Wisdom vs Folly
Introduction: The Concept of Hokhmah
Welcome to The Well Community Church. I am so grateful you’re with us here today. If you’re joining us in person at one of our gatherings, or maybe even online, turn to the book of Jude if you have a Bible. That’s where we’re going to be as we continue in our series through this short, one-chapter book. It is chock-full of all kinds of opportunities for us to cross-reference and learn and grow. If you’re a guest, we’ve got Bibles available at the information center at either campus, or you can follow along on your phone.
We are going to jump around a little bit today, so buckle your seatbelts. This is another doozy. We aren’t covering much ground in terms of the number of verses in Jude, but we are going to be jumping off from there to several different places. To set the stage, I want to help us understand where this passage is going. When you read through your Old Testament, you come across names like Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, or Asaph the Psalmist. These are characters who would be considered Old Testament sages.
Now, when I say the term “sage,” we typically think of someone like Gandalf the Grey—a wise figure who speaks in riddles and worldly wisdom. But that’s not quite what these people were. They were known for wisdom, yes, but the Hebrew word for wisdom is Hokhmah. In the Hebrew text, Hokhmah is different than just proverbial wisdom or the wisdom of this world. That term is really rooted in the character of God, the design of God, and therefore the Word of God. To be an Old Testament sage and to speak with Hokhmah was to speak the very Word of God.
Listen to how Proverbs chapter one describes this idea of wisdom anchored in the character of God being communicated to us.
Proverbs 1:1-7 (NASB)
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
You see, all throughout your Old Testament, this connection of wisdom is tied to the very character of our God. In fact, Psalm 111 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Hokhmah—the beginning of wisdom—and good understanding belongs to all those who follow His commandments.
Psalms 111:10 (NASB)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do [His commandments]; His praise endures forever.
Sowing and Reaping: Wisdom vs. Folly
One of the principles we introduced last week from the book of Jude is the suggestion that to do life according to God’s character, His design, and His Word is to do life “with the grain.” That means doing life in wisdom. Life is found in wisdom. Blessing, benefit, and prosperity from a kingdom standpoint are found in wisdom.
There is another way to do life, however, and that’s to do life “against the grain.” That is to do life against God’s character, against His design, and against His Word. It is to do life in what is often called “the flesh,” or what the Old Testament calls the life of folly. Jude is going to introduce another Old Testament principle for us, or at least show it to us: the principle of reaping and sowing.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see that what you sow—the seed you plant—is what you will actually reap at some point in the future. Your reaping is determined by what it is you’ve sown. Jude suggests there are really two things you can sow into: you can sow into the flesh, which is life against God’s design, or you can sow into wisdom. He introduces this because there are false teachers influencing the people of God, trying to woo them away from God’s design and into a way of doing life against the grain in folly.
Galatians chapter six puts it this way regarding this principle of sowing and reaping.
Galatians 6:7-8 (NASB)
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
The Engine Room of the Will
When it comes to understanding the Christian life, we need to be reminded of what it means to be a human in relationship with God. If this is our life, at the core of who we are is what’s called the “will.” The will is the engine room of your life. It’s what drives you; it’s the control center of who we are as individuals.
Apart from Christ, in the center of your will is what’s called the flesh. It’s the tendency to do life on our own, alone and without God, which means we naturally do life against the grain. But thanks be to God, when the Gospel comes into our lives, something profound happens. Jesus said in John 14 that the Spirit of God would be given to us—He would not simply be with us, He would be in us.
In the center of our will, when we trust in Jesus Christ, it’s not simply us; it’s Him. Ephesians 1 says the Spirit is the seal or the down payment given as the promise of our inheritance. Second Corinthians says He is the pledge given to us. This means that in Christ, we have a decision to make. Do I live according to the flesh, or do I choose to live according to the Spirit? Do I sow to the flesh, or do I sow to the Spirit? Whatever you sow, that is what you are going to reap.
The challenge for us as followers of Jesus is to acknowledge that because the Spirit of God is here, the real task is to learn to open ourselves to the Spirit. But you’ll find that this is unnatural because we are very good at living in the flesh. Jude is addressing false teachers who have rejected this notion of sowing to the Spirit. They’ve rejected doing life in keeping with the wisdom of God and are essentially saying, “Life is better when you just do what feels right to you.”
We see this in verse four of Jude. He says these false teachers have crept in among you like wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are turning the grace of God into licentiousness. They are claiming that because God is gracious, you don’t need to live according to His character or His Word. They promote a life of indulgence, disregarding the fact that we reap what we sow.
Jude 1:4 (NASB)
For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Ultimately, these teachers are in full rejection of the authority of God. They deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Last week, we looked at three Old Testament illustrations of groups who did this: the rebellious Israelites, the rebellious angels, and the rebellious men of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, in verse 10, Jude comes back to these specific false teachers.
Jude 1:10 (NASB)
But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
They revile things they do not understand. They mock the very God they do not comprehend, rejecting Him out of arrogance. Instead, they follow their instincts like unreasoning animals, and they are being destroyed by the very things they pursue. These men are a perfect example of a will driven by the flesh without the Spirit of God. Some of us understand that. For those of you who are followers of Christ but have a sketchy past, can you remember times when you sowed in the flesh? You participated in what felt natural at the time, but it was that very thing that ended up corrupting or destroying you before the Gospel came into your life.
Three Examples of Rebellion: Cain, Balaam, and Korah
In verse 11, Jude gives us three specific Old Testament individuals as examples of this folly.
Jude 1:11 (NASB)
Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Jude assumes his readers have an understanding of Jewish literature. When he says “the way of Cain,” he expects you to know the story. But for many of us, we might recognize the name without recalling the details. Let’s look at these three briefly. First, the Way of Cain. In Genesis 4, we see the first human sin after the Fall. Adam and Eve hoped their firstborn, Cain, would be the deliverer God promised in Genesis 3. But Cain and his brother Abel both brought offerings to God. Abel brought the best of his flock—the “good stuff”—while Cain brought an offering that lacked the same heart.
When God had regard for Abel’s offering but not Cain’s, Cain became angry. God warned him that sin was crouching at his door, desiring to master him. Instead of turning to God, Cain lured his brother into a field and killed him. The “way of Cain” is the way of the flesh showing itself through anger, jealousy, and murder.
Genesis 4:1-8 (NASB)
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, ‘I have gotten a manchild with [the help of] the LORD.’ Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, ’Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ‘If you do well, will not [your countenance] be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.’ Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Next is the error of Balaam. In Numbers 22, Balak, the king of Moab, was terrified of the Israelites. He hired a “seer” named Balaam—think of him like a tarot card reader—to curse God’s people. Every time Balaam tried to curse them, God made him bless them instead. Eventually, Balaam realized he couldn’t curse them, but he could corrupt them. He suggested a plan to lead the Israelite men into idolatry and sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab at a place called Peor. The “error of Balaam” is greed, idolatry, and sexual indulgence.
Numbers 25:1-3 (NASB)
While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel.
Finally, there is the rebellion of Korah from Numbers 16. Korah was the typical “number two” who wanted to be “number one.” He rejected Moses’ authority, claiming that the whole congregation was holy and they didn’t need Moses to lead them. It was a rebellion against God’s design and authority. God eventually told the people to move away from Korah’s tents because He was about to make a point. The ground literally split open and swallowed Korah and his followers. The “rebellion of Korah” is a rejection of God’s established design.
Numbers 16:31-33 (NASB)
As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with [their] possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
Dangerous Influences: Reefs, Clouds, and Trees
Jude is telling us that these influencers in our lives, who whisper lies about God and twist grace into an excuse for sin, are leading us into the flesh. They are causing us to sow in folly. He uses vivid imagery to describe them in verse 12. He calls them “hidden reefs” in your love feasts.
A hidden reef is like a rock just below the surface of the water. You’re driving your boat, you don’t see the danger, and suddenly you hit it and destroy your prop. These men are in the midst of the church, and you might not even know they are there. They are present in the “love feasts”—the communal meals and communion services of the early church.
Acts 2:42 (NASB)
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Jude says these teachers are there without fear. They don’t fear God, and they don’t care about you. They are shepherds who only care for themselves. They are interested in their own influence and renown, not the health of the sheep. Jude then gives several examples from nature to show the results of their teaching.
Jude 1:12-13 (NASB)
These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
He calls them “clouds without water.” If you’re a farmer waiting for rain, seeing clouds on the horizon brings hope. But if they pass by without dropping a drop, it’s a cruel deception. These teachers promise life but bring only death.
He calls them “autumn trees without fruit,” doubly dead and uprooted. A fruit tree that produces no fruit is useless. These teachers have no roots and produce nothing of value in the lives of those they influence.
He calls them “wild waves of the sea,” casting up shame like foam. They are out of control, dangerous, and destructive. There is no peace for them.
Wandering Stars and the Source of Folly
Finally, he calls them “wandering stars.” This has a double meaning. First, stars were given by God for direction. A star that wanders is incredibly dangerous for a navigator. These teachers lead people toward destruction rather than toward God.
But there is a second meaning. There is another “star” said to have fallen from heaven. In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, we read about the first sin in the Bible—the fall of Satan. He was an angel who said, “I will be like God; I will raise my throne above the stars of God.”
Isaiah 14:12-15 (NASB)
’How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! ’But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ ’Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.
Jude may be suggesting that these false teachers are influenced by something far more negative than just the flesh; they are influenced by Satan himself. Just as the “star of the morning” was thrust down to the pit, Jude says for these wandering stars, the “dark blackness has been reserved forever.”
Reflection and Repentance
Jude is trying to raise our eyes to see that we will reap what we sow. There are influences in your life leading you away from wisdom, away from God’s design, and toward destruction. I want us to move this from the intellectual to the heart for a moment.
As I’ve been talking about these influences and this movement from Spirit to flesh, has something come to mind? Is there something impressed on your heart where you think, “I wonder if that is folly?” It might be a neighbor whispering things that aren’t biblical. It might be a person at the gym, a podcast, a book, or a trend in culture. It might be a social media account that keeps you trapped in a “death scroll.”
I want you to just take a second and pray, “Lord, what are the things in my life that are folly? What are the voices leading me to the flesh? Is there any lie I’m believing?”
Psalms 139:23-24 (NASB)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
We’re going to take just a minute in silence. I want you to enter in and open yourself to the Lord. Ask Him, “Is there anything going on?”
If God has placed something in your mind, your next move is critical. If we aren’t careful, our instinct is to say, “Okay, I need to stop that. I need to quit.” The problem is that’s just you trying to do in your own strength what can only be accomplished by God. We call that moralism.
Instead, say, “God, I want to be with You in this.” If you are in Christ, you are fully forgiven, accepted, known, and loved. He is with you, even in the yuck. He doesn’t want you to stay in the flesh; He wants to lead you into Hokhmah. But if you’re stuck, only He can move you. Open yourself to Him and say, “God, can I be with You in that?” It may be the first time you’ve ever prayed about something awful and felt loved in the midst of it. Yet, that is the Christian life.
Proverbs 28:13 (NASB)
He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes [them] will find compassion.
That is the journey. We see the way of Cain, the error of Balaam, or the rebellion of Korah in our own lives, and we realize we are a mess. We admit that these things come naturally to us, and we ask God to meet us, love us, and help us turn to Him.
Father, I am grateful for the Christian life You have called us to. You’ve called us to walk in wisdom, in keeping with Your character and Your Word. Help us to be aware of the influences and environments that lead us away from You. Help us in those moments to repent and turn to You. And for our friends who have yet to embrace the Gospel, would they focus not on correcting behaviors, but on embracing the Savior who loves them. May they experience life eternal by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Amen.