1 Kings 13:1-10
King
Jeroboam is standing next to the altar in Bethel, the one that he made
in order to convince people not to leave his city. This altar was built
out of manipulation. He's put on the priest hat, and he's making
sacrifices to these two golden calves that he made. Not only that, but
the people in Israel are swallowing the religious pills he's handing
out. The people are falling for the golden calves.
As Jeroboam is about to make an offering, a man shows up. The author doesn't give us a name, but tells us he's been sent by god to speak into the situation. So, the man shows up to the same altar Jeroboam is about to make offerings on. He cries out to the altar, "Altar! Altar! A son named Josiah will be born in the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the fake priests. On you human bones will be burned!"
When Jeroboam hears what this guy has to say, he stretches out his hand to command his security guards to seize the crazy guy. All of a sudden, his hand shrivels up and he can't pull it back. As if he's had a stroke, Jeroboam's arm is frozen. Then, the guy says, "This altar will be split apart and the ashes will pour out onto the ground."
Jeroboam's freaking out and asks the man to pray to his God to restore the hand. The man does this, and Jeroboam's hand returns back to normal. As this happens, the altar breaks in half and all the ashes from the sacrifices pour onto the ground.
Jeroboam invites the man over for a meal and a gift. It sounds a little fishy if you ask me. The man says, "Even if you were to give me half of all your possessions, I wouldn't come close to your house. I'm not even going to eat bread or drink water in this place." He basically says the place is so toxic that he doesn't want spend any more time there than he has to. So, he leaves.
Just like most of the stories we've read thus far, it sounds like a fairy tale. However, there are principles to be learned here. The altar that Jeroboam has built looks very similar to an altar a legit priest would use, but it's not. He's carrying out very similar practices to what the real priests would have done. The people are convinced that it's the real deal. It takes a nameless man from out of town to tell Jeroboam that his altar is not legit, and will break apart and become useless. It takes an outsider to tell Jeroboam that the same mock priests that he's appointed all over Israel to make sacrifices, will actually become human sacrifices because of the evil, corroding thread that his manipulation is unleashing.
The principle is this: When we create altars based on manipulation, they are inevitably going to bite us in the ass. In this case, the altar looked like a legitimate way to connect people with God without them having to go all the way to Jerusalem. The truth is, Jeroboam was afraid that if the people went to Jerusalem to worship, they would fall in love with the king there. So, he devised a manipulative plan to satisfy the people right where they were. If he could figure out how to keep them under his kingship, he could have people to rule.
Have you ever been part of a church or an organization that made you feel like you were in the middle of a Ponzi scheme?
As leaders of anything, our main goal is to point people to a power greater than themselves. Unfortunately, that power has often become the church or the organization itself. The church makes sure the people know all the bells and whistles, all the good things. After all, we wouldn't want them to go over there to worship would we? Just like Jeroboam, we can become way too focused on rounding up the masses inside the walls instead of pointing them to the power that can't be contained. We highlight the ministries, the financials, the programs, and give a verbal brochure that convinces people that the best way to God is through this specific institution. In time, our altars become brochures, cataloging the benefits and hiding the consequences of being a part of the organization.
In this story, Jeroboam is more concerned about people liking him than connecting with God.
What if for one day, we chose to talk about God without bringing the name of our specific church into it? Do we have anything to talk about?
Today's Action: Are the spaces that we create for worship more about connecting people with God or more about getting people to like us? How can we make it more about God, and less about us?
As Jeroboam is about to make an offering, a man shows up. The author doesn't give us a name, but tells us he's been sent by god to speak into the situation. So, the man shows up to the same altar Jeroboam is about to make offerings on. He cries out to the altar, "Altar! Altar! A son named Josiah will be born in the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the fake priests. On you human bones will be burned!"
When Jeroboam hears what this guy has to say, he stretches out his hand to command his security guards to seize the crazy guy. All of a sudden, his hand shrivels up and he can't pull it back. As if he's had a stroke, Jeroboam's arm is frozen. Then, the guy says, "This altar will be split apart and the ashes will pour out onto the ground."
Jeroboam's freaking out and asks the man to pray to his God to restore the hand. The man does this, and Jeroboam's hand returns back to normal. As this happens, the altar breaks in half and all the ashes from the sacrifices pour onto the ground.
Jeroboam invites the man over for a meal and a gift. It sounds a little fishy if you ask me. The man says, "Even if you were to give me half of all your possessions, I wouldn't come close to your house. I'm not even going to eat bread or drink water in this place." He basically says the place is so toxic that he doesn't want spend any more time there than he has to. So, he leaves.
Just like most of the stories we've read thus far, it sounds like a fairy tale. However, there are principles to be learned here. The altar that Jeroboam has built looks very similar to an altar a legit priest would use, but it's not. He's carrying out very similar practices to what the real priests would have done. The people are convinced that it's the real deal. It takes a nameless man from out of town to tell Jeroboam that his altar is not legit, and will break apart and become useless. It takes an outsider to tell Jeroboam that the same mock priests that he's appointed all over Israel to make sacrifices, will actually become human sacrifices because of the evil, corroding thread that his manipulation is unleashing.
The principle is this: When we create altars based on manipulation, they are inevitably going to bite us in the ass. In this case, the altar looked like a legitimate way to connect people with God without them having to go all the way to Jerusalem. The truth is, Jeroboam was afraid that if the people went to Jerusalem to worship, they would fall in love with the king there. So, he devised a manipulative plan to satisfy the people right where they were. If he could figure out how to keep them under his kingship, he could have people to rule.
Have you ever been part of a church or an organization that made you feel like you were in the middle of a Ponzi scheme?
As leaders of anything, our main goal is to point people to a power greater than themselves. Unfortunately, that power has often become the church or the organization itself. The church makes sure the people know all the bells and whistles, all the good things. After all, we wouldn't want them to go over there to worship would we? Just like Jeroboam, we can become way too focused on rounding up the masses inside the walls instead of pointing them to the power that can't be contained. We highlight the ministries, the financials, the programs, and give a verbal brochure that convinces people that the best way to God is through this specific institution. In time, our altars become brochures, cataloging the benefits and hiding the consequences of being a part of the organization.
In this story, Jeroboam is more concerned about people liking him than connecting with God.
What if for one day, we chose to talk about God without bringing the name of our specific church into it? Do we have anything to talk about?
Today's Action: Are the spaces that we create for worship more about connecting people with God or more about getting people to like us? How can we make it more about God, and less about us?
No comments:
Post a Comment