A Religion That Works For Me

Introduction

Hopefully you have been stirred to our worship or through our worship to this point, and that as that simple little song says, because he’s taken all my sins away. And hopefully, if you are of accountable age, that is where you find yourself as we engage in this worship today, that your sins have been taken away, nailed to the cross, because you have responded in submission and obedience to the will of God. And we want to encourage that response in everyone here today. I don’t know what your plans are tonight at 5 p.m., but I’m going to be preaching a lesson about a verse that I think gets misconstrued from time to time in people’s minds about all things work together for good. You probably heard that.

That’s Romans 8 and verse 28, a portion of that verse. What does that mean? All things work together for good. God causes that, the text says.

And these are the beginnings of his kingdom. And in verse 26, and Jeroboam said in his heart, that’s where a lot of men’s problems reside. As he begins to reason and think in his heart, he says, Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. I’m going to lose influence and control. The kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord, and that is his house, and he has one at this time. But he says, if they go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, that’s where Rehoboam’s king. Then the heart of this people will return to their Lord, even to Rehoboam, King of Judah, and they will kill me.

And return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Now, earlier in chapter 12, Rehoboam has made the foolish decision. Here is the son of Solomon, has made the foolish decision to listen to the young men rather than the older wise men. And most of Israel has defected. And they have named Jeroboam their king, leaving just the tribe of Judah following this descendant of David, Rehobam. Okay. So the king consulted, verse 28, and made two golden calves. And he said to the people, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your God, so Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And then this. Now this thing became a sin.

1. King by Divine Appointment, Fear Rather Than Faith

For the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. As I’ve mentioned, I have several sermons on this particular story, but something struck me about the story of Jeroboam recently that I wanted to share with you. I want you to flip back to chapter 11 first and get the flavor of what’s going on here. Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, as indicated by verse 28 of chapter 11. He was industrious. And he was met by Ahijah the prophet before all of the events of chapter 12, and Rehoboam’s foolish decision takes place. He’s met by a prophet of God, Ahijah, who has a new cloak. And he tears it into 12 pieces, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And he hands ten of those pieces to Jeroboam.

And he says, one of these pieces is going to be left for Rehabam because of David, my servant, his grandfather, Rehobam’s grandfather, and the promise that God had made to David that he would not like a man to sit upon a throne. Very famous passage in 2 Samuel chapter 7. And so Rehoboam and his descendants will continue to reign over Judah. Somebody says, wait, 10 and 1 make eleven. Your job is to go home and figure out why there’s not 12 pieces that are doled out here. I think I have the answer to that, but we’ll deal with that at another time. And notice verse 37. He tells Jeroboam, now this is from Ahijah the prophet, and I will take you, and you shall reign over whatever you desire.

And you shall be king over Israel. Then it will be that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my sight by observing my statutes and my commandments as my servant David did. Then I will be with you and build you an enduring house. That is your descendants after you.

So here he is, anointed by Ahijah the prophet. He is king by divine appointment. We have the breaking of David and Solomon’s kingdom into pieces, one going with Rehoboam, ten tribes going with Jeroboam by divine appointment, and the result of fulfilled prophecy. I mean, just a little bit later, the events of chapter 12 unfold just like Ahijah the prophet had said.

But Jeroboam’s foolishness over the golden calves, his fear rather than his faith, nullifies the promise that God made through Ahijah the prophet that he would have an enduring house. Because he did not follow, as David, his servant had done, all of his commandments and statutes. He nullifies the promise of an enduring house. Furthermore, the sin that he introduced is repeated over and over again in the future kings of the nation of Israel. The first time is in relation to Omri, who is the father of wicked King Ahab. And it says of him, as it does many others after that, but he continued, or he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Over a dozen times that phrase appears. And you can’t help but notice it in the text when you read it.

He continued in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Even in this text in 2 Kings chapter 10, the only really good king of the north who had anything going for him at all spiritually was Jehu. One of my favorite characters of the kings. And he did all of these great things and had all of these great reforms. He eradicated Baal, for instance, out of Israel. But, verse 29, however, as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin from these Jehu did not depart. Even the golden calves that were at Bethel and were at Dan. In fact, those calves that Jeroboam introduced stood there even beyond the 200 years that Israel was a nation before the Assyrians destroyed them.

It was not until the days of Josiah, the last good king of Judah, that Josiah finally tore them down. And when the history of Israel is rehearsed, and the reasons why they are taken and destroyed by the Assyrians, it says the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers. Why? Because it says in verse 21, Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. And Israel walked in the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, and they did not depart from them. Until the Lord removed Israel from his sight. It says, and Israel was carried away in to exile. Now here’s what I want you to notice about this. The goal, the goal was still to worship God.

2. A Religion That Worked for Him

These are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt. Israel had not become idolaters yet. This was a graven image. It was to be representative of the God who had led them out of Egyptian bondage. Their goal was not to be idolaters, but simply to introduce a new, more convenient sanctuary in concerns of possible defection to the Davidic dynasty in Judah. But remember what God had promised Jeroboam. His response was faithless. And what Jeroboam introduced satisfied the God thing. It sued their conscience. But God was obviously not pleased. But here’s the thing. God did not immediately send lightning bolts and plagues and destroy everybody. When this happened, it says, now this thing became a sin. But there was no lightning bolt from God.

There was no earthquake or thunder. There was not the priests around these golden calves who were immediately obliterated by God. There was no immediate retribution. The retribution comes 200 years later. Oh, there were prophets along the way that said this was wrong. This was erroneous worship. But the real retribution came 200 years after the fact. As they continued in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Here’s what struck me recently about this. Jeroboam designed a religion for himself and Israel that worked for him. And it worked for them. You mean I don’t have to go all the way to Jerusalem? You know that we’re a divided kingdom now. And plus I don’t have to go as far. If I live in the northern recesses of Israel, I don’t have to march all the way down.

3. A Real Temptation to Define Religion in Your Own Terms

That’s a long journey. All the way down to Jerusalem to offer these annual sacrifices. I can just go to Dan. How convenient is that? It’s too much. Jeroboam said, Oh, that appeals to people. You can do less. More on that in a moment. This is a religion that works for me. It worked for Jeroboam. It worked for the people. And the first observation that I want to make about that is that it is an extreme and real temptation for people even now. And it always has been to define religion in your own terms. Sherry noted in the Houston Chronicle, which I rarely read last Sunday morning about an individual who attends fellowship in the woodlands and loves it so much, because there’s just no pressure. It’s just so comfortable, and you don’t have to know your Bible.

There’s no pressure to know your Bible. What? Wait just a minute. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I’m thinking pretty much that the Bible’s important. And what it says, and you need to get acquainted with it if you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And Jesus said, if you abide in my word, then you are disciples of mine. John 8, 31 and 32, those verses that Mike has pointed out before that I quote a lot. Very important verses. My son-in-law sent me an article several months ago, which I lost. He helped me rediscover it. With this title.

That’s an interesting two words together. Bibles and booze mix on the beach at iconic Florida Bama Bar. On a balmy Sunday morning at the Flora Bama Lounge package and oyster bar. Barkeeps set up their stations as churchgoers filtered in under a Jack Daniels sign. Known for its bikini contests and annual mullet tossing. Never done that. Any guys ever done mullet tossing? New sport. And bar brawls. This lounge in Florida Bama, Perdito Key, Florida, is known as America’s Last Roadhouse. But there’s a church service there, you’ll be glad to know, every Sunday that has about 450 congregants, and it’s an extension of a Methodist church in the area. And on Easter Sunday, there was over 1,100 people, and Bible study is in an upstairs bar. The founding pastor of the church said, if Jesus returned to earth, he’d probably kick back at Florabama.

And he continued, when you can, and this is very telling, when you cannot get people to come to church, the alternative is to bring church to them. Let’s make it easy. Make it work for me. The article said, they are drawing people who would never come to church. That’s shocking, isn’t it? That these are people that are interested in this who would never come to church ordinarily. Wonder why.

Paul said the things, if any among you are spiritual, he tells the Corinthians, or having problems in worship among other things, if any among you are spiritual, let him know that the things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. Paul ties spirituality with a proper respect and submission to the commandments of the Lord. If you don’t recognize that what I’m telling you about what’s right and what you need to be doing, if you don’t understand that those are the commandments of the Lord, then you’re not really spiritual. So it’s a spirit-led service. If it doesn’t involve submission and obedience to the commands of God, it’s not led by the Holy Spirit. It may evoke some emotion and something inside your spirit, but it’s not spirit-led, as in the Holy Spirit, and that’s the way our worship needs to be.

Another congregate said, This is a place where I can go and learn about God without all the constraints. Now, I want to tell you talk about something that’s telling. That’s what folks want. And it reminded me, I immediately thought of Psalm chapter 2. As the people oppose the Lord and his anointed, let us tear their fetters apart and cast their cords away from us. So I want to do away with God’s restrictions. This business of self-control. We need to eliminate that from Christianity. Let’s just let us have religion our way. Let us define the parameters of our own religion. A regular attendee noted. I don’t want to be judged because I don’t have a three-piece suit. And I don’t drive a brand new car. Boy, he’s really behind about the three-piece suit thing.

But I don’t drive a brand new car. And they don’t judge you. This is the kind of church that I want. They don’t judge you. I feel like I’m more welcome in this church than any I’ve ever attended in my life. And why not? They’re going to accept almost anybody who does anything. Let me just say suits and cars are irrelevant. I don’t care what you pulled up in out here. And if you don’t have a suit and don’t want to wear a suit, I don’t think that’s that big of a deal either. The bar’s Sunday manager reported, this is, okay, so what’s really going on here? I’m going to mention the term bushwhacker. I had heard it before, didn’t know what it meant, so I had to look it up.

Coconut and black rum. Okay. They pick up a bloody Mary, a bushwhacker, or a soft drink. Sit down and listen to the sermon. It’s really cool, you know. It’s unique. No wonder there’s such an interest in this kind of church. And plus, when you get done, you’re right there on the beach. I wonder if people are, well, hopefully they’re not wearing bikinis into the assembly. I wouldn’t doubt it. But certainly they’re probably wearing them afterwards. And speedos. And I don’t even want to go there. And we look at that and we’re going, what in the world are people thinking? Again, it satisfies the God thing. It sues the conscience. And we look at that and we go, that’s off the wall, isn’t it? Not really. A lot of folks today are, what works for me?

They look at religion. How’s this? This works for me. This feels pretty good. I like this. I feel like I’m okay with God. These people, nice people. I’m associated with these good people. This works for me. That’s exactly the MO of many people today when it comes to religion. And I want to tell you this. The reason why I started here with the real temptation is it’s not just denominational people who’ve developed this kind of thinking. It can be very easy for us to develop in our minds a set of things that involve real religion. Somebody says, well, I attend every first day of the week. Or somebody else says, Well, I’ll attend Sunday morning and Sunday night. And somebody else, well, I’ll attend Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.

But after that, they pretty much live. A self-absorbed, self-consumed.

Unspiritual life. That involves no meditation. Very little, if any, prayer. But that works for me. You see, this temptation to define religion by our own terms and set the parameters that works for me. It’s very influential in our times. And it’s not just denominational people. I mean, we’ll start comparing ourselves with other people. You know, well, I know more Bible than they do. I would put your Bible knowledge against most churches anywhere. You know, we believe in the necessity of baptism for the remission of sins. And well, we should. Because that’s what the Bible teaches. And so we start looking at the other religious people, even as we look at the parameters of our religion and say, you know, my standards are higher than other people.

And that’s just great. And they really need to be certainly higher than the four Obama people. But I want to tell you this. Other people aren’t the standard. Jesus Christ is.

4. God Is Not Pleased with Worship for Worship's Sake

Let me tell you how people reason in this regard, three things. Number one. Somebody looks at this kind of approach to religion, and Jeroboam and his people could have said this. But it’s more than absolutely nothing. Like I said in the introduction, it’s not that we’re saying let’s reject God altogether and be atheists. I mean, these people believe in their creator. They believe, even perhaps, that the Bible is the word of God. Well, they don’t know very much about it, but they really have a reverence and respect for this book. And they believe in heaven. And then why not? And they believe in hell. Well, at least some of them do. That’s part of it that people want to eradicate, and so that may be less than 50%.

But some of them even believe in hell as a real place. You know, it’s not that they have rejected God all together. But just a casual reading of Scripture, just a casual reading, suggests, and this is important, God is not pleased with worship merely because we call it worship. I could take you to the example of King Saul. You know that story perhaps, 1 Samuel 15. Go destroy utterly the Amalekites. He doesn’t do that. He brings back King Agag, and Samuel has to be the one that ultimately slays them. A prophet of God has to kill him, hack him into pieces. Saul should have done that. The warrior should have done that. And they brought him back, and they brought back these animals. And Saul comes back, Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.

And then Samuel’s classic response. Well, then what is that I hear? The bleeding of sheep and the lowing of oxen. You were supposed to utterly destroy everything. And you remember Saul’s response, right? This is classic. I brought them back to worship the Lord your God. It’s interesting that it’s not Saul’s God. It’s now Samuel’s God. We brought these back to offer and sacrifice to God. How could that be wrong? Samuel says, This is rebellion. It’s as the sin of divination. It’s down there in terms of sinfulness. It’s iniquity, Saul. God doesn’t want worship for worship’s sake. Malachi chapter 1. You’ve robbed me, God tells his own people. You’ve robbed me. Well, what? How have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. Bring the whole tithe in the stored house.

You’re only personally doing what I want. And let me tell you about the sacrifices. He says in Malachi chapter 1, go offer those lame and sick animals to your governor as payment of your taxes. See if that’ll work for him. And yet you bring them to my altar. He says, I wish that there were somebody who’d shut the gates. I don’t want it. Take away from me the noise of your songs. God says through Amos the prophet in Amos chapter 5. I hate, I reject your festivals. They were still worshiping. But God says, I don’t want any of it. Your lives are inconsistent with it. I hate it. I reject your festivals. Isaiah we just studied. I was trying to think of this passage. It was popping to my head.

Where is it? Where is it? It’s Isaiah. You multiply your sacrifices to me.

Your sins are a scarlet. God is not pleased with worship for worship sake. Well, that’s the Old Testament. God was harsher then. Really?

In the times of this ignorance, God winked at, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent. If every act of disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how much severer? The Hebrew writer says in Hebrews chapter 2. God has higher expectations now. And what about the Pharisees? We talked about the Pharisees many times. They were sticklers for religious compliance. They had tithing down to a science. They had the Sabbath day’s journey marked off by the inch. And if you went beyond that, you were a sinner. You had violated the law of God. And yet Jesus was telling them over and over again, God is rejecting you. It’s not just worship for worship’s sake. And I think we can get into that mindset, even those who are in Christ.

5. Not How Little Can I Do, but How Much

Ananias and Sapphira, they were in Christ. God struck them dead. God is not happy with worship for worship’s sake. And I’ll tell you what’s also telling in the 1 Kings 12 story. It’s too much. People love it when they hear you can do less. Let’s decrease the amount of God’s expectation. And I’ll tell you what, people are looking. If I can just meet the minimal demands. I’ll tell you, that gets it all wrong, folks. We can’t develop that attitude at all. It’s not how little can I do to please God. Instead, it is how much? How generous, how lavish can my gift to God be? How much can I sacrifice for him? I will not offer unto the Lord that which costs me nothing. That’s the attitude of David, his servant.

In 2 Samuel 24. Here’s a cheap way of fulfilling this need at this time. You’ve committed a sin, you need to offer sacrifice. Here Ronald says, here, you go ahead and take the threshing floor. No, I want to pay for it. There was a man who was impressed with the magnitude of his sin, and he said, it’s not how little can I get by with, but it’s how generous and lavish and thankful can I be. All real worship that’s acceptable to God comes from a generous, lavish and thankful heart. I love the word lavish because it’s just overflowing. Overflowing with gratitude, Paul says in Colossians 2. So walk in him. I have a lot more in the notes there that I’m not going to share with you, but the question is, as the psalmist raised in Psalm 116.

What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits? I shall pay my vows. Twice he says that I shall pay my vows to the living God. I will lift up the cup of my salvation. I will call upon his name. I will do so in the presence of all the peoples. I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. It’s not about how little and how convenient. It’s instead about how much he deserves. Let me just tell you something, too. There is nobody here. You can challenge me with this. There is nobody here who is more cognizant of the time than me. It is 1129 right now. I’m trying to wrap this up. But I want to tell you this. And I get irritated when the Psalms are too slow and the announcements are too long.

Don’t get me started. Sometimes even the prayers are too long. But I don’t don’t use it. We can talk about that another time. And the way worship could be more efficient. I understand. I am very cognizant. I don’t know if anybody’s more cognizant of the time than I am. But in the whole scheme of things. How important is five more minutes. Are you going to die of malnutrition? If you don’t get a meal in the next 15 minutes. When’s this going to be over? And I realize there are time things, time concerns. I understand all of that. But when we approach worship of God, and it’s not just about time. It’s about what’s going on in our minds. Generous. Lavish. Thankful. It’s just about, you know, this idea of Jeroboam’s religion.

6. The Question Is Always, Is It Right?

Other people, this is good. Look at everybody jumped on board. The whole nation. Everybody gets in. This is a great thing. We’ll go down to Bethel in the South or Daniel, whatever’s most convenient. Hey, Jeroboam’s got a great idea. It doesn’t matter if everybody else likes it and approves of it. The question is always, is it right?

God is not a respecter of persons. In every nation, he who fears God and does what is right is accepted of him. You can’t get around the right part. Fears God and does what is right. This Florabama Bar thing. Well, that works for that crowd. They like it. They get a little God mixed in with their otherwise selfish immoral lives. And they feel good about it. It works for me. So many people approach religion today.

Look at all the people here. Look at all these people. Other people. They’re right with me. This is good. We’re happy about this. You like this? I like this. This works for me. But that’s the wrong question. The question folks need to be asking is does this work for God?

Conclusion

We must not define religion and worship by our own terms. So what is it that works for God? It’s always been the same. A total surrender. The never changing and ever challenging goal for the true disciple, the true believer, is the total surrender of our will. This means that worship is about God and not about me. What I receive in terms of my edification is secondary to what first and foremost should belong to him. And we learn about the parameters of real religion and real worship from the pages of inspiration. And that’s why Ezra set his heart to know the statutes and to teach them. In Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10. And even though I have worship three times a week, every week for my entire life.

And even though I realize that a right response to God involves more than just this.

I think this is what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, where he spoke of his own inadequacy. And he says, our adequacy comes from God. But I need not be concerned about the areas where I still have work to do. And how that’s all going to play out in the last day. I just need to keep plugging away. There’s a passage I want to conclude with in Proverbs 15 this morning. I have used Proverbs 15 so many times. I’ve analyzed every verse in Proverbs 15, used them in a lot of sermons, but I’ve never really noticed the last three verses. Listen to this. He whose ear list to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself. But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding.

The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom and before honor comes humility. I recommend to you the humble heart and the discipline that will cause you to dwell among the wise.