God Is God, And We Are Not.

God Is God, And We Are Not

October 18, 2019 2 Chronicles 16:1-4 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Let’s suppose for a moment that you are the star NBA player on your basketball team. You have scored more points, gotten more rebounds, had more assists, and hit more winning shots than anybody in the history of the game. When you speak about basketball, people listen. Everybody wants you to come to their basketball clinic to train their players.

Suppose it’s the finals in the NBA, and your team is ahead by one point. The other team has the ball with less than two seconds left. They have a player who has come in off the bench into the game. The ball is passed to the player who shoots and the ball is headed for the basket, but you jump up and you slap the ball into the stands and the fans go wild at your action as the buzzer sounds.

But then a referee is blowing his whistle and charges you with goal tending. You get into an argument with the Referee and explain to him “that no way was that goal tending”. You say to him, “it was never my intention to even try to goal tend.”

You also say “goal tending is a stupid rule to begin with, and it never should apply to a top rated player like myself, especially in the last two minutes of the game.” You demand to the referee that, You either take back the call or I will not play basketball again.”

What do you think is going to happen? The reality is, it does not matter who you are, what your intentions were, what you think the rule ought to be, the referee is the referee and you are not. The referee gets to determine what is allowed and what is not. When it comes to setting the rules for the game of life, we have to remember God is God and We are not.

Today we were introduced to a young man who became king at age 16, who ruled as a king for 52 years. If he were a presidential candidate in the United states, that would mean he won the election 13 times in a row. This king started out his job with some great words “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God.”

One of the things that is lacking in the church today is the concept of “the fear of the Lord.” I’m not talking about walking around with an image of God as this angry person in heaven waiting to punish everybody the moment they disobey so that He can cast them into hell. No, I am talking about a respectful kind of fear that lets me know, I am not God’s equal and God is far smarter, more powerful and much wiser than I will ever be. A healthy fear of God makes us consider, I cannot control what my future is going to be, especially when I choose to ignore the commands of God.

King Uzziah became everything I talked about it when I asked you to imagine being the world’s greatest basketball player only his game was being king instead of playing basketball. As long as he was seeking after God, he kept moving up. He defeated the nations around him and they had to pay him money every year from their nations treasuries. That money made him super rich. He built up the cities and fortified their defenses throughout the country.

He built some huge decorative homes with beautiful gardens. He built up an incredibly powerful army. His Department of Defense invented some powerful new weapons. His fame spread all the way to the borders of Egypt. This little country had an army ¼ the size of the United States standing army today. With over 306,500 men skilled in battle and equipped with the latest technology, King Uzziah was the baddest dude in town.

He started to believe the reports everybody was saying,” King Uzziah, you da man. Look at all you have done. You have success written all over you.” One of the worst things that can happen to us is to become successful. It does not matter where the success comes from or what age we are when it happens, or where the success happens.

God knows that it can cause us to think, we are like God. Do you remember one of the promises that Satan gave to Adam and Eve, was that if they ate the fruit that was forbidden, they would become like God.

God know all too well the dangers of success. He told Moses: 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.