Ain't Foolin' Around

22 Nov 1998

Here are my [revised] notes from teaching on "foolishness" last night at our youth group.

[Introductory sketch]

The Bible talks quite a bit about foolishness and being a fool. Psalms 14/1 refers top a foll saying in his or her heart that there is no God. But what does this mean? And what else does the Bible say about foolishness? Let's listen to some Third Day...

[listen to & meditate on Third Day's ``Nothin' At All'']

The dictionary spoke of showing yourself deficient by words or actions. In the song, Third Day was refering mostly to words. One of the verses mentioned "playing the fool", which goes back to an older usage of the word fool: ``a member of a royal or noble house who entertained with jests, mimicry and the like; a jester or buffoon''.

What's the modern day version of this?

[wait for some answers; "class clown" was one I thought of]

But they also refered to other definitions, such as ``someone easily deceived or duped'', ill-advised, meaningless, or unwise.

What are some examples of "ill-advised"?

These are all things the culture throws at us. They come from friends, teachers, neighbors, the TV, music, everywhere. But it's bad advice, and if you follow it, you're being foolish!

What about "meaningless?

That's when you're talking trash, talking nonsense, stuff like that. It's OK to cut up and have fun, that's not what this means - but when you're saying things that don't make sense, as if they do, when you twist reality, that's foolish.

If you're making up your theology as you go, throwing out what you don't like, adding in what you do, that's meaningless. A good example is the current redifinition of the word "family". God makes it pretty clear what a family is. To then decide that God didn't know what He was talking about, to redefine it for Him (like He needs our help!) makes the words we use meaningless.

This also falls under the concept of "unwise", as does just repeating what you've heard, without checking it against what God has to say, or against any other facts or known sources of good information. As does just following the crowd or a random leader, when you don't know where they're going, or when you know they're going the wromg way.

What are some good examples of this?

[wait for some answers, such as "sharing an apartment with your boyfriend or girlfriend and thinking it won't be a struggle to stay pure, and thinking you aren't blowing your testimony", or "going to a party where you know there will be drugs or booze" (adjust as appropriate for age level and the actual youth present)]

the Bible also uses the word "fool" in another way, that of seeming to be a fool... for Christ.

[listen to & meditate on Third Day's ``Love Song'']

A lot of people thought Jesus was a fool. His own brothers, and perhaps even hHis mother, seem to have wondered about Him. All the people, the leaders, eventually the disciples, even the closest 12 (with the possible exception of John the Beloved) wondered about Him at the end - some, such as Peter and Judas, playing a very foolish part themselves.

During the last hours of His life, and a few days afterwards, pretty much the whole world (that knew of Him) thought Him a fool. Hanging on the cross, beaten, naked, with a mock crown on his brow - what did He look like? The Son of God? A king? Israel's deliverance? The savior of the whole world? No, He looked like a fool. Whether deluded, insane, or just thinking He could have gotten away with such a brazen plot, He looked like a fool.

Peter probably looked foolish to a lot of people, hanging upside down on His cross. Paul spoke over and over about being a fool for Christ, a fool for the cross, and he undoubtedly appeared foolish to a lot of people for throwing his life away. The human torches lighting Nero's courtyards for his parties looked pretty foolish. Joan of Arc looked foolish, refusing to recant, allowing herself to be burned at the stake. The people who stood up to the Nazis, who went down under the treads of their tanks, the machine guns, the gas, the conditions at the labor camps, or the ugly whim of evil men, madmen, and their followers, looked foolish. Our own church looked foolish when Tiffany died despite our prayers, our faith, the prophecies. [replace with a time your church or someone you all know and love has looked foolish for trusting God]

[moment of quiet to let it sink in, or have a brief discussion about the time your church looked foolish, or was willing to take the chance]

Jesus warned us not to even call our brother or sister a fool, or we would be in danger of judgement. He was telling us not to judge each other this way. It's one thing to call attention to someone acting foolish (be careful even there), but beware of condemning them, of labeling them, of judging them. We don't call each other "fool" too much today (except when we imitate Mr. T); what are some of the words that get used today instead?

[let them offer suggestions. if they miss some you hear them or their peers use, throw those in. I tossed in "butthead" and "dork", since I hear those in the group.]

Whom does God call a fool?

[have one of the youth read Luke 12, 16-21. See if anyone offers any discussion.]

How many of you have a bunch of barns? How manyt of you are tearing down barns to build bigger ones? What does this passage mean to us, as Christians, today?

[listen to & meditate on Third Day's ``Did You Mean It'']

Jesus constantly took the disciples deeper, and takes us deeper. He demands more than just the letter of the law; He tells us that if we hate, God sees it as murder, that if we lust, we commit adultery, rape, or other illicit sex. Let's apply that to what God had David write: "there is no God". We might not go that far; we might say:

(In the following example, use names and relationships that fit the people present in your group.) As an example, let's say that Faith has said something mean or something that hurts my feelings. (I'm using Faith as an example here because I've never heard a mean word out of her mouth.) So I get angry. That's understandable, even OK. But how do I handle that anger? Maybe I start to despise or hate her. And I justify it to myself, because she started it, and it's really her fault; she shouldn't have done that mean thing.

So what have I done? I haven't said, "there is no God!"

Or have I? Because what I have done is thrown out what God said (love your brother and sister, thou shalt not murder, hate is as the sin of murder), and substituted something else for it. Having done that, I have rejected the one, true God and set up another god in His place. This god looks an awful lot like the other One to me, "close enough", but in effect I have denied the existence, or at least the truth, the right to authority, of the one, true God. I might as well have said, "there is no such God". If there is only one God, I have in effect said, "there is no God", or if there is, it's one of my own devising. I have created an idol.

So I've moved from foolishness to being a fool. But it's not likely to stop there. Sooner or later, Becky, Faith's friend, will probably speak up, ``You're supposed to love Faith. You need to forgive her, stop judging her, ask her to forgive you." So I get mad at Becky, because I have chosen to serve a false god, and I decide she's being self-righteous and hypocritical. After all, I didn't start this, Faith did. If she wants to come crawl to me and beg forgiveness, I'll consider whether to be magnanimous and forgive her. So I start hating Becky, too. And again, I have turned a little farther from God, and am looking at a god farther away from the truth.

And then I see her sister, jesse, and I know they're from the same family, so Jesse's probably as bad as Becky, will probably take her side. After all they share the same genes (probably even wear each others' jeans!). So now I have to hate her, too. Another idol, a new god even farther removed from God.

And of course, Elizabeth is Jesse's friend, and she really loves God, and is pure in heart, so I have to despise and hate her, because if I don't, I'll have to face the reality of what I'm doing. The others really love God, too, but now I don't even have the world's excuses for hating Elizabeth. Just seeing her, I felt convicted, but I also felt condemnation (not from God), so rather than deal with it, I throw away thisnew chance God is giving me, and hate her, too. A slightly different idol. If I looked closely now, this one is more obviously different than God, but I'm trying not to think about God, and so I'm not looking too close (because then I would have to rationalize even more).

Then there's Robin. He can't let me do this. He calls me on it, tries to point out what I'm doing, where I'm going, what I'm becoming. What happens now? Maybe I listen. Maybe I hate him, too, and ignore him. or maybe it gets worse. Maybe I start working on him, to convert him to my way of thinking, my "new, improved god". And maybe he falls down in the ditch with me. or maybe he doesn't, and I'm so mad I beat him up. Either way, the situation is worse; I'm more of a fool. And I'm now useless to God (except, perhaps, as a negative example), or worse than useless as I actually fight to pull others away from Him, or move from hatred towards further violence... This idol's getting very ugly!

I didn't set out to be a fool. I was trying to follow God. But I made a foolish mistake. That didn't make me a fool. I could have repented. And by staying on that foolish path, by letting that foolishness control me, I became a fool; I rejected God. I became the man who tries to do things his own way.

Don't let people convince you that you're a fool just because you stumble. Get back up and go on with God! Don't let your mind, or the culture, or the devil, or voices in your head, or whatever, convince you that you are a fool, that there is no hope. Because when you give up, when you decide that God can't use you, that you are too far gone, you have built one stupid looking idol! And then, you are acting the fool.

[listen to & meditate on Third Day's ``Take My Life'']

[Ask if anyone saw or heard anything from the Lord during their prayer time, or saw something about themself they wish to share. Don't force it, let them decide. It might be too personal, or too soon, or whatever. If they have stuff to share, let them go! When it's done, wrap up with whatever is on your heart, and get everyone up for a praise and worship song.]

[Depending on your group, and where they are at, and how things are going, you may wish to just let these songs play back to back.]

[praise & worship to Third Day's ``Praise Song'']

[Notes, thoughts and my experience]

Last updated: 22 November 1998

Copyright 1998 Miles O'Neal, Austin, TX. All rights reserved. All songs from Third Day's album, Third Day (1995, Reunion Records). Definitions from foo Dictionary, Copyright xyzzy.

I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to send comments, questions, suggestions, or experiences.
Miles O'Neal <meo@XYZZYrru.com> [remove the XYZZY to make things work!]
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