Life Lessons From Leviticus?

A Sermon by Jim Hammond from Leviticus 1

Opening Illustration: You may or may not see the parable in the children’s picture book we are about to look at together. Just in case you don’t see a parable, I’ll explain after we look at it. Look at the Sesame Street picture book, “A visit to the Hospital”. Summarize as follows.

Picture 1: Uh oh! It looks like Grover is sick.

Picture 2: The Dr. needs to see what’s wrong with Grover.

Picture 3: The Doctor explains that he needs to have a little operation. Grover doesn’t want that, he wants to stay home with Mommy! The Dr. reassures that his Mommy can stay with him at the hospital. The Dr. suggests taking a tour of the hospital with some of his friends.

Picture 4: Grover asks the nurse why the hospital smells funny. The nurse explains that the hospital has to be kept very clean and he smells disinfectant.

Picture 5: While visiting one of the hospital rooms, Grover pushed a nurses call button and a nurse came in.

Picture 6: Here one of the children shows off her hospital bracelet and talks about the ice cream she got to eat. Burt and Ernie think that’s pretty neat.

Picture 7: Grover likes the x-ray machine that takes pictures of people’s bones.

Picture 8: Burt and Ernie want to know why this Dr. is wearing pajamas.

Picture 9: The hospital decides to give the whole tour a chance to try out the special clothing for operations. The Dr. explains that the clothes and masks, and hats and gloves are designed to keep from passing any germs.

Picture 10: Everybody thanked Nurse Spinner for such a good tour.

Picture 11: “Mommy,” whispered Grover, “I think the best thing about the hospital is getting well!”

This was a picture book explaining to a child what the child needs to know before he goes into the hospital. Leviticus is also a picture book. It is a picture book that explains to God’s children something that would have been difficult to understand without the tour experience and picture book explanation in advance. We should not be surprised that God took the same kind of care with us that we take with children. Early in God’s redemptive plan he began the explanations, the pictures, the tours, and the experiences that would allow his children to make sense of what was coming.

Focus: In the Old Covenant God gave very specific instructions on how to remove the defilement that separates us from a Holy God. These Old Covenant instructions anticipated the New Covenant realities that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Leviticus—the third book of the Bible is called this because much of the instruction is specific to the Levites. The priestly duties and temple duties were given to one tribe of Israel—the Levites. The priestly duties were given to one subset from this tribe, the sons of Aaron. Only the descendents of Aaron became priests. Leviticus is the instruction manual for the Old Testament people on how they were to worship God. It is the very specific laws and stipulations of the Old Covenant agreement on how the people in that covenant were to worship.

In Exodus, very specific instructions were given on how to build the Tabernacle, the center of worship for the Old Covenant people of God. A couple of years ago, we studied together how the Tabernacle actually is an earthly picture of spiritual realities. It was a foreshadowing “type” for the reality of God’s entire redemptive plan through Jesus.

Now here in Leviticus we read the instructions on how to carry out the service and worship God required of the Old Covenant community.

In Genesis we learn how humanity was ruined.

In Exodus we learned how humanity was redeemed by a covenant making God.

In Leviticus we learn how an unholy humanity, can come before a holy God and worship.

Although the specifics are ancient and for another time and age, for the Old Covenant agreement, and not for the New Covenant peoples, the life lessons learned from Leviticus are timeless. It is those timeless life lessons that we will glean from this book. While many joke about bogging down in Leviticus when they decide to read through the Bible from cover to cover, I’m hoping after this series you will never bog down there again. It is rich with helpful life lessons.

Life Lessons from Leviticus:

Lesson # 1: We Hear God speak from his chosen tabernacle (1:1)

¹The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said,…

Leviticus is God speaking to us through the Tabernacle and its meaning.

There are basically three Temple systems in the Bible. The first temple system started with the Tabernacle, the transportable house for God’s manifest presence to dwell with his people. What is the Temple/Tabernacle? It is the place where God’s presence is made manifest. God condescended to dwell in the midst of the nation of Israel, with whom he made a covenant. We call this the Old Covenant. The Old Testament is the book of the writings associated with this covenant, explaining the details of the covenant, and the covenant people.

The second Temple was Jesus Christ himself. John 1:1 says,

John 1:1 (NIV) ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

If you skip down to verse 14 you find,

John 1:14 (NIV) ¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling [this phrase “made his dwelling” is one word, the verb form of ske4ne4, the word for tent, tabernacle, or dwelling] among us. [The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.] We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus later made the direct connection between the Temple and his body.

John 2:19-20 (NIV) ¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” ²⁰The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”

The third Temple in the Bible is the Church, the Body of Christ on earth while Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. The Church is not the building, but the people are the church, the Temple of God.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV) ¹⁶Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

God still speaks to people and draws people through his chosen tabernacle. Today he calls people through his church, the Body of Christ, the people who are in covenant with Him.

Lesson # 2: God is Perfect and We are Not (1:2)

God is perfect and we are not, and something has to make up the difference for us to have a relationship with a holy God. God is holy, and we are not. The concepts of sacrifice are built on this concept, that God is perfect and we are not. Sin has come between us and a perfect God. You want to get close to God but something gets in the way--Sin.

Today, some people like to believe that there isn’t such a thing as a perfect God. Someone might say something like “I don’t believe in that sin stuff. I don’t believe there’s a perfect God. I just believe in my own human potential. There is enough positive energy in me to do what ever I need to do.” THAT’S DRIVEL!

Just ask a person who says this, “Have you ever thought you should or should not do something?” If they have then they do acknowledge that there is a correct and an incorrect thing to do. This is the concept of right and wrong. People who do not believe in sin do not believe in an absolute. Yet, if you believe in any should or should not, right or wrong, you believe what the bible says. There is a wrong. The Bible calls that wrong, sin. God gave everyone whether they believe in him or not, the sense of should and should not; he built it into our psyche, our very being. Furthermore, I do not believe anybody has been able to live up to his or her own sense of “should” with the one exception of Jesus himself, the only sinless person there was.

People then squirm when they don’t agree with Christianity’s claims. They might say something like, “You Christians are so Black and White and judgmental. You guys make such outlandish and exclusive claims. There can’t be just one standard of truth. Other cultures have their own standards for right and wrong. Just because they are different than yours, how dare you claim they are wrong. You Christians are just being judgmental.” Have you ever read or heard someone talk like that? Here’s what you say.

“So, was the Holocaust okay then?” If they say it was not okay, then you say, “How dare you be so judgmental with your standards of right and wrong!”

Everybody deep down acknowledges that there is right and there is wrong.

Lesson # 3: God decides and directs how we are to come to Him (1:3)

Do this only as directed! God prescribed specifics had to be followed before an offering was acceptable (1:3)

Do it yourself religion, or practice has always been unacceptable. God insists on being God.

The Old Testament Pictures of Redemption were so often associated with sacrifice, blood, and death. But before I show you some examples, let me plant the question in your head: Why? Why is the OT filled with pictures of redemption associated with sacrifice, blood, and death? The simple answer is they are all pictures about his ultimate redemptive plan.

Here are some examples:

Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:21 (NIV) ²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Cain and Able

Genesis 4:2-5 (NIV) ²Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Moses and the Passover

Exodus 12:22-23 (NIV) ²²Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. ²³When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

And now here in the Levitical Law.

How does God direct his New Covenant people to come to him today? If you have come to believe in him, he directs us to enter into covenant with him through the covenant ceremony of baptism. He also directs us now through the New Testament to keep the practice of coming to him regularly through the covenant renewal ceremony of communion. Both of these derive their value, and power through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Lesson # 4: An acceptable Sacrifice is Costly, But available to each of us (1:2-3, 14)

Few could afford to sacrifice a bull. More could afford a sheep or a goat. Most everyone could afford a dove or a young pigeon. It was inconceivable for the upright to consider entering God’s presence without making a costly sacrifice.

Consider David’s Words:

2 Samuel 24:24 (NIV) ²⁴But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.

Without Defect

If you had a three legged lamb, with one ear, and one eye hanging out, that answers to the name “Lucky”, he’s not qualified as an offering to the Lord (maybe he really is a “Lucky” lamb). If you tried to offer a defective, or wounded, or maimed lamb, that has no marketable value, or far below market value, what does that say about how you feel about the Lord?

God says, “I’m only satisfied with your very best.”

God is Holy, and he insists that his people learn how to keep themselves holy.

What are burnt offerings? The Israelites probably saw them as offerings to God that cost them a lot, from which they came away with nothing physical or natural to show for it. The whole offering was burnt. It was a sacrifice. We can say…I don’t do sacrifices, but the world’s a better place because of the sacrifices that have been made. In fact, I’m a better person because of the sacrifices that were made, and only because of the sacrifice made for me, can I look at those things that are hard. Those things I feel like saying, “I don’t do…” and do them, as a sacrifice of praise that is pleasing and acceptable in God’s sight.

What is it you wouldn’t normally do, but for the Love of God, you might do as a fragrant offering to Christ, who gave himself for you?

Here’s what Dirck Willems did.

Blessing a Persecutor

The year was 1569. Facing arrest as an Anabaptist, Dirck Willems was running; he was fleeing for his life. What’s an Anabaptist? Anabaptists were the courageous Christians who came to believe that baptism was for believers. They got the name because they were rebaptized as adults. Anabaptists believed that baptism apart from faith was meaningless. For their commitment to this belief they were branded as heretics and by 1535 an estimated 50,000 of them were killed for their faith. This of course was at a time when there was no separation of church and state. The guilt of their crime was nothing more than discrediting the practice of infant baptism.[i]

It was in such a climate that Dirck Willems found himself running across a frozen lake. He was running from a pursuer hot on his trail to arrest him. His pursuer broke through the ice. Willems gave up his chance to escape by turning to save his persecutor. Though his pursuer wanted to release him, he was held by the authorities under his contract to catch them. The captured Willems was imprisoned, and then burned at the stake in 1569.

Why did Dirck do it? No mere common decency could have motivated Willems’ action that day by the frozen stream. He knew the risk in this act of compassion. Many others would have interpreted this unfortunate turn of events as designed by God to aid his escape. But in that moment of decision he acted from something deep within him that transcended self-interest or fear. He acted from the love he had for Christ. He knew his Lord’s words, “Love your enemies.” He also knew the words. [ii]

Mark 8:35-37 (NIV) ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Anabaptists were committed to nonviolence, believer’s baptism, a rejection of all swearing and oath taking, and separation from the evils of the world. I’m amazed by the commitment of people of faith that I read about. This forms a stark contrast with today’s popular brand of Christianity that stands for so very little. I’m not sure there is enough evidence in many lives to convict them of their Christianity today, their values are so closely related to the values of the world.

I’ll finish today by asking the following question and giving its simplest answer.

The question: What does a burnt offering represent for the worshipper? Here’s the answer: Total Commitment!

As we learn from Leviticus, let us offer ourselves to God again, and rededicate ourselves to holiness, worshiping God in private confession, public service, and group celebration.

Study Assignment: READ first few chapters of Leviticus and Study Hebrews 10 before next Sunday.

Action Assignment: Do SOMETHING you wouldn’t normally do, but for the Love of God DO IT as a fragrant offering to Christ who gave himself for you.

[i] Clyde Manschreck, A History of Christianity in the World p. 209.

[ii] Adapted from "The Radical Reformation: The Anabaptists," Christian History, no. 5.