Tuesday, March 11, 2008

“3 Dangers of Careless Familiarity with God”

Rick Holland preached at the Shepherd’s Conference on “3 Dangers of Careless Familiarity with God.”

Caleb Kolstad @ http://expositorythoughts.wordpress.com noted: "He reminded us that being part of spiritual leadership is extremely dangerous. Holland said, “God has no desire to be part of our lives, His one desire is to be the point of our life.”

Leviticus 9:22-10:7 records the infamous story of Nadab and Abihu. These religious leaders got too familiar and careless with their God and were judged for it in a major way. Holland reminded us that we are often guilty of this very thing ourselves.

Here are the “3 Dangers of Careless Familiarity with God” from the Lev 9-10 passage.

1. Redefining what God requires (Lev 10:1) and becoming overly familiar with God.

2. Underestimating how God responds (Lev 10:2).

This fire consumed the sacrificer not the sacrifice. This was another reminder of the holiness of God. Even as Pastors we often presume on the grace of God.

3. Ignoring what God desires (Lev 10:3).

God responded according to His holiness to show that any innovations would not be tolerated. Stick with what the Word says and don’t try and get cute with God.

The trend today is to treat God as cool, to treat Jesus as your homeboy, and to be as cool as you possibly can before your congregation and culture. This passage is about God’s discipline on spiritual leaders. We don’t have a higher standard but we do have a higher accountability.”

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