Sermon(1 Kings 13): The duty of the prophet of God

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252653

 

 

 

>> ... 2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn insense upon you, and men’s bones shall be burned upon you.’” .... 7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place; 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way that you came.’” .... 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. ... 20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but have come back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” .... (1 Kings 13) <<

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My brethren, do not shift the blame for your crime on others when you have transgressed the word of God. Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge and tried to impute the sin to his girl friend Eve, but he was not exempted from punishment at all and incurably hurt Eve's heart. Most of human sins are related to the pleasure of the body. People go ahead with theft when hungry, and dare to steal the wallet of money when they have no money. Is it fair to impute the responsibility of sin to another man after tasting the carnal pleasures through the sin? Even if you were seduced to commit sins by another man, it was not the seducer but you who enjoyed the sweetness of the fruit of the sins, so the seducer will be punished only for the seduction, and you, for all the sins themselves, despite the fact that you were instigated to commit sins by him. It is the law of God. You ate the fruit of sin while committing the sin, but now you're trying to go unpunished. Who are you? Neither the world nor the God is so easy as pie.

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Today's biblical text is about a tragic servant of God. This happened in the days of Jeroboam, the first king of (the North) Israel, who committed idolatry. The king went crazy and sinned, so that many people went to hell, and a naive servant of God was torn to death by a lion. Jeroboam built an altar at Bethel as he liked, and erected a calf idol, declaring, "This is the manifestation of the Lord." Furthermore he appointed some people as the priests of the Lord at will. So God told his servant living in Judah to go to Israel and prophesy in Bethel. The prophet declared while the king was sacrificing sheep to the idol. He said, "O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and men's bones shall be burned upon you.'" And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: 'Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. (v. 2, 3)'" And the king got angry and stretched out his hand against the prophet, saying, "Lay hold of him!" But immediately the hand dried up, and he could not draw it back to himself. The king begged him to pray to God for him that his hand might be restored. His hand became normal when the prophet prayed to God. The king proposed that he come to his palace to eat and drink and to have a rest. The prophet refused his invitation, saying, "The Lord said to me, 'You shall neither eat bread, nor drink water (in this kingdom), nor return by the way that you came.'" However, an aged man of God was living near there. His son saw all this and said it to him. The aged prophet went after the prophet from Judah, and asked him to come to his house and have a meal together. The old prophet of Israel wanted to invite the prophet of Judah and to entertain him heartily with the best meal. The prophet of Judah refused his goodwill, so he said to the prophet of Judah, "I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.'" At this word, the prophet from Judah followed the old man; but when he was about to eat the bread, the word of God came upon the old prophet. He declared the judgement of God to the prophet from Judah, "Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers." After the meal, the prophet of Judah departed for home, but a lion met him and killed him. But the old prophet of Israel was not punished for that as far as I know.

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My brethren, does the judgment of God seem unjust? If I were the God, I would kill the old prophet but pardon the prophet from Judah. Perhaps the God had a different thought. We must understand why God didn't place the heavy blame on the old prophet. The man had a goodwill that he would treat well the servant of God who came from far away. As Abraham unawares treated the angels of God well and was much blessed, so the prophet, out of the feelings of Abraham, would serve the prophet from Judah. But when the prophet from Judah refused the invitation on the command of God, the old prophet, thinking it was just a formal refusal, said to the man, "I also a servant of God. Actually, the angel of God told me so and so concerning you." But it was a white lie. As a matter of fact, didn't the angels of God at first refuse Lot's invitation when they got in Sodom? But the prophet from Judah firmly believed him, and quickly accepted the invitation for he was very hungry and exhausted. We know that, from the beginning, the old prophet didn't wickedly try to seduce the prophet from Judah in order to make him fall into the pit. If you were the God, could you punish the old prophet of Israel?

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It is not good to be inquisitive about the reasons of God's commands. Nevertheless we can suspect that there was a good reason why God commanded the prophet from Judah not to eat anything while fulfilling the mission and not to return by the way that he came. And God had to punish the unfaithful prophet severely because the strict will of God could not be communicated to the people as the result of his fatal mistake. According to my narrow view, God gave such a command in order to make it clear to all the people of Israel that he would desert Israel completely. The servant of God is the agent of God. If such a servant of God had eaten and drunk in (the North) Israel, the firm stand of God wouldn't been known to the people, and the people could have had the misunderstanding that God was friendly to Israel. Therefore God had ordered the prophet not to eat and drink and wander from place to place but to declare just the judgement and get out of the north kingdom as soon as possible.

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What is the sin of this Judahite prophet? He disobeyed the word of God. He turned around and went again to Bethel, and ate bread and drank water in the house of the old Israelite prophet. He was not exempted from punishment despite the fact that the old prophet persuaded him, making mention of an angel of God; for God didn't say to him that the word of the old prophet was a truth. People can tell a lie maliciously or tell a white lie by courtesy. A servant of God should never incline his ear to the words of lies of a man, follow him, and ignore the words of God because he is tired, hungry and thirsty. My brethren, however good a man may be, however holy a position he may have, you must not always believe that his words are true. In particular, never nullify the words of God you have heard from God even if the words such a man gives you by courtesy are very satisfactory to you. He does not know the words you have received from God. So he can say as he thinks. Especially, he can give you polite plausible words to save your face, therefore you'll be gravely punished by God if you, thinking his words are more credible than God’s, follow his words. Suppose, for example, that you are known to many as someone who has mature faith and loves God. You, as a devout Christian, wanted to work more for God, and prayed to him, "Lord, could I be your servant and build a church?" Let's say that, some time later, God said to you, "You're serving me well enough now, so don't think about ordination or about establishment of a church." Nevertheless you couldn't free yourself completely from the desire to become a servant of God and to build a church. And you talked with a pastor you revered, by chance. You simply asked him, "Can a man like me be a pastor and build a church?" He, knowing you were a good Christian, gave you, without any earnest prayer, an answer, saying, "What a good idea! God will be delighted in your plan." If you, trusting only in the pastor, try to be ordained and build a church, the blame for the disobedience will be put not on the pastor but only on you. My brethren, keep this in mind: The words that God has given you before remain valid unless he revokes his words later, whatever words another man may say. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to him, and then he plainly ordered him, "Do not lay your hand on the lad!" My brethren, if anyone says to you differently from what you have heard from God, do not rashly follow his words but inquire of God again. If the revised words are the true will of God, he will let you know that they are God's words. If there is no answer from God, the words you've received first are still valid. Above all, do not rashly follow the plausible advice of others. (And almost all of God's commands are hardly altered.)

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We should follow the attitude of the old prophet. The words of God came to him when he was about to have a meal with the Judahite prophet whom he respected. "This prophet from Judah in front of you has broken my order that he should not eat or drink here, or turn back. So say to him that he must die." So the old prophet immediately declared God's judgment to the Judahite prophet without any addition or subtraction of words. Yes, my brethren! A servant of God must pronounce God's words without any alteration or any consideration of other's position. Sometimes God speaks to people through our actions. The act itself is the solemn word of God then. If we thoughtlessly exert addition or subtraction on it or alter it, God's plan will fail utterly; so he certainly punishes the disobedient servant. By punishing such thoughtless act severely, God again makes it clear to the people that the will of God that the servant of God first tried to declare by his act (that is, by fasting) is his resolute will. People saw the Judahite prophet torn dead on the way by a lion and realized that the words of God he first declared was the unalterable words of God. You may think the punishment of the attack of a lion was too much. But you must know how God was enraged at the disobedient prophet, who had declared God's judgement upon Jeroboam who had betrayed God. And if God pardoned the prophet without any penalty, wouldn't Jeroboam require forgiveness of God, saying, "Lord, you've forgiven even the disobedient prophet of God. So pardon me, too!"?

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We learn from today's biblical text that we should always be careful not to fall. The Judahite prophet became proud when the alter of Bethel was torn down as he proclaimed, and king's paralyzed arm was recovered as he said. He thought himself to be somebody. He were heading home with such elated heart. And the old Israelite prophet ran to him and politely invited him to his home. The man of gray hair was so polite that the Judahite prophet became more elated. This prophet was deeply moved when the old prophet invited him to the meal, mentioning the angel of God. 'Oh, even the angel of God ...!' The prophet almost fainted for joy. 'Just as I thought! God can't let me be alone when I am so exhausted, hungry and thirsty. Who am I? Am I not a servant of God?' My brethren, do not be proud but be always humble. God opposes all who oppose his will and word. God made Jeroboam's arm stiff when he defied the prophecy of the Judahite prophet, made the altar on which sacrifices were placed to the idol torn down, and made the prophet torn to death by a lion when he transgressed his command. By all these accidents, we can know how God hated Jeroboam whom God had appointed as the king of Israel, who, however, betrayed him and forgot his help, and served a calf idol. Jeroboam's house was destroyed completely later. God deserts forever him who, having received God's grace so much, betrays him. And you must not rashly use God's name to make others think your thought to be God's will. The faithful servant of God had to be bitten and killed by a beast thanks to a frivolous tongue of a man. Christians should not tell even a white lie.

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Later, Josiah king of Judah carried out the reformation of the religion of all Israel. He wiped out all idolatry of the North Israel then. The altar on which kings of Israel offered sacrifices to the calf idol was destroyed and defiled. It was the moment when the prophecy of the Judahite prophet was fulfilled. King Josiah saw his tomb and paid respect to him who had come from Judah to prophesy there, but been torn to death by a lion when returning home. God had to kill the prophet to show people his stern will, but kept the prophet's honor because he didn't break God's command purposely. Nor did the lion eat his body. Of course, God might have led the prophet to heaven and comforted him. "My beloved servant, it's a great pity that I couldn't help but do so. I took your life early, because many people could be saved when they knew my true intention by your death. Stop weeping, and have eternal rest and joy here."

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May you receive God's grace and never betray him. May you be blessed by obeying God's word.

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Chong Tack Kim

                                      - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

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