A Servant's Heartbeat
A Servant's Heartbeat
Competing Voices: A Proverbs Lesson About Influences
We’re all walking through a marketplace of voices that promise urgency, belonging, and quick wins. Let's unpack the outcomes of influence.
Welcome everybody to a servant's heartbeat. My name is Kristen. Thank you for listening and allowing me to share my heartbeat for the kingdom of God with you. We are continuing in our study of Proverbs. Last week we talked about the purpose of Proverbs and how that brings us to the fear of the Lord. Picking up where we left off, the topic for this week will be on competing voices, a lesson about influences. So imagine with me that you are in this crowded marketplace, and there are voices coming from every side, people in booths trying to sell you whatever they have. And maybe it sounds a little something like this. You don't want to miss this opportunity. We only have a limited supply. This is only while supplies last. This is a special edition. You can't get this anywhere else. This is at a price that can't be beat. You don't want to miss this. It's almost like that fear of missing out, the FOMO just kicks in, and you've like, ah, I gotta have it. Well, this crowded marketplace is full of competing voices, trying to get your attention to come their direction, to go to their booth and take part in their product. And that's really a lot of what happens to us today. We are living in a world of competing voices, trying to get us to lean or go in a certain direction. But part of the purpose in our study of Proverbs is to approach this with some wisdom and discretion to realize what voices I need to be allowing and open myself to as an influence in my life. Well, in John chapter 10, Jesus is teaching the parable of the Good Shepherd. And in verse 5, he is referring to his sheep when he says, A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. Skipping down to verse twenty-seven, it says, My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. In other words, the sheep ignored the stranger's voice, that competing voice, but heard the voice of their shepherd and followed him. So again, that's going to be kind of our focus for today. Just like that crowded marketplace, there are competing voices trying to get our attention, trying to get us to go in a certain direction or to take a certain path or to buy in on a certain thing. But I want to be that sheep that is able to tune in to the voice of my shepherd and tune out to this voice of influence that may be trying to lead me astray. I want to be in tune to the voice of my shepherd that has come to give me life and it more abundantly. So let's look at a parental voice of influence. Proverbs chapter one, verse eight begins by saying, My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. So we've got parental figures here, a father and a mother. Now, I I feel like it's important to say, at least maybe for some, that in a world of brokenness, I completely get that for many life experiences may have resulted in that parental influence of that father and mother feeling incomplete. But that does not mean that God has not placed people or is trying to place people in those lives or in your life as that parental figure, basically that that pillar in your life that you were able to look up to. So with that in mind, whether it be father, mother by birth, or maybe a pillar, somebody that the Lord is beginning to place or has placed in your life. Think about that person who has been that pillar for you, who has given you guidance, who has given you direction, who has given you some help, who you have gone to for counsel, who you have gone to in a time of need and been able just to seek help and hear some wisdom from them. Who are those parental figures in your life? Who are those people who you've allowed to speak into your life? Because I could have a parental figure in my life, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I have put myself in a position to allow them to speak and influence in my life? Who have I given room to speak correction when they see me veering off the path? So perhaps, you know, that there's a pastor in my life, but have I given him room to speak correction when he sees me veering off the path? Who do I have in my life that has taught me some life principles? Because believe it or not, you don't know it all. So I need somebody in my life who can teach me, who can show me, who can guide me. Who have I allowed in my life to show me where the guardrails and the boundaries need to be? Because just going through life, just trying to drive and direct myself however I see fit, I may not be able to tell where the edge is. And then before you know it, I've gone over the edge. So I need somebody in my life that can help me identify where those boundaries and and guardrails need to be placed. And when I think even more about that, I think it begins to lead us to this point of who am I submitted to? Who have I made myself accountable to by saying, again, if you see anything in me, I want you to be able to tell me. If you see where I need a guardrail, if you see where I need correcting, teach me. This topic actually came up in Sunday school last week, but this idea of a parental figure, this idea of a pillar, somebody who you've been in submission to or been accountable to, all of that begins to tie into this element of trust. Because if I'm going to submit myself or allow somebody to speak direction into my life, there's an element of trust that's there. Now, there are lots of things in this whole world that would love to have our trust. I mean, there are the claims that come from different brands that have whatever product. We're a brand that you can trust or you can stand by our guarantee. And all of that sounds great. It's great marketing, but that doesn't mean that everything deserves our trust. I can't just put my trust in everything. Proverbs 1.8 mentions the instruction and the law, and the law meaning the teaching. It's this instruction and teaching that is it's built on the fear of the Lord. And last week we talked about how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's not just a place that I begin and I go on to something else, but it's the foundation for everything. It's the foundation for every moment, it's the foundation for every relationship and duty, basically acknowledging the Lord in all my ways. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not onto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. I say all that to say I need voices of influence in my life that will help me, that will encourage me, that will lead me to that place of trust in the Lord. So when I read, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother, when I think about the people in my life who I'm submitted to, when I think about the people in my life who I've made myself accountable to, when I think about the people who I've allowed to correct and teach me and instruct me, I need voices of influence in my life that lead me to that place of trust in the Lord. But here's the competing part of that. Earlier, I asked you about the parental figures in your life or those who instruct and teach you life principles, those that help you with right boundaries and guide you in staying the course. Well, it's the enemy of our soul's goal to cause a distrust with those voices that would help us stay the course. I heard one person say that sometimes I just have to ask myself, is this relationship that I'm investing in and developing, is it drawing me closer to the Lord or is it leading me further away from Him? I need influences in my life that will help me stay the Course, that will help me develop my relationship with the Lord and that trust in the Lord. So, with that in mind, influence has an outcome. So verse nine, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. This verse is showing us the outcome of that parental influence that was just described. We're gonna look closer at this ornament of grace. So it's it's referring to a garland or a wreath, sorry, wreath, I think is how you say it, that's placed upon the head like a crown. It's also referred to later in Proverbs in chapter four, verse nine, where it's talking about wisdom. And it says, she, being wisdom, shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. And if you look back at ancient culture, that garland or wreath is just it's a twisted leaf-looking thing that could be placed on someone's head as a sign of victory or an indication of their status. So when you saw this on someone's head, or when you saw that that chain about someone's neck, it immediately allowed others to recognize there is something special about this person. Perhaps this person is in a place of leadership or authority or has a particular status about them. And when we think about us today, there are things that people put on to indicate their status or their standing in society. When I was a teenager, it was a big deal of what brand of clothes you had or what shoes you had on. Like if you walked in and it was this brand or it was it was from this line of clothing, I mean, you were a class above the rest. And and maybe not every time, but many times how a person is dressed or how a person chooses to adorn themselves, the things they put on, people notice. So with this ornament of grace and chains about their neck, it's not talking about an outward adorning or a literal ornament or chain. But there's something about this person on the inside that people begin to notice. In other words, your influences will tell off on you. So when you give ear to godly influence and teaching, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law or teaching of thy mother, and begin to work on applying that in obedience in the fear of the Lord, there's there's something about us that begins to happen that people begin to notice. There's something special, something is is in or on their life. Well, that that garland or wreath placed on their heads back then was a crown that would eventually fade away. And I'm not after a corruptible crown that's given by my peers or a certain person that carries a temporary status or a temporary standing. I'm longing for that incorruptible crown that will never fade away. First Peter one and four, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice through though now for a season. If need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, and whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. What I'm hoping to get across here is that as we study Proverbs, this is this isn't about just making right choices. It isn't about just doing the morally right thing so I can be classified as a good person. My morally right decisions alone will not get me to heaven. What's the point of being morally right yet not having a relationship with Jesus Christ the righteous? I want my soul to be ready for the appearing of Jesus Christ. In that relationship with him is joy unspeakable and full of glory. And I want to make sure that whatever influences I allow in my life are helping me to head that direction. So moving on to the next verse, talking about these competing voices. So Proverbs 110 through 14, my son, if sinners entice, that just means flatter, deceive, allure, or persuade thee, consent thou not. In other words, don't be willing. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us. Let us all have one purse. Now I tried to read that with a little bit of emphasis, hoping that you notice each time it mentions let us, we, or our. So here are these competing voices saying, Come join us. And the parental influence here is quoting what those competing voices may sound like. There's an old saying I've heard before, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. So the instruction and teaching mentioned earlier is the forewarning so that you can be forearmed in those moments of temptation where the pressure is hitting hard. Come let us. It's about helping you to understand where some guardrails or boundaries need to be. Just because you are peers in age doesn't mean you are peers in values. So, in other words, I may have a group of same-age friends that I hang out, and rightly so. I need fellowship, right? But when talking about competing voices, it's important to understand the type of those influences. So I want to be mindful that just because these friends I'm hanging out with are my same age, we're in the same generation, we enjoy the same things, we have the same hobbies, we like the same music, doesn't mean that we all share the same values. And by that I mean our foundation may look a little bit different. And this will likely be something that we keep coming back to, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning. This is my foundation that I build everything else on. How I spend my time, how I view my relationships, how I view my responsibilities, how I view the things I own. I want to look at it all with God in mind. God, this is your time, this is your opportunity, this is your command, this is your blessing. And I do that because I want to value what. The Lord values. What he loves, I want it to matter to me. This is part of developing a relationship with him. So in thinking about these values and that foundation just mentioned there, a question that may come to somebody's mind is does that mean that I don't keep company or I don't have certain friendships or whatever with those that their foundation or their values don't line up 100% with where I am or where I desire to be? And I think this question brings us back to where we started today in verse 8 of Proverbs 1.8, where it talks about the instruction and the teaching. In other words, I need godly influences in my life that instruct me and teach me in where those lines, boundaries, and guardrails should be. I mean, I could try to establish them myself, but I'm still growing in learning. I don't know it all. And we talked about how last week a wise man will increase in learning. So I need the instruction, the continuation of instruction and teaching to help me when I am asking questions like this of is this okay? Is this crossing the line? Is this going too far? Is this a voice I need to listen to in my life? And kind of my radar or my meter that kind of helps me realize if it's a voice of influence that I should be listening to or not, is how does this align with the word of God? Is this a path that is drawing me closer to God? Or is it something that is leading me further away? Now, going back to that repeated use of let us, we, our, that is all a big tug on our internal desire for belonging to become a part of a group or a crowd. And the parental voice of influence here is quoting potential invitations or enticements that a group may give. It speaks to the persuasion that may be offered. And it reminds me of the old saying, I haven't heard it in a while, but everything that glitters ain't gold. So just because there's a shiny appeal to something doesn't mean it's pure. There's nothing wrong with the desire for fellowship. We all have that desire. But there is such a thing as the fellowship of the righteous. So 2 Corinthians 6.17 says, Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. There were some unclean things mentioned there in Proverbs. And I will receive you and be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord. That right there is belonging. I am his. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness and the fear of God. So it's it's all bringing bringing me back to that foundation, the fear of the Lord. Now we live, I said this earlier, in a world full of competing voices, that persuasion, that allurement, it is all around us. But through the instruction and teaching, it it can put something in us that gives us power and understanding to say no. Remember, every influence has an outcome. The dog you feed the most wins the fight. The influence or the voice that you let in the most is going to be a big factor in the outcome of how you handle that temptation. In every temptation, there is a way of escape. But which voices are you letting lead you? I want to be mindful of the influences that I am giving my ear and my heart and my submission and my accountability to. Whether it be a person, whether it be a book, whether it be something by electronic means, we are dealing with competing voices. But with God's help, through that instruction and teaching, we can find the power to say no to some things. All right, so coming to the last section of what we're going to talk about, Proverbs 15, or sorry, 115 through 19. And it says, My son, walk not thou in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, and they lay wait for their own blood. They lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Now, in short, this instruction and teaching that we've that has been intertwined through all of this today is helping us to get an understanding of how to respond to that invent that invitation or enticement. And the clear response is, my son, walk not thou in the way with them. If they say, come with us, the parental voice here is explaining the path they're running on is headed toward evil. So don't just consider the here and now, but consider the in, where they're headed, where their feet are running to. Now, the the part that I really want to kind of draw attention to, at least that struck me the hardest, is Proverbs 1, 17. So verse 17 here, where it says, Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. Now, maybe you've seen this happen, or you you've probably known someone who has seen this happen, but there's a freshly cleaned store front window. And here comes this bird, just enjoying life, and doesn't realize that that window is freshly cleaned and looks mighty transparent, and isn't able to tell that they're about to hit something, but they're just enjoying, you know, a bird's life. And all of a sudden you hear this thump and discover that the bird just hit the window. Now that bird didn't intentionally wake up that morning and think, you know, today's a great day to crash into a freshly cleaned and washed window? The bird just didn't realize that they were about to hit something. So with that in mind, what bird would see a net or a trap and willingly fly right into it? What bird would willingly allow themselves to be trapped? Well, when we allow ourselves to follow some of those competing voices that can take us down an ungodly path, we can become blind to the trap that's being set for us. And before you know it, just like that bird that hit the window, well, this time it wasn't a window, it was a trap. Now, I I don't know a whole lot about bird traps, but of what I do know, which could be little, bird traps can be set in in various ways. And most of them involve a bait of some kind. Well, sin has an allurement to it, an enticement to it. That's bait, just like you would bait a bird trap. And when we walk in ways that could direct us towards fallen or giving into certain temptations or listening to those competing voices that will veer us in a certain direction, when we take paths that could lead us away from God, when we ignore the voice of wisdom and instruction and teaching, when we ignore the boundaries and the guardrails, it's as if we are blindly walking into a trap because we couldn't tell the difference between what was baked and what was safe to be eaten. They tell me that rat poison is 95 to 99% good food with only a very small percent of poison. So when I think I'll only do a little thing, when I think I'll only go down this path for a little bit, just remember that sin's bait can be confused for something that seems safe to partake of. But then before you know it, the trap is engaged, and I've partaken of way more than I really ever intended to. In Jeremiah chapter five, it talks about how God's people had lost sight of their fear of the Lord, and it explains what that led to. So in Jeremiah 5 26, it says, For among my people are found wicked men, the company you keep. They lay wait as he that setteth snares, they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they are become great and waxen rich. So God's people were found in company with wicked men, men that had set a trap. God's people found themselves in a house of deceit with the wicked, whom we're not interested in the well-being of God's people, but only their personal gain. So what do you do? I mean, what what happens? What's the the answer when you find yourself in trouble like that? When you've been listening to those competing voices, and you found yourself in a mess, when you've been listening to the wrong influence, and you find yourself like that trapped bird. You took the bait, you couldn't tell what was bait and what was really safe to partake of. When we need help, we call 911. And 911 for me and maybe others as well has been Psalms 91, verse 1. And it says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Now earlier we read the verse about God's people being trapped like a cage full of birds. And Proverbs talked about the bird as well. Well, here in Psalms 91, it speaks of deliverance from the snare or trap of the fowler. A fowler is somebody who catches birds. Well, first of all, I think it's important to say that God doesn't want us to willfully continue to walk into the same old traps, especially when we know better. I don't want to take his grace for granted. I need a place of repentance. I've walked into a trap and discovered that this is a house of deceit. And this is not a place I want to live. But but what Psalms 91 reminds me of is that God still delivers. That voice that's saying, you're trapped, you're stuck, there's no hope. But again, if you find yourself needing help, we call 911, right? So Psalms 91 reminds us that God still delivers. Proverbs 113-14 says, We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our house with spoil. It's it's a it's a false promise by saying, We have here what's going to satisfy your need, what's going to fulfill your need. But just as we read in Jeremiah, it reminds us that God's people were listening to the wrong voices of influence, those competing voices, led them to a house that didn't fulfill their need. It led them to a house full of deceit. So bringing us back to Proverbs 1:8, my son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. I need godly influence in my life. A voice of sound instruction and teaching that will help me build on this foundation of the fear of the Lord. We talked about at the beginning the parable of the Good Shepherd and how the sheep ignored the voice of the stranger. But Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow me. So let's aim to be in tune with that voice of instruction and teaching in our life.