| “WONDERFUL COUNSELOR: CHRIST, THE WISDOM OF GOD” I Kings 4:29-34; I Corinthians 1:18-31 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 11/29/2009 |
After hearing the amazing tribute described in today’s Old Testament lesson, one can’t help but wonder, “Who in our own
time is anything like King Solomon of Old? Who, even in the last several hundred years, could we compare to this man of
wisdom, insight, leadership and understanding?” Where or in whom can we find true wisdom today? Maybe someone like the
former Pope, John Paul II, comes to mind. He apparently had an extensive education, spoke multiple languages, and possessed
many wonderful talents and Godly qualities like compassion and love for people.
And if we think back even farther—especially since we live in Philadelphia—we might consider Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin was multi-talented, possessing intelligence, wisdom, creativity and leadership ability. Not only was he a scientist of
sorts, experimenting with lightning and electricity, he was also a businessman, a journalist and he had at least a few wise
sayings of his own by which he is remembered. You may even know some of them, like “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
That sounds like very wise counsel. The only trouble is that apparently Franklin wasn’t wise enough to take his own advice.
Not too long ago someone reviewed Franklin’s personal bank records and discovered that he was overdrawn at least three days
out of every week! So much for Franklin’s wisdom.
We could probably come up with much better examples than these, but I suspect that it would still be hard to find anyone
who could hold a candle to Solomon’s wisdom, insight and understanding. At least, it is hard to find anyone as famous and
whose reputation for wisdom has lasted for so long. I think the one story I remember and like best, and which sums up the
kind of wisdom Solomon possessed, is the one about the two mothers who brought their case to him for settlement. Do you
remember that one?
Each mother had an infant son and one rolled on her infant while she was sleeping and smothered him. She then accused
the other mother of switching the infants in order to get the live baby. So they took their case to Solomon and argued back and
forth over who was the real mother of the surviving baby. Solomon could see that this was going nowhere, and so he wisely
called for a sword and ordered one of his servants to cut the surviving infant in two and give half to each mother. The result
was that the real mother immediately stopped arguing and pleaded with Solomon not to kill the infant, but to give him to the
other woman. But the second woman said no “Cut him in two. Neither of us shall have him.”
At that point Solomon knew without a doubt that the real mother was the one who was willing to give up her son to
another woman, rather than let him die. And so Solomon gave the baby to his rightful mother. Now that’s what I call a wise
counselor! Not necessarily one who has all the answers, but who knows how to get to the heart of the problem! No wonder
Solomon’s reputation for wisdom spread throughout the known world of that time.
And can you imagine the intellect of this man? In a time so long ago—an era which we consider unenlightened compared
to our current wisdom, knowledge and technology—Solomon was a poet, a writer, a composer, a botanist, a zoologist, and a
marine biologist! He was the quintessential Renaissance man, long before the Renaissance even existed. No wonder people like
the Queen of Sheba came from distant parts of the world to have an audience with this remarkable, wise man.
That kind of wisdom and insight and knowledge and understanding is so attractive. And many times it is so good. Even
God-inspired. Who wouldn’t want their president or king or prime minister to have the wisdom and intellect and understanding
of Solomon, especially if that leader uses it for the common good? There’s nothing wrong with that kind of wisdom. And so
as Israel looked for and longed for the promised Messiah, who would be their Wonderful Counselor, who could blame them if
they expected a leader with the Wisdom of Solomon? After all, not every Jew was waiting for a military giant like David to
come along and wipe out the Romans who were occupying their homeland. Some had been expecting someone more like
Solomon, whose very name means peace. They may have wanted a Messiah whose wisdom could restore the peace and
prosperity of Solomon’s day to Israel. A leader with that kind of wisdom would truly be a Wonderful Counselor, just as the
prophets foretold.
But what most of Israel didn’t understand was that even that kind of wisdom has its limits. Not even Solomon’s wisdom,
insight, knowledge and understanding brought him closer to God. All of his wonderful counsel, as attractive as it was to the
rest of the world, could not guarantee his salvation and did not even bring this man of peace inner peace in his lifetime. No
human wisdom or philosophy or education or scientific system can do that. Only God can do that, the God who in his wisdom
sent not another David or Solomon but his only begotten Son, in the flesh, to be his wisdom and our Wonderful Counselor.
The only trouble, however, is that this Wonderful Counselor and his wisdom seems so foolish to our unbelieving world. If
only the Wonderful Counselor had been more like Solomon—maybe He wouldn’t have been such a scandal and an
embarrassment. Granted, He had more than enough of Solomon’s kind of wisdom. Even as a child, this Wonderful Counselor
was astounding the teachers in the temple. And in his adult ministry, he repeatedly confounded the thinking of the wisest
lawyers and theologians. They were dumbfounded by his ability to outthink and out-argue them. But demonstrating wisdom
was not the purpose or calling of this Wonderful Counselor. He didn’t come to argue with other wise men or prove how many
angels could dance on the head of a pin. This Wonderful Counselor came to show men and women and children that even the
highest level of human wisdom, scholarship and philosophy is foolishness without God’s wisdom. He came to destroy the
wisdom of the wise and the intelligence of the intelligent.
But unfortunately his way of demonstrating the wisdom of God was unacceptable to most of the people who were waiting
for this Messiah, this Wonderful Counselor sent from God. No thinking Jew, regardless of what kind of Messiah he expected,
could believe that God would ever allow the Wonderful Counselor to be crucified. That was the worst curse imaginable in
Judaism. That alone proved that Jesus, no matter how wonderful He may have seemed, could not have been the Messiah sent
from God. To most Jews, this could not be God’s wisdom. In fact, it was pure foolishness.
In contrast, the Jews were looking for signs and wonders. Surely that was God’s kind of wisdom. After all, God had
parted the Red Sea. He had provided Manna in the wilderness and water out of a rock. And so it was far easier—far wiser—
for Jews to follow the wisdom of people like Theudas, rather than the wisdom of Christ. In AD 45, Theudas led thousands of
Jews to the banks of the Jordan River where he promised that God would part the sea and lead them across into a new day. Of
course it never happened. Or they thought it was wiser to follow the wisdom of some unnamed Egyptian rather than the
wisdom of Christ. In AD 54, this Egyptian led 30,000 Jews out to the Mt. of Olives, where he told them that at his command
the walls of Jerusalem would fall down. Obviously, this didn’t happen, either. Nevertheless, most Jews were looking for this
kind of Messiah rather than a baby who was destined to be born in humility and die in humiliation.
And if the Jews were looking for miraculous signs to prove the wisdom of God, the Greeks sought intellectual systems
and philosophies. For them, that was true wisdom. They would have loved Solomon, since they admired a clever and cunning
mind. The Greeks were intoxicated with words and so true wisdom consisted in the ability to discuss hair-splitting trifles, just
for the sake of mental exercise. Actually, the remarkable thing was that most Greeks were not really opposed to the bulk of
Christian teaching. They felt it was wise counsel. According to Augustine, who had studied Greek philosophy in depth prior to
his conversion, there were Greek parallels for almost all Christian principles and teachings but one. That “one” was the
statement that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Except for that one statement, the Greeks might have turned
Christianity into another philosophical system of doctrine.
But they couldn’t build a philosophy on something that to the thinking Greek was a total impossibility. First of all, they
believed that God could not feel, for that would make him lower than humans. Second of all, they believed it would be an insult
to God to be involved in human affairs. Therefore the very idea of the incarnation—of God not only lowering himself to our
level but getting involved with us—was revolting to the Greek mind. This lowly man proclaimed as the Wonderful Counselor
could not possibly be the Messiah, the wisdom of God. No, to the Greeks, this was absolute foolishness and any wise Greek
couldn’t possibly take the Christian Gospel seriously.
So the Jews rejected the Wonderful Counselor because they could not accept the Crucifixion, and the Greeks rejected Him
because they could not accept the Incarnation. And today, people are still rejecting Him because everyone has now become
their own personal, wonderful counselor. Again and again I run into people who tell me that everything Christians believe about
the Messiah, the Wonderful Counselor and the Wisdom of God, is just an opinion. Just this week on the news I heard about a
coffee shop in Washington State where the employees wore bikinis or lingerie. This coffee shop was located right next door to
a playground and children had to walk past the shop to get to the playground. When the parents complained, the owners
accused them of trying to impose their values on them. In response, the parents said that their children were being
indoctrinated by the owners’ values every time they walked past the shop. In other words, the shop owners felt that what the
parents believed was simply an opinion, not a matter of morality, of right and wrong. Thankfully, the town officials thought
otherwise and ordered the shop to close down.
Chuck Colson, one of the Watergate perpetrators who became a Christian in prison, speaks with clarity about this topic.
He believes that there are two basic systems of philosophy and morals operating in our country today. One, he says, is God’s
wisdom, reflected in Jesus Christ. The other is the wisdom of the world, which is summed up in Frank Sinatra’s song, “MY
WAY.” According to that “way” a person has the right to do anything he or she wants, and that is the ultimate virtue. Where
the Greeks needed volumes to record their philosophy, we are now so smart that we can do it in one word: “Whatever.” That
one word is the American way of saying, “Whatever you believe is right for you.” “Whatever you want to do is OK, as long as
you don’t bother me.” This “whatever” philosophy says that there is no ultimate truth or morality or wisdom, only “whatever”
each person decides. That’s the world we live in today, and the world in which we’re trying to live out the Christian faith—a
faith which is a far cry from “whatever” new philosophy is circulating today. The world thinks our faith is foolish, but for
those who are being saved it is the very power of God.
According to scripture, the world’s inability to understand the Wisdom of God in Jesus Christ is nothing new. It has been
going on ever since the Cross of Christ and the early days of the Church. The message of the Cross—which includes the
Incarnation, the Life, the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ—that Gospel message has always appeared foolish to
those who refuse to believe, those who are perishing. But Paul reminds us, as he reminded the church at Corinth, that in Christ,
God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. What is foolishness to
the unbelieving world is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation for those who believe. And those who don’t, those who
are wise in their own eyes, will ultimately be destroyed along with their own wisdom—“whatever” it is. In fact, that worldly
wisdom may be the very thing that keeps them from recognizing the One Who is the Wonderful Counselor: Christ, the Wisdom
of God.
That may be why the Wonderful Counselor and Messiah was largely rejected by the educated, the powerful, and the
intellectual in society. His Wonderful Counsel and wisdom, and especially his humility, compassion and sacrificial love were not
regarded as good news to the majority of the educated elite. They were already caught up in their own wisdom. They didn’t
need anybody else’s. Maybe that’s why simple folk had less trouble recognizing and receiving the true Wisdom of God, the
One Who came as their Wonderful Counselor and Savior. When Christ came in the flesh He didn’t require people to have any
degrees or diplomas or certifications in order to hear and accept his Wonderful Counsel. His message wasn’t complicated and
it didn’t require philosophy courses to understand it. It didn’t take rocket scientists to analyze it or Madison Avenue marketers
to make it appealing. What it took was faith. And to all who were foolish enough to believe and receive this Wonderful
Counselor by faith—not by wisdom—He gave power to become children of God.
For the rest of the world, the coming month marks the end of another year. But for the Body of Christ, this first Sunday
in Advent is the beginning of a new Christian year. As usual, we’re out of sync with the rest of the world. We’re fools who
follow not a system of philosophy or whatever we feel like, but the only true and all-wise God. This is the God Who does not
think it beneath Himself to love and care for us, but who cares so much that He was willing to send the very best, regardless of
how foolish it seemed. And so as we start this new Christian year, I pray that we begin it by committing ourselves anew to
Christ, the Wonderful Counselor and Wisdom of God. This Wisdom—this Wonderful Counselor— may seem like utter
foolishness to neighbors and co-workers and others around us, but the foolishness of Jesus Christ has outlived Rome, outlasted
all the Greek philosophies, and has affected more people than any other wisdom or person or philosophy to ever come down the
pike. Not even the wisdom of Solomon can measure up to the surpassing wisdom of God, born as a humble baby on that
Christmas so long ago.
Let us pray.
time is anything like King Solomon of Old? Who, even in the last several hundred years, could we compare to this man of
wisdom, insight, leadership and understanding?” Where or in whom can we find true wisdom today? Maybe someone like the
former Pope, John Paul II, comes to mind. He apparently had an extensive education, spoke multiple languages, and possessed
many wonderful talents and Godly qualities like compassion and love for people.
And if we think back even farther—especially since we live in Philadelphia—we might consider Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin was multi-talented, possessing intelligence, wisdom, creativity and leadership ability. Not only was he a scientist of
sorts, experimenting with lightning and electricity, he was also a businessman, a journalist and he had at least a few wise
sayings of his own by which he is remembered. You may even know some of them, like “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
That sounds like very wise counsel. The only trouble is that apparently Franklin wasn’t wise enough to take his own advice.
Not too long ago someone reviewed Franklin’s personal bank records and discovered that he was overdrawn at least three days
out of every week! So much for Franklin’s wisdom.
We could probably come up with much better examples than these, but I suspect that it would still be hard to find anyone
who could hold a candle to Solomon’s wisdom, insight and understanding. At least, it is hard to find anyone as famous and
whose reputation for wisdom has lasted for so long. I think the one story I remember and like best, and which sums up the
kind of wisdom Solomon possessed, is the one about the two mothers who brought their case to him for settlement. Do you
remember that one?
Each mother had an infant son and one rolled on her infant while she was sleeping and smothered him. She then accused
the other mother of switching the infants in order to get the live baby. So they took their case to Solomon and argued back and
forth over who was the real mother of the surviving baby. Solomon could see that this was going nowhere, and so he wisely
called for a sword and ordered one of his servants to cut the surviving infant in two and give half to each mother. The result
was that the real mother immediately stopped arguing and pleaded with Solomon not to kill the infant, but to give him to the
other woman. But the second woman said no “Cut him in two. Neither of us shall have him.”
At that point Solomon knew without a doubt that the real mother was the one who was willing to give up her son to
another woman, rather than let him die. And so Solomon gave the baby to his rightful mother. Now that’s what I call a wise
counselor! Not necessarily one who has all the answers, but who knows how to get to the heart of the problem! No wonder
Solomon’s reputation for wisdom spread throughout the known world of that time.
And can you imagine the intellect of this man? In a time so long ago—an era which we consider unenlightened compared
to our current wisdom, knowledge and technology—Solomon was a poet, a writer, a composer, a botanist, a zoologist, and a
marine biologist! He was the quintessential Renaissance man, long before the Renaissance even existed. No wonder people like
the Queen of Sheba came from distant parts of the world to have an audience with this remarkable, wise man.
That kind of wisdom and insight and knowledge and understanding is so attractive. And many times it is so good. Even
God-inspired. Who wouldn’t want their president or king or prime minister to have the wisdom and intellect and understanding
of Solomon, especially if that leader uses it for the common good? There’s nothing wrong with that kind of wisdom. And so
as Israel looked for and longed for the promised Messiah, who would be their Wonderful Counselor, who could blame them if
they expected a leader with the Wisdom of Solomon? After all, not every Jew was waiting for a military giant like David to
come along and wipe out the Romans who were occupying their homeland. Some had been expecting someone more like
Solomon, whose very name means peace. They may have wanted a Messiah whose wisdom could restore the peace and
prosperity of Solomon’s day to Israel. A leader with that kind of wisdom would truly be a Wonderful Counselor, just as the
prophets foretold.
But what most of Israel didn’t understand was that even that kind of wisdom has its limits. Not even Solomon’s wisdom,
insight, knowledge and understanding brought him closer to God. All of his wonderful counsel, as attractive as it was to the
rest of the world, could not guarantee his salvation and did not even bring this man of peace inner peace in his lifetime. No
human wisdom or philosophy or education or scientific system can do that. Only God can do that, the God who in his wisdom
sent not another David or Solomon but his only begotten Son, in the flesh, to be his wisdom and our Wonderful Counselor.
The only trouble, however, is that this Wonderful Counselor and his wisdom seems so foolish to our unbelieving world. If
only the Wonderful Counselor had been more like Solomon—maybe He wouldn’t have been such a scandal and an
embarrassment. Granted, He had more than enough of Solomon’s kind of wisdom. Even as a child, this Wonderful Counselor
was astounding the teachers in the temple. And in his adult ministry, he repeatedly confounded the thinking of the wisest
lawyers and theologians. They were dumbfounded by his ability to outthink and out-argue them. But demonstrating wisdom
was not the purpose or calling of this Wonderful Counselor. He didn’t come to argue with other wise men or prove how many
angels could dance on the head of a pin. This Wonderful Counselor came to show men and women and children that even the
highest level of human wisdom, scholarship and philosophy is foolishness without God’s wisdom. He came to destroy the
wisdom of the wise and the intelligence of the intelligent.
But unfortunately his way of demonstrating the wisdom of God was unacceptable to most of the people who were waiting
for this Messiah, this Wonderful Counselor sent from God. No thinking Jew, regardless of what kind of Messiah he expected,
could believe that God would ever allow the Wonderful Counselor to be crucified. That was the worst curse imaginable in
Judaism. That alone proved that Jesus, no matter how wonderful He may have seemed, could not have been the Messiah sent
from God. To most Jews, this could not be God’s wisdom. In fact, it was pure foolishness.
In contrast, the Jews were looking for signs and wonders. Surely that was God’s kind of wisdom. After all, God had
parted the Red Sea. He had provided Manna in the wilderness and water out of a rock. And so it was far easier—far wiser—
for Jews to follow the wisdom of people like Theudas, rather than the wisdom of Christ. In AD 45, Theudas led thousands of
Jews to the banks of the Jordan River where he promised that God would part the sea and lead them across into a new day. Of
course it never happened. Or they thought it was wiser to follow the wisdom of some unnamed Egyptian rather than the
wisdom of Christ. In AD 54, this Egyptian led 30,000 Jews out to the Mt. of Olives, where he told them that at his command
the walls of Jerusalem would fall down. Obviously, this didn’t happen, either. Nevertheless, most Jews were looking for this
kind of Messiah rather than a baby who was destined to be born in humility and die in humiliation.
And if the Jews were looking for miraculous signs to prove the wisdom of God, the Greeks sought intellectual systems
and philosophies. For them, that was true wisdom. They would have loved Solomon, since they admired a clever and cunning
mind. The Greeks were intoxicated with words and so true wisdom consisted in the ability to discuss hair-splitting trifles, just
for the sake of mental exercise. Actually, the remarkable thing was that most Greeks were not really opposed to the bulk of
Christian teaching. They felt it was wise counsel. According to Augustine, who had studied Greek philosophy in depth prior to
his conversion, there were Greek parallels for almost all Christian principles and teachings but one. That “one” was the
statement that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Except for that one statement, the Greeks might have turned
Christianity into another philosophical system of doctrine.
But they couldn’t build a philosophy on something that to the thinking Greek was a total impossibility. First of all, they
believed that God could not feel, for that would make him lower than humans. Second of all, they believed it would be an insult
to God to be involved in human affairs. Therefore the very idea of the incarnation—of God not only lowering himself to our
level but getting involved with us—was revolting to the Greek mind. This lowly man proclaimed as the Wonderful Counselor
could not possibly be the Messiah, the wisdom of God. No, to the Greeks, this was absolute foolishness and any wise Greek
couldn’t possibly take the Christian Gospel seriously.
So the Jews rejected the Wonderful Counselor because they could not accept the Crucifixion, and the Greeks rejected Him
because they could not accept the Incarnation. And today, people are still rejecting Him because everyone has now become
their own personal, wonderful counselor. Again and again I run into people who tell me that everything Christians believe about
the Messiah, the Wonderful Counselor and the Wisdom of God, is just an opinion. Just this week on the news I heard about a
coffee shop in Washington State where the employees wore bikinis or lingerie. This coffee shop was located right next door to
a playground and children had to walk past the shop to get to the playground. When the parents complained, the owners
accused them of trying to impose their values on them. In response, the parents said that their children were being
indoctrinated by the owners’ values every time they walked past the shop. In other words, the shop owners felt that what the
parents believed was simply an opinion, not a matter of morality, of right and wrong. Thankfully, the town officials thought
otherwise and ordered the shop to close down.
Chuck Colson, one of the Watergate perpetrators who became a Christian in prison, speaks with clarity about this topic.
He believes that there are two basic systems of philosophy and morals operating in our country today. One, he says, is God’s
wisdom, reflected in Jesus Christ. The other is the wisdom of the world, which is summed up in Frank Sinatra’s song, “MY
WAY.” According to that “way” a person has the right to do anything he or she wants, and that is the ultimate virtue. Where
the Greeks needed volumes to record their philosophy, we are now so smart that we can do it in one word: “Whatever.” That
one word is the American way of saying, “Whatever you believe is right for you.” “Whatever you want to do is OK, as long as
you don’t bother me.” This “whatever” philosophy says that there is no ultimate truth or morality or wisdom, only “whatever”
each person decides. That’s the world we live in today, and the world in which we’re trying to live out the Christian faith—a
faith which is a far cry from “whatever” new philosophy is circulating today. The world thinks our faith is foolish, but for
those who are being saved it is the very power of God.
According to scripture, the world’s inability to understand the Wisdom of God in Jesus Christ is nothing new. It has been
going on ever since the Cross of Christ and the early days of the Church. The message of the Cross—which includes the
Incarnation, the Life, the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ—that Gospel message has always appeared foolish to
those who refuse to believe, those who are perishing. But Paul reminds us, as he reminded the church at Corinth, that in Christ,
God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. What is foolishness to
the unbelieving world is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation for those who believe. And those who don’t, those who
are wise in their own eyes, will ultimately be destroyed along with their own wisdom—“whatever” it is. In fact, that worldly
wisdom may be the very thing that keeps them from recognizing the One Who is the Wonderful Counselor: Christ, the Wisdom
of God.
That may be why the Wonderful Counselor and Messiah was largely rejected by the educated, the powerful, and the
intellectual in society. His Wonderful Counsel and wisdom, and especially his humility, compassion and sacrificial love were not
regarded as good news to the majority of the educated elite. They were already caught up in their own wisdom. They didn’t
need anybody else’s. Maybe that’s why simple folk had less trouble recognizing and receiving the true Wisdom of God, the
One Who came as their Wonderful Counselor and Savior. When Christ came in the flesh He didn’t require people to have any
degrees or diplomas or certifications in order to hear and accept his Wonderful Counsel. His message wasn’t complicated and
it didn’t require philosophy courses to understand it. It didn’t take rocket scientists to analyze it or Madison Avenue marketers
to make it appealing. What it took was faith. And to all who were foolish enough to believe and receive this Wonderful
Counselor by faith—not by wisdom—He gave power to become children of God.
For the rest of the world, the coming month marks the end of another year. But for the Body of Christ, this first Sunday
in Advent is the beginning of a new Christian year. As usual, we’re out of sync with the rest of the world. We’re fools who
follow not a system of philosophy or whatever we feel like, but the only true and all-wise God. This is the God Who does not
think it beneath Himself to love and care for us, but who cares so much that He was willing to send the very best, regardless of
how foolish it seemed. And so as we start this new Christian year, I pray that we begin it by committing ourselves anew to
Christ, the Wonderful Counselor and Wisdom of God. This Wisdom—this Wonderful Counselor— may seem like utter
foolishness to neighbors and co-workers and others around us, but the foolishness of Jesus Christ has outlived Rome, outlasted
all the Greek philosophies, and has affected more people than any other wisdom or person or philosophy to ever come down the
pike. Not even the wisdom of Solomon can measure up to the surpassing wisdom of God, born as a humble baby on that
Christmas so long ago.
Let us pray.
