Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100704.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
K. God's Directive Of The Tabernacle To Fellowship With His People
7. The High Priest's Attire, Exodus 28:1-39
d. The Turban, Tunic And Sash With The Regular Priests' Garments: Christ's Intercession And The Believer's Service To God
(Exodus 28:36-43)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Christian service is a privilege: whether we work as a Sunday School teacher, a VBS teacher or helper, or as a Church leader or in some other realm of ministry for the Lord, it is a lofty calling to serve in God's "royal priesthood" and to show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, 1 Peter 2:9 KJV!

    However, nagging questions about Christian service arise when we consider our human weakness or failings (as follows):

    (1) Sometimes we run into such "difficulty" or "criticism" in our efforts that we wonder if we are out of God's will even to be trying to serve where and how we currently function.

    (2) This trial becomes much more painful if another Christian or group of Christians try to persuade us that we have indeed missed God's calling!

    (3) Then, sometimes one who serves the Lord ends up doing what he later realizes is a unintended violation of Scripture. It makes one feel badly, and can tempt him to quit "hurting God's work" by resigning from the service assignment itself!

    I faced such a trial in the first wedding I performed in the pastorate: another area conservative Church that was then without a pastor had need of me to perform a wedding for people associated with that Church, so I agreed to officiate at it.

    When I agreed to this ministry effort, I did not know that the bride had been divorced, and Scripture at 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 forbids remarriage for divorced folk apart from the Biblical reunification of original spouses. However, no one told me of the bride's previous divorce until the day before the wedding!

    I ended up performing the ceremony, for I wanted to protect the Church's testimony before all the non Christian guests who had made extensive plans to attend the wedding! However, I felt badly over my failure to be sure of the marital status of the wedding couple before the wedding! Events like that can haunt a believer for years!



    So, in view of such challenges, we may ask, "I WANT to serve God, BUT I am not sure about a lot of the specifics needed to meet His expectations! What would He suggest?!"

    Need: "I want to serve the Lord, but I am not sure about the specifics of what He expects from me! What would He say about this?!"

  1. God had Israel build a tabernacle to typify how He as a holy God could fellowship with sinful man and meet his needs, Ex. 25:1-9.
  2. In Exodus 28:1-4, God introduced the high priest's attire, and the book of Hebrews shows it depicts Christ's high priestly ministry.
  3. The turban, tunic and sash together with regular priestly garments generally reveal how the believer may serve God well, Ex. 28:36-43:
    1. Christ's intercession, as shown in the turban, covers all the believer's unintended Scripture violations in serving the Lord, Ex. 28:36-38:
      1. A gold plate engraved with "Holiness (qodesh) to the Lord" sat on the forehead of the turban, and it was attached there by a blue cord, Ex. 28:36-37 NIV; B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 872.
      2. This all taught that Christ's intercession in heaven covers for the believer's unintended Scripture violations in his service to God:
        1. One who offers a gift to God does not want it to be unholy, so the guilt in Exodus 28:38 is caused by unintended unholiness !
        2. The guilt could be an impurity in the gift itself, or a violation in the order of service involved or in the use of the gift, Exodus 28:38; net.bible.org, citing Umberto Cassuto, Exodus, p. 385.
        3. Thus, Exodus 28:36-38 shows Christ intercedes (blue cord) to the Father (the gold plate on the forehead that faced God) to forgive unintended Scripture violations in a believer's service!
    2. The effectiveness of this intercession is based on Christ's acceptance by the Father, Ex. 28:39 NIV: the white in the turban and tunic (that under girds all the other visible garments) depict Jesus' righteousness that is the basis of His intercession, and the ornamental sash His great character that makes the Father well pleased with His Son, Matt. 17:5!
    3. Thus, if Christ's intercession covers our unintended Scripture violations in service due to our human limitations, then questions we have on extrabiblical, superhuman issues like how, when, where and what we are to do to serve God are not for us ourselves to try to answer, but for God to answer for us as He guides us, Psa. 23:1, 3b!
    4. However, the regular priests' clothes show our intentional violations of Scripture in service are intolerable to God, Exodus 28:40-43:
      1. Exodus 28:40-41, 42-43 discusses what ANY priest was to wear.
      2. As such, Exodus 28:40-43 applies to us believers today who are part of God's royal priesthood called to serve Him in showing forth the praises of the Lord who has marvelously saved us, 1 Peter 2:9:
        1. Serving God is honorable: the tunics, sashes and headbands on the regular priests were for "glory and beauty," Exodus 28:40.
        2. These regular priests were to be set apart as God's servants who represent Him and His interests before others, Exodus 28:40-41.
        3. Thus, believers who serve God and represent Him to others are to live righteously (white tunics), clothed with the character (embroidered sashes) of Christ by relying by faith on the Holy Spirit's power, Ex. 28:40-41 with 39 NIV; 1 J n. 2:6; Gal. 5:16.
      3. If we represent God to others, He does not tolerate us intentionally violating Scripture in serving Him: the unseen, secret part of the body (the waist to the knees) was to be covered with a white linen undergarment, typifying righteousness on intentional issues even in secret, or God would severely punish the priest, Exodus 28:42-43!
      4. Thus, though we believers are honored and blessed of God to serve Him, and we are to represent our Lord in righteousness and good character by the Holy Spirit's power, we must NOT intentionally sin; however, IF we DO sin this way, we must QUICKLY confess it for cleansing (1 John 1:9) lest God severely punish us and/or disqualify us for future service reward , 1 Cor. 9:27 NIV. [Certain sins also disqualify a believer for certain oversight roles as they ruin his example in those roles, cf. 1 Timothy 3:7.]
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ to be saved, John 3:16. (2) Then, may we serve God, being sure (a) Jesus' intercession will cover our unintended violations of Scripture! However, (b) may we avoid intentional sins! (3) Also, if God punishes His servants only for intentional Scripture violations, we must not concern ourselves with extrabiblical, superhuman questions on how, when or where we are to serve Him: God must lead us on those issues, Psalm 23:1, 3b! (4) Yet, once God clarifies His will on these issues as He guides us, we are accountable to obey or we commit intentional sin!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 Last week in our Vacation Bible School (VBS) ministry, as we have so often seen before, we witnessed the Lord working for us regardless of our human weaknesses, making the ministry effective.

Yes, we had our usual "bouts" of doubts and challenges! The rain had partially washed off some of the balloons one of our members had painted on the VBS sign out front of the Church, but she was able to repair it nicely. One of the posts marking the playground area came out of the ground, so on Monday I managed to dig a hole for it and pile up some spare rocks on our property to keep it upright. Struggles with making the VBS banner and with making the music posters hit us, and much prayer for Christ's intercession in our behalf went up. I probably don't know half of the other trials and tribulations various others in the body faced in their respective realms, but they were assuredly there.

In fact, it was so hot and humid Monday that our Bible teacher's glasses kept fogging up, and he had trouble using them!

However, the ministry was wonderfully used of the Lord!

In one of the missionary time classes on Monday, the teacher asked the children for their names, and, in keeping with the theme of missions in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, what was their favorite location in the world!

One boy answered that his favorite place was "right here!"

The teacher wanted a clarification, so she asked, "Do you mean Nepaug Church?"

He replied, "Yes!"

This was a child whose brother had received Christ as his Savior three years ago, and we were not sure then if this same boy had then made the same decision. Nevertheless, the brothers had attended our VBS ministries for the last three years, so our Wonderful, Gracious Lord and High Priest had "covered" for all the difficulties faced in all those years of presenting the VBS ministry so that HE could use it to impact a little boy's life in a huge way!



May we rely on our Lord to "cover" for our weaknesses in ALL of our Christian service efforts, and may we AVOID any INTENTIONAL sin, and just serve God as He directs us! HE will so RULE through His great heavenly ministry in our behalf, that we might be blessed and be a blessing to others in His service!