I didn't recognize that one!

The Book of Leviticus is the record of the Old Testament Law - commandments and rules for living, sacrificial worship expectations, and the foundation by which we were to come to understand that a penalty for sin was to be paid.  In other words, the Law acts as a means to help us understand why the sacrificial death of Christ was necessary - it points us toward his work of what we call "atonement".  To understand atonement, we must understand why it is necessary.  As pointed out numerous times throughout scripture, man has a difficult time living his life "without sin" because he has a sin nature.  He has free choice, and as a matter of choice, he sometimes chooses things which are a violation of the way God would want him to live. When this is the case, this is referred to as "sin" - better known as "missing the mark". In other words, try as we might, we don't always hit the target!  

If anyone sins by breaking any of the commandments of God which must not be broken, but without being aware of it at the time, the moment he does realize his guilt he is held responsible.  (Leviticus 5:17-18 MSG)

I don't want us to focus on the Old Testament Law as a means of righteousness, but hope we can see God's intent in giving it.  He was laying out the foundation for us to recognize the need of a "sinless" or "spotless" offering on our behalf.  Plain and simple, he was pointing us toward Christ. The little lamb, turtle doves, and rams used in the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament temple worship, atonement sacrifices, and the like, were simply "fore-shadowing" the sacrificial death of Christ on our behalf.  That said, then we are free to see what God says about our sin.

As we examine what God has to say about sin in scripture, we find there are not so much "degrees" of sin (as ALL sin is sin), but that sometimes we are totally aware of our sin and other times we almost sin without really realizing we have.  I grew up in a church environment which promoted the "degrees" of sin - some were "menial" and others were quite "grievous".  If we go back to scripture as our source of truth on this matter, we will see ALL have sinned, ALL sin matters, and ALL sin requires an "atoning sacrifice".  This idea of "degrees" of sin just doesn't hold up under our examination of what scripture outlines.

Since there is validity to this idea of us "knowingly" and "unknowingly" engaging in sin, maybe this is where we start.  Those things we know better than to do, but do them anyway - these are a big deal.  God doesn't ask for our obedience to be at our convenience, but rather for it to become a spontaneous response of our heart.  When we struggle with obedience in a particular area of our lives, he doesn't expect us to resist the temptation to sin in that area all on our own.  He gives us the support of his Holy Spirit, others which whom we can enter into accountability relationships with, and the wisdom of the Word to guide our actions.  Those areas were we struggle without even really recognizing our struggle are sometimes not evident to us unless someone else points them out, or perhaps we get that "twinge" of conviction when we hear a good teacher, or read something we may have overlooked in scripture.  

What God wants us to see is that both require our attention - when we "become aware" of our sin, we have a means by which we can deal with our sin - Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf.  ALL sin required his death.  ALL sin is subject to the same "scrutiny" by God.  ALL sin leaves us "at odds" with God - we aren't right until that sin is "under" or "covered" by the blood Christ shed on our behalf.  What is most important when studying the Law in the Old Testament is not the rigidity of the sacrificial means for atonement, but that atonement is provided by means of God's grace.  The sacrifice was just a means of us connecting our actions with the penalty needing to be paid.  It is not much different than us connecting our actions with the penalty which was paid on our behalf - Christ Jesus.  He is our "means" of connection between the "wrongdoing" of our sin and the "right-setting" of our lives through the perfect action of his sacrifice.

Although "degrees" of sin don't really exist, the means by which sin is dealt the final blow in our lives is already accomplished - even though it may not be fully revealed by our actions today.  Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf was "complete" on our behalf - past sin, present sin, and all future sin.  His actions were complete - meeting ALL our needs for atonement - the known sin and the unknown; the "biggees" and the "wee ones".  Just sayin!

Salvation 101 - Part VI - Freedom

^4-8Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they've personally experienced the sheer goodness of God's Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can't start over as if nothing happened. That's impossible. Why, they've re-crucified Jesus! They've repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God's "Well done!" But if it produces weeds and thistles, it's more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.

(Hebrews 6:4-8)

There are several passages in Hebrews that speak to us about "drifting" away from our position in Christ - some call this leaving the faith - still others call this backsliding.  The Book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians - those who believed in Christ as their Messiah.  These were "converts" to the Christian faith.  Paul is most concerned because they are drifting back into their former ways of belief - a system of works.  They were actually being chastised a little by Paul because they had come to a place of freedom in Christ and now were returning to the bondage of the Law (trying to mix Law with Grace).  Just like oil and water, these just don't mix.  

First, let me just say this:  Drifting is gradual - it is a result of us being inattentive to the relationship we have with our Lord.  In order to be growing, we must pay attention to what it is that brings growth to a relationship.  If we don't spend time together, we drift apart.  If we don't share our hearts in communication with each other, we soon find we have very little in common.  Whenever we neglect our growth, we are simply turning away from that which gives us the greatest freedom.  We lose the closeness of relationship with Christ and the blessing that brings - but do we lose our salvation?   

If "drifting" is caused by inattention, then why do we do it?  It is simple - it requires our attention and there are tons of competing voices that demand our attention!  We have to be attentive to our relationship with Christ - it is an active pursuit, not a casual occurrence.  Nothing suggests that we have drifted away from a position of growth than to become "legalistic" in our worship and service.  Whenever we are doing things just for the sake of doing them, we are in a place of "drifting".  The problem with being in a place where we are just legalistic in our religion is that we rarely see any need for repentance when all we are doing is going through the motions.

Here this:  GRACE is not part of legalism!  In a place of legalism, mercy is something we have to EARN.  In a place of relationship, mercy is something we are given unconditionally and enjoy freely.  Paul was dealing with this fact as he wrote to the Hebrew converts.  He observed firsthand, had heard reports, and now he is taking the lead to counter their insensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  That is the first thing we will miss in our walk whenever we start to drift into legalism - the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We will be so focused on "doing" that we miss who it is we are doing it for.  Whenever we are growing, we look forward to our time with Jesus - knowing it will be a time of daily renewal.  When we drift into legalistic ways, we really are choosing to NOT be renewed - we miss out on the transforming power of Christ in our lives.

Whenever we fail to recognize the value of grace, we drift into legalism.  We begin to "miss the mark" on what grace can really do in our lives.  Legalism is going through the motions - religion is another term for this.  Grace has the potential to produce awesome life transformation when it is given free rein!  

There is a similar message in the 10th chapter of this book (10:26-30) - it deals with the attitude of heart that results in a person engaging in sin repeatedly.  Paul says that if we deliberately keep on sinning after we received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.  Many use this passage to point the finger at those who struggle with sin after they enter into relationship with Christ and say that this means that if a person were to die with "sin in their hearts", then they would not go to heaven.  

In order to really understand this passage, you have to read the whole chapter.  In the 22nd verse, Paul has laid out that they need to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.  Then he goes on in the 23rd verse to outline that they need to hold fast to the confession of faith without wavering.  If that  weren't enough, he adds that they need to stir each other up to love and good works.  When he begins to talk about engaging in sin repeatedly, he is talking to them about what happens when we don't draw near, hold fast, and stir each other up.  There were two groups of Jewish people he encountered - those that rejected the Messiah and those who accepted him as Savior.  If they would not accept him as Messiah, there was no hope for them - they would assuredly see him as their Judge!

Paul is dealing with the idea of returning to the "traditions of man" and  the "rules of the Law" as a form of religious works - they were actually inviting the anger of God by trampling on the grace God had so freely offered them in the gift of his Son's life.  This entire book deals with the rewards of serving the King of Kings, the Messiah!  If anything else took the place of serving him, the benefits of grace would be lost.  If we were looking at the stock market, we might say we could lose what we invested.  Jesus did the investing here, not us.  What Paul focuses on is that the provision of Christ's sacrifice for our sins is not something we lose - it is something we reject!  We did not "take the risks" of dying on the cross to make atonement for sin - Jesus did.  So we don't lose our salvation, we reject it.

There is a difference between drifting away into staleness of relationship and never being in relationship at all.  In our natural relationships, we periodically experience staleness because we have not made any investment of self into that relationship.  Paul's entire focus here is that they not substitute anything for the grace of Christ in their lives and that they remain intent on following Jesus.  To not do so is to drift away from the freedom of grace into the staleness of a system of works (religion).  Tomorrow, we will build upon this to look at what some call the "unpardonable sin"