1 Kings 12

Discussion Questions

1. Regardless of your age/stage, we know our days are numbered.  How are you thinking about finishing well? More stuff, more accolades, more comfort, or more faithful service as God’s servant?
2. Dale Ralph Davis reminds us,“….human stupidity is not on the loose, but on the leash of God’s sovereignty.” How can you rest in this Biblical truth as we begin 2024?
3. We all struggle with a desire to control and direct our own lives. Have you ever felt, as Luther said,  your life curling in on itself? What is the solution?
4. Pastor Tommy said, “our anxieties show where we put our security.” What are you anxious about? Where does that show you are putting your security?
5. One definition of sin is “man substituting himself for God,” as Jeroboam did. Can you identify any self-made idols or religious practices in your own life?

Transcript

We do study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel. If this is your first time here, so glad you’re here with us. This is a practice for us: We study verse by verse through the Bible. If you’d like a paper copy, just lift up your hand and we have some folks that’ll pass one around to you. This morning, as most weeks, it’ll be really helpful to have the text in front of you. We’re going to survey quite a bit of text today, so whether it’s in paper or on your screen, it’ll be helpful to follow along in our study. Also, we want to welcome all those who are worshiping with us online. Last week we heard from folks in Sydney, Australia. We heard from folks in Madison, Wisconsin as well as Burnsville. We had several from Burnsville, Minnesota.

So grateful you were worshiping with us last week and today. Well, this week we are continuing our study of 1 and 2 Kings, and we’ll be in 1 Kings 12, if you want to turn there in your Bibles or on your devices today. The Book of Kings, 1 and 2, is an account of transitions in the life of God’s people after King David. Some of the transitions we witness are full of God’s glory, His favor, His blessing. We saw that with Solomon and the dedication of the temple. Do you remember that when we studied it? But some of the transitions reveal God’s people and leaders turning away from the Lord, leading to disorder and suffering and judgment. First Kings can be broken up into two distinct sections we’ll put up here on the screen.

The structure of 1 Kings is this: 1 Kings 1 through 11 is what we call the united kingdom, not the UK that we know of, but the united kingdom of the 12 tribes all under King David and under King Solomon. King David is in the first two chapters in his later years and his death. And then the second half of 1 Kings is what we’re going to start studying today. This is what we call the divided kingdom, chapters 12 through 22, and we’re going to learn about it a little bit later, but the kingdom’s going to divide into two different sections. The Northern Kingdom, what we will call Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, which we’ll call Judah. Also, to help situate us chronologically, I’m going to put up a slide here of the timeline. This is a broad timeline from the time of Exodus. Moses all the way through 1 and 2 Kings. We’re going through Judges, in 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and you can see there in orange where we are today is a divided kingdom around 930 B.C.

And then the next timeline, this is zoomed in specifically on 1 and 2 Kings to help situate us here. Solomon became king of Israel in 970, and today in 930, we’re going to see two characters, Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, and Jeroboam the First, who will also be a king of the Northern Kingdom. We can see the divided kingdom there. So helpful I think to situate us chronologically in the story. Now it’s a fair question to ask why does studying historical narrative matter to me and to us, to you today, especially as we’re looking ahead to a new year? Why does it matter? And I think there are many reasons, but one is we can become deficient in our understanding of the treasure of the Gospel, the treasure of the grace of Jesus Christ. I’m deficient if I don’t understand the roots from which it springs: His cross, His resurrection, His ascension, His sending of the Spirit to us today.

I’ll be deficient in that if I don’t understand the roots, the historical narrative that we’re going to be reading here today. Our faith in the goodness and the righteousness, the love of God that we’ve already sung about, is deepened and nourished as we read the true story of God’s people and how He has worked in history. And today we’re reading and trusting the same scriptures that Jesus Himself, our Lord, read and trusted and obeyed. So, as we end one year and we begin another, can you think of a better way of starting the year than by anchoring ourselves at the starting point in the truth of God’s Word, the truth that God has worked in history, that He’s working now by His Spirit? And He’ll continue to call people back to Himself until He returns to make all things new. Let justice roll and praises rise, it said in the song earlier.

As we begin this new year though, I thought it’d be appropriate to quote the renowned theologian, Dr. Seuss, who we seem to really love here at the Village Chapel recently. From The Lorax, “The tree falls the way it leans.” Be careful which way you lean. What we read in the history of God and His people should give us a deeper assurance that His promises are true. I hope you know that today. His promises are true for me. They are true for you, true for us. And that’s part of what we’re going to celebrate later when we come to the table.

It’s proven, it’s proven in history, it’s proven at the cross, that He has us in His grasp, those who are in His grace, and He will not let us go. If you walk away with anything this morning, I hope you hear that the grace of God in Christ Jesus will not let you go. It’s the only sure place to start any new season, to prepare for this new year, to set a course, to plot a trajectory. So, friends, let’s turn to Him together again, 1 Kings 12. We’ll start verse one, chapter 12. Let me pray for us and we’ll get going: Father, Your word is before us. May Your spirit open it to us, tune our hearts to hear it and lead us to Jesus. And we all said amen.

Chapter 12 verse one, “Rehoboam went to Shechem for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard of it for he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.” I’ll pause here for just a second. I’m going to break this up into three different chunks of text here today, just to give us a heads-up of how this is going to go. Now Rehoboam and Jeroboam are the first two characters here. And it’s interesting, Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who has just passed away, now Rehoboam is ascending to the throne. Why wasn’t he being coronated in Jerusalem?

That might be a good question to ask, and we don’t know for sure, but it’s perhaps because Rehoboam realizes there’s a tension, a natural tension that happens in transitions, the changing of a guard and there’s perhaps a tension going on in the northern ten tribes. Shechem is right smack dab in the middle of the northern ten tribes, what we’ll call the Northern Kingdom. So, Rehoboam is going to Shechem perhaps because he wants to alleviate some of that tension and be coronated with the northern ten tribes. Jeroboam, the de facto leader of those ten tribes shows up and you can see in the text here that there’s already a tension arising. Verse three, “And they,” That’s the people of the ten tribes of the north, “they sent and called him, Jeroboam, and all the assembly of Israel, they came to him and said to Rehoboam.” Verse four, “Your father, Solomon, made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us and we will serve you.”

“And he,” that’s Rehoboam, “said to them, ‘Go away for three days then come again to me.’ So the people went away.” And I think we have a little bit of wisdom there. Rehoboam realizes this was a tense situation, and he wanted to give some time for reflection to consider their request. To orient ourselves in the story though, I think it’s really helpful to consider the background of it, what we studied several weeks ago before Advent. Again, King Solomon has just recently died and we’re now witnessing this tension, the tension in the air that permeates any kind of change. We know this kind of tension, the succession from Solomon to Rehoboam. I’m going to put up on the screen here a slide of the key figures in 1 Kings 12 just to help us with these names because sometimes it can be confusing, at least for me.

Now, Solomon isn’t technically in chapter 12, but you’re definitely feeling his trajectory, the wake that he has left after his death. Solomon recently passed away, Rehoboam, his son and successor, becomes the king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, which we’ll read about later. And then Jeroboam, technically Jeroboam I, we’re going to read about another Jeroboam several weeks from now. He’s the de facto leader of the northern tribes at this time of Rehoboam’s coronation, and he becomes the first king later on of the Northern Kingdom. So, we have Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and Jeroboam I. Emily wanted me to say Ray and Jerry, but I just couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t do it.

If you recall our study several weeks ago, way before Advent, Jeroboam was an important figure in Solomon’s administration. Do you remember this? Solomon had recognized the leadership abilities of Jeroboam and he had given him a promotion; he had set him over the task. He was essentially the taskmaster of the people of God in the north in Ephraim and Manasseh. Now this is an important note because Solomon recognized this, and this was towards the end of the reign of Solomon. And if you know anything about the end of the reign of Solomon, this was a time of remarkable decline, spiritual decline in the spiritual health of both Solomon and the people of God. And Jeroboam receives this promotion from Solomon. He’s now the head of labor in the biggest section of the Northern Kingdom. And Jeroboam is met by a prophet of God, Ahijah the Shilonite.

God speaks to Jeroboam through this prophet, and I’m going to put it up on the screen here, and God gives him this unexpected promise. God speaking to Jeroboam, “Behold, I’m about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you 10 tribes, Jeroboam.” It’s unexpected and incredible. He’s not a part of the Davidic dynasty, yet God is setting His promise on him, and God explains why. “Because they,” the people of God, Solomon, “have forsaken me and have worshiped the Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, the God of Moab, and Milcom, the God of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways.” Now the depravity of this idolatrous worship is just extraordinary. We know and we’ll read about later, Milcom and perhaps even Chemosh, those pagan deities demand even child sacrifice. That’s going on within the people of God, and God is angry about it, justifiably so.

And in judgment because of this sin, He says, “I’m going to pull 10 tribes out and give them to you, Jeroboam.” It’s worth reminding ourselves that Solomon, and his kingdom of course, began well. Do you remember? He asked for wisdom and the Lord gave him wisdom, but his kingdom ended poorly. From the pinnacle of Israel’s history, the dedication of the temple, to now this depravity of idolatrous worship. And I think there’s a word of wisdom here from his life and for others. The Lorax  from Dr. Seuss is only partially right. It’s not enough to simply begin well, we should also aim to finish well. That’s what faithfulness is. The Apostle Paul called it finishing your course with joy. Faithfulness, though, does start somewhere and then it requires the daily fidelities, the daily decisions, one step in front of the other, turning our face towards the Lord.

And towards the end of Solomon’s life, he was not turning towards the Lord as we see here. Choosing today and the next and the next day to trust God rather than the word of a million other voices. So as Solomon’s kingdom is in decline, God also gives Jeroboam another promise, “Not only are you going to receive these 10 tribes, Jeroboam,” and I’ll put this on the screen, this is God again speaking to Jeroboam, “If you will listen to all that I command you and will walk in my ways, I will be with you and will build you a sure house as I built for David.” This is extraordinary. “I will give Israel to you, and I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.”

So, we have two things going on here. One, this extraordinary promise to Jeroboam, but also with those three words at the end, “but not forever,” God continues His promise to David. Those three words, “but not forever,” touch us in this room here today. There is a lion from the tribe of Judah who has come laid down his life for me, a sinner, a rebel so that I can stand forgiven at the cross as we said earlier today, it’s part of why we come to the table. So as the story continues, Solomon apparently hears of this promise that Jeroboam has received from God, and he sets out to take the life of Jeroboam, and Jeroboam flees to Egypt. And so that’s where it connects to our story here today. But when Jeroboam hears about the coronation of a new king, Rehoboam, he comes back to Israel, and he’s the informal leader at this point.

He stands with the people of Israel asking for relief from this hard labor of Solomon. And let’s pick up at verse six. So, Jeroboam is with the people, the 10 tribes in the north. They’ve come to Rehoboam. Rehoboam said, “Give me three days to think about it.” Verse six, “Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old man or the elders who had stood before Solomon, his father, while he was yet alive, saying, ‘How do you advise me to answer this people?’ And they said to him, ‘If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.'”

This is extraordinary. In a nutshell, it’s the leadership that Jesus Himself would display when He took a basin in a towel and washed the feet of the disciples. If you want to be a leader, you got to serve. These old men were right. Verse eight, “But he, Rehoboam, abandoned, he ignored the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.” Uh-oh. Verse nine. And he said to them, the young men, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, ‘Thus, shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us.’ Thus, shall you say to them…'”

They’re giving him the words, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs [or loins or waist, some of your translations will say]” and yes, that probably is 13 or 14-year-old boy humor right there. “And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” They’re likely 40, 41, 42-years-old, acting like little boys. The author is showing us here the immaturity, the pridefulness, the haughtiness, the cockiness of this little cadre here, these yes-men. Scorpions could have been actual scorpions, more likely scourging. They had put glass shards at the end and they’re just being foolish.

Verse 12. “Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king said, ‘Come to me again on the third day.’ And the king answered the people harshly. And forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men saying, ‘My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’ So the king did not listen to the people for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite.”

That’s the prophecy we read earlier to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Here’s the point of the story. God is sovereign. God is working through the foolishness, the utter foolishness of Rehoboam and these young men. Theologians would call it “concurrence” where it’s his free choice, Rehoboam’s free choice, to be ignorant and haughty and prideful and all that. But the Lord is also sovereign working through that, His purposes that He had already ordained. I love this. Dale Ralph Davis said it this way, “Contrary to our fears, human stupidity is not running loose, but is on the leash of God’s sovereignty.” Hey, what about today? That’s still true. I think we should say amen including my own stupidity.

Verse 16, “And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, ‘What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel. Look now to your own house, David.'” Essentially the ten tribes in the north are taking their toys and they’re going home. They’re telling Rehoboam, “Just go back to Judah.” Verse 12, “But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah.” I think that’s essentially saying there wasn’t a big exodus from one to the other. It’s a clean division. Verse 18, “Then Rehoboam sent Adoram who was taskmaster over the forced labor,” or it could be that he was the tax collector. It could be either one. “He sent Adoram who was taskmaster of the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.”

Again, how foolish. He had just heard from the people about the harsh tyrannical nature from their perspective of Solomon on them. And he sends a taskmaster or even a tax collector, and he flees to Judah on his chariot. Verse 19, “So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.” Verse 20, “And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel.” So now Jeroboam is king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. “There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.” So, you might mark this in your Bibles. This is just good for Bible study. This is the division of the kingdom. This is where it finally comes to its precipice.

And for those who are accountants in here, if you’re trying to reconcile 10 tribes in the north and it just says one in the south, a couple of ways you can explain that in just a second. We’re going to see that Benjamin likely is aligning themselves with Judah. So that could be the other one that includes, so now we have 12, or it could be the tribe of Levi. They don’t have a geographical allotment. They were never given one. So it could be that they’re not counting them in the number. Verse 21, “When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin.” Okay, we see them now, “180,000 chosen warriors to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.” So, he’s wanting essentially to start a civil war.

Verse 22, “But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, ‘Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people, “Thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your relatives, the people of Israel. Every man return to his home for this thing is from me,”’ [from the Lord]. So, they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again according to the word of the Lord.” Some refreshing and unexpected wisdom. Thank the Lord.

Now let’s talk for a moment about King Solomon. He really is in the background of all this, is he not? King Solomon is known primarily as the wise king, particularly at the beginning of his reign. But in this account of his son, Rehoboam, we see a stark contrast, unwise in almost every way. Perhaps he was influenced by Solomon’s turning away from the ways of God in his later years, perhaps accentuated by the immature and foolish friends he looked to for advice. Did you notice that Rehoboam at the beginning there was advice hopping? Anybody ever do that? I don’t think he was ever really interested in the advice of the elders, seeking after multiple sources of knowledge until you find the answer that you really want. Has anybody here done that? I know I have. This morning as the Holy Spirit teaches us from this story, I’d love for us to walk away considering three different questions as we here in 2024 head into this new year.

So, the first question is this: Where am I looking for wisdom? What are my sources of wisdom? What are your sources of wisdom? It’s a good question for us to ask with regularity. It’s true that we can find wisdom and truth and good counsel in many places. All truth is God’s truth. But when it comes to questions of our spiritual condition, the trajectory of our life, the flourishing of our souls, podcasts and blogs and influencers, news anchors, and even the opinion of friends, they are insufficient and sometimes damaging sources of wisdom on their own, and we know that. Just as our physical bodies require nourishment, our hearts and our minds require the solid food of the Word of God to grow and to mature. It’s critical that when we gather on Sunday morning, we hear the word through singing and through prayer and through teaching, but we can be impoverished if we don’t feast on it day to day. It’d be like eating one meal a week on Sunday.

Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Father. Jesus taught us that. There’s life in the Word of God. In an age of the ephemeral, the momentary, our soul needs something timeless, something solid. John Wesley said it well, “Be at the spout where the glory comes out.” We need the wisdom of God’s Word. We need the Spirit to illuminate it to us, and He’s eager to do that, but we don’t engage with the Word of God on our own. Paul tells the church at Colossae to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. I love that word. And he goes on to describe it in different ways, singing and teaching and admonishing one another. So, in different ways and in different methods with other brothers and sisters, we need to hear the Word of God.

He was describing a community centering themselves around the Word of God. And I pray we continue to grow in that. I know that’s why you’re here this morning as we study through books of the Bible. So, one way to feast daily on the Word of course is to cultivate a pattern. So, I’m going to give some really practical help here, it’s helpful to me, perhaps following a reading plan of some kind. There are many great reading plans. There’s great podcasts by the way that are free. Audiobooks that will read the Scriptures to you if you prefer it that way. The Word of God brings life. Why would we not invest our time and our energy into feasting on it? On the Sunday page where the QR code was earlier, we’ll put it up later. I’ve put a bunch of reading plans that you can look through that you might find helpful on our Sunday page. But in our story here of Rehoboam and Jeroboam both, did you notice that never once did they start by turning first to the Lord for wisdom and counsel?

And even in the one time where Rehoboam actually listens to the word, he was loading up his chariot ready to start a civil war until God intervened with the prophet. Church, let’s be marked as people who look first and foremost to the places God has given us. It’s a gift to find life in wisdom, His Word, His Spirit and His people – all three. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”, Paul would say. Well, let’s keep reading it, verse 25, if you would with me. Set your eyes there. So, the scene changes. “Then Jeroboam,” so now we’re in the north, Jeroboam is king, “he built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim,” that’s where he was from, and he lived there, and “he went out from there and he built Penuel.” So, he built Shechem and Penuel. I think what he’s talking about here is he’s fortified those places against the south.

Verse 26, “And Jeroboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem in the south, 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.'” Do you see the insecurity that’s already coming up? It’s bubbling up in him. It’s unbelief. Remember, Jeroboam is the one who received a direct word from the Lord, “If you will walk in my ways, you will have this kingdom, these ten tribes.” And here we see unbelief. 28, “So the king took counsel,” doesn’t say with who, perhaps by himself. “Hey, self, what do you think I should do?” I don’t know.

“So the king took counsel and he made two calves of gold.” First commandment kind of stuff. “And he said to the people, you’ve gone up to Jerusalem long enough, behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” Directly quoting from Exodus. “And he set one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became a sin for the people went as far as Dan to be before one of these golden calves.” I’m going to put up a slide here on the screen.

So, on the right-hand side, you can see Judah in the south, it’s pink, and in the middle, we see Israel, just to give you a sense of the geography, but I’ve called out two places that are mentioned here, Dan in the very north of Israel and Bethel at the very south. And if you’ve been to Israel with us on a few occasions, we’ve actually got to see them. Dan is likely the place where Jeroboam set up this golden calf and you can see it today. And then down at the bottom with that call out, I thought it would be helpful to see Bethel right there in the middle on the call out on the left. See how close it is to Jerusalem.

Jeroboam is smart, he’s strategic, we know that, and he puts a golden calf right there on the way to Jerusalem. So, if someone even wanted to go down to Jerusalem, they would have to go through Bethel first and they might just say, “Hey, I’m just going to worship here instead.” This is really evil, evil stuff. Jeroboam essentially sets himself up as Moses. And really Aaron in this case, Aaron made one golden calf, he made two.

Verse 31, “He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the 15th day of the 8th month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar.” So, he’s mimicking the religious practices that God had put into place. He’s making his own. And, actually, it’d be really interesting if you highlighted or underlined every time it said that he made, he devised, he came up with, he appointed. It’s amazing. 32, “Jeroboam appointed a feast the 15th day. 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 made.” Verse 33, “He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the 15th day in the 8th month, in the month that he devised from his own heart.”

Are we getting it? “And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.” Martin Luther, we quote this often, said, “Scripture describes man as curved in on himself and he’ll use physical goods and spiritual goods for his own purposes.” That’s from Luther and I think we see that on display here with Jeroboam, and I think it’s appropriate to feel the weight of the sadness of this story.

From the dedication of the temple with Solomon to where we are today, a kingdom that had been flourishing and faithful only a few years before, now a kingdom split apart and bowing the knee to gods made with human hands. Did you notice I mentioned that the insecurity that bubbled to the surface at verse 27, if you set your eyes there, “They will kill me, they will kill me”? He had received a promise from God. So, he says, “The promise of God can’t be true.” This is essentially, I think, what’s going on in his head: “I’m going to lose everything if I don’t act and establish myself as the center of life in the ten tribes of the North and this new kingdom.”

And the text goes on to describe the extensive effort and resources poured into constructing his own system of religion and self-preservation. And I hope you caught that. None of it with regard to God. The story of Jeroboam is essentially a man who refused to believe the word of God. When we refuse to believe His Word, His promises, it’s not that all of a sudden, we believe nothing. We just believe something lesser, “little g” gods or in Jeroboam’s case, himself and his ways and his plans. So, two questions for us to consider from this account: Number one, where am I looking for wisdom? Number two, what am I trusting in for security, for ultimate security? The Apostle Paul describes this all-too-common pattern of willful unbelief. Do you remember Romans 1? “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator.”

And I should never fool myself, I am prone to wander in the same way and so are you, if you’re honest with yourself. It’s the pattern of sin since the beginning of time, man trying to substitute himself for God. That’s you and me, but for the mercy, the grace, the lavish love that we sing about of God who calls us out of that darkness, and we can see the darkness here, and it’s only going to get worse. He calls us out of that darkness and into His glorious light. That’s on offer for you, brothers and sisters.

The promise of sin is that we can find ultimate security in anything other than God Himself. That’s the promise of sin, wealth, and pleasure and might. And it’s an empty promise, it’s bankrupt and it will be to the end. Our anxieties though, don’t they often reveal where our deepest securities lie? William Temple would say, this isn’t on the screen, “Your religion is what you do with your solitude.” In other words, when everything that demands your attention stops, what does your mind go to effortlessly immediately? Perhaps that’s what you place your security in. When you watch the news in the evening, does it leave you trembling, hoping for some political figure or movement? The battle over where I ultimately find my security shapes the contours of my life. Do you see that?

We see that from Solomon and the trajectory that he handed down to Rehoboam in the split kingdom. If your security is found in power and control, for example, like with Jeroboam, you might end up sacrificing everything including your character, your relationships, your family for just a little bit more. And when you lose that power or that money or that identity you’ve carefully crafted or that pleasure you cannot live without, when you lose those things, it crushes you because it has a hold on you. The Gospel of Jesus though does something else. The Gospel of Jesus sets you free because our ultimate security is placed on a solid rock, not me.

No longer does my validation or my security rest in myself or others or the never-ending demands of wealth and power and pleasure. It rests on someone who walked out of a tomb on the third day, and He promises to never leave or forsake you. The Gospel of Jesus invites us to lay down our counterfeits. Brian Hedges says this so well, “The deeper I understand myself and my Savior, the more I realize how weak I am, how patient He is,” amen, “and how utterly dependent upon Him I am for everything.” He seeks after those who have turned from Him, He pursues them, He follows after them.

And I hope you know this morning, He offers a security that cannot be breached, an identity that cannot be broken. I hope that’s unshakable. It’s been proven in history. We’re reading about it here. It’s been proven at the cross and it’s been proven at the empty tomb. That’s why Paul could say with great confidence, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,” that’s everything, “will be able to separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing if you’re in the grip of grace.

So, as we consider these questions: Number one, where am I looking for wisdom? Two, what am I trusting in for security, like Jeroboam? Number three, what is my current trajectory? And I think of Solomon here, but first, this is an important thing, especially as we consider Bible study in general. This text is not primarily about the depravity of sinful kings. It’s not primarily about morals, little morals for us to learn from. Although there are things for us to learn, it’s primarily about the power of God at work smack dab in the middle of stupidity, sinfulness and wrong trajectories. It’s about the power of God, and we see those things on display here. Sometimes I see those things in the mirror and when we ask these questions that we’ve been considering in the text, the Gospel of grace responds. And how does it respond? Look to Jesus.

You’re looking for wisdom. The Gospel says follow Him. He offers a new way to live, and it begins by recognizing our need. That’s the starting point, the opposite of pride, the pride that we saw with Rehoboam and these young men. Jesus told us that to build your life on something sturdy, we must hear and obey His words. That’s what it said in Matthew 7, and you’ll build your life on a solid rock instead of sand – His Word, His ways, His people. Let the word of Christ dwell richly with you. Immerse yourself in the Word of Christ, friends. It’s how we were designed to grow in heavenly wisdom and knowledge.

You’re looking for security, hope for today and for tomorrow, and the next, Jesus says, “Follow Me. I’m the way, the truth and the life.” His death, His resurrection, His promise to return to set all things right is for you and it is for me. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus started His sermon on the mount. Those who recognize their need, those who set down their hammer and their nail, they’re using to try to construct their own little kingdom. Jesus says, “Step into My kingdom, My ways, and I will never leave you nor forsake you.” King forevermore, we sang about it earlier. Those who are in Christ are held in a grip that will not let you go.

You’re looking for a trajectory to follow, Jesus says, “Follow me.” The Gospel of Jesus, it’s not simply an addition to our life. It’s a complete transformation of our life. It’s redirected. It’s no longer curved in on itself, as Luther said. Center around one who has redeemed you, who has set you free to do and continue His work of shaping you more and more into the image and likeness of His Son. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “My faith rests not upon what I am or shall be or feel or know, but in what Christ is and what He has done and what He’s doing now for me.” And we all said hallelujah! What’s your trajectory this morning?

Consider Solomon for a moment. What trajectory are you handing down to your children, to your grandchildren, to your nieces, to your nephews, your friends, your co-workers? If you’re going the wrong way, turn back to Christ and show them the beauty of a life transformed by grace. If you’re in Christ this morning, Jesus calls us to rest again in that grace. 2024 is a great time to start that. Rest again in that grace, treasure it, pound it into your heart. You are in Christ. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. If you’re far from God, if you’re living as if He doesn’t matter, He calls to you. Follow Him. He’s in pursuit of those who are running from Him. Ask any number of the prodigals here this morning, including this one up here. He calls you to lay down your counterfeits and turn your face towards Him in faith, believing He is who He says He is, and His Word is true.

The author of Hebrews gets at this idea of trajectory. We’ll end here wrapping this idea of trajectory in the frame of the Gospel. Let’s all read this together. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” We said amen.

Let’s pray. Father, we pray with the psalmist, search us and know our hearts. Test us and know our thoughts and lead us in Your ways, the way of everlasting. Holy Spirit, You’re working here. Take Your Word and plant it deep into our hearts and minds. Strengthen our trust in You and Your promises. Wake us up to the treasures we have in our Lord Jesus. May we be satisfied this morning in You and Your steadfast love, Your abundant mercy and Your grace and the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ. We all said amen.