Dr. Gregory Reid
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December 5, 2012

 

God has a “gold standard.” He has it for truth, treat for His church, for ministry and for His children.

In the days of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, the enemy had come into God’s house and stolen the Gold Shields. Rehoboam replaced them with bronze ones.

There is so much to be learned through Rehoboam’s short life. Solomon, his father, had deteriorated from a wise man of God to a compromised pagan idol worshipper consumed by his love of – and lust for – women.

Solomon’s son – like all the Kings, and all of us – started with nothing but possibilities before him. Through hundreds of years of kings – and hundreds of years of Christians – it has been the same. God lays before us an opportunity to do His will, to seek Him out, to do spectacular exploits. He awaits our faith – our determination – our willingness to pay the price and to walk in His ways.

Rehoboam failed – spectacularly. He learned nothing from his father’s mistakes. He cared little for his father’s God.

At first, it looked like he might start out his reign making good decisions. He called his father’s advisors and counselors together and asked them how he should rule. Their advice should be the gold standard of every pastor, youth pastor and ministry leader: “If you will be a servant to these people this day, and serve them, then they will be your servants forever.” In other words, serve like Jesus did, and people will be more than willing to help you shoulder the work of the Kingdom. (1 Kings 12:1-11)

But, Rehoboam ignored their counsel. Instead he asked his childhood buddies what they thought. They told him to tell the people, “My father put a heavy burden on you. I’m going to add to it!” His arrogance split the kingdom into pieces.

I’m very concerned about the new template for youth ministry and church. Oh, I know, I’m one of the old school now…how did that happen? But my concern is not from my age, but from experience. The emergent model goes something like this: “Hey, we appreciate all you older folks and what you did. Hey, hang around, we need mentors. But it’s our time, so just try to quietly exit stage left and let us run the show now.”

But that’s not God’s way. As a young minister, I never would have DREAMED of doing what I did without not just godly peers, but fathers and mothers in the faith. In the tough times, my peers offered me prayers and mainly, “Well, just trust God.” But my mothers and fathers in Jesus gave me hard-won wisdom tried in the fire, and their ministry to me provided the backbone of all I am now.

“Teach it to your children, and your children’s children…” That is God’s Way.

“Youth run ministry,” without the net of elders will always end in arrogance, pride and shattered lives.

I heard someone talking about the need for “younger elders.” I had to laugh at this ultimate oxymoron. Elders are supposed to be….ELDER.

No, wisdom does not always come with age. And I am always telling our kids about Jeremiah and Timothy and Daniel and the kids that changed the world. Even now I am watching God raise up an army of Spirit-filled, on-fire kids filled with the Word of God and His Power. There is no question that the torch will be passed to the next generation – as it should be.

My concern is that this Rehoboam generation is running a race, but no torch has been passed. They’re just…running. They are sprinting for a marathon. They will burn out without marathon training and the torch being passed from battle-hardened and tested – though weary – soldiers that have gone before them. A guaranteed recipe for spiritual disaster is a Rehoboam youth ministry that only accepts its own counsel.

Because of Rehoboam’s poor choices in counsel, the result was a series of more poor choices that ended in a failed reign and a divided Kingdom. Whenever we as Christian leaders take our counsel from the world, the popular and the exciting, we have abandoned the tried path in favor of the easy one. God, nevertheless, would not allow the total removal of Judah or Rehoboam. He even made allowances for Rehoboam’s youth and experience.

But Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Judah and robbed the temple. He took the gold shields Solomon had made. Rehoboam replaced them with bronze ones. So when the king came to the temple, instead of the glorious gold shields being brought out to attest to the king’s glory, they brought out cheap brass ones. (1 Kings 14:25-28)

Same form, different value.

I see in this a cautionary tale for our modern church. The very scary thing about churches and ministries is that you follow certain worldly success formulas, you CAN have a successful church. The scarier part is that you can do all of that, and the Spirit of God may not even be present anymore.

Same form – different value.

There was a time – and I am witness to it – that the Spirit of God’s presence and power was moving on the church, saving young lives by the thousands, healing, setting captives free and changing lives forever. That was the GOLD STANDARD that I cannot let go of or settle for less than.

But settle we did.

The thing about the Spirit of God is, He is a wind that blows where He will. He is a Cloud that MOVES, and when we get a “formula” to try to patent, expand or exploit what God is doing, He WILL move on. That is precisely why we are in such a spiritual mess now. The Jesus movement of the 1970’s – good thing. But it scared leaders because there was no “control” to what the Spirit was doing. So they took control with the horrid Shepherding movement which proceeded to slaughter thousands of young believers and sent the Spirit of God packing.

Following that were a series of man-created movements, and after a generation of exchanging the Gold Shields of the Glory of God for the Bronze facimilies of manmade religious experiences, the fruit is megachurch, seeker friendly and the Purpose Driven. Never has there been a more humanistic, corporate imitation of the Spirit of God’s genuine outpouring than this. And in some ways, the Emergent mess is like Jeroboam, who had come to reason with Rehoboam and was rejected, and proceeded to depart and start his own very un-anointed Kingdom.

Yes, we still have the shields. We still raise them as a show of power, prosperity and “purpose.” But they are a cheap imitation of the Gold Shields of Glory God wanted for us. We have a FORM of godliness but deny the power thereof.

God is still looking for those who not settle for the bronze show, but who long for the REAL of God’s Spirit. The word is always, “Return…remember…rebuild…”. For God to raise up a true, anointed, Spirit-filled church, He needs those who recognize that what we have is NOT the true. It is a substitute. He needs those who are willing to pay the price to halt the madness of doing just to do, building just to build, and working just to look busy and feel like we’ve got a purpose, who will abandon every human plan and seek the Lord for HIS way – HIS will- and HIS plan. He seeks those who will return to His will, remember how He works, and rebuild HIS house – one not of hands, but of heart, Spirit and truth. God give us that heart. May He return to us the Gold Shields that proclaim His glory and destroy from us the Brass shields that seek only to proclaim ours.

Gregory Reid