Sermon Tone Analysis

ATTENTION

For all of you fathers who have daughters about to leave home out there, I want to give you something to give them.

Having handed my own stradaverius to a gorilla, I offer these up as pieces of advice to share with your daughters:

Number 1: Don't imagine you can change a man - unless he's in diapers.

Number 2: What do you do if your boyfriend walks-out?

You shut the door.

Number 3: If they put a man on the moon - they should be able to put them all up there.

Number 4: Never let your man's mind wander - it's too little to be out alone.

Number 5: Go for younger men.

You might as well - they never mature anyway.

Number 6: Men are all the same - they just have different faces, so that you can tell them apart.

Number 7: Definition of a bachelor: a man who has missed the opportunity to make some woman miserable.

Number 8: Women don't make fools of men - most of them are the do-it-yourself types.

Number 9: If you want a committed man, look in a mental hospital.

It’s that number 9 that we saw come true again last week.

Do you remember this guy?

This is Mark Sanford.

Seems he thought that he could sneak down to Argentina and have a fling with his mistress for the weekend and get back before anyone missed him.

Seems his staff thought they could cover for him by simply saying that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail . . .

alone.

There was only one problem: Mark Sanford’s the governor of South Carolina.

All of his time is accounted for and, as a governor, he must be under the watchful eye of his security team at all times.

Not only that, but there are news reporters in South Carolina who follow him around constantly just to see what he is doing.

To think you can sneak to Argentina as the governor of a state is nothing short of lunacy.

He may have belonged in a mental hospital, but he obviously wasn’t a committed man.

Now, please understand, I don’t just want to take shots at the guy.

I’ve been pretty foolish in the midst of my own sin, too.

The reason I bring it up is to simply illustrate how unwise and undiscerning we all can sometimes be, especially when it comes to our sin.

Even as believers, we desperately need discernment.

BACKGROUND:

Well, he wasn’t the governor of a state, but he was the King of Israel.

At least, that’s how he saw himself.

After all, as Solomon’s son, he was the heir of the greatest Jewish king who ever reigned.

The throne was his and he was ready to claim it.

There was only one problem: He didn’t have a lot of discernment.

Read his story with me in 1 Kings 12:1

Then Solomon rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father.

And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

12 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt), 3 that they sent and called him.

Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.”

And the people departed.

6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

9 And he said to them, “What advice do you give?

How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” 10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist!

11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’

”

So Rehoboam does as his younger advisers urge him.

V. 15 adds this

15 So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word, which the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:

“What share have we in David?

We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.

To your tents, O Israel!

Now, see to your own house, O David!”

So Israel departed to their tents.

17 But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died.

Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

20 Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel.

There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

Rehoboam was a king who desperately needed discernment that he obviously didn’t have.

NEED

You may feel the same way.

You may be facing a decision today that is absolutely crucial to your future.

Hey, some of you teenagers are deciding what college God wants you to attend and you’ve looked in this direction and in that direction and you’re still not sure what to do: You need discernment.

Some of you single adults are trying to decide about marriage.

You may have already said “yes” to the proposal, or maybe you were on the asking side, but now you’re beginning to have misgivings.

You’re questioning some things and you don’t know if you’re doing the right thing or not: You need discernment.

Some of you are uncertain about what God’s calling you to do.

You have this sense that God has His hand on you and you’ve even thought about going away to the Bible College or to seminary.

You need to make a decision about your calling and you just aren’t sure what to do: you need disernment.

Some of you are about to make a decision and you need to make a good one and others of you have already made a decision and it was a bad one.

Maybe you trusted someone who really let you down and you feel betrayed, angry, and ashamed.

Maybe you failed in your own walk with the Lord in some major way and you know you’ve blown it.

Now you’re suffering the consequences of bad choices, may I tell you, you still need discernment.

Sometimes it takes more discernment to pull out of a bad decision and cut your losses than it took to avoid it in the first place.

You may need discernment to refuse to cover up your foolishness anymore.

Whatever your circumstances, I want you to know this morning that godly discernment is something everyone needs.

If that is true, how can we find it?

Well, Rehoboam’s story provides us with some clear answers to that question.

You see, you can have godly discernment when you:

DIV 1 - EVALUATE YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES

EXPLANATION

Since you just read the story, you obviously realize that Rehoboam made some fairly serious miscalculations in this situation.

When you really analyze the text, you discover that he didn’t make a good evaluation of the circumstances he was facing.

For one thing, he misunderstood his opponent.

Now by his opponent, I mean Jeroboam.

You meet Jeroboam back in chapter 11.

You remember that God rejected Solomon because of his tolerance for idolatry.

Jeroboam was the one whom God had Ahijah anoint as the next king of Israel to serve in Solomon’s place.

Well, being anointed king while the current king is still there can be a fairly risky proposition, so, not wanting to lose his head, Jeroboam flees to Egypt.

V. 2 of chapter 12 tells us that, when Solomon dies, the people of Israel send for Jeroboam.

They were thinking coup-de-tat.

These people weren’t exactly asking nicely.

They were pretty much demanding that Rehoboam make some changes.

By his response, Rehoboam shows us that he either thought he was strong enough to overcome their opposition, or he totally misunderstood what he was up against.

Either way, he made a poor evaluation of his circumstances and he did a very foolish thing.

And it wasn’t just his opponent he misunderstood, he also misunderstood his people.