And there s an outline in the bulletin to jot down notes if you wish

Transcription

1 Unclean Unclean (Leviticus 13) 25 th October Please have your Bibles open at Leviticus chapter 13. And there s an outline in the bulletin to jot down notes if you wish Let me pray first, for God s help and guidance as we look at this passage together Intro Belgian Missionary, Father Damien, who lived in the 1800s (1840 to 1889) is known for his work among the people on the island of Molokai, in the Hawaiian Islands, these people had leprosy Leprosy is: [Powerpoint 1 Definition] a contagious disease that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves, causing discoloration and lumps on the skin and, in severe cases, disfigurement and deformities. Leprosy is now mainly confined to tropical Africa and Asia. [Powerpoint 2 Father Damien] By the end of his first three months on the island, Father Damien came to the conviction that God was calling him to dedicate his life to the suffering people there. He wrote to his superiors and said I wish to sacrifice myself for the poor lepers; the harvest seems ripe Father Damien s wish would become a reality; this was to be his ministry until the end and it would cost him his life as he contracted leprosy. Page 1 of 11

2 Unclean Skin Diseases and Mould 2 In Leviticus 13 we come across a whole heap of skin diseases some of which may be leprosy and these skin diseases were infectious and contagious Let s remind ourselves of the priests job from Leviticus 10:10 [Powerpoint 3 Lev 10:10] To distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean So the priest had to examine the people to see if they had any of the skin diseases listed in great detail in Leviticus chapter 13 and if they did they were ceremonially unclean and could not approach God in worship Here s how the skin diseases worked explain table [Powerpoint 4 Skin Diseases] Page 2 of 11

3 3 Now if the priest examined the person and they fitted the criteria for being unclean then there were certain steps that had to be taken for the person who was unclean see verses 45 and 46: They must wear torn clothes torn clothes were a sign of grieving or mourning this was a public disgrace and shame for the person They had to let their hair be unkempt literally uncover their head covering one s head was a sign of reverence and respect to God Page 3 of 11

4 4 By being disqualified from covering their head this was saying they couldn t come to God in respect and reverence - because they were ceremonially unclean and seen as unable to worship God properly Covering the lower face literally the mouth was partly because of the sorrow and shame of the predicament and partly for the preservation of others from infectious breath or touch Then they had to cry out Unclean, Unclean! to warn people of their uncleanness And the Hebrew for unclean here means: Impure or polluted And the person who was unclean was to live alone and be put outside the camp in isolation Pretty much like the lepers on the Hawaiian Island that Father Damien ministered to they were isolated and separated from the rest of the people Then if we look at verses 47 to 59 it s all about a disease of objects rather than people It s a disease called mould or mildew I d never seen mould so bad - until I came to the Australia The humidity and moisture seems to be the biggest factor and it seems to spread really quickly too - In the case of the Ancient Israelites the mould is a greenish or reddish colour found in fabric, leather, woven or knitted material And if the mould has spread throughout the article the whole thing is burnt But if it hasn t spread then the bad bits are torn off Page 4 of 11

5 5 Skin Diseases and Mould A Picture of Sin But there s more to these skin diseases and mould than we might think Because they are a picture of a disease we all have We all have a disease called sin in our lives So how are these skin diseases and mould like our sin Let me try to explain: [Powerpoint 5 Disease/Sin] Skin Disease/Mould Causes grieving or mourning Causes a person to be unclean Disease/Mould are infectious & spread To stop mould spreading, infected bits are torn or cut out People with the disease were separated and isolated and prevented from worshipping God properly The priest is the one who declares whether the person is clean or unclean When the people are clean they are welcomed back into the camp Sin Causes grieving for God, us and others Causes us to be unclean in God s eyes Sin is infectious and spreads Sin is like cancer spreading in our body it needs to be cut out Sin separates us from God we can t have a proper relationship with God whilst we re separated We have a great High Priest who declares us unclean or clean When we are cleaned up by Jesus our High Priest we re welcomed into God s family Page 5 of 11

6 Application for Us 6 So we ve had a brief look at the skin diseases and the mould that affected the Ancient Israelites And we ve seen that these diseases and mould are also a picture of sin in our lives So how can we apply all this to our lives in 2015? Well Just like the priests inspected the people for these skin diseases We have a great High Priest Jesus who can do this now and he inspects us We don t need to have priests like the OT priests I m not a priest I m a minister a minister serves he doesn t inspect And I m pretty glad I don t have to inspect your skin this morning. Yuk! So how can Jesus inspect us today? Through His Word as you read it and hear it preached it shows us where our sin is And His Word says we re all unclean we all have sin that needs to be cleaned up And His Word says Jesus is the only one who can do that Just like Father Damien went and lived with the lepers on the island Jesus came and lived on this Earth with sinners And just like Father Damien Jesus was prepared to lay down his life Father Damien gave up his life - to tell lepers about Jesus Jesus gave up His life - to fix sin once and for all Page 6 of 11

7 Without Jesus in our lives we re like the ancient Israelites in exile outside 7 the camp unclean and separated from God [Powerpoint 6a Heading/We are all unclean and need to cleansed by Jesus] Before we can be cleaned up by Jesus though we need to admit we have a disease in the first place and come to Jesus and say Jesus - I know I m a sinner, please fix me Why is sin such a problem? Well it s like a cancer spreading through our bodies Like a melanoma on the surface but underneath the skin it s spreading That s what sin is like One bad thought leads to another to another We start off thinking one bad thought about someone then another and before we know it we start resenting or hating that person and suddenly all the good qualities are out the window? Have you ever done that? I have? Even this week We tell one lie and then need to cover up that lie with another and another We need to have a good memory to cover up our lies don t we? And there are consequences for sin too We steal we get put in jail If girls sleep around they may get pregnant If men and women sleep around they could get a sexually transmitted disease Page 7 of 11

8 If husbands and wives cheat on each other it affects not just them - but their 8 children and their extended family even their friends - We may look at what others have and wish we have it we get jealous we think life is unfair because we haven t got what they have we grow dissatisfied and we start to resent people and start feeling sorry for ourselves - the grass is always greener on the other side isn t it? With all these sins we can convince ourselves God will understand He wants us to be happy right? No! - He won t understand He wants us to be Holy not happy that s why He had to send Jesus to fix sin and die for it! Like the leper in our NT passage from Luke 17 We need to recognize our problem is not just a physical disease but a spiritual one [Powerpoint 6b Have faith that Jesus can fix our sin] We need to have faith like the leper and come to Jesus for fixing inside not just outside And like the leper we also need to throw ourselves at Jesus feet and say Thank you so much, Jesus, for fixing me [Powerpoint 6c Say thank you to Jesus] Like the leper, we need to realize that it s our faith in Jesus that makes us well we can t do it ourselves Page 8 of 11

9 9 When the Ancient Israelites were clean they had to go show themselves to the priest to show they were clean And once, we re clean we need to go and show ourselves as clean to everyone we come across How will other people know about Jesus if they don t see it in us by what we say - and by how we behave? [Powerpoint 6d Show ourselves as clean to everyone we come across] We need to be modelling to others, how Jesus has made us clean How are we modelling to our spouse, our children, our grandchildren, our family and our friends? Are we modelling love or hatred, kindness or anger, patience or impatience, selfishness or selflessness? There s an advert on TV of a bunch of men standing around a BBQ drinking beer and one of them calls their 10 year old boy to go and grab him a cold beer from the fridge and off he trots then the advert fast forwards to when the 10 year old is grown up and he s calling his little boy to do the same? What are we modelling? are we modelling the love of Jesus - or the love of something else Do people know Jesus is our first love? Or do they see something else? Money, sport, pleasure, self-indulgence, gossip or intrigue? Page 9 of 11

10 Maybe it s worth asking ourselves this morning what do people think our first 10 love is? A couple of years ago I mentioned this and it s worth mentioning it again When my little boy was young I modelled Manchester United to him not Jesus granted I wasn t a Christian back then But I say this because what we model to children really matters and really sticks and my little boy is now 32 and that s still his first love A huge mistake on my part! That s why children s ministry and SRE are so important what we model really sticks! Conclusion Friends, first and foremost we all have this infectious disease called sin and we are all like the Ancient Israelites and lepers we re all unclean unclean! And we all need Jesus to fix us of this disease Because He s the only one who can fix this disease of sin - And make us clean by giving us forgiveness - and the promise of living with Him forever Page 10 of 11

11 11 Without this cleansing from Jesus we re outside the camp, isolated, separated, in exile with no relationship with God with no forgiveness - and no promise of living with Him forever just separated from Him forever So are we modelling the extreme importance of Jesus - to our family, friends, work colleagues, retirement village, the club or interest group we belong to? It s literally a matter of eternal life or eternal death Let s pray Page 11 of 11