Leviticus
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Leviticus Chapter 27
This last chapter of Leviticus is concerning someone who had been set apart for the service of the Lord either by his parents as a child or someone who from his heart wanted to give himself to the service of the Lord. If the person is unable to perform his vow
for some reason, he was able to make amends by bringing an offering
of money. This is the first chapter in Leviticus that deals with
money. In saying that however, we must remember the poor in our giving as well as those who have left secular jobs in order to give themselves to full time pastor a local congregation for instance. He needs money to live on and support his family. It is harder for a pastor to try to pastor a church and work a secular job too. To give to support the pastor I believe is a good thing. This does not let us out of any responsibility to help him in his work, share the gospel and do what we are called to do but every good congregation needs a godly leader to keep out false teachers and guard the flock against those that would take advantage of the weak. I admit many times and more often than not, the leadership gets in error and does things for money, to dominate a group of people or other reasons. If a local congregation has a good godly leader, they are blessed in deed and need to support him. We see in this chapter though a very serious thought. To make a commitment to the Lord is serious. We are not take it lightly. God is full of mercy but He is still a holy God. We would not make a vow or commitment to a great world leader and then try to back out of it. Is not God greater than all? I've seen churches have to close down Sunday School because of lack of teachers. Teachers would agree to teach but fail to show up many times. The kids would be there and no teacher one Sunday and the next Sunday the teacher would be there. Many times the teachers would not even call first but just not show up. That is not commitment. It is better not to volunteer than to volunteer and then not fulfill that position. In this chapter of Leviticus we see
provision made for those that made a promise but could not fulfill
it. That tells me that the vow was serious and not to be taken
lightly. It was considered holy. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ things change greatly. Now there really should be no hierarchy clergy and lowly laity. All of us have a calling according to the gifts of the spirit and natural abilities God gives us and calls us to. All these gifts and callings need to be biblical. It is a holy calling. Some take the part about using our talents for the Lord to mean that whatever we are inclined or talented to do we do it for God. This may or may not apply. If we have a talent for gambling, dancing, and talents that are not biblically relevant to the gospel, I don't believe we are to try to Christianize them. We misuse the message of the talent parable if we use it as an excuse to do things in the sanctuary that has nothing to do with New Testament worship. People are bringing so much junk into the churches and calling it worship. We must have discernment in these areas. He is still the same holy God that we see in the Old Testament. Let's not use the grace of God to give ourselves up to unholy things and call it good. We must still discern between the holy and unholy but always having patience with the weak and new believers who may not understand as yet all about holiness. The church is here to teach them, not to become like them. At one time the church may have been a little legalistic. They over corrected this error by going the opposite extreme and allowing anything to come into the church that would draw the crowds. Our manner of dress changed, our standards of holiness became nil and we accept things that we once preached against as sin. To correct this we do not want to go back into judgmental Pharisee legalism against new believers but we should become a loving example to them. We do not hound them and beat them with hammers but we do not become like them either. We live by example and love them. We should have kept the holiness dress standards, the holy living and such without becoming cruel and judgmental to new converts. The people that have learned this are the most lovable, kind people in the church today. Discernment but with the heart of God, kindness and compassion but keeping standards of holiness that the Holy Spirit has revealed to us to live by. Example, not force, being lenient but not compromising our own standards of right and wrong in order to please the crowds. We must avoid hierarchy and puffing one over another yet have respect for those that God has called to leadership. Let us always pray that God will bless us with godly leadership. We are all equal in the gospel. All are called to be saints. Holiness is the lifestyle we want to pursue. Even though we should have godly leadership to keep order and forbid heresy, we still are all equal in the sight of God through the dispensation of grace. Still though we are called to live holy and have respect for God and the place of worship. God is still the same holy God that gave these commandments in the Old Testament. He has not changed. Promises and commitments are not to be taken lightly. The answer though for failure under the new and living way is simply to repent and change. God changed things when He sent Jesus Christ so that we now can serve Him by a heart that has been transformed and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead of trying to make things right by bringing offerings and sacrifices, the sacrifice was already made by Jesus Christ. To be in fellowship with God, we simply repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we become changed or "born again" by the spirit of God. DC
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