May 6, 2012
Ministry:
We read in Leviticus 16 about how the perfect offering was brought and how the priest put his hands on it, to transfer the sins of the people to a sinless animal. Read Genesis 3:17b and Matthew 27:29 & 30. The curse was a result of sin, and that crown of thorns was a result of the curse. The result of our sins was put on the Lord’s head. Right now, He is wearing a crown of glory and honour. How thankful we should be for His perfect offering!
Hymn 362 – Two little eyes to look to God
Prayer
1 Kings 5
Last time, we read of the blessings that came to Solomon and his house from the Lord. This chapter shows the beginning of the planning and building of the Temple.
Vv. 1-9: When David was king, he had a good friendship with Hiram, the king of Tyre. Solomon sent Hiram a message asking for help with the temple. Tyre had huge cedar and fir trees that Solomon wanted to use in the temple. Hiram also had the men that were experienced lumberjacks. Hiram was willing to help Solomon and provided all the cedar and fir trees that were needed for the temple. Hiram’s men would cut the trees down and float them the down the coast to Israel. Last week, I was at a factory where they wood windows. This factory was built near the edge of a river, so that wood could be floated to the factory. That’s exactly what Hiram was doing.
Vv. 10-12: Hiram was a big help to Solomon. The Lord wants us to be a help to our parents. God gives each one of us abilities, and He wants us to use them to bless others. There is hymn that says this:
Shamgar had an oxgoad, David had a sling, Dorcas had a needle, Rahab had some string, Samson had a jawbone, Aaron had a rod, Mary had some ointment and they all were used of God.
Each of these people used what they had to bless others. Similarly, Hiram was more than willing to help Solomon.
Vv. 13-16: As part of the agreement between Solomon and Hiram, Solomon would send men to help Hiram. He had 30,000 workers. Groups of 10,000 men would go to Tyre to work for a month, and then they would come home for another two months. This rotation divided up the work.
Vv. 14-18: As we’ve seen, Solomon got his wood from Tyre. He also had to get huge rocks for the foundation of the temple. In the hymn about the wise man and the foolish man, the foolish man built his house on the sand and it fell down, but the wise man built it on the rock and it stood. These rocks would give the strength needed to hold up the temple. Jesus is our rock and we need to build on Him. These rocks would not move and neither will Jesus.
May we each learn from Hiram to use what the Lord has given us to bless others.
Luke 11: 43-54
Often we think of our Lord as gentle, compassionate, and kind. Here, however, we have another side where Jesus comes across quite strongly. He (the spiritual man) was speaking about the natural man. Who was it that raised such a strong rebuke? The religious and learned. Jesus was exposing that the religion of the Pharisees was merely an external religion. He rebuked their doctrine and He rebuked their behaviour. They had hurt others, while in the mean time they were spiritual leaders. That fact made them very responsible. In a position of leadership, it is very important to practice what you preach.
These men displayed pride when they should have displayed humility *“Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.” *(v.43). They were proud like the tall cedars of Lebanon. Those cedars had to be cut down and floated along the Mediterranean before they could be used in Solomon’s temple. Proud Christians need to be cut down from their pride, and realize that they have been washed in the blood of Christ.
Not only was the outside more important than the inside to the Pharisees, but verse 42 tells us that they also got hung up on trivial matters: *“But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” *This is the first of six woes in this chapter. We have looked at the second already, and in the third woe Jesus addresses both scribes (who were meticulous about the law) and Pharisees: *“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.” *(v.44). These men appeared to be something that they weren’t. In other words, they were hypocrites. It is so easy to be grass that looks good, but underneath are dead men’s bones. This should speak to all of us.
In v.45 the lawyers started to catch on: *“Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.” *These men also were concerned with the Law of Moses. They showed others how to live, but Jesus told them that they didn’t apply that to themselves. In true Christianity we don’t try to hinder each other, but rather to help one another along the road. We need to support and sustain each other, not tell each other to be religious. We have a relationship, not a religion. And Jesus, Who we have that relationship with, is the One that we can cast all our burdens on.
This chapter has so much grace in it, but it ends with so little grace on the part of these leaders. Their ancestors had rejected and killed the prophets, and Jesus’ generation pretended to honour them by building them sepulchers. However, they hadn’t learned from the bad example of their forefathers. God would send them apostles and prophets, some of whom they would kill. Therefore, God would require the blood of all the prophets from that generation, from Able to Zacharias. Hebrews 12:24 says, “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Jesus was murdered too, but His blood doesn’t call for vengeance. His blood was the blood of atonement.
Verse 52 gives us the last woe: *“Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” *Jesus was that key of knowledge. The lawyers refused Him, and hindered others from accepting Him. This is serious for spiritual leaders. It’s one thing if someone refuses truth, but to hinder someone from accepting the truth makes you responsible for that person. Organisations like the Roman Catholic Church or Jehovah’s Witness do this.
Now we’re probably thinking, “The Lord has come on pretty strong here. It should touch a nerve or conscience.” But it didn’t. Instead, the scribes, Pharisees and lawyers said, “We’ve got to get this man.” Jesus had just made a big public exposure of them by saying, “I see your outside, but how’s your inside?” Who would dare to do that? They tried to catch Him in His words, but Jesus didn’t back down. The Truth was in front of them, but they didn’t seek it. Jesus came as the light and He exposed them. He wasn’t hid under a bushel.
What is our reaction to all this? Surely we see some of our weaknesses here. These sins still go on today, who is listening? Sometimes the Lord taught truth, but sometimes He rebuked error. And when He does that, we need to take heed for our own souls.
Hymn 234 - Saviour lead me lest I stray
Prayer