The First 100
Days
The
first 100 days for the President of the United States is considered very
important to his entire term. Even
though it’s a period of time that lasts for only a little over three months,
for some reason those initial 100 days after any President takes office hold
more weight than almost any other time as leader of this country. Maybe it’s because those first 100 days start
to show what kind of changes he is going to make, how aggressive he is going to
be in certain areas, what issues are the most important to him. Now, realistically no president will be able
to get too much done in that short amount of time, especially as he adjusts to
the new job and figures out what to do and how to do it. But those first 100 days are still considered
an accurate indicator of what the citizens can expect from there on out.
Hezekiah Did
Not Hesitate
Public
opinion worked a little bit differently during the age of monarchy for God’s
people in Old Testament times. The kings
of Judah (that lower section of the Promised Land) were born into that role,
not elected. And once they received the
throne from their fathers they didn’t just have a four year window to work in,
they ruled until their deaths. And so
the first 100 days of a king’s reign back then wasn’t really as important as it
might be for our leaders now. Those
kings of Judah didn’t have anyone to impress after all! They didn’t have constituents to please. They didn’t a have re-election to worry
about. And they didn’t have a real time
constraint on what they wanted to do either: they weren’t in a hurry at all
because they had job security until the day they died no matter what they did
or how fast they did it.
But this
morning we are looking at a king named Hezekiah. He did care about the first few days of his
reign because he was a man whom Scripture says “did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord.” And that was exactly what
God’s people needed. Because Hezekiah
inherited a kingdom that had been spiritually devastated by his non-Christian
father and grandfather. And although
Hezekiah was relatively young when he took the throne, he understood exactly
what needed to be done for the good of his faith and the faith of his people,
and he did not hesitate to do it.
Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name
was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did
what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. In the first month of the first year of his
reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them.
Hezekiah
was only 25 years old when he became king and he would end up ruling for 29
years. But even though he had plenty of
time to do the things he thought needed to be done, “in the first month of the
first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and
repaired them.” The temple had been
neglected for the past 32 years. Worship
of the one true God had almost completely died out. Idols and images of false gods were
everywhere. Hezekiah even says that the
doors of the temple had been shut, the lamps that were supposed to be
continually burning before the Lord had been extinguished, no incense was
offered, and not even a sacrifice was made on the altar for over three
decades. The Israelites living in the
nation of Judah were in the middle of a serious spiritual drought, and Hezekiah
did not waste any time.
Hezekiah
gathered all of the priests and Levites - those who were responsible for the
care of the temple and the worship of the people - and gave them specific
instructions. He had the temple cleaned
out, the sanctuary purified, all of the articles of the temple cleansed, and
the priests themselves ceremonially cleaned for the first time in years. He stationed singers and instrumentalists in
their places for a grand day of worship, he sacrificed various animals for sin
offerings and burnt offerings, Hezekiah himself knelt down in worship as the
music played, 3600 more animals were sacrificed afterwards, and Scripture says that
“Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at
what God had brought about for his people, because
it was done so quickly.”
Hezekiah did not wait. He knew
what was right, he knew what was good for their faith, and so Hezekiah did not
procrastinate, he did it - immediately.
What Are You
Waiting For?
Procrastination
gest the best of all of us sometimes, doesn’t it? Some of us may be more apt to get things done
right away than others are, but there are always certain jobs or tasks or
appointments or arrangements that all of us have a habit of putting off, things
that we fully intend to get to but just never do. And that’s OK for some things in this life,
but it’s not OK when it comes to your faith.
Your faith in Jesus needs to continually be fed with the Word of
God. There is no other way that the Lord
promises to strengthen your faith, solidify your faith, even keep your faith at
the same level it’s at right now! Nurturing
your faith is an on-going process in this life, but it’s not something we can
really do ourselves, it’s something the Holy Spirit only has the power to
do. And so we as Christians want to give
the Holy Spirit as many opportunities as possible to work through that Word of
God in your hearts. We cannot put that
off. We cannot wait until later. We cannot procrastinate when it comes to our
faith. That is damaging to the gift the
Lord has given you. That is detrimental
to the only connection you have with Christ.
What are
some of those things you have been putting off?
Maybe for you it’s going to church every
Sunday: you have good intentions, but you just haven’t gotten around to it
yet. Maybe it’s attending a Bible study
on a regular basis: you know it’d be good for your faith, but you just can’t
quite seem to make yourself go. Maybe
it’s reading your Bible faithfully on your own every day: you think it’s a good
idea but it’s so hard to get into the habit.
Maybe it’s studying a biblical topic in depth that you have always been
interested in. Maybe it’s picking up one
of the People’s Bible books or something else in the church library. Maybe it’s something as simple as asking that
question that’s been bugging you for a while or finding that answer that’s
eluded you for years. What are you
waiting for? What’s holding you
back? What’s more important than feeding
your faith with what you know the Holy Spirit is going to work through?
And,
believe me, I have similar spiritual things that I procrastinate about! There are plenty of items on my list that I
have every intention of getting to but I keep putting them off for one reason
or another. Do I have a good
excuse? No, not really. Is it harmful to my faith when I don’t give my
faith a chance to be fed with the Word of God as often as I should? Sure it is.
And the devil loves that. He
thrives at those times of spiritual procrastination. Because if we’re not constantly in contact
with God’s Word, we’re doing half of Satan’s work for him.
Your Lord
Hesitates for Your Good
Our good Lord has been dealing with the
spiritual procrastination of his people for thousands of years. He has seen the entire gambit of ways
Christians can make poor spiritual choices when it comes to their faith. And, thankfully, he counteracts that spiritual
apathy by hesitating himself. I want you to think of all of the different
ways that the Lord has provided for his people throughout the centuries by his hesitation. 1) Adam and Eve sin in the Garden of Eden,
death is the promised penalty, but the Lord hesitates carrying out that
decree. Instead he comes down to them,
talks to them, gives them a chance to admit their sins, and then he promises
them a Savior. He did not immediately
carry out their deserved punishment because he loved them too much. 2) King David sees a beautiful woman one day
who happens to be married to one of his trusted soldiers. David sleeps with her anyway, gets her
pregnant, tries to trick her husband, and then ends up ordering the husband’s
execution under the guise of a battle formation. But the Lord hesitates carrying out his wrath
on the leader he had appointed over his people.
Instead he waited and waited and waited for almost a full year until the
baby was born. Then God sends a prophet
to David to point out his sin. David
repents, God relents, and even though the Lord took away the life of David’s
son, he forgave David’s sin and remained faithful to him. 3) How about Jesus’ patience with Peter, with
Judas, with most of his own countrymen around that time? What incredible restraint the Lord showed by
not instantly striking down those he could have (and maybe should have)! Instead he spends 33 years in this sinful
world doing everything he can for everyone he can. He spends all night being tried and
tortured. He spends hours suffering up
on the cross. He spends days dead in a
tomb. 4) What about now? Jesus promised to come back to this earth
some 2000 years ago. Where is he? Why hasn’t he come back yet? What’s taking him so long? The apostle Peter addresses that very question:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. He
is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Lord
is patient, he is careful, he is hesitant to pronounce judgment because he
loves you too much. He not only wants
people to be brought to faith in his Word, but he wants to strengthen the faith
of those who are already his own. And so
he puts off judgment, he delays the sentencing, he hesitates to cut off. But there is one thing he never hesitates to
do: he never hesitates to show us his love.
He never hesitates to forgive us.
Completely. Every time. Without question. The Lord hesitates to bring judgment on us
when we deserve it and never hesitates to show us his love when we don’t. What a great God we have!
The Next 100
Days
I’m
going to take a wild guess and say that none of us in this room will ever be
the President of the United States of America.
Maybe, but probably not. And so
you will never have to experience the pressure of the first 100 days in office
and everything that you would like to accomplish before that time period is
up. But as a Christian you have the next 100 days right in front of
you. Almost three and a half months to
stop procrastinating with your faith and get yourself into contact with the
Word of God more than you ever have before.
And so what are you going to do?
Maybe ask yourself this: How can I be like King Hezekiah - the man who
did all of those things for the faith of his people in the very first month of
the very first year of his reign? What
different ways can I find to give the Holy Spirit as many opportunities as
possible to work over my heart with that gospel about Jesus? There are plenty of things you could do. And there are plenty of ways you can go about
it. You have until September 18th. I’ve counted up the days for you and if you
would start tomorrow, Day 100 would land on Tuesday, September 18th. There seems to be a lot of time between Day
One, June 11th, and Day 100, September 18th. But you know as well as I do that it will
come quickly. And so what kinds of
things are you going to read? What Bible
studies will you attend? What reading
lists will you get into the habit of using?
What schedule will you begin to keep?
Use the
sheets that are provided for you in your bulletins. They are meant to give you a form that you
can fill out and monitor as these next 100 days go by. I’m not going to check them! I don’t even need to see them! These are just for you to guide you in your
attempt to let your faith be fed. It’s
important. It’s crucial! There are so many things in the Word of God
that your faith can digest. There are so
many ways with the Word of God that your faith can grow. There is no time to lose. There is nothing more worthwhile. What are you waiting for?
Amen.
Jesus prays to his
Father about us, “Sanctify them by the truth.
Your Word is truth.” - John 17:17
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