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mormonmonastery · 7 years ago

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Gospel Doctrine Lesson 35, or Mistakes Were Made

@gracewillcarryme here’s that lesson plan. Use what’s here and tailor it to fit what you feel prompted to be the most important material for the class to hear and how much time you have. If I realized I had to start making cuts it would be to the longer descriptions of the rescue effort itself, which probably isn’t new info to the class.

Possible Icebreaker & Thesis Statement

Can you remember a time a mistake caused a lot of extra problems you could have avoided? [let one or two class members answer if they want or have a brief story of your own to tell. hopefully this stays light? like “I copied a test wrong at my TA job and a whole class only took half of their midterm and we had to create an entire new key and set of tests,” a real mistake that I’ve made.]

The story of the Willie and Martin handcart companies can teach us how to apply the Gospel to the mistakes we make and how to rescue others from the problems they face.

I Will Go With You: The Example of Levi Savage

Handcarts were set up to help poor European saints make it to Utah and the first two companies were great successes, completing the journey in less than four months.

When the Willie and Martin handcart companies arrived at the last outpost it was July and August, unadvisedly late in the season to start on a handcart trek.

Most of the captains and sub-captains heard about the earlier successful treks and encouraged the 900-person group to go forward anyway “regardless of suffering even to death.” Many in the companies had no way to know how bad the winter might get and had faith that God would prevent the worst from happening to them.

Levi Savage had come back after serving in the Mormon Battalion. Unlike most of the European Saints, he had an idea of how harsh the winter and the trail might get. Have this quote from his journal [Aug. 13 1856] read as time allows (most important points in bold, if you need to cut down):

I said to [Captain Willie] that if I spoke I must speak my mind, let it cut where it would. He said certainly to do so. I then related to the Saints the hardships that we should have to endure. I said that we were liable to have to wade in snow up to our knees and shovel at night, lay ourselves in a thin blanket and lie on the frozen ground without a bed. I said that it was not like having a wagon that we could go into and wrap ourselves in as much as we like and lay down...The lateness of the season was my only objection to leaving this point for the mountains at this time. I spoke warmly upon the subject, but spoke truth, and the people, judging from appearance and expressions, felt the force of it. (However, the most of them determined to go forward, if the authorities say so.) Elder Willie then spoke again in reply to what I had said, evidently dissatisfied. He said that the God that he served was a God that was able to save to the uttermost. He said that was the God that he served, and he wanted no Job’s comforters with him. I then said that what I had said was the truth, and if Elder Willie did not want me to act in the place where I am, he is at full liberty to place another man in my stead. I would not think hard of him for it.

Recount that even though he was wary of the decision to leave so late, when Brother Savage saw that the majority planned to set out anyway he reportedly told them: “Brethren and sisters, what I have said I know to be true; but, seeing you are to go forward, I will go with you, will help you all I can, will work with you, will rest with you, will suffer with you, and, if necessary, I will die with you. May God in his mercy bless and preserve us. Amen.” Helping his company in a situation he knew they were unprepared for was more important for Savage than being right.

[if anyone gives you any gruff about bringing sources outside the manual into this, you can show that both of these quotes are tucked away on history.lds.org and that you’re just magnifying your calling by finding them. I purposefully worked to give you that avenue.]

Possible Questions That Don’t Have Sunday School Answers

How can we love and help others when we know they’re making what could be a dangerous decision? What if they won’t listen to our warnings/advice? What does Savage’s example teach us about not judging others? [that we should serve them instead is kind of the neon-light answer that last one is leading towards]

How can we be realistic about problems we might face without loosing our faith?

To The Rescue!

A week after the Martin Company left, Apostle Franklin D. Richards and other returning missionaries set out on horseback to give Salt Lake advance notice of the two handcart companies. As an early winter set in that October, that notice became a warning.

Brigham Young first heard about the large group of saints out on the trail during General Conference and immediately mobilized a rescue effort. Share from this retelling by Gordon B. Hinckley:

I think President Young did not sleep that night. I think visions of those destitute, freezing, dying people paraded through his mind. The next morning he came to the old Tabernacle which stood on this square. He said to the people:“‘I will now give this people the subject and the text for the Elders who may speak. … It is this. … Many of our brethren and sisters are on the plains with handcarts, and probably many are now seven hundred miles from this place, and they must be brought here, we must send assistance to them. The text will be, “to get them here. …“‘That is my religion; that is the dictation of the Holy Ghost that I possess. It is to save the people. …“‘I shall call upon the Bishops this day. I shall not wait until tomorrow, nor until the next day …“‘I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of you in the Celestial Kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the plains’ That afternoon, food, bedding, and clothing in great quantities were assembled by the women. The next morning, horses were shod and wagons were repaired and loaded. The following morning, … 16 mule teams pulled out and headed eastward. By the end of October there were 250 teams on the road to give relief”

While the suffering and fatalities experienced by the handcart companies were immense, they would have been much worse without their rescuers’ resolve to immediately drop everything and go to the rescue.

Even after the rescue, the trail back was hard and many saints suffered from the effects of starvation and frostbite for the rest of their lives. The rescue effort did not end with the companies being found in the mountains; they need continual care and service. When the first survivors entered the valley, Brigham Young addressed the tabernacle with this plea:

“The afternoon meeting will be omitted, for I wish the sisters to … prepare to give those who have just arrived a mouthful of something to eat, and to wash them and nurse them. …“‘Some you will find with their feet frozen to their ankles; some are frozen to their knees and some have their hands frosted … ; we want you to receive them as your own children, and to have the same feeling for them’”

Rescuing Today

Read from D&C 52: 40 and D&C 81:5 to show that God has given us a responsibility to help and rescue others today.

And remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple.

Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.

Question Time! Considering these scriptures and the story of the handcart companies’ rescue, how can we rescue others today? [some good answers that I’m hoping the class might come to and that you can lead towards if they don’t: natural disaster relief, helping the homeless, caring for and visiting the sick, providing temporal and emotional support during a struggle or trial like Levi Savage earlier, doing temple work, sharing the gospel, serving refugees].

On that last one about refugees in particular: if it doesn’t come up in class or is only lightly touched on, it would be great to share this quote from Relief Society president Linda K. Burton and talk about the I Was A Stranger initiative:

There are more than 60 million refugees, including forcibly displaced people, worldwide. Half of those are children. “These individuals have undergone tremendous difficulties and are starting over in … new countr[ies] and culture[s]. While there are [sometimes] organizations that help them with a place to live and basic necessities, what they need is a friend and ally who can help them [adjust] to their new home, a person who can help them learn the language, understand the systems, and feel connected.”... With [gospel] truths in mind, we have organized a relief effort called “I Was a Stranger.” It is our hope that you will prayerfully determine what you can do—according to your own time and circumstance—to serve the refugees living in your neighborhoods and communities. This is an opportunity to serve one on one, in families, and by organization to offer friendship, mentoring, and other Christlike service... As we consider the “pressing calls” of those who need our help, let’s ask ourselves, “What if their story were my story?” May we then seek inspiration, act on impressions we receive, and reach out in unity to help those in need as we are able and inspired to do so.

Follow-up Question! Ask the class: What experiences have you had in which you have been rescued? How did you feel when you were in need of help? How did you feel when someone came to your aid?

Ideally, when someone starts talking about the Savior, use that to lead into this last part of the lesson. If not, the transition here should still be pretty seamless.

Jesus is the Ultimate Rescuer

Remind the class that our best example of coming to the rescue is our Savior Jesus Christ and the Atonement he offered for all of us.

It is impossible for his gospel to not be primarily a message of help and rescue because of how that good news is centered on the fact of Christ’s atonement.

What Jeffrey R. Holland said in this last conference can be a good way to tie this back to the idea of mistakes at the start of the lesson: “The grace of Christ offers us not only salvation from sorrow and sin and death but also salvation from our own persistent self-criticism.” Jesus knows that we will not be perfect and that we will need to be rescued. We have to be willing to accept the help he offers us as grace.

It is because we are disciples of Jesus Christ and have been rescued that we have such a great responsibility to serve and rescue others. As Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Our mission in life, as followers of Jesus Christ, must be a mission of saving.”

Bear a small testimony of the importance of being ready to serve and rescue others like the example of the pioneers and Jesus shows us to do. Not going to give too much direction on that because it doesn’t work if it’s not personal and sincere.

High-five yourself on teaching a great lesson! You’ve earned it!

#gospel doctrine #church history #lesson plan #pioneers

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discoveringthebible · 7 years ago

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The Connecting Church: Ministry

Many people know that I am in a program that trains ministers and clergy for the church. I enrolled in Northwest Nazarene University’s program for a few reasons, but I have been going through once class at a time since the Spring of 2014. Before this current semester, I decided that I wanted to try two classes at a time, even though I work full time and I lead a ministry at the church I attend every Sunday morning.

The two classes that I am taking right now are Telling the New Testament Story of God and Pastoral Care and Counseling. Even though I am only in week 4 (of 12 weeks), I have learned a lot and have grown a lot and am closer to God than I have felt in years, even though my life is pretty crazy right now.

I am the Lead Prayer Minister at my church. I oversee a group of people (between 12-15) to create a schedule and work together with the church to have two prayer ministers be available to pray with congregants during the communion part of our gathering. (Our church has communion every Sunday, and I think it’s a wonderful and powerful testimony and reminder when we take time to remember Christ’s sacrifice for us every week.)

When I was a Children’s Pastor, I didn’t have anyone assist “under” me. (I use “under” because I don’t do this alone. I’ve just accepted to take on the extra responsibilities of organizing others in the group to make sure we have at least 1 (preferably 2 prayer ministers during both Sunday morning gatherings.) I have been doing this since our church relocated to our own space in April.

One of the things that I have noticed, and not just with my church, but with many churches I have visited or volunteered at, is that it is hard to find people to volunteer, even if they are regular Sunday attendees of a particular service. It’s hard to get people to help make church work. (Church doesn’t just happen. A lot of work goes into making church exist every Sunday, whether there are a few people or thousands.) And there is a lot of work behind the scenes that gets overlooked.

Maybe now that I am working toward a vocational call into full-time ministry that I am noticing this more, but it seems that most people think they don’t have a job to do in the church (for whatever reason they come up with.)

I see many people who want to help and volunteer, but something is holding them back.

Well, today, as part of my reading for my New Testament Class, I had to read a sermon by David Busic called “The Connecting Church: Ministry.” He preached this sermon at Lenexa Central Church of the Nazarene in Lenexa, Kansas back in 2002. This sermon just hit the mark for some of the things that I have been noticing, and thinking about. His sermon is concise and to the point, much better than how I could have put it, so I’m sharing it with you in hopes of a few things.

1. That you will take a look at your church life (if you go to church) and to see how you are involved with it. Is there something else that you could be doing to be a bigger part of God’s kingdom?

2. Is there a gift or strength you have that you notice is lacking somewhere? If you do notice it, maybe you might think more about trying to find a way to use it and bless the church with it.

3. If you are already in ministry, how have you been looking for volunteers? (I have not been doing a great job of stepping out of my comfort zone to ask people to volunteer. When people are asked specifically to volunteer, they are more likely to think more about it and are more likely (but not always) willing to help.

-Peace and Blessings

Cody Marie

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THE CONNECTING CHURCH: MINISTRY*

1 PETER 2:4-10

by David Busic

There is a barrier in many churches today. It’s a wall that’s hard to climb over. More than a few have tried to scale it, only to fall flat on their face. It’s not exclusively a Kansas City problem. There seems to be a wall whether you live in New York, San Francisco, or Omaha.

That wall is called the ministry barrier. Here’s how it works: Every single Christian is called by God to be a minister. And yet in most congregations 20% of the people are doing 80% of the ministry. The question is: Why the barrier? Why have so many churches failed to motivate 80% of their people to engage in any kind of significant ministry?

Well, there are a couple of possible reasons: Either in the average church 80% of the people just don’t care about God’s call to ministry in their lives or the majority of people believe that God’s call to ministry is reserved only for a special few.

I don’t think the first reason is true. I believe the vast majority of Christians truly do want to make a difference for God. And yet I also believe that a ministry barrier exists today because of a predominant myth that has permeated the way we do church for well over 1,500 years. When that myth is really examined there is no scriptural validity, and yet its subtle and pervasive grip on the church has caused many people to believe it’s true.

THIS IS THE MYTH: Ministry is for “ministers.” And “ministers,” of course, means only ordained clergy type folks. Clergy are the professionals and laity are the amateurs. How we ever came to that conclusion is a mystery to me.

The ministry of the laity is nothing new. It is as old as the gospel itself. In fact, for the first 300 years of church history, the church had no clergy. It was made up of believers who understood they were to be apostles sent on a mission by the living Christ. And while different believers had different ministries, every Christian was expected to use his or her spiritual gifts for ministry. And as they did, the Church exploded, spreading like wildfire throughout the Roman Empire, literally turning their world upside down.

In time, though, ministry became professionalized. The nonprofessionals, or laity, were relegated to some kind of a second-class status that all but locked them out of recognized ministry. It was a heresy that essentially divided all believers into two classes—the clergy, or the “ministers,” and the laity, or the “nonministers.”

Bruce Larson addressed that issue when he wrote: With the phenomenal growth of that early church, both numerically and in influence, two classes of Christians emerged, leaders and spectators. The spectators were supposed to learn sound doctrine, to pray, sing, listen to sermons, and pay the bills. But when the question is asked, as it often is, “Why doesn’t the church do something about that?” THE CHURCH is synonymous with “the clergy.”

That was exactly the heresy that Martin Luther, a German monk, and the other Reformers of the 16th century fought against. That line of thinking began to lead the church of his day into practicing a theological sacerdotalism.

Now that’s a big word, but it has a simple definition. It basically meant that the clergy of the church, the priests, officially belonged to a special class that was poised between God and the laity, and that God would speak through Scripture to the people as interpreted by the priests, and then the people would speak back to God by confessing to the priests.

Martin Luther came along and said: “Wait a minute! That’s not biblical. The Bible teaches the priesthood of ALL believers.” And therefore a fundamental cry of the Reformation was a return to the biblical plan of the “priesthood of all believers,” which essentially taught that all Christians are potentially equal in both communion with God and ministry FOR God.

That means that the call of God upon a person’s life is not the prerogative of a special class. God does not lay claim to the life work of a few special people and leave the rest of us free to chase the American dream! Protestant churches all agree that every Christian is a minister. We believe that: “It was he [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service” (Eph 4:12).

And yet what we believe theoretically in our heads and live practically in our lives are miles apart. In our head we believe what the New Testament says is true. But in our gut, many Christians still feel like the reverend/pastor/preacher is probably closer to God than the average layperson.

If you don’t believe that’s true, think about our conversations. We say the pastor is THE minister, and what he or she does is THE ministry. We say things like: “Have you met THE minister of my church? Hey, have you heard the news? David’s going to seminary to study for . . . THE ministry.”

In fact, if a pastor leaves a church to pursue another vocation we say: “He or she left THE ministry.” That’s why so many church signs read: “First Church of the Nazarene/ Worship 10:45 a.m./MINISTER: John Smith.” Why do we do that? Because many people believe when we say “the minister,” we mean a paid clergy person, and when we say “the ministry,” we’re talking about what the clergy does.

But, my brother and sister, every time we refer to the vocational ordained clergy as THE minister and what they do as THE ministry, we drive one more nail into the coffin of the priesthood of all believers.

1 Peter 2 is devoted to the priesthood of all believers. These are words that tell us about the way a church indwelled by the Spirit of God is to function within the kingdom of God.

Peter says that our lives in Christ are like a house that is being built. But it’s not just any house. The homes that you and I live in are built with inanimate objects like wood and bricks and mortar. But the house God is building is a spiritual house that is alive and active. And Jesus himself is both the cornerstone and capstone of that house.

The cornerstone is the most important stone in a building’s foundation. The capstone is the central stone in an arch, which balances the arch so that it will stand. And so the cornerstone of God’s house is Jesus and the capstone of God’s house is Jesus. Jesus is both the foundation and the pinnacle! He is the beginning and the end of God’s living spiritual house.

And so if Jesus Christ is the cornerstone and the capstone of this living spiritual house, who are the rest of the stones that make up the structure? Where are they coming from? Peter says that we are! We are the stones in God’s house!

When we come to Christ we become living stones placed in the spiritual house that God is building. And the word here for “stones” doesn’t just mean a rock that you might dig up out of a field. It’s talking about a dressed and fitted stone ready to be used in construction. And all of us who are Christians make up the edifice of God’s spiritual house.

You see, in the Old Testament the dwelling place of God’s presence was in the Temple. But in the New Testament everything changes and the dwelling place of God is now within every believer!

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will bring ruin upon anyone who ruins this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you Christians are that temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17).

Paul was saying that God’s new temple, God’s new dwelling place, is within us! And so when we say things like: “It’s good to be in your house today, Lord,” we’re not being totally biblical because that means we’re still one Testament behind.

We are the temple of God! We are the people of God! You and I are Almighty God’s chosen people. We are His folks!

What a privilege! But what a responsibility! Because the very reason we are being built into a spiritual house is so that we might become a holy priesthood set apart for God’s holy purposes. We are a HOLY priesthood! But we are also a ROYAL priesthood. Which means that we are a priesthood belonging to a King who gives us authority to be His ambassadors in the world.

Now it’s important to stop right here and ask ourselves a question: If we are living stones being built into a spiritual house, for the purpose of becoming God’s holy and royal priesthood, what does it mean to be a priest? I think that’s a pretty important question. If God is calling all of us to be priests, then what does it mean to be one?

In the Old Testament, priests were the mediators between God and people. They were the channels of communication from God and to God for the rest of the community.

They had the designated privilege of serving in the very presence of a holy God, and of “coming near” when no one else would dare. They were the select few who could enter the temple and offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, and only the high priest could go beyond the curtain to enter into the holy of holies, and that just once a year, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

But when Jesus died on the Cross and atoned for our sins, once and for all, access into the presence of God was opened for all people. The veil that once separated the holy from the unholy, the sacred from the secular, has been ripped in half—torn from top to bottom! Because of his sacrifice, Jesus has become our great High Priest, and access to God is no longer for a privileged few, but has now been extended to all who believe.

We are the new priesthood! And what that means is that you and I have been set apart as God’s people to announce the mighty works of God, to declare His glory, and to proclaim the miracle of our redemption through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that’s the reason the people of God exist!

You have a priestly calling in your daily interaction with people.

You are conduits between God and His world.

You are called to be ambassadors of God’s reconciling love!

You are called to bring their needs and concerns to God in intercessory ways!

And you are called to offer spiritual sacrifices of the gifts and calling that God has give specifically to you!

Why? Because you are a holy, royal priesthood!

But do you know what I am discovering? I am finding that the “priesthood of all believers” and the invitation to ministry is not all that appealing to some folks today. Because it sounds like more work, and most of us already have all the work we can do. It sounds like more responsibility, and most of us are already staggering under loads that are already too heavy.

I remember what Barbara Brown Taylor wrote about the woman who listened to her speech on the ministry of the laity as God’s best hope for the world and said: “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be that important.”

Barbara said: “I understood what she was saying. Like many of those who sit beside her at church, she hears the invitation to ministry as an invitation to do more—to lead the New Members Class or cook supper for someone who’s just come home from the hospital or teach Vacation Bible School.

Or she hears the invitation of ministry as an invitation to be more—to be more generous, more loving, more religious. No one ever introduced her to the idea that her ministry might involve being just who she already is and doing just what she already does, with one difference: namely, that she understand herself to be God’s person in who she already is and in what she already does.”

I mentioned Martin Luther earlier. When talking about ministry, Luther made a careful distinction between a Christian’s vocation and a Christian’s office.

Offices are what we do for a living—teacher, accountant, homemaker. None of them are particularly more endearing to the heart of God than another. In our offices we exercise the diversity of our gifts, playing our parts in the ongoing life of the world.

Our Christian vocation is different from that. While our offices may be different, as Christians our vocation is the same. We are called to share Christ’s ministry in the world as His holy priesthood. And whether you deliver babies or deliver mail that is a common calling for every believer! Another way to say that is: Whatever our individual offices (plural) are in the world, our mutual vocation(singular) is to serve God through those offices.

That is a vision that takes a lot of strength to see clearly, because what we’re talking about is learning to see in a different way. To believe in your divinely ordained priesthood is to see the extraordinarydimensions of your very ordinary life. It is to see the hand of God at work in the world and to see your very own hands as necessary to that work.

And it doesn’t matter if those hands are putting diapers on babies or washing dishes or changing the oil in a car or balancing a corporate account . . . they are God’s hands claimed by God at the moment He saved you, to accomplish His will on earth.

What a holy calling that is! And many of you take that very seriously. Many of you have said: “Lord, take my life and use it for Your glory. I want to pour myself out for others! We’ll go where Youwant us to go and do what You want us to do, even if it costs us everything . . . even our very lives, if that’s what we’re called to do.”

And when you said those things, you meant every word of it! But maybe what you thought giving your all to God was, as Fred Craddock has said, is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table: “Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.”

But the reality for most of us is that He sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there.

Listening to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, “Get lost.”

Teaching a Sunday School class full of energetic third graders.

Going to a committee meeting.

Giving a Dixie-cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home.

And we begin to discover that very often our life to Christ isn’t as glorious as we thought. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. In some ways it would be easier to go out in a flash of glory—because it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul.

That means a serious commitment to your holy priesthood. But what a blessing . . . and what an honor!

There are plenty who decline the honor, finding it either too frightening or too intrusive to be taken seriously, but those willing to accept the challenge find themselves living an extraordinary adventure!

You have a purpose in the world! We are a holy and royal priesthood! But it is not the priesthood of the believer. It is the priesthood of all believers. The house is no individual. We are living stones placed together. Our offices may be different—but our vocation is the same. And we do it together.

*Sermon by David Busic given at Lenexa Central Church of the Nazarene, Lenexa, Kansas, 2002.

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johnhardinsawyer · 6 years ago

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If I Had Only One Wish

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

8 / 19 / 18

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

Ephesians 5:15-20

“If I Had Only One Wish”

(The Wisdom of God)

So, there is a story about a guy who found an old oil lamp. And when he rubs the lamp a certain way, a genie comes out of it and offers to grant the guy three wishes. Oh, I forgot to tell you, the guy with the lamp – his name is Aladdin. Anyway, the genie tells Aladdin that he can use his three wishes to wish for anything. And then the story gets crazy.

Those of you who are familiar with this story – or with the Disney movie – might say that making wishes for riches or fame or love could get you into trouble, if you’re not careful. But, this great old story does spark the imagination. . . What would you wish for if you had three wishes and could wish for anything? Would you wish for money? Would you wish for fame? Would you wish for a cure for cancer or an end to world hunger? Would you wish for Tom Brady and his perfectly chiseled chin to never grow old, and win every game and live forever? One of my favorite songwriters, Lucinda Williams, sings a song that goes “If wishes were horses, I’d have a ranch.”[1] That’s a lotof wishes! What would you ask for if you had three wishes? What would you ask for if you only had two wishes? Or only one wish?

I want to be clear about one thing before we start talking about today’s story about Solomon’s prayer for wisdom, and it is this: the God we believe in and worship – the Creator of the universe, the One who has saved us through Jesus Christ, the One who sustains us by the Holy Spirit, is nota genie who grants wishes. No matter how much we might wish that God would grant our wishes and prayers, God’s answers to our prayers for certain things are not always a wholehearted “yes.” If you are wishing for an A on a test, or for the lottery ticket to be a winner, or for a house that has solid-gold fixtures in all seventeen bathrooms, God really isn’t into that kind of stuff. And today’s story from 1 Kings shows this to us, quite clearly.

After King David had died and was buried, David’s young son, Solomon, became king. The scriptures tell us that Solomon loved the Lord and would go out of to Gibeon – five miles or so away from Jerusalem[2]– to make sacrifices to the Lord. As the story goes, “Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.” (1 Kings 3:4) Most people would just make one burnt offering – of a bull, or sheep or goat, or bird[3]–and they would have the priest burn the entire thing, which could take a while, depending on what was being burnt. It might sound strange of kind of gross to us, but this is just what people did back in those days. The Bible has all kinds of instructions on how to make a proper burnt offering sacrifice to the Lord. When Solomon made a burnt offering, though, he went all out. He would offer a thousand animals at a time, which was a very expensive and time-consuming process. Solomon loved God, though, so he spared no expense.

As today’s story goes, while one of these big offerings was being made, Solomon fell asleep and had a dream in which the Lord spoke: “Ask what I should give you,” God said. (3:5)

Now, if you or I had a dream like this, we might say, “Yes! Score! I’ll have a Maserati full of Bitcoins and fur coats and ice cream, please.” But Solomon was not so eager: “God, you have really blessed me by making me king, but I’m young and don’t have any experience, and this job is very big. So, what I really need is an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil. . .” (3:6-9)[4] In the original language, Solomon is asking God for a “mind that can hear, a heart that can listen.”[5],[6] You and I might say that Solomon was praying for wisdom. This is what God calls it a few verses later when God says, “Because you have asked. . . for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I will give you a wiseand discerning mind. . .” (3:11-12a)

But what does it mean to have a wise and discerning mind? What does it mean to have a mind that can hear and a heart that can listen?

Wisdom is one of those things that is often hard to define. Just because you know stuff or have an opinion about stuff, it doesn’t mean you are wise. Spend thirty seconds watching any of the talking heads on any cable news channel and you will see how true this is. Wisdom is more complex than knowledge or opinion. Martin Copenhaver, the president of Andover Newton Theological Seminary, writes that wisdom is kind of hard to pin down. It is kind of a “wooly mammoth of ideas – big shaggy, and elusive”:

. . . wisdom is more than a single attribute. It is more like a cluster of attributes, including a clear-eyed view of human behavior, coupled with keen self-understanding; a certain tolerance for ambiguity and what might be called the messiness of life; emotional resiliency; an ability to think clearly in a circumstance of conflict or stress; a tendency to approach a crisis as an intriguing puzzle to be solved; an inclination to forgive and move on; humility enough to know that it is not all about you; a gift for seeing how smaller facts fit in within a larger picture; a mix of empathy and detachment; a knack for learning from lifetime experiences; a way of suspending judgment long enough to achieve greater clarity; an ability to act coupled with a willingness to embrace judicious inaction.[7]

Anyone who would hope to be wise would do well to pay attention to a list like this. As a pastor who is seeking to be wise, myself, when I look at this long list of attributes, all I can say is, “Yes, Lord, please! All of the above! Right now!” So, I can really identify with Solomon’s one wish for wisdom.

The Bible talks a lot about wisdom and how important it is. In the Book of Proverbs – which, some say, was written by Solomon – we find some of the most vivid descriptions of wisdom. Eugene Peterson translates some of it in this way:

Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling? Can you hear Madame Insight raising her voice? She’s taken her stand at First and Main, at the busiest intersection. Right in the city square where the traffic is thickest, she shouts, “You – I’m talking to all of you, everyone here on the streets! Listen, you idiots – learn good sense! You blockheads – shape up! Don’t miss a word of this – I’m telling you how to live well, I’m telling you how to live at your best. . .”[8] [She goes on from there.]

The first thing you might have noticed about wisdom is that she is female. When she shouts, “You – listen – learn [some] sense – shape up!” she kind of does sound like someone’s mom. But if we keep reading in Proverbs, Chapter 8, we learn that Wisdom was present at the very beginning of creation – before there were mountains and hills and dirt, and before the heavens were made, Wisdom was there. “When [the Lord] marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker;” Wisdom says, “and I was daily [the Lord’s] delight, rejoicing before [the Lord] always, rejoicing in. . . the inhabited world and delighting in the human race.” (Proverbs 8:29-31)

In other words, creation has God’s big wise fingerprints all over it. And Wisdom wants the heavens and the earth to be the very best that they can be. So, when Solomon prays for wisdom, Solomon wants to be connected to something ancient and holy, mysterious and powerful and creative. Wisdom has high expectations and Solomon wants to try to meet them. He wants to know Wisdom and be taught by her, because she knows how things are supposed to be.

But, we know how things are supposed to be, too, right? We just have a hard time making them that way because we fall short all the time. Wisdom knows how human beings have a tendency to mess up. Solomon might have been wise for a while, but he also made mistakes that caused his great kingdom to break apart within a generation or two of Solomon’s death. The guy who wrote that great description of wisdom – Martin Copenhaver – made some very unwise decisions, himself, and had to make a public confession about a marital affair that he had. We saw news this past week of the Roman Catholic Church coming to terms with so many unwise decisions to allow priests to continue in ministry after they were accused of abuse. Their unwise decisions hurt people, hurt the Body of Christ. Oh, people can be very unwise.

You know, God gives each of us multiple opportunities each and every hour to be wise. And God’s wish for us is that we would be wise, but we need God’s help to be truly wise.

“Be careful how you live,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15) The kind of wisdom that Paul is talking about here – the kind of wisdom we need in troubled times – is a wisdom that comes from God.[9]

This is Paul’s wish for the church – that we would be wise in how we think, and act, and pray – in how we walk around[10]through life. That we would know when to speak and when to keep silent. That we would not get lost in the things that do not matter, but focus on the things that do matter. There is wisdom in this old wish of Paul’s – that the church of Jesus Christ would be wise, and that we who would seek to follow Jesus would be wise, too – full of the Spirit, seeking after God.

If wishes were horses, I’d have a ranch, but I don’t have a magic lamp and there is no genie. Oh, and I don’t have a ranch. All I have is God. And God is enough.

If you had only one wish about your life with God, what would it be? Thankfully, with God, we aren’t limited to one. There are so many wishes that we could wish – prayers that we could make. But, in order to choose what to wish for, we would need to be wise, first – to think about and pray for and act upon that which would do the most good. And this is wisdom: in the moment, making the decision that will bring about the most good.

There is so much good that could be done in this world if we were just a little more wise. Friends, be wise – trusting in the wisdom that comes from God.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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[1]http://www.metrolyrics.com/if-wishes-were-horses-lyrics-lucinda-williams.html.

[2]Rand McNally Historical Atlas of the Holy Land(New York: Rand McNally & Company, 1959) 23. Map VIII, E3.

[3]See Leviticus 1:1-17.

[4]Paraphrased, JHS.

[5]F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon(Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1997) 1033.

[6]Brown, Driver, and Briggs, 523.

[7]Lillian Daniel and Martin B. Copenhaver, This Odd and Wondrous Calling(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009) 109.

[8]Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition (Colorado Springs: NAV Press, 2002) 839. Proverbs 8:1-6.

[9]Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979) 760.

[10]Walter Bauer, 649.

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