A Divided Heart (Stoneybrook)

WHO WAS SOLOMON?

Throughout History there have been people who were in the right place at the right time. They were blessed by God to be a success and to change the world as we know it. Solomon was one of these men.

There has never been a person in life more blessed by God than Solomon.

· He was the wisest man to ever live- People would come from all over the known world to meet him and hear his wisdom. – Queen of Sheba

· He was the builder of the temple Holy Temple.

· He was a stunning poet, wrote 3000 proverbs, the song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes.

· As a national leader— he brokered peace treaties that essentially granted Israel peace for 40 years.

· Israel was the economic world power. 1 Kings 10:27 says, “And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.

· He had the largest and most technologically advanced military.

· He had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

· he was a man who had anything and everything his heart desired.

o Yet, at the end of his life, he penned these words in Ecclesiastes 2:11: “When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

The story of Solomon began as a “Fairy Tail”- “A Happily Ever After Story” – that turned into a tragedy.

However, within one generation – everything he built would be taken away by God.

WHAT HAPPENED? What could have caused such a reversal of fortune essentially over night? 1 KINGS 11:1-8 - The Bible says that Solomon had a divided heart.

HOW DO WE GET A DIVIDED HEART?

1. Cling to sin – verse 2

a. We love sin

b. Compromise our beliefs

· Our sin nature gives us a divided heart. As Christians we can give into our sin or we can deny our sin.

· All Sin has consequences.

· Sin is contrary to God. Because it is contrary sin is destructive, violent, painful, suffering inducing, hurtful, damaging…

· God does not give us His righteous commands because he hates us, so we won’t have any fun in this world. He gives us His righteous Law to protect us. To keep us from evil and to keep us out of trouble.

Solomon, the man with everything that you could ever want or dream, set a path of destruction because of His divided heart. He was a man who sought pleasure over His relationship with God. Solomon was opposite of His father David. The Bible says that David had a heart after God’s own heart. David sought God in everything and that is why God blessed him to be a decedent of Jesus.

Each day, often many times throughout the day, we must chose to lay down our will- what we desire, hope and dream in our flesh and pick up God’s will for our life.

Choosing God’s Will leads us to communion with him, strengthening our faith and protection from evil which is contrary to our own will which leads us away from God, weakens or dulls our faith and opens ourselves up for evil.

WHAT DID SOLOMON DO THAT GOD JUDGED SO HARSHLY?

Verse 11:5 says Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and Milcom the god of the Ammonites.

Ashtoreth was a female diety. The goddess of fertility. She is also know as Ishtar in Babylon. She is worshipped in through orgies, and sexual sin.

Milcom is also know as Molech. Molech is the god of fire and requires child sacrifice. Solomon led his people into worship of other gods that encouraged all manner of sexual sin and child sacrifice.

God promised Solomon in 1 Kings 9:4-9-if you follow me, I will continue to bless you. If you reject me, I will curse you.

The consequence of Solomon’s sin was a divided kingdom. 10 tribes of Israel would be consolidated under King Jeroboam in the north and Rehoboam would rule Judah. 1 Kings 11:9-13

Eventually the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom would be destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC never to be heard from again and eventually 586 BC the Kingdom of Judah would be conquered and exiled into Babylon. They were kicked out of the promised land for 70 years.

THE TAKEAWAY - What can we learn from this account?

There is no such thing a victimless or sin without consequences. Everything that we do affects someone else. All sin causes pain and its sole purpose is to destroy all it encounters. It is important for us to be honest with God about our sin.

LUTHERAN STUDY BIBLE - The great tragedy of Solomon’s reign is that, having married many foreign women and taken hundreds of concubines, he turns from the Lord to worship his wives’ idols. The tragic fall of Solomon is a warning to believers to all ages. If someone so wise and good as Solomon can turn from the Lord, how easily it can happen to us! With a deep sense of humility we say, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Today let us pray for a hear that is united with God. Ask him for a heart that seeks what He wants and let’s allow ourselves to lay aside our own will and pick up God’s will. Let us not focus on the things of this world, that are here today and gone tomorrow, but on the eternal things of the kingdom. Let us pray for God’s Strength to be a blessing to one another and sharing the hope of the Gospel to all who will listen.