Sunday
Morning Bible Study
January 19, 2003
The Danger of Pride
We’re going to look at a king named Uzziah. Uzziah = “my strength is
Jehovah”. He is also known in 2Kings as Azariah.
Uzziah was one of the greatest builders among all the kings. In a way he was a sort of “renaissance”
man. He became king fairly early, at age
sixteen, and reigned for 52 years.
His second name, Azariah, means “Yahweh has helped”, and that’s what God
did, He helped him.
He helped him against his enemies (2Chr. 26:7), the same enemies that had
brought great trouble to his great-great-grandfather Jehoram.
His father Amaziah had suffered a terrible defeat from the northern kingdom
of Israel,
having a huge portion of the city walls torn down. But Uzziah turned things around, rebuilding
the walls and making them stronger than ever (2Chr. 26:9).
Uzziah helped the nation prosper by improving agriculture (2Chr. 26:10) and
building a large, strong, well-organized army (2Chr. 26:13) that was equipped
with the latest in weaponry (2Chr. 26:14).
He even added new innovations for “Homeland Security” by having machines
installed on the city walls that could throw arrows and huge stones at an
approaching enemy. (2Chr. 26:15a)
:15 for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.
helped – ‘azar – to help,
succour, support. This is the root word
for Uzziah’s other name, “Azariah”, or, “Yahweh has helped”
till he was strong – This is where Uzziah’s problems start. He thought he had arrived.
Lesson
Pride makes me lukewarm
Becoming strong isn’t the problem.
It’s thinking you’ve arrived that brings trouble.
As long as Uzziah thought he needed to get stronger, God helped him. When he thought his gas tank was filled, God
stopped pumping gas.
Jesus had a pretty severe warning for the church at Laodicea:
(Rev 3:15-19 KJV) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold
nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. {16} So then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
This is the “lukewarm” church. This is the church that makes Jesus sick.
{17} Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and
have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked:
The problem with this church was that they had thought
they had arrived. They didn’t think they
needed to go any further with the Lord.
{18} I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that
thou mayest see.
Gold refined by fire is a faith that has learned to hold
on in tough times.
White raiment is a person’s life that has learned to be continually
cleansed by Jesus.
Eyesalve is for people who think they “see”, people who
think they “get it” but they don’t.
{19} As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore,
and repent.
If God tugs at your heart today, pay attention.
:16-21 Uzziah’s sin
:16 when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction
lifted up – gabahh – to be
high, be exalted; to be haughty, be arrogant
Lesson
Pride brings destruction
Solomon wrote,
(Prov 16:18 KJV)
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
It seems to me that one of the biggest dangers of people who are
“religious” is pride. Jesus had been
invited to supper at the house of a Pharisee.
(Luke 14:7-11 KJV) And he put forth a parable to those which
were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms …
This is going to be a party filled with good, religious
people. The best spots that people were
seeking out might have been best because they were closest to Jesus. Jesus was the guest of honor, so I would
imagine that the “best” places were the ones closest to Him. These folks wanted to be seen as having been
close to Jesus, not because they needed Jesus, but because they wanted to be
seen as “great people”.
Uzziah was not a proud pagan. He was a religious man. The things he’s going to do could be equated
with being religious.
…saying unto them, {8} When thou art bidden of any man to a
wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou
be bidden of him; {9} And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give
this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. {10} But
when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that
bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou
have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. {11} For
whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted.
Peter writes,
(1 Pet 5:5-6 KJV) Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto
the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. {6}
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time:
I think one of the reasons that God resists the proud is
because the proud person is focused on himself, not upon God. The proud person is looking to himself for
the answers of life, and not to God. The
proud person is pointing people to himself, and not to God. And the help that people really need is not
found in the proud person, but in God.
:16 went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense
Uzziah goes into the first room of the Temple,
the “holy place”. He approaches the
golden altar of incense. This was the
thing in the Temple that had a
connection to prayer. The burning of
incense was to be a picture of prayer rising up before the throne of God.
This might sound good, but this was not something a king was supposed to
do. Only a priest, a descendent from
Aaron was allowed to go into the Holy Place
in the Temple.
:17 And Azariah the priest went in after him
Azariah – ‘Azaryah –
“Jehovah has helped”. It’s interesting that the High Priest has the same name
as the king. I wonder if the priest
doesn’t remind Uzziah of what he ought to be.
:18 And they withstood Uzziah the king
Lesson
Pride distorts the rules
Even a king has to live by the rules.
Growing up – it’s not all about getting out from under your parents. It’s about learning to live by the rules by yourself,
without having someone to be your mom.
Learning to ride a bike. The day
your dad finally let go of the bike. The
bike still needed to be kept upright.
But now you were the one doing it, not your dad.
There had been a number of people who have thought they could go around
God’s rules. It never works. Even the
priests had to follow God’s rules.
Nadab & Abihu.
(Lev
10:1-3 KJV) And Nadab and Abihu, the
sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put
incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded
them not. {2} And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and
they died before the LORD. {3} Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the
LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before
all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
They died because they offered “strange fire”. What is strange fire? It was simply something that God had not
asked for.
They died because they didn’t play by God’s rules. They thought for a moment that it wasn’t
important to do things God’s way.
:19 Then Uzziah was wroth
Lesson
Pride makes you angry
I rarely learn anything while I’m angry.
One of the things that I’d like to accomplish one day is to lose thirty
pounds.
I can get on the scale and get angry with the scale, but it won’t change my
weight. I can look at the mirror and get
mad at the mirror, but it won’t change my shape. I can get mad at myself – but that hasn’t
seemed to work either.
(James 1:20 KJV)
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
I’m not going to get anywhere with God when I’m angry.
Who are you angry with? Is your
anger really helping things? Get over
it.
(Eph 4:31-32 KJV) Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away
from you, with all malice: {32} And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath
forgiven you.
Is it possible to just “put away” your anger? I think we have the ability to do it. Have you ever been in a rip-roaring argument
with someone when you are interrupted with a phone call? Have you ever found yourself picking up the
phone and answering politely, “Hello”.
How are we able to stop the anger to be nice on the phone? I think we can put our anger away. Stop giving yourself permission to hang on to
it.
:19 while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up
Earthquake
Josephus records that there was also a great earthquake that occurred at this
time,
And when they cried out, that he must
go out of the temple, and not transgress against God, he was wroth at them, and
threatened to kill them, unless they would hold their peace. (225) In the
meantime, a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the
temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the
king’s face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately; and before
the city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from the rest on
the west, and rolled itself four furlongs, and stood still at the east
mountain, till the roads, as well as the king’s gardens, were spoiled by the
obstruction.[1]
Though the historical accounts in the Scriptures don’t mention this
earthquake as happening at the time of this event, but don’t write it off just
yet. The earthquake itself is mentioned
in several places:
Zechariah mentions it in comparing a future earthquake with this one:
(Zec 14:5 KJV) And ye shall
flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall
reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake
in the days of Uzziah king of Judah:
and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Amos also mentions the earthquake:
(Amos 1:1 KJV) The words of
Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the
days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king
of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
This tells us that Amos was active in his ministry at the
time of Uzziah as well.
It seems that there was some pretty heavy stuff happening all at the same
time. God was definitely trying to get
somebody’s attention.
:20 hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.
When Uzziah realized what was happening to him, he didn’t need any further
coercion to leave the Temple.
This wasn’t the first time leprosy came as a judgment from God.
It also happened to Aaron and Moses’ sister Miriam.
(Num 12:1-2 KJV) And Miriam
and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had
married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. {2} And they said, Hath the
LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD
heard it.
Because of her attitude, God made Miriam a leper for seven days.
:21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death
Lesson
Pride can remove you
I think it is possible for God to remove a person from the ministry when
they disqualify themselves.
(1 Cor 9:24-27 KJV)
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the
prize? So run, that ye may obtain. {25} And every man that striveth for the
mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown; but we an incorruptible. {26} I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so
fight I, not as one that beateth the air: {27} But I keep under my body, and
bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to
others, I myself should be a castaway.
Paul is talking about how we need to learn self-control to
stay in the race. I don’t think he’s
talking about losing our salvation here.
I think he’s talking about the race of ministry.
One of the Calvary Chapel “Distinctives” is that we believe in God’s grace.
We believe that God’s heart is always to restore those who have fallen.
But before restoration can take place, there needs to be repentance.
Though we would hope that there would be restoration when a person does
something like Uzziah did, Uzziah wasn’t restored. He was removed.
I think it’s significant that we aren’t told that he repented.
:21 dwelt in a several house, being a leper
or, “he lived in a separate house”
Because he was a leper, he had to live apart from the rest of his family,
according to the Law (Num. 5:2)
:21 Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the
land.
Uzziah was still alive and technically king, but he couldn’t do much in
public because of his condition. Because
of this, a co-regency was incorporated, where father and son ruled together. Scholars
figure there must have been about 11 years where this co-regency went on. Uzziah
was struck with leprosy when he was 57 years old and had it for 11 years before
he died.
Lesson
Learn from others
Uzziah’s son, Jotham is one of the rarities among kings. There is nothing
negative said about this man.
I wonder if watching his father had an impact on his life.
In the early church, there were a couple named Ananias and Sapphira who
tried to become well known in the church by claiming to have sold all their
possessions to give to the poor. The
problem was, they were fakes. As a
result, when they were confronted about their hypocrisy by Peter, they both
fell over dead. What happened in the
church after this?
(Acts 5:11 KJV)
And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these
things.
You don’t have to be like Uzziah.
You can be like Jotham.
Lesson
God heals lepers
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, God’s heart towards you is to forgive
and restore.
All through the accounts of Jesus’ life, we see that over and over again He
is reaching out to those who are far from God, those who are broken, those who
are hurting.
(Mark 1:39-42 KJV) And he
preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.
{40} And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him,
and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. {41} And Jesus,
moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him,
I will; be thou clean. {42} And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the
leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
There may not be any other who wants to touch you, but
Jesus will. Only He can heal the leper.