Sermon Tone Analysis
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I heard about this Pastor.
He was raising money for a new sanctuary.
He told his congregation one Sunday morning "If anybody will give a thousand dollars, you can pick out the next three hymns."
A little old lady in the back raised up her hand and said "Pastor, I'll do it."
He was so excited.
He said "Thank you so much.
Go ahead and pick out the next three hymns."
She looked over the congregation and said "I'll take him and him and him."
Ha-Foke-Bah in Hebrew
Ha-Foke-Bah in English
My intention in this sermon is to start a dance, a dance that is not random, not thrown together, it is a dance that is a response to God’s unconditional love.
The love that exchanged the innocent for the guilty, a love that ends the blame game so you don’t remain the same.
It is a love that looked past a gold calf, looked past the strange fire, that looked past…you fill in the blank.
I want us to learn the dance of the king and it is called “Wholehearted Living.”
What is Wholehearted Living?
Dr. Brene Brown in her book Daring Greatly defined Wholehearted Living, “is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.
Though imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid that doesn’t change the truth that I am worthy of love and belonging.”
(Daring Greatly, p. 10).
Here is what I would like to add to the definition of Wholehearted Living, “Wholehearted living is about engaging our lives from a place of fully knowing I am loved by God and belong in His family.
And that other people, though imperfect and different and sometimes offensive are worthy of that same love and belonging.”
Wholehearted living - rightly perceived - compels us to treat other people as worthy of love and belonging because you know you are loved and belong.
It was the wholehearted living of a man named John Reece that challenged me to see myself differently than I ever had before.
I was fresh out of the drug world.
Just gave my life to Messiah.
The smell of drugs, booze and nightclubs was just barely leaving me.
John was a corporate executive who smelled of fine leather, scented fragrances and salty meats.
We were an odd couple from different sides of the tracks.
I met John in my master life group.
He was a leader but so much more than that.
He befriended me.
He could tell that I was an outsider.
I was scared.
I was different.
I could be offensive.
Yet, this corporate executive who lived in a nice condo, drove a fast Audi and wore fine suits treated me like I lived in a nice condo, drove a fast car and wore fine suits.
Yet, I had none of those things.
He came to my smelly run-down apartment and acted like it was no different than his own, he had me to his and did not grimace or hide nice things when I walked in the door.
I never felt like I had to fit-in, I never felt like a showman trying to get someone to be my friend.
Somebody nothing like me, liked me, and that changed me.
We all have a John Reece.
That person nothing like me, who like me, and that changed me.
Now some of you had the evil twisted John.
That person who was nothing like you in the bad way, and they like you, and that changed you in the worst possible way.
I have lots of those stories also.
Whether it is the good or bad version of that story here is what shows, “We all crave to feel like we are worthy of love and belonging.”
Let me see by show of hands how many of you:
Have you ever lied to keep from looking bad?
Have you ever taken a sissy test?
Have you ever done something because it looked good not because it was good.
Have you ever said “yes” when everything in you screamed “no.”
Have you ever had a family member or friend with self-destructive habits that you never said anything about?
At the same time, I know that we all believe lying is wrong, we all know betraying our conscious is wrong, we all want to be courageous enough to stop people from hurting themselves.
We will abandon those core beliefs for love and belonging even if it means getting it by denying what we believe to be fundamentally true or morally right.
Here is what you need to know: You will give up what you should not to gain love and belonging.
All of us have done it.
Here is where my twist on Brene Brown’s definition of Wholehearted Living comes in.
My version of wholehearted living starts with, “God gave up what he did not have to, Yeshua, so that we would never give up what we should not to gain love and belonging.”
He did not have to give up his Son but he so loved the world that he gave his one and only son for me, for you so that I would know for all eternity that I am loved and belong to God’s family.
That is what the Day of Atonement was all about.
No more scapegoating.
No more blaming.
There is just the acceptance that the innocent one’s life was exchanged for the guilty so that we could have new life.
The second part of my definition for Wholehearted Living that says “And other people, though imperfect and different and sometimes offensive are worthy of that same love and belonging.””
comes from our Torah Portion this week.
At least 1400 years before Yeshua ever said it, the people of Israel were told in Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Now most scholars that I have read on our Torah Portion either say it is about this one phrase that occurs in Lev 19:2 the beginning of the portion and at the second major start of our section in Lev 20:7
“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.”
(Leviticus 19:2, ESV)
Then other scholars say but wait a minute the “love your neighbor as yourself” verse is really the main theme of most of the passages.
The whole of our Torah Portion revolves around laws relating to society, sex and smoothies.
Because you are not supposed to be mixing stuff up like seeds, and animals and cloths etc.
But for me, the laws about not having smoothies teaches a powerful lesson.
It is the lesson that “your good enough.”
That seed is good enough and does not need something else to make it better.
It is good enough.
These laws in this portion favor women.
They are laws that protect women from sexual abusers who may use their status or power as leverage against them.
Protect women from men who may want to use sex as a way to gain control over a family or tribe.
Or from men who want to use sex as a tool for humiliating people they conquer: like warfare rape.
But are these laws about being holy or are they about loving your neighbor?
Are they focused on my personal purity or are they focused on personal morality towards others?
The answer is, both!
Holiness without love is just legalism.
Love without holiness is just unrestrained passion.
Love with holiness is divine.
Wholehearted living is living from a place of full acceptance so that others can feel accepted.
“God gave up what he did not have to, His Son, so that I would never give up what I should not to gain love and belonging; and, you are worthy of that same love and belonging from me.”
Remember, we said that Leviticus is about God’s plan to create a good world.
The kind of world that is like the garden before the fall, a world characterized by shalom.
Could you imagine what it would be like if even 10 out of a 100 people adopted this model of wholehearted living?
Could you just imagine how different things could be, should be?
All of our section “Kedoshim” is about Wholehearted living but I want us to look at what I believe to be the centerpiece of this whole section, the glue that binds it all together and the most relevant for us.
I hope you understand what I mean when I say the most relevant section.
You see there are lots of commands, all very important but not all equally relevant for us.
“You are not to crossbreed different kinds of animals.
You are not to sow your field with two kinds of seed…” (Leviticus 19:19, TLV)
We are not agriculturalist, we are suburban dwellers.
This is really relevant for farmers but when I look at Leviticus 19 my eyes drawn to:
“Each one of you is to respect his mother and his father, and keep My Shabbatot.
I am Adonai your God.” (Leviticus 19:3, TLV)
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