Reformation Training: When You Don’t Deal with the Clouds

Leviticus 10:1–3 “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded. So fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when he said, ‘I will display my holiness through those who come near me. I will display my glory before all the people.’ ” And Aaron was silent.” Leviticus 10:8–10 “Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your descendants must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle. If you do, you will die. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation. You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common, between what is ceremonially unclean and what is clean.”

V1-3:

Nadab and Abihu were priests who’s job was to take care of the Tabernacle (God’s place of dwelling) and handle sacrifices/offerings God’s way.

Nadab and Abihu created a fire in God’s presence that was different than what He had commanded.

When offerings or sacrifices were made, and you see fire was started, it was because the Lord started the fire. Man did not start the fires.

Man obeyed God by following His commands He spoke to them and when completed in full obedience, God would send fire.

Fire was symbolic of His judgement (in a good or bad way) and purification. So if an offering or sacrifice was consumed by fire, depending on what it was for, that judgement would be made final in the eyes of God and purification would happen.

Nadab and Abihu offered their own fire instead.

The translation we are reading out of calls it “the wrong kind of fire”. That word “wrong” means STRANGE, UNAUTHORIZED, PROHIBITED. As you look deeper into the word, the word is also used for “strangers”, “enemies”, or one who has “turned aside”

This means that what Nadab and Abihu did wasn’t something that someone who had a relationship with God or wanted to obey God would do.

We don’t know their motivation for their disobedience, but we do know one thing: their judgment was clouded in some way.

In response to what they had done, God took this relationship with them and their job for Him so seriously that because they disobeyed, they had to be punished. Their punishment resulted in death.

Moses reminds Aaron, their father, of what God desires above all: His holiness and glory to be displayed.

The point: God wants to be treated as holy (respected for His position of being pure and above all) and He wants us to worship Him for His glory. It is all about Him and nothing else.

This doesn’t mean that we should fear coming before God. We can come as we are before God, but we can’t come in our own way. (John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” )

Not only should we come by the right way, but we should come before God with our focus on Him. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bring our needs before Him. It means we cannot be focused on us, what we know, what we think, and how we feel. We should come to God with Him as the sole focus.

Awhile back, I mentioned that through what we were reading, we could see that Nadab and Abihu’s judgment was clouded. Their lack of clarity of mind led to disobedience. What took away their clarity?

Leviticus 10:8–10 “Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your descendants must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle. If you do, you will die. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation. You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common, between what is ceremonially unclean and what is clean.”

These statements, immediately following Nadab and Abihu’s disobedience, could potentially indicate that they were drunk as they were serving and ministering in the presence of God.

God goes on to say that is it a permanent law that must observed because they needed the ability to distinguish between what is sacred and common.

Sacred: set apart, holy thing to give to God alone

Common (doesn’t just mean whats normal): unholy, profane (disgusts God)

So the reason for their disobedience wasn’t just random. The disobedience resulted in unchecked things (clouds) in their life that blocked their ability to discern the difference between what pleased God and what did not please Him.

If you don’t deal with the clouds, you’ll get lost in the storm.

Nadab and Abihu’s unchecked clouds were alcohol. They allowed a little compromise into their life that ended up interfering with the presence of God’s priority in their life and it caused their downfall.

Romans 13:11–14 “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.”

V14 talks about “thinking about ways to indulge your evil desires”. The NKJV says “make provision for the flesh (human, evil desires)”. This is talking about giving your desires that are not Christ-like free rein.

Your cloud may not be alcohol. Your clouds may be sex, stirring up division, being jealous, and involving yourself with people who are not committed to a life of godliness.

If you aren’t in a relationship with Christ, today is the day to get a new set of clothes. To pick up a new way of life by being changed into a new creation. If you are in a relationship with Jesus, it is time to shed the dirty clothes you’ve put on over your robe of His blood over your life. V11 says WAKE UP!

Last week I made the statement that Reformers are not Conformers. If we are going to be reformers in this day, that God has called us to…if we are going to reform worship back to its original place, we have to go through some transformation ourselves. We gotta let go of some old junk. We gotta have our eyes cleaned out.

Romans 12:1–2 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

The way of reformation is a daily transformation.

SURRENDER YOURSELF WHOLLY TO GOD

“Body” in V1 didn’t just mean your physical body. It means “body and self”

Ask Him to reveal things in your life that are not pleasing to Him

2. DON’T LOOK TO THE WORLD FOR HELP WITH CHANGE

Not only ask God what needs to leave your life, but ask Him for help!

V2 says “let God transform you into a new person…”. This means that behavior modification practices, psychology method, or self-help book will NOT make you a new person. You CANNOT make yourself new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Christ makes you the new creation.

3. PRAY FOR DISCERNMENT

You will only know how to please God by becoming new in Him.

V2 finishes by saying, “THEN…”. You become a new creation and THEN you will learn to know God’s will for you and what pleases Him. You will learn how to examine, approve, and discern what is God and what is not.

Discernment: the sound judgement which makes possible the distinguishing of good from evil and the recognition of God’s right ways for his people.

Nadab and Abihu let their desires go unchecked and started mingling with worldly practices. They lost discernment between what pleased God (sacred) and what didn’t (common).

In this day, in this culture, in this world, and even in the church, we must be able to tell the difference. This is what Paul warned Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:1–5 “You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!”

To be able to stay pure in a contaminated culture…

To be able to please God in a day where many do not care…

To be able to tell the difference between what is God and what is not…

WE MUST GET THINGS RIGHT WITH GOD, WE MUST STOP LOOKING TO THE WORLD FOR SOLUTIONS, AND INSTEAD PRAY FOR GOD TO OPEN OUR EYES TO WHAT PLEASES HIM.