TAINTED CONNECTIONS

TAINTED CONNECTIONS [Preached on August 12]
Kuruvilla Chandy

Most of India gets electricity from overhead cables that are exposed to the atmosphere. There were times when the linemen who came to repair faults or breakdowns, would discover that the problem was caused due to the points of the wires from our home to the main supply line being encrusted with some gunk. There was electric power flowing in the main line but it could not get past the block. Water cannot flow freely where channels are clogged. The floods that wreaked havoc in Bombay a couple of years ago were caused by the plastic waste and other garbage clogging the drains and preventing the rain water from flowing out to sea. Similarly, if the lines of communication between us and God are somehow cluttered with what offends God's holiness, we disrupt the flow of spiritual power into our lives. Solomon is an example of how the tainted (defiled) connections he had in his life disconnected him from the source of all the blessings of his life.

Solomon's Folly

Solomon succeeded David as king of all Israel. When he began his reign, he secured his kingdom by ridding himself of all his rivals (1 Ki.2:22-46). He then married an Egyptian princess for political advantage (3:1), though he loved the Lord and lived by the godly rules of his father David (v.3). Early in his reign he offered a sacrifice at the most important shrine of the time. There he had a dream of God telling him to ask for anything. Though it was a dream, it had reality—the first ever case of virtual reality. Solomon responded by acknowledging God's faithfulness and his own youthfulness, inexperience and inadequacy for the very big task of ruling Israel, and asked God to give him discernment or the wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong. God was so pleased with this that He told Solomon that because he had asked for wisdom, God would not only give Solomon wisdom, but give him honour and riches too ( vv.4-15). In Sunday School, children are always taught of how he passed wise judgement in the case of two mothers disputing over one baby (vv.16-28). What a great beginning! If you were reading the story for the first time, you would think David's son will be a greater and better king than David.

As you continue reading Solomon's story, the first hint that all's not well comes in the historian remarking that Solomon spent seven years to build God's temple, but thirteen years to build his own palace (6:38-7:1). Something definitely wrong there! At least, he didn't have a sense of proportion. Still, he manifested some faithfulness and orchestrated a grand dedication of the temple of God. The Lord was delighted by this extravagant display of affection that, as in the days of the founding prophet Moses, God's glory came down in a cloud that filled the temple with dazzling light making it impossible for the priests to continue their work (8:10-11). On that day Solomon acknowledged before the people that he was king because God had been wonderfully faithful ( vv.15-21). He prayed that God would indeed turn a listening ear to His people when they would gather at the temple to pray for mercy and deliverance (vv.22-61). God responded by appearing to Solomon once again and promised His favour ( vv.3-5) but also threatened disfavour if Solomon or his descendants stopped following God's law (vv.6-9).

The next big event that all Sunday School children learn about is the visit of the Queen of Sheba. The queen is impressed with his wisdom and his great wealth and says that the splendour of his kingdom surpasses all the reports that she had heard (10:1-9).

But I think no Sunday School has ever taught kids about Solomon's great folly. While he had married the daughter of Pharaoh for diplomatic reasons, later in life he began to "collect" foreign women; he had a total of one thousand women in his harem. He married them despite the Lord's clear commandment that His people should not marry those who worship other gods ( Ex.3:15-16). The sacred historian says that Solomon "loved" these women—in fact, he "clung" to them (NRSV), "insisted on loving" them (NLT), "refusing to give them up" (TM). He chose them over God's commandment. As he grew older, they controlled Solomon and diverted him to idolatry (1 Ki.11:1-8). As a consequence of Solomon's folly his descendants lost the kingdom that was otherwise guaranteed to them (vv.-11).

Children of Idolatry

Solomon's son Rehoboam succeeded him. He was the son of an idolatress (14:21) and whereas it would appear that Solomon practised idolatry privately in his own life, it is not surprising that this son of an idolatress led his people into idolatry ( vv.22-24). What one generation hesitantly flirts with, the next generation will brazenly embrace and flaunt and take further.

A prophet rebuked Rehoboam and indicated that his kingdom was under attack from Egypt because of his unfaithfulness to God. (Note that Egypt was the very first kingdom that Solomon had allied himself to but that treaty was not honoured). Rehoboam and his people repented and were rescued from immediate destruction, though they did suffer a loss of independence (2 Chron.12:5-12). In the end, when the summary of his rule was recorded the historian said, "But the final verdict on Rehoboam was that he was a bad king—God was not important to him; his heart neither cared for nor sought after God" ( v.14, TM).

Abijah succeeded Rehoboam to the throne. His mother was a Jewess (1 Ki.15:2), but he chose to follow his father in doing everything wrong: he practised idolatry ( v.3), though he did use the fact that he was a descendant of David and the fact that the temple was in Judah, to claim a moral right to fight to rule all Israel (2 Chron.13:4-12).Solomon's compromise with idolatry affected generations to come.

Good Man, Bad Marriage

Fast forward to a few generations later, to King Jehoshaphat. As a young man he was faithful to God. Not only was he not an idol-worshipper, but he was an iconoclast (17:3-6). He also instituted a programme to teach his people the tenets of the faith (vv.7-9). Neighbouring nations, fearing the Lord who blessed Jehoshaphat, wouldn't war with him and he became more and more powerful ( vv.10-12).When he became rich and powerful he sought an alliance with wicked King Ahab through marriage (18:1). Ahab's wife was the notorious Jezebel. During their regime Israel became a stronghold of Baal-worshippers and Jezebel was more virulent than Ahab, willing even to kill just to grab some property (1 Ki.16:30-33; 21:5-16).

As Ahab's ally, Jehoshaphat was bound to go to Ahab's aid when the latter was attacked by an enemy (2 Chron.18 :2-3). When Jehoshaphat went to his aid, Ahab repaid his faithfulness by tricking him and putting Jehoshaphat's life at risk in order to save his own ( vv.29-32: when those who follow a Christian ethic have tried to partner with those who follow another ethic, almost invariably the Christian has found himself/herself disadvantaged and cheated). After he returned from that war, a prophet confronted him for having gone to the aid of a wicked man (19:2-3). To his credit, unlike other kings, Jehoshaphat didn't try to abuse or kill the messenger of God for confronting him with the truth.Once again, Jehoshaphat went on a campaign to get his people to keep faith with the Lord (vv.4-11).

After that there is the terrific story of how God Himself fought Jehoshaphat's battle when he faced war with a whole army of enemy races. This time he prepared for war, not by consulting with allies or confiding in them and plotting strategies. Instead, he announced a fast for his people, turned to God and acknowledged His great power and quite simply asked for God's help. And God sent a prophet to reassure Jehoshaphat and his people that God was with them: "This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's...you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord's victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!" As his army marched out, Jehoshaphat remembered the word of the Lord and said to his people, "Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed." Then Jehoshaphat persuaded his people that instead of marching out with an army, he would lead a choir in singing,

Give thanks to the Lord;

His faithful love endures forever!

Enemy nations heard about the singing army and of God having fought for Judah. As a result the nation enjoyed peace from God (20:1-30, NLT).Sadly, Jehoshaphat's story doesn't end on that note. We read that later on he allied himself with wicked king Ahaziah of Israel. The Lord sent a prophet to warn that the alliance would fail and their venture of ship-building would end in disaster and it did ( vv.35-37). He did make ships a second time but refused Ahaziah's partnership (1 Ki.22:48-49).

Children of Bad Marriages
Good King Jehoshaphat (he was good, on the whole, even though he vacillated so much between keeping to the Lord's ways and aligning himself with those who were powerful in the world) left his kingdom to his son Jehoram. While Jehoshaphat had served the Lord, Jehoram didn't. But he did follow his father's example and married into Ahab's family by marrying a daughter of Ahab. Instead of being faithful to the Lord like his father, he imitated Israel's kings in idolatry (2 Chron.21:4-7,12-15).

Jehoram was succeeded by Ahaziah, whose mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab whom Jehoram had married (22:2). Ahaziah "followed the evil example of King Ahab's family, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, just as Ahab had done. After the death of his father, members of Ahab's family became his advisers, and they led him to ruin" (22:3-4, NLT).

With One Voice

Old and New Testaments speak with one voice that those who love the Lord must keep themselves from marrying those who don't love the Lord. The Bible consistently advocates that God's people need to keep themselves untainted or uncontaminated.
Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil ? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God (2 Cor.6:14-16, NLT).The history of the kings of Judah is an emphatic account of the danger of uniting with those who serve other gods.

Let it be noted: Christians flirt with spiritual danger and destruction when they marry those who do not share their faith in the Lord Jesus.

Sometimes people have argued that there's nothing wrong, and that they can bring their non-Christian partners to faith in Christ. There is no guarantee of that. Scripture says so: "How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?" (1 Cor.7:16,NIV).
At one of our church services when there was an opportunity for members to have a say, an older person got up and said, "Pastor Kuru has preached against marriages of Christians and non-Christians, but I want to say from my experience that it can be good." I am glad that before I could answer that, Pastor Paras Tayade got up and said, "What Pastor Kuru said is what the Bible says about this matter. That your experience has been different is the sheer grace of God. There is no promise in the Bible that that will always happen. I want to tell the young people here that you risk your spiritual life when you go down the road that ends in a marriage where Christ is not Lord."

The question is not how many people vote in favour of a preacher's message or against it. Nor is it a question of what the preacher's standing is, whether he is world figure or a small time pastor. First and last, the question is always, "What does God say/What does the Bible say?"God has told us that we stand in danger of deserting Him, of growing distant, when we put ourselves in a relationship in which we are unable to give Him the place of Lord. Within the family or home where we enjoy the most intimacy, if we have to hide our relationship with the Lord Jesus, where is the freedom to be ourselves? Home is where we should be able to hold what we consider dear.

The light of Jesus shining in our lives today will flicker and diminish, when the conduits or channels are not clean and the power of Jesus is blocked from flowing freely. Let your light shine. Let Jesus be seen in your life.