Don't Be a Fool

Opening: The Foolishness of King Ahasuerus

Did you recognize that face? Mr. T—the American actor, retired professional wrestler, and pop culture icon known for his wild Mohawk, massive muscles, and endless gold chains. But he wasn't famous just for his appearance. He became iconic for a catchphrase that swept the nation: "I pity the fool."

What's remarkable is that Mr. T came up with this phrase while reading his Bible. In an interview, he explained that when you pity someone, you're showing them mercy. He realized the Bible speaks often about both pity and fools, so he combined them: "I pity the fool." He was drawing from Scripture itself.

The Bible's Warning About Fools

The Bible has a lot to say about foolishness. Consider these verses:

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes." (Proverbs 12:15)

"Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness." (Proverbs 26:11)

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Psalm 14:1)

A fool is someone who lives as they please with no regard for what God thinks or wants. This brings us to Esther chapter 1, where we meet King Ahasuerus—also known as King Xerxes. He ruled 127 provinces stretching across the ancient Middle East. He had unlimited wealth, unlimited servants, and unlimited earthly authority. By every worldly measure, he would have been on the cover of Forbes countless times.

Yet despite all his power and fame, Esther chapter 1 teaches us that he was a fool.

The Story Unfolds: A Display of Excess

King Ahasuerus held a massive feast. He displayed the glorious wealth of his kingdom for 180 days. Then, not satisfied, he held a week-long banquet for everyone from the greatest to the least—white and blue linen hangings, gold and silver couches, marble columns, precious stones everywhere.

"Royal wine flowed freely according to the king's bounty. The drinking was according to royal decree: 'There are no restrictions.'" (Esther 1:7-8)

On the seventh day, after drinking heavily, the king commanded his eunuchs: "Bring Queen Vashti before me with her royal crown. I want to show off her beauty to everyone because she is very beautiful."

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command.

The king became furious, and his anger burned within him.

Three Markers of a Biblical Fool

This passage reveals three unmistakable characteristics of foolishness:

1. A Fool Loves to Boast

A foolish person is always tooting their own horn. They assume everyone wants to join their fan club. They dominate conversations, turning every story into an opportunity to talk about themselves. They splash in the water at a pool party, making sure everyone on the edge knows they're there.

Boasting is loud because insecurity is loud, and confidence is quiet. Someone who is boastful is trying to overcome their own deep insecurity.

In this passage, the king's pretentiousness drips from every detail. He showcases his luxury cars—or in that era, his fine horses and gold. He needs everyone to know: "In case you didn't know, I'm kind of a big deal."

But here's the irony: the king desperately wants attention because he's not secure inside himself.

Jesus warned about this in Luke 12:15:

"Watch out and be on guard against all greed because one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions."

We often quietly use possessions to measure our success, status, and worth. Author Greg McKeown points out that most people own far more clothes than they actually wear. We keep shirts we haven't touched in years because we paid seventy-five dollars for them. We think the shirt still carries value even though nobody's wearing it, nobody's enjoying it. But something within us feels powerful knowing we have more than we need.

There's a sinister spirit of materialism at work here. Especially if you grew up poor—like I did—there's a kind of safety in having a lot of things. You think, "I must be okay. I must be something because I have a lot of things." This is the attitude of a fool.

1 John 2:16 asks:

"For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—these come not from the Father, but from the world."

Don't be a fool. Don't parade your possessions before people thinking it makes you important.

2. A Fool Lets a Substance Control Him

Verse 10 tells us: "On the seventh day, when the king was feeling good from all the wine..." He called for Queen Vashti, but his judgment was clouded. The wine was doing the talking. Liquid courage was running through his veins, and it made him make a choice that would change the course of his life.

He wanted to parade his wife like a nice Ferrari in his fourth garage—to show off how important he must be to have a woman like her. He belittled his wife, and he did it because the wine was clearly in control.

The Bible repeatedly warns us about letting substances cloud our judgment. Consider these verses:

"Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler. And whoever goes astray because of them is not wise." (Proverbs 20:1)

"Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper." (Proverbs 23:31-32)

But Ephesians 5:18 offers a powerful alternative:

"Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled with the Holy Spirit."

I love this picture. If you're going to be controlled by an outside influence, why not let the Spirit of God—the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and filled the early believers with holy boldness—fuel you instead of some substance?

A biblical counselor at our church sent me an email expressing gratitude that we addressed the danger of addiction. They wrote: "Our church wrestles with this, including the Christian non-members we see every day, and they do not see nor feel convicted that the inordinate use of pills is an addiction."

We think we come into church in our Sunday finery, our jackets on, surely nobody here is addicted to anything. But addiction is a form of slavery, and it clouds judgment and rules lives.

Consider the presidency of Richard Nixon during Watergate. When stress skyrocketed, Nixon formed a habit of sitting alone at night drinking his pain away. His nightly rituals intensified, numbing the pain but dulling his judgment—so much so that the Secretary of State had to tell military officials: "If the president calls and tells you to fire a missile, do not act until you check with me first."

The people closest to the most powerful man in the world were walking at night with sweaty palms, wondering: Would it be the president making decisions or his drink?

We are playing with fire when we have a life-controlling issue—a substance that takes up more and more real estate in our lives.

3. A Fool Surrounds Himself with People Who Tell Him What He Wants to Hear

After Queen Vashti refused, the king consulted with his top officials. Instead of calming him down, they fueled his madness. They said:

"For the queen's actions are going to become public knowledge to all the women and cause them to despise their husbands. Before this day is over, the noble women of Persia and Media who hear about the queen's acts will say the same thing to all the king's officials, resulting in more contempt and fury." (Esther 1:17-18)

Their message: King, you are so powerful that people will follow your pattern. If you don't put this woman in her place, all the women will think they can say anything they want. You'll have a full-blown revolution on your hands.

They told him exactly what he wanted to hear. This is the third unmistakable marker: a biblical fool likes to surround himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear.

The Apostle Paul warned Timothy about this:

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around themselves a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Here's the crazy part of the story: Even though he was getting drunk with wine, even though he was full of pride in his wealth and power, if he had had just one person in the room who loved him enough to say, "King, why don't we sleep on this? Why don't we calm down, take a breath, and revisit this in the morning?"—the whole thing could have been saved.

Always be sure to let a few people hang around your life who say things that make you uncomfortable. Always make sure there's a dissenting voice that balances out the others. I cannot tell you how many times in my life I've been convinced I was right about something, and either my wife or a trusted friend said, "Hey, why don't we slow that down? Let's think this over."

Foolish people get in a hurry and gather opinions from those they know will support what they already want to do. Don't do that.

Applications for Our Lives

Why Do Mature Christians Still Struggle with Ego?

A seasoned Christian—someone who's been walking with God for decades, who knows the Bible well—might ask: Why do I still struggle with ego?

The answer, in a single word, is pride. And pride is always a temptation, no matter how long you've been walking with Jesus.

If you could distill all the sin of the world into one word, it's pride. It was the first sin in heaven. It was the first sin brought to the garden. Pride is the temptation behind nearly every other temptation. It whispers in our ears:

• "I know better than God."
• "I deserve more than other people."
• "I can do this without help."

Influential people often struggle with pride because success without struggle creates superiority. When I'm getting a lot of wins and no losses, I start to think I'm unbeatable.

Abraham Lincoln said: "Success is like ice. Few people can stand upon it."

One of the great tests we endure is the test of prosperity, not the test of adversity. It's often in times when things are going remarkably well that you are most spiritually vulnerable to attacks of Satan.

The Apostle Paul experienced something similar. After receiving a revelation from heaven, he felt superior. So God gave him a thorn in the flesh. Paul writes:

"Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me." (2 Corinthians 12:7)

It was intended to be helpful. As Paul was experiencing wins, he needed to experience struggle. Otherwise, he would feel superior and be unable to reach people.

This changes the way we think about suffering, doesn't it? Success can convince a person that they don't need God. But suffering drives people back to God.

Francis Schaeffer wrote an essay titled "The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way." He points out that we cannot know the power of the Holy Spirit until we first acknowledge our desperate need for God. The entry point for Christianity is soul poverty—the feeling that "I am bankrupt and God is rich."

He writes: "A person cannot be a Christian without first recognizing his need for Christ. And as Christians, we too must comprehend something of our need for spiritual power. If we think we can operate on our own, we will never get started."

This is why people who have walked with God for decades can still become egomaniacs. It's not only how we get started; it's how we sustain our faith. We must remain in a place where I am convinced: Without God, none of this is possible. Apart from Him, I can do nothing.

"I have no confidence in the flesh. The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. My power, my confidence—the battle belongs to the Lord." (Philippians 2:3, Matthew 26:41)

Every time you win a battle, remind yourself: there's another voice in your ear saying, "You are really something." Don't believe it.

James 4:10 says:

"Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you."

And marry someone who will humble you.

Why Does God Care About What We Do in Private?

A good-hearted skeptic asked: Why would God care whether someone drinks too much if they aren't hurting anybody? That's a fair question. You'd ask the same thing about pornography, gambling, social media doom-scrolling, materialism, or spending enormous amounts of money on trivial things.

Why does it matter if nobody is hurt?

The question reveals a profound misunderstanding about what God cares about. The Bible teaches that God is not merely interested in our outward actions that damage other people. He is interested in that, but even more so, the root system that causes those actions.

"Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. What's down in the well comes up in the bucket." (Matthew 12:34)

Jesus had a lot to say to the Pharisees who prided themselves on being whitewashed:

"You're like whitewashed tombs. On the outside, everything looks pristine. On the inside, you're full of dead men's bones." (Matthew 23:27)

If Jesus was concerned about anything, it was the condition of the hearts of the people he spoke with.

An idol is anything that's trying to lure you away slowly from God. It's like a little piece of bait the devil puts in the water and slowly reels in. Addiction of any kind makes us feel secure, fulfilled, or comfortable for a moment. Maybe we get a piece of our identity from it: I'm a person who loves and needs this. But over time, it takes more and more real estate in your life.

Let's not confine this to those who struggle with alcohol or drugs. If there is something in your life that is increasingly becoming the object of your affection and dependency—other than God and the Holy Spirit—the Holy Spirit says to you right now: Stop. Break the cycle. Break the chain.

Do not be filled with these things. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you need help, get the help you need. These dependencies are sometimes not easily broken. But if you get the help and break this chain, you put yourself back in the place where God can see your heart to serve Him.

"The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to find those whose hearts are fully his." (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Your heart is what God is most concerned about. So ask yourself: What is something in my life that is slowly rising in volume and control over me?

The Habit That Prevents Foolishness

A student asked: What is one habit I could start right now that would help me avoid becoming a fool later in life?

If I had to say one thing: practice listening. Really practice.

A young leader once reached out to me and skipped several chains of command in his company to email me directly. But what struck me was his message: "Would you mind meeting with me? I've written down five questions about leadership I'd really like to ask you."

I'd never had a young person approach me saying, "I've written down some questions." It showed me immediately that he had a teachable spirit. That conversation was one of the best I had that whole year because he was hungry to learn.

But in my experience, a lot of young people are more interested in posting their opinions than listening to older people.

Here's the best question I like to ask someone senior to me—someone with more life experience, maybe an older pastor: "If you could turn back the clock and do one thing differently in ministry, what would it be?"

I have found that nobody comes out unscathed in that question. Everybody has regrets. Everybody has moments they wish they had wiser people around them.

Here's the joy of that question: you get to learn from this person's experience and not step on the same land mine.

The way to become wise and not a fool is: listen to wise people who were once foolish. Let them pay the bill for foolishness, and you get to learn from it.

Even the Bible is written for this purpose:

"For whatever was written in the past, it was all written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the scriptures." (Romans 15:4)

We learn from the mistakes of others and prevent ourselves from playing the fool. Peter's betrayal was written down so that you wouldn't do the same thing to Jesus.

A fool says: "I'll figure it out." A wise person says: "Teach me."

The moment you become teachable, you are already walking away from the path of foolishness. If you'll just learn how to listen.