A Recipe for Disaster | Pastor Ethan Boggs | Vibrant Church

0:00 in the early 1880s coca -cola started producing new drinks and things of that nature and for almost a hundred years had this stellar product but in 1985 they introduced a thing called new The company believed consumers preferred the sweeter taste. In a blind taste test, they believed that would be a more effective competition against Pepsi. Well, in 1985, if any of you remember,

0:47 I do not. But just 79 days later, on July the 11th, Coca -Cola changed the recipe that they had back to the original recipe, original ingredients, because the people disliked it so much and that sales dropped so severely and the backlash was so bad that they ended up going back to the original ingredients and they ended up calling it classic coke how many of you remember this and they ended up calling it classic. it was a classic today it is now if you go and grab a bottle like this or can like this it now says original tastes

1:37 the original taste so in other words this new recipe that was that in their mind was going to be effective ended up not resonating it wasn't effective It wasn't good. The ingredients compromised the taste of what was once called by Coca -Cola the real thing. And today I want to talk to you about this idea that God has divine ingredients. He has his word. He has his way. And each generation will be tempted to tamper with God's intended. ingredients to create a new way with new ideas, new teachings,

2:24 new formulas. But I want to make clear today that when we start messing with God's ingredients, there will be consequences. Are you with me? And so I want to take you to a story in the Old Testament that shows us this idea of messing with God's Testament that shows us. intended plan and his ingredients. It's going to be in 2 Samuel chapter number 6. It's going to take me a minute just to explain this. There's a thing called the Ark of the Covenant or the Ark of God. It's really the national treasure of the nation of Israel. Inside of this golden box is the Ten Commandments. Also, there is a thing called

3:11 Aaron's staff and some the Ten Commandments. Also, there is the Ark of the Covenant or the Ark of the Covenant. Also, there is the Ark of the Covenant. manna. This box was a symbol and housed the very presence of God. Well, at one time, the Philistines had taken this box away from the Hebrews, from the Israelites, from the city of Jerusalem. And David now is the king and he wants the capital to be Jerusalem, which he has made happen. But now he wants to bring the Ark of God back to the city to make it now symbolizing really that God is the center of everything we do. And this is where we pick up 2 Samuel chapter number 6. They're going to get the Ark of the

3:56 Covenant. They set the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab. Now the scriptures let us know that Abinadab had that ark in his house for 20 years, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, which is, you know, best football team in the world. I'm joking. Sons of Abinadab were guiding this new cart while they're traveling. Verse four, with the ark of God on it, while they're traveling. Verse 4, with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it, David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord. Verse number 6, when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached

4:47 out and took hold of the ark of God because the oxen stumbled. So the oxen that was moving this cart, the oxen stumbled. the ark begins to fall. Uzzah reaches out to touch it. Verse 7, the Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act. Therefore, God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God. Now, on casual reading, I would admit this is a little bit overwhelming. This is a little bit confusing, but what we see in real time in reading these passages are the results, confusing, but what we see in real time... is the byproduct of messing with God's divine. Now let me explain. God had a

5:36 prescribed method on how to transport the ark of the covenant. He has this prescribed method, it's in Exodus 25, Numbers chapter 4, Numbers chapter 7, and he has a prescribed way of how to move the presence of God. How to honor the presence of God. And he explains how it's done. of God. How to honor the presence. And to show you really briefly, Numbers chapter 7, and stay with me, I'm going somewhere. This is what the verses say. But he gave none of the wagons or oxen to the Kohathahite, or whatever, division, since they were required to carry the sacred objects of the tabernacle on their shoulders. Did you see that? He said, I'm not giving you a cart or oxen to shoulders. Did you see that? transport my presence. I'm

6:26 only letting you carry it with poles. Look what happens. Let's go back up. Verse number three of chapter six of 2 Samuel. They set the ark of God on a new cart. Did you see? All of a sudden, we've switched the ingredients. and now we have it's not new coke it's a new cart it's this idea that as as as coke said a moment ago on the advertisement that change for the best they made this adjustment to the ingredients to the instructions that god gave them it was 450 years that they have been using poles but somewhere along the line they had this idea

7:11 that we're going to transport the presence of God that we're going to transport and violate his ingredients and violate the way he says to do it and I want you to know something today what we see in this text may be a bit severe may be a bit overwhelming but the truth of the matter is we cannot go playing with what God says violating it intentionally and not expect to experience some consequences is this helping anybody so when we start making a recipe for disaster i want to give you just really two that i begin to see what we see in this text when we talk about the recipe for disaster here is the first thing we put into what we're cooking we we have convenience when convenience

8:00 replaces obedience when convenience replaces obedience i was telling my son the other day, I remember when day I felt so old telling him. I remember when YouTube didn't have ads. Come on, somebody. And now on YouTube, there's an ad and it's like skip, skip, skip. You just wait. You keep hitting the skip because you just can't wait. Anybody know what I'm talking about? I just can't wait. It's like I cannot handle it. I'm going to have a heart attack. Same day delivery, one -click like purchases instant streaming fast food skipping ads we are a culture of convenience purchases, instant streaming, fast food, skipping ads. and they did not obey and i think we can relate to this they did not obey god's instructions which meant they were disobeying his ingredients and they didn't want

8:47 to use the poles they just wanted to just skip the ads they just wanted it to be easy really they wanted to use carts because when you use the poles you're going to sacrifice when you're going to use the poles it's going to be heavy. You're going to have to walk. You're going to be tired. It's going to take work. You're going to sweat. And this is, listen, this is not something new to our generation. Human nature has always tempted to make God in our image. This has been a struggle for all of us. We want God to fit our preference. We want God to fit our politics or our personalities. And so really what ends up happening, it's not really God make me like you, it's God it's not really God, make me like you. become like me. Just do what I want. Instead of making Jesus Lord, you're really Lord, because everything

9:36 centers on your calendar, everything centers on your comfort, everything centers on your opinion, your preferences, your politics, your feelings. Am I hurting anybody's feelings? Yes. Come on, we're guilty of it, aren't we, church? We're guilty of taking God's word and fitting how we were raised. Oh, y 'all getting. quiet on me. It's interesting how we take the Bible to fit whatever political persuasion we already have. It's easy to grab a scripture and make it fit the perceptions we already believe instead of allowing God's Word and His ingredients to shape what we need to believe.

10:22 has been a struggle since the beginning what would you think christian or convenient christianity is it's is it a version of following jesus that embraces the benefits of faith while avoiding the cost of discipleship i want all the cart i want all the taste i want all the blessing but don't make me carry it the way you want me to carry it I want all the favor of God. I want all the, I want to come in and I want to sense God's with me, but don't let, don't make me live it Monday through Saturday. I just want to have it on Sunday. Like Jesus is some faucet in your house. You can turn off and turn on. This is what we find

11:11 convenient Christianity. And what's interesting, First Chronicles covers this story as well, And what's interesting, 1 Chronicles covers this story as well. adds a little more detail. Let me just show you how this started. First Chronicles chapter 13, look at verse 1. David conferred with each of his officers, let us bring the ark of God back with us. You know where convenience starts? Is when we stop conferring with God and we start conferring with people? Because we have the natural ability to bring people not to a level of obedience but a level of convenience i promise you this go ask somebody that you work with about living together bob what do you think about me and sister sister so saved you know what do you think bob what do you think about me

11:59 and sally living together you know what you know what bob's gonna say well bob's gonna say well have you thought through your taxes what have you thought through your taxes? Well, have you thought through the interest rates on houses and mortgages? Well, have you thought about the economy? Well, have you thought about her children and your children? Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? And my question for Bob is, what does God think? Y 'all living with people you ain't supposed to got quiet in here. If I go talk to Bob, Bob's going to make me think human. And when David went and conferred with people, he immediately embraced a convenient idea. When he began to confer with people, he went to wagons and carts. But when you're conferring with

12:48 God, he's going to keep you working and carrying the presence of God the proper way. But when you go asking people what they think about stuff, they're going to make it about this, they're going to make it about that. And if you don't have good people around you to tell you what does God think, what does his word think, you'll go down to convenience, never to the level of obedience. And if you don't have good people around you to tell you what does God. If you were to go to somebody in your family and say, what do you think about trusting God financially? What would it look like, you know, mom, if we were to tithe and I'm thinking about praying, about serving God financially and giving to the kingdom. You go asking your mama, she'll say, well, here's what I think, this, that. You can't afford it. You shouldn't do this. Church got

13:35 enough money. Preachers wearing suit jackets now. My God. This is on sale at Belk for $100. Come on somebody. Are you with me? But the question shouldn't be what does mom think? We love our mamas. My mama's here. Hi mama. was here hi mama it's not mom i think three people liked you it's not about what mama thinks you need to make sure you know what god thinks

14:20 if you were to go to somebody and ask them well you know what should i forgive We're going to go to somebody and ask them, well, you know what, should I forgive them? eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, let them know what's up. I say, hold a grudge. I say, block them. I say, tell their mama this. I say, tell them, but what does God think? At some point, if we keep looking at each other, we're going to lower the level of spirituality that that's never been God's plan. Okay. Okay. I got work. I got work to do. I got all year to fix this. Here we go. Are you here? Look what happened. 2 Samuel chapter 6 and 5. 6 verse 5. Here we go. Are you here? Look what happens. Second Samuel chapter six. And David and all of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord. Now that's interesting. Here they are conferring with each other about how to move the presence of God. And now their big

15:08 idea was to do it the wrong way, to live the wrong way, to make the wrong decisions. And here's what's crazy. They're all celebrating it. that's why you got to be careful that you test if the people approve your decision because it doesn't mean that God approves the decision it doesn't matter what becomes legalized in this country you can have both sides of the aisle can stand for it and applaud but if it's against God's word it's still against God's word it doesn't matter what your family thinks if it's violating God's principles No matter what your family thinks, if it's violating God's principles and his standards that we are communicated to through his word, can I tell you, it doesn't change.

15:55 You know, as a pastor, and I gotta hurry, but as a pastor, I oftentimes feel a pressure to make sure you're comfortable. So, we want a good parking lot experience, we want to make sure you have a good kids experience, So, we want a good parking lot experience. we want to make sure you have a good experience in worship, and I always have to remind myself and the team, the goal is excellence, that's the goal, but the goal isn't always comfort. The goal is to have a great experience for your children, we should have signs, bathrooms should be clean, say amen to everybody. We should have, we should do this to the glory of God. I hate that Disney does better than the of God. I hate that Disney church for a mouse. When we have, when we're living

16:44 for the, for God, for his risen savior, I think it's okay to do things with quality and excellence for his honor and worship. However, the temptation is, as we begin to grow a crowd, is then to, how can I make this more comfortable to keep the crowd so we begin to neuter and we begin to more comfortable to keep the crowd? circumcise the message we begin to cut back and we begin to thin out things we begin to change words and i just don't want to chase them off i don't want my bible still says to preachers to preach the word in season and out of season in america what we're struggling is with is that we're thinking that the goal of

17:34 the church is to just be comfortable for everybody and everybody is invited but not everybody's gonna like it because everybody is allowed in this room everybody who wants to come in this room is allowed if you're what it doesn't matter what your background is your sexual orientation your age your race you are welcome in the presence of God but we can't change the message just because you're here. Come on, Pastor, you're doing good. Is this making sense? And for the self -righteous religious spirit, I say the same thing to us who are being raised in the church. We can get a little rigid, a little strong, a little

18:21 tough, a little self -righteous because we've got strong convictions. I would say to you today, you better watch that attitude. Don't be hateful. You better watch that thing. Because at the end of the day, what happens is because we want to make sure bills are paid, we don't want you to leave. So we start preaching things that we want you to stay. And I got to stand before God. And at the end of the day, God can be comforting, but it doesn't mean God is always comfortable. Don't change the ingredients because it's uncomfortable. I don't have the right, as your pastor, to get up here and alter this word in a way that is more convenient for you, more comfortable for you, more comfortable for me, will make you like me more. Really, all I've done is

19:08 try to change the Coke, change the recipes, and while we're doing that, a generation is hungry for the truth, wants a real move of God. And I would say to you today, we're glad you're here, but I can't change it. and the church said when we confer with human thinking there will be a gravitational pull toward convenience rather than obedience and we start changing god's and his ingredients not only do we see convenience replaces obedience but here's the next one and i gotta hurry my god is obedience, but here's the next one. I got to hurry, my God. Lena, you took all my time talking about your baby.

19:54 Our baby. Here's the next one. Familiarity replaces reverence. The Bible lets us know that Uzzah reaches out. Look at this verse, verse 7. And God's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act. Now, here's what's interesting. You may not have caught it, and I'll tell it to you again. You may not have caught it, and I'll tell you to you again. Uzzah is the son of Abinadab who had the presence of God in his house for 20 years. So Uzzah ate Cheerios every morning with the Ark of the Covenant in the living room. Uzzah would come outside, come inside from playing outside, and would see the presence of God in the house. Can I tell you what we begin to see is familiarity.

20:43 comfortable. Nobody besides the priests were allowed to touch it, the Bible says. And when it began to wobble and the oxen began to stumble, he reaches out and touches it. Why? Because at some point when something that was holy became ordinary. Oh, this is so good. Listen to me. The byproduct of familiarity with God is always felt in the next generation. because it was his kid that paid the price, not a Benadab. Let me show you this first, Proverbs chapter 14, verse 26. Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children, it'll be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death. Notice, if you fear the Lord, it affects your kids. Let me

21:31 just say this for real, guys. What we do in here has to be real to you at home you just can't come in here and to be real to you at home. just because it's the bible belt and we live in a culturally a christian affirming society down here and everybody goes to church on sunday and it's a social event and they live like hell throughout the week don't get mad when uza pays the price because they see that this ain't real to you and to me let me talk about myself one of my greatest fears is that i learn how to do this and practice and learn how to preach and perform in the pulpit and can't practice and practice and learn how to preach and perform in the it at home. I fear that my children will see a dad who can preach on Sunday, but a dad who doesn't live it, doesn't trust God, doesn't walk by faith, doesn't pray for the city, only prays on a stage. That's a fear for

22:18 Ethan, and I fear that for you, that this thing to you and to me would just become a superficial experience that the presence of God could dwell in our house for 20 years. and we can be unmoved by it, unchanged by it. And when your kids see that there's duplicity in your commitments, you can't expect, we cannot expect them to carry the burden of the authenticity of a relationship with God. You know, studies say over and over, that the greatest indicator of children following Jesus is not what we're doing back there today. That's good. We thank God

23:06 for it. There'll be 400 kids back there this weekend. We praise God for it. But it ain't that. You know what it is? Home. Home. If you live it at home. And nobody's perfect. I'm going to expect you to go home and go to Belk and buy a $100 suit jacket. Start preaching to the kids. I'm not telling you to do that, but what I am telling you to do, make this real to you. When you come in the presence of God today, don't just stand in familiarity. The King is here. Let's clap our hands for the King. Let's worship for the King. Let's make it real to God. Like really believe it. Like when Pastor Tyson and the team were singing, i resist that spirit in my own heart i've heard I resist that spirit. these songs here

23:53 i'll be here next service again i heard this song before but guess what i fight to stay sincere i fight to stay authentic i fight that when i raise my hands it ain't to impress you it ain't to move the room it ain't to make you think i'm leading it's for you to know i don't it's not even for you it's to let god know you're faithful you're kind you're good your mercy endures forever because I want this to be real to me. I don't want to have children endures forever because i want this to be real to me that are drinking new coke. We got to get back to the original thing. Got to get back to the classics. Got to get back to, I know old school, still good school. People still need to read their Bibles. People still need to pray. This is hard preaching. I'm going to drink this right now. I got to break up.

24:40 I got to calm everybody down. I feel you. I feel you. You can't go on vacation no more. Everybody, now I feel you. I feel you. I'm not, you can't go on vacation no more. He done. But this has got to be real, everybody. This can't be play anymore. Look what's going on in the world. Look what's happening to our kids. Look what's happening in economics and education and sports. The enemy is all out going after this generation. But I believe with all of my heart, God has a remnant in Columbus, Mississippi that will stand before God and say, I did not bow my knee to Baal. Somebody shout amen. It's time for the church to be the church. Act like the church. Walk like the church. Post on Facebook like the church. All right.

25:29 Be seated. I blew my back out. That is good, though. I'm going to hit that one more time. hmm it's got to be real we got to resist that spirit of familiarity in the house of God I remember hearing a story and saying in my notes I remember hearing a story one time of a minister that was traveling to a large conference and when he arrived at this large conference there were thousands of people oh it was exciting like David's day everybody's cheering over their new cart. He shows up in this massive arena. They got the lights. They got the bands. They got the screens. They got the stuff.

26:17 But the room felt different. It was like a form of godliness. Had the look of church. Had the sound of church. It didn't feel like God's here. And he said, I began to look around. I saw people I look around. I saw people chewing gum. That's fine. You wouldn't chew your gum. chewing gum. That's fine. You want to chew your gum. So I saw them leaning back, laughing, talking. By the hundreds, people were disengaged. People were not interested. And the room was cold. But you wouldn't know it if you saw it on video. If the camera was on the stage, it would just look like everything's good. He said it just burned in his heart. He had another message. he was the next speaker and as he watched the room that was full exciting

27:05 look at our new cart he gets up there and he begins to preach from his spirit no notes on the fear of the lord and he begins to from his heart preach about the fear of god and if we lose it we lose that reverence there's going to be a loss of a generation and as the people heard the bible reverence there's going to be a loss of a generation and as the lets us know in acts chapter 2 their hearts were pricked the people were moved because they began to hear something and stirred them and awakened them in the united states of america we're sleepy something needs to stir us something needs to bring back that that fire and that reverence and that excitement for the house of god and prayer time and word time

27:51 to be in his presence and as he began to preach the altars begin to fill and as he began to preach and he said it was the only time in his ministry he physically fell a physical wind come through the sanctuary you can have all these new carts all this new stuff but if we ever lose that reverence and never forget that god's way is the best way that if he says to come in with thanksgiving that if he says to lift up holy hands if he says to get in his word if he says to repent over sin if we cannot lose that tenderness in our hearts john wesley's mother he asked his mother what is sin

28:36 and she said anything that impedes your tender consciousness Hear me today. I don't mean it to be ugly. I'm just trying to help all of us, including myself. hear me today i don't mean it to be ugly i'm just trying to help all of us Let's watch that familiar spirit in vibrant church. Let's watch that familiar spirit in our prayer time before God. Let me wrap this thing up. 2 Samuel 6, verse 7. Therefore God struck him down and he died beside the ark of God. Hear me today. We cannot be Christians on our own terms and expect to experience God's presence and blessing. And expect to experience God's presence and blessings. Because maybe the God that you have created in your head isn't the God of the Bible. You've created

29:24 a God that affirms your behaviors, affirms your beliefs. We can all do it. We can all do that. We can all fall into that. But we need to have a pureness like Moses that said, just show me your glory. I need nothing else. I just need to know who you are. Now, this is not where the story ends. This is good news for everybody who's like, dear God, let us up for air, Pastor. First Chronicles chapter 15, watch this. David is going back to figure this out. And look at this. He looks at the Levites. It was because of you, the Levites, did not bring up the first time. Now he's gone back to get it. He actually left

30:09 the Ark of the Now, he's gone back to get it. Covenant at another guy's house. That the Lord broke out in anger against us, and he did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way. Did you see that? So David's coming to the understanding. We changed the ingredients, guys. Verse 14. So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, and the Levites carried the ark of God with the and the Levites carried the Ark of God. poles on their shoulders and as Moses as Moses had commanded in accordance to the word of the Lord are you seeing this we did not inquire of him verse 13 says in his prescribed ways the sentence didn't say that we weren't sincere the

30:54 sentence didn't say that we didn't worship loud enough the scripture didn't say that we didn't have enough people we didn't have enough musicians, simply saying we didn't ask God what he wanted. God had never asked Israel to invent a better way. He simply asked him to honor his way. When we do things God's way, we experience God's blessing. Let me say this in closing. Abinadab had the presence of God in his house for 20 years. And the verses are silent about those 20 years. In fact, it

31:43 doesn't imply anything significant or supernatural or spiritual ever happens in Abinadab's house while the presence of God was there. And therefore, we can see why Uzzah dies. because of that home, almost all the presence of God, as not a big deal. But here's what's interesting. The day Uzzah dies, the Bible informs us that they take that Ark of the Covenant and they put it in another guy's house named Obed -Edom. I'll let you go read this. So powerful. Obed -Edom puts it in his house. He has it for 90 days. That's it. And the Bible says everything he has is blessed. That's it. And the Bible says everything. And then

32:28 Chronicles lets us know that all seven of the sons of Obed -Edom become gatekeepers in the house of God. I want you to see something, the generational effect of changing the ingredients. Uzzah dies. Life leaves him. His name in scripture is so shameful. But the seven sons of Obed -Edom, apparently Obed -Edom saw the presence of God as something to honor. Apparently that prayer time with his kids he took serious. Apparently Sunday morning service at 9 a .m. was something that mattered. Apparently that prayer time and that devotion time and that reading time and that repentance time and that coming to before God time, it

33:16 mattered because something And it's time and they're coming to before God. It mattered because something generationally happened. Listen to me church. This ain't always about you. You don't know what prophets and evangelists and preachers and senators and business owners you are raising up that needs to see that God is taking for real and we will see the glory of the Lord on the next generation if we don't change the ingredients. generated.