Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1360 | The Robertsons Clash With Entitlement Culture That Turns Success Toxic

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

Al, Jase, and Zach call out the entitlement mindset that turns gifts into demands, and Zach traces how a me-first mindset can make comfort and success feel empty. The guys connect that cultural trap to Solomon’s downfall, showing what happens when wealth, power, women, and success capture our desires. Jase takes aim at Western civilization's obsession with actors and celebrity culture, asking why we celebrate people for pretending to be someone else while ignoring the same kind of hypocrisy when in real life. In this episode: James 1, verses 2–18; Matthew 5–7; 1 Kings 3, verses 5–15; 1 Kings 4, verses 29–34; 1 Kings 11, verses 1–13; Deuteronomy 17, verses 14–17; Romans 12, verses 1–2; Ephesians 4, verses 11–16; John 1, verses 35–39; John 4, verses 19–26; Psalm 37, verses 1–40; 1 Peter 2, verses 1–3; Numbers 12, verse 3 “Unashamed” Episode 1360 is sponsored by: https://cozyearth.com/unashamed — Get up to 20% off when you use our link and code UNASHAMED!  https://homechef.com/unashamed — Get 50% off and free shipping on your first box plus free dessert for life! http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Chapters 00:00 Zach’s Pre-Jesus Talent Show Confession 06:09 Solomon’s Wisdom Didn’t Keep Him from Drifting 15:30 James’ Warning about Wealth 20:48 The Celebration of Hypocrisy 26:38 Secret-Agent Faith in the Church 33:00 Success Becomes Solomon’s Greatest Test 40:33 Desires, Gratitude & Spiritual Formation 47:02 The Meek Will Inherit the Earth 52:35 The Crown of Life & God’s Final Gift — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We got the band back together today. Zax, if you're watching this, you're sporting your denim shirt. You're looking very, very sporty today. Bring back to the big deal about denim. Bring it back. What's the big deal about denim? Like, I mean, I've just put on a shirt and then y'all make a big deal about it. Well, the reason I mentioned it. Is it provocative? No, no. The reason I mentioned is I just went to a men's prison and everybody in there was wearing that. Yeah. That's true. That's how they ought to be.

Blue was the new black, I guess, Zach. I think of our dad, remember, he used to make fun of denim. Did he? Oh, yeah. He didn't like that. You don't wear, I don't wear blue jeans. You know, and he never did now that you said that. You know why?

I asked him about it. I was like, why are you always anti-denum? He said, they're uncomfortable. And I thought. Not anymore. Not anymore, guys. It's solved them now. He's talking about, oh, I agree.

the soft denim works, but I think when you look at me, Al, you would never think anything on fashion. That's exactly what I would think. My good buddy said, if I'm not using a duck call or have a Bible in my hand,

pay no attention to what I say. I got three. The same with Dad. Dad was wore the same dirty, khaki and white t-shirt that was stained his whole life. My logic is as long as it's modest, Yeah, go for it.

Uncomptu. I mean, I'm not going to dress M. Monest. I can tell you that. That's not really, I mean. Well, have you noticed, have you noticed, speaking of M. Modest, the men's shorts now, it's hard to find long, long, normal, what I would call normal old men shorts. Now, you're getting into an area where I'm telling you, literally no comment. The young guys, like Christian and those guys, everybody, the shorts are all, and I just tried to buy some.

They have like a four and five inch inseam. But that's unseemly. I mean, that's like halfway down your thigh. That's not enough. I need more coverage. You need more coverage? Yeah. Well, if you're shorter.

I'm for more coverage. It's just a trend, I guess. I haven't noticed. You got boys. I mean, it's harder to find like. Max comes in with Daisy Dukes on. I know. That's creepy, man.

Like, what do you all doing? I don't even know what that means. Daisy Duke? Did you don't remember Daisy Duke from? Duke's a hazard. I remember the long-legged chick that was on there, Daisy? I guess not, but I was pretty young during that. I was pretty young, too.

I mean, that's kind of seared my memory. Who didn't know this Daisy Duke? Daisy Duke. I didn't know that it became a fashion. It did. And in fact, it stuck. Zach is right. It is a, now it is a, a slight dad.

We talked about the other day. Daisy Dukes are now an official thing in the American lexicon. I'm typically too short shorts. I probably shouldn't tell you all this. But when I was in high school, well, in the 90s, late 90s, like the long shorts, it was like down past your knee. That's what we did. So a guy wearing short shorts would have been very, very provocative.

But we did a talent show at our school. And there was a rap song called Daisy Dukes. And it was about basically these girls were. in Daisy Dukes. Was this B.J.? Before Jesus? Yeah, before the encounter. Yeah, yeah, before Jesus.

Because now you're making me uncomfortable. No, no, I'm not following Jesus here. This is, like, this is me. Senior year of high school. Let's put it in time. And being all my buddies, we were juniors. So we were juniors. And so we got up there and we did like a whole like drill team dance routine to the,

to the rap song, Daisy Duke. and we all had on cut off jeans. This is one of the greatest deterrence for not living outside of Jesus I've ever heard. That just shows you how far. The crowd went wild. Which proves my point. They always will. Proof my point.

But that was the 90s. You know, nihilism ruled the day back then, and I wasn't a believer in Jesus yet. What is nihilism? I wasn't a follower of Jesus. See, when I hear Nileism, I think somebody living on the Nile River, so tell us what that is. Nileism is that nothing matters. If you think about the anthem of the 90s was probably our anthem song was Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. And if you read the lyrics, it's completely meaninglessness.

I mean, like all the stuff was nothing matters. Well, now we're getting into a book in the Bible. And look, I did not know we were going with whatever y'all been talking about. But Solomon. Danny Duce or Nileism? Well, Solomon wrote a book, and I have some Solomon references that I want to get into because I think we should actually study the book of James. We spent a month getting ready.

But we were waiting on that. We did that also. And we had Matt Chandler on. That was a detour. Which, by the way, and in his book, he had a whole, not a whole chapter, but in one of his chapters, he had a whole thing about Proverbs because he was talking about God and wisdom.

Well, because he was talking about sermon on the Mount. Right, exactly. And the B attitudes, which I said, look, so I know a lot of you all have painfully said, when are we going to start James? But I looked it up.

There are arguably 24 direct references to the sermon on the Mount in this little short book. So it's not like we keep going back there. Yeah. for no reason, 24? Yeah.

I would, I would say that's a lot. You made the tie-in, and I never have. I've taught James a couple of times, but I never made the tie-in to Matthew 5 through 7, but it is there.

You're exactly that. Well, that's why I kept going, and look, I didn't get this, this is one thing, I didn't get from somebody else. I just read the book of James a few times, and I thought, sure seems like the sermon on the mount's coming up here a lot.

Yeah. And so, of course, Then when I got into that, I thought we should have gone on this deep of a dive when we studied Matthew, but we just kind of went through it pretty quickly. Right. So we've slowed things down, maybe it's due to our age. But on the wisdom thing, that was a perfect segue, because when you think, well, who was the wisest man, what was the first thing pops in your head? Solomon? Yeah.

But it didn't go well for him. No, it didn't. No. He didn't end well. Solomon, and that's the thing that people don't realize. Solomon did not end well. He did not finish strong. Zach, this is so crazy you said this.

So after I did this rabbit hole on Solomon, because I want to read where he asked for wisdom, he had this conversation with God about wisdom, which is in First Kings III. I want to read that at some point. But we can start off in James. But I did the same thing, Zach. I thought, well, how did this end really?

for him. And I didn't have a clear answer because I thought even Ecclesiastes is a bit depressing in a way. But he seemed to have it right. So I did do a little AI

search on how did it end. And it's in much debate. It's like everyone says it didn't end well. However, since he wrote Ecclesiastes a number of scholars want to say, that was like his repentance letter, I guess.

So possibly, because he does get to the end and say, okay, I screwed up. I mean, he doesn't directly say that, but you see his folly in, and like putting his faith in the earthly kingdom aspect, which I'll just say this for you, comment. What it made me really think, doing the deep dive on,

Solomon was that Jesus really fulfilled where he went wrong, where Solomon went wrong. He did a lot of things right early on, but where he went wrong, Jesus just turned that upside down and showed here's the kingdom that God desires. And it's the exact opposite of what you wind up doing. But there's so many, so many lessons from Solomon's life. One is he did, he did have a heart for God. And I think even at the end, I think there is something redeeming about his coming to that realization in Ecclesiastes, even though it's obvious it shows you what kind of space he got into toward the end of his life. But Solomon's, there's one of the things is the further you move away, when someone builds something and then you go generationally, the further

you move away from the original, the harder it is to maintain it. We see that in business and a lot of different things, you know, faith. And, you know, David had his own problems, but I mean, David was definitely just this fire brand. There's no doubt there's a reason why God made his eternal covenant with David. But then you get to Solomon and he got, things got soft, things got peaceful, things got comfortable, things got wealthy, you know, and there are a lot of women involved because of all the political alliances. And all of a sudden, you know, you'd lose sight of where you're going. and then his sons split the kingdom, and it never was the same again.

I mean, to your right, it left a deficit that could only be fulfilled by the king, the true king, which was the heir to David, which becomes him. I think, to go back to James, just to get us into this,

as I wanted to make this point today anyway, when we read this text, but we kind of skipped over James' little illustration, but I think this is, you could say he's talking about Solomon here. This is exactly the illustration he's making when he said, the brother in verse 9, the brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.

Now that sounds like a crazy upside down statement. What does that mean? I mean, the person who doesn't have anything, he's in a high position. Which takes us back to the beatitudes. Exactly. He says, but the one who is rich, and you could just insert Solomon or anybody else in there, should take pride in his low position

because he will pass away like a while for. So in other words, what is your life about? What is your purpose? For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the planet, its blossoms fall, and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while it goes about his business. So he inserts this interesting illustration right here in the middle of it, which is exactly the point Jesus is making the beatitudes as well, that the idea is if only for this life,

if that's your purpose, whether it's your money, your career, what's your money, what you're you have, what you don't have, you know, and you have success in this life, but that's all it is, that rises and falls, that goes away. I mean, and it can go away very quickly. And so I just, I like that upside down picture that he paints there because so many people, I think, get caught up in that. And they think that's what it's really all about. Well, I know it's summertime, guys, but I'm still, I still have yet to put up the bubble cuddle.

No, it's still in my house, too, is that? because, you know, Lisa's been having some hot flashes, and I'm kind of hot nature in anyway. So we keep the house very cold in the summertime. So my grandkids and my daughters love to get under the Cozy Earth blanket. I'll tell you, what matters if you're comfortable in your own home? That's where you've got to be comfortable. That's why we love Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth is all about making home the best part of life with products that are thoughtfully made.

They're very comfortable. I mean, incredibly comfortable. And they're built to last. We all have jogger sets, which are designed to be your go-eastern. two outfit. They're lightweight, breathable, soft, and a fit that still looks like you're put together. And they also have the clogs, which are made for everyday wear, which I love just to slip my foot into something. I hate having to lace my shoes up. So they're easy to slip on, supportive. They're comfortable. They give you that at-home comfort wherever you go. We all have the bamboo

sheets as well. You guys love your Coz de Earth bamboo sheets. Sleeping cool. We have the sheets, the pajamas, the bubble cuddle. We're all in. Cozy Earth pajamas are awesome because they're super soft, they're stretchy, and they keep you comfortable without overheating, which is a big deal. So this spring, give yourself the kind of comfort that lives with you all day, not just the moment you get home. Head on over to cozyearth.com. Use our code Unashamed for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post-purch survey mentioned that you heard about CozyEarth right here on the Unashamed podcast, that's cozyEarth.com code unashamed. Comfort lives here. Yeah, I think that's a good way to interpret Solomon too, is like particularly

Ecclesiastes. I think it's a book that you got to be careful how you read ecclesiastes because it's it everything's not meaningless. That's not actually true. What he's speaking into is he's speaking into it from the from the perspective of someone who has acquired a lot, a lot of wisdom, a lot of wise, a lot of money. And so he's tried all these things. And I think the main point of what we could take away from it is that if these things terminate on themselves, then they're meaning. If they push through as reflectors to God, they're not meaningless. The world is not meaningless.

You know, God created the earthly world. He created the human body. He created wealth. He created all these things. That when they become meaningless is in an end, in and of themselves. And I think what happened with Solomon, I don't know how it's controversial. I mean, he clearly did not end well. First Kings 11, yeah, First King's 11, he did not end well because he did not end well.

because he did chase after these things. And so primarily it was the women, the women that he went after, and the Bible says that you shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you for surely they will turn your heart after their gods, which is exactly what happened, the Bible says in First Kings 11, that Solomon's heart at the end turned away from Yahweh to the foreign gods, which is why he said he did not keep the commandment of the Lord. This is in verse 11 of 1st, Kings 11.

Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statute that I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David, your father, I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hands of your son. So out of respect or love or for David, he prolonged this. But think about this, that when Solomon, and this is the nature, I think, with the book of James Too, I think, I think, Jason mentioned this in the previous podcast where he talked about that line, be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect, and he used the word telios or telos for that word perfection, which means, like, essentially, like, this is your design intent purpose. It's not like perfection.

It's not like flawlessness. That's not what he's talking about. He said, live in reality. Live in your actual nature. I think this is the nature that God's called us into, that when you are submissive to God, when you live in obedience to God, then prosperity does come your way. I'm not talking about the prosperity gospel as a reward. I'm simply saying that God's way, you do prosper.

I mean, you just do. I mean, if you do business honestly, in general, you're going to do better than someone who's dishonest. If you are faithful in your marriage, you're going to have a more prosperous. marriage and family. And so you see this with Solomon, when he was the king of Israel, they had these golden shields that they stuck in the ground. I mean, a great, right, I think the Cedars of Lebanon, they stuck these shields in the ground. And it was, it was almost like, we're so rich and we're so powerful that we're going to take gold and just shove it in the ground and then we're going to say, come take it. And nobody said,

we're not taking it. We're not touching that stuff. because we know that we can't take their, they're too powerful, they're too rich. One generation later, somebody comes in after Solomon's gone and the discipline of the Lord comes, they steal those golden shields.

And then from that point on, what Israel essentially does is they try to project the image of prosperity and power, but they don't actually have it anymore. So they put these bronze shields in the ground, and they look like gold, but they're not gold. This is what we did.

They look like the real thing, but it's not the real thing. And then they guard them. Then they had to guard them. And I think what the book of James is calling us into is that don't go that way. Instead, actually enter into reality, live in the way that God created you to be. And this is where you're going to find fulfillment. And that's where you solve that dilemma between faith and works. They're not contradicted to one another.

This is how we live out reality. I agree. I want to just to reset while we're going. here. So when James, he starts off and he said, okay, consider it pure joy when you face many trials, which is back to the beatitude. This is a good thing, and this is a process to our guest. He had a point. It is a journey. It's a long journey. Yeah, what did he call it? What was his? The long journey home or something like that. Yeah, the long way around when he was talking about the, I love that name. I was the time at the children of Israel.

Because you know, you know, the test of faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work. So he's getting into this process so that you may be mature and complete. And there's your telios word. And not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom. So he brings up wisdom, which is what Jesus is really doing in the sermon on the Mount. He's giving you God's revealed wisdom.

and why there was a law, why there was a nation he chose. I mean, there's a lot of factors going on. But mainly, I think, about relationships. This is more about your relationship with God and why he did all this and your relationship with each other. So, but he says, if any of you liked wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

And when he asks, he must not doubt, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind, which is that you'll find that same reference from Paul in Ephesians 4 when he was talking about the church and maturing and why there's a leadership in place, why there's a process to that. Remember, it said the same thing, so that we will all grow up in the Lord and not be taught. horse back and forth by the waves. It also takes you back to Peter trying to walk on the water. Remember when he saw the wave, Jesus is walking on the water. Which is all, just think of, you know, if this is James' brother, everybody's heard that story. A man walked on the water. I mean, that gets your attention.

Then the guy that couldn't, because he's like, oh, look at the waves. The man should not think he would receive anything from the Lord. he is double-minded man, unstable in all he does, which we talked about that about the sermon on the mount, which the true definition of hypocrite is not, but this was my opinion based on the rabbit hole I went down. It's not what we really think of it in the church today with our English word, hypocrite.

Like when you look at the Greek word, what I concluded, I don't know if I said this before, but I want to reiterate it and say this. maybe I've already said this but it's actually an actor it's where you're doing the right things but your heart is not into it

remember when he said when you pray when you fast when you give to the needing they're doing it he addresses this and look it just infuriated me because I thought think about today if you're an actor which what I'm saying is the true

definition of that Greek word for hip grit just look in our culture, just separate it from the shirt. We celebrate actors, and no wonder they're so weird. And we give them awards, and we follow their lives. They're just poor, dump money all over them because they're like, because what can they do? They can act like somebody they're not.

No wonder our whole culture screwed up. Why are we celebrating these people? At least, we've been on TV out, but at least we played a version of ourselves. Yeah, yeah. I was like, I'm not an actor. point. That we're celebrating hypocrisy by having the who's who of people who get all the awards and they're untouchable.

I mean, when they walk into a room, it's oh, look, you know, whoever it is. There was a place, when I lived in Gainesville, Florida, there was a place that was like right down the street from our house, and it was called the Hippodrome Theater. And it was where they had all like the plays and things like that. But that's that idea. That's a good, actually a great caveat on the word hypocrite. It's been an actor. It's an actor.

It's all it is. And later in this chapter, he's describing that exact thing when he says it's like a guy who looks in the mirror and doesn't know who he is. Well, that's what an actor does. In fact. Oh, wow. When I read, I didn't know if I had given this before. I think I mentioned it. Yeah.

But I thought about it later. And then I just got mad because I thought, I thought, what's the award show? you know, the big thing, we used to watch it. I haven't watched it in 10 years. The Oscars. The Oscars. Oh, boy, you know, you want an Oscar. Yeah.

For what? Being a hypocrite. That's not him. Why are we celebrating this? That's right. So, but I thought, now look, before I throw rocks, because that's easy. Yeah. We have that going on in the Lord's Church.

Yeah. It's people who are just playing a role and they're acting and they're doing it. doing good things. And that's what he's addressing here. Right. That's why you have these trials and all of a sudden it's like, ooh. So when the whole family's hungry, how what is your quick go-to move? Well, you know, I find that the healthiest option, especially trying to do it for my grandkids,

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You must be an active subscriber to receive the free dessert. Well, that's why they have the response to the beatitudes in Matthew 6 are what you described. He gives you the opposite of every one of those things he gave you in the last chapter. What does false religion look like? Here's what it is. But it made me think how many churches? And look, how many people are listening to this podcast? And you could win an Oscar for your performance in a church setting.

And you're a million mile. What's he talking about? Double-minded. What does that mean? You're a secret agent. You're playing it. What's a secret? They're playing a part to win for the other side.

There's only two sides to this. But it's also why, and I'm sure it's not true for everybody, but a lot of actors that you hear about, and a few we've met, are not the best people. Well, that's what I mean. Themselves. I mean, they're really good at playing somebody else.

Well, that's why I said weird. That was the nicest word I could think. Because it's like, oh, what can they do? But they're... We're not sure, because they're an actor. It's all a... It's a fabricate. They're really good at lying.

The whole meal, the whole, like, you know, making of the sausage. is being surrounded by a bunch of sycophants and yes people that won't tell them anything they need to be hearing anyway. Yeah. I mean, that's what happens with celebrity. Then you're talking about people that are famous, and that could be politicians, actors, whatever.

Because look at the politicians. Speaking of hypocrites, people that act like something, they're not. I mean, it happens every single day. And, you know why you can say that? And we're way off of what I was going to get to. But it does bother me, Because you see somebody on TV and you think, oh, I like this guy, whether it's a politician or then you meet them. Backstage somewhere, there's no cameras around.

And you think, I'm not sure I can vote for this guy. You know what I'm saying? There was a young guy that ran for Congress here, Zach Dasher, a few years ago. That's exactly what happened. He was so impressive in front of the crowd. But, boy, when you met him backstage. No, I think Zach, when he came to me and he's like, I'm not sure I can, you know, run. Just because the whole environment, he said, was a pig pen.

It's a slam pit. So, anyway, to get back to the wisdom. Because I wanted to get to this where he brings up this crown. Because when he says, verse 9, the brother in humble circumstances all to take pride in his high position. Because, you know, he's already said to ask God for wisdom. but he's saying things that are contrary to how we think in life. It's like the upside down kingdom. A lot of people call what Jesus launched,

because I'm going to, you have King Solomon that we brought up, who supposedly was the wisest man, and he really did a lot of crazy thing. I mean, how could you marry a thousand, have a thousand wives and function? Not demeaning towards what I'm just saying, I got my hands four-wheel, one. A thousand and run a country? Yeah.

What are we doing? And remember, a lot of that was for political alliance, which is, and then that's what got him into all the false guys. Well, just pulling that off and staying alive. I mean, if you watch Dateline lately, when you have a couple of women, this is, it becomes a date line episode here. You know, a thousand? Yeah. A lot of, there's a lot of going on. Yeah, 700 wives and 300 concubines.

And some of them were, for political purposes, but some of them were, I mean, it says he loved them. I mean, it was their love, his love for them. And I think that means, probably not real love. But later on, he said, I had a thousand that I didn't find one good one. But think about, think about how far he got away from the origin of one man, one woman, one flesh. All right. And I'm going to read where that happened. And not just Solomon, but I mean, you know, is David, all of them.

But I mean... Well, think about this. Think about this real quick. So First Kings chapter 6, Solomon builds a temple for the Lord. Yeah. First Kings 8, Solomon says, surely the Lord's not going to live in a temple built by my hands. Right? So you see like, he gets it.

First Kings 11, verse 7, then Solomon built a high place. But hold it right there. So he builds a false temple. I mean, the guy who built the temple. Yeah, the end of those are false. I want to read First Kings 3 since you brought that up, because I was going the same place at it. But I think if you read First Kings 3, let me look that up real quick.

First Kings 3, 5 through 15. This is how it all got started. So, and you'll see on the little heading in my Bible says, Solomon asks for wisdom. Because the reason I think this is important is because we just read from James. Anyone asks, I mean,

lacks wisdom, he should ask God to Him get for it. Well, we have this same thing happen. And then he does a whole other section on wisdom in chapter three of James, so this is very important. And the reason I'm excited about this,

and I think this is profound, and one, it connects the Bible in a way that's really cool. Because here comes Jesus, what's the first thing that he announces? there's a new king here.

The kingdom is in your midst. It's here. And so when the king starts talking, he starts giving a lot of seeds of wisdom that are like mind-blowing, that are echoing what James had said. Well, here's a king back in the day. He's going to have a conversation with God. And so I'll just read verse 5. It says, at Gibbonne the Lord appeared to Solomon's.

They have a conversation during that night in a dream. And God said, ask for whatever you want me to give you. So you don't think God's not wise. He's like, what do you want? Which, eerily enough, Jesus' first words in the book of John, his first sentence. Totally out of context, but I'm just saying, isn't it profound, that Jesus looked around and two people were following, and he said, what do you want? What do you want? So here's God telling Jesus.

Now this God, the Father, that was Jesus in God in human form, asks for whatever you want me to give you, Solomon answered, You have shown great kindness to your servant, my Father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. And I do want to highlight a point in verse six. You see all over the place, when you see faithful and righteousness and upright in heart,

sounds a lot like the sermon on the mount these principles. But they're so much more relational when I did these word studies than I knew. I used to think when I heard the word righteousness, I would always think, well, that's a moral code that I need to follow. Yeah. But it's within the context biblically in their day, using their words, it's acting the right way in your relationship with God and people. And I think you really see that here, because it's all relational here.

And so then he says, verse 7, now, Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father, David, but I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. So he's giving a speech here to God. God said, what do you want? He goes through the history. Here's how we got here. I think he's showing humility here.

Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, two numerous to count or number. So give your servant, here's his request, a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. And I can just tell you before we get to God's answer, that's a really good answer. If you're from any leader, if they're like, you know, what do you want? Right.

I want a discerning heart to govern the people and to distinguish between right and wrong. I think this is awesome. For who is able to govern this great people of yours? Well, look what happens. The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. It's a good to ask. Awesome. It's a good ask.

If we just had people saying that in leadership. So God said to him, since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth or for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies, but for discernment and administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that that, there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. So that's why I said he was very wise because God gave him this discerning heart. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for, both riches and honor.

Uh-oh. So that in your lifetime, you will have no equal among kings. Isn't it interesting that with the blessing comes something that's going to be his greatest challenge, which is actually success. Which is why I think this is the backdrop to the Book of James, and I think it's the backdrop to Jesus becoming the king of kings, because he kind of fulfills where this went wrong, but he takes it with the good things,

but then he enhances it in a kind of an upside-down kingdom where this is true greatness, which ends where we get to that crown, With Jesus wearing a crown of thorns for his people on a cross. If you think about Solomon's trajectory from this, I mean, the question is, okay, why did the architect of the first temple end up later building a false temple and then sacrificing, making sacrifices to foreign gods? Because that's kind of how the story ends with Solomon. And then he gets obviously called out by the Lord. I think it's because he failed to attend to his affections. He let his affections trump that wisdom.

And so you think, well, what does that mean? What does it look like? If you go back, because he asked for discernment. He said, give me discernment. So it's interesting how his story ends with false sacrifices or sacrifices to false gods. But if you think about the connection of discernment to be able to distinguish the will of God, to discern what it is. That should naturally, or maybe supernatural, lead into sacrificing yourself,

which is what Paul says, and this is how Paul says this in connection to faith in Romans chapter 12. He says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. So this is a different kind of sacrifice. Solomon's sacrifice in the foreign gods, when God's calling us to actually present our bodies He says living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which turns out to be your spiritual act of worship.

Don't be conformed to this world. Don't let your affections for the world trump what God has given you. He says, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing, this is what Solomon asked for, that you may discern. There's the discernment that you may discern what is the will of God. what is good and acceptable and perfect and Solomon he is up he fails this in the end because he he drifted he had mission drift and he allowed his affections for the world and for women and for whatever power he he allowed his affections for that to shift and he ends up instead of offering his body as a living sacrifice when one he loses his discernment he loses it

He loses his discernment to be able to distinguish what is good, pleasing, and perfect. And after he loses his discernment because he's not tending to his affections, this guy ends up building a high place and making sacrifices to foreign gods. And you say, well, can that happen to me? Yeah, that can happen to all of us. And I think when you get to the book of James, what James is trying to say here in the whole book is like, this is not like you receive this thing one time and now you're good, go do whatever you want to do. He's actually saying that faith is going to logically and irrevocably be connected to

what you do. Because if you actually believe what God's revelation of what is good, pleasing, and perfect, if you actually believe this is the way, then you're going to do the things that it requires not to earn anything before God. You're not coming in. But James isn't saying, how you got to work to make sure that you earn a right position with God. Now, what he's saying is is that when you truly have faith, you can truly have discernment and you can actually see what is good, you can actually see what is pleasing, you can actually see what is perfect,

and then that's the thing you're going to do. Why are you going to do it? Because you believe it's true. He's trying to align those two things up. He said these aren't in contradiction with one another. So that's the setting of the asking for wisdom. when you ask for wisdom, what you're ultimately asking for is, show me the way the world really is so that I can believe that and operate inside of that.

Yeah. And I quit reading at verse 14 of First Kings 3, but he also said, now he did have a little condition here. There is an if. He said, and if? Now, he just said, since he didn't ask for long life or all these riches and all this, I'm going to give you all that too, because you asked the right question. You know, you want the sermon.

But there's he is an eiff. He said, and if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands, as David, your father did, I will give you a long life. Then Solomon awoke and said, oh, it's only a dream. But it happened. So the one that stood out to me is one we read quite a few podcasts ago when we were talking about kings and the kingdom. but in Deuteronomy 17, because I want to remind you of it, because I think it's just a great passage of something that got ignored here. And this was the statutes about kings as a nation.

And Deuteronomy 17, 14 says, When you enter the land, the Lord your God is given you and take possession of it and settle in it. And you say, let us set a king of us, like all the nations around us. Be sure to appoint you the king of you, the Lord your God chooses, he must be from among your own brothers. Got that. Do not place a foreigner over you, got that.

The king moreover must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself. Think, you know, military tanks, power, whoever's got the most horses and the fastest win. So that's the first thing he said. Then he says, verse 17, and he must not take many wives. Well, 700. I would call that many. Or his heart will be led astray, which is exactly what happened.

There's plenty of verses about how that happened. And he must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. So there's your money, sex, and power. And I think it's interesting when you get to First Kings 4 at the last paragraph in that, it goes through how wise Solomon was about everything from. plants to animals. He spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,0005. He described plant life from all kind of cedars, and people came from all over to just listen to Solomon's wisdom. And so you kind of see how this trail begins, which I think puts in delight

the book of Ecclesiastes when he gets to the end, because he's just like, it's all meaningless. I've done it all. I've seen it all. His heart did drift away because of all the influence. Because he brought in all these wives to make treaties with all these different nations, which you think that's wise. Because he has a good relationship with them all because he's marrying their women. Right. But then they don't even believe in God.

Right. They believe in other gods. And that's what happened. He started just allowing other gods to be part of his regime. And by the time you get to the two sons. which Rehoboam was the supposed to be the king, and it splits to Jeroboam, who then takes the top ten tribes of Israel into the abyss,

and they never come back. I mean, they never have a good king. They're old for however many it was, 20-something. Well, I mean, that's the funny thing about it, is by the time you get to the New Testament, and you're like, I don't think this is going to work really well. I mean, they didn't have, I mean, Israel, when the kingdom divides,

if you go back and do the research, most of the kings of Judah were not good. Yet a few. A handful, but none in North Israel. And none in North Israel. And so, I mean, it's kind of crazy to think about it, but it's like the whole thing is kind of, and even the good kings, they weren't that great.

I mean, kind of like, yeah, okay, good-ish, you know what I mean? Well, they would try to reform, which was good, but they couldn't get there. And I think God has been showing the whole time. It was never going to happen until the Lord came. That's true. You know, because it was rooted in this falsehood, this hypocrisy that Jesus is talking about,

this acting. And it got worse and worse and worse. And it's so much so that when Jesus has the conversation with the woman at the well in John 4, she's a Samaritan. Remember, her whole basis of understanding goes back to just what we're talking about. Because that's where it happens.

Samaria is where Jeroboam set up these false idolatry and everything that happened bad from that point forward. And even then, Jesus said there's always been a plan that it wouldn't be this mountain or it wouldn't be the other mountain. It wouldn't be this kingdom or the other kingdom. It would always be my kingdom. So just as an overview, this is what you get back to.

Yeah, I think it's too when you think about how do I, because if you see the look of James, I talked about, you know, the problem with Solomon that was he, he didn't attend to his affections, or maybe you could say he didn't attend to his desires, because that's, that word synonymous. Then you get to the book of James. It's like, well, how do we, how does a person actually even, like, end up in spiritual and physical death? I mean, the process begins with the same thing, right? Affections. It begins with our own evil desires. Each one is dragged away and enticed by his own evil desires. and then when that desire concedes, it gets birth to sin, and when sin's fully grown, it gets birth to death. And so that's the progression.

And so how do I, then how can I attend to my desires and how can I attend to my affection? So what does it even mean? I think what it looks like, it looks like gratitude. Like it looks like not entitlement, right? Entitlement is I deserve me, me, me, me, me. but when you look at the contrast in the first chapter of James, it's like, man, you actually end up in your deathbed by following your own evil desires.

And then verse 16, he said, but don't be deceived, my beloved brothers, every good gift, remember the discernment of Romans chapter 12 to discern what is good, pleasing, and perfect. Every good gift, every perfect gift, where does it come from? It doesn't come from your own evil desires. it actually comes down from the Father of Lights

with whom there is no variation or shadow or due to change. And so what that does when you want to, like to reorient your desires and properly index them, it's to see the things that God has created as gift. And it's like, oh, wow, I'm actually grateful for the gift. I'm not entitled to the gift. It's a gift. I'm grateful for it.

And so I'm going to participate in whatever that is in a communal way, not in a self-centered way. And I think this is the key to spiritual formation. On that last podcast we have Matt Chandler, that's the key to spiritual formation. It's a heart of gratitude by recognizing where good and perfect gifts actually come from. And I was thinking about this text today, and I wasn't sure we were going to be where we are.

But I was thinking about the movie, speaking of actors, I was thinking about the movie, The Natural. Do you remember that movie from the 90s? Robert Redford. Robert Redford. One of my all-time favorite movies. Where he hit the light. Yeah, at the end, he hits the home run.

Hit the lights. They got a little bit outrageous. Yeah, yeah. Well, a lot of it was. But if you go back and you look at the story that he's portraying, he has this gift, this ability, you know, he's a baseball, he's young. And he also had a girlfriend that he loved. But he goes away to try to make the pros.

Well, then he runs into this temptation. this woman who's a stalker shoots him, and then he disappears for like a dozen years. He shows up as an older man. Nobody knows who he is, but he doesn't even pitch anymore, but he can hit the ball like crazy. But he gets into all the temptations of success,

and he does well, but then he gets a girlfriend who's bad for him, and all these things are going on, and he finally gets back to his true, pure love of the game and his first love, the woman, finds out he has a son, and he got all these forces lined up against him, him at the end of the day, he hits the home run, he wins the game, the pop guy gets the team,

and he winds up just back throwing a baseball out in the field. But I love about the story is this what we're talking about here. It's all the things that the evil one throws at you and the temptations, the trials, the things go on your life. At the end of it, there's a purity of who God is and what he's called us to be, and that's kind of this picture, you know, that you have to get back to that. sometimes you lose your way and then you have to come back. Yeah.

I wanted to say this. I left a cliffhanger a couple of podcasts ago about the meek inheriting the earth. Blessing of the meat for they won't inherit the earth. Remember that? Yeah. Well, I got that because when I read James 19 through 11, it says, the brother in humble circumstances all to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position,

because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and whithers the plant. Its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. You're like, oh, what kind of imagery is this? Well, we have like a garden and a plant and too much sun, And, ooh, in the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. But blessed is a man he perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life. Think king, think kingdom.

And you see numerous illustrations from Jesus about plants and the parable of the sower and the field. So when you read Psalm 37, which is what I said to go do in between. then and now. Watch this. He says, because I know James got this from right here, because the first verse says, do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong.

For like the grass, they will soon wither. Like green plants, they will soon die. Okay, so I've made the connection. He obviously was thinking about this. Yep. So was Peter. He says the same thing at first Peter, too.

And so then he's like, trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. So you have all this creation, garden, Jesus launches, the new creation, the kingdom is here. Think crown. I'll give you the crown of life. You have Psalm 37.

Here's what I found fascinating. Five other times in Psalm 37 in verse 9, it says, For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. verse 11 but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace so you realize everything in the Old Testament becomes a shadow for what Jesus accomplished

from the promised land the freedom from oppression liberation day for them freedom in Christ for us but here it's like you know you think the promised land and people still make a big deal about, you know, Israel, the land itself. Yeah.

I know people that think when Jesus comes back, he's going there, so we all got to load up and go over there somehow and other, because they're reading these kind of verses. But Jesus takes this and turns it on its head when he said, let me tell you about the meat, they'll inherit the earth. Which makes me think when people get off on this about the promised land and certain aspects of it, I'm thinking, you missed the fulfillment of this in Jesus. Go ahead, head over there.

I'm going to take the whole earth. And so the last verse 22, for those blessed by him shall inherit the land. Those cursed by him shall be cut off. 29, the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. Ooh, we have a little shadow here from the psalmist. In verse 34, wait on the Lord, keep his way,

and he shall exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I think is that the last verse in there? No, I wanted to read the last verse of it. Yeah, that was it. Then the last two verses, The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord. He is their stronghold in time of trouble.

This James started in trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him. It all comes together there. There's a verse somewhere. I have to look it up. We're out of time.

But I think it's in numbers that said Moses was the meekest man on the earth in his day. And that was before they went up taking the promise land. To your point, another shadow. And the last thing I'll say is, remember, he said we'll inherit. It's a gift. This is a gift. That's right.

And you said, what is the crown that Jesus is offering you? Life. Yeah. Forever. Right. And you get land. A lot of that. So the next time you see a beautiful patch of land, you think, okay, yeah, that's mine.

You can stay there. I know you think you on it, but I'm with the one who created it. Not this life. That's right. I like it. All right. We'll be back next time to pick it up on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast.

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