“It Works Like Cancer, Is Just As Deadly, And
Takes You To ICU”
2/9/14 2 Chronicles 26:1-16 Philippians 2:1-18
We are in week 3 of “From Triage To Transformation.” Do you want to get well.” Pastor Toby preached on the Crisis that leads us to get help. Pastor Kellie preached on what it is that takes us to the Emergency Room. Today we’re going to find out “ why it is that we are in the ICU unit.” One of the great fears that people have is getting a bad diagnosis after going to the doctor when they have noticed something different about their body and the way they feel. They get all these test done and then they have to sit back and wait. Some people are terrified that the doctor is going to say, you’ve “got cancer.” Some of you here have heard those words, and you know the emotions and the fears that went through you. Am I going to die? Am I going to see my kids grow up? What’s going to happen to my family?
The thing about cancer, is that by the time you recognize it as a problem, it has already had an opportunity to have already grown inside of you and to have taken root while you were going about your everyday business. Cancer does not care how old you are, what color you are, how gifted you are, how intelligent you are, how rich or poor you are, or even how busy is your schedule is and what plans you may have for your life. Although nobody desires to hear the words, “you have cancer” in actuality those can sometimes be the best words that come from your doctor’s mouth.
John Maxwell told of two friends who were talking, and one told the other how discouraged he was in that the doctor had told him he was in the early stages of prostrate cancer. His friend told him, but can’t you see, “that’s also some good news.” His friend said what,” how is that good news” He said “don’t you see, they discovered it in time to do something about it to stop it from spreading.” Even though we may not want to hear an accurate diagnosis, the earlier we hear it, the more we can do to fight it.
Even when things are discovered in time, you may still end up in the Intensive Care Unit. That’s where the proper medication and fluids are poured into your body. When you are in ICU, you are completely dependent on those around you. If they do not help you, or if you do not receive their help, you are in for some real trouble. Sometimes when people are in ICU, special measures have to be taken because what they have, can be passed on to others, and they too will become infected.
We often notice when our physical body is headed for the ICU unit, but we are not as quite as perceptive when our spiritual body is headed for the ICU unit. Not only that, we are part of a larger body that can be infected by our spiritual condition. We are called the body of Christ. We are the cells that the Spirit of God flows through to keep the body of Christ healthy. But what happens when one of us becomes diseased. You can defined disease in any way that you choose. But one thing about a disease, is that if it is not taken care of it will spread through the body and cause more damage.
One day a group of people were complaining that Jesus was hanging with the wrong group of people. They were concerned that Jesus was spending too much time at parties with people whose lifestyles were below the moral standards of the day. We like to think church should be designed for us good moral people. We’d be surprised to know that Jesus said, Luke 5:31-32 (NIV)
31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." The reason we have our red crosses and hospital gear on is to remind us that the church is to be a hospital where people come to be made well again. Jesus is here today looking for people who desire to repent from what they were last week so that they can be made well.
Today were are going to look at man today who was headed for the ICU unit and didn’t know that he needed to be there. The reason he needed to be there was there was a spiritual cancer was growing inside of him, that is found way too often in us, that does a lot of damage, without us being aware of what it is doing to the heart of God.
The guy’s name was Uzziah. Uzziah’s father had been King Amaziah. Amzaiah got to big for his britches and decided he didn’t need God in his life any longer after getting a few victories under his belt. Eventually there was a plot to assassinate his father, King Amaziah. King Amaziah, escaped and ran for his life, but he was hunted down and basically executed. I’m not sure what was special about Uzziah, but the people made him king in the place of his father. This suggests that Uzziah may not have been next for the throne, but there was something about him, that the people wanted him instead of his oldest brother.
Uzziah was 16 years old when he became King. He reigned for 52 years which was the longest reign of any king in the nation up until his time. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a 16 year old superstar, and to be on top for 52 years. Well one thing that Uzziah had in his favor, that many of the young superstars of today do not have was a person named Zechariah. Zechariah instructed Uzziah in the fear of the Lord. Today we reject the idea of fearing the Lord, but the Scriptures tell us, that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. As long as Uzziah sought the Lord, God gave him success.
Now Uzziah was the badest dude in town in a good sense if you were part of his country. He was on a roll in battle with his enemies. He defeated one after another. Like the 72 Dolphins, he was undefeated in battle. His borders grew and other nations paid him taxes just to keep him out of their territory. The mere name Uzziah brought fear in the hearts of some.
When it came to money, he had more than he could spend. He had a great economic plan for his people so the economy was booming. His army was equipped with all the latest technology and had some 300,000 plus men in it. Even though he did not have facebook and twitter at his disposal the Scriptures said that his fame spread far and wide. We are told that he was greatly helped until he became powerful.
Now the passage in Scripture is clear that Uzziah has all this success because God is helping him out. But somewhere along the line Zechariah, his mentor died, and there really wasn’t anybody teaching him the fear of the Lord. Now I would have thought that while Uzziah was defeating all these nations and winning all these battles, and everybody was saying your’re the man, that that was when he was truly powerful.
But it actually was after he had been used by God and God had blessed him way beyond his wildest imagination, that he decided that it was he who was powerful. Instead of giving thanks to God, he praises his talents and his abilities. Uzziah really thinks, he is now somebody special.
You know there is nothing wrong with thinking you’re somebody special in the eyes of God, because you are. But you’re special not because of who you are, but because of who you are in God’s eyes. When God looks at you, God seems an incredible amount of potential for your life. But God knows, all of us must pass through ICU to reach our potential in Jesus Christ.
Verse 16 tells us of the disease that was slowly growing inside of Uzziah while he was being used by God. It’s tricky in that the same disease grows best in us when we think God is really using us. Or it grows when we see measures of success or blessings in our lives. Have you ever ran into a person that really was good at something, but in the end it destroyed them because they got too big of a head and nobody wanted to be around them anymore.
Verse 16 tells us “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.” We all become powerful at something. We might understand it better if we use the words “really good at.” We can think of things that we become really good at. But the problem with becoming really good at something, is that we begin to feel, we are entitled to something more right now.
Did you ever consider the possibility that God made you really good at something, not simply to promote you out of a situation, but rather for you to help those in the situation come closer to your level. We admire the athlete who becomes a superstar, but refuses to leave his team for more money because he wants to make his team all that it can be. He’s not infected with pride, thinking of what’s best for me.
How many singing groups start out as a foursome of fivesome, but then the lead singer is told, the rest are holding him/her back and the person launches out on his or her own. When they go, do they always find what they were looking for. When I see the number of early deaths of superstars, I don’t think so.
Pride is a cancer that affects the body of Christ. It shows up from the youngest of us to the oldest in our ministries. Our pride in our children wants them to be in the choir, or dancing, sooner than they are ready after all there should be an exception to the rule for my child. That pride is passed on to the child, who when they become really good they no longer want to be a part of the group and help build the ministry. They want to be in with the next older group, even though they are not at the age to be there.
Pride affects group decisions. We don’t ask if an idea is a good one or bad one, we will oppose it just because we oppose anything a certain person comes up with. Pride affects group activities. We feel because we did an event that was successful, the event should be done every year in the same way we did it the first time.
Pride affects who we will sit by and go up and greet. We disguise it by saying well this is my spot where I always sit in the church. I have to sit here because this is the best and only place for the Holy Spirit to find me. Pride affects our willingness to serve. We lie and join a church not to serve in the church, but simply to have a place to have a funeral or to find some friends. Pride has us headed for the ICU unit and we don’t even know we need to be there. Some of us are in ICU right now.
Uzziah knew there were the offices of prophets, priests and Kings. Each one had their own sphere of influence. It was not enough for him to have been on top for nearly five decades. He wanted to make his mark. He comes up with the brilliant idea of moving up to being both a priest and a king. Nobody had ever attempted this before. He was going to go down in history as the first king to burn incense on the altar of incense.
There were two things wrong with his plan. The first is that the people did not need him to be a priest, they needed him to be a king. The second is that God had strictly limited offering incense to Him to the priest. His pride had him thinking, “God is going to be happy with my actions.” Wow can you imagine how excited God is going to be to find out that kings can offer incense just as well as priests can.”
We need to recognize, that everything we might want to do, is not for a particular season in our lives, and there are some things for which there will never be a season for it, because it is forbidden by God. Young people, be a child when you’re a child, and be a teenager, when you’re teen. God wants you to impact your generation with what God has given to you. You will have plenty of time to be an adult.
Adults, don’t let pride deceive you into thinking, “it’s God’s will for me to do this” when you just might be tired of a situation. Talk to other believers before you make a decision. For all of us, if God has forbidden something to us, let’s trust God to believe God knows what’s best for our lives. Pride will put us in ICU and we will not know whether we will be coming back out with the disease or not.
Look at verse 16: 2 Chronicles 26:16 (NIV) 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. Uzziah was not making any attempt to hide what he was doing. As the king he announced as prophet, that he was going to go in and offer incense as a priest.
Sometimes we make decisions without having fully thought out the consequences. We may know what we want to do, but is it the wise thing for us to do. Andy Stanley has been doing a series in which they ask the question is this a wise decision for me. In light of my past experience, current circumstances, future hope and dreams, what’s the wise thing for me to do. I know what you may plan to do, but is it wise for you to do it.
Thank God for people who have enough courage to confront us when we choose to go outside the will of God for our lives. They love us enough to tell us we’re wrong. The scriptures tell us that Azariah and 80 other courageous priest had the willingness to stand for what they knew was right. They were willing to challenge the king on his behavior.
Why were they courageous because they knew their family’s history. One king had killed every priest in a city of nothing but priest because he thought they were working against him. They remembered that King Uzziah’s father was being rebuked by a prophet and in the middle of the rebuke the king had said, “shut your mouth or forfeit your life.” They knew that all 80 of them could be dead before sundown if the king didn’t like what they had to say.
Azariah told him, 2 Chronicles 26:18 (NIV) 18 They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God."
Do you think the king might find this statement offensive? Isn’t it narrow minded to say only the priests, the descendants of Aaron have been consecrated for the job. When you challenge wrong with truth, you will be labeled as offensive, narrow minded, bigoted, and unloving.
Do you think King Uzziah is going to appreciate what has been said to him. First of all they tell him to leave the sanctuary, they tell him his new revelation has led him to be unfaithful to God, and they tell him that he is not going to be honored by the Lord. Pride got him into this mess. He is now in the ICU unit and the priest are trying to help him get well. The question is” does he want to get well.” Will he take their advice?
Instead of taking their advice, he goes into a rage on who do they think they are, don’t they know who he is, what he’s going to do, how dare they judge him, and he can serve God just as well as they can.
He stops in the middle of his rage, when one of the priest probably yell out, “look at his forehead. It’s leprosy breaking out on his forehead. We have got to get him out of here now.” It was unthinkable for a person with leprosy to be in the temple, much less right in front of the altar of incense. The priest realized if they did not get him out of there right now, he could die there in ICU. The scriptures said they hurried him out. Even more importantly it says the King Uzziah was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.
He had the disease of leprosy until he died. Not only was he not allowed in the temple area, he lost being able to go about the palace of the kings. They built a separate house for him. When he died, he was not buried with the other kings. The Bible tells life as it is. There is not always a “and he lived happily ever after after repentence.” The Bible teaches that sometimes we live and we die with the consequences of our actions.
King Uzziah didn’t recognize he needed to be in an ICU unit. When he was there, he would not accept the treatment that was being offered. My friend if you have been afflicted with the disease of pride, are you willing to admit it’s there so that you can come to ICU and have it surgically removed.
Jesus said, if any one Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
We Will find out next week when Pastor Toby takes us to the recovery room.
“It Works Like Cancer, Is Just As Deadly, And
Takes You To ICU”
2/9/14 2 Chronicles 26:1-16 Philippians 2:1-18
A. Week #3 Triage To Transformation
• Pastor Toby –Crisis To Point To Help
• Pastor Kellie—The Emergency Room
• Pastor Rick—The ICU Unit Why Are We Here
• Great Fear Of Doctor’s Diagnosis
• You’ve Got Cancer—Questions We Ask
• Cancer-Does Not Discriminat
• John Maxwell & Friend—It’s A Good Thing
• Early Diagnosis Is Good
B. Early Diagnosis Takes You To ICU
• What Happens In ICUS
• You Are Dependent On Others
• Need To Cooperate
• Precautions Not To Infect Others
C. Spiritual Body Can Be Headed For ICU
• We Are Part Of A Larger Body
• Spirit Of God Flows We Are The Cells
• What Happens When We Become Diseased
• Define It As You Like
• Infection Can Spread Through The Body
D. Jesus You’re With The Wrong Crowd
• Too Much Time Partying
• We’d be surprised to know that Jesus said, Luke 5:31-32 (NIV)
31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
• Reason For Our New Life At Calvary Hospital Today were are going to look at man today who was headed
• Place To Come And Be Made Well Again
C. Looking At A Man Headed For ICU But Didn’t Know He Needed it
• Spiritual Cancer Growing Inside Of Him
• Same Cancer Found Inside Of Us
• Not Aware Of Damage And What It Does To God’s Heart
• for the ICU unit and didn’t know that he needed to be there. The reason he needed to be there was there was a spiritual cancer was growing inside of him, that is found way too often in us, that does a lot of damage, without us being aware of what it is doing to the heart of God.
D. The Guy’s Name Was Uzziah
• Father Was King Amaziah
• Got Too Big For His Britches After Winning
• Went After False Gods
• Plan To Assassinate, Execution
• People Made Him King
• Chosen Over An Older Brother
E. On Top For A Very Long Time
• 16 Became King—52 Year Reign
• 16 Year Old Super Star
• Thank God For Zechariah—Instructed Him In The Fear Of the Lord
• 3 Times—The Fear Of The Lord Is The Beginning Of Wisdom
• As Long As He Sought God, He Prospered
• Baddest Dude In Town—On A Roll In Battle
• Undefeated Like The 72 Dolphins
• Nations Paid Him Tribute—Name Brought Fear
• More Money Than He Could Spend
• Great Economy—Large Projects
• Army of 307,000 Plus With Technology
• No Twitter Or Facebook But Fame Spread Far & Wide
• He Was Greatly Helped Until He Became Powerful
F. Passage Is Clear His Success Tied To God’s Blessings
• Somewhere He Lost His Mentor Zechariah
• We Lose A Mentor, A Christian Friend, We Go Off To School
• We Forget The Fear Of The Lord
• Started To Believe, You The Man
• But It Was God Who Had Made It Possible
• Gave Praise To The Wrong Place
• Uzziah Really Thinks He’s Somebody Special
• You Are Special, Not Because Of You, Because Of God
• God Wants To Spend Eternity With You
• God Sends Us To ICU To Help Us Get Ready
• Verse 16 Tells Us Of Disease That Hit Him
• The Disease Grows Best When God Is Really Using Us Or Blessing Us
G. Identifying The Disease
• Ever Ran Into Someone That Was Really Good
• Destroyed By Big Head And Noone Wanting To be Around Them
• Verse 16 tells us “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.”
• Powerfull—Really Good At, Supervisor, Captain, President Of A Group, Got Some Authority, Was Promoted
• Problem With Being Really Good—We Think We Deserve More Now
• Consider God May Want You To Stay Where You Are To Bring Others To Your Level
• The Athlete Who Refuse Money To Build His Team
• Singing Groups 4 some 5 some—They Holding You Back
• Do They Get What They Went Looking For
• Far Too Many Early Deaths
H. Pride Is A Cancer That Affects The Body Of Christ
• Starts In Our Youth Ministries With The Parents
• Wanting Them To Start To Early
• The Kids Get Infected—Get Good- Want To Get Out For The Next Older Group
• Pride Affects Groups—Oppose An Idea
• Pride Affects Church Calendars –One Success Event
• Pride Affects Greet and Meet—Disguise It. That’s Where I Always Sit—The Holy Spirit Might Not Know I Was There
• Pride Keeps Us From Serving. Church—Funeral or Social Gathering
• ICU Is The Place To Yield Pride To God
I. Uzziah Knew What The Scriptures Taught About Roles
• Offices Of Prophets, Priests & Kings
• Not Enough To Be On Top For 52 Years
• Had To Make His Mark In The World
• Brilliant Idea To Combine The 3 Offices Into 1—Him
• Two Things Wrong With The Plan
• People Did Not Need It—God Had Forbid It –Offering Incense Limited To Priest
J. Pride Will Have Us Thinking We Are Right When We Are Wrong
• Pride—God Is Going To Be Happy With My Actions
• God Will Be Shocked To Learn Kings Can Offer Incense Too
• We Need To Recognize God Works In Seasons In Our Lives
• Somethings Will Never Be In Season
• Youth Be Youth, Teens Be Teens—Impact Your Generation For God
• Adults—Don’t Let Pride Takeover Because You Are Tired Of Situation. Work Out Your Salvation With Fear & Trembling
• Let’s Trust God On What Is Forbidden
• Pride Will Put Us In ICU With No Guarantee Of How We Will Be Coming Out
K. Uzziah Insists On His Plan
2 Chronicles 26:16 (NIV) 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.
• Makes No Attempt To Hide What He Was Doing
• Prophet Tells The Future, Priest Will Offer The Incense
• We Need To Think Through Consequences With Our Decsions
• Andy Stanley’s Church Doing A Series “Ask It”
• Is It Wise For Me To Do This
• In light of my past experience, current circumstances, future hope and dreams, what’s the wise thing for me to do.
L. The Bold Actions Of Those Who Love
• Thank God For Those Willing To Rebuke Us At Their Own Peril
• Azariah & 80 Other Courageous Priest Take A Stand
• Courageous—King Saul Wiped Out An Entire Village Of Priest
• King Uzziah’s Father King Amaziah, Shut Your Mouth Or Forfeit Your Life
• Could Be 81 Dead Priest At Sundown
M. The Priest Speak Out
, 2 Chronicles 26:18 (NIV) 18 They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God."
• Do You Think The King Found This Offensive
• Wasn’t it Narrow Minded To Limit The Jobh
• King Uzziah—Leave The Sanctuary, Your Theology Is Bad & Unfaithful, God Is Not Going To Honor You
• Pride Got Him Into The ICU Unit
• The Priest Are Ready To Help Him Turn The Corner To Being Made Well
• Does He Want To Get Well
N. Uzziah Goes Into A Rage
• Reminded Them, Who He Was, What He Could Do, What He Was Going To Do
• God Intervenes—Priest Yell Out It’s Leprosy
• Leprosy In The Temple Unthinkable
• They Got Him Out, He Was Eager To Leave Because The Lord Had Afflicted Him
• He Had Leprosy Until He Died
• Barred From Temple, From Palace, From Graveyard
• Bible Tells The Truth—Not Always A Happy Ever After Even After Repentence
• We Live With Some Consequence
• King Uzziah Didn’t Accept Treatment In ICU—What About You
• What Disease Are You Holding On To, Pride Is Just One Of the Big Ones, But There Are Man
• Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
We Will find out next week when Pastor Toby takes us to the recovery room.
