Our Many Hats

As I begin to talk today, I'm going to be a little philosophical here at the beginning. Every three months or so, or four times a year, I go up to Cincinnati and do the things that I need to do up in Cincinnati. I'm working with the home office up there and the things that I need to do. It's always an interesting time to go up there. It's not without its challenges. Every time, a few days before I go, I find myself wishing I didn't have to go.

I very much enjoy being here with you and very much enjoy what we do in this area. I enjoy that hat that I wear down here. When I go up to Cincinnati, there's another hat that I put on. I have to put away this hat for a few days.

I never take it off totally. It gets replaced a little bit or a little higher hat when I'm up there with all the responsibilities and everything we do. It takes a little bit of transition time to do that. After I'm up there a couple weeks, I find myself taking one hat off and putting the other hat back on. It takes a little bit of time to adjust back to what I'm doing because it is a totally same church, same beliefs and everything, but a totally different environment than what we do here and totally different things that I do up there than I do here.

It just takes some time. I've been doing it for a while. Sometimes I wonder, should I keep doing this? I realize, well, I didn't put these hats on me, so I'll keep wearing them until someone, namely God, takes them off, I guess. But as I've been the last few weeks thinking about all those things, I realize all of us wear a lot of hats in our lives. Not one of us have just one hat. We're not known by just one thing. There are many, many things that we all have, and God's created our life that way.

And as we look at our lives, we could take the time to list all the things and all the little hats and all the roles that we play, and all of them have so many of them, it would take some time. And it takes some time to think about it and contemplate it. If we look at just humankind in general, not just people in the church, just look at all the roles that people play, all the hats that they wear.

They change from time to time. As we, you know, our children, we have hats that we wear as students and children of parents, and with a responsibility to learn, we become teens, and there's a different hat that we wear during that time. Then we become young adults, and there's different hats that we wear during that time. We get married or not married, and if we are husbands, there's a hat we wear. If there's wives, there's a hat we wear. If we're single, there's a hat we wear. You know, we may become parents. There's a hat we wear as mom and dad. All of us are neighbors, right? We've talked about neighbors, every single one of us, even if we live in the most remote place, we have neighbors that we deal with.

We're all, at one time in our life, employees. We have those responsibilities, and that hat we wear as an employee and the responsibilities that we do with that. We may be managers, supervisors, employers, and we have a hat that we wear with that. We're friends, and we have friends, and there's responsibilities that friends have for one another. And there's siblings. We have brothers. We have sisters. We're part of a family, and there's responsibilities that go with that. And if we sit down and list all the things that we have in our life, we see as we move through our lives, you know, and I didn't mention grandparents, as we have parents and our kids grow older, then we have, then we become grandparents, and that's a whole other role and a whole different thing that we do.

There's a whole lot of things that we do, and as we move through life, we learn to accomplish and fulfill those roles, hopefully better and better. Hopefully we're a better husband five years after we're married than we were the day we were married, a better father, you know, as we go through that role, a better friend, a better neighbor, a better brother, sister, parent, child, even as we get older and our parents are older. All those things that we learn and grow, and that's part of life, is that we grow and we fulfill those roles better, and we become better and better people.

That's kind of what happens in the world. Every single person on earth has those responsibilities, and they wear all those hats. And you know what? Every single one of those roles I mentioned, many of which we've discussed in sermons in the past, every single one of them you find in the Bible.

Every single one of those roles, you can look through the Bible and you can find exactly what God expects us to do when we're wearing that hat. What is it like to be a good husband? What is it like to be a good mother? What is it like to be a good friend? What is it like to be a good neighbor? What is it like to be part of a family? What is it like to be a good employee?

What is it like to be a good employer? All the answers are there, and if you think back over the scriptures we've even read in the last few months, it's all there. We don't have to guess. We don't have to guess. It's all written in the Bible, every single thing that God wants us to become, and how those roles are to be filled are right there.

Now, for those of us in this room, God has called us. We are church members, or we're considering being church members. Every single one of us has been called, and that's a whole other role that we add into all those things that we do in life, that we have to do just by virtue of being a human being, and that we live through in life. But as church members, we have other hats that we're wearing. We're called. There's a responsibility that goes with being called.

We're elect. Christ says, you know, even if the elect could be deceived, if they're not, don't stay close to God. So we're the elect. We're children of God. God calls us sons and daughters. We're just saying that in the song. We're members of a church. When we're baptized and we choose to commit our lives to Him, we become members of a church, and God makes it clear in His Bible what exactly how we fulfill that role and what we do as part of it.

You know, as we go on in life, we may God add the role as deacon or elder or whatever it might be, and those are responsibilities that we have. In addition to being a church member and doing all the things that we do, and as church members, there's things that we can take subsets. All of us are examples. It's a role we wear. God says, be examples of the world around us. Many times, they have to look at us, and when they look at us, do they see a difference? Do they see something that they would want to be? Witnesses of what we believe. I caught the last part of the sermon at. When people ask us why we believe what we believe, do we answer? Do we answer well? All overcomers, right? Because we know we're sinners, and so part of our responsibility is to be an overcomer. We have a hat we wear, and God tells us exactly how to fill that role. All those things are there in the Bible, and all those things are part of all of our lives. And so we can add—and God does add—things to us, and he looks to see how we are handling each one of those, because one, he knows what we need to be developed, but one to see how committed we are to him and everything that he gives us to do. Are we doing it his way, or are we just men pleasers? Do we just give lip service to it? And as we have those roles, do we follow what Jesus Christ said? Matthew 4, also, is repeated in the Old Testament. Do we live by every word of God? Because every single thing we need to do is in the Bible. It's all there. We need to read it. We need to know it. We need to do it. And incorporated in all those things that I mentioned, there's relationship issues. There's all sorts of issues that go along with our responsibility in those things, and how we work with one another and how we deal with one another.

Sometimes it's good to just turn off the TV, turn off the Internet, put the phone on silent for maybe an hour or two, and just contemplate, what is life like? What do I do? What am I responsible for? What are all the things that I do? And then maybe take a study and go back through the Bible and find all those verses and scriptures that talk about those things, and then measure yourself against the standard of the Bible.

Do I do it that way? Or am I still holding on to things that I like to do it my way? Because God isn't looking for people who want to do it their way. He knows that we come with that. But over time, just like we go from child to teen to young adult to adult to senior citizen, so we do that in our spiritual growth as well. And over time, all those things of our way become His way. If we truly are living the way that He wants us to and allowing Him to change us, which He will do, but there's our part in it as well. You know, Jesus Christ was just like you and me. Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, He wore all these hats, and He wore such, such a big hat on Savior and Messiah. And He did it all perfectly. And He did it all God's way. And look what difference that made for all of us. And if we wore all our hats and learned over the course of our lifetime, do it God's way, what a difference it would make in our lives, what a difference it would make in our family's lives, what a difference it would make in the world. And we'll see that. We'll see that at the time Christ returns, if we're faithful in living that way now so that we can teach it and continue to live it at the time Christ returns. Well, there was a man, a man of the Bible, the wisest man out other than Jesus Christ who ever lived. And he took some time at the end of his life, you know, who I'm talking about, Solomon. And Solomon, you know, he started off as king, and he was very humble, and he asked God for wisdom so he could judge the people well. And God was very pleased. He didn't ask for anything for himself. And God said, I will give you. I will give you the wisdom. You'll know how to judge. You'll be a good king, but I'm also going to give you all the riches on earth, everything you could possibly want, you will have. And Solomon had it all. I mean, we think our life and America is good today. I have a feeling Solomon's life was so, so interesting. He had command of all this wealth and all the things that he did. And you know, he lived it to the full, but along the way, he kind of fell prey to what I often caution myself about and mention here every once in a while. He allowed all those trappings of life and all that wealth to take him away from God. And at the end of his life, he was sitting and taking account of himself. And it was like, what have I done? You know, I've done everything. You know, who needs one wife? If I have 700 wives, I'll be happy, huh? And he found out that didn't make him happy. I've got everything. I can explore all the... I can do the sea trading. I can bring animals in. I can have zoos. I can have all this wealth. And he realized it didn't make me happy. That isn't what life was about. It was good. It was fun. But I'm missing something huge. And so he recorded in Ecclesiastes the book what his thoughts were on that. And he began to... and he tells us, you know, all is vain. If you just do these things because it's lip service, just because it's the things you do, but you don't have any substance, if there's no meaning, if there's no purpose behind it, if you're not working towards something bigger than just that, then you've missed so much.

Then you've missed so much. And you read through the book of Ecclesiastes, and you can see his contemplation. You know, Ecclesiastes 3, you know, it's a beautiful chapter. When he talks about, there's a time for everything under heaven. There's a time to laugh and a time to mourn. There's a time to build, a time to tear down. There's a time for everything. And he realized all life is about all these things. And it's how do we handle it? It's not all about just being happy all the time. There's all these things. And we learn what to do with each one of those emotions that we experience. And so he goes through, you know, twelve chapters here of Ecclesiastes, and he comes to some conclusions that we should pay attention to. Because if we take the time to contemplate our lives and what we're doing with them, and are we measuring up to what God has given us to do, we should come to the same conclusion. Let's go over to Ecclesiastes 12. And you, I'm sure, are aware of the Scripture I'm going to go to, but we're not going to start right there at the end of the chapter. Let's begin in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 9. You know, sometimes when we're studying the Bible, there's a verse we know, but it always is good to look at the context. What was the writer, what was God inspiring that was written before and even after that? In Ecclesiastes 12, verse 9, we see Solomon coming to the conclusion of everything that he's mused on here in the context of this chapter and looking at his life and what is missing. Verse 9, it says, and moreover, because the preacher, he's talking about himself, was wise, God gave him the wisdom, he still taught the people knowledge. Knowledge is a good thing. We still have to learn. So he was still doing that. Yes, he pondered and set out and set in order many proverbs. He had all that wisdom God gave them, and we have a book called Proverbs where he outlined many of the things and principles of life if we would take the time to look through it and not think we know it all, find so many answers to all, so many of the problems or situations that we find ourselves in. So he did that, and he said, in order many proverbs, the preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was written was upright.

Words of truth. Words that God inspired him to write. The wisdom that God gave him. The words of the wise, verse 11, are like a goad. You know what a goad is, right? Someone that's going to pride you. The words of the wise are like goads. So Solomon is saying, you know, if we read the wisdom of the Bible and we let it into our hearts, if we pay attention to it, it should prompt us.

It should be like that sharp-edged thing that says, you know, get a move on. Pay attention here. The words of the wise are like goads. Now, when we read the Bible, when we read about what it's like to be husband, father, brother, sister, child, employer, employee, whatever, it should be like goads to us. They should make us, ah, this is what I'm supposed to be, am I there? Do I need a reminder of this? The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one shepherd. It's a pretty nice way of talking about the Bible, isn't it? Because that's what the Bible is. It is like well-driven nails, given by one shepherd. There for us to learn from, there to instruct us, there to goad us, there to prompt us, there to encourage us, there to define for us. But not to guess, it's there. It's there if we take the time to look at it, and then if we take the time to apply it. And further, verse 12, my son, be admonished by these. Pay attention to them. Be taught by them. Review them. You might want to look at your life at that time and say, am I doing what it says to do? Of making many books, there is no end. All you have to do is go into a bookstore and know that, right? Everyone writes books. We can write books forever and ever and ever on a whole lot of good subjects. I've got a whole library of books. They're good books. It's great to read those things. A lot of books out there that even explain in more detail than what we do sometimes in church about some of these concepts. And you know when you read a book, if it's biblically based or not. Books are great. Great to read those things. Of making many books, there is no end. And much study is wearisome to the flesh. Great to study. We need to study. But much study, without any end in it, is wearisome to the flesh. Can you imagine being in high school forever, the rest of your life? Or college? The rest of your life? You just study and study and study. And you think, okay, what is this for? What am I going to do? Where do I go from here? Much study is wearisome to the flesh. It has to have a purpose behind it. There's something you do with it. Otherwise, why do it? So when we study the Bible, there's a purpose. There's something to do with that. And if all we do is study, and if all we do is no, but it doesn't go to us, if it doesn't prompt us, if it doesn't make us want to change, we're missing something. We're missing something. Of making many books, there is no end. How much study is wearisome to the flesh? Let us hear the conclusion, then, of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man's all. And Solomon can stop right there. It all boils down to this, says the man who had literally everything and could do anything that there was to do in the earth at that time. If you want your life to be meaningful, if it's got purpose to it, fear God. Whatever that means, right? But we've talked about fearing God, you know, in sermons here before. Fear God. And if you don't know what fearing God is, we'll look at something here in a minute that'll help us fear God and keep His commandments. Do His will. Do His will.

What He says in the Bible? Do it! Easily said. Not so easily done, though. So Solomon comes to a right conclusion, and when we hear about what is the conclusion of the whole matter, this is probably the verse we go to. But you know, through the book of Ecclesiastes, he comes to another conclusion after he talks for a while. Let's go back to chapter 9. Chapter 9, and I'll go to verse 10. You probably have verse 10 as a memory verse in your bailiwick. Verse, when I was growing up, my dad used to talk about a lot. And it's one that always sticks with me. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10. After Solomon is talking about all these things that he's done and what he can do, he says in verse 10, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Now, sometimes we'll think of whatever your hand finds to do as, you know, okay, if I want to build a birdhouse, do it right. If I want to build a house to live in, do it right. But you know, when the Bible says, whatever your hand finds to do, whatever you do, he's talking about much more than just the physical things. Certainly, when we do the physical labor, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Because you and I have might, right? We have might. What we do, God is saying, do it well. Do it right. Your father, learn what it is to be a father, be a good father. Your wife, learn what it is to be a good wife and do it. Your student, learn what it is to be a good student. You're an employee, learn what it is to be a good employee and do it. Whatever your hand finds to do, whatever one of those roles we're in, that's what our hand is doing. That's what we're to do. That's what we're supposed to be about. He says, whatever your hand finds to do, whatever it is that God gives you to do, you do it with your might.

Now, some of you are thinking, I know, well, it's by God's might. It's not by our might and our power, by His Spirit. And that's absolutely true. We can't do any of the things that God calls us to do as church members or called, elect, whatever role we're in. We can't do any of them without God's Spirit. But you know what?

If we don't put our might into it, it'll never be accomplished.

God doesn't give us His Spirit to do it all for us. We have to put our might into it. When He sees our might into it, when He sees us embracing His words, studying His words, learning His words, doing His things, doing it with might, whatever it is. If we study, study with might. If we pray, do it with might. Make yourself do it. If we come to church, do it with might. If we're a church member, do it with might.

If we're whatever the role is, do it with your might. We absolutely need God's Spirit, but we also need what we need to do along with it. Whatever it is, whatever it is, we need to do. And this is our time now to do it.

One time we have in our lives, and that's this life. One time that God is looking at you and me, watching what we do with all these little hats that we wear, all these little rolls that we fill, whether they're church rolls or whether they're outside rolls that every human being on earth has, but for us, He's looking and watching, how are they doing it?

How are they doing it? Are they doing it with their might? Are they using my word as a goad? Are they being admonished? Are they listening? Are they changing? Are they doing the things that they need to do to become what God wants us to become?

And He tells us as we go on in verse 10, it is just now. It is just now. And as long as we're alive, whether we're, you know, if we're 110 years old, God still looks us to do things to our might. Maybe we're not doing the physical things, but we still need to do things with our might, whatever our role is there. And you know you can read in Titus 2 what older men, God says do, younger men do, older women in the church do, younger women in the church do. You can read Ephesians 5 and 6, Colossians 3. Certainly through the book of Proverbs we'll go to here in a minute. There's much, much, much instruction on what all those roles we are or we fulfill or have are. But He says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom integrated where you're going. When you die, it's done. Your record is written. How did you do it? This is our time. Peter says, judgment is now on the house of God. This is our time. Never a time to let up. When God lets us die, that's the time. We're at rest and wait for Him.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Let's go back and look at some of the other proverbs here. Proverbs 2.

They've talked about action words that are in the Bible that are there. And certainly, do it with your might is an action word that puts the onus on us to do it. God will do what He's going to do, but we have to do what we must do. We'll read through the first eight or nine verses here of Proverbs 2.

The first one says, My son, if. Every time we read the Bible, if you read the word when you read the word if, you should stop and take notice. Because if there's an if, then there's a then. And the if says, that's your and my responsibility. Because we have a choice. We don't have to do this stuff. We can say, I don't want to do it. Or, I'm there already. I'll just kind of not listen to this. My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you. And as we look at this, let's look at God the Father talking to you and me individually.

There's a psalm talking to His son. He says later that David, His father, said these things to Him. Let's look at God the Father talking to you and me. And make this personal. My son, if you receive my words, onus on us, and treasure my commands within you. Treasure, meaning they're really, really important. Not just something we know, but something that really guides our life. And something that we would hold in high esteem. Not just something that we kind of think about once or twice a week. And maybe on the Sabbath we think, oh, that's right.

We need to do this. But it's something that's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That the role of church member is there the whole time we're doing all these other roles that we have in life. So that you incline your ear, verse 2.

So that you incline your ear to wisdom. That means you listen to wisdom. When you're hearing words out there, where you're leaning toward is, wisdom. Let me incline my ear to that. And if we study the Bible, we know what the words of wisdom are. And if you apply, right? Apply. Now there's an action word. If you apply your heart to understanding, that means you do something. You do it with your might. Okay, I get it. But I really want to understand it. Am I doing it the right way? Am I doing it the way God wants me to?

Am I just good enough in my mind, or is it what God would have us do? If you apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment. Not just whisper it in the middle of the night. But, God, please give me discernment. If you cry out for discernment, you cry out for it. You're showing Him that you're really serious about this. You really want that. That's where your heart is.

God, let me know what I'm doing wrong. What is it that nothing works right in this area of my life? I need to know, and I want to know, if you cry out for discernment, if you lift up your voice for understanding, lift it up. If we're serious about things and we're excited about it and we know we need it, we get a little loud. Lift up your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver, if I told you in someone's backyard there was a pot of gold, I would dare say probably we would go out and we would do it with our might.

We'd get that shovel up and we'd dig that entire backyard up until we found that pot of gold because we absolutely knew it was there. But it was going to take some effort. We would do it. We would do it with our might. God says the same effort and even more than you would do to dig up that pot of gold.

If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, that's that important in your life. If you know this is something that's so important, if you do all these things, verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord. You know, maybe over time, and we fear the Lord, we've talked about it in sermons before, and if you've forgotten what the fear of the Lord is or wonder, do I have the fear of the Lord, you might want to go back and do a Bible study on that.

There are sermons on the web, on our website that has that, I'm sure. You can go and look and type in fear of the Lord in Google or in one of the Bible search engines, and you'll find a whole set of verses that would be a good Bible study.

Have I kind of forgotten the fear of the Lord? Do I just take it for granted? If you do all these things, then you'll understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For it is God that gives wisdom, though we have to show we want it, even in the book of James it says you have to ask for it. Lift up your voice, cry out, do it with your might. For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path. Do you want to understand? Do these things. Then you'll understand. Let's go over to chapter 4. Chapter 4, verse 1. Hear, my children, the instruction of a father. That word here is something we say. As a father, I know sometimes I would tell my kids, listen. Sometimes I can talk to adults and hear the words of the Bible. I can tell right over the head. We don't want to hear that. You know when your kids are listening and when they're not listening to you. But God says, hear, when you're hearing, do it with your might. Do it with your might. Not just thinking I already know that, don't want to hear it, whatever. Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to no understanding. Give attention to it. Put your focus on this. For I give you good doctrine. God gives us good doctrine. Many of our parents gave us good doctrine. It's truth. You can count on it. Don't forsake my law. When I was my father's sinner and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, Let your heart retain my words. Remember them. Keep them in your heart. Listen to what I'm saying. When you're older, you think about those things. They'll come back to you. And you'll understand what it is that I was saying. Let your heart retain my words. Don't just listen and let it go in one ear and out the other and never think about it again. Retain those words. Keep my commands and live. The onus, again, is on you and me. Keep my commands and live.

And then you don't see very many exclamation points in the Bible, but here in verse 5 we have two exclamation points.

Get wisdom. Well, it's God who gives wisdom, but he says you, you get wisdom. You've got your part in wisdom. I'll give it when I see you doing it with your might.

I'll give it when I see you really serious about it and I see that you're dedicated to this and not just something you're flippantly asking.

Get wisdom. Get understanding. Get them both.

God will give it, but not until we take the action, until we see, until he sees us doing that.

Don't forget. Don't turn away from the words of my mouth. Don't forsake wisdom, he says, and it will preserve you.

Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore, get wisdom.

Now, let's stop for a moment and think, what is wisdom? Many people confuse wisdom with knowledge. Oh, I'm wise because I can recite you chapter and verse, or I have this memorized, and when you sow it a verse, I can tell you exactly where in the Bible it is. Oh, that's knowledge. We all need the knowledge. That has to happen. We have to have knowledge.

But wisdom, according to Strongs, and I'll read it from even Webster's here, wisdom is knowledge and the capacity to make do use of it. It includes both. You've got to have the knowledge, and you've got to use it. So when a situation comes up, you might think, what do I do here? I think, oh, I remember in Proverbs it said this.

Oh, I remember the situation. There was an example in the Bible, and what the Bible said is, do this. But you may say, I don't want to do that. I kind of want to do it my way. Sometimes early in life we want to do that, right? And we have to come to learn. No, if we're ever going to be successful, it's got to be done God's way, because if we do it our way, we're going to be in the same situation like that. Hamster on the treadmill, just going around in circles, doing the same thing over and over and over again, never life gets any better. And it's not until we yield to God and determine it's His way and not our way that it happens.

Wisdom. It is knowledge and the capacity to make due use of it. We only get wisdom by applying the knowledge into our life, and that's doing it with our might.

I have this situation. What do I do? I'm going to do it God's way. I'm going to do it the way the Bible said. I may not want to, but I'm going to do it God's way and train myself to do it His way.

Let's turn back there. We'll be back in Proverbs here in a minute. Let's turn back to Psalm 111, because that's what wisdom is. But in Psalm 111, we find out what is understanding. We would read the Bible and say, I understand it. I understand what the Bible is saying. Psalm 111 kind of tells us some of what understanding is when God talks about it. Let's look at most of the chapter here in Psalm 111. It's not very long. I'm going to go to verse 10, but let's begin here in verse 2 and see what the Psalmist here talks about as he leads up to the conclusion and defines what understanding is. Psalm 111, verse 2, the works of the Eternal are great. We would all say that, right? The works of God are great. We can look around the world we live in and we say, look what God has done. We can look in our lives and say, look what God has done. The works of the Eternal are great. Studied by all who have pleasure in them. Studied by all who have pleasure in them. Who don't just take them for granted, but who take the time to contemplate what has God done. What has He done in my life? What has He done for me? What has He done for all of mankind? What has Jesus Christ done? Studied by all those who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered. The Eternal is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him. There is the fear of God. Again, He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage, or the inheritance, if it will be, of the nations.

The works of His hands are verity, truth, and justice. What you read in His Word you can count on as truth. All His precepts are sure. You don't have to doubt them. You have to know them. You have to apply them. You have to apply them with your might. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.

He has sent redemption to His people, to you and me. He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord, an important thing for us to have, an important thing for us to fail, doesn't mean you're terrified of God. God means you have a deep reverence and a respect for Him, recognizing His power, recognizing everything that He is, and that He holds the balance of life and death in His hands. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You can never know what wisdom is unless you have the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord, we've talked about in a few verses, and you've got places you can go to study more about that. A good understanding, a good understanding, have all those who do His commandments. Not just all those who know His commandments. We all know His commandments. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments, who do it with their might, who, after year and decade after decade, as a church member, as a child of God, as an overcomer, as a witness, as an example, do them and learn them and see in their lives, I wasn't doing God's commandment the way He said in all of it. So now I have that to learn in my life, and it progresses from now until the time we die. Want to know what understanding is? You can't understand. You can't know what understanding is until you do His commandments, all ten of them. And all the rest of the commands that are in the Bible as well that we need to live by, that define what our lives should be like and how we live them and how we fulfill and accomplish the roles that we are in. Okay, let's go back over to Proverbs. Let's go to Proverbs 9.

Proverbs 9, verse 1. Wisdom. Wisdom. We know how to get wisdom. We know what the beginning of wisdom is. Wisdom has built her house. Well, we find another thing that we are. We're all builders, right? As God has called us, we're building, or He's building in us, a temple, but we have to do our part. He just doesn't build the temple and make us perfect. We have to...we build our temple. We do it with our might. And we build it collectively, too, right? Because God's building a temple among His body, His church, all of us. Wisdom has built her house. She's hewn out her seven pillars. She slaughtered her meat. She's mixed her wine. She's furnished her table. She's sent out her maidens. She cries out from the highest places of the city. She's active. She's there. Whoever is simple, whoever is simple, whoever isn't wise, let him turn in here. As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, Come, eat of my bread, drink of the wine, I've mixed. You know what? Start feeding on this word. Start feeding on this, this scripture, these goads that prompt us, that define for us, that tell us what instruction is. Start doing things God's way. Start looking at yourself. And where is it that needs in this role, in this role, in this role? Could I use a little bit of improvement? Am I doing it the way God said? Well, that takes doing, right? Because there's a whole array of breads that we can eat out there. There's only one place that you eat the right bread, and that takes doing it with your might. Verse 6 also takes our might. For sake, foolishness. Give up your way, give up your way, and live. And go. You go. In the way of understanding. How do you get understanding? You go. In the way of understanding. And so the Proverbs, you can read through those, and you can see the concept of doing it with your might in our part, and learning all the things that God wants us to do, and the roles that he puts us in as church members and just as human beings, and as definitions of how life will be, what you and I, if we do it right in this life and do it according to God's will, will be teaching. How can we teach it if we're not applying it in our lives now? That's kind of shallow, isn't it? So God knows what it is we need to do, and we can read through the Bible, and I could spend the next two years talking about the things that's there, but you can be looking at that as you look at the Bible, too. Let's go back, and I mentioned a few chapters you can look at for some of those roles, but let's go back to 2 Peter. 2 Peter. So here in the New Testament, we find the same concept of doing things with our might. 2 Peter.

And chapter 1. Now, these are a familiar set of scriptures that you've heard before, but let's go through them. Let's begin with verse 2 in 2 Peter. And see the progression that God has for us, keeping in mind everything we've talked about, doing it with our might, understanding our responsibilities, and understanding that every single role we have in life comes under the domain of child of God, doing things God's way.

Chapter 1, verse 2, 2 Peter. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. That's the basis. The knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things. Always pay attention to that word, all. When the Bible says all, it means all, not just some, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

We talked about godliness a few weeks ago, remember? Godliness, if you've forgotten, let me read from it from Strongs. It says, it's a religious life, a careful observance of the laws of God and performance of religious duties, proceeding from love and reverence for the divine character and commands. Doing it for God, doing it because you fear Him, because you believe in Him, because this is what you need to do, that's what godliness is.

As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great in precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. Look at the window God has given us, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

So He introduces this and then He gives us a pattern of things that we need to do, a process that goes through life. Also, for this very reason, He says, giving all diligence. You know when you see the word diligence, think, do it with your might. That's what diligence is, right? Do it with your might. Also, for this very reason, because God has given all these things, because He's put this in this role, because He's put this hat on our head and it's a wonderful hat.

We didn't ask for it, we don't deserve it, but He's given it to us. For this very reason, giving all diligence, doing it with your might, add to your faith, because you believe first, you believe God, you believe that He exists, you believe that He's returning, you believe the Bible. Add to your faith, that's something we do, right? Add to your faith virtue. How do you get virtue? Virtue is moral excellence. Moral excellence as defined by the Bible standard, not by the world standards, but merely through the Bible, you see a moral code of conduct there for all aspects of our life. How do we do that?

We do it by applying the word of God. So, as we have faith in God, that's good. We need faith without faith. It's impossible to please Him, but faith is the first step. We have to add to our faith virtue. We have to start doing the things, discipline ourselves and with our might, saying, I can't do this anymore, no more Friday night football games, no more, whatever it is. I can't do that. I have to adhere to the moral code of the Bible, the standards that He asks me to live by. Add to your faith virtue.

Add to your virtue knowledge. Keep learning. Keep growing. You can't understand all of virtue until you keep reading the Bible and understanding what's in there. Every word is profitable. Jesus Christ said, live by every word of God, not just the ones that you agree with, but by every word of God. Add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge.

Add to knowledge. Self-control. Well, there's the Holy Spirit, right? We have to make the decision to not do things or to do things that are right. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to do that and the desire to do that. So we add that to it, but it's things that we have to do. God will provide, but only if we do, and if we do it with our might, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance.

You know what perseverance is. Stick to it. Now, don't let the first little trial throw you for a loop. Keep with it. If you believe, keep going. Sometimes we have to wait for God as we prove that His will is right, just like we don't get anointed one day, and if we're not healed the next, we say, oh, I give up on God.

That would be silly, wouldn't it? Perseverance. Stick to it. Keep with it. Have your faith in God. If you committed to Him, then you don't just give up because something doesn't happen the way that you want, or it doesn't happen as soon as you want. You keep going. You keep doing it. You keep applying it. You keep showing that faith. You keep showing that belief. And God's will eventually will come about. You keep going. To perseverance, add godliness. Talked about godliness. To godliness, brotherly kindness.

Be kind to one another. God didn't call us to be lone wolves, as I say. He didn't call us just you and him alone. He called all of us a body, and He puts us as a body. So we are kind to one another, and that's kind of something we even learn as children, right? Be kind to one another. And hopefully that continues as we grow in life, and as we grow older, we're kind people.

And then He says, add to kind brotherly kindness, love. Agape. Let it become you. Let it define you. And agape isn't that, you know, just emotional love like we feel for a brother and sister and wife and husband and, you know, our friends. It's a choice. If you're ever going to develop agape, it has to be done with your might. There are things you do if you love someone and you see a need for them that you think, man, I just don't want to do that.

But you do it anyway. Just like the Good Samaritan. Others passed by when they saw the need, but the Good Samaritan, I'm going to do this with my might. I'm not only going to help this guy, I'm going to take him and get what he needs and whatever because he was in a tough situation. We can't develop agape if we don't do it with our might. God will develop it in us.

We'll see our minds change. We'll see our hearts change. We'll see things happen, but it won't happen if we don't do it with our might. If we don't make the choices, even when it's something we don't want to do, but it is the right thing to do, it would really help that person out to do it.

That's what agape is, and we all have opportunities and have that little hat on our head as church members to practice that. Paul goes on and says, look, this is all the things. Here's the progression. Here's what you have. All the days of your life, from the time you're called until the time you die.

And this is your time. This is your time because when you go to the grave, your time is up. This is what God is looking to see develop in your life. For if these things are yours, verse 8, and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you do these things, there's that word, if, you won't be barren, you won't be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted. He's not looking to eternity. He's not looking at the kingdom. He's looking at today.

I want what I want now. God didn't do it when I expected him to. And you know what? He was going to kind of do it my way. He's short-sighted. He's not looking at the kingdom. He's not looking down the road. He isn't remembering what hat it is when you have a church member, that you're looking toward God. You're looking toward His kingdom, building yourself toward His kingdom, as God gives us His Holy Spirit and leaves us in that.

For he who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness, and has forgotten that He was cleansed from His old sins. Those are kind of some challenging words, aren't they? Has forgotten that He was cleansed from His old sins. Life just got to be too easy. He got so enamored with this and that and whatever and forgot. What is my major role in life now? All these other things I do, what is the major thing that God has called us to do? He's forgotten that He was cleansed from His old sins. He became kind of like Solomon. I'll just kind of do it my way, kind of like let life go on.

Therefore, brethren, Peter says, be even more diligent. Be even more diligent with your might. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. Do it with your might, He's saying. Don't forget it. Do it with your might. For if you do these things, there's that word if again, if you do these things, you will never stumble.

For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter, who must have said this to the people he was writing to before, says, you know what, I'm going to keep reminding you of this because we all need to be reminded of who we are, what we are, what God is working out, and to abuse them as goads to keep us on the right path and to ever growing, ever changing, ever becoming more what we need to be.

Paul, or Peter, writes, for this reason, verse 12, I won't be negligent to remind you always of these things. Though you know, you've heard these words before, but you know what, you need to hear them again, though you know, and are established in the present truth. And so we need to be reminded of these things. We need to be reminded of who we are. Take stock of things. Take the time to think of who we are, what we're doing, all the things that God has us do, because He's watching every little thing that we do in our life. How do we handle it?

Are we growing in the grace, the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding? Let's go back to Colossians. Colossians 3. As we begin to wrap this up here, Colossians 3. One of those chapters that we can look at tells us a lot about a lot of the roles that we live in, and what we should be like. Let's pick it up here in verse 12 of Colossians 3. Peter gave us kind of a list of the things that we go through and what we need to look at in our lives.

Paul talks more about how we relate to one another and the things that we need to do in that, because our relationships we need to do with our might as well. Colossians 3 verse 12. Therefore, he says, as the elect, there's the hat we wear, as the elect of God, that's who you are, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, do this. Put on. Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and long suffering.

God will grant those. We have to put them on. It's us. He provides, but he's not going to provide if we don't do something. If we see that we're lacking in tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, we might need to stop and cry out to God. Help me. We need to start making decisions and choices not to be this way or that way or however it is that we may see and God opens our minds to see.

We aren't fulfilling our role as elect with tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and long suffering, bearing with one another, understanding that we're all imperfect. We all have things we need to work on. Not one of us is even close to perfect. We all have things that we need to be working on. And so, you know, we don't look down on someone and say, well, they're not doing that.

No? Well, because someone else could look right down on you and say, well, they're not doing that. Right? Bearing with one another. God has put us in a body to love one another, support one another, pray for one another, encourage one another so that we are all in the kingdom. And you know what? We all have different strengths. We all have different weaknesses. We're all at different levels. Our job is to know each other, help each other, encourage each other, not to offend each other, pray for one another, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. You know, we do things. Now, sometimes we can be tactless people. Sometimes we can say things and it's like, really? Did you say that? You know, or whatever. And we may not even think about it, right? I don't believe people in the church really intentionally intend to offend anyone. But from time to time, you hear about things.

But you know what? Anyway, forgive one another. If anyone has a complaint against another. Even as Christ forgave you, you must also forgive. Okay? You know, I may say something to you sometimes that just kind of sets the wrong way. I hope you would say and ask, what did you mean by that?

Don't get bitter, though. We know, you know, we talked about forgiveness, and that's one of the responsibilities of the elect. Pray for one another. Forgive one another. Bear with one another. Help one another.

So you must also do and not become bitter and let that be the thing that takes you and hand back to God the eternity that He's handed you. In 1 Corinthians 14, do all these things, He says, but above all these things, put on love. There's that word agape again. Above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Do that. Do the things that build love. You know, we can't do that by ourselves. We can only do that with each other. And we have to work on it. And we have to practice it. And we have to develop it over time. Just like no one sits down and plays the piano or the trumpet or anything the first time perfectly. They have to practice and practice and practice, and sometimes it doesn't sound so good, right? But we have to practice and practice and practice agape. We have to practice and practice and practice to get it right. And sometimes we may fumble at it, but keep trying and keep doing it and ask God to help you know how to do it. Above all these things, put on love, agape, which is the bond of perfection. And let, there's another other little word, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body. As part of the hat we wear, we're part of one body. And be thankful. We talked about that a few weeks ago. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Teaching, and look how this works. Richly in all wisdom. Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, using the words of the Bible, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Use the Bible as your basis. Talk about those things. Admonish one another with the Bible. Are you doing it the way the Bible said? Are you doing this the way it should be? Not to accuse or judge one another, but to help, to focus us in on where the definition of our lives are and the description of what we should be doing. Do that in hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. In verse 17, Paul kind of re-spaced what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 9-10. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all, in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Whatever you do, husband, father, mother, wife, brother, sister, church member, elect, employee, employer, whatever you do, do it as you're doing it to God the Father. And then to accentuate that those things is what he means. In verse 18, he gives us some of the key things that we all, or most of us in life. One of the hats that we wear, verse 18, wives, submit to your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. And he expounds on that in many other places in the Bible. If you want to read that, you can read and see this is what God said. A wife after His pattern and after His definition is. Husbands, love your wives. It's a simple sentence here, but He's saying, you know what? Whatever you do, do it with your might. If you're going to be a husband, do it the way God says. Love your wives. That's agape. That's not just eros. Love your wives. Choose to love them. Practice that love. Build it. Husbands, love your wives. And do not be bitter toward them. Let the past go. Start building the house and start building it from scratch. If you need to, build it back. We're all building houses. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, don't provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Verse 22, whenever you see bondservants, replace it with employee. All of us in our lives, at some time, are employees. Employees, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. Do what they say. If it's not against the law and if it's not against the Bible, do what they say. They're your master. That's what children of God do. That's what people who wear the hat of church member, child of God, do. Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. Not with eye service. Don't just give them lip service. Man, that is irritating, right? When you just tear someone, give lip service, but then they don't do the things they say. Come on. God says, don't play games here. According to the flesh, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart. Fearing God. Fearing God. If we fear God, we'll be really good employees. We'll be blessings. We'll listen. We'll hear. We'll do the things that we need to do.

Later on, he talks about employers down in chapter 4, verse 1, how we work with the people that work for us that were fair and just. Verse 23, he wraps it up again. He comes right back to Ecclesiastes 9-10. Whatever you do, do it heartily. Do it with your might, he could have said. Do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. All those little rolls, all those little hats that are on our head, do it all with might. Because God is looking at all those little rolls that we do, and how do we handle those? Jesus Christ said, He who is faithful and little is faithful in much. If all those little rolls we're paying attention to, if we're diligently looking, studying, crying out, reviewing our lives, reviewing our attitudes, and seeing that we're doing things the way God said and allowing His Spirit to guide us, lead us, progress us, grow us over the course of our lifetimes, He sees that. We may not be kings today. We may not have these great, great, great, overwhelming responsibilities today, but when God sees how we handle the rolls He gives us today, and all the things that He looks for and the relationships that we have with each other and the relationships that we have in those rolls, He sees this person's heart is with me. Back in Luke 19, if we do those things, if we pay attention to it, if we take the time to analyze, we all want to hear the words that Jesus Christ said in a parable here of the minas. Matthew calls it the parable of talents. I have a feeling Christ gave this parable a few times in His life, and Luke remembered it one way with an admonition. Matthew put it another way because Jesus Christ reminds us of what we need to do. As He talks about giving minas to people and giving, you know, I gave you, we could say, ten hats to wear. How'd you wear them? I gave you five hats to wear. How'd you wear them? And the first person here, and we look in verses as we read down through verses 12 through 16, and he comes back and, you know, he says in verse 16, hey, you know what you gave me to do? It's got, it's erred, I progressed. Look at what I've done. In verse 17, Christ said to him, well done, good servant, because you were faithful in very little, those very little things that I asked you to do, I saw your heart, I saw what you were doing, I saw how you handled it, I saw how you changed, I saw how you did it with your might, and I added that so that you could accomplish with His Spirit, because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities. What we do today is very important. The roles that we have today are very important. Let's make sure, let's make sure we're doing them the way God says.