Modern Fools

Article Written by Pastor Chris Stoner

Last year, as a church, we read through the book of Proverbs several times over, to the point where it became a running joke here in the church office. Regardless of its repetitiveness, it was immensely beneficial for me. Understanding that the Proverbs are God’s inspired Word, full of wisdom for us to feast on, changed the way I thought about them. The repetition helped me to slow down and soak up these words from the wisest king in Israel. It was both humbling and life-giving to think about how often I found myself described as a fool.   
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One verse in particular stood out as one which I had glossed over several times. Yet, while studying for a sermon in Colossians that verse jumped off the page and gripped my mind with a refusal to let go.  “Can anyone take fire in his lap and his clothes not be burned?” (Prov 6:27).  If you are simply reading Proverbs to check the box of religious duty for the day, you may very well gloss over that seemingly simple verse as I did. This, however, would be a great tragedy. We may have read that proverb and thought to ourselves, “Well obviously not...” But let’s not be too hasty! Slow down and think about this verse for a moment. In what ways are you playing with the fire of sin? Paul writes to the church in Colossae, “Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry” (Col 3:5). As I was preparing to preach on this passage, I was reading a commentary by Kent Hughes, and he connected this verse in Colossians with the one in Proverbs, “Many Christians are daily heaping fire onto themselves and are being profoundly scarred”1.  I began to ask myself, “Am I the fool?”   

I saw a meme a while back, picturing a man reading, his face screwed up in consternation. The caption reads, “Me reading the Proverbs and realizing I have a lot in common with this fool they keep bringing up...” We laugh, but I think if we are being honest, this is also deeply troubling, especially in the context of sexual immorality.   

Sexual immorality, mentioned 29 times in the New Testament, is the most referenced sin in the New Testament. The second most reference of sin is not even close. Why? Could it be that God, in His grace, is keenly aware of two things; sexual immorality is extremely tempting, as well as utterly destructive to our body and soul. Paul’s language in Colossians 3:5 echoes that of Jesus, “If your hand or your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you;” (Matt 18:8). There is no such thing as a lackadaisical approach to killing the sin of sexual immorality. We must make active war with this sin and ruthlessly exterminate it from our lives. The first step in making war against sin is fixing your eyes and heart on Christ. You must trust that He is better than your sin, that He is more glorious, more life-giving, more beautiful, more satisfying than your sin. Only then will you actually want Jesus more than you want sin.  If Jesus does not satisfy you, quenching your thirst, you will never make war against sin. You will never overcome sin by sheer grit, determination, and will power. In order to actively put sin to death you must pursue Christ wholeheartedly. You must seek first the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33). What is both wonderful and glorious is the promise that we are not waging war against sin in our own strength, but in the strength of The Holy Spirit (Romans 2:12-14)! So, assuming that you do see Christ as the all-satisfying treasure of your soul, what is the next step?   

This brings us back to the verse in the Proverbs. How are you actively heaping little fires onto your lap? Hughes pointed out some startling ways that we heap the burning coals of sexual immorality onto our lap. Whether it be the television shows we watch, the 30 second reels we scroll through on our phones, the magazines we flip through, the romantic novels riddled with sex scenes, or even the overly sexualized perfume ads that pops up in between shows, we might be surprised at how many coals we have accumulated in our laps. Our culture is actively working to desensitize you, to produce lustful reactions in your mind. Beloved, you must not allow this to happen. You must commit, like David, to “set no worthless thing before my eyes;” (Ps 101:3). You must make a covenant with your eyes, refusing to allow your heart to be inundated with all forms of sexual content. Do not be a consumer of sexually enticing content, whether it be pornography, arousing sexual scenes in which “you can’t see anything”, or the suggestive banter of a sitcom.   

I don't know what you need to do to avoid this sin at all costs. We are tempted to think things like getting rid of our TVs or deleting our social media apps or throwing away our books are “too radical”, but Jesus’ words about cutting off a hand or a foot that leads to sin are radical. They are not literal instructions, rather they are powerful reminders that we cannot be casual in our attitudes toward sin. Each believer must wrestle with what radical turning from sin must look like. Is there a form of entertainment that the Spirit is leading you to avoid? Is there an application or social media platform that leads you to deeper isolation when the Lord is calling you to live in community? Is there a book series that you consider to be just a “leisure activity” that you think is helping you to “unwind” but is actually lowering your spiritual defenses and making you susceptible to sin? May the Lord help you to be radical, to put sin to death. Refuse to be a modern fool. Christ is better. ​

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1 R. Kent Hughes, Colossians and Philemon: The Supremacy of Christ, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), 97. ​
​This article was edited by Phil Bray and Doug Irwin