2 Chronicles 26 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Chronicles%2026&version=ESV
Uzziah’s story is, in some respects, very similar to his father’s. He was a good king, he followed the Lord, the Lord blessed Him, then he got proud and the Lord punished him. We don’t know what Uzziah’s spiritual situation was like at the end of his life, we’d like to believe that the Lord’s discipline led to Uzziah’s repentance, we don’t know. However, there is a very important lesson to learn from Uzziah.
We live in a world that operates on pride. The world has always been this way. Ever since Satan convinced Eve that she should be the one in charge (“you will be like God”), people have always wanted to be the highest, the leader, the most honorable. In fact, this idea is so ingrained in us in our sinful natures that the second I say “submission” you think I’m talking about someone being less, unequal with someone else. That’s a lie. It’s Satan’s lie. One which he has been very successful at implementing. He did it with Uzziah who wanted to be the one offering those sacrifices. He’s done it in our culture today destroying the roles for men and women that Christ appointed in the church (1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Corinthians 14:34) and in the home (Ephesians 5:20-26). This idea is so stuck in our heads that we probably have a hard time swallowing these words too: 1 Corinthians 15:28, “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” Yes that does say that Christ’s relationship to the Father will be one of submission. Yes that is speaking about Christ according to both His divinity and His humanity. Yes that is the Son’s relationship with the Father from eternity and NO that does not mean that they are not equal. See, this idea that submission and leadership means inequality is a complete lie. One that causes much damage in relationships and in society. It makes people feel badly about the role that God has given them. It makes others feel superior and arrogant about theirs. It’s a leprosy destroying and ruining what God made to be good.
Only Jesus can stop it. Jesus who forgives. Jesus who serves. Jesus who submits. Jesus who dies and now lives for us. Jesus whose love causes love. Jesus whose Word shows the right way – not pride but place. Find your place in God’s church, your role according to what His Word says, use your gifts in that place to serve Him. Don’t be deceived by this world’s arrogant, prideful ideals – submission and love are the way. They were the way Christ forgave your sins and they are the way for you to serve your neighbor. Place, not pride.
In Christ
Pastor Ude