Sunday
Morning Bible Study
December 1, 2002
12:14 Taking Aim
There are good kings and there are bad kings. As we work our way through the history in
Chronicles, at some point each king gets a report card.
Rehoboam lacked the right direction in life. That’s the kind of thing that gets us into
trouble. It will get Rehoboam into
trouble.
Illustration
In his autobiography, Number 1,
Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas
with Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch.
When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he
checked in with his friend. Mantle’s
friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor. He
had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn’t have the heart to
put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him.
When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and
slammed the door. Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend
wouldn’t let them hunt. “I’m so mad at that guy,” Mantle said, “I’m going out
to his barn and shoot one of his mules!”
Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, “We can’t do
that!” But Mickey was adamant. “Just
watch me,” he shouted.
When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran
inside, and shot the mule. As he was leaving, though, he heard two shots, and
he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too. “What are you doing, Martin?” he yelled.
Martin yelled back, face red with anger, “We’ll show that son of a gun! I just
killed two of his cows!”
Billy really didn’t know what he was supposed to be aiming at. He just got caught up in the moment and fired
off a couple of rounds at something he thought was to be a target. He caused lots of trouble.
:14 And he did evil
evil – ra‘– bad, evil;
disagreeable, malignant; unpleasant, unhappiness, misery
When did Rehoboam do evil? There are
two times Rehoboam got into trouble.
Lesson
Making bad decisions
Rehoboam brought the nation into “disagreeable” or “unpleasant” times
because of the decisions he made based on the advice he received.
When he first became king, the people asked him to give them a little break
(2Chr. 10:4).
Rehoboam wasn’t sure what to do, so he began asking for advice.
He asked the old men first, and they told him to ease up
on the people and they’d love him forever (2Chr. 10:7).
He asked the young men, and they told him to get tough and
show the people who’s boss (2Chr. 10:10-11).
Rehoboam liked the advice that the young men gave, and when he chose to
follow their advice, the nation became divided and 10 of the twelve tribes
rebelled from following him.
I usually see this as a classic example of how important it is to get good
advice from wiser, older people.
But perhaps the real problem is that Rehoboam didn’t ask enough people for
advice.
There’s one person he forgot. He forgot to ask God.
His grandfather, David, was famous for always asking God for advice.
Long before he ever became king, David was always asking God for advice.
(1 Sam
23:1-5 KJV) Then they told David,
saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the
threshingfloors. {2} Therefore David
inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And
the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. {3}
And David's men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah:
how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?
{4} Then David inquired of the LORD yet
again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah: for I
will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. {5} So David and his men went to
Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and
smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
This was the habit of David’s life – asking God for
directions.
David wrote,
(Psa 34:4 KJV)
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
How do we “seek the Lord”?
We pray.
Yet it seems that this never crossed Rehoboam’s mind.
Lesson
Getting caught in sin
Even after the kingdom became divided, Rehoboam went through a time when
the nation began to recover and prosper.
Many of the godly people from the north moved to the south because they
wanted to worship the Lord in Jerusalem,
like they were supposed to.
Yet when things were starting to go pretty good, Rehoboam fell away from
the Lord. Ezra records it this way:
(2 Chr 12:1 KJV) And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had
established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of
the LORD, and all Israel
with him.
The writer of Kings tells us more of the specifics:
(1 Ki 14:22-24 KJV) And Judah
did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their
sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. {23} For
they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill,
and under every green tree. {24} And
there were also sodomites (male temple prostitutes) in
the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which
the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
How could this man, the son of Solomon, the grandson of David, get involved
in such wickedness? How could he get so
far from the Lord?
Perhaps because he was never really aiming at following the Lord in the
first place. He had his mind on other
things.
Illustration
A sheep doesn’t go astray because it decides, “Today I will get lost”. Instead, it starts by seeing a patch of grass
that looks tasty. And a little bit
further off is another patch of grass.
And pretty soon the sheep has eaten itself to the other side of a hill
and can’t find its way back.
We need to get our eyes off the tasty treats and put them on Jesus. Aim at following Jesus.
:14 because he prepared not his heart
he prepared not – kuwn –
(Hiphil) to establish, set up, accomplish, do, make firm; make ready, prepare,
provide for
My Bible has a footnote that translates this word, “It was not his basic purpose”.
But it’s a little stronger than that.
TWOT: “The root meaning is to bring
something into being with the consequence that its existence is a certainty”.[1] In other words, you “prepare” something
because you intend for it to happen. It
will happen.
To prepare your heart to seek the Lord means that you will indeed be
seeking the Lord.
It doesn’t mean that you just go through the motions.
heart – leb – inner man,
mind, will, heart, understanding
Lesson
Take aim
If you’re going to hit a target, you’ve got to aim at it first.
Sometimes, we really don’t know what we’re
aiming at in life.
Illustration
It was Saturday morning as Jake—an avid hunter—woke up ready to go bag the
first deer of the season. He walks down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee,
and to his surprise he finds his wife, Alice, sitting there, fully dressed in
camouflage. Jake asks her: “What are you up to?” Alice
smiles: “I’m going hunting with you!” Jake, though he had many reservations
about this, reluctantly decides to take her along. Later they arrive at the
hunting site. Jake sets his wife safely up in the tree stand and tells her: “If
you see a deer, take careful aim on it and I’ll come running back as soon as I
hear the shot”. Jake walks away with a smile on his face knowing that Alice
couldn’t bag an elephant—much less a deer. Not 10 minutes pass when he is
startled as he hears an array of gunshots. Quickly, Jake starts running back.
As Jake gets closer to her stand, he hears Alice
screaming: “Get away from my deer!” Confused, Jake races faster towards his
screaming wife. And again he hears her yell: “Get away from my deer!” followed
by another volley of gunfire. Now within sight of where he had left his wife,
Jake is surprised to see a cowboy, with his hands high in the air. The cowboy,
obviously distraught, says: “Okay, lady, okay!!!! You can have your deer!!!
Just let me get my saddle off it!”
What is your passion in life? What are you aiming at?
If a private detective was hired to follow you and figure out what your
passion was in life, would he be able to tell by just watching you? Would he even know if you have a passion for anything?
It’s dangerous to not have a direction in life.
Illustration
This was in today’s Register (12-01-02)
(“Suspect’s life full of discord” by Keith Sharon)
It was a strange afternoon for Alex Avila to go “nowhere.” Monday, July 15,
he had a load of chores to accomplish. His sister, Elvira, asked him to fill a
couple of 5-gallon water bottles - he was the only one who could carry them
back up the stairs. He told his mother he would make her a barbecue chicken
dinner. Also, to get their apartment ready for an inspection on Tuesday, he had
to unscrew his speakers from the wall and move the large entertainment unit
that held his stereo, television and family pictures - the one of his parents
arm-in-arm, his brothers and sisters, and the panoramic shot of him and Elvira
on a rocky ledge off Ortega Highway overlooking Lake Elsinore. Elvira, 22, stopped him on his way out the
door. “Where are you going?” she
said. “Nowhere,” he said. She handed him money for the water, and
sometime around 4 p.m., police say,
Alex Avila walked out of the apartment and became every parent’s nightmare.
They say Avila sexually assaulted,
killed and gruesomely discarded Samantha Runnion, a 5-year-old Stanton
girl with wavy hair and a smile that pierced the collective heart of a national
television audience.
It made me think of that old Beatles song –
Illustration
Nowhere Man (by John Lennon
& Paul McCartney)
He's a real nowhere Man
Sitting in his Nowhere Land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
Doesn't have a point of view
Knows not where he's going to
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Ezra
The people had returned from Babylon
and had finally rebuilt the Temple
in Jerusalem. It was Ezra who would come from Babylon
and put everything back into working order.
But first Ezra needed to make the journey from Babylon
to Jerusalem. He was going to be carrying all kinds of
treasures and it would be a dangerous journey.
(Ezra 7:9-10 KJV) For
upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day
of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to
the good hand of his God upon him. {10} For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and
to teach in Israel
statutes and judgments.
Ezra knew where he was going and what he was doing because
he had already taken the time to get his heart in order and making God the aim
of his life.
Ezra was blessed in his life because his life was aimed in
the right direction from the start.
:14 to seek the LORD.
to seek – darash – to
resort to, seek with care, enquire
It’s not just important that we have plans and direction in our lives, but
that our plans and directions are aimed at the Lord.
The king of Tyre got into
trouble because he decided that he’d be “god”.
(Ezek 28:6 NKJV) 'Therefore
thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you have set your heart as the heart of a
god,
Lesson
Aim at the Lord
What does it look like to “seek the Lord”?
(Luke 7:36-50 KJV) And one of the Pharisees desired him that he
would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to
meat.
We might initially look at this story and think that Simon will be the one
who is “right” with God. We might think
that he was the one who was “seeking the Lord” since he had invited Jesus to
dinner. Not so.
{37} And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she
knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box
of ointment,
She’s been looking for Jesus. When
she finds Him, she brings a very costly perfume with her.
{38} And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed
his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Meeting Jesus was turning her life upside down. Instead of using the perfume to make herself
smell better, she’s pouring it on Jesus.
Priorities are different when you are seeking Jesus.
{39} Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake
within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who
and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
Actually, Jesus does know she’s a sinner.
And He’s glad she came.
{40} And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to
say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. {41} There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
One guy owed the bank five hundred bucks, the other owed fifty.
{42} And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them
both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? {43} Simon answered
and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him,
Thou hast rightly judged. {44} And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon,
Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for
my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs
of her head.
It was expected for a good host to have his guests’ feet washed when they
arrived.
{45} Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came
in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
The kiss was a form of greeting.
{46} My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath
anointed my feet with ointment.
Anointing a head with perfume was an act of friendship and love – it also
made everyone at dinner smell better too!
{47} Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth
little. {48} And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
Jesus knew that this woman’s sins had been forgiven because of the way she
treated Him.
{49} And they that sat at meat with him began to say within
themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? {50} And he said to the
woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Simon had gotten off track. He
wasn’t concerned about the things that Jesus was concerned about, like reaching
out to sinners.
The woman was willing to walk right into Simon’s house, right into the
house of a hypocrite. All that mattered
is that she found Jesus. She found forgiveness.
Which are you more like today? The
Pharisee or the sinner?
Are you really aiming at Jesus, or just going through the motions?
Are you more like Rehoboam or his grandfather David?
Are you just someone who just goes through the motions of being religious,
or are you someone who knows the Lord?
(Isa 55:6 KJV) Seek ye the LORD
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
[1]Harris, R.
L., Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. (1999, c1980). Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.) (Page 433). Chicago:
Moody Press.