Watch the video of this service on Vimeo here -
https://vimeo.com/501767804?fbclid=IwAR2k9LFquMv6C59UQRTGKq8cWD_wShOG7HOBQNlz1yts0wwgE4RWugzeNWM
Or on Facebook here -
https://www.facebook.com/david.p.charlton.9/videos/10164694559980298
This morning we continue the series of messages titled A New Heart for A New Year, the series coming from a Celtic prayer, titled Lord of My Heart. In the series, we are studying five themes from the prayer – vision, light, wisdom, courage, and trust. Today’s message is on the theme of wisdom.
As I have mentioned several times, I have been working in collaboration with five other Disciples ministers from around the country on this series. As to the sermons, we share Scripture passages and a few themes. Most of our collaboration has been with the video/study materials to go with this series. In the video series, each of us was assigned one of the themes, and our responsibility was to choose someone we believe embodies that theme, and then lead the interview with the entire group on Zoom. As we talked about who would take with theme, in my mind I was thinking don’t give me wisdom, don’t give me wisdom. Naturally, that’s the theme I ended up being assigned. But that gave me the opportunity to ask a longtime friend of mine to be our interview subject. I was grateful she agreed to the interview, because I believe she is a great representative of wisdom in so many ways.
The line from the prayer that serves as our theme is, Lord of my heart, give me wisdom to direct me,that thinking or acting, I may always discern right from wrong.
As I thought about wisdom, there were two Scriptures that immediately came to mind, both in the book of I Corinthians. One of the passages is in chapter one, which Jordan read for our Call to Worship, and the other is in chapter two, which is the one I chose for this morning’s Scripture reading. Follow along with me as I read that passage.
I Corinthians 2:1-14
1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Wisdom is a really broad, giant topic. It’s a topic we could talk about for a long time, but I don’t have a long time this morning. Narrowing the topic down was really difficult for me, and I struggled all week with how to condense this topic down to a manageable, clear message. Please do not feel as though you need to tell me whether or not I succeeded in doing so.
What I will present to you this morning are two questions, followed by two statements. So let’s begin with a question –
What is wisdom?
As we are talking about wisdom, it seems obvious that we must define what it is that we mean when we are speaking about wisdom.
When I began middle school, I was in the 7thgrade. Our county had just consolidated the school system and our middle schools were 4ththrough 8thgrade. The middle school I attended had been the high school my father attended. Because of the population decline in my home county, that school is now closed and for sale. It is a very strange experience to walk or drive past that huge school building and see a big For Sale sign out front. When I was young, I would have rejoiced in thinking the school was for sale, but it is now a sad reminder of the decline of my hometown. I remember walking into the auditorium for the first time, taking a seat, and looking above the stage at the inscription written in large letters on the wall – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (which comes from Proverbs 9:10). Well, the purpose of schools is to instill wisdom, so that’s a good verse to use.
Thinking a bit more, however, requires asking this question – are wisdom and knowledge the same? Schools are designed to impart knowledge, but is knowledge the same as wisdom? Personally, I don’t think so. Knowledge consists of information we are taught, and information that we can learn in a classroom or by reading a book. Paul is not speaking of knowledge, but of wisdom, and there is a difference between the two.
The prayer that serves as our theme for these messages says this of wisdom– Lord of my heart, give me wisdom to direct me,that thinking or acting, I may always discern right from wrong. There is the key – that I may always discern right from wrong. Discerning right from wrong is a function of wisdom, not knowledge. When we speak of discerning right from wrong, we are speaking about morality. Wisdomis another word, basically, for morality. Knowledge can teach us a mathematical formula. It can teach us accounting, for instance, but it takes wisdom to teach us whether or not we are using the finances in that accounting formula in a wise – or moral – manner. Knowledge can give us the times and dates of historical events, but it is wisdom that allows us to interpret what that history means, and how we can learn from that history. Wisdom has more to do with how we live, how we treat others, and what we do with our lives. Knowledge can teach someone how to be a good engineer, but not necessarily how to be a good person (and I’m not passing any judgment on my engineer friends by using them as an example). Facts and figures can provide us with information about what has happened, or what is happening, in the world, but it doesn’t necessarily help us to interpret why the events happen. Wisdom is a way of looking at the world that will provide us with a guide on how we should live. Wisdom deals with the meaning and the purpose of life, and wisdom, unlike knowledge, cannot always be taught.
Where Does Wisdom Come From?
In verses 4 and 5, Paul writes this – 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. Wisdom, Paul says, comes from the Spirit.
When Paul is speaking of wisdom, he also reminds us there are competing wisdoms – or competing moralities – in any culture, in any society, in any historical moment. There is not one, unified morality in any society. Our society, for instance, does not have one morality. We are, in actuality, a collection of moralities, and those moralities are often in conflict with one another. Sometimes people will say, I’m just as moral as the next person. That may or may not be true, as the shortcoming of that statement is that it assumes we all agree on a definition of morality by which we can compare how well each person measures up to that standard of morality. Too often, when we compare morality, we are comparing apples and oranges, because we are not defining morality in the same way. Sometimes our moralities overlap, but sometimes they do not.
The early church, in many ways, set a very stark contrast with Roman culture, or Roman morality. In Roman society, there was not much equality. Now, I’m not ignoring the reality that in American history we have not always practiced equality, but I’m not speaking about American morality; I’m speaking of Christian morality. And while there were Christians in our nation who supported moral evils such as slavery, that represented not a true interpretation, application, or practice of Christianity. No, that was an aberration, and a distortion of Christianity.
In Rome, women had no standing. As Jordan spoke of the historical prayer in her Kid’s Korner message this morning, it reminded us that women were not valued in the time of the Roman Empire. The early church gave women standing, and gave them equality. I realize there are those who will hear me make that statement and say, Dave, have your read Paul? I’m including Paul in my statement about women being given standing and equality, because Paul is too often misunderstood. There are very specific and very narrow circumstances that led Paul to write about limitations for the role of women in the church, but those are circumstances that no longer apply. The churches who make the claim that Paul’s words about limiting the role of women in churches still apply, are greatly misunderstanding and misinterpreting Paul. That misunderstanding and misinterpretation leads them, sadly, to subjugate women. Subjugating women is not practicing a true, Christian morality; it is an aberration of Christian morality. The church, in the Roman Empire, gave women value that they did not have otherwise. It was common in the Roman Empire for families to want male children rather than female children. At times, female babies were abandoned. The church rescued those children, cared for them, and raised them. They took in those children because they saw them as being of value.
A lot of people in Rome did not have equality, or value. If you were poor or hungry, you were basically out of luck. Rome did not have government safety nets such as we have now; people were mostly on their own. But the early church stepped into that gap and cared for people. The church stepped in to take care of those who were hungry. Feeding the hungry was the first ministry of the church. The church took care of those who were sick, those who were orphaned, those who could not afford an education, and so much more. Look at the origins of basically every move to improve society, look at every social movement, and you will find its origins in the church. Go to any hospital in this area and you will find that most – if not all – have their roots in the church. As Jordan mentioned, tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr., day. The work of Dr. King, indeed the Civil Rights movement as a whole, had its birth in the church. As Paul writes, there was a very stark difference between the wisdom – or the morality – of that age, and that of the church, and that morality continues to lead us and guide us today.
This clash of moralities is what Paul was grappling with, and it is no small matter. We are, obviously, in an historical moment where we see a titanic clash of moralities. We all feel the difficulty and the confusion of that clash. Now, contrary to popular belief, we have never had one, unified morality in our culture. It might have seemed so, but that was because one perspective could manage to be dominant to the point that no other morality had a voice. Today, with the advent of social media, the 24/7 news cycle, and the widespread dissemination of information, we are much more aware of the differences that lead to the different perspectives in our culture and in our world. What we are now finding, and what is taking place in this historical moment, is that almost everyone now has a voice, and by giving voice to others, we are discovering there are many different views of morality. This has led to a reckoning, to a moment when we must confront the painful truth that many people have been marginalized, many people have been overlooked, and many people have not been treated equally. Too many groups have suffered and too many people have been held down and there is now a reckoning for how people have been treated, and that reckoning is long overdue.
There is simply no way to avoid the clash of moralities. In some ways, we can find plenty of agreement. We can all, for instance, agree that people should not drink and drive, but not every issue is that clear. We can agree, for instance, that everyone needs money to survive in this world, but how do we find agreement on questions such as how much money one person should have, or how we should use our money, and where should we – or shouldn’t we – spend our money? There are businesses that just aren’t going to get my money. I don’t like their business practices and I don’t agree with them, but you might disagree with me.
There is also the fact that different churches have different interpretations of Christian morality. This comes about because of interpretations that are different, causing our moral perspectives to clash, and there are very real consequences to those clashes. To once again use the example of women in churches, there are many churches who continue to refuse to allow women to serve in positions of leadership. Such a point of view is a distortion of the gospel, it is an aberration, and such policies have had very real, and very difficult consequences, for many women.
So, how do we know? How do we know what is true and right? How do we truly discern, as the prayer asks, between right and wrong? There are people who would tell you that what I am saying is not true and that you should not listen to me. They might say, let me tell you what our church teaches, and what our minister says. How do we know? In John 18:38, Pilate asks Jesus the question, what is truth? Pilate had certainly seen others come before Jesus, claiming they were the Messiah. I’m not sure how Pilate meant that question, whether he was sincerely asking or if he was mocking Jesus, but it is a question that is not without some measure of importance. How do we know what is true when it comes to truth, wisdom, and morality? I am not trying to make all this confused or muddled for you, and my intent is not to give you more questions than answers. What I am saying is this – we are dependent upon God’s Spirit, and we must listen to and depend upon that Spirit for wisdom.
Paul is framing this as one of the most important questions that face us, so let me wrap this up by making two statements –
Each person must choose.
Paul told the church at Corinth, 1And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Paul was very simple and basic in what he had to say – I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The early church had what was known as the kerygma. Kerygma is a Greek word that means proclamation. Kerygma was the content of the preaching of the early church. It was very simple, and very basic. It did not go into doctrinal stances or into creeds or into obscure elements of theology. It was taking the Gospel and putting it into what we would call a nutshell; it was the most basic elements of the Gospel message. Paul said he did not come with fancy language, with eloquence; he came with one message, and one message only – Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Sometimes, we get so deep into the minutia of theology, and sometimes we get so deep into the weeds of interpretation, that we lose sight of what matters most. I’m not saying that matters of theology aren’t important, but I am saying that some of the details that concern us are not of the greatest importance.
One of the things I so appreciate about our Disciples heritage is that we have one primary theological claim. As I have said many times, we don’t have a creed and we don’t have a statement of faith. We have one element around which we gather, and it is the great confession of faith made by Peter at Caesarea Philippi. You’ll remember that Jesus took his disciples there and asked who do people say the Son of Man is? The disciples gave various answers – John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Then he asked who do you say I am? Peter gave his great confession, saying You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God (13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:13-18). That’s it. Jesus didn’t say, that’s great Peter. Now let me read a verse to you and see if you interpret it correctly. And I want to know how you will translate this Hebrew phrase. It was only one phrase that mattered – You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and it must always be primary. That Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, is primary, and with that comes his primary message, which is love. Do you think we need more of that today? I know that may sound naïve, to say that love is the answer to everything. But it is the answer to the violence in our world. It is the answer to the harshness and the hatred in our world. Every other answer has been tried throughout human history and has been found to be insufficient. Nothing else has been successful; only love has been successful. The problem has been it simply hasn’t been practiced enough. No one can avoid the choice that is laid before them about wisdom, or, as I have been defining it, morality. As I quoted recently in another message, it is the message of I Corinthians 13. Love is the ultimate in Christian morality.
Each person must make that choice. We live in a time when many people want someone to think for them. They want someone to tell them what to believe. They want to be told how to believe. The problem with that approach is that you will never, then, have a mature, healthy faith if you are dependent upon someone else. If you are dependent upon someone else to tell you what to think, how to think, and what you should believe, your faith will never fully develop. I know that in the times in which we live it is tempting to want to be told what to think and what to believe. It reminds me of a friend of mine, back in seminary, who was very frustrated one day, and said, I just want someone to tell me what to believe! He was in the wrong place if that is what he wanted.
Choose the wisdom of God.
I will say this – it’s not always easy to do so. I don’t know why we sometimes expect that it should be easy, but it’s not. We live in a time when there is so much contentiousness and there are plenty of people who do want to tell us what to think and what to believe. But let us remember that we are part of the kingdom of God, and kingdom wisdom sometimes looks foolish to those outside of the kingdom. We are called not to live for ourselves, but for others. We are called not to be first, but to be last (So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:6). We are called not to be the greatest, but to be servants (The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Matthew 23:11-12). Read the first 11 verses of Philippians chapter 2, where Paul writes so beautifully of the values of the kingdom of God (1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vainconceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:1-11). To a lot of people, that would sound crazy. To quote an old saying, in an insane world, it is the sane person who appears insane.
No, it’s not easy, but it is the way of wisdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment