Sermon 8-22-21
Overview
Answering the Fool: Wisdom from Proverbs 26:4–5
Scripture is breathed out by God 2 Timothy 3:16, and as Jesus reminds us, "the Scripture cannot be broken" John 10:35. Because God does not contradict Himself, neither does His Word. That truth is tested by two side-by-side verses in Proverbs 26:4-5: "Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself," followed immediately by, "Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes." Which is it? Both. This is antithetical parallelism—two seemingly opposing statements placed together to reveal a fuller truth. Like the everyday sayings "a stitch in time saves nine" and "haste makes waste," each is true in its proper situation.
To read these proverbs rightly, it helps to know how Scripture portrays the fool. The Old Testament uses four overlapping categories: the gullible fool, easily enticed; the generic fool, who grows comfortable in folly and returns to it; the stubborn fool, entrenched and persistent, sometimes mocking God and sin; and the godless fool, who declares there is no God. Importantly, foolishness in Scripture has nothing to do with intelligence—a fool can be brilliant and still walk in folly.
So when do we hold our tongue, and when do we speak? Sometimes engaging a belligerent or hostile person who only wants to hear themselves only drags us down to their level (verse 4). Other times, silence allows folly to harden into self-deceived "wisdom," and someone may be harmed physically or eternally if no one speaks (verse 5). The difference is discernment—and the God who claims us in baptism delights to grant it. When He calls us to speak, 1 Peter 3:15 sets the manner: "always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence." A bridled tongue, even with the most exasperating people, seeks to please God above all.
Finally, when God's Word exposes our own foolishness—and it surely does—we are not left in despair. "The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" 1 Corinthians 1:18. Christ bore our sinful folly on the cross, and God speaks over us: forgiven, and Mine. May He grant us discernment to know when verse 4 applies and when verse 5 does, and the grace, when we must speak, to do so with gentleness and reverence that honors Him.
Transcript
Would you open your Bibles, please, with me this morning, to the book of Proverbs, the 2s
26 chapter, using a few edition, you'll find that page 50 and 71 for our study today, the 7s
26 chapter of the book of Proverbs. 15s
God paints for us in His Holy Word. 20s
Beautiful descriptors in terms of His Word. 24s
I think, for example, of the inspired writing of the Apostle Paul recorded in 31s
2 Timothy 3 chapter, where it says, all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching 36s
for proof, for correction and for training in righteousness. 45s
We've studied that Word in the past, haven't we? 51s
Inspired by God, the Greek means it's exhaled by God. 55s
It's where we have the understanding one of the passages of the infelibility and an 60s
erency of Holy Scripture. 66s
If something is exhaled by God Almighty, then it cannot contain error. 68s
It is incapable of containing error because it is exhaled from God Himself. 75s
Now, the beautiful descriptor of Holy Scripture is given by the Lord Jesus Christ in John 86s
the 10th chapter, when he says, the scripture cannot be broken. 92s
The scripture cannot be broken. 98s
In other words, we cannot pit one aspect. 100s
Because of Holy Scripture against the other, it is a unit and must be understood as a unit. 105s
We can't pit one against the other. 115s
In other words, scripture will not contradict itself. 116s
Why? 125s
Because God will not contradict Himself. 127s
And His Word is that which is exhaled from Him. 130s
So, what do you do then with our text for today? 138s
Look at verse 4 of Proverbs chapter 26. 145s
Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. 151s
And then verse 5. 159s
Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes. 163s
So, which one is it? 170s
Are we not to answer the fool or are we to answer the fool? 175s
What do we have here? 186s
Do we have a contradiction in Holy Scripture, a contradiction? 189s
When I was a student, one of the things that I love to do was to use my student ID card 201s
and go and hear concerts or attend shows or go to musicals. 210s
You'd show up about an hour before. 217s
You'd wait in line with the other students and any tickets that they had left over, 221s
they would sell it to you for a dollar a seat or at most two dollars. 226s
There were many, many, a show in which I sat, orchestra, level, center. 232s
Next to people that had paid sometimes hundreds of dollars for those seats and little did they know 240s
that I had paid one dollar for those seats. 247s
One of the shows that I saw on student rush was the musical. 253s
Stop the world, I want to get off. 259s
Stop the world, I want to get off. 263s
That title continues to come back throughout the musical that little phrase is shared. 265s
One of the songs in that musical is what kind of fool am I? 273s
What kind of fool am I? 284s
Well, scripture answers that question. 291s
It answers the question. 298s
In the Old Testament, there are basically four different categories of the fool. 301s
It's very easy to divide them into four different categories because you've got 307s
four different Hebrew words. 312s
That's really the first word for the fool in Hebrew is really the category of the 316s
the gullible fool. 324s
The gullible fool are those that are that are lured easily that they're enticed easily. 327s
See, you've got the gullible fool. 335s
The second type of fool in Holy Scripture is what can be term the generic fool. 339s
The generic fool, in fact, it's the most common expression of fool in the book of 348s
Proverbs, 50 times that word is used. 354s
The generic fool is the gullible fool, but now you add another layer to it, scripture reveals. 359s
The generic fool is the one that will like their foolishness. 367s
They're comfortable in their foolishness. 377s
They return to their foolishness. 380s
They're committed to their foolishness. 385s
You've got the gullible fool, you've got the generic fool, 390s
the third type of fool that we see in the Old Testament is the stubborn fool. 394s
The stubborn fool. 401s
The stubborn fool is the generic fool, but now there's a new layer there. 404s
The stubborn fool is persistent. 413s
The stubborn fool is entrenched in their foolishness. 419s
In an aspect of the stubborn fool, that scripture reveals, 426s
can be the expression of the mockery of God and sin. 432s
Last category, the godless fool, the godless fool. 441s
The godless fool has the characteristics of all the other types of fools, 449s
but now you've got another layer. 457s
And that layer is the belief that there is no God. 460s
So, the gullible fool, the generic fool, the stubborn fool, and the godless fool. 469s
That is the foundation that scripture paints for foolishness. 478s
That's the recipe. 484s
That's the concoction. 486s
Those are if you want to use a different image. 487s
Those are the pillars upon which foolishness rests. 489s
And here's an important point. 493s
What scripture reveals to us is that the fool can be incredibly intelligent, 495s
incredibly intelligent. 504s
In fact, scripture paints to us that foolishness 505s
has nothing to do with ones, intelligence. 514s
Okay, that is the backdrop, then with that pavement put down on our road here today, 523s
as we examine the text. 530s
Let's go back now to verse four. 533s
Do not answer fools according to their folly, 537s
or you will be a fool yourself. 541s
Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes. 545s
So, verse four says, don't answer them. 553s
Verse five says, answer them because if you don't answer them, 556s
then they all think they're incredibly wise. 563s
Contradiction, contradiction, 570s
there's a secular, parable, it goes like this. 579s
A stitch in time saves what? 585s
Nine, a stitch in time saves nine. 589s
Well, that makes a lot of sense, right? 593s
If you've got to blank it, it's got a whole in it. 594s
If you don't fix it, probably the hole is going to get larger. 599s
So, one stitch in a timely manner will save you nine stitches later, right? 606s
A stitch in time saves nine. 615s
But how about this? 620s
Haste makes? 624s
Waste. 627s
Well, let's apply it to our blanket. 630s
We've got a hole there, and we quickly go to fix it, and we put in a stitch that really isn't done properly. 633s
We're just trying to do it quickly, and we just stitch it up, and it doesn't hold, 641s
and so the hole just gets bigger. 648s
And now you've wasted more time fixing it, right? 650s
Haste makes waste. 654s
So, which one is it? 656s
Is it a stitch in time saves nine, or is it haste makes waste? 658s
Which one is it? 666s
Well, they're both true, right? 668s
They're both true. 672s
It depends on the situation. 674s
How about this? 678s
Look before you, what? 682s
Leap. 686s
Look before you leap. 687s
Well, that makes a lot of sense, right? 689s
You think something through here before you take action here. 692s
Maybe get some counsel on whether or not you should be saying or doing that. 697s
Look before you leap. 703s
Makes a lot of sense, and then you've got, he who hesitates is, 706s
it's lost, right? 712s
With the hoof beats of the Egyptian army behind the people, 716s
when God brings them to the red sea and pulls the water back, and there's dry ground to walk on, 720s
and God says, now go, that is not an opportunity for the people to say, 726s
we need to study this just a little bit. 733s
We need to stand back and we need to reflect on the statistical probability of the waves 736s
being able to be held back by God here, and will we be able to cross over and let's also study 741s
whether or not it will be dry as we go across, no, what did God tell the people? 749s
Go, go, right? 754s
So which one is it? 760s
Look before you leap or who he who hesitates is lost. 762s
Well, they're both true, right? 768s
They're both true. It depends on the situation. 771s
We have, in Proverbs, the 26 chapter, it's called an antithetical parallelism. 780s
Proverbs reflects Hebrew poetry, and so what's being used here is this poetic form, 791s
antithetical parallelism. What's that? 798s
That's putting up next to each other to seemingly contradictory statements in order to express 802s
a fuller understanding of truth. You say that again. 812s
An antithetical parallelism is taking to apparently contradictory statements, 818s
putting them up right next to each other so that it gives a fuller understanding of the truth 824s
that is being stated. Verse 4, do not answer fools according to their folly or you will be a fool 835s
yourself. That is not a stand-alone truth. Is it? That is not a universal, 843s
maximum. Not a stand-alone truth. It is modified by the very next verse, answer fools according 849s
to their folly or they will be wise in their own eyes. You hold them together and now you've got 858s
a comprehensive expression of the truth. Sometimes you become a fool when you answer the fool. 866s
His are her folly. Those times, in which the person is just being belligerent or the person is 886s
just being hostile or you try and make the response and they just kind of keep talking over you 897s
because the one that they want to hear is themselves. Ever had that experience? 906s
It's in those times when when you try and make a response, who's the one that looks foolish in the 917s
end? You, right? But there are also those times in which. That which is foolish is simply 927s
communicated. The fool is acting out who the fool is, the fool. And one has to say something 942s
because it can be injurious to themselves either physically or eternally. Where one has to say something, 952s
or verse 5, the fool will think, I've got another disciple here in what I believe 964s
in something that's Jerry Dangerous. So when is it verse 4 and when is it verse 5? 977s
Now we're at the issue of discernment, aren't we? Right? God who claims us in the waters of baptism 989s
has a vested interest in making his will known to us. And so we trust his discernment 999s
for those times where we say, do I answer or do I not? 1013s
Trusting in the one who will guide the Lord Jesus. You know at the end of that show, 1029s
that song, what kind of fool am I? It's incredibly, it's incredibly self analytical. 1046s
And so to make the answer because as you're in the audience, you can state the answer to the question 1061s
to that person. What kind of guidance is it when then from Holy Scripture on those times, 1070s
when the Lord does indeed guide us and say, this is a time to speak. It's a time to speak. 1080s
What guidance? First Peter, the third chapter. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone 1087s
who demands from you in accounting for the hope that is in you. Now listen to this. 1098s
Yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Do it with gentleness and reverence. 1105s
See, we were right back to the sermon I preached a couple of weeks ago, right? On a bridal tongue, 1122s
the controlled tongue that when we speak, even with the most exasperating 1129s
of people in one's life, there must be gentleness and respect. 1139s
Because the one we are wanting to please is God. 1154s
And so when God in God's wisdom leads that moment of discernment to speak, 1165s
we rely on Him to empower the words to be gentle and respectful. 1176s
Gentleness and respectful. I saw in that show, Samideva's junior, do that role. He actually 1195s
was saying that song. It was this emotional, wrenching question that he was asking of himself. 1219s
You could hear a pinned drop in that theater. All of the show had led up, 1234s
and led up to that song. And when he finished, there was this sense of silence in the theater. 1242s
There wasn't this immediate applause. It was this quiet for a moment. It's just an amazing experience. 1258s
When the word of God analyzes us, it reveals to us, example after example, 1274s
after example in our lives of sinful foolishness, right? Examples of sinful foolishness, 1284s
but God in his grace sends his son the Lord Jesus to the cross to bear all of our sinful foolishness, 1295s
ponds himself. And God says to us fools, forgiven, forgiven, reassuring us of His grace. 1307s
We are continually brought back to first Corinthians the first chapter, aren't we? 1330s
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, 1336s
it is the power of God. For God continues to come back to us reminding us that He has placed His 1346s
grasp upon us in the waters of baptism. And He will not let us go continually reminding us. 1355s
I'm asked all of our examples of sinful foolishness. I forgive you and you are my child. 1367s
May by God's grace may He give us discernment. May He give us discernment and He will, 1386s
of when the situation is a verse four or a verse five. 1398s
And may God give us the grace when it is a verse five to do it in a gentleness and a respect 1408s
that brings him honor. Verse four and five, they don't contradict do they? 1422s