1 Kings 3:1-3
1 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. 2 Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

At various times in the Bible, we see this phrase "high places." In most of these situations, it refers to idol worship. However, there are some moments when this phrase is used where it does not refer to idolatry, but rather it was just the format in which people worshiped God before Solomon built the Temple.

So then, why does the writer make it sound like Solomon was doing something bad? If you go back to the way God instituted worship, the Levites were the only ones who could perform sacrifices. These high places around the nation of Israel were there as a convenience so they would not have to travel all the way to the tabernacle. BTW: Giving God convenient sacrifices is a whole other message. It seems that while God was willing to accept the sacrifices, it wasn't what he instituted.

Another facet is the fact that many of these high places were located in areas that in the past were centers of worship for pagan gods like Baal, Molech, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, etc. This led to the high probability of pagan idol worship infiltrating the worship of God.

What we're about to read is Solomon offering sacrifices to God at the high place at Gibeon. Gibeon is very important in the biblical narrative. It was considered one of the great high places, and for good reason:
- Gibeon was where the sun stood still while Gideon fought.
- It was the city designated for the Levites, the priests.
- It was the hometown of King Saul.
- And most importantly, while the Ark was in Jerusalem, Gibeon was where the Tabernacle of Moses resided during the reign of David and Solomon.

1 Kings 3:4-15
4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 6 And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Take a moment and evaluate with me the posture of Solomon's heart. He knew the only way he was going to be able to effectively lead was if he leaned into God, if he operated in wisdom. He knew the only place true wisdom comes from is God himself, so beyond riches, beyond fame, beyond influence, he desired wisdom.

Solomon knew that everything in his natural life was going to require wisdom to function effectively. He also knew of the only source of wisdom, God. But God told him that everything in his natural life was going to stem from what was happening in his spiritual life. “If you walk in my ways.”

Solomon's heart’s desire was to honor God, and through him, to lead effectively. So his response was worship, adoration, submission, surrender. And when God, pleased with Solomon’s heart, basically granted him a wish, he chose something that was not selfish, not something that was self appeasing, but rather something that would benefit the people around him.

A heart chasing after God, a request that benefits others, selfless and sacrificial desires, these are the things that pleases God's heart.

Let this be an example of what it looks like when you actually surrender to the management, to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Not only is it a reflection of a heart that is in the right place, but the result is desires that mimic God's desires, passion for people that reflects his, and obedience to something bigger than just what's in it for you.

In fact, let this passage also serve as a reminder that whenever you chase after the things of God, he takes care of the rest. I know it is easy to reject obedience and try to do it on your own, but the result of a mindset like that is always brokenness. Sure, by not giving, you may have more money, but there's no satisfaction, and maybe even sorrow with it. The fact that you didn't step up to help might mean you have more time, but you have less fulfillment and fewer relationships that really matter.

John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.

All of the things I've mentioned so far that please God's heart are completely spirit-led. Your flesh is worthless, and will still fight tooth and nail. You get life from godly things, but nothing profits from decisions made in your flesh.

This is precisely where so many people live. People are making decisions out of the flesh, but expecting the result of decisions made from the spirit.
The result is a frustration on two levels:

First, is that they are experiencing fleshly results. If you look at back at verse 10, the Bible says that Solomon's response pleased the Lord, and that pleasure of the Lord is what prompted God to pour out blessing.

Romans 8:8
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

If you are experiencing constant frustration, is it the result of you being managed by your flesh?

Second, they are living in disappointment because God didn't "do what he said he would do.” Why do we expect God to bless our flesh driven disobedience?!?!? God is under no obligation to respond with blessing when we are being driven by our flesh.

If you really want to learn something from Solomon, it's this:
The mismanagement of your spiritual life is the cause of the mismanagement of your natural life. Every result, good, bad, or ugly, is the result of your spiritual life.

Now I didn’t like it when I wrote it, and I tried to make it not true, but it is. You are a spirit with a body not a body with a spirit. You might be able to effectively manage your natural life for a season, but one of three things always happens: you fall into pride/sin, lose control of everything/crash, or you live in sorrow/unfulfilled.

Look at how Solomon’s story ends as evidence: 1 Kings 11:1-11
1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— 2 from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom (Molech) the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9 So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. 11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

If you keep on reading in 1 Kings 11, you will see that defeated nations whose leaders were hiding in other nations left those nations to create bands of raiders to destroy Israel. It is crazy how Solomon’s mismanagement actually created space for destruction to happen.

So what is it I'm trying to tell you today?

1. Misplaced devotion creates high places.
What do I mean by misplaced devotion? Devotion comes from a Latin word that means consecrate. Latin - to consecrate - con sacrare is “with sacred,” to declare something is holy. So devotion is really the adoration of that which you believe is holy.

What is misplaced? It's to simply put something in the wrong spot.

When you misplace devotion, it means that you are taking your worship
that is reserved for God and placing it on something else, which creates high places in your life.

What high places has your misplaced devotion created?

High Places. In the first passage we read about Solomon, a high place was not a bad thing. In fact, God was not only pleased with Solomon at that high place, God blessed Solomon immensely at that place. But we read later on that Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, and that was clearly bad. So what was the difference?

His heart. Out of your heart flows devotion. Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

What's in your heart is the source of your devotion.

When Solomon's heart was chasing after the Lord, the high place was good. But when Solomon began to chase after other gods, the high place became bad.

This is not complex when you break it down into its most basic form: idolatry! What are you idolizing? Because what ever that is, it has your heart.

Matthew 6:24
You cannot serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

Whatever has your worship, your adoration, your devotion has your heart.

In this even goes for things that are actually good and beneficial, even blessings that God wanted to pour into your life. Your family is good, but it is a horrible idol. You can do so much good with money, but it's a merciless god. Your talent/ability makes you incredibly attractive to people, but it's a ruthless master. Your identity is incredibly important, but it is a terrible lord.

It reminds me of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Her entire argument centered around this very thing that we're talking about. “Samaritans say we worship here, Jews say we worship there. What do I do?”

John 4:23
…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

What God is looking for, and in fact, what he demands, are worshipers who, with their whole heart, seek after him. They worship in the spirit, led by the spirit. They worship in truth, led by the truth of the word. They are not giving percentage based worship to God. They are giving him everything.

You cannot be fully devoted to God Almighty when you are constantly giving your heart to other things. What has your heart has your surrender.

Let me ask again:What high places has your misplaced devotion created? What idols exist in your life? What are you worshiping? What has your heart?

Don't allow the mismanagement of your devotion to create idols in your heart that rob you of the relationship with and the blessing from God Almighty.

2. Mishandled resources create broken places.
Luke 16:1-8
1 Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. 2 So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’ 3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’ 5 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’ 7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’ 8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd.”

This passage makes it look like God is commending somebody who is clearly a thief, but let me explain what's going on here, and that will explain my point.

First, an explanation:
The manager was mishandling the rich man's resources. The manager knew he was going to be fired, but he was terrified of what his life would look like after he lost his job. So he goes to people who owed the money and convinced them to adjust the ledger so it looks like they owe him less. He was hoping his kindness towards them would make them indebted to him after he lost his job so they would give him a job/work/whatever.
So the rich man says, "Wow, he's a rascal, but at least he's clever.”

Second, why this story for this point:
Why this story fits with this point is because the mess the manager was in was not because of the rich man who gave the resources, but the manager who mishandled them.

Jesus knew that money is such a good example to explain this, but even outside of finances, mishandled resources create broken places.

Mishandle your finances, and your ability to provide breaks downs.
Mishandle your emotions, and your relationships break down.
Mishandle your time, and your output breaks down.
Mishandle your gifts and talents, and your effectiveness breaks down.

When you mismanage what God has given you, it creates brokenness.
Think about your spouse. Are you managing that relationship well? They the enemy or a gift? You feeding the relationship or starving it? Think about the paycheck you got this week. Was it gone before you got it? You honoring God with the whole tithe? You living within your means? Think about your calling. Are you managing that well? Are you using your gifts? Serving? Evangelizing? Blessing others?

The wake that follows your life is a good indicator of whether or not you are managing well.

Luke 16:10
10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

Are you faithful? Are you trustworthy? Are you a good manager of what God’s given you?

If you’re not, what’s the best way to improve your management? Make the Word of God your standard and unconditionally apply it to every area of your life. Don't let mismanagement of resources create a wake of brokenness behind you.

3. Misguided expectations create disengaged places.
Expectations typically revolve around two poles: Expectations of God will do and expectations that God will continue to do.

Let me explain it with an employee/employer relationship. When you apply for that job, your desire to work with that company is based on what that company will do for you based on what you do for them. You want a job description of things that you "will do." You want something in writing that says what the company "will do" for you. We like that stuff. We analyze the benefits, pay, health insurance, paid time off. We will even read through all of the documentation on that.

I've never met anybody that’s read the employee handbook though. Why is that? It's because we are less interested in what the company won't do or won't let us do. We want the benefits, not the rules. We like yesses, not nos. We like no restraint, not boundaries. We’d be willing to take the paycheck without the 40 hours worked.

Malachi 3 is an example: We want “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in!” And expect God to do it! But we don’t want, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse…” The open heavens only works when you are being obedient with the whole tithe.

We expect financial blessing but don’t want the discipline that comes with it. We expect relational blessing but don’t want the work that comes with it.

Don’t expect the benefits if you are unwilling to do the work. Otherwise, it is an expectation that is misguided.

It is interesting though that while we have expectations of what God will do and continue doing, we never expect what God won’t do. We don’t expect God to not put up with our disobedience and doubt. “Why do I need to pay tithes? I make plenty of money.” “Why do I need to forgive? Out of sight out of mind, brother.”

Or this one: “Why change anything? God is obviously fine with how I’m living.”

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.

No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. Eventually the poor management of your spiritual life is going to destroy your physical life. And that’s where the disengagement takes place.

When your expectations are constantly unmet, you begin to lose hope. When you begin to lose hope, you begin to lose devotion. When you begin to lose devotion, you end at a disengaged place.

Disengaged. Separated. Disconnected. Isolated. God didn’t do what I expected, so I disengaged. My spouse didn’t provide what I expected so I isolated. The church didn’t act like I expected so I disconnected.

Jesus was not who Judas expected, so he lost hope, he lost devotion,
he became disengaged, and he betrayed him.

What misguided expectations in your life are creating disengagement?
We can switch out the word expectation for belief, thought process, ideology, action.

When it comes to God, do you have misguided expectations?
Has it caused you to lose hope? Are you here right now, but simply disengaged?

Misplaced devotion. Mishandled resources. Misguided expectations. All of this is just mismanagement.

So then how do I get better at managing my life?
Seek God first.
Not your fortunes, desires, he’s first or not at all. Not as a last resort or only when you are out of options. Seeking him means his heart first, not his hands.

Surrender to God’s will.
Even if you don’t like it or if it hurts. Even when it means you don’t get what you want when you want it. Read the Word and do what it says.

Learn how to steward better.
Establish boundaries, build budgets, learn when to say yes and no. Get help from a third party. Bad stewardship is trying to figure out when to ask for help. Good stewardship is knowing to ask before you ever need it.

Where are you in all of this?
Misplaced devotion, mishandled resources, or misguided expectations?

If you have an idol, you need to lay it down to move forward. If you aren’t managing what God gave you well, whether tangible or intangible, you need to ask forgiveness and commit to getting better through getting help.
If an expectation is feeding isolation, voice it by telling someone.

You may have walked in today having been worshipping at high places,
so today I am offering you an altar.

I am coming forward today to seek God first. I am coming to surrender everything to him. I am coming to ask forgiveness for stewarding poorly
and to get prayer and help on how to get better.

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?