The Pentateuch – Holy God, Holy People, Holy Calling Pentateuch Sermon Series Kenwood Baptist Church Pastor David Palmer November 15, 2020

TEXT: Leviticus 19:1-18

Good morning, beloved. We continue this morning in our study of the Pentateuch, the five scrolls, together with Journey. The Pentateuch, or five scrolls, is the first five books of the Bible. They represent the basic storyline of the Scripture, introduce to us the God of the Bible, who we are in His image, and what we are called to do and be in this world. After the sweeping narratives of Genesis and the epic redemption of Exodus, we come at the end to the base of . God speaks and then resolves to dwell among us. The is the centerpiece of the Pentateuch. It's the middle book, and it is the high point, if you will. Most Christians, in my experience, undervalue this portion of God's Word. It is a great mistake. The book of Leviticus is, in fact, the first book that is taught in a traditional Jewish education. It is the high point of the Pentateuch, and it is practical holiness described for us. Repeatedly in this book, we have the exhortation to “be holy, for I am holy.” God dwells among us and calls us to Himself. In the Hebrew tradition, this book of the Bible is: “and the Lord Called,” after the first word of the book, wa-yiqra “and the Lord called.” This is the calling upon our lives to be a holy people in the world, a people who are reserved for God's use in the world, a people who live in a distinct manner in the world. To be holy, as we will see, means to be reserved or set apart for God's use. Sometimes we hear a popular definition of holiness as though holiness just means “set apart,” as though I'm standing back, or I am away. That's only half of holiness. Holiness is to be moved apart in order to belong to God. It is to be reserved for God's use in the world, and as we will see, we are called to reflect God's character. This is very, very timely. I'm heavy-hearted this morning, to be vulnerable with you, by the things I see going around in our country right now. There are many pathways to grief, and it raises for me the urgency of God's people to live as God's people in the world. We have to live in a way that reflects the character of God, and we will see the timeliness of this passage as we proceed.

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We are called to be God's people in the land. There are societal divisions around us, political turmoil, racial tension, and all of these things cause human flourishing to decrease, and we are called to be the light of Christ. We are called to reflect God's holiness in our dealings, particularly with our neighbors. This is our only Sunday on Leviticus, and it is hard to choose only one passage, but we are going to focus on Leviticus 19. Leviticus 1-17 gives us 's life of worship: a priesthood – ordained and commissioned – and the celebration of worship on the Day of Atonement. The second part of Leviticus, that starts in chapter 18, guides this practical holiness in our life together. Leviticus 19:1-2a begins: “And the LORD spoke to , saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them,. . .’” I love this. I think is really important that we remember that God's Word, all of God's Word, is addressed to all of us. It's not just for some, and there is a democratization, if you will, of God's Word. It's not just a word for elite priests or a word for prophets or a word for men or for women. It's a word for the whole assembly. The are expressed in the second person singular, that each one of us hear the word, and this message to the whole group in Leviticus 19:2b is: “. . .You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” We are called to holiness, a holiness that derives from our proximity to God, His dwelling in our midst. That's why fellowship with Him is so vital, so life-giving.

We are a people who are brought into His sphere to reflect His presence in the world. Leviticus 19 continues with practical holiness. If you just look back one chapter, in , there is an introductory word that I want to signal for us as we as we dig into this passage. In Leviticus 18, right at the beginning, the Lord tells Moses, and I’m paraphrasing: “Speak to the people and say that I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as the Egyptians that you're leaving there do.” You're getting ready to leave, or you have left, one cultural paradigm of human life, and you're headed into another place, and the Lord says: “Don’t act like the Canaanites where you're going. Don't follow the pattern of culture on the left or the right. You must act in a way that's in accordance with My laws and My commandments.”

We have to reject this cultural pattern of behavior from Egypt, if you will, and from Canaan. These are very different cultures. Egypt is a centralized state. It is known for systemic oppression. Our experience in Egypt is one of exploitation, lack of compensation for hard work, and being put down for the grandeur of a single person, and the Lord says He wants us to reject that. We’re not in Canaan yet, but we’re headed there, and when we get to Canaan, the land of Canaan is a totally different cultural model. Canaan is like the Wild, Wild West. Canaan is a land where everyone does what is right in their own eyes. It's a decentralized society. It's a society replete with idolatry, and vice, that roasts its children, and the Lord says: “Don't act like that.” Page 2 of 11

I want us to be clear this morning that we cannot derive our behavior from any human cultural model because it will leave us indistinct in the world. Instead, we have to embrace this revelation of who God is and who we are called to be and to pattern our lives after the design of Scripture. This will be a great risk because it will seem strange to the Egyptians and strange to the Canaanites. It will seem bizarre to some on the left and some on the right. If you're not being criticized by some of the people in your life for the way you're acting for the Lord, then you're probably not acting for the Lord. If some of what we’re doing doesn't look strange, then were probably just blending in too much. It's a challenging moment, and so we need this. I've never felt more persuaded of how much I need Leviticus in my life than I have this morning. I need this; you need this, so let's look at what God calls us to do.

As this chapter unfolds, we will see the difference between two terms I want to introduce to you. This is homiletical fun with new vocabulary. I want you have these words. The words are “apodictic” and “casuistic.” Those words don't appear in any English translation that I'm aware of, and yet they describe two different expressions of law. Apodictic laws are general statements like you shall not steal. This is a general statement that applies in every situation, and it is the category of law, apodictic law, the general principles, if you will. The Ten Commandments are a great example of apodictic law – these general headings that have to be applied and lived out in specific cases. This other category, the other new vocabulary item is casuistic law. This is case law. This is taking the general terms that God gives us and uses to guide our lives and applying them to specific situations that were in. It's similar to having an instrument in tune. It’s amazing to me, with an instrument like the violin which has four strings, that if they're tuned correctly and in the hands of a skillful player, you can play almost a universe of music. But, if those strings are out of tune, no matter what you play sounds bad. The apodictic laws, the general laws, are like the tuning of these major strings, and the case laws are playing a song that's faithful to God's will, in those terms. So we need God's Word in both its general and its specific application.

Let's look into it in more detail. Leviticus 19:3 says: “Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.” Notice how in so many of these verses we have the refrain that our conduct is to be reflective of the Lord's identity. Act in this way because “I am the Lord.” When you honor your parents, you honor those who show earthly authority in your home, and the way that you treat your parents is a great indicator of how you're going to treat your heavenly Parent. Notice that the language is reversed here from the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments it's honor your father and mother, and here it's honor your mother and father. This often occurs in the Bible – the switching of order – to show the equal value of both. It happens in Genesis 1 and 2.

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God creates the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1, and in Genesis 2, He creates the earth and the heavens. We are to honor both of our parents. We are to keep God’s Sabbaths, the days that God gives for us for worship. The Sabbath is like a cathedral in time. It's a space that you can enter into. It's a space that allows us room to worship, room to rest, and room to take a break from our technology. The only class of work that is explicitly prohibited in Scripture is the kindling a fire. It's that type of action where you create something to change your environment. It's where you are in charge, in a sense, and God says to take a break from that and just receive what He has given. In Leviticus 19:4, we read: “Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.” God's identity, His invitation into covenant relationship, is the basis for our life.

Commandments one and two are reflected here. We are not to turn to idols. I love that expression, because you turn toward the one whom you think is going to help you. Worship involves a bowing down, but it also involves a turning toward, and the Lord says: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Don't have any other God in between you and Me, and when we turn in this statement, we are turning away necessarily from the Lord. We’re choosing another mediator or we’re looking away from our heavenly Father, and this is brings havoc into our lives. We are not to make any gods of cast metal. We are not to make any gods in any images because we will end up inevitably worshiping the things that we make. We fall in love with what we make. It distracts us and leads our hearts away from the Lord, and we end up bowing down and serving them.

John Calvin said that “the human heart is an idol factory.” We are capable of generating idols, and we are even capable of taking things that we receive from God as good gifts, and then we are able to make them into idols. Sometimes people turn their children into idols, or their success, or their family, or their career. An ability that God is has given to you can be turned into an idol. I love what Augustine said: “He loves you [that is God] too little, who loves anything else which he does not love for Your sake.” Anything I love, I love for God’s sake, and if I take that thing and make it an independent object of my devotion, I’ve just made it into an idol.

We move away from false worship to right worship in Leviticus 19:5: “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.” The peace offerings are the fellowship offerings in Scripture. This was my favorite portion in the text of Bible Journey this week. Going through the sacrificial system of the burnt offering and the sin offering – those offerings that are devoted completely to God, those offerings that Page 4 of 11 provide atonement for sin – we see they are critical and important. Yet, a very significant feature of the worship in Leviticus is these fellowship offerings. Many times we don't think about the fact that most of the time when the Israelites would handle holy things, they would be in the context of these fellowship offerings. What happens with the fellowship offering you bring to God? It can be a free-will offering. It is sort of the ancient Israelite version of Thanksgiving. It is bringing it voluntarily and thanking God for an answer to prayer, His provision in your life, and you bring it to the sanctuary. It is called shalom in Hebrew, the peace – the shelamim, the peace offerings. You offer it to the Lord, and then the Lord allows you to eat with Him in fellowship. The predominant way people experienced the fellowship with God is in the context of eating these fellowship meals. It is a beautiful feature of worship. The Lord says that when you bring an offering of this kind, it should be eaten on the day you offer it or the day after. However, anything left until the third day, we read that it has to be burned and consumed. Why is that? What is the rationale for this? There are two main ways that scholars have interpreted this. One is that it pertains to hygiene and that God is safeguarding the life of the people. Meat that is three days old can start to become spoiled and puts your life in danger. There is a wide stream of interpreters who take it that way across many centuries. That may be true, but I'm drawn to what Jacob Milgrom said, which is sort of a nuance of that. He observed that in the worship of the living God, we guard against anything that has the semblance of death. That's why the priests have no physical defect, not because God doesn't care for those who have some type of disability – and it is mentioned later in the passage that He does care – but that the worship of the living God has everything to do with life. Therefore, meat, or any offering on the third day, that has begun to decay is associated with death, and death has no place in the worship of the God who gives eternal life. I'm drawn to that explanation, but I'm not sure. Both of those are attractive, but the point is that we move away from false worship to right worship and God desires that fellowship with us.

The text continues to describe a holy life as a life that treats the people around you with dignity, honor, and respect. This is critical to be in imitation of the Lord because this is how the Lord acts towards other people. In Leviticus 19:9, we start with what again Jacob Milgrom called horticultural holiness. This is that when you harvest, you should not squeeze profits at the expense of the poor. When you harvest your fields in Israel, you don't harvest right up to the edge. You leave a portion of the harvest that God has given so that the harvest on the margins is available for people in the community who have needs. This is the only example of this type of legislation that I'm aware of in the ancient world – the regular provision for those in the community who have needs. Our temptation is that when you see the field ready unto harvest, you think: “Let's gather this in,” and our temptation is to say: “You know what? Let's make a second pass in case we missed anything.” God says: “Don't do that. I gave you the whole field. Harvest it, meet your needs, and whatever you missed, I had You miss it. Don't go to the edges, because the gleanings are the things you missed.” Aren’t you glad that God is

Page 5 of 11 sovereign enough to use what you miss? We would think we should not miss anything, that we should maximize the profit. But, God says: “Whatever you miss, just leave it because I have reserved that for people who need it.”

We run a ministry out of our church, the NEEDS ministry, and over the last six months, we've served more people than ever. We’ve had to add an evening set of hours, and the demographic of the people who are coming, who need emergency help, has changed widely. It's not one particular type of person or group people who are in need around us, and this is a vital part of our ministry. Our Deacons’ Fund gives out generously to those who are facing short-term financial needs, and this is also a vibrant part of our ministry. The Lord says in Leviticus 19:10: “And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.” The sojourner, sometimes translated in English versions as alien, which is difficult because it may make people think that there are some people living here from outer space, and that's not the case. These are immigrants who are in the society. These are foreigners who are here, sometimes legally, sometimes legally, but they're here, and God has a great heart for the person whose situation has brought them to a new land. They’re in a vulnerable state, and the Lord says that you should make sure to provide for them. He reminds us in Exodus 22:21: “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” That’s part of our story. We are theologically a people of immigrants who have been rescued and taken out from one land to another. We are to deal honestly with each other, reflecting commandments eight and nine: “You shall not steal or deal falsely or lie to one another.” There's a lot of lying happening right now, and it's painful because it's hard to tell who is lying. I'm grateful to God that Jesus Christ is the Author of truth and that He knows the truth and that the truth prevails. You can't keep it down. We need to pray for the truth to prevail outside of our lives, but we also need to be people whose word can be trusted. We have to be people that others know they can count on to tell the truth. In Leviticus 19:12, we read: “You shall not swear by My name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” We don't attach God's name to something that's untrue. We don't lightly invoke God's name, and we don't make false promises in His name. In Leviticus 19:13, we’re told: “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.” The timely payment of those who work for it reflects God's righteousness and character, and it

Page 6 of 11 is a powerful thing when you get paid on time. It is a temptation for business owners to withhold and think my cash flow isn't quite right, and I'll get back to. God says that's not how I deal with people. This passage anticipates the generosity of the land owner, the business owner, in Jesus' parable where the land owner hires people even at the eleventh hour and gives them a day's wage out of his generosity.

I remember when our son was starting his own landscaping business a few years ago. It started with a young boy and a push mower, and it grew and grew and grew. He expanded services and then they started bidding on real jobs, significant jobs, renting equipment, thousand dollar or more jobs, and he was getting in a little bit over his head. The first really big job that was way over his head was for a man in Westchester and he grossly underestimated the amount of time that this job would take. It was a significant gap. As a board member of this emerging business, I was called in. We were getting towards the end of the project, and we were talking hundreds of dollars of labor that he underestimated, so we had an emergency board meeting at the side of the yard. We talked through what happened, what to do differently next time, and I asked what it actually cost. He said: “I have all my receipts for the material, and I've kept track of all the hours that I worked and all the other people who worked in this job.” We discussed what it really cost and the quote he had given, and it was about a third! So, as a board member and parent, I said: “You should just tell the man. Don't make a big speech, just sit down and own your mistakes, that you underestimated the cost of this job significantly, and this is what it actually cost.” I was thinking they might meet somewhere in this chasm, and so we prayed, he went up, sat down with this man and said: “I significantly underestimated this job, and this is what it actually cost.” That number floated out over the sunny backyard. I remember wondering what would happen next. There was about a two second pause, and this man looked at Jonathan and he said: “To whom do I make the check out?” He paid him the full amount of what it actually cost. I was thinking: “Praise the Lord!” It was a beautiful modeling from this adult of Christ-likeness. A fair wage. It was timely and powerful, and I think Jonathan will never forget that.

In Leviticus 19:14, we are to reflect God's character by keeping watch for those in our community who have disabilities. Leviticus 19:14 is the first attestation of laws that protect the safety and health of those with disabilities. This is the first example of that that we have. The Lord says: “You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.” Don't put a stumbling block before the blind. Fear God because He sees that and He cares. In Leviticus 19:15, He says: “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the

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great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” Injustice can happen in two main directions. You can be unjust by showing partiality to the poor, but you can also be unjust by showing a false deference to the great or to the wealthy. The Lord says to judge your neighbor in righteousness. Whatever is righteous, act in that way. Leviticus 19:16 says: “You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.” Slander is devastating, and it can happen by repeating something. It can happen with re-tweeting, where you get information that you're not sure is accurate or reliable, but you share it anyway. Why do we slander? We slander because it gives us this temporary, fleeting moment of prestige and power, and the Lord says: “I don't like that.” If you have an issue with someone, slander and spreading slander is not a God-honoring way to relate to those around us, and the Lord says: “Don't stand up against the life of your neighbor.” Literally it says: “Don't stand on the blood of your neighbor.” Scholars have wondered what exactly it means to stand on the blood. I think it means that we don't act in a way that makes us rise up in a way that damages the life of another. Slander can be devastating to someone, it can ruin their reputation. Sometimes people's lifelong reputation can be lost in an hour. Don't rise up at the expense of the blood or the life of your neighbor.

This passage rises to a climax in the last two verses. These verses are, in fact, at the center of the moral and theological vision of the Scriptures. We read that you shall not hate your brother in your heart, and God's Word again uniquely commands our emotions. This is the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet.” God doesn't speak just to our visible behavior, but God speaks to the motivational and emotional structure of the heart. Who has such authority? The Lord does. Leviticus 19:17 and 18 are an antithetical pair. They have to be read together. Leviticus 19:17 says: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.” And Leviticus 19:18 says: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” He says: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall love him as yourself.” There are a couple of intermediate steps in between this continuum. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, in verse 17, but the first step away from hating someone is to reason frankly with them. The ESV rendering, “you shall reason frankly,” carries with an attempt to translate the Hebrew idiom that says you should decide or make a determination openly with your neighbor. The difference of hating someone in your heart is having a direct, open, and Page 8 of 11 honest conversation with your neighbor. If you hold onto hatred in your heart, the text says then you're going to incur guilt or sin because of him. The hatred we hold in our heart and let it fester and stew, hurts us, and God tells us to have an open, direct conversation. This is striking, isn’t it? The opposite of hating in your heart, is first to step away, and outside of that solitary, isolating judgment, actually talk with the person. If you have a problem with your neighbor, if you're upset, then you need to go and talk to them. You need to reason frankly and openly and honestly lest that hatred start to produce guilt and sin and destroy you. The hatred in our heart that is unresolved doesn't just stay there. It produces sin in us, and it starts to grow. Hatred is like a cancer in the soul. It rises up, and it takes over more and more of our affections. Then in verse 18, we are told we shall not take vengeance, because that's what happens. If you don't work it out with your neighbor, then you're going to be angry, sin is going to take hold in your life, and then you're going to say: “I need to go to the next level, and I need to take vengeance on my neighbor. I need to bear a grudge.” Isn't that a terrible burden?

Of all the things I gained in seminary, I wish I had gotten a powerful magnet that could draw out all the grudges that people carry, because they ruin us. You see, hatred produces sin and prompts vengeance, the bearing of a grudge, and God says: “This is a different way. You need to talk openly, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus uses this line to summarize God's will. In :37-39, when He was asked which is the greatest commandment in the law, He said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and there's no room for hatred in there. Your heart affections are deployed, and then, out of the love that we have for God and the love we receive from God, we are able to love those around us. This is not just a sentimental love. This is love in action, love that is willing to say: “I have a disagreement with you. I see something different than you do. Can we talk about that?” I would love to see us as God's holy people in the land at this moment in our history to be people like that.

We have three big issues happening right now. We have the coronavirus, a disputed election, and rising racial tensions. What do we do about that? I'm trying to find people that see those issues differently than I do and talk with them and have an honest conversation. I picked up a basket of new friendships in the last six months. I want us to stop just talking with people who think exactly the same way that we do, because we will ease ourselves into an echo chamber where we’re impotent in shining the love and the light of God into our society. We have got to be people standing in Christ receiving the call to “be holy, for I am holy,” and so we can love our

Page 9 of 11 neighbor as ourselves. How does God expect us to love those around us? It is rooted in that repeated clause at the end: “I am the Lord.” Romans 5 says that God showed His love for us that when we were His enemies, Christ died for us. We were His enemies. We were on the other side of the issue; we were on the other side of the cause; we were the outsider, and God said: “I love you. I'm coming to die for you.” If He did that, we can have a conversation. We can be instruments of peace. We can reflect the holiness of God who loves the stranger. We can be a people reserved for God's use in the world, and we can be a people filled by this vision of a new way of living. Nahum Sarna says: “It's not enough for us to be united with the shared tragedy and a common experience of emancipation, but it's required of us to have a vision of a new order of society that is essentially different than any kind of society that has existed before.” There are plenty of cultures like ancient Egypt, and plenty like the Canaanites, but we’re called to be a different people in the midst of the earth, and the world needs that more than ever.

Today we want to take the blessing and want to take it out in a concrete way. I love Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays. Those who know me well are always surprised to hear that I'm a big eater. To look at me, you wouldn't think I'm a big eater, but I am, and I love the Thanksgiving meal. I love it year after year when we gather together, pack the Fellowship Hall, and we eat and talk and catch up with each other, and eat some more. There's always that really exciting moment when Carlene says to come back up for left overs. Then you make it home just before that neutralizing, sedating effect of the turkey hits. That's all great, but this year we have to do that very differently. We gathered at 8 o'clock this morning, right here, and we prayed that the blessing of Thanksgiving this year would actually have a larger impact than it's ever had. We have 200 portions of Thanksgiving meal just a few feet below us. I know the service is almost over. Even if you didn't sign up, I want you to come around, and I want you take a Thanksgiving meal home, and I want you take a meal or two or three or four for a family nearby you. I have two families in my neighborhood that I've just met, and I'm going to surprise them by showing up with the Thanksgiving meal. If they say, “What the world are you doing?” I’m going to say. “I'm just trying to be holy, ‘for I am holy, says the Lord.’ I just want to love you and here's a meal.” That’s going to be our challenge today. Let's do that and take the blessing that God has given us to live for Him into the world. Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, we need You so much. We need Your presence and power. We need Your Word to guide our lives. We pray, Lord, that You would bless us this Sunday, and we give thanks to You. We thank You for the abundant provision. We ask Your blessing on the hands who have lovingly prepared this lavish meal. We pray, Lord, that as we feast together in our homes, that we would be reminded of Your provision and give You thanks for leading us safely. We ask Lord, that we would take that blessing and give that blessing away and that You would make us into a people who do not hate our neighbor in our hearts but openly converse with them and find

Page 10 of 11 new friendships and new opportunities to share Your love. Lord, make us Your people in the world. We need to be Your people in the world. Lord, we need to love the world more than the world loves itself, and I pray that You would take these meals as a concrete extension of the love of God for the world and that You would bless us as we speak with our neighbors, surprise some of them, and also just remind others that they're not alone and isolated. They are not forgotten by You. Go with us, Lord, and make us a blessing, we pray.

In Jesus’ powerful, powerful Name, Amen.

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