Sunday, April 01, 2007
"April Fools" : A Tale of Four Fools
Today is April 1st, and that got me thinking about fools. I bet you never thought you could learn spiritual lessons by studying fools. We can learn from their foolish mistakes, so we don’t have to repeat them – that’s why the Bible spends so much time talking about fools. Probably the best general description of what it means biblically to be a fool, is found in Psalm 14:1, which states that “the fool says in his heart that there is no God.” You might say, “Of course there’s a God!”, but the question is, do you live like it? No matter what we say with our mouths, or even if we attend church regularly, we become fools when we live or act as if there is no God. Many so-called Christians are “practical atheists” – meaning that when the pressure is on and tough decisions have to be made, they live as if God and His Word are not a serious factor. Many people live according to what the world and popular culture teach them – but remember, what the world calls wise, God calls foolish, and vice versa. We are going to examine FOUR SPECIFIC FOOLS from the Bible today, so we can be wise and avoid repeating their foolish mistakes.
1) THE MATTHEW 7 FOOL
(Read Matthew 7:24-27)
Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who builds his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.”
Don’t ever become a Matthew 7 fool. I call the Matthew 7 fool an “architectural fool” because he doesn’t know the right materials to build a life on. Are you building on a foundation that can weather life’s storms? Are you rooted in God’s Word? Or are you trying to build your house on sand? Can your money give you wisdom when life’s troubles arise? Can your Lexus comfort you when you need peace? Can partying and alcohol fill that God-shaped void in your heart? Build your life on the rock! What happens when the winds and storms blow in your life? (i.e. what do you look like during finals week? Spiritually weather-beaten?) You get a good picture of what the “foundation” is like when the “storm” comes. Even a flimsy house can look good when there’s no storm. God and His Word make the only sure foundation that lasts.
2) THE ROMANS 1 FOOL
(Read Romans 1:18-25, 28-32)
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen…
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them.
The Romans 1 fool is an arrogant, selfish fool – who lives as if there is no God, much like the definition of a fool in Psalm 14:1. There is no excuse to be this type of fool, because God’s qualities are plainly displayed to all in the world. This fool knows about God, but does not acknowledge or glorify Him. This is the fool who forgets to thank God or praise God. This is the fool who starts thinking he did everything himself, and that his life exists for his own comfort and pleasure. An unhealthy prayer life or praise life will get you on the fast track to foolhood fast! This happens when you see yourself as the center of the universe, instead of God the Creator. This type of fool values created things more than the Creator himself. The wise man values His relationship with God and obeys Him. The wise man is careful to not even show implicit approval of sin. The wise man realizes that his witness is important.
3) THE PROVERBS 26 FOOL
(Read Proverbs 26:3,11-12)
A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!... As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly… Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him…
Fools are stubborn. The wise man is humble and teachable, unlike horses or donkeys. God created us to be higher than the animals – to have the ability to be humble and teachable. You can’t become who God is calling you to be, without submitting to God and getting rid of all stubbornness. You shouldn’t be like an animal who has to be whipped in order to learn. The wise man can learn from God’s Word, without having to try everything and learn the hard way. Fools continue in the same old cycles, making the same old mistakes, licking up the old vomit. How foolish to know the truth, and be set free from sin, yet to return back to the old messed-up ways that you just got set free from.
(Read 2 Peter 2:20-22)
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
The way some of us live our lives, you would think vomit was something desirable! We’ve got to stop wallowing in the mud and move FORWARD to the bright future God has in store… The wise man learns from his mistakes, confesses, repents, and moves on. You don’t have to keep learning the same lesson over and over. Break the cycle! The problem is, fools rarely break this cycle, because (back to the Proverbs passage) fools arrogantly think they are wise and are thus hard to teach. The wise man realizes that the only wise one is God, and submits to Him. That brings hope, because God has an answer for every situation.
4) THE LUKE 12 FOOL
(Read Luke 12:15-21)
Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
The Luke 12 fool is a short-sighted, earthly-minded fool. The short-sighted fool is thinking only of today, not the eternal perspective. He stores up treasures on earth instead of heaven. We see examples of the Luke 12 fool all the time today – so many people are more concerned with making money and moving up in the world’s prestige scale than they are concerned with serving God and developing their relationship with Him. He finds his comfort and security in empty things that don’t last. His earthly, materialistic pursuits throw his priorities out of whack, and he is caught unprepared when it is time for his judgment. If Jesus came back today, would you be comfortable with the priorities you have been pursuing recently? The wise man focuses on investing in his relationship with God, and things of eternal value and purpose. The wise man realizes that it’s worth giving up anything in this world to get closer to God and to serve Him. As Jim Elliott said, “HE IS NO FOOL WHO GIVES WHAT HE CANNOT KEEP TO GAIN WHAT HE CANNOT LOSE.”
1) THE MATTHEW 7 FOOL
(Read Matthew 7:24-27)
Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who builds his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.”
Don’t ever become a Matthew 7 fool. I call the Matthew 7 fool an “architectural fool” because he doesn’t know the right materials to build a life on. Are you building on a foundation that can weather life’s storms? Are you rooted in God’s Word? Or are you trying to build your house on sand? Can your money give you wisdom when life’s troubles arise? Can your Lexus comfort you when you need peace? Can partying and alcohol fill that God-shaped void in your heart? Build your life on the rock! What happens when the winds and storms blow in your life? (i.e. what do you look like during finals week? Spiritually weather-beaten?) You get a good picture of what the “foundation” is like when the “storm” comes. Even a flimsy house can look good when there’s no storm. God and His Word make the only sure foundation that lasts.
2) THE ROMANS 1 FOOL
(Read Romans 1:18-25, 28-32)
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen…
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them.
The Romans 1 fool is an arrogant, selfish fool – who lives as if there is no God, much like the definition of a fool in Psalm 14:1. There is no excuse to be this type of fool, because God’s qualities are plainly displayed to all in the world. This fool knows about God, but does not acknowledge or glorify Him. This is the fool who forgets to thank God or praise God. This is the fool who starts thinking he did everything himself, and that his life exists for his own comfort and pleasure. An unhealthy prayer life or praise life will get you on the fast track to foolhood fast! This happens when you see yourself as the center of the universe, instead of God the Creator. This type of fool values created things more than the Creator himself. The wise man values His relationship with God and obeys Him. The wise man is careful to not even show implicit approval of sin. The wise man realizes that his witness is important.
3) THE PROVERBS 26 FOOL
(Read Proverbs 26:3,11-12)
A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!... As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly… Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him…
Fools are stubborn. The wise man is humble and teachable, unlike horses or donkeys. God created us to be higher than the animals – to have the ability to be humble and teachable. You can’t become who God is calling you to be, without submitting to God and getting rid of all stubbornness. You shouldn’t be like an animal who has to be whipped in order to learn. The wise man can learn from God’s Word, without having to try everything and learn the hard way. Fools continue in the same old cycles, making the same old mistakes, licking up the old vomit. How foolish to know the truth, and be set free from sin, yet to return back to the old messed-up ways that you just got set free from.
(Read 2 Peter 2:20-22)
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
The way some of us live our lives, you would think vomit was something desirable! We’ve got to stop wallowing in the mud and move FORWARD to the bright future God has in store… The wise man learns from his mistakes, confesses, repents, and moves on. You don’t have to keep learning the same lesson over and over. Break the cycle! The problem is, fools rarely break this cycle, because (back to the Proverbs passage) fools arrogantly think they are wise and are thus hard to teach. The wise man realizes that the only wise one is God, and submits to Him. That brings hope, because God has an answer for every situation.
4) THE LUKE 12 FOOL
(Read Luke 12:15-21)
Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
The Luke 12 fool is a short-sighted, earthly-minded fool. The short-sighted fool is thinking only of today, not the eternal perspective. He stores up treasures on earth instead of heaven. We see examples of the Luke 12 fool all the time today – so many people are more concerned with making money and moving up in the world’s prestige scale than they are concerned with serving God and developing their relationship with Him. He finds his comfort and security in empty things that don’t last. His earthly, materialistic pursuits throw his priorities out of whack, and he is caught unprepared when it is time for his judgment. If Jesus came back today, would you be comfortable with the priorities you have been pursuing recently? The wise man focuses on investing in his relationship with God, and things of eternal value and purpose. The wise man realizes that it’s worth giving up anything in this world to get closer to God and to serve Him. As Jim Elliott said, “HE IS NO FOOL WHO GIVES WHAT HE CANNOT KEEP TO GAIN WHAT HE CANNOT LOSE.”
