My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.
If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for someone’s blood, let’s waylay some harmless soul; let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse” – my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood.
How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds! These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves! Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it. (Proverbs 1:10-19)
A number of reasons are suggested as to why someone would join a gang, even a gang of violent criminals to rob and kill. Perhaps he is desperate for friendship. Perhaps he surrenders to social pressure. Perhaps there is the desire to belong, to feel the strength of many. Or, even if he realizes that it is not the ideal lifestyle, among the few undesirable options presented to him, this might be the one that gets him what he wants.
Whatever the reason seems to be, there is always the deeper issue of sin. From sin arises a sickening sense of dread and isolation, a need for human company and social acceptance, and a lust for material treasures. These are the symptoms of sin. At the root of the non-Christian’s personality, he desires to rebel and cause mischief. He wants to commit evil and to thumb his nose at God. The invitation of other sinners incites sin in him, and offers him an opportunity to exercise his wickedness into concrete action. Seeing the obvious dangers, some non-Christians warn their children about violent gangs. So they work hard to receive an education and become white-collar criminals instead.
Jesus Christ is the true solution. He alone vanquishes evil in our hearts and fills us with a love for God. Now we desire to obey him. Now we want to praise him with our lips and honor him with our lives. Accordingly, although it still warns about gangs and violence and many other things, the Christian’s moral education is not chiefly founded on practical concerns and still less on ethical principles that are detached from God’s commands. Rather, the Christian’s moral education comes under the banner of “the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:7).
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. It is not the conclusion of our own moral reasoning, but we ought to begin our moral reasoning with it. It is generated in our hearts through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the true solution to sin, to crimes, to that sense of sadness, dread, and isolation. The non-Christian’s education and welfare programs only put a white handkerchief over a big pile of wet dung. What is underneath always seeps through and the handkerchief soon becomes part of the problem. Superficial measures are absurd and ineffective, because sin is underneath and it always seeps through. There is true reform and deliverance only in Jesus Christ.