Mt. Zion Church of the Holy Spirit - Sermons
The Jehoash Tragedy
When we look at the account of the life and reign of King Jehoash we see a very sorrowful tragedy. Jehoash was a king who had a great ministry unto the Lord, but his life ended in tragedy. The closing verses of both 2 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 24 tells us that King Jehoash rebelled against the Lord, became very bitter toward the voice of God’s spiritual authority, and gave heed to other voices that were not the Lord’s, and it brought him to his own destruction.
BEFORE WE SEE WHAT WAS AT THE HEART OF THIS TRAGEDY, LET US FIRST LOOK AT JEHOASH’S SERVICE TO THE LORD.
- Jehoash was under godly authority: 2 Kings 12:1a, 2 — "In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, …And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him." Jehoash was under the godly leadership of Jehoiada the priest, whose name means to know God. This priest knew God, not just in name but in heart. In 2 Kings 11, we see that Jehoiada took a very strong stand against the idolatry that was plaguing the land of Judah, breaking down the house of Baal and declaring the Lord to be God over Judah. Jehoash was sitting under a godly authority who knew the ways of the Lord. This should be the cry of every child of God - to be set under a godly leadership, whether in a church or ministry. They should not sit under a leadership who will minister to the ambitions and desires of their own hearts, but one who truly knows the heart and ways of the Lord.
- Jehoash was teachable and obedient: 2 Kings 12:2 — "And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him." Jehoash listened to the counsel of the spiritual authority God placed over his life.
- Jehoash had a zeal for the temple of the Lord: 2 Kings 12:4, 5 — "And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought unto the house of the Lord, even the money that cometh into any man’s heart to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance; and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found." Here we see King Jehoash repairing the temple of the Lord to again make it a place of worship. Remember, the Old Testament temple represents the heart of the New Testament believer. This should be the cry of every child of God, “Father, place me under a godly authority where you can truly work in my heart and I can grow."
- Jehoash was submissive to his spiritual authority: 2 Chronicles 24:3 — "And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters." Now we do not believe in polygamy, but here is what I want us to see: Jehoiada was a righteous man, and for certain reasons he chose two godly women for Jehoash to marry. Jehoash was submissive to his choice.
- Jehoash possessed a heart of worship: 2 Chronicles 24:14b — "…And Jehoash offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada." Looking at these five truths regarding King Jehoash, I believe with all my heart Jehoash was sincere in all of these things - in his obedience, submission to his spiritual authority and in his worship. Looking at all of this, the question has to come to our hearts - how is it possible that he could come to such a tragic ending? We begin to find our answer in 2 Kings 12:2, 3 — "And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places." There was one command from Jehoiada that Jehoash did not adhere to and give over to the Lord - idolatry. Jehoiada was a godly priest who hated idolatry and we can be very sure he addressed this, but Jehoash chose not to listen. Why? Maybe because he wanted to appease the people. He had a "live and let live" attitude. "If you want to worship Jehovah, I repaired the temple and you have the temple to worship in. If you want to worship another god, you have your high places." Whether this is the reason Jehoash chose to listen or not, my point is that this area of idolatry he chose not to give over to the Lord.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO US TODAY?
One of the greatest forms of idolatry today is personal ambition. Most Christians who desire to walk with God are not going to bow down to the world’s idols, but sometimes our own personal ambitions can find a hiding place in our hearts. We can be obedient in every other area, embracing self-denial in every other area, but this one area we choose to hold on to.
Why can we be blind to this area of personal ambition? Because this ambition can revolve around ministry and the work of the Lord, we can be blinded to our own ambitions. We feel in our hearts that since it involves being in a particular position in ministry or being used in a particular way in ministry, then it must be from the Lord. In reality, if it is an ambition or a desire in our heart that is not from the Lord, then we do not fully desire that Christ be glorified, and we have an underlying motive that we are blinded to. In reality, it is for our own selfish reasons. Sometimes it can simply be because we want to feel successful in the ministry; sometimes we can desire a certain position because we desire to be honored by men.
Sometimes we want to do a great work in the ministry because we want to feel like we are doing something that has great value and worth in the kingdom of God. It all comes out of our own personal ambition, but we can be blinded to it because it involves the work of the Lord.
Here is where the deceit comes in: we can hear a message about walking in obedience and surrender and say in our heart, "Yes! This is God’s word, and I have done this!" because we are walking in obedience to everything else except this one area of ambition that we are blinded to.
LET US ASK A QUESTION: HOW DID JEHOASH TRY TO JUSTIFY THE IDOLATRY HE LEFT IN THE LAND? HOW DID HE TRY TO JUSTIFY THE ONE ISSUE HE WOULD NOT GIVE OVER TO THE LORD?
2 Kings 12:4, 5 — "And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought unto the house of the Lord, and all the money that cometh into any man’s heart to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance; and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found."How? By zeal! It looked as if he possessed a zeal for God’s house and work! I do believe at this time in his life he was very sincere in what he was doing, but this issue in his heart was still there. There are many in the body of Christ who try to justify their ambitions by having a fire in their heart for ministry and the work of the Lord, but it does not change the truth that it is motivated by personal ambition.
SOMETIMES WE CAN BE COMPLETELY BLINDED TO OUR AREA OF PERSONAL AMBITION, SO WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE THAT WE DO HAVE AN ISSUE THAT WE HAVE NOT GIVEN OVER TO THE LORD?
Looking at Jehoiada and Jehoash we see it has everything to do with spiritual authority. God appoints spiritual authority over His people, and He gives that spiritual authority a God-given discernment. If that spiritual authority sees something in our heart and life that we are blinded to that could hinder our walk with the Lord, he/she is going to lovingly confront that issue. Nothing can destroy a person’s life and walk with the Lord like a personal ambition. God will give our spiritual authority eyes to discern it, and when he/she addresses it, we have to hear it in our heart. Instead of becoming defensive because our ambition is being threatened, we have to have an open heart. If our heart is truly toward the Lord then we are going to know if our authority is speaking by the mind of the Lord. If we have that inner-witness of the Spirit of God then we have to take it to heart.
Here is the problem, sometimes we can think in our heart that we have received the correction, but we still end up harboring deep in our hearts resentment toward our authority while still keeping a protective wall around our ambition.
WHAT IS THE DANGER OF HARBORING PERSONAL AMBITION IN MINISTRY?
2 Chronicles 24:17-18a — "Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served groves and idols…"
After Jehoiada died, another voice came to Jehoash. Here is the first thing we have to see: the princes waited until God’s voice of authority died before speaking to Jehoash. They were afraid of the spiritual authority God had given this priest. Today we have to realize the enemy will do everything he can do to pull God’s people out from under God’s appointed leadership so he can speak more loudly into their lives. If we have a personal ambition that we are not giving over to the Lord, the enemy is going to try with all his might to pull us out from under God’s authority so he can have a clear voice into our life.
One of the biggest things he will try to use to pull us out from under God’s appointed authority is resentment. The enemy will try to sow seeds of resentment in our heart toward our God-given authority. If we do not recognize it and give it over to the Lord, eventually it will pull us out. Anyone who has walked with God for a given period of time has seen this. We all know ministers right now who are very zealous in their ministry, but they do not understand they are not in God’s perfect will because they allowed resentment to pull them out from under the godly authority that God Himself had placed them under.
LET US ASK A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: WHAT IS OFTEN THE ROOT OF PERSONAL AMBITION? ARE PEOPLE AMBITIOUS JUST TO BE AMBITIOUS, OR IS THERE A ROOT CAUSE?
Let us go back to when Jehoash was just an infant, and we are going to see something.
2 Chronicles 22:8-12 — "And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he slew them. And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom. But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land."
Jehu was anointed by God to be king over Israel, and his mission from God was to destroy the house of Ahab. When Jehu kills Ahab and his sons, a wicked woman from the house of Ahab rises up to take the throne. In order to preserve her throne, she sets out to kill all the seed of the house of David, that is, anyone who might be the rightful heir to the throne. In order to keep His promise to David, that David would never lack a descendant to sit upon the throne, God miraculously preserved a baby boy named Jehoash, who hid in the Lord’s temple for six years. Here is my point: Athaliah sought to kill Jehoash when he was an infant, and the majority of the house of Judah did not want another king because Athaliah had once more allowed them to worship their pagan idols. In other words, from a child, a stronghold of rejection had taken a deep root in this man’s life. Throughout his reign as king, this root of rejection had never been dealt with in this man’s life. The sad truth is, Jehoash never came into the understanding of the love of God, which is the only power that can uproot the tendrils of rejection that go deep into the heart. When we understand God’s love and acceptance, it heals us from all the pain and hurt of past rejection.
LET US SEE HOW THIS ROOT OF REJECTION PLAYED OUT AT THE END OF HIS LIFE:
2 Chronicles 24:15-18a — "But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house. Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols…"
The Bible says that when Jehoiada was dead, the princes of Judah came to Jehoash and made obeisance to him. The Hebrew word for “obeisance” is Shaw-kaw, which means to worship. Many Jewish historians wrote about this one instance, and they all recorded the same thing in their annuals, that these princes made a graven image of Jehoash, and brought it before him and declared him to be a god. In other words, they are ministering to the rejection in his heart. They are ravishing him with the approval and the acceptance that his heart always longed for. Because he never fully understood the love and acceptance of God he is now receiving it from man.
LET US LOOK AT JEHOASH’S ENDING:
2 Chronicles 24:18 — "And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear."
I want to look at this two ways:
- Jehoash totally rebelled against God. Many who are driven by personal ambition turn bitter and totally rebel against God because He did not give them what they wanted; He did not give them their position of success, honor, popularity or whatever they were seeking in ministry. Eventually they turn bitter in their hearts and leave the Lord.
- Jehoash is flattered by these princes and he gives them what they want. This is another way that I want to look at this regarding a person with personal ambition. The mainstream Christian world gives that ambitious person what they want in ministry because they know that this person will minister to the idols in their own hearts. Beloved, people will elevate you to any position you want as long as you are ministering to the idols and ambitions in their own hearts. In this study, God showed me something: the most popular gospel of the day is a selfish gospel based on money and materialism. Many of its ministers are men and women who have been truly called by God but are being eaten alive by the spirit of rejection because they have never come into the knowledge of the love of God. Many prosperity preachers are truly called by God to preach, but the reason they are blinded to the truth that the prosperity gospel is wrong is because that rejection in their hearts is being ministered to by the masses of people in that movement. The more the spirit of rejection is ministered to, the more blinded they become.
Like Jehoash, the person who has finally achieved their ambition becomes bitter when they hear God’s spiritual voices who preach on self-denial and laying down your own ambitions and seeking God’s will for your life. A resentment and resistance rises up in the heart and they shut their ears to God’s anointed and merciful vessels coming to expose this evil.
WHAT I WANT US TO RECOGNIZE IS THIS: WHETHER WE TURN AND REBEL AGAINST THE LORD BECAUSE HE MERCIFULLY DID NOT ALLOW US TO ACHIEVE OUR AMBITION, OR WE FINALLY DID ACHIEVE OUR AMBITION, IN BOTH CASES, THE KEY WORD IS BITTERNESS.
Bitterness is always the evidence of personal ambition; a desire not given from the Lord will always manifest in bitterness. What we have to learn from Jehoash is that no matter how obedient, surrendered and given over to the Lord we may be, if we do not allow Him to deal with our bitterness and its causes, somewhere down the path it will pull us away from the Lord.
Beloved, be encouraged to know that when we allow God to deal with our bitterness, then we are allowing life to come forth. When we confess and take our bitterness to the cross, like the waters of Marah, we find that the bitter waters are healed and the life of Christ is made manifest in these areas that were once bitter.