“The Main Thing”
2 Chronicles 20:26-27
Series: Pure Praise[1]
Today
we find ourselves at the summit and face to face with this pressing question:
What now? What did God bring us all the way up here to find? And what are we to
do with all this new-found faith and instruction as worshippers of God? What
is, in fact, the main thing God wants for us?
Once
again, our foundtional story points toward the answer. Jehoshaphat and the
people of Judah demonstrated what is most important for true worshippers of
God.
2
Chronicles 20:26-27:
Then on the fourth day
they assembled in the valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the Lord.
Therefore they have named that place “The Valley of Beracah” until today. 27 Every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with
Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies.
After Jehoshaphat and the men of Judah
celebrated in the Valley of Beracah, they returned to Jerusalem. They joyfully
went back to the people they knew-and they shared with those folks the
blessings God had given them.
What ultimately, was God’s goal when He
communed with Moses on Mount Sinai and gave him the Law? What was Moses’ responsibility
once he had heard from the Lord? God made His intentions for Moses abundantly
clear in Exodus 19:3: “Then Moses went up
to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, ‘This is what
you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel.’”
Moses had no choice but to go back down
to the valley and share what he had learned. That was his mission.
As we stand firm on this metaphorical
mountain, take another look around. What do you see? Beyond the rocks and
trees, there is a valley below, filled with people. Those are the people Jesus
died for. Those are the ones to whom we are called to minister, to love, to
encourage, and to help lead in worshipping and experiencing our Lord. That is
our mission.
I believe the greatest achievement of
the people of Judah in 2 Chronicles 20 is that they completed their mission;
they finished well. The greatest statement you or I can ever hope to hear is
our heavenly Father saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew
25:21a, KJV).
Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7 (NLT), “I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained
faithful.” Paul’s “main thing” had always been to complete his earthly
assignment. In his farewell address to the church leaders in Ephesus, he said, “What
matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave
me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity
of God” (Acts 20:24b, The Message).
So, what are the keys to finishing well?
1. We must keep fighting.
Well has it been said that all Christ
followers must recognize that the Christian life is not a playground but a
battlefield where conflicts are won and lost in real spiritual battles. No matter
how difficult the fighting becomes for us, we must never quit. Alfred Plummer
observed that “Military service is either perpetual warfare or perpetual
preparation for it…The solider, so long as he remains in the service, can never
say, “I may lay aside my arms and my drill; all enemies are conquered; there
will never be another war.”[2]
Of course, the enemies we Christians are
battling are not other people, especially other Christians (although it may
seem that way at times). There is nothing good that will come from waging war
against each other in the family of God. The “good fight” Paul fought was one “against
evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this
dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12b,
NLT). When Paul said he had “fought the good fight,” the Greek word he used for
“fight” gives us the English word agonize
and was used in military endeavors to describe the concentration, discipline,
and extreme effort needed to win.[3]
For the follower of Christ, pressures
and difficulties are inevitable. Jesus said, “In the world you will have
tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33,
NKJV). Charles Stanley wrote, “Somewhere we have gotten the erroneous idea that
our ultimate goal as Christians is to come to a place in our lives where we are
never tempted. Ironically, the very opposite is true. The more godly we become,
the more of a threat we become to Satan. Thus, the harder he works to bring us
down.”[4]
That is why Jesus said we must
constantly “keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.
For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Mark 14:38, NLT). Satan is determined
to destroy God’s people. And on our own, we are simply no match for Lucifer and
his evil forces. When John wrote, “He who is in you is greater than he who is
in the world” (1 John 4:4, NKJV), he was saying, by implication, that without
Christ we are less powerful than the devil.
So what is to keep us from feeling outmatched,
giving up, and jumping headlong into the depths of sin when temptation comes
our way? Sigmund Freud would have us believe it is our “ego” (self-control) and
“super-id” (conscience) that keep us in check. But no amount of determination,
moral ethics, or societal pressures can help us “keep our dukes up” day in and
day out. No, it’s not the super-id that will help us overcome; it is the
supernatural, superpower of Jesus.
When Paul described the “whole armor of
God” needed “to stand against the wiles of the devil,” every piece he listed is
defensive except one. The one offensive weapon we have is the Word of God-the
Spirit’s sword can utterly annihilate the enemy. When we hide God’s Word in our
hearts and quote it aloud to our adversary during times of temptation, we will “not
sin against God” (Psalm 119:11). More so, the truth of Scripture will force the
powers of darkness to flee.
In 2 Chronicles 20, the “weapon” the
children of Judah used as they marched toward their enemies was praise. Their praise
was effective because it was based on the truth of God and His Scripture.
Likewise, our biblical praise frustrates and confuses those imps in the dark
world. Thus, the next time you are tempted to get discouraged, frightened, or
rebellious, turn your eyes upward toward heaven and Jesus. Praise Him fervently
and know that your invisible enemies are scurrying away in horror and defeat.
My Daily Surrender
What inspires people to keep fighting
even in the most formidable circumstances? What drives them? What drives you to
keep fighting and not give up? Only pure love for the Lord and others is an
effective motivator in the long run. Have you submitted every area of yourself
to God?
[1]
This material was taken from DeWayne Moore’s book, Pure Praise (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, 2009), 146-163.
[2]
Alfred Plummer, The Pastoral Epistles
(New York: A.C. Armstrong and Son, 1903), 348.
[3] John
MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible
(Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 1997), 1871.
[4]
Charles Stanley, Winning the War Within
(Nashville: TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988), 163.
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