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I’ve done it. You’ve probably done it, too. Odds are good that neither of us likely would have done it except for that one thing that pretty much guaranteed that we would do it…

The Do Not Touch sign.

That one sign almost begs that something gets touched. For instance, when I go to the Corvette museum and I stand next to a vintage 1963 split-window model, it’s all I can do not to touch it. And yes… there’s a sign. Conversely, when I’m at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, there is a sign that actually encourages people to touch a moon rock. As cool as that is, I almost don’t want to. Again, because of the sign.

We all tend to want to do those things that aren’t allowed and we all seem to yawn at doing the things that everyone is permitted to do.

In the Bible, there is a tragic story of a man who died because he ignored the instructions of God and touched the Ark of the Covenant. There were rules dictating how to handle the Ark and the rule maker was God and He was serious.

Consider this… Whenever the Israelites were directed by God to go into battle, the Ark would go before their army and the Israelites would be victorious. However, the Israelites eventually came to believe that it was the Ark of the Covenant that gave them victory in battle rather than the God of the Ark of the Covenant that gave them the victory. So there were times when they took it into battle and they lost the battle because God was not with them. On one particular occasion, God allowed Israel to be beaten so badly that the Ark ended up in the hands of the enemy.  Why?

Because God takes holiness seriously. God brought judgment on His people because they treated that which was most holy as something that was simply common.

A long time ago, while at a Petra concert, I saw a quote on the back of a T-Shirt that said: The righteousness He requires is the righteousness His righteousness requires Him to require. That’s what’s going on here.

Eventually the Ark was sent back to Israel but Israel still did not treat it in the manner that was required by God. The Ark was placed on a cart and pulled by an Ox. This was not the way God had dictated that the Ark be transported. Not even close. The driver of the cart was a man named Uzzah. At one point, the ox stumbled and Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark and…

Uzzah was killed.

Now… maybe it’s just me but… this seems harsh. After all, it appears as if he were simply trying to protect the Ark when the Ox stumbled. It might have even been a reflex action – no different than a mom who throws her arm in front of her kids when she has to hit the brakes hard (my mom did this a lot – which, in retrospect, might say something about her driving).

Nonetheless, what Uzzah did was just the final wrong performed in a long sequence of wrongs.

There’s a lot we don’t know about Uzzah. In all the time he lived with the Ark (about 20 years), how often did he admire it? How often did he have to suppress the urge to reach out and touch it?  Just one time. Just for a quick second.

I would have been tempted to do the same thing.

So, when Uzzah was chosen to drive the cart, it may be that when the cart started to roll, Uzzah just carried through on what he already had in his heart to do. He touched the Ark. In his mind, he was just trying to save it. But that wasn’t his job and God had to re-teach a lesson that his people had forgotten in regards to dealing with the Holy things of God. In this particular lesson, a man died.

As you might imagine, sudden, dramatic death certainly tends to get one’s attention. It certainly got the attention of King David. And that’s where we will pick up next time because this is already much longer than when I first started preaching about it in my mind…

When you think of Paul, it’s easy to believe he had this Christianity thing down. Perhaps not so much early on when he was trying to arrest and kill Christians. I’m talking about after he came face to face with the living Jesus and became perhaps the greatest voice for Jesus the world has ever known.

So, did Paul have this Christianity thing down? We know a lot about Paul. If we were to put together a top ten list of the greatest Christians to have ever lived, Paul would probably be near the top of the list. The book of Acts tells of many of Paul’s deeds. However, it’s through his letters that we truly get insight into the heart of Paul. In his letter to the Romans, we see that this man who did so much to shape the Christian church and the Christian life was quick to admit that he wasn’t perfect. Not at all. For instance, here are his own words:

Romans 7:15-20 (ESV) – I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Now, it would be easy for the Christian to look at these words and take comfort in them. After all, if Paul had all of this sin in his life, then he really wasn’t too different from us, right?

It would be easy for us to assign our worst sin to Paul and convince ourselves that Paul struggled with that exact same sin as us. We could convince ourselves that our sin can’t be that bad because Paul struggled with it, as well.

Now, we don’t know what sins Paul struggled with. We don’t even know if Paul struggled with “sin” or if he struggled with “SIN” (because we have a tendency to believe that some sins are bad and some sins are really bad). What we do know is this… we can’t take comfort in knowing that Paul sinned and therefore believe that it must be OK that we do to. We can’t say that “if Paul sinned, then I’m in really good company.” The problem with such thinking is that when we measure ourselves against another person, it’s easy to believe that we’re not so bad – especially if we see that person as “pretty good.”

Instead, we must measure ourselves against the only person we should weigh ourselves against – Jesus. When we do that, our shortcomings become readily apparent. When we do that, we don’t take hope in Paul’s confession. Instead, we despair along with him as we realize and confess that we are wicked and in desperate need of the change that only Jesus can give.

However, Paul does give us something in which we can place our hope:

Romans 7:24-25 (ESV) – Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

And that one statement by Paul is a pretty good summary of his letter to the Romans. We are indeed a wretched people, but we have hope in Jesus Christ our Lord.

It used to be that I could be outside at night and I could hear the Pope high school drum line as they practiced. I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that I can’t hear them anymore, even though I know they are out there practicing. I came to the conclusion that they just must not be as good as they used to be and that they have fallen off of their game.

A couple of nights ago I was out in the yard and all of the sudden I could hear the drum line. I was so surprised by it that my head literally snapped up toward the school. I remember wondering where they had been all of this time and was glad to see that they were finally on their way back. Then it dawned on me – maybe the problem was with me. I wondered “when was the last time I actually spent any amount of time working in my yard with anything other than a lawn mower?” I realized that the drum line was probably there the whole time, I just had to shut out all of the noise that was preventing me from hearing the drum line.

Then it hit me harder. Maybe the reason I don’t hear God as often as I would like is because I have too much noise in my life and I haven’t put myself in a postion to hear Him.

Yeah… the problem was definitely with me.

About Vampires, Werewolves and True Love

A few weeks ago I asked our students to tell me about this phenomenon  sweeping the nation called “The Twilight Saga”. These are a series of books and movies about vampires, werewolves and love (and a very “hot” guy named Jacob if you believe some of the girls). Yeah, I know… I don’t get it either. Several of the students gave me a very dynamic summary of the storyline but finally had to give up because there wasn’t enough time and there was just way too much information to properly tell the story.

But What About Our Story?

I then asked them to tell me about our story. The one found in the Bible. The one that tells of the love of God for us. The telling of that story wasn’t nearly as dynamic and was spotty in a few places. There  were no complaints that they didn’t have enough time and that there was way too much information to properly tell the story.

Nooooo… He Didn’t Just Say That… Did He?

So I asked them what happened in the retelling of our story. The retelling of the vampire story was detailed and energetic. Not so much with  our story. Then one of our students put it as bluntly as I’ve ever heard it. He said “Girls don’t find Jesus hot.”

Say Again???

Yeah, that kinda took me back for a second, too, because that statement on the surface is unsettling. However, I immediately recognized the wisdom and truth in that statement. That one statement is a fairly accurate and unfortunate summary regarding the mindset of society as a whole. We’ve managed to push Jesus aside for the next “hot” thing. This isn’t just a youth thing, either. I suspect if I would’ve asked adults to do the same thing, many of them would’ve responded in the exact same way. Fortunately, this is a problem that resolves itself. All it requires is that we take a good look at our story, its hero, its triumphant ending and take it to heart. Ours truly is “The Greatest Story Ever Told!”

“There is no in-between — you’re either good or bad. Today we’re in-between.” – soccer player Gary Lineker

Dispatcher: 911  Caller: Help! Help! Send the Police! I’ve been shot!  Dispatcher: You said you’ve been shot?  Caller: I’ve been shot!  Dispatcher: How many times were you shot?  Caller: This is the first time.” – actual call to 911

Customer: I can’t get my diskette out.  Tech support: Have you tried pushing buttons?  Customer: Yes, sure, it’s really stuck.  Tech support: That doesn’t sound good. I’ll make a note.  Customer: No… wait a minute… I hadn’t inserted it yet… it’s still on my desk… sorry. – call to tech support

“On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say 60-65 percent.” NBA union rep talking about how far apart the union and the owners were in negotiations

“During the performance half of you were sleeping, half of you were talking, and the other half of you were flat out being rude!” – 7th grade math teacher to her class

“The sun has been there for 500, 600 years…” Mets outfielder Mike Cameron after teammate Carlos Beltran lost a ball in the sun during a game

“Reason for more bear sightings… More Bears” – newspaper headline

Lawyer: Now, doctor, which way would someone fall after receiving a twelve-gauge shotgun blast directly to the chest? Witness: Down. – courtroom testimony

“Show me the verbal agreement! Show me the verbal agreement!” – Sault Ste. Marie mayor

Too many times we are a mediocre people content to live mediocre lives and accomplish mediocre things. These tendencies toward mediocrity do not compel us to seek great things from God. If we profess that “Our God is Greater” (see Chris Tomlin song for reference), then we have to believe that God doesn’t call us to achieve mediocre things.

Also,

• If our God is greater, that means He doesn’t call us to be comfortable.
• If our God is greater, then we must go beyond looking at what is possible and start looking at the impossible.
• If our God is greater, than that means our vision must be greater.
• If our vision is to reach and be relevant to other church goers then our vision is way too short sighted. That’s why we must filter our vision by looking through God sized lenses so that our vision compels us to reach the lost and be relevant to a community and generation that is radically different from the one that was here 20, 50, and 100 years ago. We must then be willing to reevaluate every aspect of everything we do and change those areas that fall short of achieving that God-sized vision.