[Sermon from Vineyard Columbus, Ohio] [Click HERE for the audio of the sermon]

Good morning! I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. I hope that it was a time of laughter and love. And I hope that you ate way more than you should have. I know I did.

I know that most of you here do not know who I am, so let me give you a very quick introduction. My name is Insoo Kim and I have been on staff here at Vineyard Columbus for the past 8 months serving as Rich Nathan’s research assistant. Prior to coming to Vineyard Columbus, I was an assistant pastor at a Vineyard church in Chicago for almost four years. I have been married to my absolutely wonderful and beautiful wife, Angela, for four-and-a-half years now, and we have two boys, a two-year old Elliot and a 6-month old Isaiah, and they are absolutely amazing! And having two young children means that we are at that stage in life where most of our conversations are about poo-poo and pee-pee, and various other kinds of bodily functions. And we often find ourselves saying things like, “Please do not rub the peanut butter on your hair!” And “Please do not stick your finger up your nose!” And “Please do not stick your finger up your brother’s nose!” We love being parents to our boys and we thank God for them on most days. I am thrilled to be a part of this great church and for this opportunity to teach today.

And speaking of peanut butter in the hair and fingers up the nose, it’s not just children who do foolish things, is it? Very often, it’s us fully grown, mature man and women, who seem to have everything together, that do some of the most foolish things, isn’t it? Let me give you a few examples. Here is a real news story from just a few days ago:

A college student in southern China just needed a hug, but he probably shouldn't have picked a panda bear for his warm and fuzzy moment. Instead of a hug, the panda bit the student after he broke into the animal's zoo enclosure.

A park employee said the student was visiting the zoo with classmates when he jumped the 6-foot-high fence around the panda's habitat. The employee said the student was bitten in the arms and legs by the panda, named Yang Yang. Two foreign visitors who saw the attack ran to get help. The official News Agency reports the hospitalized student later said “the panda bear was so cute and cuddly I never expected to be bitten.”

Or what about this story also from just a few days ago:

Police have arrested a man dubbed the “Butt Bandit.” He is suspected of leaving greasy, graphic imprints of his behind on the windows of stores, churches and schools in a small town in Nebraska. A 35-year-old man was caught in the act by police early Wednesday morning.

Beginning in spring of 2007, the mystery vandal visited businesses at night, pressing his naked behind on windows. The marks were made with lotion or petroleum jelly. The past two summers, the “Butt Bandit” struck business after business, window after window. He stopped over the fall and winter. During one particularly brazen session, virtually all the windows at a local hotel were imprinted.

I bet if I were to ask us this morning, if anybody here has done anything foolish this week, I bet most of our hands would go up. Maybe we didn’t go around making imprints of our butts around town, but foolish nonetheless. We are all fools in one form or another.

For the past 10 weeks, we have been doing a series on the book of Proverbs entitled, “What Your Parents Should Have Taught You (But Probably Didn’t).” We examined the book of Proverbs to learn how to be wise regarding money, relationships, sex, how to raise wise kids, and how to be wise with our words. And so today, we come to the last sermon in the series, which I’ve entitled, “What Kind of a Fool Are You?” Let’s pray.

There is a Spanish proverb that goes like this:

“Every man is a fool in some man's opinion”

We can sit around here today, in our nice clothes pretending to be sophisticated, well put together, but let’s face it, you and I are fools. We make fools of ourselves in how we express our undying love to that special person in our life. We make fools of ourselves when we go on shopping sprees and we really believe the ads that tell us that the more we spend the more we’ll actually save. We make complete fools or ourselves when we stand in line for 2 hours at Chipotle while wearing a tin foil on our head just to get a free burrito that costs 5 bucks. And then we stand in line at Starbucks for 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee that costs 5 bucks. Are there any fools in the house tonight? We are all fools! You and I are fools!

The various Hebrew words for “fool” occur more than a hundred times in the book of Proverbs. And these various words can generally be categorized into four different kinds of fools. So as we look at the four different kinds fools, see if you can recognize yourself in any of them.

THE “OPEN” FOOL
The first kind of fool that we find in Proverbs is the “open” fool. We get this from the Hebrew word “Peti” or “Pethi” which is often translated as “simple” and “gullible.” The word is derived from a root suggesting the idea of being “open, spacious, wide.” We read in Proverbs 1:4:

Proverbs 1:4
For giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young.

In Proverbs 1:22 we read:

Proverbs 1:22
How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?

“Peti” is the term for “fool” which carries with it the greatest potential that he will welcome instruction and correction from a wise man. The “open” fool may be immature and inexperienced, but he is someone who is teachable. He might be naïve, gullible, and easily fooled, yet his mind is not closed off to wisdom. The “open” fool is malleable and is capable of being shaped and improved by education and thus still have the hope of joining the company of the wise.

As I began thinking about what an “open” fool might possibly look like, I was reminded of my two-year old son, Elliot. And I am absolutely fascinated by his ability to learn new things. I can’t for the life of me get him to stop picking his nose, but he has learned how to recite the Lord’s Prayer in two languages, English and Korean. And he is at that phase now where he copies everything that I do. So, when I am drinking my cup of coffee in the morning, he sits right by me with his cup of milk gently sipping it like it’s hot coffee. He is a sponge. Children are a sponge. And it seems to me that they are one of the clearest examples of an “open” fool. There is story of Jesus interacting with children in Matthew 19. We read in verse 13:

Matthew 19:13
Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

The disciples of Jesus wanted nothing to do with these foolish kids, and they certainly did not want them to bother Jesus. But Jesus rebukes this attitude in his disciples and says this in the next verse:

Matthew 19:14
Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Jesus seems to be reiterating the point here that we see in Proverbs 22:6:

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Jesus places great value on these children, who for the most part, in that day, were not held in high esteem. There is something in the “openness” of a child that reflects an attitude that we are to have even as adults. In fact, Jesus says that there are mysteries in the Kingdom of God that is not revealed to the wise, but to little children. Matthew 11:25:

Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”

And if that doesn’t make you feel a just little uncomfortable, listen to what Jesus says in Mathew 18:1-4:

Matthew 18:1-4
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

In children we have one of the clearest examples of an “open” fool, one who is open to learning, one who is marked by humility, one who is not jaded by life, but one who can still experience wonder and awe at the mysteries of life. “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This is the “open” fool.

THE “HARDENED” FOOL
The second kind of fool is the “hardened” fool. And it comes from the Hebrew words “Kesil” or “Ewil.” And it can best be translated as “thickheaded.” One commentator kindly translates it as “blockheads.” We read in Proverbs 26:11:

Proverbs 26:11
As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

We read in Proverbs 18:2:

Proverbs 18:2
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.

And we also read in Proverbs 12:15:

Proverbs 12:15
The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

The “hardened” fool is strong-willed, self-confident, and slow to change his ways. He is impenetrable and eventually becomes mentally immune to the words of the wise. The “hardened” fool is absolutely set in his ways, refuses to learn, and persists in doing evil. Dr. Dan Allender in his book, Bold Love, gives a wonderful description of a “hardened” fool:

“The fool may be brilliant in his chosen field or in academic pursuits, but he is a [donkey] in life. In fact, it is a slur to donkeys to be compared to a fool… The fool seems to be an expert at calculating gain, but is unable to look deeply at the inevitability of loss”

He goes on to say:

“The fool is so self-centered and self-reliant that he is deaf, dumb, and blind to the consequences of his choices. He will follow a path that seems to be right, even when the blacktops gives way to gravel and gravel to dirt and dirt to rocks and debris. Almost nothing will stop the fool from plunging ahead into peril.”

I recently heard about a horrible marriage story which seems to be all too common these days. Like most marriages, this particular marriage had their good and their bad days. But there was so much anger in the wife’s heart that she regularly exploded in verbal abuse towards her husband who was quiet and meek, someone who did not exude confidence. And after each of these episodes of anger, she would genuinely be sorry and apologize to her husband. But this pattern happened again and again. She found it impossible to change. So she kept on putting more pressure on her husband to fix their marriage. And as more of her foolishness was exposed, she became more and more committed to finding a cure through self-help books and seminars. None of these things are necessarily bad things, but her heart’s desire was not healing or restoration or repentance. She simply wanted to fix her broken husband. Eventually when it didn’t work out like she wanted, she found friends who agreed that she should divorce her weak husband, and she found a new “freedom,” yet still in complete bondage to her foolishness.

One author notes that:

“Fools hate the pain of discipline and the inherent fear involved in growing in wisdom and knowledge. A fool despises the cost of growth. A fool demands quick relief, and if it is not forthcoming, he will rant and rave until someone offers a counterfeit solution.”

In his pride and stubbornness, the “hardened” fool would rather choose a road that he knows will lead to destruction rather than to admit that he was wrong. The “hardened” fool is utterly repelled by the process of honestly evaluating his life and embracing the pain that produces character.

THE “MOCKING” FOOL
The third kind of fool is the “mocking” fool. It comes from the Hebrew word “Letz” which means “Mocker.” In modern Hebrew, the word for “clown,” “letzan,” is derived from the same root. We read in Proverbs 22:10:

Proverbs 22:10
Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.

We read in Proverbs 21:24:

Proverbs 21:24
The proud and arrogant—‘Mocker’ is their name; they behave with insolent fury.

And we read in Proverbs 9:7-8:

Proverbs 9:7-8
Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.

The “mocking” fool is proud, arrogant, sneering, and he is the master of heckling. And like a clown, he mimics and makes fun of truth, reality, and all that is good and holy. One commentator says this about the “mocking” fool:

“No man earns more universal detestation or deserves it more than he who wears a perpetual sneer, who is himself incapable of deep loyalty and reverence and who supposes that it is his mission in life to promote the corrosion of the values by which individuals and society lives.”

The “mocking” fool is that person who you simply can not talk to about anything serious without some demeaning and sarcastic remark. Do you know someone like that? They talk twice as much as they listen, and their conversations are always more about looking good and being right then any desire to truly understand. And it seems to me that this is one of the more common ways that people respond when initially confronted by the person of Jesus. Just a few hours before he was crucified, Jesus experienced mocking of the worst kind. We read in Matthew 27 these words:

Matthew 27:27-31
Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

The “mocking” fool finds great delight in his flaunting his own wisdom, and in the process reveals himself to be a great fool. But when it comes to the “mocking” fool, God will have the final word. We read in Proverbs 3:34:

Proverbs 3:34
He [God] mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.

And we read in Galatians 6:7:

Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow.

THE “GOD-DENYING” FOOL
The fourth kind of fool is the “God-denying” fool. And it comes from the Hebrew word, “Nabal.” But since it occurs only three times in the book of Proverbs, we must look elsewhere in the Old Testament to understand its meaning more fully, so we read in Psalm 14:1:

Psalm 14:1 (NIV)
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

The “God-denying” fool is devoid of spiritual perception and has a closed mind to the very idea of a God. He is arrogant and God is not an option to the “Nabal.” We read in Psalm 10:4:

Psalm 10:4
In their pride the wicked do not seek him; in all their thoughts there is no room for God.

For all intents and purposes, the “Nabal” is a practical atheist. He is someone who has decided, for better or for worse, that there is no God. A good example of a “Nabal” would be the outspoken atheists like Richard Dawkins who wrote The God Delusion, and Sam Harris, who writes the following in his book, Letter to a Christian Nation:

“In Letter to a Christian Nation, I have set out to demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms.”

He goes on to say:

“If the basic doctrine of Christianity is correct, I have misused my life in the worst conceivable way. I admit this without a single caveat. The fact that my continuous and public rejection of Christianity does not worry me in the least should suggest to you just how inadequate I think your reasons for being a Christian are.”

He is a “Nabal,” a “God-denying” fool. I know there are many of you here today who may not believe in God. And if that is you, we are thrilled that you are here. This is a safe place for you to examine the Christian faith. Through whatever experiences and circumstance you’ve endured in life, you decided that there is no God. Maybe it wasn’t a crystal clear decision you’ve made, and maybe there was even a time in your life when you did believe in God. But gradually, very slowly over time, you just stopped believing. And maybe you are here today because you desperately want to believe again today as you once did. You are holding on to that last glimmer of hope in your heart, and you are going back and forth between belief and doubt. Belief and doubt. And if that is you, let me say this to you: To deny the existence of God is not the same thing as doubt. Unbelief is the outright and deliberate decision on our part to reject God. But doubt is a common experience for Christians. And it is not a bad thing. The reason for the existence of doubt in the Christian is that we want to know things for certain. It is in our human nature to want to be 100%, absolutely certain about everything, including faith. But hear this: No one, absolutely no one can have that kind of certainty about God. No one. Not the great evangelist Billy Graham. Not the Bible scholar, N.T. Wright. Not the mega-church pastors Rick Warren or Bill Hybels. Not the great Christian author Dallas Willard or C.S. Lewis. Not the founder of the Vineyard movement John Wimber. And not even Rich Nathan. Well, maybe Rich Nathan. Just kidding. Not even Rich Nathan. Because for both the Christian and the atheist alike, the positions that we take regarding God, we do so in faith. In faith. And to see doubt in this manner puts it in its the proper perspective. Alister McGrath, the great theologian, says this about doubt:

“Doubt is not an intellectual difficulty with God. It is something more fundamental than that. It is the basic human instinct not to trust in God… Doubt is not so much a problem of the human mind. It is the expression of a force or power which engulfs the entire sinful human person, and draws him or her away from God.”

What McGrath is saying here is that doubt is a condition of our sinful nature where we do not trust in God, but rather, we trust in ourselves. It is a symptom of our unredeemed nature. But what Christ did on the cross 2000 years ago has opened a way for you and I to be healed of our sinful nature. But even as we are being healed, the symptoms of our sin will remain. Doubt will remain as long as sin remains. So, again, doubt is not a bad thing. It is only natural for us to wonder if we truly have gotten things right, especially for something as important as God.

But doubt certainly can be a bad thing when it starts to cause us to worry, and worse yet, when it starts to cause us to become self-centered instead of Christ-centered. And one of the surest ways to deal with doubt in our lives is to see it for what it is: the inevitable consequence of our sinful nature. There is no such thing as Christian faith without doubt. So we are people who believe by faith and not by sight. Hebrews 11:6 says this:

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

THE FOOL FOR CHRIST
So far we’ve looked at four different kinds of fools: There is the “open” fool, the “hardened” fool, the “mocking” fool, and the “God-denying” fool. And as we get into the New Testament, Paul introduces to us a fifth kind of a fool, and that is the Fool for Christ. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 1:18-26:

1 Corinthians 1:18-26
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Verse 18 says:

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The Foolishness of the Cross
When unbelievers hear the message of the cross, it does not strike them as intellectually compelling. The message of the cross stands in stark contrast to what they believe to be true, real, and natural. The cross, in the eyes of the world, is utter foolishness. William Willimon, an Amerian theologian, hits this point home:

“What kind of sense does it make to worship a God who, instead of rescuing us out of trouble, rescues us by entering into the trouble with us? A God who, instead of helping us avoid pain, heals us from our pain by entering the depths of our pain with us? A God who, instead of fixing things for us, addresses them by becoming weak with us in our weaknesses?”

In the eyes of the world, there is absolutely nothing about the cross that makes sense. The message of the cross, to the unbeliever, it boggles the mind and it irritates the heart. Throughout history, people have been scandalized by the cross. The notion of a God who would willingly and purposefully die can not and must not be true in the eyes of the world. Many critics of the Christian faith have argued that Christianity would be better served if we would just stop talking about the cross. But Jesus says this to his disciples in Mark 8:34:

Mark 8:34 (NIV)
If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me.

“Take up the cross and follow me!” I don’t imagine that many of us sit around Starbucks or Panera over lunch break and meditate on the meaning of this verse. “Take up the cross and follow me!” How do we respond to this call of Jesus, this radical call to take up the cross today? “Well, uh, it’s 6:10pm, and the church service started 10 minutes ago, so I will take up my cross and turn off that football game and go to church!” Or maybe, “I can not stand my coworkers, actually I hate everything about them, but today, I will take up my cross and not talk about them behind their backs.” Or maybe, “Well, it is Christmas season, so I will take up my cross and put into the Salvations Army collection box, 50 cents instead of 25 cents!” I am not saying that these are bad things. They are actually quite good things. But I have a slight suspicion that Jesus meant a lot more than that when he said, “Take up the cross and follow me!”

In the time of Jesus, the cross was not a religious icon as it has become today. It had a simple and singular meaning: It was an instrument of death. The cross was that horrendous thing upon which people were crucified. And Jesus says to his disciples, “Take up your cross and follow me.” It is not a very difficult passage to understand. You don’t have to be a genius to figure this one out. You don’t need a degree in theology to exegete this passage. There is only one meaning. In calling his disciples to take up the cross and follow him, Jesus is calling them to death! Jesus is calling us to death! Because embracing Jesus means embracing the cross. And so we come back to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18:

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

And to take up the cross to follow Jesus may be foolishness to the world, but it seems that sometimes it is also foolishness to us Christians as well. In an attempt to make the cross understandable and reachable, we Christians often find ourselves wiping away the blood from its surface and hiding the deep nail marks. The notion of a crucified Messiah is just not convenient to share with our friends, so we glorify the resurrection and hide the crucifixion. And in so doing, we’ve made the cross devoid of any controversy and paradox, and it becomes something that we can easily and proudly wear around our necks and put up in our living rooms. Frederick Buechner, an author and pastor from the mid 1900s, writes this:

“In terms of human wisdom, Jesus was a perfect fool. And if you think you can follow him without making something like the same kind of fool yourself, you are laboring not under the cross, but a delusion.”

We baptize hundreds of people at our church every year. Our baptism services are one of my favorite services. And every time that I see someone come out of that water, something very deep in my soul is moved to an emotion that I can not quiet put into words. And while we rightfully celebrate the birth of a new life that is revealed as he or she comes rushing out of the water, when was the last time we thought about what is happening during those two seconds that the person is under water? Before the person comes out of the water together with Jesus in this symbolic resurrection, the person must first be crucified with Christ, a symbolic death, but death nonetheless.

“Take up the cross and follow me!” Many of us think that following Jesus means going to church on Sundays; or that the Kingdom of God that Jesus is ushering in is merely a few minor adjustments in our checkbook or calendar. We’ve taken the shock out of the words of Jesus. Soren Kierkegaard, a great Danish theologian makes this point beautifully:

“Christianity has taken a giant stride into the absurd. Remove from Christianity its ability to shock and it is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them. It’s when the absurd starts to sound reasonable that we should begin to worry.”

I think that if all of us in this room were truly honest with ourselves, we all, each in our own way resist the foolishness of the cross. “Jesus, what do you mean love your enemies?” “What do you mean blessed are the meek?” “What do you mean sell all your possessions and give them to the poor?” “There is absolutely nothing in me that lines up naturally with what you are asking me to do. That is just foolishness!” But the foolishness of God is wiser than our wisdom.

We Christians sometimes have this idea that we need to run away from intelligent thought because it goes against faith, but that is simply not true. To be a fool for Christ does not mean that we leave our intellect at the doorsteps of the church as we walk in or that we put on brain blinders as we walk back into the world. God commands us to love with not just our heart, soul, and strength, but also with our mind. Paul is not advocating intellectual laziness. He is saying that all of the wisdom that we can possibly muster up is nothing compared to the One to whom all wisdom is pointing.

1 Corinthians 1:24
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God

Take the parable of the Prodigal son found in Luke 15 as an example. The biggest fool in this great parable is not the extravagantly wasteful and sinful prodigal son who ran away with his inheritance to spend on prostitutes and on wild living, ultimately sinking so low that he finds himself living in a pig pen. Nor is the biggest fool in this parable the extravagantly generous and forgiving father who wholeheartedly and unconditionally welcomes back his son, who once was lost but now has been found. The biggest fool in the parable is the second son standing off in the distance while there is a huge celebration going on in his house, wondering how foolish everyone else is being. His sense of what is just and right simply will not allow him to entertain the possibility that it is the foolish who inherit the kingdom of God. And our churches are full of second sons.

The story of Jesus has stopped moving our hearts to believe in the impossible, and we settle for the natural, the normal, the understandable. We’ve stopped being moved to tears by the utterly foolish and extravagant love of God for us, and our Christianity has become nothing more than rituals and routines, all aimed at helping us earn God’s love. We’ve stopped being moved to tears by the vision of our Messiah who was crucified on the cross so that we can live, fully, abundantly, powerfully.

1 Corinthians 1:27
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

In the eyes of the world, was it wise or foolish that Noah would obey God who told him to build a boat on dry land? In the eyes of the world, was it wise or foolish for Abraham to obey God to offer up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice even though God had promised to bless him through his offspring? In the eyes of the world, was it wise or foolish that a brilliant and accomplished man named Paul would give up his reputation, his friends, his life, to travel around the world to start new churches, to proclaim the very Gospel that he had spent his entire life trying to destroy? In the eyes of the world, was it wise or foolish that Peter heeded the voice of Jesus to step out of the boat to actually walk on water? In the eyes of the world, was it wise or foolish that Mary would pour expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus and wipe them with her hair as an extravagant demonstration of her love? In the eyes of the world, was it wise or foolish that Jesus did not spend time with the religious leaders or powerful officials, but went out of his way again and again to be with the nobodies, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the sick, and the sinners rejected by the world? In the eyes of the world, was it wise or foolish, that God, the eternal, everlasting, all-powerful, all-wise God, would condescend himself to enter into his very own creation, in the image of a frail human, to die an embarrassing death on a cross, so that you and I can truly live?

Can it be, can it possibly be, that this weak, despised, insulted, humiliated, embarrassed, and hated man named Jesus was actually the Savior of the World? Can that be true? What a foolish God! What a foolish Gospel! What a foolish cross! Who can possibly believe that except for the most foolish among us? Are there any fools in the house tonight?

The extravagant love of God demands an extravagant response. And to embrace Jesus means embracing the cross with all of its power, all of its glory, all of its shame, all of its pain, and all of its foolishness. Jesus beckons us to take up our cross and follow him! Our foolish God is calling us to a foolish love under a foolish cross. He calls us to enter into each other’s pain, to bear each other’s burdens. To the world, that is an utterly foolish way to live, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God, and it is the only way to live. For in the foolishness of the cross, the impossible has become possible!

Becoming a Fool for Christ is not a one-time thing. Rather, it is the ongoing, choosing again and again to go outside of our comfort zones, to give more than we can afford, to forgive more than our hurts would allow, to love when the most logical choice would be simply to walk away, and to believe by faith that we live not for ourselves but the one who created us. Becoming a Fool for Christ begins with the humble realization that the life that we live is not our own. Becoming a Fool for Christ means that these words of Paul found in Philippians 3 would be our life’s cry:

Philippians 3:7-11 (NIV)
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

God is calling each and every one of us to take up our cross and suffer alongside of those who are suffering. And I wonder, instead of trying to prove that God exists, or trying to justify Christianity to the “mocking” fools and the “God-denying” fools, I wonder if the biggest testimony of Christian faith might not be to take up our cross and to suffer alongside of those who are suffering. I wonder what might happen to people’s hearts as we willingly and purposefully suffer alongside of them. I wonder how they would respond to a love like that.

Brennan Manning, the great Christian author, writes this:

“Whenever the Spirit of God blows like a hurricane through Christian history, it is through prophets and Christ lovers who have surrendered unconditionally to the folly of the Cross.”

As we enter into the Advent season and celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus, let us take a moment’s pause today and realize that this baby Jesus, born in a manger, would at the end of his life, meet his death on a cross. In the foolishness of that cross, the extravagant love of God was revealed. And this extravagant love demands an extravagant response. And the only proper response to the foolish love of God towards us revealed on the blood stained cross where our savior was crucified is to kneel at the foot of that cross, and pray, “Make me a Fool for Christ!”

Let’s pray.

Speaking at the most recent EG (Entertainment Gathering) conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically -- following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible. Here are his thoughts from the experiment.

Angela and I stayed up to listen to Obama's victory speech and boy were we glad we did! It is one of the best modern political speeches that I can remember.

As I was listening to the speech, I was reminded again of the profound impact that a few thoughtful words can have to stir hopes and dreams in the hearts of men and women. No music. No special effects. Just words - just the simple sounds created by the manipulation of air in our mouths. And as we give meaning and definition to these sounds in the context of a culture, it can bring a person to his feet (or knees), cause tears to flow freely, and somehow, as if by design, we begin to connect with a story that is larger than any of us. Words!

For those of us in the "word" business, we should not take lightly the awesome responsibility that comes with our words. We should take seriously the burden that we carry to help people connect with the story that is larger than any of us.

Below is the video of Obama's victory speech. And below that is the full transcript.



[Full remarks as prepared for delivery and provided by the campaign of Senator Barack Obama on Nov. 4, 2008, at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois]

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled; Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics; you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends&though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.