“Don’t ask me my business, Kate”

1 Kings 2:13–46

This passage today wraps up the first section of Kings. This opening asks the question How did Solomon come to power? Here we tie up all the loose ends associated with David.

There are consequences for opposing the rightful king. There are consequences for living a life of violence. Those who live by the sword die by the sword. That’s one of those smart things Jesus said.

The classic film The Godfather provides ample parallels for understanding relationships and situations in the Old Testament. This is one of those scenarios that echoes in the famous climax of that movie. The organized crime of New York City is ruled by five mafia families. Vito Corleone, the “godfather” of the title and patriarch of the Corleone family has died, and his son Michael has to establish his role as successor.

The movie ends with a montage scene showing how one-by-one, Michael arranges the violent death of everyone who wronged his father and might prove a threat to his new position as head of the family. This is the same thing Solomon is doing in this chapter with Benaiah as his hitman .

Here, four characters will meet their demise as a result of their actions to David.

Adonijah asks to marry Abishag, one of the king’s harem. While we might see this a proclamation of romantic love, it’s more likely another political move from the conniving older brother. He just won’t let up, so he’s a threat and has to go.

Abiathar the priest who supported Adonijah is exiled.

Joab the military commander who supported Adonijah and numerous times disobeyed the direct orders of King David is killed in the sanctuary of the tabernacle. This would have been an especially shameful way to go for a person of Joab’s stature and profession.

Shimei had at one point insulted King David, so Solomon puts him under house arrest. When Shimei violates the terms of his deal, he’s done.

So all the loose ends of David’s kingdom are tied up.

So the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.

And we can imagine a curtain coming down.

Question: Does all this mean that God is a vengeful God? Or that people are violent people?

The son who wanted to be king

1 Kings 1:28–2:12

Confused yet? So many names. Don’t worry. It’s the nature of political scheming. Just imagine the manipulations in TV shows like The West Wing or Game of Thrones. It happens right here in the Bible, too.

Succession from one ruler to the next is usually messy business (as we’ll see later in Kings). Here in the United States four years ago, we witnessed the transfer of power from one political party to the other and nobody died. Such a situation is relatively new in the history of humans. The prospect of power more often than not draws blood.

The curtain opens in Kings and we see David, the warrior-king who killed Goliath and inspired a band of mighty men, at the end of his life, weak and frail. He’s a mere whisper of his former self.

And all the kingdom wonders: Who is the next king? 

(By the way, all of us readers have been wondering since 2 Samuel 7: Who is the next king?)

In one corner we have Adonijah. He’s the oldest surviving son of David. By the cultural norms of the day, the throne will be his. But he gets a little excited by the prospect and jumps the gun. He begins to rally support.He’s doing all of this behind the back of David.

In the other corner we have Solomon, a later son by a later wife of David. (You may remember Bathsheba from David’s most famous indiscretion.) Supporting Solomon are the prophet Nathan and priest Zadok.

What’s interesting here is while Adonijah plots, Solomon seems to play a passive role in the drama. It’s Nathan the prophet and Solomon’s mother that come to David to make Solomon the legitimate king of Israel.

Cultural norms favored Adonijah. But God choose differently. Why? The story doesn’t tell us, and so leaves us to speculate, but it’s not the first or last time in the Bible that God upends social convention.

Question: Are you like Adonijah, trying to take what you want in your own strength, or are you like Solomon, patiently waiting as God acts on your behalf?

Why the books of Kings matter

1 Kings 1:1–27

Today we begin a walk through the Old Testament books of 1 & 2 Kings.

What, you say? You’ve never read Kings? Not heard a sermon preached out of Kings lately? Didn’t know Kings was even in the Bible? Are Christians supposed to get anything out of Kings? Never fear. We’ll get all that figured out. Here’s what you need to know.

Kings is the conclusion of an epic narrative thread that began back in the book of Joshua, running through Judges and 1 & 2 Samuel. If you imagine each book as seasons of a TV show, Kings is the next season. While Samuel told the story of establishing the kingship in Israel and Saul and David (a span of about 100 years), Kings follows the royal ancestors of David who rule over Israel for the next 400 years.

What does all this have to do with Jesus? I’m glad you asked.

Imagine a continuum and at one edge is a conversation God has with David (through the prophet Nathan) in 2 Samuel 7. The gist of the conversation is God promises that one of David’s descendants will rule over God’s people forever.

And at the other end of this continuum is Jesus, whom the early church saw as the fulfillment of God’s promise to David. Philippians 2 is one of the clearest images in the New Testament of King Jesus. The books of 1 & 2 Kings are the middle of this sandwich.

This is the story of how God gets from Point A (David) to Point Z (Jesus), and there are a lot of messy, corrupt, twisted, sin-soaked, power-hungry individuals in the middle. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a little bit of hope about who God can use.

Kings is the story of Israel. And the story of Israel is the story of Jesus. And the story of Jesus is the story of the Church. And this is why it matters to us.

Question: Have you ever read the books of Kings with this “big picture” in mind?

2013 Fiftyeight Missions

MISSION ACADEMY

March 17 – 20

Sign up here

Who?

This is for any student connected with Fiftyeight College Ministry.

What / Where? 

We are hosting, facilitating and leading an introductory mission experience for Firsties junior high students in low-income neighborhoods of Tulsa.  For more information on Mission Academy, please click here

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

June 24 – July 10*

*Dates are tentative pending the best ticket options

REGISTER HERE

Who?

This is for any Fiftyeight student who has never before experienced a cross-cultural missions trip.

What?

Partnering with our friends at Youth With a Mission.

How Much?

Approximately $1,600

 

MORE INFORMATION

Reminder about Missions & College Ministries Policy with Passports & Vaccinations

• Each individual is responsible for acquiring their passport and in consultation with their personal doctor, getting any appropriate immunizations or vaccinations.  The Mission & College Ministries will, however, be glad to help offer assistance with any questions that you might have.
• Verification of passport is due 6 weeks prior to flight departure.  The cost for the passport and vaccinations is NOT included in the price of the trip.

 

Isaiah: The God who is in control

Isaiah 10

It comes down to the question: What kind of god is God?

In a world where Assyrians exist, what kind of god is God? In a world where Assyrians not only exist but they attack God’s people, what kind of god is God?

Not doubt, it’s difficult for us today to grasp just what the threat of Assyria meant to the people of Judah that Isaiah was talking to. We don’t live in a world of warfare at our doorstep. In our time of  “world religions,” we don’t easily get the idea of national deities that represented and protected individual countries.

And so it’s difficult to grasp the whiplash the people of Judah might feel about this words in Isaiah—that Yahweh was not only ruled over them, but also over Assyria and its gods, and that Yahweh might use *gasp* Assyria in disciplining Judah for it’s idolatry and oppression of the poor.

Just what kind of god is God?

This is a god who has never been shaken, never been threatened, never been beaten. Though Assyria may be people never to matched in history in its cruelty, torture, and oppression, and though it may appear to have the upper hand, God is ultimately in control.

What kind of god is this God? This is a god who is control. That’s what we mean when we say God is sovereign.

What is the “Assyria” you might be facing today? How could God be showing that he’s in control even over that?

Isaiah: God with us

Isaiah 7

War and politics. This is a story of three kings. The king of Syria and the king of Israel team up against the king of Judah.

You and I may not be kings of ancient middle-eastern nations. But this is also a story of betrayal and vulnerability. I don’t know about you, but I know those all too well.

And it’s into this situation of darkness, loneliness, despair, and weakness that God promises a baby who will be named Immanuel, which means God-With-Us. This vulnerable and helpless child will be the reminder that God is not an aloof or absent deity.

This God is the God who is with us.

God. With. Us.

Can you imagine the profound implications of this?

It’s no wonder then when writers of the New Testament recalled the stories of Jesus, in an age of oppressive Roman occupation, they remembered this part of Isaiah. This baby, this person, would be a living reminder that God is with us.

Are you a person like that? Are you an Immanuel in all the places you go? Do people see you and remember that God is with us?

Isaiah: Say and do

Isaiah 3 & 4

If we could sum up the book of Isaiah in three words, here they are:

Justice. Comfort. Hope.

And we get all of that in these chapters today.

God’s people are saturated with sin. Soaked to the bone with it. Stained in their souls with it. This is bad news. And there are consequences.

So God acts. Every human action fails. Every human role and occupation fails. Sin upsets the entire social order. Human leadership buckles and falls apart. And the reason?

Because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.

Speech and deeds.

Notice, nothing to do with what the people choose to believe or not believe.

Maybe in our day and we age we put too much weight in believing the correct things about God. Certainly, believing in God matters, and discerning true doctrine matters, but maybe it’s not the most important thing. It’s not the only thing.

Isaiah suggests that the presence of God is disrespected by words and deeds.

Words and deeds.

Do we take the presence of God for granted? In our work? In our play? When we drive our cars? When we brush our teeth? Sitting in class? Eating lunch with our friends? Holding hands with our loved one?

Words and deeds. By our words and deeds we make God look good. By our words and deeds we make God look bad.

Because we are made in the Image of God, we are made to make God look good. Speaking and acting otherwise is like pouring Red Bull in your car’s gas tank. It doesn’t work. And bad things happen when you try it.

Don’t forget that while chapter 3 lays out God’s justice for sin, that’s not the end of the story. Chapter 4 talks about the hope of God’s presence with his people.

How are you respecting God with your words and deeds today?

Isaiah: The vision

Isaiah 1

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Today we begin our adventure in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is epic. It’s sweeping in its scope of history from the here-and-now into the eternal. It’s piercing in its emotion. It’s rich in poetic language and metaphor.

But most simply, it’s a vision. Of a particular man. About a particular place. At a particular time.

First impressions matter. This is the first statement of this sprawling book. And the first word?

Vision.

A dream. A revelation. An oracle. The image of something in your mind that nobody else has seen before. In this case, from God. Do you have that? A particular image. For a particular place. At a particular time.

What if “vision” is the imagination to see the world as God sees it?

And this vision of Isaiah begins with the mournful cry over rebellious children. Do you hear the heartache?

Anger and wrath—these are two emotions frequently associated with the Old Testament prophets. But what if there’s something deeper? Something more?

What we find in the first half of Isaiah (through chapter 39) is the theme of justice, that God’s people are sick. They are broken, malfunctioning. They are incapable of obedience to God because of this thing called “sin” in their midst. Something must, MUST, be done about it. Or complete corruption, devastation is just on the horizon.

As we read Isaiah, we should keep these opening verses in mind. God considers this nation his children, and their rebellion breaks the relationship. It’s come to the point of discipline.

Something has to change. It all starts with a vision.

Do you have a vision? To your particular place? To your particular time?

Proverbs: Stuff of everyday life

Proverbs 28

You need imagination for reading the book of Proverbs. And a lot of patience. The content cannot be read quickly. Every phrase, every sentence, packs a punch. Each individual proverb is an artfully constructed picture.

So take that image. Hold it in your hand. Examine it. Turn it. Look at it again. Look at it under different lighting. Squint your eyes. Have patience.

Here’s an interesting take on the book of Proverbs: It’s not about getting along in this world for the next of making it to the next world. Perhaps it’s about getting along in this world for the sake of this world. Proverbs makes life in this world better. It makes family life better. It makes work life better. It makes school life better. It makes relationships better. Proverbs is about here and now.

Now, our guiding questions as we read Scripture start with: What does this say about God? And what does this say about humanity? Proverbs has a lot to say about both. In fact, each and every saying communicates something about one of the two, if not both.

The LORD is only named a couple of times in chapter 28. There’s verse 5: Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it completely. Justice is a buzzword today, and it’s a huge theme in the Bible. If this verse is true, then there is no justice outside of God. It is God who defines what justice means to us.

There’s verse 14: Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. This saying connects the ideas of fearing God and have a soft and sensitive heart.  To fear God is to have a sensitive hear towards God.

And there’s verse 25: A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched. This saying puts in stark contrast sparking conflict and resting secure in God. They are two incompatible practices.

Where else do you see God in these proverbs?

Proverbs: Language is power

Proverbs 18

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Language is a powerful thing. If there’s a theme to chapter 18, that might be it. Notice all the words and images associated with language: expressing opinion, words, mouth, lips, whisperer, quarreling.

All the stuff of words.

Here is a book about wisdom, about living the good life, the use and abuse of words is a hot topic. With words we express gratitude, encouragement, and love. With words we express contempt, complaint, and conflict.

And if chapter 18 is true, words are a matter of life and death.

Is there a time that the words you spoke made a difference in your day?