Sermon on 2 Chronicles 1–5: How to avoid spiritual backsliding
A sermon from Latimer Church on Solomon's wisdom, the building of the temple, and drawing near to God.
Summary
This is a sermon by James de Costobadie, Senior Pastor at Latimer Church, preaching through 2 Chronicles chapters 1 to 5. The central question he addresses is how Christians can avoid spiritual backsliding — the gradual drift away from God that he argues has always been a danger for God's people. Drawing on the experience of the post-exilic recipients of Chronicles, who were living with the consequences of their ancestors' idolatry, he identifies three answers from the text: living under the rule of the wisely governing king (Jesus), dedicating oneself to building God's temple (his people), and drawing near to God rather than keeping a comfortable distance. He closes with a prayer and a direct challenge to the congregation to examine how they are using their gifts and their time at every stage of life.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Introduction: The problem of spiritual backsliding
Let me ask you a question. How do you stop backsliding in the Christian life? You know, you have someone who comes to faith and perhaps gets baptised and they're full of joy. You see the smiles on their face — a very happy occasion. But then three months later, more sporadic. Six months later, disappeared altogether. Sadly, we've seen that a number of times.
Well, take a different person — been a Christian a long time. And from the outside, nothing much has changed, but on the inside something has changed. They no longer come to church when they come thinking about why they come. They no longer come with a purpose. They don't come to see people, to look forward to seeing people. They don't come to welcome people. They don't come with an appetite for the Word of God. And something has changed on the inside. They leave in the same state in which they came in, and they don't realise that they are drifting on the tide.
How do you stop backsliding in the Christian life? That spiritual drift away from God. You remember how Jesus warned us about this explicitly, speaking of how the love of many will grow cold — he's speaking about our love for God — how in many people that will actually dwindle away, become more temperate, become colder over a period of time. And we should be very careful in this, because people far greater than us spiritually speaking have fallen away from God.
Backsliding, of course, is not a modern invention. And today we come to see the issue addressed in this book, which was written so long ago. The recipients of Chronicles were people who still suffered the consequences of the exile from Israel. You remember how in the later sixth century BC the Babylonians had rolled in with their tanks and flattened Jerusalem and forced so many of the residents into exile in a foreign land. And it came about because of their idolatry. It was God who brought this about. It was the unthinkable. They thought it could never happen to them. And it did. And that should post a warning forevermore to believers not to be complacent.
So the question for this generation — now let's say 200 years or so further on — how can they avoid a repeat of the mistakes their ancestors had made?
We're looking this morning at 2 Chronicles chapters 1 to 5, and there are three answers here as to how to avoid spiritual backsliding. My reading of 1 Chronicles is that it's a bit more consoling, and that 2 Chronicles is a bit more instructive. And if that's true, these chapters here are there to instruct the readers of Chronicles how not to backslide and repeat the sins of their ancestors.
Let's have a look at this. Three things.
1. Solomon requested wisdom to rule (2 Chronicles 1)
First of all, from chapter 1: Solomon requested wisdom to rule.
1 Chronicles closes out with the death of David, King David, who we're told died at a good old age, having ruled for 40 years and having enjoyed long life and wealth and honour — that comes in those last few verses of the book. And then Solomon, his second son, succeeds him as king. The first son died, you remember, shortly after, because David sinned with Bathsheba. And then Solomon comes to the throne.
Have a look at chapter 1 and verse 1 of 2 Chronicles:
Solomon, son of David, established himself firmly over his kingdom, for the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.
It's a very positive beginning for King Solomon. God's plan here is rolling out exactly as it was supposed to. He is establishing a kingdom and establishes his kingdom through his anointed king, who's going to be Solomon.
And I think it's worth noting in verse 1 that Solomon is actually doing very well here. And the reason it's worth noting is that often, when we do well in life, it's the sign that we actually begin to go off the rails again spiritually. It's very hard for things to go well in life and then maintain a spiritual sharpness. Poverty is one kind of trial, but wealth is another. Well, Solomon perhaps does a bit better than us in that regard.
And he calls all Israel together — verse 2. "All Israel" is very prominent in Chronicles as a phrase, because here is the people of God being united in the kingdom of God. It's casting a vision as to how life ought to be.
Verse 5, they go up to the bronze altar, and verse 6 — have a look at verse 6:
Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord in the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
In other words, he knows that sin is serious. These are not offerings of celebration — they're burnt offerings to pay for the sins of the people. He knows that sin is serious, that sin deserves death, and a thousand beasts are killed for the people because he is coming close to God. And you cannot come close to God without being very careful.
Now, that night we're told God gave to Solomon the promise that any one of us would dream of. Verse 7:
That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."
It's not quite a promise — he doesn't promise to give them what they ask for, which is very wise. But he does say, go for it, ask whatever you want me to give you. Because he wants to know what's in Solomon's heart. Or perhaps he wants Solomon to know what's in Solomon's heart.
Our desires say a lot about what's on the inside. What we want in life says a whole heap about us. It speaks of what's important. It speaks of whether we're envious of other people, whether we notice what other people have. You ask someone what they want for their children and they tend to give you a whole list of their own idols — what they would have liked for themselves if they'd had the chance. That kind of thing.
So Solomon replies in these amazing words, verse 8:
He answered, "God, you have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?"
I know that many of us are armchair critics of the government — that's our right as citizens of a country. But of course, when you're actually the one in charge, when you're in the government, when you're the politician, when you're the prime minister, these things tend to be a bit harder than when you're sitting in the armchair making comments about the government. I think Solomon knew that, and I'm pretty sure he felt it. The weight of this — he's got the precious people of God to look after. He's got to rule this kingdom. Help, how am I going to do this?
We know from the history of Israel they were at times an unruly people. To say nothing of the neighbours who are currently rearranging their missile systems on the border, who have the potential to cause a whole heap of trouble for Solomon in his kingdom. So he realises he needs God's help. And rather than use his position to indulge himself — put his snout in the trough and start helping himself to some of the trappings of the power that comes with being king — he thinks of the people, what they need. And he knows that he needs God's help.
And maybe we imagine that we would do the same, but it's just so hard not to feather your own nest when you're the one who's in power. I well remember a previous government declaring that it was a time of austerity for the country. You know, the public purse is empty, the country's broken, we all need to tighten our belts — this kind of message. And then unfortunately, the same week, a photograph was taken of a truck backing up to the government offices that was full, top to toe, with cases of champagne being unloaded, which rather spoke against the message that the government was giving out. Now, it's easy to laugh, but you can quickly feel a sense of entitlement. And Solomon didn't.
And in that way, he paved the path for his greater son. Think of Jesus, who could have taken anything for himself. Jesus, who you might say had the right to everything — I mean, he made it, it was his. And he didn't. Jesus, who always submitted himself to someone else's will, the will of his Father. Jesus, who was endowed with wisdom, and particularly the wisdom to govern his people rightly. You know, when you read of Jesus in the Gospels, the way that he was always able to find exactly the right thing for the right person at the right moment — what a gift. That he could stand up to people who needed to be corrected, that he feared no one, that he had eyes for the poor person and the least person, was able to bring comfort to the broken-hearted. Sometimes people draw attention to Jesus' deeds, understandably enough, but think of his words and the way that he spoke to people, the gracious words that fell from his lips. Jesus, the wisest of all.
And so the first key to stopping backsliding is wanting to live under him. Because Jesus is the only person who will govern your life with perfect wisdom. He's the only person who knows how we should live life. He's the only person who's actually done it perfectly.
But here's the rub: we have to trust that he knows better than we do how to live life. You have to trust, you have to believe, that he knows better than us how our time or money or efforts or energy should be spent, that he knows better than us how to relate to people, that he knows better than us how to live in regards to pride or pornography or poor relationships. And if we humble ourselves under this humble king, in due time he will lift us up. But if we exalt ourselves, put our confidence in ourselves, assume that we know basically how to live life, assume that spiritually we are still fine, that the trajectory is always upwards as far as we are concerned — we will be no better than Israel of old, that came crashing down.
So the first way to prevent backsliding is to live under the rule of the perfectly wise king rather than to trust our own judgment.
2. Solomon demonstrated his wisdom by building the temple (2 Chronicles 2–4)
Then secondly, Solomon demonstrated his wisdom by building the temple. This is chapters 2 to 4.
Have a look down at the beginning of chapter 2:
Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
Now when you first read that you might think, well, I don't know about this. It sounds like he is slightly in it for what he can get out of it — like he's happy for the temple and also he wouldn't mind a royal palace. You know, well, if I'm doing one, surely I can have the other. That sort of split priorities.
But what we have to understand is the royal palace was to do with his kingship. Here is the king that God had anointed, and the establishment of the kingdom — even the dwelling place of God with his people — is because of the king. In other words, you can't separate the two. The building of the temple, where God would come to be with his people, and the royal palace, where God's king would be enthroned, absolutely belong together, because God is establishing his kingdom through his king. So Solomon orders both to be built.
Now, how does he go about it? First of all, conscripts. He conscripts people — lots of them — because that's what you can do when you're a king. Have a look at verse 2:
He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stone cutters in the hills.
This is in the days before dump trucks, when one person would do it all — some massive dump truck. Now he's got 70,000 people as porters carrying bits of stone and everything else. I know absolutely nothing about how they made the pyramids in Egypt and all of that, but they must have had a lot of people involved — you would think, even if they've got a few pulleys as well. 70,000 people getting these blessed stones in place for the temple, and 80,000 stone cutters. That's a lot of work. And then 3,600 foremen — working hard to supervise those who were there. There are lots of people to be directed, so you need quite a few people to do the directing.
So he's got the conscription. Then he gathers the materials. Verse 3, he goes to his old friend Hiram, king of Tyre. Well, I say his friend — Hiram actually came up in the reign of his father David. And you remember that Hiram supplied David with more cedar logs than could be counted. So Solomon thinks, OK, I need some cedar logs, where am I going to go? I know what served us well in the past. So he goes back to the king of Tyre: "Send me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in."
And here seems to be another example of an unbeliever — the king of Tyre — who comes to see who God is. And there are masses of logs, because it's going to be a big temple. And the reason it's going to be a big temple — verse 5:
The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods.
A magnificent God, therefore they need a magnificent temple. That's why you need all of the cedar logs.
So he's got the conscripts, he's got the materials, and then he gets the skills. And Hiram's amazing statement in verse 12 of chapter 2:
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth.
It sounds a very heartfelt statement from this king of Tyre, who seems to have come to believe himself. And in verse 13 he says, "I am sending you Huram-Abi" — what a name — "a man of great skill." And then others come alongside Huram-Abi, also skilled to build the building.
Now, as we saw last week, this is very instructive for us today. Because when we look further on in the Bible, we find that the fulfilment of the temple is actually not a building but a person — the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, who describes himself as the temple, because he is the manifestation of God on earth. In the Old Testament, God comes to a building. In the New Testament, he has come as a person.
But Jesus does not content himself to remain alone. He's come for a purpose: to save people and to build a building of people — that is, to gather people from around this world. And as people come to believe in Jesus, putting their faith in him, they are added into the building that God is building. It's a building made of people, from every nation and tribe and language and country. All those who come to put their faith in Jesus. And every day, by the Spirit of God, people are being added into that building, one brick at a time. When you became a Christian, you became another brick in the building. And that's what God is doing — his plan is to gather a people. It'll be a magnificent building. We're told that when we get to the new creation there will be more people there than you can count. It will be huge and magnificent. We should never be deceived by current appearances.
It'll be a building made up, funnily enough, of conscripts. You think, what, really? Well, absolutely. God takes hold of us through the message of Jesus. We didn't go looking for him — he came looking for us. If it had been left to us to start looking for God, he might have been waiting a long time for us. But he gripped us through the gospel message. We heard the message that we are sinners, and we realised, he's speaking to me, he's speaking to us. And then we heard how he graciously has given his one and only Son out of love, because he wanted you to come to know him.
And if you're here this morning and you're not sure where you stand with God, you need to know that yes, you're a sinner — God says who is opposed to God and God opposed to you — but that God has taken action to resolve the situation, actually to sort it out, sending his Son that you might be able to come to know him, free of charge, because Jesus has paid the price for us. And so through the gospel message, God breaks into our hearts. The message is different to any other words we hear. It's different to a textbook, it's different to a maths equation you learn at school, it's different to whatever you read on the internet, it's different to the news every day. It's the message that gets into our hearts. It's a message that has hands and feet and climbs all over us, over our lives. And so we find that we want to live for Jesus.
He conscripts us into his workforce, because then he gives us the skills, the gifts that we need to be able to serve him. Spiritual gifts are gifts that we may have had naturally — still given by God — and may have had before we were Christians, but they become spiritual gifts when, under the influence of his Spirit, they are used for the building of his kingdom.
Some of those gifts operate in areas where we should all be involved — you all pitch in — but some people are particularly good at it. Like showing mercy: we should all show mercy, but some people, gosh, they think of things that never occur to me to do — acts of mercy or kindness, that sort of thing. Speaking the truth in love — we should all be involved in that. Giving money for the gospel — we should all be involved in that. Sharing the gospel — we should all be involved in that. But some people are particularly good at them, particularly gifted in those areas.
Some gifts are a bit more specialised — for example, music. I don't think necessarily all of us would enjoy it if we were hauled up to the front to sing. But mercifully, God has people who are good at singing. We could actually do with a few more as well, so if you know you can, we'd love to have you. But you wouldn't want the whole congregation charging to the front to play the triangle, or — you know what — play the recorder. I used to play it when I was age five. That sort of thing. Some of the gifts are more specialised.
Now, as we get to work using the gifts God has given us, he works through us to build his temple — that is, to reach the lost for Christ and to build up his people. Think of it like salvation in two dimensions: salvation of those who are not saved, and we serve those who are saved. Because it's no good just adding bricks to the wall if, like Jenga, you also lose bricks out of the wall. That's why we need to care for each other, look after each other, make sure that we all make it to the end.
Chapters 3 and 4 of 2 Chronicles — we haven't got time to look at these, but they show that Solomon's temple was not only large in scale but also precious. This is where the gold comes in, and the purple comes in, and a hundred pomegranates come in — and I don't quite know what they're doing, but it seems to indicate that this is all special, because the temple mattered to God and mattered to Solomon. And the fulfilment of the temple — his people around the world, the new temple — matters even more. The question is, does it matter to us?
Maybe you didn't realise that you were not just an isolated person, but God had a plan for your life. And the plan was to incorporate you into his people. You're special to him, and special because his people are special. Are they special to us as well?
Now just think about this for a moment. I don't want to labour the point too much, but I think it's very instructive that the last eight chapters of 1 Chronicles are all about the preparation of the temple, and four chapters here are to do with the building of the temple, and in the middle you've got one chapter by itself — that first chapter, Solomon asking for wisdom. So why is it there? Why have you got one chapter in between nine chapters and four chapters that really hang together very nicely? Is it because wisdom shows itself in the building of the temple? Solomon is given wisdom, and what's the first thing he does? He builds the temple for God. That's how you show a wise life.
In our culture, you show a wise life by accumulation, or trying to retire early, or trying to be at the best you can in this world and in this life. But as a Christian, you show your wisdom — or to God, you show wisdom — by having more concern for the temple of God than we do for ourselves, in his kingdom rather than in the kingdoms that we might wish to build. There's a real challenge for us in this.
The wise church is not the church that sits back in comfort, but is the church that puts itself out, extends itself for the salvation of the lost. Just to put a bit of flesh on the bones, let me suggest that the transition points in life are good points for us to consider: am I serving as I would wish to, to build this temple?
For example, you get someone who leaves school and they start an apprenticeship, or they go to uni or college, or get a job, or whatever it is. It's a great time to think, OK, now at this stage of life, how can I serve God? What can I do? How can I serve in the church? How can I try and build the kingdom?
Or two people get married — great time to think, how can we serve God together in this new stage of life? That's why it doesn't work, marrying a non-Christian, because you've got different aims in what you're trying to do.
Or let's say you've got kids who are going to school. So we've been buried for the last five years, not really been able to do anything, but now we can. We've got a bit of breathing space. How can we use that to build the temple?
Or you're at that stage — even better — when kids finish school, leave home. And I think some of those years are the best years. Let's say just 50 until 65 — that sort of window. It's a fantastic window to think, I've got the experience, I've got some time, and I've got the ability to be able to serve God, maybe in a way I haven't up to now.
Or retirement — what about that? Being able to think then how to serve.
It's a case of thinking at every stage of life: kingdom first, kingdom thinking, temple thinking. And that's one of the things that will stop us from backsliding.
From time to time I've heard people say in church life, "I'm not really feeling connected." But when you find out a bit more about what their experience is, what it actually is, they're thinking, "I wish more people would ring me." But what they need is actually to serve more alongside other people. Because it's when you serve alongside others that you actually feel more connected. You're working together for a common aim, and the Christian life becomes more and more enjoyable.
We have responsibilities in many areas of course, and wider than just building the temple. But here is the second way to avoid spiritual drift: get building the temple.
3. Solomon built the temple in order to live with God (2 Chronicles 5)
Then thirdly — more briefly but most importantly — Solomon built the temple in order to live with God. Chapter 5 is all about the ark, and the ark is all about the presence of God with the people of God — the visible presence of God.
So chapter 5 and verse 6 — have a look down:
King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they couldn't be recorded or counted.
Once you get near the presence of God, it's a very dangerous place to be unless the appropriate sacrifices have been made for sin. And here they're rattling through so many sheep and cattle because of the sins of the people.
Then verse 7:
They brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place. They put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.
We find in chapter 4 the wings are absolutely enormous. And the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. So they've learned from a previous disaster near the beginning of 1 Chronicles — don't try and lift up the ark. You've got to carry it on poles, because it's the holiness of God. Do not touch this. You cannot touch it with your hands. Use the poles. Now they have learned that lesson.
And in the ark — verse 10 — there's nothing except the two tablets that God had placed in it at Horeb. Horeb means Mount Sinai, in other words the Ten Commandments on those stone tablets — in other words, the Word of God. God is present by his Word.
Then they withdraw, they take a few paces back, and the music starts — cymbals, harps, lyres — and we're told 120 trumpets. Do you think they needed to be marked up? I don't think they did. 120 trumpets. And then they raise their voices in praise to the Lord. Verse 13, they sang. What did they sing? Two lines:
He is good. His love endures forever.
He is good. God is with them again, and the first thing they're struck by is the goodness of God and the love of God. Because the closer you get to God, the more you realise how good he really is.
When people don't know God, they don't think of him like that. They think of him as the taker. You know, God's come to take in life, and if you get too close to him he'll probably take something from you as well — you'll be worse off. That's how people think when they don't know God. But when they do know God, and when they come back to God, they realise God is not the taker. God is the giver. He is more generous than we ever realised. He is more good than we ever understood before. Adam and Eve knew that in the Garden of Eden, and Christians know that when they come back to God.
Sin makes us think that we're good and God's bad. Sin makes us believe we have to look after our own interests because no one else is going to look after them at all, because we don't know how good God is. The sinfulness of sin is to distort what God is really like and to make us believe he is not good. And of course that's how we think at times. And that's so quickly how we think — it doesn't take much in life, does it, to knock us off our stride and help us to doubt the goodness of God. That's what drifting is about. It's a sign that we're drifting.
But here, when God came close, they realised how good he was. And the closer you get to God, the more you'll believe it.
And it's amazing that he wanted to be near the people. The temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, we read. And verse 14:
The priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.
Because God wants to be with his people. That's why he brought us to know Jesus — that we might be with him. But not as a kind of one-off transaction. It's so that we might live with him, that we might know him, that we might enjoy him. Think of the Word becoming flesh and making his dwelling amongst us, because God wanted to be with us and us with God.
The contrast with worldly power
Albert Speer was Hitler's architect at the time of the Third Reich. And after the collapse of that, Speer told of an incident that had happened during the war when Adolf Hitler was on a train to the front. He was in a carriage which, of course, had silver service and oil paintings and food fit for a king and all of this. And on the journey, his train pulled into a station for a moment, to allow a train going the other way to pass. The train going the other way stopped opposite, and it was filled with soldiers that were coming back from the front — emaciated, bloodied, feeble, starving. And Speer spoke of how Hitler immediately motioned with his hand to a servant to get the blind pulled down on his side of the carriage. Because that's how the great ones treat their people in this world. They want to be separated from them.
But God wants to be with his people. On the day when we finally see God, meet God, we're told in Revelation 21, there will be a loud voice from the throne — from God himself, direct — who will say, who will speak:
"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and God himself will be with them and be their God."
Here was the point of the temple — Solomon's temple — to bring God and humans together, that they might know him and live with him and enjoy him. And here is the point why you have been rescued by God: to know God and enjoy him forever.
Conclusion: Drawing near to God
So how to stop backsliding? Let us draw near to God with a full heart and with full assurance of faith. It's a little bit different to going through the motions in life. There are good habits to have — coming to church is a good habit, going to a growth group is a good habit, there are other good habits. But it's a little bit different. Let us draw near to God. You can come to a building but not come near to God. This is a call to come near to God. Don't keep backing away with a shut Bible and a lost prayer list that you once had. Rather, we're to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and draw near to God — because he's good and because he's loving. In fact, he loves us more even than we love ourselves.
Here was what these people needed to know, so the exile didn't happen again. Solomon requested wisdom to rule — and we know from that we should live therefore under the rule of the wise king. Solomon demonstrated his wisdom by building the temple — so we should dedicate ourselves to build God's temple. And Solomon built the temple in order to dwell with God — so let's draw near to God, not keep our distance from him.
I'll say a prayer. Dear God in heaven, we thank you that you're so good. And we're sorry for times when we doubt that. And thank you that you're so loving. We simply ask this morning that you would help us to understand this more deeply and to come to you more readily. And as we do so, please would you give us a passion for the lost, for the things that you're passionate for in this world, and help us to use the gifts that you've given us in the service of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. To his glory we ask. Amen.