Leviticus is not as dull as I remember

I am a New Covenant Christian.

That's not because I reject the old testament, or somehow believe that I have chosen to be a New Covenanet Christian. It's simple cosmology. The old covenant has been replaced, and that new covenant is the relationship to God that I have inheritted, based on the timing of my birth. For the record, I did nothing to decide that.

But I have been reading Leviticus and thinking about the differences between the old and new covenant, as they have appeared in my thinking and understanding of the Person of God, and what God must think about us.

The thing is, on the surface you can read Leviticus and see a very touchy God. Aaron's sons worship God with incense and fire, but they get it slightly wrong and are killed by God's presence. Sounds rough. But I see something in the character of God here that is eternal, beyond old or new covenant.

God hates Sin. Nadab and Abihu were atoning for sins and that's what they got wrong, so as God's wrath burned against sin, it burned up the ones who had incorrectly made sacrifices to atone for that sin.

For years I have looked at this type of thing and have been thankful that I don't have the same level of risk when approaching the presence of God. I have looked to Jesus with love and thankfulness that He paid the price and became the way to the Father. But perhaps what has been a little too easy to forget that eternal characteristic that did not change with the coming of Jesus: God hates sin.

Jesus is not our excuse to become lazy in our relationship to God as it pertains to sin. Jesus paid the price, and for too long I held a subconcious psychic belief that this meant that my sin no longer mattered. It's been paid for, covered by the mercy of Jesus, so now I live in grace, and there is no need to care at all about sin.

So when mankind was in control of their own sacrifices, bringing the approved bull or goat, or whathaveyou, God consumed it and man's relationship to God was restored. This was actually a more carefree time as regards sin, not a more dangerous or fearful time, as I had presumed. Today I am not required to bring an offereing to pay for my sin, because Holy God gave his own SON to receive the wrath for my sin. How can I look at that and say "oh good, it doesn't matter now"? It clearly matters all the more how I choose to live my life.

If I could raise a bull, bring it to church, slaughter it and my sins are forgiven, I am in control and can sin the more. I'm not raising a bull, I'm raising an indulgence. But when Jesus instituted a new covenant relationship with God, he instituted a higher standard, where He is forever on the cross paying for my sin, and forever victoriously giving me grace to withstand its effects. That is not a cause to care less about how I live, but a deep calling to be mindful of it.

Discerning God's Will for Your Life

Psalm 34, : 12-14
Does anyone want to live a life
      that is long and prosperous?
Then keep your tongue from speaking evil
      and your lips from telling lies!
 Turn away from evil and do good.
      Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

I get this one wrong a lot. I look at some of my heroes in the faith and I think that their exploits are so exciting that I assume I am called to do things like they are doing. But in the Psalms I see a passage telling me a much simpler path. Go find a peaceful existence and then work hard to stay in that peace. Turn away from evil, do good, and don't tell lies. The rest takes care of itself.

I am so impressed by this simple verse. I want to live a life that is long and prosperous, so I dream up all the exploits I would like to accomplish. And then BOOM, I am hit with "search for peace, and work to maintain it."

Very counter-intuitive for a western Christian man.

Man misinterprets the word of God...Not a new phenomonon

I was reading this morning in Exodus 34 about some of the restrictions that God instructed Moses to put forward for the people of Israel. I was astounded at how different the text is in regards to what God told Moses, and what Moses told the people.

God: "Moses, tell the people they have six days to work, but they must rest the seventh day. I rested, so should they, they need to relax."

Moses: "Alright people, no working on the seventh day, or we will KILL you. Don't even light a fire that day. Or we will KILL you."

It seems to me that God's instructions were meant to be helpful, but Moses chose to represent God as angry or controlling. Moses seems to be putting conditions in there that are not reflected in the text concerning what God was instructing. Perhaps Moses was deciding for himself what the people needed to hear in order to get it right. I liken it to a father passing instructions to his youngest son, through his eldest son.

Father: "Son, your brother has a big test tomorrow, and I noticed he was getting distracted by his video game. Would you mind telling him that I would like to speak with him and make sure that he's ready for his test before he goes to bed?"

Son to brother: "Dad says he's super mad that you are wasting your time playing video games. He said you need to go talk to him about this and then go straight to bed. Oh and he's going to take away your video games, and possibly kill you."

We do this all the time, but I was very surprised to see it so blatantly presented in scripture.