Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap Bobby's sermon from 2 Chronicles 30:1-9.
Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap Bobby's sermon from 2 Chronicles 30:1-9.
Lindsey: Welcome to the Midweek Checkup. My name is Lindsey Blair, and my colleague is Bobby Gilles. This past Sunday, he preached from Second Chronicles Thirty, verses one through ten.
Bobby: I reminded you - and myself — that the purpose of the Bible is to point us to the truth, beauty, and goodness of King Jesus so we will want to become Kingdom People. If you’ve forgotten or missed the sermon, it’s time for the Midweek Checkup.
Lindsey: Bobby began by reminding us that, by the time of Hezekiah in the seventh century B.C., Israel had split into a kingdom of northern tribes called Israel, and a southern kingdom called Judah. Hezekiah was king of Judah, and Israel had been conquered by Assyria. Hezekiah sent a message to the few remaining people in northern tribes like Ephraim, inviting them to observe Passover with Judah in the Jerusalem temple. But most of them scorned and ridiculed the idea.
Bobby: Hezekiah’s reforms did lead to a revival, but it was not a revival of all God’s people, and it did not last. As the New Testament begins, although Assyria is a distant memory they are now ruled by Rome. They are waiting for a king who will do what Hezekiah could not. And the people living in the old territory of Ephraim are bitterly divided from Jews living around them. Many Jews living in Judea and the northernmost region called Galilee would go out of their way to avoid the people in that region. The feeling was mutual, and the dispute about where a follower of God should go to worship persisted.
Lindsey: These despised people were the Samaritans, so when Jesus shows up at a well in Samaria and asks a Samaritan woman for water, it’s no wonder she said, How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) But Jesus saw and honored her. And they had the longest one-on-one conversation that Jesus had with anyone in the Bible. In contrast to a conversation he’d just had with a leader of the Jewish ruling council, she perceived Jesus to be a prophet, and she evangelized her whole Samaritan town.
Bobby: She asked him to settle the question about whether Samaritans really had to go to Jerusalem to worship. Jesus, like Hezekiah, said that everyone is welcome home. But Jesus added that home isn’t just the Jerusalem temple anymore. Home is wherever you are, because true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth.
Lindsey: Hezekiah had been king of Judah but Jesus is kind of the world. Hezekiah reestablished Temple worship but Jesus inaugurated “everywhere” worship. Hezekiah had sent a letter to leaders in the Samaritan region but Jesus personally travelled there, and he met with an unnamed woman. Hezekiah held a new Passover festival but Jesus became our Passover lamb. Hezekiah was unsuccessful in reaching those estranged from him, and ultimately his hopes were dashed. But Jesus has a kingdom of all tribes and tongues, with no end.
Bobby: No matter who you are, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, what others have done to you, he sees you, he knows you, he wants you, and he will trust you with important kingdom responsibilities because the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him. He accepted, equipped, and empowered the Samaritan woman, and he can do the same for you.
Lindsey: So invite someone to journey with us through the Gospel of Mark, beginning in two weeks. Invite someone who has never heard the story of Jesus. Invite someone who heard it long ago but needs to hear it again. And realize that we need to hear it again. Week in, week out, we’ll walk through this biography of Jesus.
Bobby: Our journey through the Gospel of Mark begins in two weeks. But this Sunday will be a one-of-a-kind praise service, where you’ll hear what God has been doing in our midst and we’ll worship together. And in Bible Fellowship we’ll get into the heart of Romans 8, one of the most stunning chapters in the Bible. Join us and bring a friend.