Beware of opening the door

Chapter 18 of Leviticus has a rather provocative chapter heading in my Bible: forbidden sexual practices. That's a rather inflammatory concept in our society, where many people consider that anything and everything is acceptable in our modern world.

There's much controversy nowadays about verse 22, which prohibits homosexual behaviour. Many nations around the world are working hard to promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle choice and are redefining how we understand the words, "couple" and "family." Laws are being passed that permit homosexual marriage and that fight for the rights of same-sex couples to adopt children or have IVF treatment. Even Disney Channel has begun to portray same sex couples as an alternative model of a happy and "normal" family. 

The reality, if you speak to children who were raised with same-sex parents, is somewhat less rosy: much as they may have loved their "two mums" or "two dads," they often speak with disappointment of what they missed out on by not having a Dad, or not having a Mum in their lives.

Transgender choices are the buzz word of today, and people risk legal action if they dare to voice the opinion that homosexuality is not a desirable lifestyle choice. Laws are in place to protect homosexuals from discrimination, but it seems that no laws are in place to protect the freedom of speech of anyone who happens to believe in Leviticus 18 verse 22.

What's sometimes forgotten amidst the furore is that homosexuality is only one in a list of many possible "alternative" behaviour choices in this chapter. Is championing homosexual relations as "normal" simply a first step in opening the door to the other behaviours in the list - things like having sex with your father, or your granddaughter, or with an animal? Today's Christians are often accused of intolerance if they dare to express the opinion that it's not acceptable for someone to be in a sexual relationship with a person of the same gender. Will future generations be accused of intolerance if they dare to express the opinion that having sex with your dog or cat is not an acceptable lifestyle choice?

Perhaps that last question was shocking and distasteful to you. And yet anyone over the age of forty today has seen in their own lifetime how opening the door to just one area of compromise will quickly lead to that door being wide open to many and greater compromises. Towards the end of the 1990s, I was once present in a youth group where a guest speaker showed a photograph of a woman in a bikini and asked the teenagers what they thought about it. There was much laughter in the group and some of the young people described the woman and the swimsuit as "demure"  and "old fashioned."  Imagine their shock when the speaker told them that the photo was a picture from a Playboy magazine of early 1954. What was considered pornography in the 1950s was perceived to be rather "reserved" in comparison to the fashions and the advertising of the twentieth century. 

Leviticus 18 is considered outdated by many people today. But we ignore at our peril the dangers and consequences of recklessly opening doors that can probably never be closed again.

Of parenting and preventive medicine...

If you're a parent, you've probably experienced those times when a small child didn't know or understand why you were asking certain things of them. Why were you insisting that they go to bed early or clean their teeth every night? Why didn't you allow your toddler to play with that sharp knife? From the child's limited perspective, it probably seemed petty or unfair, even when you were requiring behaviours that were the best thing for their health and wellbeing.

With this understanding in mind, why do we sometimes doubt that God knows best? Why do some people feel that God's instructions in the Bible are restrictive, petty or designed to "spoil our fun" ? Once we know the love and care of God, there can be no doubt in our minds that the things He asks us to do or not to do are only for our protection and well being.

Reading through the book of Leviticus, it strikes me that some of the instructions the people knew as "laws" were actually more like a manual of preventive health care. We need to remember that this was a people who had been enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, and probably didn't know the first thing about living a healthy lifestyle and protecting themselves from disease.

So when God told them (chapter 7 vs 14 - 17) that the meat from the sacrifice could be eaten on the first day and leftovers eaten on the second day, but anything remaining on the third day should be burned up and shouldn't be eaten.... He wasn't seeking to deprive them of food, He was protecting them from food poisoning. These people lived in a hot, desert-like place; they lived at a time in history when they couldn't pop their meat into the fridge to keep it cool; a time when food wasn't pumped so full of chemicals and preservatives that a sausage can sit on a shelf for three months and still look exactly the same. This instruction was probably primarily to protect the people's health. Verse 18 sounds harsh to us: if you eat the meat on the third day, you'll be punished for your sin. But a closer reading of the verse reveals the truth behind it: long before manufacturers started putting "best before" dates on their products, God was warning his people that contaminated meat would give them a terrible stomach ache, or worse; that disregarding God's instructions could have natural, but painful consequences.

I remember when I lived in Africa, a teenage boy who had been on an outreach with us set himself the goal of reading through the whole Bible. At a weekend camp, we got into conversation over a meal time, and he was very excited about what he had been reading in Leviticus. "It's totally amazing," he said. "God told us stuff thousands of years ago that the scientists are only discovering today." He was referring in particular to Leviticus chapter 15. In my Bible, the chapter heading says, "Bodily Discharges." Yuck! It doesn't particularly entice you to read further, does it?

But we were living in Southern Africa at a time when the AIDS statistics were scarily out of control. Some of our ministry was with child headed households: kids who were raising their siblings alone because both of their parents had died of AIDS. No wonder this young man was blown away to discover that God had already told us thousands of years ago what it took an AIDS epidemic to teach us today: bodily fluids carry disease. All that stuff about blood and semen and other body fluids making people "unclean" was nothing to do with strange religious ritual and all to do with protecting the Israelites from spreading an epidemic throughout the camp. Yes, some of the instructions (like the sacrificing of pigeons) were about recognising God's hand in cleansing and healing people in a day where there were no hospitals to take them to. But other instructions (like taking a bath and washing your clothes) were basic primary health care.

The book of Leviticus, strange and complex as it sometimes seems to modern readers, is full of stuff like this. God was giving people instructions for their own wellbeing, but they needed to trust Him in that and follow His instructions to the letter. In our modern world, we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that we know better, that we're too technologically "advanced" to follow God-given instructions that we don't understand the reason for. Maybe the scientists, psychologists and sociologists of a future generation will have the same reaction as that teenage boy in South Africa when they realise they are discovering things in the 21st Century that God already told us thousands of years ago.  

Let those of us who know the Lord be the first to trust that He truly knows what's best for us.

Privilege and Responsibility

Most people instinctively know or recognise that any privilege brings a responsibility with it. President John F. Kennedy is known to have mentioned that in the political and social realm, while others have made similar statements in the realms of education or economics. It's also a spiritual principle that we find as far back as the early chapters of Leviticus.

In Leviticus chapter 6, we read that the priests offered up sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. They also "benefitted" from these sacrifices, in that they were sometimes allowed to eat the meat or the grain that had been offered. It was sort of like a salary for them, and that was a privilege, but it came together with sacrifice and responsibility. The sacrifice was that the Levites were not allowed to own houses or land; they received no inheritance as the other tribes did, but simply lived off the gifts that other Israelites brought to the Lord. The responsibility was that the Levites were called to a high level of holy living and were required to make daily offerings for their own sin, as well as for the sins of the people. Another responsibility was that they were required to keep fire burning on the altar both day and night; it was never allowed to go out. This must have meant that the priests sometimes had to be on duty during the night when everyone else was asleep.

In Leviticus 6 vs 9 - 16, it's repeated three times that the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never be allowed to go out. It got me wondering why this command was so important. It seems too simplistic to draw the parallel that we are to remain "on fire" for the Lord. As I reflect on it, it seems to me that the constantly burning fire is a picture of our privilege, but also of our responsibility.

To me, the always-burning altar fire speaks of the fact that forgiveness is constantly available, day or night, without having to wait for it.  But in order to have access to that forgiveness, the priest had to add fresh firewood every morning, just as we need to "keep short accounts" and check in regularly with the Lord about sin that needs to be confessed and forgiven. The fact that the altar fire needed to be watched because it could possibly go out, speaks to me of our own weakness and vulnerability - the fact that we could sin at any time if we are not vigilant in our walk with the Lord. Each one of us is to be responsible for our own Christian growth and maturing.

There are many areas in life where we have privilege, and it's worth stopping to reflect on whether we're also fulfilling our responsibilities. If we have the privilege of relative wealth, we also have a responsibility to think of those who are poor, hungry or who need shelter. If we have the privilege of salvation, we have a responsibility to pray for those who don't know the Lord, or to go and share the gospel with them. If we have the privilege of freedom of religion, we have a responsibility to pray for the persecuted church. If we have the privilege of access to fuel and transportation, it comes with a responsibility to reflect on our carbon footprint and whether we are being good stewards of God's creation. If we live in a society with just laws built on Biblical values, we have a responsibility to speak out or seek justice for those who are oppressed or unjustly imprisoned or exploited in the work place.

It was this sense of God-given responsibility that caused believers of past generations to speak out against slavery or child labour. Today our world still faces the evils of human trafficking, child abuse and hunger. Each one of us needs to know how to live out our own responsibilities in the 21st century - whether we're called to pray, to speak out, to write, or to take action in some other practical way.

One of the privileges that I most value as a Christian is the fact that we can talk to God and hear His voice for ourselves; we no longer need a priest to be an intermediary for us. But even this privilege comes with responsibility: it's up to me not to "waste" the privilege; I need to make time in my daily life to talk to God and quieten my heart to listen to what He has to say to me. In a sense, it's our modern equivalent of keeping the altar fire burning, just as was commanded in the book of Leviticus.

It's free, but it will cost you everything

Leviticus chapter 5 outlines the procedures that the early Hebrews had to go through in order to receive atonement for their sins. It's interesting that forgiveness was never out of reach: if a person was too poor to be able to offer a sheep or a goat, they were allowed to bring two young pigeons instead. If they were not even able to offer pigeons, they could bring an offering of flour. But if the wrongdoer owned a sheep or goat, that was what they had to bring; the sacrifice had to cost them something, as a reminder that mercy and forgiveness are not cheap.
It's the same today: the sacrificial death of Jesus means that forgiveness is within everyone's grasp; the price is already paid and no one is too wicked or too poor to be able to avail themselves of this freely given forgiveness. But this is no cheap grace. Our salvation cost Jesus everything and He asks us to give Him everything, our whole lives, in return. Paradoxically, those who recognise this, and who willingly surrender everything to Jesus, live their lives with a deep sense of freedom and purpose, while those who struggle with the cost and try to retain the reins of their own lives often find that they struggle with their faith and with their assurance of salvation.

Moving on to chapter 6, another principle that underlines the consequence of sin and the cost of redemption, is the principle of restitution. A sin offering made forgiveness available, but it didn't undo the damage or loss that the sin had caused. For this reason, whether the sin was against the Lord or also against another person, the wrongdoer had to face up to the cost of putting things right. If he had stolen something, cheated someone, or told a lie, he had to go back to the injured party and pay back what had been taken - also adding another 20% so that it cost the wrongdoer something to make amends. The cost involved was a reminder and an incentive not to commit that sin again.

This principle of restitution is often neglected or not understood today. People wrong others and think that a "cheap apology" will get them off the hook. It's true that some things can never be restored or put right - like the teenager killed on the road by a drunk driver. In such cases, one can only ask forgiveness and throw oneself on the grace and mercy of the grieving parent. But many other things can be made right to some extent, and God watches to see if we'll be faithful to make restitution. If I steal something or break something belonging to another person, the right thing to do is to replace it. If I lie to someone, I need to go back and tell them the truth. If I spread gossip or slander about someone, I need to go the extra mile to correct the wrong impressions I gave, and see that person's reputation restored again.

This principle is built into the legal systems of many of our nations. Stolen goods need to be returned to their owner, probably together with a hefty fine. The company whose chemicals caused my cancer needs to cover my medical bills and pay me "punitive damages." The newspaper is required by law to print a retraction of the inaccurate report they wrote about someone. Our society knows this is necessary in the "big stuff," but sometimes we as Christians are careless and complacent about the smaller stuff.

I remember one of the first times I saw this principle in action. A few of us had been in a conversation around the table - about how our adult gifting and abilities often begin to show themselves even in childhood. A few hours later, one of the friends came back to me. "I need to put something right," he said. "When we were chatting at lunch time, I told you that I had won first prize in a high school poster competition for best creative design. That wasn't completely true. In fact, I came second in that competition. God has shown me that I exaggerated to make myself look better, or more gifted, and that I needed to come back to all of you to tell you the truth."  I confess I was surprised; it didn't seem to matter in the grand scheme of things whether this 30 year old man had come first or second in a teenage competition. But the lack of integrity mattered to God, and this young man had understood that. I was only in my early twenties at the time, and this friend's example helped make me more aware of the value of integrity and the importance of restitution in my own life too. Restitution costs us. If it doesn't have a material or financial cost, it has a cost to our pride, as it did for my Austrian friend in that situation. It's uncomfortable and embarrassing. It's a reminder that sin can always be forgiven, but there's always a cost and it shouldn't be taken lightly.

Complex chapters about sacrificing animals and birds... yet these passages in Leviticus remind us of timeless principles that will make all the difference to our lives in the 21st century.

A sweet smelling fragrance...

A number of friends were concerned for the health and wellbeing of an overweight team mate - not because she had finally begun a weight-loss diet, but because she had also embarked on a seemingly radical programme of aerobic exercise. In defence of her chosen strategies, she announced, tongue in cheek, that she was "completely Biblical" - because Leviticus 3: 16 says that "all the fat belongs to the Lord" and she was simply aiming to burn up fat before God.

In Leviticus chapters 3 and 4, it is, in fact, repeatedly emphasised that the fat belongs to the Lord. The significance of this can escape us today. I thought back to our recent Christmas dinner and how my family members meticulously cut all the fat off our food, simply to throw it outside for the birds and squirrels. Fat has become somewhat undesirable in my culture, but in the Bible context it was a valuable and useful part of the animal, as it could be used for cooking and other things. (I wonder if they used it to make soap, as some cultures still do today.) As in the first chapters of Leviticus, I think the principle here is that of giving to God wholeheartedly and not holding back things that could be useful to ourselves.

If you don't come from a culture that practises the burning of incense, it may seem strange that it's mentioned so often in these early worship instructions, but it makes sense if you think of the stench that would otherwise come from the shed blood and burning fat. In fact, because of the sheer amount of fire needed to consume a bull, the rest of the animal was burned outside the camp - just as Jesus was crucified outside the city wall. The liberal use of incense also adds an extra layer of meaning to New Testament scriptures such as Ephesians 5: 2, which says that we are to live a life of love, just as Jesus loved us and gave Himself up for us as " a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Or Philippians 4: 18, where Paul says that the believers' generous financial gifts were "a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God."

What an incentive to live a godly life, when we understand that our acts of love and generosity are like a gift of perfume, "a sweet smell" to the Lord. Our holy lives are the only fragrance that God seeks today, because of the fact that the stench of sin and blood no longer needs to be masked by incense, thanks to the once-and-for-all sacrificial death of Jesus. So it's very symbolic (Hebrews13: 11 - 16) that Jesus sacrificed His life outside the city gate, just as these priests in Leviticus burned the animals' bodies outside the camp. Now our "sacrifices" (Hebrews 13: 15 - 16) are not of blood and fat, but are sacrifices of praise, kindness and godly living.

It's notable, in Leviticus chapter four, that there's a clear assumption that everyone sins - priests, leaders and ordinary members of the community. No one is so mature, or so religiously involved, that they are above sin. Everyone needed the forgiveness bought by the sacrifices and burnt offerings, just as today everyone needs the forgiveness that's only given when you come to Jesus.

So these ancient chapters of Leviticus appear to be about blood, fat and incense. In fact, they're a challenge to give wholeheartedly to God and to live "fragrant" lives that bring joy to His heart.

Determining priorities

The first two chapters of Leviticus launch right in with detailed “how tos” of how the early Hebrews were to make offerings to the Lord. The more basic information was already covered in the book of Exodus, so now we find ourselves in an almost bewildering amount of detail about burnt offerings (bulls, sheep, goats, pigeons) and offerings made out of grain. On the surface, it appears to be religious instruction from a bygone age, practices that even the Jews no longer follow nowadays. So what principles are there for us as God-followers in 2017?

The main thing that immediately stands out to me in these chapters is that the things sacrificed in these offerings were things that otherwise would have been used as food. So there was a cost involved: the people had to “waste” food that would otherwise have fed their family. I see two principles behind this:

1) the people were demonstrating their dependence on God and not just on food that they’d raised for themselves. They were willingly giving up food to demonstrate their commitment to obeying God.

2) the people were demonstrating that atonement for sin (and relationship with God) was even more important than food for physical survival.

These same principles are important today. Am I willing to tithe my income to God, even if I feel I don’t have a lot to spare? Am I willing to observe sabbath rest, even though working seven days a week would give me more income? Do I care more about dealing with sin and having relationship with God than about having a good reputation in the world's eyes and avoiding any pain or persecution that might come as a result of my faith?

Yes, these first two chapters of Leviticus are about old sacrificial rituals... but I think that they are also a reminder about determining our priorities in life.

New endings

For around a decade now, I've preached in my home church on the first Sunday of every new year. Today it happens to be on the very first day of the year. During December, as I was praying over what to speak about, my thoughts drifted to different kinds of "new beginnings" in the Bible. But then I felt God saying that what was really on His heart for 2017 was that we would successfully journey towards a "new ending." As an old axiom expresses it, the beginning may be set in stone, but we can all adjust our course today and work towards creating a new ending. And as I asked God what sort of ending He wanted for us in 2017, my attention was drawn to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10, which says, Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

In some ways, it seems a strange command. It's easy to imagine that strength is something we don't have any control over; some people are strong and others are weak, just as some people are tall and others are short. But that's not true physically and it's not true spiritually either. Physically, we become stronger by intentionally exercising our arm muscles, leg muscles, heart rhythm, lung power or whatever it is we want to strengthen. God would never command us to do something that's impossible for us. So when Paul tells the early believers to be strong in the Lord, it implies that there's something we can do about that: we can respond in a way that intentionally helps us become spiritually stronger and more able to draw on the supernatural power of God.

In its Biblical context, the writer goes on to unpack this (verses 11 and 13) by telling the believers to put on every single piece of God's armour…. with the result that we will be able to resist the enemy. And, even if we happen to face battles and have a hard time, the ending will be that we are still standing firm. The Bible passage about the armour is well known, but it doesn't specifically tell us what to do to use that armour, and so there's a danger that we could leave it at a theoretical level and not actually take any of the steps needed to help ourselves be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

Just reading the Bible passage about putting on the armour will not make us spiritually strong, any more than reading health magazines will make us physically strong if we don't actually do anything in response to what we read. We need to find ways of taking these six spiritual weapons out of the realm of theory and into the realm of our daily reality and experience, or we won't see any difference, any tangible result in our own lives.

On Christmas Eve, my message in the church service was about six miles and six gifts. This morning, my preaching is about those six weapons, and how to use them practically in 2017 so that we end the year having become stronger in the Lord.