1 Kings 3:1-15: Solomon, The Sinful Saint

Introduction:

Sinful saints, who are a mix of belief and worship and trust and obedience; yet who are also inconsistent, disobedient, unwise and compromising are a valuable encouragement in scripture.  Not only because we see how God’s grace is bigger than our failures, but also because we get to see how sin works in the fallen heart. Solomon is one of the bigger saints with big sins and his life is incredibly instructive.  We are early on in the reign of Solomon, and the benefit of studying the early years is because the trajectory for a person’s life is set early on.  The way you work in highschool, the way you conduct yourself in courtship, the way you do your chores at home will all shape who you will become.  If you allow seeds of laziness, dishonesty, or disregard take root, this will grow a rich crop of destruction later on in your life. Likewise if you cultivate diligence, honesty and selflessness, this will set you up well for life.  This is not to say that a person can’t change for the better or worse later on, but the saying is true, well begun is half done.

Solomon’s life was one of great accomplishments, and great sins.  The benefit of studying his life is that we have recorded for us the seeds of both his sins and his greatness.  1 Kings 3:1-15 reveals the mix of good and bad that will bear fruit a hundredfold later on in his life.  Already we have highlighted the importance of starting right and rooting our sin when it is small; already we are thinking about present patterns of sin and how they may have begun in our lives; if you are a young person here today you should take special care to see how things develop in Solomon’s life as they will help you to see how you ought to live today.  Let us look then at the small beginnings which yielded big results in his life.  We will look firstly at the bad and then the good.

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