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Text: “ 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.
And the favor of God was upon him.
...49 And he said to them, 'Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’” (, )
49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.
And the favor of God was upon him.
49 And he said to them, 'Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’”
One of the strange
One of the strange changes in our culture’s spirituality that I think has gone practically unnoticed is where we look for great ‘wisdom.’
In our culture, if you picture the person who symbolizes truly great wisdom, who would you picture?
For many people, I suspect that they picture the eastern mystic off meditating on a mountain top in some incredibly remote area.
Those who need wisdom for a particularly difficult decision, for example, are pictured as making the long, arduous trek up the mountain to be able to consult this wise man and, hopefully, benefit from his great wisdom.
How did someone like that, completely isolated from anyone else, pondering within himself strange questions like, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
become the archetype of great and deep wisdom?
What if the place to go to find such wisdom wasn’t a remote mountain top?
What if the place to go for such deep wisdom was church?
What if the path to such wisdom wasn’t searching within yourself, pondering unanswerable questions?
What if the path was God’s Word?
What if, instead of consulting an aged man, isolated from civilization, the One to seek was a pre-teen boy in God’s Temple?
That’s not where you and I look for great wisdom, though.
Our readings today challenge us to consider where we look for wisdom.
And this is not an academic exercise.
It’s not simply a philosophical debate.
Real lives are being destroyed.
Our culture has gone further and further down the path of its own wisdom for the past 60 years, unchecked by any higher wisdom— any higher standard of right and wrong.
And that path is literally littered with the bodies of the victims of that movement.
And this is not an academic exercise.
It’s not simply a philosophical debate.
Real lives are being destroyed.
Our culture has gone further and further down the path of its own wisdom for the past 60 years, unchecked by any higher standard of right and wrong.
And that path is literally littered with the bodies of the victims of that movement.
Let’s take just one example: cohabitation.
Living together without being married has become the norm for so many.
It’s the natural next step as a romantic relationship progresses.
To even raise an eyebrow at it, to question the wisdom of it, is to be hopelessly old fashioned, ignorant, and out of touch.
And yet,
[researchers consistently find h]igher rates of violence among cohabiting couples....
For example, using Canadian homicide data, Wilson (1993, 1995) found that women in cohabiting relationships were at a greater risk of being killed by their partners than were women who were married.
In fact, Shackelford (2001) found that women in cohabiting relationships were nine times more likely to be killed by their partners than were women who were in marital relationships.
(“Cohabiting Violence” http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/crime/domestic-violence/cohabiting-violence/
When we talk about ‘wisdom’ today, it’s not a philosophical debate.
Real people are being hurt— ironically, the very people that our world’s ‘wisdom’ claims to be most concerned with helping.
The sexual revolution claims to be freeing women from the oppression they’ve experienced for centuries.
In practice, women and children have been the greatest victims of the sexual revolution.
Countless lives are being destroyed.
That’s not where you and I look for great wisdom, though.
You don’t look there, in part, because you don’t like what that wisdom tells you.
Earthly wisdom says to follow your heart.
Godly wisdom— God’s Word— tells you that the heart is deceitful above all things.
Still, you and I prefer to look anywhere but to the Church— anywhere but God’s Word— for wisdom.
You don’t look there, in part, because you don’t like what that wisdom tells you.
Earthly wisdom says to follow your heart.
Godly wisdom— God’s Word— tells you that the heart is deceitful above all things.
Earthly wisdom asks questions like, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
Godly wisdom— God’s Word— tells you that there is none who is righteous— no, not one.
Earthly wisdom tries to recast death as part of the “circle of life.”
Godly wisdom— God’s Word— tells you that it is the enemy, it is the wages of your sin.
You don’t look there, in part, because you don’t like what that wisdom tells you.
Earthly wisdom says to follow your heart.
Godly wisdom— God’s Word— tells you that the heart is deceitful above all things.
Earthly wisdom asks questions like, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
Godly wisdom— God’s Word— tells you that there is none who is righteous— no, not one.
The message that Christ has given His Church to preach
Earthly wisdom tries to recast death as part of the “circle of life.”
Godly wisdom— God’s Word— tells you that it is the enemy, it is the wages of your sin.
Really, should we be surprised that our culture has set up alternative sources of what it calls wisdom?
Christ has given His Church a message to shout from the mountain tops.
But, unfortunately, that message is foolishness to the world.
And this is not an academic exercise.
It’s not simply a philosophical debate.
Real lives are being destroyed.
Our culture has gone further and further down the path of its own wisdom for the past 60 years, unchecked by any higher standard of right and wrong.
And that path is literally littered with the bodies of the victims of that movement.
Let’s take just one example: cohabitation.
Living together without being married has become the norm for so many.
To even raise an eyebrow at it is to be hopelessly old fashioned, ignorant, and out of touch.
And yet,
[researchers consistently find h]igher rates of violence among cohabiting couples....
For example, using Canadian homicide data, Wilson (1993, 1995) found that women in cohabiting relationships were at a greater risk of being killed by their partners than were women who were married.
In fact, Shackelford (2001) found that women in cohabiting relationships were nine times more likely to be killed by their partners than were women who were in marital relationships.
(“Cohabiting Violence” http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/crime/domestic-violence/cohabiting-violence/
When we talk about ‘wisdom’ today, it’s not a philosophical debate.
Real people are being hurt.
Countless lives are being destroyed.
“18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’
20 Where is the one who is wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
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