A Pastor's Heart - 1 Kings 3:16-28 Part III

A Pastor’s Heart – 1 Kings 3:16-28 Part III

The other mother whom we discover is the real mother of the living baby reveals an enduring answer to the debate about the child.  Out of her love for the living baby, she is willing to subordinate her rightful position in order to save him.  Her genuine love compels her to plead with King Solomon to spare the living baby.  “Please my lord, give her the living baby!  Don’t kill him!” This mother’s heart enables her to see the big picture.  Her love for her child triumphs over personal preferences and rights.  She sacrifices her legal right in order to spare her child’s life. She would rather have the child alive rather than dead in order to prevent the other fraudulent mother from having the baby.  This mother’s love empowers her to serve and sacrifice.  I imagine that in the crevices of her mind and the closets of her heart she harbors the prayers and thoughts that circumstances will reveal in time that she is the real mother of the living baby even if they were separated by this ordeal.  This woman’s powerful example of selfless love instructs us today to emulate her as we seek to save the living baby of our church family and congregation.

The love that we extend to our church family requires the daily practice of spiritual disciplines.  I remind us of the acronym, SPAMBID: self-evaluation, prayer, affirmation (of the Word of God), meditation, Bible study, imaging (faithful and positive future events) and daily quiet time and worship of Almighty God.  Quite possibly, there are more people praying for us throughout the city, state and country than we may be praying for ourselves.  In time, these spiritual disciplines will yield a harvest of practical results.  We will return to the basics of church membership and commitment.  We will attend worship regularly.  We will serve in the various ministries of the Church.  We will practice good financial stewardship and grow to the point of giving one tenth of our gross income inclusive of salary, investments, and all other sources of income.  We will attend one weekly Christian education session.  Beyond those fundamentals, we progress to determining our individual and distinct ministry within the Church and our mission outside in the larger world.  In addition to the foregoing church-wide prayer meeting, let us engage the congregational process of “Asset Mapping” in which we discern and discover the myriad gifts embodied within our fellow brothers and sisters.  In accordance with 1 Corinthians 12, we appreciate that the Church resembles the human body in that all parts are necessary in order for good health to result.  Nevertheless, the persistent practice of spiritual disciplines will yield the practical results that will eventuate in our success.

In closing, Oscar Wilde fairy tale, “The Nightingale and the Rose,” captures the thesis and essence of this sermon.  In this most challenging story, a philosophy student harbors a deep love for a young lady whom he invites to a forthcoming ball.  His passion consumes him.  He forsakes his books, study and cognitive passions to attempt to satisfy his boiling passions for this beautiful young lady.  She agrees to attend the ball with him under one condition.  He must find a red rose to match her gown.  The philosophy student immediately searches the adjacent gardens for a red rose identical in color and texture to his intended’s gown.  To his utter dismay and deepening grief, he cannot find a red rose.  In the garden, a nightingale, lizard, bees and other living creatures observe the student’s profound disappointment.  The lizard responds cynically and expresses disgust that the man would be so distraught about his failure to find a red rose when there perfectly appropriate white roses in the garden.  The bees demonstrate indifference in that they resolve that it is simply unfortunate that there are no red roses though it would be nice if there were and the young could be happy.  In contrast, the nightingale flies over to the rose brush and inquires about the possibility of creating the red rose.  The bush replies that the only way to produce a red rose is for the nightingale to sing as melodiously as possible while piercing her heart with a thorn.  The bird’s blood will stain the white roses and produce a perfectly red one.  After some thought, the nightingale decides to offer her life as a sacrifice in order to produce the red rose so that the philosophy student may find true love.  The bird returns to the rose bush, positions her chest against a thorn, begins to sing and pushes against the thorn as blood drips from her chest.  The rose bush reminds the nightingale twice to move closer and closer still to the thorn so that her heart may be sufficiently pierced and that an adequate amount of blood my flow.