What Kind Of Fool Are You?

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. We're in our series on wisdom. The question today is simply this. What kind of fool are you? What kind of fool are you? Now, that might be a little offensive. But from the book of Proverbs, I think it's accurate. We've all played the fool. I've been a fool in so many ways. I hate to admit any time I've been a fool. And we all want to act like we know it all, have it all together. And boy, it's just not the case. Not at all. So we are talking about, when we admit our own foolishness, we're going on the road not taken by most of our society. Most of our world. Maybe more so than ever before in our culture. The road not taken is to admit when you are playing or have been the fool. Or have been foolish. Or that you don't have all that wisdom. You can't figure it all out. You're not quite sure. We're not just talking about the fact that you can't understand how to use your smartphone. That is not the kind of... That's not... That's just... It's not about technology, per se. Okay? So today we're going to be looking at this, the path that was not taken, the narrow way, as Jesus said last week in the Gospel of Matthew. And maybe the best way to find out what that narrow way sort of looks like is to start on the broad way. On the wide way. The way of foolishness that is so common in this world. And so today we're going to be reading a number of Proverbs. And from it we're going to discuss these three points. We're going to define what a fool is. What kinds of fools there are. There's a variety, by the way. And how to be a fool no more. But we're going to first read a number of different Proverbs. And the Book of Proverbs is written in such a way that it's really meant for you to kind of meditate. Actually, the Hebrew word for meditation is to mutter. It's to kind of like how cows chew their cud. I'm not calling you a cow. I'm just saying, you know, how you kind of just let it kind of be there for a while. And think about it throughout the day. And keep coming back to it and reflect on it. And the Book of Proverbs is written in such a way that it's not like a totally systematic, it's not like, okay, we're going to define what a fool is here. We're going to go there. Then we're going to do this. It's not a linear book, but it's more like a circular book that keeps going and keeps going and keeps kind of going around different issues. And throughout reading the 30-some chapters of this book, you start putting it together. All the pieces kind of fit. So we're going to read, like last week, a number of different places within Proverbs that kind of all fit together. Let's read now in the Book of Proverbs, starting in Chapter 1. How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? And how long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them. But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster. From Chapter 8. When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world, and delighting in the children of man. And now, O sons, listen to me. Blessed are those who keep my ways. And from Proverbs 14. The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. Proverbs 15. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. Proverbs 16. There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 19. Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudent. Reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge. And finally, Proverbs 21. Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride. So, what is a fool? I think the best definition from Proverbs is, a fool is unteachable, incorrigible. Do you know anybody who seems to be unteachable? You might be living with them. It might be you. It might be you. There are so many ways I'm unteachable. Yeah. A fool is someone, actually a little better definition is, someone who's out of touch with the reality of the way the world is, and is such that should know better. So, you might have a three-year-old who thinks, ah, I'm gonna fly, and decides to jump off the sofa, and as he does, or she does, lands and hurts themselves, right? They're not a fool at age three, because by that time, they still don't know better. They don't understand gravity or physics. But if you're 20, and you decide you're going to, hey, watch this, I'm...