The People Said Nothing

Terry Siverd
08/30/20 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: The People Said Nothing - T Siverd

THE PEOPLE SAID NOTHING

Sermon By Terry Siverd / August 30, 2020 / Cortland  Church of Christ

Please plan to join us for worship next Sunday, September 6^th, at 10AM, in our church building......Tony & Margaret Mickholtzick will celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary on September 5^th.  Their Tennessee address is posted on our church website......Please pray for Murph - - my long-time friend and brother in Christ, Rick Murphy......This Tuesday, our family is heading west.  Betina and the boys are returning to Arizona.

A tourist spending the night in a small Vermont town joined a group of men sitting on the porch of a general store.  After several unsuccessful efforts to start conversation, he finally asked, “Is there a law against talking in this town?”  “No law against it,” drawled one Vermonter, “but there's an understanding that no one's to speak unless he's positive he can improve on the silence.”

Prov.10:19 declares, he who restrains his lips is wise.

Yes, SILENCE CAN BE GOLDEN, but it's also true that SILENCE CAN SOMETIMES BE HARMFUL.  

A man was sitting on a park minding his own business when another man noticing the dog sitting beside him approached the man asking, “Does your dog bite?”.  The man on the bench replied, “No he doesn't!”  The passerby reached down to pet the dog and the the dog bit him.  Taken aback, the stranger looked at the man on the bench saying, “I thought you said your dog doesn't bit?”  “I did,” the man replied, “He's not my dog!”

As Israel's third king, Solomon was famous for his great wisdom, which was a a gift from God.  It originated in a night dream, with God saying to Solomon, saying,  Ask what wish Me to give you (1Kgs.3:5).  As a youth Solomon's prayer to God was quite humble:  I do not know how to go out or come in … So give Thy Servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people to discern between good and evil (1Kgs.3:7 & 9).  It pleased God that Solomon did not ask for long life; he did not ask for riches; he did not ask for the vanquishing of his enemies.  Rather, he petitioned God to grant him discernment to understand justice.  God granted him a wise and discerning heart and many other blessings to boot (1Kgs.3:10-14).

Last week, in a sermon we titled, Watch Your Mouth!, we looked at numerous admonitions from Proverbs regarding our speech.  We'll not rehearse that lesson except to say that sometimes we talk too much.  We need to guard our tongues regarding WHAT we say, HOW we say it and WHY we say what we say.

In the book of Ecclesiastes (Eccl.3:7), also written by King Solomon, we read these words:  (There is) a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

This morning I want to invite us to think together about IMPROVING ON OUR SILENCE.

Proverbs 31 is typically thought of a chapter that extols the virtues of a good wife.  Two-thirds of the chapter does that very thing, but the first third (vss.1-9) are words written by a man to men about men.  In particular, we want to read King Lemuel's words of exhortation found in Prov.31:8-9 - - Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of the unfortunate.  Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.  Silence may sometimes be especially sweet, but there are other occasions when silence is tragically sour.  While silence might be both appropriate and acceptable in many instances, in some cases silence is not only inappropriate and unacceptable, it is INEXCUSABLE - - denying and/or defying that which is right and good.  Like the man on the bench who kept silent about the identity of the dog sitting beside him.

1Kgs.18 depicts the OT prophet Elijah atop Mount Carmel engaged in a showdown with the prophets of Baal.  Elijah drew near to the people of God and asked them (1Kg.18:21a) - -  How long will your hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.  Apparently the nation of Israel was equivocating (sitting on the fence) as to who was really God.  Vs.21 states, but the people said nothing - - a sad commentary on the fickleness of Israel's fidelity.  Perhaps they thought by committing to neither party they would appease both. Their saying nothing reminds us of the lack of response many of us give to the rampant pluralism of our day.  While in our heart we may not be truly equivocating, we remain silent nonetheless.  On a positive note, we read how the children of Israel came to their senses after Elijah's defeat of the prophets of Baal, avowing, The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God (1Kgs.18:39).

Years ago John Stott, one of my favorite authors, wrote a powerful little book titled, Our Guilty Silence.  He was addressing the church's failure to spread the gospel of Christ among their peers.  James Bridges has written:  “the enemies of the gospel will do everything possible to frighten the church into silence.”

Prov.3:27-28 records:  Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.  Do not say to your neighbor, 'Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,' when you have it with you.

The only time I got in a fight in high school was when a school bully was picking on Johnny Woodward.  John was about 6'5' and weighed about 140 lbs and was awkward in many ways.  Johnny's locker was next to mine, and when “the bully” taunted him, I punched him in the gut, telling him to “Leave Johnny alone!!”.  He promptly ceased (to my delight).  He could have very likely cleaned my clock.  All day long I expected a call to come to the principal's office.  It never came.  I was provoked to anger.  I lost my self-control.  But I've often reflected on that turn of events.  For me, it would have been far worse if I had done nothing.  I could have turned a blind eye; I could have bit my tongue and walked away in silence.

In Eph.5:9-11 Paul writes:  For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even EXPOSE them.

As we noted last Sunday, sometimes silence is GOOD and GOLDEN.  But the reach of our lives will entail numerous instances where silence is NOT A NOBLE OPTION.  Sometimes our silence is thunderously DEAFENING.  Sometimes silence is not golden, but YELLOW.  Our silence can become DISGRACEFUL when we sit quietly by due to a lack of courage.  Sometimes silence is downright SINFUL.  Please read my accompanying essay, When Silence Isn't Golden.

We have an English idiom that states, “Cat got your tongue?”  The origins of this expression is unclear:  a fear of black cats associated with witches? … a whipping from a cat of nine-tails that rendered a victim speechless? … ancient kings who'd cut off the tongue of a liar and feed it to their cats?  The main gist is that a person is unaccountably silent.

I'm wearing my Flight 93 t-shirt today, in recognition of some brave Americans who spoke up on 09/11/01.

The church of today is facing numerous challenges.  On one hand we are being pulled into a social justice dialogue that is uncomfortable to say the least.  These discussions are worthy of candor and objectivity along with scrutiny and discernment.  Not all so-called “social injustices” are what they're cracked up to being.  Some are real, while others seem to be bogus claims made by ones who seem to delight in the unraveling our American culture.  There are numerous wrongs in our world that need to be exposed and rebuked as being sinful.  As Christians who stand firmly on The Word of God, we must not be silent.

Dear Heavenly Father,  As we dwell in a land that is filled with injustices and immorality, loosen our tongues, Grant us boldness to speak up in the face of wrongdoings.  Let us not stay silent in the presence of sin.  Give us humility, but also give us courage to open our mouths where sin abounds.  Through Christ Jesus, the ultimate advocate, we pray.  Amen.