Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20110522.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Proverbs: Motivating Teens And Adults To Align With God's Fixed Moral Order
Part II: Explaining The Value Of Heeding God's Fixed Moral Order, Proverbs 1:8-9:18
H. Learning The Great Need To Value Corrective Discipline
(Proverbs 4:10-19)
  1. Introduction
    1. Often, young adults and maturing teens view corrective discipline from their parents as especially annoying, for they are at the age when they desire to be independent of their parents in every way.
    2. However, there is a great need to value corrective discipline from proper authorities, not only as a young adult, but even throughout one's life, and Proverbs 4:10-19 reveals the importance of this need so as to motivate the young adult or maturing teen to value corrective discipline he receives (as follows):
  2. Learning The Great Need To Value Corrective Discipline, Proverbs 4:10-19:
    1. In Proverbs 4:10-12, Solomon began to urge his son to heed his words to enjoy a long life (Prov. 4:10), saying he had taught him the way of God's fixed moral order (hakmah, Prov. 4:11a) and led him in the paths of uprightness (Prov. 4:11b) so that his steps would not be hampered lest he fail in his efforts in life (Proverbs 4:12a), nor to stumble if he chooses to run, i. e., making an aggessive move, Proverbs 4:12b.
    2. The way in particular Solomon had in this context was that of "instruction" (KJV, ESV, NIV), what the Hebrew text calls musar (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 1159), and amounts to "correction which results in education," Theol. Wordbook of the O. T., vol. I, p. 386. Solomon urged his son not to let musar go, to guard "her," personifying it as a desirable spouse for a young man, for she was his life, Proverbs 4:13.
    3. Now, a maturing teen or a young adult who earnestly seeks to be independent from his parents needs to see the value of firmly grasping the education he has received from being corrected by his parents. Solomon thus described the cause-effect CONTRASTING RESULTS of those men who abandon such musar VERSUS those who keep grasping it (as follows), Proverbs 4:14-19:
      1. Those who abandon musar become wicked, for not adhering to correction leaves the young man or even an adult man controlled by his sin nature that leads him to a wicked way of life, Prov erbs 4:14.
      2. Solomon strongly warned his son to avoid such a negative lifestyle in Proverbs 4:15, for there were terrible effects of living that way, Proverbs 4:16-17:
        1. Lack of having received or adhering to "correction which results in education" (musar) leads to sleeplessness unless one can sin or cause someone else to sin, Proverbs 4:16.
        2. Lack of such "correction which results in education" also causes one to earn a living (eating the bread of wickeness and drinking the wine of violence) by treating other people violently, Prov. 4:17.
      3. In stark contrast to this undisciplined, wicked way of life, the righteous man with musar, who has heeded his father's "correction which results in education," experiences a way of life that is like the initial rays of the morning sunlight that gradually increases to the full light of noonday where he can follow "straight paths" (Proverbs 4:11) and "not be hampered" or "stumble" in his efforts in life (Proverbs 4:12), Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 914.
      4. However, the wicked who has become wicked by abandoning musar, abandoning "correction which results in education," goes on a path that is like "deep darkness" where he does not know over what he even stumbles, Proverbs 4:19 ESV.
    4. David Blankenhorn's article, "Life Without Father," in the USA Weekend in the February 24-26, 1995 issue of the Register-Citizen, p. 4-5 confirms this lesson as he wrote: "Fatherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation. It is the . . . engine driving our most urgent social problems, from crime to adolescent pregnancy to domestic violence . . . Ultimately, this failure reflects . . . a culture gone awry, unable to establish the boundaries and erect the signposts that can harmonize individual happiness with collective well-being." Absence of "correction which results in education" by fathers has led to this.
Lesson: It is in the best long-term interests of a maturing young adult or a teen for him to hold to the correction he has received from his parents, a correction that leads to edifying self-discipline.

Application: May we hold to the "musar" of our parents, and testify of its great value to our children!