Good Friends, Bad Friends // Wisdom That Works, Part 2

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

King Solomon was one of the wisest men that ever walked the earth. He wrote a book on wisdom for his young sons - it’s called the book of Proverbs. You’ll find it in the Old Testament. And one of the first things he talks about - is the friends they choose. Why would he do that?

You remember when you were growing up, you know when we were in those teenage years and our parents would tell us that to do this or to do that and we'd just roll our eyes in the back of our heads just like every other teenager on the planet. What would they know?

When we were teenagers the very best council advice of our parents, well we ignored most of it, it was just like water off a ducks back. Now we can both look back on those years and recognise our immaturity, that's what it is, part of our growing up was going through that phase of "I know it all". Truth be known we didn't know it all and we still don't.

That's why this week we're kicking off a four week series of messages on the program called Wisdom That Works. Straight out of the parental advice of one of the wisest men who's ever walked this earth, King Solomon, and the advice he gave to his sons in the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament.

I remember my mother saying to me things like, "Well don't hang around with the wrong crowd, be careful of the company you keep". Oh yeah, please. What would she know? Typical teenager’s attitude. Hopefully I've done a bit of growing up since then.

So what about today, here and now, when we get the wise council of someone else, someone that's older and more mature or someone who just sees things that we don't. How do we react? Do we still roll our eyes in the back of our heads or do we listen to and benefit from that advice?

It's really interesting in this Old Testament Book of Proverbs, 31 chapters packed, verse after verse, with lots of wisdom. One of the very first things that Solomon talks about to his sons, in fact the very first thing after talking about wisdom itself in their relationship with God, is the crowd that they hang around with.

You know maturity is an interesting thing. As we grow up we grow in our ability to discern what is good advice. With some advice, when you listen to it from people you think it might be hard advice, it might be tough advice but its good advice and we accept that.

And yet other people, their advice, well maybe it's given in their own self interests or whatever, we look at that advice and we think, "no, you know that's not good advice, I'm going to reject that advice". And truly it's a balance between the two but what we're about to hear is some very good advice.

Some stunning advice in fact and if we put this advice into action then it becomes wisdom. The sort of wisdom that parents have. The sort of wisdom that works. Now any parent knows that if our kids keep bad company that doesn't all go well for their future because that bad company is going to have a bad influence and it can terribly, terribly ruin their lives when they're growing up.

And this is what Solomon says to the young men, his sons, about keeping bad company. Let's have a listen, it starts in Proverbs chapter 1, verse 10. He says:

My children if sinners entice you don't consent. If they say, 'come with us, let us lie in wait for blood. Let us wantonly ambush the innocent. Like Sheol let us swallow them up alive and whole like those who go down to the pit. We'll find all kinds of costly things. We'll fill our houses with booty. Throw in your lot with us, we'll all have one purse.

My child do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths for their feet run to evil and they hurry to shed blood. For in vain the net is baited while the birds are looking on yet they lie in ambush to kill themselves. They set an ambush for their own lives. Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its possessors.

Okay hopefully most of us aren't murderers, hopefully most of us aren't going to go and mug someone and rob them but we kind of do that sometimes in life through our behaviour and our attitudes and dishonesty and aggressively looking after our own interests above other people's interests.

And it turns out that keeping bad company is different from just being around bad people. I mean you go to work, you go to Church, you're a member of a club, you interact with people. Some of them are great, some of them are fantastic, they're wonderful to be with and some of them are down right awful.

That's life. When we deal with people sometimes we have to deal with those people and everything in between. It's not whether we're around them so much that matters, it's a question of influence. Listen again to Solomon, Proverbs chapter 1, verse 10:

My child if sinners entice you don't consent.

Down to verse 15:

My child do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths for their feet run to evil and they hurry to shed blood.

See what Solomon is saying is don't be tempted by bad company. Don't listen to them when they say, "Come on, let's gang up on someone and kill them just for the fun of it." It's a question of whether we take their advice, whether we keep company with them, whether we let them influence what we think and what we feel and ultimately what we do.

Here's the chain of events, they speak we hear them. Now when we hear we have a decision, we either accept or reject and if we accept them it changes our behaviour and if it changes our behaviour that has consequences. That's the important bit. When we hear do we accept or reject? Do we rely on them or not? Do we trust them or not? Do we put our faith in them to the extent that we let them change what we do or not?

It's not that we're around bad people so much, it's not even that we hear them that's the problem. It's when we're tempted by them, when we allow them to change what we do. It's a question of influence. Bad company can discourage us, it can lead us to complaining, it can be disruptive, it can make us suspicious, it can make us envious. It can make us dishonest, it can make us violent.

Bad company is an entry point for bad influence from other people and I my friend have enough issues in my life to deal with without taking on other people's bad stuff. At the end of the day all of us want to live a good life, I'm pretty sure we do. Okay we want to be comfortable, we want to be happy but part of that is knowing that we're living a good life.

That there's a goodness that we're reaping fruit from and God comes to us and this stuff from Solomon is from the Bible and we might go, "oh come on, that was written like 3,000 years ago, it's from the Bible it's not from me." Come on this is good advice isn't it?

God is giving us fatherly advice born out of His love for us and His wisdom. Because whilst bad company may entice us into an action that appears to have a quick win, that's the example that Solomon uses here with his sons, it's a good example. Ultimately that bad influence leads us to destruction.

Listen again to what Solomon says about the consequences. Proverbs chapter 1, verse 17:

It's in vain that the net is baited while the bird looks on. If they lie in wait ultimately to kill themselves. They set an ambush ultimately to take their own lives. Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its possessors.

They think they're ambushing the other guy through their bad deeds but in fact they're ambushing themselves. They want to kill the other guy but they're destroying their own life.

Come on, who do you hang around with? Who are the people whom you allow to influence you? And are any of those ruining your life? Because if they are it's like drinking in poison from them. It's time to do something about it. Bad company drags us down. Bad company has consequences.

And we can sit there and go, "Well, you know Berni that was a nice story from the Bible," and we can ignore it but there will be consequences. Or we can take it on board and say, "Well, that is great advice from God. I never really thought of it that way. You know something, there are some changes I think I need to make about the people I'm hanging around with."

See remember wisdom isn't wisdom until you put it into action. That's when it becomes wisdom that works.