Showing posts with label Leviticus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leviticus. Show all posts

Membership at Gateway - Something Different

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Friday, February 10, 2012 at 11:49 AM

February is Membership Awareness Month at Gateway, when we invite our members to reaffirm their membership. We also offer Discovering Gateway the last two Sundays of this month as our membership class for those who want to explore what it means to be a member here.


We've been clear over the last few years that membership at Gateway is about more than joining an organization to get your name on a roll somewhere. Membership is the intentional decision to partner with Gateway on your journey of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.


I had those thoughts in the back of my mind as I have been reading passages from Leviticus the last several days as part of our Life Journal Bible reading plan. Honestly, Leviticus has not typically been my favorite book of the Bible to read, but this year God seems to be opening me to all kinds of new insights as I'm reading. He's been challenging me to go deeper and learn more about what He's saying here. And one passage stands out to me:
"'For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy....'" (Leviticus 11:44 NLT)
The word "consecrate" is translated in some versions as "sanctify." Regardless of the word, the Hebrew word behind it means that we are set ourselves apart, with the idea being that we are setting ourselves apart for faithfulness and obedience to God. The word "holy" carries much the same meaning - to be "different" or "separate."


The Hebrews understood God to be holy, "wholly other," present and active in all of life but not the same as all that is around us. This was in contrast to many religions of that time that embraced what we would call Pantheism, that God is all that we see. In other words, God and creation are inseparable - God is in all things and a part of all things. They are inseparable. Much of New Age and Eastern thought has pantheistic elements to it.


Hebrew/Christian thought understands God to have created all things, to be active in every part of life and living, but God is still "wholly other," different, apart, from His creation, including you and me. Our "religious" goal is not to affirm the god within us (for we do not believe there is a spark of God in all people), or reunite with the cosmos or universe. We are created in God's image, and when we commit our lives to Jesus Christ, his Spirit comes to live within us, but we are not God or a god.


This is a deeper topic than I can unpack in a few paragraphs, but it's implications for the Christ follower and for the Member of Gateway are profound. God calls you and me, who have committed our lives to following Jesus, to be holy. He invites all to be holy, but holiness is not the product of our hard work or effort. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives, to help us become more and more like Jesus and, likewise, to become more and more like the human beings God created us to be in the beginning (Genesis 1-2) where we experienced open, unhindered relationship with God all the time. Yet, being holy really is very different from the way the world around us lives. And it does require our cooperation.


God is the ultimate definition of holy because God is totally and completely different from anything else in all of creation. The Sabbath is called holy because it is to be a different day from the other six days of the week. The Temple was holy because it was different from all other buildings and used for special and unique purposes. And we are called to be holy, unlike anything and anyone else around us. The goal is not to fit in and be a part of the crowd. 


The early Christians understood that their lives were to be different and separate from the lives of others around them. In fact, they were so different that they were dismissed by others or even attacked and sometimes even martyred for their differentness, their holiness. We, on the other hand, afraid of being ostracized, of being left out, of not being a part of the crowd or even the "in-crowd," find it all too easy to try to be like the world around us. We adopt the standards and practices of those around us because we do not want to seem too radical or different. 


Kids battle it in school all the time, as they feel the pressure to fit in and conform or be left out. But adults battle it no less, though it doesn't seem as obvious when we are in the midst of trying to fit in. I know I battle it when I feel the desire to do things for which people will like me. We give in to office or neighborhood gossip; we prefer to get even when we have been wronged, versus offering forgiveness and seeking reconciliation; instead of loving God and people and using things, we love things and use God and people. In fact, we will even argue that if we are too different, no one will hear or see our message. But there's a difference between being in the world and being of the world, and our calling is to be in it but not of it. (See John 15:19, John 17:13-19, James 1:27, 1 John 2:15, James 4:4)


Membership at Gateway is the decision to partner with Gateway to become more and more like Jesus, and that means becoming more and more different from the world around us (holy). It's not that the world, God's creation, is inherently evil and to be avoided at all costs. It's not a call to retreat into Christian enclaves and hide out. It is to be who we are, where we are, and allow our differences to be seen. It's choosing to let God use us to influence our world, rather than letting our world influence us. Being different will sometimes bring ridicule, but more often it will bring curiosity. I remember looking at committed Christ followers before I had fully committed my life to Christ and wondering what it was that they had that I didn't. I was curious and eventually sought them out to learn more, and I eventually discovered I wanted that difference in my life, too, regardless of the cost.


Being different or holy doesn't mean adopting Amish practices or being weird for weird's sake. It's choosing to be salt and light in our world. It's choosing to adopt practices and life patterns that don't always fit the world's agenda, but we have come to understand their importance in helping us be in the world but not of the world. 


Leviticus says being holy is important for the people of God; so important, in fact, that they ordered their whole lives around practices and beliefs that distinguished them from every other people or nation. Membership at Gateway means to value the journey of becoming more and more like Jesus, and your partnership with Gateway is an intentional choice on your part to seek this. Quite frankly, it's the decision to be intentional about being holy with others, regardless of what the world around us thinks or expects. 


It doesn't mean Gateway is responsible for your journey - you are! But Gateway will partner with you, offer you opportunities to seek Christ and help you and me understand what that looks like. It offers you a community of faith to travel with in the pursuit of this goal. After all, God's teachings in Leviticus were spoken not to individuals but to the whole family of God. And the early church never saw itself as lone rangers but as people of faith walking together, living alongside each other, seeking to be holy even as God is holy, by the power of God's Holy Spirit.


Membership at Gateway isn't even about what's in it for me, but how can I join in what God is doing in through this church to help me on my journey to be salt and light, to be in the world but not of it, to be holy even as God is holy. It is to be different, for the sake of God and His Kingdom!

The Reality of Unintentional Sins

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | 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. 

Halloween Origins and Christian Connections

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 9:28 PM

Halloween falls on Sunday this year (2010). Should Christ followers ignore it because of the dark and unChristian aspects to the holiday, or fully embrace it because our culture does, or something in between? My message on October 31 addresses some of this, and I've included a portion of it below (The entire message, "Turn the Light On," can be listened to online on our website, www.gateway-community.org). But, there is no way to cover it all, so I've also added additional material here that explains the origins of more of  Halloween's activities and practices.

It’s believed Halloween has its earliest connections in a pagan Celtic feast in Ireland and Britain before the time of Christ, called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween or Sow-ane, and derived from Old Irish and meaning roughly "summer's end"). Like most primitive cultures that struggled with survival, Samhain was tied into the cycle of the seasons and food production. Samhain, on November 1, seems to have had multiple focal points:
  • celebration of the harvest, and make offerings to their gods (over 300) to express gratitude. It was also a day when animal herders moved their animals into barns and pens to ride out the winter. Weaker animals were slaughtered at this time for food during the winter, since frost and cold had already arrived and the meat could be safely kept.
  • the ending of the summer season (according to Celtic tradition, the "light" part of the year) that now leads into the cold, dark, winter ("dark" part of the year). Sacrifices were offered to encourage the gods to bring about the rebirth of the world in the spring.
  • the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, because the Celts believed dark precedes light.
The Celts believed that on the "eve" or night before Samhain the boundary between the spirit world and our world became very thin. It was believed that deceased spirits or ghosts roamed the earth freely, seeking to attack the celebration feast and perhaps look for a new body to possess. 

Burnt sacrifices of crops, animals and sometimes humans were offered in bonfires, representing the sun, by the Celtic priests, called Druids, to placate the gods, to ensure the sun and light would return after the dark winter and to scare away evil spirits. The word bonfire comes from the words "bone fire," for it was literally the bones of sacrificed and slaughtered animals, along with the occasional human sacrifice, and wood that made up these fires. All other fires in the village would be put out on Samhain and villagers would relight their fires from this sacred bonfire.


Celts tried to appease the roaming spirits by leaving them gifts of fruit and nuts on their doorsteps. Centuries later Irish farmers went door-to-door collecting food and supplies for a village feast and bonfire. Those who gave were promised property and blessings, while those who didn't received threats of bad luck. When Irish immigrants came to America in the 19th Century this custom of trick-or-treating came with them.

To scare off these spirits, the Celts also dressed up in costumes to look like demons, witches and goblins, and wandered through the streets making loud noises to try to confuse and frighten away the spirits. From this we get the tradition of wearing costumes.

The Celts sometimes carried ugly, monstrous faces on hollowed out turnips, gourds, or beets, lighted with candles. These Jack-o-Lanterns were meant to represent the souls of the dead or goblins freed from the dead. It was believed that if a demon encountered something as frightening or terrible as itself, they would run away, sparing the homes from attack by the evil spirits. When the Irish brought this tradition to America, they had difficulty finding turnips but found plenty pumpkins. Over time, the pumpkin became the traditional "lantern." By the way, the name jack-o-lantern comes from a legend about an Irishman named Jack who was completely self-centered and so was forced to roam the earth with a burning coal inside a turnip (and then when the story came to America, a pumpkin) to light his way.

Nocturnal animals such as bats and owls were feared because people believed that they could communicate with the spirits of the dead.

Black cats were considered to be reincarnated beings with the ability to see the future. During the Middle Ages it was believed that witches could turn themselves into black cats. So, when a black cat was seen, it was believed to be a witch in disguise.

During the middle part of the first century (shortly after the death of Jesus Christ) the Romans conquered most Celtic lands, and introduced their own Romans festivals that morphed Samhain. One festival honored Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol for Pomona was the apple. This is probably connected to the tradition of "bobbing" for apples, which used to be a bigger part of Halloween activities until concerns about health and germs became significant.

Then, starting in the 2nd Century, Christian missionaries made their way into the area and began converting the Celts. In 313 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine declared the entire Roman Empire was Christian, so the missionaries' task was now a part of the purpose of the Roman Empire itself.

The missionaries pointed the Celts to Jesus Christ, their Creator and Savior, who had defeated Satan, death and evil at the cross, and before him these evil spirits lost their power and were considered simply superstitions.

Samhain became, instead, a time when the Celts learned about Christian heroes and martyrs, as well as celebrate the lives of their deceased family members who had become Christ followers. This practice began to spread throughout the Holy Roman Empire, now Christian.

In the 7th Century Pope Boniface IV officially instituted All Saints’ Day on May 13 to remember and honor these saints and martyrs who had died, and to replace pagan festivals of the dead. In 834 AD Pope Gregory III moved All Saint’s Day to November 1, and October 31 became All-Saints Eve, or using the word common then for saint – hallow – All Hallows’ Eve, from which we get our word "Halloween."

The word “saint” in the Bible actually has its roots in the word “holy,” and means someone who is set apart for God – a Christ follower. "All Saints" was a day to remember and recognize all the saints who had died, and not just specially recognized Christians.

While Halloween's origins are older than Christianity, it was adapted by Christians to displace pagan festivals and practices. This has always been a common practice of Christianity, though in modern times it seems that our culture is making an effort to take back events such as Christmas and even Halloween, copying the practice of the early Church and attaching additional or other meanings. There is no mention of Halloween in the Bible, though many of the early practices associated with the day are clearly prohibited by God in the Bible. "'Don't dabble in the occult or traffic with mediums; you'll pollute your souls. I am GOD, your God.'" (Leviticus 19:31 Message)

My intent here is not to suggest that Christ followers should or shouldn't participate in Halloween. After thought and prayer, our family has chosen to participate in some Halloween activities, but we have tried to avoid dark or occult costumes and activities (my son has decided to dress as a hobo, and we're hosting a neighborhood party for some  friends). I believe this is a decision that has to be carefully weighed, because of all the dark and occult practices from Halloween's past as well as some modern practices, especially those connected to the occult. Sincere, dedicated Christ followers have argued for complete avoidance of Halloween as well as participation for the fun and as an outreach and witness to others. Either way, Christ followers must be diligent to avoid the dark practices of Halloween. "Put everything to the test. Accept what is good and don't have anything to do with evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:21 CEV)

24 HOURS-Week 1: Passover, Jerusalem and Messianic Hopes

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 7:13 PM

The Feast of the Passover was the single biggest and most important of the Jewish feasts. The Passover event is found in Exodus 12 and the celebration to remember this event was declared by God in Exodus 12:14 (NLT2): "This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the LORD. This is a law for all time." God confirms this in Leviticus 23:4-8.

The Passover was one of Judaism's three major feasts. All Jewish adult males living within 15 miles of Jerusalem were required to attend yearly. Those who lived further away tried to attend if at all possible. It was the desire of every Jew to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem at least once in their lifetime. So, the days leading up to the Passover saw Jews arriving from across the known western world. Jerusalem was packed.

An account by the Jewish historian Josephus gives us some insight into the number of Jews who were in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. In 65 A.D. the Jewish High Priest took a census of the number of lambs slain that year at the request of the Roman governor of Palestine. According to Josephus, the number was 256,000. The law said each lamb had to be used by a minimum of ten people, meaning there must have been between 2.5 and 3 million Jews in Jerusalem for Passover that year.

From the picture below of a 1/50th scale model of Jerusalem from the First Century, you can see the city and the whole neighboring countryside had to be packed.

Passover also created political problems for the Romans. Since the very event recalled Israel's deliverance from Egypt, Jewish nationalism ran high during this Feast. Jews continued to long for the restoration of their Jewish nation of Israel by the Messiah (Christ in Greek), which means anointed one or king.

As Jesus entered Jerusalem a few days before the Feast of the Passover ( on what we call Palm Sunday), he was greeted by crowds.

"Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, 'Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!'" (Mark 11:8-10 NLT2)


It would have been clear to any Jew observing this procession that the crowd was proclaiming Jesus the coming Messiah. He entered into a city packed with people whose nationalistic hopes were running high. It was a powder keg waiting to explode.

The religious leaders were often more pragmatic than spiritual, and they believed they had to try to keep a lid on things if they wanted to keep the Romans from exerting their military might. As Jesus entered Jerusalem and taught daily at the Temple, the crowds and his presence and teachings increasingly frustrated these Jewish religious leaders.

Jesus was the Messiah, but it was also obvious that no one understood just what kind of Messiah he would be. However, within the week everything would change...
(Some of this information from William Barclay's The Gospel of Mark commentary)

Struggling with Leviticus...and Holiness

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 9:26 AM

Right now our Old Testament Life Journal readings are coming from Leviticus. Starting in the second half of Exodus and running through Leviticus, Numbers and portions of Deuteronomy, we read what appears to mostly be trivial details about the Tabernacle and rules for the Israelites, with an occasional short narrative thrown in.

I have to confess that early in my Christian journey, when I started reading these pages, I felt so bogged down. In fact, these can be the kinds of things that cause many of us to stop reading our Bible. Until we get over into Deuteronomy and then into Joshua do we start to again read narratives that seem more interesting as they tell ongoing stories in the life of the Israelites.

Starting with the Ten Commandments, given for the first time in Exodus 20, we read of more and more rules. We read of God giving Moses very explicit plans for building the Tabernacle. Then a few chapters later we read Moses giving the same explicit plans to the Israelites. Why does this get repeated twice? Why so much detail about different kinds of offerings? And in Numbers we get to all the counting of the Israelites. Does any of this mean anything to us today, with the New Testament and our commitments to Jesus Christ?

I'm certainly no expert, but I know God has given us the whole Bible and told us, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives." (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT2) In other words, God says there is value and purpose in all that we read, and when we ignore or dismiss any portion of the Bible, maybe because we don't understand it or don't like what it says, we are not taking Scripture seriously. Some portions of Scripture may be more pertinent or more timely or more important for salvation, and Scripture always has to be read in context, but all of it has value and is here because God desired for us to have it.

So, what do we make of all this "stuff" in Exodus - Deuteronomy? Well, for me, today's reading in Leviticus helps me gain a lens through which to read and understand a lot that's being reported here.

Leviticus 11:44-45 (NLT2): "'For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves…. For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.'"

Let's look at two words that God uses in this passage. The first is "consecrate." The Hebrew word here literally means "to be set apart" (i.e., from that which is common or unclean). The second word is "holy," and it has the same root word as "consecrate," which literally means "separateness, withdrawal." God is telling the Israelites to separate themselves apart from all that is common or ordinary or unclean to become like God: separate and unlike anything or anyone else. The Bible develops this idea of holiness by showing that God is love, absolutely just, full of mercy, etc., which clearly goes beyond anything we human beings are consistently capable of being and doing on our own, because of sin in our lives. Yet, God lifts holiness up as the goal for every person who seeks God, and it is an important lens for reading some of these passages we've been looking at.

In the Old Testament (or Old Covenant), God provided ways for Israel to be forgiven of these sins in order to be different from all the other peoples around them. He offered them sacrifices they could perform - giving up something of value to them to seek to be made right again with God. That's why God is so particular about the quality of the sacrifices. An animal must be unblemished with no defects. Other offerings must be of the highest quality and the first of the harvest. Forgiveness and holiness never come cheap - there is always a cost. But when we start taking this cost for granted, when we fail to offer God our best, we aren't taking seriously what He has done for us. We start living like everyone else - we are no different from everyone else!

In the New Testament (or New Covenant), God provided an even more profound way to forgive us of our sins. Instead of constantly offering sacrifices every time we sinned, God offered the one, full, complete sacrifice for all people for all time. Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, who was unblemished by sin in any way, became our sacrifice. And because He was God, His sacrifice was sufficient for all time for all people. This in itself is amazing, and for Christ followers this put an end to the need for ongoing animal or grain sacrifices. But God took it a step farther - when we trust Jesus and put our faith in him, his Spirit comes to live in us, to work to change us from the inside out. Rather than living a legalistic life of obeying the rules or Law of the Old Testament (where we often start doing it just to gain God's favor, rather than to live in a manner that is pleasing to Him), God's Spirit transforms our heart so we want to live as Jesus lived, to be separate and different...and holy. Interestingly, the New Testament term for Christian is "saint," and in the Greek it carries much the same meaning as holy - set apart for God.

Living for God means our lives are markedly different from those who don't. For all God has done for us, especially through Jesus Christ, we desire to give Him our best in every way, including our gifts and our lives. We become "living sacrifices" for Jesus Christ, and I guarantee you any life that is lived that way will be strikingly different from the lives of others. We are still called to be holy. "But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, 'You must be holy because I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:15-16 NLT2)

So, in these passages in Exodus through Deuteronomy, God is showing us just how important holiness is. He goes into great detail, He repeats things, He sets out significant punishments. Maybe today we don't need all the details to live holy lives, because in Jesus Christ we have the Holy Spirit living in us, but we need to know it's important - in fact, vital to the life Jesus has called us to live. And it's one of the biggest criticisms of Christ followers today - our lives often seem no different from anyone else. Where's the holiness?

In the journey with Jesus there is always a tension between knowing God as friend who loves us very much and desires a personal relationship with us, and being filled with awe and reverence and wonder and gratitude for who God is and all He has done for us. In some ways, it's the tension between Christmas and Easter. Christmas tells us God is with us and on our side, while at the same time Easter shows us the power of God to overcome death and tells us there is a horrific cost for our sins, and only the Holy One, Jesus Christ, could pay that cost for us for all time.

God is with us, but because God is holy, He also calls us to be holy. Both are important. Both matter. And the Bible affirms and demonstrates both throughout its pages. And with Christ, holiness is more than an impossible ideal - it's the life he calls us to aim for, with his help!
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)