Wisdom vs Foolishness: Proverbs 17:1-28

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways.

Heybody, anyways, you know, on the drive here it was

really interesting and no, Jeff it started. We were we

were chit chatting right there before everything came on.

Hey, So, welcome to the Bible guys. My name is Chris.

This is Jeff.

And today we are continuing in the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs, yes, written.

By King Solomon, who we know is David's son, who

is now king, who is somehow well not somehow, we

know how May attained the most wisdom that any man

will ever have, any human in any part from Jesus. Yeah,

I guess, I guess that is true. He's a he's

a human God, the man God, that's right. But God man,

my yeah, I guess it's God man. Yeah, the man, God,

God man hundred percent.

So absolutely, that's right. But other than Jesus, Solomon right there.

Yeah, And what's amazing is nobody will ever be as

as wise as Solomon according to God.

That's right.

So today, before we get into that, we started with

a segment that we have that.

Is called mail Bags. And this is actually written in

by Paul K.

Paul K. Hi, Paul K.

Yeah, there it is.

If you had to choose a Bible character besides Jesus

that I have with for a day.

Who would it be? And why?

Oh?

Sexally tough one. Have you ever You've been asked this before,

haven't you? Yeah?

Probably? I think so.

Yeah, And I think I choose somebody different every time.

Okay, probably me too, then, yeah, I think so.

But there's so much to choose from, but there's always

a clear choice for me, So I'll skip back and

forth often, but obviously my choice is the Apostle Paul.

Really, yeah, it always is always.

Yeah, He's sort of my hero besides Jesus in the Bible.

Yeah, big fan. I'm a big fan.

I'm a big fan.

Hey, PAULI read some of your books, like him, big fan, the.

Way that you captured the reader, all.

The way that you scorned the Apostle Paul.

Yeah, I'd say the Apostle Paul.

Wow, he is, you know, an incredible man with incredible courage,

incredible sacrifice. He had such a great influence on the

world that we live in today, the Western world, right,

I mean, you can connect the dots all the way

back to the apostle.

Paul.

It's one of the reasons why you and I are

sitting in this podcast studio today.

It's true.

It is true.

It is true. Yeah, So, uh man, that's good choice.

Good choice. So, now that he's off the table, I

think he's very intellectual.

Did I take your choice?

No?

I don't think so. Okay, I think he's very intellectual.

I think he had an outrageous amount of courage right

his The grit that Paul had to just keep going

is really impressive. I thought about this one. I think,

I believe or not, I think Peter would be one

that I'd be super intrigued by. He's so spontaneous and

off the cuff and just kind of running full steam

ahead without always thinking. It just seems like. I bet

he was a fun guy. I bet he had a

a hot head a little bit, it seemed like. But

I think you would have been a fun person to

hang out with. So him or David. I think David

would be an interesting guy again, same thing. He's a

warrior poet. He runs a muck sometimes, but he just

he really wants to honor God. And yeah, I think

those two guys would be kind of cool. Yeah, would

you not want to hang out with?

Oh? G is what a question?

Who would I not? Anybody in the Bible I would

not want to hang out with.

Yeah, Jeremiah, Yeah, the weeping Prophet, it's always sad.

Yeah, well, I mean the poor guy. I'm sure he

would tell stories. Oh I don't want to hear those stories. Yeah.

Yeah right, and that.

Might be where I was so by myself.

Yeah, I for a thousand.

Years, not a thousand. But I'm just kidding when.

You read it, I don't I don't think i'd want

to hang out with Adam unless he got some clothes on. Well,

that would be uncomfortable.

Yeah, well, I mean, are you really going to feel that?

Though in heaven I'm assuming it's in heaven.

I don't know they have robes in heaven.

Yeah that's true.

I know something.

But you know what I'm saying, Like, have you ever

thought about this?

I don't know it didn't say in heaven, You're right, okay,

didn't put the heaven caveat there? Just hang out for

the day.

Yeah, there's the.

Lawyer in your brain. But what I'm saying is what

I'm saying is have you ever thought about this? So

side topic if it is in heaven? If not, side topic,

like you won't feel any anything negative in heaven. Like

for instance, my good buddy Sean in the mail room

at Baptist Proba College told me one time, he said,

don't you think, uh, you know, in heaven after a

couple of billion years passes, don't you think you get bored?

And he was like dead serious, like you know you're

gonna get bored? And I said, I'm pretty sure boredom

is an impossibility in heaven. Isn't that connected to like negativity,

sin the fall? Isn't that connected to our our our

sinful human nature? So what if boredom is an absolute impossibility?

Have you have you ever thought about.

That, whether or not I can get bored in heaven?

Yes, I mean like well, I mean actually.

I almost fell asleep in that question. So I and

it's a little it's a little heaven sitting here with you,

Oh wow, a little bit.

You don't want to answer the question.

I don't know, I don't I don't know if I

think that boredom is a part of the fall. Boredom

is the absence of doing something in the moment? Is

it bad? But isn't well?

I mean it's super negative?

Is it isn't it?

Does it make you feel sad?

You think?

I don't know.

I think sadness can be It says Heaven's no more sorrow.

If you're all is only euphoric? Is there actual euphoria? Then?

But to be ups and downs in order to have

real happiness?

True? But what if?

What if the sadness were an impossibility and then therefore.

It was sadness? Yes?

Yeah, well it doesn't boredom lead to sadness.

Or it leads me to go do something interesting?

Huh interesting?

Yeah?

Okay, maybe not bored.

I don't know. I don't know. I'm not arguing that

point against it. I'm just just not embracing it. Okay,

all right, but this one hanging out with I would

hang out with Peter or David, you'd hang out with

Paul or who? Who would be your second?

You want me to do a second choice?

Do you have a second choice?

One? A? One? B?

Yeah?

I think it be.

I mean, Peter and David are great. There are good ones.

Maybe maybe be Elijah.

Oh there you go, that's a good one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's a pretty pretty rough guy.

Yeah right, he's the wilderness guy.

He's the take on the world guy.

Stand up to the king. Guys, stand up to the king.

Yeah yeah, yeah, you run faster than that cherry.

And yeah. Even God was like, yeah, he's riding a

fiery charry at home. There's no there's no other more appropriate. Okay,

good one, good call. Well, hey, thank you, Paul k Yes,

super cool. And uh, I'm sure next time we'll give

different answers, but this time that's yeah, that's what's on

our mind today. If it was if it was today,

that's who we'd hang out with. But uh, that being said,

talking about today and hanging out with people, we're hanging

out with the wisest guy in the Bible.

Yes, we are hanging out with him.

Yes.

Every time we open the Book of Proverbs, it's like

having a cup of coffee with Solomon.

I can't stand coffee.

It's like having a cup of mountain dew with Solomon

de Fan. It's like having a cup of coke zero.

There you go, Okay, I'm ready, I'm already now, I

like tea. All right, here we go. Ready. Proverbs Chapter

seventeen is where we're at, and it seems like what

we're doing is we're just plowing through from ten to

twenty two something like that. I don't know this big

chunk where it's just slogan after slogan after slogan, one

liner after one liner after one liner. So each of

these things, each sentence is its own idea. Essentially, he says,

better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house

filled with feasting and conflict. That's appropriate, especially considering lots

of people just can't pass thanksgiving right. A wise servant

will rule over the master's disgraceful son, and will share

the inheritance of the master's children. Fire tests the purity

of silver and gold, but the lord tests the heart.

Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip, and liars pay close attention

to slander. Those who mock the poor and salt their maker.

Those who rejoice that the misfortune of others will be punished.

Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged. Parents are

the pride of their children. Eloquent words are not fitting

for a fool, even less our lives fitting for a ruler.

A bribe is like a lucky charm whoever gives one

will prosper. Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but

dwelling in a dwelling on it separates close friends. A

single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than

a hundred lashes on the back of a fool. Evil

people are eager for rebellion, but they will be severely punished.

It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her

cubs than to confront a fool. Cotton foolishness.

Wow.

If you repay good with evil, evil will never leave

your house. Starting a coral is like opening a floodgate,

so stop before a dispute breaks out. Acquitting the guilty

and condemning the innocent both are detestable to the lord.

It is senseless to pay tuition to educate a fool,

since he has no heart for learning. A friend is

always loyal, and a brother is born to help in

time of need. It's poor judgment to guarantee another person's

debt or put up security for a friend. Anyone who

loves to quarrel loves sin. Anyone who trusts in high

walls invites disaster. Their crooked heart will not prosper, and

the lying tongue tumbles into trouble. It is painful to

be the parent of a fool. There is no joy

for the father of a rebel. A cheerful heart is

good medicine, but a broken spirit SAPs a person's strength.

The wicked takes secret bribes to pervert the course of justice.

Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a

fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth. Foolish

children bring grief to their father, and bitterness to the

one who gave them birth. It is wrong to punish

the godly for being good, or to flog leaders for

being honest. A truly wise person uses few words. A

person with understanding is even tempered. Even fools are thought wise.

When they keep silent, with their mind all shut, they

seem intelligent.

That's that's a good one.

And I love that one.

They seem intelligent.

It's better to keep your mouth shut and a peer

wise than open your mouth and prove otherwise.

Yeah, right.

And it's safer to meet a bear robbed of her

cubs than it confront of fool cotton foolishness. And and

you know what it's uh, I think about uh, you

know back that in those days, it is probably not

uncommon to come across bears, right, you know, they had

more reason to be out in the wilderness, you know,

hunting for food, you know, watching sheep, right, you know, bears,

you know, bear would often you know, look for sheep

and take them out right in the in the herd,

and so uh you know, people were actually.

You know, you and me.

Have you ever encountered a live bear in a cave somewhere?

Yes, you have. I've come across bears four times out

hunting black bears.

Okay, all right, yeah, I don't know why.

So black bears are meaner than grizzly bears, are they really? Yeah?

So a grizzly bear, if you ball up and don't

fight it, a grizzly bear will get bored with you

unless it's going to eat you, whereas a black bear

doesn't want to engage with you. But when a black

bear engages with you, it doesn't stop, so you just

have to keep fighting. Yeah, so grizzly bear stopped fighting,

it'll throw you around a little bit and hopefully you live.

A black bear just keeps coming at you once itgin I.

Was I was told with a black bearry you act

big and go.

Yeah, yeah, because they're not as big, right there. One

of the bears that came up on she stood up

and she had cubs with her, and she was off

maybe about one hundred and fifty yards two hundred yards away.

I was in a tree stand and it was coming

towards lunch, and she stood up and she's just look,

because they can smell, like in three D bears can wow,

so they can smell everything. And so she knew I

was there way before I knew she was there, and

probably that's why she cut out around that field. But

then she gets straight out in front of me, and then

she stood up just kind of looked at me for

a minute like that, and then walk out out on

the logging trail I had to walk out on to

go back to meet my brother and the other guys

we were hunting with. And so that was a little intimidating, right,

I think, right, yeah, And then other times I've had

them come in. I've had some young ones, but she

was probably as tall as I am once she stood up,

maybe a little taller. Yeah, so probably three hundred and

something pounds. You know, that's pretty big bear. Yeah, but yeah,

four times out in the woods, I've come across different bears.

Usually they're smaller, but that was a big one.

Okay, So one a person who may not hunt like myself.

Yeah right right, cities, citiesluckers.

I have no reason I come across a bear. But

the idea of coming across a bear who just get

robbed over.

Cubs, yeah, oh, that's you're in trouble.

You're in trouble.

Yeah, you're in trouble. Yeah.

And so he's going out of his way to say,

imagine the most dangerous situation. Is there any more of

a dangerous situation?

I can't imagine? Well, I mean that's that's a known phrase,

right as far as anger go. She's like a mama bear.

That that's a phrase, right, or a bear robbed over cubs,

or don't get between a mother and her cubs. Rite

that kind of idea, right, she just know she's gonna

fight you, right right.

Yeah.

And you're in double yeah.

And so that idea of trying to correct a fool,

they're just going to come after you. Sometimes it's just

not worth it.

Yeah yeah. And and and the danger of it too.

So so Solomon is going to hurt. Right, it's going

to hurt you, right. And Solomon is warning against the foolishness.

And so it's not just that a fool is a

fool in terms of observation.

Oh yeah, there's such a fool it is. It is.

Actually what he's trying to say is no, a fool

is something somebody you want to avoid in your life because.

They will hurt you.

Right.

That's a good point.

Yeah, and I and I actually I was thinking about

the one that said, uh, educating a fool.

Where was that one?

Don't pay tuition?

Yes, where's that?

Yeah? Verse sixteen. It's senseless to pay tuition to educate

a fool since he has no heart for learning.

Yeah, that is that is something, isn't it? You know,

just to you know, to uh, you know, I think

about all the people in your life that you have,

you know, either talked with or tried to reason with,

and you actually think to yourself, man, it is a

hopeless conversation.

Yeah, if they don't have a heart for learning, whether

there's not anything you can really do.

Yeah. And so let's talk about teachability. Uh, don't you.

Think that one of the greatest, one of the greatest abilities.

Abilities is teachability.

Yeah, and uh, you know, so one of the things

that we do is we tried Heritage Church to bring

along people of the next generation on staff. Right, So

there are people who you know, have less experience, and

they're younger, and they don't you know, they don't know what,

they don't know something times and and so you bring

them along and you say, okay, so hey, here's here's

my opinion. And one of the favorite phrases that I have, uh,

which I which I totally stole from Andy Stanley when

he talks about, you know, mentoring the younger generation, as

he says, it's not my responsibility to fill their cup,

but it is always my responsibility to empty mind you great,

and so it's like it's like it's my job to

completely empty my cup into you know, disciple or mentor

or train or teach.

Uh, you know.

And and regardless of whether they're gonna you know, take

take my advice or like it or not like it,

that's not my responsibility. My responsibility is just to to

do so. And uh, but I think I got to

tell you I've done it for a long time. And

teachability is the number one thing that you look for

in this situation.

I think that so that's one of the things we

look for in hiring right as we hire, So obviously availability,

somebody who has the sense of, you know, I look

for people that say, hey, whatever it takes, as opposed

to people who want a really clear understanding of well

that's not my job or you know, I'm it's after

five now kind of an idea. Then you say that,

so availability is a really big one for us. We're

looking for people who are just like, whatever it takes,

I'm all in on it, right, So that's one as

opposed to somebody counting minutes and paying super close attention

to their job description or whatever. So it'd be one.

The other one would be likability, I think is super important.

Just chemistry in the office. Are they like the rest

of the people. Are we going to have enjoyable time together?

I think that's important. But then I think the most

important one for somebody to be able to thrive. Those

two are important because they reflect more your character. This one,

this teachability idea, it really is. It determines the ceiling

right for that person. Somebody who's super cures and teachable.

I think you have a tremendous amount of headroom above

them from where you hire to the top. But people

who don't seem particularly curious, they're not wondering why do

we do what we do, or how things work or

or all that kind of stuff typically, and then they're

not looking for new information new ideas. They typically get

kind of they very quickly will get into a rut

and then they just they're they're more worker bees than

they are the kind of you know, massive contributors are

going to you know, be a force multiplier to change

an organization, moving organization forward. So yeah, teachability would be

I think is one of the most important things. Yeah,

and somebody who's not teachable, I think you have to

offload them quickly.

Yes, and doesn't Paul say In the New Testament, he

says he's going to teach Timothy to teach others to

train others.

What does that called?

Yeah, twond Timothy too too.

Yeah.

Yeah, So Paul says that I taught you, Timothy yep,

in front of all these other witnesses, these other godly

people teach faithful to teach it to faithful men who

will teach others also, Yeah, And.

So it's the idea of like passing it down, right,

you know, passing the baton, so to speak. And I

tell you what, if you've not ever been in a

situation where you have asked somebody to be a mentor,

you know, you don't even necessarily have to make it formalized.

You know, you don't have to say will you be

my mentor right?

Yeh, but you can you can glean off of that

person and you can sort of naturally organically fall into

this mentor mentee role where you're just you know, just

being intentional and just saying like, hey, what do you

think about this? And I tell you what, there's there's

there's there's a lot of value in finding somebody that

you want to emulate, or somebody that's been successful, somebody

that you admire, somebody who you know, you feel like

has a lot of wisdom or has figured it out,

and whether you make it formal or not formal, just

to naturally fall into a role where you're gleaning off

of them and learning from them, it's really cool.

And then as we're wrapping up, I think one of

my favorite ones and we've mentioned this a few times,

but here we are now Verse twenty two, a cheerful

heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit SAPs a

person's strength, and you know what that's like. Man, when

your heart's broken or whatever, it's just hard to keep

moving forward. But the antidote to that is a little

bit of cheerfulness. And so finding out I think part

of it is knowing what the key to your cheerfulness is.

I think is important. If it's a hanging out with

friends and family, if it's being lighthearted, if it's watching

a funny movie, if it's a stand up comedian whatever.

I was listening to an interview today with Nate Bargatzi.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, So.

It was an interview about how he partly about how

he writes his jokes or writes his stories or develops

his thing. And even that was funny. He delights me.

I like the storyteller type comedians tremendously. And I just

so I got up this morning. Yesterday was a fourteen

and a half hour day for me. So from the

time I got in the office until time I left

last night, there's a long day. And this is like

the third fourth long day in a row, and I'm

just tired. So I got up this morning and I'm like,

I don't want to go to this studio. I don't

want to, right, And I just was it was that

kind of It wasn't a broken spirit. It's more like

a broken body at this point, I'm just tired, you

know what I mean. Yeah, But I get in the

truck and then I saw, oh, hey, here's an interview

I haven't seen or heard yet, and so I turned

that out while I'm driving and I had a long drive.

I had something else I need to do for I

came in. It was naturally funny and it was so funny.

One he did a couple of his bits while he

was talking about how made how he designs his bits.

But then the other part of his he's just a

funny guy, right, and he delights me. And so I

come walking in the studio today going, man, I feel

like a million bucks. It was it was a thirty

minute switch, yeah, and it was thirty minutes. So knowing

what the key is to your cheerfulness. Cheerfulness is not joy, right, right,

So that's a different thing. But here a cheerful heart

is is good medicine. It really does change your outlook,

it changes your body, it changes your mind, it releases

the right kind of endorphins on your brain to to

kind of lighten up the mood in a moment, as

opposed to coming and being miserable and raining on everybody

else's parade.

Yes, and and it's uh and it's it's been proven

physically and and uh, you know, health wise everything else.

Yeah and uh and you know what, those are the

kind of people that we want to be around. Yeah, right,

Like if you've ever been around somebody who's naturally cheerful

and and uh and you're just like.

I mean, I think we have our good days.

Days, we have our good days and uh and so yeah,

it's it's definitely the kind of person to strive to

be right Yeah.

So yeah, and there's a lot in here too.

You know, it talks about the lying tongue, the crooked heart,

you know, quarreling. I mean, obviously there's a lot in

here about being a fool and being around a fool.

He warns us again about not co signing. Yep, right,

there's there's a lot of those things in here. This

time even.

Talks about bribes. Yeah, a bribe is like a lucky charm.

Whoever gives a prosper anyway. Yeah, there's a lot in there,

so go back and read it and you know, just

pick out whatever it is. That's why I love Proverbs

because you read it and one time you'll read it,

something will jump out at you, and then, depending on

what you're going through, you read it again, and then

something else will jump out at you based on your

life situation.

Right, Yeah, you're just really looking at everyday life when

you read it. Read the Book of Proverbs.

Yeah, I agree.

Well, hey, that's our time, so hopefully we'll see you

next time.

I'm the Bible guys,