I am often surprised by the contents of some of the emails I receive. This week I had an email from one of the websites I follow that contained a report about oligochaetologists.
Does anyone know what an oligochaetologist is?
They are scientists who spend their lives studying, identifying, and tracking worms.
Apparently there is a man called Dr Sam James, who is an oligochaetologist and researcher at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. In the last 20 years, he has discovered and named 80 new species of earthworm.
So, if he has found 80 new species, would anyone like to take a guess at how many species of earthworms have been discovered so far?
Surprisingly there 1,800 known species that have been discovered so far.
Maybe for some people studying worms is a satisfactory way to spend their lives. Digging around in the mud hoping to discover something new or amazing.
As I read the email, I remembered how my dad used to work for Rentokil Pest Control and he would often bring home little glass jars with different bugs and insects he had discovered.
Then I thought, “thank you God that I am a pastor, and instead of spending my life studying worms and insects I get to study and explain your Word to others.”
But, in my daily readings this week I looked at King Uzziah in and I realised my attitude was wrong.
Let me explain, many people, including me at times, embrace the idea that God is only pleased with what we might term “religious activities.”
We assume there is a great distance between the sacred and the secular.
The problem is when we assume that we separate a huge part of our lives from God’s plan for us.
During the life of an average person, they will spend about 88,000 hours, around 40 per cent of their total time on this earth, working at a particular job.
Then there is all the time spent doing non-work related things every week: driving a car, changing a nappy, making dinner, helping a child with homework, studying for an exam, cutting the grass or planting flowers, or standing in line at the Post Office.
If we assume that our sacred and secular lives are separated, then we are assuming 88,000+ hours of lives don’t matter to God.
But the truth is God cares about every part of our lives and He has a purpose for all of our lives.
As we continue in our series on Powerful People, what I want to do this morning is encourage you that POWERFUL PEOPLE worship, serve and please God with all of their life.
According to the Bible, God didn’t invent the sacred/secular split; we did. The Bible talks only of a sin/righteousness split or a pride/humility split.
According to the Bible, your whole life matters to God. Life is charged with glory, purpose, and goodness.
Our lives are meant to be lived as a joy-filled offering of love and service to our God and other people.
In 2 Chronicles 26 is the story of King Uzziah.
This ancient story denies the sacred/secular split and points us to our God who wants us to enjoy all of life with Him. The story also contains a warning about a split between sin and righteousness.
Uzziah was a man who lived on the right side of the sin and righteousness and pride and humility divide.
His story is grounded in real events and real history and begins around 800 years before the birth of Jesus.
Listen to 2 Chronicles 26:1-5, All the people of Judah had crowned Amaziah’s sixteen-year-old son, Uzziah, as king in place of his father. After his father’s death, Uzziah rebuilt the town of Elath and restored it to Judah. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.
Uzziah, the 16-year-old son of Amaziah and Jecoliah, was crowned king of Judah.
Uzziah was on the right side of the sin/righteousness divide: He did what was pleasing, what was right in the eyes of the Lord and he sought God. When Uzziah sought God’s will and purpose for his life and lived according to God’s commandments, God gave him success.
Uzziah sought guidance from the Lord and God’s guidance was the framework for everything he did.
Whether he was rebuilding a city, meeting with his mentor to study the scriptures, digging cisterns to supply the country with fresh water, organizing the army, or organising the defence of his realm, all of Uzziah’s actions flowed out of seeking the Lord.
May God help each of us to live our lives in the same way as Uzziah, seeking God’s will and purpose, following God’s precepts and commandments for our lives.
Uzziah had a spiritual mentor called Zechariah.
There are more than 30 people called Zechariah in the Bible, and Bible scholars have differences of opinion on which Zechariah this was. But what all agree on was the fact that this Zechariah was a spiritual mentor for Uzziah, and he helped Uzziah in his understanding of God and taught the king how to love and respect God and how to worship and serve God.
When you think about it, Uzziah is the king; he can do whatever he wants, he commands and controls everyone in the kingdom, and yet Uzziah willingly chooses to submit himself to the instruction and authority of Zechariah.
When it comes to our spiritual life, we all need someone to encourage us in our daily walk with God.
All of us can benefit from wise guidance from other people who are spiritually mature in their faith.
Who is your Zechariah?
Who is helping you in your walk with the Lord?
Who encourages you?
Who challenges you?
Or are you a Zechariah to someone else?
Are you helping someone to grow in their faith?
Are you challenging those who need to be challenged?
Are you encouraging someone in their daily walk?
Uzziah was committed to growing in the Lord but in these verses, we also see our whole live matters to God. God has inspired the writer of these verses to list Uzziah’s accomplishments in his secular business and political duties.
Verse 2 says Uzziah rebuilt Elath.
The city of Elath is now known as Eilat, a resort city on the shores of the Red Sea.
Uzziah had taken Elath from the Edomites and rebuilt it to provide a strategic gateway for trade.
Archaeological digs at this site show that it was an industrial centre marked by the mining of copper and iron.
Elath was also an important shipping centre which connected Judah and the rest of the world.
What else did Uzziah do that God thinks it is important for us to know?
Listen to 2 Chronicles 26:6-10, Uzziah declared war on the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built new towns in the Ashdod area and in other parts of Philistia. God helped him in his wars against the Philistines, his battles with the Arabs of Gur, and his wars with the Meunites. The Meunites paid annual tribute to him, and his fame spread even to Egypt, for he had become very powerful.
Uzziah built fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the angle in the wall. He also constructed forts in the wilderness and dug many water cisterns, because he kept great herds of livestock in the foothills of Judah and on the plains. He was also a man who loved the soil. He had many workers who cared for his farms and vineyards, both on the hillsides and in the fertile valleys.
The thought of war makes most people uncomfortable.
Uzziah was willing to defend his country.
Uzziah was willing to fight for freedom.
Uzziah was willing to protect the weak and the vulnerable.
So, what is the application for us?
In our lives, we might face various battles, spiritual or secular, and God is with us in those situations.
Everything worthwhile in life, faith, freedom, family, needs to be fought for, for God’s glory and purpose.
Uzziah wanted to ensure safety and provision for his people.
Uzziah was also a person who was willing to build for future generations.
He built towers, fortified walls, and dug water cisterns.
At the end of verse 10, there’s a wonderful phrase: “He was also a man who loved the soil”
It doesn’t say he loved it because it provided nutrients to grow things, it just says he loved the soil.
Maybe like the Soil was as fun, challenging and interest to Uzziah as worms are to oligochaetologists.
What is one person’s source of enjoyment can be very different from another:
Graham likes fishing, John likes model railways, Trevor likes running, Simon likes music,
Uzziah liked soil. Each to their own.
What is your soil? What is the thing in your life that you enjoy?
Art, writing, cooking, cycling, running, fishing, decorating, playing the guitar, reading a book?
Uzziah has made me realise that I’ve spent the last 10 years spending every possible moment dutifully serving God, and little or no time doing anything that is enjoyable for its own sake - I don’t have any secular soil in my life.
God cares about both our physical and spiritual well-being and I am not talking about allowing something into my life that will draw me away from God.
God wants us to live a properly balanced life, He has even commanded us to take Sabbath rest every week, again something I am guilty of not doing far too often.
What I am talking about is following the pattern of Uzziah who reflects something of the glory, goodness, and joy of the Lord in everything he did.
God doesn’t have a line dividing the sacred and the secular in our lives.
Everything we do can be an offering to Him if we seek God in it.
If you read on in 2 Chronicles when you get home, you will also see some of the accomplishments of the people who served their King.
Jeiel, Maaseiah and Hananiah, each had their own skills and there were 307,500 soldiers commanded by 2,600 leaders.
Do you have a creative ability within you?
Your creativity matters to God. God cares about excellence and creativity.
God encouraged and blessed Uzziah’s imagination and ingenuity.
All seems good till we get to verse 15 and 16,
His fame spread far and wide, for the Lord gave him marvellous help, and he became very powerful. But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall.
Humanly speaking, this powerful person became a pride-filled person.
There is a big difference between sin & righteousness. There is a big difference between pride and humility.
At this point in his life Uzziah was probably the same age as me, around 50 years old.
For most of his life Uzziah lived in the right way, he grew in power and experienced success in many different areas of life then pride got in the way.
Uzziah knew the boundaries of his power and authority.
Worship was the responsibility of the Levite priests,
Uzziah was not supposed to enter the temple and do the work of the priests.
Uzziah overstepped his boundaries and went into the sanctuary of the Temple and burned incense on the altar.
Success and power had made Uzziah arrogant.
Standing in the temple Temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead.
Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died.
He lived in isolation in a separate house, and he was excluded from worshipping God in the Temple.
His son Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace, and Jotham then led the people.
In his success and power, Uzziah had become proud, he was given a chance to repent and ignored it.
As I draw to a close, let me ask you is your heart proud or arrogant?
Uzziah was offered God’s grace and mercy and in his pride he refused it.
In Christ, God extends His hand to us and says, “I know you have messed up and wandered away, here is my hand. Take it, come back to me and I will help you back on the right way.”
God offers us a chance to repent, to turn back to Him for forgiveness when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour when we humble ourselves before Him and ask for His forgiveness and grace.
Jesus died so that we could have our sins forgiven and be assured of our place in heaven.
We are powerful people when we worship, serve and please God with all of our life.
We are not meant to live separate sacred and secular lives.
We should never allow our pride or our arrogance get in the way of our relationship with God.
All of your life and mine is an act of worship and an opportunity to serve and please God.
Our whole life, waking, sleeping, eating, playing, making music, discovering worms, worshipping and serving matters to God. May I encourage you to love, worship and serve God with your whole heart and do everything for His glory and honour.
The audio for this and other sermons are available here: http://www.deancourtier.co.uk/sermons.html or as a direct download from https://sermons.estuaryelim.church/20200223_ram_dean_courtier(uzziah).mp3
