April 6, 2010

Leviticus 9

The first seven days were for preparing Aaron to serve as High Priest. The eighth day he began to function as the High Priest. Notice the order of the sacrifices which the High Priest presents on behalf of the people. First there was the sin offering, a kid of the goats. We all come to Him as sinners and must have our sin taken care of first. Next was the burnt offering; the grain burned upon the altar. The nourishment for our life is laid down on the altar. He is the bread of life that has come down from heaven. Finally came the peace offering. With His sacrifice we have peace with God. The long war with God is over. Now we can enjoy His glory!

Then Moses and Aaron came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to the people. Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the sacrifice. Then the people shouted and fell on their faces. Lord, let Your glory appear and your fire fall! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Luke 9:1-17

Remember in high school when you were learning the ropes? There was a definite pecking order in the classes, when it came to authority. As a freshman or sophomore, you had not yet attained to the glory of a 'Senior.' Were you ever told things like, "A freshman is so low that . . ." no I won't go there. Oh of course, every sophomore is told that the meaning of sophomore comes from two Greek words, sophia-wisdom and moros-fool. A sophomore is a wise fool. Freshmen and sophomores had absolutely no authority on campus. Of course as a freshman and sophomore I was also painfully smaller than most guys. If I remember right, as a freshman I weighed all of 125 pounds. I eked up to 135 as a sophomore and 145 as a junior. Being small did not help matters of authority any.

Ah but thanks to a weight lifting program to which my body finally began to respond, my senior year I finally, weighed in at 170 pounds with not an ounce of fat. On Friday of homecoming week (Western Week) everybody was supposed to dress western. If you didn't dress western, then you were liable to be thrown in jail during lunch break. Sitting in the hallway studying at lunch time with my moccasins on (It was the only thing western that I owned), a freshman, who was a brother in Christ, walked up to me. He had no western wear on. I said where is your western stuff?

He said, "I don't have any."

"You'd better be careful, you might get thrown in jail." I replied.

"That's why I'm in here. I'm trying to avoid being thrown in jail. Are you going to throw me in?"

I said, "No, I've got other things to do. Why don't you sit down here you'll be safe till I leave." He sat down. I continued studying. Soon a sophomore jock walked up. He was looking for people to throw in jail. He threatened to have me thrown in jail. I told him that I had moccasins on and that satisfied the requirement. Then he saw my friend. He started to grab him to take him to jail. I said, "Leave him alone!"

He replied, "He doesn't have anything western on. I'm taking him to jail."

Standing up off of the floor I said, "You and who else? Leave him alone." He surveyed my size and backed down. The authority of being a senior and having 20-30 pounds of size on him spoke volumes. He left. It felt good for once to be able use authority for good. At least in the eyes of this one freshman, my glory was enhanced.

In revealing His glory, Jesus gave power and authority to his disciples over all demons and to cure diseases. It was for the purpose of glorifying Him. He then sent them through the country to preach and to heal. Upon the heels of sending them out, He performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000. I believe Jesus still wants to reveal His glory in the similar ways. He desires today to glorify Himself by extending His authority to us to preach and to heal and to feed. It’s a trinitarian focus (to borrow a term from Christian Schwarz) for His body.

In preaching He desires us to use His authority to proclaim the Gospel, to do evangelism and discipleship. In preaching the Gospel He desires us to set the captive free with the truth. The demonic must flee when we claim the truth of His authority and yield to Him. His glory is enhanced in the eyes of men when we do that.

In healing there are different kinds and means of healing. There is medical healing, divine healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing. Where ever the church has gone through out the world, it has built hospitals and brought medicine to hurting people. This has brought much glory to Him. But I also believe that we are far too lax at asking Him for divine healing. I think sometimes we miss divine healing simply because we don't ask. That freshman would never have found safety had he not at least said, "Are you going to throw me in?" I believe that God still heals miraculously. He doesn't do it every time we ask or even the majority of times we ask. But He still heals. In all of these kinds of healing we must remember that any healing we see in this age is only temporary. The body is still going to die. The ultimate healing is in the resurrection of the dead at His return. But He occasionally brings a divine healing in order to remind us of where the glory comes from and that the greatest glory is yet to come.

He also wants to heal more than the individual physical body. He also wants to heal social injustice. He wants us to feed the hungry. It brings glory to Him when we stand up for the rights of the oppressed and the poor. It brings healing to a society. He desires that we bring an end to racial prejudice. He desires that we replenish the earth not destroy it. It brings glory to Him when we use wisdom in relating to the environment. He desires to reveal His glory as we take His authority and show concern for our environment. In the midst of our endeavors we must remember that they are temporary. The social healing will be lost. People will return to hating and dominating each other until He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. The earth will continue to decay until He remakes the heavens and the earth. But in the meantime, He wants to glorify Himself through us as we take His authority to bring food to our neighborhoods and the nations.

Jesus is looking for people through whom He can extend His authority so that He can bring glory to Himself. It is to His glory that He lends us His authority to us. Will I take it and glorify Him or will I try to glorify myself or will I just ignore it? How about you? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John