Sermon Tone Analysis

What Do You Give A Priest

Frankincense - In Biblical times the priest would burn frankincense as an offering unto God.

It was signifacent in antiquity times not only for the priest of Yahweh but for false worship as well which lead to condemnation for those who would brake that law as Israelites imitating the surrounding nations who practiced idol worship.

They would be executed or banished from the community of God’s people.

This was forbidden as only the priest were allowed to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people and they had to follow strict protocols.

Now this is important because we come off of the anointing of the priesthood in which these two men had been ordained by the man of God to serve God’s people in a correct form and fashion, to follow the exact steps as priest leading God’s people in worship of Him.

This is what they did not do.

They did not lead the people in worshipping the Lord in spirit and truth.

In other words they performed their duties careless and recklessly.

This was critical in that it cost them their lives.

Now we don’t know exactly what they did, that brought this judgement on them, but we have a clear picture that they paid for it with their lives.

See the whole command of God wanting man to follow His directions to the end was clearly a problem from the very beginning.

This was the beginning of establishing the priesthood and they couldn’t get it right from day one!

But go back and look at the verse before that:

But how do we worship Him that way?

That is the age old question.

You see the issue was clear, Jesus was explaining to the woman that it wasn’t about where you worshipped God but how you worshipped Him.

Much like us we get stuck on our ritualistic worship.

What day we worship, what denomination we are in and why our worship is right and yours is wrong, how we do worship, is this the right way or is that the right way?

How we give in our worship?

Do we give this much or should we give that much?

We get tied into all the things that God is not concerned with.

God’s concern is simple.

Spirit and Truth

well what is spirit and truth Pastor P?

Spirit is hearing what God says to you and being obedient to it.

When the Holy Spirit God’s spirit speaks to your heart how do you respond?

There will always be a difference in opinions and personalities, this is what makes life so grand in that we are all different with different views and ideas.

But as believers all believers, are we operating in Gods spirit?

The Magi were listening to God in all aspects of their journey to see Jesus and find Jesus.

For they had been searching with due diligence and excitement to come and see Jesus the High Priest.

The redeemer for all mankind.

The wisemen operated in faith believing that God would show them the truth.

See this was never about religion but completely about restoring relationship with God.

It could only be done one way, the right way.

Through Jesus who was the perfect offering and represented the perfect High Priest.

Literally, “at-one-ment,” the making at one of those who have been separated.

The word is used of Christ’s dying to bring God and sinners together.

Sin had separated them (Isa.

59:2) and made them enemies (Col.

1:2); it was thus a very serious matter.

A many-sided act was required to remove that sin; words like redemption and reconciliation bring out significant aspects of Christ’s saving work.

Whatever had to be done about sin, Christ’s death did, and thus opened up salvation for sinners.

Unlike days of old when the priest went before God with the incense into God’s presence it was now coming to God through the sacrifice of Jesus.

He presented himself as the sweet fragrant offering to God.

As the High Priest.

See the Magi already knew who Jesus was, by faith they sought Him out, to see the truth.

Listen, when Jesus sat down in a place of honor it signified that all sacrifices where finished and it no longer was a need for the priest to take anything to the alter for you.

This is why Jesus sat down, because all was finished.

Everything now would be done in spirit and in faith.

You would go before God as a child of God and confess your sins and Jesus would say to the father it has already been taken care of Dad, remember I laid my life on the alter for them.

Since they have accepted me into their hearts that means they are operating in spirit and truth.

Being lead by the Holy Spirit and in Faith.

This is what mattered to the wisemen and this is why they gave Him that gift.

The perfect gift to the Highest Priest.

This gift that would be used to end all sacrifices, this gift would be used to change the traditions of old.

This gift would be used to set the sinner free from religious rhetoric and binding practices.

Finally the Incense offered a sweet fragrance of prayer before God and as the High Priest, Jesus will always intercede on our behalf to the Father God.

He will always be the defense for our short comings in God.

Prayer is much like a check to be countersigned by two parties.

I sign the check and send it up to heaven.

If Jesus Christ also signs it, it does not matter how large it is—it will be honored.

Listen going forward remember that Jesus paid the ultimate price.

He became the perfect sacrifice for all our shortcomings.

We no longer needed a middle man to intercede on our behalf and we no longer needed animals which will was away none of our sins.

we got the perfect sacrifice when we accept him into our hearts, He is the High Priest for all who will accept Him.

Let’s Pray.