"WHEN A NATION’S GODLY LIGHT FLICKERS"
1 KINGS 22:51 - 2 KINGS 1:14
INTRODUCTION:
Some time ago I ran an experiment in my office. I retrieved a candle and matches and took both into my office and turned out the lights. My office has only one window and when the blinds are pulled it’s fairly dark. In this darkness I lit the candle and immediately there was a soft glow of light brightening up the room. It is always amazing to me just what the light of 1 candlepower is. Anyway, the next thing I did was to very gently blow against the flame, making the candle flicker. Some of you, as you picture this in your minds eye, are thinking, "I knew it, we’ve got a loon for a pastor!" But wait, I wanted to see just what happens when a candle flickers. I noticed two things: 1)The first, as most of you could expect, was that the light in the room was diminished. As the flame flickered the room grew darker. 2) As I watched the room in the flickering light I noticed things that were stationary in the steady light seemed to be moving in the flickering light. Dark shadows pranced about the room, contorting what was once familiar. It was kind of spooky.
I think things in this country of ours are more than "spooky." The moral decline in America is downright scary. Godly morals are like a flame that is flickering casting shifting norms and causing problems for our country and our families. Things have changed dramatically over the last several decades... and not for the better. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Take a look: VIDEO clip: Family Values 1:54
So, what can we do? Well, even if you don’t agree with everything in that video clip there’s one thing we can all agree on.. Things have changed... and those statistics tell us that the changes have not been for our good. And if the light of Godly morals continues to grow steadily dimmer then our country will be plunged into greater darkness and evil will prance about with glee. Psa 33:12- "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.." and Prov. 14:34: "Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people."
So today, as we celebrate the 228th birthday of our independence as a country I want us to look at a time in the history of Israel that parallels where America is right now and where Israel was then. Israel began as a righteous nation. But gradually they drifted away from God and eventually she collapsed from moral decay. So, this morning, I want to look at some of the warning signs that were happening then and after seeing the warnings make some suggestions on how we can reverse the trend and begin bringing about the light of moral renewal.
I. A LEADERSHIP VOID DEVELOPS: 1 Kings 22:51 - 2 Kings 1:1
When Godly influence begins to diminish one of the things that starts to happen is that there is a leadership void that develops. Israel had drifted from God under the rule of King by the name of Ahab. Ahab had violated one moral principle after another. He had married a woman named Jezebel. Now, even if you do not know the biblical details of the story of Ahab & Jezebel you know she was one bad gal. Afterall, how many of you who have daughters said at one point.. “Hey, honey I know what to name our precious little girl: Jezebel!” Of coarse not. Just the name imparts evil. This woman had failed to listen to God and set up idol worship in the nation. Even after God had given an amazing demonstration of who He was in a place called Mt. Carmel, Ahab and Jezebel didn’t repent, in fact, she hired hit men to kill God’s prophet, Elijah. Ahab and Jezebel were incredibly evil and they died horrible deaths. Now, at the time of Israel in our text, Ahab’s son Ahaziah came to the throne. Vs:51- “Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.” This would be an opportune time for national repentance for spiritual renewal. But Ahaziah picked up right where his wicked father had left off. That’s why we read in vss: 52-53 - “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother.. He served and worshiped Baal and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done. When Ahab died, there was a leadership void and for 2 years Ahaziah took the throne & made things worse.
But it is no surprise that Ahaziah did not do right in the eyes of God. His parents had simply passed on their lack of faith in God and their sinful habits on to their son. And one of the first things you will see when Godly influence dwindles is a leadership void in the family. When the values of the parents are Godless, those values are passed onto the children. That’s why the Israelites earlier cried out in Num. 14:17-18- "Oh, please, show the great power of your patience by forgiving our sins and showing us your steadfast love. Forgive us, even though you have said that you don’t let sin go unpunished, and that you punish the father’s fault in the children to the third and fourth generation."(LB) Now, don’t misunderstand that passage. It is not saying that the children have to be evil but so often the sinful traits of parents that are seen by the children are repeated in the child’s adult life. That’s why you see children of alcoholics, alcoholics; children who suffer abuse, abusing their own children, children of divorce not able to hold their marriage together. So it was with Ahaziah. And I don’t have to go over the demise of the family in this country, that video clip did that powerfully. But I believe a lot of it is because, in our families the leadership role is severely lacking.
And, when Godly influence wanes we also see this leadership void in the country. In 2 Kgs 1:1 we see that the country of Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Moab had been brought under the subjection and had been dominated by Israel for 46 years. But now Moab saw the weak leadership and revolted. One of characteristics of a country with weak leadership is a defiant spirit on the part of the nations adversaries. Does that sound familiar? I don’t think it is a great surprise that it is this time in our nation’s history that our enemies are blatant and confident enough to attack us on our own soil. We need to realize that when the light of Godly values dwindles there is a natural leadership void. Pro. 29:2 reads, "When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan." (NLT)
II. SUBSTITUTE RELIGIONS BECOME POPULAR: 1:2-4
The second thing that happens when the light of Godly influence flickers is that substitute religions become popular. During his reign something happened that gave the King a problem. Vs:2 tells us that he fell in the palace and he seriously injured himself. So bad was his plight that he didn’t know whether he was going to live or die. He wanted to know the future about the outcome of his injury. But rather than going to God for healing and help look at the King’s solution. Vs:2b- “..he sent messengers, saying to them, `Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.” Ahaziah was seeking revelation about the future from an idol, a god (little “g”) that the people sacrificed infants But the very first commandment says “You shall have no other gods before me.”Ex 20:3 (RSV) So, Ahaziah shouldn’t of called Baal-Zebub or Miss Cleo to read her tarot cards or the Psychic Network, he should have consulted the Lord. Now why would Ahaziah consult a false god instead of the true God? The answer is very simple, it’s the same reason that people reject the God of the Bible today. He wanted a religion that was morally undemanding. People then and people still want immortality without morality. And for many God is just too strict. A movie out some years ago was entitled, "Children of a Lesser God?" Someone has suggested that what we what want today is to be "Children of a Looser God." And there are a lot of substitute religions in America today because we are drifting away from the true God. Let me name just a couple.
Humanism. Humanism was declared an official religion in 1961. John Dewey, the creator of the Dewey Decimal system used in our libraries, wrote the Humanist Manifesto. Humanism does not believe in creation and that man alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dream. It says Ethics is situational, needing no theological sanction. Ethics stems from human need and interest..In other words, “we call the shots, not God.”
And Humanism is at the root of a number of religions.. Like the universalism where there is no single truth, new age, where one spokesman said: "We already know everything. There is nothing more to know. The knowing of our own divinity is our highest intelligence." Like New Age where they insist that people need look no further than themselves for life’s answers. The Bible tells us that we don’t have the answers ourselves, that we are sinful, we need revelation from God through His Word, we need Jesus Christ intervening for us.
Along with the blight of humanism we see forms of Eastern mysticism cropping up. There are now Hindu temples in Tennessee, Buddhist monasteries in Minnesota, Zoroastrians in Wyoming and Wiccans in Colorado Springs. When the candle of Godly influence flickers then substitute religions become popular.
III. PEOPLE WANT TO ELIMINATE GOD: VSS: 5-10
A third indication of a nation that has it’s Godly influence waning is the tendency to attempt to eliminate the voice of God altogether. The messengers of the King were sent to the God of Ekron and Elijah the prophet of God intercepted them. Elijah told them I want you to take a message back to the king. Vss: 3b-4 - “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zbub, the god of Ekron? Therefore this is what the Lord says: You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” And when the messengers return the king wants to know what they are doing back so quickly and they tell him that a man came out to meet them and he had a message for you. So, the Ahaziah wants to know what this man looks like and in verse 8 we have a physical description of Elijah. The king immediately said, "Oh, great, I know who that is! It’s Elijah the Tishbite." He remembered Elijah. His mother hated him, his Dad called him a “troubler.” So in vs:9 he sends out 50 men to arrest Elijah. You see Ahaziah didn’t want to hear the words of God, they weren’t pleasant, so he tried to silence them.
Can’t you see that happening in America today? We don’t want to hear the words of God, they are too demanding. So, in our government, our schools, in nearly every institution we are trying to suppress God. "Don’t teach creation, don’t pray at ball games or graduations, don’t read the Bible in public, don’t put the nativity on the courthouse lawn.” We do things to ease God even in places of history when God was prominent. In 1986 Paul Vitz, wrote a book entitled, Censorship: Evidence of bias in our children’s textbooks. Now, Paul Vitz is not some Bible-thumper, he is a professor of psychology at N.Y.U. and for his study he systematically examined some 90 widely used school textbooks. He wanted to answer the question: "Are public school textbooks bias against Christianity?" His study revealed some startling findings. "Religion, family values and certain economic and political positions have been systematically eliminated from children’s textbooks today. For example in a total of 670 stories from elementary readers there was not one reference to represent a positive side of religious life. Other religions were mentioned, but not Christianity. None of the social study books dealing with American social life, though they mention the family as a group of people living together, ever mention the word marriage, husband, wife or wedding. Nor did any of the books represent a woman being a mother or homemaker as a worthy role for women to consider." One of the social study books had 30 pages on the Pilgrims including the 1st Thanksgiving. But children were not told to whom the pilgrims gave thanks. I heard of a little first grader standing in front of the class saying, "And when the pilgrims came seeking freedom of `you-know-what’, and giving thanks to `you-know-who’, and because of them we can worship each Sunday `you-know-where.’
Now, I know some that will say, "Now, wait a minute. It shouldn’t be right for religion to be taught in schools because after all we have a principle of separation of church and state.” But no matter where you stand on the issue of “separation of church and state” please understand that our early forefathers considered God’s Word to be an integral part of our culture and even schools. Consider William Holmes McGuffey and the McGuffey Readers which were the primary textbooks used in schools in the 1800’s. Here’s a couple of excerpts showing what children were being taught. First reader- grade 3- "God made the moon and all the stars. How good God is to us; he gives us all we have, and keeps us alive. We should love God." Grade 6 - Here’s what they were to read: "Religion is a social concern; for it operates powerfully on society. Religion is not merely a private affair; for it is the best support of the virtues and principles, on which the social order rests. If you erase all thought and fear of God from a community, then selfishness and sensuality will absorb the whole man. Now if we love our country, we must respect and love God." Now, these readers would be declared unconstitutional in a minute today. Yet these people lived 100 years closer to the Constitution than we do & they understood what the founding fathers meant, that Congress should not pass a law respecting the establishment of religion. Not freedom from worship but freedom to worship! But, when Godly influence wavers people stifle the voice of God.
IV. WHAT CAN WE DO?
So, what can we do? Like the video clip we saw.. “If not us? Who? If not now? When?” Well, the rest of this story is interesting and speaks of the judgement of God on Ahaziah. The King sends three groups of 50 soldiers. The firsts two groups demand that Elijah come to the King with them. Each time Elijah says what he does in Vs:10 - “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” They became toast! But the third captain comes humbly, kneels before Elijah and in vss:13-14- “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! 14See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!” Then, the Lord says, “Go ahead and go with him.” The difference? This captain respected God. That 3rd captain is our hope.
And I firmly believe that if we are going to begin to re-establish Godly morals and values in this country it is going to take you and I uncompromisingly making Jesus Christ Lord! Not just of Sunday mornings but of everything! 1 Ptr 3:15- “..in your hearts, set Jesus Christ apart as Lord.” If someone is the Lord or master of your hearts he is master of every area of your life! Being Lord means being the “director” it means He’s the one that “calls the shots.” And I would say to each one of us.. It is time we make Jesus Christ the Lord of everything. Psa 33:12- "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.."(NIV)
1. Lord of our families! Is it really any wonder that many of our children today don’t have strong spiritual values when their parents don’t even look at a Bible? Parents, I can’t encourage you enough to make sure you are setting the spiritual temperature in your home by taking time to be with your family and to actively teach them Christian values in addition to what they get in the church. Deut. 6:7 - “You must love God with all your heart, soul, and might. ”(LB)
2. Lord of your faith. Do you live a life of “religion” or do you live as one who has a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ? I think one of our big problems is that many of us are just “going through the motions” when it comes to living out our commitment. It’s not demonstrated in our lifestyles.. Before the DC Talk song, “What if I stumble”the lyrics say something very profound: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Let me ask you, Is your life of faith lived predominantly out of obligation and rule keeping? Gal. 3:21 & 3:26 - “Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily....But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God.”(MSG) How Jesus wants to be Lord of your life.. To give you a relationship that will complete your life, giving you purpose and promise.
3. Make Him Lord of your freedom! Now, in expressing our desire for America to return to be a Godly nation we must make sure that we do two things. (1) We must not rebel against the government. Yes, because of what God teaches in the Bible, I hate abortion and I disagree with same-sex marriage. But, do I have the right to bomb clinics, commit hate crimes or otherwise commit civil disobedience? My answer to that is “no.” Rom. 13:1-5 - “Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there. All governments have been placed in power by God. So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God...”(NLT) For me to keep a clear conscience I need to obey the laws that are not overtly anti-Biblical. (2) We must speak up where we can! How can we do that? Well, obviously in our circles of influence at work or leisure we can make the point that Godly values are what has made this country what it is. Alexis de Tocqueville a French philosopher, came to America in the early 1800’s to try and determine the source of our greatness. He later wrote in his book, Democracy in America, "America’s greatness does not lie in her rivers or her harbors. It does not lie in her fertile fields or vast resources, or her factories or her politics. But when I went into the Church’s of America and I heard the pulpits aflame with righteousness, then I understood why America is great. America is great because America is good! When America ceases to be good she will cease to be great."
But the simplest way to make God the director of our freedom is in how we vote. Look at the quote that is on the front of your Information sheet from J.F.K. “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.”And I would tell you that I believe with all of my being that the “right” answer is God’s answers.. The Biblical position. Let me encourage you especially as another national election is on our doorstep.. To vote and to vote Biblically. Don’t get caught up in all the personalities or mud slinging but look rationally and logically at each person’s position and how that compares to God’s position on certain things. Then, make Him the Lord of your freedom by voting the way you think He would. Now, I know some are going to day, “Tim, our country has become so messed up that God wouldn’t vote for any of these people.” That may be right. But what I’m asking you to consider is to find out what particular candidates believe on clear Biblical issues and then choose to vote for them or against them on that criteria. Let me offer some help.
This web site (www.wallbuilders.com) is a great site to see the Godly history of our country. But it also has a wealth of information on positions (not personalities) of our political entities. For example: They take the Democratic and Republican platforms and without editorializing show “in their own words” where they stand on such things as “Prayer in Schools,” “Abortion,” “Homosexuality,” and “Faith based education.” And there are other resources out there but we must make a commitment that we are not going to just vote for a person or a party because of where they stand on the economy or the war in Iraq but where they stand on Godly morals.
I believe it is time, past time, for those of us who say we believe in God to stand-up and be counted.. In our families, with our faith in Christ and in our freedom - wherever and whenever we can. In other words, making Jesus Christ LORD.. Of everything!!! Oh, how I pray that we’ll let the Lord once again steer our ship of state. But to do that we’ve first got to allow Him to pilot our lives.. Like that 3rd captain, we’ve got to come to God humbly, put Him first over self, and let righteousness once again be steady flame and it begins right here with us. Remember God says: Psa 33:12- "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.."(NIV)
