First Presbyterian Church
Wichita Falls, Texas
May 1, 2011
SERENDIPITY: AN ACCIDENTAL
(BUT PLEASANT) DISCOVERY
Isaac Butterworth
2 Kings 22:1-3, 8, 10-12a, 13-17; 23:1-3 (NIV)
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.... 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...to the temple of the LORD....
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....
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...
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.”
14 [His servants] went to speak to the prophetess Huldah, who...15 said to them..., 16 “This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read. 17 Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and provoked me to anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.
18 Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD..., 19 Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD.
23:1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
Let me tell you about an unpleasant dream I have from time to time. In the dream, I’m back at school. It’s close to the end of the semester. And I discover to my alarm that there’s a class for which I signed up but never went to. Somehow, I forgot about it. Until now. And with finals bearing down on me, I am gripped with the fear that I will fail the course. Do you ever have a dream like that? There’s something you’ve been supposed to do, but you’ve forgotten it. And now you suddenly remember -- likely, too late to do anything about it. And you are filled with dread.
For King Josiah, it wasn’t a dream. Some folks were cleaning out the church, and they found what was apparently the only copy of the Bible they had. Somehow, it had gotten misplaced, but now they discovered it. They brought the book to Josiah, and he had them read it to him. And, when they did, it was like a nightmare.
Josiah was afraid. Whether it was out of negligence or ignorance or sheer stubbornness, he didn’t know. But what he realized was that he and all the people of the kingdom had failed to do what the Bible said was required.
Now, at this point, it may have seemed to a lot of people that it would have been better if they hadn’t found the book in the first place. It caused so much disruption and anguish. Better not to stir things up. Let sleeping dogs lie. What you don’t know can’t hurt you. Why borrow trouble? All those sorts of things, no doubt, went through their minds. But despite the terror that seized everyone, could it be that this ‘find’ was a blessing in disguise? When you and I go to the doctor, we don’t want our physician to find anything wrong. But if they do -- and if it can be treated -- isn’t it better to know? Nobody wants termites, but if you have them, isn’t it better to find out than simply to live in denial?
We use the word ‘serendipity’ to describe an unexpected but pleasant discovery. I admit: Recovering the long lost Bible in Josiah’s day doesn’t seem -- at least, at first -- to be a ‘serendipity.’ But could it be?
Seems like a stretch, doesn’t it? Josiah sends his servants to Huldah the prophetess to get her take on things. And she doesn’t pull any punches. She tells it like it is. The people of Judah have been sinning big time for decades and rubbing God’s nose in it. And he’s not a bit amused. Shrines to false gods have been built throughout the land. Prostitution has been ritualized in pagan temples. The rich and powerful have taken advantage of those on the margins of society. Even children have been sacrificed to idols. It’s all too much, and judgment has already been decreed. There’s nothing that can be done. In fact, only four kings will follow Josiah on the throne, and within a quarter of a century, the people will be carted off to Babylonian exile.
JUDGMENT
We might wonder: Why all this fuss? Why does God get so upset about sin? It may seem to some that his reaction is a little extreme, that it is an overreaction. But think about it again. God doesn’t get angry just because we break some set of arbitrary rules. God gets angry about sin because sin disfigures and destroys what he loves most -- people.
Take idolatry. We can be reasonably sure that the worship of pagan deities in ancient Judah wasn’t simply the result of superstition. The people of old weren’t as dumb as we sometimes think they were. Foolish maybe -- not unlike us -- but not stupid. There was financial gain to be had in promoting the cults of the surrounding nations. Alliances were formed; partnerships were arranged. Religion -- then as now -- could be big business. And in a spirit of tolerance, we might ask: Where’s the harm? What does it matter if a few bucks can be made selling religion -- even if it is false religion? It helps the economy, doesn’t it?
But the truth is, you and I become like the object of our worship. New Testament scholar Greg Beale says in one of his books, ‘What you revere you resemble, either for ruin or restoration.’ And listen to what Don Williams, a pastor in San Diego, has written. He says: ‘Worship money, become a greedy person. Worship sex, become a lustful person. Worship power, become a corrupt person.’ He goes on to say: ‘Worship Jesus, become a Christlike person.’ But his point is: ‘We become like what we worship.’
Sin is sinful because sin harms people. It distorts the soul. It destroys relationships. It sacrifices what is of highest value for the sake of what is of no value. And God loathes sin, not because he resents our prosperity or our happiness or because he begrudges us a good time, but he hates it because sin is destructive. And he’s not going to let it go. He brought judgment against ancient Judah, and he will bring judgment against us. If we’re a danger to ourselves or others, he is committed to doing something about it.
MERCY
But now look at what it is he does. With judgment, there is mercy. God forgives sin. He doesn’t always remove the consequences of sin, but he forgives the offense of sin. Through the prophetess Huldah, God told the king’s servants that he was going to have mercy on King Josiah and his generation. He also told them, ‘I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people.’ In other words, God may forgive the murderer, but he will not necessarily prevent the murderer’s execution. He may forgive the thief, but he will not necessarily spare the thief from doing time. He may forgive the abuse of alcohol and all the ruin it has caused, but he will not necessarily prevent cirrhosis of the liver. Drive a nail into a board and remove the nail, but the hole remains. Sin has consequences, and while God forgives sin, he does not always protect us from its fallout.
He will, however, do this. He will give us the character and the attitude we need to endure the consequences. Humbled sinners have about them an aroma that is pleasing to God. When we can acknowledge that we deserve nothing good from God, we are grateful for the good we receive. We bear the judgment, thankful for the mercy.
You can see this in King Josiah. He knew there was nothing he could do to change God’s mind. Judgment was going to befall the nation. But he took steps to do the right thing, even if there was no payoff.
He called a meeting at the church house, and he summoned all the people -- ‘from the least to the greatest,’ the text says. And he read from the Bible. He read all the words of God’s law. And there, in front of God and everybody, he renewed the covenant of the people with God. He said to them, ‘We’re going to follow the Lord and keep his commandments with all our heart and soul.’ And the people were with him. With one, grand resounding ‘Amen,’ they ‘pledged themselves to the covenant.’
Now, notice. They didn’t do this to win God’s favor or to stay his judgment. They did this in response to God’s favor and in recognition of his right to judge. God shows his mercy to us not because we resolve to do better. God shows his mercy to us because our resolve is meaningless. We do not have the power to do better. That’s one of the effects of sin. It leaves us spiritually helpless. The truth is, it leaves us spiritually dead.
But God makes us alive. In Christ, God raises the dead. In fact, the only kind of people God helps is those who can’t help themselves. That’s why Jesus came. He came to live the life we can’t live, and he came to die our death in our place. His life of perfect obedience is credited to us, and his death for our sins is payment for us. Jesus achieved this for us because we couldn’t achieve it for ourselves. And then the Holy Spirit applied it to us so that we could be restored to God. And when you and I are restored to God, we take no more pleasure in sin. Our delight now is to do the will of God -- to ‘follow the Lord and keep his commandments with all our heart and soul.’
REPENTANCE
This is what me mean by repentance. Once we were at peace with our sins; now we are at war with them. Once we were self-satisfied; now we are satisfied only with Christ.
If you read the twenty-third chapter of 2 Kings, you will see how Josiah revolutionized the whole society of Judah to restore it to God’s design. He tore down temples, fired pagan priests, removed every symbol of idolatry from the land, closed down houses of ritual prostitution, and declared human sacrifice illegal. It was, if anything, a huge display of effort, and it was no doubt very costly. But he didn’t do it for God to get God to do something for him. He did it because it was what God required.
That’s true repentance. It’s doing God’s will because it is God’s will -- not because you think it will win God’s favor or change God’s mind or force God’s hand. It is complete submission to the will of God no matter what the cost to self. It isn’t a subtle means of bargaining with God; it is absolute, unconditional surrender to God. It is done in humility and gratitude. It is a response to God’s mercy. It is an acknowledgement that God has rescued you when you could not rescue yourself. It is a declaration that you no longer belong to yourself; you belong to him. True repentance means that we are faithul even when God doesn’t spare us the consequences of our sin.
Now, let me ask you again. Was the discovery of a dust-laden Bible in an obscure and forgotten corner of the church a ‘serendipity’ for Josiah or a nightmare? Was it an unexpected but pleasant discovery, or would it have been better if never found? Sure, it exposed the sins of a nation and revealed God’s anger and judgment. But it also occasioned the announcement of God’s mercy and summoned the king and the people to humble themselves and turn to God in true repentance.
I’m going to go with ‘serendipity’ -- an accidental but pleasant outcome. How about you?
