(7) “And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?”

There is something that is simple and yet profound. It goes unnoticed because of routine and ritual. The scripture says, “They were all amazed and marveled.” I’m going to be as transparent as I can with this…the question I asked myself concerning this is…why isn’t the world amazed and marveled by the Church?

Listen, this is a common them amongst the gospels. Why are we amazed anymore? Why don’t we marvel at the things of God like we used to? Let me show you what I mean tonight...

·> Luke 2:33 - "The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him."

> Matthew 7:28 - "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching..."

> Matthew 8:27 - "The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

> Matthew 9:33 - "And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

> Matthew 15:31 - "The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel."

There were a whole bunch more scriptures to pull from about this, but I think it’s plainly obvious that there is something spectacular to the ministry of God that keeps us off our guard. We never really know what is going to happen as we follow Christ. And that is the adventure of it all isn’t it? Following Christ is supposed to be a grand adventure, not a list of mundane rituals and routines.

When we come to know Christ it’s as if we have been awaken from a deep sleep. We see the world as we’ve never seen it before. We see ourselves as we’ve never seen before. We are alive. We feel the freedom that Christ brings into our hearts. We can actually feel the transforming power of Jesus Christ. I know in just thinking about it, some of us are running through our memories and remembering some beautiful times that you have experienced while you have been a Christian. It’s these mountain top experiences that help us persevere on.

Can I share with you something I’ve noticed?

I look out at the landscape here and see the beautiful lakes and rivers. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I see the liter of foxes behind my house and I stand in awe of God and His creation. My house is a literal zoo compared to where I used to live. The landscape as I drive in to the church, with its huge hills and rolling terrain, is inspiring. The whole scenery is captivating. However when I ask people about it, they are oblivious to it. They barely notice the trees anymore. They hardly ever see any wildlife anymore. They can’t see the beauty of this place because they’ve seen it for so long it’s lost is attractiveness. God created this world…all of its splendor…all of its beauty…is a testimony to the power and creativity of God. To just gaze upon it should be a thing of reverence and worship…and yet we are lost in ritual and routine too much to care.

2 Samuel 6:3-7

(3) "And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. (4) And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. (5) And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. (6) And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. (7) And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

The Ark of God had been in the house of Abinadab. It had been there for over 20 years. Uzzah and Ahio are the sons of Abinadab and also lived with the Ark for over 20 years. Finally the time has come and the Ark of God is to be moved back to where it belongs. King David’s men come and place it on a cart. Ahio was leading the cart and Uzzah was watching the back end of it to make sure the Ark didn’t fall. You can read the story plainly from here and know that as the oxen hit a bad patch of road, the Ark started to wobble and Uzzah went to steady it and was struck dead.

Now if that seems harsh it’s because we don’t fully understand what just happened. First and foremost, the Ark was meant to be carried another way…and yet they were trying to do it their way. That is the problem with men and even ministry…we strive to place God on a cart and speed up His processes on our man made inventions. The late Pastor Vance Havner said it this way, “God’s ministry will only manifest itself in God’s timing and in God’s way.” Today’s society we are full of distractions from the truth. That is exactly what was happening here. There was another way to carry the Ark, a right way, but it wasn’t sought out. Rather what was sought was a more expedient way. This is nothing new today. Today ministries all over the country want to grow at astronomical growths and yet there is no spiritual deepness to them.

If we take another step back we see that the Ark was at Uzzah’s house. If you read and search it out you will see that it was there for quite some time. Can you imagine living in the same house as the Ark of the Covenant? The Ark represented the very presence of God back then. It was holy, sacred, and terribly frightening. It was mysterious. It was beautiful and inspiring. However, after 20 years of looking at it, reading by it, and eating by it…it had become (in the words of Pastor Havner) just a box to Uzzah. It is a frightening day when the holy and sacred things of God become so mundane and routine that we have no reverence for them. The church takes a dangerous position on such things.

When we start to think that that worship is just a preliminary we are in a dangerous place. When we start to think that we’ve heard it all before from the pulpit we are in a dangerous place. The danger of the church in general and our church today is that we become so accustom to the things of God that we fail to give them reverence. We are in danger today of taking things that are holy and sacred and placing them on a cart…when they were never meant to be handled that way. When the gospel in our lives fails to marvel us and amaze us then danger is approaching our souls.

I once heard a story about an explorer and an Indian…The Indian has taken the explorer to see the great falls that we now call Niagra Falls. The roaring water was almost deafening to his ears. The explorer was awestruck at the beauty and majesty of the entire sight. A few minutes into gazing and the Indian turns around and tells the explorer that they must go…an enemy is approaching. The explorer turns to the Indian and says how do you know? The Indian replies, “Didn’t you hear the twig snap?”

Are we made so spiritually deaf by our routines and rituals that we fail to hear the enemy approaching?

The church must keep a reverence for God and the things of God. We cannot exchange relevance for reverence. There must always be a fear of the Lord and His ways. Our challenge is that we must face our routines and rituals and ask ourselves if we are still just as amazed as when we first believe.

It’s so important…We do not want to lose our first love. Life gets busy and dramatic and before we know it we are in this routine…this downward cycle…it leaves us dry and deprived of the very thing that hold dearest…Christ our Lord.