I called this ‘Part 2 of Hebrews 5:1-14’ in my notes, since the two were a continuation of one main subject and I was able to give the two talks on consecutive Sundays, but as I have said, it was part of a four-part series, and as such this would be ‘Part 3’… 🙂  

The Purpose of Proverbs

These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.

Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young.

Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

A Father’s Exhortation: Acquire Wisdom

My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck.

My child, if sinners entice you, turns your back on them! They may say, “Come and join us. Let’s hide and kill someone! Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent! Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave; let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death. Think of the great things we’ll get! We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. Come, throw in your lot with us; we’ll all share the loot.”

My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths. They rush to commit evil deeds. They hurry to commit murder. If a bird sees a trap being set, it knows to stay away. But these people set an ambush for themselves; they are trying to get themselves killed. Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life.

Wisdom Shouts in the Streets

Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate: “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise.

“I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you.

“When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. For simpletons turn away from me—to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency. But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.”  NLT

“’Nake comin’, Dad.” I wasn’t quite asleep, yet, but was headed there. “What?” I asked. “’Nake comin’, Dad! ‘Nake comin’!”

My three-year-old son and I were spending the weekend with my mother and her husband at the trailer they owned and kept at a campground in Missouri. He and I were just settling in for the night when he sat upright and pointed down the covers, “’Nake comin’!” I rolled over to look and saw an inchworm making its way towards the pillows. Trying very hard not to laugh, I reassured him that it was only an inch-worm and nothing to worry about, then scooped it up and threw it outside. Thus reassured, we both settled in and went to sleep.

Though very intelligent for his age (after all, I AM his father!), Ted’s vocabulary at three years of age just did not have enough words in it, yet, to fully describe what he was seeing. The word he did know that most closely described it was ‘snake’! He had seen them at the zoo and read about them in some of his books, and he knew that some snakes were dangerous… hence his insistence on getting my attention focused on what was steadily approaching up the sheet.

I tend to look at everything with a very analytical point of view, and very early on I had made an intense study of the oxen drive wheel used to power the carding mill in the village at New Salem State Park. For those of you who may not have seen it, this consists of a huge wooden turntable set to turn on an angle. A giant beam is mounted to rub on one side of it as a brake and is controlled by a wooden lever in the mill. The brake is set and two oxen are brought up into a stall, complete with feed racks, facing uphill on one side of the wheel, where the oxen dutifully begin eating. When the mill is ready, the brake is released and the weight of the oxen on that side of the wheel causes it to move down. If the oxen want to continue eating, they have to keep walking uphill to stay even with their food. They walk uphill as the wheel moves around. Underneath the wheel is a large wooden gear with handmade wooden teeth engaging another wooden gear connected to a hand-hewn log shaft running under the mill. After going through another set of wooden gears under the building, the power is transferred by belt up into the mill to power the carding machine. Ox power!

Many has been the time that I have walked up to different people and groups trying to figure out just what all of that massive woodwork was and took the time to explain it to them. On a visit some years ago, I approached what I would say was a junior-high class standing around it, and could see and hear them coming up with some very strange ideas and comments as to what it was and how it worked… none of which were even close to being right. As they were beginning to move on, I walked up and asked, “Do you understand how it works?” The teacher stepped out of the group and said, “No! Please explain to us how it works!” They all turned back towards the wheel and listened as I pointed out the different aspects and what their importance was in making everything work like it should. And as they all walked away I could tell from their comments that they had understood what I had been telling them, and were amazed at how everything had been put together to work with ‘Ox Power’. However, I couldn’t help but think that some, if not most, of them were still wondering why they hadn’t just installed an electric motor! They understood the nuts-and-bolts of the machinery, but were unable to deal with the concept of there ever having been a time when something like that was not only necessary, but would have been considered high-technology.

Unfortunately, much of that same way of thinking has permeated the way youth (and many adults!) perceive religion and moral values. Through the magic of modern technological advances, ‘miracles’ occur around us everyday! Imagine the pioneer of nine decades ago walking into a modern home and seeing a television picture… a doctor transported from a Civil War surgery into one of today’s medical marvels… or a ‘mule skinner’ suddenly seeing a 747 overhead! These things which we take so much for granted would surely seem to be miracles to our forefathers. Yet, to us they are just part of our everyday life, with more ‘miracles’ being invented everyday. Is it any wonder, then, that many of OUR generation, let alone our youth, have a problem dealing with the miracles and ‘stories’ that we read about in the Bible as being anything too special?

Note these statistics from the Ethics of American Youth Survey a few years ago…

Who cheats on tests?

74% of Christian Youth

76% of Non-Christian Youth

Who lies to their parents?

93% of Christian Youth

93% of Non-Christian Youth

Who physically hit someone when angered?

63% of Christian Youth

67% of Non-Christian Youth

The point is, there is little or no difference between many kids who are called Christian and non-believers! And that is because we have failed in passing on to them the full context and meaning of the Good News of Jesus Christ… and that is at least partly because that for all intents and purposes, many of us have failed, ourselves, to grasp the full import of Christ’s message.

For the most part, many who consider themselves Christians today, including our youth, have not been taught any of the ‘heavy’ ideas and ideals of religion… they have learned what I have termed ‘religion-lite’! Yet, since the only word in most vocabularies that came close to describing it was ‘religion’, that’s what most assumed they were learning. But the numbers in this survey tell a different story!

Some years back, I wrote what amounts to a lengthy essay concerning my thoughts on youth ministry in particular, and all ministry in general. I’d like to read just two-or-three sections of it, slightly modified for today…

“Sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll!!!”

“Times change, and we with time…

But not in the ways of Friendship!”

These words appear on several Christmas cards that I like to send when I have a chance each year (they have TRAINS on them!) to those who I truly feel close to but just don’t get to see that often. And they are very true…times DO change! But what is it that has changed?

How often have we heard, or even thought ourselves, that life used to be so much simpler? But it wasn’t! In the fifties, women spent 2-3 hours a day, or more, preparing meals from scratch, and many still used wringer-washers to do the laundry, while men worked at least forty hours a week to earn the money needed to purchase that food and other necessities at the store. One hundred years before that, entire families would work endless hours raising and harvesting their needs as well as preparing it. And during the time of Christ the idea of working ‘24/7’, as we say today, was just a given…that’s what one did to survive! A simpler time? I think not! But through it all, has man changed? NO! Technology has!!!

Throughout time, man has learned…he has learned about his world…he has learned about life…and he has learned how to do and/or build things that make that life easier. And each succeeding generation has been able to learn from those before and build even further. And all of this has led us to the ‘miracles’ that we enjoy today…instant food…virtually instant transportation and/or communication around the world…and instant access to the entire collective knowledge of mankind! The problem is that now a person can ‘learn’ about almost anything they want without necessarily learning all of the history and lessons that surround it. In other words, they can learn how to do good or evil without first learning what good and evil really are, and how whichever it is might affect them and those around them.

There are drugs in school, today. There is also rampant promiscuousness. But you know what? There were drugs in my high school in the ‘60’s! And where do you suppose the idea of ‘free love’ came from? How about the ‘50’s? The 1800’s? People …Jesus talked about sex… and drugs were just as much a part of that society’s problems as they are today! The only difference is technology! Today, technology has not only improved on ‘natural’ drugs, but has gone on to be used to build ‘designer’ drugs, while the magic of movies, television, and radio bring all of it, and the lure of sex, to the forefront of everyone’s attention! (How many products can you name that don’t use some sort of sexual ‘tease’ in their advertising? And how many shows, themselves, use sex as their primary premise?)

So, again, the problems that kids face today are no different than the problems that have been faced by kids their age throughout time. The only differences are this: First of all, there is no question but that these sins are far more ‘out in the open’ than they used to be. I knew there were drugs in my school, but I didn’t know, for sure, who had them. I had my suspicions, but that was all. Today, sources would seem to be much more visible. And that is, I believe, at least partly due to what I see as the other primary problem…many of today’s parents have lost the notion that many sins are sins…many of them have lost the clear-cut notion of good and evil…and consequently fail to pass on any ideas of good and evil to their children. And without a basic knowledge of good and evil, what is there to guide the youth of today?

Getting Back to Basics!

The December 2002 issue of Readers Digest has an article in it written by David McCullough. In it he describes how we Americans, at least, are losing our history. He tells of an undergrad telling him after a lecture how she never realized before that the original thirteen colonies were all on the eastern seaboard…how a recent survey at colleges and universities showed that more people believed Ulysses S. Grant to be the American general at Yorktown…and how none of the nation’s top 50 learning institutions now require American History as part of the curriculum! And he goes on to explain that without that knowledge…without knowing not only WHAT happened before, but also WHY it happened…these people will be doomed to repeat the same mistakes! As I have said before, each generation learns from the one before and builds on that knowledge. But if we ignore the lessons of the past then we must, forsooth, repeat them!

The same exact idea holds true for our religious beliefs and faith! How many crazy ideas have I heard people speak that were purported to be spiritual! In fact, one young man that had gone on two different mission trips with us had apparently fallen into a ‘cult’ that told him that the only way to be really ‘close to God’ was through death! And his personal knowledge of the Bible and the teachings within were not complete enough to show him the truth that WAS THERE! He was found dead in his college dorm room… suicide by hanging!

ANY ministry that purports to educate ANYONE, youth or adult, MUST begin with the BASICS! The Bible is not difficult to read…and it is not intended to be difficult to understand. Generally, if a passage seems too difficult, either we are trying too hard to make it mean what it doesn’t, or the meaning of the language has changed too much over time. God intended for EVERYONE to read, study, and UNDERSTAND His word!

Epilogue

Razzle-dazzle! That’s what they called one type of camouflage used in WWII. An entire warship would be painted into all kinds of strange shapes with wild colors. Close up, the effect was startling! But on the open ocean, it was invisible! In the razzle-dazzle of today’s world it becomes difficult to see things as they really are…our eyes trick us into seeing, or not seeing, only what others intend for us to. The reality gets lost in the hypes and colors and sales pitches to the point that we wind up taking what someone else tells us we want while our true needs and desires are subverted to nothingness.

As you search to hear God’s voice, don’t be distracted. Search out the truth! Search out what is real! Because, without a belief in the basics…without a firm foundation on which to stand… without the conviction that the Bible is God’s word and that what it says is truth…any gains that seem to be made will be false! For, as I’ve said before, one TRUE follower of Christ is worth more than one hundred luke-warm followers…because the luke-warm followers will still wind up the same as those who never chose to follow in the first place.

There is no such thing as a Partial Christian. That would kinda’ be like being partly pregnant!

Next time, we’ll talk about that!