1 Kings 12:1-13:29
I Almost Finished Well, In the Lord
1/23/2000 1 Kings 12:25-33 1 Corin. 9:24-27
Our year has come to an end. How many of us have started on a project in 2006 with great expectations of what we were going to do, only to have that project sit around and eventually left half done. When we first got into it, it seemed exciting, but the longer it took the more work it became or the more time it ate up, or something else caught our interest. We do not measure things very often by how well it started, but rather how did it finish. Whenever we almost finished well, we know something was lacking in the end.
How did you finish the year in 2006 spiritually. Would you say you’re closer to the Lord now on December 31st than you were on January 1st. We’ve all had a lot of things happen to us during those days. One thing for certain, none of us is the same person we were back on January 1, 2006. The question is which way do we move. Was it for the better or for the worse.
If you’re like me, you can see some areas of growth and areas of backsliding. When I look back over the year, I can confess that I don’t think I was as good of a husband at the end of the year as I was the beginning. Not having Men Who Excel in my life took away one of my areas of accountability and I can see areas in which I slipped. I started to become more inflexible in some ways, always being tempted to say, “well this is how I am.”, rather than listening to the voice of God in saying, “yes that’s true”, but this is what I want to turn you into.
In 2006, I did more activities for the Lord than ever, but I sometimes did it at the expense of taking time to really get to know the Lord by just being silent in his presence. I was seduced by the temptation of competition, trying to be like someone else rather than being who God called me to be. We do not grow in the Lord, by doing things, but rather by allowing God to change our attitudes and our actions toward others. Especially toward those whom we are closest too. When we almost finish well in the Lord, there is an indication that something has gone wrong inside our character. Never forget, God is far more interested in our character than he is our blessings.
What about you, what area of your life still needs some work at the end of 2006? Did you improve your attitude? Would people say you became kinder? Were you more loving at home? Did your language change to becoming more Christlike? Did you add some tv programs or music to your life that you would previously have deemed unacceptable because of your love for the Lord.
All the times you came up for prayer in 2006 asking for a change, did you allow God to work it out in your life. Did you quit trying to be the one in charge. Rarely does sin hit us and change us all at once. We find a way to make slight compromises and that leads to our downfall. Can you see where you compromised in 2006? Do you see where the gray areas are in your life? Are you somewhere you don’t really belong. You may not be doing anything wrong there yet, but you know its not a great witness for the Lord?
I want you to meet a young man by the name of Jeroboam. Jeroboam grew up in a single parent family because his father had died so his mother was a widow. But Jeroboam had a way about him, that when he started something, he finished it and got the job done. He worked so well, he got the king’s attention. King Solomon realized he needed him in his administration. So he put Jeroboam in charge of the whole labor force.
Now King Solomon was a king who had a great start in his life in his walk with the Lord, but as time went on, he went downhill in a hurry. He made compromises that never should have been made and it left him without God in his life. Things got so bad that God decided to tear the kingdom from him and give it to one of his servants. One day Jeroboam was leaving the city of Jerusalem and went out into the country. He ran into a prophet by the name of Ahijah. Ahijah was wearing a new coat. He told Jeroboam, "just wait a minute or two while I tear up this coat."
Ahijah ripped the coat into 12 pieces. He gave Jeroboam 10 and he kept two. I can imagine Jeroboam saying, "man, why are you giving me these ripped up rags." Ahijah said to him, " The God of Israel says for you to take 10 pieces for yourself, because he is going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands and make you the leader of 10 tribes. For David’s sake, Solomon’s son will have two tribes to rule over. Solomon has gone after other gods and has not kept my commandments. But, Jerobaom if you do what I command, and walk in my ways doing what is right in my eyes, by keeping my laws, I will build you a kingdom that will last as long as David’s kingdom.
God saw a potential for greatness in Jeroboam. The key in it all, would be Jeroboam’s willingness to obey God, no matter what. In January, God saw a potential for a great change in your life. Did you utilize that potential, or is it still locked up some 365 days later. Let today be today you start releasing it, by saying okay, God if this is what I need to do, then this is what I’m going to do.
Well once word got out that God had promised to give Jeroboam part of the kingdom, King Solomon went looking for Jeroboam in order to kill him. Thanks to God, Jeroboam had gone from top official in the administration, to the number one fugitive. His picture was on the 10 most wanted list at the post offices. Remember this, when you get a word from the Lord, it does not mean everything is going to start sailing ahead in your life. When God comes into your life, its bound to do some upsetting of things around you. Jeroboam had to leave what he had behind and ran for his life to Egypt.
Jeroboam was banned from his country until King Solomon died. Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king, and Jeroboam returned to his country. King Rehoboam did not start his kingdom well, and through some bad advice, he caused many of the tribes to rebel against him. Just as God had spoken years earlier, 10 of the tribes decided they wanted nothing to do with King Rehoboam. Instead, they got together and decided to make Jeroboam their king. They knew he had a reputation for finishing whatever he started.
Now God had promised Jeroboam, if you remain faithful to me, I’ll take care of you, your children, your children’s children, and many more generations after them. King Jeroboam started his kingdom well. Now God is not going to make us kings, but He is going to allow us to become husbands, wives, supervisors, students, directors, judges, government officials, superintendents, principals, foremen, pastors, business owners and more.
In each of these areas we are going to have to decide, am I going to obey God no matter what. It’s not enough for us as Christians to simply finish the job. We have the added responsibility of finishing the job in the Lord. Which means, "was God pleased with the way in handled myself throughout the time I was in my role." Has God been pleased with the way I lived in 2006. If this year was my last, how close would I be to hearing, well done, my good and faithful servant from Jesus himself.
We lost four of our members to death this year. At the start of the year, none of us expected the deaths of Helen Walker, Jeanette Hereford, Mary Conners, and Betty Hayes. Even further from our perceptions were the loss of Alicia, Marvin, Markey and Alaysha, four little kids killed in a tragic fire. We never know how much time we have left to finish the work the Lord has called us to do.
How many of you found distractions and temptations that pulled on you to keep you away from being obedient to God. There is not a role we have in which a temptation does not arrive, which would detract us from our commitment to God. A great start does not guarantee a great finish.
All was going well for King Jeroboam. He had power, respect, money, admiration and a kingdom that he could have never received if God had not chosen him for the job. But once he got the position, he felt it was up to him to do whatever was necessary to keep it. He could see a potential problem arising. His kingdom was in the north. Rehoboam’s kingdom was in the south. The city of Jerusalem where the temple was, was in the south.
Each year, all the Jewish men were expected to make a trip to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God. Jeroboam started to get a little afraid by this requirement. He thought that, "Now if these people go to Jerusalem to worship, King Rehoboam might be really nice to them and get them to turn against me. He would then be able to come back and take back the 10 tribes, and "I’ll be executed." We have to be on our guard against fear. Fear comes when we cease to trust our God. The same God who made him king, already knew about the festival to the temple, when He told Jeroboam, I will make your kingdom last for generation after generation.
The same God who called us to be holy, already knew we were going to need some money for something and how he was going to supply our needs. The same God knew that we were going to get lonely. The same God knew we would have a host of desires. How well do we think God can handle our situations. So often like Jeroboam, we choose to make up our own rules to satisfy our needs.
Jeroboam could not think of the possibility of losing what he had. He went and sought advice. Unfortunately, he did not seek the Lord. Do you know why he didn’t seek the Lord? The same reason we don’t when we’ve already committed ourselves to doing what we want to do. God has a way for us to live in every situation.
When times got really hard for Jesus, and he knew the beatings, the whippings and the crucifixion was just hours away, Jesus was afraid. But he did not let fear cause him to go find a group of people who would talk him out of doing what he knew he had to do. Who talked you out of doing right in 2006? Who kept you from finishing well. A lot of times for me, it was me. I often thought more about what I wanted, than what God was requiring.
Jeroboam’s plan was a simple one. I’ll make it easy for the people to worship God without going to the temple. He made a golden cow in the north of his kingdom, and a golden one in the south and told the people, here are the gods who brought you out of Egypt. There is no need to go all the way to Jerusalem to worship. You can do it right here. Not only that, he made the high holy day, the same day as they were to be in Jerusalem. So it forced people to make a choice.
The majority of the people sort of liked this more convenient religion. It did not require as much effort, and a lot of people were going along with it. After all, they did remember something about a golden cow with Moses and Aaron so it could not be all bad. What they forgot is that Moses broke that cow into pieces and ground it up so that it would be utterly destroyed. God almost had wiped them out at that point but Moses prayed for them.
Jeroboam led the nation into sin and idolatry in order to keep his position. It is somewhat funny how we get into a position and think its up to us if we stay there or not. There is a God who exalts who He wants to exalt, and brings low, whomever he wants to bring low. Jeroboam thinks that he’s securing his future, but in reality he’s initiating the destruction of his entire family two years after his death.
Jeroboam was not only king, he went a step further and made himself a priest as well. At the golden cow he had built in Bethel, he had a huge altar for sacrificing animals. One day he was there ready to present his sacrifice, standing by this awe inspiring altar. But God called a prophet from the land of Judah to go and speak against what Jeroboam had done.
The man of God cried out, "a son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On this altar he will burn the bones of the priests you have set up." As a sign to let you know this is going to happen, this altar will split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.
Now this was a little much for Jeroboam to take. How dare this foreigner from Rehoboam’s kingdom, come here and prophesy in his country, that his altar would be defiled by one of Rehoboam’s offspring. This man of God had some kind of a nerve.
Now do you realize it took a lot of courage for this man of God to go into Jeroboam’s country and tell him off in front of his soldiers. This man knew God had spoken to him, and he went and did what God told him to do, no matter the cost. This prophet started out good and was willing to finish the job even if it cost him his life.
Jeroboam was furious. He stretched out his hand from the altar and gave the order, " Get that man right now." But before they could grab him, the soldiers noticed that the anger on Jeroboam’s face had changed to terror. Right before their eyes, his arm became paralyzed and started to wither up. Jeroboam was unable to pull his arm back. Then the altar itself splint apart and poured out the ashes according to the word of the Lord as given by the man of God.
All of a sudden King Jeroboam realized, he was not as in control of his life as he thought he was. He went from giving orders, to making a plea. He told the man of God, would you pray for me to the Lord your God, that my hand might be restored. The king is forced to admit, the gods he set up could not help him. The God who had placed him on the throne, was no longer his God. That’s why he had to ask the man of God to pray to his God for a healing. This man who had started out so great, didn’t finish the job in the Lord.
The man of God prayed for Jeroboam, and in his mercy God reached out and restored his hand as before. God is far more willing to give us a second, third and fourth chance, but we simply take his offer for granted. Not even this situation will cause Jeroboam to turn back to serving God. If we say no to God enough times, nothing God does for us will be seen as God’s mercy.
God is calling us to finish the job we have in the Lord. Don’t think first of some task, think first of something inside of you that needs to be changed. One of my prayers for 2007, is that I would come to hate the sin and the compromises in my own life. It’s one thing to preach or to teach against sin in general, especially those sins we find in others. But God wants to do a cleansing within our own lives, even before 2006 ends. Let’s not be content with saying, we almost finished well. Let’s decide to repent and become a true disciple.
Even in his offer for us to come and be one of his disciples, Jesus says count the cost. If you’re not willing to love me above all your possessions, your friends and your relatives, you cannot be my disciple. I ask you to examine yourself, are you living your life in such a way, that you don’t have to hear the Lord say, you almost finished well, but….. today is the day to remove the buts from our lives. What are you going to do about it.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick 12/31/2006
Finish The Job, In The Lord 1 Kings 12 & 13
I. The Project Of Great Expectations
A. Almost Done, But Not Quite
B. Which Direction Did You Move
C. A Husband Coming Up Short
D. Growth By Change
E. Did You Allow For Change
F. Could God Work It Out
II. Meet The One Called Jeroboam
A. Single Parent Family Background
B. Reputation Of Getting The Job Done
C. King Solomon’s Administration
D. In Charge Of It All
E. The Meeting With The Prophet Ahijah
F. You Take 10 And I’ll Keep 2
III. Promises To Jeroboam
A. If You Do What Is Right
B. A Dynasty For A Long Time
C. Potential For Gretness
D. King Solomon Goes In Search
E. Jeroboam Hanging In The Post Office
E. When God Comes Into Your Life Expect…
F. Fleeing To Egypt
IV. A Split In The Nation Of Israel
A. King Solomon’s Death
B. Rehoboam Becomes The King
C. King Rehoboam Starts On The Wrong Foot
D. 10 Tribes Defect
E. Jeroboam Becomes King Of The North
F. If Jeroboam Remains Faithful--Then
V. What About Us
A. God Is Going To Raise Us Up In Many Roles
B. Will I Obey God No Matter What
C. Is The Lord Pleased
D. Temptation Is Going To Come
E. Maintain Your Commitment
F. A Great Start Is No Guarantee
VI. Jeroboam Sitting On The Throne
A. He Had It Hall
B. Got To Keep It Regardless Of The Cost
C. Problem With The Temple In The South
D. Possible Rebellion In The Kingdom
E. Fear Sets In The King’s Heart
VII. Don’t Let Fear Take Over
A. God Knows Our Needs, Desires
B. Can God Handle Our Situation
C. Who Will Talk You Out Of It.
D. Where Are We Seeking Our Advice
E. Remember Where Jesus Went
VIII Jeroboam Takes The Wrong Road
A. Two Golden Cows, Two Wrong Gods
B. When Religion Becomes Convenient
C. God Still Exalts, And Brings Low
D. Jeroboam Assures His Family Destruction
IX The Great Confrontation
A. Jeroboam From King To Priest
B. Man Of God From Judah
C. This Altar Will Be Destroyed
D. The Wrath Of King Jeroboam
E. The Man Of God’s Boldness
F. An Order Quickly Taken Back
G. A King In Need Of Prayer
H. A Miracle Of Mercy Granted
XI. Resisting The Urge To Compromise
A. God’s Call Is To Finish The Job
B. How Much Sin Should I Hate
C. Jesus’ Call Is To Count The Cost
D. Examine Our Lives & Our Jobs
E. Getting Rid Of The Buts…
