Written By David Hanson
Listen to the audio version here On Sunday, I had the privilege to share God's Word with a country church here in the valley. I chose to preach on wayward worship and how God responds to such activity. I picked this not because this church has been disobedient. In fact, I didn't know the people until that Sunday. It wasn't a message of correction but a reminder of a problem we all share. Our hearts are an idol-making factory, prone to wander away from God and His instructions. You can find my reading of the sermon here. 1 Kings 12:25-13:10 contains the events of Jeroboam setting up a new way of worship in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and God's clear disapproval of it. There is a lot of stuff that is packed into this passage that is relevant for today. Jeroboam sets up a new religion, trying to keep God in the picture while violating his instructions regarding worship. It's the typical pagan worship masquerading as "Christian worship." Jeroboam sets up two golden calves and refers to them as the god who took them out of Egypt. It's very similar to what Aaron had done in Exodus, except double the trouble. Last week I wrote about confronting the elephant in the room. How do we do this? Part of the process is that we need to try to understand the root causes that influenced and led them to their decisions. Some of the key ones are pride, ignorance and fear. The heart of the problem is always the problem of the heart. Jeroboam's decision to set up a new way of worship stemmed from a heart controlled by fear. Difficult times will either make strong men or expose weak men. Times were challenging for Jeroboam, who was king over the northern half of a divided kingdom. As king, his role was to rule over the people, leading them in righteousness as contained in the Torah and providing security so that the nation could live and worship God faithfully. Yet, fear influences how he leads and causes him to violate God's instructions regarding worship. Much like how many pastors operate today, Jeroboam was worried about the "what if" scenarios. What if the people leave? What if I may face some opposition? What if my position comes to an end? To lessen these potential outcomes, many leaders attempt to appease the people, believing it gives a measure of control over the outcome. Jeroboam's fear of the "what if" leads him to create a convenient way of worship that would rival any seeker-sensitive movement. He changes the place of worship so that it's closer to home. He opened the priesthood up to anyone who wanted to be a priest, which would have enticed more people to get involved. He even creates a new celebration that would rival the one at the temple. He did all this after seeking counsel. That's the shocking thing. Who counselled him? Was he simply seeking counsel that he wanted to hear to ease his worries, or did someone say that this was acceptable? Whatever the case, he created a convenient way of worship that would keep the people entertained enough to stay. A whole system motivated by the fear of the "what if." Fear is a dominating factor in how many church leaders determine what to do for worship. Just think about why many churches refused to gather for chunks of time over the last two years. Fear of the virus, fear of public opinion, fear of penalties, fear of sickness and death, and fear that people would leave. Let's not pigeonhole ourselves into focusing only on a pastor's response to the mandates. There's more to a gathering than whether people are being vetted, masked, and distanced. Step back and look at how your pastor is making decisions regarding leading, preaching, teaching, choosing music, confronting sin, church discipline and a whole host of other things. Is he making decisions based on obedience to God or fear of the "what if"? For many church leaders, popularity, attendance numbers, and the offering plate influence their decision-making more than God's Word does. Of course, church leaders aren't the only ones prone to this. Just as they are afraid of losing people and finances, we fear rocking the boat, disturbing unity, and being viewed as troublemakers. We are worried about how people will perceive us, so we grin and bear it, believing that things will get better. Frankly, we are often more afraid of man than God. No one is immune to fear; that's why the command to not worry is repeated 365 times in the Bible. Fear is something that I need to guard against in my own heart. I'm prone to worry about all sorts of things – two big things being finances and how people perceive me. I've seen fear motivate me to avoid, adopt, adapt and justify certain decisions. Like Jeroboam, I have allowed the fear of the 'what if' to influence the way I worship and lead others in worship. I've written about that before, but while I was pastoring in Manitoba, I was worried about losing my position if I stood against the mandates being followed in the church. Ashamedly, fear initially led me to go along with the pragmatic approach of doing "Zoom church." What I needed during that time was what Jeroboam received in 1 Kings 13:1-10. I needed to be confronted with the truth, shown what God thinks of such worship, and be stopped in my tracks. For Jeroboam, God sent a prophet with a stern warning and rebuke. For me, it was several messages by faithful pastors who clearly taught God's word so that it was simple to understand just how wayward I was leading the church. Unlike Jeroboam, who decided to continue in his ways, I was convicted and brought back to the path of biblical worship. Without these faithful pastors, I wonder whether I would still be offering worship that was unacceptable to God. I'm not writing this to get sympathy or a pat on the back. Rather, I am sharing my story because I know I'm not the only one who has allowed fear to influence how I made decisions and led others into worship. For those who want to confront the elephant in the room, take the time to understand the root cause. Perhaps, like myself, he's a pastor who struggles with the fear of the "what if." If that's the case, he needs a faithful man of God who would come to him with patience, mercy, and truth - three things you see in 1 Kings 13:1-10. Are you that man?
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AuthorHello! I'm glad you found my blog. My name is David Hanson, and I am a concerned Christian who desires for the church of North America to become aware and begin to think biblically of what is happening around them in society. It's time for the church to awake and speak into the current events of the day. We alone have the truth to navigate life effectively. That truth is the Word of God. Archives
May 2022
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