Don’t play with Fire

Introduction

Greet and Endear

Who’s excited for camp? Going to be epic - sign up etc.

I was thinking about what to preach today - and an old sermon that Dan gave back at last year’s youth alive conference kept playing in my head.

“Reverence is the new rebellion” Brilliant sermon. If you weren’t there for it - Dan talked about how your generation has a calling over it to bring Reverence for God back into not just church but everyday life.

I love that message so much because I just resonate so much with it - I believe it’s so accurate.

Because the fact is that reverence is something that we’re quickly losing nowadays. Not just from church - but from society. Everything is geared at stealing the sacredness from everything.

SEX has gone from something covenant to now just a commodity thanks to the prevalence of pornography, dating apps, and the media.

Even MARRIAGE itself is becoming a sham - people honour their feelings more than they honour their vows.

Our TIME - which God clearly states is holy, and appoints a sabbath day to rest - in this day and age of busyness it’s the first thing we throw out the window to make more money, to make more friends or even because we just can’t seem to sit still

Our WORDS - the things that come out of our mouths or the things that we type have become riddled with toxicity and hatred thanks largely to the fact that we can now hide behind our keyboards

Even something like the TRUTH has become subjective now - it really depends on which news outlet that you watch, it’s not absolute anymore - it’s flexible.

And unfortunately CHURCH has somewhat lost its reverence. From a place where the Holy God dwells among His people, a place of encounter and healing, a place of holiness - to now just a once a week (if that) social club.

See what I mean? Sacredness is bleeding out of everything. Your generation needs to rise up and Rediscover Reverence once again, the mandate on your generation is to put reverence for God BACK into the church, bring sacredness BACK into relationships, into speech, into truth, into the body.

Let’s Pray.

God cares about HOW we approach Him

Turn to Leviticus 10:1–3 “1 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. 2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 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.”

This is a weird passage that stands out in the Old Testament to me. It’s a story about the High Priest (Aaron)’s sons who were also priests, coming before God and offering what is labelled as unauthorised fire before God. And then they were struck down as a result. At first glance it may just seem like a strange story.

But when we read into it - I want us to look for THEOLOGICAL ANCHORS within the passage. This is what we should be looking for in ANY scripture passage that you read, by the way, a theological anchor in a passage is basically what you get when you ask yourself “what does this passage reveal to me about God?” - and it’s an important question to ask whenever we read the bible.

When we look for the theological anchors in this passage, I think there are quite a few - and really important ones.

Think about the fact that both Nadab and Abihu were both priests. They weren’t just priests - they were the High Priest’s son. They weren’t strangers, they didn’t come from another tribe or another race, these were INSIDERS, people who would have been familiar with the temple procedures, people who would be familiar with temple protocol and order. They are like us - they KNOW the ways of the house.

Here’s what I want you to catch from this story: Closeness to God is never an excuse for carelessness.

In other words God CARES about HOW we approach Him.

God cares about the way that we treat His house, He cares about the things that we say, He cares about the things that we do - He cares about how we approach Him, He cares about the way that you live.

Reverence is CARING about His glory and His honour! And as the creator God, the perfect and Holy one guess what? He’s FULLY within His rights to care. If God REALLY is God, then He deserves nothing less than our best.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is just God being petty about a procedure or a process. Look at v3. This is not about just a process - this is about God’s GLORY. This was about REVERENCE.

One of the more common myths in Christianity is that since everyone is welcome in church - we can just do whatever we want in the House of God as if there are no consequences for that. Or what about the one that since God love us so much - we can live our lives exactly the way we want.

No, my friends - this is mistaking our closeness with God as an excuse for carelessness. And as we can see from this passage, that’s not a part of God’s plan.

Look at the passage - the term for the fire was “unauthorised”. In the original language it actually translates to the word “strange”. The fire that they offered to the Lord was not recognised - it was not given in the proper manner, it was not conducted properly.

This is what we can do in our lives - when we let our familiarity replace reverence.

Even though Nadab and Abihu were sons of the house - just like we’re sons and daughters of Christ; they were still able to approach God wrongly. They were still capable of irreverence, they were still able to be disobedient. Their closeness to the house, their lineage, their heritage was no sufficient excuse for their casualness around God.

God cares about HOW we approach Him. This is the first step to understanding Reverence.

Familiarity with God should LEAD you towards Reverence, not toward carelessness.

ILLUSTRATION: White people in an Asian home

I grew up surrounded by Australians - I mean I know I look asian but trust me I am far more white than I look. All my good mates in high school and university were Aussie, like Okka, proper born and raised. My family, on the other hand are very asian - which is why I look like this. I remember the first time one of my mates came over to my house in year 10 or so. It was a disaster.

Like it was winter and it was raining and all outside when his mum dropped him off - and he just like walked into the house with his shoes. Man the look that my mum gave me when he walked in was wild. I remember him greeting my parents - now for context, asian families are HUGE on familial greetings. Like what my parents are used to would be someone coming into the house like “Hi aunty, hi uncle, how are you?” like having a full on conversation with them before getting to hang out with me.

My mate walked right up to my dad and was like, “sup Richard”. Oh my days my life flashed before my eyes. After we finished dinner, which was just some noodles, not even joking this guy LICKED HIS PLATE CLEAN. Found out later that wasn’t a white person thing that’s just him being nasty. Man I was like oh my days I’m never going to be allowed to have another white friend.

Now you may think I’m just judging white people - but I’m not, in fact when I go over to his place, I leave my shoes on - I call his dad Brandon. I don’t lick my plate clean though that’s nasty. What’s my point?

My point is that HOW we approach something matters. It reflects our UNDERSTANDING of whatever it is we’re approaching. You don’t approach a puppy the same way you would a lion. You don’t approach a pool the same way you do the ocean. You don’t approach a match the same way you approach a wildfire. Listen - you don’t approach THE HOLY GOD, the same way you approach an ordinary person. In fact you don’t approach God the same way you approach ANYTHING ELSE. He is unlike anything you’ve ever encountered before. Remember - God isn’t your buddy, He’s your King.

Nadab and Abihu’s first mistake - approaching God as if He wasn’t God. Forgetting His reverence, discarding His glory. Don’t make the same mistake.

Passion without Submission is Dangerous

Did you see what else this passage says that they did wrong? It says that the fire was unauthorised, strange, but ALSO it adds that God did NOT command them to light the fire. There was no instruction from God - there was no direction from God.

We’re not actually told WHY Nadab and Abihu lit the fire - all we know is that it was NOT instructed by God

But you might argue - wait a second Jon - but it’s not like what they did was wrong; they were giving an offering weren’t they? Isn’t that something good? Isn’t that the RIGHT action?

Here’s a principle that is good to learn very early on in your Christian walk. God values obedience more than he does sacrifice.

1 Samuel 15:22 “22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”

Obedience is God’s love language - Jesus says if you love me you will OBEY my commandments.

So it doesn’t matter what Nadab and Abihu were doing - what matters is that they DISOBEYED God when they lit that offering. They disobeyed in the MANNER with which the lit the fire, they disobeyed in the fact that God gave NO instruction for them to approach in the first place.

Hear me out here - Passion without obedience is dangerous.

We can go through all the right motions - we can lift our hands, jump to the music, we can sing at the top of our voice, we can attend youth every single week - and YET we can live lives that are completely void of obedience.

So many Christians are so passionate in church today - they know how to sing the songs, to dance, they know how to talk like Christians but in their personal life there is NO obedience. They live lives of open sin, committing open rebellion against God repeatedly with little to no attempt to change the way that they live.

We dare claim that we have encountered God and call ourselves a Christian and then we go an live lives of shameless disobedience.

My friends, I’m here to tell you today that one of the greatest acts of irreverence you can commit against God is to treat Him like a fool. As if He can’t see, as if He doesn’t know.

Listen to me today - God doesn’t just want your actions, He wants your obedience.

God doesn’t want a Show from you, He wants your Surrender

God doesn’t want your Hype, He wants your Honour.

When we lose reverence for God - one of the first things that goes is our obedience to His Word.

Genuine question here - how many people here KNOW the Word well enough to even obey it? How many even bother taking the time to study it, to see what it says about your life, to see what God says about how to live your life as a Christian?

How can we say that we have REVERENCE for God if we don’t even PICK UP His Word? If we don’t love it, study it, live it?

ILLUSTRATION:

When my mum was sick in hospital, there were a couple of times that she had to share a room - so basically there’d be another person in the room and you’re separated by like a curtain. There was this one time her room mate was an old lady who was also diagnosed with terminal cancer - but her room was just like filled with all these gifts, expensive flowers, expensive hampers, expensive drinks all sorts of things.

And so one day when my mum was resting I actually said hi and sat with her and got talking with her. And I just made mention oh wow you have so many gifts in your room, your family really loves you. And when I said this she actually started crying, at first it was slow but then she actually started weeping. Which was super awkward for me.

But what she said next broke my heart, “they give me everything except their time.”

And that’s when I realised that all the time that she was there - the nurses had been the ones to deliver all the gifts to her. But she had never had visitors. Her family was buying her all these gifts but none of them were actually spending any time with her.

As heartbreaking as it is to hear this - I think that this can so easily be the image of our faith.

We give God our praise, we attend church, we raise our hands, we attend Tribes, we put money in the offering, but the one thing that God asks us for - our obedience, is the one thing that we don’t give.

We pick and choose which part of Chrisianity we like and only obey in that area. When it’s not convenient for us, we purposely choose to disobey God. When it’s not popular, we disobey. When we’re behind closed doors, we disobey.

No - friends, this is not reverence. This kind of faith is the opposite of reverence. This is ridicule. We make a mockery of the faith, and even worse, a mockery of God.

Just like Nadab and Abihu - they didn’t just offer the wrong thing, they offered what God did not ask for. They gave to the Lord that which God never asked for and expected Him to receive it. They worshipped on their own terms.

You can fake the altar, but not the fire

You know what is really curious about this story? Is that just one chapter before the story we read God’s fire actually fell on authentic sacrifice.

Leviticus 9:24 “24 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.”

In other words, when God gets His glory, when people obey the instruction of the Lord, when He is given REVERENCE that is due His name - His fire falls.

The same God who sent the fire that BLESSED this offering was the same God who caused fire to come and CONSUME Nadab and Abihu.

What’s the difference?

God’s fire falls in response to REVERENCE, not PERFORMANCE.

Here’s the thing to catch in all of this - Nadab and Abihu may have gone through the motions but because they did not approach God with REVERENCE, the fire burned them instead of blessed them.

That’s because God’s fire doesn’t fall on fake altars.

We can be waiting for a move of God in our lives, waiting on breakthrough in our lives, waiting for God to do His thing - but God’s fire doesn’t fall on fake altars.

Are the altars that we’re building in our lives built with a REVERENCE that reflects the glory that God is due? Do they speak of a REVERENT lifestyle, one filled with obedience and surrender?

Or are we building fake altars - ones that look proper on a Friday or Sunday but fall apart the moment we step out of church. Because my friends - God’s fire doesn’t fall on fake altars.

I’ll tell you something guys - you may be able to fake the altar, but you can’t fake the fire. The presence of God in your life, and the favour of God in your life cannot be manufactured. They come only in response to reverence and a life lived to glory God.

Are we waiting for the fire of God to fall in this place? Are we waiting for the Holy Spirit to MOVE in our church, our families, our schools? Are we waiting for the POWER to change our own lives and the lives of others? Then stop building fake altars. It begins with Reverence.

You know one of the things that I see in your generation is that so many young Christians want to live life on their own terms. And by extension they want to live faith on their own terms too. We’re consumed with “forging our own identity” “living out our individuality” there’s so much stress on the individual and their freedom.

I always wonder if this is what it was for Nadab and Abihu. Sons of the high priest - maybe they were sick of living in their dad’s shadow. Sick of the old ways, they just wanted to do their own thing, they wanted to blaze their own path, forge their own identity.

And maybe they tried to apply that to God and faith - they tried to live faith on their own terms. Hold God hostage to their terms, they began to treat God like a genie, expecting God to bow to their demands, to serve their requests.

If that sounds familiar to any of us in this room tonight - then let me be as plain with you as possible: That is not reverence, that is ridicule. You are making a mockery of God.

ILLUSTRATION: Little Pink Bible

Some of you may have heard me tell this story before - but it still remains the one incident in my life where I really received a revelation of the fear of God.

One day I was caught in the most violent deliverance case I had ever witnessed as a leader before and still, up to this day. One of our kids had started manifesting violently at camp and even when he got home he was manifesting powerfully. Our entire leadership team was over at his house praying over him, casting out the demon - the works (mind you we didn’t have much experience with this stuff at the time). But no matter what we did, he was still violent, we couldn’t hold him down, we couldn’t hold him back. We were desperately freaking out.

So the family called in a deliverance minister - a big african pastor who swaggered into the house and walked up to the boy. The first thing he asked for was a bible. Unfortunately none of us had one. So we searched everywhere in the house, and finally we found one. It was a small, bright pink bible with a gloss cover. I was like oh man we all gna die today.

To this day I’ll never forget this. The pastor walked into the room with the bible - and this boy who had been violent and unperterbed up until this time froze in his tracks. He stopped thrashing, stopped yelling and screaming and for the first time in his voice, there was - fear. He started to violently threaten the pastor, “I’ll kill you if you come near me.” you know what this pastor did? He opened this little pink bible - and put it on his face. The boy collapsed onto the floor immediately, this pastor knelt down next to him and left the bible on his face. and he screamed and thrashed. I mean it was quite a sight - this huge boy couldn’t escape from underneath this little pink bible.

The pastor finally picked up the bible - and read Psalm 34:7 “7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” get OUT in the name of Jesus. Boom - delivered. I was fearful of many things that day, but the greatest fear I developed that day was of the Lord. The most haunting image I had that day was of a tiny pink bible tormenting a grown man. Since that day I have never placed my bible on the floor.

Altar Call

It’s time to find reverence again. It’s time to build the right altars.

It starts with repentance, and leads to Obedience.