Caught in Your Own Trap

PASTOR JOSH SECTION
Good morning! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church.
Well, if by chance you haven’t heard yet, this is Pastor Josh’s last Sunday with us…and so I actually want to bring him on stage as we are saying goodbye this week.
We are so grateful for his almost 6 years of serving our church body.
I am grateful for his friendship and for how he always challenged us to go deeper in our faith and dive deeper into God’s Word
I know many of you have grown closer to Jesus because of Josh and his leadership.
So we want to honor him and thank him for serving our church body here.
I have asked one of our elders, Steve Hals to come on stage now and pray for Josh.

INTRODUCTION
Let me tell you about something I did growing up that I never do anymore.
Sometimes you or a friend would wonder about something, and you’d say,
“Hey, I wonder how cold it really is in Antarctica?”
“I wonder what the Viking’s all-time record is against the Packers?”
And a friend might take a random guess and you might debate or conjecture back and forth a bit…
But eventually, unless someone owned an entire set of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, or a book on the history of the Minnesota Vikings…you’d typically end the conversation by saying, “Huh, well, I guess we’ll never know” 😊
But today, that never happens. Ever!
We google everything.
We live in the information age.
However, I read this quote from one of my favorite Bible Commentators, Warren Wiersbe, this week, and I thought it was apt:
“We’re living in the ‘information age,’ but we certainly aren’t living in the ‘age of wisdom.’” – Warren Wiersbe
There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge is often just a collection of facts.
But wisdom is the right use of knowledge actually applied to your daily life.
(Ways of the Wise Series Slide)
Think about wise people that you really admire……..
The wise people that we all look up to aren’t just people who can pass a test about right knowledge, they are people who have actually lived it out.
and that’s why we respect them.
And so this morning, we are embarking on an exciting new teaching series called, “Ways of the Wise.”
Where for 9 weeks, we are going to teach through Proverbs chapters 1-9 in the Bible.
And we’re going to study how wise people actually live, so we can hopefully replicate them!

PROVERBS 1:1-7
Before we jump in and start reading the Book of Proverbs, let’s first talk about how we should interpret proverbs in the Bible because it’s quite a different process than reading, say one of Paul’s letters.
How many of you have ever taken Studying God’s Word in Renovation U?
All right, awesome!
In that class, we teach that before you interpret a passage of Scripture, you have to know its genre: Is it a parable, a personal letter, prophecy, history, apocalyptic literature, or a proverb?
Every one of those has different rules for interpretation.
For example, let me give you a key principle in interpreting a Proverb:
Proverbs are principles that are GENERALLY true, but not ALWAYS true.
Proverbs 10:4
Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Now, is that always true?
That if someone is lazy, they will become poor?
No, some lazy people are rich!
But is it generally true?
Yeah! If you’re lazy, most likely, you’re not going to obtain a lot of wealth.
That’s how proverbs work! They are general wisdom!
All right, at this point, let’s grab our Bibles and open them up to Proverbs
Proverbs 1:1-19
Page 432
You’re going to read in a second that the books starts out by saying, “the proverbs of Solomon son of David”
Now, Solomon, whom you can read about in the book of 1 Kings in the Bible, was an incredibly wise king of Israel .
God personally granted him with wisdom because Solomon asked for it above anything else in the world.
And so many of these proverbs are from Solomon himself
But if you keep reading the book, you’ll see that not all of them are.
So think of Solomon as part author, part compiler of these proverbs.
All right, let’s read verses 1-7 as they serve as an introduction to the entire book, and lay out the theme and purpose of this book.
(Proverbs 1:1-7) – NIV
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
    for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
    doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple, 
    knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
    and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
    the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
    but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(Ways of the Wise SLIDE)
(KEEP BIBLE OPEN)
So Solomon writes here in verse 2 that the Proverbs in this Book are for gaining wisdom.
They will (v.3) give you instructions on how to behave, how to live a good life
This book is going to show you the WAYS OF THE WISE
And this is key:
We see in verse 5 that the wise will listen to the advice of this book and thus add to their learning, and get even wiser!
And this is a MAJOR, MAJOR theme in proverbs.
But what about the fools?
look at the end of verse 7
It says that “fools despise wisdom”
They won’t want to hear any of this.
Why?
Well, because the fool thinks they already know everything

PROVERBS 8-19
Okay, so that was to the introduction to the book
The first 9 chapters have 9 speeches, so let’s read the first one.
So let’s look now at verses 8-19.
(Proverbs 1:8-19) – NIV
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
9 They are a garland to grace your head
    and a chain to adorn your neck.
10 My son, if sinful men entice you,
    do not give in to them.
11 If they say, “Come along with us;
    let’s lie in wait for innocent blood,
    let’s ambush some harmless soul;
12 let’s swallow them alive, like the grave,
    and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
    and fill our houses with plunder;
14 cast lots with us;
    we will all share the loot”—
15 my son, do not go along with them,
    do not set foot on their paths;
16 for their feet rush into evil,
    they are swift to shed blood.
17 How useless to spread a net
    where every bird can see it!
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood;
    they ambush only themselves!
19 Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
    it takes away the life of those who get it.
(Caught in Your Own Trap)
Keep this open…we’re going to walk through this.
Okay, so Solomon is telling his son here in this first speech that he shouldn’t fall in with bad company…
…bad company that would say, “Let’s ambush someone, rough them up, steal their stuff, and we’ll be rich!
NOW, it would be easy to excuse ourselves here, and say, “Well, when I’m walking through my neighborhood in the Lakes or Legacy Creek or Club West, I can’t recall the last time I was tempted to brutally attack a passerby and steal all their stuff,” so this message isn’t for me!
No, whenever you read Scripture, you want to look for the underlying principle, and THEN apply it to your life.
Look at verse 19. The principle is there.
19 Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; (so this isn’t just about robbery)…
So if we were to summarize King Solomon’s main point in his first speech here, we might say it this way:
King Solomon’s Main Point in Proverbs 1:8-19:
Getting money in the wrong way often will destroy you
Because God runs the world…not chance.
And God runs a world with moral principles and laws.
And if you cheat His system, you shouldn’t expect for it to work out for you in the end.
And yet, many of us just don’t want to believe that.
And so we fall for the temptation that Solomon’s son was facing.
Which was:
STRUCTURE OF THE TEMPTATION
A) Come with us
B) Here’s the not great part
C) But think about good part
That’s the structure of it.
Verse 11: A) Come with us
Then 11-12 is B) Yeah, we’re going to have some ambush a harmless soul.
Could be fun, or maybe not
BUT DON’T THINK ABOUT THAT PART because here comes part C) Think of the good part.
This is verse 13: WE will get all sorts of valuable things and fill out houses with plunder!
This is how temptation works.
You feel tempted to something…
And rarely do you NOT see any cons.
That’s why we call it temptation.
When you’re tempted…you’re not sure about whether to do it or not because you can see that part of it is not good.
But the GOOD PART, the payoff, seems SOOO GOOD, that you want to do it.
(Caught in Your Own Trap)
But why does Solomon tell his son to not go along with them?
Because, verse 16, their feet rush into evil.
Like the child who rushes into the street after his ball, not even considering if cars may be coming…
…is the fool that chases after money without thinking about the long-term implications of how they obtain it.
And look at verses 17 & 18
17 How useless to spread a net
    where every bird can see it!
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood;
    they ambush only themselves!
Solomon is saying that if you want to catch a bird, you don’t go out while the bird is on a nearby branch and spread a net below it.
You’re going to scare it away.
The bird, even by animal instinct knows not to get caught in that trap.
And thus the person who tries to get money in the wrong way is like a person getting entangled in the very net they set out as a trap.
They, “ambush only themselves” as verse 18 says.
The set out to make money, but very often the consequences of their actions lead the one thing they NEVER wanted: their own financial ruin.
Thus, they’re caught in their own trap.
Because, when you disobey God in order to financially profit, that’s a game you can’t win
Don’t even try.
And this is where wisdom is so important.
Because in many ways, wisdom helps you say no to temptation before it even gets to you.
Wisdom can say, “No, I don’t want to do that. I fear God. That choice will not lead to the Good Life. God’s ways are always better.”
So, if we’re going to apply this to our lives in modern day, we need to ask ourselves:
“Where is it that WE are going about trying to acquire money in the wrong way? In an ungodly way?”
I tried to put this question out to a lot of people this week, and let me give you what we thought are some of the most common ways this happens in our day:
3 Ways We Go About Seeking Money in the Wrong Way Today:
1. Unethical Business Decisions
Now often this is quite subtle:
It’s when you’re asked to just slightly change a number in a report so it’ll look better.
It’s when someone says to you: “I’m not asking you to “lie,” I’m just asking you to leave out an important fact.”
Or, “When you and an associate feel like your decision maybe isn’t THE MOST ethical, but it will move the company forward, and that will make it more money, which will help the other employees, and so on and so forth”
All too often in business Solomon’s wisdom is ignored, and we try obtain money in non Christlike way.
I just finished reading C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters”
(Screwtape Letters cover)
Which I checked out and read out of OUR OWN CHURCH LIBRARY!! 😊
And you can do just that…just walk down the adult hallway, go the library and check it out, or place a hold!
The Screwtape Letters is a deep, but fascinating work of fiction where Lewis imagines a senior-level demon writing to his nephew, an apprentice demon, and teaching him how to tempt humans.
Let me read to you a selection of advice one of the demons gives about temptation:
“The last thing you want to do then, dear nephew, is to give them a clear-cut choice between good and evil. Chances are they'll pick the good, which is exactly what we don't want them to do. So, a good tempter has to confuse them, cloud the issue, and present their choices to them in other terms, any other terms besides evil and good. For starters, get them to believe that everything they do is okay as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else. That way, strangely enough, they'll never get around to thinking about whether they're hurting themselves.” – The Screwtape Letters
Which is exactly what this passage is talking about.
It’s about how we fall into our own trap: We unethically seek out more finances, but end up hurting ourselves…
…we end up…in our own financial ruin.
(Caught in Your Own Trap)
We all know the stories of famous business leaders who were publicly embarrassed when they got caught fudging the numbers and their unethical decisions become public.
But we lie to ourselves, and we say, “No, that won’t be me. This is different.”
But Proverbs would say that is the way of the fool, not the way of the wise.
The way of the wise is to fear the Lord.
To trust that when God says that getting money in the wrong way often will “destroy you,” and will “take away the life of those who get it (v. 19)…that God means it.
And so if you are making business decisions that, even in the smallest way aren’t honoring to God, and they’re not reflective of the way that Jesus would do business if He had your position…
I cannot urge you enough to, even tomorrow, confess what you’ve done, and start making changes.
And I won’t lie to you:
Doing so will be incredibly painful and difficult.
But it will be way less painful than getting caught in your own trap.
Let me give you a second way we saw this main point being played out in our society.
3 Ways We Go About Seeking Money in the Wrong Way Today:
1. Unethical Business Decisions
2. Questionable Side Hustles
Or little jobs you have on the side.
Now, everybody calm down.
I’m not saying every little way you make money on the side is unethical.
I’m sure 90% of it is just fine.
But, some of it is not.
Often, I see Christians often blur the line here.
They’re on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, telling all their friends that they’ve got a new supplement, oil, or new product, that has changed their life”
And I say, “If it really has, good for you! I’m truly happy for you. If I didn’t eat Culver’s and kids menu foods most of the time, I’m sure I’d try your new Vegan, gluten free food. I’m happy for you. Really”
But if in your conscience, you’re going, “I know this hasn’t really changed my life…
“But this is the script they gave me…and I have to say those things if I’m going to sell this and make some extra money for my family.”
Know, that, in the end, you are walking into your own trap.
The Lord speaks so strongly about integrity, truthfulness, avoiding dishonesty…
What you sow, you will reap.
And so if there is a check in your Spirit right now, over what you’re selling, signing your friends & family up for, or whatever it may be.
I cannot urge you enough, do the right thing, the Godly thing, not the thing that will make you more money.
Let me give you a third way we saw this main point being played out in our society.
3 Ways We Go About Seeking Money in the Wrong Way Today:
1. Unethical Business Decisions
2. Questionable Side Hustles
3. Gambling (Sports Betting)
I’m not sure I’ve ever preached on gambling in over 1,000 messages, so I promise I’m not targeting anyone today, so don’t look at me… I’m just the messenger
The Word of God hits everything…eventually.
Which is part of why we teach through books verse by verse
But surely gambling is an example of seeking money in an ill-gotten way.
…of seeking riches in a way that can lead to doom.
When I was growing up, there was plenty being written about the addictive nature of slot machines…or even the infamous “powerball curse.”
The fact that such a high percentage of the big-time lottery winners eventually go broke and wish they had never won.
But I don’t think either slot machines or daily lottery tickets are probably a massive temptation for the vast majority of you.
So let’s talk about what probably is, or will be, a huge temptation for a good percentage of you: Betting on Sports
In 2018, the Supreme Court made it legal for all 50 states (not just Nevada) to pursue sports betting.
In just 6 years, 38 states have already made sports betting legal
MN is one of only 12 states where it is illegal (not that people don’t find ways to do it anyway)
But listen, it’s highly likely that it will be legal here in the next few years.
And what that means is that this is going to be highly prevalent in many people’s lives.
No longer does someone need to place a sports bet in Las Vegas or through a bookie
Minnesotans will be able to bet, just like plenty of states already can, legally, right from their phone while they watch the game.
And so let’s talk about this before it hits mainstream here.
…because the stats that are coming out from just 6 years of data in the U.S. are shocking.
1 in 4 American men are already placing sports bets
And keep in mind, it’s not even legal in 12 states (including populous states like Texas and California), so that number is going to climb to even 1 in 3 or even higher in the next few years.
This is a massive topic for society.
And it’s already taken a huge foothold among young people.
58% of 18-22 year olds are already placing sports bets

States where it is legal have already seen significant rises in bankruptcies and credit card debt
This is very similar to when, 25 years ago, pornography became a widespread problem after it moved from seedy stores to being available on everyone’s computer and then smart phone.
Gambling is moving from the casino to the phone
Take a look at this: In a very important recent study of 1,500 men who had placed bets on sports in the last 12 months:
58% say sports betting has affected their mental health
44% say it’s difficult to watch a game without feeling the urge to bet
20% spend 25% of their entire paycheck on sports betting
20% of men either are or have been in debt because of sports betting
28% want to quit right now, but can’t
Of those who’ve ever considered quitting, 18% say it’s destroying their life
Just think about that for a second.
A mentor once explained risky behaviors to me this way, and I’ve never forgotten it.
He said, “If you were going to go skydiving, and at the briefing they said, ‘There is an 18% chance this will destroy your life,” would you go up in the plane?
No way…you’d run to the parking lot!
And so my pastoral advice to you…in the ways of the wise…is: “If this comes to MN, don’t start.”
Because betting on sports is especially deceptive because we are tricked by our pride.
It’s not playing slots.
In fact, sports bettors often have higher education and start with higher income levels.
But we trick ourselves into believing “I KNOW SPORTS. IT’S NOT LUCK. It’s knowledge. It’s skill.”
In addiction, this has a name.
It’s known as the “delusion of expertise.”
It doesn’t work out that way.
In fact, let me share with you the harsh reality of research: When you play it out over decades: Only 3% of sports betters make money. 3%
97% lose money, 18% say it destroys their life.
They have to tell their spouse that they secretly lost all of their savings, and maxed out credit cards, or worse.
So let me bring us back to the main point of this first speech in Proverbs
King Solomon’s Main Point in Proverbs 1:8-19:
Getting money in the wrong way often will destroy you
And here is where we must trust the WAYS OF THE WISE.
And trust the wisdom of God’s Word…over the temptations of our own flesh
And I want to go deeper into what allows us to do that…but first before we talk more about a changed life, we want to pause for a minute and look at a changed life.
As this is Baptism Sunday!
We’ve had 58 people come to Christ in the last 8 weeks!

BAPTISM
At this point I want to call out Baptismal Team on stage.
As we are going to celebrate a baptism at this service
Baptisms are a visual reminder that God’s Son, Jesus Christ has paid for our sins.
And by our faith in Him, we were forgiven, washed clean.
And not only that, that God has raised us up from the dead and given us new life.
And so when we get baptized, we’re publicly proclaiming that Jesus has washed away our sins.
Baptism doesn’t save you.
But it is such an important symbol of his love.
Every person you see baptized at Renovation Church is baptized by a sponsor (people who’s had a spiritual impact on them)
But before we do the baptism, we get to hear their testimonies

GOSPEL
Thank you for your testimonies.
They’re so helpful for us because they demonstrate what a life changed by Jesus actually looks like.
And I think this is really important when we go through a Book like Proverbs.
Because, I think too often in books of the Bible like this, people come to the wrong conclusion.
And they say, “Okay, what I need to do is to work harder on living with integrity when it comes to money, and I’ll be a better person.”
But that’s not how this Book tells us to change.
The teaching of the Bible is that we are changed from the inside out.
When we invite Jesus into our lives, and let Him take the wheel, He starts guiding us to live in a different way.
But it’s not just that, He’s pressing the gas too.
He empowers us to live in new ways.
And that’s why it’s so important that you have Jesus in your life.
And we all need Him.
Because the truth is that the real God, the God of the Bible, created you.
And He made you in such a way that the only way you can know peace and real life is to Him personally.
But, we’ve sinned, and we cut ourselves off from Him.
But God loves you so much, He came on a rescue mission for you.
Jesus, God’s Son, took on flesh and came to earth.
He lived the perfect life we couldn’t, and He died on the cross.
And in dying on the cross, He was taking the punishment that we deserved for our sin.
And 3 days after He died, He resurrected from the dead, proving that God the Father accepted His sacrifice.
And the Bible then tells us that in order to be saved, to be forgiven, to obtain eternal life in heaven…we need make Jesus the leader of our lives.
To say, “God, I’m not good enough on my own. I’ve sinned. Forgive me. Help me leave that behind. I believe you died for me, now I want to live for you”
And the Bible promises you this:
(Romans 10:13) – NIV
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
That’s how God can change your life.
That’s what empowers you to live in the ways of the wise.
But it all starts with you surrendering.
Believing He died for you and inviting Him to take the wheel.
If you’ve never done that before, I want to give you an opportunity to receive that gift of forgiveness and eternal life right now.
So I’m going to ask that everyone in the room just close your eyes for a minute or so. And bow your head. In fact, let’s do this.
If you need to make this decision for the first time today…to tell Jesus that you need His forgiveness for your sins…to make Him the Leader of your life…to accept His gift of Eternal life…And to invite Him in to have a relationship with you
In just a minute, I’m going to ask you to raise your hand
No one’s going to be looking at you at all, that’s why we had everyone close their eyes.
This is an opportunity for you to surrender. And invite Him in to save you.
Maybe you’ve even been thinking about doing this all last week…or even the last month.
And now it’s time.
And so if you need to tell God for the first time today that you do believe, and you want to follow Him and be forgiven.
Then I invite you to raise your hand wherever you are right now.

The Bible tells us that in this moment we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths.
Repeat after me
Dear God
I confess to you, that I have sinned against you.
But God I believe, that you sent your Son Jesus, to take my place
And God I thank you, for forgiving my sins.
And now I commit, to following you, with my life.

Amen, you can put your hands down.
For those of you that raised your hand…
Important decision, need resources, what to do next.
I’m going to pray and close the service in a second, but for the TWO/THREE of you that raised your hands, come see me after.
Let me pray