J’étais stupide et sans intelligence, J’étais à ton égard comme les bêtes./ I WAS STUPID

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

DIMANCHE 17 JANVIER 2016

SERMON: J’ETAIS STUPIDE / I WAS SENSELESS

By Pastor Marc E Simeon

Psaume 73:22

J’étais stupide et sans intelligence, J’étais à ton égard comme les bêtes.

 I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. (WEB)

Mwen te sòt, mwen pa t’ konprann anyen. Mwen te tankou yon bèt devan ou.

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INTRODUCTION

• The word stupidity is a derogatory and a degrading, and insulting word
• No one should use it in reference to another person
• No teacher should refer to his or her students in those terms
• No parent should ever use it in addressing to their students
• No employer should relate to their employees and vice versa in using the adjective stupid.
• The Bible is very explicit as to what should happen to anyone who calls his brother crazy.

Mt 5:22 Mais moi, je vous dis que quiconque se met en colère contre son frère mérite d’être puni par les juges; que celui qui dira à son frère: Raca! (vaut rien, vide, sans valeur)  mérite d’être puni par le sanhédrin; et que celui qui lui dira: Insensé! mérite d’être puni par le feu de la géhenne.

Mt 5:22 “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (vain, empty, worthless, ) shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. (NKJV)

²² Men, mwen menm, men sa m’ap di nou: Nenpòt moun ki ankòlè sou frè l’, se pou yo jije li. Moun ki joure frè l’ enbesil, se pou yo jije l’ devan Gran Konsèy la. Si yon moun di frè l’ moun fou, li bon pou yo jete l’ nan dife lanfè a.

• Many damages happen in marriages when couples begin to use these degrading clichés against one another.
• Lasting negative results can be awaited when parents carelessly refer to their children in those degrading terms.
• We Haitians are very sensitive when people refer to us as stupid
  • Example of the pastor friend of mine who went hysterical when he heard his boss used the word stupid addressing to him.
  • His English was too limited to differentiate whether his boss called him stupid or deemed stupidity to his work.
  • Me . . . . stupid?  No no no, me no stupid. Me ? . . . .  stupid ? Me ? stupid ?
  • Blan sa pa konn ak ki yes lap pale. LOL

• As much as we hate been referred to in those terms; and, as much that we try to hide our ignorance to others, we often catch ourselves using the same word in referring to ourselves.
• In Psalm 73:22, the Psalmist called himself stupid, senseless, brute like an animal.

Definition of Stupidity from the webb

• Behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment.
• “I can’t believe my own stupidity”

Synonym Lack of: intelligence, foolishness, denseness, brainlessness, ignorance,dull-wittedness, slow-wittedness, slowness; dimness,    foolishness, folly, silliness, idiocy, brainlessness, senselessness,  incompetence, ridiculousness, absurdity, irrationality, madness, insanity, lunacy; informal craziness

• Intellectual stupidity

Otto Fenichel  said

• “Every intellect begins to show weakness when affective motives are working against it”.^[14] He suggests that “people become stupid ad hoc, that is, when they do not want to understand, where understanding would cause anxiety or guilt feeling, or would endanger an existing neurotic equilibrium.”^[15]

The title of the message today is I was stupid.

• It’s one thing when someone calls you stupid; it’s another when you call your own self stupid.
• Most of the times we call ourselves stupid in retrospect to some dump and foolish decisions or reactions that we have made.
• When we find out that we were deceived, or were not thinking right in some decisions we took.
• Sometimes people feel remorseful, and find it hard to forgive themselves over some dump and poor judgments they have made that were far beneath them, where they should have known better.
  • A pastor who falls in adultery
  • A church member caught stealing
  • A teacher who falls sexually with a student
  • A Christian student who gets expelled from school because of plagiarism.
  • A police officer caught receiving a bribe.

• You cannot avoid feeling stupid when you knew better; when you were portrayed as role model.
• In Psalm 73, the problem was that the author was trapped in a line of thought that was detrimental to his faith.
• A person in good standing with God, about to go south, because of some observations he has made.
• His faith in God, his philosophy about life, his behavior, and all he stood for were at stake. He nearly failed God.
• He was inches away from falling in a ditch because of the optics he was observing life.

AFFIRMATION OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD

Ps 73:1 ¶ Psaume d’Asaph. Oui, (affirmation) Dieu est bon pour Israël, Pour ceux qui ont le cœur pur.

• The poetic style of this psalm allows the author to begin with what could be used as a concluding statement.
• After all my exploits I conclude that God is Good
• He continues by telling us the long and perilous journey he had traveled before reaching a false conclusion about God.

THE GOOD TIME OF THE EVIL DOERS

Ps 73:2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped;

 3 For I was envious at the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the wicked.

2 Toutefois, mon pied allait fléchir, Mes pas étaient sur le point de glisser;

 3 Car je portais envie aux insensés, En voyant le bonheur des méchants.

 ⁴ Yo pa gen pwoblèm, yo pa malad, yo byen gra.

⁵ Yo pa soufri sa lòt moun ap soufri. Yo pa gen pwoblèm lòt yo genyen.

⁶ Yo pran pòz pa kanmarad pesonn, y’ap plede bat moun.

⁷ Kè yo plen mechanste. Yo plen move plan nan tèt yo.

⁸ Y’ap pase lòt moun nan rizib, y’ap pale move pawòl. Yo awogan, y’ap plede mache di jan y’ap kraponnen moun.

⁹ Yo pale Bondye ki anwo nan syèl la mal, y’ap bay tout lòt moun lòd avèk awogans.

¹⁰ Se konsa, menm pèp Bondye a fè bann ak yo, yo vale tou sa yo di yo san di yon mo.

11 Et il dit: Comment Dieu saurait-il, Comment le Très-Haut connaîtrait-il?

 12 Ainsi sont les méchants: Toujours heureux, ils accroissent leurs richesses.

• This is not an objective observation as we can see.
• This is a person who is observing life through the lenses of self-pity.
• This is a child in the comfort of his parents’ house, looking at others on the outside from the windows, thinking that they are better off than him because they are free to roam the streets without objections.

COMMON MISTAKE OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD

• All of us children of God can identify with the author, when we observe the evil doers having a good time and us misery?
• I personally hate to see evil people getting away with their misdeeds
• I have a hard time watching bad things happen to good people and good things happen to the bad people.
• If there is a sin I commit more often than others, is my dissatisfaction on how God handles the evil doers.
• Even in traffic, I have a hard time with the reckless drivers. I am sometimes tempted to take matters into my own hands.
• I hate to see habitual and guiltless sinners walking away while innocent or accidental sinners get caught and are subjected to the full weight of their mistake. (ex. A pastor’s daughter I knew)
• A young church girl who was not a habitual sinner found herself in an out of wedlock pregnancy.
• She then carried the child full term to avoid committing the greater sin of abortion.
• The really bad girls in that same church went on with their education while living in sin.

• Those who are trying to live in holiness can often feel disenfranchised when they see that the wicked hold in their hands that which they desire and cannot get.
•  One is looking for a child, another is aborting a child
• One is waiting for a husband or a wife while another is cheating on or abusing his or her spouse.

IT IS POINTLESS TO BE A RIGHTEOUS

Ps 73:13 Truly have I purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency:

 14 For all the day have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

 15 ¶ If I said, I will speak thus, behold, I should be faithless to the generation of thy children.

 16 When I thought to be able to know this, it was a grievous task in mine eyes;

13 C’est donc en vain que j’ai purifié mon cœur, Et que j’ai lavé mes mains dans l’innocence:

 14 Chaque jour je suis frappé, Tous les matins mon châtiment est là.

 15 ¶ Si je disais: Je veux parler comme eux, Voici, je trahirais la race de tes enfants.

 16 Quand j’ai réfléchi là-dessus pour m’éclairer, La difficulté fut grande à mes yeux,

• The psalmist is avowing the perplexity and the anguish of his soul.
• The scene is not easy to bear
• The temptation to alter our ways to the patterns of the wicked is far greater than imaginable.
• Why does it have to be so hard for the righteous person to survive these days?

I COME TO MY SENSES

Ps 73:17 Until I went into the sanctuaries of *God; [then] understood I their end.

17 Jusqu’à ce que j’eusse pénétré dans les sanctuaires de Dieu, Et que j’eusse pris garde au sort final des méchants.

• Only God can bring us back to our senses
• There are things that you will only figure out while in church, while singing the hymns, while listening to the message, while being in the company of other believers.
• Ps 73:17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.
•  

 GOD JUDGES THE EVIL DOERS

Ps 73:18 Truly thou settest them in slippery places, thou castest them down in ruins.

 19 How are they suddenly made desolate! they pass away, consumed with terrors.

 20 As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image.

18 Oui, tu les places sur des voies glissantes, Tu les fais tomber et les mets en ruines.

 19 Eh quoi! En un instant les voilà détruits! Ils sont enlevés, anéantis par une fin soudaine!

 20 Comme un songe au réveil, Seigneur, à ton réveil, tu repousses leur image.

• I was so busy feeling sorry for myself that I failed to analyze the situation correctly.
• I was in a trance; I could not see clearly.
• I was looking wrongly, I was thinking wrongly
• I made the wrong assumption
• I draw the wrong conclusion about God, about me, and about the evildoers

I WAS STUPID

Ps 73:21 ¶ Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind.

 22 I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.

 21 ¶ Lorsque mon cœur s’aigrissait, Et que je me sentais percé dans les entrailles,

 22 J’étais stupide et sans intelligence, J’étais à ton égard comme les bêtes.

• I was so wrong
• I was so off base
• I was so angry at God for no reason
• I was so stupid, I was so ignorant

GOD WAS, IS, AND WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME

Ps 73:23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.

 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.

 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.

23 Cependant je suis toujours avec toi, Tu m’as saisi la main droite;

 24 Tu me conduiras par ton conseil, Puis tu me recevras dans la gloire.

 25 Quel autre ai-je au ciel que toi! Et sur la terre je ne prends plaisir qu’en toi.

²⁶ Kò m’ te mèt ap deperi, lespri m’ te mèt ap gaga, se ou menm menm, Bondye, ki tout fòs mwen, se ou menm ki tout mwen.

CONCLUSION

PEOPLE SHOULD NEVER TURN THEIR BACKS TO GOD

Ps 73:27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.

 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.

²⁷ Se vre wi, moun ki vire do ba ou pral mouri, w’ap fini nèt ak moun ki pa kenbe pawòl yo gen avè ou.

²⁸ Mwen menm, sa bon nèt pou m’ rete bò kot Bondye: Se nan Seyè a mwen jwenn pwoteksyon. M’a fè konnen tou sa li fè.

• How far away have you drifted from the path of God?
• Is your faith holding firm these days or is it falling away?
• How are analyzing the situations around?
• Do you have a healthy view of God?
• Are you feeling disenfranchised, or are you content with your relationship with God?
• Are you feeling privileged to be a child of God?

Psaume 32:10-11

Ps 32:10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.

 11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

10 Beaucoup de douleurs sont la part du méchant, Mais celui qui se confie en l’Éternel est environné de sa grâce.

11 Justes, réjouissez-vous en l’Éternel et soyez dans l’allégresse! Poussez des cris de joie, vous tous qui êtes droits de cœur!

Ps 34 : 19-22

Ps 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

 20 He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.

 21 Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.

 22 The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

19 Le malheur atteint souvent le juste, Mais l’Éternel l’en délivre toujours.

20  Il garde tous ses os, Aucun d’eux n’est brisé. 21 Le malheur tue le méchant, Et les ennemis du juste sont châtiés.

22 L’Éternel délivre l’âme de ses serviteurs, Et tous ceux qui l’ont pour refuge échappent au châtiment.

AMEN !