Idolatry in the Church

D

deltadom Jul 30, 2016

2 Samuel 6:1-7New King James Version (NKJV)
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

6 Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name,[a] the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. 3 So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.~~[b]~~ 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark. 5 Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals.

6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.

Numbers 7

9 But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.

10 And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their offering before the altar.

11 And the Lord said unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar.

12 And he that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah:

13 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them were full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering:

In these passages Uzziah and David use a cart to carry the ark of the covenant in the wrong way and Uzziah dies

How many times do we do things in the church that are the right way according to us but actually miss the biblical way

sermonindex Jul 31, 2016

Amen, Dom.

God is not interested in "our" ministry. At least not nearly so much as He is interested in us. Before there can ever be a proper ministry, there must be a proper vessel. I am not talking about our spiritual gifts or a supernatural empowering. I am talking about transformation of the inner man...the work of the Holy Ghost in our lives. It takes years--a lifetime. It consists of pain and suffering. Pressure! The work of the cross! Without the transforming work of the Holy Ghost, regardless of our spiritual gifts, we will make the offering of Cain, build the city of Babel, offer the strange fire of Nadab and Abihu or march confidently carrying the ark of God right into the jaws of destruction. If God is merciful to you, He will bring your folly to a swift end. If God is not merciful to you, He will let your abomination done in His name grow larger and larger. And more and more addictive to you. It will look like man, it will act like man, it will have the foul stench of man. And you will lie awake at night agonizing over how to keep it going and how to make it bigger--all in the name of God.

With his ignorance to excuse him, Uzzah, with the best of intentions, reached out and took hold of the ark. He met the urgent need. And the Living God struck him dead. The hand of man--the work of man--is never, under any circumstances, regardless of the urgency of the need, acceptable to perform anything for God and His Kingdom. In a way, I believe this calamity happened to poor Uzzah so that we might gain wisdom and insight as to how to be pleasing to the Lord. As the Holy Ghost begins to transform us into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, then can He begin to use us to accomplish His purposes.

D

deltadom Aug 2, 2016

What I am interested in this text is that Uzziah and David were doing everything to follow God but because they were not following the scriptures, God killed Uzziah because he did not follow scripture , how many people do we have in the church are trying to do things with the right motives but are completely ignorant and are actually in rebellion against God

T

Theophila Aug 3, 2016

I remember once thinking about this same thing and this sobering thought came to me:
The fact that so much foolishness passes as the 'work of God' in 'churches' today may be because the Presence of God is not with us.
In the early church, when they had His very near Presence, merely misrepresenting the facts [think Ananias and Saphira] led to instant death.

They walked in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Now we have neither and are thus 'free' to do as we please, all in the name of the Lord, of course.

sermonindex Aug 3, 2016

But Uzzah is not the whole story.

Why did David fail in his first attempt to bring the Ark back? And how does this apply to the Church today?

David did not have a revelation of God's will in this matter (for his first attempt), however he was convinced as to what he thought was the right thing to do (this is where we always get into trouble). He used 30,000 "choice men" of Israel and they set the Ark on a "brand new" ox drawn cart and all Israel played music using all kinds of instruments, leading a great worship service before the Ark. This is an example of man's attempt to impress God (and one another) and gain His approval their own way and by their own methods.

1Ch 13:12 And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?

Regarding David's 2nd try at bringing the Ark back, what was the correct way and what did he learn? What should we learn today regarding this? When David saw that a priest (Uzzah) was killed by the Lord for such a seeming small infraction of the law, it put the fear of the Lord in the heart of David, so David took the ark to the house of Obed Edom the Gittite.

This time David inquired of the Lord and the Lord had given David a revelation of Jerusalem, that Jerusalem was the place in all Israel where His name should dwell. Most of Israel had taken for granted that the ark would be brought back to Moses tabernacle which had moved from Shiloh to its present location - the high place in Gibeon. When David heard that Obed Edom was being blessed because of the Ark, he was emboldened to once again desire to bring the Ark to the location David had prepared for it. However, David had learned his lesson, and this time he obeyed the Lord's instructions for transportation of the Ark.

This time the Priests were carrying the Ark as prescribed by the Lord in His Word. David humbled himself and offered sacrifices of oxen and fatted sheep. David danced before the Lord with all his might wearing a linen ephod. David and all Israel brought up the Ark with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. When it comes to learning God's ways and ceasing from our ways, mistakes are made, and sometimes costly mistakes are made. But mistakes can be corrected, if the heart is willing. But that is the potential problem, the heart.

B

brothagary Aug 3, 2016

I was just talking about the result of idolatry in the church and in culture .

The effect being sexual sin ,hence why so much sexual abuse in the Catholic Church ,the blatant practice of idolatry ,leads God to turn people of to a debased mind , to do those things not fitting ....

And in a culture that has rejected God and formed a God in their their own depraved image ,are also turned over to a debased mined .

With the gospel being so twisted as to not require true repentence in both groups ,there is no release from the depraved mind , but a further decline.....

Only prayer and the propagation of the true gosple will led to repentence...

sermonindex Aug 3, 2016

I'm not so sure David and Uzzah's sin was idolatry as much as it was leaning upon their own understanding. In the work of God there is always the temptation to think we know how it should be done and then move ahead of God rather than waiting on His direction and word.

Two forms of religion - one that exalts itself and one that humbles itself.

2Sam 6:14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

This verse obviously shows us that David shed his kingly clothes and just wore the "linen" clothes (ephod) of a priest.

We all have a lot to learn when it comes to God's ways. Consider David, who spent perhaps a decade living in caves and being hunted like an animal. This took place between the time of his anointing, (his calling) and his coming to the throne, (his sending). Or consider Moses, who spent forty years following sheep in preparation for being the shepherd of Israel. If we truly love the Lord, let us lay aside all spiritual ambition and all desire to serve the Lord, and let us lay our lives before Him and humbly ask Him to prepare us according to His way and His standards. What God eventually does through your life may be small, but the gold, silver and precious stone that can be hidden in a man's pocket is worth much more than a mountain of wood, hay and stubble.

Contrast these thoughts with what we see today, dominic. Many in the Church are doing what is right in their own eyes.

R

Renee_is_His Aug 3, 2016

Judges 21:25 New King James Version (NKJV)

25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, brother Julius. When there is no king(Jesus)in rulership and lordship over our hearts and lives, we do what seems right to us. This is what I believe is the root cause of the problems we see in the church, and specifically in our own lives.

sermonindex Aug 3, 2016

That is a great way to put it, Renee. When we wander from the Shepherd, we build our own kingdom, doing things our way instead of being directed by Holy Spirit.

Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord. (Zech 4:6).

God in His mercy has shown us through His word how men fail and succeed and success only comes by obeying the Lord. We have all experienced this, but like David and Moses and Peter and Paul, we are supposed to learn from our mistakes and not keep repeating them.

G

ginnyrose Aug 4, 2016

In my opinion one of the most profound lessons one can glean from these OT stories is how exact God was with his commands. If one improvised them there was judgement. I am not aware that this has changed any except that God may be more long suffering today and his judgement tarries, but unless repented of it will happen.

Anyhow, it took me a long time to understand why God struck Uzziah so viciously - until I realized that willful disobedience evokes severe judgement from God and this is what happened when they put the ark on the cart.

Sandra

sermonindex Aug 4, 2016

But, wasn't Uzzah (Uzziah was a king) struck down for reaching out and steadying the ark. It doesn't say he put the ark on the cart. Uzzah, drove the cart and of course tried to catch it from falling.