Pastor Ronn kicked off the “Torn” series on Sunday with a look at what happened to King Solomon when his heart was divided between desires and integrity. (1 Kings 11:1-3) If you missed the sermon, you can listen to the podcast or watch it on YouTube.
We learned that our daily decisions matter. The choices we make each day make a difference in our lives, Pastor Ronn said.
Solomon’s problem was that he did not set his heart upon the Lord. Solomon loved “many foreign women” despite the Lord’s command not to intermarry.
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech [a] the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done…
9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
However, Solomon’s downfall was not just his outward action of marrying foreign women. His real problem was that he let his heart stray from loving the Lord. “It’s not just about what you do, but who you are becoming,” Pastor Ronn said in his message.
He gave four warning signs to watch for:
Your affections matter.
The greatest command in the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. (Deut. 6:5) Where do you turn in times of stress? Those things you love become more of a priority than Jesus.
Your obedience matters.
We have a tendency to value knowledge over obedience. But “to obey is better than sacrifice”. (I Samuel 15:22)
Your relationships matter.
Who are you spending the most time with? If you are single, are you dating people who don’t believe in Jesus?
Your time matters.
As Solomon grew old — as time passed — his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord. Solomon’s love for the Lord didn’t fade overnight. It was a process that happened because of daily decisions.
Time can wear down our convictions. Sometimes we think we can dabble in sin, but the longer we go without repentance, the closer we get to turning away from God.
Finally, Ronn stressed that we tend to focus on behavior, but what really matters is our heart condition.
Were you convicted by Sunday’s message? What stood out to you from the sermon? We would love to hear your thoughts.
Pastor Ronn did a great kick off on what I know is going to be the awesome series, “Torn”!
I like when Ronn said, “Notice, Jesus said the most important commandment is to love God with everything we got. Jesus did NOT say that the most important command is to follow all the other commands.” That hit me. I never thought of it like that before…..that is, the common number one rule in many clubs, organizations, etc. tends to be stated something like, “the number one rule is to follow all rules”. Jesus couldn’t have made it clearer that one can never over do loving/following God as our priority.
This really focuses light on two traps I believe we tend to fall into in our growth. The two traps are “legalism” and “license”. To be clear, God did not give us the 10 suggestions—–He gave us the
10 commandments. Once saved, it seems many heated debates occur when Christians discuss legalism and license. I’m sure Pastor Ronn will most likely touch on these two arenas over the next 7 weeks, but I believe they can be deadly traps for a Christian. Following God’s ways daily in my walk with Him truly desires to follow His commands. Yet, everyday, I fall on my face one way or the other.
The trap of legalism is that once fallen, it can be easy for me to start thinking God surely won’t forgive me this time, especially since this is the billionth time I’ve committed it. Don’t get me wrong——I know sin is sin and I’m not saying God glosses over my actions. But when I think of it, legalism really is a “Christ plus plan”. In my particular case, I believe this thought pattern is engrained in me from my Roman Catholic days. God NEVER says in His word that once saved, one must now follow God’s laws perfectly. In fact quite the opposite—-God says no matter what I do for the rest of my life, I will NEVER be able to perform perfectly. BUT what God wants me to see in those times is that now, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice applied to me when I was saved holds in the past, present and future sins. His grace is ever present APART from the works of the law. Legalism can get one to the point of saying, “I just can’t hit perfection” and then the person ultimately tires and walks away from faith. The accuser is one of Satan’s strategies that God warns us of in His word. I have to always remember it is by faith in what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross which I’ve accepted as His free gift that crushes sins power in my life. Once saved, God says when we find ourselves in sin that we should run to Him, confess it and hold fast in Jesus’ sacrifice. As in Romans Chapter 8, “there is no condemnation” is the mantra I repeat to myself if I find I’m beating myself up too much on a sin.
The flip side is just as dangerous—–we are never given license in God’s Word. This idea of license basically says, “well, now that I’m saved I can sin all I want”. Personally I believe if a person truly feels this way, they need to re-examine there heart. Sin in the past never phased me like it does now once I was saved—–when sin trips me in life today, I cringe and kick myself because I know it is not something God wants me to do. In ways, the longer I’m a Christian, the more of a sinner I realize I am. I think that’s a key—-once truly saved, a Christian doesn’t want to sin but truly finds the understanding of man’s sin condition. If one feels that they now have a free pass card on sin as an attitude of their heart, personally I believe they need to talk with other fellow Christians. Something is wrong if continued sinning doesn’t bother a person once they are “saved”.
I believe setting my heart upon the Lord and consistently monitoring it is the key to keeping the dangers of legalism and license in check. The closer I walk with God and keep my focus on Him , any ideas on license get quickly squashed. On the other hand, tripping over a sin gives me confidence to pick myself up and immediately run to God and focus on what Jesus Christ’s work on the cross did for me. There is no condemnation thanks to Jesus Christ! HOW FREEING!!!!!
I’m looking forward to this entire series!
Ronn, your message was so convicting… I’ve been thinking about it all week. Just “by chance” I have been reading in the OT about when Solomon built the temple… (this has been my reading in my year-long Bible plan)… anyway… that passage has taken on new meaning to me now as I think about what happened when Solomon let his heart stray toward other gods. You are so right about how our daily decisions matter.
Sorry for the last post…
I will not post again.
During this trip, I decided to stop in Teays Valley, West Virginia. One of the striking parts of the trip is getting up the next morning early to get to my final destination in Greensborc, North Carolina. As I drive the rst of the way thru the hills of Virginia, the fog was just about 50% lifted while the sun was trying to break thru. It was some of the most awesome visuals God’s given me.
I recalled Pastor Ben speaking some time back on how one of the ways we can honor and see God is thru His creation. As I drove, Romans Chapter 1 kept coming to mind about how God will leave clues of His magnificance. I couldn’t help but wonder how an aetheist could drive thru and see what I was seeing but conclude there is no God. As a matter of fact, I can imagine seeingsuch beauty has to convict an aetheist to theor core per Romans 1. To see this magnificent yet sliver of God’s creation and truly believe this happened by “random chance”? Impossible. I can’t see anyone to see what I saw and yet take the position that there is no God. They have to know at times like that it is their own egos stopping them from giving glory to God.