WHAT GOOD ARE YOU?
Thomas J. Watson, Jr. had big shoes to fill. His father was the first president of IBM who built a worldwide industry during his 42 years at IBM. He was presented with honorary degrees by 27 colleges and universities in the United States and four abroad. Watson was named chairman of IBM in September 1949. A month before his death, Watson handed over the reins of the company to the older son, Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
Being the son of IBM’s iron-willed chief weighed heavily on the younger Watson. In 1986 he told the Wall Street Journal, "The biggest motivation to me was fear and pride. Once I’d been around here a little while, I decided that my ambition was to prove to the world that I could run on the same race track as my dad. I liked the old gentleman; there was tremendous competition between us."
Mr. Watson pushed strongly to enter corporate computing. His father initially resisted the huge investment required to build plants and laboratories to create a new generation of products and to hire armies of people to sell them.
During his leadership, IBM grew from a medium-sized business to one of the dozen largest industrial corporations in the world. When Mr. Watson became CEO in 1956, IBM employed 72,500 people and had a gross income of $892 million. When he stepped down in 1971, employees numbered more than 270,000 and gross revenue was $8.3 billion. Fortune magazine once called him "the greatest capitalist who ever lived."
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Judah’s most overlooked and unassuming king was the greatest king of the southern Judah’s history, but he was almost history’s forgotten king. One is more likely to hear of the names of Asa, Josiah, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah than of Jotham. One of our church members named his son Asa. My wife has a nephew named Josiah. My favorite king is Jehoshaphat and my wife’s is Hezekiah. Uzziah is unforgettable every time Isaiah’s “Holy, holy, holy?vision in its sixth chapter is preached. I read a sermon concerning Uzziah and his idolatrous father Amaziah, but did not find a sermon of Uzziah and his righteous son. Good guys like Jotham do not have compelling or dramatic stories, but they sure do a lot of good and helped a lot of people.
How does one improve on good? What is excellent like? Why is excellence not an embarrassment but a empowerment?
Let Your Wisdom Do the Talking
27:1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the LORD. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices.
An irritated boss tells his new employee, “Integrity and wisdom are essential to success in every business. By integrity I mean when you promise a customer something you must keep that promise even if you lose money.?The puzzled new employee asked, "And what is wisdom??The boss replied, “Don’t make any such foolish promises.?
It’s strange that today’s society considers a person wise when they learn from their own mistakes. I can only say they are wiser. Some people are wiser profiting immediately from their own mistake. Some are wiser, benefiting eventually from their own mistake, but that kind of wisdom is slow to catch up and nothing to crow about. However, the wisest, the truly wise people of the world learn from people’s mistakes. Not learning from one’s mistake is stupidity, learning from one’s mistake is experience, but learning from people’s mistake is wisdom. Some consider themselves daredevils, bold enough to try everything, but others consider them brave fools for not applying the brakes before or sooner.
People confuse being clever and being wise. For example, they think they are wise when they could get away with speeding; they are merely clever. Those truly wise would refrain from speeding and follow legal limits. It is absurd to think a person who is not addicted to alcohol, drugs, or smoking after trying them is wise; he is merely trying to be clever. Society has got it backwards; the one who refrains from trying is wise.
Jotham was a true learner; he could learn from history, people, family and himself. In today’s society Jotham would more likely be considered boring than sporting. He was as promising and capable even though he was never as popular or charismatic as his father. Unlike his precocious father Uzziah who was made king by the people when he was sixteen (2 Chron 26:1), Jotham never received such accolade, but he exceeded all expectations. Jotham was as outstanding, even though he was never as outlandish, as his father. He did not have a magnetic personality but he sure had a magnificent record. Unlike the father, the son was not known for having a well-trained army (2 Chron 26:11), organizing his soldiers to fight by divisions (2 Chron 26:13), or amassing the latest weapons of war (2 Chron 26:15), but he just went about doing his business and getting the job done.
Jotham’s low-key and down-to-earth attitude and approach were strengths, and not weaknesses. The incoming king was a rock, a tower and a beacon of a son. In fact, he had all his father’s strengths and never his father’s weaknesses. Given heaven for his courage, he still would never dare to trespass the temple, interfere in sacrifices, and threaten the priests, which his father did. Jotham would never assume he had authority over all and was above the law just because he was king. He would never take advantage of his privilege, position, or power. The king was ordinary but he was never average. Not only was he not the type to grant himself special status, rights and concessions, he demanded and expected more of himself.
Jotham’s wisdom was astounding. He was astute, discerning, and sensible. The king wisely determined in his heart not to repeat the mistake of his father. Never would he aspire to such grandiose, vain and ill thinking. He would never allow himself to be high on a pedestal and so out of range. Strange as it seemed, Jotham got on better with less fanfare and fuss, pomp and pageantry, things and people surrounding him. No hinge of scandal tailgated him, no skeleton was in his closet, and no stain smeared his good name. Sure, he was not perfect because the people still worshipped idols, but he was not short of trying or proud of that. It goes to show no one can do everything.
Let Your Work Do the Talking
3 Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the LORD and did extensive work on the wall at the hill of Ophel. 4 He built towns in the Judean hills and forts and towers in the wooded areas. 5 Jotham made war on the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites paid him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat and ten thousand cors of barley. The Ammonites brought him the same amount also in the second and third years.
There was once a rabbi in a small Jewish village in Russia who vanished every Friday morning for several hours. The devoted villagers boasted that during these hours their rabbi ascended to Heaven to talk with God.
A skeptical newcomer arrived in town, determined to discover where the rabbi really went. One Friday morning the newcomer hid near the rabbi’s house, watched him rise, say his prayers and put on the clothes of a peasant. He saw him take an axe and go into the forest, chop down a tree and gather a large bundle of wood. Next the rabbi proceeded to a shack in the poorest section of the village in which there lived an old woman and her sick son. He left them the wood which was enough for the week. The rabbi then quietly returned to his own house.
The story concludes that the newcomer stayed in the village and became a disciple of the rabbi. And whenever he hears one of his fellow villagers say, "On Friday morning our rabbi ascends all the way to Heaven," the newcomer quietly adds, "If not higher."
Uzziah was one of the greatest kings in Judah’s history. No king was deemed “very powerful?as Jotham’s father was (2 Chron 26:8), but his greatness was always for himself and seldom for the people. Sometimes his greatness was for the wrong reason. Uzziah was unmatched in warfare, known for farming and gardening (2 Chron 26:10). With all the wealth (2 Chron 26:5), power, and time on hand ?he reigned fifty-two years (2 Chron 26:2), he never did anything directly or purposefully for God. He never did anything for the temple except for trespassing the temple. All he ever did for the temple were to make himself at home, make threats at priests, and make himself look good and the priests look bad.
One significant thing Jotham did God looked kindly at was rebuilding the Upper Gate of the temple of the Lord. Sure, Uzziah rebuilt towers and gates too (2 Chron 26:9), but only for an advantage in warfare. Uzziah rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines, but who wanted to live in fear among the Philistines? Jotham, on the other hand, built towns in the Judean hills for the people to live, forts and towers to provide security. Jotham’s heart was in the right place. He cared for his people’s safety and never gave them loaded incentives, tax credits and free housing to woo them to live in Philistine country.
However, don’t think for a moment Jotham nice and innocent and sheltered for his own good. He was sensitive but not soft, a gentleman but not a geek, and nice but not nerdy. He could fight with the best of them, and he would to teach a lesson and to prove a point. Unlike his father, he fought the old-fashioned way without machines and slingstones (2 Chron 26:15). His fighting skills, wise strategy and ruthless spirit were at full display upon those who crossed him. He did to the Ammonites (v 5) what his father did to the Philistines and the Arabs (2 Chron 26:7). Like his father, Jotham did damage, but only on the wicked and for the good. The new king was also as hardworking, as visionary and as driven as his father. He did extensive work on the wall at the hill of Ophel (v 3).
Let Your Walk Do the Talking
6 Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the LORD his God. 7 The other events in Jotham’s reign, including all his wars and the other things he did, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. 8 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. 9 Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Ahaz his son succeeded him as king. (2 Chron 27:1-9)
At a church meeting a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith. "I’m a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I remember that turning point in my faith. I had just earned my first dollar bill and had to either give it all to God’s work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today."
He finished and there was an awed silence at his testimony as he moved toward his seat. As he sat down a little old lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said to him: "I dare you to do it again." (James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited)
The last thing we know about Jotham is that he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God. The Hebrew text has “he prepared his walk before the Lord his God.?The word “prepare?means establish, ascertain, fix, ready. The eight good kings of the southern Judah are introduced by the phrase “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.?As readers by now know, even that includes good kings who turned idolatrous such as Amaziah or who turned killer such as Joash the priest and faithful kings such as Jehoshaphat and Jotham. Where is the dividing line between good kings who are below average, good kings who are average and good kings who are excellent? The commentary “prepared?marks a gold standard. The word is sometimes translated as “set?
So far this word is used only on four kings and the people. The first official Judah king Rehoboam did not prepare or set his heart to seek the Lord; so he was a bad king (2 Chron 12:4). God commended Jehoshaphat, my favorite king, for setting his heart on seeking God (2 Chron. 19:3). Hezekiah, an excellent king, set his heart to seek God (2 Chron 30:19). Through it all, the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their fathers (2 Chron 20:33).
Jotham was up there with the best of the good kings. What separates him from the other two excellent kings ?Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah ?is that the two set their hearts on seeking God, but Jotham set his walk, or walked steadfastly, before the Lord his God. The two were concerned with getting their heart right with God, but Jotham was more concerned with getting his walk right. However, that does not mean Jotham has no personal relationship with God; he does. The Lord was his God (v 6).
Conclusion: A lot of people buy into the “throw caution to the wind?mentality and risk all that they for a moment of glory and in the name of fun. Rather, we should err on the side of caution, vigilance, and watchfulness.
Are you progressing or digressing in your walk with God? Are you developing or deteriorating in your relationship with God?
Victor Yap
http://epreaching.blogspot.com/
www.riversidecma.org
www.preachchrist.com (Chinese sermons)
