Ephesians 5:25-33 (NIV)  

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body.  ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  ³² This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

We continue the series of Old Testament stories that point to Jesus.  The central theme in the story today is wisdom.

God offered Solomon whatever he wanted, and Solomon wanted the ability to be a good king.  He wanted wisdom and God gave it to him.

Wisdom is competence with regard to life’s realities.

1 Kings 3:16-28 (NIV)

¹⁶ Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.  ¹⁷ One of the them said, “My Lord, this woman and I live in the same house.  I had a baby while she was there with me.  ¹⁸ The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby.  We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

¹⁹ “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.  ²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I, your servant, was asleep.  She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.  ²¹ The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead.  But when I looked closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

²² The other woman said, “No!  The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No!  The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.”  And so they argued before the king.

²³ The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says ‘No!  Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

²⁴ Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.”  So they brought a sword for the king.  ²⁵ He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶ The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby!  Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him.  Cut him in two!”

²⁷ Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman.  Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

²⁸ When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

Today we talk about why we need wisdom and that God gives wisdom.  During the sermon I will describe the anatomy of wisdom, how it is studied and the essential principles of wisdom (the heart of the matter).

Solomon’s case has been given to us through the centuries.  There are two characteristics that tell us about the sort of situation where wisdom is crucial.  1) choice of what type of knowledge will be needed in making a decision.  2) a problem that has no defined rules for guidance.

In this case two women both prostitutes, both have babies and one baby dies and the woman who lost her child in the night stole the other baby.

Proverbs 26:4-5  ⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.  ⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.

Whatever the place of preeminence (wisdom) in your life, work in wisdom, power, knowledge, money, and many other areas.

If God is in the place of preeminence, then you’ll have Godly wisdom.  The Bible teaches us that any wisdom not based on God but built on something else is actually foolishness.

Wisdom usually means coming under authority of something, serving that thing.  I mean training and discipline, always is an undercurrent of coming under the authority of that thing.

Wisdom is based on whatever you’ve put as the most important thing in your life.  What you have decided is what worth doing.

Any wisdom that comes from any sort of king, other than the true King, is foolishness.

Solomon has two women in front of him, he will try to determine what is ruling their lives; motherhood, the child, or idolatry.

Solomon exposes the wisdom of the world and the true Godly wisdom at the same time.

The first woman shows a sense of true wisdom, the secret of the universe and the secret of salvation.

The second woman uses worldly wisdom and loses everything.

The first woman gave the child away to save it and gained it back.  (The way to find your life is to lose it.  The way to get real power that you cannot lose is to submit, just like the way to get real richness is to give it away.)

The first woman (the mother of the child) gave away her chance to being a mother in order to save the child, in order to give the child life.  The mother gave away the hope and had her joy and all the mess she was in order to give the child life it deserves.

In the rare twist she got all she lost and more; safe and purified.

Whatever you have that isn’t from God that has taken over your life, it will be behind every problem you have, every quarrel, every panic, etc.

Think about Abraham and Isaac in last week’s theme that the gift becomes more important than the giver.  God set that right.

The woman faced a sword that would kill her child, she is calm, no resentment, no bitterness, there is sacrifice giving her baby away.

The way to save your life is to lose it.

Matthew 10:39  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will find it.

Solomon deals with broken folks, he bends down to deal with the issue; Solomon’s wisdom.

The way up is to go down.  It’s interesting that this way of selfless living Jesus showed us is how we are supposed to live.

We are to serve others, and what God does with that attitude and service is up to Him.

Jesus is both the true King and a suffering servant.  Jesus the King said “Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, I am the true King.”

1 Corinthians 1:25  Paul describes Jesus as the wisdom and power of God.

Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.  Any mistake you make, Jesus will weave into the rest of your life, only if Jesus is King over your life. 

God bless, have a good week!