COMMITTED TO RENEWAL
II Chronicles 14 & 15
INTRODUCTION: In July 1998, Ann Landers asked for people who lived during World War II to send in the secrets of how their marriages endured. A Mr. King responded, "Dear Ann, In a recent column you asked how those World War II marriages endured. My marriage has endured for over 60 years and we have been very happy. The secret is that she makes the minor decisions and I make the major decisions. So far nothing major has come up." One other story that I think is interesting. A man from Minnesota named David Wymlick got tired of his mother and his friends asking him when he was going to get married so he set a date – Saturday, June 13, 1998. There was only one problem – he didn’t have a bride. So his friends suggested that they send out applications and that they just choose the best applicant. David thought that was a good idea, so more than 20 women showed up that Saturday at a bridal candidate mixer and they were each interviewed by family and friends. It was determined that Elizabeth Runzie, a slender 28 year old redhead would be the best choice. So the two of them went over to the Mall of America that afternoon and got married in front of about 2000 shoppers. Her mother was later asked about all this and she said, "Elizabeth is very serious about this marriage and very committed to the idea and so is he. They will probably be married 67 years." Now, I don’t know if we would suggest that approach for any of our children, but Elizabeth’s mother hit on something pretty important. The secret to marriage is not emotion like popular culture would have us believe, it is commitment. Commitment is the price for a strong marriage. It is also the cost of a genuine revival. So as we begin our lesson today, allow me to give you a principle to guide us – "We ought never separate God’s commitment to renewal from man’s renewal to commitment." We have already said that revival cannot be designed. You cannot obligate God to bring revival, but revival will not come unless it is desired. God waits for us to seek him, chiefly through humbling ourselves, praying and turning away from sin. God is committed to returning to us when we return to Him with commitment. Deuteronomy 4:29 puts it well, "If you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." Now the revival we are going to study today is going to illustrate just that – full commitment. Asa was the third King of Judah during the period of the Divided Kingdom and what makes the revival that took place under his leadership is that there was nothing in his family heritage to suggest that he would lead the people to seek the Lord. His great grand-daddy was Solomon and you remember that Solomon started well but finished poorly and toward the end of his life he had married many foreign women and he had built many foreign places to worship and his heart had been turned from God. Asa’s grand-daddy was a man named Rehoboam who the Bible says did not seek the Lord with all his heart and allowed idolatry to grow in Judah. Asa’s daddy was a king named Abijah and I Kings 15:3 says of him, "He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been." Yet some 10 verses later the Bible says that, "Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life." Nine times the Bible says that King Asa "sought the Lord," and seeking the Lord is not something you can do with a divided heart. So the question is, what does it mean to have a heart fully committed to the Lord. King Asa tells us by his actions.
I. FULL COMMITMENT RELIES ON GOD’S POWER FOR VICTORY
A. Asa became king when he was young and for the first 10 years of his reign he has a pretty peaceful rule. He started some reform in Judah by tearing down some of the idols and pulling down some of the high places and the Bible tells us that God was pleased by all this. But in his tenth year King Asa faced his first major test and it was this test that lit the fire for revival.
1. II Chronicles 14:9-13. Now that’s the first thing we learn about commitment – it relies upon the power of God for victory. See Asa confessed his own weakness and them he acknowledged the limitless power of God. He realized that the strength of man on either side was no the issue. The issue was God. God’s the determining factor.
2. Brothers and sisters, God is ready and able to do far more than we are ever able to accomplish when we are ready to rely upon Him for victory and not trust in our own flesh.
3. Deuteronomy 20:4
4. Ephesians 3:20,21
5. Revival never comes through the power of human strength, but through audacious faith and the power of God. We must be fully committed to the idea that God has limitless power and can anything He pleases when He is trusted and asked.
6. A missionary named Herbert Jackson tells a story about when he went into the mission field and someone gave him a car, but the problem was that the car wouldn’t start. The only way he could get it to start was to get someone to push it. So each day, after he got it started, he would either have to park it on a hill or leave it running so he get around to his duties. He did this for two years until illness forced him to take his family and a new missionary was sent to replace him. On the day he was leaving, Mr. Jackson was showing the new guy the ropes, especially how to start the car when the new guy popped the hood and said, "Mr. Jackson, I think this is your problem." And he reached down and connected a loose wire and the car started right up.
B. The point was that the power was there the whole time, but a loose connection was the problem. Now, do I need to apply that to our lives? Full commitment means leaning fully upon God. Saying, "God you are our power. God you are our strength. You can do what we cannot do and we ask you to do it." Revival will come when we are fully committed to His power.
II. FULL COMMITMENT TAKES BOLD ACTION TO PLEASE GOD
A. We have already noticed that King Asa went through a period where he did some cleanup work in his nation. He removed some of the idols and tore down some of the idolatrous places dedicated to idol worship and that was a good start. But after God gave him the victory against the Cushites, Asa too the final steps to reform God’s people.
1. II Chronicles 15:1,2,8. These were bold steps to take in a land where idolatry and idol worship had become popular. You see Asa knew that he could not expect God to give him continued victory as long ad the nbation harbored sin and sinful things.
2. But Asa did not stop there. In verse 16 he took his boldest step of all. READ. The two hardest places to remove sin is when sin is in high places and when it is in the home. Asa tackled both in one swift, courageous move.
B. Revival will come to God’s people when someone will step out in a committed faith and take bold action in His name to get rid of whatever hinders God’s return and God’s blessings.
1. Galatians 2:11-13
2. III John 9,10
III. FULL COMMITMENT REPAIRS THE BROKEN THINGS THAT
MATTER TO GOD
A. Revival just doesn’t tear down and remove it builds up and restores.. Back in II Chronicles 15:8 the Bible says that Asa took courage and not only tore down the detestable idols but that he "repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the Lord’s Temple." For decades the altar had lain in ruins and no sacrifice, no worship was offered to God. But when revival same to Judah, not only did Asa tear down the things that dishonored God, he built back the things that brought honor to God.
B. This got me to thinking about what things does God want us to repair that brings honor to His name. The list could be quite long, but I only have time to share a couple that stand at the top of the list.
1. A return to total commitment to the teaching of Scripture. The church has to decide that culture, popular opinion, nor those in high places are not going to tell us how to interpret or apply the teachings of God. Instead we are going to study it, all of it, we are going to apply it as God gave it and we are going to proclaim it to the world as the truth it is. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
2. The unity of the church, God wants that repaired. It never fails to amaze me how we can all know that when our favorite sports team, whether it be college or pro, plays as a team they win, but when they play like a bunch of players they loose, yet we cannot apply that to our relationship with one another. Jesus said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." This applies both to the church-to-church relationships and the person-to-person relationships. It is a crying shame when individuals who call themselves Christians and Churches who claim to belong to Christ will not take the necessary steps to get along and bring honor to God. God wants to send revival to His Church, but he is going to wait to send it until something as basic as "love one another" gets taken seriously.
3. A return to a joyful witness of God by His people. Sometimes when people are unashamed and up front about their relationship with God, others see them as fanatics. Well I think that is exactly what God wants. He wants people who are so happy that they have found Him that they will stand of the rooftops and shout it. That’s what the apostle Paul did. Everywhere he went he told people about this wonderful Jesus he had found. Some thought him crazy. Some threw him in prison. Many tried to take his life and you know what he said, "I count it all joy."
C. God will send revival to His people when they are fully committed to repairing the broken things that matter to Him and bring him honor and glory.
CONCLUSION: Allow me to close by saying that God’s commitment to renewal is related to our renewal to commitment. Revival came to Judah because one man was fully committed to the Lord and sought Him all his life. Never underestimate the power of one person seeking God with all their heart, because if someone does, we just might see revival.
