Wholehearted. Pt 7. Called to be Wholehearted
Phil walks us through excerpts from Chronicles detailing Solomon's life and his drift away from following God wholeheartedly. Phil identifies three stumbling blocks that can pull our hearts away from God: the love of wealth, relationships, and making a name for yourself. Phil encourages us to keep God's love and purposes in sight and to avoid our loves being disordered. A life that focusses on God's love is a life that God can use.
Life Group Questions
Wholehearted: Excerpts from Chronicles. Part 7.
Read: 2 Chronicles 8:1-11 (with 1:14-17, 2:17-18)
- What do you notice?
- What stands out to you?
- What observations or questions does this passage raise?
Discuss:
The similarities between Solomon and Pharoah start to mount up as we read through the Chronicles account (which as we have observed, is very sympathetic to Solomon – 1 Kings 11 gives a sobering account of Solomon’s downfall).
Solomon
2 Chronicles 8:1-11 2 Chronicles 1:14-17 2 Chronicles 2:17-18
Pharoah/ don’t be like Pharoah
Exodus 1:11, Exodus 34:10-16 Deuteronomy 17:14-17 Exodus 23:9
We see Solomon valuing production over people (slavery), profit over obedience (horses and chariots), self-reliance over trusting God’s provision (store cities built by slaves), and fame and glory over glorifying God (palace much bigger and fancier than temple).
- How could this happen to the wisest king of Israel?
- Which of these temptations can be issues for us today?
- How can we guard ourselves against these temptations and the slide of values that moves us towards them?
- Who can speak into our blind spots and warn us when we are getting off track?
Solomon’s story raises a few questions that are very relevant to us today.
- How did the story of Israel’s slavery in Egypt not protect them from making the same mistakes by enslaving others?
- How can we avoid doing to others what we suffered in the past?
- How might the experience of success and security have misled Solomon and the Israelites about their standing with God?
- How can we apply the 2 Corinthians 13:5 encouragement to test ourselves so that we are not misled?
Pray: That we might recognise and avoid temptation so that we can be good ambassadors for God’s kingdom, and that we might handle success and responsibility well.