May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable O Lord my strength and my redeemer. Amen
This morning I want to talk about something that is more precious than rubies, better than gold, better than weapons of war and - is the principal thing
What is it? Wisdom
Wisdom … this morning I would like to talk about something that is so important that King Solomon said (Proverbs 4:7), "Wisdom is the principal thing." That means it is the number one priority.
He also said (Ecclesiastes 9:Z8), "Wisdom is better than weapons of war.”
(Ecclesiastes 9:16), "Wisdom is better than strength." Proverbs 16:16 ... "Wisdom is better than gold.”
Job said (28:28), "The price of wisdom is above rubies." (Solomon said the same thing.)
James begins his letter by dealing with wisdom raising this question, Do you lack wisdom … then ask
He then goes on to explain how to use this wisdom
v 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
James at the end of the letter v3:13 says, "Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
I wonder how your growth in wisdom is going … have you become wiser this year than you were this time last year?
Dictionary Definition : wisdom: the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement;
Within the Bible there is the wisdom literature that can be found in Proverbs like we read this morning
but running through scripture is the wisdom of God - we see it in James and we see it in Jesus’ words in the gospel today - carefully chosen words and action together - taking information and knowledge about people and events but choosing the response most productive.
The Interaction in the gospel today is one of those that we dont know the intonation with which Jesus made it or the tongue in cheek the banter was happening but there is wise words from both the woman and Jesus.
It has been remarkable in my own journey of faith of the women and men who have had most impact upon me personally and pastorally have been people who looking back have had the wisdom to listen both to what I was saying and not saying as well as to God and then more than that of speaking out few words but the words that they did say had greater impact.
The wise and the unwise is a theme that runs throughout scripture and comes down to the decisions we make - it can be easily illustrated by this game all of which as adults we could do with our eyes closed…
Situation List
1. Your friend dares you to jump out of the loft of a barn. You refuse to do it.
2. Your parents told you not to cross the busy highway at the end of your neighborhood. When your friends call you a baby for not coming across with
them, you turn your bike around and go home.
3. You are jumping on your trampoline. You see lightning. You keep jumping
thinking that God will protect you.
4. Your friend asks to copy your homework. You let him since he is your best friend and you should help friends in need.
5. You love chocolate chip cookies. You eat 10 cookies since you love them so
much.
6. You are at a friend’s house. The friend shows you his father’s gun. You
immediately find his parents and tell them.
7. You see your two-year-old brother playing with a knife. You don’t say anything, he’ll learn if he gets cut.
8. Your Mom tells you to wear a jacket to the bus stop because it is cold. You
ignore her since you know that it will get warm later in the day.
9. You are in the store and nobody is looking. You really want a pack of gum
but don’t have enough money. Your friend tells you to take it. You walk
away.
10. You spill red juice on the new carpet in your sister’s room. When your Dad
finds it, your sister gets in trouble. You stay quiet.
You get the idea - its quite easy to be wise in these circumstances but what about in dealing with close family or work colleagues in ethical dilemmas, in life circumstances where there is risk, where our decisions might need a good dose of wisdom.
This framework for decision making, for our ethical compass is here in the pages of scripture - people may argue over some of the finer points of it but which it comes to wisdom or foolishness we know that we sometime waver between the two - when we do make foolish decisions we know that there is time to come back, to make amends and to approach the situation again with renewed wisdom
During the Summer - I had the opportunity to go to a Planetarium in Schull … it was an ‘interesting experience’ with both of my nieces Penny and Lilly … I dont know if you’ve ever been to a place that is sooo dark you can’t see anything at all.
When Lilly played up I couldn’t see her at all but I knew where the door was and knew we had to take her out. I knew the way out.
I remembered the direction I needed to travel and knew it wasn’t far .
I think there is something in this - that wisdom knows the direction of travel - It is the one exit in the dark room, its the north star when there are many directions,
Solomon says ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom’ this is important - without an ethical framework - everyone will do what is right in their own eyes - and that’s not good.
Within the Christian Gospel is much diversity and much work to do to apply the principles of ethics to the situations we find in our day but we do have the direction of travel.
Lets look at the situations we find in our readings today topics such as
- Rich and Poor
- Good and Bad
- Attitudes of our heart
- Actions of the church
- Attitudes towards those on the outside
- Treatment of the poor and the vulnerable
In 5,000 years these issues haven’t gone away!
This is hugely challenging to a church which needs a huge dose of wisdom to deal with contemporary Ireland. how do we deal with Rich and Poor, how do we deal with those who either self identify with the labels of good or bad, or who we class as good or bad, what about our own lives, our attitudes, how we treat people within and without. And then after the summer services when we’ve been thinking about breaking dividing walls what are our attitudes towards those who would not set foot inside our churches due to identity issues of all kinds and the barriers that have been erected for generations.
How we treat the poor and the vulnerable is going to take a huge dose of wisdom - whatever label we give people how do we tear off that label and see them as a beloved child of God - loved and accepted by him and welcome.
This wisdom need to flow from the love of God - without it - it has the potential of simply going round in circles but with it - it points, as an exit sign of the dark room, its the Northern Star from where direction can be sourced.
This coming term is going to see our community engaging more and more with this church - It is my prayer that this would be a place where deep wisdom is shared, where people encounter the source of all wisdom there will be great fruit of the kingdom produced
My hope for us as individuals is that we would grow in all wisdom, that our discipleship would be deepened and that there would be a renewal of both our strength and our mind.
As I conclude I would like to remind us of the words of Dietrich Bonnhoffer - ‘ Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which seems seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.
That which is seemingly worthless in our era is wisdom … we’ve got lots of knowledge … heck we’re living in the centre of the knowledge economy, information at our fingertips but wisdom - that’s more elusive lets search for that! … lets provide godly wisdom to our friends and our family, in tune with the Holy Spirit … not for the sake of simple answers and quips here and there but to help people live life to the full
‘ Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which seems seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.’
Our task as disciples is then to discern the difference.
Here is a bit of wisdom posted on Mother Theresa's wall :
Amen.
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