Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church

In Matthew 23, Jesus is going to teach us how grace and accountability go hand in hand. How inward righteousness is more important than visual obedience; internal faith is closely followed by external action. In other words, the kingdom of God requires all of its members to be servant leaders just like their king. Here is the bookends message - God’s kingdom is not a community to be defined by pow...

John's little letter is a compass for ordinary faithfulness in the daily valleys of the Christian faith. In the face of false teachers, he challenges us to examine ourselves for healthy faith: Where do you anchor your hope? Are you a truth person or a love person? and What are you willing to lose? Ultimately, he refuses to pit truth and love against each other, and commends instead the transformin...

Psalm 18 is a picture of resurrection that finds fulfillment in Jesus. In particular: • God rescued David from death because he delighted in him. • God rescued Jesus from death because he supremely delighted in him. • God rescues all who are united to Jesus by faith – because he delights in you, too! When we understand this delight at the heart of God the father, it frees us up to delight right ba...

Psalm 72 offers a template for godly leadership, measured in terms of flourishing, compassion and worship. Solomon’s own record as a king was mixed, but Jesus’s record is perfect. Palm Sunday celebrates his triumphal entry into Jerusalem as our humble king, who is then crowned with thorns, lifted onto the cross, raised from the grave, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. This “coronation”...

The inevitability of death should change the way we live, but not in the predictable ways we might think. Three popular temptations are variations on the YOLO theme (You Only Live Once): YOLO nihilism, YOLO hedonism, and YOLO moralism. Ecclesiastes teaches instead that we always live before the face of God, whether alive or dead. This confidence in his character is what enables us to trust him as...

We can rest knowing that God's hidden hand is always at work in our work and in our relationships. It takes a lot out of us to do good work and to keep what we love safe. But it will only be worth the effort if we're trusting that our Heavenly Father is active all along the way, and it's not all up to us. And having your own family is a good thing, but it's not the best thing. The best thing is be...

A yoke is a metaphor for shared labor and/or harsh oppression. The choices made by Rehoboam and Jeroboam illustrate how we all wear yokes, and every yoke is a heavy yoke, except Jesus’ yoke. As we consider the yokes of followership, of leadership, and ultimately of worship, it drives us away from idols toward Jesus, who bore the yoke of sin so that we might wear the yoke of salvation.

Solomon’s late-life turn illustrates some of the common dynamics in a recent phenomenon called deconstruction, where some Christians are re-evaluating, modifying, or in some cases rejecting their faith. Whether we are deconstructing or constructing faith, we all need to do "why work," asking at least three questions:  1. Where do I get my yardsticks? 2. Whose opinion matters most to me? 3. What is...

One way of reading the Song of Songs is to see Solomon as a sad contrast to the simple monogamy of the young shepherd and shepherdess at the heart of the poem. In this contrast we find surprising strengths of marital intimacy, but without idealizing the many non-sexual "lanes" on which love travels for all people, whether single, married, divorced or widowed. Ultimately, Jesus is our Better King w...

The Queen of Sheba experienced the wisdom of Solomon and saw through it to the goodness of God. This is the hope of every believer, but it is often hindered by two problems: broken mirrors and untested muscles. In the Gospel of Jesus, however, neither problem is insurmountable. Broken mirrors together can still reflect a flawed but faithful image of Jesus, and the muscles of faith in Christ can be...

Power is the ability to influence reality, and everyone has it. While Solomon had more power than any of us today, each of us exercises multiple forms of power every day. Pete Scazzero names six of them: Positional, Personal, Representative (or "God factor" power in ministry), Projected, Relational and Cultural. Solomon exercises various forms of power in his relationships with Hiram and Pharaoh,...

1. Worry Can be a Good Emotion (v.34, Philippians 2:19-20, 2:28, 2 Corinthians 11:28, 1 Corinthians 12:25). 2. Worry Can be A Troubling and Even Debilitating Emotion (vv. 25-33) 3. How Can You Replace Anxiety with Peace? (vv. 25-33; Luke 12:32)

Solomon's prayer of dedication and benediction teaches us how to pray. We have to know who we're praying to (a God who speaks, acts, sees, hears and forgives), who we are in relation to him (sinners, sufferers and saints in desperate need of his help), and what he's up to in the world (blessing the whole world by inviting them into relationship with him, too).

Solomon’s temple spared no expense to create a house for God, with at least three purposes: 1. to preach the point of life (communion with God) 2. to showcase the character of God (trustworthy, priceless, beautiful, perfect, holy and merciful) 3. to situate us in our story (Garden -> tabernacle -> temple -> spiritual house -> body of Christ -> New Jerusalem) Knowing this, we have al...

Solomon's wisdom led Israel into an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity, but at no small cost. His expansive "breadth of mind" illustrated the numerous ways we can serve and glorify God today. God even used him to partially fulfill many of his ancient promises to Abraham: for people, place, protection and a program of blessing the nations. Yet Solomon's achievements still fell short of God's...

Solomon's famous wisdom was not a clever trick but evidence of a deep attunement to the heart of God. Three marks characterize it: 1) taking people seriously, 2) listening for the heart, and 3) keeping mercy and justice together. All three are embodied most fully by Jesus, whose cross finally explains how God can show us both mercy and justice. By the grace he earned for us, ordinary Christians no...

God’s extraordinary offer to Solomon challenges us to consider how we ourselves might respond.  Solomon’s bases his answer on three assessments: of God, of his father David, and of himself. Ultimately, his request for wisdom – for, literally, a “hearing heart” –  doesn’t prioritize his own needs, but the common good of God’s people whom he is called to lead. This godly choice can only come from a...

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We can forget that for God’s people before Jesus came, waiting for the Messiah involved some risk. If God comes in power, is that good for us or bad? When Gabriel visits Mary to announce the Messiah’s birth, we see that God’s mighty power is pointed toward us in love and because of his grace—to save us. What’s more, it’s worth the risk to obey God while we wait for him to come again, even at perso...

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The first advent of Jesus was marked by the presence of angels, but who are they, and what is their relationship to him? Hebrews 1 explores this relationship, emphasizing the absolute supremacy of Jesus over all things, including the scary-cool angels. Even more striking is that both Jesus and his angels have stooped to seek and serve human beings. We, then, are called to respond to this great sal...

Embracing limitations does not mean lowering expectations. When we acknowledge our real physical, spiritual and emotional limitations, God delights to show his power working through them, or through other people. Embracing our limitations becomes, paradoxically, a way of maximizing collaborations, expecting God to do more than we could ever try to do ourselves.

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