Faithful Leadership- Insights from Jehoshaphat's Reforms: 2 Chronicles 19:1-11

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways. Good Man, good morning, we talk through good morning,

Good morning.

Do you man here we are? What is this? Is

this Wednesday?

It's Wednesday.

People are so happy. Oh yeah, I'm sure you're here

in the middle of the week, Right in the middle

of the week. You just made their day.

It's day now.

They're just bopping around all happy because you're saying good

morning to them, good morning. So you're welcome. You are welcome.

Hey, we are the Bible Guys, and we want to

welcome you to this episode. And we are very excited

about this brand new segment that we have to launch indos.

Yeah. So this is called the Alphabet Story. And I

was just talking about this with you. We used to

play this game a little bit on occasion when we

were like on road trips.

I've never played this game.

I haven't played it in years. But an Alphabet Story

is a funny, creative game where we each contribute a

sentence that begins with the next letter of the alphabet,

continue until we've gone through all twenty six letters. So

the goal is to create either a coherent or a

silly absurd story, and a lot of times they're funny

because of the random nature. Letter by letter, yes drives the

next sentence.

Yes.

So, for instance, ABCD, A big elephant wandered into the

town square B. By the time anyone noticed it was

already sitting on the fountain C. Curious onlookers gathered, whispering

and pointing. D Doctor Johnson, the local vet, ran over

to check on it. Right, that that's kind of how

it's supposed to go. So okay, So okay, so we're

gonna do ABC. It'll be a little bit long, so

we're gonna have to well, we have to pop through it.

We have to pop through it. Well, if each of

them has ten seconds apiece, it's still only two hundred

and sixty seconds.

Wow, you did all that? Math?

Never work well? Ten times play six?

Yeah, yeah, I get it, all right, all right, I'm sorry.

Okay, yes, how about that? How about this? A big

dog wandered into the town square because he was looking

for food. Canned food was not his favorite food.

Dogs love.

Meat. Eggs are a good substitute for meat. Good crazy,

This is hard, I know, I know.

Following the dog was a cat.

Oh man, Now, I don't know. I had a theme

for a minute. Going around the hen house. Both the

cat and the dog were looking for eggs.

Hens lay eggs.

In the hen house were lots of eggs.

Just as the dog was walking in the headhouse.

Uh now I got k okak Comma, how do you

start with k on a comma? I know, just as

the just as the dog walked into the henhouse, killing

hens was on his mind.

Nice, nice, there you go.

Little did the dog know, comma, most dogs prefer to

do something else?

Little did the dog know that most dogs prefer to

do something else?

Yeah? Sure, okay, so he's just self centered. He only

thinks what he likes.

Okay, all right. Period.

Never before had the dog and the cat witnessed what

they just saw.

Only for a split second. Was it before their eyes?

Perhaps they were confused?

Quite possibly, I don't know what you think. They saw.

Right as they walked in, they saw an owner chopping

off the head of a chicken.

Seeing this, they ran out of the henhouse, thinking they

were next unless they could find another victim.

Very fast.

They ran very quickly. Oh yeah, yeah, very quickly, wondering

who was going to be next.

Xylophones were all in the streets all around them.

Uh, why what do you say on why xylophones were

in the streets all around them?

Yeah? Sure were Yeah, I.

Don't know, what do you do ru yelling and singing.

They were celebrating their escape.

Bars are the best?

Okay, Yeah, thank goodness, you got z there you go.

That's a hard one. It's hard.

It's really tough.

Okay, And I can imagine in the middle some of

our listeners are like, oh, brother, again, they're going to

be talking about eggs the rest of the day.

Yeah, but you know what, the xylophones turns out they

had nothing to do with the story.

No, as they're running, they were just had to They

just had to dodge.

All these xylophones. Do you know what I think happened?

A xylophone truck tipped over?

Is that what happened?

Yeah?

I think so.

Okay, I'm going to leave it to you on that one.

Yeah.

Uh, speaking of xylophones tipping over.

What what.

If that happened? It would be probably something that had

to be investigated and taken to court, and you'd have

to have a judge making determination as to whose fault

it was that the xylophone truck tipped over. And so

speaking of judges, Jahanshapha had appointed judges in Judah. We

made it, we got there. This is terrible. It might

be time to retire that it might be okay. So

Second Chronicles, chapter nineteen, we're alwaysrying to figure out the

worst transition from these goofy games we do to what

the passage we're talking about today. So that's what that

was about. Second Chronicles, chapter nineteen, Verse one. Jehoshaphat is

the pretty good king of Israel. On occasion, at least

he's wanting to honor the Lord sometimes.

Yeah, well, I think, I think besides his compromise of marrying,

you know, sending a son to marry Ah, I think, honestly,

everything else that's spoken about him in the Old Testament

refers to him as a good king.

So here we have seen Chronicles chapter nineteen, verse one.

It says when King Johosh, I've had a Judah arrived

safely home and drews. Remember he had to run right

because they were trying to kill Ahab, and he praised.

And apparently he turned around and said, it's not me,

it's not me, and they.

All they okay, and then he's afraid and he has

to run. So Jayhu's son of Hanani, the Seer went

out to meet him. Why should you help the wicked

and love those who hate the Lord? He asked the king.

Wait, wait, where are you at?

Set chronicles nineteen?

Oh? You had already read the first sentence?

I sure had. Okay, Sorry, thanks for joining us, Chris,

Thanks for joining us. Why should you help the wicked

and love those who hate the Lord? He asked the king.

Because of what you have done, the Lord is very

angry with you. Even so, there is some good in you,

for you have removed the shaff of holes throughout the land,

and you've committed yourself to seeking God. Josh Fat lived

in Jerusalem, but he went out among the people, traveling

from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, encouraging the

people to return to the Lord, the god of their ancestors.

He appointed judges throughout the nation, in all the fortified towns,

and he said to them, always think carefully before pronouncing judgment.

Remember that you do not judge to please people, but

to please the Lord. He will be with you when

you render the verdict in each case, fear the Lord

and judge with integrity. For the Lord, our God does

not tolerate perverted justice partiality for the taking of bribes

in Jerusalem. Joshua Fat appointed some of the Levites and

priests and clan leaders in Israel to serve as judges

for cases involving the Lord's regulations and for civil disputes.

These were his instructions to them. You must always act

in the fear of the Lord, with faithfulness and undivided heart.

Whenever a case comes to you from fellow citizens in

an outlying town, whether a murder case or some other

violation of God's laws, commands, decrees, or regulations, you must

warn them not to sin against the Lord, so that

he will not be angry with you in them. Do

this and you will not be guilty. Am Mariah, the

high priest will have final say in all cases involving

the Lord. Zebdiah, son of Ishmael, a leader from the

tribe of Judah, will have final say in all civil cases.

The Levites will assist you in making sure that justice

is served taking courages. You fulfill your duties and make

the Lord be and may the Lord be with those

who do what is right. Hey, this is good leadership.

Yeah, it's great leadership.

There you go, yeah, there it is.

So once again, just like I said, I think johasaphat is.

You know, everything that's spoken about him seems to point

that he is a guy who recognizes God's authority. You

know this phrase here, what does he say, Fear the

Lord and judge with integrity for the Lord, Our God

will not tolerated perverted justice, partiality, or the taking of bribes.

You know, it's wouldn't it be great if our judges

and leaders and politicians followed that?

Yeah? Right, Yeah, I've given this passage before when I

was had an opportunity to speak to local leaders and politicians.

You're actually yeah, and said, hey, as you're trying to

figure out what does God expect from civil servants? Because

he specifically says there's God's part, So let faith leaders

do God's part with regard to God's law. But then

God's part with regard to civil cases required some civil

servants to do that, And so what is a civil

servant expected from God? These are the things that God

says he'll bless right, And it's a great passage to

kind of learn that, well, extend that beyond this is

in your business. It doesn't have to be that you're

a civil servant running society. Can be just that you're

running a team for you know, your job at General Motors,

or that you're running an accountant firm or whatever. They're

the same kind of issues. Don't take bribes, be people

of integrity, fear God, not people, right, all those kinds things.

Do the right thing, and it says, may the Lord

be with those who do what is right.

That's right.

This is the invitation is if you choose to do

the right thing, it's not unreasonable for you to expect

God to be with you during these times.

That's awesome.

Yeah, And by the way, what a great you know,

premise just to live your life by, especially if you're

a person who necessarily doesn't you know, like like just

the other day, we were in the hallway and we

were walking down the hallway and I was talking to

one of our staff members, Ryan, and Ryan said, well,

isn't one of the best questions in the world.

What's the wise thing to do? You know?

Because in the Bible it talks about wisdom, right, it

talks about you know, just asking that question, and he

goes and he just had made that statement. And what's

really so interesting about that statement is, if you think

about it, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't

matter where you come from, it doesn't matter what situation

you're in, or even how strong your faith is. Obviously

having more faith is better. But I'm saying is asking

the question what is the wise thing to do? Is

a question that blankets everything right. It blankets everything and

so and so when it comes to the faith statements,

this is one of the statements that blankets everything right.

He says, take courage, do your duties to me. The

Lord bless those who do.

What is right.

You can take that, and you could blanket everything in

your entire life, do what is right, and and God's

going to be with you and he'll bless it if

it's the right thing.

Right, So that that question, you know, when you're trying

to live wisely, that question what is the wise thing

to do? Is brilliant as long as you understand what

is wise? Yes, yes, and fear the Lord is beginning

of wisdom. So God's ways are what is wise. And

so this is why we're constantly saying and good job

to all of our listeners. Today, you're spending a little

bit more time just looking at what God's word has

to say. And there's a lot to be said about

really knowing God's words, because the more you know God's words,

you know the thoughts of God, you begin to learn

some of the mind or intent of God. Now we

can't know him completely, We don't know everything about him

because he's on he's beyond our ways. His ways are

beyond our ways, but we can what he has told us.

We can know those things. And the more we know

how he thinks in the context of what he's written

in scripture, the more wisdom we can have to apply

in our everyday life. And then that then the terms

of what is wise. Otherwise some people would say, well,

you know, it's wise, is whatever's expedient, whatever moves the

needle a little bit more in our favor, that's what's

wise or whatever. But what God is saying is doing

the right thing, being godly, righteousness is wisdom, right, right,

So there's that. There's a really great note here in

uh hey, oh, go ahead.

Before you said that, I was just going to say

one of the things about those blanket questions or those

blank and statements. Is that it's not a it's not

a quick answer. It points you in the right direction

to the answer that's right right. So it's like it's like,

what's the why is going to do? Force you? You

to go, oh well, let's figure it out because there

are only let's just say, in your scenario three options.

Then you have to figure out, okay, what is the

what is the wisest thing you know in this scenario? So, yeah,

it's it's the question that is going to point you

to the right answer every time.

That's that Matthew six thirty three verse is one of

my favorite verses in the Bible, probably one of my

top ten, where he says seek first his kingdom and

his righteousness. It literally means right living, and all these

other things will be added onto you. So and it's

in that context of why are you always worrying about food?

Why are you always worrying about clothing? Why always worrying

about your finances? Why are you worrying about tomorrow? Right?

You're seeing that version that whole passage, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah yeah. So he's challenging them about all the things

they worry about. He said, listen, all you have to

worry about is seeking his kingdom and his right living

and all the other stuff God will take care of.

And so that's it. So anyways, there's this this note

in the Life Application Study Bible for second Chronicles nineteen eight,

which is a parallel passage or not, which is the

passage we just read, and it says Jehostropha appointed priests

and levites to help in administering civil laws. Many years earlier,

Moses had chosen men who were capable, faithful, and honest

to help him judge disputes among the people. You know,

there's a lot of benefit of looking at seeing other

successful leaders and saying I should implement that my situation, right, right,

And that's what he did. Exodus chapter eighteen is where

Moses said that obviously the best kind of leader is

one who always acts with reverence for God. And then

this is the phrase I wanted. Effective leaders get the

job done. Faithful leaders make sure the job is done

in God's way and in God's time.

That's great, right.

So that's what he's challenging there for is faithful leadership.

They're careful to instill God's wisdom and future leaders and

God's values in the entire community. And so that's I

love this passage and I love that that note specifically,

faithful leaders make sure the job is done in God's

way and God's time.

Yeah, that's that's awesome, And you know what, it's a

it's a good time to probably just think about there's

a lot of kings in the in the Bible, right,

and there's good kings in bad kings.

And when it comes down to it.

A bad king is just a bad day, right, It's

just it's just not great when you're under a bad king,

and you think about it in terms of your business,

think about it in terms of your family.

Right, whoever's king, if they're a good king, man, it's great.

Right. If they're a bad king, it's just a bad day.

And it's a lot of bad days. So it then

just sort of you know, amplifies the importance of Hey,

whatever role of responsibility that God has given you, do

it well.

Be a good king. Right.

And that includes moms, you know, or that includes dads,

that includes bosses, that includes.

Whatever role that God is.

Hey, if you're a friend and you have influence over

a group of friends, be a good king.

Right that that idea. I've been thinking a lot about it.

I don't know why, but John Eldridge's book Wild at

Heart has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Yeah,

maybe I just need to go back and re read it.

But in that book he talks about the development of

a man, right, and the stage that you and I

are at in our lives. Were in our fifties, he

would kind of say, that's the king stage, right, prior

to that, what do you have? What do you remember

that order? Yeah, there's a warrior is great before this

our age, that's that thirty five to forty five year age.

And before that there's the there's the lover in the poet, right,

and cowboy and the cowboy, the cowboys, that tough young

guy that's just learning to take life by the horns.

Right.

Then we move into this lover and poet kind of life.

That's when we begin building families and we become maybe

a little bit more self aware at that point and

start learning about how life really works. Then you turn

into a warrior where you you know, there's that that

window of time when suddenly the world you well, you

figure it out and you begin to kind of attack

your career you attack your life. You go grab that house,

you grab that career, you get those things right, you

kind of establish your life, and then you move into

this life, this season where you're a king, you're the ruler,

you're the leader, right, and then from there you move

into eventually you and I will move into that sage sage,

yeah kind of thing where we're the advisors, the wise

advisors hopefully. But here's my thought about that.

Yeah, they give advice to kings.

That's right, they give advice to kings. So you don't

suddenly become a good warrior. You have to prepare it

to be a good warrior, right right, Otherwise you're always

only a cowboy, right right, So you have to prepare

it to be that. And then you don't just oh,

I'm a king now, now I'm going to be a

good king. You prepare your whole life to be a

good king. And every young man is going to be

a king of something, every young woman is going to

more than likely be the queen of something. And so

you don't wait for wisdom. You develop wisdom for your

entire life so that you will be a wise king

or a wise queen. You develop integrity and righteousness for

your whole life, from the moment you finally realize the

importance of seeking God's kingdom and his right living. From

that moment on, you begin developing the right habits necessary

to be a righteous king when it's your turn, right

or queen in whatever world you're in, whether that's you

become a little a manager in your business or a supervisor,

whether you become a politician, whether you become a school teacher,

even maybe in your own family, raising your children and

having influence. There's going to be a day maybe when

you're the patriarch or the matriarch or the whole family, right,

And so you don't wait to become a good one,

You prepare to be a great one.

You know what's so hilarious about you bringing this up

so randomly is that I just quoted every single one

of these stages to my son in.

Law last week.

Well, yeah, I went down to Florida for a couple

of days, right, and I was down there hanging out

with them, and we were just in ca conversation and

here's what he was basically talking about. He was talking

about because you know, he's a young he's a young

man in his early.

Thirties and everybody be frustrated that they're not kings yet. Yeah,

well yeah, but I'm not seeing him.

Yeah, that wasn't the conversation for him.

But he was expressing was his frustration with his boss,

who is the king. Right, So he was basically talking

about his old boss was great, but this new boss

is not great. And he was saying, gosh with somebody

with his education. You know, you have to go through

a lot of schooling to be a pharmacist. Right, he's

a pharmacist. And he said, you would think, right, he's

just expressing frustration. You would think that this guy would

be this way, you know, he'd be a good person.

But he's not a good person.

Instead, he walks in with his ray bands and his

flashy this or that, and he bosses people around. He

treats people poorly and disrespectful. And so I just said,

I just said, hey, listen, I said, John Ellwards has

this thing right, And I walked through all the stages

and I said, and so when you get to be

in that king position, do you remember what he calls them?

I don't remember if they're bad kings he calls them

because it's written about men right right, and he calls

them unfinished men.

Oh, he says, that's what you have. Yeah, he says,

you have unfinished men.

As the power and influence. But he's an unfinished person.

He never developed.

Yes, it's exactly what you're talking about. And I said,

I said, you understand. I said, your old boss was

a person who probably grew up with a person who

they get the question answered when they were younger, because

you know, when you're a cowboy, you have to answer

the question, do I have what it takes? If you

have a really good dad or a really good family,

then then hopefully you're you know you're going to be given.

I remember, you're going to tell you you are, you've

got what it takes.

Encourage And I gave my son an axe and a

little hatchet. I said, go chop down that tree. He's

like ten years old.

And my wife's like, he's going to chop off his finger.

And I said, no, you'll understand. I said, he's a

great kid. I gave him the instructions. He will not

chop off his finger. He's never going to swing it

without holding two hands. And I had him chopped down

that tree and he and he walked you know. Back

from that, there has to be moments where he's like,

I have what it takes, right, And I literally had

that phrase in mind when I gave him the axe

or the hatchet. So anyway, all that to say, I said,

that person is acting that way because they're enjoying flexing

their power because they are basically a wounded person right

there there there there there. They have unprocessed wounds in

their past and they're unfinished men and and and and

so they're acting in this really radically unhealthy way because

they're not uh.

They didn't get what they needed and they're droughted.

Now what's really funny is my daughter is a family

counselor that's what she does for a living.

So it's his wife. And so I said, that's why

your wife's job is that important?

Right, I said, so your complain about your boss, uh

is the answer is is for your boss to go

to somebody like your wife, you know, and and discover

why am I acting that way? Right?

And that's the truth. So anyway, it's just really ironic

that you brought that up.

So he's giving them instructions. First of all, he's finding

faithful people already, right, so he's going to the Leevites

and he's going to some of the priests. Isn't that

what it said? Didn't it say?

I think that's correct.

Yeah, he appointed judges throughout the land fortified towns in Jerusalem,

josph had appointed some of the Levites and priests and

clan leaders to serve as judges. That's in verse eight.

And so he's putting priests there for the lord's regulations,

and then he's putting clan leaders there for civil disputes. Right, Right,

that's what he's doing. But he's finding wise men. And

that's what Moses did in Exodus eighteen. Right, Jethro, his

father in law, said, hey, go find some wise men

that you can trust and learning to delegate this kind

of authority is important. But he also gives very clear parameters.

Your authority exists in being a good person. Right, And

this is what my definition of being a good godly person,

a good godly judge is is that you're going to

be people that are going to have undivided hearts, that

you're always going to act in the fear of the Lord.

You're always going to be faithful, You're never going to

take bribes, right, all those kinds of things.

And partiality, right, you're going to do it holy right,

completely and totally right.

You're not going to tolerate perverted justice, right, all those things.

And so he defined it, well, that's what a good,

a good king does. When a king delegates, he also

provides really strong parameters and good, good development and training.

So he's looking for faithful people that he believes he

can trust. They're faithful people, they've already demonstrated that they're

good people. And then he said, okay, even in that context,

I'm not just trusting you to be good. This is

what it means to be good, yep. And then you

take the civil disputes, and then you that have the

authority and the spiritual leadership, you take the God's regulations

and you guys help me sort these things out. And

Israel continued to prosper, or not Israel, but Judah continue

to prosper because of these good plans.

That's great. Well, hey, that is our time, and that's

whe're going to end.

So hopefully we will see you next time on the

bubble Gus staring