How to Interpret the Bible (part 24) - Limits of Expediency
Introduction. As America has become more and more prosperous, many products have been redesigned for convenience. When a new product does something better than an old one, many are tempted to buy it. Many good coffee makers were set aside for the convenience of the Keurig. Technology often makes a product obsolete long before its service life is over because it is faster and easier. The more expedient the upgrade, the easier it is to justify the expense. Thus it has become a a way of life to discard old ways of doing things for the sake of convenience.
This attitude now permeates our culture. Everyone is seeking ways to make life easier. We use auto-pay for our bills, cruise control for our cars, and a remote for our television. It should not be a surprise that some would approach spiritual responsibilities in the same way. The convenience we seek in banking, driving, and entertainment easily moves to our service to God.
Some brethren seek to bring this into the church. PowerPoint slides can replace the need to look up the Scriptures or hold a Bible. The second service can be moved to immediately follow the morning service to avoid the time and effort of returning to the building in the late afternoon/early evening. Since both the method for singing or a second service are both expedients, such changes are not unscriptural, though the fruits of such changes are not always profitable. But what happens when our desire for convenience leads to the desire to change a specific command of God? What we see as convenience, God sees as disobedience or rebellion.
Jeroboam gives us important lessons concerning convenience. Deeming it unwise to allow Israel to worship in Jerusalem, he used convenience to lead them away from their service to God. He told them: "it is too much for you to go to Jerusalem", then proposed changes to make their service to God easier. He changed the place of worship and the feast days, then opened the priesthood to anyone who wanted to serve. He also created two golden calves, placing them in his new temples and proclaiming them as the gods who brought them out of Egypt.
While all Israel accepted them and never left them, God called them "the sins of Jeroboam." After centuries of walking in these sins, God finally removed Israel from His sight saying: "Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets." (2 Kings 17:21‑23). Thus traditions of men that violate God's word, no matter how long they have been observed, remain sinful in the eyes of God.
Although he sought to sway Israel by these conveniences, not one of his changes was lawful. When God set His name in the temple in Jerusalem, all other places on earth were forbidden. When God gave the feast days and their purpose, it was a rebellion against His authority to add new ones and cease keeping the old ones. God had decreed that only the house of Levi had been chosen to serve the temple and only Aaron's sons could be in the priesthood. His final change was the most obvious. It was a clear violation of the ten commandments.
God viewed none of what Jeroboam did with favor. By enticing Israel to embrace these changes, he was following in the footsteps of the serpent in the garden of Eden. Proper reverence to God always leads us to "search the Scriptures daily, to see" "if" the changes being offered "are so." It all comes down to respect and reverence for God. When we "trust in the Lord with all your heart," we will never "lean on our own understanding." This reverence is based on Jeremiah's words " O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." (Jer. 10:23) Until we know what direction God has directed our steps, can we safely navigate the path leading to life?
Only after we know it is what God commanded can we can seek the best or most convenient way to do it. While some proclaim God is more interested that we are happy, successful and comfortable than obedience, there is no passage in the Bible to verify or validate it. For some reason, Nadab and Abihu found it more to their liking to offer a different fire than what God had commanded them. God struck them dead. Saul found it more convenient to force himself to offer the burnt offering that only Samuel could lawfully offer and God rejected him as king. Over and over we see this illustrated with punishment and rejection. As God said through Amos, the only way for two to walk together is for them to agree on the destination (Amos 4:4).
Things are drifting back to a similar period as that of Jeremiah. "Thus says the Lord: 'Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.' But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" (Jer. 6:16). Yet what do we see today? For convenience, people meet on Saturday evening so Sunday is free. They practice sprinkling instead of immersion (Rom. 6:3-5). Regardless of the reason and regardless of the benefits, when anyone sets aside a clear command of God, they are in rebellion. Eve set aside the only command God had given to them because she thought the beautiful fruit would make her wise and then gave it to her husband (so much for loving her husband and repenting of her sins). The subsequent curse on the entire creation should warn us against following her example.
Conclusion. When we carry a concept to its logical conclusion we can often see its fallacy. Jeroboam was an Old Testament example of using convenience to set aside God's law and it ended in a complete apostasy they never returned from. In the New Testament, the chief priests and Pharisees decided "it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." (Jn. 11:50). Yet Peter charged them with the sin of murdering their own Messiah (Acts 2:36; 3:14). We need to be vigilant. Satan as a roaring lion is seeking whom he may devour. These are the things Satan and those who serve him use to tempt God's servants from their faithful service. Before convenience comes submission and obedience.
This attitude now permeates our culture. Everyone is seeking ways to make life easier. We use auto-pay for our bills, cruise control for our cars, and a remote for our television. It should not be a surprise that some would approach spiritual responsibilities in the same way. The convenience we seek in banking, driving, and entertainment easily moves to our service to God.
Some brethren seek to bring this into the church. PowerPoint slides can replace the need to look up the Scriptures or hold a Bible. The second service can be moved to immediately follow the morning service to avoid the time and effort of returning to the building in the late afternoon/early evening. Since both the method for singing or a second service are both expedients, such changes are not unscriptural, though the fruits of such changes are not always profitable. But what happens when our desire for convenience leads to the desire to change a specific command of God? What we see as convenience, God sees as disobedience or rebellion.
Jeroboam gives us important lessons concerning convenience. Deeming it unwise to allow Israel to worship in Jerusalem, he used convenience to lead them away from their service to God. He told them: "it is too much for you to go to Jerusalem", then proposed changes to make their service to God easier. He changed the place of worship and the feast days, then opened the priesthood to anyone who wanted to serve. He also created two golden calves, placing them in his new temples and proclaiming them as the gods who brought them out of Egypt.
While all Israel accepted them and never left them, God called them "the sins of Jeroboam." After centuries of walking in these sins, God finally removed Israel from His sight saying: "Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets." (2 Kings 17:21‑23). Thus traditions of men that violate God's word, no matter how long they have been observed, remain sinful in the eyes of God.
Although he sought to sway Israel by these conveniences, not one of his changes was lawful. When God set His name in the temple in Jerusalem, all other places on earth were forbidden. When God gave the feast days and their purpose, it was a rebellion against His authority to add new ones and cease keeping the old ones. God had decreed that only the house of Levi had been chosen to serve the temple and only Aaron's sons could be in the priesthood. His final change was the most obvious. It was a clear violation of the ten commandments.
God viewed none of what Jeroboam did with favor. By enticing Israel to embrace these changes, he was following in the footsteps of the serpent in the garden of Eden. Proper reverence to God always leads us to "search the Scriptures daily, to see" "if" the changes being offered "are so." It all comes down to respect and reverence for God. When we "trust in the Lord with all your heart," we will never "lean on our own understanding." This reverence is based on Jeremiah's words " O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." (Jer. 10:23) Until we know what direction God has directed our steps, can we safely navigate the path leading to life?
Only after we know it is what God commanded can we can seek the best or most convenient way to do it. While some proclaim God is more interested that we are happy, successful and comfortable than obedience, there is no passage in the Bible to verify or validate it. For some reason, Nadab and Abihu found it more to their liking to offer a different fire than what God had commanded them. God struck them dead. Saul found it more convenient to force himself to offer the burnt offering that only Samuel could lawfully offer and God rejected him as king. Over and over we see this illustrated with punishment and rejection. As God said through Amos, the only way for two to walk together is for them to agree on the destination (Amos 4:4).
Things are drifting back to a similar period as that of Jeremiah. "Thus says the Lord: 'Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.' But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" (Jer. 6:16). Yet what do we see today? For convenience, people meet on Saturday evening so Sunday is free. They practice sprinkling instead of immersion (Rom. 6:3-5). Regardless of the reason and regardless of the benefits, when anyone sets aside a clear command of God, they are in rebellion. Eve set aside the only command God had given to them because she thought the beautiful fruit would make her wise and then gave it to her husband (so much for loving her husband and repenting of her sins). The subsequent curse on the entire creation should warn us against following her example.
Conclusion. When we carry a concept to its logical conclusion we can often see its fallacy. Jeroboam was an Old Testament example of using convenience to set aside God's law and it ended in a complete apostasy they never returned from. In the New Testament, the chief priests and Pharisees decided "it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." (Jn. 11:50). Yet Peter charged them with the sin of murdering their own Messiah (Acts 2:36; 3:14). We need to be vigilant. Satan as a roaring lion is seeking whom he may devour. These are the things Satan and those who serve him use to tempt God's servants from their faithful service. Before convenience comes submission and obedience.