Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: Success can be intoxicating. King Uzziah experienced it firsthand, rising from a teenage ruler to a powerful monarch blessed by God. But somewhere along the way, he confused God's favor with his own greatness.

Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll concludes our series called Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives with a sobering warning about the dangers of pride in ministry. Whether you're a pastor, teacher, or however you serve God, the lessons we can learn from Uzziah are essential. And stick with us to request the Bible study resources for this series. More details are coming up.

Chuck Swindoll: If you're young and you're in ministry, that's fine. Nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be excited about, but learn a lesson from history. You can be young and still walk with God. Look at Uzziah, verse 3. He was 16 years old when he became king, and he reigned 52 years. And verse 4, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.

Why is it that he was doing right in the sight of the Lord? Verse 5. He continued to seek God. He spent time in prayer. He was engaged in the disciplines of holy living. He walked humbly with his Lord. Here is a man who also chose the right mentor. His name was Zechariah, verse 5. He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God, and God's hand rested on King Uzziah.

Look at his exploits. The Scripture in this passage is full of them. It says in verse 5 at the end, as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him. Of course, that's always true. God added blessing to his life. God gave him good health, I take it. God also used him with strength in his work. He tore down their walls at Gath and Jabneh and the wall at Ashdod. He built cities in the area of Ashdod.

He not only conquered them, he did great exploits among them. The Philistines were at his feet. Verse 7, that's the reason, because God helped Uzziah. Young, growing, learning, but humble before his God. Significant individual. Verse 8, the Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah. Watch it, verse 8, his fame extended as far as Egypt. And in the process, he maintained a strong army.

Look at verse 11. He had an army ready for battle. Verse 13, who could wage war with great power to help the king against the enemy. He had the salute of his people. Here he is creative, strong, strategic, unique, and famous. He had a war machine and he put creative men into it, and the city of Jerusalem became a citadel of strength and military might. And he was strong because he was marvelously helped, verse 15 concludes. His fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.

What does that mean? Well, verse 16, when he became strong, his heart was proud. And that's when his demise began. And the blessing of God lifted from him. Find a place in your Bible to write down several of the tell-tale signs of ministry slippage, will you? I think there are five I detect in these verses we have read and will read. Let me give you two or three of them now, and as we work our way through the balance of this chapter, I'll give you the other two.

First, when greater battles are fought within than without, the ministry has begun to slip. He used to fight Philistines, now he's fighting his own image. He's fighting for his own name. He's become protective, defensive, stubborn, arrogant, conceited. According to verse 16, his heart was proud.

Second, when more attention is directed to the leader than to the Lord, a monument is beginning to be built. When his name becomes prominent at the church, on the ministry, in the school, at the class, in the organization, watch out. Let me put it straight. Pride stinks. The problem is, the proud person is the only one who doesn't smell it. Others smell it, but a proud person doesn't know he stinks.

Several years ago, in another state, involved in another ministry, I happened to be a guest along with several others in a particular program that was going to be aired. A very famous individual lined it up and frankly couldn't believe I was to be a part of it. He said that I was, and I had the time to do it. But unfortunately, he was not able to meet one of the other people that were to be engaged in this particular ministry for a period of several days.

And he asked me if I would meet that individual at the airport. And I was to be there with another colleague, neither one of us at all known, and we were to meet a man who expected to be met by the star and the producer of the program, and he was not there to meet him. I said, called a friend's name, I said, I've never seen this man. I don't know when I will see him that I will know him.

And he said, "Well, he's about this tall, and I'm sure he'll be dressed in a suit and a tie." Many people in that particular era weren't flying in suit and tie. And he said, "You'll know him. He'll stand out." And he happened to be the president of a small Bible college. So we waited at the airport, and sure enough, people got off and before long, very obviously, the president of this little school got off.

And he was looking around, I'm sure, for our friend and didn't see him and was most perturbed that we would meet him and not the man. And I apologized. I said, "May I take your bag?" "I'll handle my bags." I said, "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." "Just call me doctor." Okay. And I said, "You know, we didn't know who you were. I mean, it's not that we didn't know who you were, it's just we didn't know what you looked like."

He said, "Oh really, what does the president look like?" I wanted to say, a jerk. But I didn't. I have a few feelings about it today that you can tell. And that night at the motel, I played a classic trick on him that he never did find out who did it. But I tell you, I forgot, this is being taped. The guy probably doesn't listen to anything else, so I'm safe.

When you are arrogant and you are conceited and you think you're something on a stick, you're a jerk. I don't care who you are. I don't care what your role is. I don't care how many bucks you make, you're a first-class jerk. Pride stinks. And he wanted the attention. He wanted the man. He wanted to be known. He wanted to be something and he's zero. I just read in Isaiah that he gives us breath for our very being. Sixty times a minute, we get a little pulse of grace. Or for that guy, probably 140 times a minute.

You'll notice in verse 16, his heart was so proud he acted corruptly. Now, you won't believe this. Look at this, Uzziah. Here's a man that God has blessed and because he was proud, he began to act corruptly. That's the way it works. First the heart, and then the actions. It comes out in little comments. It comes out in the little arrogance. It comes out in a little sneer, little sarcasm. Before long, a little jaded spirit.

And he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple. Not the temple. Man, that's where the kavod is. That's the glory of God in there. But when you're arrogant, there's no place you don't go. There's nothing that intimidates you. And he walked into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. That's the priest's job. That's not the king's job. Kings have no business in a temple.

And the censor and the incense are to be handled with such care, such distinctive, sacred manners, humbly before God. And he walks in with arrogance, and he grabs the censor with plans to light the incense. Third, when God's help is nice, but not absolutely essential for survival, ministry is slipping. Easy to get slick and clever. Easy to develop a perfunctory attitude. To no longer lean on the everlasting arms.

To be so concerned about how one looks and how people feel about you that you're winging it. You're spending more time on your appearance than you are cultivating a heart. You're not preparing, you're just winging it on the way to the class. You've dealt with that passage before, you can do it again. You've sung that song a hundred times. It's 101. Sing it. Sing it, play it.

You don't need God, now you talk like you need Him. And we use terms that are so right they are all mouthed words. But down deep, we are ultra suave and our ministry turns into a performance. And boy, do they leave impressed. Wow. And they talk about you all the way home and not your God. He came to the place of glory, and he had no problem because you see, monuments aren't impressed with glory unless it's on them.

Please observe what happened. Someone very courageous called his hand. Azariah the priest entered after him and with him 80 priests of the Lord, valiant men. Look how the text puts it. You think it didn't take courage to confront that arrogant soul? Valiant 81 men stood in front of Uzziah and said, "Don't you do it." They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary. You have been unfaithful and will have no kavod from the Lord." There it is again. No honor comes from him. Ichabod fits you. Where is the glory?

Number 4, when worthwhile reproofs are resisted rather than received. When worthwhile reproofs are resisted rather than received. If you have a courageous mate, you better listen. If you're a gifted man and you have a wife who is not intimidated by your gifts, you better listen. She is going to tell you straight if she's worth her salt. And her reproofs are better than life itself.

Preachers need good strong wives. Unintimidated, straight-thinking, loving, but honest wives. You've heard me tell the story, I love it, about the preacher who was young and a good preacher. One of his followers would sit on the front and just ooh and ah with his every sermon. One day, Mrs. Johnson said to him, "You know, you're becoming one of the greatest expositors in this generation." Wow. And in an unguarded moment, he believed her.

Got in his car to go home and his wife slid in beside him and put the four kids in the back seat, rather exasperated. And he said, as he drove, "Mrs. Johnson says that I am becoming one of the greatest expositors of this generation." His wife didn't say anything. Said, "I wonder how many great expositors there are this generation." She said, "One less than you think." Good reproof.

You're gifted, wonderful. Get over it. You're blessed of God, wonderful. Give him every bit of the praise. Thank him for the breath in your lungs and for the voice in your vocal cords. Give him thanks for your education, which you didn't deserve from mentors who had more to do than spend time on you, and a mind that is at his disposal anytime he wants to crack it, it cracks. To live any other way is to live like a jerk.

The scene gets ugly in the temple. You wouldn't believe it, but the man is at such odds within himself, there's a storm raging inside him, and look how it's translated. But Uzziah, 19, with a censor in his hand, there's a sacred implement for the temple. With his censor in his hand for the purpose of burning incense, was enraged. The word means to be at a storm within oneself.

And while he was enraged with the priests, I take it that he lunged for one of them. Leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord beside the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and behold, he was leprous. And they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the Lord had smitten him.

Can you believe it? The Lord prospered him. The Lord helped him. The Lord mightily helped him until he was strong, and the Lord smote him when he went too far. Number 5, when the consequences of sin are ignored rather than feared, you're in deep trouble. Sometime consequences affect a person and he misreads them. When you're arrogant, you tend to blame or feel sorry for yourself.

When consequences begin to dog your steps and hound your heels, you tend to say it's somebody else. It's those people. It's that critic. It's just bad luck. And we ignore the consequences rather than fear them. Look at the end of his life. King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death. He lived in a separate house, being a leper. 23, Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings, for they said, "He is a leper." What an epitaph.

Ladies and gentlemen in ministry, gifted colleagues, blessed teachers, counselors, friends, fellow pastors and missionaries, educators, remember his name. I am the Lord. Reflect His glory. I give My glory to no one. Rejoice in His praises. I do not give My praise to your idols. Never ever forget ministry monuments result in disaster, horrible disasters.

I'm going to do something very different as I conclude this message. I'm going to ask you who are in the category of ministry as I've described it. You sing regularly for the Lord. You do the work of counseling. You are in education as God's minister. You are a pastor. You are a teacher. You are on the staff of this or some church. I'm going to ask you to stand.

Stand wherever you are in this congregation. If you're in the chapel, please stand there. You may be one of our own pastoral staff members. You may be one of our teachers. You may teach a class, in a neighborhood Bible class. Look around, folks. These are people you should never envy. They are in places of intense, intense battle.

If you are a mate of such person, would you stand as well? These are the people for whom we must pray, for wise counsel to their mates. These are people who must pray, who must serve Christ only for His glory and to hold all of the results very, very loosely. Not people of great image, not even people of great significance, but people of gift. And they would be the first to tell you, "I am wholly dependent on my God for what I do."

Let's all bow, you who are standing remain standing. I shall pray especially now for those in ministry. We live in tumultuous days, our Father. There are battlegrounds and there are victims that litter the landscape. There are heartaches at this very moment going on. How greatly we are challenged by the truth of your book. How deeply we feel in our hearts that you are the Lord and to you goes the glory and the praises.

Give us the courage to face the mirror of your word and to see even the first markings of arrogance. Rebuke us for laziness, for times of winging it and faking it. Forgive us for becoming perfunctory about the material we are presenting, having presented it often so many, many times before. Give us a passion for your holiness.

Forgive us for selfish deeds and conceit that has motivated us before. And rebuke us this very day for walking in the flesh and not in the spirit. Show us ways to stay off the pedestal. Give us the courage to encourage that in those who follow our teaching. May we model humility best of all, and may it be authentic, not stinking conceit that apes humility. May we not be proud of how humble we are.

Oh God, this role is an unenviable role. At times we would shed the mantle if it were ours to do. And so in dire need and trust, we bow before you, our God, counting on you to guide us through this pilgrim land. We have seen the life of Uzziah. God help us if we ever do that again. In the strong name of Jesus Christ, let everybody say, "Amen."

Bill Meyer: With the very last message in his 14-part series, you're listening to Chuck Swindoll tell the story about Uzziah, the leader who became a loser. It's from the popular and practical biographical series called Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives. On this final day of the study, it's the last time I'll mention the companion resource materials that we've prepared for you.

To fully engage with all 14 messages, Insight for Living has put together a printed Bible study workbook that lets you linger over each Bible character at your own pace. It's a spiral-bound resource that guides you through each story and leaves plenty of room for making personal notes and observations. Look for the Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook on Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives at insight.org/offer.

If you're an audio learner, take advantage of our convenient Insight mobile app where you can download and listen to all 14 stories for free. Here's what's coming up tomorrow on Insight for Living: Chuck will kick off his study in 1 Thessalonians called Contagious Christianity. And as a complement to that series, you're invited to request Chuck's very popular book called Laugh Again.

I think you'd agree that the world's pretty good at stealing our smiles, with bad news, disappointments, and worries that keep us up at night. But God intends for His children to experience outrageous joy. In his book called Laugh Again, Chuck explains how that's even possible. Spoiler alert: it's not about pretending everything's just fine; it's about knowing who holds your future.

To go along with the new teaching series that begins tomorrow, here's how you can request a copy of Chuck's book, Laugh Again. It's yours when you make a gift to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Just call 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/offer. Once again, for the book Laugh Again, call us at 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/offer.

I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll kicks off our study in 1 Thessalonians called Contagious Christianity Tuesday on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "Uzziah: The Leader Who Became a Loser," was copyrighted in 1989, 1994, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2015, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.