A Sermon for Dayspring

A Sermon for DaySpring

By Cody Creel

July 9, 2017

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

One proverb tells us, “Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding.” Another says, "Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight.” Among the virtues written about in the Old Testament, wisdom is high on that list. It can be the doorkeeper for life and death. It can be what makes the difference between being wealthy and being poor. Having wisdom means having security. Whatever you get, get wisdom.

There are many who are called wise. David is called wise. Solomon is called wise. Joshua, Ezra and Daniel are called wise. What does it take, though, to become wise? This is the kind of question that has plagued humanity from the very beginning, for better or for worse. Where do we find this divine wisdom? Where do we look for it? Who holds the keys?

I wanted to know who held these keys to wisdom, so I embarked on a journey across the inter webs. My trusty companion Google led the way. Turns out, many people hold these keys. In fact, most everybody holds these keys, apparently. Or at least everyone thinks they hold these keys. My first stop was the magical land of Amazon.com. Once I arrived, my next stop was the town bookstore. I immediately went to the self-help section and found book after book by author after author claiming to hold the keys to wisdom. The first gem I came across was simply titled The Keys written by the infamous DJ Khaled. I turn it over and the description simply read “From Snapchat sensation, business mogul, and recording artist DJ Khaled, the book (air quotes) “They” don't want you to read reveals his major keys to success.” The next book I came to was called, The 7 Keys to Wealth and Abundance. The subtitle read Unlimited Abundance is Within Your Grasp, Your Future Can Be Better: Your Personal Guide to Attaining Great Health, Incredible Wealth, and Lasting Happiness. I immediately put it back on the shelf and had an idea for a new book -- The Keys to Writing a Shorter Subtitle. There was a book called The Gene Keys: Unlocking the Higher Purpose Hidden in your DNA. Another was simply called The Key to Yourself. But my personal favorite… This one deserves all of the prizes awarded to any self-help book ever written -- Break Your Self-Help Addiction: The 5 Keys to Total Personal Freedom.

From there I decided that the local bookstore didn’t really hold the keys to divine wisdom. I thought the local university might have something better to offer. I started asking around to see if anyone there might hold these keys. It turned out that pretty much everyone there, too, believed they held these keys. The physicist told me his area of study could explain the laws of the universe, from the smallest particles to all of the stars and planets. Modern science, he believed, would one day solve all of the world’s problems. The historian told me that she held the keys to the past. Knowing the past, she believed, would help us solve the problems of the future. The economist told me that his discipline could solve poverty, scarcity, health crises and other societal issues at both a macro and a micro level. By this point I began to get frustrated, so I left.

The Pharisees wanted this kind of wisdom. Many of them had spent their whole lives studying the law, searching for divine wisdom. Jesus’ frustration is that they can’t even recognize it when it’s staring them in the face. “When John came and told you all to repent, you called him a crazy person. You see me eating and drinking and you call me a glutton and a drunkard. What are you all even looking for, anyway? Are you never satisfied?” Jesus likens them to children calling out to one another in the marketplace. Some play music and they do not dance. Others cry, and they do not mourn. Jesus is saying, "When it’s time for a wedding, you refuse to celebrate.” When it’s time for a funeral, time to repent, you do not mourn.” These people have rejected both John’s message and Jesus’ message.

Wisdom’s invitation to us is that of repentance and joy. The invitations of John and Jesus are invitations to the same true Divine Wisdom. They are invitations to lay down our old lives and take up new ones. Only someone who has the capacity to humble themselves could truly come and take the yoke of discipleship. The Pharisees’ pride is the biggest burden they carry.

As many of you know, several of us took the youth to Colorado a couple of weeks ago for youth camp. Our week was full of adventures like hiking a mountain, rock climbing, kayaking, and a ropes course. The morning of the day that we did the ropes course, they took us out in the woods and gave us several challenges that were meant to teach things like trust and how to work as a team. One of the challenges they gave us was called the blind maze. The blind maze was exactly what it sounds like. Each of us was given a blindfold that we put on. Then we were asked to form a line and put our hands on the shoulders of the person in front of us as they led us through the woods to the maze that we were to find our way through. Once we got there they had us stand shoulder to shoulder in a line, as they came and got each of us and placed us at a different spot throughout the maze. The maze consisted of a rope that was about hip high and was tied to trees throughout this very small area of the woods. They placed each of us on a different section of the rope and told us to go ahead and try to find the end of the maze. We all started walking, bumping into each other and having to go around each other as we wandered through the maze. As we went, the guides would say, “You’ll know you’re there when you see the light. If you need help, just raise your hand and ask.” After a little while they’d say it again, “You’ll know you’re there when you see the light, if you need help, just raise your hand and ask.” After about the third time of them saying that I began to wonder what kind of help they were going to offer. So I raised my hand and said, “I need help.” Instantly my blindfold was removed by one of the guides. I was told to be quiet and to step out of the maze. By this time I could tell that this “maze” didn’t go anywhere at all. It was simply a random set of ropes going from one tree to the other. I stood back with the guides and watched as your kids continued to wander along these ropes, bumping into each other, stepping on each other, going from one rope to the other. The whole time the guides continued to say, “You’ll know you’re there when you see the light. If you need help, just raise your hand and ask.” Some of the kids caught on and asked for help. When they did, their blindfolds were removed and they were escorted out of the ropes. Others, I won’t say any names, were intent on finding their way through this maze without any help. Those that stayed continued to get more and more frustrated. The burden of the maze grew more and more as they continued to refuse to ask for help. Their refusal to accept help became the biggest burden they carried. Only those who had the capacity to ask for help were able to see the light. Church, only humble eyes can see the light of divine wisdom. The life of discipleship can only be entered through the door of humility.

Any person struggling with addiction knows the first step of any twelve-step program is admitting that they have an addiction and they are powerless to stop it apart from a higher power. The road to recovery begins with total surrender to God. Only by surrendering to God do we give God the space to enter in and begin working in our hearts and souls. All of us need a twelve-step program of some kind. None of us has the capacity to come to the wisdom that will save us apart from Jesus. We all need to remind ourselves daily that we are human, we are small compared to God’s greatness, we are in desperate need of the divine work of God in our lives. Only He can free us from the burdens we carry.

Jesus prays and says, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” It’s a bit counterintuitive to all of us, that the more learned of these people, the Pharisees, wouldn’t recognize wisdom when it was standing in front of them. Only those who come to Jesus like little children are able to see him for who he is – Wisdom incarnate. Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom, not just a wise man. None of us would have ever thought that wisdom looked like dying on a cross for the peace of the world, but Jesus embodied that. Nobody would have thought that true life would require dying to self, but Jesus embodied that. No one would have thought that becoming the greatest would mean being the least and being a servant to all, but Jesus embodied that for us too. You want to know what wisdom looks like? Look at Jesus. Only the poor and needy who had neither the resources nor capacity for religious education.. Only these people received the revelation of Divine wisdom.

Jesus says that wisdom will be vindicated by her deeds. The Pharisees rejection of Jesus does nothing to negate the fact that He is true divine wisdom incarnate. They are just too blind to see it. If they would only look around at all the work that is being done, they would see there is something to this. The blind are given sight, the sick are healed, the crippled can walk, the dead are raised. The Kingdom is breaking in with full force, and they continue to deny it.

KFC and Church’s Chicken employee people who are skilled at cooking, people who put a lot of time into making sure the chicken they cook is of the highest quality. I’m not going to lie, I do like KFC and Church’s Chicken, but I’ll tell you right now, I know the best chicken they could ever make would only be an imitation. I know this because I’ve had the platonic ideal of fried chicken. You can’t get it at any store and it won’t cost a dime. You can only get it at my grandmother’s kitchen in Mississippi. I don’t think she even uses a recipe. But it’s far better than anything you can get anywhere else, I’ll tell you that. My grandmother never took a cooking class and neither have I. But I can tell you that we both know where to find the best fried chicken. You may say that a cookbook can give you all the wisdom you need to fry chicken, but I say kitchen wisdom is found cooking alongside my grandmother in her kitchen.

A farmer doesn’t know the first thing about radar or barometric pressure, but he’s certainly in tune to the seasons, the clouds, the temperature outside and the direction of the wind. He knows that when the wind starts blowing from the north side of his farm, he better put his tractor up; it’s going to rain.

The Pharisee says, “Look at how much he eats and drinks!” The child says, “Yeah, but he made a blind man see.” The Pharisee says, “He hangs out with tax collectors and sinners!” The child says, “Yeah, but that man couldn’t walk yesterday and now he’s running around.” The Pharisee says, “Look. He dies just like any other man.” The child says, “Yeah but he comes back to life like a God.” Wisdom is known by her deeds.

Our passage today ends in an invitation. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This is an invitation for all of us. We are all invited to take the yoke of Christ - the yoke of discipleship. It is a yoke, and it demands something from us. But soon we find that the burdens and demands of this yoke are nothing compared to the burdens and demands of the world. Anyone in honest recovery would say the burden of practicing twelve steps is nothing compared to the burden of their addiction. When we give our whole selves to Jesus, we find that we are much freer than we ever were before.

The kind of rest Jesus promises us is the kind of rest we had when we walked and talked with God in the garden. The kind of rest that comes from knowing God is near, he hears our voice, he sees our tears, he knows our pain, and he loves us without question. That’s the kind of rest we were made for. What are your burdens? Is it sin? Addiction? Sickness? Broken relationships? Do you suffer from Persecution and Oppression? Racism? Sexism? Any of the other “isms”? Do you feel trapped by legalism and the excessive demands of the super religious? May you come to Jesus in repentance today. May you find freedom and liberation from your burdens. May you find in Jesus – Wisdom incarnate – the kind of rest your soul has always longed for.

Amen.