How
would you like to be remembered?
Some
of us want to be remembered with just a simple tombstone, while others want to
be remembered for who they were and what they did in life. King Solomon wanted
to be remembered as the person who built the temple. The reading we heard from
1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43 earlier in today’s service is part of the prayer of
dedication of the temple.
There
had been talk of building a temple to the glory of God for quite some time. The
Israelites believed that the Lord God dwelled in a tent. When the Israelites
were wandering through the desert and living in tents themselves, it only made
sense for the people to regard God as also dwelling in a tent. By living in a
tent, God was able to travel everywhere that the people did. Wherever the
people wandered God could travel with them. The people no longer lived in tents
out in the desert. Instead they lived in houses in villages and towns. It just
did not seem right for God to dwell in a tent when the people enjoyed all the
comforts of living in houses. It was only appropriate for God to have a
permanent dwelling place as well. It was Solomon's goal to build a temple.
In
his prayer of dedication, Solomon referred to the promise God made to his
father David, a promise David revealed to Solomon on his deathbed. That promise
was expressed in conditional terms in Psalm 132, where God promised that if
David’s descendants kept his covenant and the testimony that he would teach
them, they would sit on David’s throne forever. Unfortunately, by the time the
temple was dedicated, Solomon had already broken God’s requirements. Solomon married
one of Pharaoh’s daughters and made sacrifices and burned incense in places
where pagans worshiped and people were unfaithful to God.
Solomon
was not perfect, and neither was his father David. Both of them represent all
of us because we are not perfect. Like Solomon and David, we have a sin-filled
nature. We do things that do not please God, but God can still use us to do his
work as long as we allow God to live in us through the Holy Spirit.
God’s
name represents all that he is, but he can’t be confined by the temple because
he is everywhere. He transcends places and things. For example, one of the
reasons why God didn’t allow David to build the temple was because David’s
desire was to confine God to a physical building. Solomon built the temple knowing
that God is present everywhere. Also, Jesus was limited by his physical body in
that he could only be in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be
everywhere and with everyone at the same time. God Iives in the hearts of all
believers. He wants the whole world to know, love, worship and serve him. We
are to make intimacy with God our #1 priority.
Solomon’s famous wisdom was
reflected in his prayers at the dedication of the temple. He wants God’s name
(and hence God’s presence) to be present in the temple so he would hear the
prayers of the people and respond by acting with justice. The building of Solomon’s temple reminded the people
that obedience-wholehearted devotion to God-is required to experience the
blessing of God’s presence.
Solomon
knew that the splendour of the temple was small compared to the size of God. Solomon
had a vision that included all the peoples of the earth. He realized that God’s
house wasn’t only for the covenant people, but for the seekers of the whole
world as well. Nothing can contain God. He is big enough to handle all of our
problems, regardless of their size.
The
temple was built for both the Jews and the Gentiles. Foreigners were welcome in
the Court of the Gentiles. The temple became a house of prayer for all nations.
Foreigners, or people who are different from us, reveal who we are as a
community. They measure the spiritual maturity of a person and community. They
carry potential evangelism to Israel and the world. They are a warning in a
too-settled community that sometimes forgets about a partner on a spiritual
journey.
David
had the desire to build the temple, but the work was actually done by Solomon.
Was David frustrated when God blocked his plans? Yes he was, but he did not let
that stop him. David prayed, sacrificed,
toiled and kept the vision of the temple before the people. He trusted in God
to bring something good out of his frustration. Without David’s determination,
the temple would never have been built.
In
many churches today people are discussing the style and content of their
worship. The leadership of our own parish had a similar discussion earlier this
year when the decision was made to use the different liturgies that are in use
throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion. We must remember that the intended
audience for our worship is God and not any particular group. God is the host,
and we are there to worship him. He makes us at home in his presence through
his grace, mercy and peace. God welcomes us and our neighbours regardless of
whether or not they are church members.
Solomon’s petition in this
reading teaches us some valuable lessons about prayer. First, God answers our
prayers in his own time and in his own way. Second, when we think our prayers
have not been heard or our prayers have been rejected, God answers them in far
better ways than we can imagine. God is
honoured and blessed when we acknowledge that God keeps his promises and
answers our prayers. Prayer places our faith in a God who loves us and cares
about us.
Communal prayer necessarily
and desirably communicates something to both God and to those who pray. It
awakens our spirits to new needs and hopes, but we must not allow our prayers
to become community announcements that we merely allow God to overhear. God
wants to communicate with us. God reaches out to all of us in different ways,
and people feel God’s presence in their lives in different ways. Similarly, the
gospel spreads when we volunteer to go, and even when we go involuntarily.
The cloud that descended on
the temple was a sign of God’s presence. It was the same cloud that accompanied
the Israelites when they left Egypt. It was the same cloud that descended on Mount
Sinai when God made his covenant and gave Moses and the Israelites the Ten
Commandments. That covenant was still in force at the dedication of the temple,
but Solomon also spoke of the covenant God made with his father David to
establish a line of David forever-a line that included Jesus. Even after the
temple was destroyed, it lived on in the hearts of the people, just like God’s
presence lived on with them and lives on with us today. God has remained
faithful to his people through the centuries. Nothing can control God, and
nothing can contain God.
Solomon’s prayer teaches us
many things that have practical value. First, it reminds us that the prayer we
offer has much to do with the future that is before us. Prayer can insist that
our future must include God. Second, it gives us advice, especially when we
don’t know how to pray or when prayer seems to be a dead language or an
embarrassment in a world that relies on technique. Finally, it encourages us to
dedicate ourselves to the work God has given us to do. We must commit deeply to
our own dedication to God so that people may come to hear God’s great name
because of the way we live our lives.
Bibliography
1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing;2013)
2. ESV Study Bible.
Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles
Bible, NKJV (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 2005)
6. Dilday, R. &
Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary
Series, Vol. 9: 1,2 Kings (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1987)
7. Cameron B.R.
Howard, “Commentary on 1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43.” Retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1403
8. Katherine
Schifferdecker, “Commentary on 1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43.”
Retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=364
13. Lacey Broemel,
“Bible Study: 13 Pentecost, Proper 16(B)-Aug. 26, 2012”. Retrieved from http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2012/08/01/bible-study-13-pentecost-proper-16-b
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