 |
|
|
Redford Aldersgate
United Methodist Church
Sermon
Today, we are beginning a summer
sermon series on the Book of Proverbs. I was inspired by our summer
family choir musical, “Camp Wise-N-Up” to look at this important book,
because this musical is based on Proverbs. Like most of you, I’m
familiar with bits and pieces of this book, but I’ve really never
preached on it, so this is new territory for me. There’s so much to this
book, that we can’t cover the whole thing, even if we look at it all
summer. So we will take verses that relate to special days and those
that are covered in the musical, plus a few more that I picked out. But
I recommend that you spend some time with the book on your own this
summer. Get up a little early and go out in your yard with your morning
coffee or tea and read a few proverbs and ponder them a bit to start
your day. Because there’s something here for everyone.
In the introduction to Proverbs in my Student Bible, it says that
Proverbs is to wisdom like Sesame Street is to the alphabet. It teaches
you the basics of wisdom and how to live life with skill, but it does it
with a collection of one-liners that moves quickly and apparently
illogically from one subject to another. Just like Sesame Street may
begin with a puppet group singing something like the Beetle’ song “Let
it Be” while a big letter B comes on the screen. A few minutes later,
after some Oscar the Grouch or Kermit the Frog have done some things,
The Count counts some bees. Meanwhile, Big Bird has been in and out
doing various things. In one sense it all seems unrelated but the kids
learn B is pronounced “b” and they’ve picked up some good pointers about
how to get along with people. Like Sesame Street, Proverbs may not seem
to be very organized, but there is an overall objective behind its
disorder. I agree with the writers of the Introduction in my Bible when
they say, “If you spend enough time in Proverbs, you will gain a subtle
and practical understanding of life.” So that’s what I hope we will do
this summer: gain a practical understanding of life; gain some wisdom;
learn how to live life with skill.
Our worship setting was for Pentecost Sunday, but I think it is rather
appropriate for the study of Proverbs as well. The dove is a symbol of
the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has also been seen as the Wisdom
part of God. So the wisdom coming down to us, gives us light in many,
many different ways... hence all the lighted candles on the altar. So
let’s begin at the beginning ... a good place to begin don’t you think?
And see what “light” this book of wisdom can shed on our lives.
Proverbs 1:1-7
The first few verses tell us right away that there’s something in here
for everyone. If you aren’t all that smart - that is, if you are
“simple” - then this book will teach you shrewdness; if you are young,
it will give you knowledge and prudence; if you are already wise, then
you will still gain in learning; and if you are already able to discern
lots of things, still this book will help you acquire skill. So, if you
graduated at the top of your class, this book is for you. If you didn’t
even go to school, this book is for you. And the place to begin in order
to gain wisdom and knowledge is to have “fear of the Lord.” For The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Now we are not too accustomed
today to talking about the “fear of the Lord.” That phrase reminds us of
old time hell, fire and damnation preaching and preachers like
Jonathan
Edwards and his famous “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon.
That kind of preaching gave people the idea that God was dangling us
over Hell’s fire. And if we don’t straighten up, he’ll drop us in. I
have never preached a sermon like that, and I never intend to do so.
That kind of image of God is a long way from the image I see Jesus
teaching about. So since we don’t think of God that way, we don’t talk
much about having fear of God. Instead, I always preach love God, not
fear God.
However, I can’t preach on Proverbs and not talk about the fear of the
Lord, because it’s all over the place in Proverbs. I counted at least 19
times where “the fear of the Lord” is mentioned in Proverbs. And I may
have missed some. There are some whole chapters about it. And it
promises lots of good things to those who “fear the Lord.” Things like
gaining knowledge of God, adding length to life, being able to walk
upright, having a secure fortress, the fountain of life, even gaining
wealth, honor and praise are promised to those who “fear the Lord.” So
fear of the Lord must be a good thing. The problem is that we usually
think of fearing things that are bad for us... like we are afraid of
people who will hurt us, or things that will harm us or bring us pain.
But try to put that kind of fear out of your mind for a minute. Instead,
think of a person that you highly respect and is super good to you.
Perhaps you have had a teacher that you think is the greatest. They made
their class so interesting that you were inspired every time you went to
class. Everything is just wonderful about them. You thought they were
fantastic. Have you ever had a teacher like that? ... If not a teacher,
how about a coach or a boss or family member that you really respect.
Hopefully all of us know of at least one person that we highly respect.
When you respect someone very highly, there is also a sense that you
fear them because you don’t want to disappoint them or hurt them. So,
when you think about doing something that you know they would disapprove
of, you are afraid, because you know they wouldn’t like it. So you don’t
do it. You fear them ... not because they would hurt you necessarily,
but because your doing that particular action would hurt them. And
because you love them and respect them so much, you decide you won’t do
that thing which would hurt them. That’s the kind of fear that Proverbs
is talking about having for the Lord. It is a fear that has its roots in
reverence and awe. It is a fear that comes out of great love, not
concern for our own comfort or safety. So keep the words reverence and
awe in your mind as we think about fear of the Lord. That’s what it’s
about is reverence and awe.
To have this kind of fear which is the beginning of knowledge, it seems
to me that there are some important things to realize. First of all, we
need to realize how great God is, especially in comparison to how small
we are. Sometimes we only see the world from our perspective. But we
need to remember there is a larger perspective from which God sees. For
example, let’s take this picture of one of our graduates today, Jen
Hartwig.
I love this picture. It’s been on my computer for several years
now. I put it there the year Jenny was my prayer pal. I drew the card
that had her name on it and I prayed for her every day for that year. I
put this picture on my computer to remind me to pray for her each day.
And I just left it there, because I thought it was so cute... and to
remind me to continue to pray for her. But let’s just use this picture
as an example to remind us how great God is. Now here is Jenny with the
basketball balanced on her feet. Pretty clever. She’s a beautiful, tall,
talented girl. But as we think of her in that whole basketball court,
she doesn’t seem quite as big does she? Actually, that basketball court
is in the field house at U of M Dearborn Campus. Compared to that
campus, she’s a bit smaller, isn’t she? And that campus isn’t so big
when you compare it to the city of Dearborn
... or to the state of
Michigan ... or to the North American continent ... or to the Western
Hemisphere ... or to the earth
... or the Milky Way
... I wasn’t quite
sure where to put that arrow in this picture. But actually God knows
where that arrow is that is pointing to Jen. And even from God’s great,
awesome perspective, God knows where to look in the universe, in the
earth, in the western hemisphere, in the North American continent, in
that peninsula surrounded by those Great Lakes that we call Michigan, in
that city of Dearborn, in that campus, in that Field House ... To find
that cute girl with the basketball balanced between her feet. God knows
exactly where she is. It kinda blows your mind to think of seeing things
more from God’s perspective. It makes you feel rather small ... but yet
really important too ... because even though we are so small, God knows
us and cares about us and has made us in an incredible way. Instead of
zooming out on this picture, let’s zoom in
and think about the greatness
of God and how God planned and created us in such a special way. Here’s
Jen looking cute in her basketball outfit, but let’s zoom in and get a
look at her pretty face with teeth that chew, a nose that smells and
eyes that see. It’s amazing how the human body is formed, with each part
doing its own special function. The scripture says that God knows all
the hairs in our head. But it’s not just the number of hairs we have,
God knows about everything that makes us who we are.
So let’s zoom in
farther and look into Jen’s eye, and see the amazing retina at the back
of the eye. And the cells in that eye that reach out to touch one
another and then the protein
Melanopsin.
They found that this tiny
protein within the cell absorbs light and triggers a biochemical cascade
that allows the cells to signal the brain about brightness. Through
these signals, the body is synchronized to the rhythm of the rising and
setting of the sun. This rhythm then controls such things as
the
person’s alertness, sleep hormone production, body temperature and organ
functions. It’s amazing what you find out when you search the Internet
for a picture of eye cells! But even more amazing is that God created it
all to work that way! Jen, I bet you didn’t know all that was in that
picture did you? Here I’ve been praying for you for years using that
picture and I didn’t realize it until I zoomed in!
There is so much we don’t know... especially about God. God is so great
and so mysterious that people have struggled since the beginning of time
to figure out why things are like they are. One of the biggest questions
we have is about the existence of evil. And if God created evil. I
received this e-mail some time ago, but when I cleaned off my desk this
week, I found it and again was intrigued with the thoughts expressed in
it. I have to read it because it gets a bit complicated.
A university professor challenged his students with this question: “Did
God create everything that exists?” A student bravely replied, “Yes, he
did.” The professor asked again, rather sarcastically, “God created
everything?” “Yes sir,” the student replied. With that, the professor
said rather pompously, “If God created everything, then God created evil
since evil exists. And since our works define who we are, then God is
evil.” The professor then went on to boast that he had proven once more
that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question
professor?” “Of course,” replied the professor. The student stood up and
asked, “Professor, does cold exist?” The professor replied, “Of course
it exists. Have you never been cold?” The other students in the class
snickered at the young man’s question. The young man replied, “In fact
sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we
consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Everybody or object is
susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy. Heat is what makes
a body, or matter, have or transmit energy. Cold does not exist. We have
created this word to describe how we feel if we do not have enough
heat.”
The student continued. “Professor, does darkness exist?” The professor
responded, “Of course it does.” The student replied, “Once again you are
wrong sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the
absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can
use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the
various wavelengths of each color. But you cannot measure darkness. How
can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of
light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by people to
describe what happens when there is not enough light present.”
Finally, the young man asked the professor. “Sir, does evil exist?”
Again, the professor said, “Of course, as I have already said, we see it
every day. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is
in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.” To this
the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not
exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like
darkness and cold, a word that people have created to describe the
absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what
happens when people do not have enough of God’s love present in their
hearts. It’s like the cold that comes when there is not enough heat or
the darkness that comes when there is not enough light.” The professor
was quiet. The young man’s name was ... Albert Einstein.
I don’t really know if this was a genuine conversation, but it has a lot
of thought behind it. There is much we don’t know about God ... but we
know that when we don’t have enough of God’s love in our hearts, there
is a void that is worse than cold or darkness. We need the light of the
wisdom that begins in our hearts when we fear the awesome, mysterious,
holy Lord.
God is great. We are small. We can never fully comprehend the greatness
and majesty of God. But the second important thing we need to realize is
that this great, awesome God had a purpose for creating us. This great,
awesome God did not make a mistake in creating us. We are the handiwork
of God and God expects us to use the particular talents we have been
given. Things may not always work out the way we plan, but if we keep
using the resources we have in a wise way, we will be accomplishing what
God wants us to do. The three graduates that grew up in this church,
have been in lots and lots of plays. One that came to mind as I was
thinking about this point was when Robert Hartwig was “The Other
Wiseman.” Here he is with his wise “father” -Ricky Higgins.
This story,
is of course fictional, but it has a wonderful point. Artaban starts out
to meet the other wisemen who are going to go pay homage to a new king
that was being born. Artaban has several gifts he intends to give the
new king. However, on the way, several things happen, first to cause him
to miss the others and then to miss the Christ child. But all along the
way, he shows compassion and love to those in need. He spends his life
searching for his King. Finally, the play ends with him in Jerusalem at
the time of the crucifixion. He has one gift left which perhaps he could
use to save Jesus. But, instead, he uses it to free a slave girl. There
he is, at the end of his life, feeling like a total failure. He has used
all his gifts and he never got to give them to his beloved King. But as
he dies, he hears a voice saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant,
when you did it unto the least of these, you’ve done it unto me.” This
very wise man used the gifts he had. It may have seemed small and
insignificant to him, but not to God. So while God is so great and so
awesome (zoom pictures out to the Milky Way again), still God cares and
knows what each person is doing (zoom back in to picture of Julie being
painted).
I r
eally wanted a picture of Julie in the play that she wrote
back in High School. She wrote a wonderful play titled “In My Shoes”
which helped us to realize the plight of poor people. I know God was
very pleased about the way she used her talents on that one. I know God
hasn’t forgotten it, but I couldn’t find the picture. The picture I
found of Julie was this one on a Teen-Serve Week several years ago. And
I know God was pleased with that too. She was a good sport, as a college
student, to put up with antics of Jr. and Sr. High kids who had more fun
painting her than they did painting the house that they were supposed to
paint. But they got the house painted and learned a lot about sharing
God’s love in the process.
God, the awesome, mysterious, majestic God,
(zoom out) of the universe and all the galaxies knows and is pleased
when (zoom in to a picture of Michael) plays those wonderful music
pieces to bring us all inspiration and helps us to praise.
Our God (zoom
out) is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power
and love. Holy, holy, holy our heart, our heart knows how to say to you,
you are holy Lord (zoom in to the picture of the congregation at
worship.)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Today, we honor
graduates who have finished one aspect of their life. But each of them
is beginning a new aspect. Just as each of us finished living yesterday
and are beginning a new day today. Let’s make it a Good Beginning.
Let’s
start it by realizing the greatness of God. Let’s live in awe and
reverence of a God who loves us and who created us to show love to
others and make this world a little better place. It’s a good beginning.
Let’s fear the Lord.
.