STARTER VS FINISHER (2 CHRONICLES 24:1-25)

 

STARTER VS. FINISHER

BIBLE PASSAGE: 2 CHRONICLES 24: 1-25

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons

January 10, 2021

MEMORY VERSE

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

ECCLESIASTES 7:8

 

INTRODUCTION:

You already have idea what our lesson will talk about today because of the bible passage posted. We’ll talk about some points in Joash’s life. Joash was blessed with spiritual privilege. What do I mean?

 As Joash grew to manhood, he had to be impressed with the fact that the hand of God was on his life in a unique way. Why were his brothers slaughtered and he alone was spared? He was only a year old at the time, so he certainly had nothing to do with it. And why was he saved by his godly aunt and uncle, who raised him in the ways of the Lord? His aunt was the daughter of the wicked King Jehoram, who had slaughtered his own brothers. She was the sister of the wicked Ahaziah who was slain. She easily could have been as self-serving as her wicked mother, Athaliah.

Or Joash’s uncle could have easily decided that he enjoyed his position of power as the regent until the boy-king came of age. He could have refused to yield power, or he even could have poisoned the young Joash. But none of this happened. Truly God’s providential hand was on Joash in a remarkable way. He was blessed with great spiritual privilege.

So are we, If I’m not mistaken, in our present situation here in CBT, I seldom see Christians persecuted by their parents compare with the past years. Young people are blessed to have Christian and godly parents.

But some of you may be thinking, “Yes, but I didn’t have it like that. I grew up in unchristian home. My parents are worldly and right now we don’t have peaceful family or my parents are separated. I never felt loved or accepted. I never received any spiritual training or encouragement as a child.”

But you, too, are spiritually privileged. That is shown by the very fact that you are sitting here in church today, hearing God’s Word. You don’t live in a country like Tibet that is 100 percent Buddhist, where there are no Christian churches. You live in a land where we are still free to worship God, where there are many churches which preach the gospel. You can read and you probably own at least one Bible (if not several); if you don’t have, you can go into any bookstore (or even supermarket) and buy one. You can turn on your radio and hear programs where the gospel is preached and God’s Word is taught. We all are people of great spiritual privilege!

Joash demonstrated early spiritual zeal. Joash directed the priests to restore the temple. We don’t know how long things dragged on, but in his twenty-third year (2 Kings 12:6; Joash was 30) things weren’t moving quickly, so he even confronted Jehoiada (who was about 120 years old, which probably explains why he wasn’t keeping the project moving!). They got the job done so that worship was restored (2 Chron. 24:14).

Just as Joash was zealous about the things of God as a young man, so should we be. Youth is the time when you’ve got the ideals and energy to pour yourself into serving the Lord. What a great thing it is to see young people with a burning zeal to see their junior high or high school or college campus reached for Christ!

But with the zeal of youth goes an inherent danger: it’s possible to get swept away with enthusiasm to do great things for God, but in the process you fail to build a foundation for a lifetime of ministry. It’s easier to build the temple than it is to walk in personal reality with God. People can see the temple and exclaim, “That Joash is quite a king! He must really love God!” But it’s all outward. What people don’t see, but God does, is whether you spend time each day with Him, whether you deal with sinful thoughts, whether you seek and submit to God in the trials of life. If you aren’t growing in personal holiness and devotion for God, then all your zeal for serving God in your youth is just a hollow shell that will crumble under temptation someday.

The Christian life is not a chicken coop; it’s a skyscraper. If you’re throwing up a chicken coop, you don’t have to worry too much about the foundation. But if you’re going to build a skyscraper, you had better dig deep and make sure that the foundation is solid. Like the seed sown upon the rocky, shallow soil in Jesus’ parable, it’s possible to spring up quickly, but if you lack sufficient roots, in a time of temptation you will fall away (Luke 8:13). And you will face temptation!

 

Today is our commitment service and through all the years, we have seen many Christians just take the commitment not seriously. Some are zealous in a few months and after that, the zealousness faded away. This morning, we will think about what we have going on in our life both spiritually and in the natural and ask ourselves, “Are you a starter or a finisher”. Now you may think that you cannot be finisher unless you are a starter, so everyone starts out as a starter. Finishers are all starters, but starters are not all finishers.

 

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  BETTER IS THE END THAN THE BEGINNING (ECCLESIASTES 7:8)

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Better is the end than the beginning is the first point that’s really caught my attention when I read the connecting verse from Ecclesiastes. This verse supports this point, and it implies that it is always the end that matters and not how we begin but of course it’s far better if we begin and end right - both. Over the years we are in the ministry I know you’ll agree that we have seen a lot of people who began well but ended very badly or sometimes not even to be seen. On the contrary there are few others who had very simple and humble beginning who do well phenomenally till today.

Back to Joash’s life, we know how he was started; he had spiritual privilege and yet he ended up wrong.  Imagine from one-year-old until his manhood, he was guided spiritually by his uncle, the priest, Johoaida but still he ended up serving other gods. Therefore, it’s not a guarantee that you grew up in a Christian family to become strong spiritually. Being strong is strengthening your covenant connection with God. I felt sad when I read the end of his life. The issue is not where you were with the Lord twenty years ago, ten years ago, but where are you with the Lord today. Not what you did for the Lord twenty years ago, but what are you doing for the Lord today.

2.  TO BECOME FINISHER, BE CAREFUL WHEN GODLY INFLUENCE IS GONE (2 CHRO. 24:17)

We read (24:2) that “Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” But Jehoiada finally died and then Joash was faced with a spiritual test (24:17). This was a hinge-point in his life, and Joash failed the test.

Our enemy, the devil, is neither stupid nor impetuous. He is waiting in the wings, biding his time for the right moment to attack. The officials of Judah did not approach Joash while Jehoiada was alive--the time was not right. But as soon as he was dead, and Joash was vulnerable, they hit and he fell.

Joash’s temptation was a common one. In Deuteronomy 31:29 Moses warned Israel that after his death, they would act corruptly and turn from the way which he had commanded them. In Joshua 24:31 we read that Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the leaders who survived Joshua, who had known all the deeds which the Lord had done for Israel. But then comes the book of Judges, when everyone in Israel forsook the Lord and did what was right in his own eyes.

The time comes for us all when we can no longer lean on those who have nurtured us in the faith. We must be weaned and learn to stand on our own spiritual legs. We must develop and maintain our own walk with God, or else we will fall when Satan comes, as surely, he will, to tempt us. The story of Joash shows how Satan often uses to test those who are spiritually privileged:

What happened to Joash after Jehoiada’s death? The key verse is verse 17: began taking counsel from the “officials of Judah.” Obviously, some influenced him by convincing him that in order to keep peace with the people they needed to reintroduce “Asherim and the idols”. Be careful of the “THE DANGER OF SPIRITUAL PIGGYBACK.”

Those who grow up in a spiritual atmosphere are prone to ride on their parents’ faith instead of developing a strong personal walk with God. Joash did fine as long as Jehoiada was around. But the fact that he fell apart immediately after Jehoiada died suggests that he was riding piggyback.

We usually see family when walking, the parents usually carry their kids, especially toddlers. As the kids grew older, though, they had to do more and more of it themselves. Now, they’re too big to carry at all.

Spiritually, it should be the same. If you’re growing up in a Christian home, it’s great that your parents walk with God. But what about you? Do you have your own faith in Christ as Savior? Do you have your own quiet time with Him? Do you have your own desire to fellowship with God’s people and to serve Him? The older you get, the more you need to be walking on your own.

Other scenario, though you’re not raised in a Christian family, you started growing in the church and situation comes that you needed to migrate or go to a different place and the question is, do you still have the Christian values with you? This is what happened to Christians sometimes.

What happened to Joash after Jehoiada’s death? He was tempted experimenting sin. We aren’t told exactly what the officials of Judah said to Joash (24:17-18), but they convinced Joash; they appealed to him to be more “free” than he had been under Jehoiada. Perhaps they said, “Listen, King! All your life you’ve been restricted by Jehoiada. You’ve been cooped up in the temple. You’ve obeyed the old man’s rules. But you’re missing out on the excitement of life. Be your own man! Be more open to other forms of worship.” And he fell for it! The appeal of idolatry is that you can make a god in your own image, according to what you like and how you want to live, and you don’t have to submit to the living God.

If you’ve been raised in a godly home, you face the same temptation of experimenting with sins that have been off limits. But this situation is not only for christians who’ve been raised in godly home, it’s for all christians who spend their time: home, school and church only. As you get into your teen years and beyond, your friends are going to say, “Listen, you’ve been missing out on the fun! You’ve never been drunk? You’ve never smoked pot? You’ve never had a bf or gf? You don’t know what you’re missing! Don’t be so up tight! You’re only young once! Enjoy yourself!” But, beware! It’s Satan’s lie!

What happened to Joash? Joash treated the holy place a commonplace. He grew up in the temple and when he turned from the Lord, we find him giving the command for the godly Zechariah to be stoned to death in the temple precincts (24:21). Joash should have at least regarded that place as sacred. His uncle Jehoiada wouldn’t allow Athaliah to be executed in the Lord’s house (23:14), but for Joash, it didn’t matter. When you grow up surrounded by the things of God, you’re always in danger of treating that which is holy as commonplace. You become irreverent or even joke about God, His Word and His church. You don’t have a sense of awe about the Lord. It ought to be a warning light on your spiritual dashboard!

Joash became ungrateful. Joash didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada had shown him, but murdered his son (24:22), “Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it”. How tragic! Those who are born with spiritual privilege tend to take things for granted. They don’t appreciate what a great blessing it is to know Christ. The parents know that God has rescued them from a horrible pit, but the kids have never known the hard side of sin. They’re like rich kids who never know the value of a dollar because they’ve never had to do without.

If you come from a Christian home, you need to stop often and think about where you would be without the Lord. What if you had been born to pagan parents who abused you? What if you had been born under the domination of Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism? You would be without hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12). That’s why our Lord calls us frequently to His table--to remember the kindness and grace which we’ve been shown at the cross.

Whosoever is your spiritual or godly influence make it sure that you lean on God more. You cannot lean on man because there’s big possibility that they would leave you.

3.  YOU COULDN’T BE A FINISHER IF YOU STOP WALKING WITH GOD

In verse 19, “Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.” In verses 20-21, Zechariah, son of Jehoaida warned Joash and the counsel but they didn’t listen instead, he commanded to stone him to death. Life or leadership without God is tragic.

Do you have second thought in committing? One of the ways of disobedience is not committing to God’s service.

Have you ever witnessed anyone stopping short of the finish line in any race and were declared the victor? Have you ever seen anyone compete at anything and did not finish and was declared the winner? It does not happen!!! In order for us to win, we have to finish. Sometimes we may not finish first and we still win because the first place winner gets disqualified for some reason. However, even in that case we still must finish the race. I want to make this very clear – unlike some things, when we walk with Christ we must finish. Starting does not get us credit, finishing does.

 

CONLUSION:

·       One of the most tragic events during the Reagan Presidency was the Sunday morning terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, in which hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept. Many of us can still recall the terrible scenes as the dazed survivors worked to dig out their trapped brothers from beneath the rubble.

A few days after the tragedy, I recall coming across an extraordinary story. Marine Corps Commandant Paul X Kelly, visited some of the wounded survivors then in a Frankfurt, Germany, hospital. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived.

As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words&md;"Semper Fi" the Latin motto of the Marines meaning "forever faithful."

With those two simple words Nashton spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed body and limb and their lives for their country&md;those who have remained faithful.

·       A missionary society wrote to David Livingstone and asked, "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you." Livingstone wrote back, "If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."