The Wise and the Fool

There is an old Arabian proverb that goes like this. He who knows and knows he knows is wise. Follow him. He who knows and knows not he knows is asleep. Wake him. He who knows not and knows he knows not is a child. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool. Shun him. We smile at that but there is a lot of wisdom in that proverb. Solomon talks about two of those individuals addressed in that proverb, the wise and the fool. In our journey through ecclesiastes we are seeing that Solomon in the latter part of the book is telling us how to live life. And he's summarizing the various strands of truth, the many principles that he's woven through this book of wisdom into a concise blueprint, if you will, or roadmap for life. So he wants us to live, God wants us to live, with enjoyment, with enthusiasm, with involvement, with realism. But now we find in chapter 10 he also wants us to live with wisdom. One of the best ways to communicate truth is to highlight its opposite. And thus in bold contrast the truth stands out. That's exactly what Solomon does in ecclesiastes 10. You'll find that the focus is more on the fool and foolish ways of living. But the purpose is to really highlight what wisdom is. So by seeing the fool in contrast we understand how to live wisely. Last week we saw three marks of a wise person in the first 11 verses. A wise person is marked by the absence of folly, by calmness, and by caution. Today we will see three more marks of a wise person. If God wants us to live with wisdom we need to grasp and understand and seek to apply to our lives the marks of a wise person. So in verses 12 through 20 this morning of ecclesiastes 10 we will find three more marks of a wise person. The first is this careful speech, careful speech. Look at verse 12. Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips. At the beginning their words are folly. At the end they are wicked madness. And fools multiply words. No one knows what is coming. Who can tell someone else what will happen after them. Now what Solomon does again is make this contrast between the speech of a wise person and the speech of a fool. He begins verse 12 by marking the wise person's speech. He doesn't spend much time here. Again his emphasis is on the contrast so that we see wisdom in bold contrast. But the wise person's speech he says in verse 12, words from the mouth of the wise are gracious. A wise person's speech is marked by grace. His or her words are kind and helpful. The spirit of those words is winsome, not abrasive. The appeals from a wise person are affectionate, not demanding. The tone of a wise person is peaceful, not harsh. That's all a part of gracious speech. And speech that is done like that, that is gracious, that really marks a wise person, can deeply affect other people for good. Many years ago I clipped out of the reader's digest and article that I go back to from time to time because it so powerfully illustrates the power of gracious speech. It was an article first written from In Guideposts magazine by Mary Ann Bird. And she briefly tells her own story of a statement that was made that tremendously impacted her life for good. I want to read it in her words. I grew up knowing I was different and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate. And when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I must look to others. A little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth and garbled speech. When schoolmates would ask, what happened to your lip? I'd tell them I'd fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me or even like me. Then I entered Mrs. Leonard's second grade class. Mrs. Leonard was round and pretty and fragrant with shining brown hair and warm, dark smiling eyes. Everyone adored her but no one came to love her more than I did and for a special reason. The time came for the annual hearing tests given at our school. I could barely hear out of one ear and was not about to reveal something else that would single me out as different. So I cheated. The whisper test required each child to go to the classroom door. Turn sideways, close one ear with a finger while the child whispered something from her desk or the teacher whispered something from her desk which the child repeated. Then the same for the other ear. Nobody checked how tightly the untested ear was covered so I merely pretended to block mine. As usual, I was the last. But all through the testing, I wondered what Mrs. Leonard might say to me. I knew from previous years that the teacher whispered things like, the sky's blue. Or do you have on new shoes? My time came. I turned my bad ear toward her, plugging up the other just enough to be able to hear. I waited and then came the words that God had surely put into her mouth. Seven words that changed my life forever. Mrs. Leonard, the teacher I adored, said softly, I wish you were my little girl. Oh, powerful words. What gracious, kind, timely words for a little girl who was so self-conscious about herself. The words of the wise are gracious like that. They have the power to move people. They have the power to change people's lives. Gracious words. That's a wise person's speech. But notice by contrast, and what Solomon spends the most of his time on, is the fool's speech. The fool's speech is marked by four things Solomon describes in the rest of these verses through verse 14. Notice, first of all, the fool's speech consumes him. In the verse 12, words from the mouth of the wise are gracious. Now here it is, but fools are consumed by their own lips. A fool's speech consumes him or her. The Hebrew word literally means to swallow a person or to swallow something. Literally, a fool's words swallow him or her up. You know, it's one thing to have to eat your words. It's a whole different matter for your words to eat you. But the idea quite literally is that your words come back to haunt you. You wish you could take them back. But your words consume you. The point is that a harsh word, unkind, lack of grace in speech, will bring not only misery and suffering to others, but will harm us as well. We'll harm the speaker as well. Solomon also says much the same thing in Proverbs. These are Proverbs in Ecclesiastes 10, but he also wrote the book of Proverbs. And he says something very similar. In a couple of verses that we saw last week, but bear repeating, Proverbs 18 verses 6 and 7. The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating. The mouths of fools are their undoing, and their lips are a snare to the very lives. Their words consume them. Their words literally swallow them whole. Someone has paraphrased these verses in this way, a sharp tongue invites a split lip. And that's true. A fool's speech will be his own undoing. His words will swallow him. We'll consume him, first characteristic of the speech of a fool. Second characteristic is that a fool's speech starts with the wrong perspective. Look at verse 13. At the beginning, their words are folly. Now, that certainly does include the fact that when a fool opens his mouth, what he starts saying is foolishness, where he begins is foolishness. But it goes much deeper than that. This passage is also talking about the fool's reference point, his starting point, how he sees things. We might call it his worldview, his perspective on life, because that's where the speech comes from. And so what a person starts saying has already been in their heart and mind, and that's really the beginning of a fool's speech. That's where it starts. That's why the Bible says this about a fool in Proverbs 14. Excuse me, Psalm 14, verse 1. The fool says in his heart there is no God, their corrupt, their deeds revile, there is no one who does good. The violent corrupt deeds come because of the life perspective. The life perspective where the fool is saying in his heart, there is no God. Now, this is not necessarily an out and out atheist. This is not necessarily someone who would verbally express to you that they do not believe in God. This is someone who has that perspective in the heart, says to himself, believes in his or her heart that there is no God. Really lives that way. That's the point. So a fool is someone who starts from the perspective of, I really don't care about God, or what God says in his word. That is not my reference point, that is not my guide for life, that is not where I'm going to begin. It's not where I'm going to start. It's not the perspective I'll have on life. And so a fool's speech begins with the wrong perspective, leaving God and his word out of the picture. Not considering that as important or germane to real life. A fool's speech starts with the wrong perspective. Third characteristic that Solomon gives of a fool's speech is that a fool's speech makes light of sin. Look at it again, they're in verse 13, at the beginning their words are folly, at the end they are wicked madness. So he tells where a fool's speech originates from, it originates from a wrong perspective, but he also tells where it always goes. The word end here has the idea of this is the direction, this is the end result. This is where a fool will always end up. No matter what he's talking about, his speech will always lead this direction. And what does he call that direction? He says it is wicked madness. He can find something maddeningly foolish about any topic, tingeed and even saturated with evil. Here's what it looks like for a fool. You start talking about any subject, no matter what it is, and they will take it in a direction of wickedness and foolishness. And so a fool's speech will be laced with profanity. No matter what you're talking about, he can't say ten words without taking God's name and vein or using some profane statement. A fool's speech will always lead toward a dirty joke. You'll always see some kind of immoral innuendo no matter what you're talking about. You'll take it that direction. Wicked madness. A fool's speech will be laced with gutter language because that's a fool's mind. That's where it goes. And so beginning with the wrong perspective that God and his word really don't matter in my life or in what I say, the direction will always go toward wicked madness. Toward folly that has an evil component to it. Makes light of sin. By the way, the Bible has another word for this kind of person who makes light of sin, who everything becomes an evil, maddening kind of joke. The Bible calls that person a mocker or a scoffer in some translations. Why? Because they mock and scoff at righteousness and that the principles of God's word. Their starting point is not taking him into account. And the direction they go, the end they're headed toward is always evil wicked madness. A mocker, scoffer. Fourth characteristic of a fool's speech is found in verse 14. And that is he cannot restrain himself. A fool simply cannot restrain himself. Verse 14 starts this way. And fools multiply words. Words, words, words, words on top of words. A fool does not listen, but a fool talks a lot. A fool will not listen to counsel, but a fool will dominate the conversation because a fool is an expert on everything. He or she knows about everything, or at least they present themselves as knowing about everything. And so it's always words, words, words. A fool will also always rationalize his or her actions. Rather than taking responsibility, rather than owning up and saying, I was wrong, a fool will rationalize it away. Have some explanation for it because there are people of much talk, empty talk, words, words, words. Solomon gives an example of it at the end of the verse. He says, no one knows what is coming, who can tell someone else what will happen after them. And at first glance, that seems like, okay, that's a true principle of life. Nobody knows the future, but how does that fit in with what we're talking about? Well, it's obvious in the context, or it should be obvious to us, if we take the flow of thought seriously, that Solomon really is talking about this fool who multiplies words. He knows about everything, even the future. He can tell you exactly what's going to happen. He will predict everything, he will tell you the end of every course, exactly what's going to happen and transpire in life. Although the Bible says nobody can really know the future, but the fool thinks he does. And so he will pontificate on every subject with seeming authority. Even the future. Many, many words. Let me summarize the contrast here, and it's a very dynamic contrast, very bold contrast between the speech of a wise person, the speech of a fool. Let me summarize it with just this picture, picture-esque illustration. If you were to go to the doctor's office, a dermatologist, because you had a suspicious mole somewhere on your body, and you wanted to get it checked, then the doctor says, I think we do need to do some surgery. If he came into the operating room at you, and you haven't been put out yet, if he came into the room with a tool to do surgery, would you prefer that that be a scalpel or a chainsaw? I think I know the answer to that. I know what I would prefer. A fool approaches everything with a chainsaw mentality. And does all kinds of damage. Rib that thing up, get it going, and dive in, and just all kinds of damage done. The surgeon, however, approaches the task with skill, with the proper instrument that can cut the harmful tissue without damaging the good tissue. That's the difference between a fool and a wise person when they speak. Wisdom is characterized by careful speech. Secondly, wisdom is characterized by personal discipline. And again, Solomon focuses on the fool. And in so doing, he gives us four characteristics or four areas in which the fool is deficient in personal discipline. The first is he wastes time. Wasting time, look at verse 15. The toil of fools wearys them. They do not know the way to town. It's a very interesting verse. Two very interesting expressions. Let's take apart the first one. When Solomon says the toil of fools wearys them. Here's what he's saying. He's saying basically the very thought of work wears out a fool. The very idea that something will be toil some, that it may be hard, that it will require some time and effort, is just more than he can take. It wearys him before he even gets started. Therefore, a fool creates needless difficulties, needless excuses as to why things can't be done, thus getting out of the work. The very idea of the toil is wearys him to him. So rather than jumping in and doing what needs to be done, he thinks of all the potential problems. There are lots of examples of this in the book of Proverbs 2, where Solomon talks about the sluggard of the lazy person is always making up excuses. I'm not going to go out today because there might be a lion in the streets. Really? But you see a fool is always coming up with some kind of excuse for why something can't be done. The very thought that something might be toil some is wearys him to him. So he makes even the simplest things difficult. That's where the end of the verse comes in. They do not know the way to town. We use expressions like that. You say, God, God doesn't even know enough to come out of the rain. God can't even find his way back to his own house. Well, in Solomon's day they would have communicated that same expression by this one. They do not know the way to town. It's not that they're mentally deficient and can't find town. That's not it. The point is, any exertion of effort is wearys him to them and excuses are made. Reasons are given. Why something certainly will not be able to be done and time is wasted. The end result of that kind of lifestyle is inefficiency, lack of production, inability to get anything done because a person is unwilling to get things done. Wasting time is the mark of a fool. A fool demonstrates lack of personal discipline is in indulgence. Notice how Solomon describes this in verses 16 and 17. Woe to the land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning. Here's the picture. Here's a land where the person who has risen to the place of king is a servant. Nothing wrong with being a servant and sometimes a servant may make the very best king. But the idea in this verse with the contrast in verse 17 with those of noble birth is you've got a person who was never trained, never reared in such a way as to prepare them for the seriousness of the task. They didn't understand what a king was like. They don't understand the task involved. They don't grasp the seriousness of it. They don't grasp the magnitude of the job. And so they just kind of see it as a party. Just a continual feast. Man, let's just... I'm the king. I do whatever I want. Let's start feasting in the morning. And let's just have a day of it without giving careful attention to the affairs of state. Not realizing the sobering responsibilities that lie with a king. By the way, the word servant can also be rendered child. Some translations may use that word. Not in sense of chronological age, but in sense of being childish. But the idea is the same. Whether you call it a child or a servant. The idea is someone who is immature. Someone who is not ready for the task. And someone who, because they are not ready for the task, approaches it very immaturely. And just sees it as an opportunity to have one long party from morning right on. So feasting and indulging, rather than putting your effort to the task that needs to be done. Just always feasting and indulging oneself. That's the fool. By contrast, verse 17, Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time. And then he mentions for the proper reason for strength and not for drunkenness. So the contrast is a wise ruler, a person who is of noble birth. And the idea here is, again, someone who's been groomed, trained, who's been made to understand the gravity of that position of king. And what must be done in order to fulfill the tasks of the king? This person is ready. And so they're not immature. They're not childish. They're not as servant who has no clue what it means to run a kingdom. They've been groomed for this. And not only are they of noble birth, again, their exceptions to this, there are plenty of people who've come through noble birth and not been ready or mature enough to rule. But the idea that Solomon is portraying here is these people truly live up to the word noble. They are not only noble in their birth, they've been groomed and trained to be noble in their character. They are ready to assume leadership when the time comes. So they may enjoy feasting or a banquet just as much as the fool does, but they know the proper time and the proper reason. And so the reason for it is for strength and not for drunkenness. And it's not to start in the morning and feast all day. Proper time, proper reason, things are done appropriately rather than indulgence. That is the mark of a fool. Indulgence, wisdom, the way of wisdom, is to understand the proper time and place, and to be willing to give yourself to the task of hand, recognizing the seriousness of it. Third characteristic of a fool when it comes to personal discipline is procrastination. Now you're beginning to think just like I've felt all week, this is a convicting passage. Convicting passage. Procrastination is described in verse 18 again in such beautiful picturesque language. Through laziness, the raptors sag. Because of idle hands, the house leaks. They all identify with that, right? You see something that needs to be done around the house and just keep putting it off. Well, I'll get to that later. I'll have more time next week. Next month, next year, and before long, the raptors are sagging. The roof is coming through and water is leaking into the house. That is a result Solomon portrays of laziness, idle hands. The word lazy is actually a dual term which gives more impact. Lazy lazy or compound lazy, greatly lazy is the idea. Is the kind of person who always sees what needs to be done but never lifts a finger to do it. And pretty soon that catches up with you, doesn't it? Well, what is true of a house is also true of everything in life. It's true of your job. It's true of your relationships. It's true of your family. It's true of your walk with God. It's true of your relationship to a church. You let things begin to slide. Well, I'll get to that later. I'll do that some other time. We'll get the lights back someday. Doesn't matter when. And what happens eventually is it catches up with you. Everything becomes dark. It's made to power bill. But you see the point? The point is that Solomon says if you don't give attention to these things, if you don't really exert effort, if you are lazy, then everything starts crumbling around you. And it may not be your house. It may be your marriage. Maybe your relationship with your kids. It may be your relationship with God because you've let things slide too long. You know you need to be in the Word. You know you need to be pray. You know you need to be faithful with God's people to develop that fellowship and one another's. You know that, but you're putting it off till later. Pretty soon it'll all come crumbling down around you. It's an inevitable fact of life that laziness produces this order. And that's exactly the point Solomon is making. Look at the next one if you can see it. The next one in verse 19 is he is irresponsible. Verse 19. A feast is made for laughter. Wine makes life merry and money is the answer for everything. Now that sounds at first like really weird counsel for Solomon to be giving. Does he really mean this? Is he really saying that the feast is made for laughter? Wine makes life merry so you know have at it. And money is the answer for everything. Is that Solomon's advice? Again don't misunderstand the passage. Take it in its context. Remember the flow of thought. Solomon is still talking about the fool, the in the tour servant, childish person, who's ruling back in verse 16. His life is a feast from morning till night. This is his sentiment. The fool's declaration, not Solomon's, Solomon is still giving what the fool says. And the fool says basically a feast is made for laughter. I mean you can hear the hilarity and the shrill laughter ringing through the halls. And wine makes life merry. If a little wine's good then let's have a bunch more. And so just go after it. We'll be, if we want to be a little mayor, we'll be real merry. We'll get real happy. And money, we got enough money to do whatever we want. We got the party last forever. So money's answered everything. That's not wise counsel. That's the counsel of the fool. That's the way the fool he's describing lives. Irresponsible. No responsibility in his or her life. All the while, the affairs of the kingdom, the affairs of state go untended. Irresponsible. Irresponsible. He's a football, a college football player who had great ability, great natural talent but just seemed unfocused, unwilling to really put himself into it and work hard to make himself the player he could be. And so he sat on the bench a lot. During the season his father died. And so he went home to attend the funeral, be with his family for a few days. He came back, one of the starting linebackers had been injured and so the coach put him in. And the guy played like gangbusters. I mean he was making all kinds of tackles. He was breaking through the line to the quarterback and had a couple of sacks knocking down passes, all kinds of stuff. And at the half, coach pulled him over and said, what in the world got into you? I've seen that ability all along but you've never applied yourself. He kind of dropped his head and he said, well coach, one thing you didn't know about my dad. My dad was blind. He's seeing me play for the first time. You know there's something about knowing that you are being watched. That if nothing else will, will cause you to shun irresponsibility of a fool and apply yourself to what needs to be done. And the fact is all of us are being watched. God is watching us. I was reading in Proverbs 5 this morning and I was reading the verses where Solomon says in Proverbs 5, all the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord. The Lord examines his every path. He knows everything we do. Somebody's watching you and me. He's always watching. He always is aware. He always knows. And if there is no other motivation enough to make us shun the way of a fool and apply ourselves to what needs to be done with the kind of discipline that speaks of wisdom, it's the fact that God is watching. So the wise person is marked by careful speech. He or she is marked by personal discipline. But lastly notice marked by discretion also discretion. Look at verse 20. Do not revile the king even in your thoughts or curse the rich in your bedroom because a bird in the sky may carry your words and a bird on the wing may report what you say. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? That's where we get our expression. A little bird told me, little birdie. It's this proverb. Now, so that we understand this, we have to kind of step back into their culture. We have to understand that kings had ultimate authority. And he's speaking of that kind of government, not a representative democracy such as we have. So we may not understand this completely, Solomon's counsel, unless we are under some kind of oppressive regime. Solomon is basically saying when you have that kind of regime, that kind of kingship, then something is done by the king or someone in the government that every clear thinking person would say is wrong. And so everybody's going to talk about it or if not publicly, at least privately. Solomon is saying in this political context, be very careful because somehow word will get back to the king and then you're in trouble. With an authoritarian kind of dictatorship, you're in big trouble when that happens. Now, although we may not understand the political connotation or context, the principle is still the same and the principle is still true. A wise person exercises discretion. In other words, they know when to keep quiet and they know when to speak about something. They know when to challenge about something. When to correct, when to go ahead and speak out on something and they know when to just let it go. Just let it go. I love these two proverbs because they are so diametrically opposed and it's a unique twist in Proverbs 26. Here's an example of just what I'm talking about. Solomon says in Proverbs 26, do not answer a fool according to his folly or you yourself will be just like him. Very next verse. Answer a fool according to his folly or he will be wise in his own eyes. Now, you used to read those verses and say, Solomon, come on, what do you want me to do? Which one are you want me to do? Do you want me to answer a fool or not? And here's the genius of Solomon's wisdom and the proverbs, like we're seeing in Ecclesiastes. Here's the genius. Both are true and it takes wisdom to know the difference. Now Solomon gives us a little clue as to when we should speak and when we should hold our peace. He says sometimes you just need to let something go and don't even answer a fool because you know you're just going to be dragged into a foolish argument. He or she's not going to be convinced of anything and you're going to lower yourself to the level of the fool in those foolish arguments. You know since in doing that it will accomplish nothing, don't even answer. But there are other times where a fool needs to be stopped in his or her tracks and made aware of what they're doing so that they don't appear to be wise in their own eyes and lead other people astray. Now, wisdom knows the difference in those two occasions. If you develop wisdom you'll know when to just let something go, don't even correct it, don't even try. It's not going to get anywhere and you'll know when something needs to be said. That is exactly what Solomon's talking about in verse 20 of our text this morning. You need to know when to speak up but you also need to know when to stay quiet. I had a quote here from William Penn, the originator of the Pennsylvania province. Back in the 1600s later became the state of Pennsylvania. It's hopeless to even try to read it up here so I won't do that. But William Penn talked about speech in a way that most people don't talk about today. He talked about how to train children to be careful when to speak and not to speak. And he talks about in that statement about when you're in public speak rarely and speak last. And it goes on to talk about the fact that in our speech we should be careful not to say too much. He says silence is most often the better part of wisdom. And I love the way he says it if I can remember the words. He says if thou thinkest twice before thou speakest once thou wilt speak twice as good for it. Priceless words. We don't talk that way anymore. Not only in the use of the English language we don't talk that way anymore in how we teach people about speech. Solomon describes the difference between a wise person and a fool. A wise person and a fool. A wise person is marked by careful speech. Personal discipline when it comes to the responsibilities of life and discretion. Knowing when to speak, when to be quiet. Truly the Arabian proverb is true. Follow a wise man, shun a fool, stay away from a fool. How do you get this kind of wisdom? How do you obtain this kind of wisdom that's been another challenge to me this week? You want to live this way? The Bible says we should live this way. How do you get there? I just want to remind you in closing that the Bible says there are three ways we obtain wisdom. Number one to pray for it. James 1.5. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and at great of not. So ask pray. Make it a specific matter of prayer to learn to live by wisdom. The second way we get wisdom is by digging into the word. Proverbs 2 verses 1 to 6, where Solomon basically says, dig, dig for wisdom, dig for insight like someone digs for precious metals in the heart of the earth. Just keep digging, go deep, get into the word, he says. And then the third way that wisdom comes to us is through the diligent application of these truths to our lives. I mean giving attention to it. Proverbs 4 verses 20 to 27. Solomon talks to his son about give attention to my sayings. Listen to my sayings. Stay on the right path. Don't let your foot veer to the right or to the left. Examine the way that you go guard your heart for out of it or the issues of life. He's saying, come on, you got to work at this. You got to give diligence to this to become a wise person. It doesn't just happen with age. That's our concept of wisdom. Go around a block a few times, you get wise, right? No, not necessarily. Not necessarily. You get real wisdom about life through prayer, diligently digging into the word, and then diligently seeking to apply the principles you learn into your life, or a day by day basis, and you will become a wise person. Characterized by these marks, learn to develop the qualities that mark a wise person. It's about our heads and prayer. Father, thank you for the description of wisdom and wisdom. We are rebuke, we are challenged, we are encouraged to know that you've given us a pattern to live by. May we live that way. Father, I pray that you would speak to our hearts. May each of us in this room seek to live, as you told us to, with wisdom. To unlearn our foolish ways and to learn your wise ways, may our speech, our character, our actions, our influence, everything speak of wisdom, as we interact with the world around us, because we know that to be wise is to be more like our Savior. To show him to the world is our ambition. Help us to do that better. Jesus' name, amen.