Worship According to the World (2 Kings 17:24-41)
“Worship According to the World”
2 Kings 17:24-41 (24-33)
I know it’s been a while since we have studied Kings
And with missions month beginning this Sunday,
It is possible that we will miss a couple of more times,
But I didn’t want to stray away from it for so long that we forgot where we were.
And so this morning I want to take a moment
And look again at our study and stay familiar with the text.
You are familiar with what occurred the last time we studied this book.
It was summarized in verse 18
2 Kings 17:18 “So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah.”
The Northern Kingdom (Israel) had lived a life of blatant idolatry
Since the day that the kingdom was split.
Jeroboam started it with his worship at Bethel and Dan
With the two golden calves and Israel never looked back.
And in 2 Kings 17 we saw the end of the northern kingdom.
The reasons given were clear:
Idolatry, Worldliness, Disobedience
2 Kings 17:7-8 “Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.”
Israel clung to these three sins and as a result
She was destroyed and exiled to a foreign land.
And so at this point in the book the northern kingdom is no more.
All that is left is the tribe of Judah.
And as you noticed in the reading of our text to begin this morning
We now see foreigners being moved in to the Promised Land.
Just as Assyria moved the Jews out into a foreign land,
He is now moving other refugees in to Israel.
And so the northern kingdom has become a prison, a place of exile.
It has been filled with the defeated survivors of other conquered nations.
And the text this morning focuses on their life
In this land that God had given to Israel.
And to help you understand the significance,
Allow me to fast-forward about 700 years.
John 4:3-9 “He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”
These people are seen again:
Luke 9:51-54 “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
And so you are aware that the Samaritans were hated people,
Especially by the Jews.
That is why Jesus used the parable of the “Good Samaritan”
As the ultimate shame tactic to Israel.
And if you have ever wondered where the Samaritans came from,
You are about to witness their origin here in our text this morning.
You will remember that the northern kingdom was called Israel,
And after the division, the northern kingdom set up a new capital
In the city of Samaria.
(Samaria became another name for the northern kingdom)
• And what occurred is that these foreigners moved in to this region,
• Dwelled in Israel’s houses,
• Ate crops from Israel’s fields,
• Some even intermarried with the poor Israelites that were left behind.
AND THEY CAME TO BE KNOWN AS SAMARITANS
They were viewed as half-breeds, as unwelcomed guests,
As carpet-baggers so to speak.
And by the time that Jesus walked the earth they were seriously hated.
The Jews saw them as impure traitors and as those who had no right to be there, and thus they hated them.
How they got there is explained in our text this morning.
And in our text the writer explains to us what these people were like.
I hope to examine their lives
And then make some obvious application to the point.
There are three main characteristics we see about these people.
#1 THEIR PROBLEM
2 Kings 17:24-28
Of course the text begins with the explanation
Of how these people came to live in Israel’s land.
(24) “The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.”
It wasn’t really their idea to move into Israel, they were deported there,
Just as Israel had been deported into other foreign lands.
Furthermore we find that when they came,
They were an extremely pagan people.
(25) “At the beginning of their living there, they did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them which killed some of them.”
They came to Israel and didn’t even know of God, let alone fear Him.
And so it is obvious that they lived lives in direct violation
Of the way in which God demanded that life be lived.
They angered God.
And as a result He sent lions to punish them.
While the land lie vacant during the various exiles
It would have given plenty of time for the lion population to grow.
Exodus 23:29 “I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.”
Well it is clear that this has become reality and God is using it
To punish the godless nations that have come to defile His land.
And because these people are so distraught they do a smart thing.
(26) “So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have carried away into exile in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.”
Now it is worth pointing out that
Their decision was based more on fear than faith.
They were not seeking out the one true God,
They were simply trying to appease whoever was causing them grief.
In other words this was not about pleasing God,
This was about getting God off of their back.
And as you and I know, this misses the point.
What they were doing looked more like superstition and voodoo
Than truly seeking out God.
That was sort of like the question of the Rich Young Ruler.
Matthew 19:16-18a “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?”
He wasn’t interested in a relationship with God.
To him God was distant and angry and he just wanted to know
How to keep God off of his back.
That is not the type of relationship God wants with you.
1 John 4:18-19 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.”
God is seeking a love relationship
Where people seek Him out in order to know Him,
Not who seek out what makes Him mad
In order to avoid running in to Him.
This is what these refugees did.
They just wanted to know what they needed to do
To calm this angry god down a little.
And their request was granted.
(27-28) “Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into exile and let him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land.” So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.”
And the answer came in the form of a priest who
“taught them how they should fear the LORD.”
It doesn’t say he taught them TO fear the LORD.
He “taught them HOW they should fear the LORD.”
• True fear of the LORD is not about being scared of Him like He is some sort of bully who wants to steal your lunch money.
• True fear of the LORD is a reverence issue and we fear Him correctly when we honor and obey Him.
He taught them the Law and how to rightly honor God.
And so now the problem should be solved.
Their Problem
#2 THEIR PLURALISM
2 Kings 17:29-33
So the priest came and taught them how to worship God,
But they failed to understand that God alone is worthy of worship.
Because here we read they worship of all their false gods also continued.
VERSES 29-32
And so what we see taking place is flat out pluralism.
(33) “They feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.”
All they did was add God to their list of deities
That had to be appeased.
It is a life of fear, not a life of faith.
This, by the way, is another reason
Why the Jews came to despise the Samaritans.
The exile taught Israel to be monotheistic.
But when they returned home they found they pluralistic Samaritans
Ezra 4:1-3 “Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”
This sentiment is also seen in Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman.
John 4:20-22 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”
Notice Jesus said, “You worship what you do not know”
In other words, yes you worship our God,
And yes He has a temple in your land, but your worship is empty.
You don’t know Him.
You call Him by the right name, and you can identify His prophets,
But your worship is steeped in ignorance and superstition.
They tried to add worship of God to their long list of things to worship.
And by the way many in the world still try to do this today.
Many in foreign countries just want to
Add Jesus to their other pagan deities.
The same superstition is found in Catholicism.
With the worship of Mary,
The worship of the saints,
The worship of relics,
The worship of the sacraments,
The worship of the pope.
It becomes a game of submitting to everything
So as to try not to offend anything.
It is a life of superstition, not a life of faith.
God doesn’t want a ritualistic sacrifice, He wants devotion.
That is what these Samaritans did not understand.
Their Problem Their Pluralism
#3 THEIR PERSISTANCE
2 Kings 17:34-41
This section is all about persistence.
The first three words in verse 34 are “To this day…”
The last three words of verse 41 are “To this day…”
The passage drips with their persistence to remain in pluralism
And to corrupt their worship of the one true God.
(34) “To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel;”
This can certainly be confusing.
For verse 32 says they feared the LORD
Verse 34 says they did not fear Him.
WHICH IS IT? It is both.
• They feared Him in the sense that they were afraid of Him just like they were afraid of all the other false gods.
• But they did not fear Him as He required, which is to reverence Him and honor Him and worship Him the way He required.
They were afraid of what He might do to them,
But they did not care to get to know Him.
And that is made clear in verse 34 for it says, “nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel;”
They were afraid enough of Him that they sacrificed to Him.
But they did not love Him enough to obey Him.
There are many who dwell in that same limbo in the world today.
They are afraid of Him, but they don’t love Him.
After all Jesus said:
John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
But the Samaritans did not.
In fact, the next 5 verses lists the summary of all that
The priest had apparently taught them about true worship of God.
VERSES 35-39
These are all truths that the priest had taught these displaced foreigners.
He had revealed to them the Laws of God.
But they were not interested in that type of relationship.
(40) “However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom.”
They were afraid, but they did not love Him.
And then the summary:
(41) “So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.”
And does religion and tradition ever get engrained in our way of life.
It almost effortlessly passes on to our children and grandchildren.
BUT I HOPE YOU SEE THE POINT OF THE PASSAGE
Here we have been given a very vivid picture of
What the world thinks that worship of God should look like.
Nothing more than a series of rituals meant to keep Him at bay
So that I can continue on with the things I enjoy.
Let me sin, just tell me how many goats I owe.
Let me do my own thing, just tell me how many prayers to pray
But listen to me, that is not what God desires.
TURN TO: PSALMS 50
(a judgment scene)
Can you see what God wants?
He wants thanksgiving
He wants trust
He wants devotion
He wants obedience
He wants to be remembered by you
A relationship with God is not just a series of ritualistic sacrifices
Meant to keep Him occupied.
God wants you to love Him and seek Him and serve Him
And obey Him and trust Him and remember Him.
The Samaritans never could seem to figure that out.
Even by the time Jesus came
That woman at the well is still just as mixed up as ever.
She’s been married 5 times, living with a man who is not her husband,
And the only religious question she ponders is
Which mountain she is supposed to worship God on.
But listen to what Jesus said to that mixed up woman.
John 4:19-24 “The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
She wanted to know which mountain she was supposed to sacrifice on,
As though God gave a rip about landscape.
Jesus said, “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
“in spirit” – with all your inner being.
It speaks of love, it speaks of devotion, it speaks a true desire.
“in truth” – speaks of true obedience.
Jesus was telling her that instead of being afraid of God
She needed to start loving God.
And that is the answer for us today as well.
The greatest commandment is not for us to be afraid of God,
It is for us to love God.
And furthermore, here in MISSIONS MONTH, this is the message that a lost and dying world desperately needs to know.
I am by no means an expert in world missions.
But I know when I went to Africa I had no problem
Getting the people to pray to ask Jesus into their heart.
And all along I had the feeling that if I had come back in 10 minutes
I could have also converted them to Islam.
I know I went to China and there were those who were
Happy to add Jesus to their long list of gods they give homage to
So as not to offend Him either.
Because that is how the world thinks
That worship of God is supposed to be done.
Someone has to tell them that God alone is God of this world
And that He alone is worthy of their love and devotion.
To not only turn to Him, but also to forsake all others.
Someone has to do what that priest from Israel did.
(28) “So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.”
The worship God requires
Is different from what the rest of the world wants to give.
Someone has to tell them that.
1 John 4:18-19 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.”
