I. How Much He Loves You 00:00
Lord Jesus, I pray that you would reveal yourself to us this morning. I pray that you’d open our eyes to see, open our ears to hear, open our hearts to know the love you have for us and the love you have for everyone we meet. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Today I get the opportunity to jump in and fill in for [Bishop Bates]. I was looking at the series we were doing in Acts, and God said, “Yeah, I don’t want to talk about that today.” And I said, “Okay. Yes, sir. Aye.” And so today we’re actually just going to talk about the readings.
And I want you to know, this whole sermon, God told me, was all about one thing. It was about how much he loves you. And the reason I’m telling you that up front is because you might not get the gist if you don’t have that framing. Because there’s some stuff that I think God wants to teach us so that we can know how much he loves us, so that we can live out of that love.
II. The Good Life 01:16
And so we’re going to start with this idea that has obsessed philosophers and theologians for thousands of years. Literally since there has been religion, since there has been an idea of human life, there has been a question, and that is: what is the good life? There have been different ways of talking about it. Aristotle called it eudaimonia, which is this happiness, this joy. The Jewish tradition talked about shalom, and we’ve talked about that some recently: the peace that fulfills all things, the peace that comes not because nobody’s fighting but because God has won. And there’s this idea in there too that Jesus talked about his entire ministry. He called it the kingdom of God: being a part of and living in the kingdom of God.
And so when we look at our culture today, this project is largely abandoned, or it’s been derailed. I don’t want to make any broad cultural commentary, but I do think it’s really obvious in the people you meet that they’re struggling with three things. They’re either looking for love in all the wrong places (looking for love, searching; they’re looking for something to fulfill them, and they don’t know where to go, and so they chase money, success, fame, power, family, whatever they put in that highest place that directs their life, and they think it will give them the good life, shalom, peace, eudaimonia, the kingdom of God), or they’re sacrificing the good life for the good moments.
We see that quite a bit in Southern California, because you can have some great moments here. You really can. Some of the coolest, most fun things to do in the entire world are here. Trust me, I was just in Selma, Alabama. The contrast! I love that place because of the people, but we take for granted the beauty of the ocean, the beauty of the weather. Oh my goodness, that was made very apparent to my wife and me when we were in Selma, Alabama, for their hottest summer in decades. It was not fun: 96 degrees, 150 percent humidity. I know that’s scientifically impossible, but phenomenologically it’s true. I felt it.
My point is, we have a culture, especially in Southern California, where you fill your life with experiences, with Instagrammable moments, with these things that are going to fill you up. And then you go back to work on Monday morning, and you think, “Gosh, I don’t feel so good.” I know, because I’ve been there. I’ve been chasing the moment and sacrificing the good life. And I say it that way (you’re substituting the good life for the good moment) because those things are good. It’s not like substituting the good life for the evil. But that second margarita might be the next margarita on the pathway to destruction and emptiness. It could be. It doesn’t make the margarita bad. It means we have to know where God is leading us and what that means.
So either way, these are two very present problems in our culture. People are looking for love in all the wrong places; they’re going after other religions, other gods, other things. And then they’re sacrificing what they know is the good life for their immediate gratification or pleasure. Lastly, I think there’s almost a spirit in our culture of cynicism, where people are opting out of the search altogether. “I’m just going to do what I’m going to do, because there’s no such thing as the good life. There’s only what we have, and you just make the best of it.” And they find their ways of medicating that emptiness, or they find their ways of going through their life minimizing suffering, or minimizing pain, or minimizing whatever. But they’re never looking for the true path, the true goodness that is offered to them.
III. Solomon's Wish 05:04
Now, what is our answer to this dilemma? I think the first passage we read this morning, in the Old Testament, gives us some clues as to what it means to find the kingdom of God, the good life. And I’m just going to summarize it, because there’s a lot in there, and we’re going to keep going here.
Basically, you have Solomon. Just imagine: you’ve got King David, the best of all the kings of Israel forever, and he dies, and Solomon’s going to be king. There’s a lot of drama in between that we’re skipping. But imagine you’re the guy about to be crowned king right after King David, the one we still talk about, how great he is. And he’s feeling a little anxious. But then, like all great fairy tales and folklore, a genie comes to him in the middle of the night and offers him one wish. That’s kind of what it reads like. God showed up and said, “What do you want? You get one wish.” And he says to him, “God, I’m just a child. I want wisdom, understanding. I want to know how to discern what is good and what is evil. I want to know how to govern your people.” And God goes, “We have a winner!” (1 Kings 3.5–12)
Imagine if he had asked for something else. There was a test implicit in this, just like all great genie stories. If your wish is wrong, your life falls apart. In fact, every genie story has that in it. And why is that? Because there’s something true: what you desire reveals your heart. Over time, when you seek after these other gods, like I was saying, when you run after money, success, fame, power, whatever it is, recognition, influence, then your heart gets turned and your desires get twisted. But what Solomon revealed in his heart was a true desire to know what is good and what is evil, to govern the people of God. He wanted wisdom. He wanted truth. He wanted to know how to achieve the good life as a king.
IV. Wisdom to Govern Ourselves 07:26
Let’s talk a little bit more about what’s going on here. I want to break down these two things that he talks about. So it’s wisdom, or an understanding mind, but to do what? Well, first of all, it’s to discern good and evil, and second of all, it’s to govern your people.
Now, there’s a way of talking about a human that is extremely true; I can see it in my own life. Basically, we are a conglomeration. We’re an abundance of desires, needs, and warring personalities inside of ourselves. You know that. There’s somebody in you who is pointing in the opposite direction from the other guy. Paul talks about this: I have a war in my flesh (Rom 7.23). How do I help myself to do the things I know are right and not the things that are evil? So when Solomon says, “I want wisdom to govern your people,” I think we can appropriate that for ourselves: I want wisdom to govern myself. It starts there. And then we can have wisdom to govern our household, our business, our community. But first we need wisdom to govern ourselves.
I thought of a great, just fantastic example. I mean, the best example in the history of sermon illustrations. I’m kidding a little bit. I was thinking the other day about that moment when I put my kids to bed and everything is quiet in the house. Haley is feeding the baby, and I walk over, and I look at the kitchen, and I look at my back porch, and I have two options here. I’ve got the part of me that wants to serve my wife and love her well. And then I’ve got the part of me that has an Old Fashioned already made, and a beautiful chair on my patio, and a nice book, that would love to just go and sit down and read my book and drink my Old Fashioned. “You know what? She’ll clean it up later.”
And what is the question here? Well, I need some wisdom. All of the men here know it’s a trap. No, I’m just kidding. The point is, I need wisdom to discern what is good and what is wrong in this situation: what is good, what is evil, what is the right thing to do. But then I need more, because let me tell you, it’s pretty easy for me to know what the right thing to do at that moment is. I also need wisdom to govern myself, because I’ve got to be able to tell that guy who wants to go sit on the patio, “Nah, not today,” or “In 30 minutes, when I’m done doing the dishes.”
There’s nothing wrong with sitting on the patio reading a book, sipping on an Old Fashioned. Trust me, it’s wonderful. But if I do that in neglect of my duty… and I’m not saying every husband has to wash the dishes every night. I’m just saying, you know what I’m talking about. Something in me says, “I need to clean the kitchen, so when my wife’s done feeding the baby and putting her down, we can enjoy time together without burdens and chores.” We need that time; it’s important. And something in me is like, “Yeah, but I’d rather…” So I need wisdom to discern good and evil, and I need wisdom to govern myself.
So when you think about that, you might say, “Yeah, but God isn’t showing up to me in a dream saying, ‘Hey, I’ll give you whatever you want.’ We’re not like Solomon.” And yet, oh, hold on. Matthew chapter 7, verse 11, says:
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matt 7.11
Do you think God’s going to withhold wisdom from you if you ask him? In fact, the other Gospel that has that same passage says, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11.13). Can you have the Holy Spirit and lack wisdom? Well, I think you could ignore the Holy Spirit. I’m pretty darn good at it, as he reminds me sometimes. We like to separate ourselves: “Yeah, but I’m not Solomon.” Yeah, but you know who’s smarter and wiser than Solomon? Christ in you, our hope of glory (Col 1.27). We have a choice today. Will you seek riches, power, the ability to vanquish your enemies? Or will you seek wisdom? We’re all Solomon here. We’re all given a kingdom to manage. It starts in here: the temple of the Holy Spirit, the residence of our God.
V. The Entrance of Your Words Gives Light 11:49
Okay. You only have to look around to see that people are starving for wisdom, like we’re talking about. How many thousands and millions of hours of podcasts are there that people listen to, to understand how to love their spouse, how to raise their kids, how to do good at their job? It has flooded our world, because there’s a desire to understand, a desire to know. How do we as Christians gain wisdom? I’m absolutely not saying don’t listen to podcasts. I listen to more podcasts, probably, than anybody in this room. But I am saying we have to start somewhere before we listen to those podcasts.
And I think our Psalm gives us a hint. In fact, there’s a verse in the middle of our Psalm (we’re going to read a larger passage), but it says, “The entrance of Your words” (capital Y, God’s words) “gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Ps 119.130). I don’t know about you, but “simple,” if you didn’t know, in this context means it gives understanding to the dumb, understanding to the idiots, understanding to people who don’t understand. That’s me all the time. So where do I start? I think we have to start with the word of God. And so let’s look at what the psalmist is talking about here, in Psalm 119, beginning in verse 123. He says:
123 My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation And Your righteous word. 124 Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, And teach me Your statutes. 125 I am Your servant; Give me understanding, That I may know Your testimonies. Ps 119.123–125
It’s interesting, because David is the psalmist in this particular Psalm, and his son, because he read his dad’s Psalms, knew what to ask for: understanding, wisdom. We gain wisdom from God’s word.
VI. Formed by Scripture 14:20
Let me explain a little more here, because I think you guys know that. Every one of us knows God’s word contains wisdom for us. Here’s an example of what that might look like, and maybe what we think of when we think of that. My kids love the show called Bibleman. Now, some of you are old enough to remember the live-action Bibleman, a classic of modern cinema. But they have this new cartoon version that my kids absolutely adore. And the whole premise of this show is that you have these evil supervillains called, like, the Sultan of Selfishness, or the Grand Duchess of Greed. They’ve got them all. Or the Ronin of Wrongdoing. And they attack children, through influence, through whispers, through magical powers, to make them do bad things. The idea is, it’s the temptation to do the bad thing, whatever it is: selfishness, etc. And the whole show is the kid behaving really poorly, and at the very end Bibleman shows up and he says, “The Bible tells us that the truth will set you free.” And the kid goes, “Ah, I should have been telling the truth the whole time!” And the bad guy goes, “No!” and fades into the background.
Every one of us knows that’s not how it works. I can tell myself all I want, “The truth will set you free.” It doesn’t change the fact that I lie sometimes. It doesn’t change the fact that, although I know I should not be angry, or I should not be annoyed, or I should not be offended, I get angry, annoyed, and offended. If Bibleman showed up and told me, “You shouldn’t be angry,” it wouldn’t change the fact that I was angry. I’d be a little curious as to why Bibleman is showing up, but I would not not be angry.
So think about this. That’s not what the psalmist is saying. It doesn’t mean you memorize Bible verses so that when you encounter that thing, you can just say, “Ah yes, this Bible verse answers my problem, and now I’m okay.” In fact, I have tried this with my wife. “The Bible says do not be anxious for anything” (Phil 4.6). That does not make her less anxious, I promise you. In fact, sometimes it seems to have the opposite effect. I’m not exactly sure how that goes. Because what she hears is, “You’re judging me. You’re angry with me. You think I’m in the wrong.” She doesn’t hear, “I love you. I want to help you in that moment.” So what do I mean when I say the Bible is going to give you wisdom? The Bible is going to teach you that when your wife is anxious, you love her well and you model God’s love for her. It’s not going to teach you to spout off your favorite scriptures to make her give up whatever is making you annoyed or making her anxious.
We are looking not to memorize scripture to solve our problems. We are looking to be formed by scripture, so that when you do encounter a situation, that living scripture within you reminds you, “Oh yeah, there’s a better way.” And when that becomes internal, when that gets written on your hearts, as the path of all scripture is, then you start living according to those principles and ideas.
Here’s an example. We all know those people who just mimic whoever they’re hanging out with. They just say whatever they heard on the latest podcast. They annoy the heck out of me. “Be a real person. Don’t just say what you heard or do what other people are doing.” That’s all of us. Every one of us has that problem. And yet we can all think of that person who has that… no, that’s you too. That’s us. How do you think we compose our selfhood? Sorry, I’m using kind of big words, I guess, for this. What I’m trying to say is, you’re a mixture of the influences in your life. And if you listen to a bunch of stupid people, you will be stupid. The hope is, if you listen to a bunch of Holy Spirit-filled, wise people, it will make you wise. In fact, that’s in 1 Corinthians: it says, “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Cor 15.33). It’s just the way God designed the world: that you would be in relationship with him, be influenced by him, and be influenced by his body on earth, the church, to be who he’s made you to be.
We are all people who are products of what we eat: intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, whatever you consume, it shapes you. Now, of course, that doesn’t mean that if you watch Nacho Libre like 10 times in a row you’re going to all of a sudden be goofy and idiotic. I’m not saying that. I am saying that there is something we have a responsibility to do, which is to make sure that our voice, our internal dialogue, is shaped by the word of God. Then we can approach the world with freedom. Then we can approach the world knowing what is true and what is false, discerning good and evil, and being able to govern ourselves. So when I talk about what scripture is supposed to do, it’s supposed to shape us in wisdom. And then we can say with the psalmist:
127 Therefore I love Your commandments More than gold, yes, than fine gold! 128 Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way. 129 Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul keeps them. 130 The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. 131 I opened my mouth and panted, For I longed for Your commandments. Ps 119.127–131
If you need an example of how this works, look at your children who get raised in the faith. I know in my life there was a point in time at which I started actually wanting to do the right thing more than I wanted to do the bad thing. Now, that journey continues to this day. There are still times where, as I’ve mentioned many times, I want to do the bad thing more than I want to do the good thing. But I will tell you, you can see the transformation as it happens. When you are raising them up in the way that they should go, your children will not depart from the law of God. That’s what we’re promised in the Scriptures, in the book of wisdom, in Proverbs (Prov 22.6).
So what does that mean for us who are adults? Just because your dad or mom isn’t telling you what you should do and shouldn’t do doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. In fact, now guess who your Father is. Guess who you need to listen to. Guess who you need to be shaped by. And all of this, as I said from the beginning, is because God loves you so much. And basically the enemy is running around (we have these kind of scary words for it): he seeks whom he may devour (1 Pet 5.8). How does he do that? He puts traps all over the world. “You should do the lazy thing. You should do the easy thing instead of the right thing. You should do the fun thing. You should sacrifice the good life for the good moment. You should look for the good life in your job, your family, in your car, in your house, in whatever,” instead of finding it in Christ.
VII. Treasure Hidden in a Field 22:03
So when we talk about wisdom, it brings us to our Gospel, Matthew chapter 13, beginning in verse 44. Because I do think there’s a sense in us that’s like, “Okay, so far all I’ve heard is: learn the Bible, be a better human being, you aren’t good enough.” I don’t know about you, but that’s how I was feeling while I was writing it. I was like, “Dagnabbit, I can think of 10 times this week that I haven’t listened to what I’m trying to say.” But there’s a secret here that I think Jesus unlocks in Matthew 13:
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matt 13.44
The secret is, when you know what’s being offered to you, you can have joy as you sell all you have and buy the field. When I think about the joy that I might bring to my wife when she walks out of the room and there’s a clean kitchen, all of a sudden that Old Fashioned and that book pale in comparison. Not all the time. Come on, I definitely stumble into my own wicked ways. But my point is, if I have my mind right, if I have wisdom, then I will see that the benefits outweigh the cost astronomically.
That’s the point of the kingdom of heaven. It says, “Come and die.” That’s a harsh word. Jesus is like, “Take up that torture device, the cross, and follow me.” And you go, “Why?” And he says, “You can have life, and life everlasting.” Because whatever you’re doing now, before you take up your cross, is not life. It’s just a path to death. Aside from Jesus and his cross and resurrection, whatever you’re doing is just a path to death. But with him it’s resurrected life. It’s eudaimonia. It’s shalom. It’s the good life. It’s the kingdom of God. We have it answered. The answer is the way of the cross, the way of Christ. Sell it all and buy that field. And then he continues:
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matt 13.45–46
My question today for all of you is: are you so busy that you forget to look for the pearl? The merchant has to be looking in order to find it. In fact, the guy who found the treasure, you know what he had to do? He had to dig. And guess what? He probably didn’t find it the first time. He probably had to dig multiple times. He had to look for the treasure. And then he finds it, and he realizes what he has, and in his joy he goes, sells all he has, and buys the field.
VIII. You Are the Treasure 25:15
That’s all well and good, but I actually have better news than even that. The kingdom of God is joy and life eternal: great news. Here’s better news. Do you know what field Jesus is talking about? He’s talking about the world. And do you know what treasure he’s talking about? You. Because what did God do? He looked out, and he saw a treasure in the world, and he sent his Son to sell all he had and buy that field, so that you could be in relationship with him.
So everything I’ve said so far has focused a lot on how you can participate in what he is already doing in you. You’re not alone. In fact, God has sold everything, that he could have you. You are bought with a price (1 Cor 6.20). You are precious in his sight, just as you are. And like I said at the beginning, this whole sermon is actually about how much God loves you.
And so when Jesus says something like, “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt 6.33), which is the fundamental principle of wisdom (seek him first, put him in the highest place), he does that because he’s put you at such a place of value that he would give his entire life and die on a cross for you, that he could spend eternity with you. That’s wisdom. It seems foolishness to us, but it is wisdom, because the core of everything is that he loves you, and he’s inviting you to love him. Amen.