• Lesson 5 in the BaptistWay Press Connect360 unit “Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom” focuses on 2 Chronicles 2:1-12.

Even if the most skilled people on earth join together to build a house for God, can they ever succeed? King Solomon posed this question in his letter to King Hiram of Tyre (2:6). What type of house can humans build that could contain the Creator of Heaven and earth? Often times, wisdom begins by recognizing the magnitude of God. We couldn’t fit God into a man-made temple any more than we could fit the wind into a keyhole, but that wasn’t the point. The Temple was not about size, but about sacrifice.

When my wife and I were married, I had a lot to learn about sacrifice. This was no longer a dating relationship with a few grandiose gestures to woo her over, but a marriage that required day-by-day surrender. I learned that keeping the dishes clean and the floors swept meant much more to her than large-scale tokens of affection. Over time, I figured out love is most potent in the form of daily sacrifice.

Solomon agreed with this notion in his letter to Hiram. The Temple was to be built for three purposes, “the burning of incense of sweet spices,” “regular arrangement of the showbread,” and “burnt offerings morning and evening” (2:4). This was the ordained prescription for worship in ancient Israel, daily sacrifices and offerings.

Solomon continues his letter to Hiram asking for somebody skilled in four types of metals, three colors of fabric and three species of tree. This Temple would be no boring house of worship, but a masterpiece designed for the Master. Solomon didn’t just go straight toward what was familiar either, he branched all the way out to Lebanon—no pun intended. The king understood the value of organizing ministry, as did many biblical heroes before and after such as Moses, David and Paul. Nehemiah was so skilled at casting and organizing a vision, that he was able to rebuild the city wall in Jerusalem in a mere 52 days.

Focus on what is most important

In the midst of the logistical planning and strategy, Solomon doesn’t lose focus on what is important. He honors the legacy of his father David, the previous king, by reminding Hiram it was David who provided the vast sea of workers for this project (2:7). Often times in God’s kingdom, we are called to continue somebody else’s work. In fact, Jesus reminds us: “I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor” (John 4:38). We are all standing on the shoulders of somebody who came before us. Our time on earth is temporary, but our work for the kingdom of God is eternal.

Solomon set the tone by reminding Hiram of the great worth of Israel’s God. Because God is great, God’s Temple must be great. This was not to be a dedication of Solomon’s power like other kings, this was something eternal. Hiram saw right through to the heart of the king, and it caused a pagan ruler to bow down in adoration and worship.

Now let’s bring this principle into the present. Our calling as followers of Christ, filled with the Spirit of God, is to walk in the wisdom in which Solomon walked, to speak with the honor in which Solomon spoke, and to call both believers and others alike to love God with their heart, mind and soul. We do this by living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ, so the people inside and outside of our circle of influence would also believe. Solomon brought those close to him into the work of God and lived his life in a way those far from him also would believe.

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for BaptistWay Press.

To learn more about BaptistWay Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.

• The Explore the Bible lesson for April 4 focuses on Luke 24:1-12.

In the summer of 2007, I suffered a near-death experience. The Herpes-Simplex virus infected both my liver and my bone marrow. I remember passing out on the floor of our home one night and then awakening two weeks later in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.

It wasn’t until I began healing that the hepatologist told me the death rate for that kind of viral infection is 98 percent. He had only three patients with it in his entire career, and I was the only survivor. I had  been so sick in the hospital, I hadn’t had time to reflect on anything. Later, when my brain began to clear and I learned the seriousness of what I’d experienced did I shudder to think of how close I had come to death.

People later asked me if I’d had any visions of heaven or God during the time I was out. I told them I had not. The one thing I learned for sure and the lesson that shapes every day of my life is how fragile our human existence is and how—whatever we intend to do with our lives—we’d better get serious about it. We never know when we will have had our last earthly opportunity to fulfill whatever our calling may be.

There are at least two issues that always confront us each year when we ponder the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. One is more theological, if you will. We think of the way in which Jesus’ resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith. It should give us hope.

Crucial piece of the redemptive puzzle

Much like the game Jenga, there is one crucial block of wood which, if removed, causes the entire tower of blocks to fall. The key to the game is for each player to remove one block at a time without removing the most significant block. The loser of the game is the one who unwittingly removes the key block causing the collapse of all the rest.

The resurrection of Christ is that crucial “piece” of the redemptive puzzle. If we remove the resurrection of Jesus from the Christian faith, the rest of our faith collapses. The fact that Jesus died for our sin is vital. It is also meaningless unless Jesus was raised again to new life. His death and resurrection are two sides of the same coin. There is no meaning to one without the other.

There is more. The Scripture records the astonishment, even the bewilderment, of those who had followed Jesus. They were stunned when they did not find a body to care for. We need the rest of Scripture to help us understand the full depth of this story’s meaning.

What does it mean for us?

There is what happened at the resurrection. There is also the meaning it has for us, even all these centuries later.

In the letter to the Philippian church, the Apostle Paul put it this way: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ, who, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness . . . He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8).

The words are mind-numbing. Jesus “became obedient to death.”  Jesus never placed self over obedience to the call of God because, to do so, Jesus would have consigned us to an irreversible death.

The Scripture is clear. We, too, are to do the same. If death is what it costs to follow Jesus, so be it. Especially if that death leads to life with others.

What are we willing to do?

And, if we are truly willing to lay our very being on the line that others, what else might we be willing to do?

Would we be willing to lose an argument for the sake of Jesus? Would we be willing to give up our place in line for the sake of Jesus? Would we be willing to release our resources to meet the needs of others for the sake of Jesus?

If Jesus was willing to suffer the humiliation of the cross, the torture of it, where do we draw the line?

Knowing that “the women” went to prepare Jesus’ body for permanent burial and found none does far more than define our faith; our faith defines the limits to which we should be willing to live and die for the sake of those whose life demands it.

We are responsible for passing along this wonderful truth, not only at Easter but every Sunday, every day, then we are also responsible for making certain to decrease the distance between what we say we believe and how we actually live our daily lives.

Glen Schmucker is a writer and blogger. He has served as a Texas Baptist pastor and as a hospice chaplain. 

• Lesson 4 in the BaptistWay Press Connect360 unit “Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom” focuses on 2 Chronicles 1:1-13.

What did Solomon ask for? He asked for wisdom. The word wisdom has been associated with Solomon ever since he made the request. From the writings in the book of Proverbs to some of Solomon’s decisions, wisdom has been connected to him. The word wisdom (chokmah or pronounced Hok ma) is the comprehensive knowledge of things in their proper nature and relations, together with the power of combining them in the most useful manner. The word is used to express the understanding or knowledge of things, both human and divine. It also is used in the sense of ingenuity, skill and dexterity, as in the case of the artificer Bezaleel. So, Solomon’s request is for knowledge and information and the ability to understand how to use the knowledge skillfully so he can rule his people well.

He asked for wisdom for two reasons, first, that he may go in and out among the people and secondly, that he may judge the people well. This phrase go “in and out among the people” also is used about David in 1 Samuel 18. God had anointed David king. In chapter 18, Saul was trying to kill David. The writer of 1 Samuel says the people loved David because he was “in and out among the people” (1 Samuel 18:13, 16). In other words, David became successful as a leader in Israel, and people loved him. Solomon requested that he be the successful leader his father was. He also understood the enormity of his responsibility, because the people he led were not his people but God’s people. Leadership in the kingdom of God realizes the people they lead were God’s people and not theirs. This should govern how a leader relates to the ones they lead. We need to be reminded as leaders that no matter how difficult people can be, they are still God’s people and not ours.

Not a request for personal gain

Solomon asked so he may judge God’s people correctly. He does not ask for personal gain. He did not ask based upon his self-interest but the interest of others. I have to examine my own prayer life to ascertain how much of my prayers are self-centered and selfish. Solomon’s prayer gives us a good pattern for our own prayer life. Our prayers can be about our self and our needs and our desires, but it also should be intercessory, about and on behalf of others. Our prayers should be prayers that ask for wisdom. As believers, we need the knowledge and skill to direct our own lives and, if we are leaders, the lives of others. James commanded us to ask for wisdom when we pray. When we ask for wisdom God will give it to us because it is his nature for him to give it and God’s desire for us to have it (James 1:5).

God answered Solomon’s request and not only gave him wisdom but gave him riches, wealth and honor as well. It was because of what was in Solomon’s heart that made God give him what he asked for and then some. Prayer can reveal what is in your heart. Solomon’s prayer revealed what was in his heart. Solomon became the richest man in the world, and his fame spread throughout the world.

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for BaptistWay Press.

To learn more about BaptistWay Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.

• Lesson 3 in the BaptistWay Press Connect360 unit “Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom” focuses on 1 Chronicles 29:1-19.

David offered to God a public prayer of praise. He praised God because of God’s attributes. He praised God because of God’s eternality, his glory, his power and his majesty. Although David was king, he recognized there was a greater King than himself. David understood it was not his kingdom but the kingdom of God that ultimately matters most. He recognized the source of his blessings. He is thankful he and the people of Israel were blessed to be a part of building the Temple. It is an act of mercy and grace that God allows us to be a part of what he is doing. God could have chosen others, but he chose us. We need to approach the responsibility with a sense of humility. We need to recognize the goodness and the greatness of God by recognizing our frailty, weakness and hopelessness without him.

David prayed for himself and then he interceded for Israel and Solomon. We see that David’s prayer is heartfelt. He prayed about his own heart. He does not focus on the actions of his giving but the heart of his giving. It was pure, and it was done willingly. David shifted from praying for himself to praying for the people. He wants their hearts to be pure as well. We see this idea of purity of heart when David writes in Psalm 24:4. The person who will stand in the Temple of the Lord must have both clean hands and a pure heart. David asked the Lord to give a divine echocardiogram to Israel, and if it indicates a problem, he asked God to do open-heart surgery.

Praying for a pure heart

He concluded this portion of the prayer by praying for his son. He asked the same thing for his son that he prayed for the people of Israel—a clean and pure heart; a heart that desires to keep all of God’s commandments, statutes and ordinances. It was not enough to just keep the deeds, but he wanted Solomon to have the desire to keep the deeds. A person can abide by the commandments but not have the desire to. David understood this was the only way to get the blessings of God. He also prayed for Solomon’s dedication to building the Temple. David started him off well by giving to him the plan, the provisions and the people. Solomon has everything he needs physically; all he needs now is the perseverance to complete the task. This perseverance has to be given by God.

God is not only concerned about what we give but how we give. It is important to check our motives and the intent of the heart. Even though our motives may be pure in our eye, that does not mean they are pure in God’s sight. Others may look at our actions, but God looks at our attitude. People will look at our hands, but God looks at our heart. When we examine our heart and realize it is not pure, we need to be real with God and ask God to fix our hearts. The kingdom of God demands we seek him with our whole heart.

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for BaptistWay Press.

To learn more about BaptistWay Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.

• The Explore the Bible lesson for March 28 focuses on Luke 19:29-40.

Jesus was far more than a showman. More than once and almost certainly more than is recorded in Scripture, Jesus was all but invited to put on a show of the miraculous. That spiritual bullying began just after his baptism. He went for some time alone with his Father, and Satan was first in line tempting Jesus to show off his power.

Jesus never gave into the temptation. It is also true Jesus knew the power of what we now call “optics.” Riding the donkey into Jerusalem was of those “optics” moments.

The context of this includes the time and the crowd. As for timing, Jesus is now closer to his encounter with the cross than ever. That moment was only hours away, and Jesus knew it. Secondly, many of those who would cheer his torturous death were in that crowd, laying down palm branches and seemingly worshipping Jesus or celebrating him as their political savior.

Jesus soon would disappoint them. Suddenly, those who had once praised him would be screaming, “Crucify him!”

Some meaningful principles present themselves here for consideration.

Not about the praise of others

We should always be wary of allowing the praise of others as securing our standing or security, especially when it comes to our spiritual commitments. Jesus had two of his own disciples, Peter and Judas, who shifted their allegiance from Jesus and settled for personal gain and safety on the very night Jesus was arrested.

Like Peter after his betrayal, I, too, have wept at how fickle I can be. Having made my commitment to follow Jesus as Lord, I’ve learned the hard way that living out that commitment is not easily kept. Too often, I’ve done or said things that I know broke my Savior’s heart. I’m never more vulnerable to that spiritual slippage than when living in the afterglow of some good spiritual accomplishment. My guard is never down more than when I’ve accomplished something that is kingdom praiseworthy. All of us have those moments in our spiritual histories.

More than one pastor has stood behind the pulpit while glowing in the adoration of a standing ovation from the congregation that has just called him to be their pastor. The praise is effusive, overwhelming and sometimes even unanimous. Then, somewhere down the road, the pastor learns those who once stood in praise can then turn on a dime to stand in rebellion or anger.

There is nothing in this text in Luke that indicates Jesus was taken in by the praise of the crowd—which demands some explanation of the context. Jesus was on a mission toward his own death that would make our resurrection from the dead possible. It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to sense Jesus’ sense of focus.

Take on the servant’s role

Of course, that donkey does far more than provide transportation for Jesus. A true king wouldn’t be caught dead on a donkey. The king would demand the finest white steed in the land, an animal indicative of absolute power that would have been the king’s. Jesus was preaching a wordless sermon by riding that beast, a sermon we often fail to see or hear even now.

Paul later explained the meaning of the silent sermon with these words recorded in Philippians 2:5-7: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”

Jesus went into Jerusalem, not as a power broker but as a servant, a sermon he vocalized at least once like this: “‘Whoever would be great among you must be your servant,’” (Matthew 20:26).

It was as if Jesus was painting a picture, an “optic,” that demonstrated what he’d been preaching. The donkey was the perfect image of having chosen a life of service, not power brokering.

The true power of God’s kingdom is found in service. When we feel weak-kneed in our faith, one way back to strength and hope is to find someone who could use our help and then make it available.

There is nothing in all of creation that is more powerful than the power of self-sacrificial service. Jesus showed that on the donkey. Very shortly, he would demonstrate it again while bleeding to death on a cross.

Glen Schmucker is a writer and blogger. He has served as a Texas Baptist pastor and as a hospice chaplain. 

• Lesson 2 in the BaptistWay Press Connect360 unit “Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom” focuses on 1 Chronicles 28:11-21.

After David gave out the blueprint of the Temple, he gave Solomon the do’s and don’ts of leadership. He encouraged Solomon by commanding him to be strong and courageous and to complete the work because God always will be there.

As a kid, I was always fascinated by echoes. An echo is a sound that is repeated because it is reflected back. The direction of the sound changes but the sound is the same. What we have in this verse is an echo. Even though the sound is in a different time and a different context the sound is the same. It sounds like the same thing God told Joshua. Do you remember the words?

Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. (Joshua 1:6-7, NKJV).

David’s word to Solomon echoes God’s word to Joshua. Both Joshua and Solomon were chosen by God to do a task for God. Both were successors of great men; Joshua succeeded Moses and Solomon succeeded David. The assigned task needed to be approached with strength and courage. David gives Solomon some “don’ts.” He tells his son do not be afraid and do not be discouraged.

We as believers often enter into the task of God with fear. The task and responsibility can sometimes be daunting and often overwhelming. We fear we are not equipped. We wonder how we are going to accomplish it. We fear that we may not be qualified or adequate. The responsibility before us can be discouraging as well. The plan may not work as we planned. The people who we got involved will get discouraged and quit and this can be extremely discouraging to us, but the words of David are an encouragement to us. David gives Solomon these commands, which are not easy to follow until the reason these commands can be obeyed is given. David promises God’s presence throughout the entire process.

God with us

We do not have to rely on our own power because God’s power is with us. We are not by ourselves because God is present with us. David reemphasizes the fact that God will be present by stating that God will not leave us nor forsake us. Notice that there is a preposition toward the end of this verse (1 Chronicles 28:20). The English word is “until.” The Hebrew preposition carries with it the same idea but can also be translated “while.” Both words have to deal with the duration of the task. There are going to be times that there is a temptation to quit or get discouraged during the process. In fact, there may be pain in the process of doing what God has asked.

For the New Testament believer, we must never lose faith in Jesus because the same promise that was given to Solomon is the same promise Jesus gives to us. He lets us know that as we are doing the work he has asked us to do, Christ will be with us “until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We can endure the pain and the disappointments during the process when we know we have God’s power. We can rest assured God will be present until the task is completed.

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for BaptistWay Press.

To learn more about BaptistWay Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.

• The Explore the Bible lesson for March 21 focuses on Luke 18:9-17.

What most of us will never see but something upon which we all depend is a giant underground water tank, the Edwards Aquafer. Especially in South Central Texas, the Edwards is the primary source for drinking water, agriculture and recreation. The water it makes available is the equivalent of 5.3 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Suffice it to say, although the Aquafer is not visible above ground, without it, life as it is now known in the areas its services would not be possible. When God created this world, God built in a reserve of one of the most essential of all human resources in the Edwards, one of the largest aquafers in all the world.

If there were a spiritual aquafer, one that runs out of sight but is essential to people who follow Jesus, it would be the one Jesus highlighted in this brief text. It is a perfect witness to that which Jesus will demonstrate on the cross in short order.

A self-righteous Pharisee

Jesus told a parable about two different men who went to the temple to pray. The first man he describes as arrogant and extremely self-centered. Jesus says he was a Pharisee, a man who would almost certainly be described as one of the most “holy” of all men. However, he betrays the fact that, “holy” as he may be in the eyes of others, his heart has not truly been converted to the ways of God’s kingdom.

Jesus specifically says that the man “prayed about himself.” He went further to brag on himself to God, that he is not like evildoers, men who rob and commit adultery and such. He goes so far as to contrast himself with the tax collector, the one who had also gone to the temple to pray.

Tax collectors, of course, were some of the most despised in any Jewish community. Jews themselves, they were seen as henchmen for the Roman government which allowed them to tax people at any rate they chose, including a nice slice off the top for themselves. No doubt, many families suffered under that system of taxation and were often taxed beyond their ability to pay and support their families.

Tax collectors were some of the most despised men in any Jewish community. They were viewed as traitors, worthy of hell.

It was to this man that the Pharisee compared himself and, by doing so, he thought, improved his stature not just with other men but also with God.

It would be easy to stop at this very point and learn a great deal about what Jesus believed prayer to be, and not to be. Prayer is not about us. It is one thing to pray for our needs. It is another thing altogether to wave our ethical standards in God’s face as our ticket into God’s presence.

The Pharisee, like we all do too often, thought of grace as transactional. We do for God. and God is supposed to do for us accordingly. No such thing is taught in Scripture— especially not in the life and teachings of Jesus.

Remember, when Jesus was praying in the garden prior to his arrest and crucifixion and was hoping, even praying, there would be another way to accomplish his holy mission without the cross. In the end, Jesus, not praying about himself, surrendered to the purposes of God when he said, “Father . . . not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

A penitent tax collector

The tax collector, praying in the temple at the same time, approached God in a totally opposite manner than did the Pharisee. He acknowledged his lack of credentials to ask anything of God. To God, the man referred to himself in terms of his unworthiness for anything good from God. He could not even stand to turn his face heavenward. In his body language, staring at the ground and beating himself, demonstrated that prayer was about God and God’s will, not himself and his own will.

“God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” he cried to God. He had nothing to present to God as good, and all he could hope for was the goodness of God and his willingness to surrender to it.

Jesus, again, went on to prove this to be his attitude toward God the Father on the cross. With his words and his literal body language, Jesus surrendered to the mercy of God even as he died.

It is that spirit of surrender that is the Edwards Aquafer of the kingdom of God. The only way to be true followers of Jesus is to do as this man in the temple, to forget oneself and dive headfirst into the always immeasurably deep mercy of God.

Every prayer should start and end in that spirit. When it is all said and done, it will be that spirit that ensures the victory of God’s kingdom in our lives and in the little part of the world that is ours in which to live and die.

Glen Schmucker is a writer and blogger. He has served as a Texas Baptist pastor and as a hospice chaplain. 

• The Explore the Bible lesson for March 14 focuses on Luke 15:20-32.

More than 16 years ago, my wife Nancy and I traveled with a mission team of people from our church and several other churches, led by an incredible team from Buckner International. We journeyed to Latvia, one of three Baltic states, and later to St. Petersburg, Russia, to minister to orphans. It turned out to be something totally different than what I had expected. Years later, I learned that we traveled on the same rails out of Riga the Nazis used to take Jews and others to death camps in World War II.

Again, we went there ostensibly to minister to orphans, of which there are too many to count in Eastern Europe. Most of the orphans are social orphans, which means they have living parents who are incapable of caring for their children. Most of the parents were alcoholics. Vodka flows like tap water in Eastern Europe. It’s as easily available in grocery stores as soda is here in the States.

I had no idea what it means to “minister to orphans.” At our first orphanage, the children clung to Nancy like monkeys on a tree, while I sat on a bench trying to figure out what I was doing there.

She literally had at least four or five children, starved for human touch and attention, hanging off of her wherever they could get a grip. When she saw me on the bench, she peeled off one orphan, dumped her in my lap and said, “Get with the program, Schmucker!”

I carried that little girl, about 2 years old and wearing nothing but a diaper, all over the playground. Eventually, sporting an already well-used diaper, she peed all over my left arm. A worker took her away quickly to clean and change her, leaving me to figure it out on my own. First discovery, a little pee never hurt anyone. I actually chuckled and moved on.

‘It’s not about me’

When we were planning and praying for the trip, I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to “take Jesus” to Latvia and Russia. I discovered instead that Jesus already was there long before we were born.

The people who were believers put my faith to shame. I grew up in a place where your social identity was in large part defined by where you worshipped. In Latvia, a nation that lost one-half of its 4 million people to battle in World War II, in deportations and in death camps, faith was defined more radically.

It wasn’t until we got home that I discovered the true meaning of the trip. We hadn’t taken Jesus to those dear people. Their witness of faith brought Jesus to us.

When we came home, we no longer could see our community of first-generation, poverty-level Hispanics the same way we had before we saw what Jesus has been up to in places we’ve never been. That, I believe, is the real value of “mission” trips. They transform the way we see the world.

That transformation created a new mantra for Nancy and me, “It’s not about me.”

There are very few days those words don’t come to us and influence the decisions we make.

‘What’s in it for me?’

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, that truth all but grabs me by the throat. The older son simply could not bear the thought that his renegade brother would be honored for simply coming home, the home he never left. Or, so he thought.

Read the text closely again and see how he interprets his whole world, even his family, through the lens of how it affects him. His mantra could well have been, “What’s in it for me?”

It is stunning and heartbreaking to see how that mantra has become the cultural norm. We are worried about who will be greatest. Jesus actually answered that question.

Jesus said that, he (or she) who would be greatest among you will become the servant of all, (Matthew 23:11). Jesus put his mouth where his words landed, in the garden just before his arrest and even on the cross.

The point being is that, the kingdom of God has a different dictionary than that of the unredeemed world. Greatness happens when we say, “It’s not about me,” and then begin discovering and meeting the needs of others.

If we want to be great, in God’s kingdom, we seek what is best for others and let God keep score.

Glen Schmucker is a writer and blogger. He has served as a Texas Baptist pastor and as a hospice chaplain.  

• Lesson 1 in the BaptistWay Press Connect360 unit “Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom” focuses on 1 Chronicles 28:1-10.

After David addressed the people, he turned to address his son directly. He encouraged Solomon to know, seek and serve God. He warned him not to forsake God, but to be strong and build the Temple. David not only told him what to do, he told Solomon how to do it. He told Solomon to seek and know God with his whole heart and to serve God with a willing mind. The knowing, the seeking, and the serving of God should not be done half-heartedly but wholeheartedly. This concept is a common theme in both books of Chronicles. It is mentioned seven times throughout both books.

This is sound advice for anyone. A man or woman in full-time ministry needs to make sure they know, seek and serve the Lord because they need to be in the will of God. If perhaps you are a businessperson, this advice is crucial in developing a business that has a kingdom perspective and not simply a worldly one. Many people may soon be taking on a new career path. David’s advice is good and can help you get started on the right foot. This exhortation is profitable for young people; whether you are a youth or a young adult. It is good to learn this early in life rather than late.

David’s words to Solomon are his words to us. David did not want Solomon to rule, reign or build the Temple on his strength but rely on God’s strength. The condition of Solomon’s success was to be based upon his obedience to God’s word.

God the Father Knows Best

There are times in life when God tells us “no.” Our request may be well-intended. It may be a good thing that will bring God glory. God may still say “no.” God has his reasons. He may reveal the reason to you, but he may not. At the times when God says “no,” we have to realize the reality of Romans 8:28, that God will work out the things in our life for our good. We must be like David and be satisfied with the position and place God has designed for us. God is sovereign and knows what is best.

This lesson has something to say to someone in a position as Solomon, who has a great responsibility God has placed in your hands. God has chosen people like you and me to do something great for him. It is an honor and a privilege that God call us with all of our faults and shortcomings because he is a gracious God.

God is concerned with what we do and how we do it. Therefore, whatever God has called you to do, you must do it willingly and with your whole heart. In every undertaking of God, you must have an undying commitment to him. You must be committed to knowing him, serving him, and not forsaking him.

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for BaptistWay Press.

To learn more about BaptistWay Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.

• The Explore the Bible lesson for March 7 focuses on Luke 10:25-37.

The attorney who questioned Jesus as recorded in this text had ulterior motives, according to Luke. Like many others during Jesus’ public ministry, he was trying to set Jesus up to say something that would cut against the grain of traditional Jewish theology of that day and thereby discredit him.

Jesus didn’t take the bait but instead turned the question around. He asked the lawyer what he understood the law—the Pentateuch or first five books of the Bible—to teach. “How do you read it?” Jesus asked.

The lawyer said he understood the law to instruct us to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor using how we would want to be loved as the measurement of true love. Jesus told him that his answer was correct.

Follow a formula or follow Jesus in love?

Over time, it would seem that too often we have pole-vaulted over Jesus’ answer. We have taught and preached and studied the text. Yet, when attempting to lead others to Christ, we default to the so-called plan of salvation instead of taking to heart the story of the man who rescued the victim of a brutal crime.

Accept Jesus by praying to receive him into our hearts. Repent by turning from our sins and, last but not least, confess our faith to others. Yet, if we look closely, Jesus never simplified God’s intention to redeem mankind. I didn’t know that for longer than I care to admit, even as a pastor.

I was baptized twice in my home church. Once as an 8-year-old and again as a 12-year-old. The reason I got baptized the second time, I can now see from the vantage point of over half a century, was because I doubted my first attempt at “getting saved” wasn’t sincere or correct or something.

So, I walked the same aisle, filled out the same card, stood in a receiving line and shortly thereafter I was baptized by the same pastor in the same baptistry. The odd thing was that, on the way home from my second baptism, I began to doubt my salvation again.

The doubt hamstrung me for decades, through college and seminary and my first pastorates. Yet, despite those doubts, I’d ask others to “get saved” the same way.

All to Jesus I surrender

I now know that accepting Jesus means simply releasing our life, all of it, to Jesus, hoping that he can make something good out of the mess we’ve made of things.

Repentance is an easier word to say than practice. By definition repentance is a turning from sin. The problem is that total, complete repentance is absolutely impossible without the power of Christ in us.

One of the most troubling prayers I’ve ever heard people pray is something like, “Lord, please help me leave my sin at the church door so I can worship you genuinely.”  Jesus never asked such. Jesus would ask us to bring all of ourselves into the house of worship, our sin and all, so that, when we confess Christ, we aren’t holding anything back.

We are asked to confess our faith in Christ to others. For some, such a public display of a very sincere faith is virtually impossible, especially if it involves walking the aisle of a public worship service. That is a practice built more on 19^th century evangelism than Scripture. Confession is, first, a way we live long before it is anything we do.

When I baptized my youngest son decades ago, he said, “Dad, I’ll be baptized, but I will not walk the aisle of that church first.”  It occurred to me that our baptism is our confession. I baptized my son as he, by being immersed, made his confession of faith.

Now, in my mid-60s, I find that acceptance, repentance and confession are not one-off events. They demand daily practice, every single day. Loving God means loving others.

Tenderly calling us home

An elderly woman came to see me in the Pastor’s study when I first became her pastor. She said, “I want you to know the story behind my face when you see me.”

She went on to tell me that her husband was a hopeless alcoholic. However, out of respect for her or fear of judgment or whatever, he refused to bring liquor into their home.

The nightly routine for them was for him to go outside, even on the coldest days, hide in the unheated shed and drink a pint of the hard stuff. The entire time, his wife stood at the back door and pleaded with him to come in the house. She never quit calling and he never went in the house while drinking.

Years later, she called and asked me to perform his graveside service. After it was over, standing over his grave and with a peace that passed all understanding, she told me that her husband had accepted Christ and even stopped drinking. That was in large part due to her unwillingness to stop calling him home.

The lawyer asked a very telling question. He wanted to know what he had to “do” to “inherit” eternal life.

I wonder. Do you think he ever discover that you don’t have to do anything to “inherit” eternal?  An inheritance is a gift or it’s something other than an inheritance.

We don’t work our way into the eternal home God built for us. All we need do is accept it as the gift it is.

Glen Schmucker is a writer and blogger. He has served as a Texas Baptist pastor and as a hospice chaplain.

• Lesson 13 in the BaptistWay Press Connect 360 unit “The reMARKable Journey Begins” focuses on Mark 3:31-35.

Jesus asked the rhetorical question, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Some of the crowd surrounding him might have wondered if Jesus suffered from an identity crisis. For a moment, they may have asked how Jesus could have forgotten his own family.

Apparently, Jesus did not allow the question to hang in the air for long. Looking around at those who encircled him, Jesus identified them as his mother and brothers, saying, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Family redefined

Jesus redefined family. First and foremost, Jesus was the Son of God, and he was perfectly obedient to his Father’s will. So, obedience to God the Father is evidence of kinship. Jesus declared that anyone who joins him in doing God’s will is his family. Obedience to God shows the family resemblance.

As we look at how Jesus responded to his family, we should not presume to know more than what the Scripture tells us. Nobody can say with certainty Jesus refused to see his mother and brothers when they came asking for him. He very possibly may have gone out to see them after making his point to those who gathered around him. Jesus did not reject his family. They chose to position themselves “outside” the circle of discipleship rather than approach him.

Certainly, we should not view this encounter as Jesus showing lack of respect to Mary. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, fulfilled the biblical command to honor his mother. While hanging on the cross, Jesus entrusted Mary to the care of “the beloved disciple,” traditionally understood to be John. As the eldest son, Jesus fulfilled his responsibility by ensuring his mother’s wellbeing. Significantly, he granted the care of his mother to a close follower, rather than to brothers and sisters who—at that point—had rejected his message. Even in that moment of great agony, Jesus recognized one who was faithful to God as closer kin than his own biological siblings.

Highest allegiance

As followers of Jesus, our highest allegiance belongs to him, taking precedence even over loyalty to biological family. When large crowds came to Jesus, he wanted them to understand the high cost of discipleship. Jesus said, “If anyone come to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Obviously, Jesus—who taught love for all people—did not really mean anyone should hate his or her own family. In fact, on more than one occasion Jesus cited the commandment to honor father and mother. But compared to our love and devotion to Christ, any other love in life—even love for family—should pale in comparison.

This teaching should govern how we respond to others within the church. We too often think in terms of church membership rather than church fellowship. The church is not a club we join; the church is a family into which we all are adopted. The church is not an organization; the church is a living, growing organism. The church is our family of faith, and every individual within the fellowship is our brother or sister.

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for BaptistWay Press.

To learn more about BaptistWay Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.

• The Explore the Bible lesson for Feb. 28 focuses on Luke 9:18-27.

Jesus had spent three years with his disciples. As he prepared to make his way from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem and the fate that awaited him there, Jesus wanted to know if his disciples had fully understood the lessons of those past three years. Had they fully comprehended exactly who he was? And so he asks them two penetrating questions: “Who do the crowds say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?”

As a professor at Dallas Baptist University, I give a lot of exams in which I ask a lot of questions. And I know I’ve given some pretty tough final exams in my day. I like to think that in questioning his disciples in Luke 9 Jesus was giving them a kind of oral final exam that contained just two questions. But what monumentally important questions they were.

Jesus first asked his disciples what “the word on the street” was concerning his identity. What were people saying about him? That was an important question, but it was just a primer for the next question Jesus asked. And for me, this question is the most important question in all of the Bible.

In fact, it really is the most important question in all of life.“Who do you say I am?” That’s the most important question in life because its answer has eternal consequences, doesn’t it? How a person answers that question will determine where he or she will spend eternity. And it’s a question that every person will have to answer in some way, some day.

‘The great trilemma’

What are the options people have in answering this ultimate question of questions? I’ve always loved how C.S. Lewis framed it in his famous “great trilemma” posited in his classic book, Mere Christianity. Lewis asserted Jesus either was a liar, a lunatic or the Lord. He wrote: “You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Liar, lunatic, or Lord. There’s the “great trilemma.” Lewis argues that these three are the only real alternatives one can choose from in explaining the identity of Jesus. These are the only viable answers one can give to that ultimate final exam question in life. Either Jesus was the most deceitful liar in all of human history or else the most crazed lunatic who ever lived … or else he was who he said he was, and is: He is Lord.

Thankfully, Peter gave the right answer to the question. And I’m sure his Instructor was most pleased that at least one of his students had aced that final exam. Peter’s simple two-word response demonstrated that he passed that test with flying colors. Who was Jesus? Peter simply declared that he was “God’s Messiah” (Luke 9:20b, NIV).

What is your answer?

What about you? Have you answered that most important question in all of life? Just to remind you, everyone will have to give an answer to that question in some way, some day. And the fact is, one day everyone will ultimately give but one answer. Everyone will acknowledge Jesus’ true identity. Everyone will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. The Apostle Paul reminds us: “ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,  in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11, NIV).”

There’s one big difference, however, in the how and when a person answers that ultimate final exam question. A person can give that right answer in this lifetime and live forever. Or a person will give that right answer in judgment in the life to come, but tragically, that answer then will come all too late. What about you? How and when will you answer that most important question in life?

Jim Lemons is professor of theological studies and leadership at Dallas Baptist University. He is a senior adult Sunday school teacher at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.