Can I pray for you in any way?
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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die, except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother, or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean. He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.’
'Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies. They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the Lord by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy.’
'They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands, because priests are holy to their God. Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the Lord am holy—I who make you holy.’
'If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.’
'The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes. He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother, nor leave the sanctuary of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God. I am the Lord.’
'The woman he marries must be a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, so he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.'”
The Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: 'For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the Lord by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate My sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.'"
So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.
Leviticus 21
The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to Me, so they will not profane My holy name. I am the Lord.’”
“Say to them: 'For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person must be cut off from My presence. I am the Lord.’
'If a descendant of Aaron has an infectious skin disease or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or by anyone who has an emission of semen, or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be. The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water. When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food. He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the Lord.’
'The priests are to keep My requirements so that they do not become guilty and die for treating them with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’
'No one outside a priest's family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it. But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food. If a priest's daughter marries anyone other than a priest, she may not eat any of the sacred contributions. But if a priest's daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, yet has no children, and she returns to live in her father's house as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food. No unauthorized person, however, may eat any of it.’
'If anyone eats a sacred offering by mistake, he must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value to it. The priests must not desecrate the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the Lord by allowing them to eat the sacred offerings and so bring upon them guilt requiring payment. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.'"
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: 'If any of you—either an Israelite or an alien living in Israel—presents a gift for a burnt offering to the Lord, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as an offering made to the Lord by fire. You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow. You must not offer to the Lord an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut. You must not do this in your own land, and you must not accept such animals from the hand of a foreigner and offer them as the food of your God. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and have defects.'”
The Lord said to Moses, "When a calf, a lamb or a goat is born, it is to remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering made to the Lord by fire. Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.”
"When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it till morning. I am the Lord.”
"Keep My commands and follow them. I am the Lord. Do not profane My holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who makes you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord."
Leviticus 22
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Two full chapters, Leviticus 21 and 22. In both, the Lord sets strict guidelines for Aaron and all priests who would follow after him.
As we see, these rules from God are rigid and stringent. They cover requirements for holiness, cleanliness, and behavior that exceed what was expected of the other citizens. This is because the priests were expected to uphold the highest standards because they were appointed to the highest level of earthly spiritual leadership. They were literally God’s representatives on earth, expected to lead and guide the people in such a way that they would grow in faith, obedience and righteousness, something they could only do if they upheld the standards themselves.
Translating this to modern times, I often wonder if pastors and ministers today fully understand the awesome responsibilities that the Lord has placed on them to spiritually lead others. It’s obvious that some don’t because we read or hear about too many who have failed and fell while in their lofty church positions, largely for acts they well knew were wrong and sinful to start with. And yet, they still were willing to violate the Lord’s trust in them and in doing so lost the privilege to hold their position of spiritual leadership.
And while it’s true that those in spiritual leadership positions are just as much sinners as anyone else because we know that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), this cannot be used as an excuse to somehow overlook a pastor or minister’s transgressive behavior and allow them to continue to hold their leadership position. We can add church deacons and elders to this as well.
In the end translation, the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, establishes clear standards for those who have the opportunity to be blessed by the Lord to lead the church and His people. The bar is set high and as a result, the consequences are harsh. As the old saying goes, the higher up you are in position, the greater and harder the fall.
Later, we will soon see this principle happen with Moses who will lose his spiritual bearing enough to disobey the Lord’s command in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Numbers. His spiritual failure as a leader would cost him the privilege to lead God’s people across the Jordan and into Canaan, the land God had promised for His people.
There has been a long, established battle strategy that involves intentionally targeting a nation’s leader first in order to take down the rest of the people. There is a spiritual application to this as Satan works overtime to see how many church leaders he can entice to fall into temptation and willfully sin. Usually, this is under the guise that they won’t ever be exposed and found out but we know that our enemy was labeled by Jesus as the “father of lies” (John 8:44). For the Bible is clear that anything done in the dark will be brought to light (Luke 8:17), something that any educated church leader would be aware of and yet, they still test the very Word of the Lord and come up on the losing end of things.
Friends, with this, we need to be in constant prayer for those the Lord chooses and calls to lead His people. For as they step into these critically vital spiritual positions with the Lord ever willing to stand by them and direct them in all they should do, we need to know that the devil is also actively looking to try and take them down. For we know that he only has one purpose in mind and this is to destroy every good and perfect thing God has done and this includes the appointment and ordination of spiritual leaders.
The bottom line is that anyone chosen by God to spiritually lead others, whether a priest, minister, pastor, elder, deacon, Bible teacher, or even a Christian writer as myself, is in a vulnerable place seeking to uphold the high standards that God has set while constantly having to ward off the attacks of Satan. Victory is only gained by these leaders if they remain connected to the Lord and His power and His Word, every second of every minute of every hour of every day. And while this might sound impossible because no person is strong enough to perfectly maintain God’s expectation of perfection, we need to keep in mind that we can do all things through the Lord’s strength within us (Philippians 4:13).
When the Lord calls us to serve in ways where the bar is set very high, we need to remember that He does so with the intent of helping them succeed. And so, He will provide everything needed to ensure His will is carried out, to include a shielding and protecting from any attempts of the devil, the enemy that He has already gained victory over, the enemy He will help us overcome as well.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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