In 2012, Melbourne Metro released their ‘dumb ways to die’ advertisement as a public service announcement which quickly went viral. If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t watched it in a while, it’s a three minute video well worth a watch. It has gone down in history as the most awarded and most watched public service announcement ever.
This term at Trinity Youth, where all our youth from across the Trinity Network come together, I’ll be speaking from the book of Proverbs, chapter 9. The central tension that sets up the book, and indeed explains the challenges of life, is that God’s wisdom and the world’s folly both call us to come and follow them. As you read Proverbs 9, you’ll see that folly mimics wisdom’s call – “let all who are simple come to my house”. While sounding similar at first, the end result of following one or the other could not be more different – God’s wisdom leads to life and folly leads only to death.
If you get that central tension in Proverbs, it then sets up why, as the people of God, we need to be careful and wise as we navigate life. It’s why we need God’s wisdom revealed to us and why Proverbs then goes on to share wisdom on so many facets of life, money, relationships, listening to God and more. Interestingly, at our Southern Region ‘Summit Camp’ this year, a survey of our youth showed that the number one area they would like more of God’s wisdom on is friendship.
The heart of my message will be showing our youth just how much Jesus is the embodiment of God’s wisdom – a real Proverbs guy. We’ll see how, as we respond to the gospel of Jesus, we come to realise the truth of Jesus’ words: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on rock” – Matthew 7:24 NIV. I’ll be sharing how good Christian friends can be a huge blessing from God as our youth seek to live in the light of Jesus’ wisdom. I’ll also be aiming for it to be a great talk for all the youth there who are yet to trust in Jesus.
I really hope you can all encourage our youth and their friends to come along. We’ve got some great fun planned, plenty of food, a cracking band and even a dunk tank with me up first in an activity designed to reinforce the ‘dumb ways to die’ message. If your youth would like a shot they’ll need to bring a change of clothes and a towel.
Our youth today, as in every age, have wisdom and folly calling to them. Much is at stake both in this life and the next for each person. Please join me in praying that our youth would heed Proverbs’ urgent call to pursue God’s wisdom and find life, and hear that if they reject Jesus and his gospel, God’s ultimate wisdom, it really is the dumbest way to die.
