Sermon Central
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Four Kinds Of Half-Heartedness Series
Contributed by Jim Butcher on Aug 9, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: King Amaziah's story gives us four examples of half-heartedness.
FOUR KINDS OF HALF-HEARTEDNESS:
1. DO RIGHT BUT NOT WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
- What an eloquent and straightforward statement of half-hearted belief.
- This is not belief that says that God doesn’t exist or that the Word of God isn’t true. No, they will publicly respect those things.
- This is belief with a form of public expression of faith. Everyone would presume that they are on God’s side.
- But they are not willing to go all in when they walk with God.
- How prevalent is this today?!
2. ACCEPT A SECOND CHANCE BUT THERE ARE STILL CONSEQUENCES.
- The sequence:
a. Amaziah does wrong by hiring foreign mercenaries.
- vv. 5-6.
b. The prophet rebukes Amaziah.
- vv. 7-8.
c. Amaziah considers how much he has invested.
- v. 9.
d. After deliberation, Amaziah decides to obey.
- v. 10.
e. God does in fact provide victory.
- vv. 11-12.
f. Although he ultimately obeyed, there is an ugly consequence to the earlier disobedience.
- v. 13.
- We presume God’s forgiveness will wipe the slate clean, but there can be lingering consequences to our sin.
3. HOLD ONTO GOD AND THE WORLD.
- Despite seeing God move, Amaziah pursues foreign gods as well. He’s seen God work enough to know that He’s real, but he grabs onto idols from other countries anyway.
- How often we try to hold onto the world and Christianity.
- It’s worth noting that in v. 16 this causes him to be closed to what the man of God has for him. He won’t eve listen to all of it.
4. LET GOD'S BLESSING FEED YOUR PRIDE.
- God had moved in Amaziah’s life (sometimes). That likely contributed to the pride that v. 17 shows. When he is insulted, his pride takes over with disastrous results.
- It’s worth noting that he ends up in a pitiful position, left in power as a puppet (v. 23) but with a defenseless (v. 23) and poor (v. 24) people.