BY GBILE AKKANI
(Living Seed Vol. 9 No. 3 June 2002)
lso, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Isaiah 6:8
From Isaiah’s experience in the above passage, we earlier discovered that a man can be preaching up and down as Isaiah was doing, yet, God will never cease to ask “whom shall I send and who will go for Us?”. Isaiah never saw or knew that his very position had been advertised. But something happened that made him to start thinking and that experience brought Isaiah to a stand still where he met and knew God better. Isaiah suddenly discovered that God was looking for someone else apart from him.
What could be wrong with a man like Isaiah that God had to look for someone else despite the fact that he was there in full-time ministry? When Moses died it was normal for God to advertise his position and when it was time for Elijah to go, God also advertised to the sons of the prophets if there was any one of them who was willing to come in. But I cannot understand how a man is actively ministering, and having what we call a fiery message yet heaven is still asking “whom shall we send, and Who shall go for Us?” If any body over-heard that cry of God, the person would wonder what the reason was, seeing that someone like Isaiah was already there. But heaven seemed to be saying Isaiah was there as if there was nobody. Whatever he seemed to be doing, from heaven’s point of view, was “undone”. The God-head was not making any profit, and there was no concrete advancement in that ministry. There was plenty of activities, sweating and movement… but no displacement. Not every movement is an advancement you know. Rotation is also a movement of some sort but in a circle; so the advancement is zero-displacement. A swing is also a movement but with no tangible advancement. Such is the kind of ministries and services that several are up to today in the name of the Lord. And that is why from heaven’s perspective, several active ministries are “unprofitable” and “undone” such that while they are going on, God is still crying for a replacement – a servant that will satisfy His heart. Ours may not be like Isaiah’s but I pray that God will provide for us an occasion that will drive us back to check if our ministry is also not ‘undone’.
The cry of my own heart is why should I be there and heaven will say there is nobody yet? We will therefore try to trace what was wrong in the ministry of Isaiah and such similar ministries and why God will go out of His way to allow such ‘ministries’ to go on, even provide for, and support them, knowing that He is quietly looking for a perfect alternative, and will at the end discard them. It is this that has brought a serious fear to my heart when I now realize that support, provisions, and several other additions to a man’s life and ministry may not be the most important single yardstick that what a man is doing has fully met God’s approval. Let the wilderness experience of the children of Israel be a lesson to our hearts…
“And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against Me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in Mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunnen, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniqitities, even forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against Me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die”. Num. 14: 26-35.
From the above scriptures, you could see that after the provocation by the evil report and unbelief of ten out of the twelve men who went out to spy the promised land, God already concluded with an oath that none of those men will enter the promised land, but perish in the wilderness. I expected the children of Israel to start dying from thirst, hunger and in the hands of their several enemies who ambushed them on their journey. The amazing thing was that God gave them water from the rock, meat for their hunger… and fought for them against all their enemies. Who was God doing all this for? To a rebellious people… A people He swore to destroy! Man of God, this is why this matter of finding out what kind of man and service God is looking for has become very crucial in my heart. Could it be that the kind of ministry you are serving with all the sweat, fanfare, seeming successes and breakthroughs and supports is just being reserved for this kind of purpose? Could it be that God has been allowing you just so that He can find a ready made example of a weak and faulty ministry to point people to, if not in your life-time, maybe when you are gone?
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1Cor10: 1-5; 11-12.
This is why you must bend down again to discover what kind of ministry God really wants and has ordained for your life, and what is the pre-requisite for that kind of ministry, so that like Isaiah and some other men we may see shortly, you do not end up with a permissive and remedial testimony and ministry, while God is busy searching underground for His kind of man. Just when you would have sat down to enjoy a glorious reward and a place of honor, in disgrace you may watch all your works discarded without a trace and that is if you were able to escape with your own life.
“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” 1 Cor 3:13, 15 (KJV)
The fault in Isaiah’s ministry was an intrinsic and foundational problem that was not peculiar to Isaiah alone. The kind of pattern and order of ministry that Isaiah labored in was descended from the levitical priesthood, which in itself originated from Aaron. So the issues God will be raising about the fault in Isaiah’s ministry are not peculiar to Isaiah, but common to the whole of that order. The major problems that affected the effectiveness of Isaiah’s service were also the problems that rendered several of his contemporaries ineffective in dealing with men on behalf of God. To trace this weakness, we may have to leave Isaiah and concentrate on Aaron, since this pattern of weak ministry did not originate from Isaiah. Aaron, to us, is a standard for all who served God under that kind of faulty pattern.
Furthermore, we will study the ministry of Aaron by doing a comparative study with what we believe to be God’s perfect pattern: JESUS. After all it is the revelation of His perfect ministry that exposed Aaron’s kind of service for what it is. Moreso that God by His grace has revealed this perfect servant for us to see, and given a public testimony of Him saying: “…This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased hear ye Him.” Matt. 3:17
Please note that God said ‘I am well pleased with Him’ not well pleased with His activities or with His deeds. For God, the question of “whom” seems to have been answered in Christ Jesus. God also said of Him: “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles”. Isa 42:1. What are the things that God saw in Christ that He did not find in Aaron or any of his disciples and descendants who are in God’s service years even before Jesus came?
“Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest Should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth from another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our lord sprang out af Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the semilitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. Heb.7: 4-18.
WHAT IS THE FAULT?
1. The authority was physical and not spiritual
“… for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.”
As we earlier said, something rendered impotent the ministry of Aaron and several priests that took after this order including people like Isaiah. It appeared very wonderful as a way of ministry and as a way of serving God. But it had a fault The fault was not with the method, the programs, the liturgies, the gadgets, the activities, nor the instruments that were used for that ministry. The first of that fault was mentioned in verse 16
Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Heb7: 16
The first weakness of this kind of ministers and ministries is that they are made not out of a personal anointing or by the possession of an inner life of God, but by an official, constitutional arrangement or appointment.. . “the law of a carnal commandment”. You have met several of such men (some are self made). They are there in Ministry, but with no inner Life, no compelling force that the power of sound character exacts. There is no discipline, no honesty and transparency, No Purity, No intergrity! They have lost all personal respect among the congregational members and the community where they are well Known. Outwardly they look all right, but move closer and then you will discover pettiness
and diverse manifestations of unbridled ‘flesh’ and passions.
There are pastors and pastors’ wives that are double tongued. If any of the members should share any secrets with them by virtue of their position, before you know it, the news is all over the church and the town. Gossip and tale bearing have perforated their personality. Some are like the Pharisees Jesus referred to in Luke 20:46-47 . As soon as they put on their Clergy robes and collars, because of unbridled appetite and “stomach problem”, they move about in widows’ houses, rich men and other vulnerable parishioners in the pretext of visitations, long prayers and prophesies but only to taste delicacies and assorted wines. (No wonder several are pot-bellied). You just need to go to some Government offices to see the number of clergy lining up to see the “big man”.
For some, it is indebtedness that has closed their mouth in ministry. For a pastor to owe here and there is despicable. It is a contradiction to the life of contentment and faith in God that he is called to teach God’s people, all because he cannot maintain a simple standard of living or live within his income. Some may have even preached loudly against worldliness, but it is just a cover up. Inside their hearts is a bundle of “super market” with a lot of “buying and selling”. Some do not even have good homes… fighting, nagging, and quarrelling all covered up on Sundays with cultivated saintly languages. But those who live very close to the “man of God” know that it is all a hoax. His home is a collection of undisciplined and rough children. He himself is selfish and a glutton while exhorting members to live sacrificially and give for God’s work. Full of hypocrisy, he says but never does. He preaches vehemently on prayers, calls for prayer meetings and night vigils, but hardly attends, and even when he does, it is to hide in his office and sleep. He hears a message on witnessing, and with tears diagnoses that the reason the church is not growing is lack of evangelism. He charges everybody to a life of witnessing for Christ, but he himself has never won a soul for Christ, not even his children or his family members. Partisan politics, late night movies, satellite dish television, soccer, and other home entertainment videos will not spare him enough time to receive correct utterance for men on their journey to an eternal doom. Although he can preach on the need to be a good citizen and the need to forsake your rights if need be, but wait until his salary is delayed, or his cash requisitions are queried by the elders or finance committee, with all profanity he will tell them the stories of their lives. It is this that made God declare such ministries unprofitable. What is outside by window dressing and elaborate decorations is more glorious than what is within. Their standard and quality of lives are ordinary and common. What common people are struggling with is what has also mastered them. There is nothing noble and glorious about their daily habits and characters…
“And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, You are to distinguish between the holy and the common…” Lev. 10:8,10 RSV
Such insist on doing God’s work by remaining in leadership or the pulpit. They hush all protest, and subdue all brethren under them by the force of the certificate or degree from a theological school they attended, or perhaps because the denomination that they are in-charge of is owned by their parents or by a related “big man of God” somewhere. For some, it could even be by a democratically elected process. There are even ministries today where ministers’ appointment and progress are by quota system or tribal sentiments, and not necessarily by the grace of God on the individual lives or the manifestation of a better quality of life than others. There are even perhaps others whose emphasis is on age: Either the chronological age of the minister or the years of joining the ministry as if these are the primary considerations. These criteria may have some places, but they are definitely not the primary. Ministry is not a civil service where men devoid of an inner Life are made to advance through the rung of the ladder. For some it is even the titles they are bearing that constitute their authority for subduing men around them. One could have all this and lack the spiritual authority that comes from the approval of God for ministry. To some, it is a “do or die” career where you advance by scheming, lobbying, or ganging-up to form a subtle union, a pressure group or a formidable force within the ministry to demand for some conditions of service or benefits.
Several “men of God” so called in many denominations today are those whom the Bible identified as using ministry “as a cloak of covetousness…” They are in ministry for what they can eat or drink. Several drop-outs from colleges who will not even qualify for any reasonable secular employment can “bootlick” their way round another big “bishop” of their kind and get them to arrange an ordination… by pouring oil on their heads before a gullible congregation. Because this kind of men have no genuine burden for men, there is no inherent power in their lives to command following and affect men for God; so you see a lot of threats, cajoles, and sometimes outright lies inside the rank and file of the leadership all in a bid to keep men around themselves. Some have resorted to magical and fetish powers to augment for their lack of spiritual authority, Yet others resort to their “soulish” powers; hypnotizing with their personalities… Those who are brilliant enough, use their oratory and charisma to put jokes, poetry, rhythm and syllables into Bible verses and pass it on as “thus says the Lord”. Those who are less fortunate with their “IQs” make up with slangs, emotionalism, and plenty of meaningless alleluias and “state -of -the -art” choruses. There are yet others who use psychology; “native wisdom” and the knowledge of human behavior and public relations to run what should have been a purely spiritual ministry. Bro. Paul encountered several of such in his ministry:
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1Cor.2: 1-5.
But you see, Jesus was not made a high priest by any constitutional arrangement or by an official appointment. Neither was it inherited because His father was a high priest whom He could have taken His place whether He had the anointing or not. But what qualified Him was the fact that “He was made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life”. Unlike Aaron, what made Him a pastor was located in His life. It is the lack of this power that life commands that was the bane of those early ministers.
“…For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” Heb. 7:18-19.
This is the heavenly summary of a full time ministry of somebody. The Bible calls it weak and unprofitable. You may carelessly read that story and think that they are just talking of doctrine and the things that are just in the Old Testament. The fault that God has in that arrangement is located not in structure. Structure has never been God’s problem anywhere. Structures are methodologies. Where the fault was located was in life. When God found fault in the lives of those men, God decided to disannul it. If anybody had asked God why He cancelled the ministry of Aaron for which he surrendered all his life, descendants and the family, God would say, because it was “weak and unprofitable”. This unprofitableness He said had to do with a fault in the life. God must open our eyes to understand that if God could annul a great order like that of Aaron, and the Levitical arrangement, not because the structure was wrong, (after all God gave the structure); not because they made mistake about the routine, for they always did according to patterns, but because He found a fault that is located in their lives, then I want you to check whether God is not already looking for another man despite what you are doing. Could God not be running at a loss keeping you as a preacher in your community? There was a fault that rendered that ministry impotent and the work of God ever “undone”. And because of that fault, God had to look elsewhere to change that order. If God should find the same fault that He found with the ministry of Aaron, and all that arose after that order, in the ministry of any of us He will look away and look for someone else even today. Brother, I do not think any of you as a pastor is more occupied in ministry than Aaron and those priests. As soon as Aaron took over the office of the priest he slept in the church so that every morning he would arrange the table of shew bread and keep the candle on the altar burning. He checked to make sure every thing was in order every evening. Incenses must be burnt. These are things that must be done continually. If somebody died for him he must not cry. So if we are talking of dedication to service, consecration in ministry, absolute baptism into the work, these men surpassed us. Yet God found a fault.
You could even be a leader that had a “correct life before…maybe in your struggling days, before you became recognized. When you were still small and many did not know you like they do today -see how beautiful your inner life and character was…humble, pure and contented with Christ alone. See how you daily by earnest prayers and the Word of God searched out all the inner crevices of your heart for any trace of ambition or any other manifestations of the flesh. And see how you were so afraid of touching the Lord’s Glory, and of taking credit in any small way for any work done in the Lord’s name; see how simple your relationship with men was and see how you genuinely loved God’s children. And God in response decided to confirm you and to expose you to a little more of His glory and power, but see how quickly you have deviated; you have become addicted to bigness and power at all costs. You are no longer interested so much about your inner life that brought those things as much as you now are about maintaining your reputation and defending your new status. If you do not repent now and again cry out for the authority that comes with a correct life, you will be discarded, irrespective of what kind of authority or constitution is keeping you. God will still find His man and get His will to be done. In the Acts of the Apostles, when the Elders could no longer pay the price of obedience to the demands of the great commission but sat still in Jerusalem in the headquarters and became a formidable group or clique to consolidate themselves and their positions, God swerved hands. Imagine that the revival that suddenly burst forth did not come through their hands, but from new comers, deacons and ordinary brothers like Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, etc. No matter what legal power is behind your position, could it be more than what made the previous brethren Apostles? Theirs was from the very mouth of the Lord Jesus; He appointed them Himself. Could any constitution be stronger than that? Yet, God could not be handicapped. None of them was a sacred cow. When He could no longer get what He was looking for from their lives, He did not change their names you know, they were still the official elders, but, alas, Ichabod!
“And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Rev. 3:1
God by passed big names and big ranks and found His men in simple, unassuming positions and ordinary names, and He backed-up their lives and their ministry. Imagine God even raised an unlikely latecomer like Paul and there conferred the authority of an apostle on him.
When God found Aaron’s ministry unprofitable, even God’s promise to the lineage of Levi could not keep Him from discarding it. He discarded not just one or two priests in Aaron’s family who were probably the notorious ones, but the whole lineage, and went far away to the tribe of Judah of whom there had never been any prophecies concerning the priesthood.
“…For He of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood”.
When God said, because of its weakness and unprofitableness, there is a need for us to find out what weakened that ministry which we are now hereby emphasizing.
“Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.” “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof” Heb 7: 16,18.
God disannulled all the commandments, all the promises He had given before concerning the priesthood and service of the Aaronic priesthood when He found fault with it.
“Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” Jer 18:5-11
Brother, let me ask you again, how correct is your life now? Are you concerned about it? Or are you now more concerned about your position, your reputation and your ambition to build the biggest church or the biggest ministry in the world? Are you now power drunk? Has lust for power and for recognition, now gripped your ego? Are desires and weakness, which were hitherto not seen before when you were still small, now beginning to rise having been magnified by a sudden rise to power? I can imagine you calling several meetings now, not because you have been selfless and have been praying for men, and God has given you a word for them, but for a “head count”. Several staff meetings, several departmental meetings, and elders’ meetings are they not “head count…to assure your ego of how many top Government officials, how many masters and other degree holders, how many car owners are at your disposal…be careful, this was the way David went:
“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel…
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.” I Chron: 21:1,7,
And see how you love eye service and are quietly turning your church members into boot lickers… you make them flock around you calling you different titles: daddy, my lord, papa, mama, and the latest of such names and titles. When you say ‘ha!’ Their only reply must be ‘ho!’ None dare disagree with any thing you say or propose even when you are not totally correct. Those are the ones you give sensitive positions and ministerial opportunities to. According to you, they are the ones who have the correct credential for ministries. Others, who though nevertheless love you but choose to tell the truth always, you strategically frustrate by pushing them to areas where they can never find fulfillment in ministry.
And God is seeing all these things. His next question now is, “Who shall We send and who shall go for Us?” This was the same decision that was taken over Isaiah. But because Isaiah suddenly discovered the fault and weakness in his life despite his exalted position in ministry and he shouted out about this fault of his, God gave him a second commission. And that, not before the fault in his life was removed. Look, the Holy Spirit must help your heart. You know you have heard messages before this one but God is beginning to be tired. God said it does not profit Him to keep going on with you like this. He needs a change. Sometimes you may think that the change from the Old Testament to the New Testament, is dispensational but actually it is not first of all dispensational. We are the ones trying to explain the word dispensational. What made the Old Testament old is nothing else but the fault in the lives of the men of old. And let me say very soberly, if God finds the same fault that He found in those men that made Him disqualify them, in your own life, is there any justification in His keeping you? Several times one has carried a dress with a stain on it unknowingly especially if your room is very dark, but as soon as you come under the sunlight you will discover that there are some stains on the dress. You may be confident about yourself, and about your ministry, because the light by which you are seeing is dim. Won’t you now cry out for the Holy Spirit to beam His revealing light on you so that you might see yourself clearly for what you are?
2. Intermittent and Weak spirituality due to sins and sacrifices
“For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself.” Heb 7:26-27 KJV
“He is therefore, exactly the kind of High Priest we need; for He is holy and blameless, unstained by Sin, undefiled by sinners, and to Him has been given the place of honor in Heaven.” (LB )
“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; (NKJV)
Such a High Priest meets our need; one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the Heavens.” (NIV ).
“Jesus, then, is the High Priest that meets our needs. He is holy; He has no fault or sin in Him; He has been set apart from sinners and raised above the Heavens.” (GNB).
The word ‘separate’ as used above is not the same as the verb ‘separate’. They mean different things. The one we are using means not just separated from sinners, but different from the life of sinners. It means there was no place you would put Jesus that you would mistake Him. Even in the midst of sinners, His life was distinct and unique. He also needed not daily as those high priests to offer sacrifice for His sins.
What kind of pastor do we need for our generation and situation? One that needed not to offer sacrifices daily for his own sin. Pastor, can that be said of you? The fault that God saw with the Levitical order that made Him conclude that their priesthood was weak and unprofitable is the fact that they never could go straight to the altar until they had offered sacrifices for their own sins. In so doing they were weak in dealing with sins. A man whose life sin had weakened will be weak in dealing with the sin of the congregation. Isaiah preached the most powerful message you can think of in the Bible. But the people did not change because it was weak. What weakened it was a fault not located in the microphone or structure, neither in the message or delivery, not even in the arrangement but a fault in his own life.
And God had to remove this man, Aaron. It is as a result of his weakness and unprofitableness. Whether sin is confessed or not wherever sin is found it weakens. It makes a man unprofitable because there is a fault. This kind of man is the one we need, one who needed not daily to offer sacrifice first for his own sins before he deals with people. Are you like that? God is saying we do not need this kind of man who has been rendered impotent because of a fault in his own life. You may wonder what I am saying as you may ask whether God does not use weak men to shame the mighty. Is the glory of God not manifest because of our weakness? There is a weakness that is a compliment to the power of God but not the weakness that sin brings. The Bible says: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Rom. 6:1. What did the Bible say? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Rom. 6:2. Paul was a man who came to that level of saying “God forbid’. So why are you delaying in dealing with the matter of sin? Why do you have to make sacrifices daily? This was why the levitical priesthood was put aside. It was not because of any other thing. It was because it was weak and unprofitable. Thus when God is looking for who to send the answer is: who needed not daily to offer sacrifice for his own sins.
Sir, you have been in ministry for ten years, but-you have not finished with the work of the flesh. Is it not the reason for your daily sacrifices? Every time we are praying you do not intercede for anybody instead you are making sacrifices for you own sins. Can you hear what God says? This is not the type we need because the situation now does not permit this type. I am asking you, what have you been making sacrifices upon?
Pastors’ wives, for the past few years, what is it? Are they not those sins of your heart? Seventy five percent of your prayer life is dealing with those things. Some times, we wonder why some of us pray so much. You do not know that more than eighty percent of that prayer is a sacrifice for their own sins! And God could have accepted such sacrifices if He knows that it is once and for all! But God knows that tomorrow again, they will come.
Our generation is unfortunate to have this kind of ministers who cannot fearlessly enter into the presence of God and get some thing for us. Why? Because ninety percent of the time, they are looking for ram for sacrifices of their own! Look at a graphic illustration. Just imagine that in those days of Levitical priesthood, people had come to meet the priest to help them call God, because there was an urgent need. The priest even though would want to do the work, yet, he knew he could not enter the presence of God without first of all making a sacrifice for himself. So he would have to maybe say something like this: “Okay, I will do it but there is something I have to look for first. I have not got my own ram yet, and you know I cannot just go there without my own sacrifice.” So he had to keep the whole congregation waiting while he ran around for a sacrificial lamb for his own sins.. And you know they did not earn salary and it was not as if for their own sacrifices, there were certain rams already tied, that he would just go and carry. He had to wait until he got one before he could make a sacrifice and as long as he had not settled his own, their own remains pending.
How terrible it is that the main reason why prayers are not answered in your church is you who have no right standing with God. It is you who needed daily to offer sacrifice for your sin. There is no day you are not saying “Lord I remembered how I spoke rashly to my wife the other day”. You may go into tongues confessing your sins while the church will be thinking you are praying for them. And if you are like me who feel so confident when I see a man of God putting feet on ground saying, … “Father! In the name of Jesus!” you may be saying they are praying for us so you are shouting “Amen!” “Amen!” But it is not for you; it is for himself. And if God had not heard him, our own would not even yet be mentioned.
Excuse me brother, the sins that continually present themselves before you, as a need for sacrifice is a weakness. It makes your ministry unprofitable. Even if nobody knows about the sin, it cannot produce profit! I told you that Isaiah preached but there was no repentance! Isaiah was still preaching when Uzzaiah penetrated into his temple. What kind of message is that? The reason was its weakness because of a fault located in his life. At this time that God is talking about instruments for revival we need such men who needed not daily to offer up sacrifices for their own sins.
“Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself.” Heb 7: 27 (KJV).
I thank God for Jesus; He did not keep dealing with sins one after the other as some of us have attempted to do. What did He do? He offered up Himself once. I want to plead with you, do not talk about self, as if it is a small issue. I wish the Holy Spirit will help you to see that this thing we are talking about is the one that has been the source of all your troubles, and it need not to be dealt with little by little. How did Jesus deal with it? Once!
Sir, madam, sister, and brothers, men of God, fellow priests in the ministry of the Lord, this is the question I want you to put to yourself: Am I the kind of man that the men of this generation actually need? Am I the kind of man that God really needs? The Bible says this man is the man that befits us — one who needed not daily to offer sacrifice for his own sins. When I stumbled at this I then discovered that what God is looking for is different from what we are busy talking about. We are busy talking about money, public address system and arrangement but when God finds such men even without loudspeaker it profiteth heaven. Such men that when they pray God could not refuse and when they put their hands in a matter God could not but oblige because He has seen no iniquities.
“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” Num 23:21.
The fault that is found in the former is not located in anywhere else but in life. That is why when you give the same book that you thought is dead to a man that has life everything will change. One of the major things you will do today is to stop talking about how the world is very terrible, how there is no revival, and how these brethren are not responding. The Lord said it was poverty and a weakness of a kind that made everything to go the way it is going. That we now have to emphasize comfort before people can hear the word of God is a weakness. In the beginning it was not so. When Peter was all right, what else did he have that affected his people? Sir, I want to plead with you: let us go back to heaven, let us pray definitely. God found fault in the Levitical order and He put it aside. But do you even know that though God concluded that those ones were unprofitable He did not dismantle them. He left them while He kept looking for the Man.
When Jesus was born it was those in this priesthood who circumcised Him. They were the ones that He went to the temple after forty days to meet. And He kept going to the temple. Why did God keep the temple there? It was there serving a structure, maintaining a form, while God was in search of a new order; one that was not appointed by official constitution but by the power of an endless life. It is a continuous life, not an intermittent life. There are some of us whose lives are “die and rise’’. It will surge now then it will die. A time comes when you are just suddenly holy and things begin to happen but before we know it, it goes down and everything goes into water with it. And this is the characteristics of the lives of several ministers and ministries in our land today because of the weakness of sin and sacrifices…It has never perfected any man. It is a vicious circle, no man can progress and advance with it. It is “one step forward and two steps backward”. It is unprofitable both for life and ministry. God could never have approved this kind of service. From beginning, God had vehemently cried His disapproval to those who cared to listen:
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil hearts, and went backward, and not forward’. Jer 7:21-24.
What God is looking for is a continuous life. Not the ones that rise today and in the next days they are backward. Concerning Jesus, it was said: “And this man continued ever…” not daily and regularly offering sacrifices for His own sins. What will you do about that? God knows that if He keeps you on the job even for fifty years it will never progress and He will not make any profit from your life. You might be there while the kingdom of darkness is progressing with new inventions.
That is why you are going to pray. You are going to look at the daily sacrifices that are not incenses where you praise God. When Isaiah heard God’s verdict, he said, “I’m undone, woe is me”. And until a life coal caught him he did not leave the place of prayer. I want you to pray not that kind of prayer you have been praying for years. For four years you have not had any new topic. It is the same matter all these years. Even men are tired of you. God cannot tie His work around you especially now that the matter is very urgent. Note that the levitical priests were doing something. They were serving a purpose. It was a glorious work but the Spirit of God said it was unprofitable. You are going to ask God not to change you but to remove the fault and give you a second chance. You may even be the best of your colleagues but what does heaven say about you? You may have tried but this cannot help us, pastor.
JESUS: God’s pattern for Life And Ministry!
1. Made By the Authority that His Life Command.
“… for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.”
The first thing to note about the ministry of Jesus is that He was made not after an official constitutional arrangement or by an official appointment, neither was it inherited because His father was a high priest. He was made after the power of an endless life. The word endless is just an adjective you can remove. Being made by the power of His life makes it possible for us to identify with. Life is not the same thing as living. So many people are living without having life. Even the life we are talking about here is life that has power. And this power is not charismatic. It is the power of life.
2. He had continuous and uninterrupted spiritual life, not an intermittent one. The Bible says “But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, which passeth not from one to another: Heb 7: 24
This Man, not this programme, nor this set up. God is not talking about a set up. What God is saying about this Man, is the fact that this Man, continued ever. Before, I kept thinking that they said, He continued to live forever. But I discovered that it is the same word that the scriptures used in describing Daniel. The Bible says “And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus”. Dan. 1:21. He continued and that word continues does not mean that he was living. That word ‘continues’ means he had persisted ever in having a correct life.
3. He offered up self and hence never needed continuous sacrifices for sins.
“For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself”. Heb 7:26-27.
Everybody else sacrificed, with the exception of JESUS: The man that fits the job needed not daily to offer sacrifice. He who died once is dead once to sin and lives perpetually in an unbroken fellowship with God. He did it once when he gave up self. Jesus offered up self once and had since entered into a profitable ministry for God on behalf of mankind. He is even presently, permanently, and perpetually in the presence of God to make intercessions on our behalf…that is the kind of high priest we need! Ever since He made the sacrifice of offering up self, He rested from the issues of sin and sacrifices for sins. His prayers, His offerings, His thanksgiving were no longer sacrifices for His own sins to be forgiven so that He can have access to God for ministry, because since then heavens opened to Him, once and for all, never to close again. He ministered perpetually under an opened heaven. Each time men met Him (even without notice), they can be sure that their offerings, petitions, prayers, and problems are solved, because they are before a High Priest, a mediator, who is in perpetual touch with God. He had no obstacle located any where in His life to first of all deal with. He dealt with every sin (not one by one), but once and for all when He dealt with self! “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself “ Heb 7:27.
He did it once when He gave up self. Brother, I need to tell you that what produces every sin that you keep making sacrifices about every day is Mr. Self! The thing is making your life unstable. It is what is giving you reasons for sacrifices every time. And for a man to qualify for this work, the thing needed to be dealt with once. It took some of you three years of constant teaching to get rid of bitterness. And as you finished with that you have now turned to another area of your life. This time it is excessive anger, and you believe that God who delivered you from bitterness will also deliver you from that. Occasionally you call your wife and say: “won’t you congratulate me? God has helped me, and even this anger, it is a matter of time, and God will also deliver me. It is little by little: that is what I am making sacrifices upon every day now”. You know what God said? It is not this kind of person we need. He is weak and unprofitable!! When Jesus did it once He gave up self. And you know what He says?
“And He said to them all, if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me”, (Luke9: 23).
*For the thorough understanding of the SELF and the way out of its grip, we suggestyou read the book BECOMING LIKE JESUS… by Gbile Akanni.
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