rex@nbc1.ge.com (Rex Espiritu) (08/17/90)
Spiritual Wisdom, Discernment & Attitude An Unceasing Prayer, A Personal Relationship by Rex Espiritu Sunday 12 August 1990 A.D. 9:30 EDT Huguenot Memorial (Presbyterian) Church, Pelham, NY Job 28:1-28 (TEV) I Corinthians 1:18-25 (TEV) May the words of my mouth, the thoughts of my mind, and the meditation of my heart be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.1 Good morning! And welcome! It's a great joy for me as a new father to be part of a service of baptism today. I wish for you, your family and child God's blessings... I am grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to share with you this morning. I'm also thankful to Bill Saum for inviting me, and to one of you for suggesting it to him. I was invited to share my mugging experience with you from a spiritual perspective, and I shall attempt to do that now within the context of this meditation. I'd like to begin with a short reading from 1st Corinthians, chapter 2, verses 1 through 5, starting on page 221 of Today's English Version. Hear the words of Paul: "When I came to you, my brothers [and sisters], to preach God's secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning. 2 For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross. 3 So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear, 4 and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit. 5 Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power." (TEV) That's about what I'm feeling right now. A bit nervous and weak. Of course, part of that is probably because I didn't get much sleep the past few nights between preparing this sermon and the cries of our newborn daughter Christina... I wrestled over what I should share with you... how I should share with you--struggling to discern what the Spirit was calling me to say this morning. So I found myself experiencing once again, yet in a different way, the subject of this talk. Spiritual Wisdom, Discernment and Attitude: An Unceasing Prayer, A Personal Relationship. In the reading from Job, the question, "Where can wisdom be found?" is posed and answered with a striking poem. 'The fear of the Lord <pause> --that is wisdom'.2 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom".3 "To be wise, you must have reverence for the Lord."4 Job's friends had already tried to apply conventional wisdom to human suffering and they failed. "Why did God allow this suffering to happen?" Even Job had tried to explain his own suffering with an untraditional response that was also unsatisfactory. And then comes this poem in the 28th chapter In Praise of Wisdom.5 The Hebrew text doesn't indicate who is speaking in this chapter6 according to the study notes, but it certainly addresses the situation appropriately. God is the answer. Wisdom starts with our fear, our reverence for God. When you come at it from another point of reasoning, it really makes sense. If we as human beings are limited, and God is limitless, then the only way to even start to become wise is to get closer to God! To have a profound reverence and awe. A humble and fearful attitude. In prayer. In relationship. For me, it's a daily struggle. And yet, it's also a joy. For the Bible says that wisdom is more precious than rubies.7 So, while I strive in obedience and love to work daily at my relationship with my Lord through prayer, study and fellowship, I also reap the benefits. And enjoy it for all its immeasurable worth. Let me go back to a verse from the New Testament reading for a moment. In 1st Corinthians, chapter 1 verse 21 on page 221: "For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called 'foolish' message we preach, God decided to save those who believe." For God, in his wisdom, made it impossible, for people to know him, by means of their own wisdom. It was a Thursday afternoon in early May at about 2:30 p.m. when it happened. I was on my lunch break from a class I was taking that week in Penn Plaza. I'd just left a Christian bookstore in the Port Authority area of Manhattan. [Good place for it, too.] It was raining. My hands were full with an umbrella in one, and in the other, a plastic bag containing a cassette of contemporary Christian music, other Christian paraphernalia, and a Mother's Day card for my then pregnant wife. I remember rushing out of the bookstore because I was due back in class at that very moment. An hour before that, I had leisurely walked up to the bookstore. But now, if I wanted to get back as soon as possible, the subway was probably quickest. I recall being in constant prayer8 during that lunch break. After I finished eating, I wasn't sure I'd find enough time to go and find something I wanted, but, God granted me the desires of my heart.9 At about 2:00 p.m., I heard a voice inside me say, "Finish up, now, and go back to your class. There's no more here that I want you to buy." Of course, I decided not to heed that advice. I kept on looking. And sure enough, there was nothing else I wanted or could find worth it for me to buy that day. So much for my defiant attitude. I was about to cross 42nd Street at 8th Avenue to catch the A-Train when the light turned red. At this point, I was feeling really guilty. I was late, I had stayed longer and wasted time for no good reason, and now I was even going to be more late. And I hadn't asked God for forgiveness, yet, for my attitude and my action. I kept holding on to my pride just a little bit longer, thinking, "I can still get out of this on my own. Everything will turn out alright. [I'll get to class back in time--sort of...] Hey, look! There's another entrance to the station right on this corner! Let me see if I can make up some time by going down these steps, instead of waiting for this light. Hurry now, Rex, and act quickly!" Well, two wrongs don't make a right. I should have made my peace with the Spirit right then and there while waiting for the light to turn green. I ran down that flight of steps and found that it was an "exit only" passageway during that time of day. There was one guy waiting for me at the bottom of the steps and as I turned to go back up, there were two others coming down to ambush me. They had been waiting for the perfect ignorant victim to come along, and I was it. They asked me for money. I said I had none. I lied. I had less than ten dollars in my wallet inside my buttoned back pocket which they never got to, probably because the jacket I was wearing covered it. I instinctively resisted in anger at first, and continued to do so even after the first round of punches to my forehead, cheek, eye, nose, mouth, chest, and stomach. They took my bag and spilled its contents, finding the Christian paraphernalia. That bought me some time. They hesitated, then just threw it aside. I gave them my credit cards and ID's which were separate from my wallet in a plastic insert that was inside my front right pocket. They seemed uninterested in anything but quick cash, though they did decide to take my cards. After a few more bruises and hurts, I acquiesced, and they tore my pant leg at the seam from my left pocket and found my keys which they just dropped. Then they started to hurry as a train was arriving to let off some passengers, one of whom was exiting through this passageway. At that point, they took my anniversary gift watch, my college ring from Columbia, and my wedding ring. I remember crying out and saying, "But that's my wedding ring!" As if they might just give a damn. They might have for a bit, but then they said, "So?!?" and left. I cried. I cried and trembled. Breathing heavily as I lay there. Feeling violated and helpless. Tired. Hurt. Alone. Wet. Beat up. The person whose impending presence suddenly drove my muggers away, met my gaze with a sympathizing look of hurt and helplessness that pierced right through me. He quickly looked down in mutual consternation as he walked past me. I wonder now if he said a prayer in his heart for me then. I'm thankful that God sent him there no later than he arrived. Then I asked and accepted God's forgiveness, giving it all up to Jesus on the cross. Realizing that what I just went through was just a fraction of what Christ endured for even that particular sin. I thanked Jesus for God's grace that it wasn't any worse than it was. That I hadn't left my wife without a husband and my child without a father before she was even born. (This is especially poignant now that I've seen and held Christina in my arms and beheld her suckling on her mother's breasts.10) And then in the Spirit's wisdom and with the Spirit's leading and direction,11 I forgave and prayed for my muggers. I prayed that God would take away from their lives whatever it was that caused them to do this to me. I prayed that they might come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I prayed that maybe some of the profanity I said in anger against them earlier would not hinder God's possible purposes and plans for them. That maybe they saw some signs of Christ in this incident. I prayed that God, if it be in God's will, would honor my petition for them. Even as I started to pray, my anger subsided and I felt the courage [enabling me] to go on with my life and leave this past behind. And the thought occurred to me that maybe someday, I'll see them in heaven and hug them as brothers in reconciliation. Such is the infinite wisdom, grace, and purposes of our God. Who am I that I should be privileged to endure this experience? I'm thankful that God allowed this to happen to me at this time in my life and no sooner. Please believe me when I say I would not have been ready for it or reacted in this way two years earlier. Far from it, in fact, I'd probably have kept much of this to myself [and told (almost) noone], and secretly held a vendetta for the rest of my life. But no, in God's perfect timing, this experience has served to give me and others further enlightenment and renewed appreciation for the life God has given us. It has brought me to grow closer to Him, not by my own wisdom, but in believing [and faith] in Him. As a result of this experience, God has also brought me closer to my family, and to all of you in this congregation and for that I am grateful. I thank you for the support you've given me and my wife Melissa and now our daughter Christina, and I thank God for who you are in our lives. It was God's vehicle to present me with yet another challenge to grow in my walk with Him: To get up before you today and relive and share this painful experience with you this morning. To give testimony and glory to God with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that our faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.12 "When I came to you, my brothers [and sisters], to preach God's secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning. 2 For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross. 3 So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear, 4 and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit. 5 Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power." (TEV) I leave you now with the knowledge of this thought. That you may know how I am and others are praying for each one of you in this congregation. Hear these words from the apostle Paul to the Ephesians in chapter 1, verses 16 through 19, reading from the New International Version: "I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." Amen. _____________________ 1 Psalm 19:14 (NIV) May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. 2 Job 28:28 (NIV) "And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'" 3 Psalm 111:10 (NIV) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. Proverbs 9:10 (NIV) "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 4 Job 28:28 (TEV) God said to men, "To be wise, you must have reverence for the Lord. To understand, you must turn from evil." 5 Job 28 (TEV) 6 Ibid. 7 Job 28:18; Proverbs 3:15, 8:11. 8 I Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV) pray continually; Ephesians 6:18 (NIV) And pray in the Spirit on all occasions... 9 Psalm 37:4 (NIV) Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 10 Isaiah 66:11-14 11 Romans 8:26 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 12 I Corinthians 2:4-5 (NIV) My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.