“The Charge”
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9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. 10 Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”
The Background and Setting
The Goal: Knowing God
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
God is your greatest good.
You were created by Him, through Him, and for Him.
The goal of your life therefore can be summarized like this: to know Him and to make Him known.
Knowledge of God comes through the Word of God.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
To Know God is to love God, to love God is to love others.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
You will serve the one you love!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
A true love for God will always reveal itself through service to God and others.
If you don’t serve Him, you don’t love Him.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
You can’t remain neutral in your relationship to God.
You are either seeking Him or forsaking Him, there is no middle ground, no riding the fence.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
What are you seeking after?
What you are seeking reveals the true desire of your heart.
You will always seek after your greatest love.
To summarize:
Our goal is to know God.
To know Him is to love Him.
To love Him is to serve Him and to seek Him.
20 Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.
If you know what to do, the only thing left to do is for you to actually do it.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
What is God calling you to do for Him?
1 And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the palace will not be for man but for the Lord God.
It is often the way of God to choose those who are young and inexperienced to do the great work that He has planned.
You can look at Samuel, David, Josiah, Jesus’ disciples.
God has a long history of using young people to do great work. You could say it is His preferred method.
No one can do it for you.
We can give you the tools that you need, but you must take it upon yourself to fulfill God’s call on your life.
So the question is: Will you do it?
Will you surrender to God and let Him use you to do a great work?
It isn’t about skill and experience, it’s about obedience.