智慧金字塔 Wisdom Pyramid
Remember these points
I put these points at the top of my sermon-prep template to remind myself every week:
- Show that main point of passage relates to Jesus and his saving work
- (1 Cor 1:18) A truly gospel-centred message will not be acceptable in a synagogue or mosque
- Did I proclaim the gospel as the headline news of the sermon, rather than as a “by the way…”?
- Unbelievers are called to repent, believe, and be saved
- Believers are encouraged to abandon their old self, renew their minds, put on the new self in Christ
- Preach simple sermons, so that God’s people can see Christ more clearly and love him more dearly
News
Don’t forget:
- We’re representing our church (Agape Chinese Christian Church)
- We’re representing all Christians
- We’re representing God
When people see the way we behave in public, our speech, our behaviour, even how we react to things. All this reflects on what we represent.
Don’t put God to shame!
Hook
Do you have a smartphone? Is your life happier because of the smartphone?
Do you have a smartphone?
Computer?
Tablet?
These technologies are very convenient, allowing us to read news and get information anytime, anywhere.
Did having a smartphone made you happier? At the Retreat, nearly everyone answered “No!”
Everyone agreed that we have way, way too much information.
Knowledge is not the same as wisdom!
More knowledge doesn’t mean more wisdom (quite the opposite, in fact).
Here are 6 pictures that might bring to mind either Knowledge or Wisdom.
In 2016, Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year was “Post-truth.” We’re living int he post-truth era.
Truth is no longer considered absolute. We now have “your truth,” and “my truth.”
Even something as straight-forward as “2 + 2 = 4” is being questioned: It’s not a mathematical truth, but something imposed by the white “superior culture” against other inferior cultures. It’s a result of colonisation, not a mathematical truth.
When we eat too much, it’s not good for the body.
When we have too much information, it’s bad for the soul.
What we have now is “Information Gluttony.” Way too much information for us to consume, and nearly always having nothing to do with our lives.
We come now (finally) to today’s topic: the Wisdom Pyramid.
The idea is adopted from Brett McCraken, The Wisdom Pyramid, 2021. The pyramid in the book had a few more layers than what we have here, but the idea is the same.
This is the well-known (well-known at least for people in the USA back in the 1990s) Food Pyramid. The basic food items are at the bottom (the base of the pyramid). The further up the pyramid you go, the less of the food items you should consume. This is the idea of a balanced diet.
At the top are things like fat, oily food, fried food, food with added sugar (like soft drinks, candies, etc.); these food are to be eaten sparingly.
China also has her own food pyramid, but it’s called the Food Pagoda. The concept is the same.
Foods at the bottom are consumed at the largest daily amount, while items at the top (oily things, sugary things, etc.) are to be minimised.
Again, this is how we have a balanced diet, one that’s healthy for our bodies.
The Wisdom Pyramid borrows this idea, showing where we can get wisdom (healthy for our souls).
The layers (from top to bottom) represent different sources of wisdom:
- God’s Word (Bible)
- The Church
- Nature (God’s creation)
- The Internet (smartphones, etc.)
Like with food, the higher up we go in the pyramid, the less of such knowledge we should consume.
Unfortunately, we’ve inverted the pyramid. Our daily diet of wisdom comes from the top: the Internet, while the most basic source of wisdom: God’s Word, we ignore.
Just compare how much time you spend daily on your phone, versus how much time you spend reading the Bible.
Also notice these things as we go up the wisdom pyramid:
- The closer to the bottom, the more directly things come from God.
- The Bible is God’s Word, comes directly from God.
- The church is Lord Jesus’ creation, though it’s populated mainly by sinful humans.
- Nature is also God’s creation, but it’s even less directly seen as God’s creation. Just think of the theory of evolution, a belief where people try to explain nature without the need for God.
- At the very top is the Internet, a “place” where anything goes, pretty much thoroughly a human creation.
The next layer of the pyramid is Church. This will be our topic for Monday morning’s session (24 Jun 2024).
与我有什么关系? So What?
