Sermon by Rev. Craig N. Goodrich, Associate Pastor
Administration/Executive Director
The Third Sunday in Lent
March 11, 2007
CHRIST AT THE CENTER:
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT – KNOWLEDGE
Scripture: I
Corinthians 12:8
In this week’s mail amidst the onslaught of credit card offers, the words of one piece caught my attention. It was from my friends at the Discover Card and it pictures a casually dressed, scholarly looking young woman (she’s wearing glasses). She’s sitting cross legged on her bed and staring intently at with her lap top computer which is open before her. In her right hand is a cup of coffee, just a few inches from her lips and her left hand is on the keyboard.
Underneath the photo in bold orange letters are the words “Knowledge is Power” and inside it says, “It’s important that you have the information you need to stay in control of your Discover Card Account.” And of course, what then follows are pages of fine print which change the terms of credit card “agreement” over which I have no control and am completely powerless. (But I guess it was kind of them to let me know).
“Knowledge is power.” It is a phrase attributed to 16th Century English man of letters and of science, Sir Francis Bacon and I think we would all agree that there is truth in the statement. Knowledge or information can give us control, it can give us an advantage, and it can protect us. Consider: technological knowledge, the knowledge of nuclear physics, the power of educational knowledge or even the power of a secret; secret knowledge.
Well, what do you think? Is knowledge power?
The truth is that just about every issue regarding knowledge depends on the context in which, and purpose for which, knowledge is used.
Consider Paul’s first letter to the Church in
In chapters 12 through 14 of the letter Paul is specifically addressing the issue of the disruption in worship caused by persons speaking in unknown tongues who also thought this spiritual gift made them superior to others This created confusion in worship and divisions among the believers.
So in the passage on which we are focusing Paul emphasizes that while there are a variety of gifts it is the same Spirit that gives them and he stresses that each gift is to be used for the common good.
In the Greek the word translated “knowledge” is “gnosis” and it was understood to mean a special knowledge of the ways of God and in particular the application of gospel truths to specific issue or situation. The word of knowledge was spoken or uttered in the gathered assembly.
An example of such special knowledge is found a few chapters earlier, in 1st Corinthians 8, in which Paul answers the question whether it is permissible for believers to eat food which had been sacrificed to idols. Those Corinthians who claimed to possess special knowledge argued that an idol had no real existence and that there is but only one God said “yes” it is OK to eat such food, but others who had no such knowledge said “no”. For them to eat the meat sacrificed to idols would violate their consciences and thus be harmful.
Paul first addresses the issue by saying that knowledge “puffs up,” that is that those who possess it often become prideful, but “love builds up.” So Paul maintains that knowledge without love can actually be harmful and concludes that those with knowledge should refrain from eating food sacrificed to idols because although it might be permissible for them, their actions might be a stumbling block to others.
So Paul concludes that the gift of knowledge, as with any other gift of the Spirit, is to be exercised only to build up the community. It is given for the common good. And when considering the common good, the rule of love must always govern. Indeed, in chapter 13, the great hymn to love, Paul says “if I have all knowledge but have not love, I am nothing...”
So what does all this have to do with us today? This letter of Paul’s written to people long ago and far away, but which we consider to be Holy Scripture?
If we are honest we
have to recognize how different our worship life is from that of the
Corinthians described in chapter 12. They met in homes; we have a church
building with a beautiful Sanctuary. Their worship involved the spontaneous
participation of all, no official preachers or choir, just gathered believer
seeking to be led by the Spirit with the expectation of miracles, healing,
prophecy and speaking in tongues. Reading First Corinthians is for most of us
in the mainline Protestant denominations strange. As one commentator has said,
reading First Corinthians is “like
reading someone else’s mail.” (First
Corinthians, Interpretation, Richard B. Hays, John Knox Press (1997) at
page 1.)
But while it is true that our forms of worship are different, it is also true that we worship the same God and it is the same Spirit that moves among us. In our own Statement of Purpose on the front of the Bulletin, we say that we desire to be a “Community of Grace” and “Disciples” who are “Rooted in tradition, Open to the Spirit.”
What does it mean for us as individuals and as a community to be “Open to the Spirit?” What could it mean for you?
One thing I believe it means is that the Spirit who gives good gifts is calling each of us to get involved and to use our gifts for the sake of this community and our mission in the world. There are places and opportunities for us to be open to the Spirit together: in Bible studies, council and committees that seek to discern where the Spirit is leading us; places of mission; of service and partnership in community ministries; there are disciple groups, men’s groups, women’s circles. Sunday school classes where Scripture is studied and prayer concerns expressed.
For years now, I have been a participant in several men’s prayer and Bible study groups that meet early on weekday mornings here at the Church. What do we do? Well, we do “shoot the breeze”, and, yes, we talk about ACC and SEC basketball, but we also talk about our lives. We read Scripture or a spiritually focused book. We talk about where God might be leading us. We pray for one another and our families, and at times the world. And sometimes the Spirit speaks to us and through us sometimes we discern the Spirit, and a word of knowledge may be spoken and we leave encouraged and built up.
You see, there is no such thing as a solo Christian. We need each other. So won’t you be open to the Spirit and take the risk of letting yourself be known? Won’t you bring your gifts into the Community of Grace. For we are all in this together. Come find your place in the body of Christ.
But as we do, remember that every gift, including the gift of knowledge, is given not as a source of pride but for building up of the community and therefore its exercise must be tempered by love.
It happened here maybe 8 or 9 years ago, some of you will
remember. One of our councils looked into experimenting with serving wine as
part of the
But an interesting thing happened at the Session meeting. The presentation was made that we try this as an experiment and there seemed to be almost universal support. But then one elder spoke saying that although he understood that it was permissible there are persons who suffer from the disease of alcoholism who might find this a temptation too strong to resist and out of consideration for them perhaps we should not go forward with this, that this new practice might actually be for them a stumbling block. The room got silent as it always does when someone speaks the truth, a stilled hush, and the Session by unanimous consent, including all those who had spent so much time in studying and preparing the proposal, agreed not to move forward.
You see our knowledge told us one thing, but love called us to do something else.
If I have all knowledge, but have not love, says Paul, I am nothing.
Finally, Paul warns us in Chapter 13 that our knowledge in this life, even our knowledge of the things of God is imperfect, and therefore must be held and used with humility. Listen:
“Love never ends; as for prophesies, they will pass away; as for tongues they will cease; as for knowledge it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.”
He goes on:
“When I was a child I spoke like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known.”
You see, he reminds us that in the last analysis, it is not our knowledge, even of the things of God, which is most important, but rather God’s knowledge and love for us. And ultimately, we know that when we speak about love… and the greatest of these is love… it is not what we know but who we know and who knows us that is important.
When I was a child, the second of three boys, there came a
time when my parents grew tired of fighting to get us to Church so we simply
stopped going which pleased me greatly. But when I reached the confirmation age
of 14 we went back to a little Episcopal Church, The Church of the Redeemer in
Glen Echo,
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds which seemed interminable, then I thought to myself “Well, I have read some Bible and had had a church history class,” so I proceeded to answer by talking of Mary and Joseph, of Jesus’ ministry, the disciples and then he stopped me, “No”, he said, “You are telling me about Jesus Christ, my question is do you know him?” Well, I was not only embarrassed; I was stumped for I had no idea what he was talking about.
Blaise Pascal was a brilliant man. A 17th century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist and the author of the well known work “Pensees,” (Thoughts”). He was also a devout Christian. At his death a note he had written was discovered. It had been sewn into the lining of his coat and was dated approximately ten years before his death. This, in part, is what it said:
“In the year of Grace, 1654,
On Monday , 23rd of November….
From about half past ten in the evening until about half past twelve,
FIRE
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars (Ex 3:6; Matt 22:32)
Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.
God of Jesus Christ….
Forgetfulness of the world and everything except God
He is to be found only in the ways taught in the Gospel
Greatness of the human soul
“Righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee” (john 17:25)
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy……
“This is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and the one whom Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3)
Jesus Christ……Jesus Christ……” (from Conversions Hugh T. Kerr and John M. Mulder, Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1983) at page 37.)
Psalm 139 is a prayer. I wonder if we might make it our own?
“O lord you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up
You discern my thoughts from afar
You search out my path and my lying down
And are acquainted with all my ways
Even before a word is on my tongue O lord, you know it completely
You hem me in behind and before
And lay your hand upon me
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is so high, I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139)
Yes, such knowledge is too high. We cannot attain it.
All we can do is receive it. It is a gift, the gift of knowledge.
And this knowledge is power!
Let us pray:
O Lord, we thank you that you know us and you love us. We thank you for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for the life-giving power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.