Naylor Community Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to 1 Kings 12:1-15
1 Kings 12:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel
had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he
was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from[a]
Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel
went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but
now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve
you.”
5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then
come back to me.” So the people went away.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had
served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to
answer these people?” he asked.
7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to
these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always
be your servants.”
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him
and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9
He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say
to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied,
“These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make
our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s
waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My
father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people
returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13
The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the
elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made
your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with
whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the
people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord
had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
-- during
this past week, there were two stories in the news that caused me to stop and
ask myself the question, “Who are you following?”
-- the
first story was about Atlanta’s Peachtree Road Race -- the annual 10K race that
is held in downtown Atlanta every year on the fourth of July -- as you may have
seen on TV, last year’s winner in the women’s division, Senbere Teferi, had a
commanding lead over her two closest competitors going into the final stretch
of the race -- it was obvious from the footage that this Olympian gold medalist
was going to win her second straight race
-- a cadre
of police motorcycles escorted the three women down Peachtree Street towards
the finish line -- suddenly, one of the motorcycles turned right down a side
street -- Teferi saw the motorcycle turn and immediately followed it, assuming
that the motorcycle was leading her on to victory -- but this was not the case
-- the
motorcycle caused Teferi to leave the course, opening the way for her two
competitors to take first and second place -- by the time Teferi realized her
mistake and turned around to get back onto the main course, she had already
lost the race and finished third
-- the
second major story this week that asked the question, “Who are you following?”,
concerned the release of Meta’s new app, Threads -- Meta is the parent company
of Facebook and Instagram, and developed and released Threads as a competitor
to Twitter, which has been in serious decline since being purchased by Elon
Musk last year
-- lots of Twitter
users jumped over to the new Threads app, which offered them the unique ability
to reinvent their feeds -- Threads began with a blank slate, and the 30 million
plus people who signed up for Threads this past week had to decide who they
were going to follow on this new platform
-- the
question that was being asked multiple times on my Twitter and Reddit feeds
this weekend was “Who are you following on Threads?”
-- Who are
you following? -- that’s a good question -- that’s a question that we all need
to ask ourselves from time-to-time
-- Who are
we following? And why? -- to put it
another way, “Who are you allowing to speak into your life? -- and this goes
way beyond social media apps -- we need to ask this question for all aspects of
our lives -- entertainment -- culture -- society -- politics -- news --
education -- and spiritual issues
-- who are
the people and organizations that we are allowing to speak to our minds and our
hearts every day?
-- in our
day and age, it’s not a good idea to just let any voice or any message come
into our lives -- there’s a lot of trash out there -- there’s a lot of
misinformation floating around -- there’s a lot of political and social and
spiritual agendas and people wanting to push their particular message, whether
it’s right or not
-- so, we
have to be careful and discerning in who we follow and who we listen to in our
lives -- as Proverbs 12:26 says, “A righteous man is cautious in friendship,
but the way of the wicked leads them astray”
-- and, as
the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, do not believe every
spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many
false prophets have gone out into the world”
-- with those cautions in mind, let us turn over to the Old
Testament book of 1 Kings 12 and let's look at the story of Rehoboam -- a young
man who is the poster child for what happens when you follow the wrong people
II. Scripture Lesson (1 Kings 12:1-15)
-- before
we look at this passage in depth, let me give you the context and background
for this passage -- as you remember, God had anointed the shepherd boy David,
the man after God’s own heart, to be king over all of Israel instead of Saul --
under David’s leadership and God’s guidance, the twelve tribes descending from
Israel had united into one mighty and powerful nation called Israel
-- David
passed on the kingdom to his and Bathsheba’s son, Solomon -- Solomon started
well -- he was gifted by God with wisdom and knowledge above any who had ever
lived or who ever will live -- and Solomon parlayed that wisdom and knowledge
into leading the nation of Israel to become bigger and stronger and wealthier than
ever before
-- but
Solomon’s success eventually led to his downfall, as he continual quest for
more money and more power and more, more, more in his life led him to marry
foreign wives in disobedience to God’s commands -- and, as Solomon followed the
advice and the practices of these foreign wives, he strayed away from God and began
to chase after foreign gods
-- at the
same time, to keep his many wives happy and to satisfy his lust for wealth,
Solomon conscripted the men of Israel to serve as his slaves and servants --
and he placed heavy tax burden on them, especially the people of Israel who
were not part of Judah, Solomon’s family tribe
-- Solomon’s
actions resulted in conflict with the ten northern tribes of Israel -- and a
deep-seated resentment of Solomon began that continued right up to his death --
1 Kings 11 closes with the death of Solomon and the appointment of Solomon's
son Rehoboam as the new king of Israel
-- look
with me now at 1 Kings 12:1 and we'll start looking at the story of Rehoboam and
how his choice to follow the wrong people and listen to their advice resulted
in catastrophe for the nation of Israel
-- verse 1
1 Kings 12:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel
had gone there to make him king.
-- Shechem
was a town north of Judea and Jerusalem -- it was at Shechem that God spoke to
Abram and told him that He would give this land to Abram’s descendants -- it
was here that Abram built an altar to the Lord -- and it is the location of Jacob’s
well and Joseph’s tomb
-- rather than taking the crown in
Jerusalem, Rehoboam decided to go to Shechem for his coronation -- possibly as
a gesture of good will and a way to help relieve the tension that existed
between the northern tribes of Israel and those in the south -- his decision to
be crowned in Shechem could be taken as a step in the right direction -- the
new king reaching out to the people in the north, telling them that he was not
going to follow the same pattern as his father Solomon -- but that he would
consider everyone in the nation of Israel to be equal in his kingdom
-- verse 2
2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still
in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from[a] Egypt. 3 So
they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to
Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now
lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve
you.”
5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then
come back to me.” So the people went away.
-- Jeroboam
was the de facto leader of the people in the north -- in 1 Kings 11, we read
that God was going to punish Solomon for his sins by splitting the nation of
Israel into two separate countries -- with ten tribes to the north forming one
country and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin forming another country in the
south
-- the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh was
sent to Jeroboam, a servant of King Solomon, to proclaim God’s decision to him
and to anoint him as the leader of the northern nation
-- word of this prophecy and the
anointing by Ahijah spread throughout the nation of Israel, and Solomon tried
to kill Jeroboam -- he fled to Egypt, and remained there until Solomon’s death
-- now that Solomon has died and
Rehoboam has taken his place, Jeroboam returns to address the grievances of the
northern tribes to the new king -- he asks Rehoboam to give them a break -- to
lessen the taxes -- to take away the demand for harsh labor -- and promises
they will serve him and support his kingdom in exchange
-- Rehoboam
does a wise thing -- he doesn't make a decision on the spot, but instead takes
three days to make a decision
-- this is
good advice for us to follow in our own lives -- when we have a decision to
make, it's always wise to take a moment to think it through before acting -- to
just pause and consider all the options and the potential consequences of our
actions before we act
-- so far,
Rehoboam has started well -- his first two decisions as king were very wise and
very smart -- first, he reached out to the northern tribes in a show of
reconciliation by being crowned in Shechem, rather than Jerusalem -- and second,
he waited to make a decision that could impact his kingdom until he had time to
think about it
-- but
things start turning when he begins to listen to the advice of others
-- verse 6
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had
served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to
answer these people?” he asked.
7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to
these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always
be your servants.”
8a But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave
him
-- Rehoboam does another smart
thing -- when faced with this petition from the people of the northern tribes,
he doesn’t try to make the decision on his own -- instead, he turns to someone
else for counsel -- it's never a bad idea to ask others for their advice -- the
question is: who do we ask? -- who do we
follow?
-- in this
case, Rehoboam turned to the elders who had advised King Solomon during his
reign -- these were men of experience who had served in the kingdom and who
were well aware of the issues with the northern tribes
-- they understood the situation --
and they were able to speak from a place of wisdom and knowledge and experience
-- they had seen the way Solomon handled the north -- and they knew what would
work and what wouldn't work and they understood the concerns the northern
tribes brought
-- these
elders advised Rehoboam to heed the request of the northern kingdom -- to
repair the damage his father Solomon had caused by taking the position of a
servant -- by doing the opposite of what Solomon had done -- instead of serving
self and seeking power and wealth by oppressing the very people he ruled as
Solomon had, they advised Rehoboam to instead serve those under him -- to put
the people's needs and concerns first -- and to lessen their taxes and their
burden of servitude, as they asked
-- but
apparently, Rehoboam didn't like their advice, because he didn’t listen to them
and move forward in their advice
-- isn't that the case with us? --
a lot of times we ask for advice, but what we're really asking for is
affirmation of what we already want to do -- we don't want to hear someone tell
us something that doesn't agree with what we already think, so we go off and
try to find someone who will tell us that
-- that’s pretty
common in our day and our divided nation -- we gravitate towards news channels
that support our political positions -- we follow people and leaders who
proclaim the same cultural and social positions we think are right -- we only
listen to those people who are saying the same thing we are saying -- and our
computers and our smart phones recognize that and show us only those same
messages -- we never hear what the other side is saying except as quoted from those
on our side -- we’re only getting the message that we want to hear and that
supports our position
-- that’s
something we need to be aware of and guard against -- I was given the advice
one time to try to read or listen to at least one writer or speaker whose position
I disagreed with on a regular basis -- they said, “For every four books or
articles you read or messages that you listen to where the author or speaker
supports your position, read or listen to one person who speaks or writes for
the other side”
-- even if
it doesn’t change what you think, it’s important to know what other people are
saying and what they hold important -- it might help you understand them a
little better rather than just dismissing them out-of-hand because they belong
to a different tribe, like Rehoboam does here
-- look
back at verse 8
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him
and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9
He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say
to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied,
“These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make
our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s
waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My
father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
-- when
Rehoboam didn't get the answer he wanted from the elders, he turned to his own
friends and asked them what they thought and they told him exactly what he hoped
to hear
-- you've
got to remember -- Rehoboam grew up in the lap of luxury -- he and his friends
were accustomed to a wealthy and privileged lifestyle -- they didn't have the
experience and the wisdom of the elders -- they didn't understand the plight of
the people in the northern tribes -- all they heard was a request that would
result in them having less money in their own pockets and fewer servants to
serve them -- and not a one of them wanted to do with less than what they
currently had
-- in fact,
they said, let's ask for more -- tell them you're going to demand more money
and more service and you're going to even be harder on them than Solomon was
-- and all
of this sounded great to Rehoboam
-- it’s
kind of like how everyone running for political office always says they support
term limits and lower salaries for elected officials and fewer taxes on the
people until they get elected -- and then their position changes -- that’s why there’s
still no term limits in congress and those folks get paid even if the
government shuts down
--
everybody wants what they can get and they won’t sacrifice anything that might
cause them to lose out -- just like Rehoboam
-- verse 12
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people
returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13
The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the
elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made
your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with
whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the
people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord
had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
-- so,
Rehoboam rejects the counsel of the elders and does what his friends tell him
to do and it turns out just like you'd expect -- the people are distraught and
they aren't going to stand for it any longer -- and the words of God that came
through the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam were fulfilled
-- in the
rest of 1 Kings 12, we read how the northern tribe rebelled against Rehoboam
and refused him as their king -- they installed Jeroboam as the king of the
north and separated from Israel, forming the northern kingdom, which is known
from this point in the Bible as the nation of Israel -- it was also called Samaria,
which is the city where its capital was located, and Ephraim -- so if you see
any of those names in the Bible, you know it is referring to the northern
kingdom
-- Rehoboam
retreated to Jerusalem and became king of Judah, which included the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin -- the area that encompassed Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the
surrounding region
III. Following Wisely
-- so, what
can we learn about choosing who to follow from this cautionary story of
Rehoboam? -- how do we know who the right voices are to listen
to?
-- first, we need to consider who it
is that we go to for advice -- we need to critically consider who our friends
are and the people and the voices that are currently speaking to our minds and
our hearts today
-- Jim Rohn
famously wrote that we are the average of the five people we spend most of our
time with -- if we spend time with people who aren't good for us -- if we spend
time with people who make questionable choices in their own lives -- then we're
going to start acting like them
-- remember
that old adage -- “if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas”
-- the same
goes true for what we watch on TV and what we follow on our phones and our
computers
-- we need
to surround ourselves with good and godly people if we want to reflect God’s
standards in our lives
--
Rehoboam's friends were self-serving and self-seeking -- they were immature and
they didn't pause to consider the suffering of those around them -- all they
were concerned with was their own wealth and their own pleasure -- don't seek
advice from people like this -- don’t follow people like this -- don’t let them
speak into your life
-- instead,
seek advice from mature and wise people -- from mature and godly individuals --
follow people and seek advice and counsel from those who have experienced
similar issues in their lives -- and listen to their words before you act
-- second,
we need to recognize that good advice speaks to the truth of the situation,
even if we don’t like hearing it -- most people go to others just wanting them
to affirm what they already want to do or what they already believe -- and,
like I said, our phones and our computers are directing only those voices to
our ears
-- a lot of people don't really want
to hear the truth -- they just want you to tell them, "Go for it" --
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve met with people to talk with them
about issues in their lives and all they wanted me to do was tell them they
were right
-- I heard
about a couple in church one time that went to their pastor and told him that
God had spoken to them -- God wanted them to divorce their spouses and to marry
each other -- and they went to the pastor to get his blessing -- but they
weren't happy when they heard his response, so they went to someone else
-- know
this -- God is never going to tell you to do something that doesn’t line up
with His word -- He’s never going to lead you to do something that results in
sin
-- good
advice speaks to the truth of a situation, even if that truth is painful -- the
thing I’ve come to learn is that a lot of times, when we have problems in our
lives, we're the problem -- as the old saying goes, "everywhere you go,
there you are" -- and a wise person can be a mirror in your life to show
you the truth of a situation as they advise you on what you need to do -- not
what you want to do
-- third,
we need to weigh the words and the messages from the people and groups we
follow and any advice we receive from them against the word of God -- we need
to base all our decisions on God's moral principles that we see in the Bible --
never accept advice that goes against God's moral principles -- never accept
advice that tells you to do something contrary to God's word -- integrity
should be the cornerstone of all we do in our lives -- and the people we follow
should be people of integrity
-- Proverbs
6:16-19 says:
Proverbs 6:16 There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are
detestable to him:
17 haughty
eyes,
a lying
tongue,
hands that
shed innocent blood,
18 a heart
that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are
quick to rush into evil,
19 a false
witness who pours out lies
and a person
who stirs up conflict in the community.
-- as one
person commented on this proverb, we would do well to remember this passage
when deciding to whom we will listen and follow -- don’t just avoid people whose
lives exhibit these detestable character traits -- run from them!
-- don’t
follow them -- don’t listen to them -- and, for heaven’s sake, don’t vote for
them and make them your leader
-- God's
principle for leadership in the Bible is clear -- He calls for servant
leadership -- not exalted leadership -- but Rehoboam didn't want to hear that
from his father's advisors -- he wanted to be served, rather than serve -- and
by not following God's principles, he lost his kingdom
-- we are
as divided as a nation can possibly be at this point -- and there are people
who are adamantly for or against positions simply because their political or
cultural tribe is for or against it -- as Christians, we shouldn’t be looking
to political leaders to tell us what we should be thinking or doing -- that’s
the role of the Holy Spirit, and what God’s word says on a situation may not
conform to what our favorite political party or politician is saying
-- be
careful that you don’t let the world lead you down ungodly paths because you’re
following the wrong people in your life
-- fourth,
we need to follow and seek advice from those who have our best interests in
mind -- Bob Goff wrote, "if someone I trust tells me something, and I know
it's for my benefit, I just trust it." -- he
goes on to say, "I've found one of the best filters you can use to trust
someone is when there's nothing for them to gain from their advice."
--
Rehoboam's friends had something to gain from their advice -- they were going
to get to keep their extravagant lifestyle -- that should be a warning sign to
us when others give us advice
--
always seek advice that serves your best interests rather than the interests of
the person you're asking -- and always seek to follow those who are trying to
make you a better person and not just trying to satisfy your ungodly desires
--
recently, we had to share a similar message with someone in our lives who was
headed down a wrong road -- they were making unwise choices -- they were doing
things that were harmful to them and to their family -- and so, we told them
the truth in love -- we pointed out that they needed to make a change for their
own good -- for their own benefit
-- our
advice wasn’t received well, and they are continuing on this path -- we pray
that they might turn and choose better in the future -- the point is that we
may not always know the best direction another person should go, but we should
always try to offer counsel and advice that helps the other person and never
offer advice that benefits us, instead
-- we
should always seek to put others before us -- and, conversely, we need to be
careful that we don’t listen to people or follow people who are leading us down
paths that will harm us or others simply because they will benefit from that
action
--
finally, following the right people and allowing these people to speak into our
lives will result in our receiving good advice and counsel in our lives -- such
good advice always addresses the problem -- good advice addresses our needs and
gives us steps to take to fix it
--
in this case, the issue was how to repair the break between the northern and
southern tribes -- the advice given by the elders would have resolved this
issue and mended broken relationships -- but Rehoboam chose to take advice
contrary to them and ended up making a bad situation worse
--
if someone tells you to do something that doesn't help the situation, don't do
it -- action for the sake of action is not always the right course
--
the take-home message is this: as the
proverb says, “lean not on your own understanding, but trust in the Lord with
all your heart”
--
it's wise to seek counsel when you don't know what to do, but be careful who you
follow and who you go to for advice -- avoid ungodly people -- avoid immature
people, even immature Christians
--
all of us have people that we follow in our lives -- people and groups that we
let speak into our lives -- people and groups who offer advice and direction as
to what we should do and how we should live -- but we need to be careful in who
and what we let influence our thoughts, our beliefs, and our actions
-- when
you are deciding who to follow -- what voice to listen to -- what advice to
take when you are faced with decisions in your live, always put God's positions
and principles first -- follow Christ -- read His word -- listen for the
counsel of the Holy Spirit
-- seek
out those people in your lives who know God and listen to His voice in their
own lives -- seek out men and women of integrity and character who live their
lives in obedience to God’s commands -- follow them and hear the advice they
give -- but always be a good Berean -- weigh their counsel and their advice
against God’s word, and you'll always come out best
-- don’t
take every word and message you hear to heart -- don’t blindly follow someone
because of their political party or religious status -- but test the spirits
and ask God for a discerning heart that you might know the truth and act on the
truth and follow the right people and the right message in your life and not
make the same mistake that Rehoboam did
-- be
discerning with who you let into your life -- and don’t let the wrong people or
messages in -- and, with that word of caution, we’ll close
--
let's pray
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