Proverbs 16:28; 17:9

The point: Avoid constantly harping on matters if you wish to maintain chief friendships.

Martin points out that the common English phrase 'Oh, stop harping on that issue' comes directly from the Bible, specifically Proverbs 17:9, to illustrate the practical relevance of the text.

Now, verse 28 of the same chapter, a perverse man scatters a broad strife, and the whisperer separates chief friends. Chapter 17, verse 9, he that covers a transgression seeks love, but he that harps on a matter separates chief friends. You didn't know how many of our English phrases came out of the Bible, did you? Oh, stop harping on that issue.

0:02 - 0:27 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But it's a little thing that love ought to cover, and instead, you make a string to put in your harp, and you sit there and plunk it all day long.

He uses the metaphor of making a string for a harp and 'plunking it all day long' to describe how someone constantly brings up a minor issue, leading to the separation of chief friends.

But it's a little thing that love ought to cover, and instead, you make a string to put in your harp, and you sit there and plunk it all day long. Plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, until you separate chief friends.

0:41 - 0:57 Read in full sermon

The point: When children are harping on a little issue, ask them if they would like someone to constantly remind them of a little thing in their own life.

Martin uses the example of children harping on little issues and asks parents to prompt their children to consider if they would want someone to constantly remind them of their own little faults, to teach them empathy and to stop harping.

What a horrible thing. And our children are liable to that. And when we see them. Harping on a little issue, we say to them, Would you like somebody to take that little thing in your life and constantly remind you of it?

1:00 - 1:12 Read in full sermon