·
Cross
my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.
·
I’ll
swear it on a stack of Bibles.
·
If
I’m lyin I’m dyin.
·
I
swear it on my mother’s grave.
People
say all kinds of things to convince others that their promises are true. I
suppose if we told the truth more often we would not have to work so hard to
convince others that we are telling the truth now. Let me tell you about one whose
word is always true.
First,
some background.
We have
to back up to Solomon’s chasing after other Gods. Remember, he had 1000 wives
and concubines, many of whom were foreigners who brought their religion along
with them. In the last paragraph of THE STORY chapter 13 God says, “Since
this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenants and decrees which I
commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it
to one of your subordinates.”
During
the latter part of his life, Solomon engaged in a number of building projects
in which Jerry (That’s Jeroboam for those of you who are not on a first name basis
with him) Jerry proved to be particularly trustworthy. Trustworthy enough that
Solomon put him in charge of all the forced labor. About that time, Ahijah the
prophet met Jerry on the road. He tore his brand new cloak into twelve pieces
and told Jerry to take 10 of them. It represented that he would become king of
10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jerry then rebelled against Solomon, trying to
take those 10 tribes, which proved to be a mistake and he had to flee to Egypt.
When
Solomon died and his son Rahoboam took over the kingdom, (we’ll call him Ray)
When Ray took over the kingdom Jerry came back and requested on behalf of the
people that he reduce the taxes and forced labor. Ray got both good advice and
bad advice, but of course chose the bad advice telling the people that he would
not reduce the taxes and labor but would in fact increase both. “You think you’ve
got it bad now… just wait,” he says. Jerry took the people and seceded from the
kingdom leaving Ray with only 2 tribes, just as Ahijah had prophesied.
The sad
summary on page 195 of THE STORY half way down is, “Israel has been in rebellion
against the house of David to this day.”
No king
is going to let some yahoo walk off with 5/6ths of his kingdom so Ray naturally
amassed an army and headed for the border. Then the word of the Lord came through
a prophet who told him “Do not fight against your brothers, The
Israelites. Go home every one of you, for this is my doing.”
“For
this is my doing?” YES
In the
lower story, this is a disaster. Ray is clearly the villain and Jerry a hero.
There is this tragic civil war between the north and the south. The great
kingdom has been divided. The great strength of the nation has been cut in
half. The influence of the nation has been diminished. There is nothing good
about this in the lower story.
The
upper story, however has little to do with tyrannical leaders like Ray, or
popular heroes like Jerry. The upper story has little to do with nations and
politics. The upper story has little to say about the main characters here or
the lower story events. The upper story lesson here is really pretty simple. I keep
my word. No, cross my heart. No, mother’s grave or stack of Bibles because God
has always kept his word.
God
keeps God’s word because unlike us he is focused like a laser beam on one goal
and one goal only. Seeing people live in perfect community with him and each
other.
WE HAVE
SEEN GOD KEEP HIS PROMISES OVER AND OVER IN THE STORY SO FAR.
God
promised Abraham that his offspring would be a great nation. In spite of the
fact that Abraham and Sari were way past childbearing age. Did God let them
down? NO. God gave them Isaac who bore Essau and Jacob who became Israel. A
great family indeed.
WE HAVE
SEEN GOD KEEP HIS PROMISES OVER AND OVER IN THE STORY SO FAR.
God
promised Moses that he would lead the people out of Egypt, did he keep that
promise? YES. He promised Moses that if the people kept the laws they would be
blessed, if they broke the laws they would be disciplined. Did they get
disciplined when they broke the first two commandments? You bet they did. Did
they get disciplined when they didn’t have faith in God? You bet they did
that’s why they wondered for 40 years in the desert. Did they get blessed when
they were faithful. Yes, with the promised land.
WE HAVE
SEEN GOD KEEP HIS PROMISES OVER AND OVER IN THE STORY SO FAR.
He
promised David that he would rule over a great nation and he did. He promised
David that he could be forgiven if he came to God and confessed. He was. He
promised David that his tribe and his family would rule forever. Is he keeping
that promise? Yes. Even though in the lower story it doesn’t look that way.
YOU SEE
GOD COULD NOT PUT UP WITH THE CONSTANT BREAKING OF THE FIRST TWO COMMANDMENTS as
the people went chasing after foreign Gods. God could have justly destroyed the
whole kit and caboodle of them, but promised Noah that he would never do that
again. So he doesn’t.
GOD
COULD HAVE GIVEN UP ON ISRAEL, but because he promised Abraham he doesn’t.
GOD
COULD HAVE WALKED AWAY AND JUST FORGOTTEN RAY AND JERRY, but he had promised David.
He has a promise to keep.
Why…? Why
was the promise to David so important? Because out of David’s tribe- out of
David’s family will eventually come the messiah. Joseph and therefore Jesus is
“Of
the house and lineage of David.” You see the whole story starts to make
sense when you look at it from the upper story perspective. Rather than
destroy, God split the kingdom into two in order to make sure that his promise
would be fulfilled no matter what. Cross his heart and hope to die. Stick a
needle in his eye.
In the
lower story it appears that Ray, and the southern Kingdom are being punished
for Solomon’s sins. One would guess at this point that it would fade away and
be forgotten by history. It appears that the southern kingdom is being let go
because Ray listened to the wrong advice. Except if the southern kingdom ceases
to be… God is made out to be a liar. And God is no liar.
IN fact
this is all about God keeping God’s word. We have to see that the southern
kingdom is not being abandoned, it is paying the price for Solomon’s disobedience. God is simply keeping God’s word.
God will
see this through one way or another.
·
With
Solomon or in spite of him.
·
With
Rahoboam or in spite of him.
·
With
Jeroboam or in spite of him.
·
With
Israel or with Judah or in spite of both of them.
·
With
the church or without the church.
·
With
us or without us.
·
With
you or in spite you… God will ultimately see his kingdom come.
Nothing
stops God.
·
Not
Abraham’s age,
·
or
the people’s rebellion under Moses,
·
not
David’s sin,
·
or
Solomon’s idolatry,
·
not
Rahoboam or Jeroboam.
·
Not
Jonah’s escape into the whale,
·
or
the invading armies of Assyria and Babylon.
Nothing
can stop God.
·
Not
the hard heartedness of the people toward the prophets.
·
Not
the cruelty and abominations committed by the Greeks or the Romans.
·
Not the hatred in Herod’s heart,
·
or
the blindness of the disciple’s eyes.
·
Not
the not the betrayal by friends
·
nor
the killing of God’s son can stop God from fulfilling his promise in Jesus
Christ.
·
Neither
the stupidity of the early church leaders,
·
nor
the foolishness of today’s.
·
Neither
the slowness of people to respond,
·
nor
the distractions we have placed in God’s way.
·
Neither
our reluctance to give our all,
·
nor our eagerness to take the credit ourselves
will ever, ever, ever, keep God from fulfilling his promises.
The
prayer says “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” It doesn’t say they kingdom
might come or your will may be done. There is nothing in all of creation that
can stop God from fulfilling his promises of a new heaven and a new earth.
·
God
will do it either with us or without us.
·
Either
with the church, or in spite of the church.
·
Either
with our cooperation or against our will.
·
Either
with us or without us, God’s promises are being fulfilled.
Nothing harms the church more than
when we reflect the wrong image of the God who is.
·
When
we judge others or view their pain with apathy we are working against the
kingdom of God.
·
When
we show unkindness to others especially the widows, children and the poor, we
are working against the kingdom of God.
·
When
we fail to live the life of a witness for the kingdom either in word or in deed
we are working against the kingdom of God.
·
When we treat our faith and our church with
lack of interest or a sense of boredom we are working against God’s promises.
v God’s promises however, are a flood
that is coming whether we are ready or not. It is slowly rising, and rising,
and rushing and rushing and we can be ready or not. Either way it is happening
v God’s promises are like time. The
baby is coming, the assignment is due, tax season is upon us, old age is
creeping up on us and there is nothing we can do about it because time rolls
on.
v Like the seasons rolling from spring
into summer, into fall into winter and back into spring, God’s activity is
slowly but surely changing the world and we cannot stop it.
God’s
promises, however, will be fulfilled and you can fight it, you can stand by and
watch, or you can be part of it.
God’s
kingdom, however, is coming with you or without you. Wouldn’t you prefer that
he do it with you?
What a
privilege it is to be part of the great kingdom of God that is coming to
transform the world and make all things new.
·
Imagine,
knowing that the way you live today.
·
Imagine,
the way you treat others today.
·
Imagine,
the way you confront pain and disappointment today.
·
Imagine, the way you speak today.
·
Imagine,
the way you serve today Just might be part of God’s kingdom work right here and
now.
On
second thought you don’t have to imagine. Because it is. Cross my heart.
AMEN
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