Flattery is harmless. Really?

I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

—Psalm 36:1-2

While a positive word of encouragement or thanks is a good thing, flattery poses a serious danger.  What is the difference?  When offering encouragement and thanks, we must take care not to go overboard by exalting the person.  Focus on what the person did rather than on the goodness of the person.  Flattery, on the other hand, makes too much of the person.  Why is flattery so dangerous?  Because it encourages pride in the recipient.

Beside the flattery we may receive from another, we must be doubly careful not to flatter ourselves, as mentioned specifically in Psalm 36:2.  One of the most lethal results of self-flattery is that the prideful soon grow blind to, and therefore fail to turn from, their sins.  The NIV renders (v.2) this way: “In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.”

Those who flatter themselves become prideful.  They often begin to look down on others—noticing and judging their sins.  In the end (and the end comes all too quickly!) they become blind to their own sins, are unrepentant, maybe even proving that they are unregenerate.

Verse one says of these people, “There is no fear of God in their eyes.”  That is a serious problem.

What you can do for God is irrelevant

“Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, have I ever spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”

—1 Chronicles 17:6

David was settled into his house in Jerusalem.  He got to thinking, “I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under tent curtains.”  That didn’t seem right to David so he purposed in his heart to build a permanent temple for the Lord.  He even got the go-ahead from Nathan the prophet.

But as verses 3-14 record, God spoke to Nathan, who in turn informed David regarding God’s heart on the matter.  In short, building a temple wasn’t God’s idea, but David’s.  God neither wanted nor needed a permanent temple.  In fact, instead of allowing David to build a “house” of stone for God, God pledged to build an everlasting “house” for David—a house built by and on the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am instructed in several issues by this.  First, my ideas about how to worship and serve God are not needed nor wanted by God.  He tells me how to worship and serve Him.  What does that say about all the creative ideas that men concoct about ministry, that are nowhere to be found in God’s Word?

Second, just as Nathan was wrong until God enlightened him in the matter (v.2), even the most godly person can be wrong.  What made Nathan and David truly godly was their willingness to shelve their plans when God made His clear.

What is truly important is not what any of us can do for God, but what He has done and continues to do for us in the person of Christ Jesus.  When we get that through our heads, like David in the twelve verses that conclude the chapter, we will worship and extol God for who He is and for all that He does on our behalf for His eternal glory.

Understanding how I got what I have changes everything about generosity

But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You.

— 1 Chronicles 29:14

The particulars of this verse have to do with the Israelites bringing their offerings to build Solomon’s temple.

The principle is a reminder regarding any generosity and giving we might engage in.  There is no room for boasting about giving when we remember that we have nothing but what the Lord has given us in the first place.

This is true whether we are giving our tithes and offerings as an act of worship in the church, or to support other ministries, or giving gifts to family and friends, or to a homeless person on the street.  Nothing we can possibly give, was not first given to us—by the Lord God.

Someone says, “Nothing was given to me. I earned it!”  Really?  Who gave you the mind, or the strength, or the opportunity to earn what you have worked for?  Was that not also given to you by the Lord?

This is not to belittle the fact that some work harder than others for what they have.  This does not negate the fact that some are far more giving of what they have than others.  But when all we have or give is ours first by the grace of God, does that not shed a new ray of light on our giving?  Let us be reminded that we are responsible to work to have something to give (Ephesians 4:28); that we are to give generously (2 Corinthians 9:6-7); and ultimately, that the glory for our giving belongs to the Lord Himself.  After all, He has supplied all we might ever give—from the opportunity to earn, to the wealth to share, to the heart to give.

Lord, thank You for giving to me enough that I might also give.  And transform my heart to be more giving, especially in light of how much You give (John 3:16).

Can you see Jesus in the Old Testament?

"When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-13

God forbade David to build a temple for His dwelling place.  The first reason, of course is that God cannot be contained in a single place, much less a building made by human hands (Isaiah 66:1-2).

Beyond that, God disallowed David to be the builder because He was a man of war and bloodshed (1 Chronicles 28:3).

But God promised that David’s son would be a king and that he would build a house for God.  We know that David’s son, Solomon, succeeded David as king of Israel, and Solomon did built a great temple.  But, was Solomon the only one in God’s mind when promising David a son who would build a temple for the Lord?

Prophecy often, and this is no exception, has both a near and a far fulfillment—a soon and a much later fulfillment.  When God gave David His promise of a kingly son who would build a temple, He spoke of Solomon as the sooner fulfillment of the promise, and of Jesus as the later (and ultimate) fulfillment. 

Solomon was a great king, and he did build a great temple.  But what about the promise that the kingdom of David’s son would be forever?  Solomon’s kingdom ended, and in disgrace.  His temple lasted for some 400 years—before being destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC.

The reign of David’s greater Son, King Jesus, is forever.  And while Jesus built no temple of stone, He is building an eternal temple made of “living stones” (1 Peter 2:4-5), that is the “habitation of God” (Ephesians 2:21-22).

Let us read the Bible, the Old Testament in particular, with eyes to see that it is about Jesus!