Friday, November 13, 2009

God is serious about obedience...

(These are some thoughts I wrote down in August)

I have been reading through 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel over the last couple of weeks, and I must say that the entire story of Samuel, Saul, David, all the battles, and all of the events is completely amazing! The unfolding story is very captivating and would make an intense movie... However, I as I have said before, I am very convicted tonight over a thought that has popped into my mind a few times now while reading through these great books. This thought is a perfect example of how I do not see sin how God sees it. This thought usually voices itself with an intrusive, "man, isn't that punishment a little too intense?"

While I was reading through Saul's story in 1 Samuel, there was a specific instance in chapter 13 when Saul decided to offer a sacrifice to God right after being anointed king. Sounds good right? Well... not really. Apparently Saul had been instructed to wait for Samuel, and after a long 7 days and no sign of Samuel, Saul decided to go ahead and offer the sacrifice. Well, as you could expect, Saul gets caught right in the middle of offering the sacrifice by Samuel who arrived right on time. Samuel then basically said, "What in the world are you doing?" To sum it up, Saul explains he is just trying to offer a sacrifice to God and didn't think Samuel was coming. Samuel then tells him this: "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD you God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart" (vs. 13). Now it is sad to say, but my first thought after reading this was "man, isn't that a little too intense? I mean, Saul just disobeyed in this one small area, right? What about second chances? I understand that obedience is crucial, but isn't that a little harsh?"

Why would I think something like this? Well, it is because even though I claim that I know that obedience is crucial, I really don't realize how serious God is about obedience and how infinitely treacherous it is to sin against God. (This also means then that I really don't understand that obedience is crucial) Time after time in these passages, someone will disobey and God will punish the sin. However, this is not a picture of a mean God who delights in punishing people and who is a psycho about people following all the rules; it is a picture of God's holy justice towards sin and disobedience. It is absolutely right for God to punish the sin; it is absolutely crucial that God punish the sin. In order to be just, God must punish sin. It is this crucial because His holiness demands it. However, I sometimes tend to weigh the sin that I see people commit against God in the same way I would weigh sin against another man. But, this is a horrible outlook on sin! "Sin against God is not trivial" as John Piper states, "it is treason!" (For Your Joy, pg. 12)

So, for Saul to disobey the LORD of heaven in this passage is treason! It is not the same as if a friend told me to do something and I didn't do it. The fact that I didn't do it would probably hurt his feelings but would never merit drastic consequences. However, if a parent or teacher told me to do something and I did not do it I would probably be in line for some type of consequence. However, going even further, if the president of our country told me to do something and I didn't I could probably expect some prison time. I hope you see that the higher the authority the more serious the disobedience. However, God is infinitely more deserving of our obedience than any human figure. It is treason to sin against God and must be punished. God is not unjust by taking a kingdom away from someone or allowing a child to die (2 Samuel 12), neither is He unjust by allowing someone to go to hell for eternity. His wrath is a proper response to our sin and He is right in doing so.
(John Piper, Adam Vinson, and a guy named Aaron Werner greatly helped me see sin in this way)

So why these thoughts? It is my own inability to see how serious sin is compared to the holiness of the Living God. Oh may the God of grace who gave His Son to live for me what I could never live, grant me the grace to see the weight of sin against the purity of His Holy character, and may He produce in me a river of joy that wells from my heart over the gospel of Jesus Christ which allows me to escape God's righteous separation from sin and allows me to enjoy everlasting fellowship with Him forever.

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