Given at: The Cabin: Lame Night – 2/2/08, Grace UMC High School Youth Group – 2/27/08
The story about 'Mark' is good. High schoolers 'lock-in' and listen well.
[As is this talk needs signs with Kings names & prizes]
The first time I shared these thoughts from the Bible that I am about to share with you, it was a rough crowd. Only one person was paying attention, 1 guy fell asleep, and 1 guy even started wandering randomly around the room, oblivious to what I was saying! You think I’m kidding? [intro family] I’m looking forward to you paying a little more attention than them.
Alright, to start I need 6 volunteers. It can be guys or girls, I do have prizes, ranging from below average to absolutely fabulous [show off], Come on up, the first ones up are in.
Many of you know that a guy named Saul was the first King of the nation of Israel. Does anyone know who the next king was? [David]… and then? [Solomon.] After Solomon this kingdom, known as Israel split (like our civil war, but permanent). It split into a northern kingdom, which was still referred to as Israel, (think Wisconsin) and a Southern Kingdom which became known as Judah (think Illinois). You (volunteers) are each Kings of Judah. I’m going to assign you a name of a king (in no particular order): Joash, Asa, Jotham, Jehoshaphat, Amaziah, Uzziah.
Now I want you to get in historical order. Which of you comes first? [Indicate direction timeline should go]. I’m going to give you all 30 seconds to get in the right order. You (audience) are welcome to participate, because they’ll probably need help. If you (volunteer) are in the correct spot, you alone will get a prize (even if others are out of order). Are you ready? Go. If you don’t know, just try to get lucky… remember, there are prizes involved.
Time’s up. Now, I should have told you, after Solomon there were actually two more kings that are not named here: Rehoboam & Abijam. The reason we’re not looking at them is because they were the “bad kings” and we’re only talking about these “good kings.” I don’t use that term “bad” loosely, here’s what I Kings 14:22-23 says: “And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars … on every high hill and under every green tree,.” [mention Bible verses on paper]
So that is the bad position that the kingdom of Judah was at before these six ‘good kings’ come on the scene. As a whole, I believe they have a lesson to teach us, because I think most of us (including myself) would consider ourselves ‘good.’ But can we be better than Good? The first King to come is… ASA [whoever has the Asa sign sits down, with a prize if correct] Let me tell you a little bit about Asa. In I Kings 15 verse 11 it says that he did what was right. (side note, all of these stories are in I & II Kings and II Chronicles.) Asa did what was right, a few verses later it says that while he was fully devoted to God, he did not remove ‘the high places’ set up by the previous two kings. At the end of his reign the Bible says he was ‘diseased in his feet.’ Kindof gross, I don’t know if he had athletes foot, frostbite, I’m not sure what disease, but actually that’s all you need to know about him.
Alright, after Asa the next King was JEHOSHAPHAT.
[After sit down and exchange]: I Kings 22:43: Jehoshaphat did what was right. But the high places were left alone, and people still used them to make sacrifices.
Alright, let’s take a parenthetical pause here to ask the question (What’s the big deal with these high places anyway? Does anybody know? In Deuteronomy 12 God had commanded the people (way before all these kings) to destroy any places where false gods were worshipped. Can you guess one such place? Bingo, the ‘high places.’)
So Jehoshaphat left these high places alone, he left the people worshipping false Gods alone. Near the end of his reign, he built a whole fleet of ships. And the whole fleet, every single ship, was destroyed before they even were sailed once.
NEXT! - Jehoram! [Pause for confusion] Oh yeah, slight side note, here there were three more “bad” rulers- Jehoram, Ahaziah, & Athaliah (she was a bad queen) but then after them came…
JOASH [sit down and exchange] in II Kings 12:2 he ‘did what was right’ Verse 3 says that the high places were still being used by the people. Guess how his reign ended. So far we’ve had athlete’s foot and ruined ships. Any guesses? He was murdered!
[try to ‘speed’ through the next kings]
The next king was AMAZIAH [sit down and exchange] and in II Kings 14:3 it said he ‘did what was right’ but verse 4 says that the high places were still being used by the people. Near the end of his reign he was taken captive in a battle, he became a POW.
Next was UZZIAH [sit down and exchange] and in II Kings 15:3 he ‘did what was right’ but in verse 4 it says that the high places were still being used by the people. His reign ended okay, [pause] It actually did. Except that he had leprosy throughout his life.
Our last king, let’s see how he fares. JOTHAM (You got it right, good job!) did what was right in II Kings 15:34. But in verse 35 it says that the high places were still being used by the people. By the end of his reign, the country of Judah was in a war with 2 different enemy countries that had allied against them.
What do these guys have in common? You’ve probably already picked up on it but I’ll tell you in case you didn’t. All of these kings did not remove the high places that the people continued to sin at. In general, they were focused on themselves, and many of them had bad ends to their reign. They were “good” kings, (the Bible says so) and I’m sure I can’t hold a candle to their leadership & sword fighting skills, but at the end of the day, they were mostly selfish. They were good, but they could have been Better than Good.
A couple stories from my life that will help bring this into focus.
First of all, during High School, I had a growing relationship with Christ. I read my Bible daily, prayed more than daily, I was very involved at church (in Bible quizzing & youth group), and one time I even fasted for 3 days. (Not even to be ‘super-spiritual’, I thought it was something God wanted me to do. I’m not saying these things to show how great I was, just to prove the point that I actually was a growing Christian. There aren’t too many high school guys that would give up eating for 3 days if it was something they didn’t believe in.) Despite those things, I didn’t reach out to others. To say that in a question: How many people did I seek to build a relationship with for THEIR benefit, to bring them closer to Christ? (Christian or Non Christian) ZERO. I had this relationship down [hand motions up and down], but I didn’t do anything for these relationships [hand motions side to side]. [pause for participation]
I want to challenge you guys: Don’t just be a Good Christian and focuses on yourself! Why can I say that? Because I have been there and I have done that: I have been ‘Good’ and forgot all about others. I want to challenge you to be different: Be Better than Good.
Another personal story, and this one starts in Junior High. Throughout grade school I was best friends with another kid named ‘Mark.’ Now Mark was a solid guy, and he seemed to be a committed Christian (in fact he and I and another friend led a small Bible Study in 6th grade ~ I’m not sure what type of heresy we were teaching in 6th grade, but the church we grew up in let us do it anyway). In jr. high Mark began to turn his back (fall away, backslide, you name your term) on Christianity. The first time I realized it was when I watched him light up a cigarette. Now I realize that there are WAY worse things than cigarettes, but this was just a sign of bigger issues in his life. (Maybe you’re thinking of someone right now who has drifted away from their belief in God: Someone who stopped coming to church or isn’t living what they claim they believe anymore. I want you to keep them in mind.) Do you know what I said to him when he lit up? [pause] Nothing, I didn’t do anything about it. From that moment on, I pretty much stopped being friends with him; Mark was just a casual acquaintance. I said ‘Hi’ to him when I saw him, but that was it. I had thoughts like: “Why would I want to get involved in that? He’s doing what he shouldn’t. I’m busy making sure that I’m ‘doing what is right’.”
As it turns out, Mark had bigger reasons then just a desire to be ‘cool’ or ‘fit in’ when he turned away. I found out about them when I asked him, TEN YEARS LATER. Let that number sink in: TEN YEARS. Mark was then (and still is now) questioning the existence of God and Christianity. It took me 10 YEARS to get over my own selfishness, my own inward focus, and ask him about his spiritual life. (over 10 years actually). And since I’ve done it, we’ve had some great conversations and he’s totally open to discussing spiritual things. Pray for him if you think of it. (His real name is not Mark, but that is not a big deal).
The selfishness I had in high school is still there, I’m still getting over my callous attitude toward other’s needs. I could have started dialoging with Mark anytime in the past 10 years, anytime throughout college, anytime out of college, but I didn’t, and why? I could make an excuse, but bottom line, I didn’t care about him enough to do anything. I was selfish. I was a Christian who was focused on being Good, not on being Better than Good. How can I be better than good? Think about others! Help with their needs!
There is one more king I want to tell you about. But before I do, I have a word to those of you who just heard my story about Mark and relate more to him than to me. You could care less what I did or didn’t do for Mark, because you know that right now, in your life: You are Mark, That describes you. You are not following God. In fact, tonight you’re just pretending. If that is you, two things 1) let me apologize that someone hasn’t reached out to ask you if you need help, or ask you if you really believe this ‘Christian’ thing, like I didn’t do and eventually did do for Mark. 2) At the end of the day, you need to make the decision. If you die tonight, you can’t tell God, ‘my friends at church didn’t do a thing for me.’ God has made his plan for salvation clear in his word. You need to turn to Christ, accept him fully. I or any of the youth leaders would love to talk to you more about that.
On to the last King… I don’t need a volunteer because it would be too easy to put yourself in order. After Jotham there was another bad king (Ahaz) and then a king named Hezekiah. Listen to this in II Kings 18:3-4: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD… HE REMOVED THE HIGH PLACES… He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him”.
Did you catch that? He removed the high placers. Finally! Hezekiah followed God closely, and he reached out to others in the process. He was the first king to be concerned enough about the spiritual life of others that he did something about it. He was Better than Good. Does anybody know how his reign ended? Read the whole story in II Kings 20, but I’ll quote you what God to him in verse 6: “I will add 15 years to your life.” 15 extra years is a lot different then being murdered, captured, diseased, and all that other stuff. Not just different, it’s better! I don’t think it’s a mere coincidence. (If you’re asking me, I’ll take the 15 years.)
So remember, when you hear the stories of these random kings, remember the positive example of Hezekiah.. and the negative example of the rest of them: Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, & Jotham. All good kings, but all unconcerned about the people.
How can you be better than good? Be concerned about others. Start a relationship with God, [hand motions] many of you may need to work on building your relationship with God, but at the same time don’t stop at being a Good Christian, focus on others and think about others. Be Better than Good.
OTHER IDEAS:
Extra (if there is time): How to not be lame (selfish), from Isaiah 58
I’m not talking about immorality (although that is a problem too) I’m talking about a lack of ministry.
How many of you (audience) have been a Christian for over a year? One of the biggest challenges you face is remembering. Remembering what? Everything! That your faith is real, that you should reach out to others, that you should seek to be more Christlike. How can you challenge yourself and spark your memories? Read books! Don’t be like Pharaoh’s cupbearer.
Look for opportunities.
The Bible is pretty harsh if you don’t use what you’ve been given. Parable of the Talents.
*Asa
*Jehoshaphat I Kings 22:41-50, II Chronicles 17-20
Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah - BAD
*Joash II Kings 12:1-20, II Chron 23-24
*Amaziah II Kings 14:1-20, II Chronicles 25
*Uzziah (Azariah) II Kings 15:1-7, II Chronicles 26
*Jotham II Kings 15:32-38, II Chronicles 27
Ahaz – BAD
**Hezekiah – Good
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