Dangers Facing Young Men
Young men pay special attention to the dangers we encounter now and in the future. These traps may ensnare us all and it would pay to "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." (1 Corinthians 16:13) J.C. Ryle challenges us to be aware of these different pitfalls: pride, love of pleasure, thoughtlessness, contempt of Christianity, and the fear of man's opinions.
Pride - man's oldest and greatest downfall, too often reigns in the heart of the young man. The story of Rehoboam adequately demonstrates the consequences of pride. It not only caused a loss of the kingdom but also a loss of strong fellowship with God. JC Ryle challenges us to avoid pride by becoming "aware of our sinful tendency toward pride and not falling into the temptation to be proud of our own abilities, strength, knowledge, appearance, or cleverness."
One of the ways we can overcome our sinful, proud tendencies is to look to Jesus and His example. In fact, one of the last fighter verses we memorized
was Philippians 2:5-8. "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Let us continue to fight pride by being aware of our sin nature and being on our knees pleading for Christ-like humility, acknowledging that our gifts and strength come from God.
Another sin that we as young men fall into is the love of pleasure. As J.C. Ryle states "all the fruit this love of pleasure produces, and all the ways in which it may do you harm" cannot be listed. We must be alert and intentional if we are to guard against the dangers of the love of pleasure. There are three things that we could do to guard against this:
1) Flee from the opportunity of it
2) Flee from the company of those who might draw you into it
3) Flee from the places where you might be tempted to do it.
As Job made a covenant with his eyes, so we should be ready to act and guard against people, situations, and places that, make us vulnerable to fall into the love of pleasure. Proverbs 7 simply describes the young man as one "lacking sense." Interestingly, that is the last we hear of him before Solomon describes him as one going to the slaughter. Take all of the warnings of destroyed lives to heart: many have fallen simply because they did not fight this sin. So then let us be actively fighting this tendency so that we may not fall, by God's grace.
The last sin I wanted to touch on was the fear of others opinions. It is very difficult to set an example in the way we are called by God to live, when we are always checking over our shoulder, looking for our peers' approval.
Never be afraid of doing what is right because you feel alone or alienated. JC Ryle states, "how thankless is this fear! No one will really think better of you for it. The world always respects those the most who act boldly for God." Pursue the same attitude as Gardiner who said, "I fear God, and therefore I have no one else to fear."
Brothers, we have a high calling to resist these worldly temptations and to pursue godliness to the end. So then, let us not be ignorant of these dangers and pray earnestly that God would be pleased to spare us from these traps.
Young men pay special attention to the dangers we encounter now and in the future. These traps may ensnare us all and it would pay to "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." (1 Corinthians 16:13) J.C. Ryle challenges us to be aware of these different pitfalls: pride, love of pleasure, thoughtlessness, contempt of Christianity, and the fear of man's opinions.
Pride - man's oldest and greatest downfall, too often reigns in the heart of the young man. The story of Rehoboam adequately demonstrates the consequences of pride. It not only caused a loss of the kingdom but also a loss of strong fellowship with God. JC Ryle challenges us to avoid pride by becoming "aware of our sinful tendency toward pride and not falling into the temptation to be proud of our own abilities, strength, knowledge, appearance, or cleverness."
One of the ways we can overcome our sinful, proud tendencies is to look to Jesus and His example. In fact, one of the last fighter verses we memorized
was Philippians 2:5-8. "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Let us continue to fight pride by being aware of our sin nature and being on our knees pleading for Christ-like humility, acknowledging that our gifts and strength come from God.
Another sin that we as young men fall into is the love of pleasure. As J.C. Ryle states "all the fruit this love of pleasure produces, and all the ways in which it may do you harm" cannot be listed. We must be alert and intentional if we are to guard against the dangers of the love of pleasure. There are three things that we could do to guard against this:
1) Flee from the opportunity of it
2) Flee from the company of those who might draw you into it
3) Flee from the places where you might be tempted to do it.
As Job made a covenant with his eyes, so we should be ready to act and guard against people, situations, and places that, make us vulnerable to fall into the love of pleasure. Proverbs 7 simply describes the young man as one "lacking sense." Interestingly, that is the last we hear of him before Solomon describes him as one going to the slaughter. Take all of the warnings of destroyed lives to heart: many have fallen simply because they did not fight this sin. So then let us be actively fighting this tendency so that we may not fall, by God's grace.
The last sin I wanted to touch on was the fear of others opinions. It is very difficult to set an example in the way we are called by God to live, when we are always checking over our shoulder, looking for our peers' approval.
Never be afraid of doing what is right because you feel alone or alienated. JC Ryle states, "how thankless is this fear! No one will really think better of you for it. The world always respects those the most who act boldly for God." Pursue the same attitude as Gardiner who said, "I fear God, and therefore I have no one else to fear."
Brothers, we have a high calling to resist these worldly temptations and to pursue godliness to the end. So then, let us not be ignorant of these dangers and pray earnestly that God would be pleased to spare us from these traps.
Join me this next week as we read Chapter 3.
Andrew K.
Andrew K.
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