Don’t Prevent the Priest their Due! (Leviticus 7-9)

Leviticus 7:35-36 (ESV)

This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the LORD'S food offerings, from the day they were presented to serve as priests of the LORD. The LORD commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.”

In the New Testament, when Paul was writing to affirm his authority, responsibility and “rights” to the church at Corinth and to young Pastor Timothy, he stated the following:

1 Corinthians 9:9 (ESV)

For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?

1 Timothy 5:18 (ESV)

For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

The point Paul was making is the same as the above statement about the priest, Aaron, and his family.   The priest was not to work without taking part in the work.   Aaron and his sons would not only worship the way God wanted, but they also, throughout their generations, partake of the sacrifices offered.   Paul’s point is the same as Moses, who wrote the Law.  The right of the Presisent was to partake of the offerings of God. In Biblical Christianity we seem to want to keep our pastor’s poor.   We do this as if our providing them with more would corrupt their great morals.    This may be true in the cast of some, of course.  We have seen many mega-church pastors corrupted by the dollar and the power.   However, the priest of old and the pastor of today all are servants of Christ and should be able to take part of the ministry as servants of God.   God intended them to be cared for, not humiliated.  

Our Real Purpose in Life - Ephesians 4-6

 Ephesians 4:13 (ESV)

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

This verse is taken right out of the middle of a paragraph that addresses the purpose of the church, the responsibility of church leadership and the end result of the Body of Christ.   By doing so, we leave other, very important truths, off to the side.  But, in this one verse we have man’s sole purpose for life:  To mature to the stature of the fullness of Christ.  

There is a lot of talk in the world today about finding one’s purpose.  It is a billion dollar industry.    It is ironic that for free the Apostle Paul tells us.   Now, it is true, those who reject God (because of the pride) must spend a billion dollars trying to find their purpose.  Note what Paul states after this in subsequent paragraphs about those who don’t see the above verse as their purpose in life:

Ephesians 4:18-19 (ESV)

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The problem with the Body of Christ is that we forget that this is the entire design of their life.   There is NOTHING else for them.   Ball games, careers, possessions and/or countless other pursuits are NOT our purpose in life.  Finding comfort in this world is not our purpose in life.  Raising a family is not our purpose in life.  Yes, all those things can contribute to our purpose, but they are ONLY spokes on the wheel.  The above verse is the HUB, it is the CENTER.   When we drift to others things and try to make those the goal of our lives, we will lose out on the blessings God has for us.  Our entire energy level is to be devoted to this one, single purpose.   

God’s Timing is Perfect - Luke 13-14

 Luke 13:10-12 (ESV)

A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”

God’s timing is amazing.    In the above story we read about this woman (who remains identified to us) and her disability.    Later in the story we will read that the cause of this long time challenge was by the hands of Satan, himself:

Luke 13:16 (ESV)

And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

The point of the story in Luke’s gospel is to confront the religious leaders once again about the purpose of the Sabbath.    But, an ancillary truth we find is in regard to the timing of God.  God is not late to the party, even though this has been going on for 18 years.   This woman had this issue for one purpose and one purpose only: For the glory of Christ.   Christ would need her at this moment and time in life to bring glory to God in order to magnifying Christ in front of the lost and dying world.  Note what it says at the end of this encounter between this woman, the rulers of the synagogue and Jesus:

 Luke 13:17 (ESV)

As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

When Paul wrote to us and stated the following, this might be one of the best examples of his teaching:

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

God’s timing is for His glory to bring honor and power to the name of Jesus.    We look at our disabilities, no matter their level of discomfort and challenge, and believe some how we are missing out.  When, in reality, God is using our lives to bring Him glory.   We are NOT on this earth for our comfort, glory, honor or pleasure.   We are on this earth, no matter what shape, size and situation we find ourselves, for His benefit and His purpose.   We are here to bring Him glory.   What if: 

Romans 9:22-23 (ESV)

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

Worship in Truth - Ezekiel 7-12

 Ezekiel 11:22-25 (ESV)

Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. And I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me.

In this section of Ezekiel we read about another vision of the prophet.   Like all prophetic visions in God’s word, it is as complicated as most prophetic visions.  The vision is God taking Ezekiel to a visionary Temple that God will show the prophet the evilness of man’s heart during their worship.  God has brought Israel out of Egypt to redeem them.  He put them in the promise land to be a light for Him.   But, they turned to the evil worship ways of the world they were actually supposed to show God’s glory.   Throughout this section we read about God’s glory.    We, as God’s people, are supposed to be pictures of God’s glory.   As Israel was failing to show God’s glory and was disciplined for it, so too will be today’s believers.   If a prophet went behind the scene of our worship services and saw into the depths of our hearts, what would that prophet see?   We are to worship in purity and glory for God.   The point of this section is that God demands our pure worship and see us when we don’t.   He will hold us accountable for that worship.   We seem to think that when we worship that God sees and is, assumingely, the object of that worship.  Jesus told us to worship in spirit and TRUTH.   That means our worship is not to be corrupted by the world, by the flesh and world systems.   God sees when we worship in falsehood.  And He will hold us accountable.   

The Antidote for Temptation - Proverbs 5-6

 Proverbs 5:15-19 (ESV)

Drink water from your own cistern,

flowing water from your own well.

Should your springs be scattered abroad,

streams of water in the streets?

Let them be for yourself alone,

and not for strangers with you.

Let your fountain be blessed,

and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

a lovely deer, a graceful doe.

Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;

be intoxicated always in her love.

God’s response to the cries of folly in the street is to focus on what God has already provided you, in Christ.   The word picture used in chapter five of Proverbs (and in many other passages in the book) is the using of a prostitute and/or adulterous woman to personify “folly” and to use the virtuous woman to personify “wisdom.”   So, in chapter five you have both the teaching about how a young man should stay away from a tempting female, but you also have the instruction on how to avoid any folly in life.   In the case of the first (how to avoid a tempting woman) Solomon would know much about.  He was married to several women and had many concubines (women for sexual pleasure and so the man could produce more offspring).  In the above words he writes that the way to avoid the adulterous woman is to focus and take great pleasure in the woman you life of your youth (presumably his first wife).    It is somewhat hard to wrap your brain around this as even though Solomon writes this, he obviously did not practice what he preached.   

However, the real take-a-way of this passage is to understand that he is really talking about folly vs wisdom.  His point is that sin (folly) can tempt us and the antidote for that is to fall back in love with the beauty and advantages of wisdom.   Christ is, of course, wisdom (1 Corinthians 2).   His point is that when folly gives us her temptations, we can turn and see the wonders and glory of Christ.   Let’s not get sucked into folly’s traps.   Christ offers amazing glories.   Note:

Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Jesus Christ is the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.   

Why, God? Go to the Zoo! - Psalms 72-74

Psalms 74:10-15 (ESV)

How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?

Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

Yet God my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

You divided the sea by your might;

you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

You split open springs and brooks;

you dried up ever-flowing streams.

Why, God?   That seems to be the question we ask when things are not going well for us.   We like to ask God, “why?”   Psalm 74 was written by Asaph.  He was put in charge of the choir during David’s reign as King of Israel.  He wrote twelve “psalms” total.  We assume they came from a book of songs that he composed for Temple worship.   This particular song is about the destruction of the Temple.  Since it was obviously written in the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, it is difficult to understand how Asaph, from David’s day, wrote it.  

The song opens with a “why” question and continues here in verse ten.   The key is the answer to the “why.”   The writer wants to know “why” God would allow the Temple to be destroyed and proverbially sits by with His hands in His pockets and does nothing.   That is probably an image most of mankind uses today to reflect on a crisis asking the same “why” question.   The pivot that the writer is makes is truly eye opening, however.   He immediately turns to God’s majesty over creation.  The writer turns his eyes toward God’s power over creation, over one of the biggest creatures in creation, the Leviathan.   We know little about this animal but the interesting truth here is that we read about the creature in the book of Job, as well.  When Job was asking “why,” God turned Job’s eyes to the same creature for understanding.   To take Job’s eyes off his own situation, God asks him:

Job 41:1 (ESV)

“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook

or press down his tongue with a cord?

What a theme we have here.  Both Job and the writer of this psalm were in a depressed and confused and chaotic situation.   God’s response to the both of them is to take them to the zoo to think about God and His largest created animal.   God wants us to understand that he DOES NOT stand around with His hands in HIs pockets.  He is actively working every day in creation.   He gives food to the “sea creatures.”  Does this sound familiar?  Have you heard this argument about how to handle life’s crisis by remember that God is in charge of creation and cares for it, before?  

Matthew 6:25-26 (ESV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

God’s answer to our “why” is “look how I care for the birds and the bees ... don’t you think I can care for you, as well?”  We are to rest in God’s sovereign power over creation when our created world begins to fall apart.  

God Holds Back Sin - 1 Kings 14-17

 1 Kings 15:1-4 (ESV)

Abijam Reigns in Judah

Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem,

God constrains sin!    Throughout this section of the first book of Kings we read over and over those kings that lead Israel to the north and Judah to the south.   All the kings in the north are reported by the authors of this history book as being wicked.  Most of the kings in the south were wicked, with a few exceptions.    Leadership brings nations to their knees before God one way or another.  Either to the knees to worship God in true holiness, or to their knees in repentance because of the sin.   In the above verses we see one of the early kings of the southern tribes (the two tribes to the south, Juda).   Abijam was, like all the northern kings, evil.    The northern tribes started by the leadership given to them by God, Jeroboam.  But, the southern tribes were lead by Rehoboam, Abijam’s father.   The leadership of both tribes goes back and fourth from farther to son, in most cases.   In most exchanges of leadership from one generation to the next there was more and more evil perpetuated by the younger version of the father, with a few exceptions.  Notice in the above passage that Abijam was evil, but only to the extent that God would allow it.  This is not the first time God limited sin. Note:

Genesis 6:3 (ESV)

Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

God so wanted to limit sin that He limited the age man would live.   God limits sin and that is a blessing for mankind.