Sermon Tone Analysis

Me

Anyone who has a personal relationship with me will learn pretty quick, I am not “normal”… I am definitely my own person, with my own likes and dislikes.

I don’t fit in a mold really well…

For instance, a few years ago I was asked to come talk to Fairhope High School’s theater class about Judaism and Jewish culture because they were getting read to do Fiddler on the Roof and the teacher new that most of the kids had little to know knowledge, understanding, or connection to Judaism and she wanted them to show respect and reverence to some of the specific issues that are wrestled with in the play.

So she had me come in and talk to them about some of the Jewish imagery, culture, and practices found in the play, some of the hurts and wounds that are innately connected to the Jewish suffering experiences portrayed, and so on.

I was invited to come after school had let out when the theater club was preparing for their practice and prepping for dress rehearsals.

The teacher had a student waiting at the main entry of the theater to lead me in and when I rolled up on my motorcycle with a leather vest on and all, she was completely confused.

When I walked to the door and greeted her she said, “You’re the rabbi?”

I said, “Yes.”

And she responded, “I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn’t expecting a biker…”

Even when I was in high school, I really didn’t fit into any specific groups… I was friends with and floated through quite a few, but I wasn’t a permanent piece of any of the social structure puzzles in school.

And I really wasn’t one to try to fit in either… I knew who I was, I knew just by being a Messianic Jew I was going to kind of be an outsider… But I was never trying to be like everyone else, I have always just been me.

And in my walk with the Lord this is how I still live.

I am not trying to be like the world around me, I’m not trying to make anyone comfortable with who I am, I’m not trying to change to be like anyone else or to meet any specific assumptions about what I should be.

My only concern is what God thinks of me and if I am modeling His image and likeness in my life.

We

And this is a key reality that we as believers need to learn… The Body of Messiah has spent most of the last several decades trying to be “seeker friendly” and in turn we have created an atmosphere where we are trying to make the world comfortable in our midst… We have created an environment where we strive so much to avoid offending anyone so that they can hear the Gospel that we’ve ended up in many ways watering down the Word of God to make the world more comfortable with who we are.

But we are specifically and continually called to be set apart, righteous and holy.

We are called to not look like and to not act like the world around us so that they we can glorify the Lord with our lives and so that the world around us will see Him in us and want what we have.

I think, in a lot of ways, what we have done to the Body of Messiah is turned it into an embodiment of the high school teenager trying so hard to fit in that their individuality is completely lost in the mix.

And for us that individuality is the Good News of Yeshua, but we’ve somehow relegated the Good News of Yeshua as a back burner issue in order to make people feel more comfortable and not be offended so that eventually they will hear the Good News.

God

This week we read Parasha Acharei Mot, Leviticus 16:1-18:30, and it opens with a detailed discussion on the procedures for the Yom Kippur service by the Kohanim in the Mishkan, including the process by which the Kohen Gadol is to enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement.

Chapter 17 deals specifically with the biblical reality that the life of an animal is in its blood and that sacrifices are to only be made at the Tabernacle, and not just anywhere one may desire any longer, and especially not to false gods.

Verses 10-12 also hones in on the concept of the blood being the life-force by prohibiting the consumption of any blood.

And chapter 18 discusses forbidden relationships such as, but not limited to, incest, adultery, and homosexuality.

Adonai then clarifies that these forbidden relationships are commonly practiced by the Canaanites and part of the reason they are being dispossessed from the Land and that if Israel assumes the lifestyles and practices of the Canaanites then the Land will vomit Israel out just as it is doing to the Canaanites.

Realistically, and we’ll see this more so begin to develop with next week’s Parasha, Parasha Kedoshim, as a whole Leviticus 17-26 has one distinct theme through out, and this is a call to holiness and in Judaism we call this section of Leviticus the “Holiness Code”.

And what is most important about the Holiness Code is that it is often capped with the phrase, “You are to be holy because, I Adonai your God, am Holy.”

So as we dig into Parasha Acharei Mot today we are going to be establishing a foundation for the call to holiness and what this means and looks like for us as followers of Messiah Yeshua today.

And with this idea of holiness before the Lord and holiness before the world in mind, I want us to consider this principle today:

Our priority should be a biblically holy culture, which by its very nature is antithetical to the worldly culture all around us.

(Repeat)

So let’s dive into the word together this Shabbat…

Most of the rest of Leviticus 18 goes through a detailed list of forbidden relations and sexual sins which are objected to by Torah and are contrary to a set apart, righteous and holy life which reflects the holiness of God.

Then, skipping down to verse 24 we read…

See, Israel was being prepared not just for their own homeland, not just for their own country in which to live and thrive and develop as a people.

They were being prepared in the wilderness for what God had called them out for from the very beginning—

By the time we get to HaShem’s revelation of what holiness looks like beyond the Aseret HaDibrot Israel should be well aware of what the expectations of our people are suppose to be.

We may not fully understand all the finer details yet, but we’re about to, as pretty much the remainder of Vayikra (Leviticus) from Parasha Acharei Mot forward is focused primarily on defining a holy life unto Adonai.

And more so, the most important aspect of all of this is not simply that we are called to be holy, but that we are called to be holy because Adonai our God is holy.

As we’ve talked about a lot here at CMC, humanity is created in the image and likeness of Adonai.

When sin entered the world our sinful ways marred His image and likeness in us.

And the whole purpose to Adonai calling Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob out from among the nations wasn’t to distinguish us from everyone else, it was to begin a process of redeeming His image and likeness in His creation.

Hence the reason why salvation came through the Jewish people and was made freely available to all mankind… This was following the prophetic pattern of Israel being called out to set an example of holiness, or of walking in the image and likeness we were created in, and serving as a light to the nations.

But here’s the thing, if you take the time to read through the sexual morality issues we see laid out in Leviticus 18 you’ll notice that society in the world we live in today has flipped this all upside down.

Most of what we see in Parasha Acharei Mot with regards to a holy sexual morality the world around us is trying to normalize, and unfortunately some has already been normalized.

But, normalization by society doesn’t make it suddenly ok… Society can’t change the Word of God… His Word is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow… But the Body of Messiah is facing substantial pressure from the outside world, and even some from within, to discount or discredit a biblical sexual ethic, and for that matter, to discount or discredit a biblical faith, ethic, and lifestyle in general.

And where things get complicated is that the Body of Messiah, in a lot of ways, has kind of put ourselves in this situation… The church took it upon itself to say that the Torah no longer matters, that the Levitical law no longer matters.

Well, the majority of our understanding of biblical sexual ethic is based out of the Torah.

Sure, the Brit Chadashah addresses it some too, but the majority is from the Torah.

And now, because we have self-edited and/or changed the Word of God to suit our theological desires we have set a precedent of a slippery slope.

Because now we are seeing people who are retranslating and reinterpreting even the Brit Chadashah passages dealing with sexual ethic to fit their theological preferences and desired outcome.

And while the world around us is going completely berserk, many in the Body of Messiah are chasing rapidly right behind them.

But, despite all of this, the call of Adonai for His people to be holy because He is Holy has not changed, His biblical definition of what being holy because He is Holy has not changed, and His providing atonement in Yeshua and the indwelling empowering of the Ruach HaKodesh has been for the sole purpose of realigning His people to be holy because He is Holy.

So, while the world is changing, and not for the better, and while there are those in the Body who are sliding even further down the anti-Torah slippery slope and reinterpreting both Tanakh and Brit Chadashah, the Word of God and His call for us to be Kedoshim has never and will never change.

Our priority should be a biblically holy culture, which by its very nature is antithetical to the worldly culture all around us.

But, in the same sense that Adonai called us to be Kedoshim, He has also warned us time and time again that the world is going to go spiraling down the drain and that the world would hate us because of Yeshua.

Through the prophet Isaiah we see the warning about those who will call good evil and evil good, darkness light and light darkness… And this was being spoken to Israel at a point in time in which we were being called on our participation in idolatry and the very practices that caused the Canaanites to be ran out of the land.

But, it is a great example of what we read in Yeshua’s Words in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 as He warns us of what keep an eye on as we await His return and are watching the signs and times of the season.

Then we look at some very relevant passages throughout the Brit Chadashah, which not only back up the call to holiness that we find throughout Torah, but especially in this latter half of Leviticus, but we see the reality of the Ruach HaKodesh in our lives to transform our hearts and minds to be kedoshim from the inside out.

First let’s look at what Paul says in Galatians 5 about the fruit of the flesh and fruit of the Ruach.

Then we see what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

For this is the will of God—your sanctification… And what does sanctification mean?

It is the process of being made holy… You are to be holy because Adonai your God is Holy… And through His Ruach HaKodesh we are in this process of sanctification, the process of being made holy.

For God called us not to what (impurity), but instead to what (holiness).

He has called us to be Kedoshim, and time and time again throughout the Word of God we see

Peter continues this discussion of the concept of our being called to be holy in 1 Peter 1:13-16

And Peter carries this thought process a little further in 1 Peter 2:9

Peter reiterates, in light of Messiah Yeshua, the yearning of the heart of the Lord that we read earlier from Exodus 19:5-6…

Ultimately, it is a call to holiness, a call to be kedoshim.

It is a call to walk out of the darkness and into the Light of Messiah.

It is a call to leave everything of the world behind, everything that is in stark contrast to the Word of God.

It is a call to be kedoshim because the Lord our God who not only created us in His image and likeness but who gave His one and only Son that we could be redeemed from darkness to light, from fruit of the flesh to fruit of the Ruach.

The enemy has strived since he first tempted Adam and Chava to try to undermine the call of God for His people to be Holy.

We see that throughout the narrative of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… We see it in the both the Exodus and Wilderness journey of Israel… We see it in the narrative of Saul, David, and Solomon (along with the whole long line of kings of Israel and Judah… We see it with the countless communities of followers of Yeshua that Paul, Peter, and James are encouraging in their walks through their letters in the Brit Chadashah…

So, why should we be surprised that the Body of Messiah would be facing the same battle of dark verses light, of flesh verses Ruach, of the ways of the ways of this fallen world verses the ways of the Kingdom of God?

I would pose to you that what should be a much greater surprise and concern is the Body of Messiah’s willingness to throw in the towel on the call to holiness rather than to give into the transformation of the Ruach HaKodesh in our lives so that we can in fact be kedoshim…

Our priority should be a biblically holy culture, which by its very nature is antithetical to the worldly culture all around us.

For far too many in the Body of Messiah today, the perspective is that God will meet us where we are, He wants us to come to Him as we are, and He never expects us to change at all…

But, the truth is, the Lord absolutely wants us to come to Him as we are, He will absolutely meet us where we are… But once we encounter Yeshua, He absolutely does NOT want us to stay where He met us… Salvation and the indwelling of the Ruach HaKodesh is suppose to be transformative, it is suppose to convict us of the areas in our lives that are not in alignment with the will and Word of God and guide us as we realign our hearts, minds, and walks with Him.

He desires to make us holy because He is Holy.

You

As we move further into the Holiness Codes found throughout the remainder of Vayikra and beginning with Acharei Mot, I want to encourage you to invite the Ruach HaKodesh to reveal any areas of your life that are not modeling what it means to be kedoshim, any area you haven’t yet fully surrendered to the Lord, or that you’re maybe even trying to lie to yourself about.

What areas of your walk look more like the world than like the Kingdom of the Lord?

What ares are there that you’re maybe a little too comfortable compromising on?

We

If our worship team will make their way back up to the stage.

(Unmute worship team)

We are called to be Kedoshim because Adonai our God is Kadosh.

We are called to be Kedoshim, to be righteous, holy, and set apart so that the world around us will see the Presence of God in their midst.

We are called to become fully surrendered to the Ruach, to walk away from the ways of the world.

We are commanded to turn away from the fruit of the flesh, not to cleave to it and reinterpret Scripture to make us more comfortable with the sin in our lives rather than allowing the freedom and deliverance found in Messiah to permeate our lives and congregations.