Hello again,
Tuesday!
I trust your holding on tight as our summer swirls and hurls us about like tumble weeds in a dust storm! HAHAHA! It's so crazy that we're already finishing out July and approaching the (not so scorching) days of August. <3
I've enjoyed the studies I've been doing recently - most recently is the ones
in books like, "Gospel, 90-day Devotional, (WOW!)" "Growing
Together,(YES!)" "Exalting Jesus in Leviticus," and "Exalting
Jesus in Acts."
Those last two mentioned are part of a series and they're SO helpful.
To give you a bit of
an overlook at what these books are, they're primarily commentaries written to
help pastors develop a clear and concise mode of preaching through each book of
the Bible. Each book of the "Exalting
Jesus" series helps a pastor to gain the understanding of the Gospel as it
pertains to each book!
These have been
incredibly simple in their layout, their insight, they're connections from one
passage of Scripture to another. It is
no wonder these are made for a pastor to deliver a sweet and clear message to
his congregation about the supernatural grace and wonder of the Lord Jesus
Christ - the Gospel! Everything is tied to it!
Side note: no, I'm not a pastor by
profession, nor do I plan on assuming such a role. But I AM a born again Christian, hoping to
bring the light of the Gospel to my surroundings and even to my own life. It's the hope that is primary and essential,
priority and converting. Thus, as Peter
said, "Such as I have, I give to you…" in the context of what I
know. What I DO know, I give, in the
name of Jesus Christ.
Lord of Grace, I ask that You be here right now. That You be working and tenderizing. That You will penetrate and fill. That You would bring to light the Gospel and
the way it works in our lives, both to save and to sanctify.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
In your Bibles, there's going to be places that are more cryptic and
bewildering than others. You've most
likely stepped up to bat in your Bible reading plan, reached the book of
Leviticus, and signaled for a "pinch hitter." I get that.
I totally get that.
Some books of the Bible are easier to get a sense of the flow and nature of the
character of God and the relevance of His Word.
I want to offer something to you: don't let that hinder your desire to
learn of God, and get to know Him. He is
absolutely gracious as He offers 2 things to help us in our studies:
1. The Holy Spirit. In Christ, we have a
perfect communicator between us and God that will help us come to an
understanding of His Word. It's the
Helper. He's with us to help us. When you come to a Bible passage that leaves
you wondering, it's ok to ask for help.
It's ok to not know, to pray over a selection of the Word of God, and to
seek His counsel. It's ok. AND, it's ok to need additional support from
those who have gone before us to seek and study the hard and deep things of the
Bible.
2. Books and commentaries. These are written for the explicit purpose of
helping us "connect the dots" between books, the truths therein, and
the relationship to God they have. The
commentary series I mentioned above has helped me immensely to travel through a
book - LIKE LEVITICUS! - bringing incredible insight and guidance toward
knowing and loving my Lord!
We are NOT alone in our studies. We are
NOT alone in our questions.
Tim Keller
Paul Tripp
Sinclair Furgeson
Don Carson
Albert Mohler
NT Wright
Tim Mackey
Mike Bullmore
Jen Wilkin
Tony Merida
David Platt
JD Greear
Melissa Kruger
Trilia Newbell…
…and more have been
down those paths of not knowing, questioning, searching, and prayerfully
considering the text of Scripture before them.
They're ever-learners just like you and me. They're ever-seekers, longing to know more of
God, as that endeavor is ongoing and cannot be satiated on Earth. For our benefit in knowing the Gospel better,
and certainly by the grace of God, they have provided the fruit of their
studies, the gifts of their teaching, and the love of our Father. God has been so kind to provide all the ways
we need in order to know and follow Him better!
Having said all of
that, I would like to give a short Gospel message: Christ died for our sins. That's it.
That's the entire Gospel message.
Christ.
Died.
For.
Our.
Sins.
A five-word, all-inclusive explanation of what it is we initially believed in
faith when we came to Christ.
A famous hymn put it another way:
Jesus.
Paid.
It.
All.
This alone is the gift of God, by His grace.
The Gospel is the core belief system of a Christ follower. And in Christ, we are meant to live, breathe
and eat by it!
Not only that, but it's strewn throughout the Bible. It's laid out in the whole story of Scripture
and plays out beautifully from beginning to end.
For example: Proverbs 14:9 which says,
"Fools mock at
the guilt offering,
but the upright enjoy acceptance."
At first glance, it's easy to pass right over this
verse in Proverbs with a quick nod to its teaching.
"Fools, bad."
"Upright, good."
Then we move on with a sense of, don't be a fool because it's better to be
upright.
In themselves, those statements are true.
There is a positivity to "upright" and "enjoy." We
like those words. Sounds bad, being a
"fool" or one who "mocks."
But, what does that even mean!?
Why was this written?
Who wrote it?
What's the less obvious implications of
"fool" vs. "upright?"
Upright in what?
Guilt offering, huh?
To be as concise as possible, "fool" is used to describe those with
no real sense of what life is about: God.
"Fools" are those who say, "there is no God," who
live life in recklessness and carelessness.
Ok. Got it. That's
bad.
Upright. Ah, more complex. But simply put, he's the one who lives within
his God-given boundaries. He's wise and
God-fearing. He's moral and has a sense
of justice. He's conscientious of God
and his standing before the Creator.
Cool! I wanna be THAT guy (or gal).
So we have a stark contrast in characters here, which
is the overall gist of the book of Proverbs.
It's the 31-chapter book of the Bible that lays out differences between
one who fears the Lord and one who does not in great detail. You can read Proverbs for yourself and get a
pretty good idea of it's layout. Praise
the Lord for understanding!
Alrighty, but what of this guilt offering in relationship to a fool? And how does that contrast with the upright
who "enjoy acceptance??"
This is where commentaries come into play.
There is a lot of background and history to the culture of the world
that was; a lot of context that comes into play when dealing with who wrote
this proverb (Solomon, son of David), and the audience to which he wrote it
(the nation of Israel). Having read the
"Exalting Jesus in Leviticus" commentary (particularly surrounding
Leviticus 5 and 6), I looked at this passage with more than a sense of right
and wrong; more of a deep-hearted thrill for God! For Jesus!
For who He is. For what He's
done.
Leviticus is the law of God to the people of
Israel. They were given strict and
detailed instructions about being the chosen nation of God Almighty. What did life look like? What did worship look like? What did relationship look like? What did sacrifice look like? Why sacrifice? What is the purpose behind ceremonies,
festivals, purifications?
All of Leviticus details the particulars of God's heart toward the nation of
Israel, that they be holy, as God is Holy.
Set apart, different, in living and in worship from all other
nations.
In His love and because of His holiness, He provided a way - through rituals
and observances - for the people of Israel to be reconciled to Him, grow closer
to Him, and worship Him. What a good God
to be so kind as to provide a way in which we can be in a right relationship
with Him!
In Leviticus 5 and 6, we get the finite details of what pursuing that
relationship with Him looked like through something called, the "guilt
offering." This offering would be
done by one who sinned unintentionally - broke the law without knowing it
either because they didn't know it was a law, or because they simply
forgot. We'd call this a
"mistake." Something done without intent. Even still, it was a failure before the LORD;
a sin nonetheless. Just because we don't
know a law exists doesn't make us any less guilty when we break it.
This offering is made also when someone cheats another individual in any
way. If one took from another
individual, one incurred guilt, and God gave direction as to how to make that
right, both by making the offering as well as returning what was stolen, plus
some.
You can probably imagine how often this would have happened. Unintentional sin? Cheating another? The priestly office was always a necessity -
the burdens borne on the backs of the ones who brought these offerings before
God was a heavy one. Each. And. Every.
Time. Following the "ample" (I
use that term loosely) sacrifice made by the priest, the idea and hope would be
that said "offender" would walk away with a repentant heart - a heart
of Godly grief - and live accordingly.
Proverbs is alluding to this by saying that the "fool" mocks this
offering as being inconsequential; unnecessary; a waste; a bother; an
annoyance. When you mock something,
you're making less of the gravity of which it consists - the gravity of our sin
(unintentional at best) is so heavy, and the "fool" mocks at it, and the
offering that must be made in order to be reconciled to God and
others.
Then, there's the opposite reaction to sin - the better and ideal way to handle
it. The Bible calls this being
"upright." The one who longs
for that reconciliation with God and others, is the one whose prize possession
is that relationship with God, His acceptance and His intimacy. In bringing this guilt offering, Proverbs
says that the "upright" does what is necessary to make things right,
with godly grief and godly intention.
"A broken and contrite heart, the LORD will not despise," says
David (Psalm 51).
Hopefully this ties some things together for you.
1. The holiness of God vs. the sinfulness of man
2. The grace that made a way for man to be made right with him through sacrifice.
Finally, that this initial model of guilt pardoned, sin covered, and
reconciliation extended was not the full and perfect mode God to reconcile people to Himself - it was however, a pointer to something - SOMEONE - greater.
Because of sin, the damage done, and the consistency of it, they (we) could not
slaughter enough animals, wash enough hands, say enough prayers, do enough
mourning, pay enough recompense to earn our right standing with God. We are limited. We are finite. We are imperfect.
This is not a gloom and doom thought.
This is a sobering thought, to be sure, but it is to serve as the
preface to something more amazing, more deep, more radically different, and
more unfathomably gracious: the Gospel.
As much as Proverbs points to Leviticus and Leviticus
explains the Proverbs, they both "tip their hats" as Jen Wilkin would
say, to the new and perfect covenant - Jesus Christ. The covenant that God makes with His people
now is through the perfect blood of the once-and-for-all, eternal, completely
satisfactory sacrifice made through the Son of God.
HE is the perfect offering for guilt to pardon our sins (1 Pet.
1:18-19).
HE is the perfect priest who brings our guilt before God (Hebrews 3-5).
HE is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God who takes away the sins of the
world (John 1:29, 3:16).
Christ.
Died.
For.
Our.
Sins.
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures," 1 Cor.
15:3.
Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it
white as snow.
OH PRAISE THE ONE WHO PAID MY DEBT AND RAISED ME UP TO LIFE
AGAIN!
Much love,
Deeds
