The church's witness lives or dies on whether we actually have the kung fu — the practical skill of justice and mercy — that gives anyone a reason to listen when we talk about Jesus.
Central Image
Kung fu: the word means skill in anything, and that is the same function wisdom serves in the Bible. Not something up in the sky — something you get good at.
The Turn
We frame wisdom as something you receive rather than something you develop. Solomon's ask dismantles that. He knew he needed to get competent at something specific, not just spiritual.
Outline
Kung Fu Is Skill
The Chinese phrase "your kung fu is strong" doesn't mean your fighting is good — it means your skill at whatever you do is great. That is the same way wisdom works in the Old Testament. Not esoteric, not ethereal. Functional competency. Last week's sermon (from Luke 16) set the frame: the world values enthusiasm, hard work, and competency, and if you are known for those things, you have an open door to say something else. This week is about the specific kind of kung fu that matters most.
Solomon at 24
Solomon has been king for four years. He is 24 years old. He has put down a civil war, made an alliance with Egypt, and started the temple. God appears in a dream and asks what he wants. Solomon asks for the wisdom — the skill — to govern Israel well. The preacher pressed the point: his father was David. You do not follow David without knowing you need to get good at something fast. God says that was exactly the right ask.
The Case Nobody Could Solve
Two prostitutes come before the king. One story, two claims, zero witnesses, no physical evidence, no family to ask. One baby is dead; one is alive. Each woman says the living child is hers. The case worked its way up through every level of Israel's court system because nobody could resolve it from the facts — and by the time it gets to Solomon it has descended into two women just shouting at each other in front of the king. He is 24. He has a kingdom to run. And this is what lands on his desk.
The Move
Solomon says to himself: these are the only facts, and there are no more. Then he says out loud: bring me a sword. Divide the child in two. It is not a threat. It is a diagnostic. The real mother reveals herself not through her argument — her claim was identical to the other woman's — but through her response to the sword. The narrator names it: womb compassion. She would rather lose the child than see him killed. The other woman says divide him up. Solomon has what he needed.
Justice and Mercy Are the Same Move
Micah 6:8 — do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. The sermon pressed hard on the assumption that justice and mercy are pulling against each other. They are not. When Solomon rules against the woman with the dead son, that judgment is liberation for the true mother and protection for the boy. This holds almost everywhere in the Old Testament: when God brings judgment, it is almost always because someone is being crushed by someone else. The boy in the story has no father to plead his case, no advocate — and Solomon's judgment becomes that advocacy. Justice is almost always mercy for somebody.
Solomon Had Time
He could have sent them away. He was the king. He had Benaiah, his military commander who had been executing threats to the crown for years, and he could have had this handled differently. Nobody would have said anything. Instead he sat in and heard the case and brought his full attention to it. That is the third line of Micah 6:8: walk humbly with your God. He had time for two prostitutes arguing over a baby because that is what the king is supposed to be good at.
The Church's Kung Fu
The application is not individual — it is corporate. When the church is known for having the kung fu of justice (we can see right and wrong; we call things what they are; we don't look the other way) and mercy (we know when to let up; we know when someone has been pushed as far as they can go; we can bind up broken people) — then people have a reason to listen. If we are known for the opposite, nobody cares what we say about Jesus. That is not an opinion. We all know it is true.
Steel and Heart
The closing story: Toby won his match by crane-kicking the other kid in the face. Then, in the same meet, another boy fell apart during his forms — didn't know what to do next, crashing out in front of everyone. Toby walked across the floor and hugged him. The guy running the meet pointed at Toby and said: that is what we are. Both of those things. Steel and heart. When people see both in the same person — or in the same church — they stop and listen to what that person has to say.
The Landing
The witness doesn't come from having the right message alone. It comes from being the kind of people — the kind of church — that actually has kung fu. Justice and mercy together, and time for the cases everyone else hands off.
Questions to Think About
- The sermon opened with kung fu actually meaning "skill at anything." What is something you are genuinely skilled at that most people around you don't know about?
- The sermon argued that when Solomon asked God for wisdom, he was asking for a specific functional ability — the skill to govern and do justice — not some spiritual quality floating in the air. What changes about how you read that story if you hear "wisdom" as competency rather than virtue?
- Every judge in Israel had the same facts Solomon had, and every one of them punted. What did Solomon do that nobody else had done, and why do you think reading human nature was the key that all the facts in the world couldn't provide?
- The sermon made the case that judgment and mercy are almost always the same act — what comes down hard on one person is often liberation for somebody else. Think of a time you were on the receiving end of something that felt like judgment but turned out to be mercy, or vice versa.
- The preacher said justice is a skill — you don't just wake up with it. Where in your own life right now do you need to get sharper at it, either at calling something right or wrong, or at knowing when to lift a burden instead of pressing harder?
- The sermon argued that the church's witness — whether anyone will listen when we talk about Jesus — runs on whether we actually have this kung fu. If someone outside First Christian were evaluating us honestly on justice and mercy, what would they say we do well and where would they say we fall short?
- Solomon was 24 years old, building the temple, managing international alliances, running a kingdom, and he still had time for two prostitutes arguing about a dead baby. What are the cases this church instinctively wants to hand off because they feel like somebody else's problem?
- Think of one specific person in your life right now who is crashing out — not someone who needs advice or a verse, but someone who just needs somebody to walk across the room. Do that before next Sunday.