The Peril of Fame
When leaders become successful and well known,
they should constantly be on guard
against engaging in actions
motivated by arrogance.
Here now is Gene to explain:
Now to understand this Principle,
we need to look at the life of King Uzziah.
It seems like every one of these kings
gives us another Principle.
Sometimes positively, sometimes negatively.
So in 2nd Chronicles 26:3 to 5,
notice what we read:
Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king
and [he] reigned 52 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Jecoliah
from Jerusalem. ...
And incidentally, I'd like to ask the
Chronicler someday in heaven, why he
included the mother in so many of these kings.
I think I have a clue in some instances.
But I don't have a complete answer.
But here again is the mother of Uzziah mentioned.
We continue on:
...He did what was right in the Lord's sight
as his father Amaziah had done. ...
And we might say, to a point.
Because when you read that a son did
what was right just as his father had done.
If you go back and look at the father,
many of them didn't serve the Lord wholeheartedly.
They served the Lord for a period of time
and then degenerated, deteriorated.
So notice what we read:
...He sought God throughout the
lifetime of Zechariah,
the teacher of the fear of God.
During the time that he sought the Lord,
God gave him success.
During the time--let me restate that:
During the time that he sought the Lord,
God gave him success.
And why did he continue to seek
the Lord during that time?
Well notice it goes back another phrase:
He sought God throughout the
lifetime of Zechariah, the teacher of
the fear of God.
There was a man in his life who taught him.
Now what I want you to notice is an interesting
correlation with Joash--King Joash.
Let's go back to King Joash.
I want to share with you from 24:1 and 2
of this chapter and these verses.
Here we read:
Joash was seven years old when he
became king [and] he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Zibiah;
[and] she was from Beer-sheba. ...
And again we don't know much about her
except she was related to the king,
which gave Joash this royal heritage.
...Throughout the time of Jehoiada the priest,
Joash did what was right in the Lord's sight.
You see the correlation?
Uzziah did what was right during the time
that he was taught by this godly man.
Joash did what was right until
Jehoiada the priest passed off the scene.
Who taught him what the will of God was.
Now what does that demonstrate?
One thing it demonstrates to me at least,
is it demonstrates how important it is to
have godly mentors in our life--all of our lives.
Men and women who impact us.
I know there are--I can look back to men
that impacted my life.
And most of those men are with the Lord.
But they impacted my life.
They refreshed my soul.
They rekindled my love for the Lord
when I heard them teach.
Even when I was in ministry myself.
In this case, we see these godly men
impacting these kings until they
passed off the scene.
Now for us today, God has designed pastors
who can be godly models, teaching us
the Word of God.
That's why we need to constantly be
under the teaching of the Word of God.
God instituted this. That we have those
in our lives who teach us the Word of God.
We need those reminders on
a very consistent basis.
And as pastors--and I speak as a pastor--
we also need accountability.
God established the eldership.
Those who are with us as godly leaders
in the church to encourage us even
as full-time pastors.
And I know as I look back in my own life,
I am so thankful, so thankful for the
godly men that God brought into my life.
As men who served with me on the
elder board in terms of the churches
that I pastored.
Because just being with those men
was accountability for me.
And we were accountable to each other.
See, God established this plan.
And one of the reasons is,
we need that kind of accountability.
Now in this particular case, going back to Uzziah,
notice what happened.
2nd Chronicles 26:16:
But when he became strong,
[when he became strong]
he grew arrogant and it led to
his own destruction. ...
Isn't that interesting?
...when he became strong,
he grew arrogant [and] it led to his own destruction.
And his accountability teacher
had passed off the scene.
Who wasn't in his face, as it were, and saying:
Look Uzziah, don't be arrogant.
It's going to lead to your destruction.
Well, if you go back to this verse we read:
...He acted unfaithfully against the
LORD his God by going into the
LORD's sanctuary to burn incense
on the incense altar.
At this point in time, he had become so arrogant
that even when he was confronted by
the high priest--who said to the king:
You're not to do that. That's for the priests.
You're not to go into the temple
and offer incense on the altar.
He was confronted by eighty priests.
Eighty--it's mentioned in the text.
Uzziah, with a firepan in his hand to
offer incense, was enraged. ...
Why was he enraged?
Because he was confronted.
Even though he had the high priest
and eighty other priests confronting him.
He's got the firepan in his hand.
He's enraged.
But notice, here's where
God's judgment came in:
...But when he became enraged with the priests,
in the presence of the priests in the
LORD's temple beside the altar of incense,
a skin disease broke out on his forehead.
And we read that that continued
until his death.
And there's no evidence that even that
skin disease got his attention.
He still was in rebellion against God.
And here again we have a correlation of
what happens when a person departs
from the will of God.
And we go back to King Asa.
King Asa who made a good start didn't finish well.
In 2nd Chronicle 16:12:
In the thirty-ninth year of his reign,
Asa developed a disease in his feet,
and his disease became increasingly severe.
Yet even in his disease he didn't seek
the LORD but [only] the physicians.
He snubbed God.
You see the correlation.
And to me, the fact that we see these stories,
both of these men rebelling.
Walking away from what they had been taught
through their mentors.
And then not responding even to
accountability later on--shows how
vulnerable we can be once we
start hardening our hearts.
You know, Paul reminded the
Corinthians that events are recorded
in the Old Testament to warn us.
To warn us against sin and pride.
Which was at the root of a lot of this behavior.
1st Corinthians 10:12:
So, whoever thinks he stands
must be careful not to fall.
But let's not forget the good news
from the apostle Paul.
Here it is, 1st Corinthians 10:13:
No temptation has overtaken you
except what is common to humanity.
God is faithful, and He will not allow
you to be tempted beyond what you are able,
but with the temptation
He will also provide a way of escape
so [that] you are able to bear it.
And I could take you to a parallel concept
in the book of Hebrews that says that
Jesus Christ was tempted in every way we are.
And that boggles my mind.
Can you imagine that Jesus Christ was
tempted in every way every individual
has ever been tempted.
Morally. Not just heterosexually
but homosexually.
It says every way. Jesus was tempted
in every way that humanity is tempted.
And yet without sin.
That's why He's our great high priest.
And I have a hard time getting my
head around that one, as well as my heart.
And yet He is our great high priest.
So here's the question for Reflection and Response:
Fame and fortune are not wrong in themselves,
but what steps must all Christians take
to avoid Uzziah's prideful heart?
Now we have illustrations of
very successful people in
the New Testament.
They're very successful.
They had fame. They had fortune.
Take a man like Philemon:
very wealthy man they're in Colossae.
Became a believer.
That's where Paul stayed in his home in
his guest chamber when he came
to Colossae for the first time.
We have men like Barnabas.
Incredibly successful, monetarily.
When he sold a field that he owned--
just one of his fields there in the Jerusalem area.
He was very, very wealthy.
Aquila and Priscilla, if you look at their background,
they were very wealthy Jewish couple.
Who maintained a home in Rome
even though they were driven out of Rome.
And then eventually went back to Rome
and the church was meeting in their home.
So fame and fortune is not wrong in itself.
But the fact is, the Scripture says:
When you have fame
and when you have fortune,
you're going to really have more temptation.
And you got to be very careful.
The Scriptures are very clear about that.
And so consequently we must avoid
a prideful heart.
And I think one of the things that
comes out of that is accountability.
We've talked about that.
You see this both in King Joash,
you see it Uzziah.
When that accountability disappeared,
they began to depart from the will of God.
So we need accountability. But we also
need to really set up as a goal to be
like Jesus in everything we do.
And notice Philippians 2:5 to 8, Paul wrote:
Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for
His own advantage. ...
There Jesus Christ is eternal being in the
form of God. Did not hang on to that. Rather:
...He emptied Himself by assuming
the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form, He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death--
even to death on the cross.
And so every one of us, I think, needs to
constantly look at Jesus Christ,
who set the example for humility.
In speaking to my fellow pastors,
you know, I get a little bit concerned.
When I've been with pastors,
one of the first questions they ask is:
How big is your church?
What's your attendance on Sunday morning?
How many people are coming?
I've had that happen in my communications.
And really what we ought to be asking
one another is:
How are your people doing in imitating Jesus?
Regardless of the size.
Are they really walking with Jesus?
Are they letting the heart of Jesus
become their heart, as a body of
believers serving the Lord Jesus.
And you know, I do believe as I look back
at my own life and the life of these
people in the Bible,
that God at times allows us
to have humbling experiences.
Crises experiences in order to be humble.
In order to be at a place where
sometimes we have to reach up
beyond ourselves to really be humbled.
Because we live in a culture where it's
so easy--so easy to take control
and to be in control.
And yet God is saying to all of us: Let that
humility of Jesus Christ permeate your life.