From the Big Picture...

Sermon Series: Getting It together: Charting a Path to Wisdom

Sermon, September 18, 2011

Rev. Dr. Craig Strobel

Psalm 136:


O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever. 
O give thanks to the God of gods,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever. 
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;


who alone does great wonders,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
who by understanding made the heavens,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
who spread out the earth on the waters,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
who made the great lights,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
the sun to rule over the day,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;


who struck Egypt through their firstborn,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
and brought Israel out from among them,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
who divided the Red Sea in two,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
who led his people through the wilderness,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
who struck down great kings,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
and killed famous kings,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
and Og, king of Bashan,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
and gave their land as a heritage,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
a heritage to his servant Israel,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.


It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
and rescued us from our foes,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever; 
who gives food to all flesh,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

O give thanks to the God of heaven,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

Wisdom begins with realizing what the Big Picture is

The journey begins with a destination and a map of how to get there.

Most journeys begin with a general sense of having a place to go: a goal, a destination, an end point that tells you that you have arrived.

Related to this is the fact that every journey is made easier when you have a map that not only shows you how to get to our destination, but that also tells you what you might encounter along the way. When I traveled from Salem, Oregon to New Haven, Connecticut to attend seminary many years ago, I first took out a membership in AAA, and took advantage of their trip planning service. We plotted our course across the country on a map of the whole country. We decided what sites we wanted to see along the way: Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Wall Drug, Niagra Falls, as well as people we wanted to visit. Then we pulled out maps of the states we would travel through, and had AAA make a Triptik and got their tour books, which had information about motels and restaurants.

What is our destination? Our Destination in life:  To become whole persons in Jesus Christ

We are to:

“Grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15)

How do we get to our destination?

Our Map tells us. Our map is actually what you could call a Big Picture. You know how a map operates: it gives you a sense of the lay of the land and how various features of the landscape are situated in relationship to each other. If the map is a road map, the emphasis is on where all the roads and highways are, so you can get from point A to point B.

So in terms of the spiritual path to wisdom, we are here at point A, and point B is when we become whole persons in Christ.

But as a map, our Big Story depicts for us the lay of the land through which we travel in life, and describes the nature of the journey, the road, the path, or the Way.

Psalm 136, which we recited as a call to worship this morning, tells a Big Story – it is, in fact, recap of the salvation story of the people of Israel. It begins with God’s creation of the world, and continuing through the escape of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and then their entry into the Land of Promise.

We have a similar Big Story, and it’s found in the Bible. It is ultimately and basically a story of Love – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Martin Luther called this the Gospel in miniature. It summed it all up. So the Big Story of the Christian Faith begins in love – the love of God for our world, and for everything and everyone in it.

A Big Story of smaller stories:

·      Creation and choosing to pursue knowledge of truth, of good and evil, of moral freedom and responsibility

·      Old Testament is a series of adumbrations of this theme of moral freedom and its abuse, of the abuse of power, of people and prophets standing up against corruption and abuse of power and privilege, of people living according to a different vision of the world than is practiced in the power politics of the world

·      The Way of Eternity being taught and demonstrated by the Incarnate Son of God

·      This is a way of healing, of liberation, of transformation, of overturning of priorities, of reconciliation between enemies and estranged peoples, of opening our eyes and unstopping our ears, of a worldwide spiritual brother and sisterhood

·      The early church came to understand that Jesus came to show a way of abundant life – of life lived in its fullness, unencumbered by prejudice and abuse of power, unfettered by materialistic craving for excessive wealth or lust for power, of hearts set free by the love of God. They pulled together the letters and stories and sayings of Jesus that preserved this tradition, and eventually formed this into the books of the New Testament – which was the early church’s manual of Spiritual formation in the Way of Jesus.

·      This is our Big Story, then, beginning with the stories in Genesis and ending with the promise of being shaped by God’s Spirit into being little Christs – “christianoi” - “Grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15)

·      This is our destination, and the New Testament is the manual for that process. The Bible tells our Big Story of how we fit into the great love of God for the universe and our world.

The next step in this journey into Wisdom is to see how our all our little stories fit into this Big Story of God’s Love for the world. Next week, then, we will look at how all our “little pixels” are parts of the “Big Picture.”