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Acceptable Service to God: Beginning with the Heart

Explore the importance of sincere and heartfelt service to God as taught by Jesus and exemplified by the reforms of King Josiah. Discover how tradition and peer pressure can lead to superficial religious activity, and why a genuine change of heart is essential. This insightful message emphasizes the power of the Gospel to transform lives and bring about true obedience to God's commandments.

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Acceptable Service to God: Beginning with the Heart

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  1. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • Jesus plainly taught that all acceptable service must come from the heart. (Mark 12:29-30)

  2. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • (Mark 12:29-30 NKJV) Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

  3. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • It is easy to neglect the heart. (Prov 4:23)

  4. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • (Prov 4:23 NKJV)Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

  5. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • Often people find themselves in religious activity purely as a result of tradition and peer pressure. These need to be converted.

  6. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • Often people find themselves in religious activity purely as a result of tradition and peer pressure. These need to be converted. • Also we need to understand how the heart is changed.

  7. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • Again this change of the heart does not come from “making people” outwardly conform.

  8. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • Again this change of the heart does not come from “making people” outwardly conform. • In our case we must do more than just getting people in the pews.

  9. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • Again this change of the heart does not come from “making people” outwardly conform. • In our case we must do more than just getting people in the pews. • The battle for the hearts takes place one person at a time with the powerful gospel. There is no other way. (2 Cor 10:3-5)

  10. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • (2 Cor 10:3-5 NKJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. {4} For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, {5} casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

  11. Where does acceptable service to God begin? • We will see these truths illustrated clearly in the reign of the OT king Josiah.

  12. The Reforms of Josiah • The background of Josiah. (2 Chron 33:22-34:1)

  13. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chron 33:22-25 NKJV) But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them. {23} And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.

  14. The Reforms of Josiah • {24} Then his servants conspired against him, and killed him in his own house. {25} But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

  15. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chr 34:1 NKJV) Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

  16. The Reforms of Josiah • His grandfather was Manasseh and his father was Amnon. These were two of the most wicked kings Judah ever knew.

  17. The Reforms of Josiah • His grandfather was Manasseh and his father was Amnon. These were two of the most wicked kings Judah ever knew. • The later fall of Judah was credited to the evil of Manasseh. (2 Kings 24:3-4)

  18. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Kings 24:3-4 NKJV) Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, {4} and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon.

  19. The Reforms of Josiah • He was only eight years old when he began to reign. What kind of advisors did he have?

  20. The Reforms of Josiah • He was only eight years old when he began to reign. What kind of advisors did he have? • What chance would you give this young man of doing right?

  21. The Reforms of Josiah • He was only eight years old when he began to reign. What kind of advisors did he have? • What chance would you give this young man of doing right? • God called Josiah a son of David. (2 Chron 34:2-3)

  22. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chronicles 34:2-3 NKJV) And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

  23. The Reforms of Josiah • {3} For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.

  24. The Reforms of Josiah • Why is he called a son of David? Was not Amnon his father? In truth you are a son of who you act like! (Matt 5:44-45; Mark 3:17)

  25. The Reforms of Josiah • (Matthew 5:44-45 NKJV) “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, {45} “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

  26. The Reforms of Josiah • (Mark 3:17 NKJV) James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”;

  27. The Reforms of Josiah • Every man in spite of his background can make a choice to do right. (Josh 24:15)

  28. The Reforms of Josiah • (Joshua 24:15 NKJV) “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

  29. The Reforms of Josiah • The conversion and early reforms of Josiah. (2 Chron 34:3-5)

  30. The Reforms of Josiah • 2 Chron 34:3-5 - {3} For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.

  31. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chronicles 34:4-5 NKJV) They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. {5} He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

  32. The Reforms of Josiah • At 16 years old he began to seek after God. What did he learn?

  33. The Reforms of Josiah • At 16 years old he began to seek after God. What did he learn? • At 20 years old he cleansed the city of Jerusalem.

  34. The Reforms of Josiah • At 16 years old he began to seek after God. What did he learn? • At 20 years old he cleansed the city of Jerusalem. • How many years had these things been allowed to go on unopposed? What if they argued “we have always done it this way?”.

  35. The Reforms of Josiah • The truth is the people were not that concerned, they were willing to go along with whatever the king wanted. (Jer 5:31)

  36. The Reforms of Josiah • (Jeremiah 5:31 NKJV) The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?

  37. The Reforms of Josiah • How much could Josiah do? He did not stop at Jerusalem but went on a rampage! (2 Chron 34:6-7)

  38. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chronicles 34:6-7 NKJV) And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around, with axes. {7} When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

  39. The Reforms of Josiah • How many enemies did he make? It did not matter because he was serving the Lord. (1 Pet 3:12-13)

  40. The Reforms of Josiah • (1 Peter 3:12-13 NKJV) For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.” {13} And who is hewho will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

  41. The Reforms of Josiah • Later reforms of Josiah.

  42. The Reforms of Josiah • Later reforms of Josiah. • He began the work of restoring and repairing the temple. (2 Chron 34:8)

  43. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chronicles 34:8 NKJV) In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.

  44. The Reforms of Josiah • For the first time in years the book of the law was found. (2 Chron 34:14-15)

  45. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chronicles 34:14-15 NKJV) Now when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD givenby Moses. {15} Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

  46. The Reforms of Josiah • How could this have happened? They had long stopped reading it to follow the Lord’s will. Where do we stand?

  47. The Reforms of Josiah • How could this have happened? They had long stopped reading it to follow the Lord’s will. Where do we stand? • The tender heart of Josiah.

  48. The Reforms of Josiah • How could this have happened? They had long stopped reading it to follow the Lord’s will. Where do we stand? • The tender heart of Josiah. • He has the law read to him. He reacts in deep mourning.(2 Chron 34:18-19, 21)

  49. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chronicles 34:18-19 NKJV) Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. {19} Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes.

  50. The Reforms of Josiah • (2 Chronicles 34:21 NKJV) “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

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