Living Wisely

8-19-18 (Proper 15/Ordinary 20 B, Semi-Continuous)

2 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Ephesians 5:15-20

Living Wisely

It’s officially the start of a new school year.  We’ve packed our backpacks up, prepped our classrooms, gone to the open-houses, taken those first day of school pictures, welcomed our students and started back into the routines of homework, reading, art projects and math problems.  Some of our students have already been hard at work at sports practices before they even started their classes, and the first games are already underway.  In another week or so, we’ll have gotten back into the swing of things - you’ll have familiarized yourselves with the class schedules, get that morning routine locked in so you don’t miss the bus, and have a pretty solid idea finally of who needs to be where and when.  It’s a time of transition - not just in your schedules and routines, but also in the season itself.  The state fair is coming to an end today and a lot of folks in our community have been busily showing livestock - folks will have just enough time to recover and rest a little bit, but the combines are already getting out to start harvesting whatever corn the winds haven’t blown down.

In the midst of this time of transition, it may be easy enough to identify right now with Solomon, at least in some ways.  While we will likely never know the experience of finally being established on a King’s throne or the kind of ordeal that Solomon had to survive in order to take his place as ruler over his father’s kingdom, we can still perhaps sympathize with that sense of things finally being “firmly established” after a season of stressful transitions.  As Solomon comes to this own time of long-needed stability in his life, he takes the time to give thanks to the God who brought him to this place, who protected him from rivals and guarded him against dangers.  And though the text doesn’t explore it, I can’t help but wonder if he didn’t have a question of “what’s next” lingering in the back of his mind even as he is making his sacrifices.  Solomon’s rule so far has been one of trying to survive - he’s had to outwit and outmaneuver David’s other children and their own claims to the throne.  Now that the crown is definitively on his head… what is he to do next?

It’s overwhelming for Solomon, I think - at about 20 years of age, he’s coming into the prime of his adulthood and now has to shift his way of thinking from securing the throne to now effectively managing a kingdom.  And while we may not so much have kingdoms to manage, we still may find ourselves thinking those same questions of “what next?”  Now that the kids are in school again, what are the things that you’re now looking at and making those mental shifts toward?  Are the family calendars and travel arrangements getting laid out to account for band practices and away games?  Work hours and shift times being readjusted to account for high school schedules?  Chores and plans for the coming harvest being timed to maximize the hours when you’ll have the most help?  If you have juniors and seniors, are you as anxious as your children perhaps are about planning visits to potential colleges?  Or if your students are in college already, are you adjusting to them being away from the house again for the next semester?

Would that we could be so fortunate as Solomon was at this point!  In the midst of his offerings and prayer, God speaks to the newly minted king and grants him any one request - whatever Solomon most desires, God tells Solomon simply to ask what God should give him.  Wouldn’t that be amazing if it were to happen for each of us?  And what would you ask for?  Solomon is astounding at this point in the story - he could have asked for any number of different things - in fact, God even seems to suggest that God almost expected Solomon to ask for something else - he could have asked for immense riches, for a long and prosperous life, or even for his enemies to be devoured in fire and brimstone… and yet Solomon humbles himself, instead.  He comes before God, acknowledges God’s providence in placing him on the throne, and then admits that he views himself as still no more than a child who doesn’t know what on earth he’s supposed to be doing.  And then Solomon asks for wisdom, for the discernment to know good from evil and how to understand and lead his people.

God follows through on God’s offer to Solomon, and then some.  Because Solomon impresses God with his request, God tells Solomon “I’m going to even give you the things you didn’t ask for.”  And again… would that we could be so fortunate as Solomon!  After all, how many times have we found ourselves exasperated in a situation - the kids come home from school and need you to help them do math homework and you have no idea how they’re supposed to do the math because you don’t understand it, either.  How many times have we found ourselves saying “God, give me patience?” Or “God, give me the strength?”  Or “God, please just give me a sign that what I’m doing is right?”  How many times have we prayed for that kind of wisdom, ourselves, and yet we haven’t had God in front of us saying “Ask what I should give you?”

We may not have the blessings of Solomon, even though we can wish and dream of our own answers to such an offer.  However, this is not to say that we don’t still have encouragement, or even that we can’t hear God speaking to us, giving us the means to have the wisdom we ask for, even as we’re pleading for God to speak out of the blue to us.  Paul lays it out clearly in this passage from Ephesians as he gives the church instruction and guidance to “live wisely.”  And so, as we find ourselves in that “back to school” season, perhaps it’s best for us to remember that we always have opportunities to learn, to continue as students in life no matter how long it’s been since we last cracked open a textbook.  Paul’s encouragement, his instructions for wise living, boil down to a few key points, and it’s in these points that perhaps we can find wisdom, encouragement and hope for ourselves today, as well:

First, Paul says to “make the most of the time” - the phrasing he uses here is actually interesting, because it’s the same wording you’d use to talk of the marketplace: literally, it translates to snapping up every chance of a bargain that you find.  Of course, Paul isn’t telling us to just start clipping coupons and looking for doorbuster deals… it’s a charge to recognize that all the time we have is God’s time, to know that it has been entrusted to us, and to strive to make the most of it and invest our energy into things that will ultimately be worthwhile.

Next, Paul tells the Ephesians to avoid ignorance and to pursue the knowledge of God’s will.  We should always be seeking to learn, to grow, and to develop ourselves, but it is also important that we continue always to listen, to keep our eyes and ears open for what God is doing in our midst and to seek to understand how God is nudging us ever further toward understanding just what God is up to.  Theologian Beverly Gaventa expands on this verse a bit, noting that when Paul speaks about not being ignorant, he isn’t so much speaking about gaining more intellectual knowledge as much as he is encouraging the church to align themselves more and more toward the values that God encourages.  She writes, ““In the first century philosophical tradition, the opposite of foolishness is self possession, discipline, independence of the spirit and will. For Christians, however, the wisdom that stands opposite of foolishness is not one’s own wisdom, but that which stems from understanding God’s will.”

Paul continues further, encouraging the church to not get drunk on with wine, but to be filled with the Spirit.  I can’t help but think of the Pentecost story here, as the disciples were accused of being drunk on new wine because of their enthusiasm and their sudden Spirit-driven ability to speak in so many different languages.  As we allow ourselves to be filled by God, as we open ourselves more and more fully to what God is doing in our midst and let God be at work within us, it can’t help but change who we are, as well.  We do a good enough job of worshipping God, of singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs in our church services, sure - but how many times do you find yourself truly “singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts?”  How many times have you been out in the fields or mowing your yard, and suddenly there’s a hymn on your lips?  When are the times when you’ve felt like what you’re doing, even if it’s not in the context of a Sunday morning, feels like an act of worship to you?  This was a practice that many of the early monastic traditions really tried to emphasize - that even in the garden as they were pulling weeds, they could be in prayer and worship.  It’s something that definitely has to be cultivated, but those moments where you find that happening naturally can be some of the most fulfilling times in your day.

The last piece of wisdom Paul gives ties in very closely to the rest - “give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Above all else, our lives are meant to be lived out in a spirit of thankfulness.  I had a professor in seminary who was often fond of telling us that the miraculous was all around us all the time, even if it doesn’t show up in the form of walking on water, wondrous healings, or turning water into wine.  He’d remind us that “every day you wake up and draw breath is a miracle!”  Every day, we are surrounded by reminders of God’s grace - in the smile of a neighbor or even a stranger, in the wave you see from a friend as you drive down the road and pass each other in your cars.  We see the reminders of God’s Kingdom breaking through into our world in acts of generosity, in those moments of compassion and selflessness that stand out amidst a background of other, less honorable acts.  We see God’s grace even in the simple things - a child stopping in the hallway to help one of their classmates tie their shoe.  And we need to remember to take the time to be thankful for those things, to dwell on them and let them influence us in the process.  Our lives are marked by grace and gratitude - and so we should be constantly keeping an eye out for those opportunities to be truly thankful.

Avoid ignorance.  Pursue God’s will.  Be filled with the Spirit.  Worship God in your heart.  Be thankful.  It might not net us the great Wisdom of Solomon to follow these guidelines, but when we strive toward these Godly traits and align ourselves with Christ’s values, we can certainly live wisely and with hope, knowing that Christ is at work in our midst and doing great things both around us and through us.  And so that’s our homework - let us go out into the world living out those values, with thankfulness to God for continuing to nudge us onward every step of the way.  To God be the Glory.  Amen.