In the sermon 'Wisdom with Neighbors' by Peter Allison, the speaker explores Proverbs 3:27-28, emphasizing the importance of doing good to those in need when it is within our power. Allison explains the concept of 'mode' as a habitual way of acting, particularly in the context of interacting with neighbors. He highlights that 'doing good' is distinct from 'doing well,' focusing on actions that benefit others tangibly. The sermon delves into the term 'Baal,' describing it as someone with a claim on our resources due to their needs. Withholding good is presented as a serious moral failing, tied to one's eternal destiny. The sermon encourages readiness to do good, contrasting it with the wickedness of plotting evil. Through biblical examples and teachings from both the Old and New Testaments, the speaker urges believers to embrace kindness and justice as fundamental aspects of their faith, impacting their relationship with God and others.

Our scripture reading from Proverbs chapter 3. I'd like to read beginning of verse 27. Proverbs 3.27. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come back, and tomorrow I will give it, when you have it with you.

Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety's sake. Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. Do not envy the oppressor and choose none of his ways, for the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but his secret counsel is with the upright. The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the just. Surely he scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble.

The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Almighty Heavenly Father, Please open to us these words, words of life, of truth, of wisdom, and teach us in our ignorance, and speak to us. We ask through a vessel of clay that the glory may be yours. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

Please be seated. Well, we'll begin with a definition this morning. A definition of a word mode. What is a mode? Depending on your academic training or your occupation, you may be thinking of very different things to that word.

A mode to a mathematician is the most frequently repeated number in a set of numbers. They call that the mode of that set of numbers, that group of numbers. If you're a musician, that's a rather complicated thing. It consists of the scales. The mode would be the scales, the seven scales that are the major and minor keys and all the variations of those scales.

Talk about that. That would be a mode to a musician. In other words, what Does the music sound like? If you tell a musician the mode, they have some idea of what it sounds like. You tell a mathematician the mode of a set of numbers, he has some idea of what those numbers are like, how they're represented.

A mode is just a manner or a way of doing something, of experiencing something. It's a way of acting, A mode. Well, what does that have to do with our text today? The mode. Well, our text tells us about the mode of relating to our neighbors.

What is the mode of a wise way, of wisely relating to our neighbors? It is doing good. That should be characteristic of how we relate to our neighbors. If you think of mathematically the most frequent number, the number most frequently repeated in a set of numbers? If you think of our dealings with our neighbors, what is most frequently repeated in our dealings with our neighbors?

Kindness, goodness, doing good to them. And I don't mean that doing good, if you're a grammarian, don't be horrified. I don't mean doing well. I mean doing good. Doing actions that are good.

Doing deeds that are good. That's what I mean by doing good doing well is differently You know somebody can play a wonderful game of basketball or football and we could say they did well. They played well. They may not have done much good, but they played well. They did well.

I'm not talking about doing well. I'm talking about doing good. The mode of relating to our neighbors should be that of doing good. Withhold not good. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due.

Good That's a very broad term in Hebrew. The word tov. And it here I think refers to some tangible good. But it can refer very broadly to any kind of good, many kinds of good. But here I think it's referring to a tangible good.

It could refer to money or other needed articles such as clothes or food or housing. It could refer to an action such as the administration of justice, the rendering of medical assistance or even giving information. In essence, this here is speaking of doing what is necessary to sustain life, to promote life and wellbeing, doing what is necessary. Solomon says here, do not withhold this goodness in whatever form it is needed whether it's an action an article a skill information Don't withhold it from those to whom it is due It's another very interesting term that This phrase, those to whom it is due, is the word Baal. You might recognize that word.

Baal. It's the same word for the idol that Israel was not to worship. That the Israelites were trying to sacrifice to on Mount Carmel, and whom Elijah was mocking. It's the same word. And the word really means, broadly, an owner, a husband, a lord, a ruler.

You can see why they're calling their idol a ruler, Baal, a ruler. But how does this word here have anything to do with this thought of not withholding good? How do they get from whom it is due out of this word Baal? This word, Baal. Well it means owner or possessor.

Owner or possessor. Remember that was the first word I gave you owner this is talking about somebody who has a claim to our household's good graces somebody who has a claim on our actions on our Words on our Tangible goods our skills our assets Do not withhold good From that from the person that owns it from the person to whom it is due. It's like David and Nabal. Remember David's servants protected Nabal's flocks and his shepherds. And when David was in need of food, he went to Nabal and reminded him of that good that they had done and put a claim in effect on Nabal's food that he was preparing for a big feast.

Now Nabal withheld it to his folly and shame. And you know the story. This word ba'al is referring to an owner, somebody to whom something is due. And so This is any person who is in need. They have a claim on our ability to help them.

They have a claim on our assets, on our money, when we have it in our power to do good to them. You see verses 27 and 28 are very tightly knit together. There's several things that tie them together and we see in verse 28 it says, go and come back and tomorrow I will give it don't say to your neighbor Go and tomorrow come back, and I will give it when you have it with you. What's it talking about? It's talking about this good That we are to give and not withhold you see it's tying these verses together and neighbor is Tied to the one to whom it is due Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due.

Do not say to your neighbor, go and come back. You see our neighbor and the one to whom it is due are being put together in the same way that it is referring back to goodness, this good, this tov, verse 27. Now what is our neighbor? Our neighbor, well that's a, you're probably thinking of the person that lives next to you and if you've been in church long enough you know that it means more people than that. But the first thing we think of as neighbor is the person who sits in the building across the street from us or beside our building that we sleep in.

But the neighbor in the Hebrew is a very different kind of connotation. It's a very broad term. It's used to refer to all the people at the Tower of Babel. They were, it uses the same word to refer to them. It's the word that's used to refer to Laban and Jacob and all of their progeny.

Same word. Close relatives. But the most interesting thing is this word is what's used to talk about someone who is murdered, someone who is stolen from, people passing in the dark. In fact, next to Proverbs, Exodus and Deuteronomy use this word neighbor the most of all the books in the Old Testament. Way more than all the books in the Old Testament except Proverbs which uses it more than More than either of those books why well Exodus and Deuteronomy?

What is what is in Exodus and Deuteronomy the law the law is always talking about? How you're to treat this other person, not to murder them, not to take their life, not to take their property, not to defraud them, not to take their wife, not to desire to take any of those things. It's using the word neighbor when it says that. The law is given with respect to our neighbor, that person. It's not always translated neighbor in English, but it's the same word here.

It's talking about one another. It's talking about the person that you encounter wherever you encounter them. That's your neighbor. Jesus told that well-known parable to answer the question, Who is your neighbor? Remember the parable of the good Samaritan.

There's a man who is robbed and left for dead, beaten and left for dead. And then people start going by him on the road. Now none of the people that go by this guy on the road, bleeding and left for dead, know who this guy is. They're not coming across somebody who lives in the house next to them. They're not coming across somebody who is a relative or who they know.

We would say they don't know him from Adam. These are in a sense strangers, But they are passing by this person lying on the road in need of help. And a Samaritan, a person from another country, another culture, a despised culture even, helps this person who is in need. And that Jesus said is the neighbor do not withhold good from those to whom it is due Those to whom it is due is our neighbor, our neighbors. It's the person with whom we come into contact.

In God's providence, it's the person that God puts in front of us, whether we know their name or not, they have a claim, if they have a need that we can help with, they have a claim upon our ability, our money or our assets. In a sense, they are the owners of our good. I think Everything that we have belongs to the Lord. He's just entrusted it to us. You know that, right?

We're just stewards. You weren't born with anything and you won't die and take anything with you. Everything you have, everything I have, has been given to us by our Heavenly Father. And He's entrusted it to us. And how we use it is very important to Him, Because it's his stuff.

It's his stuff. If you have an ability, it's his ability. He gave it to you. If you have money, it's his money. He gave it to you.

He gave you the ability to get wealth. And he gave it to you to Stuart. And what he gave to your neighbor, he gave to your neighbor to Stuart and not to you. And so kindness here is really not a matter of option, but of obligation. Doing good is an act of justice in that sense as well as mercy.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, those to whom it is owed. There's a qualification, sir, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. It's a qualification. It is not saying that we need to give money when we don't have that money to give, or to render help when we do not have the ability to give that help. There is not an obligation to give what we don't have, to go into debt.

This is an area that is especially relevant in medicine. The parable of the Good Samaritan is an example of somebody meeting a medical need. He's doing that as an obligation of a neighbor. But he had the means to do so. Remember, he was able to go to the innkeeper and to give not only the money for the needs, but for future expenses as well.

And he said, and if it's more than that, when I come by again, I'll give you more. You see, sometimes we don't have the money to be able to render medical help. Sometimes we don't have the money for medical help ourselves, and our neighbor doesn't have the money for that help. Are we under obligation then? Is it life at all costs?

This surgery has to happen at all costs? This treatment is necessary? It's vital for their life and therefore it's absolutely necessary? No, that's not what the Bible teaches. It teaches that we're to not withhold good from those who it is due when we have the power and the ability to meet it.

If there is a surgery, if there is a procedure, if there is a treatment, but you can't afford it, and your neighbor can't afford it, It's not in your power to give. We're not obligated. There is a time when we can say this is in the Lord's hands. And yes, that surgery could save them, but it's not in our power at this point to give it. And we have to trust in God's providence at that point and his provision for us.

The idea today that it has to be life at all costs, that we have a right to go into a hospital and to presume upon procedures and treatments that cost millions and millions of dollars or million dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars when we have no ability to pay is really covetousness and theft. And even if the purpose of our covetousness and theft is good, it doesn't justify it. You know, we're not justified in stealing from the bank to give it to Paul to have life-saving surgery. It doesn't justify the theft. And so we are not to withhold good from those to whom it is due, and right with that obligation is this very strong qualification.

When it is in our power, our hand to do it. When it's not, we have to accept that as well and sometimes that's harder to accept the fact that we don't have power, that we haven't been given the ability to render help, that we're helpless, and we can cry out to the Lord for that strength to do good, for that need, but we're not able to bring help in. And if it's our own medical need, then we have to recognize that we don't have a claim on other people's money or ability or another doctor's ability to do something. If he gives that, if he offers that, then we can be grateful for that and we can receive that But it's not something that we can lay claim to. We can't just walk into a hospital and say, I need this, I don't have any money, but I need it.

Do it for me. It may be in God's providence that it's our time to die. If God has not given to us the power to bring healing in that situation. This idea though, do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, is reiterated in the New Testament as well. Paul's letters, he mentions this in his letters to both pastors, Timothy and Titus.

He says concerning the rich, command those who are rich in this present age, 1 Timothy 6, 17, 18, Command those who are rich in this present age, not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good. Let those who have great ability, great power that God has given, wealth, and wealth is a power, let them with that wealth do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. That's the same thing that Solomon is giving in the Old Testament. Or in Titus is given the same instruction regarding what he is to teach the people.

Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. Remember these are the people he said are always evil beasts, lazy gluttons. He said, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good work. Ready for every good work.

There is implying the preparation, the preparation, the thinking of head to be ready for good works. Like the widow or like the late woman who prepared a room for Elijah to stay in when he was in her area. There's somebody who was ready, who made preparation to be able to do good to those to whom it was due. We should be ready, we should prepare, so that we are able to do good to those to whom it is due. So that then is the mode of relating to our neighbors?

You think about your interactions with your neighbors, interactions with the people around you. Is the mode that of goodness, of doing good? Think of it mathematically. Is that characterize the majority of your interactions? Well, there, secondly, We have in the text the manner of doing good.

The manner of doing good. How are we to go about doing good? You know, you can do good in an evil manner. Proverbs says that the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. The tender mercies are cruel.

You can do good in an evil way. And so those who are born of the Spirit, then our manner of doing good ought to be that of kindness. We ought to do good in a merciful way, in a kind way. And what is good or kindness done in a kind way? Well, it says here, do not say to your neighbor, go and come back, and tomorrow I will do it.

Goodness done in a kind way is help that is given without delay. Help that is given without delay. Don't say to somebody who needs your help, well go and come back tomorrow. Don't delay out of laziness. You're just too lazy to give them the help that they need at that moment.

Or you're just indifferent. It's not that important and you can get it to it later. Or just out of selfishness. You're doing something that you want to do and can't really be bothered to give that up at the moment. Or it could be, as the text talks about, just a capricious and arbitrary desire to see your neighbor grovel a little bit, just to see him squirm a little bit, just to make him feel under your control.

That's a rather wicked thought. It says, Do not say to your neighbor, go and come back and tomorrow I will give it when you have it with you all the time, all along. When it is in your power to do, at that moment, don't say, go and come back. Now, there's really more in this idiom than comes out in the English. It's really saying not No, it's saying, well, no, but come back again, come ask me again and maybe the answer will be different.

Come ask me again another time. And it might be different. I might be willing to do it then. See that's a put down. In the Hebrew culture that was a big put down.

Humiliating somebody who has asked for help no, but but come back again. I might change my mind tomorrow It's it's kinder simply to say no, I can't do that. I won't do that. Or yes, I can do that. Then to say, no, But come back again and ask me again.

The answer might be different later. That's, in a sense, wanting to make people grovel a little bit before us. Help them in our pride. Help them with an air of superiority. See, our kindness ought not to be like that Done done without delay done with humility It's bad enough that somebody maybe needs to ask for help.

Do not withhold it when it is in your power to give it. Now that works the other way too. For those that are asking for money, Don't assume that people are telling you come back tomorrow and they might have it. Ever been to a place where they're taking a collection and they talk about it and they pass the plate and then maybe they talk about it some more a little later and pass the plate again and they send another letter and another letter. What are they doing?

They're assuming that you're saying, well no, but come back again and ask tomorrow. If you're the one asking for money, if you're the organization, the institution asking for money, don't assume that people are doing that, that they are telling you to no but come back tomorrow, the answer might be different by by asking repeatedly again and again as if the answer would be different ask once and expect that the answer is the answer. James talks about this withholding good. He talks about the wages, the cry of your labors, from the cries out to God of those who the rich have kept back their wages by fraud. Wages are due every day.

And that's when they're earned, and that's how they should be paid. Now, it's certainly not wrong to have a mutual arrangement to pay wages once a month, or once a year, or some other time, but that's a mutual arrangement. I certainly wouldn't want to be paid every day. It would be an inconvenience to be paid that frequently. So it's not saying that that's what has to happen.

What it's saying is that is the standard. That's when wages are due. That's when they're owed. Do not say to your neighbor, go and come back and tomorrow I will give it. That's especially easy to do when somebody asks a question for information.

You want to play with them a little while. You make them sweat a little while. Bible says don't do that. That's not a kind way of doing good. If you have the information, if you know what they're asking, then give it to them.

Do not say, go and come back and tomorrow I will give it to you when you have it all along. Now, there are many situations here where you might not have it at that moment. There are qualifications as we saw to whom it is due. So Somebody who won't work shouldn't eat. That's what it says.

Those who will not work should not eat. They don't, it's not due. The food is not due to them. So sometimes it may take some time to discern whether something is due to somebody. So we're not saying that you can never have any delay in, especially I would say, in giving money.

Not saying that that has to be immediate. You can say, Well, we need to look into the matter. There's wisdom in that, biblical wisdom in that. Because you don't want to give something to someone who shouldn't have it. God says those who won't work should not have food.

And you're wrong if you give it to somebody who won't work so there you might need to look into that matter to see whether it is due to them you may need to look in your into it and see whether it is in your power to give. If somebody needs money, you may have to go back and count your obligations. God has given us obligations. We need to meet those obligations. We have debts that we owe.

We have expenses that we need to prepare for, that we need to meet, and so we may need to take some time to understand how much we have ability to help somebody. And That's not wrong. That's not what's being forbidden here. What's being forbidden here is withholding it, saying, go and come back tomorrow. When you have it all along, you have the power and it's somebody to whom that good is due.

Then the manner of our doing good and the manner of our showing kindness is to do it in a kind way. Now the this mode and manner of doing good is contrasted in the following verses with what we are not to do. We are not to envy the oppressor and choose none of his ways. Oops, Sorry, I missed a verse. Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety's sake.

Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. That word harm is the same word for evil used earlier, ra'a. Do not devise ra'a against your neighbor, if he has not done ra'a. Devise evil. Do not plan evil against someone.

That word devise is literally scratch or plow. That is what the Bible uses to talk about plowing, cultivating, preparation for sowing. Do not prepare. Do not scratch the ground. Do not plan evil.

Particularly against somebody who dwells by you and that word is not, I think it's better translated in the ESV, who dwells by you securely, trustingly. Somebody who is dwelling with you, trusting you, who is not expecting, who has not done anything wrong to you and he's not expecting anything evil to be done against him. Do not plan evil against that person for he is dwelling by you with trust don't betray that trust Speaks particularly don't take advantage of a relationship where somebody is trusting you And that can be a close relationship in the family. It can be an employer-employee relationship. Employer is trusting you.

He's dwelling by you, trustingly, securely. Don't take advantage of that trust to do evil to him. That's a double sin. Don't take advantage, husbands, of the trust your wife has to do evil to her. Something that those who secretly engage in pornography or other adultery are doing.

They're taking advantage of a trust in the relationship. It's a due evil. Cursed is he who smites his neighbor secretly. And the closer the relationship and the more the trust, the greater the heinousness of plotting against them, of doing evil against them. Do not strive with a man without cause.

If he has done you know evil Don't be who like to engage in debates in battles and so on In theological terms, we don't have to debate every difference that we have. No, it's fine to do that and it's good at times. But we're not to be those who are always looking to find every difference and then debate it or challenge it. There's a right time and a right place and a right manner to engage in these things. Don't strive with a man without cause.

That's not the way Of one who has been born of the Holy Spirit the one who is seeking to do good Don't go quickly proverbs says to court Don't be quick to engage in lawsuits every time somebody wrongs you. Somebody backs into your car and does a little tiny little dent. Maybe you can just put your arm around them and say, that's okay. Has that ever happened to you? Has anybody ever done that to you?

Somebody did that to me once. It's a very great kindness. It was just a little little thing turned out and he was very kind about it. It can be a great blessing. Do not be quick to strife.

Do not envy the oppressor and choose none of his ways. Now why would anybody want to envy an oppressor? Well an oppressor is somebody who has power. People envy power. We're not to envy oppressors.

You know, I think that's what a lot of people that get hired into the TSA are doing. They're being envious of oppressors. People who can exercise power and make people do all sorts of things and take off all sorts of their clothes and put their hands in crazy places. There is a power in that. Go here, sit there, stop.

I think a lot of people that gravitate to those kind of jobs are envious of that power that comes with the ability to oppress. Do not be, do not envy the oppressor. Do not envy the one who uses, who's using power tyrannically. In other words, don't apply for a job with TSA they do no good They do no good. The perverse person, the one who uses this power to oppress, The one who uses it cruelly, wrongfully, to trouble people instead of to help is an abomination to the Lord.

But his secret counsel is with the upright. His secret counsel is with the upright. What does that really mean? It means that God's covenant mercies, His fatherly affection is with the righteous. These are things that are hidden from the world.

God's favor is not always readily apparent when you drive past the house of the righteous. Some wicked people have very beautiful looking houses. God's favor is often not readily visible. God's favor, God's secret counsel, this is speaking of that covenant fellowship that we have with the Lord, that communion that we have with him. Jesus speaks with him.

Jesus speaks of this kind of friendship that Christ, that God has with us. In John 14, he who has my commandments and keeps them is he who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." He says a little later, my peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives I give to you, but I give it to you. I'm going to the Father and the helper, the Holy Spirit will come and he will teach you all things and he will bring to mind remembrance of the things that I said to you. This is speaking of that secret counsel.

This is something of that secret counsel that Proverbs is speaking of here. It's the Lord. Christ said that he was friends with his disciples and he talked with them. He spoke with them on an intimate basis. To know that intimate communion with the Lord is to know the Lord's favor, to have his secret counsel.

And it is given to those objects of his affection, those whom he loves, his children. It's a peace. It's a joy. You remember when God was ready to destroy Sodom, what did he do? He went and told Abraham.

He went and told Abraham what he was going to do. Disgusted with him. That's exactly what Proverbs is speaking about and what John is speaking about. It's that communion that God gave to Abraham an enlightened providence, an enlightened knowledge of his providence about what he was going to do and why he was doing it. Jesus said, No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.

For all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. That's God's favor that He makes known to us. He gives us an understanding to discern the times today. God visited Abraham, but we have God's Word, and we can look in God's Word and by His Holy Spirit have an understanding to discern the times that are around us, to understand what God in His providence is doing, and that's a blessing. It's a sign of God's favor.

It's a sign of His secret counsel. Those covenant blessings that we read about in Psalm 144 are included in here as well. Do not devise evil against your neighbor for he dwells by you for safety. Do not envy the oppressor. What is lastly the significance of doing good.

Is it significant? You better believe it's significant. It's tied to your eternal destiny. It's tied closely to your theology. God looks at how you treat your neighbor.

His secret counsel is with the upright. The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the just. Surely he scorns the scornful but he gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the legacy of fools. See, our dealing with our neighbors is tied to our eternal destiny.

In Matthew 25, Jesus explained this. He said, when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of glory and all the nations will be gathered before Him and he will separate them as a shepherd divides his sheep and the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. The king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of the Father, those who have known those covenant blessings, those who have been partakers of that secret council, those who have done what? I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in I was naked and you clothed me I was sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me do not withhold good from those to whom it is due because your eternal destiny is tied to it. Then he will say to those on his left, and depart from me, you cursed and everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me But now here's the interesting part you see Did all those who are the Lord's, did they do this because?

They thought, well, I have to do this. Not at all. They didn't do it because they thought they have to do it. They did it because it was flowed out of their nature. It flowed out of the river of living water that the Holy Spirit causes to spring forth in those in whom he dwells.

They will say to him, Lord, when did we see you hungry? When did we see you sick or naked or sick or in prison and didn't minister to you? And he will say, inasmuch as you didn't do it to the least of these, you didn't do it to me. You notice The sheep ask the same questions. Lord, when did we see you a stranger and take you in naked and clothed?

When did we see you sick and visit you or in prison and come to you? And Jesus, the King, King Jesus' answer is, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me. You have done it unto me. May God cause His Spirit to dwell dwelling in you to spring up into a river of living water that flows out doing good, doing good to those to whom it is due. Let us pray.

Let us pray. Almighty Heavenly Father, we praise your name for your goodness to us, for your kindness, for the many mercies that you have shown to us through strangers, whose names we may not even remember now, but you know their names, and you have promised to reward them according as they have done. Father, help forgive us where we have sought to do good out of our own power or for wrong motives. But, oh Father, give to us that delight in you and in one another, That love born of your spirit that as you have loved us that we may love our neighbor too In Jesus name we ask amen