Mark Huey of Outreach Israel Ministries delivers the following message, “Understanding All Things: Wisdom for Fools,” which focuses on how different a life of faith in the Messiah of Israel can truly be, in contrast to the ways of the world.
Upon first becoming a Believer in the Messiah of Israel as the only propitiation for my sin, one of my early mentors recommended the discipline of reading and meditating upon a chapter of the Book of Proverbs corresponding to the day of the month. For a number of months, this practice allowed the wisdom of God to begin to transform my mind, from obvious worldliness to His perspective. Recently witnessing a mature brother faithfully following this practice, I was convicted to once again follow this daily regimen, in addition to some of the other readings and studies that I have been conducting. With the added blessing of thirty years of pursuing God, my mind has been especially drawn to contemplate on the great contrasts between living life wisely versus living life foolishly. As a result, the blessing of “rewashing” my mind by the water of these words from the ancients has been a profound blessing. For instance, just re-reading these verses about a fool remaining silent—something I did at Bible studies or gatherings of more mature Believers in my early walk—reminded me of how these words have directed and molded my life in so many ways:
“He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent” (Proverbs 17:27-28, NASU).
In particular, I have found that by having these words implanted in my brain in the morning, that there have been multiple times throughout recent days that these very thoughts come back into focus. At times, remembering this has become instructional to me, and perhaps to others, as God’s wisdom percolates forth from my heart and lips. Just this one statement below has been used by me several times in order to encourage brethren to seek the Lord, not to mention exhorting me to seek Him even more:
“Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand all things” (Proverbs 28:5, NASU).
Can you imagine “understanding all things”? Just the thought of beginning to understand all things gives me the incentive to seek the Holy One of Israel. After all, I do not know about you, but I am constantly asking the Father questions about different things that come into my mind. Inevitably, as I hopefully dialogue (or primarily monologue) in prayer and praise to the Almighty, I am frequently imploring the Ruach (Spirit) to give me wisdom and understanding about how to proceed with my thoughts, words, and deeds. Actively desiring to please Him with all that I do, say, and think has become a good habit in my life. In fact, I am reminded of a passage from Paul’s words to the Corinthians that explains perhaps how we should all, as fellow workers, conduct our lives. We are each called to be temples of the Living God with the Holy Spirit able to accomplish His will through us:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Messiah. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Messiah Yeshua. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, ‘He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS’; and again, ‘THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.’ So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Messiah; and Messiah belongs to God” (1 Corinthians 3:1-23, NASU).
Earlier in this same epistle, Paul contrasted the foolishness and weakness of God being much wiser and stronger than men. In fact, God has actually chosen the foolish and weak things of the world to confound those who claim to be wise and strong:
“Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God” (1 Corinthians 1:25-29, NASU).
Ultimately, this leads Paul to conclude that being a “fool” for Messiah is the preferred destiny for those seeking to know and please Him, in order to be useful in His Kingdom’s work. In truth, despite the prospect of losing all, the final exhortation to the Corinthians along these lines is to imitate Paul in his abandoned recklessness to proclaim the gospel of the Messiah:
“We are fools for Messiah’s sake, but you are prudent in Messiah; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Messiah, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Messiah Yeshua I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me” (1 Corinthians 4:10-16, NASU).
Interestingly, when you take a closer look at 1 Corinthians 3, you discover that Paul is quoting verses from the wisdom literature found in Psalms and Job. Paul was very familiar with these writings, and obviously from the quotations cited, you can conclude that Paul had considerable understanding of God’s ways. Take a look at Psalm 94 and Job 5, getting a sense of the context, and how Paul would unequivocally conclude that a person must become foolish in order to gain the wisdom that only God can provide:
“O LORD, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth, render recompense to the proud. How long shall the wicked, O LORD, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; all who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They crush Your people, O LORD, and afflict Your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the orphans. They have said, ‘The LORD does not see, nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.’ Pay heed, you senseless among the people; and when will you understand, stupid ones? He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke, even He who teaches man knowledge? The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are a mere breath. Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD, and whom You teach out of Your law; that You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, until a pit is dug for the wicked. For the LORD will not abandon His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance. For judgment will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness? If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. If I should say, ‘My foot has slipped,’ Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul. Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, One which devises mischief by decree? They band themselves together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has been my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He has brought back their wickedness upon them and will destroy them in their evil; the LORD our God will destroy them” (Psalm 94:1-23, NASU).
“But as for me, I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God; who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain on the earth and sends water on the fields, so that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, so that their hands cannot attain success. He captures the wise by their own shrewdness, and the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted. By day they meet with darkness, and grope at noon as in the night. But He saves from the sword of their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the mighty. So the helpless has hope, and unrighteousness must shut its mouth. Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal. From six troubles He will deliver you, even in seven evil will not touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you will not be afraid of violence when it comes. You will laugh at violence and famine, and you will not be afraid of wild beasts. For you will be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. You will know that your tent is secure, for you will visit your abode and fear no loss. You will know also that your descendants will be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth. You will come to the grave in full vigor, like the stacking of grain in its season. Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself” (Job 5:8-27, NASU).
Clearly, Paul innately knew that a mortal’s thoughts were mere breath or vapor, and that the craftiness of the worldly wise is a trap for those who rely upon it for understanding—or worse, for salvation. Nevertheless, while contemplating the great contrast between the wisdom of the world and God’s wisdom, and in light of my recent concentration on reading through the Book of Proverbs, I decided that a little reflection on foolery versus wisdom was in order. After all, in recent months I had taken the concept of thinking that someone was a fool to be on the level of calling someone “Raca” (Matthew 5:22, NASB), which according to a strict interpretation of Yeshua’s words could be comparable to committing murder:
“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell” (Matthew 5:21-22, NASU).
Yet, in my study of calling people fools or foolish, I found that Yeshua Himself actually used a description to indicate that He considered some scribes and Pharisees He rebuked to have been both fools and blind men:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it” (Matthew 23:15-22, NASU).
Is it possible that there is a distinction between calling someone a fool, who is your brother and with whom you have a legal dispute—versus calling someone a fool, who is obviously in extreme error and in need of correction? In this series of woes castigated upon the hypocritical leaders of the scribes and Pharisees, who are further denigrated as blind guides and sons of hell, Yeshua does not hold back His opinion about their lack of wisdom and the fact that they lead others to perdition. Obviously, the scribes and Pharisees addressed in this passage had some fundamental problems with simply understanding the principles of swearing and vow making. In fact, the implication that these purported teachers of Israel are more focused upon the gold of the Temple, rather than the offerings made, is an indication that Yeshua is not at all pleased with their positional behavior.
In truth, when you start to read some of the many passages in the Book of Proverbs that contrast the attitude and actions of fools, versus the attitude and actions of the wise and righteous, you begin to understand that recognizing that someone is acting foolishly is something that all should know from their studies. The problem beyond this recognition, is the possibility that someone actually does foolish things on such a consistent basis that he or she is in reality a fool. Just take a look at this sampling of proverbs about fools, and note if you can recognize some of the actions taken consistently by some you might know—who just might be considered fools because of their consistency!
“Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest, do honor is not fitting for a fool. Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight. A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools. Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes. He cuts off his own feet and drinks violence who sends a message by the hand of a fool. Like the legs which are useless to the lame, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Like one who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool. Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Like an archer who wounds everyone, so is he who hires a fool or who hires those who pass by. Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Proverbs 26:1-12, NASU).
“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26, NASU).
“When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, the foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest. Men of bloodshed hate the blameless, but the upright are concerned for his life. A fool always loses his temper, but a wise man holds it back” (Proverbs 29:9-11, NASU).
“Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Proverbs 29:20, NASU).
The Proverbs are replete with these great contrasts between how the wise deal with life, and how the fool continues to choose poorly. After gaining a little more wisdom from once again taking a look at the Book of Proverbs in the last two months, I have come to the conclusion that if your intention in your heart is to simply recognize that someone is acting like a fool or taking recognizably foolish attributes upon themselves—then calling a “spade a spade” is not necessarily rising to the level of committing murder in your heart. You are simply stating a fact. When Yeshua noted what the leaders of the scribes and Pharisees were doing, He simply stated that their actions were those of fools and blind guides. He was not necessarily condemning them, but rather stating the obvious.
For those of us walking out a Messianic lifestyle, seeking to know God and be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we might have the mind of Messiah, clearly we have the opportunity—if and when presented—to point out the foolish behavior of those who might be acting like fools, idiots, lunatics, etc. The goal of each rebuke must be to encourage the person in error to change or alter the inappropriate actions, to those that will demonstrate appropriate wisdom and understanding. In so doing, perhaps by our admonitions we can direct people to seek God’s wisdom, particularly embodied in what the world considers foolishness. This so-called foolishness is being sold out to the gospel of the Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection—so that by believing in Him and His atoning work, we might be born from above!
This is always the bottom line, no matter which book or books of the Bible you might be considering. Without the knowledge and understanding of who Yeshua is, everything that we are doing could, should, and would be considered foolishness. As Paul concludes to the Corinthians, we are of all mortals to be pitied if the Messiah has not risen from the dead:
“Now if Messiah is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Messiah has been raised; and if Messiah has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Messiah, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Messiah has been raised; and if Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Messiah have perished. If we have hoped in Messiah in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19, NASU).
Thank God we serve a Risen Savior!
As Proverbs 28:5 should remind us once again: if we seek God we will understand all things. But rather than understanding just what the “all things” means, let us be like Paul and countless others who have lived down through the ages, and have had the wisdom to understand nothing else than Yeshua crucified:
“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Messiah Yeshua and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2, NASU).
Now that is saving wisdom even for the foolish! To Him be all glory, honor, and power.
Until the restoration of all things…
