1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,680 Welcome to the Love and Context Podcast, unscripted conversation with Ben and Spencer. 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:10,480 We're so glad that you could join us today, whether that's from your car, office, home, 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,180 church or wherever you're at. 4 00:00:13,180 --> 00:00:18,800 If you want to contact us, you can email us at lovingcontext at gmail.com. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:24,320 Also follow us on Instagram at love and context. 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:26,860 Welcome to the Love and Context Podcast. 7 00:00:26,860 --> 00:00:31,120 This is a unscripted conversation with me, I'm Ben. 8 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,320 And I am Spencer. 9 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,820 And we are so happy that you're here with us today because we're entering one of my 10 00:00:36,820 --> 00:00:38,120 favorite books in the Bible. 11 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:39,280 Yes, you heard me right. 12 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,880 One of my favorite books in the Bible, Leviticus. 13 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:44,600 He's not using sarcasm. 14 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:45,760 He's not joking. 15 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,000 He's not playing with you. 16 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,000 He likes Leviticus. 17 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,360 Yeah, it's actually been transformative for me. 18 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,280 I was actually just talking to Spencer before we clicked on the recording that I recently 19 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,920 blogged all the way through Leviticus. 20 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,720 And spending time on each chapter pulling one thought and talking about the heart of 21 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,680 God throughout the entire book has just been incredible. 22 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:05,680 Yeah. 23 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,720 Is there a way for us to take a poll? 24 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,320 Maybe yeah, I think we can add a poll. 25 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:12,120 We're going to try to add a poll. 26 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:13,320 So we're going to try to add a poll. 27 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:16,920 If not, if we can't add a poll, just email us. 28 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:21,640 When was the last time your church did a study on Leviticus? 29 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:23,480 One of those is going to be never. 30 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,920 And I bet you that's most of the answer. 31 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:26,920 But I'm just curious. 32 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:27,920 I just curious. 33 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,720 And if your church was like, oh, we went through that last year, I'm like, props to you, man. 34 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:32,720 That's awesome. 35 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,480 But yeah, in this episode, we're actually not going to get into Leviticus. 36 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,280 We're actually going to be talking about what Leviticus is before we actually get into talking 37 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:42,940 about specific sections. 38 00:01:42,940 --> 00:01:46,600 As opposed to the Exodus story, we're not necessarily going to go through in a linear 39 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:47,600 fashion. 40 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:51,120 We're actually going to cover concepts that are covered inside of Leviticus. 41 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,760 And if any of you are wondering, yes, we are going to talk about the highly controversial 42 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,080 laws that exist in Leviticus as well. 43 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:58,080 Yes. 44 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:03,200 And Leviticus, we need to understand it not in the context of a linear book. 45 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:07,160 The whole book, correct me if I'm wrong Ben, but the whole book's a chiasm. 46 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:08,160 Correct. 47 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:09,920 There is actually a full chiasm inside of Leviticus. 48 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:13,000 In fact, that actually comes up in our notes later. 49 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:14,880 So we'll talk about that in just a few minutes. 50 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:15,880 Spoiler alert. 51 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:16,880 Yes, spoiler alert. 52 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,680 He got you like 10 minutes ahead of where we're supposed to be. 53 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,720 If you think Spencer sounds weird, he's definitely eating cheese right now too. 54 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:28,000 This is going to be a thing is like, I'm just going to be snacking because I snack all the 55 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,000 time. 56 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,280 They're going to have no idea what your normal voice sounds like because you're always like 57 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,720 speaking of which I might leave this in here, but the other one of the other episodes, I'm 58 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:41,240 so glad that we run this through a filter before we actually publish it because I breathe 59 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,080 so loud. 60 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:49,400 Like when I was going through an editing, I could hear and it pulled it all out by the 61 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,800 time we actually published the episode, but I was definitely, my nose was way too close 62 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:54,800 to the mic. 63 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:56,800 You mean not all the words I had to say. 64 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:58,480 Yeah, exactly. 65 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,160 The first thing I want to specify in Leviticus is it's probably not the kind of book you 66 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:03,760 expect it is. 67 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,520 I think we get lulled into this idea when we read Genesis and Exodus because it's a 68 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:09,680 lot of narrative, right? 69 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:11,120 Telling this story of where God is going. 70 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:16,080 If you remember at the end of the book of Exodus, God has given his people their instruction. 71 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:17,280 He's told them who they are. 72 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,880 He's given them instructions on how to build the temple. 73 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,920 He said his presence is still going to go with them even though they had failed with 74 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:23,920 a golden calf. 75 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:29,880 And so there's a pause here before the book of Numbers where they actually leave Sinai 76 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:34,900 where there is this book that explains how they are supposed to be a kingdom of priests. 77 00:03:34,900 --> 00:03:40,960 Because if you've never been a priest, you're like, what? 78 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:41,960 How do I do that? 79 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:43,200 Like, what does that mean to be a priest? 80 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:47,600 Because to your point last week, what do they think priesthood is? 81 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:48,600 Royalty. 82 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:49,600 Royalty. 83 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:51,560 It's a place thing that you jockey for position. 84 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:53,200 It's a place where you make a lot of money. 85 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,660 It's all those different things. 86 00:03:55,660 --> 00:03:58,780 So this isn't this book isn't largely it's not a story of Israel. 87 00:03:58,780 --> 00:04:03,500 It's rather instructions for the priesthood on how they're going to lead and how the entire 88 00:04:03,500 --> 00:04:06,720 nation is going to be a kingdom of priests. 89 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:10,400 This is a how to manual, if you will. 90 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,520 So there's a how to manual here in Leviticus as Ben was just talking about. 91 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,720 And it's not just a how to manual of, okay, how do you become wealthy? 92 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:18,080 That's not what we're talking about. 93 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:24,040 It's just a how to manual of, okay, we're going to take people who were slaves lowest 94 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:29,080 of the low and give them the title of priest. 95 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:30,760 Correct. 96 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,300 And in a very real way, even though it's not the royalty, they understand they are going 97 00:04:34,300 --> 00:04:38,360 to be a royal people because they're representing the king. 98 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,280 So let's talk about the overall structure of Leviticus. 99 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:44,860 So section one deals with atonement. 100 00:04:44,860 --> 00:04:46,400 It's chapters one through seven. 101 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:48,400 We're going to be talking about that next week. 102 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,840 Now atonement is a fancy way of saying how to be right with God. 103 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:53,840 Yeah. 104 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:54,840 Okay. 105 00:04:54,840 --> 00:05:00,480 Now, before we even get into next week, I think that it's important to point out how 106 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,120 crazy it is that God just tells them how to be right with him. 107 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:05,120 Yeah. 108 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:12,400 Because contextually in Egypt and in the surrounding nations, if you want your God to not be mad 109 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,320 at you, you give them anything you can to appease their anger. 110 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,640 And you're trying to figure out how can I be made right with you? 111 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:21,640 Correct. 112 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,560 And we've talked about like the worship of a molek and the sacrificing of children and, 113 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,800 oh, I got to figure out how do I make sure this God isn't mad with me and that he's not 114 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:31,160 going to punish me? 115 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:32,160 Yeah. 116 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:38,480 God immediately does away with this and he says, hey, if you do this, do this. 117 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:40,440 We're good. 118 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,880 So I think it's interesting that in our modern context, a lot of times we look at the laws 119 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,200 of Leviticus and we're like, oh, these are burdensome. 120 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,040 They're putting weights on their shoulders. 121 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,880 But in reality, what it is, it's showing them a very clear picture of I want to be right 122 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:52,880 with you. 123 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:53,880 Yeah. 124 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:54,880 Let's be right with each other. 125 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:59,880 And we've mentioned this before, but there's 613 or so laws. 126 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:01,720 There's not a lot of laws. 127 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,560 It's whatever state or country that you live in. 128 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,720 I guarantee you there's more laws than that. 129 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,200 I guarantee you. 130 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,880 In the city that we live in, there's at least like 10,000. 131 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:12,880 Yeah. 132 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:13,880 Yeah. 133 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,720 Especially when you start factoring in local, state and federal. 134 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:17,720 Yeah. 135 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:18,720 Yeah. 136 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:23,280 And so to be like, oh, you have to live under 613 laws. 137 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:25,000 It's actually not a lot. 138 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:26,040 Yeah. 139 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,160 We're going to try to reframe Leviticus for you guys as we're going along. 140 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,620 Not in the first section, he says, hey, by the way, you know this thing that you're worried 141 00:06:33,620 --> 00:06:35,800 about not being right with me? 142 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,920 If you think you're not right, do this. 143 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:41,600 If you're thankful, do this. 144 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:46,360 If you have a lot of extra and you want to be thankful for what I've done for you, then 145 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:47,400 do this. 146 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,620 This is how you bless me. 147 00:06:49,620 --> 00:06:51,320 And this is how you bless each other. 148 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:52,320 Yeah. 149 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,880 And it's not about, it's not a complicated procedure. 150 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,600 And the picture we want you to understand, we're going to really emphasize this next 151 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,400 week to the point that you're going to get sick of hearing me say this. 152 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,920 It is not about appeasement. 153 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:03,920 It's about relationship. 154 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:04,920 Yep. 155 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:09,760 It's about restoration of relationship because everything that's happening in Levitical law 156 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:11,640 is meant to bring you back to the garden. 157 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:12,640 Yeah. 158 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,640 To a connection that was lost. 159 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:15,640 Yes. 160 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:20,240 So you get into section two where he talks about the priesthood. 161 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,080 Now section two is kind of interesting because you're like, okay, we're moving in a linear 162 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:24,080 fashion. 163 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:25,080 No, we're not. 164 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:29,120 Chapter two actually consists of chapters eight through 10 and then 21 and 22. 165 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,000 These are the sections that talk about the priesthood, specifically their roles. 166 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,140 And again, this book is a giant chiasm. 167 00:07:35,140 --> 00:07:38,040 So it's not written in a linear fashion. 168 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:39,040 Stop jumping ahead. 169 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:40,040 No, just kidding. 170 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:41,040 I know. 171 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:42,040 I know. 172 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:43,040 We'll get to it again. 173 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:44,040 All right. 174 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:45,760 Ben, Ben keeps looking at me every time I say that he's like, is that the only thing 175 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:47,080 you have to say on this episode? 176 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:48,080 No, I got more. 177 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:49,080 I got more. 178 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:50,840 Leviticus is one of my favorite books. 179 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:52,920 It is definitely not one of Spencer's favorite books. 180 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:57,160 No, I'm actually studying this one as we go through it because I haven't spent as much 181 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,840 time in this one, but there is that element to it. 182 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:06,480 So he talks about the priesthood and what it means to be a priesthood. 183 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:13,640 And specifically the priesthood is the subset inside of the kingdom of priests that are 184 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,480 meant to teach the entire nation how to be a kingdom of priests. 185 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,840 So they're the ones who are going to be responsible for actually facilitating worship between 186 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:22,760 God and the rest of the kingdom. 187 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,720 And that's really important for us to understand. 188 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:30,400 The priest, their job is to actually equip the entire nation to be a kingdom of priests, 189 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:35,400 to put you a conduit between God and humanity, to be a conduit for atonement between God 190 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,760 and humanity because God wants all of his kids back home. 191 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,160 It's always about all nations. 192 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:42,160 Yeah. 193 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,840 Hence why they're actually going to be put where Israel is. 194 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:46,920 It's at the crossroads of the ancient world. 195 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,560 And if some of you are listening to this, you're like, man, this actually sounds like 196 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:51,940 the role of a pastor in a church. 197 00:08:51,940 --> 00:08:52,940 You would be right. 198 00:08:52,940 --> 00:08:56,480 You'd be right because guess where we get some of this stuff from? 199 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:57,680 Leviticus. 200 00:08:57,680 --> 00:09:02,280 In fact, Paul's going to say in Ephesians, some of you are given to be pastors and apostles 201 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:07,160 and teachers and prophets and teachers and all of these different things and evangelists 202 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:14,780 to equip the body for service so that the body of Christ might be built up. 203 00:09:14,780 --> 00:09:16,760 This is the exact same idea of priesthood. 204 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:21,120 It's meant to initiate and teach how to be these things. 205 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,240 Now, I think it's really important because I think in our modern context, we're like, 206 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:26,760 oh, the pastor is the evangelist. 207 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:27,800 The pastor is the teacher. 208 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:28,800 The pastor is the prophet. 209 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,320 The pastor is the apostle. 210 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:32,840 Whatever your denomination might view those titles as. 211 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:38,420 No, the job of those people is to equip the entire body to go and be those things. 212 00:09:38,420 --> 00:09:43,600 And so you might have somebody who is very apostolic and their job is to bring the apostolic 213 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,160 into the church. 214 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,420 You might have somebody who's very prophetic and their job is to make sure that the church 215 00:09:48,420 --> 00:09:52,240 is equipped to be prophetic, to speak the truth of God into the world. 216 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:57,240 You might have somebody who is gifted in evangelism and their job is to speak that into the church 217 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,040 so that wherever you go, you tell the story of who God is. 218 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:01,040 That's so good. 219 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:02,040 Yeah. 220 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:03,040 I mean, that's the job of those people. 221 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:08,320 Now, on their level, they're also going to do that, but their main job is to equip you 222 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:09,320 to do that. 223 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:10,320 Yeah. 224 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:14,520 And when Paul's talking about this in Ephesians, and the author of Hebrews actually talks about 225 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,840 it a little bit too, but when Paul's talking about it in Ephesians, guess where he's getting 226 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:19,120 this information from? 227 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:20,120 Yeah. 228 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:21,400 Spoiler alert, Paul's a Jew. 229 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:22,400 Yeah. 230 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,600 He's getting his information from Leviticus. 231 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,320 And I think it's really important to note, I actually want to talk about a church that 232 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:29,920 I think does this especially well. 233 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,800 So in Portland, Oregon, there's a church called Bridgetown. 234 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,380 It was led for a long time by John Mark Comer. 235 00:10:34,380 --> 00:10:37,880 And I can't remember the name of the guy who is now the senior pastor there because John 236 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:41,120 Mark Comer has been associated with them for so long. 237 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,280 But he does a really good job and they've done a really good job over the last couple 238 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:49,640 of decades of not building the church, but equipping the church to go and be the church. 239 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:55,120 And John Mark Comer, as you and I have talked about, just a phenomenal teacher, good man. 240 00:10:55,120 --> 00:11:01,000 He talks a lot about just this idea of calling and gifting in his book. 241 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,420 And we're going to reference it in the show notes because I think that it's a good read 242 00:11:03,420 --> 00:11:08,320 for everybody, but it's called Garden City, about understanding the call on your life. 243 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,280 But there are churches in America who do this really well. 244 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:16,240 And so we want to point out who are doing good jobs of equipping and going and being 245 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:18,280 and loving people well. 246 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,840 Doesn't mean that everybody in their church does well, but they're doing a good job messaging 247 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:24,040 from the top down that this is who we're supposed to be. 248 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:28,080 And by the way, when you message from the top down, this is who we're supposed to be, 249 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:29,920 do you know what happens? 250 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,720 A lot of the little petty things just fade away. 251 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,920 Well, we talked about that for sure when Clint was here. 252 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:36,920 Pastor Clint was here. 253 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:41,040 He talked about if you set a precedent on how we're going to lead. 254 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaking of spoiler alerts and looking forward in the book of numbers, when we cover that, 255 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:50,600 we're going to talk about what it looks like when from the top down, the messaging is different 256 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:55,440 because it leads to chaos in the congregation, which is something we want to warn against 257 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:58,680 because there are churches who struggle with that today. 258 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:01,160 We got to get the messaging right. 259 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,400 And speaking of which, if you're in one of those churches and you're like, oh, I got 260 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:05,360 to wait for that podcast episode to come out. 261 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:10,640 The best thing you can do right now is pray for them, love them, encourage them. 262 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:11,880 Yep. 263 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:14,000 And bear with them because they're probably going to make mistakes. 264 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:15,000 It's okay. 265 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:16,000 We all will. 266 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,000 Yep. 267 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,440 We all will. 268 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:23,360 So in this section three, then it widens out to the entire nation and says, how are you 269 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,720 going to live as a kingdom of frees? 270 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,840 This is in chapters 11 through 20, this is going to be the bulk of the laws that are 271 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:34,540 given that are meant to put on display who God is. 272 00:12:34,540 --> 00:12:39,520 And a lot of these laws are actually deeply rooted in counteracting something that's going 273 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,800 on culturally around them. 274 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:46,180 There's a huge section where they talk about sexuality and everything that's being brought 275 00:12:46,180 --> 00:12:47,180 up there. 276 00:12:47,180 --> 00:12:50,800 I've had people read that and they go, why is this even written in the Bible? 277 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:57,320 It's because he's speaking into a context of what is happening then in that area. 278 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:04,180 So this outlook is how does the entire nation actually live this out? 279 00:13:04,180 --> 00:13:08,640 What are the practical day-to-day things you do to put God on display? 280 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:09,640 Yeah. 281 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:10,640 That are countercultural. 282 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:11,640 Yeah. 283 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:14,640 Which by the way, can we just take a step back? 284 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,240 It would not be a terrible idea for us to think about the exact same thing. 285 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:19,240 Yeah. 286 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,360 What things can we do today to put God on display that are countercultural? 287 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:30,800 I actually, I have for myself every Friday night to Saturday, we don't work. 288 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:32,080 Yeah. 289 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:33,760 We don't work. 290 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:39,680 We observe Sabbath, not religiously because I'm not an Orthodox Jew, but relationally, 291 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:46,120 I realize the importance of once a week pausing and seeing my worth and whose image I'm made 292 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:48,240 in and not what I can do. 293 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:54,560 Because then the other six days, my production is fueled by my identity and not by my ability. 294 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:55,560 Yeah. 295 00:13:55,560 --> 00:13:59,960 This idea of setting ourselves apart, oftentimes what we do is we get in the heart of, okay, 296 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:02,200 what's the to dos and to don'ts? 297 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,560 That's actually not what that's about. 298 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:09,840 The idea of setting yourself apart is so that you can be focused on your relationship with 299 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:15,480 Christ first and foremost, your relationship with God first and foremost. 300 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,800 And when you do that, everything else flows from that. 301 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:20,800 So good. 302 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,480 A lot of times I've had people be like, well, what about the to dos, to don'ts? 303 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,840 I've gotten to a point in my life where I'm like, I don't even focus on that anymore. 304 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:27,840 Right. 305 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,160 What I want to focus on is, okay, who is Christ in my life and how am I entering into 306 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:32,720 relationship with Him? 307 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,220 And I want everything else to flow from that. 308 00:14:35,220 --> 00:14:40,080 My earthly reputation doesn't matter because who I am and who Christ is in my life is what 309 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,560 matters. 310 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:47,200 My quote unquote production doesn't matter because who I am and who Christ is in my life 311 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:48,200 matters. 312 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:53,240 And when I get that right, everything else flows from that in such a good way that I 313 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:54,880 can't even explain. 314 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:58,640 There's a story in the Gospel of John where Jesus makes a statement. 315 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,120 He says, I am the true vine and you are the branches. 316 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,880 If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. 317 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:05,440 Apart from me, you can do nothing. 318 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:06,440 Okay. 319 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:07,440 So here's the thing. 320 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:12,680 If you are connected to Christ, that is the only criteria to producing fruit. 321 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:14,880 If you connect to Christ, fruit will come out. 322 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:15,880 Yes. 323 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,600 Now you can definitely prune those branches and produce more fruit, get better fruit, 324 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:20,600 all those different things. 325 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,360 A hundred percent. 326 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,920 If you connect to Christ, you'll produce fruit. 327 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,560 Often we have this list of to dos and to don'ts. 328 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:31,360 I have two analogies that I like to use when describing this. 329 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:39,640 If you are a sports person and you play basketball, if you are always focusing on what you shouldn't 330 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:44,600 do, you very rarely focus on what you should do. 331 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,240 Most good coaches are going to teach you how to do the right behavior. 332 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:52,180 They're going to acknowledge what the wrong behavior is. 333 00:15:52,180 --> 00:15:55,160 But what is more effective at keeping you in bounds? 334 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,800 Only focusing on where out of bounds is or trying to get to the hoop. 335 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:03,080 And then the second thing is as a musician, I'm going to use your instrument of choice, 336 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:05,200 the drums. 337 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:10,360 If you are focused on what not to do on the drum kit, you are going to mess up everything 338 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:11,720 that you're supposed to do. 339 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,120 You need to be aware of it and train those things out. 340 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:15,120 Absolutely. 341 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,180 But most of your focus needs to be focused on what I am supposed to do, not what I'm 342 00:16:19,180 --> 00:16:20,720 not supposed to do. 343 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:25,800 Otherwise it ends up just being a lot of chaos or as I like to call it, high school drumming. 344 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:26,800 Yep. 345 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:27,800 Sorry. 346 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,560 If you're a high school drummer and you're great, you're the exception. 347 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,540 Which Ben laughs at me because I constantly mix in high school drumming just to mess with 348 00:16:34,540 --> 00:16:35,760 him during church worship. 349 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:36,760 It's true. 350 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:38,920 Sometimes I'm weird going doing something and he's, hey, did you notice? 351 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:39,920 Oh yeah, I did. 352 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:40,920 Trust me, I did. 353 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:45,680 It has become especially more prominent since I started wearing both in-ears so I can hear 354 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:47,960 your drum kick and your high hat really. 355 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:48,960 Uh-huh. 356 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:49,960 Yeah. 357 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,320 So how to live as a kingdom of peace is going to be section three. 358 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,920 Section four is actually the festivals. 359 00:16:55,920 --> 00:17:01,240 God makes it very clear that his people need to know how to party. 360 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:07,920 He plans in festivals for them to remember their past, to be excited about where they've 361 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,520 come and be excited about where they're going. 362 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:16,280 And he says that if you don't observe these, it's going to be bad news bears for you. 363 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,840 Celebration is such a huge thing in scripture. 364 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:23,400 Not just in Leviticus, but throughout the whole of the Bible. 365 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,000 And we miss that so easily sometimes. 366 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:27,640 There's some churches who have it down. 367 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:28,920 Don't get me wrong. 368 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,560 Especially like churches that do those big old potluck like after church feeds. 369 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:34,280 Man, those guys know how to party. 370 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:35,280 Yeah. 371 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,240 I can't tell you how many baptisms I've been to where like the person gets baptized. 372 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:39,240 Okay, we're done. 373 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:40,240 Now we're going to go preach. 374 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:45,000 Scripture talk about how like when someone comes to know who Jesus is, like a party is 375 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,000 going off in heaven. 376 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,640 How about when Jesus says all of heaven rejoices when one sinner repents? 377 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:52,640 Yes. 378 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,200 They're like dancing. 379 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,120 Celebration is so important. 380 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:01,160 How many baptisms have you been to where like they baptize someone and then you they're 381 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:02,160 like, all right, great. 382 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,000 Now I'm going to preach a sermon. 383 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,320 No, let's party after that. 384 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:07,840 Let's have a potluck. 385 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,080 Let's have whatever is acceptable in your church. 386 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:12,520 At the very least cake. 387 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:13,700 Very least cake. 388 00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:14,800 Let's party after that. 389 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,160 Let's celebrate that they came to Jesus. 390 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:18,960 Their life is on a new trajectory. 391 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:20,400 They've had the forgiveness of sin. 392 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,700 They're living into the righteousness of God. 393 00:18:22,700 --> 00:18:24,280 That is a cause of celebration. 394 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,480 If that's not a cause of celebration, I don't know what is. 395 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:32,160 It's super important because learning how to celebrate and I think sometimes when we 396 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:36,880 say holy solemn and there's occasion for solemnness, 100%. 397 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,120 By the way, somebody commented to me that they are like, you guys say 100% a lot. 398 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:41,440 I was like, 100% we do. 399 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,160 We only say 95% of the time. 400 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,580 Yeah, like 95% of the time we say 100%. 401 00:18:45,580 --> 00:18:47,280 But holiness doesn't mean solemn. 402 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:48,680 It means set apart. 403 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,280 And we've talked about how God has a sense of humor. 404 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:52,640 God has a sense of joy. 405 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,280 He does a lot of kind of funny things throughout the Bible. 406 00:18:56,280 --> 00:19:02,780 And honestly, one of the things that is very rampant and brings a lot of joy in people 407 00:19:02,780 --> 00:19:06,740 throughout the church and the world is laughter. 408 00:19:06,740 --> 00:19:08,080 That came from somewhere. 409 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:12,060 The reason the laughter is so good is because it came from somewhere. 410 00:19:12,060 --> 00:19:15,860 Have you ever met somebody who just has such a great laugh? 411 00:19:15,860 --> 00:19:19,800 I want to be around them because they have such a great laugh and like they just enjoy 412 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:20,800 life. 413 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:21,800 Have you met those people? 414 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:22,800 I have met those people. 415 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,400 I remember there was this guy when I was growing up. 416 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,880 I don't know his name, but I remember he was the guy who delivered the best. 417 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:30,880 What's that? 418 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:31,880 It's probably for the best. 419 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:32,880 Yeah. 420 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,680 I was a kid and so it was a friend of my parents, but I remember he delivered Pepsi everywhere. 421 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:37,680 He was like the Pepsi guy. 422 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:39,520 He went and refilled machines. 423 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:45,120 That guy had the biggest smile on his face all the time. 424 00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:49,400 And I guarantee if that guy never said a word about Jesus, he was spreading the joy of the 425 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,720 Lord everywhere, but he was saying things about Jesus. 426 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,960 And so learning how to party, learning how to remember and learning how to rejoice in 427 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,640 the things that happen are a really big deal. 428 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:01,120 There is a place for solemnness. 429 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:06,580 I think on the other side, sometimes churches forget that it's okay to lament. 430 00:20:06,580 --> 00:20:07,700 It's okay to be sad. 431 00:20:07,700 --> 00:20:10,480 You can have the joy of the Lord and still be sad. 432 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:15,920 I think about Corey Tim Boone or about Diedrich Bonhoeffer. 433 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,200 They have the joy of the Lord in the middle of these World War II concentration camps, 434 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:21,200 but it's not like they're happy. 435 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,400 They're not just sitting there being like, woohoo, it's a dark situation. 436 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:32,480 But that's the beauty of the joy of the Lord is that in chaos, in sadness, in lament, you're 437 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,320 still filled with hope. 438 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,540 And Paul lived this out. 439 00:20:36,540 --> 00:20:41,400 You can see that in his writings where he wrote a lot of his letters from prison expressing 440 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,080 how joyful he was for the people. 441 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:49,880 Then I want to talk about the last section of Leviticus and it's caring for the oppressed, 442 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:57,120 which is just the bomb that is dropped on Israel at the end. 443 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:03,180 Because the oppressed, the outside, the weak, those are people that you just leave to fend 444 00:21:03,180 --> 00:21:06,520 for themselves and you just push them to the outside. 445 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,880 But God's like, nope, these are the people that you put right in the middle of everything 446 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,000 that you're doing. 447 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:15,560 These are the people you protect. 448 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:20,280 And he specifically says you need to take care of widow orphans and foreigners because 449 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,120 that's what you were when you were in Egypt. 450 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:29,220 When I brought you out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, I the Lord your God 451 00:21:29,220 --> 00:21:31,320 who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 452 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:36,040 When you were a widow, an orphan and a foreigner, it's important that you remember where you 453 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,040 came from because otherwise you're going to forget the people that God actually puts in 454 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:40,760 your path. 455 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:45,280 So end of James when James says true religion is this to care for the widow and orphaned. 456 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:46,280 Yeah. 457 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:50,360 A lot of people don't realize, but he's actually pulling that from Leviticus. 458 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:51,360 Correct. 459 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:53,720 And many other places, but definitely Leviticus. 460 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:54,720 Yeah. 461 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:55,720 Yeah. 462 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,840 I mean, this idea of caring for an orphan and widow isn't just in Leviticus and James. 463 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,100 It's all throughout scripture. 464 00:22:01,100 --> 00:22:04,000 That's one of the places James does get this from. 465 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,880 And it's crazy when you look at this text because God is giving them this law. 466 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:13,760 We look at it today and we're like, oh, it's oppressive and it's patriarchal and it's blah, 467 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:16,800 blah, blah, blah, blah, everywhere that you can think of it's racist. 468 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:17,940 It's misogynistic. 469 00:22:17,940 --> 00:22:18,940 It's sexist. 470 00:22:18,940 --> 00:22:21,640 It is just choose the word that you're going to put in here. 471 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:22,640 I've heard them all. 472 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:23,640 Yeah. 473 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,240 Which is not true at all because you contrast those with the laws of the day. 474 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:28,640 It's incredibly progressive. 475 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:29,680 Yeah. 476 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,960 And not progressive in like, stop thinking in political terms. 477 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:33,960 Yes. 478 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:34,960 We're not talking about politics. 479 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:40,800 It is progressive in that it is treating people with love and compassion and dignity. 480 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:41,800 Yeah. 481 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,160 It's not progressive in pushing an agenda except that the heart of God is being put 482 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:46,160 on display. 483 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:47,160 Yep. 484 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:48,160 Yep. 485 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:55,720 And it's difficult for us because we read Leviticus in a vacuum in our 21st century 486 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,360 life in another language, in a different culture, in a different time. 487 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:04,960 You can't even take Leviticus now and go read it in Hebrew in Israel and really understand 488 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:05,960 the context. 489 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:09,680 You've got to understand the context of when it was actually written. 490 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,560 And that's going to take up a whole nother like four podcast episodes someday. 491 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:14,560 Yeah. 492 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:15,760 Because there's so much to that. 493 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,920 So much to that. 494 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:22,000 I'm actually going to recommend a mini series here on context. 495 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:28,640 So Brad Gray, who runs walkingthetext.com, has a series that he talks about the six lenses 496 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:30,520 of context. 497 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:34,480 If you're listening to us talking about context, you're like, how do you even get into this? 498 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,080 That is a really good entry point. 499 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:40,680 Brad is a very patient, gentle teacher as he goes through that. 500 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:45,340 And it's incredibly helpful to just hear what he has to say about how you can have these 501 00:23:45,340 --> 00:23:49,160 lenses and how it actually breathes life into what's going on in scripture. 502 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:50,160 Yeah. 503 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,000 And we are also going to continue to recommend the Bible Project. 504 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,000 Yes. 505 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,400 And there's actually a new book recommendation for me because we're going to be getting into 506 00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,080 the sacrificial system. 507 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:05,440 There is a book by a messianic Jewish teacher called What About the Sacrifices by D. Thomas 508 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:06,440 Lancaster. 509 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:07,440 Yeah. 510 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:12,440 And you're not going to like everything in that book, but I think you're going to find 511 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,720 a lot of helpful tidbits on what does the sacrificial system actually represent. 512 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:21,320 So when Jesus comes and steps into it, how are we supposed to see that? 513 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:24,320 And we're going to talk about that in a couple of weeks. 514 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:25,320 Yeah. 515 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:26,320 All right. 516 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:27,320 So we made it to the chiasm. 517 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:28,320 We made it there. 518 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:29,320 I refrained. 519 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:31,760 I bit my tongue, but we're here now. 520 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:32,760 You refrained. 521 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:34,240 You talked about it like four times. 522 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:35,240 Yeah. 523 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,800 I could have talked about it eight times. 524 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:39,280 Yeah. 525 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:45,440 Like we said, the book of Leviticus is one giant chiasm, meaning you don't read it in 526 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:46,440 a linear fashion. 527 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,480 You have to understand it as a whole. 528 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:49,480 Yeah. 529 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,880 And before you kind of go through it, let's remind them what a chiasm is. 530 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:58,960 So it's a Middle Eastern writing style where instead of putting the points, we would do 531 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,260 intro, exit, points in the middle. 532 00:25:01,260 --> 00:25:03,280 The way they would actually do it is mirror text. 533 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,400 Think of it as section A, section B, section C, section B, section A. And the point of 534 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:11,440 the story is actually, and what's driving all of it is placed in the middle. 535 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,000 That's not to say other parts aren't important, but the crux of the argument, the crux of 536 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,080 the importance is actually in the middle of the story. 537 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:19,440 That's the goal that's buried. 538 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:20,440 Yeah. 539 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,720 So in Leviticus, you kind of have it running like this. 540 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:28,520 Chapters one through seven talks about rituals of redemption. 541 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,480 Chapters eight through 10 talks about the priesthood. 542 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,440 Eleven through 15 talks about the holiness code. 543 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:35,440 Okay. 544 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,500 And then chapter 16 talks about the day of atonement. 545 00:25:38,500 --> 00:25:42,200 So you have A, B, C, D right there. 546 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:43,400 Okay. 547 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:47,960 And then 17 through 20 talks about the holiness code. 548 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,600 So we're back to C. Okay. 549 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:59,000 21, 22, priesthood, we're back to B. Rituals and redemption, 23 through 27, we're back 550 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,800 to A. 551 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:06,160 So if you noticed, your bookends are going to be these rituals of redemption. 552 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,380 One, how do you make sure you're right with God? 553 00:26:08,380 --> 00:26:10,280 And then how do you make sure you're right with everybody? 554 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:11,280 Yeah. 555 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:15,760 The interesting thing about chiasms, this is actually a teaching by Rabbi David Foreman, 556 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:19,180 who we're also going to recommend at alethbeta.org. 557 00:26:19,180 --> 00:26:25,120 He talks about how the sections of the chiasm, both of the sides, yes, they mirror each other, 558 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:27,080 but they also speak into each other. 559 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:28,080 Yes. 560 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,000 And so a lot of times if you don't understand one side of the chiasm, look for the other 561 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,480 side and you may actually have some context that helps you connect those ideas. 562 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,560 There's a really fascinating teachings that we talked about in Genesis one, right? 563 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:46,320 So the connection is you'd be like, okay, I see that there is the sky, but how does 564 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:48,360 that connect to later in the chiasm? 565 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:52,520 Because the sun, moon and stars are placed in the sky that's been separated. 566 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:57,000 So you have this whole idea of separation and filling and they connect directly. 567 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,600 So in this case, you have the rituals of redemption. 568 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:00,600 How are we right with God? 569 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:01,760 How are we right with other people? 570 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,620 What does it look like for the priesthood here? 571 00:27:03,620 --> 00:27:06,720 What does it look like for the priesthood as they then reach out, right? 572 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:08,640 What is the holiness code amongst ourselves? 573 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,120 What is the holiness code as we interact with other people coming down to this point of 574 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:14,080 the day of atonement, right? 575 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,280 So the day of atonement, once again, atonement is a fancy word that means being right with 576 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:18,280 God. 577 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,080 And by the way, I can just hear somebody getting on their keyboard. 578 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,200 They're like, that's not like atonement is so much bigger. 579 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:24,200 Okay. 580 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:25,320 I'm trying to simplify it here. 581 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:29,280 Atonement is simply about being right with God. 582 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:35,280 And so this story, this book of Leviticus, it centers on atonement before God and being 583 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:36,280 made right. 584 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:41,040 The whole point of this book and everything in it is God is saying it's possible to be 585 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,200 right with me and it's not difficult. 586 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:44,200 Yeah. 587 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:49,360 He is looking for a restoration of relationship, not for you to just obey a bunch of rules. 588 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:50,360 Yeah. 589 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:52,880 So you got to read it in that lens. 590 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:53,880 Look at it in that lens. 591 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:55,320 Understand it from that lens. 592 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:56,600 Take time to know it from that lens. 593 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,800 And you're going to find that this book is vastly different than you realized. 594 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:07,200 I suspect that even in our poll, if people have talked to Leviticus, that their main 595 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,360 takeaway isn't that God wants relationship with humanity. 596 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:14,160 Growing up in the church, and I'm not talking about my pastors, but growing up in the church, 597 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:20,960 the idea of the law of the Old Testament was God says, do this or else. 598 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,840 This is what was beat into my head, like through various teachings over and over again. 599 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,640 And I want to have a ton of patience with the people who spoke because I believe that 600 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:30,400 they were trying to speak the words of God. 601 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:31,400 Yeah. 602 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,440 Just like we want to have patience with the Pharisees in the time of Jesus, because they're 603 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,480 trying really hard to bring the kingdom. 604 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,080 They're just missing the point. 605 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:41,240 And Jesus has tons of patience with them. 606 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,240 We worked with them for three years. 607 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:44,240 Yeah. 608 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:51,800 This idea that God is angry with you is going to color everything that you read, everything. 609 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:54,080 Like we've already seen this multiple times in Torah. 610 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:59,560 If you assume that God is mad, you're going to come away with the wrong conclusions. 611 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,720 And oftentimes we mix up the fact that God is angry with sin. 612 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:04,720 Absolutely. 613 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,360 That he's because he's angry with sin, he's angry with you. 614 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,040 Those are two different things actually. 615 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:17,320 Like God's hatred of sin is different than his anger spilled out towards us individually. 616 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:23,400 He hates sin so much that he created a way for that to be forgiven, be done with and 617 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:25,680 dealt with. 618 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:27,080 And it makes a ton of sense. 619 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:31,600 Let's just take that analogy from God to humanity, from parents to children. 620 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:39,120 If I see my kids doing things that are going to hurt them over and over again, let's pick 621 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,760 something that's known to cause health problems. 622 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:43,760 Cigarettes. 623 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:44,760 You kids smoke? 624 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:45,760 No. 625 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,960 My four year old, he's just chaining them up. 626 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,000 But let's just talk about like cigarettes, right? 627 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:56,360 And I was like, so if my kid smokes cigarettes and I see the effects on his health, I'm going 628 00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:00,040 to hate cigarettes. 629 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:01,040 I don't hate my kid. 630 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:05,640 I hate what cigarettes are doing to my kid because I know what they're doing like health 631 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,920 wise and like addiction wise to his body. 632 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:11,960 I understand what they're doing to him. 633 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,640 And I'm like, I need to get these cigarettes away from him. 634 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:16,440 You might even hate the choices he's making. 635 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:17,680 He's making poor choices. 636 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,160 You might even hate that, but it doesn't change the fact that you love your kid. 637 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:25,680 Oh, I love my kid desperately, but I got to get those cigarettes away from him. 638 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:26,680 Yeah. 639 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:28,400 At least if I want him to have a healthy life. 640 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:29,520 Yeah. 641 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:33,400 And so like, we're not unfamiliar with this concept as parents. 642 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,080 Like we love our kids and we want the best for them. 643 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:37,080 Guess what? 644 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:38,840 God loves you and he wants the best for you. 645 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,520 And that's why we have to talk about this because I think a lot of people, maybe you 646 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,840 listener think that God is mad with you and he's not. 647 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:47,800 You think that God hates you and he doesn't. 648 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:48,800 No. 649 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:54,760 I think that sometimes we've bungled the presentation of Jesus that we say God was so mad, but Jesus 650 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:55,920 came and saved us. 651 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:57,680 But that's not what the Bible tells us. 652 00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:59,960 It says God so loved the world that he gave. 653 00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:01,120 First he gave Israel. 654 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:02,200 Yeah. 655 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:07,880 And then Jesus as a representative of Israel, who is God made flesh, comes down to take 656 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:14,480 all sin, all shame, all abuse and take it to the grave and forever change our nature 657 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,560 if we just trust him. 658 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:18,360 And he doesn't do this because he hates you. 659 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,240 He does this because he hates what's killing you. 660 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:22,560 Correct. 661 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,600 There's a distinction there that we have to get right. 662 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:27,520 He is going to crush the serpent. 663 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:28,520 Yeah. 664 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:29,920 He's not going to crush you. 665 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:30,920 Yeah. 666 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,160 But at the same time, we've talked about this. 667 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,200 There is a table you're being invited to. 668 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:37,200 Yeah. 669 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,320 He will not force you to come to this table. 670 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:40,440 Nope. 671 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:47,160 Because I think we've talked about this, but when you don't come of your own volition, 672 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:48,440 then it's not love. 673 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:49,440 No. 674 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:54,120 And God is saying, I have everything you need here, but you got to come to the table. 675 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:55,120 Yeah. 676 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:59,120 I've made a great feast, but if you don't pull up to the table, you can't eat. 677 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:00,120 Yeah. 678 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:04,800 So circling back to Leviticus here, but you need to understand the culture Israelites 679 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:05,800 were living in. 680 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:06,800 Okay. 681 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:08,880 You need to understand the surrounding cultures. 682 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:12,840 You don't need to go into a super deep dive on that, but you want to understand some bullet 683 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:13,840 points. 684 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:14,840 Yeah. 685 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:17,560 Because there's actually a section in here when he's talking about in the holiness code 686 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,560 where he talks about what is going to happen to somebody that's part of their community 687 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:23,280 who passes their kid through the fire. 688 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:24,280 Yeah. 689 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:25,280 Okay. 690 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:31,400 Now, if you are unfamiliar with that terminology, that means that you sacrifice... 691 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,160 I'm going to go ahead and just explain it because I think it's important for us. 692 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:35,160 Yeah. 693 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:36,160 Okay. 694 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:38,440 If you're unfamiliar with that terminology, I'm going to explain to you what the worship 695 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,800 of Molech entailed really quickly. 696 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:46,520 So I'm going to just forewarn anybody who struggles with descriptions. 697 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:47,680 Just go ahead and end the podcast here. 698 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,760 We don't have that much more and just go read up on it. 699 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:56,160 The worship of Molech involved a statue that they would build of metal and they would put 700 00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:01,040 a bunch of fire inside of the statue until it was so hot. 701 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,960 And then there were hands that were out in front, like two hands together that were like 702 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:06,480 for receiving an altar. 703 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,520 Now normal worship of Molech is you would just put your sacrifices in, the hot metal 704 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,320 would cause smoke to rise up, all those different things. 705 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,200 But the worship of Molech passing through the fire that they're talking about is they 706 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:23,720 would actually take children and they would place them in the hands of Molech alive. 707 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:28,440 They would burn them and they would actually come down and eventually come into the fire. 708 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,440 This is called passing your children through the fire. 709 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:38,080 And the scream of the child as they were screaming in agony is called the smile of Molech. 710 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,560 I shouldn't have to explain to you that God hates that. 711 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,160 All we have to say is God hates that. 712 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:44,160 I hate that. 713 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,720 Yeah, me too. 714 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:51,480 But God loves even those people. 715 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:56,280 And so he is sending Israel to be a story to put it on display because I think that 716 00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:00,460 you can probably draw the modern parallel of what we deal with the worship of Molech. 717 00:34:00,460 --> 00:34:04,300 And your job is not to break down the altars of Molech. 718 00:34:04,300 --> 00:34:08,080 Your job is to put a different story on display of the redemption of Jesus Christ through 719 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:14,400 mankind and through our example, through our life, through the way that we are counter-cultural, 720 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,840 we put the moral law and the goodness of God on display for a world that is desperate for 721 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:20,960 something that actually brings life. 722 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,100 Yeah. 723 00:34:23,100 --> 00:34:27,880 No more worship of Molech, but we are still called to minister to those who are caught 724 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:29,480 up in Molech worship. 725 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:35,640 And so the interesting thing about Leviticus is what a lot of what's happening here is 726 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:42,720 God saying, Hey, you don't need to cause pain, harm, hurt, death to those around you. 727 00:34:42,720 --> 00:34:45,560 Here's a way of life. 728 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:46,560 That's what's going on in Leviticus. 729 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:53,080 He's let me show you a way to live that produces life. 730 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,280 Who wouldn't want to hear that message in that day and age? 731 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:57,280 Yeah. 732 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:01,960 The law is meant to speak to their current circumstance and bring them to a place where 733 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:07,880 they can be healthier, more ethical, and people who put the story of God on display. 734 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:12,460 There's a lot of research that has been done that if you actually followed the laws put 735 00:35:12,460 --> 00:35:16,280 in Leviticus in the nomadic culture of the Israelites, so not in modern context, but 736 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:22,080 in their context, your people would have lived longer, they would have grown stronger, and 737 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:27,320 they would have been transformative to their area because their laws would have been so 738 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:28,920 different. 739 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,880 It's almost like God knows what he's doing. 740 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:32,880 Yeah. 741 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,320 So next week, we're going to be jumping into the sacrificial system offerings. 742 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:37,840 Why does it matter to us? 743 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,960 We're actually going to be talking a lot about the sacrificial system as it's currently set 744 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:41,960 up. 745 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,320 If you want to get ahead of me on that, check out that book, D Thomas Lancaster, What About 746 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:46,320 the Sacrifices? 747 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,160 It's a short 80 page read. 748 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,160 It's good. 749 00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:52,680 We're going to reference some of that and it's going to be a lot of fun. 750 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:53,960 Hopefully you guys are already getting excited. 751 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:58,640 I love Leviticus because as soon as I understood what it was, I started finding gold left and 752 00:35:58,640 --> 00:35:59,640 right. 753 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:00,640 Yeah. 754 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:04,360 So you can find us, you've heard us say this a number of times, but here we go again. 755 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,960 You can find us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and a lot of other places, but those are the 756 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:09,160 main three. 757 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:12,720 You can email us, loveincontext at gmail.com. 758 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:13,720 That's a good song. 759 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:15,640 Also, you can find us on YouTube now at loveincontext. 760 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:17,240 We have a channel. 761 00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:18,240 Yep. 762 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:19,240 We'd love to hear from you. 763 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:24,960 At the end of Leviticus, we are going to do a Q&A, so please send us any questions you 764 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:25,960 have. 765 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,240 You can send those in at any point as we're going through Leviticus. 766 00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:34,680 And so just send us those questions and we would love to answer those as best we can. 767 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:35,680 All right. 768 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:36,680 God bless. 769 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:38,160 Thank you so much for listening today. 770 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:43,680 We hope you enjoyed this podcast and we hope that you got something out of it. 771 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:50,120 If you have any questions, please contact us at loveincontext at gmail.com. 772 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:54,040 You can also follow us on Instagram and message us through there. 773 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,040 Instagram is love and context. 774 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:02,800 And loveincontext at gmail.com or Instagram are the two ways to get ahold of us if you 775 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:03,800 would like. 776 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:05,080 Thank you once again. 777 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,360 We really appreciate you being here. 778 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,360 God bless. 779 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:12,360 Leviticus. 780 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:17,680 Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check. 781 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:23,640 So like we said, the Book of Leviticus, like we said. 782 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:28,960 I remember he delivered pizza or pizza. 783 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:29,960 Sorry. 784 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:31,600 I remember he delivered Pepsi. 785 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:33,080 Is that sharp cheddar? 786 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:35,600 Extra sharp white, extra sharp white cheddar. 787 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,320 Yeah. 788 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,040 That is a flavor, Nick. 789 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,240 It is a flavor. 790 00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:44,000 When he said that cheese is not a flavor, I was like, I think you're just eating the 791 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:45,000 wrong kind of cheese. 792 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:46,280 You have some extra sharp white cheddar. 793 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:47,920 You're like, I don't need any other cheese. 794 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:50,920 I don't need to put this with anything.