good morning everybody i hope you had a
wonderful christmas i hope you experienced the peace and the joy of remembering what
christ has done for us that god came to earth to save us what a powerful message what do you
do when you have too many choices before you as a kid growing up in the era of massive
specialty stores like toys r us i can remember walking into what seemed like a stadium
full of toys in one sense that's awesome but in another i remember being overwhelmed
with all the choi
ces where do i start what do i really want what can i afford it was just too
much for a kid on a limited budget to deal with as an adult a restaurant that causes me similar
anxiety is the cheesecake factory they have a novel sized menu pages and pages long of all kinds
of different foods from all kinds of different cuisines and of course on top of that there's
a menu dedicated to nothing but cheesecakes i mean that's just too many choices you're just
sitting there going well what's your spe
cialty what will i enjoy inevitably i'm just going
to ask my server what do you suggest my point in life we deal with all kinds of choices daily
but having more choices isn't always better when god created the earth and everything in it
the choices were as simple and as easy as could be what i mean is adam and eve had two choices
the same two that you and i have today obey god or disobey god the difference then was there
were innumerable opportunities to obey and enjoy all god had made endl
ess opportunities really to
fulfill their purpose to walk in obedience to god and to be fruitful and multiply that was genesis
3. conversely there was only one way to disobey one one prohibition guess what they chose well
we all know and fast forward through the fall of mankind the entrance of sin and death into
the world and all of a sudden the choice is to defile the image of a holy god in our lives and
to dishonor his name through our disobedience and choices are seemingly endless and no
w it's
like all of humanity walks into a toy store and there are so many choices or so many items on the
menu of life if you will the biggest difference now are some of those choices lead to life and
many many many of those choices lead to death how do we know which is which what is right and
what is wrong what is good what is bad what is just what is unjust and as always god had to
intervene to help us and because of his great love for us he did so again and again and again by
consistentl
y defining what his holy people should do and how his holy people should act to maintain
a right relationship with god and with one another because of adam and eve's willful disobedience
the broad path which was once life and the very narrow path which was once death
literally switched places think about that jesus himself said as much in matthew 7 13-14
enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction
and many enter through it verse 14 but
small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life
and only a few find it now choosing between good and evil just and unjust holy and unholy has been
and still is impossible without god's direction and the help of the holy spirit humanity
because of adam and eve's fall could no longer distinguish between good and evil without
god's help and we are in that same situation today what we see from that point forward is god's plan
of redemption as it's put into motion because he always had
a plan we see god help humanity
through the entire biblical narrative ultimately fulfilling his redemptive plan through jesus death
and resurrection and the coming of the holy spirit that now lives inside of those who love him
now we as the church continue to fulfill god's plan of redemption in the earth that he had for
adam and eve and then israel and now the church but just like always we need god's help as we move
forward into a new year and talk about the new things and new opportunitie
s there are some things
that never change we're still called to reach the loss with the love of christ we're still called
to be a multi-ethnic multi-generational church who loves god loves people and reaches the world
now if you have your bible you could turn to the book of leviticus with me i know that's
not a book on the top of your bible books to read in 2022 but i want you to see a passage of
scripture that jumped out to me recently it's a beautiful example of god's unchanging character
and his timeless purpose and goal for humanity turn to chapter 19 of the book of leviticus and
this is what i want to dig into a little bit this morning just go a little bit deeper because
even in the most obscure books that we tend to overlook or skip reading like leviticus we
will see god's gracious help towards his people in what in helping us know how to daily live in
an ethical manner that reflects his holiness to be his holy people and what we're going to see here
is one of the most
comprehensive developments of christian ethics that we will find in the old
testament amid daily opportunities to choose what life or death good or evil god is graciously
helping his people understand what choices to make to be his holy people they're called to be instead
of choosing to be rebellious and destructive and consequently no longer a light unto the
nations which is what we were called to be as well let's consider the broad stroke of moral
behavior in leviticus chapter 19 verses
1 and 2 which would be the overarching theme
of this entire chapter's instruction as well as really the entire book of leviticus
here's what the lord said to moses in verse 2 speak to the entire assembly of israel and say
to them be holy because i the lord your god am holy if god's people were to reflect the holiness
of their god there were ways ritualistically and morally that they would stand out as a testimony
to other nations thankfully jesus came and did away with all the beard cutting
and seed planting
rules because there are all kinds of rules but we were left with the moral responsibilities
that are now seen as life principles for the believer every day proper behavior for god's holy
people and this is what they had then as well and what we see in these passages to the people of
israel is every biblical statement about god carries with it an implied demand upon men
and women to imitate him in daily living there are probably a few ways to break down the
structure of t
his entire chapter but in order to best understand the relational aspect of god's
love and moral instruction towards his people i want us to consider it that way in a relational
framework because that's how god operates i believe this helps us to avoid the erroneous
idea that god is a distant uninvolved rule giver and helps us better embrace that god is a loving
heavenly father who desires to and goes to great lengths to do whatever he can to help us have
an intimate relationship with him a
s a holy god one repetition that we see repeatedly in the book
of leviticus and particularly chapter 19 is this statement i am the lord your god capital l-o-r-d
this too highlights the loving relational context that these commands flow out of as god's name
is identifying him as yahweh that's what that means lord means an intimate personal name that
he's to be known by this is not some impersonal cosmic killjoy this is yahweh the lord god god of
abraham isaac and jacob the same god that brou
ght you out of egypt the same god who said i'm the
great i am god is making sure that the people know who these commands are coming from and the
loving heart that they're being delivered from let's just hone in on verses 33 and 37 of this
chapter and here's where i want us to see the never changing character of god towards his people
i don't know how people say they don't ever read the old testament because god's pursuit of us
has been going on since we rebelled against him in the garden an
d i want us to see the gospel
the beauty of the gospel in the old testament i want us to see our moral obligation to treat
others as god treated us in christ but is also seen in how god instructed his people
even in the book of leviticus so here is the verse that caught my attention it's
verse 33 of leviticus 19 and it says this when a foreigner resides among you in your land
do not mistreat them now let's pause right there at first glance this seems like some platitude
your granny would g
ive the grandkids who might not be getting along now let's all
just be nice to one another and get along so what do you do you respond by ignoring each
other or just putting up with each other for the sake of not getting reprimanded again by
granny but verse 20 takes it from a seemingly very low bar don't be mean to an impossibly high
barred response here's what it says the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native
born wait what you can almost assume that the israelites w
ould have thought this whoa whoa wait
a mosaic minute we are your people foreigners and aliens are not we are holy they are not how can
we treat them like their family their foreigners here's where the never changing character of god shines out god's plan has always been to have a
people from every tribe every tongue and every nation in revelation chapter 7 verse 9 tells us
how god's redemptive purposes are going to end up very clearly but even now in the book of leviticus
the echoes of the
heart and the mission of god are heard in how the people of israel were to
take in and treat the foreigners god's letting them know that if the foreigner comes and accepts
him as lord yahweh the one true god then in his eyes these foreigners go through a miraculous
transformation they go from foreigners to family this is the people of god being a light unto the
nations this was why this was happening and here's where the gospel comes bursting forth as well
we were all once foreigners and a
liens to god people without a home and a hope but jesus came
and changed everything he changed everything now because of what christ did on the cross
all dividing lines have been erased and when anyone accepts the one true god through faith in
jesus christ they go from foreigners to family the multi-ethnic church is still a light unto
the world that jesus came and has taken people who were foreign to god foreign to one another
and made them family ephesians chapter 2 verse 18 and 20. i love
this for through him we both have
access to the father by one spirit consequently you are no longer foreigners and strangers but
fellow citizens with god's people and also members of his household built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets with christ jesus himself as the chief cornerstone the purpose of god
is seen clearly all the way back into genesis but also in leviticus and it's now seen in the
reversal of the way the jews would have daily operated and responded to the genti
le disadvantage
and is supposed to happen now in how we treat people who don't look like us or don't come from
the same socio-economic background as us god's purposes all along still continue to transform
societies and cultures as foreigners become family and christ and nothing shows that more
than the multi-ethnic multi-generational church this wasn't easy then and it's not easy now but
god is willing to help because god knows our frame and he understands the difficulty of loving people
w
ho are different from us watch the motivation given in leviticus 1934 it says this love them
as yourself for you are foreigners in egypt i am the lord your god this verse is also a
compliment of the verse in 18 verse 18 which earlier in this chapter stated do not seek revenge
or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbor as yourself i am the lord
see god instructs the people love them as yourself whether it's your neighbor or the foreigner
whomever has become your
family you love them and whoever has become your family by loving god
wholeheartedly you love them the same and accept them god says in essence in case you forgot
what it was like to be a foreigner mistreated marginalized abused and forgotten remember what
it was like for you to be in slavery in egypt remember who brought you out of slavery who saved
you and gave you a place to call home and belong now when you remember correctly respond to
the foreigner appropriately you can almost hear t
he future call of jesus when he said do
unto others as you would have them do unto you that's exactly what leviticus just said again
we see the gospel shine forth as the unchanging character of god is seen in how we are to
remember correctly in order to respond righteously to others not only did god love israel when
they were strangers in egypt what about us he loved us while we were still sinners roman
says romans 5 8 but god demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sin
ners
christ died for us whenever i'm tempted to think of myself more highly than i should or to think of
others as outsiders instead of potential insiders all i have to do is remember the state i was
once in when i was a foreigner to god and yet he still loved me and he welcomed me into
his family because of jesus i myself went from a foreigner to family adopted in through
my brother jesus christ remembering this fact is something that helps me to look at other people
who may look differen
t than me come from different backgrounds than i do have different life
experiences than i do and see them as a project or a benevolence case but instead to see them as
a brother or a sister in christ not a foreigner or an alien or an enemy but potential family see
what god has wanted all along a holy people who will spread his glory to the ends of the earth is
only possible when those who have received mercy extend mercy when those who have been forgiven
forgive when those who have a home
welcome others home this reminds me of romans 15 7 therefore
welcome one another as christ has welcomed you for the glory of god why do we welcome one another
for god's glory to the ends of the earth so when we love one another as ourselves love our neighbor
as ourselves god is glorified and all of this is possible by god's grace particularly when we
remember what god has done for us first in and through jesus christ we see the interdependence
of love and holiness and it's seen throughout t
his chapter in leviticus but particularly in these few
verses not only do we see this in god's character but we see the necessity to respond to others
the way god responds to us it is not a life of compulsion where we detachedly treat others
kindly but a life of love the love of god overflowing out of our lives in such a way
that we respond to them in a holy manner this holy manner is full of love love that says
to the foreigner you are now family your family in christ if jesus is your brot
her and god is
your father then you're my family i believe that we see this the most through the multi-ethnic
church today a holy church is a loving church and a loving church is a holy church and this
should be clearly seen by how we accept and love one another in a spiritual family no matter where
they have come from or what they have looked like or how foreign the church may have been to them
first peter has a lot to say about how god's holy people act today and the reverberations from
leviticus can still be heard in first peter 1 15-17 see if this sounds familiar always live
as god's holy people should because god is the one who chose you and he is holy that's why the
scriptures say i am the holy god and you must be holy too you say that god is your father but god
doesn't have favorites he judges all people by what they do so you must honor god while you live
as strangers here on earth man that's powerful ironically if you're a christian we are all still
foreigners alien
s strangers in a strange land that's what that verse just said and there are
a lot of choices to make every single day for us and god's word tells us again and again that the
best way to do so in a manner that is both loving holy and glorifying to god is with your brothers
and sisters in christ in the church all of us were once foreigners in a foreign land now if we are
in christ we are all family in a foreign land all heading on our way home together just like
god has always planned would
you pray with me heavenly father thank you for your great
love for us thank you that you have taken us those who are foreign to you and your ways those
who are strangers and aliens to your family and god you have given us a
home the word says that you have made us a part of your family and i'm grateful
for that thank you jesus for your sacrifice as you're praying this morning i am praying
for you just to sense the deep love of god i'm praying that there would be a longing inside of
you to
be properly connected to the body of christ to know god's plan for us is to be attached
to his body the church in such a way that allows us to reflect his glory in
the earth that has been his plan all along that every nation would gather together to worship
him that the church would be as best as we can in our demographic in our area reflective of the
kingdom of god in heaven lord would you help us to be that kind of people to be that kind of
church and for those who are aliens to you becau
se they've never given their life to you lord i pray
right now holy spirit that you would draw them to yourself if that's you you can very simply cry
out to god even right now and say heavenly father forgive me jesus i'm a sinner in need of a savior
i believe you are that savior would you come and take up residence in my heart and life be lord
of my life and in this very moment you go from a foreigner to family god i thank you that you have
done that for us through jesus christ be glorified
through our relationships with one another as your
church your glory in the earth in jesus name amen
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Good morning, family!
Good Morning IFC family!!!
Good morning guys!!
Morning, Merry Christmas!
Good morning