He hoped for too little

Hezekiah

Plot line sometimes our vison is too small our hopes to little. And some times we confuse the scope of God’s plans.

English Standard Version Chapter 39

At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

Hezekiah trusted the lord.

He cleaned the idols from his kingdom.

He saw the greatest historical act of God since the exodus.

He saw personal healing when god healed him and he wrote a psalm of praise to the glory of God.

Hezekiah loved the Lord and was a great king but his story in the book of Isaiah ends on a rather sad note.

He pridefully shows the babylonians EVERYTHING in the City.

And when told that they will conquore the city in short period of time

It seems as though he gives up

He is told that his own children are to be taken away as slaves.. And in responce he said the”it is good” . For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

Hezekiah’s vision was self-centred.

And when he should have been on he knees begging God for mercy he just rolled over in bed and said.. not my problem.

Hezekiah’s vision was short sighted.

His faith had been guided by the blessings he had recieved, his healing, and God’s wonderous judgment on sennacherib and the assyrian army.

Hezekiah’s faith had become overly focused on what God could do for him.

And as a result What Isaiah predicted became a reality. The babylonians carried off the best and the brightest of Judah. They enslaved the rest and reduced the whole city to rubble and ruin.

Perhaps God would have listend the Hezekiah if he had asked for mercy.. If he had begged and prayed for a chance to lead the nation in repentance.

Maybe not.. But we will never know because hezikiah was simply happy to die in peace and to let his children suffer the sorrows of God’s Judgement and wrath.

The church of today in North america has become similar. Over the past century we have been blessed with wealth, with political power and prestige and with comfort.

We worship in public without fear of repirsal. We expect tax breaks and public acclimation of our faith and we even expect nonbelievers to listen to the commandmants of our faith and to live by them!

We have been blessed by God and have grown accustomed to the language of Blessings, gifts, and promises. And thus our faith is defined by these experiences. It has become the only way that we expect God to speak to us.

We have lost our long term understanding of the Kingdom of God. What it’s purpose is.. What it looks like at work.. and what it looks like when it is at its best. We have adopted a short termed hedonistic mind set for the church. What feels good for the church must be God’s plan for the church today.

This mind set has no plan for a time of trials and persecution within the church. We therefore come to the conclusion that if the church is not flourishing the church must be dying. And We are left with no long term understanding of the role of the church in the world or in God’s kingdom.

To put it another way. We have grown so used to the richness of the harvest that we have forgotten about the rest of the process.

We have forgotten that the ground must lie fallow, and be the tilled. We have forgotten the costly work that comes before the harvest. The planting and the weeding that must be done. We have forgotten that before every harvest there are days of rain and days of sun and even days of dought. All of these are part of what produces the plenty of the harvest.

The church has been blessed by a harvest that has lasted nearly 100 years and in the midst of that harvest we allowed the work of preparing for the next harvest to be forgotten.

We were like Hezekaih- happy for the blessings of today but apetheitic to the challenges of tomorrow.

When Jesus said

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

he was not refering to a harvest that was perpetual and eternal. There will be seasons of planting and seasons of waiting.

He was looking at a people that were ready for a savior. Who had been waiting and watching as he and John the baptist had sowed the seeds of the gospel in thier age. Those seeds had a world changing effect. But they were watered by the blood of the martyrs who died holding intact thier faith in Jesus even to the grave. Those seeds were nutured by the righteous deeds of the church empowered by the holy spirit. And so the kingdom of God Grew and there was a season of harvest.

But even in that age there were some who ceased to labor and to simply waited for God to Come and take them home. Even then some were convinced that they were in the end times and so they need but wait for the day of Christ’s return.

They were happy that the day was good and they didn’t have any intention of doing the work of tomorrow.

The most notable group of these end of times afficanadoes were in the church of thessolonica.

The were convinced that the lord would return quite soon. and so they wouldn’t have to worry about tomorrow. Paul’s responce was to call them to encourage one another in Christ to build one another up. To stay awake and aware of what needed to be done. In his first letter to them he was quite gentle as he said these things, but in the second letter he was quite a bit more firm!

English Standard Version Chapter 3

6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

Paul did not know when Jesus would return but he understood that there would always be work to do. That there was good to be done and that the christians should spur one another in the work of the kngdom.

Paul understood that we cannot limit our vision of the church to this generation!

Hezekiah was happy to see prosperity and peace in his day. Paul was willing to die so that future generations would hear the Gospel and believe.

We need to decide which additude we will take for our church and for our city.

The church sits on the cusp of a great change for the worst in it’s relationship with the peoples of Canada. It is not because it is the end times, nor is it because the world is growing wickeder. It is because the church forgot who she was.. And what her savior was like.

And she became the villan in her own time. There is no moral highground for christians now! Not after this week, not after this year!

We see this in fruit of the church in canada through the past century. Has it all been good fruit?? No it has not. The horrible stories of abused children and buried orphans. Of imperialistic thinking and hateful language. All of these things are fruits of the church that had lost her way. And they will mar the future harvests of the church in canada. And I would say have already done so. We have become stained with an innocent blood that is not our own and that will not quickly and painlessly wash away.

But how we handle these failures of our brothers and sisters in Christ will determine our relationship with the communites that we are a part of.

We cannot deny these things and we cannot ignore them. We would do well to mourn them and to repent both the brokeness of the church’s history and the additudes that we have inherited from it.

The tragedies of our past show that the church forgot who she was. She failed to Do justice, She did not show mercy and she did not walk humbly with her God. Most of all the church forgot the core teaching of the bible! To love her neighbor as herself! The watching world has seen these failures even more than our successes.

We find ourselves at a hezikiah moment in our own story and in our own nation. We like Isaiah see that there are serious problems in our future but perhaps at this moment we will see peace for this generation. We can say like Hezikiah that we will have peace in our day and that is enough.

Or We can choose to do the hard work to restore the soil that has ruined by the idols of the world and the rocks that are our own failures to care for our community.

How do we do this.

Prayer- Like Moses, Like Paul we pray for the lost in our communities we pray not that god would restore us to prominence but that he would restore .

Like Jesus we choose to love our neighbors as ourselves. Taking the path of humility we should become servants of all for christ’s sake. Loving our neighbors sacrificially. And Love our community as well. Embracing God’s instructions = Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

And we need to know that we will fail. We are far to selfish, far to shortsighted and far to easily tempted by the pressures and the pleasures of the world.

If our goal is to show the World how nice, loving or good Christians are we will fail.

Because it was never about us. It is about Jesus.

The one who gave up his life for his enemies. Who prayed for those who persecuted him and who showed us what perfect love looks like.

Jesus is a freind for all sinners. That means me and you and your worst enemy.

We are at our best when we have aknowledged our sin and run to Christ. When we have put off even the inten of human righteousness and have dressed ourselves in the righteousness he bought us with his blood.

If we want to bear fruit in the broken world. In this broken Church in our broken lives we must choose daily to abide in him.

And then we will be able to sow the seeds of the Gospel in our community and country. Then and only then will the water of life flow from our lips.

For without jesus our fruit will only be a false righteousness and a dry worthless legalism.

But Christ in us can show the world a righteousness that is true and a life without end.

Dear Friends Abide in Christ!