Talk 7 - The King’s rule: heavy burden or easy yoke

0:00 Well, if you're just joining us this morning, we are back in the Old Testament. We're in the book of Kings. We're following the story along, trying to learn the lessons that are here for us in the selection of material that the historian has put down for us. And at the end of chapter 11 of 1 Kings, Solomon dies. And so we come in to the reading where Rehoboam, or Rehoboam, whatever way you pronounce it, his son succeeded him as king. So this is 1 Kings chapter 12 now and verse 1. We're going to read down to verse 17. So Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.

0:51 When Jeroboam, so we've got to get these two names and they're frequently confused. Rehoboam, Jeroboam, they're going to come up both this time and in a couple of weeks time when we do the next little part of this. Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard this. He was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon. He returned home from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him, your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you. Rehoboam answered, go away for three days and then come back to me. So the people went away.

1:39 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. How would you advise me to answer these people, he asked. They replied, if today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants. But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. And he asked them, what is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, lighten the yoke your father put on us? And the young man who had grown up with him replied, these people have said to you, your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make your yoke lighter. Now tell them, my little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

2:31 My father laid on you a heavy yoke. I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips. I will scourge you with scorpions. Three days later, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, come back to me in three days. And the king answered the people harshly, rejecting the advice given him by the elders. He followed the advice of the young men and said, my father made your yoke heavy. I will make it even heavier.

3:03 My father scourge you with whips. I will scourge you with scorpions. So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam, son of Nebat, through Ahijah the Shilonite. And when all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king, what share do we have in David? What part in Jesse's son? To your tents, Israel, Look after your own house, David. So the Israelites were at home, but as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them. So when Solomon died, his son, Rehoboam, succeeded him as king, and they all gathered together in Shechem to crown him as king.

4:02 Jeroboam, who had run to Egypt because Solomon tried to kill him. Now Solomon was dead. He comes back and he was immediately appointed the spokesperson for the 10 tribes of Israel to represent them before the new king. And they needed one because they had a significant grievance. Life under Solomon had become increasingly difficult. The demands he was placing on them increasingly harsh. Many in his workforce, remember he had got them to build treasure cities and cities to house his chariots and all the rest of it. They had become little more than slaves.

4:53 And it is, of course, a sad thing when life and the supposed freedom of the promised land became just like life and slavery in Egypt. So they were appealing to Rehoboam to make their service to him easier. Your father made our yoke grievous, they said. Now, therefore, make the grievous service of your father and his heavy yoke, which he put on us, lighter and we will serve you. Now notice the term they used, the yoke without an L. Please note, it has nothing to do with eggs. A yoke was an item used in farming. And you'll see a picture come up on the screen. There you go.

5:45 That's what it was used for. It was an instrument of government, of controlling the animals as they plowed or as they threshed or whatever it was they were doing. And because it was that, it became an easy metaphor for government, all kinds of government. The yoke of the king is the government of the king. The demands he makes, the yoke of the government at the minute, the demands they make of the citizen, the taxation, the responsibility, all the rest of it. That's the yoke of the government. And Jeroboam, on behalf of the people, was appealing to the new king to make these demands lighter, make the yoke lighter, less harsh than it had been the case under Solomon. So this wasn't a revolt.

6:43 It wasn't a rebellion. The people were willing to serve Rehoboam as their king. They were simply protesting against the unscriptural tyranny of Solomon and wanted to see a change in the character and tone and demands of the government. So Rehoboam took three days to think about what they had said, consulting with others as to the direction that his rule should take. So first he consults with the elders who had served Solomon and they told him, if today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants. That idea of Freya going being a servant to the people obviously didn't sit terribly well with him. He was the king. He was going to show him.

7:40 So he turned to the young men who had grown up with him. How should we answer those who say lighten the yoke? And they respond, as we've seen, tell them that you're going to make it heavier. You think Solomon was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet. That was the response of these young men. So two different groups with different opinions plus the mass of the people. How strange.

8:08 Who would be a leader? How do you sort this kind of issue out? Well, after three days, the people gathered to hear Rebo's response to their appeal. And as we read, he rejected what the elders had said. And he sided with the young men and even used some of their language in his harsh reply. Now, of course, this was a complete misrepresentation of God's government of the people, which Rehoboam should have known if he had listened to God. For example, we read in Leviticus 25, which Rehoboam had access to, do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. Twice it says that, but there is no record that Rehoboam feared God or even listened to him.

9:08 God hadn't gone on holiday. The temple hadn't been dismantled. They still had the books of God's law to consult about God's character, about justice and how to treat people, but he didn't listen. and so the question is why not and of course we are faced aren't we with the same question do we listen the books are there God is there he hasn't gone on holiday when it comes to complex issues in life of how we should live how we should manage how we should lead, do we actually listen to what God has to say? See, it is good to listen to the people you're leading. It's good to listen to various groups for their advice. But there is no guarantee that any of them has the right answer.

10:14 This is complex. Leadership is complex. Just because you're old doesn't mean you're right. Isn't that a relief? And just because you're young, it doesn't mean you're wrong. And vice versa, of course. What was the right answer? Lighten the yoke or make it heavier.

10:39 And I know where everybody in this room is probably at. You've got to lighten the, I mean, come on, wake up. Lighten the, well, I think it's a wee bit more complex than that. And possibly the answer is neither. Rehoboam's response, make it heavier, was a totally misrepresenting God. But when we come to the story of Jeroboam, he went the other way. And it was equally bad. So one made the yoke heavier, the other made it lighter, and both in the end got it wrong.

11:24 The text tells us that he didn't listen to the people. He basically didn't listen to anybody. And he didn't listen to God. Had he listened to what the people were saying, what the elders were saying, what the young men were saying, he would have realized, we've got a problem here. This is complex. I mean, if I'm going to be a king and have a united nation here and lead these people, this is not an easy solution because the people are already divided. How am I going to unite them. Well, he wasn't interested in any of that.

12:07 Had he been, then he would have surely gone to the Lord and not simply listened to two different quangos and the people in general. Is the king under the leadership of God who apparently has no time for God and decides to go in the end with the young man who grew up with him? It is a fascinating thing. As a student, I can remember vividly an old professor teaching me one day the danger of false alternatives. and the way he put it to me was this. We were standing in his room and he looked at me and said, well, Gilbert, would you like to be poisoned or shot? Which is it? Poisoned or shot?

13:05 Decide now. Poisoned or shot? I did manage to stammer out in the end. Well, actually, neither. He said, that's the point. False alternatives. I mean, I basically don't want either. Why should I have to choose between these two?

13:25 These aren't the only two options. You'll probably find that there's a bit of both required and other things that would have brought in. And they could have sought the Lord together, but they didn't. And it happens, doesn't it? It happens in churches. One group says, this church is far too restrictive. It's too tight. It's too traditional.

13:49 Loosen things up and we'll stay. And then the other group says, this church isn't tight enough. And if you make things any looser, we won't stay. So what do you do? Well, you just lurch from one to the other, don't you? Like the pendulum. At least this is the way church history goes, isn't it? Each in reaction to the looseness or the tightness of the other.

14:12 There is an alternative to that. And the alternative is to do what Rehoboam didn't do. And that is to go together to God. Not to a rule book, but to God. And to what he has made clear, to the principles of his word, and seek together the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to work these things through. Paul has a whole letter he wrote to Timothy about how people are to behave in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the dwelling place of God by his spirit. Do we actually believe that God is alive, that Jesus is alive, that the spirit is alive, and he is the head of the church?

15:01 Then seek his wisdom together. Allow the Lord to be king, to be head of his church. and if we can manage to set aside our egos, our power plays, our personal preferences and cultural influences and genuinely listen to the Lord together, he will speak. If Rehoboam had done that, if he'd gone to the temple, if he consulted with God, God would have explained to him, Rehoboam, this is the judgment that's come because of Solomon and his misbehavior. But Rehoboam was not interested in the Lord's perspective. He didn't seek him. And the consequences of his catastrophic foolishness were inevitable.

16:04 The 10 tribes, that is all Bar-Solomon's own tribe of Judah and the closely related tribe of Benjamin, broke away from the house of David. So you've got the 10 and Judah plus Benjamin. They were based in Jerusalem, the 10 and the rest of the country. The kingdom was divided just as God said it would because behind all of this mess, God was working through his purposes. Even using the weakness and arrogant foolishness of Solomon's son. He knew what he was like. He knew what he was going to do. That didn't excuse Rehoboam.

16:47 He was guilty of incredible foolishness and arrogance, but he was at the same time unwittingly fulfilling God's word. It is an interesting perspective on history. I'm a fan of the podcast, The Rest is History, as I know some of you are, and I enjoy listening to it. But I don't get this perspective, that the Lord was behind it, working out his purposes. You'll not get that in history class, probably in school or university. This is a challenging view of history. We find the same thing in Daniel, where we read at the beginning of Daniel, the Lord delivered Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. that ultimately God is in control, faced with disaster and a mess and a spiral of decline that must have seen to them at the time that the world was completely out of control, that if God was there, he didn't care because it's hard to perceive the big picture when you're caught up in a small part of it.

17:54 Very hard. That's one reason why these stories are here, to help us to stand back and say, Well, if God could bring his purposes to fruition out of this mess, then maybe he can bring something out of the mess that I'm in. And something out of the mess that we are in as a country, as a world. These stories are written to try to get us to raise our thinking just a little higher. God's purpose of bringing in Messiah was not going to be thwarted by Rehoboam, Jeroboam, or any other one. He was going to fulfill what he said he was going to do. And we need the same encouragement.

18:49 I'm almost scared to turn the news on. I don't know if you are. Some dreadful things even in the news this morning. a big mudslide in Papua New Guinea. Hundreds of people disappeared. It's just, you know, you look at it and you think, this is just all out of control. We need this perspective. I think of the early church in Acts and all the craziness that had happened and Jesus taken and crucified.

19:20 They're trying to get their heads around that. And then when they went out with the message of the gospel, they were opposed and found themselves beaten and put into prison. And when they gathered together to pray, this is how they prayed, Lord, we don't understand what's going on. And please, you know, this is awful. Would you please change the circumstances because we're completely bewildered. That's not how they prayed. It's complete reverse. They quoted the Old Testament that the kings of the earth have raged and they've risen up against God and against his Christ.

19:53 But they ultimately only did what God in his power and will had decided would happen. So instead of our fear, grant us courage that we might go out with the message with boldness. We need, I need that perspective on history now. And the courage then with that to keep going with this message, even though ours is a tiny minority voice and the cacophony of voices that are filling the airways. Well, Rehoboam responded to the division by doubling down on his foolishness. First, he tried to crush the division by appointing Adoniram, or Adoram, his name switches around, as minister for labor. Now this was a brutal man who had been in charge of the forced labor gangs under Solomon, whereas Jeroboam had been in charge of lighter duties and had done it really well. People loved him, but this man, they hated.

21:13 And predictably, it didn't work. The 10 tribes weren't going to stand for that kind of treatment. They stoned him to death. And Rehoboam had a fast chariot available, fortunately, and managed to make his escape good back to Jerusalem. That was the end of that. You would have thought he would have learned his lesson. But then he attempted something even more foolish. He got all the able young men of Judah and Benjamin to fight the 10 tribes.

21:42 You know, the young guys, he said, you know, we're ruling with scorpions. They got all these guys together and made an army to fight against the 10 tribes to regain the kingdom for him and force them into servitude. And God intervened and forbade him from the folly of it. But even to think of it, you know, it's amazing. I mean, reading this story and reflecting on the lengths to which some leaders will go in order to have their own way, in order to assert their own authority, in order not to lose face. And they don't care who gets hurt or what they sacrifice, how much division is caused. If they can't be boss, they'll burn the house down. we see it in politics we see it in business we see it in public services and sadly sometimes we see it in the church

22:55 in fact the New Testament warns us about the kind of people who must be first must be preeminent like diatrophies if you read John's third letter strong-minded bullies who to get their own way will rely on political dirty tactics, spreading malicious gossip about other leaders to undermine their credibility, and will use the weight of their personality and very often their money to push their way to the top. It's dangerous anywhere, and it is very dangerous in the church. Paul has to warn Titus. And the churches in Crete, they watch out for divisive people. They're to be warned twice to give them an opportunity to change. But if there's no evidence of genuine repentance and change, says Paul, have nothing further to do with them. They're warped and sinful.

24:00 Don't compromise with them. Don't give them a little responsibility in the hope that that will satisfy them. Because you will never satisfy them. It will only feed the problem. Now, I remember in my young days of Christian service, I was warned by a very experienced church leader that there's always someone looking to take over a church. And Paul warns the elders from the church of Ephesus about this kind of thing. Could be folks from without the church, he says, claiming that they love what you're doing, but there's just this one thing. If only you would change that one thing, and they start to agitate and work at it and talk in little groups together and all about this.

24:44 What do you think of that? And I don't like this. And they start talking and they start to spread the infection to get their way and cause division. They haven't done the hard work of putting the church together, of bringing people to Christ, of feeding them over the years, but they'd rather just come in and leech off somebody else's work and twist it and divide the sheep and create their own flock. Or, says Paul, it could come from inside. Be warned and just be careful that you don't turn into that person either wittingly or unwittingly, that you become a lightning rod for disaffection and for division. But there's a key leadership principle underlying the story of Rehoboam. And I think it's this.

25:41 You cannot win the loyal service of the people of God by harsh demands and brute force. Or as my mother used to say to me when I started to preach, don't use the whip. I wonder what she's thinking of this story. And certainly don't use scorpions. all you achieve is resentment and hurt and division so what is the true model of leadership let's think about it as I finish this morning and listen to the king himself and Corrie has already read the verses to us come to me here's the king speaking all you are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke, same word. Take my yoke upon you, my government, my demands, if you like, and learn from me for, why should we do it? Because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

26:58 This is the king talking. And it settles forever the question as to whether the yoke should be light or heavy, easy or harsh. His yoke is easy. Doesn't mean it's lax or even non-existent, as some would hope it was. Jesus makes clear that if we are to learn from him and find rest and actual experience from the restlessness that comes from going our own way, we must accept his yoke, his government. We cannot ask him to teach us, but at the same time leave it open whether or not we accept what he says. I want to know you, Lord. I want to be like you.

27:53 But you see this thing you said? I just don't particularly like that. So could we just leave that out? No, you can't do that. We're not talking about some earthly leader who's fallible and gets things wrong. We're talking about the king of the universe here who's offering us his yoke, his government that we take on ourselves and we walk. Because if we do that, we will find that his yoke is an easy yoke. far easier than the messes we get in for thinking that we know better.

28:28 His yoke is easy. Why should we accept it? Because as a king, he's meek and lowly in heart. Not a proud, arrogant tyrant. And this is the model for Christian leadership. Meekness, not weakness. Meekness, humility, service, setting the tone, the character, the values of what people should experience under godly leadership. That same word yoke is also used in the New Testament for not just government of a king, but for the body of teaching.

29:14 The Jewish rabbis talked about their teaching as a yoke in the sense that they led down the laws which people had to obey. And their yoke was far from easy. In Acts 15, Peter said to those who were seeking to impose the ritualistic laws of Judaism upon new believers, why do you test God by putting on their necks of the Gentiles, a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear. Religion has this tendency. Church can have this tendency. I grew up in the context of a whole raft of rules and regulations, many of them unwritten and certainly not written in the Bible, which however well-meaning were discouraging, wearying, and misrepresented the character and government of the king. So as I finish, let's learn. Let's see him in action.

30:20 Dealing with the harsh and burdensome yoke of religion. Because the next thing that Matthew records is two clashes between Jesus and the religious authorities on the Sabbath. And the first, Jesus is walking through cornfields with his disciples. They were hungry, so they began to pick and eat the corn. I wonder if you've ever done that when you've been out in the countryside. And when the religious authorities, who of course were watching, saw this, they criticized Jesus and they said, your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. In other words, Christ was breaking the Sabbath by allowing his disciples to work, i.e. taking little grains of corn as they walked along. I'm sure you recognize the type of mentality that is behind that.

31:06 Jesus gave two answers to their criticism. First, the case of King David in the Old Testament when he was on the run from Saul and famished, he went into the house of the Lord and he ate the consecrated bread that was kept there solely for the priest. But David ate it. Why? Because the need to keep David alive took precedence over their ceremonial laws, not the other way round. And then Jesus pointed out the priests on duty each Sabbath in the temple. Actually, they break the Sabbath because they are working. Even though everybody outside had to cease from work, they couldn't because God's service must continue seven days.

31:49 And now he said, one greater than the temple is here. Where? Here, in the cornfield. Standing here is one who in himself is greater than the temple. This is God incarnate speaking. These are my servants. The service of God goes on 24-7. Actually, you see that the standards are raised in the New Testament.

32:21 It's not just one day on seven. It's 24-7. The standard is raised. You don't, said Jesus, understand the character of God. The God who says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. They wanted sacrifice and not mercy. Their first thoughts were always to condemn, to catch someone doing something wrong. And they ended up condemning the innocent.

32:59 It's a warning. Religion so easily produces these attitudes. Often thinking that it is upholding the holiness of God. When in fact, they don't even understand the character of God. And finally, he went into a synagogue where he met a man with a shriveled hand. And the Pharisees were looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus. And they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? Because they held that to heal someone on the Sabbath was work and therefore was forbidden.

33:36 And yet Jesus pointed out to them, they also held that it was permissible to rescue a sheep from danger on the Sabbath. In other words, they valued their farm animals higher than they valued the human beings they were supposed to be shepherding. Jesus insisted that a human being is of more value than a sheep and so he healed him and their response was to try to kill him that's where religion leads let me leave you with his question how much then is a man of more value than a sheep? How would you answer it? Sheep have a market value that fluctuates. Apparently, from what I could see, the price a farmer gets for lamb per kilo of dress carcass weight is around £7.50. Any farmers here can sort me out later and either revise that figure up and down. What is our value?

34:52 as a human being? Is it a market value? Does it depend on age and stage and condition? Contribution we can make as it does with sheep? Ask your atheist friends. Has grumpy granda any value? Or a newborn child? On what basis?

35:20 Does value depend on looks, utility, economic contribution? Or has a human being intrinsic value? If there's no creator, the answer to that question ultimately is no. It's no wonder there's so much despair when culture is based on that kind of philosophy. According to Jesus, not only do human beings have value, But it's much more than the value of an animal. We're thinking about that. How much more?

36:01 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That is for us. What other leader, what other system, What other philosophy or religion gives us the same sense of value? Your true value is the value Jesus put on you when he died for you. So here's the double secret of accepting Christ's rule in your life. First, think the right way about Jesus. He's greater than the temple.

36:51 He is God incarnate. Value him as supreme. Not any temple, not any religion, any set of rules or rituals, any institution, any other human being. Second, understand how Jesus thinks of you. You are vastly more valued than any sheep. And when these two things grip your heart, the greatness of Jesus, yet he values us so much, surely that makes it easy for us to come and accept his yoke and learn from him and follow his ways. Let's pray. Father, again we pray that you use your word in our lives, that these ancient stories will stir things up within us, that your spirit will use them to put the finger on misunderstandings or areas of life that need encouragement or need challenge.

38:05 Lord, use your word. Thank you for the kind of king you are and that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.