The Way of LIfe and the Way of Death

Introduction

Why do generational struggles exist?

Children, not parents, wish for them to exist.

Why do children rebel? It is because they are human.

We must learn to live in the world as it really is and not by some sanitized version we might have in our minds.

The world is an evil place because it is filled with evil people.

The verses for our study today will present us with familiar topics.

They are timeless because the truth is timeless.

God’s word does not need an update.

Universal truth transcends generations. This is what gives stability. Money and beauty are fleeting, but truth and righteousness never grow old.

Our society values intelligence and credential above wisdom.

Intelligence without responsibility, reliability, respectability, and resolve (work ethic) is useless. Without wisdom, we cannot function in society.

A Confident, Yet Protective Appeal

The writer has reminded his son that he too experienced his own father appealing to him.

The appeal itself consists of a series of eleven imperatives:

Let your heart (mind) cling to my words.

Keep my commandments and live.

Get wisdom.

Get insight.

Do not forget.

Do not turn away (God’s word is not to be treated like a false idol).

Do not forsake.

Love.

Get wisdom.

Get insight.

Value her.

That appeal is based upon a series of established truths:

Wisdom will guard you (Prov. 4:6).

She will exalt you (Prov. 4:8).

She will honor you (Prov. 4:8).

She will beautify you (Prov. 4:9).

These are needfully repetitive of the same teachings from earlier in the book.

Each younger generation has to be persuaded about two things:

What the truth is.

That they should follow it without deviation.

Notice the father, in Prov. 4:11, is confident he has taught his son in the way of wisdom.

Benefits of Wisdom Road

The writer now describes what life will be like if he does, in fact, hear his father.

This sounds like Dt. 30:15 and Jeremiah 24.

Positives:

Unencumbered step (Prov. 4:12).

Not stumbling if you run (ibid.)

Why will be explained soon, and it has to do with the light of the truth.

Yet, again, he instructs his son to keep a grasp on this instruction and not to reject it (ie. to let it go).

Notice that instruction is valuable and important because it is life.

In order to live the best possible life, a person needs to:

Fear the Lord.

Listen and learn the depths of his word.

Live in obedience to his word.

You will be:

Ethical with others.

Loving.

Trustworthy and reliable.

Hard working.

Respectable because of the above.

Dangers of Death and Darkness

The way of life gets contrasts with death.

The writer does not want to see his son “enter the path of the wicked.”

Note its parallel thought: “do not walk in the way of evil” (Prov. 4:14).

Prov. 4:15 and Prov. 4:16 each address two points.

Prov. 4:15 first expands upon the last line of the previous verse.

The son should avoid the way of those who are wicked and evil.

Prov. 4:16 explains the nature of the wicked.

They live to do evil.

It is the foundation of their lives.

It provides sustenance for them.

They live in ignorance as opposed to the way of light and truth.

Notice the warning of deep darkness. It is not a path of knowledge, wealth, stability, or responsibility. It is a path of ignorance, evil, and eventually death.

Evening Introduction

We must guard against a sanitized view of the world.

A biblical worldview informs us of human evil.

There are evil acts, and there are evil ideas.

Evil contravenes the characteristics of God.

We are sinners by nature which also means that we fall short of God’s holiness.

Evil is more than a physical act such as murder or adultery.

It is the underlying motivation, the unseen greed, lust, hate, and anger.

Prov. 6:16-19. Notice “devises” in Prov. 6:18. Also notice the attractiveness of doing evil in that same verse.

We should expect the world to be filled with evil acts because we are evil people.

“We are, in fact, caught up in a furious whirlwind of choices that is shaking the foundation of our sense of stability. If societies in central Europe under the dominance of Marxist regimes languished for lack of choice, we languish from having too many choices. Increasingly weary people long not for freedom of choice but the freedom to avoid having to make choices, the freedom simply to drop out. On the other hand, the relativity and impermanence of everything from values to possessions creates a deep sense of “homelessness,” even of lostness, of not belonging, of not having roots in our world, of searching for but never finding a permanent niche into which we can fit” (Wells, 159).

The Bible provides instruction for how to live an enriched life.