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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 9
27 July 2008
Not
Serving God Is Worse
(Message delivered
by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Worship Service, 2:00 pm, July 20, 08)
Text:
2 Chron
12:5-9
We have
drawn some lessons from King Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest king,
who received all the blessings from the Lord and inherited a powerful
and peaceful kingdom from his father David, but sadly was not faithful
unto the Lord and His Word unto the end due to his backsliding, his
selfish life in luxury, his many unbelieving wives and their idolatry.
With 700 wives and 300 concubines, Solomon must have gotten a lot of
children, but only one son was mentioned in the Scripture, Rehoboam.
Today, we shall draw some lessons from his life and ministry.
Rehoboam, a Foolish King
Solomon was
the wisest king but still failed to be faithful to the Lord until the
end due to his lack of knowledge and fear of the Lord. The Lord says,
“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his
riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness,
judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I
delight, saith the LORD” (Jer 9:23-24). His son Rehoboam was worse,
he did not fear God and made an unwise decision from the beginning.
- Having
No Heart to Seek the Lord: The Scripture usually mentioned the
kings’ mothers, who played important roles in their spiritual life.
Moses’ mother took good care of him in the fear of God, so when he was
grown up he did not forget God nor His people. Samuel’s mother did the
same. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “When I call to remembrance
the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy
grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee
also” (2 Tim 1:5). It is important for you and me, as
parents, to “train up a child in the way he should go: and
when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6). Rehoboam’s
mother was an Ammonitess (2 Chron 12:13), an unbeliever, so his
spiritual life was not nurtured in the fear of the Lord, not to mention
the fact that his father Solomon failed to set a good example for him to
follow due to his backsliding. Therefore, Rehoboam “did evil,
because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD” (2 Chron
12:14). It is foolish before the Lord if we do not know Him, trust Him
and fear Him no matter how wise, intelligent or scholarly we may be in
the eyes of men! We must thank God and appreciate our godly parents for
their prayers and admonishment in the fear of the Lord. We even thank
God more for by His grace alone that we may know Him, fear Him, and
serve Him even when our parents are not believers.
- Having
No Heart to Serve: Rehoboam was born in purple, and without any
godly example around him he was spoiled. He had not the heart to serve.
When the people of Israel came to him with their request, “Thy father
made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of
thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we
will serve thee” (1 Kings 12:4). “And king Rehoboam consulted
with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet
lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this
people?” (1 Kings 12:6). Using the personal pronoun “I”,
Rehoboam did not have the same mind like the elders’. He only asked them
with the expectation that they would give him a piece of advice
according to the desire of his heart. When hearing their advice, “If
thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them,
and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy
servants for ever” (1 Kings 12:7), Rehoboam “forsook the counsel
of the old men” and “consulted with the young men that were grown
up with him” who had the same mind, desires and ambitions like his,
asking them, “What counsel give ye that we may answer this
people?” Rehoboam followed their unwise, unkind and arrogant
advice, “For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put
more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will
chastise you with scorpions” (2 Chron 10:11). With this foolish
reply, the people of Israel left him and “rebelled against the house
of David” (2 Chron 10:19), and Rehoboam lost the support of ten
tribes, except Judah and Benjamin. The kingdom was divided into two
exactly as the Lord had spoken to Solomon due to his backsliding.
- Taking
God’s Grace and Blessing for Granted:
Because of David’s sake and
God’s Name’s sake, the Lord graciously sent help to Rehoboam with all
the priests, Levites and those who feared God and wanted to worship Him
according to His way, “And the priests and the Levites that were in
all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts… And after them out
of all the tribes of
Israel such as set their
hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice
unto the LORD God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of
Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for
three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon”
(2 Chron 11:13, 16-17). Sadly, Rehoboam neither appreciated God’s grace
and blessings nor encouraged the priests and the Levites to fulfil their
duties faithfully.
-
Forsaking God and His Word: After three years, “when Rehoboam
had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook
the law of the LORD, and all
Israel with him”
(2 Chron 12:1). A leader plays
a very important role. If he fears God and honours His Word, he will
lead his people or his congregation according to God’s Word. If he
doubts or questions God’s Word, he will surely cause his people or his
congregation to follow his stand. Here, Rehoboam “forsook the law of
the LORD, and all
Israel with him.”
Rehoboam might not have thought that he had forsaken God, but when he
“forsook the law of the LORD” (God’s Word), God said to him and the
princes, “Ye have forsaken me” (2 Chron 12:5). Many
nowadays think that they still honour God, worship Him and glorify Him
while they fail to honour His Word! Is God pleased with them? Absolutely
not!
Not
Serving God Is Worse
God is our
Creator and Maker, the Source of all blessings. If we wisely worship Him
and faithfully serve Him and keep His Word, we will surely be blessed.
However, if we forsake Him and His Word, we shall be cursed.
Serving
God Is Blessed:
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the
voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments
which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on
high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come
on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the
LORD thy God” (Deut
28:1-2). Looking at the lives and ministry of faithful characters in the
Scriptures or in Church History, or in our days we see that they were
richly blessed by the Lord despite all the afflictions, difficulties,
trials, opposition or persecutions they had faced in their lives and
ministry. Shall we not wisely serve and worship the Lord our God
faithfully unto death?
Not
Serving God Is Cursed:
“Because thou servedst not
the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for
the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies
which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in
nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron
upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee”
(Deut 28:47-48). May God help you and me fear Him and honour Him and His
Word and always serve Him with joyfulness and gladness.
Not
Serving God Is Worse:
Our God is the good, loving,
gracious, and merciful Lord and Master. Being His servants is a
blessing, but if we do not want to serve Him, it will be worse. God said
to Rehoboam and the princes, “Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have
I also left you in the hand of Shishak” (2 Chron 12:5). When they
humbled themselves, God did not destroy them but mercifully granted them
some deliverance, “Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that
they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the
countries” (v 8) “So Shishak king of Egypt came up against
Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the
treasures of the king’s house; he took all: he carried away also the
shields of gold which Solomon had made” (v 9).
God has the
power to grant us His many blessings as well as to take away all His
blessings from us. If we do not serve God, we shall not be left alone,
but shall serve the enemies, and their service is surely worse. In the
days of the Judges, when Israel forsook the Lord, “the anger
of the LORD was hot against
Israel, and he delivered
them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold
them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could
not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out,
the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had
said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly
distressed” (Judges
2: 14-15). God gave Solomon a peaceful kingdom, but when he did not
faithfully serve Him, “the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon…
God stirred him up another adversary” (1 Kings 11:14, 23).
Our enemies nowadays are our sinful self, Satan, and worldliness (Rom
8:7-8; 1 Peter 5:8; James 4:4). If God is not with us and for us, we
shall surely be enslaved to our sinful nature, be defeated by Satan and
his temptations, and be drawn away by worldly values, mindset,
entertainments, and pleasures. They are cruel masters only leading us to
destruction and condemnation in Hell unless we humble ourselves in
repentance and cry unto the Lord for help and deliverance.
Conclusion
Dear
friends, serving our good Lord is really a blessing. It will be worse if
you and I do not want to be His servants for we will be enslaved to our
corrupt nature and sinful lusts, to Satan and to worldliness, which will
only lead us to destruction. May God graciously help you and me see this
truth, appreciate His grace and Lordship, then gladly and gratefully
submit ourselves to Him and His Word in faithful worship and service
until the end. Amen.
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