Renewing The Church
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· 4 viewsChurch Renewel Begins When The Congregation Commits Themselves To The LORD
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
How do you handle bad news?
Especially when it comes to others but not to you?
When God is blessing you while others may be suffering?
And we have seasons in the life of the church, where one generation is blessed and seems to prosper.
While the next generation struggles and experiences challenges and hardships-
More specifically when it comes to persevering in their faith to the LORD God.
And sometimes the next generations problems or rather lack of faith is due the current and previous generations failure to obey
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Transition To Body
Transition To Body
Consider the 26 year old King Josiah in our text today...
A response to the LORD Word spoken through the prophetess Huldah vv22-28
Huldah’s response was concerned with “all the curses written in the book” in such passages as Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 27–29. It was an ominous message. The sins of Israel for which judgment would fall are detailed in v. 25.
25 Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.
Josiah’s attitude was an example for all wrongdoers to follow. The promised reward was that God would spare Josiah from witnessing the disaster he would bring on Jerusalem and its people, and Josiah would be buried in peace.
I have heard you
Peace
the mostly likely meaning of šālôm is “safety, wholeness.”
But though blessed, the secure king, Josiah, is insecure with the state of the people:
How secure are you with the state of affairs with your family, community, nation, and church?
You know the LORD God but what about everyone else in your family....
The people of God need to renew their covenant with the LORD
Body- The Church Is Renewed When We
Body- The Church Is Renewed When We
Reimagine Ourselves In Light Of The Law
Reimagine Ourselves In Light Of The Law
Hear
Hear
19 And when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes.
Inquire- Seek, Ask
Inquire- Seek, Ask
21 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Gather Our Church Leaders Together
Gather Our Church Leaders Together
29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
Sent = collect
The sending or stretching out always has a specific goal, a precisely stated purpose
Who were the elders? Go back to Jethro’s advice to Moses
19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
Entire Congregation Come Together Under God’s Word
Entire Congregation Come Together Under God’s Word
30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.
All the men of Judah (men of praise)
The inhabitants of Jerusalem
The priests
The levites
all the people- both great & small
And he read in their hearing
all the words
of the Book of the Covenant
That had been found in the house of the LORD
Ordinances- laws of the LORD
Ordinances- laws of the LORD
Illustrate: By now you all ought to be very familiar with self-quarantine-
a state, period, or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.
Illustrate: the reading of our church covenant every first Sunday of the month at the beginning of our Communion Service
Congregational Leaders Covenant To Follow The LORD
Congregational Leaders Covenant To Follow The LORD
31 And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
v31- the king covenants (commits) to walk straight before the LORD
With heart & soul, perform the words of the covenant written in the book
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The king stood in his place
And To keep his commandments
And To keep his commandments
expression of the LORD’s authority
And his testimonies
And his testimonies
expression of our relationship with the LORD- LORD keeps his promises
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? 20 Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
And his statutes
And his statutes
expression of makes for stable, orderly godly community
With all his heart and soul-
To perform the words of the covenant
That were written in this book
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Congregation Covenants To follow The LORD
Congregation Covenants To follow The LORD
32 Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
(commit)to faithfully follow the LORD
Renew the Religious Life of the Community
Renew the Religious Life of the Community
33 And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.
The nature of the acts that are abhorrent to Yahweh also varies. Sacrificing defective animals is an abomination (17:1). Many of the texts focus on (cultic) avoidance of the “abomination(s) of the nations” (18:9, 12; cf. 20:18) or specific practices of Israel’s neighbors (12:31: child sacrifice [cf. 18:10]; 22:5: wearing garments of the opposite sex and hence exchanging [cultic?] roles, since power is inherent in clothing; 23:19[18]: offering in the temple the wages of a prostitute or dog, i.e., a female or male cult prostitute)
Transition To Close
Transition To Close
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
The LORD God renews your strength
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
The LORD God Renews your mind
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
Close- But I know another King who faithfully followed the commandants of the LORD
Close- But I know another King who faithfully followed the commandants of the LORD
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
New covenant enacted on better promises
6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.