Topical Sermon on Leviticus
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 8/17/2019
©2019 by Maylan Schurch
(To watch the YouTube video of today’s worship service, click the link just below. The sermon begins at the 58:44 mark.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beSVeYKwAUA
Please open your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 1.
This sermon is another in the series I’m calling “Jesus’ Bible Footprints.” On a long walk with a couple of his friends after His resurrection, Jesus explained to them how He was present in all of Scripture, which at that time was the Old Testament. And when we realize that the Bible is very clear that Jesus was the Lord of the Old Testament, then He is present all the way through.
To get ready for today’s sermon, I read through the entire book of Leviticus. And if you’d like to join me in getting ready for the sermon a week from today, read through the book of Numbers. I’d say just read it quickly, for the stories, and see if you can see the Savior at work.
This past week as I was driving along, I heard a very interesting radio interview about the Koch brothers. They have nothing to do with Coca-Cola – at least as far as I know –their last name is spelled K-O-C-H. The two brothers still with the company are Charles and David, and they are multibillionaires.
If you know their name at all, you probably know that the Koch brothers actively promote certain political ideas. But that wasn’t what interested me about that interview. The person being interviewed was the author of a book about these two wealthy men, and in it, he did his best to explain how Koch Industries had become so successful.
The two reasons I heard him mention were, first of all, that the Koch family refused to allow their company to be taken public. And the second reason seemed to explain that first reason. If you take your company public, you are then forced to think short-term. Every three months, you need to be able to show your stockholders that you made a profit during that quarter, and in the next quarter you have to do the very same thing.
The Koch brothers decided not to go that route. They wanted to think more long-term than just three months. They wanted to think two years out, five years, or even 10. They wanted to keep it so they could afford to be patient.
According to the book’s author, the second reason the Koch brothers have been so successful is that they decided that acquiring money wasn’t as important as acquiring information. They wanted to know why some things work and some didn’t. According to the interview, they once bought an entire oil pipeline so they could study it, learn the information about how it worked, so they could put that information to use.
As I was working my way through Leviticus this week, I thought about the Koch brothers and their two principles for success. I think we need to use those two principles when we are studying the Bible, especially the challenging books like Leviticus.
The Koch brothers decided to keep their company private, and I think in the same way, you and I need to first of all study our Bibles for ourselves. There are a lot of good Bible study resources out there, but the people who created those Bible study resources got their Bible information the same way you and I need to – they studied the actual Bible. When I prepare my sermons, I do not use an outline from somebody else’s sermon – I’ve never done that. I study Bible passages for myself.
And the other thing the Koch brothers do is to value information above money. There are several Proverbs which talk about how valuable getting wisdom is. And we also need to think long-term as well. Understanding the Bible isn’t always easy, but we shouldn’t become impatient. If we can’t figure something out, we need to take our time and be patient with it.
Anyway, this week as I was reading Leviticus, I was of course asking the question, “Where is Jesus in this book?” Well, since He was most likely the member of the Godhead who communicated directly with humanity, it was He who spoke to Moses. In other words, Jesus Himself dictated all those laws and guidelines and regulations and rules.
But how much of what Leviticus says still applies to us today? We no longer need to offer specific sacrifices for specific purposes. There is no tabernacle or temple we need to bring our sacrifices to. I am a pastor, but I am not a priest.
However, since Jesus gave these Leviticus words to Moses, and since Paul said in Timothy 3:16 and 17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness . . . .”, — since that’s the case, Leviticus must be very important to us.
But how? I’ve come up with three possible ways, so see what you think of them. Let’s start with the very first verse of Leviticus.
Leviticus 1:1 – 4 [NKJV]: Now the LORD called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock. ‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
Well, here we are in the first verses of Leviticus – and all the sudden we find ourselves right smack in the middle of offering sacrifices. The book has no introduction, no general explanatory comments, but it gets right into instructions to the priests, which is basically what this book is all about.
But again, where is Jesus in this book? And what use can these priestly instructions have for us?
Well, first of all, both the Old and New Testaments say very firmly that God wants His faithful people to be “a kingdom of priests,” and of course priestesses, for Him. In Exodus 19:6, God—probably Jesus Himself—says to Moses, “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Over in the New Testament, Jesus’ disciple Peter, speaking to New Testament Christians, quotes these words and adds to them: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9).
And in the Bible’s final book, Revelation 1:6, John brings up these words again. After telling us that Jesus loved us, and has washed us from our sins in His own blood, he states that Jesus “has made us kings and priests to His God and Father.”
So as I went through Leviticus this week I thought to myself, “Okay. If I am a priest, I need to learn how to be a better one. The people who’ll be listening to this sermon are priests and priestesses as well.”
So here’s what I came up with, what you could call Sermon Point One. Since Jesus is our great High Priest – and sure enough, in Revelation chapter 1 that’s what Jesus is dressed like when John catches sight of him – since Jesus is our High Priest, I believe that through the instructions He gave to those Levite priests, He can teach us important principles too.
So here’s what I think the first principle could be.
As Jesus’ royal priest or priestess, I must remember that my gifts to God are sacred.
A little later in Leviticus, we read about how sacrifices that are brought to the Lord are considered holy. They stop being ordinary, and become holy. They have been consecrated to the Lord’s use.
That means that when the deacons handed around those offering bags this morning, those funds became holy to the Lord’s purposes. The deacons take those bags back to the office, and carefully count that money, and that money is then sent to fulfill its purpose.
Seven or eight years ago, I watched a miracle happen in this congregation. People began to dream about renewing our church facility. Our old maroon carpet was badly faded and wrinkled, our pews had lost their comfort over the years, our bathrooms were 1970s vintage, and there were many other parts of this building which needed to be upgraded.
We talked about taking out a loan for this work, which ended up costing over $300,000. But amazingly – providentially – people gave so generously that we did not have to borrow one single penny to get the work done.
What seems to have happened is that people decided this was an important target for their offerings, and they gave their offerings. And as soon those offerings left their hands and entered the church treasury, those funds began creating what you see around you. Our congregation proved their love for their Lord by providing a beautiful place for Him to visit, just the way the Old Testament Israelite provided a beautiful, quality wilderness sanctuary for this same God.
So now that I know that as a member of Jesus’ priesthood, I need to remember that my gifts to God are sacred, what should I do?
The first thing I need to remember to do is to be faithful. Every month when I get my paycheck, I look at the biggest amount, the gross amount of it, and I write down a number that’s 10% of that amount. Then I look at that gross amount again, and calculate another percentage off it, and write that number under the tithe number. This second number is what I will donate to the church budget (church ministries) offering. Then I add those two numbers together, tithe plus church budget, and write a check from my personal checkbook for that amount. I then slip it into a tithe-offering envelope, carefully label that envelope with the amounts, seal it up, and put it in my billfold so I can put it in the offering bag that following Sabbath.
Notice that I’m not waiting for another big project before I donate. That has never been God’s plan for regular stewardship. As He gives to us, we give back to Him, so that He can bless other people.
Now let’s go to Leviticus chapter 4, and I’ll show you another principle I think Jesus would like us to learn.
Leviticus 4:1 – 3: Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering.
And the next few verses go into great detail, more detail than you or I would probably want to dwell upon, about how to prepare that sacrifice for someone’s unintentional sin. Now glance down to verse 13:
Verses 13 – 14: ‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which should not be done, and are guilty; when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting.
And again, lots and lots of specific details about how to do this. Now go down to verse 22.
Verses 22 – 23: ‘When a ruler has sinned, and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD his God in anything which should not be done, and is guilty, or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a male without blemish.
Do you see a pattern here? These sins– whether they’re committed by individuals, or the congregation, or the ruler of the nation – are unintentional sins, not premeditated ones. Yet they are important, and need to be dealt with. And that is Sermon Point Two. What else does Jesus want us to remember about our Royal priestly role?
As Jesus’ royal priest or priestess, I must not only remember that my gifts to God are sacred, but that I must take sin seriously.
I think I may have told the following story in a sermon two or three years ago, but I’ll tell it quickly again. A few years back, Shelley and I were traveling east on the highway that goes from Anacortes to Mount Vernon. We were sailing along at the proper speed, and we happened to pass a police car with his lights on, parked beside the road, having just pulled someone else over.
A few minutes later, I noticed the police car following us with his lights blinking. And sure enough, he pulled us over too. As he walked toward my window, I thought, What’s going on here? Why did he pull me over? Do I have a tail light out? Well, as it turned out, I had committed an unintentional sin. Up to that point I had been driving in the Pacific Northwest for nearly 30 years, and I had no clue that when you see a policeman or some other emergency vehicle pulled off to the side of the road, you must change lanes to the left, to leave a full lane’s worth of space for that situation.
I told him I had no knowledge of that law. I told him that we most often drove up and down the freeway in the Seattle area. He said, “Well, on the freeway it’s a little different, since you can’t often easily change lanes.” And he let me off with a warning, and I drove on, having learned an important lesson which I hadn’t known before.
We could look back at these Leviticus verses and say, “Well, hey. What’s the big deal about unconscious sins, unintentional sins? If we didn’t know we were doing them, why should we be held accountable for them?”
Well, it’s probably the same situation as the police car beside the road. It’s a good thing, and a safe thing, to pull your car over one lane to the left, if you can. I would imagine that law has probably saved some lives over the years.
So since sin is very important to Jesus, what should we do about that? Well, we need to review just how serious sin is to God and His Son and His Holy Spirit. In the last couple of verses of Psalm 139, David begs God to reveal his unconscious wickedness: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
I need to pray that prayer as often as I think about it. I also need to pray as Jesus taught us to pray: “Lead us not into temptation.” I also need to pray that God will work the Hebrews 10:16 miracle in my heart. Hebrews 10:16 says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.”
That’s an amazing and deeply encouraging promise, isn’t it? God does not leave us to ourselves. He doesn’t insist that we scramble up toward righteousness without His help. “Search me, O God, and when you have found that wickedness, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Write your laws upon my heart.”
Let’s look at just one more principle which Jesus our High Priest would like us to follow. Turn to Leviticus chapter 19. What we’re going to read in this chapter might seem like a rather disorganized list of items. But another way of looking at it would be to realize that this chapter places us where the rubber meets the road. Here we’ll find some very practical ways to put our belief in God to work.
Leviticus 19:1 – 2: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”
Does that sound familiar? 1 Peter 1:15 and 16 quotes this verse, and adds to it: “. . . as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’”
And Jesus Himself, who is now our High Priest, said something similar in His Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:48, He said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Of course, we’ve just looked at some verses which tell us that God takes responsibility for the condition of our hearts. He provides the heart-changes, and we need to cooperate with Him on that, all the time.
But now let’s just settle back and listen to some practical ways we can be good priests and priestesses.
Verses 1 – 8: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God. ‘And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it of your own free will. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from his people.
Of course we can ignore all those sacrificial details, because Jesus is not only our High Priest, but He was also the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
But you see how important these things are to God? Let’s keep reading.
Verses 9 – 18: ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God. ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. ‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD. ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD. ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the +children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
So what’s another principle Jesus is trying to teach us priests and priestesses here?
As Jesus’ royal priest or priestess, I must not only remember that my gifts to God are sacred, and that I must take sin seriously, but I must also remember to be holy, just and generous.
And of course it’s all summed up in the last verse we read: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As God’s liaison to earth, Jesus dictated those words, and He later repeated them in conversation with people when He was on earth.
So how do we be holy, just, and generous? We keep reading our Bibles, and watching God be holy, just, and generous, to find out how He defines this. The Pharisees thought they were holy – and Pharisee Paul even claimed to have been righteous according to the way Pharisees thought of righteousness – but Jesus personally taught Him that this wasn’t enough.
So we need to do what Paul did – get acquainted with Jesus. With Paul, it was a dramatic encounter, and with us it might not be quite as dramatic as that. But as we read our Bibles, we need to remember that the Son of God, our Creator, is also our Redeemer and Savior. He loved the world so much that He willingly gave Himself for us so that we need not perish, but can have eternal life.
How about you? Would you like to ask Jesus to enter your heart, either for the first time or for the hundredth time? He wants to be within you. We learned that again during last week’s communion service. Would you join me in opening our hearts to Him?