Worship however we want?

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotion. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus. So glad to be with you today. Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Oh Father, what a blessing and a joy it is to worship you, to follow in your ways. We pray that you would please help us to understand your word this morning. We need your spirit, Father. So please teach us in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so we are at Exodus chapter 39, verse 22. Exodus chapter 9, beginning at verse 22. And we'll read through verse 31. Here we go. Oh, where are my glasses? Where did I put those? There we go, Exodus chapter 39 beginning at verse 22.
He made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. And there was an opening in the middle of the robe, like the opening in a coat of mail, with a woven binding all around the opening so that it would not tear. They made on the hem of the robe pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, and a fine woven linen. And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells around the pomegranates on the hem of the robe, all around between the pomegranates, a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe to minister in, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. They made tunics, artistically woven of fine linen, for Aaron and his sons, a turban of fine linen, exquisite hats of fine linen, short trousers of fine woven linen, and a sash of fine woven linen, with blue, purple, and scarlet thread, made by a weaver, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. Then they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And they tied to it a blue cord to fasten it on the turban, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
Well, like every morning, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? Well, what is this about? Well, they've made the ephod. They've made the breastplate. Now they're making the other pieces of Aaron's service uniform. He's got to wear this robe. and it's going to go all the way down. On the bottom of this robe it's going to have a pomegranate, a bell, a pomegranate, a bell, a pomegranate, a bell. Again, I'm going to encourage you.
I'm a visual type person. I can imagine these things, but it's helpful for me to see them. I think the ESV Study Bible has great pictures of this. The other place that you might find good pictures If you go onto a website called Logos.com and you might look up like the Faith Life Study Bible, something like that. They have an interactive where it actually shows the high priest's garments and how they look. I'd encourage you to actually go look at that in some study bibles or look it up online. Just remember, they're artistic renderings. We don't know exactly what they look like. But he makes a series of different things for him, right? Bezalel and Aholiub, they're teaching people, they're leading this team of weavers and of people who are making stuff and engraving things. And they make the tunics, the turban, the sash, and the gold plate. They make all this stuff for God's glory.
And the important part here, as they're making this, again and again, verse 26, as they make the robe, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse 27, as they make the tunics, as the Lord had commanded Moses. And then verse 30, with the holy crown of pure gold, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
You cannot make high priestly garments and do it however you want. That's not how this is going to work. It's got to be as the Lord commanded. And then, he's going to have this crown on his head that says, Holiness of the Lord. But imagine if they had instead decided to change that and write whatever they wanted to. Would they have treated the Lord as holy? No. No, they would not have.
No, and so when we look at seek calling, what are we called to do? Do we humble ourselves? Do we have hearts of humility and of thankfulness that leads to obedience? Do we understand who God is, the grace He has shown us, His grandeur, His might, His majesty, His greatness? And then do we serve Him because we love Him as our Redeemer and as our King? Are we so full of ourselves, so full of pride, so full of our own sense of freedom and independence that we would do whatever we want with our lives and with worship?
Well, the Lord's not going to be mocked. He wouldn't be mocked by the Israelites, actually. We're going to see later on Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abbi, who treat the Lord that way, thinking they can do whatever they want, and the Lord isn't going to be mocked.
He desires obedience. That obedience starts with understanding who He is and what He has done. And the Holy Spirit working in our hearts to humble us. And to make us want to do what is most pleasing and glorifying to Him. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank You so much for this day. We pray that You would work in our hearts. That we would love You, follow You, and keep Your ways. You are a great God. marvelous and worthy of all service and love, devotion and obedience. Make us into faithful servants, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ, and I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.