Untitled Sermon (4)

Intro:

Imagine if God told you to ask for anything you wanted to and he would give it to you.

We are beginning a new unit this morning and the next few weeks we will look at the life of King Solomon.

Here are some interesting facts about Solomon:

Solomon was the last son of David and not the natural first choice to replace David as King. Absolom was naturally supposed to take over as King but Solomon did instead. He was the son of David’s favorite wife: Bathsehba.

2. Solomon was a likely a teenager when he took over as King.

3. He was the wisest person to live in his lifetime and and was very wealthy and powerful.

4. He authored three books of wisdom in the OT: Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes.

This morning, we are going to look at Solomon’s request for wisdom:

1 Kings 3:5–15 ESV

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

We can learn a lot from Solomon at this point of his reign by the thing he requests from God. In V. 5, God asks him what he wants and he asks for wisdom from God in leading the people he had just been appointed to.

There are four elements to Solomon’s prayer:

It acknowledges God’s past action. Solomon points back to God’s steadfast love to his father David. God’s steadfast love shows us what true love is because it’s never-changing. God’s love for us is greater than anything we can experience on earth.

It asks for continuance of God’s favour. Solomon uses language found in Deuteronomy. Solomon asks for something only God can truly give him and that’s wisdom. Wisdom includes intelligence, knowledge, and is something required by leaders who want to succeed. SOlomon knew that wisdom had to come from God in order for him to become successful.

It expresses humility: I am only a child shows that Solomon recognizes he is young and incapable of leading without the help of God.

It asks for the ability to carry out his duties: The people were a heavy people or too numerous to count.

Ultimately, we see a young person trying to fill in his Dad’s shoes by taking over the throne as King and he knew he would not be successful without God’s help.

1 Kings 3:16–28 ESV

Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king. Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’ ” And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

Here is a practical example of Solomon’s wisdom being put to the test.

Solomon asked for a discerning heart, and that is exactly what he needed in order to settle a dispute between two prostitutes who had no standing in society.

These women who lived in the same house each had an infant son.

When one son died in the middle of the night, his mother switched him with the living son and then claimed the living son was hers.

There were no witnesses to vouch for either woman so Solomon came up with a shocking but brilliant solution. Cut the lving child in half and give half to one woman and half to the other.

Solomon was countint on the true mother’s maternal instinces to win out.

Sure enough, one woman had compassion for the loiving child while the other woman to the attitdue, If I can’t have them.

This was a way for him to figure out who the true mother was.