I look forward to preaching all the time, but I have to say this particular text and message has kind of, it's been influential to me as I've been studying it, let's just say that. It's been very helpful. It is God's, Get a little loud there, trim me down just a hair. It is God's, it is God's. It is God's determined goal to conform you to the image of his son. His son is a servant. Therefore, it is God's determined goal to make you a servant. He wants you to be a servant in your home. He wants you to be a servant at work. He wants you to be a servant at church and in the community around you. He really wants you to be a servant of everyone. And so that's the question for you today. Are you learning to serve like Jesus served? Is that even your goal? I think often as Christians we are, we just wanna be happy. Nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. Much of the Bible tells you that God will make you happy. But God is determined to make you like his son, and his son was a servant. And I would go so far as to say, if you wanna find a definition of true religion, it is that religion that calls you to serve. And I would then argue that it is the most natural thing in the world to turn your Christianity into a religion that serves you. And this is man-made religion. A lot of times we look at the details of man-made religion and we get into the details, but we miss the very core. The very core, the very reason why religion exists is to conform you to the image of Christ, which is to make you a servant. Today we're gonna be looking at two different kings, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Now if you're anything like me, I would get these kings all messed up. But after 40 years of being a Christian, I think if I heard on the street, who's Rehoboam and who's Jeroboam, I could probably get them right. But if you can't get them right, that's fine. But I'm gonna try this, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Neither king has service as their goal. Both kings reject God's goal for their life. And both kings will twist religion into a man-made religion. It will become more clear in Jeroboam, who's the northern ruler, but even in Rehoboam, because in Old Testament Israel, the king was not just a political leader, he was a religious leader. So as he rules wrongly, he is twisting religion Okay, so both of them are twisting this and making religion into a man-made religion. I Think that this whole chapter would be bad Except that in this chapter we will see the path of that God provides to guide us back to himself. So the passage can be divided into two sections, basically wrapped around Rehoboam and then wrapped around Jeroboam. And so I'm gonna read the whole things together, but you're gonna see at verse 24 and 25, there's gonna be kind of a division. And then when I start talking through the sermon, that division will continue. So if you would, The 33 verses, kind of long, but I'll do my best to try to read it with a little bit of inflection so that you can follow along. 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, and they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore, listen. I mean, not listen, therefore lighten the hard service of your father in his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you. He said to them, go away for three days. That's Rehoboam, he's responding. Go away for three days, then come again to me, so the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, the old fogeys, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet living, 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. He said, oh, yeah, right. But he abandoned the counsel that the old fogies gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, what do you advise me to answer that? We answer this people who have said to me, lighten the yoke of your father put upon us. And the young man 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, my little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. 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. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day. As the king said, come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people harshly. and forsaking the counsel that the old man 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 to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 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. So Israel went to their tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stone. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. That's down to the point of exile. And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. But the word of God came to Shemiah, 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, people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me." So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again according to the word of the Lord. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. 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, then the heart of this people will turn again to their Lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me in return to Rehoboam king of Judah. 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 God, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And then this thing became a sin. For the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on the 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 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 He went up to the altar that he had made he did a theme he had made he had made He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the 15th day in the eighth month and 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." Long passage but really kind of an exciting passage. Solomon has just died. His throne is passed on to Rehoboam and Rehoboam travels 40 miles north of Jerusalem to a place called Shechem. Now Shechem is, if you remember, when the Israelites came into the promised land, there was Mount Ebal and Mount Gerasim? I don't know what the other one is. Anyway, Moses stood and he, between those two mountains, and much of the law is pronounced at that point. So this is a really important site, but it is also a site that is in the northern kingdom. And his whole purpose of going up to Shechem for his coronation is to win the allegiance of the northern tribes. Jeroboam is exiled down in Egypt, and someone gives him the word that this coronation is happening, that Solomon has died, and he shoots back up. And he gets there just as the coronation is happening. And because he is known as a leader to the northern tribes, he's actually invited to the assembly. Now, this is a key point for you to understand to get this passage. Jeroboam wants the independence of the northern tribes. He doesn't return to Egypt so that he can submit to Solomon's son. But he has to put on the pretense that he's willing to submit. Just case in point, politicians rarely say what they really mean. I believe that he is purposely trying to get under the skin of Rehoboam to get his dander raised up. In verse four, your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us and we will serve you. There's just enough truth in these comments that it stings Rehoboam. Solomon did have a lot of building projects. And most of these building projects were in the South. And much of the labor to build those projects was from the North. So was the distribution of labor unfair? Probably. Was it oppressive? Probably not. But Jeroboam wants to make it sound like it's really oppressive. He insinuates this, and he knows that this will just dig at Rehoboam. You see, Rehoboam grew up under the glory of Solomon. He probably thought his dad hung the moon. He would have been enamored with Solomon's glory. To hear anybody criticize his dad would have made him defensive. Ungrateful wretches. My dad was the best ruler ever. You talk about him that way. And on the surface, Jeroboam offers the allegiance of the northern tribes like Rehoboam shouldn't have it already. That would have got under his skin as well. Now it's Rehoboam's turn to play some politics. I think as soon as he hears this, he wants to stick it to Jeroboam and the northern tribes. But he can't just say that openly, right? And just give me three days to think about this. What a wise leader I am. I'm going to give you three days. Give me three days. I'll come about and give you a good answer. And so he meets with the old men first. And these old men have been the counselors with Solomon over many years. And their counsel is simple in verse seven. If you'll 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. Now this advice is not just wise or Rehoboam. It is more than that. This advice exemplifies one of the fundamental principles of the eternal kingdom of God. This advice expresses the very heart of God and the way that God determines that his chosen king should rule. God says that my king must be a servant of the people. This is not to say that my king will abdicate my righteousness and will just do whatever the people want. That's not that. But it is that God's king would use all of his authority for the true benefit of his people. He would put the welfare of the people even above himself. And when God's people live under this kind of king, they will willingly give their service to him forever. You see, all of this principle, all of these hopes are met in Jesus Christ. Matthew 20, turn there if you want, but I'm just gonna read 25 to 28. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and that their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even me, the son of man, came not to be served, but to serve. And to give his life as a ransom for many. How utterly unlike the rulers of this world is Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, we have a king who rules every day with your interest in mind. I'm not, the things just come into my mind, associations, but no president that I know in my lifetime could make me think that he really cared for me than Bill Clinton. When he said, I feel your pain, You believed it. Well, we don't have a king who just feels our pain. We have a king who takes our sin upon himself. That we might have life. What other ruler would take people so stubborn? And rebellious and lay down his life for them. But Rehoboam is not Jesus. And the counsel of the old man appears to him foolish. And he is convinced that if he gives in to Jeroboam's offer, it will be the beginning of giving in to more and more demands from the northern tribes. He is afraid. He is driven by fear. If he lets up at all, if he actually tries to serve his people, the result will be that they will take advantage of his kindness. and so he does not accept their counsel. Can you see yourself in Rehoboam? Are you not afraid to serve? Are you not afraid of being taken advantage of if you serve? Are we not afraid that if we do not look out for ourselves, no one else will? You see, Rehoboam, in the core of his being, desires to be served by his people. That's a common sin. You may not be a king. You may not have the power to make people serve, but you want people to serve you. He thinks he has enough power to make it happen. So he abandons the council in verse eight. And I think he abandons their counsel even before he gets the counsel of the young counselors. He knows what his young friends are going to say. Rather. then take the hard road of becoming a servant to his people. Rehoboam resorts to intimidation, manipulation and control. Belittling your opponent. Boasting of your own strength. Threats, intimidation, these are the threats or the weapons of a person who wants to be served rather than to serve. Parents ever fall in those kind of things? We ever do that to our kids? See, at the heart of all sin is a craving for power. Power is the ability to make other people serve you. These young people had grown up having other people serve them. They were privileged. They were spoiled, as we might want to say. They understood the benefits of being served, and they did not want to lose these benefits. And they had no concern for the welfare of the people that were serving them. And so if you're afraid you're going to lose their service, then you double down, and you start becoming harsh and oppressive. See, Jesus is the most powerful king in the universe. You better be very, very, very, very, very thankful that he doesn't use his power to coerce and manipulate, because you would have no hope if he did. Listen to Jesus's words to his people. Dan's not here today, shame. I hope he hears this on the, Matthew 11. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. As we said before, Rehoboam is not Jesus. So he responds with the selfishness of his own heart rather than being a servant. Verse 13, the king answered the people harshly. Just to let you know, none of you are kings and I'm not a king. But when people act in ways that we don't want them to act, How do we respond? Anger? We may not be as blunt as Rehoboam, but we do everything we can to try to manipulate the situation. Now, in the past couple weeks, we just ordered a new countertop for our kitchen. Believe me, I had many frustrations in the process. I'm not gonna go into them. And I'm not saying that some of my frustrations weren't even justified. But looking back, I am not sure that it even crossed my mind, how can I serve these people? I spent time complaining about those people. I thought of ways that I might force them to do what I wanted them to do. The point is not that we shouldn't ever be frustrated, that we shouldn't ever voice our frustrations. The point is to remind ourselves that we need to ask, what does it mean to be a servant in this situation? This is what true religion is. True religion calls you to be a servant in every situation. Now look at verse 15. 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 to Ahijah the Shilonite, to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In other words, you could look at this whole situation, a king becoming oppressive, people rebelling, just like that. And then the scripture says, oh, by the way, everything's happening exactly the way God wants it to happen. You see, God's sovereign control of every situation is the foundation of our faith. Rather than striving to manipulate and control others, God calls us to trust him. He is absolutely in control of every situation, and we can be servants. But we can also make a choice. I don't wanna trust God. I'm gonna look out for what's best for me. Now look at verse 16. 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 sons of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel. Look now to your own house, David. So Israel went to their tents. Living under someone else's selfishness most often and naturally leads you to selfishness. If I can paraphrase, the people are saying, it is up to us to make our own way in the world. You can keep your promises, David. They're worthless. We will look out for ourselves from here on out. You see, this is not the first time that this language was used. 2 Samuel 20 has a man named Sheba, and Sheba was a follower of Saul. And when David became king, he hated David. And he says, I'm following Saul. And you know what he says? We have no portion in David. We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, oh Israel. The exact same words. You see, especially when God's people, the king, Rehoboam, doesn't lead in the way that God wants, it has the effect of people not just rejecting that king, it has them no longer believing that the promise of God's blessing is for them. And if God's blessing is not for you, then the only thing you can resort to is looking out for yourself. You see, understanding this gives us the path back. You see, only as we experience a king who loves us and serves us will we then be confident enough to trust in that and therefore make ourselves vulnerable to serve others. Because serving makes you vulnerable. Right? You serve somebody, they can walk all over you. The people have lost their faith in the Davidic king and so they're just looking out for themselves. Rehoboam. sends his guy over forced labor, and the northern tribe's just killing him. And so he runs for his life, he collects his army, and he is ready to go crush them. And the only thing that stops him is a prophet who says, don't you do this, this is from God. Now, it is amazing to me how in the face of other kings who don't listen to the prophet, that Rehoboam does listen to the prophet here. So give him kudos for that. I don't know what was going on in his heart at that time, but he does listen to the prophet. He doesn't go and kill the rest of his brothers. Doesn't get in a big battle. Now we come to Jeroboam, verse 25. Jeroboam, as bad as Rehoboam is, I think Jeroboam's worse. Jeroboam is gonna do things that are going to be difficult to fix. In fact, I don't think they're fixed until Jesus comes on the scene. Jeroboam basically sets up a whole new religion for one purpose, to maintain his control. We can get down to the little details of what he did, because he needs a new capital. He's got to abandon Jerusalem. He needs a new priesthood. He needs new altars. He needs new feasts. He needs all these things because he's so afraid that if the people actually went down to Jerusalem to worship, that their allegiance may drift away from him. Jeroboam has been given the word of God that he can reign if he'll just submit his heart to God. He doesn't trust that word. He's not resting in God. He doesn't say to himself, you know, this is risky, but my people, I want you to still keep worshiping Jerusalem. I'm gonna just rest that God's gonna do what he wants. He didn't do any of that. He establishes a whole new religion with one purpose, to keep people loyal to him. That cuts at the heart of man-made religion. I think about history where they fought over when they should hold Easter services and different things. The core of what makes man-made religion is that you are using religion to serve yourself rather than to become a servant. So that brings me some questions. Why do you come to worship? Is it because you want God to make you a servant? I ask the leaders, why do we want you to come? Is it so that I can get a paycheck? God forbid. We as leaders will have to stand before God on what we teach you. And I hope it's not so that we can maintain our kingdom. Jesus is your king. And he lives to serve you. Not to obey your whims, but he lives to serve you. In Mark 10, and turn there if you want, Jesus is on his way to be crucified for his people. And even as he is heading to the cross and he's told his disciples he's going to the cross, they, James and John, is it James and John, James and? James and John. Yeah, James and John. Jesus we want you to do something for us Want you to do whatever we ask of you And Jesus responds, oh really really what would you like me to do for you? We want to sit on your right and your left in glory Did they want to sit on his right and his left while he was on the cross? I? No, they want to sit on his right and his left when he's in glory, when everybody's serving him. In other words, when everybody's serving you, we want them to serve us as well. And it's not really as if the rest of the disciples were any better. They become indignant. Basically, they're saying, what about us? We want that. He rebukes them all in verses 42 to 45 Jesus called to them Called them to him and said to them, you know That those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them But here it is. This is like the principle number one of his kingdom. It shall not be so among you He's telling these disciples. You are going to be my rulers in the church. I But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So, you are to look at the example of Jesus Christ on the cross, and you are to go, king whose focus is to serve. But more than an example, more than an example, we are to go to Jesus and receive his service of us. This is what we do when he says to, you know, I'm going to wash your feet. If you don't let me wash your feet, I have no part of you. He's basically saying, I want you to be served by me. And then from my service to you, you can now have confidence that even if the world walks upon you, I am sovereign over this entire situation. And I will look out for your back at every situation. You see, you cannot make yourself a servant. The only way you can become a servant is if you receive the service of Christ, the love of Christ into you, and from his attitude, it begins to flow out of you. And so man-made religion, Not a religion that just tells you not to serve man-made religion is telling you. Oh, you can be a servant by yourself Christians servanthood is you need to you need to be driven to Christ and He will serve you and he will make you a servant You, excuse me, you are your own greatest enemy. You are selfish by nature. We must fight against it every day. I haven't conquered it in my life. It is only as the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ living in me that will make me truly a servant. And that's my hope for us. I know it'll be rocky. I know you'll try to serve and then selfishness comes in and you try to serve and go to Christ. I know it'll be ugly, but Lord, please work in us to make us like Christ. That's what Christianity is all about. Amen.