December 9, 2010

2 Chronicles 9

Where is the glory of God as we look at Solomon’s life? Certainly we see the fulfillment of the promises of God. The fact that God always fulfills His promises declares His glory. He promised Solomon wisdom. This passage shows that God fulfilled the promise. He promised Solomon riches. This passage shows that God fulfilled it. He promised Solomon a long life. This passage shows that God fulfilled that promise. But what do I do with this description of Solomon:

And when the queen of Sheba had seen:

1. the wisdom of Solomon,

2. the house that he had built,

3. the food on his table,

4. the seating of his servants,

5. the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers and their apparel,

6. and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord,

there was no more spirit in her.

The description reads like an outline of an episode for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. On the one hand this is the blessing of the Lord. On the other hand, it sounds like loving the world, concerning which we are told, “All that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” Yet we are to told that the wisdom and riches were gifts of God to Solomon. There is some tension building here. I think we must remember these were not things that Solomon asked for. Originally, he did not ask for the things of the world. He asked only for provision to fulfill the task for which God had set him on the throne—to rule wisely. God graciously went beyond the request. He granted Solomon wisdom, riches and long life, all things the world desires. Solomon should have stuck with the basics even in the midst of abundance. The result was that he was seduced by his own lusts and led away. Was it wrong for him to have abundance? No it was not. God gave it to Him. Was it wrong for Him to pursue wisdom? No, it was not. God gave him the abilities. Was it wrong for him to have servants. No, it was not. God gave him the wealth. It provided those servants with a job.

In contrast Jesus came. He did not have wealth. He did not have a house built. He ate the table of others not his own table. He did not have servants, but served others. His disciples had simple clothing and lifestyle. His clothing was humility. His entryway to the house of the Lord was upon a donkey, not necessarily a glorious beast. Jesus told the generation of His day that the Queen of Sheba would rise up and witness against them because He was greater than Solomon and was present among them, and they would not receive Him. They too were seduced by the gifts that God had given them. Jesus came among us to do justice and provide righteousness. We are the recipients of God’s great gifts. Let us not be seduced by them, but let us use them to establish justice and spread righteousness. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Jude

Growing up I loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I remember eating a lot of them as snacks. Even now about once month I get a hankering for one. Usually sometime in the summer we would pick some wild sand plums, and Mom would turn them in to preserves. We would have plenty of preserves for peanut butter sandwiches for months to come. Why is it that you can cook fruit and put it in a jar, and it will stay fresh and tasty for months, but set it on a counter, and immediately it draws fruit flies and soon becomes too nasty to even think about eating? It is the process we call preserving. Sometimes when we speak of someone who looks two decades younger than they are, we say, "They are well preserved."

The first thing spoken of by Jude about our Lord is that He preserves those whom the Father calls and sanctifies. Hope I don't get served up on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh, wait a minute; I guess he meant something different. Preserved from what? Becoming a Christian does not mean that you automatically cease to sin. Sure His grace removes the judicial accusations against us. But Jesus is still working in us to remove the experiential part of sin in our lives.

Some would take the grace of our Lord and teach that we now don't have to bother with living a righteous life style because of grace. If we really have been called and sanctified by Him, Jesus works in our experience to preserve us from sin. When we are born again, we are like fresh fruit that is picked. We are totally new creations. But alas, we still live in a sin corrupting world; the old nature still wants to resurrect itself; and Satan and his cohorts still want to devour us. But Jesus will do what it takes to preserve us, if we cooperate with Him. Cooperation may involve some cooking--ouch! But He will preserve us. When we don't cooperate, we become like the fruit left on the counter. After a while, we become slimy and nasty in our experience. When we cooperate, He keeps us from stumbling; He presents us to the Father faultless; and there is a lot of Joy in that presentation. He really is wise in the way He works with us, and He is so powerful in His work.

Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John