Do We Have the Mind of a Scoffer?

Good afternoon, everyone! Hello to everyone who's online. Just have one thing to say to everybody. If you get a little antsy, if we go a little bit over time, you had your chance to get away.

Always take advantage of the opportunity when it arises, right?

People listening to the recording will wonder what in the world that means.

Well, somewhat related to our first message, I've been reflecting lately on words. Joe talked about some words that were posted, the impact that they can have. And you know, words are incredibly important. If I mention even a small handful of words in different contexts, it'll bring a whole ton of things rushing through. Some of this, of course, depends on your age, maybe, but if I read the words, a day that will live in infamy, something comes immediately to mind for most of us. I have a dream. Brings all kinds of things along with it. That's one small step for man. Think of all the memories that come flooding in, the thoughts, the associations, with regard to those words. Words carry meaning. Words last. Words can stick with us in a lot of different ways. One of the reasons I've been reflecting on it is having a grandchild who's nearing three years of age. And you start thinking about what are the words that a small child hears as they're growing up? What is it that they need to hear from the people who are nurturing them, supporting them, teaching them, sometimes correcting them?

And what do those words mean to a child in the long term? Certainly the focus for a grandparent is different than it is for parents, and very much a grandparent plays an important role in that way in providing support in a different way, more so than correction and hands-on care on a moment-by-moment basis. When I think about the world at large as well, it's another reason that I reflect on words right now. We're in a phase of history, at least in our society, where the words that are spoken in our public discourse are becoming increasingly mocking and belittling. It's true of communication that happens sort of at the macro level among our political leaders. It's certainly true as well, and discourse that happens just amongst us generally as people. When we think about things that are posted on social media, the way that people interact with one another sometimes in anonymous ways, and I mean I can't even count the number of times I've scrolled through different types of posts that might be on social media and how quickly it devolves into people calling each other names over the craziest things. Time will tell, of course, whether this is a phase that we're going through in society or whether it's something more lasting that we're in, but what we've certainly found is that the impact of words has an impact as well. Part of the impact is on mental health. I was looking up a few studies in May of 2024. UC Irvine did a study. It indicated that 44% of all internet users in the U.S. have experienced online harassment. Most of that, again, is through the printed word as they're interacting with people online. Of course, we've all heard of and perhaps read studies that link social media use in particular to mental health issues and how those are becoming more and more rampant. The Bible, of course, has a lot to say about the words we use, and that's what I'd like to spend a little time on today. A keynote scripture is Ephesians 4.29. I'd like to read this one from the New Living Translation, which I think expresses the thought and the meaning behind this verse really well. There we read Paul's words translated as, don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Now, the Bible has even more to say about people who fall on the opposite side of the spectrum and who don't exercise those types of ideals in the way that they communicate.

They're referred to mostly in our English Bible as scoffers or as mockers. We heard those words a little bit in the first message today as well. 2 Timothy 3 verse 2 talks about this as being an attitude or phenomenon that will accelerate as human society begins to fray before the return of Jesus Christ. What is a scoffer specifically? You've probably heard the word. I'm sure we've read it and maybe heard it talked about a bit. It's not really a word that we use a whole lot in our modern language. But looking at a Bible encyclopedia from Bible Hub, I thought it had a pretty apt description, which is that scoffers, as depicted in the Bible, are individuals who mock, ridicule, or express contempt for God, His Word, and His people. They're often characterized by their disdain for wisdom and truth, choosing instead to follow their own desires and reject divine instructions. The term scoffer is synonymous with mocker and is frequently used in the Scriptures to describe those who oppose or belittle the teachings of God.

So if we go through the message today, I'd like to think about it in terms of a simple statement that has three parts, and we'll take it apart and spend a little time going through it in this message. Scoffers have had different things to say at different times through history, but under the surface, they're actually all the same. We have to make sure that we understand their attributes and cultivate a different set of attributes in our own lives. So let's take that apart a bit one section at a time, first focusing on the fact that scoffers have had different things to say at different times. Now, throughout human history, obviously, we've had a lot of momentous occasions, innovations that have come along, and one thing you can always be sure of is when something new, something groundbreaking comes, there's going to be somebody who laughs at it and who says it's useless. Here's some quotes that came about related to some new inventions. I found these interesting. Maybe some of you watched Shark Tank. I always find it interesting on how on Shark Tank, often the people who are potential investors will actually be very kind in the way that they turn people down. They'll say, you know, for this reason, this reason, this reason, you know, it's just not for me. Now, that's a little nicer than most people put things over the course of history. Here's one from the president of the Michigan Savings Bank in 1903, advising against investing in Ford Motor Company. The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad. Western Union, internal memo, 1876. The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. 1880, Henry Morton, president of Stevens Institute of Technology, talking about Edison's light bulb. Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure. Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977. There's no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.

1911, Marshall Ferdinand Foch, French military strategist. Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value. 1962, Decca Record Company, rejecting the Beatles. We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on its way out.

So for every time, for every groundbreaking history, there's a mocker, there's an unbeliever, there's somebody who's willing to make fun of it or point out what they think is wrong with it. And that's really no different if you look through the history that's recorded for us in the Bible. We'll kind of spin through a few of these passages quickly. I'll give you the scriptures as we go, but and I'll try to quote the right book, which I didn't do the last time I spoke, I recognize, and just talk through these. So we just see briefly the fact that scoffers not only happen through our modern human history, but throughout the Bible, actually, their existence is documented. Think of Pharaoh. In Exodus 5, verses 1 and 2, Pharaoh scoffed at Moses in refusing to let Israel leave Egypt. Made fun of God, wouldn't recognize his power. Elisha. Many of you can think of the passage in 2 Kings 2, verses 23 through 25. After Elijah ascended up into the heavens, was taken away by the chariot and died. Elisha was mocked by young men in 2 Kings 2, verses 23 through 25. And they were saying, hey, old man, hey, Baldy, go up, go up. Probably referring to the fact that Elijah went up into the air and saying, hey, you gonna do something for us, Elisha? What do you got? And, of course, in their case, after Elisha promised or pronounced a curse on him, God sent bears to go and attack those people who were mocking him. Jesus was repeatedly mocked after being taken into custody by the Romans. Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns on his head, they dressed him in a robe, and then they started making fun of the fact that he was a king. You can see that in Matthew 27 and in Luke 23. The chief priests and the scribes, once he was on the cross, taunted him, saying, hey, if you're so powerful, just take yourself off the cross and save yourself if you're really God. You see that in Matthew 27 verses 41 through 43. You go one verse further, and even the criminals who were next to him on the cross were making fun of him as well.

It doesn't stop there. Paul's critics mocked his physical presence and his speaking style. You can see that in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 10 as they made fun of him because he wasn't really as refined when he was speaking in person and didn't live up to the bombast of his letters in their opinion.

Peter and Timothy go on in 2 Peter 3 and in 2 Timothy 3 to warn that scoffers will exist in the last days. What I found most notable and interesting was if you go right to the event of the founding of the New Testament church on the day of Pentecost, who was there?

It wasn't only the people on whom the Holy Spirit fell. If you go there in Acts 2 verse 13, you're going to find the mockers there. The people that as all the miracles were unfolding, the tongues of fire, the rushing wind, people speaking in tongues, sure enough they were there.

Those people are just drunk. They're babbling. What's wrong with them?

There's nothing important going on here. So even at the very founding of the church, mockers were there. So there's nothing new about scoffing. It's a situation that's existed. It's a type of people that have existed all through history, will continue to exist all through history, and as we're told, that type of behavior is going to accelerate certainly in the waning days of our civilization before the return of Jesus Christ.

But under the service, as I talked about in the second part of what we're going to discuss today, you know the manifestation might be different, but under the service scoffers are all the same. There are actually some very pronounced characteristics that are talked about in the Bible that people who have a scoffing attitude exhibit, and things that give rise to this attitude.

Let's take a few minutes to talk through those and take note of them. And it's not just to identify them in others, but we need to look at ourselves, especially again as we see the pressure of a society that's more and more geared towards this kind of discourse, and we start to think about ourselves and examine things going on in our own lives. And honestly, that's one of the reasons that I chose this topic, is as I've looked at my own life, at the things I'm exposed to, the things that I read, the behavior that I see on a day-to-day basis, and consider how it is that I'm processing it, and the extent to which I'm living out that same way in the way that I act.

Let's go to Proverbs 9, first of all. One of the hallmarks, one of the qualities of people who are scoffers, is disregard for wisdom, and even more importantly, disregard for correction. Proverbs 9, we'll start in verse 7. Here, the writer of this proverb says, he who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Don't correct a scoffer, lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. So it draws a real contrast here between a person who's a scoffer and how they take on board feedback from other people, even correction from other people, and the resistance that somebody who's a scoffer has to what anyone has to say in terms of input.

They put the walls up, they resist, they don't want to hear any of it, whereas those who are wise will consider. I think even of David, I believe it was during the time that Absalom had taken over the kingdom, there was even a person who was cursing David. What did David say? You've got to listen to him. He might have something actually truthful in what he's saying. He asked his men to abstain from striking him down. He exhibited that attitude of no matter where it was coming from, considering the things that were spoken to him, the correction that came to him, and thinking if it had validity and how he should put it into effect.

Another thing that's common to scoffers, regardless of what they're talking about, what they're saying, but an underlying attitude is that of creating conflict. Scoffers tend to create conflict. And again, this is something we see playing out every day today, often among people who really don't know each other. It's interesting how we're somehow geared that we're... something comes down and we're dealing anonymously with people. We don't have the same concerns about lashing out at people. If we're not seeing them face to face, we don't know them personally.

Proverbs 22, we'll read verse 10. Proverbs 22 verse 10. Here, the writer of this proverb says, cast out the scoffer and contention will leave. Yes, strife and reproach will cease. So when scoffers are present, there's tension, there's strife, and partially it's what we read about before. They resist anyone that's going to push back on them or suggest that there's anything different than what they say. And it causes tension because scoffers will do that. They will cause contention. They'll always be looking for a fight. They'll always be looking for something to argue about.

The next quality that we'll talk about briefly is the motivation by arrogance and pride. This is something that gets bound up within all of this. Proverbs 21 verse 24. Proverbs has a lot to say about this. Proverbs 21 verse 24. Here we read, a proud and haughty man, scoffer is his name, he acts with arrogant pride. Perhaps you've run into situations like this. It's that sort of attitude of, do you know who I am? Have any of you ever had someone say that to you? I've run into those situations. I had one come up at work over the last number of years where in the role that I'm in, I've got to advise people sometimes when they're speaking publicly and representing our company and got on the phone with one person and it immediately turned into screaming and basically three or four minutes of him telling me why he knew more about his subject than anybody else and he didn't need to take advice from anyone and the best thing that we could do is leave him alone and let him do what he does well because he does it better than anybody else.

So those types of attitudes exist. They exist in other ways as well. Probably the most colorful example I can think of is people approaching wildlife in national parks and other places. Have any of you seen those signs of a bison with its head down and a person sort of like this flying through the air and the X through it? Why do those signs exist? Because certain people think that they're smart enough that they can approach a wild animal and take a selfie and have no adverse consequences from it. One of the more well-known examples, perhaps you heard, was an incident in 2019. It happened at a place called Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona and there there was an enclosure that held a jaguar and there was a lady in her 30s who decided it was a good idea to step over a waist-high barrier, step right up against the bars of the enclosure and turn around to get a selfie with a jaguar. Because why not? Well, predictably, the jaguar reached through, clawed her arm, and was causing very serious injury. Obviously everyone started screaming and running for help. A man who was there with his family came and had a water bottle of all things and just started banging the water bottle and distracted the jaguar who let go of the lady. And she was not seriously injured at the end of the day, although she had some, you know, pretty good-sized injuries to her arm. To her credit, she later returned and apologized and called her behavior foolish. So we can't count her among the scoffers because she understood at the end of the day what she did. But we see all these different types of behavior, don't we? We have something within us as human beings and we all have different triggers for it. It's worth thinking about within our own lives because I think if we all reflect in our lives, there's something that sets us off at a certain point in time where we within our own heads, and it's different for each of us, says, no, I know better than you and I'm not going to let you tell me what to do. And it's worth thinking about within each of us, every one of us. I certainly have it. Each one of us has those things where the wall just goes up and we lash out in that way, don't we? The last element that the Bible talks about that I want to mention about scoffers is an attitude of being selfish and self-gratifying, giving to satisfying your own lusts. And this is when we shift. We had several proverbs that we wrote. We shift into the New Testament, something that's brought out pretty powerfully in a few passages there. Let's read Jude. Jude only has one chapter, so I guess we'll say Jude 1 verses 16 through 19. This is Jude talking about some of the people who were being encountered at that point in time. He describes them in verse 16 as, "...grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts. They mouthed great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons who caused divisions, not having the Spirit." And so Jude was even warning about people who were part of the assembly. You know, we talked about acts and the fact that when the Holy Spirit was poured out, there were people close enough to that happening to make fun of it. They were with the people that were following Jesus Christ at close enough proximity to see that entire miracle of Pentecost happen so that they could make fun of it.

Jude talks here, and three times, verse 16, walking according to their own lusts. Verse 18, again, walking according to their own ungodly lusts. Verse 19, sensual persons. Talking about the fact that these people who are resistors to God's way, these people who are mockers, are people who are satisfying their own fleshly needs, their desires, the things that they want.

And by implication, not thinking of the things of God, not having the attitudes of God, the Spirit of God, motivating the way that they're doing things.

The other section is 2 Peter 2, verses 9 through 11. This is also describing scoffers.

And literally talks about those who go where angels fear to tread.

I looked it up. This is actually not where that phrase comes from. But 2 Peter 2, starting in verse 9, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. He describes them then as presumptuous, self-willed, not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels who are greater in power and might do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

So here, whether talking about human individuals or talking about evil spirits that are willing to speak evil, to say things all the way up to God that even angels won't dare to say, going where angels fear to tread. And so that's another quality that we have to consider, this idea of being selfish, self-gratifying, giving in to fleshly lusts, and pursuing those as the main part of life as being a hallmark of those who are scoffers or mockers.

So they're clear and common attributes of scoffers, and these are laid out here in these scriptures, regardless of what the topic is, of what they're talking about, and clearly in the Bible, scoffers typically are those who are speaking out against God, his power, his people. But what we have to watch out for is the attitudes that go along with it. And what I want to do is just focus on one area here as we move into this last section, talking about the fact that we have to cultivate a different set of qualities or attributes in our lives, a set of attributes and qualities that's different than those of scoffers. Because when we think about those qualities that I just walked through for a few moments, those are the qualities that we see around us every day in society, aren't they?

They're things that we encounter every day, whether we're interacting in our neighborhoods, going to the grocery store, going to work, whatever it is that we're doing. And if we're not careful, if we're not conscious, we can begin to act in a very similar way. So I use the word here when I say we have to cultivate a different set of qualities.

I use the word cultivate very deliberately. You know, I know we have several people in here who love plants, propagating plants, planting gardens, tending to their gardens, cultivating their gardens. And the word cultivate is used for a reason. You've got to spend time. You have to think about what it is that you want to have grow there. You want to think about what it needs. You know, we were in a position where we had to plant some things recently in a place that gets a boatload of sunlight and doesn't get a lot of water. And we had to think very carefully about what sort of plants do we choose for a place like this in order to cultivate something that's going to grow and look nice in a place that's in the sun three quarters of the day and doesn't get a whole lot of water.

So in cultivating, a lot of thought and care has to go into it. If you choose the wrong plant for that kind of a place, and I don't know why plants well enough to give an example, but you choose a plant that needs shade, needs a lot of cool, needs a lot of water, and you put in a place like that, it is going to die.

And so we have to think about what is it that we're cultivating, the qualities that we're growing, what nutrients does it need, what level of water, what type of care, what type of soil does it need. And in our own lives, we've got to think about that in terms of the attributes that we need in our lives to make sure that we have the right attitudes.

We're not cultivating the attitudes that lead to a scoffing or mocking mentality, but rather that we're cultivating the attitudes that lead towards the godly state of mind. Let's go to Luke 6. This uses the same analogy of cultivating or growing, and then it connects it through to a specific idea, and that is the nature of our heart. Luke 6, we'll start in verse 43.

Lots of agricultural examples in the Bible. For a good tree, in verse 43, does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. You get what you cultivate. You get what you grow. It's something you don't plant. Apple seeds expect to get a pear tree. It's just not the way nature works, and we know it when we're dealing with growing things. For every tree, in verse 44, is known by its own fruit. Men don't gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man, in verse 45, out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. An evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So think of the connection here of cultivation. Because what it's saying is, deep down, what it is that you feed into your heart, what you encourage within yourself in terms of thoughts, emotions, reactions, what you tolerate within yourself, is what ultimately comes out of your mouth. And it comes out in your actions as well. But the hardest thing to control, as we read in other parts of the Bible, is the tongue. And ultimately, what's in our heart comes out in the things that we speak. And so it leads to that question of, what is it that we're cultivating within our hearts? What is it that we're giving nutrients to? What are we nurturing? What are we feeding? What are we helping to have grow within our hearts? We don't have a lot of time today. I'll focus on one key attribute, and that's the attribute of humility, because it's something that spreads through. And especially when we think of the idea of mockers and scoffers, it's an underlying antidote, if you will, and opposite to the types of attitudes that feed that type of behavior. And if you're looking for more things to consider on the topic during the week, I'd recommend going back to those attributes and thinking about, what are the opposites of these attributes that are described of scoffers? And what can we do to cultivate the opposite of those attitudes? You know, we heard last week about the parable of the sower and the soil. What is it, again, that we're nurturing and helping to grow within our lives? And what is it that we're plucking out as a weed and throwing away? 1 Peter 5, we'll read verses 5 through 7, talks about this concept. 1 Peter 5, starting in verse 5. Likewise, you younger people submit yourself to your elders, and all of you be submissive to one another. So this is not only talking to young people and saying, you know, respect people who are older, but very quickly it goes on to everyone, that we have to be submissive one to another and be clothed with humility. We approach one another as brothers and sisters, regardless of differences in age, sex, economic position, or anything else that might be there, because it's that humility that we foster in our lives. For God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

So you see how opposite that is from the arrogance that's described in Proverbs of those who are mockers, how it's the opposite of some of the other examples in Jude and in Peter that are given of people who mock and what they feed, what they pursue in their lives. And drilling down one layer deeper, one way that we can demonstrate humility, one way that it works itself out in our lives, is a willingness to listen and understand, to not jump to conclusions. Because when you think about it, you know, again, arrogance, what do arrogant people do? As soon as they're presented a set of facts, as soon as they see even a part of a situation, they size it up immediately and they draw a conclusion. They don't need the facts because they're smart enough to figure it out based on an impression. And I certainly have to ask myself, what are the judgments that I create in my own life based on impressions that simply come at me without having actually thought through it? There's a proverb that always comes back to my mind in this regard. It's Proverbs 18, two sections in verses 13 and 17. And certainly even something at work that I remind myself a lot of. I'm in a job where people bring problems to me when they can't be solved and I've got to try to unwind them. And the one thing I've learned is that whenever you talk to anybody, regardless of what side of a problem they're on, they've got a convincing story. And the biggest thing that you have to do is not jump to conclusions when you've heard the first convincing story. Because I can guarantee you the second story is just as convincing in the opposite direction. And that's where the fun starts in trying to figure out what the real situation is. Proverbs 18 verse 13, he who answers the matter before he hears it, it's folly and shame to him. The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. Those of us who grew up with siblings, those of us who had multiple children, can come up with all kinds of examples of how this works. He did it. It was his fault. It was her fault because they did this first, unraveling all of that. But this is an attitude that we need to cultivate in our minds and really think deeply about it because it is so opposite to how we deal as a society these days. You know, we're geared these days to convincing visual imagery. The meme rules the day. I mean, how many of you have seen a meme that depicts whatever it is, right? A picture with a handful of words and it creates an impression and you think you know a situation because you've seen it depicted on screen or in a 13-second video clip that you've seen. And reality can very much be completely different from that. And there are a lot of great examples that you can search that'll show you that sort of thing. Even discussions that we might see on news programs and things are generally geared towards a single viewpoint discussion. And usually you have a token person who's on the other side because you got to have somebody to laugh at and make fun of in this in the discussion, right? There are very few situations today where we have honest debate that brings two ideas forward that discusses through them, that looks at both sides of the story and tries to unravel what's really there. But that's what the idea of humility and a real search for truth and a heart for understanding looks for.

So as we wrap up that part of the section, we have to cultivate. We have to think about, like we heard last week, comparable as so, we think about the soil. And we have to think about what it is that's being planted. What are the weeds that we're rooting up? What is it that we're encouraging to grow in our lives? Are those things that lead towards an attitude of humility, of gaining understanding, versus the attitudes that feed a scoffer or a mocker?

So in conclusion, we talked today about how words can have a very significant impact. Even short phrases can bring back all kinds of things to our mind and a great deal of meaning. We're in a phase in our society where mocking and scoffing is becoming more and more mainstream, even celebrated as a skill. We've spent a few minutes reflecting on this topic, and we've noted that scoffers have had different things to say at different times. They've always existed. The topics they've given their opinions on are different, based on the time of history and the situation they're in. But under the surface, they're the same. There's a consistent set of attitudes, motivations, and heart that underlies a scoffer, and we looked at some of those. And lastly, we need to look at our own lives and cultivate and truly cultivate a different set of attributes in our own lives. Just like we cultivate a plant or a tree, we grow a seed up into a large tree over the course of time, a heart that promotes humility and dedication to God rather than arrogance or satisfying our lusts is key to having the right kind of life before God and with other people. So as we move forward in our lives, let's be conscious of the power of words and the need to avoid the pitfalls of scoffers.