Life is a Matter of Faith
September 6th 2009
2 Chronicles 27:1-6
Introduction
Eugene Peterson in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction writes, “It is not difficult in our world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier Christians called holiness.” (Sermon central illustration)
King Jotham lived a life a faith, a faith that set him apart, a faith that was steady and determined and today I want us to study these six verses on the reign of King Jotham and see what we can learn about living a life of faith.
Read Scriptures: 2 Chronicles 27:1-6
I. Faith begins with Obedience
Vs. 2 “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD,”
What a great testimony of a man, “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD,”.
During the US civil war Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast. Lincoln was a man of deep, if at times unorthodox, faith. At one point one of the ministers said, "Mr. President, let us pray that God is on our side". Lincoln’s response showed far greater insight, "No, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God’s side." If we want to know what God wants us to do, then we must first strive to live a life of obedience to Him. (Sermon Central illustration)
A Life of faith must have a beginning, it must have a point of origin. There was a point in King Jotham’s life when he decided not to follow in his father’s footsteps and become prideful, as his father Uzziah did late in his reign as king of Judah.
There must be a point in our lives when we say, “I’m not going there”, “I’m not doing that”, “Lord I will follow you”.
“Lord, I’m not worried about you being on my side, my concern is that I’m on your side.”
A walk of faith, a life of faith begins with obedience, the choice that we are faced with everyday, do I follow you God, or do I conform to this world, and live like the world expects me to live.
Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good pleasing and perfect will.”
II. Faith is strengthen by other people of faith.
Vs. 2 “just as his father Uzziah had done,”
Uzziah, Jotham’s father early in his reign was a very successful king. We read in the account of his reign the same words that describe Jotham’s reign in 2 Chronicles 26:4 “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,”.
There is not doubt that Jotham saw early in his father’s reign what living a life of faith should look like. There is not doubt that he saw how the favor of God rested on his father as long as he remained obedient to Him.
Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
A walk of faith should be strengthen by others in two ways.
1. By there “faith success”. As I said, King Jotham no doubt saw the success his father King Uzziah had in reign as long as he was faithful and obedient to God. I believe he learned a valuable life lesson, “As long as I’m walking in obedience and faith to God, then God will honor me.
Likewise, we can learn lessons from others “faith success”. When I see you in your life being obedient to God, and walking in the faith, then my faith is strengthen, if I live a life of obedience to God, then God will honor my obedience as well.
2. By there “faith failure”. Unfortunately Uzziah didn’t always “do what was right in the eyes of the Lord”. We read in 2 Chronicles 26:16 “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.”
You may think, well what so bad about that, he went to church and burned some incense, many people do that today. We have to go back and put ourselves in that culture, and know that God and certain rules for the temple, and God said, Numbers 18:6-7 “I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. But only you and our sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”
Every Jew knew that the rules were for the temple, they had to be able to memorize and quote the first five books of the bible, King Uzziah knew he was being disobedient to God, but he let pride come in front of doing what was right, no doubt is pride caused him to question the very Word of God. If we are not careful Church, that same thing can happen to us.
I believe King Jotham saw how his father disobeyed God, and in essence had the throne ripped from him on that day, because as we read further down in Uzziah the Kings account, after the priest approached him he became angry and in that moment in 2 Chronicles 26:19 “Uzziah, who had a censor in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead.”
I believe that was also a life lesson for Jotham, because Jotham had some of the same success that his father had, however we read in 2 Chronicles 27:2 “but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the LORD. I believe that Jotham remained a humble king serving under the Lordship of almighty God, he allowed his dad’s faith failure strengthen his walk of faith. I pray that we would do the same.
III. Faith will set you apart
Vs. 2 “but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the LORD. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices.”
In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, King Jotham continued his walk of faith. Not only did he not follow in his father’s footsteps, but he also didn’t allow the prevailing culture of the day persuade his walk with the Lord.
This is a powerful message for our day and time, because we are living in a crooked and perverse generation, many people are doing what the scripture says in Romans 1:25 “They exchange the truth of God for a lie.”
This is our hour as true followers of Jesus Christ to stand up, and live out our faith, in holiness, and love. If we as believers and followers of Jesus will truly live holy lives, and yes that means abstaining from the things of the world, and live a life not characterized by religion but by love, love for the lost and dying, and love for fellow believers, then we will be set apart.
Jotham’s story will by our story, it will say “but unlike the world, who continued in their corrupt practices, _________ did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
Living a life of faith will set you apart from the rest of the world.
IV. Faith will cause you to serve God and others
Vs. 3-4 “Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the LORD and did extensive work on the wall at the hill of Ophel. He built towns in the Judean hills and forts and towers in the wooded areas.”
When this passage begins to tell of the all the exploits or the things that King Jotham did during his reign, on of the first things he did was “repair the temple of the Lord”. He served God, he went to work for God, he didn’t enter the temple like is father in pride and try to do what he was never called to do, “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”, he used his time, talent and money to serve God, by repairing the temple gates and walls.
A life of faith will cause you to want to serve God, you will have a longing to serve God in some way, you will not be able to occupy yourself enough doing other things, the only way to fill that longing is serve God.
The verse says “He built towns in the Judean hills and forts and towers in the wooded areas. He began to serve the people, by proving places for them to live, and work, and play, but he also provided protection by building towers in the wooded areas, to protect form raiders who want to rob and kill these new settlements.
A life of faith will cause me to want to serve God, but it will also cause to want to serve you as well.
V. Faith will bring you closer to God
Vs. 6 “Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the LORD his God.”
Why was Jotham serving God and others, why was he concerned for the safety of others, and for the temple of God, because a life of faith will bring you closer to God.
The scripture says “he walked steadfastly before the LORD his God.” I like to read other translations when I study the scriptures, and I believe the message captures the essence of this verse it reads “Jotham’s strength was rooted in his steady and determined life of obedience to God.”
That is the essence of a life of faith, “steady and determined”.
Studying the scriptures; “steady and determined”
My prayer life; “steady and determined”
Serving God in some way; “steady and determined”
Telling the lost about salvation through Jesus Christ alone; “steady and determined”
My attendance in Church on the Lord’s Day; “steady and determined”
Love for fellow believers; “steady and determined”
Conclusion
What about you and I this morning are we living a life of faith, is that faith in Jesus Christ or in something else. You can judge that for yourselves this morning by this message from God’s word, faith in Jesus has a point of origin, it has a beginning point of obedience, can you trace that back in your life to a point or beginning, when you said yes to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, it not you can begin today.
Do you allow your own faith walk to be strengthen by others, by there “faith success” and there “faith failures”.
Are you living a set apart life, is there enough evidence in your life to convict you of being a Chrisitan.
Are you actively involved in serving God in some capacity, a life of faith will cause you to desire that, are you serving others in some way.
In your life are growing closer to Jesus through a “steady and determined” life of faith.
