Give Thought to How You Lead

And let's together open the Word of God. We're in the book of Kings. We've been walking our way through this book of 2 Kings. And I've got something for you today.

I've got not one, not two. I've got four passages for us this morning. And I think you'll understand why in a bit. I'm going to back us up to chapter 15 of 2 Kings so you can turn there.

And if you only have a scripture journal, you're going to depend on the screen. And that's okay. But if you've got a Bible and at least four fingers, then you can keep track and all these places will be.

We're going to be in 2 Kings chapter 15, the first seven verses. And then we're going to skip what we did last week, all those bad, bad kings of Israel.

2 Kings 15 · chapter mention

And go on down to verse 32 and finish the chapter by looking at the second king of Judah. So two kings of Judah on the docket for today. But we're going to need some help with some other material.

You know, it's a lot of times often that we read the narrator in Kings saying, Hey, you might want to look over at Chronicles. And we're going to do that today.

So we're going to be in 2 Chronicles chapter 26 and 27. So just a heads up. There's a little bit of material to cover. But I think you will find that it is helpful for us to understand a little more of the backstory that we don't get in Kings.

2 Chronicles 26 · chapter mention

All right? So we're ready. Let's take a look at 2 Kings chapter 15. Let me read for us the very first seven verses. And then we'll skip on down to verse 32.

2 Kings 15 · chapter mention

In the 27th year of Jeroboam, the king of Israel, Azariah, the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was 16 years old when he began to reign.

And he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And the Lord touched the king so that he was a leper to the day of his death.

And he lived in a separate house. And Jotham, the king's son, was over the household, governing the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Jotham, his son, reigned in his place. Skip on down to verse 32.

In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, another name for Azariah, don't be confused. Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.

He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.

Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? In those days, the Lord began to send Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, against Judah.

Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father. And Ahaz, his son, reigned in his place. Let's pray once more, shall we?

Father, we ask you to open our eyes today that you would teach us, Father, as we think about leading others, leading ourselves.

I pray that for your glory and in the strength of your spirit and because of the work of your son, that you would redeem your people and grow a people, Lord, so that we can be faithful.

That's our prayer. And we pray this today in the name of Jesus, your son. Amen. Well, as promised, we are doubling back to the part of our chapter that we skipped over last week.

Verses 1 through 7, again, cover the reign of King Azariah, or today we're just going to call him Uzziah. Okay? Uzziah, not to get confused, we'll stick with that name because that's how our narrator refers to him in the later part of the chapter.

And guess what? When we go over to Chronicles, he is exclusively called Uzziah.

But first, let's just kind of recall who Uzziah is and who his father was and what happened to his father and how it came to be that a young man the age of 16 takes the throne of Judah.

I'm sorry. How was that? How did it happen? Well, it mostly had to do with the fact that his father, Amaziah, although he started out as a pretty decent king, pretty successful at least, he had a good fight with the Moabites, which he won.

We learned that he got a little too big for his britches. I think this was about two weeks ago. He came home from his battle with the Moabites and thought, you know what?

What sounds like a really good idea to me is I think I want to pick a fight with my big brother to the north, which is what he does. He goes to his, sends a message to his northern counterpart in Israel, Jehoash, and says, let's meet up and not for coffee.

Let's meet up to fight. And it doesn't go well. Our new king is defeated, Amaziah. He is captured as a POW, taken back to Samaria in the north, and he's held there for many years, which is why a 16-year-old son of his is getting on the throne early.

So you could say they're co-regents, but really a king in name only, because one's a prisoner and the other's actually reigning in the kingdom of Judah.

And right away, what we're told about Uzziah, this young man, we're told that he's a pretty good king. I mean, you don't reign 52 years if you're, well, sometimes you do in Israel.

Verse 3, we're told that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. But as we're fast learning here in the book of Kings, we can't make too much of this accolade.

It seems that as we get to this point in the nation's history, the standard is starting to lower, isn't it? If we haven't noticed by now, it's been slipping lately, and really the high standard is David, and nobody measures up to David.

And so now we're at a point where if you're somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, as good as your father was, then you get the did what was right tag.

And yet our narrator is quick to remind us, as he'd been reminding us about all of these kings in Judah here. Verse 4, he reminds us, nevertheless, this isn't a good thing.

The high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings up on there. Now, what about these high places? We've talked about them before.

Does it mean that they're doing idolatrous things? Well, probably originally, no. But that was then, and this is now, and this nation has been again sliding.

And it seems that there is idolatry happening at these places, the worship of other false gods. And we learn that from some of the prophets like Hosea and Amos and Isaiah.

And yet it seems like our kings of Judah have developed a kind of non-interference policy. A live and let live, you might call it, or worship and let worship policy.

And they are not courageous enough to take on reforms in this area. So that's Uzziah. As far as our king's narrator is concerned, that's what we need to know.

And one other thing, by the way, verse 5, he rather abruptly reports to us in verse 5 what? That, oh, by the way, the Lord touched the king so that he was a leper to the day of his death.

And he lived in a separate house. That does not sound good. In fact, it sounds like something might have gone very, very bad. And this is one of those times, again, when our narrator, when he nods to us that we might want to take a look.

If you want to know about the rest of his acts, record it over in Chronicles. We just might want to track our way over there and check things out for ourselves.

And wouldn't you know, but as we make our way to 2 Chronicles, chapter 26, we do get a much fuller picture. Sure. Uzziah gets a lot more praise.

2 Chronicles 26 · chapter mention

We hear about all these great things that he does. And we also get an explanation for why he is stricken with leprosy. So we learn over there that Uzziah's reign starts out good.

Here's a detail that the chronicler adds. In 2 Chronicles, chapter 26, verse 5, we read that he, Uzziah, set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God.

2 Chronicles 26:5

And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. Prosper. That's good. He sets himself to seek God. And that's great. I mean, that's big.

Let's not underestimate that. And that appears to be a very big part of the reason why God is blessing him. Because he seeks God. And yet we also learn in that very same verse that there's someone else in his life.

That there's another big part of the reason why he's seeking God. And that's because he has a man in his life, a mentor, by the name of Zechariah.

Now, who is this Zechariah? Zechariah. I was thinking to myself, you know, there's a lot of Zechariahs in the Bible. Old Testament, New Testament.

I didn't know there were 30. 30 Zechariahs. And basically the commentators tell me that this isn't any of the other 29. It's another guy. So what do we know about him?

Not much. Here's what we do know. We know that he appears to be, from this verse, a man of spiritual zeal who is able to offer instruction to a young king and give him good guidance.

Which sounds awfully familiar. Kind of reminds us of that dynamic that we read maybe a few chapters ago in 2 Kings 12. When there was a young boy king by the name of Joash in Judah.

And he had a mentor instructing him. Let me take you back there. 2 Kings 12, verse 2. And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

2 Kings 12:2

So as long as Joash had Jehoiada, he did well. He did right. Same thing right here. As long as Uzziah has his mentor Zechariah, he does well.

And with this positive influence and role model in his life, seeking God as he is, we are told that the Lord made him prosper. And boy, did he ever.

2 Chronicles chapter 26 goes on to cover all of the successes of Uzziah in these three major areas. First major area in foreign wars. Second area was in construction and agriculture.

2 Chronicles 26 · chapter mention

And the third area was in home defense. Let me share a little bit about what he was able to do as for success in war.

We're told that Uzziah waged a successful conquest and effectively resubjugated a lot of these original Canaanite peoples like the Philistines and the Meunites and the Ammonites.

You say, well, I think you told me before that big bully Assyria, that their strength is kind of waning a bit right now. And that that's part of what allowed those other northern kingdom kings to get back those borders under Solomon.

Yeah. And the same is true now because Uzziah is a contemporary of those kings. The same thing is happening for him. He too is taking back these borders.

But honestly, taking major Philistine cities that are mentioned in 2 Chronicles like Gath and Ashdod, having them now under Judah's control is a pretty big deal.

And 2 Chronicles 26 is crystal clear for us who it was that was behind this success. It wasn't just Uzziah. It was someone who was actively helping Uzziah.

Check this out. 2 Chronicles chapter 26, verse 7. God helped him. God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians and so on.

2 Chronicles 26:7

And then again in verse 15, it's repeated for us. We're told that his fame spread. 2 Chronicles 26, 15. For he was marvelously helped till he was strong.

So he's got success in war. He also has success at home and more peaceful things like construction and agricultural things. Uzziah has helped to build these construction projects all over the land.

And his forte, his big thing, was building towers. You say, well, what's the big deal about a tower? It seems kind of hard to build. You've got to build them high up and make sure they don't fall over.

Well, towers are really important if you're trying to keep watch for bandits, for foreign invaders, on your trade routes. And Israel, being in the Fertile Crescent, in this little strategic place in the world that it is, is right smack dab on two major trade routes.

And so what he did is he put up these towers. Some of you are like Lord of the Rings. You know, like these watchtowers. You know, I don't know if they have the same fire system.

Probably not. But they had these towers all over these trade routes. And he could protect trade. Another thing he was known for was his love of the soil.

I think this is the only king in the entire Bible about whom it is said that he had a love for the soil. He was into farming. He was into keeping large herds and digging wells, another construction project, to water everything and keep it fresh and lush and alive.

And then finally, that last area where he was really successful was in home defense. And boy, oh boy, did King Uzziah beef up home defense. Chronicles tells us that he had a standing army of 300,000 plus soldiers.

Men, it describes as fit for war. The text also says that he kept another 2,600 special forces, mighty men of valor types. And to keep them armed, he had quite the arsenal, quite the weaponry to supply these forces.

Let me read a couple verses for you. 2 Chronicles chapter 26, verses 14 and 15.

2 Chronicles 26:14

Now, secular historians want to tell us that catapults don't show up in history for a couple hundred years.

Not until the Greek age. But call me crazy if I don't remind us all that the Bible's history too. And it sure sounds to me like our king is ahead of his time militarily.

We're told that his guys skillfully invented machines that shoot great stones. That sounds like a catapult. So Judah's borders are extensive and strong.

And the land is fruitful and prosperous. And home defense is strong. And then we come to this fateful verse right smack dab in the middle of all the success of 2 Chronicles 26.

And it's verse 16. Check this out. But when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction.

He grew proud. Well, of course, things can't stay positive for very long in ancient Israel, right? It's like this tale as old as time, you know?

Success, the heights of achievement. And then you've got to go and do something stupid. And I don't use that word lightly. I know some of you parents don't want your kids to say it.

But it really aptly describes what we're about to see. Here's what happens. Verse 5 in 2 Kings simply says that the Lord touched the king so that he became a leper to the day of his death.

The back story is here in Chronicles. Here's what we read in verse 16.

Proud in heart.

And I would suggest you may be blinded by his success too. Our king at some point, probably we think around the year 750 BC, he decides, you know, my head is big enough for not just one hat.

I can wear two. And so I want to be both the king and priest. He decides that there is absolutely no good reason that he, as king, can't walk right into the temple of the Lord and offer incense at the altar.

It seems that Uzziah is not content with the authority and the realm of oversight that God had given to him with the kingdom. He wanted full access to the ministry too.

Access that God's law had said was clearly and exclusively reserved for the priests. The priests in the line of Aaron.

Well, the story shows us, it goes on in Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 26 to show us that these priests on duty, including the high priest, they did not think this was a good idea for the king to do this.

In fact, they were so opposed to what he was trying to do that they literally chase him down in the temple. Here it is in 2 Chronicles 26, verse 17.

2 Chronicles 26:17

But Azariah the priest went in after him with 80 priests of the Lord who were mighty men of valor. And they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.

That's pretty bold. I mean, this is the king of Israel. For these priests and this man Azariah to go to him and say what they do. And let me read on to verse 18, the second half.

2 Chronicles 26, verse 18b. This is what they say to him. Get out of the sanctuary. Go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong. And it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.

Now, these priests mean business. And they mean business because these are serious infractions and they know it. His infractions are really twofold.

Number one, he is in a place that he is not authorized to be in. He shouldn't be there. Number two, he is trying to perform a function that he has no authorization to do.

Because again, the law was very clear. Numbers chapter 16, verse 40. No outsider who is not of the descendants of Aaron shall draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company.

Numbers 16:40

You say, who's Korah and his company? And you could go back to that chapter, Numbers 16, and read all about it. If you're wondering what happened to Korah and his company, they were swallowed up by the earth instantaneously for doing the very same thing.

But our king Uzziah, his proud heart, is it ready to hear this? No. He is not ready. Here's how he reacts. 2 Chronicles 26, verse 19. Then Uzziah was angry.

2 Chronicles 26:19

Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord.

Talk about a bad reaction. It's bad enough that he's in this mess. But to react like he does this way, to basically get triggered by the priests,

all the while failing to realize that his rebellious anger is actually triggering God's righteous anger. And when God's righteous anger gets triggered, listen, watch out.

And everybody seems to realize what's happening, which is why in the very next verse in Chronicles, we read of how all the priests, and even the king himself now, they rush and hurry to get him out of there.

There is a sense of hurry, because they're all afraid something worse could happen. As a matter of fact, you know, it's only speculation, because it's not in our text, but, you know, a few hundred years later, there would be an historian named Josephus, and he would talk about this episode,

and he would point over to a contemporary prophet like Amos, in Amos chapter 1, verse 1, and say, you know, there's an earthquake mentioned there that happened during Uzziah's reign, and Josephus was convinced that that earthquake happened right at this very moment.

Amos 1:1

Can you imagine? Ground starts to shake. Leprosy's broken out on your forehead. Anybody getting a sense that maybe the ground might open and swallow this guy right here?

Well, they rush him out, but this sudden onset of leprosy will not be temporary. We're told that it stays with the king throughout the remainder of his life.

It requires him, as an unclean person now, to live in a separate house, excluded from the house of the Lord, is what 2 Chronicles 26, 21 says.

Excluded from the house of the Lord. He would never again be able to enter the temple, even the outer courts.

2 Chronicles 26, verse 23, gives us his death notice. And Uzziah slept with his fathers, we read, and they buried him with his fathers, in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said, he is a leper.

2 Chronicles 26:23

Couldn't even be buried in the royal tomb, the royal mausoleum. He was buried in the royal field.

And then we come down to verse 32, if you're back in 2 Kings 15, verse 32, and we get to his son, Uzziah's son, Jotham. And again, we recognize that because of the, you know, the foolishness of his father, like his father before him, that he's had to start reigning a little earlier than expected, as a co-region,

2 Kings 15:32

with his leprous father. In fact, 2 Kings 15, verse 5, says that Jotham has really already been in charge, over the household, and he's basically been governing the land already.

2 Kings 15:5

He's effectively been serving as the king. And now, with his father gone, the throne of Judah is fully his, and what kind of an evaluation does our narrator give him?

Verse 34, we read that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. And yet, the chronicler deliberately adds this caveat.

It's over in 2 Chronicles chapter 27. The chronicler notes that Jotham, unlike his father, did not enter the temple of the Lord. Sounds like he's not going to make the same mistake that his father did.

2 Chronicles 27 · chapter mention

In fact, based on what we read, if you look at verse 35, in 2 Kings 15, verse 35, it sounds like he's taking some extra precautions to keep separate from temple matters.

2 Kings 15:35

Because what do we read? He built, verse 35, the upper gate of the house of the Lord. Many scholars believe that this was the gate in the wall that separated the palace complex from the temple complex.

Which makes us kind of wonder, had King Uzziah allowed this very gate to fall into some disrepair? Did King Uzziah think that maybe this gate wasn't really all that important, and the separation that it signified?

Well, our son Jotham clearly does think it's important. And we go on to read that for much of Jotham's reign, things will continue to be prosperous in the land.

2 Chronicles chapter 27 tells us about a hefty sum of tribute that he's able to exact from the Ammonites for about three years. And it finishes by giving him this positive evaluation.

2 Chronicles 27 · chapter mention

I want you to hear it. 2 Chronicles 27, verse 6. So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God. And yet, sadly, just like his father before him, there was one big blind spot, right?

2 Chronicles 27:6

It's those high places. One big blind spot in that he failed to exercise leadership by removing the high places because we read in 2 Kings 15, verse 35 again, Nevertheless, the high places were not removed.

2 Kings 15:35

The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And the Chronicler even adds that the people still followed corrupt practices, which now removes any shadow of doubt that the worship that's happening in these high places around the land of Judah

is in fact corrupt. It is in fact idolatrous. So Jotham may finish his reign, I guess we could say, is a mostly good king. Mostly good. But his shortcomings,

and specifically his failure to lead, his failure to give thought to his leadership in this area was the beginning of his downfall. In fact, it's going to catch up with him even at the end of his reign.

We read in verse 37, 2 Kings 15, 37, that in those days, in those days, the Lord began to send Rezan king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, against Judah.

It's almost as if our narrator hearing kings at the end here, he wants to remind us of an important principle. And I would call it the principle of good leadership.

A principle of good leadership that when exercised has good results. And while poor leadership is exercised, such as when you fail to remove those high places where worship goes corrupt, is likely to bring negative results.

So it's really a mixed bag of leadership I think we see today. I would even call it a mixed bag with some holes in it. And it's a bag of leadership that Jotham now is going to hand off to his son, a man named Ahaz.

And I got to tell you, preview for next week, it's not going to be a mixed bag for long because all that Ahaz is going to have left in his bag of leadership is going to be some pretty rotten stuff.

Today I want to draw your attention to this theme, this theme of leadership because from our two kings this morning, I think there are some very important things for us to see.

I think that these two kings of Judah show us that it's important to give thought to how we lead. We should all give thought to how we lead.

So I want to frame a few points I'm going to give you here. I want to frame them according to that question. What does it mean to give thought to how we lead?

What does it mean to give thought to how we lead? I'm going to offer us four answers. Four answers from the lives of these two kings. And the first answer is this, number one.

It means taking the best from our forebearers. First and foremost, it means taking the best from our forebearers. Forebearers, as in those who have come before us.

Insofar as Father Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, so now Son Jotham, he too, will do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Listen, I know they make mistakes, but I don't want us to look past this too quickly. Because, again, by the time that we get to the next in line, Ahaz next week, what we're going to read is that he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

It's important that we take the best from our forebearers. Listen, I don't know who raised you. I had parents. Maybe you did too. Maybe it was a grandparent or an aunt and uncle.

Whoever it was that raised you, they're not perfect. That's a newsflash, right? Your parents were not perfect. Your grandparents are not perfect.

Even our narrator here in Kings is mindful of the fact that no one measures up to what standard in the Old Testament for the kings. It's the David standard, right?

Of course, we have a new David. We have a Jesus standard. No one measures up to the David standard. Mistakes happen. Unwise decisions get made.

Foolish kings get proud and angry and get leprosy and people have to live and learn but when we take the best from our forebearers, from the people who raised us and influenced us and went before us, we do well.

And I want to emphasize this because it is no small thing. Whether it's an example set for you with a marriage or an example in how to parent or how to work or how to honor your word or how to honor the Lord,

you can take the best from your forebearers and build on that. This is a big part, a significant but maybe often overlooked part of what I think it means to give thought to how we lead in our lives.

We give, we take the best from our forebearers. So that's the first answer here this morning but let me move on because there's more. Here's a second one.

Answer number two. It means positioning ourselves to seek God through a humble teachability. A humble teachability.

Positioning ourselves to seek God. The ESV says he set himself, the king did, to seek God. King Uzziah. 2 Chronicles 26, verse 5. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God.

2 Chronicles 26:5

We don't, again, know much about Zechariah, who he was. We only know that he instructed a young king, a 16-year-old king, in the fear of God.

And where do you think he learned what it meant to fear God? Where do you think Zechariah took this young king to learn how to fear God? Where did he take him for instruction to the word in his day to the law?

So that probably means that the king of Israel was being instructed day by day in God's law. Guess what? Today we have a lot more than the law.

Praise the Lord. There's some weird things in the law that no longer are binding upon us. But we do have all of the word in both testaments.

And remember, Jotham is king. Jotham is in charge now. He's been in charge since the day that he put his father in that separate house and got the keys of the kingdom.

And what does young Jotham do early on? Does he grab the keys and, you know, I'm going to drive this kingdom my way? No.

He too walks in the ways of his father. Uzziah before him had his mentor and counselor, a godly man named Zechariah. He positioned himself to seek God under Zechariah's tutelage and influence.

And for a while his son Jotham seems to have done the same. And so I would simply want to ask you, how are you? How am I going to lead well?

How can we position ourselves to lead well? And I would suggest to you it's by positioning ourselves similarly. By seeking God through a humble teachability.

Because while God opposes the proud, he does give grace to the humble. humble. And as 2 Chronicles chapter 26 verse 5 goes on to say at the very end of that verse, listen to this again, 2 Chronicles 26 verse 5, Uzziah set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah

2 Chronicles 26:5 2 Chronicles 26:5

who instructed him in the fear of God and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.

Third answer to the question of what it means to give thought to how we lead. Third answer is this, it means continuing to seek the Lord in good, prosperous, strong times.

Continuing to seek the Lord in good, prosperous, strong times. In as much as King Uzziah succeeded by being teachable for a point, for a part of his life, part of his reign, we know that that didn't last.

And this is where our second king, Jotham, also kind of fails here too. Uzziah's failure was pretty massive, pretty public, very deliberate and bold, right in everyone's face, thinking he could be priest and king, thinking he could take on any role that he wanted, in spite of the

Lord's rules, thinking he could go into the temple, go anywhere he wanted. And Uzziah's failure came about, the text of Chronicles clearly indicates when, when in his life, when he was at his strongest, when he was at

his most prosperous. 2 Chronicles 26, verse 16, but when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction. You see, he forgot that he only got strong because, 2 Chronicles 26, verse 5,

2 Chronicles 26:16 2 Chronicles 26:5

because God made him prosper. He conveniently forgot that he only won against the Philistines and those others because, as 2 Chronicles 26, verse 7 says, God helped him.

2 Chronicles 26:7

He totally disregarded that he only had a prosperous kingdom with home defenses and advanced armory, catapults and the like, because, chapter 26, verse 15, he was marvelously helped till he was strong.

And so I'd ask you, has the Lord helped you in your life? Has he helped you grow strong in some area? Some of us have reached some goals already in this life.

Maybe that's you. Maybe you've reached some educational goals. Maybe you are reaching career goals, financial goals. Maybe he's blessed you with a good family.

You're reaching your family goals. And you're in a position of prosperity and strength. It's true that for many of us, God has marvelously helped us to bring us to a place of stability and prosperity and strength.

and I would simply say, don't get proud. Don't forget the help and the hand of blessing that gave you these things. Because giving thought to how we lead in this life means that we continue to seek the Lord in those good,

prosperous, strong moments of life. In fact, I would even suggest to us that it's then, when things are going really well, that we're put to the test.

So what does it mean to give thought to how we lead? It means, number one, taking the best from our forebearers. Number two, setting ourselves to seek God through a humble teachability.

It means, thirdly, continuing to seek the Lord in those good, prosperous, and strong times. And finally, let me leave you with the fourth answer.

Number four, it means, leading by bringing others along with us. Leading by bringing others along with us.

You know, it really is great to read. Every time we read it in Kings, that here's another king who did what was right in the Lord's eyes. It's great that they took the best from their forebearers, at least for a time.

It's great that they set themselves to, you know, have a humble teachability. But at the same time, what about the blind spots? At the same time, what about what they allowed to persist all over the land of Judah with their people

whom these kings were supposed to lead?

What was it again that we read? 2 Chronicles 27, verse 2. But the people, but the people still followed corrupt practices. And where else? But at those high places all over the land.

2 Chronicles 27:2

Tell me, why didn't either of these two kings take a stand and take down and remove these high places?

Because it was a policy of live and let live. A policy of compromise. Maybe that was the people's truth. You don't want to upset anybody. You want to leave those under your leadership well enough alone, enjoy the peace, let them do

as they see fit. But you know what? The ministries of prophets like Amos and Hosea and even Isaiah show us that the land, although prosperous, was really suffering.

Suffering because it was riddled with spiritual and moral compromise. And soon and very soon Jotham's own son Ahaz is going to reign over a kingdom where idolatrous things are happening up on these unremoved

high places. So what does that mean for us? For those of us who lead?

I think it means we actually bring others along with us. What I'm saying to you, to some of you, is it's great that you've got a long pedigree in the church.

That's a good thing. It's great that you maybe have memorized a ton of scripture. It's great that you as a parent or a grandparent can recite psalms and the Lord's prayer and you've never missed a Sunday and you serve faithfully and you give faithfully.

That is good. But don't forget those around you. Bring them along. Don't forget those at home with you. Bring them along. And I don't mean just throw them in the car and bring them to church.

I mean do that too. I mean bring them along spiritually. Bring them along into the joy of humbly learning from God's word together. Bring them along in the values and disciplines that have been vessels of grace in your own life.

Bring them along.

I don't know if some of you say well I'm not a leader of anybody. I'm just a single person all by myself. You do still lead a life. You lead yourself and I would venture to suggest there are more eyes on you than you realize.

And maybe you do realize. Whoever you are this morning I hope that you will look beyond these two kings and their many flaws and you know who I want you to see?

I want you to see the one true king who never had any flaws at all. who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and surpassed the standard of his earthly fathers.

Surpassed the standard of the great David. As we know David fell. But Jesus never did. Jesus was the one true king and he wasn't even just a king.

He was a prophet and he was a priest as well. He was the one who was able to enter the sanctuary and not just burn some offering of incense but offer a sacrifice of himself.

He is the one king that we call the lamb worthy slain for our sins able to open the scroll and now seated with his heavenly father waiting to intercede for you and I.

I'm going to ask you if you would bow your heads with me as the team comes. Let's pray. Lord this morning as you speak to us through your word and challenge us Lord with how we lead.

Will you help us to give thought to it? To give careful thought Lord to not just our own lives but to who's around us, who's behind us, who's maybe under our influence, who's watching us whether at work or at school or in the home or wherever it is.

God's God's God's God's God's God's attention to you. And Jesus, we know that we do fail. We have our moments where we are triggered into anger.

We have our moments where we are faithless. Sadly, we have our moments where we fail to take the stand we need to stand. And so Lord, we thank you that you have provided forgiveness for that and we avail ourselves of the work of the cross on our behalf.

And so Lord, we ask this morning that by your Holy Spirit you would empower every parent who's here today, every single person who's here today, every young couple that's here today, every grandparent, wherever we are in the walk of life, Lord, will you empower us?

Will you help us to give thought to how we lead in our lives? And we will give you all the praise and all the glory. And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.