Saga: The Story of David: Passing on a Legacy
August 14, 2016
Dr. Tom Pace
I Kings 2:1-4, 10-12
We’re going to continue now our series on David, and our Scripture today is from Kings. I Kings 2. David has reached the end of his life. I want you now to listen as we hear David’s charge to his son Solomon as Solomon takes over from him.
When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying:“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous,and keep the charge of theLordyour God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. Then theLordwill establish his word that he spoke concerning me: ‘If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’
Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David.The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established. (I Kings 1:1-4, 10-12 NRSV)
I wonder what you want your last words to be. You probably don’t get to pick that of course. They sneak up on you. But if you could design exactly your last words what would they be?
They said that John Wesley’s last words were, “I’ll praise, I’ll praise…” He was quoting the hymn “I’ll praise my maker while I’ve breath…and when my voice is lost in death praise shall employ my nobler powers.” I don’t know.
I talk to people often who are planning memorial services, and they’ll talk about what the person’s last words were and often it is a comfort to know that their last words were something like, “I love you.”
We’re going to think about that and what do we leave those who come after in just a moment.
Let’s pray together. O God, open us up. Open our eyes that we might see, and our ears that we might hear. Open our hearts that we might feel. And then, O Lord, open our hands that we might serve. Amen.
Last week we had Absalom’s revolt and David put it out. His son Absalom unfortunately was killed in battle and David grieved. But he returned to Jerusalem where Absalom had claimed the throne. David resumed the throne of Israel. There were still many, many tensions in the kingdom. The north and the south seemed to be at odds and in fact someone else named Sheba led a revolt against David leading all the northern kingdom against him. His general Joab ended that revolt. There was a three year famine David had to lead through. There was a three month pestilence that claimed 70,000 lives in his kingdom.
So Absalom’s revolt that we often think of at the end of his life wasn’t really the end of the trouble. The difficulties, the wars, the battles, all of that stuff continued. There were incredible wars against the Philistines. One was against a Philistine warrior who had six fingers and six toes on each hand and foot. How weird is that!
So David finally reaches the end of his life and as he’s dying one wonders who’s going to be king. David has two sons left – Adonijah and Solomon. Adonijah is the eldest and he just figures he’s going to be king. So while David is lying there dying….One of the interesting things is that the Scripture says is that there was provided a maiden – Chronicles says two maidens and 1 Kings says one – it doesn’t really matter – to keep him warm. How interesting is that? I guess it’s great to be king.
So he’s lying there dying, and Adonijah just decides he’s going to be king. So he plans a coronation party and coronation parade, and he sends out invitations, but he doesn’t invite Solomon, or Nathan the prophet, or Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, not his mother but his brother’s mother.
And so Nathan hears about this and he goes to see Bathsheba and David and he says, “Hey, did you know Adonijah is claiming the throne?” And David says, “I don’t know anything about that.”
And Bathsheba says to him, “Didn’t you promise my son Solomon that he would be king?” And David says, “Yeah, yeah, I think I did.”
You know it’s not in there anywhere. Bathsheba’s a smart cookie. She’s saying, “Hey, I think you promised…..”
Dee does that to me all the time. She’ll say, “You remember when I told you…” And I’ll say, “Yeah, yeah, I remember. I was listening.”
Anyway, so what David says is he takes his son Solomon, puts him on his mule and sends Nathan, and they crash the coronation parade. Right there at the party Nathan the prophet takes oil and anoints Solomon as the next king over Israel. All of the people recognize its David’s authority and also David’s mule he’s riding. They pronounce that indeed Solomon is king. Adonijah goes to the altar of the Lord and he holds on to the horns of the altar. When you hold onto the horns of the altar you’re in a place of sanctuary. The horns of the altar were these little pointed posts on the end of the altar. So Solomon couldn’t kill him. David dies and Solomon becomes king. And after David dies, Solomon kills Adonijah anyway, so it didn’t help that much. So now Solomon is king. And just before David dies, he shares some wisdom with Solomon, and that’s what I want us to talk about today.
What are the things that David gave to Solomon? What was his legacy? And there are three things that I want to lift up. They go with three questions that I want to ask you.
The first thing he gave him is a covenant. And basically if you read the words that we said a few minutes ago, “Keep the charge of the Lord your God walking in his ways, keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, his testimonies as it is written in the law of Moses so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, and the Lord will establish his word that he spoke concerning me.” When he says it that way he’s passing on the covenant, the promise that came before him and that will continue after him.
The question I want to ask you is what have you signed up for that is bigger than you are, that began before you were born and will end after you die, that is much bigger than you?
You see David saying, “I am a part of what God is doing in this world to establish his kingdom. I am a part of that and so are you, Solomon. We are a part of something far bigger than we are.”
Reinhold Niebuhr the great theologian is famous mostly for the Serenity Prayer that’s prayed in Twelve Step groups and maybe by some of you. He also said something else that has always rung true with me. He said, “Anything worth doing will never be accomplished in our lifetimes. So we are saved by hope.”
Anything that really matters, anything you might want to give your life to fully and completely without reserve will never be accomplished in your lifetime.
John Kennedy in his inaugural address said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” He also said these words as he sort of cast his vision for America, “All of this will not be finished in the first 100 days, nor will it be finished in the first 1000 days, nor in the life of this administration. Nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”
Look, it’s not going to get done in my lifetime, but I’m going to be part of it. Let’s go for it. Let’s go.
Some of you have had the privilege of seeing the musical “Hamilton.” I have not yet, and I’m anxious. I see it’s coming to Houston in a year or two, and I’m anxious to get on the list. But one of the songs is “The World Was Wide Enough” and has these lyrics: “Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden that you never get to see. I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song that someone will sing for me.”
What have you signed up for that is bigger than you are, that began long before you and will finish long after you, that the Lord will bring to completion on the day of the Lord but maybe not in your lifetime on this planet?
Some months ago I attended the funeral of Mike Stroman’s father. Mike was the Chairman of our Board of Stewards and Executive Committee last year. And the pastor at his father’s service preached a wonderful message. And one of the things he did was share an image that I just love. He said, “Imagine that your life is happening in a stadium and you’re on the field playing. And all of the saints who have gone before you are in the stands around you cheering you on. All those who’ve gone before you are saying, ‘Go – you can do this.’”
So they’ve invested in this work that God has begun, and now it’s your turn and when you’re done someone else is going to take up the mantle. What have you signed up for that is bigger than you are? This is God’s covenant, God’s promise to bring about his kingdom. David gave to Solomon a covenant.
Here’s the second thing. David gave to Solomon a commission. Not technically, God really gave him the commission, and I’ll talk about that in a moment. In 2 Samuel 7 God speaks to David, and he says, “David, I have lived in a tent.” So the Ark of the Covenant has been held in a tent called the Tabernacle. And in 2 Samuel 7 God says to David, “You will not build a house for me but your son will. Your hands, David, are too covered with blood so your son will build a house for me.”
It actually doesn’t say that Solomon will build a house, that’s kind of under some discussion because it could have been Adonijah had he gotten the throne. He said, “Your son will build a house.”
Now here’s what David did. He gathered all the materials for the house. He got the artisans to sign on, he gathered all the materials. He raised all the money to build the temple, and then Solomon built it. He couldn’t build it himself, but he facilitated Solomon building it. I will tell you from experience that it’s not all hard to build something if someone else has raised the money. I’m not sure which is the hardest part, but both parts are around.
Here’s the question – how have you spoken into or facilitated someone else taking hold of God’s dreams for them? David facilitated Solomon building the temple. He couldn’t do it, but he spoke into Solomon’s life and commissioned him to build that temple on behalf of God.
You just heard Julie talking about the Olympics. I’ve been watching them, too. Maya Dorado – I don’t even like her, she’s so good. She gets a perfect SAT when she’s 15. You can’t swim that fast and be that smart and be that nice. It’s just not right. There’s got to be something deeper in there somewhere – some demon inside her that we just don’t know about yet. But these are amazing people.
So you saw Michael Phelps, and he’s been winning all of these races, but for me the most touching part was the picture of him with Joe Schooling. So Joseph Schooling is from Singapore, he swims for the University of Texas. You could see he had a longhorn tattoo on his shoulder. But after Phelps lost to Schooling they show a picture of Phelps with Schooling when he was thirteen. And Schooling has these glasses on, and he looks like this twerpy little kid. It’s like he says, “Phelps was my inspiration.” It was funny, Phelps was not all that gracious about it because he just likes to win. He was saying, “I’m happy for Joseph that he won….” and still licking his wounds for the loss of course. But I wanted to say to him, “Phelps, you know what? That’s probably more important what you did for the next generation of swimmers than just winning 23 gold medals.”
Simone Biles who she mentioned just a minute ago said these words, “This medal is not just for me. It’s some of the African Americans who have been before me and who have been my inspiration. And I hope I can be an inspiration for others. This medal is for the people who come after me and get into the sport.”
I’m doing this because...… I win this so that I can have a legacy of other people, not me but other people. And you’re saying, “Look, it’s great that you can talk about other people who can win gold medals and what kind of legacy they leave. But I don’t swim and I don’t run and I’m not the best in the world at anything. So what can I do?”
Have you ever seen the movie “Rudy”? It’s one of my favorite, and it’s an old movie about Daniel Ruettiger who wanted to play football for Notre Dame but who wasn’t really good enough. But he walked on and made the team and got to play once. But there’s a scene in the movie where he really wants to go to Notre Dame, and his father has pooh-poohed it and says, “Aw, you’ll never make it. That’s a stupid dream.” But his best friend is in a used clothing store, and he sees a Notre Dame letter jacket. He buys it and gives it to Rudy as a gift for his birthday as they’re sitting in a factory lunchroom. He gives him this Notre Dame jacket. He says, “You’re going to achieve your dream.”
It’s like what he’s doing is speaking into someone else… God’s dream for someone else he’s speaking into it. He’s setting it free; he’s facilitating someone else to become something. You can do that. Of course every one of us can do that. If we’ll get out of our selfish mode, thinking about ourselves and when we talk to people start thinking about them and about what God might have in mind for them, and how we can encourage that and open it up and set it free. And that’s a hard discipline to learn but boy, it makes a difference.
I was invited to go down the street here to St. John the Divine church and talk with Clay Lein who’s the new pastor there. He’s been there just over a year, maybe a couple of years now. But St. John the Divine was sponsoring the global leadership summit for Willow Creek and asked us to come help with that. We sent a team down this year just to experience the summit. So I’m down there visiting with him about that, and I’m trying to get to know him a bit. We’ve met before but never really talked as much.
I began to tell him something about what I hoped to do in my ministry, something coming up. And it didn’t seem like that big a deal to me, but we were just kind of getting to know each other. And he said, “So, Tom, what would it take to get you to do that?” And I said, “What do you mean?” And he said, “What resources do you need to gather, and what people do you need to get on board so you can accomplish that?” I said, “I don’t know yet.” Then he said, “Well, what’s the time line for getting it done?”
I’m thinking, “Hey, I don’t work for you.” Then as I left he said, “Let’s meet again in three months, and let’s talk about that thing you want to do.” It was so funny, but I thought to myself, “That’s how this guy’s cut. He’s thinking, ‘God has something for you to do and my job is to facilitate you doing it.’” He’s not going to do it. All he’s going to do is make me do it.
So we can do that in so many ways. We can do it with our money. I have a good friend. We were having dinner the other night, and he was telling me about this guy he’d met. This was a pastor he’d met in Austin who wants to start a church in a bar. He likes to make that craft beer stuff, and he said, “I want to start a bar that’s also a church. And the people who want to come to the bar they’re the people I need to reach for Jesus.”
I thought, “What an interesting idea.” And I said to my friend, “So what did you tell him?” He said, “I gave him money to do it. I invested in it.” I thought, “Wow, here’s a guy who has some resources and somebody else has a dream, and he says, ‘I want to facilitate that dream. It’s not my dream. I didn’t think of it. I would never have thought of it, but here’s somebody else who’s got something he wants to accomplish, and I just want to help set it free. I want to facilitate it happening. I want to leave a legacy, not in my life but in his. And who knows what God will do with that?’”
People often leave a bequest to St. Luke’s church when they pass away, and it goes to St. Luke’s Foundation where it yields interest and leads to ministry year after year after year. It’s someone who wants to invest in what’s to come later.
Here’s the question I would ask you then. How might you set free God’s dreams for someone else? Facilitate those. Speak into their lives.
One last thing then. David gives him a charge. It’s a matter of character. He says, “Be strong and of good courage. Walk in the ways of the Lord.” It’s funny, earlier in the end of 2nd Samuel it says literally, “These are the last words of David.” And then there’s a Psalm. And then there’s another chapter where David talks more, and then there’s First Kings where David talks more. There are lots more talking, so what does it mean when it says, “These are the last words of David”?
Well, it could mean that this is the last Psalm he wrote. But here’s what I would say. He’s saying, “This is the last stamp. This is what David stands for.” It’s like what do you want your eulogy to be? What do you want your obituary to say? This is what I stand for and David talks about being a ruler of justice and righteousness.
Now here’s what’s so cool about this. David wasn’t always a ruler of justice and righteousness. We’ve studied his life all summer long, and we’ve come to understand that David was pretty flawed and his motives were often mixed. So are yours, by the way. So are mine, and it’s the same for everyone up here. But that doesn’t mean our life can’t stand for something, that we can’t say, “This is what matters to me. This is what I aspire for.”
You know when I do a wedding, I ask a couple, “What do you want your family to stand for? What are its values going to be?” When we have a memorial service we always ask, “The person who has passed away, what did they stand for?”
So what do you stand for? Have you shared with people you love what you stand for? Don’t worry that you may be hypocritical about that, because all of us are. The people you love know what your life is really like, so they know your flaws. But that doesn’t mean you can’t say, “This is what I want to be about. This is what I want my legacy to be, and I share with you this statement of my character.”
Now I’m going to tell you something. If you do that right now, you will find yourself all the more wanting to live up to that and actually put it into practice. And that will make even a bigger difference. But leaving a legacy of character makes a big difference. Here’s the bottom line, friends, I’m going to be the bearer of bad news, you are going to die. It’s terminal. That’s going to happen and they are going to gather in a room like this, and we’re going to talk about you, sing some hymns and then everyone’s going to go eat some potato salad. That’s what’s going to happen. You know you may do everything to fight against that but that’s the truth. And in the face of that I just want to ask these three questions: have you signed up for something that is bigger than you are, that will go on longer than you live doing God’s work to build his kingdom? Have you spent time speaking into and investing in somebody else’s life, setting free God’s dream for them? And have you decided what you stand for, what matters to you, that you might share it with others? That’s your legacy.
Let’s pray. Lord God, we thank you for David’s life, as flawed as it was, because it reminds us that you can use us as flawed as we are. And that you have a relentless purpose in mind and even when we make mistakes you don’t give up on us and you didn’t give up on David. Keep using us to build your kingdom and to bring your reign about. God help us to know what our legacy might be. That we might sign up for that covenant. That we might offer others your great commission. In the name of Christ. Amen.