Sermon - The Wisdom of God - 1/2/22
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
We heard a lot about wisdom in our readings for this Second Sunday after Christmas. Our Gospel lesson begins and ends with the child Jesus, who is said first to be filled with wisdom and then, after returning to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph, he is said to be increasing in wisdom.
And, there in the middle, Mary and Joseph are searching frantically for the boy, Jesus. And they find him in the temple, in his Father’s house. And what’s he doing? He’s sitting among the teachers and listening, and asking questions…
And as a former teacher, I know what it’s like to have a really smart student in the classroom, the one who raises his hand and asks that question that’s a really good question, and you as the teacher don’t have an answer. But I imagine that Jesus, even as a boy of twelve, was able to ask questions in a way that didn’t put the teachers of the Law off, or antagonize them, but make them think and ponder…
He’s listening and asking questions, and everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and at his answers. And don’t you wonder what it was they were talking about? Was it about the coming of the Messiah and what freedom that Messiah would bring? Was Jesus laying groundwork for another day?
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They are all amazed at his understanding and his answers – and maybe we could say they were amazed at his wisdom. Jesus goes with Mary and Joseph, submits to them, and what did the teachers of the Law say about him amongst themselves afterward?
· Did they start texting the district office or the synodical president saying, “We need to keep our eye on this one. He's going places! He could really be somebody if we groom him right!”
· Or did they shake their heads and say, “Too bad he’s from Nazareth. He would have made a fine priest or rabbi.
· Were they reminded of the legendary wisdom of King Solomon, and did they think that this young boy would be a much better and wiser king than Herod?
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We also read today how Solomon came to have such wisdom. He’s very young when David puts him on the throne, and when God appears to him in a dream and asks him to name what God should do for him, Solomon doesn’t ask for riches or long life or for victory in battle. He asks for an understanding mind to govern the people, and to discern between good and evil.
And this greatly pleases God. And because Solomon did not ask for blessing and gifts for himself, but something for the good of God’s people, God gives him great wisdom, so that none before and none after Solomon were as wise and discerning as he was. He taught about the trees and about the animals, and people from all sorts of nations came to hear him speak – most famously the queen of Sheba. His wisdom was, truly, legendary!
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You and I have just left 2021 behind us. And in these days of transition, there might be some evaluating going on as we look at the events of the past year. We might examine the decisions we’ve made, how wisely did we spend our time or our money. Did our plans work out the way we’d hoped? What wisdom have we gained from the year gone by that will carry us into the new year?
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I don’t know if you remember the old TV show, The A-Team, where Hannibal and his team of ex-military people would go around helping people out of impossible situations. And B.A. Baraccus (played by Mr. T) had a black suped up van that they rode around in, and there was always something blowing up.
In the show, the initials B.A. stand for “Bad Attitude”, and Mr. T played a really tough guy. But this past New Year’s Eve, Mr. T sent out a tweet. He said: “During My A-Team Days, we would ask Hannibal, “What’s the plan”? He would tell us “The Plan” and then say, “I love it when a plan comes together!” Well, that was TV! But in Real Life, no plan has a chance without God!” It turns out that B.A. stands for “Born Again!” Mr. T is a Christian and openly speaks about his faith.
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And what Mr. T says is sage advice. And, by the way, that’s all you’ll get if you go to an herbalist looking for wisdom…
We, as Christians, don’t rely on wisdom gained from this past year to carry us through 2022. The wisdom of men is worthless if we rely on it instead of on our heavenly Father. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools (those who do not fear God) fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Job 12:13 says, “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.” God has understanding. He is omniscient – he knows all things, the past, the future… He knows each one of us, our problems and our pain, our joys and our misgivings. He knows our fears about what might come to us in this new year. And when we stand at the end of 2022 looking back, not one moment of it will have been a surprise to God.
And that should comfort us, as we stand on the brink of a new year, that the God who keeps the stars burning and ordains the movement of the planets, who makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall and the seed to sprout, that this God also knows every one of our steps through the coming year – not only knows our steps, but walks beside us all the way, never leaving or forsaking us. And his promise to be with us, and his promise to work all things for our good, these promises are not conditional on our obedience, our right choices or a display of wisdom. Rather, “We know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
All things in the coming year will work together for your good. That’s God’s promise to you – to you who have been called according to His purpose!
You see, there is another wisdom that appears today in our readings. This wisdom appears in the Epistle lesson where Paul speaks of the riches of God’s grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time.
God’s wisdom is so far above our own. And here in Ephesians we read that, in God’s wisdom, he made known to us his grace, the mystery of his will… God’s will is a mystery to us. Once we walked with God in the Garden, but after the fall, God became hidden to us. All of our wisdom and musings can’t find him or know him. Beyond knowing that there must be a God and that he must be good, we can’t know or understand him.
But in his wisdom, he has made himself known to us. He has revealed what his purpose for us is, and that purpose is that we would be brought back into relationship with him. This was his plan, this was his will for us, and he set that will forth, he brought it to fruition in Jesus Christ. “When the time was right, God sent his Son.”
Paul writes that we were predestined for adoption through Jesus Christ. Our path back to God, not as enemies brought in chains to be condemned for our sin, but our path back to God as his beloved children, as redeemed people adopted by our heavenly Father, that path was through Jesus Christ.
Paul says, “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Through his blood! God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (v 3). That means that before the world was begun, before God laid its foundation or said “Let there be light,” he had already purposed to adopt you as his child. His will was that you, a sinner, would be made holy and blameless before him.
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This year, as far as we’re concerned, is a blank slate. It is still new and unmarred. What if we resolved right now not to sin once from here on out, so that we could come to December 31st, 2022, and turn and look back at the year and say, “Wow, I did it. I didn’t sin one time. Everything was perfect. This year, finally, I am blameless!” … I think we’d all agree that that would be a pretty unrealistic outlook. Maybe we should set our sights a little closer, like maybe the next ten minutes…
God, in his wisdom, sent to us a mediator. He sent a Savior, to do the work of saving. Our redemption comes through blood – through the blood that Jesus gave to redeem us, to bring us forgiveness.
And this, Paul says, is in accordance with God’s grace, God’s undeserved love. God loved the world so that he gave His one and only Son. And this sacrifice demonstrates just how much God loves you. It reveals the driving power of his love for you – that this was his plan “for the fullness of time,” that you would be his child to spend, not just this next year, but all of eternity with him in his kingdom.
God’s grace is something unique to Christianity. All the other religions of the world attach strings to any benevolence from the gods:
· The Buddhists have an eight-fold path that one must walk to reach enlightenment
· The Hindus must live good lives in order to become one with the supreme being
· A Muslim must give their god obedience since he will come to judge everyone by their deeds
· Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, all other religions of the world require obedience, or some form of restitution on man’s part to gain favor with god.
Christianity alone is built on the grace of God, on the historical truth that the God who will judge the thoughts, words and deeds of all flesh, became himself flesh, to take our evil thoughts, words and deeds into himself. And, bearing that burden, also took also God’s punishment for every evil act of mind, body and heart. That’s grace. That’s God’s love in action for you. His actions for your salvation, choosing you before creation, all of his promises of a Savior for you, and the fulfillment of those promises all the way to the cross and the resurrection, all of this shows how powerful God’s love is for you.
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When you were baptized, you received the promised Holy Spirit. And what did Paul say of that Holy Spirit. He said, “In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
The Holy Spirit within you is the seal and guarantee that you have been chosen by God since the foundation of the world; he is the guarantee that your sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ, that your name is written in the Book of Life, and that you will spend eternity with God in heaven.
That’s a lot to think about in this new year. May God grant us his grace to think on the mystery of the will of God in Christ Jesus, to gift us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, having predestined us for adoption through our Lord Jesus. In His name, amen.
Now, may the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen!