“Wisdom of God” Proverbs 1:1-7; 3:1-8, Matt 13:34-35

 If you had to describe the concept of “wisdom”, how would you start? Some may point to scripture, where Paul makes this glorious statement that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” For others, there first thought may be about how there seems to be an absence of wisdom in our world today. Common sense. Still others may point to book learning or trades that were passed down through generations one step at a time. 

In the Bible, we have a whole book of wisdom entitled Proverbs. It is here that we find sayings whose truth has carried down through the ages. Most of the writings are attributed to Solomon, the son of David who followed his father on the throne. When he did so, he was quite young. God appeared to him in a vision and asked what he desired. And Solomon didn’t ask for riches or power or prestige. Instead, he asked for wisdom. Which God gave in abundance. 

And so what does this wise King say that wisdom is? It’s the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of all knowledge. 

Well that isn’t the easiest explanation to understand is it?

Solomon starts off this book of wisdom by saying that if you want to have understanding - turn to God. If you want to know how to be wise in how you interact with other people - turn to God. If you want righteousness, justice, and equity in this world - turn to God. If you want to raise up the children in the faith - turn to God. If you want to have a discerning spirit - turn to God. 

Because wisdom isn’t something that we can manufacture on our own - no matter how hard we may try.

It may look like wisdom at first, but it isn’t the deep, rich, abundant wisdom that can only come from God alone. 

And yet, Church, how many of us live like that? How many of us truly call upon the wisdom of God, first in all things. 

There was a woman at my last church named Miss Jean. Miss Jean loved Jesus and trusted him with everything - and I do mean everything. Well into her 80s, and despite multiple illnesses, she would cook lunch for anyone in her building who needed or wanted a meal five days a week. Now, friends, Miss Jean wasn’t rich. So how did she do this work in Jesus’s name? She trusted him. She prayed that God would reveal to her what he wanted her to cook each day and that he would provide whatever she needed to do so. And provide God did. Almost every day Miss Jean would walk into her apartment to find ingredients for exactly what God had asked her to cook. She had no idea who dropped them off - but she knew that they ultimately came from God’s providing hand. 

When I think of wisdom, I think of people like Miss Jean. Not the folks who have all of the facts and figures memorized, but people who knew the wisdom that Solomon is talking about. The wisdom that called upon God’s name and trusted him for a reply - even if everyone else didn’t or couldn’t understand. 

Perhaps one of Solomon’s most known pieces of wisdom comes from Proverbs 3. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

But look at the words that surround this teaching, Church. Keep God’s commandments. Be loyal and faithful to God. Don’t try to puff yourself up by being wise in your own ways. 

Often I will be asked as a pastor about words. We have all sorts of words to describe big concepts in our faith life and we can slip into thinking that everyone is on the same page. We don’t take time to actually stop and ask what they mean. Or when we do stop and ask, folks aren’t sure why. 

Words like trust. 

How do we trust the Lord?

Solomon breaks it down for us, not with fancy words, but with actions. Be faithful to God. Live into God’s commandments. Be loyal to God above all others. 

Now does that mean Solomon’s teaching is always easy to live into? Absolutely not. The world doesn’t know what to do with this type of wisdom. The world certainly didn’t know what to do with it in Jesus’s day when he showed up speaking in stories, telling folks that he was the fulfillment of the prophesies of old, and calling them to new life and new understanding. 

Friends, one of the things that I love about being United Methodist is that we don’t look for the easiest answers, but for the answers that draw us deeper into relationship with God. Wisdom is not easy, brothers and sisters. Yet, wisdom calls us into deeper trust in our God. 

Part of what Jesus is trying to impart to the people gathered to hear him, and to use through the Word of God passed down through the ages, is that our human language is always going to fall short when it comes to talking about the wisdom and ways of the Kingdom of God. Because it refers to things that are hidden, not fully seen. 

When was the last time, friends, that you leaned not on your own understanding? When was the last time that you sought first the wisdom of the Kingdom of God? When was the last time you trusted God with something in your life?

We are people who live into the tension of the wisdom of God and the way of the world. And the world will try to misconstrue this wisdom, mischaracterizing it as foolish. But friends, if we truly want to be wise, we need to turn our eyes and hearts to the Lord. 

Let us pray….

“Keep Awake!” 2 Peter 3:1-10, 17-18 Matthew 24:42-44

 I’m not a great sleeper. I never have been. I have often suffered from insomnia, having trouble falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night - several times - with a thought on my mind. It wasn’t until the last few years that I have come to discover that there was a reason in history for folks like me - the light sleepers. We were the folks in the watchtowers. Those who were vigilant at all times, alerting others when they needed to wake up.

Peter may not have been someone who suffered from insomnia, but he would certainly be someone that I would consider to be in the watchtower. Last week we talked about how folks found themselves following false prophets and the week before about how they had forgotten their passion - their heart. So someone in the watchtower, calling up for people to wake up and keep alert, is certainly warranted.

So my question for us today, as we finish up our study of 2 Peter is this, dear friends, are you awake?

But Michelle, of course I’m awake. I’m here, listening to you! I’m not talking about that type of awake, Church. Not awake in terms of the dichotomy between being asleep or awake. No, I’m asking are you awake in your spirit?

Last week, we touched on how folks had become so disappointed by Jesus not coming back as soon s they had expected, that they fell into listening to false prophets. Others, became so disillusioned that they gave up on the hope and promise of Christ coming back at all. 

Enter 2 Peter. 

Peter writes to remind people that God’s time is not our time. There is a praise chorus that states “Better is one day in Your courts. Better is one day in Your house. Better is one day in Your courts, Than thousands elsewhere.” Because to God one day is like a thousand of days in our time. And a thousand years like a day. 

When we think that God needs to be confined by our human understanding and perspective, we become disappointed or disillusioned. We start to live as if we should be catered to instead of us serving God. 

We loose our faithfulness. We fall asleep in our spirit. 

Two weeks ago we launched our verse for the year from 2 Peter 1. Some churches launch a verse of the year at perhaps a more traditional time, like the first of the year. One of the pastors I listen to regularly is Jacob Armstrong who is at Providence UMC. His church’s verse of the year came from Ephesians 5 - Wake up, o sleeper. Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Pastor Armstrong reminded his congregation that we also fall asleep when our priorities slip. Last week, with that image of the frog being boiled alive in a pot of slowly warmed water, we saw how one decision can lead to another to another.

Which lends us to ask, alight, what should our priorities be? What should we be focused on? What does it look like to be a person who is keeping alert? Does that mean we simply walk around with our eyes glued open all the time - never physically sleeping. No. 

I think it means three thing. First, we are on the watchtower calling for people to walk in the way of love. God loved us so much that he sent Christ to live our life and die our death and rise again for our sake. God loves us so much to say that Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. 

And as a result of us believing in and trusting these promises, we walk in the way of Christ. We walk in the way of love. And we are on the lookout for this way of love so we can lift it up to others. 

I was recently at a meeting where I heard of walking in the way of love story. A healthcare service noticed that an elderly woman was having to call the ambulance quite a bit for routine medical appointments. In conversation with her, it came out that her ramp was broken so she needed help getting in and out of her house to get to appointments - hence the calls. So arrangements were made for some local boyscouts to come fix her ramp. Walking in the way of love.

Are you someone who is on the lookout for the light and love of Christ? Are you expecting Christ to show up in profound ways in the world? Or are you asleep? Asleep in spirit. 

Another way that we can fall asleep in our spirit is when we lack gratitude. When all of a sudden everything around us is so awful that we see no hope. Now, does this mean that we can’t have a bad day. Absolutely not! We are human and not every day is going to go smoothly. But are you still grateful? Are you grateful for the life you have been given? The day before you? The breath in your lungs?

When we get to the point, dear friends, where we have nothing to be grateful for - we may be asleep in our spirit. 

But Michelle, you don’t know my circumstances. You’re right. I may not. But I know that God loves you - which is at least one thing to be grateful for. 

What is the problem being picked up on in this reading from 2 Peter. That people do not believe in or trust in God’s promises. When we lean into gratitude, even and maybe most especially when it is hard, we commit to looking not with the eyes of the world, but with the eyes of the spirit. 

Often the we start with one thing that we are grateful for - one thing that we want to praise God for, and it cascades into giving glory to God for things beyond measure. Gratitude is a way that we can lift up our witness of Christ around us. 

A final way that we can be awake in our spirit is living differently. Now, I’m not talking about any time of living. I mean living different spiritually. I have a personal story of this happening to me recently. While I was at the same conference noted above, a person I never met before noticed that I was eating dinner in a restaurant by myself. She invited me to come and sit with her and her friend, living out her spiritual calling to hospitality. 

Do you live with intentionality to reflect the fruits of the spirit in a way that give testimony to God?

Friends, I end with the question I started with this day - are you spiritually awake? Are you living with eagerness for Christ’s return in a way that gives him glory in the waiting? Are you a watch keeper for the Lord? Amen. 

“People of Faith” 2 Peter 1:1-11 Matt 13:44-46

 Friends, we have made it! For the last year we have been journeying together and now, here we are one year later and I’ve been appointed for a second year to be your pastor. As I was thinking about how I wanted to celebrate this year together and look forward to the year to come I came up with one thing - you guessed it - homework. 

This morning as you entered worship you were given a small card with a verse on it from 2 Peter. A verse that I want us to take time to think about, dwell in, and live into in our United Methodist year to come. 

But I wouldn’t want to send us out to have a year verse without unpacking it together first. 

When you think about what you need in this life - what comes to mind? A good place to start would be with the basics - food, shelter, water, clothing. But once we get past the basics what do you really need? 

This past week I read a book entitled Growing Young, which said that what really keeps us healthy is relationships. In the book there was a story told about a town right here in Pennsylvania that became known to researches through a family doctor in the mid-1900s. See that family doctor saw just about every single person in the town and over time he realized something odd - he wasn’t seeing a whole lot of folks with heart issues. That certainly wasn’t the national trend. So he started to dig in a little deeper and found out that it wasn’t what they ate - the liked their sweets. It wasn’t that they exercised more - they had a moderate amount of time outdoors. It wasn’t even that they watched their weight or were intentional about their heart health. No, it was because they were so deeply connected in relationships. 

They lived in multi-generational homes. Everyone knew everyone else. They would stop by to just be with each other, because folks not just considered everyone to be family - they lived like it. 

But then something happened. People gave into the American dream. Young people started to move away for better jobs. The people that stayed wanted bigger, single-family homes, with lots of space in between. And all of a sudden, that anomaly of good heart health, went away. 

We are made for relationships - you and I. We are made for relationships with one another and a relationship with God.

But just because we are made for relationship does not mean that it is always easy to live into. Peter is writing to folks who needed to be reminded about what their true purpose, their true calling was. He is also writing to help them focus on who they belong to and represent in the world. 

If you think that you can get by in this world on your own - think again stays Peter at the beginning of this letter. It is the power of God that has created us and the power of God that holds us and gives us purpose. In fact, we are called by the glory and goodness of God.

Let that sink in for a moment, Church. It is so easy to nod our heads and say “of course, of course”, but what Peter is wiring about here is so contrary to the entire message we receive from the world. We are not self-made. We cannot be sustained alone. And we don’t define who we are by our own power and achievements. We are God’s and God’s alone. 

But what we can do is focus on having our heart so deeply focused on desiring God and recognizing that God is our source and strength, that we become intentional about growing closer to him. 

For the last year we have been focusing a lot on discipleship here at Juniata. We have launched our discipleship pathways. Some of you have had conversations with me about where God may be nudging you next in your walk with Christ. Others of you have taken part of the Younique cirriculum, with a focus on who God has created you to be. And through that all we have been asking you the question - what is your next step. What is the one next step of faith that Christ is calling you to take. 

Peter, in his writing, lays out some next right steps. Asking folks to make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

Why?

Because they reflect the heart of God. And the more we desire God, the more we want to grow closer to him and reflect him in this world. 

The Gospel Matthew talks about this desire to seek after God first as treasure hidden in a field. When folks find they treasure it becomes the totality of their reality. They are willing to give up everything else because that treasure is their joy. 

A few months ago, I was at a conference where the pastor leading asked a really important question - what is your passion? Not what is your job. Not what is on your to-do list. But what is your passion. 

If we asked that collectively today, friends, would we say that our passion as Juniata United Methodist Church is to love God? 

Because in our passion we find our purpose. We live into our calling. So what if for the next year, we made living into this verse from 2 Peter our passion? What if we sought after writing it on our hearts - not because I stood up this morning and gave you homework, but because we so deeply desire God that we want him to be our focus and the joy of our heart. 

Another way to look at this would be to ask -  if we asked those who weren’t part of this congregation what they thought our passion was - what would they say?

When someone is really passionate about someone or something - you know it. It spills out of them into the world. Are we sharing that type of passion, Church, about our relationship with God that we are allowing it to shape our relationship with others?

I want to close this morning by asking each of you to pull out the card you were given on the way in this morning. Would you join me in reading this verse as we seek to make it the center of our hearts, lives, and community in the coming year. Amen.