2020.04.19 Say What I Want

1 Kings 3:16–27 NASB

Then two women who were harlots 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. “It happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. “This woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. “So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. “When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king. Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” Then the king said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.”

Luke 12:13–23 NASB

Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Say What I Want

Annette and I were youth pastors years ago. We took our youth group on a work retreat at our favorite campground in Kentucky. We had lots of work to do to help them get ready for whatever the next season was. We painted bathrooms and picked up stray limbs and stuff like that.

And everyone was assigned a task for meal time. One group cooked (with adult supervision). One group cleaned up (with adult supervision). And one group cleaned the kitchen cabin (with adult supervision).

After one particular meal, the kids were fighting over who was doing what. And one of them just grabbed the mop and started mopping. Of course, this was a problem for one of the other kids, so they appealed to us in our role as the “arbitrators of justice”. And we heard perhaps the strangest thing we ever heard out of a youth’s mouth: “Make him let me mop.” It was quite strange having someone demand that we make someone else let them work.

What wasn’t strange at all about that request was the heart of the request. As the “arbitrators of justice”, trust me, we had LOTS of similar requests in one aspect. You see, the task was irrelevant … what the student wanted us to do was to stamp approval on what THEY WANTED! They wanted to get their way, and they wanted us to be the ones to make it happen. We were the “arbitrators of justice” after all. And don’t we all want our own “arbitrators of justice” to let us have our way?

In our Old Testament reading today, we have a very famous example of Solomon’s wisdom. Two women come to him as the “arbitrator of justice”. They have a dispute and they both want Solomon to stamp approval on what they want.

They both claim a child is theirs. Solomon didn’t have DNA testing available to him. His government didn’t provide state-issued birth certificates. Most moms just took charge of the children they gave birth to, so this claim was likely a strange one to Solomon. As the “arbitrator of justice” there wasn’t a prior court case to give him a sense of precedent to make this decision. He had to rely on his intuition, and the wisdom God had granted him.

So he decreed that the child be cut in two and each woman would receive half. I wonder if he would’ve actually done that if the women didn’t say anything. One woman was perfectly fine with dividing the child in two. She was fine with this other woman having to grieve such a loss…like she was grieving. The other woman said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him,” thus identifying herself as the real mother.

When they arrived, they both wanted the “arbitrator of justice” to give them their way. They weren’t concerned about actual justice. They just wanted their way. When it became clear that Solomon’s justice would harm the child, the real mother was willing let injustice stand by giving up her desire.

In the Gospel reading today, Luke tells a story of Jesus being used as the “arbitrator of justice”. He even asks the question, the hilarious question, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Well, you’re seen as an authority … so what you say goes … so … SAY WHAT I WANT!

Although he wasn’t appointed, Jesus is by his very nature judge and arbitrator over us. This man didn’t know this. All he knew was that people respected Jesus’ opinion, so he tried to leverage that opinion to his own benefit!

Oh, how often I see public figures trying to do the same thing. Jesus isn’t physically here anymore, so it’s a little easier to twist his words, knowing He won’t contradict you in person. Jesus is regularly trotted out to defend a political position, social opinions, even to defend choices people have made in their own lives.

Man, we live in the freest country in the world. We don’t need anyone to justify our choices. But we want it so badly. I’m not sure if that’s to gain the approval of others, or if it’s to convince ourselves that our behavior is okay. I’ve justified stupid behavior with loose Jesus-talk before. It’s been a long time, but I’ve done it.

Scripture doesn’t teach us to seek justification from any “arbitrator of justice”. Scripture tells us to submit our will, our desires, our plans to Jesus … to throw them down so that his will might take its place. We’re not supposed to ask Jesus to say what we want … we’re supposed to WANT WHAT HE SAYS!

Last week, we saw the ultimate example of this when Jesus told the Father he didn’t want to suffer the Cross if there was any other way. He told God what he wanted … and then he said, “But not my will, your will be done.” He surrendered his desire to the Father’s desire. This is very difficult for us.

We want what we want … and we’re quite capable of finding Scripture to rationalize what we want. “God doesn’t want me paying so much to travel on public transportation, so the Church should buy me a private airplane.” “God cares about every creature, so my dog’s doghouse having air conditioning is just me helping care for his creature.” “God wants his people to be happy, and touching this woman would make me happy.” “I sought the services of a prostitute because my spouse is so cold.”

So, what’s that bring up in you? Where have you tried to use God as your “arbitrator of justice” to get what you want…maybe you’re doing that right now with something.

We can rationalize anything. And we’ve grown adept at using Jesus as a prop to defend what we want. When do we start surrendering?

What challenges are you facing today in your life that you really know are already settled in God’s eyes? How many times have you asked him to justify what you want? Maybe it’s time to tell him, “This is what I want, but I’m willing to surrender it. Do what you want, God, instead of what I want. And so be it!”

Let’s do exactly that as we pray together.