Do not…

Light Reflective Music

Bible Enters (Organ)

Welcome / Intimation (Rev. Bosch)

I greet you in the Name of God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe - in the care of Christ Jesus.May it be that we receive mercy, peace and love.

Good morning…

Tuesday the 8th, Lent Service at Harlawhill, at 11:00

Wednesday the 9th, Midmonth Service, at 19:00

Next Sunday the 13th, My first Baptism, Lorelei

Last week we reflected on the act of offering to God according to the Leviticus reading. We corrilated that reading with Hebrews, that tells of Christ action of offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. In Leviticus you had to offer a sacrifice for your own sin, where as in the New Testament Jesus offered himself on our behalve. Christ sactificed himself on our behalve, releaving us from condemnation.

Today, we will reflected on rules and how rules determine how we life. In Levitices today we will read about some of these rules. Although we are not saved by following these rule, faith in Christ does, the principles still applies. It is these principles that helps us to life as holy people. In the presence of God’s holiness let us approach Him in worship.

Call to worship (Psalm 73 )

Minister: God is good…

All: to those with a pure heart.

Minister: God is good…

All: to those living truthfully.

Let us worship God!

Hymn: 1. 10,000 Reasons, (Bless the Lord)

Declaration:

Blessed be the name of the Lord now and evermore.From the rising of the sun to its setting, the Lord’s name be praised. Let us pray:

Prayer of Approach and Confession (Rev. Bosch)

Lord, from the depths of our heart we look to you. Through tears of joy and in the midst of sadness we look to you.

With eyes wide open to our weakness we make ready to confession. We admit that we do not always listern to the HS's guidance. 

We admit that we somtimes break the guidance we receive from your word.  We admit that we do not always uphold your holiness. 

There are even times that we do not take adhere to your call to live holy.  Also Lord, we confess that we forget to be accountable to you. 

Listen to our confessions, and forgive our tresspasses. Re-aline us today so that we may newly walk that path of faith. 

Lord, our God, our Saviour, and our joy, you are the reason for living and we worship you. You are the almighty one, and we are thankful to bring our prayers to you. 

We thank you that we have live in you with the hope that death will not concer us. You are our living Lord who alone can give that precious gift of life. 

To be in your presence,  our God, make us procliam you glory. Our hearts cry out your honour and glory.

We cannot be silent and our lips will not be still. We fully sing your praises.

Wonderful, wonderful God. Come live within us; come hold us in your grace; come infuse our prayers with your Holy Spirit;

come and make your home in our hearts. You are our timeless Lord and through your dying and rising you have opened the door to the heaven.

We feast in you goodness as we pray together.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Hymn: 2. The Power of Your Love

(Children enter.)

Children’s Address: Do not! Follow the rules!

Hymn: 3. My God is a Great Big God

(Children exit.)

Reading: Leviticus 19: 1-18

The Lord Is Holy

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 

3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God. 

5 “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted, 8 and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people. 

9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. 

11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 

13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. 

15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. 

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. 

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Le 19:1–18). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

Sermon: (Rev. Bosch)

You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. God directly speaks to Moses and tells him of the importance of living a holy life. In other words, God is expecting his people to uphold holiness. Holiness means in this context to distinguish oneself from others. We can say that God wants His people to function differently, creating a clear distinction between God's people and others. It is the case, that certain norms should be followed leading to a specific goal or out come.

These norms can be understood as rules determining daily decisions. Many philosophers have reflected on these rules that governs live that leads to some kind of success or fulfilment. Sport as well has rules and norms that determines the purpose of the game. Rugby has specific rules that distinguise it from cricket or foodball. If the rules of a specific sport is not obeyed the purpose of the game quickly disappears. 

Our reading can be understood in the same way. God expects his people to live in a certain way with a clear goal in mind and that is to live holy. To reach holiness certain rules needs to be obeyed. When applying these rules the worshippers becomes different and set apart from others. This lifestyle has specific consequinces giving a special meaning to life.

What God wants is for his followers to reflect his holiness. God wants reciprocity between Him and the followers; and the followers with Him. The followers strives to be holy bringing awareness to the fact that God is holy.  Reciprocity. These rules in Leviticus are so important that a person should be cut off from the community if they do not adhere to the rules.  

Let's have a look at some of these rules/laws to find out what they mean for us as Christians. 

Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal.

The principle is to identify idols in our lives and to determine the extend of its influence. An idol is anything that takes the place of God. It is that which becomes more important then the living God. The question then becomes: How can I turn away from that idol towards the true living God?

"You shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard."

When accumulating wealth be careful not to forget the poor and needy. Consider others when we enjoy the luxturies or even the simplisities of life.  I remember how grateful we were when people brought us food after the death of Mira-Bell. The simplist act of kindness can and does make a big difference. 

 “You shall not steal."

Stealing happens when the nature of a transaction is not respected. This happens when you take something without giving something in return. Or you organise somekind of transaction without communicating to the owner. What strikes me is that no distinction is made between large stealing or small stealing. Stealing is stealing. This makes us wonder if we have the tendency to justify some kind of “small stealing” that should really be seen as just stealing.  

"Stumbling block before the blind"*

The meaning of the rule is basicly do not take advantage of someones dissibility. Or do not capitalize on someones weakness or vulnerability. What I think is pure evil is when elderly people are targated to steal there lifesavings. It can happen via the phone or the internet were the elderly are mislead to give there bank details. I know of a man that lost 20 000pound due to somekind of fake criptio exchange offer. (Please be exsta careful for these scams.)    

"but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor."

The principle that we hear is the idea of fareness. Asses a situation whilst considering circumstances, character and the merrit of the case. In my minds eye, I see a scale. The scale should be in balance when assesing a situation.  

"love your neighbor as yourself"

These rules creates a space in which we function as worshippers of God. Living according to these set norms will determined the direction of our lives. It will set us apart from other (the world) making us holy and different. The reason for wanting to be holy and different is to reflect the holyness of God. We can think about it this way: We tidy our room, because we want to show that God is a tidy God. The same applies when we say: We live Holy because we want to reflect the holiness of God. 

To start thinking and appling these prinsiples in our lives is to be accountable to God. All of us should be accountable. If you do not believe in God then you are accountable to someone els, like your boss or partner. The accountablility towards that person or situation motivates you to act correctly. As worshippers of God, we are accountable to God for our actions/decoitions. We strive to life a holy and honest life because we answer to God. Accountibility to God drives our actions.

We bought a bedframe (double) for our bedroom. The company deliverd by mistake two bedframes. We ordered and payed for just one, but yet, in our room we were sitting with two frames taking up a lot of space. We did not need the second one therefore we decided to send item back. I have to emphises that it was very difficult to return the second bed frame.  When I finaly did get in touch with the right person, that person did not even know of the mistake. There was no record of the second delivery. Worst of all due to the ridget nature of the company they found it difficult to collect the frame. The administration around the pick-up was firstrating, but never the less we managend to arange the collection. The drivers came into the house, cleary firstrated with the “unussial request”. He asked my seriously: “Why did I not just keep the frame, I could have re-sell it. Nobody knew about it nothing would have stopped me. My response to him was that I can not because I am accountable to God. I can not keep a product knowing that it is unpaid due to a misunderstanding. My counious will not alowe me to take advantage of a companies mistake. I am accountable to God, therefore, I can not take advantace of the companies mistake.

Even though people do not see, God does see. Truthfulness is determined by God who knows everything, and not people or institutions.

To my surpriser the driver said that he understands my views, because he is a Christian as well. 

Live holy when in the puplic eye, and even more so live holy when nobodies sees. Holiness applies to us because God always sees, and it is to him that we are accountble.

You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 

Pray that we at Prestongrange Church will uphold holiness making us different and set apart as God children. Just as sport has rules, may the Holy Spirit make it clear the rules we should live by. Godly principles making us holy. It is the case, that we may apply God's prinsiples with the help of theHS.

We have heard:

Do not worship other gods. 

Do not forget the poor. 

Do not steal. 

Do not take advantage of the vulnerablt. 

Be fare towards your neighbour. 

Love your self and love your neigbour. 

Amen. 

Hymn: 4.Holy, Holy, Holy (CH 111)

Prayer for Others (Get someone to lead):

Offering (The person at door duty brings the plate to the table.)

Prayer of Thanks

Hymn: 5. My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness

Rethink and Blessing (Rev. Bosch)

Go and be holy by living according to God’s prinisiples with the help of the HS.

In the presence of the Holy Spirit, may the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Amen

Sing/Play Amen (Organ)

Bible Exits (Organ)