"GET SMART"
1 Kings 3:1-15
I have a sister with a high IQ, high enough to have got her into Mensa. She can solve puzzles, work out the odd man out, tell you the next number in a certain sequence, but when it comes to plain old common sense, she was standing near the end of the line when it was given out.
Now, if you ask my wife about me, my IQ is not as high, but I was probably behind my sister in the common sense line up! Which goes to prove that common sense is not that common!
So all the more reason to be a "wise guy", or like the TV show, "Get Smart".
But how do you get smart? How do you get wisdom?
True wisdom comes from God:
"To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his." (Job 12:13)
"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." (Jas.1:5)
Now it’s all very well to get it but what can it do for you when you have it?
The Bible records the wisest man of all, how he got wisdom and what it did for him
It’s recorded in 1Kings 3:1-15
READ
Verses 1-3 record how Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh King of Egypt just so he could make a peace treaty. Now that might have been strategically smart, but it was not smart to have married outside of the Israelite nation, as he was to later find out.
Very often, the things we do today come back and bite us tomorrow. If you don’t service the car, eventually it will break down.
If you don’t do your homework or your assignments, eventually they are going to be late and your marks will suffer.
If you don’t get the shopping in, you will eventually run out of food. Common sense, yes? But we know common sense is not that common.
Here’s Solomon, doing what he thinks is a smart move, but we find later that his wives religions turned his head.
Wisdom doesn’t guarantee you won’t make mistakes.
In verse 6 Solomon says that his father, David was faithful. And yet we know David also as a murderer, an adulterer, but also a faithful king and a man after God’s own heart. That’s why David had a son and heir on the throne. David made mistakes, but he was still a man of God and he made the firm decision to be one.
Perhaps you’re just finishing school. You’ve almost finished the last of your exams, your whole life is ahead of you. The decisions you make today WILL affect you tomorrow, or the day after. If you get in with the wrong crowd, your behavior will suffer, so will your school work, but worse still, so will YOU as a person.
You might be "smart" in the sense that you can pass exams, but then again, so is my sister. What you need is discernment - the exercise of sound judgment.
Solomon, whilst being wise, didn’t always make sound decisions.
Wisdom helps us recognise our limitations (v7)
Solomon firstly acknowledges that it is God who has placed him where he is. Without God, he does not sit as king. Without Gods’ grace to his father David, there would be no throne anyway.
Solomon confesses that he is "only a child and doesn’t know how to rule."
That’s a far cry from those know-it-all types who can’t be taught anything.
That’s one of the advantages of wisdom; it gives you discernment regarding your own limitations.
Inexperience is nothing to be ashamed of. How can anyone be an instant expert? You aren’t born able to walk, or talk or feed yourself. In fact, there’s very little we can do without being taught.
Wisdom helps us recognise our place (v8)
Solomon counts himself as a servant (v8). There’s not many who call themselves that. But a king, a servant?
And again in verse 9, "So give your servant…"
Even though he was king of the nation, Solomon had enough perspective to be able to see that in the scheme of things he was, in reality, still a servant of God.
Solomon was just like his ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David - they were all called servants of the Lord. They were "doers", "tillers" of the ground. A servant does what he’s told, he has a master, he is not the master of his own destiny.
And if we have enough wisdom, we’ll also realise, like Solomon and his ancestors, that we also have a Master, Jesus Christ.
It’s He that leads and guides if only we would follow.
Solomon asks for a discerning heart - or literally - a hearing heart.
Does that sound funny? But when you hear with your heart you are tuned into what’s going on around you. So when you have a hearing heart to God, you want to tune into Him and hear what He has to say to you. You will be obedient to Him.
Wisdom helps us put others first (vv10-14)
When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, love your neighbour as yourself." (Mt.22:37-39)
In both of these statements, we are not the focal point. The main subjects are God and others. And that’s how we are to live, by putting God and others first.
God was pleased with Solomon because he had put the welfare of his people first. Solomon wanted their good and prosperity before any material benefit for himself, before any personal pursuit for power, before any desire for popularity.
That’s wisdom; recognising the need to place the welfare of others as highly important.
Wisdom allows us to see ourselves as part of the "big picture", of which we are only a tiny part. Like some cosmic jigsaw puzzle, we are only one small piece of it, small but important as well.
And God wants us to enjoy it, but He also wants us to be aware that the universe does NOT revolve around us.
Babies think it does, and plenty of young children also do, and some teenagers, and some older people, but it’s something we have to learn as we grow up, irrespective of our age.
An offshoot is that it helps stop us being so self absorbed. It helps to stop us being so introverted and focussing on self.
With our travelling to work by car, we leave early in the morning; we are away all day; we come home in the early evening; the electric garage door opens as we pull in the driveway; we get out the car in the garage and walk straight into the house through the side door!
We don’t even have to have anything to do with our neighbours!
Do you know your neighbours?
Have you been saying; "We must have them over for tea one day" and that’s been going on for a long time.
That’s when you discover that those "new" neighbours have now been there a couple of years!
I’m not advocating that we live in our neighbours homes, but there is a balance between good intentions of befriending them, and ignoring them all together.
"And who is my neighbour?" (Lk.10:29)
Wisdom helps us recognise that when we put others first we show the kindness God wants us to show others.
Wisdom is not a prescription for perfection (vv11-13)
Note what God says to Solomon;
"Since you…. I will do..) (vv11-12)
"I will give you…" (v13)
Just because we ask God for one thing, it does not necessarily mean we will automatically get either what we asked or some reward for our humbleness, or some beneficial gain that way. It’s not a "name it and claim it" lifestyle.
God knew what was in Solomon’s heart.
God knew just how dinkum Solomon was.
And he knows how dinkum we are with Him too.
When Jesus said that there were those who will cry "Lord, Lord" but My Father did not know them, He was pointing out that many profess belief, many profess following Christ, many profess to do this and that, but God knows the heart. God can see right down through us and He exposes our very weaknesses and says "I know all about you, but I still love you anyway."
We can verbalise all we like. We can turn up for church and tithe and do this and that, but our heart attitude is what God is looking at, and when THAT is right with Him, we are on the way to pleasing Him.
And as for reward, well that will be in Heaven. "For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." (2Cor.5:10) This is for believers only!
You might have a certain level of wisdom, but if you are not "born again", if you have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ for your salvation, then YOUR judgment comes because of rejection of God and all your wisdom cannot save you from Hell.
READ Rev.20:11-15
Wisdom helps bring us closer to God (v15)
Solomon was inspired by this revelation from God. He could have just sat back and enjoyed the benefits of it, but no, he went out and worshipped. He stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, outside the tabernacle facing toward the ark. His burnt offerings expressed the complete dedication of himself to God. The fellowship offerings symbolised the fellowship we can enjoy with God and others through God’s grace. The feast expressed the joy and gratitude to the members of his royal court.
Wisdom helped Solomon realise that when he worshipped God, God got the glory but Solomon was also built up and encouraged in his faith, as were others around him.
And that’s just like today.
Do not neglect or forsake or give up the assembling and meeting of each other (Heb.10:25) why? - because when you do, the verse tells us we cannot encourage one another properly. When we get together that’s what we are to do; in song, in prayer, through the Word of God, through worship.
Knowing that should bring us to church more often; not just to be here for the sake of turning up and filling the hall, but to help bring us closer to God.
CONCLUSION
Solomon was the wisest man ever. He had wisdom and discernment pouring out of him. But he still blew it. He still made mistakes. And so will we. As the bumper sticker says, "Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven."
You might be able to get into Mensa like my sister. That’s great.
But will you be getting into heaven as well, or will you slide through life on your knowledge and skills and miss the opportunity to enjoy eternal life?
My sister has accepted Jesus Christ into her life. That only happened just before we finished in Adelaide. Better late than never as they say. Now, she is not only smart, she’s also wise because she, like Solomon has realised that God, and only God is what is really important.
When all of this around us has gone, when we stand and face God, will he say to you, "Well done good and faithful servant"?
if not, then be a wise guy and get smart!
