Lev. 8:3 “…gather the whole congregation…” I bet we’ve all been to something like an ordination for a minister or a commissioning for a missionary or a baby dedication or something else like that during a church service. I wonder if this is where that tradition started? …don’t know about you, but I think that would be the most talked-about ordination/commissioning/dedication EVER if the thing ended with a heaven-sent glory cloud and something like a flamethrower burst lighting off the front of the stage/altar/foyer, etc. Yeah, I can totally relate to the whole “shouting/falling face down” thing that concluded the service. - jeffrey
Nadab and Abihu. Wow. just, >sigh< wow. I want to be very careful here (and, honestly, I try to be very careful in “our” world, our moment in history, too) and not make any rash or sweeping (certainly uninformed) statements about these two men and their character or their motives or how they will spend eternity. There’s obviously more to the story (there always is), but we’re given what we’re given here in Leviticus 10 for a reason…
…maybe that reason is given in verse 3. Many translations read something like “…I will be sanctified…I will be honored…” Others may use words like “holiness” and “glory”. I don’t know for sure what the LORD’s thinking is here, but I think it’s safe to say that we don’t get to make up our own way of interpreting and applying his instructions - *especially* if we’re putting ourselves out there as “his” representatives in an official ceremony/capacity/setting. These were his priests, leading his people in worship the way he told them to do it. Only the priests didn’t do it the way he told them to. “Close enough” or “I thought my way would be ok” is clearly not the message the LORD wanted put out there...
...I think he gives us a wide range of freedom in how to live our life, and also quite a bit or leeway in how we influence others - whether that be in a blessing or a wreck-it-Ralph kind of way. But it seems obvious that when we start representing “God’s way” to the world (or to the ones who look to us for how to rightly follow him), it’s a pretty serious thing ***to the LORD***...
…and to be clear, I don’t *know* that these were bad dudes. But good guy or not, bad guy or not, honest mistake or intentional choice to do it “my way”…the larger point is God is serious about His name, his glory, his renown. And we should be, too. - jeffrey
Lev. 8:3 “…gather the whole congregation…”
ReplyDeleteI bet we’ve all been to something like an ordination for a minister or a commissioning for a missionary or a baby dedication or something else like that during a church service. I wonder if this is where that tradition started?
…don’t know about you, but I think that would be the most talked-about ordination/commissioning/dedication EVER if the thing ended with a heaven-sent glory cloud and something like a flamethrower burst lighting off the front of the stage/altar/foyer, etc. Yeah, I can totally relate to the whole “shouting/falling face down” thing that concluded the service.
- jeffrey
Nadab and Abihu. Wow. just, >sigh< wow.
ReplyDeleteI want to be very careful here (and, honestly, I try to be very careful in “our” world, our moment in history, too) and not make any rash or sweeping (certainly uninformed) statements about these two men and their character or their motives or how they will spend eternity. There’s obviously more to the story (there always is), but we’re given what we’re given here in Leviticus 10 for a reason…
…maybe that reason is given in verse 3. Many translations read something like “…I will be sanctified…I will be honored…” Others may use words like “holiness” and “glory”. I don’t know for sure what the LORD’s thinking is here, but I think it’s safe to say that we don’t get to make up our own way of interpreting and applying his instructions - *especially* if we’re putting ourselves out there as “his” representatives in an official ceremony/capacity/setting. These were his priests, leading his people in worship the way he told them to do it. Only the priests didn’t do it the way he told them to. “Close enough” or “I thought my way would be ok” is clearly not the message the LORD wanted put out there...
Delete...I think he gives us a wide range of freedom in how to live our life, and also quite a bit or leeway in how we influence others - whether that be in a blessing or a wreck-it-Ralph kind of way. But it seems obvious that when we start representing “God’s way” to the world (or to the ones who look to us for how to rightly follow him), it’s a pretty serious thing ***to the LORD***...
Delete…and to be clear, I don’t *know* that these were bad dudes. But good guy or not, bad guy or not, honest mistake or intentional choice to do it “my way”…the larger point is God is serious about His name, his glory, his renown. And we should be, too.
Delete- jeffrey