Week 41: Leviticus 26:34: Green Space

A devotional thought composed originally for Swift Current TSA Devotional Book, June 2015.Presented to River Street Cafe, 22 April 2016, Earth Day.

Read Leviticus 26:31-35

"As people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), we have been entrusted with the care of the earth's resources (Genesis 2:15). Stewardship requires that we use these resources in a manner which ensures the well-being of present and future generations. God's instruction to 'subdue' the earth and 'rule' over every living thing (Genesis 1:28) cannot be interpreted to justify abuse or disregard for any life, not only human life. The privileges granted require our accountability to Him and one another" (TSA Canada Position Statement).

God cares about the environment, the land itself. He lays out some important commands concerning it (specifically relating to Palestine; Lev. 25, 26) in a part of Scripture that is – interestingly enough - known as the 'Holiness Code'.

We are directed that the land itself shall enjoy its Sabbath rest (Lev. 25:2, 26:34,35) just as man is commanded to (Exod. 20: 8-11, Deut 5:15), and as God did (Exod. 20:11, Gen. 2:3). If we, as 'tenants' of His land (Lev. 25:23), fail in our responsibility to carry out this duty to take care of the land, then the owner of the land -who cares about His land- may remove us from it.

He did remove Israel from the land as it neglected its environmental responsibilities: "He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah" (2 Chronicles 36:20-21). When Israel neglected the land, the LORD held them responsible. The land is the LORD's. He cares about His land and therefore so should we.

Given that God cares about His land and given the finite resources of our world, its expanding population, and the impact of industrialization, we each need to accept responsibility for the environment by taking practical steps to regenerate and conserve God's creation.

One of the very first things God commanded humanity – Genesis 1:28 – was to take care of this world that He lovingly created. It is important to God and therefore should be important to us.

This is a big part of our Christian witness. Can we call ourselves servants of Christ if we neglect the first responsibilities God ever gave us? How can we show our love for God by taking His commission to look after the earth seriously?

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, What is My Responsibility to the Environment? Nipawin Journal (September 2008) On-line: http://sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#environment

Leviticus 25:23b: This Land is My Land.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 20 May 2012.

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Has anyone read Leviticus recently? Rebecca, Sarah-Grace and I have been reading Leviticus together as part of our evening Bible time. Parts of it remind me of a traditional fairy tale. Leviticus, in content, is like a Grimm’s fairytale in that it can be a little bit bloody: It speaks in great detail, among other things, about the sacrifices that people are to offer and the different animals that are killed for those sacrifices. Sometimes the priests will even put the sacrificed animal’s blood on their own ears or toes and sometimes a live bird is dipped in the blood of a sacrificed bird and then let go (Leviticus 8:23-24, 14:6, 14-28, 51-52). Leviticus, in content, in some ways is like a Grimm’s fairytale.

Leviticus, in style, is some ways is like a contemporary children’s book: it can be quite repetitive. Almost every chapter of the 27 chapters in this book begin with the phrase “The Lord said to Moses, (Chapters 6, 8, 14, 16, 17, 21, 22, 25; cf. Leviticus 1:1)” or “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites…’ (Chapters 4, 12, 15, 18, 19, 20)” or for a change sometimes it says, “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron” (Chapters 11, 13, 15; cf. also Leviticus 18:1; 19:1; 20:1; 21:1, 16; 22:1, 17, 26; 23:1, 9, 23, 26, 33, 24:1, 13; 25:1; 27:1)

One evening Sarah-Grace, Rebecca and I were discussing how, in Leviticus, everyone was supposed to take one day off work a week to worship the Lord – the Sabbath day – except for the Levites, the priests and their families (Leviticus 16:31-32; 19:3,30; 23:3-38): they still had to work on the Sabbath and they didn’t get Monday off in lieu of Saturday as their own personal Sabbath. My girls weren’t so fond of clerical families not getting an extra day of rest; so one night just after Bible time and just before bed time, they presented me with this ‘ancient scroll’ they found, here in Swift Current, written in blue pen ink on lined foolscap paper; this is what it said:

“Then Moses was told to tell Aaron this: “If a female relative of the priest works it is very, very bad!!!!! If the girl is twenty or below [and sins by working] she must watch the priest shave two doves and then sell them. If no one buys them the priest must pay his wife the amount the doves were worth and then cage them and keep them. The girl who sinned by working must set free the doves from captivity after 17 days. Twenty-one and up must shave the birds themselves but the priest must do the selling and just as before if no one buys them the priest must keep them and pay his wife. Then after only seven days the women who worked must set free the shaved birds. After [this] the priest must quit his job and he will be out away from his people. His family may come with him if they choose but they don’t have to. The only way a woman can work is if it’s for learning but if the work is cleaning up or housework, this process must not be done.

To this I replied that we are not priests; we are Salvation Army Officers and as such we believe in the priesthood of all believers, so they still get the privilege of working – especially cleaning up and housework. It was a nice attempt though.

Leviticus is part of the Pentateuch. It tells us the many laws and rituals that the ancient Israelites needed to follow. The Pentateuch teaches us about the Law, Sabbaths, tithing... Tithing has come up a bit this week in various conversations so I have a little quiz for us today generally relating to tithing (answers below):[1]

1)      What is a tithe?

2)      Who can tell me where in the New Testament it tells us to give God 10% of our money?

3)      How much of our income belongs to the Lord?

Pertaining to questions 1&2: Tithing is spoken about a few times in the Pentateuch (Leviticus 27:30-32. Numbers 18:21-28, Deuteronomy 12:6- 17, Deuteronomy 14:22-28, Deuteronomy 26:1,12). But outside of the Pentateuch, accepting 2 Chronicles 31, tithing is only mentioned in the prophets (2 Chronicles 31:5-12, Nehemiah 10:37-38, 12:44, 13:5-12, Amos 4:4, Malachi 3:8, 3:10.). Tithing is an ancient Israelite custom. It is neither a New Testament custom nor an early Christian tradition: God doesn’t just want a tithe; everything is His, God wants more than just 10%; He wants 100%. (Matthew 19:20-21, Mark 10:21-24, Luke 18:22, Acts 2:42-47, cf. Romans 14:1-23, Hebrews 4:1-13).[2] I was going to speak more directly on tithing this week but in the end I thought we would address Question 3 from our test today and look at an Old Testament passage that reflects the eternal principles of financial management instead. Ancient Israelites were herdsmen and farmers. Their primary source of income was the land.[3] Today, we are looking at Leviticus 25:23b where the God, foreshadowing Jesus’ New Testament teachings, says,  “the land is Mine and you are but aliens [strangers] and My tenants.”

Leviticus 25: “there are three subdivisions to this section: the sabbatical year, the Jubilee, and the laws of indebtedness. The basis of the land laws God gave to Israel is God’s statement that ‘the land is Mine’”(v.23).[4] How many people here either farm or have farmed or grew up on the farm or had parents who grew up on the farm? Try and relate this passage that we are looking at today to your experiences and knowledge.

Verses 1-7 record God’s command to farmers that for six years they are to farm: planting and reaping and also gathering fruit off their trees. In the seventh year they are not allowed to plant anything in their fields and they aren’t allowed to prune a single tree. You aren’t allowed to reap anything for profit.[5] In year seven the combines aren’t going all day and night. Even if they had combines, they wouldn’t be going at all. The only harvesting that you are allowed to do is to get enough food for yourself, your employees, your animals, and the poor people in town (cf. Exodus 23:11). Nothing else. Now you also have to remember that – as a backdrop to this commandment – throughout the history of ancient Israel, most of the time the people were on the verge of starvation. There were no supermarkets. E.I. wasn’t as difficult to get as it is becoming in Canada today because there was no E.I. and on top of this, every seventh year there was nothing that was to go to market at all. No farmer was allowed to sell anything. The only food that was to be grown was for subsistence.[6]

Why would God do this?  Especially given that historically speaking, Israel was always on the verge of starvation; as Israel was always on the verge of starvation, why in every seventh year would God forbid them from selling, harvesting, or even planting any food?[7]  One reason is to remind us that God says -Leviticus 25:23b- “the land is Mine and you are but aliens [strangers] and My tenants.” The Land is not ours, it belongs to God and God wants us to trust Him to provide for us.[8]

Today, sometimes I think we need this kind of reminder. Today, I think that sometimes we get so caught up in our affluent North American lifestyle that we forget that our wealth, our income, our food, our homes, the land and everything in it is not ours. It is God’s. Has anyone here ever rented any land or rented any land out? This is what God is doing with ancient Israel in Palestine. It’s His land. He is simply renting it out to Israel just like He rented it out to the previous tenants, the Amorites (Genesis 15:12-16). Part of the rent that Israel owes God is to let God’s land rest every seventh year and for Israel to just eat what they can glean. The Israelites are simply His tenants and when they don’t take care of God’s land the way He asks them to take care of His land; when they don’t pay this rent, the scriptures tells us -Leviticus 26:33-35- that God will evict Israel from the land and the prophet Jeremiah confirms that indeed He did evict them, just like He evicted their predecessors (Genesis 15:12-16). 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 records: “He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant…The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, … in fulfilment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah”

God, as His rent, wants Israel to trust Him. He wants us to trust Him. Everything in creation belongs to God. In Leviticus 25:25-55, it records that the Israelites are to trust God and that they are not to sell God’s land because it is not theirs to sell. It records that they are not to sell each other into slavery because even they do not belong to themselves; they belong to the Lord. If people do wind up selling themselves or their land, in the fiftieth year the people and the land is to return. The land is to return to the family that God personally chose through sacred lot to manage His land for Him (Number 26:55, 33:54, 34:13, 36:2; Joshua 18, 19:2). In that regard, any sale of property was to be more like a term rental agreement. For an ancient Israelite to sell his property would be like if you were a tenant farmer and/or renting a house in town and then when the owner was out of the province, you decided to try to sell his house. You can’t do that.

Now we remember what we were saying about Verses 1-7 and the Sabbatical year. There is even more to this and in Leviticus 25:23b the Lord reminds us that “the land is Mine and you are but aliens [strangers] and My tenants.” Verses 8-22 remind us that you are not to plant or harvest anything in the 7^th year and that you are to trust God to provide for you but one is also not allowed to plant or harvest anything in the 14^th, 21^st, 28^th, 35^th, 42^nd, or 49^th year, … and it also records that in every 50^th year you are not supposed to plant or harvest anything because it is the year of Jubilee.[9] God says this is our rent to Him. We are just tenants and if we don’t trust Him enough to pay the rent, He’ll kick us off the land and give it to someone else. In verse 20-22 is recorded

 “You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.”

This is the key to it. They need to trust God. We need to trust God. Leviticus 25:23b: the Lord says, “the land is Mine and you are but aliens [strangers] and My tenants.” Everything belongs to God. We are not paying Him out of our abundance; He is providing for us out of His abundance. Do you see the difference?

I saw a comic once. I think it was a Family Circus comic. A child was looking at a bill in the restaurant and asked, “Daddy, why do you give the waiter 15% but you only give God 10%?”

Do we ever do that treat God as if He is our waiter – just tipping Him the 10% minimum that we think we can get away with, or even less in some cases, instead of recognizing Him as our God. God is not our waiter, hoping that we will give Him a 10% tip from our money. God is our landlord demanding His rent and more than that He is our employer expecting us to do our job that we have already been paid to do and more than that He is our father who loves us and as such everything we think we own –like the ancient Israelites and their land – is really His. We are really just managing all that we have and all that we are for God and if we do not do our job as manager, He might just relieve us of our duties like He did with Israel, leading them off to captivity in Babylon (Cf. Luke 19:11-26; Matthew 25:14-30; cf. also TSA doc. 9).

Everything in this world belongs to God. Look outside: that land is not ours; that land belongs to God; we are just looking after it. Look at this building; it is not ours; it belongs to God; we are just looking after it. Think of your job; it is not yours; it belongs to God; you should be doing it as if you are doing it for Him (Colossians 3:23). Think of your home; it is not yours; it belongs to God; you are just looking after it, managing it for him. Think of even your beautiful wife or your intelligent husband: your marriages also do not belong just to you, they belong to God; you are just looking after them. Everything in this world belongs to God. We are just managers, we are just stewards of it. Leviticus 25:23b: God says, “the land is Mine and you are but aliens [strangers] and My tenants.” Everything belongs to God. This is why in the Old Testament people were asked to let the land lie fallow every 7^th and 50^th year and this is why they were asked to not work on every 7^th day. This is why we are asked to love God and to love our neighbours as ourselves (Luke 10:27, cf. Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 5:43). Because, as God reminds us “the land is Mine and you are but aliens [strangers] and My tenants.”

Everything belongs to God. Reading from Luke 18:18-23:

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother.’”

 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.

God says, “the land is Mine and you are but aliens [strangers] and My tenants.” Don’t just tip God a ten percent gratuity for the life He provides you like it is some meal at a restaurant that you paid for. He paid the price, not you. Give God 100% control of your money; Give God 100% control of your time and give God 100% control of your talents. He deserves nothing less.

Luke 12:22-34:

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

 “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith!  And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

In summary, the land is God’s and we are but aliens [strangers] and His tenants; so let us not get tricked into merely tipping God. Don’t only give Him 10% of your finances; don’t only give Him 10% of your time; don’t only give Him 10% of your talents; don’t only give Him 10% of your life. Give God 100% of your life. He wants it all.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] 1) The first 10% of your income, see Leviticus 27:30-32. Numbers 18:21-28, Deuteronomy 12:6- 17, Deuteronomy 14:22-28, Deuteronomy 26:1,12, 2 Chronicles 31:5-12, Nehemiah 10:37-38, 12:44, 13:5-12, Amos 4:4, Malachi 3:8, 3:10; 2) It doesn’t 3) All of it, see Matthew 19:20-21, Mark 10:21-24, Luke 18:22, Acts 2:42-47.

[2] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, “How much of my income belongs to God?” Nipawin Journal. (May, 2009). Available online: http://renewnetwork.blogspot.ca/2009_05_01_archive.html#1627607693776242163

[3] F. Ross Kinsler, “Leviticus 25.” Interpretation 53, no. 4 (October 1, 1999): 395-399. ATLASerials, Religion Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed May 18, 2012). P. 396

[4] R. Laird Harris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Leviticus/Exposition of Leviticus/IX. Laws of Land Use (25:1-55), Book Version: 4.0.2

[5] R. Laird Harris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Leviticus/Exposition of Leviticus/IX. Laws of Land Use (25:1-55)/A. The Sabbatical Year (25:1-7), Book Version: 4.0.2

[6] Cf. R. K. Harrison, Leviticus: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1980 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 3), S. 226

[7] Cf. F Ross Kinsler, “Leviticus 25.” Interpretation 53, no. 4 (October 1, 1999): 395-399. ATLASerials, Religion Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed May 18, 2012). P. 396.

[8] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Leviticus 25 1-23 in the Context of the Holiness Code: The Land Shall Observe a Sabbath, presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Fall 2006). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com./OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Leviticus 25 1-23

[9] Cf. John E. Hartley, “Leviticus,” in Word Bible Commentary, Volume 4, eds. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. (Dallas Texas: Word Books, 1992), 422

1 Peter 1:16 (Leviticus 19:2): God says, “…be holy because I am holy”

Presented to the Swift Current Corps 13 February 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

In some places in Newfoundland apparently when people get so worked up that they start acting not quite so holy as they should, they have an expression to describe it: they call it ‘losing one’s salvation’… In context, for example: “I got so mad I almost lost my salvation over him or her or over this or that.” It’s an extreme expression. One I’m not necessarily 100% comfortable with but I think it does properly link salvation with holiness and it does drive home the importance of keeping our cool and remaining holy even when life seems to be out of control.  1 Peter 1:16: God says, “…be holy because I am holy”

We were at retreat this past week and relating to holiness and even peace in the midst of all the struggles of daily life, our Area Commander Major Judy Regamey shared this story with us. She speaks about two Officers, a husband and wife team:

The husband has had one of those weeks and is really starting to get worked up. He is quite upset so his wife says to him, “Look you need to calm down. Take a break; do something you really like and separate  yourself from all the stress of your life right now”

“But I don’t need to take a break…this is important”, he snaps back.

“Come on dear, just take a break, do something you like, separate yourself from your stress for a while”

“Grumble, grumble, grumble”

“Why don’t you do a jigsaw puzzle? You like those”, she says as she walks him out of the room. “As soon as you are done, you should be calm and ready to get back at it.” He consents and she gets back to her work for a while when all of a sudden she hears some language almost unbecoming of an Officer –if you know what I mean- coming from the next room. She takes a breath and goes in to see why he is still so worked up. He usually really likes Jigsaw puzzles. She calls out as she goes to see him, “What’s the matter dear?”

             Frazzled as ever, he yells out: “This isn’t working. On the box it is supposed to look like some kind of a bird, a rooster or something but it doesn’t look anything like the picture on the box.”

“There is a reason it doesn’t look like the rooster on the box but that’s all right dear”, she assures him. “Let’s just get a cup of tea and then I can help you put all the cornflakes back in the box.”

1 Peter 1:16: God says, “…be holy because I am holy.” The tenth doctrine of The Salvation Army says, “We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified [which means to be holy], and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In our doctrine we rightly link blamelessness to holiness and sanctification. This is interesting. Have you ever really looked into what holiness is in the Bible? After all it is recorded in 1 Peter 1:16, that we are looking at today that God says, “…be holy because I am holy.” Captain Mark Braye, in Ontario, is compiling a book on this topic of holiness and has asked me to write a chapter or two on Biblical and environmental holiness so I have been looking into this subject a little bit lately. Did you know that both the Old and the New Testaments have more to say about holiness than about any other attribute of God? (Cf. Luke 1:49, John 17:11, 1 Peter 1:15-16, Revelation 4:8 and 6:10 for example)[1]

Leviticus speaks about holiness more than any other Old Testament book and the first time scripture records that God says, “…be holy because I am holy” is in Leviticus 11:44-45. Let’s take a quick look at that and see if we can learn anything about what the Bible means by holiness and what it means to be holy, shall we? Leviticus 11:41-45:

“‘Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean; it is not to be eaten. ⁴² You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground [like snakes, lizards or centipedes], whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean. 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 [eating] any creature that moves along the ground [like snakes, lizards or centipedes]. ⁴⁵ I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

So, if you want to be holy don’t eat centipedes or other bugs or snakes and lizards that crawl on the ground.[2] So as you go this week, I know this might sound harsh but I really don’t want to see anyone eating centipedes for lunch because God says, Leviticus 11:44,45 and 1 Peter 1:16, “…be holy because I am holy.”

While this is true, there is more to holiness than not eating centipedes and lizards obviously. God’s command to “be holy because I am holy” appears again in Leviticus 19:2 at the beginning of a most important chapter in a portion of Scripture known as the Holiness Code: Leviticus 17-27. This is where God tells us in detail some of what it will look like when we are holy as the LORD our God is holy. I am going to give you a quiz now to see how much more you already know about Old Testament holiness and the Holiness Code. Are you ready? Which of these things are a part of being holy as God is holy? True or False, let’s see how we do. A holy person…

1)      Will say bad things about a deaf person when they are right in front of them because they can’t hear them anyway and a holy person will trip a bind person. (F: Leviticus 19:14)

2)      Won’t ever get a tattoo anywhere on his body (T: Leviticus 19:18)

3)      Will rebuke their neighbour when he does something wrong (T: Leviticus 19:17)

4)      Will show favouritism to the poor (F: Leviticus 19:15)

5)      Will leave food out in the fields for the poor and the immigrants to collect (T: Leviticus 19:9)

6)      Won’t cut the sides of their hair or trim their beard (T: Leviticus 19:27)

7)      Will check their horoscopes daily and get their palms read periodically (F: Leviticus 19:26, 31)

8)      Won’t plant two different kinds of seeds in his field (T: Leviticus 19:19)

9)      Will treat the immigrant the same way as you do a local; you won’t give them extra barriers or challenges (T: Leviticus 19:33-34)

10)  Won’t wear cotton and polyester blends (T: Leviticus 19:19)

The list in this Holiness Code goes on for quite a while: Leviticus 19 tells us that when people are holy like God is holy we will respect our parents, we will observe the Sabbath, we will not make idols or worship anyone other than God, we will look after the poor, we will not steal, we will not lie or deceive one another, we will not pervert justice or show favouritism (in that context), we won’t hate our neighbour or seek revenge. Leviticus Chapter 25 also tells us that if we are holy than we will look after the environment. The land is God’s and if we the people do not take care of what is God’s, then He will not let us use it any more.[3]  This Holiness Code, Leviticus 17-27, is extensive. Now this code is in the Old Testament and more than that, it is part of the Law which has been fulfilled (cf. Matthew 5:17-18). The Law has been completed now so how do all of these things about Old Testament holiness recorded in Leviticus apply to the New Testament and First Peter and how do all of these things apply to us today? We will look at that in a little bit.

It is really interesting, as I am researching holiness I have been spending quite a bit of time looking at the full meanings of the Greek word (hagios) that Peter uses for ‘holy’ when he tells us, 1 Peter 1:16, that God says “…be holy because I am holy.” Did you know a common New Testament word for Christian is ‘saint’? And did you know that the New Testament word for saint (hagioi) is a variant of this word for holiness, hagios?[4] Every Christian is a saint and every Christian is by definition supposed to be holy. 1 Peter 1:16, God says, “…be holy because I am holy.” As far as the New Testament meaning for the word ‘holy’, we know of course that ‘holy’ in general means to be separate, to be set apart from the normal, the profane things of life, to be different, to be apart (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2).[5] Those laws we read in Leviticus were supposed to show that God’s people are just that. Peter also has some suggestions as to what a holy life will and what it will not look like. Peter writes, Chapter 1 verse 14, that we should be like obedient children – not disobedient children who commit the sin of the book of Judges and do what is right in their own eyes (cf. Judges 21:25) – we should be like obedient children who do what our father tells us to do …like clean our rooms, or go to bed on time, or get up and ready for school on time, or wash the dishes, or pick up our coats up off the floor, or do their homework, or not forget to bring your agendas home, or stop fighting with your sister, or…. We should obey our Heavenly Father like obedient children, not doing just whatever we want to do. We need to obey our Heavenly Father and ‘not confirm to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance’ (1 Peter 1:14). Later on in this epistle, this letter, 1 Peter 4:2-3, Peter records too that when we do this we will live for the will of God. We will not live in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, detestable idolatry, or other forms of self-indulgence.[6] This list that he runs through is not exhaustive and it is very similar to lists we find in Romans 13:13-14, Galatians 5:19-21, and it is not dissimilar to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. But these aren’t rules that Peter and Paul and others are setting up for us to make us holy.

The Apostle Paul tells us that if we start trying to obtain holiness/salvation through the Law or anything other than the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, then instead of being holy, instead of separating ourselves from sin, indeed we will be separating ourselves from Christ if we try to attain holiness like this (Galatians 5:1-12; cf. Leviticus 20:5).[7] Paul in his letter to the Galatians gets so upset with those who say that we should follow the rules of the old Israelite Law that he goes as far as to say that when they are telling people to get circumcised for religious reasons, he wishes that they -instead of stopping just at circumcision- he wishes that they would go all the way and castrate themselves (Galatians 5:12).  Paul’s not too happy about the idea of trying to earn our salvation, of trying to achieve holiness.

The Law was never meant to be merely a list of do’s and don’ts that make us holy or get us saved.[8] Holiness is not a list of do’s and don’ts. It is much different than that. So then what does it mean, 1 Peter 1:16, when God says “…be holy because I am holy”? (Cf. Leviticus 20:5, Galatians 5:1-12)

Hagios, the Greek word here for holiness,[9] Hagios-Holiness literally means, from the Bible dictionaries, applying to God primarily and to the saints secondarily – which is all of us Christians, remember - Hagios-Holiness means to be perfect or to be spiritually pure.[10] G.B. Stevens writes, “It is evident that Hagios[-Holiness] and its kindred words…express something more and higher than ‘hieros’, sacred, outwardly associated with God;…something more than ‘semnos’, worthy, honourable; something more than ‘hagnos’, pure, free from defilement. Hagios[-Holiness] is more comprehensive.”[11] 1 Peter 1:16, God says “…be holy because I am holy” and being holy is more than being sacred, is more than being worthy, is more than being pure. Holiness is more than even being free from defilement. It is being perfect. Holiness is to be like God and God says “…be holy because I am holy!”

How do we do this? How can we possibly do this? How can we be as holy as God is Holy? 1 Peter 1:13 gives us some insight into this. In the NIV, it records for us that we must ‘prepare our minds for action’. What this verse literally translated says is that we are to ‘gird up the loins of our mind.’[12] We know what this means don’t we – ‘to gird up our loins’? In Bible time when men wore long robes when they were going to go to battle or when they were going to actually get down to doing some real physical work, they would take their robes and tie them up about their loins to keep their clothes clean and to keep everything else of theirs in its proper place so that they could work. In our vernacular today, 1 Peter 1:13 would probably say something like we must ‘roll up the sleeves of our minds’ – It says we should get to work and be holy now! Doctrine 10 of The Salvation Army says, “We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified [holy], and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Note to that as Kistemaker reminds us that this passage isn’t talking about the future. This command to be holy because God is holy isn’t talking about being holy at the resurrection, it isn’t talking about being as holy as God is holy when we die and it isn’t talking about being holy as God is holy when we get to heaven. It is talking about being holy now! The Greek is imperative. It says that we must be holy now as the Lord our God is holy. How can we be as holy as God?

One way is simply not to sin and when we do sin to confess our sins, repent, and start all over again not sinning anymore. Christians, 1 Peter 1:23, says we have already been born anew into this holy blameless life (Cf. 1 Peter 1:3-9). Our souls have already be purified, 1 Peter 1:22, and this is the good news (1 Peter 1:25). The Bible says we don’t need to sin. Just the opposite, here and elsewhere it records, instead we can be to be holy today (1 Peter 1:15, Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7). We can to be morally and positionally perfect today (Psalm 89:35, 2 Corinthians 13, Colossians 1:28, Hebrews 11-12). We can to resist all temptation to be anything less than holy. Isn’t this wonderful? We can be holy today as God Himself is holy. He would never command us to be something that we could not possibly be. He is a loving God; He would not set us up for failure. We can resist all temptation that is thrown our way, we can. James 1:12, ‘Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.’[13]  When we are holy and resist temptation we will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).

We know that we don’t do this on our own strength or in our own power. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 reminds us that it is God that makes us holy. We aren’t holy by anything that we do; we can be only because the Lord our God is holy.  Holiness is entirely predicated on the Triune God (cf. Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35, 49; John 17:11; Acts 3:14, 4:27-30; 2 Timothy 1:14; Titus 3:5; 1 John 2:20; 1 Peter 1:12-16; 2 Peter 1:21; Jude 20; Revelation 4:8, 6:10) and it is through His grace that He offers to every one of us the opportunity, the assignment, should we choose to accept it, to be holy as He is holy (cf. TSA d. 6, 10).[14]

So for any of us today who are struggling, for any of us today who have been struggling to live up to what we have already obtained through the grace of Jesus Christ, for any of us here today who have been holding grudges, for those of us who have had a complaining spirit, for any of us here today who have been trying to do things on our own, for any of us here today who have let anything get in the way of our holiness and by extension in the way of our very relationship with God, we don’t need to. We can really turn our lives over to God and be holy as He is holy. Jesus died and rose again so that we don’t need to be a slave to sin. Instead we really can be holy as the Lord our God is holy.

Let us pray. This prayer for us from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you (us) through and through. May your (our) whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you (us) is faithful and He will do it.’

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

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[1] Simon J. Kistemaker, Commentary the First Epistle of Peter (NTC: Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 61.

[2] Cf. R. Laird Harris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Leviticus/Exposition of Leviticus/IV. Laws of Cleanness (11:1-15:33)/A. Clean and Unclean Food (11:1-47), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Captain Michael Ramsay, Leviticus 25 1-23 in the Context of the Holiness Code: The Land Shall Observe a Sabbath, presented to William and Catherine Booth College  (Fall 2006), available on-line at http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Leviticus 25 1-23  

[4] John D.W. Watts. 'Holy.' In Holman Bible Dictionary, general editor Trent C. Butler. Nashville, Tennesee: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), 660. W.E. Vine. 'Holiness, Holy, Holily.' In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), 555.

[5] W.E. Vine. . 'Holiness, Holy, Holily.' In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), 555.

[6] Cf. Paul J. Achtemeier, “1 Peter 4:1-8,” Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 65, No. 1 (January 2011): 76-79

[7] N.T. Wright , Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2009), 142

[8] N.T. Wright , Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2009), 142

[9] Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, ‘40: Hagios’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.1.

[10] John D.W. Watts. 'Holy.' In Holman Bible Dictionary, general editor Trent C. Butler. Nashville, Tennesee: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), 660. Cf. Paul Minear, Interpretation 37 no 1 Ja 1983, p. 22: In his death and resurrection, Jesus' holiness or sanctification became the measure and standard of all holiness, whether of places, times, things, or persons. (Key passages which reflect this are John 10:36; 17:17-19; I Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Heb. 2:11; 10:10; 12:14-24; 13:12-14.)"

[11] G.B. Stevens in Hastings’ Bible Dictionary. Cited W.E. Vine. 'Holiness, Holy, Holily.' In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), 557.

[12] David L. Bartlett, ‘The First Letter of Peter’ (NIB XII: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 257.

[13]Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Luke 4 - Jesus' Forty Days’ Presented to Stony Mountain Penitentiary (18 June 2007), available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/luke-4-jesus-forty-days.html

[14] W.E. Vine. . 'Holiness, Holy, Holily.' In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), 556.

Leviticus 5:14-19 (Numbers 15:17-31) : Go and Sin No More

Presented to Nipawin Corps, 29 March 2009
and in Winnipeg, November 2006
also Swift Current, 21 July 2012
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Many, many years ago I went to university to become an elementary school teacher. This was a lot different than many of the other programmes at University in that we had ‘extra’ rules to follow: we needed a minimum of a ‘B’ average, we had recommended dress codes, we had be on time. And these were important because we would be example for the young people we would be teaching.

I remember my first day of University. I wake up, my alarm clock doesn’t work. The power has gone out during the night. I wake up right when class is supposed to begin; so I throw on my clothes, grab my books and fly out the door. I jump in my car. I put the key in the ignition and... it doesn’t work. My car doesn’t work. At this point I am quite loudly practicing my… creative English skills, you know what I mean – and I run into the house and one by one call all of my friends who have cars. Most of them are still asleep but I get a hold of Dan. So he comes and gets me and drops me off at the university and, flustered and not wishing to stand out too much I try to sneak, half an hour late, into my first class of the day. I am caught by the professor who calls me to front of the class, issues me a recorder and asks me to play then and there in front of everyone. I do … and am promptly asked to stop playing as my teacher grimaces exaggeratedly. I am absolutely flustered and embarrassed at this point as the teacher asks for my name in order to check it off the attendance. Michael Ramsay. Michael Ramsay? That name isn’t on my list. What?!… All this and I am in the wrong class anyway

I was late for class, unknowingly disrupted the class and was guilty of breaking a rule. As we turn to our text in Leviticus, we discover a whole community of people who are guilty of breaking rules and are held responsible”

In 5:14, it specifies that, “If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible.” At some point everybody has sinned and even if we do not know that we have sinned we are still guilty and responsible - Romans 3:23, 2 Chronicles 19:10. And whatever the offence and the circumstances surrounding it, when we are wrong, we are obligated to God and society to make it right,[1] (cf. Numbers 5:6) God loves us so much, He wants us to make it right.

There are couple ways that this specific law in 5:14 might come into play.
1) The Israelites are aware of the law but do not know that they have even broken it; or
2) Since there are so many more than just the 10 Commandments to follow, someone might not be aware of a law and thus unknowingly break it. As it states in verse 17, you are guilty and will be held responsible. In the case of ancient Israel, the price is a ram without defect and one HAS to pay. Even though they did not know that they did anything wrong, because God really wants them to be right with him, they HAVE TO PAY.

In some ways in our world today we still have to pay. There are many such situations. There are times when people don’t notice a new speed limit and the red and blue lights come on behind us. I remember a discussion that I had about J-walking in Vancouver. I was convinced that if we crossed the street at a back alley it wasn’t illegal. The police officer told us otherwise.

How many of us have forgotten an appointment? We miss it or are late and have to reschedule. There is a penalty. We have to pay.

Back in Leviticus: They have to pay. Sacrifice is required. When they sin, on purpose or not, it gets in the way of their relationship with God. God is gracious though. He’ll let them make it up to Him. If they bring him a sacrifice (sort of a cross between a fine you have to pay or the flowers you might bring your wife after an argument) If they bring him a sacrifice, He will forgive them - but they need to pay.

Now in our text there is a time when you need to pay EVEN MORE– that’s when you sin against the Lord’s holy things. The Lord’s holy things' points to all that is property of the Lord in a special way:[2] that can be anything - an object, money, or a location. In our text, verses 14-16 address that specifically and the penalty in this case is not just the a fine of a ram but it is also restoration PLUS 20% (a double tithe.) So if they may mistakenly take parts of the sacrifice that are meant for the Lord OR they may use tithes inappropriately OR you even unknowingly or inadvertently use something inappropriately that is dedicated to God.

The training college where we were learning how to be officers had a lot of neat things: Camcorders, computers, microphones, key boards and white boards. All of this is for the Lord. All that is The Salvation Army’s is really set apart for God, including the college vans.

We are allowed to use the college vans for coming to Weetamah here. We are allowed to use them to get back and forth from school. We are allowed to use them for things during the week and occasionally we are allowed to use them for personal use as well. But, we must remember that in reality these vehicles are dedicated to the Lord.

Now I do my best to use other people’s things properly. AND I do my VERY best not to misuse God’s things. I really don’t want to upset Him. I can remember one day, though, I get a nice little letter for the Attorney General’s office: “You were recorded at travelling at 70 km / hr in a 50 km / hr zone.” I have misused something dedicated to the Lord AND there is a penalty AND I have to pay

And today there is more… in Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” And James 2:10 says that “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

There is an even greater penalty for us to be aware of: we have all committed sins knowingly or not but we also have committed capital offences – crimes worth the death penalty – Look here in Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death. If we ever knowingly or not commit adultery even in our minds we are guilty of that same sin – in the law, the prescribed penalty is death. If we commit murder in our own mind we are guilty – and the penalty in the law is death. If we blaspheme the Lord, whether we know Him at the time or not AND whether we do it on purpose or not, the punishment is death. As Adam and Eve, before we were ever born, on our behalf disobeyed God - the penalty for us is death. We are all guilty (whether we know it or not). We have all sinned (whether we believe it or not). We have all sinned and the wages of our personal sins – the punishment, that we deserve! is death. And that is a little more pricey than a ram plus 20% mentioned here. This is bad news.

There is good news though. There is good news in the text – in Leviticus – right here. Do you see it? Did you catch it? After approaching the Lord, in their guilt -Verse 16: “In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the wrong he has committed … and he will be forgiven” and again, verse 18: the priest will make atonement for him You know what atonement is? It is just making it okay. Making things right again so we will be forgiven. The priest will make atonement for him for the wrong he has committed … and he will be forgiven.” The priest then will go to God FOR THEM and smooth things over. Even if one has acted out against those holy things of the LORD God himself, he will be forgiven. He will be forgiven. God will forgive them. It doesn’t matter that they are guilty. Even though they are guilty and do not know it. Even though they thought that they had done nothing wrong and they found out quite differently. Even though they are guilty, God loves them and God has provided a way for them to be restored.

When they go to the priest, they are confessing their sins (saying their sorry and meaning it) and he makes it okay. When they approach the priest they are repenting, turning from their error, and he will make it okay. When they approach the priest he offers their sacrifice for them and it makes them okay with God.

And how much more is that the case for us in our world today. When we admit our sins and ask forgiveness, Jesus makes us okay. I did not give a priest a ram when I missed class; I did not have to pay a ticket plus 20% for speeding in a van dedicated to God. I did not. And we do not have to pay the penalty in our world today, we don’t have to pay for Adam. Jesus already did. Jesus made us okay. He already paid our death penalty. He is both the ram AND the High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). We do not have to pay for committing adultery or murder in our minds. Jesus already paid. Jesus has made us okay. We don’t have to pay for those sins we commit by accident or without even noticing it. Because Jesus died on that cross, we don’t have to pay for our sins, no matter how horrible…whatever we have done, Jesus has already paid. Jesus has made it okay as long as we go to him and repent: say we’re sorry and mean it, Jesus has made us okay with God.

As we go to Jesus, the High Priest, and confess our sins and repent, we are forgiven. We will be forgiven. Jesus has already made it right for us. He is the sacrifice. He died (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) He died so that we do not need to suffer the consequences of our own guilt. All we have to do is go to him.

So, as Jesus is both the priest and sacrifice in our text, and it has been made right. It is okay. He died so that we can be forgiven. We can be okay with God.

I don’t know what sins you have committed but they have been atoned for. You are forgiven. We have been made okay with God – Jesus died; so, as Jesus told a woman who was actually caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). “Go…[now that your guilt has been atoned for]…and sin no more.” “Go and sin no more.”

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

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[1] John E. Hartley. Leviticus. (WBC 4: Dallas Texas: Word Books, 1992), 76.
[2] Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Leviticus. (NIB 1: Nashville, Abingdon Press 1994), 1040.