Making Faith My Own

Introduction

Good morning. Phil opening your Old Testament’s with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 24. 2 Chronicles chapter 24. If you were not here at the 9 o’clock hour, you missed something special. Elijah Morris had a very strong lesson from the New Testament. I encourage you to watch the video feed that we’ll post sometime this week. And consider the message from Jesus as relayed well by Elijah. He did a great job. We also had a singing praise to God this morning, and it was wonderful to be with Christians singing, and we would have missed out on that if we missed you this morning as well. But in 2 Chronicles chapter 24, we have an important story that teaches us the need for direction in life. The need to find direction.

Finding directions is a difficult thing. An older preacher once told me a story about the first year of his marriage, and for dating purposes, we’ll say this is before cell phones, but after MapQuest became a thing. So that gives you a rough estimate there. And as MapQuest was a thing, this older at the time younger preacher told me he was excited to be married because now his wife could hold the mapquest directions for him while he drove. You can tell that’s going to end well, right? As they were driving along the road, they were supposed to take an exit. He didn’t know which one. He said, I want you to give me a heads up on when that exit comes. And she said, Okay. And about a hundred miles of the road had passed, and he said, All right, we’ve got to be getting close to the exit.

And she said, Okay, I’ll let you know when we’re close. And he said, Okay. 20 more miles. He said, I know we’re close. And she said, Oh, the exit was ten miles ago. I saw a Chick-fil-A up the road I wanted to stop at. The older preacher said, I think my marriage was over at that point. But as a Christian, I had to stay married and go eat. When we think about 2 Chronicles chapter 24, we see Joash had a connection problem. Joash is king of God’s people. He takes over at a very unique age, though. If you notice in the first several verses, Joash is a special king. He has a special function in his story, his direction is important for us to take note.

1. Faithful All the Days of Jehoiada

In verse 1, Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. And he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. Now his mother’s name was Zibeah of Beersheba. And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Now Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters. Now after this, Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord, and he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly. But the Levites did not act quickly. So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for the tenth of testimony.

For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman had broken into the house of God and also used all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals. So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. And proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses, the servant of God, laid on Israel in the wilderness. Now so think about Joash, he’s a special king, and this is important. You see in verse 1, he was seven years old when he began to reign. And that’s unique. That’s going to play an important part in the story that he was seven years old, that he was impressionable.

But verse two is what we’re going to key in on. He was faithful all the days of Jehoiada, the priest. And while it’s wonderful that he was faithful for all these years, and Jehoiada would live years from this point in verse 2, it also implies something was going to happen. That that faithfulness was going to end. Joash is an important story because he teaches us, yes, at a young age, but I’d like to illustrate this morning also at an adult age that it is critical, it is absolutely vital that we make faith our own. Before we dive back into the text, I want to stop for a moment and ask you to consider something strange. Normally, if I say what I’m about to say, we think about all the negatives.

I just want to be realistic this morning and ask you a question. Where would your life be if starting tomorrow you no longer had faith in God? What would your life be like? Would it be the same? You know, our default answer as Christians is, oh, it would be terrible. It would be so different. I would be in an unpeaceful house, it would be unloving, it would just be miserable. And I think at its core, and from a soul perspective, that’s true. But if we’re being really honest and considering what would happen if I gave up the faith starting this afternoon or tomorrow morning, my life would look pretty similar tomorrow. I’d go to the same job, I’d live in the same home. I might have some tension between me and my family, if my family are Christians.

I might actually have some semblance of more peace and harmony, depending on what type of household I live in, at least in the short run. And please don’t mistake anything I’m saying. I’m not saying it’s appealing or good to give up faith in God. But consider for a moment, would your life be better or worse if you gave up the faith? This is an important question because it might be that we are faithful, that we know the right things to do, that we do them, that we worship God, that we trust Jesus’ word. We study, we pray because we know it’s important. But maybe it’s become ritualized. Maybe depending on your family structure, you’re not the only Christian. Maybe you’d be the only person who’s not a Christian, depending on your family setup.

And if that’s the case, are we faithful because someone else is? Are we faithful because it’s convenient? Easy. Or it helps us in the short run. You see, God’s not pleased with that type of calculation. God desires our entire being. And the other problem is what happens in verse 2. Our faith can be strong. Joash did faithful things. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is a compliment that many kings of Judah did not get. And by the way, no kings of Israel got. But there was a time limit. And the truth about an improper motive for faith to God is there’s always an expiration date on what feels like a successful cheating of the system. And for Joash it came when Jehoiada passed away.

You see, Jehoiada was important to Joash, because as we’re learning from him this morning, if you look with me in the 2 Kings 11 account, Jehoiada played a pivotal role for Joash from the very beginning. This was more than just a priest and king relationship. This wasn’t just two leaders of God’s people who had a close connection. No, Jehoiada changed Joash’s life. If you look in 2 Kings chapter 11, in the king’s account, essentially of this story, in verse 1. Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. But Jehoshaba, the daughter of King Jorab, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom.

Thus they hid him from Athaliah so that he was not put to death. And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord while Athaliah reigned over the land. But in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Karaites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the Lord. And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord, and he showed them the king’s son. And what you can see from verses 5 through 8 and on into the king’s account of chapter 11 and even 12 is that you have Jehoiada installing Joash as the rightful king of God’s people. And he should have been, and this is amazing.

This is wonderful. Jehoiada was doing the right thing. Jehoiada is a strong man of faith, at least as it pertains to this part of the story. Jehoiada is allowing for a proper king, a king who does not try to wipe out his lineage like Queen Athaliah was doing to be king. That’s a good thing. It’s also a great thing that Jehoiada had this kind of impact on Joash. I would consider that’s not the point of the lesson this morning, but do you have a Jehoiada in your life? Do you have somebody that is positively spurring you on to faithfulness that helps you know what the right thing to do is and encourages you, encourages you to stick with the law of God. That’s a blessing. But it also can be a crutch that when it’s kicked out from under us, we find that we might fall from.

You see, Joash reigned faithfully for a while, verse 2, of course, said while Jehoiada was alive, but turn back with me in the 2 Chronicles chapter 24. You don’t want to keep a marker here. We’re going to be mainly in the Chronicles account this morning. In chapter 24, where we left off in verse 9, is he’s writing the wrong, as he’s getting the people to work, as they’re giving God what he is owed. In verse 9, we see again this proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses, the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.

And whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king’s secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return to its place. Thus they did day after day and collected money in abundance. And the king of Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord. And they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it.

And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king in Jehoiada, and with it were made utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly, all the days of Jehoiada. This is wonderful. This is a people in Judah who over time had lost their way. They were constantly ebbing and flowing, depending on whether they happened to have one of the good kings or one of the bad kings, and Joash is helping them do the right thing, to put the work of God first, to put the restoration of the temple back at the forefront of their minds, to restore what belongs to God, what Athaliah and her sons had decimated.

2. Joash Never Truly Had a Faith of His Own

This is great. This is faithfulness. Make no mistake about it. But unfortunately, the story keeps going. And in verse 15, what you know is coming arrives. Joash faces a pivotal moment. In verse 15, but Jehoiada grew old and full of days and died. He was 130 years old at his death, and they buried him in the city of David among the kings. Because he had done good in Israel and toward God in his house. Now, after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Ashram and the idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. These testified against them. But they would pay no attention. Two pivotal moments happened in the life of Joash. The first one is in verse 15. Pairing this with verse 2, you see the problem, right? Joash was faithful as long as Jehoiada was alive. And in verse 15, Jehoiada grew old and he died. The second pivotal moment, a little bit more sneaky, is in verse 17. After his death, notice who comes calling and what they do. The princes of Judah come and they pay homage to the king. Now you can imagine, even to a faithful king like Joash, who has lost his spiritual advisor, lost his spiritual mentor, that this is a moment of weakness.

This is a moment where the question will be answered. Does Joash have a faith of his own? Or is it tied to Jehoiada? Because the temptation is here. They’re coming to him. You might say they’re bowing down, telling him how great he is, how wonderful he is, how they’re happy to serve him. And what does he do in verse 17? After this lip service. He listens to them. Only in that sequence does it lead to verse 18 and 19 that they begin to follow the ashram. They follow idolatry. God sends prophets and they reject him. And we ask the question how is it possible that Joash overnight lost his faith? The answer is he didn’t. Was the devil tempting him and ready for a moment of weakness?

3. Is Your Faith Propped Up by Your Family?

Absolutely. But what’s clear is that Joash never truly had a faith of his own. When you consider what we put our faith in, we can see we might have the same stumbling block. What about our parents? Our faithful family. You know, it’s this is sad to say, and this is not meant to be funny. But you can count basically on two fingers the number of times you see a lot of university students at a church building. I’ve called, it’s not just here, it’s everywhere. The drop off weekend and pickup weekend. Why? Because parents come to drop off their kids in a new place for their beginning of university and college. And you see the kids again when they’re picked up because why? Mom and dad are coming.

And we missed them in the middle. Why? Faith wasn’t there at all. I’m aware I’m painting with a broad brush. There are many wonderful examples, including in this congregation of many students at university who still come and are faithful, and that is awesome. It is an encouragement to us. And I hope your faith continues to grow. But do you see the problem? That this is a real situation. This happens in 21st century America. This isn’t a King of Judah thing. This is a faith crisis that we often hide what should be faithfulness under the guise of not rocking the boat. You see, we have questions about faith. We’re concerned with where is God in my life? How do I serve him? Or maybe am I committed to serve him?

And we don’t find the answer until the test comes. If you looked at Joash’s life at any point during the days of Jehoiada, you’d say, that’s a faithful king. But when was he exposed? When Jehoida was out of the picture. And new influencers came in. They had his ear. He listened to somebody else. He took unwise counsel. And so the question for both teenagers and adults alike is, is your faith propped up by your family? If you were by yourself, the answer is not, by the way, I’m faithful because I’m at worship. The question is, do you believe in God so much so that if anyone had your ear and is trying to entice you to do wrong, you not only know what is right, but you do it too.

Because Joash failed that mission. And if we’re honest, we can all say I failed at that at some point or another. But I also want to add that this doesn’t necessarily just apply to the young. Yes, Joash was seven when he took over. Yes, this is a good lesson for a teenage audience. But as adults, is our faith in convenience? Is it easier? It might be that you’re from a family where you’re the only Christian and this message doesn’t reverberate at all. But recognize that hopefully you will change your family tree. If you stay faithful, your light will shine. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 16, let your light shine before men. Why? That they may see your good works and glorify God who is in heaven.

1 Peter chapter 3 talks about women who can influence their husbands without a word. There is beauty, there is value in shining our light. But if you’re from a Christian household or of a Christian faith, and you recognize, hey, if I leave the faith, I leave my friends at this congregation. I’m going to lose my family members. They’re going to have a problem with me. I don’t have that problem as long as I toe the line. You know who sees through that? God does. Man won’t point it out, man won’t figure it out. But the testing will come. And when the winds come, what happens to that foundation on sand? Jesus talks about Matthew chapter 7. The winds came, the rain came, and the house fell.

4. Is My Faith in a Teacher or Local Congregation?

Because its foundation was in sand, not the foundation on rock. Is my faith my own? But here we’ll see really, I think this lesson applies to all of us. Is my faith in a teacher or local congregation? I can’t tell you how many studies I have with people where they put me into contact with whoever their preacher is or their favorite teacher is or was. Constantly. And that’s special. I enjoy, and I think it’s neat to have a relationship with someone who teaches the Bible. That’s a blessing. And I hope within this congregation you are partnered with people and they can encourage you to greater faithfulness that you have a Jehoiada. But I’ve also seen those very people refuse to accept what the Bible says because what they were told by a man differs.

And they basically will say, I trust him. I’ve known him for 20 years. I’ve heard his lessons. He’s done well by me and my family. He married me. He married my children. I think he’s right. And I’ll say, what does the Bible say? And they’ll say, maybe we just have to agree to disagree. But it’s not just about these false teachers. It’s easy to think like that. Is my faith strong because I’m part of a strong church? What would happen if South Bumbi closed its doors tomorrow? By some force, by some bad luck. Would we be faithful? Would we be strong without a congregation of brothers and sisters who we’ve known maybe for a day, maybe for a lifetime? Or would my faith disappear when I’m away from that positive peer pressure?

When my brothers and sisters who are my Jehoiadas, leave, when they move, when they’re no longer with me, is my faith strong? Is my faith as strong as the church is? Do I think my faith is strong if a church is strong or my faith is weak if a church is weak? That’s not the way it is either. When you think about Revelation chapter 2 and 3, in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, you have the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia. And you read about different churches who have their different pros and cons, but even within some of the quote unquote bad or struggling churches, Jesus says, I know who are mine. And at the end of each of the letters, there’s to those who overcome, I will reward them.

Jesus knows who you are. Whether you’re in a weak congregation and you’re strong. Or you’re weak or unfaithful in a strong congregation. Look at me in Galatians chapter 1. We see the problem with putting our faith in anything but God and his word. In Galatians chapter 1, you see the issue. Galatians chapter 1, verse 6. Paul says, and by the way, when he uses words like he’s about to use, this should catch our attention. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Our faith has to be in God. You know what the problem is? Our faith often we treat kind of like it’s a segment of a road. I’m faithful, it gets me to church, church takes me the rest of the way. No. Alright, we talk about marrying a faithful spouse. I’m going to be faithful, I’m going to find a faithful spouse, they’re going to take me the rest of the way. No. My relationship has to be a straight line with God. I have to have a relationship where I have faith in God, and He is my father. Not my father through the church, not my father through my wife, but my father.

And then I can help influence others. And then I can be a Jehoiada. But the question is, have I ever taken the time to form that relationship? Or have I tried to do it from proximity? This is pretty easy to illustrate. Imagine if when I first met Kashka in school, instead of talking with her, I just tried to put myself in her peripheral. Every chance I could. She was across the room from me. I know everyone’s thinking it’s already a miracle enough you got her to marry you to begin with. Right? But imagine if I never even spoke to her, although some of you are thinking maybe that makes your odds go up, right? If I’m across the room, is that going to make our connection strong?

Has any marriage advice ever been, all right, I want you to be on opposite sides of the room and don’t communicate. Right? Or if you communicate, find someone to be your go-between. Pick a lucky friend, and he can go and explain the problems that both of you are having to each other. That is never the advice. Sometimes we act with God that way. We have a problem, by all means, confess your sins to one another. Go to help to be strengthened, take advantage of elders, take advantage of teachers, of deacons, of Christians in the church. But know that ultimately I must have a relationship with God in a straight line. Now, my straight line to God might be arm in arm with your straight line next to God.

5. Do I Believe in a Prosperity God?

But I have to have that connection. And so the question would be do I communicate with God? Do I listen to his word and his word only? Or do I apply filters based upon the teacher or the congregation that I’m comfortable with? And consider finally, and I think this is perhaps the most alarming part. Do I believe in a quote unquote prosperity God? Do I believe in a God that’s a God of my making, of my creation, that as long as my life is going good, things are good with me in God. That is not faith. Faith believes in God even when light seems to be extinguished. Faith believes in God even when darkness is surrounding me. In Job chapter 1, Job faced some of the worst that the devil could offer.

In fact, God has told him, as you turn with me to Job chapter 1, he has told the devil, the adversary himself, have you considered my servant Job, who is blameless and upright, who fears God and turns away from evil. And of course, the devil has his excuses for why this wouldn’t work. But as you consider what Job does, Job stays faithful despite what? Well, in chapter 1, he stays faithful despite the fact all of his possessions and his children are lost in the blink of an eye. And his response in verse 20 is as follows. Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped. And he said, Naked, I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. And we know what happens next. In chapter 2, Satan says, God, really, the only reason he’s still faithful is because you didn’t let me touch him. If you would touch him, then he would curse you to your face. And God says, You can do it, I will not. As James would say, God tempts no one. So the devil afflicts him with loathsome sores. And what does he say in chapter 2 and in verse 10? In all this, the last phrase, Job did not sin with his lips. What did Job realize in chapter 1, in verse 21? My relationship with God has 0% to do with my health, my wealth, or my family.

Zero percent. And he even gives us a reason why. You know what about all that stuff we can accumulate that we might have faith in? Even about that family that we should and could take joy in. By the way, those blessings were from God and should be enjoyed. Ecclesiastes teaches that. Family is from God and should be enjoyed. Ecclesiastes and other New Testament scriptures teach that. But we realize this life is going to end. It might not be that Jehoiada dies or that our friend dies. It might be that we die, and in the judgment, we will stand by ourselves before God. I will not answer for what my dad has done, and he will not answer for what I have done. We stand alone. And the only way that that’s a comforting thought is if I have a relationship with the God, I stand alone before.

6. How Do I Make Faith My Own?

Job realized this life is going to end. I came in with nothing, I’m leaving with nothing. God deserves to be worshipped. Maybe my faith needs to be more in God, and less than what God can do for me. Maybe my faith needs to be more in having a relationship with my eternal heavenly Father, unless in a God who will give me the job and family and life that I think I deserve. See, that’s a different God than it’s painted in the New Testament. We’re going to be faithful no matter the circumstance. God has promised our needs, not our greeds. And so what do we do with this? How do I make faith my own? Three quick points, the lesson will be yours. First of all, it’s to remember faith isn’t lost overnight.

There’s an interesting story you can trace. In Colossians chapter 4 and verse 14, Paul’s kind of going through a salutation essentially to the Colossians. And he’s naming some of his faithful brethren. He mentions Luke, you might know that name, Aristarchus, Epaphras. But then there’s this name in there, Demas. He wants to greet this demons, seemingly a faithful worker of God’s. But by the time years pass, perhaps a decade, perhaps five years, when we come to 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 10, we read these sobering words from Paul. Demas has deserted me in love with the present world. Think, how can a great servant of God, called out by Paul by the Holy Spirit, as a faithful servant that Paul considered worthy of commendation in the Bible, as we would have it 2,000 years later?

How can he fall away? 2 Timothy 4 10 says he fell away because he chose the present world more than he chose to serve God. That again is not something that happens overnight. And so that means I have to take action proactively. You know, it’s like this pesky thing in your car that comes on every once in a while. It’s a check oil sign. You can ignore it. You can keep on going, but what happens when you ignore it for too long? I’m asking, do you really think I know about cars? What happened? You’re going to cause your car significant damage. You can ignore it, you can act like it’s not there, but what do you do if you take care of it as you go?

If you take maintenance to the vehicle, it gets better. Our relationships are like that, and most importantly, our faith must be like that. Take steps today to grow your faith. I don’t care if your faith is this big or it’s this big. God is there for you. He is holding his hands out to you. Make your faith your own. Communicate with God. And so we see that is a pivotal part of making faith our own. I have to make time for that communication. In 2 John 9, we realize that if we abide in the teachings of Jesus, we have the Son. If we do not abide in the teachings, we don’t have the Son or the Father. How do we know what the teachings are? How can I do the right thing if I don’t know what it is?

The answer is I can’t. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17, of course, pray without ceasing. Verse 18, don’t quench the spirit. How do we pray? Because we realize the need. And we have a desire to communicate with God. You know when it’s easy not to communicate with someone? When you don’t love them. That doesn’t mean it’s always easy to communicate with people you love, but it’s easy to not talk to people when you don’t value them. And so what does that say about me if I don’t make time for God to read his word or to speak to him in prayer or both. I’m showing God and telling him whether I use the words or he’s watching my actions. I don’t care enough. We have to make time for God.

That starts today. And this isn’t just an outward thing, it’s a choice thing. We have to make the decision now that I’m going to grow my faith in the future. We won’t get there by accident. And when we have the moment to realize our faith needs to be stronger and better, take the chance to repent. Turn with me to one final passage and the lesson will be yours. In 2 Chronicles chapter 24, we notice that as he, the princes of Judah come to Joash and they get his ear, he listens to them. And then you see the idolatrous worship, including that of the asherim. We see in verse 19 that God sent prophets, but they ignored him. What is Joash going to do? In verse 20, the ultimate turn, the ultimate stab in the back in verse 20.

Then the Spirit of God closed Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, the son of Jehoiada the priest. And he stood above the people and said to them, Thus says God, why do you break the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you. But they conspired against him, and by command of the king, they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zachariah’s father had shown him, but killed his son. There’s no way to read this without seeing this faith isn’t lost overnight. Joash orders the execution of his everything’s son. Jehoiada propped up Joash’s faith. Joash did the right things.

But it didn’t last. Because ultimately his individual faith wasn’t firmly rooted enough to withstand the temptation. And when God sent messengers to try to get them back, he not only ignored him, he put one to death.

Conclusion

I don’t have a relationship with God outside of family, outside of friends, outside of this local body. But here’s an opportunity to repent. The message of God is before us in the Bibles. He wants you to repent. If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn’t that amazing? God is miraculous and wonderful and mighty. Take advantage of the offer. But maybe you’ve never become a Christian. Maybe there was no period of faithfulness like Josh. Maybe there’s some hot and cold and close and far. But you’ve never actually done what God says. Trust His Word. Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Be willing to confess Him as Lord and Savior.

All that that means in taking control of your life. Repent of your sins. Take the opportunity to stop your way and start God’s and be baptized. Share in that death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that can wash us white as snow, cleanse us from our iniquity, and make us a child of God. If we can help you in any way realize you don’t have to leave this morning unsure, have a relationship with God. Grow that relationship with God. If we can help you get to either of those goals, come forward as we stand and sing the invitation song.