Garments of Greed 2 Kings 5

Gehazi said,...“Please give them a talent of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes.” Naaman said,” Be pleased to take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants and they carried them before him.” 2 Kings 5:22-23

Greed. It is a horrible thing. We all like reward. We expect a paycheck when we work, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is expecting more than what we earn that puts us into a tailspin. And it is worse when the greed overtakes us when we did nothing to deserve reward. We are a bystander and still want what someone else has earned.

And here we have Gehazi...servant of Elijah. Elijah had given Naaman instructions for healing his leperousy. An angry and reluctant Naaman eventually did as he was told, and was grateful. He came to Elijah and offered a present to Elijah after realizing that his God was God. This gift Elijah turned down. He did not want a gift or reward. He firmly stated that he would take nothing for his Word from God.

But Gehazi was indignant! Shouldn't Naaman have paid something for this wonderful healing? After all, he was a foreigner and was spared a life of shame misery! So he decided to go take something. And he did it by lying. He lied that Elijah had sent him to get the gifts. He lied about who these things were for. He told Naaman that 2 sons of the prophets had just showed up and Elijah wanted the money and clothing for them. Wow. Here Gehazi was, a servant of the man of God. He had seen God work through Elijah. He saw the power of God, the power invested in Elijah, and was a small part of this work. And somehow he disregarded all of this and used his association with Elijah to enrich himself.

Greed is an ugly thing. We see people who want to be associated with the rich or famous because they want a piece of the action. It is part of who we are. We like to say we know someone with stature. We like to feel like being a child of the King...and we are if we are saved by the blood of Jesus. But it is the desire to exalt ourselves, to enrich ourselves through those associations that can cause us to do unthinkably stupid and selfish things.

Here stood Gehazi, looking upon a man who had power, but suffered much through this disease. Instead of being happy for him, he saw him as a meal ticket. And instead of just being honest and saying he wanted his share of the gift whether Elijah wanted his or not, he lied, using the prophet's name to get what he wanted. Instead of being satisfied with watching the power of God transforming lives, he wanted some payment for it. Instead of rejoicing that someone was saved from idol worship, Gehazi valued stuff more than people or God.

I see this tendency in my life. I do rejoice for people, but that hint of greed shows up...and I scold myself for even having such thoughts. I give and expect a response beyond the one I get back. I somehow feel owed something, and I shudder when I realize that my giving is not pure. It is sobering. It is humbling to see the lack of unadulterated generosity that is truly in my heart. The “shouldn't they pay?” mentality crops up, even in cases of salvation and forgiveness. We all do it. They are or were so bad, shouldn't they have consequences? Do they deserve God's mercy after what they have done? I've stayed “good” and don't see the reward (yet). We become the big brother in the prodigal son story. What about me? No one is throwing me a party, but that guy gets one! So what can I get? I spent years feeling sorry for that “good” son, because I was the “good” kid. But my motives were not pure. They were resentful, as were Gehazi's. And those thoughts and feelings can still overtake me when I feel unappreciated. It is an ugly thing, and that ugliness can lead to great sin, often in the name of godliness. We must watch ourselves! It creeps in, sometimes when we least expect it.

The mercy of God was shown in that, though cursed with Naaman's leprosy, he continued to serve Elijah and even went before the king to tell of the great deeds of God worked through his master Elijah. How merciful. He paid for his selfishness and lies with disease, but God did not cast him out. There were consequences. But he learned...his heart must have repented, and he was spared his job as Elijah's servant and spared becoming an outcast.

The cure for this selfishness is thanksgiving. Had he thanked God for curing Naaman, he would have not been overwhelmed with greed and selfishness. Had he rejoiced with his fellow man, he would have praised God instead of thought of himself. This thanksgiving weekend, let us rejoice with those who rejoice...be grateful for what we have, and never assume that we deserve any reward in watching God work. That is the glorious path that will save us from ourselves.

Hot Garments Job 37

You whose garments are hot when the land is still because of the south wind? Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror? Job 37:17-18 NASB

This has been one of the coldest Novembers on record, so let's talk about something warm! Actually, things are heating up in this country (USA) with Ferguson, Missouri, on fire after the announcements last night. And there is one thing about both of these situations: I have no control over either event. I cannot control the weather. I had nothing to do with a kid and a cop and a grand jury and Al Sharpton. I have no control over the world around me. And sometimes that reality drives me crazy.

I read Facebook posts about various things and I sometimes write responses, especially about things that I have some insight on over my 56 years of being on this earth. But those responses are less likely to be understood by people on the other side of the issue. I know that. But I want to have some input into the world around me. You do it, too. We would like to change the world for the better, help someone understand the other side to the story. Give a little insight to the young thing whose best argument is someone is dead and we have to change. Hmmm....Someone else did something, so I have to change? She has to change? There is no insight, no logic, no history of racial relations...I understand the passion. And I understand that she wants to influence the world for good, but blaming the rest of the world isn't going to get us to a better place. “We” that need to change are the people burning the town down, not me. They are the ones who need to change, but I cannot influence a single soul in Ferguson as much as I would love it.

So back to our verse. God is talking to Job about his lack of control of the world around him. And He uses the analogy of the hot, arid days when the south wind has brought intense heat to the area, and then ceases to blow anymore. The air is stifling. Even the clothes are hot, making the wearer even hotter. The sun shines down with an intensity that is unbearable to stand under. It seems the intensity of the heat is multiplied like bouncing back from a mirror – brighter, hotter, boiling like lava. I picture the heat ripples in the air. Life is unbearable under the intensity and people flee to their tents for shade. And there is not a thing that Job or any other man can do but wait it out. God Himself made a sun so hot, the winds to blow, park, and cease. And He will cause the sun to go down, the winds to blow gently, change directions, or be riled up into a raging storm. And, again, we have nothing to say about the matter. Jesus told His disciples that they could look at the skies and predict the weather that was coming and make their plans accordingly (you don't go fishing in a monsoon), but he never told them that they could cause the winds to blow. He demonstrated through stilling the storm that He was the only one who could control such forces and powers.

And often in our lives we feel the heat is on. The intensity makes us hot and flushed in the cheeks, sweaty, weakens our resolve, and makes our lives miserable. We seek shelter from the rays that seem to be laser-focused through a magnifying glass held by a youngster on a bug on the sidewalk. Life heats up, and even our protective garments can seem to make the situation worse, like wearing black in the desert.

And yet there is a God in heaven who is more powerful than the sun's rays that beat on us. God says the sun will rule the day, but the moon and stars will rule the night. (Psalm 136:8-9) Though the sun beats down, it does not rule us 24/7. But God does. And He can overpower the sun's affect on us if He chooses. The sun will not harm you by day or the moon by night. (Psalm 121:6) He can protect us from the heat of the day, from the situations around us, or He can let us bake in the heat. He can melt us or He can harden us. The intense heat will do one or the other. He can dehydrate us, or send us running to the streams of living water. Though we have nothing at all to say about the conditions, we have a lot to say about how we respond to them. We can choose to accept the heat and make the best of things, roll over and whine, or run to the shade. We can use the heat to soften our hearts or harden them. And we can use our garments to shelter us or shed them in hopes of being cooler. The choice of the response is ours. God is heating things up, whether we like it or not. He has made this November cold whether we like it or not. He is in control and we are not. So we need to get on with thanking Him in all situations, doing what we can in the place He has us, and understanding that nothing lasts forever. When we think race relations are solved, they will rear their ugly heads. When we think work problems and relationships are resolved and flowing smoothly, something will come up. The heat will return, for this is a sinful world. And we need to let God be God, pray for one another, and be part of the comfort of others here on earth. We are all under the sun, all under some heat in our lives. The relief may be permanent or temporary, but we are not the power factor in the world, no matter how much we would love to be in control. Peace in the heart brings peace to our relationships with one another. So get it right with God, so that you can get it right with others. Then and only then will we have peace on earth.

Garments of holiness, glory, and beauty Exodus 28

You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to me. Exodus 28:2-3

Setting up the place of worship for God after the Exodus was a huge job that He assigned Moses. We have chapters of instruction about the tabernacle...how to make it, what to make it out of, and how it is to be handled. The word “skilled” comes up over and over again. God skilled certain people to work in cloth, in metals, and in spices, along with other things. The place was to look good, smell good, and work well as a portable place of worship and sacrifice. There was to be no flaw in the making of the items there. And that included the priestly garments.

Aaron was Moses' brother, and God tells Moses to find the weavers and sewers who could make these clothes, persons with wisdom...skill yes, but also wisdom. One translations says,”wisdom in such matters.” The word wisdom is there...not just skill, but wisdom. They needed both to be acceptable to make these garments. There were a lot of skilled people out there to choose from, I am sure. But having God's spirit resting on them was as important. These items were to be made by spiritual people for spiritual reasons. There were a few reasons listed here...

First, these garments were to be holy. They were to be used for one purpose, that that was ministering before the Lord Himself. They were to be separated out. We mistake holiness for shining and glowing and think of saints and halos. But holiness is being separated out for God. There was no other purpose for these particular clothes. This was worship material, nothing more, and definitely nothing less. Why would you want a common, ungodly person making them? No, says God, only the holy-minded man can make them.

They were to be made for God's glory. This is the public praise, renown, and honor and fame. These were to be a spectacular showing of the worthiness of God shown through the dressing of Aaron when He is before the congregation. This God he was ministering before was worth getting all dressed up for. No blue jeans for these priests!! To come before God and do His bidding, the priests were to reflect God's glory and beauty.

They were for beauty. These were not soldier uniforms, nor waiter suits, nor any other type of service clothes. These were supposed to be gorgeous. The colors, the designs, the textures, and the ornamentation were all supposed to be beyond pretty. The beauty of holiness that David describes years later is reflected in these special robes.

And they were to consecrate Aaron. They were to set him apart for dedicated service to the Lord. When wearing these garments, he only had one purpose. When he was not fulfilling this role, he was to change back into common garments. But in these, he was the priest, the servant of God.

So why did God ask for spiritual people to make this stuff? Isn't skill enough? Isn't beauty enough? Shouldn't they have just chosen the “best men for the job?” Ezekiel 28 answers that question in a sideways sort of way. God had given one entity the job of reflecting His beauty and holiness. He was a gorgeous creation. This passage from vs. 12 on speaks of Lucifer...the brilliant light, the gorgeous one. It says he was in Eden and was blameless until unrighteousness was found in him...and he was changed into what Adam and Eve saw, which was a serpent! In verse 17 it says his heart was corrupted because of his beauty, and his reason corrupted by his splendor! And isn't that what we see in mankind today? The more physically beautiful someone is, the harder it is for them not to think too highly of themselves. And the more skilled someone is, the more they want to toot their own horns. What they do, they do for themselves, and that is not what God wants. He wants people who desired to exhault God, to point to the things that God had them make and praise Him with them instead of glorying in their part in making them. They are those who know their own sinful tendencies and lay them aside so God can be glorified and worshiped in a worthy manner.

More and more unspiritual men and women are leading our churches, leading our worship or music, building our buildings, and not pointing the people to the God who is supposedly being worshiped there. How sad for us! How dangerous for the church! There is little that is declared holy, sacred, consecrated, or beautiful for God's glory, and His alone. We need to pray for the leaders in our churches to point us back to holiness, assigning spiritual leaders to work in all roles of church function, from the pastors to the nursery workers. Things done in the spirit with skill and wisdom given of God from the top down will revolutionize the church. It will change it because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3), freedom from sin and freedom to worship well. Let this be our prayer.

Turbans in turmoil Ezekiel 24

Groan silently;make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your mustache and do not eat the bread of men. Ezekiel 24:17

There are a lot of hard passages in scripture, and this would be one of them. Ezekiel is a prophet of God to Israel. And at this point they really need one. God is fed up. He has had it. Their sins have become so pronounced that they cannot be cleaned. Sin is so rampant that there is no turning back. And to show them how little He will be sympathetic to their doom when it comes, He sends Ezekiel as a sign. He tells him that his wife will die, and he is to ignore it. He is to not go into the mourning ritual of the day...no taking off of the turban, no bare feet, and no mourning coverings over his mouth. When people bring him food (who knew that this is where we get the impulse to shower people with casseroles when people died?), he is not to eat it. He is to act like nothing important has happened.
Wow. Poor Ezekiel! It isn't like she was the type of wife a guy would love to have out of his life...the passage says she was the desire of his eyes. She was a looker. She was the delight of his soul. She was special and honored in his sight, and he loved her dearly.
And she represented the sanctuary of God. The people of Israel would pass it by and talk of its beauty. They would brag about how they had God and the nations around them didn't. There is an account where even Peter pointed out to Jesus how wonderful the temple was, and Jesus brought him back to the same reality that He brought Ezekiel. The temple would not stand if the people defiled it. And defile it they did. God called them a bloody, murderous people. They were adulterous, in body and in spirit. They caused their children to "pass through the fire," to be sacrificed to other Gods. They adopted the spiritual practices of foreigners, even inviting them in to teach them their ways as if God's ways were not good enough for them. So, knowing this, how could God mourn their destruction?
But to the people, Ezekiel running around in his turban was the thing that would make them question him. The turban was odd enough, with them knowing that he loved his wife, to get them to wonder if God was talking...so they asked. He told them that their sanctuary would be taken from them. That their way of life would be changed by the sword, and that it would be so awful that all they would be able to muster up would be groaning, realizing that God was right in pronouncing judgment on them.
So the question is, we who know God, do we act in ways that make people question what God is up to? Not necessarily to pronounce judgment on them, but to not participate in things the way the world expects us to? I talked to a new widow yesterday, and she was not weepy as I expected. She spoke of faith. She spoke of hope. She spoke of God giving her signs and numbers and other communications that comforted her heart. She was not weeping as the world weeps. You could tell that she adored her husband, and I am certain that she misses him dearly. But as she showed me the pictures she had of him over the past 6 months, you could tell that she wouldn't wish him back. Now how I took this display of her affection and how a non-believer would take it would be quite different. They might think she was crazy, in denial, or heartless. But I see her heart. She wasn't pulling an Ezekiel and denying the death of her husband, but she was not mourning the way the world mourns. She does not fear the future as a widow because the Lord is now her husband and caretaker. She worships. And I worship along side her.
What is your turban? Where are your shoes? How can God talk to the world around you by your response being unworldly? Is God asking you to do something that other people would call into question? Has there been a hurt so deep that God has given that He can turn into a message? It all works to fulfill what God's purpose is stated in verse 27...
On that day your mouth will be opened to him who escaped, and you will speak and be mute no longer. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.

Sackcloth and woe Matthew 11

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Matthew 11:21

Burlap, it's just not for sacks any more! Burlap is still out there, but about the only time I see it, it is to wrap the root balls of trees in a nursery. And it is used for some fall and holiday decorations on wreaths and ornaments. But you wouldn't want to wear it. Itchy, scratchy, rough, coarse...just a few words to describe it. But it would have been the cloth of choice for the mourner in the day of this writing. To clothe oneself in this way, and to take ashes (to be honest, I don't know what they burned to get them) and throw them up in the air so that they landed on you and made you dirty, that sticky, sooty kind of dirty, was man's way of showing extreme sorrow, usually for one's sins or someone's death or impending doom. Whole cities would do this to show God that they were wrong, that they were repenting or turning away from their sins. It was agreeing with God that they were dirty, sinful, and pleading with Him for mercy instead of the judgment that they deserved.

Here are 4 cities listed, 2 of whom agreed with God about their spiritual state and 2 that took God's grace for granted. The real problem here, as Jesus called them out, was that the first 2 were Jewish cities, and the second 2 were foreign. The first 2 should have known better, and the second two would have been hearing God's Word maybe for the first time. This is, in essence, Jesus saying that He had wasted His time on the people in these Jewish cities and would have gotten a better response going overseas! Or at least out of the state of Israel. He tells foreigners more than once that He came to the lost sheep of Israel, but often pointed out that the non-Jews were quicker to believe, had a deeper faith when they came to Him, and were also blessed and welcomed into God's fold through their faith and not by Jewish ritual.

In other words, the first 2 cities should have recognized Him. He performed acts of miracles and mercy, taught God's Word and backed it up with signs and wonders. They should have known Him. They should have known better what God required. They were stuck on religion while not seeing God. The foreigners saw God, and didn't need religion to get there. The first 2 cities should have known better. And therefore, they were going to undergo the judgement of God. Woe to them!

And woe to us! Over the last week or so I have had several conversations with people in the church whose kids have wandered from the faith, or who do not see the hand of the Lord in their lives. They act like Jesus is not important or worth following. And then there is the church...leaving the design that God gave it...accepting not sinners into the church, but sin itself, redefining sins that are clearly spelled out in scripture in order to be acceptable to the world around them. They should know better. But they do not read the scriptures. They do not let the Word tell them what right and wrong looks like. They do not fall in love with the worker of miracles. They don't recognize the hand of God, and therefore condemn it as works of man. They do not see God's ways being higher than man's ways, and therefore condemn themselves to a greater judgment that that of Sodom and Gomorrah! And we who do see are terrified for them! Not only was Israel struck by God for not accepting Jesus when He came to earth, they were wiped off the face of the planet for about 2000 years! They were scattered over the face of the earth, those that were left after the destruction that made the holocaust look like a flesh wound.

And yet we test God at every turn. The people of those days did not have the Word of God in their hands...they heard it in church once a week and went to Sabbath school. They were trained in it, but it was not there except in their minds...and the foreigners had nothing but the Jews around them to see what God was like and what He considered good...like washing before eating, disposing of sewage in a certain way, and other purification rituals that actually make the “western world” a healthier place than the rest of the non-Judeo-Christian-based world. We have seen the miracles of God in wars, in people's lives, and in whole cultures where people have turned to the True God from their sinful lives. There is peace where there was war. There is order where corruption had a foothold. The true hot-spots of the world are where the Word of God is unknown, or worse, totally ignored or rejected. Woe to them, yes, but a bigger woe to those in the church who adopt corrupted thinking and sin and welcome it into the church and their hearts, for those are the ones that Jesus shakes His head at, not in judgment, but in tears and weeping. He wept over Jerusalem. He wept over those who didn't know their God when He did nothing but Good in their midst.

So if you know you are sinful, you don't need the sackcloth. Sin is uncomfortable to wear in the first place. Take the garments of sin off and let Him clothe you in His righteousness. Come to Jesus and ask Him to wash off the ashes of the burnt places of your life. Then He can rejoice over you and not have to weep for you any more.  

Garments transmitting holiness Ezekiel 44

When they to out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. Ezekiel 44: 19

Well, this is an interesting passage. The priests were to minister to God in linen garments, as we studied a few blogs ago. No sweat, it said. But these garments were only to be worn in the presence of God. Even in the tabernacle or temple, in the outer courts where the common man was allowed to enter, they were not to wear these clothes. They were not to take God's holiness out to the people. Wow. If you are familiar with scripture, Moses was glowing after he came down from the mountain...he was emanating God's holiness. The priests were not glowing, but they were covered with God's holiness. Whatever they touched was made holy. They were to sacrifice to make the people holy. So why the command NOT to transmit holiness to the people through even the wearing of clothes? What is the mystery?

A few thoughts...and these are just my thoughts...

The next few verses tell the priests to impress on the people the difference between the holy and the profane. If nothing is set apart as holy, different, or sacred, then we treat them as common things when they are not. The trend, even in churches, is to get rid of the sanctuary and make multi-purpose rooms. We can be worshiping one minute and having a basketball game in the same space the next. Not to say that that is wrong, but it does send a message that the space is not just for worship. When we enter a sanctuary we do not think about running around. We know what it is there for – for worship. For meeting with God. For learning about God. It is not a gym or a place for common activity. We in our humanness can tell the difference. When we have to get the “worship” out of the way so we can do other things, there can be a disconnect. We may start to prefer the common and despise the worship. It is a danger in our hearts.

Then there is the idea of man transmitting the holiness of God to us instead of God Himself. Like the story of Gideon who made a holy vest for worship. When he passed on, guess what those foolish Israelites did? They worshiped the darn thing. I should used the word “damned thing” because it caused the fall of many in Israel. God had neither asked for this thing, and always warned of worshiping anything but Him, but they did it anyway. So we did not a repeat performance...the worship of the garment instead of the God it represented.

And then there is the idea that the common man did not have to do anything but touch the garment or be in the presence of the garment to be saved. The whole of the sacrificial system rested on the sins of the people being transmitted to the animal they were sacrificing. They sent their sins to the altar. It would have been easy for them to think that then the priest would bring them back the holiness. That is not how it works. The cleansing happened by the shedding of the blood (representing the future sacrifice of Christ) and not by the presence of the priest. The priest never made people holy. NEVER. God forgave their sins, not the priest. How the church has messed this up over the years. We rely on someone other than Christ to forgive our sins, to make us right with God. Some act, some sacrifice other than Jesus, something more than the saving blood. And that is also to be avoided.

God's holiness was there, tainting the garments to the point where there could be “accidental” holiness transmitted, and God wanted that to NOT happen. The sacrifices were set up so that someday the Jews could look back and see the sacrifice of the Lamb of God as the only road to holiness. No other way.

Having said that, should we or could we not transmit the holiness of God to others? Good question. And the answer was given to me yesterday.

We had Pastor Appreciation Sunday yesterday. At our church, we LOVE our pastor. We RESPECT our pastor. We HONOR our pastor. But we do not RELY ON our pastor to make us holy. Four men of the church got up and preached little sermonettes. Every one of them touched on their love and honor of the man who leads us, shepherds us, and holds us as dear. But every one of them pointed to the fact that Pastor had worked in their lives and the lives of the people in the church because he was not the authority, but God's Word was. This man sent people to the Word, preached the Word, the whole Word and nothing but the Word, because it is, in fact, the Truth, the WHOLE TRUTH, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (my words). That is where holiness comes from. It comes from being saved by grace through faith in the Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world. And then we walk in the truth, confessing sin and communing with God on a daily basis. They pointed out that Pastor would be distressed if any transformation in their lives was credited to him, instead of to the God who spoke to them through the Word. He doesn't want John Sauser's holiness transmitted to any man, for that would be blasphemy, and a temporary fix at best. He knows we need God's Holiness, not man's, to transform and allow us to draw near.

We can reflect God's love and holiness, and plead with others to come to it, but we can not transmit it. The Word and the Spirit do the work. And that holiness is a wonderful, amazing, and mysterious thing.

Because of envy Mark 15

Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. Mark 15: 9-10

Ok, so I digress. This wasn't the passage of the day...further down the page in Mark is the scene of Jesus being beaten in purple robes...we will get to that. But the whole reason for what is to come is that four-letter word: ENVY.

Yesterday was the big election. The phone calls will now stop, the commercials go back to cars and banks and will now fill with Christmas ads. But the thing that drives us all crazy about all the politicking is the envy. We are brought face to face with the green-eyed monster. If we can't have it, no one can. If they have something, we want it, too. I deserve my phone, t.v., college loan, education, sports success...whatever the neighbor or neighboring town has, I want one, too, or take theirs away so I don't feel left out or lacking. They push a new gym in our town right now...and not just one that will enable the crowd to sit through a volleyball game without getting hit by the ball in the stands...they want to compete with the complexes built in the towns around here...to be able to host events like everyone else. Whether this is good or bad is not the issue. The issue is envy to one extent or another. The question isn't do we have all we NEED, it's do we have what we WANT when compared to someone else.

I struggle with envy...we all do. Why does SHE get to own a textile store and I don't? Why does she have time and money to buy whatever she wants? She doesn't deserve that awesome machine that can do the things I want to do...you get the idea.

Note that the word is envy, not jealousy. Envy is what I have described...I want what you have, and possibly feel that you don't deserve it. Jealousy is when you fear someone is taking what you have. The Jewish leaders certainly felt that, as well, when it came to the ministry of Jesus. The whole world is going after HIM was their insider's insight. We have to stop this guy from taking all our followers! But the reason they turned him over is that they envied Him. They wanted that appeal that He had with the crowds. They didn't think He deserved to be a religious leader when He obviously hadn't been to seminary like they had! He could heal and raise the dead and they couldn't, and they couldn't accept that. God appeared to be on His side, not theirs. And they couldn't handle it.

So they killed Him...they had many chanced to stone Him, to make religious charges against Him, but they pushed it off on the Romans. Jerks. But it had to happen this way to fulfill scriptures. Jesus told His disciples time and time again that this is how it had to be. But they didn't listen. I didn't, either. Not until a study in Luke a few years ago did I read over and over that Jesus told them He had to suffer at the hands of the Jews, die, and rise again! Now He told them that for 3 years. He told me for 50. Neither of us got it for the longest time!

And the end times are like this for me today. I read of what is coming and feel like Peter pulling Jesus aside and saying, “Hey, this plan of Yours. It shouldn't happen this way.” And He tells me to get with the program or get out of the way. So I reluctantly get on board and have to trust. I look at the world and I tend toward envy. The evildoers are getting their way more and more by tantrums and accusing words. We see morality spinning down the drain instead of the dirt of sin. We conservatives want that they not get their way in this world and country, and if we can't have it the right way, we won't have it at all. I can pout with the best of them. But I do not want to be envious. I want to be zealous for the things of the Lord, but know that He is in charge even of the evil that goes on. Pharoah had his way for 400 years before God acted with mighty power, and I may live a lifetime of feeling enslaved to a system that turns against me more every day. Or I can know that deliverance is coming in a great and mighty way that will prove my God is GOD. Pharoah finally had to admit it, and someday every politician, every false preacher, every con-man out there will have to admit it, too.

And I don't envy them when that day comes.

No sweat! Ezekiel 44

It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. Linen turbans shall be on their heads and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. Ezekiel 44: 17-18

There is a long history of the temple worship by Israel. The Pentatuch (the first five books of the Bible) outlines all of the practices of temple worship, and at this point Israel had violated them all. They had allowed foreigners into the temple before they were circumcised, they worshiped other gods, and the Levites had forsaken their duties as caretakers of the house of the Lord and made the slaves do the dirty work. That was, all but a couple. There were the sons of Zadok who “kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me.” These guys stood strong, did their service when those around them were violating every law on the books, and won the approval of the Lord Himself. Standing alone together, so to speak. Note that they were not named, nor a number of them, but the name of the father, of the family line. Zadok was faithful, and his line was faithful after him. He was a good father, a teacher of the law, and minister of the Lord. He had to have been quite a guy, blessed by God in the eyes of his children for them to follow after him. Oh, that we, too, would be faithful servants of God, that our children would walk in His presence and be blessed to honor Him with their service, as well!

So in the preceding chapter, the sacrifices were prescribed, and then God's glory showed up. Then He gives them further instructions. All of this goes back to what they should have known...that they were to wear linen when they entered the inner sanctum. Thus far the sacrifices were performed in the outer gates, but now they would be entering the curtains, coming closer to God. The only part of a sheep that would enter would be the blood. No wool. Nothing itchy, scratchy, or sweaty. The fabric was to be white and soft and breathable. No sweat to smell, just the incense. No sweat to stain, just the stain of blood. They were to be covered from head to foot, so they needed garments that would not make them any more uncomfortable than they would already be coming before a Holy God. Linen is whiter, cooler, lighter, and not made of anything that had been on a living creature. These clothes were pure and were to remain as pure as the human body would allow. That is how they were to come before a Holy God.

We look at clothes a whole lot differently these days. Some clothes are considered “holy” like a priest's collar or a nun's habit. Wedding dresses were symbols, but now they can be anything, or the bride will have a “trash the dress” where they purposefully jump in a lake or mud to ruin it after the ceremony. I don't get it. Why take the thing that was supposed to symbolize your pure estate and worthiness as a bride and trash it (other than it really didn't symbolize that at all, but you just adhered to social norms)? This cavalier attitude had gotten Israel in trouble up to this point, so God again lovingly reminded the sons of Zadok that to come before Him worthy, they needed to dress the part outwardly to show their worthiness inwardly. They were worthy to come before God, and He gave them specific instructions to keep them in His will. He is good like that. He didn't want another Usiah incident where things were not done as instructed and the poor guy died trying to save the ark of the covenant. It is a fine balancing act between holiness and mercy that we humans do not take seriously.

And how does one come comfortable before the God who could strike you dead if the sacrifices were not done correctly? I guess the answer is dress in comfortable clothes (that are given to us, which is the righteousness of Christ), know what is expected (read God's word), and do as we are instructed (live the Word, believing God means what He says). And love that God, for perfect love casts out all fear.

Humbly approaching God once we are in His family is different than when we are not part of the family. He is Abba, Daddy, and we can come jump in His lap, give Him a big hug, and talk like a child would to his or her papa. Regardless of state of rich or poor, ruler or pauper, the sons and daughters gain entrance and intimacy that those outside the family will never achieve. You want to talk to daddy? No sweat! You need money to pay the bills? No sweat. You need to confess a sin? No sweat! If we are willing to come, He is willing to hear us out! That's what dads do. Zadok had that relationship with God and with his sons, and therefore, the sons of Zadok were brought in to that relationship as well. Won't you join the family of worshipers? Through the blood of Jesus, who sweat greatly for us, I say, NO SWEAT! Come. Please come.