Pericope:
I Kings 3: 3 – 9
Sermon
Text: 1 Kings 3: 9
Sermon
Title: “Black Panther vs Trump”
Introduction: There
is something going on in the culture! There is something in the air. Since when
have you seen African Americans dress up in various African and sixties outfits
to go see a movie? For that matter, when have you seen any large number of
African Americans go to the movies dressed up like the characters in the
movies? Sure, you can say the makers of Black Panther did such excellent job
marketing the movie there was going to be a response. You can also say African
Americans simply want to support a black movie, written, produced, directed and
acted by fellow African Americans. But there have been many African American
movies with similar behind the scenes participation by African Americans. I
believe there is something else going on.
There is a deep desert of need for affirmation within the
African American community. There is a deep well without water within the
African American community and America that is longing to be filled. There is
even a greater unease within the African American community. There is a rude
awakening going on within the African American community. There is I can’t
believe I am living in America going on within the African American community.
There is a post Obama, OMG there is still racism in America, we are going
backwards, going on in the community. There is I can’t believe there are some
Christians who are proclaiming these are the best of times and God’s man is in
the White House; while other Christians are saying these are the worst of
times.
We are living in a post Obama America that has pulled the
scab off the sores of our past and seemingly no one has the balm of Gilead in
word or deed to heal the land. We are in a post Obama America that the victor
has now become the victim. There is a post Obama “white-lash” by some in
America. Every now and then something happens in the culture that reflects the
culture and enrages the culture at the same time. REPEAT Whether it's a school
shooting in FL or movie that taps the emotions of African Americans…something
is happening in the culture and its imperative that we wake up and see it.
I believe the movie Black Panther is revealing a truth that
requires a biblical critique. I believe the movie Black Panther says something
about our culture that requires a biblical response. I believe the recent
election reveals a truth also that is in juxtaposition to the movie. And for those who say, Bishop why would you
preach about a movie, culture, politics—my answer—it’s my job! God always has
something to say about everything significant in our lives. Failure to speak to
what we are dealing with is failing my job. Besides art can reflect life.
Don’t
worry, if you haven’t seen the movie I won’t spoil it. I won’t give away too
much. I will just use certain aspect of the movie to make the points I need to
make about the text and our current situation in America.
In our text this morning we have a kingship going on as well
just like in the movies. The entire text is about kingdom and the transfer of
power. Solomon is about to take on the throne of David and extend the Davidic
kingdom. God has promised it will never cease and Solomon is heir to the
throne. As he is ascending to the throne he realizes he does not have
everything he needs to be the king he should be and wants to be. In the movie
the hidden kingdom of a chosen people is changing hands. How will it end in the
movie and how does it end in the text? The text reminds me about three seminal
moments in the movie… a line in the movie when it comes T’Challa rising to be
king “it’s hard for a good man to be King” (2) when the king father has to make
a split decision (3) when the queen mother tells T’Challa show them who you
are…
Point
1:
Hard to be a King 1 Kings 3: 7 And now, O
Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father,
although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.
The text tells us just before
Solomon is to take the throne he realizes how hard it is to be king. He
realizes his wisdom alone will not be sufficient to govern a great nation. He
realizes he just a child when he looks at what it takes to lead. Solomon is not
arrogant he is not full of himself. Solomon turns to God for help.
LifeChangers
it is hard for a good man to be king/president.
Today the one who occupies the
greatest office in the land finds it hard to be a good man and pull himself out
of horrendous past of admitting sexual assault, lying, insensitive language and
divisive rhetoric. It’s hard for a man to be king when he thinks he knows
everything and calls himself a very stable genius.
Humility
is the way of a leader. The Sacred Text says if you exalt yourself he will
abase you and if you humble yourself he will exalt you. My mother use to tell
me, “son stay low and humble so the Lord can use you” Pride comes before the
fall. No one should think more highly of themselves than they ought. When you
see yourself bigger than yourself the self you see cannot sustain the self you
want to be. Now it’s one thing to wrestle with yourself when it’s just you it’s
a whole other thing when you lead a nation and you don’t know who you are. In
the movie you see what happens when someone takes the throne and don’t know who
they are and cover their insecurities with hatred and arrogance. Its one thing
to suffer with yourself by yourself but it’s a whole other thing when you drag
others along for your ride to places you don’t know how to get to. In the case
of the movie and the text art reflects our reality.
Transition: Its
one thing to find it hard to be a king and lead a great nation. Being the
leader of a great nation requires hard split decisions.
Point
2:
You have to make split decisions! 1 Kings
3: 25 And the king said, “Divide the
living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”
In our text we find soon after
Solomon became King he was tested with a decision that he became famous for.
Two prostitutes came to Solomon and said they were living together. They had
babies three days apart. During the night one of the ladies laid on her baby
and smothered her baby to death. She got up and put her dead baby with the
other prostitute and claim the live baby was hers. They argued over the live
baby.
King Solomon had to make a difficult decision. Notice how he
does it. He does not beat the ladies up for their life style. Notice the text
is absent of Solomon saying anything about the ladies being prostitutes. Notice
Solomon does not condemn them for possibly sleeping with the same man because
clearly the babies looked alike. If the only difference in birth is three days
and two different mothers can’t tell their babies apart then it’s because the
common denominator for looks is the daddy. How else were they not distinguishable?
Solomon does not call them S—holes or SOB’s he treats them with respect even
though you know he had to disagree with how they had conducted their lives.
Solomon deals with the issue at hand and skillfully comes to a decision that
brings justice. Even after he determines who the real mother is he doesn’t
condemn the mother who started all of the drama. He brings justice to the
situation not more drama with name calling.
In the movie there is a critical time when the king had to
make a split decision. The decision determined the fate of an entire nation.
The movie and the text tells me life will bring to you times when you have to
make split decisions that will effect the rest of your life. Life decisions are
ripples on the lake of life. The bigger the decision the larger the ripples.
Just like the waves of an ocean effect every life in the sea your decision will
affect every life you have to deal with. Don’t see yourself as a “steady genius”
ask God for help. The bible says don’t think more highly of yourself than you
ought. Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make
straight your paths. (7) Be not wise in your won eyes; fear the Lord, and turn
away from evil. Ps 27: 11 Teach me to do your ways, O Lord; lead me in a
straight path because of my oppressor.
The king in the movie showed us the leader of a nation makes
decisions that will affect generations. That’s exactly what’s going on right
now. Decisions are being made that will affect generations to come. Some say it
will all be over in three years don’t worry. To raise the issues does not imply
one is worried. To stay woke and call out wrong is not worry. We are God’s
epistles in the earth and whenever a narrative is being written counter to his
narrative of justice, equality and life liberty and pursuit of happiness for everyone,
it is incumbent upon God’s epistles to write another narrative. There are
decisions being made that is undoing the gains of generations that have gone
before us. To sit back and say nothing or do nothing is not God. “And I ain’t
doing it”
Transitions: Not
only is it hard to be a king and make generational decisions for everyone not
just for some…there are times when you have to show yourself. There are times
when you have to show people who you really are.
Point
3:
Show’em who you really are! 1
Kings 3: 15 And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to
Jerusalem and stood before the ark of
the covenant of the Lord…
In the text we find Solomon
awaking from his dream in which he prayed and asked for God’s help to be king.
When he awakens he went into the presence of the Lord and presented himself.
The
other line in the movie that opens the door to understanding our text is when
T’Challa’s mother, the Queen says, “show them who you are” There comes a
time in everyone’s life when you have to show people who you really are. Sometimes
those times are thrust upon us and other times we can recognize them before
they arrive, but rest assure life will present you with an opportunity to show
everyone who you really are.
Solomon was confronted with becoming the king of Israel and
it was his opportunity to show everyone who he really was. It was his time to
step out of the shadow of his awesome father David and build his own legacy.
David was the man after God’s own heart despite his sin. David was larger than
life in battle and peace time. David killed giants and lions and bears with his
bare hands. David was a man’s man and now Solomon had to show everyone who he
was. So, what does he do? He asked for wisdom, so he can leave his own legacy
and many ways outshine his father.
In the
movie T’Challa had to step out of his father’s shadow. He had to overcome his
father’s decisions. He had to become great on his own terms. He even had to
deal with his father’s sin like Solomon had to deal with David’s sin. In fact,
Solomon is the manifestation of David’s sin. Solomon is Bathsheba’s child.
Today we have a man who wants to outshine his predecessor by
not asking for wisdom and doing everything he can to undo what his predecessor
did. He is not trying to advance the kingdom he is trying to take it back to
the 40’, 50’s and 60’s. He declares his brilliance when every sign points to
the opposite. Today, he says, he is so smart he doesn’t have to read the daily
intelligence briefing. But could it be he really is smarter than we think??
Could it be that while we read tweets policies are being undone, to not only
leave a legacy but institutionalize inequality in America?
- He proposed a
budget that hits the poorest Americans the hardest, slashing billions of
dollars in food stamps, health insurance and federal housing
subsidies.
- The Trump budget proposal would
gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as
food stamps, by $17.2 billion in 2019 — equivalent to 22 percent of
the program’s total cost last year, while giving tax cuts to millionaires
and large corporations.
- Trump also proposed cutting a
federal housing subsidy program, known as Section 8 vouchers, by nearly $1
billion, which Yentel said would result in more than 250,000 low-income
families losing their housing assistance.
- On health care for low-income Americans,
Trump’s budget calls for cutting federal Medicaid funding by $250 billion
over the next 10 years, as the administration envisions passing a law “modeled
closely” on a Senate Republican proposal that failed last fall to repeal
the Affordable Care Act
- The budget envisions a sweeping change to
Medicaid, turning a portion of the federal funding of the vast safety-net
insurance program into a block grant.
- The
Trump administration is seeking to cut more than $3 billion from the
Education Department while investing $1.6 billion to support private
school vouchers and other school choice programs
This is
what is going on while we read tweets! Tweets
are
designed to hypnotize us while policies change
that will affect a
generation!
The beginning of Solomon’s reign was not the only time he had
an opportunity to show who he was. After God gave him wisdom God gave him more
wealth than anyone in human history. If there is ever a time you want to know
who a person is give them lots of money and lots of power. When Solomon
got lots of both he lost who he was and became someone else, because bottom
line, all of us got two of us in us waiting to get out. That's why you have to
make sure the Jesus in you is growing at the same rate as the prosperous you.
It is time for us to realize if we are going to be the people
Jesus wants us to be. Jesus has to be
paramount in our lives. As in the movie when you get power the real you will
come out. What will we do New Life in the comfort of our suburban homes. Now
that we have a reasonable portion of prosperity will we miss the opportunity to
show who we really are. Is Jesus going
to show up in us…the Jesus of justice!
Life
Application:
1. You
can’t show anyone who you really are until you know who you are starts with
accepting Jesus. It’s in him that we live move and have our very being. We are
made in his image…For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to
the likeness of his Son…
2. Whatever
decision you have to make ask God for wisdom
3. Change
the narrative in the earth by waking up and getting involved, voting, speaking
out…
4. Signup
to be a mentor or to serve one Sunday a month!
Click here to start the
process of getting involved!
