The fool and the wise man

Proverbs 29:11 (LB)

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.

Let’s contrast the Biblical descriptions of the fool and the wise man. 

The Fool

There are several Hebrew and Greek words that are translated into English as “fool(s)”.  They all mean “silly”, “stupid”, “perverse”, “vile” and/or “reckless”.  The biblical fool is one who lacks good moral sense, e.g. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1 and 53:1).  Solomon used various words for fool or fools over 80 times in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  Fools are those who show their emptiness, conceit, pride, and excessive wordiness (e.g. read Ecclesiastes 5:3 and 10:14).  The word Jesus used most often for fool or foolish was “moros” (e.g. Matthew 5:22, Matthew 23:17,19; Matthew 25:2, 3, 8).  Fool is used to describe someone who is “despises wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).  Basically, fool or foolish in the Bible means someone who is spiritually blind.  

The Hebrew word for fool in this passage is literally to be silly and stupid.  So, anytime that you lose your temper, when you say words and show actions of anger, you are being a fool—silly and stupid--in the eyes of God (and, it should be added, to others).  Look up this website for some interesting depth about the Biblical definition of a fool--http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=618 .   

The Wise Man

The word for “wise” in this verse literally means “intelligent” or “skillful”. The New English Bible translation describes the wise man as one who waits and lets his anger grow cool.  If you compare a person who loses his temper all the time with a person who keeps his cool, which one is viewed as the more intelligent?   Who is admired more…..the fool who loses his temper or the wise man who does not?  An interesting illustration---which basketball coach was/is admired more as a person---the hot-tempered Bob Knight or the calm and cool John Wooden?  The wise man looks at life from God’s point of view.  Wisdom is associated with the reverence of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10).  Proverbs 1:2-5 contains the five faces of wisdom that the wise man demonstrates—self-discipline, understanding, wise relationships, planning, and learning.  The wise man shows gentleness (James 3:13); proper speech (Proverbs 10:31); and self-control (Proverbs 19:11).  St. Augustine’s quote: “patience is the companion of wisdom”. 

Examine yourself, as Paul exhorts you to do in II Corinthians 13:5.  Are you the fool or the wise (wo)man?  Do you ever lose your temper and/or lose control of yourself?  You need to start right here by asking the Lord for forgiveness and for help that you can resolve from now forward to control your anger. 
 

What Noah's sin teaches us

Genesis 9:20-25 (NIV) 

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.  Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."

How could it be that the only man on earth who found favor with God and kept God from destroying every single living creature on earth proceeded to get drunk after the great flood?  Just amazing!  Yet, it is equally amazing that the Bible does not hold back the truth, no matter how ugly it is.  If the Bible were a fake, do you think that it would contain this story of Noah getting drunk?  I don’t think so.  Noah’s drunkenness points out that even the very best man on the earth, even one favored by God, still has his weaknesses.  Even though Gen 6:8-9 tells of Noah being righteous and blameless, he still was vulnerable against sin and it finally caught him after the flood.  So when Paul wrote that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), even a righteous and blameless man can become a sinner. 

What was the sin of Ham?  OK, he saw his father naked, but why was that a sin?  Some have speculated that since Gen 9:24 states that “he knew what his youngest son had done to him” (the action verb being “done”, not “look”) Ham did more than look, with one possibility being some kind of homosexual action.  Yet there’s nothing to support this.  Others have pointed to Leviticus 20:11 where it reads; “The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness”.  Therefore, Ham had sex with Noah’s wife.  Yet, that cannot be true because Ham’s brothers walked in after Ham.  The most plausible explanation is simply that Ham did not show respect for his father, did not try covering his nakedness, and even may have mocked his father when telling his brothers. 

Noah cursed Ham’s son, Canaan, not Ham.  Why?  The Bible doesn’t tell us why.  The only clue is that Canaan was Ham’s youngest son as Ham was to Noah.  Could it have been a precursor to Exodus 20:5 that speaks of the sins of the father being visited on the children even to the third and fourth generation?  We just don’t know. 

The curse of Canaan has been used for thousands of years by white supremacists as justification why Negroes were to be slaves (“May Canaan be the slave of Shem”, Gen 9:26) since descendants of Ham mostly ended up in Africa.  Yet this is a horrible lie as the Canaanites were not black but wicked people who lived in ancient Palestine, Phoenicia, and Carthage and were part of the tribes defeated by Joshua (e.g. Num 14:43, Josh 9:1).  Ham’s other two sons were not cursed.

What is the main learning point from this passage?  What do you learn about Noah’s sin that might keep you from committing similar sin?    

Spiritual check-ups

II Corinthians 13:5 (The Message)

Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. 

In my job in the corporate business world I was reminded this past week that it is time for my semi-annual self-evaluation of the personal objectives I had established for myself at the beginning of the year.  Most corporate jobs have this requirement for self-evaluation semi-annually or at least annually.  Good health care typically requires an annual physical examination that even though is performed by a physician it is you who take the initiative to have it.  Same goes for dental checkups.  Self-evaluations are routine in many occupations.  Our pastors evaluate themselves almost weekly (and if they don’t, others will).  Indeed, if you don’t routinely evaluate your performance on the job or your health or any other thing that you do, others will eventually tell you news that you don’t want to hear. 

This passage is a reminder that spiritual check-ups are important too.  You are to test or examine yourself to make sure that you are solid in the faith.  Every single one of the hundreds of study vignettes that I have written require some kind of self-examination of where you are spiritually as well as who and what you are and doing in everyday life.

Life can become a drudgery; overcoming drudgery is one of Ostwald Chamber’s emphases in his book My Utmost for His Highest.  Life’s drudgeries can get you down, cause you to lose motivation and the energy it takes to keep pressing forward (Phil 3:13-14) in your Christian journey.  Scripture here says don’t drift along taking everything for granted.  If you do, you will fall into traps of sin and backslide into your old ways.  You need to give yourself regular checkups.  You do this with your physical health, but what about your spiritual health? 

So, how do you do this?  How do you obtain firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you?  How do you test yourself?  How do you know if you fail the test and if you do fail, what can you do to return to your Christian roots? 

This verse is NOT teaching that self-examination provides the assurance of your salvation.  Such assurance comes from the Bible, not from your own assessment.  Especially when you know that you have stumbled or even have committed a grievous sin, examining your salvation at these times would lead to discouragement and the kind of doubt that Paul writes about in Romans 7.  What this verse is teaching is to examine your attitudes about God, about church and fellowship, about sin (avoiding it), about service, about witnessing and all other things that relate to the Christian walk.  Of the seven churches listed in Revelation 2-3, six had “left your first love” (Rev 2:4) meaning that they had fallen away from their initial passion, devotion and affection to Jesus Christ and His ways.  This is what you should re-examine on a consistent basis----do you still have the passion, devotion and affection about your faith and works as a Christian as you once did?  The evidence is found in your attitudes (strength of your faith) and actions (service for the Lord through others).  If you find that these have waned or even disappeared from your daily life, then you must do something about it.  Otherwise, indeed, you were not a true believer to begin with.          

It is far better to examine yourself now and have time to make corrections than to ignore this and wait until Judgment Day. 

‘It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your soul than for a soldier to fight on the battlefield.’  William Butler Yeats 
 

Jesus entered the world to render judgment

John 9:39 (NLT)

Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

Why did Jesus come to earth?  Or, as this verse records, why did He enter this world?  Dr. Roger Congdon (http://www.teachinghome.com/em-elements/christmas/21reasons.cfm) listed 21 purposes:

·  Fulfill prophecy (Matt 5:17)

·  Fulfill the law (Matt 5:17-18)

·  Seek the lost (Luke 19:10)

·  Save the lost (Matt 18:11)

·  Save sinners (I Tim 1:15)

·  To serve (Mark 10:45)

·  Give His life as a ransom (Matt 20:28)

·  Men might have life more abundantly (John 10:10)

·  Reveal the Father (Matt 11:27)

·  Do the will of God (Heb 10:9)

·  Preach (Luke 4:43)

·  Bring fire (Luke 12:49)

·  Be a king (John 18:37)

·  Bear witness to the truth (John 18:37)

·  Be a faithful priest (Heb 2:17)

·  Put away sin (Heb 9:26)

·  Destroy works of the devil (I John 3:18)

·  Send a sword (Matt 10:34-36)

·  Bear our sins (I Peter 2:24)

·  Provide an example of holy living (I Peter 2:21)

And the 21^st purpose---to render judgment as written in John 9:39.  What does this mean in light of other verses that seem to say the opposite, e.g. “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17); “You judge Me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone” (John 8:15); “I will not judge those who hear Me but don’t obey Me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it”? (John 12:47).

 

The Bible appears to contradict itself and sometimes it takes more scholarship than most of us have to explain apparent contradictions.  John 3:17 follows the familiar John 3:16 where the primary purpose of Jesus’ life when He first came to earth was/is to save humankind from their sins and eternal judgment.  His first appearance was not to condemn people but to save them.  This is re-emphasized in John 12:47.  John 8:15 is Jesus saying that He does not judge people as the Pharisees were doing.  This verse follows the Pharisees trying to condemn the adulterous woman.

But, make no mistake that someday Jesus will return as a judge where He was appointed by God (Acts 17:30-32) to be the judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42, II Tim 4:1), who will be able to judge the secrets of men (Rom 2:16, I Cor 4:5), separate the sheep from the goats (Matt 25:31-46), and judge every deed of man (Matt 16:27, II Cor 5:10).  His first coming was as a Savior, His second coming will be as a judge.    

John 9:39 writes that “He entered the world to render judgment” (Greek “krima” meaning “judicial decision”) and then explains what this means----“to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”  The Message Bible translates this verse as “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”  So the phrase “render judgment” seems to mean that Jesus provides special blessings to those who are willing to know who He really is while exposing hypocrisy of those unwilling to see who He really is.     

Every person on earth, sooner or later, unless you live somewhere remotely where there are no channels of communication, is confronted with the question, “Who is Jesus to you”?  You either believe in Him or you don’t.  John 9:39 actually is saying that people in the world are judging Jesus, either accepting Him or rejecting Him.  Who is Jesus to you? Can you see Him for who He is or are you spiritually blind?  If the latter, He can remove your blindness if you are willing.