Sermon: Proverbs 1: 1-7 Wisdom for Life: Wise Up!

Here in Northern Ireland, we seem to have an overabundance of memorable phrases. Every so often, you’ll come across a list of Northern Irish phrases that don’t really seem to make sense to anybody else. It’s a bit like the books from the 1980s and 1990s that John Pepper produced in Belfast - John Pepper’s Ulster-English Dictionary and his Ulster Haunbook. He would take Northern Irish phrases, and then translate them into proper English. So, for example, ‘Bout ye, wee man!’ would be translated as ‘How are you, my fine fellow?’ You get the idea.

Tonight we’re starting to think about wisdom, and there are a couple of relevant Northern Irish sayings that you have either said or heard. Here’s the first: ‘He’s not wise!’ meaning, the person in question doesn’t appear to have carefully thought the matter through. And the second: ‘Wise up!’ or in other words, reconsider and get a bit of sense.

Over the next few cafe church nights, we’re going to try to wise up. The question is, though, how do we go about it? We’ve already asked the question tonight - what is wisdom? We’ll think about that a bit more. And we’ll try to discover where we can get wisdom from. So as we start, let’s ask: what is wisdom?

Some people might think that wisdom is the same as common sense. Have you noticed, though, that common sense doesn’t seem to be very common? What you might think is common sense isn’t what someone else might think - so it’s not common; and everybody doesn’t think the same way about everything, so it might not be very sensible either. So wisdom is not just common sense.

Some people might think that wisdom is the same as knowledge. But there seems to be a but more to wisdom than just mere knowledge. As someone once said, ‘knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.’ Wisdom is doing something with knowledge - working it out practically; applied knowledge, perhaps, but it is more than just knowledge. Many’s a time I remember dad coming home from work despairing about these graduates with their degrees and letters after their name, but without an ounce of wisdom between them. So wisdom isn’t just the same as knowledge. There’s more to it.

Perhaps the way to consider what something means is to look at its opposite. So the opposite of tallness is ... shortness; the opposite of hot is... cold. And the opposite of wisdom is...? Folly, or foolishness. Throughout the Bible, we see this contrast between wisdom and folly. On the other Sunday nights in the month we’re working through the Sermon on the Mount, and at the end of it (spoiler alert!), Jesus contrasts the wise and foolish builders - the wise man builds his house upon the rock (I think I know a song about that!), whereas the foolish man builds his house on the sand. And when the storms came down and the floods went whoosh, only one house remained standing.

So wisdom is the opposite of folly. And in the Bible, foolishness isn’t just being silly; there’s also a moral quality to it, a moral deficiency. So, for example, Psalm 14 says ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”’

If there’s a moral quality to foolishness, that is also mirrored in the idea of Biblical wisdom. So someone has suggested that the idea of wisdom is living well in God’s world in God’s way. And if that’s the case, then who wouldn’t want to live well in God’s world in God’s way? Just think of the situations you come across every day - the many choices you make, big and small, which can change the outcome of your day, your month, your life and even your eternity. How do you decide what to do, or not do? Where do you turn for help? Who do you look to for advice? Where will you get wisdom for tomorrow morning?

If, like me, you want to grow in wisdom; if you too want to wise up; then how do we do it? Where will we find wisdom?

That’s the question that Job asks in chapter 28 of his book. He says: ‘There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore... The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by fire; sapphires come from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold... Man’s hand assaults the flinty rock and lays bare the roots of the mountains. He tunnels through the rock; his eyes see all its treasures. He searches the sources of the rivers and brings hidden things to light.’ (Job 28:1-2, 5-6, 9-11)

Humans have been able to mine and explore and discover all sorts of treasures and all sorts of precious metals. But here’s his next question... ‘But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living.’ (Job 28:12-13) It’s a mystery. And then, in the last verse of the chapter, the mystery is revealed. But we’ll keep it hidden for a moment or two longer.

Within the Bible, there are lots of different types of writing. There is history and narrative (telling stories); there are poems and songs, like the Psalms; there are letters written to churches and individuals; there is apocalyptic (like Revelation - which we’ll be doing on Thursday nights at Growth Group); and there are the wisdom books - Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. We’ll be focusing in on Proverbs at Cafe Church, and next time we’ll look at what we typically expect Proverbs to be like - short, pithy, wise sayings. But the start of the book is a father’s instruction to his son, an introduction to what wisdom is like. And our reading tonight stands at the entrance to the whole book, ushering the reader in.

So what will the book of Proverbs do for you? ‘for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young - let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance - for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.’

So to read this book will help you to increase in wisdom, or in the Northern Irish version, to wise up. And did you notice who is included in its reach? The simple, the young, the wise and the discerning. So however you see yourself; whatever you may think of yourself; there is something here for you. No matter how wise you already are, you will grow in wisdom and learn something more.

And where does wisdom start? What is the first baby step of being wise? Here’s what Solomon says:

‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’ (Prov 1:7)

And remember Job’s mystery of finding wisdom? God answers his question in this way:

‘The fear of the LORD - that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.’ (Job 28:28)

To fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom. But when the Bible talks about the fear of the Lord, it doesn’t mean a phobia type of fear - the way people can be afraid of spiders or confined spaces or open spaces - no, the fear of the Lord is a healthy sense of awe and reverence for God. To put God first is the first step of wisdom. But to refuse to listen, to refuse to bow the knee - this is folly to the fullest.

God is wise. And, like every aspect of his character, we see it expressed in the cross. Just think for a moment of the cross - in it we see the love of God, and the holiness of God; the wrath of God, and the justice of God; the grace of God, and the mercy of God. And in the cross we see the wisdom of God.

To the world it seems entirely weak and utterly foolish. A man dying on a cross, in agony, abandoned and alone. As Paul writes to the Corinthians:

‘For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.’ (1 Cor 1:21-25)

The cross looks so weak and so foolish, but this is the way God saves - Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. To refuse to come to Christ is to refuse God’s wisdom, which is the ultimate expression of folly.

But here we have the invitation to wise up - to begin to be wise, or to grow in wisdom - as we learn from Christ, the wisdom of God. Wisdom calls out - will you listen? Will you heed the call? There are 35 days until the next Cafe Church, and 31 chapters in Proverbs (so you’ve a couple of catch-up days built in!). Why not read a chapter a day; slowly, carefully - see what jumps out at you; what speaks to the day you’re having; what helps you along the way.

Will you wise up, as I seek to wise up too?

This sermon was preached at Cafe Church in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 8th September 2019.

Cafe Church Talk: How can I believe the Christmas story?

We’re well into the season of Nativity plays, as a cast of shepherds, angels, wisemen, donkeys, sheep, and Mary and Joseph are assembled. And, as teachers and Sunday School leaders try to include everyone in some way, they even find additional roles in the Nativity play. So one year, in my last church, I had the special honour of being a donkey, dressed in an Ey-ore onesie. (Sadly I wasn’t able to find any photos of that...). And, in the movie Love, Actually, you get this scene. [Lobster clip].

Shepherds and angels, wisemen and even lobsters, is the nativity story all just made up? Is is something nice for the kids to do, but doesn’t really bear any relation to reality? With all the cookery programmes on TV this time of year, is the recipe for Christmas something like this: take one ordinary baby, add in all sorts of legends and myths, and voila, there you have Christmas?

As seems to be happening in some places, do we need to forget about Christmas, and instead celebrate some sort of winterval? Should we just go along with saying happy holidays or seasons greetings, and forget about merry Christmas? I don’t think so, because Christmas starts with Christ. But how do you answer those who do think that we should leave the Christ of Christmas behind? How can we believe the Christmas story?

Christmas starts with Christ, and it’s with him that we need to start. It’s clear that, whatever you may think of him, Jesus existed. Scholars of all religious beliefs and none accept that there is more than enough historical evidence to show that Jesus lived, and was highly influential.

Besides the evidence of the New Testament, they can also point to non-Christian sources - Josephus the Jewish historian mentions ‘Jesus, who was called Christ’ and the Roman historian Tacitus, writing about the Christians blamed by Nero for the Fire in Rome says that the founder of their sect was Christus, he was executed under Pontius Pilate, and it had spread through Judea and even to Rome.

So there’s no doubt that Jesus the Christ existed. He was indeed born. But could it be that all these other stories have been added on at a later date? So, if you have someone who is important, or a great hero, then you get more and more legends and stories told about him. Is that what’s going on with Jesus?

That brings us to the way that Luke writes his gospel. Luke, the gospel writer, was a doctor, an educated man. And in the opening verses of his gospel, he tells us how he approached his task.

‘Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.’ (Luke 1: 1-4).

Dr Luke has spoken to the eyewitnesses. He has carefully investigated everything. And he writes an orderly account. So through the passage we’re focusing on, there are historical details - people like Caesar Augustus and Quirinius, Joseph and Mary; there are places like Nazareth and Bethlehem; there are time references - the census, the one that happened when Quirinius was governor of Syria. This isn’t ‘once upon a time...’ fairytale stuff. This is history. Garnered from his eyewitness - Mary the mother of Jesus.

And within the story, there are details that might seem far-fetched or pure legend to the sceptic. Angels appearing to shepherds to tell them about a baby. Wise men being guided by a star. But perhaps the biggest stumbling block is the baby himself.

At the very least, there was more than an element of scandal in the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. His mother Mary is probably a teenager, about 15. She is engaged to Joseph. And then, suddenly, she is pregnant. With the Son of God growing inside her womb. And some people today say, yeah right.

But you can’t read the early chapters of Matthew and Luke without realising just how difficult this circumstance must have been. They weren’t in the dark as to where babies came from. They knew it as well as we do. That’s why Mary asks the question of the angel Gabriel: ‘How will this be?’ It’s why Joseph resolves to divorce Mary quietly, because she must have been unfaithful. But both Mary and Joseph are told about this special baby.

So, Mary is told: ‘You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.’ (Luke 1: 30-33)

Joseph is told: ‘Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ (Matt 1:20-21).

The baby is the Son of the Most High, conceived from the Holy Spirit. Both Mary and Joseph are told that Jesus is the Son of God. That the second person of the Trinity is living inside her womb, waiting to be born - fully God and fully man.

This is why Jesus Christ is so special; why Christmas is so important. What we see in Bethlehem is God becoming man, taking on our flesh, becoming one of us, the word becoming flesh. The big word that theologians use is the ‘incarnation.’ - when God takes on our flesh, he is in carne - just as chilli con carne is chilli with meat (flesh). The incarnation means that to gaze into the manger is to see the face of God. God with skin on.

For CS Lewis, the incarnation is the Grand Miracle. We think of all the miracles of Jesus. But the greatest miracle is the incarnation. He writes: ‘What had happened on Earth, when [God] was born a man at Bethlehem, had altered the universe for ever.’ Again: ‘The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.’

But there’s a line in the Chronicles of Narnia that CS Lewis best pictures the miracle of Christmas. In The Last Battle, King Tirian goes into a stable, and discovers a whole new world inside.

‘“It seems, then,” said Tirian, smiling himself, “that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.”
“Yes,” said the Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.”
“Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

In the manger, we discover one inside it, who is bigger than our whole world. The eternal Son, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, lying in a manger. Why did he do it? What’s the Christmas story all about?

It’s about invasion, and rescue. To quote Lewis again,“Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”

Love invades our world, wrapped up in strips of cloth, laid in a manger. It’s the message of the angels to the shepherds: ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’

How can we believe the Christmas story? We can believe, because it is the true story of God becoming one of us, to be our Saviour. The Grand Miracle has taken place. The saviour is here. And it’s good news for everybody.

I wonder if you’ve heard of Andy Park. Here he is. He has celebrated Christmas every day since 1993 (except for a fortnight after Christmas 2015). He has turkey every day. He watches the Queen’s Speech every day. Wizzard may have sung ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day’ but Andy Park does it.

You know the way you hear the advertising slogan around this time - A dog is for life, not just for Christmas? The good news of Christmas means that Christmas is for life, not just for Christmas! You don’t need to have a turkey dinner every day. But every day can be Christmas, when Jesus is your Saviour. He loves you, he came to save you. You just have to receive him, and believe him.

This sermon was preached at the Cafe Church in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 9th December 2018.

Cafe Church Sermon: Romans 8: 18-39 How can I believe that God is good?

When you look at the world, you might be tempted to ask - what’s going on? You only have to watch the news, or read a newspaper, to see plenty of bad things happening. War and terrorism. Crime. Intimidation. Poverty and hunger. Suffering. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis.

Or maybe we don’t have to turn on the news, or go outside. We see bad things happening in our families, to our friends, or even in our own lives. And when we see bad things happen, it leads us to ask the question - why?

Why do bad things happen? Or rather, why does a God who is meant to be good allow bad things to happen? The question leads us to question what we know about God - the God who is good, and sovereign, and powerful, and love. If something had has happened, then there must be some breakdown in God’s character: Does God not care? Is God not powerful to stop them from happening? Or is God simply not good?

As we start to tackle that question, we need to work out what we actually mean by ‘good’. When we say that something is good, what do we mean? Is it just whatever feels good for us, something we like? Or is there an ultimate standard? There must be an ultimate standard, an objective good, beyond our feelings and desires and wants.

So imagine, two children being given sweeties. If one gets more than the other, then there’ll be cries of ‘That’s not fair!’ From we’re no age, we appeal to fairness, we know there is such a thing as right and wrong, good and evil.

Those notions and right and wrong, good and evil, they’re not just evolutionary concepts, passed along the line in order to ensure the continuation of the species. Right and wrong, good and evil, are external to us - they’re objective, a shadow of the divine image we were created with - an echo of the goodness of God.

Yet, when we hear that phrase - the goodness of God - you may well question it. And so the table talk discussion took you to the question behind the question. How can I believe that God is good when... you fill in the blank. You know the particular question you’ve been asking. It might be global, thinking about suffering and natural disasters and a world that seems out of control. Or it might be personal, in the face of illness, suffering or death. But it’s the question you keep asking. How can I believe that God is good?

We get an answer to both the global problem and the personal problem in the reading from Romans 8. In Romans, Paul sets out the gospel that he is preaching, so that the church in Rome will welcome him and support his efforts to move on to Spain to preach there too. And chapter 8 is all about the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus.

He talks about how ‘creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.’ How it is currently subjected to frustration, in bondage to decay. All that happened because Adam and Eve questioned the goodness of God, right back in the Garden of Eden.

God had provided everything they needed - an abundance of food, perfect relationships, enjoying God’s company - they were in Paradise. There was just one rule - they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The serpent (who we’re later told is Satan), comes along and starts asking questions. Why did God say no? Was he holding something back from them? Or, to put it another way, was God not good? He also doubts the goodness of God’s word - and says, you will surely not die.

Adam and Eve doubted God’s goodness, they believed the lie, so they took and ate. And immediately they realised their mistake. The world was different. They blamed each other; they were banished from the garden; and life and work became more difficult - thorns and thistles and death became an everyday experience.

This paradise lost world is our world. The creation is in bondage because of us. Verse 22 talks of the creation groaning as in the pains of childbirth. The world is waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus, and everything being made right.

But Paul goes on to say that, as well as the creation groaning, we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit (Christians), we also groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. There’s a frustration that we feel too, as we wait for the coming of the Lord, for our new resurrection bodies, when there will be no more sadness or suffering or sickness or sin.

Knowing that we have this hope, this glorious future, it almost makes the waiting and the suffering worse. And yet Paul gives a comparison back in verse 18. Imagine those old baking scales where you have the two pans. In one, all our present sufferings. And you imagine, that’s very weighty. They’re hard to bear, they weigh us down. Yet, says Paul, in the other pan is the glory that will be revealed in us. It doesn’t even compare - it far outweighs the suffering.

Knowing that we have this hope is great. But how do we get through each day? How do we react when something bad happens to us? What do we need to know? We have the Spirit, who helps us in our weakness, by praying for us when we don’t know what to pray.

But we can also know something else. Verse 28: ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.’ (28-30).

These verses tell us that no matter how things may appear; no matter what might be going on in your life; God is at work. It’s not that in some things God is working; no, in all things God works... And what is he working? ‘God works for the good of those who love him.’

In all things, whether we think that they are good or bad, God is at work. And he’s working for our good. Now, maybe you think to yourself, but that doesn’t really help. Because for my good should mean that everything runs smoothly, there’s never any pain or hardship or frustration, rather, that I’m always happy. Those are the only good things that I want.

But do you see what God defines as our ultimate good? The thing that God purposes for us is: ‘to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.’ In everything, in all things, God is at work to make us more like Jesus. This is the good that he is working towards. And he will use everything that happens - even the wrong things others do to us; even the everyday events of life; even the catastrophic, to make us more like Jesus.

With this perspective, the question changes from why is this happening to me? to what is God doing through this?Sometimes we may only see it in retrospect, looking back on a particular period or experience. Sometimes we may never know why. But we can be sure that God is still in control, and working out his purposes for our ultimate good.

Just think of the man in prison, for allegedly assaulting his boss’ wife. It’s the low point amidst much unhappiness. Attacked by his brothers. Sold as a slave. Far from home and family. Yet he continues to trust in his God. Eventually, he gets the most amazing promotion - from the prison to the palace; from prisoner to Prime Minister. Joseph is used to guide Egypt through the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine.

His brothers come calling, wanting grain. And years later, after his father dies, the brothers are fearful of what Joseph will do now. How does he respond? ‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.’ (Gen 50:20). God was working for good, even in Joseph’s experience of evil.

And that’s what we see in the events of Good Friday. Three crosses stand outside the city wall. The man on the middle cross - he had done nothing wrong. Rather, he had gone around doing good - healing the sick, driving out demons, even raising the dead. But now he hangs on the cross, his back lacerated from the flogging, his head pierced with the crown of thorns, struggling to breathe, in agony.

He saved others - let him save himself, the crowd mocks. Yet this good man - the only good man who ever lived - he dies, a cruel death on a Roman cross. The mocking continued - where is your God? Yet in the pain and the agony, the darkness and the desolation, God was working his purpose for good. In the very darkest day, Jesus died - to save you.

God did not spare him, so that you could be saved. No one will be able to bring a charge against you, because he has borne your sins. And no one will be able to separate you from the love of Christ - nothing that happens makes him love you any less.

How can I believe that God is good? When we look at the cross, and hear of God’s purpose, and the hope that we have in Jesus, how could we not believe that God is good?

This talk was presented at the Cafe Church event in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 14th October 2018.