The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1915-11-05


S7S B. c.. and it follows within a few
years last Sundays lesson Inaugu-
rated as king and instructed by a
faithful priest, yet Joash discovered
great lethargy on the part of the
prlestly class with regard to the house
of God. He set himself to arouse great
liberality and to repair the temple.
!. .lethargy, v. q, 8. % Its cause.
We should read in this connection III
Chron. "a. From the two accounts
and the previous history of the ma
ton we conclude that the condition
OF the temple was due, (a) to the
weak and frequently vicious charac-
tiers of the rulers of the nation; 90
TO the evil companions of both princes
and priests and (c) to the cupidity of
court and curate. (2) The result OF
this lethargy regarding God cause
was evidenced (a) upon the temple,
and (b) upon the lives of the people
of the kingdom. 90 The cure. Joash
instituted great reforms in Judah and
In these Jehoiada the priest w. y had
no small part. In this particular les
son the prince ". y seems to lead
the priest. Unfortunately the godly
priest did not long survive the crown
ing of Joash and hence when he came
under other influences he soon went
back to the evil practices of mis- prede-
cessors and his reign ended in an
eclipse of evil QI Chron. 24:15,26).
In this lesson we have, however, a
suggestion of what is needed to cure
religious lethargy. (a) A vision of
the real condition Of affairs ". Z;
also IL Chron. 24:D. Joash saw the
resultant ruin of the temple after
Is years Of misrule; he also saw
the misconduct of the priests and
| did not hesitate to call them to
account. 'Tis no easy task to I'm.
dertake reformation and restoration
such as this; witness Moses, Luther,
Wesley and Cary. These priests had
aided him to gain his throne and
doubtless had had part In his boy.
hood training. Joash had inaugu.
rated certain reforms before he be-
gan this task which suggests the sec.
ond need OF CO. persistence (see ]
Chron. 24:5, g.. Such work also de.
mands (c) systematic effort and Civ.
Ing. Joash placed himself among Is.
raers best kings by undertaking the
restoration Of the temple and won
place alongside Of Hezekiah and 10.
sfah. Modern churches are not, strict.
ly speaking, "a house of the Lord"
such as the Jewish temple, yet the
condition Of many of our churches
would indicate great Indifference to
the cause Of the kingdom. Our bod.
| loo ipIaad 1op rNr Q.
16; GID and both the body and
church buildings alike should be kept
in proper condition.
II. liberaIity, vs.. els. The plan to
have the priests gather funds for the
repairs was Scriptural (Exod. 25
2-S) God does not look upon the
measure but upon the motive OF our
gifts III Cor. 8:12). The priests did
not hasten the matter" so the king
took 1t into his own hands ". 81.
In this remissness Jehoiada, as the
chief priest, is held accountable for
all ". y. j
We have in this story a rich sue
gestion as to Gods plan of Christian
giving. % The object It was dis.
| tinctly for the glory of God and not
to outbid others or to wastefully use
the money for selfish purposes (2)
All were to participate voluntarily,
out OF their abundance I'll Chron
24:1O, systematically and faithfully.
90 The results were house repaired
Gil Chron. PAID. beautiful III Chron
24:13) with the worship restored Ul
Chron. PAID. Joash seems to have
laid CT
nacle of witness (24:6) and we need
to recall that each and every part
OF that temple was a testimony to the
truth of God and had in it a spiritual
suggestion and prophecy AS whole,
1t suggested that God dwelt in the
midst of his people. The sons OF
Athaliah (Joash's grandmother had
so conducted themselves as to cause
1t to need repairing GI Chron. PAD.
When we turn to III Chron "a: S-14 and
read the record of the restoration OF
the temple, we discover: % Each
had its part in the work (2) Each
cid a perfect work, e. g., did his
task faithfully, fully and to a finish.
go Each did an orderly work, in his
state. None sought to supplant or
defraud others in the work assigned.
"a Each did strong work, it was
strengthened" and not trifiing work
as men-pieasers or for the moment.
Try more prayer and like Joash,
give the people a chance and there
will be no lack
Again, note that they dealt faith.
fully We need to exercise faithful
ness in our relations to God and In
the use of that which he intrusts to
our stewardship.
Man and God alike will have con.
idence in us according to the method
Whereby we receive and expend
money.