READ: 2
KINGS 12:1-8
Today we
shall look at two fraudulent acts that were committed in our reading. The first
thing we are told about King Jehoash is that he did what was right before God
and obeyed every instruction the Priest passed on to him. But then we are also
informed that he retained the high places that King Jeroboam had set up and
kept the ‘worship’ there.
In 1 Kings 12, after God has given the kingdom to King Jeroboam, he feared that if he allowed God’s people to worship the Lord in the his temple in Jerusalem, a time would come when their hearts would turn away from him to Rehoboam, king of Judah. With that fear of losing his throne, he conferred with some people and came up with a plan. He built high places and altars, one in Bethel and another in Dan, and erected a golden calf in each of them. He then told his people that since Jerusalem was too far away, he had to provide them with an alternative. What an alternative!
Are you serving God, named after the Name of Christ, yet having an alternative? Do you worship with the brethren but still make time to dine out with the devil? Are you so desperate to win souls and fill up your parish that you have to resort to satanic powers? Are you in the bid to build the church of God so you can steal from and dupe others? These constitute holy fraud. Jesus says you cannot serve God and mammon. Choose one today.
The second matter in our reading is monetary fraud. King Jehoash instructed the priests of the temple to use the collections (offerings) to carry out repairs and maintenance in God’s house. Years later, the priests had not repaired the temple, yet they kept collecting the offering. That assignment was not performed until it was given to some other people who were under close supervision. Have you been given an assignment but have just refused to do it? Have you collected money to do something in God’s house but not done so? Are you stealing, unknown to others, from the offerings of God? This is fraud. Payday is coming. Repent and make restitution.
In 1 Kings 12, after God has given the kingdom to King Jeroboam, he feared that if he allowed God’s people to worship the Lord in the his temple in Jerusalem, a time would come when their hearts would turn away from him to Rehoboam, king of Judah. With that fear of losing his throne, he conferred with some people and came up with a plan. He built high places and altars, one in Bethel and another in Dan, and erected a golden calf in each of them. He then told his people that since Jerusalem was too far away, he had to provide them with an alternative. What an alternative!
Are you serving God, named after the Name of Christ, yet having an alternative? Do you worship with the brethren but still make time to dine out with the devil? Are you so desperate to win souls and fill up your parish that you have to resort to satanic powers? Are you in the bid to build the church of God so you can steal from and dupe others? These constitute holy fraud. Jesus says you cannot serve God and mammon. Choose one today.
The second matter in our reading is monetary fraud. King Jehoash instructed the priests of the temple to use the collections (offerings) to carry out repairs and maintenance in God’s house. Years later, the priests had not repaired the temple, yet they kept collecting the offering. That assignment was not performed until it was given to some other people who were under close supervision. Have you been given an assignment but have just refused to do it? Have you collected money to do something in God’s house but not done so? Are you stealing, unknown to others, from the offerings of God? This is fraud. Payday is coming. Repent and make restitution.
MEMORIZE:
1 CORINTHIANS 5:6 –Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven
leavens the whole lump?
