This sermon was preached at Camp San Joaquin in the Sequoia National Forest, CA on Sunday, July 27th, 2014.
Part of life, and growing
up, is learning to distinguish between our needs and our wants. What
we want isn't always what's best for us. What we need isn't always
the most enjoyable thing. Our relationships with our parents, our
friends, our selves, and God influence the hierarchy of desires and
needs within us. Which relationships we hold in highest esteem will
determine which wants we hold of greatest value. If I care the most
about the relationship I have with my parents, my desires will be for
things that please them. Mostly, that's, a good education, a
high-paying job, and a stable lifestyle. If I care most about the
relationship I have with my friends, my desires will be for things
that please them. These can vary depending on the crowds you're
involved in. Sometimes it can be dangerous like excessive drinking
and vandalism. Other times it can be good, like the desire to be kind
to everyone and going on adventures together. If the relationship I
care most about is my relationship with my self, I will want things
like fame and fortune as my greatest desires. All of these first
three relationships—family, friends, and self—can be influences
for good or bad in our lives, but don't answer our deepest needs.
Today, I want us to think about the one relationship that can
properly mold our desires and needs to be one and the same. The
relationship we have with God, if it is the greatest influence on our
lives, will give us desires that not only satisfy us externally and
physically, but internally and spiritually.
If I were to ask you
right now, “what is your greatest desire,” what would it be?
Health? Love? Family? Money? Would it be for somebody else? Would it
be for the whole world? God asked Solomon that very question. Our
Scripture today says, “At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a
dream by night, and God said, 'Ask what I shall give you.'”
Solomon's response to God depended on his relationship with God. It
depended on him putting his relationship with God as higher than
anything else. It was greater than his possessions, than his kingdom,
and even greater than himself. In fact, Solomon shows that all of his
other relationships are dependent on his relationship with God.
First, Solomon talks
about his relationship with his father, David. Solomon says to God,
“You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my
father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in
righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have
kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son
to sit on his throne this day.”
Solomon sees that his
father was a man who walked “in faithfulness, in righteousness, and
in uprightness of heart toward God.” He recognizes his father's
greatest virtue: that he had a relationship with God. For the parents
here, remember that how you lead your life will have an influence on
your children. The way you show your own values and desires will
influences the desires of your children. If parents show a love of
money, the children will value money. If a parent shows a love for
certain sports teams, the children will value those sports teams. If
a parent shows a love for their spouse, the children will value
marital love. If the parents show a love for God, the children will
value a relationship with God. Solomon was influenced by his father's
relationship with God. So he desired a relationship with God.
Solomon then moves on to
himself. He continues his prayer, “And now, O LORD my God, you have
made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but
a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.”
Solomon recognizes his
place with God. He knows that God is in charge of his life and God
has established his throne. He calls himself a little child,
recognizing who he is in the sight of God. He has no experience of
ruling a kingdom and knows that he needs guidance to do so. His
relationship with God is what determines his understanding of
himself. He understands that God is the authority in his life. Only
by God's guidance can he find the right path.
This path is the path not
only for himself, but for those around him. He prays to God, “And
your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a
great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give
your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people
that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern
this your great people?”
His relationship with
others, and how he acts toward them, is governed by his relationship
with God. He knows that his people and the rule he has over them, are
a gift from God. His relationship with them is dependent on his
relationship with God. If he does not follow God's guidance, he will
not be able to act rightly among the people.
We are not rulers of
kingdoms, but the relationships we have are defined by God in the
very same way as Solomon. All life comes from God. All true love
comes from God. If we don't recognize God in our relationships, that
is the first step to ruin. Our values are skewed when we begin to put
our relationships with others above our relationship with God. If God
is not at the center of our relationships, then he will also not be
at the center of our desires.
Because Solomon defined
his relationships with his father, with himself, and with his people
by his relationship with God, he answered God's question rightly. God
told Solomon, “Ask what I shall give you.” And after recognizing
God's sovereignty in his relationships, Solomon replied, “Give your
servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I
may discern between good and evil.”
Understanding our needs
comes from understanding our relationship with God. What
relationships we invest ourselves in will inevitably shape our
desires. Only by investing in the relationship that fulfills our
needs can we conform our needs with our desires. In Psalm 119, the
psalmist shows himself to be an example of this. He prays to God, “my
eyes have failed from watching for your salvation and for your
righteous promise.” Though he claims, “I have done what is just
and right,” he pleads to God, “turn to me in mercy, as you always
do to those who love your name.”
Following God and
understanding our relationship with God means knowing our need for
his mercy and love. The psalmist writes, “Deal with your servant
according to your loving-kindness, and teach me your statutes.” The
psalmist keeps his eyes to God and everything else in his life
follows from this. Defining our desires by our relationship with God
reveals his love and mercy in our lives. The more we focus on him,
the more we see our need for him and his faithfulness in fulfilling
his righteous promise to us.
We see in Paul's letter
to the Romans that when we realize our needs, that is when we will
receive grace. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness,” he writes,
“for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit
intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
If we don't recognize our
weakness, our needs will not be met. God is there to provide for us.
He is there to lead us. He is there to strengthen us. But if we don't
turn to him, he won't force us to follow him. By acknowledging our
need for God, we open ourselves up to his provision. When we try to
do things on our own, we are not open to receiving what he has to
offer. But the moment we realize we can't answer our real needs on
our own, he is there to provide.
Solomon knew what was
right to ask because he knew what was truly valuable. He also knew
that only God could give him what he needed. He could not govern
God's people without God giving him the wisdom to do so. He could not
lead without God providing the way.
Like Solomon, each of us
needs to recognize God at the center of all of our relationships. We
need to see that he is the only one who can fill our real needs. “For
what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his
soul?” Solomon did not ask for long life or riches or the lives of
his enemies. He knows that the proper thing to ask of God is the
wisdom to live right by his teachings.
As Paul writes in his
epistle, “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not
withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with
him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against
God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ
Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of
God, who indeed intercedes for us.”
We have an advocate. God
gives every good gift. His ultimate gift is redemption in his Son,
Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our redemption. By
giving his Son, he shows that he will give everything else we need.
If we turn to him, we know that we are justified in death. If we
trust in him, we know that we will receive the promise of new life.
When the world perishes, we can trust that what we have in God will
last to eternity. By faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit seals us
as his own forever. No other relationship in life can provide this
salvation for us. No other person or thing can fulfill our needs. No
worldly treasure will last for an eternity.
By abiding in God and in
his love through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit we can
attain the forgiveness for sins and the salvation of our souls. If we
trust in him above our own power, our needs will be met. If we place
our relationship with him above our relationships with all others, he
will turn to us in mercy. If we love God more than we love the world,
we will enter into his eternal kingdom.
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