April 15, 2010

Leviticus 19

Years ago a friend of mine and his twenty-something son were helping me install the plumbing in a house which I was building. It was the end of the day, and we were grubby from crawling under the house all day installing pipes. We were ready to sweat in the copper pipes to the water heater, but we had no matches to light the torch. The man’s son and I went around the block to the nearest neighbor to beg for some matches. A young lady was home. She seemed fearful of us, but nevertheless she gave us a handful of books of matches. We returned to my house and finished the installation of the pipes.

The next day I needed to get a permit to burn a pile of construction debris that I had accumulated. While at the police station filling out the application for the permit, a woman walked up to talk to the officer. She identified herself as living at the house where my friend and I had begged the matches. She said, “Yesterday my daughter was home alone when these two unsavory characters knocked on the door and asked for some matches. I just wanted to know if there is some kind of scam going on in our neighborhood.” You should have seen the look on her face when I identified myself as one of those unsavory characters and announced that I was going to be her new neighbor—priceless.

Is it not interesting how people associate the moral character of a person with the clothes they wear? We instinctively try to determine what someone is like by association. In some ways those associations are accurate. That is why the Lord says, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” But what associations are there that indicate holiness? Is it clothing?

The Lord lays out several associations in this chapter. But there is one here that Jesus and the apostles quote in the New Testament, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Everything in this chapter would be fulfilled if we fulfilled that one commandment. It is a very demanding command. By the time Jesus arrived, 1400 years later, the rabbis had reinterpreted it to make it possible to keep. So when a lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with the story of the Good Samaritan. The story is scathing in its implications. The Samaritans were enemies of the Jews. They were unsavory characters. Yet a Samaritan is the hero in this story which defines a neighbor. But is this not what the Lord has done for us? While were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies of God, alienated from Him, He took the initiative to come down and deliver us. He is Holy. In His holiness He associates with us in His love. The “holy” people of His day associated Him with sinners. He was an unsavory character. Yet He was without sin.

I hope that when I stand before the judgment seat of Christ that He can say of me, “You associated with sinners yet remained unspotted by the world.” Why? Because then I will have reflected His glory. He will receive honor for what He has done. I want to be part of that kind of unsavory character’s club—not one of man’s associations. I want to be holy as He is holy, loving people into the presence of God, remaining unspotted by the world. When that happens, only He can truly receive glory because only He could change me in that way. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Luke 13:1-21

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does it seem, when you are doing your best to follow after the Lord, is when you get attacked the hardest? Why did God even allow sin anyway? Each of these questions has buried under it somewhere deep in its supporting premises that I don't deserve to be treated the way I am being treated. Let's go have a pity party. Let's rail against God for permitting it. So when those who heard about the Galileans reported it to Jesus, He gave what seems at first a very harsh and cryptic answer, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."

Ouch, Lord, I was just trying to get a little comfort here in what seemed to be a terrible tragedy. And you tell me that I am a terrible sinner? And He answers, "Yep."

But don't stop there. He goes on to warn that unless one's repentance begins to bear fruit that one will be cut down. Ouch! Add a little salt to the wound and rub it in! But don't stop there. He goes on to loose a woman who had been bound over with an infirmity for eighteen years. Immediately she was made straight and what? She glorified God! Somehow I think her whole life was changed from that moment on. It was not just a glorifying God for the moment, but it became a lifestyle. This was in direct opposition to the synagogue ruler who thought he was pretty good because he observed the Sabbath. Deep inside he thought he had not experienced any bad things because he was good. But he was wrong.

The glory of Jesus is that He has come to set us free from the power and bondage of sin. Ultimately, we deserve any bad thing that happens to us. We are sinners. We deserve death. We are in rebellion against the Holy God. It is only by His mercy that we continue to live. It is by His grace that we are delivered and set free! Where is the glory of Jesus? When we repent and believe in Jesus, He plants the seed of the Kingdom of God in us. Slowly it begins to grow and germinate and change us. It produces real fruit. We are changed from one bound in sin to one growing in righteousness. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john