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Week:10, Season:1,
2012
Posted on Saturday by PCT
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Be transformed by the renewing of your mind
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Scripture：《
1 King 3:4-15
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4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 6 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. 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. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”.10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honour —so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” 15 Then Solomon awoke —and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
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King Solomon had received great blessings from God. He had wealth, fame, kingdom and wisdom. Which of these blessings do you envy the most？ How much do you know about Solomon’s “original family”？ From 1 King 3:1-9, we know that David had nineteen “sons”; this does not include the children given by his concubines. Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, did not come from a royal background nor was she Jewish, but a foreigner to the people of Israel. Besides, she was also a married woman who cheated her husband and had sinned for breaking the seventh commandment --- You shall not commit adultery. In other words, Solomon was not from a pure Hebrew breed but was born from an adulterous relationship, an “illegitimate child”. He was not the eldest son but ranked as the tenth among the nineteen sons who owned the inheritance. How was it that Solomon succeeded to David’s throne and became a king？
The first two chapters of 1 Kings tell us the whole story. Solomon stood out from his brothers and ascended the throne smoothly. His three “political enemies” Abiathar the priest, Joab the commander of the army and Shimei were promptly punished. From the struggling palace to the whole kingdom, even countries of the Middle East all surrendered to him.
How did these things happen？ Why did things turn out so successfully？ The reason is simple: God is with Solomon. As long as we rely on God, the least important person is able to play the main role on his life stage. The “past” is important but not the most important period in one’s life. What is the most important is whether God is in our life. Looking forward to the future, we should transform and renew our life style like Solomon did. We need to reply on God with all our hearts and do not look back.
Come to God wholeheartedly
As soon as Solomon was proclaimed as David’s successor, he immediately led the officers in charge of units of a thousand men and of a hundred men, all the government officials all the heads of families and all the rest of the people, commanding them to worship at the Tent of God’s presence which was built by Moses (2 Chronicles 1:2-3). When we approach life with a transformed and renewed mind, the first thing we should do is come to God wholeheartedly!
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Devote yourself to God wholeheartedly
Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the bronze altar before the LORD in the Tent of the Lord’s presence at Gibeon. This offering way is not so easy as we give our offerings now by credit card by attending Sunday service. Solomon led the assembly and made the offerings at Gibeon which was nine kilometres from Jerusalem. He did not want to leave after the sacrifice and stayed overnight at the Tent. Therefore on that night God appeared to him. Our offerings to God are not just money and material, or time and sincerity but all our hearts and minds. Despite other things done by Solomon, it is obvious here that God was pleased with Solomon’s offerings so that he appeared in Solomon’s dream and promised to give anything him anything he wanted. What truly pleased God was the thankful heart of Solomon. Therefore, do not only make material offerings to God but devote yourself to God wholeheartedly.
Give up relying on yourself
At the “key opportunities” in Solomon’s life, he did not consider his own good but how his father David had been blessed by the Lord. He thought of the countless peoples of God and the numerous problems to be solved. He thought that at his young age, he was not capable of carrying out such a great duty. He made the right choice of asking for wisdom so that God sent him unprecedented wealth and honour as well. How enviable it is! We should not hesitate or fear to give up leaning on our ability and power, but to walk toward the new life planned by God. Our humble background, the weakness of our body, the mistakes and sins we made cannot hinder God’s great plan for us!
Be transformed by renewing of your mind
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”(2 Corinthians 5:17) Those who believe in Jesus as their Saviour are a new creation. When anyone is joined to Christ, he becomes a new being. Past sins and burdens will not become a barrier because God has prepared the road ahead with eternal joys.
Be like Jesus
We need to be like Jesus to transform and renew our minds. We need to humble ourselves and follow the behaviour and wisdom of Jesus completely. Only when we are humble and ask for God to work with us will God strengthen our hands to help us. We should learn from Abraham to leave his 75 year’s dream behind and chose to rely on God wholeheartedly. We must rely on God as Abraham obeyed the Lord when he was asked to sacrifice his precious son. Following Jesus is relying on God, just as Abraham gave up his past, present and future, only keeping his eyes on God. Let us learn from Abraham and Solomon to rely on God and transform ourselves by renewing our minds so that we can expand a bright future.
Through reading Elder John Lai's Archives, I found out that the Synod of Formosa, the first whole Taiwanese island democratic representative organization had held its initiation meeting in Changhua City on 7 March 1912. On 24 October in the same year, the Synod of Formosa was officially established at Changhua Ximen Street Church (Today’s Changhua Presbyterian Church). Foreign missionaries, local ministers and presbyters, ministers of the Presbyterian Church of England, ministers of Church of China Minan and representatives of the World Church all attended the commencement with their greetings to celebrate the union of the Presbyterian Church in Southern and Northern Taiwan. It took over 40 years’ “wilderness period” before the 7 March, 1951 , when the Presbyterian Church in south Taiwan and the Presbyterian Church in north Taiwan finally united and established the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT).
At the time that the Synod of Formosa existed, it applied its function to integrate and negotiate between the Presbyterian Church in south Taiwan and the Presbyterian Church in north Taiwan so that “the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan” (functioning as the Church Council of whole Taiwan island) could be born in 1913. The Synod of Formosa also gave the name Taiwan Church News for the first press published by PCT in 1932. The person behind this visionary synod was Canadian missionary William Gauld (1861～1923). It is because of his hard work that the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan could be established even though the birth of it was once prevented. William Gauld’s transformed and renewed mind truly deserves our admiration.
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For discussion：
1.Why can we sometimes not concentrate before God wholeheartedly？
2.Why do people hesitate to offer themselves to God？ How can we put our past, present and future in God’s hand？
Please pray for：
1.For ourselves to live a renewed life style.
2.For the history of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan; give thanks to God and ask for its future to be fully based on God.
Prayer：
Dear Heavenly Father, I want to give up my past life and live a renewed one in Jesus Christ. I want to hold your hands in faith for a new beginning. Block desire and sin blocking our path. Please be with us. We believe that we can turn from envying miracles to experiencing your great power. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!
Something you can do：
1.Write down three things that hinder your new beginning with God. Pray for it.
2.Pray for three friends whom you wish God would reveal his great power in their lives.
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