Money, Intimacy, and In-laws.  Conventional wisdom rates these as the top threats to marital bliss.  Experience, however, teaches that poor communication and unexpressed expectations are more to blame.  We prefer, of course, to find an external cause, but the roots of relational brokenness grow much closer to home in the well-fertilized soil of our sin. 

We expect, but do not express.  We impute motives and import narratives to what is unsaid or poorly said.   We make straw men of our beloved. And knock them down a thousand times.  All the while declaring that ‘nothing is wrong.’   We curse the deaf yet remain silent when it is the time to speak. The crevasse opened by our sin grows until it becomes an uncrossable gulf.   Then coldness and apathy replace anger and hurt.   Our sin is a bull in the heart’s China shop.  It rampages and destroys everything it touches.

If it were just money, intimacy, or in-laws, the counselor’s job would be simplified.  Any number of therapeutic strategies could help.  But, like most relational problems, the ‘big three’ are only the exit wounds of our sin.   What is needed is a much deeper remedy.   Only the gospel can remedy the brokenness sin brings to every area of life and relationships.   In his manual for pastoral care, Spiritual Care, Dietrich Bonhoeffer expresses this well.

As long as our sin remains hidden, it gnaws away at us and poisons us.  Sin creates detritus in the soul.  The serpent must stick its head out of its hole if it is to be clubbed… Genuine community is not established before confession takes place.   If anyone remains alone in his evil, he is completely alone despite camaraderie and friendship.  If he has confessed, however, he will nevermore be alone. 

Spiritual Care, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Every Christian wedding speaks of two becoming one.  The couple believes this is imparted as vows are exchanged.  But it is an arduous, lifelong process that tests every couple’s limits.  To be together and to become one, demands more than we can promise.  And more than we possess.  It requires grace – confession, forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation.  Only the gospel can make two truly one. 

And what is true of human relationships is even more true of our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  In fact, our brokenness with him is the origin of our brokenness with one another.  There is no community, no real intimacy with one another if there is none with our Creator.   Estrangement from God is a disaster in every dimension of life.   Moses and the people of Israel recognized this after the sin of the golden calf.  God told Moses.

“Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”  When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned. 

Exodus 33:1-4

To gain the whole world but lose your soul profits nothing.    God saved his people out of Egypt to be “[his] treasured possession among all peoples, … a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)  But how could this relationship ever survive?   How can sinners live with a holy God?

And we have the same questions today.  Theologian, Jay Sklar, reflects.

If you were an Israelite, all [God commanded at Sinai] would lead to some burning questions: How in the world can the holy and pure King of the universe dwell among his sinful and impure people?  How can he live here, in our very midst, without his holiness melting us in our sin and impurity? And how can we live as his people in such a way that we really do extend his holy kingdom throughout the earth?  Leviticus answers these questions…. [And] while Christians regard Leviticus as a burden, the Israelites looked on it as a blessing.  For them, it was life-giving instruction that answered life’s most important questions: How do we live in relationship with the Lord, our covenant King, and how do we reflect his holy character to a watching world? 

Leviticus, Jay Slkar

We should be asking the same questions?  And Leviticus answers these questions both for them and for us as it points to Christ as our faithful high priest and acceptable sacrifice.  Though Leviticus is a handbook for priestly duties, it is also a handbook to instruct God’s people to desire and live holy lives.   No book in the Bible has more direct instruction from the Lord than Leviticus.  Its Hebrew title is “And God called.”   And as God calls his people, this ancient sourcebook for ceremonial and community life reveals scripture’s most poignant pictures of both God’s justifying and sanctifying grace.  

Far from being obsolete, the blessings of Leviticus are every bit as rich for the modern Christian as the ancient Israelite.  Join us as we begin our survey of Leviticus with an introduction to its historical context, literary structure, content, and theology and discover the truth of what Jesus said to the Pharisees of his day.  “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39)  

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.