The Realities of Human Kingship

 Solomon: The Realities of Human Kingship

Purpose - To Think about the forces in our lives that pull us away from our commitment to the Lord and how to deal with them

Scripture: 1 Kings 11: 1-13

“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon (ah- mun), Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth (ash- tu-reth), the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done. On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh (kee-mosh), the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods. The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.””

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Our scripture today we find King Solomon violating God’s commands for a king.  God prohibited these actions because He knew how they would hurt the nation both politically and spiritually.  Solomon forgot God and allowed idolatrous influences to enter his court through his foreign wives, thus accelerating the spiritual corruption of the nation.  God gave Solomon instructions to not marry foreign wives.  Solomon had a total of 1000 wives.  We are told he loved them all.  Can you imagine 1000 wives wanting their own way.  Solomon faced pressure from them and at first he resisted, maintaining his faith.  Then he began to tolerate a more widespread practice of idolatry and even did idolatrous worship himself.  Solomon didn’t turn away from God all at once or in a brief moment.  His ultimate spiritual coldness began with what he might have assumed was a justifiable departure from God’s laws.  This sin encouraged the waning of his commitment to God and his laws.  Over time that half hearted commitment petered out into no commitment at all and resulted in Solomon’s downfall.  It all happened one sin at a time.  Every sin is a step in turning away from God.  It isn’t the sins we know about but the sins we excuse that cause us the greatest trouble.  We must never let a sin go unchallenged because an unchallenged sin spreads like a deadly cancer.  Don’t excuse sin but confess your sin.  Solomon’s powerful and glorious kingdom could have been blessed for all time.  Instead it was approaching its end.  Solomon had God’s promises, guidance, and answer to prayer, yet he allowed sin to remain all around him.  It corrupted him until he was no longer interested in God.  In order to build our lives on God’s foundation we must remain faithful to God to the end.  God must be in control of our lives from start to finish. 

Originally the book of Kings was one book.  During the second century before Christ it was divided into two books.  The books of kings describe recurring disasters due to disobeying God.

God’s Kingdom is much more widespread today than when Solomon was king.  We gentiles are now included through the work of Jesus Christ.  Yet still much remains the same today.  Solomon fell prey and began worshiping  other gods and many do today.  God’s first commandment that you shall have no other gods before me.  This still applies today.  Those who worship God through the Son and the Holy Spirit will be part of god’s future Kingdom, whereas the same cannot be proclaimed for those who worship other gods.  This is the contemporary message for Christians today.  

Solomon did not wake up one day and all of the sudden for no particular reason, he stopped walking with God.  He became distracted.  Our purpose statement said to think about the forces in our lives that pull us away from our commitment to the Lord and how to deal with them.  Distractions!!!!

If we aren’t careful we will allow the things we enjoy to become idols.  They can be very harmful because we don’t even realize they are turning us away from God’s love.  Solomon’s distractions were his obsessions.  Not all of the things in life are bad, but even the best things in life can be bad when we allow them to take over first place in our lives.  The downfall begins with distraction which leads to disobedience.  Disobedience leads to division which is a separation from God. 

I googled modern day idols and found a list of ten:  Identity, Money/Material things, Jobs/Status, Physical Appearance, Entertainment, Sex, Comfort, Phones/Technology, Family/Children, Influence/Fame.  So how do we identify modern day idols in our lives?  Idol worship is still present and active, but we just don’t recognize them for what they are.  The list I just read isn’t a list of things to avoid or a list we should use to beat ourselves down or ammo to shoot at others.  This is a list of things that can take the place of God in our lives.  When a good thing becomes an ultimate thing, ultimately it becomes a destructive thing in our lives.  That is idolatry, idol worship.  We need to prayerfully evaluate our lives and make sure nothing has become more important than God.  Use this list as a guide to help you identify the idols in your life: Where do I spend my time; where do I spend my money, where do I get my joy, what is always on my mind?

I read this in my devotional today.   It fits right in with our purpose statement: 

Run to Jesus, not Social Media.
Run to Jesus, not money seeking.
Run to Jesus, not status seeking.
Run to Jesus, not cheap sex.
Run to Jesus, not drugs.
Run to Jesus, not alcohol.

Run to God because He has healing, acceptance, security, identity and purpose in His presence. 

In the midst of so many distractions and deceitful desires, it is important to remain sensitive to the Spirit of God. It can be so easy to miss out on the beauty of total satisfaction that only comes from our loving Heavenly Father. We have all felt drained due to the results of vain pursuits in our lives. Celebrating about things God hates and Jesus, the things God loves. We are all guilty of it. But I can promise you, if you commit yourself to Jesus, and practicing God's presence today, you will be so blessed for it. 

 God is never far from you. His presence is with you 

always, in all ways. He longs to make himself known. Simply rest in the truth of his nearness and allow him to reveal himself to you today.

Prayer 

Father,

You are never far from us.  You are present with us always, and in all ways.  Simply help us rest in the truth of your nearness and help us allow you to reveal yourself to us today.  No one or anything deserves our praise but you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen!