Jason's Blog

One of the reasons that I love teaching adults is the wisdom and perspective that everyone brings with them.  I’ve been teaching a series with Warren Heffington on Wednesdays this summer called Tied Together.  I put a link for it in the left margin of my blog so that you as readers can take a look at the series.  This post has to do with Lesson #10 which was recorded last Wednesday (August 11^th).

As I have visited with a few people after the class ended, I realize that I might have left a false impression that needs to be cleared up.   The class was entitled “Majoring in Minors,” and I do think this can be quite a problem.  It seems like God’s people need to be reminded that the main things are 1) having a love for God and 2) having a love for neighbors.  Nothing else is important as these two matters.  They are “God’s shoe,” and one size really does fit ALL.

In the class we discussed Romans 14:13, but it may be helpful to look at the entire paragraph:

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.  Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.  As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself.  But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.  If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.  Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.  Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

Do you feel the sway in this passage?

1.  Everyone has to stop passing judgment and putting up obstacles– meat eaters and non-meat eaters.

2.  The food is not the issue– the people are.

3.  No one can insist on their own way and forsake a loving spirit.

4.  Things that are good should not be spoken of as evil, but as fellow believers they must be patient with each other.

He is telling the entire group – across every division to wear the same shoe.  The question is “Will they wear it?”  I get impression that not everyone is excited about putting on a shoe like this.  They might find it embarrassing or humiliating.  Who would be caught dead wearing that?

And yet – Paul is calling the Roman church to a cease fire over meat and non-meat.  Neither group can really “win” at the expense of their brothers and sisters in Christ.

More to follow – but for now join with me in praying about the implications of this teaching . . .

____________

God,

Our hope and trust is in you.  We pray that this weekend that our hearts can be sensitive to what is really important to you.  Help us to lay aside our pride, our efforts to justify ourselves, and let us be your simple servants.

Through Jesus we pray,

Amen

When Jesus met a Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well near Sychar, he offered her more than she could have ever imagined.  Rather than physical water that might offer temporary relief from thirst, he offered living water that had the power to transform her life and alleviate every thirst.  Have you tasted that water?

Jesus teaches that living water is none other than the Holy Spirit, and Jesus offers that spiritual water without limit to those who follow Him.

“The gift and the presence of the Holy Spirit is the greatest and most wonderful thing which we can experience – we ourselves, the human community, all living things and the earth.  For with the Holy Spirit it is not just one random spirit that is present, among all the many good and evil spirits that there are.  It is God himself, the creative and life giving, redeeming and saving God.  Where the Holy Spirit is present, God is present in a special way, and we experience God through our lives, which become wholly living from within.  We experience whole, full, healed, and redeemed life, experience it with our senses.  We feel and taste, we touch and see our life in God and God in our life.”

Jürgen Moltmann, The Source of Life (Fortress Press, 1997): 10.

This is what happened to the woman at the well.  In her joy and satisfaction with life, she left her water jar telling everyone, “Come and see  a man who told me everything I ever did” (John 4:29).  She was no longer an outcast or someone carrying the pain of five marriages and a live-in boyfriend.  She had the living water that gave her new energy and life.

Have you tasted that water?  Has God so touched your soul that you feel refreshed and alive?

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
And your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
And your soul will delight in the richest of fare” (Isaiah 55:1-2).

This is what Jesus offers to you today.  Your life does not have to be an endless roller coaster.  You can find peace for today by listening to Jesus’ voice.  Let Him in your life today.

What would it be like to hear the voice of God?  The prophet Micah heard Him one day as he spoke to the hills:

“Hear O mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundation of the earth.  For the Lord has a case against his people.  He is lodging a charge against Israel.” (Micah 6:2).

I imagine that God spoke these words with a booming voice—one loud enough to be heard deep down in the earth’s core.  However, with his next sentence, He changes to a more tender tone:

“My people, what have I done to you?  How have I burdened you?  Answer me” (Micah 6:3).

And when I consider what God has done for me, I see that he has not been a burden to me.  I have been set free from the slavery of sin.  He has given me hope and a future.

My words are just like Micah’s –

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?” (Micah 6:6)

It’s a great question.  In light of what God has done for you, what can you bring?  By your worship can you earn something?  And how much would you bring?  How many offerings would it take?  Do you think a 1,000 would be enough or 10,000?

The Lord has made his case – What does he require?

“To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8)

Father God,

May we worship you freely and live acceptable lives full of mercy and justice.

Through Christ we pray – Amen

Last Wednesday, I shared some thoughts about an incident from the life of David.  He and all of his officers and officials made a commitment to bring the ark of the covenant up from the little town of Kireath Jearim to Jerusalem.   David put together quite an assembly for this great procession and everything seemed to be going without a hitch.  That is until someone died. . .

When the oxen carrying the ark stumbled at the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hands to steady the ark.  His actions seems innocent enough to you and me, but the LORD’s anger was kindled and burned against Uzzah.  He died right there on the spot before the LORD.  . .

This incident raises all kinds of questions:

• What was wrong with reaching out a hand to keep the ark from toppling over?
• Would God have preferred the ark to spill out on the ground?
• Why death?  Why not tumors or disease like the Philistines in 1 Samuel 5?
• Why is David so upset with the LORD’s anger?  (1 Chronicles 13:11, 2 Samuel 6:8)

We do know that the God expressly taught the Israelites to keep away from the ark.  Number 4:15 is clear that even the Levites were not to touch the holy things.  And if Scripture were not clear enough, Uzzah had to have known what happened to the people of Beth Shemesh (a nearby village) that looked into the ark.  It is hard to believe he would be so foolish after 70 (or 50,000+ see the footnote) people died after gazing into the ark.

But this passage is more David than Uzzah. . . I think David is upset with the LORD because he knows that Uzzah died rather needlessly.  If David and priests had really taken seriously the teachings of Torah, Uzzah would have been alive.  David was absorbed in what seemed “right to all the people” (1 Chronicles 13:4).

So what do we learn from this passage:

1.  God’s punishment is severe for those who take it upon themselves “to steady the ark.”

2.  God’s grace is surprising, and he forgives and offers new beginnings to those who set their hearts on pleasing Him.  People like David who would three months laster dance before the LORD (2 Samuel 6:11,16).

Being Practical – Uzzah’s Demise

I think it is important to realize that Uzzah very likely never realized how much danger he was facing as he reached out his hand toward the ark of the covenant.  He was so familiar with the sacred that he treated God with contempt.  His actions were “irreverent” (2 Samuel 6:7).

Could that happen to me?  Could I treat what is holy and sacred as if it is common?  The answer is yes.

It’s interesting to me that it is easier to see how other people (or other self-professing Christians) violate the sacredness of God by their flippant or casual behavior and not see in my own arrogance that I might be treading on sacred ground as well.  We can see that others violate “the Uzzah principle” but can’t seem to see that we ourselves might be in a dangerous position as well.

Jesus asks us to examine our own eyes before we venture out to take specks from our brother’s eyes (Matthew 7:3-4).

How am I doing with God?  Do I treat what is holy as I should?