Pass Me The Leftovers! – 1 Kings 15:1-8; 2 Chronicles 13

I grew up in a home that took many foster children. The state of New Jersey had to find emergency placement for children in distressed situations, and since before I was born my parents took in children that were not their natural born kin. I was not one of them, I was a natural born Smith. Yet, because of their love of children (or perhaps sadistic nature, I cannot be completely sure) my parents kept a full brood of a dozen or more children in our house at a time. In such families meals are generally made in very large pots and the limits of normality are stretched in the production of something called a “casserole” (CASS-e-role: all manner of edible materials and fillers cooked in large pot). It actually tasted better than it sounds!

Because of the crowded nature of my youth, I learned many lessons that mom and dad probably never deliberately were teaching. I learned that everything one person did in a crowd affected all the others in the crowd. Failure to exit the ONE BATHROOM we had in our large but under-piped home in a timely way made many late for the day at school. It brought consequences to me and all those who “followed” me in the bathroom pecking order (a very important order in the single bathroom home with more than a dozen children!)

I also learned the “leftover” blessing principle. Since most nights we devoured everything set before us, it was rare to find any large quantity of left over food from a meal. Yet, it did happen. On those occasions when mom cooked more than the tribe devoured, there was a small “Tupperware” container that would occupy one of the shelves of the fridge. There is nothing like popping open left overs and heating them in the microwave to bring back the blessing of mom’s work from yesterday into my life (i.e. stomach) today.

That critical lesson I learned in experience is also taught by example in God’s Word. God blesses and God disciplines His people – and today’s experience is not simply about His response to today’s work. Does God bless those who aren’t walking with Him wholly because of the work of other believers before them, or even the work of their earlier obedience? The answer is “yes”. When we are young in our faith, we attach today’s blessing to today’s obedience. As we mature, we must learn an important truth, we may be blessed today based on obedience of an earlier time. It works the same way with disciplines of God. We may deal with past issues of sin though we are walking with God right now. In our rush to see every positive fruit of salvation and “new creature” theology, we overlook an important truth – what we sow in many areas produces what we reap – even on the other side of my new walk with God.

When Paul penned out the Words of the Spirit of God to Corinth, he said: (2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Since I was raised on the King James Version, it is even more insightful to hear the words as “behold, ALL things have become new.” The problem is that has been used to make a “soundbite theology”. It isn’t a fair representation of the idea of Scripture, and it doesn’t mean what many less mature believers have ascribed to it.

Paul is NOT arguing that no matter what you have sown in your life, you will reap none of it. He is not saying that coming to Jesus will rid you instantly of all your diseases. I know it is taught but think about it. It doesn’t make sense with what you know. If I eat excessively over a period of years (don’t I wish this was hypothetical?) I will put on extensive and unhealthy weight. If I come to Christ, that weight that is taxing my heart will not simply fall off. My heart will be under the same strain as a new creation in Christ as it was when I was NOT a believer. Godly choices will need to be employed in my life to bring about a healthier future.

Paul was making the point to the Corinthians that believers choose to live according to the standards of God’s Word because of several significant truths:

• We are not simply the tent we live in, and this body does not determine the extent of our LIFE (5:1-5), there is life beyond the hardware of the body (5:6).
• We walk according to God’s stated truths, not simply what our eyes see (5:7-9).
• God said we will answer for the way we lived in this body (5:10).
• Because of coming evaluation, we are diligent in our work before God (5:11-13).
• God’s love is also a great motivator for our work with you (5:14-15)
• People’s thoughts about us are not the basis of our ministry, but God’s view (5:16).

“Because of these truths, we know that if one comes to Messiah, his view of the world changes. Things he evaluated his life on are tossed away. Standards of the past are changed as he measures himself by what the Word of God teaches!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I am not arguing that sin is not satisfied at the Cross. The Bible is clear on that point. I am simply saying that God did not put forward an idea in this quote that all the old things of my life are dropped off, and I have no consequences from prior to my salvation. My heart changes. My life partner’s heart may not. My credit card companies hearts did not, my mortgage company did not. My waist line did not. My dog that was under-trained and behaves badly did not. My problems aren’t gone — my perspective on obedience and blessing has changed. I will now make choices to bless my Savior, not myself.

Key Principle: God’s blessings and disciplines are not always immediate. Serving God today may not open blessing in every area today, but it will begin a new flow of blessing for my future, and for those around me! When we refer to God’s “faithfulness”, we speak of His loyal consistency of bringing effect back to cause. When we refer to His “graciousness”, we speak of the reversal of the deserved effect.

God’s loyal character can be seen in His mercy for one undeserving generation because of His promises to an earlier generation; He responds to faithfulness beyond the reach of one life and visits blessing from the past. I am living in a country that has received a great many blessings from the decisions of men and women now long dead.

An illustration from 1 Kings 15:1-7

A short story of the king that followed Rehoboam is offered in the Book of the Kings. The details of the Setting (15:1-3) are simple:

1. He came into the job with a misbehaving neighbor – Jeroboam was 18 years into his failed 22 years of walking in self will when Abijam came to the throne (15:1).
2. He had a short reign of three years, and came from a mixed line of David -
   he was the great grandson of Absalom through Uriel and Tamar who bore
   Rehoboam his dad (15:2).
3. His great sin was a half-hearted personal commitment to the Lord – (though his
   name was “God is my Father”) and he was not unreserved like David (15:3)

The short statement that revealed the principle of God is found in the mixed review of his life (15:4-7):

1. The Good: God’s blessing didn’t leave him because of the loyalty of God to David, who knew how to repent when he sinned horribly (15:4-5).
2. The Bad: He lived in a constant state of war with his cousins to the north (15:6).
3. The Record: God recorded more about his work in another work (that became a source for the Chronicler we have now in a later form – 15:7).

From the few short verses we see the life of one who was AT TIMES perhaps walking in obedience, but the MAJORITY of his life – he simply was not. We see the blessing AT TIMES and troubles that also plagued him. On the whole, a mixed review of a half-hearted king. Fortunately, there is another ancient photo album that fills in more of the details of this king and his life!

A Closer Look in 2 Chronicles 13:3-22

Let’s zoom in on the part of the life of Abijam that is more clearly focused by the Chronicler. He sets the battle scene that illustrates a moment from this king’s life in “The Battle Speech” (13:3-12):

1. Abijam came out to battle with only half the army of Jeroboam’s men (13:3). He was out-manned and out-gunned!
2. Before he engaged in battle in Ephraim, he offered a message to his opponents (13:4a):

“Listen, both King and Divided Countrymen (13:4b), Didn’t the Lord give the throne to David and his sons (2 Sam. 7:16), and promise His loyalty to them? (13:5). Yet your king became a rebel (13:6) surrounded by scoundrels and scared my father when he was young into the division (13:7).You resist God’s stated will (13:8a),You have gathered a multitude of idolatrous pagans (13:8b),You have overturned God’s program for leadership (13:9) and established your own.For our part, we have stayed with the Lord! (13:10).We are still following the priesthood the Lord instituted (13:10b) and
the sacrifices He commanded (13:11) while you make your own rules! God is our commander, and His priests our buglers (13:12a).Don’t fight Him; you cannot win! (13:12b).” (my paraphrase).

What followed the “Battle Speech” was a massive fight for the soul of the Israelites – “The Bloody Stand” (13:13-19).

1. Jeroboam set up an ambush (13:13) and squeezed Judah from the front and rear (13:14).
2. Judah cried to God and God routed Israel’s men (13:15). God delivered Israel into Judah’s hands (13:16) with more than half of the Israelite army killed (13:17).
3. Judah won because they trusted God (13:18).
4. Judah pushed Israel out of some Benjamite cities (13:19).

The Chronicler shared that Jeroboam never recovered from that battle and died four years later (13:20).
In addition, Judean King Abijam became powerful, marrying fourteen wives and having twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters (13:21) and Prophets spoke of his works (13:22).

A young believer may focus on the fact that King Abijam was eloquent in His speech to share how God was on their side. They may be duped into seeing this man as one that walked characteristically in faith. The fact is, that isn’t accurate. The blessing of that one battle was, in part, hinged to the “covenant of salt” (13:5) that Abijam was counting on. Salt, as we have seen in the past, was a symbol of loyalty. When a couple of the SIN tribe (“Sine” – a tribe in the area near Jebel Musa at Sinai) get married, they salt the hands of the couple at their wedding to bind them with loyalty to one another.

King Abijam knew God was faithful (i.e. consistent to His stated promises) and that He had clearly promised the lamp to stay with Judah’s Davidic line. I am not arguing that his temporary obedience was not influential in his victory, I am arguing that is short-sighted and an incomplete view. Pastors want lessons that demonstrate: “Choose right and get blessed” in the same way TV writers need to wrap up murder mysteries in an hour. The problem is that isn’t the whole truth of how things really happen. Left over obedience matters. Left over disobedience matters. What I am doing today, DOES echo into eternity. It has a bearing on future generations.

In the end the lesson of the leftover is that God’s blessings, and God’s discipline is not always immediate. He may wait. I need to obey to open channels of future blessing for myself and all that follow me. Yesterday does have a bearing on today. The problem: I cannot go back and re-do yesterday. The promise: I can start a process of change today – and it will change everything for tomorrow!