Romans 5:8 says, "God shows his great love for us in this way. Christ died for us while we were still sinners."
A friend of mine tells of the man who set out to adopt a troubled teenage girl. One would question the father's logic. The girl was destructive, disobedient and dishonest. One day she ransacked the house looking for money. By the time he arrived, she was gone and the house was in shambles. Friends urged him not to finalize the adoption. "Let her go," they said. "After all, she's not really your daughter." His response was simply, "Yes, I know. But I told her she was."
God, too, has made a covenant to adopt his people. It's one thing to love us when we're strong, obedient and willing. But when we ransack his house and steal what is his? This is the test of love. And God passes the test.
From In the Grip of Grace
Leviticus 6
The Lord said to Moses: 2 “If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, 3 or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit— 4 when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, 5 or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. 6 And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”
The Burnt Offering
8 The Lord said to Moses: 9 “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. 10 The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. 11 Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. 12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. 13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.
The Grain Offering
14 “‘These are the regulations for the grain offering: Aaron’s sons are to bring it before the Lord, in front of the altar. 15 The priest is to take a handful of the finest flour and some olive oil, together with all the incense on the grain offering, and burn the memorial[b] portion on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 16 Aaron and his sons shall eat the rest of it, but it is to be eaten without yeast in the sanctuary area; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. 17 It must not be baked with yeast; I have given it as their share of the food offerings presented to me. Like the sin offering[c] and the guilt offering, it is most holy. 18 Any male descendant of Aaron may eat it. For all generations to come it is his perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord. Whatever touches them will become holy.[d]’”
19 The Lord also said to Moses, 20 “This is the offering Aaron and his sons are to bring to the Lord on the day he[e] is anointed: a tenth of an ephah[f] of the finest flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. 21 It must be prepared with oil on a griddle; bring it well-mixed and present the grain offering broken[g] in pieces as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 22 The son who is to succeed him as anointed priest shall prepare it. It is the Lord’s perpetual share and is to be burned completely. 23 Every grain offering of a priest shall be burned completely; it must not be eaten.”
The Sin Offering
24 The Lord said to Moses, 25 “Say to Aaron and his sons: ‘These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the Lord in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. 26 The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in the sanctuary area, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. 27 Whatever touches any of the flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in the sanctuary area. 28 The clay pot the meat is cooked in must be broken; but if it is cooked in a bronze pot, the pot is to be scoured and rinsed with water. 29 Any male in a priest’s family may eat it; it is most holy. 30 But any sin offering whose blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place must not be eaten; it must be burned up.
Leviticus 6:1 In Hebrew texts 6:1-7 is numbered 5:20-26, and 6:8-30 is numbered 6:1-23.
Leviticus 6:15 Or representative
Leviticus 6:17 Or purification offering; also in verses 25 and 30
Leviticus 6:18 Or Whoever touches them must be holy; similarly in verse 27
Leviticus 6:20 Or each
Leviticus 6:20 That is, probably about 3 1/2 pounds or about 1.6 kilograms
Leviticus 6:21 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Read: 2 Samuel 1:17-27
David’s Lament for Saul and Jonathan
David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):
19 “A gazelle[a] lies slain on your heights, Israel.
How the mighty have fallen!
20 “Tell it not in Gath,
proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.
21 “Mountains of Gilboa,
may you have neither dew nor rain,
may no showers fall on your terraced fields.[b]
For there the shield of the mighty was despised,
the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.
22 “From the blood of the slain,
from the flesh of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,
the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied.
23 Saul and Jonathan—
in life they were loved and admired,
and in death they were not parted.
They were swifter than eagles,
they were stronger than lions.
24 “Daughters of Israel,
weep for Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and finery,
who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.
25 “How the mighty have fallen in battle!
Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
26 I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
you were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful,
more wonderful than that of women.
27 “How the mighty have fallen!
The weapons of war have perished!”
Footnotes:
2 Samuel 1:19 Gazelle here symbolizes a human dignitary.
2 Samuel 1:21 Or / nor fields that yield grain for offerings
Insight
Although Saul had treated David as his enemy, David did not treat Saul as his. When Saul and his son Jonathan died in battle, David honored them in the song in today’s passage, which opens and closes with the refrain “How the mighty have fallen!” (vv.19,27).
An Emergency Of The Spirit
By David C. McCasland
David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. —2 Samuel 1:17
In March 2011, a devastating tsunami struck Japan, taking nearly 16,000 lives as it obliterated towns and villages along the coast. Writer and poet Gretel Erlich visited Japan to witness and document the destruction. When she felt inadequate to report what she was seeing, she wrote a poem about it. In a PBS NewsHour interview she said, “My old friend William Stafford, a poet now gone, said, ‘A poem is an emergency of the spirit.’”
We find poetry used throughout the Bible to express deep emotion, ranging from joyful praise to anguished loss. When King Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in battle, David was overwhelmed with grief (2 Sam. 1:1-12). He poured out his soul in a poem he called “the Song of the Bow”: “Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided. . . . How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! . . . I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; you have been very pleasant to me” (vv.23-26).
When we face “an emergency of the spirit”—whether glad or sad—our prayers can be a poem to the Lord. While we may stumble to articulate what we feel, our heavenly Father hears our words as a true expression of our hearts.
Sometimes I do not pray in words—
I take my heart in my two hands
And hold it up before the Lord—
I am so glad He understands. —Nicholson
God does more than hear words; He reads hearts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
The Missionary’s Goal
He . . . said to them, ’Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem . . . ’ —Luke 18:31
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him—”. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . .” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”
“. . . there they crucified Him . . .” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ’up to Jerusalem.’ “
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Be Careful, It's a Permanent Marker - #7227
It was time for the annual Prayer and Planning Retreat for our ministry team. And someone offered their large farmhouse to us. So we took them up on it. We drove out in the country, hauled in our suitcases, and our bags of groceries, and our files, and our bags of groceries, and our flip charts, and our easel, and our bags of groceries.
Now, one of our team, Ryan, was setting up our dry erase board for us; the kind you write on with a dry erase marker. This was a brand new board; we kind of just got it for this occasion, and it was ready for our great ideas to be written on it. And so, Ryan decided once that he set it up, he'd try it out. So he grabbed a marker and drew an amusing cartoon of us, and everybody gathered around. While we were having a good laugh, somebody said, "You didn't use the permanent marker did you?" There was this very long, awkward silence followed by a very long groan, and then, "I'm so sorry." Poor guy! He really thought it could be erased. I don't think the word permanent ever occurred to him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Be Careful, It's a Permanent Marker."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 51. Right out of the very personal diary of King David after his adultery with someone else's wife, a woman named Bathsheba. He says, "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." He's hurting badly. "For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight." In verse 7 he says, "Cleanse me and I will be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow." How he so wants to be clean again!
Verse 12, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." I don't know how good the thrill was with that woman, but it didn't last long. But the bill haunted David a long time after the thrill was gone. Sin is always like that. It promises to give you so much before you do it and then it takes so much from you after you do it.
We know David was forgiven. He says in Psalm 32, "You forgave the guilt of my sin." But the scars remained. See, sin is a permanent marker. You have no idea the marks it will leave on your relationships with others, your sense of worth, your reputation, people's trust in you.
It could be right now you're looking at something that's out-of-bounds spiritually and it's tempting. It would be easy to give in to that temptation and to tell less than the truth, or to hurt that person who has hurt you, or to get even. Maybe it's tempting to give in sexually, or to watch or listen to something that is dirty. Or you just let your anger or bitterness win.
But first, would you get your calculator out and add up the bill? It can't be that good; not when you see how much it will cost you long after the brief benefits of that sin are gone. You say, "Ron, the marks are already there." Well, realize that the most deadly marks of all are the record of your sins in God's spiritual accounting book. And those were erased at the cross where Jesus went to the hell that you and I deserve.
Acts 3:19 says, "Repent and turn to God, and your sins will be washed away." And His forgiveness is total. It's eternal because of the nail prints, the permanent marks in His hands and feet; the price He paid to forgive you--His unfathomable love. Forgiveness makes us clean before God. But don't forget, if you just think you will abuse that grace the scars still remain.
We forgave Ryan when he made those marks on that board. Our relationship was okay, but it didn't make the marks go away. Sin could be forgiven, but its consequences may be there until we see Jesus. And you just can't afford those marks.
Maybe you've never even had that day where you've had your sins forgiven by God once and for all, and had the spiritual shower that only the Man who died for them can give you. You know what it is to feel dirty inside and you're ready to feel clean. You're ready to be forgiven. Would you go to our website and let me show you there how to get that to happen in your life; how to begin that relationship? It's ANewStory.com.
My coworker had no idea that the result of putting those little marks on the board could not be erased-permanent marker, just like sin. When you do it God's way there are no regrets and there are no marks that you can't erase.