Jeroboam, 1st king of the divided northern kingdom of Israel,
created a new system of Judaism centered at altars he erected in Bethel and in
Dan.
The king gave an official public statement for why he was building a new
system of churches and ordaining a new set of priests.
He said: It is too much for you to
go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the
land of Egypt! (1 Kings 12: 28)
His statement had 2 main points: (1)
“I’m doing this to improve your lives.” (2)
“This is your true heritage.”
That was the
official statement. But the official statement
was not the real reason.
The real reason was
Jeroboam’s desire for power.
Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom
may return to the house of David: If
these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem,
then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of
Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.” (1
Kings 12: 26-27)
Translation: “If I let these people just go on worshipping God without
interferene, they’ll eventually get back to the way God had originally set
things up. And then, they won’t need or
want me anymore.”
Thus King Jeroboam
created a new system under the guise of
(1)
Breaking
with the old, irrelevant traditions (Liberalism) ; and
(2)
Taking
the nation back to its true original roots (Conservatism).
By the time of Jeroboam II and the prophet Amos, the religious leaders in
Israel no longer saw a difference between their faith and the king’s political
agenda. In fact, they would modify
their religious declarations to fit the king’s political platform.
What’s worse, they would attack any believer who stood up to question
their political platform, even when the dissenter was speaking exactly God’s
truth.
So, when God sent the prophet Amos with a message of rebuke and
condemnation, the politicians didn’t have to pressure the church to silence
Amos. The established authority of the
church initiated the attacks on behalf of the beloved political agenda they
were trying to protect.
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to
Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst
of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said: ‘Jeroboam shall die
by the sword, And Israel shall surely be led away captive From their own land.’
”
Then Amaziah said to Amos: “Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, And there prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, For it is
the king’s sanctuary, And it is the royal residence.” ( Amos 7:10-13)
Not the people’s sanctuary---- the KING’S sanctuary. Not the place where the Lord resides---- the
king’s residence.
Bethel was the place established (supposedly) for the people to worship
God, but the priest isn’t trying to protect the sanctity of Bethel
scripture. The priest is trying to
protect the sanctity of Bethel’s politics.
By the time Jesus walked the lands in which Amos had preached, the people
there had thoroughly lost their identity.
So much so that Jesus told a woman of the lands, “You don’t even know what you worship.” (John
4: 22)
They weren’t even Jews anymore.
They were Samaritans.
Politicians cannot and should not tell us what it means to be a Christian. When the words “conservative” and “liberal” mean the exact same thing in a
church as they do in Congress then something is very, very wrong with the
church.
The church and the people of the church should be involved in politics,
but we must never be defined by it.
If we are, if we are a faith-based extension of any political platform; then we are enroute to losing ourselves; and one day, the Lord will look at us and say, “You don’t even know what you’re worshipping, do you?”
If we are, if we are a faith-based extension of any political platform; then we are enroute to losing ourselves; and one day, the Lord will look at us and say, “You don’t even know what you’re worshipping, do you?”
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer,
community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in
Montgomery, Alabama.
To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall
Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .
If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community.
Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
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