Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Proves Jesus’s Wisdom | The Life of Solomon | 1 Kings 10

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT Podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, Ask TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. In seminary, a very well-respected professor told every student, the very first thing he would do if they ever invited him to come. and speak at their church. He said he would find the person who works at the front desk, and he would ask him or her this question. Tell me about your pastor. Do you like working here?

Starting point is 00:00:44 Is he kind, respectful? Does he care about you and others? And then he said he would find the janitor and ask all of the exact same questions. If Jesus came to your business, your house, your school, and he started asking about you, what do you think he would find? Maybe he'd ask your children that same question. Does he pay attention to you? Is he kind and patient? Or maybe he'd ask your roommate that question. Does she follow through on her promises? Is she present with you? Does she pull her weight with the chores? Or maybe your employee? Is she commanding and domineering? Does she care about you? Does she speak words of encouragement to you continually? Or maybe you'd go to your boss? Is he responsible and hardworking? Does he complain? Does he help others have a good spirit about their

Starting point is 00:01:32 work and their wife? You know, I hate writing this because I can immediately see what a phony I am. If Jesus comes asking those questions in my life, I hope that he comes on one of my good days. But there's no better measure of wisdom in your life than how you actually treat other people. In 1 Kings 10, the Queen of Sheba comes to visit Solomon. Sheba was a small city state situated far south of Israel. It's actually at the northernmost point of the Red Sea. And this meant that it was a lucrative trading hub. It was known more for its wealth than its political power. Now, at this time, its ruling queen began to hear stories about Solomon. And of course, she's hearing

Starting point is 00:02:12 stories about his wealth and his prosperity, but she also heard about his wisdom. And so she sets off to ask him hard questions. And Solomon, it turns out, was no disappointment. In 1st Kings 10, we read this. And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he cannot explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cup bears, his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of Yahweh, there was no more breath in her. Solomon was obviously impressive. But what I find interesting is how the queen of Sheba describes Solomon's wisdom. How she says, I know that your

Starting point is 00:02:57 wisdom is authentic wisdom. Check out verse six. And she says, and she says, said to the king, the report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and your wisdom. But I didn't believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half wasn't even told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpassed the report that I heard. Now I want you to catch this part. How does she know that he's wise? Happy are your men. Happy your servants who continually stand before you to hear your wisdom. Blessed be Yahweh your God who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king that you may execute justice and righteousness.

Starting point is 00:03:41 It almost sounds like the Queen of Sheba went and found the janitors, the employees, the children, the coworkers, and she said, hey, but what is Solomon really like? What's your life really like? Because she says, beyond a shadow of a doubt, happy are your men, happy are your servants. she knows that Solomon is wise because she's seen how he impacts the lives of other people around him, his servants, his court, those that he executes justice and righteousness for. And apparently their condition is so happy that she, she's a foreign idol worshipper. She concludes that Yahweh must really be here and that Yahweh truly has blessed Solomon with wisdom.

Starting point is 00:04:24 Again, I want you to imagine that someone looked carefully at the people in your life, the people that you most impact. If they looked at those people, would they say, happy are her employees, happy are his children, happy are her roommates, happy are his coworkers, or do you tend to leave people

Starting point is 00:04:41 where you found them? Worse yet, do you escalate conflict in your community? Do you make other people more apprehensive? Does your gossip so discord? Does your anger create fear? Does your idealism suffocate nuance? wisdom is about living with a grain of reality as God created it.

Starting point is 00:05:03 Live with the grain and you produce happiness and others. Live against that grain and you suck life out of the world. I can't help but think about Jesus's boldness when he was declaring to a group of scribes and Pharisees who were critiquing him at the time. Catch what Jesus says to them. He says, the queen of the South, that's the queen of Shiba, will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the world.

Starting point is 00:05:28 wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Now, Jesus' words tell us two critical things. First, wisdom is not people pleasing. Wise people certainly do add to the lives of others, but they rarely add to the lives of fools. This is why he is correcting and rebuking the scribes and the Pharisees, because they are being foolish. You see, fools, they see the truth, goodness, and beauty of a wise life. They make sport of tearing it down. And that's exactly what the Pharisees and the scribes did to Jesus. They were incredibly intelligent, but they were also incredibly unwise. So first, wisdom isn't people-pleasing, but second, this tells us that Jesus really is the premier image of wisdom, because the same

Starting point is 00:06:12 point bears out in his life. Everywhere Jesus went, he deepened the happiness of others. Not cheaply, not with stuff, not with false promises, not by massaging their egos or their false philosophies of life. He added to their wives by living with God's grain, by showing them mercy and kindness, forgiveness, by giving them the gift of his presence. The great proof of Jesus's wisdom is the way that his life has transformed our entire world for the better. The world after Jesus is a world with more hospitals, orphanages, charitable societies. He taught us that we are most rich when we care for the poor and most invulnerable when we care for the vulnerable. He showed us that all people are made in God's image. And we'll be judged not based on how we treat the elite and the powerful,

Starting point is 00:07:00 but based on how we treat children and the lowly. Do you want wisdom in your life? The world needs more wisdom. It needs more people who are others focused, who are self-denying, who are responsibility taking, who are living with the grain of reality. But that wisdom, it can only come from one source. Don't look inside. Don't try to find it in your heart. You'll find nothing but self and selfishness there. James says to ask God for wisdom, and he'll give it to you abundantly, not because you merit it. We're all fools before God. God gives it abundantly because he's gracious, and he wants to see his world flourish. Jesus was greater than Solomon and wisdom, which meant that he brought more happiness, joy, life, love, goodness, mercy into people's

Starting point is 00:07:47 lives than Solomon ever did. And Jesus offers that same kind of wisdom to you for the sake of his world. So turn from your foolishness, from all the ways you know that you make the lives of other people more miserable, and ask God for His grace. Pray today, give me wisdom, Jesus. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with. Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Proves Jesus’s Wisdom | The Life of Solomon | 1 Kings 10

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