10th Sunday after Pentecost (Series A)
July 24, 2005
A Discerning Heart
1 Kings 3:5-12
In 1989 we followed the harrowing and exciting exploits of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in the popular movie: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Near the end of the movie AIndiana@ B named after the family dog B meets the ancient Knight Templar who guards the AHoly Grail@ ... which legend says is the cup Christ drank out of at the Last Supper. On a table, there=s many cups to choose from ... cups made out of gold, silver, platinum, wood, and terra cotta. The Knight says, AChoose wisely, for as the real grail brings eternal life ... the false grail brings death.@ (LEGEND!!!)
The lovely Elsa Schneider chooses the gold cup ... the obvious cup of royalty. ATruly the cup of a king,@ she says, as she gives the cup to Indy=s antagonist, Walter Donovan. After dipping it in a basin of water and drinking from it, Donovan explodes! And the Templar says? AHe chose poorly!@
Indy chooses the wooden cup. AThe cup of a Galilean carpenter,@ he says. He, too, dips it into the basin of water and drinks from it. Jones survives. And the Templar says? AHe chose wisely.@
In today=s Old Testament Reading, a 20 year-old recently crowned King Solomon chose wisely. And what a choice he was given!
To seek God=s divine blessing on his reign as king, Solomon sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings to the Lord on the great bronze altar at the tabernacle, then located at Gibeon, 6 miles NW of Jerusalem. But, something was missing! The ark of the covenant B and the gracious presence of the Lord associated with the ark B wasn=t in the tabernacle. Many years earlier, King David (Solomon=s father) had moved the ark to a tent on the spot in Jerusalem where the great Temple was to be built. [2 Samuel 6]
No problem for God. The Lord provided His presence to Solomon directly, by revealing Himself to Solomon in a dream the night after he made the sacrifices.
Solomon was seeking God=s blessing and God=s help. The Lord obliged Solomon, What shall I give you? [1 Kings 3:5] This is no genie arising from a golden lamp that=s been rubbed, offering the king 3 wishes! This is the God of all creation ... opening His infinite storehouse of blessings to Solomon!
Citing God=s gracious goodness to his deceased father, King David ... and acknowledging his own youthful inadequacy to carry out the overwhelming responsibilities of being Israel=s king ... Solomon humbly prayed in faith: 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? [1 Kings 3:9].
More than great wealth ... More than international respect ... More than any other thing, Solomon yearned for the wisdom and discernment necessary to govern God=s people properly, and to distinguish between right and wrong. A wise and discerning heart ... that=s what the king prayed for!
It=s important to understand properly what King Solomon was really asking for, especially if we, today, are to learn from the example of his prayer. Listen to Rev. Clint Poppe, senior pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, as he explains the meaning of the Hebrew text:
(In a spirit of true humility) Solomon asks God for a hearing heart, a listening heart. This is much more than a request for the proverbial wisdom Ato listen twice as much as we speak because we have two ears and only one mouth.@ This is a godly listening, to listen first to God and His Word and then to act. Solomon=s request is for spiritual discernment. He acknowledges that true wisdom and understanding come from God alone. If he is to faithfully govern the people of God, Solomon must always look to God for guidance and strength. Then and only then will he be a wise and faithful king. (1)
This is the wisdom and discernment that characterizes the life of God=s people. It=s not a wisdom and discernment any of us come by naturally. In our sinfulness we=re born with a complete lack of godly wisdom and discernment. No matter how hard we study ... no matter how many books we read ... no matter how many people we talk to and listen to ... WE SIMPLY CANNOT CULTIVATE AND POSSESS ON OUR OWN THE WISDOM AND DISCERNMENT KING SOLOMON PRAYED FOR ... THE WISDOM AND DISCERNMENT THAT WE, LIKE HIM, SO DESPERATELY NEED. As Martin Luther wrote: Everyone should learn to acknowledge his weakness humbly, and to ask God for wisdom and counsel. (2)
There=s not an area of your life or mine that can do without the wise and discerning heart only God can give. Your personal battles with the sinful flesh need it. Your relationships with other people need it. Daily challenges with your work ... with your disappointments ... with your loneliness ... with your grief ... with your pain and suffering ... with your temptations ... with your faith walk: ALL REQUIRE A WISE AND DISCERNING HEART THAT LISTENS CAREFULLY TO GOD=S WORD ... AND SEEKS FAITHFULLY TO DO HIS WILL.
Only in Jesus Christ B who Himself has become for us wisdom from God, [1 Corinthians 1:30] B can you and I possess the same spiritual wisdom and discernment God graciously gave to King Solomon. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we poor sinners have received God=s forgiveness of our sins and new life in the Spirit of Christ. Like Solomon, we too, as lost and condemned sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ, desire to carry out the high calling of our lives with wise and discerning hearts. This only happens as we listen and live in humble and faithful submission to God=s divine Word ... and His holy will.
God was pleased by Solomon=s prayer of faith. God not only granted his request, but also gave him an abundance of those things Solomon chose not to ask for: riches, honor, a long life. Perhaps Jesus had King Solomon and his prayer in mind when, centuries later, He taught His disciples: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (these things you worry so much about) shall be added unto you, [Matthew 6:33]. When we seek in faith the higher blessings of God=s kingdom ... God promises that the lesser blessings of this life will follow.
At the end of their quest for the grail, Jones asks his father, AWhat did you find?@ Sean Connery answers, AEnlightenment@ ... meaning greater human wisdom and a deeper awareness of the divine within himself ... both part of the cultic, New Age religious experience. Both self-serving pursuits.
At the end of his dream, King Solomon awakened to the realization that God had granted his request. What did he do? He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord=s covenant, and offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God, [1 Kings 3:15]. God=s gift to Solomon wasn=t for his own personal enlightenment ... but rather, for his humble and faithful service to God and His people.
A wise and discerning heart. A Alistening@ heart. A heart that deeply loves Christ. A heart that clings to Him alone for forgiveness and salvation. A heart that seeks in all things to live according to His will and His Word. A heart that clearly and truly discerns right from wrong ... good from evil ... light from darkness ... obedience from rebellion ... the way of faith from the way of good works.
Dear friends ... in His Son, Jesus Christ, God graciously invites you and me: Ask whatever you want Me to give you, [1 Kings 3:5]. And Jesus promises: Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you, [John 16:23]. May we in faith, like King Solomon before us, seek first the higher things of God=s kingdom and His righteousness. For in this is truly the reflection of a wise and discerning heart. God grant it for Jesus= sake. AMEN.
Lamb of God, we fall before Thee, humbly trusting in Thy Cross.
That alone be all our glory. All things else are only dross.
Jesus gives us true repentance by His Spirit sent from heav=n;
Whispers this transporting sentence, ASon, thy sins are all forgiv=n.@
Faith he grants us to believe it, grateful hearts His love to prize;
Want we wisdom? He must give it, hearing ears and seeing eyes.
All our prayers and all our praises, rightly offered in His name B
He that dictates them is Jesus; He that answers is the same. (3)
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NOTES
(1) Clint K. Poppe, AA Discerning Heart,@ in Concordia Pulpit Resources, v. 12, pt. 3, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2002, p. 34.
(2) Jeroslav Pelikan, ed. Luther=s Works, v. 5, Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 26-30, St. Louis: CPH, 1968, p. 122.
(3) ALamb of God, We Fall Before Thee,@ The Lutheran Hymnal, #358, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.