Living Pure In An Impure World
Scripture: Leviticus 18:2-5, 24-28
"2 I am the Lord your God. 3 So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. 4 You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. 5 If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord...Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways. 25 Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. 26 You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. 27 “All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. 28 So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now.
Observations:
When God's people left the pagan culture of Egypt behind, God took them into the wilderness for a period of time to allow them to detox before they entered the land of Canaan where they would again encounter one of the most perverse and sinful socieities in history. In between these two pagan worlds God gave the Israelites specific instructions that would protect them from succombing to the same way of life of those around them and enable them to remain in relationship with Him. It was because of such gross sins that God was about to completely wipe out entire civilizations. By adhering to God's instructions about how to live differently (holy), God's people would literally escape the death of God's judgment upon the Caananites' sin. However, with the promise also came a warning that reminded them that sin is an equal opportunity destroyer and that failure to obey God's commands (in general, but specifically regarding sexual purity) would lead them to the fate as the Canaanites. Unfortunately, the sad reality of Scripture is that God's people did in fact neglect God's commands and were compromised by the sinful practices of their culture, resulting in God's judgment.
Application:
When God brings us into relationship with Him, our first priority should always be differentiate ourselves from the lifestyle of the world around us that has little or no regard for God's desire for commands that call us towards a pure and holy life. We as God's people cannot afford to neglect God's instructions for the simple reason that He has promised that we will "find life through them" (vs.5). On the other hand we are never more susceptible to the sublte lure of sin than when we, as the Israelites, begin treating God's commands like suggestions and start the downward spiral into compromise and out of reltionship with Christ. In order for us to stay on guard against that which would threaten our obedience to Christ today
"we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it..."(Hebrews 2:1). The only sure antidote for sin is obedience to God's Word for it is only then that we discover life the way God intended and escape His judgment.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us enough to find us in our sin and death and show us the way to life through the instruction of Your Holy Word. Make us holy as You are holy today and teach us to live in full obedience to Your commands as we continue to discover what it means to live in relationship with a Holy God. Influence us so that we may in turn influence the world around us. Amen.
"2 I am the Lord your God. 3 So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. 4 You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. 5 If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord...Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways. 25 Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. 26 You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. 27 “All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. 28 So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now.
Observations:
When God's people left the pagan culture of Egypt behind, God took them into the wilderness for a period of time to allow them to detox before they entered the land of Canaan where they would again encounter one of the most perverse and sinful socieities in history. In between these two pagan worlds God gave the Israelites specific instructions that would protect them from succombing to the same way of life of those around them and enable them to remain in relationship with Him. It was because of such gross sins that God was about to completely wipe out entire civilizations. By adhering to God's instructions about how to live differently (holy), God's people would literally escape the death of God's judgment upon the Caananites' sin. However, with the promise also came a warning that reminded them that sin is an equal opportunity destroyer and that failure to obey God's commands (in general, but specifically regarding sexual purity) would lead them to the fate as the Canaanites. Unfortunately, the sad reality of Scripture is that God's people did in fact neglect God's commands and were compromised by the sinful practices of their culture, resulting in God's judgment.
Application:
When God brings us into relationship with Him, our first priority should always be differentiate ourselves from the lifestyle of the world around us that has little or no regard for God's desire for commands that call us towards a pure and holy life. We as God's people cannot afford to neglect God's instructions for the simple reason that He has promised that we will "find life through them" (vs.5). On the other hand we are never more susceptible to the sublte lure of sin than when we, as the Israelites, begin treating God's commands like suggestions and start the downward spiral into compromise and out of reltionship with Christ. In order for us to stay on guard against that which would threaten our obedience to Christ today
"we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it..."(Hebrews 2:1). The only sure antidote for sin is obedience to God's Word for it is only then that we discover life the way God intended and escape His judgment.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us enough to find us in our sin and death and show us the way to life through the instruction of Your Holy Word. Make us holy as You are holy today and teach us to live in full obedience to Your commands as we continue to discover what it means to live in relationship with a Holy God. Influence us so that we may in turn influence the world around us. Amen.
A thought;
ReplyDeleteMany people quote the “Old Testament” when it suits their purpose to stress a point, and then they quote the “New Testament” when they want to say the “Old Testament” laws were washed away with the blood of Jesus Christ.
I don’t think we can have it both ways!
I am often told; God is the same today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow. So the “Ten Commandments” are often quoted for people to follow and learn; but then, Jesus says; “Love God, the father with all your heart” is the most important thing in you life.
So how do we minister to others “boldly” when we have trouble deciding (with the teachings of our current Preachers) what to deliver as the gospel that Jesus (and therefore God) lays out for us.
Your post today talks about sin, and yet today we "choose" to life our lives "within the confines of the world" surrounded by sin. How do we continue to ask for redemption for our sins; and yet, continue to repeat those sins.
In Leviticus 11; it talks about clean and unclean food,
43 Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. 44 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. 45 I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
and finishes with; 46 " 'These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves in the water and every creature that moves about on the ground. 47 You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.' "
But we "choose" to ignor this passage, because in a part of the "New Testament"; it basically says, that if you pray a blessing over your food, since anything God blesses will not be bad for you, you can eat anything as long as you pray over it first. This is just a small example of my confusion.
That's a great observation! In fact, Jesus came "not to destroy the Law (the Old Testament) but to fulfill it" Matthew 5:17. In terms of fulfillment, Jesus' life, death, and resurrection has given the terms of the Old covenant completion and fullness. "For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God." Romans 10:4. In that sense, we are not obligated to obey the "Laws" in Leviticus in order to have relationship with God but rather our entire relationship with God is based on what Christ has done for us not what we do or don't do for Him.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, when it comes to understanding which Old Testament commands we should or should not follow today, we interpret the Old Testament Law into 3 categories: Moral Law, Civil Law, and Ceremonial Law. No New Testment writer ever instructed or even encouraged Christians to coninue following Civil Laws because they pertained only to the nation of Israel, not as universal commands for all people. Secondly, they also understood that the sacrifice of Christ fulfilled the Ceremonial regulations of the sacrificial system of worship, therefore making any other regualtion associated with priesthood, offerings, or bylaws all obsolete. However, virtually all of the moral Laws given in the Old Testament appear to have been carried over into the common writings of the New Testament church (see Acts 15, 1 Corinthians 6, Galatians 5:19-21). In this regard we only adopt Old Testament Laws as authoritative when they are restated by the writers of the New Testament. Hope this makes sense. Feel free to let me know if I can help make it more understandable. : )
Galatians 5:23-24