In the book of First Kings, chapter 14, there is a paragraph
that is seemingly inconsequential. That
is until one looks closer.
In
the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against
Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of
the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold
that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze,
and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door
of the king’s house. And as often as the
king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them
back to the guard room.
(vs. 25-28, ESV)
Did you catch that?
Shishak took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made and Rehoboam
replaced them with shields of brass. The
greater was replaced with the lesser.
The more valuable was replaced with the less valuable. Rehoboam took the easier, cheaper route. Instead of the genuine article, he just kept
polishing up the artificial and trotting it out as the real thing. I wonder how often this is the case for
us? How often do we replace our Shields
of Gold with Shields of Brass?
In the interest of full disclosure, some time ago I read a
book by O.S. Hawkins entitled, Shields of
Brass or Shields of Gold?:
Reestablishing a Standard of Excellence in the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I tried to locate my copy of
this book to make sure I am not plagiarizing Dr. Hawkins points, but apparently
I have lent my copy out. Please know
that any similarities are accidental and unintended.
With that being said, here are some ways I think the church
trades our Shields of Gold for Shields of Brass.
1. We value programs over prayer. Everyday my email, my FaceBook feed, and my
Twitter feed are full of the latest and greatest programs to help you lead your
church to explosive growth, regain momentum, and be the catalytic leader you
have always wanted to be. Interestingly,
the ideas of prayer, fasting, and waiting on the Lord are often absent in such
programs.
2. We value rapid growth over real growth. I grew up on the gulf coast of Texas. On the gulf coast of Texas there are two
trees you can find in abundance: Oak Trees and Tallow Trees. The Oak takes years to grow and develop. It is a strong tree that revered for her
permanence and greatness. On the other
hand, the tallow is a fast growing tree that is disease prone and has a suspect
root system. The only advantage to a
tallow is her ability to provide nice shade in just a couple of years, but she
will soon be gone.
Often we want growth patterns in our churches that resemble
the tallow tree. We want rapid growth,
but we fail to realize that the believers we are producing have suspect root
systems and they are prone to theological disease. Let us instead aim to grow believers that are
like the oak, strong and steady.
3. We value the methods of man over the moves of God. Let’s be honest, with methods, we are in
control. With moves, God is in
control. We can direct were methods take
us, we are at the mercy of God when He moves.
Often, God takes much longer to move while our methods seemingly produce
more rapid results. The difference
however, is in the quality and longevity of what is produced.
The list could go on and on.
The point however remains the same; in our culture of fast moves and
quick results, let us remember to trust in God.
The work of God cannot be imitated.
The less valuable, the easier to obtain, will always be revealed for
what it is, a counterfeit.
Let us not trade our shields of gold for shields of
brass. Let us not sell out for a cheap
substitute as Rehoboam did. Let us do
the work, let us trust in God, let us wait for Him so that we might know what
it is to have the real thing, not a polished, look-a-like, imitation product.
