Listen, Do, Go: The Consecrated Ear, Hand and Foot

Introduction

"Who here has Leviticus as their favorite book?" Samuel Mabboux, pastor of the Assemblée de Dieu de Nice Ariane, smiles: nobody has ever told him that. Yet he believes there are good things in this book, and he draws a three-word message from it: listen, do, go. "Three actions, one passive and two where we actually put ourselves into action."

The starting text is Leviticus 8:22-24, the consecration of Aaron and his sons. Moses takes the blood of the ram of consecration and puts it on the lobe of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot. These gestures do not appear in the other sacrifices, only in the one for consecration.

The priests, the pastor reminds us, are us today, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9): "I'm not preaching to pastors, I'm preaching to children of God, I'm preaching to myself." Your ear, your hand and your foot are all involved.

Message outline

1. The blood of consecration

• The blood of the ram no longer belongs to men, it belongs to God. Through this blood, God begins by forgiving sins: "Without forgiveness of sins, there can be no relationship between us and God."
• If you have not yet asked the Lord Jesus for forgiveness, that is the first thing to think about, because without sanctification no one will see God.
• Moses touches the three members on the same side, the right side, which symbolizes strength and activity. Some people get up more tired than they were the night before, but God wants to renew you: "Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great" (Psalm 18:35).
• The blood is then sprinkled around on the altar. The priests, the altar, the utensils, the garments: everything must be fully consecrated to the Lord.

2. The ear: listening to God's word

• Listening is not the same as hearing. "You hear the air conditioning but you don't listen to it." To listen is to pay attention, and it is also to choose what you listen to: certain people, certain books, or the word of God.
• Many religions are about doing in order to receive. "But with God, it's the opposite. You have to listen in order to become, and then you can do." The word touches the ear, goes down into the heart, and then sets the hands and feet in motion.
• No one has an excuse: the Bible exists in audio, and the pastor offers to find a solution for anyone who struggles to read. But he asks: do you really listen on Sunday, or are your thoughts already drifting to the meal, the walk or the nap?
• The ear also symbolizes obedience. Some people know the Bible far better than he does but put it into practice very little. Isaiah 50:4-5: "The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear. I was not rebellious." When you listen to the word and obey it, "then, and only then, you become a disciple."
• There are books that do you good, "but there is only one book that changes your life." The Bible was written by men but fully inspired by God. In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1-5), and it is by speaking that God creates (Genesis 1:1-3). "Where men speak, there are mistakes [...] But when God speaks, it is 100% truth."
• The Hebrew slave set free after seven years could say, "I love my master," and have his ear pierced against the door to stay in his service forever (Exodus 21:5-6). It is a free choice, a matter of belonging. Where Peter cut off Malchus' ear by force, the Lord healed it: the battle is spiritual.
• "He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination" (Proverbs 28:9). On the other hand, God's words are "life to those who find them, and health to their whole body" (Proverbs 4:20-22). The pastor believes it: reading the Bible, even Leviticus, builds up body and soul.

3. The hand: doing what God approves

• The blood is then put on the thumb of the right hand. You cannot act rightly, the way the Lord wants, if you have not first received his word and if it has not changed your heart.
• Without God's approval, every project is doomed sooner or later to fail: "You can have a dazzling but short-lived success." When you submit your projects to God, you undertake them under his protection and with his validation.
• For that, you have to die to yourself: "Lord, it's no longer my will, no longer my projects, no longer my dreams." If you delight yourself in Yahweh (Psalm 37:4), your heart will desire what comes from God, whether it is a move, a job change or a relationship. There will be trials, "but the Lord will be there."
• "But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves" (James 1:22). You can recite Psalm 23 or John 3:16 by heart and have actions that do not match. "When someone sees you, do they see something like an open Bible or not?"
• Jesus calls this prudence: the one who hears his words and does them builds his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24). God already knows your life ten years from now. Submitting your plans to his will "is just wisdom."

4. Walking by faith and not by sight

• "With God, ears are more important than eyes." What we see is often misleading and discouraging. Peter did not step out of the boat because he saw, but because he heard Jesus call him (Matthew 14:28-29).
• From Genesis 3 on, the devil asks: "Did God really say?" Eve did not firmly know the word, even though it was quite short at the time. She saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes, she took from it with her hand and she ate (Genesis 3:6). Sight took the place of the word, and the act followed.
• To follow the word, you have to know it: read it, meditate on it, "chew it, digest it, study it." "If we walked by sight, we would stop everything," faced with the state of the country, of the family or of our health. But we want to walk by faith, like Elisha's servant whose eyes were opened to the heavenly army (2 Kings 6:17). Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:17).
• The pastor loves worship music, it plays at home and in his car. But "we have never listened to so many sermons on YouTube, and we have never read the word of God so little." On the phone, the Instagram logo attracts more than the Bible logo: "Get out your Bible, get out your highlighter."
• "Don't be dismayed, for I am your God" (Isaiah 41:10). If you turn on the news channels, you have plenty to worry about. Lift your eyes to the mountains and to the sky: help comes from Yahweh (Psalm 121:1-2), who upholds you "with the right hand of my righteousness."

5. The foot: going where God leads

• The foot symbolizes being guided. The Spirit of truth "will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). The pastor insists: is your life really led by God?
• He admits he finds it hard to give up the road he wanted to take: the beautiful smooth, well-paved road, rather than the little path you can barely see in the forest. "I'd rather walk a steep trail with you than take a beautiful well-paved road without you."
• "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path" (Psalm 119:105). He tells of a night hike in the mountains toward a mountain hut, through a dark forest, with only the light of his phone: a branch cracks, he sings a worship song, he speeds up and ends up sprinting. Without the word, you run into walls. With it, you see the traps and the ravines.
• The foot also speaks of humility and submission, like the woman who threw herself at Jesus' feet. Jesus washed his disciples' feet, including those of Judas, whom he knew was ready to betray him: it is doing for the Lord what you don't feel like doing. Pride comes before a fall, humility comes before glory.
• "Make the path of your feet level. [...] Don't turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil" (Proverbs 4:26-27).

6. Feet that proclaim and crush the enemy

• "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace" (Romans 10:15). There is no good news apart from Jesus Christ, "but for that, you need feet that walk."
• The foot is also the victorious foot: "Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). It speaks of stability and authority in Jesus Christ.
• With humor, the pastor admits that he crushes spiders. If you can crush a spider, you can spiritually crush what troubles your soul. But be careful: your coworker is not your enemy. The flesh, too, must be crucified and put under our feet.

7. The oil: sent out to spread blessing

• In Leviticus 14, the priest pours oil into the palm of his left hand and puts it in turn on the ear, the thumb and the toe. "When there is forgiveness, when the blood comes, there is also a mission that goes with it."
• It is no longer Moses who acts, it is the priests. "When God has equipped you with his blood, it's also up to you to spread blessing": through what you have listened to, through what you do, through the places where you go to proclaim Jesus Christ.
• This takes courage. We worry when a neighbor or a loved one announces an incurable illness, but sin is just as incurable a disease, "and you have the antidote." "We are the Lord's nurses. We are the stretcher-bearers of the kingdom of God," like the friends who opened up the roof to bring the paralyzed man to Jesus.
• Oil soothes, heals, nourishes what is dry: it is an oil of joy in place of mourning, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. The sprinkling seven times before Yahweh speaks of obedience, like Naaman who dipped himself seven times in the Jordan.
• Joshua 1:7 brings the three actions together: the law prescribed (listen), acting faithfully (do), not turning from it to the right or to the left (go). The pastor ends by praying that God will touch ears, hands and feet, and that each person will be like that slave who chooses to stay, his ear pierced at the door of his master, a door covered with the blood of the cross.

Key takeaways

• The blood on the ear, thumb and toe sums up a consecrated life: listen, do, go. It all begins with the forgiveness of sins.
• With God, we listen in order to become, and then we do. It is listening followed by obedience that makes a disciple.
• Without God's approval, success remains short-lived. Submitting your projects to his word is wisdom.
• Walk by faith and not by sight: the word of God must take priority over what you see around you.
• The one whom God has consecrated is sent out: their feet proclaim the good news and spread blessing.

Personal application

1. On Sunday and during the week, do you listen to the word of God or do you just hear it?
2. What real place does Bible reading have in your day, alongside worship music, online sermons and your phone?
3. Which current project (work, a move, a relationship) do you need to submit to God's approval?
4. Is there a steep trail that God is showing you and that you avoid because the paved road seems more comfortable?
5. Who around you could you tell about Jesus Christ this week, the antidote they need?

Verses cited

• Leviticus 8:22-24
• Leviticus 14:14-17
• Psalm 18:35
• Isaiah 50:4-5
• John 1:1-5
• Genesis 1:1-3
• 1 Peter 2:9
• Exodus 21:5-6
• Proverbs 28:9
• Proverbs 4:20-22
• Psalm 37:4
• James 1:22
• Matthew 7:24
• Matthew 14:28-29
• Genesis 3:1-7
• 2 Kings 6:17
• Romans 10:17
• Isaiah 41:10
• Psalm 121:1-2
• John 16:13
• Psalm 119:105
• Proverbs 4:26-27
• Romans 10:15
• Luke 10:19
• Joshua 1:7

Frequently asked questions

What does the blood placed on the ear, thumb and toe mean in Leviticus 8?

At the consecration of Aaron and his sons, Moses puts the blood of the ram of consecration on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and the big toe of the right foot. For Samuel Mabboux, these three gestures sum up a consecrated life: listening to the word of God, doing what it asks and going where God leads. The right side speaks of the strength God gives.

Why does listening come before action?

According to the preacher, religions ask you to do in order to receive. With God, it is the opposite: you have to listen in order to become, and then you can do. You cannot act the way the Lord wants if you have not received his word. But listening is not enough: it is when you listen to the word and obey it that you become a disciple.

What does the oil poured after the blood represent?

In Leviticus 14, the oil is put in turn on the ear, the thumb and the toe. After forgiveness comes mission: the oil speaks of healing, restoration and joy. It is no longer Moses who acts, it is the priests. For Samuel Mabboux, the one whom God has equipped must in turn spread blessing and bring people to Jesus Christ.