“Living the Spiritual Gifts: Wisdom”

Rev. Dr. David E. Gray

Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church

Founder’s Sunday, January 10, 2010

I Cor. 12; Matthew 2: 1-12: Proverbs 4: 1-21

We are in a sermon series this month on “Living the Spiritual Gifts,” and this morning we talk about wisdom. Scott has read the familiar Epiphany story of the wise men seeking Jesus, and in our second lesson we hear great parental advice about wisdom from the fourth chapter of the Book of Proverbs, a book of wisdom often attributed to King Solomon. Reading from God’s holy word.

Wisdom is a precious commodity.  The author of the Book of Proverbs says that nothing is more valuable than wisdom. That it is something to be treasured. As the father in Proverbs 4 puts it, “though it cost all you have” you should try and “get wisdom.” 

Sounds like wisdom is something we should strive for and obtain if we can. If we want to “get” wisdom, where can we find it? What does the Bible say about wisdom and where it comes from?

As we read together in our call to worship, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth that wisdom is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul distinguishes knowledge, or ability to understand and teach religious doctrine, from wisdom, the ability to apply and use knowledge. Paul distinguished those who understood something from those who acted on it. For Paul there is a distinction between knowing something and applying it. 

J.I. Packer once called wisdom the “the practical side of moral goodness.” There is a practical nature to wisdom that is different from knowledge. There is a story of an “old country farmer who took his son camping for the first time.  This young man was very intelligent, tops in his class.   They pitched their tent and quickly fell asleep. Sometime during the night the farmer awoke and nudged his son. “Look up, what do you see?” he asked. “I see millions of stars,” answered his son. “And what does it mean?” the farmer asked.  The son pondered and then said, “As an astronomer, it means there are billions of galaxies. And as a meteorologist, it means it’s going to a beautiful day tomorrow. As a theologian, I believe it’s a statement that God is a wonderful creator.” And turning to his father he asked, “What does it mean to you?” The farmer shook his head. “I think it means someone stole our tent.””

On Monday evening I went to work out at the Sport and Health gym in Bethesda off Wisconsin Avenue. I parked in the underground parking lot, exercized, and when I came out discovered that around 6:00 pm, a teacher at a very well thought of local high school had pulled an eight foot tall school bus into the parking garage. The problem was the garage has only a seven foot high roof. So the bus got stuck in the parking lot and blocked in the cars, including mine. I felt really bad for the teacher. It was prime work out time at the gym on the first work Monday back after Christmas holiday when many folks were at the gym and not happy to be stuck.

There is a Persian proverb that “For every pound of learning a person has, that person needs ten pounds of common sense to know how to use it.”

That common sense is part of the gift of wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit. We all have some and its worth cultivating.

So how do we cultivate it? I think by taking time before making decisions, by listening to our experiences and by listening to the experience of others. Wise decisions often require reflection.  Think of our first lesson about the wise men from Matthew’s Gospel. These men were very knowledgeable. They are able to figure out from the star where to find the Christ child. But what makes them wise was not the knowledge of how to follow the star, but the instinct they show at the end of the passage not to follow the directions of Herod.

King Herod had asked the wise men to help find where the baby Jesus would be born and report back.  Matthew’s Gospel explains, “Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went home by another way.” They showed their wisdom in thinking over their impressions of Herod and realizing they should avoid him. Their being “warned in a dream” was likely their instincts and experience telling them not to return to Herod.

The wise men’s situation is different from people in the Bible who are visited by angels in dreams, like Joseph was. Or from people like Jacob, who God speaks to directly in dreams. For the wise men, no one is identified as having warned them and I think it’s their own wisdom kicking in because they took time to reflect and add experience with intuition. Think about how you process information and experiences when you sleep. Sometimes something happens during the day and when you “sleep on it” you wake with an answer you feel good about. I think this is what happens to the wise men. They take time at night to think over their impressions of Herod, thinking about what kind of person he is, and they sense that Herod is a bad guy and they should avoid him. To paraphrase Kenny Rodgers, they knew “when to walk away, knew when to run.” They took the time to follow their experience and their instincts and to develop their sense of wisdom. 

Wisdom is also found in our listening to the experience of others. Maya Angelou once spoke of the heart of wisdom as “the collective wisdom of generations.” The author of Proverbs felt that wisdom is the experience that was passed from generation to generation.

Proverbs 4 is all about a father talking to a son, and giving him wisdom that the father wants to pass on. Today, there are lots of influences that shape our opinions. We might get ideas from the internet, newspapers, from traveling.    In Biblical times, people learned sacred ideas when they were passed from one generation to another. It was a culture of oral traditions. Experience was learned not in books, but when one generation of parents, of teachers, or of tradespeople, passed down wisdom directly to the next generation. In fact, the Hebrew word for “learning” implies receiving something from another. 

Now for wisdom to catch hold and be of value, we have to be open to receiving it. Too often we now think we know it all. That we have discovered life’s answers. The writer of Proverbs implores his son to prize wisdom though it might “cost all you have.” By “cost all you have,” he doesn’t just mean money; he means we have to surrender our belief that we have all the answers. As one wise person put it to me this week during Bible study, “wisdom might cost us our assumptions, our preconceived notions and our prejudices.”  To learn from the wisdom of others we have to be open to the possibility that someone else might be right.  

The author of Proverbs wrote of the wisdom he is passing to his son, “Do not let my words out of your sight, and keep them within your heart.” In the Hebrew Bible, “heart” was a metaphor for our deepest and truest selves. It was the “gut” as well as the place for love. It’s the place where our experience and intuition meet. It’s the perfect place for wisdom to be housed. 

What makes wisdom useful and relevant and long lasting is not our locking it in our hearts, but our treasuring it and loving others enough to share it. That is what the father in Proverbs 4 is doing. Sharing wisdom with someone he loves. He is hoping that his son will treasure his advice in his heart and then will share it with his children. 

Much of the wisdom we have today - wisdom of faith, of worship, of being a church, and of supporting each other, comes from those who have walked the paths of life before us. On Founder’s Sunday, we honor the intergenerational nature of Bradley Hills and those who founded and continue to lead us with energy, ideas and wisdom. Our church is strong because men and women have committed themselves to building up and sustaining this congregation.

It is gratifying to me to see many children of this church, whose parents shared great wisdom with them, still very active in the life of this community. People like Tom Biggs, who shared wisdom during our word with children, or Amy DeCourt on staff who daily shares wisdom with me. 

And you don’t know how much I appreciate the wisdom you share.  The notes you place in my mailbox, the news clippings, cartoons, and letters you send. The thoughts you share in emails or in spiritual groups. The wisdom of spiritual friends who have been a part of this community longer than I have shapes my life and ministry. It all guides me. 

You share your wisdom because you love with this place. The father in Proverbs shared ideas because he loved his son and hoped that through his son, his wisdom would live on.  We proclaim this week of Epiphany that our heavenly father loves that baby born at Christmas and knows that through his son, his wisdom, grace and love will live on in us.   Bill Gothard wrote that “wisdom is seeing life from God’s point of view.” And because of you, our foundational members, God’s wisdom, the teachings of our faith, the stories of faithful people, and a vision of the church in our world live on at Bradley Hills. 

On Thursday, I drove down to the site of the old Washington Heights Presbyterian Church on Kalorama and Columbia roads in the District. For six years, Bridget and I lived just a few blocks from the place where Clara Bliss started a Sunday school on Easter in 1900 and from where this congregation grew. I used to pass that church every day on the way to work. 

But now I see it in a different light. Its light and the light of the lantern here shines on the legacy of Presbyterians who ventured out to the Bradley Hills section of Bethesda to found a church in 1955 and who made this place of faith their own.  

When we cherish the wisdom of our tradition, we take on a Founder’s heart. The Holy Spirit is present with us in this place. Creating through us a place where we can get wisdom and give wisdom. Challenging us to share our energy, enthusiasm and experience to support Christ’s vision for our world. Comforting us because way down in each of our Founder hearts is the wisdom to answer God’s call.

Thanks be to God. Amen.