The Foolish & The Wise
Notes
Transcript
I attended a pastor’s workshop this past week led by Chip Ingram. Some of you may have heard of him, he pastored and led several large churches, wrote some Christian bestsellers, and is the founder and CEO of Living on the Edge - an international teaching and discipleship ministry. I found him to be a very gifted, down to earth, humble, authentic servant of Christ who is passionate about developing disciples, not just believers, but disciples of our Lord.
That is our Great Commission.
Before He ascended to be with the Father, Jesus told his disciples in Matt 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Go - make disciples - disciples are those who are baptized into new life and who do what Jesus has commanded.
That is the duty of every person who calls Jesus Lord.
That is the most important metric we can measure as a Church - are we making disciples? That is not the same as are we adding new members - although there should be a correlation. You can have a large church in number, yet have a membership shallow in faith. And you can have a small church in number, but one that is deep in faith, where God’s Word is followed resulting in real impact for their community.
The workshop was on “Growing a High Impact Church” and I’m still processing all the teaching and how to implement some of the ideas that have come out of it. But I wanted to share with you a powerful story that Chip shared with us.
Chip and his wife Teresa have 4 sons - and their youngest son, Jason, was the rebellious one. I can tell you from my experience as a parent raising two children, being a pastor’s kid is not easy. They are often ostracized by their peers, treated differently by adults, always dealing with the expectation from others that they will live a certain way, and on top of that - they often witness firsthand the dysfunction found in many churches. It is one of the devil’s evil strategies - spiritual attacks against the children to disrupt the work of those called to teach and lead God’s people.
Jason rebelled against the Christian faith. He constantly pushed all boundaries that Chip and Teresa tried to hold, broke all the rules. His actions brought a lot of chaos and disruption to the household. He once told his dad, something to the effect: “I like you as a father, I just wish you weren’t a Christian father. I don’t subscribe to Christianity - I think there are other ways that people can follow and still live a good life.”
Right before his 18th birthday, Chip and his wife made a hard decision - one that was made with many tears. Chip told his son, “you have a choice to make. You can either live here within the boundaries we have established, or once you turn 18, I will help you find a place to live, but you will be on your own. You can go and do whatever it is you want to do, but you will also have to fully support yourself. You have 48 hours to make your decision.”
The long, steadfast, agonizing prayers of his parents were finally answered within those 48 hours. Chip jokingly says he would love to be able to attribute his son’s conversion with some great piece of wisdom that he had shared: like “dad, I remember that one sermon you preached” or “I found what I was looking for in that book you wrote.” But that was not the case.
Jason had gone to his room, and in a moment of grace, cried out to God “If you are there, I need you to reveal yourself to me. I want that relationship that my mom and my dad have with you.” It wasn’t the right set of words, it was the relationship that was so obvious, and so different than what he experienced in the world, that is what drew Jason in.
Chip then went on to share that Jason, his once rebellious son, now a music producer and songwriter, wrote the lyrics to the song, the “Goodness of God” - one of the top Christian songs in the world last year.
The chorus:
And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
It is a beautiful story of God’s redeeming grace. Jason had grown up with all the right teachings, knew the scriptures, heard about Jesus, saw God at work in his family, and still rebelled like the “simple ones” spoken of in today’s reading out of Proverbs.
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?
In this passage, Biblical Wisdom is personified as a woman. She is walking along the streets - right out in the open - speaking out loud for all to hear.
One commentary states:
The Message of Proverbs: Wisdom for Life The Town Crier (1:20–33)
Wisdom belongs at the centre of public life. She is a brave, passionate woman, with something very serious to say. Hers is a summons to the people to understand. Wisdom reproves those who will not listen, laughs at those who ignore her advice, but offers safety and security to those who heed her call.
The simple ones, the scoffers, the fools ignore her cry.
Why?
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
As I have mentioned before, I meet monthly with several local clergy and we have been reading and discussing the book “The Awe of God: The Astounding Way a Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life.” The fear of God is one of those topics that the Church today does not discuss very often. Maybe because it sounds too negative or gloomy - I don’t know. I hope to remedy that next month for us through a series I am preparing. The Bible has much to say about the fear of the Lord and one of the most recognized proverbial sayings is found in Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
When the Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, what knowledge is it speaking about?
There are certainly many people knowledgeable about many topics who do not fear the Lord. A lot of our universities today are filled with professors full of knowledge in many areas of study but who do not fear the Lord. There are many political leaders, business leaders, tech industry leaders who command great knowledge but who do not fear the Lord. Artificial Intelligence - which is rapidly changing our world, is able to gather and synthesize vast amounts of data and bring forth knowledge - but AI is not human and so it is incapable of fearing the Lord.
So what knowledge is the Bible referring to?
The knowledge of God.
God wants us to know Him. This is knowledge essential for all who desire to flourish as a human being.
It is God’s desire that we enter into close, intimate relationship with Him.
He already knows us completely.
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
As our Creator, Sustainer, Provider, Protector - He knows everything about us.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
What he is looking for is a people who desire nothing more than to know Him. That is what faith is all about.
Take for example Moses - he desired to know God.
Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you’ve been telling me, ‘Lead these people forward.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. Yet you’ve assured me, ‘I know you by name and think highly of you.’ Now if you do think highly of me, show me your ways so that I may know you and so that you may really approve of me. Remember too that this nation is your people.”
This is the kind of seeking the Lord wants from us.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
This knowledge of God begins when we have a healthy fear of the Lord. When we are no longer rebelling and ignoring and doing whatever we want thinking that we have no one to answer to - or that God does not see all that we do.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
It is a healthy fear of the Lord - the acknowledgement that God is God, that the heavens are his throne and the earth is his footstool, that He is holy and righteous and that each of us will one day stand before Him and have to give an account of our lives - the good and the bad - it is this healthy fear of the Lord that opens the way for us to know Him.
This is the choice that every human has before them. God has not hidden himself from anyone - He has made his ways known. That is what we hear in today’s passage - from this woman called Wisdom who cries aloud in the street and in the market she raises her voice.
David Atkinson writes:
The Message of Proverbs: Wisdom for Life The Town Crier (1:20–33)
Wisdom offers her advice in the public place. This is no secret knowledge, no private religious opinion. Wisdom can be found, and her advice heard, in the public realm. In the ordinary everyday places where people live their lives, build their relationships, learn their skills, seek their health and defend against death, there Goďs Wisdom can be heard. So Wisdom faces her hearers with a challenge. There are choices to be made. There is the way of folly, of refusing the reverent obedience to God which is Wisdom’s hallmark: the end of that road is deafness, deadness and disaster. Or there is Wisdom’s way, bringing the public realm, the choices, and the importance of evaluating between different priorities and different paths, into the light of God. Wisdom offers the life-giving knowledge of God and his ways: how long will the fools hate this knowledge?
Wisdom is gained in relationship.
Krista and I have been married a long time. I think it will be around 27 years this month - if I did my math right. I think it is safe to say, after 27 years, I have gained a lot of wisdom about my wife. I know her better than anyone else. I know her likes and dislikes. I know when she is having a great day and I usually know when something is bothering her. I know her dreams, her longings, I know how lucky she feels that she married me. I know I can say that without her getting mad at me.
Wisdom is gained in relationship.
How is your relationship with Jesus?
Do you know Him? Do you spend time with Him? Is He much more to you than scripture verses and church doctrine? Is He a person you believe in or is He someone you know?
There is a difference between believing and knowing. You can believe and yet still be a fool. It is only in knowing that wisdom is attained.
For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
God is good. All the time. And through Jesus, he has made the way for you to know Him.
Let us pray.