Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Self-control”
Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, ‘Give the following instructions to the people of Israel …” Leviticus 1:1-2 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “You should be different.”
The book of Leviticus is probably the least popular book in the Bible. Most Christians have never read it. It’s a difficult book because it’s filled from start to finish with detailed instructions to the Israelites about sacrifices and worship procedures and ritual purifications, and then long lists of do’s and don’ts. It’s really not fun reading.
And yet, in one respect, Leviticus could be considered one of the most important books of the Bible because the primary purpose of it is to illustrate, in stark relief, how different God is from the false gods of the world, and how different God’s people should be from the rest of the people of the world.
God is holy, and His people are to be holy too. All of the intricate detail contained in Leviticus about how God’s people are to conduct themselves is designed to make them stand out from all the other peoples of the world and to call attention to the One True God. Being a holy people demands a holy lifestyle.
Yesterday I wrote about self-control with respect to human sexuality. I encourage you to take a moment and look at Leviticus chapter 18. There you will find God giving His people instructions about sex. It’s amazing to me what an effort was made to list and then prohibit virtually every kind of potential sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman. The list covers everything from adultery to incest to bestiality. Seriously? They had to be told it’s not ok to have sex with animals? Well, yes they did. Because out there in the world there is no end to the perversion people engage in and God does not want His people behaving like that.
The point is that God’s people are to be distinctly and observably different from the rest of the people in the world. That takes intentional effort. It takes self-control and it takes discipline. You have to want to honor God with your conduct and then you have to actually do it.
You’re reading this on a Saturday. Tomorrow is Sunday. It’s the day when God’s people are supposed to gather for worship. The people of the world are going to sleep late, read the Sunday paper, and then go fishing, hiking, or to the park, or to the pool, or to a thousand other places instead of to church.
How about you? Are you just like them, essentially becoming one with them, or are you different? Are you part of the set-aside people of God who make the effort to be distinctly and observably different from the people of the world?
God said to the Israelites (and to us), “So do not act like the people of Egypt, where you used to live; or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.” Leviticus 18:3
I hope to see you tomorrow at Oak Hill Baptist. Sunday school begins at 9:00 and the worship service is at 10:00.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 