Understanding and Overcoming the Sowing of Discord

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“You create your story in consciousness as you interpret your own behavior, and as you listen to other people’s thoughts about you. The life story is not the work of a historian [...]; it is more like a work of historical fiction that makes plenty of references to real events and connects them by dramatizations and interpretations that might or might not be true to the spirit of what happened.”

“The inner lawyer, the rose-colored mirror, naive realism, and the myth of pure evil—these mechanisms all conspire to weave for us a web of significance upon which angels and demons fight it out. Our ever-judging minds then give us constant flashes of approval and disapproval, along with the certainty that we are on the side of the angels. From this vantage point it all seems so silly, all this moralism, righteousness, and hypocrisy. It’s beyond silly; it is tragic, for it suggests that human beings will never achieve a state of lasting peace and harmony.”

~Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist at NYU, in The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

“People don’t get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.”

“In my 35 years of studying moral psychology, I have come to see this as one of humanity’s greatest problems: we are too quick to anger and too slow to forgive. We are also hypocrites who judge others harshly while automatically justifying our own bad behavior.”

~Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

“The Christian is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God. Only those who understand the true meaning of justification will understand this apparent paradox.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Second Lectures on Galatians

“[Our] faith is not primarily a comfort, but a truth about ourselves.”

~Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), English novelist and playwright

“…what the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.”

~Dr. John Ashley Null on Thomas Cranmer’s (1489-1556) understanding of psychology

SERMON PASSAGE

Selected Passages from Proverbs (ESV)

Proverbs 6

12 A worthless person, a wicked man,

  goes about with crooked speech,

13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,

  points with his finger,

14 with perverted heart devises evil,

  continually sowing discord;

15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

  in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

16 There are six things that the Lord hates,

  seven that are an abomination to him:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

  and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked plans,

  feet that make haste to run to evil,

19 a false witness who breathes out lies,

  and one who sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 10

11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

  but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

Proverbs 12

13 An evil man is ensnared by the transgression

  of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.

14 From the fruit of his mouth a man

  is satisfied with good,

  and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

  but a wise man listens to advice.

16 The vexation of a fool is known at once,

  but the prudent ignores an insult.

17 Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,

  but a false witness utters deceit.

18 There is one whose rash words are like sword   

  thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

19 Truthful lips endure forever,

  but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,

  but those who plan peace have joy.

21 No ill befalls the righteous,

  but the wicked are filled with trouble.

22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,

  but those who act faithfully are his delight.

23 A prudent man conceals knowledge,

  but the heart of fools proclaims folly.

Proverbs 17

9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love,

 but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

Proverbs 19

9 A false witness will not go unpunished,

 and he who breathes out lies will perish.

Matthew 15:18-20

18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Exodus 20:16

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Leviticus 19

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

1 John 4

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.