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Seeking the Lord with All Our Heart (2 Chronicles 15)
It’s sometime in the 300s-400s BC. The leftover remnant of Israel and Judah had returned long ago to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. God had promised he would (1) come fill the temple with glory and (2) send a king like David to rule over them forever. But they became concerned about their own properties more than the temple, the full tithe was not brought in, the priests and Levites began to leave Jerusalem, the temple began to show wear, corruption seeped into the leadership, and foreigners who cared little for God’s city began moving in. Leaders and prophets encouraged the people to continue rebuilding and restoring Jerusalem and the temple, but even large, positive efforts to restore Jerusalem were ultimately undone because the congregation failed to come together as one.
In these days the book of Chronicles was compiled and written. It focuses on the history of Jerusalem — specifically the temple and the kings. And when the remnant read Chronicles they would find that Jerusalem, the kings, and the temple were frequently in need of restoration. But they would find stories of people — even of wicked people — who made decisions in ways both small and massive to seek and obey the Lord’s will. And in this they could see demonstrated that their decisions to this very day to return to seek the Lord with all their heart mattered. They would be remembered for that.
As we ourselves have struggled to really be a fully committed and unified church, we need these stories too. It’s one thing to hear the Lord instruct us from his word to seek him with all our heart, but it can be an inspiring thing to hear the story of how people did this in the past.
This morning we will consider one chapter from King Asa’s story in 2 Chronicles 15. Asa reigned in Jerusalem 41 years from roughly 910 to 869 BC. His father Abijah and grandfather Rehoboam had their moments of humility and loyalty to God, but they were simply not good kings. As soon as Asa began to reign, he turned against how his fathers had reigned and instructed Judah to seek the Lord and keep his commands. They struck down places of idolatry and built up the cities of Jerusalem. When an army of one million Ethiopian men came against Judah, Asa cried to the Lord for help, and they defeated this massive foe. We’ll pick up in chapter 15 when the prophet Azariah meets Asa and encourages him to continue this work of restoration and of seeking the Lord. Pay attention throughout the text to how they live out this commitment to seek the Lord with their whole heart. Read 2 Chronicles 15.
First, they courageously removed all idols (14:3-5; 15:8, 16-17). This strikes me because Asa had already removed some forms of idolatry in the previous chapter. Yet, when Azariah encourages him, he takes courage and puts away more idolatry. And he goes so far as to crush and burn his own mother’s idol. Asa was not an idolater, yet he needed the prophesying of Azariah to keep going and to remove idolatry wherever it was found. The people didn’t get to vote on it. As king it was his responsibility to demand the people’s exclusive loyalty and worship to Yahweh. In verse 17 it says some high places remained, but it appears this is a blot against Asa’s character, but a sign of how hard it was to clear the land of every bit of idolatry.
In the West we don’t typically ascribe divine power or offer formal worship to images, so idolatry often flies under the radar. And though there are other signs of idolatry than this, the Scriptures teach that idolatry or something like it is happening when we there is excess — too much of something — and when something distracts us from whole-hearted loyalty to God.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:5 that “everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (ESV) Covetousness is a great desire to possess something belonging to someone else, and Paul says those who are covetous are idolaters. Their love and desire for something has gotten out of hand — and that something is becoming their master and pulling their desires away from the Lord.
This is precisely how we can diagnose idolatry today in ourselves and families — our desires and habits. We can know idols are near when we become disinterested and bored with God. No man can serve two masters, and if this is happening idols are vying for our hearts and affections. Let’s ask ourselves — what are we ready to give ourselves for at the drop of a hat? What are we ready to leave behind any other commitment for? What do we freely and eagerly give our time, money, effort, and very selves to with little thought for the cost, effort, and time it takes to do so? Listen to your gut here. What’s our impulsive first answer? Anything can take that place — money, sex, power, travel, clothes, home renovations, family, friends, work, school, sports, movies, shows, and video games. But the answer hands down answer should be the Lord — his kingdom, his word, his church, his mission to the ends of the earth.
To remove idolatry in all its forms takes courage. A number of kings partially removed idolatry, few destroyed all of it. That’s because it’s socially hard to be rid of it. Great effort was put forth to establish the idol. The idol is widely accepted. Our friends serve the idol with us. And it’s no big deal — we can still worship Yahweh too (after all, that’s what our parents did). It would be very upsetting to family and friends if we suddenly changed the idolatrous lifestyle. We’d get questions and criticisms. We’d look “holier than thou.” But if we are going to seek the Lord with all our desire and heart, we must courageously remove all idols.
Second, they repaired the temple and renewed their worship (15:8, 18). Notice in verse 8 that apparently the altar of the Lord was damaged and Asa repaired it. This commonly happened in Judah’s history. Asa, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah all made repairs to the temple. At other times, worship was not happening in the way or at the times David had commanded, so Hezekiah even did a whole worship restoration process. For example, Hezekiah found that the Passover hadn’t been kept in hundreds of years. And still at other times, the full tithe was not being brought into the temple and so the temple and priests were not what they should be, and so other kings and leaders urged the people to recommit financially to the Lord’s house and worship. We see in verse 18 that Asa and his father both gave themselves to the temple.
In the New Covenant we as the church of God are the temple of the Lord. And our worship, our giving, and our lives together are our burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord. And so it is appropriate for us to examine our worship assemblies, giving, classes, and our very lives together and ask if there are places that need “repair” or “restoration.” Are the sacrifices we are offering in our assemblies, giving, classes, and our lives acceptable to the Lord?
When people offered sacrifices on the altar, they were to bring unblemished animals. Their sacrifice was costly and it was from among the best they had. And that ought to characterize our assemblies, everything we do together, and our whole lives. We need to ask — are we giving God our best? If we give a gift to a friend or family member or to someone in our community, we want to give a good gift that shows care and sacrifice. And the same needs to be true of our sacrifices to the Lord here and elsewhere. Is our sacrifice of worship, of prayer, teaching, preaching, singing, giving, and encouragement of one another acceptable? Are we offering our best? Unblemished, undistracted service and focus and time? To pursue the Lord with all our hearts, this temple-body and this sacrifice of worship must be renewed.
Third, they listened to the law of God with a proper teaching priest (13:9ff; 15:3-4). Now, it is not explicitly stated that Asa did this — hopefully he did — but you’ll notice in verses 3-4 that Azariah implies that this is part of Israel turning back to the Lord. Apparently for some time they did not have the Law or a teaching priest, but this was a significant change that was made at some point. Now, this is something that Asa’s father, King Abijah of Judah, lectured King Jeroboam of Israel for in chapter 13. Notice 13:8-10. Now, this may feel somewhat ironic because you may know from the book of Kings that Abijah was not a righteous king. However, Chronicles looks favorably on Abijah in chapter 13 for his words here. Israel drove away priests acceptable to God and instead accepted anyone who wanted to come.
It is noteworthy to me that in the same breath that Azariah says Israel was without God, he also says they were without law and without a teaching priest. This is not to say that the law or a teaching priest is God or are the only ways God affects his people, but it is to stress the extreme foundational importance of having both God’s law and a proper teacher of that law. If we are determined to seek God with our whole heart, we know we need do to that with the Scriptures in hand — but let’s not forget the importance of solid teaching and preaching.
I think we could all agree that sometimes we could flip burgers or operate traffic lights better than whoever is doing that. But none of us would dare walk into a medical school and without serious education and experience try to push the people out of there so we could try our hand at it. And we certainly wouldn’t tell the doctor to leave the room so our untrained friend could try using WebMD to diagnose our child’s breathing problems or try his hand at the scalpel during heart surgery.
And yet there is a perennial problem here from the beginning of Israel when it comes to leading the congregation and teaching and preaching the Scriptures. It happened with Moses and Aaron in the tabernacle and it happened here in Israel and Judah and it even happened in the churches referenced in the New Testament. For some reason there are repeated efforts to democratize the job of teaching and preaching and leading — give it to any man who has heartburn to say something. In fact, full time preachers and teachers don’t always take their jobs seriously. A couple times recently I have heard of preachers who say they just don’t think that teaching and preaching at assemblies is all that important.
The church is in short supply when it comes to preachers. As with the Levites and priests in the past, guys are quitting left and right. In that vein, as churches, we need to not only place a prime value on good teaching and support well those who do that, but parents, we ought to put this possibility in the ears of our sons. We need more young men who are right now thinking about giving their lives to preaching and teaching the word — and to doing it well. The church depends on it. To seek the Lord wholeheartedly, Israel restored both the law and qualified teaching priests.
Fourth, they covenanted as a community. Notice this in verses 9-15 again. We can tend to be pretty individualistic in the West. And someone might think, “If you want to recommit to the Lord — great, you go do that. But what I do is between me and God alone.” However, if we think this, we’re making some assumptions. Not only does this assume that we can recommit effectively by ourselves, it assumes that God’s goal is to have committed individuals by themselves. But we must remember that God called a nation out of Egypt and now he has called an assembly, a body out of the world for his name. And thus, Asa led the people to recommit to the Lord as a whole community — and it appears they wanted to be lead in this. People saw Asa’s commitment and they left Israel in the North because they were excited to be part of something that was true-hearted and whole-hearted.
But notice the cost — all who refused to seek the Lord wholeheartedly would die. And Asa’s own mother — the queen mother — is removed from her position because she refuses.
In our New Covenant with the Lord, the Scriptures do not call on us to kill those who will not seek the Lord with their whole hearts, but they use the same language to say that they must be removed from the assembly. And note that here the example is not merely that people who were vile and wicked were removed, it was any who would not agree to seek the Lord with their whole hearts.
This may feel uncomfortable to us. This sounds like coercion, not like freely offered religious devotion from the heart. But maybe we forget that God is not merely king of the religious world and the private spiritual religious bits of ourselves, he’s king of heaven and earth. And while we want to absolutely freely offer ourselves, sometimes we need the king to push us. And we need the whole community to go with us. And in that community, we must recognize that while we are a hospital for sinners, this is not a place for people who do not seek with their whole hearts to get well. And those who do not must be removed.
Result?
vs. 9: And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
vs. 15: They sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.
There’s more to seeking the Lord wholeheartedly than what we have discussed this morning, but when they sought the Lord whole desire, they found him. If we seek the Lord a little, it will be very challenging to find the Lord. But those who seek and knock and don’t stop, they find.
And when they found him, the Lord gave them rest all around. When they flirted with the Lord, they had all manner of trouble in their lives and cities. And that trouble often seems to keep us from coming to the Lord. But when they sought the Lord, suddenly things began to be set right in our lives and in our community. He blesses us. We flourish. And if we do that as a community, we’ll find that people who have the same desire may come from all around.
- 2_Chronicles_15_Se ... _All_Our_Heart.mp3 (10.24 MB)
