Intimate Holiness - Leviticus 18

               

As a youth pastor, we studied God’s guidance for relationships and how Scripture shapes dating, marriage, and our attitudes towards sex. I would tell the youth that sex is good, but like everything in life, it needs to be respected and reflect God’s presence in our lives. I learned this week that Aldous Huxley, he wrote Brave New World, decided that life has no true meaning, but later in life he realised that his decision was a convenient excuse, a way to get free from Christian morality. He and his friends, as he writes, “objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.” He liked sleeping around, so he developed a philosophy of life that allowed him to do that without the guilt his Anglican upbringing would otherwise have filled him with. He became a slave to his sexual desires. God seeks to free us from slavery to sin; he’s just delivered Israel out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt; God doesn’t want his people to go from one form of slavery into another.

I’ve been asked why God seems so concerned about sex. It’s our most intimate way of relating with each other, and this leads to vulnerability, meaning it also opens people to the potential of great hurt and abuse. It’s the most intimate way of developing trust and depth in a relationship, yet sex is only part of an intimate relationship, an important part, but not the only part. Intimacy, for those who are married or single, is developed through time together, through offering trust and reliability, in sharing life, being a faithful presence during the good, bad, and even boring times. It’s about commitment and promise keeping. It’s about encouraging each other, building each other up, creating safety and hope within the relationship, helping each other to become the person God has created us to be, reflecting the relationships God designed us for with him.

God is addressing the culture that Israel has been living in for the past 400 years. It was common in the Egyptian culture for incest and sex with close family members to be practiced, especially among the powerful and nobles as a way of centralizing their power within their own families and tribes. Egyptian sexual ethics often included marriage between brothers and sisters, and even between parents and children, along with polygamy. God is also warning them not to adopt the sexual practices of the land he is leading them to. Even in their personal intimate relationships, Israel is to reflect who God is by how they relate to each other.

We live in a culture today that devalues sex, it minimises the impact sex has on us, it makes sex about you and what you want, it’s seldom about honouring the other person. Sex has become impersonal, making it easier to walk away, making it only a physical act, not recognizing the emotional and spiritual connections. Because our culture is all about our rights towards our bodies, emphasizing that we’re the only ones allowed to decide how we can use our bodies, we’ve made our bodies and what we do with them idols; more important than God’s desire for our bodies and how we use them.

This section is about holiness in our most intimate and trusted relationships. Sex connects you closely to the other person physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This is why marriage is often used as an image of the relationship between God and his people. Hosea is the most striking example of this in the Old Testament, while Jesus uses the image in a couple of parables, and Paul uses the image in Ephesians 5 when talking about the relationship between husbands and wives.

Sexual impurity is rooted in placing priority in your own pleasure over God’s desires. Sexual impurity flows out of focusing on your desire over the other person’s needs, preventing us from developing close vulnerability with the other person, and separating us from God, just as all impurity does. Sex is too important and intimate an act between men and women to throw away or treat casually. Our bodies are not our own, they belong to God and any act between men and women needs to reflect his holiness.

God’s looking to protect the most vulnerable here, women and children, from being abused, used, and rejected. While men and women were created equally in the image of God, most human cultures did not practice this equality in real life. Even in Israel, Moses is given directions allowing men to divorce their wives, but women were not allowed to divorce their husbands, leading to a power imbalance in the relationships between men and women.  Here God addresses how this power imbalance impacts daughters, mothers, and the other women in the extended family. We see the stories of Ammon and his sister Tamar, Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar as examples of what God is prohibiting here. This abuse of power by the powerful over the vulnerable is one of the reasons God steps in to save his people out of their Egyptian slavery; there’s no place for such abuse to happen in personal relationships.

How we treat each other needs to be rooted in respect because we’re all created in the image of God. This is why God addresses child sacrifice in verse 21. Molech was an Amorite god. God has shown himself to be more powerful than all other gods, but he knows how we keep turning to the little gods in our lives. Israel showed this when Moses spends 40 days on the mountain with God and in those 40 days, right after being saved from slavery, they convince Aaron to create a golden calf for them to worship. God’s reminding them to not disrespect his name, to follow him alone as their God. This is a warning to not make our sexual desires a god, allowing our sexual desires to rule over our hearts and lives, making us slaves to our desires. Like any god, they will disappoint and hurt us, making us empty rather than full, defiling us, and so taking us out of the presence of God and into the wilderness of despair and loneliness.  

Sex joins us closer together than almost than any other act can; it is intimate, personal, vulnerable, and special. It reflects the closeness, trust, and union found in God as trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 3 persons and 1 essence, as the church father Athanasius taught. Sex in marriage joins us together physically, emotionally, and spiritually; an earthly glimpse of God’s unity. This is why it’s reserved for marriage, a covenantal promise relationship; this is why divorce hurts so much, reminding us how Jesus looked out over Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday and wept for the people and the brokenness in so many peoples’ lives.

The first reference to marriage is found in Gen 2:23–24, “The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Jesus refers to this passage when he talks about divorce, rooting marriage in creation norms.

Progressive theology is when there is a belief or norm in the Old Testament that grows in its application, or becomes deeper in its understanding and meaning in the New Testament. We look at how circumcision was only applied to the male child as a sign of belonging to God; this sign of belonging is then expanded in the New Testament into baptism as a sign of belonging and is applied to both males and females. Sexual ethics remain the same from the Old Testament to the New Testament, which is why our understanding of marriage has remained as the coming together of a man and a woman in a committed covenantal union.

Leviticus 18 is a warning against a reckless and selfish approach to sex and marriage. What does a healthy sexual relationship look like in a marriage? It begins by reflecting on what marriage is, a gift where 2 people come together and promise to join their lives together, looking at each other and asking ‘how can I help you become the person God has created you to be, how can I encourage and build you up to realize the potential God has placed within you?’

Marriage is focused on the other person, not on what you get out of the relationship, but on how you can bless your spouse; it’s a partnership of servanthood. Tim Keller recognizes that, “The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once. The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us.” Marriage is where sin, love, and grace get practiced out, growing us in our sanctification.

When marriage gets hard, we’re called to be tender, understanding, forgiving, and helpful, reflecting Jesus’ character to each other. As Paul says in Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” He calls on the wife to submit to her husband, to honour him, building him up, while the husband’s called to love as Christ loves the church, desiring to make her into a radiant church without stain or blemish, echoing the call to holiness in Leviticus. This takes a sacrificial spirit, seeking the best for his wife, to help her become radiant.

Marriage reflects our relationship to Jesus. As his bride, we surrender ourselves to the one who redeemed us. This includes obeying God in the most intimate areas of our lives.

 

 

Power in the Blood - Leviticus 17:1–16

       

The idea of the sacrifices that Israel’s given in Leviticus is not new to Israel. Sacrifices and blood enter into the story of humanity right at the beginning of the Bible. In Genesis 4, Cain and Abel both bring sacrifices to the Lord, Cain brings the fruit of the ground while Abel brings fat offering from the first born of his flocks, offerings that involved the shedding of blood of these animals. These echo ahead to the sacrifices laid out in Leviticus, pointing ahead to the offering of Jesus’ blood for our sin; his death for our lives.

Blood becomes one of the symbols of life. In the sacrifices we see how the Lord uses them to point out, and remind the Israelites of the seriousness of our sin; that the cost of our sin is the shedding of the blood of innocent animals; again, pointing ahead to Jesus, the one-person innocent of sin, and the shedding of his blood for the guilty.

Over time, people began to believe that our life force is found in our blood, as well as the blood of animals. As this belief grew more common, people began to develop rituals to take the life force of animals or their enemies for themselves, to make themselves more powerful. These rituals often involved eating or drinking the blood of enemies or strong animals. God now steps in and gives his people laws to prevent the unnecessary shedding of blood, whether animal or human, revealing how God honours all life, and that all life comes from and belongs to God. This is why Israel was to drain the blood of an animal they had slaughtered and pour the blood out onto the earth and cover it.

This is also reflected in how the people are to bring their sacrifices to the Lord. All those who sacrifice an animal on their own without bringing it to the priests to be approved, are to be considered guilty of bloodshed and cut off from the rest of the people. Blood sacrifices, because they involve the taking of the life of a creature, need to be treated respectfully, acknowledging that the life belongs to God and is not to be taken by their own hands for their own sin offences before God. Only the Lord’s representatives, the priests, are given this important responsibility. In the sacrifices, we see how they point to the seriousness of our sin, that the cost of our sin is life through the shedding of the blood of the animals.

Sin’s not to be treated lightly. The sacrifices are a temporary solution to allow the people to come close to God, but in the end, God requires a perfect sacrifice, a first-born without blemish, holy, set apart completely for God, perfect as God is perfect. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus is the only person who is perfect because he’s also completely God. Because he values our lives so deeply, he sacrifices his own life for ours, so that we can be with God into eternity. God sends Jesus to pay the price for our sin through the shedding of his own blood on our behalf so that we’re washed clean from our sin and made holy in the eyes of God. I appreciate the imagery Scripture gives us of what is accomplished in Jesus’ sacrifice, that when our sins are washed away through Jesus’ blood, as Isaiah 1:18 tells us we’ll be “white as snow,” a visible contrast to the scarlet red of blood. The blood of the sacrifices, and later of Jesus, becomes the way of reconciling God’s people to himself, becomes the way of atonement for our sins.

Because life is a gift from God, and all life belongs to him as the giver of life, God gives Israel some powerful warnings to respect life, “‘I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the people. For the life of a creature is in the blood…. it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life…. That is why I have said to the Israelites, “You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.” This respect for the life of all creatures reminds us that our first task in the Garden of Eden is to care for creation as God’s stewards.

So, what does this have to do with today since we no longer do sacrifices? Creation care is still important; we’re still stewards of creation. How we live in and with creation is rooted in our relationship with God. Living in a part of the country that is heavily agricultural, this is probably understood a little better as caring for life-stock and ensuring the land is healthy for producing crops is part of our DNA.

Yet there’s more here in this passage. Life is a gift, from conception to death. If the life of an animal is treated with such respect by God, how much greater the respect for the lives of those created in the image of God. How do we live this out in our lives and relationships, within our communities? A couple of the issues in our time are abortion and medically assisted dying. Abortion, the respect for the lives of our youngest and most vulnerable has been part of our Christian identity since the time of Rome. In ancient Rome, the practice of infanticide by exposure was common. Families, often constrained by poverty or social customs, would abandon unwanted babies to die from starvation or wild animals. These babies were sometimes left on trash heaps, city walls, or in remote areas. Early Christians, believing that all humans are made in the image of God, stood against infanticide and abortion. Christians would rescue abandoned infants and raise them as their own. These acts of compassion provided a powerful image of the Gospel at work in everyday life.

People noticed that Christians showed love for those society had rejected. Over time, this brought cultural change. By the fourth century, Christian emperors outlawed infanticide. It’s not just enough to say we're against these things, we need to live out sanctity of life by walking along woman who are considering abortion, surrounding them with support. Being pro-life is not just about the birth of the child, it’s providing a community of support and encouragement to help her and her raise the child to maturity, being involved in their lives through the good and bad times. It’s easy to say we’re against abortion, but it takes Christ-like commitment to life to ensure all children are raised with all that they need to grow into healthy adults.

MAID is another huge issue today. When it comes to medically assisted dying, we need to look harder at palliative care and providing comfort and care for those approaching death. Life is a gift, but it can also sometimes feel like a painful weight. Today, people are taking their own lives in order to not be a burden on their families; there’s a call here to walk with the person considering death, and with their family, addressing the big picture, not just the dying. Lewis Smedes tells of a woman named Grace who took her own life because she had developed MS and was completely dependent on her husband who was also busy with caring for their 5 children. She did this to help her family, but was it effective? Smedes asks some hard questions: “Did she in the long run really make life better for her husband and children? Who can tell how much good they lost from life when they lost the burden of caring for someone they loved?”

“Canada is now noted as the fastest growing assisted dying program in the world,” a University of Alberta research team wrote. At the end of 2014, 76,475 MAID deaths have been reported in Canada since it was legalized. We’re expected to reach the 100,000th MAID death by this summer. A parliamentary committee is now meeting to expand MAID to those whose only condition is a mental illness. How are we caring for those facing death, for those struggling with suffering in life; how are we walking alongside their families and supporting their care-givers? These are the Jesus following questions we need to wrestle with.

Valuing life is about creating communities of shalom where people can flourish, find meaning and purpose, where they’re valued for who they are and not just what they produce. Lewis Smedes writes that believing that life is sacred sends us toward any neighbour who needs help to keep going because God loves them. God gives life, God alone reserves the right to take life away. Jesus offers his blood as a sacrifice so that we might live, to wash away our sin which brings death. As we’ve been reflecting over the past few weeks, this looks like coming closer to God, like forgiveness and reconciliation, like respecting life and protecting life, working towards shalom life for all. Because we’ve been given new life through the power of the sacrificed blood of Jesus, we’re called to live for life as Paul writes in Romans 12:1–2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” And in living in a sacrificial way, living for ‘we’ rather than ‘me,’ we bring life that reflects the new life found in Jesus.

 

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

When God Moves In - Leviticus 1:1–9

We’re in the season of Lent in the church year, the time of year where we’re encouraged to slow down and reflect on our faith and Jesus’ journey to the cross on our behalf and the resurrection. Lent lasts for 40 days, reflecting Jesus’ time in the wilderness, not counting Sundays, which are counted as little Easters. Lent’s a time of confession and repentance, this is why Leviticus is so applicable during Lent. Leviticus is about change from being slaves to being free; into a people shaped by who God is. Leviticus shows us how God’s presence transforms every area of our lives, calling us to live as holy people; “Be holy as I am holy,” found in Leviticus 19:2, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

As part of our faith formation emphasis, you’re being encouraged to focus on your prayer life during Lent, on time with God. Holy is about being separated from the world and being devoted to God, and becomes linked with the character of God’s people as Paul describes in Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Leviticus is set at the foot of Mount Sinai. The tabernacle’s being built and Aaron and his sons have been chosen as priests. Israel’s been shown what it means to be God’s people through the 10 Commandments and laws given to them. Now in Leviticus, God’s giving them sacrifices and images to show them the depth of their sin and God’s commitment to them. The sacrifices point ahead to the promised Messiah; the one coming to save God’s people and make them right with God once again. It’s about God with his people, giving his people opportunities to be with him. This can get lost with all the sacrifices and laws, like seeing the trees rather than the forest.

The Lord calls out to Moses from the tent of meeting. The tent of meeting is where the Lord meets with Moses. Exodus 33:7–11, “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp…. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses…. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”

The Lord tells Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock. “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.” The first offering the Lord talks about with Moses is a burnt offering. This offering can be either a bull of a male lamb or kid. The important requirement is that it’s “a male without defect.”

Scholar R. Jamieson writes in his commentary that God uses a process that they would have been familiar with from their time in Egypt, “No animal was allowed to be offered that had any deformity or defect. Among the Egyptians, a minute inspection was made by the priest; and the bullock having been declared perfect, a certificate to that effect being fastened to its horns with wax, was sealed with his ring, and no other might be substituted. A similar process of examining the condition of the beasts brought as offerings, seems to have been adopted by the priests in Israel.” We hear an echo of this process in John 6:27 when Jesus is talking to the people after feeding the 5,000, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” The Lord demands that we bring him our best, just as he sent his best, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our sin so we can experience eternal life with God. This is what we celebrated in the Lord’s Supper this morning.

Israelites who bring burnt offerings to the Lord needed to follow the Lord’s instructions to ensure that they’re acceptable to the Lord. This offering is a voluntary offering; it’s not one of the offerings demanded by the Lord. But even our voluntary offering has to come from our best. This is a burnt offering, a sacrifice of atonement through the blood of the offering, an offering that’s completely consumed in the fire. This shows the seriousness of our sin, how sin prevents us from being in the presence of God. Sidney Greidanus writes, “sinful humans cannot approach the holy God dwelling in the tent of meeting without being consumed.” God’s holiness means that anything tainted by sin’s not fit to be in his presence. This sacrifice is an invitation from God to come close to him without fear.

Sin’s part of our lives. The doctrine of total depravity reminds us that every part of our lives is touched by sin, there’s no part of our life that’s perfect; reminding us of our need for a saviour. This doesn’t mean that we’re the worst that we can be, it simply means that there’s no part of our life free from sin, showing us that we cannot become holy through our own effort, but only through the work and grace of God. In Old Testament times, God makes it possible to come into his presence through sacrifices that need to be repeated over and over again; a temporary measure until the coming of the Messiah. 

This burnt offering is an offering to make atonement for their sin. Atonement’s all about reconciliation and the repairing of the relationship between God and humanity. In Christianity, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ reconcile believers to God; his sacrifice cleanses us and makes us righteous before him. Atonement is about healing and restoration; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NLT), “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

 Mark Gladman, in his article our Lenten Prayer guide opens with, encourages us to ask ourselves “Where do I need God’s healing love? Where have I been resisting transformation?” Our sin has a way of becoming entrenched in our hearts and lives so much that we don’t even recognize it anymore. It takes time with God to recognize just how great our need for the atoning work of Jesus on the cross really is. Most people only call on God when they need something. Tim Keller noticed, “the average churchgoer wants to come to church and be moral and thereby pay God off while living life their own way, determining for themselves what is right and wrong. This is ordinary lukewarm religion.” That’s not God’s plan; he wants to be in constant touch with us; that’s why we’ve been given the Holy Spirit. This Lent, you’re encouraged to be still with God in prayer, opening your hearts, minds, and souls to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Spending time with God, just like spending time with a spouse or dear friend or mentor, is how you really get to know someone, it’s how their influence is able to help you become more than you are right now. God’s inviting you to come close, to trust him, to find safety and strength in him.

In the tabernacle, God moves into the middle of the people of Israel, accepting them for who they are, working to transform them into his holy people. They’re constantly reminded of his presence through the cloud of smoke by day and the pillar of fire at night. While slaves in Egypt, the Israelites saw gods belonged in temples and didn’t care for people, but God is revealing himself to them as a God who’s present, who lives among and with his people. Now they, and we will learn what it means for a holy God to be with us all the time, giving strength through his presence when we encounter enemies or challenges. It’s like having a friend with you when you’re going through a hard time who knows your story intimately and loves you. Their presence gives you the strength to get through it.

In this burnt offering, we see a number of features of our sin and God’s holiness that we’ll touch on in the coming weeks: the need for a mediator between God and us, uncleanliness, the reason for blood, the cost of atonement, and the glory of God revealed in leading us to new life and holiness. God offers us holiness we’re unable to earn on our own. Holiness is not about following all the rules, holiness is something we chase after because our God is holy and keeps coming after us, in the wilderness, in Jesus, and now through the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus we’re made holy and invited to come close to God.

Work is Meaningless - Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

            

Our work, whether paid or volunteer, or even lack of work, is often central to how others see us, and even how we see ourselves. How quickly, when you first meet someone new, does the topic of what you do for a living, or where you work, come up in the conversation? For many people, a large part of our identity lies in what we do for a living instead of simply being something we do. Work is only one part of who we are as a person.

In Genesis 1:26–28, “God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” We’re created and given the work of caring for God’s creation, but our identity lies in being created in the image of God; we’re image-bearers of God who have a responsibility to care for and develop the potential God has placed within his creation for him and his glory. So often we do our work for our own honour and glory. The Teacher sees our work as meaningless in the long run.

The Teacher begins reflecting on work with some really strong words. He uses hyperbole, saying something in an extreme way in order to get his listeners’ attention, “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” I love my work, and like every job, there are days when you go “Wow” that was a good day; but there are also those hard days where you ask yourself “Why?” When things are bad at work, it can impact our entire life: our relationships with our boss, co-workers, and even families and friends as we carry the hard stuff home. There are days when you wonder if maybe your work’s meaningless in the long run.

The Teacher goes on, “I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless….  What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.” You can work your fingers to the bone, and yet in the end you die just like everyone else, rich or poor, and someone else benefits from all your work. This is a regret I’ve heard way too often, that they spent all their time working at the expense of relationships with their spouse, kids, or friends. This happens because we take a good-thing, work, and turn it into a god-thing that becomes our meaning and purpose in life over God, as Timothy Keller writes.

When we take reflect on gathering wealth in order to create a legacy, it’s wise to ask, “Are large inheritances wise, do we do our children and grandchildren a favour by leaving them large inheritances?” Do we value something we haven’t worked for; do we use it wisely? You may have worked hard for all the right reasons, to benefit your family, loved ones, community, but when you die, you no longer have any control. Research on passing down family businesses shows that “Only about 30% of family-owned businesses survive into the second generation; 12% are still viable into the third generation. Only about 3% of all family businesses operate into the fourth generation or beyond, according to research by the Family Business Institute.” Future generations are often more interested in finding their own career path rather than following in their parents’ footsteps. The second generation hasn’t put in the same kind of blood, sweat and tears that their father or grandfather did, so they don’t have the same passion. There are other reasons, but you may put your life into your work or business only to have it not make it anyway after you die. Meaningless.  

Yet work is good, we can take joy in our work. But we now live in a fallen world and our work is impacted by sin and brokenness due to the fall into sin. As God tells Adam in Genesis 3:17–19, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Yet we live in hope knowing that Jesus is returning and even our work will be renewed and restored to good and very good.

While the Teacher sees his work as meaningless, and as we saw last week, his work accomplished a lot of amazing things, yet our work is part of God’s plan for his creation, and for shaping who we are. God is our example in how he created “very good” and the very good carries over into Jesus’ work in redeeming us and all creation. The Teacher is looking at work as being “under the sun,” rather than looking at our work as part of God’s work. Our work is a way of creating shalom, of leading to flourishing, both as individuals and as a community. Business profits enable companies to create new things, offering ways to provide for their families through the pay employees are given; they’re part of the structure of our communities and contribute to the common good. Our work is part of our stewardship of God’s creation; it has meaning because we do our work as if we’re doing it for the Lord, Colossians 3:23–24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Our faith shapes how we work. There’s the importance of ethics in our work, honouring God’s values and ways in how we do our work and run our businesses and organizations. As bosses, our faith encourages us to invest in our employees, to help them develop the skills and talents they have, treating all those we’re responsible for with respect and honour, even if it means that they might outgrow your company and move on to work somewhere else. As employees, it means that we give a fair day’s work to our employers, it looks like encouraging your fellow employees and sharing your knowledge with them to help them grow, even if it means they advance over you.

All our work contributes, whether it’s at home, in the fields, in the service industry, white-collar or blue-collar work, it’s all part of God’s work. A person who was working in a care home, washing seniors, cleaning floors and toilets and people, felt like she was invisible both at work and in the community. She shared how she hadn’t seen the value of her work until a senior and her daughter stopped her in the hallway and thanked her for how she took care of her mother, sharing how the dignity she showed her mom impacted her soul. Her faith recognized that every person in the care home: all her co-workers, bosses, and directors, were all image-bearers of God. This shaped how she went about her day, understanding what Paul’s getting at when he calls us to do our work as if for the Lord, no matter what it is.

Ask yourself: how does my work contribute to the common good, how does it help people, how am I serving and growing my field of work? Am I showing my faith in how I do my work competently and with respect for the customer, boss, and fellow employees, are there opportunities to share how my faith shapes my work and life.

The Teacher offers this advice, “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” The Teacher finally understands that in the end, it’s the simple things of life where we find joy and meaning with family and friends, thanking God for the satisfaction found in our toil. We work knowing that in the end God provides, this is why Jesus calls us to depend on the Father and not worry, but to trust that just as God cares for the birds in the air and the flowers in the field, he cares even more for you, allowing us to share together our food, our tables, and our fellowship.