OPEN: (We played Don Francisco’s Song "Jehoshaphat" after reading the text... it’s worth buying his CD just for personal enjoyment)
One of the oldest books on warfare was written by Sun Tzu. It’s called the Art Of War and in its 13 chapters, Sun Tzu laid down some basic principles of how to wage war.
Amongst his advice were these statements:
· All warfare is based on deception.
· Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
· Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
· If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
· Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
· If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
APPLY: Now, those seem like common sense rules. And for centuries, generals and military leaders have studied Sun Tzu’s teachings and used them for the basis of their battles and military campaigns.
This is how battles are waged and how wars are won.
But you know, I’m pretty sure that Sun Tzu’s “Art Of War” never dealt with a battle quite like the one we’re reading about today.
I mean this is NOT how battles are fought and it’s not how wars are won. The Jews appear to be outnumbered 3 to one and according to Sun Tzu, when you’re outnumbered… you run away (evade).
But not Jehoshaphat and his army. Not only did they not run away, I’m not sure they brought much in the way of weapons. In fact, their only tactical weapons seemed to be a promise from God and… a glee club.
2 Chronicles 20:21 says that “After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.’”
Judah should not have won this battle.
But they did because they had a promise from God.
Leviticus 26:3 & 8 promised them “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands… Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”
And that’s pretty much what happened!
But even though it might appear that they went out to this battle without much preparation, they actually did some major things to prepare themselves for this challenge. They:
· Inquired of the Lord (II Chronicles 20:3)
· Declared a fast (II Chronicles 20:3)
· They spent time in prayer (II Chronicles 20:6-12)
· The entire nation engaged in this activity (II Chronicles 20:13) (Ben… keep these up)
I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between how Judah met their challenge and how we’ve met ours. Honest, I didn’t select this passage of Scripture with that in mind nor have we intentionally used Jehoshaphat for our model in what we’ve done. I actually started studying this Bible story a couple of days before I recognized the parallels:
· Last November – Gary Edwards came here to help us with our financial challenges
· The Elders spent the next 6 months inquiring of the Lord before making a commitment to this project.
· As we entered into this “Forward in Faith” we have done two very important things
o We’ve prayed for 21 days
o And we’ve called ourselves to a 3 day fast (from food/ TV/ or some other item we spent time doing)
· And most all of us have taken part in these activities
As I realized the parallels, I was amazed that we had done almost exactly what Jehoshaphat and his people had done in their day. Now, is that cool or what?
Judah was faced with an impossible situation… an army that was too large to defeat.
And yet – because God was in it – they came away victorious.
As Don Francisco (a famous Christian singer of decade or so ago) wrote in his song about this story:
“The Lord God set up an ambush and He got the enemy all turned around
They started into killing each other you know till they all laid dead on the ground
And the riches and the jewels that they left behind it took them three whole days to haul
The children of Judah all praised the Lord ‘cause He saved them one and all”
Now, we are faced with an impossible situation.
We’ve set ourselves a goal of $1 million for our “Forward In Faith” Campaign.
And we were not frivolous about this.
We set this goal the same way we always set our yearly goals for our church budget.
Every year, we figure out what we need to do and set the financial goals accordingly. If the money’s there, we do what we set out to do (and we usually get it done).
In setting our financial goal for this project we simply tried to decide what we felt God would want us to do with the money and we set the goal accordingly:
· increased mission giving
· new church building
· increased ministry in the community
Judah did NOT go out to battle because they believed their army could win the battle
They went because they believed that’s where God wanted them to go and they trusted God for the outcome.
Similarly we haven’t set this financial goal because we think we are capable of attaining it.
We’ve set the goal because that’s where we believe God wants us to go and we’re willing to trust God for the outcome.
We’ve not set the goal based upon our small abilities… but upon our very large God.
ILLUS: Two men went fishing. One man was an experienced fisherman, the other wasn’t. Every time the experienced fisherman caught a big fish, he put it in his ice chest to keep it fresh. Whenever the inexperienced fisherman caught a big fish, he threw it back. The experienced fisherman watched this go on all day and finally got tired of seeing this man waste good fish. "Why do you keep throwing back all the big fish you catch?" he asked.
The inexperienced fisherman replied, "I only have a small frying pan."
What I’m saying is this: we didn’t set our dreams based on the size of our frying pan but on the size of a God who is big enough to supply all of our needs!
And I am convinced God isn’t going to offended by the size of our request.
ILLUS: John Newton often asked God for large amounts of money for his ministries and it Lord always seemed to give almost unbelievable answers to his petitions, and so he often engaged in "large asking."
In support of this practice Newton would frequently tell the story of a man who asked Alexander the Great to give him a huge sum of money in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
The ruler consented and told him to request of his treasurer whatever he wanted.
So the man went and asked for an enormous amount.
The keeper to the funds was startled and said he couldn’t give him that much without a direct order. So the treasurer went to Alexander, and argued that even a small fraction of the money requested would more than serve the purpose.
"No," replied Alexander, "let him have it all. I like that fellow. He does me honor. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous."
Newton concluded the story by saying, "In the same way, we should go to the throne of God’s grace and present petitions that express honorable views of the love, riches, and bounty of our King!"
Our request gives God the opportunity – if He chooses – to show His power and might.
One preacher I read told of a sign they had at his Bible college that read this way
"When God is going to do something wonderful, He chooses a difficulty.
When He is going to do something very wonderful, He chooses an impossibility!"
(Claude White, Sermoncentral.com)
Now, I want you to notice how Jehoshaphat and the nation of Judah prepared for their battle.
They put together a choir.
They went into the battle singing God’s praises.
I thought it was interesting that God didn’t tell them to do that.
They decided that all on their own.
But I believe that single decision expressed their confidence in God and I believe it even gave an extra boost to God’s victory that day.
King David declared:
“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.” Psalms 50:14-15
In Psalms 50:23 God promised that:
“He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
Thanksgiving to God seems to unleash an extra measure of God’s power BECAUSE this offering of thanksgiving gives God glory and praise that honors Him.
So, what I want to do this morning is have our own choir
(We sang the following songs accapella:
To God Be the Glory
Praise Him, Praise Him
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Then Sings My Soul)
Now, the last thing that I want to do this morning is examine how Israel responded to their victory.
1. First they received great blessings:
II Chronicles 20:25 tells us “So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value— more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it.”
Judah had sought God’s guidance
They had fasted. They had prayed. And then they went forward in praise.
And they did all this before the battle occurred.
As a result, the enemy wasn’t just destroyed, but Judah walked away richer than when they came.
Likewise, no matter how our day of commitment turns out this afternoon because we have entered into it by seeking God’s guidance, by fasting, by prayer, and because we’ve set this day aside as a day of praise - WE WILL walk away this experience richer than when we started out on this campaign.
2nd – Judah renamed the valley.
Turn with me to 2 Chronicles 20:26 “On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, where they praised the LORD. This is why it is called the Valley of Beracah to this day.”
They renamed the valley. And they renamed it the valley of Berachah which means: “the valley of blessing” or praise. From that day forward it was a reminder to them of the power and love of God. Every time someone passed that valley, they were reminded of what God had done. Every time they passed by with their children and their grandchildren they told them the story.
I’m convinced that the result our “Focus in Faith” campaign will be that we’ll be able to tell our children what God did for this church because of what we’ve decided this day.
Today is the day of the valley of Berachah for us.
CLOSE: A minister tells of dispensing food to residents in an impoverished area by means of a "soup kitchen." All of the people were instructed to bring a vessel that would hold about 2 quarts. However, an 11-year-old boy, ragged and dirty but with flashing eyes and a winsome smile, lugged in a container that could hold at least 3 gallons. "We would have been ashamed to have put only 2 quarts into that bucket," said Dr. Barry, "for the youngster came from a large and very poor family. We felt bound to give him at least a gallon, and so we did."
Our Father says to us as His children, "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." (Psalms 81:10)
We need to be more like that trusting lad who carried away twice as much as the others because of his large asking!
