Well, like I said before my name is Greg Hampton. I'm one of the pastors here. We've never met I would love to meet you
I enjoy coffee and the like
So if you would like to grab a beverage sometime
I'd be happy to buy that for you and get to know you hear your story learn a little bit about you last week
We finished up a three-week series called the Trinity and we ended on
The subject of the Holy Spirit. It's a common idea in the scriptures that wisdom comes from God
But more specifically the Holy Spirit is regularly credited with giving wisdom
to all those
That seek for it. We're actually gonna as far as I know right now
We're gonna go through the book of James this summer
So we're gonna find our way back to the subject of wisdom again
And in the beginning of James it talks about God gives wisdom to all those who ask of it
So I thought since we ended with the the Trinity last week that we would jump into a series called
wisdom lit that we would dive into
Wisdom, I've been having this feeling maybe you're having this feeling as well that we're gonna need wisdom now more
than ever as individuals as a society as
neighbors as well as as a church
Last week we had our our lead team with all the different leaders of the different
Volunteer teams here at the church last Sunday
And I was talking to them a little bit about some future ideas or opportunities the church might have but I said we don't just need
good opportunities we need wisdom
Because not every opportunity is the thing you're supposed to do even if it looks
Good and so for the next six weeks
We're gonna be in a series about the wisdom that we find in the scriptures called wisdom
Lit they might already know this but there are different categories of
scriptures like the law and the prophets like poetry and the epistles
The category of wisdom literature includes books like Job Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes in while the Gospels are not technically in the category of wisdom literature
They are category of their own
Last week we talked about how one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to remind us of
Everything that Jesus taught and so it seems to me if we're talking about wisdom
There's no better place to start than with the wisdom of Jesus in the Gospels
And so if you'll grab your Bible, let's go ahead and jump in we're gonna go to Luke
Chapter 6 if you don't have a Bible there are Bibles on the table
There's also Bibles out in the lobby
On the bookshelf you can take one of those and I'll take it home with you if you'd like you can download a Bible from
any of the digital
App stores we're gonna be in Luke chapter 6 it goes Matthew Mark Luke John acts
So you see any of those you're in the right neighborhood
Okay
We have a tradition of giving the scriptures our full attention as they are read during the sermon and you can do that any
Number of ways you can sit as we read or you can join me in standing now
As we read Luke chapter 6
starting in verse 27
It says this but I say to you who are listening
Love your enemies do good to those who hate you bless those who curse you
Pray for those who mistreat you if anyone strikes you on the cheek offer the other also
And from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt
Give to everyone who asks of you and if anyone takes away what is yours do not ask for it back again
Do to others as you would have them do to you
If you love those who love you what credit is that to you for even sinners love those who love them
If you do good to those who do good to you what credit is that to you for even sinners do the same if you
Lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment what credit is that to you even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again
Instead love your enemies do good and lend expecting nothing in return your reward will be great
And you will be children of the most high for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked
Be merciful just as your father is merciful let us pray
God of every tribe every tongue every color and every nation we thank you for your word
Thank you for the scriptures that they have persisted throughout the millennia
That it would become a part of the framework of our faith that our faith would become stronger as we become more like your son Jesus
Amen. Amen. You can all have a seat. Thank you.
Alright. Here's the first thing wisdom is not just being smart
Wisdom is not just being smart sometimes wisdom feels like the exact opposite
Doesn't sound smart to love your enemies to do good things for people that hate you but it is somehow wise
Doesn't sound like a smart idea to bless people that curse you or to turn your other cheek and yet somehow it is wise
If someone steals your coat and you know who stole it it doesn't feel smart to just let it go but somehow it is wise
Wisdom as described by Jesus actually sounds foolish
That's because wisdom is not just being smart
I've talked about this in the past but I think it was worth putting it up here again
Claire will you put up that first white graphic that I have in there
This is how we tend to think of wisdom these three lines you have good and bad you got right and wrong
You've got mature and immature these are the three things that kind of give dimension to how we think of wisdom in our life
When you're just small you're taught the stove is hot bad don't touch
Some of us have done that with our kids right bad hot don't touch
Of course the stove is not actually bad right
There's just good and bad times and ways to use the stove especially if you're a little kid
Then you learn not only is the stove good you find out that there's right and wrong ways to use the stove
You cook food and boil water right
Storing Tupperware inside of it forgetting and then preheating
It's on the wrong end of the spectrum
And then after you learn the difference between bad and good wrong right
You start to move into the area of life where you start to go okay things are mature or they are immature
With the stove you learn that this is the right way to use it this is the right time to use it
But maturity is using the stove for something good in the right way and then cleaning the stove when you're done
Any resemblance to anyone you know is a coincidence and unintentional
Good bad right wrong mature immature doesn't make us wise it makes us smart makes us sensible
When we follow Jesus we find out that the smartest thing isn't always wise according to us it might even feel foolish
But what is actually foolish causes life to cave in this next graphic shows the idea that when we add the Holy Spirit
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit it gives us a dimension to all of these things when we are filled with the Spirit
It can count like a test or act it can push everything out and grow everything all at once but when we are foolish
It can collapse everything so when we are convinced. Oh, this is the right thing to do, but it's actually foolish
We end up having negative consequences, and we wonder why it's because we made that decision based on what we thought was right or wrong
Or good and bad not necessarily on what was truly wise or foolish where it felt foolish to turn the other cheek
We find that retaliation or returning violence for violence actually shrinks our life
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said returning violence for violence multiplies violence adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars
Where it felt foolish to love our enemies we find that hate is what shrivels our hearts
Coretta Scott King the wife of the assassinated Dr. King said hate is too great a burden to bear
It injures the hater more than it injures the hated
Wisdom isn't just being smart by the world's standards it isn't just knowing good from bad right from wrong mature from immature
Wisdom is letting the teachings of Jesus fill us to the full by the power of the spirit and expanding our entire life because of it
Instead of limiting our love to only those that love us
Thanks, Claire, you can clear that
This is where I want to remind us including myself I'm reminding myself following Jesus living from a position of wisdom isn't easy
But I think that Jesus tells us how to at least get started
Let me read that verse again those first two verses
But I say to you who are listening love your enemies do good to those who hate you bless those who curse you pray for those who mistreat you
Love your enemies do good to those who hate you bless those who curse you pray for those who mistreat you love do good bless pray
When we find ourselves in a difficult situation maybe instead of just filtering what we should do through good bad right wrong mature immature
Maybe we can filter our next steps through those four things
Is my next decision motivated and shaped by love
Is it doing good
Is it a blessing is their prayer involved
Because the scripture goes on
He says if you love those who love you what credit is that to you
This is hard for us to hear
If you do good to only those who do good to you what credit is that to you
If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment what credit is that to you he says instead love your enemies
Do good
And lend expecting nothing in return
He ends by saying be merciful
Just as your father is merciful I guess what it all amounts to is that wisdom is somehow grace and mercy combined
Grace is when you give the gift that someone did not deserve
We are grateful for the grace that we receive from God because there's this concept that we don't deserve the love forgiveness
The goodness that he offers us that's grace
But mercy is when you do not give the retribution that is deserved
Mercy is when you do not strike back when you could
Mercy is when you withhold the slap
The curse the violence or the punishment
That by the world standards would be deserved
They all get lost in mercy
And so I'm reminded of the words of James the brother of Jesus
He says mercy triumphs over judgment
Last Monday a new president was sworn into office here in the United States
And it's true of every president that the decisions that they make have real world consequences and outcomes for the people that you know and love
For yourself
Some people are very excited about those potential outcomes while others are completely terrified
I think that Jesus has something to say to us here
Especially to any of us find that we are feeling we have an enemy in the White House
I want us to remember that Jesus is speaking to a crowd full of people that were daily affected by their government
They were daily affected by a government that was their literal enemy
By the time that Jesus was saying these words in Luke and Matthew Rome had ruled over Israel for about 90 years
There was almost no one alive or anyone hearing his words that had ever experienced complete freedom in their lifetime
And in Matthew's version of the same sermon
Right in the middle of these verses we find out that Jesus is at least in part talking directly about the government that they were living under
Jesus says if anyone forces you to go one mile go with them too
He's talking about the military
He's talking about the soldiers from Rome that were occupying their land
We know this because there was a law that said if any Roman soldier wanted you to carry their gear for one mile you were required to do so
They could ask you anytime, any place to pick up their stuff and carry it for them
They could make you go two miles out of the way anytime they wanted
One mile to get wherever they wanted to go and one mile for you to get back
And now Jesus is saying make it four
Think about the last time someone asked you for a ride and be honest
How many of you were excited to go out of your way?
Now imagine that it's someone that you have a legitimate reason to dislike or distrust
Jesus says do more than you are required
Because if you love those who love you what credit is that to us?
He says be merciful just as your father is merciful
Now I don't think that this means that we aren't supposed to speak up about injustice
I think that Jesus has quite a bit to say about the poor, about the weak, about the least
And I don't think that this is Jesus telling someone that they have to stay in an abusive relationship
But I do think that we are conditioned to think that if we know something is good, not bad
If we know that something is right, not wrong
If we know something is mature, not immature
That we can be sure of what is wise and not foolish
But Jesus flips foolishness on its head and tells us that there is more wisdom in loving our enemies
Doing good to those who hate us, blessing those that curse us
And praying for those that mistreat us
Than in our own version of wisdom and what it would tell us
So let me end with this
If you don't know how to accept this kind of wisdom
Especially with what is happening in the world
If you do not know how to accept this kind of wisdom
If you don't know how to begin by loving your enemy
Then start with doing good for someone that has offended you
If you don't think that you can start by doing something good for someone that has offended you or hates you
Then maybe start with blessing someone that has cursed you
And if you don't think that you can start with blessing someone that has cursed you
Maybe start by praying for someone that has mistreated you
But start somewhere
Because wisdom is not just being smart
Wisdom begins with following the teachings of Jesus
Jesus taught that those who follow his teachings can be compared to this
There was a person that built a house
And they built it on rock
And there was another that built their house and built it on sand
And when the winds came, when the waves raged, when the storms beat against each house
One of those houses stood
The house that was built on the teachings of Jesus and following them was the house that survived
I hope that we will be filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit
That we will hear the teachings of Jesus
That we will follow these teachings with wisdom
In every moment, thinking about how to love, how to do good, how to bless, and how to pray
Amen? Amen. Let's pray
Father, we thank you that you are good
Jesus, we thank you that you love
Spirit, we thank you that you lead
Help us to be good
Help us to love
Help us to lead in a way that is wise
And not just by our own standards
In the name of Jesus we pray
Amen