A young man was promoted to fill the position of a senior officer with a brilliant record who had just retired from the company. The young man asked his predecessor for the secret to his success. The old man answered, “Two words: right decisions.” The young man thought for a minute and then asked, “But how do you make right decisions?” Again the older man answered, this time even more tersely than before, “Experience.” “And how do you get this experience?” The young man asked once more. “Two words…” answered the older, wiser retired officer, “wrong decisions.”
Making mistakes is a part of life. It’s a part of understanding how things work and how to grow in wisdom as well. How will any of us learn the right way to do or act unless we are allowed to fail? Yesterday all of you blessed me in honoring my 10 years of service as a pastor. I appreciate it greatly. But many of you have been serving the Lord and His Church for much longer, though in different ways. My 10 year anniversary called to mind the sermon my brother Todd preached from this very pulpit at my ordination/installation on June 27th 1999. It was applicable to pastors specifically. It was even called, “A Wish for a New Pastor.” However, the more I read these words written originally by Earl Reum, the more I realized these words apply to all of us. They have to do with the same kind of wisdom that comes from the experiences of making right choices and wrong choices – much like we heard from the story of the retired officer and the young man set to take his place.
It says, “I sincerely wish you will have the experience of thinking of a new idea, planning it, organizing it, and following it through to completion, and then have it be magnificently successful. I hope you’ll go through the same process and have something “bomb out.”
I wish you can know how it feels to run with all your heart and lose…horribly.
I wish that you could achieve some great good for mankind and have no one know about it except for you and your Lord.
I hope you become frustrated and challenged enough to begin to push back the very barriers of your own personal limitations.
I hope you make stupid mistakes and get caught red-handed and are big enough to say those magic words: ‘I was wrong. Can you forgive me?’
I hope you give so much of yourself that someone says you wonder if it’s worth all the effort.
I wish for you the worst kind of criticism for everything you do, because that’s what makes you fight to achieve beyond what you normally would.”
Admittedly, not all of the time do these sound like encouraging words. But they are wise words. I have read and re-read them many times. I keep them in mind mostly because, the more wisdom that comes with age and experience, the more I realize this “Wish for a New Pastor” is right on target.
But it’s not just on target for pastors. It’s on target for all of our lives – all of our service – all of our occupations and vocations. It’s on target because sometimes the most powerful lesson learned is the one that is learned not in victory but rather in defeat.
The Old Testament text for today says, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” You see, the thing about wise people is that when you truly have wisdom – it makes you realize how much wisdom you don’t have. That’s the point of these words from our Lord. A wise man will desire to become wiser still. A person is not wise if they think they can gain nothing else new or beneficial. It has been said that he who stops learning should also stop preaching or teaching. People like to drink from running streams, not from stagnant waters.
In our Christian walk – we are not to be satisfied with what we know of God. We are not to be satisfied with what the Lord has already fed to us. His Word is the living water that continues to help us grow in our faithful walk and feeds us each and every day. We need His food every day – because each day we are confronted with new challenges. The beginning of “true wisdom” finds itself in the fear of the Lord. In other words, with the Lord as the foundation, the strength, the beginning – then only can true wisdom be had. All that wisdom accomplishes is subordinate to God’s divine action first.
I’m convinced that when we make bad decisions and willfully sin, we are not using the wisdom that comes from the Word of God. Wisdom is not merely an intellectual power, it is a moral quality. And just because we know the difference between right and wrong doesn’t mean that we are going to exercise good judgment. Often times this is where we fail miserably. This is where we let ourselves down. This is where we disappoint our family and friends. This is where the beginning of shame occurs. This is where our Lord tries to promote wisdom rather than mere knowledge because the experience that comes with wisdom will tell us how much sin hurts when we put sin into action. Staying away from situations that cause us to fall short of what God would have for us is an exercise in demonstrating Godly wisdom.
And the Godly wisdom that our Lord exercised came with the knowledge that we have fallen short and will never be able to keep the law perfectly. In wisdom God knew what He would have to do for you. For that reason, we have what is called the first Gospel. Not long after Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, the Lord had already put a plan in place that would crush the head of the serpent – the devil. Our Heavenly Father would know already our need for salvation. We would need to be redeemed – bought back. The price of redemption would be the blood of His only begotten Son. The price came as a heavy expense to our Lord. But it was worth it for Him and it was life for us. Now we are called sons and daughters of our Lord. We are the ones with the inheritance of life everlasting in heaven by virtue of this wonderful gift given on the cross by grace through faith.
Beloved in the Lord, there is such a thing as true wisdom. Wisdom explained to us in the Scriptures has been personified. Wisdom has been made into the flesh for us. And having true wisdom means having Christ. And you, Christian friends, have Christ. He is that which makes you “wise unto salvation.” He makes you wise and makes you something else as well. He makes you alive – a co-heir to all eternity – forgiven.
You know, it seems sort of deprecating to wish hardship and failure upon someone – like those words that were preached at my ordination/installation 10 years ago. But we learn from our failures. I think that’s the point. A wise man learns, learns and keeps on learning – no matter what. A wise man keeps on receiving. And so does a wise Christian. That’s the Christian life God wants for us. We keep on receiving the love of Christ and the life of Christ. We keep on receiving today and every day we have the opportunity to gather – God’s grace and forgiveness. That’s a wise act – receiving what is free for salvation as much as we possibly can. The wise act of Jesus dying on the cross has enabled us to enjoy such a marvelous gift. And it’s for you. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.