Huddle Up

Huddle Up

Coach Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers and former football coach, tells about the time in 1991, while coaching football at the University of Colorado, that he challenged his entire team to play beyond their normal abilities. He had heard that we spend 86 percent of our time thinking about ourselves and 14 percent of our time thinking of others. The coach was convinced that if his team could stop thinking about themselves and begin to think of others, there was a whole new source of energy that would be available to them. He challenged each of the team members to call someone they admired and loved and tell that person that he was dedicating the game to them. The team member was to encourage this person to carefully watch every play they made, because it was all dedicated to them. McCartney planned to distribute sixty footballs, one for each player to send to the person he had chosen, with the final score written on the football. The team that Colorado was playing was their archrival, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, on their home turf in Lincoln, Nebraska. Colorado had not won a game there in twenty-three years. But Coach McCartney had just challenged his players to play beyond themselves, to play for love. The Colorado Buffaloes won that football game. The score that was written on sixty footballs was 27–12 (adapted from What Makes a Man?, 12–13).

Love is a powerful motivator. Love empowers a mother to run into the flow of merging traffic to save her child. Love compels a husband or wife to dedicate their life to their dying spouse. Love provides added energy at work when you do for a living what you love to do. But have you ever thought about the fact that love motivates obedience and service? God called a select group of men as priests who would play a vital role in the life of the people of Israel. These needed to be men not only called but so in love with their God that their motivation was always to please him through their obedience and service. The same is true for us today. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. And every Christian is called to be part of His “royal priesthood” and to please Him with their obedience and service. How much do you love God? Do you love him enough to sacrifice everything to and for Him. We aren’t going to be willing to sacrifice everything to God unless we are falling deeper in love with Him every day and living in obedience and service to Him. That brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires His people to obey and serve Him out of their deep love for Him.

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, give us eyes to see and ears to hear your Word and your Holy Spirit this morning. May we come humbly, seeking your wisdom and instruction for our daily lives. May we be open to your Spirit’s prompting and conviction as we strive to become more like your son, Jesus. Help us to be obedient to pursue, grow and multiply disciples? Help us to love you with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to surrender all of ourselves to you. We pray for spiritual renewal and revival in ourselves, our church and in our world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our first point this morning is Summary found in Exodus 29:1-3. This is what God’s Word says, “This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect. And from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and brushed with olive oil. Put them in a basket and present them along with the bull and the two rams.”

God is still talking to Moses and giving him instructions on the mountain. These first three verses are a summary of the consecration process, and we learn a few things from them. One, Moses as the covenant deliverer and mediator will be the one to assume the priestly right, given to him by God, to conduct the consecration ceremony. Later in Israel’s history, the high priest would consecrate and ordain subsequent priests. Two, we are told who is to be consecrated. The word “them” points back to chapter 28 where Moses receives instructions for making the clothes that the high priest, Aaron, and his sons, Aaron’s deputy priests, would wear. Aaron and his sons would wear these clothes as they were consecrated to the Lord. We saw this in chapter 28, verse 41. Three, we also learn what they were to be consecrated for . . . which was to serve the Lord, first and foremost, and also the people as priests in God’s house, the Tabernacle. The word consecrate means to “be set apart” and to be made clean from spiritual and moral defilement. They were to be set apart to do the exclusive sacred work of the Lord they were called to; they would no longer do what was ordinary or common. Without undergoing this process of being made holy, they could not serve the Lord as priests.

Four, Moses is told what he needs to gather for the consecration ceremony. He was to “take” a young bull and two rams without defect. The word “take” refers to something being selected to be used in divine worship as commanded by God. These animal offerings were to be a true sacrifice for Aaron and his sons. “Young” and “without defect” meant that these sacrifices were suitable for a holy God and that the worshipper’s love for God was seen by bringing the highest quality animal or animals to be sacrificed. Consecration could not happen without the sacrificial shedding of blood and so in bringing these sacrifices that were “young” and “without defect”, the priests showed they were obeying and serving the Lord out of a deep love for Him (Big Idea).

Moses was to also gather ingredients for “cereal offerings.” He was to make three different types of bread. The first type was round loaves using the “finest” wheat flour without yeast. “Finest” means it was not ordinary flour but flour that had already been refined. The bread was to be made without yeast but would still be of the highest quality as the animal offerings were. The second was thick loaves without yeast with olive oil mixed in, probably to make the loaves firm so that they could be presented as offerings. The third type was thin loaves or some versions say “wafers” that were made without yeast and brushed with olive oil. This offering parallels the “peace” or “fellowship” offering in Leviticus 7:12 which is offered as an expression of thankfulness towards the Lord. The solemn consecration ceremony was to begin in an atmosphere of thanksgiving and could not happen without true fellowship with God.

The “cereal” offerings were to be eaten on the same day they were offered leaving none for the next morning. Also, notice that the offering of unblemished rams and unleavened bread reminds us of the Passover night back in Exodus 12. Moses was to prepare the three different types of bread, put them in a basket and present them along with the bull and two rams. To “present” meant to be “brought near” to the entrance of the tabernacle. The way the bread was made showed how special the consecration meal was to be and the formality of it. Bringing the animals and cereal offerings formally to the tabernacle was part of the first step in the consecration process.

Now that the consecration ceremony has been summarized and Moses has gathered the items needed for the ceremony, we come to our second point, “Set Apart”, found in Exodus 29:4-9. This is what God’s Word says, “Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Take the garments and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breast piece. Fasten the ephod on him by its skillfully woven waistband. Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred emblem to the turban. Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics and fasten caps on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons. The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance. “Then you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.”

There were a number of steps to the consecration ceremony. The next part of the first step was to bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting, present them before God and wash them with water. They would have come only in their undergarments so as not to be exposed to the people or before God. Then they would wash from head-to-toe symbolizing spiritual purification and baptism. They were already called by God to salvation and were now to be washed or “baptized” as an outward sign of being “set apart” for God’s work. They would not be allowed to go inside the tabernacle, handle the holy things and serve in the Holy Place, until they were spiritually cleansed and set apart represented by their washing. This presenting and washing parallels our own salvation and baptism. Titus 3:4-7 says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

The second step was to dress Aaron in the special clothes that God commanded Moses to have made for the high priest. Aaron is dressed first because he was the high priest and the embodiment of the priesthood. The white linen tunic would have been worn over the undergarments. The blue robe of the ephod would have been worn over the tunic. The ephod would have been worn over the robe and the breast piece would have been worn over the ephod. The ephod was to be fastened on Aaron by its skillfully woven waistband. Lastly, the turban was put on Aaron’s head and the “sacred emblem” which is the same as the plate with “Holy to the Lord” engraved on it like a seal, would have been attached to the turban. Some versions say “diadem” instead of the sacred emblem. Diadem gives the sense of a crown and is a sign of consecration and rule. The high priest would rule over the tabernacle as God’s appointed leader of the priests.

Now that Aaron had been dressed properly, he was anointed with a special anointing oil. This special oil, described in Exodus 30, consisted of liquid myrrh, fragrant cinnamon, fragrant calamus and cassia and olive oil. Mackay says, “‘Anointing’ represents God’s choice and designation for a special task.” The anointing oil was used to set apart Aaron for divine service. He is now allowed in the Tabernacle to serve God and would not be considered a trespasser in His eyes. Aaron could now serve in the tabernacle out of his deep love for the Lord and in obedience to Him (Big Idea). It also seems that Aaron as high priest would have been anointed in a certain way that the other priests weren’t. He would be anointed by pouring the special oil over his head which would have caused it to run down through his beard and clothes. Psalm 133:2 says, It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. This would have been a generous amount of oil which represented God’s abundant blessing in consecrating Aaron as high priest. After Aaron was dressed and anointed, his sons were brought and dressed in their tunics and caps. Notice that they were not anointed with oil at this time, but we can surmise that his sons were anointed at some point in the consecration ceremony probably by just applying oil to their foreheads.

The Hebrew root of the word “anoint” is the source of the word “Messiah.” This points us to Jesus, our high priest and king, who was divinely “set apart” and empowered by God for his work of salvation. Jesus was anointed when he was baptized by John the Baptist at the beginning of his earthly ministry. He was not baptized for repentance but to be “set apart” to bring salvation to sinners. He was baptized by the Holy Spirit to be our high priest becoming the perfect sacrifice on the cross for our sins and today he intercedes for us in heaven giving us direct access to God’s grace and mercy. Today, God “sets us apart” to be His royal priesthood and “anoints” us by the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Lastly, sashes were tied onto Aaron and his sons. This was done to them all at the same time signifying that they shared the responsibilities and dignity of serving the Lord as His priests in the tabernacle. This priesthood was theirs by a lasting ordinance. God had chosen Aaron and his descendants to serve Him as priests. They didn’t choose it, deserve it or earn it and they didn’t buy the position or take it by force. God sovereignly and providently choose Aaron, his sons and his descendants to be the priests in the tabernacle forever.

Now that the preparatory steps had been taken, it was now time to “ordain” Aaron and his sons. “Ordain” literally means “filling of the hands” referring to inducting someone into the rights and privileges of an office. “Filling of the hands” signified their privilege and duty to perform the sacrifices and to make offerings before the Lord. They would also teach God’s holy laws and statues to the people and help them to obey them. It also referred to the provision of the Lord as he “filled their hands” with all that they would need to perform the priestly tasks in the tabernacle. I like how Hamilton puts it, “So before the clergy enter into this sacred moment (referring to the ordaining to come), they first need a washing; then second, a covering; and third, an anointing; One removes anything that should not be there. The second provides the clothing that the priests need to wear in order to expedite their priestly ministry. The third provides what is not there, a supernatural endowment, an anointing with oil.”

We see a lot of parallels in these events for us as Christians and being called into the “royal priesthood” by God. One, we have been washed by the blood of Jesus and clothed in his perfect righteousness. Galatians 3:26-27 says, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Two, we have been “anointed” by God through the Holy Spirit. Jesus through his death, burial and resurrection has ordained us as priests. All Christians have been chosen by God to serve Him in this capacity. We didn’t choose it, earn it, or deserve it. And we all are to share the responsibilities and dignity of serving the Lord as a “royal priesthood” as it is our duty and privilege to serve the Lord in the church and in the world. Three, God has “filled our hands” providing all we need to fulfill our role as priests for his honor, praise and glory. That brings us to our first next step which is to Serve the Lord as a “royal priesthood” in the church and in the world for His honor, praise and glory.

I want you to imagine that your favorite football team is in a huddle; they’re behind by one point with ten seconds to go, and the ball is on the five-yard line. They’re just about ready to score. The fans in the stadium are on their feet. They know the next play is crucial, but the team just stays in the huddle and talks. Eventually, the referee blows a whistle, throws his yellow flag, and steps off a five-yard penalty for delay of game. But the team seems oblivious to what’s going on. They remain in their huddle, just holding hands and talking. And finally they burst out of the huddle cheering, run to the sidelines and out of the stadium, and get in their cars and go home. Every fan would be frustrated and angry about that kind of action because a huddle is not an end in itself. The purpose of the huddle is to plan the strategy for the next play and to give encouragement to those who are participating. And it would never happen that a team would just huddle and then hurry home. Or would it?

Sometimes this is an accurate portrayal of the church. There’s a spiritual conflict going on in the world, and we gather weekly on Sundays and Wednesdays to worship the Lord, learn from His Word and to find inspiration and strategy for living the Christian life. But the problem is that sometimes we treat this “Holy Huddle” as an end in itself. We measure the church’s effectiveness by the number of people in the holy huddle and by the inspiration of the hour, and then we disperse and disappear until next week. Our measurement needs to change. Our motivation, first of all, to come to this “house of God” on Sundays and Wednesdays to worship the Lord together, should be out of our deep love for Him (Big Idea). That love is shown as we worship our Lord and Savior in spirit and in truth and give him the honor, praise and glory that he is due. It should also be a time of spiritual growth and inspiration to live out the Christian life and to receive instructions on how to make an impact for Jesus Christ in the world. We are to serve the Lord as priests, pursuing, growing and multiplying disciples. As a Christian, as a believer in Jesus Christ, we have been anointed to be obedient and serve the king, offering sacrifices of praise and service every day not just on Sundays and Wednesdays. And know this: God is watching us, and He will judge our obedience and service in the future. Believers will not face any judgment for their sin, but they will face the judgment for their obedience and servanthood. One day I will be standing before Almighty God giving an account of my obedience to God and my service in His church and in the world.

For what kind of service has God set you apart? What is He asking you to do in helping others in your church discover God’s call? What is God asking you to do in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world, with those who do not know him as their Lord and Savior? Are you being obedient in pursuing, growing and multiplying disciples? Do you love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and live out all that it entails. We must take this time we have been given on this earth seriously. After all, we are the salt of the earth and a light to the world. It is imperative that out of our deep love for God, we put on those priestly outfits and go to work. That brings us to our second and final next step which is to Put on my priestly outfit and go to work, obeying and serving the Lord.

As Gene and Roxey come to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: Dear Heavenly Father, as we leave this huddle today, please don’t let us leave thinking this is all you have called us to. We have lifted your name up in praise and worship, we have been given ways to apply your scripture to our everyday lives and we know what our marching orders are. Help us to be obedient and to serve you faithfully in the priestly office you have ordained us to. We ask that you Holy Spirit would now guide us as we go out into the world to pursue, grow and multiply disciples in all the places we live, work and play. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Opening: Glen S. Martin, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 133.

Conclusion: Glen S. Martin, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 133.