[The
following post is based on a sermon series presented in January-February 2006
while I served as pastor at Exeter Area Christian Fellowship in Newfields, NH.]
People
love to get their own way. A popular and
well known slogan used by Burger King was ‘Your way, right away’. America is the champion of individualism; of
having things done our way, right away. This
individualistic thinking played a big part in the development of American
Christianity and is also a significant
reason why so many churches and Christians are doctrinally flawed. Somewhere along the way, we came to God and
said, in essence, ‘that’s nice, but we want things our way.’
Here
we come to the final entry in this series, Five Things God Cannot Do.
God Cannot Accept Us Unless We Come On His
Terms
The
first issue we need to settle is whether or not God is God, meaning this: If
God is God then His is the final word on every matter. This is a premise that this post affirms. If you accept, at least in the broadest
sense, that God is the only God, then you either submit to His Word or live in
rebellion against Him.
So
then when we come to God, whether in worship, prayer, the reading of the Bible or,
most importantly, for salvation and forgiveness of sin, we need to always
remember that we must come on His terms or we shouldn’t come at all.
An
episode from the Old Testament book of Leviticus helps us understand this (text
is from the ESV unless otherwise noted).
God had
brought the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt to freedom at the base of
Mt. Sinai (more likely in modern Saudi Arabia by the way, not the Egyptian Sinai
peninsula). God has given the ‘legal
code’ (including the Ten Commandments) as well as the patterns for the
Tabernacle where worship would take place.
Numerous times God directs that all the items are to be made “according
to all that I have commanded you”. (e.g. Exodus 29:35)
In Leviticus
9:22-24 Aaron, the High Priest, initiates the sacrificial worship of God. It is a momentous moment in the life of
Israel as God responds with a display of glory: “and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and
the pieces of fat on the altar…” (9:23-24)
Then
we are given an odd and troubling scene: “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of
Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and
offered unauthorized fire before the Lord,
which he had not commanded them. And
fire came out from before the Lord
and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”
(Leviticus 10:1-2)
What
in the world is going on? We have to
jump back to Exodus 30, where God gives the instructions for the Altar of
Incense. As part of the ministry at this
altar, the priest was to burn special incense, the make-up of which is given in
Exodus 30:34-37. In the case of Nadab
and Abihu, they “offered unauthorized fire”, namely a different type of incense
than that which God commanded.
It is
probable that as God’s glory appeared and the people celebrated they were caught
up in the moment. Yet even with what
might have been ‘noble’ motives, Nadab and Abihu stepped outside the bounds
that God prescribed and took it upon themselves to determine how God was to be
worshipped. God would not, and could not
accept these men on their terms.
Was it
‘fair’ of God to judge these two priests so severely? Throw out your human conceptions of ‘fairness’;
God’s concern is righteousness and holiness.
In the case of Nadab and Abihu, at the very outset of Israel’s formal
religious worship of the Lord, God
needed to show the people that He was serious about being approached on His
terms.
Moses
defends God’s action: “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord has said, 'Among those who are near
me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'’ And Aaron held his peace.” (10:3)
Aaron’s
heart must have been breaking for the loss of his sons, but he knew God was
right. They needed to approach God on
His terms.
The
late J. Vernon McGee notes, “God will not accept worship in our own will, no
matter how sincere…note…that the high position of these men offered them no
immunity.” (J. Vernon McGee Through the Bible vol. 1 p364)
Coming
to God in our way and on our terms is known as ‘will-worship’; “a way that seems
right to a [person], but its end is the way to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
We can
all fall into the trap of ‘will-worship’, but we can guard against this by
remembering that true worship recognizes God as He has revealed Himself in the
Scriptures and gives Him the respect due to His greatness (see Psalm 2:11).
God
has set His boundaries for us that we may find life. To think that we can operate outside those
boundaries is a belief and practice that can only lead to death.
God cannot
accept us unless we come on His terms.
This
is especially important as we consider how a person can find forgiveness from sin,
be made right before the Holy God and enter eternal life. The pathway to these blessings is not a
matter of our decision, but is completely dependent on the terms God has set. And what are those terms?
~“And
there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
~“Believe
in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31)
~“ If
you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
God
has provided salvation…but on His terms: Jesus Christ and Him alone.
People
outside the church call Christians narrow and extremist for holding to this
view of salvation being exclusively found in Christ. They have that right. Our loving response needs to be simply this:
‘I believe God is God and His Word is final.
This is what I am convinced God
has said; and I choose to come on His terms.’
God cannot
accept us unless we come on His terms.
Come ever and always on His terms and you will know joy and peace and
life.
It has
been enjoyable for me to revisit these messages, streamlining them for this
format. I hope you have found them
challenging and helpful. As always, your
feedback is eagerly welcomed.
Be
Blessed.
