Rehoboam made shield of brass (copper/bronze) to replace the gold ones (worth in today's value about $180,000 each), and gave them to his commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal palace. Shields of brass for shields of gold. The last recorded event in the pitiful reign of Rehoboam. At today’s prices, those shield would cost about $33.00 each.
From $180,000. to $33.00.
From gold to brass.
From magnificent to ordinary.
From splendid to mundane.
From extraordinary to routine.
From glorious to boring.
As I said in our last post, when you don’t have the real thing you have to fake it. These shield become a tremendous metaphor to our Heart of Worship campaign.
First consider the gold when it comes to worship. Both set a standard of value. In nearly every society, a nation’s accumulation of gold universally sets the recognition of standard for their wealth. Hallelujah is recognized universally - pronounced the same in every major language. Both are symbols of excellence, purity, & blessing. Both are difficult to destroy. Heat gold, it just gets purer, finer. Praise becomes more refined when impure motives are driven out by the heat of tribulation. And finally, both are in heaven! Streets are paved with the purest gold, and heaven is filled with praise.
Now, let’s consider the symbolism of the shield. Shields are protection in the battle. Solomon’s shields were testimonies of God’s blessing. Imagine seeing these shields for hundreds of yards - shining testimonies of God’s blessing upon Solomon & his kingdom. The shields were stolen. The theft was symbolic of the nation, the people’s national heart. Blessings, the glory, the splendor had departed (robbed!) Our spiritual defenses are compromised when we become focused on man-made traditions (our glory) and the enemy steals authentic praise from us (it makes us vulnerable).
Finally, let's consider the substitute shields. As pathetic as the loss of the shields were, Rehoboam’s response was even worse. No clandestine recovery operation; no attempt to recover them; no desire to get them back. Just make some brass ones. He was content with $33.00 shields when they had lost $180,000 shields.
Sure, the brass shields would shine if you put on enough elbow grease (works of the flesh) and would shine like gold from a distance. But eventually, they tarnished. Haven’t we made similar substitutes? I’ve often substituted the brass of form & order for the gold of spontaneous worship & adoration. Seeking my own agenda (or idea of worship, traditions) I made worship into something tarnished, so impure, that even at a distance it no longer looked like the real thing. And when I did so, I lost favor with God.
We have two choices. We can be like Rehoboam. We can let the last words recorded in our lives history be that we polished the brass, we kept up appearances, we faked it as long as we could. Or we can go down a different path. We can choose to go down the road that the pastor at Soul Survivor church in Watford, England, did in the late 1990’s. He knew there was a dynamic missing in their church, so he did a pretty brave thing. He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and they gathered together with just their voices. His point was that they had lost their way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.
Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”
The question initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way. Before long, they reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as they had gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and that He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstances or setting of our lives.
One of the members of that congregation was a young man named Matt Redman’s, one of the most prolific contemporary Christian worship songwriters in the world today. Matt has written several songs we sing, like “Blessed be your Name” After the experience at his church, Matt wrote these words:
When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
Lord, help me to return to the heart of worship...because it really is all about You.
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