"know-it-all"-ism

Matthew 10:24-39

A.J. Jacobs is a “know-it-all,” and I know he wouldn’t mind me saying so. In fact, he devoted a large portion of his life to becoming one. He did it by reading the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica from cover to cover. All 32 volumes. All 32,000 pages, all forty-four million words. Along the way, he learned: “the name of Turkey’s leading avant-garde publication…that Bud Abbott was a double-crosser and John Quincy Adams married for money...[and] that there’s a heated controversy over who invented the accordion”. All that, among other things, was just in the first 100 pages! In the end, he made it the title of his book “The Know-it-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World” (2004, Simon and Schuster).

You and I are most likely nothing like Mr. Jacobs. If we’ve read any bit of an encyclopedia, it was probably when we were in grade school collecting facts for a report, and even then we probably “skimmed” or “gleaned” more than we read. Most of us would shy away, and even resent the implication that we were in any way a “know-it-all.” Yet, if we are followers of Jesus, then much of the world sees us this way.

In an open-ended study of impressions of churches and church-goers by people ages 17 to 29, the top three characteristics listed about Christians were: “hypocritical, insensitive, and judgmental” (unchristian:What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why it Matters. Kinnamon and Lyons. Baker, 2007). All of this can be summarized in one term: “know-it-all.” A.J. Jacobs may have written the book on it, but it seems that when it comes to being “know-it-alls” that we’ve made a household name for ourselves out of it.

Don’t be alarmed, though. This doesn’t seem to be anything new. Two-thousand years ago, Jesus confronted “know-it-all”-ism as well. In Matthew 10:24 he tells his followers: “The learner isn’t above the teacher and the servant isn’t above the master…it’s enough that you’re like me; the idea isn’t that you are me.” Whenever you or I are tempted to become “know-it-alls” for Jesus, he seems to remind us that we’ve still got a lot to learn.

So how can the Christian church today shed this “know-it-all” image that we seem to have gotten ourselves into? Jesus has a solution: “Forget about yourself.” Forget about the answers, forget about being “right”, forget about trying to be above the teacher, and forget about outdoing the master. No matter how much energy you devote to it, no matter how many pages you read, no matter how many facts you memorize, there is only, and there will only ever be, one true “know-it-all”. The antidote to “know-it-all”-ism of every variety is to always let that one be the only one in your life.

God is THE “know-it-all”. There have been some pretty smart people throughout history. Yasumasa Kanada is one of them. He and a team of people used a supercomputer to calculate pi to one trillion, two-hundred forty one billion, one hundred million places. That’s impressive, but God knows the one trillion, two-hundred forty one billion, one hundred million and first digit and He can calculate it in his head! Ken Jennings holds the record for consecutive wins on the game show “Jeopardy!” with 74. The question he lost on was “Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.” Jennings thought it was Federal Express. God knew that it was really H&R Block. You may know that Barry Bonds holds the record for the most home runs in a single season with seventy-three. Did you know that God knows who will break that record, when it will happen, and what kind of bat the player will use. A.J. Jacobs read the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica. God was there when everything written in the book actually happened.

I am prone to “know-it-all”-ism, too. I know what my wife Kathleen’s birthday is, what her favorite color is, and what her favorite food is. Jesus reminds me that all of that is just fine, but God knows all of it as well, and he also knows the exact number of hairs on her head!

Jesus invites us to make God the ONLY “know-it-all” in our lives, but he knows that because we are human, it won’t always be easy for us to do that. It will take a great deal of trust. To help, Jesus invites us to let him worry about knowing it all, and tells us to “have no fear”. It will take a lot of patience, and Jesus invites us to “follow behind” him, let him lead, and go at his pace. It will take faith to let go of our “know-it-all”-ism, and Jesus reminds us that if God knows everything, down to what happens every moment in a sparrow’s life, then God knows what we’re going through every moment as well. If you and I are interested in following Jesus, then one of the first things we’ll have to do is forget ourselves and let God be the one and only “know-it-all” in our life.

If we are going to let someone do this, it might as well be God. One thing that God knows with certainty is that when our life gets rough, when people criticize and insult us, when things happen that fill us with fear, that He will stick with us. God knows without a shred of doubt that even when things get really bad, when our life is overcome by shadows, whenever we find ourselves wandering through dark valleys, and when the future looks uncertain or even bleak, that even at those moments God knows that He will give His own life before He lets anything destroy ours.

It’s always enough that you and I are like Jesus: compassionate, forgiving, and faithful. It will never be enough if we try to become him, outdo him, or out-wit him. It will forever be sufficient that you and I resemble Jesus: obedient, focused on God, and diligent. It will never be enough if we try to out-work him. No matter what we say or do, there will, always and forever, be only one true “know-it-all.” He’s the God who told Isaiah: “when you were in your mother’s womb, I named you." He is the God who was there before the world existed and who will be there when it comes to an end. He is the God who knows what makes you happy, fearful, sad, and hopeful. He is the only one who knows it all, and when we let God be God, soon we’ll learn that life is a lot easier when we don’t have to know it all because God does, and that is always enough!