“Satan hates pens,” Luther declared.  Why?  Because as one pastor aptly observed, “our books may come to be seen where ourselves shall never be heard.   These may preach where the author cannot, and (which is more) when he is not.”  The written word transforms the temporal experience, knowledge, wisdom, and, yes, folly of temporal men into the realm of the transcendent.

Written words are like treasured inheritance from forefathers we never knew.  They have the power to jumpstart wisdom not learned from the School of Hard Knocks.   They remind us of the Solomon’s maxim that “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”  And as we learned in grade-school history, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

But unless those words are both heard and heeded, they are an unclaimed inheritance.  They must be put into practice.  The accumulation of knowledge and, indeed books, is of little value if the words are not worked into and then worked out in our lives. Both book-learning and application are required.  As Solomon noted, “of the making of books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”  Or as Violet Biggs quipped to George Bailey, “Georgie, don’t you ever get tired of just reading about things?”

And if this is true of written words, how much truer is it of The Word.  As Jesus explained in the Parable of the Sower, “those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Jesus’ brother, James put it more bluntly.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:22-25

Then he famously summarized, “faith without works is dead.”  Two things are needed.  Reading the Word.  And heeding the Word.   It must be worked in then worked out.  And so, in Leviticus, which is almost entirely the Lord’s words spoken directly to the people, there is instruction for on-the-job-training.   Leviticus 8-10 is one of the few narrative portions of this priestly handbook.  And in it, the Lord instructs Moses to walk the priests and the people through what He has taught them. 

Specifically, these chapters focus on teaching the people to worship God as He commanded.  They had been steeped in idolatry for over four hundred years.  And only a short time ago, despite hearing the voice of God and seeing his glory above them, they wallowed in infamous idolatry.  And at the end of this passage, we see again how deadly innovation in worship can be.

The people needed God’s instruction about worship, but they also needed to be shown how to apply it.  If they are to live Coram Deo, “before the face of God,” and quite literally in his presence, they must understand that worship is the principal expression of that relationship.  Just as it is for us.   The trajectory of worship is the trajectory of your relationship to a holy, righteous, sovereign, gracious, merciful God.  Not just on the Lord’s Day, but every day.

And while we learn much from written instruction, we learn best by doing.  There is no substitute for on-the-job training.  And so, for one whole week, Moses takes the priests through the ordination process, a process designed to teach them exactly how to perform and administer every sacrifice God had commanded.   And once they are trained and ready, God instructs Moses to walk the people through Worship 101.

So Leviticus 9 reveals the trajectory for worship.  Worship has a progression, a pattern.  This trajectory is the same for our corporate, family, and private worship.  Indeed, it is the pattern for every aspect of our relationship with God.  And our worship today follows this same pattern of covenant renewal outlined in Leviticus 9.  It begins with God’s call.  Responds with confession.  Draws near through consecration by the ministry of the Word.  Reaches a high point in communion.  And concludes with a benediction and commission. 

The Lord introduces this pattern for worship and life with a great promise, that in worship “the glory of the Lord may appear to [us].”  Is your worship glorious?  Or tedious?  Does your worship inform the pattern for your life in Christ?  Or is it just a Sunday thing?  Join us as we examine Leviticus 9 and discover the trajectory of worship God has given us.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.