Preached by Gregory W. Lee
19 November 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Kings 22
1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.
2. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
3. In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said:
4. "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
5. Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD--
6. the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.
7. But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are acting faithfully."
8. Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.
9. Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: "Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple."
10. Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
11. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.
-- this week, we are starting one of my favorite times of the year -- we are moving into the holiday season -- a time of the year when we slow down and reflect with thanksgiving on all that God has done, from providing for our needs to sending us salvation through the birth of His Son Jesus Christ -- this is the time of the year when we gather together as friends and family and enjoy each other's company and rejoice in all that God has done -- one thing that we really like to do is to watch all the Christmas movies together as a family
-- one of my favorite movies of all time is "It's a Wonderful Life" that starred Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed -- I imagine everyone in here has probably seen this movie at some time in your life -- do you remember the story? -- Jimmy Stewart's character, George Bailey, is having a rough time -- it seems like nothing has ever gone his way, except for marrying his childhood sweetheart -- he ends up stuck in Bedford Falls when he really wanted to go off and see the world -- his savings and loan business is about to fail and the town is about to be taken over by the evil Mr. Potter
-- at one point, he thinks about committing suicide by jumping off the bridge and is stopped by an angel named Clarence -- as he's talking with Clarence, he exclaims, "Everyone'd be better off if I'd never been born at all" -- and, of course, that's what happens next in the movie -- he goes back into town and everything is different -- it's like he has never existed at all
-- started thinking -- what would it be like if that happened -- not to me -- but to this church? -- if this church ceased to exist -- had never existed -- what would happen? -- what lives would never have been impacted by the Lord if the witness of this church had never occurred?
-- then I started thinking of a more likely occurrence -- what if this church ceased to exist in our lifetime?
-- we live in a day of church closings -- a day when it is a common occurrence for churches -- even churches in established denominations like ours -- to close the doors for a variety of reasons -- declining membership -- rising costs for utilities -- rising costs for paying for a pastor and their retirement or health costs -- a lot of churches in our district are struggling with paying the high cost of health insurance for pastors and staff right now, to the point where several have cut back on staff or have moved them to part-time status to avoid the costs
-- other reasons why churches close -- changes in the community around them -- changing demographics -- changing from being a suburban church to an inner-city church -- inability to maintain the church building or keep up with changes to the building codes -- sometimes churches close because of disputes and conflict within the church or because of the moral failure of church leadership
-- churches close every day -- since I moved back to Valdosta, I can count at least 10 churches that have closed since I have gotten here -- which caused me to wonder, "what happens to a community and to a people when a church closes?
-- Tony Atkinson, a friend of mine, put it this way -- "Imagine, if you will, what a community would be like if the only church left was rundown and decayed to the point of being condemned -- stretch your imagination even farther and think what a community would be like if the Bible had been out of use for so long that no one even would know what you meant if you said the word "Bible"
-- Can you imagine the Word of God becoming lost to memory in just a lifetime? -- Can you imagine this church becoming lost to memory in just a lifetime? -- Could such a thing really happen?
-- it happened in Josiah's time
-- in this passage that we opened with -- the same passage from last week's Sunday School lesson -- we are introduced to King Josiah of Judah -- look back at verse 1
1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.
2. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
-- now, when the bible talks about a king or about the leader of the nation of Israel, it reflects on two aspects -- first, it talks about his physical heritage -- who his parents were -- who he was descended from -- and how he came to take the throne -- and, secondly, it talks about his spiritual heritage -- whose path he followed as he lived his life -- that of God or that of false religions
-- Josiah was royalty -- he was descended from the line of the kings of Judah -- but when verse 2 talks about David being his father, it is not talking about his physical heritage but his spiritual heritage -- Josiah was not given a good spiritual heritage -- both his father and his grandfather were renowned for their evil practices in the land
-- Josiah's father Amon had taken the throne at the age of 22 and only reigned two years before he was assassinated by his followers because of the evil he committed against the Lord -- Amon followed the spiritual footprints of his father Manasseh and paid the price for it
-- Manasseh was one of the most evil kings to ever sit on the throne -- he was the one who introduced the nation to the worship of idols -- and he was the one who started the decline of the temple and of the worship of the Lord God Almighty in Judah
-- the Bible tells us that Manasseh not only set up Asherah poles and altars to idols on the high places, but he went into the very temple of the Lord God Almighty and desecrated it by building altars to idols within its walls -- and on these altars, he worshiped the starry hosts, practiced sorcery and divination, and even sacrificed his children
-- in the course of one lifetime, the temple had gone from being a place of worship for the Lord God Almighty to being in a state of physical and spiritual disrepair
-- the church had ceased to exist -- the people no longer remembered the glory of God or the mighty acts that had occurred in that place -- they had even forgotten the Scriptures -- and the temple was falling down all around them
-- it was into that situation that Josiah was thrust upon the scene -- and he had a choice to make -- he could follow the spiritual heritage of his father and grandfather and continue to lead the nation of Judah down the evil path of idol worship -- or he could choose to follow the spiritual heritage of his forefathers and restore the worship of Yahweh to the nation
-- Josiah chose to return to the Lord -- and for that reason, it says here that he walked in the ways of his father David -- not his physical father but his ancestor who was called a "man after God's own heart" -- rather than following Amon and Manasseh into evil, Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord
-- when Josiah was around 26 years old, he began the spiritual restoration of the nation by repairing the temple and preparing it to be a place of worship for God once again
-- verse 3
3. In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said:
4. "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
5. Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD--
6. the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.
7. But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are acting faithfully."
-- Josiah took steps to get funds to pay for the renovation and repair of the temple -- notice that he didn't just fund it out of the royal treasury, but that he funded it from the collections offered by the people -- spiritual restoration is only possible if the people participate -- God will raise up leaders to turn the hearts of the people back to Him -- but spiritual restoration will only occur if the people turn from their sins and take action in their lives to return to God -- by collecting money to rebuild the temple, the people were expressing their faith and confidence in God
-- verse 8
8. Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.
9. Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: "Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple."
10. Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
11. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.
12. He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's attendant:
13. "Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us."
-- as they were working on the temple, the priest Hilkiah found the Bible -- the Book of the Law -- in the temple -- he gave it to Shaphan, the king's secretary -- who read it and brought it to King Josiah
-- when Josiah read the words of God transcribed on those pages, his heart was cut to the quick -- and he realized the magnitude of the sin of Judah -- he immediately ordered a sacred assembly -- and all of the nation of Judah -- all of the people of Judah -- gathered in the temple
-- Josiah read to them the words of God and they renewed their covenant with God -- to keep all of God's commands, regulations, and decrees and to devote themselves to Him with all their heart and mind and soul
-- under the leadership of Josiah, spiritual restoration came to the nation of Judah
-- I want you to pause for a moment and I want you to think about the witness of this church and the other churches in this community -- the personality of this community -- its spiritual heritage -- its sense of right and wrong all derive, in large part, because of the witness of this church and the other churches in this area
-- this community is what it is because of the presence of God made known through the witness of those who have gone before
-- but, what would happen if that witness was to disappear? -- what would happen to this community -- to these people -- to you -- if the churches were to close -- if they were to fall into a state of physical and spiritual disrepair?
-- don't even think for one moment that it couldn't happen -- it happened in Josiah's day
-- over the course of one lifetime, the nation of Judah -- the people of God -- the very people delivered from the hand of the Egyptians by the Lord God Almighty Himself -- turned their eyes from God and slowly allowed their faith to slip away
-- it happened to them -- it could happen to us -- I'm sure they never saw it coming -- I'm sure they never expected it to occur -- but over time, the people of Judah allowed themselves to become conformed to the world and to the direction their leaders were carrying them rather than to God -- they were kind of like frogs in a pot
-- we've all heard the illustration that if you put a frog in hot boiling water, it will quickly jump out -- but if you put a frog in cold water and then slowly turn up the heat -- just a little at a time -- that he won't notice change until it's too late
-- it happened to Judah -- it could happen to us -- in Josiah's day, the temple was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair and the Book of the Law became lost in the house of the Lord -- as Tony put it, "it was lost because it was not being used -- and it was not being used because the people were occupied with conforming to the world around them -- can we become so associated with popular culture that the way of the world replaces the way of the gospel? "
-- as Christians -- as God's people called to serve Him in this community -- we need to remember that we have a responsibility -- if you would, flip over to the New Testament -- to Colossians 1, and let's close there
-- Colossians 1:1
1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2. To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
4. because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints--
5. the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel
6. that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.
7. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
8. and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
-- in this passage, we are given a picture of a functioning body of Christ -- of a church that is standing firm and fulfilling its responsibilities to be God's witness in its community
-- as Paul opens his letter to this church, he tells them he thanks God for them when he lifts them up in his prayers because of the faith they had been given and because of the fruit their faith was bearing
-- Paul says that he had heard of their faith and that he had heard of their love -- a living church expresses their faith, hope, and love in such a way that others will hear of it and be drawn to it -- they do not allow themselves to be conformed to the world but, rather, season the world through their witness
-- I opened this message by asking you to reflect on what would happen if the witness of God in this world -- if our churches -- ceased to exist -- if they fell into such spiritual disrepair that they no longer functioned as God intended
-- we need to remember that physical disrepair does not always precede spiritual disrepair -- it is possible to be totally conformed to the world -- to be living flavorless -- and still be going through the motions -- there are many churches in our country today that are well-kept and well-maintained but that are not serving God or serving as God's representatives in their community
-- we have a calling and a responsibility as God's people in this place
-- Christ said that we were the salt of the earth -- we are called to not only exist and maintain our church buildings, but we are called to season and flavor this world by sharing with them the good news of the risen Christ
-- we are called to bear Christ's name -- in our lives -- in our homes -- in our churches -- we are called to be keepers of the Book -- of the Holy Bible -- to make sure it does not disappear from memory or gather dust on our shelves -- to make sure that it is applied in our lives and in our homes and in our communities
-- we are called to build upon the faith of those who have gone before and to lead our families and our communities in following the way of God and not the way of this world
-- we are called to stand against spiritual decline and to be God's light in this community and in this place
-- as we close our service today, I'm going to ask you to consider where you are in your relationship with God -- have you allowed your spiritual life to slip into disrepair? -- have you allowed yourself to be conformed to the ways of the world? -- you know in your heart if this is your situation or not -- if this is the case, then I want to invite you to repair your temple -- to restore God to the right place of worship in your life -- to turn from your ways to His
-- and, I would ask you to consider where this church is in its relationship with God -- are we a living, vibrant church? -- do others hear of our faith and our love and are they drawn to God as a result? -- or are we merely putting on a stained-glass masquerade? -- looking like the body of Christ while living like the world?
-- I would invite you this morning to join me as I ask God to revive us and renew us and make us a point of spiritual restoration for our families and our homes and our communities
-- however God has spoken to you this morning, I would invite you to respond to His word before you leave
-- let us pray
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