Prayer

Almighty God, my loving Heavenly Father, all praise be to you this day. I call upon your name this morning, I seek your face. Send out your light and your truth let them lead me. Thank you, Lord, that although I was once hostile toward you and alienated from you, you have reconciled me through the death of your dear Son, the Lord Jesus. Please sanctify me now in your word of truth, in order to present me holy and blameless before you, above reproach. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, purify my heart, my mind, and my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Reading

Prov 1:10 - “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”

Meditation

The warning of Proverbs 1:10 is very specific. It’s a warning against sinners. We’ve seen that this is a loving, authoritative warning from a father to a son, but now we ask: What is he warning his son against? “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” The answer is very plain: he’s warning his son against sinners.

Question: Who are sinners? In relation to the book of Proverbs, sinners could be described as people who are devoid of the fear of God. These are the sort of people who live their lives without reference to God. They do not revere him and they do not obey him. Looking back from the vantage of the cross to this verse, we can say that sinners are those who are defined by their sinful lives. They are people who are defined, not by belief in Christ, but by the fact that they remain in a condition of unbelief and alienation from God. That’s what a sinner is. Christians sin, but we are not sinners in this sense, we are Christians and reconciled to God (Col 1:22 ). Who we now are is defined by who we are in Christ. For sinners, they are defined by the fact that they remain in an unbelieving, fallen condition.

Be ye doers of the word…

Here, then, is the first plain implication of our verse: be wary of unbelievers. I’m not saying don’t be kind to unbelievers, nor am I saying don’t do good to them. To the contrary, we ought to love our enemies. What I am saying is: be wary of them. When unbelievers come into close contact with your life, that is a time to be on the alert, because there is potentially spiritual danger nearby.

To apply this, you could start with this question: When in my life do I come into contact with sinners? Is it with my colleagues at work? Is it at drinks on Friday afternoon? Is it online when I’m gaming? Is it my hairdresser? Do I have a close relationship with unbelieving family members? Maybe it’s an old school friend. Maybe it’s your psychologist. Now – again – please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying cut yourself off from these people, what I am saying is be aware of the influence that they are having on you. And especially be wary of inviting them in to your life as close companions.

We are especially vulnerable to this kind of emphasis when we are young. One of the basic premises of Proverbs is that it is in fact dangerous to be young. Now you might think I’m being a bit sensationalist in saying that, but the text bears it out. We are all impressionable, but one of the key insights of this passage is that young people are especially impressionable. Remember – this is a father talking to his son. The Book of Proverbs is especially geared toward the youth, and so this passage is likewise especially applicable to the young. So while we are all influenced by our peers, the years of our youth are the time when we are most susceptible to this.

If you’re a young person (or spiritually young), let me urge you: be careful of which friends you choose. More specifically: be careful not to make close companions of people who do not love and follow Christ. Many have been ruined for doing just that. Again, I’m not saying don’t be kind to unbelievers, I’m not saying don’t do good to them, but I am saying don’t make close and intimate companions of them. If they do not fear God, any close friendship with them is bound to influence you to some extent in that direction.

This comes as a word to parents as well: keep a close watch on the friends that your children make. I think in today’s world, the warning here primarily applies in our schools, that’s where kids make their friends most these days, it’s where they spend most of their time. The warning is positively blaring if your child is in a public school particularly. I went through public school myself in the 1990s and 2000s, and while plenty of Christian schools have their problems (and in the words of one friend of mine – even if you home educate – there are dragons at home that you’ve got to watch out for), public schools especially are an environment where young people are constantly surrounded by unbelievers and godless teaching. When you’re in that environment as a young person, speaking from experience, you constantly feel the pull and temptation to fall in step with how the unbelievers around you speak and act. I presume that the corruption has intensified since I was in school.

I can remember being in High School, and the urge to fit in and have friends dominated my life in years eight and nine. I’m not proud to admit it, but for those couple of years in High School I took up swearing and filthy language just to fit in. I developed an interest in punk rock music with the kind of lyrics that I now wish I could forget. My companions at school – who weren’t even what you would call the bad kids (thanks be to God) – sometimes pulled out pornography in the lunch hour. That was not beneficial for me. I presume it’s even easier today when every kid has a phone and easy access to the internet.

Now I’m not saying remove your kids or yourself from the world (though it may be best to remove them from public schools), part of Solomon’s warning here is the recognition that that can’t be done. There are going be sinners and they’re going to try and entice you. Solomon is not naive, he knows that this is a likely scenario. So while we can’t necessarily remove our kids from the world, we should avoid obvious danger. And we should instruct them and teach them to avoid that danger themselves when they see it. That’s what verse ten is saying, don’t follow after sinners. If you’re ever in a position where you’re exposed to falling in step with their way of life, get out of there. SDG.

Prayer of Confession & Consecration

Lord, I thank you for rescuing me from the corrupting influence of the fallen world all around us. I thank you that although I was devoted member of the world, loving sin and hating you, you brought me out of the kingdom of darkness and into your marvellous life. I pray, Lord, for forgiveness for the times that I have allowed the world to entice my heart into sinful ways of living. I pray for your mercies and forgiveness for the influence and enticement I have allowed entertainment media to have upon my soul. Please forgive me for my sins, and help me to be wholly devoted to you, meditating upon your word day and night. This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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