IS IT CHRISTIAN OR CONVENIENT
I Kings 11:26-40, 2 Timothy 2:1-30, Text I Kings 12:25-33
Early 2/26/93
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We live in a world intent on making things convenient for
us. There are a host of things that have made living more conven
ient and human bodies more lazy. We no longer desire to rise
and cross the room to change the TV channel. For heavens sake,
where is the remote control. Advertisers constantly tell us that
this new product, be it a car, a vacuum cleaner, or a bottle of
bleach is more convenient for us. Today if its not convenient,
we leave it alone until we find something that is.
Our expectation of convenience is forever creeping into our
spiritual lives as well. The only problem is that when Jesus
said, if anyone would follow me he or she must pick up his or her
cross daily and follow me, Jesus forgot to add the phrase, that
is when you find it convenient to do so.
When there is a job to be done at the church or at home,
does your willingness to volunteer for the job depend on whether
it is Christian to do so, or whether it is convenient for you to
do so. I have found in my walk with the Lord, that the Christian
thing to do, is not usually the convenient thing to do. I’ve even
discovered that God expects me to do things at some very incon
venient times.
Today let’s look at how the desire for convenience destroyed
the spiritual life a nation. Our story begins at the end of King
Solomon’s life. Many people know of King’s Solomon’s wisdom,
however he was a man who did not listen to his own advice. Solo
mon fell in love with sex and turned his back on God in his old
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age. As he forgot God, he became a more ruthless leader, oppress
ing his people with heavy taxes and forcing them to do work to
support his wild, lavish, lifestyle. God told Solomon that
because of his sin, Solomon’s son would lose part of the nation
of Israel.
When Solomon’s son became king, he tried to be Mr. Bad and
told the people, "If you think my dad was tough, you ain’t seen
nothing yet. I’m going to show you what being hard really is. He
found out you can’t talk to people any kind of a way and get away
with it. The people revolted and the nation was split into two
kingdoms. Two of the twelve tribes followed Solomon’s son and
became the Kingdom of Judah, the other 10 tribes followed a man
by the name of Jeroboam, and became the Kingdom of Isreal. God
chose Jeroboam to be leader of the 10 tribes.
He tells Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11:35-38 "I will take the
kingdom from Solomon’s son’s hands and give you ten tribes. {36}
I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may
always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose
to put my Name. {37} However, as for you, I will take you, and
you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king
over Israel. {38} If you do whatever I command you and walk in my
ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and
commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will
build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and
will give Israel to you.
Now Jeroboam could not have asked for a better deal from the
hand of God. Unfortunately Jeroboam did not fully trust the Lord.
ð 7 3 ŠFollow with me in 1 Kings 12:25. One of the first thing that
Jeroboam does after God makes him king is to try to protect
himself from being removed. He fortifies two cities, Shechem and
Peniel. This would keep the invaders from attacking his country.
The next thing he does is seeks to keep from being removed
from within. It’s amazing how quickly Jeroboam either forgets or
rejects the promises of God. God tells him, I will make you and
your children kings forever. God has taken a nobody and makes him
king. Yet this nobody does not believe that God is willing to
keep His word.
Instead of remembering God, Jeroboam starts to thinking, the
Scriptures says in, 1 Kings 12:26-27 Jeroboam thought to himself,
"The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. {27}
If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the
LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their
lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to
King Rehoboam."
One of the great paradoxes in the Christian walk is, why do
so many of us believe that God calls us, only to leave us in our
time of need. Why do we believe like Adam and Eve, that God
really is trying to keep us from having a good time? Why do we
believe that the God who loves us more than anyone does, is going
to let us slip through the cracks? Why do we believe we’ve got
to have a secret backup plan just in case God fails us?
Jeroboam enjoys the convenience of being a king, more than
he does serving God. There is no way anyone is going to take his
position away from Him. He thinks of number one. It’s not a
convenient time for Him to trust God with this situation. Whatev
er God gives to you, God can see to it that you keep it. By the
same token, whatever we take for ourselves, God can take it away
and give it to others.
Jeroboam is afraid that he will lose the allegiance of his
people when they go to Jerusalem in the southern kingdom to offer
the sacrifices that God required of them three times a year. He
forgets that he’s not king because the people voted him in. He’s
king because God raised him up. You don’t have what you do
because of your cleverness, but because God raised you up. Since
Jeroboam did not know what to do, verse 28 tells us that he seeks
advice from others. Now when we do not know what to do, it’s
always a good thing to seek advice.
But seeking advice is only part of the answer. We must seek
advice from the right sources. In seeking advice, don’t go to
someone whose going to tell you what you want to hear, Go to
someone who is going to tell you what God has to say about your
dilemma.
Jeroboam goes to a group of advisors who know how to help
him get what he wants, but they are people who are lousy in
righteousness and knowing what it is to follow the Lord. Your
friends can tell you how to get an A on your test. It’s easy,
just cheat. Your colleagues can tell you how to get ahead on the
job, its easy just lie. Your business associates can show you
how to make more money, it’s easy just overcharge your customers.
All of these things are convenient, but none of them are Chris
tian.
Jeroboam’s advisors come with a plan to make serving God
more convenient as a way to keep the people loyal to him. Let the
people see, that serving the God you offer, is a lot let less
troublesome than serving the God they use to know. Now this would
be good news for many church goers. The perfect church is where
they have a beautiful building, great programs, good preaching,
fantastic choir, and they never ever ask me to give anything, do
anything, or be anything. All I have to do is come when its
convenient. That’s the mindset of half the people in church.
In verse28, it says, after Jeroboam seeks advice, he says to
the people "It is too much for you, to go up to Jerusalem. Here
are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." One he
set up in Bethel and the other in Dan." Another translation says
it is too much trouble to go to Jerusalem to worship.
Saints how much trouble is too much trouble to serve the
Lord Jesus Christ, who died for you. Jesus tells us, in me you
shall have tribulations. Do we see serving God as an inconven
ience in our lives. Oh no, it’s Sunday morning, I stayed up to
late last night. I can’t make it to church today. I’m not about
to miss my tv program to go to Bible Study.
Even when some of us get to church, its tragic that its not
convenient for us to sing God’s praises. Where are you when we’re
singing to the Lord? If God took away your ability to sing, you’d
offer your life’s savings to get it back.
Anybody that’s looking for an easy way to serve God, is
going to find a fast way to end up in hell. Now the Law told the
people to come to Jerusalem three times each year. Since the
people didn’t have cars , planes, and trains, it cost them some
thing to be obedient to God. Jeroboam has built these gods at the
southern border of the kingdom and at the northern border. No
matter where you were in the country, going to one of these
churches of his, was closer than going all the way to Jerusalem.
Notice too that he tries to tie his religion of convenience
to the historic past. If you recall, when Moses was up on the
mountain receiving the 10 commandments, the people got tired of
waiting for Moses to come down. They told Aaron build us a god,
we don’t know what has happened to Moses. Aaron built them a
golden calf and said "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought
you up out of Egypt." Now those people who only knew a little
bit about the Bible, probably said Amen when Jeroboam made his
declaration. They knew somewhere it said something about golden
cows bringing them out of Egypt.
The reason so many nominal churchgoers are now zealous
Jehovah Witnesses is that they did not know enough of the Bible
to know when someone was telling them a bunch of lies and twist
ing scriptures every which a way but the right way. Only studying
God’s word when its convenient is a sure fire way to be a prey
for a cult.
Jeroboam calls what he is offering the people a convenience.
And many of the people buy into it. Man’s its great we don’t have
to go all the way to Jerusalem. It sure is nice having a God we
can see. Boy I was sick and tired and spending my money to make
that trip. Man now I’ll have time to really serve God like I want
to. I can’t wait to see what some of the other good changes are
going to be made. God calls what Jeroboam offers them something
entirely different. He says in verse 30, "and this thing became a
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sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship there.
The Jesus in Scripture has gone through such a transforma
tion in the Church in America, that the Jesus we here of most
often on TV bears little resemblance to the one in Scriptures in
the same way that those golden cows bore little resemblance to
the God of Israel. The Jesus in Scripture came to change people
lives by having them serve Him. The Jesus on tv comes to change
people’s bank account so that they can better serve only them
selves. One calls for commitment, the other calls for conven
ience. Do you see the difference.
Jeroboam is even smart enough to set up the golden cows in
cities that were already considered to be holy places. This only
added to the deception of some of the people. I don’t care how
holy a place once was, when God is gone, its time for you to
leave. Many people see through the sham that Jeroboam is offer
ing them, especially the priests. Many of the priest and those
who are dedicated to the Lord leave the country and go back south
to the Kingdom of Juday. They would rather endure the hardships
under Solomon’s son, than to be part of a convenient false reli
gion.
In our new testament reading we were told that when it comes
to our faith, we are to be willing to endure hardship as a
soldier of Christ Jesus. When we have the choice of being obedi
ent to God or going along with the crowd what do we do? In a
poem, one author wrote that when he came to a fork in the rode,
he chose the path that was less traveled by, and that has made
all the difference. God is looking for men and women, boys and
girls who are willing to take the path that is less traveled by
in the church.
Jeroboam gets into all this mess, leading all these people
astray all because, he refuses to believe that God will keep his
promise to him. Once you start on the pathway of sin, there’s no
stopping until you come to a full confession and repentance.
Since there are no priest left, Jeroboam has to reject another of
God’s commandments.
The Law said only Levites could be priests. This is not
convenient for Jeroboam because it means he will have to change
and repent before the Levites return. No problem though, Satan
has an answer for all our dilemmas. It says in verse 31, Jeroboam
built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts
of people, even though they were not Levites.
The people found it more convenient to accept these false
teachers than to stand up for God. They liked their messages
better than they liked the requirements of God. After all every
body is entitled to their own opinion. The Scriptures says in 1
Kings 12:32-33 "He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of
the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered
sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to
the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests
at the high places he had made. {33} On the fifteenth day of the
eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices
on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festi
val for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offer
ings."
This festival did nothing for the spiritual life of the
people. They were simply going through the religious motions. It
was not ordained by God. It says it was a month of Jeroboam’s own
choosing. Jeroboam has gone from being king and priest to being
God. Not only has he messed up his life, he’s got 100 of thou
sands of others marching down the same road of destruction. He
started out wanting to protect number one. The people began with
wanting something convenient. Together they completely walked
away from the God who had done so much for them and their fore fathers and mothers.
You know something, the very security that Jeroboam seeks is
lost because of his refusal to trust God. His epitaph in chapter
13 reads, Jeroboam did not change his evils ways, but once more
appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people.
Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated. This was
the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to
its destruction from the face of the earth.
Jeroboam’s son reigned two years after becoming king. His son
was killed and the man who overthrew him killed Jeroboam’s entire
family. It says "he did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed,
but destroyed them all." How different from God’s offer to
build a dynasty that would last forever. From then on, each time
Jeroboam’s name is mentioned in Scripture it is accompanied by
the words and he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam which
he caused Israel to commit.
What kind of testimony do you want to leave behind when you
have died. God wants to use you to make a difference in this
world and in this church. God has good in mind for you just as He
ð 7 3 Šhad for Jeroboam. It’s not too late for you to get saved. It’s a
shame that when some die, the minister has to stretch and strain
to come up with one thing that person did in service to God in
the church. Those of us who serve God only when its convenient
often want the biggest tales made up at our funeral.
Jesus does not call us to convenience, He calls us to
commitment. He does not call us to scheme and to connive, he
calls us to trust Him. He does not call us to have us to inform
Him of our schedule, but rather to tell us what our new schedule
will be. The Angelic Voices brought us the song, Tell, Me whose
side are you leaning on, leaning on the Lord’s side. As your
examine your walk with the Lord, are you moved to action by the
needs and call of Jesus Christ or are you moved only when it is
convenient.
