Sermon Tone Analysis
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! Finish The Job, In The Lord
How many of us have started on a project 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.
If you ask someone, "did you win the game?"
If they begin to tell you, "man we had a great first quarter, " then you know how the game ended without them saying another word.
They lost.
We do not give A’s in school to people who started the project, but rather to those who finished well.
We do not give degrees to people who enrolled in college, but to those who completed all necessary requirements.
We do not give championship trophies to teams that played in the division, but only to those who ended up with a good season.
If we want the reward, a great start is not enough, we have to finish the job, and finish well.
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.
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.
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, 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."
There is not a role we have in which a temptation does not arrive, which would detract us from our commitment to God.
Expect for there to come periods in which like Shadrach, Meshak, and Abedengo, we will have to decide if we will bow down to the kings’s music just like everybody else, or will we be true to our God’s commands.
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.
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.
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.
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