Kings Week One
Kings • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 21 viewsSolomon started out like his father David, with a heart for God. Just like David however, he found that great intentions are not good enough to keep an untransformed heart in the will of God.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Primary Passage: 1 Kings 3:1-15
Our primary passage comes from 1 Kings 3.
PAUSE
We use the expression ‘The Bigger They Are the Harder They Fall’ to indicate that the more powerful or auspicious someone is, the more disastrous a loss is to accept.
Example of use: “The Cardinals are bitter about losing again. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!”
An interesting fact about The Bigger They Are the Harder They Fall
An interesting fact about The Bigger They Are the Harder They Fall
The origin of the phrase ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall’ is believed to have come from boxing. Not surprisingly, there were earlier expressions that meant the same thing and used similar wording. One of the first recorded incidences is in the poet Claudian’s Rufian, essentially translating to “Men are raised on high in order that they may fall more heavily.”
If this proverbial expression is true, then nonother has fallen further than Lucifer, and King Solomon is coming in a secure second place.
Lauded as the wisest man to have ever lived, and with all of his riches, he couldn’t seem to maintain a relationship with God Almighty.
He was the son of King David, and like His father, he started strong and promising, but as his life progressed, he regressed into the insidious and lost man we see later in his life.
So, God shows us something about what the finest and strongest of humanity can do with their good intentions; only fail.
No matter if they were as talented and brave as king David or as intelligent as Solomon, who legend says could tell there were diamonds in Africa based upon minerals brought back to him from his men’s excursions. None of that mattered in the end. Even with man’s best intentions, we fell short, and God was making a long, drawn-out statement of our inadequacies to show a good pattern and track record of our failings.
As believers today, we have an advantage that these kings did not have. That the judges and heroes of the Bible did not have. Consider Sampson, all of his strength and might could do nothing for him in the way of keeping his promises to God.
Almost as brutally as the Egyptian gods were lined up and knocked down by God through the plagues, humanity proves to themselves time and time again that we are all insidious at heart and deserve the punishment that awaits all of us if we have not been forgiven.
With that said, let us stand for the reading of God’s word.
Starting in 1 Kings 3:1
Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.
The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.
And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
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.
Let us Pray!
What would you ask for if God told you that you could ask him for one thing, anything? I mean, that is what God did with Solomon at the beginning of his reign as king.
Before we dive into Solomon’s answer, let’s talk a little bit about Solomon: Solomon was David’s son, and in 1 Kings 3, Solomon finds himself the newly appointed heir to the throne.
In one sense, Solomon was a man born into privilege; in another, he was the product of a pretty messed-up family. He was the son of Bathsheba, the wife David stole from his best friend after he had had him murdered. (So, that relationship was a little complicated.)
Solomon was not David’s only son or even his oldest, so there was a lot of jealousy and infighting among the brothers about who would get to replace David as king.
Amnon, David’s oldest, violated his half-sister, and so one of David’s other sons, Absalom, killed him for that.Then Absalom, who was David’s favorite, got impatient while David was still alive and led a revolt trying to overthrow David and got killed in the process.Then, when David was on his death bed, Adonijah, a third son, tried to claim the throne and attempted to marry David’s favorite concubine to prove he was up to the Job. And he ended up getting killed for that.
Anyone else starting to feel better about your family yet?
I always like to point this stuff out because some of you come from messed-up families. Good news: Most of the people that God chose to use in the Bible did too.
Listen: Your past family history doesn’t have to define your future. God wants to start a legacy of blessing in your family line with you. Today. You can become someone greatly used by God to bless others like Solomon was. And Solomon shows you how to get there.
First, let’s look at how Solomon responded to God’s offer again.
Solomon’s request (1 Kings 3:6-10)
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.
I want us to see in this passage what Solomon asks for and why he asked for it.
What he asked for was wisdom!
It has been said that one way of interpreting the word “wisdom” is it is the ability to see things from God’s perspective. Look at the words Solomon uses to request wisdom (vs. 9) o Give your servant a “receptive” (lit., a ‘hearing’ or ‘perceiving’ heart). Give me the ability to perceive things like you perceive them.
The most common Hebrew word Solomon uses for ‘wisdom’ in Proverbs means “training,” or “coming under authority.”It implies something like ‘instinct.’ To be wise is to have your thoughts trained in a God-shaped view of the world so that you know what God wants even before you know what he says.
So, by understanding what Solomon meant when he asked for wisdom, we can understand why God was pleased with Solomon’s request for wisdom.
My second point, the why, has us looking at what it means to “discern.”
In Solomon’s case, he is asking for the ability to discern the right and wrong paths from one another.When the Bible is clear, it is usually easy enough to see the message loud and clear.
When the Bible is clear on something, it is easy. But many of life’s biggest decisions are not spelled out so clearly in Scripture, like whom to marry. Or what Job to take. Or which financial choices are best. Or the best way to handle certain relational conflicts. Wisdom knows what to do in those situations where it is not spelled out for us in black and white.
There is a sailors myth that in the Bermuda triangle, ships get hopelessly lost when their needles begin spinning uncontrollably.
If such a myth were true, then science and engineers would find why it does this and what they can do to protect against such a thing.
Wisdom is a compass that stays true unmindful of the magnetic pull of society or anything else for that matter that pulls in one direction or another.
In life, we can feel like we are pulled in so many different directions at once that it may feel like our heads are left spinning. Wisdom is the attribute that you should seek in those situations.
Solomon recorded in Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
One thing it isn’t is the same kind of fear that leaves you shivering under your bed.
//////////////////////////////Roger Stop Do Not Read////////////////////////////////
Proverbs 9:10;
and others
Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 14:27; 15:33;
///////////////////////Resume Reading Below This Line///////////////////////////
Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and many other passages talk about the fear of the Lord (e.g., Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 14:27; 15:33).
Before we can understand how the fear of the Lord leads to wisdom, we need to define what the Bible means by “fear” in this context.In the Bible, the word translated “fear” can mean several things.
It can refer to the terror one feels in a frightening situation (Deuteronomy 2:25). It can mean “respect” in the way a servant fears his master and serves him faithfully (Joshua 24:14). Fear can also denote the reverence or awe a person feels in the presence of greatness (Isaiah 6:5).
//////////////////////////////Roger Stop Do Not Read////////////////////////////////
Frightening Situation: Deuteronomy 2:25; Respect: Joshua 24:14; Feeling in the presence of greatness: Isaiah 6:5.
///////////////////////Resume Reading Below This Line///////////////////////////
The fear of the Lord is a blend of all of these.
Fear of the Lord can be defined by understanding the following passages; Matthew 12:36; Psalm 139:2; and Jeremiah 12:3.
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
But you, O Lord, know me;
you see me, and test my heart toward you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
In other words, as J.I. Packer would put it,
“the continual awareness that our loving heavenly Father is watching and evaluating everything we think, say, and do.” - J.I. Packer
As Jesus told each of the seven churches in Revelation 1—2, “I know your works.” Nothing escapes His attention.
To develop the fear of the Lord, we must recognize God for who He is. We must glimpse with our spirits the power, might, beauty, and brilliance of the Lord God Almighty (Revelation 11:17; Hosea 12:5; Isaiah 6:1–5).
Those who fear the Lord have a continual awareness of Him, a deep reverence for Him, and a sincere commitment to obey Him.
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
This verse gives us some added insight with its antithetical parallelism—there is a sharp contrast between the wise and the foolish life.
A wise person fears/reverences/obeys the Lord; A fool despises God’s instruction and cannot be told what to do. The wise person is wise because he has started at the starting place; The fool has no foundation on which to build wisdom.
Romans 1:21–22 speaks of those who “neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.”
Here is a description of people who try to obtain wisdom while ignoring God—
it cannot be done because God is the source of wisdom.
The link between the fear of God and wisdom means we cannot possess wisdom if we recreate God in our image.
Too many people want to “tame” God into a non-threatening nobody. But, if we redefine the Lord as a God that makes us feel comfortable, a permissive “buddy” who exists to bless us and give us what we want, we will not fear Him in the way He deserves to be feared. The Lord God Almighty is far greater than that, and the fear of the Lord begins when we see Him in His majesty and power.
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
In Job 42:1–2) The Lord shows Job (and us) a glimpse of His power.
Then Job answered the Lord and said:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
God assures Job of this truth in Job 38—41 when He describes His absolute sovereignty over everything.
When the reality of God’s true nature has caused us to fall in worship, we are then in the right position to gain wisdom.
Wisdom is merely seeing life from God’s perspective and responding accordingly. Wisdom is a priority, and we are told to seek it above all else in Proverbs 3:13 and 16:16.
Proverbs 3:13 and 16:16
Proverbs is known as the wisdom book, and the entire second chapter gives a detailed explanation of the value of gaining wisdom.
Until our hearts are in a right relationship with God, we cannot have the “wisdom that comes from heaven” that James wrote about in James 3:17.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Without the fear of the Lord, we may gain knowledge of earthly things and make some practical choices for this life, but we are missing the one ingredient that defines a wise person. In the parable of the rich farmer, the farmer had a so-called “wise” and practical plan for his profits, but God said to him, “You fool!” because the farmer’s plans were made with no thought of God and eternity (Luke 12:16–21).
The Rich Farmer
Luke 12:16-21
Without the fear of the Lord, we make final decisions based on our faulty human understanding. Solomon understood this and said as much in Proverbs 3:5–6.
When we incorporate the fear of the Lord into every moment of our lives,
We live with the knowledge that the Creator of the universe is intimately involved in our every move. We make decisions based on His approval. He sees, knows, and evaluates all our choices, and we will answer to Him.
The Psalmist declared in
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
Our respect for God’s majesty causes us to honor Him according to (Psalm 29:2). Our gratitude for His mercy causes us to serve Him well (Psalm 2:11; 107:15). And the understanding that our God of love is also a God of wrath inspires enough fear to help us stay away from evil (Romans 1:18; Proverbs 8:13).
Sin is foolish; righteousness is wise. When we live righteously, we are on the path to wisdom, and everyone in our lives benefits (Proverbs 13:20; 19:8).
Honor Him Psalm 29:2; Serve Him Psalm 2:11; 107:15; Refrain from Evil Romans 1:18; Proverbs 8:13;
Sin & Righteousness, the Fool and the Wise Proverbs 13:20; 19:8
Solomon knew all of these things, yet we find him ending his reign on a depressing note because of sin. Solomon knew better, he on some level, could see things from God’s perspective, and still, he couldn’t keep it together. His flesh won out, leaving him and those he loved in a place of power and wealth but still wearied and depressed.
King David, the world’s most valiant king, couldn’t be brave enough to remain pure on his own accord.And now King Solomon, the wisest man in the world, saw it coming and still seemed powerless to prevent it from happening.
Why?
Because the best of intentions cannot help man save himself, and the best person you know is not capable of being righteous separate from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Old Testament is a series of Kings, Prophets, Judges, and Heroes that start on a mission and fall hard to reveal their inability to maintain holiness on their own.
Listen: the point is that only redemption through the Son of God can prepare you for the Calling of God the Father and the implantation of the Holy Spirit in your life.
After a series of embarrassing and foolish decisions, Solomon is recorded as saying, “vanity, vanity, it is all vanity.”
Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 1 surmise what it is to be about man’s business and not God’s. There is no eternal value to be about humanity’s wisdom and not the wisdom of the divine.
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.
(PAUSE)
“Vanity, Vanity, tis all vanity!”
Solomon is referred to as the Preacher, I suppose, because he was proclaiming this with some enthusiasm. The enthusiasm he may have had, but these do not sound like the words of a man pleased with His life before God. The words are weighed down by lamenting.
He goes on to say
I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.
I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”
And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
I suppose this is the part where some would tell you not to think with your head but to think with your heart.
That is not only an awful cliche; it is downright absurd!
So, I will tell you no such thing because Jerimiah 17:9 tells us:
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
Instead, what I tell you is that the only way you will live your life wisely is to live it for God in complete surrender.
In closing, as we prepare to pray one last time during this sermon, I ask you to remember these truths.
There is no peace without wisdom that shows you God’s perspective.There is no wisdom apart from the Fear of the Lord. Another way to say it: there is no peace apart from a surrendering reverence towards the Lord our God. Likewise, we cannot maintain the wisdom or the fearful reverence of the Lord, apart from being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit! Not apart from His indwelling.
As we prepare to go this morning, let us pray together for our hearts to be continually transformed, or as Paul wrote in “Ephesians 4:23” and “Romans 12:2.”
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
In a moment, I will pray; once I am done, Heather will lead us in a song of worship. During that time, we will have a time of prayer and invitation where you may come up for prayer if you are lost, sick, or have the heart to pray for someone suffering from one of those. As we sing, consider the words of James the brother of Jesus in James 5:14-16; coming forward as the Spirit of God leads, in reverence and thanksgiving
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Let us Pray!
/////////////////////////////////Scripture References//////////////////////////////////
Primary Passage:
1 Kings 3:1-15
Supporting Text:
Proverbs 9:10; Psalm 111:10;
Proverbs 1:7; 14:27; 15:33;
Deuteronomy 2:25; Joshua 24:14; Isaiah 6:5;
Matthew 12:36; Psalm 139:2; Jeremiah 12:3;
Revelation 1-2
Revelation 11:17; Hosea 12:5; Isaiah 6:1-5
Proverbs 1:7
Romans 1:21-22
Revelation 4:11
Job 42:1-2
Proverbs 3:13; 16:16
James 3:17
Luke 12:16-21
Psalm 139:1-4
Psalm 29:2; Psalm 2:11; 107:15; Romans 1:18; Proverbs 8:13
Proverbs 13:20; 19:8
Ecclesiastes 1:18
Jeremiah 17:9
Ephesians 4:23; Romans 12:2
James 5:14-16 .