Theme: Abandoning God
Text: 2 Chronicles 12:1-16
Rehoboam is the first king of the Southern Kingdom of Israel which is now known as Judah.
Introduction:
During the reign of Solomon, a man named Jeroboam from the tribe of his servant rebelled against him. In his rebellion against his king, he was defeated and had fled to Egypt to where king Shishak gave him an asylum. When Solomon died he went back to Israel (still a united kingdom) and asks demands to lighten the load of tax of the people. Rehoboam on the other hand following the advice of the young advisers added a load of tax.
“13The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14he 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.” (1Kings 12:13-14)
By this, Jeroboam returned to Israel along with the ten tribes and rebelled against the king. Rehoboam with the tribe of Benjamin assembled his troops along of about 180,000 chosen men to restore the kingdom. But the Lord intervenes and talked to the king through prophet Shemaiah not to fight against Israel. For this, they obeyed the Lord.
However, at the same time, king Shishak of Egypt saw the weakening of Israel and began to muster his forces and marched against Jerusalem, the kingdom of Judah (known now as the Southern Kingdom). Now take note that even if Israel was divided, the kingdom of Judah was still very strong. Again, the Lord intervenes with the battle. He did not allow Jerusalem to be destroyed but gave them deliverance and became the servant of Egypt.
Why People Abandoned God?
If we are going to look at the world nowadays, we can actually see that the world is very far from God. Wherever we go we can see that lots of people who professed to be Christians are actually far from God. They have abandoned God’s commandments and teachings of the Bible. And the worst thing is, they tried to twist the word of truth, the Bible, to follow their own lust and self cravings. America, who was - a couple of centuries ago - the sit of Protestantism and Reformers, Europe around 15th century was the sit of Theological trainings. They were the best of the best when it comes to Christianity. Nowadays, even their own citizens were convinced that they nations are lost in the sight of God.
But how these things happen? There would be a lot of answers to this question. What we are going to deal today are two of the reasons why people abandon God. From our story, we can learn that Rehoboam abandoned God because of Pride and Power.
1. Pride – Rehoboam was the son of the great king Solomon to which the united kingdom of Israel had flourished at its peak. He has all the glamour and honor as his inheritance from his father.
2. Power – Rehoboam was one of the most powerful kings during his time. Solomon left him a stable kingdom.
But take note however, that this very important things in Rehoboam’s life was the very first two things that God had taken away from him.
What are the Consequences of Abandoning God?
1. We will lose the very thing that we value the most (2Chronicles 10). Rehoboam valued his kingdom so highly along with his pride and power or else he would not try to save it, or else he would not try to obey God in his time of troubles.
His inherited kingdom was divided. Only one tribe was left in his side, Benjamin. But God still worked in his life, not the whole kingdom was taken from him.
- But we never wanted God to take away half of what we treasure the most?
- I am sure that we value something in life the most. Maybe our work, maybe our business, maybe wife or husband, maybe children, maybe family, maybe money. The question is, do we value them more than we value God? If we do, then be very careful. The words of our Lord are very clear in the Bible, Luke 14:33 “33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
- Do we consider ourselves as God’s disciples? If we do, let us be faithful in him.
- How many people that I’ve seen that they value something more than God.
2. We will suffer other loses (2Chronicles 12:9-10). Take note that Rehoboam did not only lost a united kingdom, but he also lost his wealth. Jerusalem was ransacked and even the golden shields of the palace guards were taken away. He replaced it with bronze.
- Take note that not only the king’s treasury was ransacked but also the treasury of the house of the Lord.
- If we try to disobey God losses from our side will continue.
- Like Rehoboam who has golden shields, settled on bronze as a result of his disobedience to the Lord and forgetting the things that his father David and Solomon did during their reign.
- Judah actually began to lose its fame during the time of Rehoboam. All the treasuries were taken from him.
- Gollum (LOTR) was deeply corrupted because his great love for this “Ring”. He lost everything, his life, his identity.
- Our love with temporal things can and will corrupt our hearts if we are not careful in identifying whom we are serving.
- We must then be careful how we took care of God’s provisions and blessings.
3. We will affect losses to others who surround us. Rehoboam did not only lose the United Kingdom and wealth but also affected his people of these loses. They suffer the shame of their defeat and being a subject of Egypt.
- Now, we do not have to be a king to affect the lives of those people that surrounds us. Probably we are not aware of it, but now we are.
- Another example that we can cite from the Bible was Jonah. He disobeyed God in going to Nineveh. Along the way, the boat along with his companions almost had a ship wreck because of his disobedience to God.
- Do we remember times that when we became disobedient to God and we tried to abandon him in the ways he wanted us to be? In effect, other people suffered because of our disobedience?
Conclusion
The reality is, it is often more difficult to be a believer in good times than in bad. It is harder to obey God and follow his ways when all things are fine than when all things are in bad shape. Where are we now in our walk? Did we abandon God, or planning to abandon God? Don’t be hasty.
“5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts”
Deuteronomy 6:5-6
