Parashah Vayyikra 2019 (And he called) Leviticus 1 – 5

We are now starting the third book of the Torah, which is the central book. This book has also been called the Torah of the Priests, mainly because it is almost exclusively about the priestly duties, to include knowing what is sinful and what is not with regards to our everyday activities.

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The first 7 chapters deal with the sacrificial system, and this parashah outlines the regulations for the sacrifice, which also includes offerings. There are two main offerings: the meal offering and the First Fruits offering. This parashah also tells us the rules for the Sin and Guilt sacrifice.

Sin sacrifices are for those sins committed against other people and the guilt sacrifice is for those sins committed against the tabernacle by causing a loss of holiness, such as misappropriation of property belonging to the Lord or failure to give the Priest his due share of the sacrifice.

One of the things that demonstrates God’s compassion and understanding is that God takes into account those people who may be too poor to be able to give a bull or an ox, or even a sheep. He states that even though a sacrifice may call for the slaughter of a bull, if the person is too poor to afford the animal that is required, he can offer grain and oil and he will receive the same forgiveness as the one sacrificing a bull.

If you ask me, the most important thing we learn from this parashah is Leviticus 5:17, which says:

And if any one sin, and do any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he know it not, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity.

I could do an entire series on that verse, alone, but the lesson I want to share with you today is that the sacrificial system was not done away with when Yeshua was sacrificed. In fact, the sacrificial system is still in effect and just as valid today as it was back when God gave these commandments to Moses.

What stopped us from sacrificing animals was the destruction of the Temple, because in Deuteronomy 12:5-6 we are told that the sacrifice must be made only where God places his name, which was (of course) the Temple in Jerusalem. Before the Temple, the sacrifices were made at Shiloh, where the Tent of Meeting Moses constructed was located.

The sacrificial system is a process that involves 5 separate steps:

  1. The first thing we have to do is sin;
  2. We have to recognize and admit that we have sinned;
  3. We need to repent of that sin- without heartfelt repentance, no sacrifice will be accepted;
  4. The next step is to slaughter the animal called for; and
  5. We must humbly ask for forgiveness by means of the innocent blood that was shed for us (Leviticus 17:11);

When Yeshua died on the execution stake, his innocent blood was shed so that through him, we can be forgiven. The sacrificial system is still in effect, but what changed with Yeshua was that the 4th step- bringing the animal to be slain to the Temple in Jerusalem- was replaced with the substitutionary sacrifice of Yeshua.

The animal sacrifice, which has never been done away with but was replaced by Yeshua, will continue in the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) when the Temple will be reconstructed. The only difference is that there will not be a need for the sin or guilt sacrifice, but the wholly burnt and thanksgiving/peace sacrifice will once again be performed.

There is no biblical reference I can give that absolutely confirms what I just said about the sacrifices continuing in the End Days. However, there is nothing in the Bible that confirms the sacrificial system was ever done away with, either. Today’s message is strictly from my understanding of how the sacrificial system works and how it will be utilized in the End Days.

Whether or not I am right about what will happen in the End Days will not be known for certain until the End Days. In the meantime, I think we can all agree that we should thank God for Yeshua’s substitutionary sacrifice which allows us to fulfill our requirements under the sacrificial system to receive forgiveness of sin.

 

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Tonight begins the Sabbath, so Shabbat Shalom, and until next time L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Too afraid to preach what we need to hear?

How many of you go to your place of worship and get told, over and over and over, how much God loves you? Just the way you are? And that Jesus loves you, and died for you so that you can be with Him and the Father in heaven, forever? And that your sins are forgiven the moment you call on the Name of the Lord? Forever and ever. All you need to do is call on His name and you are saved! Hallelujah!!

That’s all true, of course; God does love you, and Yeshua died for you so that you have a chance to be with Him.

But not in heaven- that is not where the bible says we will be.

And when you call on the Name of the Lord for salvation, it only works if you really mean it, and that requires you to change your ways for the rest of your life. And if you think that is hard to do, you’re right!

And when you go to a place to worship, you must tithe to that place. And not just the loose change you happen to have, but 10%! Too often people argue: 10% of gross? 10% of net? of expendable? Why not just give what you want to give, no matter what percent it represents?  That’s up to you, but you must tithe, and that tithe should be, at the very least, a significant amount of your income.

And you need to participate. You need to help clean up after an Oneg Shabbat (snacks after the services- it means ‘Joy of Sabbath’), or clean up the property, or help vacuum the sanctuary: whatever it is, you need to participate in congregational activities.

These are things that are biblically required, but how often does a Minister, Priest or Rabbi talk about tithing? Or tell you that calling on God’s name is only the start, because you have to work at it. Constantly. And how often does someone tell their congregation they need to get more people to come because we need more people to do the work?

Yes, we hear leaders pray for Yeshua (Jesus) to send more harvesters to the field, and we pray for God’s divine guidance and help to fulfill our mission, but that’s not enough. There is nothing in the bible that says we should sit around and pray, and not do anything. All the people in the bible God called, He called to DO something.

God didn’t tell Abraham to stay in Ur; God didn’t tell Jacob to stay with Laban; God didn’t tell Moses to hang around Mt. Sinai; God didn’t tell the Prophets to stay at home and pray; God didn’t tell Yeshua to stay in Bethlehem; Yeshua didn’t tell Shaul to stay at home, and God will never tell you to sit around, pray for something and wait for Him to make it happen for you. God wants you to look to Him for guidance, for help, for strength and for leadership, but He expects that you will do something with it when He gives it to you!

(Read the parable of the Talents- Matthew 25:14)

I am blessed and honored to give the message about once a month, and we usually follow the parashot in the Torah, but this year I think I need to expand that to tell people they need to get off their tuchas and do something. We need to stop going to church or synagogue on Sabbath Day and pray, sing, and kibbutz, then forget about it all until next weekend. We need to be challenging ourselves to do more during the week, as well. Bring God into conversation, ask people you know to visit with you at the next service, ask your religious leader what you can do to help him or her to accomplish the mission of your place of worship. Volunteer somewhere that does God’s work, with humans or with animals- it doesn’t matter. God likes animals, too.

And if you are a leader in your religious community, a Pastor, a Rabbi, a Council member, an Elder…whatever you are, if you are in ministry leadership, don’t be afraid to tell your congregation what they need to know. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about tithing because it is, after all, your salary, well…get over it!  God commands people to tithe, and if you don’t keep on them about it, then you aren’t spreading God’s word, and (worse than that) your fear or discomfort may be causing some to stumble into sin.

If you don’t like to talk about the hard work and suffering it takes to remain a faithful servant of God, and all you want to do is tell people the “Happy-Happy” stuff because then they tell you how much they liked the sermon, and you get more people coming in to hear about how they are OK just as they are, then you are failing to tell the truth. You are recruiting people for battle without showing them how to defend themselves or even giving them any battle armor.

If you are in leadership you need to lead. You cannot be afraid to tell the truth about salvation, that truth being that it is hard: Yeshua said we need to leave everything behind, which includes our comfort zone, and carry our own execution stake to follow Him. People need to be prepared for the fact that they will be ridiculed, excluded from friends, (maybe even) excluded from family, talked about as prudish and “holier-than-thou” by other people. They need to know they will be required to give their time and money to the place where they worship, and expected to participate in activities there.

If someone is unevenly yoked, meaning that their spouse doesn’t believe the same way they do, or maybe is just a member of a different place of worship, they need to be told that there will have to be compromise- but never compromise to the point where you do not tithe or participate. Two people who love the Lord and believe in Yeshua as their Messiah can still be unevenly yoked. Dealing with that situation ain’t gonna be easy, take it from me, but if you also show your spouse the the love, patience and understanding that God shows to you, you will make it that much easier to deal with.

Salvation is easy to get, and hard to keep. If we don’t let people know that, up front, then the good seed will not be able to take root. Living for God is living against the world, and there’s a lot more world out there than there is you, or me. But we have God on our side, so the bottom line is that, as Shaul (Paul) says in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

And in Romans 8:31, Shaul also gives this word of encouragement regarding our struggle against the world:

If God is for us, who can be against us? 

So be prepared to prepare yourself, and your congregation, for what is to come. Yes, preach about God’s love and forgiveness- please don’t ever let up on that, for it is an encouraging and edifying word. But also let people know what they will be up against, and what they need to do to maintain a proper attitude of faithfulness- not just in their spirit, but from their pocket and from their sweat.

It is because God’s love for you and me is so great that it resulted in God sending His only son to die, which required Yeshua to give up His divinity in order to take on flesh, so that He could die. We often hear that God is all about love, but God isn’t all about love; He is also about sacrifice, hard work, justice, diligence, and perseverance. Don’t ever forget that.

Look at all He did for you, all He gave up, forever: is what He asks back from us so much?

How To Smell Nice When You Stink

Have you ever heard the saying, “All things are relative?” If I am doing 40 miles per hour on the road, I am speeding by a pedestrian walking in the same direction; but the guy doing 60 in his sports car flies by me like I am standing still! Who is going fast and who is going slow? It’s all relative. The one thing that is undeniable is that I am doing 40.

There was a man who was a shepherd. Every day he walked behind the sheep, watching out where they go and making sure none got left behind or wandered off. Of course, walking behind the sheep meant that he often stepped in something he didn’t want to, but it was all part of the job, so every night he went home and smelled like, well, let’s just say he didn’t smell nice. After many years of this, he and his family got so used to the smell that he didn’t even notice it anymore. But his shoes were always dirty and always smelled bad.

One day he went into the city and was standing in an elevator with other people, all dressed nicely for work. As the elevator starting going up, the people began to seem jittery, nervously looking around, some picking up their feet and looking at the bottom of their shoes. Finally, one man came forward and said to the shepherd, “Friend, you smell very bad and you should be more considerate of the other people in the world who have to be close to you.”

At this the shepherd realized that he forgot about his shoes smelling so bad, but in his embarrassment he did not humbly ask forgiveness. Instead, he flicked his shoes at the man, sending sheep-stuff all over the man and everyone close by. Then he said, “You smell bad, too- I’m no worse than you! Who do you think you are talking to me that way?”  Then all the other people accosted the man who told the shepherd he stunk and blamed him for their foul smell. The shepherd walked out of the elevator, feeling justified, the people walked out of the elevator mad at the man who told the truth, and the man who told the truth just rode to the top, smelling bad and wondering how they could all be so blind.

This is what the world is like- those who do wrong and are inconsiderate do not take responsibility for themselves and humbly ask forgiveness, trying to do better. Instead, they throw sheep-stuff all over everyone else, pointing out that everyone stinks, everyone does wrong, everyone cheats on their taxes, nobody stops at stop signs, everyone calls in sick when they aren’t, and they walk away feeling they haven’t done anything wrong.

Well, they seem to be getting away with it, but sooner or later we all face the one judge that can’t be sent on a wild goose chase or be fooled by a red herring.

It is hard to be told when you have done wrong- I think nearly everyone, from embarrassment and shame, would prefer to hide when they have done wrong and pretend it didn’t happen than face the music and apologize. There are some who will immediately apologize, accept their wrongdoing and act responsibly. Most, I am afraid (disagree if you think I am wrong) will make excuses and try to blame others. By throwing sheep-stuff on everyone else, they seem to be, relatively, less smelly. Or, at least, everyone else smells just as bad so they are “normal” and, therefore, not in the wrong.

The difference between those that accept responsibility for their actions and those that try to avoid them, what I call the “Teflon” people (nothing sticks to Teflon), is more than just emotional maturity- it is spiritual maturity and a fear of God. Not fear of retribution, but fear in the biblical sense- awe at His holiness and respect for His commandments.

The bible teaches us much, and one of the most important lessons is that we are, and will be held, responsible for our actions. It is everywhere, from the prophets being responsible to warn the people, to Moses being responsible for striking the rock twice in anger, to Samson being delivered up to the Philistines because of the damage he caused to their crops, to the kings and people of both Shomron (Israel- the Northern Kingdom) and Judah being expelled from their land due to their continued sinfulness.

I liken Yeshua to the man who, in the parable above, is the one telling the smelly person what everyone else knew but did not take responsibility (to the smelly man) to tell him, and ultimately was the one who everyone was mad at. Yeshua did take responsibility, not for Himself but for everyone else. For you, for me, for everyone. He took the stench we have off of us and wore on Himself, all the way to the Execution Stake.

It is hard to be responsible. Not just for what we do, but to tell others when they need to know they are doing wrong. It has to be done with compassion and with the strength to accept that you may end up being the one hated for telling the truth that everyone else knows but doesn’t have the strength, spiritually or emotionally, to face.

We all sin, we all will sin, none of us can stop sinning; don’t use that fact as a reason to keep sinning. Everyone will be held accountable for their choices when they face the Holy One in the final court, and if you can’t handle being corrected on Earth, while you have time to amend your ways, in front of God you will not be able to throw sheep-stuff on anyone else because it will be just you and God, and God can’t be fooled.

We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less.

So clean your shoes, wash your body and be aware of when you start to stink. And more than anything else, accept correction humbly and gratefully- it may save your soul!

Even if the person correcting you doesn’t do it well, the bottom line is not whether they correct you nicely or angrily: the bottom line is whether or not they are right!

Keep on Truckin’, Baby!

I love living in Florida, one reason is that I can ride my bike all year long. I was taking a long ride yesterday, one that has some elevation (a causeway over the Banana River) so I can get a little more of a workout. As I was approaching the causeway there is a spot where I go down hill on a grassy area onto a parking lot. I have done this many times, and as I was zipping along at a brisk 15 MPH or so, I saw a tuft of grass in front of me. I figured I would have a little bump, but just as I got to the grass I saw that it was hiding one of those 8″ high cement bumpers.

Ooops- forgot about those being there.

Well, I pulled up hard on the handlebars and tried to jump it, and even though I got the front wheel over, the back didn’t make it and bumpity-bumpity-bump: I lost control to a large degree, but remarkably, even though the bike took a spill, I didn’t. I managed to walk right over the bike as it went down and maintained my balance.

Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, right?

I did get a nasty bump on one leg from the pedal and some scrapes on the other ankle, but for the most part I escaped unbroken and (mostly) undamaged. I picked up the bike, straightened the fenders and went back on my way.

So, nu? What’s this got to do with God? A lot.

We often read about how the gold must go through the fire to be refined, and Yeshua warns His Talmudim (disciples) that following Him will be like picking up one’s execution stake every day. We read about David’s trials while living as a bandit, in the caves and hills, trying to escape Shaul haMelech (King Saul), and we are preached to, over and over (like now) about having to run the good race and keep our eyes on the prize.

In other words, when you fall, get up. We all know that lesson, right? So what’s different with what happened to me?

What was different is that although I fell, and got back up, I didn’t get as hurt as I have in previous falls because having fallen many times I know what to do.  I knew what was coming. I was able to act so that my reaction allowed me to fall gracefully and maintain my balance. And, yes, after I fell I thanked God for the fact I wasn’t too damaged, then I got back on the bike and continued my journey.

We will all fall at some point on our walk with the Lord. In fact, we should be falling. I found this saying on the Internet, and it helps to make my point:

Ski instructors are taught that if their students aren’t falling at least once per run they are not learning new, improved form.

We need to fall, we need to go through the fire, and we need to know that the more we fall, the better we fall, the less likely we will get damaged, and the faster we can recover. That’s the lesson for today: don’t be afraid of falling; instead, learn how to fall.

When I was studying Judo we learned how to fall so that we would minimize the pain and the damage, and in our walk with the Lord we need to learn how to fall with grace and compassion (for ourselves), then to get up and keep on keepin’ on. Walking with God is hard, and you will have many roadblocks and falls, but you’ve got to keep on truckin’, Baby!

Falling can hurt, and if you let falling slow you down or make you quit, you will be a loser in the most important race of your life, no…make that the most important race of your eternity! Expect to fall, learn how to fall in control, and when you do you will fall with less damage and you will be able to get back up on your feet faster.

Don’t worry about taking a tumble or two, it’s only going to make you stronger. And take comfort in knowing that God is always there to help you back up on your feet.