The Foolish Life
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Proverbs, which is about gaining practical wisdom for everyday life. Everybody needs wisdom for everyday life, because foolish decisions can have negative effects on our lives. Most of us, if not all of us, can look back at times in our lives when we’ve made some foolish decisions. We didn’t realize it back then, but we realize it now and we’re like “Yeah that was stupid! That was a foolish decision!” For example, in high school I jumped in a lake with a sign that said, “Warning Moccasins.” How many lakes do you know in Central Florida with a sign specifically saying, “Warning Moccasins?” I’ve only seen 1, and I jumped in it! I jumped in it and tons of Moccasins started chasing me. It was foolish!
Another time I egged my teacher’s brand-new car with 3 dozen eggs because I was failing her Physics class. I intentionally did it in the morning so the eggs would cook in the sun and eat the paint. The worse part was, I didn’t realize she went to my church! Well, she eventually found out I did it and she gave me 2 options. Either she presses charges, or I pay for all the damages and get tutored by her every day after school for the rest of the year. I wisely took option 2. But it was foolishness that got me into that situation to begin with...What are some foolish decisions you’ve made in life? What are some foolish decisions you’ve made in life?...Here’s the thing about our decisions. You don’t always realize they’re foolish, until you’ve already made the decision. You think it’s wise in the moment, but you later realize it was foolish. Today we’re talking about being foolish. What’s it mean to be foolish, and how can we avoid living a foolish life. Let’s turn to Proverbs 1 and get into it. You’ll find Proverbs in the middle of your bible, and we’re starting off where we left off last week which is Proverbs 1:7. The title of today’s message is The Foolish Life, and here’s the big idea. Eventually God’s wisdom will make the world’s wisdom look foolish. Eventually God’s wisdom will make the world’s wisdom look foolish.
Context:
Here’s your context. As I said last week these proverbs come from King Solomon who’s considered one of the most famous, wealthiest, wisest kings in history. In 1st Kings 3 he asks God for wisdom, God gives him that wisdom, and historically people traveled from all over the world to gain from his wisdom. Solomon’s passing some of that wisdom onto us right here in the book of Proverb. Last week we learned in vs 1-7 what wisdom is, and 5 different aspects of wisdom, but today we’re learning what it means to be foolish, and how to avoid living a foolish life. We’ll be addressing 3 questions: What’s it mean to be foolish? What’s the different kinds of foolishness? How can we avoid living a foolish life? Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Proverbs 1:7 states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge...” Like I said last week the kind of fear Solomon’s talking about here is having a fearful awe of the Lord. It’s about being so in awe over God, that you want to please God in everything you do, including the decisions you make in life. It isn’t about fearing God will hurt you, it’s about fearing you’ll hurt God, you’ll break God’s heart with your foolish sinful decisions. Solomon’s saying wisdom begins with having a relationship with God and aligning your heart with God’s heart in everything you do. He’s saying if you want to grow in wisdom, start with a relationship with God.
Again vs. 7 states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Now Solomon’s teaching us what it means to be foolish, and so what’s it mean to be foolish? It means to be out of touch with reality...A fool is somebody who’s out of touch with reality, and according to vs 7 it’s because they don’t have a relationship with the God who created reality. Nobody knows reality better than God, and nobody knows how to navigate the realities of everyday life better than God. It’s foolish to think we can navigate the realities of everyday life, without the God who created those realities. God designed our world to function a certain way, and a fool thinks they can function outside that design. A wise person knows God designed our world to function a certain way, which is why you can’t just eat chili cheese fries and cake pops every day. It’ll destroy your body! It’s like putting diesel in a car that’s meant to run on unleaded. It’ll destroy the car! In a similar way your body wasn’t designed to function on chili cheese fries and cake pops. If you’re out of touch with that reality, if you function outside of God’s design for your body, it’ll destroy your body and be destructive for your life.
God also designed our world to function with a certain kind of morality, and if we live with an anything goes or survival of the fittest mentality it’ll be destructive to society. Right now, our culture wants everybody to decide their own morality. But if people can do whatever they want it’ll lead to pure chaos and societal breakdown, because we can’t claim anybody’s acting immoral. We can’t have laws, court systems, prisons since anything goes. It’s foolish to think you can live with an anything goes mentality, doing whatever you want, when God designed the world to function a certain way. A wise person will follow God’s design for life, a foolish person follows their own design. Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” Without God you’ll be out of touch with reality, and it won’t end well because you’ll be living with a distorted view of reality that’s outside of God’s design. So what’s it mean to be foolish? A fool is somebody who’s out of touch with reality, because they aren’t aligning their life with the God who created reality...Solomon’s about to teach 4 different kinds of foolishness. If you’re going to avoid a life of foolishness, you need to know some of the different kinds of foolishness to avoid. Tim Keller does a great job explaining the 4 kinds of foolishness in his Proverbs devotional book, and Solomon’s about to teach us 3 of those 4 in vs 22.
Vs. 22 states, “How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance?” There’s the 1st kind of foolishness. The 1st kind of foolishness is:
#1 The Inexperienced Fool = The Hebrew word for inexperienced can also be translated as simple or gullible. The inexperienced fool is somebody who’s gullible and easily influenced by others. They’re the person who makes foolish decisions to fit in with the crowd or to gain the approval of others. They’re like little children who never grow up. Instead of being influencers, they’re the ones being influenced. This is true when it comes to politics, education, morality, and faith. Their votes are easily swayed by whoever’s the more charismatic speaker, not by whoever has the best policies. Their faith is easily swayed by their atheist professor, not by carefully examining or fact checking their professor’s claims. Their decisions on morality and faith are easily swayed by peer pressure or societal popularity, not by God’s word or what’s intellectually true. Too many Christians treat the local church like inexperienced fools. They’re easily swayed or constantly bounce around churches to whoever’s strumming their heart strings most. They brag about all the churches they attend online and consider themselves connected to the church. But they aren’t connected to the church, they’re dating the church. Too many Christians are treating the church like it’s online dating, and they need to stop dating the church and start committing to a church. The inexperienced fool can’t gain the experiences needed to grow in wisdom, if they don’t stick around for the community of believers to help them grow in wisdom.
Again vs. 22 states, “How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking?” There’s the 2nd kind of foolishness.
#2 The Mocking Fool = The Hebrew word for mocking can also be translated as scoffer, and this is somebody who’s arrogant, has a lot of pride, can’t admit defeat or failure. Proverbs 21:24 states, “The arrogant and proud person, named ‘Mocker,’ acts with excessive arrogance.” They act with ‘excessive’ arrogance, meaning their arrogance is habitual, and they’ll habitually mock others with snarky cynical comments. They can even be arrogant towards God and find joy in mocking others who believe in God. But they’re fools because humans need relationships, and their arrogant, snarky, cynicism eventually pushes others away causing them to be alone. They’ll be alone especially with their inner thoughts and struggles. They’ll appear to have it all together on the outside, because their arrogance gives a false persona that everything’s okay when it isn’t. They’ll appear to be alive on the outside, even when they’re dying on the inside. God designed us to be relational beings, to function in this world in relationship with others, but the mocking fool pushes those relationships away with their mockery. Our online social media age has given us a massive platform for mocking others, and people are quick to ride bandwagon memes that tear others down. But Christians aren’t called to tear people down, we’re called to help pick people up in a world that’s constantly tearing people down. We need to resist mocking others, be respectful to everybody, even when we’re in disagreement with their worldly wisdom.
Again vs. 22, “How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge?” There’s the 3rd kind of foolishness.
#3 The Stubborn Fool = The text uses the word fool, but in Hebrew the word is keciyl, and it means a stubborn or obstinate fool. This is somebody who isn’t teachable, isn’t willing to learn or be corrected by others. When it comes to dealing with difficulties, their default isn’t to listen to others, it’s to respond with their natural temperament. For example, some of you respond to difficulties with anxiety saying “Let’s flight! Let’s get out of here!” Some of you respond with aggression, “Let’s not flight, let’s fight!” Some of you respond with optimism, “Let’s not flight or fight. Instead let’s just relax and listen to some Bob Marley, because every little thing is going to be alright!” But it’s foolish to think your natural temperament is effective for every situation. You need a wider range of responses than your default temperament. If you’re anxious, you need to grow into being bold and optimistic so you can face your fears. If you’re bold and optimistic, you need to grow into being more anxious so you can recognize and better assess legit fears. If you’re optimistic, you need to grow into being less flippant about life, so you don’t overlook critical decisions in life. Jesus is the only one who’s wisdom and temperament was perfect in every situation. He always did the right thing, at the right time, with the right temperament, and we need his help so we can grow in doing the same. Vs 22 teaches us 3 different kinds of fools. It’s the inexperienced, mocking, and stubborn fool, but there’s a 4th kind of fool that’s found in vs 32.
Vs. 32 states, “For the apostasy of the inexperienced will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.” This is the 4th kind of fool.
#4 The Complacent Fool = The Hebrew word for complacent can also be translated as prosperous. So, this somebody who thinks because life’s going well, they don’t need God. Their prosperity in life is giving them a false reality, a false sense of security. In Luke 12 Jesus teaches “The Parable of The Rich Fool,” which is about a guy who’s very rich and thinks he can live a complacent life now that he’s been prosperous. The guy says “Now I can take it easy. Now I can just eat, drink, and enjoy life.” But Jesus says in Vs. 20-21, “You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you’ve prepared, whose will they be? 21 That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Jesus calls the rich man a fool for allowing his prosperity to cause him to be complacent towards God. He calls him a fool for having a false sense of security thinking he’s in control of his life, when he’s about to lose his life and all the prosperity he gained in life. It’s foolish to think you’re in control of your life, when life is so uncontrollable. No matter how much you think you’re in control, things like sickness, suffering, sadness, and death eventually hits everyone. The death rate for humanity is always 100%, and no amount of wealth, success, or power will change that. A complacent fool ignores God thinking they’re in control of their life. But a wise person knows this very night everything can spiral out of control, and it’ll destroy us if we don’t have God to break our fall.
Again vs. 32 states, “For the apostasy of the inexperienced will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 But whoever listens to me will live securely and be undisturbed by the dread of danger.” Solomon’s now telling us how to avoid living a foolish life. He says we need to listen to what he said in vs 7, which is to seek God’s wisdom for everyday life. We need to listen and apply this wisdom, because wisdom is knowledge applied correctly. He says if we do this, if we apply God’s wisdom to our lives, we’ll live securely and undisturbed in the face of danger. He doesn’t say we won’t experience danger; he says we’ll be better prepared to face those dangers with God’s wisdom navigating us through those dangers. Isaiah 48:17-18 states, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had paid attention to my commands. Then your peace would’ve been like a river...” Psalm 119:105 states, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Centuries later Jesus claimed to be the very light and personification of God’s wisdom. Jesus says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness...” Jesus is the one who can open our eyes so we don’t walk in the foolish distorted realities of darkness. He’s the one who can give us eternal life, and the wisdom to navigate the realities of everyday life. When we repent for our foolish and sinful lives, he opens our eyes to the reality of his redemptive, hopeful, forgiving, magnificent love and wisdom. The only antidote for our foolishness and sinfulness is the love he poured out on the cross, and his wisdom poured out on the pages of the bible. The good news of the gospel, the good news of getting to walk this life with Jesus, is you’re going to make foolish decisions in life, but those decisions are never beyond the redeeming grace of Jesus. So, let’s seek his help in redeeming us from our foolish decisions and from our sinfulness. Let’s seek his help so we can see reality for what it truly is and face those realities with his wisdom. Let’s seek his help as we face the realities, of everyday life.
The Big Idea:
The big idea is eventually God’s wisdom will make the world’s wisdom look foolish. Some of you are skeptics and you’ve been living out of touch with reality, you’ve been living with a distorted view of reality. Some of you are believers and you’ve slipped out of touch with reality, facing everyday life without seeking the help of Jesus. But both skeptics and believers have a choice. You can build your life on the foolishness of the world’s wisdom, which leads to sandcastle kingdoms that’ll eventually be washed away by the storms of life or you can build your life on the solid rock of Christ and his wisdom, which leads to an eternal kingdom that’ll never be washed away by the storms of life. Which will you choose for your everyday life?