"Go For The Gold"

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos
Pulpit Series Volume 18, Issue 03, January 27, 2008

Jerusalem was attacked by Shishak, king of Egypt, leaving Judah ransacked and barren. I Kings 14:25-26 “Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: And took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house; he took everything he even took the shields of gold which Solomon had made.” I Kings 10:16

These shields weighed 3 lbs each, worth about 6.3 million dollars. They hung in the king’s palace. II Chronicles 9:16 “And they were taken down by the king’s guard when he went to the Temple to worship.” The guards would line the avenue leading up to the Temple; 150 guards per side, each holding a solid gold shield, as Solomon and Rehoboam made their way into the Temple to worship. Can you picture it?

Pretty bad to lose these sheilds but a worse thing was done afterwards. I Kings 14:27-28 “And king Rehoboam made in their place brass shields.”

When the shields are stolen, Rehoboam orders the metal workers to make 300 new shields of brass. When polished, the brass shields would gleam like gold, but when the king passed between the rows of these shields, he knew and the guards knew that they were nothing but a poor substitute for the missing shields of gold.

Instead of facing the people of Israel and telling them that the golden shields were gone, King Rehoboam tried to deceive them by making an inferior substitute.

Instead of gathering his army to go and recover what the enemy had taken, he chose to compromise. He did this to save face .

The shields were for more than decoration, they represented PURITY, INTEGRITY, and EXCELLENCE.

Rehoboam, rather than risk all to gain back the golden shields, made the decision to replace them with “brass” shields.

When polished they looked like gold, but they weren’t! They were a good substitute, but substitutes like brass begin to tarnish.

Today many people use substitutes. “You can imagine the hyena's surprise when he caught the tofu wildebeest.”

Constantine embraced Christianity and the church joined hands with the world!

Christianity has since become a lifestyle (form of godliness) rather than a life of faith (power)!

Upon seeing the splender of the Vatican’s treasures, the pope remarked to a visitor, “You will observe that the church no longer has to say, silver and gold have I none.” The visitor answered, “Neither can she now say, “Rise and walk!”

My dear friends, never was there a time when the church had more members than today; at no time has she had more money than today, or more preachers and teachers, or more oppurtunities than today, but there was a time that she had more power than she has today!

At least the young prophet of Elisha’s day upon losing the head of his axe was smart enough to stop swinging and look for the lost axe head!

You may think a brass shield is better than no shield at all, but why accept anything less than gold, when gold has been provided?

Especially when that gold represents Integrity, Purity and Excellence.

Brass reminds me of those commercials that promise freedom from social disorders by taking this pill 12 times a day. However, the possible side effects may include: Bleeding gums, partial paralysis, numbness or blurred vision, loss of hearing, gas with oily discharge, increased bowel movements and an inability to control your kidneys, insomnia, liver or heart failure, sweating, dry mouth, sleepiness, tremors, yawning, sexual side effects in men and women, decreased appetites, muscle aches, nausea, heart disease, watery eyes and post nasal drip.

Much church activity today is simply brass, trying to shine as gold!

I fear that if we continue on in this course the next generation may know nothing of what it means to experience the presence of God.

But before we come down too hard on old Rehoboam and the church, perhaps we need to examine our own hearts?

Are we not often guilty of giving God brass instead of gold?


When we do less than our best for God, compromising His standards of excellence, are we not giving Him brass for gold?

When we know we are not where the Lord wants us to be with Him; and we pretend all is well, are we not falling short in the integrity department, thereby guilty of giving Him brass for gold?

When we tolerate sin in our life, are we not compromising God’s call to holiness, and in fact, giving Him brass for gold?

Romans 8:5-11 (The Message Bible) “Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life.
Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them - living and breathing God!
Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.
Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what He is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.
But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him.

Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about.
But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells - even though you still experience all the limitations of sin - you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, He'll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself?
When God lives and breathes in you (and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!
Go for the GOLD!