Amaziah

All quotations are taken from the New King James Bible

3. A whole heart, Amaziah

Our behaviour is being observed from every angle by family, friends, believers, non-believers, and, most important by far, by the Lord Himself. Our conduct therefore must be righteous and worthy of the One who called us. Paul urged others to be imitators of him, and then to be a ‘pattern of good works’, Titus 2. 7, for others to follow. There is a difference between righteous works and good works. Righteous works are doing what is right. The Pharisees were very good at making sure their works were right. So right in fact that they ‘despised others’, Luke 18. 9, because their works didn’t match up to the exacting standards set by the Pharisees. Righteous works often have a tendency to draw attention and glory to the person doing the works and, in the case of the Pharisees, often masked their less-than-righteous behaviour towards the poor, the less religious, their wives, and parents, etc. Saul of Tarsus was engaged in righteous works in his determination to rid the world of the gospel of Christ. He refused to behave unrighteously, so obtained legal permission to travel to Damascus to round up believers there. What he did was legally right but was far from good, as demonstrated by his vicious, irrational attacks on the church. Should we not practise righteousness? Didn’t the Lord say to His disciples, ‘I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven’, Matt. 5. 20? Yes, He did. He was saying thatsome righteousness is not enough, and righteousness to be seen by others wouldn’t suffice. Years ago, I bought a plaque for my study saying, ‘Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching’. Righteous works become good works when done in devotion to the Lord.

In the case of Amaziah, he had a great start. He dealt with the traitors who had assassinated his father. He was not vindictive; he dealt with them under Levitical law, 2 Chr. 25. 4. He then went to battle with the Edomites and defeated them decisively. Even when his error in recruiting soldiers from Israel was pointed out, he reacted well and sent them home. However, his righteous works were done ‘not with a loyal heart’, v. 2. After his victory over the Edomites his heart was attracted to their gods, whom he set up as his gods to worship them. Then, in disobedience, he went to war with Israel, a war which he lost. He was taken captive by Joash, king of Israel, Jerusalem was compromised, and the precious vessels of the temple were taken away to Samaria. Eventually, his own people conspired against him and put him to death. His lack of full commitment to the Lord caused his own carnal impulses to take control, which skewed his behaviour, eventually into sin. Amaziah had a great start, but his whole heart wasn’t in it. As a consequence, he had a humiliating end.

The challenge to the Colossians was, ‘whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men’, Col. 3. 23. Pause for a moment and think what that meant. Paul was addressing slaves in this verse. People who had no control over their lives at all. They often lived in the most appalling circumstances and had no say whatsoever in their own life. Gentile slavemasters were not subject to the laws of Leviticus, and many treated their slaves with great cruelty. In spite of this, Paul instructs them to do everything heartily. The word ‘heartily’ is also translated ‘soul’. In other words, ‘put your heart and soul into everything you do’. However menial, however hum-drum and tedious, half-hearted is not good enough. Paul speaks similarly in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 6 to slaves, that they should be ‘as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart’. A heart half-full of Christ will be half-full of something (or someone) else. The result will be a compromise at best, but, at worst, could be failure, as was Amaziah. The Lord doesn’t want half of us. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER said, ‘Unless Jesus Christ is Lord of all He is not Lord at all!’¹

When Paul reviewed all that God had done in His sovereignty for our sinful souls in that magnificent explanation of the gospel, the letter to the Romans, his only conclusion was, ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service’, Rom. 12. 1.

‘Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all’.²

Henry Varley said, ‘The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man’.³

What about me?

What about you?