Monday, February 10, 2020

Rediscovering the Word of God

 

The boy King Josiah, and the frustrated Catholic priest Martin Luther speak a word to any church or denomination tempted to go along with the culture rather than be true to God's Word.

Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.  And the king went up to the Temple of the Lord with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, along with the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest.  There the king read to them the entire Book of the Covenant that had been found in the Lord’s Temple.  The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and renewed the covenant in the Lord’s presence.  He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. In this way, he confirmed all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll, and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.  Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the Temple gatekeepers to remove from the Lord’s Temple all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the powers of the heavens.  The king had all these things burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel.  He did away with the idolatrous priests, who had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices at the pagan shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity of Jerusalem.  They had also offered sacrifices to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the powers of the heavens.  The king removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it.  Then he ground the ashes of the pole to dust and threw the dust over the graves of the people.  He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the Lord, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.  Josiah brought to Jerusalem all the priests who were living in other towns of Judah.  He also defiled the pagan shrines, where they had offered sacrifices—all the way from Geba to Beersheba.  He destroyed the shrines at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the governor of Jerusalem.  This gate was located to the left of the city gate as one enters the city.

King Josiah then issued this order to all the people: “You must celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as required in this Book of the Covenant.”  There had not been a Passover celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in Israel, nor throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and Judah.  But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.  Josiah also got rid of the mediums and psychics, the household gods, the idols, and every other kind of detestable practice, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah. He did this in obedience to the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord’s Temple.  Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses.  And there has never been a king like him since.  2 Kings 23:1-8, 21-25[1]

Another October 31st celebration in Christian churches, which is most opposite of the darkness of witches and evil, is Reformation Day, celebrating Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, Germany 503 years ago[2].  Luther was a Catholic priest who recognized that the church of Jesus Christ, which he dearly loved, had slipped-into the depths of hypocrisy.  The church was courting the judgment of God, and he knew he had to do something drastic. 
So, Martin Luther did something very drastic; he laid open his Bible next to the list of rules he was taught to follow as a priest.  When he compared the two, he found 95 ways the church and God’s Word had parted ways.  He then wrote a paragraph about each and nailed them to the church doors.  Those theses were 95 challenges intended to kickstart a holy, cleansing revival in the church.  Instead of renewal it started a riot; Luther was excommunicated, and a rebellion followed.  Calvin, Luther, Wesley, and a host of others led the way in schism. 
Today there are so many denominations it is hard to say just how many.  And it’s harder still to say which denomination, if any, truly holds the corner on the market of being right in its preponderance of doctrines and rules.  There is one safe thing to say; in all the preaching, opinions, self-righteousness, wonderment, and wishing, only God’s Word holds truth without mixture of man’s error.
Martin Luther may have had King Josiah’s reformation of the Temple and Israel in mind when he began his efforts to turn God’s people back to holy living and worship. 
Josiah was only 8 years old when the death of his father made him King in Judah and Jerusalem.  Later, when he was 26, while some work was being done on the Temple walls, the Book of the Covenant[3] was discovered and brought to the king. 
When Josiah heard the Word of God it convicted his heart, much the same as God’s Word had touched Martin Luther’s heart.  Josiah not only felt remorse, Josiah changed his ways. 
Notice the things Josiah did that were not easy, but were Godly examples for us to follow in our church and community:

1.     He Revealed God’s Word to the People

Our text (v1-2) shows us that when Josiah read God’s Word he knew all the people had no knowledge of how God had commanded them to live.  Josiah’s father and grandfathers had dabbled in witchcraft, pagan worship and secularism.  They’d forsaken Jehovah and only had the title and land – not the Spirit of God. 
He knew the people needed to know of their sinful ways, so he gathered them all together and read the whole book of Deuteronomy.  The people were astonished because the priests had long since abandoned teaching it.   
Today we have an entire generation growing up with no clear sound from the pulpit reminding them of who they are, and how they’re expected to live.

2.     He Removed the Sinful Practices that Afflicted the People

Josiah had the authority and he used it to remove pagan altars, Asherah poles, heretical priests, mediums and even prostitutes from the Temple.  And he did it from Geba (the northern border of Judah) all the way to Beersheba, the southern border.  It was a clean sweep; sin was not tolerated.

3.     He Required the People to Seek Renewal

The young king took a lesson out of Moses’ Book of Covenant (Deuteronomy 12) and required the people to remember the God who saved them in Egypt.  He required they celebrate the Passover, the night when they eat a sacred meal in memory of the death angel sweeping over Egypt taking the firstborn of each household. 
Each Israelite household was instructed to kill a lamb with no imperfections, sprinkling its spilled blood on the lintels and door posts.  Only those doorposts covered in lamb’s blood were spared.  The next day Israel was free!
The young king offered his heart to God, and his life to the cause of helping others know God.  He emptied the Temple of every pagan vestige and practice, sent the lying priests packing, and he burnt the Asherah poles of pagan worship and banished the male and female prostitutes connected with such worship. 
But this much our time also has in common with Luther's and Josiah's – the power is still powerful.  Dangerously powerful.  And when the word gets out and the Holy Spirit gets hold of the word and the people who read it, powerful things happen.  Walls can come tumbling down.  Stones can be rolled away.  The heavens can be torn asunder.  The powerful can be cast down from their thrones, the poor can be fed and the prisoner set free.  Old wineskins can burst.  Sinners can die to themselves and have Christ reborn in them.  And churches – even old, dusty mainline churches, can have new life breathed into them.[4]
This is the example of the frustrated priest, Luther.  When holding up the Word of God to an increasingly secular and sinful clergy, they told him to recant or face death.  His answer was:  Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience.  Here I stand.  I can do no other.  God help me.  Amen!
These days when denominations are confronted with God’s holy Word they usually rewrite their Bibles instead of their rule books.  Josiah and Martin Luther were different; they were willing to turn the whole world upside down to agree with God and not man’s new ideas. 
If there is one “tried and true” medicine for what ails the United Methodist Church (and anything else on planet earth, including you and me, and this church, and this community) it is the wisdom of a 26 year old king, or a frustrated Catholic priest…scrap everything and read the BOOK…repent and restart in obedience to what God has told us to be.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…Amen!
Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

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[1] For other posts on 2 Kings 23 see Heart Soul and Strength and Sin at the Poles
[2] See the Encyclopedia Britannica article here
[3] Probably the core chapters of Deuteronomy
[4] Rolf Jacobson, Luther Seminary on The Working Preacher

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