Shields Of Brass Or Gold?

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.