Leviticus 19:1-18 - Say That To My Face

This is the day that the Lord has made, and we will read Leviticus 19 and be glad in it. Thanks for tuning back in to Tabernacle Talk. We're gonna be looking at, this chapter in Leviticus is very interesting.

It covers many different topics, and so hopefully we'll have some good time in God's Word together and seeing what does God's holiness look like in all of these different areas. So yesterday we looked at the worship of God.

We looked at some of the foods that people were to eat, specifically not eating roadkill. Or if you did, you had to wash your clothes and be unclean until evening. That way it was kind of a, hey, this isn't a normal thing.

This isn't a great thing that God wants you to do. And then chapter 18 detailing, here's how God's holiness affects your sexual identity and relationships and how you interact with other people in regards to your body.

And then here, chapter 19 details just the whole gamut that God is interested in every portion of your life. There'll be some things that are listed in this chapter that are 100% still applicable for us today.

You would ask, how do we know if it's still applicable for us today?

Well, a great rule of thumb is whenever it's reiterated in the New Testament, that's when you know, okay, this wasn't just something that was for Israel, during this time period, under this particular type of government, but this was something that

was inherent to the nature of God himself, and is something that we are to follow, even as Christ followers today. So, let's dive in, and we'll get to however far we go.

We might go just a little bit into the next chapter, depending on where we're at for time. So, 19 and verse 1, Yahweh spoke to Moses, speak to the entire Israelite community, and tell them, Be holy, because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.

Why should we have any care for these types of things? Why allow a deity that doesn't, you know, give us sprinkle down manna on us from heaven every day? Why should we listen to him?

Well, because he's our God and because he is holy. He designed this world to work in a certain way.

His plan with life and order and happiness and flourishing human community and relationships, and when we follow his way, our lives are made so much better because it's the way that life is supposed to work.

So he says, Be holy, because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.

3:08

Respect and Rest

Each of you is to respect his mother and father. So that's the first statement there in verse number three.

This is something that can be very difficult for some people, for some people just because we don't naturally respect those who tell us to do things or not do things.

And especially those that we know well, that we know all the faults and flaws of, that we go, I don't want to respect them. I don't want to give them any sort of honor. I don't want to speak kindly or in a respectful way to them.

But God says right after this statement of your holiness is demanded because you have a holy God, one that's set apart, one that's different than all the nations and all the people of Earth. And that starts with respecting our father and our mother.

It might, especially if you're not a kid, it's something different than maybe obeying them or perhaps even listening to everything that they tell you to do or following through on everything that they tell you to do. But you are to respect them.

Would people say in your interactions with your parents, yeah, like maybe they're not great people, but I know that so-and-so respects. They give honor to their parents, even though I don't think their parents deserve it.

It's something that sets you apart as one of God's people when you respect those that brought you into this world. He continues, You are to keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh, your God.

So here it's, oh, Commandments, like three, four and five as we continue again, that God says, I've set up this seventh day, and some of the other highlight feasts and things throughout the year, the Day of Atonement was one of these, that he says, I

am working on your behalf. I'll make your crops grow. I'll protect these things. I'll make sure that the weeds don't destroy all of your efforts before you are able to get back to it on Monday.

He says, I will take care of you. So honor, keep my Sabbaths. He says, if I can rest after the six days of creation, he says, you can rest one day.

You have not put in nearly as much work, and I am commanding you to rest. And we can rely on God's work on our behalf. And what a comfort that is.

5:47

Idols and Fellowship

Then he says in verse number four, do not turn to idols or make cast images of gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh your God. He says, don't turn to these little idols that can't do anything for you.

He says, I am your God. You don't need to search for others. Verse number five, when you offer a fellowship sacrifice to Yahweh, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted, that there's this fellowship that's now taking place.

It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day, but what remains on the third day must be burned. If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing. It will not be accepted.

Anyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned what is holy to Yahweh. That person is to be cut off from his people.

So this fellowship sacrifice, you offer it, and then it's basically like you're sharing a meal with God, and God says, eat it right away. Like, I am wanting fellowship with you.

This is a time of, if you will, this is a time of communion between me and you. Have enough like care that, oh yeah, God's here, that I partake.

For those of us now in the New Testament that are Christians, sometimes in a reverential awe of God and the seriousness of the Lord's Table or communion, like we would read about in 1 Corinthians 11, some people go, oh, okay, well, I don't even want

to risk any judgment or any bad thing happening to me, and so I'm just not going to partake in communion. Because I don't know if someone's got something against me, I don't know if I've got something against someone, so I'm just not going to

partake. That is never the goal of the Lord's Table. The goal of the Lord's Table is introspect, like look at who you are in relation to God, in relation to am I following Jesus? Is He my Lord?

Look at your relationship with other people. Am I living like I've been forgiven, like I've been set apart by God? Or am I living just like the world?

And once you see where you're at, then you make it right. You don't just leave it and say, okay, well, I guess I can't commune with God. I guess I just can't have that fellowship with him.

No, no, no, turn, forsake, repent, and have and enjoy that meal with God and with God's people. Don't just put that off and go, okay, you know, it's give or take. No, no, no, participate.

The same thing is true for your spiritual food that we would receive every single week from the Word of God being taught or preached. Don't view that as, I'll take it or leave it. No, view it as important.

God wants to communicate with you, to have fellowship with you, to show you who he is. Don't view that as a light thing.

8:47

Sharing Abundance

Verse number nine, When you reap the harvest of your land, you're not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes.

Leave them for the poor and the resident alien. I am Yahweh, your God. God says here, You are going to leave things for those that are poor and those that are living in the land, but they're not Israelites.

He says, you are going to leave these things. And he says, not because, you know, the mindset today might be, okay, well, if they do this and this and this, then they can earn this thing.

But God says, nope, all of you, all across Israel, you're going to leave stuff for people so that those that are less fortunate than you, those that haven't been born into the same positions and families as you, that they will still be able to enjoy

this harvest, this abundance that I'm bringing because I'm the one that's responsible for. What you have does not come strictly from you. It doesn't just come from your work effort. It comes from the hand of God.

And so use it in the ways that God has instructed. If you wonder what does God want me to do with my money, I taught a class in our First Steps class over on the Tabernacle Baptist Church, Essex Sermon Podcast earlier in the year.

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Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tabernacle-baptist-church-sermons/id1735359813

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And it said something like faith and your finances or God and your finances, something like that. And it was a great little study of, hey, here's all of the things that God says you should do these types of things with your money.

And it's not just, hey, give your entire paycheck to the church. That's not what God says to do. But he does have some things set out for us.

And so I would encourage you to listen to that if you wonder what does God want me to do with my money.

10:55

Honesty and Truth

Verse number 11. Do not steal. Do not act deceptively or lie to one another.

Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God, I am Yahweh. So here going into some more of the Ten Commandments. Do not steal.

Obviously, we pretty much all get that. That's a fairly common good thing that we say, oh yeah, we all get that.

I would encourage us, there are maybe little ways in which we try and shortcut things, get away with not maybe paying people what they're worth, or any number of things.

Be aware of sneaky ways in which Satan might say, okay, well, I know so-and-so is not going to rob a bank, but maybe I could get him to steal in this way. And just be careful of that.

Realize that sins aren't just the gigantic big things, it's the little things that show up in our hearts. Theft is kind of at its heart greed. I want what someone else has.

It's covetousness. It's I have a love for money that surpasses, or I have a love for things that surpasses my respect of someone else as an image of God and the fact that God has given them these things.

So look out for the sneaky ways in which that might show up in your life. It says do not act deceptively or lie to one another. And that would be something, obviously, that would be reiterated many times in the New Testament.

We very easily lie to people and we lie because we dislike confrontation. We dislike being wrong. And instead of owning up and fessing up to it and saying, I'm really sorry.

Like, I dropped the ball there. I was not perfect. And how I said that or that I did this thing or that I forgot this about you, we don't like feeling like the bad guy.

But frankly, it benefits other people so much more when they actually are able to know where they stand with you, that you're not hiding it behind pseudo friendship, but that you're really being honest with someone even if it makes you look bad.

It's okay. Don't lie to people. Own up to your failures.

It's only in doing that that you're able to find forgiveness. It's in doing that that you don't have to worry about compounding lies. You can just shoot straight with the person and say, hey, yep, mess that up.

Or hey, here's the reason why this happened. And I know that you're not particularly enthused about that, but that's what it is. So do not lie to one another.

And then verse number 12, do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God, I am Yahweh. I think I've mentioned this before, the third commandment. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Is a statement, not just don't blaspheme, though we shouldn't blaspheme, it's saying God has said this when God has not said that. Or God says this when God only said this much.

It's, hey, you know, God wants you to give me all of your money when God didn't say that in Scripture. Or the most that God said was like, hey, like, take care of one another.

Or as much as you're able, let's do good to others, especially those in the family of faith. It's saying beyond what God has said or saying directly what God has not said. God says, don't do that.

This, we all know when we hear someone saying something that we don't like that we would say, oh yeah, they're adding to God's word. Or they're going against God's word. And we're really good at spotting it when it's stuff we don't like.

We can occasionally really excuse it away when it is something that we do like, that we do wish that God had said that, or we think that it should be this way, and so we're going to kind of twist God's word to say, all right, yeah, I know it doesn't

directly say this, but this is really what God meant. God doesn't have a vocabulary deficiency. God didn't forget to think through all the different scenarios. What God has said in His word is sufficient.

Don't go beyond it. Don't go beyond God's word and say things that God has not said. Don't take something like, avoid all appearance of evil.

So don't have a phone because people do bad things with phones. Or don't have a computer because people do bad things with computers. Or don't have a white passenger van because it could give the appearance that you're a kidnapper.

Okay, that's not what God's word says. Avoid all appearance of evil or abstain from all appearance of evil. It does not mean anything that you want it to.

It only has its meaning that it meant to the original audience. And you can't twist it to mean whatever you want it to. We talked about that a little bit with the study of legalism back in Acts 15 or so.

And if you want to go back and listen to that, you can.

16:33

Fairness and Compassion

Verse number 13, Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages due a hired worker must not remain with you until morning. Okay, so here's some business things.

Don't oppress your neighbor or rob him. Pretty general. I think we get that.

You know, maybe don't be one of those neighbors that's always like, Oh, you know, don't be one of those HOA people that's constantly like getting after people and whatever. Don't make life difficult for those around you. And obviously, don't rob.

That goes along with the not stealing. Then he says the wages due a hired worker must not remain with you until morning.

Here, as soon as you've got the money that's owed to someone else, if you have something that's for someone else, like get it to them right away. Don't delay in giving people what they've worked for or what they're worth.

Like get it to them as soon as possible. Don't hold on to that. The more time that you're holding on to it, the more chance of bad things happening or a temptation coming to you that could arise.

Verse number 14. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you are to fear your God. I am Yahweh.

He says don't take advantage of those. Don't be cruel to others because of physical difficulties. And in our world today, in some spaces, people really take this thought to heart, and they really, really care about those that are disabled.

There are other places that really do just have a revulsion and a hatred of those that, in God's good providence, he has certain people with specific handicaps or lack of abilities or illnesses, and that's not something that we are to make fun of or

exploit or take lightly. Care for those that are in this way. Don't use inflammatory or demeaning, insulting words for people that maybe have some mental disabilities or physical disabilities. Don't do that.

And why shouldn't we do that? Because we are to fear God, and these people are made in the image of God. And so just as much as we would respect like a church building because it belongs to God, we respect a Bible because it's God's Word.

Respect people because they are made in the image of God that Jesus took on a body just like theirs. Flesh and blood with fingers, toes, eyes, nose, and mouth.

And so to mock them is in a sense to say, God, you're so stupid, you really messed up with this person. No, not at all.

And as we even saw in the end of the Book of Zephaniah, there's going to be a day where God takes all of those that have the disabilities, the deaf and the blind and the lame, and He's going to exalt them, and they're going to be well acclaimed by

all of God's people, by all of the world. And so start today with having your respect for others. He says in verse 15, Do not act unjustly when deciding a case. Do not be partial to the poor or give preference to the rich.

Judge your neighbor fairly. Man, this is an important thought for my generation, for Gen Z and for Gen Alpha. The very popular phrase is eat the rich.

And there's almost a thought of, okay, well, if you have someone that's poor, they're pretty much always in the right because they're in a position of less power. And someone that's rich is always in the wrong because they're in a position of power.

And here God says for the judges, like, hey, don't accept bribes or anything from the rich. He says, but don't, if there's a court case, don't just always side with the poor because they're poor.

He says, judge fairly based on the actual evidence that is seen. And the same is true, I would think even of our opinions that we would judge justly and not in a partial way to one person or another.

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Avoiding Slander

16, do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not jeopardize your neighbor's life. I am Yahweh.

Man, slander, gossip, demeaning other people behind their back. Obviously, it's a bad thing to do to demean someone, to insult someone in their face, but in some ways it can almost hurt more when you do it behind someone else's back.

And always, always try to speak well of other people. If there is a problem, follow Jesus' words. Go to the person.

Don't go to everyone else behind their back. Go to the person. Say, hey, I really thought this was going to take place, but then this took place instead.

Like, what's up? I'm hurt. I need some resolution.

Like, be the people of God. In one sense, be grownups and talk to people. Don't talk about people.

And they're not jeopardizing your neighbor's life. You slander someone enough, and you say, oh, hey, this person is guilty of this or guilty of this, especially during this time. God says very emphatically, do not do that.

Verse number 17, do not harbor hatred against your brother. Same kind of thing Jesus would say. Don't have hatred for your brother in your heart.

He says, rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him. He says, go straight to him. Don't go around, right to his face.

Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh. Man, don't bear a grudge.

Man, how would it change our communities, our families, our churches, our world, if God's people did not hold grudges, but instead chose to love?

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Reflecting Christ

I'm going to look at a few other things for verses 19 through 35 tomorrow. Don't want to take too much of the time today, but man, just some great little thoughts. It's almost kind of like a Proverbs, but very direct commands that God has given.

Loving people, caring about people, not slandering them. If you've got to tell someone something, tell it to their face. All of the things of the Ten Commandments.

Don't say things that God hasn't said. Respecting your mother and father. All of these things are things that will benefit your life.

Think about these things. Maybe if there's one that sticks out to you as, oh, I don't really want to do that, or I really don't want that to be a part of my life, maybe think about that particular command.

Think about the ways in which, why would God have me do that? What does it show me about His nature or about what He created me to be or how this reflects who Jesus is?

And as we think about these commands, may it mold us more into the image of Christ, who perfectly followed all of these things. So thanks for tuning in, and we'll continue in Chapter 20, or sorry, in Chapter 19 tomorrow.