Experience Gains Wisdom

 "Then I said, wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard." Eccl. 9:16

We are told that the aged among us are treasure troves of wisdom. That by virtue of their having survived through life they have much to offer us. This is all true. Until that wise man tells you something that calls into question what you think is the better tactic.

When we are young we tend to be more dogmatic and high on ourselves. We think that we know what is best. We think that we can fix anything or anyone. And we dive right in with no thought to whether we are causing more harm than good.

Christian young people can be the worst. We hear sermons and we think that we rule over everything. It is only when you have failed or fallen short that you begin to think that maybe my way wasn't the best way.

It is only by living and surviving that you gain wisdom. God does not allow you to win every time. It is too bad that, as the text states, the poor or unsuccessful man's wisdom is often despised. And even by being despised the poor man gains more wisdom!

The Better Style

 The problem with expository preaching is that you run out of Bible stories and Bible characters very fast. If you want to preach on marriage, you pool of Bible marriages is very small. If you want to preach on church planting, you have almost no Bible examples to use. The Bible is God's self revelation to mankind. It has a lot of important and useful information on how to serve the Lord. But is you preach in the same church for a long time you will begin to repeat some stories.

Topical preaching is much more useful to ministering the whole counsel of God. The preacher is inspired to preach on something. He finds out by study what the Bible says about that topic. He is not expounding on a particular verse. He is exhorting on a specific subject. You can cover a lot more ground with topical preaching.

I have heard both styles many times. I prefer topical over expository for preaching. Adult Sunday School may be a place to expound on the Scriptures verse by verse. But a sermon will connect better to a modern audience if you do not bog down explaining how people in ancient times lived and served.

Pastor Mitchell was a topical preacher. He could, and did, preach on anything. Even if he read a text and then never mentioned it again. Pastor Mitchell was a reader. He studied the Bible.

Testing

Teaching to the test is the modern method of using the classroom as a test prep time, not a time to learn. Testing used to be a tool a teacher could us to asses student comprehension and development. Now, the focus is on material expected to be on a test, and memorizing facts that benefit test taking.

As a Christian, testing is the way that God uses to see how we are doing as followers of Christ. To see what we have learned. To see how we measure up. To see if we, in spite of the test, will remain faithful.

Teaching to the test is focused teaching. It is teaching on a very narrow view of education. Our Fellowship seems sometimes to be teaching to the test. We have developed a standardized one size fits all approach to the Christian life. It's not about learning and knowing and growing. It is about evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. Our focus has narrowed. Our standards have narrowed. 

Evangelism, discipleship, and church planting is what keeps us on track with God. The only danger is that being focused like a laser beam can make us miss what else needs to be done. For example, while we focus on street preaching, our young people are hesitant to get married and to have children. Our way of doing the Christian life is not producing very many weddings. In the early days pastor Mitchell did a lot of weddings. And he often used a wedding to preach on marriage. Just saying.

Life's Lessons Work

I called my friend to tell her some good news. Something that had been on my mind was resolved to my benefit. I expected her to be happy for me. Instead, she criticized my situation and told me that I was doing it all wrong. I listened politely, told her that I would think about what she said, and hung up the phone. She may be right, but I will do it my way.

Sisters, if you have an idea that involves your husband, there is a way to get him to do what you think is best. You never want to criticize him or his ideas. You need to use your womanly skills to get him to think that your way was his idea. Otherwise, he will ignore you and do what he planned to do, even if it is a bad idea.

I cannot tell you what those womanly skills are. You need to ask your mom or your pastor's wife. But I do know that criticizing or complaining are sure fire ways to turn him off to your ideas.

The first rule of human relations is never criticize, condemn, or complain. This is a lesson that, if learned, can help you stay married to the person you chose.

Touch Not My Anointed

"Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Psalm 105:15

There are people who, in pride and ignorance, find it easy to abuse and to misuse those whom God has chosen. The find it easy to criticize the church and to accuse the pastor, and think that God does not see or hear or even care. 

Out text is part of the retelling of Israel's journey from a family to a nation. In this story it tells of how God watched over them and helped them no matter how large or small they were. God who watched over them will without a doubt  watch over us.

We apply this text to warn those who criticize our pastor. Those who call into question his motives and his methods. Those who do this fail to understand that leadership is uniquely set in place by God, whether we like it or not. Having never been a pastor or a leader, they think that they know better how our pastor should do his job. We ought to support our pastor, not criticize him.

God's people are unique also. We are the body of Christ. We are an illustration of what God working in a group of people looks like. We are a light that shines in the darkness. We are partakers of the Divine nature. We are a city on a hill for the world to see.

Woe to anyone who harms those whom God chooses. 

A Lesson For Today

"The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." Exod. 14:14 

In our text, the children of Israel were between a rock and a hard place. Before them was the uncrossable Red Sea. Behind them was the pursuing Egyptian army. So what did the people do? They complained.

What do you do when you are facing difficult circumstances? Do you complain? Do you gripe and moan over how badly you think God is treating you? Or have you learned what the people had yet to learn?

The first thing that God told the people to do was to be quiet. "Hold your peace" means be quiet. Quit complaining. Sometimes, the best thing that we can do in a crisis is to be quiet. Stop stating the obvious. You must learn that what is obvious to you is not the whole story.

The second thing to do is to follow God's plan and "go forward" (Exod. 14:15). Once you know the mind of God, it is time to go forward in action. The way to victory is always forward, never backward.

The lesson to learn is that God is still in the plan and it is only through God that a solution becomes obvious. God told pastor Moses what to do and how to do it. Pastor Moses told the people what God told him. They followed the instructions, and afterward they sang about how great God was.

One more thing God told them to do. "Fear not". (Exod. 14:13). By silencing their mouths God silenced their fears. Think about that.

It was a good thing that pastor Moses was there to help them and not busy somewhere else. You do not need your pastor every time. But there are times when you really need him. These people really needed Moses. Just saying.

Liberal Theology

Liberal theology. Ring any bells with you? Liberal theology was an attempt to join the bible to Darwinian evolution. It was an attempt to make the biblical record match our current understanding of the natural world through science. It regards traditional faith as old fashioned and archaic and out of date. Liberal theology feels that faith is ever evolving and it must adapt to the current world view.

Liberal theology puts the emphasis on reason and personal experiences. It is changing the accepted doctrines into ones that the world will find acceptable. In liberal theology there are no absolutes. 

One thing liberal theology uses is higher criticism of the scriptures. They dissect the text and then when they put it back together it means something different. They spend a lot of time on the who and where and when of the biblical narrative and dismiss the essence of truth.

Show me a Christian who believes in evolution and I will show you a follower of liberal theology. Show me a Christian who does not believe in miracles and I will show you someone who follows liberal theology. Show me someone who wants to Christianize the world and I will show you someone who follows liberal theology.

Christianity is not a set of ethics and good ideas. It is God with us, the hope of glory. We will never impress this present evil world or get it  to accept our theology.

Let God be true, and every man a liar.