SMBC Principal's Hour

When we come before our holy God, aware of our own sin and uncleanness, we might easily lack confidence. And when we read accounts like that of Nadab and Abihu being consumed by fire in Leviticus 10, we might tremble with fear! And yet in Leviticus 16, we meet a God that wants us to have confidence before Him, and who has gone to great lengths so that we can do so. In this talk we discover why we can have confidence before God, and why it matters.

In Leviticus 12-15 God specifies the extent of various forms of ritual impurity in order to guard Israel from his own holiness. He also graciously provides means of purification, opening up ways for the impure to continue to dwell with him. This part of Leviticus thus highlights bodily and physical obstacles to approaching God and testifies to God’s commitment to overcome everything that separates his people from himself.

According to author Kevin DeYoung, many contemporary Christians are passionate to see the gospel go out, but are not equally committed to pursuing holiness in their lives. He calls this an “enthusiasm gap”. If there is any truth to this critique, then we need a course correction, because God is passionately concerned about our holiness. Leviticus 11 is a perfect place to start, because it shows us what’s so important about holiness.

Israel in the Sinai desert: the new tabernacle, and promise and celebration as the first priests were ordained and began their ministry. The Lord appeared to Israel in power! Everything done precisely as God commanded…until it wasn’t, and Aaron’s sons stopped obeying and forgot God’s holiness. But obedience is crucial, and deadly tragedy resulted. Holiness matters; before our holy God, there are no small sins. But he knows us; he knows we need a priest; and he has provided a perfectly obedient priest, who went outside the camp for us.

We all know from experience how sin can damage relationships with each other. How much more serious then the impact of sin on our relationship with a holy God? Leviticus 4-7 is a precious part of Scripture because it reveals God’s grace in providing a way for sinners to have their sin dealt with so they can continue to enter his presence for worship.

Gifts have an ability to further our relationship with God.  The grain and fellowship offerings in Leviticus 2-3, while ancient and outdated rituals, tell us about what God likes even today.  We can especially learn about the importance of having hearts of thankful devotion, as well as God’s desire to use our gifts to create loving communities that celebrate our relationship with him.

How should we behave in the presence of the living God? Leviticus is an exciting part of Scripture because it delves deep into this important topic. The book starts in Leviticus 1 with a picture of true worship. Even though we live in a different era in salvation-history, there is much we can learn in this text about how we should approach the living God to worship him.

The people God puts us with to serve him are often very different to us. Sometimes our differences lead to conflict or dysfunction. How can we do gospel ministry together well?

As people rescued from darkness by Christ to live holy lives, how are we to relate to the world? Some Christians, fearing that our holiness will be compromised by interacting with the world, say we should withdraw from the world. But in Colossians 4:2-6, Paul shows us a much better way.

When Paul says in Colossians 3:17 “whatever you do…do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus”, what does that look like? In 3:18-4:1, we see that Jesus’ lordship plays out in every circumstance – within relationships, within the household, and within the workplace.