What does it really mean to be holy? Leviticus takes holiness out of the temple and into every corner of life, challenging God's people to stand apart from the culture around them.
-
As we see the repetition of "I am the Lord", how does that help to see God's character in these instructions?
How do these chapters point us towards Christ's own love for his neighbour?
How do these chapters both encourage and challenge you to love your neighbour as yourself this week?
-
This episode has been made possible because of you — our wonderful listeners!
A little while ago, we invited you to help us keep the kettle on by donating the cost of a cuppa, so that we could continue creating this podcast. This season is the result of the incredible generosity of so many of you who joined our ‘Keep the Kettle On’ campaign.
We are so thankful for the many ways you support Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea — through praying for us, listening along, sharing episodes with others, engaging with us, and giving financially. Your encouragement means so much & enables us to keep encouraging, equipping and modelling what it can look like to open up the Bible in everyday life.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us!
-
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Felicity: Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea, the Bible study podcast for everyday life. Each week we spend 20 minutes over tea and biscuits exploring God's word together. Every season we slowly work through a Bible book and helping one another understand it and apply it to everyday life. Right now we're in Leviticus and wherever you're listening from, we're delighted you're here. Now, this whole season has been enabled by the kind and generous partnership of our listeners. We're so grateful.
Sarah: Welcome to Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea. My name is Sarah. I'm here in the UK. I'm here with Felicity, my sister. She's in the USA. And today we're jumping into Leviticus chapters 18, 19 and 20. We will be reading chapter 19 as we do that. Felicity, before we get there, we're coming across some very famous verses today about loving our neighbor. How does your mug choice play into how you love your neighbor?
Felicity: I mean this is a very specific question, isn't it, Sarah? And it's funny I
Sarah: A question from a listener, no less!
Felicity: Really? Well, I love that because I actually do think quite carefully when someone over comes over for a cup of tea, I do think quite carefully which mug I'm gonna give them. And I am quite particular about the mugs that I use from our plethora of mugs. I'm really not sure we need all of them because I only like a few of them, and I know my husband only likes a few of them. But I I do think, well, I'll I'll sacrificially give this person my favourite mug today. I am fairly sure they don't appreciate it because who thinks about mug choice in the same way as I do?
Sarah: I would absolutely agree with you on that one though, I think it's a really important thing. I'm actually going to give you my nice mug here and it's not stained on the inside and it's a nice thin china and it you know just yeah I think it's a good
Felicity: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So any if anyone's listening who comes to either of our houses, know what is going on as we serve you. You are, you are loved. Now, one of the things, Sarah, we've just again and again been talking about is the very fact that we talk about the Bible. Like as we're in these chapters in Leviticus, whatever book of the Bible we're in, we just can't speak highly enough of the value of talking together, of conversation around these things.
Sarah: Yeah, it's just been so forming for us, hasn't it? I think we've batted ideas back and forth, we've come with our questions, we've kind of just got all the puzzles, all the kind of like, huh, what do we do there? And I'm still sitting with this and I don't really understand why it's there and light bulb moments. We've had some light bulb moments, haven't we? Like, did you get it? Did you see it? And just the value of doing it together with others, particularly when it's a hard book that feels unfamiliar, I think is, yeah, we can't rate it highly enough, we?
Felicity: Yeah. Yeah. So really do grab a friend, give them your favourite mug. Invite them over.
Sarah: With an invitation to Leviticus around the mug handle saying come read Leviticus with me that's what you want to do.
Felicity: That's the winning invitation for sure.
Sarah: So what we're going to do today is we're going to get into chapter 19 and read that but before we get there I'm just going to read a few verses from the start of chapter 18 to kind of help us set the scene it says this:
The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.
So just a really foundational few verses helping us to see the contrast between Egypt where they were and Canaan where they're heading to and what the Lord calls them to and how he calls them to be distinctive. 25 mentions in these three, chapters 18, 19 and 20 of the phrase, I am the Lord your God. So everything that we're reading is in relation to who they are as the Lord's people. So chapter 18 runs through specifically what it looks like to be set apart in our sex lives, what it looks like to be holy to the Lord in how we treat one another. We're not going to go into detail on it now, but as you see it, as you read it, notice how seen and how kind of aware the Lord is of women in this chapter. These commands are there to protect the vulnerable. They're there to protect the women, the wives, the sisters, the daughters. They are seen. They are cared for by these laws. And I just think it's really important to see that. And actually God's view of women in Leviticus is reflective of what we see here. Chapters 20 detail some of the punishments for not obeying his law in relation to sexual sin, because sexual sin impacts the corporate body. It's not just a personal thing. That's a very brief whistle stop to what's going on there. Felicity, you're going to read for us chapter 19 and we'll get into a few more of these things.
Felicity: Absolutely. Chapter nineteen.
The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, and say to them, Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God. When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day. Anything left over until the third day must be burned. If any of it is eaten on the third day it is impure and will not be accepted. Whoever eats it will be held responsible because they have desecrated what is holy to the Lord, they must be cut off from their people. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. Do not steal, do not lie, do not deceive one another, do not swear falsely by my name, and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Do not defraud or rob your neighbour. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not pervert justice. Do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour's life, I am the Lord. Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so that you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord. Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals, do not plant your field with two kinds of seed, do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death because she had not been freed. The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the tent of meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord. With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven. When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden, it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, in this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God. Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. Do not practice divination or seek omens. Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord. Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly, and revere your God. I am the Lord. When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill treat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native born, love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord.
Isn't the subheading that is in our Bible, and I'm sure in most people's, it's such a disservice to this chapter. It might not be what yours says, but mine says various laws. Like what? What an anemic statement.
Sarah: Yes, I know. I know it's so disappointing, isn't it? I know. And what's really obvious, I think, you walk that through, as you just read that through again, and as we're kind of hearing that. So far in Leviticus, we've kind of heard a lot about the Tabernacle. We've heard a lot about the holy things, the holy places, and the holy space where God dwells. Holiness doesn't stay there. And I think it seems here that we've really kind of come across a part of scripture where it just kind of really helps us to see that holiness impacts every part of life. And there's no divide between the sacred and the secular here. This all of life is about being holy here, isn't it? Be holy because I the Lord, your God, I'm holy. And then all of life is kind of then kind of talked about, isn't it?
Felicity: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I and that repetition, I am the Lord, I am the Lord. And so He is Lord of every nook and cranny of our lives. And that is I I love that connection. And and I we say it all the time, I think, in the sense of, yeah, be holy because the Lord is holy. That's what's said here, that's what first Peter quotes as well. But actually, as we seek to be holy. As we seek to be obedient to the commands that God has given, we're reflecting the holiness of the Lord. And as we've been seeing all the way through Leviticus, the heart of the Lord is beautiful. In fact, the holiness of the Lord is glorious. And so as we walk in obedience to Him, we are reflecting that beauty. I think that as I've been in these chapters in Leviticus, my understanding of holiness has just shifted, I think, from possibly seeing it as a bit of a burden, like, how could anyone possibly meet these standards to actually a desirable kind of attribute of life? I would want to be holy because the Lord is beautiful.
Sarah: Yeah, and the way that he commands holiness is beautiful, isn't it? So we have in verse three, it actually involves just a loving family, respect within the family, it involves rest. It involves not any further down, verse 11, not stealing or lying, deceiving one another. It involves actually being generous with what you have towards the outsider, to the foreigner, to the widow. It involves justice. It involves, well as we see in verse 18, it's love your neighbour as yourself. This is, it's a beautiful picture isn't it of God's loving kindness worked out in the lives of his people towards those around them. I think as you kind of start to put flesh on it like that and you don't just read it as commands but you read it as kind of in fleshed life.
Felicity: Yeah, and it's it's kind of interrelational, isn't it? Like that everything that we're seeing, that literal that kind of love your neighbour, as we love God, love your neighbour. And the impact of that. If and there are there are some slightly random ones in here where you're like, what are you talking about? Why is that coming up here? But the overall picture that is given is of a community that is unbelievably loving towards one another and towards the outsider and towards those who are on the edges of the society. I love even just in you know verse nine when you reap the harvest, don't reap to the edges because actually you're leaving that which the poor who don't have their own land, who don't have the opportunity to harvest, will be able to gather for themselves. Again, like we've said that like seeing the marginalized, seeing the vulnerable people, huge.
Sarah: Yeah and what a light they would have been for the Gentiles. Can you imagine this community with all these surrounding nations around them like just the light that they would have been in the midst of the darkness. You know because the kind of constant refrain through this through the through all three chapters is not to be like what you were you know what was going on in Egypt and not to be like Canaan where you're going, but to be distinctive, to be like the Lord. They really would have been. This really is distinctive. This really is beautiful and honouring to people in a way that other cultures were not. They were sacrificing children. They were being deceitful in all kinds of ways. They were worshipping idols. This is just so distinctive.
Felicity: Doesn't that really help as we've walked through all the the offerings for the sin, unintentional sin, the clean, the unclean like so as the people are made clean in order to enter into the presence of God, that that dynamic of that. But then as we see that, as the people are called to be holy, to be reflecting God's character in that, it's not just that they'd be able to enter into God's presence, but actually as they're in the presence of others. It's almost like this kind of priesthood in itself, this kind of like the emanating holiness of that, that the purpose of them being made holy is not just to be able to enter into the presence of God, but as they're in the presence of those who don't know this God, this is a means by which people would see the holy, loving God that we've encountered throughout this whole book. That's pretty huge, isn't it? Mm.
Sarah: Yeah, it's really powerful, isn't it? Really powerful. And I think as we then think about this kind of in flesh life loving like this, we can't help but then think of Jesus and you walk through the gospels and you and you just see this holy love in action, don't you? That he was wholly set apart, but he also wholly moved towards the weak, the poor the vulnerable, the marginalised in love, didn't he? He lived this out with such tenderness, with such integrity, showing us that it is possible to do this, to do this in the midst of the messiness of everyday life, that holiness like this, beautiful love like this, is attractive.
Felicity: Yes, yes. And and that and it is such a moving towards, isn't it? It's not a withdrawal. I think 'cause su 'cause I think, you know, s like sometimes people take some of these verses out of context, don't you? So you know, the thing about don't weave your cloths together or or don't shave off the bit of your beard or whatever it may be. Those those kind of bits which make it seem alien. It makes it seem like this it what's been talked about here is just a kind of slightly weird way of life. But actually the big picture here is of people moving towards other people and Jesus himself embodying that as he moves towards people. I mean, the very act of coming down, stepping down from heaven into clothing himself in humanity in order that he might move towards it, literally dwell with us in itself is the big statement of that, isn't it? Like that he would move towards and I think as I've been just dwelling on well, what does this look like for us now? Because I we're not gonna be keeping obedience. I'm not harvesting a field daily. Like I'm not gonna be leaving things to glean. That's not what I'm but how am I seeing those who have need? Like how am I using what I have in order to love others? How am I honoring the elderly within my community? How am I loving my my my mother and father. Like these these kind of things that the heart of that is where it applies, isn't it? I think the outworking of that will likely look a little bit different, but the heart is the same.
Sarah: Yes and actually what you are then demonstrating is that you're aligning with the King who was this loving neighbour, King Jesus, over aligning with the world. As you choose to love like this you are showing the King's love, you are showing what the Lord Jesus is like, you are being the fragrance of life and love to those around you aren't you and you're being more and more distinctive to the world. And that's going to be hard sometimes, isn't it? Like holiness like this doesn't mean it's going be easy, I don't think. don't think it's always going be easy, but it is one of the Lord's primary ways of sharing his love in the world and helping people to see what God is like. And I think that's also then very cool, isn't it, to see that we have a role in that. But think, I've been really struck by just the distinction between the cultures around them and what he's calling them to here. And that's a real challenge for our own striving for holiness, isn't it? Actually, where am I choosing to align with our culture, our world more than what God says? And in the rest of these chapters, 18 through 20, we do see that there's consequence for the way that we choose to align with the world. There's consequence if we choose to kind of covenant and have relationship with those who are not the Lord’s. And I think, yeah, it's a warning there as well.
Felicity: It is, isn't it? And it's it's again, again, again, say this again and again, but seeing this in the context of the whole book, this is in the light of being atoned for, of being rescued, like as those who have been made clean, like in Christ, this side of the cross, in Christ, made clean, and therefore able to live out this Christ-like life, not in our own strength, but because we're covered by the blood. And when we get it wrong and when we fail, and when I read this chapter, I'm encouraged and convicted at the same time because this does not this is not me. But every time I even want to live along these lines, that is because the spirit dwells in me that I would want to be like Jesus in that. And and I think that is that's the kind of cycle of thinking, isn't it? Because otherwise this this can become a very burdensome situation because I'm I'm not able to do it.
Sarah: Yes, yes and that's where I think we come a cropper sometimes because we think the law is so burdensome, I can't do this, but James tells us that the law is not burdensome, it is love, lived out, and it is freedom to live like this and actually the more that we do seek to live in line with the Lord's values for how he's created us to be, the more that we do sense the freedom there, don't we? But as you say, it's got to be all in response to His holy love towards us. And I think it's Stott, isn't it, he says that it's, yeah, God's holiness demands a penalty for sin, whilst His love drives him to take that penalty upon himself on the cross. So the cross is the demonstration of, is the ultimate demonstration of His holy love. And that's where we root ourselves. That's where we ground ourselves. That's our fuel. That's our motivation. That's our means for any distinctive kind of life, isn't it?
Felicity: Yeah. Yeah. Sarah, why don't you pray for us in in response to that?
Sarah: Yeah, I will do. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these chapters. We thank you that your word speaks into every part of life. Lord, we thank you that holiness isn't just about a sacred space and a time and place, but it is for every part of life. And we thank you that you call us to be a distinctive people. We thank you, Lord, that you give us wonderful laws to help us to think about what it looks like. And we just pray as we go from here, help us to think through what it really does look like for us to love our neighbour this week. Lord, to live in a way that is distinctive and beautifully holy because you have made us to be that way. Lord, you've created us to be like you in true righteousness and holiness. So we pray, please, would you help us to put on our new self? And we just really pray, please, would you give us tangible opportunities to love our neighbour as ourself as we go into this week we pray. Amen.
Felicity: Amen. I we're aware that in these chapters there are some tricky bits that we haven't had time to get into. And I would just encourage you to grab one of those resources on our website. Jay Sklar, who we talked to at the very start, I mean he has an outstanding commentary which really helped us to get our heads around some of these things. So do go and grab those. But but also if you feel able, if you've been enjoying walking through Leviticus with us, please could you leave us a review wherever you listen to the podcast. It really does make such a difference for others finding the podcast, but also it encourages our hearts. We read every single review, so please do and do that if you can. And we will look forward to being in the next couple of chapters next week and we will see you then.
Sarah: See you then, bye bye.
We’d love to connect with you!
Find links to our social media below. Or sign up to our mail list to stay in the loop.
