Proceeding to Leviticus 4:11-12 we see a description that speaks of completeness – all, the all of it; a bit like ‘from top to bottom’, or ‘from east to west’. It’s like you stretch out your hands wide, and stretch it as long as possible – you can’t stretch your hands any further. That’s the totality of it – you are trying to say something as ‘all’. Fullness, completeness, totality. All. The remains of the bull in the sacrifice in the preceding 10 verses have no further purpose there. It should not remain there, either planned or kind of ‘careless […]
Ingredients for worship
15 posts
To the question “What to do with best thing in life?”, answer could well be “Enjoy it, certainly!” Even in Leviticus, there is some words to guide us on this matter. In our relatively modern day eyes, to know what Leviticus means is arduous since it was written for a society and religious community that is so different to ours. Rather than wading through lot of materials that helps us with interpreting the text, let’s look at only a few things as we move to Leviticus 4:8-10. I’d suggest you read this section through several times, as before, noting words […]
A broken relationship may have various impact, and it might ‘cost’ both parties to restore that relationship. We continue on this instruction, Leviticus 4:5-7, for the High Priests to seek forgiveness for sin they committed without prior knowledge. As has been said again and again, this is from the Old Testament, which Jesus has fulfilled in his work of salvation as recorded in the New Testament. Looking at Leviticus is important for us because this is God’s law, for which Jesus fulfilled for us. This law is about we as God’s people and how we live a life worthy of […]
Can people acquire guilt when their minister or clergy sin? What about their worship leader or pastor, their organist or music director? What sounds like ‘transmission of guilt’ is a difficult concept to grasp, let alone explain. Leviticus 4:3-4. The high priest represents God’s people, intercedes (to God) for them, and worships God to obtain God’s promised forgiveness for them (from God) individually and corporately (as a church). Maybe in those days they did not yet have privacy laws or ‘best practice’; unless people agree to not tell the truth (or tell lies) and so the truth of a sin […]
Leviticus chapter 4 is not your reading of choice when you enjoy your morning cup of tea / coffee, or on your headphone while you are out walking the dog or doing your 10-mile run. It closely resembles some of the materials in earlier chapters 1 to 3. The first section, about unintentional sin committed the priest, has a pattern that is closely followed by not once but three times in the rest of the chapter. What’s going on? Do we need this? Or does God need to tell us this? A few points might be useful as background: Leviticus […]
When we worship, we worship God.. When we lead worship, we lead others to worship God. We need to know God to worship him. We need to know those we are leading worship so we connect with them to support them in worship. Is that a fair comment? For a start, I’d prefer to be able to hear how the congregation is singing, and I can then respond to that to lead further on music. If where I am playing my instrument is so far from the congregation that I cannot see or hear their singing, I am disconnected from […]
When you plan for worship, there’s a lot to think about and plan. For example, you need a theme for a worship session. Or we got to have simple instruments like tambourines available so that children can use them for worship. Or you need to put a music team together. Or check which version of the Bible to use for the readings. Ingredients for worship don’t come out of nowhere, they need refinement. It’s true that God desires our intention, our “heart”, rather than the exact particular ways we do things. The “particular ways” is more about human connectedness, it […]
Salt can be bad for your body. That’s when you over salt. In the New Testament, salt and light are two useful metaphors about how we as Christians can and should be effective in reaching God’s truth and love to others. In one verse in Leviticus, 2:13, the application of salt was literal. You shall apply salt to your grain / meat / food offering as part of your sacrificial worship. The symbolism here is as strong as the salt in the New Testament. Salt is a preservation agent, and carries a kind of covenant seal God has with us, […]
Impression is important. To be precise, the impression you give about yourselves to others. It’s one thing we say people can exaggerate or belittle themselves, but it’s way more difficult to give a fair assessment of yourself. Just this week, I’ve had responses about my work from 3 people. The three pieces of work are completely independent of each other, which mean they give an impression about a bit of me, in 3 ways. The one I thought they would say I had missed the point (so to speak) turned out most encouraging – not so much in the form […]
Rules, rules, rules. No yeast, no honey. That’s what Leviticus 2:11 says. God wants you, yourself, no embellishment. Not how much you have ‘risen’ in school grade, career ladder, seniority at work or even in wider family, bank account, or the ‘senior’ in senior pastor. How much you are influential to others, that has nothing about you in God. Unless it is about discipling others in the way of God. Be yourself as you draw near to God. The honey might be the modern day aromatic technique that acts as a pleasant agent that even permeates the immediate environment. This […]
Do you play the drum in your worship team? Flute? Harp? Bass guitar? Cello? Or do you sing? Worship leader? On the audio-visual? Maybe the saxophone? Organ? Violin? Rhythm guitar? I usually play the piano, but I very much prefer to play the drum set. There are more I can’t play or do, or choose not to. I know the basic of flute, violin, guitar, but I don’t yet have enough command of any of these to be able to play them on my own, let alone in a team. A team. A community. We can’t be every role in […]
First Next The finest flour is the best of yourself in God (see previous blog). It is not quite taking all improvement exercises, methods in mindfulness or self-emptying, wellness enhancement such as balanced diet, deep breath, or wholeness; or any such combinations of the above. Some of these are good. The point though is that the ‘fineness’ is your readiness for God to work in your life. In the way you can comfortably play all the bar chords of B major on the guitar, you can recall the friends and teachers who gave you tips and tricks on learning and […]
First Next The Holy Spirit is the enabler for us to worship God in truth. Leviticus chapter 2 speaks about Holy Spirit in the form of oil and frankincense. The use of oil sounds like anointing, a kind of seal, that our worship is acceptable to God. The use of frankincense speaks about wellness, happiness, contentment, or just smelling nice. Oil and frankincense. This is amazing stuff. While we are not going to take the text literally now since Jesus has fulfilled the Old Testament, oil and frankincense are two important ingredients in our worship. In fact, also as we […]
Next Making choices is nothing new – even this statement is a little strange, everybody makes choices all the time. For example, you can watch a film about a story when a book form is also available. You might prefer to go this way so you can also enjoy the nice buildings along the way, than the other way which is shorter but not as enjoyable. You might choose to have lunch with a friend even though you had lunch together just a week ago but you enjoy each other’s company, than having quick food style meal at your desk […]
Wow. You mean it? You must not… You must not… and if you do, ….put to death, …put to death. The language is rather direct, but maybe there is a language translation problem. Or maybe the issue is so ever important there’s no better way to emphasise it. In the Bible, there are lots of these kinds of statements. Far too many of them in the Old Testament, but New Testatment probably as many it’s just that the Old Testament ones are more blunt. Have a look at some pages in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. Have […]