Wisdom Calls Out

Well, hello again, everyone! When Joe was mentioning sitcom themes, I thought maybe we could make this the three-hour tour. And you only have Joe to blame for that. Politely declining the three-hour tour. That's very good. It's probably better for all of us. Well, again, hopefully everyone had a wonderful feast. We did. We were out in Southern California in Temecula, which is not a well-known place. To most people, it's kind of inland and a little bit north of San Diego, and it was a wonderful time. We lived ourselves in Southern California for a number of years and left in 1997. We had attended church down there for eight to ten years, so it was interesting seeing a number of familiar faces. There was a lot of looking a second time at people and people doing the same thing to us, because there's been a lot of years that have gone by since 1997.

Coming back from the feast is a time that we tend to look with a different set of eyes at our lives in terms of what we're doing day-to-day. I think that's a good thing, and that's part of the reason why the feast is there. We get pulled away from our day-to-day. We change our routine. It gives us a chance to think, focus, reflect a little bit differently on what it is that we do in our everyday lives. We're probably still all in mid-thought in terms of, as we're coming back, what do we want to do differently? How is it that we want to take some of the themes, the insights, the thoughts that we had during the feast, the things that we experienced, and use those to forge ahead differently in the lives that we're living day-to-day? All thoughts that we should have, and very good things to think about during this time here, as we're getting settled back in. It's not just a matter of settling back into the old routine, but hopefully looking at the old routine with a new set of eyes and setting ourselves out on a somewhat different course. In that vein, my thoughts have been heavily on the Proverbs. I don't know if you've been through the Proverbs lately. I haven't, and I plan to spend a little more time doing that in the upcoming weeks. And so I wanted to share with you today, as I was starting to look at that particular element that's brought out in the Proverbs that I think has some bearing on us as we think about how do we reflect on our lives, how do we take our lives forward here with the new perspective that we've hopefully gained through the feast. If you will, let's start in Proverbs 1. Join me there. We'll read verses 20 through 22 of Proverbs 1. Proverbs, of course, is part of what's called the wisdom literature in the Bible, includes other books like Psalms, like Ecclesiastes, among others, and uses a lot of poetic language in it. It can often be a good idea to read it in a variety of different translations, some of which are more literal in how they translate the words. Others that try to capture the poetic elements of it a little more, and it can often bring some different thoughts to light from the Proverbs. Let's read Proverbs 1. We'll start in verse 20.

In verse 22, a lot of translations use scoffers or mockers rather than sconers, just because it's an alternate translation and one that's probably used more in other verses within the Bible. But in general, what's happening here is this colorful word picture, this poetic picture here of how wisdom cries out all around, how it's out there, as though it's asking people, hey, pay attention. Do things differently, perhaps, than the way that you're doing them, the way that you're thinking.

And as wisdom cries out poetically here in this passage, she addresses three different types of people. And that's where I'd like to really focus attention for a little while today, during this discussion. Each of these types of people need wisdom, but each of them fall short of it in different types of ways. And each of these personas carries lessons and cautions for us as we seek to walk forward in God's ways of wisdom.

So who or what are the simple, the fools, and the scoffers? Why are they mentioned as three different types of people? Are they just the same thing, being said three different ways for poetic reasons? Or are there actually differences in those three types of people? Why are those different words used? And what can or should we learn from these three different types or personas that are brought forward here in the beginning chapter of Proverbs? That's where I'd like to focus a little bit of time today, and we'll walk through these three different personas and reflect on them a bit. Not as a way of accusing anyone of anything, but as a means of reflection, because these things are brought out in these verses so that we can all reflect.

We can think about it in our lives and learn from them. And I think the way to start out in thinking about this is, life is complex. We as individuals are complex beings, and to say somebody is simply in one category is probably not the right way to think of it. But as we think about the different decisions that we make in life, the different arenas that we work in, the different things that we do, these are all tendencies that we should think about and consider in the different elements of our lives.

And we might find ourselves in different categories here as we approach different parts of our lives. So with that basic background, let's jump in. And we'll start with the first category, the simple. Now, in modern English, we probably think of this fully as a negative sort of a concept. None of us wants to be called a simpleton. If somebody describes one of us as a simple person, there might be some things that we think are good about that, but in general, probably not considered a compliment at the end of the day, is it? Looking a bit, I looked in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, in addition to a few other sources, but let me read a couple of things that it talks about there in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

There, it says, the fundamental idea of the Hebrew word for simple seems to be the idea of being open to influence or easily influenced. They go on to say that in the Old Testament, this word suggests illiteracy or unsophistication, with implications ranging from self-destructive stupidity, that's quite a term, to guileless innocence. Gullible or naive generally conveys the sense. The words connote both condescension towards those who should know better and appreciation for those who lack the treachery of, quote-unquote, cityways. But in general, the quality of simplicity is, from the wisdom point of view, not desirable.

Now, that's kind of a convoluted definition that they lay out here, but basically what they're saying is that, you know, in plain English, the idea of simple, when we look at the Hebrew word that's used for that, can mean both good and bad things. It can mean simple in terms of being uncomplicated, not being deceiving, being straightforward. You know, we might talk about somebody who, like it says here, not corrupted by cityways, somebody who's a simple and straightforward person who's not going to try to pull the wool over anyone's eyes.

But in terms of the context of how it's used within the Bible, especially within wisdom literature like Proverbs, simple tends more towards the idea of those who are naive, those who don't have the level of knowledge or sophistication to tackle the things that they're going to tackle. And so let's dive in and look at a few examples of that as we define here what it means to be simple and what is it that this means for us? What is the lesson, perhaps, that we should draw from it or the things that we should think about it?

The first place we can look is Proverbs 14 verse 15. A lot of these Proverbs are pretty short snippets. I'll try not to jump from one to the next one too quickly. But Proverbs 14, 15, here we read, and all of these tend to be comparisons, like we see a lot in the Proverbs, in this case between the simple and the prudent. Those are the contrasts that are often set up, that people are in one category or the other. In Proverbs 14, 15, we read that the simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.

Some other modern translations, like the message, instead of the word simple, we'll use here the word gullible. And we've probably seen that. We probably all know people. If we're honest about it, we've probably all been in that position ourselves. We read something, we hear something, we see something, and we believe every word of it. Maybe because of the source that it came from, maybe because we're on the move really quickly and we're not thinking critically at the time.

But we all fall in this category at some point in time where we hear something, we believe every word. And then it contrasts that to the prudent who considers well his steps. We heard in the sermonette the fact that the steps walking, what we do every day, and the prudent considers that carefully. So here, being simple is equated with not necessarily being deliberate and thinking through things carefully before we're doing them.

Sometimes operating by reflex or simply taking in what comes to us and believing it. Proverbs 27 verse 12 builds out on this a little bit further. Proverbs 27 verse 12. Again here, contrasting a prudent one and the simple. And here we read, a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. The simple pass on and are punished. And so what we're seeing here is an implication of just not fully taking in what's going around a person and moving into a dangerous situation as a result.

And some of these words we read in terms of foreseeing evil. It's not talking here about evil in terms of sinfulness or deceit, but it's talking more about bad things that are going to happen. So another way to talk about this would be, for example, a prudent man sees that something bad is going to go on and hides himself.

So you think of people who are vigilant and are watching what's happening around them. You're driving down the road, you see a car that's swerving around, and you decide that you're going to go ahead and tap the brakes and slow down, and you're going to pull over towards the right-hand side because that car is driving erratically on the left-hand side. And you avoid, in this case, evil, or the bad thing that's going to happen, because you've been prudent, you've exercised foresight, you've seen the things that are going on in front of you.

Whereas here it contrasts that with the simple who pass on and are punished. It's talking about just the things that are going on around, they're not computing for whatever reason. They're thinking ahead, the person's not really looking out and seeing the things that are coming at them.

And then we'll turn to Proverbs 14, verse 18. For one other description here, as we build out this idea of what it means to be simple in the context of the Proverbs, Proverbs 14, verse 18, it says here, The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

So as a result of these things, as a result of how a simple person fails to think, to consider, to look ahead, to think about all the things that are going on, what happens here as a result of that, we read in the Proverbs, is folly. Whereas the prudent are crowned with knowledge. The people who observe, who see, who take the time to process the things that are going on around them can gain knowledge.

Now, being simple is clearly not a desirable trait, and it's something that, as we read these things, is not a category we want to fall into. But at the same time, it's not something that's willful. It's not described here as something that's against God, or standing against God, or deliberately standing against knowledge or understanding. We'll see that it's different with these other categories as we walk through them. So it's not something where somebody is consciously trying to do wrong or trying to resist knowledge.

But the consequences, the outcomes that result from lack of knowledge or understanding will carry consequences. Even if it's not done deliberately. And we've probably seen that all in different situations in our own lives. As we've gone through and we've done something, we didn't have the full understanding and full knowledge as we walked into it.

And when we look back, we say, boy, if I'd only known, if I'd only understood what it was that was going on there, I could have gotten a different result. Some of you know, I grew up with a German mother, and so I learned, I spoke German at home growing up, as well as English. One of the early words that I taught our children is a German word, selpschult. And that word in sort of rough translation means, it's your own fault. Because I felt like it's very important for children as they're growing up to understand that there are things that happen to us, that when you boil it down, it is simply a result of a poor decision that I made.

And that's the simple. That's describing the simple. You know, let me give you an example. How many of you have ever been advised that it's a good idea to change the air filter in your heating and air conditioning system? Okay. I heard that a lot. I can still remember the second house that we owned in Colorado. And I remember having, it was near the end of a week, it was probably Friday.

I remember talking to Karen saying, you know, it just feels kind of cold in here. I'm not really sure what's going on. It was a relatively cold day outside, as you can get in the winter in Colorado. And on Saturday evening, there were some friends over, and I can still remember sitting around the table, and this one guy was kind of sitting there, like this, because he was really, it was cold in the house.

And we were trying to figure out what was going on. We thought maybe we had some leaky windows. If I remember right, we'd even put some blankets up in front of the one of the windows. Sunday morning comes, still no change. It's like, okay, we got to figure something out here. So I called the after hours phone number for a heating and air conditioning company. And what do you think the first question is that they asked?

When's the last time you changed your air filter? And I was simple. And they said, you know, let's do this. Why don't you just go ahead and take out your air filter and see how things go. And if you're still having a problem, give us a call back.

Now, you probably all know exactly where this story's going. I went downstairs, I pulled out the air filter, and it's amazing how warm the house got and how quickly it got that warm. That was me being simple. I wasn't trying to damage anything. I wasn't rejecting knowledge. I was just not thinking about the fact that an air filter needs to be changed and what the consequences are of not changing it. And I had to live with the consequences, as well as my family and everyone else who was in my house, as a result of that.

So that's a good example of simply being simple. Things that we don't necessarily understand, and we reap consequences from doing those things. The good news is that the simple can gain understanding. I'll tell you, and you might not be surprised to hear this, but I now have a mental jog in my mind. There are several things that I do at the end of every calendar quarter. I do them January 1st. I do them, in this case, October 1st.

I just changed out my air filter this week. I changed out the water filter in my whole house humidifier. And the other thing that I learned through a similar thing was you actually have to lubricate garage doors. And I do that every quarter, as well. So I have tried. I see a few horrified expressions out there. So I have tried not to remain in those things simple, but to learn my lesson and change it. And those are things we have to consider in our own lives.

The good thing is the simple can learn. Proverbs 9, verse 6. I'll read this one out of the English Standard Version. Proverbs 9, verse 6. There the proverb says, Leave your simple ways and live and walk in the way of insight. So a clear understanding there that it is possible, Proverbs 9, verse 6, to leave simple ways. And the good news is it's actually not that difficult. You gain knowledge. You seek knowledge. You take it in. You consider it. You learn from it. You look at how you can apply it. I look at Proverbs 19, verse 25, which lays out another, I think, really helpful element to this idea of the simple and the ability to learn.

Proverbs 19, 25, we read, Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary. Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge. And we'll get to the scoffer later here in this message, but in Proverbs 19, 25, what does it say about the simple? If you see a scoffer get punished for something, reap consequences for something, the simple, somebody who sees that and just doesn't know, is going to learn and understand from it. They'll observe the consequences that happen. They'll take it in, and if they're thinking about it, they'll be able to discern knowledge from there.

Again, I love what's laid out there in Proverbs 1 when it talks about wisdom being all around. And if we think about wisdom really broadly defined, I think often about YouTube videos and home repair. One of the things I've been doing a little bit more of is I've got a little more time on my hands. I love just putting my hands on things and fixing them, but I'm pretty simple when it comes to doing that. I didn't grow up doing a lot of woodwork or electrical work or anything like that, although I do really enjoy working with my hands.

And so what I've enjoyed doing now is going out, and I'll go out to YouTube. I actually had a dryer that broke down a week or two before the feast, and so I went out to YouTube, found a YouTube video about the brand of dryer that I had, and it was great because it stepped through.

It showed a repairman, and he went and he took the dryer apart piece by piece by piece, talked about the tools that I need, got to the board because, in this case, the dryer wasn't heating. I was able to pull the board out, had to buy a multimeter to test out the components. There were three components sitting there. He went through each of them in series, and I was able to sort of follow the directions of what he did, test each component, ordered the one that showed up as broken and was able to put everything together and get the dryer working again.

Now, for me, I love that kind of thing. I like put my hands on things. I had no idea where to start before looking at that YouTube video. I found that to be a very satisfying experience, and I love being able to figure something out like that and fix it. You know, the Bible is not that different. The technology is different.

It's not in video form, but the Bible was given to us in very much the same way. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11, as Paul is writing to the Corinthians, he talks about the experiences of ancient Israel. And if you want to think of it in modern terms, think of it like that YouTube instructional video. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11 says, Now these things, as it was recounting some of the experiences that the children of Israel had as they were wandering through the desert, these things happened to them as an example, and they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Wisdom cries out. It's out there for the simple.

There are examples. There are experiences. There are so many things that we can read in the Bible that give us that instruction that we can add to our experiences and as we're coming before God, learning more how we can relate to Him, how we can live His way of life, and how we can walk according to His way. So what should we learn from the descriptions of the simple? Proverbs 1, 22 tells us, or asks the question, How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?

That's an answer, a question I guess we each have to answer in our own way, in our own different parts of life. What is it that gets in the way of us simply adding some of that knowledge and understanding that we need? Again, as we come back from the feast, as we reflect on our day-to-day lives, let's think about what are some of those barriers? Is it simply inattention? Is it lack of prioritization? Is it, well, I kind of want to do it, but I'm not really focused enough to spend the time doing it?

It's going to be different things for all of us. The information is there. Proverbs tells us wisdom is just crying out on the streets. We know the Bible is written with these examples, so in areas where we individually might be simple, we can access those things, we can learn, and we can understand.

Acts 17 verse 11 lays out the example of the Bereans, and it talks about them being ones who searched out the Scripture to see if the things that were preached to them were so, and it commended them for doing that. So as we think of this first category of being simple, no, it's not something we want to be, but if we're honest about it, we're all simple in different parts of life. Nobody can be educated in understanding and everything. And so what's important is to seek out the knowledge and the understanding that we need, not only to come before God and ask for it, but also to search for it, searching the Scriptures.

If it's in areas of our just regular day-to-day life, there are all kinds of resources and places that we can and should look to gain more knowledge and gain more information in our lives. And I guess, you know, just as a short editorial comment wrapping up this section, we have to always watch out for what's going on in society around us. There's a big tendency in society today to believe that people who have qualifications in different areas can't be trusted, and that knowledge and people who've dedicated themselves to developing knowledge in areas can't and should be trusted.

We need to be wary of that as well. The fact is, there are a lot of places...let's use a simple example. If you're going in, if you need a heart operation, do you prefer the heart surgeon who's practiced for 20 years successfully, or do you prefer the one who watched a few YouTube videos?

And we have to think about that. Again, we live in a world right now that really gives a lot of airplay and even touts people who have zero qualifications in an area as really knowing what's happening. We need to be wise and carefully think through those things. Let's go on to the second category, and that is the fool. The fool. Even less of a desirable word than simple. None of us want to be called a fool in any context. Proverbs 1, 22, we'll go back there again to where we started in these categories.

How long you simple ones will you love simplicity? For scorned delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Now, I've reversed orders here between the scoffer or scourner and the fool, and I did that for a deliberate reason. And that is that the fool is kind of the next step of intensity after the simple. We talked about the fact that the simple is just somebody that doesn't know. There's not really any sort of antagonism against knowledge or anything like that, but when we move forward to the idea of a fool, it starts to carry intent with it. People who don't want understanding or knowledge.

People who aren't interested in it. And we'll read more here about some of those characteristics as we go forward. Now, a whole sermon could be given on the different aspects of brought out in the Bible about being a fool. We're not going to go in that level of depth. If you're interested in a study, doing a word study on the word fool in the Bible could be really instructional and really interesting and help to fill that out a bit. But let's go across a few passages, again, in the wisdom literature, in this case in Proverbs and in Psalms, and read about a few of the elements that are brought out about being a fool.

Proverbs 1, verse 7. Proverbs 1, verse 7. Here we read the very simple and short statement that fools despise wisdom and instruction. And remember, I mentioned the fact that we're moving up the ladder in intensity here from the simple who just don't understand. And here we've got more of a willful element that's being described here that fools despise wisdom and instruction. It's not just that they don't have it. There's some element here of not wanting it, not wanting to hear about it. Proverbs 18, verse 2 builds on this further. Proverbs 18, verse 2. Here we read, So this is using this idea of the balance between speaking and listening as well in terms of describing a fool.

No delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart. And the Proverbs ring out in some other places. I didn't write them out here, but if you go back, you'll see a lot of discussion, especially in the Proverbs, about many words and the things that happen when people are so focused on talking and not on listening. A very important part of developing wisdom is to take input. And here it mentions the fact that a fool's got no interest in taking input and understanding. They just want to talk and tell you what's in their own hearts rather than taking in and gaining more understanding.

Psalm 14, verse 1, which is also repeated in Psalm 53, verse 1, goes even further in terms of the relationship with God and the wisdom that comes from God. In Psalm 14, verse 1 and 53, verse 1, we read, A fool says in his heart that there is no God. So building even further to the fact that somebody in a spiritual sense who's foolish is someone that is uninterested in input and instruction to the point that they don't even want to face the fact that God exists. And they'll simply resist that because rather than, whatever the reason is, but rather than taking input from God, it's simply more convenient to say that he doesn't exist.

And that's why we live that way. So this attitude can run this gamut from a lack of motivation or interest or some sort of a passive resistance to wisdom to outright rejection of being taught or instructed, all the way to a rejection of God. And those are, of course, attitudes that we have to think about in our minds as well. Now, it can be easy to dismiss this in the seats that we sit in because we're here to take in instruction. We're here going to church because we believe in God. And so in that sense, we are not fools in any way.

But when we take all these passages together, there's more going on here than simply the idea that the fool is somebody who's an atheist and doesn't believe in God. There's more happening here. And we all can, and if I'm honest with myself, I do, at points in my life, act as a fool. When I go headlong into something, I know how I get sometimes when I get excited about something I want to do. The last thing I want to hear when I'm excited about something, whether it's something I want to buy, maybe it's something I want to fix, something I want to do, the last thing I want to hear is all the reasons why that's a bad idea.

I ask my wife sometimes, she'll confirm that. We probably all have some element of that in us, don't we? We get fixated on something we want to do, and the last thing we want to hear is input that says, have you thought about? What if? Are you sure? And we all act that way at some point in time because we get ourselves so focused on that thing that we want, or the way that we want to do something that we're not interested in listening to it.

So in a Christian's life, probably this idea of willfulness, of wanting to follow a path that we've chosen for ourselves despite anything else that's out there, is probably what we need to think about the most in terms of the hallmark of a fool and how that might live within us as Christians. So what is it that we can learn from this description of a fool?

I'll use a story. I was exchanging stories with an old friend at the feast, actually, and he had worked up at a summer camp that the church had run many, many years ago, and back in the day we used to, at the summer camp, we would take long trips into the Boundary Waters. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Boundary Waters canoe area, but there's a whole set of lakes that sits right up above Minnesota, just north of Minnesota, on the border with Canada, and they're called the Boundary Waters because they're called the Boundary Waters.

The Boundary Waters, or the border between the U.S. and Canada, runs in this section through water. A bunch of lakes there. It's a fantastic recreation area, even today, virtually untouched. You can go out there and rarely see anybody, depending on where it is that you're paddling around in your canoe.

Parts of it, motorboats aren't even allowed, so you get people out there that are really roughing it and canoeing. This individual took a group of kids who were campers, many of them who came from city backgrounds, so didn't really understand a lot about what was going on. One of the things you have to be careful for out there is bears. For anyone who's been out in the wilderness like that, what is it that you do to make sure that the bears don't bother you at night?

You take all of your food and you put it in packs and you hoist it up into a tree. You throw the rope over a branch, you tie it to the pack, you hoist it up, you tie it off. Whatever the bear does, the bear can bat at it from the ground, the bear can climb the tree and try to reach down to it.

It's kind of swaying there in the pack. What's the last thing you want to do with your food? Have it in your tent. Bears have good noses. Of course, that's something that got discussed a lot on these trips. As my friend was telling me about, he had this trip and, of course, he had kids who were very savvy in the environment that they'd grown up in. Not a lot of experience out there in the trip. As they were advised to take all their food and put it out into the bags, the bears don't get to it.

The foolish thing to do was to say, bears, you know, yeah, people talk about bears, but they don't really come through here. I've never seen a bear. Bear could never touch me. During the night, what is it that happens? But they're snorting around the camp. My friend and one of the others who was looking after this trip opened up the tent and peaked out. Sure enough, there were bears there. The good thing about bears is they're fairly skittish.

They banged on the pots. Bears took off. The next thing they did is went from tent to tent to tent and says, now, who has food in their tent? And, of course, there were several who did because they didn't believe it. They packed up. They got out of there. They went to a neighboring piece of land across some water and got things set up again there. Those are the types of things that happen because we're foolish. We're advised very specifically on things that we should do.

We read things in the Bible. We understand certain things. But for whatever reason, we believe it can't happen. It won't happen. It won't be as bad as they make it out to be, whatever it is. These are things we've got to try on ourselves to figure out, how does this work in my own life? Because it's a little bit different for each of us in the situations that we're in, the things that we grapple with. But those are things that we should reflect on as we think about what it means to be a fool and what it means to us.

In what areas of our lives do we feel like we've got it covered? God's way is interesting. It's a nice guideline. But we can likely get some better results by doing it our own way. And if we're honest, we all have areas of our lives where we follow some reasoning that goes something like that. Let's look at Matthew 7, verses 24 through 27, which addresses this head-on.

Matthew 7, verses 24 through 27. This is Jesus speaking, of course, tail end, I believe, of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7, starting in verse 24. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, a liking him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on the house, and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock.

But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was its fall. And so we need to make sure that we're focused on the things that are happening in our lives.

What is the wisdom? What is it that God is instructing us to do? What are the things that we read, that we hear, that we experience, that maybe we're not internalizing to the level that we need to? In what way am I acting like a fool in the way that I lead my life, and how is it that I can modify that? Scripture tells us as well that fools are much more dangerous than the simple. We're not going to read through all of these, but there are a multitude of Proverbs that talk about not keeping company with a fool, because of the impact that it can have on us, as we rub shoulders with people who routinely say, Yeah, I heard about that, but I know better.

I've got a hack for dealing with this. You don't have to worry about it. Proverbs 14, verse 7 is one of those which instructs us to leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge, the impact that it has on us. If we look forward into the New Testament, I'll just read one verse there in Ephesians, Ephesians 5, verse 4. There we're instructed, let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

So, acting as a fool, speaking as a fool, speaking foolish things, all things that we should look out for. And of course, in our world, the way we work as a society, this is not just about the people that we speak with, because let's face it, so many of the inputs that we get today are not from actual human interaction with people. For those of us who are on social media, the algorithms that drive the things that we see create a lot of impressions on us, as they flash by us day by day by day as we scroll through those.

What we might listen to, whether it's podcasts, whether it's watching television, all of those things create impressions. And we have to consider as well, are we focusing on things that speak foolishness?

Are we focusing on things that reinforce the idea of moving towards God and towards His wisdom? So let's move on to the third category, and that is the scoffer. Again, Proverbs 1, verse 22 was our starting point here, how long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? Scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Now, the scoffer or sconer turns up the dial even farther from the simple or the foolish, and makes it even more intense in terms of actively not only rejecting, but mocking and working against wisdom.

Bible Hub's topical Bible, I thought, had a good summary of this. 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 instruction. 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 we're a step here beyond the idea of simply resisting wisdom, and moving on to outright rejecting and mocking it, making fun of it, and all the reasons why it's there. We won't go through all these Scriptures, but scoffers in the Bible are laid out as people who, because of that, create conflict. There are proverbs that talk about the fact that when scoffers are cast out, contention goes away. So often when we're in a contentious situation, whether it's a situation at work, whether it's a personal situation, one in our families, this mode of scoffing, the way that somebody treats other people, the disdain that they show, can often be at the heart of it.

Proverbs 21 verse 24 talks about the fact that arrogance and pride goes along with this attitude. There we read, a proud and haughty man scoffers his name. He acts with arrogant pride. We've probably all been around people like that. If we're honest, we've probably been a person like that at times. I know I have. And that idea of arrogant pride can really hit. There's a story. Are you familiar with the Darwin Awards? The Darwin Awards are sort of informally offered to people who do a favor to the human gene pool by leaving it.

Not a great thing, necessarily. And many of these stories are true. There's a story about a guy. His name is Gary Hoy. He worked for a law firm in Toronto called Holden Day Wilson. He became famous in the Darwin Awards for what he did in 1993. And he used to like to entertain young interns that came into the firm when they were up in their high-rise building. And he would say, talk about how, ah, you don't need to be afraid about being so high if you've never been up on the 30th floor. Don't worry about it. What could possibly happen to you? And he would stand back about 10-15 feet, and he would run, and he would hurl himself at the window.

And he would say, look, you don't have to worry. The glass can't break. This glass is so strong, it can't possibly break. The funny thing was, he was right. At the same time, one day in 1993, when he hurled himself at the window, the window gave out, and he fell to his death.

Grim story. Sort of the, I guess, cruel irony of it, again, is the window didn't break. What he didn't account for was the frame around the window, which did give out.

And it's kind of an extreme example, but, you know, this is the idea of a scoffer, right?

In what world does it make any sense to throw yourself against a window in a high-rise building just to prove a point? For whatever reason, he did. And again, if we're honest about it, we've all done, not that, but we've all done something that's probably just as dumb, if we're honest about it.

But that's the mindset of a scoffer. Yeah, gravity's out there, all kinds of terrible things could happen, but I know better. And you know what? I'm going to laugh about it, and I'm going to prove to you that it's no big deal. And those are the types of things that we also need to be watchful for in our own lives. Let's turn to Jude. Jude is speaking, obviously it's in the Bible, it speaks to people who understand God. Jude 16 through 19, one chapter of Jude, it talks about scoffers. And it says that these are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts.

They mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words that were spoken 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 cause divisions, not having the Spirit. So there's an act of resistance here to wisdom that's in a scoffer that is out of a belief that I've got to serve myself. I know better, whatever those other situations are that go along with this. And we need to watch for those types of things, whether it's within ourselves or also around us. So recognizing how scoffing and that underlying attitude exists also in the world around us and how it impacts us is important as well.

Again, just to speak very openly, boasting and mocking has gone from something that we don't do in polite company to something that's praised as an art form. We're in the season here in Ohio of political commercials for anyone who watches TV. If you carry a phone, you're probably getting the text messages.

What does all of that end up trading on? The name-calling, the mocking of others, has become central to a lot of things going on. You know, you watch athletics, and the old ideas of those grizzled old coaches that I remember as a kid who would say things like, when you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before, has turned instead into these displays of boasting and in your face, and trash-talking is considered something that's an art.

We have to be aware. We live in this society. We swim in these waters, and these things have an impact on us in unique ways depending on where we are and what we do and how we internalize these things. While it's easy to say on the surface, how could I possibly be a scoffer? When we think about these things that are going on around us, the talk that people will have about people who think differently than them, just in the world in general, and what's considered okay to say about other people and to think about other people.

People who, as we learn at the feast, are made in God's image and will have an opportunity, all of them, for eternal life in His kingdom. We have to think about those things and how it is that we process those things so that we don't fall into that same trap ourselves. I'm not going to go through this in detail because we're running low on time here, but if you want to read up on this later, I'd suggest reading 2 Samuel 16, verses 5-12.

2 Samuel 16, verses 5-12. This is a really interesting account, just to give you a quick one on it. This is David. If you remember, David's son Absalom rebelled against him, took over the kingdom, drove David out of Jerusalem, and he was on the run. And who comes up to David but a son of Saul, apparently one of the last, if not the last remaining member of his family, and he starts taunting David, calling up a bloodthirsty man, telling him that God's brought upon him the consequences of all the bad things that he did.

And what did David do? That's a very instructional thing. He said at the end of the day, the guys who were around him said, give me my sword, I'm going to lop his head off. It's literally what's recorded in the Bible. And David said, no, don't do it. And he said, it may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day. So David was willing to take that, to recognize the fact that in any situation that he was in, he could learn something from it, and God could work it out for good.

And it wasn't his job to stand toe to toe with this person and start getting into a verbal exchange with him, to scoff back at him, or worse yet, just to have his head chopped off, because he could. There's a lot there that we can think about and understand. It really personifies what we'll read in the last verse that we'll read here in this section, which is James 3. We'll start in verse 13 of James 3.

This is ultimately where we need to make sure that our heart lies and that we continue to live this meekness of wisdom that's talked about here in James. James 3, starting in verse 13. Who's wise and understanding among you?

This verse really explains what it is that we need to develop within ourselves as God's Spirit is working within us to ensure that we're fighting this spirit of a scoffer. That we're really taking on this way of God, pure, peaceful, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Now, this won't be complete without spending just a moment on the wise, because clearly that's where we want to live. That's where God calls us to live. So as we wrap up, let's talk just very briefly about the wise. Now, to me, what the incredibly encouraging thing is about all of this is how much the Bible displays God's willingness and liberality in giving wisdom to those who seek it. If there's one thing that strikes me, and you read all of the different scriptures about wisdom, I'll challenge you to come to me with a scripture that says that God makes wisdom difficult to find, that He makes you work hard before He will grant you wisdom, that He might give you wisdom if He feels like it. That's not what you see at all written in the Bible. We see a God that wants us to have wisdom as we seek for it, that He will provide it. Two places will look just briefly on that. James 1, verse 5.

James 1, verse 5. Incredibly encouraging scripture. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. We've all done dumb things in our lives, and we've probably all gotten reproach for it. How many of us have friends, parents, whoever else? And probably with lots of good reason that say, why in the world did you do that? That was really stupid. It's a powerful thing that it says here, that God is going to give wisdom without reproach. It's another element of how freely He wants to give that, how badly He wants us to have wisdom in the things that we do in life. I'll turn to one last scripture. Again, not going to go deep into it, but encourage you to give it thought. 1 Kings 3, verses 7 through 12. This is, for many people, a familiar scripture. If it's not, I really encourage you to make it a familiar scripture. I remember being introduced to this as a child, and this has been a prayer through my entire life, and it will be a prayer through the rest of my life. And that's Solomon's prayer for wisdom. I love the way that he approaches it. There's this Hebrew expression of not knowing how to go out or come in, that Solomon lays out when he goes before God and says, I just need help. This is right after he became king. In 1 Kings 3 or 7, Solomon says, Lord, my God, you've made your servant king instead of my father David, but I'm a little child. I don't know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. And he goes through with that preamble, recognizing what he needs in order to make his way. And God, of course, at the end of this says, I've given you a wise and understanding heart, that there's not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. Pray for wisdom. Pray for it daily. And of course, as we do that, we've got to be ready for the fact that as humans, we also learn wisdom through experience, sometimes bitter experience, sometimes difficult trials. But if we come through those learning the wisdom from above, the wisdom from God, it is, as we're told in his word, worth every bit of the time and even the pain and the difficulty that can go with it. So in conclusion, Proverbs 1, verses 20-22 sets out three personas for us of people who lack wisdom. There's the simple, the gullible, the impressionable, the uninformed. There's the foolish, those who are not interested in learning, sometimes resistant to instruction. And then there's the scornful or the scoffers, those who openly mock wisdom. Hopefully we have some better understanding now about why these three different personas are used, why these different words and descriptions are used, and at least a little bit about what we can learn from them. So as we walk forward from the feast and set a refreshed course for our daily lives, considering all the influences in the world around us and what they might do in our lives, let's continue to ask God for wisdom as we have a more productive walk with him.