Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October
5, 2008
Introduction
Moses has been
up on Mount Sinai with God for almost 40 days now. He’s been receiving instructions on how to
built the portable worship center we call the “Tabernacle. We’ve looked at the Ark
of the Covenant, the Table of showbread, the golden candlestick known as the
Menorah, the actual tent structure itself, and the bronze altar where the
sacrifices were made.
Last week we
began to deal with this thing called the “priesthood”. We looked at the various parts of the
“uniform” that the high priest wore.
What’s a
priest? We talked about how the Bible
teaches that now ALL
believers are priests. And there were the lessons of carrying burdens, doing things in love, and
serving God with holiness.
In the Old Testament,
all the priests had to be descendants of Aaron.
But we saw
that in the New Testament, the priesthood changes and now every believer
functions as a priest.
We looked at the onyx stones on the
priest’s shoulders, engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel, a picture
that a priest carries the burdens
of the people he ministers to.
We looked at the
precious stones on the breastplate, again engraved with the names of the
Israelite tribes, but worn over the heart, reminding us that ministry must be done in love.
We looked at the concept
of holiness, that priests are
to be different, pure, and holy, seen in the golden crown worn by the high
priest, a sign on his forehead that read “Holiness to the Lord”.
Now we look at more principles of what it means to serve the Lord.
:1-37 Ordaining the priests
:1-9
Dressing the priests
:1 "And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for
ministering to Me as priests:
hallow –
qadash – to consecrate, sanctify,
dedicate, be holy. This is the process of how a man became a priest. This is how to be a person that God uses.
:1 Take one
young bull and two
rams without blemish,
:2 "and unleavened
bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil
(you shall make them of wheat flour).
:3 "You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket,
with the bull and the two rams.
:4 "And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the
tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.
Lesson:
Wash before serving
Have you seen
those signs in the restroom of a restaurant?
They tell the employees to be sure to wash their hands before going back to
work. I sure hope they do that, don’t you?
Something that a priest was to do before becoming “ordained” and put to
work was to wash.
There is a type of washing that God desires for His priests.
(Eph 5:25-28 NKJV) Husbands, love your
wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, {26} that
He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, {27}
that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
{28} So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who
loves his wife loves himself.
Most women like
the idea of something that removes wrinkles and spots.
How does He do
this? With His Word.
It will happen as you are taught in church. You are
listening to God’s Word. You will hear about God’s heart for you. You will hear
about how God loves you. You will hear about the kinds of things that God wants
to do in your life.
Hopefully it also happens every day. Hopefully you will
learn the discipline of reading a little bit of your Bible every day.
This is also one of the ways that a husband is to love his wife – through
the words that he speaks to her.
Guys, your words ought to be building up your wife, not
tearing her down. Your words should be making her more beautiful every day.
vs. 5-6 talks about putting the various garments we talked about last week
on the priests.
:5 "Then you shall take the
garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the
breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod.
:6 "You shall put the turban
on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban.
:7 "And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and
anoint him.
anoint –
mashach – to smear, anoint, spread a
liquid. The special “anointing
oil” will be a mixture of olive oil and various spices (Ex. 30).
The word is used to describe three different kinds of people:
Kings were
called “anointed ones”.
The Messiah –
the “Anointed One”
Priests were
“anointed ones”.
pour it on
– the oil wasn’t just dabbed or rubbed on the priest’s forehead, but was poured
over his head.
In the Bible,
oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was The
Anointed One, the Messiah. John writes,
(John
3:34 NLT) …for God's Spirit is upon him without
measure or limit.
He didn’t have just a little “dab” of the Holy Spirit.
The Psalmist writes about the blessing of people getting along together,
and gives us a description of the anointing:
(Psa
133:1-2 NKJV) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell
together in unity! {2} It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down
on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments.
Aaron didn’t just get a “dab” of the Holy Spirit. It was poured on him. The
blessing of unity has a taste of the power of the Holy Spirit.
Lesson
Powered by the Holy Spirit
God’s desire for ministry is that it be done by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
After Jesus rose from the dead, He told the apostles to stay put in
Jerusalem. They were not supposed to go anywhere or do anything until a certain
event took place. They were supposed to “wait” for something to happen.
(Acts
1:8 NKJV) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
This is what the apostles experienced on the day of
Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was “poured out” on them. The Spirit came “upon”
them.
Jesus wanted His followers to wait and not do any ministry
until they had received the power of God.
This is exactly what is being picture in the “anointing”
of the priests.
One of the most important things you can do as a priest is to be filled
with the Holy Spirit. If you have a desire to be used by God and to help
others, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Education is nice. Experience is nice. Wisdom is nice. The Holy Spirit is a must.
Illustration
A.C. Dickson said, “When we rely on an organization, we get what an
organization can do. When we rely on education, we get what education can do.
When we rely on eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. When we rely on the
Holy Spirit, we get what God can do.”
Illustration
Wilbur Chapman,
a Bible-teaching preacher of the early 20th century was already in
ministry when he was filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time in his
life. He said it happened after someone asked him, “If you are not willing to
lay down everything to the Lord, are you willing to be made willing?” He
thought that seemed easy enough. Alone in prayer, he surrendered everything,
willingly giving up his time, his pleasures, his ambitions, and his family.
When he got to the point where he had, as best he knew, laid every part of his
life on the altar, he said, “Lord, I give it up. It’s all yours.” Then, without
any great emotion, he humbly asked the Holy Spirit to fill him and take charge
of his life. That simple step was the major turning point of his life and
ministry.
Jesus talked about the power of the Holy Spirit when He said,
(John
7:37-38 NKJV) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. {38} "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of
his heart will flow rivers of living water."
If you want the Holy Spirit to fill you, here’s the thing
– you need to be thirsty. You need to come to Jesus and ask Him to fill you.
And you simply need to receive it – believe it.
God doesn’t ask you to experience a special feeling. He
simply asks you to believe.
vs. 8-9 talks
about putting tunics on Aaron’s sons as well.
:8 "Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them.
:9 "And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and
put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute.
So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.
:10-14 The
Sin Offering
:10 "You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of
meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull.
Putting their hands on the bull’s head was a way of identifying with the
bull, as if the bull is taking their place, but also a way of saying that their
sins are being put on the bull.
:11 "Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD, by the door of the
tabernacle of meeting.
:12 "You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the
horns of the altar
with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar.
Sacrifice is a horrible, gory, bloody mess. Our society is repelled by the
thought. But the image is appropriate because sin is a horrible thing with
terrible consequences.
:13 "And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the
fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on
them, and burn them on the altar.
These are often the parts that are
given to God with most sacrifices.
:14 "But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall
burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.
This gory procedure is the “sin offering”, an animal gives up its life to
pay for your sins.
Lesson
God uses forgiven people
Remember we’re talking about how to
be a person God uses.
One of God’s greatest desires is for the world to know His forgiveness.
God has spent the greatest price to obtain our forgiveness – He sent His
Son to die for us, to pay for our sins.
And God wants the world to know that He is ready to forgive them.
The people God wants to use are people who know
forgiveness, people who are good at forgiveness.
(Mat 18:21-35 NKJV) Then Peter came to
Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I
forgive him? Up to seven times?" {22} Jesus said to him, "I do not
say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. {23}
"Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to
settle accounts with his servants. {24} "And when he had begun to settle
accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. (millions
of dollars) {25} "But as he was not able to pay, his master
commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and
that payment be made. {26} "The servant therefore fell down before him,
saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' {27} "Then
the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave
him the debt. {28} "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow
servants who owed him a hundred denarii (thousands of dollars);
and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you
owe!' {29} "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him,
saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' {30} "And he
would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. {31}
"So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very
grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. {32} "Then
his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I
forgave you all that debt because you begged me. {33} 'Should you not also have
had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' {34}
"And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he
should pay all that was due to him. {35} "So My heavenly Father also will
do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his
trespasses."
God’s desire is to forgive us. God’s desire is that we learn forgiveness so
well that we will forgive others.
Our forgiving others is a reflection of how God has forgiven us.
Perhaps you have a hard time forgiving someone.
Maybe you need to go back and find out about God’s forgiveness all over
again. Do you need God’s forgiveness?
(Eph
4:32 NKJV) And be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
:15-18 Burnt
Offering
The next sacrifice made for the priests is a “burnt offering”.
:15 "You shall also take one
ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram;
:16 "and you shall kill the
ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the altar.
:17 "Then you shall cut the
ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and
with its head.
:18 "And you shall burn the whole
ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a sweet aroma, an
offering made by fire to the LORD.
The principle of a burnt offering went beyond just payment for sins you’ve
committed; it involved the total consecration of the person to God.
With the sin offering, only some of the animal is burnt on the altar. With
the burnt offering, the entire animal was burnt on the altar, the entire animal
being given over to God. It’s a picture of the worshipper completely giving
themselves to God – total “dedication”.
:19-29
Consecration Offering
Any person could offer sin offerings and burnt offerings. This next section
is about an offering that is unique to the priests. One of the interesting
parts of this offering is:
:19 "You shall also take the
other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram.
:20 "Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put
it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his
sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot,
and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar.
It wasn’t just the whole man that was given to the Lord, there were some
specific parts singled out as well.
Illustration
Sometimes we think we’re doing all the
right things. We think we’re serving
Daddy just like we should. But it’s
really not all that great when you think about it. Perhaps some of the places we get our ideas
aren’t the best… so … consecration gets specific:
right ear – all that we listen to, all that we
think about are to be cleansed and dedicated to God.
right thumb
– all we do is to be cleansed and given to God.
right big
toe – everywhere we go might be led of the Lord.
:21 "And you shall take some
of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle
it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons
with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons'
garments with him.
:22 "Also you shall take the
fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe
attached to the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh
(for it is a ram of consecration),
:23 "one loaf of bread, one
cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of the unleavened bread that
is before the LORD;
:24 "and you shall put all
these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall wave
them as a wave offering before the LORD.
Ryrie: In a wave offering, the
breast of the animal was waved or moved back and forth, toward and away from
the altar, as a symbol of presenting the offering to God and of His returning
it to the priest.
:25 "You shall receive them
back from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, as a
sweet aroma before the LORD. It is an offering made by fire to the LORD.
:26 "Then you shall take the
breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration and wave it as a wave offering before
the LORD; and it shall be your portion.
:27 "And from the ram of the
consecration you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering which is
waved, and the thigh of the heave offering which is raised, of that which is
for Aaron and of that which is for his sons.
:28 "It shall be from the
children of Israel for Aaron and his sons by a statute forever. For it is a
heave offering; it shall be a heave offering from the children of Israel from
the sacrifices of their peace offerings, that is, their heave offering to the
LORD.
vs. 21-28 describes the details of presenting this “consecration offering”
:29-37
Garments, Dinner, Seven days
The next section talks about how the priestly garments were handed down
from one generation to the next. Then
there’s a description of how the priests are to eat part of the consecration
ram for dinner. The whole process of
consecration would take a week.
:29-30 Holy Garments
:29 "And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him,
to be anointed in them and to be consecrated in them.
:30 "That son who becomes priest in his place shall put them on
for seven days, when he enters the tabernacle of meeting to minister in the
holy place.
The priestly garments were handed down from father to son.
:31-34 Consecration meal
:31 "And you shall take the ram of the consecration and boil its
flesh in the holy place.
:32 "Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and
the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
:33 "They shall eat those things with which the atonement was
made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eat them,
because they are holy.
:34 "And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings, or of
the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with
fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
After making this consecration offering, the priests are to boil the
consecration ram and eat it along with the remaining bread.
:35-37 Seven days to consecration
This whole process of consecration took seven days to complete. Finding
your place to serve God doesn’t always happen overnight.
:35 "Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all
that I have commanded you. Seven days you shall consecrate them.
Lesson
It takes time
Ordination didn't happen overnight.
It takes time to be established in the ministry.
Paul wrote:
(1 Tim 5:22
KJV) Lay hands suddenly on no man,
neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.
He was saying that we shouldn't put folks into
important ministries without having spent some time with them to see if their
lives are genuine, or if they are just hiding certain sins.
:36 "And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for
atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you
shall anoint it to sanctify it.
:37 "Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and
sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must
be holy.
:38-46 Daily
Offerings
Moses now gets some instruction that goes beyond the consecration of the
priests – God gives instruction about the kinds of offerings the priests were
to do every day – a burnt offering twice a day, total consecration twice a day.
Remember that the burnt offering
speaks of total consecration – totally giving yourself to the Lord. As the
entire animal is consumed on the altar, it’s a picture of your entire life
being given to God.
:38 "Now this is what you
shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually.
:39 "One lamb you shall offer
in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.
:40 "With the one lamb shall
be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed
oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
A quart of olive oil and a quart of
wine were poured out before God.
:41 "And the other lamb you
shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the
drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire
to the LORD.
This offering took place at 3:00pm.
:42 "This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your
generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to
speak with you.
Burnt offering every morning and evening.
Daily, continual consecration to
God.
It’s interesting that this is what’s connected with the concept of God
speaking to the people, where they will get their guidance from.
God’s direction comes from daily connection/consecration
Lesson
Direction from daily commitment
Are you looking for God to speak to you? Do you want to know what His will
is for your life?
A life of consistently hearing from God, consistently being directed by
God, comes from a life that has learned to offer up morning and evening
sacrifice.
(Rom 12:1-2 NKJV) I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
{2} And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God.
Here’s the way it works. When you give yourself completely to God and allow
Him to do His work inside of you, you find that He changes the way you think.
He changes the things you want. He begins to lead your life.
(Psa
37:4 NKJV) Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires
of your heart.
With new desires, you find that you get to live your life doing the things
you want to do, not have to do.
Illustration
I want to die the same way Wilson Bentley died.
Wilson grew up
on a farm in Jericho, Vermont, and as a young boy he developed a fascination
with snowflakes. Obsession might be a better word for it. Most people go
indoors during snowstorms. Not Wilson. He would run outside when the flakes
started falling, catch them on black velvet, look at them under a microscope,
and take photographs of them before they melted. His first photomicrograph of a
snowflake was taken on January 15, 1885.
“Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and
it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by
others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever
repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much
beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.”
The first known photographer of snowflakes, Wilson pursued his passion for
more than fifty years. He amassed a collection of 5,381 photographs that was
published in his magnum opus, titled Snow Crystals. And then he died a
fitting death—a death that symbolized and epitomized his life. Wilson
"Snowflake" Bentley contracted pneumonia while walking six miles
through a severe snowstorm and died on December 23, 1931.
And that is how I figured out how I want to die. No, I don't want to die
from pneumonia. But I do want to die doing
what I love. I am determined to pursue God-ordained passions until the
day I die. Life is too precious to settle for anything less.
Mark Batterson, Wild Goose
Chase (Multnomah,
2008), pp. 15-16
Life direction comes from life consecration.
:43 "And there I will meet
with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My
glory.
The thing that will make the
tabernacle special is the presence of God’s glory on it.
It wasn’t the gold. It wasn’t the pretty colors. It wasn’t the fancy rituals.
It was God.
:44 "So I will consecrate the
tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his
sons to minister to Me as priests.
It’s not the ritual that makes a
priest useful to God.
It’s the work of God that takes a
person and makes them useful.
Some churches have developed
programs and schools that are aimed at producing people who will serve as
“ministers”.
I’m sure the concept started out
correctly – the idea of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.
But over time we can get confused
into thinking that it’s the program, it’s the process of “ordination” that
makes a person useful to God.
In reality, it’s
the work of God in that person’s life that makes them useful.
:45 "I will dwell among the
children of Israel and will be their God.
:46 "And they shall know that
I am the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I
may dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.
Lesson:
Principles in Ministry:
Proper ministry connects people to God.
Proper ministry leaves people in a
place where they KNOW that Jesus is their God.
The goal of ministry is always
getting people connected with God.
It's not about healing past wounds,
fixing dysfunction or getting people away from their bad habits or addictions.
It's about meeting God.
Then everything
flows from that.