The Reality of Unintentional Sins
Posted by Randy | Labels: Confession, John Maxwell, Leadership, Leviticus, Life Journal, Prayer, Restitution, Sacrifices, Sin, Sins | Posted On Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 11:39 AM
I admit that reading in Leviticus isn't always at the top of my list. Leviticus and Numbers, the third and fourth books of the Bible, can seem long, repetitive and even irrelevant. But what I have discovered is that sometimes we have to pull back from the details of a particular passage to see the big picture and the accumulated weight of all that is being said.
That's what helped me this morning as I was reading my Life Journal readings of Leviticus 4-6. The sub-headings in my Bible title sections with things like, "Procedures for the Sin Offering" and "Sins Requiring a Sin Offering." Who wants to read about sins and the incredible amount of detail spelled out for these offerings, often repeated multiple times?
But then I back up and look at the bigger picture, and several things come into focus. First, these procedures for sin offerings all revolve around unintentional sins: "'If any of the common people sin by violating one of the LORD's commands, but they don't realize it, they are still guilty.'" (Leviticus 4:27)
Think about that for a moment. We often think of a sin as intentionally doing something that goes against God's laws. But here God tells us we can sin unintentionally, but it is still a sin. It still hurts our relationship with Him, and it often hurts others and/or ourselves. Ignorance doesn't diminish the effects.
If we understand this and take it seriously, one of our prayers needs to be, "God, show me where I have sinned and did not even realize it." That's not necessarily a fun prayer, but if we're serious about our spiritual journey, this passage shows us this needs to be a part of our prayer life. We need to become aware of our unintentional sins, in order to be forgiven, but more importantly, so we can discern how to stop doing them.
The second thing I notice in this section is that the value of the offering for someone who sins unintentionally becomes higher the more prominent their leadership is in the community of faith. The high priests sacrifice for an unintentional sin is a young bull with no defects (4:4). The sacrifice for the a sin by the entire community of faith is also a young bull (4:13). The sacrifice for one of Israel's leaders is a male goat with no defects (4:23). The sacrifice for the "common people" is a female goat with no defects or a female sheep with no defects (4:28, 32). However, if a person cannot afford a goat or sheep, two turtledoves or two young pigeons can be substituted (5:7), or if even that is too much, two quarts of choice flour (5:11) can be offered as sacrifices.
There is always a cost for redemption, and generally, it is the blood of a sacrifice. But the varying levels of sacrifice also recognize that because a high priest has so much greater visible leadership, his sin, though perhaps not seeming any worse than any others, affects more people and the witness of the faith. An Israelite leader's sin affects more people.
In God's eyes, sin is sin, but the effects of sin vary depending not just on the sin itself, but also on the position of leadership or authority one holds in the community of faith. I remember hearing leadership guru John Maxwell say that the higher we go in leadership in the Christian community and the church, the fewer options we have. Our witness is more visible, and our failures affect more people, even when they are unintentional. So, we have to be more careful, for the sake of our witness to Jesus Christ. The Bible shows that leaders are held to a higher standard.
Finally, I see in this passage that not only must we seek to discover our sins and seek forgiveness for them, but we need to make restitution where possible, plus some more. Leviticus 5:16 (NLT): "'You must make restitution for the sacred property you have harmed by paying for the loss, plus an additional 20 percent.'" (also 6:4-5)
Where we have cost another something through our sins, even unintentionally, it's not enough to seek forgiveness. God calls us to offer restitution above and beyond the loss that another suffered because of our sin. Just covering the cost of what was lost doesn't recognize that our sin created other problems for that person, including just having to deal with all this in the first place.
When I zoom out to look at the big picture in this section, it becomes very clear to me that God wants us to often examine our lives for unintentional sins. Even when we didn't mean for it to happen, there is a cost, and we have to pay it. Perhaps the extra restitution is enough of a penalty to encourage us to be proactive in seeking to identify unintentional sins and avoiding them. God takes sin very seriously, because ultimately it brings death and destruction. Even unintentional sins.
That's what helped me this morning as I was reading my Life Journal readings of Leviticus 4-6. The sub-headings in my Bible title sections with things like, "Procedures for the Sin Offering" and "Sins Requiring a Sin Offering." Who wants to read about sins and the incredible amount of detail spelled out for these offerings, often repeated multiple times?
But then I back up and look at the bigger picture, and several things come into focus. First, these procedures for sin offerings all revolve around unintentional sins: "'If any of the common people sin by violating one of the LORD's commands, but they don't realize it, they are still guilty.'" (Leviticus 4:27)
Think about that for a moment. We often think of a sin as intentionally doing something that goes against God's laws. But here God tells us we can sin unintentionally, but it is still a sin. It still hurts our relationship with Him, and it often hurts others and/or ourselves. Ignorance doesn't diminish the effects.
If we understand this and take it seriously, one of our prayers needs to be, "God, show me where I have sinned and did not even realize it." That's not necessarily a fun prayer, but if we're serious about our spiritual journey, this passage shows us this needs to be a part of our prayer life. We need to become aware of our unintentional sins, in order to be forgiven, but more importantly, so we can discern how to stop doing them.
The second thing I notice in this section is that the value of the offering for someone who sins unintentionally becomes higher the more prominent their leadership is in the community of faith. The high priests sacrifice for an unintentional sin is a young bull with no defects (4:4). The sacrifice for the a sin by the entire community of faith is also a young bull (4:13). The sacrifice for one of Israel's leaders is a male goat with no defects (4:23). The sacrifice for the "common people" is a female goat with no defects or a female sheep with no defects (4:28, 32). However, if a person cannot afford a goat or sheep, two turtledoves or two young pigeons can be substituted (5:7), or if even that is too much, two quarts of choice flour (5:11) can be offered as sacrifices.
There is always a cost for redemption, and generally, it is the blood of a sacrifice. But the varying levels of sacrifice also recognize that because a high priest has so much greater visible leadership, his sin, though perhaps not seeming any worse than any others, affects more people and the witness of the faith. An Israelite leader's sin affects more people.
In God's eyes, sin is sin, but the effects of sin vary depending not just on the sin itself, but also on the position of leadership or authority one holds in the community of faith. I remember hearing leadership guru John Maxwell say that the higher we go in leadership in the Christian community and the church, the fewer options we have. Our witness is more visible, and our failures affect more people, even when they are unintentional. So, we have to be more careful, for the sake of our witness to Jesus Christ. The Bible shows that leaders are held to a higher standard.
Finally, I see in this passage that not only must we seek to discover our sins and seek forgiveness for them, but we need to make restitution where possible, plus some more. Leviticus 5:16 (NLT): "'You must make restitution for the sacred property you have harmed by paying for the loss, plus an additional 20 percent.'" (also 6:4-5)
Where we have cost another something through our sins, even unintentionally, it's not enough to seek forgiveness. God calls us to offer restitution above and beyond the loss that another suffered because of our sin. Just covering the cost of what was lost doesn't recognize that our sin created other problems for that person, including just having to deal with all this in the first place.
When I zoom out to look at the big picture in this section, it becomes very clear to me that God wants us to often examine our lives for unintentional sins. Even when we didn't mean for it to happen, there is a cost, and we have to pay it. Perhaps the extra restitution is enough of a penalty to encourage us to be proactive in seeking to identify unintentional sins and avoiding them. God takes sin very seriously, because ultimately it brings death and destruction. Even unintentional sins.
