The Worship Fire
2003 : Week 6

Praise God! We had another reader step up to submit today’s message; Marcus Leman is a faithful brother in Christ who attends Crossroads Ministry in Normal, Illinois. Marcus is currently a student, and he’s also part of the praise and worship team at Crossroads. If you don’t know Marcus, he truly is a pleasure to be around. He’s 20 going on 75; he exudes a wisdom and peace well beyond his years. Marcus is an example of the peace that God can bestow in the heart of a faithful servant, but his calm demeanor does not hide his passion for God. We’ve seen him get ‘fired up’ during praise services, and this is as it should be. I think you’ll appreciate the beautiful message God has laid on his heart. My brothers and sisters, who will testify next?

Leviticus 6 as revealed by the Holy Spirit to Marcus Leman…

The Israelites seemed to have a pretty good understanding of worship. The entire book of Leviticus is like a worship manual that God gave them. A good definition of worship might be ascribing to God the incredible glory, honor, and worth due to His name through every aspect of our lives. In the contemporary setting, we’ve seen the image of fire used over and over to portray the Christian life. Keep that image in mind as we look at this passage.

• “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out…” I am by no means an Old Testament scholar but let’s try to unpack the imagery here and apply it. The altar is a symbol of our lives and the fire is like our worship burning to the Lord. To heed this command we have been given, the fire must not go out! Our worship of God must not be quenched by the things of this world. So how do we do that?



• “Every morning the priest is to add firewood…” I love this part, God doesn’t just tell us to keep the fire going and leave us hanging; He continues the instruction. Each morning we need to add fuel to the fire to keep it burning brightly. Just as a fire cannot continue to burn without wood, so too our worship cannot continue burning if we don’t spend time with Him each morning. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces, reflect (contemplate, behold) the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
  
  Did you catch it? If we are to burn brighter for God, there is one thing to do, behold God’s glory. This image gives me new purpose in my “quiet time.” I’m not just reading to read or praying to pray but to behold God, to fuel the fire of life, to build up my worship of Him. What a challenge to take up each morning!
  
  
• “…arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it.” I had to do some research but the fellowship offering in Leviticus is a symbol of being in right relationship with God. This is the right relationship we are attempting to cultivate each morning. But I think the fat of the fellowship offering has some significance here as well; the fat was the best part of the sacrifice. As Christians, we are called to offer unto God acceptable worship (Heb 12:28-29), but God wants more than a sacrifice; He wants our best obedience (see I Sam 15:22). God looks at the heart and not just the actions because He wants more than mere lip service. Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah writing, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain…” (Mark 7:6-7). We can make it look like we are fueling the fire but God sees what we are really using, rotten wood that burns poorly. We must give the fat of the offering, acceptable worship, our best obedience; this is what God calls us to give, let’s do so!



• And in His grace, knowing how prone we are to wander, God concludes in repetition, “The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.” So let’s do it, let’s keep the fire burning in our lives and keep our passion fresh each morning and heed the urgings of Romans 12:1, that in view of God’s mercy we should offer our bodies (lives) as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, as a spiritual act of worship.

“Oh God, you are awesome in Your power and strength, we worship You and You alone! Be honored in our lives, give us a passion for You, a passion for Your word, and a passion to see You made known in all the earth. Be exalted, O God, be glorified in us. May the darkened world see the light of our worship burning brightly and be changed upon witnessing such a sight. Mold us and make us after Your will, light the fire Lord. In Christ’s name, Amen”


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