Where there’s Smoke there’s Fire (Psalm 36, Prov. 16:16-19)

This last Sunday was the 15 anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the people of the United States. It is a day when we remember a wicked act by the enemy and many brave and selfless acts by many first responders, military, and ordinary citizens in response. Psalm 36 is an appropriately descriptive text for today.

1) “What’s In Your Heart?” or, “What Speaks to your heart?” (Psalm 36)     

A long-running credit card ad series asked "What's in your wallet?" Our approach to Psalm 36 asks "What's in your heart?" or "What speaks to your heart?" 

Psalm 36 describes the nature of the heart of the wicked. Often commentators summarize this in terms of the wicked person’s behavior which is certainly addressed, but it is deeper than that. This section (v.1-4) describes their heart, their internal life, and what flows out of it.

Transgression speaks to the wicked   
         deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God  before his eyes.
  For he flatters himself in his own eyes
    that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
         he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
         he sets himself in a way that is not good;
         he does not reject evil.

When I read this passage I have to ask the question, “What speaks to me deep in my heart?” We will do what we want to do; we will serve what we love. It may be God and the people he created in his image, or we may serve only ourselves. The wicked serve themselves to the harm of others. We should not fall into the error of the wicked and imagine that we will get away with our iniquity. God will hold us accountable for what we have done. It is hard to imagine someone lying in bed at night planning how they might take advantage of others the next day! May we not allow transgression to speak to us deep in our hearts. That place should be reserved for something much better!

In contrast to the wicked, the psalmist allows God’s love to capture his heart in v. 5-9,

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

    your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
    your judgments are like the great deep;
             man and beast you save, O Lord.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
       in your light do we see light.

He ends this psalm with a heartfelt prayer for God’s love to continue (v.10) and a prayer to be delivered from the actions of the wicked for they will ultimately be “unable to rise.” (v.11-12). So how can we keep the pride of the wicked from our own hearts? Proverbs 6 gives us a plain warning…like that of a smoke detector!

2) A Smoke Detector—The Seven Things God Hates (Proverbs 6:16-19)

We all have otherwise good things that we hate the smell when they burn. Can you think of anything? Here are a few that we listed: Eggs, toast, popcorn, and transmission fluid. One thing that tends to burn in our home is, toasted coconut which we do under the broiler and it can burn very quickly and fill the house with a less-than-sweet aroma. The same can be said about our own sinful attitudes. They stink and those around us notice pretty quickly. What stinks to God? What are the attitudes and actions that he hates in his house? In this passage, he lists seven of them…

"These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him:

1) Haughty Eyes (a proud look),

    2)  A lying tongue,

        3) Hands that shed innocent blood,

            4) A heart that devises wicked plans,

        5) Feet that make haste to run to evil,

    6) A false witness who breathes out lies,

7) One who sows discord (stirs up conflict in the community) among brethren.”

I have numbered and indented these clauses so that you could see the parallelism that is present in this well-crafted list. The seven things really work out to be just four things. Each layer is a type of nested parallelism with #1 and #7 speaking against pride, #2 and #6 against lying, #3 and #5 against violence against the innocent, and #4 a heart that devises wicked plans” stands alone literally, and figuratively, in the center. Does something in our lives smell like smoke? This list makes a pretty good smoke detector. Additionally, 2 Timothy 3:1-5’s “in the last days…” list and Galatians 5:19-21's "works of the flesh..."  list these and other sins, that we should avoid, but it is from the inside out—from the heart to the hands, from the Spirit to the body that we must allow the Lord to change us.

The Apostle Paul writes to the early church in Colossae,

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,

 set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 

For you died, and 

      your life is now hidden               with Christ in God.” (Col.3:1-3)

When we set our hearts on things above we give no place for sin to speak to us deep in our hearts.

3) Exit Signs—Is there a Fire in the Theater?

So what should we do if the spiritual smoke detector is going off in our lives? We need to have an exit plan. All public buildings are required to have exit signs in case of fire. Most hotel rooms have a fire exit map on the back of the door to each room showing the best exit routes in case of fire or other emergencies. God does no less for us in his Word! I always look at the map when checking into a hotel room so that I might be prepared should I need to use the exit routes on a dark smoky night. Here are some of the routes that God has marked out for us that correspond to the things God hates from Proverbs 6 above.

• Smelling Pride? Then “Humble yourself” (James 4:10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” And  Philippians 2:3-4, ^"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
• Is the air clouded with lies? Then “Speak the Truth in Love” (Eph. 4:15, 25-32) “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ … Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” 
• Have you been taking advantage of others? Become a model of good works (Titus 2:6-8) “Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” Also, Titus 3:4 “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.”
• Are you insensitive to God’s Law of Love? Get A Heart Transplant (Exodus 36:26-27) “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” Also, Romans 10:1 “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”

4) Putting out the Fire—Overcoming in the Spirit  

A) The Seven Deadly Sins

While the first step is getting out when we smell smoke, what about putting the fire out? Certainly, our deliverance from the power of sin was obtained in the life and death of Jesus Christ on our behalf. However, the temptation to sin still exists for us on this side of the cross. The phrase “seven deadly sins” comes from a list compiled about 600 a.d. by Gregory I. While this list doesn’t appear in the Bible in this form, it is a pretty good summary of biblical teaching. The standard list consists of… 

1. Envy = the desire to have an item or experience that someone else possesses. In fact, their having it makes us sad (Prov. 24:1, 19-20; Psalm 37:1-2; 73:1-3).
2. Gluttony = excessive ongoing consumption of food or drink, wasting food, consumption that keeps others from having enough.
3. Greed or Avarice = an excessive pursuit of material possessions, which is based on our belief that we deserve whatever we can get.
4. Lust = an uncontrollable passion or longing, especially for sexual desires, it sees others as objects for our pleasure rather than people whom God loves.
5. Pride (hubris) = excessive view of one's self without regard for others.
6. Sloth = excessive laziness or the failure to act and utilize one’s talents
7. Wrath = uncontrollable feelings of anger and hate towards another person

B) The Seven Spirit-Empowered Virtues

The seven virtues were originally defined in the poem, Psychomachia, [lit. the spiritual battle] by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, a Christian poet, and Roman governor who died sometime around 410 a.d. In his poem, the seven virtues are attacked by the seven sins that, in turn, are defeated. In humorous response to those who are bothered by a poem with a bunch of women fighting, it is helpful to understand that “abstract ideas in Greek are linguistically feminine” hence their depiction as women.

Here is a list of the seven virtues and how they cure each of the seven deadly sins:

1. Kindness = Cures envy by placing the desire to help others above the need to supersede them. Kindness rejoices in the blessings others experience.
2. Temperance = Cures gluttony by implanting the desire to be healthy, therefore making one fit to serve others. Again, that is the heart of God.
3. Charity or love = Cures greed by putting the desire to help others above storing up treasure for one’s self, and views others as more significant than self.
4. Chastity or Self-control = Cures lust by controlling passion and leverages that energy for the good of others, seeing them as sons and daughters of God.
5. Humility = Cures pride by removing one's ego and boastfulness, therefore allowing the attitude of service. We have the example of Jesus in Philippians 2.
6. Diligence or Zeal = Cures slothfulness by placing the best interest of others above the life of ease and relaxation. It recognizes that we are to steward our time for the mission of God.
7. Patience = Cures wrath by taking time to understand the needs and desires of others before acting or speaking. It remembers how patient the Lord has been with us!

However, we need to remember that these virtues don’t spring from our own goodness, but from our yielding in love to the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. So when your smell the smoke of sin rising in your life, confess it to the Lord, ask for forgiveness, and then ask how to apply the appropriate Spirit-empowered virtue at the heart of the matter!