This sermon is based on 1 Kings 3:5-15 for Kerr Presbyterian Church by Rev. KJ Norris.
Return to the At Home Worship Kit for August 16, 2020.
Let us Pray: O Lord our God, your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Give us grace to receive your truth in faith and love, that we may be obedient to your will and live always for your glory; through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
If you could have anything, anything at all, what would it be?
Or, let me put it another way. Fill in the blank:
I would be happy if only I had ________.
I would be happy if only I had ________.
I would be happy if only I had ________.
- A bigger house.
- A million dollars.
- Won the lottery.
- A spouse.
- Married a different person.
I would be happy if only I could ______.
- retire early/ not have to work.
- could live at the beach.
- could go back and do that one thing over again.
I would be happy if only I was _______.
- healthy.
- famous.
- better looking.
What is it that would make you happy? What is it that you long for? What do you wish had turned out differently?
As we come near to the end of summer, we are also nearing the end of our sermon series on our favorite stories of the Bible. We’ve been going back and studying a few of our favorite characters to see how God interacts with them and to learn from the choices they make. Sometimes they make terrible choices and we learn what not to do. Sometimes they show us the way forward. Either way, retelling these stories reminds us of the majesty of God and gives us hope, remembering how God enters into this world.
Today we are back in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew Scriptures, looking back about 1,000 years before the time of Jesus. We are turning to 1 Kings 3.
If you brought your Bibles, please turn with me there. As the book name suggests, we are in the time of the Kings. This story takes place after the death of King David. One of his sons has finally been fully established as king over the land and God comes to him asking a question. Let’s listen:
1 Kings 3:5
I know I only read one verse, but just pause for a second and marvel. God comes and basically asks him: What do you want? No limits. Anything. He could have anything. What would you ask for?
Here’s Solomon’s answer:
1 Kings 3:6-15
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
There is an ancient story told in many cultures around the world of a poor peasant boy who finds a magical genie in a bottle. The genie offers to grant the boy 3 wishes.
The boy never having had any power of his own first wishes to have great power over a vast land. And so his wish is granted.
Soon people come from every part of the land asking the powerful young ruler for things. He sees their needs, how they long for food and shelter and clean water and has compassion for them.
So the young man makes a second wish. He turns to the genie and wishes for vast riches far beyond any other kingdom and his wish is granted.
Soon other kingdoms hear of the gold and precious metals within his kingdom and they bring war upon the land. The man has land and wealth, but he has made not allies, has no true friends for all know that he has not earned what he has, it has only come by magic. So the man fears for his life as the enemy comes and he uses his final wish to ask for immortality.
He flees the area and eventually finds love and joy in a simple life, not far from where he grew up. But in time his wife dies. His children die. His grandchildren die. And he can never find true rest for his soul. He is bound to waunder this world alone.
The moral of the story is: be careful what you wish for.
If you could have anything, anything at all, what would it be?
At the beginning of King Solomon’s reign, God comes to him in a dream and asks him just that. “Ask what I should give you,” God says.
Apparently the sky is the limit. Anything Solomon can ask for.
Now, I hesitate to say that because I do think that we in American culture sometimes think of God as a genie in a bottle. Sometimes we think our prayers are like that. We need something so we go and we get down on our knees or we light a candle or enter a certain building, whatever our ritual of prayer is, we do that thing and then we ask for something.
And honestly, it’s a lot like the ritual of finding a bottle and rubbing it and then expecting that a genie will just give us what we ask for.
The good news of the Gospel is, God doesn’t work that way. And it really is good news. Quite frankly, most of us are absolutely terrible about asking for things. I know I am at least. If a genie showed up on my doorway someday I would definitely make a mess out of my own life, just like the boy in the ancient story which has been told and retold for generations.
Most of us don’t really know what to ask for. In fact, Scripture teaches that since the fall, our hearts long for what we should not have. We desire things that are bad for us. We seek after what the Scripture traditionally called idols. We worship things instead of worshipping the one true God.
I’ll speak for myself and say that in these days I find myself more and more saying, “If only…” If only I could…. and then I seek after something that I think could make me happy or more satisfied. Or at least more peaceful in these days where I feel alone and frustrated. Stuck. Like nothing ever moves forward.
We tend to think that if only God would fix that one thing or give us that one thing, everything would be better. And so we go to God in prayer, treating God much like we expect God to behave as a genie in a bottle.
But the Good News is, God is not one who can be controlled or told what to do. Prayer is not about getting gifts from santa clause or receiving candy which tastes sweet at first but sours in the stomach after.
Instead, prayer is an invitation to relationship. And those rituals—the kneeling down, the lighting of the candle, the finding of a space where we can set time apart to be with God—those rituals are a gift which God has shown us so that we can clear our minds and listen to the still small voice of God. For God is not like a genie who give gifts we will someday wish we could return. Rather, God is a person who will walk with us, all of our days, knowing us, loving us, strengthening us along the journey.
Solomon knows that.
Look with me at his response when God comes to him (Verse 6).
Solomon has watched his father David. A man who had many, many flaws. But who loved God. And who was loved by God. Solomon understands that the way of prayer is not about seeking a thing—an idol really—a person, a material blessing, a healing, a gift. But instead, prayer is about a journey of love. It’s about coming to know the steadfast love of God. It’s about walking in faithfulness. It’s about having a heart turned towards God which will extend not only in your own life, but on to the next generation as well.
And out of that understanding, Solomon makes a request (VERSE 9).
Solomon wants an understanding mind—not one time, but this is said in a form in Hebrew which suggests it is ongoing. A continuously-always-figuring-it-out mind.
A mind that is able to discern between good and evil. Solomon knows, since the fall, we humans are drawn to what is evil, we long for what is bad for us. We can only tell good from evil by staying in relationship with God, by seeking God’s way above our way.
And notice, Solomon doesn’t ask this for himself. He asks it so that he might be able to serve others. He wants to do right by the community. He wants to lead well. For he knows that God is the creator of all. “Your great people,” Solomon says. God alone is the one true ruler of all.
So, what about us?
Now, I know what you are thinking: Pastor KJ, God has not come to me in a dream and said, ask for anything.
But here’s the amazing truth. If we turn to the New Testament, Jesus says something similar: In the sermon on the mount, Jesus turned to all who were gathered there and told them, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.”
And after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit falls upon believers and they are able to do powerful things in Jesus’ name. Why? Because the Spirit of God lives within them.
And the Spirit of God lives within us, too. That very same God who went to Solomon in a dream came to earth in the person of Jesus and works within us in the power of Holy Spirit.
The same question that was proposed to Solomon in his dream and to Jesus’ followers on the sermon on the mount is given to us today.
God invites us into relationship, saying to us, “Ask what I should give you.”
What are we really longing for? Will we seek the wisdom of God?