Are You a Scoffer?

So we are finishing up our series on wisdom and the three types of people that we find in proverbs. The first type of person we looked at was the wise person, and then last week we looked at the fool. Tonight we will take a look at the worst of the three, the scoffer.

First let’s review what we have learned so far.

A wise person:

1. Make good decisions
2. Live a long life
3. Be attractive to others
4. Will prosper
5. Will be persuasive
6. Will be prepared for the future
7. Will be sought after by those of power and influence
8. Will ultimately rise to a position of power
9. Will be kept safe from harm
10. Will be a good counselor for others

A fool:

1. repeats his folly
2. thinks he knows everything
3. open his mouth and prove what he is.

4. confident in their own knowledge and do not seek wisdom.
5. You are who your friends are.
6. the fool will be servant to the wise
7. foolish choices is a matter of life and death
8. trusts in his own understanding

Tonight we look at how we distinguish between a fool and a scoffer. A fool knows the difference between right and wrong and chooses to do wrong, so what could be worse than that? Well in that respect a scoffer is the same as a fool. They both know what is right and what is wrong but the scoffer criticizes those who choose to do right, they criticize the wise. You know who these people are. When you look for scoffers you can spot them pretty easily. They are the ones who think they are too cool to worship. They sit on the outskirts of bible study and don’t participate, and then they look for opportunities to make fun of the students who do those things. Scoffers are arrogant, smart-mouthed, and condescending. They consistently ridicule the people who are trying to do what is right. Let’s look in proverbs and see what Solomon has to say about scoffers.

Proverbs 13:1 –
• a scoffer doesn’t listen to correction

Proverbs 14:6 –
• A scoffer seeks but does not find because they don’t seek the right thing and they don’t know how to seek it correctly

Proverbs 15:12 –
• When a scoffer looks for wisdom it is nowhere to be found because they have distanced themselves from wise people

Proverbs 19:29 –
• We will all be judged but punishment awaits those refuse wisdom

Proverbs 29:8 –
• Scoffers purposefully stir up trouble. They look for opportunities to cause mischief

Proverbs 22:10 –
• A scoffer causes problems wherever they go, if you get rid of a scoffer many problems will cease to exist within groups.

Being a scoffer is nothing to scoff at. Worse than being a fool a scoffer takes the rejection of wisdom to an entirely different level. Scoffers know what they are doing and how wrong it is but they relish the opportunity to make things hard on others, to reject wisdom and understanding. A scoffer is almost a lost cause. They are people who have no desire to change what they are doing. But we can’t give up hope for those who are scoffers. We must love them and do our best to teach them and instruct them to better live their lives and how to correctly seek wisdom. Proverbs 21:24 says “Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.” It is hard to minister to one who is arrogant and thinks they know better than you, but we must try because they need Jesus too.