The Power of Obedience | 2 Chronicles 31:1-21

Show Notes

Episode 656: 
In this episode, we delve into the story of Hezekiah, who took over after his father, Ahaz, a notoriously wicked king. Ahaz had shut the temple doors and led the people away from worshiping God. In contrast, Hezekiah sought to restore true worship and led significant religious reforms, including the rededication of the temple and the celebration of Passover.

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You're listening to the Bible guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, don't get down just because it's Monday, because you've just tuned into the Bible guys. Wow. Yeah, man, you are so encouraging. Chris. Well, that's why I listen. I try to be anti Monday, anti blues, and so today we are going to pep you up with a brand news. Well it's not a brighter segment anti anti Monday, anti blues. Oh yeah, I thought you'd be pro Monday anti blues. Well, antime Monday blues. How about that? Because I like waking up on a Monday. Well, you know, every day above the ground. Not having a Monday. The alternative isn't great? Right then that means you're done with life exactly because Mondays are coming. I'm pro days anti negativity. Yeah, you anti Monday blues, Monday Blues day. So we've only done this segment maybe once or twice, probably, right, I don't ever remember doing it. Have we done it before? Yeah, we've done. Here's the reason why I remember. This is called finish the lyrics. Oh yeah, yeah, because I remember saying I'm not good with song. Lyrics, yes at all. In fact, I'm very nervous about this segment. You should be. You should be. Just a few minutes ago and I said to Jeff, I said, I'm not going to know these, and he said, these are really popular songs. You'll know them. This is your arch nemesis right here. This is it. But listen, hey. It actually says Jeff will start singing a song Comma, then we'll see if Chris can finish the next lyrics. So I didn't say I have to sing it. It says you have to sing it, finish it. If he can't, he gets a silly penalty, which, by the way, that's new, right, Like making an animal noise for ten seconds. Okay, that's a lot of work. Are you going to give me silly penalties? I don't know. I know I'm not singing it because I don't know a couple of the tunes. I kind of know the songs, okay, but I don't know a couple of tunes. So silly penalties could be fun. Okay, But you know, I think it's up to you, all right, like stand on your head and that's that's a choice. On an audio podcast. Okay, you know I could do for all the listeners. I could just grunt like I'm doing it. They would never. One finger pushing. That's right, there we go, Here we go. Are you ready? Yeah? I guess so. So I think you're gonna know these So while I don't know the tunes to several of these songs, I just I know the You do know that you know about them. You know, I know because you said immediately you'll recognize all these songs. Well, I think you will, which means you know them. Well, as I looked through who the singers were, you're going to know who they are. All right, I'm ready, go ahead. Are you ready? Imagine all the people living life. In imagine all the people what living what living life in living life? And peep, here you go. That's it, all right? Good Okay, I was actually unsure that believe it. Okay, So I kind of knew that tune. Okay, yeah, this next one, yep, I know the song. Yep, I do not know the tunes. Okay to this segment, Okay, give it to me, because this is thriller thriller night, and no one's going to save you from. Oh yeah, First of all, that's really high because. This is thriller thriller night, and no one's going to save you from the beast about to strike? Is that right? Yeah? Yeah yeah, so believe or not. I never really listened to Michael Jackson really at all. Yeah yeah, yeah, nineteen eighties. But okay, okay, the thriller jacket, right, I talked about that. I remember that. Yeah, yeah, okay. Still like that old time rock and roll, that kind of music. So I actually sang this with my buddy Jeff Miller at one of those things where you could record, like a karaoke thing before karaoke, with a thing. Where you can make a recording. Yeah yeah, yeah, and. So I have this tape at home. Just like that old time of rock and roll. That kind of music just soothes my soul. It's so I would have missed. It, that's okay, you know that since. Finished the lyrics, I would have missed it. Is it? Bop Secret? Yeah, Bob Secret. He's a Detroit boy. Yeah that's right. Yeah, okay, So here's another one. I don't I don't know the tune. I don't know the tune to this one. I'm mad, Papa, don't preach, I'm in trouble deep. That's Madonna. Papa, don't preach. I've been losing sleep. There you go, Papa, don't preach. I'm in trouble deep. Papa, don't preach. I've been losing sleep. And I made up my mind. I'm keeping the baby, keeping my baby. That's what she's what the songs, it's don't yell at me, because. You know we did a enough seat. Yeah, okay, here we go. So I know this one. Just a small town girl living in a lonely world she. Took she took them. Wait, just a small town girl living in a lonely world. She took them. Midnight train. Go in there you go. What's the next line? I don't know, Yes you do, I don't. Just the city. City boy born and raised in South Detroit, South Detroit. So did you know there is no South Detroit. Uh, well, the southern part of Detroit, Jeff is the South Detroit. So from where he was when he was writing that song in the city, he was looking out his hotel window. He was looking into Canada because the river cuts straight below the city of Detroit, and so when you look straight south from the downtown portion of Detroit. You're looking into Canada. So when he was writing it, he wasn't thinking about Detroit. He was thinking about Kennedy. He just didn't know it. Really, Yeah, that's fact. Well, my guess is if you're on the southern part of Detroit, like on the walk, you're in South Detroit. Yeah, no, that's not. It's not official, but it is technically according to the lawyer in your head. No, you can look at it, look at it on a map. If you look at it on a map, yeah, And then he acknowledged it later. He acknowledged it later that you would never say that there's no seuth Detroit if Bonnie Well. Legally, but if Bonnie called you and said what part of Detroit A you're in, you would never say the southern part of Detroit. No, liar, I promise you I wouldn't. I just called me a liar. Here. You want to know what made Jeff mad last this week? There, Chris called you a liar. I didn't even say I didn't even say, no, you wouldn't. I just said, right, well, lying is not a good thing, and that would force us into some kind of reform if we wanted to change, right. Yeah, wow, speaking of reform is a horrific transition, horrific congratulations. Yes, that might be the worst one, be the worst one. Hey, lying is bad, and if you lied, you needn't reform. You know who else needed reform? Has A Kaya? Well, has A Kaiah led religious reforms. That's so funny. That's terrible. Yes, that's okay, funny. Well, we're kind of wrapping up this, this chunk of has A Kaya story. It's lasted for a few chapters here where after his dad it was such a bad king and nailed the doors shut on the temple and filled it into with just a bunch of junk and took weeks and weeks and weeks to clean it out and rededicate it. Then they had a big party in a celebration, recommitting themselves to God and all those things. Yeah. In fact, he actually filled the temple with a brand new altar and moved the other altar. Remember, and he actually took pagan practices from the Assyrians. He has his dad, yes, yes, yes. The Assyrians who took them over in captivity, who defeated them, and then and he was sort of submitting, maybe trying to buy favor with the Assyrians, or maybe he actually really you know, maybe he just was so wicked he admired the Assyrian false gods. Who knows, you know. I think sometimes I've been thinking about that a little bit over the last couple of days, because I mean, we read about that a few weeks or what last week or whatever two weeks ago, about a has getting rid of God and the worship of God, nailing the temple door shut and then worshiping the gods of the people who conquered him right right, they defeated him, And I wonder, you know, sometimes people get mad at God because things didn't turn out the way they wanted it to turn out, and then they blamed God instead of his wickedness, or instead of the fact that his army just didn't have the skill set or whatever, he wasn't prepared, or he was a bad leader. It couldn't possibly be his fault. It has to be God's fault. Get rid of God, I'm going to go get because their God's helped them win. My God didn't help me win. I'm going to blame God for my situation right right that that if, if that's what happened, that's an extremely common idea, right right, That happens in all of our lives. So I wonder if that's what's happening. What happened in a has whatever was he got bitter about God and nailed the door shut and forbade the worship. Of a lot of good This God did us. Yeah, exactly as oppost acknowledging God, I haven't been following you, and I believe that you're trying to correct me. Instead it was you know, I hate you. But has Akiah decided to turn back to the god of his grandfather, even though his father had turned away. And then he begins leading the people and they have this big celebration. Was his grandfather's name Issiah? Was it? I think it was Usiah? Yeah? Jotham? So it was Akiah a has Jotham Usiah? Oh yeah, wait Jotham Usiah? Yes, yeah, Usiah then Jotham. Oh his great grandfather was Usiah. Yeah, okay. So so Hazekiah leads them in this big party at the temple and people are happy. Then he goes and invites even northern Israel to come and celebrate the Passover. Yeah, and they go through that and the Passover is a deeply religious experience, and they lingered for a while on the Passover celebration that kind of sad. But then it didn't go just to you know, a religious event with a bunch of with rededicating the temple and then a religious ceremony in the Passover. But he begins to bring real deep, day to day living type reforms. Right, So he wasn't just adopting a new religion. He was saying, we're gonna let this change our lives. And that's kind of what you see in this next piece. And that's why I think the Bible takes three or four chapters to kind of unveil how deep these reforms went in the lives of history. Well, think about for an entire generation for I don't know how long he has was king. Well I think we read like what like eighteen years or something. Yea As was king for sixteen years, sixteen. Years, So that is an unbelievable amount of time for you know, for you to be you know, I mean, I mean it's almost what it almost is an entire generation of pagan practices. So it would seem like, you know, any religious practice that's you know, it would be so foreign, right, you know, you can grow up and become you know, college age and never have known a single person in your family to have, you know, honored God in any way. Right. So here we are in Second Chronicles, chapter thirty one, and it says when the festival ended, talking about that big passover, and remember they decided to have a second week of it, right, right. They liked it so much they kept going. Yeah, So when the festival ended, the Israelites who attended went to all the towns of Judah, Benjamin, Fraim, and Manassa, and they smashed all the sacred pillars, cut down ther share of polls, and remove the pagan shrines and altars. After this, the Israelites returned to their own towns and homes. Zekaia then organized the priests and levites into divisions to offer the burnt offerings and peace offerings, and to worship and to give thanks and praise to the Lord at the gates of the temple. The king also made a personal contribution of animals for the daily and morning and evening burnt offerings, the weekly Sabbath festivals, the monthly New Moon festivals, and the annual festivals as prescribed in the Law of the Lord. In addition, he required the people in Jerusalem to bring a portion of their goods to the priests and levites so they could devote themselves fully to the law of the Lord. When the people of Israel heard these requirements, they responded generously by bringing the first share of their grain, new wine, olive, oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity a tithe of all that they produced. The people who had moved to Judah from Israel, and the people of Judah themselves brought in the tithes of their cattle and sheep and goats, and a tithe of the things that had been dedicated to the Lord, their God, and they piled them up in great heaps. They began piling them up in late spring, and the heaps continued to grow until early autumn. Kaiyah and his officials came and saw these huge piles. They thanked the Lord and his people Israel. Where did all this come from? Hezekiah asked the priest and levites, and Azariah, the high priest from the family of Zadok, replied, since the people began bringing their gifts to the Lord's temple, we have had enough to eat in plenty to spare. The Lord has blessed his people, and all this is left over. Hezekiah ordered that storerooms be prepared in the Temple of the Lord, and when this was done, the people faithfully brought all the tithes and gifts to the temple. Conan Ayah the Levite was put in charge, assisted by his brother SHIMII. Supervisors under them were Jahel, Aiziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jeremoth, Jazabad, elile Ishmakiah, Mayheth, and Benaiah. These appointments were made by King Hezekiah and Azariah, the chief official in the Temple of God. And those names sound so foreign, don't they? Yeah? For sure. Cora, son of Mnah, the Levite, excuse you, yes, who was the gatekeeper at the east gate, was put in charge of distributing the voluntary offerings given to God. The gifts and the things that had been dedicated to the Lord and his faithful assistance were Edom and many of men, Jeshua, Shimaiah, Amariyah, and Shekhanaiah. They ditributed the gifts among the families of priests in their towns by their divisions, divided the gifts fairly among old and young alike. They distributed gifts to all males three years old or older, regardless of their place in the genealogical records. The distribution went to all who would come to the Lord's temple to perform their daily duties according to their divisions. Distribute gifts to the priests who were listed by their families and the genealogical records, and to the levites twenty years old or older, who were listed according to their jobs and their divisions. Food allotments were also given to the families of all those listed in the genealogical records, including their little babies, wives, sons, and daughters, for they had all been faithful and purifying themselves. As for the priests, the descendants of Aaron who were living in the open villages around the towns, men were appointed the name by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to all the levites listed in the genealogical records. Okay, that's a lot to say. They spread all the stuff around right right In this way, King Hezekiah handled the distribution throughout all Judah, doing what was pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, his God, and all that he did in the service of the Temple of God and in his efforts to follow God's laws and commands. Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly. As a result, he was very successful. Great great way to and that's you what a great way, right. Yeah. And so first of all, Holy Cow on all those names. Second of all, I can't believe I didn't turn my head. I'd coughed directly into the microphone. That was probably so loud for people. Sorry about that. I apologize. Third of all, here's your lung back, right, yeah, here's my lung. Yeah. And I've had twenty three days. I've been coughing. Twenty three days is terrible. And then thirdly, I just wanted to make a general comment about Hezekiah. So Hezekiah is again just continuing to do what is right, and I love how well he is. Inviting the tribes Judah Benjamin, we understand that. But then Ephraim and Manassa, right, So those are the northern tribes, right, because Judah and Benjamin were the only southern tribes, and so these other two tribes were. From the north. And so he's inviting everybody and then he finally accomplishes what nobody else accomplished, was able to fully accomplish. He cut down all the astropoles and remove the pagan shrines and altars, and he did this, and it says. After this the Israelites returned to the towns of homes. So he was able to finally get rid of everything, because it seems like every other king who was good went like most of the way, like the really good kings, but they didn't quite even the scripture said they decided not to remove the false temples or you know, or the false shrines or where did they set up the. Northern place of war? Was it in Samaria? Yeah? Yeah, like they refused to get rid of those, you know. But Hezekiah, man, he's not in the north, but he's in the south. Man, he's taking care of business. But they went over. And I think the big thing is this, kings can only do so much. It has to be the will of the people. And what you had is it was the Israelites who attended went to all the towns, right, and they did it. So he led and he led well, and it was clear that his worship was authentic, that his commitment to following the Lord was true and real that people could see what had happened in Israel at the time. And then also remember most of the people in Israel were hauled away, because it's only the leftover people in northern Israel that are there. In Judah and in Benjamin, that community was thriving under Hezekiah, but in the north they had all been mostly captured and they were off in exile. So it's just a few remnants leftovers that were up there. So it's a little easier perhaps for them to go around and just decide they're going to wipe everything out, you know, all of these worship centers, because there was nobody really to fight back against them, right, But they went up there and they did it, and the people got behind it. And you're right, it's the first time, well since Solomon at least, that this place had been cleaned up, right, So that's really amazing, And I love. How it talks about so everybody started bringing their tithes, right, So verse number six. Led he brought his Yeah, that's right, that's right. He led by example as the leader. It said, he brought his own personal offerings and contributions, And it says then the people who had moved from Judah from Israel. The people of Judah themselves brought their tithes of their cattle, sheep and goes and the ties of the things that they had been dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them up in great keeps. And then they they piled them up in great heaps, to such a degree that Hezekaya says, where's all the surplus coming from? And they said, well, when people obey, go figure, when people obey, there's plenty. To go around. There's more than enough to eat, There's more than enough to sacrifice. There's more than enough in the temple, you know. And by the way, that is an unbelievable thing. Hey, let me tell a quick story. I was in between before it came to Michigan. I attended Andy Stanley's church, and I went to Buckhead Church one time, and I saw Andy there and he was doing a building campaign because he was about to build a couple of buildings, right, And he told the story about Zerubabyle, and he talked about how Zeroubrabyle marched back all of the anything. We're going to get to it, right, He marched back all the riches, right, and he says, oh, yeah, there's billions of dollars, right, And he basically showed up at the doorstep and he's like, he's like, hey, my ancestors took all this money from you, so I feel obligated. To pay it back. And he paid it back and then and I remember just it really it was just it was a campaign kind of a thing, right, But more than the campaign, it was really about an obedience to tithe right. So he was talking about like. As a church leader, and this is where this is where you sort of have to bear with me, okay, because he took he did it so cleverly, he said as a church leader, he said, I certainly would like somebody to show up on the door and say, here's a billion dollars for the church. Do some great things with it. Right now, knowing where we are as a church, we're out of room and they're building, right, we need a couple of million dollars to expand, just to add a couple hundred seats, right, and you know, we'd love to launch even a new campus on top of a couple of new campuses, right. Like, wouldn't you love it? And somebody came up and just give us a billion. Dollars and said, you know, hey, here it is. And so, as a church leader, that's a really cool story. And so I remember sitting in the audience and I remember thinking that hilarious, right, just the story. And then he says, he goes, and he goes. Then it dawned on me. He said, we actually have the potential to do exactly that. And he said, he goes, he goes. God just spoke to me and said and the way that he said it was, he goes. God spoke to me and said, you do have access to those resources. And he goes where and he says, it's it's it's in the lives of your people, right, so and so, so if everybody tithed, if everybody decided to work toward a tithe, if everybody decided to go toward and we just talked about this a couple of weeks ago in our services, if everybody decided, what was the graphic that you showed the graph. The graph showed that if everybody decided who didn't give, decided to give just two percent, not ten percent, just two percent, we would have. Maybe one hundred and sixty seven percent increase in our giving one. Hundred and sixty seven percent increase, which means we would have skies the limit on on building things, starting things, the Kingdom of God, spreading you know, there being another church available in new neighborhoods, right, and all the things that we feel like God has called us to, we're being held back, and it's really being led by Hezekiah. And then we see the obedience of the people, and the obedience of the people says they decide to do it. And then all of a sudden, Hezekiah says, where's all this surplus coming from? Isn't that crazy? It really is one of these stories where. The full tithe, if the whole church, if our whole church tithe based on an estimate of the average household incomes within like six miles. Or five les studies numbers all that. We did a bunch of research on that, if the average, if everybody in the church tithe, we would have like a four hundred and fifty seven percent increase in our in our income. And I think about that because you know, it's not about how much money we need. It's not like Hezekiah was like, oh, no, how are we going to fund this, right, Hezekiah decided, without the people, he was going to step up and do it he could to. He provided all of the animals for the function of the temple. He decided not only for this week, for the daily morning burnt offerings, the daily evening burnt offerings, the weekly Sabbath festivals, the monthly New Moon festivals, and the annual festival. So basically he's like, listen, I'm going to fully resource everything the temple needs to be able to do the functions of the temple. Right, But what was happening was, you know, the Leevites and the priests, they were never given any land, remember, so they were a tribe without land. They were there to serve all the rest of the people, and so they weren't being funded. And so do you remember all that the word about the priests that they just weren't dedicated yet to the Lord. Yeah right, remember that? Yeah? You know why, because they were having to hustle doing other work, right, that they weren't doing the work of the temple. The temple doors were shut, so they were out working in factories and running bakeries and doing all the things you know that you had to do. They weren't prepared yet, and so that's why it took so long for all the priests to be able to come back and to get ready. So then the idea behind those ties was that it would take care of the temple, it would take care of the poor, and it would take care of the levites. And it turned out when the people did what they were supposed to do with their tithe, there was plenty in every area. And then we know this is true. The kings would then set up benevolence essentially through the temple to be able to take care of the poor in the community as well. And so all these things honored God. So it's never been about what can the church. It shouldn't be what can the church get from people. It's when the people are honoring God. The Bible says Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly and as a result he was very successful. Right, So when all of the people in the church are seeking God wholeheartedly, they will be successful, very successful, yeah, right. And when they are successful, when they are blessed, there will be plenty for the church. And that's how it works. So it's not what can the church get, it's what God's offering to do for his people. It's people with just honor God. It's how God structured and designed the church. Which, by the way, I've always said this, and I know we were just about our time, but I've always said this. I love how God designed the church specifically in this way because for instance, I get paid last Friday, right, and so for me, like giving in generosity is. An individual practice. It's an individual practice, you know. And I say individual, but it's really an individual family, right, So my wife, my daughter's, my kids, all that, my son, so my wife and I. It's an individual family faith component and I love that piece of it. And so each person has to wrestle with that and then together it's also a sort of a corporate family together missional thing. So we as the family of God, you know, are designed. It's God's plan, you know. It as ridiculous as what you just said is it sounds ridiculous. A four hundred and fifty seven percent increase, That's actually God's design. That's his plan. That's his design. That's his plan. He wants to transform the community through his local churches. Yes, but his local churches don't have the resources because his local Christians aren't following it, and then they're missing out on his blessing because right right, right, right. Yeah. So that's why I love how God designed the church. It's like it's brilliant. It's an individual thing. At the same time it's a community thing, it's a corporate thing, and it's like, man, that is just so unbelievable. So every time that we talk about generosity, you know, we have to understand that, like God is waiting to bless you individually, because that's what it means to trust God. I TikTok mean the other day, literally, I think it was last night or two nights ago, where there was like this old conservative looking preacher with a suit, you know, and I'm thinking, oh, he's going to say something you know that I don't like or something. Man, it was a great statement he said. He said something about a tithe and he said something about I just remember the ending statement he says. He goes something about like, oh, I know it was he said, can I promise you that you'll get rich if you tithe? He said, I can't promise you that, he goes, but I can promise you this, he goes. I can promise you that God could do more with the nine tenths and God as your partner than he can you living on ten tenths by yourself. And I thought, man, what a great statement, because that's the promise of God. And then for me and you to talk about this for some listener who doesn't know us, the reality is before the people began tithing, Hezekiah was tithing, right, And that's the same in my life. I know it's true in your life. My wife and I give substantially more than a tithe back to the church. Right. I have other jobs besides hairtish church, but complete everything. Hair to church gives me everything I make from my other jobs. I give more than ten percent back. And all I can say is God blesses us in extravagant ways. And I just wish everybody could experience what we're experiencing. Is we choose to obey God. So we're not saying do something that we don't do. We're saying we do it. We see the blessing of it. You should do it too, and it's a lot of fun. That's great. All right, Well, that's our time, and so hopefully we'll see you next time. On the Bible. Gus