Word To The Wise: Avoid The Way of Wickedness!

Popular culture is a barometer of the moral values of our society.  The most recent public display of popular culture was provided for us by Miley Cyrus’ performance at the MTV VMA’s.   From some of what I’ve seen and read, it would be an understatement to say that her performance was extremely inappropriate.  According to an article written just 5 years ago by CPYU when Miley was 15, she grew up in a Christian home and that she was a, “grounded, authentic, humble kid who has not let fame and fortune get the best of her”, and that she is, “one of the best role models out there for the emerging generations and is a shining light on a dark industry.”  It appears that Miley, when she came to the fork in the road, chose not to pursue the path of righteousness.

Rather than criticize the path Miley Cyrus’ has chosen, instead we must give serious consideration to whether WE have and are walking down that path with her!  We must take seriously the wickedness in our own lives.

READ:  Proverbs 4:14

Here’s our WORD TO THE WISE for the week from the book of Proverbs:  Avoid the way of WICKEDNESS!  What is the way of wickedness?  The “way of wickedness” is living life as a willing participant in evil and sin.  Wickedness is living life and making choices that are contrary to God’s perfect design for all things in life.

The way of the wicked is DEEP DARKNESS (Prov. 4:19) – One of the highlights of our annual student ministry fall retreat is the night walk.  During the night walk our group walks on a path through the woods at night in the pitch dark.  No flashlights or anything to illuminate our path.  Without light, students yell and scream at the unexpected sounds and terrain that they experience along the way.  It is a relief at the end of the walk when we get closer to the main camp and our path begins to be illuminated by the lights of the camp.  The way of the wicked is “deep darkness”.  By participating in evil and sin we flip off the light switch of God and His truth in our lives. Without the light of God and His truth we will stumble around in the darkness, oblivious to the dangerous consequences of our wicked words, attitudes and actions.

The way of the wicked is an ABOMINATION to the Lord (Proverbs 15:8, *9, 26, 21:27) – God loves everybody, right?  Yes, true, but at the same time God is a harsh opponent of evil and sin.  God has a holy hatred for sin and a righteous indignation for wrong.  Wickedness, evil, and sin are an “abomination” to the Lord.  Habakkuk 1:13 says that God’s eyes are too pure to “see evil” or to even “look at wrong”.  And it is not just the evil and sin itself that is an abomination, but the person who willingly participates in it.  With evil and wickedness in our lives, WE are the abomination! 

The way of the wicked leads to DESTRUCTION (Prov. 10:27, *14:11, 21:12) – Every action movie has a scene where the evil villain is defeated or destroyed.  Whether it’s Loki being defeated by the Avengers or Emperor Palpatine being destroyed by Darth Vader, we cheer and experience relief when the wicked are defeated and justice is executed.  Why would we expect any less of a response from a holy and righteous God toward the wicked!?!  We want a just response from God, we just don’t like to think of ourselves as the ones who are wicked and deserving of destruction.  And yet, without Christ, we are enemies of God and will receive just punishment for living our lives on the way of wickedness (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:1-4).  

CONCLUSION:

Proverbs warns us to stay away from the way of wickedness.  In Matthew 7:13 in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that, “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.”  According to Jesus there are two ways you can identify the way of wickedness . . . it is wide and it is easy!  The way of wickedness will be attractive because it popular, well-traveled, and free of resistance, suffering or difficulty, but at the end of the path there is destruction.  No matter how attractive the way of wickedness might appear, we would all be wise to avoid it and instead enter the path or righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ!