Leviticus 7:28-9:6
Lev. 7:28-38
The thing that stands out to me here is that God built in a kind of tithe into the sacrificial system to provide for the service of the priests. Later, other tithes will be taken out to support the service of the Levites.
If the people realized God’s love, their need and sin, and God’s provision, they would sacrifice gladly. They could only sacrifice if the priests made offering for them. The system was perfect if everyone kept their eyes on God and His love and mercy. If they put their focus anywhere else, it became a system of drudgery and complaining. Why should they have to go to Jerusalem? Why should they have to offer up their best animals? Why should they support the priests who seemed to have easy jobs with lots of help?
In Nehemiah, after he went back to Persia, the people stopped sacrificing and giving, and the priests and Levites had to stop serving Israel and go back to their land to make a living. The city began going to ruin again, this time, spiritually.
In Malachi, you have the priests allowing the people to be godless and bring anything to sacrifice. God judges the priests because of the motive behind their tolerance. If they stopped the people from bringing bad sacrifices, what would they eat? God had no tolerance for that. Also, Eli the priest was guilty of this, too. If you wonder why he wouldn’t stop his sons from desecrating the offerings, note what it says about Eli at his death. Apparently, he had quite an appetite.
I see two things here for us as disciples.
First, after we exercise responsible wisdom and seek the Lord’s leading, if we can, we are to give for the ministry.
Second, money or provision should never motivate our service. God doesn’t ask us to work without provision, but there is a legitimate challenge to us when Jesus says, “seek ye first…and all these things will be yours as well.” Along with that, we should never “milk” the system.
Lev. 8:1-4
Note here that the Tabernacle is now being called the “tent of the meeting.” It is no longer the meeting between Moses and God only, but now it is God and Israel.
So, as a disciple, where do you “meet” with God? Yeah, I know we now have the Spirit, but I mean, where do you meet regularly with God to read His Word and pray? I actually have a “corner of the meeting.” Sometimes just having the same time and same place can give you a lot of help in having a daily meeting with the Lord.
If you need some inspiration for having a daily time with the Lord, you might like this.
Lev. 8:5-13
In clothing Aaron and his sons, I’m always amazed at the Urim and the Thummim. To think that if the leaders asked the priest, he could give them any answer. I mean, they could have bet on horses and won. They could have told the people the weather or when a caravan would arrive. Sadly, except for David, you don’t see anyone relying much on this amazing provision.
Lev. 8:14-36
There is a lot of detail here on consecrating Aaron and his sons. What stands out to you, and if you were guiding younger disciples through this section, what would you find here, to apply to them?
I have a couple of things for you.
First, the blood on Aaron's right ear lobe, thumb and big toe. I think every discipleship kit at your local Christian bookstore should have a small vial of blood for this purpose. JUST KIDDING! The blood was to symbolize that all of Aaron’s life and ministry was to help the people stand before their God. As disciples in the harvest, bearing the blood of Jesus has to be our mindset also. We are to be reminded by the blood we bear, that all we think and do should be directed to helping people connect with God through the grace and forgiveness in Christ.
Second, this wasn’t a quick ceremony. They had to live in the tent for 7 days. I think for us as disciples, staying consecrated to the Lord and His harvest requires that we, at times, need to lock ourselves in somewhere and refocus ourselves in prayer and seeking God.
Third, they did all that the Lord asked them to do. That might seem like a lame point, but wait until tomorrow. Regardless of the honor the Lord shows us one day, He still expects us to try to obey. He shows us grace upon grace even in our disobedience, but sometimes there is a very short fuse. It is good, as examples to other disciples, to fear the Lord, that is, to be afraid of Him in a healthy way.
Lev. 9:1-6
How would you describe what is happening here? It looks to me that now that Aaron and his sons are consecrated before the Lord privately, they will now be consecrated publicly. I like the part about seeing the Glory of the Lord.
Mark 3:31-4:25
Mark 3:31-35
Doesn’t it seem like we just covered this in Matthew? So what application can you make from this story regarding being a disciple?
Mark 4:1-25
As a disciple making disciples, or even talking to an unbeliever over this section (which is also part of the disciple-making process), how would you explain the purpose of parables?
Also, how would you explain the different seeds to a new, growing disciple? If you hang around long enough, you will meet all of these, even in church.
How do verses 21-25 complement verse 20? What is Jesus’ argument here? How did Jesus define fruit?
Psalm 37:12-29
There are lots of good verses here. Which of these strikes a chord with you?
It's probably good for us to understand that these promises are the norm, but there are exceptions. Think of verse 25. Is this true, always? I remember hearing of a US city boy having his faith turned upside down by a girl from a third world country. He held to the absolute nature of the promise, but she had seen Christians oppressed and Christian children having to beg for bread. God allows for deviation from the norm. There are God-designed exceptions. Daniel becomes overwhelmed when he is told how God will allow His saints to suffer. In Revelation, God allows the slaughter of those who believe. Paul quotes the OT saying, "for thy sake we are being killed all the day long…" The promise is true, but God allows, for His own purposes, the exception.
Following as a disciple might mean only being given a promise or guidance for a day, not a year. Our job is to follow Christ in the harvest, not to have Him guarantee our earthy security or plans.
Proverbs 10:5
Amen!
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those at New Song who are following a One Year Bible and involved in a discipleship cell. We're meeting weekly and discussing the texts, not necessarily my comments. We're growing together, learning to become and make disciples who make disciples. We will all be leading others in this process and training them to do likewise.
The comments I'm writing are in no way exhaustive, but meant to give some leading thoughts on how the text applies to us as disciples and to encourage and stimulate our growth in reading the Bible, with the effect that we will grow as disciples and encourage the growth of others as disciples growing in the word. If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible, in fact, no one in our church reads the version I do, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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