Passenger pigeons. I don't know if you've ever heard of passenger pigeons. My understanding is they're an extinct species of pigeon, and perhaps after you've heard this story, you'll know why they are extinct. Apparently, passenger pigeons are very, or were, very loyal creatures. They always followed a leader and the leader pigeon, leader passenger pigeon, would scout for a place for the flock to nest and all the other pigeons would follow that leader and go to the place that the lead pigeon selected. The leader would make certain that every bird had a place in the tree and each bird was welcomed into the new location. The problem came when sometimes the lead pigeon would choose a rotten tree that would sometimes collapse under the weight of the nesting birds and sometimes food or water supplies would run low and give out. Even so, not one of the birds would leave the tree. because they didn't want to leave their friends or whatever you call pigeon acquaintances. None of them wanted to leave the safety of the flock and over time the leaders of the pigeons became so attached to the rest of the flock that they would rarely move at all for fear of losing any of the other pigeons. Now hunters figured out that this was a weakness with the passenger pigeons and so what hunters would do is they would capture one of the pigeons and tie its legs together with a string and then tie the string to a stool. and then when other passenger pigeons would fly over the hunters would pull on the string to make the captured pigeon flap about and the flock would see the captured pigeon jumping around and because they were so friendly they would go and join their colleague, friend, on the floor attached to the stool. And once the birds landed, the hunters only had to walk amongst the birds and hit them with clubs and kill them. That captured pigeon, which was attached to the stool, over time became to be known as the stool pigeon. A term that you may have heard and that term stool pigeon is used today of someone who informs against their friends. Someone who betrays the trust of their friends or their acquaintances and informs on them to the police or to the authorities. Now whether that's all entirely true, I'm not entirely sure, but that seems to be where that phrase comes from. Stool, pigeon. And that's a very long-winded way of getting to the subject of our proverb this morning. Because the proverb that we are looking at, Proverbs 24, verses 28 to 29, speaks very much to the danger. and is a warning against being a stool pigeon. Look at verses 28 and 29 again. It says, do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, for would you deceive with your lips? Do not say, I will do to him just as he has done to me. I will render to the man according to his work. Now obviously, in the case of the pigeon, from which Stool Pigeon got its name, the bird did it ignorantly. The bird didn't know that it was betraying all his pigeon friends. But in the case of a human Stool Pigeon, It's done deliberately, whether through malice, or through a desire for revenge, or for whatever reason, it's done deliberately, betraying the trust of your friends, of your acquaintances, of your neighbors. And that's the kind of behavior that is condemned in today's proverb. But notice something first before we look in more detail. Verse 28 says, do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause. What's being warned against is bearing witness against your neighbor when there is no reason to. Sadly, of course, there is sometimes reasons when we have to. betray if betray is the right word, or have to report on someone else. If someone's done something wrong and other people are affected by the wrongdoing, perhaps other people are in danger, or if we ourselves are in danger because of the wrongdoing of this other person. then tragically sometimes it is right. We do need to inform, as it were, against that person. We have to go to the authorities. We have to go to the powers that be in whatever context that might be. And we have to say when someone has done something wrong which is of effect, serious effect to us or to others. But that's not what's in view in this proverb. That's not what this proverb is talking about. This proverb is talking about witnessing against our neighbour without cause, when there is not good reason to, when motivated by malice or envy or jealousy or with a desire to stir up trouble, we decide to tell on someone else, to say something that someone else is doing, whether truthfully or not, in order to get that person into trouble because we hate them and we want to do them harm. We have an example of this. We have multiple examples of this in the Bible, but a particular one in the Old Testament, one you may or may not be familiar with. It's back in the time when David, who is not yet King David, but he's been anointed king by Samuel. And King Saul, the king at the time, is not happy, as you can perhaps understand, about this. And he is chasing David around, trying to kill him. And David flees. to a place called Nob, where the priests were. And he runs to Ahimelech, who was the high priest. And Ahimelech, slightly reluctantly, but he does help David. He gives him bread for he and his men and his food. And he provides David with the sword of Goliath to help him as he runs from Saul with his men. Unfortunately, this is all spotted by a man called Doeg. Doeg, who was an Edomite. And Doeg was a servant of King Saul. And Doeg was a snitch. Doeg sees this and he sees an opportunity to cause harm or perhaps gain extra favor with King Saul. So immediately he runs and he tells King Saul what David has done and what Ahimelech has done to help Saul's enemy, David. He tells Saul that Ahimelech gave David and his men bread, that he provided him with a sword, but then he invents another detail as well. He says to King Saul, and Ahimelech also inquired of the Lord for David. Now we living today might not immediately see the significance of that, but Saul did. way back hundreds, well, a few, about a hundred years before, when, no, a few hundred years before when the Israelites had come out of Egypt and when Moses was getting old and about to die, God instructed Moses to appoint Joshua as the new leader of Israel. And he tells Moses to tell Joshua that when Moses is gone, to tell Joshua, when Moses died, for Joshua to go and inquire of the Lord through the high priest of the time, a man called Eliezer. And Joshua, the new leader of Israel, is to go to the high priest, and the high priest will inquire of the Lord for Joshua to give him guidance. So by adding this detail, this lie in his witness against Ahimelech and against the priests at Nob. Doag is implying that Ahimelech is recognizing David as the new leader of Israel. Just like Joshua was inquired of the Lord by the high priest, so David is here being inquired of the Lord by Ahimelech. And Saul immediately takes the bait, as it were. He immediately sees the significance. And in fury, he sends for Ahimelech and all the priests around him. And he calls them to him, and he asks them what they have done. And Ahimelech confesses that he did feed King David. He did give him the sword of Goliath, but he denies inquiring of the Lord for David. He says, no, Saul, you are still my king. But Saul will have none of it. And he orders the execution of those priests. And Doeg, Doeg, gleefully, it seems, takes on the task. He's already, as it were, killed them with his words, but now he does it with his actions. Doeg witnessed against his neighbour without cause. He did not follow the wisdom of this proverb. David, as you might imagine, was grieved when he heard what had happened. He realized that it was because of the help that Himalaya and those priests gave to him and his men, that's why ultimately they have died. But he realizes as well that it's not only him. It's because of this man, Doeg. And he actually wrote a psalm. You also know the Book of Psalms is written largely by David, and he wrote a psalm immediately after this event. It's worth reading it in full, because it's relevant to this proverb that we're looking at this morning. This is Psalm 52, which David wrote after Doeg had betrayed the priests with Helimelech. So it's Psalm 52. David writes, why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises destruction like a sharp razor working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking righteousness, Selah. You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck you out of your dwelling place and uproot you from the land of the living, Selah. The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him, saying, here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness. but I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise you forever because you have done it. And in the presence of your saints, I will wait on your name, for it is good. Do you see how David is writing a contrast between people like Doeg and people who are faithful? People who, like Doeg, love to cause harm and stir up trouble, and righteous people who put God's first and his desires first. He says of Doeg that although he may enjoy pleasure for a time, although he might reap the benefit of Saul's favor for a short period, one day he's going to be uprooted. His flower will fade very, very quickly. Did you notice what he said? He said, one day people will laugh at him and say, here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness. On the other hand, he describes himself, David, who is trusting in God, who wants to follow God's heart and God's ways. He says, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God, a tree which will bear fruit, not just for a short time on earth, but for eternity. He says lies, tailbearing, accusing others, seeking to push others down to raise yourself up, that may benefit you for a short time. It might gain you approval for a while, but it will not last forever. Far better to seek the approval and the glory that only comes from God. We don't know. Perhaps Doeg had some axe to grind against Ahimelech and against the other priests. Maybe they had said or done something to him in time past and he was wanting to get his revenge. But whatever the reason for his false witness against his neighbors, it wasn't justified. You can see this in our proverb in verse 29. The author of this proverb says, do not say, I will do to him just as he has done to me. I will render to the man according to his work. Now perhaps you can't really relate to the story of Doeg. I'm sure and I trust that none of us have ever betrayed someone or done something like Doag where someone has lost their life or multiple people have lost their lives as a result. I sincerely hope none of us have been in that situation. But I think all of us can relate to the words of verse 29. Their temptation, when someone has hurt us, when someone has lied to us, when someone has harmed us in some way, and we feel justified in taking revenge. Perhaps we gossip about them. Perhaps we drop a small slander about them. We gleefully join in a conversation which puts them down because we have this grievance against them. Surely all of us have experienced that to some extent. The temptation to do someone else down with our words because of something they have done to us in the past and we want to take revenge. It's a very natural emotion but just because it's natural does not mean that it's right. And this proverb warns about acting on that emotion. Did you notice what it said at the end of verse 29? It says, do not say I will do to him or her just as he or her has done to me. I will render to the man according to his work. We can so easily have this temptation to do unto others what they have done to us in a negative way. When someone has hurt us, we want to hurt them back even worse. But this proverb says, do not render to them what they have done to you. And what's interesting about that is that same phrase has actually been used earlier in this chapter. Earlier on, In these proverbs which we've been reading over these last few months, we learn something about God. Let me read from verse 11 of the same chapter, chapter 24. we read back then, deliver those who are drawn towards death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, surely we did not know this, does not he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does he not know it? And will he not render to each man according to his deeds? It's interesting, isn't it? Proverbs 24 verse 12 says that God will render to each person according to their deeds. God will bring justice on everyone who has harmed others. And some people read that and they think, well, if God can do it, why can't I? If God can do an eye for an eye, as it were, if God can bring justice and vengeance and revenge on those who do evil, why can't I? But that's muddled thinking. The reasoning is actually almost exactly the opposite way. The reason why verse 29 of Proverbs 24 warns us not to take vengeance on others, not to take justice into our own hands, is precisely because God is going to do it. The reason why we shouldn't is because God will. We don't need to take revenge on others because God has it all completely under control. As the Bible says, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, vengeance is mine, God says, I will repay. God says, I will repay, not you. You don't need to worry about that. I have it under control. Now, of course, God may do that through the earthly authorities that he has put in place. Kings, rulers, governments, the police. They are there to administer God's justice on earth. So going back to that first point at the beginning, sometimes we may have to use those authorities in life now. But what this proverb is saying, don't take justice into your own hands. Don't think that you can solve the problem yourself. You don't need to take that burden onto yourself. Perhaps you've been hurt in significant ways. Perhaps your life has been severely affected by the harm that someone else has done to you. But do you hear the good news that is contained with this? You might be suffering because of some wrong done to you, but God knows that too. God is perfectly aware of it, and he will make sure that justice will be done. You don't need to worry about that. God will do it much better. God will do it much more thoroughly. God will do it much more severely even than you ever could. We can leave it in his wise and loving hands. That's why Proverbs 19 verse 11 says, a man with good sense is slow to anger and he earns glory for overlooking an offense. Let me read that again. A man with good sense is slow to anger and he earns glory for overlooking an offense. We have this wonderful privilege that if we're trusting in God, we're relying on him to bring justice, we have this privilege that we are able to overlook offences. We're able to overlook offences done to us. We're able not to take them so much to heart because God, if I can put it this way, is taking them to heart. And he will one day deal with it far better than we ever could in one of two ways. One way is by God punishing and judging the person who has harmed us and the Bible calls that hell. It calls it the place of outer darkness where everyone will receive just what they deserve. That's one way God may deal with it. The other way is through his son taking it on the cross. Because that is why Jesus came, to bear the penalty of sin on himself. It might be that the person that has harmed you will never repent. They'll never turn to Christ. And so they will pay for what they've done one day. You do not need to worry about that. But it may be that they will repent. it may be that they will turn to Christ and receive that forgiveness that you and I, I trust, have already received. And wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that be wonderful if someone who has caused you so much harm receives forgiveness from God? Not because God has swept it under the carpet, but because Christ has paid for it all on the cross. Is that not a sufficient sacrifice for the harm that you have felt. That's the teaching of the Bible. We don't need to take justice into our own hands. God has it more than under control. And that allows us not to be like Doeg, not to be a stool pigeon, not to be someone who's intent on eking out whatever glory and honor we can out of this life, but instead, as Proverbs 1911 says, to earn glory by overlooking an offense, which is, of course, exactly what Christ did himself, wasn't it? Christ was the exact, opposite, the exact antithesis of verses 28 and 29. He did not witness against his neighbor without a cause. Instead, the Bible says he went like a lamb to the slaughter. He had false witnesses testify against him, but we're told he did not open his mouth, but he committed himself to him, his father, who judges rightly. Jesus knew that ultimately his eternity, his future was safe in his father's hands. And that allowed him to go to the cross to overlook, as it were, the offences against him because he had a higher aim. And we're called to walk in his steps, not to take on the sins of the world. We don't need to. Christ has already done that and he offers forgiveness to anyone who comes to him. But we can, in a kind of small imitation sort of way, follow in his steps by showing grace and mercy to others, not weeping evil for evil, not an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, but showing grace when we are showed evil. We can overcome evil with good. That's the burden of this proverb. And with those thoughts in mind, before we come to remember the Lord's death around the Lord's table, we're going to sing number 706. And this is really a hymn asking God to search our hearts, to examine our hearts, to see are we more like a dough egg Or is our heart more in line with Christ's heart? So it's number 706. So let's stand to sing 706. My actions charming, and let my life appear, blessing my love. ♪ To be the only show ♪ ♪ For light unto man of himself ♪ ♪ Where passion waits within ♪ ♪ Wave of my conscience ♪ Thank you.