PP0148 DATE 2/05 BHBC
ATTENDING TO THE LITTLE THINGS
1 Kings 11:14-17.
1Ki 11:14 And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed in Edom.
15 For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom;
16 (For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom:)
17 That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child. (KJV)
INTRODUCTION: Most people do not pay much attention to failures of small nature. In failing to dot every “I”, or cross ever “T”, we don’t think much about it, but God has much to say about the small things. It is the little unnoticed things that usually destroy man.
We tend to underestimate the smaller things in life.
The atom bomb was a small object yet brought the nation of Japan to surrender in just a few minutes.
A flea is very small but enough of them can kill a 90# dog.
The termite is a very small insect, but it can destroy a 3 story house if ignored.
Solomon warns of the “Little foxes”. (Song 2:15 KJV) "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines:….."
A small hole in the Boulder Dam, unnoticed or unrepaired, would eventually bring the whole dam down.
In this passage of Scripture for tonight we see the principle of “Little Things”. If we ignore the little things they will someday grow up and become “big things”, and then they will present us a great problem.
Let me lay a little foundation before I go further.
Joab was David’s military leader. He was a good one. He was very loyal to David, and he was very efficient. Nothing got by Joab. Joab was a “blood and guts” kind of guy that liked to see the enemies blood shed. He always made sure the enemy was dead and that the blood was gushing out. Someone said Joab is the “John Wayne” of the Bible.
In this story Joab misses one. This is unlike Joab. He has one failure, and that mistake or failure came back to haunt the King of Israel.
Joab and David were in Edom and had slain all the men in Edom. Joab was in the process of burying the dead, and while he was there Hadad, a little child, fled Edom and went to Egypt. The one that Joab let get away is the one that became the adversary of Solomon. Joab’s failure didn’t have any bearing on David or on Joab himself, but it came back to haunt the next generation.
By the time Solomon was well into his reign as king of Israel Hadad is full grown and he is the adversary of Israel. Solomon has to deal with that which Joab let get away.
What’s the lesson for us today?
That’s what I want to talk to you about.
I. WE MUST TAKE CARE OF THE LITTLE THINGS AS THEY COME
A. Little Things Will Become Big Things.
1. Little sins will become big ones.
2. Accepting the little misdemeanors today will cause us to accept full grown sin tomorrow. A few years ago sex outside of marriage was looked upon a terrible sin, now it seems to be the normal in the systems society. For a young woman to enter marriage a virgin is looked on as abnormal by the world. All of that is because of the seed that was planted back in the 1960’s.
3. We laugh at the cute little disobedience of a child and then weep when he/she commits a crime and is arrested.
4. The poisonous venom of a spider, no larger than a pencil eraser, has killed hundreds of men.
B. God Will Allow Us To Experience The Small Things In Life Before He Trusts Us With The Larger Ones.
Do you want to know why you do not see God do the big things in your life? That is because you have not passed the test of handling the “little things” correctly. You won’t see the great things until you learn to take care of the “little things”.
Don’t ignore the little things.
Someone so accurately said, “Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.” I believe all of us can testify positive to that principle.
Another version of that last phrase is: “Take care of the little things like they were big things, and God will allow you to take care of the big things like they were little things.”
It matters not the size of a man, but when a small gravel is in his shoe, he becomes nearly useless until that gravel is removed.
A blood clot no larger than a “BB” can kill a 250 pound man.
If you ignore a little pain in your chest, you may die of an heart attack.
I told a young preacher once who wanted to pastor a church of 1000 people that he must learn to be faithful to 25 people first.
II. SATAN WILL TEMPT YOU WITH SMALL THINGS RATHER THAN THE LARGE ONES
He won’t tempt you to rob a bank – rather he will attempt to get you to cheat on a test at school or cheat on your time card at work.
If he can get you accustomed to accepting the “little foxes” without questioning whether they are right or wrong, then later on he will bring on the big stuff. Then he will bring on that women at work who comes on to you with flirting eyes. The first thing you know you will have done something you will regret the rest of your life.
He will put you in situations such at company meetings and the booze is brought out and you are expected to take one “little drink”. After a few times of that and you become an alcoholic, and that which started off small is not a giant juggernaut rolling down the hill on top of you.
If you let the “little things” go by without any kind of effort to resist them, then Satan will bring on the big guns and blow you out of the water.
When you hear or see of a preacher, or a celebrity that goes down in sin be assured that this was not the first time temptation came.
All of us knew when the White House Scandal with Bill Clinton surfaced that he was just continuing what he had been doing for years. This was not his first time to be unfaithful.
A. Solomon Didn’t Know About Hadad Lurking In The Background.
1. He didn’t know that Joab had let one get away.
2. He didn’t know there was an adversary slowly growing up and was waiting to devour him.
You and I may never see the adversary that we let escape, but our children will and their children also, and who knows what will happen 40 years down the road.
In the 1960’s when the “hippie” movement started and with that was the “free love” philosophy. We Christians didn’t do anything about it and look what at it now that it has grown up. We see the off spring of that which was sowed back there 40 years ago. It didn’t look nearly as big then as it does now. We were asleep. Now our society is filled with it. The TV openly expresses it.
Listen to this scripture: (Mat 13:25 KJV) "But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." We will face God in judgment for allowing the “Little foxes” to destroy the vines.
Because Joab let one get away, eventually the whole nation of Israel suffered, and was under the suppression of an aggressor for many years. All of that happened because Joab did not recognize the potential in a small child that got away.
B. Joab Didn’t Know That Hadad Would Some Day Be One That Would Be An Adversary To His Beloved Nation.
We never know the extent someone else will suffer because of our “little sins”. Those little sins that we harbor or hide may be the very thing that will help to destroy someone 40 years from now. That’s why it is so important to live a clean life for God today.
C. Joab Didn’t Realize That Sin Will Incubate.
A small splinter in your finger can get infected and if not treated properly could cause you to lose your hand or even the arm.
Sin festers, and will infect the whole body. The body could be a human body or the body could be defined as the entire church. When sin gets a foothold in anything it will cause great damage.
Judges 14:1-3. When Samson’s father told him “no” Samson threw a fit. Probably held his breath and stomped the floor and demanded that his father get a wife for him. This wasn’t the first time Samson had acted like that. This was a life style of Samson. The thing that had started off little grew and became a giant problem.
Judges 16:30-31. He died with the Philistines.
Samson didn’t realize when he ask his father to get him a wife from Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines that his wish would become the means that would take his life years later. That which started out small, grew into a giant enemy.
David stepped out of his house onto his patio one night and saw a woman taking a bath. That which started out small incubated into a giant enemy that caused David great heartache and embarrassment. That one small night of uncontrolled passion grew and became a giant in the life of David. See him as he mourns for Absalom. (2 Sam 19:4 KJV) “…..O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!" All of the rebellion of Absalom was a result of David’s sin against God.
III. THE LITTLE MISTAKE THAT YOU AREN’T AWARE OF MAY WELL BE THE ONE THAT WILL COME BACK TO DESTROY YOU Vs. 21.
(1 Ki 11:21 KJV) "And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country."
Hadad is now free to attack Solomon at will. Probably no one really recognized Hadad when he was full grown. Sin will disguise it’s self and you may not recognize it.
That’s why we must always be careful to give every opportunity our very best diligence and effort to do the job well.
That’s why we must always name sin and be sure to define it openly and plainly so our children will always recognize sin even in it’s simplest form. I had rather be guilty of over defining sin than not defining it enough. I had rather our church kids be overly afraid of sin than to be too familiar with it.
I would rather run from evil when it was not necessary than to linger and be consumed.
IV. YOU MAY BE SMALL IN YOUR SIGHT, BUT GOD CAN AND WILL USE SMALL THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO HIM IN FULL SURRENDER
Examples of this is the little lad’s lunch. Five loaves and two fishes became a large buffet table from which 5000 were fed to satisfaction.
Some of the greatest men and women of God were considered to be “small or little” in their own sight.
Gideon looked at himself as being small and unworthy of being used by God to deliver the Children of Israel.
The small stone in David’s slang. While it was in the brook it had no potential, but when it was placed in the pocket of that slang it became a mighty weapon that brought the giant, Goliath, down.
Congressman Carl Albert was a United States Congressman from Oklahoma. He became one of the most powerful politicians in the history of the US. He was the Speaker of the House for many years. Carl Albert was barely over 5 ft tall. How many of you know what his nickname was? He was known as the “Little Giant from Little Dixie”.
The Apostle Paul was a small man. He was of short stature yet no other human has had the influence on the world as did Paul. He was from the smallest tribe of Israel, Benjamin. Yet he stood before prison wardens, kings, governors, and executioners and brought the most powerful message ever given to man, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Little is much when God is in it.
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There’s a crown, and you can win it
If you’ll go in Jesus’ name.
The Book Of Jude is one of the smallest in the N.T. yet it carries a very powerful warning of the judgment of God upon sin and sinners.
There was a young man that graduated from high school with me in 1952. He was from the country and had never been to the big city much before graduation. After high school he went Oklahoma State University and obtained a degree in petroleum engineering. He got a job with Kerr McGee on an off shore drilling rig after graduation from OSU. He worked his way up and was appointed CEO of Kerr McGee Oil Co. in the early 1980’s. He was a Christian young man, and in high school he was an excellent student. He never got into trouble. He always did well in school. His salary the first year of his appointment as CEO was $1000 per day. $365,000 a year. That’s not all that much money now, but 25 years ago it was really big bucks. He was little in his own sight, but became a great success for God.
Solomon after taking rule over the kingdom of his father, David, presented himself to God as just a small child seeking the blessings and power of God, and God granted him his desire.
You don’t have to be the most educated person in the world to be used of God.
You don’t have to be the best dressed person in the world to be used of God.
You don’t have to be the best looking person in the world to be used of God.
You don’t have to have the best credentials in the world to be used of God.
You don’t have to be the wealthiest person in the world to be used of God.
You only have to be willing to be used, and the size or ability of that person has no bearing upon God using you.
Had someone told me the day I graduated from high school that I would someday pastor a church in OKC, I would have told them that they had lingered too long at the wine bottle. I didn’t know that God could use a timid lad from Eastern Oklahoma who stuttered, and the most unlikely person to do anything. I would never had dreamed in the wildest imagination that I would someday pastor a church as great as BHBC.
God will use those who will allow Him to use them. Someone said, “God is hard up for workers, and will use anyone.” That may well be true.
The important thing is that each of us keep ourselves useable in the sight of God.
INVITATION
BETH HAVEN BAPTIST CHURCH
PO BOX 891523
OKC OK 73189-1523
405-691-8701
www.bhbc.net
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