The most valuable thing you have is your time. And you are free to spend it how you choose. You can spend it loving all those around you. You can spend it serving others that need help. You can spend it making money to buy stuff and pay bills. You can spend it on your family. You can spend it playing video games. You can spend it sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can spend it drinking and partying. You can spend it binge watching Netflix. You can spend it on yourself. But there is one given, you will become what you spend most of your time on. You will become what you follow.
We as humans are empty vessels. And those empty vessels must be filled every day. And no, you can’t just leave your vessel perfectly empty, that would be too easy. You can’t just remain some kind of spiritual Switzerland, neutral to all that all in this world. You see, you will be forced to fill yourself up with something today. And that something will affect every single facet of your life. The question is, what will you choose?
We come to a pivotal chapter today in God’s Word, the conquering of the northern tribes of Israel. Often, I am questioned about the judgement of God, especially in the Old Testament. Why did He do this to that people and why did He do that to those people? The questioner posing the idea that God is mean, angry and pronounces judgement without reason, cause, or warning. We will see the answer today. God allows His own chosen people to be conquered and enslaved by an enemy army. They are killed, pillaged, and hauled off to another land to live in brutal slavery to a savage, pagan people. The automatic response is normally, why would God allow that? That’s mean and cruel and I thought God was love! Why would God treat anybody like that much less the people He claims as His own? Well, don’t allow me to explain it, let’s let God explain it, He’s really good at it.
“And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” 2 Kings 17:7-12
I think God explains it swimmingly. A people that He loved and cared for absolutely thumbed their noses at Him. He had brought them out of 400 years of Egyptian slavery into a land flowing with milk and honey and all that He asked of them was that they love only Him, worship only Him, and follow His laws. They failed on all three counts. They worshiped other gods even to the extent that they built altars, monuments and shrines to these false gods. They actively offered sacrifices to their new gods even to the point of sacrificing their children upon those altars. A young infant life that god had created with great care and love, given to a fake god. And the salt in the wound is that God tells us they “did it in secret.” The raw arrogance that they thought they could sneak around God, that He was some silly clueless entity that could be easily tricked and fooled. But even in these verses, many would say that God was too harsh and too quick to judge these poor sinners. Why didn’t He give them a warning first? Well, would you say that 219 years of warnings was enough?
“Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” 2 Kings 17:13
A span of 219 years had passed since the rule of King Solomon. During that span, we see 43 kings rule over Israel, only 7 being righteous in the eyes of the Lord, the rest being evil. (Not a good ratio) And during this time God sent warnings. He sent messages through men of God for the people to stop their idolatry and false worship. To stop killing their children and living in wicked sexual sin. In fact, He didn’t just send a few warnings. To the northern tribes of Israel God sent the prophets Ahijah, Elijah, Micaiah, Elisha, Jonah, Amos, and Hosea. To the southern tribes of Judah, He sent the prophets Shemaiah, Joel, Isaiah, and Micah. Later, during the captivity, He would send Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah. Do you think God gave the people a chance to repent? Fifteen different prophets over 219 years warned the people of both kingdoms that if they did not return to God and forsake their evil ways, judgement would come. What do you suppose the response of the people was?
“But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.” 2 Kings 17:14-18
Stiff, stubborn necks that refused to hear. They would not listen. I believe that God could have sent 500 prophets over 500 years and the result would have been the same. The sin nature of man left unchecked always delivers the same result. Absolute rebellion and refusal of the things of God. But let’s focus on the middle portion of verse 15, for their lies some prophetic words from God that cut to the bone in the truth of our very human nature.
“They went after false gods and became false.” 2 Kings 17:15a
In order to better understand the verse, let’s peruse many different Bible translations as they all process the flow from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English a little differently.
“they followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.” NIV
“they worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves.” NLT
“they followed vanity and became vain” NASB
“they pursued meaninglessness—and became meaningless themselves” ISV
“they went after things of nought, and became nought,” JPS 1917
“they worshiped emptiness and became empty” KJV
You become what you follow. Are you following vanity today? Are you living in the pride of your own achievements and abilities? If you follow vanity you will become vain, loving and worshiping only yourself. Are you pursuing what is false today? Have you abandoned the search for truth and merely latched onto what is easy, fulfilling and the most rewarding to yourself? If you follow what is false, your life is nothing more than an untruth, a life based on what you’re feeding it, a falsehood. Are you pursuing things that have no meaning in this life? Are you worshiping at the feet of money, the accumulation of things, self-satisfaction and personal gratification? If you claim to be a child of Jesus, your citizenship is in Heaven and worshiping these things are meaningless. If you pursue meaningless, you yourself will become just that.
Are you following something that has limitless worth today? Something that has immeasurable value? Something that has meaning, purpose and an eternal vision? Jesus Christ is alone, all of those. Jesus came to offer true life, eternal life. Your sin will keep you out of Heaven, but Jesus, Jesus is the way. Jesus hung on a cross, died and rose again three days later in triumph over the death penalty of all sin. All you have to do is believe. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He alone is enough to save you from your sin. And folks, as you place your faith in Christ, you will be pursuing all that matters. You will be pursuing truth and be shown the truth. You will be following pure righteousness and you will be shown righteousness. You will be pursuing goodness, love, mercy and grace and all of those will be shown to you through His Holy Spirit.
You become what you follow, give your life to Christ and follow the One that grants peace, freedom, and joy in this life.
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
“It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.” Deut. 13:4
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