My son, our second child, was born this past September and I fought long and hard to name him after King Josiah. I had been studying the kings in both Kings and II Chronicles and I could not get this teenage king out of my head. So this is where I am going to start as we build a theology of leadership together. This may sound like an odd place to begin…but hey, its my blog. The life of Josiah has taught me several things that must be done in order to be an effective leader in the church. His name in the Hebrew sums it up, The Fire of God. What can we learn from Josiah that will provide an inspirational springboard for developing a theology of leadership?
1) Josiah began a focused walk with the Lord as a teenager – II Chronicles 34:3
True leadership begins with our walk with God. Simple ingredient, amazing results. I fail as a leader when I am not focused on my walk with Christ. You will fail as a leader if you are neglecting your walk with Christ. Josiah began his walk with the Lord as a teenager and 34:2 says that he never turned aside to the right or to the left. Here is Josiah’s first leadership secret, he became extremely focused and disciplined as a young man. When we lose focus, when we turn from the Lord, we fail. What is your leadership focus? Is it programs, connections, seminars, and conferences? Is it the latest and greatest management fad or is it Jesus?
2) Josiah had a radical commitment to holiness – II Chronicles 34:5
Josiah began to purge the land of their idols and of their immoral rituals at the age of twenty. This was not in-line with the latest and greatest opinion polls. His focus led him to a radical commitment to holiness. He even exumed the bones of pagan priests and burned their bones in order to eradicate the land from pagan influence. Do you have a radical commitment to holiness. Do you look at questionable sites on the internet? Does your thought life reflect the mind of Christ? Are you dabbling in a forbidden relationship? A lack of holiness will cripple your leadership. A man with the fire of God is not only willing to live holy but also to foster holiness as a key focus of his leadership.
3) Josiah feared God more than man – II Chronicles 34:21
Judah had drifted so far from God the priests had lost the sacred scrolls. One day they found the law of God and read the scrolls to Josiah….he wept in fear of the wrath of God. This is probably the most convicting aspect for me. It is so easy to fear man more than God. A true leader will always fear God more than man.
Well…this is a start…lets have some discussion.
That will preach.
I agree with Kevin. That will preach.
As a matter of fact. . .I may use it the next time I’m in Romania equipping pastors. I’ll quote you and give you credit of course.
C
Speaking of a radical commitment to holiness, here are the keynote address from the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference. The topic was “Holiness”.
Wow. Today I was doing some research on my name. I found out that it means, “God Supports” as well as “Fire of God.” Pretty Cool. I read your post and well its amazing how much of that speaks into my life. At present God is using me in diffrent ways and well every thing that he has told me thus far has lined up with what you posted. I am 17 years old, and I guess you know the rest.
-Josiah
Thanks for the insights. They have given more food for thought as I chew on this passage. I especially like the name definition from the Hebrew. Help us, Lord, to be the fire of God for you in this world. An additional point that would “add” to the sermon would be: Josiah was Obedient to the Word. Thanks again!
Thanks for that. Whenever I’ve spoken on Josiah I’ve always highlighted the key issue of him removing the high places in his nation, the places of sacrifice. The things that rotted his nation. I’ve always been challenged to look at the high places in my life, in my community and dare to work on eradicating them.
I’m studying Josiah in Arizona, and had found in Strongs (blueletterbible.com) that Josiah = “whom Jehovah heals” from the Hebrew roots Yahh, which means ‘Jehovah in the shortened form’ and ashuwyah, which means ’support’.
Is “fire of God” the Greek meaning?
great points. the church has a issue with personal commitement, and focus on Christ is it’s only answer….as if there were another! Josiah came from an awful line of fathers who despised the Lord and His Law (as you pointed out, they had lost the book of the Law…wow) But, Josiah knew the Lord and stayed with Him. Walked with Him, and committed his life to a life of discipleship. In turn, he became radical. Jesus himself was focused on His daddy too, and BECAUSE of that he was radical. Jesus is our example, and focusing and fearing the Lord will only bring about radical actions. that is one of the marks of a spirit-lead, God fearing, Christ walking leader. just stumbled on this page because i just named my son Josiah. he was born yesterday (Sept. 29 2007,) and i just did a little google search while i’m here in the hospital. one more cool little note concerning legacy and what Josiah broke (at least he broke it in himself…not with Judah as a whole) with his focus, radicalness, and fear….his name also means Jehovah healed. awesome! love y’all. in Jesus
Hi, God spoke to me recently as I read these passages on Josiah.
1. It was the law that convicted this good man.
2. He may have had an idolotrous understanding of God because when he read the law he wept in fear.
3. The law brought about a correct understanding of God’s absolute holiness.
4. It created a personal and then a national revival.
5. Paul said I had not known sin but by the law, and that it was our school master to bring us to Christ.
6. God saved Josiah from His wrath though He was still going to judge Judah. Just as today we can be saved but this world remains under His judgment.
Great thoughts….I agree totally.
How do you know that the Josiah means “fire of God”? All I can find is that Josiah means God supports.