Finding Wisdom Everywhere

Proverbs 1:20-33

Wisdom is found everywhere!

Over hill and dale, and all around the town:

A busy street.

A crowded intersection.

At the city gates.

Available to all …

Without price.

Without chage.

Wisdom cries out:

Be smart.

Be wise.

Don’t be a simpleton.

With a sharp reproof to scoffers …

Naysayers and complainers …

And to the fool who refuses to learn!

And a warning …

Ya’ better do it now, because there will come a crisis, and then it’ll be too late …

Simpletons and fools will suffer.

Scoffers will find no solace.

But the wise will be secure!

So we might well ask this morning, “What’s wisdom?”

There’s a ton of stuff out there that claims to be wisdom.

Talk radio and TV evangelists … pundits and politicians …

Far-right, far-left, and just plain far out …

How in the world do we sort it all out?

How do we decide?

What’s wisdom, and what’s foolishness?

The truth be told:

Not all that glitters is gold.

Not everything that purports to be wisdom is wise.

But sorting it out isn’t easy.

Proverbs reminds us:

Scoffers and fools are influential.

Their words carry weight.

Folks are taken in by the silver-tongued every day.

Paul the Apostle confronts this matter in 2 Corinthians … Paul speaks of the “super-apostle” – slick words and good shows impressed the Corinthians with a false gospel.

P.T. Barnum said it well: a sucker is born every minute.

And sometimes I get the feeling that American Christians can really be suckers … we fail to be discerning …

Too often the dross, and not the gold.

Too often the chaff, and not the wheat.

Sometimes I get the feeling that American Christianity lacks maturity – the capacity to think clearly and critically …

Dr. Harley Swiggum recognized this in the late fifties when he was called to Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin for adult education.

Bethel Lutheran was a huge congregation – full of influential people, good people, strong people, who loved the LORD.

But “they were defenseless,” said Swiggum.

“Defenseless against the slick talker and the good show. Like sheep, they could easily be led astray.”

Swiggum said, “There’s only one sure way to sort it all out – know the Bible … know it through and through, how it works and what it says, and to study it well for one’s entire life.”

And so Dr. Swiggum developed the Bethel Bible Series, to help folks get wisdom … so they can sort it all out; sit in a pew on Sunday morning and listen responsibly to the reading of Scripture and to the preacher – so they can say the prayers and sing the hymns knowingly, intelligently … and listen to a TV preacher or a History Channel special about finding Noah’s Ark, and be able discern the tawdry from the truth; the real from the unreal; fact from fiction.

I’ve been paying attention to sermons for a long time.

In seminary, I worked in the library – I reshelved books returned by students and pastors … I decided to look at what pastors were reading, and even as a first-year student, I was shocked and disturbed – so much of it was just plain schlock … syrupy spirituality, mediocre moralisms, simpleton ideas and shallow commitments.

The writer to the Hebrews touches upon this very thing – simpleton thinking, always a danger for God’s people – to settle for the simple rather than the sublime … to shy away from the big stuff and go for the small ideas …

In the image of Hebrews, too many Christians are still drinking infant’s milk instead of eating solid food.

Get on with it, says the writer to the Hebrews.

Quit laying the same foundation over and over again – there’s more to this Christian life than conversion and theological ideas.

I get the uneasy feeling that the larger a congregation grows, the more likely it is to feed on milk rather than solid food.

Folks want to hear about heaven, but they don’t want to hear about earth.

I get the uneasy feeling, because I’ve been there, that in the larger congregations, there’s tremendous pressure on pastors to offer milk, and even that watered down, rather than solid food.

This is a problem for God’s people.

In the second letter to Timothy, the apostle writes:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths [2 Timothy 4:1-4].

Maybe even in smaller congregations.

Maybe ever here at Covenant on the Corner.

Reluctance to tackle the big stuff and go for the small ideas.

Talk about Christ, but keep it spiritual.

Talk about faith, but keep it personal.

Talk about God, but keep it private.

The Southern Presbyterian Church formed in the heat of the days leading up to the Civil War – in the course of time, our Southern brothers and sisters developed an interesting doctrine: the spirituality of the church – that pastors should only preach spiritual things, whatever that really means?

In fact, what it means: leave me alone. Talk about heaven, but don’t talk about earth!

Can you see why the Southern Presbyterians developed such a doctrine?

Because their reality was so painful.

They lived in a world of slavery – life was good because life was bad for thousands of slaves working the in the hot cotton fields, lugging heavy bales onto paddle boats, and if you were a young slave girl, beckoned to the master’s bedroom.

It took the Southern Presbyterian Church a hundred years to work it all out … and to this very day, though North and South are now one church again, the doctrine of the spirituality of the church still holds sway in parts of our denomination, and for many conservatives, they want to keep it that way … preach doctrine, preach conversion, preach heaven, but don’t preach the world to us, don’t challenge the way we live, because life is good for us, and we don’t want to hear how bad it is for millions working in sweat shops around the world and just around the corner … the shirts we wear and the skirts we buy and the food we eat are cheap because someone, somewhere, pays the price with sweat, blood and tears.

Don’t preach the world to us preacher.

Just preach heaven.

How do we sort it all out?

The accurate from the inaccurate; the false from the true … the fabricated from the factual?

Here’s where Proverbs is helpful … more than helpful … vital …

To us who claim the name of Christ … we’re Christians … followers of the way …

It’s vital for us, don’t ya’ think, that we deal with truth?

Jesus said, I’m the way, the truth and the life …

Remember the courtroom scene when Jesus stands before Pilate?

Pilate asks: “What’s truth?” and Jesus remains silent.

Why? Why the silence?

Because truth IS Jesus.

Jesus standing there in front of Pilate.

Truth is not a maxim, a principle, or an idea.

Truth is flesh and blood, and love.

Truth takes up a cross.

Truth challenge the powers and the principalities.

Truth refuses to answer Pilate, because Pilate already has his own version of the truth – and for Pilate, it’s all about power and prestige … for Pilate, it’s the golden rule … those with all the gold make all the rules!

Get the picture?

Here’s Pilate, wearing expensive clothing, hair well-done, in a well-appointed palace, surrounded by Imperial Guards with shiny weapons, servants attending to Pilate’s every need, fine food and drink … the lap of luxury … and then Jesus, hands bound with tough leather straps, blood seeping through his tattered robe, hair tangled with spit and sweat … already half-way to death …

You’re standing there, in a shadowy corner – you’re a witness to this encounter – there you are, ten feet away: watching a Jewish prophet from Galilee hours away from death, and mighty Pilate in his palace … and you ask yourself, “Who’s telling the truth?”

How might you answer?

Come one now, tell yourself the truth.

Might you not be inclined to go with Pilate?

Rather than this beaten and tattered man swaying unsteadily on his bloody feet.

Pilate questions him with an imperious voice.

Jesus is horse from thirst, his mouth swollen from the fists that easily found their mark.

Who might you choose?

I posted this to Facebook the other day, and got some interesting replies …

One friend suggested that since we’re now on this side of it all, we can easily choose Jesus.

But I wonder …

I wonder if it’s all so easy.

Think of it as metaphor … Pilate’s pomp on the one hand … the scruffy figure in tattered robe on the other …

In the book of James, the question surfaces about church visitors – those who show up in fine dress are given the best pews in the church, and the man who shows up in shabby dress is told to stand in the lobby or take the folding chair off to the side.

The metaphor still functions ... to whom are we inclined to give the greater weight: a well-dressed CEO or a line-worker?

Perhaps if we were blind, it would be easier, but, then, I suppose, we'd go with the sound of the voice, or something like that.

I think the juxtaposition of Jesus and Pilate, and the well-dressed and the shabby in James 2, suggest that I'm still easily fooled by appearances ... or to put it more personally, to which pastor am I likely to give the greater credence - the pastor of a 15,000 member megachurch or the pastor of a rural parish in Oklahoma?

We’re easily seduced by the very things that mean so little to God …

Size never matters to God.

Listen to what God says to the people of Israel in the wilderness:

It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the LORD loved you [Deuteronomy 7:7].

Power and prestige are of no consequences to God.

Here’s what Paul writes to the Corinthians:

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” [1 Corinthians 1:26-33].

Gold is nothing more to God than street gravel.

Have you ever wondered why the streets of heaven are paved with gold?

What do we use here to pave our streets, but the cheapest materials we can find? Sand and gravel, because they’re plentiful – they’re everywhere, and that makes sand and gravel cheap.

Heaven’s streets are paved with gold because in God’s kingdom gold is as cheap as sand and gravel. What we use to decorate bathroom fixtures or wear upon our bodies will be nothing more than street material in God’s heaven.

When was the last time any of us wore a piece of gravel as a pendant? Or stored up sand for ourselves?

In heaven, gold will be nothing more than gravel and sand!

How do we sort it all out?

Look to Jesus.

Study the beatitudes.

Ponder the Book of Proverbs.

Feed your soul on good things.

Things that build you up and encourage you to a noble life.

Things that tell the truth and commend you to a life of service and sacrifice.

Pay attention:

Fear-mongers are working over time these days.

Fear mongers warning us about gays and lesbians who “want to destroy our nation and dismantle the family.”

“Muslims are going to take over the world and make us all bow the knee to Allah.”

Jesus Camps and fundamentalist churches harp upon a consistent theme: “nefarious plans are underway to take away our rights, take away our guns, tell us what to eat, and turn us into a socialist state.”

Peddling boogiemen and monsters under the bed and in the closet.

Turn on TV and pay attention to the fear-ads.

Illness is a big fear, “But don’t be afraid, we’ll sell you drugs; and if we have to read the fine print to you about side-effects, we’ll read real fast, even as we play beautiful music and show beautiful people prancing around with health and vigor.”

Home security is a big fear, “But don’t be afraid, we’ll sell you a home alarm system … and you’ll always be safe with us.”

Fear, fear, fear!

Dear Christian friends; pay attention to fear … when fears start to rise, hell draws near.

Fear is Satan’s chief weapon against us … fear is Satan’s medicine to make us sick … sick with trepidation and sick with anxiety.

Ward it off and walk away!

Because Jesus says: “Fear not!”

Don’t be afraid, says Jesus, because it is your Father’s will to give you the kingdom [Luke 12:32].

John writes to his little church:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love [1 John 4:18].

How do we sort it all out?

Trust your own spirit, your own instincts.

What builds up is likely of God!

Even though God will challenge us to the core and push us to the limit, it will feel right.

God always feels right.

When something doesn’t feel right.

That’s a good sign that something is wrong.

That it’s not God, but Satan.

When something agitates without purpose.

When anxiety rises and suspicion grows.

When everyone who’s different begins to look like a threat … when other religions are condemned, when chasms grow deeper and fences grow taller,

A clear sign that we’re dealing with a script from hell.

I close with words from Proverbs:

How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?

How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing

and fools hate knowledge?

Give heed to my reproof;

I will pour out my thoughts to you;

I will make my words known to you [Proverbs 1:22-23].

Amen and Amen!

September 6, 2009 - Ancient Wisdom

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

A board of directors, feeling it was time for a shake-up, hires a new CEO. This new boss is determined to rid the company of all slackers.

On a tour of the facilities, the CEO notices a guy leaning on a wall. The room is full of workers and he thinks this is his chance to show everyone he means business!

The CEO walks up to the guy and asks, "And how much money do you make a week?"

Undaunted, the young fellow looks at him and replies, "I make $200.00 a week. Why?"

The CEO then hands the guy $200 in cash and screams, "Here's a week's pay, now GET OUT and don't come back!"

Feeling pretty good about his first firing, the CEO looks around the room and asks, "Does anyone want to tell me what that slacker did here?"

With a sheepish grin, one of the other workers mutters.........

"He's the pizza delivery guy!"

We don’t always know the lay of the land, do we?

Sometimes we act before we think … as a friend of mine says: “Ready, fire, aim.”

Been there, done that a few times.

How about you?

The Book of Proverbs understands.

No highfalutin’ ideas here … just the basics!

What does it mean to live a good life?

It’s a question I’ve pondered for the last 40 years … not only for my own life, but what with all the funerals I’ve done – around 800 or so … so many families – all wonderfully different, and some distressed by tragedy and dysfunction.

I always ask the adult children: “What did you learn about life from you father, or your mother?”

I’ve heard it all, of course.

Good and bad, and mostly the good:

I’ve learned how to be compassionate.

I’ve learned courage and fortitude.

I’ve learned the power of forgiveness.

My dad taught me all about God.

My mother taught me how to work hard.

Sometimes it gets a little dark.

My mother hurt me.

My father didn’t love me.

They fought all the time.

I remember one poignant moment – three brothers, all in their mid-30s, preparing for their father’s funeral: I asked, “What did you learn about life from your dad?”

Silence … a heavy silence in the room.

Three young men … hunched over in their chairs, hands tightly folded in front of them … heads down … until the elder brother lifted his head and looked at me with steel in his eyes, with a deep sigh, shaking his head, “Not a damn thing Tom; not a damn thing.”

What does it mean to live a good life?

The Book of Proverbs goes to the heart of the matter – basic things …

God the creator… God the divine … the eternal realities … faith, hope and love … faith in God and faith in one another, and faith in ourselves, too.

Hope for a better day, and a better world.

Hope in the face of hardship and frustration.

Because hope doesn’t give up.

And love …

The hardcore kind of love - commitment and service.

Going the whole way and then some.

Taking up the cross and carrying it as far as you can.

Involvement and compassion.

Bravery and courage.

Kindness and mercy.

Restraint and control.

Long listening and careful speaking.

Speaking your convictions, but doing so with humility.

A tender regard for others, especially the down and the out: “There, but by the grace of God, go I.”

One of my all-time favorite poems by D.H. Lawrence says it well:

As we live, we are transmitters of life.

And when we fail to transmit life, life fails to flow through us.

….

And if, as we work, we can transmit life into our work,

Life, still more life, rushes into us to compensate, to be ready

And we ripple with life through the days.

Even if it is a woman making an apple dumpling, or a man a stool,

If life goes into the pudding, good is the pudding,

Good is the stool,

Content is the woman with fresh life rippling in to her,

Content is the man.

Give, and it shall be given unto you

Is still the truth about life.

But giving life is not so easy.

It doesn’t mean handing it out to some mean fool, or letting the living dead eat you up.

It means kindling the life-quality where it was not,

Even if it’s only in the whiteness of a washed pocket handkerchief.

Kindling the life-quality where it was not.

I’ve know some remarkable people – folks who kindle the life-quality …

I remember Jack Bollema from Grand Rapids Christian High School … I was a sophomore or junior in a history class, and Mr. Bollema, full of energy and faith, stepped to the chalk board and boldly wrote in big letters the word “History” … and then wrote again, in every bigger letters: “HIS Story” …

I’ve never forgotten that moment … the life-quality kindled … the secret of life, if you will: His Story - it’s all about God, everything … every bit of it … sweet and sour; weal and woe; light and dark; life and death … the good, the bad and the ugly … me, and everyone else!

Sure, it’s a hodgepodge, and who can figure it out?

But the Bible reminds us:

You can live in the hodgepodge; you can live it well.

Live with faith, hope and love, no matter what … even when we can’t figure it out!

A friend of mine writes:

… it isn't always the endgame we're after in our little worlds. It's the doing. It's the moments. It's that space between managing life and understanding that time is what it is, and that there is joy in knowing what needs to get done will, simply put, get done. [The Blankie Chronicles]

Faith, hope and love.

That’s what counts; not the storm around us, or even the storm inside of us, but the way we live in the midst of the storm … and along the way, giving shelter to others for whom the storm is too much.

“The Shelter of Each Other” as author Mary Pipher puts it … or as Jesus said it, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Love is a powerful, ethical, word.

Love seeks the welfare of the other, as Dr. Scott Peck put it in the book, The Road Less Travelled.

Love rolls up its sleeves and gets its hands dirty.

Love refuses to roll over and play dead.

Love can’t be bought off.

Love can’t be shut off.

Love can’t be killed.

70 years ago, September 1, 1939, German tanks rolled across the frontier into Poland, and so began WW2 – six years later, 45 million people dead, and the horror of all horrors, “the final solution,” the Holocaust - the systematic killing of 6 million Jews, and millions more – Gypsies, gays and lesbians, the mentally and physically challenged … and anyone who dared to raise a question, anyone who followed Jesus rather than Hitler – the real Jesus; not the Jesus of Church and country, but the Jesus of Galilee and Calvary.

The Thousand Year Reich ended in the ashes of Berlin and the suicide of Hitler; the Empire of the Rising Sun ended in a mushroom cloud … the greatest war machine marched too far – the way of all empires, Roman, British, French, Belgian, Dutch, Soviet, or American … guns and bullets and marching soldiers, oh so thrilling, seduce us with a wicked song, until we crash and burn on the rocks of our own power.

This is the way of all empire.

Those who live by the sword die by the sword.

Such is the ancient wisdom.

The powers and principalities that would rule over us cannot win the day …

Justice will have its way …

Love will prevail.

As the hymn puts it: This is my father’s world!

A good and godly man or woman lives by the code of love.

No matter the storm howling around us, we live with an eye on God and a hand outstretched to others.

The Book of Proverbs pulls no punches.

It gets to the core of life.

The deepest values – the way we live.

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

And favor is better than silver or gold.

The Hebrew word for “favor” is something like compassion or generous living … to be seen by as others as a person of compassion or generosity – to have the favor of others for the goodness and kindness we live.

If we read the whole of the Proverbs, Solomon celebrates and enjoys material success, too.

For Solomon, it’s not an either/or choice – either to have a good name, or to be wealthy, but to make the right beginning.

When we choose to make a good name for ourselves, the other issues get resolved …

Jesus said it well: Choose first the kingdom of God, and all the other things that you need will fall into place.

Putting it candidly, putting it straight,

What happened with Bernie Madoff?

I don’t know, but I do know that he single-handedly caused untold sorrow for thousands of investors who put their money into his hands.

Was he greedy?

Were the investors greedy?

I don’t know …

But could it have been different?

If he had remembered:

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,

and the rod of anger will fail.

Those who are generous are blessed,

for they share their bread with the poor.

Do not rob the poor because they are poor,

or crush the afflicted at the gate;

for the LORD pleads their cause

What about us?

We’re not dealing in billions or millions (if you are, talk to me after the service, would ya’?)

Most of us deal in thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, even a few million now and then … but whether it be 25 cents or 25 million, we begin with our name; that’s what counts, our name.

And the simple truth: we’re all in this together.

Many who are rich would like us to believe that they are different than everyone else, their problems, their challenges, bigger and greater and categorically unique – Not so! says Solomon, one of the wealthiest men to have ever lived.

Because we all have one thing in common, says Solomon – the LORD has made us all …

No one is self-made.

No one makes their own way through life … not one dime is ours by work – it’s all by grace, all by divine providence – God’s counsel and God’s decision, God’s will and God’s purpose.

That’s a humbling thought - because the ego wants to believe: “It’s mine, all mine; I’ve worked for it.”

Like a child screaming at a playmate about a toy truck, “It’s mine, and you can’t have it.”

Ever watch a child behave that way?

What do you think when you hear that?

Selfishness in a child is disgusting.

But what about an adult?

I wonder … when God looks in upon us, is this the way we’re behaving sometimes?

“It’s mine, and you can’t have it!”

Is anything really ours?

Is not everything given to us?

Given to us by the hand of God?

We’re all born without a dime, and we’ll all die penniless.

In between, we might be blessed, blessed bounteously by God, but we’re all in the same boat - agrand adventure called life … we are all brothers and sisters, and, yes, there are differences, but the point remains: to those to whom much has been given, much is required [Luke 12:48].

This is why faith in God is so vital.

Real faith … not the cheapened version, the cheapened feel-good, yippie-kai ai, cry-your-eyes-out-for Jesus style religion, but the real thing, empowered by compassion and high-ethics and a life-changing love for justice.

God has told you, O mortal, what is good;

and what does the LORD require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God? [Micah 6:8].

Faith in God saves us from putting our faith anywhere else.

Because nothing else will do.

We put our faith in God!

To keep us balanced and sane.

On the right track and doing the right things.

We’re not easily de-centered when we’re centered in God, though all hell should break loose.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble with its tumult [Psalm 46].

We may be afraid, but we won’t fear.

We may sweat a little, but we won’t cringe in the dark.

We may lose a lot of sleep, but we won’t lose our hope.

Because of our faith in God …

God, at work in all things, for OUR good …

Because God is good all the time, and

All the time God is good.

That’s the ancient wisdom.

Amen and Amen!

August 16, 2009 - Solomon's Wisdom

1 Kings 2 & 3

All good things come to an end … the curtain is falling on David’s 40-year reign …

It’s been quite a journey … beginning with Samuel’s unannounced visit to Bethlehem and the surprise anointing of a young shepherd boy, David, as the next king of Israel.

We’ve traveled with David over hill and dale – through thick and thin, sick and sin … the worst of it and the best of it … David has done it all.

David’s reign spans forty tumultuous years – seven in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem …

Why have we spent so much time with David?

Because we’re a part of David’s house …

Jesus is the Son of David …

When Jesus makes his Passover visit to Jerusalem, he’s greeted with shouts of hope:

Hosanna to the Son of David.

We belong to the house of David through Jesus our LORD.

It’s important that we know these stories, and know them well … know them as adults … the adult version!

Far too many adults know only the Sunday School version …

Which was just fine for that 5^th grade boy who dreams about David and Goliath … or that bright-eyed 3^rd grade girl who memorized David’s greatest Psalm, the LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want …

What we learned in Sunday School is just the beginning …

Still unfolding …

As God continues to love the world back to life.

We’ve spent a lot of time with David, and now the scene shifts to David’s son, Solomon …

But nothing was ever easy for David …

In his 40^th year as king, David’s body and mind have paid the price … First Kings begins with an ominous hint: When David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.

Anyone here sympathetic with that?

Now some of you guys might be interested in the solution: David’s servants got together and said to him, ‘We’ve got the solution for your chills – we’ve found a beautiful young lady – her name is Abishag – she’ll be your nurse – she’ll take care of you and wait on you, and she can lie beside you and keep you warm.

Hey, fellas, what do you think of that for the night chills?

But the text goes one step further – even Abishag couldn’t light David’s fire …

David is old.

David is tired.

Weary in the flesh, and slow in heart and mind … he barely rules … bureaucrats manage things, and things are peaceful now, so it’s not too bad.

But who’s going to be the next king?

Who’s going to fill David’s shoes?

Which son will it be?

That’s the million dollar question.

Amnon and Absalom are dead.

Both were good looking, headstrong and aggressive …

So we can almost guess what happens next in this wild and wooly family …

Adonijah …

He’s good looking, headstrong and aggressive …

Adonijah puts himself forward and says, I’ll be king.

Like his older brother Absalom, Adonijah gets chariots and horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him – think 5 big black SUVS, with well-armed agents in dark suits and dark glasses … a show of power to get things rolling.

Adonijah consults with Joab, David’s field commander, and with Abiathar the priest [Think Colin Powell and Billy Graham] – both of them give Adonijah their support.

Adonijah then throws an inauguration party … and like any party in Washington, or Sacramento, when it’s party time, there’s nothing more important then the guest list – who’s invited says everything; who’s NOT invited says even more!

Adonijah invites all of his brothers and all kinds of officials.

But Nathan the prophet, David’s closest advisor, isn’t invited.

Zadok the priest, isn’t invited.

David’s special guard isn’t invited.

None of David’s closest advisers are invited.

It makes sense for Adonijah to be king … he’s the next in line, the oldest surviving son, but the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray …

Nathan the prophet wasn’t about to let Adonijah claim the throne.

Nathan goes to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, and asks, Did you know about this? Let me give you some advice; take the bull by the horns so you can save your life, and the life of your son, Solomon.

Go to king David and say to him … blah blah blah blah …

So, Bathsheba goes to David:

‘My LORD king, did you not swear to me that my son Solomon would inherit the throne?

 Of course you did, and David, if YOU don’t remember saying it, I remember. And a mother never forgets such things. You said Solomon would succeed you.

So, why has Adonijah become king?

David, you didn’t even know that, did you?

A mistake has been made, hasn’t it?

My LORD king, all of Israel is looking to you for leadership right now, and if you don’t act now, as soon as you take your last breath, my son and I will be killed.

At that very moment, right on due, Nathan arrives at the palace … Nathan the fearless; he’s tackled David before, and he tackles David again.

Yes, David, everything she says is true.

You’ve been duped by another son.

Or is there something you said, that we don’t know about?

A clever piece of work.

Bathsheba and Nathan get David’s attention.

David rises from his bed and issues a statement – As I promised, Solomon is king.

But the text isn’t clear.

Did David make such a promise?

There is no such promise anywhere in the Bible.

Did Bathsheba and Nathan pull a fast one on David?

Take advantage of his declining abilities?

Create memories for him that never happened?

Do they know something beyond what the text tells us?

Does God know something?

Is God at work here?

The story unfolds as we might expect.

Pomp and circumstance … a public anointing for Solomon … party time.

When Adonijah and his guests hear the celebration, they’re confused, and just then a messenger arrives: Solomon is king.

All the guests get up and leave  - I guess we’d call ‘em fair-weather friends.

It didn’t take long for the party to break up.

The next day, the guests told their friends:

 Well, I wasn’t there.

My name was on the list, but I didn’t go.

No, no, no, I wasn’t there either.

Uh uh, Solomon’s the man, not Adonijah!

Does anything change? Is anything different? This is how nations and governments work – the powerful vie for power; the wealthy want a little more … ah, the games we all play as we jockey for position and influence.

A prestigious pulpit becomes vacant, and pastors around the country line up like beauty queens, hoping to be the chosen one.

In every corporate office around the nation, Billy and Susie hope to catch the boss’ attention – and get that next promotion.

Candidates for office throw big money around – parties here and parties there …

And everyone loves a winner …

And when the dust settles, no one even remembers the name of the loser. Adonijah who?

Oh well, so it goes.

But what’s the point of all of this?

We’re dealing here with sacred text.

The Bible … it’s message.

David’s story … our story.

God at work in the world, just as the world is.

Messy and full of schemes.

Silly and sad …

But God still at work, working with what we put in God’s hands … God making the best of it, even when we’re far from our best!

David takes Solomon aside and gives him some fatherly advice.

Like:

Kill Joab when you have chance – I never did like him; he caused your dear old dad a lot of sorrow, and he’ll hurt you, too – he bet on the wrong horse, now show him how wrong he was.

And the guy who cursed me, take care of him, too … I promised not to hurt him, but you’re not bound by that promise, so go get him – bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.

But please remember Barzillai and his family … they stood by us in our darkest hour … reward them for their loyalty.

Solomon consolidates his hold.

A bloody business, for sure.

Nothing neat and clean.

Folks who read the Bible for the first time are surprised at all of this … but what do folks expect?

Even Grimms’ fairy tales have plenty of wicked people and bloody death … 

National Geographic says of Grimm’s fairy tales:

“Looking for a sweet, soothing tale to waft you toward dreamland? Look somewhere else. The stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s serve up life as generations of central Europeans knew it—capricious and often cruel. The two brothers, patriots determined to preserve Germanic folktales, were only accidental entertainers” [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/index2.html].

The Bible pulls no punches.

It’s a mirror held up to the human drama.

This is the way of the powerful and the wealthy.

This is the way of the world …

How we all live, rich and poor alike.

A couple of homeless men squabbling about who’s going to sleep where … and corporate giants squabbling over who controls the flow of oil.

Things settle down for Solomon.

He goes to Gibeon to offer sacrifice … 

Solomon knows he sits on the throne of Israel by God’s grace, a strange and mysterious grace at work in the schemes and machinations of Jerusalem politics.

At Gibeon in the night, the LORD comes to Solomon in a dream – Ask what you want me to give you!

Wow, a blank check from God!

Anything you want.

Here’s where we see the evidence of Solomon’s wisdom.

The first words out of his mouth: YOU have made me king.

Solomon confesses his utter reliance upon the grace of God … he’s no self-made man; who he is and who he has become – it’s a gift from God, from A to Z, top to bottom.

Then Solomon says:

… and I haven’t a clue. I’m only a child; I don’t know how to go out, and I don’t know how to come in. And now I sit on the throne; I need your help! Give me, I pray, a discerning mind that I might know the difference between good and evil.

Like the Knight of the Grail says to Indiana Jones: Choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.

Hundreds of grails to choose from – gorgeous and bejeweled – finely wrought works of art – glistening with gold and silver.

But Indiana Jones reasons wisely – the Last Supper - it was a humble carpenter, not a king in flowing robes, who lifted the Holy Grail.

Indiana Jones chooses humility – a simple carpenter’s cup.

And it’s the right choice.

The Knight of the Holy Grail says: You have chosen wisely.

Solomon chooses wisely.

What he asks for is important, but even more important, what Solomon DOESN’T ask for – long life, prosperity, defeat for the enemy.

Solomon asks but one thing: a mind – a mind to know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil … to govern wisely, to live a responsible life for the sake of others!

And God says to him that night: You have chosen wisely; I will give you discernment.

And then God says something surprising: Everything you DIDN’T ask for, I will give that to you, too, in measured doses … with this proviso, that you walk in my ways, keeping my commandments and my statutes …

Jesus said it well: Seek the kingdom of God first … and all the other things you might otherwise care about will be given to you as well.

When we pray … to pray as Solomon prayed –

A simple prayer …

A basic prayer …

O God, that I might know the difference between right and wrong.

Solomon’s wisdom, indeed!

Amen and Amen!