The Sin of Jeroboam

I. Introduction
A. We covered David/Solomon/Rehoboam the last three weeks.
B. Rehoboam and Jeroboam were rivals. But like many rivals, there wasn’t a good guy and a bad guy, there were two bad guys.
C. 1Kings 12:25–33 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. 27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. 31 He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33 He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.
D. 2Chronicles 11:12b–16 So he held Judah and Benjamin. 13 And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived. 14 For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the LORD, 15 and he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the calves that he had made. 16 And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
II. History
A. Last week we talked about how the kingdom of God’s people was divided between north and south, with Rehoboam as king of Judah in the south and Jeroboam as king of Israel in the north.
B. Even though the Bible makes clear that Jeroboam’s act of inciting the rejection of King Rehoboam was wicked and rebellious, that political rebellion doesn’t actually receive much attention in the Biblical record. It is the sins committed AFTER the division that Jeroboam is infamous for.
1. The expression “the sins of Jeroboam" is used at least 15 times in 1&2Kings (e.g. 2Kings 15:8, 9, 15, 24, 28). And every one of those times it is referring not to his part in the secession of Israel, but to the sins he commits after.
2. In fact, of all the sins we’re talking about this summer, the sins of Jeroboam are famous not just for having been committed by Jeroboam, but committed also by a long line of those who succeeded him on the throne of Israel.
C. The sins of Jeroboam had to do with what Jeroboam did after he became king of the ten northern tribes of Israel. Here’s what happened...
1. After spearheading the secession of the northern tribes, and being elevated to the position of king of the new nation, Jeroboam’s next move was to secure his new nation.
2. First, he made the city of Shechem into his new capital. But, one of his biggest fears was that the legitimacy of his new kingdom would be threatened by the location of worship.
3. You see, three times per year the Israelites were obligated to travel down to celebrate the annual feasts in Jerusalem, where God’s temple was, with its sacrifices and the ark of the covenant.
4. Jeroboam thought that if the people continued to travel back to Judah for the festivals, it would begin to dawn on them that maybe Judah was the location of the true throne of Israel, maybe God was with Judah, not with Israel, thus undermining the legitimacy of Jeroboam’s new throne (2Kg.12:26-27).
5. So, he decided to relocate Israel’s worship to curtail his people’s religious identification with Judah. He set up alternative locations in Israel so the people would no longer go to Jerusalem.
a. He ordered two golden calves be fashioned, one for the city of Bethel, one in Dan. Then he presented these two golden calves to the people: "Behold your gods. O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." (v.28) (Reminds us of the sin of Aaron.) He may have set up other images as well: 2Chron.11:15 may be referring to more.
b. He also set up other shrines on the high places in Israel.
c. He appointed a new order of priests who were from the tribe of Levi. (The Levites went to Judah.)
d. And he instituted a feast to take the place of the feasts in Jerusalem.
6. Where did Jeroboam come up with all this stuff? v.33 tells us "he had devised in his own heart."
D. How did Jeroboam get the people to buy into his new religion?
1. By maintaining enough of the old religion to keep their consciences appeased.
a. He continued the sacrifices, but with different altars and different priests.
b. He continued the feasts, but made them local and avoided the long, arduous trek to Jerusalem.
c. He continued the priesthood but no longer limited it to the Levites.
2. Counterfeit religion always keeps some parts and forms of true religion. Otherwise it wouldn’t be an effective tool of leading people astray because too many red flags would be raised.
3. And by abolishing the awkward & inconvenient parts, the changes seemed like improvements.
E. Why are these sins mentioned so many times in 1&2Kings?
1. Well, Jeroboam was the first of 19 kings in Israel.
2. Because all 18 kings of Israel who came after Jeroboam followed in his footsteps, and thus likewise practiced the sins of Jeroboam.
3. 18 kings of Israel followed Jeroboam. Let me sing you a song I wrote to help kids memorize them: “I have a story I’d like to tell, about the 19 kings of Israel. The first one’s name was Jeroboam I, and Nadab was the second one. Then Baasha, Elah too, Zimri, Omri, Ahab (pew!), Ahaziah, Joram and Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, and Jeroboam II, Zachariah, Shallum and Menahem, Pekah, Pekahiah, Hoshea. All 19 were wicked men, and God judged them again and again.”
4. And it wasn’t just the kings! 2Kings 17:22 tells us that, “The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them.”
5. And Israel remained in this sin for 300 years! when finally God sent King Josiah of Judah up to destroy the false altars Jeroboam had set up (2Kings 23:15).
F. So, the sin of Jeroboam was that – for political reasons – he invented a new religion for God’s people. He rearranged and reinvented the worship of the eternal God of heaven for the mere advantage of his earthly kingdom.
III. Let me explain more about why this sin of Jeroboam was such a big deal.
A. The second commandment says not to worship idols (Exod.20:4-6). This isn’t referring to having other gods besides the Lord, that was already covered in the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exod.20:3).
1. The 2nd commandment is about worship. God does not want to be worshiped by means of idols.
2. You see, the way God requires us to worship is based on the truth of who He is.
3. Rom.1:23 teaches us that man’s great problem is exchanging the glory of the Creator for created things. Instead of worshiping God & giving Him thanks, we worship things/people/fantasies.
4. And so in instructing us in worship, God commands us to worship Him in ways which reflect who He is, and not in ways which focus on tangible, visible objects.
5. For instance, God teaches us to direct our prayer and praise not to some material object or place, but to a spiritual God who is invisible and yet is personal and very accessible.
6. When Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai and Aaron makes the golden calf and says, “This is your God. O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” (Exod.32:4), the people hadn’t just committed a minor transgression of worship procedure. By departing from God’s instructions for worship, they were exchanging the truth for a lie. By attempting to worship God in a false way, they were worshiping a false god.
B. Well, following in Aaron’s footsteps, Jeroboam reinvents the religion of Israel to suit the occasion.
1. Religion as God had defined it threatened Jeroboam’s earthly well-being, from his perspective. So he felt like he had to make some adjustments.
2. You see, Jeroboam didn't believe success was from the Lord. He believed that success was the result of political strategies & ploys. He thought that advantages came from shrewdly manipulating things in the world.
3. And so, the way he led the people to worship was a sign of what was in his heart, a sign of who he really trusted in, a sign of who he really worshiped inside.
C. You see, some people just reject the true God and the whole notion of worshiping/serving Him.
1. But others find it inconvenient to do that. They don’t want to worship God, but denying Him is too costly.
2. So, what do they do? They invent an alternate; they create a counterfeit.
D. Remember Where's Waldo? books? There are many false Waldos but only one true Waldo on each picture. In the same way, Satan is the great alternative maker, the great counterfeiter.
E. How many of you parents have ever lost a child? When she was about 3 yrs old, we lost Abigail at Great Meadows in the 4th of July. We and about a dozen people were all frantically looking for her.
1. What if someone had brought a little boy to us and said, “This child is around the same age.” Of course not, it’s a little girl.
2. And then, if someone brought us a little girl, and we said, “No, that’s not her. Our girl is at least two years younger.”
3. And then someone else brings a younger girl, and we say, “No, that’s not her, our girl is in a yellow outfit.”
4. And then, what if someone pulled us aside and said, “You know, I think you’re being a little bit fussy. We keep finding children, but it seems they’re never good enough for you.”
5. Well, that would be the silliest thing ever! We’re not looking for any little girl, we’re looking for our daughter Abigail. And even if you find another girl named Abigail, we’re not going to stop looking unless it’s our daughter Abigail!
6. You see, when you’re looking for a person, it’s not enough to be close. There is no close! It’s either the person or it’s not the person!
7. And so it is with the Lord!
IV. Today
A. But it’s not just Jeroboam and his successors who are guilty of the sins of Jeroboam. This sin of changing true religion to make it fit with man's interests has been one of the most dangerous foes of true religion throughout history. We no longer call it the sin of Jeroboam, but this sin is being committed left and right in our world today.
1. Sadly, many are in the business of inventing, counterfeiting, or distorting the true religion and then claiming it is the real thing.
2. And it is dangerous and ugly when man gets his hands on religion.
B. Christianity is not ours to rearrange or reinvent.
C. There is nothing inherently wrong with creativity or new ideas. There is nothing wrong with Christianity being manifested differently in the context of different cultures. There is even in Matt. 9:17 the parable of the wine/wineskins which talks about this. But what the church needs most is not something new, it needs to be faithful to what was delivered through the apostles in the NT.
1. There is a big difference between the forms of Christianity and its substance. Or, to put it another way, there is a big difference between the elements of the faith which are laid out in the Scripture and the elements which are more incidental to the faith and which are not laid out in Scripture.
2. For example, singing praise to the Lord, listening to the preaching of God’s word, and celebrating the Lord’s supper are, in one sense, all forms, but they are forms which are Biblical and integral to the practice of the Christian faith.
3. But the number of songs and the style of music and the length and depth and style and language of the preaching, and a number of the details of the Lord’s Supper, these are not laid out in Scripture and are not essential to the Christian faith and therefore are appropriate to change between cultures and generations.
D. Today the recasting of Christianity is frequently done in light of contemporary notions of morality and justice.
1. 21st century America doesn’t like the idea that there is a God who lays down laws for mankind.
a. It doesn’t like the idea that man is naturally depraved and under the just wrath of a holy God.
b. It doesn’t like the idea that our only hope is in the substitutionary death of the perfect God/man, Jesus Christ, and reserved for those who yield to Him in faith.
c. These parts of the gospel are offensive.
2. And so there’s a great pressure to make adjustments in order to protect the acceptability of the gospel.
3. And what you end up with is Christianity on man's own terms, the parts man doesn't like get amputated, and new parts get added.
4. But it is the worship of God in name only. True worship through Jesus Christ is abandoned.
a. These distorted versions of Christianity are ultimately human imaginations and philosophies dressed in religious garb and religious language.
5. Many would dispute that, of course. They claim to worship the true Jesus Christ, just like Jeroboam claimed he worshiped the true God of Israel.
a. But just as Jeroboam made two golden calves and announced: "Behold your god who brought you up out of Egypt." so this distorted Christianity has created a new and (in their minds) improved Jesus Christ, and they have announced, "Behold your god who saved you."
b. But calling the one they preach "Jesus Christ" doesn't make him Jesus Christ. You can worship anything and call it Jesus, but unless you are worshiping the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who died for our sins and was raised from the dead and now sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father, you are not worshiping Jesus Christ.
6. They may have much that is impressive:
a. impressive programs
b. gorgeous structures, enough to make us envious
c. music, public speaking, good deed doing,
d. sometimes you even find people caring about each other
7. Only one thing is missing: the truth of Jesus, the truth of God’s word.
a. Eternal salvation has been replaced by earthly adjustment.
b. Hope for heaven has been replaced by finding earthly fulfillment.
c. Modern sensibilities have taken the place of Scriptural teachings.
8. And yet they come into their beautiful buildings, beautiful flowers, comfortable seats.
a. It all looks pretty on the outside, but in their hearts they are really worshiping themselves.
b. My friends, the cities and the neighborhoods and the villages of this nation are dotted with churches that look warm and wonderful on the outside, but are spreading only lies.
c. Hell is full of people who were religious, hell is full of people who prayed and people who were very nice and people who spent their whole lives in church, because they were worshiping a god of their own imagination. The true God made them too uncomfortable.
E. This is going to a very relevant thing for everyone of you as you go forward in your life.
1. We live in a day when there is tremendous pressure to update – not just the incidentals of the Christian faith, but the Biblical essentials.
a. I read an article last week, supposedly written by a pastor. The thesis: the evangelical church in America has always been dependant on new converts. We are going to lose our ability to pull in new customers if we continue to maintain the old sexual standards of the Christian church.
b. God is the One who builds His church. The church is not a business which must figure out a way to be financially successful. We’re not dependant on buildings or even paid staff.
2. It’s better to have a few people meeting in a home being true to God’s word than to have a prospering megachurch which is compromising the faith.
3. I’m not criticizing megachurches. They can be faithful too. And tiny churches can be unfaithful. I’m just saying worldly success isn’t what we’re striving for. We’re striving to be faithful to God.
a. The unlikely conversion of Rosaria Butterfield shows that God can bring new converts without us compromising the faith.
F. But there’s another way churches are adapting the faith to become more successful today: They are adapting church according to business principles: “What do people want? Let’s give it to them!”
1. This is fine to an extent: Do people want to sing more? Do they want to have church earlier in the morning? Do they want Sunday school classes on more practical subjects? Do they want the preacher to apply his sermons more to their marriages?
2. The problem is when people don’t like things like: teaching on controversial subjects, or when people don’t like being challenged but only encouraged, or when people don’t want to spend time praying together.
G. The going philosophy in our society today is that you get to make up your own reality & your own identity. You don’t have to do what anybody else tells you to do or be what anybody tells you to be.
1. And this, of course, flies in the face of Christian truth: that you were created by God, and you therefore belong to Him, and that He is the One who tells us who we are and what we should do.
2. If you want to go against the Bible’s truth, you can always find some supposedly Christian teacher who, in the name of the Bible, will give you permission to do what you want to do.
V. Conclusion
A. You see, if there is actually no true God, and everything religious is just of human origin, then the true and the counterfeit versions of Christianity seem basically the same.
1. But if there is a true God and Christianity is the true religion, as He has set forth in His word, then the two are night and day.
2. One is a matter of human preference and wisdom. The other is a matter of Biblical principle and divine command.
3. One is divinely-revealed religion and the other is human-invented religion: It makes all the difference in the world!
B. The very notion of “true religion” is a problem for many today. They believe that all religions are basically the same. But what is religion and what is it for?
1. If it is all about us, then we ought to have the right to improve it should we deem it useful. We could change it in whatever way makes it most helpful. And this is the way many think about it.
2. For them religion is a means as opposed to an end. It is a means to making people feel better. It is a means to getting along with each other better.
C. And so the real question is: Is there really a living God? Is there a reality which is greater than us and greater than this world?
1. And if so, does that Reality exist to help us with this reality, or does this reality exist to help us with that Reality?
2. As a church, we exist because we believe that there really is a God, and that He has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ and through the Bible.
D. And if this is true, we must ask: Do I put my trust in myself or in God? Do I put my faith in my own ability to figure things out, or do I put my faith in God’s knowledge and ability to communicate truth to me in His word?
E. As in ancient Israel, true religion is all about the location of worship. Everyone worships, the question is: Where do we worship?
1. In His word, God has told us who He is and how He must be worshiped.
2. According to His word, there is only one place to worship God, and that is at the feet of His only Son, Jesus Christ. No man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).
3. And in His name, I call you to come to Him and worship right now. There’s no other place to go.