The True Source of Ministry

The True Source of Ministry

Leviticus 8:²² And he brought the second ram, the ram of consecration. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, ²³and Moses killed it. Also he took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴Then he brought Aaron’s sons. And Moses put some of the blood on the tips of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. And Moses sprinkled the blood all around on the altar.

In respect to the passage above, it is important to note what happened at that particular point in the consecration of the Priesthood. The ram of consecration was brought and the priesthood placed the full weight of their body on it symbolizing the transferring of their sin to it, and then it was slain, the blood was taken and put on various parts of the body of the priests.

There are three aspects of consecration; identifying with the sacrifice; the shedding of blood; and the sprinkling of blood. According to Jewish tradition, identifying with the sacrifice is the laying on of hands. Where the full weigh of the person is pressed against the sacrificial animal, symbolic of the transferring of the weight of sin, or identifying with the animal. The second is, the shedding of blood, which forms the death aspect. The blood poured out is the life poured out, delivered up, or let go. Third, the sprinkling of the blood which forms the life aspect, implying that now there is no longer anything of the self life, but they were now set aside, which is the definition of holy, living in YAHVEH. That is consecration.

 

John 17:¹⁹“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. In this particular scripture we see YAHVEH praying for His disciples, this is in essence YAHVEH’s Prayer.  Yahushua was advancing to the altar in an act of consecration of Himself on behalf of His disciples whom He seeks to bring to full maturity. As the sacrificial lamb, Yahushua here was, in essence, doing what was done to the priesthood in Leviticus 8.

The whole man was brought under the realm of consecration on three areas: association, the death, and the life. Association with the Messiyah, death in the Messiyah, and the life resume in the Messiyah. Another aspect of this is shown in the three areas being anointed, their ear, their hand, and their foot. The governing of the ear. The works of the hand, and their walk with YAHVEH.

The governing of the ear, implying that YAHVEH is to have supreme control of the ear, the priesthood must come to the place where the ear is dead to every other controlling voice, every other governing suggestion, and is alive only unto hearing from YAHVEH.

It is quite obvious that in some way, the governing faculty of the ministry is the ear, as the old saying goes to the extent to which we hear we will hear.  This suggestion may arise from our own temperament and make up, the constraining thing in our lives may be our natural inclination that pull and push of our constitution, the deep-rooted ambitions, which are simply part of the flesh man. To listen in the flesh is to have our lives governed by our own self-interests. How many things can come to us, in the form of a voice to which, if we listen, we shall become slaves and servants to, making the ears the governing agent in our lives.

The anointing of the right ear is illustrative to the ministry, that the shedding, that slaying, was the slaying of their ears in respect of all such voices, and the sprinkling means that we now have a ear only for the Voice of Adonai. He alone is to have the controlling voice in the lives of the Ministry. The right ear is the place of honor and power, as far as hearing is concern. When the ministry says we are consecrated, it means that we have brought to death in Yahushua all governing and dominating voices other than the Voice of YAHVEH. We are not to consult the voice of our own interests, our own ambitions, our own inclinations, or the voice of anyone else’s desires for us. Too often the spouses of too many pastor have a much greater influence, than YAHVEH. The minister must have an ear only for YAHVEH! That is consecration.

In relation to the congregation, the minister must have a listening ear. Many ministers hear, and yet do not hear, they have ears and they hear not, because they do not listen. YAHVEH says many things to us, and we do not hear His still small voice. There must be a quiet time in the life of the minister for YAHVEH to speak to us in every situation. The enemy of our soul will fill us with activity, making it impossible for us to have the relationship we are supposed to have with Him. The ear of the minister must be an ear that has reached maturity in hearing the Voice of YAHVEH. The child has an ear that hears a sound, and it responds to that sound but that child does not necessarily understand that sound. But as it grows, it begins to understand the meaning of those sounds.  In the same way, there are spiritual ears, a consecrated ear is marked by the same growth and process the child goes through. Like a child the ear must be obedient to the Word of YAHVEH, so that through obedience to the written word develops the ability to hear the Voice of YAHVEH.

Then we come to the works of the hands, and upon the right hand was the right thumb. YAHVEH must have the place of honor and strength in the activities of our life, and in the work of our life. The point is, that in whatever we are doing, or about to do, in all our service, there must be death to self, not self-serving, or our own pleasure, exaltation, reputation nor serving the world system.

In the death to our personal works we die to all that, and now we die to our hands in whatever it does. However if we work in this world system, whatever activity one chooses to engage in, our hand is to be dead to selfish interest. Ecclesiastes 9:¹⁰ “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”

The Apostle Paul exhorts us about serving being done that men might see, as by men pleasers, and not unto YAHVEH. He was speaking largely to the slave of those days. He was not sanctioning slavery, but was stating that in whatever position we find ourselves, it was our attitude towards what we do, that was important. We must fulfill our service, not as unto those who are our master, but as unto YAHVEH. We must question ourselves as to why we are in any given situation, as to what is our governing motive or ambition? The minister must be able to say that any personal or worldly consideration is dead, and that our service now is resigned to giving of ourselves to what is difficult, unpleasant, and uninteresting for YAHVEH’s pleasure.

The way to promotion is a continuous self-crucifixion. YAHVEH will not and cannot exalt us and give us a more glamorous position if He does not find us faithful in the small, mundane tasks. This is the way in which we come into that position where YAHVEH gets more out of our lives than we imagine He is getting. There is a priestly ministry in doing that, which is difficult and unpleasant with a YAHVEHly attitude. The idea of being girded with a linen ephod at the time when we are asked to change the car tire for an old lady in the church when no one is watching.

It may or may not come to light one day that the old lady might say, I proved that Yahushua is a reality in you, simply by seeing the way in which you do what you did. You did it in a way that is convincing to me that Yahushua lives in you.

Now we consider the right foot and it’s big toe. Upon the great or big toe of the right foot, YAHVEH is to have the direction of our lives that our going out and coming in, are to be controlled by YAHVEH’s interests. We are not always called to go; sometime to stay put is what YAHVEH requires of us. Human nature is to get up and go, we are so eager to go, and often YAHVEH has difficulty to get us to go His way.

Our going and coming should be rendered dead to all but YAHVEH. The life of the minister has been poured out, it has been let go, and it has been taken away, the life, which used to be ours has been taken up to another level. This walk that we now have is a dedicated, holy walk, set a part. The work holy in the Hebrew is Kadosh meaning to be set apart unto YAHVEH. It is a walk that seeks the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life.

As Moses met YAHVEH at the burning bush as he was taking care of his father-in-law’s sheep, so he led the children of Yisrael back to where he meets YAHVEH. If Moses’ walk was not a perfect YAHVEH fearing walk he could not have found YAHVEH. Can your leader take you to where he meets YAHVEH?