WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Grace mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:05.800 and Savior Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:06.800 Amen. 4 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:14.000 The text is that Proverbs text Proverbs Chapter 2 your invited to turn 5 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.200 to it in your Bible if you want to follow along a little bit. 6 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.700 Now in his book The Happiness Hypothesis 7 00:00:22.700 --> 00:00:27.300 Jonathan Haidt tackles the big question. 8 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:29.600 What is the meaning of life? 9 00:00:31.700 --> 00:00:35.000 But because the question is impossible answer and its present form 10 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:40.600 Haidt suggest reframing the question as a request. 11 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:44.200 Tell me something enlightening about life. 12 00:00:45.500 --> 00:00:49.400 Well that's a helpful starting point. The request tell me something 13 00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:56.500 enlightening about life suggest to him two sub questions for which 14 00:00:56.500 --> 00:00:58.000 people really want answers. 15 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:59.600 The first one. 16 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.400 What is the purpose for which we are placed on this earth? 17 00:01:03.400 --> 00:01:06.000 That is why are we here? 18 00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:11.300 Neither today's text nor the homily deals very much with that question. 19 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:18.100 The second question is a question about purpose with in life not why 20 00:01:18.100 --> 00:01:18.600 are we here? 21 00:01:18.600 --> 00:01:23.500 But now that we are here how ought we to live? 22 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:24.500 What should I do? 23 00:01:25.700 --> 00:01:29.900 To have a good happy fulfilling and meaningful life. 24 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:35.000 Today's text and the homily fall under that how ought I to live 25 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.000 category. Now in the text a father 26 00:01:39.800 --> 00:01:41.100 is talking to his son. 27 00:01:41.100 --> 00:01:47.700 In fact the text as part of a 7 chapter lecture that is father gives 28 00:01:47.700 --> 00:01:52.100 when he's talking to his son and giving him life instruction. 29 00:01:52.100 --> 00:01:53.900 My son, 30 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:58.900 he addresses him numerous times as he does in this text. 31 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:03.200 But never does the son speak or address his father. 32 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:07.500 Apparently, he just sits there and listens but it's not hard to 33 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:11.300 imagine a context for the father's moral instruction. 34 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:13.900 You can imagine that is son 35 00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:18.100 like all of us is trying to figure out some kind of course or 36 00:02:18.100 --> 00:02:19.400 direction for his life. 37 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:20.300 I'm here. 38 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:21.900 So, what do I do now? 39 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:24.900 How do I find my way? 40 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:29.300 What should I pursue and what should I avoid so that I can have a 41 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:30.900 fulfilling and meaningful life? 42 00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:35.500 The father obviously wants to guide his son. 43 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:40.000 But he also knows that there are a couple of issues complicating the 44 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.800 situation which make it very difficult for him to give us simple 45 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:45.100 straight on answer. 46 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:51.600 First the father is aware that there are competing notions of the good 47 00:02:51.600 --> 00:02:55.700 life competing advice on the best road to take. 48 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:02.100 And he knows that those other paths can be as tempting to his son as a 49 00:03:02.100 --> 00:03:03.200 beautiful adulteress. 50 00:03:04.700 --> 00:03:07.700 The forbidden woman whose lips are sweeter than oil. 51 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:12.300 There are many directions one could go in life and a lot of them as 52 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:14.200 you all know look pretty darn good. 53 00:03:16.100 --> 00:03:17.800 The father knows that some of these 54 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:22.300 will lead to personal disaster, but what about his son? 55 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:27.200 Does the son have the wisdom to see and steer clear? 56 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:30.500 Another complicating issue 57 00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:34.300 is that the wisdom and knowledge that the father wants to share with his 58 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:37.500 son the way that he wants his son to walk so he can enjoy life's 59 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:40.300 blessings to its fullest does not announce itself. 60 00:03:40.300 --> 00:03:44.400 There's not yet this little voice in the son's head whispering to him 61 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.600 at every single crossroads of life do this 62 00:03:47.600 --> 00:03:51.100 not that for heavens sakes go there 63 00:03:51.100 --> 00:03:52.800 oh my goodness not there. 64 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:59.500 No, apparently that kind of discernment cannot be had on the cheap in 65 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:00.400 the words of the father 66 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.200 you must incline your ear to its stretch your heart towards it call 67 00:04:05.200 --> 00:04:09.200 out for a secret like silver search for it like a hidden treasure. 68 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:15.700 The father uses a lot of abstractions as you can see in his instruction, 69 00:04:15.700 --> 00:04:20.000 attend to wisdom incline your heart to understanding call out for 70 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:20.100 insight. 71 00:04:21.700 --> 00:04:23.500 What is the actually telling a son? 72 00:04:24.700 --> 00:04:29.900 Well, I think at least there are two aspects to his instruction. First, 73 00:04:29.900 --> 00:04:33.600 the father is a person who believes that objectively speaking 74 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:37.300 there's actually true wisdom to be found in this world. 75 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:41.600 In fact, the universe is filled with the wisdom of God because it was 76 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:46.600 God's wisdom that created the world in the first place. By wisdom the 77 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:47.700 Lord founded the Earth, 78 00:04:47.700 --> 00:04:51.100 he tells his son in the very next chapter. By understanding 79 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:52.800 he established the heavens. 80 00:04:54.200 --> 00:05:00.100 My son, he says do not lose sight of this therefore the father knows 81 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:03.500 that there's an order to the universe by which everything is ruled and 82 00:05:03.500 --> 00:05:08.300 governed built-in by God's wisdom and that includes but is not limited 83 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:14.100 to what we know is the moral law that God revealed to Moses. Moses 84 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:18.700 usually calls it righteousness as he does in Deuteronomy 6 when he 85 00:05:18.700 --> 00:05:22.600 tells Israel listen to God's Commandments and fear the lord your God 86 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:26.500 so that it might go well with you. 87 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:30.600 And this will be righteousness for us 88 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:35.000 he says if we are careful to do all the commandments before the Lord our 89 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:35.100 God. 90 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:42.500 But in Deuteronomy 4 Moses words his instructions like this; keep the 91 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:47.200 statutes and rules that I'm teaching you for that will be your wisdom 92 00:05:47.200 --> 00:05:50.800 and understanding in the sight of people who when they hear 93 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:52.800 these statutes will say surely 94 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:56.100 this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 95 00:05:57.100 --> 00:06:00.500 And conversely in our wisdom text today the father tells his son that 96 00:06:00.500 --> 00:06:03.600 when he finds wisdom, then he will understand righteousness and 97 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:05.800 justice and equity and every good path. 98 00:06:06.900 --> 00:06:12.400 And so as you can see in addition to this objective aspect to the father's 99 00:06:12.400 --> 00:06:13.100 instruction. 100 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:17.800 There is a subjective aspect as well and telling a son to search for 101 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:21.200 wisdom and seek it like a hidden treasure is encouraging his son not 102 00:06:21.200 --> 00:06:26.000 only to be aware of the objective wisdom with which God fills all 103 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.600 things but he wants his son to order his life accordingly. 104 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:33.700 He wants his son to learn to apply God's way God's righteousness and 105 00:06:33.700 --> 00:06:39.300 God's wisdom to his life his decisions his behavior his relationships 106 00:06:39.300 --> 00:06:40.400 and his vocation. 107 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:46.000 And indeed in much of the instruction that follows this text 108 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:51.000 he gives his son examples and pointers in just how to do that. 109 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:54.300 And a lot of it you will notice is grounded in the Ten Commandments. 110 00:06:54.300 --> 00:07:00.900 How to have what he calls a long life full of peace and sweet sleep. 111 00:07:00.900 --> 00:07:05.900 That is how to live a meaningful and fulfilling life. 112 00:07:05.900 --> 00:07:08.100 That is how to become wise. 113 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:13.600 In this regard our former colleague Horace Hummel, makes the point that after 114 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:19.000 we converted Christians still continue to grow and learn in many 115 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.900 respects and from any sources he reminds us that as God's self 116 00:07:23.900 --> 00:07:26.800 conscious creatures and especially as his creatures who have been 117 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:27.000 redeemed. 118 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.700 We are not passive robot instead 119 00:07:29.700 --> 00:07:34.100 we actively seek are placed in this world of our creator. As people 120 00:07:34.100 --> 00:07:35.700 made in God's image this search 121 00:07:35.700 --> 00:07:42.200 he says is part of our quest to find God's will for our lives. 122 00:07:44.700 --> 00:07:48.000 But there's something else to the father's instruction something that 123 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:51.900 makes that search a lot more mysterious and wonderful to me at least. 124 00:07:52.900 --> 00:07:58.000 The father tells his son that the search for true wisdom will involve 125 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.400 him in a paradox and indeed 126 00:08:00.400 --> 00:08:04.700 it is a paradox in which all of us live and move as God's redeemed 127 00:08:04.700 --> 00:08:06.900 people who are living in this world. 128 00:08:06.900 --> 00:08:10.500 The Paradox is really right there on the surface of the text. The 129 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:14.800 father Begins by encouraging encouraging his son to seek wisdom and a 130 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:16.100 search for it like a hidden treasure. 131 00:08:16.100 --> 00:08:20.800 That's one side of the paradox as God's faithful people. 132 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:24.900 He tells us to seek wisdom and understanding in this world than to 133 00:08:24.900 --> 00:08:25.600 find it, 134 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:27.200 it's like finding hidden treasure. 135 00:08:28.200 --> 00:08:33.200 But then beginning in verse 6 the father start to give us the other 136 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:41.299 side of the paradox another truth. The truth that the Lord also gives 137 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:47.200 wisdom that he is with you and for you every step of your journey that 138 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:51.300 he is a shield to those who walk in Integrity that he guards the path 139 00:08:51.300 --> 00:08:54.800 of justice that he watches over the ways of his saints that he 140 00:08:54.800 --> 00:09:01.900 delivers you from every evil way. We search he gives we walk he guides 141 00:09:01.900 --> 00:09:05.500 it's our task his gift it's on us it's on him. 142 00:09:06.500 --> 00:09:10.800 I see for me personally as I thought about that but a lot about that 143 00:09:10.800 --> 00:09:18.000 that paradox real that I realize that it provides a lovely balance to 144 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:18.500 our lives. 145 00:09:19.800 --> 00:09:20.900 It takes a load off 146 00:09:20.900 --> 00:09:25.100 so to speak. In broad strokes as Christians 147 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:26.900 we know that we live within this paradox. 148 00:09:26.900 --> 00:09:31.500 And only a fool would try to escape it. That is escape 149 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:36.600 by not fearing God by not trusting in Him not living by faith. 150 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:42.800 Instead insisting on our own way exalting our own wisdom heedless of 151 00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:47.500 God living as if there is no God or as if God doesn't matter that's 152 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:48.000 foolish 153 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:53.400 you see. Because it is within this paradox that we find a long life 154 00:09:53.400 --> 00:09:56.200 peace and sweet sleep. 155 00:09:57.400 --> 00:10:01.500 On the one hand you see God calls us to active engagement in this 156 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:03.900 world and with the wisdom with which is filled it. 157 00:10:03.900 --> 00:10:08.400 He calls on us actively seek his will for our lives to learn and grow 158 00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:12.100 in wisdom and knowledge and understanding. To help us God has given us 159 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:17.000 his scriptures to test what we see and hear in it's light, he gives us 160 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:23.200 mentors like this father mentored his son and teachers and a community 161 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:28.200 from which we can learn and grow in which hold us accountable for our 162 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:30.000 lives. In addition to this 163 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:35.800 remember that as God's redeemed children already ahead of time 164 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:39.000 we have at our disposal all the gifts 165 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.600 that God has given us in his creation. 166 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:47.500 We have them all at our disposal and we are encouraged today to seek 167 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:52.000 the wisdom to use them to glorify God to enrich our lives and the 168 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.400 lives of those around us. Faith seeking understanding. 169 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:02.500 On the other hand it is a great blessing to know that this is also all 170 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:05.000 on God as we seek his wisdom. 171 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:05.600 We live by faith. 172 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:08.700 We don't have to worry about missing the boat on life. 173 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:14.200 The great mystery of our life, faith's journey, is that life is not only 174 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:20.100 about us finding meaning because it is also true that meaning finds us. 175 00:11:22.100 --> 00:11:27.000 That's God's work we can do our seeking are searching our listening with joy 176 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.900 and anticipation because God promises to bless us. 177 00:11:30.900 --> 00:11:35.900 Give us what we are seeking and he promises to the guard the way of 178 00:11:35.900 --> 00:11:38.500 his saints as the father tells his son. 179 00:11:40.500 --> 00:11:44.800 I will leave you with some words from Psalm 90, which is the only Psalm 180 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:48.300 written by Moses and quite ironically has quite a bit of wisdom 181 00:11:48.300 --> 00:11:49.600 teaching in it. 182 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:52.900 The psalm gives a nod to this wonderful paradox. 183 00:11:53.900 --> 00:11:58.700 Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 184 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:00.700 What's your work? 185 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:06.700 What's your work be shown to your servants in your glorious power to 186 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:07.100 their children? 187 00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:15.200 Let the favor of the Lord Our God be upon us and establish the work of 188 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.300 our hands upon us. 189 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:21.800 Yes, establish the work of our hands. Amen. 190 00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:25.500 Now May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which passes all 191 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:30.100 understanding keep your hearts and minds together in Christ, Jesus. 192 00:12:30.100 --> 00:12:30.200 Amen.