July 5, 2026 | Worship is Our Work

This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and have revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

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, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

You may be seated.

Well, we have some special guests here this morning.

Came all the way from Cambodia to be with us.

And I'd like to call the rest of the family up.

We've got Zach and Noelle Slagle here with their four children.

Zach and Noelle have been serving in Cambodia.

It started many years ago.

They originally served in Cambodia doing church planting until they were called to move and serve in Albania for another five years, starting a house church, and also providing soul care to other missionaries and local leaders in that region.

And then most recently they've gone back to their old home, their home away from home, Cambodia, to serve.

Once again, Zach is serving as a priest in two international congregations there in Cambodia, providing spiritual formation and soul care to people in that congregation, but also other pastors, Cambodian pastors that are being raised up by God.

Noelle has had an opportunity to expand her work beyond being a great mom to serving as a mental health counselor in a local counseling center, working with children and other families that need God's comfort, care, and guidance.

This family has laid down an awful lot for Jesus, and it's an honor to have them here in the house today.

Zach's going to be bringing the word of God to us and sharing a little bit about what God is doing in Cambodia that we've been a part of because this church, St.

Paul's, has supported them for the last six years, and we're a part.

We're a part of that story in a beautiful way.

Before he ascends to the pulpit, would love for our church family just to pray for them and their family.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you so much for this family.

We thank you for your calling for the mission and purpose that you have, not just for them individually, but them as a family.

Thank you for how this family has revealed the light of Christ in so many different ways to people who are hungry, to people who are thirsty.

We pray for your provision in their lives, that we continue to be their protector, to continue to be their provider, continue to make your face to shine upon them even in dark places, even in troubling and difficult times and seasons, to continue to speak your voice clearly into their hearts, into their minds, not just for Zack and Noelle, but their children as well, for whom you have a great plan and purpose for each of their lives, to continue to guide and direct their paths.

All for your sake, Jesus, for your glory and for their blessing and benefit.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

And you know what's funny about this church, I think I'll always be known as the Chick-fil-A guy.

Some of you know that story.

It's maybe a little inside joke, but if you don't know the story, come ask me about it after the service and I'll tell you about the Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets that traversed many hours to Albania.

Joking aside, though, yeah, it's a real joy to be here.

And I and I know that this passage that Clay read is a real sweet story for me.

I've been sitting with it for the last several years in numerous ways, and I think it's apt for not only our family, but also for your family at this point in time.

I know it's bittersweet with T and Libby's last Sunday being last week.

We miss them, and I know all of you miss them as well.

And times like this sometimes can feel a bit uncertain or unsettled in our souls.

And we can wonder, like, Lord, what do we do in situations that can feel unsettling to us?

And so I want to look at this story a little bit.

I think we all can relate, right, in some way or another, in situations where things come up in our lives, and we're like, Lord, I don't know what to do here.

I think I feel that every day of my life in some capacity.

Some things seem little, some things seem huge.

And I think God's invitation for us, come to me.

It's the gospel reading too that Cindy read, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.

So we're gonna look at this story a little bit from 2 Chronicles, and I want us to think about like this theme of worship being our work.

So when we think about our roles and our jobs and our lives, how is worship our work kind of laced throughout our lives?

So to begin with, I want to just ask a couple of questions for you to consider as I look at this text.

These questions are: what do you do when you're afraid?

What does trusting God look like in uncertain times in our lives?

Are we willing to seek out God above all other gods in our lives?

And then how do we respond when God answers our prayers, provides deliverance, gifts us with discernment and wisdom?

See, I think the answer to these questions in our own lives kind of indicates the posture of our hearts.

And I think the posture of our hearts matters so much to our loving Father God.

So I want to begin looking at a couple examples of two kings.

So I think we can relate to these kings, Asa and Jehoshaphat, in a number of ways.

We're gonna look more specifically at Jehoshaphat's response to national tragedy coming up, but his father was King Asa.

And often, if you're a father or a mother, or if you're a child, you know that we can often follow in the footsteps of our parents, right, for good or for worse.

And so I want to read a couple examples of this is a little caricature of King Asa and Jehoshaphat, just to give us a sense that, like, hey, we're actually like these kings of Judah in many ways.

We're not so far removed.

And so I'm gonna read a few short passages of Asa so you can get a sense of his heart and then also Jehoshaphat's heart and how God responds to kind of two very different directions that they've taken in their lives.

So King Asa, he did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, and he commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandments.

And here's an example of what he did.

Zara the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men in 300 chariots, and they came as far as Maresha.

When Asa went out to meet them, they drew their lines for battle.

Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and he said, O Lord, there is none like you to help.

Between the mighty and the weak, help us, O Lord our God, for we have come against this multitude.

O Lord, you are our God, let not man prevail against you.

So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Esau and before Judah, and they fled.

In response, here's what God does: He sends Hanani the seer to King Asa, and he says, Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.

Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen?

Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

You have done foolishly in this, and from now on you will have wars.

One hand he trusts God and he relies on him in the middle of an army that's so much bigger and vaster.

And then the next moment, seemingly unconceivably, he calls up Ben Hadad and says, Hey, I need help.

His son Joseph now.

The Lord was with Jehosaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David.

He didn't seek the Baals, but he sought the God of his father, and he walked in his commandments, not according to the practices of Israel.

His heart was courageous in all the ways of the Lord.

But then he made a marriage alliance with King Ahab of Israel, and he listened to the false prophets, and he went up to fight the Syrians.

In response, another prophet, actually Jehu, the son of Hanan, came to him and he said, Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?

Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.

Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroy the Asheroth out of the land, and you set your heart to seek God.

See, I just want to acknowledge we, just like Asa and Jehosaphat, can be forgetful people.

We can forget the realities of God's provision, his abundant faithfulness, and we can worry and get afraid, and we can reach out to human leaders, we can reach out to our in our own strength and think that, well, somehow I can conjure up the ability to overcome these odds against me.

Somehow I can do enough internet research to figure out what diagnosis I need to give my child medically, right?

We can just get into this flux of being afraid.

So we're not so different than King Esau and Jehoshaphat.

But praise God that he does not waffle in his relationship with us.

He's faithful even when we're not.

And so I want to look at this passage that describes what happens when a leader cries out in desperation on behalf of his people before God and see how God responds to Jehosaphat.

Let me offer up a brief prayer and then we'll look at this text.

Father, we need you.

We love you.

Sometimes we have disordered affections that we need you to order in our lives.

And I pray as we sit and listen to your word, it would be your words that ring forth from my mouth and not my own, Lord.

Speak to us in each of our situations that we are currently in, and give us the humility to cry out to you and say, We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

Amen.

So the context is Clay read: you've got these descendants from Esau, the land of Edom, Moabites, Ammonites, and Mewites.

And these three nations get together, and these are some of the nations that God would not let Israel invade or traverse when they were going to the promised land of Cana.

And there's this sense that Jehoshaphat is like, this is how these guys repay us.

They're coming together against us.

So it's three pretty powerful nations, and they've gotten together, and they're thinking, probably rightfully so, in the worldly eyes, we can go and take on the nation of Judah.

So this great multitude is coming, armed for battle, and they're not too far away.

Jehoshaphat gets this word, and I wonder what you would do if you were in Jehosaphat's shoes at this point in time?

What would be your next step?

Would you choose to ready the military?

Would you choose to run as fast as you can in the other direction away from this horde that's coming?

Or would you probably, like me, ruminate on every single possible option that we could take to face this army?

Well, here's what Jehoshaphat chose to do, and I think this really speaks to what God has called all of us to do in the face of not just national tragedies, but concerns, challenges in our own lives.

Here's what Jehoshaphat does.

He first relies on God.

Secondly, he recalls God's promises and faithfulness.

Thirdly, he responds in worship.

And fourthly, he returns with great joy and gratitude.

So the first thing he does, he relies on God.

Verses three and four.

Jehoshaphat does not feign the fact that he's afraid.

He doesn't get up there and give some speech of, like, all will be well, we're good, we're in good hands, we're fine, we're strong enough.

It says he was afraid, and he set his face to seek the Lord.

And then he proclaimed a fast throughout the whole land of Judah.

And everybody in Judah came to the temple in Jerusalem.

They gathered together to pray and to fast and to seek the Lord and to acknowledge we're powerless here, God.

We don't know what to do in this situation.

So it was customary in biblical times for kings to proclaim fasts in times of corporate calamity.

And this is one of those cases, it's an existential threat that their nation is faced with.

They're heavily outnumbered.

The odds were not in their favor.

Hunger Games fans, right?

The odds are not in their favor.

So they all came together to the temple in Jerusalem, the youngest to the oldest.

And Jehoshaphat is leading by example, relying on the only one who can bring salvation to them.

My friend in Cambodia calls this praying our fears.

Looking at verse 12, this is what he says, O our God, will you not execute judgment on them?

For we are powerless against this great horde that's coming against us.

We do not know what to do, but our eyes, our eyes are looking at you.

Jehoshaphat doesn't pretend to be able to know what to do here.

He realizes they're outnumbered, they can't repel this army, so he doubles down and he acknowledges his reliance on God.

And he, along with the whole nation of Judah, turned to him in times of great desperation.

He relies on God, he seeks God out, he acknowledges his insufficiencies and his inadequacies.

Secondly, he recalls God's promises of the past.

Verses five through nine.

Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court, and he said, O God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven?

You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, in your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.

Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land, your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend?

And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, pestilence, famine, we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house.

And we will cry out to you in our afflictions, and you will hear, and you will save.

Jehoshaphat acknowledges God's lordship, he remembers God's faithfulness, and he appeals to the very character of God in this text.

This is a cross-reference to what Solomon's prayer of dedication.

I won't read that right now, but his prayer of dedicating the temple in 1 Kings 8 is along these same lines.

When these things happen to us, we will come to this place and you will bring deliverance.

See, Jehoshaphat leads this grounded commitment to the Lord in the face of their national crisis.

They're not like I would be doing floundering around, running around, trying to get all my ducks in a row and trying to figure out what's the plan here.

They know their plan when struggle and trial comes.

And it's to say we don't know what to do, God.

We pour our hearts out to you.

We trust in your faithfulness and your goodness.

We acknowledge you've always been faithful, even though we're so prone to forget.

What I love about this is Jehoshaphat's praying this heart out of his to the Lord.

In verse 13, it says, Meanwhile, so while Jehoshaphat is doing this, all of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, with their wives, with their children, and they waited.

Something that every American loves to do is wait.

Everyone was here and they were all standing in attention.

They were all waiting for God to do something, waiting for the Lord to direct their steps.

And I think there's this commitment that they were not going to move forward in any way until God did something.

Perhaps they're recalling these lovely verses from Psalm 27.

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life.

Of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me and eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.

Though war rise against me, yet I will be confident.

Verse 14 and 15 the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel.

Jehaziel was a worship leader for Israel.

And he said, Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat.

Thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours.

The battle's God's.

This is a cross-reference to the parting of the Red Sea when Moses said to the people, Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today.

The Egyptians came, who you see today, you'll never see them again.

The Lord will fight for you.

You only have to be silent.

I wonder how often in my own life and in your lives as well that God is longing to provide some kind of solution.

To a problem, a plea, a prayer that we have.

And yet, because I am so quick to often take matters into my own hands and to think that this is the right plane of action, God allows me to walk, allows you to walk in your chosen path.

But I wonder if he wants to do something unique and different.

And I wonder what that would be like if we would wait for him to move.

And I'll get to that in just a moment.

Verse 17, Jahaziel says again, you will not need to fight this battle.

Stand firm, hold your positions, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.

Again, do not be afraid.

Do not be dismayed.

Tomorrow go out against them.

And God gives this promise the Lord will be with you.

Do you know what the most common command in Scripture is?

It's do not be afraid.

Take courage.

Don't fear.

Fear not.

That's the most common command all throughout Scripture.

Don't be afraid.

And I think it shows the importance and desire that God has for us to exercise faith over anxiety.

So Jehoshaphat recalls the faithfulness of God, and they wait on God to move.

And thirdly, Jehoshaphat responds in worship to this word from God, and he leads everyone else to do the same.

Verse 18 and 19.

Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, this posture of humility and gratitude.

And all of Judah and Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.

The Levites, the Koathites, the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

And I think a big part of this praise in worship is the it's the withness of God that leads them to worship.

God says, I'm going with you.

You're not going to be alone.

The withness of God leads them to worship.

Verse 20.

Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Believe in the Lord your God and you will be established.

Believe in his prophets and you will succeed.

This is this rallying cry that worship is our work.

Our work is to believe.

Our work is to be vulnerable and say, I need help.

Which, if you're anything like me, it can feel like the hardest work of all, can't it?

Because at least I often live as if the outcome of all my problems depends on me.

Depends on us.

What can we do to figure out this problem?

I feel this way often.

But responding in worship releases our hearts to embrace our need of salvation and deliverance from God rather than my own self-sufficiency.

Which I'm sorry to say, that's probably one of the cardinal sins for most of us from the West.

Self-sufficiency.

Control.

I can do this myself.

So, following the word of God spoken to Jehaziel, listen to what Jehosaphat decides to do as his battle strategy.

Verses 21 and 22.

When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire.

And they went before the army.

And they were to say, Give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever.

And when they began to sing in praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah so that they were routed.

I wonder if you would have chosen this battle strategy.

See, we're going to send our worshipers out before the front lines in the army, and they're going to sing and praise God, and that's what we're going to do.

Probably not.

But we also remember that God does some really interesting things, right?

Like when Joshua was fighting the Amalekites, if you remember this story, it was only when Moses had his hands raised that Joshua and his army were winning.

And his hands got tired, right?

And so Aaron and Hur had to come and prop him up on a stone and hold his hands up.

And that's how the battle was won against the Amalekites.

It wasn't necessarily because Joshua had the better army.

I want to bring our attention that it's when the people began to sing in praise that God set the ambush.

The worshipers are praising God, attributing to him the glory that is due his name.

And that's when he caused this ruckus and confusion in the armies, and they destroyed themselves.

And what's the outcome?

We didn't read this, but the outcome is Jehoshaphat leads a procession, returning back to the temple where they began with great joy and gladness and gratitude.

Verses 25 to 28 says, They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much.

On the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Baraka, for there they blessed the Lord.

Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Baraka today.

They returned every man of Judah in Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with great joy, for the Lord hath made them rejoice over their enemies.

The Valley of Baraka was named that very day.

This is now the Valley of Blessing the Lord.

Jehoshaphat brings the people back.

They were filled with joy and gratitude, and they returned to the place they started, the temple of God, with worship and joy.

The summary of the story is they gather all together.

They fast and they pray.

They say, We don't know what to do.

This national tragedy is upon us.

They relied on God, they recalled his plans of salvation and his faithfulness of the past, and they waited for God to move.

And upon receiving this word from God, they worshiped, they praised, they thanked God, they looked to him, they trusted in him.

And when he answered, they were grateful.

They were thankful.

The nation saw the salvation of God and they didn't dare to come against.

That's what the word says, right?

Verse 30.

They didn't dare to come against the nation of Judah anymore.

And all of the land had rest during Jehoshaphat's reign.

So, what does a story mean for each of us?

What are some applications that we can take from the story?

Because I would guess we're probably not going to face a giant horde of Canadians and Mexicans coming against our land, right?

Or the British, right, James?

We're not going to face this horde of people in our own lives necessarily like Jehosaphat did.

So what does the story mean for us?

Well, I think firstly we are called to seek God and admit our needs.

And I would argue that seeking God, inviting people into your story, your life in community is such an important way to do this.

Seeking God in community and in fellowship with other believers, this is discernment.

What is God up to?

What is he leading us to do?

How do we hear from him?

How do we pay attention to his movements in our lives?

And then vulnerably saying with humility, God, I don't have the answers.

I don't know what to do, acknowledging our need for God to work.

We can also remember his faithfulness.

As I mentioned earlier, it's so easy, right, in the middle of stress and anxiety and things that come against us like right away, to forget God's faithfulness in the past and to just assume I have to figure this out right now.

And that causes me a lot of stress and anxiety, probably you too, if you feel like it's all on your shoulders.

But remembering reminds us that God is always with us, He's always with you.

Whether you feel his presence or not.

And he's always been and always will be faithful to you in the ways he deems right and appropriate.

Thirdly, we can pray and wait for God to answer.

And I think this is a key part for all of us when we face huge, insurmountable odds and trials, or things that seem maybe small-ish in your life, but still cause restlessness or lack of sleep or fear.

It's this place of waiting.

And I think this is what grounds us in trusting God.

And this looks different for each person.

God will move in your life differently than he moves in my life.

And it's key to pay attention to the movements of God, the invitations of his spirit for us.

What are we paying attention to?

Are we willing to wait and say, I'm not moving forward until I sense it's time to make this decision?

And so I think this space of waiting, prayer, discernment is really important for us to open our hearts and our minds to him.

And then we can look to and come to Jesus.

It's Hebrews 12, right?

Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

It's the coming to him, all who are weary.

We've all been in these seasons of weariness, longing to find that true soul rest.

And Jesus offers us that.

Come to me.

This is what I give to you.

So trusting in God in the middle of trials and difficulties in your life doesn't mean just sitting by yourself and waiting for God to do some miracle.

That's not what I'm saying.

But I'm also saying it doesn't mean running ahead of God and saying, like, I've got all the answers myself.

It means acknowledging that his ways are often not our ways.

It means pausing enough to be still, to bring our concerns and our questions to him, often with others, and discerning how, God, are you working in this situation and what's our next step from here?

And then when he does provide answers to your prayers, direction for your steps, peace, healing, I encourage you not to forget that our worship is our work and our gratitude is often our response.

Worship is our work, and gratitude is our response.

Invite us just to sit for 30 seconds to a minute in silence to let God speak to each of us, and then I'll close us in prayer.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We worship you and we give you thanks.

And we thank you that you look upon us in the gaze of love, that you've created us and knit us together for relationship with you.

You long to meet us in our times of suffering and loss, questions of life, worries of the world.

It's a place where you shine, God.

And I pray that you would give us the grace to look to you, to set our eyes on you, Lord, to not turn our heads to the right or to the left, be strong and courageous in our faith, to acknowledge your goodness and your grace.

Thank you that we have a family, a family of God that we can journey through life with.

And I bless these men, women, and children of St.

Paul's, God, that you would have your face shine upon them.

That you would meet with each of them and their stories of their life.

And I pray, God, for some amazing ways that you would speak and act on their behalf so that they would know that there is a God in heaven and He's come to earth.

Journey with us.

That you've now indwelt us by your spirit.

Thank you for this time together.

And I pray in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Um, I'll just share just for like one or two minutes before I lead us in the Nicene Creed together.

Um, as Clay mentioned, we've been in Cambodia uh for this past year after having lived there for eight years, and it really feels like coming home for our family back to Asia, a place that we love.

Um, thank you for praying for us and for supporting us in this journey.

Just want to acknowledge that this is our ministry together and not just our ministry.

And you all are a part of that through your prayers and faithfulness to us.

Um, a lot of what I shared from this section of scripture is what Noelle and I tried to sit with people in in Cambodia through the various losses and struggles and trials of life there.

As Noelle does so in a clinical counseling setting and me in a pastoral and spiritual direction way.

Um, we really are thankful for the way that God meets people.

And so I just pray for you all too, as you sit with people, as you're present, like don't mitigate the reality of your presence being an image bearer of God, bearing of the Holy Spirit, to sit with people, to journey with people in your own stories, in your own lives.

And please thank you for continuing to pray for Noelle and I and our kids as we return in about a month back to Cambodia for another school year, another church year, for whatever God has for us there.

So love to chat more after the service if you'd like to ask us any questions.

We have a newly minted prayer card with my family here that's back in the back.

You can pick one of those up to as a reminder to pray for us.

So thank you so much for the space and time for welcoming us and our family so well here.