Solomon: The Danger Of A Divided Heart

SOLOMON: A DIVIDED HEART

INTRO TO SPEAKER: Share the story of taking Caleb to PLBC in Surrey, BC to attend their music program. The tearful goodbye, the hope we’ve taught and trained him well. Prayer.

INTRO TO TOPIC: We recently started the middle part of The Story: Of Kings and Prophets.

• We looked at King Saul who was a bad king, and then David who was a good king.

• David didn’t always do things right and he even made several parenting mistakes.

KING DAVID’S REBELLIOUS SON ADONIJAH:

“King David was now very old, and no matter how many blankets covered him, he could not keep warm… About that time David’s son Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, began boasting, “I will make myself king.” So he provided himself with chariots and charioteers and recruited fifty men to run in front of him. Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, “Why are you doing that?”” (1 Kings 1:1,5-6a, NLT).

• You’ll read about David’s challenges with Adonijah in your reading this week.

• The challenge to us as parents: Discipline your children! Teach them right from wrong!

• But this morning, we’re going to look at another one of David’s sons: Solomon.

KING DAVID’S SON SOLOMON:

“1 As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: 2 “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. 3 Observe the requirements of the LORD your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go.” (1 Kings 2:1-3, NLT).

• Parents: Let’s encourage our children to be strong in the Lord and to serve Him!

• So after David’s death, Solomon becomes the third king of the nation of Israel.

THE BIG IDEA: Solomon’s life is an example for us, including both positive examples for us to follow, and one negative example for us to avoid.

1. SOLOMON ASKS FOR WISDOM:

“Solomon loved the LORD and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship.” (1 Kings 3:3).

• Notice here that Solomon loved God, and there is only one small record of compromise in Solomon’s life. He had a divided heart. We will come back to that again later.

“4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. 5 That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” (1 Kings 3:4-5).

• If God told you He would give you anything you asked for, what would you want?

“9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?” 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. 11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies— 12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! 14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:9-14).

• Solomon asked God for wisdom, and He gave it to Him! This is a great prayer to pray.

• “He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs.” (1 Kings 4:32).

• THE EXAMPLE OF TWO WOMEN AND THE BABY: Paraphrase 1 Kings 3:16-28

2. SOLOMON BUILDS THE TEMPLE:

“It was in midspring, in the month of Ziv, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, that he began to construct the Temple of the LORD.” (1 Kings 6:1).

• It took him seven years to build this temple for the Lord.

“Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes—the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites. They were to bring the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in the City of David, also known as Zion.” (1 Kings 8:1).

• A couple of weeks ago in a message on “Getting Ready for Revival” we read this: