1 Kings 3:5-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n
August 1, 1999<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we drive down Bush Street on the way to church, we have had more than a few occasions encountering a group of pigeons scavenging right on the street. Trying to make all the green lights, I would come upon these poor pigeons. One time, we heard a clunk and we were afraid to look back! Pigeons are pretty dumb. They have birdbrains! This sermon is dedicated to Joy because she dislikes birds a lot. How many of you hate birds? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solomon was a birdbrain. Calling Solomon a birdbrain is not to be disrespectful of Solomon or to birds. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New research shows that birds have powers of abstraction, memory, creativity, and insight that put them on a par with many mammals, including primates. It seems that birds have episodic memory, something previously believed to be unique only to humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scientists discovered that scrub jays remember not only where, but also when, they hid worms and other food. This type of memory involves mental images of past events. For example, we\u2019ve probably all found lost keys by mentally retracing our steps the last time we had our keys. With episodic memory, we remember something in its context with other events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers have also found that the black-capped chickadees grow new brain cells and shed old ones when that information is no longer needed. It\u2019s constant rejuvenation. These birds are updating their brains. Those of us who have \u201csenior moments\u201d wish we can do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So rather than seeing birds as only feather-heads bobbing about for worms whose brains are little more than a tiny mass of dizzy neutrons, birds are pretty smart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when God tells Solomon in his dream that he can have whatever his heart desires, Solomon gets a birdbrain. He says, \u201cI\u2019d like to have some wisdom, please.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How would you respond to a chance like this?\u00a0 Suppose God says to us that we can have anything we want, or always wanted.\u00a0 So we say to God, \u201cUh, I\u2019d like wisdom.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 Most of us would probably respond like we\u2019ve just hit the lottery like those commercials we see on TV.\u00a0 We would ask for things like money, prestige, power or some other form of instant gratification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We think Solomon is a birdbrain because he gives such a dumb answer. Wrong. Birds are smart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so is young King Solomon. First, he places this encounter with the Lord in context with others. Solomon has an episodic flashback and remembers what the Lord has done for his father, David, for the people of Israel, and for Solomon himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In asking for wisdom, he shows himself to be wise; wise enough to remember what the Lord has done, wise enough to know that he lacks experience, wise enough to ask the Lord for an understanding mind. Solomon\u2019s birdbrain\u2014his remembering in context\u2014is the beginning of wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solomon is not asking to be radically transformed into something other than what he already is. He\u2019s not like the student who fails to crack open a book until the night before the exam, and then prays for an \u201cA\u201d through divine intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Young Solomon has done his homework. He is already wise. For him to ask for an understanding heart is to ask God to fulfill what has already clearly begun in Solomon. In other words, in granting his request, God builds on Solomon\u2019s birdbrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we have more knowledge beyond Solomon\u2019s wildest dreams. Humanity has never had so much knowledge, so many facts, so many experts. We surf the Net, watch over 40 cable channels, read the morning paper daily, listen to 24-hour news radio, and attend seminars, constantly multiplying our databases. Yet our knowledge so often seems to lack context. We are drunk with knowledge, and yet we are starving for wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember the movie, Jurassic Park a few years ago? The scientists had an abundance of knowledge to create dinosaurs from broken strands of DNA. But they lack wisdom. They fail to understand that just because they want to make dinosaurs doesn\u2019t mean that they should actually make dinosaurs. The ability and knowledge does not make something good and wise. The Jurassic Park movies show us that with a lack of wisdom, we might end up creating something that eventually will eat us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Solomon, it was not knowledge that he wanted but he first acknowledges the context of his father David to be one who walked before God in faithfulness, righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward God. He had an episodic memory of what the Lord did for his father, David. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a church, we too have been remembering our forefathers and foremothers who have been faithful and righteous in God.\u00a0 By reminding ourselves of the tremendous sacrifices and commitments they made to bear witness through this church, we have the context and the wisdom that led us to decide to stay in Chinatown.\u00a0 We were able to see the outpouring of support for the stewardship campaign at the All-Church Banquet last fall and now the excitement toward the retrofit\/renovation project that is about to begin. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, Solomon acknowledges that he has been chosen to lead a great people, so numerous that they cannot be numbered or counted. Again, it wasn\u2019t about his ability to go out and count everyone in Israel. With his wealth and armies, he could have done that. Rather, Solomon sought for wisdom\u2014an understanding mind to govern God\u2019s people. He had another episodic memory of to whom he has been chosen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At FCBC, we literally can\u2019t get away from the countless numbers of people who are living, working, going to school, and growing up in Chinatown. There are people everywhere, crowding the streets, filling up the restaurants, shopping the stores, and yes, even attending church. We too don\u2019t need to count everyone in Chinatown before we feel that we can minister and serve God. We have an episodic memory that wherever there are people who have yet to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, there we need to be too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, Solomon said to the Lord, although you have made me a servant king, \u201cI am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.\u201d Solomon was inexperienced. As a king, he didn\u2019t know how to lead his army out to battle and back home safely again. He remembered that for himself, he didn\u2019t have all the wisdom and experience to carry out his responsibilities of being a king. Solomon asked for help. To be truly wise is to admit that we don\u2019t have all the answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are all like Solomon. Many of us have been entrusted with responsibilities that are too complex and enormous to carry out alone. Sometimes we think that we can do it ourselves\u2014in my way. But fortunately, we catch ourselves having an episodic moment, not a senior moment when we forget, but an episodic moment that tells us that we have each other to count on. We see that the tasks before us of getting the church building ready for construction and then the construction itself are awesome. If I have to worry about all of it myself, I would become crazy like the \u201cBirdman of Alcatraz!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather, I have all of you. Some of you are praying. Some are supporting the project through your giving. Some are able to give of their time, like Wally and Josie, Lea and the Solar and Grace Fellowships. And we hope that some of you will be able to come this Thursday to help move church furniture to South SF for storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Solomon\u2019s dream, God was so pleased with his request for wisdom, an understanding to discern from right and wrong, that God not only granted Solomon his wish, but God also gave him honor, riches, and long life. And we see in the very next chapter how Solomon was able to settle the custody case of an infant son between two women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, too often we forget to remember who God is and what God has done for us.\u00a0 Even Solomon, who had a brain hardwired to remember the wisdom of God, forgot all about it.\u00a0 In his later life, his birdbrain-like episodic memory failed him.\u00a0 He built shrines and altars to strange gods that would be torn down by others whose spiritual brain cells were still functioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wisdom is not immunity to the sins of turning away from God. We can still do dumb things. Wisdom can be rejuvenated like the brain cells of a chickadee. But wisdom still requires the saving grace of Jesus Christ. To receive the rejuvenation of not only our brain cells, but rejuvenation of all the cells in our bodies, our whole life, we need Christ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo Tolstoy tells a story about a falcon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A rich lord had a falcon that he had trained very carefully. It was a splendid bird that was obedient to his master\u2019s every command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day the lord and a host of his servants went hunting. When the falcon caught the first rabbit, the lord stroked the bird lovingly. Then, being thirsty, he began to search for water. He soon found an old spring on a hillside where the water trickled out of the earth a drop at a time. The lord held his cup under the spring and waited until it was nearly full. As he brought the cup to his mouth, the falcon flapped his wings, spilling the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lord scolded the bird and again placed his cup under the spring. He waited a long time until the cup finally filled. When he began to drink a second time, the falcon landed on his wrist, causing the water to spill on the ground. This time he scolded the bird in a louder voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the lord was able to fill the cup a third time the falcon again caused him to spill the water. The lord became so angry that he struck the bird with all his might, killing it instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This time the lord sent a servant to draw water from the spring. He soon returned with an empty cup. \u201cSir,\u201d he began, \u201cthe water is not fit to drink. There is a snake in the spring and it has poisoned the water. If you had drunk the water you would have died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lord hung his head and said, \u201cThe falcon saved my life, and in anger I killed him for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The falcon in this story is like the Christ who gave up his life even at the hands of his owner to save his lord. Jesus is like that. He comes back again and again flapping his wings to distract us from the sins that we are about to commit. Jesus comes to guide our hands from committing acts of violence to ourselves and to others. Jesus never gives up on us and tries again and again to help us see that as sinners, we stand in need of forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Birdbrain Christians, we may not have all the answers, but we can remember<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That God created a good world and gave us the gift of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That God has a plan for his creation and a special part for FCBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That we are all sinners who have rejected some portion of God\u2019s plan and so stand in need of forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That forgiveness and the restoration of God\u2019s plan are offered to us through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That wisdom is not so much to pray for miracles but like Solomon to do our homework, remember our past, and ask for God\u2019s help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That this help is nowhere more present than when we encounter Christ through his church gathered in his name right here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That though we may not always like the answers, if we ask for his help and honestly and openly seek his plan, Jesus Christ will help us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To close with one more true bird story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigators looking for pirated computer software in a house in Mountain Ash, South Wales, couldn\u2019t find the master discs until the owner\u2019s parrot announced, \u201cUnder the mattress! Under the mattress!\u201d They lifted it and found two cases containing some 200 games. \u201cThe parrot was giving us an earache,\u201d the investigator told reporters, \u201cwhen it dawned on us what it was squawking about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Birds are smart. And as one with a rejuvenated birdbrain, I now have an episodic flashback of hitting a pigeon on Bush Street. I promise I will ask for the wisdom of slowing down on Sunday morning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us pray.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gracious God, grant us the wisdom to discern your plan for the world and our unique part in it. Like Solomon, we ask for help to carry out the tasks and opportunities in ministry. Gather our church together in spirit and in truth. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Kings 3:5-12 August 1, 1999 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco. As we drive down Bush Street on the way