April 15 (Tax Day)

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

April 11

Leviticus 15 They were desperate for a substitute teacher that day. I knew because they called me personally rather than using the computer to call. The teacher was also the cheerleading coach. She had a family emergency and had to leave in the middle of the day. I told them, “I don’t know anything about cheerleading.” “It’s okay,” was the reply. “The girls know what they are doing. You are there just to observe. If any of the girls get hurt, just immediately send someone to the office and we will take care of it.” I guess you’ve figured out that since I am telling this story, someone got hurt. The girls were doing this thing where one girl stands on the shoulders of another girl and then falls back. The others, lined-up on each side, catch her. The girl falling panicked, and instead of relaxing and coming down parallel to the ground, she came at an angle which prevented the other girls from catching her. She landed on her tailbone. There was a loud pop and a scream of pain, and I just knew that I had just witnessed a spinal chord injury. I did what I was trained to do. I made sure she didn’t try to get up. I sent a student immediately to the office. I stayed by her side until somebody else higher in authority came to assess the situation. There was nothing else I could do. By the way, it turned out that she had nothing more than a bad bruise, but it sure had me scared! That was at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Consequently, the schools did mandatory seminars for substitute teachers on how to handle medical emergencies, which included how to handle situations where a student has lost bodily fluids. AIDS wasn’t the only one, there are many other deadly ones that are transmitted through blood, mucus, vomit, spit, etc. In seven years of substitute teaching I never had to use the information on dealing with bodily fluids, only the one fall. I’m glad I did not have to deal with any loss of bodily fluid. Why does God go to such great length to give these health regulations concerning the loss of fluids? 1) He is our healer. He knew that we would not know that disease could be transmitted through the improper handling of the loss of bodily fluid. 2) These are symbols of sin and justice. Matthew Henry says of some of these verses: If these ceremonial pollutions could not be done away but by sacrifice and offering, something greater and much more valuable must be expected and depended upon for the purifying of the soul from the uncleanness of sin. There it is again. Our souls have been tremendously sullied by the infection of sin. We must be cleansed! Our sin vomits forth, so to speak, from our lives. It requires an emergency procedure and special handling so that the infection in our spiritual blood and spiritual fluids is removed and does not infect others. So the laws were physically useful in practicing cleanliness. They were spiritually useful as symbols of our need to be cleansed by His sacrifice. When we come to the realization that we have fallen and sullied spiritual fluids have come forth. We lie there and call upon the authority on High. He comes with forgiveness, healing and restoration. He cleanses our mess. That is His glory. He takes my sin which I vomit forth spiritually and ejaculate in spiritual adultery, and He cleanses me from the inside out. “Hallelujah! Now it cleanseth! It cleanseth, even me! Hallelujah! Now it cleanseth! Thro’ His blood I am set free!”—Rev. J.B. Weber. That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

April 10

Leviticus 14 I have just started reading Volume 1 or The Works of John Newton. Newton wrote the words of the hymn Amazing Grace. Newton’s mother was apparently a believer. She had desired him to become a minister of the gospel. She died before he reached 7 years of age. His father remarried. Neither his father nor step-mother were believers; although, they were moral people. His father, a sea merchant, tried to direct him in learning the skills of being a sea merchant. He was left to his own spiritually. He vacillated between trying to be a Christian and living the immoral life of a sailor. The leprous infection of sin took hold of his life. At times he desired the integrity of a godly life, but he constantly fell back into dissipation. I have not yet reached reading of his conversion point, but I know that it eventually happened. The instruction for the cleansing of a healed leper is found in this chapter is such a picture of what happens when a sinner finds amazing grace. Only after 8 days of no leprous condition would the priest declare the leper cleansed. Then a series of sacrifices were made in order to declare the miraculous cleansing. The ex-leper was to present himself to the Lord via the priests. Then a ritual was performed which spoke of His cleansing. This ritual is a picture of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and His cleansing of our lives. Like Newton, we are unable to cleanse ourselves of the spiritual leprous infection of sin, but Jesus can. He delivers me from the habitual sin. What I cannot break, He can. He is the bondage breaker. That is the glory of my Jesus. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 9

Leviticus 13 To my knowledge, I have never met a leper. Why does God seem to focus so much on leprosy? Was it that common among them? If He were to teach us some health regulations today, upon what would He focus? What contagious disease would He cause us to isolate? Flu? Measles? Whooping Cough? Chicken Pox? Pneumonia? Did they not have these diseases in those days? Surely they did! Why leprosy? Certainly in our country leprosy is uncommon. Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. Remember, much of the law is symbolic to speak of spiritual truth. Much of it speaks of Jesus. Much of it speaks of sin, its consequences, its spread and its removal. I think that is why God picks on leprosy. Leprosy is a debilitating disease that attacks the nervous system. It decreases the body’s ability to sense pain. Consequently the afflicted person will frequently do very severe damage to himself, simply because he cannot feel pain. Sin is that way. It decreases our ability to feel spiritual pain. It decreases our ability to feel the sense of loss from being separated from God. Leprosy is contagious with continued close contact. For that reason the Lord instructed the leper to cover his mouth (a visible sign) and cry out, “Unclean!” (an audible sign). Then people could avoid close contact and contracting leprosy. Sin is like that. It is contagious with continued close contact. “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” 1 Cor. 15:33. Unlike lepers, sinners do not cover their mouths and proclaim, “Unclean! Unclean!” As a matter of fact, sinners rush headlong trying to lure others to join them in their practice. Misery loves company. Unlike leprosy which infected a very small percentage of the population, sin infects us all. It has corrupted us all. We are like an unclean, filthy rag. The leper doomed the bearer to living alone outside the camp. Can you imagine not only contracting this insidious disease, but also having to bear it alone? It would be like Bob Merill’s lyrics from Magoo’s Christmas Carol, “Where is a voice to answer mine back? Where are two shoes to click to my clack? I'm all alone in the world!” Sin is like that. It isolates us from one another because we instinctively know that something is wrong with us, and if anyone really knew us, they wouldn’t like us. So we wear masks, which we think will make us attractive to others. The masks become layered increasing the loneliness. But how does this speak of the glory of the Lord Jesus? In the Old Testament only two people were healed of leprosy, Miriam and Naaman. Yet, Jesus repeatedly healed the leper and gave authority to his disciples to heal the leper. Why? He was compassionate for sure. He desired to heal the whole man, not just the spirit. But it was a symbol of the spirit infected with sin. Matthew, Mark and Luke each record the healing of specific leper. Each makes it a point to record that when Jesus healed the leper, He touched him. This is an act that no other observant Jew would have done. To touch a leper would have made them unclean. Indeed, some Rabbis even boasted of throwing rocks at lepers in order to drive them away. They did not want to become unclean. Not so with Jesus! He takes our unclean body, soul and spirit and embraces us. The filth flees from Him. We are made whole and clean. We can lay down our masks. He sees our filth and loves us anyway. If we come to Him, He removes to filth and tells us to sin no more. The mask is useless. He sees through it. Others may see it, but He sees through it. When we realize that, we can let the mask down and let others see because the one for whom it really counts has already seen me and embraced me. What does it matter what anyone else thinks? That is the glory of my Jesus. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 4

Leviticus 7 It was Brian’s birthday. He had us all sit down cross-legged in a circle on the playground. It was following lunch of our fourth grade class. Producing a brown lunch bag full of penny candy, He began methodically apportioning the candy to us one person, one piece at a time until it was all gone. He told us that because we were his friends, he wanted to give to us on his birthday. Wow, I was impressed. Even now, almost 50 years later, I remember that unselfish act of kindness. Usually when one has a birthday, one expects others to give to oneself, but not so with him. He wanted to give to others. He lived with his grandparents. I don’t think they were wealthy, but he wanted to give. Brian died of a brain tumor when we were seniors. Whenever I think of Brian, I usually think of that selfless act, which was characteristic of him. Each priest received a portion of the meat, bread, and skin of the sacrifices as he participated in offering the sacrifices. Remember that the priest and the sacrifices are pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ and that we are made priests together with Him. The priest who was consistent in serving in the process of the sacrificial system had the privilege of viewing the symbol of what the Messiah would one day do for all of us. We have the privilege of ministering to Him in His sacrifice. Jesus told the people of His day that they only came to Him because He fed their bellies. He told them to not labor for food which perishes but rather for food that did not perish. He told them that unless they ate His flesh, then they would not receive eternal life. All but the twelve were disgusted and walked away. As we minister to Him, we also receive a share of His meat, bread and skin. Focusing on and enjoying His glory is akin to eating his flesh, the bread of His body. As we do, He dresses us in the clothes of His righteousness. When Adam and Eve sinned, they dressed themselves in fig leaves and hid from God because they were naked. God killed an animal and made clothes out of the skin for Adam and Eve. Many have postulated that God had Adam kill the animal and taught him about sacrifice as he did it. The act was the first teaching situation concerning the coming Messiah. That would be why God would not accept the sacrifice of Cain, for Cain based his sacrifice upon his own works rather than looking for a blood substitute. It seems the same lesson is being given here. Isn’t that glorious? It is as if He invites us to sit with Him cross-legged on the playground. In His great generosity, He pulls out of His brown bag of sumptuous meats, breads and clothing. He gives us this marvelous feast, all at His own expense, when we ought to be the ones giving it to Him. The feast is Himself. Wow, I sit with Him feasting upon Him. I am amazed and full of wonder at His mercy and grace! It is an act characteristic of Him. I can never forget this great act of love! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

April 3

Leviticus 6 I once went on a campout with the families of my 4-H Outdoor Adventure Club. One of our lessons was on campfires. Our campout provided the youth a time to apply what they learned in building a campfire. Our fuel for the fire was a little damp from recent rains, so we did not accomplish our goal of starting a fire with one match. However, each campsite was able to accomplish getting their fire going. We kept the fire burning until late at night. At my campsite, I was the first one out of the tent in the morning. I decided to start a fire using the coals from the fire from the last night. It was very easy. The coals, although they looked dead, were still very hot. No matches were needed. All I needed was some dry tender and smaller sticks and soon I had a roaring fire going again. If properly tended, a fire is very easy to keep going. Here in the midst of the instruction on burnt offerings, the priests are commanded, “A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.” Fire is a symbol of purity, passion and presence of God. If we are now a tabernacle of God, what does the fire, which never goes out, symbolize? The context within the passage is concluding instruction concerning trespass offering. These are offerings for sins that were intentional. The continual fire was representative of our continual need for forgiveness of sin. The writer of Hebrews tells us that these sacrifices are a picture of Jesus who is our High Priest, Heb. 8:3-5, and our sacrifice, 10:5-12. He is a priest who ever lives to make intercession for us. He never lets the fire go out! But the question remains, “Do I avail myself of His ministry?” Do I regularly return to the fire that He ever keeps burning? It is to His glory that He keeps it burning. After all, He died and rose that He might accomplish just that. The coals of His fire never grow cold. I remember a line from The Man from Snowy River, “A fire can be a hard to find in the mountains, but you’re welcome at my fire anytime.” A fire that provides for the forgiveness and removal of our sin can only be found one place. It is the glory of the Lord that He tends that fire and He welcomes us to come. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

March 27

Exodus 38 Living in Oklahoma, we experience many kinds of weather extremes. We’ve experienced temperatures as cold as twenty degrees below zero and as high as 115. We are known for our violent thunderstorms which produce destructive hail and tornadoes. We have the world’s highest incidence of tornadoes per square mile. When the rains do come, they seem to fall all at once. We were once known for being the “Dust Bowl.” In the thirties a combination of poor farming practices, poor water conservation methods and poor rainfall wreaked havoc upon the land. The last few years in Oklahoma has once again been a drought equal to, if not worse than, the 1930’s. Our ponds and lakes are literally drying up. If we have another year like the last two years, we are going to be in big trouble. We haven’t been in a dust bowl this time because the first dust bowl taught us that we needed to change our farming and water conservation practices, but even stored water eventually disappears if there is not enough rainfall. We have a population of 3,814,820 spread out over 68,594.92 square miles for an average of 54.7 persons per square mile. The state as a whole averaged 33.93 inches per year over the last 120 years. Today’s passage tells us that their census revealed 603,550 men twenty years old or older at Mt. Sinai. If each man had a wife and two children, then there would have been 2,414,200 people, about 63% of the population of Oklahoma. The Sinai Peninsula receives less than 4 inches of rainfall per year (11% of the average rainfall of Oklahoma) and covers 23,000 square miles (33.5% of the size of Oklahoma). That is 63% of the people in 33.5% of the land receiving 11% of the rainfall of Oklahoma. Even that is deceiving, for the Israelites were all living together and not spread out over the Sinai. It would be like moving 2.5 million people into an area smaller than the Stillwater city limits of 28.3 square miles, about 113 people per acre. Having just moved to the area, they had no water collection projects, no ponds, no lakes, no cisterns. They only had natural lakes, wells and seasonal rivers, basically nothing. Providing the water, food and sewage needs for that number of people in a desert would have been a logistical nightmare! Talk about extremes! It would have been humanly impossible. God’s glory is seen in His miraculous provision for them. He alone could have provided. Only food rained from heaven could have produced food needed for them to survive. Only water driven from the reservoirs of the underground could have met their need. How they managed the sewage, is a whole other topic! But God met their need! Can He meet my need/our need? Certainly He can, and He will! It is His glory to do it, but He has one requirement, which is that we trust and obey. Trust means that we are still long enough in His word, to hear His instruction. (Hearing His voice is part of what the furniture of the Tabernacle symbolizes.) Obedience is that when we hear, we do what He instructs. The result is that we will see His glory. There is no other option. Perhaps that is why we see so little of His glory today. We are unwilling to hear and obey. Never-the-less, His glory remains, and He awaits our hearing and obeying to reveal it. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john