The story of Nadab and Abihu is not one of the most prominent in the Bible.
- Unlike Samson last week, not one of those commonly taught in Sunday School.
- Not in many people’s top 10 list.
Some are probably thinking “Nadab & Abi-who?”
The Hebrews had just been led out of Egypt. They had followed God across the Red Sea and then watched as Pharoah’s army were buried under the crumbling walls of water. The whole nation assembled at Mt. Sinai as God initiated a covenant with them, marking them as His people. As the covenant was finalized, God commanded the leaders of His people to meet with Him on the Mountain. Listen to Exodus 24:9-11 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, b clear as the sky itself. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank….
Wow! Did you notice what a privilege these people had? Moses, God’s chosen leader, Aaron, God’s chosen High Priest, Nadab & Abihu Aaron’s two oldest sons, and 70 elders got to see God in His Heavenly glory. Less than 100 of all the billions of people ever to walk the earth have that privilege. Adam did prior to the fall, Elijah did, John did, and Nadab and Abihu were among that select group.
All seems to go well. In Leviticus 8 God ordains Aaron as the first High Priest, and his sons as priests. Nadab was to be the successor to Aaron’s position. God prescribes a very detailed ritual, and we read in Leviticus 8:36, “So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.”
Then we come to Leviticus 10:1-3 “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke of when he said:
“‘Among those who approach me
I will show myself holy;
in the sight of all the people
I will be honored.’”
Aaron remained silent.”(Pause)
What a shock! Here are two of the Lord’s anointed, heirs to the High Priestly position who are destroyed because they didn’t meticulously follow the prescribed way for a priest to light a fire. Two lives that held such great promise, (snap) snuffed out in an instant. Nobody knows for sure why they did it, but there is one thing you can guess. Evidently they took God for granted. They didn’t think it was all that important and they weren’t careful enough in the way they came before God. In an instant they became a lesson on God’s holiness for all the world to see. When you get over to Numbers 3:2-4 you read 2 The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 3 Those were the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests. 4 Nadab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the LORD when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai. They had no sons; so only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.
Remember, in the letter of James we are learning how to live lives of everyday worship. James is telling us how to live every day facing God. As he comes to the 4th chapter he is telling us about living in an intimate relationship with God, and not being adulterous.
If you have your bible, open up to James 4. (Note all the issues going on in 1-5)
- Read verses 6-10 (Highlighting v. 10)
James warns us not to forget about God and the way he told us to live, even the way he modeled for us to live. If Christians aren’t careful we can slip into living as if God doesn’t even matter. Now in verses 11-16 James gives us 2 examples of ways that people get a little cocky about the way they live. Notice the 2 examples he gives.
Text: James 4:11-16
1. Assume authority to judge. (vv. 11-12)
One time Jesus was asked by an expert in the law what was the foundational commandment in God’s law. You might remember what He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes out a very detailed argument about what it means to live life within the grace of God. When he gets near the end of the letter in chapter 14 he tells us that we have no right to be judges over other people. “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, ‘every knee shall bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” In other words, when you stand before the judgment seat of God, you will not have the opportunity to turn your head to look at the faults of your brother, so don’t be doing it now!
You see what James is attacking here is the arrogance that claims to be good enough to judge the next person. When we have such a high opinion of ourselves that we think we can take God’s place as judge, we have forgotten something. There is room on the judgment seat for only one, and He fills the position quite well. James says that to attempt to judge others, or to tear them down, we are living as if God doesn’t matter. And if you want to know what God thinks of those who live as if He doesn’t matter, remember the story of Nadab and Abihu.
2. Assume the authority to direct our life.
Paul lays out a principle in I Corinthians 6 that is critical for us to remember if we are to live our lives facing God. He reminds us “You are not your own. You were bought at a price.” There is a very important reminder there that our lives are not ours to live. If we accept the gift of grace that God offers through the death of His Son on the cross, we make Him Lord. That is more than just a title for Jesus, that is a relationship. That means we are not the master of our own destiny, God is. We don’t have the right to set the course of our life, only God does.
In verses 13-16 of chapter 4, James attacks the arrogant notion that we control the course of our existence. (read 4:13-16) Have you ever known anyone who when they are talking about the future will throw in the phrase “Lord willing.” I have a friend who does that, and I have to say, sometimes it bothers me. I have at times thought it was kind of snobbish. Like “look how spiritual I am that I am always thinking about if the Lord is willing or not.” You know what I mean. But some time back, they said it and it clicked with me. It’s not them who was being snobbish. I don’t know what their motive is for using that phrase (remember I’m not supposed to judge that, am I). More than likely they weren’t using that phrase for my benefit at all. I don’t think James is telling us to be saying “Lord willing, I’ll do this or that.” It seems more as a reminder to yourself. “Don’t get so cocksure of yourself that you set the agenda of your life without considering God’s will.” Make sure you include the Lord in your plans.
It is wonderful to live under the grace of God, and that James 4:6 still inspires me, where James says “But he gives us more grace.” What a promise. But there is a tendency to live within God’s grace, and to just forget about it. It is all too easy to get to the point as a Christian that you start living as if God doesn’t matter. Now of course we would never say that in so many words, but it is easy to do. To become so used to living with the grace of God that we take it for granted.
I heard someone talk about the way we tend to think about grace. There is a progression that seems to go along with living in God’s grace and it goes like this.
1-We Experience Grace: At first we don’t even know about it. The fact that we are able to live and breathe is an act of God’s grace. If the wages of sin is death, as Paul wrote, then every time we sin and are not struck down we experience the merciful grace of God.
2-We Understand Grace: Somehow we learn about God’s love for us, the nature of our sin. We come to learn that Jesus died to set us free from the consequences of our sin. Once we understand God’s wonderful grace, we can choose to accept or reject it.
3-We Are Embarrassed By Grace: There is a time after we come to understand how wonderful God’s grace is, that we become overwhelmed, even embarrassed by it. We know we don’t deserve it, and we can’t believe that God loves us that much.
4-We Become Accustomed To Grace: We get over the embarrassment after a while, and we begin to live our lives as people who are content in our salvation.
5-We Grow To Expect Grace: It is very easy, if we aren’t careful, to slip into a point where we think that God’s grace and mercy are expected on our behalf. We forget how fortunate we are that God is so good, and how undeserving of His grace we are.
- Employer who gives a $500.00 bonus at Christmas.
6-We Think We Deserve Grace: The height of arrogance happens when we come to believe that God’s grace is our birthright. If we aren’t on our guard, we can become so complacent with our salvation by Grace in Jesus Christ that we think we deserve it.
There is a tendency for those of us who have been Christians for a long time to move along that progression to the point that we forget to be thankful. We start to live as if God doesn’t matter. We fail to be thankful for the grace filled God who offers us eternal life when the only thing that we have earned is eternal punishment. If somebody doesn’t come along and point out what we are doing, problems develop.
- We start developing a judgmental spirit. Nobody or nothing is ever good enough.
- We forget who sets the course of our life. We take control of the reigns of our life and refuse to give them back to God.
The joy of our faith shrivels up and becomes the drudgery of religion. Worship becomes a ritual instead of a revival. Commitment to serve becomes something to be avoided rather than something to be sought out. The faith that God intended to power us through this life can become a burden that weighs us down, if we forget to live as if God matters.
To reverse that progression, let me give you 2 things to do.
1. Find someone who you would tend to judge, and make contact in order to build them up. Offer them the grace that God offers them.
2. In the next week, when you are planning something, big or small, drop that little phrase into your sentence. “Next week, Lord willing, I’m going to...”
Remind yourself who holds you in the palm of His hand, and live your life every day facing God. Don’t ever forget what it means to Live As If God Matters!
Prayer
Invitation: In Romans 12:1 Paul tells us that once we come to recognize the mercy and grace of God, everything in our life can become an act of worship. (Quote verse, “In view of God’s mercy…”) If you’ve really come to understand God’s grace, you can’t help but live a life responding to Him out of love.
