Wisdom = Being In Christ

John 6:51-58

Wisdom = Being In Christ

There e is a verse from the first lesson and a verse from,the gospel lesson which will be the focus of our attention this morning, from the first lesson: "Leave simpleness and live, and in the way of insight " And from the gospel "Jesus said "I am the living bread which come down from heaven if any one eats of this bread he will live for ever, and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Putting these two verses together then means walking in wisdom or insight is a being in Christ partaking of the living bread from .heaven. That word insight in the first lesson means wisdom or the power of forming a sound judgment in any matter, or understanding. Then being in Christ is the wisest way to walk in the world. But how can one be in Christ and we with him as the first lesson says partake from his table, eat and drink from Christ the feast he has prepared for us at the same time.

From the book Girded with Truth, comes the following:

"One day a minister was walking along the ocean with his small son. The bay had been questioning his father about recent sermon about Christ dwelling in his people. The boy said , "Dad, I cannot understand hew Christ can live in us and we live in him at the same time." As they walked further down the beach, the father noticed an empty bottle with a cork in it, Taking the bottle, he half filled it with water, reworked it and flung it far into the ocean.

Then he said, "Son the sea is in the bottle and the bottle is in the sea As it bobs up and down in the sea, it is a picture of life and motion. life in Christ."

We are in Christ and Christ is in us and around us all at the same time and a wise person recognizes that reality of life and lives with and in it. But sadly, our culture sees wisdom as something else, as fame, as wealth, as glory as someone to look up to. Who are our heroes today? Rock stars baseball players, football players, basketball players, movie stars, people with fame, with fortune, with wealth. The best selling book recently was the of Lee Iococooa the man who brought Chrysler from the brink of ruin to a thriving business. The wise today are not seen for their insight, their intuition,their discerning knowledge of life, no the wise, the heroes, the ones the world looks up to are the wealthy, the famous in the sport world , not the peace advocate, not the Nobel prize winners, not the researcher looking for the cure to cancer.

I would venture a guess that if asked a dozen of you who Desmond Tutu is not half maybe not even one of you would tell me that was the recent Nobel peace prize winner and the Bishop of the combined churches in Namibia. But if asked who Dr. J is or Madonna , or A.C.- D.C. or Bruce Springsteen, all the teenagers and maybe some of the adults would be able to answer these questions the first is a famous basketball player and the rest a recent rock singers or bands.

The following shows how our culture so interested fame, wealth and ha.s lost the truly meaningful way one should live life.

"A Legend says a man asked God,"What does a billion dollars mean to you who are all powerful?"

"Hardly a penny." God said.

Then the man asked God , "And what are a thousand centuries to you?"

God answered "Hardly a second!!"

Thinking he had God backed into a corner, the man then said, "Then if that’s the case, O, Lord give me a penny !!"

"In a second. !!" God replied."

Wisdom isn’t outsmarting God, wisdom is living in and with God. Wisdom is being in Christ and surrounded by Christ. Wisdom is eating and drinking from the feast which God has prepared for us with us turning in eating and drinking.

Wisdom to God living in a relationship with God, being able to eat and drink from God’s table. Being able to accept and rejoice in the forgiveness and new life was given each of us by the way of the cross.

Wisdom means being with God, turning into His house to take all that God has so freely given to us. Turning into his house in this day and age means coming to church so that we may stay in a relationship with God, that we may be wise that we may be filled with God’s wisdom.

But as Barbara Brokhoff says in her book, Faith Alive, "The Happy Hour for the Christian should be the hour of worship on Sunday morning, but how do you honestly feel when you are awakened by the alarm on the Lord’s Day and you realize it is another "Church Day"? Can you hardly wait for the service time to roll around or do you roll over in bed, moan and groan and cover your head, and wish that once, once again maybe once more like last Sunday the one before, you would, or could sleep in and forget the whole boring, time consuming thing ?? Is the thought of worship agony or ecstasy? Think We are coming to meet God--not just any body, but God!! Shouldn’t the delightful suspense of worship make our breath short and our hearts beat faster?"