back to indexWed Bible Study - Leviticus Lesson 2
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Well, if you would please turn your Bibles over to the book of Leviticus, chapter 19. 00:00:20.000 |
Okay, I'm going to read you kind of an interesting section of the Scripture, starting from verse 00:00:43.800 |
It's a list of various laws that God has given. 00:00:47.680 |
And then we'll take a moment to pray and jump in. 00:00:50.280 |
In Leviticus chapter 19, verse 9, it says, "Now when you reap the harvest of your land, 00:00:57.080 |
you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings 00:01:01.420 |
of your harvest, nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen 00:01:07.420 |
You shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. 00:01:12.620 |
You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. 00:01:16.120 |
You shall not swear falsely by my name so as to profane the name of your God. 00:01:23.120 |
You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. 00:01:25.900 |
The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. 00:01:31.000 |
You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind. 00:01:41.520 |
You shall not be partial to the poor, nor defer to the great. 00:01:46.660 |
You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against 00:01:57.440 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace, and we're asking for continued grace as we 00:02:04.020 |
Give us grace by illuminating your word to us. 00:02:07.100 |
Help us, Father God, again, if there is any fog of tiredness and fatigue, if there's any 00:02:11.500 |
distraction, Lord, would your spirit minister to us that not only would we be receptive, 00:02:19.120 |
We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name we pray. 00:02:23.940 |
So today we're talking not specifically about one passage. 00:02:28.100 |
Last week was an overview, and today it's going to be like an overview part two, where 00:02:32.460 |
the overview of the book in terms of its background, structure, main thematics happened. 00:02:38.460 |
Today we're talking about practical holiness, almost like an overview of our life when we 00:02:44.300 |
So the study is called Leviticus and Practical Holiness. 00:02:48.180 |
Now just by way of intro, when I think of holiness, when I was younger, I thought of 00:02:56.340 |
When I thought about glory, it's like, "Wah!" 00:02:59.860 |
Something glorious then would be just majestic, super bright, shiny, and all that stuff. 00:03:07.340 |
Clouds, glorious light, white, like blazing white glory, et cetera, that kind of stuff. 00:03:11.980 |
And I thought holiness was kind of like that, just, "Wah!" 00:03:17.980 |
But when I think of practical holiness or practical sanctification, yeah, when I was 00:03:26.060 |
So if I want to think about practical holiness, I got to think about what I should and should 00:03:32.620 |
And I just read you a passage that told you what you should and should not do. 00:03:38.580 |
Very much the book of Leviticus is so full of direct commandments of what is prohibited 00:03:48.280 |
So as we take a look at that, there's a sense to which in the end maybe we can boil down 00:03:55.740 |
It's just a guiding principle about making a decision about what to do. 00:04:00.160 |
So I think I might have the first—oops, I forgot to turn this on. 00:04:06.220 |
Maybe we're thinking practical holiness in light of just principles, golden rules to 00:04:11.260 |
live by, and essentially you're just making a decision what is okay and what is not. 00:04:20.020 |
Interestingly enough, that would be a lot like modern practices. 00:04:24.500 |
The world and its wisdom has principles for you to live by. 00:04:28.820 |
Is the scripture, when it wants us to be holy or to live a certain way, is it simply doing 00:04:36.860 |
Well, according to worldly wisdom, long ago Aristotle centuries ago said as an ethic, 00:04:47.340 |
Too much of one thing or anything is too much. 00:04:55.180 |
They don't want to be super this, super that. 00:04:59.500 |
There is this utilitarianism kind of greatest good for the greatest amount of people. 00:05:05.020 |
Whatever maximizes produce, whatever maximizes end benefits, that's what you should decide 00:05:11.620 |
And then lastly, postmodernism says like, "Just make sure you're not stepping on anybody's 00:05:23.380 |
As long as it doesn't hurt anybody, you know? 00:05:28.460 |
So the reason why I list for you those different principles to live by is because obviously 00:05:33.860 |
our God operates far and above, beyond simple principles. 00:05:46.820 |
But the expectation practically is not simply this guideline, this one principle. 00:05:54.140 |
Rather, there is a fundamental approach that God gives us as Christians, which is summarized 00:06:05.380 |
So today we're going to try to talk about this. 00:06:12.860 |
It's like saying today we're going to talk about what godliness means. 00:06:16.200 |
What does it mean to have glorious living, right? 00:06:22.140 |
But hopefully we can put some trajectory of what are we pursuing in practicality. 00:06:29.060 |
So in order for us to wrap our minds around that, the very first point I'm going to make 00:06:35.700 |
This concept of "Be holy, for I am holy," it can be seen as a call to relational fidelity. 00:06:45.860 |
This call for us, practically speaking, where God has said, "Be holy, for I am holy," can 00:06:51.660 |
be seen as relational fidelity, meaning it is a call for you to have faithfulness and 00:06:59.460 |
loyalty, a sense of direct allegiance to God. 00:07:04.620 |
And the practicality comes when you operate underneath those parameters in the context 00:07:12.300 |
Turn the page over to Leviticus chapter 20, and let's look at a Bible verse on that. 00:07:19.660 |
Over in Leviticus chapter 20, verses 24 through 27. 00:07:28.700 |
And the Word of God says, "Hence I have said to you, you are to possess their land, and 00:07:33.300 |
I myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey. 00:07:38.700 |
I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 00:07:43.540 |
You are therefore to make a distinction between the unclean bird and the clean. 00:07:52.840 |
You shall not make yourself detestable by animal or any bird or anything that creeps 00:07:57.660 |
on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean." 00:08:02.860 |
"Thus, you are to be holy to me, for I am the Lord, so I the Lord am holy. 00:08:11.460 |
I have set you apart from the peoples to be mine. 00:08:15.260 |
Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. 00:08:20.180 |
They shall be stoned with stones, their blood glittiness is upon them." 00:08:25.580 |
So that passage right there, Leviticus chapter 20, verses 20 through 27, there is an emphatic 00:08:30.700 |
case where he says, "Look it, I've given you many, many principles which are only examples 00:08:37.580 |
of the point, and the point is I want you to be separate for me." 00:08:46.380 |
I write here for you that if we define holiness, you guys have heard that definition, to be 00:08:54.140 |
If you define holiness as separation or a consecration, then we simply add the relational 00:09:02.260 |
You're being consecrated and set apart for him, right? 00:09:07.020 |
So the whole context of the call to be holy is relational. 00:09:13.420 |
And if I can highlight, even within this passage, there is this relational idea of both, I want 00:09:21.460 |
to separate you away from the others and separate you for me. 00:09:27.700 |
By way of example, let's think about a couple, a woman and a man, you know, wife and husband. 00:09:35.060 |
Imagine that, let's say, this girl and this guy, when they were dating, the guy kind of 00:09:39.340 |
had some issues because the girl happened to have a ton of male friends. 00:09:44.940 |
Maybe she was one of those girls who was just so, like, trusting in people that maybe she 00:09:50.460 |
had a previous dating relationship with a guy, and then she kept him as a friend, not 00:09:55.740 |
knowing that previous boyfriend is still hoping for an open door, right? 00:10:01.220 |
During the dating period, the guy feels like, "Oh, man, should I say something? 00:10:07.180 |
There's no way I can tell her, like, 'Drop your friends,' you know, or 'I'm leaving.'" 00:10:12.180 |
He can't say that, so all of a sudden he feels like, "Hmm, maybe I should just hold my tongue. 00:10:18.100 |
But lo and behold, they get more serious, they get engaged, and she still retains all 00:10:26.180 |
Lo and behold, he's thinking, "Well, surely, once we actually have the ceremony and get 00:10:30.740 |
married, she's going to prioritize me above every other male in her life, right?" 00:10:37.900 |
Now imagine if she was like, "No, but he's so fun to go to Disneyland with, but when 00:10:47.180 |
You see, within this passage, he says, "You are going to be set apart from me, so how 00:10:52.300 |
dare you go talk to mediums and spirits, right?" 00:10:57.620 |
You go to these spirits to go find your resource of spiritual help and stability? 00:11:05.180 |
Now truthfully, yeah, within, let's say, the dating process, truthfully, yes, the guy doesn't 00:11:11.300 |
have the right to be like, "I'm your man and you're mine, so drop all your friends. 00:11:15.820 |
I don't want you talking to that chump," because then what? 00:11:20.980 |
But when you're in the context of a marriage relationship, there has to be a pulling away 00:11:27.940 |
from the others and then a moving towards the one, yes? 00:11:34.300 |
When we think about practical holiness, yes, we can sit here and say, "Okay, can we please 00:11:42.620 |
Can I talk about how holiness of your thought?" 00:11:45.220 |
And we can go down the list of what to do and what not to do, but that would only scratch 00:11:49.780 |
the surface of the big parameter of how God wants you to operate in life, which is under 00:12:01.500 |
And that should then dictate for us what is permissible, what is not permissible, and 00:12:09.100 |
What is good and bad for the marriage, this relationship? 00:12:14.640 |
I mean, I want you to think about that question in any given relationship. 00:12:21.640 |
What sort of things expressively, like even non-verbally communicate, "Hey, I'm committed 00:12:29.420 |
You know, I do a lot of premarital counseling and also just like counseling for married 00:12:34.880 |
couples and whatever, and in the premarital counseling, there is one question I always 00:12:47.400 |
Because then now we're talking about understanding each other, and those are some sweet opportunities 00:12:52.120 |
to give the people a chance to just lift each other up and say good things and all that 00:13:00.200 |
It's like, "I love it when Johnny this does that or Chris this and Tom this," and they 00:13:04.680 |
just say, "When they care, when they do this." 00:13:07.720 |
Well, I want you guys to take a moment to think about that, just for a moment right 00:13:14.880 |
Between a man and a woman who are in that kind of covenant love, what are the actions 00:13:21.840 |
that expressively communicate, "I'm committed to you"? 00:13:28.120 |
What are the actions that expressively communicate visibly that you are committed? 00:13:34.160 |
Well, some of the answers that I get in premarital counseling, they'll say, "Oh, you know, there 00:13:40.960 |
was this one time when he was really, really far and I had this thing and he was super 00:13:45.440 |
tired but he sacrificed his time to come help me, and then I knew." 00:13:52.200 |
No, there's the new, like, "I knew that he had my best interest." 00:13:56.680 |
There was another one where a guy shared, like, "Man, you know, sometimes for me, I'm 00:14:05.920 |
I'm not good with my words, and definitely I can't put my emotions into words and stuff, 00:14:11.640 |
But when she notices and has a growing appreciation, man, like, it makes me feel like we're going 00:14:21.520 |
You have a disagreement, but then the guy says, "You know what? 00:14:25.440 |
I'm all frustrated, but we're going to make it through this." 00:14:28.360 |
It's like, "Oh, my gosh, you're so committed." 00:14:32.040 |
But in the end, there's just a simple, simple, simple answer to that is when you expressly 00:14:38.800 |
show that your longing is for more of that person, "I just want more time with you," 00:14:48.880 |
Because when does an individual feel not secure? 00:14:52.280 |
When all of a sudden, some, like, thought creeps into their mind, they conclude, "That 00:15:00.600 |
So now, I give you these things as examples because we're talking about practical holiness, 00:15:08.720 |
And the fact of the matter is, just like whatever happens in the relationship context, it is 00:15:13.560 |
true for you, there are things that are unholy because you're not prioritizing the relational 00:15:22.020 |
Because what does it mean to be unholy, to be mixed? 00:15:26.360 |
What does it mean to be unholy in the eyes of God, to have, like, you know, a mixed allegiance 00:15:36.320 |
So likewise, when you think of practical holiness, don't think of, like, "Well, this isn't explicitly 00:15:46.840 |
If you've been living life so busy, and I'm just going to use this as an example, not 00:15:51.880 |
to make you all feel guilty because we're all busy, right? 00:15:55.200 |
But I was very convicted about this as I was thinking. 00:16:03.560 |
If you're living life so busy that you've been neglecting God, and then the first opportunity 00:16:09.040 |
where you get a break, your heart goes to, "Dang, I haven't worked out in a while. 00:16:20.040 |
You work 60, 70 hours a week because I know some of you guys do. 00:16:23.160 |
You haven't talked to your wife in a while because she goes to bed before you come home. 00:16:26.760 |
And the first opportunity you get, you bounce to go to the gym. 00:16:32.760 |
Does that show relational fidelity and commitment? 00:16:39.280 |
Now, to me then, that broadens the concept of holiness not to simply, many of us might 00:16:46.080 |
be thinking, "Holiness, okay, sexual purity." 00:16:51.980 |
Your use of time when it's all for you or when the first opportunity you get, or maybe 00:16:56.360 |
something really bad goes on at work and you're just distraught, and then your first reaction 00:17:07.960 |
You see, so I want us to think of holiness in that context so that, A, we don't limit 00:17:15.360 |
holiness to certain arenas of our life where it's clear struggles. 00:17:25.820 |
Holiness has more to do with your fidelity towards God and how you dedicate yourself. 00:17:35.060 |
Another passage I want us to go to is Leviticus chapter 22. 00:17:47.180 |
When the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the 00:17:52.260 |
holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so as not to profane my holy 00:18:03.380 |
Say to them, 'If any man among all your descendants throughout your generation approaches the 00:18:08.100 |
holy gifts which the son of Israel dedicates to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, 00:18:20.260 |
So in this passage, I want us to notice something as we transition to the next point. 00:18:28.180 |
Holiness has a lot to do with the relationship, your dedication to God. 00:18:33.660 |
And we notice even in the list of the laundry list of commandments, it's, "Do this. 00:18:40.860 |
And the whole idea here is, "Dedicate yourself to me before me." 00:18:47.100 |
Now moving to the next point though from this passage, what you see is there is a qualification 00:18:57.740 |
Pastor Peter made this a big, big thematic point. 00:19:11.660 |
And what's clear from this passage is that there's an absolute standard, a heavy standard. 00:19:24.500 |
The point is, the "Be holy for I am holy," the calling that God gives us, can be seen 00:19:41.180 |
So what I'm saying now is, there is a previous point that has to do with relational context, 00:19:51.220 |
and so it doesn't have detailed, explicit points, but a rather trajectory. 00:19:59.980 |
There is the objective standard of God's holiness, which is timeless, which is broad and universal. 00:20:08.100 |
So maybe for us, again, when we think of the concept of holiness, we're thinking about 00:20:12.180 |
things where we're supposed to stay away from things that are vile, wicked, detestable, 00:20:17.660 |
and namely, we're thinking about maybe perversions and sexual sin. 00:20:22.100 |
However, God, in his holy standard, actually projects a universal standard that comes from 00:20:34.180 |
So the standard cannot be limited to a set of propositions or statements, but rather, 00:20:50.420 |
And so all I'm saying is, when we're thinking about this second point, holiness can be focused 00:20:55.900 |
on God's statement, "Be holy for I am holy," but you can focus in on, "And I am." 00:21:12.100 |
Because when we think about personal holiness, I wonder if there are seasons of your life 00:21:20.060 |
where we think and maybe assume that because we're not doing something really, really detestable, 00:21:29.620 |
that maybe we are already holy to the degree that we ought to be. 00:21:34.660 |
It's the kind of mentality where because we've avoided the extremes of sin, maybe we feel 00:21:40.900 |
that we've already come to a point that we've done enough. 00:21:46.740 |
The standard of holiness is as high as God's character. 00:21:52.500 |
As the Scripture talks about how God's ways, how his thoughts are higher than ours, so 00:22:00.980 |
It's broader than what we normally think about when we think about holiness. 00:22:05.020 |
If we only kind of limited it to like spiritual holiness, where we're not meddling with mediums 00:22:10.540 |
and idols and stuff like that, or again, whether when we think holiness, we think flesh, lust, 00:22:18.700 |
Did you know, just by way of talking more about this idea that there are broader traits, 00:22:25.180 |
there are more than meets the eye when it comes to thinking about holiness, that there 00:22:28.860 |
is a lot of topics that the Scriptures talk about in the book of Leviticus. 00:22:33.060 |
For example, definitely the Scriptures in Leviticus talk about sexual purity. 00:22:42.300 |
But what's more, Scripture talks even about love. 00:22:46.580 |
Go back in your Bible to chapter 19, and did you guys notice that in chapter 19 verses 00:22:56.820 |
9 and 10, he talks about how now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not 00:23:04.540 |
reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleaning of your harvest, 00:23:09.340 |
nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of the vineyard. 00:23:13.220 |
You shall leave them for the needy and the stranger. 00:23:24.640 |
It challenged us to have this kind of care where you're not just greedy hearted like, 00:23:30.260 |
You know, you got to squeeze everything from your field, but rather he says, "Leave it. 00:23:34.940 |
It's like, "Ooh, I can't touch that anymore." 00:23:37.420 |
Because you got to leave it for the next person. 00:23:39.180 |
Scripture in its content is absolutely loving, and it goes so later on in the story. 00:23:45.300 |
Do you remember how King Solomon was known for his wisdom and many people, kings of other 00:23:54.700 |
"Wow, you have great wisdom, and who else has laws like this, so loving and kind?" 00:24:04.460 |
The Scriptures and the commandments in the book of Leviticus are glorious like that. 00:24:11.300 |
The commandments where it says, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one another, 00:24:18.500 |
That famous, famous line, "Love your neighbor as yourself," is quoted first in the Leviticus. 00:24:23.980 |
There's topics of, so there's forgiveness, there's mercy, okay? 00:24:31.940 |
There's topics of business practices where it talks about how, you noticed earlier, it's 00:24:35.820 |
like, don't hold a worker until the end of the day. 00:24:41.060 |
Don't force them to do X, Y, and Z that they didn't agree to. 00:24:45.820 |
It even talks about judging your neighbors appropriately. 00:24:50.540 |
Don't be all partial and do favoritism because they just happen to be a little bit more wealthy, 00:24:55.340 |
or you assume they're going to give you some kind of kickback. 00:24:58.940 |
The reason I want to talk about all this is because we realize, man, God and his expectation 00:25:06.580 |
for our holiness is truly beyond just principled living. 00:25:12.980 |
I tell my youth group students all the time, they get fed this idea that the world wants 00:25:19.940 |
them to be good people, people who avoid gangs, drugs, and violence, people who avoid parties 00:25:26.340 |
and drinking, and they just want to have great careers, come to church, and be good citizens. 00:25:32.100 |
And I tell my youth group students all the time, God wants more from you than that. 00:25:47.620 |
Whereas before we said the application of our holiness being in the context of the relationship, 00:25:53.540 |
that means you want to live in expressed faithfulness, you want to long for him, you want to do things 00:25:58.580 |
that show him, man, you're at the forefront of my priority. 00:26:03.500 |
But then the application practically, for practical holy living, when you see that God's 00:26:07.940 |
command is beyond principles, what you're trying to shoot for is imitation. 00:26:16.300 |
There's a passage for us over in 1 John 2, verse 6. 00:26:25.020 |
It says this, "The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner." 00:26:33.620 |
If you say you have Christ in you, and his Holy Spirit is working in your mind and heart, 00:26:49.580 |
Because I'm going to be honest with you, when the scriptures talk about this idea of being 00:26:55.020 |
expressive, your passion, and the whole commandment earlier about relationship, I mean, I'm going 00:27:00.900 |
to confess, even in my own marriage, that's a big learning process. 00:27:04.980 |
For a lot of guys, whoever, if the relationship aspect is new and you're learning, you don't 00:27:09.980 |
know sometimes what to do to make the person feel a certain way. 00:27:20.660 |
You see how God speaks in the Bible, and what that reveals to you is his will and his heart. 00:27:44.060 |
And that's absolutely what the scripture says. 00:27:46.500 |
We're going to read a lengthy portion of scripture. 00:27:48.980 |
Turn all the way over to Ephesians chapter 5. 00:28:05.660 |
What God says is, "Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children." 00:28:20.780 |
God through apostle Paul went through chapters 1 and 3 talking about all of what God has 00:28:35.620 |
And he says, "Live a manner now worthy of the gospel." 00:28:42.180 |
"Walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and 00:28:50.840 |
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among 00:28:58.300 |
And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting 00:29:05.240 |
For this you know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an 00:29:10.500 |
idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 00:29:17.500 |
For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 00:29:24.900 |
For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 00:29:30.100 |
For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. 00:29:38.140 |
Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. 00:29:42.700 |
For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 00:29:47.140 |
But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light. 00:29:50.620 |
For everything that becomes visible is light. 00:29:53.740 |
For this reason it says, 'Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine 00:30:00.660 |
Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of 00:30:08.780 |
So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 00:30:12.660 |
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation. 00:30:22.300 |
And one of the applications that's drawn from the book of Ephesians here in chapter 5 is 00:30:30.940 |
In verse 10, he says, "Understand what is pleasing to the Lord." 00:30:36.820 |
In verse 14, he says, "Being careful how you walk, being wise." 00:30:43.200 |
And then in verse 17, he says, "Don't be a fool. 00:30:49.260 |
And then later you can even say, adding to the theme, he says, "Don't be drunk. 00:30:57.540 |
And so here is the challenge and exhortation to you. 00:31:00.820 |
Being imitators of God must absolutely mean that you can discern, I repeat, you can discern 00:31:16.260 |
You have a growing capacity to say, "This is not pleasing to the Lord." 00:31:25.220 |
It may not be written on our church membership covenant, but this does not please my God. 00:31:37.620 |
Now that may sound arrogant to the world, but God has called us to be discerning. 00:31:46.900 |
You notice in the other passages in the book of Leviticus, you're going to see so many 00:31:50.820 |
times so that you may know what is clean and unclean. 00:32:00.740 |
You should know what is displeasing to God, what is shameful in His eyes versus the stuff 00:32:07.940 |
So again, I repeat that phrase where we don't want to see holiness as since I'm not doing 00:32:22.500 |
Remember last week, Pastor Peter said that the book of Leviticus, its ultimate purpose 00:32:37.660 |
The book of Leviticus, its ultimate purpose is to reveal the extent of God's holiness. 00:32:44.740 |
Then our maturity, our growing understanding in that, then you should understand to a broad 00:32:52.480 |
breath and depth how deep His holiness is, what is pleasing to Him, what would be something 00:33:04.700 |
I want to now pose that to you as a direct question. 00:33:08.400 |
In your walk as a Christian, in the years that you've come to church, in the years that 00:33:13.060 |
you've been reading the Bible, have you grown in understanding God's heart? 00:33:19.580 |
Has His thoughts rubbed off on you where you learn God's priorities? 00:33:24.420 |
When you think about, "Hey, there's like a million things to do. 00:33:35.100 |
Are you resonating with God and His value system, what's important and what's not? 00:33:39.100 |
Are you resonating with God as what is shameful, what is not shameful, what is profitable to 00:33:43.540 |
His church and His flock, what is profitable for the expansion of His kingdom? 00:33:48.340 |
Are you able to test and see if you are growing in holiness, your taste buds then are going 00:34:01.260 |
If you guys ever, you know, cooked anything, you guys have probably gone to your kitchen, 00:34:06.940 |
opened up your fridge, opened it all up, started looking around and grabbed the ingredients, 00:34:17.220 |
And then for those of us who aren't in the kitchen much, you grab it and you go, "Is 00:34:27.700 |
To the trained individual who is regularly cooking, they're going to, "Oh, no. 00:34:35.460 |
But what's most dangerous is an individual who is untrained, unfamiliar, smelling something 00:34:43.660 |
This chicken smells a little sour, but I think it's okay." 00:34:47.540 |
And that is a major danger to the Christian church. 00:34:53.040 |
Individuals who are not practicing their discernment, individuals who are not practicing their sense 00:35:01.020 |
Because when you think about the problem at hand, when we're saying practical holiness, 00:35:08.340 |
And I'm using these words because the theme, the themes that come out in Leviticus is like, 00:35:16.460 |
If you guys have ever read some of those laws, it's like, "I don't want there to be cross 00:35:20.900 |
And then it goes on to say, "I don't want you to cross breed animals." 00:35:23.300 |
And it goes on to say, "I don't even want you to cross threads." 00:35:31.500 |
And then he explains later, "Because I don't want there to be this toleration and syncretism 00:35:47.900 |
Toleration and syncretism in layman's terms is, "I think it's okay." 00:35:55.340 |
When you have a relationship where you're not supposed to be crossing physical boundaries, 00:36:00.020 |
and then you do, your mind says, "I think it's okay because we're pretty much committed. 00:36:06.500 |
When you lax on your business stuff and your finances and all this stuff, in your mind, 00:36:13.500 |
whether it be compromise, syncretism, whether it be tolerance, all we're saying is, "I 00:36:18.340 |
know that there is a principle out there, but I think it's okay." 00:36:30.700 |
Let's just cut that part off, and I think it's okay. 00:36:35.020 |
So that's why I'm emphasizing to us this need for every single one of us. 00:36:40.140 |
If we're going to be walking in practical holiness, you've got to be growing in your 00:36:44.460 |
discernment what is and what is not, not simply permissible, but what is and what is not pleasing 00:36:53.020 |
That's at the heart of your practical holiness, what is and what is not pleasing to God. 00:37:01.080 |
So starting to wrap things all up together, I think when we take a look at all this, I 00:37:07.620 |
think one of the things that really needs to happen for every single one of us is that 00:37:12.260 |
in our concept of holiness, we need to be challenged, that not only should we care, 00:37:18.860 |
but we need to recognize that God cares tremendously about your holiness. 00:37:26.080 |
It is not rituals, principles that He wants you to abide by. 00:37:31.060 |
It's not simply do's and don'ts or golden rules. 00:37:35.540 |
It is a relationship in which He wants you to be faithful to Him. 00:37:41.700 |
What's more, take a look at this passage in 2 Corinthians. 00:37:45.820 |
It says, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of our Lord, are 00:37:52.780 |
being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the 00:38:01.100 |
If we know anything, God cares incredibly about His glory. 00:38:06.260 |
And what He is desiring to do is that in our practical growth in holiness, He's going to 00:38:10.860 |
see the glory of God in our transformed lives. 00:38:25.100 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank You so much for Your Word today. 00:38:28.620 |
God, we do ask that we would think properly about our pursuit of holiness. 00:38:36.420 |
We would think practically and also holistically about our pursuit of trying to be godly and 00:38:45.260 |
That God, we would do so with a heart full of love for You. 00:38:49.660 |
We would do so with eyes wanting to see in greater light Your glory. 00:38:55.540 |
And I pray, Father God, that You would continue then to transform our minds. 00:38:59.100 |
Lord, I ask again that, Lord, we would not be a generation that tolerates things that 00:39:08.700 |
But rather, God, we would be clear that there would be conviction and, Lord, there would 00:39:21.420 |
And Lord, just being honest, we're tempted almost daily. 00:39:26.180 |
Grant us strength, Father God, in Your Spirit. 00:39:29.100 |
Grant us, Father God, perseverance in the name of Your Son that, Lord, day in and day 00:39:33.420 |
out, we would continue to pursue strong and run strong after You. 00:39:41.860 |
So in terms of discussion questions, it's actually on your sheet and not on the PowerPoint. 00:39:49.780 |
Sometimes it's kind of hard, again, to get real specific, but I'm going to ask you guys 00:39:59.460 |
And I wanted to ask you guys to take a current assessment of yourself. 00:40:05.180 |
Are you currently expressing a level of commitment that's visible beyond words? 00:40:11.860 |
And please try to use some of these examples as like benchmarks maybe when we talked about 00:40:18.420 |
So talk about your relationship with God in that manner. 00:40:21.500 |
And then the question is, how can we steadily grow in our imitation of God? 00:40:27.580 |
But maybe you can narrow it down by talking about like specifically if you've been a Christian 00:40:32.740 |
for a long time, many years, how can we challenge ourselves to just not be plateauing but ever 00:40:42.300 |
And what's more, even for a newer believer too? 00:40:44.580 |
And then number three, are there any areas that you have been too permissive over what? 00:40:52.460 |
I think I phrased that funny, but you guys know what I'm saying, right? 00:40:59.380 |
Tolerating things that are displeasing to the Lord, you know? 00:41:03.420 |
Maybe just kind of thinking there are things that maybe you do in private. 00:41:08.100 |
There is this term now, it's like not safe for work. 00:41:11.100 |
Are you permitting yourself to watch stuff that's not safe for work but it's not necessarily 00:41:18.820 |
To talk about that kind of stuff and be specific if you can, okay?