God’s Wisdom and God’s Patience
“God’s Wisdom and God’s Patience” – May 11th, 2025 (God: The One Who Loves in Freedom)
Today we are starting a new sermon series called “God: The One Who Loves in Freedom.” This series is all about God. Theologian and author Daniel Migliore says that “our reflections on the triune reality of God point to the need for a thorough rethinking of the attributes of God.” The attributes of God include God’s omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, eternality, unchangeability, self-existence, love, holiness, justice, and mercy. Migliore tells us we need to thoroughly rethink God’s attributes because they are so often separated from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s attributes are frequently presented as somehow distinct from the doctrine of the Trinity. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament – Father God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit. Here’s a quote from our “About Us” page on our church website, LibertyVineyardChurch.com – “We believe that God … from all eternity … exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory.”
So, let’s start with a couple of foundational Scriptures that assure us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. As I read these verses, let us be mindful that they speak of the one and the same God, God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 45:5a – “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god.”
Jeremiah 10:10 – “The Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King.”
John 1:1-4 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
John 10:30 – “The Father and I [Jesus] are one.”
John 14:11 – “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.’”
John 15:26 – “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.”
2 Corinthians 3:17 – “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
God is the One who loves in freedom! In this new sermon series, we are going to hopefully clear up some of the confusion about what God is like, by exploring pairs of attributes that seem to stand in a kind of tension with one another. Karl Barth was a highly influential Swiss theologian in both the academic realm and in mainstream culture, being featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1962. Barth describes these pairs of God’s attributes as the perfections of the divine love: grace and holiness, mercy and righteousness, patience and wisdom. And he describes these pairs of God’s attributes as the perfections of the divine freedom: unity and omnipresence, constancy and omnipotence, eternity and glory. Throughout this sermon series we are going to explore these pairs of God’s attributes!
We know that God is omniscient, all-knowing. However, omniscience is not simply knowing everything there is to know. It’s not about having the right information, the correct data. God is not a computer. God’s omniscience transcends all human knowledge, exploration, AI, imagination. Migliore expands our understanding by describing the omniscience of the triune God as “an infinitely deep wisdom that is exercised with gracious patience.” Today we are looking at God’s wisdom and God’s patience.
When we respond with a wholehearted “yes” to Jesus’ call to follow him, he takes us through a process to heal the de-forming we have done to ourselves through our own choices of selfishness and sin. Jesus re-forms and con-forms and trans-forms us into the image and likeness of God, with our active participation and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Like any process, it’s not instantaneous, it involves movement, it takes time. In God’s wisdom, God has created us to live in space and time. It is precisely in space and time that God wisely and patiently gives us two great freedoms.
The first great freedom God gives us is that he lets us develop our own existence. Our pathways in life are not deterministic. To be human is to exercise free will. Last month, our precious granddaughter’s favorite word was “up.” “Up!” is her way of asking her daddy to lift her high above his head so she can reach both foliage and fixtures. This month, her favorite word is “no!” She is developing beautifully – how I love her and miss her! I would be more concerned if she didn’t express herself! Her parents are seeking to raise her in love, with wisdom and patience. God, our ultimately loving parent, wisely guides us and patiently let us develop our own existence. In freedom, God allows us to make myriads of decisions that shape us throughout our lives.
The second great freedom God gives us is that he permits us to respond freely to the love of God. From beginning to end of the Bible, in love, God invites us to freely respond to his infinite, exuberant, lavish, generous love. Genesis 2:9,16-17 – “Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil … You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” Revelation 22:17 – “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”
God loves us wholeheartedly, in deep wisdom and gracious patience. And God invites us to love ourselves and other people in that same way. Just as God patiently let us develop our own existence and make our own choices, we can allow ourselves and others that same freedom. Part of what it means to properly love another person is to patiently allow them to make their own choices and to respond freely to the love of God. It can be incredibly painful to watch someone we care about make poor choices due to lack of wisdom or lack of patience. How much more does it pain the heart of God to see not just a few but ALL of his beloved children make poor choices because of our lack of wisdom and lack of patience! The only one who has never made these kinds of poor choices is God’s only begotten Son, God-with-us, Jesus! God did not create us to be either robotic rule-followers or computerized code enforcers. Our job is to show that we love God by loving ourselves and others wholeheartedly, just as God loves us. That’s what love looks like!
Back to Migliore’s definition of God’s omniscience as “an infinitely deep wisdom that is exercised with gracious patience.” We are called not to omniscience but to love God and people with both wisdom and patience. This week I stumbled across a book title that made me smile, Life Would Be Easy If It Weren’t for Other People. How often do we think we’ve finally gained some wisdom or patience, only to experience some kind of relational bump. It’s easy enough to get along when things are going well. It’s another thing entirely when there is unexpected or unwelcome news. Whether the news comes from preachers or politicians, doctors or debt-collectors, bankers or bosses, family or friends, when a situation involves something unexpected or unwelcome, it can be hard to speak, to act, or to respond with wisdom and patience.
A couple of short anecdotes might be helpful. Some negative examples: Many years ago, we received a phone call in which one of our parents skipped hello and abruptly announced the sudden death of our healthy 20-something family member. Last year we received a text informing us that a close relative had made significant care and financial decisions independently, with no regard for their spouse’s well-being. There’s no end to news headlines that are unexpected and unwelcome, but I couldn’t find a good example to illustrate this point that wasn’t skewed too far one way or another. And a positive example: In the months between Cascade’s ordination and being sent out as a missionary across the world last year, she made room in her schedule to have face-to-face conversations (in person or via video chat) with all who so desired, whether they were supporters or not, whether they lived near or far. Her news was very good news, but it was unexpected for many and unwelcome for some because of their love for her and their desire to remain in close community together. Wisdom and patience are among the perfections of divine love. This is how God treats us in love. May we seek to treat ourselves and others in the same way, with deep wisdom and gracious patience.
There are so many things I don’t understand. But I do know that I long for myself, my family, our church, and our country to lean with the heart and generosity of Jesus towards all, especially the poor, the marginalized, the disabled, the stranger, the very old, the very young, the institutionalized, the forgotten. It’s one thing to convey information or facts. It’s another thing entirely when words and actions and responses are enfolded in both deep wisdom and gracious patience.
Of course, God’s deep wisdom is infinite, and God gracious patience has no limit. And yet, Jesus instructs us in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:48 – “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The Greek word translated perfect, téleios, has nothing to do with getting 100 on a test. It speaks of going through the necessary stages in the process of journeying with Jesus. It is best illustrated by the image of a spyglass, one of those old pirate’s telescopes. As each element is extended, one stage at a time, its capacity improves. It becomes more effective. In telling us to be perfect, Jesus is guiding us into a full and abundant life. God doesn’t force us to receive his good gifts. We don’t know what we need in order to fulfill all that God desires for us to be and to do. Therefore, we are to welcome the Spirit to do his work in us, stage by stage, and to let Jesus our Lord and King lead the process. Our job is to follow Jesus, to persevere in faithfulness, and to surrender all to him. It is in going through these stages in our journey with Jesus that we become more Christlike, which includes deepening in wisdom and growing in gracious patience.
In his brilliant satire, Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis’s protagonist, Screwtape tutors his nephew about the consequences of our human tendency to act without patience, “Nearly all vices are rooted in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust and ambition look ahead.” Isaiah 30:18 offers a beautiful description of God’s gracious patience – “The Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” The Hebrew word for “wait” used twice here is chakah. This describes both how God waits for us and how blessed we are as we wait for him. May we practice looking to the past with great gratitude. And may we resist the temptation to allow our fear, avarice, lust, or ambition to rule us or rush us towards the future. May we live in the present, in God’s chakah kind of waiting, which has the sense of tarrying with trust, hanging with hope, enduring with expectation, awaiting with anticipation.
When Mary Magdalene first met Jesus, she was carrying a lot of emotional, psychological, and physical baggage. We ALL have a lot of baggage when we first encounter Jesus, although we often think we have less than we do. Mary M was an influencer and a wealthy woman who is always mentioned first in the gospels whenever she is listed in a group. We don’t know the details of the trauma Mary M had experienced in her life, but we do know that at some point Jesus cured her of evil spirits and infirmities, which, in the language of the ancient near East referred to emotional, psychological, and physical healing! In wisdom, Jesus righteously judged the evil and infirmities to be highly detrimental to her, so he healed and restored her. In patience, Jesus allowed her to respond freely to the love of God which he proclaimed and demonstrated. Mary M went on to be one of the witnesses to Jesus’ death on the cross and the first evangelist, the first one to report the good news of Jesus’ resurrection! In John 20:18, Mary M announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”
In Jesus, Mary M encountered and experienced God’s infinitely deep wisdom and gracious patience. As Jesus patiently allowed Mary M to make her own choices and to respond freely to the love of God, she left more and more of her excess baggage behind.
Just as the Lord patiently lets us develop our own existence and permits us to respond freely to the love of God, may we learn to express God’s heart to all with both wisdom and patience, too, as we participate with Jesus in showing and telling his good news, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today is Mother’s Day. Although the word “mother” may evoke all kinds of thoughts and feelings, there is one experience common to all mothers because of how babies come into the world. Even if a mother doesn’t always feel patient, all mothers become mothers through waiting. When a woman becomes a mother biologically, there is waiting between the time of conception and the birth. When a woman becomes a mother via adoption or fostering, there is waiting between the beginning of the home study and the “gotcha” day. When a woman becomes a mother via marriage to someone who is already a parent, there is waiting between the beginning of a serious relationship and the ceremony after which the prefix “step” is often added to “mother.” When a woman mothers children in other ways, whether short- or long-term, there is waiting. Becoming and being a mother involves welcoming, wondering, working, and worrying. It always includes waiting. Whether we are mothers or not, oh, how we each need God’s deep wisdom and gracious patience!
Mother’s Day can be complicated. We are complicated beings, too. We can live in celebration and gratitude for mothers we’ve had, mothers who have helped us, and in our expectations and realities as mothers or not. And we can live in sorrow and grief for mothers we’ve lost, mothers who have hurt us, and in our expectations and realities as mothers or not.
Among the legacy left to us by nineteenth century Maine poet Elizabeth Akers Allen is this poignant verse that beautifully expresses our longing to both receive and give the unconditional love and nurture of a mother, an idea that sprang from the very heart of our unconditionally loving and nurturing God:
Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears,—
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,—
Take them, and give me my childhood again!
I have grown weary of dust and decay,—
Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away;
Weary of sowing for others to reap;—
Rock me to sleep, mother – rock me to sleep!
Wherever you are in your thoughts and feelings today, in the complex mixture of emotions that Mother’s Day carries, much grace and peace to you! The Lord is with you and is present to love, to nurture, to restore, and to heal! May we each lean into and receive more of God’s deep wisdom and gracious patience.
In addition to being Mother’s Day today, today is also one of the 727,580 days (so far) between Jesus’ resurrection and God’s final setting right of the world. We live in the in-between and upside-down kingdom of God, the age of the Holy Spirit! We are still waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise in Revelation 21:4, that “[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.” There’s another verse earlier in Revelation that offers comfort and hope whenever we experience or encounter suffering, crying, mourning, or dying. In Revelation 5:5, the apostle John receives this encouragement, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered!”
When we weep outwardly, tears may fall from our eyes in response to strong emotions or physical distress. When we weep inwardly, our hearts may break into a million pieces. Whenever we experience or encounter suffering, crying, mourning, or dying, may we see Jesus. Let us give our full attention to Jesus, who through his death and resurrection has conquered all enemies – fears, false accusations, anxieties, abandonments, sicknesses, sin, shortfalls, losses, limitations, uncertainties, unknowing, diagnoses, despair, evil, even death. May the Holy Spirit help us to lean into God, who loves all in freedom and whose infinitely deep wisdom is exercised with gracious patience.
In closing, I want to share with you a song I re-lyriced almost five years ago during the pandemic, to express a prayer to God to heal our hearts. As this song plays, I invite you to sit with the Lord and pour out your heart to God, who is a refuge for us (Psalm 62:8). May we cast all of our anxiety, worries, and cares on God because he cares for us. May Jesus Christ, our Lord and King, heal and restore you! Come, Holy Spirit!
