Aaron

Introduction

Greetings…

Theme: Great People of the Bible.

Hope: To learn from those God has memorialized within the pages of scripture to help us in our day to day walk with God.

When it comes to people in the bible we consider leaders Aaron is likely not the first person we think of.

However, Aaron played a significant role and like many people in the bible he had his faults and his strengths.

Let’s examine a few things we can learn from Aaron’s life.

We All Have A Part To Play

Aaron Helped Moses.

Because Moses made the excuse that he was not a good speaker, God decided to use Aaron.

Exodus 4:14–16 ESV

14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16 He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.

Although Aaron was not the primary one that God called to lead the Israelites, he played a significant leadership role.

Without Aaron helping Moses lead the people Moses the legacy of Moses may have been completely different and even unknown.

Summary

In the same way Aaron played a different role than Moses in Israel’s history we all play different parts in the history of this congregation.

Not everyone is going to be able to stand in front of everyone and preach or teach, lead singing, or a prayer.

But everyone has a role to play in this congregation; from encouragement, to praying for others, to any number of different avenues.

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

Secondly, we learn from Aaron’s life that…

We Can Easily Be Led Astray

Aaron Built An Idol.

Not long after the Israelites stopped at Mount Sinai and Moses had gone up on the mountain to talk with God about the Law of Moses we read this in Exodus 32:1-6…

Exodus 32:1–2 ESV

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

Exodus 32:3–4 ESV

3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Exodus 32:5–6 ESV

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

Despite all that Aaron had witnessed God do along side Moses it seems unfathomable that Aaron, who had not been a slave of Egypt by the way, Aaron would “lead the people into sin.”

Exodus 32:21 ESV

21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?”

Summary

Though it isn’t clear how Aaron was so easily led astray it is clear how easily humanity can be led astray.

Friends can lead us astray (1 Corinthians 15:33).

Ignoring discipline leads us astray (Proverbs 19:27).

An easy life can lead us astray (Psalm 119:67).

Conclusion

Again, Aaron might not be the first person that comes to mind when it comes to leaders of Israel and as we just examined he had many flaws.

But God was still able to use Aaron to both help Moses and also become Israel’s spiritual leader as High Priest.

Yes we will easily, from time to time, be led astray but that doesn’t mean God is done with us.

If we continue to learn from our mistakes and take advantage of the gifts God has blessed us with we can be for God what he wants and help others do the same.

Invitation

Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Philippians 2:6–7 ESV

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Acts 17:30 ESV

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Matthew 10:32 NKJV

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

2 Thessalonians 1:8 ESV

8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Romans 6:3–5 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

1 John 1:7 ESV

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.