Woe to you - Matthew 23:13-36

Like our last study, personal questions will be a significant portion of our exploration of today's passage, but we'll also look at some elements of Jewish culture to deepen our understanding.  Also note that today we reach the end of the long interchange between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders.

Today we cover the passage known as the "Eight Woes," filled with the phrase, "Woe to you..."  So before we dive into Scripture, let's define that phrase really quickly.

• The word "woe" itself means distress, lamentation, grief, anguish, etc.
• So, "woe to you" isn't exactly an act of cursing the "you."
• Rather, in this context, the recipients (hypocritical religious elite) will experience that woe because of the implied curse because of their evil acts that Jesus lists out.

13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Under the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Law and sacrifices and festivals and all that were the way to serve God, but salvation (because Christ's death reaches both backward and forward in time) was still based on faith, a heart genuinely striving after God (see Romans 4).  Since these religious leaders were only interested in bringing glory to themselves, they had no true relationship with God.  But the situation was far worse in that these religious leaders were teaching common Jews legalistic principles instead of God's true intent in His Law, preventing them from coming to truly know the Lord for themselves and understand what it meant to really follow Him.  False teachers are extremely influential -which is why the Church is instructed to be constantly on watch for them, so no one is sucked in (see 2 Peter 2:1-3 and Romans 16:17-18,for example).

Are you diligent to keep false teachers' words out of your ears and eyes, checking all teachings against the Bible?  Do you also try to protect weaker Christians around you from false teaching's influence?

14 ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]

We've talked about how to handle bracketed verses before (verses found in some early manuscripts but not others), but if you are new here or need a refresher, click this post and scroll down to the blue sub-header that reads, "What about That Verse in Brackets?"  Based on my opinion on the bracketing issue, this verse qualifies as genuine Scripture.

Here, the religious elite were taking advantage of the people they were supposed to be taking care of, and engaging in religious activity just for the sake of appearing holy to others.  (For more on the issue of public prayer, look at Matthew 6:1-6.)

But what's the deal with the "greater condemnation"?  As I talked about in this post on Matthew 11 (under the sub-heading, "Speaking of the Judgment"), it's not a matter of different circles of hell like in Dante's Inferno; it seems more along the lines of those people having far more shame since they, as God's very own Israel, had far more opportunities to truly know Him than people of other nations had.

15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."

FYI, a proselyte was Gentile convert to Judaism.  So basically, these religious elite were going on "mission trips."  Obviously, the few Jews who really did love Gentiles enough to go tell them about the One True God were amazing people, but the religious elite referenced here were doing it for all the wrong reasons - for their own glory.  That may seem like an odd manifestation of glory-seeking, but a missionary I know has told me that some missionaries have actually gotten saved for real on mission trips (perhaps they went because it's seen as simply a noble thing to do, or a related motivation) - so this still goes on today.

But since most of these scribes and Pharisees never came into genuine relationship with God, they taught the converts the same false teachings they themselves lived by.  Think of it kind of like Mormons going on mission trips today.

16 "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.'
17 "You fools and blind men!  Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
18 "And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.'
19 "You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
20 "Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
21 "And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it.
22 "And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

There are a lot of little details here that may seem confusing, but the basic principle is actually quite simple:

• In Jewish culture, people often swore to do certain things in the service of God - like abstain from something for a set time, or give Him a certain percentage of their income.
• In the Old Testament, keeping your vows is treated as extremely serious (Deuteronomy 23:21-23, for example).
• But the religious elite decided to make up all sorts of little "word game" rules to let people get out of their vows.
• Obviously, this was an affront to God.

Have there been times when you've known that God wanted you to do something, but you tried to justify your way out of it?

23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

The religious leaders were also big on counting tiny seeds and flecks of herbs to tithe the set percentage - because such time-consuming acts were seen as very religious.  But they totally ignored the big-picture commands like loving others, which cannot be quantified and are not as noticed - and are actually much harder to do, when you really think about it.

Modern examples include spending (say) 2 hours in prayer and Bible study each day - but that clutters your schedule so much that you don't have time to show God's love to your elderly neighbor by helping her with yard-work.  Or having rigid rules of exactly how many inches below your collarbone or above your knee the clothes you buy can go - but not dealing with your pride or judgmentalism.

Does this principle "click" with your life in any way?

25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
26 "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like white-washed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Jesus Himself interprets His symbols and sums it all up in verse 28, so I won't spend much time here, except to prompt:

Are there things you do to look religious when other people are watching, but that are the exact opposite of what you truly are like on the inside?  (For example, putting lots of money in the offering plate, but refusing to lend a family member money so they can make their rent.)

29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31 "So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.
33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in synagogues, and persecute from city to city,
35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."

Wow, there's a lot of information in this passage!  I think I'll focus on two main points:

First:  While there are many, many ways God uses the persecution of His saints for His glory (you can check out the "Persecution" tab under "Studies by Topic" on the left, if you're interested in studying this out deeper), in this passage, the focus seems to be to give the persecutors even more chances to repent through the testimony of the martyrs, and to heap more shame on them when they reject it (as we discussed above).  God doesn't waste the suffering and death of His martyrs - He offers mercy to the persecutors, but if they refuse to accept it, His justice will prevail for the martyrs (see Revelation 6:9-11).

Second:  We as humans always talk big, claiming we would have acted nobly during some time period where radical social change led to conflict.  But a major point I see in this passage is that, while we may think times have changed and we're not faced with that same decision today, we really are facing the same choices - so if we say we would have acted a certain way, why aren't we???

• "If I were alive during the Holocaust, I would have done whatever I could to help save the Jews!"  Unborn babies created by God are being slaughtered everyday - are you standing up to help save them?
• "If I lived around the time of the Civil War, I would have helped free the slaves!"  Slavery still exists in the world today - what are you doing to put a stop to that?
• "If I lived during the Protestant Reformation, I would have been willing to die for my faith!"  (Not picking on Catholics here; I've just heard this line a lot.)  Well, today, right here and now, are you willing to bear shame and be socially ostracized, and risk your job and your grades and your family for your faith?
• "If I lived in Jesus's day, I would not have been ashamed to minister to the outcasts and sinners right alongside Him!"  Today, are you showing God's love to homosexuals, and the homeless, and people who annoy you, and people seen as "weird" - not worrying what people will think of you for spending time with them?

I say these just as much as a challenge to myself as to you guys.  We need to take it seriously.  We need to actually do what Jesus would do, instead of throwing around the cliché acronym without putting any thought into how to put it into practice.

Image credit: "The Sermon of the Beatitudes" by James Tissot.  Wikipedia.  Public domain in the United States. 

Things I Wish I Knew...Maybe :-)

There are a lot of lessons God has taught me over my years of following Him.  Recently, I saw a post titled "Advice to New Christians" on Frank Viola's blog Beyond Evangelical listing such lessons he's learned that he wishes he knew from the start.  This inspired me to share my own such mini-list.

1. You'll hear talk of the "Christian Disciplines" - devoting time to prayer, Bible study, and worship.  Don't be surprised if a set amount of time for each one daily doesn't fulfill you.  All of the disciplines are very important, but at times, you'll especially "have a heart" for one specific one more than usual, so the percentage of time you spend on each discipline will continually evolve.  Don't resist it; give in to it!  Giving in is following the Holy Sprit's leading on how He desires to communicate with you at that time in your life.
2. Spiritual growth takes two general forms: (1) The "big," noticeable stuff like witnessing to people, standing up to defend the Gospel in a hostile environment, going on a mission trip, sacrificing something significant, etc., and (2) Shifts in your heart - showing more respect and love, complaining less, submitting more, etc. - that can be barely perceptible since they happen gradually over a long period of time.  You'll get a sense of "spiritual high" when both occur simultaneously, but in day-to-day living, only one seems to happen at a time.  Both are good - and any growth shows you're walking steadily with the Lord.
3. Once you figure out your spiritual gifts and God's general calling for your life, don't get obsessed with the big picture right now.  What I mean is, don't only live for what you'll do in the future: "God has called me to be a writer, so one day I will write books." "God has called me to be a missionary, so after college I will go to Zimbabwe." "God has gifted me in service, so when I retire I will do charity work full time."  It is critical that you figure out how to use your gifts and your calling right now.  The future will happen in the future, but we are called to live in the now - so make good use of this time!
4. When you're stressed out or depressed or worried or fearful, you'll know you need to pray - but sometimes, you run out of words quickly and don't know what's else to do.  Just sit at the feet of Holy.  Find a place of solitude - the wilderness, your room, wherever - and stand with your arms outstretched, or sit, or kneel, or bow on your face...and just BE in the presence of the Creator of all.  This is still communication you can feel, even without words.

Despite the fact that this is framed as things I wish I knew, I am at the same time so grateful that I did have to learn these things "the hard way" - because I have grown so much through learning them in my heart instead of my mind, and I've gotten to see God's love for me by His revealing these things to me as an individual.  Paradox, yes. :-)

What has God taught you in your walk with Him that may have been useful to know from the start?

Laborers in the Vineyard - Matthew 20:1-16

The Scripture

 

1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

 

2 "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

 

3 "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place;

 

4 and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'  And so they went.

 

5 "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.

 

6 "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?'

 

7 "They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.'  He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'

 

8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.'

 

9 "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.

 

10 "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.

 

11 "When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,

 

12 saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'

 

13 "But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?

 

14 'Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

 

15 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own?  Or is your eye envious because I am generous?'

 

16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last."

 

Recap/Intro

 

Last time we were in Matthew, the disciples asked Jesus how they would be rewarded for all they were giving up for Him.  He did not rebuke them, as their question was justified at that early stage when the Gospel had not yet fully come to light, and he promised them that because of their faith, they would receive salvation - eternal life.

 

In today's passage, Jesus continues teaching on that theme, this time explaining a dangerous extreme we can arrive at if we fall into the trap of thinking of heaven as a "reward" for works.

 

Symbolism

 

Let's start by identifying the symbols in this parable before dissecting meaning.

 

Who

 

The landowner: Christ

Hired laborers: Christians

Laborers not yet hired: The unsaved

 

Where

 

The market place: The world

The vineyard: More of a concept than a geographical location - the "missions field" - the world from the perspective of a Christian sharing the Gospel and living his/her life for God

 

What

 

The work: Sharing the Gospel, living our lives for God, etc.

The wages: Salvation

 

When

 

The hours: Different times in our life - e.g. when we're a child, young adult, and right before we die

Evening: The final judgment

 

Theology

 

First off, I think it's important to clarify something: The laborers hired at later hours are not Christians who decided to wait to get serious about their faith until later in their lives; those laborers are people who did not get saved until later in their lives.  This is important because, while we can never earn salvation through good works, the fact still remains that genuine faith in Christ will "yield fruit" (meaning there will be positive change as the Holy Spirit living in us makes us more like Christ).  I encourage you to read John 15:1-11 on this topic.

 

Now, that doesn't mean that a person cannot be genuinely saved but only called to "visible" work for the kingdom (like missions or ministry work) at a later point in their lives after they are more mature.  My point is simply that this passage is talking about people getting saved at different stages in their lives! :-)

 

Second, we also need to be aware that the "wages" talked about here is salvation itself.  We have talked last time and before about special designations like heavenly "crowns" that honor martyrs, for example - that's not what's going on here.  Besides, those extra designations are still completely, utterly undeserved in light of how sinful we are, so we'd have no right to complain about who God handed those out to even if that were the case.

 

Rather, the point is that none of us, even the hardest "workers" for God (recognized saints, martyrs, etc.) deserve salvation, so we have absolutely no right to complain when someone receives salvation and does less work for the kingdom - because even our own work is not nearly enough to deserve it!

 

I'm sure you are familiar with Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Eternal death (hell) is true wages - it is earned.  But eternal life (salvation) is not true wages - it cannot be earned.  It is absolutely, positively, only a gift from God that we do nothing to deserve, so we cannot think of others as "less deserving."  A serial killer doesn't deserve heaven, but neither do you and I!

 

If you have not yet received Christ's free gift of salvation from your sins, I offer you to opportunity to do so right now by clicking here.

 

In Our Lives

 

So far, we've stayed more in the realm of theology.  Let's expand this to include how we act in our daily lives.

 

First, we need to be ever conscious of how we treat others.  Any person we look down on for any reason (level of intelligence, appearance, personality, behavior, social class, nationality, whatever), whether Christian or non-Christian, is no more undeserving of Christ's forgiveness than we ourselves are.  Even if we "know" this in our minds, we also need to know it in our hearts - by putting it into action.  Look at Paul's example.

 

Second, also keep in mind that another believer may be called to a different type of "labor" than you, and that does not make them any less of a worker!  You may be called to do something flashy like leading worship at your church or smuggling Bibles into China, but if God is calling another believer to make cupcakes for people in the hospital, that makes them just as much a "laborer of the month" as you - they deserve respect for doing what God has asked them to do, instead of seeking something more in the public eye.  Unequal labor does not mean unequal laborers. 

 

Deathbed Conversions?

 

One final note - this passage brings up the topic of deathbed conversions.  A question people sometimes ask is, "If someone asks Christ's forgiveness right before they die, is it real?"  Well, it can be.

 

In today's passage, verse 6 tells us that someone hired at "the eleventh hour" (5 o'clock p.m. - at the end of the workday) is saved.  And the man on the cross next to Jesus came to faith as he was dying, and was promised salvation.

 

So, if a person isn't just doing a last-ditch effort thing on their deathbed, but genuinely regrets how they've lived and honestly wants Christ's forgiveness, yes, they can be saved.

 

Questions for You

 

What stage of life were you in when you came to Christ? 

 

And how has this impacted your view of others when you find out they believed when they were younger or older than you were?

 

Anything else you'd like to add to our discussion?  Or ask?

 

Image Citation

 

"Laborer in bib overalls digging the fire pit" by David Goehring.  Wikipedia.  Used by permission.



James 3:13-18 Living with Wisdom

13 Who among you is wise and understanding?  Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Let’s do a bit of review…

You may remember us discussing wisdom back when we studied James 1:5-11.  You can go back and read the whole post here http://elijahsbunker.blogspot.com/2011/09/james-15-11.html , but I will also summarize what we learned about it here:

* Wisdom is a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:8, 1 Kings 4:29).

* Wisdom is the ability to discern good and bad, right and wrong in your own life, and to pass this on to others (1 Kings 3:9).

So what is James saying here?

First, remember that James was most likely writing to Jewish converts, so they had a very works-based background. 

The point I see James making in this passage is that the Christians he was writing to thought they were spiritually mature, thought that they knew everything spiritual and were experts in righteous behavior --- but they didn’t live it.  They knew the right thing to do, but they didn’t do it.

James will say shortly thereafter (in 4:17), “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”  Also consider what Paul said in Romans 2:6-8, “[God] WHO WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.  Also remember how Jesus concluded a parable in Luke 12:20, “But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’”

It seems to me that if the Christians to whom James was writing were truly wise, they would have realized that testing God by living in unrepentant sin is playing with fire, quite literally.  Rather, they were acting like fools!

How can we apply that to our lives?

The answer is simple: DO THE RIGHT THING.  And, because wisdom includes sharing it with others, ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO THE RIGHT THING.

Obviously, it’s not quite that easy in practice, but the stark simplicity of God’s message to us in the passage remains.

Another Infamous Bible List

As I always like to do whenever I run across a “Bible list,” let’s evaluate what each item in verse seventeen means, individually.

Pure:   Greek hagnos.  Meaning free from defilement, holy, sacred, chaste, free from sin, innocent, pure.  In other words, living out wisdom means staying far, far away from sin – don’t joke about it, don’t condone it, don’t hang around with others when they’re engaging in it.

Peaceable:  Greek eirenikos.  Meaning peaceful, peaceable.  In other words, living out wisdom means not getting worked up about stuff that doesn’t matter from an eternal perspective, and not getting in fights with people.

Gentle:   Greek epieikes.  Meaning seemly, equitable, yielding, gentle.  In other words, living out wisdom means acting in a classy, dignified, appropriate manner – in your life, and in your relationships.

Reasonable:   Greek eupeithes.  Meaning ready to obey, reasonable.  In other words, living out wisdom means always being willing to obey God’s will – after all, He knows everything and has the best planned for us, so it is *reasonable* to trust His guidance.

Full of Mercy:   Greek eleos.  Meaning mercy, pity, compassion.  In other words, living out wisdom means that when others screw up, forgive them rather than judging them.

Full of Good Fruits:   Greek agathos and karpos.  Meaning good, generous, goodness, kind, kindness; meaning benefit, crop, fruit, descendants, fruitful, grain, harvest, proceeds, produce, profit.  In other words, living out wisdom means producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23); it means showing noticeable changes in the way you live – proof that God’s Holy Spirit is working in you.

Unwavering:   Greek adiakritos.  Meaning indistinguishable, without uncertainty, unwavering.  In other words, living out wisdom means that you need to practice what you preach – what you do should be indistinguishable from what you say and what you profess to believe.

Without Hypocrisy:   Greek anupokritos.  Meaning unhypocritical, unfeigned, genuine, sincere.  In other words, living out wisdom means that your good deeds stem from a true passion for God in your heart, you’re not just putting on an act to impress the church crowd.

If you’d like to dig more into this topic, I’d suggest reading the book of Proverbs – pretty much its entire focus is wisdom (both spiritual and practical) versus foolishness. J

Join the Discussion!

Did any item on the list jump out to you particularly?  Are there any personal experiences with wisdom you’d like to share with us?  Any other thoughts on the subject?

Galatians 4:1-11

1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything,

2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.

3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba!  Father!”

7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

8 However at the time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.

9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.

11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

In verses 1-3 of today’s passage, Paul uses a “human terms” analogy to describe how we are not the slaves of a Rich Man, but his children.  However, notice that it says we were children (verse 3); this does not mean that we are no longer His sons and daughters, but rather that we are grown and mature…or, at least are supposed to be.  1 Corinthians 14:20 tells us, “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature,” and Ephesians 4:13 states (starting mid-sentence), “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to   the fullness of Christ.”  I’d like to share three key passages that reveal to us how to mature in Christ – to study His word, and to purge sin from our lives:  1 Corinthians 3:1-3 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.  I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.  Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.  For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?”  Hebrews 5:11-14 “Concerning him [Christ] we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes of only milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.  But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”  1 Peter 2:1-3 “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”

In verses 4-6, we again see another mention of Christ’s fulfillment of the Law.  We have discussed this very recently, so I won’t go into it too much again, but I would like to refer you to an amazing series of studies by a former pastor of mine at this address http://rondaniel.com/library/03-Leviticus/Leviticus.html (they’re published online; you don’t even have to download anything).  He shows how every aspect of every sacrifice in Leviticus, often viewed as one of the more “tedious” books of the Bible, directly points to Christ.  When I read these studies a couple of years ago, I understood for the first time what it really means when the Bible says that Christ fulfilled the Law.  Returning to the text now… :-)  Also in verse 6, we see the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, speaking for us.  This reminded me of Romans 8:26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words; and He who searches our hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” What an amazing concept – that when we don’t know what to say, God speaks for us!

Finally, in verses 7-11, Paul states that when we put ourselves under the Law, we are enslaved to the elemental.  We have discussed this concept before as well, so I’d like to focus on the idea of being slaves who need a Redeemer.  In the Old Testament, if a person racked up an enormous debt that they couldn’t repay (like sin, for us), they had to become a temporary slave to the person they were indebted to.  Essentially, they paid in labor.  But, a relative could become their Kinsman Redeemer, paying the price in their stead to rescue them from this self-inflicted slavery (see Leviticus 25:47-55).  Just the same, we racked up a debt we could not pay, and Christ paid off that debt with His death.  We sold ourselves as slaves, and He took our place to break our chains.

A few discussion starters for today:

1 – How can we apply the command to live as mature Christians?  What are examples of mature Christian living?

2 – Every word of the Bible was written to teach us something.  What have the generally lesser-liked books of the Bible (Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Job, the Prophets, Revelation, etc.) taught you?  How can we convince Christians who avoid such books of their importance?

3 – When I was reading the book Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs (great Christian story for you gals out there, by the way), one character asks another, “What do you call God?”  She responds, “I call Him Lord.  I used to call Him my friend.”  That got me thinking about what names of God mean the most to me, and that’s when I became obsessed with the concept of God as my Kinsman Redeemer.  What do you call God?  Which of His names are most meaningful to you?

As always, these are simply discussion starters.  I’m simply leading a Bible study, not delivering a sermon. :-)  So please, help me make this a dialogue rather than a monologue. :-)