Who Will Be the Lighthouse? 2 Kings 12

Who Will Be the Lighthouse?

TURN TO 2 Kings 12

The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north."

The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain!" Soon another message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a seaman third class Jones."

Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a battleship." Then the reply came: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a lighthouse."

Apparently, that story is a myth, but you can imagine it actually happening, and - it makes a great point: In the midst of our dark and foggy times, all sorts of voices are shouting orders into the night, telling us what to do, how to adjust our lives. Out of the darkness, one voice signals something quite opposite to the rest--something almost absurd. But when that voice happens to be the unchanging Light of the World - we ignore it at our peril.

Our text this morning brings to mind the idea of a needed lighthouse, shining on a dark and stormy sea. I trust you will see what I mean as we go along, but now let’s dig into the text.

READ vv. 1-8

1 KING WITH THE WIND IN HIS SAILS, vv. 1-16

Jehoash (or ‘Joash’- they are two different spellings of the same name and I’m sure I will be using both this morning) is on the throne - and his attention turns to the things of the LORD. The temple in Jerusalem catches his eye. Do you remember the delight and glorious taste of heaven’s worship we saw, when Solomon first dedicated this place? God’s presence came down and took residence with His people. The people of God couldn’t stop praising … the king himself sacrificing so many animals they couldn’t be counted – standing before the people and raising his voice with that awe-struck prayer of worship: “The Sovereign God of the universe has chosen to live with US!!”

Well, that was over a century ago. And some of Solomon’s descendants have not taken care of the place in the way they ought.

If you walk by the temple in Joash’s day, you see some of the stones are looking weathered - cracks are showing. The timbers - hewn from the mighty cedars of Lebanon … well, they are starting to look weathered. Smoke damage from the candles and incense have left a mark .... and, if you look at the utensils used by the priests, a century of sacrifices has taken its toll.

This is a 100 year old building and it is showing its age. That’s understandable, in a way. But previous kings have neglected it – and this is not a good look for the HOUSE OF GOD on the earth. Joash determines he’s going to do something about it.

In verse 4, he gives his orders to the priests.

2 Kings 12:4 “Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and the money that a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord,”

“Collect the offerings and get to fixing.” Well we don’t know exactly when Joash gives the orders, but probably pretty early in his time on the throne. And verse 6 tells us that TWENTY-THREE YEARS into his reign - the priests had none of the repairs done. Now, the temple was pretty large - but decades in and NO progress?!

So what’s the lesson here – “don’t trust pastors or priests with your renovation projects?” Well, that’s not exactly what the Bible says - but when I think of most pastors I know – there’s a reason they work among books and not with hammers and saw. Remember that if you ever think of asking me to help you at your place.

These priests weren’t dishonest - they weren’t stashing the money - they just were terrible administrators.

So Joash goes to ‘Plan B’ – READ vv. 9-16 They’re going to make an offering box to collect the money and give it directly to the contractors. So, Jehoiada takes a chest, bores a hole in the top, sticks a sign on it: “Temple Repair Project’. Then he puts it beside the altar, at the doorway, just as you enter the house of the LORD. Then, when people brought their offerings, the priests would take the money and drop it straight into the box.

Whenever the offerings piled up, the royal scribe and the high priest, empty the contents, count the money - melt down any precious metals .... and then they hand it off to the construction supervisors who keep the bills paid for tradesmen and materials.

People are giving generously, the workers are being paid, no receipts are needed, everyone is honest - and finally the temple is getting the facelift it needed. Imagine the delight in Judah! You know how it feels when your old house, that you are sick of looking at, gets a renovation …It’s almost like getting a brand new place. Here we are in the temple of God - a one hundred year old building .... now wafting with the smell of fresh wood, the brightened colors - ugly cracks are gone. And overseeing all of this, is Joash, the king who follows God. He is reigning with the wind of God’s blessing filling his sails.

If the story ended at verse 16, we could close this chapter in Israel’s life with celebration. Remember how it started! At the beginning of chapter 11, God’s promises are literally hanging by a solitary thread. Every single male descendant of David’s line SLAUGHTERED - this pathway God Himself promised to bring the Messiah, our Saviour to earth through - the promise is about to fail.

Queen mother, blood-thirsty, Athaliah is determined to kill every heir to the throne so that she can rule – these are her grandsons, but she doesn’t care – she wants to hold onto her place of power. She almost succeeds in the slaughter. But there is one survivor.

God has a minister, in the right place, at the right time, with the right focus - and Jehoshaba sneaks Joash into hiding. One solitary thread holding the eternal promises of God intact. And the promise lives on.

And the BIble’s own verdict on Joash is good – Verses 1 and 2: He ‘did what was right in the eyes of the LORD’. He has a long reign - 40 years. And, he has a fruitful reign - the temple, so long neglected, has been refreshed and refurbished. God’s Kingdom goes marching on - from the brink of extinction to fresh fruitfulness. Joash reigns with the wind of God in his sails. What a great story here. We expect the last words of this chapter to be: ‘And they lived happily ever after ....”.

Oh, but you should know better than to expect such a neat and tidy conclusion - a fairy tale ending. Because God’s Word deals with real life in this real world … and it’s a broken world.

2 THE REIGN RUNS AGROUND, vv. 17-21

Sure enough - Verses 17-21 wrap up the chapter and far from the king finishing his journey, safely in the harbour, with the wind in his sails carrying him all the way therel … we see his reign run aground on the rocks of calamity.

READ vv. 17-21

So, Jehoash reins for 40 years, he’s renovated the temple, but v. 20 tells us that he dies a violent death - assassinated in a conspiracy that’s planned and executed by his OWN servants. That’s not the way any person wants to die - let alone a king. When the time comes to go out - you long to die in peace, surrounded by loving family and with the admiration of the people whose lives you’ve touched. This king’s head goes to the grave in violent bloodshed.

What happened here?!

Well, vv. 17-18 tell us that the unhappy ending began BEFORE the assassination. In fact - the way our text lays out the story - the trouble begins immediately after the success at the temple. Verse 17 comes immediately after verse 16’s triumph.

According to vv. 17-18, Hazael the king of Syria is in the neighbourhood with his army. He’s just been down to the city of Gath, in Philistine territory and conquered it for himself. Gath is strategically located on the road that leads up, across the border and into the heart of Judah.

“Well, as long as I’m in the area, I’ll pay a visit to the palace of King Joash, just to remind him that I’m here .... and my power is growing.” That’s what Hazael is trying to do - he’s trying to intimidate God’s King. The end of v. 17, “He set his face to go up against Jerusalem” - he’s flexing his muscles.

The text tells us that when he shows up outside Jerusalem’s walls, King Joash springs into action. But his response is puzzling.

Remember the city named Gath? Joash sure would. He’s a descendant of King David. Gath was the hometown of terrorizing giant, Goliath - who had the entire army of Israel paralyzed in fear … but along comes young David who is only at the battle-front to bring lunch for his big warrior brothers. David hears the taunts of Goliath against the God of Israel - and he takes his slingshot and with one small stone and a big faith in God, he takes down the giant - dead. Everyone in Jerusalem knows that story - how much more David’s great, great, great - and so on - grandson?!

The fact that Hazael has just come from Gath - should fire Joash up with the reminders of God’s faithfulness in history - the God who’s temple he has just spent decades getting back into shape. The God who lives with HIS PEOPLE and has chosen THIS CITY, out of all the earth, for his name to dwell in - Joash’s God fights for His people. So wouldn’t you expect him to walk out through the city gates and stand face to face, eyeball to eyeball with the foreign king who is on HIS land - and tell him that he better keep walking - right off of his property - if he knows what’s good for him?

But that’s not what he does. Verse 18 tells us that, instead, the king goes into the temple HE HAS JUST FINISHED RESTORING, takes out of it the heirlooms - gifts dedicated by his forefathers, the kings who have gone before him … ALL the GOLD in the treasure of the temple, as well as in his own palace .... he takes it all, loads it all into sack after sack of bounty … and then the king of God’s people, takes the treasures OUT of God’s temple and city … and hands it over to a blustering foreigner who has come to bully him.

Well, Joash’s response accomplishes the intended goal - Hazael stops breathing down his neck, for now - and heads back to Syria. But for Joash … this is not a good look. Ultimately these treasures are not his - they belong to God. And for God’s king to hand over God’s treasure, from His house, to a foreign enemy … this shows an utter lack of faith.

See how the shipwreck of Joash’s reign doesn’t start with the conspiracy of his servants .... just like for people today - the destruction doesn’t come with one ‘fateful’ crisis experience. No, for Joash and for us .... ultimate destruction comes at the end of a road paved with compromise … in choice after choice.

But still, if you’re like me, you read this story and you’re still puzzled. How could a king with such promise, who started so well, end up cowering before his enemies and, ultimately, be assassinated by his own staff?

3 WHAT HAPPENED? 2 CHRONICLES 24:15-19

Well, thankfully, there is another place to turn in the Bible, that fills in the gaps in our understanding of what happened to Joash. Before I take you there, first look at the hint given in v. 2, “And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days … BECAUSE JEHOIADA the priest instructed him.” Those few words are MASSIVELY important.

Now, turn with me to 2 Chronicles 24.

In case you aren’t aware, just like there are 4 Gospels that focus on Jesus’ life and ministry - each of them with their particular emphases, so too, when it comes to the history of Israel - especially regarding its kings - there are two parallel accounts - One account is described by the books of 1, 2 Samuel and 1, 2 Kings. The other account comes in 1, 2 Chronicles and 2 Chonicles 24 gives another perspective on Joash’s reign. There are some details here that we need.

READ: 2 Chronicles 24:15-19

Do you see what happened to get Joash’s reign off course? Verse 15 tells us, ‘Jehoiada … died’. He lived a long and fruitful life - but after 130 years, God took him home. This is the chief priest whose wife rescued Joash from Athaliah’s blood-thirsty grip. Jehoiada is the one who organized the uprising against the queen mother when he decided Jehoash was ready to reign as the rightful heir to David’s throne. Jehoiada is the one who renewed the covenant between God and His people, as well as God and His king. Jehoiada was the mentor that kept the king on the right track - speaking God’s Word to him - leading him in the right direction ...

Do you have a mentor like that? Who is holding you, by the hand, as you navigate life in this world? Some of us have been blessed with parents or grandparents who functioned as a Jehoiada in your life - they spoke God’s word into your life, they set an example for you to follow - and when you got off course, they would lovingly help you back onto the pathway. But parents and grandparents die.

Who is it that keeps speaking God’s word into your life and taking you by the hand to get you back on track when you wander off course? We all need the voice of a Jehoiada. Some of And that’s why God has given you the church, friend. That’s one of the many reasons why you need a church family - a family of believers that sits under the preaching of God’s Word and walks through the challenges of life together.

The flip side of that coin is - ‘Who are you being a Jehoiada to?”

Jehoiada was like a spiritual lighthouse to keep God’s king on course and you see just how important his voice was, when he’s gone.

2 Chronicles 24:17-18 tell us that after Jehoiada dies, the princes, the popular influencers with the huge social media following – they come along and Joash starts taking advice and direction from them. These voices are clearly NOT speaking God’s truth into the king’s life. In fact, according to v. 18, they lead him right into idol worship - worse than that - the country falls back into worship of the Asherim - the female version of Baal worship - the worship of a pagan goddess, orgies and all - among the people of God - with a freshly refurbished temple to God, the paint on the walls barely dry.

And verse 18ends, “And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.”

In fact it’s AFTER this backsliding that Hazael comes - vv. 23-24 tell us … and look at the end of v. 24, “… because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. Thus they executed judgment on Joash.”

And in the shame and disgust of Joash’s rebellion against God and caving to the enemy – his own servants assassinate him.

And this chapter in the life of Israel - our spiritual history - it ends in tragedy. So promising … people living in the shade of God’s blessing … peace, provision for the temple - joy seemed to dominate ....

.... only to end in shame, frustration, violence and needless death. It’s a sad, sad story - that is repeated in so many lives I see around me every day.

King Joash needed a LIGHTHOUSE to keep shining the truth of God’s Word into his life, whether he wanted to hear it at the time, or not. He needed to see where the danger was in the waters ahead and where the safe course to harbour was to be found.

King Joash needed that in his day - and we all need that in our day.

Now the Word of God is ALWAYS relevant to us, whatever context we live in - no matter which part of the Bible we find ourselves in. Sometimes finding a relevance takes careful reflection. This week, the relevance literally fell into my lap.

4 RELEVANCE

This past week has brought a monumental change in Canadian law and society with the enactment of federal Bill C-4, which amends the Criminal Code. Bill C-4 outlaws what is called, ‘Conversion Therapy’ in Canada. It was passed through the House and Senate last month – UNANIMOUSLY. It received Royal Assent and the law came into effect on Friday. So, what’s this ‘CONVERSION THERAPY’, that’s now illegal, you ask?

Definition of conversion therapy

320.‍101 In sections 320.‍102 to 320.‍104, conversion therapy means a practice, treatment or service designed to

(a) change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual;

(b) change a person’s gender identity to cisgender;

(c) change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth;

(d) repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour;

(e) repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity; or

(f) repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth.

Now, the idea that gender equals biological sex would have been taken for granted by every generation of Canadians prior to this one. So, to all of sudden, take something that has been the ‘spirit of the age’ for a handful of years, and enshrine it as the law of the land seems to be SOMETHING of an act of hubris. To refer to the beliefs once held universally and still held broadly by many Canadians, as “myths” and “stereotypes”, as the bill does – seems a little less than ‘fully tolerant’.

But many of us have friends or loved ones who are drawn romantically to people of the same sex and others who struggle with gender disphoria … maybe it’s you, in one of those two categories today ...

… and if you’ve seen the hostile, hateful way that people hurl attacks … the little church from Kansas that crashes funerals and parades with angry signs of verbal invective … “God hates .... (insert chosen sin here)” - you see that and you know: “That’s not Christ-like at all!”.

And of course we are against coercion - forcing or twisting people’s arms to go in a direction against their will.

Jesus preached love. So what do we do as Christians who want to be like Jesus in dealing with people who would consider themselves to be ‘homosexual’ or ‘transgender’. Do we say, “Well, love is love” or “Transgender woman is a woman”? Do we go along to get along? I mean … it would be much safer and would make us more popular in our society today if we just nodded the head in agreement and kept our mouths shut.

Well, there is one problem with just going along with the loudest voices of our culture - and the problem is this: If the God who designed us and created us - has a different plan … then doesn’t it logically follow that to push against that design – wouldn’t bring healing – but only brings more brokenness? People seem to see that when it comes to the environment - ‘It’s not God’s design to dump tonnes of garbage into our rivers and oceans .... no good come of that’. The same holds true of human biology and sexuality.

If we are going to be the LIGHTHOUSE, then we can’t be like the princes of Israel who parrot popular opinion to the king … we need to ... LOVINGLY speak the truth of God’s Word. There is a way to speak truth that is NOT loving and we want no part of that.

But - what does the Bible say? You may have heard people who claim to be able to explain the Bible, who say, ‘The Bible doesn’t have anything to say about our sexuality – Okay, so there are a couple of OT references in Leviticus against homosexual activity, but just ignore them that’s just OT … Okay, so Paul said a couple of things about homosexual activity in his letters - but you know, he had his hangups and he was just frustrated. Just a few throw away verses - don’t mind them.

Well, actually, it’s so much bigger than that:

Let’s go back to the very beginning of the Bible - to the creation narrative, before there was sin and brokenness in the world. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. When He did so, it wasn’t haphazardly. Creation isn’t chaotic … God is THE Divine Artist in Genesis 1-2

… 100 percent creativity and 100 percent purpose: Whether trees or mountains or stars or atoms or babies’ fingers, creation is filled with awe-inspiring sights and sounds and SMELLS!

But the climax of His creative brilliance is saved for last, on Day 6, when He gets to humanity:

Genesis 1:26-27 - “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

The male-female binary wasn’t an afterthought - it’s not a cultural construct. And it wasn’t intended to be oppressive -it was intended to be creative - so that deep intimacy across this diversity would generate new life.

And in the New Testament, when the Pharisees ask Jesus, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He responds, by going back to creation:

Matthew 19:4-6 - “He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.””

What’s God’s GOOD DESIGN for our gender and sexual expression? Humanity as male and female with sexual activity reserved for the marriage between one man and one woman.

“Oh but I don’t believe in the Bible – don’t believe in God.” Let me ask you: If you strip away belief in a Creator God - the very modern secular thinking that makes anti-conversion laws … what are left with? Can you give a coherent account of what a human being is? What are we - any more than an accidental collection of cells? What makes us any different than the animals?

And how can anything bring true freedom?

Incidence of suicide attempts among adolescent girls who identify as transgender is extremely high. On study found that female-male trans adolescents had an attempted suicide rate of over 50 percent and male-female trans in that same age group were at almost 30 percent. Some would say - “That’s EXACTLY why we need anti-conversion laws - to protect these kids from their despair”.

But from a Biblical perspective, we would say, “You can’t fix broken people with broken tools. Trust in the God Who designed you!”

Paul McHugh is one of the most esteemed psychiatrists of our time. He serves as the University Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and was the former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital:

“In fact, gender dysphoria - the official psychiatric term for feeling oneself to be of the opposite sex - belongs in the family of similarly disordered assumptions about the body, such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. Its treatment should not be directed at the body as with surgery and hormones any more than one treats obesity-fearing anorexic patients with liposuction. the treatment should strive to correct the false, problematic nature of the assumption and to resolve the psychosocial conflicts provoking it.”

“Oh, but nobody asks to be born this way – with same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria – nobody would choose that!” True – this is a broken world. And every last one of us is in battle throughout life – dealing with temptation, to give up on God’s design and give into the brokenness with our bodies, in some way or another.

Pastor and author Sam Allberry encourages Christians to look forward, but not to a time when we’ll have a full head of hair and flat stomachs. Instead, we anticipate resurrected bodies that glorify and serve Jesus perfectly. And what good news that is for our broken bodies. Sam writes:

The problems we experience with our body were never ultimately going to be solved by our body. We may be able to ameliorate some aspects of our bodily brokenness—we can cure some ills and ease some pains. But we cannot fix what has been broken. The only hope for us is the body of Jesus, broken fully and finally for us. And by looking to his broken body we find true hope for our own.

(Incidentally – Allberry has been very open about battling same-sex attraction in his life. Someone commented to him that, with his denial of acting on his same-sex attraction, Alberry has, ‘had to give up a lot to follow Jesus.’ He responded with a simple question: “Have you NOT?).

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It is out of love - out of a concern for our country and the brokenness of the people who make up our nation … with a longing for wholeness that can only come through salvation in Christ, that a letter has been produced by the Canadian Religious Freedom Summit and that letter is being read today, in churches across our country, Newfoundland to Vancouver Island. I’m going to read it now:

LETTER: “The law’s stated purpose is to outlaw “conversion therapy”. We strongly oppose the coercive and unscientific therapeutic practices the Bill was introduced to address. We appreciate and affirm the desire of parliamentarians to protect the vulnerable. However, we are deeply concerned that the effective reach of the legislation could be extended far beyond its stated purpose. Because its definition of “conversion therapy” is vague, many are concerned that it could capture parents, pastors and counsellors who teach a biblical understanding of sexuality in a variety of situations.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees our freedoms of religion, conscience, thought, belief, expression and association. It is our prayer that the law will be applied – and clarified as needed – in such a way as to honour these Charter protections. We recognize that the greatest danger facing the Canadian church is not that we might face criminal prosecution, but rather that we might compromise in our teaching of the Word of God or fall silent in our proclamation of the gospel.

Along with church leaders of like conviction across Canada, we stand before you today to pledge that we are committed to obeying God above all others(Acts 5:29). With the Lord’s help, we will continue to proclaim the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) without fear or favour. This includes God’s life-giving design for human beings, made in His image, male and female (Genesis 1:27), with sexual intimacy reserved for the covenantal union of a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24). We will continue to issue the call to repent of all kinds of sin and to believe the gospel, knowing that we all have sinned (Romans 3:23), and that salvation through Jesus is the one true hope for the world (Acts 4:12). We will continue to love and serve all people in our community, without distinction, in Jesus’ name. As we press on in the work of ministry, we will trust our Heavenly Father to guard us and keep us, and to work out His greater purposes for our good and His glory. We continue to pray for our government, and to plead with the Lord to have mercy on our needy land.”

Friend, in this church, we recognize that every single one of us is a fallen sinner. Created with the highest dignity possible - created by God Himself in His own image. There is no greater honour in all of creation. But we have all rebelled - we have all tarnished His image in us to the point of almost being unrecognizable. Every last one of us needs a rescue from the outside.

I don’t need the people around me to affirm me in my brokenness. I don’t want people to pat me on the back as I plunge deeper and deeper into despair, applauding and saying, “You just do you.”

That’s not love! I need a Jehoiada - a lighthouse - to speak God’s Word to me in love and help me to find JOY.

We need a Saviour. I need a Saviour - to save me from myself.

And thank God - He has sent one. Jesus came - the One of Whom Isaiah prophesied and Matthew pointed out:

Matthew 12:20 “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench ...”.

Jesus who said of Himself, in Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

May we will be a people, at this church, who hold out the rescue and rest of Jesus Christ to every broken person we can - whether their struggle is with gender identity, same-sex attraction, alcohol addiction, pornography, covetousness, anger or gossip. May we be the Jehoiada that our country needs.