February 8, 2012 … Dressed for [Spiritual] Success

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Exodus, Chapters 28-29 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Exodus 28: 1-5 … : … [Dressed for Leadership in Worship] … [Yahweh’s Instructions to Moses … 1 “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. 2 Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor. 3 Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest. 4 These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests. 5 Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen. …
31 “Make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth, 32 with an opening for the head in its center. There shall be a woven edge like a collar around this opening, so that it will not tear. 33 Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them. 34 The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. 35 Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and when he comes out, so that he will not die.”
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Exodus 29: 44-46 … : … [Consecrated for Worship] … [Yahweh’s Continued Instructions to Moses … 44 “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. 45 Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. 46 They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.”
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1st Peter 2: 9-10 … : … [A Royal Priesthood] … [Yahweh’s Continued Instructions to Moses … 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.


My Journal for Today: Today, in my chronological trek through the Bible, I was led to read from Exodus, Chapters 28-29 where God instructs Moses in the establishment of the line of Levite priests, … as well as, in detail, how these descendants of Aaron were to dress and be consecrated for worship. And, from the highlighted passages, which I’ve copied above from these two chapters in Exodus, that’s why I titled my devotional today, Dressed for [Spiritual] Success. There was great detail from God about how the Tabernacle Priests were to be outfitted and God took great lengths to give instructions to Moses about the leadership of the Tabernacle and how He, Yahweh, was to be worshipped during His people’s trek through the desert.

And as I read through and meditated upon these chapters this morning, another passage reference from the New Testament bubbled into my consciousness [i.e., 1st Peter 2: 9-10], which I’ve also copied above for your edification. I brought up the latter passage because, not only are we, as His chosen New Covenant Christians, charged to be worshippers who are “living sacrifices” [see Romans 12: 1], we are, according to the NT passage above, The Lord’s “royal priesthood.”

And as I was meditating on all of this, it caused me to contemplate on how our corporate worship has become so contemporized and “culturalized” (I know, not words – but concepts which hopefully communicates) that our attempts to accept anyone to “come as they are” to our worship services has “dressed-down” our roles as God’s “royal priesthood” in our world of corporate worship today.

Now please don’t mistakenly take what I’m about to say as prideful or judgmental; but, I’ve been asked by some in my church why I choose to ALWAYS wear a suit and tie or the best threads I have to worship service in our church on Sundays. Many come to our worship service in their everyday jeans or very casual “threads.” And I have to confess being “turned-off” a bit by such dress for Sunday worship.

Years ago, my Christian grandmother taught me a lesson about how I should dress; and this was years before I became a Christian. She told me, in preparing to go to our church on Sunday, “Bill, when you go to someone’s wedding or funeral, your mom and dad will always want you to wear your best to honor the couple being married or the person being buried. So, shouldn’t you wear your best to Church each Sunday to honor God?” I’ve never forgotten that lesson; and I apply it today to the way I dress for “Spiritual success” for my worship. And this is especially the case since I happen to be one of the Elders in my church as well as an “Ordained Minister” of the Gospel by my church.

But really, and I have to guard against being judgmental here, since we’re all part of God’s “royal priesthood,” when you read the above passages, wouldn’t you say that we – God’s royal New Testament priesthood – who have become God’s temple of worship (see 1st Cor. 6: 19), should be dressing the part and witnessing our worship in the same way God instructed for worship by the Levites in the time of their exodus toward the promised land. We – in the New Covenant – are also trekking through life toward the “promised land” [of heaven]; and we have God’s tabernacle in our hearts. Therefore, I think (just my belief and opinion) we should be witnesses to our LORD, the Yahweh of the Old AND New Covenant, by the way we dress when we come for corporate, or Temple, worship. Hence, I don’t see myself wearing my jeans or khakis and a sweatshirt on Sunday mornings. I choose to wear my best – as I would to your wedding or funeral – honoring the One true and living God, Who mercifully saved me and has sanctified me to be part of His “royal priesthood.”

My friend, you can wear what you want to church; because God will, in fact and in truth, accept anyone’s genuine and humble worship from the heart, no matter what they wear. However, if you come to Collierville, TN, and to Central Church on Sunday mornings, you will see Bill Berry wearing his “Sunday best” as I come into the House of God to worship and praise the LORD Who saved me. And I hope you don’t think that’s an “uppity” attitude. It’s just one member of God’s “royal priesthood” trying to live up to the instructions God has given to His line of priests [see above] as to how our LORD is to be worshipped.

And as Lily Tomlin used to say with a childish lisp as “Edith Ann,” on Laugh-In … “That’s the truth!” … [and you can see it with this link]

My Prayer Today: … Lord, there is no laughing at the way we present ourselves as Your “royal priesthood” and as we worship You in loving witness, coming to Your tabernacle of deliverance on Sunday mornings. Amen

2010 – August 16 – Spinning Ezekiel’s Wheel

Study from God’s Word… Ezekiel, Chapters 8 – 11 … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 10: 9 – 10 … NIV 9 I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like chrysolite. 10 As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel.

My Journal for Today: Today my devotional shepherd, Dr. LaGard Smith, had me reading from the enigmatic sections of Chapters 8 – 11 of the Book of Ezekiel in his edited The Bible in Chronological Order; and I must admit that it is mysterious language to me. But then again, it must have been difficult – if not impossible – for Ezekiel to find words to represent what God led him to see as The Lord let the Prophet see Him lifting His glory from the Temple in Jerusalem because of how His own CHOSEN people had abandoned Him. God obviously wanted His Prophet, Ezekiel, to be the witness to God moving His glory from the Temple built for Him by Solomon. And we know that the glory of God would not visit that Temple again until Jesus, Himself, was brought into the Temple by Joseph and Mary to be circumcised and blessed by the Priest, which we read about in Luke 2. And there we read of God’s blessing of New Testament Prophet, Simeon and Anna, who recognized that God had entered back into the life of the Temple and had fulfilled His covenant in the life of this baby, Jesus.

The scenes and imagery Ezekiel uses to describe what God allowed the prophet to witness are difficult for this limited mind to interpret, especially visages like the famous word picture of “Ezekiel’s wheel” in our passage highlighted by Dr. Smith in his devotional entry for today. As Dr. Smith reports, many different interpretations have been offered up as to the meaning of what Ezekiel wrote about in this passage; and whatever it was, it had to have been incredible to be a mental witness to God moving out of His Temple as part of the judgment for the rebellion and disobedience of His people.

If any reader of my devotional here will allow me the license of a very limited mind, not having the gift of prophesy or of any great Spirit-driven discernment, it is of great concern to me to read what I’ve been reading from the inspired writings of Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and now, Ezekiel, to see how God will – at least for a season – visit His wrath of abandonment on a collection of His chosen people who turn their backs, as a nation, on the God Who had a covenant with those people. And … though we are not God’s original chosen people, I do believe that it was God’s hand which led Christians to America. And I believe that it was God’s protection and leading which brought about the incredible founding and freedom to worship the one, true God which brought America through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the World Wars … so that the USA could be a witness for God, much like the ancient Hebrew nation. But also like we are reading about from these OT prophets, God may be incredibly patient, as He was with Israel and Judah; but His patience has limits; and He will only visit His protection on a nation so long when they are turning their backs on Him.

And as I’ve been reading in the times of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God can – and will – lift His Spirit-imposed hand of protection to let His people experience His “wrath of abandonment,” which is a term I heard some time ago in a sermon by Dr. John MacArthur, who was reflecting on that incredible passage in Romans 1: 18 – 32 [linked for your study]; and this, to me, is one scary passage when one considers what is going on in our country and culture these days. Yes, I know that God’s promise is true (see Hebrews 4: 12, which quotes Deut. 31: 6) never to forsake those who believe in and have a deep/abiding relationship with God through Christ; but God does not promise to stay with individuals, or collectively with a nation of people, who turn their backs on Him or His ways. And that is my concern for what we may be seeing happening in America today.

Yes, it may be a far cry to go from “Ezekiel’s wheel” to seeing God move out of America and allow us to be turned over to reprobate forces of evil; but I pray that God has mercy on His remnant of believers, of whom I count myself as one, just as He promised He would for those in Israel and Judah who were willing to ride out the tide of captivity and enforced evil in Ezekiel’s day.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I know You’ll stay with us during these times of evil. Amen

2010 – April 9 – A Matter of Priorities

Study from God’s Word…1st Chron. 16: 37-43; 2nd Sam. 8: 15-18 [1st Chron. 18: 14-17]; 2nd Sam. 9: 1-13; 2nd Sam. 7: 1-3 [1st Chron. 17: 1-2]; 2nd Sam. 7: 4-17 [1st Chron 17: 3-15]; 2nd Sam. 7: 18-29 [1st Chron. 17: 16-27]… Passage for Reflection: 1st Chronicles 17: 1 … NIV 1 After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent."

My Journal for Today: Studying the interactions of King David, the Prophet Nathan, and The LORD in these passages today has interesting; and, at least for me, convicting implications on where our LORD resides and how we honor or dishonor Him in His residence, … i.e., His Temple.

In our readings today from 1st Chronicles and the parallel passages in 2nd Samuel, we read how God liked and affirmed David’s idea to build a Temple, a permanent residence for God, rather than where the LORD had been housed for so many years … i.e., in an ark in a tent as the people wandered in the wilderness. David wanted to honor God and give Him an elaborate and permanent residence, where the Ark and God’s place on earth could be established in a Tabernacle of Worship for God. And God apparently like the idea, though David himself was never allowed to build the Temple. We know, as we read ahead in God’s word, that this honor and task fell to David’s son, Solomon.

But our focus verse for today, 1st Chronicles 17: 1 (along with 2nd Sam. 7: 1), documents David’s conviction for not doing enough to honor God’s residence in the Ark of the Covenant, feeling that God’s residence should be honored with more than just the impermanence of a tent. And this raises my conviction from meditating on these passages.

My question is, simply stated: What do we do to honor God in His established residence, … i.e., His Temple, … our bodies? We do a lot to honor God with the collective family places for God’s worship and service, … i.e., the church structures and organizations we build and maintain. However, when it comes down to the bottom line of honoring God where HE has chosen to reside, I’m afraid we do not show our LORD the honor He is due by how we maintain His temple, … i.e., our bodies. And how do we know that our bodies are His temple? Well that one is laid out in God’s teaching, through Paul, in 1st Cor. 3: 16-17 and 1st Cor. 6: 19-20 two passages you hopefully know by heart or at least by reference to subject matter [links provided, however].

My friends, I don’t do enough to prioritize my life in a way that honors “God’s Temple” (i.e., my body) in the way it should be honored. That is the reason, this year, as I undertook the discipline to read through the entire Bible, to honor God with my time and my mental devotions, I also decided to document – DAILY – what I was doing to maintain the habits which allow me to steward God’s Temple, … my body. And each day, thus far through this year, I have documented, for an accountability partner and for a group, what I’m doing in daily disciplines involving eating, exercise, and the avoidance of sin patterns which pollute my body, … God’s Temple.

It was more than a New Year’s resolution this year. Like King David, I became convicted that I needed to do more to give God the residence He deserved in my life. So, every day this year, I’ve been recording how I do on certain body stewardship disciplines.

No, I’m not perfect on them; but thus far I’m doing much better during this year to be a more God-honoring steward of the Temple He has given me to maintain and manage for His glory. My prayer, below, will be that I will continue to do this for this year … and beyond.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me honor You more deeply by keeping Your Temple clean; and I pray You give me the enabled grace to honor you with how I maintain Your Temple, … my body. Amen