Today's chapter is important because, it
deals with the practical aspect of worship. Far too many Christians
believe that worship is an activity only for Sunday mornings. Which
is not true because David says, "I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips." From that verse, we see that
worship is not just for Sunday! The Bible teaches us that we should
worship God every day of our lives.
The reason God wants us to become worshipers is not just to tell him
how we feel about him. He wants us to become worshipers because the
practical side of worship is that it gives us the power of God that
we need to help us survive the daily struggles of life. Worship is vital
if we want to be victorious over the enemies of our soul. All of us
know of the power that comes from prayer, Bible study, and the fellowship
of the saints. Unfortunately, many Christians don't think of worship
as an activity that gives us power to overcome the enemy. That's why
this story of Jehoshaphat is so important. The battle Jehoshaphat faces,
literally, will determine the possibility of his future existence- v.
1-2. The text emphasizes the sheer size of the opposition Jehoshaphat
faces. Any one of the 3 armies would have been a sizable opponent. Together
they represented an impossible foe to defeat.
There are people in this church who are facing the same kind of problems
that Jehoshaphat was. You may have gotten a diagnosis of a serious disease
in your body, and your very future on earth is now threatened. Or you
are going through a financial disaster that is drowning out all hope
for a financially secure future. And it seems as though there is nothing
you can do to turn things around.
Or perhaps your marriage seems to be failing apart. And you're sitting
here this morning in shock because you thought marriage problems only
happened to other people. But now there seems to be no common ground
in the relationship anymore. There is nothing but coldness and indifference
where there was once warmth and concern. You're not even sure if counseling
will do any good. And you're sitting here this morning, thinking to
yourself, "If something doesn't turn around soon, my marriage is going
to be over."
Those are just some of the real battles that many of you are facing
right now. Problems that, by their sheer size, make you feel small and
powerless. That's what Jehoshaphat was facing. That's what this text
is all about.
The dilemma that Jehoshaphat faces is that there is no human solution
to this problem. And unless he gets some help, he is finished. In fact,
the entire nation of Judah may not be here tomorrow! But instead of
running away from God, Jehoshaphat sought after God-v. 3(a).
I love the fact that God tells us that Jehoshaphat was afraid. I don't
about you, but I love reading stuff like that in the Bible, because
it shows me that it is okay to respond emotional to the struggles of
life! Many well meaning Christians have tried to teach us that if you're
walking in faith, you will never experience an ounce of fear or doubt
in any situation.
The truth is that our human emotions will not stop us from walking in
victory. Look, you don't have to put on some kind of phony spiritual
mask when disaster threatens. A couple of months ago, the transmission
went out on my Suburban. Let me tell you I was not thrilled at the aspect
of having to put a new one in. In fact, at first I got mad at the truck.
Like it was its fault for not taking care of itself. Then I tried to
find a way to blame it on Carol! Perhaps it was her fault for complaining
about the gas mileage it got. But then it dawned on me that it could
have been worse. For instance, the transmission could have gone bad
while I was on a trip out of town.
After I acknowledged my human emotions to God, I began to praise him
for watching over me. What I hope you learn from Jehoshaphat's fear
is that it is you can experience human emotions and still be spiritual.
Just don't let your emotions take your eyes off the Lord!
When your human emotions rise up, do what Jehoshaphat did: Jehoshaphat
determined to seek the Lord with all his heart, even when his heart
was seized by fear. This is important because we too face a battle against
a triune enemy of the flesh, the devil, and the world. And you will
face these enemies every day of your life. Any one of these is a sizable
opponent. Together they represent an impossible foe to defeat.
However, worship is one of the most powerful weapons we can use to win
the battles against the enemies of our soul. Let me explain. I believe
that most of our spiritual battles are fought against the enemy of either
the flesh or the world. And how we react when we are attacked by these
enemies is what either causes the demonic world to enter into the fight
or to stay away from the fight. For instance, if you can't get over
your anger when your car breaks down, or the test from the doctor doesn't
come back the way you wanted it to, or the fight you had with your spouse,
then you open the door for Satan to assign some of his demons to join
in the battle. But, if instead, you allow the Holy Spirit to move you
beyond your emotions, to rejoicing of the fiery trials you are going
through, then Satan will not be able to find a place to enter in your
life and attack you. Which is why Paul tells us "Do not let the sun
go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a mighty foothold
to the Devil."
The word foothold literally means a place of abode. If you continue
to respond negatively, it is like you are inviting Satan to come and
live in your spare bedroom for a while. And none of us would knowingly
do that. And even if the battle you are going through is against the
demonic forces of this world, if you enter into praise, then all the
attack will do is cause you to draw nearer to God.
Satan is powerful, but he's dumb. He hasn't caught on yet that God can
use demonic attacks to cause people to seek after him more. After Paul
recognized that the thorn in his flesh was a messenger sent by Satan,
instead of getting angry and pulling away from God, he drew near to
God by asking him 3 times to remove it. It was through Satan's attack,
that God taught Paul that "'My grace is all you need. My power works
best in your weakness.'" As Paul understood God's grace, he was able
to endure the attacks of Satan, for he went on to say, "So now I am
glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work
through me. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Because many of us have heard this story since we were kids in Sunday
school, there's a detail of Jehoshaphat's life that perhaps doesn't
stand out as much as it should. That is that Jehoshaphat was a professional
soldier. Kings in those days lead their armies in battles. As such,
Jehoshaphat would have made sure that the men were dressed and ready
for battle! He would have put some sandbags up against the gates. He
would have hid the women and children. That's what a military leader
normally does when his nation is about to be attacked.
Please notice that Jehoshaphat didn't make all the appropriate military
decisions and then ask God to bless his efforts and plans. Instead,
he lays the issue at God's feet first. By doing so, he is training his
natural instincts to seek God first. What we do when we are first confronted
by crisis shows who or what we have put our faith in. For our first
response is our trained response. And what God wants us to do is to
respond by faith, and seek him first, instead of responding by fear,
which will only cause us to try to fight the battle in the flesh.
Next we see that in addition to seeking the Lord personally, Jehoshaphat
united the people to seek the Lord corporately- v. 3(b)-4.
The battle was going against a very visible enemy. However, theses armies
were merely the visible manifestation of the real enemy. We are told
that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against
the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Since our real enemy is a spiritual enemy, we are told that "We don't
wage war with human plans and methods. We use God's mighty weapons to
knock down the Devil's strongholds."
Some of the spiritual weapons of our warfare that we see in these verses
are fasting & praying. Let's look first at fasting. Fasting helps keep
our focus aimed at God. It isn't some gimmick that we can use to twist
God's arm to get him to do something for us. Fasting is God's tool to
teach us not to rely on our physical strength. It helps take our minds
off of the physical realm so we can focus on the spiritual realm. Fasting
helps us to see who the real enemy is we are fighting. And it enables
the Holy Spirit to get our attention fixed on the resources that we
need to win the battle.
The second thing Jehoshaphat did was he called the people to united
prayer. Why didn't he have each person just pray to God right where
he or she was? Why go to all the trouble to get the people to come together?
Jehoshaphat understood what Jesus would later say about the great power
that comes from of agreeing together in prayer.
The early church experienced much power because they came together to
pray. In fact, the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost, when
the Holy Spirit was poured out on the 120 who seeking the same thing,
in the same place, in the same way. That's a good definition of the
prayer of agreement. Sadly, we've lost sight of this in most churches.
If today's church prayed together like she plays together, we would
see a far more powerful church in this nation. I mean we have more people
show up for food and musical entertainment, then we do for a prayer
meeting. And this is backwards. I'm afraid we are raising up a generation
of believers who knows nothing about corporately praying to God!
Next I want you to see that as Jehoshaphat was praying to God, he also
was filling the people's minds with the truth concerning God's power
& might- v. 5-13. Those questions are not Jehoshaphat's way of expressing
his doubts about God's ability to take care of his people. This is Jehoshaphat's
way of letting God know that he believes that he is the one who rules
heaven and earth. He is also reminding God that he has given all those
precious promises to help to his people in times of trouble. And in
doing so, he also reminds the people that God is still God, even in
the midst of this desperate situation!
As Jehoshaphat stated these truths, the people's faith in God began
to rise- v. 18-19. That's how corporate worship feeds our faith. Worship
isn't just some emotional outlet for people. It is not like group therapy.
Corporate worship lifts our spirit by reminding us of how God worked
in the past. It encourages us to live faithfully for him now, but focusing
on the present promises of God. And it gives us the fuel to keep fighting
the good fight of faith as we understand what God has prepared for us
in the future.
Because the organized church as taken quite a beating in our lifetime,
we need to relearn the importance of coming together to unite our faith
in God. We need to constantly remind ourselves that we don't go to corporate
worship primarily to be blessed. Instead, we are to come together for
corporate worship so that the strong can encourage the weak to hang
in there. When that happens, our faith in God grows. And as our faith
in God grows, he will in return begin to do great things in our midst-
v. 14-17.
One of the most powerful aspects of corporate worship is the manifestation
of the gifts of the Spirit. It is unfortunate that we have limited the
gifts we want to see to primarily to the more powerful ones such as
tongues & healing. The purpose of the gifts is for the building up of
the of the body. So just because we don't see anyone raised from the
dead every time we meet, doesn't mean we don't need to see the gift
of mercy, helps, exhortations, or giving being manifested in our midst.
I enjoy being exhorted by hearing of how God worked something out for
your good, just as much as I enjoy hearing someone give a prophetic
word, or a word of wisdom, or a word of knowledge.
Look now at Jehoshaphat's military strategy in verses 20-21. First of
all, Jehoshaphat took the time to reinforce the faith of the people.
There's a big difference between the way you feel leaving Sunday worship,
and the way you can feel Monday morning facing the battle's of life.
How many of you have been to conferences, or rallies, like PromiseKeepers,
where you got all fired up to live faithfully for the Lord, only to
fall back into your old sinful patterns a few weeks later?
The only way we can live constantly on fire for the Lord is to develop
a God-consciousness. The way I have done this is through God's Word
and his creation. Though we are not to worship creation, creation sure
can help remind us of God's goodness & greatness. And by keeping a steady
diet of feeding on God's Word, by reading, memorizing, and meditating
on it, you place inside of you the truths you need when you are faced
by temptations of the enemy. Remember that every time Satan tempted
Jesus, Jesus replied, "It is written."
Jehoshaphat tried to help his people develop a God-consciousness by
reminding them to keep their faith fixed upon the promises of God. In
doing so, he encourages them not to lose the ground they gained as they
prayed and worshiped earlier. And this is going to be important because
of the way they are to attack the enemy. For instead of putting Judah's
elite fighting men in the front, Jehoshaphat put the singers and those
who praised, in front of the army. In doing so, he helps the people
understand that the resource they need to win this battle is found only
in worship. For our text tells us that Jehoshaphat told them to sing
a song of thanksgiving to the Lord.
If you remember nothing else of this sermon, remember this: The power
to winning the war over the enemy is found in singing songs of praise.
This has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you like to sing
or whether or not you are a good singer. It has to do with the biblical
instructions regarding how God calls us to worship in times of warfare!
We are commanded to "Let the godly sing for joy to the LORD, for it
is fitting to praise Him." And "Let us continually offer our sacrifice
of praise to God by proclaiming the glory of His name."
I included both an Old Testament and a New Testament command to verbally
praise God, because in order for something to be a valid practice for
the church, the Old Testament teaching must be reiterated in the New
Testament. This is a very important principle of Biblical interpretation
because not all of the Old Testament practices are meant to be carried
over into the church. For instance, we don't butcher sheep, burn incense,
or wash our hands and feet as we come into the sanctuary, because we
are not instructed to do so in the New Testament. But when it comes
to singing, the New Testament makes it perfectly clear that singing
is to abound by those who make up the church of Jesus Christ. It's to
be held up as an important and vital part of our worship of Jesus. In
fact, singing songs of praise is not an option for a Christian. It's
no more optional than giving, or praying, or studying God's Word. So
even if you sing as bad as I do, don't neglect this important facet
of worship.
Trust me, nothing will quench the Spirit faster in your life, than refusing
to sings songs of praise to God. The last thing I want you to see is
that a person who has the spirit of worship, will always live in victory-v.
22-30.
This is huge. This is the original "shock & awe" campaign. For the Lord
did the fighting so that none of Judah's army had to. The very things
that once looked so invincible were reduced to rubble as the people
worshiped the Lord.
The powerful truth we learn from this story is that God fights our battles
as we worship him. I wonder what might have happened in the ongoing
war in Iraqi if President Bush had bombarded Baghdad with praise & worship
music instead of bombs & missiles. Perhaps the Iraqi army might have
started to kill each, just like the enemies of Judah did in this story.
And when our forces arrived in Baghdad, perhaps they would have found
them in the streets dead. Perhaps we need to develop a mass military
praise & worship team to go before our troops and sing songs of thanksgiving
to God, instead of developing more powerful & smarter weapons of warfare.
There is something in all of us that almost mocks the possibility that
God can work like that today. That is because we are so used to relying
on our own strength. After all, we have been taught that God only helps
those who help themselves. This is one of Satan's greatest lies.
The truth is that God loves to show himself strong to the weak. He wants
us to seek him first, not when all else has failed. He wants us all
to come to the point where we say, that apart from him we can do nothing,
but through him we are more than conquerors.
In conclusion, God uses stories like this one to remind us that we can
either struggle through life, or we can walk victoriously as we develop
a lifestyle of worship. The story of Jehoshaphat teaches us that through
worship will win battles we never can win on our own.
I hope I have convinced you that worship is a source of spiritual power
that you can't afford not to be a major part of your daily life. So
never let your pride stop you from entering in and worshiping the Lord
when life's battles come upon you. Instead, begin to worship him. For
as you do, he will enter into the battles of your life! And when God
arrives, your enemies will be scattered. And he will give you the victory!
Let's
pray!!
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