Folly in Scripture

The Bible passages below can be used in sermons, prayers, or pastoral care focused on folly. 

• Psalm 14:1, what fools say in their hearts (fools tell themselves there is no God) 
• Proverbs 10:23, foolish behavior (doing wrong is like sport to a fool) 
• Proverbs 15:5, fools reject wise teaching (fools despise a parent's instruction) 
• Proverbs 17:12, danger of folly (it's safer to meet a mama bear robbed of her cubs than a fool intent on folly) 
• Matthew 23:37, Jerusalem's folly (Jerusalem is not willing to gather her children together) 
• John 1:10-11, folly of rejecting Jesus (Jesus' own people did not accept him) 
• Romans 1:12, folly of turning on God (they are futile in their thinking) 
• 1 Corinthians 1:27, God using what is foolish (shaming the wise) 
• Philippians 3:18-19, folly of opposing God (they live as the enemies of the cross) 
• James 4:2, folly and evil (wanting something you don't have can lead to sin) 

Sermon ideas about folly 

A sermon on folly can point out that in the Bible's proverbs, with their parallel constructions, folly is often paired with either wickedness or pride. In other respects as well, the proverbs' main examples of folly are behaviors that are both dumb and wrong — an unwillingness to listen (you can't tell a fool anything), an irritable attitude, a sharp tongue, a haughty spirit. 

Not all folly is sin. A lot of things human beings do are loopy, not sinful, and the apt response to them is a guffaw, not a rebuke. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether folly is culpable. Are parents who try to buy their children's love culpable for their poor judgment? 

What is it about sin that makes it so foolish? Sin is the wrong recipe for good health; it's the wrong fuel for the human motor; it's the wrong road to get home. In other words, sin is finally futile. To take a prime example, idolatry is not only treacherous but also stupid. Human beings fascinate themselves with the current idols of this world, but the idols can't deliver. If we try to fill ourselves with anything besides the God of the universe, we find that we are overfed but undernourished, and day by day we are thinning down to a mere silhouette of a human being. 

Sin is futile. Another of its follies is that it is self-destructive. Sin grieves God, offends or deprives others, but it also corrodes us. Sin is a form of self-abuse. Promiscuous persons, for example, condemn themselves to social superficiality. They make sex merely recreational. Liars and cheats abort the possibility of fellowship; by betraying others' trust, they undermine relationships.  

Sermons about folly can also note that in the biblical examples above, folly is often tragic. Fools say there is no God, or they spurn God's Son, or they fail to honor and thank God. In other words, they unplug their own resuscitator. 

The self-destructiveness of sin may be national, as in the case of Israel. Hence the note of urgency, even of desperation, in many of the biblical prophecies. Israel depends for her very existence on God, her covenant partner. When Nathan confronts King David after his adultery; when Micah cries out against injustice or Hosea against idolatry; when Isaiah warns against national pride or Amos against phony worship; the complaint is never generic. The complaint is always particular and the context always a crisis: the nation is acting like a jackass. It's carrying on like a fool and is therefore in grave danger of self-destruction. The prophet is a wise man who sees that in sin the stakes are higher, the reverberations wider, and the corruption deeper than people suspect. And he tells them so, often in disagreeable ways. 

The dicey state of the word sin 

Preachers who are aware of the dicey state of the word sin today — it's thought to be a judgmental word — may want to use the language of folly in sermons about sin. Sins are futile, unrealistic (pride, for example), self-destructive. They cause enmity, violence, depression, sorrow. They are bad for business, bad for joy, bad for keeping the peace. All this can be said without using the word sin. 

Excerpts about folly 

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch.org sermon resources about folly: 

• "But God, Paul insists, through Christ's death saves 'those who believe.' God graciously transforms what seems like foolishness into something the Spirit equips us to receive with our faith." Sermon Illustration, Sermon Preparation by Doug Bratt from Center for Excellence in Preaching  

• "The book of Proverbs personifies Wisdom as a woman. She invites the reader to listen to her and emulate her ways. Lady Wisdom stands in contrast with Lady Folly (Prov. 9). Scripture tells us that we all must choose which of these two we will befriend. Will we be wise or foolish?" Scripture Meditation or Sermon by Al Hsu from Theology of Work  

• "Simeon's foolishness was extreme, but he was hardly the only monk living the life of a madman. The holy fools tradition is most easily traced among Eastern saints, but Western monks, too, flirted with insanity." Scripture Meditation or Sermon by Hans Boersma from HansBoersma.org