Sermon – 07-30-23 – Pentecost 9 – Proper 12 – Cycle A
Scriptures: 1 Kings 3:5-12; Psalm 119:129-136; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Sermon Title: “Knowledge and Wisdom Versus Love”

Knowledge is facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education.

Wisdom is the ability to contemplate and act productively using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight.

Love is greater than knowledge and wisdom. 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13 says, “Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Of course, you know there are many different kinds and levels of love. One kind of love is called “eros” in the Bible. Our society uses the expression “fall in love.” The “fall” part of this expression is indicative of what sometimes happens. Why in the world does this “falling” in love push wisdom out the window? Why are two people so drawn to each other that common sense gets lost. Maybe in your case common sense and wisdom did not get lost. You may have a wonderful, solid relationship with the one who set all kinds of relationship bells ringing in your body while wisdom was never lost.

There is the love for fellow humans called filial love, Philadelphia is known as the city of brotherly love – filial love. “Philadelphia” is a compound word of the Greek philos (long e) and adelphos. The word can be directly translated from its Greek origin to mean “brotherly love.” It is the kind of love that ideally exists between sisters and brothers and between children and parents. Lots of brotherly love is happening in the city of Philadelphia, even though the news about killings is louder than the news about filial love.

Filial love brings out the best in us – providing food, shelter, warmth, medical care for fellow humans who do not have these things. In God’s sight we are equal – God does not love wealthy people more than poor people. God expects us to care for each other. We are equally worthy of love from God and love from and for each other. Wisdom is part of filial love. A society is only healthy if everyone has basic needs met, including love. Receiving filial love is a basic need.

Then there is agape love. This Greek word refers to the love between God and the people God has created. This current of love between God and us radiates outward to embrace whomever is in the path. It is not an exclusive love like when two people fall in love. Agape love seeks to reach out and draw others into the circle. It needs to be inclusive. Goodwill and benevolence automatically happen. Self-transcendence is a characteristic of agape love. Self-transcendence is about transcending (or rising above) the self and relating to that which is greater than the self. In simpler terms, it is the realization that we are one small part of a greater whole, and acting accordingly.

Let’s check our scripture passages today for signs of knowledge, wisdom, and love. Does wisdom speak to us? How much love can we find? Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, becomes king when God chooses to arrange the anointing of Solomon as the king to succeed David as David’s life is ending. Soon after the anointing, God comes to King Solomon in a dream. God asks Solomon what gift Solomon would like from God. King Solomon chooses “wisdom” over any kind of wealth or power. This pleases God! God says, “Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you.”

Just so you don’t think that Solomon was perfect forever, Satan sneaks into the picture and has Solomon losing God’s favor because of a woman. Remember how Solomon’s father King David let Satan in the door. A story to re-visit another day. However, David’s favor with God was restored. Not so with Solomon. Solomon follows the gods of the many women in his life. Now God is very displeased. He accuses Solomon of not following God’s commandments. This kingdom does not stay in Solomon’s family.

Following God’s commandments is an essential part of wisdom. Disobeying will get us nowhere pleasant. Our designated Psalm for today is Psalm 119, verses 129 through 136. The emphasis in these verses is the importance of obeying God’s commandments. Our Confession of Sin included this emphasis.

Both David and Solomon lost track of the commandments when Satan appeared in the open doorway. Let us take heed to watch the doorway to our hearts. This is wisdom.

Do our scriptures include the agape love? Well, David was restored into the agape love of God because he was led to confess his sin. Solomon was not restored into the agape love of God because he would not change his ways and confess.

The need for wisdom follows us straight into the New Testament – when Jesus lives on earth. The Father and Jesus are no less demanding after Jesus appears as a baby and grows to be an adult of 33 years. In our gospel lesson today, Jesus is telling people to be wise in how they make decisions. We shall stay focused on what is worth our focus. It may be planting one little mustard seed, hardly worth anything by itself. But planted in soil, aided by sun and water, it grows into a huge bush to provide a home for birds of the air.

Then there is the yeast, a precious commodity, added to flour to make nourishing bread. A person finds a treasure in a field and sells all that he has and buys the field. A merchant finds a pearl which is worth more than all the other pearls he has so he sells everything he has to buy that one pearl.

So it is when we are yearning to please Jesus and the Father enough to be invited and received into the kingdom of heaven. Our wisdom needs to lead us to give up frivolous things which give us momentary joy.. We shall increase our filial love for each of our fellow humans. We shall accept and reciprocate God’s agape love and favor. We shall examine our activities. If they are like the good fish, we shall continue the activities. If our activities are not leading us toward the kingdom of heaven, we need to eliminate them, like throwing away the bad fish.

Then Paul comes along saying in his letter to the Romans that our reward for being more focused on the things of heaven is the intense agape love of Jesus. None of our past activities can separate us from the love of Jesus if we have applied our wisdom and focus on the kingdom of heaven and we have repented of any past activities. It is not too late. If you and I are not taking our last breath this very minute, there is still time to cling to the agape love of Jesus and dis-engage from any activity that is not drawing us closer to the ultimate kingdom of heaven. Amen