SERMON: THE REAL “F” WORD -- “FORGIVENESS”

16 October 2016

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 [New International Version (NIV)]

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.

            -- the words I opened with come from one of the most familiar and most quoted passages in the whole Bible -- 1 Corinthians 13 -- the love chapter -- it’s in this passage that God, speaking through the Apostle Paul, expounded on what true love -- agape love -- should look like in our lives and how we should express His love to others -- it is a reminder that love is what matters most in life -- that love is demonstrated through patience and kindness -- and that speaking the truth in love is to speak life into someone’s walk with Jesus

            -- this morning, we are going to focus on verse 5 in this passage -- “Love is not rude -- it is not self-seeking -- it is not easily angered -- it keeps no record of wrongs”

            -- I’ve borrowed the title of my message -- The Real “F” Word -- from Rev. Ed Young from Dallas, TX -- although it’s not a dirty word -- it’s not a cuss word -- sometimes in the church and in our lives, we treat the word “forgiveness” as something that should not be said -- as something that should not be spoken or talked about -- as something that is not achievable or to be practiced in our lives

            -- but as we move deeper and deeper into the love relationship that Jesus calls us to, we run face to face with this word and we are forced to deal with others in our lives who have wronged us in some way or the other -- the ultimate test of love is how we respond in these situations -- the ultimate test of love is how we respond when somebody hurts us

            -- the Bible tells us that the only way we should respond -- the only way we can respond -- the only way we can grow in grace and continue down the path to spiritual maturity and deeper love with Christ -- is through forgiving others in our hearts for what they have done to us

II.  What is forgiveness and why should we forgive?

      -- so, this morning my goal is to encourage you to examine your relationships with others and to challenge you to forgive those who have wronged you and have hurt you in the past

      -- before we can do that -- before we can come to the point where we can forgive someone who has hurt us and wronged us -- we are going to need a better understanding of what forgiveness is -- why we should forgive -- and how we can then begin the process of forgiving them

      -- so, what is forgiveness and why should we forgive? -- I think a lot of us have a misconception about what forgiveness is and this misconception keeps us from practicing forgiveness in our lives

      -- typically, when we think of forgiveness, we think of restoration -- we think that forgiveness means telling a person that all is forgotten -- that everything is okay -- and then welcoming that person back into our lives -- restoring the relationship that once existed

      -- when most people think of forgiveness, this is what they picture in their mind -- it’s the common definition of forgiveness

      -- several years ago at a Promise Keeper’s Event, Gary Rosenberg told the story of a couple that came to him for counseling -- the couple had been happily married for years and had two little children -- one day, the father went into the baby's room to get diapers from the closet, and discovered a stack of love letters written to his wife -- the only problem was that he did not write these love letters -- he went downstairs and found his wife and said two words to her, "I know." -- immediately, she turned white as a ghost and said how sorry she was -- that it was a mistake and that it wouldn't happen again and begged her husband to forgive her and not to leave her

      -- now, in our common view of what forgiveness is, the husband, being a good Christian man -- would turn to her and say, "I forgive you" and would just forget about her adultery and they would act like nothing ever happened -- they’d just go about their days living happily ever after

      -- but in reality, we know this is not what usually happens -- the husband in this case was deeply wounded by his wife -- she had sinned against him -- she had violated his trust -- there was a deep hurt in his heart that needed to be repaired -- and there was no way that he could simply forget what had happened and go on with life as it was

      -- however, that is not what biblical forgiveness looks like -- biblical forgiveness doesn’t mean that when we are wronged, we just call up the other person and say "You're forgiven" and forget about the hurt and go on with our life as if nothing happened

      -- forgiveness, first and foremost, is not about restoring a relationship -- restoration and reunion may eventually come through forgiveness -- but that is not the primary purpose of forgiveness

      -- I want you to listen to this -- I want you to understand this -- the primary purpose of forgiving -- the reason God calls us to forgive others -- is for us -- the primary purpose of forgiveness is to heal the hurts and the scars in our heart that were caused when someone that we trusted trespassed against us and sinned against us and wronged us

      -- forgiveness is about healing the hurt within us -- forgiveness always begins on the inside

      -- true forgiveness is an act of God’s grace towards the one who was wronged -- it is one-sided -- it doesn’t even involve the other person -- true forgiveness occurs when you make the choice to heal the hurt that is within you -- when you decide to let go of the hurt and the anger and the bitterness inside and you choose to let God heal you from the inside out

      -- you can forgive someone and never, ever restore your relationship with them or even let them know that you have forgiven them -- forgiveness is simply a matter of the heart

      -- along those same lines, forgiveness is not minimizing the seriousness of the offense            -- it’s not sweeping wrongs under the rug -- it’s not just forgetting what has happened -- when there’s a need for forgiveness, it’s because we have been wronged -- we have been hurt -- our trust has been broken -- forgiveness is God’s way of healing that hurt within us

      -- it is not something that we do for others -- it is something that we do for ourselves -- forgiveness is something that happens within us -- within our hearts -- and it doesn't have to involve anyone else

      -- forgiveness is about getting rid of the bitterness and hatred and anger that is eating away at our souls -- it is about healing our own hearts and letting go of the hurts within us so that we might grow in Christ’s love -- forgiveness, at its core, is about us and our relationship with God and doesn’t depend on what the other person does or doesn’t do

            -- let me show you an example -- if you would, turn with me over to Genesis 37 and let’s look real quick at the story of Joseph

Genesis 37:1-5 [New International Version (NIV)]

37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. ² This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.

            -- Joseph’s brothers hated him -- they hated him with a passion -- they didn’t like the fact that their father loved him more than them -- and they certainly didn’t like the fact that he had apparently been blessed by God and had been placed over them -- and, to top it all off, they certainly didn’t like the fact that Joseph was a tattle-tale and had told his father that they weren’t doing their job when they were supposed to be tending the flocks

            -- Joseph’s brothers hated him and didn’t want anything to do with him -- and things only got worse from that point -- we read here that one day after Joseph had tattled on his brothers, Jacob sent him to check up on them while they were with the family’s flocks near Dothan

            -- look down at verse 18

Genesis 37:18-20 [New International Version (NIV)]

¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. ²⁰ “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

            -- sibling rivalry is one thing -- but Joseph’s brother hated him so much that they wanted to kill him -- when they saw him come walking up wearing his coat of many colors, they just got all angry again and decided to kill him and throw him in a cistern and to claim that wild animals had eaten him -- luckily for Joseph, Reuben managed to keep the others from killing him and they just threw him into a cistern alive, but that was just the beginning of the problems for Joseph

            -- verse 26

Genesis 37:26-28 [New International Version (NIV)]

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
²⁸ So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt

            -- after Reuben left, the brothers talked about what to do with Joseph -- rather than killing him, they decided to sell him as a slave to the Ishmaelites, who eventually carried him into Egypt

            -- so here’s Joseph, the favorite son of his father -- blessed by God -- called to be the leader of his family -- and now he’s sold into slavery and carried into Egypt, where the Ishmaelites sell him to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s captains

            -- real quick, I’m going to sum up Joseph’s life from this point -- I’m going to cover about 7 chapters in the Bible, so hang on

            -- things were going as good as they could for Joseph at Potiphar’s house, until he had a run in with Potiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him -- he ended up being falsely accused of sexual assault and thrown into prison

            -- in prison, Joseph did the best he could -- with God’s help, he interpreted the dreams of a couple of his fellow prisoners, Pharaoh’s baker and the cupbearer -- when he discovered that the cupbearer would be restored to his former position, Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him and plead his case before Pharaoh, but the cupbearer forget for two whole years

            -- so get this picture in your mind -- here is Joseph, sold as a slave in Egypt -- falsely accused and thrown into prison -- all because of his brothers and their hatred of him -- Joseph really hadn’t done anything to them, but they had intentionally caused him nothing but hurt in his life -- they had wronged him -- they had broken trust with him -- and while they were still living in the land of Canaan, Joseph was living in prison

            -- if there’s anyone you would expect to be bitter, it would be Joseph -- if there’s anyone you would expect to see have difficulty forgiving, it would be Joseph -- he could have laid there in that prison and let the wrongs that had been done against him eat at his heart -- he could have let the anger and the bitterness and the wrongness of it all continue to grow, until it turned his heart into something that was as dark and twisted as his brother’s hearts

            -- but Joseph didn’t do that -- he refused to stoop to their level -- even though his brothers didn’t come to him and beg forgiveness for what they had done, at some point, he still forgave them -- even though his brothers weren’t there with him, he forgave them from his heart -- and God rewarded his demonstration of love and forgiveness

            -- flip over to Genesis 45

Genesis 45:1-5 [New International Version (NIV)]

45 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.

³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you

            -- eventually, Joseph was taken out of prison and given a position at the right hand of Pharaoh -- eventually, he reconciled with his brothers -- but he was only able to do so because he had already forgiven them in his heart years earlier

            -- when Joseph was laying in prison and finally reached the point where he was able to truly forgiven his brothers, he didn’t know he would ever see them again -- he had no idea he would ever see them again -- he had no way of knowing his brothers would come from Canaan to Egypt seeking food and end up before him in Pharaoh’s court

            -- but because Joseph walked with God, he knew that unforgiveness would have been like a cancer -- eating away at his soul, damaging his relationship with God, and placing him in bondage to his brothers forever -- for those reasons, Joseph had sought healing years before by forgiving his brothers for what they had done to him

III.  How do we forgive?

      -- so, how do we forgive? -- how do we follow Joseph’s footsteps and forgive those who have wronged us

      -- in his book, "The Art of Forgiving," Lewis Smedes outlines three steps to forgiveness that we follow when we truly seek healing in our life

      -- first, we begin the process of forgiving when we start separating the person who wronged us from the wrong that they did to us -- when someone wrongs us, in our minds, they become the wrong that they did to us -- we say things like, "he is nothing but a cheat -- he is nothing but a liar" -- we look at them and all we see is the sin

      -- but, as Smedes points out, when we begin the miracle of healing, we begin to see our enemy through a cleaner lens, less smudged by hate -- we begin to see them as a person who did something wrong -- not as wrong itself

      -- when God forgave us, the first thing He did was to separate us from our sin -- we were not the problem -- it was the sin that was the problem and that needed to be dealt with -- so God provided a way to cover our sins -- because of that, when God sees us, He doesn't see our sin any longer -- He sees the person underneath the sin, cleansed through the blood of Christ and standing righteous in His sight

      -- the first step to forgiveness, then, is continuing to hate the sin but not the person who committed the sin against you

      -- the second step to forgiveness is to surrender our right to get even -- when we are first wronged -- when we are first hurt -- we want to get even -- we want the other person to suffer like we have suffered and to know that they are suffering because of what they did to us -- we call this "vengeance"

      -- this desire for vengeance is the poison that damages your heart if you withhold forgiveness from another person -- it has been said that unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person might die -- remember, we forgive because we are the ones who need to be healed

      -- so when you start on the road to forgiveness, one of the things you must do is to release your right to vengeance -- to hurting the other person unjustly -- keep in mind, though, that there is a difference between vengeance and justice -- vengeance is our pleasure of seeing someone who hurt us get hurt back -- justice is making sure that someone pays a fair penalty for wronging another -- vengeance is personal satisfaction -- justice is moral accountability

      -- forgiveness does not do away with justice -- someone who wronged you may have to pay for the wrong that they have done -- but, forgiveness does mean that you don't desire them to be hurt in an unjust way simply as revenge for what they did to you

      -- the final step to forgiveness is when you revise your feelings towards the person that wronged you -- you no longer hate them in your heart for who they are and what they did to you -- and you even can hope that God's grace might fall into their lives and they might start living better lives

      -- this does not excuse the wrong that they have done -- it does not mean that we are going to tolerate them trespassing against us again and it does not necessarily mean that we are going to restore our relationship with them -- remember, restoration is not part of biblical forgiveness

      -- but it means that you no longer have a desire for them to suffer because of what they have done to you -- and it means that if God was to reach out and touch them and change their lives for the better, that you would be happy to see that happen

      -- when you have reached this stage of forgiveness, you can know for sure that the hatred and the bitterness are now removed from your life and that your heart has been healed and restored by the miraculous power of forgiveness

      -- one thing to keep in mind is that forgiveness is a daily choice we have to make -- when someone has wronged you deeply -- when you have been hurt and trust has been broken -- it is not likely that you are going to be able to just forgive them and move in

      -- the hurts will come back -- the pain will come back -- your feelings of anger and resentment will come back -- and you’re going to find the need to let go of that pain and that hurt and to forgive that person time and time again -- forgiveness is a process -- a choice -- and it may take weeks or months or even years before you are truly at peace with another person in your heart -- but it’s something you have to do -- not for someone else -- for you and your relationship with God

IV.  Closing

      -- forgiveness is a gift from God -- through Christ, God forgave us for the sins that we committed -- He refused to pour out His vengeance and wrath on us but offered His very Son as a sacrifice to ensure that justice was done -- and, once justice was served, God poured out His blessings on us -- on the very people that once had trespassed against Him

      -- in the same way, God calls for us to forgive others that have trespassed against us -- He knows that our hearts have been hurt and damaged by others -- and He knows that these wounded hearts can keep us from loving Him and loving others as He wants

      -- so, He encourages us to offer forgiveness to others in our hearts -- so that in the process of forgiveness we might find healing from the hatred and bitterness and resentment that we have built up in our lives

      -- when I went to my first Kairos, I saw the power of forgiveness in the life of another person -- those men in that place had deeply wounded hearts -- they were not only held in physical bars in that place, but they were bound up with spiritual bars of hatred and resentment and unforgiveness to others in their lives

      -- a lot of them were in prison because of the hurts that others had inflicted upon them -- their wives -- their fathers -- their mothers -- friends -- others they knew -- it had led them down the path of violence and hurt and lawlessness that landed them in prison

      -- as part of the weekend, we led them through the process of forgiveness and helped them to release the hurts in their hearts through the power of Christ

      -- and I watched as many of those men wept with joy for the first time in their lives -- as they truly forgave those who hurt them and as they were freed to allow the blessing and salvation of God into their hearts -- relationships may not have been restored that weekend, but lives were changed through the healing power of forgiveness

      -- there is power in forgiveness -- and that is why Jesus commands us to pray daily, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us"

      -- so how do we put this into practice -- this week, I want you to spend some time in prayer asking the question, “Who do I need to forgive?” -- and when you’ve been given an answer by God, then I want you to pray for that person and I want you to consider offering them forgiveness from your heart

      -- this doesn’t mean you’ll call them up or even reach out to them -- you may never talk to that person again -- beginning the process of forgiveness means that there, in the quiet of your heart and in the presence of God, you’ll choose to let go of the hurt so that your heart might be healed -- so that your love for God and for others might grow

      -- so, as I close, I want to invite you to search your hearts and begin the process of forgiving those who have wronged you in the past -- not for their sake -- but for the healing that God offers you and so that you can continue to walk the path of love with Christ

      -- let us pray

THE WAY OF THE CROSS

9 October 2016

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to 1 Kings 11:1-13

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

            -- it’s a widely accepted fact that the American author Mark Twain was not a Christian -- which posed a problem when he began courting Olivia Langdon in hopes of marrying her -- you see, in his day, a man typically had to get permission from a woman’s parents before he could marry their daughter -- and, herein lies the problem

            -- Olivia came from a professing Christian family, strong in the faith -- they not only attended church, but lived out their Christian faith in their lives -- and Twain quickly realized that there was no way Olivia’s parents were going to allow her to marry an unbeliever -- so Twain hatched a diabolical plan -- he pretended to be a spiritual seeker who needed the support and prayers of Olivia’s family in order to clean up his life

            -- and as he met with the family and received their prayers and counsels -- as he continued to grow closer to Olivia and began to imitate their faith, Twain presumably converted and became a Christian -- and once Olivia’s family was convinced he was a Christian, they permitted the marriage

            -- but, as we know, it appears Twain’s conversion was an illusion contrived to get permission from Olivia’s family for her hand in marriage -- after the wedding, the letters from Twain to Olivia changed in tone, and the religious feelings he had expressed in earlier letters during their courtship were never mentioned again

            -- in fact, after their wedding, Twain began to ridicule Olivia's beliefs and devotion -- and soon Olivia’s own faith and hope in Christ began to cool -- she eventually turned away from the church and from her religion altogether, and a deep sorrow overtook her soul

            -- Twain had never intended for this to happen -- he did love Olivia and never meant to hurt her, but the damage had been done -- he had broken her spirit and wounded her faith -- he said to her, "Livy, if it comforts you to lean on your faith, do so." -- She replied sadly, "I cannot. I do not have any faith left."¹

            -- as sad as it is, the story of Olivia Twain’s waning faith is so often written into our own lives and our own churches -- we find ourselves drifting away as the anchor of our faith is severed by the world and our own flesh -- not so much in an intentional way as with Mark Twain and Olivia Langdon, but in more insidious ways -- through the gradual darkening of our own souls

            -- everyone in here has probably heard the story of the frog in boiling water -- I have to admit I tested it out one time to see if it was true or not -- it is

            -- if you take a frog and put them into a pot of boiling water, they will immediately jump out -- they sense the danger -- they feel the pain -- and they leap away to safety

            -- but if you take a frog and put them into a pan of cool water and slowly turn up the heat to boiling, the frog won’t jump out -- it adjusts to the gradual change in temperature and will literally allow itself to be cooked without doing anything to get away

            -- that is true for so many of us -- it is the spiritual tendency of all our hearts -- as Robinson wrote in his hymn, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it -- prone to leave the God I love” -- it’s a spiritual law akin to the second law of thermodynamics -- energy trends towards entropy -- or, in other words, the spiritual always trends towards the unspiritual -- the heart always bends towards evil -- belief always trends towards unbelief

            -- we see that played out so often in the lives of those around us -- we see it played out in our own lives and in our own churches -- and we see the warning to turn around from that path given to us in passages such as this

            -- the Bible tells us King Solomon was the wisest man in history -- even in our day, with all its genius and technological advances, there is no one who is as wise as Solomon was -- no one who possesses the knowledge he had, nor who could apply it in similar ways today -- Solomon’s wisdom is unparalleled -- he had been singularly blessed by God with spiritual wisdom, and the success of his kingdom reflected the result of this Godly wisdom

            -- but despite all the wisdom Solomon possessed, he ended up turning away from the God he loved -- from the God who had gifted him with wisdom and wealth and power -- and he is recorded in the Bible as an example of someone who started well but ended as a spiritual failure

            -- how could this happen to him? -- and how can we keep this from happening to us? -- that is what I want us to talk about this morning

II.  Scripture Lesson (1 Kings 10:23-11:13)

            -- to better get a handle on what happened to King Solomon, let’s back up and read a summary of his life beginning in 1 Kings 10:23

23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,[a] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 29 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

            -- it all sounds good, doesn’t it? -- if you were looking for someone who was the epitome of success -- who had it all together -- looks, wealth, wisdom, power, influence -- Solomon would be your man

            -- as it says in verse 23, Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth -- he had it all -- he knew it all -- he was success personified

            -- he was so wise, the whole world would come to hear him speak -- he had chariots and horses -- he had so much money and shared it so freely with his people that silver became commonplace and wasn’t considered to be of great value anymore -- Solomon was the kind of man that other men wanted to be and women wanted to be with

            -- but one thing is missing in this recitation of all that he had and possessed -- faith -- no mention is made here at the end of Chapter 10 about Solomon’s faith -- of his devotion to the God who had blessed him -- of his obedience to God’s commands and desires

            -- which brings us to Chapter 11 -- look at verse 1

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.

            -- this section begins with the word, “however” -- it marks the point of failure in his life

            -- yes, Solomon had more wisdom than anyone else in the world, however...

            -- yes, Solomon had more wealth than anyone else in the world, however...

            -- yes, Solomon had more power than anyone else in the world, however...

            -- however, he neglected that which was the most important of all -- the state of his soul -- as Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” -- this is exactly what Solomon had done

            -- in defiance of God’s commands to the Israelites, Solomon had married many foreign women who had turned his heart from following the one true God of Israel to their foreign, pagan gods -- rather than standing firm in his faith, Solomon allowed the influence of his wives to lead him astray

            -- look back at verse 4

4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

-- as Solomon grew old, his devotion to God waned, and he did not follow the Lord completely, as David had done -- he didn’t abandon God completely, but added the worship of other gods into his religious practices -- and the nation followed suit

            -- things got worse and worse as the worship of pagan gods became accepted as okay -- as the new normal -- I mean, you can understand the feelings of the people -- “the government says it’s okay, so we should start accepting the worship of other gods, too” -- “the government has approved this, so we should, too” -- and the nation of Israel began down a steep, slippery slope to unbelief and idolatry and evil

            -- it reached the point where altars were built for Chemosh and Molech on the high places in Israel, and sacrifices -- including the sacrifice of the children of Israel -- were offered to these evil gods

            -- how did this happen? -- how could a nation set apart and called by God turn away so completely and totally within a matter of years?

            -- they followed The Three C’s of Spiritual Defeat:  Complacency, Compromise, and Corruption

            -- Solomon and the nation of Israel became complacent in their lives -- they were satisfied with how things were and saw no need to keep striving to make things better -- not only was Solomon rich, but everyone in the country was rich, too -- they had plenty of food -- they had plenty of resources -- they were respected by the other nations -- and they lived in peace and prosperity -- they had all they needed and, as a result, they became comfortable and complacent in their lives

            -- they were like a frog in a pot of lukewarm water, just chilling out, enjoying the scenery

            -- from there it became easy to begin to compromise their faith and their moral standards -- they had so many people streaming to Israel from all over the world, bringing new ideas and new religions and new ways of thinking -- the king’s own wives were bringing new ideas on worship to the land -- and, sure, maybe that’s not the way they had been taught as children, but this was a new world -- a new time -- and things changed -- people just needed to be more tolerant and understanding

            -- maybe it was time to add these new ideas and new ways of thinking to their lives -- and, as a result, they began accepting moral and ethical stands that were not in keeping with their traditional religious beliefs -- they began adding into their worship ideas they gleaned from the other religions -- why not? -- what was the harm

            -- and little by little, the water in the pot began to heat, but very few noticed -- those who did were ridiculed by the public -- those who cried out for a return to the former ways of God were called bigots and intolerant and castigated as deplorable because of their traditional values and morals

            -- and, inevitably, complacency and compromise led to corruption -- to total depravity -- to a complete turning away from what was good to that which was evil -- to that which was opposed to God Himself

            -- just as Sodom and Gomorrah had become totally and completely evil, within and without, so had Solomon and the people of Israel -- they no longer pretended to follow God, but openly worshiped foreign gods and did that which was evil in the sight of God

            -- verse 9

9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

            -- complacency led to compromise which led to corruption which ended up with God’s judgment and wrath being poured out on the nation

            -- because of the sins of the people introduced by Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was split -- God commanded it be divided and separated -- its wealth and its power dissolved -- its influence lessened

            -- the peace was shattered as God raised up enemies against Solomon from within and without -- and what was once a great nation fell to never rise again

III.  Application and Closing

            -- we need to pay attention to the voice of God as He speaks to us from His word -- the path that the nation of Israel followed in this passage is being writ large in our own country today -- we see America following the same path of complacency, compromise, and corruption -- and the judgment of God cannot be far behind unless we do something about it

            -- but the warning in this passage is not just for nations, but for us as individuals -- all of us are prone to wander in the same way as Solomon -- all of us are prone to leave the God we love -- to become complacent with our lot in life -- to compromise our morals and our values and our faith -- and to become corrupt in our very beings

            -- it should be a warning to us how many great men and women of the Bible started well in their lives, only to end as Solomon did later in life -- what’s important is not how you start your walk of faith, but how you end it -- and unless we are diligent, it is easy to cut our anchor lines and to shipwreck our faith

            -- but even if you find yourself walking down the slippery slope of complacency and compromise and corruption, all is not lost -- there is another word that begins with the letter “c” that can turn things around -- The Cross

            -- The Cross stands before us as a beacon on our path -- as a lighthouse to warn us away from the rocks of complacency and compromise and corruption -- as a safe port in the storm

            -- The Cross is our source of redemption -- offering both forgiveness of our sins and the power to turn away from sin completely -- The Cross shows us the way when we are lost -- and all we have to do is turn back from our sin -- to turn back from our wicked ways -- to pray and seek the face and the presence of God and turn to the Cross -- and we will find grace and mercy and redemption

            -- just because we find ourselves on a slippery slope leading away from God, both as individuals and as a nation, doesn’t mean we have to continue on this path -- God calls us to return to Him -- He calls us to repent -- to turn around -- and to come back to the God we love

            -- as Jesus counseled the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5, “You have forsaken your first love -- remember the height from which you have fallen -- repent and do the things you did at first”

            -- the answer to the slippery slope is to repent and do the things you did at first -- to turn back to the true worship of God and to put behind you all the things that are hindering that worship -- to follow the laws and the commands of God -- to once again hold yourself and this nation to a higher standard of moral values and ethics

            -- just because everyone else is going over the cliff doesn’t mean you have to go, too -- you can take a stand -- you can be a voice -- you can make a difference

            -- it all begins with recognizing the error of your ways -- of repenting from complacency, compromise, and corruption -- and of following the path of God regardless of who else walks your way

            -- Solomon and the nation of Israel failed to follow the path of God -- they chose the way of the world to their detriment -- may we choose a better way and a better path

            -- let us pray

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¹ Modified from Susan K. Harris, "The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain," Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. xiii; submitted by Aaron Goerner