Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20000213.htm

PROVERBS: ALIGNING TO GOD'S FIXED MORAL ORDER FOR BLESSING
Part II: Sparking The Reader's Motivation To Heed God's Fixed Moral Order
B. Motivating YOUNG MEN To Heed God's Fixed Moral Order
(Proverbs 1:20-33)
  1. Introduction
    1. As discovered in evaluations of boys involved in recent school shootings, America's boys often harbor great anger because our culture has tended to repress them, not letting them release their drives properly.
    2. As we have seen in our first lesson, Solomon's Proverbs, written in the form of the Egyptian sboyet intends to teach princes to heed God's fixed moral order. The goal is to get these young men to follow God so that when they rule in the future, the nation will enjoy committed, godly, stable leadership.
    3. Since Proverbs 1:8-9:18 seeks to motivate a young prince to heed God God's way, it offers an excellent study in how to disciple boys to become healthy adult leaders in response to our nation's need (as follows):
  2. Motivating YOUNG MEN To Heed God's Fixed Moral Order, Proverbs 1:20-33:
    1. Solomon did not repress his young princes into good behavior, but directed their natural, God-given drives to be loved by lovely women well (as follows):
      1. Solomon thus personified "wisdom" as a lovely woman out on the town, a prince's "dream girl," 1:20.
      2. Besides just looking pretty, Solomon taught that God's Fixed Moral Order appeals to the prince like a lovely woman he might meet out on the town who would express her attraction FOR him, something a prince might only dream about, Prov. 1:20-21. So, Solomon taught WHAT fulfillment young men hope comes by being loved by a lovely woman is actually found in heeding God's fixed moral order!
    2. Solomon next detailed the opposing results via how one responds to that fixed moral o rder, 1:22-23:
      1. God's fixed moral order rebukes young men about their "open-minded" thinking and paths, promising to pour out fulfillment for taking the "narrow" pathway of God's fixed moral order, Prov. 1:22-23.
      2. That fixed moral order makes a young man live with the following blessings, Proverbs 1:33:
        1. It makes him live securely, so that there is a degree of insurance against unhappy disasters, 33a.
        2. It makes him be at ease so that he does not have to be frustrated or chaotic in his thinking, 1:33b.
        3. It makes him live above worry over disaster, Proverbs 1:33c.
      3. However, if young men continue in their "open-minded" thinking and pathways, life becomes tragic:
        1. Such "open-minded" thinking lacks a respect for Israel's God Whose ways are set in righteousness versus the naive, "open-minded" way of the world, Proverbs 1:29.
        2. Such persistently "open-minded" youths live without discernment between good and evil, Prov. 1:22.
        3. They then learn not to respect others to the point that they mock those whose thinking or ways are not understood or are different from their own, Proverbs 1:23.
        4. This leads to disasters in relationships and dealings with others, Proverbs 1:24-30.
        5. Their plans end up backfiring to their own harm, even leading to an early grave, Proverbs 1:31-32.
Lesson: In seeking to disciple PRINCES into KINGS, (1) Solomon did not FORCE these young men into his mold, creating repressed anger in them, BUT worked WITH their native inclinations to DESIRE to be LOVED by a LOVELY WOMAN to show that the FULFILL MENT they THOUGHT came from being loved by a lovely woman was ACTUALLY available only by aligning to God's FIXED MORAL ORDER: that alignment would produce (a) insurance against unhappiness, (b) ease in living and (c) freedom from worry, all that young men THOUGHT the love of a lovely woman would insure! (2) Conversely, Solomon told how ignoring God's fixed moral order produced the disaster young men thought missing out on a lovely woman's love brings!

Application: (1) To disciple boys into men, we must not FORCE them into a mold we construct, but reveal that WHAT they THINK would most FULFILL them is ACTUALLY found ONLY in GOD! (2) Like Solomon, we need to COME ALONGSIDE young m en as their GUIDES so as to AID them to reach the HAVEN of fulfillment they desire, exposing this haven to be God's fixed moral order!