Free files for youth pastors and small group leaders:

1 – 1 Kings 1-4 – Solomon Wisdom (mp3)

1 – 1 Kings 1-4 – Solomon Wisdom (fillout sheet)

1 – 1 Kings 1-4 – Solomon Wisdom (ppt)

1 – 1 Kings 1-4 – Solomon Wisdom (Scripture)

1 – 1 Kings 1-4 – Solomon Wisdom (outline)

I love to brag on my church…ahem, boast in Christ on my church!  We have some seriously smart people around here in the Huntsville, AL area.  Half of the church’s email addresses are “@nasa.gov”.  We have someone in our church with a masters degree in “theater campaign war strategies” from West Point who helped plan the attack on Iraq.  We have a video game programmer who designs situational combat games for the army.  We have a guy in our church with well over 10 U.S. patents in his name in the area of diffusing bombs.  Apparently, when the L.A. bomb squad has a question, they call him!  Even our students talk smack about who made the highest 30 on their ACTs.  Nerd alert!

The main truth when taking a look at 1 Kings 1 – 4 is wisdom.  I think at times an educated society can become complacent in its intelligence and knowledge which will, in turn, hinder us from becoming truly wise.  Wisdom is far different than facts and smarts. 

In 1 Kings 1 – 4, David’s son Adonijah attempts to take over his father’s throne so that Solomon can’t become king.  It’s an amazing story.  Whoever says the Bible is boring has never read it!  David ends up inaugurating Solomon as the bona fide King of all Israel, God’s people.  Solomon really seemed to be the real deal – a King who loved the Lord.  He would often go up alone to the highest places in Israel to make sacrifices to God.  You know someone in the OT loves the Lord by their faithful sacrifices, just like today you know someone loves the Lord if they faithfully talk about and live by the death of Jesus Christ for their sins (1 Kings 3:3-4).  Does the gospel drive your love for God?

One day while Solomon was sacrificing, God told him to ask for anything and it will be given to him (3:5).  Solomon goes into super-humble mode (and its totally sincere).  He tells God that he feels too weak and stupid to be the king of His people, so if there is anything he’d want…it would be wisdom to be a good king.  God was so proud of Solomon’s choice, that He went ahead and blessed him with honor, wealth, and long life.

The very first thing Solomon did with his new super-power of wisdom was… made sacrifices (3:15).  Looking to God’s sacrifice for sin through Jesus is the wisest thing we can do.  Solomon’s wisdom was truly tested when two fierce women came to him fighting over a baby…both claiming the baby was theirs.  Solomon just said, “Fine, let’s chop the baby in half and give you both an equal part.”  One of the women then said, “No!  Just give the baby to the other woman.”  Solomon knew she was the real mother. 

Wisdom can be defined as living life in God’s way by God’s truth.  Wisdom is not being a human Google search engine or as knowledgeable as Wikipedia.  Wisdom is not knowing more than someone else, but it is how you live and make life decisions with what you know.  In fact, a 5 year old that knows Jesus as Lord is more wise than an unsaved Harvard professor (Prov 4:7).  So, Wisdom is not a what, but wisdom is a Who.

Solomon talks about wisdom like it’s a personality crying out in the streets (Prov 1).  Agur says that you are not wise if you do not know wisdom’s name or His Son’s name (Prov 30:1-6).  So how can wisdom be a personality, a Who, and a Son?  Paul answers that question by saying that God has made Jesus Christ to be our wisdom (1 Cor 1:30).  Jesus is our Way, our Truth, and our Life (John 14:6).  He is wisdom personified!

You can ask yourself six questions to help you live wisely for Jesus Christ.  1. God, will you give me wisdom (James 1:5)?  2. What do the Scriptures say?  3. How can I glorify Jesus most?  4. How will this affect my future?  5. What do my authorities tell me?  6. God, will you show me what to do?  Solomon is not the wisest king in the Bible…Jesus is.  You can be even wiser than Solomon in this day and life by knowing and following King Jesus.  So don’t be stupid, but be super wise through His wisdom.