The young people who fear God
[Proverbs 1:8-19]
You may have seen the news of gunfire last Saturday (January 8, 2011) in a shopping center in Tucson, Arizona. As I watched the news, I became interested in the news about Christina Green, a nine-year-old girl. When I was watching the news, there was a scene where Christina's parents were interviewed. So I looked at it with a little interest and I saw her father, who said that Christina was born on September 11, 2001, during the 9/11 terrorist incident, showing his tears in his eyes as he was thinking about his beloved daughter who was shot and killed. But about a day or two ago, I was stunned when I saw the news that a Baptist church in Kansas was causing a disturbance by protesting at the Christiana’s funeral. The members of this Baptist church were the people who protested and made a great disturbance at the funeral of a soldier who had died in the war few years ago by saying ‘God cursed you’. So I heard CNN Internet news that the Arizona legislature even passed a bill that would ban other protesters from within 300 feet at Christian’s funeral. It is ridiculous. As I read this news, I really think that this age in which we are living is playing around with the Satan’s temptations, whether those who believe in Jesus or those who don’t. Although there are many temptations of Satan, I think it is “confusion” and “illusion” to summarize in two. In particular, I think that Satan is making us, the Christians, to commit sins against God by deluding us with sweet illusion, causing us to become confused spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
How should we, living in this age, resist Satan's temptations and live a life of faith that is right and proper in the sight of God? Like the words we learned in Proverbs 1:1-7 during the Wednesday prayer meeting last week, we learn the skill of godly living (vv. 2a, 3-4) in fear of God (v. 7) and develop spiritual discernment (vv. 2a, 5-6) and live wisely in this evil age. In this evil age, we must save our time and discern what the Lord's will is and live according to His will (Eph. 5:15-17) by receiving wisdom from God (Jam. 1:5-6) and fear Him. What is the fear of God? “The fear of the Lord is a state of mind in which one’s own attitudes, will, feelings, deeds, and goals are exchanged for God”(MacArthur). Therefore, those who fear God, everything is Lord-centered, not self-centered at all. Those who fear God will never seek their own will, but only His will. They will embrace the heart of the Lord and live a life that fulfills His will by imitating the thoughts of the Lord, the feelings of the Lord, the attitude and will of the Lord, and the actions of the Lord. Shouldn’t we live this life?
Today, I would like to receive three lessons on what the young Christians, who fear God do, based on Proverbs 1:8-19, under the heading “The young people who fear God”. I hope and pray that we will give glory to God by obeying God's word as we receive the instruction that King Solomon gives to the young people today, and pray that God will lift us up and use us.
First, the young people who fear God obey their parents’ words.
Look at Proverbs 1:8 – “Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.” When we look at the Children education of the Jewish parents, the parents are obligated to teach their children the law of God (Torah). This is a prerequisite for becoming a member of the Israeli social community. According to one pastor, Jews have their children to recite the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures, that is Pentateuch) for 3 hours a day when they turn 4 years old (Internet). Where does this Jewish fundamental theological philosophy of education begin? It starts with “Shema” (a Hebrew word that literally means “listen, heed, or hear”). Look at Deuteronomy 6:4-7: “Hear (Shema), O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” It is said that the word “Shema” is the first spiritual education that a Jewish child encounters in the world. It is said that the Jewish children learns the word 'Shema' from when they can't pronounce it right under their mother's lap. Also their last will in front of all the family and people around them before their last breath in this earth is “Shema”. In addition, the Jewish mothers make their children memorize “Shema” before going to sleep. It is said that the reason is to make “Shema” the last will in case of death while falling asleep (Internet).
We, the parents, must diligently teach our children the Word of God. To do this, we must first listen to His word and engrave it on our hearts as we love the one and only God. Then, we must diligently teach our children the word of God, so that the word of God is deeply engraved on their hearts. To what extent we must engrave the word of God in the hearts of our children is to the extent that our children cannot depart from it. To that extent, we must plant the word of God's truth in our children’s hearts. But what is the problem? One of the problems is that the word of God isn’t deeply engraved on our hearts. In other words, even though we the parents diligently learn and obey the Word of God and thus the Word should become ours (Ps. 119:56), but it isn’t. The key to its cause is disobedience. In other words, even though we diligently listen and learn the Word of God, we cannot keep and do what we have learned, so the learned Word of God cannot be ours. Rather, our possessions seem to seek material things rather than keeping God's Word. In such a spiritual state, we are trying to teach our children the word of God, so the word of God's truth cannot be planted in their hearts. Rather, I worry that the Word of God we are teaching is being planted in their heads, not in their hearts. I think the best way for us to plant God's word deep in the hearts of our children is an example. When we first lead an exemplary life of faith in obeying God's word, our children will follow our example and live a life of obeying His word. Then the word of God will not only belong to us, but also to our children (v. 56).
We young people must fear God (Prov. 1:7) and obey His word that they hear and learn through believing parents. Why should they do that? Look at Proverbs 1:9 – “Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck.” The reason the young people should listen to and obey God's word through their parents is that obeying His word is the graceful wreath to their head and ornaments about their neck. In other words, obedience to the Word is an honor and exaltation for young people. God glorifies those who obey His word (Park). Daniel, who obeyed God's word, was exalted by God, and God make Joseph the prime minister of Egypt. God exalts the young people who obey God's word and uses them as His valuable tools. Therefore, the young people must learn and obey the Word of God through their parents, so they should not depart from it.
Second, the young people who fear God don’t consent if sinners entice them.
Look at Proverbs 1:10 – “My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.” How do the sinners entice the young people? They entice the young people with a trick that promises false happiness. What is that false happiness? Look at verse 13: “We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil.” The false happiness that sinners promise young people is a lie that they will possess material or something of value. By seducing the young people with this lie, the sinners pressure the young people to ambush the innocent together without cause (v. 11). They say ‘let's hurt them very cruelly’ (v. 12). Then, they propose to take all the possessions of the innocent young people and make the possessions their joint possession (v. 14) (Park). As I meditated on these words, I thought of two Bible stories. The first Bible story that came to mind is the story of a man named Naboth in 1 Kings 21. A man named Naboth was an Israelite who lived in Samaria, and his good vineyard was near the palace of the wicked King Ahab. When Ahab, who was greedy, coveted Naboth's vineyard and tried to make the vineyard his own, Naboth said that it was the land that his ancestors handed over and that he couldn’t sell it. It was King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who came to Ahab who was worried about it. She conceived and perjured Naboth for cursing God and the king, and killed him in front of elders and nobles, and took the Naboth’s vineyard. How cruel is this? The second Bible story that came to mind is the story of Joseph from Genesis 37. The Bible says that Joseph's brothers, who hated and envious of Joseph, were herding sheep in a place called Dothan, and they saw Joseph coming from a distance and plotted against him to put him to death (Gen. 37:18). They matched each other’s words after they killed Joseph, threw him into one of the pits and say, “A wild beast devoured him” (v. 20). Then they sold Joseph to the Ishmael merchants without their eldest brother Reuben know (v. 28), took Joseph's tunic, slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood (v. 31), and sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and showed it to their father Jacob (v. 32). At that time, the father Jacob rejected the comfort of other children and said: “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son” (v. 35). How can they lie so cruelly to their father? Satan, the evil devil, is deluding our young people with a trick that promises false happiness. Just as when Eve saw the fruit of good and evil and was deceived, Satan is now deceives our young people with false happiness that seems to be good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise (3:5-6).
This wicked world we live in now is making us, the young people who believe in Jesus, to love money and self in our hearts, and thus making us slaves of money and of selfish covetousness. Now Satan and his servants, evil sinners, blind us to the momentary happiness in this earth, not eternal happiness, to neglect the eternal and to keep pursuing the momentary things. Therefore, we must listen to the truth of God through our parents and obey it. And by standing firmly in the faith, we must watch and pray carefully so that we don’t fall into the temptations of Satan and the wicked. And when Satan and the wicked entice us, we must defeat them with the word of God, the sword of the Holy Spirit as we imitate the example of Jesus. We should never yield our hearts to the enticement of Satan and the wicked.
Third and last, the young people who fear God don’t walk in the way with the wicked.
Look at Proverbs 1:15 – “My son, do not walk in the way with them Keep your feet from their path.” As I meditated on this word, I remembered Psalms 1:1-2: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.” As I relate this passage to Proverbs 1:8-19, I learn what we the young Christians should do:
(1) We must not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
Look at Psalms 1:1 – “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, ….” As we have already meditated on in Proverbs 1:10, we must not consent even if sinners entice us. Psalms 1:1 or Proverbs 1:10 are giving us the same lesson. That is, we must not follow the counsel of the wicked.
(2) Then, we will not stand in the path of sinners.
Look at Psalms 1:1 – “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, ….” If we follow the counsel of the wicked, in the end, we will find ourselves walking the path of sinners with them. In other words, if we fall into the counsel of the wicked, eventually we will see ourselves participating in the wicked’s sinful acts (Park). Therefore, we must not even stand on the path of sinners. We shouldn't even be with those wicked people.
(3) Then, we will not sit in the seat of scoffers.
Look at Psalms 1:1 – “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” In the end, Satan makes us to follow the counsel of the wicked, making us to stand in the path of sinners, and thus makes us to sit in the seat of the scoffers. As a result, we sin against God by disobeying God's word in pride. This is what Satan is aiming for. Therefore, we the young people should not even walk with the wicked at all. We shouldn't even have fellowship with them. When we’re young, we have a tendency to impulsively hang out with many people and make a lot of friends. This is the time when we really need discernment.
Why, then, shouldn’t we walk with the wicked? The reason is that the feet of the wicked run to evil (Prov. 1:16). In other words, the reason we shouldn’t walk with the wicked is that they run to do evil. They aren’t inevitably committing sins, but are people who rejoice in evil and do evil without reserve. Such are those who have been hardened by sin and are so depraved that they can say that they are like sin itself. Therefore, those who associate with such people cannot restrain their evil deeds, but rather are pushed into their evil (Park). Therefore, we must avoid fellowship with the wicked, not to walk with them, but rather avoid them. Just as any bird avoid the baited net when the bird sees it (v. 17), so we must avoid when we, too, see the evil ones spread the net of temptation before us. Never should we be caught in the nets of the wicked like the foolish bird.
Today we have received three lessons about what the young Christians who fear God do: (1) They obey their parents’ words (v. 8), (2) They don’t consent if sinners entice them (v. 10), and (3) They don’t walk in the way with the wicked (v. 15). I hope and pray that we and our children will become God-fearing Christians who obey God's word, so that we can all enjoy God’s blessings and able to exalt and glorify God.