Some of the insights contained in this evening’s message were inspired by O. S. Hawkins’ book Shields of Brass or Shields of Gold?
One day while Mr. Jones was chatting with Mr. Smith about yard work, Mr. Jones happened to mention that he had only cut the grass in his front yard that week because he didn’t feel like mowing the back yard. He reasoned, “Why mow the back yard when people only see the front?” Sadly, this the way many people treat their relationship with God. They care too much about how they appear on the outside, while leaving the back yard of their spiritual life a mess.
Christians, and even churches, can put on a show to make the world think that everything is going great, while the back yard is a complete mess, or while they are falling apart on the inside. They substitute true godliness with a façade or mask, while their relationship with God is virtually non-existent.
This evening we are going to look at an example from the Scripture that portrays an Israelite king substituting true godliness with a cheap imitation in an attempt to fool the people of Israel into believing that the nation still had favor with God. We will soon discover that, in reality, Israel was falling apart.
Losing Sight of the Lord (v. 1)
1 Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him.
Rehoboam was King Solomon’s son and David’s grandson. We read in 1 Kings 12:4 how when Rehoboam was to become king, that the people came to him and said, “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” The people were tired of the grueling work that Solomon had forced on them. Solomon made the Israelites work in what was called the corvee, which was state enforced slave labor. Citizens would be required to give up a few months each year in order to work on building projects in the kingdom, and they were tired of this work.
When the people came to Rehoboam asking that he lighten their burden, his reply to the people in 1 Kings 12:10 was this: “My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist.” This meant that he would inflict even more burden on the people than Solomon had. Solomon and the people of Israel had spent so much time on building projects, and in other areas of strengthening the kingdom, that they failed to spend time with the Lord. Solomon desired the see the kingdom grow so badly, that he forgot to wait on God’s timing. He instead forced growth, and he did so through human effort. Rehoboam had a chance to bring the people back into a relationship with the Lord; but instead, he was going to commit even more sin than his father had.
We read where Rehoboam ascended to the throne of Judah, which was the southern kingdom in a divided Israel. Rehoboam did not have a great start. Verse 1 tells us that Rehoboam did three things: established the kingdom, strengthened himself, and forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel along with him.
That can happen to a lot of people. It can happen to churches. We become established, we strengthen ourselves, so everything is going wonderfully well. If we are not careful, we lose sight of how we got there and who put us there. In the process, we forsake the law of the Lord. That’s what Rehoboam did, [and] he took all of Israel along with him.(1)
Can pastors and church members spend so much time trying to build a church through their own efforts and methods that they forget to honor the God who gave them their vision? Can they forget to build the church through the ways of Jesus Christ? The answer is an unfortunate yes.
One way that a church can fail to grow through the ways of God is by forsaking the model of the body of Christ, as portrayed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. For example, you might find a pastor who is impatient about the rate a church is growing; and so he decides to take on every responsibility all by himself, feeling that he can do a much better job than his church members. Instead of allowing the church to grow by each part of the body being involved, or by each member volunteering and serving, one pastor will do most of the work all by himself, not allowing anyone else to take part because he sees them as inefficient or incompetent.
This pastor will, therefore, grow the church through his own human effort instead of waiting on God’s timing. He will fail to make an effort to train others in the task of evangelism, instead doing all the witnessing and evangelism by himself. The problem with a pastor growing the church through his own effort is that when he is called to leave the church, then the people will leave the church too; as the church was built on a man rather than on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. What we must understand is that there are consequences for not following the Lord’s leadership and timing; and we will see those consequences in the verses which follow.
Expect to Be Forsaken by God (vv. 2-8)
2 And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, 3 with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of Egypt - the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. 4 And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.
5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak’.” 6 So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, “The Lord is righteous.”
7 Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.”
We read in verse 5, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak’.” If we forsake the Lord by trying to build our own kingdom or church through our own efforts, then we should expect to be forsaken and abandoned by the Lord. Why would the Lord stick around if our actions tell Him that we don’t need His help anymore? If a church is having problems, then it’s likely that the Lord has done to that church the exact same thing He did with Rehobaom and Judah. He has left the people alone to fend for themselves, so the congregation will see that they can’t make it without Him.
If a church becomes desperate enough, then people are going to cry out to the Lord for His help. In verse 6 we read, “So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, ‘The Lord is righteous’.” In verse 7, the Lord’s response to their humility was that He forgave Rehoboam and the people of Judah. If a church can muster the courage to admit that it is wrong and has forsaken the Lord, and that the people need the Lord’s help again, then God’s presence will return to that church.
Notice how verse seven states that God granted the people “some deliverance.” This statement prepares us for what is to follow. The Lord is going to allow Pharaoh Shishak to do one more thing to Judah that is symbolic of the true heart of the nation; so let’s look and see what that is.
Loss of the Former Splendor (vv. 9-12)
9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made. 10 Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. 11 And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guard would go and bring them out; then they would take them back into the guardroom. 12 When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah.
“Shishak . . . attacked Israel, and stole the 300 shields of gold. The standard of excellence was removed from the people of God because they had forsaken Him.”(2) “Those golden shields symbolized the purity, integrity, and the glory of Jehovah God and His blessings upon His people. They showed God’s standard of excellence. These shields of gold were never meant to be used in war.”(3) They were a symbol of God’s presence among His people, and of the greatness of the nation when they were obedient to the Lord and depended on Him and worshipped Him alone. God allowed the shields to be taken away to stand as a reminder to the people of the time they had forsaken the Lord.
Once Rehoboam was robbed of the former glory, he was faced with two options. We are faced with the same two options in a day, when in many ways, the glory of many [churches has faded]. First, we can humble ourselves, admit it, come before God and repent. We need to stop lamenting about what might have been and begin walking again by faith with new hearts.
The other choice is that we can continue to try and make things appear on the surface as they once were, like Rehoboam [who made bronze or brass shields to take the place of the gold ones]. We can hold up a cheap substitute before the world, but it will not bear close inspection and it will not stand the test of time. We can keep polishing brass to make it look like gold, but eventually, we will go the way of ancient Israel. Our influence and witness in the world will continue to fade to a mere shadow.(4)
Rehoboam ignored God’s law and he abandoned the Lord’s standards. O. S. Hawkins tells us that “there are a lot of churches who stood and watched their former greatness wane and wilt and their own kingdoms divide for the same reasons. Now they are still polishing brass. They are still trying to shine up the outside to make it look as if nothing has changed.”(5) In other words, instead of bringing our sins to light, confessing them, and then starting afresh, we often try to hide our problems and act like they don’t exist. A church of brass will polish itself and then grow for a little while, but when the tarnish comes back then the people will leave, and then the process starts all over again. A church of gold, on the other hand, is perfect in Christ and will continue to grow.
Hawkins tells us that many churches have brass relationships. We go to church and call each other brother or sister so and so, when in reality we don’t live like brothers or sisters. He tells us that, “From time to time we have to tag those names on, hoping that the lost world will at least see by our nomenclature that we are family.”(6) This is hypocrisy and Jesus responded to such behavior in Matthew 23:27 by saying, “You are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” In Isaiah 29:13 the Lord said, “These people draw near to me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but they have removed their hearts far from me.”
Another example of a church that just sits around polishing brass, is one that is so inward focused that it cares more about maintaining the church building and putting forth time, effort, and resources into the building, than it cares about a world that is lost and dying. Hawkins gives us a good example of this. He states, “There is a famous American church that has deep roots in the Confederacy. It has a large endowment fund. When that fund was created during the first generation after the Civil War, its formal, legal purpose was to ensure that the building would be preserved as a historic landmark should it ever cease to be a church. No statement of purpose about witness or ministry; just be sure the brass is polished and the roof does not leak!”(7)
2 Chronicles 12:10 is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. It speaks of compromise. It speaks of cheaper substitution and imitation. Have we done the same in our own personal lives, or in our church lives? Do we say things and do things, trying our best to make things look like a standard of excellence. When do we try to substitute what is good for what is best?
You know, brass may look like gold for a little while. In fact, if you work real hard and put in a lot of effort, you can keep it polished where it will look almost like gold, but there is a difference between gold and brass. One is a pure metal; the other one is an alloy. Brass is made primarily of copper and zinc. One shines and the other dulls. One is tempered and strong and the other one is weak and cheap and a counterfeit.
Time of Reflection
When you consider your circumstances, ask yourself if you have lost your standard of excellence? If we have lost the standard of excellence, why, and how? Perhaps pride – too proud of the past to change. Perhaps taking glory that belongs to God. Oh, we can blame our failures on Shishak and all sorts of other things. That’s one reason there are thousands of empty churches. They are dying, because, like Israel, they have rebelled against God. The standard of excellence has been removed.(8)
As an individual and as a church, consider this evening whether you have a gold relationship or a brass relationship with the Lord. If you have a brass relationship, one that is all show and not genuine, then you need to quit hiding your sins and humble yourself before the Lord and ask His forgiveness.
NOTES
(1) O. S. Hawkins, Shields of Gold or Shields or Brass? (Dallas: Annuity Board, 1998), 22.
(2) Ibid., 15.
(3) Ibid., 12.
(4) Ibid., 9.
(5) Ibid., 16.
(6) Ibid., 24.
(7) Ibid., 16.
(8) Ibid., 23.
