Wisdom - Foolishness

History of April fools

It is believed that the origin of April Fools day was when the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. This changed the first day of the year from being celebrated April 1st to January 1st. Those that continued to celebrate New Years on April 1st were deemed “April Fools” and were mocked and had tricks played on them.

However, there appear to have been references to April fools prior to this time, possibly going all the way back to the Roman Hilaria festivals celebrated around this time, which may explain why it is practiced around the world. Or it may simply be recognizing the fact that around the beginning of spring nature tricks you with its changing weather.

Whatever the case may be, April Fools, just like the other secular or pagan holidays has become commercialized in a sense.

A lot of corporations’ marketing teams take the opportunity to create silly April Fool’s day gimmicks. Google is famous for coming up with fake products revealed on April first,

Google Actual Cloud, which is just what it sounds like.

Google Gnome, which is Google Home for outside the house.

Other brands get in on the action too.

April Fools is intended to be a time when we participate in a little foolishness and trickery, playing practical jokes and pranks on others.

But today I would like to talk about wisdom. Wisdom and another kind of foolishness.

First, it’s important to lay down some definitions.
Similar concepts:

Intelligence vs Knowledge vs Reason vs Wisdom

There is overlap, but they aren’t the same, so let me quickly define each one and then give an example.

Knowledge is information itself. It accumulates over time and remains - so long as you can remember it.

Intelligence is the ability to process and grasp information. This is more like a natural ability, and it vary depending on the types of information. Some people that are very intelligent when it comes to writing and language are not very intelligent at mathematics or engineering, and vice versa.

Reason is deductive and based on the rules of logic - If this, then that, etc.

Some of you might have noticed something slightly different about me the past 2 weeks. If you didn’t know, it’s because I got new glasses. They’re similar to my last ones…

In comparing wisdom with foolishness, I thought I should give an example of the latter. So what would you think if I took my brand new glasses and did something like this –

Some of you might be shocked.

You’re thinking, “Yeah, that was foolish”

But, for those with knowledge … (release)

It’s not foolish at all.

Knowledge - Again, is information. It is the fact that these particular glasses have double hinges. It is also the fact that most glasses do not, which is why a few you were grimacing.

Intelligence - it doesn’t take a lot of intelligence to get that that something with two hinges is more flexible than one. It might help if you were trying to understand the exact mechanism of how it operates, and how it’s able to snap back into place, that kind of thing.

Reason - Is what would initially tell you that bending your brand new glasses is a bad idea, generally. Unless, they were made to do so, but you wouldn’t immediately assume that.

Wisdom - How does that factor in? Well, these glasses actually weren’t the ones that I initially picked out. I got these at the Costco, and had tried on quite a few.

And I picked out a pair that I liked and brought it to the lady at the desk.

I sat down and she asked a few questions about insurance, etc.

Then she had me put them on and said that they stuck out to the side too far. I looked in the mirror and thought that they looked okay, but she said she would find some similar ones for me to try.

She went and picked out two other pairs and I put them on

…

She used her knowledge of eyewear, and the products they had available to offer me something that was beneficial to me, that I didn’t even know about.

That’s what I believe wisdom is about. It’s applying knowledge to benefit yourself, other people, and society. Wisdom is for edification. What is edification? What is an edifice? A building. It means literally or figuratively building something up.

Proverbs 24:3 By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established; 4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure

Proverbs 14:1The wise woman builds her house,

But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

Speaking of building up, wisdom was with God at creation:

Proverbs 3:19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;

By understanding He established the heavens;

…

20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up,

And clouds drop down the dew.

Jeremiah 10:12 The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

Proverbs 8:22 "The Lord possessed me [wisdom] at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. 23 I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth; 26 While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, Or the primeval dust of the world.

So if wisdom is the application of knowledge used to build something up and benefit. Foolishness as that which comes to nothing. It is akin to vanity, futility. For example, the fool is often lazy, which leads to destruction over time.

Now, not all foolishness is necessarily evil. April fools pranks certainly are foolishness because they involve vain activities, wasting of time and resources, but can also provide humorous entertainment, which can help refresh you and reduce stress.
But in general, it is not good to be a fool.

To further define:

Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, But the folly of fools is deceit.

Wisdom is looking back, looking to the whole of the present, and looking to the future and knowing the best course. Foolishness is like blindness. Fools only see what is before them.

One example of such folly is found in Psalm 14:1, which says:

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

That is why some people call April 1st World Atheist Day.

Multiple times, the Bible also tells us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

That’s what I want to talk about today - Wisdom and foolishness.

So if the beginning of wisdom is to fear God, then it is the epitome of foolishness to make little or nothing of God.

[slide]

So, out in the world you are bound to encounter people that do not believe in God – whether they are outright atheists or people that have varying degrees of doubt about God’s existence.

So what do you say to them?
Maybe you already have a well thought out answer, but if not, hopefully this will help you provide an answer.

Psalm19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.2_Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.
_3_There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
_4Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world.

That’s honestly the pure and simple answer. Creation testifies of God day and night. If you want evidence, it’s all around you.

Knowing this, it may also help to understand why people don’t believe in God. This is what the Bible says:

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools,

While this is talking about idol worshippers, the same can be said of the atheist.

Atheists have a lot of supposed excuses for not believing in God even if he did exist.

One big one for them is the problem of evil.

I’m not going to touch on that one because to do it justice would require quite a bit of time. Maybe in another sermon.

But another big sticking point for the atheist/agnostic type is that He requires belief or faith at all.

This is because in our day and age – empirically verifiable truth is seen as the most supreme form of truth, and therefore anything that falls outside of that is sub-par or not worth even considering.

That is the zeitgeist - the spirit of the age.

Relativism-

The theory that value judgments, as of truth, beauty, or morality, have no universal validity but are valid only for the persons or groups holding them.

Empiricism-

The view that experience, especially of the senses, is the only source of knowledge.
Primarily through the employment of empirical methods, as in science.

In all of these things, I used to be there. These used to be my bread and butter.

However, even as a believer, it isn’t necessarily obvious why God requires faith.

If God wants everyone to believe in Him, why does He conceal Himself.

The first thing that you should point out is that it is not blind faith.

Again, we have the testimony of nature and our own personal experiences and inner witness testifying to the existence of God.

So, since the existence of God is not truly in question, then it’s not difficult to think that there’s at least the possibility of there being a creator that exists outside or beyond the material world.

So if that’s a possibility, then it stands to reason that we should try to find out about that being.

But for those that insist on everything being empirically verified, they have literally fenced themselves off from believing in God.

We want to be able to quantify, define, and understand something.

This allows us to feel that we have dominated that thing.

That is natural, because we are supposed to have dominion over the natural world to a degree.

But that kind of thinking does not work when trying to examine the supernatural.

For something to be verified scientifically, it has to be

Observable - You need to be able to observe whatever it is, either with your 5 senses or with the assistance of equipment.

Testable - You need a method for proving or disproving your hypothesis.

Repeatable - Your method needs to be clear enough to be repeated with consistency.

The problem with that is that God is not going to cooperate with a science experiment.

The influence of God over the world is not observable, and He’s not going to perform the same miracle over and over for you to record in your little notebook.

Therefore, I believe, (and this is applicable to both the believer and the unbeliever) that God requires faith because it is fundamentally an act of humility.

In our pride we think that we need to be in control of every thing and every situation. That means the ability to assess, identify, and understand, which means moving it into the realm of the known.

We don’t like things that we don’t understand.

Because of pride
Because of fear. Things we don’t understand are scary.

But God be fully understood. And he is scary.

There will always be things that we don’t or can’t understand. And we certainly can’t control Him.

That is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Because it’s simply the acceptance of those facts. - He is mysterious, and He is dreadful.

I believe faith is necessary because it is the same thing as
letting go of our selfish pride and ambition and
submitting to the unseen, uncontrollable, and sometimes impossible to understand.

So if they can accept that there is or may be a god, then who is God? Which god is the right one?

A popular phrase among nonbelievers is the idea that “we’re all atheists”

Meaning, you and I are atheists when it comes to Zeus, Osiris, or Krishna.

So they say they just take it one step further.

So how do you know that you “picked the right religion”
So, there are probably several good ways to respond to that.

One is that you didn’t pick the religion as if you were merely browsing the religious shelf at the library and thought Christianity looked the best. God picked you, and you can tell them your testimony.

Another way to respond might be to show how the fundamental message of the Gospel is so far superior to any other religion out there - that God would suffer and die on behalf of man to show His love and redeem them back to himself.

Another way, which I’ll briefly outline is to consider the impossibility of history aligning with the prophecies and claims of the Bible. So there are a lot of prophecies in the Bible, but I’ve settled on one set of ideas that I think would be pretty hard for an unbeliever to ignore. So this requires the least amount of openness of the 3 that I just mentioned, because it’s based on a logical train of thought that starts with just the presupposition that God exists, which most atheists will at least be able to accept as a hypothetical.

So, I think Abraham is a good starting point, because A. he’s the first Hebrew, and B. he had some pretty significant promises made to him.

Anyone can come up with a religion, or some mythology and get people to believe it. Especially people with political power. Mainly because they can kill you if you don’t follow it. So it makes sense that there are some pretty old religions that still exist today.

And it’s not like they’re devoid of truth, right? It’s a mixture. The golden rule or something like it tends to be common. Which is good. If people truly followed it, it would certainly be a more tolerable place to live.

But if we’re supposing God exists, then He made people, intentionally and therefore they have a purpose. Since He did this, it makes sense that He would have some affection for us, and therefore want to have a relationship with us in order that we would fulfill our purpose.

So accepting that God wants His creation to know Him, it stands to reason that at least one of the oldest religions is the true one.

That’s how you get past the notion of deism, which is the idea that God doesn’t involve himself with the affairs of humans, He’s just a distant, impersonal being or force.

Now, it’s interesting to note that 3 of the major world religions claim to have Abraham as their forefather. And you can throw out Islam because it’s relatively new and kind of preposterous one the whole, when you think about it. And Christianity is just a natural outflow of Biblical Judaism, so you can kind of pair those together.

So the question is, how likely is that

Abraham, an old man that decided to leave the city and dwell in a foreign land would be promised by God to not only have his elderly wife bear him a child but to have innumerable descendants,
1. and he actually did, and they continue to trace their lineage back to him.
And it was promised that his descendants would become a blessing to all nations,
1. which it actually has, knowing that the Gospel has spread to the entire world.
The man through whom this blessing would begin to spread to all nations, Yeshua of Nazareth, was prophesied about, declaring the exact time of his arrival in history.
Being just a middleastern carpenter’s son turned rabbi, he made claims that his religion would last for all time and spread throughout the world.
1. And it did.
And he would die for the sins of his people and rise from the dead.
1. And he actually did
2. Which the people that followed Him testified to, even on penalty of death.
3. And this was prophesied about hundreds of years prior.
And he foretold that his religion would last forever.
1. Which it has.
And not only did it not die out or remain regional like almost every other religion, it would have the power to transform peoples lives, delivering them from sin, depression, darkness, addiction, and continue to do so to this day.

So if they can agree that God does exist, it should make sense that Christianity is obviously the one to look into.

Denial of that is foolishness.

But that is an example of foolishness. If we know what the Bible defines as wisdom, then we can understand what it means by foolishness too.

Knowledge is good. It is important.

We have sayings like: Knowledge is power.

Knowing is half the battle.

It allows us to judge properly and to exercise wisdom. However, we cannot have all knowledge. You don’t know what you don’t know.

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

Knowledge is good, but wisdom is better.

However, what is considered to be wisdom depends on who you ask. If wisdom is applying knowledge in order to build something up, or provide a benefit, your perspective and goals determine what is considered beneficial.

So the appearance of wisdom is subjective.

Just like the fact that knowledge puffs uff, there is the potential to being wise in your own eyes

Proverbs 3:5Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and lean not on your own understanding;

6in all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make your paths straight.

7Be not wise in your own eyes;

fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

8This will bring healing to your body

and refreshment to your bones.

James 3: 13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Therefore, there are 2 types of wisdom
The wisdom that is from below and the wisdom from above.

The wisdom of the world, and the wisdom of God

And what does God say about this earthly wisdom?

Isaiah 29:Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, 14Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”

Our master once told a parable that describes the wisdom of the world and the wisdom that is from above:

Luke 12:13Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

16Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

21“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

So, as Christians, what does it mean to have wisdom?

Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And one who is wise gains souls.

1 Corinthians 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

1 Corinthians 1: 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

It’s important that we do not seek to be wise in the eyes of the world, nor to be wise in our own eyes, but to seek the wisdom from above, which is submission to the will of God.

Wisdom of God - Christ. Apply the knowledge that we have, using our talents and abilities, and connections to benefit those around us - in edifying our fellow believers and bringing lost people to God through our savior Messiah Yeshua.