Wisdom Hunt

I can ask you a question.

If you were going in search of wisdom,

where would you go?

There's one of Aesop's fables that's told,

you've probably heard it before,

about a father and a son on their way to market with a donkey.

And they set off,

and it's not that long before they meet someone on the way.

And somebody says to them,

you fool.

So a donkey, what are you doing walking along with a piece of rope?

A donkey is to be ridden.

Why don't you ride it?

So they both shrug their shoulders.

The father picks up the son and sits him on the donkey.

They walk for a bit longer, and they meet somebody else.

And this time they scowl at the father,

and they say, you're a bad parent.

He says, how are you bringing up your son?

I mean, he's just going to be encouraged to be lazy.

You should be on the donkey.

He should be walking.

Father shrugs his shoulders, lifts his son off,

climbs on, and they ride on a bit further.

Until that is, they meet somebody else,

who says, you're a really, really, really cruel parent.

I mean, what are you doing making your son walk all this way

while you have the luxury of sitting on the back of the donkey?

So this time, the father turns to the son,

and he picks him up, and he sits him on the donkey with him,

and then they ride on.

Until that is, they meet somebody else,

who then says, how cruel can you possibly be

to that poor animal, two of you,

riding on one donkey?

So at that point, the father and the son get off the donkey.

They somehow, and I don't quite know how,

lie it on its side, and they tie its feet together.

They find a very strong stick,

and they thread it through the donkey's legs,

and then they pick it up,

and they walk along, one behind the other,

carrying the pole on their shoulders

with this donkey kind of swinging between them.

Well, the donkey himself isn't that impressed

by what's going on by now.

So he starts to wriggle and try and escape,

and just as they're coming into the town

where the market is taking place,

people begin to laugh at this sight

until the donkey, in trying to get out of it,

actually breaks free, falls off the pole,

into a river, and drowns.

Who laughed?

It's not a true story,

but it's a story that's been told over the centuries

to, I think, essentially try and make the point

that if you try to please everyone,

you'll end up pleasing no one.

But I think there's an even more fundamental point

that that story makes.

In fact, two points that I want to think about

over these next few minutes,

and they're very closely related.

The first one is simply that

when it comes to wisdom,

there's plenty of it around.

When it comes to advice givers,

there is no shortage of them in the world.

And for as long as that story has been told,

and far longer than that,

indeed, as long as there have been human beings

on this planet,

there have been as many claims to wisdom

as there have been human beings on this planet.

There's loads of it.

So where do you go when you need some wisdom?

When you've got a decision to make,

whether it's a little one or a big one,

where do you go?

That phrase, too much information,

is kind of normally used in certain different contexts.

But, you know, we have too much information now

because I think in this generation,

I'm referring to myself,

to my own memory of growing up,

I think the biggest cultural change

for our generation

has been, of course, the birth of the internet.

Now, I can remember when there was a time

that if you said you were going to go online,

it meant that you'd go into your,

sit at a desk,

and you'd turn on the dial-up thing,

would come on.

I can't impersonate a dial-up modem,

but you remember those?

And you'd wait,

and then you'd go online.

Then, of course,

came broadband,

and then devices got smaller and smaller.

So if I ask the question,

where do most of us go for our wisdom,

I think,

without wanting to sound like

I'm making presumptuous judgments

about everybody else,

but I suspect I know the answer to that question.

That's where we go.

Yeah, it might be a slightly bigger device,

but that's where we go.

You see, the big difference,

there's always been loads of wisdom

or claims to wisdom around,

but the big difference now

is that we have access to it.

Our fingertips within seconds.

It's too easy.

Apparently, it's reckoned

that every second of every hour,

there are no fewer

than 40,000 Google searches made.

So is that where we go for our wisdom?

Well,

I want to think about that question.

When you have a decision to make,

where do you go for your wisdom?

See, in our reading from Colossians,

there's a very profound awareness of this,

that just because there's loads of claims

to wisdom out there,

not all of it,

in fact, an awful lot of it,

is bad wisdom.

Do not be taken captive,

says Paul,

by hollow arguments.

By hollow philosophies.

We need to be very, very careful

when it comes to wisdom

as to what it is

that we're actually digesting.

And I think it's there

that we find

perhaps that deeper truth

that actually lies deep inside

that old fable from Aesop

about the donkey.

That we are all,

as human beings,

in search of wisdom.

Paul says

that true wisdom,

as that treasure,

godly wisdom,

is hidden

in Christ.

Now, how are we to make sense of that?

If we believe in a gospel

that says that God loves you and me,

and wants us to know

that he loves you and me,

and that God loves us so much

and wants us to know him so much

that he puts on human flesh

and comes into the world

in a human being,

Jesus,

lives,

dies,

is crucified,

is dead,

is buried,

is raised.

That God

who is on our side,

that God

whose desire

is to make himself

known to us,

how then

do we reconcile

all of that

with this claim

that Paul says

that wisdom

is hidden

in Christ.

I mean,

you know,

the God

that we read of

in the gospel,

the God of Jesus Christ,

is not a God

who hides behind a corner.

He's not some esoteric,

mysterious,

well,

secretive sort of God.

So,

how do we make sense

of that claim,

then,

that wisdom,

the treasures of wisdom,

as Paul puts it,

is somehow

hidden away

in Christ?

I think the only way

we can make sense of it

is something like this.

Think of that old picture

of Christ

standing by the door.

And he's standing

outside of that door,

but the handle

that is used

to open the door

cannot be seen

because the handle

is on the inside.

In other words,

God never forces

himself upon us.

If we want to know

God through Jesus,

we have to open

the door

and let him in.

So,

when Paul is talking

about the wisdom

of God

being hidden

in Christ,

I think it makes

a statement

not about God

wanting to purposefully

and deliberately

withhold his wisdom

and his truth

from us,

but rather it's

a reference

to the sort of things

that can go on

in our own lives

that make us

resist

and therefore

conceal ourselves

off from the wisdom

of God.

What sort of things

might happen

in our own lives?

What sort of things

about us

might conceal

wisdom from us?

Well,

I think of a number

of things.

When I take a look

at my humanity,

I think of a number

of things

that actually

cause me

to be concealed

from the wisdom

of God.

Not because God

wants to conceal

himself from me,

but because of

the way I misuse

my own human freedom,

I somehow prevent

myself from accessing

it.

One thing is

impatience.

You know,

part of the culture

within which we live,

the culture of having

information at our

fingertips,

is that we want

wisdom in a

soundbite way.

We want quick

answers.

You put in any

question to,

you know,

on Google,

and very quickly,

usually before you've

even finished putting

it in,

it comes up with

suggestions of the

question,

but then it will

isolate quick

soundbite answers

to that question.

Now,

that may be okay

if you want to

know where's the

nearest supermarket

or whatever,

but it's not so

good when we're

asking deep

searching questions.

And I'd like to

suggest that we've

become accustomed

to having so much

information at the

ready,

that when it comes

to wisdom,

we want and we

actually expect

soundbite answers

to deep

searching questions.

And this is why

church leaders often

come unstuck in

public when asked

profound questions,

because there is an

assumption that

somehow we will be

able to provide

soundbite answers

to deep

searching human

questions.

Truth.

The truth of God.

is profound.

And whilst sometimes

it might be possible

to give a snap answer,

very often we can't.

And it's very easy

for us just to write

it off and say,

well, it can't be

wisdom then if it's

not soundbite.

But, you know,

we all know that

about ourselves,

that life is complex.

We are complex.

Perhaps sometimes

one of the things

that causes us

to shut ourselves

off from the

wisdom of God,

such that it is

essentially concealed

from us,

is because we're

too impatient

and we expect

wisdom to come

fast.

Another thing

can be that

when we do

hear God's

wisdom,

whether it's

reading from the

Bible,

whether it's

maybe somebody

that has prayed

about a situation

and we've talked

to them and they

share what they

think God might

be saying to us,

one of the things

that may cause us

to resist that,

that may make

that wisdom

hidden,

apparently concealed

from us,

is that we frankly

just don't like

the sound of

what we hear.

And sometimes

we can give up

on what we

regard as Christians,

as God's word,

the Bible,

because it doesn't

make for comfortable

reading.

The other thing

that goes kind of

hand in hand

with that

can be that

what we read

in the Bible

and what Christian

tradition would

say to us

can seem to us

to be somewhat

weird.

There's some

weird stuff in there.

Weird because

it's so

counter-cultural.

When the Bible

will say certain

things about

how we should

live our lives

and how we

should not

live our lives

that we don't

like the sound

of, one,

because it makes

us feel uncomfortable

because it's

challenging,

but two,

it seems weird

in the culture

that we live in.

Weird because

it contradicts

and anything

goes culture.

weird because

it very often

will fly directly

in contradiction

with what

everybody else

around us

will be saying

and doing

is right.

Now,

the series

that we're

looking at

at the moment

on wisdom

is actually

called

Growing Older

and Wiser.

And we need

to be really

clear about this

that in the

Bible,

whilst culture,

our own

contemporary culture

may simply

seem to

apparently

prize only

youth,

biblically,

the opposite

was the case.

It was

older age

that was

respected.

To live

older,

to come of

age,

denoted

wisdom.

And we need

to rediscover

that value,

but we need

to understand

that value

properly.

because

growing older

and wiser

do go

hand in

hand

within

scripture.

But we

need to

understand

that

wisdom

is not

something

that in

the Bible

comes by

default

simply

by getting

older.

It isn't.

You see,

as long as we're

in this world,

we're all

growing older.

We're all

older than

when we walked

in this

morning.

but we

don't

necessarily

grow

wiser.

Age is

not

necessarily

accompanied

with

wisdom

by

default.

The point

in

scripture

is that

wisdom

does go

hand in

hand and

will go

hand in

hand with

age if

we root

ourselves

in the

wisdom

of God.

But that

is something

that takes

time.

And I

think this

is one of

the most

wonderful,

profound,

and joyous

things about

being a

Christian.

And I

don't say

this glibly

or lightly,

okay,

in case it's

going to

sound that

way,

but actually

growing older

is something

to look

forward to.

It is.

It is because

it means that

we become

more and

more rooted

in God

if that's

our desire.

Which means

those things

that may seem

weird and

strange and

therefore

isoteric and

obscure when

we're younger

actually make

sense as we

mature and

get older.

Now I

know now

in midlife

there are

things that

when I was

a teenager

made no

sense to

me whatsoever

in the

Bible.

I was

tempted to

write them

off completely.

And I

can't put a

time and date

but I know

that gradually,

gradually,

many of those

things that

seemed weird

and concealed

to me,

out of reach

when I was

younger,

now make

an awful

lot of

sense.

Likewise,

there are also

things that I

read of in

scripture that

still seem

weird and

I still

struggle with.

Perhaps not

quite as weird

as they once

seemed.

But I look

forward to the

day and my

hope and my

prayer is that

if I can

manage to

continue to

be rooted in

Christ then

God will help

me understand

that more and

more.

You see,

being a

Christian is a

lifelong process

and that's the

exciting thing

about it.

Growing

older can mean

growing wiser

if we plant

ourselves in the

right place.

I've got an

onion here.

Does anybody

like onions?

I love onions.

I love the

smell of onions

cooking but

there's one

thing I hate

about them and

it's cutting them

up.

I can't stand

it.

Why?

Because it

always makes me

cry even more

than the first

time I saw

E.T.

And I read

recently that

there is a

reason why

onions can

make you cry

or rather why

some onions can

make you cry

more than others

why they vary in

their strength.

There are lots of

different factors

apparently but one

of the key things

has to do with the

type of soil within

which it grows

and apparently it's

to do with the

sulfur level in

the soil.

The higher the

level of sulfur

in the soil the

more the onion

will extract as it

grows as nature's

way of protecting

itself from

insects.

And so therefore

if you have a

very sulfur rich

soil and you

grow onions in

it then that's

going to be more

pungent.

Somebody somewhere

has managed to

find a way of

growing onions in

an almost sulfur

free soil and

apparently you can

virtually eat them

like you can an

apple.

Don't know about

that.

But it's an

interesting thought

isn't it?

That the thing

that defines its

quality, the

strength of this

thing, this

onion, is

defined not so

much by the

onion itself but

the thing within

which it grows.

Now I put this

question to you

once more.

Where do you go

for your wisdom?

And if growing

older is something

that we dread and

that we fear and

we think is a

negative thing we

need to think

again.

Because it could

just be that that

fear has to do

with putting those

roots in the

wrong place.

If we put them

in the right

place, and I'm

not oversimplifying

things here and I

make no apology if

it sounds like I

am, but if we

put those roots in

the right place,

whatever age we

are, it means that

as we look to our

life ahead of us,

then every bit can

be seen as an

opportunity to grow

more deeply in

Christ.

Christ.

It means as we

come to know his

word more, as we

come to pray more,

as we hang out with

other Christians more,

not in a cozy

ghetto kind of way,

but in a way that

just takes seriously

the fact that we can

learn from each

other.

If we can do this

kind of stuff more,

if we can root

ourselves more deeply

in him, then

wisdom, wisdom is

the thing that will

no longer seem

concealed and hidden,

but something that

actually will make

sense because our

own resistance to

it drops.

Apparently, when he

built his first

factory, Henry Ford

contracted, I forget

his name, but he

was reckoned to be

at his time one of

the greatest

electrical engineers

in the world to

install the

generators within

that factory.

Everything was

going great.

great.

The Ford business

was growing great

guns until one day

the factory ground

to a halt.

Why?

Because the

generators had

broken down.

Henry Ford put his

best engineers on to

the job to try and get

these things started and

up and running again,

but they just couldn't.

Every day they were

losing a fortune because

production had stopped.

eventually he contacted this

electrical engineer who

had designed, built and

installed these generators

and said that we can't

manage this.

Can you please come

yourself personally and

tend to it?

This engineer came in and

for a couple of hours he

was just tinkering around

until he then flicked a

switch and everything was

up and running again.

Ford was back in

production.

A few days later, Henry

Ford received an invoice

from this engineer for

$10,000.

Now, this was a long time

ago, so $10,000 was

quite a lot of money for a

couple of hours' work.

And so, although he was not

exactly poor, Henry Ford

wrote back and questioned

the invoice and said,

thank you for helping us

out, but I fail to

understand how tinkering

around for a couple of

hours can be valued at

$10,000.

Could you send me an

itemized invoice?

A couple of days later, he

received the itemized

invoice and it said

this, cost for tinkering

around, in inverted

commas, for a couple of

hours, $10.

Knowing where to tinker

around, $9,990.

There's plenty of wisdom

around.

There's plenty of people

longing to dish it out.

And it takes a fraction of

a second to lay our hands

on it.

But as Paul says, a lot of

it is hollow stuff.

If we seriously want to

grow and to grow in

wisdom, we need to know

where to look.

So as we come to pray, I

want to come back to that

question and I want to

put it to every single

one of us and I put it to

myself as well.

As a practical challenge,

where do we go for

wisdom?

What might we be able to

do?

What might we be able to

set in motion?

Starting from now, by way

of the way in which we

search out wisdom.

Now that's a purposefully

open-ended question and

there's a number of things

that we might do.

But here's some ideas.

Maybe starting from today,

we might resolve that we're

going to set aside more

time each day to pray in a

systematic way.

It may not be a long,

long time, but there's a

thought.

Maybe we feel that, and

again, I don't want to go

on the kind of guilt-mongering

crusade or anything like

that, but maybe, maybe if we

need to spend a little bit

more time just reading the

Bible.

That doesn't mean reading

chapters and chapters and

chapters, it may be just a

small bit, but at least a

small bit meditatively in a

focused way each day.

Maybe the practical step for

you might be to join a home

group, to get together with

other Christians midweek and

to discuss the sort of things

that we hear presented here on

a Sunday morning in a bit

more depth and detail during

the week.

It might even be that you

come along to this place

maybe once every four, six

weeks or so, and maybe,

maybe this could be God

saying to you, just come a

little bit more.

Look, coming to church is not

what makes you a Christian.

It's not.

Clive and I say this over and

over again.

Coming to church, being a

Christian is not about coming

to church, and coming to

church is not what makes you a

Christian.

But when we root ourselves

more deeply in Christ, then

we find that the very soil

within which he wants us to

take root is the very thing

that we take root in.