Roadblocks to a Move of God

2 Kings 12:1-18

In June of 1995, after years of planning and research costing multiple billions of dollars, the space shuttle Discovery was scheduled to launch for the first of seven missions which would rendevous with the Russian Space station Mir, in preparation for the launch of the International space station in 1997. The date had been carefully chosen, whether conditions were favorable but strange noises were coming from Launch Pad 39-B, upon investigation technicians discovered about six dozen holes in the insulating covering of the main external fuel tank. All of the complex planning and high priced preparation were useless as the mission ground to a halt because a family of woodpeckers decided that the Space shuttle looked like a good place to live.

The story of Joash is a fascinating one, his reign was filled with promise. After King David a steady decline in the kingdom had taken place. Then upon the death of her son the king, Joash’s grandmother killed all of the royal family and set herself upon the throne. But Joash’s great aunt had snuck the infant Joash out with his nurse and they hid for six years in a secret place at the Temple of God. When Joash was seven years old the priest Jehoida led an uprising against the wicked and idolatrous grandmother, placing Joash upon his rightful throne.

The temple of Baal in the city was destroyed, the priest of Baal was put to death, the covenant was re-established and proper temple worship was re-established. It looked as if another golden age was coming to the kingdom of Judah. It looked like a move of God was coming. The plans had been laid, the process had begun but then something went wrong, you could say woodpeckers were discovered in the fuel tank of the move of God.

That leads me to a question for us this morning: Why did such a perfect opportunity for a move of God slip away? What kept God from pouring out his blessing? What did Joash do that caused a hindrance to God moving in power among His people?

The reason these questions are important to me this morning is that I believe we are in a time that in many ways is similar to the beginning of Joash’s reign. We are at a time that looks as if we could be on the brink of a move of God. Yes, society has experienced moral decline. Yes, terrible things have happened, but there are positive signs, signs that people are growing discontent with the status quo. After the tragedy of 9-11 there was an awakened spiritual hunger. I believe it was fueled by grief and fear. But, even in Redding, people began to cry out for a move of God.

So I think it’s important for us to look at the lesson of Joash... of almost, but not quite a move of God, so that we might see the traps to avoid, the things that quench a move of God. In the story of Joash 4 things seem to stand out as roadblocks to a move of God. The first is…

1. Follow the Leader Faith

2 Kings 12:2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 2 Chronicles 23: 16 Jehoiada then made a covenant that he and the people and the king would be the LORD’S people.

2 Chronicles 24:17-18 After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem.

As long as Jehoida was around to guide him, Joash did, OK. Not perfect but, OK. But there was little conviction in him. It wasn’t possible for Jehoida to make a covenant on behalf of the king, the king needed to dedicate himself to the Lord, but I don’t believe he ever really did that, and then, as soon as Jehoida was gone, Joash was easily led astray by those who wanted him to turn against the Lord, to reinstate Idol worship and to mix it with the worship of the One true God.

Joash was a follower, and that can be OK as long as you’re a follower with conviction, but Joash seemed to be a follower primarily because He had no convictions.

The same danger exists for us today. It’s tempting to follow the crowd or to follow a charismatic leader, but that’s dangerous even when the leader is a good one, because you need to have a personal relationship with the Lord, and if your commitment is leader based it’s easy to be led astray or turned around by some other leader. And it’s also dangerous because people will let you down. Dennis McGowan will let you down--just ask my wife.

When we think of historical moves of God, we often think of leaders, like Jonathan Edwards, D.L. Moody and others. But, I don’t believe a move of God has ever come because a leader desired it, but only because the people desired it enough repent of their sin and seek God in prayer with changed hearts and lives. Now a leader may play an important part in imparting a vision under God’s leadership, so that the people are inspired to make those changes. But, I believe a move of God has never and will never happen where people seek to ride the coattails of a leader into a move of God. For that reason I believe that "follow the leader" faith is a roadblock to a move of God. The second roadblock is...

2. Neglecting the Strongholds

2 Kings 12:3 The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

High places were centers of idol worship on mountains and hill tops. Often poles to the goddess Asherah were erected. Altars, similar to the ones in the temple, for animal and even human sacrifice were often found there. But they weren’t in the cities, and the pagan priests who operated these franchises were often very politically powerful. It sounds as if Joash, once he reached an age where he could have been aware and done something about them, simply wasn’t willing to make the effort.

In that time idol worship had become more prevalent than genuine worship. The stories in the books of Kings and Chronicles make it clear that many of the kings liked to keep a pagan god on the side, just in case the God of Israel didn’t come through in a tight spot. To destroy the high places would be to give up your insurance plan.

You may be thinking, pastor, what does this have to do with us, we haven’t got any high places, we don’t worship Idols. Maybe not, but perhaps we do have places hidden in our lives where God is not Lord. Like those habits, sins, the inappropriate relationships, and temptations we indulge. And what about the plans we’ve made for our lives that we don’t want the Lord messing with. The insurance plan, just in case God doesn’t come through. What about your dignity and your reputation? Are you willing for those to be brought low? Are you ready to surrender every corner of your life to God’s lodship or are you hanging on to some high places.

The story is told of a child who came to school filthy everyday, the teachers, appalled that anyone could let their child come to school that way were discussing the situation. One said "that mother doesn’t love her child." Another replied, "I think she does, she just doesn’t hate dirt." We may say we love the Lord, but until we hate the dirt and tear down the high places, there will be no a move of God. The next roadblock to a move of God is...

3. A Surrender of the Sacred

2 Kings 12:17-18 About this time Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem. But Joash king of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—and the gifts he himself had dedicated and all the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and of the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, who then withdrew from Jerusalem.

When faced with a crisis, Joash doesn’t turn to the Lord, he doesn’t call upon the nation to fast and pray, instead he surrenders all the sacred objects which had been dedicated to the Lord. He uses them as a bribe to get his enemy, and the enemy of the Lord to leave him alone. This is another example of Joash’s weakness and lack of resolve.

What about us? When push comes to shove in your life what gives way? Is it the things that are sacred to the Lord? When the budget is tight, what gets cut? When something really neat is happening on Sunday Morning, where do you find yourself? When your daily schedule is tight does the laundry wait or does your time with the Lord?

The world around us tells us that the sacred has got to go. Bill Gates, Founder and CEO of Microsoft put it this way in a Chicago Tribune interview "Just in terms of allocation of time resource, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."

Now, please, don’t hear this as some kind of a legalism that says "do your time on Sunday" to be right with the Lord. The book of Galatians talks about why your eternal life can’t be based on your performance. But if we are earnestly seeking a deeper walk with the Lord, If we’re hungry for A move of God, then all of our resources, Time, Talent and Treasure must belong first of all to Him, and if we surrender the Sacred for the sake of convenience we shouldn’t expect a move of God.

The last Roadblock is….

4. Ignoring the Call to Repentance

2 Chronicles 24:19-22 Although the LORD sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen. Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, "This is what God says: ’Why do you disobey the LORD’S commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.’" But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD’S temple. King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, "May the LORD see this and call you to account."

Even after Joash strayed far from the path that the Lord had marked out for Him, God in his mercy sent messengers to warn him. They invited him to come back and offered him the opportunity to experience a move of God in Israel. But, Joash didn’t want to hear that what he was doing was wrong so he killed the messenger.

I believe it is God’s will for us to experience a move of God. But, I also believe that unless we as individuals and as a community of of faith Heed the call to repentance we will never experience all that God wants for us and has for us. Not because God has established a quid pro quo system: You act right and I’ll bless you, but simply because the blessing of God and intimacy with Him are simply incompatible with an unrepentant life.

The Holy Spirit has been working in convicting power even as I’ve been speaking this morning. I believe that people here, including me, perhaps you has felt the hand of God convicting of High places that need to come down, of sacred things that have been surrendered that need to be reclaimed for the Lord. You can choose to ignore God’s call to repentance and continue with life as usual, you can choose to kill the messenger by simply choosing never to come back here again, or you can choose to surrender.

I believe with all my heart that the Lord is willing and anxious to move in power in this community, His plans are made, the shuttle is on the Launch pad. But there are some woodpeckers we need to deal with, the way we deal with them is repentance--genuine sorrow for sin that causes us to be willing to change our behavior.

CS Lewis said, "We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin... But, mere time does nothing either to the fact or guilt of sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ."

Farmer Joe was hurt seriously in an accident so he took the trucking company (responsible for the accident) to court. In court, the trucking company’s fancy lawyer was questioning Joe and asked, "Didn’t you say, at the scene of the accident, ’I’m fine’?"

Farmer Joe responded, "Well I’ll tell you, I had just loaded my favorite mule Bessie into the..." "I didn’t ask for any details," the lawyer interrupted, "just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, ’I’m fine’!" Farmer Joe said, "Well I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road..."

The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question." By this time the Judge was interested in Farmer Joe’s answer and said to the lawyer, "I’d like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule Bessie."

Joe thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn’t want to move. However, I could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans. Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her and asked the guy with Bessie, “how is she?” He said, “she’s bad.” So, he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand and looked at me and said, "Your mule was in such bad shape I had to shoot her. How are you feeling?" It was then that I said, "I’m fine."

Today, there is no need to lie and say “I’m fine”. We are not fine. We are not fine because of sin. So, are we going to deal with sin, or are we going to put up roadblocks to a move of God?