Symbiosis - Hezekiah

Big Idea

Because we have a living God, life can be changed?

Because we have a living God, God isn’t immune to our feelings and desires. He listens and answers our prayers specifically…personally. He see our unique needs and knows our actions and feelings and responds to them. God is not distant, he is close.

Good evening on the internet!

My name is Charlie Kae and I’m the lead pastor at Grace Empire in Wesley Chapel, Florida and I would like to welcome everyone to week 45 of Grace Empire online.

Our vision is to restore, revitalize, and refresh the community of Tampa Bay through an intimate relationship with Jesus X.

Everyone is welcome at Grace Empire, but if you were to ask us what our focus is, we started Grace Empire to reach the non-affiliated, gnostics, and non-believers. If you or someone you know has been hurt by religion or has been burned out by doing church, Grace Empire fits a unique role for those that are looking to reengage their faith or find an accepting community.

As a church, we try to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do, so we are praying that you encounter and experience our living God tonight.

We love interaction. So feel free to comment, ask questions, and ask for prayer while you’re watching and the admins will address them ASAP.

But before we continue, our online disclaimer.

Grace Empire Online focus on giving you sermons - so without a doubt - this is an incomplete version of church.

As we move forward with this online church thing, I wanted to urge you and remind you that online church should never replace the community you get from your local church.

We love and are so very honored that you tuned in with us today and by no means am I saying this to guilt trip you, hurt you or make you feel inadequate in anyway. We know everyone is on a different journey with God and the fact that some of you are watching is a huge step and I applaud you for that.

At Grace Empire, our goal is to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do and a big part of that is understanding our place within the church. It’s not just that you need people (which you do); but it’s that people need you.

But as I said, the online church is an incomplete version of what God intended the church to be. The local church also gives you a place to

Worship / Praise / Sing

Met with other believers in Fellowship and discipleship

To serve our community through social action

Fulfill the Sacraments of the church - Which for us is baptism and communion.

This is the first week of the month so we will do communion at the end of the service.

And lastly, gives our tithes and offering

At GXE we teach that we give to give, not give to get. We give our tithes and offerings because we are thankful to God for providing for our needs. It is also to acknowledge that we live, work, and are sustained because He allows us to be. And because of the advancements in technology giving is an easy one.

You can give online through our website www.graceempire.com, or via text by texting the words GraceEmpire to the number 77977 and then follow the link texted to you.

You can either do that now, or at the end of the message.

Alright with all that out the way…lets get to Jesus shall we?

Pray

Before we continue, just a shout out to the Tampa Bay Buccs, our 2021 Superbowl champs. Holy moly…its good to be a Tampa resident right now.

We are in week 2 of our brand new series titled Symbiosis. In this series we explore the connection we have with a living God and how that makes a difference between relationship and religion. Today we are going to be reading about King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:1-10, so if you have your bibles you can turn there and we will be reading that in a second.

Im fascinated with movies and games that have to do with destiny and fate. Often fate/destiny are viewed as forces outside of our control. The tapestry of fate has already been weaved and there is nothing we can do to unweave it. The heroes in these games or movies, go against all odds and traverse an epic journey to change their fate or the fate of a loved one. The idea of destiny/fate has been written about in literature and depicted in art. The thought that we all have a destiny, is a regularly adopted idea in our culture. Whether we have any bearing on that fate, is up for debate, where some believe in a freewill point of view - how our choices effect our destiny - others have a more fatatlistic point of view - our choices do not effect fate or our choices are a result of our predetermined destiny or fate. Regardless of how you feel about fate, I’m sure you can see how these types of ideas can influence how people approach religion and/or God.

In many religions, faith is a matter of ideals, principles, and conditioning. There are a set of rules to follow and exercise. Repetition, chanting, mantras, and praying are ways to channel your spirit, still the mind, strengthen your body, and gain wisdom about yourself and the world around you. And this could be a very powerful practice. Anyone that have seen Shaolin monks being lifted into the air on spear points, knows what I’m talking about.

On June 11, 1963 Malcom Browne, a photographer working for the New York Times, took a picture at a busy intersection in Saigon, Vietnam, that would won day win him the pulitzer prize in photography. That picture is of Thich Quang Duc, also known as, the burning Monk. Because of the extreme nature of the picture, I have decided not to include it in our feed.

David Halberstam of the New York Times was also there and he wrote,

“I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think ... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him.”

How can someone do this? Image what it takes for someone to light themselves of fire? The mental preparedness, the strength of will, the control of fear, the immovable conviction - how is this all achieved? It’s no doubt that conditioning is a powerful force, but as we have been learning, Christianity is not about conditioning. See those other disciplies, powerful and useful as they may be have a fixed quality to them. Chanting and mantras, are unvarying. They are changeless. They are static. But Christianity isn’t about just ideals, principles, rules to follow, and how many prayers you need to pray. Sure we have things that are just the way they are. We also have commandments given by God and Jesus that we are supposed to follow. Feed the homeless, care for the widows and orphans, love your neighbor as yourself. These principles do not change, but how they are different is that our faith is more than principles, they are commandments that we follow because they are connected to a LIVING God. There is a dynamic component to Christianity at play here and that dynamic component is a living, thinking, feeling, God.

Lets read about Hezekiah so we can break down this idea with a story.

A little history about Hezekiah before we read the text.

King Hezekiah was one of the few kings of Judah who was constantly aware of God’s acts in the past and His involvement in the events of every day. The Bible describes Hezekiah as a king who had a close relationship with God, one who did “what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God”

Hezekiah, a son of the wicked King Ahaz, reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah for twenty-nine years, from c. 715 to 686 BC. He began his reign at age 25 (2 Kings 18:2). He was more zealous for the Lord than any of his predecessors (2 Kings 18:5).

After Ahaz’s wicked reign, there was much work to do, and Hezekiah boldly cleaned house. Pagan altars, idols, and temples were destroyed. The temple in Jerusalem, whose doors had been nailed shut by Hezekiah’s own father, was cleaned out and reopened. The Levitical priesthood was reinstated (2 Chronicles 29:5), and the Passover was reinstituted as a national holiday (2 Chronicles 30:1). Under Hezekiah’s reforms, revival came to Judah.

Because King Hezekiah put God first in everything he did, God prospered him. Hezekiah “held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook” (2 Kings 18:6–7).

One of the cool things about Hezekiah is that in 2 Kings 20:20, it talks about Hezekiah building a tunnel under Jerusalem that brought water into the city. You can visit the tunnel today. You can look up Hezekiah’s tunnel on youtube and watch some videos about it. Pretty neat, huh?

Anyways, lets get to our text. 2 Kings 20:1 says,

2 Kings 20:1 NIV84

1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

Talk about bummer. Isaiah the prophet shows up and gives the worst possible news a man can receive. Apparently, King Hezekiah is sick. His sickness is serious. His sickness is killing him. In other words, Hezekiah is terminal. Death is at his door and to add insult to injury, God sends word to Hezekiah through His prophet Isaiah, “Get your affairs in order - get your end of life stuff together, cause you are going to die.” That’s rough man. When your doc says, your terminal at least you got God to hold on too, but when God shows up and says, you’re going to die…well…that’s that, ain’t it?

2 Kings 20:2–3 NIV84

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

So these 2 verses gave me a lot of reason to pause here. It’s the reason, I wish I could do this sermon live and in person because I think there is a lot to discuss and mine here. So spoiler alert, at the end of this passage, Hezekiah will not die. God will seemingly change His mind and He will heal Hezekiah. I tell you this because knowing this will show you why I wrestled with these two verses for quite some time. Upon hearing the bad news from Isaiah, Hezekiah does what any believer would do. He goes to God in prayer. It says he turned his face to the wall - Hezekiah wanted some privacy, he was emotional and distraught and when you get like that sometimes you just need to hide from the world. When I was little, I’d climb in bed and cover my head with my blanket; that was my way of hiding from the world.

Hezekiah faces the wall and prays a simple prayer, “remember O Lord, how I have walked faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and done what is good in your eyes.” And then it says, he wept bitterly. By bitterly, it doesn’t mean angrily here…but loudly and greatly. He freely let the tears flow, and cried loudly because of his great sadness and distress. In other words, he ugly cried because he believed Isaiah; he believed his life was over.

And this is where it gets sticky.

2 Kings 20:4–6 NIV84

4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ ”

iSo good news Hezekiah. The Lord heard your prayer and He has decided to heal you. That’s good news, so why is that sticky Pastor Charlie. I think it’s messy because we have a tendency to connect Hezekiah’s healing to the content of Hezekiah’s prayer. It says the Lord heard your prayer and he healed him, right? That means Hezekiah must have said something to change God’s mind. I know…it makes sense. I see why you would draw that conclusion, but here’s the problem. When we read this, we start to see God answering Hezekiah, healing Hezekiah, because did good things. We think, Hezekiah reminded God…have you forgotten God? Remember all the good things I did? Remember how awesome I was? Isn’t my credit score with you good? I mean my credit score with you has to be well in the 800’s right? Remember God…and God was like…let me check…ah you know what? You’re right, my badd…let me heal you now. In a way, I wish this was true. Then I could definitively know why my life wasn’t as perfect as I thought it should be. It’s cause my credit score is bad with God…but hey, now that I know, I can work on it. But everything that I have learned in the New Testament disproves this fact. God doesn’t base his favor on who is good and who isn’t good. Romans 9:15-16 says,

Romans 9:15–16 NIV84

15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

God doesn’t give favor and healing to only those that are good and leave out the rest. I know it feels that way sometimes because that’s how we are. That system makes sense to us. It’s how we treat others and how we treat each other. If you are nice to me, Ill be nice to you. If you hurt or do something wrong to me then I have zero problems being mean and petty to you. But that is not how God operates. Think of Jesus. If anyone earned God’s ultimate favor, it would be Jesus who lived a blameless life. But Christianity exists, Christianity started with a very bad thing happening to a very good person. Jesus was the epitome of good and God’s favor, but suffered immensely and died unjustly, despite it.

So then what was Hezekiah’s prayer? Hezekiah never even asks God to heal him. He just asks him to remember. Now there is no definitive answer here, Im just going to give you my interpretation of this passage. This is my yolk. I think Hezekiah was just saying…you ever say that? I’m just saying…this is like, you don’t expect anything, you’re just saying. Like when my wife says after she has already done the dishes, “I wish you would have helped with the dishes. I’m just saying...” There was no dishes to do because they were already done, she was just letting me know it would have been nice if I would have helped. Or how about something less passive aggressive, like…”It would be nice to go to Switzerland to go snowboarding for our 15 year anniversary. I know that’s impossible; I’m just saying.” My wife and I are very aware of our finances, and she knows I don’t expect anything from her, but sometimes it’s nice to just dream. My wife and I have been looking for a home and how we pray for a home is very specific. I don’t ask for this house or that house. I just don’t believe in praying for things like that. We pray for patience, and wisdom, and pray for the right attitude whether we get the house or not. We pray for contentment in whatever God decides to do. But once in a while, I’ll see something that we really like…and I talk with God and say…I know you’ll help us make the right decision when the time comes, but man…it would be nice if we could buy that one house, I’m just saying...

I’m not trying to manipulate God cause I’m smart enough to know God cannot be manipulated. I’m just expressing my heart to my Creator. I’m just day dreaming with my best friend. With a God that understands my heart.

And in Hezekiah’s case, I don’t believe he’s daydreaming. I think he is angry, upset, scared, frustrated, anxious, and a whole bunch of other emotions someone in his position must be feeling. So his “I’m just saying moment” is filled with both understanding and frustration. Remember, Hezekiah is not a child. He is a man that has pursued God with his whole life. He made decisions that went against the grain to pursue what he believed was right in the eyes of God and he did that for most his life. I think it is safe to say, that his relationship with God was mature and well formed. So when God tells him he will die, I’m sure he believed it. I’m sure there was some form of him that excepted it, even though it totally stunk. Maybe that’s why his prayer doesn’t include a, God please heal me or take this pain away from me, type clause. It’s like he has accepted his fate, but with a frustrated or matter of fact, I’m just saying clause.

Obviously this is all conjecture and interpretation, but the next part is certain. God reverses his decision…sort of.

See, God says I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. God didn’t just hear what Hezekiah had to say, but God also saw how distressed he was. Sometimes we forget that God feels too. Scripture remind us time and time again, that God has emotions. God isn’t absent from our feelings or struggles. God rejoices and celebrates our triumphs, and is angered by our injustice. Hezekiah weeps and God feels what Hezekiah feels. But again, I do not believe it is Hezekiah’s words or his feelings that move God to heal him because if start down this path, we end up on a slippery slope of trying to manipulate God to do our bidding.

In Hezekiah’s case, it’s real. It’s authentic. And unexpectedly, Hezekiah is healed.

So what are we to take from all of this? What is the point to what I am saying? What I want you to focus on church is this. Hezekiah prayed and weeped to a God that could hear and see him. Christianity isn’t just principles and ideals. It’s not just a set of rules to follow. It’s not just conditioning. The dynamic part of our faith is that our God is LIVING. He is able to see us and respond to us where we are and respond to each persons unique circumstance with an individualized response. Fate can be changed because our destiny are set in the hands of a thinking, feeling God.

I wish I had more time to tell you the rest of this story, about signs and supernatural elements regarding God’s truth. I wish I had the knowledge and wisdom to tell you WHY God chooses to heal and not to heal, but unfortunately, no one knows the ins and outs of the mind of God. But what I do know for certain is that Christianity is about living in symbiosis with our God. We are not a stoic, static, religion, but have a dynamic, living relationship to a supernatural being. And that makes all the difference in the world. Our faith is alive because God is alive. Our circumstance can change because God can be moved and our fate, our destinies, can be altered because a dynamic God defines them.