Do I Have To? Is Discipline Enough?

Last week I closed by saying that we would do a review of John 17 this week. That was a joke, we are not going to continue in John 17 that study is done.Today we are going to do a 1 week study, yes it is really just one wee. Study on a Scripture that just hit me hard a few weeks back.Like most of those that hit me I spent some time talking about it with our men’s group to see what we could learn.Now that I am 59 years old I’m starting to feel like maybe I’m finally a grown up.No jokes that I’m past a grown up and am old.But as a grown up your have responsibilities.Especially if you are married and have a family.One of those is eating. To eat you have to cook.There is two ways you can look at cooking.Some people do it because they like or love to cook, where others and it seams especially men do it like “When they Have to.”Right? How many are you in the Like or love to cook catagory? How many of you are in the “I have to cook” category?Me I know you can guess which one I am in.I love to cook. Tammy and my favorite TV shows are cooking shows.I read recipe’s online about different ways to cook, I read cookbooks just to see how others might make things and I buy cooking gadgets.Just Thursday I was craving a good Zimbabwe steak, and thought what if I cook it on my cast iron plate, crispy outside but baste it in butter, add some fresh thyme, rosemary, chili flakes and garlic in the butter and baste it while I am cooking it.I couldn’t wait to get home and do that. By the way it was good.Cooking is not something I have to do but enjoy, it comes from the heart and love it when people come and enjoy.Yes there are some nights that I’m tired and those nights it is a discipline and that’s ok but most it isn’t.I do get some of you it is a chore that you don’t like and so you force yourself to do it not do it because you want to.If you had the money you would go to KFC, Pizza Inn or Roosters every night if you could. Because the only reason you cook is because you have to.That brings us to today’s verse and that verse I read.When it comes to serving God we can have that same attitude.Some serve God because they love Him and want to but others actually do it because they have to. Not that they want to but have to.Which brings me to what I want us to learn today:How do you look at serving God?Do you do it because you want to or because you have to.Our take home is to see how you look at serving God and how to get to the place where you want to serve Him.Is it really a problem if you just discipline yourself, isn’t that enough?Read

2 Chronicles 25:2 NCV

Amaziah did what the Lord said was right, but he did not really want to obey him.

2 Amaziah did what the Lord said was right, but he did not really want to obey him.

I love reading through the Bible every year and when I get to the Book of Kings and Chronicles I look forward to starting each chapter.Because as you read them they all start by giving a little summary about each king.Most of the times they say, and ______ did what was right in sight of the Lord or ________ did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.Almost always based on which side they were on you could figure out how their life was going to go.Right with God then things went right with the Kingdom, if bad with the Lord then bad with the king and kingdom.But Amaziah he is interesting. Because this said that Amaziah did what the Lord said was right.So when you first read that you figure things are going to go well with Him.And you know for a while they did.He actually had a huge battle with a group called the Edomites and defeated them. It was a divine intervention.They were stronger and more powerful but God gave him the victory.But after that victory everything fell apart for him.After that victory he took gods of Edom and set them up in the temple and started worshipping them.Just doesn’t make sense. Why would he do that?I Mean God just did something Miraculous for him.I believe it is because of what we read at the beginning of his life.He did what the Lord said was right - but he didn’t really want to obey Him.That is a pretty important truth to see here.There are two types of obedience. One is you do it because you want to and the other is because you have to.One you enjoy doing the other is a discipline.Here is what I have learned.If you do something because you have to eventually you get tired of it and find something else.Like that cooking. If you cook just because you have to and not because you want to as soon as there is another option you change.That’s what we see with Amaziah.As soon as he took the gods of Edom thats who he worshipped.Maybe they didn’t demand as much, maybe they let him do whatever he wanted - I don’t really know.But what we see with Amaziah, he didn’t serve and obey God because he wanted to but because he had to or forced himself to.As soon as there was a way out he took it.And his life crumbled.The sad story of Amaziah ends in

2 Chronicles 25:20 NCV

But Amaziah would not listen. God caused this to happen so that Jehoash would defeat Judah, because Judah asked for help from the gods of Edom.

2 Chronicles 25:27 NCV

When Amaziah stopped obeying the Lord, the people in Jerusalem made plans against him. So he ran away to the town of Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him.

Isn’t this what we see in our own lives or seen it before in others.Maybe a wife forced her husband to go to church but didn’t really want to and as soon as there was another option he is gone.Or maybe kids are forced to go to church but not because they want to but because they have to.As soon as old enough they are gone.If serving God is something you do as a discipline, or you do like Amaziah, you do it but don’t really want to. TROUBLE IS AHEAD.So what’s the answer?I think we can find it in the very next chapter.That is just what I love about God’s Word.He doesn’t leave us guessing but when He is trying to teach us something God shows us.In the very next story in Chronicles we are introduced to a king named Uzziah. We can learn a lot from Him.Let me read his story.

2 Chronicles 26:3–5 NCV

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he ruled fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah, and she was from Jerusalem. He did what the Lord said was right, just as his father Amaziah had done. Uzziah obeyed God while Zechariah was alive, because he taught Uzziah how to respect and obey God. And as long as Uzziah obeyed the Lord, God gave him success.

Let me tell you about Uzziah. He started really well but was another that didn’t finish so well.Notice what made the difference.He wasn’t like his father Amaziah in that he obeyed but didn’t really want to.He wasn’t a person who traded Yahweh God for another God.But He set himself to seek God.He wanted to know God.But notice he had help.A man we don’t know anything about named Zechariah, instructed him in the fear of the Lord.And as long as Uzziah sought the Lord God made him prosper.There are so many lessons here.Like how you can make a difference in somebody’s life or how we should find people to help us.He was taught something very specific.How to fear the Lord.Now let’s be clear. This doesn’t mean he thought that God is scary or that God is stronger than you and so you better obey or God will punish you.It wasn’t teaching him to be afraid of God like make sure you do everything right or else God will be against you.The Fear of God here is just learning about the greatness of God.It is all about learning who God is and just how amazing He is.And have said it before, fearing God is more about Wow God you are amazing than wow I better be careful.This is “NOT” about learning what God wants us to do, this is learning about who God is.There is a big difference between the two.My guess is that Amaziah spent his time learning what do I need to do to obey God and keep him happy. Because as long as He is happy nothing bad will happen and God will help me solve my problems.God will help me defeat my enemies.But he didn’t like having to do that. He didn’t do this because he wanted to but because he had to.But Zachariah He had a different relationship with God.He understood who God was and how wonderful He was.And he spent his time teaching Uzziah about God not just what had had to do so he wouldn’t make God mad.That is fearing God.There is nothing we can spend time studying that is more important than learning who our God is and how amazing He is.As you know Him you will want to serve Him.It’s a joy to serve Him.

Philippians 3:8 ESV

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ