Stick with the Church

2 Chronicles 30:1–20 ESV

Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord. And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly. They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away and threw into the brook Kidron. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the Lord. For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

Scripture Lesson: 2 Chronicles 30:1-20

Belgic Confession Lesson: Article 28

Message Title: Stick with the Church

           This afternoon we’re continuing our series on “Being the Church” and we are focusing on what commitment looks like according to Scripture and in our Reformed tradition. I’m guessing that 2 Chronicles is not a book that we’re greatly familiar with. It’s one of the historical narratives of Israel’s and Judah’s kings, the kings who didn’t have a great track record in terms of doing good in the eyes of the Lord.  Many of them were wicked, and were responsible for leading the people astray. So, God used the surrounding nations to punish them, and at this point, Judah was a vassal to Assyria. They hadn’t been fully invaded and carried off, but they were paying tribute. 

           If you have your Bibles open, you can see we’re looking at an account during King Hezekiah’s reign—he actually was one of the good kings. His father, Ahaz, was not. He had shut down the temple and things were not in good order for worshiping God. Chapter 29 tells us how Hezekiah, from his first month as king, reopened the temple, repaired things along with the Levites. He had them purify themselves and everything in the temple. Then they offered sacrifices to God, making atonement for Israel. Things were becoming as they should be. And now Hezekiah ignores the political division that existed between Israel and Judah, and invites all of Israel to come and participate in the Passover before God in Jerusalem.

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, one of the most frequent conversations I’ve had during my time as a pastor, and based on different Christian publications, it seems common in many places, is the church membership and worship conversation. It comes through different questions but they’re all really asking the same thing. “So-and-so hasn’t been coming to church on Sunday. Should someone go and talk to them?” “These young people haven’t been attending church; how do we get them back?” “Sunday second service attendance is down, how does that change?” “How do we grow? It doesn’t seem like anyone new wants to come.” Sometimes it’s said openly, other times it’s what’s beneath the surface, the question is, “Don’t people care about worshiping God?” 

I believe many of these conversations come from a genuine and caring place. Someone wants others to walk with the Lord, and get into regular attendance in local church worship. Joining on Sundays, you hear a message from Scripture that might convict of sin, and encourage repentance and holy living. The person would have an opportunity to worship God and fellowship with believers. Worship is for God, but it’s also edifying to those who worship in faith. 

But another foundation for these conversations is what comes out of Article 28’s title, “the obligations of church members.” How do we know if someone really cares about something? Well, in our minds and in our culture, they will show up to events, they will be committed or obligated however they can. They’ll volunteer, give money, provide a place for events to be held, encourage others to get involved. We see this in sports. A fan or booster watches their team play, they buy jerseys and other gear, they know statistics of a team or player. They’ll be loyal. College alumni associations serve a somewhat similar purpose. They bring graduates together for networking and to encourage recruiting; all while reenergizing pride for their alma mater. 

More and more we see people’s interests and dedication for any number of causes. Last weekend I was hearing about prolife marches and related events as well as Women’s Marches, encouraging feminism and the empowerment of girls and women. People can get involved with running and walking events and dinners to raise research funds and awareness for various illnesses and ailments. There are whole support networks across the country for survivors of different cancers and the families of patients. It applies to our patriotism as well—we might expect people to show pride in their country of citizenship with certain standards and supporting military troops.

We have all these groups asking people for time, financial support, and promotion. Whether we view a person’s causes or team or whatever group you can think of as good or bad on a moral spectrum, to an extent we understand and respect involvement. They are part of something bigger than themselves. They aren’t just sitting at home, not contributing to society, isolated from everyone else. I think here in rural Midwest America, we tend to especially value dedication, commitment, and obligation. And yet time and money and energy and interests are all limited—we can only be so involved, so sponsoring, so many places at one time. We get to a point where, right or wrong, if we have multiple passions, they get viewed as competing against one another, and whatever we choose must be what’s most important to us.   

 Going back to the topic of our confession and what we are looking at with 2 Chronicles 30, that’s really what we want to be after, isn’t it? How can a person today say, “God is what’s most important to me—worshiping him and enjoying him,” and really mean it? What kind of commitment or obligation do we expect them to make? What does it look like to be continually in relationship with God and fellow believers? What does it look like to be actively engaged in faith and the pursuit of holiness? Is it clear in my actions and lifestyle that I am one of God’s children, set apart for salvation? 

As we continue today, I encourage each of us to think about ourselves—what’s in our hearts and how are we doing? Don’t take this message as ammunition to look down on others or to guilt others. Don’t tell someone, “Pastor Dan said this is what makes a real Christian. If you don’t show up next Sunday afternoon, I’ll question your faith.” No, allow God to teach us, what expectations does he have on your life?

As we address this, we will look at three things, first, the obligation of unity, second, the obligation of being separate, and third, how do we deal with those who live contrary to God? First, a topic that we began looking at last week—unity. We confessed that all who are part of the gathering of the saved ought not to withdraw from the holy assembly but are obliged to join and unite with it…submitting to the church’s instruction and discipline, bending under the yoke of Jesus Christ, and serving to build one another up.

           We might hear those words and instantly think about membership in a local church and participating in its activities. But what should be first in our minds, according to the Belgic Confession, is the one catholic church, the whole church of Christ. Article 27 set out this belief that the church goes all the way back to the Old Testament. As we think of Hezekiah inviting all the brothers and sisters, all the descendants of Jacob, he’s looking for the unity of the church. 

This unity isn’t just something that they had forged. Generations before, all of the tribes had experienced the Passover in Egypt together and had entered into covenant with God together—it wasn’t just Judah; it wasn’t the north or the south, it was the 12 tribes and the descendants of Jacob. The initial response of several of the territories to Hezekiah’s request was mocking—we’ll get to that, but what do we find in verses 11 and 12? “Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun,” verse 18 adds people of Ephraim and Issachar, “humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord.” 

           Unity is not something that came naturally even to these people with a common history. Being together, celebrating the faithfulness of the true God, who had brought them to this land sounds like an incredible opportunity. And yet only half of the tribes showed up. God had given his church, this nation, Israel, special instructions for who they were to be and what they were to do. Disobedience had led to brokenness in their lives, and they rebelled against being part of this covenant people. But what does unity require—this doing life together, having a common purpose and submission; what did it require? It required the hand of God to prompt it.  We, humans, like separation and we like our ability to choose, and so sometimes we need God’s hand to move us towards unity with his church. Our obligation of unity comes as a response to him and his work. We must understand that we are servants and not rulers in the church.

           Unity isn’t the only principle that we are encouraged towards today, but also separation. The second part of the confession looks at preserving unity by separating ourselves from those who don’t belong to the church—doing this to join the church wherever it is established, no matter even severe obstacles. Now we are hearing rising whispers of the church including local groups of Christians. We are part of this big church, the invisible church as it’s sometimes called, but now it is a necessary priority for us to get plugged in to the visible church, connecting with others around us who are also saved and pursuing Christ. We leave something behind to join believers.

           In our passage we see godly separation happening. The consecration that was taken up before the Passover. The decision to still host the festival even if half of the tribes would not show up. To remove the altars to false gods in verse 14 is an act of separating from those people. There’s even a bit of worry in the separated community over those who had not purified themselves but wanted to be included in the feast, who Hezekiah prayed for. 

           What we recognize happening here in the Old Testament and that the Belgic Confession is encouraging us toward is nothing more than what Jesus prayed in John 17. He prayed for believers, for us, to be in the world but not of the world. The kind of separation that Scripture invites us into is not isolation—there are Christian traditions today and in the past who seek that out, but that’s not our command. We, who are saved, are different though, and it should be noticeable. How we live our lives and schedule things should reflect that being part of the body of Christ is important, it puts events in our calendar, it makes us think about time differently, we can’t do what everyone else tends to do with their time. 

As the people of Israel would have gone back to their territories or homes after the Passover feast, they had an opportunity to witness. They were different from those who had not come, and I suspect maybe they faced some ridicule. How would they display who they were, though? Would they be a light not just to other believers but share the message and the dedication with others who thought it was dumb. We can think of Christians living in places that are hostile to the gospel too. We would say it is good for them to meet together even if it’s risky. Being the church united and distinct from the world is a worthwhile and edifying pursuit.  

Now we get to the final part of the Article, “All who withdraw from the church and do not join it act contrary to God’s ordinance.” Not every part of life in the church is pleasant, as those of you who’ve been alive longer than I have, and seen changes in the church, not just locally but around the world, probably know. As with other things, we like to celebrate the successes and avoid or brush under the rug when struggles occur. Yet de Brès viewed it necessary to keep this in mind. Unity is the ideal, but there are going to be those who do not oblige themselves to it. 

           We’ve already been reminded that half of the tribes chose not to show up to Jerusalem. Let’s be clear, their reason for not showing up was not just they were too busy for the Passover, or the king’s couriers invited them on too short of notice. No, it was rebellion against the king and against God. It was rebellion against this identity of the covenant people of God, that this God of their fathers who had founded them was seeking their return, the repentance of his people.  Their response was not a sincere regret R.S.V.P.; no, when they heard about this worship feast they scorned and ridiculed the idea. They laughed at the idea that their fathers were unfaithful and stiff-necked. They dismissed this notion of a life focused on God, where he might turn from his anger.

           We’re not told if there was follow-up punishment to this. It’s not explicitly stated whether God turned his face against them more or from helping them. But think about what they were doing. They were turning down the invitation to come together and celebrate one of the greatest actions in the church’s history, a revival of true faith and worship—to honor God as he had clearly set forth. They were uniting against God and against faith in him. 

           For people today to remove themselves from the church, both at the local congregation level as well as to have nothing to do with living out faith by aiding those in need or with evangelism or being in the word and desiring to be with other Christians is not just a personal choice of what a person feels like doing. No, it is wrong; it is sinful. To live life like that is a life in which God is not most important but rather we have exalted ourselves to that point. 

To decidedly live contrary to God and his ordinances is a sad choice. For some it’s a choice that is set in stone. I told you this was not a sermon to be used as ammunition against others, and I stand by that, but do let it be an encouragement. If God is most important to us, and we seek to honor the unity that he calls his church to and that he supports by his own hand, may we not give up on trying to bring people into the holy assembly of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to be separated from the world and to acknowledge our part in Christ’s body, but that ought not to stop us from sharing with others the good news we have. May we see the importance, the value, the different identity we have by being people who stick with the church. May we seek to worship and enjoy God all the more, that others may see and hear and be drawn to him. Amen.