What To Do when Fools Rule

Wisdom from Ecclesiastes 10
What To Do when Fools Rule

Wisdom and folly are incompatible.  

·   Wisdom = to see life from God's perspective and adjust our life to His view.

·   Folly = to see life from our own perspective and live as if ours is the right view.

^10:1 Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil ferment and stink;
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

Beware of the influence of a fool.  Just one fool can spoil the sweetest fellowship.

Sometimes the fool is a co-worker, even our boss.  Sometimes the fool is a church member.  Sometimes the fool is a leader.  Sometimes the fool is a family member - the most painful reality, especially if your child is the one playing the fool.  Remember:

·   A fool lives without regard, respect, commitment, or conformity to wisdom.

·   A fool contaminates and ruins by their folly the pleasing purpose of that which is wise or honorable.

Understand:

·   The overwhelming majority of the world's population are by definition fools.  They do not see life from God's perspective and adjust their lives to His view.

·   Fools prefer to follow fools.

·   So, fools rule the world, as Solomon puts it, "under the sun."

So, what do we do when fools rule?  Here are seven strategies:

1.Stay clear (vv 2-3).

² A wise man’s heart ⌊goes⌋ to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left. 

If I were a politician, this would be my tagline!  :) 

³ Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense,
and he shows everyone he is a fool.

We should be able to discern a fool.  We should be able to see them coming.  Do not get entangled with a fool.  Pray for them.  Love them.  Help them.  But do not get entangled with them and their folly.  A fool cannot help but to stink up their life and the lives of those who do not stay clear.

2.Stay calm (vv 4-7).

⁴ If the ruler’s anger rises against you, don’t leave your place,
for calmness puts great offenses to rest.

Don't panic.  Don't run for the hills.  Keep your wits about you.  Better yet, keep focueed on God's view.

⁵ There is an evil I have seen under the sun,
an error proceeding from the presence of the ruler:
⁶ The fool is appointed to great heights,
but the rich remain in lowly positions.
⁷ I have seen slaves on horses,
but princes walking on the ground like slaves

When fools rule, common sense, to say nothing of godly wisdom, is turned on its ear.  The wise and godly person must fight the urge to run away and determine to stay and to stay calm with the hope of being a constant influence for truth and right.

3.Stay cautious (vv 8-9).

⁸ The one who digs a pit may fall into it,
and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
⁹ The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them;
the one who splits trees may be endangered by them.

Be careful.  These endeavors can be dangerous.

4.Stay competent (vv 10-11).

¹⁰ If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge,
then one must exert more strength;
however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.

We need to keep our minds and methods sharpened.

¹¹ If the snake bites before it is charmed,
then there is no advantage for the charmer.

The best medicine is preventative medicine.  If the snake has already bitten, it is too late to seek a charmer.

5.Stay content (vv 12-15).

¹² The words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious,
but the lips of a fool consume him.

To be consumed is to be exhausted.  Such is the impact of foolish talking.  A fool's speech exhausts him, it sucks the marrow out of life.

¹³ The beginning of the words of his mouth is folly,
but the end of his speaking is evil madness.

The road to “evil madness” begins when a fool gives words to his folly, his ignorance of or his rebellion against God's wisdom.  His words represent the first steps onto that proverbial slippery slope.

¹⁴ Yet the fool multiplies words.
No one knows what will happen,
and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?

So many words - so little meaning!  Sounds like all the political speak and spin that dominates our news media these days.  

The wise person does not need more words that turn out to be no more than wind.

¹⁵ The struggles of fools weary them,
for they don’t know how to go to the city.

The constant dedication to live life our own way without regard to God's perspective is fruitless, futile, and fatiguing. Moreover, these struggles do not produce answers - only more questions without answers.

When we employ wisdom it is like using a lantern in a dark forest.  We may not see the entire forest or the whole path through the forest; however, as we take the steps made visible by wisdom's torch, we will discover additional steps being revealed.    

6.Stay controlled (vv 16-17).

¹⁶ Woe to you, land, when your king is a youth
and your princes feast in the morning.

Morning was the time for princes and rulers to govern, to hear the people and judge their cases.  To feast when they should be serving is the height of arrogance and self-indulgence.

¹⁷ Blessed are you, land, when your king is a son of nobles
and your princes feast at the proper time –
for strength and not for drunkenness.

A noble man is a free man, a man free from slavery to self and free from the bondage of handlers.  This nobility leads to propriety, to doing what needs to be done in timely fashion.

7.Stay conscientious (vv 18-20).

¹⁸ Because of laziness the roof caves in,
and because of negligent hands the house leaks.

Industrious and diligent, though demanding, hard work is the foundation that provides solid footing upon which a man, a family, and a nation can stand.

¹⁹ A feast is prepared for laughter,
and wine makes life happy,
and money is the answer for everything.

If we would enjoy good food and goof friends, we must be conscientious in our labor in order to secure the means to secure the stuff for the feast.  The fool wants a handout, they want to enjoy the pleasures of this life but are not willing to work for them.

²⁰ Do not curse the king even in your thoughts,
and do not curse a rich person even in your bedroom,
for a bird of the sky may carry the message,
and a winged creature may report the matter.

Is this the origin of the saying “A little bird told me”?  

I think the point is not beware what we say lest the authorities find out and get us.  Rather, our speech betrays attitudes and thoughts dominated by complaints and gripes.  Don't be that person.  Whiners never win, and winners never whine!

Finally, please note the common imperative in all seven of these strategies - stay, stay the course.  When fools rule, stay the course.  Even when the people playing the fools are people we care very much about, stay course.  Stay the course, that course revealed by seeing life from God's perspective and adjusting our life to His view.

Selah.

I Love My Church, but ...

In Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby observes:

God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways.

I have learned that God also speaks by the Holy Spirit through my wife. She is, after all, God’s gift to me designed to complete me. Moreover, she is absolutely one of the godliest people I know. Not the saccharine, pie-in-the-sky, religionist some people confuse with godliness. No, my wife sincerely applies herself by God’s grace to be and become a genuine incarnation of Jesus Christ and His Word, one of those christianoi or “little Christs” (Acts 11:26) to her world – in our home, in our neighborhood, in her work, and in our church. So, when she suggests to me – from the other room where she is in her own quiet time of prayer and Bible study no less – that I should bring a message to our church from Isaiah 29:13, well, I take notice and hasten to that text.

¹¹ For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.” ¹² And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read.”

¹³ The Lord said:

Because these people approach Me with their mouths
to honor Me with lip-service —
yet their hearts are far from Me,
and their worship _⌊consists of_] man-made rules
learned _⌊by rote_⌋ —
¹⁴ therefore I will again confound these people
with wonder after wonder.
The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,
and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden (Isaiah 29:11-13).

Uh-oh. What do I do with this, Lord? What am I to make of Your Word here?

Which is worse – to ignore or disobey God flagrantly on the outside where everybody can see our sin, or to ignore God quietly, secretly on the inside while on the outside we appear to follow Him by doing certain respectable religious acts? The truth is, both are an insult to God, both are direct and intentional insubordination to His authority, both are sin, and both incur His judgment.

As consequence, both paths clearly lead to spiritual incapacitation. Whether externally or internally in defiance, were the rebel to take up God’s Word to read, the prophet reveals they would find Scripture sealed or closed to their understanding. Though they sit in on or even feign to teach 52 Sunday School lessons a year, they cannot begin to comprehend truth. Though they hear 1000 biblically sound sermons, they will not and cannot listen. So, how then would anyone, either worldling or worshipper, mistake them for useful members of the Redeemer King’s global disciple-making force?

Back to my question about which is worse, the deliberate dissident or the secret sinner. The latter seems to me to be the more dangerous to the advance of a fervent, faithful, and fruitful walk with Jesus Christ and His people. Whether they be intentional partners with the enemy or inattentive and, thereby, unintentional pawns of the same, their effect on Christ’s church and our mission would seem to be the same as that about which Paul warned Ephesians elders in Acts 20.

²⁸ Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. ²⁹ I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰ And men will rise up from your own number with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them. ³¹ Therefore be on the alert, … (Acts 20:28-31).

Here are three courses of action I propose in response to Isaiah 29:11-14 and these contemplations.

1. Let us examine ourselves.

We tend to think of certain other people when we are confronted by truths that may convict us. I asked my wife, “Am I one of those people who rebels on the inside while I wear the good Christian mask on the outside?” I asked her because she has no qualms about telling me the truth, pleasant or not. So, I likewise encourage you, dear reader, ask the people who know you and love you enough to tell you the truth to help you see yourself.

2. Let us examine our church.

I read an uncomfortable statement today made all the more unpleasant because it is so obviously true yet avoided in polite Christian conversation. Daryl Dash writes: “The North American church is languishing” (from Daryl Dash – “Pastoring: The Toughest Job?” http://bit.ly/pmh4tE). Virtually every metric we might employ from practically any serious student of the church in the United States confirms this status.

I encourage you to be so bold as to ask: “Is this true of our church?” If it is, I further exhort you to ask: “I love my church, but why are we languishing so? Are we perhaps out of sorts with the Head of the church and His mission and His provision? Have we become numb and dumb? Have we been less than alert as Paul warned, and have we become then arrested by those whom some regard as leaders who are in actuality secret rebels blind to truth?”

3. Let us encourage one another.

No witch hunts, please! Much could be said at this point. Let us allow Scripture to guide us.

²⁴ And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, ²⁵ not staying away from our _⌊worship_⌋ meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Hebrews 11:24-25).

Selah.

Yes, Angels, Really

Have you ever wondered, as I have, why the Bible never blushes when it mentions angels? I mean, compared to today, people in Scripture seemed to encounter angels all the time. Just think about the incidents reported only in the book of Acts as Dr. Luke chronicled the growth of the young church.

Acts 1:11 Two men dressed in white, traditionally presumed to be angels, speak to the apostles after Jesus’ ascension.

Acts 5:19 An angel brings the apostles out of jail during the night.

Acts 7:30 Stephen testifies that an angel directed Moses.

Acts 8:26 An angel tells Philip to go to the old, deserted Gaza Road.

Acts 10:3 An angel instructs to the Romans centurion, Cornelius, to send for Peter.

Acts 12:6-18 An angel delivers Peter from jail and certain execution.

Acts 23:9 The Pharisees clearly assume angels speak to humans and guide them.

Acts 27:23 An angel comforts Paul.

Apparently, first-century believers assumed the existence and activity of angels. In fact, according to Hebrews 13:2, in the exercise of brotherly love and hospitality some believers actually “welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.” Why, then, do we not hear more about angels today? Why when we do hear people report about angelic encounters today are we prone to be dubious? Have all the angels died? Have they simply sworn of visits to our planet?

Who says angels no longer walk among us? Just because we don’t read about them in the paper or see news reports on TV, does that necessarily mean angels are not around? Maybe the reason newspapers and such don’t report angelic visitation is simply because those information outlets have a predisposition that does not expect, anticipate, or even allow for angels to show up in our lives.

Who wrote the Bible, after all? “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). Ultimately, the Bible is God’s Word, His record transmitted by God, the product of the Holy Spirit working through men (2 peter 1:20-21). That is to say, the Bible is an eyewitness report from God’s perspective. Now, since the Bible is God’s Word, I believe there is nothing incidental or coincidental therein. In other words, God has edited Scripture so that every thing in the Word is “profitable … so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The reason the Bible so matter-of-factly mentions angels is because the Bible represents reality from God’s lofty, clear, and accurate point of view. God wants us to know that angels did and still do interact with people. To be sure, the appearance of angels to men was not exactly commonplace. That’s probably why angels often have to introduce themselves by saying “Fear not.” The fact remains, however, that God includes reports of their appearances and activity in His Word, the Word He has given us so that we might see life the way He sees life and adjust our lives to that view.

Consider Elisha’s servant. Back in 2 Kings 6, Israel is at war with Aram. Now Elisha would send word from God to the king of Israel and repeatedly frustrate the king of Aram. So, the king of Aram decided to take out Elisha. When the Aramean army showed up at Elisha’s place in Dothan, his servant was understandably shaken. “Oh, my master, what are we to do?” he asked. In response, Elisha declared, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.” Then he prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” When Elisha’s servant looked up, he saw the mountains covered with angels in chariots of fire!

Elisha’s servant got a glimpse of reality from God’s perspective. I think we could certainly use a dose of that today in our church and in our nation. In God’s view, angels are all around us. Now, if that is true, then in God’s view everything is under control – not simply because of the proliferation of angels but because the presence of angels substantiates every other promise and statement of Heaven’s-eye reality.

If our newspapers and television stations could report from God’s perspective, I have a strong sense that we would be receiving some startling revelations about God’s activity around the world in places and ways we never imagined. Oh, that we could see as Elisha saw and as he prayed for his servant to see! How differently would we live if we were accustomed to the presence of heavenly messengers (“angel” is a transliteration of the Greek “angelos” meaning messenger).

Finally, I wonder: is God concerned about our current economic state? The outcome of our elections? The price of crude oil? I suggest His concern with these matters is only to the degree that He might use them for the good of those who love Him, the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

What then should be our concern? What then should be our confidence? God is on the throne and active in the affairs of men. And God’s activity is ever and always to strengthen the hearts of those people wholly devoted to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).