March 30, 2010

Leviticus 1

I remember my agnostic philosophy professor stating very clearly that he thought it was unjust that an innocent party should pay the penalty for a guilty party even if the innocent one was absolutely willing to do so. No wonder he was an agnostic! If he was right, and if sin is deserving of death, then there can be no just redemption of sinners in the universe. Since any rational person observing the universe would have to admit that we are all sinners, reality would be hopeless. We would all have to bear the death due our own sin. Is it just for an innocent party to pay the penalty for a guilty party?

Why would the slaughter and burning of an animal be a sweet aroma to the Lord? How does that increase His glory? If we can explain that properly, then we have the key to unlock the book of Leviticus. Some have called Leviticus the gospel of the Old Testament. I have read that in Paul’s day, Jewish boys would begin memorizing Scripture at 2 years old, and those would begin with Leviticus. Talk about tough discipline! Maybe the burning was a sweet aroma not because of the actual smell but because of what it represented. It represents the just forgiveness and cleansing of a sinner because an innocent party willingly took the guilt of the guilty. It represented what Jesus would do for us. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Luke 5:17-39

A pastor friend of mine told me this true story of a pastor friend of his who went on a short-term mission trip to India. It was an inter-denominational trip of a few churches from the same local area. His pastor friend was of the independent-fundamental Baptist type variety that believed the miracle gifts-particularly healing ceased with the passing of the Apostles. As they were ministering, the pastor fell and broke a shoulder or elbow or something. Here he is in a third-world country, where he doesn't speak the language and is skeptical of the quality of medical provision at best. If he goes to the hospital, he will have to deal with the doctors with a language barrier. Sitting in the house contemplating what he should do, one of the pastors indigenous to the area came in. It seems this pastor was of the variety of Christians who believe that when the Lord is near, so is His power to heal. He regularly prayed for healings and had seen many healings. He asked the injured pastor if he could pray and ask God to heal him. The injured pastor's immediate response was from his theological framework. The answer was absolutely not! He sat in the room in great pain contemplating his situation. Should he return immediately to the states to get attention, or should he chance the local physicians with whom there would be language problems? The pain was incredible. Finally, the thought occurred to him, "What would it hurt to let him pray?" Humbling himself, he asked the pastor to come back to pray for him. The pastor did. He was instantaneously healed. The pain left instantly. The bone mended instantly. This was a strange thing to his theological paradigm. It really disrupted it.

The Lord was ministering in Galilee. Luke says, "The power of the Lord was present to heal them." (Does this imply that there were times when the power of the Lord was not present to heal?) In the presence of that power, he told a paralytic, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." Now this really disrupted the Pharisees theological paradigm. In their paradigm only God could forgive sins and Jesus was not God. Demonstrating His power to heal and forgive, Jesus gave the command and the paralytic rose and walked. This was a strange thing to their theological paradigm. But the glory of God was shining through!

The Lord went to Levi's (Matthew) house. Levi was a tax-collector. Now tax-collectors were considered to be traitors and sinners by the Pharisees. There was great enmity between the two groups. That Jesus, who purported to be a holy man, would enter a sinner's house to eat with him was indeed a strange thing to their theological paradigm. Then Jesus gave an even stranger response, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." But the glory of God was shining through!

The Lord seemed to like to enjoy food. He never fasted or abstained from drink. The Pharisaical mindset was that fastings were a required part of making oneself holy. This was a strange thing to their theological paradigm. But the glory of God was shining through! Jesus' response was that new wine requires new wineskins! The person who drinks old wine prefers old wine. New wine should be put in a new wine skin. Otherwise, the fermentation process will burst the old wineskin. This was a strange thing to their theological paradigm. Theirs was an old paradigm. God was doing a new thing. They preferred the old. He was doing a new paradigm.

When God wants do a new thing, His glory shines through. When we like the old way that He showed His glory, it makes us uncomfortable. We then have a choice. We can recognize that He always is breaking our paradigms to show us His glory. If we prefer the old, we can recognize that it is possible for Him to reveal Himself in new ways and accept it, even though we prefer the old. Or we can fight against the new. If we prefer the new, we can recognize that it is possible for Him to reveal Himself in the old ways and accept it, even though we prefer the new. Or we can fight against the old.

In either case, I don't believe it is the Lord's desire for us to fight. But He simply wants us to enjoy His glory. He is so beautiful. Part of His glory is that while He never changes, we are finite and are changing; therefore, to grasp a little of His glory, we must at times change in order to appreciate the greatness of the appearance of His glory. In enjoying it we will indeed encounter some strange things, not to Him but to us. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John