Jump Start # 610

Matthew 1:9 “and to Uzziah was born Jotham; and to Jotham, Ahaz; and to Ahaz, Hezekiah.”

Our passage today is taken from the opening sentences to Matthew’s gospel. He introduces us to Jesus’ family. And what a family it is! There are kings, such as David and Solomon.  There are common everyday people like Joseph. And there are some with a real past, such as Rahab, who was a harlot and Ahaz, who was a wicked king. The family from which Jesus descended wasn’t squeaky clean, nor the cream of the crop. In many ways, in most ways, the family history of Jesus’ reads like our family histories. Most of us have some that have achieved some status in the family. There are many, many, plain and common people in our families. And most of us have a few nuts in the family tree. We are not proud of that and their poor choices have embarrassed the family.

In many of the parables that Jesus used, he described people that had toxic attitudes. There was the unrighteous judge who did not fear man or God. What a joy it would have been to stand in his court! There was the Pharisee who bragged and bragged about all he had accomplished in his prayer to God. Then there was the prodigal. Don’t forget his older brother, either.

There are those in the family that have chosen to do wrong. Ahaz was one in Jesus’ family. He practiced idolatry to such an extent that he sacrificed children. He was pitiful. He took treasure from the house of God to buy allegiance with Assyria. Instead of praying to God, he looked for his own solutions. The Assyrians rescued Judah. Ahaz went to Assyria and was so impressed with an idol that he saw there, he had the plans drawn to build one back in Judah.

Ahaz had a son, Hezekiah. Hezekiah was not like his father. He loved the Lord and restored things back to God. Many times, Hezekiah is referred to as the son of David, even though generations separated them. He was more like David than the rest of his immediate family. He tore down the idols and restored the rightful sacrifices to God. Hezekiah was a great king.

There is a lesson for us here. Sons do not have to be like their fathers. We don’t get to pick who our parents are. For some, we couldn’t have had better parents. They loved the Lord and their children. They were there. They actually “parented.” They instilled hope, faith and godliness within the hearts of the children. Going to worship was as natural and common as going to school. It made a huge difference in the lives of those children. Many problems and mistakes that are so common to many families were avoided because of this up bringing. But not all had parents like that. Some parents didn’t do well with the parenting thing. Some weren’t even there. They left. Some were abusive. Some had drinking issues. Fighting and screaming may have been an every day occurrence in your home. You may have been embarrassed to bring friends over to your home because of the way your home life was.

But here we are today. Hezekiah was the good king. Ahaz, his father the bad. We choose the life we will life. A person can overcome an incredibly dysfunctional home to be a spiritual giant in the eyes of the Lord. There are men who are preaching whose dads were not believers. Worse, their dads discouraged them. Their dads were drunks. Those problems did not stop these men from being like Hezekiah, and doing something right with their lives.

Do you realize for Hezekiah to do what he did, meant he had to undo what his dad had done. His dad built idols. Hezekiah tore them down. His dad sacrificed children. Hezekiah stopped that. His dad ignored God. Hezekiah returned to the reading of the Law and the sacrifices of the Lord. Hezekiah came to the conclusion that his dad was wrong. That’s hard for some to do. Some fight that. Some try to find a way to justify wrong. Some refuse to follow the Lord because they fear it means condemning their parents. Step in Hezekiah’s shoes. He saw that what his dad had established was off the charts with God. There is no way it could be right. He didn’t just restore the rightful ways to God, he had to stop the wrong. He had to undo what his dad did. Stand with God or stand with dad. Hezekiah chose God.

We inherit hair color, baldness, tallness and other genetic things from our families. We do not inherit a faith. We choose to follow God. We choose to follow God completely or partially, nor not at all. We choose.

You can overcome your past. You can be different than your upbringing. You can do right. You can be a great parent. You can please the Lord. You may come to some conclusions that Hezekiah did about your family. Don’t stand with wrong, stand with the Lord. Every person has to do this. Our family or our God? Remember what Jesus said about loving father or mother more than Me? Every family has someone who has issues, struggles, and are living with the poor choices that they have made. Every family.

I have a distant relative that ran with John Dillinger. He was in the bank robbing business. He was arrested and died in prison. His tombstone doesn’t even have his name on it, just his prison number. How pitiful. Bank robbers and preachers and good people and bad people and kings and harlots and common people— we are these things by choice.

Family reunions that bring the Ahaz’s and the Hezekiah’s together can be quite stressful, challenging and difficult. Your family is not unlike Jesus’ family. Your destiny is chosen by you. Aren’t you glad…

You can be the Ahaz in your family or you can be the Hezekiah. Both come with consequences. Both are a result of choices. Joshua said, “Choose you this day who you will serve…” It’s a matter of choice.

Roger