St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Lenten Vesper #6. March 16, 2005

Exodus 28:1,2,15-17a, 21, 29-31,33,35

Exodus 28

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. ¹⁵ "Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions-the work of a skilled craftsman. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. ¹⁶ It is to be square-a span ^[a] long and a span wide-and folded double. ¹⁷ Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. ²¹ There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. ²⁹ "Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the LORD. ³⁰ Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD. ³¹ "Make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth ³³ Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them 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.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Do you know any famous people? Are you friends with any professional athletes? Do you know Jimmy Gantner—the guy who used to play second base for the Brewers back when they used to win more often than they lost? I don’t know Jimmy Gantner well—but I know Sammy Narges. I am very close with Sammy Narges—and Sammy Narges was Jimmy Gantner’s Little League Coach when Jimmy Gantner was just learning how to hit a curve ball or how to make a double play. I don’t know Jimmy Gantner well—but I know Mikey Floyd. Mikey Floyd used to play shortstop when Jimmy Gantner played second base when they were both in Little League. Mikey Floyd knows Jimmy Gantner so well—when my friend Mikey Floyd had his 40^th birthday—Jimmy Gantner was there. That’s where I met Jimmy Gantner at my friend Mikey Floyd’s birthday party. How cool is that? If I wanted to have Jimmy Gantner to come over I think I could do it. All I’d have to do is get Sammy or Mikey to ask him—and I bet he’d do it. Not because he’s my friend—but because of the people who asked for me. The fact is—you can do much better than having a friend of a friend whose a professional athlete. By the grace of God—your best friend is the Son of God. Your best friend is the Son of God—the Mediator—the Go-between—between you and your Heavenly Father. And because Jesus is that Go-between everything is going to be ok—eternally. Tonight:

We See Jesus—Our Go-between

1. This is one way work
2. This is a one man job

We need a Go-between—between us and our Heavenly Father because of sin. This is the law part! There is sin everywhere. We ought to be concerned about our country—when you hear that a lady accepting an award at Harvard gave a speech. She talked about how women are capable of accomplishing great things—in the arts, in business, and at the same time in the home—being a wife and a mother. She was sharply criticized. She was told her speech was far too heteronormative! Heteronormative! Do you know what that means? It means she was actually defending the concept of a mommy, daddy, baby family—marriage between one man and one woman—the way our Heavenly Father intended in the Garden of Eden! Those who invited Mrs. Will promptly apologized all over the place—promised meetings—and promised to warn speakers in the future to please refrain from endorsing the role of man and woman and marriage! At the same time—on the opposite end of our nation a Judge ruled that marriage meaning only one man and one woman was not right! This past week we have seen judges and police officers murdered—people sitting in church murdered. We have seen suicide—self-destruction in the face of utter despair! We have seen day after day unspeakable accounts of child molestation—and night after night of so called stand up comedy about unspeakable accounts of child molestation. People convicted of crimes against company finances are sentenced to longer time in prison than people who have committed horrible violence against people! It’s as if—hurting people is terrible. But doing something that hurts finances—violence to some one’s wallet—now that’s really bad! How upside down and inside out have our values become? I was at a meeting of faithful people around God’s Word—and in the lunch line we were talking about abortion. I mentioned some halfway painful circumstances. And back came the comment—there was a circumstance where a person might get an abortion! The most painful and difficult of circumstances never ever make it ok to put to death a little baby in their mother’s tummy. It was sad to hear again someone say—keeping someone alive by means of a feeding tube was keeping them alive by extra-ordinary means. Food—little vitamin enriched milkshakes are not extra-ordinary. To put someone to death by starving them is wrong. The fact that it happens again and again in our country and in our world—does not make it right! Sin separates us from our Heavenly Father.

Our Heavenly Father made that clear to his people in Old Testament times. You couldn’t just come blundering into the presence of the Almighty. The LORD told Moses, “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. Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor.” Sacred garments—set apart—belonging to and dedicated to the LORD. There is a dignity and honor that is to be connected with how we treat our Heavenly Father. We don’t call him the “Big Guy”—or the “Man Upstairs”. If you walk anywhere near this building—and you see a soda can, a golden arches French fry box, a beer can or cigarette ends any where near the front door—what can you do? You can out of love for Jesus pick it up. It might make your hands dirty. It is entirely possible that your hands could get filthy dirty picking up what is truly trash. Remember who you are picking it up for! If your hands are filthy dirty you can wash them—scrub them—disinfect them with antibacterial soap. How small that seems—compared to all that Jesus did to wash from our hands the blood guilt of all our filthy sins and the hurtful things we have done against His Word and will.

The LORD told Moses, “Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of a skilled craftsman. Make it like the ephod; of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. It is to be square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.” They made this square piece of golden cloth —then folded over. It was like a pocket. On the outside were fastened twelve beautiful stones—one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We don’t often remember the Twelve Tribes of Israel do we? Remember Jacob? Jacob wanted to marry Rachel. But his Uncle Laban switched sisters on him—and he married Leah instead. More and more years of work and he married Rachel, too. Then there was all that trouble with Leah and Rachel giving Jacob children—so they gave their husband their handmaids—handmaids named Bilhah and Zilpah. Then came the babies. Bilhah had Dan and Naphtali. Zilpah had Gad and Asher. Leah had Reuben and Simeon, Levi and Judah—Issachar and Zebulun. And Rachel—the one Jacob always loved best—she was the mom of Joseph and Benjamin! The family tree of the Savior—all messed up by sin—lies and deception and violence and prostitution! Not the kind of family tree anyone would want to publish—except the Savior from sin and guilt! Jesus was not ashamed to be called their brother—to rescue them from all their sins and failures.

Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the LORD. Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD. The Urim and Thummim—something we don’t understand for sure any more. Like making old fashioned stained glass or grandma’s oatmeal cookies with raisins—if no one makes a point of sharing how it goes—it will be lost and forgotten! We don’t know what the Urim and Thummim were for sure. Maybe something like dice—that would land in such a way—they would answer yes or no—according to the will of the LORD. Maybe—it was something to do with light—lighting up—to show God’s will. Sometimes the LORD would reveal his will. Sometimes—because of a sinful attitude on our part—the LORD wouldn’t say! God’s will for your life? He shows us what he wants! Read his Word and you will have all kinds of guidance for your life. Called workers have divine calls—the LORD leads and guides them—to accept that call or return it. Sometimes people try to excuse or rationalize sinful choices and decisions concerning their marriages by saying surely God wants me to be happy! Really? Study God’s Word and you will find the LORD wants us to be content. God’s Word doesn’t say he wants us to have life free from speed bumps of difficulties! More often than not—what is painfully difficult is the right thing to do—and what seems like running away from difficult responsibilities is exactly that—running away! When you are confused and have to make important decisions—read your Bible. Jesus will show you the way because Jesus is the Way!

The LORD told Moses. “Make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth. Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them. 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.” There it is again—so that he will not die! The wages of sin is death! Romans 6:23b The LORD wasn’t kidding! Nadab and Abihu were special. Along with their father Aaron—their Uncle Moses—and 70 elders of Israel—they had gone up Mt. Sinai—to be nearer the presence of the Great I AM—than practically anyone in the history of the world! And yet—in Leviticus chapter 10 we are told—Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD! Fire—flames came from the presence of the LORD—and killed them—killed them! Unauthorized fire! What is that? Did they use the wrong charcoal—coals from the wrong place? Did they offer incense at the wrong time of day? Did they do something only their father Aaron was supposed to do? Were they under the influence of alcohol when they burned the incense? There is a warning against drinking—just a few verses later! Was there something wrong with their attitude? Were they proud and puffed up? Was there some jealousy? Were they impatient—like this is taking too long? Have you ever made a mistake in church? Have you ever been in this building with a bad attitude? Has your mind wandered? Have you failed to pay attention? What if the very next time you do—and you have been warned—fire rained down from heaven on you—would you have reason to be worried? Jeremiah wrote, “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness…” Lamentations 2:33f It is never an easy thing to minister before the LORD. It is for God’s people to pray for their workers—to help them—not criticize and complain about them—but to build them up and encourage them as we serve the LORD together! For all the mistakes I have made in Church—Jesus bled and suffered and died—so that all my sins and mistakes are washed away completely! The ringing of the very small bells on the hem of Aaron’s robe were very soft little reminders of the mercy and goodness of God!

Do you know any famous people—I mean really famous? I have never met the Queen of England. But if I had to—really really had to. I think I could do it. I would call my friend Mr. Fairhurst—who I know for a fact knows people in positions of power and authority in Scotland Yard who actually guard the Queen. I am supremely confident my friend Mr. Fairhurst could get me into Buckingham Palace if I asked him! I have never met the President of the United States. But if I had to—really really had to I think I could do that, too. I have a friend named Steve who used to help write speeches for the first President Bush. I would call my friend Mr. Zambo who could call the first President Bush and he could make arrangements for me to talk to the current President Bush and I could get ushered into the White House. Now that I think about it—I think I’m going to look up my friend Jimmy Gantner. It seems he opened a coffee shop not too far from here. The purpose—not so much to sell coffee as to do outreach—to tell people about Jesus. How cool is that? What matters is not playing professional baseball—being famous as a major league ball player. What matters is living your life to serve Jesus and to share Jesus. That’s all that matters! Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz