1/7/24 1 Kings 3:3-12 “The Key to Your Wisdom”

04 Jan 1/7/24 1 Kings 3:3-12 “The Key to Your Wisdom”

1/7/24  1 Kings 3:3-12       “The Key to Your Wisdom”

Today is the day we observe Epiphany Sunday.  This is the Sunday where we celebrate the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ to the world.  This is the Sunday where we celebrate the 3 wise men or 3 kings coming to visit the baby Jesus.  These were the first non-Jewish visitors that we know.  As far as a time line on this event, it could have been any time after the birth, up to two years.  I could present a bunch of scholarly findings on this but I don’t think it is that important.  What is important is that these very wise men paid tribute to a baby, a baby with gold, incense and myrrh.  These were not cheap items.  These wise men knew something great was going to happen through this child.  Before we get to the sermon today, I would like to say that the world today needs another epiphany of the Lord.  We need to get Jesus back in everything we do.  We need Him in our government, in our schools, in our malls and most of all in our churches.  There are too many denominations that call themselves Christian but their practices are anything but Christian.  There is not a place in the world, and this includes Mecca and downtown India, that doesn’t need Jesus leading the way.  We need to learn to epiphanize to the world and when these non-believers challenge us, we need to stand up for Jesus and Jesus only.  With that said about my feelings on modern epiphany, we can move back to some real wisdom shown by these wise men.  God loves wisdom and He will give it if you ask.  Let’s go even farther back and take a look at how Solomon became the wisest man in the world.

You all know that I advocate prayer in everything.  I know that the only bad prayer is the prayer that you don’t pray.  I once read about a man who prayed for everything and that included getting a shiny new Corvette.  It was a life-long dream for this man so he went to source of all things.  He knew that God was not in the business of wish granting.  He knew that God didn’t give us things to fulfill our self-indulgent fantasies.  He knew all these things and yet he still prayed.  The reason He prayed for this is that by going to God, he might find out ways that would please God that might eventually lead to a Corvette.  Just from personal experience, he probably found that after he gets to that point, he would not want the fancy car anymore.

Anyway, before we start we should have a little understanding of who Solomon was.  He was the son of King David and Bathsheba.  Technically speaking, he wasn’t even in line to become king.  There was dissension between his brothers.  Bathsheba helps Solomon get King David’s favor so he becomes king.

If you remember this story of Bathsheba, you will know that David murdered her husband Uriah.  Now there is trouble with who will be the next king and there will be much more trouble in the future for this family.  The point I would like to make here is that you can’t just murder someone and there will be no consequences.  I understand that David repented and turned back to God and that is a very good thing.  However, there would still be consequences in our world because of this terrible act.

We need to remember this when we murder someone.  You may be thinking to yourselves about now that, “Really, Pastor John, there is no one here who is going to murder anyone.”  I think you might be wrong.  You murder someone’s reputation every time you gossip about them.  Every time you do something that makes someone else look bad or feel bad, you are murdering that person.  Now you can be just like David and repent and that is good.  However, there will still be consequences to your actions.  They may range from hurt feelings to lost friends to time in jail.  God will forgive you but there are still consequences.

Anyway, Solomon has not really been raised as the heir apparent to the throne.  I doubt that being king was high on his priorities as he grew up.  Even if he had studied to be king, he was still a young man with no experience.  I mean, I thought I was in over my head when I first became a pastor.  And I was right but with God, I made it through.  And that would be nothing compared to becoming a king to a powerful nation and having no experience.

So we have this inexperienced young man coming to power in Israel.  I think there are several misconceptions about Solomon because he went through contradictory phases in his life.  At this point in our story, Solomon is a very faithful follower of the Lord.  He had watched his dad closely and followed in his spiritual footsteps.  As Solomon gets older, he will fall farther and farther away from God.  It is then that we that he will do many things are totally against God.  But at this early point, he is faithful.

So basically, Solomon has this dream about God and God tells him that he can have anything he asks for.  Now Solomon could have asked for a Corvette like our man in the opening.  God could have provided it even if it hadn’t been invented yet because we have to remember that God can do anything.  But this would have been quite frivolous.  Instead Solomon asks for wisdom.  He asks for understanding when he is dealing with his subjects.  He asks for the wisdom to be able to discern good from evil.  He could have asked for all the riches in the world but he only asks for wisdom.

God is much more likely to grant you something like wisdom which will further the Kingdom than he will give you a Corvette or a new house.  Ed Sasnett came up with some good guidelines for what God will and will not do.  He said that when you ask God to take away a bad habit, He will likely say no but he will help you give it up.   When you ask for patience God will say no because patience is a by-product of tribulations; it isn’t granted, it is learned.  If you ask that God give you happiness he will say, “No, but I will give you blessings; happiness is up to you.”  If you ask God to spare you of pain, He will say, “No.  Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.”  When you ask to make your spirit grow, God will say, “No, you must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful.  You ask God to help you to love others as much as God loves you.  God will say, “Ahh, finally you have the idea.”

So when you ask God for things, you will probably have to do some work to get them.  That is why I said that the man wanting a Corvette may change his mind by the time he gets to that point in life.  Solomon asks for wisdom and he gets it because he has been faithful.  He loves the Lord.  He gets it because he is in the position to use it and it will do a lot of good to further the Kingdom.  And most of all, he gets it because he has asked for it.

I think we have a lot of misunderstandings about prayer.  It isn’t a wish list.  It isn’t a personal best list.  It isn’t a weight loss fad.  God answers prayer mainly because it will in some way further His Kingdom here on earth.  Non-believers think that their prayers don’t get answered and they are probably right.  But sometimes God will even answer the non-believer if it furthers the Kingdom.  However, God will always answer the believer but he might just answer in the ways I just described.  I think we should be praising the Lord that He allows us to be blest through our growth.

So the first thing we need to do when we want wisdom from God is to ask.  There comes a time when you have to swallow your Norwegian or German or whatever national pride and ask Jesus for whatever you want.  Chances are God will not operate in any fashion unless you first ask.  I know we are self-sufficient but God is the reason for this.  Go to Him and go often.

The next thing to do when asking for something like wisdom is to expect that you will get wisdom or whatever you are asking.  I think this kind of goes hand in hand with knowing the Lord on a personal basis.  When you know and love the Lord like Solomon did, then you expect the Lord to answer prayers.  We don’t hear about Solomon vacillating on decisions that required wisdom.  He went after them as if he had wisdom.  He called on God and he expected God to help him.

One of the problems that some Christians have is that they don’t expect things when they pray.  Often times we are just going through the motions of prayer.  We are talking to the most powerful being that there has ever been.  God makes Superman seem like an ant.  So, if you are in conversation with this powerful being, why don’t you expect results?  They may not be what you want but you should expect some sort of result.

The reason you don’t expect results is because you really don’t believe with your whole heart.  I don’t know how many people I have talked with who will tell me that the Bible really doesn’t mean this because modern science says it can’t happen.  Or that something isn’t right in the Bible because it isn’t logical.  We want to believe anything other than what is in the Bible because everyone else believes in other things.  If our nation would just start to read our Bibles, we would see such an upsurge of faith that it would start a revival.  And if we started a revival, you would see many of the problems of this country, this world disappear.  When you pray expect results!  They will come and they may be much, much more than what you expected.  And I praise the Lord for that!

In this New Year, I would like everyone to get one of those Bibles that you read in a year.  I have plugged this before but I don’t think that many people took me up on this.  The way to a better life, the way to changes that will improve your family, the way to revival is through these pages.  Read these and expect changes for the good.  Also, get a notebook and start a prayer journal.  Then you will see just how faithful Jesus is to you.

So, you have to ask, you have to expect and then you need to live in wisdom.  Solomon would live like he was a man of wisdom.  As a matter of fact he would be known as the wisest king that Israel ever had.  He would build the Temple.  He would make allies everywhere.  He would do things that were unheard of at that time.  He was a wise king until he fell away from God but we aren’t going there today.  Just remember that there are consequences for falling away from God even if you are the king of a powerful nation.

This is how you are to live also.  You are to take the bull by the horns in situations.  Sometimes you may need to think and call on the wisdom of others.  I’m an example of this when I first came out to my first two churches.  The folks were expecting someone to come in and just take over being the pastor.  The trouble was that they had someone who had never been a pastor before and it showed.  It took some time and it took many conversations with other pastors but I was finally able to grab onto the authority of Jesus.  I sought wisdom from many just to fill the role of pastor.  The first year I was there just about everything that I did was the first time I had done them.  I made mistakes and grew wiser from them.  Today, I still seek the advice of others in many things that I do.  I know that I cannot do things by myself and I seek council first from Jesus and then from others.  Please note that you always go to Jesus first, and then others.

This is living in wisdom.  No matter what your occupation, practice the wisdom that the job demands.  Live wisely even in your personal time by reading the Bible, coming to church and praying.  Most people can become smarter by reading books but you only get wisdom by living life and the best way to live life is with and through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the way to and of wisdom.

The bottom line to all of this is to pray.  When you are done praying, then pray some more.  I would like to leave you with this from and an unknown, unnamed soldier from the terrible days of the American Civil war.  He left behind this most eloquent testimony. He said, “I asked for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I had asked for, but everything that I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered; I am, among all men, most richly blessed.”  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.