The Danger of Convenience

1 Kings 12:25-33

In the passage for this sermon Jeroboam is afraid that children of the 10 Northern Tribes which have made him King will return to the serving the King of Judah if they go back to Jerusalem and worship the Lord in Jerusalem. So he sets up two golden calves, one in Bethel and one in Dan. He also builds altars for them and sacrifices to the calves. He declares feast to make this match what Israel was used to as a nation.

In verse 28 we see that he told Israel, “it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem”. Here is where we see convenience enter the picture. It was more convenient for the 10 Northern Tribes to worship where he put the calves than to go up to Jerusalem.  Today we have many modern conveniences and we are not saying that all of them are bad, but there is a danger usually associated with convenience. One of the definitions of conveniency in the dictionary is ease or freedom from difficulty. This is what modern day man wants, no hard work. They want everything to come easy or to be given to them.

1)  The Deception of Convenience (verses 28-33)

There is always more going on behind the scenes than we can see when it comes to convenience. Take for instance the calves. Why did he make golden calves? Satan was behind the scenes getting Israel to worship an image of him.

Satan as a calf or ox (Ezekiel 1:10 ; 10:14 ; Revealtion 4:7). He was the anointed cherub that covereth in his original position (Ezekiel 28:14). Man likes to go back to what he knows or is comfortable with that is where convenience comes in note the similarities with what happens here and in Exodus 32:1-8 when they made their first golden calf.

2)  The Allure of Convenience (verse 28-33)

Jeroboam put one of the golden calves in Bethel. Bethel was a famous place. It was where Abraham built an altar for the Lord (Genesis 12:7-9 ; Genesis 35:3). He appealed to a spiritual note by putting the idols where he did. He also created a feast to make Israel comfortable with these new idols.

Many churches today have forsaken the old paths and the word of God for convenience and they have done it for what appears on the surface to be a spiritual reason. We can reach more people or it draws bigger crowds etc. But anything worth building or have doesn’t come easy, this sis the allure of Convenience.

3)  The Danger of Convenience (verse 30)

The danger is simply stated in verse 30 it became a sin to Israel. If you want to see just how far this sin went look at 2 Kings 17:6. It went a whole lot farther than just worshipping idols in the wrong places.

4)  The Real Reason for the Convenience (1 Kings 11:26-38)

In the passage for the sermon it says that Jeroboam did this out of fear of losing the Kingdom. But if we go back to chapter 11 we will see that God had promise that if he would follow his commandments then he would build him a sure house.  So the reality of it is that Jeroboam simply did not trust God and his word.

This is the case with us today. Whether it is churches changing for convenience, parents taking the easy way out with kids or society neglecting the laws of the land and God’s word. It is done in the name of convenience but it is really a matter of not trusting what God’s word says  to do.