Praying Idols
Sermon Notes
Introduction:
Hey everybody my name’s Louis I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening, it’s great to gather with you both onsite and online. At this time we can dismiss the children to children’s church, and if you didn’t get to check your child in, please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back and they’d be more than happy to assist you with that...If you’re a 1st time guest with us we’re doing a teaching series called The Story, where we’re going through the biblical narrative from the very beginning in Genesis 1, to the last amen in Revelation 22. Today we’re studying the story where King Solomon dedicates the temple he built for people to worship the Lord. It’s a dream his father King David had, and that dream has finally become a reality. So Solomon and the Israelites start out well, they start out praying and dedicating the temple to the Lord. They start out seeking the Lord in prayer, but they eventually seek other things instead of the Lord.
I remember talking with a guy who said he prayed to the Lord, but the Lord didn’t answer him so he became an atheist. He started out seeking the Lord in prayer, but he stopped seeking the Lord when the Lord didn’t answer his prayers, so he became an atheist. I know as believers we’ll often say we believe in prayer, but then we’ll often live like atheists giving very little time to prayer. We’ll seek the Lord in prayer, but then if he doesn’t answer whenever or however we want, we start fading in prayer. This is exactly what happens to Solomon and the Israelites. They start off seeking the Lord in prayer, but they eventually seek other things instead of the Lord. So let’s turn to 1st Kings ch 8 and check it out. You’ll find 1st Kings in the front quarter of your bible, and we’ll start in 1st Kings 8:22. Title of today’s message is Praying Idols, and here’s the big idea. Don’t let your prayers become idols...Don’t let your prayers become idols...
Context:
Here’s your context. In 1st Kings we learn King David dies and his son Solomon becomes the new king. Historically we know Solomon was one of the wisest, wealthiest kings in history, which we’ll learn about in a few weeks. But at this point in 1st Kings the focus is on his greatest achievement, which is the completion of the temple, the place where the Jews would worship the Lord for decades. It’s hard for us to appreciate what an incredible moment this was for the Jews, because we’ve never seen anything like it. I mean the temple was so big, it took over 150,000 people to build it, and over 8 yrs to complete it. Historically we know Solomon made the temple out of 40,000 tons of silver and 4,000 tons of gold, which is equivalent to 160 trillion dollars of silver and gold today. According to one scholar Solomon used 1/20thof the gold we’ve mined in the world on this one temple. But he also used all kinds of precious stones and jewels like marble,onyx, rubies, and emeralds on the pillars and walls. So the temple was incredible in both size and beauty, and the time has come for Solomon to dedicate the temple to the Lord. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
1st Kings 8:22 states, “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.” Solomon spreading his hands toward heaven implies he’s praying. He’s dedicating the temple to the Lord by praying to the Lord, and it’s an incredible prayer full of things we can be praying for in our own lives. We don’t have time to break it all down because it’s a very long prayer, but he prays for things like...
· Desiring God’s presence = (Vs. 57)
· Desiring to obey God, and to do God’s will in everything = (Vs. 58)
· Desiring God’s help in meeting our daily needs = (Vs. 59)
· Desiring God’s kingdom to spread throughout the earth = (Vs. 60)
These are all things we can be praying for in our own lives. He prays for many more things than this, but I’ll only highlight just a few more critical things as we go.
Vs. 23, “Solomon prayed, ‘Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below...27 Even heaven, the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built.” Notice he says the Lord’s presence can’t be ‘contained’ by a building. He’s saying even though the temple’s a big accomplishment, even though it provides us a place to gather and worship, it’s still just a building. It’s just a building, and the presence of God can’t be contained by a building. The presence of God existed before the building, which is important because I believe the time is coming when we’ll have our own building for City Awakening. I’d like to see our Sunday gatherings grow by another 70 people within the next 2 yrs, and then start searching for a building to have a more permanent imprint on our city. But it’s a mistake to think our church’s existence depends on a building, because the church isn’t a building, it’s a people. We don’t go to church, we are the church! If every church building collapsed the church would still exist, because the people of God would still exist. If the temple Solomon built eventually collapsed, which it did...the people of God and the presence of God would still exist, which it does. It’s because the people of God and the presence of God, can’t be contained by a temple or church building.
Vs. 27 again states, “Even heaven, the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built. 28 Listen to your servant’s prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you today, 29 so your eyes may watch over this temple night and day, toward the place where you said, ‘My name will be there,’ and so you may hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the petition of your servant and your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven. May you hear and forgive...32 may you hear in heaven, and act.” This is one of the things I love about Solomon’s prayer, it’s that he’s praying with the anticipation that the Lord’s hearing. He’s praying with anticipation that the Lord’s hearing our prayers, and in vs 32 he anticipates the Lord will act on our prayers, which I’ll talk about more later.
Vs. 33, “When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against you...35 When the skies are shut and there is no rain, because your people have sinned against you...37 When there is famine in the land... when their enemy besieges them in the land and its cities, when there is any plague or illness, 38 every prayer or petition that any person or that all your people Israel may have...as they spread out their hands toward this temple, 39 may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and may you forgive and act...” So he not only anticipates the Lord will hear and act on their prayers, he also anticipates the Israelites will stumble in their faith and obedience to the Lord. He anticipates they’ll sin, they’ll turn away from the Lord, and as a result they’ll face exile, famine, plagues, many other afflictions from living life without the Lord. So he prays for the Lord to hear and forgive, those who repent and turn back to him.
Vs. 41, “Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel, but has come from a distant land because of your name—42 for they will hear of your great name, strong hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple—43 may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all the foreigner asks. Then all peoples of earth will know your name...” Solomon anticipates even foreigners, people from all over the world will come to the temple to pray to the Lord. He’s praying for the Lord to hear and answer their prayers too, so they’ll turn to the Lord and bring glory to God’s name throughout the earth. Solomon’s prayer continues beyond this, but one of the main things I want you to realize is the temple was always meant to be a place for prayer, a House of Prayer. It was always meant to be a place where both Israelites and foreigners could pray and find salvation in the Lord. It started out that way, but it didn’t stay that way. Both Solomon and the Israelites eventually sin against the Lord and start worshiping other gods. Solomon had a lust for women, he had over 700 wives, and many of them were princesses from around the world who worshiped other gods. Solomon ends up building temples and worshiping some of their gods, and some of the Israelites start worshiping other gods too. They turned away from the one true God who could meet all their needs, and turned to false gods who couldn’t meet any of their needs. In the ancient world people didn’t have one god who could meet all their needs, so they created a god for every need. For example the Athenians had over 30,000 gods they worshiped. An ancient historian named Peteronius said, “It was easier to find a god in Athens, than a man!” It’s because they had a god for every need in life. They had:
· Zeus = God of the sky
· Poseidon = God of the sea
· Artemis = The goddess of prosperity and money.
· Aphrodite = The goddess of sexuality, beauty, and fertility.
· Nike = The goddess of victory. She was worshipped by athletes and warriors. They believed she’d make them run faster, jump higher, and soar above the competition. It’s where Nike sneakers got their name from. In 1964 Nike was actually called Blue Ribbon Sports, but in 1971 they changed their name to Nike after the goddess of victory.
· Cloacina = The goddess of the sewer system...They literally had a god for the sewer system...She was in charge of making sure excess rain and human waste was removed from the city. How do you even worship a god like that? Every time you flush the toilet you’re like swoosh, “Hallelujah Cloacina!...Shekinah Glory!”
The point is they had multiple gods for everything, and the Israelites started turning to
multiple gods too. When the Lord didn’t answer their prayers right away, they started doubting the Lord was hearing their prayers and turned to other gods. For nearly 400 yrs the Lord kept forgiving them like Solomon prayed, but around 586 B.C. the Lord finally allows the Israelites to feel the pains of living life without him. He allows the Babylonians to capture them, and they live in Babylonian exile away from the temple for many years. This is when the Lord speaks through the prophet Ezekiel, who’s trying to lead the Israelites to repent and turn back to the Lord. Ezekiel shares a vision with the Israelites, it’s a vision of the Lord’s presence leaving the temple.
Ezekiel 10:18, “Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple... 19 The glory of the God of Israel was above them, and it stopped at the entrance to the eastern gate of the Lord’s house...Ch 11:23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped on the mountain east of the city.” Ezekiel’s vision is about the glory and presence of the Lord moving away from the temple. It’s leaving the temple. What’s interesting is several hundred years later in the gospel of Luke, we learn Jesus travels up the very same mountain Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord depart from. He rides up and down the mountain on his way to Jerusalem just before he’s crucified. Where does Jesus go after coming down the mountain? He goes into the temple...He goes into the temple to show he’s the incarnate God who came to bring the glory and presence of the Lord back into the temple, back into the hearts of the Israelite and foreigner.
Luke 19:45, “He went into the temple and began to throw out those who were selling, 46
and he said, ‘It is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!’” Jesus is getting rid of the corruption to restore the temple back to what it was meant to be, which was a house of prayer. It was meant to be a place for prayer, for forgiveness of sins, for salvation in the Lord. Jesus came to fill the temple again with his glory and presence showing he’s the incarnate God who came to save, to hear and act graciously, towards anyone who repents and turns to him in prayer. The intent has always been for us to turn to Jesus in prayer for salvation and everyday life. So here’s 3 things, 3 application questions when it comes to our prayers.
Question #1 = Are you praying with an expectation that God will hear and act? Are you praying with an expectation that God will hear and act on your prayers? When Solomon was praying in 1st Kings 8, he was praying with an expectation that the Lord will hear and act on his prayers. In fact the word hear is used 13 times in Solomon’s prayer, and 12 of those 13 are all referring to the Lord hearing our prayers. In vs 32 and 39 he mentions the Lord hearing and acting on our prayers. Jesus tells us to pray with that same expectation.
· Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you.”
· Matthew 21:22, “If you believe you’ll receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
· John 14:13, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus repeatedly tells us to “ask” him for things in prayer, with an expectation that he’ll hear and act on our prayers. Are you doing that? Are you asking with an expectation that the Lord will hear and act on your prayers, or are you simply telling Jesus about your problems? Are you telling Jesus about your problems, without any expectations? Jesus is telling us to ask, with an expectation that he’ll hear and act, but don’t confuse this into thinking he’s your genie in a bottle. Don’t confuse this into thinking he’ll answer your prayers whenever and however you want. The expectation is he’ll hear and act, not that he’ll hear and act whenever and however you want. This was the issue for Solomon and the Israelites. It’s that they expected the Lord to answer their prayers whenever and however they wanted, which leads to our 2nd application question.
Question #2 = Are you turning your prayers into idols? Are you turning your prayers into idols? When the Lord didn’t answer their prayers whenever and however they wanted, the Israelites turned to other gods, and it exposed the real god they were worshiping in their hearts. It exposed the real god they were worshiping was the things they were praying for. They wanted the things they were praying for, more than they wanted the God they were praying to. See the question isn’t will the Lord act on your prayers, it’s will you still be satisfied in him after he acts on your prayers?...Will you still be satisfied in him if he doesn’t act on your prayers whenever and however you want?...If you aren’t, then that’s revealing the real god you’ve been worshiping is the thing you’ve been praying for. It’s revealing that you’ve turned your prayers into idols. It’s revealing that you’ve been demanding not praying. You’ve been demanding not asking, and because the Lord hasn’t met your demands you’ve turned to other things to satisfy your needs like the Israelites. Instead of demanding, we need to pray asking and trusting that the Lord is acting. Jesus promises he’s still acting, even on the days he isn’t acting whenever and however we want. In Luke 11 Jesus says “What parent gives their child a scorpion when they’re asking for food,” and his point is the Lord won’t give us a scorpion when we’re asking for food either. The Lord won’t give us bad things, poisonous things, when we ask him for things in prayer. This means even when his answer to our prayers is ‘no,’ that ‘no’ is a good thing instead of a scorpion sting. So even the ‘no’ is an answer to prayer. I don’t like it when the Lord says ‘no,’ but the Lord’s still hearing and acting even in the ‘no.’ I need to trust he’s acting in my best interest, even when I can’t see it. We have to be careful not to do what Solomon and the Israelites did. We have to be careful not to turn our prayers into idols, into things we want more than Jesus.
Question #3 = Are you committed to prayer? Are you committed to prayer? One of our codes here at City Awakening is we want prayer to be our 1st response not our 2nd, meaning we want prayer to be such a priority in our lives, that seeking the Lord’s guidance is our instinctual response as we go through everyday life. Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge him and he’ll make your paths straight.” Isaiah 30:21, “Whether you turn to the right or the left your ears will hear a voice behind you saying ‘This is the way! Walk in it!’” Are you committed to being a person that prays, that seeks the Lord’s guidance as you go through everyday life? The temple was intended to be a “House of Prayer,” but Jesus take things further by intending his followers to be a “People of Prayer.” When Jesus rose from the dead he filled his followers with the power of the Holy Spirit so we can be a mobilized People of Prayer. Again the church isn’t a building, it’s a people. So wherever we go the Holy Spirit goes with us, which is exactly what happens in the book of acts. 39 of the 40 miracles in the book of acts all take place outside the church walls not within it. It’s because the early church was a mobilized People of Prayer, and the question is will you make prayer a priority in your life like the early church did?...Will you make praying for our church, our leaders, the people in our church a priority in your life?...Will you make praying for our church to grow by 70 people within the next 2 yrs a priority in your life, even praying that those you’re trying to reach will become a part of that 70?...Will you ask Jesus for help not just with your own needs, but also for the needs of others in our city?...Will you help us be a church that’s committed to prayer, that’s committed to being a mobilized People of Prayer?
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is don’t let your prayers become idols, like Solomon and the Israelites did. If you need Jesus to forgive you for turning something you’ve been praying for into an idol, or to forgive you of a sin you’ve committed. Then pray asking Jesus to forgive you, and he’ll hear and act on that prayer giving you forgiveness of sin...If you need Jesus to save you from eternal hell we’re deserving of because of our sins. Then pray asking Jesus to save you, and he’ll hear and act on that prayer giving you eternal life through his substitutionary death on the cross.
City Awakening the point is Jesus has offered you his ear...He’s offered you his ear so you can go to him with whatever your needs are in life. He’s offered you his ear and he promises to hear and act in loving ways giving you good things, instead of a scorpion sting. You’ll never know the good things he has for you, if you aren’t praying and trusting in his gracious actions towards you. He’s given you his ear, but will you give him your prayers?...He’s given you his ear, but will you give him your prayers, with confident expectation that he’ll hear and act?