Leviticus 19:1-18 – The cross means… being like our God

Transcript (Auto-generated)

This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

Gospel. If you're looking in your Bible and the seat in front of you, you'll find it on page 1046. 1046.

So Luke, chapter 13, verses 1 to 9.

Now, there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those 18 who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

I tell you no. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Then he told this parable. A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, for three years now, I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any.

Cut it down. Why should it use up the soil, sir? The man replied, leave it alone for one more year and I'll dig round it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, then cut it down.

Yes. Did it bear fruit? Well, not that time. And when we are together in worship, we sometimes come before the Lord and say, I'm sorry. I confess that it wasn't as it should have been.

And this is what we're going to do at this moment. We're going to say together a prayer of confession which will be on the screen just before we read that. Take a moment or two to think for yourself. What you need to say sorry to the Lord about is going to share his discoveries of what God has shown him for us. But thank you, Chris.

So the second reading is from Leviticus, chapter 19. And this can be found on page 121 of the church Bibles.

The Lord said to Moses, speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them, be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Each of you must respect your mother and father. You must observe my sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves.

I am the Lord your God. When you sacrifice a fellowship of offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the next day. Anything left over until the third day must be Burned. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted.

Whoever eats it will be held responsible. Because they have desecrated what is holy to the Lord, they must be cut off from their people. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.

I am the Lord your God. Do not steal, do not lie, do not deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Do not defraud or rob your neighbour.

Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not pervert justice. Do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.

Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the Lord. Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so that you will not share in their guilt.

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.

Thanks so much, Chris. And please do keep that Bible passage open in front of you. We're going to dive into the book of Leviticus again. We've been seeing how it speaks both to God's people as they camp with God at the heart of their camp on their way to the promised land. How it speaks to them being different, setting them apart, making them God's people, but also how it speaks through the centuries to the character and work of Jesus on the cross.

Let's pray that he shows us that again, shall we? Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you. That you speak through the centuries through it. Please today, take our hearts, woo them.

To Jesus I pray. Amen. Don't know if you've ever had one of those hard weeks and it gets to Friday afternoon and you're just a bit tired. And to be honest, the quality of your work on Friday afternoon is probably not what it is on Monday morning. I think that the people who put the headings in as you go through the Bible, they're not God's word, they're just the headings.

That's why we don't read them when we read them out loud. But those bits in bold, I think that when they did chapter 19, it was Friday afternoon, because they kind of got to that point and they were looking through it and they're like, various laws. Let's just put various laws. So today we're looking at various laws, and it's going to be even better than infectious skin diseases a few weeks ago. And the reason for that is because at the heart of these various laws is the very character of God.

Speak verse two to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them, be holy because I, Yahweh, am holy. This is a chapter that is all about how the Lord God Yahweh is holy and therefore we're to be like our dad to be holy. I don't know if you saw it. Verse three finishes, I am Yahweh, your God. In fact, it's repeated, isn't it?

Verse 4, I am Yahweh, your God. Verse 10, I am Yahweh, YOUR God. Verse 14, I am Yahweh. Verse 12, I am Yahweh. I could go on.

It's repeated again and again and again. It's as if whenever God is giving a command, he's saying, do this. Because this is what I'm like. And that's probably a bit of a problem, right? Because generally when we hear that word holy, there's a part of us that goes holy that's demanding of me.

If holiness had a PR agency, then it's done a terrible job. Because you even get Christians, you say stuff like this. They say, God is holy. God is loving, but he's also holy, right? As if it's kind of God's Jekyll and Hyde personality.

He's loving, great, holy. You know, if I said to you, rachel Tanner is beautiful, but she's married to Ben, you'd be thinking, what's wrong with Ben that's shocking? And we do it with. With holiness. God's God's loving, but he's holy.

As if holiness is a bad thing. Holiness, we might know, often talks of being set apart. And we can get this idea that God's aloof and distant and cold because of his holiness. Do you know Jonathan Edwards, a theologian, not the triple jumper, once wrote this? He said, God is God and distinguished from.

In other words, set apart from all other beings, chiefly by. Wonder how you'd finish that. Jonathan Edwards says he set apart chiefly by his divine beauty. Beauty. God's holiness is tied in with his beauty.

What do I mean? Well, let's look at what holiness looks like in chapter 19. Right, let's just have a little look. I should say Chapter 19 is not legislative like British law is legislative. It's not trying to sort of COVID every jot and tittle and no way around it.

It's there to give us an idea. So for example, verse 9 and 10, when you reap the harvest of your land, don't reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Don't go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. This isn't saying in 21st century Totley, where there aren't that many vineyards, if you are so unlucky as to have a vineyard, you need to leave a few grapes on it to rot behind your gate.

It's not saying that. It's saying that there is a principle here, a principle of generosity that should be built into the way in which you live. In fact, this is so beautiful because it's both beautiful from a right and a left wing perspective, because what does God do? He provides for the poor and dignifies them with going to the field to get the things that are left for them. This is what we were delighting in in Ruth a few months ago, wasn't it?

So what does this look like? What does holiness look like? Well, it looks like providing for those who are struggling to provide for themselves and dignifying them. I don't know if you've been to the Hidden Gem Cafe and there's work incorporated with it, which is great. If you've not been, it's over near Ecclesul and one of the things that they do is they employ people, adults with different learning difficulties and different disabilities.

My friends Mark and Sam used to go there and it was incredible because they could go and they could produce something that they were really proud of and make a small profit. They didn't make as big a profit as they might have otherwise. There are lots of things that needed to be in place to facilitate some of the people who were able to work there. But they do that and it honours them and it gives to them. And I don't know about you, but I think that's beautiful.

I think that's lovely. I hate the fact that we live in a world where we need food banks, but isn't there something beautiful about the person picking up that extra tin of baked beans or whatever on their Aldi trip and taking it so that somebody who Cannot afford, is able to be given food. That's beautiful. We like that, don't we? Good.

Yes, that. Verse nine, verse ten is holiness. What does holiness look like? Verse three. It looks like each of you respecting your mother and father next week, mothering Sunday, when we see the children pick up bunches of flowers and give them to the mothers and mother figures and the ladies here in this church.

There is something in us that says that is beautiful. Or in a few minutes time, when the kids are all playing out and playing football and a parent says to them, okay, it's time to go. And there's not an argument and it just happens nicely.

I know, imagine with me. But when that does happen, it's beautiful, isn't it? And we go, there's something that's lovely about that. Holiness. Holiness looks verse three like observing the Sabbath, being able to take a break, having that day when you don't secretly check your work emails or answer the work calls.

And a present for God and for the family. That's. That's beautiful, isn't it? Malcolm, as a bishop, that's going to be a real challenge for you. And we'll pray that you're able to keep that holy rest.

See, holiness is really lovely. In this chapter, it looks verse 11. Not stealing, not lying, not deceiving. We like that. Not swearing falsely in court.

It looks verse 14. Sorry, looks verse 14 like not being mean. I don't know quite what brought about verse 14. Don't curse the deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of them. Why was it that God was telling his people, hey, do you know those blind.

A blind person don't go getting a big log and chucking it in front of them, like, what were they doing? That's just mean. Why does he say, don't curse a deaf person? It's like that old joke, isn't it? What do you call a deaf dog?

Anything you like, because I can't hear you. But again, remember, this is not legislative, but principle. What does it look like to be holy? It means not being, talking down or laughing at others behind their back. Not that moment in your mind when you think, oh, I'm glad they're not here to hear this conversation.

It means not subtly undermining competition or delighting when they fall down. Holiness is what we want, isn't it? It's what we long for. Holiness is loving your neighbour as yourself, as we heard in the last part of that passage, verse 18. Holiness is the world that we all want.

There's a great point In Narnia. I love the Narnia books. The last Narnia book, the Last Battle. It finishes with them kind of getting to the kind of picture of heaven or the new creation. And this is new Narnia.

That's there. And then this unicorn. I know, right? Unicorns are awesome. This unicorn turns up and he says, this.

This is the land that I've been looking for my whole life, though I never knew it until now. The reason why we love the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little bit like this. Here's the thing. We think we're beautiful and God is beautiful. When he conforms to us, the opposite is true.

You delight in fairness or in family working, or in right patterns of work and rest, or in caring for the poor. Why? Because that is what your God is like. They are good because God is good.

Do you know these things are true of God?

He cares for the poor people like me and you. He loves his neighbour as himself. Do you know the Bible, John 17? Read it later, really clear. As Jesus prays.

The Father loves you as much as he loves Jesus. That's insanely awesome, isn't it? That's beautiful. No wonder. No wonder God's holiness is attractive.

In fact, that's part of the reason why, as we were looking at last week, that's part of the reason why coming to him is daunting. It's absolutely right that God's holiness means that approaching him, we need to be very careful. It means that we take sin and all that seriously, but we do. So why? Because of the very.

Because of the very beauty that he has. It's a bit like this. I don't know if you remember being a teenager. Some of us, it was shorter ago than others. For me, rather long ago.

But do you remember that first time that you saw somebody who was truly attractive, Somebody who was stunningly beautiful? Do you remember how you felt as you spent time around them? It was both lovely and you wanted to be near them. And it was also kind of daunting, wasn't it? Like their beauty and their goodness, it kind of exposed all of the not beautifulness about you.

You kind of slightly feared coming and spending time with them because you wanted to, but they were so wonderful.

If that's true of a human, how much truer is it of your God?

Hmm. Okay. Holiness is beautiful. God's beautiful. But there's a danger, right?

There's a danger that we come out of here and we think, right, okay, so what I need to do is I Want to be holy. I'm going to spend time now just trying really hard to do all of these things, okay? I want to be holy. So I'm going to make sure I take my rest. I'm going to be absolutely honoured and I'm just going to really dig down deep and roll my sleeves up and get into this holiness malarkey.

If that's what you walk out of here feeling, then by next week, certainly by Easter, you're no longer going to see God's holiness as beautiful. Because very quickly you're going to begin seeing holiness as an awful thing. Because there's God sitting there in all his beauty laying this on you. And you're trying as hard as you can, but you know that you can't do this. Those mean words, they just come out, those practises of putting others down, they just pop up again.

And sooner or later, if the outcome of Leviticus 19 is just try harder, you will be worn down to a point where you no longer love God. Rather you resent Him. You hate him. You hate the holiness he's loving great, but he's also holy.

And that, my friends, is why the fellowship offering is here. If you've got a view of God as distant and cold, the fellowship offering says you've got the wrong God. This holiness is beautiful and we are invited to see it.

So remember the fellowship offering. We looked at it on Ash Wednesday and we saw the other offerings were all needed. The fellowship offering, that's the one that you just bring because. Because you love God, you don't have to bring it. You just bring it because, hey, I want to spend time with God.

And then not only do you spend time with God, but you eat a meal in his presence. And we're told in this chapter, when you come, eat that meal, eat it on the day. Maybe you've bought lots, maybe you want to kind of hang out for a kind of two day stint with the Lord. You can eat it on the next day, but don't treat it as something that you don't really care that much. Don't come back on the third day, cut off the mouldy bits at the edge, chuck it in the microwave and eat that with God.

No, come afresh to God. Come again with your fellowship offering. You see, this is a God who delights for you to come in and spend time with him and gaze on his beauty, Enjoy Him. Do you enjoy God? Do you spend time with him to see his goodness?

And what's going to happen is, as you see His Goodness as you recognise, wait. This God really does love me like Jesus does. This God really does care for me. Like a poor person. This God really does dignify me and use me, even though he doesn't have to.

This God really does long for me to have a relationship with him like a good father and a good child. Then my heart is wooed. And do you know what strange thing happens? I begin to look a bit like this. I begin to start doing the things that I didn't before.

When Rachel and I started going out, I had the most amazing long hair. Some of you guys are like Ben with hair. Really? I had hair and it was long and it was surfer esque and it looked awesome and I loved my long hair and it was great. And as I started going out with her, it must have worked slightly because wooed her, you can find out later.

But it turned out that she wasn't actually all that keen on with long hair. I know that's strange. I love my long hair. And as I spent time with Rach, I began to love her more and more. And do you know what happened?

I loved her more than my hair.

That's a big statement. I loved her more than my hair. And so sooner or later I ended up cutting that hair off. Not because I felt that she was demanding it of me, not because I felt I've got to try really hard to make sure my hair is exactly in line. No, I did it because I loved her and she liked short hair.

Do you know what happens is you hang out with the Lord, coming to him daily, spending time looking at him, you start to change because you love him and you love the things that he loves. And then sooner or later, even the things that are hard for you to do, you begin to say, okay, well, I love you and I want to live your way and not mine.

So this week, if you're taking things from this, yes, see God's beauty, please delight in it, but don't try to emulate it without loving Him. Come to Him. Come back to him daily. Enjoy Him. In this book.

See Jesus and sooner or later you will be holy. Because Yahweh is holy and he loves you and you love Him. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we know that we're not holy. Like, we don't do that very well.

We've already said sorry to you for that. And yet, Father, you're the God who loves us anyway. Loves us as much as you love Jesus. Through the events of Easter. We know what that cost you.

We know that holiness for you was deeply costly in loving your neighbour as yourself.

Help us to be a people who love you and who stay loving you. Not by taking you for granted, not by turning up to church once every seven weeks, not by opening our Bible once in a blue moon, but by opening it because we want to see Jesus. Help us to be wooed again by his love for us and help us to love you and therefore do what we want, which is what you want. For I ask it in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen.