Worship Is God's Priority for Men: The Case of 2 Chronicles 26

Part One

Man isn't going to make his way through life without sinning, but he can as a habit or lifestyle come to God by faith in worship of Him through the means and in the way prescribed by God.  2 Chronicles reiterates this.  In the midst of annals of especially various battles and conflicts with other nations, worship of God surfaces again and again.

Uzziah became king of Judah.  2 Chronicles 26 says "he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord" (v. 4).  He "sought God" (v. 5).  Verse 15 says, "he was marvelously helped, till he was strong."  The next verse (16) says:

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

I think we should assume that "being strong" in this sense means that he was so strong that it went to his head.  It's the opposite of 2 Corinthians 12:10, the Apostle Paul, "for when I am weak, then am I strong."  The strength comes from the acknowledgment of weakness.  Uzziah's strength came from above and he didn't recognize that, so he was really weak, the opposite of what Paul talked about.  I think you get it.

So.  "His heart was lifted up to his destruction."  Destruction sounds serious.  That isn't successful, being destroyed.  What caused that?  The strength that didn't come from Uzziah, but he was considering it to be his strength, lifted up his heart, so that he did something that merited destruction.  Another layer is that Uzziah "transgressed against the LORD his God."  Everyone transgresses against God, and it doesn't result in destruction.  What did result in destruction?  This verse states it very plain.

He "went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense."  Well, is it wrong to burn incense at the altar of incense?  No.  It wasn't wrong.  So why did that result in destruction?  Just because something isn't wrong doesn't mean that it is right.  Worship is regulated by what God says, not by what He doesn't say.  God designated the priests to burn incense on the altar of incense.  When Uzziah did it instead, this was according to God "to his destruction."  God does not want innovation in worship.  He wants exactly what He said that He wants.

The next few verses read:

17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: 18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. 

I guess you could call this an intervention.  When someone violates biblical worship, it must be stopped and other people should involve themselves in stopping it.  In this case, it's someone in authority, but the worship of God is more important than his office.  They couldn't just "agree to disagree." They had to do something about it.

Uzziah thought he was participating in an honorable activity, something an honor for him to do, burn incense to God.  He might have felt good about it.  Azariah and 80 other priests brought that to his attention, probably risking their lives to do so even as verse 17 calls them "valiant men."  It took guts for them to perform this intervention and to stop Uzziah from doing this.

People offered incense to God.  It was permissible for them to offer it, but it wasn't permissible for just anyone to do this.  They had to be ordained and qualified people to do it.  They were consecrated to do so, or in other words, they were set apart to do so, fulfilling the scriptural requirements.  Others were not permitted to do it.

Silence wasn't permission.  This is very often where worship goes off the rails.  If scripture doesn't say it's wrong, then someone is at liberty to do it.  God didn't tell Cain he couldn't bring fruits and vegetables.  That didn't mean that bringing fruits and vegetables was right.

Today professing Christians, including leaders, say that a church shouldn't stress over methods.  It's not worth being strict, onerous, or intolerable over methods.  That's not how scripture reads and especially when it comes to worship.  Believers through the centuries observed that all worship must be regulated by scripture, including in its methodology.  This is the regulative principle of worship.  This text in 2 Chronicles 26 is further evidence of this.

Why are so many men, 81 of them, needed to stop one man from practicing false worship?  I have noticed through the years, that when men are not functioning based on scripture, they are operating based on something else mostly related to their feelings.  What they are doing is closely related to their own personal opinions.  It's pride.  When someone crosses someone in a personal way and against their emotions or feelings, they react in an emotional way and even a violent way.  It's not an easy reaction.  It can be difficult to deal with.

Consider what occurs in the next two verses:

19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.

Uzziah is wroth.  Like I said, false worship is personal and emotional.  I've talked to many people about salvation and obedience to the Lord.  They are not surely saved and they are not living obedient lives.  They are interested though in the kind of music we have in our church.  They've got to have it.  If they don't have it, that's enough not to come to our church.  A lot of you reading know what I'm talking about.  The music is about them, their feelings, their entertainment.  It's emotional and personal.

Biblical worship is faithful worship.  It is true to scripture.  It wants what God wants regardless of feelings and personal opinions.  They key is to give God what He wants, which centers on the mind and the will, not the emotions.  The feelings are a byproduct, feeling good about giving God what He wants in worship, because He will be pleased.

The punishment for Uzziah for false worship and then not repenting of false worship was immediate leprosy.   This was a slow death sentence.   God wants true worshipers.  The alternative is bad.