A kingdom divided
1st Kings 11:26-43
King Solomon began to worship the gods of the surrounding cultures and became “tolerant” of their ways and God the true God was displeased. As a result of King Solomon’s disobedience and because he did not follow in his father David’s foot steps in regards to following the ways of the Lord the Kingdom of Israel would be divided and 10 of its tribes would be given to another man to lead.
Lets Read 1 kings 11:27-46
King Solomon forgot where the blessing came from and who gave him all that he had, perhaps he convinced himself it was his own ability all along that got him to this point. That is a very dangerous detour to take and it cost him the kingdom.
Today we see this splitting apart happening in the church at large especially in America where so many denominations that originally where part of a great revival have turned away from viewing the Bible as the inerrant word of God and in doing so have run headlong into many errors. Like Solomon they have forgotten that the kingdom was God’s and not theirs and in the name of “tolerance” they have followed the false teachings of the culture around them. They have embraced the perversity of the culture and they put their own feelings above the word of God. In a recent meeting one denomination that bears the name of the of the great reformer Martin Luther voted to put their so-called conscience or what they felt was right above the authority of the Bible. Many of these groups deny the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and other essentials of the faith, they ordain pastors and priest who are engaged in open sexual immorality and believe that God blesses it even though his word condemns it. You may ask how can they do that? It didn’t happen over night. The church allowed false teachers to fill their pulpits and rise up into positions of power but when that is allowed to happen God deals with his church.
So what is happening as a result , whole denominations are splitting and people are leaving these churches and looking for those who will hold to the Bible as God’s Word. This is what happens when those who are entrusted with God’s kingdom are not faithful to his word. God raises up those who will be faithful shepherds and he tears the kingdom from those who have abandoned his teachings.
You might think well that explains what I have been seeing in the news lately about all the controversial church splits but how does it apply to me personally? What am I to do with this scripture? Well I think it would be to do the opposite of what Solomon did in his later years. If we are to be aligned with God and his true kingdom, if we are to be about our fathers business and not fall in with those who have abandoned the word we need to check that were on the right track.
1. Be Aware-
A. of what your church teaches-you need to be aware of what your pastor and your church believes about the essential doctrines of the faith. Some of you will remain here for months or years, some of you will move on to other churches because of your job but no matter where you go you need to know if they believe that Jesus is the 2nd person of the trinity fully man and fully God who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead? Do they believe in the virgin birth?, do they believe that the Bible is the Word of God and a true historical record not just made up stories that are used as parables for life. Do they believe salvation from our sins is through faith in Jesus Christ alone? Because there are many churches that don’t believe or teach these things. In fact there are actual whole Bible colleges that are filled with professors who aren’t even Christians who produce ordained ministers that aren’t even saved to run churches that don’t even preach the gospel. To those of us who have grown up in a more bible believing church that may be a shock to the system But Jesus warned us about this.
Matthew 7:15-17 (NIV)
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Some people try to conform the Bible to their personal beliefs and others teach what the Bible says so that we may conform our lives to it’s teachings. In fact we are told this
Colossians 2:8 (NIV)
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
B. Read the Bible for yourself- All these warnings are written down but tens of thousands of people fall into error. Why? Well reading the Bible for themselves could have helped.
Acts 17:11 (NIV)
11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Let me give you the modern translation- “Don’t be lazy read the bible for yourselves.” How do you know I am teaching the truth. I could stand up here and saying anything like “the Bible says God helps those who help themselves” when that’s not even in the Bible. “I could say that Joan of Ark was Noah’s Wife” and you might not even bat an eye. I could open this Bible to a scripture and make it say what I want like this. I will read from Psalms 14:1
Psalm 14:1 (NIV)
say underline part 1st “there is no God” did you know the Bible said that. But if you look at it in context what does it say?
1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
Preachers do this all the time but it goes un noticed because people figure if he is up there reading out of the Bible it must be correct. This is how people get caught up into all kinds of teaching that the Bible doesn’t support.
You need to be aware of the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Those that teach that Christianity is all about being rich, or that God doesn’t expect you to change anything in your life. That it’s all about just feeling good about yourself. These are mere distractions from the true message of repentance and salvation and transformation through the power of God.
2. Be fruitful-If I have truly accepted God’s into my life and I am being filled with the Spirit of God that should be producing some results. There should be some positive growth or change in my habits and in my reactions and my attitude towards people
Galatians 5:22-26 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
A. Keeping in step-
For those of you that have small children have you ever been at Wal-Mart and you start walking thinking your kid is right next to you only to discover that they’re not. You look back and they’re and their about 20 feet behind you looking at something, or playing in the clothes rack Sometimes as Christians we don’t exactly keep step with the spirit. He wants us to be aligned with him but where to busy running after the bright and shining things on display in life instead of remaining close to him. But if we kept in step with the spirit, if we kept aligned with our father perhaps we would see more clearly that what he has in mind for us is beyond our imagination. But when everything else is a priority except him we aren’t keeping in step with the spirit and if we aren’t keep in step with him how do we expect to bear fruit, to see change in our lives, to see true transformation. We tell our children God should be number one but they see us running around busy not opening the bible at home, not treating our spouse the way God wants us to. They hear what we say but they learn by what we do. There is a key illustration that Jesus used to explain what our relationship to him should be like.
B. His yoke-
Matthew 11:29-30 (NIV)
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light
The yoke represented the teaching of the Pharisees which included all these rules you had to follow on top of the law. This put such a heavy burden the peoples hearts. These guys lifted themselves up by keeping people down. Jesus brought forgiveness of sins through faith in him. He brought a lighter yoke. So they could throw off the yoke of the Pharisees and the hypocritical teachers of the law and instead by accepting the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. the burden of sin was lifted. What Jesus was saying here is to learn his way, to walk with him, to keep in step with him. He wasn’t saying the result would be a life of ease by any means but that our hearts wouldn’t be burdened by sin. In addition the yoke also represented occupation or obligation. Those who take on this yoke of Jesus recognize the burden of sin that has been lifted from them and that they are to serve the lord with this new found freedom.
C. There will be a test- Now if you are keeping in step with the spirit and you are taking on the yoke of learning from Jesus about humility and gentleness than you know what comes next. What every student just loves to hear from their teacher, they’re will be a test. Character unproved is no character at all. You’ve read the Bible you’ve spent time with God and your feeling pretty good about your spirituality than like a pop quiz out of nowhere you get into an argument with your spouse before work, your kid does something that in the past has set you off, you have a run-in with a co-worker, somebody cuts you off in traffic and uses creative signing in the process it’s like multiple choice a) react out of raw emotion or b) take that thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It really is your choice. It’s not the big huge trials that will define us it’s all the little tests and trails of the daily grind.
James 1:2-4 (NIV)
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
When we keep in step with the Spirit and find ourselves tested we have an opportunity to grow in character to bear the fruit of the spirit. And we can become patient, joyful loving people. But if we don’t practice keeping in step with the spirit of God than when those daily trials come our way we are going to react the same old way we always have.
Conclusion: God is preparing his bride, the church for the time in which he will return.
Trials and tribulations have already begun for much of the church around the world. Whether this is a cycle of testing before the next great revival or the birth pangs of the final days as spoken of in revelation I cannot tell you but any student of scripture can see the signs of the Lords return. A Time of testing is upon us. And our response will determine what kingdom we are for our own kingdom or his.
