“As Commanded” – FBC Morning Light (2/12/2024)

Well, a good Monday morning to you. I hope you had a good weekend and were able to get to church yesterday, gather with God's people, and worship the Lord together. I hope that in that time the Lord spoke to you through his word, either providing doctrine, reproof, correction, or instruction in righteousness, whatever was needed at the time.

Obedience to What the Lord Has Commanded

Today, we're reading in Leviticus chapters 8 -10, and I want to zero in on a phrase that's repeated in chapter 8. The first time it shows up is in verse 4. It says, Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And that phrase then repeats itself several times within this chapter. Again, in verse 9, it says, the last phrase of the verse, as the Lord commanded him. Again, in verse 13, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

In verse 17, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse 21, as the Lord had commanded Moses. And verse 29, as the Lord had commanded Moses. What precedes each occurrence of that phrase is some action that Moses took in obedience to directions that the Lord gave to him.

And then the chapter ends, in verse 30, it says, Moses took some of the anointing oil, and so on and so forth, and Moses told Aaron and his sons what to do with certain things, certain offerings, and so forth.

And then it ends, the chapter ends in verse 36 with this. Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses. And as I read through that, and I think it was the second or third occurrence of as the Lord commanded Moses, that I realized this is going to repeat itself over and over again.

And I read that and I'm challenged. I'm challenged. Can this be said about me? Could my life be characterized as doing what the Lord has commanded me to do? Is that the character, the pattern of my life as it was for Moses in this particular chapter?

Can that be said of you on a consistent basis in various areas of life? All of these commands that Moses obeyed had to do with establishing certain aspects of the ceremonial law. What about the various aspects of God's moral law, as recorded in the Ten Commandments?

No other gods before me, no graven image, no idols, remember the Sabbath day, honor your parents, etc., etc. Is my life characterized by doing as the Lord commanded? I want to contrast that, we read in chapter 8, with what happens in chapter 10, in the first few verses of the chapter.

It says this, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and they put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must be glorified. In other words, Nadab and Abihu did not do all that the Lord had commanded them.

In the Acts of Worship, this offering of incense, offering of incense was part of that worship in the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, and it was to be done by the priests, but they were only to use the specific incense that God had prescribed.

They chose to bring their own stuff, and offer their own stuff. This highlights a couple of things. One is that God takes obedience to what he prescribes very seriously. The other thing that's indicated here is that worship really needs to be conducted in the manner that God prescribes, and should include only those elements that God prescribes.

I think about a lot that happens in churches in the contemporary world and culture, and there's an awful lot that goes on in church and so-called worship services that God hasn't prescribed. I think we can see from the pattern of Scripture that that's not pleasing and acceptable to him.

God insists that we worship him in spirit and in truth. And we see here God's attitude toward those who don't worship in truth, and violate what he has given in way of commands. I want to encourage us today that it can be said of us that we so live and conduct ourselves, and even worship our God as he has commanded.

May that be the testimony of our lives. So our Father and our God, help us, we pray, to have the heart that wants to be obedient in all things, and the pattern of life that shows that we are. We pray in Jesus' name, and for his sake, amen.

All right, listen, I hope your week gets off to a great start. Have a wonderful day. God bless.