Sermon delivered by David Burrow August 18, 2024 - First Congregational Church, Algona, Iowa
Click here for an audio version of this sermon (16 MB - .mp3)
Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another [in] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
We believe in the one God, creator and sustainer of all
things, Father of all nations, the source of all goodness and beauty, all truth
and love.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, our teacher, example and
Redeemer, the Savior of the world.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, God present with us for guidance, for comfort,
and for strength.
We believe in the forgiveness of sins, in the life of love and prayer, and in
grace equal to every need.
We believe in the Word of God contained in the Old and New Testaments as the
sufficient rule both of faith and of practice.
We believe in the church, those who are united in the living Lord for the
purpose of worship and service.
We believe in the reign of God as the divine will realized in human society, and
in the family of God, where we are all brothers and sisters.
We believe in the final triumph of righteousness and in the life everlasting.
Amen.
Wisdom has built her house;
she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her animals;
she has mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servants;
she calls from the highest places in the town,
"You who are simple, turn in here!"
To those without sense she says,
"Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity and live,
and walk in the way of insight."
Two of the three readings we’re using today
are from the lectionary, and it’s interesting with school starting up this week
that those readings today have a theme of wisdom. In Proverbs we read of wisdom
building her house with seven pillars, and Ephesians advises us not to live
foolishly, but rather to be wise. I chose to group those lessons with the gospel
where Jesus is a teacher—instructing us that loving God and loving our neighbor
are the greatest commandments.
Something I pondered when reading through the passage from Proverbs was just
what were those seven pillars of wisdom—what was the foundation on which the
house of wisdom was built?
A bit of googling showed I’m far from the first person to wonder about that.
Apparently theologians have discussed it for centuries, and while no one has a
definitive answer, there have been several suggestions over the years as to what
those seven pillars should be.
For example, a professor from Australia named John Dottard suggests that the
number seven may come from the seven branches of the menorah or candelabra used
in the Hebrew tabernacle, and he thinks a plausible list of the seven pillars of
wisdom might be prudence, discernment, knowledge, discretion, judgment,
understanding, and counsel.
Another scholar named Abbi Mann thinks this verse in Proverbs may be an allusion
seven spirits of God that are mentioned in Isaiah: the spirit of the Lord, the
spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit
of strength, the spirit of knowledge, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.
The majority of scholars note that there is one other place in the Bible where
seven pillars of wisdom are mentioned. The book of James specifies that wisdom
is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, merciful, impartial, and sincere. Today
I want to look at how we can use those pillars to help us live in wisdom.
So first, wisdom is pure. We ask for purity when we pray “lead us not into
temptation”. As a pillar of wisdom, this means knowing the difference between
right and wrong and choosing to do what is right. It’s means avoiding sin and
making holiness a top priority in our lives.
Second, wisdom is peaceable. The Beatitudes say “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.” Loving peace means working to end war
and conflict, but it also means getting along with other people and treating
everyone with respect—even those who think or act differently than we do. God
calls us to live in peace and to work for peace in our world.
Wisdom is also gentle. That respect that we have for others continues in the
characteristic of gentleness. We are called to be considerate, fair, and
equitable—to avoid harming other members of God’s family either physically or
emotionally.
Wisdom is also reasonable. Reasonableness means living with humility and having
a wise perspective of who we are in God’s great world. It means being open and
eager to learning more and being sensible in how we live our lives.
Pillar number five is mercy. We are called to be merciful, just as God has shown
mercy for us. We need to put our faith into action by doing God’s work in the
world. Far too many people are needy in our world, and we are called to show
compassion and lend our help to them.
We are told that wisdom is impartial, and so we are called to be impartial. This
of course means being fair and just with other people, but it also means being
fair and just with God. It means listening to what God is saying to us and
choosing to follow where he leads.
In our reading from Ephesians we’re told not to continue in ignorance, but to
try to understand the will of the Lord. This is another call for us to be
impartial in our dealings with God and following the signals he gives us.
According to James, the last pillar of this house of wisdom is sincerity. When
we are sincere, we live with integrity and care about the truth. It means being
honest with others, and not being hypocritical. It also means being authentic
and genuine about ourselves, instead of projecting an image that doesn’t reflect
who we actually are. Finally being sincere means always looking for the truth
instead of just taking things at face value.
In our gospel today Jesus teaches us to love God with all our heart, soul, and
mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. To be truly sincere in our love for
God and neighbor, we really do need to love with all our heart, all our soul,
and all our mind. It’s that kind of love that makes our faith sincere.
So if we want to live in wisdom and build a house of wisdom in our lives, we
should be pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, merciful, impartial, and sincere.
Those are pillars of wisdom, and they’re also a good foundation for all of us
every day.
(C) 2024 davidmburrow@yahoo.com