Surprised by Christmas!
What Do You Want now?
1 Kings 3:3-15

† Jesus, Son, and Savior  †

May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ show you how to worship God…in His Presence!

• Surprise!

Just curious – how many of you have heard this story about Solomon before, that instead of asking God for money or fame, or victory in battle, he asked God for wisdom to govern and lead his people?

How many of you knew that God said because He asked this, God would not only grant Solomon the wisdom he would need, but would give him all the other stuff, too?

Curious – I wonder how many of us would follow Solomon’s example – not really wanting to have the understanding about right and wrong that was the basis of wisdom, but secretly thinking that is the shortcut to getting “all the other stuff?”

You all mean I am the one that ever failed at using reverse psychology on God?

As we look at this passage, there is a reason we find it here, on the last Sunday of Christmas…

It isn’t because of the wisdom or the other gifts that Solomon received.

It is because this passage is really about worship, about praising God in a meaningful way… as we recognize we dwell, as Israel did, as the shepherds, as the apostles would, in the presence of God.

• Heterodox Worship – Solomon’s Sin

In the Old Reading, we see something a little confusing. Solomon leaves Jerusalem, his father’s city and heads to Gibeon and there slaughters 1000 head of cattle in a huge worship service.

The reason it is confusing is that the Ark of the Covenant was back in Jerusalem. Remember, David brought it there, dancing in his underwear? David wanted to build a temple around it, and God said no. Of the Ark, God told Moses this, for every generation to know,

²¹  Place inside the Ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you. Then put the atonement cover on top of the Ark. ²²  I will meet with you there and talk to you from above the atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover over the Ark of the Covenant. From there I will give you my commands for the people of Israel. Exodus 25:21-22 (NLT2)

So God promised to meet the people of God at the ark, which is in Jerusalem, and outlined a very clear way of worship – worship that was a response to what God had done….

And instead of that, Solomon leads them off to Gibeon, to worship at a empty tabernacle, the tent formerly used to house the Ark.

God didn’t promise to meet them there though, he promised to meet them at the Ark. So despite the show of 1000 cows being slaughtered to provide burnt offerings, the worship was useless – because of disobedience, because they didn’t seek God, they just sought what was familiar.

Basically, they were worshipping God in vain. They were there, they might have been using His name, but the used God’s name in vain, because they weren’t where His promises were, and they didn’t know the Lord was there… with them.

We do this too….

We sometimes come to church, and we aren’t looking for God. We have something else in mind, we have some agenda, or something is distracting us.  It might be stuff we think is good, family stuff or church stuff…

But if we aren’t where God is… if we don’t recognize His presence here… we are just like Solomon…in the wrong place, doing what we do… and missing what we need.

And we are caught in our sin….

• God moves us to Worship Him… in His presence.

It tells us something about the character of God that He didn’t fry Solomon right there or allow one of Israel’s many enemies to do so.

Instead, God comes to Solomon, and works with Him.

Just as He does with you and me….

Whaddya want Solomon?  I’ll give you whatever you want….

In the process, Solomon looks at his dad, and what he treasured the most – the love of God. He saw the reaction of David to that love – how David became a holy man, who struggled to depend on God when things were upside down and backward… and God loved him, still.

Of everything David had – this is what mattered the most!

Solomon could think of nothing better than to ask God for that kind of relationship – which was why he asked for the wisdom to govern hem, that they would know the difference between what is righteous, and what is evil. For that only comes through knowing God. That is what changed David.

One pastor wrote about this relationship this way,

prayer is a process of interior transformation, a conversation initiated by God and leading, if we consent, to divine union. One’s way of seeing reality changes in this process. A restructuring of consciousness takes place which empowers one to perceive, relate and respond with increasing sensitivity to the divine presence in, through, and beyond everything that exists^[1]

Solomon sees the relationship his father had with God as the priority for his people, there is nothing else more important for them, or for him.

The way to see this is simple.

What does Solomon do after his time talking to God is over?

Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all his officials to a great banquet

His reaction, when given the wisdom of God to lead his people to what was good and not evil was simple – he took them where God promised to be there for them, when the burnt offering would be acceptable, where the peace offering would celebrated – Israel would now experience a peace with God that would last Solomon’s life.

Solomon would have his ups and downs, but he would build the temple – a place for the people of God to meet God, to be cleansed and lifted up by God. Until Jesus came..

Today’s it’s not about location – where we gather is where God is, where He feeds us, because He offered the sacrifice.

But there still is a feast – for His people to celebrate that they dwell in peace, for they dwell in the presence of God….

You dwell in the presence of God…

As we go through this next year, let’s pray that we realize this all the more.

^[1] Keating, Thomas. 2009. The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings. Edited by S. Stephanie Iachetta. New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury.