How many of you have ever made a dumb dec.?
Important Point: One thing we ALL have in COMMON is that
we’ve all done some pretty DUMB stuff
(tongue on cold pipe - relationships - money - cars you never should have bought) - we all have stories, we all have these chapters in our lives we wish we could re-write.
So last week we looked at the greatest dec. maker of all time, Jesus and we discovered the 1st place for us to start is bible.
When making decisions, the first question to ask:
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE HAVE TO SAY?
now there’s a 2nd ? to ask - this ? you’ve probably heard b4
I believe we could ask this ? to every layer of our lives - in every opportunity, this ? would help us in our marriages,
in every rela., in the way we parent our kids, in the way we handle our money,
... our morality - this ? has the potential to send us down the path of tremendous success - and the ? is not what is the right thing to do, the moral... the permissible thing... the culturally acceptable thing to do - it is the ? my parents and yours too maybe would ask me all the time
When making decisions, the second question to ask:
WHAT IS THE WISE THING TO DO?
here’s 3 more layers to the ? - to make us dig a little deeper
In light of my PAST EXPERIENCES,
what is the wise thing for me to do?
In light of my PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES,
what is the wise thing for me to do?
In light of MY FUTURE HOPES and DREAMS,
what is the wise thing for me to do?
So if we put that into context, let’s say relationally, financially, morally, who I date, where I date, where I go
In light of my PAST EXPERIENCES,
PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES, MY FUTURE HOPES and DREAMS, what is the wise thing for me to do?
You see God says, like here is the level He’d like me to live - it’s not a level of simply what’s legal - we need to understand that - it’s not what is culturally permissible, it’s not just, what is allowable out there - God’s ? is the same ? my parents would ask me as a child - WHAT IS THE WISE THING TO DO?
I do like adding the other 3 layers ^
b/c it makes us have to think - that is where what we talked about last week, when people say, Oh let your conscience be your guide” - we said sure if it’s saturated in the truth - this is how that comes into play - WHAT IS THE WISE THING TO DO?
People have always asked the ? what does the Bible say about this or that - b/c in searching you may not find a direct answer to that. So right away you can see the hard-drive of their mind working, thinking, “well if God is not against it, He must be for it” right?
So the temptation for us then is to ? where’s the line?
between right and wrong, moral and immoral
so the tendency becomes, how close can I get to the fire w/out being burned, w/out facing the consequences - the ? ought not to be what can i get away with, not what is right or wrong, but what so many of our parents drilled into our heads - WHAT IS THE WISE THING TO DO? for me to do - not everybody else out there - jump off a cliff?
It’s different than trying to find if there is a verse in scripture that is against it, or where is the line, how far can i go?
b/c what we’ll find if we really search thru scrip. we will find a direction to head in that leads us to ask then WHAT IS THE WISE THING TO DO?
for example - drinking/sex
So what happens is it causes us to think right, that’s why we’re doing this series, b/c I want you to have think b/c so much of life falls into that gray area
People have different responses... I’m fine, it’s all good, Im not an alcoholic, I’m not gonna get in trouble, you sound like my over-reactive parent, another is... “ I understand what you’re talking about, and I'm old enough to know what to do, the difference between right and wrong and I don’t care, I’m gonna do what I want to do. I know the conseq. and I don’t care, I’m gonna do what I want to do. another is... “ahhh, you are so narrow minded and people like you are dangerous to this country
b/c you wanna impose you ideology and agenda upon us, you’re pathetic”
In this book, the Bible it gives us the descriptions of these 3 individuals - so that’s what we’re gonna look at today.
the Naive, the Fool, and the Mocker
Kinds of People:
First: The NAÏVE
If you’re naive you don’t admit it - never met anyone who said, “you know problem is, I’m just naive” nobody ever does that, b/c by the time you figure it out you’re not anymore right?
This is kinda tough to talk about b/c if you’re younger, jr. high, high school it sounds like an insult for somebody to say you’re naive. It’s not an insult - why?
Principle of Life: EVERYONE COMES into this world naïve
The naïve person lacks experience so they think they can
FIGURE OUT life on their own!
You can only have so much experience by the time your 14 or 15 or 18 right? It’s not a putdown, it sounds like a personal slam, but it’s not
But since the naive lack experience, they think they can figure life out on their own - have you ever been there?
B/c they’ve never seen any evidence to the contrary other than mom and dad saying, “you better listen, when I was your age”
Open to Proverbs 7 - what you’ll see is there is this wise person
standing at a window looking out & they see a naive person walking down the street, & they know the direction the naive person is heading - they’re walking to the part of town where the prostitutes come out at nite
“At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment.” Proverbs 7:6-7
“He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house.” Proverbs 7:8
“All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter…” Proverbs 7:22
Remember: At certain stages of our lives, we lack
EXPERIENCE therefore we lack JUDGMENT
This is why young college students get so many credit card apps - why? - b/c they are naive, an 18 or 20yr. has never woke up 1 morning buried in 15, 18, 20,000 dollars of cc debt.
they’ve never exper. that - they don’t know what it means to feel that kind of bondage and pressure and the cc companies know that - so they reward them w/ the opportunity to ruin their lives financially - why? b/c they know they’ll take advantage of b/c they’re naive.
young ones smoking - their peers are fine with it for the most part - but you never see an adult, my age saying, “WOW! that kid is sooo coool - he’s smoking!” - ahhh so naive
if you’re 14, 15, 16, you’ve never coughed up a lung, you’ve never heard your doctor say, the lung cancer is taking over
Our naiveté causes us not to LISTEN
But the solution is to ask what’s wise? and to trust in God and Word
Second: The FOOL
The fool says, I know the DIFFERENCE between right and
wrong, but frankly I just don’t CARE
Some1 may say to the fool, “do you realize if you keep up that way it could really damage you marriage... or if you keep carrying on that way in your finances that things are gonna get bad”
Yeah I thought about but I really don’t care, besides I’ll deal w/that later - look at what the bible says
“A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom.” Proverbs 10:23
“As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” Proverbs 26:11
Ever see a dog return to it’s vomit (Here I have a video for you - just kidding)
They do the same thing over and over and over again - and they know there’s conseq.
There’s no new info. to a fool, it’s always,” i know, i know, i know
then why aren’t you concerned? b/c I just don’t give a rip, I don’t care & they may not verbally say that, but their actions prove it.
and you know what the bible says is the only way a fool changes? is they hit bottom
If you try to correct a fool, they will IGNORE you
Remember: The only way a fool changes is to face the
FULL consequences of their decisions
warnings don’t work, threats don’t work - it’s only when the wheels come off - it’s only when they hit hard enough they say, “OK I’ve had it” - WHY? b/c the fool has to learn.... the hard way
can I just tell you that here at FOCUS* it’s our heart to love, accept, and forgive - regardless - that’s our heart.
“…a companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20
We talked about this last week, our dec. affect those around us -
here’s scrip. showing us that - here the fool says, “Oh it only affects me, it doesn’t matter” - but it does matter. The bible tells us those close to you feel the brunt of your dec. and choices.
Many of you already know that b/c you’ve exper. it (my home)
Third: The MOCKER
The Mocker knows the difference between right and wrong and chooses to do what they want to do, but unlike the fool,
they have chosen to be CRITICAL of those choosing and doing right things!
If you try to correct a mocker, they will HATE you!
They’ll criticize you, make of fun of your stance, ridicule you
They just sorta sit in judgement of everyone else
(often we want to just blast right back don’t we?)
So when we even loving try to talk to them, they don’t want any part of it
We’ve all seen this haven’t we? All 3 of these - maybe, just maybe we have displayed some of one of these in our lives.
BIBLE
So... WHAT IS THE WISE THING TO DO?
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: ‘How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.
But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke... the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy
them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.’” Proverbs 1:20-33
(hands) How many of you would like to live in safety, be at ease, and w/out fear of harm?
Two Questions:
Question #1: Where are you SITTING today?
It may not be in every area of life
This series is all about a 4th place - that is the seat of wisdom
Question #2: In light of my past experiences, in light of my
present conditions and circumstances and in light of my future
hopes and dreams…Which SEAT do you want to SIT in?
I know what all of you are thinking?
Remembering God can work thru our “If only’s”
So we ask... What does the Bible have to say? and in the gray...
In light of my PAST EXPERIENCES,
PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES, MY FUTURE HOPES
and DREAMS, what is the wise thing for me to do?
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