The Honour of Serving the Lord Reading the Bible Weekly with New Eyes

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Week:03, Season:1, 2014 Posted on Saturday by PCT

The Honour of Serving the Lord

Scripture：《 Leviticus 16:1-34 》

16：1 And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; 2 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. 5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: 13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: 14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. 18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. 20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 24 And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. 25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 27 And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. 28 And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: 33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

	God disciplines the reckless It seems that recently in the newspaperwe quite often hear negative news about clergy which impact on the Christian church and its ministers and also bring shame to the name of Jesus. Clergy who have received the grace of God are actually those who are strictly disciplined by God. We see in Leviticus, the story of the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, who were burned to death in a tent (Leviticus 10). The two sons of Aaron disregarded the Lord in his presence and did not follow the Lord’s command but rather followed their own will. They recklessly took their censers, put fire in them and added incense to offer to the Lord; however, God did not ask them to offer unauthorised fire and this was contrary to his command. As a result Nadab and Abihu were burned to death. The passage here mentions the death of Aaron’s two sons. Although it does not emphasise their wrong doing again, it seriously reminds the priests to understand their duties clearly and consecrate themselves to the LORD to offer sacrifice before the presence of God and people. At first, Aaron’s sons probably thought, “I can come to the Lord’s presence but others can’t so I must be better than others and my blessing is better too.” This delusion influenced their mind when doing their duties before God. They were drunk and recklessly offered unauthorized fire to God. Their recklessness made them do the wrong things and caused their death. Consecrate and keep the duties God has mercy on human weakness. He did not want the priests to follow the wrong path which would lead them to death. Thus the Lord gave them clear guidance in a list of what they should follow. He wanted the priests to know the holiness of the Lord and keep to their own duties. If even priests should follow a strict discipline, shouldn’t other people also pay attention to Lord’s disciplines? Leviticus 16: 29-31 says, “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a day of Sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.” Even the foreigners living among Israelites needed to consecrate themselves to God. Shouldn’t God’s people do better? Impressions from tiny thing In Leviticus 16, we see the grace of the Lord and the seriousness of being a minister. This reminds me of one of my own experiences and made me to think again about the importance of the role of a minister. The church I serve is located in suburbia. One day I went to the local post office, a tiny lovely office in the countryside. Because it is very small, the customers do not need to wait long to be served. So I thought I would stand in front of the counter and queue to deliver my documents. After a while, a young man came and dropped his documents on the counter. When the customer before me had finished, the clerk asked, “Who is first?” The young man ignored my presence and replied right away. So the clerk processed his case first. Just then I thought, “I came before him! I must complain to the clerk about this.” But soon another voice comes across my mind, “The clerk at the post office knows that I am a priest. If I complain about this tiny thing, will he think I am a selfish priest? Or perhaps it may give him a negative impression of Christians?” I then decided not to mention the young man’s rudeness. This is a tiny thing but it may have certain impacts. Christians are minority in Taiwan; the impression of a Christian thus has its influence on people. A minister has a special identity in Taiwan; the impression of a minister is therefore important. The identity of a missionary Revd. Paul F. Tseng, speaking at the Hong Kong Streams Christian Conference once shared several good points about the identity of a missionary which I feel show insight and so would like to share here. Revd. Tseng considered that a missionary should be as follows: 1. A carpet at the doorway: to humble oneself to learn meekness from God and to serve the Lord willingly; 2. A broom behind a door: conceal achievements after missions accomplished and never show pride in them but only give glory to the Lord; 3. A bell on the door: react promptly and care sincerely for the Lord’s flock. As for the attitude a missionary should have, Revd. Tseng suggested: 1. To be respectful: not to be too serious as a scholar but allow people to respect you; 2. To be meek: be humble and friendly to people; 3. to teach strictly: preach according to the truth and touch people’s hearts. Revd. Tseng also suggested a missionary should have the following responsibilities: 1. Honour God in everything said or done; 2. Honour God in daily life; 3. Serve the Lord as the highest life goal. Finally, he mentioned that a successful missionary should: 1. Prefer team work: never be self-arrogant and autocratic; 2. Live a just life: earnest and holy without faults; 3. Always try new things: stop learning and your thoughts will be out of date; 4. Never give up: whatever you do, trust in the Lord and be persistent to the end. To sum up, a missionary should be honest, loyal, just, selfless, holy, not greedy, elegant, and faultless. Bear in mind that the prize of the Lord is better than the praise of people; the punishment from God is worse than rejection from people. Following the commands of God is better than any offerings In 1 Samuel chapter 13, it recorded that Saul summoned men from Israel to fight with the Philistines and the people were at Gilgal to join Saul. When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed by the Philistines they were all quaking with fear. Earlier, Samuel had asked Saul not to offer the burnt offering until he came back, but since Saul had waited for Samuel’s return for seven days and still Samuel hadn’t arrived back at Gilgal and the people began to scatter. Saul started to worry that his men would abandon him so he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings” and offered the unauthorised offering. Immediately after Saul offered the offering, Samuel arrived at Gilgal and questioned what Saul had done. Saul made an excuse and said, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favour.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” Samuel rebuked Saul for not keeping the Lord’s command and said that his throne would be taken by another appointed one: “The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people.” From this story, we know that what pleases God is that we keep his commands rather than offering sacrifices to him. A minister is a well-blessed identity by God’s grace. You should respect yourself in order to allow others respect you. Live a life keeping the promises you make and become a good example of following the image of God. You will gain the respect you deserve as a minister.

	For discussion： 1.As Christians, how will you keep a positive attitude and discuss negative news about clergy in the newspaper with your families and friends? 2.How much time have you spent on praying for church ministers, elders and workers? Did you often criticise their doings? 3.As Christians, how do you see the identity of a missionary? Have you ever rejected a missionary because of a tiny incident? Do you understand a missionary is also just a human with daily needs? Do you consider a missionary should be able to do everything? What are the things you think you can offer to help missionaries? Please pray for： 1.For clergy serving in all kinds of fields. May God keep watch over his loyal servants and remember their hard work. 2.For your church minister. May he/she become good example to others and honour God. Prayer： Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have called many people to be clergy, including ministers, missionaries, unlicensed contracted preachers and fathers, bishops and prelates from other Christian denominations who are working hard for mission of God in every corner of the world. However, “One rotten apple spoils the barrel” and very often “everyone is painted with the same brush.” May God have mercy and help all of the clergy to be equipped by the wisdom of God and given strength from the Lord. May they be blessed and honoured evermore. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen. Something you can do： 1.Try not to use negative languages to speak of your minister, elders and church workers but rather, say things with a loving heart with encouragements and pray for them often. 2.Spend some time to care for your ministers and see what you can do to help them. 3.Make yourself be the extra hand and foot for the church workers and be willing to be called to work and serve the Lord with them.