A TAKEAWAY FOR THE CHURCH

Introduction

-There’s a story about a pastor who decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. So, he took four worms and placed them into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.

-At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results:

The first worm in alcohol - Dead.

The second worm in cigarette smoke – Dead

Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead

Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive

So, the pastor asked the congregation - What can you learn from this demonstration? An elderly lady, who was sitting in the back, quickly raised her hand and said, 'As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!'

-As funny as that is, that obviously wasn’t the point the pastor was trying to make. That sweet saint didn’t take away from the sermon or the illustration what the pastor had determined for her to take away from it.

-And it makes me wonder—we as the church (the people of God), while we see what is going on in the world and we are trudging through this current crisis, what is our takeaway going to be? Are we learning the lesson that God wants us to learn from all this?

-You see, at minimum God has allowed this coronavirus issue to take place in the world.

~Now, a few side notes: I am neither confirming nor denying that what is happening is a judgment from God. Nor am I advocating or denying that the current crisis is a sign of the end times. Viruses have come and gone throughout history—this is not necessarily something new.

-But I do know this: God intends for us to have some takeaways from what is going on. There’s something He wants His church to learn.

~Now, when I use the word takeaway, I am talking about the main points, lessons, or pieces of information that we are to derive from our current situation.

-God has a message for His church through the events that are happening. God is trying to get us some learning (so to speak)—the question is whether or not we will listen and act.

-In the passage that we are looking at today God gave King Solomon some lessons to take away regarding God’s interaction with His chosen people in times of trouble and distress.

-And now, in a similar fashion God uses current events to give lessons to the church to take away and act on. My prayer is that we seek out what God has for us to learn in this current crisis and give a right response.

2 Chronicles 7:11–22 ESV

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’ 19 “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’ ”

I) The church is not immune to God’s discipline

-I know that this passage is quite often used with regard to our nation—anytime that we think that the nation ought to get right, we use this passage, especially v. 14

-But I want you to notice something—in v. 13 God says that He might do all these things to MY PEOPLE (the people of God); and then in v. 14 God says “if MY PEOPLE who are called by MY NAME”—the intended message is for the people of God. Which then begs the question: Who are the people of God?

-Now, yes, in the context of 2 Chronicles the people of God is Israel—God is speaking about His covenant people who happens to be the nation of Israel

~But now, we have to ask ourselves within our context and day and age, who are God’s people? Is it a nation? Has God made a covenant with any particular nation on this earth? The answer is NO.

~Whether we want to admit it or not, the United States of America is not in covenant with God. We have no biblical basis to say that our nation is the people of God.

-While the message that is given in this chapter would be good for people within any nation to heed, the message itself is not for one chosen nation. It is for God’s people with whom He has made covenant.

-And who is that today? God’s people, in covenant with God, is the church.

~Jesus said that the blood that He would shed would be for a new and everlasting covenant—all those who trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection, all who have been born again, all who repent and believe in Jesus alone are in covenant with God and are therefore His people.

-So, when God says “if MY PEOPLE who are called by MY NAME” then God’s actual covenant people better listen up—God has something to say to HIS CHURCH through this passage

-And part of what we find is that when God’s people are not following God’s Word or obeying God’s commands then God will deal with His people—He will discipline them.

-That’s why God says in v. 13==when I shut up heaven and send locusts and send pestilence among MY PEOPLE

~God says that when His covenant people don’t act right, then He will take action against HIS OWN PEOPLE

-Don’t think that somehow being the church means that God won’t do something to straighten us out—we are not immune to God doing something to rebuke us and correct us

~We are not immune from the disciplining hand of God

-What parent who actually loves their kids will allow them to get away with anything and everything. Even in our society we know that it is a pretty sorry parent who doesn’t do something to correct their kid’s misbehavior. Will God just allow us to ignore Him and His Word and His mission and not do anything about it? Will God let His church worship their idols and put Him to the wayside without correcting that? Absolutely not. God will discipline His people.

-Peter tells us:

1 Peter 4:17 (ESV)

17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

~But it is not a judgment or a discipline that seeks out our destruction—it is a discipline, a correction that seeks a change of heart and action. God isn’t trying to harm us but wants us to learn and grow and change and obey.

-The writer of Hebrews explains:

Hebrews 12:7–11 (ESV)

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

-God, in His love for His own glory and the love of His people, will discipline them—and when He disciplines, He is looking for a specific response

II) The church’s response is to be one of repentance

-The ever-famous v. 14 that we quote so often toward our nation needs to first and foremost be quoted toward the church, because God tells us in this verse how He wants and expects us to respond to His discipling hand

-if my [covenant] people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

-These are the actions that demonstrate a repentance on the part of God’s people

~What is repentance? Wayne Grudem defines it this way:

Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.

-And God is saying that when His people, the church, truly repent this is a picture of it—this is what they will do to demonstrate their repentance. What does He describe?

a) Humility

-Humility is having a right assessment of yourself—you think of yourself rightly. You don’t think of yourself as better than you really are, but neither do you just denigrate yourself and think you are the scum of the earth.

-In humility you rightly assess your nature—you and I are humans made in the image of God, but because of the Fall of mankind we are deeply flawed with a sinful nature. We fall short of the glory of God and fall short of what we were originally created to be. And now there is nothing within us that would cause God to think or feel or do anything toward us that is good, instead we ought to be objects of His wrath.

-In humility you also rightly assess who God is—God alone is perfect and holy and righteous. God’s nature and existence is higher than we can comprehend, and due to His perfections He alone is worthy of our honor and glory and devotion and time and worship and praise. He alone is King. He alone is the center of the universe and of our lives.

-In humility you rightly assess the gospel message—God so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus as the sacrifice on the cross. Jesus was our substitute for the penalty we deserve. And God did this not because we were worthy, not because we deserved it, not because we were good or nice. We are not worthy, we do not deserve it, and we are not good. But God did this out of grace—God did this out of His mercy and love toward us.

-In humility you rightly assess your actions and attitudes—You call sin in your life for what it is. Stop making excuses. Stop justifying yourself. Your sin is sin no matter what you call it or how you want to paint it. Instead of defending your sin, confess it for what it is—it is rebellion against a holy God.

~Stop excusing your sin by saying—WELL EVERYBODY IS A SINNER. Yes, everybody is a sinner, but that doesn’t make it right. You take responsibility for yourself rather than trying to pass it off on other people.

~That’s humility

b) Pray

-Praying isn’t like driving up to a drive-thru at McDonalds or Burger King and giving your order, getting it your way, paying for it, and then driving away

~Prayer is a communion and a communication with God where you earnestly implore Him as you approach the throne of grace. And as much as you talk and ask, you also listen and obey.

-Prayer is not some flippant BLESS THIS OR THAT, or GIVE ME THIS OR THAT, it is agonizing with God because of the burden you have for His glory and the good of the people.

-Let’s be honest, the 21st century church has pushed prayer to the wayside so that he or she can fill the building with fluff, and the 21st century Christian has pushed prayer to the wayside so that he or she can entertain themselves to death.

-Yet, without prayer we are set adrift in a tumultuous sea of uncertainty and chaos. When we don’t pray we are telling God that we think we know better and we can do it ourselves. How dangerous!

-But if we want to see change, if we want to see God’s power at work, we must pray.

Matthew Henry stated: "When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is set them a-praying."

Leonard Ravenhill wrote, "the man who can get believers to praying would, under God, usher in the greatest revival that the world has ever known."

A. T. Pierson wrote, "From the day of Pentecost, there has been NOT ONE great spiritual awakening in any land which has not begun in a UNION OF PRAYER”

John Wesley said: "Have you any days of fasting and prayer? Storm the throne of grace and persevere therein, and mercy will come down."

-It is the greatest understatement to say prayer is important—part of repentance is agonizing in prayer

c) Seek God’s Face

-As I think our experience has borne out, people don’t seek God until they need Him. We set God to the side until a crisis comes, and then we decide to seek Him.

-How would you feel if your spouse, your kids, your boss, your coworkers, your friends completely ignored you until they needed you to do something for them. That would be quite insulting, wouldn’t it? How much more should God be insulted for the way we have treated Him?

-As long as we were cruising along just fine, we left God in the corner. Now look at us!

-And yet, here is how good our God is—even after all these years of being ignored, God still loves us and God is still listening.

~But when we come out on the other side of this crisis, we better not stop seeking God, but continue to seek Him like we are right now with all earnestness. Let this be the catalyst for a change in our lifestyle in the way we approach God.

-Now, to seek God is to seek being in His presence in prayer and study. Not just a quick 5-minute devotional, and then OK, I’M DONE, I CAN GET ON WITH MY LIFE kind of situation. It is a daily, if not moment by moment seeking His presence in the ebb and flow of our lives.

-We are told:

Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV)

29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

-Let that be the church from now on

d) Turn from your wicked ways

-Turn from your sin. Admit that your sin is sin, confess that sin to God, and turn away from it and don’t go back.

-If you were driving down the road and you came across a sign that said that the bridge was out in a mile, and there were barriers blocking your way, would you continue to go down that street, bust through the barricade, and keep going to your death?

~Of course not. You would turn around and go in the other direction. Then why do you persist in continuing on the road of sin?

-As I mentioned earlier, don’t excuse it, don’t defend it, don’t blame it on somebody else, turn from it. There is no repentance without the turning from sin.

-When you find things in your life that clearly go against the Bible and go against God’s commands and laws, then that is something to turn from right now. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Turn from it right now. Stop doing whatever it is that rebels against the Lord.

-True repentance means humility, prayer, seeking God’s face, and turning from our wicked ways. This is the call God is giving to the church right now.

-Yes, God wants all people to repent and all to believe. But God is giving this message to the church—to believers in Jesus. Repent of your sins.

~What is going on in the world may or may not be His discipline, but it is possible because God does discipline His church. So, our only available response is to repent.

III) The church will face consequences for its choices

-God tells Solomon that after repentance, if Solomon and the people of Israel would then continue walking in God’s ways, continue obeying His commandments and statutes, then God will bless.

-That doesn’t mean that everything will be just fine in this world, but God will bless spiritually and we will see God’s Word alive and active in our lives.

-But God warns that if we persist in turning aside from His Word and forsaking His statutes and turn back to the idols that we have placed before Him in our lives, then the discipline will only be that much worse.

-In the book of Revelation Jesus warned the churches that without repentance He would snuff out their candle—Jesus will shut the door on the church. Jesus would rather close a church than allow persistent rebellion and disobedience to continue. Jesus would rather close a church than let it dishonor Him.

-God told Solomon that Israel and the temple would become a laughingstock, a byword, an example of judgment. And people would know why they were judged—because they turned their back on their God.

-The same will happen to the church—if we don’t repent and turn from our idols and follow God in obedience, then we will not have taken away from this crisis what God wants us to learn

-Now, listen to me church—when we are blessed to be able to come together again in fellowship, we cannot go back to church as normal or we will get back to right where we have been. When we come back together there needs to be a change of attitude, a change of focus, a change of priorities, a change of perspective.

~We can no longer just glide along…we can no longer just live for the American dream…we must humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and turn from our wicked ways otherwise God will have no choice but to discipline us.

Conclusion

-So, church, if we are to take away what God wants us to take away now is the time to repent. Take time today to humble yourself before God, pray to Him, seek God’s face, confess and turn from your sin and ask for Holy Spirit power to live in obedience to Him. Stop making excuses for yourself.

-But there may be some who are not Christians, who have never trusted in Christ. Listen to me, you will never do enough good to get to heaven. You will never have enough religion to get to heaven. God’s wrath is fully upon you.

~But God so loved you that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross to take your punishment. Repent, turn from your wickedness, and believe that Jesus died for you and you will be saved. Call out to Him right now to save you, because He is the only One who can. That is what God wants you to take away from this crisis and this message.

~If you have trusted in Jesus or want to know more about trusting in Jesus...