February 2013 services overview
3rd
Theme:
Readings:
Disobedience costs; obedience rewards
1 Kings 13:1 – 3, 20 – 22, 33 – 34
Matthew 7:24 - 29
There is much controversy among commentators about this story. The prophet who gives the
man of God a false message is later used by God to tell the prophet God’s word. The man of God
is killed because he listens to a false message from the prophet. Thank you to the person who
requested some answers on this!! 
It would be easy to say this is an allegorical story designed to teach us a particular principal. It
would be easy to say but it actually creates bigger problems if we do that. This story occurs in the
midst of one of the historical books of the Bible. The book of Kings is best thought of as holy or
prophetic history that is history seen from the prophet’s viewpoint. Jewish tradition says the author
is the prophet Jeremiah but there are reasons to doubt this. It’s probably best to say we don’t
actually know who compiled the various bits of information into one place. The purpose was
clearly to show that Israel is expected to keep God’s law especially in worship.
Each King’s reign is evaluated on whether or not they did this. He did what was right in the sight
of the Lord or He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. King Omri was a powerful, successful
King of Israel but he only gets 8 verses because he was one who did evil in the sight of the Lord
and did more evil than all who were before him. All his political prowess was worth nothing if he
didn’t lead the people in the ways of God.
Our story falls within the reign of Jeroboam. Jeroboam was the first king of Israel – re rebelled
against Solomon and was exiled until Solomon died. He was a popular choice for the first king of
the Northern Kingdom Israel but he built shrines to rival the Temple. He established an alternative
priest hood, built golden calves supposedly for Yahweh to stand on. All of this threatened worship
of the One true God. No wonder God sent a Man of God to Jereboam to challenge his leadership.
It’s a very sad indictment on the state of the Northern Kingdom that God doesn’t choose anyone
from there; instead he sends a Man of God from the Southern Kingdom to speak his word.
David’s Kingdom came from the Southern Kingdom.
The Prophecy
The Man of God predicts the overthrow of all that Jeroboam has set up against God. Josiah ( who
from Judah, the Southern Kingdom, the house of David) will come and do that says God.
Needless to say Jeroboam was freaked out. The prophecy was fulfilled 350 years later but
Jeroboam thought the threat was imminent and worried about it constantly from this moment. And
miraculous signs accompany the prophecy – the kings hand is withered and the altar is smashed
on the same day. The man of God does pray for restoration of the King’s hand.
Next the King tries to get him to come home with him with the promise of food and gifts. Clearly
he is trying to bribe the man and to revoke the word of God against him. There is no sign of
repentance from Jeroboam. He wants a quick fix!
The man of God’s response is very clear. V8&9 No way! God told me not to eat while in the
region. God also said he must go home a different way.
Now why would God say that? Probably it was because if the Man of God ate there he would be
having fellowship and thereby agreeing with the idolatry that was going on. God was saying “Keep
yourself pure Man of God. Stay away from all the evil being perpetrated.” And the man of God
does keep separate – he obeys God.
Now this is where it gets really tricky! Along comes this other dude – called a old prophet.
Probably this guy was used by God in the past, still had some kind of relationship with God and
yet had also remained in the land where idols were worshipped. He said an angel had appeared
and it was okay to eat in the land. He came at a time when the Man of God was probably tired
and weak from fasting and from speaking out God’s unpopular word on holiness. He’d travelled a
significant distance and he was exhausted. Then comes the old prophet. To cut to the chase the
old guy lied outright on the face of it. It is possible he did see an angel and that angel was not one
of God’s angels but a messenger of evil. Either way the Man of God listened to the old prophet
and ate and drank.
Why did he do this? He’d had a clear word from God! Why did he disobey???
There were clearly a number of contributing factors. The fact remains that the Man of God knew
what God had said and disobeyed it.
No matter how natural and seductive the enticement was, the man of God should have resisted it.
He had a word from God to guide his actions. He shouldn’t have accepted any other word accept
through dramatic and direct confirmation by God’s Spirit. It is very rare for God’s mind to change.
(One apparent example is Gen 18:16 – 33 where Abraham pleads for God’s mercy for Sodom).
The man’s failure at this point ended his usefulness as a man of God.
Now the story gets even trickier! The old prophet – the lying or deceived one – becomes the one
who speaks truth. You’ve disobeyed God’s word so you aren’t going to make it home. This truth
is shocking to our ears – his disobedience results in death. It was a huge disgrace in those days
not to be buried with your family.
Why is God so harsh here?
God was harsher to the Man of God than he was to Jeroboam who reigned for 22 years and
apparently died a natural death.
God was harsher to the Man of God than he was to the old prophet. Apparently he received no
punishment.
Why was God so harsh?
Maybe we are asking the wrong question. Perhaps we ought to be asking whether the Man of
God was innocent or disobedient. I think our previous discussion leads us to the latter. The fact
of the matter whether we like it or not is that God expects more from his own people than he does
from those who do not follow him.
We think that strict judgment should begin among the most ungodly, but often God begins strict
judgment among His own people
1 Peter 4:17 - 18 God has already begun judging his own people. And if his judgment begins with
us, imagine how terrible it will be for those who refuse to obey his message. The Scriptures say,
18 “If good people barely escape, what will happen to sinners
and to others who don’t respect God?”
God’s judgment falls on his people first because we are the only hope for people who don’t know
God. God knows that the world will not be reached when His people are compromising and
disobedient.
We Christians must build our lives on God’s Word, on God’s Command, on a relationship with
Christ that doesn’t fade away when it is inconvenient for us to be true to him. Jesus parable about
building on solid rock carries a warning that is easy to miss. It’s very unlikely that the person who
built on sand wasn’t in the house when it crashed!! More likely than not, the head of the house
would have been killed along with his family, when the house fell.
If we are disobedient we can’t blame someone else. It’s no good saying the devil made me do it.
The woman made me do it. It is someone else’s fault. When God speaks to us directly we must
obey his word – in its entirety.
Back to the story – the old prophet who caused all the trouble in the beginning becomes a true
prophet. He declares the word of the Lord to the Man of God. When the man dies he grieves over
him. The old prophet testifies to the truth of the original message the Man of God brought and
asks to be buried with him when his time comes. This identification with him, indicates the old
prophet’s remorse his own part in the man’s death.
And the sad story ends. Jeroboam does not repent. The Man of God is dead and the old prophet
remains in the Northern Kingdom.
What can we learn from this story?
Why was the Man of God sucked into disobedience? What was it about the old prophet that made
the Man of God give into him when he didn’t give into the King?
 The prophet was older – that automatically gave him authority (perhaps he
was regarded as the person in Kenya who used his authority to tell the people
from Bethlehem College they weren’t to say anything about who was driving
the bus until they got back to NZ)
 The prophet aligned himself with the man of God (I too am a prophet as you
are).
 The prophet a supernatural experience – he said the angel spoke
 The prophet claimed to speak for the Lord (by the word of the Lord).
 The prophet didn’t offer obvious bribery like the King did – he only offered
simple food and water
You are intelligent people and can figure out the parallels here. The main point is that when God
speaks we must obey. The spiritual lives of the people around us depend on it. If we fail God he
will choose someone else and we ourselves will die – perhaps not be eaten by a lion – but
everytime we disobey God a part of us shrivels up. As that happens our hearts become hardened
until we no longer hear from God at all.
This story is a serious warning – one we must heed. It is not designed to bring condemnation but
repentance. The Holy Spirit wants us to be people who hear and obey the word of God; people
who will step out in faith to see his mission fulfilled. God’s mission for us is to reach out to the
people of Richmond and Waimea with a living faith in him. This is a mission we must not dilute or
turn from. I know many are asking :How are we to do this?” We have some indications – we are
doing some things already. Girl’s Brigade – Friends n Fun – youth group – the afternoon AAW
group has among its members some who don’t come to church – we are looking into a community
lunch – we have begun in a small way with freshperspective – the parent mentoring program.
(Trianing is about to begin for new mentors btw see Nikki Pritchard if you feel called by God to
this).
Holy Trinity exists to worship God in Christ, to know him and to make him known. This is God’s
word to us and if we are not doing it, we are in trouble.