one of those things belongs to God and could be a potential sacrifice and offering to the Lord.


II. THE PREFERENCE IS QUIETNESS RATHER THAN STRIFE
Proverbs 17:1 (KJV)
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

The passage reminds me of another we have already considered
Proverbs 15:17 (KJV)
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

·   Dinner of herbs – something you can pick wild along the road
·   Stalled ox – and animal kept only to eat

A dry morsel would be like the table scraps.
·   The word dry means something ruined or wasted
·   The word morsel is a fragment

The word quietness means: peace, security, ease
Strife means just what it sounds like: controversy, enemy, battle

You ever been at a nice restaurant when suddenly someone at one of the tables gets into an argument?

You wished you were home eating a liverwurst sandwich, didn’t you?

That leads me to finish with this point
*III. WE OUGHT TO STRIVE FOR QUIETNESS SO THERE IS NO STRIFE
Proverbs 17:1 (KJV)
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

In the home, the priority, the thing more important than possessions and property, is peace, security and quietness.

A. Peace
Everyone in the home is in fellowship with the other.

B. Security
There is commitment in the relationships in the home.

Therefore there is
C. Quietness
The home is a pleasant place to be. It is a sanctuary from the evils of the world.

Those are the things to focus on inside the house.

Not all those things God could rightly expect of us if we had them. 

No comments:

Post a Comment