71 Sermon Illustrations on Knowledge

In spite of his many discoveries and honors, including being the first person knighted for scientific achievements, Isaac Newton remained a humble man. He once wrote his nephew:

“To myself I seem to have been only a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

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[Holwick: some would argue Newton could be humble in regard to Ultimate Truth but not in regard to any other human being. His ego was brittle and legendary.]

George Bernard Shaw: "We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience."

[see also HolwickID #16633]

Short biographical sketch of A.W. Tozer, one of the most respected evangelical authors of the 20th century. He emphasized reading Christian classics. He complained that our "concept of religious experience had shifted from the transcendental to the utilitarian. God is valued as being useful and Christ appreciated because of the predicaments he gets us out of.... The all-consuming love that burns in the writings of an Augustine, a Bernard, or a Rolle is foreign to the modern religious spirit...."

#2853

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Modern apologists for objective truth are making a tactical error.

I was invited to the InterVarsity chapter of our campus for a discussion on Christianity in the university. One of the leaders felt I was being “wish- washy” and challenged me. She said, “After all, as Jesus says, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), no one comes to the Father but by me.’ Can you say, ‘but by me’?” she asked.

“Yes,” I responded, “but isn’t it curious that Jesus did not say to his disciples, ‘I am here to tell you about the truth?’ He says, ‘I am the truth.’”

Increasing numbers of Christians are decrying rampant moral and intellectual “relativism” within our culture. Our culture is undeniably in sad shape, intellectually and morally, but I’m not sure “relativism” is the problem. In “No Place for Truth,” David Wells argues forcefully that evangelicals are called to push the truth, to speak up for objective, absolute truth, regardless of how people feel about it. Feeling is not the issue, according to Wells, the issue is: “Is the gospel true — objectively, absolutely true — or not?”

Wells has a point. The concept of absolute truth is a necessary corrective for a society wallowing in pop-psychotherapeutic, feel-good strategies. After all, most of us are not conditioned to ask, “Is this true?” but rather, “How do I feel about this?”

But I’m not sure that putting the matter in this way is the best strategy for the church today. It fails to do full justice to the peculiar truth that is proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Recently I heard a Christian apologist argue that either Christianity was objectively true, accessible to anyone with rational sense, or it was a preposterous lie. “If I say it is raining today,” said the apologist, “that is either true or it is not true. It can’t be almost true, or figuratively true. It is objectively true. Likewise, when I say, ‘Jesus Christ rose from the dead,’ it is either true or it is sheer fantasy.”

I could see where he was going with this. Certainly God gave us powers of reason and, in the exercise of those powers, we ought to be able to think about Jesus. Yet I thought he was not only begging the question of the myriad ways in which we use those words, That’s true, he was also not being true to the nature of Jesus, who is “the way, the truth, and the life.”

I have come to agree with my colleague Stanley Hauerwas that Christians who argue for the “objective” truth of Jesus are making a tactical mistake. Jesus did not arrive among us enunciating a set of propositions that we are to affirm. There is no point at which Jesus says, “You need to believe four propositions about me: number one: I was born of a virgin; number two: Scripture is inerrant …” Jesus doesn’t talk like that. Jesus never asks us to agree; he asks us to join up, to follow. He did not call for cognitive assent; he asked for a life of discipleship involving the whole self, not just the mind.

Again, he did not say, “I have come to start a discussion about what is true.” (We academics would have loved it if he had!) Rather, he came saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The truth is a person, personal. This truth is not sheer subjectivity, either, for the truth of Jesus is utterly inseparable from him — his life, death, and resurrection. We Christians really would have no idea what the truth is if it were not for our being met and called by Jesus.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

When people today say, “That’s true,” what they usually mean is that they have some preconception of what truth is, and they have heard some assertion that matches their preconception. They are saying: “That certainly is true to my experience of the world thus far” or “That idea is congruent with all my previous ideas and is not threatening to my present existence; therefore, it seems true.”

Yet Christians claim that Jesus Christ brings us a world that would be otherwise unavailable to us apart from meeting Jesus. Jesus drags us into an experience (discipleship) that we could not have had if left to our own devices. We therefore do not have the resources, on our own, to think about matters like God, truth, peace, justice before knowing Jesus, who is for us the way, the truth, and the life.

Arguing that Christ and his way are “objectively true,” we run the risk of deceiving people into thinking that they are already capable, just as they are, of thinking about these matters without first knowing Jesus, without conversion. That is why the gospel consistently avoids asking for mere intellectual agreement. Rather, what is demanded is conversion, detoxification, being born again. Talk of “objective truth” suggests that the truth is something that any fool can walk in off the street and get without cost or pain. It is a bad legacy of the Enlightenment, which hoped to devise systems of knowledge and morals that would be immediately available to anyone who could think rationally about such matters.

It is a mistake to talk to people as if they are capable of knowing the truth if it is skillfully argued before them, accessible through common sense. If people already know what truth looks like, then they ought to go worship that rather than learn to worship Jesus. Alas, that is often what we have done. People in the eighteenth century needed to believe that nature is orderly, so they found a god who was always the patron of order. Or, in our own age, we thought that the truth would bring us self-satisfaction and peace, so we found a god whose truth brought self-esteem. Now, in an age of moral chaos, we begin to praise a god who is “objectively true.”

I am still haunted by Michael Buckley’s “At the Origins of Modern Atheism” (Yale, 1987), which argues that the early Jesuits, in their attempt to speak to the modern world, invented a god whom the modern world eventually found quite easy to dismiss. They argued that God is fair, or orderly, or compassionate — in the way in which we define these things. When people encountered life that was not orderly or fair, they concluded that God must not exist. They spent too much time arguing, “Does God exist?,” devising all sorts of “objective” arguments and proofs for God’s existence, rather than focusing upon the far more interesting and, indeed, biblical question, “What kind of God exists?” The Bible knows that idolatry is always a bigger problem for us than atheism. [used 11/10/96]

Modern apologists for God argue that nature is essentially orderly, and therefore there must be a God who ordered nature. But the minute someone discovers how chaotic nature is, that person assumes that there must not be a God. The Bible does not stress the orderliness of God, just that the God of Israel is true.

Someone said to me the other day, “I cannot believe in God because of all the innocent suffering in the world.” He was assuming that innocent suffering could never be part of God’s way with the world; since there is plainly a great deal of innocent suffering, there is no God. Again, we start with some definition of what truth would look like if we encountered it, then we ask God to match our definition of truth.

Jesus is clear that his truth, that truth that is the way and the life, is himself. We really have no idea what the truth is, living as we do in a culture of lies, had not Jesus shown us a life that is true to God.

In an age of anxiety and dislocation, we think it impossible to live without “absolute truth.” But what the God of Israel and the church promises us is not absolute truth reduced to propositions but the reality of the kingdom of God and eternal communion with the One who is the way, the truth, and the life.

MORE THAN A CHANGE OF MIND

There is a sense in which we cannot know the truth without first being made truthful. Our problem with the gospel is moral before it is intellectual. We will use anything — even intellectual discussions about the truth — in a last-ditch attempt to keep Christ from us. So knowing the truth is a matter of being transformed, forgiven, born again before we can acknowledge the lies upon which our lives are based, before we can care to entrust our lives to the One who is the way, the truth, and the life.

As Jesus says, again in John (the only Gospel that bothers much with “truth” talk): “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). He will guide us. Truth, Christian truth, is not an achievement of clear thinking. It is a gift. Grace.

So, in a way, we Christians do believe that all truth is relative. All truth, all truthful living is relative to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We really would have no idea of what is going on in the world, of how to think about things, if it were not for God’s having loved us enough to send us the Son who incarnates the truth and the Spirit who guides us into all truth.

In speaking to the world, we have something much better to proclaim than objective truth. We have Jesus, the one who calls us not into agreement, but into relationship, the one who guides us into the truth which is life, and that more abundantly.

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William H. Willimon is dean of the chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. An ordained United Methodist pastor, his most recent book is “Lord Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and Christian Discipleship,” with Stanley Hauerwas (Abingdon, 1996).

Copyright (c) 1996 Christianity Today, Inc./CHRISTIANITY TODAY Magazine ctmar96mrj6T30216222

#3904

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Paul Vitz, Professor of Psychology at New York University, examined sixty social-studies textbooks used by 87 percent of the nation's elementary-school children in a study done under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education. He looked for "primary" references to religious activity such as prayer, church attendance, or participation in religious ceremonies, as well as "secondary" references, such as citing the date when a church was built. What Vitz discovered was a "total absence of any primary religious text about typical contemporary American religious life" and only a few secondary pictures and passages touching upon the religious. The few direct references to historic religion centered on Amish, Catholic, Jewish, and Morman faiths, leaving a "very curious" deletion of characteristic Protestant religious life.

Religion appeared to be relevant only in remote points in history. Pictures of pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving were bountiful -- without any mention of to whom thanks was being given. One mother told Vitz that her son's social-studies book made no mention of religion as part of the pilgrims' life. Her son told her that "Thanksgiving was when the pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians." When the mother called the principal of her son's suburban New York City school to point out that Thanksgiving originated when the pilgrims thanked God, the pricipal responded, "That's your opinion." He continued by saying that the schools could only teach what was in the books.

________

Charles Colson, KINGDOMS IN CONFLICT (199), 333-334.

Columbus was once stranded on Jamaica with dwindling supplies. Natives were not friendly. C. happened to know a lunar eclipse occurred that PM. Told chief: "Unless you help me my God will curse

you & moon will lose its light!" Cheif refused but changed his mind when eclipse began. In early 1900s

a British explorer who had read C.'s biography, tried same trick on African cheiftan. "Unless you obey me

you will be cursed and the moon will lose its light!" Cheif: "Oh, you're talking about the lunar eclipse that's happening day after tomorrow."

Rossini was once presented with a watch by the King of France-- of

which he was justly proud. Several years after, showing it to a

friend, he was told that though he had possessed it so long, he did

not know its real value. "Impossible," said Rossini, whereupon the

friend, taking the watch, touched a secret spring, at which an inner

case flew open, disclosing a beautiful miniature painting of Rossini

himself. This is characteristic of a certain type of modern

Christianity. It values its ethics and is acquainted with and

appreciates much of its teaching, but it has not discovered the inner

secret which gives it its supreme value. The portrait of Christ is

still hidden. When the secret spring is touched and the Face of

Christ is recognized, the whole attitude of mind and theory of values

is changed. It is characteristic also of much avowed discipleship.

"Have I been so long a time with you, and hast thou not known Me,

Philip?" said Christ to one who called himself a disciple and an

intimate.

In his book "Folk Psalms of Faith," Ray Stedman tells a story

of a woman who had been a school teacher for 25 years. When she

heard about a job that would mean a promotion, she applied for

the position. However, someone who had been teaching for only

one year was hired instead. She went to the principal and asked

why. The principal responded, "I'm sorry, but you haven't had

25 years of experience as you claim; you've had only one year's

experience 25 times." During that whole time the teacher had

not improved.

The Pilgrim reports Harry A. Ironside as a young preacher visiting

the aged Alexander Fraser and listening enthralled as one truth after

another from God's Word was opened up by Mr. Fraser until he could

restrain him self no more and cried out, "Where did you learn these

things?" "On my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the

north of Ireland" replied Mr. Fraser. "There with my Bible open before

me I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to

reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart. He taught

me more on my knees on that mud floor than I could ever have learned

in all the colleges and seminaries in the world" --Christian Digest

In 1543, the idea that the Earth was only one of several planets which orbit the Sun was first widely proposed, in Copernicus's landmark book De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium. The Copernican view was proven by Kepler - a protestant, who was born 100 years - using the data of Tacho Brahe. The reaction from conservative religious quarters was slow in coming, but devastating when it finally gathered its force. In 1616, Copernicus's book and all other books which affirmed the motion of the Earth were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books promulgated by the Catholic Church. Not until 1822 -- almost 300 years after the idea had first been suggested in Europe -- did the Church allow its members to read books which state that the Earth moves. The Protestants, although they had a less effective mechanism for enforcement of orthodoxy than the Catholics, were no less vehement in their objection to Copernicus, but for a slightly different reason. They believed, much more forcefully than the Catholics, that the Bible was the source of literal truth about the world, and the Bible contains passages such as \reference{Joshua 10:13}{Joshua 10:13}, which proves that the Sun moves, and not the Earth. Of course, by the nineteenth century, only the most dogmatically fundamentalist sects could still maintain faith in the immobility of the Earth. As Thomas Kuhn says in The Copernican Revolution : "During the century and a half following Galileo's death in 1642, a belief in the earth-centered universe was gradually transformed from an essential sign of sanity to an index, first, of inflexible conservatism, then of excessive parochialism, and finally of complete fanaticism."

A noted brain surgeon, Dr. Bronson Ray, was taking a stroll when he saw a boy on a scooter smash head-first into a tree. Realizing that the boy was seriously injured, the doctor told a bystander to call an ambulance. As he proceeded to administer first aid, a boy not much older than the injured one nudged through the crowd that had gathered and said to Dr. Ray, “I’d better take over now, sir. I’m a Boy Scout and I know first aid.”

As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s no worse than someone in the church trying to do something for which someone else is better qualified.

"Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late."

-- Felix Frankfurter

"True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubts often, and changes his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubts not; he knows all things but his own ignorance."

-- Akhenaton, Egyptian Pharaoh

"To act and act wisely when the time for action comes, to wait and wait patiently when it is time for repose, put man in accord with the rising and falling tides (of affairs), so that with nature and law at his back, and truth and beneficence as his beacon light, he may accomplish wonders. Ignorance of this law results in periods of unreasoning enthusiasm on the one hand, and depression on the other. Man thus becomes the victim of the tides when he should be their master."

-- Helena Petrova Blavatsky

"Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as in knowing what to do next."

-- Herbert Hoover

"At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment."

-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), statesman, B&P 10/18/02

"Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences."

-- Norman Cousins

"There are only two truly infinite things, the universe and stupidity. And I am unsure about the universe."

-- Albert Einstein

"Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time."

-- Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th U.S. President, B&P 3/5/03

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

-- Carl Sagan (1934-1996), astronomer, B&P 3/7/03

"Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it."

-- Doug Larson, QFTM 3/15/03

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

-- John Wooden, QFTM 3/15/03

"The time for extracting a lesson from history is ever at hand for those who are wise."

-- Demosthenes, QFTM 3/15/03

"The latter part of a wise person's life is occupied with curing the follies, prejudices and false opinions they contracted earlier."

-- Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), satirist, B&P 6/30/03

“Experience comes from what we have done. Wisdom comes from what we have done badly.”

-- Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School, eSermons.com 8/26/03

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

-- Confucius, QFTM

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Suppose you woke up tomorrow morning to find that your neighbor had moved his chain-link fence all the way across your yard -- right up against your door. So you call him on the phone. "What's up with the fence?" you ask.

"Not to worry," he says. "Just ignore the fence. You see, I'm only claiming physical reality for my domain. And since you're such a spiritual person, you don't care about that, right? Look, you still have your personal, subjective, religious yard. Isn't that great? Now we won't come into conflict with each other! Like the poet Robert Frost said, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'"

It sounds crazy. Yet this sort of arrangement is exactly what prominent scientists like Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould have proposed as the proper relationship between science and religion. In his new book, THE WEDGE OF TRUTH, Christian thinker Phillip Johnson challenges scientists like Gould to admit that their fence-building proposal is a bad idea, both for religion and science. There can only be a proper balance between science and religion if there's an open, honest relationship between them.

To see why, start with the quote from Frost: "Good fences make good neighbors." We often hear this line quoted as if Frost thought it were true. But he actually used it as a shallow cliché. In his poem, "Mending Wall," he wrote:

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

When a scientist like Stephen Jay Gould proposes to keep peace between science and religion by putting a fence between them, we need to look at where he wants to put the boundary.

As Johnson points out, Gould's boundary line claims the whole realm of knowledge for science, effectively "walling out" religion, putting it into a private, subjective ghetto.

The old adage, "Science tells us how the heavens go, while religion tells us how to go to heaven," might be reasonable only if there really is a place like heaven. And it makes sense only if there really are souls that might go to heaven, and a God who created them. In short, "religion tells us how to go to heaven" makes sense only if we genuinely know about God, souls, salvation, and heaven.

But, as Johnson explains, that's exactly what Gould doesn't want to hear. His definition of knowledge itself turns the whole of physical reality over to science, just like the neighbor's fence that, one morning, swallows up your entire yard.

Religion, claims Gould, cannot include anything about real history, including the life of Jesus, because history belongs to science. Gould calls this his "first commandment" of the relationship of science and theology. It's a view widely shared by scientists today.

In his excellent new book, Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson exposes Gould and others for "dressing up naturalistic philosophy as if it were science." And he equips believers to challenge this specious argument wherever we encounter it -- whether it's in schools or in casual conversation with our neighbors. Which is precisely what we must do. Whether fences make good neighbors or not, they certainly do not encourage academic freedom in the pursuit of truth.

_________________________

Copyright (c) 2001 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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"Building a deck is NOT as hard as you think! I've watched TV personality Bob Vila do it many times, and he is a regular 'do-it-yourselfer' just like you, except that he has knowledge, skill, an unlimited budget and a large staff of experts."

-- Dave Barry

"The good times we put in our pocket. The hard times we put into our heart."

-- Les Brown

"One mistake will never kill you. The same mistake over and over again will."

-- Harvey Mackay

"Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later a collection of mistakes is what is called experience."

-- Denis Waitley

"You must learn from your past mistakes, but not lean on your past successes."

-- Denis Waitley

"We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present."

-- Adlai E. Stevenson

"Time is the wisest counselor."

-- Pericles

"We enjoy warmth because we have been cold. We appreciate light because we have been in darkness. By the same token, we can experience joy because we have known sadness."

-- David L. Weatherford

"A wise person learns by the experience of others. An ordinary person learns by his or her own experience. A fool learns by nobody's experience."

-- (unknown)

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."

-- Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), writer

"We learn from experience that not everything which is incredible is untrue."

-- Jean-Francois-Paul-Gondi de Retz (c. 1614-1679), clergyman and politician

"We learn from experience that we never learn from experience."

-- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), cited in BITS & PIECES

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

-- John Wooden, cited in The Best of...BITS & PIECES

"Experience ... is simply the name we give our mistakes."

-- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), writer

"Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't."

-- Pete Seeger, singer and composer

"The time for extracting a lesson from history is ever at hand for those who are wise."

-- Demosthenes (384-322 B.C.), orator and statesman, B&P 8/19/02

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."

-- Aldous Huxley

"The years teach us much the days never knew."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, QFTM 2/29/04

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It’s getting to the point where I hesitate to turn on the TV. From the financial crisis, to hurricanes, to Iran, to fuel prices, you name it. And it’s not just the news, it’s the media’s — and the public’s — voyeuristic preoccupation with chaos that troubles me. The news is grim.

But don’t just hide in bed and pull the blanket over you. We need to understand what’s happening in the world, not as mere spectators, but in order to engage the world in a winsome way, ourselves to be light in the darkness.

I can’t help but be reminded of a lesson taught by a certain Oxford don named C.S. Lewis. Yes, these are frightening times today. But 60 years ago the entire world was at war. It was then that he preached his famous sermon THE WEIGHT OF GLORY. This is what he had to say: “Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun.”

Lewis’ words could not be more appropriate for us today. It’s precisely during times of crisis that we must persevere all the more in our quest for beauty and truth.

________

Edited from a longer article by Rev. David Holwick. Copyright (c) 2008 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was moved to HolwickID #28441]

The person who knows "how" will always have a job. The person who knows "why" will always be his boss.

Diane Ravitch

Writer

Cited in BITS & PIECES

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The story is told of a blind tortoise which lived in a well. Another tortoise, a native of the ocean, in its inland travels happened to tumble into this well. The blind one asked of his new comrade whence he came. "From the sea," was the response. Hearing of the sea, the tortoise swam round a little circle and asked, "Is the water of the ocean as large as this?" "Larger," replied he of the sea. The first tortoise then swam round two-thirds of the well and asked if the sea was as big as that. "Much larger than that," said the sea tortoise.

"Well, then," asked the blind tortoise, "is the sea as large as this whole well?" "Larger," said the sea tortoise. "If that is so," said the other, "how big then is the sea?" The sea tortoise replied, "You only know about the water in your well. Your capability of understanding is small. As to the ocean, though you spent many years in it, you would never be able to explore the half of it, nor to reach the limit, and it is utterly impossible to compare it with this well of yours." The tortoise replied, "It is impossible there can be a larger body of water than this well; you are simply praising your native place in boastful words." This is only a Mongolian myth, but one that can teach man a great deal concerning his prejudiced view of his own knowledge. If man knows so little of the natural surroundings of his life, how much less must he know about the Infinite Creator of all things.

At one time, that thoughtful man who became St. Augustine was greatly disturbed because he could not understand the essence of God. "I admit there is a God," he mused, "but how can I know of what He consists?"

Christ had come down to earth with the claim that He was God. By His resurrection, which He Himself predicted, He proved that claim. He revealed that God is a Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But how could a mind as developed as that of Augustine accept this? One day as he was walking by the sea, he saw a small boy who, with the help of a shell, was emptying water from the ocean into a hole he had dug in the sand. "What are you doing, son?"

asked Augustine. He was impressed by the naive answer, "I'm going to empty all the sea into this hole." Augustine smiled. An inner voice, however, was saying to him, "You are trying to do the same thing by thinking you can understand the depths of God with your limited mind."

One of Aesop's fables tells of a lottery that Jupiter held for the gods. It happened that the best prize, "wisdom," fell to his daughter Minerva, upon which a general murmur arose that the wheel had been rigged. In order to punish and silence the protesters, Jupiter awarded them the prize of "folly" instead of "wisdom," and they went away perfectly contented. And from that time, it is said, the greatest fools have looked upon themselves as the wisest men.

What famous author read in Braille even though he wasn't blind?

Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, learned Braille so that he could rest his eyes and still read. Huxley's eyes pained him when he read too much and his eyesight was failing. One of the benefits of learning Braille, Huxley said, was being able to read in the bed in the dark.

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Source: ArcaMax Trivia, http://www.arcamax.com/cgi-bin/reg

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of KeruxID #25860]

All fathers desire wisdom for their children and Solomon was no exception. This Scripture is from the king to his son. “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee” (Proverbs 2:1). He wants his son to prosper, and find fulfillment, so he advises, “Son, if you will only listen to your dad, I will show you how.”

These are also words for sons and daughters of the King. If you are a child of the King, you believe this counsel is not merely the words of Solomon, but the words of God speaking His wisdom through Solomon. These are wise words to all the “King’s kids.”

Wisdom Is The Product Of The Spirit

“To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom...” (Proverbs 1:2-3a). There is a teacher and in the case of true wisdom, that instructor is the Holy Spirit of God, Whom the Bible calls “the Spirit of wisdom.” Genuine wisdom is supernatural.

Yet it is important to understand the difference between wisdom and common sense. Common sense is natural. Wisdom is uncommon sense. It originated with God, resides in God, emanates from God, and is given as a gift from God. The difference between wisdom and knowledge is this: Knowledge is needed to pass the test in school, but wisdom is needed to pass the test in life. Knowledge is learned; wisdom is given. Knowledge comes by looking around; wisdom comes by looking up. Knowledge comes by study; wisdom comes by meditation with God. Wisdom teaches one how to apply his knowledge.

Wisdom is not synonymous with knowledge nor is it a substitute for knowledge. Rather, it is the product of the Spirit. Some things in life cannot be learned - those must be given. I would never minimize a proper formal education, but there are certain matters no school can teach you. And in a greater sense there are issues about life that can only be learned from God.

Wisdom Is The Presence Of The Savior

To know wisdom ... (Proverbs 1:2a) - To know wisdom is to know Jesus Christ. And therefore, if you do not have Jesus, you cannot have wisdom. Paul well expressed this inescapable truth: “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Christ is the wisdom of God. This was the idea John the apostle conveyed when he wrote his Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth (John 1:1,14).

The Greek word translated “Word” was logos. Logos means a thought or a concept or the expression or utterance of that thought. Jesus, the living Word, is God and is therefore the perfect expression and extension of the divine wisdom. Real wisdom is discovered only in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - the wisdom of God, the Word of God, God Himself.

The Bible notes that the great are not necessarily the wise. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness...” (1 Corinthians 1:18a). “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom [worldly wisdom apart from God] knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching [the thing preached] to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).

God is so good and so wise that you will never be able to know Him by human wisdom, human perception, or human understanding. No one has a head start on God. All of the philosophers, theologians, and scientists of history could never discover Him through human wisdom. And one can never know the wisdom of God until Christ, the living wisdom of God, is in their heart. Even the Old Testament saints were wise only because the Spirit of the Lord Jesus dwelt in them. Jesus pointed out, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).

Apart from Christ there is no wisdom. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Wisdom commences at conversion, but deepens by discipleship. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10a). The moment a person is converted to Christ, the wisdom of God comes into him, and the indwelling Spirit of God begins to teach him the truths of the Lord. No wonder wisdom is of such infinite worth!

2 Peter 1:3–4 — Through Knowing Christ — « Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. Christ’s Gifts: 2 Peter 1:3a

1. various translations of the first part of this verse …

a. AV – According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness …

b. NAS – seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, …

c. NIV – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness …

d. J. B. Phillips – He has by his own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life, …

e. NLT – As we know Jesus better, His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. …

2. “his” – looking back we see this refers to « … Jesus, the Lord of us »

3. “divine” – this is the same word as that for « “God” but changed into an adjective; it is the power Jesus Christ possesses as God »

4. “power” – there are three common words for power in the NT

a. there is kratos which is R « uling » _______ power

b. there is exousia which is the power of A « uthority » _________

c. here it is dynamis, which is the power to D « o » ___ things!

5. “all things” – what restriction is there on these? « — they are limited to those which will accomplish what follows for us. »

6. “life” – what kind of life is under consideration here? « — eternal or spiritual, not mere physical, life »

7. “godliness” – this word is a compound of the prefix “eu” meaing “well” and a word meaning worship; it is sometimes also translated “piety;” given the other translations plus such verses as Ephesians 2:10 and James 2:18, what do you think that this means? « — it is the change in life that gives evidence that our faith is genuine, saving faith »

B. The Conduit: 2 Peter 1:3b

1. various translations of the second part of this verse …

a. AV(KJV) – … through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

b. NAS – … through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

c. NIV – … through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

d. J. B. Phillips – … in allowing us to know the one who has called us to him, through his own glorious goodness.

e. NLT – … He has called us to receive His own glory and goodness!

2. « » “through” – such a common word, but what does it mean? — « grammatically it is the instrument, the efficient or intermediate cause; practically speaking in this context, it is the “conduit” through which God has chosen to effect some purpose He has »

3. “knowledge” – that conduit is fully or truly knowing? « … the One who has called, summoned, invited us »

4. “to” or “by” – the original Greek can be read two ways;

a. “to” is consistent with 1 Peter 5:10 which implie « s — what is God’s purpose or destiny for us … see 2 Thessalonians 2:14 »

b. “by” is perhaps more consistent with the Greek and implies « — the accomplishment of our salvation represents glory to God … see Romans 15:7, Phlippians 2:11 »

5. “glory” – to God is the whole object of our … « salvation, worship »

6. “virtue” – is excellence, especially moral excellence, and is shown in the power of God that accomplishes our salvation

C. The Promises: 2 Peter 1:4a

1. various translations of the first part of this verse …

a. AV(KJV) – Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: …

b. NAS – For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, …

c. NIV – Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, …

d. J. B. Phillips – It is through this generosity that God’s greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, …

e. NLT – And by that same mighty power, He has given us all of His rich and wonderful promises. …

2. “whereby” – this is literally “through (or by) which things” – you will see in the various translations a doubt as to which things are in view; what are the possibilities?

a. NLT takes it to be « — the power that gives us all things, v. 3 »

b. Philips takes to be — « God’s generosity in giving “all things” »

c. the other translations are not specific, but the major two other possibilities are

(A) near reference « — God’s glory and excellence »

(B) far reference « — my preference (sustained by the syntax and consistent with what follows): part of the “all things” »

d. so, perhaps you see the danger of idea based translation (or paraphrasing) … feeling the need to particularize what the Bible leaves non-specific

3. “are given” – the perfect passive, which means « — the action is completed but the result still stands »

4. “precious” – this is what comes first in the valuable, usually money; is that in view here? Why or why not?

5. “exceeding great” – the superlative degree of “great” … these are the greatest!

6. “promises” – these are described in the next part of the verse — « comes from the middle voice of verb to announce; the action is directed at both the subject and object of the verb which tells us that God, by promising, binds Himself to deliver »

D. The Purpose: 2 Peter 1:4b

1. various translations of the second part of this verse …

a. AV(KJV) – … that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

b. NAS – … in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

c. NIV – … so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

d. J. B. Phillips – … making it possible for you to escape the inevitable disintegration that lust produces in the world and to share in God’s essential nature.

e. NLT – … He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share His divine nature.

2. “by these” – by what? « — the promises just mentioned »

3. « » “partakers” – which means (see other translations) « — those who share »

4. “divine nature” – the same word divine as used in verse 3;

a. what promise does this fulfil? « — consider Ezekiel 36:26–27 »

b. how is it effected at this very instant? « – 1 Corinthians 3:16 »

5. “having escaped … “ – “being fled from” … this points to a single past action where release was realized … the time when the Holy Spirit regenerated us (the Titus 3:5 point)

a. from what? « — the corruption or decadence resulting from evil desires … from lusts »

b. what promise does this fulfil? « — consider Ezekiel 37:27 »

c. how is it effected in the believer? « – 2 Corinthians 6:16–7:1 »

2 Peter 1:12–15 — Remember! — « Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. The Reminding 2 Peter 1:12

1. AV – Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

2. NAS – Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.

3. NIV – So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

4. J. B. Phillips – Therefore I shall not fail to remind you again and again of things like this although you know them and are already established in the truth which has come to you.

5. NLT – I plan to keep on reminding you of these things — even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth.

6. “will not be negligent”

a. how do some of the translations express this in positively?

(A) « being always ready »

(B) « planning to keep on »

7. “to put … in remembrance” … which implies? « … that we need reminding of the truths of salvation because we have the natural tendency to forget them in practical terms; that is, to live and think with regard to them »

8. “these things” — what things are these?

a. « the “all things” of verse 3 that pertain to life and godliness »

b. « the eight marks of Christian growth in verses 5–7 »

9. “ye know” … we may often feel impelled to gain fresh spiritual knowledge; what do Peter’s words suggest is more important? « — that we remember and use the knowledge we now have »

10. “be established” – that is, “have been established”

a. this word includes the idea of a steadfastness of mind and is to be found in 1 Peter 5:10 and 2 Peter 3:17

b. see Luke 22:32; how is Peter carrying that out? « — the same verb (a different tense) is used there, “strengthen, stablish” »

11. “present truth” — the word present is sometimes translated as “appeared” … this truth already made known to them; which again suggests … « God soon gives sufficient truth to guide us; see Jude 1:3; How early was there a recognized body of doctrine for the church? See Acts 2:42 »

B. The Rousing 2 Peter 1:13

1. AV – Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

2. NAS – And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder,

3. NIV — I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,

4. J. B. Phillips – I consider it my duty, as long as I live in the temporary dwelling of this body, to stimulate you by these reminders.

5. NLT – Yes, I believe I should keep on reminding you of these things as long as I live.

6. “meet” — literally: just, righteous; here in human sense of fair or equitable, proper; another rendering is “I consider it a duty”

7. “tabernacle” – used literally of a tent; also of the abode of God (Acts 7:46); used figuratively of the body as the abode of the soul, emphasizing … « its transcience and frailty »

8. ‘to stir {you} up” – always (except John 6:18) this means “to rouse up or awaken from sleep” — what danger does this point out of which the Christian needs to be wary respecting knowledge and truth? « — we can grow comfortable (dozy) respecting spiritual matters; hence we may need to be awakened, stimulated, … »

9. “remembrance” – again, the reminders are of “these things” which are … « the “all things” verse 3; the 8 marks verses 5–7 »

C. The Reason 2 Peter 1:14

1. various translations of this verse …

a. AV – Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

b. NAS – knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

c. NIV – because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

d. J. B. Phillips – I know that I shall have to leave this body at very short notice, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

e. NLT – But the Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that my days here on earth are numbered and I am soon to die

2. “shortly” — imminent (only other NT in 2 Peter 2:1); as you look at the various translations, what is your impression of the time element here?

3. “put off” — this is the word used of taking off a garment; what portrait does this paint of a human being? « — The soul is the real, abiding part of us; this current body is to be put off (but will be resurrected into an eternal, incorruptible form) »

4. “tabernacle” — same word as in previous verse

5. “hath shewed” « – aorist; ie., single, punctiliary action »

a. John 21:18-19 what was the nature of what had been shown to Peter in this passage?

(A) « his death would be in his old age »

(B) « his death would be unnatural, violent (crucifixion) »

b. is there any indication of any more recent revelation? « — only in that first word, “shortly” »

D. The Resolution 2 Peter 1:15

1. AV – Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

2. NAS – And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you may be able to call these things to mind.

3. NIV – And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

4. J. B. Philips – Consequently I shall make the most of every opportunity, so that after I am gone you will remember these things.

5. NLT – So I will work hard to make these things clear to you. I want you to remember them long after I am gone.

6. “I will endeavour”

a. this word has the same root as that translated in

(A) verse 5, as “giving all diligence” which is to be carried out by the R__________

(B) verse 10, as “give diligence” which is to be carried out by the R__________

b. so now the W__________, Peter, pledges to do the same thing on his own part

7. “after my decease” — suggest the things Peter did to accomplish this

a. « writing these and the following words in this letter »

b. « some have suggested that after this he worked with Mark toward the publishing of the Gospel by that name (that gospel gives clear indicators of Peter’s influence) »

8. “remembrance” — mnema; this is the third time in these four verses that this or a related word has been used; hence, the title!

E. A comment about the connection of these verses with Luke 9:28ff

1. verse 31 (AV) “his disease” in Greek exodus, the same word as used here in the 15th verse of Peter’s approaching death

2. verse 32 (AV) “they were awake” is the same Greek word as is used here in the 13th verse of his “rousing” them to remembrance

3. verse 33 (AV) “tabernacles,” (singular skene) is a related (”cognate”) word to the skenoma meaning the same thing used by Peter in verses 13 and 14

4. Peter is going to bring in the transfiguration of Christ starting with verse 16 of this chapter. His innocent use here of these words echoing back to that event gives evidence of someone who was an eyewitness to it

I Know

I know He is the beginning, so why do I worry about the end.

I know He is the creator, so why do I wonder who will destroy.

I know He has forgiven me, so why can’t I forgive myself.

I know He is a healer, so why do I speak of sickness.

I know He can do all things, so why do I say I can’t.

I know He will protect me, so why do I fear.

I know He will supply all my needs, so why can’t I wait.

I know He is my strength and my salvation, so why do I feel weak.

I know that everything and everyone has a season, so why when someone’s season is over do I weep instead of rejoice.

I know He is the right way, so why do I go the wrong way.

I know He is the light, so why do I choose to walk in darkness.

I know that whatever I ask of GOD, GOD will give me, so why am I scared to ask.

I know tomorrow is not promised, so why do I put off for tomorrow what I can do today.

I know that the truth shall make me free, so why do I continue to lie.

I know He gives us revelation knowledge and understanding, so why do I lean on my own understanding.

I know I should live in the spirit as well as walk in the spirit, so why do I choose to live in the spirit but walk in the flesh.

I know that when praises go up blessings come down, so why do I refuse to praise Him.

I know I am saved, so why do I refuse the word He has given me.

I know He has a plan for me, so why am I rushing it because I am eager to do His will, when it is His time not my time.

A man may know all about the rocks, and his heart remain as hard as they are; a man may know all about the winds, and be the sport of passions as fierce as they; a man may know all about the stars, and his fate be the meteor's that after a brief and brilliant career is quenched in eternal night; a man may know all about the sea, and his soul resemble its troubled waters which cannot rest; a man may know how to rule the spirits of the elements, yet know not how to rule his own; a man may know how to turn aside the flashing thunderbolt, but not the wrath of God from his own guilty heart: he may know all that Shakespeare knew-all that Einstein knew-all that all the greatest geniuses have known; he may know all mysteries and all knowledge; but if he does not know his Bible, what good will it bring him?