YouVersion

Imagine that you have grown up as the son or daughter of a ruthless, harsh, bloodthirsty dictator. In the palace where you live you've personally witnessed rapes, murders, and incest not only being encouraged, but practiced. Your father builds a pagan altar outside of the house upon which he regularly sacrifices humans. He has no regard for the lives of others.

Discussion Questions:

How would you imagine that would make you feel, seeing that?

Now imagine that the dictator is dead, and sole, authoritative rule of the country transfers to you. What would be your first act as leader?

How is the transition to college like (and unlike) transferring the rule of a country from one leader to the next?

What motivates a leader to make sweeping changes upon taking office? (possible answers--belief in the new cause, dissatisfaction with the old way of doing things, pride or power-hunger, etc)

Is it OK for us to be intolerant of people who are being intolerant of others (murders, bigots, racists, extremists, etc)?

Conclusion:

Asa, in this passage, tears down pagan altars, removes his grandmother from her position of authority, and generally abuses all of the folks that were in authroity before he got there. How is that not just being bigoted about bigotry? (that one's rhetorical)

Here's my point, and the real message of the whole Bible. I don't want you to just get up and clean house. The passage says in vs 14 that Asa's heart was totally devoted to the Lord. Asa trusted in someone outside of himself. He appealed to a higher court. As king of his land, he recognized that there is a greater king. As king of your life, recognize that there is a great king.

But don't stop there. Don't just clean up your act. That's not enough. Recognize that, in order to have a real fresh start, a true new beginning, you have to rest on the finished work of someone who could actually live life without being a bigot, or a racist. Someone that never had an impure motive, never looked out for just his own interest. That's the real message of the Bible, that we are so jacked up we could never live up to the standard. We need a substitute.

Then, and only then, can we go about the process of actually cleaning up our little kingdoms, and the world. We have to deal with our impure motives, first.