Brothers and sisters in Christ,

“Everyone’s living for the weekend” –this has been a slogan of our culture for ages, and now science can explain why. Recently, scientists studied the reason why people get so excited about the weekend. They found two reasons – First, community. People look forward to spending time with those they love. The second reason is autonomy. The weekends are our own time. The boss isn’t giving you orders, so you are free to decide whether you want to tackle that home improvement project, spend time with the kids, or just laze around the house. On the weekends, we’re in control of what we do!

Hopefully we don’t see work as drudgery. And, I know that even on the best of weekends, most of us still have quite a bit of responsibility. But there is something here that we can all relate to. You and I are creatures of autonomy. We want to be in control of our lives, don’t we? We find ways to manage everything from minor conveniences to major life decisions. TiVo lets us decide what we watch on TV, when we watch it, and whether or not we will watch commercials. Parents can plan how many children to have, when to have them – and now, even what gender, and what physical traits they will have.

Of course, some of this is okay. God gives us the ability to make decisions on how to lead our lives – but it’s also easy to get carried away. We often hear things today, like, “That may be your idea of right and wrong, but I have a different view of right and wrong.” Or, “That may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” Nowadays, we even want to be in charge of what is true, or what is morally acceptable.

As Christians, we also struggle with this. Sometimes, we want to have control over which parts of God’s will we want to obey. Or when we’ll follow the leading of his Spirit. A little while back, I was walking on the street and I saw an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in some time. She had gone through some troubles recently, and I sensed that little nudge – “Go over and say hi; see how she has been doing.” The Holy Spirit was prompting me to do something – but I was in a hurry, I had a schedule to keep, I wasn’t sure what to say – and so I smiled and waved, and kept on walking. God wanted me to do something, and regrettably, I decided that my way of doing things was better.

Have you ever done that? You sense that God wants you to do something – maybe he wants you to step outside of your comfort zone and befriend a stranger. Maybe he wants you to become involved in serving your community. Maybe he wants you to give up something in your life that is having a negative impact on you. The Holy Spirit nudges you, prompts you, and urges you – but you find ways to talk yourself out of it. You’ll do it later. You don’t want to look silly in front of someone else. You aren’t ready to give up what God is asking you to give up. So you take charge. You do things your way. We’re like that. We want to be the final authority over how we live our lives. We may not live for the weekend, but by nature, we like to be in control.

This desire for self-government was Israel’s fatal flaw. Tonight, we listened to the story of King Jeroboam the Second, and his reign over Israel. His story is just one link in a long chain of self destruction, that began about 250 years earlier. In the days of Samuel the Prophet, the people of Israel were settling into the Promised Land, and as they looked around at their neighbors, they saw that they were different, and they didn’t like it. They were the only ones who didn’t have a king to rule over them – and so they begged Samuel to set up a monarchy. They wanted to be like everyone else.

Israel was supposed to be a theocracy; God was supposed to be their king. Maybe Israel worried that God would get in the way. Maybe they worried that God would be too restrictive, or too demanding. Perhaps they feared that God would interfere with their ambitions. An earthly king would be much easier to reason with. An earthly king might be more understanding, more permissive. So the Israel rallied for a king.

God warned them about the consequences of what they were asking. A king would demand high taxes. He would take the best of their grain and wine. The king would insist on receiving the finest livestock for himself. The King would draft the young men into the military, and the young women into serving in the palace court. A king would mean oppression, and suffering – but the people insisted they knew better, and so God gave them a king.

Now, 250 years have passed since Saul was anointed Israel’s first King, and from the looks of it, the monarchy has been a shining success. The two books of Kings in the Old Testament can be thought of as a collection of performance reviews for all the kings of Israel and Judah. One by one each king is listed by name. But you notice that most of the accounts of their reigns are very brief. King Jeroboam the Second was in power for 42 years – but the author of 2 Kings only devotes 7 verses to his kingship.

Why? Because the author isn’t concerned with the historical events of his lifetime – things we might be curious about. If we want to learn about what happened during the reign of Jeroboam the Second, the author tells us that we have to go and read “the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.” Incidentally, we no longer have that record – and that’s okay. 2 Kings doesn’t evaluate Israel’s kings the way we would. We would probably evaluate a king based on the strength of the economy. We might look at how he did as a military leader. Whether or not the king expanded the territory of the nation. The writer of 1st & 2nd Kings uses an entirely different criteria. He is more concerned with evaluating the Kings based on the spiritual condition of the people under his care.

It’s backwards, in a sense. God is often concerned with different things than we are. What looks like weakness to us, is strength to God. What looks like a shining success is in fact a dismal failure. Israel would have given Jeroboam the Second high marks. If there were opinion polls in those days, he would have had a high approval rating. A majority would have been satisfied with how he handled the military, and the economy. Most were pleased with the direction of the country.

You see, Jeroboam the Second came to office during a time of oppression. Israel’s neighbors – the Arameans, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Assyrians had waged a long series of bitter wars against the people. After years of these ongoing skirmishes, the Israelites grew bitter. They were tired of sending their men into battle. They were tired of the economic suffering brought about by the fighting. They were tired of fragile peace treaties dissolving into war, again and again. They were embittered and they were suffering, and 2 Kings 14:26 tells us that there was “no one to help them.”

Of course, Israel had brought this grief upon themselves, and if it were any one of us, we would wave an “I-told-you-so” banner in front of their faces. Instead, God delivers his people. Jeroboam the Second comes to power, and God uses this king to win a decisive victory against his oppressors. For the 42 years of his reign, Israel enjoyed a time of peace. Not only that, but Jeroboam also ushered in a time of prosperity in the land. He fortified the cities, and he increase military spending. The grapevines were bending under the weight of grape clusters. The storehouses were full of grain. The land prospered, and the wealth trickled down so that everyone enjoyed flourished.

Judged by one standard, Jeroboam was an ideal king. Judged by God’s standard, however, he was a failure. In 2 Kings 14:23, the writer gives us some biographical information. Immediately following this, he gives us Jeroboam’s evaluation. “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did not turn from any of the sins of Jeroboam, the Son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.” This was a crushing indictment of failure against Jeroboam the Second.

Jeroboam, the Son of Nebat is a name we read often in 1st & 2nd Kings. That’s because he was the standard of corruption by which all of Israel’s kings were judged. Jeroboam the Son of Nebat was an employee in the palace of King Solomon, the third king of Israel. King Solomon was so impressed with the man’s work ethic, that he gave him a Cabinet post in his kingdom. When Solomon died, Jeroboam the son of Nebat became the King over the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Like his much later successor, Jeroboam the Son of Nebat was a popular king. In his time, he too brought about economic prosperity and political stability after a time of chaos. One day, he noticed that it was an awful long journey that his people had to make to go up to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. He worried that eventually his people might get tired of travelling so far, and rebel against him. So, he franchised out the temple. He set up shrines in satellite locations so that the people could worship closer to home. He built idols for people who wanted the freedom to choose their religion. He invented religious festivals that were more suitable to the people’s tastes. In First Kings, we read that he opened up the office of the priesthood to anyone that wanted to be priest.

It was state-sponsored idolatry. For the first time in Israel’s history, idol worship was made available to the masses. Jeroboam the Son of Nebat single-handedly pried God’s people away from their God. He gave the people freedom to worship and live how they wanted, where they wanted, and when they wanted. He instituted religious autonomy. And as popular as that made him with the people, in God’s eyes, he became the benchmark of disobedience.

Now, Jeroboam the Second is in power. And again, on the surface, everything appears to be the epitome of success. The fields are full of grain, the winepresses are overflowing with wine, the military was stronger than ever before. But Jeroboam the Second was like his namesake before him. The writer of Kings doesn’t tell us too much about what life was like during his reign – but we can learn a little more from the prophets Hosea and Amos who ministered at that time. They describe a people who gladly went through the motions of religion, while their hearts were far from God.

Sure, they sang songs, uttered the prayers, offered the sacrifices, but they were more concerned with themselves. They wanted church to be over so they could hurry back to business oppressing the poor. They talked about God and his love on the Sabbath, but the next day, they were evicting a widow and her children for being a day late with their rent. The wealthy bribed local officials to look the other way while they confiscated a family’s land. And so it went – and Jeroboam the Second oversaw it all. The King was responsible for ensuring that the people followed God’s Law and Commandments, and Jeroboam was not willing to risk his political capital to call Israel back to true worship and obedience.

That’s the heart of the problem, isn’t it? Israel’s kings, like you and I, were human. Their fallen nature is the same as ours. And, by nature, we all do what is best for ourselves. At one time or another, all of Israel’s kings used their power for their own gain, and for their own advantage. King David used his power to seduce a woman and have her husband killed. Solomon used his position to take 700 wives, against God’s word. Jeroboam set up idols for the masses, in order to keep his approval rating strong.

And don’t we do the same thing? When we are in control of our life we usually do what is in our own best interest. We do what will make us happy. What will make us the least uncomfortable. What will make people like us. When the Spirit prompted me to talk to someone, but I was more concerned with keeping my schedule than what a conversation with this person might mean for the Kingdom of God. If we insist on looking out for ourselves first.

This is a road to destruction. Chasing our own happiness is like chasing the wind. We’ll always be one step behind, and slowly we become frustrated, restless, and in despair. That’s the message of the book of Kings. These two books weren’t written as newspaper accounts of history unfolding. In fact, they were written hundreds of years after these things had taken place, while Israel languished in exile. The nation had collapsed, their enemies had overpowered them, the people had been carried away as slaves, and everyone wanted to know why God had allowed this to happen. 1 & 2 Kings answer this question for us. When God’s people do things their own way, it leads to ruin. Israel wanted a king to rule them; they ended up with an enemy ruling over them.

Thank God, however, that’s not the end of the story. Yes, 1 & 2 Kings show us what went wrong – but they also point us to what God would do right. These books leave us hungry for a superior king who would rule in truth and righteousness. 700 years after Jeroboam II died, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem amidst great fanfare. The people watching in anticipation believed that finally, their king had arrived to deliver them from their enemies. The masses gathered on the streets of Jerusalem that afternoon believed that Jesus was going to govern in power and in might, that he was going to restore the ruins of Israel and make her into a great nation once again.

Things didn’t turn out as the people expected. Jesus did not come to do what was best for himself, he didn’t come to be a popular king, and he didn’t come to satisfy political ambitions. Jesus came, as Mark 10 tells us, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is a truly righteous king. He rules by serving. Jesus comes and gives up his own life on our behalf. And because Jesus was obedient to the Father, even to death, God raised him up, and seated him on the throne, where he is king over all creation.

That means that Jesus is our king today. Jesus is not just a savior, or a friend, or a brother – he is also a king. When we confess that we belong, body and soul in life and in death to Jesus, we are confessing that Jesus is our king. What does that mean for us? Well, Jesus rules differently than most. He governs us by his word and Spirit, as the Catechism says. What that means is that living under his rule is not about forced obedience, or fearful subservience. No, as we hear God’s word, as we read it ourselves, as we study it, we begin to see how God wants his people to live. We begin to understand what obedience is all about. And the Spirit changes us within.

Soon, his will becomes our will. His thoughts our thoughts. His desires, our desires. His words, our words. Maybe we don’t even realize that it’s happening. You look back to last week, last month, last year, and you don’t feel all that different, or more mature as Christian. But then, think back 10 years. Are you the same person? No, you’re not. You’ve grown. You’ve matured. In that time, the Holy Spirit has refined you. He’s taught you patience through experience. He’s helped you become compassionate towards others by allowing you to go through a painful time. He’s helped you to be generous, by reminding you that everything you have belongs to God – and not to you.

I want to close with something that the Apostle Paul says, in Galatians, that summarizes what it means that Jesus is our King. He says “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Christ lives in me. He alone guides us and directs us, he aligns our will with his. Our thoughts with his. May Jesus Christ govern our lives by the power of his word and Spirit!

AMEN.