Every night before bed we read the Bible together as a family. We have gone through the gospels and we are in the Old Testament. We recently started 2 Samuel. One story caused such an uproar that we had to sit down and talk through it: the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6.

Why Was Uzzah Punished for Touching the Ark?

At this point in history, David is hoping to bring the Ark from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem. As the cart is heading to its new destination, we have this in verses 6 and 7:

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 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.

The confusion and frustration that erupted in our living room at these two verses was swift. “Why was Uzzah punished? Was he meant to let the ark fall? Why is it irreverent?” The kids have real concerns. When we pull apart the story, we can see that many of us are living where Uzzah is, an arms length from destruction.

Uzzah and the Ark: Familiarity with the Things of God

The ark ends up in the home of Abinadab (1 Samuel 7) after it is returned from being with the Philistines. It brings nothing but bad news to the enemies of the Lord, and they quickly devise a plan to send it back to God’s people. After it crosses the border, it ends up in the home of Abinadab and stays there for years. What does this have to do with Uzzah?

If we go back to 2 Samuel 6:3

They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart

Uzzah has spent years living in the same house as the ark. He has seen it, grown familiar with being around it and very likely forgotten the awesome power behind it. God, who knew Uzzah’s heart, calls his action “irreverent”. We can imagine he didn’t respect what the ark represented when he reached out.

Doing God’s Work According to God’s Instructions

1 Chronicles 15:13-15 gives us this last piece of the puzzle:

It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” So the priests and 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 poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord.

The Israelites didn’t ask God how to go forward; they just went. The Ark shouldn’t have been on a cart with the sons of Abinadab. It should have been on poles on the shoulders of Levites. They didn’t follow the law. They didn’t ask God for the information; they just went forward with their plans and busyness.

Does Religious Busyness Reflect Obedience to God?

Many of us are living lives near God’s kingdom: in churches, discipleship communities, and Bible studies. Are we living under His lordship, or are we so comfortable with the proximity that we are irreverent? I look holy by being where I am, even when my heart posture is haughty. We want to be saved from Hell but don’t want to live as part of His Kingdom, bending the knee to His decree.

There can be a busyness that looks like kingdom work while the heart posture is far from where it ought to be. In fact, that is Uzzah. He is bringing the ark of the Lord into the city of David, without having consulted God for the plan. We can be running a thriving ministry and have a heart posture of irreverence.

Following Jesus Means Submitting to His Lordship

When I think the harvest is mine, the ministry is mine and the people are mine, I have made myself god. I can’t make a disciple. I can join God where He is working on someone. Trusting Him, I can obey and follow. You and I can’t make Him Lord in our lives. He is Lord. That is the title He holds. We can submit or we can wage war against Him.

If your ministry responsibilities disappeared tomorrow, what would your relationship with Jesus look like? Uzzah was involved in bringing the ark to Jerusalem. Where might you also be doing work for God while disregarding His instructions? Have you accepted Christ’s gift of salvation but denied His authority as Lord? What areas of your life are you not willing to submit?

This article was spurred on by the conversation started here.

“Slow obedience is disobedience”

The first time I heard this phrase uttered it came from the mouth of a mother of many. She had a large family, and was explaining how this phrase was changing the culture in her home. If she called for a child, and they called back “in just a minute,” the phrase “slow obedience is disobedience” would be called back. Maybe this seems extreme to you, but it was working wonders for her.

Why Slow Obedience is Disobedience

God tells Moses in Numbers 13 to send people into the land that He is giving them. Men are chosen and spend forty days gathering information on the land.

They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. Numbers 13: 27-28

The land does flow with milk and honey, the fruit is amazing. This land is a blessing and already promised to them. But their eyes drift to the reason not to obey. The people are powerful, the cities are strong, there are even giants there: we cannot go.

Focusing on the Obstacles Instead of God

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are. Numbers 13:30-31

I’m struck reading these next few verses by where their eyes are fixed. They say “we can’t do this” to counter Caleb’s statement that “we certainly can.” They are looking at their own hands and saying “these cannot accomplish the task laid before us”. Their stubbornness peaks when they declare in Numbers 14 that they are going to stone the current leaders, appoint new ones, and walk back to slavery. God lays down punishment, telling the people that they won’t be going into the land, but will meet their end in the wilderness.

When Delayed Obedience Becomes Further Disobedience

When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!” Numbers 14:39-40

“Now we are ready to go.” Slow obedience is disobedience. He said “Go” and they dug in. When they finally decided to obey the call to come into the land, they were willing to do so disobediently. They had been told to go back to the wilderness, but again went to assert their will over His. God’s patience has given way to judgement, due to their hard hearts. These stubborn people saw a land of milk and honey, and forgot what God could do with them. They didn’t trust God’s provision so much that they longed for the abuse of Egypt.

Jesus Calls Us to Follow Him

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19

Jesus has a promised kingdom He is inviting us to come into. The kingdom of God is in the midst of us in the here and now. We have to cast our eyes past the reasons to ignore the invitation. There are still sin giants in the world around us, but God is going with us into the land to drive them out. Jesus has given us the path and the promise to follow. Are we willing to come and do so?

The Disciples Respond with Immediate Obedience

At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:20-22

In contrast to the Israelites in Numbers, we see Simon, Andrew, James, and John all respond with prompt obedience. They walked out of jobs, leaving their livelihood on the shore and their father in a boat.

Both the Israelites and the four disciples are given a task. They were all called to leave the familiar to go into the unknown on a mission of trust. They would have to stop what they were doing to accept the calling to “Come”, and they had to recenter their lives around Him. The Israelites wanted to run back to shame and death. The disciples dropped everything and followed Jesus to a life devoted to Him.

Where Is God Calling You to Obey?

Jesus calls us to come follow Him, and when we look at His life we see how He trained up His disciples. He is calling us to go and make disciples and pass on the mission. Where are you being slow to obey His calling? Are you focused on the obstacles before you or on the God who called you?

This blog podcast was spurred on by the discussion found here.

How many commands are in the Great Commission? What does it look like to be obedient to the Great Commission? If this is the guiding principle of our lives, how well should we know it? 

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

How Many Commands Are in the Great Commission?

When teaching grammar, I taught a quick cheat for determining if a sentence is imperative, or a command. We look at the sentence and ask “is there a stated subject?” and if there isn’t, it’s usually a command. When we look at the Great Commission, the subject is “you”, but we don’t see it there. In this passage there is one main command, with three supporting clauses. 

Make Disciples: The Main Command of the Great Commission

The overarching commission is for you to make disciples. Are you actively teaching others how to follow the precepts of Jesus? Often I think we are looking for someone more qualified than we are. A more adultier adult to bring the gospel out. But when we go back to the text we can see this beautiful detail:

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Matthew 28:16-17

In obedience the disciples went up to Jesus. They saw him. They worshiped him. Yet we see that there’s not full confidence. I don’t know where their doubts lie, but I know where mine do. “You want to use me? Is there no one else?” God used eleven ordinary men. When we obediently come to him, we can be used. When we hold our doubts out as a disqualifier for obedience, what we really are saying is “I don’t trust you”. Doubt on its own isn’t bad, but it can hinder us from the commission.  

Our doubts can become our idols when we use them to not obey. Jesus commissioned ordinary men, some with doubts, no different than you and me. How do we overcome this idol? By truly believing he is always with us. It is Jesus’ goal that there be disciples in all nations; he is promising to go with us as we go out.

Three Supporting Actions of the Great Commission

Our first clause is “Go”. The word "go” is grammatically tied to “make disciples”, in the same way as when I tell my kids “Go and clean your room”. The main action isn’t the “going” but it is tied to the task at hand. I want the room cleaned, that is the main task, but they must “go” to get it done. The main thing for us to do is “make disciples” but it cannot be accomplished without us going. Just as my kids cannot clean their room without going to their room, we cannot make disciples without going to where there are people. Are we willing to be sent out? Is my “go” limited to a “local only” status? Would I be willing to go to the nations?

The second of the supporting clauses is baptizing those new disciples. It hangs onto the main clause: there’s no one to baptize if you don’t go and “make”. Going back to the Greek here we find my favorite note in all of the Blue Letter Bible, I’ll link it here. There is a note in the usage that contains a reference to a pickle recipe. Yes, a pickle recipe. There are two Greek words that are very similar, and to explain the difference a pickle recipe was needed. The first word is used when the soon to be pickles are dipped into boiling water to clean them off. The second word is what is found in the command here, and it refers to when the soon to be pickles are left in the vinegar solution. Our identity needs to change when we are baptized. We go from being under the weight of the kingdom of the world, to being under the commission of he who has all authority. 

The last clause we see here is very specific. It’s not just “teaching”, or just “teaching them to obey”, but to teach them to obey all of Jesus’ commands. We cannot obey what we don’t know, and we can’t teach others to obey what we refuse to do ourselves. We are teaching them not just blind obedience, but how to live under the Lordship of Christ. This is key to the life-change we see in baptizing. 

How Can We Obey the Great Commission Today?

Jesus is offering us a chance to join him in changing the world. We obey the commands in the Great Commission by making disciples: going, baptizing, and teaching others to obey everything Jesus commanded.  We are changed as we walk with him, and we get to bring the nations with us. As long as we are on this side of heaven, we are to make disciples who make disciples. That’s how the gospel goes to all nations; on the obedience of you and me. So are you ready to obey? Who can you impact today with discipleship? What doubts are holding you back?

This article was inspired by the conversation had here.