Wha’ Happened?

If you’re a fan of Christopher Guest movies like “A Mighty Wind” you may remember Fred Willard talking about his past as a comic and TV show host with some catch phrases like “Wha’ Happened?!” or “I don’t think so!” These phrases have become commonplace in a certain circle of friends I have and I’ve even assigned the question to one of my nieces as a ring tone on my cell phone. But this week as I was reading about Asa, King of Judah, in 2 Chronicles, I found myself asking it again. But it wasn’t very funny.

Asa was the third king of Israel after the nation split in civil war. Solomon’s son Rehoboam followed the advice of some inexperienced advisors and alienated the citizens of Israel, so they decided to follow another leader named Jeroboam, who had been under King Solomon, Rehoboam’s father. The two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin stayed loyal to King David’s family (Rehoboam’s grandfather) and for the next several hundred years there were two countries: Judah (the southern kingdom) and Israel (the northern kingdom).

This is how the beginning of Asa’s reign is described in 2 Chronicles 14:2: “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.” Nice. What did that look like? The next verses give more details:

“³He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. ⁴He commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands. ⁵He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. ⁶He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the LORD gave him rest.” (2 Chronicles 14:3-6)

And the people were happy and all was right in the world. Sigh. Asa continued to follow God and do what was good and right. Battles were won, religion was pure, cities were built, and prosperity came to Judah.

Some time later a man comes to Asa with a message from God.

¹ The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ³ For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. ⁴ But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. ⁵ In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. ⁶ One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." (2 Chronicles 15:1-7)

A little scary, but a clear and significant message. God has been blessing the nation and will continue to do so as long as the king and the people keep seeking Him. Remember when you didn’t? It wasn’t safe to travel and there was warfare and turmoil all around. Sounds like an atta boy message with a caveat. God says, “Keep doing what you’re doing because it’s good. But if you stop, things will get worse.”

So what was Asa’s response?

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah…, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin… He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD's temple.

⁹ Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them…

¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder they had brought back. ¹² They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. ¹³ All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴ They took an oath to the LORD with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side.

¹⁶ King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down, broke it up and burned it… ¹⁷ Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life. ¹⁸ He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated. (2 Chronicles 15:8-9; 11-18)

Good response. Asa is shaping up to be a really good king. How long does this last? Verse 19 of this chapter tells us: “There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.” Impressive, huh? Everyone in the country is on board. Then, not even a full chapter later, we find this verse:

Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people. (2 Chronicles 16:10)

Wha’ happened?! Who is this Asa? It’s only been 10 verses and he’s become a completely different person! We can look at the description of the situation preceding this transformation, but the question remains concerning Asa’s heart and motivation: Wha’ happened?!

King Asa is threatened by the King of Israel and takes the gold and silver from God’s temple (yeah, the gold and silver he put there in the previous chapter.) and offers it to the King of Aram to buy an alliance. (The days of the Divided Kingdom were a little like Survivor: alliances were important, but they changed frequently and with little provocation.) The King of Aram agrees, stops work on what he’s doing in his kingdom, and helps Asa build up and prepare for a confrontation with Israel. Apparently this wasn’t a good idea and it was more of a mistake than it seemed. A seer, (messenger from God), comes to reveal Asa’s real motivation. He lays it out like this:

⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: "Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war." (2 Chronicles 16:7-9)

Wha’ happened? I’m a little confused. Because Asa was trying to cover his behind militarily by asking Baasha to come to his aid, God is mad and will remove the peace and rest from the kingdom? Does the punishment fit the crime? There’s something deeper going on here. It’s not a matter of military strategy; it’s a matter of trust. Asa has switched his allegiance and trust from God to Baasha by taking valuable gold and silver, meant to be dedicated to God as a reflection of gratitude and worship, and given it to another because Asa thought he could protect him better.

Ask yourself some questions that I asked myself when I read this: Do I trust God to help me in times of trouble, or do I only thank Him and give Him lip service when things are going my way? Is He good all the time or only when He’s good to me? When I’m afraid, where do I run? Something happened in the verses between a fully committed nation bringing their valuables into the temple and an insecure king taking his valuables out of the temple to give to another king. Which king can save him?

I find that, like Asa, something happens in my heart, too. When life is smooth and the sun is shining, I can say, “Praise the Lord” with the best of them. But what about the hard decisions that involve risk? What about when my reputation is on the line? Or my finances? Do I really trust God, or am I hoping my savings account will save me, so I skimp on my church giving? Do I remember how faithful God has always been to guide and protect me or am I forgetful enough to think I did it myself?

Faith, like love, is a choice. I choose to trust God based on His character and His previous activity in my life. And if I have no faith, I have no peace. That’s what the last words of Hanani are saying: “You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” There is no inner peace when we go back and forth between trusting God and formulating back up plans. Either He’s enough or He isn’t. Father, I pray you never look at my choices to trust anyone or anything other than you so that you have to ask, “Wha’ happened?”

• Is there an area of your life where you struggle to trust God completely? How can you move toward bigger faith in that area?

• Have you ever found yourself in a season of life or making an individual decision that made even you question how you got there? What caused your heart to change? How did you find your way back to God?

• Look at Azariah’s words to Asa in 2 Chronicles 15:7 - “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” How does that encourage you? How does it challenge you? Where can you claim that for yourself? Marriage? Ministry? Work? Relationship?

Sacrifice Part 2

“Is everyone crazy!?” The words came from my sister-in-law as we stood in the Banana Republic at the mall, shopping for an outfit for our recently deceased sister-in-law, and the funeral home needed her clothes ASAP. I had just gotten off the phone with my husband, who had given me some additional instructions for our afternoon. We were tired, overwhelmed, and distressed as we tried valiantly to make choices in our grief. Michelle’s large, frantic eyes darted back and forth under her tousled hair, and her external expression mirrored exactly what was happening in my head. I couldn’t help myself: I burst out laughing. A guffaw, actually. And then we couldn’t stop. The world just didn’t make sense anymore.

I got that same sense of incredulity when reading through the first chapter of the book of Malachi this week. But this time is was God’s voice asking if everyone was crazy. And He’s not laughing. The nation of Israel had been warned over and over again by God’s prophets to repent and turn back to worshipping the God who created them and called them into relationship. And over and over again, they chose idols, foreign gods, and individual and societal turpitude. So God sent them into captivity. The ten northern tribes never came back, and the two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin were forced to live in exile in Babylon for 70 years before they could return and rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem. One message should have been painfully clear to them: God wanted their obedience and was willing to go to great lengths to bring them back in line with His best plan for them. So imagine God’s divine disappointment to see how quickly the Israelites returned to their lax spiritual ways once the temple and worship there had been reestablished. Maybe disappointed. Maybe just hopping mad. Look at the following passage in Malachi concerning what the Israelites are hoping will pass for an acceptable sacrifice:

⁶ "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.

"But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'

⁷ "You place defiled food on my altar.

"But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?'

"By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible. ⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.

⁹ "Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"-says the LORD Almighty.

¹⁰ "Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. ¹¹ My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty.

¹² "But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' ¹³ And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty.

"When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD. ¹⁴ "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations. (Malachi 1:6-14)

They have come back from living in a foreign nation, brought there because of their sin, and when they come back to worship again in the rebuilt and glorious temple, they are bringing lame and blind sacrifices! What?! Is everyone crazy?! Apparently. What, exactly is the problem here?

First of all, it would appear that the people and the priests are colluding to offer subpar sacrificial animals to God, thereby disrespecting Him. To make His point God asks if the priests think the governor would be pleased with such an offering. (1:8) God’s standards and procedures are replete with meaning and symbolism. In the book of Leviticus (and some other places in the Old Testament) God gives very specific parameters around the kind of animal required and method of sacrifice. Every time God outlines His commands for a sacrifice the people are to bring, he states clearly that the animal is to be “without defect”. Why?

1. It requires effort to find the best. If an Israelite has sinned and needs to make atonement for that sin by a blood sacrifice, the repentance process can begin by searching his flocks or livestock for the very best animal he owned. As he searched his animals, roaming among the smells and stepping in whatever was on the ground, I would imagine the weight of his sin might begin to feel heavier. In addition, he is remembering to whom the sacrifice will go and may recall David’s words in Psalm 51:4 – “Against you, you only, have I sinned”.

2. Giving the best is more of a sacrifice than giving what’s not valuable. A young, perfect bull or ram could fetch a high price. Or provide meat for a family. Or lend credibility to your reputation. Sacrificing the best demands deep faith that my identity rests in God alone and that He will provide my livelihood, security and well-being. This is why I believe it is absolutely crucial to write the tithe check before others after the paycheck comes. I say with my first check that I believe God will provide for all the ones that follow.

3. A perfect sacrifice is a reminder of God’s perfect character and holiness. God Almighty is worthy of excellence. Our best effort. Our finest possessions. Our most noble expressions of beauty in art or music or movement. A friend of mine who works for an international ministry, in their fine arts arena, has this as her slogan: “Excellence for His Glory”. Nothing is more valuable than giving our best to a perfect, holy and sovereign Lord.

In addition, God is calling the priests to task for their devolving attitude around the sacrificial system. Instead of reverence and awe at the prospect of coming into the Presence of Jehovah, Malachi tells us that they are contemptuous (1:6, 13) and are above having to go through the motions of sacrifice, considering it a burden (1:13). How unnecessary the reminder seems for God to say, “I am a great king…and my name is to be feared among the nations”. (1:14)

God wants His leaders (priests) and the people to bring sacrifices that mean something. Sacrifices that are worth something. Sacrifices that cost us to bring them so that we are aware of the gap between God’s holiness and our sin and the price of redemption to bring us into relationship with Him. Because we are no longer under obligation to bring animal sacrifices (because Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect), our sacrifices are our lives. The standards have not been lowered; in fact, the bar has been raised. God told the Israelites in the desert, “consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” (Leviticus 20:7-8) To consecrate something or someone means to dedicate to a holy and specific purpose. Even under the Law of God in the Old Testament, He wanted His people to dedicate all of themselves to His purposes. Jesus reiterated this holy desire in Matthew 5:48, when He said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Only in the power of Christ’s resurrection can we even hope to achieve that goal. Certainly not through ritual sacrifices and by jumping through religious hoops, hoping to please God and earn His approval.

Obedience is sacrifice when it costs something. When my son came home from a school field trip recently, he was telling me about the budget they had to work with in their randomly assigned incomes and lifestyles. He had purchased a Porsche, a nice vacation cruise, and the basics of insurance, rent, groceries, and utilities. When I asked if there was an option to give to a charity, he replied that he had given $100. But his imaginary monthly income was over $4000, so when I asked him to do the simply math of tithing, he quickly realized that he probably should have given $400. When asked why he didn’t, he replied, “there wasn’t enough left after I bought all this other stuff”. Something tells me that attitude isn’t only prevalent among 8^th graders in Junior Achievement. Sacrifice to the God who created us and loves us perfectly will cost something, but the return on the investment is immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

• Why do you go to church? Obligation? To be “fed”? Cultural or family expectations? Relationships? Networking? What difference would it make in your Sunday experience if you were more aware of going to church to worship a holy God? Make a list of some reasons He is worthy of worship and thanks. Commit to preparing your heart to worship Him by preparing your heart before church this week.

• Are there any areas of your life where you feel you may be “phoning it in” with God? Areas of spiritual complacency? A place where you know you could give more, but are hesitant? What are the reasons behind your lack of enthusiasm or willingness to engage? Fear? Laziness? Misunderstanding? Ask God to reveal any of those areas to you and commit to examine your motivations, knowing that He is not pleased with activity for its own sake, but in complete, abandoned obedience.

Sacrifice

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” (C. T. Studd, English Missionary 1860-1931)

In the story of King Kong, tribal tradition held that a young woman was to be placed on a platform in the jungle for a gargantuan primate as a sacrifice to maintain peaceful relations between the beast and the people living nearby. Somehow this arrangement was agreeable to all parties involved and the young woman served a greater purpose in death than in life by acquiring peace and sparing the lives of her people. One planned sacrifice replaced random violence and unexpected death.

This arrangement is not unique to jungle tribes. Or to Hollywood. Or to the Aztecs. The concept of sacrifice to appease a higher power came from none other than God Himself. The fact that humans have corrupted and misunderstood the process does not detract from the perfection of the original plan.

God sacrificed the first animal to atone for human sin back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took the forbidden fruit and tried to hide their shame and nakedness from God. So “the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:20) That skin came from an animal that had to die to cover the shame of the ones who had sinned.

Many of the details of a sacrificial system in the theocracy that was the nation of Israel are described in the book of Leviticus. A sin offering required a young bull without defect. (Leviticus 4:3) A guilt offering required a young ram without defect. (Leviticus 5:15) Some situations required cakes to be baked with oil and salt. Some required animals. But the purpose of the sacrifices, or offerings, was to remind the people of the God who made them and whom they served. A symbolic gesture to clear guilt and make amends for their sin or to acknowledge God’s blessing and provision by giving something back to Him. A constant reminder of their need to repent and of the God who would forgive them.

Our sin required sacrifice, too. An offering to atone for the corrupt nature of mankind and for the individual sins of each person on earth. Animals may have served the purpose for a while, but the greater purpose of the system was to point the way to the perfect sacrifice to come – Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Perfectly human to sympathize with our weakness, but also perfectly and fully divine so that He could pay the price for sin once and for all.

So if Jesus paid the price once and for all – the perfect sacrifice – is the concept of sacrifice now obsolete? Are we exempt from the requirements of the biblical followers of God? As atonement for sin, yes. As a way for us to respond to God, no.

What does God want from us in terms of sacrifice? What does it mean in New Testament terms and for us today? Here is an Old Testament passage that I love, demonstrating the nature of sacrifice more than the details of the act itself.

²² David said to him, "Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price."

²³ Araunah said to David, "Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this."

²⁴ But King David replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing." (1 Chronicles 21:22-24)

Notice the key line that King David utters: No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing. For us, Jesus said that first part: He paid the full price for our sin. For the fall of mankind. He redeemed us. We cannot pay the full price; we have grace. “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people.” (Hebrews 9:27-28) God demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus to die for us, while we were still stuck in our sin. (Romans 5:8) That’s grace.

As for the second part of David’s response to Araunah, that’s something we can relate to. In his statement is the idea of responding to God’s activity in such a way that reveals our gratitude and commitment to Him because of His great love and power. While Christ’s sacrifice for our sin was once and for all, our sacrifice in response to His grace is ongoing. And there is a difference for us, like there was for the Old Testament Jews, between going through the ritual motions of a sacrifice (i.e. fasting for Lent, tithing) and fully responding to God’s Presence and activity in our lives with whatever we have to give.

Look at what the apostle Paul has to say about what our lives should look like:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1-2)

Or the psalmist:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)

And what about Jesus’ own words, in quoting the prophet Hosea?

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means; ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)

What exactly is required or expected based on these verses? What is God’s desire for us today? I see the following concepts in these and other passages of Scripture, as it relates to the concept of sacrifice.

1) Nothing is off limits. There is nothing in our lives that does not belong to God. Therefore, our very bodies and everything we do with them are meant to be offered back up to God in thanksgiving for the love and blessings He has shown us.

2) God wants our hearts more than our rituals. If the psalmist is right, and the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, and if Scripture tells me God wants truth in the inmost parts and that He holds my tears and prayers in Heaven, then my emotional honesty is valued highly by my God. He wants me to confess my sins quickly and accurately to clear the way for our relationship to grow. He wants me to rage when my heart is angry and to cry when it’s broken. He is the only source of healing and direction and everything in His character longs to have His children come to Him and receive what healing and comfort He alone can offer. Obedience matters most to God when we come with our hearts in it.

3) Sacrifice costs something. David understood that monetarily. Hosea learned the lesson emotionally. And Jesus wanted the Pharisees to understand it, too. We can’t protect ourselves from life’s worst-case scenarios or from heartache by following the rules to skate by. Nor can we skirt the real issues in our lives, thinking that by not dealing with them, we can stay off God’s radar and not go deep into our spiritual lives. Following Christ with our whole hearts for our whole lives is work. Just like marriage. Just like valuable friendships. But oh, the payoff! Struggling to find the right words, or fighting the embarrassment to apologize and confess to make a relationship good again are valuable sacrifices that bring us closer to God.

4) God cares a great deal about how we treat others. He would rather have us treat one another compassionately than to kill an animal to follow the rules. He wants our lives to reflect His character of unconditional love, humility, mercy, and forgiveness to the people around us. And depending on whom God brings into your life, that may feel more sacrificial some days than others!

Which means more to you – a Christmas present at an office gift exchange or a “just because I was thinking about you” present? The one that shows an effort and something personal, right? Genuine thoughtfulness means more than rote obligation any day. And in that, I believe God is like us. He would rather have our spontaneous praise and our heartfelt sacrifices when life is hard than a robot following the rules. But make no mistake – the commitment is hard and the price is high. But in the words of Peter, when Jesus asked if the disciples wanted to leave Him after hearing a hard teaching: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69) The sacrifice of our entire lives devoted to giving back to God all that He wants from us is hard. But what’s the alternative?

• Read Hebrews 10:1-18. Does this shed more light on the way that Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament Law requirements for sacrifices? What insight have you gained?

• Which of the Scripture passages in today’s lesson resonate with you most? Why? How will you choose to respond to what God is saying to you through that passage this week?

• Is there an area of your life where you feel God is calling you to sacrifice? Relationships? Worship? The way you treat your body? How does that make you feel – Apprehensive? Excited? Wary?