Mold, Mildew, Sores, and Infectious Diseases - Leviticus 13:1–8

In our house we have a problem with mold on our doors. No matter how often we clean; it keeps come back. It’s frustrating, especially since half our family has breathing issues. Our verses for today are found in a large section in Leviticus focused on what’s unclean and how to deal with it. Mold, mildew, sores and diseases can harm our health, this is where God’s concern over these things becomes clearer, because God also uses these things as images of the pervasiveness and danger of sin in our lives and hearts and how it creates heart and soul sickness. Mold, mildew, diseases are all signs that there’s something wrong; that health and wholeness are at risk and can easily infect others too. Sin brings unhealth too.

During the Old Testament, God shows Israel a way of being that ranges from being unclean, to clean, and finally to holy. These stages are about how close or far from God a person is, how fit something is to be in God’s presence. A person or thing could move back and forth along this line. Something clean could become unclean by touching something unclean, but things or people who were unclean could become clean or holy again through bathing or offering sacrifices.

Using mold and disease as an image for sin points to how the brokenness brought in by sin affects us right down to our DNA, leading to death. This helps us see why John points to healing as a sign of Jesus’ return in Revelation 21:3–4, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” This is a hope-filled picture of Jesus’ return; death and disease will be no more; disease is not part of creation and the “very good” of God’s creating work, but the result of Adam and Eve’s choice to follow their own desires rather than God’s.

Leviticus is all about cleanliness, purity, and holiness, and about how close to God God’s people could come. Mold, mildew, sores, infectious diseases are signs that something’s, no longer healthy, and can be passed on to others and make them sick and unacceptable; in the same way sin infects us and makes us unclean and impure, making us able to infect others, and making us unable to be in the presence of a holy God.

If you ignore mold, mildew, or infectious diseases, they just keep on growing and digging in their roots, spreading their spores over larger areas. The longer you allow it to grow, the harder it is to get rid of. This is just like sin; give it a little room in your heart or mind and it will slowly but surely spread until it impacts more and more of your thinking and acting. Sin is often hidden, we can act in ways at look holy, but they’re done to hide what’s really going on inside; diseased ways of thinking that slowly reshapes your relationship with God and others. Sin is a spiritual disease because it corrupts our mind, soul, and moral foundation and is rooted in our hearts. Yet it can go unnoticed for a long time before it raises its ugly head. Like a physical illness, it’s seen as a fatal condition causing internal damage and separation from God.

Holiness covers all of life, it’s not something that we keep only for Sunday morning or special occasions, there’s nothing that’s left outside of God’s call to holiness. Jesus gets at this in Mark 7:20–23, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” All these things begin quietly inside us until they grow strong and begin to seep out. Sin begins small, maybe it begins as envy, it may then move into fear that maybe you don’t measure up, so you begin to undermine the other person, or make what they have that you want seem somehow wrong, that maybe they don’t deserve it, and slowly your envy and fear turn into hatred and bitterness. Sin begins as gossip, injustice, greed, pride, lust for power, hatred, disdain for others, and any other sin that lives in our hearts. The results of sin, our own or others against us bring hurt, brokenness, rejection, abandonment, mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical illness. Disease, infection, mold used to describe how sin works in our hearts also points to the fact that it can be healed, it can be cleansed, there is hope.

Living in God’s presence is not an on-again, off-again relationship, it’s all in all the time. “Be holy as I am holy” is not an option, it’s the call for our lives. Unholiness grows by not really caring about holiness, or ignoring it, or by believing that small acts of uncleanness in our hearts and minds aren’t all that bad. One sign of unholiness or disease creeping into your life is when who you are in public becomes different from who you are in private; when your public words are different from your inner thoughts. This creates a disconnect inside that Satan will take advantage of to draw you away from God. God’s calling us to take impurity seriously, taking the necessary steps to remove it. In the end, we also need to realize that holiness isn’t something we earn through our own efforts, ultimately God provides holiness and healing to us, applying it to us through Jesus. Then, out of gratitude for what Jesus has done, out of our love for God and a desire to be close to him, we work at identifying those things in our hearts and minds that are unclean, that need the work of the Spirit to help in our transformation and sanctification, in becoming more like Jesus in every part of our being.

We find healing and cleansing when we turn to Jesus. You need to choose to be healed though, Jesus will not force healing on you, but you are invited to come to him. Jesus healed those who came to him, even physically touching those with leprosy, we see how disease and sin cannot touch Jesus, rather, Jesus’ touch brings healing. Jesus doesn’t fear disease, sin, or brokenness because the entire creation was created through him. He has the power to restore everything to “good” and “very good” again, to make us holy as God is holy. Jesus brings healing through touching lepers, revealing that his holiness is more powerful than our sin and disease. Jesus brings healing through words, showing he is the renewer of all things, including our sicknesses, whether physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. Jesus brings healing through forgiveness, offering forgiveness with a spirit of grace. In his healings, Jesus brings hope and tears of joy rather than tears of hurt and brokenness. I remember hearing the bell in the hospital rung as a person, healed from cancer, rang it. The joy, the peace that radiated from his face is still with me; this can be you when you experience the healing that only Jesus can bring.

Healing is found in Jesus, Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” As we’re healed from our sin, choosing Jesus and his way flows out of our gratitude for him, bringing healing to all areas of our lives. Colossians 3:12–17, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly ….”  Forgiveness, grace, love, worshipping together, clothing ourselves in Christian virtues brings healing; healing in our lives, in our relationships, healing brokenness, pointing us to how Jesus forgives us, loves us, offers us grace, and calls us to imitate him in working towards reconciliation and renewal with others.

Healing is found in knowing who you are as a precious, redeemed, renewed child of God, created in the image of God, it’s found in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and in the Scriptures, and in the Body of Christ and the fellowship and encouragement of fellow believers, found in forgiveness and grace, found in prayer and time spent with God, found on the cross, at the foot of the cross, in Jesus’ blood and love and how these make us holy.

The grace of Jesus is given freely; repent and believe, and healing flows from Jesus. There’s nothing that is beyond Jesus’ grace-filled healing. No matter what you’ve done or who you’ve been, the cure is offered to you by grace. Trust in Jesus alone. The healing of sin is found in intimacy with God; drawing close to Jesus makes healing possible. If you're experiencing sickness in your soul, Jesus calls you to come to him, he can bring you healing and wholeness, he wants you to come to him!

The Go-Between - Leviticus 8:1–13

Leviticus 8 is about the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests. The need’s rooted in Exodus 40:34-35 when Moses is unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud of the Lord had settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was the mediator between God and the people on Mount Sinai, but now couldn’t come near the Lord, so that meant no-one could. There’s no way for humanity to approach him safely.

Leading up to this ceremony that the Lord gives Moses to consecrate, or dedicate Aaron and his sons formally into the priesthood of Israel, the Lord gave Israel a series of sacrifices for the people to offer, each with its own meaning and focus. These sacrifices are all offered at the tabernacle, and later on in the temple by the priests on behalf of the people. These sacrifices are all meant to help the people to come closer to God and were a serious business. In the Old Testament sinful people could not approach a holy God on their own because purity consumes impurity, this is why the sacrifices. Later on, Jesus tells the people in Matthew that if you’re bringing your sacrifices to the temple and realize that a brother has something against you, to leave your offering and be reconciled with him before you offer your sacrifices. Pure hearts, cleansed of hatred and anger is important when you come before God.

First there’s the burnt offering, a voluntary sacrifice offered for unintentional sin in general, it’s an act of devotion. Then there’s the grain offering, also a voluntary offering that recognizes God’s goodness and provision and an act of devotion to God. Then there’s the fellowship offering, another voluntary act of worship offering thanksgiving and fellowship with God. This offering includes a communal meal with others. Then there’s the sin offering; this is a mandatory offering for the atonement of specific unintentional sin. This is a confession of sin, seeking forgiveness, and the offering brings cleansing from the defilement of sin. This offering involves a blood sacrifice: a young bull for the high priest and congregation, a male goat for a leader, a female goat or lamb for a common person, a dove or pigeon for the poor, or a tenth of an ephah of flour, a very small amount, for the very poor who can’t afford an animal sacrifice. Then there’s the guilt offering, another mandatory offering of a ram or lamb for atonement for unintentional sin that calls for restitution, cleansing from defilement, and to make restitution for the sin committed. This offering also included a 20% fine as part of the restitution.

Now here in Leviticus 8:12 Moses anoints Aaron, then in verse 13 he anoints Aaron’s sons, making sure that the people will always have a go-between between themselves and God. We’re so used to Aaron becoming high priest, we often forget that Aaron is the one responsible for building the idol calves while Moses was on the mountain with God. Then Aaron failed to take responsibility for what he did, blaming it on the people. Yet this is who God chooses to be the first high priest and to carry on the responsibility of priesthood through his family line, this is why we need a perfect high priest, why we need Jesus.

Aaron and his sons go through a very detailed ceremony in order to prepare to enter the presence of God, making sure they’re clean enough, pure enough to enter God’s presence to offer the sacrifices and bring the prayers of the people. This ceremony represents the washing away of sin and moral impurity to make Aaron and his sons spiritually prepared. The holy God gives Israel a way to maintain a relationship between him and his people through the consecration of a priesthood dedicated to him, ensuring that the people always have ways to come close to him, and in Leviticus 9:23-24 both Aaron and Moses enter the tent of meeting and the Lord accepts the offerings.

The problem is that even consecrated priests are human and prone to sin. Already in Leviticus 10, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu get proud, “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” Ultimately, what we need is a perfectly holy high priest who’s freely able to be in the presence of our holy God. This finally happens with the coming of Jesus, Son of God, and perfect high priest. The book of Hebrews focuses on Jesus as our high priest, and as the perfect sacrifice for our sin and atonement.

Hebrews 4:14 points us to Jesus, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess;” and in Hebrews 7:25 “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Then in Hebrews 9:12, the author marvels that “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” Jesus returns to heaven after his death and resurrection that washes away the stain of our sin; our high priest is now constantly in God’s presence on our behalf, mediating for us, praying for us even when we don’t know how to pray or what to pray for. Jesus stands between God and us for us. When God looks at us, he sees us through Jesus’ sacrifice and Jesus’ intercession for us.

Because we’re joined with Jesus through his death and resurrection, we also take on the role of priests. One Bible dictionary defines “The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers states that all believers in Christ share in his priestly status; therefore, there is no special class of people who mediate the knowledge, presence, and forgiveness of Christ to the rest of believers, and all believers have the right and authority to read, interpret, and apply the teachings of Scripture.” But there’s more to being priests; Leviticus is about coming closer to God and about growing together into the family of God, working through things that separate and divide, calling us to be humble when things do separate us from each other, that we work towards unity, to reconciliation, to being mediators. Satan loves to build walls between believers, to bring division; it takes faithful Christians, like mediating priests, to call us back to God and then enter into the messiness of brokenness towards building unity with each other. Because we’re called to be holy as God is holy, to be set apart for him, this means we’re called to live as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Relationships are at the core of our faith, beginning with our relationship with God, this is where the priests come in, but then it moves into our relationships with each other. It’s important that we also remember that we’re all priests in the kingdom, we all have the responsibility to take steps to reconciliation. Jesus prays in the garden for unity, that we might all be one. Paul echoes this in Ephesians 4:3, ^“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Building unity and reconciliation means we need to allow Jesus’ grief at our brokenness with God and each other sink deeply into our souls to inspire us to take humble gracious steps towards each other, to tear down walls rather than building walls, to be humble enough to come to God and examine our hearts and souls with him to find the strength and desire to be priests to each other through inviting the power and presence of the Holy Spirit into our relationships with God and each other. When there’s brokenness and conflict, the longer it goes the greater the polarization and difficulty in reconciliation and healing; hi-lighting the importance of not allowing bitterness, anger, or conflict to grow deeply in our hearts so that our hearts don’t become hard as stone towards others.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Paul was often mistreated, both outside and inside the church, but in purity of heart and with understanding and kindness, he opens wide his heart to them and asks them to open their hearts to him. Paul takes the first step, not guaranteed that they’ll respond well.

This is where the fruit of the Spirit comes in, the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control need to shape our hearts as we reach out to each other in the spirit of reconciliation, as we pray for each other, and stay grounded in God’s Word during Lent and always.

Walk on Water-GEMS Sunday - Deuteronomy 7:6–10

Thank you GEMS for leading us in worship this morning! Your GEMS theme for the year is really challenging, in a good way. Your theme Walk on Water calls us to trust deeply in God and look to Jesus during the good and the hard times. When I first read your theme of walking on water, I first thought of Peter walking on the water, so I was really surprised when I saw that the Bible passage was from Deuteronomy when Israel’s in the wilderness because there’s not a lot of water in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy was written by Moses near the end of his life, after leading Israel through the wilderness for 40 years. Moses remembers how God guided, protected, and provided for Israel during those years. Often, we see God best when we stop and remember to see how God was with us, protected us, and guided us. When we remember it helps us trust God because we’re reminded that he’s more powerful than any of the things that scare us, he can heal us from the things that hurt us, he can protect our hearts and souls from things that cause us to doubt God’s goodness, grace, and presence.

These verses remind Israel of who they are to God, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you out of all the people on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” Israel’s special to God; he chose them from all the nations in the world. They’re ordinary people, they didn’t do anything special to deserve being chosen by God, but God chose them to show the world who he is. It’s like when you’re playing a game that involves picking teams. Now you can pick all the best players so you can win, or you can pick your best friends and have fun, and hopefully still win, but you pick the girls who are special to you, even if they aren’t very good because you’re friends. God picks Israel because he wants to have a special friendship with them.

Moses reminds Israel how God saved them from Pharoah king of Egypt, how he brought them out of slavery by defeating Egypt’s gods through the plagues. Then when Pharoah comes after them with his mighty army to bring them back to Egypt as his slaves again, God saves them in a powerful way, he leads them through the sea by pushing the water in the sea back so they could walk through the sea. When Pharoah comes after them, God lets the water go back over the Egyptian armies, drowning them, saving Israel again, only our God is strong enough to defeat any enemy out there.

That’s who our God is; “he’s the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” A generation is about 20-30 years, so God’s covenant of love is going to last for 20-30,000 years! That’s a long time! The oldest person in our church is less than 100 years old, so 20,000 years is really hard to imagine. God’s saying that he’ll always keep his covenant of love with them; that’s a big promise that includes you and all of us here this morning, and all the people who love God and follow his commandments. God wants us to follow him out of love; Jesus later tells his disciples in John 14:15 that “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It’s kind of like your relationship with your parents and your GEMS counsellors. When they tell you something, you do it because you love them because they’re here for you; they’re here to help you, guide you, even protect you when things get hard. God’s not saying he’ll only love them if they love him back; he’s inviting them to love him because he’ll always love them, even when they sin.

Throughout Israel’s history, especially during the hard times, God shows that he has their backs, as you shared with us. It’s the same today when times are hard; God’s with you and he’ll help you through them. It’s hard being a girl today because it often feels like you’re in a storm and being hit by waves of lies, doubts, and fear. It’s like when you’re on a ship during a storm and the waves come crashing over the side of the ship; you can feel it tipping over, you feel scared. But we remember like when Jesus walked on the water in a storm, he’s in control, the storm cannot hurt him. Having daughters and granddaughters, they’ve mentioned how it sometimes feels hard to keep their heads above water as they try to figure out what’s true, who they are, and why they’re here.

Many turn to our culture, or social media, or friends to figure these things out. The problem is when you turn to our culture or social media, all they do is tell you that you’re not happy enough or pretty enough, that you don’t have enough, but if you trust them, they’ll make you popular, pretty, and fill all your dreams if you follow them or send them money. They don’t love you; they only love your money and clicks; they’re willing to tell you anything to get you to follow them. They won’t be there for you when times are hard, when you’re being teased, when other people tell hurtful stories about you, when friends turn away, or there’s hard times at home. Your friends care about you, but they’re just trying to figure things out like you are. This is why we turn to Jesus; he can help us in our storms to figure out who we are and who we can trust, he’s our lighthouse we can see even in dark storms.

Peter writes to people who are struggling and reminds them in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Peter encourages them to stand strong because they’re God’s special people. God guides them out of dark times into his light, his truth, to Jesus who loves so much he took our sin to the cross.

God doesn’t give up on us even when we might want to give up on him. This covenant flows out of his relationship with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when he promises to be their God and they’ll be his people. God’s there with you during times when you’re confused or uncertain like Joshua, afraid like Peter, hurt or betrayed like Joseph, facing danger like Daniel, or when he’s calling you to do something you’re not ready for yet like Moses, or in exciting times like the Samaritan woman, or when you need forgiveness in a deeper way like Peter who’s then called to live for Jesus.

Each of them learned how powerful and faithful God is. He knows how confusing and hard things can be at times because Jesus came to earth to live with us, experiencing the same things we do. When times come when it feels like we’re in a storm, when the winds are blowing and the waves are pounding against us, we remember Jesus in the boat with his disciples during a storm. When fear overwhelmed the disciples, they woke Jesus up from his sleep. Jesus stands up and rebukes the storm and it calms down. The disciples marvel at how Jesus has power even over the storm; it’s a reminder to us when the storms of life come, that we can turn to Jesus and he’ll bring calm and safety into our lives, like a lighthouse in a storm brings hope and guides us into safe harbours. Moses said, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” My prayer is that each of you here this morning will confidently face life’s storms head-on, guided by God’s Word, strengthened by God’s love, knowing that Jesus is with you. He’s faithful, he can be trusted! He’s with us, and through his presence and strength, we can answer his call to be his people in our world, helping others to put their trust in Jesus who can guide them through their storms in life.

I’d like to close with a few lyrics from the song Even If by Mercy Me,

They say sometimes you win some

Sometimes you lose some

And right now I'm losing bad

 

It's easy to sing

When there's nothing to bring me down

But what will I say

When I'm held to the flame

Like I am right now?

Oh, give me the strength

To be able to sing

It is well with my soul

 

I know the sorrow

And I know the hurt

Would all go away

 

If You'd just say the word

But even if You don't

My hope is You alone

 

You've been faithful

You've been good

All of my days

Jesus, I will cling to You

Come what may

'Cause I know You're able

I know You can

 

It is well with my soul

It is well

It is well with my soul