Elevate - The Story Pt 16 - The Wisdom of Solomon

The sermon discusses the story of King Solomon and his wisdom. Solomon built the first temple and was known for his riches and wisdom in leading the nation. He asked God for wisdom, and God granted him supernatural abilities. However, as Solomon pursued happiness, he realized that the only thing worth living for is God. The sermon also addresses the disorienting feeling of motion sickness and relates it to the confusion and disorientation we may feel when our expectations don't match reality. It explores the question of why bad things happen to good people and the difficulty in reconciling that. Don't let perseverance finish its work so that you may become mature and complete, not lacking anything. It's not really the trial that we are celebrating, it's the process that we're celebrating. It's the persevering through the trial that we're celebrating, because it's that perseverance that brings about the transformation, that brings about the character change, that brings about that closeness with our God. Welcome to Elevate, from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama, with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it builds your faith, and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message, and welcome to Elevate. We are continuing in our sermon series, The Story, and we see ultimately that the Bible is the story of Jesus, and we have made our way all the way up through King David so far, and we're going to move on, and we're going to talk about Solomon today. Now when David passed, when David died, his son, Solomon, took over as the king of Israel, and he did some amazing things. Solomon was an amazing king. He built the very first temple. Before the temple was built, there was a tabernacle that was constructed like a tent, right? And that's where the presence of God dwelled. Well, they wanted to give God a house. Solomon wanted, David wanted to build God a big house, but God said, I don't want you to build it, I want Solomon to build it. And Solomon built this great big temple, and Solomon had untold riches, and some say that he is the richest person to have ever been alive. But he wasn't known just for building the temple, or just for having riches. He was known because of his wisdom, and he had wisdom to lead the nation, and resolving disputes between people. And so we can see when Solomon first became king, look at what his prayer to God here in 1 Kings, we're going to begin in chapter 3, beginning in verse 7. He says this. This is Solomon. Now, Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child, and I do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So 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? The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, so God said to him, Since you have asked for this, and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies, but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for, both wealth and honor, so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life. Of all the things that Solomon could have asked God for, he asked for wisdom. I mean, he showed that he already had a measure of wisdom to even ask that question. But God gave him supernatural abilities to be able to discern right and wrong and administer justice to the nation of Israel. And the Bible records a lot of the wisdom that Solomon wanted to pass on to the nations and to the following generations. We read in the book of Proverbs, much of Proverbs is written by King Solomon. Song of Solomon is a book that he wrote and it's filled with understanding and things that you can gain for practical living. And he wrote a book called Ecclesiastes. Now Ecclesiastes is a very interesting book because Solomon, King Solomon, had everything in the world. And I would encourage you to go through and read in First Kings and read some of the amazing things that Solomon did as he exercised wisdom in leading a nation and how kings and queens from all over the place would come just to meet with Solomon and to hear his wisdom and to see all of the riches that he had. I mean, he was a famous king and he was an amazing guy and he had everything in the world. He was deprived of nothing and as he was writing the book of Ecclesiastes, we see that during his lifetime he began to stray a little bit from his initial relationship with God and he began to pursue everything that he could in order to be happy. He was just trying to find happiness and none of it really worked for him. And so at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon wisely concludes that the only thing worth living for is God. The only thing worth living for is God. And so we're going to look at a passage in the book of Ecclesiastes today coming from the man that God gave supernatural wisdom to who said that there's never been anyone like you. There will never be anyone like you ever again. And here are some of the wisdom that Solomon shares. We're looking in Ecclesiastes chapter 8 beginning in verse 14 and it says this. There is something else meaningless that occurs on the earth. The righteous who get what the wicked deserve and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too I say is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life because there's nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad that joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth, people getting no sleep day or night, then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun despite all their efforts to search it out. No one can discover its meaning, even if the wise claim they know they cannot really comprehend it. So how many of you here have ever experienced the phenomenon known as motion sickness? You ever been there? All right. When we go on cruises, it's dramamine day and night, day and night. Dramamine, right? I've had it. It's very unpleasant feeling and it goes by many names. People call it travel sickness or air sickness or car sickness or seasickness. And there's even such a thing as space sickness. That's right. Astronauts get motion sickness as well when they're flying around space. And motion sickness happens when our eyes get focused on something that is not moving while the vehicle that we're riding in is moving. And so for me, it'll happen a lot when I'm trying to read a book or look at my phone when I'm a passenger in a car. Because my eyes are focused on my book or my phone and the book is not moving, but the car is. So what's happening is my inner ear senses the motion of the vehicle, but there's a conflict between what my inner ear is sensing as motion and what my eyes are sensing, which is a still book or a phone or a Kindle or something. So when we get motion sickness, it happens because there's a conflict. It's a conflict between reality, the fact that we're actually moving and which is what our inner ear is experiencing. And then this false impression that we're standing still because our eyes perceive that we're still. So this conflict between what our ear is sensing is motion and what our eyes is perceiving as stillness creates this disoriented, dizzy and nauseated feeling. Now as we travel through this world, we can get disoriented because we might perceive things to be true that are not true. And if there arises a conflict between our perception of what is true or we feel ought to be true, and then the reality of what is when there's a conflict, it often confuses us and makes us disoriented in this life. And so we're left with this and often confusing set of circumstances because our expected outcomes don't match the reality that we're experiencing and we get some spiritual motion sickness. It shows up in our culture all the time. If you've ever been asked this question, why do bad things happen to good people? There's this disorienting confusion that happens because people are trying to figure out why people that do good are experiencing some of the worst things that life has to give sometimes. And oftentimes this question is asked by somebody who is trying to disprove the existence of a benevolent God. If God was good, then why would He allow bad things to happen to good people? But this question is often asked by even believers that are struggling to understand why God would allow suffering in the earth and in our lives, especially among His children. But it is a valid question, right? Sometimes we've been there. I've thought that question sometimes. Why do bad things happen to good people? A lot of good things happen to bad people. It's a valid question because most of us know people that work hard, take risks, use wisdom, but they can't seem to get ahead in life, or at least they can't seem to achieve the measure of success according to the amount of work that they put in. We know people that have smoked and drank their entire life, but yet somehow they end up living into their nineties. But then you find somebody that is fit, that takes care of their body, that is health conscious, they eat well, and they lose their life to a sudden illness, and they're taken before their time. And it's confusing. Parents who do everything right in raising their children, teaching them the principles of godly living, and leading them to the living water of Jesus Christ, but for some reason in the end, they stray away from their faith and we don't know if they're ever going to come back. We can do everything right, everything that we're supposed to do, and yet sometimes bad things happen. And it's hard to reconcile that in our brains, especially when it's us that's going through it. Because we're conditioned as humans to expect just and fair consequences for our actions. Hard work equals success, wise money management equals wealth, a healthy diet and exercise regimen equals a long life. If I give love and kindness, I ought to receive love and kindness back. But that's not often the reality. All the things that we expect, the fairness that we expect in life, is not always our reality and it can leave us somewhat disoriented and confused at times, getting spiritual motion sickness. Does anybody understand what I'm talking about? And so we have to understand something. Life is not always fair. Let's go back to some of Solomon's observations in what we read back there in Ecclesiastes chapter 8. In verse 14, he says, the righteous who get what the wicked deserve and the wicked get what the righteous deserve. In verse 17, he says, no one can comprehend what goes on under the sun despite all their efforts to search it out. No one can discover its meaning, even if the wise claim they know they cannot really comprehend it. The wicked are getting what the righteous deserve and the righteous are getting what the wicked deserve and good luck figuring it all out because you can't understand it. So what he's saying here, look in verse 15, he says, so I commend the enjoyment of life because there's nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of their life that God has given them under the sun. I'm saying, listen, life isn't fair. Good luck trying to figure it out. Just do your best to enjoy the life that God has given you. Now listen, just because we're Christians, just because we believe in an all powerful God does not mean that we are immune to the difficulties of life and it doesn't mean that everything will work out as we thought it should. Because life just is not fair. What does that mean? Fair means in accordance with the rules or standards legitimate. And when we think of this word, we, the words that often come to mind are things like just equitable, equal, impartial, unbiased balance, right? Those are the words that come to mind when we hear the word fair and in a culture like this one, we expect to be treated fairly, right? We learned it as kids. If my sister got a piece of candy, then I should get a piece of candy. If grandpa gave my brother $5, certainly he ought to give me $5 too. If I get to play Super Mario Brothers for 15 minutes, then then my brother ought to get the place. Super Mario Brothers for 15 minutes, right? These are the rules as we know them. And so this expectation of fairness, that's why if anyone that's taken a college course and you have an essay and they're graded by what's called a rubric, has anyone ever heard of that? A rubric. It's a set of guidelines that are in rules for how to grade that paper. This way, all the papers are graded fairly and not arbitrarily. These are the rules that we go by to make sure that it's fair the way that a paper is graded. So what are the rules that God has established for us, for what we should expect in life? What are the rules? So I'm going to lay out a few of these rules for you, okay? And let me warn you this, fair treatment in life, as we understand it, is not one of them. It's just not. But look at this, God's promises are true. One of the things that we can bank on, the rubric of life, is that God's promises are true. Second Corinthians 1 verse 20 says, For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ. And so through Him the Amen is spoken by us to the glory of God. God's promises are true. Now, we may not realize them how we hoped or expected to realize them. They may not, God's promises may not be revealed or come to us in the time frame that we expect. But know this, every promise that God has made is true. That's a rule, that's something you can bank on in life. Another thing, another rule that we can bank on is this, God's ways are higher than ours. There's another way to say that, God's smarter than you. Isaiah 55 9 says, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Listen, we cannot allow ourselves to become so arrogant that we presume to understand exactly how God works or how He should work. And we do this. You know, we're facing something in our life and then all of a sudden something else happens and we go, Oh, this must have happened like this because God is doing this. And then so because God did this in order to effect that, I should probably make this. And then it doesn't work out. We're going, God, what? What the heck? God's ways are higher than our ways. He's smarter than us. And we can't presume to try to figure out exactly how God is working in this world, corporately and in our lives individually. So God's promises are true and God's ways are higher than ours. Two of the rules that we could bank on, things that we know, this is how life is created for us. But there's another third thing that is important and that's this, God is sovereign. Sovereign means that there is no one above Him calling the shots. He is not subject to anyone else's rule in His life. He is sovereign. Exodus 33, 19 says this, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So when we think in terms of fairness and what we should expect, all we can really expect is for God to be God. For His Word to be true and for Him to act outside of our own understanding. You can bank on that. And really, none of this should blindside us in light of the continuous warnings throughout Scripture that life isn't fair, that bad things will happen. John 16, 33 says, I've told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I've overcome the world. 1 Peter 4, 12, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. This is the reality of life, guys. It's not fair. I promise you I'm not trying to depress you. I'm not trying to send you home depressed today. There is redemption in this message. But that's the reality of life. It's not fair. But if that single truth is all that you can perceive in life, if all that you believe is that you will suffer in this world, that nothing is ever going to go right for you, then you end up becoming a cynic, a fatalist, and you'll never succeed in your faith and in your walk with the Lord. If we only have this understanding that life isn't fair, it will rob us of our joy. So how do we get that joy? Solomon said, enjoy life. That's what I recommend, the way he said it here. Let me read it again for you. He said, There's nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of their life that God has given them under the sun. So how do we live with victorious faith in a sometimes unfair, unjust, confusing world? Well, the answer is found for us in Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2. Listen to what this says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. And we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. How do we walk through this unfair, chaotic, confusing, disorienting world with joy? By fixing our eyes on Jesus. We learn that motion sickness is caused by fixing our eyes on something that is moving, but appears to be stationary. We think it looks like it's standing still, but it's actually moving, and so it creates motion sickness. Fixing our eyes on the wrong thing is surely going to get us spiritually seasick. So I ask you, where are your eyes fixed? On what are your eyes fixed? Is it your career, or your job, or your success, or your marriage, or your family, or your children, or your financial security, or your desires, or your toys, and your luxuries, or even your church and the leaders in your church? Where are your eyes fixed? Because all of these things may appear solid and firm, unmoving. But it's a trick. These things are all like shifting sands. They appear stable and unmoving, but they really are not. And so the remedy for motion sickness, if you've ever been motion sick, it's to look out the front windshield of the car ahead of you and fix your eyes on the horizon in the direction that you are traveling. That's where we are to fix our eyes, forward on the unmoving horizon in the direction that we are traveling. So in order to overcome the false perception of standing still, you have to fix your eyes on something that actually is standing still. See where I'm going with this. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unmoving, unchanging. He is a rock. And when life is giving us chaotic, unfair, crazy results in our life, and everything seems to be shifting and moving and we can't count on anything, the way to get away from all of this disorientation and this spiritual motion sickness is to fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the only thing that is standing still. The only thing that is standing still. We're going to face unfair circumstances. We're going to have done everything right and still not get the desired outcome. And in those moments, we have a choice. We can focus on the problem, grasping at straws, trying to make sense of all of it, or we can focus on Jesus. We put our eyes on Jesus, we keep doing the right thing, even when it doesn't seem to be working at the moment, because if we try to make sense of it and fit it into a nice little theological box, we're going to end up disoriented with spiritual motion sickness. But look what it says in Isaiah 50 verse 7, Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. Flint is a very, very hard rock. They made knives out of flint. They strike flint in order to make fire. And the implication here is that your gaze upon the Lord becomes hard, fixed, hard like a rock, never moving. Fix your eyes on Jesus and don't look at all the other things that you think should be stable, that you think should be standing still, and that never change, but actually end up disappointing you every time. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Life isn't always fair, but we know that we can overcome that by fixing our eyes on Jesus. But one other thing I want to kind of get over to you this morning is that your victory through whatever it is that you're facing in your life, whatever thing is giving you spiritual motion sickness, whatever it is that is giving you a different outcome than you were hoping or expecting, the victory through all of that is not found in your outcome and in your solution. It's found in the process that God is taking you through. The victory is not won when the desired outcome is achieved. That's a very narrow view of what victory is. The victory is won long before any outcome is realized. And here's what I mean. We all know the story of Joseph, right? The guy with the coat of many colors, he starts his life as the favored son with a promise that he will be the ruler. Then he finds himself kidnapped, sold, accused, imprisoned and forgotten. And then finally, after 16 years, he is elevated to second in command of Egypt. He kept his eyes on the promise of God. And these are the words that he penned in Genesis 50, verse 20. He said, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. It's hard to imagine that somehow the things that we face are actually being used for our good. But yet, that's what the Bible promises us. All things work together for our good. And as we fix our eyes on Jesus, when His purposes and His plans start coming into focus in our lives, something begins to happen. We begin to change. God's transforming power begins to work in our lives and we find that the trial that we are facing and the fire that we find ourselves in is actually purifying us. Your victory is in the process. And here's the truth. We don't look at Joseph's life and celebrate his rulership in Egypt. That's not what we celebrate with Joseph. What we celebrate is his journey. When we tell the story of Joseph, we start with Joseph being sold into slavery. And we go through this journey of Joseph and when we see the strength and the way that he held on to his God and we say, I want to be like that, we celebrate Joseph's journey and his unwavering integrity and faithfulness through his trial. We don't look at Abraham and celebrate the nation of Israel. When we look at Abraham, we celebrate his journey. The faith that he had to walk in, the tests that God put him through, the struggles that he faced, his trust in God no matter what he faced. And then we read things like James 1, beginning in verse 2, and it says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces what? Perseverance. So let perseverance finish its work, so that you may become mature and complete, not lacking anything. It's not really the trial that we are celebrating, it's the process that we're celebrating. It's the persevering through the trial that we're celebrating, because it's that perseverance that brings about the transformation, that brings about the character change, that brings about that closeness with our God. That's where it comes. So we can't look at the seemingly unfair situations of life and take on this victim, poor me kind of mentality, get mad at God and complain to everybody, throw a pity party for ourselves. Just get in there and embrace that process. Set your face on Christ and keep moving forward. Keep doing the right thing. Stay focused on the truth. Stay focused on the promises that are in God's Word and keep your eyes on Jesus. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website AuthenticLife.tv for more information about Authentic Life Church, to find out what we have going on or to make a donation. You can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DeQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening and God bless you.