Wisdom in the Streets

September 16, 2012 Proverbs 1:20-33 James 3:1-12 Year B “Wisdom in the Streets” Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost What proverbs have stuck out in your life? Start out by asking people to share proverbs that they grew up with, or may have been important to them…… Proverbs are an important learning tool of our lives, and that wisdom sticks with us forever, we even pass it on to others. The feminine aspect of wisdom When I think of this story of wisdom crying out in the streets, I always think of my grandmother. My grandmother used to speak to me about life night and day. As an eighth grader I would tell her that I don’t wont to hear it any more, let me make my own mistakes and figure it out for myself. After she passed away a year later, felt that was the biggest mistake of my life. she was only trying to help me. Throughout the bible, wisdom is always portrayed as a woman – a wise woman telling the ways of God. The bible says that wisdom or Sophia has always been a partner of God. She was there with God from the beginning, a partner in the creation process. John 1 says in the beginning was the logos, the word and the logos was with God. Logos is a form of wisdom. Wisdom has a place in our faith, but wisdom also has a place in our lives, in the streets. A young man came to talk with me just this week, saying that he was lost and confused and did not know where to turn and did not want to go back to jail. I listened and prayed with him, but I also told him that he needed God in his life and that he needed to start coming to church. His eyes glazed over, as I talked about religion. He was sure that he would be okay. Teaching our young people a sense of respect I don’t remember who I was talking with just this week, as we talked about how our children don’t listen anymore. It seems as if they have forgot the meaning of respect. They don’t respect anyone, they don’t fear anyone, they don’t care about anyone. They are free to say things, that even in my generation I would never say to an adult. This verse of wisdom crying out in the middle of the streets and no one listening was written thousands of years ago, but people say that it is still the same. People say that our children and youth still don’t listen to the words of wisdom. One of the most important things that Sophia, lady wisdom is trying to tell us is that fear of the Lord is the beginning of true wisdom. Wisdom is living life according to God’s will. Fear of the Lord But we have to be careful about what that means. What is fear, and what does it mean to fear the Lord. A man says that he used to play a game with his kids, where he would be a monster. The game would start out as fun. But as he roared with his deep voice and started to make faces at the kids, they would become afraid. The daddy that the loved and adored would become something that might hurt them. They would always start crying before the game ended. One of the first hebrew words in the bible for fear or the lord is indeed paschad. Paschad means terror. When we are sinners and not honoring the willof God – we indeed should be terrified of his wrath. Isaiah 2:10 says go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty. Sometimes I think that there are many of us, Christians who either have not read the bible, or have not seen God in action. The consequences of sin and not obeying the laws of God can be brutal. But there is a deeper fear of God – a spiritual fear. A fear of what God can do. If you have seen the destruction of a storm. The older I get the more afraid of heights I become. I do not like high places. But I wanted to take my nieces and nephew to the Arch while we were in St, Louis. This was the day, the tornado hit Joplin Missouri two years ago. As soon as we got on the elevator and started going up, I knew that was a bad idea. When we got up, the arch was rocking back and forth. They say it is designed to sway with the wind, in order to saty standing. But that did not matter to me. I stood in the corner waiting for this nightmare to end. They jumped up and down, took pictures, climbed on the window, and had a good time. All I could think of, was anything could happen, and I don’t want to be in this thing when it does. There was a man who shared my fear of heights as he went up another tall building with his family. His children had a great time in the glass elevator, with a glass floor. All he felt was fear. Fear at the grand canyon Unlike the fear he felt when he went to the grand canyon, which was equally as high up. There were no glass walls, no gates, no protection. Yet as he saw the beauty and wonder of what God created, all he could do was walk toward it and say wow. The second word for fear in the bible is yara. That is the world used here in proverbs one – it takes into account all three types of fear – terror, trembling and awe. Awe of God The God that we serve is awesome. God is not just in nature, God is everywhere in our lives. God is in our children, in our relationships, in our fearfully made bodies, in our souls. The miracles of God is in our lives. A great modern day prophet, says that the temple of God is our everday lives. That is where the miracles of God abound – just have to be willing to see and recognize. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom – o Lord, let me not forget to tremble – be afraid. Two types of wisdom Just like there is a physical fear and a spiritual fear, there are two types of wisdom. Proverbs 1 says that there is lady wisdom, Sophia who leads us to God and lady folly who leads us to the ways of the world. And there are two responses to the call of wisdom. We can choose to live according to our will, or the will of God. The only real choice is to choose to fear the lord, live in righteousness, be a person of good character, and to accept the wisdom of God. Lady wisdom says that if you don’t, she is going to talk about you. In Acts 17 – Peter says that being a Christian means walking in the fear of God. The new testament goes on to call those who follow Jesus – God fearers. Two ways of experiencing life There was once an optimistic farmer who couldn’t wait to greet each new day with a resounding, "Good morning, God!" He lived near a woman whose morning greeting was more like, "Good God... morning?" They were each a trial to the other. Where he saw opportunity, she saw problems. Where he was satisfied, she was discontented. One bright morning he exclaimed, "Look at the beautiful sky! Did you see that glorious sunrise?" "Yeah," she countered. "It’ll probably get so hot the crops will scorch!" During an afternoon shower, he commented, "Isn’t this wonderful? Mother Nature is giving the corn a drink today!” And if it doesn’t stop before too long," came the sour reply, "we’ll wish we’d taken out flood insurance on the crops!" Convinced that he could instill some awe and wonder in her hardened attitude, he bought a remarkable dog. It could perform remarkable and impossible feats, which, the farmer thought, would surely amaze even his neighbor. So he invited her to watch his dog perform.” Fetch!" he commanded, as he tossed a stick out into a lake. The dog bounded after the stick, walked on the water, and retrieved it. "What do you think of that?" he asked, smiling. "Not much of a dog" she frowned. "Can’t even swim, can he?" Just as optimism & pessimism are diametrically opposed to each other, Like oil & water, Greed & godliness do not mix! In order to pursue the one, we must flee the other. James regard for teachers I said earlier that I was not going to talk about James. Nor relate it to the teachers strike. I think that it is a timely message that James says that most of us should not think about becoming teachers. Because teachers will be held to a higher standard because of what they teach. Teachers teach by using words, and words can close doors in the hearts of our children, or they can open up worlds just by what comes out of their mouths. Teachers are put on a pedestal because of the power they have. For James teachers are just behind apostles and prophets in importance. As I read this I am not a teacher by profession, but a pastor. But I think that James is not talking just about the profession of teachers, but about the role of being a teacher. We all have to teach our children fear of the lord As a matter of fact, I think that he is using the negative to challenge all of us in our roles as teachers. Because if we are a practicing Christian, then we all have something to teach others. But we cant take that role too lightly. We have to teach our children. We can teach them fear. We don’t have to work too hard on that one, fear is a human instinct to protect ourselves from danger and extinction. But we also have to teach our children the meaning of respect. Teach them to respect elders, teach them to respect others, teach them to respect themselves. But the greatest lesson that we need to teach our children is to learn to have a sense of awe and wonder for God’s amazing world. Einstein said that if you have never stopped in life to have a sense of wonder, then you are not alive. A teacher opens up the door to wonder Our children spend so much time out here in these streets, caught up in drama- they never stop to take the time to look at God’s great creation and have a sense of awe and wonder. Being a great teacher, means opening up that door to God’s world for them. Exposing them to things that make them stop and think and realize just how great God is. When we open up the door or awe and wonder for them – we open up the door to God in a way that they can listen.