A Kingdom Divided-Kings
A Kingdom Divided
Unity is a word that is thrown around a lot in church circles. Hang around meetings with church leaders and it won’t be long till you hear this word being used, and how crucial it is for church health. Unity, not uniformity, is something we work towards in the church because we all know the importance of being “on the same page”. History has taught us that “a nation divided will surely fall”, so we try and learn from the mistakes made in the past in order to not repeat them. It is for this reason that I think we should look into our history book and make sure we learn from the mistakes others have made. Nowhere in scripture can you get such a large slice of time than in the book of Kings.
Our society tends to evaluate greatness by a leader’s achievements, but scripture is clear that God evaluates greatness by a person’s character. As you read through 1st and 2nd Kings, you will notice four basic elements for each king: SLIDE 1) The length of their reign 2) His reign synchronized with the reign of the corresponding king in the other kingdom 3) Each king is compared to their immediate predecessor and 4) Every king’s CHARACTER is evaluated by God (He was good or He was evil). READ 1Kings 15:1-3 (In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.). This information is crucial because it give us clues into what happened to the nation of Israel.
For 120 years Israel experienced unity under the leadership of Saul, David and Solomon, so what happened to this unity? What happened to cause a split that would last 430 years?
I believe there are four unity killers that led to the split of a united Israel into a Northern and Southern kingdom. The first of those causes is SLIDE the king’s failure to be a servant leader. Nothing puts a community at risk more than a leader who takes advantage of people for selfish gain or motives. READ 1Kings 12:1-19.
King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, had an opportunity to build/strengthen community, but chose to exert his power instead. Remember, this was more than just a nation, it was a FAMILY. The people of Israel are all descendents of Jacob; they’re all related to one another, so this split was more like a family feud than a separation of factions. Rehoboam chose to be SERVED rather than to SERVE, and it caused a family rebellion that resulted in TWO kingdoms instead of one.
Despite the political split caused by King Rehoboam, there was still some unity left: spiritual unity. The Temple in Jerusalem was still the central focal point of religious life and where all Israelites would come to worship God, and attend the various prescribed feast days. However, even this unity was in danger. READ 1Kings 12:26-27 (Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”).
Jeroboam, the newly elected king of the Northern Kingdom, is afraid that his people will leave the Northern kingdom and give their allegiance back to King Rehoboam when they go to the Temple for worship. So, how did Jeroboam deal with this fear? READ 1Kings 12:28 (After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”).
What Jeroboam did was the second unity killer: SLIDE Spiritual Manipulation for Selfish Motives. Nothing can get a biblically functioning community going down the wrong path faster than individuals who manipulate others by using spiritual language out of selfish motives. Jeroboam’s fear led him to manipulate the people by telling them to worship somewhere else, and even went as far as to create idols in order to distract people from the worship of God in the Temple in Jerusalem. In other words, Jeroboam not only led the people into disobedience, by telling them that they didn’t have to go to Jerusalem, he also led them into idolatry.
Abijah became king of Judah after Rehoboam, and he shows us the third unity killer: SLIDE Following God Halfheartedly. READ 1Kings 15:3 (He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.). The sin of half-heartedness repeats itself over and over again during the history of the kings. Abijah was a king who soon discovered that following God half-heartedly is not only foolish, but dangerous. Because he refused to follow God fully, he was at constant war with the Northern kingdom. What he failed to realize was that a heart that is only half full of God leaves room for other things to come in and take hold, which will ultimately lead to the fourth unity killer: SLIDE Turning Away from God.
This unity killer typically occurs when a follower of God does not understand something that happens in their life, and so their heart becomes cold towards God. Every time you turn from God, you open the door for conflict and division. This is what happened to king Asa of Judah. He started out well. READ 1Kings 15:11 (Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.). He had numerous military victories against neighboring nations because he repeatedly called on God for help. For thirty-five years, Asa trusted and relied upon God, and he experienced peace on his borders. But there was no peace within the divided kingdom because he and Baasha (king of Israel) were at war throughout their reigns. Then, in the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, the king of Israel conquered one of Judah’s towns that was on the border between the two kingdoms. When this happened, Asa stopped trusting in God; he turned away from God and put his trust in neighboring kings. He even had a prophet tortured when he came to rebuke Asa for turning away from God. Within a couple of years, Asa was dead; a broken and defeated man.
My point in all of this is to help you see that there is a DIRECT parallel between the events surrounding Israel and its kings and the Church. Just like God desired unity for Israel, God desires unity for the CHURCH. The same four unity killers for the nation of Israel are the same ones the Church today faces. Our task is to learn from the mistakes these kings made and strive NOT to repeat them within the church.
Let’s go through these four unity killers again quickly, but this time applying them to the church. The first one was SLIDE Failure to Be a Servant Leader. Jesus is our ultimate example of servant leadership. If there was EVER anyone who deserved to be SERVED, it is Jesus. However, look at what He says in Mark 10:45. READ Mk 10:45 (For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.). Right before He went to the cross, we find this: READ John 13:14-17 (Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.). Putting this in today’s terms, Jesus is telling us that, instead of asking how others, or the church, can serve YOU, you should be asking how you can serve OTHERS or the CHURCH. This is TOTALLY backwards to our culture, but imagine the results if Christians TRULY lived this out. People would have a “Any way I can serve” attitude instead of a “What is the church doing for ME” attitude.
The second unity killer was SLIDE Spiritual Manipulation for Selfish Motives. Have any of you ever had someone come up to you and say, “God spoke to me and told me you should…”? THAT is spiritual manipulation; people trying to influence your behavior by couching it within religious language. There is an inherent problem here because should all be open to correction from God that He has voiced through other people. The key here is to be able to discern whether the words are TRULY from God, or if this person is trying to manipulate you. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer here other than praying and seeking God’s confirmation. One thing is for sure; God will not ask you to do something that is contrary to what is in the Bible, which is the first test these kinds of statements must pass before we give them any further consideration. Therefore, we should be ever mindful before we act on someone else’s word, and make sure our motives are pure before we speak a word to someone else, because trying to manipulate people by couching it in spiritual language will lead to conflict and severe damage being inflicted upon the individual and the community as a whole.
Unity killer number three was, SLIDE “Following God Halfheartedly”. The same truth applies to us today as it did during Old Testament times: a heart only half filled with God is half empty. Your heart WILL be filled, but what remains to be seen is WHAT it will be filled with.
I believe there are really only two kinds of Christians: 1) There are Christians who are fully devoted followers of Christ; their hearts are FILLED with God. These are people who live with a deep level of surrender and commitment before God. When God leads, they follow. They understand that their whole life is under the lordship of Jesus Christ, not just a few selected areas they want to devote. 2) There are those who are half-hearted followers of Christ. They give God SOME of their heart, SOME obedience and SOME devotion. They want God, but they also want to cling to the things of the world. These people are half full of God, but they are also filled with all kinds of things that poison their heart and destroy the community God longs to build. Jesus has some very strong words for people like this. READ Rev 3:15-17 (I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.).
I believe that this unity killer is so dangerous that, if it’s not corrected, it will lead to the fourth unity killer: SLIDE Turning Away from God. A heart that is not FULLY devoted to God is MUCH more likely to turn away from God when disappointments or difficulties arise in our lives. Remember Job from last week?
Here was a man who had NUMEROUS opportunities and a TON of reasons to turn away from God, but he didn’t. He didn’t turn away because he was FULLY devoted to God; His heart was FILLED with God. This same truth is valid for you and me today. Being FULLY devoted to God is our primary defense, our armor, in facing life. Don’t wait until the trials of life come to make the decision to become fully devoted to God. Do it NOW, so you can weather the storm and not run the risk of turning away from God.
These are PRACTICAL truths. These are things we can learn, from people who have made the mistakes, so we don’t fall into the same traps. These unity killers split a nation, and they can split a church just as easy. As members of the Body of Christ, we must ALL do our part in making sure we’re not BEING a unity killer or ALLOWING unity killing behaviors to affect us or the community to which we belong.
The book of Kings is more than a list of who was king and when. It is a story of family and community. We ignore these Old Testament truths at our own peril.
Teach me your holy ways oh lord and make me wholly devoted to you (Cry of my heart?)