Series: Wisdom That Works
Message: Sexy Wisdom
Preacher: Mark Johnson
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Proverbs 5:1-23 in The Message (MSG). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: “And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people” (Proverbs 5:14).
I’ve found that being in “serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people” can be a good thing, and it can be a bad thing.
Jesus was always in trouble in the assembly of God’s people because of the things He said and did. He irritated them by doing things that flew in the face of the church’s understanding of the Father. The assembly of God’s people were constantly trying to trap Jesus in His words and plotting for His destruction. They finally dragged Him to the Roman authorities who flogged Him, tortured Him and murdered Him on the Cross. He was in serious trouble with the assembly of God’s people. And I’m glad.
There is another way to live your life that will get you in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people; a way you don’t want to go.
The rumors started swirling much before the truth was revealed. The rumor was that a tenth grade girl was getting a little too close to one of the teachers at the academy. At first there was denial. Then, the wife of the male teacher made a call to the principal. Turns out that over spring break there was a liaison at a local motel between the teacher and the student.
The teacher taught Sabbath School, was an elder and an active member of the church. When the church elders brought him in to investigate, he freely admitted his transgression: “I’m in love with the girl. I’m going to leave my family and try and be with her.”
The girl was not yet sixteen years old.
The church decided the teacher was living in an unrepentant space and disfellowshipped him from the local congregation. Rightfully so.
In this case, being in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people is not a place you want to find yourself.
The good news is, this man came around. It took a little over a year, but he repented, reconciled with his family and, when the time was right, stood up in front of the local congregation, tearfully confessed his sin, and asked for forgiveness. It wasn’t long after that he was admitted back into church membership and, after years of mentoring, back into some leadership positions.
In all the right ways, it’s a good thing to live in good favor with God’s assembly.
Recalibrate: Have you ever been in trouble with your “people?” What did you do to make things right?
Respond: Pray these words: “Lord, give me the courage to stand against the crowd when called to do so, and the wisdom to contribute to my community as best I can.”
Research: Read Numbers 16, the story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Remember: “For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord and He examines all their paths” (Proverbs 5:21, NRSV).
Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon.
We have two cavoodle dogs, Ruby and Leroy, that love nothing better than to give our granddaughter Zoe big wet kisses. The dogs seem to think that when Zoe sits down it means she needs a kiss. The older she gets the more annoyed she is when they try to lick her. We keep telling her to stand up so she is out of reach; however, at the moment, she is at the lashing-out stage. Ruby and Leroy are often met with a smack and a kick. While we know they are being annoying, our response to Zoe is, “We don’t hit. We are gentle and kind.” Zoe then says “sorry” and gives the dogs a big hug. When life has us behaving in ways we know we shouldn’t, we just need to stand up, apologize, and position ourselves to be gentle and kind.
Remember the woman we talked about yesterday who gives no thought to life and doesn’t even know the things she does are wrong? Proverbs also tells us that we should stay away from people like that! We shouldn’t even go close to where they are. Do you know anyone like this whom you should stay away from? What if that person is in your class? How do you keep your distance? How do you think it’s possible to keep yourself safe from these kinds of people while still being kind to them?
In all of Solomon’s wisdom here in Chapter 5, there is a peculiar line that is found in Verse 6 that I want us to focus on today. Here it says that this strange woman we are called to avoid, “does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.”
Solomon’s great adventure is leading us on to find Wisdom; he is always very careful to talk about how intentional we have to be if we are to actually locate wisdom in the world. Wisdom is not something you happen upon by accident. Different than knowledge that you may pick up along the way, wisdom is a math equation that needs more than just know-how to solve.
The mystery woman in Solomon’s story is no mathematician or wise person. And apparently, this alone poses a threat in the context of this adventure. Think about it for a second, if you told your friends today that your goal from now until the holiday break was to get solid grades on every assignment for a class that you are struggling in, who would you look to for help if your friends’ responses were as follows:
Friend 1: “Yeah! Me too! Let’s go study in the library after school every day this month!”
Friend 2: “Good luck man! I’ll be cheering for you and praying for you along the way!”
Friend 3: “Meh. I’m going to play that new video game after school. You can play too if you get bored.”
Who would you choose to be your accountability partner on this journey to a better GPA? The answer seems easy when you think about the tasks at hand. The same holds true for the journey to wisdom. You want people on your team that are considering the path and thinking about the way to get from low grades to high. Not someone who is just wandering around giving you options outside of your goal. Sure, it’s fun to play video games, but not when it’s crunch time and the report card is on the line!
Have you ever been in trouble at church? I remember being in Sabbath School as a kid and I would always get in trouble. I would pretend that I was sleeping and all the other kids would laugh. Looking back, I feel so bad for my teacher! Sometimes it is good to get in trouble at church. Church should be a safe place to fail and then try again. The problem, however, is that many churches are not safe places to fail. Do you feel like your church is a safe place? If not, what are some things you would change to make it safer?
I have come to realize that making church a safe place starts with me. It starts by me deciding to love well and to love more. When people fail and fall, it is not my job to criticize or tell them what they did wrong, but to love them through it and encourage them to try again. I’m not sure how you have failed in this life, but get back up! Try again, friend. Jesus is cheering you on!
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Jessyka Dooley is assistant youth director for the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Denver, Colorado.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Kyle Smith is the associate pastor of youth and family ministries at New Haven Adventist Church in Overland Park, Kansas.