We just got back from a 7 day cruise recently. It was fantastic. We woke up the mornings without an alarm ringing in our ears. The stateroom we were in had a window that afforded us an ocean view. After getting dressed we had several choices of where to eat the morning meal. Then we would go ashore into some foreign port with beautiful scenery and fantastic bargains.
We could return to the ship for lunch or eat at some exotic restaurant serving a native meal. When we returned to the ship we would find our room cleaned with our bed covers turned down, two chocolate mints, and an animal shaped towel.
For our late meal, again we had several choices. After eating there was a generous amount of entertainment offered to us. We could watch a movie at the pool and have a midnight snack of pizza. Life was good.
I shared with everyone that this was my first cruise. However, as I stood outside one day looking at the ocean and seeing no land in sight I realized I had been here before.
My first cruise was actually in the early seventies. It wasn’t a cruise ship but rather a war ship. It wasn’t the Sunshine but rather the USS Sterett, a guided missile destroyer. There was no sleeping late and rising when the mood hit me. There was work to be done.
My stateroom was a series of bunk beds stacked three high and a room shared by 11 other guys. There were no windows to look out from, not even a port hole. You ate in the mess hall whatever they were serving that day.
After being at sea for one or two months you would hit port. There was nothing exotic to be seen. Bars, prostitutes, and houses held together with cardboard and mud were the main attractions. And if you had an ounce of sense you would never eat the food prepared in the streets or bars.
When you returned to the ship, many staggering, you would be greeted with that wonderful “battleship gray” décor that you had come to love. Entertainment consisted of poker and other card games or reading books. Maybe once in awhile a movie in the mess hall. Life was not good.
We sail through life as if we are on a cruise ship. We expect a lot from God. We want him to pamper us. We want him to give us our desires. We try to manipulate God into serving us rather than us serving him. We expect smooth sailing with no stormy weather and then get angry when it hits. We forget we are at war.
The purpose of the cruise ship was to pamper me. The purpose of the war ship was to protect me. We were 20 miles away from the coast of Vietnam. They were a very real enemy though we could not see them. On April 19, 1972 they attacked my ship. Their intent was to destroy my ship. Their intent was to kill me. Had it not been for the ship being equipped with missiles they would have succeeded.
We have an enemy that is very real though we cannot see him. 1 Peter 5:8 describes him as “a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” Ephesians 6:11 informs us that he has a strategy. His strategy is for us to become complacent. His strategy is to use our desire to be pampered against us. His desire is to take away our wisdom, our skill for living, and replace it with foolish notions. His weapon of choice is people and the world’s system of pleasure.
Proverbs 2:12 “Wisdom will save you from evil people,
from those whose words are twisted.”
Let’s get an understanding who these people are. They are disagreeable to God. That’s what makes them evil. It doesn’t have to be their deeds necessarily. People who are good in our eyes can be disagreeable to God.
Proverbs 6:16-19 gives us a description of those people who are disagreeable to God.
There are six things the Lord hates—
no, seven things he detests:
haughty eyes, ( a person who is proud of his accomplishments without crediting God’s involvement in their life)
a lying tongue, (a person who makes deceptive statements for the purpose of exalting themselves)
hands that kill the innocent, ( pouring out harmful words that would defame those who are innocent, for example racist remarks)
a heart that plots evil, (the inner person that no one sees, who they really are, who makes plans to do things disagreeable to God)
feet that race to do wrong, (hurrying to do those things that are disagreeable to God)
a false witness who pours out lies, ( a person who gives a deceptive testimony about themselves, talking the talk but not walking the walk)
a person who sows discord in a family. (a person who broadcasts opinions that would cause strife in the unity of a family or congregation)
One doesn’t have too look too far in the Bible to see examples of this type of person. Saul, the first king of Israel, started his reign admirably. Blessed by God, he valiantly defeated some of the pagan enemies that troubled the nation of Israel (1 Samuel 11). But he became arrogant and in his arrogance, he set aside divine instruction and determined he would exercise his own judgment (cf. 1 Samuel 13:8; 15:1). When the courageous young David began to attract considerable attention after his defeat of Goliath, a spirit of jealousy (perhaps lying dormant already) seized the king and led him down a path of spiritual abandon ( 1 Samuel 16:14).
Even a follower of Jesus could not escape this mold. He exalted himself by second guessing what Jesus was doing. He attempted to cause strife within his group by broadcasting his feelings. His heart plotted evil and eventually raced off to perform an action that was disagreeable to God. He was destroyed by these decisions. His name was Judas Iscariot.
The Bible says their words are twisted. That means confusing. For example, allow me to tell you how I can become my own grandfather. “Let’s say I married a widow with a grown daughter who then became my stepdaughter. My dad comes to visit us, falls in love with my lovely step daughter, and then marries her. And so my stepdaughter is now my stepmother. Soon, my wife has a son who is, of course, my daddy’s brother-in-law since he is the half-brother of my stepdaughter, who is now, of course, my daddy’s wife.
So, as I told you, when my stepdaughter married my daddy, she became my stepmother! Now, since my new son is brother to my stepmother, he also becomes my uncle. Now my wife is my step-grandmother since she is my stepmother’s mother. But don’t forget that my stepmother is my stepdaughter. Remember, too, that I am my wife’s grandson. And since I’m married to my step-grandmother, I am not only the wife’s grandson and her hubby, but I am also my own grandfather. Got it?
They desire to keep us off our footing by using words to make sense of things that are twisted and confusing. And things that make no sense become sensible because of our lack of wisdom.
Here is what the Bible says about those people I described. Proverbs 2:13-15
“These men turn from the right way
to walk down dark paths.
They take pleasure in doing wrong,
and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.
Their actions are crooked,
and their ways are wrong.”
And without wisdom they will take you down that dark path with them.
As previously stated, the enemy will use the world’s standard for pleasure to lure you also. We need to learn the skill of living in this society.
Proverbs 2:16 “Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.”
In Revelations we read of the destruction of the great prostitute. This is not an individual but rather a financial system controlling the world. Today that system exists in the form of the immoral woman. The word meant a foreigner, an alien. Our economic system has become a foreigner to the economic system of old. This “immoral woman” seduces us with her smooth words. We must have this now. We need this even if we can’t afford it.
On the average paycheck 31% of our income is removed in the form of taxes. Of the remaining funds 34% goes toward housing, 16% goes toward transportation (gas, maintenance, payments), 13% toward food, 11% toward insurance, 7% miscellaneous, 7% healthcare, 5% entertainment, 4% for clothing, and 3% for charitable contributions (which includes the church).
Let’s read 2 Corinthians 9:10-14
“For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. (not the world, or your employer, or your talent. Remember, it is a wicked man who exalts himself.) In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. (God gives us the increase so that we may be generous to others)
Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem (and the world) will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.
As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. (to love your neighbor, to do for the least, to feed the hungry) And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you.”
Some things are hard to trim. But when we spend more for clothing ourselves than caring for others through our giving we have bought into the world system. When we spend more on entertaining ourselves than caring for others through our giving we have bought into the world system. When we spend more on miscellaneous items that we can’t even tag with a name than caring for others through our giving we have bought into the world system.
Proverbs 2:17 “She has abandoned her husband
and ignores the covenant she made before God.” Our nation was built on Christian principals. That cannot be denied. But the world system has abandoned those principals. The church is the bride of Christ but sin has crept into he church causing her to abandon the very covenant that was made to God.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.” Yet the church has become so modernized that these very things are being embraced and approved by them.
Proverbs gives us this warning. Proverbs 2:18-19
“Entering her house leads to death;
it is the road to the grave.
The man who visits her is doomed.
He will never reach the paths of life.”
Do we know anyone who if they saw a road sign that said “Continuing on this road will lead to death” would continue driving? I think almost everyone would turn around. Yet it seems that some are barreling down that highway of the world’s system, clearly in danger, yet uncaring. They continuously ignore God’s teaching and would rather listen to the lies of the enemy.
So how should we live? Proverbs 2:20-21
“Follow the steps of good men instead,
and stay on the paths of the righteous.
For only the godly will live in the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it.”
We are to follow good examples. Paul wrote to the church in Philippi “Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.” (Philippians 3:17) Also “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
(Philippians 4:9)
To the church in Corinth he wrote “So I urge you to imitate me.” (1 Corinthians 4:16) and “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) Doing these things would keep these followers on the right path.
My question to you is “Can you make those statements like Paul?” We are commanded too. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Like Paul we should be able to say “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
When we achieve this wisdom, this skill for living, we have the promise of prosperity in the land and integrity in the eyes of man.
