Scriptural Sermons

We all carry within us deeply embedded memories of our childhood, though many of them would never be unearthed save for some reminder. For me, my sister Rachel serves as that reminder. Somehow, she manages to keep memories of what seems our entire childhood at all times at instant recall. When I last visited her, I too revisited my childhood when she asked, “Remember weekends at Grandmas’s?” In my childhood, my parents, once a month, would drop the four of us - Rachel, my brothers, and me, off at Grandma’s on Friday afternoon and pick us up on Sunday evening. My parents always told us as we drove to Grandma’s how terribly they’d miss us, and how difficult it was for them to share us with Grandma, but how lonely poor old Grandma was and how forwards she looked to our visits. Now that I have children of my own, I see my parents for the adroit manipulators that they were. These protests of theirs were merely their way of conditioning us against any possible threat to what was for them a very sweet deal. One weekend a month to themselves? I bet they drove off every month as giddy as fools. At any rate, the instant my sister mentioned weekends at Grandma’s we both went to the exact same place. “The early bird catches the worm,” I said. “The grass is always greener on the other side. Slow and steady winds the race,” Rachel joined in. “A poor craftsman blames his tools. Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today. A penny saved is a penny earned.” It was over to me. “Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open,” I said, digging deep. “Fish and visitors stink after three days. Plow deep while sluggards sleep and you will have corn to sell and to keep.” Yes, Grandma was filled with wisdom. She had wisdom for every occasion and contingency. And she imparted it with such judgment and authority that I believed it all very important and strove to commit every word to memory. But then, one Sunday evening when I couldn’t have been much older than eleven, something occurred that made begin to think that there was something fishy about Grandma’s wisdom. We were at Sunday dinner. I was feasting on what at that time was my favorite meal - bread, butter, and cream corn sandwiches. As I reached for the bread to make my third sandwich, Grandma put her hand on my arm and said, “In all things, moderation.” But then moments later as she sliced herself her second piece of pecan pie, she said, “You only live once!” After that, I was en guarde for further inconsistencies. I didn’t have to wait long. After dinner that very night we were watching an episode of “The Wonderful World of Disney,” in which a backwoodsman, who, for being an eccentric loner, was reviled by the local townsfolk, until he rescued a cat and her kittens for a burning barn. “Never judge a book by its cover,” she pronounced when the show ended. But what my father arrived to pick us up wearing, as he did to the day of his death, desert boots, she said to him peevishly, “You can judge a man by the shine on his shows.” I determined then and there that I would challenge Grandma on these inconsistencies. The next visit gave me my opportunity. I was setting up for a croquet tournament with Rachel. I rarely beat her but had been working on skills. “I hope I win,” I said to Grandma. “He that lives on hope dies fasting,” she said. “Hope springs eternal in the human heart,” I retorted. " Respect your elders!" She rebuked me, and in such a scandalized and scathing tone that my blood ran cold. My mortification forbade any future challenges, but it didn’t change my privately held opinion that Grand’s wisdom was not very wise. I thereafter developed an intolerance for wisdom. Whenever I heard it spoken, I judged the speaker a hypocrite. An overreaction, I suppose, but my youth was my period of righteous indignation, and based upon my experience of wisdom, I had reached the conclusion that it was nothing more than authority cited in the advancement of self-interest. My intolerance for wisdom waned thorough the years as I came to realize that it hadn’t been wisdom itself that was at fault, but rather Grandma’s misappropriation of it. But lately I've been thinking that there was some truth to my original conclusion that wisdom is nothing more than authority cited in the advancement of self-interest. Think of what passes for wisdom in today’s world. “Look out for number one.” “Nice guys finish last.” “Whatever floats your boat.” Today’s world doesn’t even trouble to mask its self-interest as Grandma did. Today's world shamelessly and brazenly proclaims that self-interest is the beginning of wisdom. And so wisdom, it must be concluded, is at least predisposed or pone or vulnerable to manipulation by self-interest. And so, if wisdom is not trustworthy as wisdom, what value has it? Fortunately, the Bible sheds some light on the issue, as it does on all issues. In fact it spreads some bright light, for wisdom is nothing new. It is in fact very ancient. It predates, in fact, the Old Testament period. There was wisdom in Egypt before the people of Israel were enslaved there. There was wisdom in Canaan before the people of Israel invaded and conquered it. This reflects, I suppose, the perennial human tendency to draw conclusions, often proverbially, from observation and experience. And so the Old Testament writers, because wisdom was around, encountered wisdom and made determinations about it. Wisdom, thy determined, - this human tendency to draw proverbial conclusion form observation and experience - is good. It is, in fact, beyond good. It is a positive obligation and responsibility. Recall this morning’s Old Testament lesson’s admonition against ignorance, “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” But the Old Testament writers insisted that the sine qua non of wisdom, its indispensable prior, its interpretive axis, was “Fear of the Lord” – awe of the Lord, respect for the Lord, reverence toward the Lord, and yes, just as it sounds, fear of the Lord as he has revealed himself though his law and precepts. And as the Old Testament gives way to the New, ever brighter light is shed on the issue. For as the Apostle Paul writes in this morning’s epistle lesson, the wisdom of God – which is deemed foolish by the wisdom of the word, but which, in truth deems foolish the wisdom of the world – is revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ, that cross on which the one unself-interested man ever to have lived, sacrificed himself that we may be reconciled through him to God and one another. Fear of the Lord then, as the beginning of wisdom, gives way in the New Testament, to the cross of Jesus Christ as the beginning of wisdom. And so this is the way that the Christian deals with the issue of wisdom, particularly the self-interested wisdom of today’s world. When today's world declares, “Look out for number one,” the Christian may declare, “Love your neighbor as yourself,.” When today’s world declares, “Nice guys finish last, “ the Christian may declare, “Blessed are the meek, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. And blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake." When today’s world declares,”Whatever floats your boat,” the Christian may declare, “Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness…but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to satisfy its desires." We, as Christian, are yet called to wisdom, to draw conclusions from observation and experience, and we have been given all we nee d to be assured that wisdom is indeed wisdom, "Christ Jesus who became for us the wisdom of God. Amen.