Moved out of Love
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Transcript
Handout
Intro
Intro
Brief overview. The young king of Israel Solomon is faced with the responsibility of leading the people of God and therefore asks the Lord for wisdom.
The request of the son of David was pleasing to the Lord (1 Kings 3:10) Who granted him what he had asked:
So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
Wisdom. Wisdom is a very precious good:
It is better to get wisdom than gold. Gold is another’s, wisdom is our own; gold is for the body and time, wisdom for the soul and eternity.
Matthew Henry (Nonconformist Biblical Exegete)
But what is wisdom? Possessing knowledge? No!
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise … There is no fool so great as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.
Charles Spurgeon
This is why we must never feel we have arrived, but always have the humility to want to learn.
This is our wisdom, to be learners to the end.
John Calvin (French Reformer)
In fact, the wisdom of an individual is not connected to his mind, but to his heart.
The dispute. The first case that Solomon faces was really complicated for that time: who is the real mother?
Nowadays, in fact, a simple DNA test would be enough to know who the parents of a child are, but for Solomon it was not so simple.
God will give wisdom to Solomon, who will be able to resolve the crisis and reunite the real mother with the newborn!
Sermon's outline. I would like to focus our attention on the different reactions that the two women will have, when they present their case to King Solomon.
The real mother, moved by love, will reveal the truth to everyone.
It is not enough to say: “I am a Christian.”
In fact, Christian life requires each of us to reveal our identity: moved by love for Christ, we want to prove that Jesus is our Lord.
Regarding these two women I would like to consider some aspects:
The appearance (v. 20);
The attention (v. 21);
The insistence (v. 22);
The renunciation (v. 26).
N.1 - The appearance
N.1 - The appearance
So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.
One child is as good as another. The woman who unintentionally kills her son has a reaction that is inexplicable to say the least: she replaces the dead child with the other living one.
We do not read of any pain, crying or despair on her part. She only commits herself to replacing the dead newborn with the living one.
Application. One child is as good as another, one religion is as good as another, one god is as good as another, because in the end it is enough to believe in something or someone, it is enough to have "a child".
Rehoboam. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, wanted to keep up appearances. The king of Egypt, Shishah, attacked Jerusalem, robbing the Temple of all its treasures:
When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.
Like the woman with the dead child, King Rehoboam also cared only about appearances, about shields.
Unfortunately, we do not read of any prayer raised to God by Rehoboam about why that invasion had occurred.
This morning, our sister did not simply change religion: from Muslim to Christian.
Her baptism speaks of a life choice, and not of a simple “replacement of shields”.
With this act of obedience, she did not bind herself to a son, but to the Son of God!
We do not want to live a faith in God made of appearance, but real.
If we are concerned about appearance instead of substance, we are like that doctor:
My Favorite Illustrations It Looked Good
It Looked Good
An English surgeon was talking to a French colleague about a new type of operation. The Englishman said he had never performed it, whereas the other boasted that he had performed it many times. Astounded, the English surgeon asked about the results. Said the Frenchman, “Oh, they all died. But is was a beautiful operation!” The surgeon was more concerned about appearances than about results.
N.2 - The attention
N.2 - The attention
The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”
A careful look. Another noteworthy reaction in this story is the fact that the real mother, at first does not notice the baby swap until, in the light of day, she looks more closely at the dead baby and realizes that it is not her baby.
It took the light of the Sun and the necessary attention from the mother.
Many things can happen at night:
Jesus reminds us that the thief comes in the night (Matthew 24:43);
Jacob found himself married to Leah and not to Rachel because of the darkness.
Application. The Christian journey is full of trials and difficulties.
Even today Christians can be cheated, deceived.
Just like this tired mother and in the darkness of the night, we too can be unclear about situations that are taking place around us.
In the light of the Word of God, and with a careful look, we will be able to discern the truth.
Like this mother, we want to be careful and not allow that at night what God has given us is stolen.
Even if we want it, we cannot avoid bad experiences: cheaters and liars knock on the door of every house.
What we can do, however, is to pray for you so that you can wait for the light of the Word of God to reveal everything to you and then allow you to act.
N.3 - The insistence
N.3 - The insistence
The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.
Persevering. The third reaction is the mother's insistence in pleading her case before King Solomon. It is enough to note the fact that:
The real mother takes the initiative in presenting her case to the king;
The real mother speaks more than the other woman;
The real mother insists until the end.
Application. Perseverance, insistence are the characteristics that distinguish a true disciple of Christ.
Like this mother, we do not want to give up in the face of the first adversities, much less give up in the face of opposition and tolerate injustice.
Many self-proclaimed believers prefer to turn a blind eye and tolerate what is unjust.
Tolerance is only another name for indifference.
W. Somerset Maugham
With her baptism, our sister is declaring that she will not remain indifferent, she will not tolerate evil, but will insist on the good, on what is right for the Kingdom of God.
300 Illustrations for Preachers Love, Hate, and Indifference
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel says, “The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference.”
N.4 - The renunciation
N.4 - The renunciation
The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
Sacrifice. The last reaction that reveals to king Solomon who the true mother was, is the willingness of the true mother to give up her rights in order to save the life of her son.
The passage in question reminds us how love is capable of giving us the strength to make great sacrifices, just like this mother:
The strength to give up one her rights;
The strength to give up seeing her son grow;
The strenght to give up being a mother, in order to save him.
Application. This baptism means proclaiming one's belonging to Christ, being part of the Church, testifying to one's faith in Jesus, declaring the new life received as the gift of God, etc... but also being willing to give up one's rights in order to see the work of God grow and prosper.
Jesus spoke precisely about this in:
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
The term "deny" means disown, disregard, renounce everything, even our most legitimate desires, in order to be able to save what we love.
Moses. Moses had every right to enjoy the treasures of Egypt, yet he chose to be with God's people:
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
We will suffer injustice and mistreatment, even willing to be considered losers in the eyes of others, but we will endure all because moved out of love for Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The reactions of a true disciple. Today's story reminds us that it is not enough to say: "I am the mother", but we must act like a mother!
Similarly, the disciple of Jesus, moved by love for God, is ready to investigate everything in the light of the Scriptures; he is not indifferent or tolerant of evil but is ready to insist; he is even ready to give up everything in order to preserve the work of God!
