Follow the Right Leader
Notes
Transcript
Tough Choices
Tough Choices
How do you make tough decisions.
I mean the really hard choices.
What to get your spouse for Xmas?
Pressure!
Your husband has every tool known to man and a few no one has ever heard of before.
Your wife has every cooking gadget ever used, advertised, or even thought about on all the cooking shows.
Sports team gear? Now? We’re not really into repping teams right now.
Clothes? You want to guess what size I wear?
What if you guess too big?
You think I’m fat?
Then, if you blow it at Xmas, Valentines Day is right around the corner and a chance to redeem yourself. Or, not.
But, flowers just die. Chocolate? That might plump you up.
Dark Choc is okay, it’s a health food.
It’s like no time at all and it’s Mother’s Day. And, Father’s Day.
Right after that is our anniversary.
Sara’s birthday is in November. I’ve got to get that right!
And, then it’s Christmas again.
Talk about pressure all year to be perfect!
What’s that one thing she wants?
And, how do you choose what wear when you get up in the morning?
During a pandemic when we’re not going out and no one is seeing us?
What t-shirt did I wear yesterday?
Guy, are we even shaving?
Ladies, make-up?
If it’s a snowstorm in a pandemic, who gets dressed?
When we come out of this people are not going to recognize us.
I appreciate those of you who come out to church and we get to see you and remember.
But, for those watching online, we think we remember what you looked like. Do you still?
Seriously, what about the really hard ones?
Relationship questions. Should you get involved?
You have a situation w/ someone you care about. Do you say something? Do something? Or, nothing and hope it solves itself?
Job choices, career choices, retirement. What’s the right move to make?
Money choices. Buy? Sell? Hold?
What’s the stock market going to do?
Up? Down? Flat?
Your house. Now is a great time to sell your cabin. But, then if you have to buy something, it will cost you all you made.
Car? SUV? I moved up here w/ a Toyota Camry. Good, front-wheel drive car.
Would never make it up Pinewood in the snow. Not heavy enough. I had to replace it w/ something that would. But, what?
Health choices. Surgery? Or, not? Aggressive treatment? Or, not?
Sometimes it’s easy, no real decision to make.
But, sometimes it’s really hard to know what to do.
What’s the right decision? What’s the best decision? Is there a wrong decision?
These are all the kinds of decisions and choices Sara and I have wrestled w/ as have all of you.
And, what about the choices other ppl make that effect us? They have tough decisions. They aren’t perfect, either.
How do we choose how to respond to what they choose to do?
Life can become a convoluted mess of decision-making.
What do we do?
The most important choice we all have to make first is this:
Make sure you chose to follow the right leader.
Some choose to forge their own path.
Big problem w/ that is eventually we all come to a fork in the road that we have no idea which direction to take.
Yogi Berra, catcher for the NY Yankees, amateur philosopher said,
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Most, however follow someone, or someones.
The right leader opts for the best choices that take you in the best general direction.
Others can make things even tougher for you.
What about the specifics to your situation?
The right leader will help you with those, too. It has t/b someone you can ask for help and is capable of helping.
Make the right first choice, that is who to follow. Then, choose to ask for help with all the other important choices you have to make.
This morning we’re starting a series thru 1 & 2 Kings.
One of the things Israel realized and we know, too, whomever leads you effects you in many ways.
They had to choose how to respond to their leadership. Most of it was bad. Still, individual Israelis had the opportunity to choose if they would live faithfully even if their king didn’t.
Throughout this series we will be challenged by how we respond in situations where tough choices are called for.
Starting out, they ended up w/ a good choice for their first king after David.
It was a little rocky getting there, but Solomon was mostly a good king.
Choices
Choices
1 Kings starts at the end of David’s life.
He died around 970 BC. But, before he died, he got to participate in choosing, and installing his successor.
One son made huge assumption. It was logical. It made sense, to a point.
Adonijah believed he was the rightful heir to his father David’s throne.
In effect, he chose himself. Arrogant. But, in some ways an obvious choice.
He was the oldest living son. Actually, the 4th son, but the first 3 had died.
There’s a short clause in a verse in ch.1 where it says he was handsome.
If there ever was a choice between the handsome one and the ugly one, the handsome one is the obvious winner.
Well, to ppl, anyway.
Solomon was not the obvious choice. He was David’s 10th son and not even the 1st son of his mother. He was her 4th son.
Speaking of his mother, she was Bathsheba.
Obviously, not obvious. His mom was a willing participant in the adultery and murder that cost them another son.
God honored her w/ a king for a son after she had messed up bad.
We are so quick to DQ ppl when God is long past ready to restore them and honor them.
David’s choice was Solomon. Nathan, the prophet’s choice was Solomon. The priesthood was split.
God hadn’t spoken on the matter, yet. Except as thru Nathan.
A choice has t/b made; who is going to be the next king. And this choice effects everyone else who lives in the kingdom.
It’s al big one. Then the ppl have to decide how they will respond. What if their choice for king doesn’t end up on the throne?
B/C of the influence of David and Nathan, Solomon wins the throne.
He’s not perfect. But, he’s the best choice.
The Best Choice
The Best Choice
Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
Solomon is not just a good choice between the 2 sons. He’s the very best option Israel had at the time.
He was good. He was humble enough to follow his father’s instructions. And, we know David must have given good instructions.
Not only humble enough, but a sign of someone who loves the Lord if they receive wise instruction from those godly ppl who went before them.
We know from the rest of the bible he didn’t end his reign as faithfully as he started it.
And, there are a couple of hints of bad habits that showed up very early that became besetting sins later.
First, in his choices for wives. Plural. Not God’s ideal. One man and one woman.
Immediately, he chose an Egyptian. It doesn’t say one way or the other what her faith situation was.
God’s instructions were clear about only marrying ppl who have the same faith you do.
Otherwise, God won’t get the commitment he commands.
When a UofA alum marries an ASU grad. Neither school gets 100% of their attention.
God requires 100% of us.
At the end of his life he ended up w/ more wives and concubines than I can count.
There aren’t enough fingers and toes in MP to count them all.
The second hint you see is that he worshiped at the high places.
The temple hadn’t been built, yet. He was going to get to that soon.
But this was a Canaanite practice. They would set up altars on the highest hills thinking it got them closer to God and he’d be more likely to hear them and respond.
At this point, not a horrible thing. But, he continued even after he built the temple and God said explicitly only worship in the temple.
The ppl made their choices too about where to worship. And, no doubt since their king did, they followed his lead.
But, they knew the law and they did it anyway.
The point here is no human leader is perfect. Even a person God chooses to be the leader of ppl will not be, cannot be perfect.
So, when we choose to respond to ppl who have put in places of authority over us we cannot expect them to be perfect.
They need t/b pretty good and work hard at it. But, perfection is impossible.
Sometimes we expect too much of our leaders, and ourselves.
We need to have an honest and accurate expectation of them, and us.
Then, we have to choose to respond graciously, even if we don’t want to.
Why? B/C that’s how God responds to imperfect ppl who try hard to do the right things but fail once in a while.
For instance…God made him an offer that he didn’t deserve.
Solomon took full advantage and made a wise request.
Wise Request
Wise Request
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and 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?”
It says Solomon went to Gibeon, it was the most important high place. That’s b/c it’s where they put the altar that Moses built and came out of the tent that traveled w/ them thru the wilderness.
God met him there when he went to worship.
This was the first time God indicated Solomon was his choice to be king.
To make such and amazing offer.
Knowing he wasn’t perfect then. Knowing he’d wander farther away later in life. Knowing better than Solomon himself how imperfect he was and would get, God met him and made him this offer.
Whatever you want… Think about his options.
Wealth, influence, world domination, powerful army, slaves, women, men, whatever...
Solomon showed he already had some wisdom b/c he made a wise choice.
Can you imagine the pressure to chosen as leader to follow in the footsteps of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and David?
What would you ask for?
He asked for wisdom and not for his own benefit. He knew he’d be called on to make tough choices for the ppl. He wanted to lead well.
His desire was to be able to clearly discern right from wrong, good from evil.
The right choice, the best choice is not always the obvious one. Just like choosing him over his handsome brother.
A judge can look at all the overt evidence but need to read between the lines to make the wise choice, the best choice.
When he said he was a child, he meant inexperienced in a leadership position like this. He was a young adult. But, he knew there was a lot he didn’t know.
The Hebrew there is literally, “I don’t know how to go or come.” it was an idiom for leadership skills.
Another important thing to see here is he realized he was leading God’s ppl. They weren’t his. He was God’s agent. But they were God’s ppl.
And the ppl needed to understand, they were called to follow God.
God gave them a king they could relate to and who would have special access as his agent.
But, they were following God.
In Solomon’s case he made the best choice he could have, the be request.
God responded accordingly.
God’s Response
God’s Response
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.”
God responded the way he always does. He never gives in small ways. He gives an abundance.
God not only gave him what he asked for, he gave him much more.
Solomon got wisdom, wealth, and honor.
His reputation all over the populated world was as the wisest, richest man who ever lived.
Still is.
God never skimps with us.
Solomon got an abundance of everything.
We get abundant life and all that comes with it when we ask for it. W/ God it’s never just enough. It’s over the top.
Very shortly after Solomon asked and received all this from God, God then gave him the opportunity to apply what he got.
This is one of the most famous stories from the OT. And Solomon clearly passed the test that he knew how to use what God gave him.
Opportunity to Apply
Opportunity to Apply
A quick summary of the situation.
2 prostitutes living in the same house, both got pregnant, both had sons a few days apart.
One son died. That mom switched the two babied in the night while the other mom slept.
Then there was a lawsuit, a custody battle over the living son.
No other evidence, no other witnesses. Just the testimony of the 2 moms.
This is how Solomon resolved the issue.
Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”
But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
He had to read between the lines of their testimony to get to the truth to be able to make the right decision.
He needed more and he wisely determined how to get what he needed.
He expected the real mother would rather her son live w/ another mom than be killed.
The other mom would have been okay killing the living son, that would have been fair in her mind that neither ended up w/ the baby.
But, that wasn’t fair to the innocent mom.
Justice. Fairness. Right and wrong. Solomon needed God’s wisdom so that he would not be swayed by appearances.
We need God’s wisdom because often we need to make the right choice, the fair choice, and appearances don’t tell us the whole story.
So, what do we do?
First, the most important choice you will make is who to follow.
Solomon understood the ppl were called to follow God and he was God’s agent to help them do that.
Yes, they followed him, But they followed him following God.
Joshua understood it, too, and challenged us this way.
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua didn’t say follow me. He said, join me in following Jesus.
No matter who God puts in authority over you, follow the right leader.
He’s the only perfect leader. He will get you in the right general place then help you w/ the specifics of your life.
The second thing is, understand God made a choice. He chose you. He knows you. He knows you’re not perfect, but trying hard.
And, we face tough choices from time to time. So then what?
Do what Solomon did.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
God will respond to you and me just like he did Solomon w/ an abundance.
Then, he will give you the opportunity to apply it.
Jesus is the only right leader no matter who occupies positions of authority over you.
And, part of obedience to Jesus is obedience to the ppl he put in place over you.
But, He will always help you with the specifics that challenge you and tough choices you have to make.
Choose the right leader. Follow the right Lord. Make the best choices.
Applications
Applications
Choose today
Choose today
Recalibrate if you need to.
Who’s your Lord. Choose the best one, the right one.
I’m just your pastor. Join me in following Jesus. I’m no Joshua. I’m no Solomon. I’m just trying hard. Don’t confuse me w/ the right leader you need to follow.
His name’s not Biden or Trump, either.
Don’t get caught up expecting too much from the ppl God put in places of authority.
Don’t expect perfection. Just respect the ppl and their position.
No matter who is in positions of authority over you, part of your obedience to Jesus is obedience to them.
Read Romans 13. That may help.
Choose today and everyday to follow Jesus no matter what.
Not so obvious
Not so obvious
God never chooses the most obvious.
And, he chose you and me.
He knows we’re not perfect. He doesn’t expect it. He just expects us to use the strength and abilities He makes available to do the very best we can, maybe better than that.
Sometimes our best effort isn’t enough.
We need help from God to give His best effort.
Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t expect too much or too little of yourself.
God knew what He was doing when He chose you and put you in the situation you are in.
It may not be obvious to you, but you are the right choice for the ppl who need you to be.
Ask
Ask
Ask for wisdom.
Stop trying on your own.
The resources are available if you’d just ask for them.
God gives an abundance. You might think you only need a little help.
Obviously you underestimate your situation and overestimate your ability to fix it.
You don’t need to keep making bad choices when God offers all the help you need and more.
Make the right first choice, that is who to follow. Then, choose to ask for help with all the other important choices you have to make.
Jesus is the only right leader no matter who occupies positions of authority over you.
He will always put you in the right general place and then help you with the specifics that challenge you and tough choices you have to make.
Choose the right leader. Follow the right Lord. Make the best choices.