The Fool
The fool will no more be called noble,
Nor the scoundrel said to be honorable. – Isaiah 32:5 (ESV)
Most Christians have a sense of their own failures. Whether it is real humility or false humility, you will hear people say something like, “Well, I sin every day so what right do I have to judge.†There is truth in this statement, we do sin every day or most days. And we should be slow to judge people, especially not their status before God. So, when we do judge it tends to be along our biases and what brings us comfort.
It is clear in our culture that we make a habit of calling the fool noble. Some of that is our ignorance as we do not know the heart of the person. So how do we perceive another person? How do we know the fool? After all the fool can be dressed very well with flawless rhetoric. Jesus gives us the key: you judge a tree by its fruit (Matt 7:16).
We should first look at the fruit of Jesus. He was hated by powerful even as he held very little conventional worldly power. Many people perceived Jesus as was convenient to their preexisting world view, but Jesus defied these small-minded definitions. He healed the sick and demon possessed. He feed the hungry. He preached hope to the outcast. He endorsed a type of holiness which exceeded anything imagined before. He called people out of their sin (and they were glad to leave it behind). Worldly status and accomplishments held no sway on him. His two greatest achievements were dying on the cross for the sinner and rising from the dead so that sinner could have life (there is a 3rd accomplishment coming). He told people they were not defined by their upbringing, social context, or sin but by the Father in Heaven. He freed people and for violating social convention he was hated. When I consider the fruit of his life, I am blown away.
The wise man of the world would consider Jesus a fool, but Paul tells us that the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God (1 Cor 3:19). How do we know this? Because we can see the fruit of the life of Jesus. He made/makes our lives better/fuller.
Now hold other “wise†or “noble†people to that standard. Look at their fruit. The time is coming and is already here when the noble will be revealed as a fool and the schemes of the scoundrel will be revealed. Are you watching? Are you listening?
A poisoned tree will not produce good fruit.
Do you really want to produce good fruit? Take a look at the people you revere as wise, are they people who help bring real life to others?
Nor the scoundrel said to be honorable. – Isaiah 32:5 (ESV)
Most Christians have a sense of their own failures. Whether it is real humility or false humility, you will hear people say something like, “Well, I sin every day so what right do I have to judge.†There is truth in this statement, we do sin every day or most days. And we should be slow to judge people, especially not their status before God. So, when we do judge it tends to be along our biases and what brings us comfort.
It is clear in our culture that we make a habit of calling the fool noble. Some of that is our ignorance as we do not know the heart of the person. So how do we perceive another person? How do we know the fool? After all the fool can be dressed very well with flawless rhetoric. Jesus gives us the key: you judge a tree by its fruit (Matt 7:16).
We should first look at the fruit of Jesus. He was hated by powerful even as he held very little conventional worldly power. Many people perceived Jesus as was convenient to their preexisting world view, but Jesus defied these small-minded definitions. He healed the sick and demon possessed. He feed the hungry. He preached hope to the outcast. He endorsed a type of holiness which exceeded anything imagined before. He called people out of their sin (and they were glad to leave it behind). Worldly status and accomplishments held no sway on him. His two greatest achievements were dying on the cross for the sinner and rising from the dead so that sinner could have life (there is a 3rd accomplishment coming). He told people they were not defined by their upbringing, social context, or sin but by the Father in Heaven. He freed people and for violating social convention he was hated. When I consider the fruit of his life, I am blown away.
The wise man of the world would consider Jesus a fool, but Paul tells us that the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God (1 Cor 3:19). How do we know this? Because we can see the fruit of the life of Jesus. He made/makes our lives better/fuller.
Now hold other “wise†or “noble†people to that standard. Look at their fruit. The time is coming and is already here when the noble will be revealed as a fool and the schemes of the scoundrel will be revealed. Are you watching? Are you listening?
A poisoned tree will not produce good fruit.
Do you really want to produce good fruit? Take a look at the people you revere as wise, are they people who help bring real life to others?
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