Last week Pastor Tan shared on The Tabernacle and one of the items found in the tabernacle is the Bronze Laver.
Exodus 30:17-21
The Bronze Laver is to be place between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, filled with water for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and their feet
Water is often a symbol of the Holy Spirit and the word of God
Vs 20. Aaron and his sons are to wash after ministering and before minister, lest they die
Whenever there is a double emphasis in the bible, it means it is really serious.
vs 21. the Lord emphasised saying, so they shall wash their hands and feet, lest they die.
The washing of feet in comparison to Jesus' times when He wash the feet of the disciples, is for the cleansing and making whole, to be completely clean.
John 13:8
Jesus said to Peter, "if I do not wash your feet, you have no part with me"
It is a constant choice that Aaron and his sons have to make to come and wash themselves at the Bronze Laver. Not just themselves, but the bible say that it shall be a statute forever to them and their descendants throughout their generations!
However, this washing of hands and feet is the symbol of something deeper, it is the washing of our hearts. And this washing cannot be washed by anything else, other than the Holy Spirit and the word of God. We are to wash ourselves in the Holy Spirit and the word of God each time before and after we minister!
What do our hearts have to be washed of?
Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13 (AMP)
You cannot serve God and mammon for you will love one and despite the other.
Mammon - deceitful riches, money, possessions or anything in which you trust and on which you rely
Pastor Bob said that in chinese, it means "心怀二以" - Your heart is no longer loyal to ONE.
Matthew 12:25
"Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand"
This applies even to our individual life, if we are not ONE, we "心怀二以" on the inside of us, then we will also not stand.
Matthew 5:37
"But let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."
Many times in the bible, the fall of someone is when their heart is no longer ONE unto the Lord, they have allowed mammon into their hearts.
Take for example, Saul was not taken over by David as king because God has raised up another leader or because David tries to do something to take that position from him. Saul was taken over because he had allows mammon to enter his heart.
In 1 Samuel 10:9, when Saul was anointed king, the Lord gave him a 'new heart'
But what was Saul problem?
#1: He was lack of confidence and self-esteem
The bible says that " there was no one like him among all the people"; "from his shoulder upwards he was taller than any of the people"; "not a more handsome person than he among the children of israel", but yet at the point of proclaiming him as king, he hid among the equipment
Like what Weifang shared last week, God has a call in our lives and it is irrevocable, so what are we doing about our callings?
If you were there for the last 40-night prayer meeting with Pastor Tan, he talked about the inheriting of the land.
At first, the 9 and a half tribe were allocated to 10.5% each to the Western part. But because they did not 'receive' the inheritance though it was 'given', the 2 and half tribe that went in took up in total with the other 2 and half tribes, 75% of the whole land of Israel. Leaving only 25% to be shared among the remaining 7 tribes.
I can imagine the 7 tribes must be complaining that it is unfair that the 2 and half tribes took more than that which was allocated to them!
Yes the call of God that was 'given' is irrevocable, but until we stretch out our hands to 'receive' it, we still have not 'inherited' the promise!
Maybe just like Saul, we are feeling that we are not good enough to lead. What we need is a revelation that we are leading through God and in His authority, not our own.
Very often I feel like I am not good enough, example when pastor ask the leaders to go out and pray for the people or sometimes when in ministering to the members in CG but most of the time we will feel like this is because we have not washed our hands and our feet before and after we minister!
According to Pastor Tan, this is known as a spiritual heart condition!
Therefore, we need to wash ourselves every time before and after we minister, with the Holy Spirit and the word of God, lest we die (not just referring to a physical death, but a spiritual death that leads to eternal death)
#2: He allowed the mammon of approval of men rather than the approval of God to enter him
Saul offer up the unlawful sacrifice that he should not have done as a king because he was afraid the people scattered from him, he felt compelled
Later part in 1 Samuel 15:24 when Saul sinned against the Lord again, he said "because I feared the people and obeyed their voices"
Galatians 1:10 "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ."
Sometimes it can be very easy to fall into this trap of doing more, studying harder, working more or even serving more, just to wish to hear the praises of our parents, bosses or leaders over our lives
As leaders, sometimes we end up not discipling the members because we were 'afraid' that they would be scattered from us
There is a difference between honoring our leaders, our parents, our bosses versus seeking the approval of men
Recently I was watching a TV series about this lady who often does work beyond her call of duty and with great excellence. She always tries to impress her boss just so that the boss will praise her, but the boss never did. She did EVEN MORE, not connecting well with other colleagues because she always tries to be better and more superior over them. One day, she passed her, done beyond the call of duty, work to the boss but instead of being praised the boss said that she should think carefully whether it is necessary before doing it. She could not hold it back anymore she broke out in tears and said that she was only hoping to hear her praises and approval but the boss said this, "If you are doing everything just to get my approval, then you are missing the whole point"
We can be doing the same thing but with a different motivation, ask yourself what is the driving motivation for you to be hanging on or even striving on?
If your aim is the approval of men, then when you do not receive the kind of approval you are expecting, you will be discouraged and give up. But if you motivation is to please God, know that whatever you do and are not rewarded on earth, you will be rewarded in heaven!
3 times in Matthew 6, Jesus talked about this:
vs 1 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven."
vs 5 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."
vs 16-18 "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting. but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."
After talking about these, Jesus went on to talk about laying up for yourselves the treasures in heaven and where our treasure is, there our hearts will be!
If your treasures are in the rewards on earth, found in the approval of men, then there your heart will be!
If you work tirelessly with excellence but have not receive your reward on earth, be of good cheers for your rewards are treasure stored in heaven!
Aaron and his sons are required to wash themselves before and after they serve, so as to remind themselves that the ministry they do is to serve the people for the glory of God and not for their own glory; therefore they must wash lest they die (spiritual death that leads to eternal death)
#3: He was not consistent in his obedience unto the Lord and did not obey ALL THE WAY
Saul brought back the best of the spoil to sacrifice to God and spared Agag king of the Amalekites, despite the word of God was to utterly destroy them.
What is mammon again?
Mammon - deceitful riches, money, possessions or anything in which you trust and on which you rely
When Saul was destroying the livestock of the Amelakites, his heart was moved to keep the best, though he used it for the sacrifice unto the Lord, but what did Samuel say about this?
1 Samuel 15:22-23 "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. And to heed then the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is a iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."
Saul started out obeying the Lord, but he did not obey all the way!
Are your heart moved by the riches that the world can offer?
This does not mean that we cannot excel in the marketplace or work to earn money but it is about, what is the word of God for us. The bible says, obedience is better than sacrifice!
Just this week, Pastor Kong was saying, "With God NOTHING will be impossible"
Nothing in greek means no-pas-rehma = "with God no any spoken word will be impossible!"
But the world says, without money all things are impossible
So which do you rely on?
Saul was no longer ONE inside him, because he was divided and just as we saw earlier in Matthew 12:25 that whatever is divided against itself will not stand!
Later part in 1 Samuel 28, vs 2 we see that Saul after the death of Samuel, put all the mediums and spiritists out of the land. But in vs 7, he went to a medium to inquire of her for the Lord did not answer him through dreams or prophets.
Saul obeyed the Lord, but he did not obey all the way!
Aaron and his sons have to make a decision to obey the Lord in the washing of their hands and feet before and after they minister all the days of their lives, to obey the Lord all the way!
#4: He had a competitive spirit
1 Samuel 18:7-11 Saul tries to kill David twice simply because the people sang "Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands."
No one can take over our place just because they are better or have done more. Saul was replaced and rejected not because David is winning the people to himself.
But God raised up for Himself another king, David, because Saul did not obey His word and was rejected
To each of us, we all have our individual callings and none of us rise up above another by putting each other down (the system of the world)
It is not about who is better or who had done more, but all authority comes from above!
When we have a right heart and a right attitude, God will rise us up at the appointed time
The bible say that we are to be as ONE and united in our knowing of the Lord, through the share our revelations and grow together in our knowing of the Lord!
Therefore let us encourage one another and grow as ONE in our knowing of the Lord and remind one another to wash ourselves constantly at Bronze Laver!
