Is Your House in Order?

Intro:

Good evening.

Tonight I want us to turn to 2 Kings chapter 20.

I want to begin reading this text, and then after we read it, there’s one big thing I want us to consider from it.

(Read 2 Kings 20:1-11).

Certainly this is a pretty fascinating miracle that God uses to confirm His Word to Hezekiah!

The shadow on a sun dial, naturally, is going to go down 10 degrees with the passage of time …

I’m told that it takes about 40 minutes for a sun dial’s shadow to go down 10 degrees, so for that to happen naturally, just wait 40 minutes.

But for the shadow to go BACKWARD 10 degrees, as if the clock was set back 40 minutes, that’s an impressive miracle!

The significance of the miracle is that yes, good King Hezekiah is going to get his clock reset, so to speak!

He WILL get 15 more years tacked on to the end of his life!

That’s 180 months, 5478 days, or 131,400 hours, thereabouts!

It’s a sobering thing to think about.

How many of us as we age would give so much to have some of that precious time back?

I know I would - Lord willing, if I live to an average old age, I still have roughly half or maybe a little more of my life to live …

But in light of that still, I have to say I do look back at wasted time sometimes and wish that I could get it back!

For those of our number who are older, I’m sure this feeling must be magnified.

But what I want us to do tonight is to go back and look at this first verse - 2 Kings 20:1 - Let’s look at that verse again, and let’s notice a key phrase that Isaiah the prophet utters to Hezekiah, and let’s draw some application from it:

“In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ””

Our title tonight is simply this — “Is Your House in Order?”

SETTING ONE’S HOUSE IN ORDER REGARDING PHYSICAL AFFAIRS:

I did a search to see what kinds of things are important for setting one’s affairs in order, physically speaking, and notice what I found.

Here are several things necessary to get one’s affairs in order:

A Last Will and Testament:

Important for outlining how your assets should be distributed, who will manage your estate, and (if applicable) guardianship for minor children.

A Living Will (or advanced healthcare directive):

States your wishes for medical treatment if you become incapacitated and can’t communicate.

A Durable Power of Attorney:

Names someone to handle your financial and legal matters if you can’t.

A Life Insurance Policy:

I’m told that life insurance is one of the most difficult types of insurance to sell to people — Why is that? Because people don’t like thinking about their own mortality!!

But life insurance is important!

It ensures your family has continued financial support, should you no longer be living.

(I think Dave Ramsay recommends individuals get at least 10X their yearly income in term-life insurance coverage — I know there are other philosophies out there on what kind of life insurance to get as well, but the point being, that it’s important to get it!)

Funeral/Burial/Cremation Instructions:

Preferences written down (and shared ahead of time) so family doesn’t have to guess.

Can be very important for helping the family ahead of time, in what is always going to be a difficult time for them coping with your loss.

An Important Documents Folder:

Birth certificate, marriage license, military records, property deeds, car titles, Social Security card, and passports all stored together in an accessible place, preferably fireproof, for obvious reasons.

Instruction for Digital Assets & Passwords:

A secure list (password manager or written in a safe place) with logins for email, social media, online banking, and subscriptions.

And finally A Letter of Instruction:

A non-legal document with practical guidance (contacts to notify, location of keys, safe combinations, family traditions, personal messages, etc.).

How many of us can honestly say that we have every line item that I just listed perfectly in order?

I know I can honestly say I don’t have all that done.

It’s pretty important, though, isn’t it?

And if this were a class on life skills, we would spend considerable amount of time on each of those points I’m sure.

… But what we want to do now is make this practical, spiritually-speaking!

Hezekiah is told, 2 Kings 20:1 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’”

While that very well may have included some things about wills and funeral instructions and things like that, I can’t help but think that Hezekiah must have also been thinking about making things right SPIRITUALLY-speaking in various ways as well — Was there anything amiss that he needed to correct before he died?

We know that the Bible tells us that Hezekiah was one of Judah’s few good kings …

But that doesn’t mean he was perfect, so I can’t help but wonder what things he may have needed to take a look in the mirror on, so to speak.

(We do know that after God grants him 15 more years, if you read the rest of 2 Kings 20, Hezekiah does something not sinful (I don’t think), but still incredibly foolish, in that he shows the Babylonians all the gold & silver & treasure in the temple! (They end up stealing it some decades later)!

So needless to say, this illustrates the fact that Hezekiah was a good man, but not a perfect man!

(Read with me verses 14-19 — side point: “Will there not be peace and truth at least in MY days?!” — REALLY?!)

Finally, I want us to consider tonight …

FIVE THINGS TO ASK OURSELVES: IS MY SPIRITUAL HOUSE IS IN ORDER?

First, the obvious — Have you obeyed the Gospel?

The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 1:8–9 that one day Jesus is going to return “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

Paul lamented the fact that not all people are going to obey the gospel when he said in Romans 10:16 - “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”” (Notice the equation of belief with obedience there, by the way — If we truly believe God, we WILL obey Him!)

We need to make our calling and election sure (as Peter says in 2 Pet. 1:10) — Sometimes there are people who look back at their lives and say something to this effect — “You know what, I was not baptized according to the teaching of the Bible — I was told that I was already saved, and that my baptism was an outward sign of an inward change (words to that effect) — I need to be baptized for the RIGHT reason, for the remission of my sins (Acts 2:38)!”

And sometimes people find themselves needing to be “rebaptized,” if you will, of which we have an account of 12 men doing just that in Acts 19:1ff.

Second, not only have you obeyed the Gospel or not, but also, are you truly living faithfully?

Are you really walking in the light (1 John 1:7), are you growing (2 Pet. 1:5ff cf. to the fruits of the Spirit listed in Gal. 5:22-23)?

Is your life truly transformed for Christ (Rom. 12:1-2)?

And are you keeping the faith, unto death, (not UNTIL death, but UNTO death if necessary) - Rev. 2:10?

Because if we are not willing to do those things, then we are just playing a part, playing a role, so to speak, and we are fooling ourselves, for example as James says in James 1:26 - “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.”

Thirdly, this is a big one that if we are honest many of us probably would admit to struggling with — Are you are peace with others, especially your brethren?

The Bible tells us to (as much as it is possible) live peaceably with all men (Rom. 12:18).

And Jesus said in His sermon on the mount - “Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they shall be called the sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).

And Matthew 5:22–24 says: “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Regarding marriages, 1 Peter 3:7 says to husbands: “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”

We need to make sure that our worship is not hindered by problems with our relationships — We need to make sure we pursue peace at all times if it is at all possible.

Do we need to give that some serious consideration as it pertains to having our house in order? (Yes we do)

Speaking of making sure our houses are in order, what about our households, moms and dads?

Are we speaking about God and His Word all the time (Deuteronomy ch. 6)?

Are we training up our children in the way that they should go (Prov. 22:6)?

Are we managing our households in such a way that, like is the requirement for elders described in 1 Timothy 3:4–5, are we ruling our “own house(s) well, having (our) children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)”?

Are we raising up generations that KNOW the Lord, our generations that DO NOT know the Lord (Judges 2:10) - “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.”

For those of us who are parents (and grandparents), we must give that serious consideration as we think about having our houses in order?!

Let us remember then the words of Joshua in Joshua 24:15 - “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

And finally, a fifth and final thing for us to consider tonight and then the lesson will be yours to take home — As we consider having our houses in order, let’s make sure that we are always keeping first things first!

Matthew 6:33 - “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Colossians 3:1 - “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”

Matthew 6:19–21 - “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 - “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

CONCLUSION:

That’s it!

That’s our encouragement for tonight.

If upon thinking about good King Hezekiah and his ultimatum to put his affairs in order, ask yourself the question along the same lines - Is your house in order?

If not, why not get it in order while you still can!

You might not get an extra 15 years like Hezekiah did! :)