Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
Worship Service

      • Psalm 51:10–12NIV2011

  • Create in me a clean heart

      • Psalm 103:1ESV

  • Bless God
  • God of wonders
  • Only a Holy God

      • Leviticus 16ANGLNIV2011

  • Refiner's Fire

  • Denied entry

    Have you ever gone to a party where you misunderstood the dress code and you find yourself surrounded by finely dressed people while your clothes are on the casual side. It can feel a bit awkward.
    But sometimes, it’s not just awkward… there can be a dress code and if you don’t meet that dress code, you’re denied entry.
    I remember one such occasion. I had only just turned 18 and had recently finished the HSC. My sister was living with her husband in Sydney, and I had come down from Coffs Harbour where I’d been living.
    On one night, they decided to take me to this fancy pub or club for dinner with some of their friends. It was about a 20 or 30 minute drive from where we were staying.
    Now it was quite a trendy and popular establishment and to get in, there was actually a bit of a line up, and you had to pass by the bouncers standing at the door.
    We got to the bouncer, and he wouldn’t let me in.
    You see, I only had one pair of shoes with me, and they were these pretty ordinary looking sneakers that I wore everywhere. Apparently my sneakers were not up to the standard for this establishment.
    It was quite a dilemma as we were meeting up with people inside. In the end, we had to drive back and I borrowed a pair of my brother-in-laws shoes, and when we turned up, almost an hour after when we were originally going to be there, they did let me in.
    Now it’s interesting to think about establishments that have an enforced dress code. You see, when you are denied entry, they’re not saying that you’re a bad person, they’re just saying, you’re not in a state that is fit for this venue.
    There’s actually an interesting parable that Jesus tells. It’s often called the parable of the wedding banquet and it’s found in Matthew 22. The parable is mostly about inviting people to the wedding, but there’s this interesing part where after they had to invite more guests, someone comes to the wedding, but not wearing their wedding clothes. When he’s found, he’s thrown out of the wedding.
    Now, we might read that and think it sounds a bit harsh. You might also wonder - in this parable, what does it means to be in the right clothes?
    The man is not in an appropriate state to be at this location.
    Well, Jews during the time of Jesus would well have understood the notion that to go to the temple you need to be ritually clean.
    If you’re not ritually clean, then there are things you need to do to make sure you are.
    Now, while the Jews would have understood this concept of ritual uncleaness, us here in the 21st century do not.
    But as we dive back into Leviticus I’m going to take us back into the weird and wonderful world of ancient Israel as they are being introduced into this concept of clean and unclean.

    Context

    Now, for a bit of context, particularly for those who haven’t been following this series in Leviticus, something very special is happening when we come to this book. The people of God are being invited to come into the presence of God.
    But, they’re being told, if you want to come into God’s presence, there are things you’re going to need to do to make sure you’re ready.
    Now, last week, we explored the new diet they were given, and this introduced us to the idea of being clean and unclean.
    As I described last week, it is really important that we recognise that these categories of clean and unclean, are not moral categories, that is to say, you can be unclean, but not actually sinning.
    It’s a bit like when I turn up to an establishment with a dress code and I’m not allowed in because my shoes are old and inappropriate. I wasn’t being denied entry due to poor behaviour. It was a different category.
    Now, the food requirements we looked at last week might have seemed strange, but as we look at chapters 12 to 15 which continue looking at things that will make you unclean, we’re going to be filled with more and more questions because it’s all going to seem so foreign to us.
    That being said, we’re not going to go through bit by bit, otherwise we’ll be here a very long time, so I’m just going to give a birds eye view of what is happening in this chapters.

    Ritual Uncleaness

    After Childbirth

    So let’s start with Leviticus 12 which is all about child birth.
    Basically there is a period of time after a woman has given birth in which she will be cermonially unclean. And it’s all got to do with the bleeding.
    Now if you read this chapter, you might notice that the length of time varies depending on whether she has a son or a daughter. The woman is unclean for twice as long if it is a daughter.
    This raises a huge question - is the bible being sexist?
    The Bible doesn’t give us a rationale for the difference, but the most likely answer seems to be based on the understanding that male fetuses developed quicker and as a result, used more of the blood, and so the woman would bleed for less time with a son compared with a daughter.
    You may be interested to know that this theory that a woman bleeds for longer with a daughter was only disproved in the 19th century.
    So, after child birth, you essentially just waited out the period of uncleaness.

    Skin defilement

    Well, let’s keep moving. For those of you who might have your bible open in front of you, you might notice that chapters 13 and 14 go on for a long time, and they describe in great detail skin defilements that will make someone unclean.
    Now there’s lots of varations based on where the skin defilement is and a whole bunch of stuff relating to rashes and showing the priest so he can determine if there’s been any change in certain periods of time.
    If you do happen to have one of these deflining diseases, well, you then need to tear your clothing, let your hair be unkempt, and while covering the lower part of your face, you go around outside the camp calling out “unclean, unclean”.
    But it’s not just about skin defilements. There’s a whole bunch of stuff about mould in clothes and houses.
    Not only do these chapters tell you about becoming unclean, it also tells you how to purify yourself once you have been healed of the disease.
    Again, we’re not going to go in detail, but if you have your bible open, you can see there is a lot of detail there.

    Bodily discharges

    But then we come to chapter 15, and somehow, I feel like this chapter just designed to make us feel a bit uncomfortable, so I’ll try not to dwell on it too much. Basically, it involves all sorts of bodily discarges, including a woman’s period, and a man’s dischare of semen.
    Actually, if you want to know the details, I’ll let you read it for yourself. Although it is interesting to note for those who make the conclusion that women get a harder time by all of these rules, men are effected by them as well.
    Now, before I continue, it’s worth noting from these last few chapters, that not every illness and disease makes you ritually unclean, and not every bodily discharge makes you unclean. For example, snot from the nose doesn’t make you unclean.
    So here’s the thing… we sometimes think that whats happening here is God giving his people some kind of early public campaign. And to be sure, some elements of what we read would be beneficial to public health - but it is so much more than that.
    Here’s the frustrating part… I wish I could stand here and tell you why God is making this standard to come before him, but I can’t.
    I mean, it can almost feel a bit unfair. After all, based on these chapters of Leviticus, people will frequently become unclean through no fault of their own. Now, sure, means are given for becoming clean again, but what’s going on here?

    The Day of Atonement

    Well, before I answer that, let me come to chapter 16, because after five consecutive chapters describing various means of becoming unclean, this chapter shifts gear.
    In this chapter we come to the Day of Atonement.
    Now, as a little aside, if any of you have Jewish friends, or you enjoy learning about current Jewish practices, this chapter is the origin of the practice that is called Yom Kippur. This is generally considered the most holy day on the Jewish calendar. In fact, this year, Yom Kippur was observed just over a month ago on the 20th September.
    Now, this chapter starts with a reminder of a tragedy that we considered two weeks ago when we looked at Leviticus 10.
    Two weeks ago, we looked at how priests fit into this structure. Aaron and his four sons were all consecrated for the priesthood and it looked like all was well.
    Until things took a dramatic turn for the worse and two of his sons, namely, Nadab and Abihu decided to do a bit of freestyling in the way they conducted matters… God took exception and we then had this dramatic moment where fire came out and consumed these two sons.
    The reality was, it would have been very unsettling for the whole Israelite community. If two people who had been consecrated for greater things could be so easily taken down, what hope is there for everyone else.
    And add to this that half the time, you’re going to be ritually unclean. What hope is there that we’ll ever come before God?
    This is the context for the Day of Atonement.
    Now let me just say a few things about his word atonement.
    You see, if you’re familiar with the word at all, the chances are, you’ll know that it refers to the making right of our sins. We’ll often use the phrase, atone for our sins.
    But there’s actually a second aspect to the word atonement which is very relevant to what I’ve just been talking about. And that is that atonement also refers to the purification of our ritual uncleanness.
    Well, as we look through chapter 16, God doesn’t introduce it as the start of an annual occurence - that’s going to come later - but rather as a means for the priest to enter the most holy place.
    The process begins with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He’s then to bathe in water and place on the sacred linen tunic.
    The priest is going to spread the bull’s blood around, thereby making atonement for the Most Holy Place. Now just note that atonement is being made for a room. Obviously the room hasn’t sinned in any way, which is why this has the second meaning of atonement which relates to the ritual purification.
    Next comes two goats.
    One is going to be used for a sacrifice, the other will become a scape goat.
    Some of the bull’s blood also goes on this scape goat, and then the priest lays both hands on the goat, confession the sins of the Israelites, and then it’s released into the wilderness.
    Now, we get the term scapegoat from here because what is happening is that this goat takes on the sin of the Israelites.
    Now there are some finer details which I’m glossing over but that I invite you to read for yourself. But the important verse for us in all of this comes in verse 30.

    Leviticus 16:30

    Leviticus 16:30 “because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.”
    You see, you can get yourself really caught up in all the details of Leviticus… confusing yourself about what actually makes you unclean and for how long, and what you’re to do to become clean again - but once a year, a process occurs where the whole community is made clean.
    You don’t have to worry about being denied entry because of your shoes. You’ve been given the right shoes to wear.

    Atonement from Jesus

    Now, understanding this day of atonement as being about ritual uncleanness and not just our sinfulness, expands the picture as we come to the New Testament and consider what Jesus has done for us.
    You see, if you’ve been a Christian for five minutes, you’ll well know that Christ died to forgive us for our sins.
    You’ll have likely given less thought and time to thinking about Jesus making us ritually clean so that we are in a right place to come before God. This is because we don’t tend to think in terms of being ritually clean or unclean.
    Interestingly, people from some other cultures and religions do think in these terms, so this can have some direct relevance to a cross-cultural witness.
    So, I want to take us to Hebrews 10, because it is here that it all starrts to come into focus for us as Christians.
    Let me read verses 11 to 14 of Hebrews 10:
    Hebrews 10:11–14 “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.”
    You know, the Jews celebrate Yom Kippur once a year, but this has been fulfilled far more perfectly in what Jesus has done.
    You can confidently stand before God as someone who is clean, because of what Jesus has done.
    Back at the start of this message, I looked at the parable of the wedding banquet, and we saw the man who somehow got in without his wedding clothes, only to be chucked out.
    To have your wedding clothes, you need to be clean… to be clean you need to abide by the standard God set… and when you don’t you need to be ritually cleansed.
    But if you’ve accepted Jesus, then you have been ritually cleansed.
    You won’t get caught by the bouncer because you haven’t met the dress code. Jesus is our dress code.

    Confidence

    For this reason, we can approach God with confidence.
    Confidence can sometimes be hard because we can be so unsure about ourselves.
    If we were to read just Leviticus 11-15, we’d probably be even more unsure about ourselves because there are so many ways we become unclean before God.
    But Jesus changes all of that.
    This should change how you pray. When you pray - pray confidently, although, I probably should add, that’s confidently, not arogantly. Arrogance is confidence based on our own ability. The confidence I’m talking about is confidence based on Christ.
    The confidence should also change how we view ourselves. We can have a high view of ourselves, but again, this is not a high view based on our own goodness, but on the goodness imparted to us by Christ.
    The confidence should affect how we witness to others. Again, not in a manipulative way, but with confidence in the hope that we have.

    Conclusion

    The reason we don’t usually think in terms of ritually cleanness as Christians, is because we have been made clean.
    But that being said, it is worth giving time to thinking about what it means to be in an appropriate state when we approach God.
    Next Sunday, we’ll be sharing communion together. What might it mean to be in an appropriate state as we gather next week and eat the bread and drink of the cup?
    It’s an amazing privilege that we have been invited to come before God, but let’s not take it for granted.
    Let me pray...
  • Rock of Ages
Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
secretary.tbbc@gmail.com
+6149823022
http://www.tanilbabaybaptistchurch.com
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