View source for 1 Kings 8:16-66, Dedication Sunday

'''Theological Proposition/Focus: In spite of transcendence God hears His people.''' 

'''Homiletical Proposition/Application: We should go to God in prayer confident that He will hear and listen.''' 

=Introduction:=
==Image:==
==Need: We need to make sure that at all times our efforts reflect our knowledge and belief that God is our God==
==Preview: Today we are going to explore how Solomon’s dedication of the Temple teaches us much about how we should honor our God.==
==Text: 1 Kings 8:22-66 ==

==Setting the Stage:==
====The construction of the temple was significant.====
=====Upon taking the throne one of the major projects that Solomon undertook was the construction of the temple.=====
=====David had done a lot of preparations but the final task fell to Solomon.=====
=====The temple was significant because prior to the temple God’s people worshiped him in the tabernacle, a tent.=====
======While the God of the universe can be worshiped anywhere, a mark of maturity seems to be a desire to worship God with one’s best.======

====The arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in verses 1-21 really marked the completion of the temple.====


=Body=



==Our God: the loving promise keeper (23-26).==
===Like no other, God’s love is always faithful (23).===
====Verse 23 is filled with beautiful language describing God’s uniqueness.====
=====Our God is unlike anything on heaven or earth.=====
=====Our God keeps his promises.=====
=====Our God is a God of וְֽהַחֶ֔סֶד (hesed, loyal love.)=====
====God’s חֶסֶד deserves special attention.====
One writer notes that it is not obligation, legalism, or a desire to control others for personal gain that motivates God, no it is His loyal love<ref>Paul R. House, 1, 2 Kings, vol. 8, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 143.</ref>.
===God has always kept his promises (24).===
====David’s life illustrates God’s promise keeping loyal love - what we might summarize as grace.====
=====David was graciously selected as king above all his brothers.=====
=====David messed up, a lot.=====
======Bathsheba======
======Murder======
======Taking a forbidden census======
=====Even though he messed up God allowed his son Solomon to become King.=====
=====God further allowed David’s son Solomon to build the temple.=====
===Therefore, we can count on God to keep the promises he has made (25-26).===
====Solomon’s request, in light of God’s loyal love, is that he would keep the ultimate promise.====
=====God had promised David an eternal kingdom.=====
=====I am sure that Solomon had no idea what it even meant to have an eternal kingdom.=====
=====Yet, Solomon asks God to keep this significant promise.=====
The request Solomon made was a request for God’s promise, based on God’s character, without fully realizing what it even would mean for God to keep that promise. I once heard a sermon where someone advocated to stop asking God for things he has always promised. However, as I think about Solomon here, David in the psalms, and even the Lord’s prayer, I am reminded that time and time again people ask God to keep his promises. Maybe the point is not so much the request as it is an act of submissive worship. Asking God to keep his promises forces us to acknowledge God’s promises and admit that we need them. However, in order to do this we must know what God has promised us.

===Image: Non-owned insurance, when reading the small print matters===
A month or so ago I was talking with a guy at the airport. He had loaned a friend his airplane and his friend made a mistake on take-off crashing the airplane. Nobody was hurt, but the airplane was destroyed. To make a bad situation worse, the insurance company declined the claim because the friend to whom the airplane had been loaned did not have an instrument rating (a big safety factor in the world of aviation).  Just when it looked like there would be no recourse and they were on the line for replacing an airplane, it was suggested the gentleman who had borrowed the airplane look at the fine print in the insurance agreement for his own personal airplane. There in the fine print was a clause “coverage is extended to non-owned aircraft of a similar type when owned aircraft is undergoing maintenance.”  That promise right there in the fine print turned a bad situation into a manageable situation. Knowing the promise matters and knowing the non-promise matters. The insurance had not promised to insure a non-instrument rated pilot, but the other insurance had promised to honor their pilot. 

In order to function well as christians, we need to know God’s promises.
===MTR: Take time to make sure you know God’s promises.===

==Our God: transcendent and holy yet intimately involved (27-32).==
===No creation can ever measure up to our God (27).===
Here is the ultimate reality, a reality that I want us to take some time to consider today. We are worshiping the God of creation. Since God created all and is omnipresent, nothing created can ever contain God. This was the predicament that Solomon found himself in and this is the predicament that I want us to spend some time in today. As wonderful as our sanctuary is, it pales in comparison to God. It is only through God that anything in our sanctuary is worth looking at. In order to properly worship God, we must ensure that we recognize the unfathomable shortcomings of our work! Only then will we truly be worshiping God!
===Nevertheless, God does condescend to hear the prayers of His people (28-30).===
Solomon’s recognition of God’s transcendence is met with his knowledge of his condescension. The God who transcends all also has regard for his servants. This is amazing and should cause us to fall on our knees in awe of our God. 
====Image: It is not always about the beauty but sometimes the thought really is what counts.====
My nieces and nephews, both adopted and not adopted, love to make me artwork, and I love their artwork! In fact, I keep it all! No really, I have a folder and it is all stored in that folder. But I also put some of it out to display. About 6 months ago, one of my nieces walked into my office here at the church and said, “oh, you have my picture up.” Yes, I said, I have everything you have drawn me. Why? Because you took the time to make it for me and your effort matters. Is it the most beautiful picture I have? In my mind it is, to others, probably not, but I was proud to have received the gift and so I display it for others to see!

On a whole new level I wonder if this is sort of how God responds to our sanctuary, to Solomon’s temple. I am sure both solomon’s temple and our sanctuary pale in comparison with God’s throne room. But, I wonder if God values our sanctuary more because of the love that it represents?

In any case, the point we need to see is that God condescends to hear us, to enjoy what we have created for Him. And since God hears us we should pray and our prayers should be representative of our status, completely below God in need of his transcendent condescension. Look at the prayers of Solomon and let’s turn them into action steps.
===MTR: Pray that God carries out justice (31-32).===
====Remember, Solomon was the wisest king to live. If anybody could carry out justice it would be Solomon.====
====I find it almost ironic that the wisest man alive recognizes that he himself needs God for justice.====
====We need to humbly ask God for justice and be willing to accept that we might not have the best picture of justice.====
===MTR: Pray that God accepts repentance (33-40).===
====God used famine, plague, blight, mildew, locusts, disaster, disease, and defeats as chastening instruments to bring people to repent.====
====In verse 37 it is more than just hearing repentance but also a request that God teach right living.====
====I think this is characteristic of true repentance. True repentance asks God to help avoid the problem in the future.====
===MTR: Pray that God calls the lost (41-43).===
====In the midst of an incredible moment of national pride, Solomon understood a most important truth: everybody needs God.====
=====I don’t think anybody would think worse of Solomon if all he focussed on was Israel.=====
=====However, Solomon knew that God was more than just the God of Israel.=====
====We similarly need to pray for those outside our four walls, outside our circle of believers.====
=====We need to pray that Go would call the lost to salvation.=====
===MTR: Pray that God protect those who pray to Him (44-45).===
===MTR: Pray that God restores those who have wandered (46-51).===
====Solomon realized that the ultimate punishment God might leverage was expulsion from the land.====
====If such a punishment was levied Solomon prayed that restoration would occur.====
====In fact, this was some very good insight on the part of Solomon. The people did enter captivity and Daniel prayed much like this for their restoration.====
===MTR: Pray that God notices and remembers His own (52-53).===
<p>This is not actually a prayer for God to take notice, but rather an acknowledgement that everything is futile if God is not involved. Why do I say this? Because God does notice and does remember His own. We don’t need to remind God to be faithful, but we do need to remind ourselves that God is faithful. This is the point here. By praying and asking God to remember His own we are reminding ourselves and humbly acknowledging that we need God to remember us.</p>


==Our God: worthy of your heart (62-66).==
===A proper response to God is offering (62-64).===
====The numbers given here are extraordinary.==== 
<p>I grew just down the road from a feedlot. The feedlot was a mile long and just under a mile wide, that feedlot hold 60,000 cattle and I will admit, when the wind blows the right direction it stinks!</p>
=====22,000 cattle is a an incredible sacrifice===== 
<p>If we went with a low price of $1500 each we are talking about 33 million dollars in Today’s world where mass production means we all have access to cows. And Solomon made this sacrifice after having already paid for the temple!</p>
=====120,000 sheep and goats is an awful lot of work!=====
=====Verse 64 tells us that the numbers were so large Solomon was forced to allot additional space for the sacrifices.=====
====Fellowship offerings emphasized unity before God.====
<p>In the fellowship offering the animal was often slaughtered and the blood, fat, and entrails were devoted to God while the people in an act of great fellowship joined together to eat the meat and enjoy God’s blessings.</p>
=====Solomon, in an act of great reverence shared with the people.===== 
===A proper response to God involves everyone (65).===
====1 Kings 6:1 tells us that 480 years after leaving Egypt Solomon started the Temple.====
=====Really, the construction of the temple marked the end of the period of wandering.=====
=====With a permanent place of worship, all the people finally can rest secure knowing they now have a place.=====
====I think we are supposed to see here a large party involving everyone.====
=====Thousands of people=====
=====A large area for sacrificing=====
=====2 Weeks=====

===A proper response to God will not leave you unchanged (66).===
====When the festivities were finished the people went home but their trip was marked by joy.====
====A proper response to god involves joy at what God is doing, you should be changed, you should celebrate!.====
===MTR: Write a response, how is God changing you?===