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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > Since you’re redeemed by grace, don’t act like the world around you | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) All songs from the CanRC/FRCA Book of Praise Hymn 55 Psalm 25:9 (after God's law) Psalm 116:1,9,10 Psalm 101:1,2 Psalm 99:1-3 Scripture readings: Leviticus 18:1-5; 20:22-26; 22:31-33 Text: Leviticus 18:1-5 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
Imagine a 10 year old girl. She comes from a loving Christian home. In her family, there are certain rules. They’re written out on a white board in the dining room. This girl knows the rules, not just because they’re on the white board, but also because they reflect what her parents are like. The rules aren’t random. They are tied to relationships. The rules say to everyone in the family, “This is who we are and this is how we live.”
That’s really at the core of what Leviticus 18 is all about. Before laying out the rules for life with him, God affirms the relationship he has established with his people. He says, “I am the LORD your God.” He’s saying, “We have a covenant. We have a special relationship together. Because of who we are, because of what I’ve done for you, because you belong to me, this is how you’re to live.”
So I preach to you God’s Word from Leviticus 18: Since you’re redeemed by grace, don’t act like the world around you.
We’ll consider the:
- Reason for obedience
- Content of obedience
- Outcome of obedience
When you’re in a workplace and your employer tells you to do something without telling you why, it’s a lot more difficult to get motivated about doing what you’re told. But if you’re given reasons, the thing you’re being told to do makes sense and you do it. And you do it with a proper attitude.
In Leviticus 18 and the following chapters, we find a host of laws about how the Israelites were to live. But before delivering those laws, God gave a reason to obey. As we already noted, verse 1 says, “I am the LORD your God.” The word LORD there is all in capital letters, which tells us that this is God’s special personal name, Yahweh. That name was revealed to Israel in the context of God’s covenant with them, his special relationship of fellowship with them. “I am the LORD your God” is repeated in verse 4. It comes back in verse 30 of chapter 18, several times in chapter 19, and then again at the end of this section, at the end of chapter 20. It’s repeated because it’s so important to understand.
God’s identity is tied to his people’s identity. He identifies himself with them, “I am your God.” With that he implies that they’re his people. What we have to recognize is that this covenant relationship is a matter of grace. By grace I mean receiving the opposite of what you deserve, dismerited favour. God is holy, his people are sinful. But through what he would do through his Son, God ties his identity to that of his people: “I am your God, you are my people – by my gospel grace this is who we are together.”
Moreover, God and his people are also tied together through what he has done for them and will do for them. In verse 3, he mentions the land of Egypt where they lived and the land of Canaan to which he is bringing them. Looking back, they have been delivered from slavery in Egypt. Again, that was a matter of grace. When the people of Israel were in Egypt, they were doing a lot of Egyptian stuff. In Joshua 24:14 we read that the Israelites served the gods of the Egyptians. They were idolaters like the people around them. Yet God pitied them and in his grace delivered them from slavery. Now looking forward, he promised he would bring them into the Promised Land. Once again, grace. Think of how the Israelites provoked God’s wrath in the wilderness with their grumbling, discontent, and yes, even idolatry. He promised to give them the opposite of what they deserve. He would bring his people into the land promised to Abraham. As God said in our reading from Leviticus 20:24, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey…”
Now what we have to realize as Christians is that these things weren’t ends in themselves. Rescue from slavery in Egypt foreshadows the deliverance we have through Christ. Through Christ and his redemptive work, we’ve been graciously saved from sin. We’ve been saved from its slavery and from its consequences in hell. Not only that, but we’re also being taken to the fulfillment of the Promised Land. The new heavens and new earth are where God is graciously taking us. Not because we deserve it, but because Christ has won it for us.
And the covenant of grace the Israelites had with God back in the day, we’re in that same covenant of grace now. Believers and their children are included in God’s people. In our baptism, he has graciously declared himself to be our God. He has graciously announced that we’re his people. His identity and ours are firmly linked together in this covenant relationship. This relationship functions with Jesus Christ in the center. He is the mediator of the covenant of grace, the go-between for us. As we continue looking to him in faith, we can be sure God is our Father and we’re his children. We’re part of his family and it’s in that context of grace that we take his will for our lives seriously.
In Leviticus 18, God first laid out a general principle. We call it the antithesis. Imagine a divided highway. Cars are going in opposite directions. In the middle is a divider, a barrier, maybe made of wires or maybe concrete. This is like the antithesis. There are people in this world heading in opposite directions. God’s people go one way, the people of the world go the other. God’s people are not supposed to hop on to the other side and head in the wrong direction. They’re supposed to keep moving in the direction God wants them to be moving in.
So God says to the Israelites in verse 3 that they were not to copy the Egyptians who were in the rear-view mirror. And they were not to copy the Canaanites who were in front of them. They were to copy God, to be holy as he is holy -- to be holy means to be separate from sin, to have nothing to do with it. The Israelites were not to conform to the nations around them, but to conform to God and his holy ways. They were to do this in response to the grace he had already shown them and the grace he would yet show them.
So non-conformity to the world is the general principle of the antithesis. But then it gets worked out in very specific ways in what follows in Leviticus 18 and also 19 and 20. We’re just going to focus on some of the things mentioned in Leviticus 18, especially those that connect to our present day challenges as God’s people. I should warn you in advance that some of this might be a bit confronting. But it’s not only mentioned in God’s Word, it’s also constantly mentioned in the world around us. The church needs to address these things to give the proper perspective on what we encounter in the world. If the church is silent about these things, then the temptation becomes much stronger to take on the world’s thinking. The temptation gets stronger to take on the world’s way of living. So we have to speak about these things.
In the nations surrounding Israel incest was common. I’m not going to go into details, but the world was lax on boundaries regarding sexual relations between family members. God said his people were to be different. So we have all these laws prohibiting certain types of relationships in verses 6 to 18.
It might seem obvious to us that this is wrong. However, you might be surprised at the lengths some people will go to try and rationalize their sins. For example, the passage mentions uncovering nakedness. So, someone rationalizes it by saying, “As long as I don’t uncover nakedness, I’m not breaking God’s law.” Uncovering nakedness is meant as a euphemism, a way to politely refer to any sexual activity. Or the really good Bible student will notice how it doesn’t say anything about fathers and daughters. He fails to read verse 6, “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness.” It would have been unthinkable for an Israelite father to do that to his child. Moreover, these commandments are a further elaboration on the seventh commandment not to commit adultery. That commandment speaks to all forms of unchastity. I really wish it didn’t have to be said, but the reality is that I have encountered these rationalizations. Sexual abusers will use these rationalizations and others. They’re wicked and sinful, and so is incest. God’s redeemed people are to have nothing to do with it.
In the nations surrounding Israel, homosexuality was a well-known phenomenon. For instance, the Canaanites had it as part of their religious ceremonies. But it then spilled over into everyday life in society too. In Leviticus 18:22, God reminded his people that this was an abomination. It contradicted the natural order God established at the beginning. He created one man and one woman and gave them to each other in marriage. They were designed for each other. God’s people were to uphold this created natural order and not practice homosexuality like the nations around them did.
This is something obviously relevant for our own day. In both the Old and New Testaments, God says to his people, including us, he says sex is for one man and one woman within marriage. Our world encourages us not only to think otherwise, but also to affirm and celebrate otherwise.
Let’s get concrete and practical here. Perhaps same-sex attraction isn’t an issue for you. But perhaps you know someone else for whom it is a reality. Let’s say they get into a relationship with someone from the same sex. They announce it on social media. Or let’s say they get engaged to be married, or actually do get married, at least in the eyes of the law. How do you respond to that as a Christian? The world celebrates it. The world congratulates them. But if we take God’s Word seriously here, do not copy the world. A same-sex romantic relationship is a grievous abomination to God and it should be to us as well. Now having said that, it doesn’t mean we become hateful and rude and hostile. You still have to act like a Christian, speak like a Christian. But it does mean we don’t congratulate them, we don’t celebrate with them. We don’t celebrate sin, we grieve over it.
Maybe someone here does experience same-sex attraction. There are Christians who do. God’s Word encourages you to resist that attraction. Struggle against it. Don’t give room to thoughts in that direction and certainly don’t act on it. Also, don’t see your identity in terms of your struggle. If you’re a Christian, your identity is in Christ. You have forgiveness through him. You’re accepted by God through him. And his Holy Spirit will give you strength to stay in the fight.
Still on what this chapter says about homosexuality, I want to just briefly mention that there are some wrong interpretations of this chapter out there. Sometimes you’ll come across them online and they’ll be presented as the “real truth” about homosexuality in the Bible. These interpretations are supposedly the truth the church has been hiding from you. I’m not going to go into the details with you here this morning, but you should know that these interpretations are all trying to make the Bible line up with our world today. They’re efforts to conform the Bible to the world. If you really do your research, you’ll soon find out that these interpretations don’t hold any water unless you really want them to.
Moving on, Leviticus 18:23 refers to the perversion of bestiality. Again, this is something that happened in the surrounding nations in the days of Israel. If you think it doesn’t happen today around us, you probably haven’t been following the news. God does not want his people to engage in any sexual activity with animals. Let’s leave that there.
There is one more command we’ll look at. This is verse 21: “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” Molech was one of the Canaanite gods. Child sacrifice to Molech is also mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. We think of King Manasseh in 2 Chronicles 33. He “burned his sons as an offering” to Molech. What an awful thing to do! Kill your children in the service of an idol. The Israelites were not to copy that kind of behaviour. Their children were to be regarded as precious gifts of God, covenant heirs, holy and belonging to him.
Child sacrifice like the Canaanites did isn’t around anymore, but child sacrifice certainly is. It is still just as horrific and deadly. It’s called abortion. Abortion sacrifices a child to several gods: convenience, sex, image, reputation, and more. Now we might be tempted to think about abortion as something that just takes place in a medical clinic or hospital, a surgical abortion. But increasingly, abortions are done at home with the use of pharmaceuticals. I wish it weren’t so, but the reality is that people who consider themselves Christians, church-going people, have done this too. Perhaps even some of you have. If you have, I hope you realize what you’ve done is wrong. And if you do, if you’ve confessed it and asked God for his forgiveness through Christ, there is grace to cover it. It is forgiven. But that doesn’t change the fact that an innocent human life was taken. That’s a serious matter.
I want to address our young people. You shouldn’t be having sex outside of marriage. But if you’re a young woman and you do get pregnant outside of marriage, please do not sacrifice that unborn child. That child is precious to God and should be precious to you too. It will be hard, there will be great challenges, but it will be worth it to listen to God’s Word and protect that child.
If you’re a young man and you get a young woman pregnant, do not pressure her to sacrifice that unborn child. Guys will do that. A lot of women have abortions because they were pressured to do so by the father of the baby. Sadly, this happens in the church too. Don’t be that guy. That young woman is carrying a human life. That human life is the smallest and most vulnerable of human beings. Would you sacrifice that life for your convenience? For your reputation? Brothers, don’t do it. And don’t think a pill is any different to a surgical form of abortion. Both kill an innocent human life. Both are child sacrifice. Both are abominations to God. Again, I acknowledge that these choices aren’t easy and the consequences are life-changing. It’s better to obey God’s law and not get into these situations in the first place. But if you do get into them, don’t make it worse by adding sin to sin.
Let me also speak to the parents. If one of your children becomes pregnant or gets someone pregnant outside of marriage, don’t sacrifice that baby for your reputation. That child is so valuable to God. Remember: that’s your grandchild – why would you do anything to hurt him or her? Sadly, I have to say this because I know of instances where church-going parents encouraged and even facilitated abortions for their daughters. This is wicked. It’s a modern form of the child sacrifice prohibited by God in Leviticus 18. Instead, tell your kids that honouring God’s design for sex within marriage is the way to go. But if your kids should fall into that sin, you’ll stand by them to help work through the consequences. No one in the church should ever pressure anyone to kill a helpless baby in the womb. That’s what the world often does. Because of God’s redeeming grace, Christians must be different.
There’s one more practical application of verse 21 about child sacrifice. That has to do with education. Our children are precious. Technically, they’re not even really our children. They belong to the LORD. They’re his covenant children. For this reason, they need to be educated accordingly. But the temptation can there to put other things before a Christian education. For instance, Christian education can be expensive. So we might be tempted to sacrifice our children’s Christian education for money. We’ll send them to a public school because it costs nothing. Loved ones, it’s far better to sacrifice our money to send our children to a Christian school where God is honoured every day. Sacrificing your money for your children is always better than sacrificing your children for your money. It is the choice which honours God.
So we’ve seen the reason for obedience: God’s deliverance and the covenant of grace with his people. We’ve just looked at the content of that obedience, being different from the world in how we regard sexuality and our children. Now let’s finish off by considering the outcome for obedience.
This is in verse 5: “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them. I am the LORD.” If you follow God’s ways, there is a positive outcome. You will live by them or it could also be translated “in” or “with” them.
The point is that God is the Creator of the universe. He created reality and nature and everything. When you follow the Creator’s ways as they’re given in his Word, things generally go better.
Let’s just take a couple of those matters we were looking at a minute ago. Incest tears relationships apart and causes birth defects. Homosexuality has a host of diseases and other physical issues. Abortion involves violence and often leaves traumatic scars both physically and emotionally.
God’s law is designed for life. It’s designed for human flourishing. When you reject his law, you enter into the sphere of death, decay, and disruption. Our own human ways are destructive and dysfunctional. When we think we know better than God, we cause ourselves no end of trouble. Far preferable then is to follow our wise and good Creator God. His ways are always going to be best for us in the long run.
Loved ones, if our trust is in Christ, we’re part of God’s family. In his grace he has included us as his beloved children. We’ve been richly blessed through what Jesus has done in our place. Now as a consequence of that, God tells us: “Be who you are. You are holy, you have been set apart by me in Christ, now be holy as I am holy. Let my identity shape yours.” You do that by paying attention to his Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit following him instead of the world. AMEN.
PRAYER
O holy God in heaven,
You are Yahweh, our God. We are your people. You have graciously covenanted with us. We have this special relationship with you and we’re grateful for it. We’re also thankful for the way you’ve rescued us from sin and its consequences. We’re looking forward to the new creation to which you’re bringing us. Father, as we travel on the way there, we pray for the help of your Holy Spirit to not act like the world around us. Help us please not to conform to the world, but to your will instead. We confess that your will is good and wise and please help us to always see that and live like we believe it. We pray for your help as we live in a world of abominations and perversion. Please help us to steer clear of the world’s approach to sexuality. Please help us to also see our children, unborn and born, as precious and valuable. With your Holy Spirit, please help us all to be holy as you are holy, to honour you with everything in our lives.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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