[A]ny outsider who came near was to be put to death.

Numbers 3:14-39

[A]ny outsider who came near was to be put to death. Numbers 3:38b

I continue my study of Numbers, and in the text today 3:14-39, where the Lord speaks to Moses, as He provides additional commands for a census among the Levites, and more specifics on how the Levites were to guard the tabernacle.  Here are my observations using the Sword Bible Study Method. 

• What do we learn from the text about God?: God organizes the Levites and provides them with a mission as each of the clans of Levi's sons are not only numbered (from one month of age upward), but also named specifically, they are given a specific place to camp around the tabernacle, and they are also given specific physical attributes of the tabernacle to guard.  In the Old Testament, the physical location of worship is given special meaning as outsiders are to avoid getting to close to the sanctuary, as they risk being put to death (v38).  Yet the New Covenant in Jesus, believers must understand that there is no such attachment to the physical temple as the temple itself is anywhere believers gather as believers' bodies are referred to as the temple given Jesus lives in the hearts of believers.  See also Ephesians 2:19-22 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
• What do we learn from the text about people?: As Jesus lives inside believers hearts, God intends for others to see Jesus in us as we worship through our actions, demonstrating love of others.  People do not need protection from getting too close to the sanctuary - on the contrary, God wants non-believers to be drawn to believers through the light of Jesus that shines through us. 
• Is there anything from the text God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid, Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): Avoid attachment to a church building or to physical attributes of a church.  Claim the promise that each of us as believers are a temple with Jesus residing in our hearts. Follow the example of the Levites who stood guard over the temple - of course recognizing that we must protect our heart because that is where Jesus lives.  Glorify God in your body.  

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and saves.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of how You sacrificed Your body and life for me...so that I could have life now to the full and for eternity.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Hebrews 8

Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. Hebrews 8:6

I maintain a pause of my study of 1 Corinthians as I continue using DesiringGod.com's Advent devotions where I pick up on Day 14.  Here, John Piper unpacks what occurs in the hearts and lives of believers through the better covenant that is described in Hebrews 8:6 and related text.  Piper first starts by explaining that Christ is a mediator of a new and better covenant because the blood of Christ (His crucifixion and resurrection - see also Luke 20:20, Hebrews 13:20) "finally and decisively purchased and secured the fulfillment of God’s promises for us." Piper continues by sharing that this means that "God, according to the new covenant promises, brings about our inner transformation by the Spirit of Christ.  And it means that God works this transformation in us through faith — faith in all that God is for us in Christ.  The new covenant is purchased by the blood of Christ, effected by the Spirit of Christ, and appropriated by faith in Christ." Piper then refers us to Hebrews 13:20-21 where the text, in Piper's words describe "[t]he best place to see Christ working as the Mediator of the new covenant."  Expanding on Hebrews 13:20-21, Piper then concludes the devotion by sharing that "[t]he words “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight” describe what happens when God writes the law on our hearts in accord with the new covenant. And the words “through Jesus Christ” describe Jesus as the Mediator of this glorious work of sovereign grace. So, the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with Reality, but also that he takes the Reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God."  For believers, Christ working in our hearts and lives is dramatic as we and others see the fruit of our faith through heart and life transformation as God molds us into His image.  It is not of course always a fun process but nonetheless God gives us joy and a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7). 

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion for me.  You continues to mediate and interceded for me to the Father.  Thank You Jesus!  Thank You for working in my heart and life.  I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from such sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

1 Corinthians 15

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

I continue my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul.  Today, I move to chapter twelve - Speaking with Feeling about the Glory of Christ, Not Religious Activity.  Here, John Piper emphasizes how Paul - certainly unlike the world, and even unlike many Believers who speak of "religious activity" - focused his words on the "preciousness of [his] fellowship with Jesus.*" Piper describes how a focus on religious activity is like interest and captivation with the shell vs the taste of the nut. Piper continues by sharing how Paul was not of want for religious activity as he was at the top of his game both as a Jew then as a Christian.  He points to Philippians 3:4-8, Galatians 1:14, 1 Corinthians 3:5-7, 15:10, and 2 Corinthians 12:11 as examples of where Paul shared his efforts but only used them to point to how God was at work vs glorifying himself. Piper wraps the chapter by sharing that "Paul was so united to Christ— Christ’s love for him and his faith in Christ— that there was a profound sense in which Christ was living out his life through Paul....This was the heart of his boasting and exultation."

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace for me - working in and through me and never leaving or forsaking me.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such love.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.