Text: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Theme: "A Pound of Knowledge or An Ounce of
Wisdom?"
The
Festival of The Holy Trinity
May
26, 2013
FIRST
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Denton,
Texas
Rev.
Paul R. Dunklau
+In
the Name of Jesus+
Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 At the highest point along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3 beside the gate leading into the city,
at the entrance, she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O people, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 At the highest point along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3 beside the gate leading into the city,
at the entrance, she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O people, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
“The Lord
brought me forth as the first of his works,[c][d]
before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30 Then I was constantly[e] at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30 Then I was constantly[e] at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
Charles
Fox and Norman Gimbel wrote the words, but it was the late Jim Croce -- a
popular singer in the early 1970s -- who made them famous:
Like the pine trees lining the winding road
I've got a name
I've got a name
Like the singing bird and the croaking toad
I've got a name
I've got a name
And I carry it with me like my daddy did
But I'm living the dream that he kept hid
Moving me down the highway
Rolling me down the highway
Moving ahead so life won't pass me by
I've got a name
I've got a name
Like the singing bird and the croaking toad
I've got a name
I've got a name
And I carry it with me like my daddy did
But I'm living the dream that he kept hid
Moving me down the highway
Rolling me down the highway
Moving ahead so life won't pass me by
As I get older, the problem gets worse. I seem to remember faces far better than I
remember names. Someone looks familiar; I've seen them before, but I can't
place their name. And who of us hasn't
had that awkward moment when someone else can remember our name, but we can't
remember their name. Why does knowledge
of someone else's name fail us so often?
Then, the instant you're thinking about this, you realize it is Memorial
Day weekend, and you conclude that people do remember names. All across the country, people will travel to
cemeteries and pause at tombstones and grave markers. They may place flowers. They all will remember the name. At the
Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., what do visitors often do? They take a piece of paper and a pencil. They
hold the paper over the name of their loved one, and they use that pencil to
"shade" that name onto the paper as a remembrance.
On this Memorial Day weekend all across the country, American Christians
-- ourselves included -- will also celebrate the Feast of the Holy
Trinity. It is unique among the
festivals of the church year in that it is the only one that celebrates a
teaching. All the rest celebrate people
and events.
In addition, this occasion, among other things, marks the
beginning of the second half of the church year. During the first half, beginning with Advent
and moving on to Pentecost, we learned about the life of Christ: His coming, His birth in Bethlehem at the
first Christmas, His baptism by John in the Jordan river, His public ministry
including His teachings and His miracles, His triumphant entry into Jerusalem
on that first Palm Sunday, the institution of the Lord's Supper on Maundy
Thursday, His execution on Good Friday, His glorious resurrection on Easter
Sunday, His ascension into heaven forty days later, and His delivery of His
Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost which we observed last Sunday.
Yes, the first half of the church year focuses on the life of
Christ. The second half, beginning
today, focuses more on the life of the Christian. It seeks to "unpack", if you will,
what we learned in the first half of the year and apply it to our lives in the
second. In a manner of speaking, the
first half of the year focuses on our Christian faith while second focuses on
our Christian life. The first half says
"Here's the who and the what: Jesus
Christ and His life". The second
half says "Here's the what now:
Jesus Christ, through the power of His Spirit, working in your life and
mine."
All this begins with the reminder that God has a name. We heard the psalm earlier. It said:
"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your Name in all the earth."
In the Old Testament, the personal name of God is Yahweh -- and that is roughly translated as "I Am." The title for God is Elohim -- and that is roughly translated as Lord.
Taking all of the Bible into account, this Yahweh Elohim, this God the Lord, has been revealed in three
persons: the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Christian tradition has
captured that in one Word: trinity. It means three-in-one and one-in-three. Let me state that differently: we don't believe in three Gods; we believe in
one God revealed in three persons. To
God the Father, the work of creation is attributed -- as we confess in the
Creed: "I believe in God the Father
almighty, maker of heaven and earth."
To God the Son, Jesus Christ, the work of redemption is attributed: we were redeemed, purchased out of the
slavery to sin, through the blood of Christ.
To God the Holy Spirit is attributed the work of bringing us to faith in
Jesus Christ. In addition, the name of
the Holy Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- is that which is watered
upon us in our own Baptism. In your
Baptism, you have the assurance that you belong to this God. Someone else might forget your name, but God
won't. He knows you better than you know
yourself, and, best of all, the Triune God loves you.
So far in this message, I've passed along some information to
you about God as God has been revealed in the Bible. I have tried to impart to you some knowledge.
In this age of American Idol and omnipresent entertainment, I hope it hasn't
bored you. But I can't be sure. As an aside, I have to admit some times: do Christians want a minister who proclaims
the Gospel or a stand-up comic with a Bible in his hand and a voice like James
Earl Jones? Some say that "knowledge is power." Having a body of information at your disposal
can get you where you need or want to be.
We have schools -- public and private -- that seek to impart knowledge
designed to assist a person to be productive members of society and church,
etc. I heard just this past week of some
businesses that are willing to pay considerable sums of money to gain
information and acquire knowledge. A
database with the names and purchasing habits of clients can be passed from one
organization to another for the right price.
The "value" of such information outweighs the risk of breaking
the law.
In my fifty two years of life, what I know about knowledge is
this: the more I know, the more I know what I do not know. This is why I am no longer sure if I want to
become more knowledgeable. Having expertise on this, that, or the other subject
does not necessarily mean I'll have a meaningful life. What I think I'm after is wisdom. In fact, at this point in the game I'd rather
have an ounce of wisdom than a pound of knowledge. Wisdom, for starters, doesn't mean that you
know everything; it doesn't mean that you have two or three post-graduate
degrees and have had your dissertations published. No, wisdom doesn't mean that you know
everything. But it does mean that you
know where to look.
While it might help, I'm not entirely convinced that knowing the
Bible backwards, forwards, inside out and upside down will give you a
meaningful life. You may acquire a good,
working knowledge of various forms of literature in the Bible and its
characters and teachings. But if you're
faced with a situation in your life that baffles you and you don't know what to
do, is it going to help you to know that Methuselah lived to be over 900 years old
or that there were twelve tribes of Israel?
Do you get my point? Give me an
ounce of wisdom over a pound of knowledge.
If you want to get wisdom, get Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God personified
-- that is, in the form of a person. In
his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:
"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."
In the Proverbs passage I read as
our text, wisdom itself speaks. Now, if
Jesus Christ is wisdom personified, then this is the voice of Jesus in the Old
Testament. Jesus, the wisdom of God, says:
I was there when he set the heavens in
place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
Give
me knowledge and information, and I may become learned. Give me Jesus Christ, and I become wise. Knowledge and information by itself is cold,
impersonal, dispassionate, and lonely.
But wisdom is never by itself.
It's always with Jesus Christ.
Thus, there is delight and joy -- for you and me -- in God's presence,
God's world, and God's people.
Yes,
give me an ounce of wisdom over a pound of knowledge. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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