The Weakness of Power (Part 1 of 2) — 10/22/2019

[Music] whenever we're put in a position of influence there's a temptation to become puffed up well today on truth for life Alastor beg issues a warning for leaders especially pastors to remember the weakness of power Aleister is teaching from the story of King Uzziah in second chronicles chapter 26 [Music] I wonder do you read the obituaries if you don't then I suggest that you as of today resolve to make it your practice I don't mean just the routine stuff that says he was here and he left but in a relatively good newspaper if you go online you can go to the times that is the times there is after that the New York Times and other times but there is the times and there you can read some some fine obituaries and I like to read them and to keep them and to boast about the fact that I've done so as you can tell and because of a number of things one you get many biographies you get insights into people's lives the things that mark them usually some succinctly ins of that and you're also introduced to people about whom you've known absolutely nothing and you are reminded of your own mortality and you're confronted with a question of what kind of legacy you're going to leave some of you may have heard that recently Larry Laprise who brought a hokey cokey or hokey-pokey as you refer to it here he died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 93 apparently the most traumatic part for his family was getting him into his coffin they put his left leg in and then the trouble started that is that is a shameful abuse of the pulpit really but but for example I have one in here says Joseph Charles 91 a symbol of street corner friendliness is it from the 20th of March 2002 and the byline reads for 31 years cheery salutes for four and a half thousand people a day from 7:45 to 9:30 a.m. there's a wonderful story of a man who moved into a house in October of 1962 mr. Charles stepped out of his newly purchased white clapboard house in Berkeley California and waved to neighbors down the block and they waved back and the waving quickly became a ritual at first mr. Charles said people thought I was crazy to call me a communist he waved at people and they called him a communist and they said I would cause a wreck but one person waved back and then another and then another and some honked and a motorist gave him a pair of yellow gloves and they became his trademark and he eventually owned 20 pairs of yellow gloves it's estimated that each day he waved to at least four and a half thousand people nearly 1.2 million a year and when his right arm grew tired he used his left Joseph Charles symbol of street corner friendliness I could go through I won't bore you with it it's a helpful process and I think you'll benefit from it if you don't already do so I hope also that you visit cemeteries with frequency I wondered you ever study in a cemetery you ever part your car at least on one of the driveways and read your Bible there did you ever get out and walk up and down and look at the dates and find yourself staggered by the fact that they're catching you up that a decade ago it didn't seem as painful as it does today that all of a sudden whatever your particular vintages has begun to creep in one of the most recent graves in the Chagrin cemetery has almost my identical dates a young woman who died of cancer well of course the writer of Ecclesiastes says it's always better to go to a funeral than to go to a party because death is the destiny of every man and the living should take this to heart and without being melodramatic in any way there is nothing quite like the prospect of death to clarify the issues of life and each of us is confronted by the fact that our life will finally be summarized in some measure by just the the chipping away of a chisel on a tombstone and the the totality of who we are and what we've done will will be marked actually by a dash of maybe three or four inches for me it will read 1952 dash and then a closing date and the question is what are we doing with the - between the dates and if there's anything that goes on the tombstone that says anything about us now that anyone will care for very long we don't live with that kind of illusion we I won't be remembered by many my children for a while beyond that nothing much but to the extent that anything would be put there the only thing that can realistically be put there can honestly be put there at the end of our days is that which by our life's in the Providence and mercy of God it's possible to be put there and that's again why going through old graveyards is can be fun because you you find these wonderful statements to the person who who was there I won't bore you with any beyond this but this this this is the kind of thing I'm talking about in tarrant beneath this kirkyard stained stone in tared beneath this kirkyard stained lie stingy Jimmy Wyatt who died one morning just at 10:00 and saved a dinner by it [Laughter] now I marvel that his family was bold or foolish enough to put that on there but anyone that knew Wyatt would have gone through and said that's him I mean that is him he was a stingy rascal you know imagine dying in the morning so that he didn't have to pay for his dinner how tragic would it be how tragic would it be if after years of usefulness one were to leave a legacy that spoke only of failure look at what the people said at the end of verse 23 especially in light of everything that we read in the opening section of the chapter and the people came around and they said he had leprosy these three words what about Uzziah or Uzziah had leprosy is that it well no it's not it but it's true Paul Simon who said that the signs of the prophets are written on the subway walls in the cinema and the and the tenement halls and whispered in the Sounds of Silence because it has a wonderful strong way back in the 60s called most peculiar man if you remember it he was he was a most peculiar man that's what mrs. Reardon says and she should know she lived upstairs from him she said he was a most peculiar man he had no friends and he seldom spoke and no one in turn ever spoke to him because he wasn't friendly and he didn't care and he wasn't like them he was a most peculiar man he died last Saturday he turned on the gas and he went to sleep with a windows closed so he'd never wake up to his silent world in his tiny little room and mrs. Reardon says he has a brother somewhere who should be notified soon and all the people said what a shame that he's dead or wasn't he a most peculiar man and all the people said what a shame that he's dead he had leprosy that marked him he wrote his epitaph if you like in five minutes having taken decades to build a life of character now if yesterday Jehoshaphat represented something to us of an individual who speaks of the power of weakness then Uzziah is the flipside giving to us and he is the great great great grandson of Jehoshaphat giving to us an illustration of the weakness of power you see too harsh a fat leaves a lasting impression when you read those three chapters I'm sure you all did for your homework as directed and he leaves the impression not of being a good man or being a great man although he was both of those things but he leaves the impression of being a weak man now we didn't deal with it yesterday morning but the weakness that finally in the crunch became a benefit in his life was not all benefit because when you read carefully those chapters you recognize that Jehoshaphat apparently was too weak ever to say no to anyone and because he couldn't say no he got himself in military liaisons he got himself in commercial ventures he allowed his family into marital status that was directly related to his weakness but when in the crunch he faced his weakness and it became the means of his success few chapters on here with Uzziah we have a contrast because he is a strong man by any standards he's strong he's powerful he's decisive he displays visionary leadership all of which is actually praiseworthy there's nothing wrong with any of that but when it came to the crunch for Uzziah he answered the psalmist's question wrongly and answering the question incorrectly proved to be his downfall what question am i referring to will Sam 121 I lift my eyes to the hills where does my help come from now at a certain point in his life Isaiah would have said absolutely categorically my help comes from God all that I am all that he has made me all that he has given me all that he has granted me is from God but at some point along the way he changed his tune and he began to conclude that an actual fact he was the source of his own power and of his own wisdom and of his own insight and of his own influence now 2/3 of the chapter describes the positive impact of his leadership by any standards he's a remarkable young man he is if you like a whiz kid in contemporary jargon or at least the contemporary jargon of the 60s he is a he's a whiz kid at 16 years of age with his father presumably still torturing along before his dad is murdered he is beginning to exercise influence his name Uzziah actually means the Lord my strength so his very name speaks to the fact that his strength is in the Lord stepping into the place of responsibility he is able to take charge apparently of all aspects of national life and he puts his mark on them for good now yesterday morning I introduced you to the important principle of plan neglect and we will operate under that principle again it would be tedious for me just to go through and rehash the the breadth of the impact of his reign in terms of a national security and military advance and commercial development and agricultural success and so on it's not necessary for the purpose of our emphasis here in the heart of this chapter the bottom line is he apparently had the Midas touch he was one of these infuriating characters that no matter what he turned his hand to he was successful I went to school with boys like that not only did they get straight A's in their a-levels but they always won the mile I could have tolerated the straight A's provided it did not win the mile or if they won the mile I don't want them to get straight A's but to get both and they could always play the piano just infuriating characters up for any challenge able to see around the corners he presides over the affairs of his nation with significant influence now the chronicler takes us a little bit behind the scenes it's always fun to get into the dressing room isn't it I mean if you go to a sporting event you look at it from the stands and you wonder what was going on I wanted to put his left sock on first there his right sock I wish I could get in there and find out I wonder what the coach said I wonder what makes him tick and the chronicler wonderfully doesn't simply give to us all of this information about geographical expansion and the impact that he has made on the community but he gives to as these if you like hidden factors which he identifies as the very keys that made his I had a leader that he wants so let me point these things out verse 4 what is it that underpins this remarkable man well number one he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord he asked the question what is the right thing to do presumably there was something of the spirit of Daniel about him as a younger man there had been the influences from his family on his life the the statement here he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord just as his father Amaziah had done maybe giving us a little clue to the fact that his father started well and finished poorly and the chronicler maybe suggesting if you read on you're going to find out that that's exactly what happened but I think that is I think there's a little far-fetched the commentators some of them make much of that nothing is sufficient to say that this boy got off to a great start he was aware of the fact that the law of the Lord is perfect that it revives the soul and that the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy and they make wise the simple and if we had seen him in his early years there would have been about him as sort of moral rectitude and a concern to make sure that you got a pound for a pound and that the correct change was given and he spoke with scrupulous honesty concerning all that was under his province and also we're told in verse five that he sought God he sought God what an amazing little phrase that is and you will seek me and you will find me the Prophet says God says through the Prophet if you search for me with all of your heart and you wonder well what does this mean in his life what was it like in the mornings when he awakened in the morning when I rise and when he went to bed at night the heavens declare in the glory of God the firmament showing his handiwork and he's saying Oh God I look to you he sought God and he did so under instruction he sought God during the days of Zachariah whom were unable to actually identify with any clarity but Zachariah instructed him in the fear of the Lord in the fear of God so that he wasn't if you like unhinged from relationships neither familial relationships nor the importance of human friendship he was in the context of companionship we would say today discipled nurtured encouraged in structured and instructed in the fear of the Lord I mean in contemporary terms at least in America you would have gone out early in the morning and somewhere around 1/2 by 6 you would have gone in to a restaurant somewhere and over in one of the booths you would have seen their Zechariah and Uzziah and Zechariah would have been there saying to him come on now Uzziah you've got a whole kingdom to care for you've got a whole world to be concerned about I see promise in you now let me urge you seek the Lord do the right thing but apparently Uzziah showed up for these breakfast meetings with consistency and verse 5 ends by telling us that there was a direct correlation between the seeking of the Lord and the granting of success he did what was right he sought God he was under the instruction and God gave him success and we don't need to go again and try and unpack that the chronicler gives us the indication of the success and in terms of his influence as king and then we discover in verse 8 that his fame spread it spread as far as the border of Egypt this wasn't some kind of local news broadcast this was getting out and beyond the word was out concerning Uzziah there is a king in Judah to be reckoned with look what he's done in the restoring of Allah three lights don't like sailing they weren't really big on it but he's smart enough shrewd enough to recognize that alive although II lathis marked in secular history by a dramatic earthquake the chronicler doesn't say a thing about the earthquake which was the most dramatic thing that had happened to the region of ilat' but he says that he was the one who rebuilt he laughs that was a significant thing because he had visionary leadership he saw the expansive possibilities of the port when other people didn't and as those trading vessels moved out then the word cut out where did you boys come from who dreamed this up you say he's our main man he does it right he seeks God he is breakfast meetings he's famous and he's very powerful that's what it says his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt why because he'd become very powerful he wasn't famous for being famous I mean he didn't get his face on somewhere and he was famous because his face was somewhere he was famous for a reason there was a whole barrel load of material if you like which gave substance to the things that people said and to the influence that he had now from verse 9 and on you get a sort of explication of some of his influence in his power and so on and that and that leads us again back to the second half of verse 15 and the opening of there 16 his fame spread far and wide for he was greatly helped until he became powerful okay so famous as a result of help he became powerful as a result of being powerful he became famous okay but after Uzziah became powerful his pride led to his downfall so there was a turning point in the life of Uzziah a cautionary tale for anyone in a position of authority Alastair Begg has titled this message the weakness of power here a truth for life we are deeply committed to supporting local churches and their pastors we believe the local church is an essential part of God's design for his people that's why every October we set aside time to hear instructions specifically geared toward pastors and that's why we're all so excited to be offering a significant book to you today a book that we believe will be a help for those who serve in church leadership if you are a pastor or a lay leader you likely devote time to counseling couples and you know that helping marriages in crisis has its own set of unique challenges so our resource for this month is a brand new book that addresses this crucial subject the book is called counsel for couples and it's written by seasoned marriage counselor Jonathan Holmes Jonathan draws from a wealth of solid biblical theology in this book it's a comprehensive volume that addresses common issues that can derail marriages it also offers step-by-step instruction for how to structure individual sessions how to conduct effective follow-up we're happy to send you a copy of the book counsel for couples this month to say thank you when you donate to support truth for life you can give and request the book online at truth for donate or call eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four again that's 8 8 8 5 8 8 7 8 8 4 by the way as you make plans for your vacation next summer don't forget you're invited to join Alistair on an unforgettable cruise to Alaska together you will study God's Word as you sail through scenic waters on this beautiful cruise ship you can find out more by going online to deeper faith cruise dot-com and that's a different website from ours here at truth for life so I'll give it to you once more it's deeper faith cruise com or you can call the cruise line directly at eight five five five six five five five one nine I'm Bob Lapine hoping you'll join us Wednesday when Alistair continues his cautionary message about the danger of self-reliance the Bible teaching of Alistair beg is furnished by truth for life [Music] where the learning is for living you

Channel: Alistair Begg

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Keywords: Truth For Life, Alistair Begg, Biblical Figures, Dependence on God, Pastoral Ministry, Pastors, Preaching, Pride

Id: rP2GNeNGQHI

Length: 24min 59sec (1499 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 22 2019