<The Tootsie roll owl commercial launches the message>
Did you know that that commercial is almost 50 years old? It’s memorable. It points to a question, provides a practical experiment and even an answer. However, the wise old owl is only validating his own personal knowledge and experience so is that wisdom?
Some claim google is wisdom personified. I wouldn't claim this. Google, Wikipedia, YouTube videos are all purveyors of knowledge. But knowledge is not the same as wisdom.
Do a Google search for the word ‘wisdom’ and find 447 million posts?
Ask a friend what wisdom is and they may tell you it's the insight you gain just after you do the wrong thing.
Dictionary.com defines wisdom as: the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight.
However, by this definition there can be several sources of wisdom and while these aspects of gaining knowledge are good and right, only God provides us wisdom that stands the test of time. Hence the reason Jesus' life, death and resurrection confound people and why God’s Spiritual direction often gets confused with human brilliance.
Last week, we began unpacking four verses of one proverb to help us all come to see the depth of God’s truth. The scripture we will unpack is the one you heard at the beginning of service -Proverbs 30. Last week we learned God uses small movements to make big changes as a way to ensure we recognize his role in our lives. This week we move to verse 25 but let me give you a little background.
The full name of Proverbs in Hebrew is the Proverbs of Solomon. However, this fact is debated. Some say Solomon wrote under pen names and others believe there are few written by later scribes. Whatever the truth is, today’s scripture is written by Agur. They are more than just “wisdom sayings” but an oracle. An oracle is a word from God - a direct revelation versus an observation like the other proverbs. The first verses point to the never ending knowledge, power and everlasting nature of God. As it reaches our verses, the reminders of the Son of man bringing God’s kingdom to humankind in the last days and the future hope when the messiah returns. It focuses on directing the reader’s attention beyond the everyday consequences of one’s action to the future when God holds everyone accountable for their deeds. Let's begin today with a single verse from Proverbs 30:25
Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;
An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight. If a second grader was as strong as an ant, she would be able to pick up a car!
Ants don’t have ears. Ants "hear" by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet.
When ants fight, it is usually to the death!
When foraging, ants leave a pheromone trail so that they know where they’ve been.
Queen ants have wings, which they shed when they start a new nest.
Ants don’t have lungs. Oxygen enters through tiny holes all over the body and carbon dioxide leaves through the same holes.
Although ants are frustrating when they get into your home or when you’re having a picnic, ants do help the environment.
They are social insects, which means they live in colonies or groups.
Christians thrive best in colonies as well. Hence, the reason we want to discuss the idea of ekklesia. The greek word most translated to church. Ecclesia, Greek Ekklesia, (“gathering of those summoned or called”), in ancient Greece, assembly of citizens in a city-state.
It is used within scripture as people called out of the darkness and into the light of Christ.
The original ecclesia was a gatheringing who would gather every 10 days to vote on various everyday items or rules for society before they became law.
With this being said, I want us to translate it even more correctly to either small gatherings or coracles of people fully surrendered to God in word and deed to offer unconditional friendship and love to those in the places we live, work and play so as witness to and provide a glimpse of heaven on earth. An organization completely anti-cultural not thinking of itself but existing for those who might benefit from the relationship. Let’s face the truth, authentic relationships happen when we get one on one. It can happen in slightly larger groups but diminishes the more people who are added.
What if this is God’s design and He prefers small over large?
<Story of serving a small healthy church and being restored after serving in a large corporate church>.
The story always reminds me of two scriptures. The first in Zechariah 4:10 and the second is Matthew 18:10
“Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen plumbline in the hand of Zerubbabel?””
The prophet in a vision was pointing to the truth that the work of God in establishing his kingdom would be in the power of His Spirit.
Or In Matthew when Jesus speaking to his disciples who were keeping the children from coming to Jesus because they thought the kids were a nuance and distraction to the mission but Jesus corrects them by saying,
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
Like the proverb says, the prophet sees and Jesus declares, in God’s kingdom - the smaller or lesser are more likely to work for and know the value of storing up true treasures in heaven.
Did you know the average church is less than 75 people? We believe small is the way of the next expansion. We need to repent of lifting up big as better and recognize the more powerful tool to impact lives and expand the kingdom. After all, the early church, when the kingdom grew it fastest and reached more new believers than ever before, happened when the gatherings were small. Check it out in the scriptures (Romans 16:3-5 and Philemon 1:2). The early believers met in homes. They came together without the benefit of bibles or bibles studies. They came together over a meal. They discussed the principles of the faith, assisted each other with any needs and prayed for one another. It was a simple time where the faithful were fruitful and stored up treasures in heaven.
And then in 313AD, the emperor of Rome Constantine institutionalized the church. He was a dualist. He still believed in the pagan sun gods and some of the rituals but he incorporated the Christian church as a state accepted religion. In institutionalism, human controls of hierarchy and top down leadership were instituted. Power was no longer from Christ but those designated to be in power. Hence the church would struggle from then on to find the fire produced by faithful. Sure there were outbreaks of the Holy Spirit usually when controls were loosed but the institutionalized church never caught fire like the beginning.
Let me explain.
The damage had been down. The institutionalizing of the church led to careers for leaders. It came with power and prestige. The vocation of being a servant of the Lord to His people would give way to professionalism that would be woven into the fabric of “the church” and then justified so the average person would feel too inadequate to come directly before God. The small house church or micro church or what we call coracles would be left and labeled too crass, lacking in theological depth, existing without accountability and an overabundance of emotionalism. The institution would discard its wild and uncontrollable roots, along with the Holy Spirit to be left with a social club that talks a good game but never gets off its rear. Hence the reason most church buildings call their seats pews! It's the smell that happens when one sits too long.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are the ants of this world. We are the ants in the places we live, work and play. We are the small and insignificant that can and will store up the real treasure of this life. It’s the reason we exist. Not to serve a queen but a King who asks us to give our life to the establishment of His Kingdom in the here and now for a place at His table when He returns again.
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