Parable of the Tares and Wheat and the Mustard Seed and Yeast Matthew 13:24-43

      24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Matthew 13:24-30

       The Parable of the tares and wheat are stated by Jesus in Matthew 13:24-30 and then it is explained to the disciples in Matthew 13:36-43.   Jesus is telling us that not everyone who claims to be a part of the church is.    In this parable, the wheat represent the children of God and the tares represent those of the earth who are ruled by Satan.  These grow together and that until the wheat form a head of grain they are difficult if not impossible to tell apart.  This suggests that there are counterfeits in the church who claim to be believers but are not.  Jesus said that these two will be allowed to grow together until the very end of the age or the harvest when the tares will be destroyed in eternal fire.

      It may be surprising to the reader today how many times Jesus refers to the eternal fire of judgment for those who don't call him Lord and Savior.  There are some denominations and church which seek to suggest that any punishment that a person experiences in eternity will be temporary or the person will be annihilated in the end.  There is nowhere in scripture that supports such a view.  Jesus spent an enormous amount of his time talking about eternal punishment where the fire is not quenched and the worm doesn't die.  Jesus talks more about this in the parable of the sheep and the goats mentioned in Matthew 25:31-46.  In the end, one group goes off the eternal punishment while the righteous go to eternal life.  Scripture doesn't minimize eternal punishment.

     We see the corruption of the church also in Jesus parable of the leaven.  Leaven was a symbol of evil and sin.  The birds mentioned in Jesus parable of the mustard seed typically symbolize evil such as in Jeremiah 5:26,27 and Rev 18:2.  These parable are talking about the fast growth of the church both externally and internally.  As with many other things, evil people sought to use the church for their own purposes and it did not take long after Jesus' life and death and resurrection for people to come along and peddle their own version of the gospel for their own evil purposes.   If you read about the history of the church you will see that soon after the apostles are gone there is much corruption of the church.  The birds, those who are evil, seek the safety and shade of the church to try and corrupt it.  Jesus, John and Peter all warned that there would be false teachers who would arise after Jesus' resurrection.

     Years ago, when I spoke a message at the church in Philippi, WV about the absence of leaven in the Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciple. I hadn't really intended to speak about it and it wasn't emphasized in my notes and seemed that the church there had never heard that lesson before.  Someone who was in the back of the room who had been on the communion committee mouthed the words "sorry".  I didn't understand why she was apologizing until we lifted the lid off the bread for communion and there was normal bread there.  When Jesus ate the Passover meals with his disciples and later at the Last Supper no leaven would have been present.  Leaven represents sin in the story and the absence of it speaks about how we are to be separate from the world.  

31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”  33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three [c]measures of meal till it was all leavened.”  Matthew 13:31-33

     The parable of the mustard seed that Jesus gives in Matthew 31-32 is very interesting.  It would be normal for a mustard seed to grow the size of a bush.  It would be unnatural and extremely unusual for it to grow the size of a tree.  This  grow is also shown in the parable of the yeast that Jesus mentions in verses 33.  The woman who mixed the large amount of flour with yeast is mixing enough flour to feed about 100 people or 40 litres.   It was unusually large and symbolizes the institutional church that became corrupt soon after Jesus walked the earth.   G Campbell Morgan said about this that the leaven represents the paganizing influences brought into the church.

       Having said all of this, God always reserves a remnant of the true church for himself.  Elijah thought he was the only one left of all the believers in 1 Kings 19:14-18, yet God told him that he had reserved 7,000 believers in Israel for himself.  I think there is some practical guidelines to take from these parables that I will mention briefly

1.  I think this calls on us individually to examine ourselves and our faith rather than tradition or simply going to church on Sunday.   Do you love God and hate sin?  Are you truly following Christ or just another man?  Have you taken up your cross and followed Christ?  Are you a tare or wheat?

2.  The church today will have some level of corruption in it, so that means we are responsible to be in the word of God for ourselves and not just to believe whatever we hear from a pulpit or a preacher or evangelist.  You are responsible not to be lazy and get into the Word of God yourself.

3.   You need to test what you hear from teachers and those who claim to be preachers or evangelist (1 John 4:1).  Does their words line up with what scripture says?  Does the teacher emphasize the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus?  Much of what is taught in the modern church today resembles psychology and positive self talk rather than the gospel.

4.  Not everyone who you see in church will you see in heaven.  The tares are growing these days with the wheat.  So, don't be surprised if at times the church and its programs resemble the world.  People go to church for all sorts of reasons and not always the right ones.

   

The Sower of Wheat Parable and the Explanation Matthew 13:3-9 and 18-23

3 "Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus tells the story of the sower who went out to sow (the word of God).  The seed falls upon four types of soil, 

a. the wayside or path vs.4

b. the rocky ground that did not have much soil vs.5

c. the ground covered in thorns representing the worries and riches of this world vs.7

d. the good soil that bears a good crop.  vs.8

     I think we would all like to think of ourselves as being in the fourth category, the one who bears fruit.  This is one who hears and understands the word that he hears and applies it to their life.  The nature outflow of this from the Spirit of God is that it bears fruit.  This is primarily the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23.   The soil is good soil because the person is in such a place that they can hear and understand what they are hearing.  The word understand is the greek word syniemi- to set or bring together.  The person is able to take what they hear and apply it. Interestingly, the person described as the path is one who hears, but never does understand.  And because he or she doesn't apply it with understand they end up losing it.  Like the old phrase that you may have heard "Use it or lose it."

    How does a person become then the good soil that bears fruit?   One way is found in Galatians 5:16 where it says to "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."   One walks by the Spirit by a constant trust and faith in Christ and staying in close communion with God.   Even Jesus when he walked this earth stayed in close communion with God and got away to pray often.  Are you a person who spends consistent time in prayer?  This means that this person lives with a different perspective on their problems as well as joys.  They see things through what we would call a Christ centered view or Christocentric view.   Much like as a new testament believer we interpret the Old Testament through Christ and what he says in the New Testament.

   The person who has rocky ground has not depth to their soil.  So, when hardship comes along there is no root and they tend to fade away Matthew 13:5.   The truth is that in life there are always hardships that come along.  In fact, in Matthew 4 we see Jesus go through some of those hardships himself when he is in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.  The book of Acts is full of stories about believers going through hardships.  Hardship can test our faith and produce endurance and help us to be complete in Christ James 1:2-4.  But, the person on rocky soil has no firm faith and so the rocky soil bears no fruit.

    I think for most of us though the soil that is most likely to represent us is the soil covered in thorns.  The thorns Jesus said represent the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things Mark 4:19.  In other words, this person's loyal is divided and their concerns are full of the noise of this world.   In our culture, this is a constant danger.  Did you know that in America alone there are about 40 million people who have a anxiety disorder that could be diagnosed at any one time.  This is why John said in 1 John 2:15-16 not to love the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life which is not from God, but from the world.  A divided heart is a distracted heart, one who is not truly listening and therefore won't understand.   And the truth is that it takes special effort and skill and practice 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 to hear God's voice and to understand it.

    I want to be the kind of believer who hears and understands the voice of God.  John 10:4 says that the shepherd puts forth his own sheep and goes before them and they follow him because they know His voice.  The sheep will run from a counterfeit, of which there are many today, because they don't know his voice.  They have trained themselves from long hours of being near the shepherd to hear his voice and to be able to tell the difference.  They know the shepherd has their best interest at heart and want to give them an abundant life John 10:10.   While we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and it is not a thing to be earned Ephesians 2:8.  There is a sense in which we can either continue to grow in our lives as christians or become stagnant and unfruitful or carnal.  It takes some discipline and effort on our part to make the effort to be still before God and to take time to listen to him  Psalm 62:5-7.

David Guzik's commentary on Matthew 13  

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/matthew/matthew-13.cfm?a=942024

The wise men Matthew 2

    Matthew chapter 2 starts like this

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, [a]wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”  3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

I've always thought that there were three wise men who came to find Jesus, but the scripture doesn't actually ever say that there was 3 men.  It says that there were wise men who gave Jesus three gifts, gold, frankincese and myrrh.  Also, if you look at the passage, by the time the wise men made it to Bethlehem Jesus was in a house with his parents.  So while historically they are part of the Christmas story, they weren't there on the night Jesus was born in a physical body.  I'm grateful to Matthew for telling us this story because the other gospel records do not record it at all.

One of the remarkable things that I think when I read the passage about is that the scribes and Pharisees could rightly interpret Micah 5:2 as saying that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, but they seemed indifferent about going to see him themselves.  You notice it doesn't say that the scribes and Pharisees went with the magi to find Jesus.  Yet, here were the magi, who most likely traveled from somewhere around modern day Iran or Iraq and they had the wisdom to seek out Jesus.  Possibly they learned about the Messiah from writings that the Jews took with them when they went into exile hundreds of years beforehand.

    So, those who should have been seeking him were indifferent, yet the pagan Persian astrologers (wise men) had enough wisdom to seek him.  I think this is what made them truly wise.   Notice also that they brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Some of these herbs were commonly used in burial customs at the time.   They probably financed Joseph and Mary's trip to Egypt which is mentioned later in the passage.  There is thought that the gold represented his kingship, the frankincense and myrrh represented his suffering and eventual death.  So, even in his birth there is a foreshadowing of his death. 

  So, why does it say that Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.  There was a saying attributed to Emperor Augustus that it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son.  That is because Herod, towards the end of his life,  Herod became paranoid and had several of his family members killed including his wife and three sons.   Herod was a master building who contributed much to the enlarging of the Jewish temple, but he was not a nice man.  Herod felt threatened by Jesus even though he was still an infant and paranoid that he was a threat.  And as we see later on in Matthew, when Herod became paranoid people died.

   There was a passage in 2 Peter 3:11 that the pastor mentioned at the church I attended this morning.  The passage before verse 11 says that the Lord will come like a thief and the elements of earth and heaven will be burned up with intense heat.  Then in verse 11 it says, 

  "Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness."

     What made these men  wise men is that they were looking for a redeemer not from the stars or even Herod, but the Messiah.  And when they found him they did not hesitate to give him their best and to worship him.  While the Pharisees and scribes never recognized Jesus, the wise men did not hesitate in their acknowledgement of this young toddler or baby as being the Messiah.  In their wisdom, they recognized him immediately.  

     In Proverbs it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  The word fear there is a word that means reverence.   The wise men had a reverence for God while the scribes and Pharisees had some knowledge about God.   But, they did not have true wisdom because if they did they would have gone to Bethlehem.  The wise men gave their all for Christ and are an example for us of putting him first and seeking Him with all our heart.

Introduction and chapter 1 of 1 John notes

 Study of 1 John started November 5, 2023

1 John Introduction

The author- John was possibly born in Bethsaida (John 1:44) and was a son of Zebedee and Salome.  It appears his mother helped with the financial support of Christ (Mark 15:40,41).  He and his brother James were called “sons of thunder” Mk 3:17.  John lived in Ephesus, the capital of the province of Asia Minor, the Roman proconsul resided there.  John may have been battling against Gnosticism during his later years.  It said that deity cannot unite itself with anything physical such as a body.  It understood that knowledge is superior to virtue.  John battled against this by saying that Christ came in the flesh.  It is possible that 1 John may have been written around 90 A.D.  

Wycliffe divides the book up into these sections

1. Fellowship’s conditions 1:5-10

2. Fellowship’s conduct 2:1-29

3. Fellowship’s characteristics 3:1-24

4. Fellowship’s cautions 4:1-21

5. Fellowship’s cause 5:1-21

1 John 1

John begins by saying that which was from the beginning.  In other words, he was in existence already.  Beginning is the word arche- which means- beginning or origin

John uses the word manifested twice in verse 2- phaneroo- to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown.  John is making it clear that he is an eyewitness.  He has both handled, seen and heard and now bears witness.  He says that he bears witness that they might have fellowship with us and that your joy may be full.  

Fellowship- koinonia- fellowship, association, community, communion.

Joy- vs.4- chara- joy, gladness, the joy received from you, the cause or occasion of joy. Jesus mentioned joy in John 15:11, John 16:24 and John 17:13.  

Guzik- “the idea of the Logos- of the Word- was important for John and the Greeks and Jewish worlds of his day.  For the Jew, God was often referred to as the Word because they knew God perfectly revealed himself in his Word.””

John declares the message that they heard that God is light and in him is no darkness.  Evidence that we know him is that we also walk in the light as he is in the light.  John is not talking about what God does, but who he is.  The principle idea is one of holiness.  Wycliffe says that “the cleansing of Christians is a consequence of walking in the light”.  Walking in the light makes us aware of our need to be cleansed.  We need to confess our sins.  If we do God has promised to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.  One of the evidences that we are not in the light is that we say we do not sin.

Guzik- “the word fellowship has in it not only the idea of relationship, but also of sharing a common life.  When we have fellowship with Jesus, we will become more like Him.”

Vs.7 “we walk”- peripateo- to walk, to make one’s way, progress, to make due use of opportunities.

Vs.7 and 9 cleanseth- katharizo- to make clean, cleanse, can mean in a physical sense, but also in a moral sense, to purify from wickedness, to free from guilt of sin, to purify

Vs.8 we deceive- planao- to cause to stray, to lead astray, to go astray, to be led into error

Vs.9 we confess- homologeo- to concede, to agree with, assent, to profess.

Vs.9 faithful- pistos- trusty, faithful, that can be relied on.

Vs.9 forgive- aphiemmi- to send away, to bid going away or depart, to let go, give up a debt, to remit, go way from one.

Key words from vs.5-10 purify or cleanse and walk and light.

Who Loved Him More? Do you love Him?

       There is a story in Luke 7 about when Jesus went to dine with a Pharisee named Simon.  The story is in verses 36-42

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

      This woman was criticized for loving Jesus through a gift of her tears and anointing.  Simon himself did not display even the common signs of respect of the day to Jesus.  He did not welcome Jesus or give him a chance to wash his feet.  Yet, the woman washed his feet with her tears and her hair.  This woman had experienced the reality of Jesus forgiveness.  So overwhelmed by this gift of mercy that she wanted to show her appreciate and love.  She realized from the depth of her soul that she did not deserve it.  Her love showed itself by its actions.  Simon's lack of love also showed itself by a lack of action.

      The problem with the Pharisee was not that he was following the law, but rather he was doing so without love.  If you think about what scripture describes what Pharisees are like you may use many words, but most likely love is not one of them.  And 1 Corinthians 13 is very clear that we can do all things right, become a martyr for Christ, give all our money away to the poor, but if we have not love then we are nothing but a noisy gong or meaningless noise.  

      In another place in scripture, Jesus is asked what is the most important commandment.  He says that it can be summed up by loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and then loving our neighbor.   As I think about this and the actions of the woman who interrupted the meal at Simon's house I ask myself the question "How does my love for God show itself?"  In what sense does it demonstrate itself in gratitude for what God has forgiven me.   It clearly is and was a debt that I could never repay.  If you were on trial and evidence had to be brought forward in a witness box that showed others how much you love God and others would there be enough evidence to convict you?  Are you more like Simon or more like the woman at Jesus' feet?  I fear that there are many times when I more closely resemble Simon and fall short.  I'm thankful that God then does not treat me as I deserve, but has mercy and patience with me.  For like the disciples, I am slow to learn.

"In direct proportion to your acceptance of God's forgiveness is your ability to forgive." Harold Wiley Freer in "Growing in the Life of Prayer" page 85

Some thoughts about the church in Corinth

   Since March of this year, I have been doing a verse by verse study of the book of 1 Corinthians.  I have also listened to the class on 1 Corinthians taught on the bibleproject web site.  In that class, the teacher spends some time speaking about the controversy of chapter 11 and Paul's role of women in the church.  Though Dr. Lucy Peppiatt has some different views than mine it is a very interesting class that I would recommend.

       I have found it encouraging that though the Corinth church had many problems Paul still had a lot of good things to say about them.  For example, in chapter 1 verse 4, he says that he always thanks God for them because they have been enriched in every way.  It says that they do not lack in any spiritual gift.  He never questions their salvation, though he does describe them in chapter 3 as "infants in Christ".  Paul may have written another letter to Corinth which remains lost that was possibly more direct and harsh.  But, he never gives up on them.  In fact, his discipline is proof that he loves and cares for them.  Just as God's discipline is proof of his love for us  Hebrews 12:7-11.

     I have found in my studies that part of the definition of a biblical scholar is someone who wants to argue about a minor point that nobody else has even noticed!  When I did a thesis on Colossians it was said that there were over 42 different viewpoints on what problem the Colossae church was dealing with.  42!  It helps the student of the Bible to go back and look at what the original readers of the text would have thought about what was written and their world.  We mistakenly try to reach the text as if it was written first and foremost to those in the 21st century instead of the first.  For example, possibly over 2/3 of the people in Corinth were slaves.  Slavery at that time was not limited to a race, but rather it was economic.  Many of these slaves were captured or enslaved as a result of their land being conquered by Rome or due to debt that they had to repay.  Their world was in some way very different from ours, especially when it came to worship, slavery, temples and idols and social roles.  

     Paul goes on at length about head coverings in chapter 11 for women.  Which most churches obviously don't practice today nor should they.  So, why all the fuss about head coverings?  If you look at drawings of Corinth you see that there were many temples in Corinth.  (I put some links to some sites at the end of this post).  Part of the worship of these pagan gods was often sexual immorality and prostitution.  Turns out, that the only women in Corinth typically walking around without head coverings were prostitutes of which Corinth had over 1,000 to Aphrodite alone.  Most married women in those days covered their heads in Greek as well as Jewish culture.  I guess he didn't want the christian women to be mistaken for prostitutes!

     As I was reviewing what Paul said in chapter 11 and the chapters before it, I came to the conclusion that I saw four overarching principles here and in the book as a whole.  I would like to share them with you.

The overarching principles here is 

1. We are to act in love towards others.  Paul will say more about this in 1 Corinthians 13. 

2. We are not to cause a stumbling block. Paul has already said in 1 Corinthians 8:13 that if what he eats causes another to sin he won’t eat meat again. vs.32- do not cause anyone to stumble is the word aproskopos- not causing to stumble, not led into sin, blameless.  Paul tells the “do not cause others to stumble'' vs. 32.  also in 2 Corinthians 6:3.  Jesus warns about being a stumbling block to others in Luke 17:1-2  He says it would be better for you to have a milestone hung around your neck and you thrown into the sea than to be a stumbling block. Sounds like Jesus took it very seriously! The Pharisees were creating stumbling blocks for others Matt 23:13.

3. Do everything to help others come to Christ and be saved.  Paul closes this chapter by saying that he does seek his own good, but the good of the many that others may be saved. vs.33 also see 1 Corinthians 9:22.

4. To do what you do for the glory of God vs.31.  Romans 15:1- Paul says we should bear with the failings of the weak and not just to seek to please ourselves.  1 Corinthians 6:20 says that we were bought with a price and therefore we are to honor God with our bodies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Corinth

https://www.bibleplaces.com/corinth/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Corinth-Greece

How does God give? 1 Corinthians 1:4-7

 1 Corinthians 1:4-7

4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

     One of the amazing things about the way that Paul starts this letter to Corinthian church is that no matter how many problems they have that he expresses thanks for them.  They have numerous problems including divisions, lawsuits, pride and sexual sin among them.  While Paul will address each of these problems it does not diminish the fact that they are still believers in Christ and he says that they have been enriched in knowledge and speech and are not lacking in any spiritual gift.  They were given the grace of God verse 4 by Christ and also enriched by Him in all things verse 5.  To confirm in verse 6 is a legal term (bebaloo) that means (according to Wycliffe commentary of 1 Corinthians) as a "properly guaranteed security".   God has confirmed you as a believer before the courts in heaven though you may not feel complete now.

 

      Years ago I attended a service at a charismatic church.  The pastor asked the congregation about how does God give.  He has some water and a empty pitcher at the front of the sanctuary.  He began to pour water into it and asked how full does God give to us?  Then he proceeded to pour until the water flowed over and onto the floor and it went everywhere!  This is the picture of how God gives to believers.  The word "enriched" in verse 5 is ploutizo in the greek and it means to richly furnish, to make rich.  He does not give in a way that is lacking vs.7.  Lacking is the word 'inferior to power, fail, to be in want, lack".   The problems in Corinth and with us is not because of God's unwilling to give spiritual gifts or that he is somehow lacking.  God is able to give exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that we can ask or imagine. Ephesians 3:20.

8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

    You notice in these verses who it is who is doing the work.  It is not up to our goodness or ability.  There is a passage in the bible about the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests in Exodus 29.  In this passage, what you notice is that Aaron just stands there.  He isn't chosen because he is greater than others or because of something he did.  He doesn't really do anything but is consecrated and washed by Moses.  In verse 8 of 1 Corinthians and verse 9 the emphasis is on what God does.  It is God who "keeps you firm to the end".   It is based on God's faithfulness verse 9 not our own.   Aren't you glad that it is not dependent on our faithfulness but on His!  The emphasis is on Christ who is mentioned 9 times in the first 9 verses of 1 Corinthians.