Conservative Fools, Liberal Fools
And wisdom in Christ
Last week I listened to Tim Keller’s first sermon in his 2004 series on the book of Proverbs, which you can find here.1 I’ve been thinking a lot about wisdom recently, and will go into reading the Proverbs once I finish my very slow walk through the book of Psalms this year.
In this sermon, Keller gives a brief overview of four primary topics:
The importance of wisdom
The definition of wisdom
The problem of wisdom
A clue to the problem’s solution
To be foolish, Keller says, is to go against the grain of how God created the world to be. Sometimes we act foolish in sinful ways. Sometimes we act foolish in ways that aren’t necessarily sinful, but are nonetheless misguided. That second category is the particularly difficult brand of foolishness, in one sense, because there is no moral absolute to prevent us from falling into it.
About 20 minutes into the sermon, Keller talks about two different “brands” of foolishness we may find ourselves tempted toward, depending on our temperament, personalities, and other attributes we may or may not control.
Keller says that in order to be wise, we must see two things:
There are patterns and ways in which the world customarily works because of how God created the world to be, and…
We cannot know all of the ways in which the world works.
Overemphasizing either of these two points over the other can lead to finding ourselves in a foolishness ditch that can come in two different shapes: the conservative or the liberal. These categories have nothing to do with politics, though I suppose there could be some applications there. Let’s look at them.
Conservative Fools
First, Keller calls out conservative fools. Conservative fools are the ones who see the patterns of the world as identified in the book of Proverbs (like in Proverbs 10-15). It’s in those chapters that you see the principles by which life typically works. Things like:
Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. (Prov 10:2)
With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered. (Prov. 11:9)
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. (Prov. 12:11)
Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (Prov. 13:24)
Keller says those of us who have a “conservative bent of mind” read verses like this and think, “Yeah…that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Work hard, live right, and life will go well for you. That’s the truth right there.”
Conservative fools think they know exactly how the world works.
Those prone to a conservative foolishness are prone to overemphasize the clean order of how life works in Proverbs 10-15 without acknowledging the reality that life gets messy and doesn’t always go according to how things are “supposed to work,” and that reality is on display in the second portion of Proverbs.
Liberal Fools
Once you get to Proverbs 16 and on, you start to see exceptions to “the way life is supposed to work,” and things get messy.
It isn’t always as clean as Proverbs 10-15 make it seem, if those chapters are read in isolation. Proverbs 16 and following show us that not everyone who lives according to God’s law has a good life. Sometimes children raised “right” grow older and leave their faith and families behind. Life is not always easier and better just because you do everything you’re supposed to do, as if that’s even possible. Here are some verses that show that:
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. (Prov. 16:8)
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. (Prov. 24:16)
Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways. (Prov. 28:6)
If you have more of a liberal temperament, as Keller says, you’re prone to overemphasize the messiness on display in Proverbs 16 and beyond. You read verses like the ones above and think, “Yeah…life’s messy. I always said that. You can’t be predicting what’s right and wrong and how the world works.”
Keller goes on to say that if you’re the type who wants to ignore the reality that patterns exist in God’s created order, that the words of Proverbs 10-15 are real and true, and you just want to make up your rules for how life works best, you’re a fool—a liberal, relativistic fool. This kind of fool is just on the other end of the spectrum from the conservative fool.
Liberal fools think that no one has any idea how the world actually works, and that no patterns really exist.
Wisdom in Christ
Keller identifies the obvious and says that all of us are prone to one kind of foolishness or the other. Either we are prone to being moralistic, conservative fools who think they know exactly how the world will work at every turn, or we are relativistic, liberal fools who think that no patterns or absolutes exist.
But in Christ we find wisdom personified, and it is really only in following him that we can discover true wisdom. He embodies the reality that righteousness is vital, but suffering often follows in its wake. He is present at creation as the wisdom and Word of God. And our pursuit of wisdom is ultimately a pursuit of him.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:28–30:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus takes the yoke of laboring for wisdom and righteousness and says rest in me. The meaning of life is, as Keller says, to participate in the life and love of the Trinity by resting in Christ as he has commanded.
Here is the full series for you, too, if you’d like.