Leviticus 10:1-11
Black Market Sacrifices
Cascades Fellowship CRC
July 11, 2010
After choosing the title of this sermon I began looking for an illustration that captured the sense of what I meant by a “black market sacrifice.” And to my great distress I found one – kind of. The search for an illustration became the illustration. Confused? Let me explain.
When I prepare for a sermon I will often read several sermons from other preachers, scratching for ideas to illustrate the message. Sometimes, I strike gold and find an illustration so good that I repeat it here word for word. At such times, I am careful to indicate where the illustration came from. Even if I paraphrase someone else I try to make it clear that the thought did not originate with me. The point is; I try to give credit where credit is due.
Now, while the art of plagiarism is the genius of the preacher – by the way, I think it was Billy Graham that first said that – there are ethical limits. Beyond such limits the pastor is in danger of deceiving his congregation and offering to them something other than a careful, researched, Spirit-led sermon. He leaves his congregation to presume that he has done his work, when in fact he is simply co-opting the work of another.
Let me be clear, most pastors – including me – have no difficulty with someone else using one of his sermons. Copyrighting the proclaimed word is about like saying you have the Holy Spirit in a bottle. But from an ethical and moral standpoint – from an earning your wage perspective – it is disingenuous of any pastor to submit as his own work a sermon that borrows (or I should say steals) heavily from the work of another without giving proper credit. Such an offering is a black market sacrifice.
So you can imagine my chagrin when I read through 4 or 5 sermons and found out that I really only read two! Now, I am not going to name the offenders, but I am going to credit the two sources for the other three sermons. Of the sermons I read, two drew heavily – one being almost a direct quotation in its entirety – on the work of Tom Walker. His work can be found on the internet at www.preacherscorner.com. The other sermon that was heavily plagiarized was one written by Ray Stedman, found at www.pbc.org.
What an ugly little surprise! Five sermons – all of them named “Strange Fire”- and out of the five three of them in essence are “strange fire.” What is really sad about this is that the three guys who borrowed so freely from others had the gall to post their plagiarizing sermons on the internet as their own work! Unbelievable! Preachers, offering black market sacrifices.
But we are not here this morning to talk about the problem of plagiarism from the pulpit. If you are interested in the topic there are scads of articles on the internet – some of them likely plagerized. No the plagiarism issue is merely a symptom of a larger issue – offering “unauthorized” or strange fire before the Lord.
Our text this morning is a little hard to swallow. I mean at first blush, everything seems to be going according to plan. There seems to be nothing amiss in the first line or two of chapter 10, “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense.…” In our minds eye we see the sons of Aaron getting ready to enter the holy place as they would on any other day, but then we are caught off-guard by the next line, “…and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command.”
Now I don’t want us to miss how jarring this really is in the text. I want you to imagine that you are the first readers of Leviticus or better yet, the people who lived at the time Leviticus records – that you are part of this moment in sacred history. So that you can imagine it more fully, let’s go back a bit in the story and review the final chapters of Exodus and the first chapters of Leviticus.
Exodus ends with an accounting of the Tabernacle being built. At the very end of the chapter there is this incredible scene where the glory of God descends upon the Tabernacle and fills it from corner to corner. God’s presence is so thick and powerful even Moses cannot enter.
The early chapters of Leviticus then focus on the sacrifices that atone for sin, purchase peace with God and purify Israel so that the people are able to live with God in their midst – so that they are able abide in the presence of God. Without the atoning sacrifices and the rites of purification God’s holiness would consume his people – that which is holy cannot coexist with what is sinful or profane. To dwell in God’s presence one must be holy as he is holy.
Then, chapters 8 and 9 detail the initial sacrifices and ordination service that institute the priesthood of the Tabernacle – those who will mediate the presence of God to his people and his people to God. For this moment God commands Moses to call the community together before the Tent of Meeting. Then, before the whole congregation, Moses washes and dresses Aaron and his sons in their priestly garb.
Now stop and think about that for a moment. Before the eyes of the people God prepares his priests – it inspires both confidence and hope. Confidence and hope that the priests, and through them the people, will be accepted before God.
Then the sacrifices are offered – first for the priests and then for the people. The people see God’s gracious provision in action. They, in obedience to God’s command, bring the sacrifices before the Tent of Meeting and lay their hands upon the head of the sacrifice. They watch the blood being sprinkled and poured. They live in the anticipation of God’s pleasure for their obedience. A new era is dawning, an era where God dwells in the midst of his people, appearing in glory and makes provision for them to dwell with him. Then God does something unexpected, something profound and exciting. After the sacrifice is completed and Aaron gives the blessing, assuring the people of God’s pleasure, God appears in spades. Look with me at Leviticus 9:24
Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
How would you react if after I gave the benediction one morning, fire bolted down from the heavens and filled the sanctuary? What would you do with such and obvious sign of God’s pleasure? I daresay that this Sunday would be burned (no pun intended) into your memory. You might even come the following week in joyful expectation of what God is going to do next. Heck, you might even bring all your neighbors in hopes that they too would see how God is with his people and believe. All the children of Israel, I am sure, felt the same way. God was with them in a unique and powerful way. There was a lot to be excited and hopeful about.
Then come Nadab and Abihu with the strange fire.
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke of when he said:
“‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’” Aaron remained silent.
Can’t you just imagine how devastated the people must have been? Do you see how jarring this passage is in its context? One minute all is well, God makes his presence and pleasure known with divine pyrotechnics and the next – BOOM! The fires of God’s holiness scorch the life out of Nadab and Abihu for bringing unauthorized fire. What gives? Why did God get so angry?
The speculations are wide and various among commentators. Two of the favorites are that Nadab and Abihu made the offering at the wrong time or that they used coals from a fire outside the Tabernacle. Some even speculate that Aaron’s sons brought coals from another altar into the Tabernacle. But I tend to agree with Ray Stedman on this matter – I think the answer lies in the Scriptures themselves. In the instructions God gave the priests in Exodus, prior to their anointing. Look with me at Exodus 30:7-9.
“Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the LORD for the generations to come. 9 Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it.”
There are two things in this passage that needs to be pointed out, which I think gives us insight into the mysterious “strange fire.” The first is that the incense was to be offered by Aaron. It is conceivable that in speaking to Aaron, God is indicating the whole priesthood – but the incense offering was something that was carried out routinely as part of his priestly duty. That Aaron is not present, overseeing this offering, speaks volumes. Nadab and Abihu appear to be operating as free agents.
The second thing to note is that there was a specific incense that was to be offered – it is the only incense that God commanded to be offered. Then in Ex. 30:9 he warns the priests to offer no other incense on the altar. It is this warning, coupled with the apparent absence of Aaron, that convinces me that the incense that Nadab and Abihu was something other than what God commanded. Nadab and Abihu apparently thought that any incense would do, and trusting in their anointing they approached the Lord. Too late did they realize their mistake.
So they brought in an incense that smelled a little different from the blend of fragrant spices they were supposed to use. What’s the big deal? Does God really care that much about the smell?
The short answer – oh yes; God cares bunches. In Exodus 30:34 he calls the mixture used for the incense holy – set apart for use in the Tabernacle only. But there is more to this than just the type of incense used. The use of incense other than what God prescribed is only a symptom of what the real problem is.
The real problem is that Nadab and Abihu tried to do their own thing; to put their own spin on being priests – they didn’t take being set apart for service to God seriously enough; they didn’t take God’s holiness and being holy seriously enough. You see, the real problem is not the smell of the incense – it was the smell of the service. Nadab and Abihu disobeyed God – that’s sin. And they carried the stink of sin into sanctuary with them; a stink no amount of incense could hide from the holiness of God.
Note what the Lord says to Aaron through Moses in v. 3:
“This is what the LORD spoke of when he said:
“‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’”
In other words, what God is telling Aaron is, “If my priests play fast and loose with what I have commanded, how will the people respond? If my priests do not treat me as holy – if they do not distinguish between the clean and the unclean – no one else will either.” You see, that is the essence of a black market sacrifice – offering to God what is convenient rather than what is commanded. It is an attempt to mold God into our image rather than being conformed to his.
Let’s go back to the illustration about the pastors who plagiarized sermons and then offered them up as their own. What’s the problem there? Is it really because they got paid for work they didn’t do? No – not really. It was wrong and sinful and if they haven’t already, those pastors should apologize to their congregations and submit to discipline. But there is a bigger issue at stake.
What does their practice of pulling a sermon off the internet without giving credit tell you about how they see their calling to be pastors – those who proclaim God’s Word? What does it say about how they see God’s Word and how the Spirit moves in his servants to speak it? Are you beginning to see the problem with black market sacrifices? What these pastors have done is reduce the proclamation of the Word to a speech – just any old speech – and their calling to be shepherds as a way to make a buck. They have demeaned both the office and the task – they have failed to distinguish between the profane and the holy; the mistook what was expedient for what was good and like the money-changers in the Temple, they have put God and his worship up for sale and offered to God that which cost them nothing; which wasn’t even theirs to begin with. After treating God, his Word and their office in such a shameful way, what do you think the average Joe on the street is going to think about what we do here on Sunday morning or when we talk to them about our faith across the fence?
But this sermon isn’t just about knucklehead pastors. In 1 Peter 2:5-9 we are told that all who believe in Christ are priests. It is our purpose – our life – to offer spiritual sacrifices of praise and service to God. What that means is that you are called to be the presence of God to those around you – all of your life is worship, not just what we do on Sunday mornings. So anytime we live in a way that is contrary to how God has commanded us to live we are offering strange fire before God.
Whenever we neglect our neighbor for the sake of our own pleasure or gain – we offer strange fire. Whenever we surrender our bodies to lust, choosing to please our own flesh rather than God – we offer strange fire. Whenever we harbor a grudge, resisting forgiveness and reconciliation – we offer strange fire. Whenever we come to church wanting to be blessed rather than wanting to be a blessing – we offer strange fire. What it boils down to is whenever we presume upon God’s grace – when we sin without fear because we know we will be forgiven – we offer strange fire before the Lord. At such times we hijack the life Christ has died for, that the Holy Spirit has birthed in us and we turn it into a black market sacrifice. We mock God; we mock his holiness and we teach those around us who know we confess to be Christians to despise the name of our Lord and regard him as nothing.
When you think about it a little bit, you begin to wonder, don’t you? “What do people think about God because of me?” In talking about the holiness of the believer and how it is to reflect upon God in the public square, J.I. Packer says, “It is not an option, but a requirement. God wants his children to live up to his standards and to do him credit in the eyes of the watching world….”
But isn’t that too much to ask? No; because in Christ and through the indwelling Holy Spirit we have been given all the resources we will ever need to live a life that reflects the holiness of God – to fulfill our priestly responsibility. In God’s Word we have been given all the instruction we need to live a life in keeping with God’s holiness. We know what to do – all that remains for us is to choose daily to take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ.
What kind of sacrifices are you offering? Let us strive to show that God is holy so that he will be honored among all people.
