OPEN: Every year, someone hands out “Darwin Awards” which are bestowed to honor the least evolved among us. Previous news stories that have received their attention have been:
· The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine. Shortly afterward he submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company (suspecting negligence) sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger.
The chef’s claim was approved.
· A teenager was in a hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the boy told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.
· One Arkansas man apparently desperately wanted some beer. So he decided to throw a cinder block thru a liquor store window grab some booze, and then run for it. What he didn’t realize was that the window was made of plexiglass, and when he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window it bounced back and hit him on the head knocking him unconscious.
The whole event was caught on videotape.
· But one of the most “memorable” Darwin Awards honored a man from Provo, Utah. A robber pulled his 38 caliber revolver on his victim and pulled the trigger. But it failed to fire. So he peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again.
This time it worked.
APPLY: Sometimes people will do the most foolish things.
And when they do these foolish things - there is often a price to be paid.
1. Sometimes that price is embarrassment.
2. Sometimes it’s pain.
3. AND … sometimes that price can even be death.
The story we’re reading in Leviticus 10 tells us the story of two young men who did a very foolish thing and paid the ultimate price.
Their names were Nadab and Abihu
Nadab and Abihu were nephews of Moses and the two oldest sons of Moses’ brother Aaron the High Priest of Israel. They were born in Egypt and - by the time we read this story in Leviticus -were probably 20 or 30 yrs old.
They had been groomed for leadership ever since they had come to the Mountain of God. When Moses was about to go up the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments, God declared:
“Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, NADAB AND ABIHU, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.” Exodus 24:1-2
Later God told Moses: "Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons NADAB AND ABIHU, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests.” Ex. 28:1
These two sons of Aaron were to be some of the most prominent leaders in Israel.
They were going to be entrusted with the holy things in the tabernacle and they were the ones who would offer up sacrifices on behalf of the people.
They became priests of the most high God.
They stood before the people as God’s most sacred servants.
(PAUSE) But something went wrong… and they died
What happened?
Well Leviticus tells us: “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. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” Leviticus 10:1-2
That’s all we’re told.
Nadab and Abihu offered an “unauthorized” fire before God… and God killed them.
And not only did God destroy them… verse 6 tells us:
“… Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair become unkempt, and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the LORD will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the house of Israel, may mourn for those the LORD has destroyed by fire.” Leviticus 10:6
Again – what happened?
Why was God so angry with Nadab and Abihu, and why were Aaron and his remaining sons warned not to mourn their deaths?
Everything in the Tabernacle, and all of its activities, were specifically designed by God.
Hebrews 8:5 tells us that the “… sanctuary (was) a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”
Everything in the Tabernacle was designed to tell us about Heaven’s plan for our salvation.
Every piece of furniture pointed to sacrifice of Christ.
Every piece of fabric was specifically chosen to give us an understanding of Jesus’ death on cross.
Every stick and joint told more about the story of John 3:16 that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Even the offering of the incense on the altar was critical.
For example, the incense was always to be of a specific formula compounded from the perfumes stacte, onycha, galbanum, & pure frankincense (Ex. 30:34)
Consider this ingredient called Frankincense.
For thousands of years, this costly resin has been one of Somalia's exports. A few gnarled but prized trees manage to grow in the harsh mountainous areas along the Horn of Africa's tip. Wherever the tree is cut or broken or where insects have eaten through the bark, layers of thick resin - frankincense - seep out from the heart of the tree to heal the wound.
Most of us associate frankincense with the birth of Jesus. It was one of the gifts the Wisemen gave Him. Thirty-three years later, Jesus would be wounded and broken on a treeoffered up so we might be healed from the sin that destroys our lives. Like frankincense, his was a priceless gift that came from the heart. (Condensed from Just Between Us by Janis Ryder - Vol. 6, No. 2, Winter 1996 as quoted in The Christian Reader)
But apparently Nadab and Abihu weren’t guilty of messing with the formula of the incense.
They had offered up an “Unauthorized” fire.
King James calls it a “Strange” fire.
And the original Hebrew uses the same word it would use to describe… a prostitute.
Nadab and Abihu had prostituted something precious in the Tabernacle worship.
But what did they do wrong?
Remember – everything they did in tabernacle worship spoke of God’s plan for mankind and it spoke of the ultimate sacrifice God was going to pay to redeem us from our sins.
ILLUS: (I walked down on the main floor)
Imagine this sanctuary as being the courtyard of the tabernacle. Instead of walls, there is an 8-foot high fence of fabric that encloses the tabernacle and its activities.
About here would be altar of sacrifice where you (as a worshipper) would bring your sacrifice and present it before God. A certain portion of your sacrifice would be totally consumed by the fires of the altar. But that’s not the only purpose that fire served.
This fire (at the altar of sacrifice) was what Nadab and Abihu were supposed to use in their censers as they prepared to enter the tabernacle and place their incense on the altar of incense before the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant.
No other source of fire was acceptable.
Why? BECAUSE man could not come into God’s presence without sacrifice
Something had to die for man to be able to come into God’s presence.
Nadab and Abihu KNEW this!
They had been instructed in their responsibilities.
They had been warned of the dangers of changing anything that God required in Tabernacle.
But they disobeyed anyway.
They brought a “strange” “unauthorized” fire into God’s presence.
What God had required didn’t strike them as important!
What God had required wasn’t as convenient for them.
And so, they bypassed the altar of sacrifice…and substituted their own fire.
So, what do we learn from this?
1st – we learn that a priest of God is held responsible for how they handle the holy things of God
After Nadab and Abihu’s death, God told Moses
"Among those who approach me I will show myself holy;
in the sight of all the people I will be honored." Leviticus 10:3
When you and I became Christians, the Bible says we became priests.
1 Peter 2:9 tells us “…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood.”
You see, as priests we are expected by God to honor Him and to respect the things He regards as holy. But what are the things that God regards as Holy?
Well, we have a book that called the “Holy” Bible.
Deuteronomy 4:2 tells us
“Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.”
Now there are those who say “Well, yeah. But that command only applies to Deuteronomy.” So you might turn them to Revelation 22:18 where God says
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.”
Again, there are those who say: “Well, of course that applies to Revelation, but not to the rest”
Then you might ask them to consider Proverbs 30:6
“Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”
You see, there are liars out there who would try to convince us that God’s Word is not the final authority in our faith. It’s within the pages of this book that we learn all we know about Jesus and His ministry. It’s in these pages we learn about the plan of our salvation. Every page tells us more and more about what we need to know as Priests of the most High God.
But there are liars out there who handle the book as if it were theirs to manipulate.
But here’s the deal.
They don’t own the book.
Who owns the book? (God does)
There is no church organization or denomination that owns this book.
There is no church leader or Revivalist who owns this book.
I don’t own this book.
You don’t own this book.
Our church doesn’t own this book.
It’s God HOLY Bible and if we mistreat it we will face God’s judgment.
Another holy thing is here on the table in front of me.
We call it the Lord’s Supper or Communion.
Now there are those who regard the “ritual” of taking the Lord’s Supper as being Holy… and to some degree it is. But what truly makes it holy is when we partake of this meal in God’s presence with Holy People.
The people who sit on either side of you in the chairs there are Holy unto God.
And in some ways they are even more holy than the communion we take on Sunday Mornings.
Let me explain.
In the church at Corinth, the Christians there mistreated each other, insulted one another, refused to share with one another - they didn’t love one another.
But then after mistreating each they would sit down to eat communion together.
And so Paul wrote them and said:
“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner (mistreating the other Christians in the church) will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
In the Gospels Jesus told his disciples: "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24
And so Paul continues in I Corinthians: “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.” I Corinthians 11:26-30
The Christians in Corinth mistreated the other holy ones in worship and then they thought they could just eat of the Lord’s Supper and it wouldn’t matter. And just like Nadab and Abihu, they were punished. Some became weak and sick… and some had died.
So, 1st we learn that a priest of God (that’s us) are held responsible for how we treat the holy things of God. As priests of God, God expects us to respectfully handle the things (and people) he regards as holy.
2ndly - we learn that God will not accept substitutes.
Down through the ages, supposed men of God have “substituted” unauthorized things into God’s church believing they could IMPROVE on what God has established.
Baptism is an excellent example of this.
Romans 6 tells us “… don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
What does baptism represent in Scripture?
Death/ Burial and Resurrection!
When someone is baptized, they are buried in water and rise from that watery grave to a new life.
But many churches don’t do it that way.
They sprinkle/ or pour water on their candidates and call it baptism.
Why would they do that???
ILLUS: One Catholic Bible I read once had a footnote on Romans 6 - and it explained:
”The Primitive church baptized by immersion”.
What were they implying?
They were implying that that was then… but this was now.
And it didn’t matter anyway because their church felt they had authority to improve on God had established.
But how did sprinkling and pouring become acceptable?
For the first 300 years of the churches existence, it appears that immersion was the standard practice. Then gradually sprinkling or pouring gradually became acceptable in cases of emergencies (as when a sick person could not be immersed without endangering their lives).
But that was still not “official” Catholic policy until AD 753 when Pope Stephen was driven from Rome by Adolphus, King of the Lombards. He fled to Pipen. While he was there, he was asked by the monks of Cressy, in Brittany, if, in the case of necessity, baptism poured on the head would be lawful, in place of immersion. This was 723 years after the beginning of Christian baptism in AD 30 (Acts 2:38). Even then, it was allowed only in the case of extreme emergency. The common practice remained immersion.
In 1311 AD, the Counsel of Ravenna declared sprinkling or immersion to be valid. THERE WAS NO CLAIM THAT SPRINKLING WAS SCRIPTURAL. The change was made by a majority vote of the College of Cardinals. It was the product of the superstitious theology of the Middle Ages which had long since lost sight of the Biblical reasons for baptism. (P.H. Welshimer “Why I Did Not Baptize The Baby”)
From that day forward sprinkling and pouring was increasingly used in many churches in place of Biblical baptism because burying someone in water wasn’t always convenient… but sprinkling/ or pouring water on the candidate is always possible.
Doing things God’s way didn’t “work” for them so they brought an “unauthorized” practices into God’s church. They brought a “strange” fire into the doctrines of God’s people. And they’ve caused a lot of division in Christ’s church because they thought they had a better/ more convenient/ idea.
But even more churches substitute ANOTHER strange doctrine into the church.
It’s called the “Sinner’s Prayer”
Ø You’ll find it in Gideon’s Bibles
Ø in tracts written by well meaning Evangelicals
Ø in statements of faith presented by denominations and individual churches
Ø in altar calls where the preacher will ask those who want to be saved to bow their heads and ask Jesus into their hearts.
You’ll find the sinner’s prayer in all those places.
But the one place you will NOT find the Sinner’s Prayer in the Bible.
It’s a man-made substitute.
It’s an authorized fire.
Up until the 1500’s, every church believed that baptism was part of the salvation act
And every early church father believed baptism was part of the salvation act.
It wasn’t until the Swiss reformer Zwingli came along and began to argue that baptism shouldn’t be part of the salvation act that all that began to change.
But why would ALL the early church fathers and leaders believe baptism was part of our response to God for salvation? Well, because that’s what the Bible said
Jesus declared: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved…” Mark 16:16
Peter told the crowd what they needed to do to be saved. He said:
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
When the Philip taught the Ethiopian Eunuch about Jesus, the Eunuch was so excited he asked:
“’Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?’ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.” Acts 8:36 &38
When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas what he needed to be saved, they first told him
“Believe in the Lord Jesus” Acts 16:31
And then they spent the next few hours teaching him and his family WHAT to believe, and at midnight that night the jailer and his family were baptized into Christ. Acts 16:33
Over and over again in Scripture, God’s way of bringing people into His kingdom involved
· dying to our sins
· being buried in the waters of baptism and
· and rising from that watery grave to walk in newness of life.
CLOSE: Down thru the ages, men have tried to improve on the things of God.
They’ve sought more convenient ways to obey God than what God asked.
They’ve done it with the form of baptism
They’ve done it with the substitution of the sinner’s prayer for baptism
They’ve done it with the Holy Bible
They’ve done it with communion
And they’ve even done it with how they treat the Christians they worship with.
But ultimately, the question comes down to obedience.
Will we do what we do because He’s asked?
Or will we do what He asks, only if we agree?
