While a computer has been a part of my life for almost 15 years, our family finally entered the computer age earlier this year. Now rebooting is a very important step, one we use almost daily. Rebooting can be very useful: When the computer locks up and you cannot go on: Reboot. When the computer gets lost performing a calculation and never returns: Reboot. When the modem tries to disconnect, but the host computer just will not let go: Reboot. It is simple, efficient, easy to execute: CTRL-ALT-DEL, and the computer starts over. And if you are careful, you can do it without too many repercussions. You get to start all over without any consequences. It’s a kind of nice way to live, I think. There are times in our own lives when we think CTRL-ALT-DEL ought to be a part of every aspect of our lives. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to reboot, start fresh whenever we botch up our lives. A simple switch could right every wrong we do. When a spouse or a friend (and they needn’t be different) is hurt by what we say, our come-back is rather simple, “Oh, I didn’t mean to hurt you when I said you were fat and lazy.” It’d be great if we could just reboot when we make a little error in the checkbook, thus avoiding the insufficient fund notices. CTRL-ALT-DEL would be a great feature on our cars when we’ve turned the wrong way or sped past the officer doing 75mph. We all want a fresh start. But sometimes we find it hard to know how to get from where we are, our lives locked in a pattern we can’t seem to break, pressing every key imaginable. With each passing moment we then begin to cease the gentle tapping motion and use much greater force. But we are still hung up. We are, like those lovable and aggravating computers we’ve spent so much money on, locked up, but we don’t know how to reboot. When we get a knot in a shoelace, we loosen and fix it. When we get lost on the road we retrace our steps. But with our lives, it just isn’t that simple. We can’t go back and try it again. Like the proverbial toothpaste squeezed out of the tube, the words we speak, the deeds we do, the thoughts we have, cannot be undone. There is no erase-mode for those aspects of our life. So, what do we do? How do we respond? What should be our response when our lives get locked up, when we find ourselves stuck in patterns we know are destructive, hurting ourselves and others, when we feel the distance from God, and our lives are going nowhere at all? What is the CTRL-ALT-DEL function God gives us when we just don’t know what to do next? Over the past few months as we’ve spent time looking at what is perhaps the one book most of you have assiduously avoided, planned to pass by, determined to detour; we’ve seen that this book explains to us how God graciously has condescended to establish a relationship with us. This was first evident in the opening chapters as the sacrificial system was explained. The sacrifices were signs pointing to what God was to do through Christ. The tabernacle illustrated and reminded that God was gracious to them, that their sinfulness was a barrier, but God would overcome that by the death of His own Son. God provided sacrifices to show how He would establish and maintain a relationship with His people, but God also gave His people laws. The second half of Leviticus is a series of laws which clarify and elucidate the 10 Commandments. This morning in Leviticus 26 we have a great warning God gives to His people as to what happens when we don’t obey. This chapter is like the warning window on the computer. It gets our attention but also tells us what to do when we are going nowhere fast. The chapter opens with what appears to be generic commands, the basic list of no-no’s, those things we do which will only succeed in ticking God off big-time. "Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD." Leviticus 26:1-2 These commands do not say everything, but they say a lot. They serve as a summary of what God wants from us: worship. It may not seem that hard at first. As you read these verses, it may appear that all God wants is just a portion on our hard drive. This isn’t really so hard - no carved statues to which I will bow down, keep the Sabbath and revere the sanctuary. Not too bad. But what we often don’t realize is the size of the umbrella here. What God demands is not just a segment of our life, not even the number-one position while allowing for others to have secondary placement in our lives. What God demands here is complete control. Not a sector on the hard drive, not just one program - He wants it all. By wanting worship, by denying the idols and dictating the Sabbath, what God is asking for here is not just that we prescribe to a set of behaviors, not that we bow on occasion to Him, but that we cease being self-centered and become God-centered. The context reminds us that God’s chief concern is not adhering to a moral code, but to have a life which is completely devoted to Him. What follows this are lists of benefits and disadvantages, of blessings and curses, rewards and punishments. First the riches are spelled out. OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSING (Verses 3-13) Precipitation (verses 4-5): There would be the right amount of rain at the right time, gentle early rains would fall in October and November and make the land ready for plowing and sowing; strong winter storms would come from mid December to mid March in order to saturate the ground, filling the wells and making springs overflow, and the later rains of April would cause the ears of grain and the fruit to swell and enable the fields to endure the heat of summer. This rain would produce a bumper crop. Verse 5 pictures a continual harvest. This is something hard for us to understand. Pick 'N' Save doesn’t sell food only at times of harvest. We have much of what this verse promises, a constant supply of food. Peace (verses 6-8): There is no reason to fear, not from animals of prey nor from invading armies. This promise, again, to us seems rather ordinary. It's important to remember that in that part of the world there were still lions and bears along with poisonous snakes and scorpions. Also, where they were going has been the stage for various conflicts for thousands of years whether they be Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Muslims, and Christians. But the promise is that just five will chase a hundred away. Again, even with Hussien, we all enjoy peace today. Presence (verses 9-13): This summarizes the previous advantages. If they are obedient, God will look on them with favor and make them increase. That favor is best seen in how God will live among them. The realization of this is most clearly seen in Old Testament history during the time of Solomon, but it is realized in an even greater fashion today as God dwells with His people: the Spirit making His residence among us, His people. REBELLION BRINGS RUIN (Verses 14-39) Rebellion is contempt of God’s commandments (verses 14-15). Notice the progression here. What may appear to be just not listening to God results in not obeying God, which leads to rejecting, abhorring and in the end, violating the Covenant itself. Perhaps they think that such commands are beneath them, not necessary for them personally, just for others. Those that begin to think God’s laws are not for them will soon detest them. That hatred will begin to ripen like stale garbage as their own hearts harden to what God desires. Perhaps they began with the best of considerations, that because of their own goodness they were so deeply rooted in God that He would never do anything to harm them. All this is well summed up by the outcome of such disdain, violation of the covenant. Distance from the Law means distance from the God who gave the Law. But notice, it is God’s Covenant which they break: He made it, but they break it. REBELLION IS CONTEMPT OF GOD'S CORRECTIONS (Verses 16-39) Disobedience is one thing, but what compounds it, what makes it so dangerous is when we become obstinate and refuse to see the problem. Here God warns that contempt of God’s Word would not have brought them to ruin, if they had not added to that a contempt of His rod, which should have brought them to repentance. Through a series of attention-getting circumstances, God constantly comes to His rebellious people with ever-increasing severity. "If after all this you do not listen to me...” (verses 18, 21, 23, 27) God does all this to His people not just to knock them around a bit so they shape up, but He sends a variety of distresses to get them to see the problem. What is listed here is designed to soften them, to bring them to the point of seeing the stupidity of rejecting God. Like the air horn, used as a warning devise: The ringing in your ears is meant to get your attention. But instead of taking the warning, they responded by even more rebellion.We may get those warning signals from time to time. The little boxes which pop up to tell us to be careful, an error message. In our lives the warning signs may look like what God does here: health diminished (verse 16): The phrases used here are diseases which rot the flesh and which cause blindness. Notice here, there is not a direct, one-to-one correlation between health and a specific sin. But God may use that to get our attention. Harvest destroyed (verse 17): As they are not able to work, due to their illness, enemies will come in and take their crops, only aggravating their plight. What they do work for is taken by others. Those negative numbers in your checkbook at the end of the month should serve as a reminder that you are not master of your own destiny. Hard work decreed (verses 18-20): In order to stop their pride from going any further, God withholds the rain and hardens the ground. They work harder and produce less. Troubles on the job should encourage you to examine yourself. Hungry animals (verses 21-22): Wild animals will take over the land and devour their herds as well as their children. Hidden in cities (verses 23-26): Their enemy will come to attack them, forcing them to retreat into their walled cities. Food will be so scarce that what bread will be sold by weight and it will not be enough. In ancient times each house had their own oven which would produce for one family. Now, ten households will gather around what should feed just one person. Horrendous response (verses 27-33): As their hostility toward God continues God continues His hostility toward His own people. Here is predicted what Josephus records in 70 AD, that during the siege of Jerusalem, parents consumed their own offspring. What they thought would save them - their places of worship - will become places to stack the dead bodies. (verse 32) The destruction will be so great that even their enemies will not rejoice in their torment, but will be appalled at how much they have suffered. There are many whose consciences are wracked with guilt for they know, to their own horror, that they have broken God’s Law. For that reason they run as though someone were after them; their heart jumps at the sound of a leaf falling. But no one is after them, except God, pursuing them with pain until they turn back to Him. Again, there is not a one-to-one correlation between your sin and your circumstances. But, don’t ever become so smug as to think there is nothing in your life in need of confession. REPENTANCE BRINGS RECONCILIATION (Verses 40-45) Notice what is required here: They have disobeyed, but God does not require them to obey in order to undo the sin. What God demands is that they confess. This response here in verses 40-45 shows what repentance is all about. Repentance is not turning the car around and driving back and starting over. Repentance is not undoing the knot in the shoelace. Repentance is, in our relationship with God, a warm reboot. When we confess we accept God’s verdict; we admit the utter impossibility to rectify the problem ourselves. Repentance entails a sense of shame. We come to see that our sin has degraded us, and more importantly, despoiled God of the image of His glory in us. The beginnings of repentance are often accompanied by a sense of this personal disgrace of God and ourselves. They are to confess their sins and the sins of their fathers. Repentance does not make excuses, but senses the offense against God. Sin is seen as treachery against God and hostility toward God. Too often we view sin as the absence of virtue. Either do what is right or we do what is wrong. Sin then becomes quantifiable. If we had our way, we should be able to hook up a sin meter to measure how we are doing. Sin is what we do, in that way it is external to us. But the danger there is that sin ceases to be me and becomes what I do. Sin is behaviors. Repentance then is just a change of behavior. That is all. But here we see sin not defined by actions, but as our disposition. If sin is just behavior, then my job should be a legalistic moralist. But my behavior is the evidence of my sin. It is the fruit - rotten as it is. The first step toward repentance is to see sin as something far more complicated than the isolated acts and thoughts of deliberate disobedience. Rather sin is an organic network of compulsive attitudes, beliefs and behaviors deeply rooted in our alienation from God (Dynamics of Spiritual Life, Richard Lovelace, IVP pg 87-88) Once I see my sinful actions as just the indicators of my sinful heart, and once I see my sinful heart as treachery against my loving Heavenly Father, as trying to pick a fight with God, my desire to admit my wrong should greatly increase. Repentance leads to humbling. The trouble with confessing our sin is that we can soon sense a spirit of pride welling up within us. You may think that by your act of confession you’ve actually done something; you’ve drawn closer to God, made Him happy. Like Little Jack Horner, we sit in our corners eating our Christmas pie. We put in our thumb and pull out the sinful plum and we say, “What a good boy am I!” But when God works true repentance, our mouths are shut, we confess our guilt before God and are humbled before His throne. That kind of humility is in verse 41. "Uncircumcised hearts" is an insulting statement for Jews who prized the sign of the Covenant. But what God wants is not just outward conformity, but inward change. The issue here is not the externals of even obedience to the law, but an inward change that must take place. God does not need your morality to make Him happy. He does not need your living a clean life. But what He does desire is for you to be honest about the depth of your own sin. How do we know there is an inward change, a real repentance? We accept the consequences of sin. (Verse 41) They were to pay for their sin. It's hard to read this. We want grace to eradicate the past mistakes, to put happy faces on all our circumstances. But confessing sin does not immediately remove the contamination. In repentance there is a willingness to suffer the consequences of poor choices. We would understand the payment for sin not in the sense that we must suffer in order to gain God’s favor and pleasure. Rather disobedience brings with it natural consequences which God ordains and He might not remove those consequences. This humbling is further seen in our distaste for what produced the need to repent in the first place. The consequences of our sinful choices serve as a wonderful reminder of the ugly horror of our sin. More than just being annoyed at the inconvenience or trouble it's caused, we recognize the destructive nature of sin. Repentance recognizes the pardon of God. We repent because we have a grasp of the mercy of God in Christ. It is the grace of God which teaches us to fear as well as relieves our fears! It is God’s kindness, Paul says in Romans, which leads us to repentance. In this passage is God unkind as He sends these horrible trials? Not at all, for He uses those pains and hurts in our lives to drive us away from our own self-sufficiency, our worship of our own ability, and propels us to the Cross. We mistakenly substitute the motto of the French Foreign Legion for what it means to be a Christian: "If I falter, push me on. If I stumble, pick me up. If I retreat, shoot me." God is not going to shoot me. Instead, when we face not just the painful events of our day to day lives, but the more dreaded recognition of our own sinfulness, we know we have a place to turn. Christ’s death for us is not just a pleasant reminder of some vague Love God. Rather it is there that God’s love is made real. It is there my disobedience is removed. It is there that all the blessings God promises are found. Where else would I ever want to go, but to remember that in time and space God sent His Son to die for a sinner like me. But notice what God says in verse 42: "I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land." When we see those names, we may imagine that while we offend God in so many ways, He will be faithful to those guys from long ago and keep His Word. We imagine that the Covenant is kept because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at least were faithful. But by seeing their names and knowing that God would accept us because of the Covenant He made with them, then we see the depth of His love. Don’t forget, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were as offensive to God’s holiness as you or I. So, God says, “yet in spite of all this” (verses 44-45). We’ve rejected and abhored God, yet He will not do the same with us. Even when we face the deserved consequences of our sins, God’s grace will maintain us. While we’ve broken our promise to Him numerous times, He remains faithful. God desires we live a life of repentance. There is nothing wrong, rather there is everything right with rebooting. In so doing we admit we can’t structure our lives to be morally perfect to please God. When we forget that important step in our lives God just may send along a few troubles to remind you, to let you know that He does not need your immorality or your morality - He wants your worship. It is time to tear down the idols of your own goodness, that you have your life together. Stop bowing down to the statute of self. Instead, come to worship God willingly admitting your own sinfulness, because then and only then, will you be able to find a friend who died for sinners like you and me. |
