July 3, 2012 … Half-hearted Leadership

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Kings 9-11 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link - 
 ============

Highlight Passage: 2nd Kings 9: 6-8; 36-38 :[NIV] … 6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the Lord's people Israel. 7 You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord's servants shed by Jezebel. 8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. … 36 They [the servants of the king Jehu] went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the Lord that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. 37 Jezebel's body will be like dung on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.'"  
============
 Highlight Passage #2: 2nd Kings 10: 11; 28-29 :[NIV] … 11 So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor. … 28 [After the overkill of destroying all of Ahab’s family] So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. 29 However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.  
============

 Reference Passage #1: Hosea 1: 4-5 :[NIV] … 4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.

My Journal for Today: Today my reading focused on one of the later rulers in Israel, the northern kingdom of the Jews after the tribes of Israel/Judah had been divided. Today, millennia later, we see a living example that leadership in God’s kingdom cannot have one foot in Godliness and the other in worldliness. Our biblical example of this is Jehu, the northern kingdom ruler after Ahab, whom we read about in 2nd Kings, chapters 9-10.

Jehu was a piece of work who actually started to head in the right direction, following God’s command to eliminate Baal worship; but his methods were WAY TOO SEVERE, … for example, killing ever vestige of Ahab’s lineage to which God spoke through the Prophet Hosea (in the reference passage above) that the Lord would put an end to the northern kingdom due to Jehu’s cruelty. But that wasn’t all. Jehu also wiped out every vestige of Baal worship by slaughtering the prophets of Baal and all those who worshiped in the temple for Baal. But then, catering to worldly worship, he left the idol statutes of the golden calves in Bethel, probably because he felt that this would anger God’s people. Political leaders who cater to worldliness in selfishness will ultimately lead their followers down the garden path to death. (Remind you of anything going on today!)

All of this is an example of half-hearted leadership on the part of those who are called and/or ordained (i.e., anointed, as was Jehu) to be leaders in God’s kingdom.

Today, in God’s new covenant Church, we see religious leaders, whether in denominations of Christianity or in cults, like Mormonism or the Watchtower Society, setting up their own ideas of what “orthodox” worship of God should be like rather than simply following God’s word and doing worship God’s way. Worshiping God is an all-or-none thing. Either the Church is all in or it’s going to be all out. And that’s what Jehu couldn’t see. And those in the northern kingdom of Israel paid the price, with their lands ultimately being captured by pagan peoples – at least for a season.

But we must also remember that God’s covenant with His faithful was still in effect in Jehu’s time; as we flash forward in time and history (HIS-story), we see that God protected the covenant the LORD had made with King David; and that covenant was completely fulfilled in the coming of The Messiah, … our Lord, and Savior, Jesus, coming as the Lamb of God, … the One Who will one day sit on the throne of David in the New Jerusalem.

Oh, Lord, we tire of all the political intrigue and half-hearted worship leaders in Your now kingdom on earth.

My Prayer Today: … Come soon, Lord, Jesus!!! Amen