Friday, March 16, 2007

FOOLISHNESS AND FOOLS

Ephesians 5:15

Here is the first thing we need to understand about fools and foolishness. The biblical definition of a fool is a person who lives life separated from God, a person who does not live life in relation to God. Sin is the thing that separates us from God. We have been separated from God since the sin of Adam and every human since that day has been born with a sin nature. Since we are all born in sin we are also all born separated from God so, by definition, we are all born fools! We do not have to work to become fools. There is nothing we have to learn or accomplish to qualify for the rank of fool. We’re just born that way!

A fool lives in such a way that his life demonstrates that he does not believe in God. King David wrote in Psalm 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” So foolishness is living life as if there is no God. Follow the logic. If there is no God then you have the right to be the authority over your own life. You get to make the rules for your life and no one can tell you otherwise. If there is no God then there are no absolutes. You get to decide for yourself what is right or wrong. But one thing is sure, since there are no absolutes there can be no sin. Therefore, you get to do whatever you want to do. You aren’t wrong and you don’t sin. Everything you decide to do is justified by the rules you have made up for living. The bottom line is that the fool is governed by his feelings, his senses, his instincts. He is ruled by the passions and desires that are in his heart. In other words, he is governed by his sin nature! It makes perfect sense to the fool. “I will do what pleases me, what makes me happy, and there is no one who can say I am doing anything wrong!” But if you try to explain God’s wisdom to such a person he cannot understand it. He is a fool and cannot grasp the wisdom of God.

What does the Bible say is the ultimate destination for the fool? The fool’s own foolishness in rejecting God will be his destruction. Wisdom speaks in Proverbs 1:28-33, “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” The consequences of foolishness are death, “Fools die for lack of judgment” (Proverbs 10:21b).

6 Comments:

At 10:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Dave! I will come back and read in here later, but I wanted to drop by and welcome you to our Bluecollar blog. Looking forward to getting to know you better!

 
At 7:04 AM, Blogger Jonathan Moorhead said...

One of the things I like to add about the fool in regard to Ps 14/Rom 1 is that he/she is not mentally ignorant, but they are denying the obvious. They know in their hearts that God exists, but they deny the obvious and worship a god of their own understanding. That is foolish.

 
At 4:16 AM, Blogger Shiloh Guy said...

Jonathan,

That is a very important point. Thanks for adding that. It seemed like something was missing from my notes and you hit it on the head. Your point needs to be emphasized.

 
At 11:00 AM, Blogger mark pierson said...

I think that when we see the gaurds, those who kept the tomb before Jesus' resurrection, come back into the city to tell the High Priest of their seeing the angel come and roll the stone away, and the High priest's offer of money to keep it all hush, that this represents a deliberate attempt to spurn wisdom. This was an outright fist in God's face from rebellious humanity.

 
At 1:00 PM, Blogger Craver Vii said...

“Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.” Proverbs 17:12

 
At 6:36 AM, Blogger jazzycat said...

I bet I was a fool longer than anyone that has posted here....

I think as such, I have a perspective of fooldom that many Christians don't have since I had more practice at it.

Wayne

 

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