Putting God First Again

November 24^th, 2019     “Putting God First Again”   Rev. Heather Jepsen

2 Kings 22:1-23:3

         As you know, this fall instead of preaching the revised common lectionary which is full of gospel readings we are familiar with, we have been making our way through the narrative lectionary.  Unlike the traditional form of preaching where each Sunday is a separate encounter with the text, in the narrative lectionary each Sunday builds on the last.  This larger scope helps us tell the story of God’s love for God’s people as it is told through the dramatic story arc of the Bible as a whole.

         Earlier this fall we read about the forming of the nation of Israel, a special people who would be in covenant with God.  These past few weeks we have been reading about the struggles of this fledging nation as they continue to fall into sinful patterns.  In the prophet Hosea we read about God’s heartbreak at the people’s unfaithfulness and yet also of God’s compassion.  In the prophet Isaiah last Sunday we read about God’s disappointment as the people have turned rotten like a field of sour grapes.  Today’s reading is from the historical book of 2 Kings and gives us a glimpse of what is happening in the nation of Israel.  Time wise we are about a generation after our readings from last week.

         The Northern kingdom of Israel is gone, having been destroyed by the Assyrians.  Only the Southern kingdom of Judah remains and it is a mess.  If you have your Bible open you can look back at chapter 21 and read about one of the worst kings Judah ever had, Manasseh.  Manasseh could care less about God’s covenant with the people; he was only interested in bowing down to whatever were the most powerful gods of the day.  He filled the temple with the idols of Baal and Asherah, he made his son a sacrifice, and he followed all the false wizards and mediums.  Even the most sacred spaces within the temple he defiled with altars to other gods.  Manasseh wrecked the place and no one but God cared.

         Josiah, from our reading today, is Manasseh’s grandson and unlike his father and grandfather, he has a heart for the Lord.  He begins his rule by fixing up the temple.  Sparing no expense he sends workers to repair the temple and bring the place back to its former glory.  In the process a book is discovered and this will change everything.

         Scholars think that the book they found was probably some form of Deuteronomy containing the laws that Moses gave the people at the foot of Mount Sinai.  As the book is read to the king he is overcome with grief.  Imagine how far astray the nation of Israel has gone.  The religion is lost, the books are lost, and no one knows what they are supposed to be doing or how they are supposed to be following God.  Josiah is heartbroken at the discovery of this book and he tears his clothes in grief.

         Josiah doesn’t know what to do, so he sends for a prophet.  And who is this prophet?  Huldah, a woman, a prophetess!  (Take that all you folks who say women can’t lead in the church!)  The message that the prophetess delivers from God is that it is too late.  The wrath of God is coming now and nothing can stop it.  Josiah’s heart is pure, and he should follow through on his reforms, but the nation will be destroyed anyway.

         Josiah accepts this word and leads the people in a great reformation.  He reads the law book before all the people, both small and great.  He makes covenant on behalf of the people that the nation of Israel will follow the path of God once again.  And then he gets busy.  In the parts after our reading we find that Josiah clears out the temple.  He destroys all the monuments to false gods, grinding them into nothing so they can never be used for idolatry again.  He gets rid of the high priests who have worshiped other gods, he clears the temple grounds of the religious prostitutes who have been housed there, he gets rid of anything that has the name of other gods on it including horses and chariots, altars and pillars. 

Across the nation Josiah wipes the place clean of any idolatry, from false altars to false priests and wizards.  And when he is done, the nation celebrates the Passover, a tradition they had long forgotten and ignored.  It is a complete reformation and re-embracing of the covenant.  It is a complete turnaround as the nation once again commits to the worship of God.

         I think as modern Americans we don’t have a lot of sympathy for the people of Israel.  “Those silly Israelites and their false gods” we think, “I wouldn’t be tempted to worship Baal and Asherah.  Why are they always doing the wrong thing?”  I don’t think we realize how much we are like the Israelites, and how much we worship the Baals and Asherahs of our day.

         Baal is a weather god.  He was in charge of lightening, wind, rain, and fertility.  The weather is about crops, and in an agrarian society crops are about sustenance and money.  Baal is money.  And Asherah is the same.  She is the female companion to Baal and worship of her is all about sex and fertility.  So sex and money, that’s what we’re talking about.  The people of Israel were led astray by worshiping the idols of sex and money.  Doesn’t sound so foreign now, does it? 

Not only that but Baal and Asherah were the gods of the neighboring countries who were more powerful than the Israelites.  To worship them was to worship their power and to align oneself with the power of nations outside Israel.  So money, sex, and power; I think that about covers our idols today as well.

         The people of Israel were no different than us.  God made covenant for their loyalty, and instead the people made altars to money, sex, and power.  Money, sex, and power were not just outside the church, they were inside it as well.  These elements were at play in all aspects of the life of the Israelites, and that’s what broke God’s heart.  Over and over again God called the people back in love, but over and over again the people loved money, sex, and power instead.

         In the story we are telling today, the people have completely forgotten about what God really wanted of them.  There were going to the temple, saying they were worshipping God, but in the temple they only found money, sex, and power instead.  The priests had lost their way and the temple had become a false church.  The people forgot God.

         When the temple is repaired and restored, they find the book of Deuteronomy and they remember God.  Do you remember Deuteronomy?  We read it in early October.  Moses was with the new generation on the edge of the Promised Land and he said “God is making this covenant not with our ancestors but with all of us here, alive today.”  Do you remember that sermon?  Or have you already forgotten the covenant that God was making with you?  With us?  Remember these words, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”  That wasn’t even two months ago.  How easy we forget.

           In the cacophony of things which demand our attention, it is easy to forget the Lord.  In a nation that worships the idols of money, sex, and power it is easy to forget the Lord.  Just like the people of Israel we live in a world of competing loyalties.  Social, economic, and political forces demand our attention all the time.  And with the ever present pinging of our smart phones there is literally no escape.  All the idols are there for you 24/7; money, sex, and power on tap.  The silence of prayer doesn’t hold a candle to our world of instant gratification.  It can be hard to know who or what really matters.  It can be hard to know where to place our loyalties. 

         The people found the book of Deuteronomy and they remembered who they were.  They remembered who God was, promises that were made, and what God required of them.  They made reformations and cleaned things up.  They stood convicted of their sins and they put God first again.

         We too, have these moments of repentance.  We have these opportunities to turn ourselves around.  We have the chance to hear the words of the scriptures convicting us and calling us back to God.  We have the ability to cleanse our lives of the competing gods of money, sex, and power and to make our hearts shrines to the Lord again instead.

         When we offer our pledges in worship, we recommit to living our lives according to the Biblical witness.  10 percent of everything we have belongs to God, the Bible is clear that God demands a tithe.  While we may not be able to offer a full tithe today, we can make a step by offering what we can.  We give what we are able to share to the work of God’s good church.  And we tithe our time as well.  10 percent of my days I will spend in the service of God and others.  Today we make a commitment to wean ourselves off of the worship of money, sex, and power.  Today we make a commitment to put God first again.

         The hard part about the story of Josiah is that it is not enough.  Josiah does everything he can to bring the people back into alignment with God but it is not enough.  Remember the prophetess Huldah says that God will indeed bring disaster on Judah.  After Josiah dies King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon rides into Jerusalem.  He will destroy the temple, smashing to pieces all the holy things dedicated to the Lord.  He will haul all the people away into bondage, from the greatest king to the smallest peasant.  It will be the end of Judah.  Josiah’s repentance and reform cannot stem the tide of destruction that sin has set in motion. 

         And Josiah knows this, the prophetess told him.  And he followed through on his reforms anyway, because he loved God and he loved the people.  Josiah’s actions make a difference in the lives of individuals but they cannot save the nation.  So too our actions today.  The story of Josiah is a reminder that we cannot earn our salvation from sin.  There will have to be something else.  God will need to do something else in this story if these people are to be saved. 

         The stage is being set for something different in the relationship between God and God’s people.  Mike hinted at it with his reading from Luke today.  As we turn our hearts toward Advent next Sunday we will get an idea of where God’s love is heading and what plans God has for our future.  In the meantime, we have an opportunity today, to make a reform.  Like Josiah, we can say no to the idols of money, sex, and power.  Like Josiah we can make a recommitment to following the ways of the Lord.  By offering our hearts, our pledges, our lives; today we have a chance to put God first again.  Let’s not waste this opportunity.  Amen.