Josh here, your friendly Oasis neighborhood commentator. After the message this past Sunday and after spending the evening with oasis family members on Wednesday night at the Durst's home for house church, I can't not get a few things off my brain.
On Sunday I was inspired by Chris' prophetic words in his teaching on Habakkuk. I could spend a lot of time reviewing what we have been discussing in house church and what we have heard on Sunday mornings, but that's not what I want to talk about. Focusing on chapter three, we heard words of the sovereignty and glorification of God. I have to say, there is no separation of the over-arching themes in the bible between glorifying and worshipping God and any biblical text. In saying this, worship and glory to God must be the lens in which we approach scripture. This perspective is not revolutionary or novel, but perhaps it is "revolution-arily" simple and at Oasis, this is a staple and focus, or perhaps a starting point for interpretation and application of scripture in all studies.
Let me keep this brief. I'd like to highlight for you some reader's digest-size soundbites that I came away with On Sunday.
"Joy". Yeah, plain and simple. The text of Job was recalled in the testing of God's faithful servant and in the calamity that fell all around him in all his woe, "even bad things happen to good people," to borrow from Rabbi Kushner's book. The message called in to question two points from my last sentence: We aren't inherently good and should be convicted of our sin and realize our status without Christ. Simply put our status in God's eyes, or "reality", is the enemy. We are the enemy win a big red S-I-N written on our heads. All of us are under the banner of sin and so feel those effects of sin, which is pain, loss, hopelessness, and confusion.
Habakkuk, like Job speaks out to God to bring the Mighty Counselor to speak to the situations they were in, and were answered with a succinct answer: I AM. The message spoke to God's justice. The penalty of sin is divine justice, which if brought to light right now, would be justice for all sin.
God wouldn't justly kick Jimmy because Billy hit Jimmy. Would He?
Thats not fair? Jimmy didn't deserve it--Billy did the injustice!
Habakkuk and Job's (and I believe our) knee-jerk reaction to OUR interpretation of life's ills is that God's justice isn't heard or seen. It is a mystery. God gives Habakkuk and Job a taste of what it means to be the creator: He has a plan, and it will be carried out, and here's the key: vengeance is the Lord's. Of course, those who are under Christ are adopted as children and are spared from the ultimate punishment for sin after death, but all are not spared from the effects of sin in this life.
Wow. What a mouthful.
Other one liners of note that I have too much to say about:
"Worship God for who He is, not what He has done." (instead of worshiping God when we're happy only)
"Do Americans worship freedom?" (In other words, "circumstance" instead of God)
Good one-liners, maybe some of you may like to comment on, because I've ran my mouth a bit already.
On Wednesday evening, we had a great discussion on tithing in anticipation of the next couple of teachings on the way we worship God through our monetary harvest. Chad led us in a few topics regarding tithing and what the bible has said as a whole about tithing as opposed to what isolated views or skewed beliefs or culture have taught us.
It was a good primer for what I anticipate will be something that will stretch us as a child of God who must "live by faith" (Hab 2:4) and also as a citizen of America and living in a society that stresses building up our own personal hoard which works towards attaining the status of "successful", or whatever that means.
In short, breathe in the good words God has given Chris and Chad on Sunday morning gatherings and Wednesday evening house church family meetings. Its good for your soul.
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