I wonder what motivates us as individuals and as a congregation? I remember doing a Kiwi Host course about twenty years ago and I found out that eight percent of the population wake up every morning motivated by the one thought on their minds and that thought is “whose life can I make miserable today?”
From that day on I recalled this every time I meet an ‘eight percenter’ and we’ve all meet them. But the interesting thing is they found it really hard to make me miserable once I knew of their existence.
As a Salvation Army Corps, as a congregation what motivates us? Is it the words of scripture, some great quote by William Booth, last week’s sermon, our Vision Statement? Being the perfect congregation I guess we would say all these things. Talking about the perfect congregation, I found this little poem about the perfect church.
The perfect church
I think that I shall never see
A Church that’s all it ought to be:
A Church whose members never stray
Beyond the Strait and Narrow Way:
A Church that has no empty pews,
Whose Pastor never has the blues,
A Church whose Deacons always deak,
And none is proud, and all are meek:
Where gossips never peddle lies,
Or make complaints or criticize;
Where all are always sweet and kind,
And all to other’s faults are blind.
Such perfect Churches there may be,
But none of them are known to me.
But still, we’ll work, and pray and plan,
To make our own the best we can. Selected.
(Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times. Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc. Number 672.)
What motives us as a church, I find it interesting that the author of that wee poem mentioned “we’ll work and pray and plan, to make ours the best we can.” Well at present we have painters here working to repair earthquake damage, the gardens have had a bit of a trim after the snow storm during the week, there has been a tree and some tree branches removed, is this all stuff that makes the church the best it can be? (pause).
If we look at what the church is; it’s not about the building and the gardens the church is you!
The church is not property - it is people. Knock all this down and people will still congregate, the church will still get together as a congregation. As people I want to ask today what motivates your Christian walk. As individuals, as the church I want to ask, what is it you ask God for?
We had a reading earlier from 1 Kings 3:1-15 where we had this depiction of a youngish King Solomon, who on receiving the throne of Israel after having it passed onto him by his Father King David, meeting God in a dream. In this dream, God puts a proposal to Solomon telling Solomon to ask for, “whatever you want me to give you.”
Now Solomon was no mug, we have already seen that he had just made a political allegiance with the King of Egypt and married the Pharaoh’s daughter and this would not be the last King’s daughter that Solomon would marry. It was prudent back in the day for a king to form family alliances with friendly countries, and as the Egyptians were outside the boarders of Canaan this was an alliance that was acceptable. This princess would have had to have been obligated from the time of her marriage to take on the same beliefs as Solomon under Hebrew law. But even with the clues that Solomon had as a king he knew he still lacked, he still needed more than what he had. We see that he had some imperfections as he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
If you’re wondering what that is about; God had established his worship in one place at the time of King David, and this is why David was referred to “as a man after God’s own heart”, because he worshiped the One True God in One place, at the tabernacle.
The Israelites had taken over the pagan alters in high places and though God had been forbidden it, they worshiped God in those places. So King Solomon who showed his love for God by walking in the statues of his father King David went to Gibeon. His reason for going to Gibeon was that the tabernacle was there at this time. He offered those thousand sacrifices to God on the alter and that night in a dream God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
This would show God what motivated Solomon, more money, fame, countries, jewels, beautiful women, immense power, a navy, armies, the obedience of his subjects, what was it this young king desired above all things?
The interesting thing with his reply to God is that he firstly points out what God did for his Father David, in that he showed him great kindness because David was faithful to God and had an upright heart. He then points out that God continued to be faithful to David by giving him a son to sit upon his throne.
The interesting thing about that is that David had more than one son; in fact he had nineteen sons not counting those born of his concubines. Solomon was the one who became king. The difference between Solomon and the other sons was that Solomon was that he was straight up with God; he was a no bull kind of a bloke.
So God asks him to ask for anything. “What do I want?” His answer, “Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
These are the words of a man who knows he is lacking something; you could say it’s the words of the self-confessed clueless.
But what is it he’s asking for? (pause) God sees it and tells him. “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have you asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you ask. I will give you a wise and discerning heart.
Solomon was motivated by his service as king by being a wise and just ruler. He wanted what was best for the people of God’s nation, he wanted wisdom.
So what is wisdom?
Well the dictionary tells us wisdom is, “Enlightened understanding of what is true or right, usually acquired through long experience, as distinguished from a partial or specialized knowledge.”
Here are a couple of quotes about wisdom.
[Immanuel Kent] makes this comparison with science “Science is organised knowledge, wisdom is organised life!”
[Martin Fisher] makes this point “Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.”
What Solomon did was to ask for God to give him what he truly lacked and what he needed to rule as king. The Reverent Victor Yap states that “Solomon considered himself God’s servant, a vessel for God’s use on earth.”
Why did he ask what he asked? So that he could better serve God and serve the people of God, what is it you would ask for if you were in this place?
Just to go completely off the subject; I had my hair cut on Friday, I know that it was getting a bit long and shaggy, so off down to the barbers. I go to the one in the block of shops on the corner of Hoon Hay and Lincoln roads. Now as you do at the barbers we got down to solving the worlds issues, and I just mentioned to the bloke as he was cutting my hair that he must by now be an expert on earthquakes and he said he had gained a bit of knowledge on the matter since September 2010 and he was also pretty knowledgeable on the subject of insurance companies and how they pay out on quake damage. I was impressed and mentioned that he should be right for conversation then for the next few years with all this knowledge.
But as I was paying for the trim, he said something that wasn’t just knowledge about insurance but was something truly wise, it was “that in this world we only have three score and ten years so we are best to do the best we can to get on with one another and help one another out because if we’re not getting on we are wasting those years, he also mentioned how silly some were making others’ lives hard and not helping those they could.”
Looking at the world and they state of places like Syria, Libya, Iran and huge tracts of Africa and the whole world really we see people struggling against oppression. In our own society we see poverty, there was a report published on the 29th of May this year, talking about poverty here in New Zealand. This is from it; “In one case, a young boy without a winter jersey was told to steal one from the lost property [at school] by his mum because she couldn't afford to buy one, and another principal caught a child scavenging through rubbish bins for food.” This stuff is happening in our own back yard.
Now I’m not going to say that we all have an instant fix for these things, other than people realizing that at some stage their knees will bow and their tongues confess that Jesus is Lord. As one who’s done it and knows the difference it makes, I figure that the sooner people do this in their existence, the better their lives and their community will be.
Back to King Solomon, what Solomon realised was that the Kingdom he ruled here in earth was an extension of God’s kingdom. That he needed the wisdom that only God could give for it to be ruled anywhere near how it should be ruled. He gained that wisdom and while he did a few things that today we would consider oppressive his Kingdom flourished while he lived within God’s statutes and under his guidance. We do know however that he made a few mistakes later in life.
In our lives, do we ask God for his guidance, for his gift good gifts?
It says in James letter that “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5.
We meet people every day who struggle with life, with the way they are living it. Who claim not to be in control, people who are need of wisdom…this is something God will provide, and then it needs to be lived in. God will give us the ability to discern between what is right and what is wrong. We only need to ask.
I sometimes wonder in our asking of God whether we ask to small, “God can I please have a car park outside the shop, it’s raining”, “God can I sit beside the cute girl on the school bus”, “God if you help me through this exam I will try harder next term”. “God stop me from saying the wrong thing.” Do we live us lives centred on what is good for us? Or do we centre our thinking on what it is that God would require of us, as His servants?
Personally I think God would have us ask the big prayers, “How do I do my part in bringing your Kingdom come so that it will be here on earth as it is in heaven?” “How do I love my neighbour as myself?” “What is it God that you require of me, so that I can live it out, so that my life might have true meaning , might have eternal consequences for your people, for your names sake?” God How do I live for you and serve all people?
The thing with young Solomon is that he was initially wise enough to know that he was stupid enough to need the wisdom that only God could give him? What motivates your thinking?
Luciano Pavarotti recalls this from his early life.
“When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,” “He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, ‘Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’
“‘Luciano,’ my father replied, ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’
“I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book—whatever we choose—we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.” 2
Are we kingdom focused or self-focused?
God would have us focused on what brings good things to his people, justice to his people and right ways of living.
When you ask God for something are you asking out of what you can do for others and God, or out of selfish motives…
Do you live a life of wisdom or its opposite?
Do you live for the kingdom of God or for self? Big choices what motivates you?
2. http://bible.org/illustration/luciano-pavarotti
