Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We know what’s going to happen, but we don’t know how.

That’s what it means to live a life of faith.

That’s what it means to trust Jesus.

We know that Jesus is saving people from every nation, but we don’t know all the ways He’s working to bring them to salvation.

We know that He’s going to use all things for good, but we don’t know how trauma and abuse and ALS will be made good.

We know that Jesus is going to sustain every one of his children through their doubts and their sins and their failures and their weaknesses, but we don’t how He’s going to go about doing that.

We don’t know the means He will use, the people He will use, the circumstances He will use to bring about his will for our marriages, careers, or children.

We know He will.

He’s told us that.

But, we don’t know how.

That’s the nature of faith.

And, there’s an age old tension embedded within that tension, isn’t there?

First of all, if God has planned out how we’re going to make it to the end, then what difference does it make what I do?

How could my actions possibly matter if God is orchestrating it all.

But then, if we swing back the other way to say that we must be free, we’re left to wonder if I’m totally free to do whatever I want to do, then how can God possibly know how this is all going to end?

How can we possibly be sure this will all turn out okay? So, which is it?

Is it that what I do doesn’t matter, or is it that God doesn’t know what’s going to happen and is only reacting to what He we do?

God’s Word

In fact, this tension is at the heart of our passage today.

This is one of those passages that may not jump out at you if you’re just reading your Bible, but it’s actually vital if you’re going to understand the rest of the OT.

This is where the Kingdom of Israel is split in two, a reality that dominates the rest of the Bible.

In fact, we knew this was coming.

In chapter 11, God told Solomon that b/c of his idolatry, He was going to “tear” the kingdom from his son, Rehoboam.

Then, we see the prophet Ahijah (and prophets are going to be much more prominent going forward) tell one of Solomon’s most able servants, Jeroboam, that he was going to receive ten of the twelve tribes of Israel once Solomon dies.

So, we know what’s going to happen, but we don’t know how.

Rehoboam becomes the king, and we know it isn’t going to go well.

But, we don’t know what’s going to go wrong.

And, we behind that big question of “how” we see Four Tense Relationships: (headline) that can help clarify what this might look like for us, too.

Let’s jump in the deep end this summer!

Tense Relationship 1: Two new “rivals.”

1 Kings 12:12-14 “So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.”

And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke.

My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.””

The first question we really need to figure out is: How does Rehoboam lose the ten tribes?

He’s in Shechem, which is an interesting choice over Jerusalem any way, to be coronated, and he’s being coronated as the king of all Israel.

God doesn’t just strip Rehoboam of the other tribes; he loses them through his inspiring leadership.

That’s important to note.

Jeroboam (I know these names are confusing) shows back up once Solomon is gone, and a new rivalry begins.

Israel, which is a name representing the other tribes outside Judah, which is David/Solomon/Rehoboam’s tribe, has big questions for the new king, and the select Jeroboam to represent them.

It makes sense b/c Jeroboam had been a labor director under Solomon, and that’s their concern.

Solomon had been a great builder, but that building had come at a great cost.

He had burdened his people and worn them down.

So, they tell their new king, “We’ll follow you.

We’ll support you.

But, we need you to lessen the load.

We can’t keep going.”

Wisely, Rehoboam tells them to give him a few days to seek counsel.

He talks to the old sages of Israel, the wise men from Solomon’s court, and they advise him: “Serve the people today, and they will serve you forever.

Be good to them, and they will be good to you.”

Then, Solomon goes to what the ESV translates as “young men”.

The actual word here is a negative word.

It more accurately means “children” or even “babies.”

These are his classmates.

It says these were the same men that Rehoboam had grown up with.

They instruct him to wield his authority.

“How dare they issue you — the king — an ultimatum.

Crush this rebellion with an iron fist.”

Rehoboam’s decision, and I emphasize that it is Rehoboam’s decision here, will determine his ability to lead as king.

Will he respond with humility, or will he respond with hubris?

Will he serve his people as a shepherd-king, or will he dominate his people as a tyrant?

The decision facing him is whether he will be led by the Lord or by his ego: For the Lord says in Proverbs 16:18-19, verses that Rehoboam certainly would have known, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

And, that decision would determine the shape of his kingdom.

It’s the same decision that we face time and again, isn’t it?

Will we choose humility or hubris?

Will we be guided by our egos or by the wisdom of God? Do we date that person b/c it makes us feel better about ourselves or because they honor the Lord?

Do we take that job b/c it moves us closer to a lake house or b/c it moves us closer to the Lord?

Do we pursue that graduate degree b/c it makes us more impressive or b/c it enables us to most glorify God?

What reality holds the decision-making power in our lives — humility or hubris, Jesus’ name or our ego?

Because the decisions you make flow from the values you have, and the decisions you make affect the future you know.

That’s certainly the case for Rehoboam.

He chooses hubris.

He comes down upon his people, and he cements his rival, Jeroboam, as a “man of the people” instead.

So, he loses the ten tribes because of his foolishness and his rejection of God’s wisdom.

Tense Relationship 2: Two old “enemies.”

What’s interesting here is that these two new rivals actually represent two old enemies, an enemy that keeps coming up for Israel.

And, this is fascinating to me.

One of the ways that the biblical authors wink at us so that we can see that this isn’t a stand alone story, this isn’t an isolated incident, but this is part of ‘The Big Story’, is by using language to help us make connections.

They know we’re simple-minded; so, they help us.

That’s happening here.

The author wants us to know that this is just the latest iteration of an old tension facing Israel — and facing us.

Notice a couple of things in our passage and see if they ring a bell:

There’s a king who is oppressing Israel through forced labor.

The king feels threatened by the people.

So, how does he respond?

“I will make your yoke heavier.

I will work you harder.

I will be you with whips harder.”

A representative comes before the king to speak on behalf of God’s people.

Wise elders of Israel speak the word of God to the king.

But, how does the king respond?

He does not “listen.”

He hardens his heart.

Does that sound like anybody we’ve heard about before?

I don’t know, pharaoh maybe?

The book of Exodus, maybe?

Exodus 1:11 “Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.

They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.”

Exodus 9:12 “But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.”